Survived the finchley 20 today. First time I’ve run 20 miles in 1 go so it was a guranteed PB - 3:15:16. Just got home and feeling cream crackered. Race analysis to follow later

Rest day for me given the Finchley 20 is on sunday.

Will do some race prep today - iron my ‘DT’ letters on to my Cancer Research top, pack my bag (remembering safety pins as I forgot them for the Brighton 1/2), decide on banana/cereal bar/lucozade drink combination to have before/after race, pack a couple of energy gels, check tube line status for sunday and build in extra commuting time if needed.

Finally, remind myself of target pace for every single mile. Am going to try the reverse splits strategy where I run the final 5 mile lap (race is 4 x 5 mile laps) quicker than the previous laps. We’re only talking a difference of a few seconds a mile but I think the ability to do this will be a massive win psychologically and introduce some good race discipline ie start off slow and steady.

Although a rest day from running, I may be brave and head long to a house class later. Bly Richards is teaching today at studio 68. Its been a while since I’ve been to any dance classes let alone a house class but I used to love his. Not sure how much I’d be able to keep up with everyone but will see.

Countdowns to some of my up-and-coming races…

Finchley 20, Sunday 11th March. 4 days to go

Newham 10k, Sunday 15th April. Less than 6 weeks to go

London Marathon, Sunday 22nd April. Less than 7 weeks to go.

20 mile race??? Argghhhhhh………………….

My legs were still sore yesterday from the 18 mile run on saturday so I swapped my rest days round. Rest is am important part of training! Rather than run with everyone at Crystal Palace Fun Runners last night as normal, I’m off for a run now. Winter is definately over given its only just getting dark in London :)

Anyways, I think my legs are up to a 6 mile run. Will report on the other side….

My running number for the Finchley 20 mile race next weekend. This will be the furthest I’ve ever run. Yikes!

http://www.hillingdonac.co.uk/f20/index.html

Running diary says I’ve run 245 miles in 2012 so far. On track to complete my 2012km Gold Challenge by the start of the Olympics. And on track to complete my first marathon - London marathon, 22nd April.

This is going to be a great year for running :)

I ran 18 miles today and found it tough going. Am finding it hard to stay within my training pace for long runs. I think my legs want to continually run at race pace (blaming the Brighton 1/2 marathon for that!) which is fine except I end paying for that faster pace during the last few miles. 

Stop walk jog run - stop walk jog run for the last few miles. Oh well, I can only get better :)

Am so excited!! I’ll be running 100m in the Olympic Stadium thanks to the Gold Challenge and the fundraising I’m doing for Cancer Research UK.  The Gold Challenge Stadium Day is Sunday 1st April. I’ll be amongst some of the lucky,lucky members of the public who get to run on the 100m track during the ‘test event’ day.

WOO HOO :)

Am practicing my Usain Bolt pre-race pose already :)

We held a Bake Sale at work to help my fundraising for the London Marathon. Was overwhelmed by the the support from everyone - baking, selling, buying. I’ve some secret master bakers amongst my work colleagues!

Menu included cup cakes, choc chip cookies, flap jacks, guiness chocolate cake, peanut choc slice, choc fudge rocky road, cinnabons, scones, millionaire shortbread.

The event was a success with me raising £150 for my fundraising pot for Cancer Research. This will help reach my £2012 target.

Gotta keep training. Gotta keep fundraising…

Got this emailed to me today from the powers that be at the London Marathon. Love it :)

We’re just over 8 weeks away from the London Marathon folks. To all those training for it - good luck. Hope the training is coming together etc. 

If like me this will be your first marathon, I’m sure you’re feeling a little nervous about it all. Not long now. Just keep going with the training.

Turns out the powers that be got measured the race distance at yesterday’s half marathon wrong!! Instead of 13.1 miles, we all ran 13.42 miles. Everyone’s race time has been adjusted and mine now stands at 1:57:54 (was 2:00:48). WOO HOO - a sub 2hr :)

I thought it was weird that my garmin had logged 13.53 miles. But just put that down to having to wind through the slower runners.

I AM SO CHUFFED. I’ve knocked 8 minutes off my PB :)

Did my 2nd ever 1/2 marathon - Brighton 1/2 marathon. Beautiful sunny day on the coast, started chilly but soon warmed up a few degrees to about 6C. 9000 odd runners.

Pre-race was a little chaotic with queues for the baggage, loos etc. Almost missed the start of race and just barely managed to join the back of the pack before they cut-off the ‘official starters’. I started no where near my pace group and spent the first few miles winding my way through the slower runners hoping to catch my pace group. I soon realised there was no hope in catching my them and maybe I should slow a little or I would pay for it in the final miles, so, I settled to run at my target pace as best I could all by myself. My garmin guided me and I continued on.

The route hugged the beach/promenade and was mostly flat. The couple of uplifts/downhills were gentle and I soaked these in (just like being at home in Crystal Palace). I treated it as just another training l-o-n-g run except this one was at a quicker pace. I have never maintained such a quick pace for longer than 6 miles before so was not sure my legs had it in them. Luckily they did.

I chose to ignore my race strategy of pausing at the drinks station to take in some fluids instead I ran through the 1st lucozade station, grabbed a bottle and kept that with me pretty much until mile 10. I sipped as I ran when I needed to and only stopped once at mile 10. Then pushed on to the finish line. The mile or so around the start/finish line had so much support it was really uplifting.

The final 500m was tough - my thoughts cycled through “I’m tired and would really like to sit down”, “I’m feeling hungry and my stomach’s starting to growl”, “I think I’m going to be sick”, “Keep it together, not long to go now”, “sub-2hr, sub-2hr??”.

Anyways, finally got to the finish line. Was not sick, held it together and collected the medal, drink, banana etc before even remembering to stretch before collecting my bag.

I know I lost the sub-2hr time in the first few miles. Really disappointed in that but my garmin’s logged 13.53 miles rather than 13.1 so definately picked up some extra mileage having to weave between runners. I’m just going to have to do another 1/2 this year, maybe in the autumn just to prove to myself I can clock a sub-2hr 1/2.

The Gold Challenge have featured my video on their blog. How awesome is that? Free promotion for my fundraising - yay :)

My first prep race for the London Marathon is this weekend - the Brighton 1/2 marathon. Am looking forward to it. Its only my second 1/2 ever but I hope the training I’ve been putting in over the winter will show.

Did my last training run for it this morning before work. 5.5 miles round my local area, hills and all as usual. Although my ankle has been feeling better it started to twinge today whilst running. Sharp pains extending to the lower part of my legs. The pain comes and goes so hope it will not get worse.

Will see how sunday’s race goes. Will rest the ankle next week if needed. Urgh, hope I’m not injured.

BTW - Good luck to everyone running Brighton 1/2 this weekend.