Ellesmere Half Marathon

Waking up at a normal time to run a HM is really nice.  Nothing like 4am that was necessary for the Chicago one.  A 10 minute drive and a little walk from the free car park was all it took to get me to the start. Me and less than 100 others.  There was a 5 mile race on too, we all did the first loop then us HMers did a 7 mile different loop, in the country, mostly closed roads and where itwasn't, very quite back roads.  It was so quiet, so few people.  There was no big finish, no clock, no medals or t-shirts, no flyers for other races or running shops.  Just a simple cup of water at the end.  Not complaining or bigging it up. Just saying.

I tried my hardest to set off conservatively but the adrenalin that gushed through my body as soon as the start was announced was taking over a bit.  It was rather sudden. I felt no race nerves or excitement, nothing different then literally, as soon as i pressed Start on Sally i could feel the adrenalin rush.  I focused and tempered it, and going up hill helped me keep my speed down so the first few miles were about what i hoped i'd run at.  I felt like i was slacking somewhere around mile 5 and 6 but those hills!  It was a really undulation course, there was very little flat. There were 4 big hills and we're not talking short or little. I know you can skew these graphs to make them look worse, but the difference in speed really makes it apparent that the hills were a bitch! But i know i can run up them, so its mental toughness thing.  I won't allow myself to walk.

My Splits:

1:  09:31

2:  09:16

3:  09:33

4:  09:44

5:  09:53

6:  09:28

7:  09:07

8:  08:53

9:  08:30

10  09:50

11: 08:55

12: 09:13

13: 08:12

                          .16: 01:15  (at 07:32 pace)

So my end time is a bit of a shocker.  Given that i had 6 weeks to train for this, i was aiming for 2:10 with a pie in the sky time of 2:05 so to come in under that was euphoric.  I was pleased as punch!  I AM pleased as punch.  I wanted to run another half marathon to get a sub 2 hour.  I planned to run the Lichfield one in May, to train properly to aim for an average pace of 9:00.  Given my under-trained-for HM in Chicago that was completely flat and i got a 2:10:44 i never thought on hills i would beat that time by 9 minutes!!

So i now have the itch again, or rather still for the sub 2hr half.  There is the Lake Vyrnwy Half in September which is completely flat, i plan on doing that, i'm now totally confident that i can get my sub 2hr there.  But, maybe i want to do it before then.....


p.s the word today is SUPER HERO

A little lighter. A lot shapelier.

As i do not want to post pictures of my actual bottom, but wanted to pass on some good news, i tried to draw a picture in Paint.  I'm that sad yes, i photograph myself almost naked to see if there are ever any changes.

I know i'm a bit thinner, but i'm still in the same size clothes mostly, i'm almost the same weight too.  But thanks to these completely embarrassing pictures i can see the changes that my body has made. Or rather, that i have made to my body.

Proportionally the diagram above shows too much of a size difference, but the shape change is pretty spot on.  My butt is definitely more pert. I have a much nice shape to my inner thighs and i have significantly reduced my saddle bags.  You can see the fat i want to get rid of in the MRI.  This area was a lot bigger, i suffer from very distinct additional fat cells in that area.

Today helped me continue on the reshaping journey. I ran 8.58m in 1:19:57 an average pace of 9:19.  I'm really pleased with that.  And i got negative splits as i managed to keep it slow at first. Its the longest i have run in a long time and i managed a 9:20 pace!  I am training for a half marathon. I think i'm going to do the Lichfield one on May 1st so there is a bit of time to go, but id like to get to the double figure long runs pretty soon, so i can focus on making them faster. I want a sub 2 hour HM so that will require a (quick flip tabs to a pace calculator) 9:05 ave pace.  My September HM where i was only 7 weeks in to my 13 week training schedule averaged at 9:58 so i feel its achievable.

Telford 10K and Personal Best!

Today was the Telford 10K which is just under an hour from me here in Oswestry. My mum was visiting this weekend so it was super nice to have company for the ride there, the waiting around before and for someone to congratulate me at the end.

The weather was just fine. Cold and dry.  I wore my Underarmour tights, Sugoi skirt, an sleeveless top under an Underarmour cold weather long sleeved top. Hat and gloves too.

There was a decent crowd and a narrow start.  I sneaked in to a potentially selfish spot not very far from the front.  Its hard to judge the speed of a crowd and they had an elite sub 40 minute race earlier on so as i was aiming for 56 minutes i didn’t want to be too far back.  And I also didn’t want to walk for ages up to the start as i wanted to start my clock on the gun start to see what i could get, rather than on the start line.  What i actually did was press lap at the start line – or what i assumed it to be as there really wasn’t a defined line anywhere.

 

The start was signalled and i was carried along with the crowds. Feeling good and knowing i wasn’t sticking to my 9 minute mile pace – my race plan so to speak, i just went with it.  There was a big down hill at the start then two laps to the finish. My fist mile was 8:05 and i panicked a bit. I knew i couldn’t sustain this for another 5 miles.  I was being passed continuously and found it hard to slow down.  The second mile 8:23 and the third mile at 8:37 made me realise that perhaps i could maintain this pace till the end.  Mum was there about half way and took some photos. Its nice to have supporters on the side lines. 

I was feeling pretty good. I knew it was a flat course as i was coming to the second lap.  I really wanted a negative split and so i pushed. Mile four 8:25 and only 2 to go.  I picked it up some more. Now i was passing others steadily. Mile five 8:13 and i turned it up another notch.  Mile six 8:01 and running in for the last 200m – i LOVE this part as i speed up the whole way, i am running in long strides, faster than any other time i run, this is when i feel like a real racer, a real runner, an athlete .2miles @7:16 pace. 

FINISH    51:46 

Avg pace 8:16

Excellent, awesome, thrilled, stoked, joyous and surprised. I was hoping to beat the 56 minute as i knew it was a flat course, but i never thought i would get so close to the average pace of my 5K PB which was 8:11.

Aspiring to Negative Splits

I tried to have negative splits on my 10K the other week but with the excitement of the race i started out way too fast. First mile was 9:10.  Thankfully it didn't stop me from pushing it at the end, though i have to consider how much better i could have been if i hadn't gone out too fast.  The second lap of the race not one person passed me, i passed plenty and that is a really good feeling.  I looked at the race results and i came in 93rd of 153 females. The first female was about 20 mins faster and the last female 20 minutes slower.  So i'm pretty much middle of the pack, and in all honesty, i'm pretty pleased with that.

My splits out of interest were 9:10, 10:10, 10:14, 9:33, 9:48, 9:35 the last bit at 8:43pace Avg pace 9:36

So, today as per usual i set out with no plan.  This only seems to occur me about 4 minutes in, when i think 'What is my goal today?'  I have been running a regular route for my short 3 milers which is up Olivers Mount. I like it as it involves lots of hills, there is barely any flat in it. But have also been enjoying just running around Scarborough, my home town, seeing it in a different light, through runners eyes.

Elevation chart for Olivers Mount

So today i fancied a change and ran a completely new route, out to Newby.  Its not an area i know well, in fact, just that its the way to the Hospital. I set out easy and again, thought, whats my goal today? Speed, distance? i realised i hadn't done a longer run recently and decided on running 5 and to try to get negative splits, preferably without looking at Sally every 5 meters! It took a bit of concentration but i did it.  I put my race head on in the second half and pushed it all the way till the end.  The very last 200m is up hill and i really wanted to keep the pace up.
Result = Awesomeness.

9:58, 9:37, 9:27, 9:10, 8:42
5.2mils 47:07 Avg pace 9.03