Why run 2012 miles?

As many of you know I have been doing a little bit of running this year. Those of you who have been following the blog (http://belmontroadrunner.blogspot.com) or follow me on twitter (@mgossage) will know what I've been up to as I have hauled by tired, lazy and on occasion sickly self around the streets of Bristol, often early in the morning or late at night, to keep up with my commitment to run every day through 2012 with the aim of reaching 2012 miles before the year is out...all in the name of charity, or multiple charities in this case!

Well, as the weekend approaches I am preparing to take on the Edinburgh Marathon, the first time I have run that distance for five years, and without a days rest from running in the 148 days leading to it.

So this is just a quick note to explain why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I've chosen to run for the five charities I regularly support because it was just too difficult to choose between such worthy causes. The Grand Appeal provide life saving beds for premature babies, the most vulnerable people on the planet, whilst Merlin ensure that after the emergency relief teams leave war torn or disaster ridden places, the medical infrastructure can be rebuilt so that communities can survive. I've had friends touched by Cancer who have praised the work of the Macmillan nurses, always on hand to comfort and advise through the most traumatic of times and others who have benefited from the campaigning and research provided by the British Heart Foundation. And finally Shelter, who again I am supporting through my practice and offering consultation to home owners in return for donations that help fund the fight against rouge landlords, lobby for affordable housing and help to educate on the importance of the a good place to live. How could I choose?

I know that these are tough times, but all and any donations are greatly appreciated...and if you sponsor me and manage to predict my race time, you are in with a chance to win a prize donated by specialist running store Up & Running Bristol

Running can be tough, but every time I get a hour to do what I want to do...even if sometimes I don't want to do it...I am thankful that I have a home, I have my health and I have the luxury of time to do it.

Just a selection of the excellent crowd from the Up & Running Shop runs

The wonderful 'mile'ers' up at Newcastle station after the OneShow1000 relay

And when I can do it surrounded by friends...well that's about as good as it gets!

Edinburgh Predictions ?!?

The countdown has begun and I'm now into the final week before my first marathon in five years.  I sort of know what to expect, but that doesn't stop the nerves from building and the worries from rushing around my head.

Have I run enough? Have I rested enough? Did I go far enough? Should I have done more hills? Which shoes shall I wear? Vest or T?  The permutations between PB and DNF are endless, and each carrying with them varying degrees of satisfaction, disappointment and associated physical and mental pains.

The facts however are simple enough to dig out of my training history, so here's some info for all you stat freaks.  Let me know what you make of it and give me your best predictions.

My Base
My mileage covered this year so far is around 770 miles, averaging almost 40/week and that is a much better base than I've every had before.  The only real problem being that as you can see below, I peaked in February and the past few weeks have had much lower mileage than I would have hoped for.

Weekly Mileage split into HR zones

My Distance
Although I gradually built up and sustained a good average mileage, long runs have not been as long as I would have hoped.  Looking back, although I have 21 runs over 10 miles, only 5 of these stretch to 15!  I don't think I'm going to be that comfortable past the 17/18 mile mark.  Let's hope the crowd will encourage me at the end.

Daily Distance (miles)

My Pace
This has gradually crept up through the year and one of the great benefits of recording all my runs using my Garmin and SportTracks is that I can now see improvement in average pace across all my running, not just events.  In effect I have shaved almost two minutes off my min/mile pace and this has given me a new 10k PB of 47:49 over an undulating and waterlogged GWR Towpath course as well as decent 1:52:35 for a gruelling Forest of Dean Half. 

Average Pace (min/mile) over the year so far

My Predictions

So how might my recent times translate into predictions?

Well, using the infamous RunnersWorld calculator I get the following marathon time results:

• Based on a 20mile training run: 4hrs 17min
• Based on Forest of Dean Half: 3hrs 53min
• Based on my recent 10k PB: 3hrs 39min

So, with an average of 3hrs 57min it looks as though I may actually break the illusive 4hrs!  But I don't think that's going to happen this time....I'm not going to hold my breath.

If I've learnt anything from previous races it's that there are just too many variables, so I'm going to set my sights on a new marathon PB of sub 4hr 30min and hope I can keep on target and the lack of long runs doesn't bite me where it hurts!

Just wish me luck, and please if you can, visit my sponsorship page and help support the charities I'm running for.

Running a Rollercoaster...

This week has been pretty intense.

It started with the disappointment of missing the London Marathon Ballot entry on Monday, a pain that was soothed by the unexpected completion of my first long run in some time on Tuesday, which was quite a relief as I was starting to worry I wouldn't have time to build up to a decent 20 miler before the Edinburgh Marathon on 27th May.

With that out of the way I knocked out a really comfortable recovery run on Wednesday before reality came crashing down with Thursdays Hill session that left me feeling drained and floppy...not a good pre-race preparation for my first 10k race of the season.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I was quite stressed before the start of Friday's 10k due to a far from ideal build-up, and so was over the moon to get around with a new PB.  And with a steady two on Saturday, the week was looking liking being an epic week!

Until today!

I didn't sleep very well last night for some reason and although I had planned to get out early, it was around 9:45 by the time I actually managed to get out the door.

I had decided that after a sudden upsurge in miles this week I wouldn't be pushing the pace to marathon pace, but instead would just run by my HR, keeping below 149 and in my aerobic zone.  My legs were feeling quite heavy and I didn't have anything to prove with pace.

After around 2 miles I could already start to feel some discomfort in my shin; the right leg this time.  It didn't seem to be getting any worse and so I continued, HR was keeping me at a slower pace, but I was sure it would be okay.

What I hadn't counted on was the sun.  It was over-cast and around 7/8C when I left the house in my leggings and shower proof jacket.  By the time I reach 10km the clouds were parting and it was beginning to get rather warm!

I hadn't planned to take any water with me although I did have two gels.  This was an obvious mistake and I ended up asking for a cup of water from a KFC over at Cribbs Causeway retail park!  To their credit they didn't make a fuss and I was hugely grateful...11 miles in and that could have been a show stopper.

As it transpired my downfall was to come a few miles later as my legs just realised they had given me too much already this week.  No amount of Gel/ Water or promises of Holly's massage would keep them going and around 15 miles I knew I was beaten.

I'm not going to get too upset though.  This was the first 50+ miler week for twelve weeks, and given that it included both my longest run and a 10k PB I don't think I have much to complain about...other than a grumbly worry that my shins may yet come back to bite me if I'm not careful!

My focus now is some quality tempo sessions and a taper in preparation for Edinburgh.

My 2012 mileage total now stands at 715 miles (1144km*) 

that leaves just 1297miles to go.

On Day 127 of my streak I can report that I'm 16.5 miles ahead of schedule, so fingers crossed I will be able to bank

*I'm more than half way to my original goal of 2012km

Soggy, squelchy, super towpath 10k

Well I couldn't resist a quick blog about tonight's GWR Towpath 10k.

I've spent the last few days trying to finalise a research proposal and hence have been a little stressed, so when I realised I hadn't quite enough time to get it finished today and had to rush back to get ready for the race, well you can imagine I wasn't in the best of moods for the start.

I was also still mentally and physically tired from a week of tough efforts. An impromptu 20 miler on Tuesday that started off as a 6 mile tempo run that I extended; just because it was a lovely evening. A 5+ mile recovery run on Wednesday and then Hill reps on Thursday left my quads and calves feeling like jelly.

Still, a snickers and a bag of jelly sweets at tea time and I at least thought I'd get around without coming last!

Given the recent cold spell I chose to run in my leggings and a t-shirt under my vest. Okay, the t-shirt was actually there to help contain my man flesh, although I really not know how those whippets managed vests when there is no fat on them to keep themselves warm! Anyway, I digress.

Since I managed to convince Jen to drop me off, I could spend the short drive calculating times and paces and trying to get a handle on how to try and feel more positive.

I decided that I would push for 8 min pace and if I had to slow down at the end, hopefully I could keep it under 52 mins.

As we set off I got carried along with the pack and soon realised that I needed to ease off as we were running sub 6:30 pace. The first up, around the flyover ramp soon saw to that and I dropped it down to a health 7:20ish.

As we exited the park and picked up the tow path I found myself being over taken by quite a number of the quicker runners but held on to what felt like a strangely steady pace, albeit with a thumping HR at almost 180BMP!

The slightly undulating towpath was quite a challenge in places. Soft grass gave way to sloppy mud which in turn was replaced by puddles of ever increasing size. At one point I'm sure it must have been around 20-30 meters of solid flooded path, up to 6" deep in places I discovered!

Still, these challenging conditions didn't take the smile off my face when I reached the turn around in 23minutes.

Now I just had to pull off a reverse split...or maybe not.

Heading back towards the start the mud was made more difficult by having other runners coming towards you. I slipped a number of times but nothing serious and soon found I was at the back end of a break away pack that maybe had a minute on those behind us.

My aim was just to hang in there. As we approached the 7km mark I realise I had never run so far at this pace before and just wanted to see how long it would last.

There were three runners in front of me, could I catch them?

One of the things I love about these events is the fact that despite the fact that most of the participants don't have any serious expectations of winning, there are races to be had at all levels along the course.

As we approached 8km the pace had dropped a little and was hovering around the 8min mark. A short uphill gave me the opportunity to power past the first three and set my sights on another small group around 60m ahead.

By this time I was starting to feel a little funny. I felt as though I couldn't clear my throat and was dry retching a little.

We approached the 9km marker and up the flyover ramp I managed to take two of the runners in front of me as they slowed for what is probably the steepest bit of gradient on the course.

Almost vomiting as I turned to head down the other side (apologies to the marshall if i made you feel nauseous) and now it was back through the park with the finish line in sight; my final quarry just 30m ahead.

But kicking to try and catch was met with a strong response that I just couldn't match. With only 10-15 meters to go I was spent. The foot came off the gas and I coasted across the line in under 48minutes.

UPDATE.....Official gun time was 47:49....A new 10km PB!

I'm pretty pleased with that! (as you might have guessed)

The race was very well organised and I want to say a huge thanks to all the marshalls, time keepers and other race officials who made it possible.

I had to dash off at the end (after a bit of a chat with some fellow runners of course) but hope next time to head back to race HQ for a well deserved pint!

If you live in Bristol and haven't tried this series you are really missing something. The Bristol 10k might have the bells and whistles, but the Towpath and other local club run events are grass roots running and great fun for all involved.

Edinburgh marathon....bring it on!

I think it may be time to start thinking about some new kicks...maybe next month...