One Marathon Task by cyberpixie

I met up with a uni friend who is running the Brighton Marathon the week before my little challenge arrives (ha) and he and I mapped out a 15 mile route today, which took us up through Richmond Hill, round Richmond Park, down via Sheen and onto Kew then up the tow path back to Richmond. 

I get a weird kick out of telling non-runners my routes at the moment. I think because the mileage is getting serious it sounds so horrific for people who gawp at the idea of running for a bus let alone for fun. For me, I am slowly seeing really decent progress so I am happy with it at the moment. 

So, I managed the route of 15 miles today - suspect it was actually more than 15 miles because when I mapped it, it worked out at around 15.7 but I was using my nike+ thing on my iPhone and we ended up doing some loops because it said we hadn't hit 15 yet, so I think actually we did slightly more, but I am not going to quibble. 

The first two miles were horrible. It was freezing cold and I wasn't feeling 100% in the mood, despite having been relatively excited (yes, really...) about this particular distance. It's moved beyond a half marathon now, which was my previous longest ever run, so this does mark a significant point in all this. However, once I had got settled into my pace (which took about 5 miles, really) and had got my refuelling routine underway I felt more into a rhythm.

I broke the distance down in my head (thanks for the tip, Mike!) so that certain points in the route I worked towards and then moved onto thinking about the next point. The real high point for me was getting around Richmond Park (it seemed to go on forever, really) and then it was a fairly flat course all the way down to Kew and along the tow path, so it felt easier. 

The SiS gels I am using are good but I could feel the rush of sugar hit my system and I did feel slightly bleurgh (technical term) at points after taking them, however I am going to stick with these and not try something else now. I am 6 weeks away and I am going to get used to using these ones. And also I bought a box of 30 of them.

The course took around 2 hours 48 minutes - which I know isn't fast, but I am not a fast runner. Yet. This is my first marathon, people. I am going to get a time and then work on cutting it down and getting better. At this stage though, it's all new and I want to get around the course comfortably and not pegging it and then dying around mile 18. So nurr. 

So, right now I am a bit achey, my glutes are loving me and so are my knees and my ankles. I get my orthotics fitted on Thursday which I think will really help my feet. After my sports massage on Thursday (I was told my calves were veeery tight but the orthotics will help as my calf muscles are over compensating at the moment, apparently). 

I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. 

And now onto next week. A recovery run tomorrow to get my legs ticking over and then a few shortish runs through the week (I say short, they'll be around 6 miles ish, give or take) plus I think I need to either put some hill sessions in or some intervals and then moving onto the weird and wonderful world of 17 miles next weekend. Then 19 the following weekend. Then 20 or so after that and then I am going to begin the equally weird and wonderful fortnight of tapering (my legs are very much looking forward to that, I bet!)

Have a great weekend, people!

Pix 

xx