Edinburgh Marathon 2014
May 25th 2014
My first (and last!) marathon.
I'm one of those slightly "ocd" people who likes to plan, prepare and pack to the finest detail. I planned my entry to Edinburgh on a spontaneous whim in December. Let's just say the winter weight was piling on, the socials were numerous and I was finding winter training for triathlon, unlike rowing, lacked focus (ie events or races).
Now I could have entered a 10k or two, or perhaps a duathlon. But no, I went big. To scare myself into action, I entered Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2014 - the Full one.
Unfortunately, due to aforementioned socials, I wasn't able to 'spring' into action until after New Years, but at that point I made the resolution to train hard, and avoid alcohol until after the marathon. I set myself up a nice little training plan on the advice of a friend which gently built up my distance by less than 10% per week, starting with a 2, 3 and 4 mile run in a week, and generally consisting of three runs per week.
I soon discovered the reasoning behind the gentle build up as I very quickly developed posterior tibial tendonitis. The cure for this was a week off running, and so began a cycle of running/injury.
After a month of this my tendons seemed to develop a bit of resistance, and February was a good month of solid training. I went out in all weathers, temperatures and light levels. In fact, I rarely ran in the light, becoming accustomed to the dark, the pavements (and occasional lack of them!), Kingsbury Water Parkrun and fell in love with my 2XU compression tights.
March took me down in a wave of colds, the first of which I caught from some kids at the Big Bang Fair - so steer clear if you value your health more than a room full of 30,000 kids. Training was limited through to mid-April, so I was just hoping some element of base fitness would remain. I couldn't even cross train and this episode culminated in an embarrassing collapsing episode on the commuter train back from London - cue a week off from work and a delivery of Echinacea tea and VitaminC from my mother (who happens to be a doctor and this was the best she could come up with).
On my new diet of tea and strong orange-like powdered sweets I fended off further colds and had a successful last month of training. By this season triathlon season had picked up so I entered a few races for 'cross training' purposes.
Referring back to the original training plan, I was disappointed to find that I should have reached 15 miles the week after the Cambridge half marathon in March, but due to illness I hadn't even managed another half. I therefore resolved to run 15 miles in the first week of May, which I did but it was very painful. Having ditched the tendon issue, my left IT band at this point decided that about 6 miles into a run it would start to ail me, making the last 7 miles a big challenge.
Two weeks later it was still playing up but at this point I was desperate to make the mental barrier of 20 miles, so on the back of the 15 mile run I took on a 20 mile route. Surprisingly, the IT band held off for 11 miles, at which point it starting niggling. The niggling increased (especially running downhill) and at 16 miles it was truly agonising. However, with an end point around 45 minutes away I was NOT giving up, so I hobbled/limped the last few miles home, getting thoroughly told off when I got through the door for 'overexerting myself on a Wednesday evening'. My body did a good telling off act too, and for the next few days even walking was tricky.
With a week and a half ago and the ability to walk just about regained, I set a nice taper programme. My marathon strategy over the few months of training had very rapidly changed from 'being fit, prepared and ready to race' to 'holding off injuries and making the finish line'. With this in mind I created a food plan (having practised eating on the run I found that gels, Brunch bars and the small packs of Haribo that come with Wiggle orders were the only things I could digest) and read up on the race.
I also set myself a time target. From past experience this can be a mistake as if I'm not meeting a target I find the rest of the session mentally challenging. However, I felt I needed something to keep up the interest so I did the classic 'double and add 10' calculation with my last half marathon time (02:11:30) and came up with a target of 04:33:00.
Now to get to Edinburgh, and race!
People around me started VERY fast which was a bit nerve racking but I stuck to my guns (and plan) and didn't go any faster than 09:30 per mile. Once I got down the hill and hit the sea (5 miles in) I did a steady 10ish min per mile pace. I even managed to eat at 5, 8 and 12 miles. My plan was to continue eating at 4 mile intervals but I got a bad pain in my stomach just after 13 miles so gave up on food.
The worst bit was definitely form 13 miles to 20 miles. The sun came out so I was far too hot, and it was a quite boring bit of the route (road, trees either side, faster people coming the opposite way up to 8 miles ahead of me grrr). There was also a big headwind... However, at the turning point of 18 miles I felt a tad better and by the time I got to 20 miles the sun had gone in and the tailwind was being helpful. I decided to pick the pace up and manage to speed up every mile of the last 6 miles which I'm pleased with. Normally I just get slower and slower. I overtook LOADS of people in the last 6 miles which was nice too.
Overall, I feel this was actually my best paced run of the season and am glad I pulled it out of the bag for the race. Bang on target too - I would recommend the 'double and add 10' as a good measure.
Aside from the pain during the race, the pain over the next couple of days (until I went swimming on Tuesday in fact - after which it completely disappeared and I wished I'd gone earlier!) was enough to put me off ever doing this again. Edinburgh was a great course, but I'm just not built for running... One ticked off the bucket list: onwards to the next challenge please.
Times
Total time: 04:33
658 of 1273 women under 35.
My first (and last!) marathon.
I'm one of those slightly "ocd" people who likes to plan, prepare and pack to the finest detail. I planned my entry to Edinburgh on a spontaneous whim in December. Let's just say the winter weight was piling on, the socials were numerous and I was finding winter training for triathlon, unlike rowing, lacked focus (ie events or races).
Now I could have entered a 10k or two, or perhaps a duathlon. But no, I went big. To scare myself into action, I entered Edinburgh Marathon Festival 2014 - the Full one.
Unfortunately, due to aforementioned socials, I wasn't able to 'spring' into action until after New Years, but at that point I made the resolution to train hard, and avoid alcohol until after the marathon. I set myself up a nice little training plan on the advice of a friend which gently built up my distance by less than 10% per week, starting with a 2, 3 and 4 mile run in a week, and generally consisting of three runs per week.
I soon discovered the reasoning behind the gentle build up as I very quickly developed posterior tibial tendonitis. The cure for this was a week off running, and so began a cycle of running/injury.After a month of this my tendons seemed to develop a bit of resistance, and February was a good month of solid training. I went out in all weathers, temperatures and light levels. In fact, I rarely ran in the light, becoming accustomed to the dark, the pavements (and occasional lack of them!), Kingsbury Water Parkrun and fell in love with my 2XU compression tights.
On my new diet of tea and strong orange-like powdered sweets I fended off further colds and had a successful last month of training. By this season triathlon season had picked up so I entered a few races for 'cross training' purposes.
Referring back to the original training plan, I was disappointed to find that I should have reached 15 miles the week after the Cambridge half marathon in March, but due to illness I hadn't even managed another half. I therefore resolved to run 15 miles in the first week of May, which I did but it was very painful. Having ditched the tendon issue, my left IT band at this point decided that about 6 miles into a run it would start to ail me, making the last 7 miles a big challenge.
Two weeks later it was still playing up but at this point I was desperate to make the mental barrier of 20 miles, so on the back of the 15 mile run I took on a 20 mile route. Surprisingly, the IT band held off for 11 miles, at which point it starting niggling. The niggling increased (especially running downhill) and at 16 miles it was truly agonising. However, with an end point around 45 minutes away I was NOT giving up, so I hobbled/limped the last few miles home, getting thoroughly told off when I got through the door for 'overexerting myself on a Wednesday evening'. My body did a good telling off act too, and for the next few days even walking was tricky.
With a week and a half ago and the ability to walk just about regained, I set a nice taper programme. My marathon strategy over the few months of training had very rapidly changed from 'being fit, prepared and ready to race' to 'holding off injuries and making the finish line'. With this in mind I created a food plan (having practised eating on the run I found that gels, Brunch bars and the small packs of Haribo that come with Wiggle orders were the only things I could digest) and read up on the race.
I also set myself a time target. From past experience this can be a mistake as if I'm not meeting a target I find the rest of the session mentally challenging. However, I felt I needed something to keep up the interest so I did the classic 'double and add 10' calculation with my last half marathon time (02:11:30) and came up with a target of 04:33:00.
Now to get to Edinburgh, and race!
Edinburgh was wet. Very wet. When I got there on Saturday I did a bit of site seeing in the rain, before having pizza and then bed. Saturday morning brought torrential rain from 7am until 9:30am (I was glad I wasn't doing the half actually, as that went from 08:00 to 10:00!). I managed a fair bit of breakfast and walked to the race in the rain, but luckily just as I took my coat off it stopped raining...
People around me started VERY fast which was a bit nerve racking but I stuck to my guns (and plan) and didn't go any faster than 09:30 per mile. Once I got down the hill and hit the sea (5 miles in) I did a steady 10ish min per mile pace. I even managed to eat at 5, 8 and 12 miles. My plan was to continue eating at 4 mile intervals but I got a bad pain in my stomach just after 13 miles so gave up on food.
The worst bit was definitely form 13 miles to 20 miles. The sun came out so I was far too hot, and it was a quite boring bit of the route (road, trees either side, faster people coming the opposite way up to 8 miles ahead of me grrr). There was also a big headwind... However, at the turning point of 18 miles I felt a tad better and by the time I got to 20 miles the sun had gone in and the tailwind was being helpful. I decided to pick the pace up and manage to speed up every mile of the last 6 miles which I'm pleased with. Normally I just get slower and slower. I overtook LOADS of people in the last 6 miles which was nice too.
Overall, I feel this was actually my best paced run of the season and am glad I pulled it out of the bag for the race. Bang on target too - I would recommend the 'double and add 10' as a good measure.Aside from the pain during the race, the pain over the next couple of days (until I went swimming on Tuesday in fact - after which it completely disappeared and I wished I'd gone earlier!) was enough to put me off ever doing this again. Edinburgh was a great course, but I'm just not built for running... One ticked off the bucket list: onwards to the next challenge please.
Times
Total time: 04:33
658 of 1273 women under 35.
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