Tag: marathon

The Dopey Training Plan

Jess Guth2 Comments

Dopey gI mentioned in the last post that the runDisney races have their own magic and pixie dust, and they do. BUT and it’s a big but, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to train for them. You absolutely do. The Dopey Challenge is a serious challenge and the marathon is no joke. runDisney races are there to be enjoyed and if you are not properly trained then they are just not fun so why bother. So the runDinsey pixie dust isn’t that kind that somehow magics away the lack of training and gets you round happy and smiling. It’s the sort of pixie dust that makes the training worthwhile! We are broadly sticking to what worked last time and are using the Jeff Galloway programme on the runDisney website. There are a few modifications though – we are adding some hill and some speed work to the plan – doing that where the 2 weekly 45 minute runs are scheduled – probably roughly in alternate weeks. We also don’t really bother with the magic mile in any systematic way. As his entire plan is based on run/walk it it was a lovely confidence builder last time. This time I feel far fitter than I was when we started last time so I am continuing to run rather than run/walk the shorter runs and will also run/walk some of the walks listed

So here’s how it shapes up:

We are just at the end of week 7 now and today is actually meant to be a 3 mile run. We have changed that to 9 miles and it fits in better tomorrow – the 9 miles is part of the Great North Run prep. The rest of the training plan then looks like this

So far I feel quite positive about this. I like the 2 weekly 45 minute runs and the numbers on the long runs are not yet scaring me. I still have fond memories of the Toronto Half Marathon in the memory bank so hope that they can carry me through the next few training runs and the Great North Run after which we will have to submit our proof of time for Dopey corral placement. All the strength work we’ve been doing should help too!

Happy Training!

London Marathon (on the TV)

Jess GuthLeave a comment

It’s London Marathon Day and I am back where I belong – on the sofa watching it on television. I’m not sorry I deferred to next year. I’m not ready but somehow watching the scenes from the start – watching the women run consistent 16 minute 5ks and the men just do a ‘pedestrian 4.37 mile’ for the 4th mile is pulling at my heart strings. I definitely have unfinished business on that course. I want to run across tower bridge. I couldn’t do it last time, I felt faint and poorly. So next year I have a date with that bridge and I will run it all even if I walk lots of the rest of the course! I like seeing the marathon on tv, it’s just a reminder that the impossible is possible.

We’ve just been talking about how much stronger we are now than we were before we 31124271_961599730686842_1635462050975055872_nstarted Dopey training in summer 2015 and how that puts us in a great position for having another go in 2019. I have no real after effects from yesterday’s 10 mile adventure. I just have tired knees and tired ankles. I meant to write about this yesterday but somehow it didn’t fit into the blog post. It’s an odd sensation. They are not at all painful or even niggly, they are just tired. I have obviously had tired legs before but never so specifically tired knees and ankles. Odd. We wanted to do our second weekend run before the marathon started today so we got up and headed out – after yesterday’s joint adventure, we went separately this morning. Kath set off before me and I got going a few minutes later.

After yesterday I thought I’d go relatively flat and not technical. I went the long way through the estate and then dropped onto the canal. I had turned off my run/walk intervals because I wanted to run by feel and enjoy being out and not have the beeps interrupt the gorgeous morning. I felt a bit sluggish and my legs felt heavy. I had no fixed idea of what I would do and as I set off I thought ‘Oh hell, this might involve more walking than I wanted’. As I kept plodding downhill I started to move better and settle in so I thought I would run the first mile and then see how I was. The first mile came and I still felt pretty good. I decided to keep going to 1.5 and then maybe walk a little. 1.5 came and I was fine so I thought that actually getting to 2 miles would be nice and take me to

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Hard to see ducklings

my favourite stretch of canal where I could walk a little and see if there were more ducklings. Just before I hit the 2 miles I started to feel it a bit but then I saw Kath coming the other way on the opposite side of the canal and she signalled for me to keep going and she’d catch up and we could run the rest together. She caught me just as I started walking. We looked around, saw some pretty new lambs, more ducklings and lots of different shades of green.

After a few minutes we started jogging again and my aim was to run the rest of mile 3 – did it, just. But was now feeling the warmth of the sun and the 10 miles in my legs. We walked a few minutes, picked up the barrier placed to block the canal towpath for the section they are working on this summer  – it must have fallen over – turned round and IMG_9041jogged back to the golf course bridge and then walked up the golf course, jogged down the track to our old sheep fields and then walked a bit more. So miles 1 and 2 were about consistent running, mile 3 was about seeing who was around on the canal and saying hi to lambs and ducklings, mile 4 was about walking up and enjoying the views and mile 5 and the final stretch, to be honest, was just about nursing tired legs  and niggly hips home. I am however very excited to have recorded over 70 miles for April so far – 3rd highest monthly mileage ever and still 8 days left. I’m enjoying my running and I am looking forward to building on this. My fitness is definitely improving, my endurance is improving, I’m getting physically and mentally stronger. I’m also getting slower it seems but I’m not concerned about pace at the moment. It’ll come, or not. I’m just happy to be enjoying it.

Happy Sunday! Go turn your dreams into reality.

 

The week after the marathon

Jess Guth3 Comments

The ballot for the London Marathon 2017 opened today. Oh that excitement of will I or won’t I get in, it was almost tempting and then I remembered: I don’t want to get in. A week and a day after the marathon and I have absolutely no desire to run that distance ever again. It hasn’t been a ‘never again…oooh look a marathon’ sort of scenario. I’ve done it twice – that’s twice more than I ever thought I would! That’ll do!

It’s been a funny week. I perfected a sort of penguin shuffle over the first few days until the stiffness eased and I could walk normally again. I learned that touching your toes is a privilege and not a right (I could barely reach past my knees) and I felt totally lost for a couple of days and tired for the entire week. I craved salty stuff for a day or two – crisps mainly and anything with carbs and then my sweet tooth kicked in and I just wanted chocolate and cake and biscuits. I didn’t want big meals, I just wanted to eat constantly. I was looking forward to a glass or two of wine but when it came to it wasn’t really bothered. I’m still not fussed really.

Looking back at marathon day is also a funny old business. I am remembering things I didn’t immediately after when I wrote the race review and my perception of the day is shifting a little now the pain has worn off. The memories that are sticking are the good ones. I remember the rhinos – oh the rhinos. They were fabulous. I think we were probably overtaken by all of them in the end but we spent a lot of time close to rhinos. I don’t know how the guys managed to run in those ‘costumes’ – more like contraptions really (sorry if you have no idea what I am talking about).  I remember the crowds through Greenwich and I remember the first person to call my name – a little boy maybe aged 10 shouting ‘go Jessica!’. I remember all the high 5s offered by the kids and my inability to be grumpy about being in pain and then making the effort to run over to the kids even when I felt like I couldn’t move another step.

I remember the cutty sark and looping round it, smiling to myself and I remember really wanting the Too Fat to Run cheering station to come because I needed a boost. I remember the feeling of being supported and cheered on. I don’t remember the  disappointment at not being able to run across Tower Bridge, I remember going across Tower Bridge, taking it in and looking at it as if I’d never seen it before and I remember going past mile 15 thinking ‘ ok well, not going to plan but I’m doing this!’ I remember at mile 16 setting my heart on finishing and I remember remembering  – probably at around mile 18 – a t-shirt I’d seen during my first half marathon which said ‘Pain is temporary, knees are replaceable but glory is eternal’.

I remember my blister popping at about mile 21 as I decided to use the roar of the crowds to just try another little run and I remember emerging from the tunnel, I remember the Thames and how gorgeous London looked on the day. I remember how lovely it was to see Sarah and Mark out on the course – friendly faces also on this journey. I don’t really remember Buckingham Palace, I just remember the crowd and the noise and then seeing the finish line and Kath turning to me and saying ‘Starwars theme tune?’ and I think I laughed and maybe it did play in my head as I crossed the line. (See my Dopey half marathon post for an explanation of this. Edited: Actually it’s not there – we crossed the finish line to the star wars theme tune and it’s the best ever! Was it the marathon? Hm!). I remember the bloke giving me my medal – actually putting it round my neck. I remember saying thank you over and over again and him laughing at me telling me well done.

As the days have gone on, the time it took or the fact that it didn’t all go to plan have become far less important. I look back on the day with fondness and the overwhelming emotion looking back is happiness. I wouldn’t swap that experience for anything – doesn’t mean I want to do it again though! So if you’re sitting there wondering if maybe you should enter the ballot, do it. There isn’t really a good reason not to. Well actually there are 1000s of good reasons not to but none of them matter. I’m happy, really happy I’ve done it and even happier I don’t have to do it again!

6.23.58

Jess Guth4 Comments

That number will forever be my marathon PB. I am done with that distance but I am also an official London Marathon finisher. I have to say, writing that feels pretty good. So here is how it went.

Today seems to have started in another life time. After a pretty bad night’s sleep we got sorted, did some yoga and set off. The tube and DLR ride took about 30 mins, the walk to the assembly area another 15 or so. We went to the loos, sat for a bit and then handed in our bags, then we sat a bit more. We entered the starting pens about 9.45 and soon we were moving forwards and then we were off, just like that we were running the London Marathon.

The first 5 miles were fabulous, we kept going with the flow for a while and then stopped at the loos just before mile 1. The early loo stop strategy had really worked for us during Dopey so we adopted it here. Then we went on. I got to just before mile 6 and suddenly felt really poorly. I couldn’t really explain but it felt like I was going to pass out. It wasn’t poor fuelling or hydration, I know from training runs that feels different. I actually thought I was going to have to stop there and then. I took an extra walk break and then we were at the Cutty Sark and the crowds lifted me a bit and I could keep going. I did have to put in extra walks though. Again the thought I might not make it crossed my mind.

Just before mile ten was the Too Fat to Run cheering station and I needed that. I got a big hug and lots of high fives and then we were gone. I was ok for a mile or so and then the funny feeling came back. Not quite dizzy, not quite nausea, not quite anything  but most definitly not quite right. Kath said she thought I should stop. I didn’t want to. We pushed on. We walked most of Tower Bridge, I’d wanted to run it but I just couldn’t. Half way came. There were other runners going the opposite way on the other side of the road, they were at 22 ish miles and I longed to be there and wondered if I would be, didn’t seem likely.

At 14 miles I was ready to quit. I just didn’t feel right. I don’t know why I didn’t stop, too stubborn maybe. I just kept walking and crying, I did a lot of crying around mile 14.   We agreed we’d keep walking for a bit and see if I could continue. So we did, we walked, we walked fast, as fast as we could and every now and again I managed a little jog, just to the next traffic lights, just to the km or mile marker, just to the bus stop. Every bit of me was screaming to stop but that’s how we ticked off the miles, one after the other, 15, 16,17 and then we saw 18 and I’d decided I wanted to finish. I felt better in myself, no longer not quite right but just fatigued and my hips, lower back and thighs had had enough, but 19 miles came and so did 20 and then it began to seem possible.

I walked most of the Dopey marathon and that was miserable. This wasn’t really miserable, we had a few giggles along the way and I tried to take it all in. The crowds were fantastic and hearing people call out your name helps massively. So no, not miserable but also not quite what I’d had in mind. I didn’t want to be in this much pain and this knackered at 20 miles. But then maybe I should have got my arse of the sofa and trained more…

21 came, then 22, 23 seemed to take forever but it did come as did 24. Just over two miles left running along slowly but running quite often now, the Thames on my left, the familiar views, the embankment, 25 miles. As well as my lower back, hips and thighs my right ankle has now had enough and my left calf is seriously unhappy and still, somehow I jog more in the last mile than I have the previous 12. Somehow, I make it, somehow I run across the finish line. And cry, and then giggle and then do both at the same time.

All the time Kath has been by my side, talking to me. I know she’s in pain, she must be if my back is this bad but she keeps pushing me on, keeps reminding me that we are Dopey and that together we can do anything. She’ll never get the credit I do for running the marathon because she won’t shout about it as much but really she ran it for us both today. She broke through her pain barrier and mine and kept us putting one foot in front of the other.

Could I have done better today? I could have trained better but as things stood going into the marathon, no I couldn’t have. I had nothing left, I didn’t hold anything back. I left everything I had out there on the streets of London and I am bloody proud that we finished, finished running across the line.

We were meant to go to an after party for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund but neither of us felt very well and it took us ages just to walk to get our bags. We wanted to come back to the hotel, stretch, have a bath, eat etc. So we did. I’d love to tell you I’m out celebrating but I’ve had a little bottle of peroni, gallons of water and I’m ready for bed!

So not the greatest marathon ever but if you think slogging it out and not giving up counts for something, you can still support me here: My page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/jessguth

thank you.

50 Days

Jess GuthLeave a comment

So it’s 50 days to the London Marathon. Wow. So in 50 days I am going to put myself through the emotional rollercoaster that is running a marathon. Hm. So why am I doing this again? Well, I’m beginning to realise just how big a deal it is. Two marathons in relatively quick succession is hard – emotionally rather than physically. But I won the place and I am committed to it. Julie Creffield of Too Fat to Run teamed up with the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund to put a team together for the London Marathon. If I’m honest the Memorial Fund is probably not a charity I would have picked or even paid much attention to in the past. However, I have spent a fair amount of time looking at what they do and the more I read the more impressed I am and the more proud to be running for them this year. Ultimately they are about helping people achieve their dreams – I’m all for that and the focus of grants is on practical stuff – equipment, travel… It’s an obivous and down to earth sort of approach and I like that. It’s straight forward. The focus is on helping young athletes make the transition from junior to senior level and this also makes a lot of sense to me. So many promising young people never achieve their potential and the fund tries to ensure that young athletes have all the support they need to make the step up to senior level.

I have a couple of fundraising bits and pieces planned but I’d really appreciate your help to raise as much money as possible to help the next generation of athletes make it to the top. Help them be the ones we cheer on at future olympics, help them be the role models of the future, help them translate their hard work into success at the top level and in doing so inspire the next generation. Or just sponsor me for me. I’ll be honest. I’m struggling. More so now than before the Dopey challenge I am worried about whether I can do this. I am terrified of failing and not making it. I am also much more self conscious about this and more worried about what people think. It’s the London Marathon for goodness’ sake. I am craving the recongition and the belief in me that seeing that sponsorship trickle in brings with it. A little pathetic I know but that’s how I feel and I am so scared of letting people down. I know it’s a big ask because so many of you just recently sponsored me very generously indeed but if you can please help me focus and work hard over these next 50 days and show your support. You can donate via my fundraising page here.

Thank you