Me!

Me!
After the Brighton Marathon 2010

Sunday 25 March 2012

Never again (?) (!!!) (?????)

Final long run by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Can you sponsor me?  I now feel able to promise I'll finish the thing.  Any amount would be really appreciated.  Please hit my JustGiving page with whatever you can afford.  Sincere thanks.

Well, that's it.  The last properly long run in preparation for this year's Brighton Marathon out of the way.  Another stunning day, if what you have planned is a lot of lolling about.  Not so perfect if you're trying to drag your sorry great carcass all over the East Sussex coastline with limited fluids and even less confidence.

But in the end it all went rather well.  From the Shoreham end of the course, I could clearly see the Brighton end, which somehow made it shorter.  And my discovery of the public loos by the rather lovely Carat Cafe in the Southwick section of the harbour made that section much less stressful.  In fact, I did it twice!  This meant that when I hit Hove Lagoon for the third time I only needed to add a couple of short loops in Hove and Brighton to cover the full distance without having to ascend the cliffs by Brighton Marina.

Pace-wise, the first half definitely felt slower than I have recently been running.  This was not intentional, but means I now have a sense of what 10-minute-miling feels like on fresh legs and I faded a lot less than I usually do on long runs.  In the past, I've always set off at what I thought was a conservative pace only to find out when I uploaded and reviewed the data afterwards that I'd been shifting along at speeds much more suited to short sessions.  This has made me think I can't actually run slowly unless and until I'm incapable of running quickly.  A welcome change to my thinking and if there are pace runners on the day, I'll attach myself to mister 10-minute-miles and not lose sight of him come hell or high water.

Not running yesterday definitely helped with this, too.  Even with a couple of walk-stretch-cry intervals in there, I never felt I wouldn't finish and I completed 19.5 miles of my target 20 in 3 hours 21 minutes and change.  Not too shabby and just about on track for a PB over the full distance.  Factor in the amazing boost I always get from running with other people and the AMAZING crowd support on the day, I am really hopeful I will never, ever again have to complete a run of this distance with nothing but my music, my breathing and my own pain for company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It really takes it out of you mentally and physically, doing sessions like these alone, with only your own motivation and no real goal.  I burned over 2,500 calories and I'm starting to feel it now.  Doing my stretches a few minutes ago, I found myself completely incapable of counting to twenty!  Refuelling this afternoon and I expect to go to bed quite early tonight.

Work people, if I am late in the morning it's because we may have been a couple of minutes out when changing the clocks.  Getting to the bus stop at the same time as the bus is a bit of a precision exercise, I can't promise to get up early and leave myself extra time and if I time it wrong, I will not be able to run to catch it!!!  You'll see me when you see me.

I am feeling a lot more optimistic now.  I've been making 'this has to be my last marathon' type noises throughout training this time, mainly because I have not felt like I'd ever actually be capable of finishing, much less doing a decent time.  That's behind me now.  I'm not saying I will ever do another - I really do fancy the Hever Castle triathlon for next year - but I'm not quitting out of hatred of the experience any more.  Just out of a desire to try something else!

Updated Training Plan

Detailed Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

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