28th January - Twitching Slowly or Quickly?

I took Monday and Tuesday this week as rest days and so felt moderately refreshed when I went to club on Wednesday night. I was dismayed (in a good way, if that's possible) to find we were going to run up the dreaded hill that is Woodhall Road in Calverley. However, it was nowhere near as bad as I thought and I managed to clock up 8 miles which I was really pleased with.

Marathon School last night (or the Slow Twitchers),and we were introduced to a pelaton, which involves running easily in single file, 2m apart. The runner at the back of the line sprints to the front, and settles in to the easy pace again 2m in front of the front runner. Then the next runner (at the back) sprints to the front, again taking up the lead position 2m in front of the front runner. I think we covered about 5 miles over the course of the evening, which I was pleased with and I really enjoyed it.

Quite a few from club are running one of the league cross country races on Sunday, but I'm keen to try to stick to my training plan, so I've arranged to run a 10 miler with Jo from club instead. So, that's Sunday's training and Saturday I'll do bootcamp as usual.

The hardest part of this marathon training so far has been getting the number of times I train a week right. It is okay to do two days on the trot, or will I lose the benefit on the second day because I won't put in so much effort as I'm still tired from the day before? How far should I run on a long run? How far should I run on a short run?? So many questions!!

Anyway, I have some new trainers this week so it's time for a fresh start! The new plan is to follow my marathon school training plan more closely. So, next week I'm going to try out a Tuesday night run with the Virgin Active Runners, which has been highly recommended to me, instead of the usual Wednesday run and see whether I feel fresher for marathon school as a result.

Perhaps I am planning too meticulously for this and need to take it more in my stride (literally?!). Well, we'll see...

Raising the Game

Sponsorship for the marathon is steadily increasing. I'm now at £325.50 - 65% of my target with just under 11 weeks to go. Thanks very much to Sarah, Uncle Albert, Lisa, Matt and Claire for your recent donations.

24th January - Cold Enough to Freeze...

An early start this morning to be in York for 9am to run the Brass Monkey half marathon. Given that I'm still in the 'endurance phase' of my marathon training plan, I'd been told not to race as building mileage is more important and racing at this stage could result in injury - or more likely for me, being so tired that I can't train for the rest of the week!

I decided I was going to try to work out heart rate training so strapped on my monitor and, er, watched it. I don't really understand what my heart rate should be when I'm running to ensure I'm running at the optimum level. I ran the first seven miles at 160 bpm (thanks for keeping me steady, Gill) but then increased to 170 bpm for the next five miles and upped it a bit more to 175 bpm for the last mile. But what does all this mean?? I'll have to check it out with Mick, the marathon school coach who reckons training by heart rate is the best way.

Anyway, I managed 2 hours 16 minutes, which is my slowest half marathon yet but I guess I need to bear in mind it's getting the mileage in that counts most at this stage. I think that's the case anyway - the problem with marathon training is that there's so much conflicting advice it's hard to know what the best thing to do is.

Despite being tired and having feet covered in blisters, I think I'm doing okay mileage wise. In the last week, I've done about 30 miles plus boot camp - I just hope I can keep it up!

Eleven weeks and 13 more miles than today to go...arrgghh

21st January - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm absolutely shattered tonight and have realised I'm going to have to amend my perhaps over ambitious training. If only I didn't live in EcclesHILL, I'm sure life and running, in particular, would be much easier!

Tonight was the first session of marathon school - or the 'slow twitchers' which I think is our official name. I'm hoping this weekly two hour session is going to whip me into shape ready for the marathon. Tonight, we did a 5k time trial and I was dismayed to realise I'm actually a minute slower than I was when I last did a time trial in May last year (27.35 compared to a PB of 26.25). I'm putting it down to a week of tough training...

Monday I was thinking of an easy run but Lisa had other ideas (I'm so thankful to her for organising me!), and we ended up doing 4.5 miles which included the dreaded hill that is King Lane. What really did for me though was Wednesday's 8.5 mile run out to Saltaire and back to Idle - my legs were like lead for that entire run and I've felt drained all day.

So...I'm going to rest tomorrow night instead of going to running club, in the hope that I'll be fit for boot camp on Saturday morning.

This Sunday, I'm running the Brass Monkey half marathon in York as I've now managed to get a number from someone who has dropped out. It's definitely going to be more of a training run that a race though - at the moment I'm not sure my legs will even get me round.

Three sleeps before then though...

17th January - The Hills Are Alive

Finally, a longer run is complete. Did a very testing run this morning with Julie, Lisa, Gill & Sharon from Saltaire to Eldwick, then onto Baildon and back to Saltaire - I think it totalled just over 10 miles, and we were out for about 1.40 minutes. It was a bit longer than I should've done according to my training plan but I really enjoyed it, despite the mammoth hills at Eldwick. My heart is still beating out of my chest now!

I've struggled to keep to the training plan due to the inclement weather and icy paths but am hoping to get back on track next week. Still managed five miles last Monday, five on Friday evening and an hour's boot camp on Saturday, but it is not enough! So, next week's training should look like this:

Monday - 30 minutes easy
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 40 minutes steady
Thursday - Marathon School - last week cancelled so not sure if it's fartlek or 5k time trial
Friday - 60 minutes easy
Saturday - Bootcamp
Sunday - 90 minutes easy.

This week I need to find a route to run next Sunday and also investigate what I need to be doing about 'fuelling' when I run. Do I need gels, energy drinks or what??

Twelve weeks today and the marathon will be complete!

Generous people

Thanks so much to the generous people who have sponsored me in the last week: Becky, Auntie Brenda, Jane, Julie, Kay, Bernard, ma mere, John and Mark. I'm now over the half way mark to my target with £254.30 raised to date. For anyone else who would like to sponsor me, I'm raising money for the British Heart Foundation and the link is:

http://www.justgiving.com/Sophie-Withnall

11th January - Slip Slidin' Away

The snow seems to be melting now and running in slush is no fun at all. Ran about 5 miles with Julie and her son, Marc - it was a tough run to five lane ends, down Kings Road and then up Bolton Road. Julie described it like running through treacle and that was pretty accurate along with slipping and sliding on the snow. The local youths lobbed snowballs at us as we ran - unlucky Julie got bashed in the head with one. Surely the young people of Paris will not shout abuse and throw things as we run the marathon?!

Arrived home with cold and wet feet.

Rest day today and I'm intending to savour the free evening...

10th January - Big Bad Doms

Very sore today after the first boot camp for three weeks yesterday - I believe it's called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). It was really hard going in the snow, and it always feels like I'm starting from scratch if I even have a week off. Still, I'm hoping that weekly boot camp - run by http://www.creatingchaos.co.uk/ - (shown here in an attractive photo of me with my bum in the air!)will strengthen my legs enough to keep me running the full 26.2 miles.

Marathon school is starting next week, which I'm very excited about. It's going to be two hours of training every Thursday for the next 13 weeks. Mick Brearley who's running it has sent me through my training plan and I'm pleased to note it doesn't look anywhere near as daunting as I expected. In fact, I think I've been doing okay so far. The plan is broken down into four phases: endurance phase, lactate threshold, race preparation and taper. I'm going to adapt it slightly to fit in with club training nights.

So, the next four weeks will look something like this:

Monday - 30 minutes steady
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 1 hour easy
Thursday - 5k time trial/fartlek/hills/long tempo
Friday - 45 minutes steady
Saturday - Boot camp
Sunday - 80 minutes rising to 2 hours easy.

Goodbye social life or any other interesting offers...well, it's only 13 weeks of my life.

8th January - Blinded by the Snow

6.50pm and Lisa calls to say it's snowing hard in Pudsey so she's not running. There's no sign here in Bradford.

Fast forward to five past seven. Julie and I run what was possibly a three mile PB for us both round Eccleshill slipping in the snow, barely able to see where we're going as the snow's coming down so heavily.

The training isn't going so well! On the plus side though, I've now raised £138.30 for the British Heart Foundation. Thanks to James, Kate H, Kate S, Matt, Liz and Chris for your sponsorship.

Boot camp in Roundhay Park tomorrow morning. Can't wait...

6th January - The Big Freeze...

Been back an hour and still haven't got warm...blanket wrapped round my legs as I type. James has just informed me I look like a frozen turkey. Thanks.

The Big Freeze is here.

The car said it was minus three degrees but I'd said a definite 'yes' to Julie about running tonight on Monday. I can't let her down. I can't let myself down. So, donning my studs (apparently very handy for running in snow) I head down to Idle for 7pm.

Despite the cold, it's a lovely night...white and crisp.

We run from Idle to Thackley and on to Saltaire down to the roundabout (not a car in sight) and back...only not quite back because that final hill is just too much and Julie's husband's car gets up it much easier than we could.

A pleasing 7.5 miles in cross country-esq conditions.

4th January - Another Run in the Snow

Oh heck, yesterday I committed to meeting Julie and Lisa to run tonight. I haven't managed to get warm all day and truely the last thing I want to do is step outside in the dark and cold and run...and didn't Lisa mention something about running up the neverending Harrogate Road?!

Nevertheless, 7pm and I'm racing out the door in woolly hat and James's enormous Thinsulate gloves. Run down to Fitness First. Not many at club tonight (wise people)...just Julie, Lisa and Jo is back. What would I do without Lisa who has worked out a trying route to run to Five Lane Ends, down to Idle, up to Greengates then up Harrogate Road. I would NEVER do this run on my own! We head off slipping and sliding on the pavement...surely my breathing is so heavy because of the cold rather than my fitness levels?! Harrogate Road goes on and on and it occurs to me, that I will remember this training run when I'm struggling round Paris...I ran up a big hill in the snow to train for this, what's 26.2 miles around flat Paris in the Spring? Lisa and Julie are speeding on ahead. How do they go so fast? Should I be pushing harder?

We end up extending the route slightly...well, I'm pretty warm now. Some local youths taunt us on the home stretch back - it's always the same, they try to race us and end up crippled over. Ha!

Five miles...done.

3rd January 2010 - Training Day One

The training books are all read, two half marathons are complete and seven weeks ago in a moment of pure insanity I entered the Paris Marathon. The easy bits are done. It's day three of 2010, the countdown begins...time to get serious...

Up at 6.45am for the first run of the New Year. Panic is beginning to set in that the Paris Marathon is just 14 weeks today! Last night, I tried in vain to find a 14 week marathon training plan but they all seem to be a minimum of 16 weeks...have I left it too late??

Today is the Pennine 10k at Brighouse.

Meet Lisa & Julie, my fellow Eccleshill Road Runners (ERR), at the end of the road. The snow is pretty bad and as we drive into Bradford to meet Gill (another ERR member), Lisa wonders whether the race will be cancelled because of the ice. Unfortunately, her prediction comes to fruition as we approach Brighouse there is a call from Mick Hogan (top notch ERR) to confirm the race is cancelled. Undeterred, Lisa suggests we run anyway and drives us to a park for a short run.

We're just warming up (well, of sorts), when we're joined by another would-be Pennine 10k racer from Baildon runners. Turns out he's run nine marathons and is full of tips. The main thing I remember though is his experience that once you start doing training runs over 13 miles your weight drops off. Well, every cloud....

He also confirms my reading (the bible - The Competitive Runners Handbook) that I shouldn't go over 20 miles on a training run. I like this man!!

We do about three miles in the end, not much, but it is freezing cold and surely we're using more muscle power running in snow?

Finish off with a warming coffee and bagel in McDonalds...hmm not sure that is on the training plan.

Well, it's a start...