Milton Keynes Marathon - Complete

Sunday 29th April will certainly be remembered by thousands of people, both runners and spectators as a dire day for weather.

From 6:00am (time I woke up) untill 5:00pm it pretty much rained continuosly. We also had intermittent driving rain and winds in excess of 20mph.

The general temperature for the day was about 5 or 6 degrees C, 45F. Although with the wind and rain it felt more like 0 C.

I remember standing at the starting line shivering as it was so cold and I was completely wet by the time the gun went.

The next 4 hours or so was a time that I learned a lot about myself and it was also character building too. Much of it is a blur and I have to think hard to remember going through certain sections. There was so much going on, with entertainment, other runners, support from spectators, digging deep when the weather turned uglier and to a large extent having a good time.

Considering my problems during training, (leg injury end of week 5, restart training week 13) so I lost 7 weeks training out of 18 and the last 2 are tapering anyway, I consider my 4.5 hour time quite respectable. A shame things could not have gone more to plan, similarly the weather, but never the less the finish line was reached.

At 19 miles my pace dropped off as I had a calf muscle tightening up and I had to work through it and get it going again. Ironically as i hit the 25 mile marker by pace quickened to that of mile 6 or 7. So it goes to show that i had it in me.

Countdown in hours!

Less than 48 hours to go.

weather forcast is gradually getting worse. Rain I can deal with, but strong winds will put paid to any reasonable attempt at a good time.

Day 123 - 4 to go

There's not much to say.

Everythings quite and energy is being saved.

The outlook for the weather is not good, but as before, the BBC are usually wrong so there is still hope for a better than awful day yet.

Day 119 - 7 to go

Just keeping going now with gentle runs to keep me flexible and focused. Of course today was the London Marathon which made me think for a number of reasons.

Do i go for time?
Do i just try and finish and have fun?
It's a very long way.
It's 1 week away.
why am I dong this?

7 days to go, keep busy and keep looking forward. (Hope the weather is kind nect week).

Day 116 - 10 to go

I don't like this waiting bit now.

During the main training section there was a lot to do and I was busy and constantly thinking that I needed to do more. Now I know during tapering that things are a lot quieter, for a reason, but after nearly a week of it I'm thinking that I either want to get out more or do the race.

Let's get it over with, roll on 10 days.

Energy Gel packs

Today for the 3rd time, during the course of a long run, i've used gel packs for extra energy. The main reason for testing them was to be sure that they were OK for me on race day as they will be available throughout the course.

Many people i've spoken to have talked about the 'buzz' that the packs give them. I'm sorry but in the trials i've done they have had precious little effect on me. The best I can claim is that they cleared my head slightly during last sundays long run.

Am I missing something?

Day 112 - 14 to go

It certainly doesn't get any easier!

Covered 18 miles this morning before breakfast. The after affects are suprisingly mild, i'm glad to say. Very tired of course and could happily fall asleep on my feet. Muscles are feeling used, as you would expect but not to the point of being painful, just tired.

Managed to burn through in excess of 1700 calories, so it will take me till Tuesday just to stock up on fuel again.

2 weeks before race day and after covering the majority of the course today, excluding the start/finish arm and a couple of extension loops I think it's time to step back, recover from today, stock up on fuel for the next 2 weeks and lok forward to the big day.

Day 105 - 21 to go

So three weeks today is D-day.

Went out bright and early this morning, after getting changed once. Turned out that the rain came in and I wasn't prepared for that.

Weather forecast said 20% chance of rain, pah!

First 10 miles today were very wet, and kind of miserable. Last 4 cleared up for me to complete my lap in 2 1/4 hours and get a distance of a little over 14 miles. The pace was easy, although I kept straying into marathon pace, which was reassuring. Seems that I have a comfortable rythm at about 9:00-9:15 pace.

Calf muscles are a little achy tonight but that's all, apart from being tired, again.

A quite week with 18-20 miles next sunday then it's cool off for 2 weeks and stock up the fuel cells.

My Marathon Website

Day 103 - 23 to go

1 hour at half marathon pace this morning before breakfast, which was hard work, but not so bad looking back.

The best news though is my race shirt has arrived n Willen Team colours. If I can find a way to upload it here I certainly will.

Race pack should arrive next week with my race number too.

Day 102 - 24 to go

Had the option of an official Half Marathon Race on Sunday, but a pre-booked lunch has pulled the rug from under that one.

Never mind i'll do the Half Marathon distance as a training run anyway. Probably do it before breakfast if it's a nice morning.

Anyone care to join me?

Day 100 - 26 to go

Didn't know whether to go out running tonight to carry on with training or simply go running to get warm. Either way you look at it I did wrap up warmer than of late and even wore my gloves too.

Had the pleasure of taking a run round the old Greenham common airfield. A suitably arranged location for a touch over 5 miles. On the down side, it's an airfield, so there is little in the way of protection from gusts of wind. The 2.5 miles out was great, but the 2.5 back was terrible. The wind was blowing quite strongly and it was as much as I could do to keep a steady pace let alone focus and achieve my speed splits.

Oh well, got to the end even though I really felt like i'd done a work out.

One more session either on Thursday or Friday and then out for a half marathon distance on Sunday. best get the distance in soon, only just over 3 weeks to go.

Day 98 - 28 to go

Back on day 95 I put in another 5-6 mile splits session. This time putting the speed up a little and raising the recovery speed too.

Oh and I did this at 8:00-9:00pm which was odd as it was dark by the second mile. Also made seeing where I was going a challenge.

Up to day 98 and put in a steady 10 mile run. Nothing too exciting but finished in good shape and no real muslce aches either.

Gave the energy gel a go too. It is funny stuff, it took me 5 minutes to take it on board as it was so sticky. I needed lots of fluids just to wash it down. I was half expecting a sudden surge of energy afterward but it never happened. All it seemed to do was clear my head a little bit, made thoughts clearer and helped me to concentrate.

It certainly didn't do me any harm so I have no worries about using them again. Just need to find some way of carrying them on race day. That is, if the weather is nice and warm. If it's cold and wet i'll be wearing lots of things with pockets.