Week 9 - Successful fundraising & Getting back into the groove of training
Week 9 has probably been one of my best weeks since beginning training.
I started the week by sending an email to family, friends and colleagues in an attempt to raise £3,000 for Shelter, the charity for whom I am running the Flora London Marathon. The response has been fantastic and, as things stand on Sunday night, I have hit £2,677.44. Many uber-generous donations and some super witty comments have taken me a long way towards the target. Not quite there yet, though, so hopefully a few more punters will dig deep and help me achieve the target.
The other reason I enjoyed Week 9 was that I got three high-quality runs in. I was meant to do four but I couldn't work it out logistically - but I am very pleased with the three that I did get in. Having picked up no additional injuries (the cold persists) has put the icing on the cake.
The first run was a 4-miler on a treadmill, run at a pace of 8.5, so pretty solid. I have got to a point where I just assume I can do that distance and it just shows what happens if you put the miles in, running 4 miles doesn't even seem that big a deal. The bigger tests would come later in the week.
On Wednesday night, I went for a run with a colleague from work, Regina, who has run sub 4hr marathons and wakes up at 5am every day to run. Good company indeed! We set off from 125 London Wall on our charted out route (on gmap) of 7 miles. We ran past St. Paul's and over the Millenium Bridge. We then ran along the river, on the South side, right the way to Vauxhall Bridge. Regina kept up a very consistent pace throughout and it was good to have someone to help me determine a consistent pace. As per usual, the first 3 miles or so were the toughest but after that I felt like was getting into a groove. It was a fairly nippy night as well but that helped offset the fact that I forgot my bottle of water that I have becomes used to running with.
Anyway, back to our run! We ran on the north side of the river till Westminster Bridge, crossed back over and then worked our way back to the Millenium Bridge and eventually back to our starting point. We managed to do it in under an hour; 58 minutes to be precise! We were pleased to have broken the hour mark and, after some stretching, I was pleased with the realisation of having run so much mid-week.
The third and final run of the week was on Saturday morning, when I set out and managed to complete 14.5 miles. Had a fairly early night on the Friday and, encouraged by Devika, set off at about 11am, gloves on and water-bottle in hand. I had been out on the Thursday and I think the first couple of miles from the house in Clapham were getting rid of those lingering cobwebs. I ran through to Battersea and crossed Battersea Bridge. I had enjoyed running along the Thames, the Palace of Westminster proving particularly striking and inspiring. I set off to see it again and ran along the north side of the river all the way to Westminster Bridge, where I crossed back Souf. That was around the half-way mark and I felt ok, a bit tired but generally pretty positive.
I had no iPod so it was more a scenery- and people-watching exercise. Lots of time to think as well, which is nice - except I kept thinking of all the things I still wanted to get done over the course of the weekend!! I pushed myself to keep going and ran all the way back to Battersea (with a quick dive into a shop to buy a bottle of Lucozade Sport, aka amber nectar!). Ran back up to Clapham Common and round it, just for good measure, given there were hundreds of runners out! It was at that point that my legs, particularly my groin and quads started feeling very tight. I was nearly back, though, and I kept going. My speed dropped off remarkably and I was fantasising about getting home and doing some stretches and drinking lots of water. But I had mapped out my course and ran along the long Bollingbroke Grove final road as I had pre-determined. I was sore at this stage and I was very slow but I kept going. I rounded Thurleigh Road, left onto Wroughton Road, no. 4, home! No sprint finish this time... just a lot of relief!
Time to stretch and Devika, through her dancing, knew loads of stretches to appease my muscles. I drank a lot of water and struggled for about an hour afterwards. We ate some pasta, chilled out and I did some more stretching while watching the footie before heading out for a well-deserved glass of red wine at Priya & Preeth's. I woke up on Sunday morning a bit sore but not too bad compared to how I felt waking up the day after the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon. I can do this! Looking forward to following the Book for the forthcoming week. I'd love to get the four runs in, including the 16 mile long one all while staying injury free. I'd love to cross the £3,000 mark on my www.justgiving.com/vinay charity page. Here's to a great Week 10!
I started the week by sending an email to family, friends and colleagues in an attempt to raise £3,000 for Shelter, the charity for whom I am running the Flora London Marathon. The response has been fantastic and, as things stand on Sunday night, I have hit £2,677.44. Many uber-generous donations and some super witty comments have taken me a long way towards the target. Not quite there yet, though, so hopefully a few more punters will dig deep and help me achieve the target.
The other reason I enjoyed Week 9 was that I got three high-quality runs in. I was meant to do four but I couldn't work it out logistically - but I am very pleased with the three that I did get in. Having picked up no additional injuries (the cold persists) has put the icing on the cake.
The first run was a 4-miler on a treadmill, run at a pace of 8.5, so pretty solid. I have got to a point where I just assume I can do that distance and it just shows what happens if you put the miles in, running 4 miles doesn't even seem that big a deal. The bigger tests would come later in the week.
On Wednesday night, I went for a run with a colleague from work, Regina, who has run sub 4hr marathons and wakes up at 5am every day to run. Good company indeed! We set off from 125 London Wall on our charted out route (on gmap) of 7 miles. We ran past St. Paul's and over the Millenium Bridge. We then ran along the river, on the South side, right the way to Vauxhall Bridge. Regina kept up a very consistent pace throughout and it was good to have someone to help me determine a consistent pace. As per usual, the first 3 miles or so were the toughest but after that I felt like was getting into a groove. It was a fairly nippy night as well but that helped offset the fact that I forgot my bottle of water that I have becomes used to running with.
Anyway, back to our run! We ran on the north side of the river till Westminster Bridge, crossed back over and then worked our way back to the Millenium Bridge and eventually back to our starting point. We managed to do it in under an hour; 58 minutes to be precise! We were pleased to have broken the hour mark and, after some stretching, I was pleased with the realisation of having run so much mid-week.
The third and final run of the week was on Saturday morning, when I set out and managed to complete 14.5 miles. Had a fairly early night on the Friday and, encouraged by Devika, set off at about 11am, gloves on and water-bottle in hand. I had been out on the Thursday and I think the first couple of miles from the house in Clapham were getting rid of those lingering cobwebs. I ran through to Battersea and crossed Battersea Bridge. I had enjoyed running along the Thames, the Palace of Westminster proving particularly striking and inspiring. I set off to see it again and ran along the north side of the river all the way to Westminster Bridge, where I crossed back Souf. That was around the half-way mark and I felt ok, a bit tired but generally pretty positive.
I had no iPod so it was more a scenery- and people-watching exercise. Lots of time to think as well, which is nice - except I kept thinking of all the things I still wanted to get done over the course of the weekend!! I pushed myself to keep going and ran all the way back to Battersea (with a quick dive into a shop to buy a bottle of Lucozade Sport, aka amber nectar!). Ran back up to Clapham Common and round it, just for good measure, given there were hundreds of runners out! It was at that point that my legs, particularly my groin and quads started feeling very tight. I was nearly back, though, and I kept going. My speed dropped off remarkably and I was fantasising about getting home and doing some stretches and drinking lots of water. But I had mapped out my course and ran along the long Bollingbroke Grove final road as I had pre-determined. I was sore at this stage and I was very slow but I kept going. I rounded Thurleigh Road, left onto Wroughton Road, no. 4, home! No sprint finish this time... just a lot of relief!
Time to stretch and Devika, through her dancing, knew loads of stretches to appease my muscles. I drank a lot of water and struggled for about an hour afterwards. We ate some pasta, chilled out and I did some more stretching while watching the footie before heading out for a well-deserved glass of red wine at Priya & Preeth's. I woke up on Sunday morning a bit sore but not too bad compared to how I felt waking up the day after the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon. I can do this! Looking forward to following the Book for the forthcoming week. I'd love to get the four runs in, including the 16 mile long one all while staying injury free. I'd love to cross the £3,000 mark on my www.justgiving.com/vinay charity page. Here's to a great Week 10!
posted by Vinay at 1:30 PM
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