Essex Boot Camp and more running...

Another week of training is done, bringing me to 606.95 miles for the year. The last four weeks have been tough and I seem to have been constantly going out for the next session on tired legs. The good thing is that I still haven't missed a session, I can usually stick to the suggested pace and get the mileage in, so this has given me confidence that after two weeks of tapering I will be refreshed and ready to get that new PB at Halstead Marathon.

On Saturday I managed a new PB at Colchester Castle Parkrun thanks to being paced round by Lindley. 

     Colchester castle Parkrun (photo by Neil Wray)

Sunday was a 10 mile marathon paced run, really enjoyed it, felt good and tried some new gels (TorQ) which tasted great and didn't upset my stomach, so last week was a really good, happy training week!

As well as running lots of miles I also train twice a week with Essex Boot Camp, I have been doing this for nearly four years (I never stuck to the gym for more than a few months!). I still enjoy every session and it really compliments my running, helping to improve strength and mental toughness. Sessions are an hour long, outside, whatever the weather and no two sessions are the same, which is why I still look forward to going. I know I will be pushed by the instructors so even as I get fitter it doesn't ever get easier!!  

    6am workout with Essex Boot Camp 

So the next two weeks will involve slightly less running and some boot camp as I taper ready for Halstead. 

     Train Hard No Excuses 

Have a good week and happy running xx 

When the going gets tough... Keep running

I knew April was going to be a tough training month, but thought that as I had two weeks off work it would make it somewhat easier and I could catch up with all those jobs that needed doing around the house and garden. Hmmmm...

Well the training has gone well, as for the house and garden, still a mess but happy times spent with my children, one of whom said 'I'd rather have a mum who can run 100 miles than a neat and tidy house' guess there's always the summer holidays!!

I feel this weeks training has gone well even though I have felt I'm constantly running on tired legs, this is a good thing as I have still managed to to the distances and stick to the pace suggested in my training plan. 

Wednesday I ran Kenyan Hills, sounded simple, jog slowly to the top run down as fast as you can. It was great, once you relax and stop worrying about falling it was enormous fun hurtling down the hill at full speed, but goodness me my legs were like jelly for several hours afterwards!

Over the weekend I ran back to back long runs on trail, Saturday was tough, I had fun exploring local footpaths and creating a new 15 mile local route, but everything hurt, mentally it was challenging and it just felt a struggle. When I downloaded the data from my Garmin afterwards it was actually an ok paced run, faster than I was running trails at the beginning of the year.

Sunday I was running The Flitch Way with some friends, we drove out to Stansted and ran back the whole length of the Flitch to Braintree, about 18 miles, it was a great morning and a much better run, we celebrated Easter with some Chocolate bunnies, had a cuppa at Rayne Station and managed to miss most of the rain! Felt much better on this run, legs were tired but mentally I felt stronger and having company helped the miles pass by quite quickly. So thank you to Rob, Richard, Lorraine and Iain for a lovely run.

     Iain, Richard, Rob and myself enjoying a quick break! 

Eating every two miles during my long runs is definitely working for me, still need to continue to experiment with different foods, but feeling that this strategy will be one that will work for me in my upcoming ultras. 

Halstead Marathon is now only three weeks away, the tough training is nearly done, I am quicker than I was in January and feeling positive that I can (with Lindley pacing me) get round in 4:15. 

I am thoroughly enjoying my training, pushing my body hard, I don't mind the tiredness or the aches, they make me feel like I'm getting it right (good aches I like to call them!) and seeing the improvements in my running ability makes it all worthwhile. Having a coach is definitely working for me and I would recommend Lindley from Challenge Running Ltd to anyone who wants to improve, reach a particular goal, run their first marathon or further. For more info have a look at http://www.challenge-running.co.uk/coaching/

So tomorrow I have to go back to work, energised and refreshed after the Easter holidays ready to face the new term, I guess tired with aching legs is close enough!!! 

Have a good week and happy running xx 

Fundraising...

I normally only blog once a week but today's is an added extra and a little different not so much about running but another reason I set myself challenges, keep pushing myself to run further and some extra motivation to keep getting out there...

Each year I have set myself a running challenge I have also raised some money this year I have chosen a charity that is very close to my heart, Moorfields Eye Charity.

Moorfields Eye Hospital plays a big part in my life and today will see me taking my son Ben (now 15) to one of many, many appointments there. Ben was born with congenital glaucoma and has had many operations and daily eye drops to keep his pressures under control and preserve the sight he has. Sir Professor Peng Khaw at Moorfields is one of the worlds leading experts in children's glaucoma and treatments, surgery and drops continue to improve. When he was about three he was also diagnosed with a problem with his retinas where some of the cells had died, the doctors hoped this would remain stable and not deteriorate but over the past year his vision in his right eye has got steadily worse and possibly will continue to do so. He is registered blind but is a pretty determined teenager and mostly gets on with it and isn't afraid to get out and do as much as possible. He plays goalball, VI football and runs, often joining me on a Saturday at Parkrun when he is home from school.

      Ben with his guide runner at Parkrun

The research that Moorfields Eye Charity helps fund is vitally important and hopefully one day there will be treatments and cures for the numerous retinal and other eye diseases that Ben and many of his school friends live with. I hope this year I can raise as much as possible for Moorfields and that the research they do can continue. As a parent it's can be really hard when you can't make everything right for your child, when you can't reassure them that they will retain some vision. 

I know the challenges I've set myself this year will be tough, it will hurt at times but when the going gets tough I look around me and remember how lucky I am to be able to get out and do what I do...

www.justgiving.com/UltraNicki

Thanks for reading and happy running xx 

Bulls, guns and sunshine...

Stop me if this is getting boring but another great week of training! 

47.57 miles last week and 531.61 for the year so far. This week I have run trails, intervals, a tempo run amongst others and I have done my usual two Essex Boot Camp sessions, I am feeling fitter and am slimmer than I have ever been (only downside none of my clothes fit!!).

Yesterday I was down to run 22miles on trails and I decided whilst many of my friends were pounding the streets of London (you all did amazingly well, very proud) I packed my race vest and headed off to run some of the Colne Valley Path which runs from Great Yeldham to Colchester, the plan was to start at Yeldham run 11 miles turn round and run back. 

It was a beautiful morning and I was looking forward to it. The previous evening I had obsessively packed 10 bags of snacks so I could eat every two miles right from the beginning as advised by Lindley. I was determined to get the nutrition right this time.

      Long run snacks!!

This strategy I am pleased to say really worked, even though for the first 10/12 miles I only ate it because I knew I had to, by mile 15 I was actually looking forward to the next mile passing so that I could eat!! I felt much better than I have on previous long trail runs but at mile twenty was craving proper food (a cheese and tomato sandwich and orange juice!!) so next time I'm going over twenty I will take some savoury food too.

The Colne Valley Path is a really pretty route and I really enjoyed it, I ended up running a bit further than planned as at 11 miles I knew I wasn't far from Earls Colne (where my Mum lives) so I decided to go on so I could top up my water bottles and use her loo!!! 

I had a couple of interesting moments one was being very closely followed by a herd of young bulls in a field, I always assume they will be relatively harmless if they're in a field with a footpath, but I was wearing a bright red t-shirt and race vest (not sure if bulls not liking red is true but one of those childhood things that sticks with you!!) I slowed to a walk as thought running might upset them and I was pretty speedily though the gate! Fortunately on my return journey they ignored me.

The second slightly unnerving moment was some sort of gun shooting thing going on across the footpath!! I could hear the gunfire but assumed it would be away from where I was running, but as I followed the footpath they seemed to be set up exactly where the map and gps was saying I needed to be. In the end I decided to take the road around and link back with the footpath as this seemed preferable to being shot!! Fortunately my navigation skills do seem to be improving and this wasn't an issue. Not sure how legal it is to shoot across footpaths but wasn't going to argue! It seemed to be some sort of official event as there were signs to it pointing the same way as the footpath sign! 

     Deciding not to follow footpath marker!! 

All in all I had a great morning out running, was worrying that I still seem really slow on trails but covered 24.91 miles in 5:20 which ok isn't going to win me any prizes but I was still running at the end and it's a few months until Saffron Trail which is my next ultra after Halstead Marathon. 

     A few pics from a great morning on the trails.

Have a good week and happy running xx 

Tough training, camel world record and marathons...

It's been a tough training week, lots of speed work in my plan this month... Will all be worth it when I smash Halstead marathon in May (feeling really positive that this will happen). It's all gone pretty well apart from Tuesday when I tried to train through a migrainey type headache, this resulted in a poor performance both at boot camp and a 6 mile trail run, possibly should have scrapped both and slept which is what I wanted to do, but it's all training and didn't make me worse!! 

Wednesday I did a hill session I went to the Discovery Centre at Great Notley and ran up and down the hill 10 times and in a strange way actually enjoyed it! 

      Hill training!!

Over the weekend I ran 10 miles both days, Saturday I ran on The Flitch Way, some with Lindley, and Sunday was a road run and was supposed to be faster than Saturdays. It didn't go quite to plan as I ran too fast on Saturday, despite Lindley's best efforts to get me to slow down, but I was feeling strong and it felt good to be running faster than normal!

Lesson learnt, listen to your coach!! 

Sunday started well ran the first five miles at about 9:20 minute miles and then it all went wrong and struggled to stay at 10 minute miles for the last five, there was just nothing left in my legs!! 

Another lesson learnt remember what's coming the next day and stick to the pacing guides you've been given! 

After my run on Saturday I headed off to the first birthday anniversary of Colchester Castle Parkrun, two friends from the Commando Runners were going to attempt to break the world record for a pantomime camel running 5km, they had run in this costume at a fancy dress Parkrun at Christmas and finished in 31 minutes, the pressure was on to complete this official world record attempt in under 30. So with a team to pace, film and support the attemp was on. Rob and Lorraine did brilliantly and completed the run in 25:30 not just breaking the record but smashing it. It was a great morning and very proud of them and all the support crew. 

   Humphrey (Rob and Lorraine) and Camel Crew at Saturdays record breaking run! 

Sunday saw lots of friends heading off to run various marathons, Brighton, Manchester and Paris, they all did amazingly well and again reinforced what an awesome group of friends I have. Also lots of positive thoughts this week to Danny Slay and Team Hope who are taking part in Marathon Des Sables, they had a tough first day but I have no doubt they will push through and get the job done.

All in all a pretty impressive weekend of running by everyone.

Have a good week and happy running xxx