Finally the rain and the wind stopped this week and what a tremendous difference it has made on the marathon training front.  The days continue to get longer too.

This week, I had a great 6 mile run out with Sabrina’s group at Stroud AC on Tuesday.  Known in the club as the Two Peaks Challenge we ran on the Bisley Road all the way up to the top of Stroud, back down & up to Butterow. The first climb is over a mile long and steep in parts.  It takes some concentration and mental power to keep going. This strength and endurance training will I hope help me on marathon day, when the going gets tough.

Thursday’s 5 miler was a more social 9:30 pace run with Vicky and my group at Stroud AC in preparation for her 10K race and the longer weekend runs planned by quite a few of us.  Graeme has managed to squeeze in a 6 miler whilst away working. He is struggling with a calf niggle so hopes to revert to more cross training on his bike when he can fit it in.

This week, I have been quizzing fellow athletics club Ironman runners on their nutrition, hydration plans and tactics for overcoming mental hurdles when during long runs when the going gets tough.  You know who you are, great really helpful tips guys and you make me laugh with some of your Lycra chasing ideas for race day!

We have been very lucky to receive from the lovely people at Healthy Food Brand http://www.healthysales.co.uk/  this week a large box full of healthy nutritional http://www.clifbar.co.uk/company  energy goodies to try out on our longs runs.  We are very excited about reviewing these products because the chocolate almond fudge, oatmeal raisin walnut, white chocolate macadamia nut bars and blok shot energy chews are just the sort of natural products which we have been looking for.  More to follow on this as we ramp up the miles!

On Saturday,  Graeme & I ventured down to the lovely historical village of Berkeley for our 13 mile training run. We were blessed with a very cold (6 degrees) day with a chilly easterly wind but fantastic, finally a weekend with no rain  – Hallelujah!

With the assistance of ViewRanger Graeme planned an excellent route which I would thoroughly recommend for long distance training.  It can be adjusted and additional miles and loops can be added. Starting in the centre of town we ran on the Berekely 10K race course with an additional loop down and back to the Severn.  We continued onwards to a place called Hill and out to Rockhampton and back.

I felt really good and strong on the run today, managing to stick to 9:10 – 9:30 pace comfortably in a good rhythm.  We encountered lots of 4×4’s, horse boxes, horses and traffic and then realised the Berekely Hunt was near by.  Some scary times trying to dodge these guys, beautiful horses though.

Today, I experimented with drinking flat Coke. Now this, if you read up on it has mixed reviews.  It is used a lot by cyclists. The main negative reviews are because it does not contain any salts if you are dehydrated in a race, but for me the sugar in it was excellent to give me an energy boost and it worked really well.  I have a very delicate stomach and do not tolerate gels or sports drinks very well at all.  So I think I may well use this in combination with water / honey and electrolytes on the race day.

At 8 miles and still feeling very comfortable Graeme & I shared a Crunchy Peanut Butter Cliff Energy Bar.  This was so yummy, like a flapjack and all natural ingredients.  Excellent for cycling & running.  The consistency is good but you do need to wash it down with a drink.  For someone like me who struggles with gels and eating whilst on the move I may well have found something which will suit me here.  Clif Bar is available from Boots, Tesco, Holland & Barrett, also Wiggle, Amazon etc if you Google them.

As we turned to run the last 3 miles back in the direction of Berkeley we were blessed with another head wind. This is the problem when you are running on the river Severn estuary you will at some stage encounter a breeze or strong wind but it is good for training.

So as we finished our run with 13.5 miles completed we both felt really good today,  we’ve just got to add on another 13 miles to reach our goal!

 

Note: Graeme’s fitness band ran out of power this week at 11.62 miles. We ran a total 13.50 miles. Graeme has downloaded the latest update from Microsoft and will test out the “GPS Power Saver” option on the next run.