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Eleanor's Endeavour

Tag Archives: Portsmouth Marathon

Trial Race Day For Portsmouth Marathon

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by elladuv in Running, yoga

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Adventure, Christmas training, marathon, Portsmouth, Portsmouth Marathon, racing, running, Sweets, travel, Winter

Evaluating other attempts at running marathons I decided to change things up a bit and throw in a trial race day.  Not just a long run.  Basically, just a long run in which I pretended it was the Marathon.

It was the last long run before Portsmouth Marathon.  The morning of December 3rd (yeah, this blog is late).  It was the second longest run of 2017.  The run totalled 9.11 miles.

It went like so;

24068044_10160032766960001_966192014098185000_n
Woke up at 8am to breakfast and drink coffee,
9am volunteering as time keeper at Junior parkrun,
9:30am set off from that start line of sorts to run along the Snuff Mills trails,
2.5 miles in turned back due to a steepass muddy as fudge decline at a tremendous height that made brain nope,
5 miles in stopped at the fuel station known as the house for hydrate,
7.5 miles in best run snacks of Jelly Beans by the mega handful,
8.6 miles in … 8 point … 6 … fudge 8.6. Keep at it!
9 miles in. 9 miles. Sprint finish home. HELL YES.

I felt fantastic.  When I got home for a cup of tea, a hot lunch and a steaming bubble bath after showering all the mud off it was a relief having done it.  I know it wasn’t 26. miles.  Nearly 10 is a good bench mark of how I will feel on race day.  I felt like I could do more, indeed I considered a second lap but didn’t want to over do it too soon.

JellyBeans

I found Jelly Beans as a running snack worked better than gels with my stomach so I’ve stocked up on lots of these.

Now to rest and carboload before Portsmouth Marathon.  I’ve done nothing but walking and yoga in the evenings.  I’ve bulk bought soups and healthy snacks for my workday lunches.  Of course, the odd Cherry Bakewell is unavoidable this time of year.  However, it’s still easy to eat balanced and just add the Minced Pies in as your afternoon snack instead of because of it.

As I write this Portsmouth looms at the end of Sunday.  I haven’t chickened out yet.  There are no health excuses worth cancelling for.  The weather might be a bit of mischief.  Yet, adventure calls.  The coast and it’s gales, the roses and their dew, the Pyramid Center and it’s Expo.  The runners and their lycra.

This will now be a staple before any race taper going forward in 2018.  It’s helpful to find the zone that gets missed sometimes with ‘just another long run.’  Make your long run work for you.  Make it special.

Happy running,

Eleanor

xxx

Sometimes it’s not just about the goal it’s about the journey getting there.

16 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by elladuv in Uncategorized

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Tags

Alexander The Great Marathon, Athens, Athens Marathon, Kilian Jornet, Marathon Talk, Olympus Marathon, Portsmouth Marathon, running, Sonia Samuels

‘Sometimes it’s not just about the goal it’s about the journey getting there,’ Sonia Samuels, UK world marathoner women’s 7th placer.  A quote from her interview with Marathon Talk this week.

I 100% agree with this. When I first started running three years ago it was with the goal of one day running the Olympus Marathon inspired by Kilian Jornet. I doubt I’ll be ready for that until 2017 but I’m going next year to spend a week on the mountain and train there.

I’ve had such a great journey so far learning to run.  I ran the Portsmouth Waterside Coastal Marathon, my first marathon, with only ten months training.  Sheer determination got me through it.  I’ve also enjoyed travelling to races with friends both locally and abroad (the fact that running is often a shared experience is wonderful) including the Athens Authentic Marathon and Alexander The Great Marathon.  I still haven’t managed to get into regular Parkrunning but it’s all a work in progress.  

I’ve also experienced quitting smoking, being injured and had onset from Scafell Pike agoraphobia so it’s come with both good and bad. BUT without that initial idea of hey, that mountain looks cool, there is so much life and experience I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t had my mind set on that crazy mountain.  I am truly grateful for Olympus Marathon inspiring me to become a better person than I was three years ago.  

Happy running,

xxx

Eleanor

What do I want from running during 2015?

11 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by elladuv in Running

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Tags

Alexander The Great Marathon, Athens Marathon, Bath Running Festival Marathon, Bristol 10K, Bristol Half Marathon, Cheddar Gorge, Clifton Suspension Bridge, Eat and Run, night running, Olympus Marathon, Portsmouth Marathon

Monday evening Matt and I went for a 5 mile run. He’d created Club Athens for him, me and Liam on Strava so we can keep up with each other’s’ training and as a way of remembering that beautiful run of Athens Marathon last November were the three of us last ran together. Liam was otherwise engaged so it was just the two of us tonight. Armed with head torches to help light our way we took on the darkness of the evening darkening around us after a vibrant orange sunset.

Matt asked;

What do I want from running in the next few months or mid-term?

Sub 5 hours at Alexander The Great Marathon in April

Sub 55 minutes at Bristol 10K in May

Average 9 minute miles consistently – get rid of those pesky 10 minute miles

Work towards a plant based diet

What do I want from running in 2015 in general or long-term?

Run 2 hour Half Marathon at the Bristol Half Marathon in September

Break 5k PB of 26 minutes

Average 7-8 minute miles consistently

5:45 minutes at Bath Running Festival Marathon in August

Sub 4:50 at Bristol and Bath Marathon in October

Sub 4:40 at Athens Marathon in November

Sub 4:30 Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon in December

Average 13+ miles per week for the year and be training comfortable with training consistently

darknessI felt these were good questions and I enjoyed answering them. I later found out he’d asked these questions to figure out what kind of run we’d go on this evening. If it was just to do with losing weight or keeping fit it would have been an easy go of it. Because all my answer was speed based he rejoiced and mapped out a technical route for some hard homework. We have the overall goal of Olympus Marathon 2016 but it’s important to know what you want out of running from the outset. The things we want to work towards. The desires that will get us training on freezing February evenings when all you want to do is go to bed after a long day at work. Knowing what you want to prepare for is the key for having the motivation to prepare for it in the first place.

We ran through the Durdham Downs grassy areas and turned off to head down into Hotwells. “Thanks for the light guys, same time next week,” called a pair of runners humorously who were before us. I’ve always found it brilliant how even if runners don’t know each other we can communicate heartily about the same goal and comment to those around us putting our bodies through the same ideal.

Running trails in the dark really is amazing. You feel so free because you have no choice but to worry less about where your foot is falling because of the limits of your vision. You have to trust yourself. The descents where slightly treacherous towards the end of the Downs which reminded me of Cheddar Gorge’s trails which would have been fine if the already slippy rocks of the Avon weren’t covered in ice. That mile was a very slow 15 minutes but I worked hard putting in so much effort on the rise and falls of the land that I generally felt a little ill. I was glad to get back to the level grass up top for some solid ground again. Matt pointed out the constellations as the stars were crystal clear with not a cloud in the sky as we made it back.

Afterwards we returned to my house where I cooked the Minnesota Winter Chilli recipe from Scott Jurek’s Eat and Run which went down a treat after a hard session of trails in the darkness and I had a glass of rose wine. As this was my eighth run in a row I felt exhausted but I knew I was exhausted because I’d put in lot of hard work and technical aspects instead of plodding along to get the miles done. This is more important than “junk” miles and I will try to focus on this more during training runs.

xxx

Eleanor

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10th International Alexander The Great MarathonApril 5, 2015
26.2 From Palla To Thessaloniki

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