Post by Twice-Shy on Apr 19, 2003 11:55:44 GMT -5
17th aprilFriday 11th April
Gym again today. Easy day with another long run planned for tomorrow. 3 miles on a running machine followed by 30 minutes over the ‘marathon’ course on the bike. No word yet from my cousin who is meant to go on the run tomorrow.
Saturday 12th April
Are you ready for this? My cousin was on my doorstep this morning at 10.00am all kitted out and ready to go! We went over the same 10-mile circuit from Drum Bridge to Laganside as I did by myself last week. We stopped at one stage to watch the pink elephants fly overhead. It was a beautiful sight! I have to say he did well. He’s thinking about entering the Marathon Fun Run but he’s waiting until tomorrow to see if he has any bad reactions before he enters.
I’d made him up a bottle of my water / salt / sugar mix. I shouldn’t have bothered. He whinged the whole way about it making him sick. That’s the thanks you get for stopping him from dehydrating and cramping up. When I explained that the alternative was for him to run around with a saline drip in his arm he changed his tune and swigged it down.
We went into the café at Laganside for a cup of coffee at half time (I wonder can I do that during the race itself?). He went up to the counter and was going to buy himself s a big greasy fry when I pulled him away. He’ll thank me later. We called into PC World on the way home so he could buy special tee-shirt transfer paper in PC world. He’s going to sort out the HD logo (thanks Kath Byrne for the embroidered logo) and writing on the tee shirt I’m going to wear on race day for me.
Sunday 13th April
London Marathon today. Paula Radcliffe won the women’s race in a new world record time of 2hrs14min. That really is an incredible time. If I finish in double that time I’ll be happy. A time under 4 ½ hours is what I’m aiming for. Pacing is the key to the marathon. The idea is to conserve as much energy as possible for the second half of the race to avoid hitting the wall. And talking of hitting walls, my cousin came up this afternoon. He said he was in agony. Good. The top I’m going to wear during the race is ready. It looks good.
Monday 14th April
Three weeks to go until race day. Only two more weeks of hard training left. The last week before the race is spent re-energising. Over the next two weeks my mileage is going to build up gradually towards a massive 18 mile run on Saturday week. All the experts recommend that you shouldn’t go past 20 miles whilst in training. The reason for such long runs is to get your body and mind used to the distance. I have a route planned already. I’m going to park the car at Shaw’s Bridge and run all the way to Laganside and back. I make that around 18 miles. I don’t know how long it’ll take me. Hopefully I’ll not have to bring a tent and camp out for the night. I’ll have to be on my guard for bikes after Paula Radcliffe dislocated her jaw after losing a fight with a kiddie’s bike.
12 mile run this afternoon. I’ve took a lend of my brother’s Walkman. It’s really takes away the boredom. As the runs get longer the boredom gets more intense. The course map is finally up on the Belfast City Marathon website. It looks long! I thought it would be twice round City Hall and then go into the nearest pub for drinks and medals. It really looks a long way.
Tuesday 15th April
Another long run today. 10 mile run from Drum Bridge to Shaw’s Bridge and back again through Barnett's Park, Mary Peter’s track and Lady Dixon Park. It was a baking hot day. The temperature gauge when I got back to the car said 23 degrees. Madness. I hope its not going to be like this on May Day. I’m hoping for a cool, no wind, and overcast day.
Wednesday 16th April
The car went into the garage today to get the faulty warning light sorted out. I walked down to B&Q to have a look around while it was in. I went for a bit of lunch in the greasy spoon café next door to B&Q. I could have had a big greasy fry or something like a fish supper but I had a chicken salad roll and a bottle of diet coke instead.
Thursday 17th April
Another long run this evening. The weather was beautiful so I wisely left it until later on when it was much cooler. I enjoyed this one immensely. It’s probably the best run I’ve had so far pace and stamina wise. It’s given me a lot of confidence for the longer runs planned for next week.
Gym again today. Easy day with another long run planned for tomorrow. 3 miles on a running machine followed by 30 minutes over the ‘marathon’ course on the bike. No word yet from my cousin who is meant to go on the run tomorrow.
Saturday 12th April
Are you ready for this? My cousin was on my doorstep this morning at 10.00am all kitted out and ready to go! We went over the same 10-mile circuit from Drum Bridge to Laganside as I did by myself last week. We stopped at one stage to watch the pink elephants fly overhead. It was a beautiful sight! I have to say he did well. He’s thinking about entering the Marathon Fun Run but he’s waiting until tomorrow to see if he has any bad reactions before he enters.
I’d made him up a bottle of my water / salt / sugar mix. I shouldn’t have bothered. He whinged the whole way about it making him sick. That’s the thanks you get for stopping him from dehydrating and cramping up. When I explained that the alternative was for him to run around with a saline drip in his arm he changed his tune and swigged it down.
We went into the café at Laganside for a cup of coffee at half time (I wonder can I do that during the race itself?). He went up to the counter and was going to buy himself s a big greasy fry when I pulled him away. He’ll thank me later. We called into PC World on the way home so he could buy special tee-shirt transfer paper in PC world. He’s going to sort out the HD logo (thanks Kath Byrne for the embroidered logo) and writing on the tee shirt I’m going to wear on race day for me.
Sunday 13th April
London Marathon today. Paula Radcliffe won the women’s race in a new world record time of 2hrs14min. That really is an incredible time. If I finish in double that time I’ll be happy. A time under 4 ½ hours is what I’m aiming for. Pacing is the key to the marathon. The idea is to conserve as much energy as possible for the second half of the race to avoid hitting the wall. And talking of hitting walls, my cousin came up this afternoon. He said he was in agony. Good. The top I’m going to wear during the race is ready. It looks good.
Monday 14th April
Three weeks to go until race day. Only two more weeks of hard training left. The last week before the race is spent re-energising. Over the next two weeks my mileage is going to build up gradually towards a massive 18 mile run on Saturday week. All the experts recommend that you shouldn’t go past 20 miles whilst in training. The reason for such long runs is to get your body and mind used to the distance. I have a route planned already. I’m going to park the car at Shaw’s Bridge and run all the way to Laganside and back. I make that around 18 miles. I don’t know how long it’ll take me. Hopefully I’ll not have to bring a tent and camp out for the night. I’ll have to be on my guard for bikes after Paula Radcliffe dislocated her jaw after losing a fight with a kiddie’s bike.
12 mile run this afternoon. I’ve took a lend of my brother’s Walkman. It’s really takes away the boredom. As the runs get longer the boredom gets more intense. The course map is finally up on the Belfast City Marathon website. It looks long! I thought it would be twice round City Hall and then go into the nearest pub for drinks and medals. It really looks a long way.
Tuesday 15th April
Another long run today. 10 mile run from Drum Bridge to Shaw’s Bridge and back again through Barnett's Park, Mary Peter’s track and Lady Dixon Park. It was a baking hot day. The temperature gauge when I got back to the car said 23 degrees. Madness. I hope its not going to be like this on May Day. I’m hoping for a cool, no wind, and overcast day.
Wednesday 16th April
The car went into the garage today to get the faulty warning light sorted out. I walked down to B&Q to have a look around while it was in. I went for a bit of lunch in the greasy spoon café next door to B&Q. I could have had a big greasy fry or something like a fish supper but I had a chicken salad roll and a bottle of diet coke instead.
Thursday 17th April
Another long run this evening. The weather was beautiful so I wisely left it until later on when it was much cooler. I enjoyed this one immensely. It’s probably the best run I’ve had so far pace and stamina wise. It’s given me a lot of confidence for the longer runs planned for next week.
