A long and wet 17 miles this morning.....

This morning I headed out early (6:30am!) for my long run as I wanted to get it completed without impacting the rest of the day for the family. So, off I ventured into a dark, misty and wet morning which really didn't get that much better for the whole 17.24 miles; well OK it got a little lighter but that was about it. I think the perfect description of my run today is that it was 'horrible and good all at the same time'. The horrible part was the wet weather which meant that after about 30 minutes into my run I was soaked through to my skin (which isn't a nice way to run) and then the cold that soon followed....the good is the fact that I covered 17.24 miles (I set out with 17 miles as my target) and it feels great to have accomplished this distance today. Also, it's good as it shows me that I can deal with the challenges that I am faced with...there is no doubt that on many occasions throughout my run today I questioned myself on what I was doing but each time I kept reminding myself that marathon training is hard and that to succeed I need to be strong both mentally and physically and today without any doubt I trained both these elements!

Also today saw me completing 116 miles in total for February - I am very pleased with this :-)

A good lunchtime run, with some fast intervals

I did a good solid run this lunchtime; incorporating some fast interval sessions during the middle of the run and the whole run was made extra challenging by the windy weather conditions! It was however nice to add some speed and has made me realise that I need to try to incorporate more speed sessions into my weekly training.

A wonderful way to spend a lunchtime :-)

A great 10½ mile run after work

This evening my friend and I ventured out straight after work with the intention of running part of the MK Half Marathon route (in preparation for the race on the 7th March, which we are both running in) and I’m pleased to report that we not only managed to complete what we set out to do, but we both felt really strong at the finish.

Tomorrow is a rest day for me and then I intend to run 3-4 miles on Friday lunchtime – perhaps doing a few fast intervals!! Then its cross-training on Saturday and my long run on Sunday (17 miles this week!)

A really good week of running….

….finished off nicely with a steady 15½ mile long run today! and thanks to everyone running with CYM this morning for doing the first 4 miles with me :-)

This week has been a really strong running week for me, seeing me run 5 out of the 7 days and totalling 37 miles. The defining point though was today’s long run where I still felt strong after 15½ miles; this was very satisfying and encouraging!

The following is a summary of my runs this week:

Monday 15th: 3M pace run
Tuesday 16th: 5M steady
Wednesday 17th: 10.5 steady
Thursday 18th: Rest day
Friday 19th: Rest day
Saturday 20th: 3M easy
Sunday 21st: 15.5M long

Happy running everyone :-)

A good 5 miles along the canal broadway and parts of the Millennium circular route (route 51)

It was nice to head out this morning without a route in mind. I started from Newlands and headed up towards the canal and then in to Campbell Park, following the Millennium circular route (route 51) most of the time. I then did my final two miles along the canal before heading back to Newlands and finding something I never knew existed behind the car park in Newlands: the cathedral of trees. (Information on the cathedral of trees can be found at the Parks Trust website: http://www.mkweb.co.uk/parks-trust/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=33114=33114). I will definitely be going back here with my camera when the weather is better.

It was good run this morning; not fast and not that long but steady. I am hoping to do a longer run (hopefully 10 miles) tomorrow after work so I thought I shouldn't push myself too much today.

I must admit that until recently I haven't done much running along side the canal but recently I have had the opportunity and I really do enjoy it. There is something quite peaceful about it, made better when you see a barge moving along the waterways. The smell this morning of the log burning fires on the barges moored at Campbell Park was lovely. The names of some of the barges are quite fun too. There is a lovely painted one, moored this morning at Campbell Park, named 'Paris' and another one called 'Violet Clare 2' but my favourite one that I saw this morning was a double width barge called 'Moose Drool'!

A good solid 7 mile run with a couple of fast miles in the middle!

I was supposed to do a six mile run with some faster ‘surges’ yesterday but yesterday the day ran away with me and I just didn’t get the time. So instead I swapped yesterday and today around and did the run this morning. I also did a mile more than I was scheduled, not really because I wanted to but just because I had to as I was still a mile away from home when my watch chimed 6 miles!Although today hasn’t been a very nice day (weather wise) this morning when I was out it was perfect running weather.

My route today took me through Ouzel Valley Park and onto Willen Lake. I did one lap of the smaller lake before heading home back through the park. I also upped my pace for the Willen Lake lap and pushed myself to under 8 minute miles for two miles; it was tough as around the lake there always seems to be a head wind (how does that work!) but it was rewarding to see the fast mile times on my watch. In fact all my mile times today were under 9 minute/miles so this is very pleasing! My aim is to get my average minute/mile time for long/easy runs to around 8 ½ in time for the marathon.

So, I am very pleased with today’s run and I am looking forward to my long run tomorrow. My aim tomorrow is to head out at about 9am and do an hour of running before I meet up with my CYM running group. I will do another 3 to 4 miles with them and then I aim to run home again via the canal to hopefully complete a total of 14 miles.............watch this space!

P.S. Thank you to everyone at work who has sponsored me so far (Bev, Andy, David, Ruth, Jamie, Julian and Paul); CYM and I really appreciate your support. Cheers guys :-)

My JustGiving fund raising page

My JustGiving fund raising page is now live and ready to take all of your wonderful and much appreciated donations!! The page can be found here: http://www.justgiving.com/Charlotte-Dutch

As many of you already know, this will be my 4th London Marathon (and probably my last!) but I do intend to enjoy it and to raise as much money as I can for my charity.

My charity is called Climb Your Mountain (CYM). CYM is a unique and innovative charity based in Milton Keynes that helps people to climb the personal mountains that they face in life, whether it be depression, stress, anxiety, low confidence or low self-esteem. CYM offers support, training, motivation and opportunities to prevent, deal with and overcome issues. CYM does this by focusing on exercise and inspiring physical activities.

I would really appreciate it if you would help me with my challenge by sponsoring me; no amount is too small or too large!

Thanks everyone :-)

P.S. Although I say it will be my last London Marathon, it isn't necessarily going to be my last marathon: I have aims (some time in the future) to run a few European marathons and maybe even New York and Boston one day! However for the very near future (after London) I will be concentrating on my favourite running distance 'the half marathon'! :-)

A great weekend of running, which rounds off a great week of running!

I have had a great weekend of running this weekend. I didn't venture out for my 6 mile run on Friday (I wasn't feeling 100% all day) so instead I decided to do a shorter run yesterday (4 miles) and included some hill reps; it worked out well and I felt strong on the hills (which is good news as I have been trying to do more hill work during the week so may be this is a sign that it is paying off!).

Then today I joined up with Jane and others from CYM to take part in the Parks Trust 10k run which set off from Great Linford, near the Manor. It was a great run and it was really nice to run with Jane...I then set off to run home along the Canal Broadway which added just over another 10k to my training today so a good solid 12 miles of running in total with some faster average miles than I have been doing in my longer runs, so I am very pleased with this.

Today's 12 miles sees me completing just under 30 miles this week with lots of variation and enjoyment :-)

The Parks Trust runs are held each month (the first Sunday in each month) and they set off from different places around Milton Keynes each month. They normally have three distances to choose from (2k, 5k and 10k mostly). They are informal, you don't have to sign up beforehand you can just turn up and decide on the day how far you want to run. If you are interested the details are on there website HERE!

Next week I am scheduled to do the following:

Monday: Rest or 5M easy, off-road
Tuesday: Warm up, 3 x 10 mins @ 1/2 marathon pace, with 4-min recoveries
Wednesday: 8-10M, easy/steady
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 6M steady with a few surges
Saturday: Warm-up, 3M at a brisk pace, warm-down
Sunday: 13M easy

Have a good week everyone :-)

10 miles after work....

This evening I did a 'good' run (well it felt good to complete it; it wasn't that great during it as I felt very tired!) but the good news is 'I did it' and its another good run under my belt and it means that so far this week I have managed to stay on top of my training plan. Tomorrow is a rest day and then hopefully on Friday I will get to do a steady 6 miles with a few speed bursts...

P.S. My apologies for not posting over the past few weeks - things have been rather busy so unfortunately my blog has had to take a back seat! However from now on I will endeavour to blog at least every couple of days to keep you all posted on my training 'highs and lows'!

Finally running again....

After nearly three weeks out of action due to illness, I finally got out again for a short but good run today. There was snow on the ground but it wasn't too icy and it was just really nice to be out again.

Hopefully my training will develop from here as the marathon isn't that far away!

Out with the old and in with the new!

However due to illness over Christmas and now the snowy weather conditions I am not sure when I will next get out running :-( I haven't been running now for two weeks and I'm feeling rather lazy...prior to Christmas I was getting on really well with my training.....oh well, I'm sure I will be back out soon - maybe tomorrow (but most likely on the treadmill if the snow is still around!).

Happy New Year everyone - hope its a happy, healthy and running year for you!

Got some new running shoes today!!

As well as doing a really good run this morning (despite the snow and ice!) I also purchased some new running shoes....my good old faithfuls the 'Asic Kayano'....I started wearing this model just over 8 years ago and as long as they make them I will not change. They have been the best running shoe out there (for me) and I am looking forward to wearing these new ones in: although I don't think they will be here until the new year now (I bought them online as they were a lot cheaper!!) but due to the Christmas holidays I don't think they will get delivered for a good few days, possibly a week?...but its something to look forward to!

Well here I am again; back blogging...recording the highs and lows of my running - I am sorry for being away for so long!

It took me quite some time to get over my foot injury from earlier in the year but I am pleased to report that I have now been running solidly for the past 7 months and I am really enjoying it. It has been hard work building back my fitness levels (and I am still quite away from where I want to be) but I am getting there, slowly but surely. My aim after Christmas is to take my training to the next level and really focus myself for the marathon in April.

I have had a good running weekend; on Saturday I did a good 4 mile run around Willen Lake, which at times was rather scary due to the ice but thankfully I managed to stay on my feet and then yesterday I met up with the CYM (http://www.climbyourmountain.org/) running club, which is an informal group based here in Milton Keynes (and a charity that I hope to work more with next year). There were only four of us running yesterday (I think the cold weather may have put a few people off) but we had a great run and the views from high up in Campbell Park were stunning (blue skies, sunshine and snow)....

This coming week I am not at work so I hope to be able to get in a few extra runs (in between final Christmas preparations!).

Happy running everyone :-)

Running again - hurrah!

After a break of just over 2 weeks from running due to an ankle/foot injury; this morning saw me venture out again and start back on my running journey. It was great to get out and be in the open air. I have tried to maintain some of my fitness by cross training over the past two weeks, using both the cross trainer and exercise bike but there is no substitution for running (well there isn’t for me anyway!) and today it felt really good pounding the pavements of Milton Keynes again.

It is clear that I have lost some of my running fitness but I was pleased with the 5 miles that I did this morning and I am looking forward to building it up again over the coming weeks in the hope that I can still partake in the Flora London Marathon on the 26th April. It will mean that I will have a shorter taper period than is ideal but I am happy with this compromise if it will see me safely to the start line on the 26th. I am also going to have to live with ‘just finishing’ and not getting carried away with aiming for a specific finishing time.....

Anyway, I am running again – today, this is all that matters!

Update on my cross training

As I haven’t been able to run for just over 2 weeks now I have turned to cross training on the cross trainer! The idea being that this is the only way for me to maintain my fitness levels without running. The pressure on my ankle/foot is a lot less on the cross trainer as the trainer itself bears a lot of the weight and therefore there isn’t as much pressure on my damaged ligaments.

It has been OK, although a little boring doing long endurance sessions. It also ‘obviously’ uses different muscles to running but hopefully it will allow me to return to running (almost where I left off) next week some time.....I really miss ‘just running’.

In terms of training this weekend; I didn’t manage quite as much as I had hoped to but I did manage a good 90 minutes on Saturday morning on the cross trainer followed by 30 minutes on the bike and then another 60 minutes on the cross trainer (3 hours in total). I had planned to do another session on Sunday of around 2 hours but unfortunately I didn’t feel so well in the afternoon, so I dosed myself up and had a very early night instead.

My only concern is that I still feel some pain when I ‘jog to catch the bus’ during the week or as I did on Saturday afternoon, jogged down the aisle at Tesco’s to get some bread whilst my daughter was waiting in the queue....even with simple things like this it still hurts (not excruciating pain but noticeable) which makes me concerned that 26.2 miles will just be too far....I am however staying in a positive frame of mind and hopeful that this week I will see a vast improvement....the good thing is that I feel a lot better ‘health wise’ this morning and my sore throat and aching limbs have gone this morning, so the early night seems to have done me some good. Although I am still popping the Echinacea...as I don’t want something else to have to deal with!

Its a thumbs up from the physio!

Well thankfully it is good news. Although I have damaged 2 ligaments, a muscle and a nerve the physio thinks that with treatment that I will be back running by the middle of next week and that the London marathon is still on....hurrah!

All I have to do now is to start some cross training; he suggested that I either use the cross trainer or the bike and do what I would be doing running wise on one of these (or a combination of both) so that I can keep my fitness levels up. Apparently, although there will still be some pain using these it won't be damaging like the full weight bearing of running! So thankfully I have both a seated bike and a cross trainer at home, so tomorrow morning (early!) I will be up and getting myself back into training. I have also got to do an ice treatment twice a day and do some strength exercises.....and then go back to she the physio on Thursday for my next lot of treatment.

It is such a relief to know that the marathon is still a possibility - wonderful!

I have got a physio appointment this afternoon...

After speaking to someone on the FLM helpline yesterday they have confirmed that I could defer my entry to next year; all I have to do is sort this out before the 25th April. So yesterday I booked up a physio appointment at a local sports injury clinic to see if I can get to the bottom of what I have done and whether I can expect a speedy recovery. I am still very much hoping that I can run in the marathon but at least I now know that if I can't then I can defer my place and guarantee getting a place again next year.

My main concern at the moment is my fitness levels and trying to maintain this whilst not running. I am also a little worried that I won't have put in the required number of long runs before the race. I had planned to run 16/17 miles last weekend and 18/19 this coming weekend and I have registered for a 20 mile training race for the weekend after that (5th April) and then I was possibly going to do one more long run of 20+ miles before starting my tapering...but at the moment I can't see anyway that I can do next weeks long run and then will I be fit enough to get through the others, if indeed my injury will allow this??

A really good Half Marathon race at Silverstone on the 15^th March followed by disaster!!

On the 15^th March I competed in the Flora London Silverstone Half Marathon and what a great event this was. The organisers did a great job and it was a fantastic race. For me, it was especially good as I put in a strong performance and got a new PB of 1:52:30 (and all this still feeling like I could have gone faster, wonderful!). I finished the race and felt on top of the world; however later in the day my left ankle/foot started to ache and initially I assumed it was just the after effects of my exertion during the race (after all my legs ached a little too!). However come Monday morning I wasn't able to walk without significant pain and it was clear that it was something more serious. Anyway, I decided that the best course of action was to take a few days rest from running to see if it would go of its own accord (hoping of course that it was just a minor strain or something similar). So after 3 days of no running at all I ventured out for a short run last Thursday morning but unfortunately I could only manage 1 mile and a very slow mile at that before my foot was throbbing too much and I had to stop...so I decided to not run at all for the rest of the week and over the weekend to see if I could get back on track this week. In the mean time I have been wearing a support and treating it with both ice treatment and heat treatment trying to speed up recovery. This morning was the next test, so I headed out early this morning with it all strapped up hoping that I would get at least a good 30 minute run under my belt and that the injury wouldn't be a problem.....however after just 4 minutes I was in a lot of pain and in my heart I knew that I was not going to be able to do the full 30 minutes that I had set out to do. I carried on and did 2 miles, but I had to stop at this point because of the pain and I feel that by actually running on it (even though it seemed to be getting better) has now inflamed it again! I am feeling very anxious as I know that this could mean the end of my London Marathon challenge and this is something that I have been working hard towards and of course looking forward to. Also, if I don't run I will feel very bad about letting everyone down that has pledged money for my chosen charity. I feel this morning as if I am in a quandary, not sure if I should give it a few more days or another week or so and see if it is OK; or whether this is really leaving it too close to the marathon deadline, without the required amount of training and then it would be silly to run anyway...or maybe I should just accept what has happened and now try to defer my entry to next year (not sure when the cut off for this is?).....oh what a disaster...I think the best course of action is to speak to the FLM organisers today to see what my options are and take it from there..........I am feeling very disappointed :-(

Another early run!

This morning I did another early morning run. Unfortunately when I am working in London and commuting this is the only way to get a run in for the day; as I am too tired (and it is really too late) when I get home. So at 4:30am the alarm clock went off and I reluctantly got out of bed, put on my running kit and headed downstairs to the treadmill. All of which I did in a ‘sleepy trance’! Anyway the result is that once I set off and got into my rhythm I did a good, solid run; nothing outstanding, just a steady and controlled 60 minutes. Although it is tough getting up at this early hour, I am always really pleased with myself once I have completed the run; it does set me up for the day and I do start the day feeling a lot more energised – the down side of course is that by about 3pm I am starting to flag a little more than usual!

This week hasn’t really gone according to plan, so I was thankful to manage today’s run. Tomorrow I am hoping (assuming that I am not working tomorrow – I am still waiting to hear!) that if I don’t have to venture into London that I can get an ‘easy’ run in sometime late morning. Last week before my half marathon I didn’t run on the Friday or Saturday prior to the race, but as I didn’t do my scheduled run yesterday I think that I will venture out tomorrow but just make it an ‘easy’ and ‘slow’ run. Then I will take Saturday as a rest day prior to the Silverstone Half Marathon on Sunday.

Catch Up; February Summary and the Nike+ Milton Keynes Half Marathon

I haven't posted for a little while but I do have lots to report, so please bear with me for the long post!

February Summary

Firstly I need to report on my overall running for the month of February; probably the best way to describe it is 'steady progress' which I am very happy with. I have continued to move forwards; I am definitely getting fitter and faster and my longest run to date now is 15 miles. I feel confident that I have got a steady base with which I will hopefully improve on even further in March. My mileage was pretty much the same as January, although obviously February was a shorter month. I did a total of 76 miles, with 12 hours 4 minutes 2 seconds 'time on my feet'.

In picture views the following is a graph of my running in February:

Milton Keynes Half Marathon

Yesterday I did the Nike+ Milton Keynes Half Marathon, this was my first race in approximately 5 years, so I was a little nervous and anxious at how it would go. In all honesty I had forgotten the routine and the drill of racing and this did play on my nerves before the race began and I need to apologise to my husband and daughter for being a complete pain during the morning – so, "sorry sweeties and thank you for putting up with me!" Anyway, as with most things that I worry about I needn't have worried at all as it all turned out really well, in fact better than I could have hoped for. I did a reasonable time for my level of fitness at the moment (1:58:07). I was pleased that I was able to finish strong and I ran all the way – I couldn't have asked for any more. The best thing about the race was the feeling that I got at about 7 miles; it was if the old running me had kicked in, I felt the exhilaration that I used to feel when I raced a lot (this was way back between 2001 and 2005!) and this if nothing else was worth battling with the crowds and the windy conditions. In fact I felt on a 'high' but without the drugs or after effects – wonderful!

This has made me feel a lot more confident about next week's race (Silverstone Half Marathon) and hopefully I will be a lot easier to live with because of it ;o)

This morning as I write this I am also pleased to report that I don't feel too achy or stiff; my legs know that they ran yesterday but they don't feel any worse than they normally do after a long run, so this is a very good sign. Some may say "well you didn't push yourself enough then"; which is possibly correct, but after all this race and next week's race are just part of a journey and the end race is the London Marathon so I have to be careful that I don't get carried away and get an injury.

Anyway, a good few weeks and a really good race under my belt, all I have left to say is "why, oh why did I ever stop"...it's wonderful!