Great North Run

I was really slack on the training going into this, in fact it was pretty much non existent! I think I did around 1-2 runs a week in the month running up to the race; going no further than 11km, and that distance I only did maybe twice. A far cry from my usual 55km per week! Needless to say a PB was not a probability today!


I drove up to Middlesbrough the night before the race and checked into the Marton Hotel & Country Club. It sounds a lot grander than it is and it looks a lot more dilapidated than it did in the photos... I was most unimpressed to find out when I checked in that it was undergoing renovations and as such the showers had been removed from most rooms! I'm not a bath person at the best of times and the thought of getting into one after a run when I just wanted to get home was not what I wanted. I had a free transfer service with my hotel booking and checking the details I realised I had to drive to a car park 10 miles away to join the coach! The pickup was at 07:00, so that meant me leaving the hotel at 06:30 to be there 15 mins before. Not brilliant when a) the race was 45 mins away; b) didn't start until 10:40! I tried to get an early night the night before, but went to bed at 21:00 only to toss and turn all night. It seems staying in a strange bed the night before a race does not bode well for me. Thinking of it I've never performed well when I've slept away from home...

My alarm went off at 04:45 much to my disgust and I hit the snooze button a few times before dragging myself out of bed. Breakfast was kindly put on at 05:00 for the runners and consisted of cold meats, toast, cereal and luckily for me porridge! It was the plain kind and there wasn't any honey to sweeten it so I added marmalade instead which was an interesting combination! After breakfast I had a little time to kill as I'd done most of the prep the night before and strangely enough I'm quicker in the bath than I am in in the shower in the morning so I took a quick nap for 30 mins. At 06:30 I went to make my way to meet the coach only to find two parked up outside the hotel waiting! That's another half hour I could have had in bed! Sitting on the bus I realised I didn't need my car keys and ran upstairs to put them in my room, I got back to the bus and decided to set up my iPhone with the correct playlist only to realise my last sync must have deleted all the music! Another trip upstairs to collect my iPod and I was ready!

Arriving at the start area at 08:00 with Claire, a lady I had met at the hotel the night before, we decided to kill time by taking a long slow walk around the park adjacent to the start. 2 hours and 40 minutes is way to early to arrive! The rain was coming down pretty hard as well so it was all we could do to stay warm, amazingly about an hour before the start the rain stopped and I was able to get rid of my outer clothes and drop my bag on the luggage bus. The ace itself started on time, but being so far back in pen F I didn't get started until nearly 11:00! Within the first mile I knew it was going to be hard work, my legs didn't want to move at the 08:28 pace I was setting., an it was all own hill from there....

Head through the many tunnels it was all "Oly, oly, oly!", "Oi, oi, oi!"; I've never heard so many olys and ois in my life! And yes, that includes Napa. Usually in a race you find that after the first couple of miles the runners thin out and it gets easier to run at your natural pace rather than around and in between people. That did not happen today, it felt 10 deep each side the whole way through and even worse at the end, not that I had the energy to run fast a clear streak might have motivated me a little... My toes had been feeling numb from the cold start, but became painful after 5km. I had a long way to go and I was determined to get through so I bit my lip and dealt with it; flexing my toes as much as I could in my shoes!

The best part of the race was the Bupa Boost area around the 10 mile point where you could get a massage, a handful of jelly babies, or a wedge of Vaseline. The support around the race from spectators was great; there were servings of sweets, ice pops, oranges. Kids giving high fives and teenagers using the free water to spray the runners! This didn't impress me much and seemed more malicious than helpful, one runner decided to squirt the kids back and that impressed me!

All in all, I can see what draws people to this race, but I do not think I will be back to do it again. There are so many races that I have enjoyed far more a lot closer to home that I would not drive 3.5 hours each way again to only run 2:17:14!

Adidas Women's 5k Challenge

What an amazing day! This is my favourite race of the year; possibly because it's the first race I ever ran way back in 2007! This is where I caught the running bug; back then the race was sponsored by Lucozade and I made it through by running 3km twice a week and a half marathon wasn't even a pipe dream!

I always aim to do better than I did the previous year at this race and normally succeed by setting a new PB for the year. This year, however, I had already set a new 5k PB back in February at the Milton Keynes parkrun of 26:05. Whilst my ultimate goal for 2010 was to get a sub 25:00 5k, and I really wanted to do it at this race, I wasn't hopeful as my training had been lax and I was and am seriously stressed at the moment!

I met up with my bff in the park before the race and we headed down to the start together. She had the bright idea of getting into the sub 25min section (for club runners, which I am lol). Something I probably wouldn't have done, even though that was what I was hoping, I was realistic and hoping to just do a sub 26min race; I would be happy with 25:xx! We didn't have a lot of time before the start and soon after we got into the pen they closed the gates and told newcomers to go to the back to run the race. I didn't get to warm up properly so just stretched and bounced around in the pen, my anxiety was enough of a warm up! My hero Jessica Ennis was on the podium and I was torn between taking a pic of her and getting my music started. When I checked my watch is was 10:59 so, sorry Jess, but the music won out and before I knew it the gun went off! I didn't even have a chance to say good luck to my bff before heading off with the crowd. Luckily we had already decided where to meet after the race before heading off to meet our other halves!


I didn't rush off as the gun went, but took my time walking to the line and making sure my watch matched exactly the start line. Setting off I decided not to distract myself by check my watch at every km marker. I needed to check that my watch matched up with the markers on the course, but not check my time. I know the course off by heart now and mapped out in my head the start with the 1st left bend then the part where you double back on yourself where, for the first time in four years I was fast to see the elites running ahead! After that you hit the first km and it's pretty much like any other course until you hit the police station towards the end with the little elevation which really takes it out of you if your not expecting it, but after you turn the corner the finish line is there and that is pretty much that! For the life of me I couldn't figure out if I was on track for my target time or not. I tried to pick someone out in the crowd to match on speed, but couldn't; there were a lot of club runners as expected and whilst I was maintaining speed with them I couldn't out run them and kind of fell in the middle to back of the pack. At the 3km I allowed myself a look at my watch; 15:01. At first I couldn't work out what that meant I was so shocked! But I was on target to get 25:00mins! I just needed to maintain my pace and hoped that my watch and the course continued to match at every marker! 


There were a few moments when I really didn't think I could keep the momentum up, but I kept my usual mantra in my head; just 10 mins and it will all be over, and if you don't collapse at the finish line, you're not running hard enough! As the finish line came in sight I checked the time; 24:xx; I was under 25mins! That really pushed me, I wanted to sprint to the finish, but as hard as I pushed I couldn't sprint, but I hope my speed picked up a little! As I crossed the finish line I pushed the stop button on my watch and felt it buzz. I didn't look at it, I just concentrated on the time on the clock, I didn't cross the line at the gun (the elites did), but it still read 24:25 as I crossed; I'd made it in under 25 minutes; I'd made it in under 24:30 and under 24:25! I was amazed! Luckily I did not collapse at the finish line, I started walking through the funnel and checked the time on my watch realising it hadn't stopped when I hit the button; the vibration I had felt was it clocking 5km, duh! I hit the button at 25:50 and  soon heard my bff calling my name. My bff managed 25:07 a PB for her too so it was a good day all round. We finished up with some time in the park chilling out, checking out the adidas tent and I even saw Jessica Ennis up close and was too star struck to speak to her!


My splits were:
1km - 4:35.56
2km - 4:57.15
3km - 5:06.29
4km - 4:59.34
5km - 4:39.45
Total for 5km: 24:17.79

London Tri:ed

I've really struggled to write this, in fact I've been avoiding it for days. After missing the London Marathon due to injury, completing the London Triathlon meant the world to me. So to fail at the first hurdle was hard. To be fair I really shouldn't have even made it to the ExCel centre (where the event was being held) at all.

Around 10 days before London I began feeling dizzy and a little nauseous, not enough to say I was ill, but just enough to make me want to sit down more than stand up. I was feeling lethargic as well and my training all but disappeared as a result. When I had a dizzy spell at work I decided it was time to take some time off work and rest. This didn't help so I went to the Doc the following week who said I had a 'respiratory virus', which I think is code for "I don't know what it is, but you don't look so good"... So I started a course of antibiotics and went home where my symptoms got worse. I was exhausted, lost my appetite (yes me!), had a dull ache all down my spine and when my head wasn't hurting it was just cloudy. I tired to give myself little tasks to do each day to make sure I got out of bed like; put the washing on, cook dinner. On the Docs advice, even though I wasn't hungry, I made sure I ate at least one meal each day and tried to keep up with my friends on Twitter if nothing else. After a week in bed I decided I was well (I mean I'd popped loads of those pills, they must be doing something right?) and went down to London on the Saturday to get ready for the London Tri.

Saturday was manic, I had a friend coming over from France to stay with me and watch the Tri and I had to met him at Kings Cross St Pancreas. I jumped on the train to meet him and we drove my bike down to Excel to get a head start in the morning. The atmosphere there was great, we went around the Expo, grabbed a couple of goody bags and I spoke to some of the other competitors. The fact that so many women had my bike, Specialized Dolce 24 2010, was a good conversation starter! I left the Expo and Dolly excited and ready to race the following day!

I spent that night at my Mum's house in Wembley, with my brothers new cat. I went to sleep really late about 01:00 as I just couldn't shut my body down and get into sleep mode. When I finally did get into bed I couldn't drop off as I could hear my brother talking to my cousin in his room. I got them to be quiet and then the little cat sat outside my bedroom door crying and trying to get in! I thought she'd eventually give up, but no, as I checked the time at 03:23, 04:05, and then I got up at 05:00 after having virtually no sleep! Like a trouper though I still headed down to the ExCel determined to get through the challenge.

The first challenge was getting in my wetsuit, which I brought when I was 3kg lighter... Wetsuits are so unforgiving!

Needless to say I squashed myself in and headed down to the water. Everyone else had already headed over to the briefing, there must have been a tannoy announcement or something. Unfortunately I was adjusting my wetsuit in the toilets and must have missed it! Needless to say I had to rush to transition to put my bits down and then run over to the Swim start. Luckily there was another lady in the same predicament and we ran over together. This photo was taken just before I got to the swim; I was still out of breath from running!

Once we got to the water it was straight in and doggy paddle till the horn sounded. It was my first open water swim - big mistake. My own fault as I hadn't been able to make any of the team lake swims and the one time I had tried I ended up driving around for an hour unable to find the lake - doh! I panicked a little, but took a few deep breaths and calmed myself enough to talk a little to the people around me. The water was cold and murky, just as I expected, but I didn't realise how disorientated I would feel by not being able to see through the water. The horn went off and I got started and soon feel behind the other swimmers. I didn't feel at all in control and floundered in the water. A lifeguard came over in a kayak and I told him that I didn't feel confident at all, but wanted to continue. At this point I felt exhausted as if I had finished the race already and I couldn't understand why. I knew I needed to get a rhythm going but I needed to catch my breath also. I grabbed a hold of the kayak for a minute and then started off on my journey.

At first I could only make maybe 150m a time; they gave me my own allocated lifeguard and he stayed close to me while I swam allowing me to rest when needed. I stopped three times to catch my breath, but on the third stop I could see the orange buoy that marked the turning point and decided to swim as far as that, rest then do the run back in one. Only problem was once I got there it wasn't a straight turn around and head back, I had to swim across to another buoy, then turn back! Rather than rest, I decided to keep on and once I reached the other buoy I decided to still keep going. Another wave of swimmers started and I hoped they wouldn't catch up with me and swim over me, but let's be honest it was highly likely! It was too long before I started to see the strong swimmers going past me. I swam out to the left a little and the kayak moved to my right side to put a barrier between me and the other swimmers. Which gave me some relief as only three swimmers came up behind me. The waves created by the swarm of swimmers made it difficult to swim at times, but I kept going as the end was in sight. I kept focussing on the next orange buoy I could see and my lifeguard kept talking to me the whole way through saying motivational things like "keep going", "that's it, you're doing well". I was not however impressed when it told me to start heading towards the buoy, which I thought I was doing, but in fact the buoy I needed to head towards was another few hundred meters ahead! I didn't stop though, I'd come this far and I kept going and eventually turned the corner and arrived back at the dock. 

At the dock there were two female lifeguards there to help you out of the water. They grabbed my hands to help me onto my feet, but when they let go I collapsed and before I knew it I was descended upon by numerous people towelling me dry, ripping my wetsuit from my body and feed me Gatorade. I could hear my friends calling out to me from the sidelines and I tried to keep a smile on my face so they didn't worry too much about me. My whole body felt like jelly and I'd been in the water for 1 hour and 22 minutes! Not good in the Thames! The bad news was I couldn't complete the bike as the roads were due to reopen shortly. To be honest I hadn't got to the point of thinking about the next step, I was just looking to get back to transition! I did still want to keep even though my energy levels were severely lacking!  I was wrapped up in a blanket and walked back to my bike by one of the ladies who had taken care of me on the dock. She kept a hold of all my bits and said to just attempt the run if I wanted to keep going.

In transition I pulled myself together, ate a nutrition bar and decided to give the run a go. I still felt wobbly, but I wanted to try and do what I could. I made my way to the run section and was stopped by another steward who advised me to just do what I could and try to complete at least 5km. The run was four loops of 2.5km and I managed two. I was tired and exhausted and decided not to push myself any further. The crowd was great; lots of people screaming out "Go Ms Sweets!", "Come on Ms Sweets!". I was seriously disappointed to not complete, but I would rather stop running then have to walk parts and there were a few times on my last lap where I really had to force myself to pick up my feet and keep going. All in all I was gutted I didn't make it all the way through, but I did my best and tri:ed!

NSPCC MK Half

There was a lot of build up to today. Getting ready last night I realised my usual race gear was in the wash basket, so I did a last minute wash and managed to get my gear out to dry before bed. Then realised I was planning to wear my Scope running gear to an NSPCC event. Deciding I didn't want to be politically incorrect I changed my outfit last minute and went for something that didn't advertise my charity! 

Best thing about today was meeting @Claire0, we've been chatting for ages on Twitter and it was nice to see the woman behind the wetsuit! lol. We met up before the race, put our bags in, and did the usual pre race stuff and warm up. I forgot my Lucozade in my bag so had to run back just before the start time, not sure if was a good or bad thing that I didn't get to start with Claire since she did 1:37!

Coming into the race I really wanted to get a PB, my last PB was set in March at the other MK Half and well MK is my home so I should know the area! Setting off I felt quite good, the first mile was congested as the lane was narrow, but I was able to run on the embankment to get ahead of the slower runners. The course itself was deceiving, it started off on a gentle uphill gradient that wasn't really any bother, so I waited for it to level out... and I waited and I waited. I don't know why, but for some reason I had it in my head that this was meant to be a flat course... We went down redways, bridle paths (very smelly!), canal paths and even past a field of sheep! It was up, up, up, and hardly ever down at all! Not what I was expecting at all it's a wonder I got through!

Once I'd settled in to the race and found my pace I clocked a couple of runners that were running slightly faster than me and decided to try to keep up with them. There was one woman in particular who had long purple pants who was just in front and constantly checking her watch - obviously looking for a PB too! I got ahead of her, she got ahead of me, and we went on like that for the first six miles. After that I really couldn't keep up and thought I was going to loose it. There was one point where I was running so slowly I thought I was walking! I took a gel just after 6 miles and kept pushing through, I had no competition to guide me any more and I knew my speed was fading fast! I was checking my watch and kept telling myself that I needed to pick up the pace if I wanted to make that PB, but it didn't translate to my legs. I was trying to calculate my finish time, but my brain is foggy when I run and even though maths is my strong point sometimes you need to stop to think properly and that was not an option!

Reaching 10 miles was a blessing - the end was in sight, now I knew I could do it! My watch read 1:38 and I knew the last 5km would take me a maximum of 30min, my PB for 5km is 26mins so at a push I could still come in under 2:08! I told myself I'd just got out of bed to do a 5k run and I could hit 26mins on fresh legs. I put a mantra in my head; 5k Fresh Legs, 5k Fresh Legs! Staying focussed the pain in my legs eased and they did feel fresh, well for a bit anyway. I kept pushing through past 11miles, past 12... On the approach to 13 I saw the purple pants lady and thought about staying on her shoulder for a bit so she wouldn't have time to push past me, but the decided I needed to just keep going. I mean, if I could catch up with her she must be tired to have dropped her pace or I was just running that fast that I could still beat her anyway! So I ran past her and I don't know if she picked up my pace, but once she was out of sight I focussed on the finish line and pushed through to complete in 2:07:21!

Amazing, absolutely amazing! Only problem was I didn't have time to enjoy the moment I had to rush off to go to London for my little brother 18th birthday. All in all a great day, even though my legs ache and my nephew broke my medal! Gotta love kids!

New Dawn - Tri Plan Week One

Today I started Week Two of my Triathlon Training Plan. That might not mean a lot to you, but to me it signifies something important; I completed Week One! I've had rough training programmes in my head and even had programmes drawn up for me by friends and coaches, but I've never stuck to them. After recovering from my injury however I wanted to take my training more seriously and use a proper plan, stick to it and see if I could make it to the London Triathlon in one piece, gutted as I was that injury kept me away from the London Marathon. 

So Week One is under my belt, I swam 1300m, rode 31km and ran 30km. I also did a spin class, 3 core sessions and survived a tumble off my bike. I am on my way. Actually beginning to feel like a triathlete now and damn does it feel good! I can not tell you how tired I am though! I went out Saturday to see my little brother perform and Sunday night to a club with the girls. Now you know you're an athlete when you don't dance too hard in case you cause yourself an injury! lol. I did mix up my rest days to fit my social life in which meat I did not have one clear day where I was doing to training whatsoever, which is probably bad in the long run, but I intend to rectify that this week and rest up completely on Saturday and just do core work on Wednesday (and go to bed early too!).

Last week was a good week, even including the tumble. I have bruises on my legs, my arse is sore form all the hours on the bike and I think one of the screws in my ankle has come loose, but I am happy. Happy to make it through Week One and I've already got started on Week Two; Bank Holiday Monday and I've ridden 26.5 mile already! I have my first half marathon since my injury on Sunday and I'm looking forward to that already, I'm planning a nice and steady run no PBs, just feeling the legs out again. Week Two here I come!