London Marathon - April 17th 2005 - Training Diary
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Monday 22nd November 8am We had a gentle jog around Safa Park to ease Katy back into running after being out of training because of shin splints.
Monday 22nd November 8pm Katy and I enjoyed a memorable run around Safa Park with runners from Standard Chartered Bank. It was memorable because Katy has no night vision and so from the organized stretching session to the end of our run Katy was completely at my mercy! I talked her through the various exercises in between much giggling and then we got on with the run. We managed very well and to Katy's credit she even sprinted the last 100m into complete darkness. What a star!
Wednesday 24th November 8am We met again at Safa Park for a gentle jog before visiting our fantastic osteopath and being put back together again!
Saturday 27th November 8am Another meeting at Safa Park for a run. Lots to talk about and so the time flew by, maybe next time 2.5 times round?!
Monday 29th November 8pm We met again with the group from Standard Chartered Bank and after much giggling and an apology to the trainer for disrupting his training session we set off for our run. We agreed Katy would run two and half times around and I would go 3 times and meet back at my car. Great idea, except that the reason I'm there is because Katy can't see and needs to be guided, that makes walking back unaided to my car a little tricky... ... So I convinced Katy she could do two and half times and then bribed her with a glass of wine to do the extra half and make it three times! We were chuffed to bits! We had done our first 10km!!
Tuesday 30th November We met again and jogged gently around trying to loosen our frozen legs from the night before! What were we going to feel like after 20km, not to mention 40 odd!
Wednesday 1st December Another trip to the osteopath to be pummelled!
Thursday 2nd December Katy has developed an eye infection and needs to rest so no running for her today. Without her and with the Dubai Rugby Sevens on I gave it a miss as well. Well, they do only happen once a year and we do have four and half months to go!
Saturday 4th December What a weekend - England won! I ran to Safa Park, around it, and back and Katy did 8 kms on the tread mill. I think we both found it hard. Somedays it just is!
Monday 6th December Our weekly nightly run with Standard Chartered. My husband came too which was fantastic as both Katy and I were exhausted after a busy week fund raising. We did 7 km and felt fantastic at the end and were both delighted to have run, all our stresses and strains of an hour or so earlier seemed to have vanished.
Wednesday 8th December What a run!! We ran further than we have ever run before - 13.5 km, and not one crash or trip! Perhaps there is hope for us to do the full marathon! Feeling exhausted but elated we then set off to see Jacques our trainer at the Mina Seyahi who suggested a 20 min run followed by a run in the sea and a session in the gym - oh how elation can just evaporate!! We slept well that night!
Saturday 11th December With my running pal now in England I set off to do 10 kms. I befriended a chap going in the opposite direction and had a giggle with him on our passing. It certainly helped but I did miss my "other half"!
Monday 13th December With the clock against me I charged around Safa Park on a VERY quick 7kms run, if only every 7 kms was that easy! It was then home and change and off to a meeting to support one of our forthcoming events.
Wednesday 15th December Now here is a top tip! Do not try and run 10 kms in 34 degree heat on 4 hours sleep after consuming a little more alcohol than you perhaps realized!! What a disaster! I ran late as I had been expecting to train with Jacques who had unfortunately forgotten I was coming. By the time I began it was hot, very hot, and I was also short of time AND I had no water! I managed about 4 kms and then just fizzled out. It was disastrous! I just couldn't run and then just to make it worse, a friend drove past and saw me in this terrible state staggering back to my car! Not a run to remember!
I recount my tale of woe to Katy's husband who tells that contrary to my training Katy is doing marvellously in the UK running behind her mother's car! Could I feel much worse and when is she coming back?!!
Saturday 18th December The pressure was on! I had to prove I could still do it, my moral was at rock bottom and my confidence at zero. I set off to do about 7 kms and in fact did 10kms, I was elated!
Wednesday December 22nd With the children now on holiday it is more difficult to find time to run not to mention the pressure of Christmas building up and whilst I would love to say I am terribly organized of course I am not! However I squeezed in a quick 10 kms and thought to myself "When will I ever run more than 10kms!
Friday 24th December I managed a quick 5.6 kms - well it is Christmas tomorrow and I would much rather be at home with my family!!
Friday 31st January At last my running partner is back! What a fun run! We had so much to catch up on and so much to talk about that although it was only a 10km run it felt like we had run miles!
Monday 3rd January We are now getting back into the swing of it and it is so much easier running together, however we still only manage 10kms!
Wednesday 5th January For some reason both our legs feel like lead and it is a struggle to make it twice around Safa Park - something we could do easily 9 months earlier! We decide to call it a day and save ourselves for Friday....
Friday 7th January The Dubai Marathon Day! We were up bright and early to be at the start to wish "Foresight's" runners well in the marathon, then it was our turn to run the Standard Chartered 10 km race. There were more people than I had imagined and I began to worry that Katy and I should be tethered. Once the race started however my fears were allayed, we managed to find a wide channel fairly void of runners and ran there.
At about 12 kms Katy was finding it hard but to her incredible credit she ran through it and at 15kms suggested we do the full 10kms again - 20kms! We completed it in 1 hour 50 minutes and were absolutely elated! It was a huge mental hurdle and we had leapt over it! Our husbands rewarded us with a very welcome, delicious bottle of Champagne!
The support in the way of "nods and winks" from other runners that we received that day will be a memory that will remain with me forever, sadly Katy was not privy to them.
Saturday 8th January We meet at the Beach Club gym for a "session". We ache!! In fact, we really ache! However it was in fact the perfect thing to do, by the end of an hour our muscles don't feel nearly as bad and there is a chance we might be able to run again, but not now!
Wednesday 12th January This week has been fairly interrupted with various Sports Days for the children. We have 6 between us and needless to say only two of the children shared a morning! By Wednesday all the events are over and Katy and I decide to do a "long" run before I leave to go skiing. We manage 16kms and in a relatively good time, thanks to Katy who is the best pacer ever. I seem to race out and she acts as my brakes!
Sunday 16th January Whilst I am having a wonderful holiday the running still needs to be addressed and I hunt out a running machine in the hotel. I decide to do a quick 9 kms. I forget however my trusty bit of advice I gave earlier and try and do it on far too many late nights and apres ski! It was hard but it was done!
Thursday 20th January Now back from Lebanon and racked with guilt as Katy had maintained the pace, I embark on a quick "catch up"! I go further than I had set out to do and it goes really well. I don't feel quite so guilty any more!
Saturday 22nd January We decide on a "short run" as we plan to do a long one on Monday once the children are back at school. Our "short run" proves to be quite long and we have a good chat and catch up and clock up about 13 kms.
Monday 24th January The "long one"! What a run! It wasn't that it was that far, only 20 kms despite the fact we thought it was longer, but it was SO hard! We decided to run along the Beach Road to the Burj al Arab, sounds easy enough, but not when you can't see very well! The road is so full of obstacles from bus stops with 3 signs on posts, to endless curbs, to sand with bricks, gravel, moving cars, road works, you name it, it was all there. 3 times Katy came a cropper. Once she ran straight into a bench and bashed her knee, my fault entirely. She then missed a curb, my call was too late. How she stayed standing I have no idea! She then fell hard down a high curb on the way back. It taught us quite a few lessons about how hard Katy and I have to concentrate and how as she tires her reaction to my call is delayed. My admiration for Katy is so high that even after those 3 accidents she continued running and trusting in me. For me I just feel guilt for not having guided her better. Let's hope we have no more incidents like today.
Wednesday 26th January Katy's knee took a real pounding on Monday and to be honest our morale was somewhat shaken after our dreadful run so we decided on something a little different... . A bit of sprinting! We ran 3.4km at a gentle jog and then did another 3.4km sprinting every 100m or so. It just proves you can be fit at some things and not at others!
Friday 28th January We met at the club today to do some upper body work. Neither of us have ever "done" weights before and so the whole session was punctuated with hoots of laughter, so much so that we were asked to pipe down a little by those nursing huge hangovers!
Training became too intense for Nicola to continue her diary at this point - although she has promised to provide an ending one day... ! Despite all set backs the pair successfully completed the London Marathon on April 17th in 4 hours 45 minutes.