London Marathon Race Report

Post-race pb ritual...

It's ten days into my mental and physical post-marathon break so I can allow myself to think about running enough to write about it. 

I'm starting some easy running and being slightly more disciplined (cutting my two bowls of ice cream a day to one is hard, okay!) before getting back on it next week.

So, London...all in all, a good result, especially considering that the fact that my marathon build-up wasn't exactly problem-free... (are they ever?)

I was 4th British women overall and ran 2.40. It was actually 2.40.35 but since my target was actually 2.40 and the .35 is the only slight dampener on my happiness I'm going to round down from now on (except for weekly mileage, which I shall always round up :).

Although, being a perfectionist, the point-something is actually really annoying me (can you tell?), I AM PLEASED with the result. NO, SERIOUSLY, I am. It was over a 3 minute personal best after all.

First ever AW picture

Given the fact that I was EXTREMELY worried about the race, given how marathon pace felt in training, I was pleasantly surprised with how it felt in the race. I felt pretty good until 2-3 miles to go. I'm not entirely sure where I slowed down slightly and don't ever remember feeling like I was struggling alot.

I think I messed up my pace a bit somewhere and suddenly realised my last 2 miles would have to be run ridiculously quickly to actually get under 2.40.

Performance aside, I can honestly say I absolutely loved the day. I've chatted with a couple of people since who have told me they hated doing London because of the constant cheering. I LOVED it...the atmosphere was fantastic. I had a massive smile on my face for most of it; honestly, all my race photo's until the last three are ridiculously smiley.

I even got my first ever picture in Athletics Weekly - made my day :)

These guys run a lot faster than me...

Now, i've recovered I am absolutely desperate to get back into training and attempt to revise my shorter distance pb's over the summer....they need it :)

Thanks for reading!

Three races and a niggle

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since my last post and quite a lot has happened.... Here's a bit of an update on what has happened since the last one.

Race number one - The Marathon Debut

First things first, Frankfurt went amazingly well - better than I could have hoped for. I finished with so much left in the tank and never really hit the dreaded 'wall' so I'm confident there is a lot more to come. 

I won't go into detail about the Frankfurt race here, except to say that I finished in 2:43:58, smashing my target. If you want to read more about the race, I'll direct you to an interview I did for The Running Bug.

So, the next logical target for me was always going to be the London Marathon. I have dreamed of winning this race since I was little so when my coach, Nick Anderson, decided it was on the plan I was more than a little excited. The aim is sub 2:40. A tall order but one which, after Frankfurt, I feel is within my grasp...

The big build up

So began another period of marathon miles. I thrive off of long runs, long tempos and marathon pace work so I couldn't wait. Up until Christmas, I steadily built back up my running but was hindered, somewhat, by the usual winter bugs and yet more niggles. Stress also took it's toll as I commuted into London from Essex for work everyday whilst in the messy process of buying a house.

Race number two - The Mud Bath

Post Christmas, I finally seemed to be getting somewhere. My first target race was in February, the Wokingham Half. However, this was unfortunately cancelled due to flooding. 

Somehow (don't ask), I ended up making a rare cross country outing. It was meant to be a 5k park run but circumstances meant I had to look for another short (ish) race to replace it. 

So, I donned my trail shoes and lined up on the start line of the Surrey League. I probably found more water hear than I ever could in Wokingham and, being unable to wear spikes since my surgery, I did find it tough going. However, I was satisfied to finish 2nd to an olympian (at the triathlon, but still...). 

The niggle

Unfortunately, I felt a pain in my foot during the race and this was the start of the niggle that is still bothering me now. I've been training with it after the diagnosis of a strained big toe tendon in my foot by my very experienced physio, Mark Buckingham. However, it is hampering my speedier running.

Race number three - The one that didn't go to plan

So last weekend, I ran the Reading Half Marathon. I struggle to remember a race where I have felt this bad. My legs felt like concrete from 200m and I ran about 1-2 minutes slower than i'd hoped, finishing in 78:38. 

The time wasn't appalling given the conditions. If I had ran that feeling like myself I probably wouldn't have thought it was a disaster. However, something felt wrong. The level of fatigue I experienced didn't feel like a lack of fitness as I never ran out of steam. I never got going!

After the race, the usual dissection began and I came up with some ideas as to why I felt so bad. I had been ill in the week, which could have had an impact and life/ work stress probably played a part. However, the heavy legs were likely to due to the marathon miles and lack of faster work, which meant that the pace I was trying to run felt fast for me. 

Crunch time

So i've quickly brought you up to date. Now the final 6 weeks of marathon training has begun. The niggle is still bothering me but I'm doing all I can to control it and i'm jetting out to Portugal next week to put the finishing touches on my marathon training.

I WILL be bringing you more frequent updates in these final six weeks....

In other news (on which, I plan to write a separate blog), I met one of my favourite runners of all time, thanks to Adidas UK and The Running Bug.

Here's me and my (almost) namesake, Haile...so much respect for this dude.

Follow me on twitter @HayleyJane4 and please ask me any questions about my training in my Ask the Expert column on The Running Bug site.