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.

5 weeks until Frankfurt...or is it?

Those of you who know me/ put up with me will know that I have been refraining from committing myself fully to the Frankfurt marathon. Without meaning to sound pessimistic, if I say: "The weather's nice today...", it'll start raining.So, given my slightly jinxed year or so and the fact that I have come to accept that, for now, when I run something is going to hurt, I have been casually sitting on the fence...

So, I am not going to say that I am doing Frankfurt because I don't want to jinx it. However, I shall say that after my performance last weekend at Bristol, I will be 'training for Frankfurt with a view to doing it'. 

I ran the Bristol Half Marathon in 77.48. This was a personal best for me by over a minute and a half. Given the injury issues I have had since last May, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, massive credit to my coach, Nick Anderson, and my physio, Mark Buckingham.

Other than that I have been loving the marathon training. Long runs and long tempo efforts suit me and I am definitely not made for speed! One thing I have had to get used to with marathon training is having one major goal race rather than a racing season. One thing is this meant is that after Bristol, I was pretty much straight back into the training! I was surprised at how well my body has held up to this, although I do seem to be ridiculously hungry this week! 

This is what I have done this week:

Monday: 60 mins easy

Tuesday: am - 60 easy, pm - 30 easy

Wednesday: 15 mins marathon pace, 5x1k @ 10k pace, 15 min marathon pace

Thursday: 90 easy

Friday - REST

Tomorrow, I have a rare 5k planned...but perhaps I will keep that quiet too in case the gods of running hear me!

I promise to write a blog post again soon. Until then, keep on running and racing! And if it starts raining when you head out on your run, you can probably blame me...

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.

It's Me or the Bike...

Whilst I am gradually, albeit still painfully, transitioning back to running, I thought I would write about something I now hope to be doing less of...cross training. I can appreciate having done it; cardiovascualrly I feel like I have hardly lost any fitness at all despite not running for months. However, I am not going to lie and say that I have enjoyed it. In fact, a lot of the time, I have hated it! I think a lot of runners can empathise with this; after all, we are runners, not aqua joggers or cross trainers (if there are such things). The tv screens in the gym are poor substitues for the visual stimulation of the outdoors and the endorphins released by pool running are nothing compared to the high of flying around a track...

During, my period of not running, my attitude to cross training has undergone a bit of a makeover. One thing that got me thinking a bit more about my approach to cross training is what Bryn does when injured. My boyfriend cycles at a pretty moderate effort whilst playing on his video games. At first I was outraged by this. 'What's the point?', I thought. 'His heart rate must hardly be above walking!'. But somewhere along the way the penny dropped and I got it...

When we are able to train running takes up a big part of our lives. And that's fine with me because I don't mind making sacrifices to do what I love. I will turn down the pub if I have a session the next day or miss out on a lunch out with colleagues if I have a run to do. However, at some point I realised I am not prepared to make these same sacrifices for cross training. I could spend hours and hours in the pool or on the bike but injury is also an opportunity to experience a more 'normal' life for once. If only to remind myself it isn't what I actually want. So, sometimes I will choose my social life over a cross training session and that's okay. Sometimes, if I really can't face a solitary aqua jogging session or cross training workout, I might sign up for a spin or pilates class at my gym. It might not work quite the same energy systems or be as transferrable to running fitness but that's okay too. Because, injury is depressing enough without boring yourself to tears on the cross trainer.



So, I admire Bryn and his playstation cycling sessions. It's better than doing nothing because you can't face another gym session. Exercise is supposed to be fun. Do what you enjoy and you might not come back quite as fit but you will be a lot happier. And theres nothing like positive thinking for helping you recover from injury...So be kinder to yourself during your downtime. Use it as an opportunity to try a new sport, meet new people at a gym class and be a bit less disciplined. Have a bit more of a social life and do things you wouldn't normally have time to do when injured. Of course, thats only if you want too...



And any cross training is better than no training at all!



Running Resolutions

Apologies for lack of updates recently. I would like to say I have been ridiculously busy but that would be lying; in all honesty, in the three weeks following my surgery I just wanted a bit of a mental break from running as well as the enforced physical one.

As Bryn will testify, I was the worst patient in the world. Despite instructions to stay on the couch with my foot up, by day 2 I was attempting to see how far I could make it without crutches. Anyone who knows me will also know that sitting still is something I would normally never do. My borderline ADHD personality meant that having to slow down drove me crazy and I was not a particularly pleasant person most of the time.

Happily, the surgery went well and i'm now walking around with minimal pain. This week I have been able to get stuck into rehab, which has given me a focus and improved my mood. So far this has been based around aqua jogging and walking, which I hope will progress to running in a couple of weeks. I have also had some help from a rehab specialist in order to correct my biomechanics, which I believe have contributed to my problems. I will post another blog about my rehab at the end of this week with more details but as a new year has just started I wanted to talk about the things that I want to improve this year based on my experiences in 2012.

I was given what is now one of my favourite quotes of all time a few days ago; "life is like photography, you need the negatives to develop". This was a reminder to me that every injury should be made into a positive. What can you learn from the experience that will help you to be more successful in the future? Here are my running resolutions for the coming year...

My Top Five Running Resolutions of 2013

1. Be more positive

Too be successful you need to remain upbeat in the face of adversity and always look at how you can make the best of a bad sitution. I am very guilty of getting into a negative mindset and this is something I really want to change.

2. Improve strength and conditioning plan

I have always done bits and pieces but I think there is massive room for improvement in my 'prehab' plan. This year I want to put in a place a plan that I do on a consistent basis. A good strength plan needs to be specific both to your sport and your weaknesses. It also needs to to be progressive and the reps/ weights or exercises need to be changed every couple of weeks to provide a stimulus for improvement. I will apply these principles to my plan with the help of my physio.

3. I will spend more time working on my flexibility

Like most runners I am embarassing inflexible. I've said so many times before that I will start stretching more but it hasn't actually happened yet. For me to actually do something, I have realised it needs to be part of a structured written plan. So this year I am going to also put in place a flexibilty and mobility plan that involves short daily sessions with a couple of longer sessions each week.

4. Do more cross training



When cycling its important to own a bike. Pink barbie hat optional...

I used the time I couldn't run to do more swimming and cycling. Well, I actually spent most of this time learning how to swim and cycle and obtaining appropriate kit...By keeping one swim and one cycle session a week I will keep in touch with these other sports so I can easily substitute at the first sign of an injury. Not to mention having different sports is definitely good for both my mental and physical balance...

5. And finally, to not be afraid of taking a day of cross training instead of running when I have a niggle...

Taking 2-3 months off of running sure puts into perspective one missed day.

I hope that my running resolutions might inspire you to make some of your own. They are probably some that can be applied to most runners! Lets hope 2013 is a more injury free/ illness free season. And if this isn't true (because somethings we just can't control) - we can atleast look on the bright side of it! And always remember the words of my sister; "The darkest hour is only sixty minutes long"...





The quotes in this blog are kindly provided by my sister
(who often wears a bunny suit...)





Losing my Cross Training Virginity: Part 1

Hello and welcome to my second blog. Thank you for not being too scared off by my first one to continue reading :)

So, there is some good news and some bad news to report since my last post. Basically, I got the results back from the MRI scan of my ankle and the verdict is pretty much as expected; I have an extra piece of bone in the back of my ankle. My physio Mark was right as usual (and bless him, he only gloated A LITTLE). This isn't particularly good news; the good part is that the consultant says that he should be able to fit me in for surgery in December as NO ONE wants surgery on Christams Eve (Merry Christmas Hayley, have some PAIN and some CRUTCHES and perhaps some extra strong painkillers to go with that...you've been a REALLY good girl this year). I'll stop being sarcastic, compared with the 2-3month wait I was expecting,this is good.

The bad news is this: NO RUNNING until after surgery. Apparently, the MRI showed some additional inflammation in the ankle that was most likely due to compensation and told me to stop running to prevent damaging other areas. Ok, i'll admit, I had a little cry over this; sorry, to the customers of Runner's Need who I may have offended by sniffing on their shoes (and thank you to James and Dani for making me tea, which is the universal cure for everything). 

Once my minor sulk was over, I emailed coach Nick about a hard cross training plan involving lots of cycling, swimming and aqua jogging to do until the op and then as soon as possible after. Simple, right? However, having been previously lucky with injuries, i'm not exactly experienced in that area. Therefore, I have decided to share with you my cross training intiation. Hopefully, it will be helpful to anyone who is injured and if nothing else, it may provide some comedy...

Cross Training Lesson #1 - The Exercise Bike of Doom...

By the end of 2.5hours, I don't know what was more annoying; the biking itself or the 7th episode of Friends. Either way, I was drowning in my own sweat (seriously, that amount cannot be healthy) and swearing at the TV. But me being me, I wanted to do everything right. According, to some cross training guidelines from a secret (forgotten) source of mine; when you cycle to replace running, you should remember the following things:

1) It should be 1.5 times as long or four times as far in distance
2) You should keep heart rate no less than 15-20 BPM lower than during a long run
3) RPM should be 90-100

Doing these things, it turns out, actually requires a fair bit of concentration. My heart rate doesn't seem to want to go up at all on the bike but my poor little legs start to suffer very quickly. Innovative as ever, I discovered some interesting and probably pointless cross training tips;

1) If you use cans of rice pudding to do 'running arms' your heart rate gets higher (and it's more running-specific, which is a GOOD thing, I hear). However, you do get complaints from your boyfriend who apparently owns the rice pudding (although considering the length of time it has been there, does not plan to eat it). You can alternate and do other arm exercises with cans whilst cycling with your legs (this helps to alleviate the boredom and adds a mental training component but do be careful not to fall off...)

2) Add reps - this really helps to make the time go quicker and got my heart rate up. I did 5,4,3,2,1 off 1 min in the last 20 mins but will probably incorporate more earlier in future.

Planned Cross Training Lesson #2- The Aqua Jogger of Agony

My next plan is to reintroduce aqua jogging. I've done this before but never really felt I have been doing it right so I have once again sought out some information and I came across a really good article - Aqua Jogging for Injured Runners I'm particularly intrigued by the bit about using a sprint training resistance bungee cord and I shall be purchasing one of these Resistance Trainer's and trying it next week. However, this is likely to end up with me getting tangled up, drowning or being snapped back to the poolside in the style of some cartoon character...Being freed by an attractive male lifeguard whilst wearing my sexy new goggles and swim hat is probably not a great way to start. No fear though, I'm sure they will remember me from last month when I tripped over with my foot stuck in my resistance band and got the cable pulley stuck on my shoe laces...I'll just have to remember not to do my 'Baywatch' run...

Planned Cross Training Lesson #3 - Bike Ride to Bermuda

Cross Training #3 will hopefully be joining the Clapham Chasers for a 4hr cycle ride (on an ACTUAL BIKE!! My lovely new second hand road bike I have called Lady). I am surely going to get lost, get a puncture (according to my dad, my mum can no longer ride due to them, it's probably in my genes...), hit a particularly agressive squirrel, etc... By the way, just in case my castastrophising is bothering you, I do accept, it could also go perfectly well and I could find excellent ways of training/ decide to become a triathlete. But that wouldn't be half as funny would it? 

I'm going to show you a picture of my new road bike, that I love, and who now lives in our flat (No Bryn, you are not putting her in the shed, she would get cold!!).

My Lady friend...

Coming soon...The Perils of Cross Training # (if I make it)...And for now, another amusing video, I also like...

I'm (sort of) injured...

Hi there and welcome to my first blog :) I've been meaning to start one for a while but taking an easier month of work before starting my PhD means that I finally have some time to do it! So I'll just briefly introduce myself, hopefully without causing too much boredom/ making you think i'm crazy, etc...

To cut a long story short (well, shorter...), I completed my BA in Physiological Sciences in June with a PhD lined up for October, decided I couldn't face any more studying for the foreseeable future, arranged to start April 2013 and then, predictably, started to miss university so arranged to start in December. As you can probably guess, decisiveness is not one of my strong points. So, I'm very excited to be starting a PhD in Obesity (trust me, you have to be quite careful when certain people you meet ask you what your PhD's in...) in December at Imperial College London.

Amazingly, I've got this far without mentioning running but that couldn't really last given the blog title...Running is a massive part of my life and has been since I was 11. It's given me the best friends ever, a lot of enjoyment, and also a fair amount of tears (usually me being over dramatic, which is a speciality of mine). I also have a slightly obsessive personality with control freak tendencies so distance running was probably both one of the best (though you could argue worst) sports for me... I currently compete at distances of 5k and above but in time (read once I can get it past coach Nick :) I want to run some really fast marathons. 

I have been coached by Nick Anderson for the last two years, which has seen me improve massively. He always seems to know the right thing to say in every situation (and I have a suspicion he is psychic as well but perhaps I'm just transparent...). Up until meeting Nick, I was mostly self coached but given my extremes of motivation and enthusisasm I need someone to erm...provide moderation and stop me from running myself into a big hole. I also probably need someone to give me a big slap in the face when I have my one of my panics (just ask my dad about the time I fell in a puddle during a particularly muddy cross country race and convinced myself I nearly drowned...)

2012 has been a tricky year for me where running is concerned. My cross country season was solid (if short lived) with a 2nd place at the Met League before an army of winter bugs made me a non-starter for the rest of it.  However, I managed to remain healthy long enough to run the Reading Half Marathon, where I surpassed my target of sub - 80 with a 79.13 clocking and discovered the joy of the longer races. Since then things have been a bit dodgy to say the least. Due to a combination of university finals, shingles and niggles, I haven't really raced and I'm presently struggling with an "injury" that seems custom - made to do my head in. 

Basically, for the last 3 months or so, my left ankle has felt 'dodgy'. There has been pain but this seems to be relatively minor with running (walking is actually worse). For a while I thought it was my Achilles and I did the usual - stretching, strengthening, icing, etc, but it just didn't respond. It took three physios, a pair of makeshift orthotics, countless random exercises involving weird amounts of rubber bands and cable pulleys (and odd looks at the outrageous number of gyms I signed up for trial passes for to be able to use them for free) to finally find out the problem was. My (also awesome) physio Mark Buckingham concluded it was probably an extra bit of bone in my ankle that was irritating the soft tissue (or posterior ankle impingement to give it it's proper name).

Basically, my ankle doesn't seem to want to dorsiflex at all and feels like its stuck on wrong when i run. It's like the man flu of all injuries - i can run almost my usual amount with relatively minor amounts of pain. But trust me - you don't get much in the way of sympathy from friends and family when you say "oh but I can only run 77s for my 400m reps rather than 75s). Cue typical over - analytic Hayley thoughts, obsessive ankle - monitoring and much redundant ankle fiddling. So as it turns out, tomorrow, I'm seeing a foot and ankle specialist for my non-injury so I can find out if I do need surgery. 

Whilst this is going on, I'm trying to train as much as possible (without overly irritating anything) whilst I potentially wait for surgery. The plan is to then come back to training having hardly lost any fitness with my dream of running a super - fast half or full marathon next spring still intact (possibly wishful thinking but I may as well aim high). So now having told you all about how injured I am, I'm off to run for 30 minutes before my race on Saturday. During my run, I'll be telling myself how many 'injured' runners would love to be able able to do this and how I'm actually very lucky (and I REALLY do believe this, i promise). However, do try and have some sympathy (even fake sympathy because I probably don't deserve the real kind), I will spend the whole time worrying about how foot feels like it doesn't work and is stuck on the wrong way...

Well atleast i'm dealing with it better than Hitler...