Southampton Half Marathon 2016

Although my original plan has been for this to be one of my A-races for 2016, the chest infection that I got earlier in the year put paid to that plan, so when I was offered the chance to pace sub 2:20, I was really excited. I loved pacing at Eastleigh 10k and was confident that I could support other runners to achieve that time.

I probably didn’t have ideal race preparation, but as I wasn’t ‘racing’ that didn’t worry me too much. On Saturday morning, I went to parkrun. Unsurprisingly, a lot of my friends were volunteering, but Kate was there. She had decided to take it easy and do 30-35 minutes, so I figured I’d join her for a nice sociable run. We were joined by Trevor and had a lovely chat on the way around… although yet again, my competitive genes kicked in when I looked at my watch towards the end and realised how close we were to 30 minutes. I didn’t quite make it this time!

It was my 177th run, so I should be able to reach my 200th this year, and if I keep going then I could get to my 250th by the end of 2017 🙂

On Sunday morning, I woke up early and had my usual breakfast, before we drove towards town. We then met Dave and quite a few of the others from the pacing team.

My new boiler is making my house quite warm, so I left the house wearing shorts and a hoodie, but a few minutes of waiting around meant that I had to rummage in my bag to find my jogging bottoms as it was really cold. Just after I put my trousers on, it started to drizzle a bit 😦 I don’t mind running in the rain, but I don’t like getting wet before the start of the race.

The event team treated us really well – we had a lecture theatre at Solent University to relax in before the start of the race, which kept us all warm. We also had access to real toilets with no queues, which is a definite pre-race luxury. The only slight downside was that my pacing t-shirt had gone missing, so Katherine leapt into action and penned me a new one!

Katherine’s handiwork

I love the fact that Marafun race numbers are personalised

After some motivational talks from Matt le Tissier and Franny Benali, as well as Dave, our pacing team leader, I had a chance to chat with Sheryl and Carol, my pacing buddies. We’ve all run the route before and are aware that the first section is mainly downhill and flat (with the exception of the Itchen Bridge), whereas miles 8-11 are mainly uphill, so we decided to go slightly faster on the first half of the course (averaging 6:30/km), so that we could ease back on the steep uphill section, aiming for a course average of 6:38/km. I know that many people will argue that you should aim for a negative split, but our plan was to get as many people around the course on time as possible.

Before the start of the race, we were given pacing flags to carry out onto Guildhall Square before heading to the star zones with them. I hadn’t seen the buzz outside, so it was great to see how many people had congregated. My friend Inez spotted me and snapped a terrible photo!

Flag bearing © Inez Walker

After we took our places with the flags, we were able to go back inside for a while to keep warm. Fortunately, the earlier rain clouds had gone and the sun had started to come out.

Carol, Sheryl and I lined up on time and had a bit of a chance to talk to fellow runners.

Soon we were off. It was a very slow start, but we were able to start jogging within a couple of hundred metres and managed to hit our pace by the time we were 1km in. The crowds out on the streets were amazing and I saw so many people that I knew.

Most of the runners had heard about the Itchen Bridge and some of them were nervous of tackling it, but the weather was kind to us and it wasn’t windy, which made a big difference. There were also quite a few spectators on the bridge and we got to watch all of the faster runners going past on the other side. I had assumed that I would see Stuart, but the 1:30 pacers were just coming down as we went up and Stu must have already been ahead of them. We had to put a bit of work in to get the spectators clapping and cheering, but I think it helped the people running with us.

There were quite a few photographers on the bridge, so I kept reminding the group to smile!

Crossing the Itchen Bridge

The next highlight of the race after the Itchen Bridge was running through the Saints’ stadium. before the race some of my friends had voiced concerns that it would be a pinch point, but I thought we would have thinned out enough by that point and I was correct. We approach the stadium with a large group of runners from Pompey Joggers, which led to a lot of good-natured banter (Portsmouth are Southampton’s biggest rivals!) A lot of people paused to take selfies, but it’s a shame that there were no spectators in the stadium.

The next part of the race was crossing the Northam Bridge towards Bitterne. We passed the 10k point in 1:04, so we were feeling confident.

Then we turned off towards Riverside Park. A German student started chatting to us – although she’s been studying here for a couple of years, she’d never seen this part of the city before, so we told her a bit about the area.

When we got to Riverside Park a few of the runners started asking us about where the nearest toilets were – I wasn’t sure whether there were any portaloos there, but luckily for the desperate runners, there were some. Further on in Riverside Park, there was an aid station with bottles of water and energy gels. I don’t like energy gels, but I had a bit of water.

It was then on past Woodmill, and the first of four climbs. Although this is a short climb, it’s fairly steep and we had to encourage a fw runners to keep going at this point. We then had a flat section before the main hill on the race: Burgess Road. The crowd support there wasn’t quite as good as last year, but we had a bit of time in hand, so were able to take it steady and encourage runners to stick with us.

After Burgess Road, we ran past the University. Last year I recognised a lot of staff members and students out supporting, but there wasn’t as much of a crowd, and I was trying to pay attention to the poor road surface and the water station.

It was then onto a downhill, followed by another climb. yet again, there was a good crowd of supporters out by the church and some words of encouragement chalked onto the road. After a couple of turns we were onto the Common.

It was a quick run through the underpass (made quicker by everyone’s desire to escape the toxic fumes from the guy sparing graffiti tags on the wall – I won’t call him an artist as there’s no merit in just spraying in your name!) and then the final uphill climb.

It was getting quite warm but as we were still a little ahead of schedule, we were able to ease off through the Common. Sadly, we passed a couple of people who had passed out, which is always really sad to see.

Finally, it was the home stretch. We kept our pace steady down London Road, feeling confident that we were going to finish dead on our target time…

Reaching the final mile with Sheryl and Carol © Ken Grist

Sadly, our final race results didn’t quite tally with what we had expected.

We hadn’t realised that the start mat was not under the finish gantry, but 60m before it, so we walked for 30 seconds before we started our Garmins. My watch had stated that our finish time was 2:19:49 and Sheryl had the same result, so we thought we’d done a great job. I hope the confusion didn’t spoil anyone’s race.

So it was my slowest ever half marathon, but the great company from Carol and Sheryl and the feeling that I had helped others to achieve their goals means that it was also one of the most enjoyable races I’ve run.

We received a great goodie bag at the end of the race, including the latest issue of Men’s Running or Women’s running.

We were also given a great finishers t-shirt, but as mine is currently in the washing machine, I haven’t got a photo of it 😦

We were also given a water bottle and a banana – I’m always grateful to have something to eat and drink after a race. A lot of people were enjoying Erdinger Alkoholfrei, but one of the main reasons why I don’t drink ordinary lager is that I don’t like its taste, so I decided to pass on that! We were also given mini boxes of Alpha Bites cereal (‘multigrain cereal letters’).

I’d like to give a mention to my friend Kim who was the sub 1:10 pacer for the 10k. She got the runners around on time and got herself a PB – great work 🙂 Also, my husband Stuart managed to get himself a new PB of 1:23, despite being ill recently.

A video of the race has already been edited and shared online:

After the race, it was great to meet up with a number of friends, including Liz who finished 4 female overall and 1st V40, which is a fantastic result.

I also had a chance to chat with Chris, the mastermind behind the event – congratulations on organising a gret event, Chris!

Chris had ensured that there were enough goodie bags, t-shirts etc for people, which meant that he had some left-over items, so thank you very much for the box of bananas! Hopefully, my new kitchen will be fitted soon and I’ll be able to bake some banana bread.

 

ABP Southampton Half Marathon

I didn’t run as much as I’d planned to in Japan (my running was limited to the running tour that we did in Tokyo at the very start of our trip), and I’ve struggled with jet lag and laryngitis since returning, so I was a little apprehensive about doing Southampton Half. I did parkrun in Cornwall last weekend, and only just got under 30 minutes, which is significantly slower than I expected.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete the half marathon distance, so I asked my friend Teri to go for a run with me on Monday. The short run to her house (<2km) was really hard and I struggled to get under 7 minutes a kilometre. I had said to Teri that I wanted to go for a 60-90 minute run, but I tried to revise that down when I spoke to her husband. Fortunately, Teri was keen to go for a longer run as a bit of stress relief, so I was persuaded to go for 90 minutes. We chatted for the whole run and gradually picked the pace up, so although it wasn’t fast, I managed to do 10 miles and didn’t have any aches, which reassured me that I should be able to finish the race, although I revised my goal to 2:10.

I was sensible for once and rested all week, although I had forgotten that I had booked a sports massage for Saturday afternoon. It was one of the most painful massages that I have ever had – that’ll teach me for cycling miles every day and not stretching!

This morning, I woke up early as Stuart was doing London Marathon… however, although I had intended to be the supportive wife, after a quick chat and a cuddle, I turned over and went back to sleep for another hour and a half.

I made breakfast (apricot and almond porridge) and dressed quickly, so I was ready quite early, Teri had contacted me to agree to meet early, so I set off to walk to our meeting spot. We intended to walk to the start of the race, but just as I got to our meeting point (by a cross roads), a car pulled up and Teri shouted for me to jump in. Teri had been picked up by our club mate Jonathan, so I was happy to accept the lift.

We arrived just before the start of the 10k race, so we stopped by the side of the road to cheer the start of the 10k race and then went and collected our race t-shirts. After that we headed over to where the LRR flag was set up… with a brief stop along the way. There was the most adorable black pug with her owners, so I had to stop for a quick hello!

Then it was off to meet the rest of the Lordshillers and time for a team photo.

I also spotted my friend, Jez, just back from our trip to Japan. It seemed like everywhere I looked there were people I recognised!

As the queues were quite long, Teri and I headed over to the baggage tent early, and I reluctantly handed in my hoodie and rucksack. Teri had brought a bin bag with her, but I hadn’t thought to pick one up. The temperature was ideal for running, but a little chilly for standing around in.

We headed over to the start and managed to make out way to the front of the 1:45-2:00 pen, where Teri snapped a quick selfie of us.

© Teri Pragnell

Before long, the count down was on and the race started… but it took a little bit of time to cross the starting line.

It was an uphill start, but I felt a burst of adrenaline and was excited to get started. I absolutely love races where there is crowd support and this race did not disappoint.

As we headed onto the High Street, I said to Teri that perhaps I was going a bit fast, but that I would stick with her for as long as I could. Teri pointed out that we were going downhill, so I wasn’t too worried.

We headed into Ocean Village for a run around the marina, which was a little congested and slowed to a walk at one point, so this may be an area that Marafun need to rethink for next year… although a staggered start may be enough to ease it.

We arrived at the Itchen Bridge faster than I realised. Teri quickly pulled away from me, but after my illness, I didn’t think it would be wise to push the pace too early on, so I let her go and focused on keeping my pace under 5:38/km, which was what I needed to do to ensure that I finished under 2 hours, as I had started to believe that I might be able to manage that.

In training, I have hated running across the Itchen Bridge and have often slowed my pace down or stopped for a quick breather, but I focussed on watching out for people I knew on the other side of the road, which distracted me from my discomfort. After the turnaround, I was able to see who I was ahead of… not necessarily ‘beating’ as they may have started considerably further back than me, but friends who run at a similar pace to me.

The support continued as we left the bridge and headed around past the Saints football stadium, before heading onto a part of the run that I have found tough before. Previously, I have started the run from on Southampton Common, so I wasn’t as tired as usual at this point, which was in my favour. It was also great to see Dan, one of my club’s finest runners, cheering people on. There was a slight incline, but the support of the crowd meant that I didn’t notice it. I also focused on smiling at the supporters to show how much fun I was having… as well as watching the technique of other runners, which distracted me a bit. I also saw parkrun Jill go breezing past – she really makes running look effortless!

We continued through Bitterne triangle and into Riverside Park, where again there were many supporters cheering us on. I’m wondering whether some of them were people who had been there since Junior parkrun finished.

Although the weather was cooler than of late, I made sure that I took on some water at every drinks station and poured some over me to keep my temperature down. At 10km, I had an energy gel. It allegedly had caffeine in it, but I didn’t notice any benefit.

The 2:00 pacer passed me, but from looking at my watch, I could see that he was running significantly faster than was necessary, so I wasn’t too bothered. I knew the toughest part of the race (Burgess Mountain) was yet to come, but I was confident that I had done enough earlier in the race that if I didn’t slow down too much, I would be OK.

There were many church groups and bands on Burgess Road, which helped me to maintain a steady pace, and before long, I was at the top of the hill. It included my slowest kilometres, but my average pace was still fast enough to finish in under 2 hours, so I felt motivated.

Running along University Road was great, I saw several work colleagues and there was great support from some student groups. I loved the run down the hill, even though I knew that there would soon be another 90 degree turn and then a hill up to The Common.

The Southampton Tri Club crew were the ‘mile makers’ on this part of the course, and it was great to hear them cheering, even if Steve did get over-enthusiastic and call me Donna (to be fair, we’re similar height with brown hair and are both Cornish, but that’s about the end of the similarities!)

I told another runner that the hills were over, because I had completely forgotten that we still had to run up the hill on The Common – oops. We ran through the underpass, which seemed incredibly dark – I’m sure it’s not normally that bad – and I powered up the other side as I knew that some people I know intended to be somewhere in teh area and I didn’t want to be seen slacking off. There were lots of people that I knew on The Common, including Steve Robinson and his children, Teri’s children, my work colleague Lorrayne with her daughter and Dean with his daughter. My breathing was feeling a bit strange, so I decided to give it to the top of the hill before getting out my inhaler… but I didn’t need to as the support helped me to feel good and it settled down again.

I love running downhill, so I was really pleased to have reached the highest point of the course. I also noticed that I was running near to fellow parkrunner and Sunday Runday runner Kate. She looked like she was having a great time – especially when we passed her son and the rest of her scout group.

At the bottom of the hill, I saw fellow RunCamper Max, along wither her husband and fellow STC’er Richard and their gorgeous daughter (who hasn’t been signed up for any clubs yet… as far as I know!)

Then it was on to the flats, where I saw my colleague Lorrayne again – she was looking in the other direction, but I shouted to get her attention! Further along the flats, I saw Lorrayne’s husband, Jonathan (who gave me the lift earlier). he was struggling a bit, so I encouraged him to run with me, which he did for a while, but unfortunately, it wasn’t his best race today 😦

After we left The Common, I knew there was a small group of LRRs to pass as well as the infamous cake-baker, Lou. Sadly, she had no cakes with her today, but it was great to see all of them cheering people on.

Heading down London Road, I knew that I was so close to the finish and I started to relax a little as I was feeling great and was confident that I would get under 2 hours – a feat which I have only achieved twice: at Reading Half in 2012 (1:52:19) and at Gosport last year. I couldn’t remember my time from Gosport, so didn’t have a specific target in mind.

I picked up the pace when we started running through the park – especially when I could see where we started, but then I reminded myself that we had to head back up to a finish in Guildhall Square… and, unfortunately, there was another hill to be conquered. I was determined not to stop and wanted to enjoy my run back up the High Street.

Towards one of the final turns, I saw the beautiful half of Julian Porter Photography (the lovely Sue), so I gave a huge grin, in the hope that there would be at least one good picture of me from the race as I’ve not had many recently.

It was then onto the final 100m, where I really picked the time up. I was absolutely delighted to finish in 1:55:14. A quick check of my time at Gosport Half last year showed that I finished in 1:57:37, so although it wasn’t a PB, it was my third time under 2 hours, my second fastest time ever and my fastest time since 2012. I am so happy!

I’m also really pleased with my stats – I finished in the top 45% (not sure that actually sounds better than the top half) and was in the top 25% of all women and my age group as well.

Southampton Half Marathon Certificate

I really enjoyed this race. My preparation was not ideal, but the support from a home town crowd cannot be beaten. The TryTri/Marafun boys delivered a great event. It wasn’t perfect, but as their inaugural race at a scale they’ve never undertaken before, there were no major problems – they even fixed it so it wasn’t too hot, but it didn’t rain either! 🙂

I’ll definitely be entering this race again next year. If you want to find out more, watch the video and then visit http://www.abpsouthamptonhalf.co.uk/sign-up/ to sign up.

Post-race selfie with Becky, Alison and Teri © Becky Cleeves

Post-race refuelling with Teri © Megan Draper

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As an aside, my amazing husband ran London Marathon today. He spent most of the last three weeks feeling ill with a chest infection and I did wonder whether he was going to be able to cope with our cycling tour in Japan. He did a lot of training for the marathon, but I thought his dream might end in tatters, so I am immensely proud of him for not only completing the marathon but getting a new PB of 3:13:47. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to cheer him on.

Progress towards Marafun

Until, I got ill, my training for :

was going well. After being unable to run for a month because of having laser eye surgery, my parkrun times started out quite slow

10th January 2015

but have started to pick up again.

24th January 2015

I’m hoping that when I’m well, I’ll be able to run 5km in under 25 minutes again.

Next weekend, I’m doing Heartbreak Half. I didn’t run it last year, but I did do it (and blogged about it) in 2013. It’s a challenging course, so it took me 2:14:53. My aim is to run it in as close to 2 hours as possible (and ideally in under 2 hours). There are some tough uphill sections, but the race finishes with some great downhills.

As preparation for the Heartbreak Half, I went out for a long training run with Pete and Aleesha, last weekend. We met on The Common and followed almost all of the route for Southampton Half, so that by the time I got home, I had run 21.2 km in 2:00:16. This was much faster than I had expected to do on a training run, but my Garmin has frustrated me and refuses to upload the file as it has somehow become corrupt.

I also signed up for an Endomondo challenge a while ago and was emailed a certificate to recognise my participation 🙂

Endomondo challenge

I had been intending to do a long run on Sunday morning followed by a bike ride in the afternoon, but I’m now unsure whether I’ll be able to manage either of those, so I may just sit down and start planning my training more carefully. I’ve got so many evnets lined up that I keep forgetting that I’ve entered Ironman Dublin 70.3

Whilst browsing the internet today, I saw this:

How many of these apply to you?

I also saw a humorous graphic about different types of runners.

Which type of runner are you?

Fundraising for the Chestnut Appeal

This year, Stuart and I are raising money for the Chestnut Appeal, which supports men with prostate cancer in the south-west. It is an important charity that has funded six nurses and a variety of treatments and equipment.

 

 

The events that we are doing:

• 26th April – Stuart is running London Marathon and Tamsyn is running Southampton Half Marathon
• 18th July – We are both swimming around St. Michael’s Mount
• 9th August – We are both doing IronmanDublin 70.3 (1.9k swim; 90k bike; 21.1k run)
• 5th September – This is the big one. We are going to tackle the Scilly Swim Challenge – 15k swim and 10k walk.

I only started learning to swim in 2013 and neither of us has ever swum more than 2.8k before, so this is going to take a lot of training. Stuart and I are hoping that you’ll support us on our way to completing this tough year… and that you’ll also sponsor us to help our chosen charity. To make this easy, we have set up a JustGiving account:

https://www.justgiving.com/TamsynandStuswim/

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

We are hoping to raise £200 (about US$300), and are very grateful to everyone who has already sponsored us, as we’re already a third of the way there. It is possible to donate in a variety of currencies, including GB£, US$ and €. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a difference to someone’s life.

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Massive THANK YOU to Rob, Neil, Henry, Di, Clare, Ellie, Gary, Chris and Adrian – your generous donations are much appreciated 🙂

Stuart and I at the end of the Good Fri Tri

 

Round up of my first week of a crazy year

I’ve set so many goals for myself that 2015 is going to be a crazy hectic year.

I’ve already got back to some training, but I can’t train outside on my bike at the moment and I’m also not back to swimming yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of running. I’ve also been trying to inspire new runners and have been focusing on healthy eating, which is really hard when people keep bringing in to the office boxes of chocolates and biscuits that they didn’t eat at Christmas. I swear that I’m based in an office full of feeders, but I’m resisting them all! I tracking my progress with healthy eating using Giveit100. Follow me at: https://giveit100.com/@tamsynsmith/hdhzbl My terrible videos are also appearing on Instagram, as that seems to be the easiest way to upload them to Giveit100

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Monday: 10k tempo run with LRR
• Tuesday: 1 hour spin with SUTRI (and my first ride on a real bike since before my op! I’m now allowed to commute to work on my bike again, thank goodness!)
• Wednesday: Coaching LRR – which involved doing some squats and some light jogging with some new/returning from injury runners
• Thursday: This was #run2workday. I didn’t feel I could fit in any more running, so I led my first workplace beginners’ running group session. Two of my colleagues came – one of whom is a relatively experienced runner who has had a couple of years off and the other who is a complete novice. The day started with torrential rain, but by the time we went out, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous. We had a fun jog/walk session and I appreciated the opportunity to leave the office and get some fresh air – I must do it more often, as I’m spending too much time at a screen these days.
  In the evening, I did a 5000m track session with STC. I started out way too fast, but settled down for the second 400m. I was a little way back from one of the guys who swims in my lane, and finally managed to catch up with him at about 2.2km. It was very windy at the track, so I decided to tuck in behind the other runner for 200m to try to conserve energy. It was my slowest km, but I think it helped me in the end as I was feeling tired before I started. At about 4.8km, Donna caught up with me, but I think he shoelace came undone, so in the end, I didn’t have anyone to sprint against. Hopefully next time there will be a few more runners who are my pace or slightly faster so that I get dragged along. I’m hopeful that I can get another sub 25 minute 5k time again soon.
  When I got home, I received an email from RunKeeper:
  I’m not really sure that I deserve it, but I’ll take it! 🙂
• Friday: This was rest day… and I was so glad that it was.
• Saturday: I started the day with a parkrun. I love going, but I know that I’m going to have to swap some runs for swims this year. I might alternate until I’ve done my half marathon in April, before switching to swimming almost every week. I was feeling quite tired after Thursday night’s track session, so I didn’t push too hard and was pleased to finish in 26:37.
  
  In the evening, I made some ‘addictive sweet potato burritos‘… only, I didn’t really make burritos, they were more like tacos as my tortillas were a bit small, so I didn’t fold them up. I liked the recipe and may try them again.
• Sunday: Today was the first of the Marafun training runs as part of the build up to Southampton Half Marathon. We did an 8.64km run at a 5:33/km pace (but Stuart threw in some killer intervals). I was tired, so it felt hard, but I know I can do this. Chris was out in town filming the runners – I’m wearing the turquoise calf guards in this video:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1574997442718965

I think next week will be equally busy, especially as it will include my first race of the year: Stubbington 10k.

I’ve run Stubbington 3 times before:

• 2012: 53:03
• 2013: 55:14
• 2014: 55:17

My 10k PB is 51:06 set at Eastleigh in March 2012. At that time, 25:33 was my PB for 5k, and I know I’m faster than that now, so there’s hope that I might be able to squeak a PB at Stubbington (or at least stop my downward trend!)

What have I been reading this week?

• Freeplay – a free online endurance sports magazine for women.
• Why open water swimming is the trend of 2015

This infographic on cycling equipment:

Overall, this week it’s been a relief to have a gentle introduction back into my exercise routine.

My goals for 2015

I’ve spent the last couple of days discussing the races and events that I want to enter in 2015. Stuart is a firm believer of quality over quantity, whereas I want to enter everything! I quite enjoy doing cross-country running and usually do some of the local cross-country series (CC6) but Stu doesn’t want to risk injury; also he is leading Marafun training runs on Sunday mornings and these clash with the CC6s, so we have agreed to do these runs together.

I’ve also been considering my SMART goals for the year. These are goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

I have four goals:

I am going to eat healthy food for 20/21 meals and assess my progress at the end of 100 days (14th April). I hope that I will lose 14lbs (6.5kg) in that time. I will record my progress on Give It 100.

I am going to work hard on my speed between now and 26th April by attending Thursday night track sessions. I will also run on Monday evenings. My aim is to complete Southampton HM in under 1:55, with under 1:52:19 as my ultimate goal as that would be a PB/PR.

I want to achieve a PB/PR at Ironman Dublin 70.3 on 9th August. I completed Weymouth Half in 7:24. I think that a time of under 7 hours is possible if I work hard on all three disciplines. I will train for 14 weeks from 3rd May.

I want to complete the Scilly Swim Challenge on 5th September. To do this, I will need to go open water swimming at least once a week between June and September. I will speak to my coach about how to train for an endurance swimming event such as this.

I need to work on my training programme to support these goals. I’m not allowed to swim until the middle of January, but for the next few months, my training schedule is going to include the following:

• Monday: Crossfit; running; swimming.
• Tuesday: Spinning; swimming.
• Wednesday: Rest day. (Maybe lunchtime yoga).
• Thursday: Track running.
• Friday: Swimming.
• Saturday: parkrun or swimming.
• Sunday: Long run. Bike ride.

I’ve now scheduled most of my races and events for 2015. There’s a whole range of different events that I’ve entered:

• HRRL – this is a league of 12 races for local club runners. The events are open for any runner to enter, but only the results of local club runners are counted in the league.
• RR10 – this is a spring/summer local off-road running league. These races are free for local club runners and are 4-5 miles long. Dates for 2015 have not yet been confirmed.
• parkrun – this is a free, weekly, timed 5k event. I will be adding them in accoridng to my training schedule, but I suspect that I will need to prioritise swimming over running for much of 2015.
• Eastleigh aquathlons – this is a series of races hosted by TryTri events on Thursday evenings. Entry to them is free for SUTRI members.

Stu and I are also going cycling in Japan with a friend in early April. We’re expecting to ride about 60-70 miles a day, which will be tiring, but good training.

January

• 11/01/15 Marafun training run
• 18/01/15 Stubbington 10k (HRRL)
• 25/01/15 Evans Cycles Ride It Newbury Sportive 112km

February

• 01/02/15 Marafun training run
• 15/02/15 Marafun training run
• 22/02/15 Heartbreak Half

March

• 01/03/15 Marafun run
• 08/03/15 Salisbury 10 mile (not yet entered)
  
• 22/03/15 Winchester Duathlon (not yet entered)
  
• 29/03/15 Marafun training run

April

• Cycling in Japan (1st-19th April)
• 26/04/15 ABP Marafun Southampton Half Marathon
• RR10 #1 RVCP, Netley

May

• 04/05/15 May Day Tri (sprint)
• 16/05/15 Grand Shaftesbury Triathlon (standard)
• 17/05/15 Grand Shaftesbury 10k
• 28/05/14 Eastleigh aquathlon
• RR10 #2 Stoney Cross
• RR10 #3 Wilverley, Sway

June

• 07/06/15 Big Cove Swim (1.5 miles) (not yet entered)
• 20/06/15 Brutal 10 (pair relay – 12 hrs – 10km route)
• 25/06/15 Eastleigh aquathlon
• RR10 #4 Blackfield
• RR10 #5 Alver Valley Country Park
• RR10 #6 Manor Farm Country Park

July

• 12/07/15 GU Energy Weymouth Bay Triathlon (Standard)
• 18/07/15 St. Michael’s Mount swim (~2.5k) (not yet entered)
• 25-26/07/15 Adidas Thunder Run (team relay – 24 hours – 10km route)
• 30/07/15 Eastleigh aquathlon
• RR10 #7 Marwell Zoo
• RR10 #8 Janesmoor Pond, Stoney Cross

August

• 09/08/14 Ironman Dublin 70.3
• 16/08/14 Big Cove Swim (3 miles)
• 27/08/15 Eastleigh aquathlon
• RR10 #9 Itchen Valley Country Park
• RR10 #10 IBM Hursley Park

September

• 05/09/14 Scilly Swim Challenge
• 24/09/14 Eastleigh aquathlon

October

Rest!

November

• 15/11/15 Denbies Duathlon or Gosport Half Marathon (TBC)

December

Off-season rest!

2015 is going to be a busy year. What have you got planned?

Catching up, CrossFit, Ironman Dublin 70.3, Marafun, stir-fry and Santahampton.

I’ve been so busy recently that I’ve not had enough time to blog. I hope that I can find more time in 2015 – I think that perhaps I need to be more productive in my lunch breaks. As I’m struggling to find enough time, I’m trying to add more frequent social media updates:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tamsynsmith
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/tamsynmsmith/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatgirltoironman

One of my aims for 2015 is to focus a little more on my diet and nutrition. I’m good at sticking to a training plan, so I think I need to be as rigid about what I eat to try to stop me from making unhealthy choices. I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve… more will be revealed later.

I’ve been busy for several reasons – one of which is work, but the main one is that I’m trying to get back into regular training, so that it’s not too difficult for me to pick up my half marathon training in January. I’m also desperate to get a 5km PB before the end of the year as I feel like I’m making some progress with my running. I’m also back to Run Leading/coaching with Lordshill Road Runners. I now regularly help Ben on a Wednesday, which is great. It means that I get a rest day in the middle of the week whilst helping other people to achieve their goals.

A month ago, I blogged that I had achieved my best ever race pace. Later I looked at my run on Strava and was surprised to see how well it ranked against my other runs:

I know that I’ve run 1 mile faster than 7:32 (my PB is 7:27), but I’ve never run 5k in under 25 minutes! 🙂 This is great as it means that I’ve a little hope that I might get a 5k PB before the end of the year.

I’ve also been doing a lot more training with SUTRI. I’ve regularly been attending Tuesday night spinning classes. They’re quite different from what I was used to at Bournemouth University. I used to do 30 minute classes and these are an hour, but I don’t find them as challenging – I think this is because I’m fitter and now ride a bike every day. The music is also very different from what I’m used to.

I’ve also been going to SUTRI strength and conditioning classes which are led by Ollie at the local CrossFit box. CrossFit seems to be a Marmite activity, as it divides people into those who love it and those who hate it. The lovers enjoy the group mentality and camaraderie about working with others to push yourselves to the limit; the haters point out the extreme risks that are taken in some gyms where the instructors have received minimal training and rhabdo is common. What we’re doing is a modified version of CrossFit that is tailored to triathlon. Also, I’m confident that the coach knows what he’s doing and isn’t going to get anyone doing multiple reps of an exercise that they don’t understand with a weight that’s too heavy for them.

So far, I’ve been to three strength and conditioning classes. The first one was the day after Gosport Half Marathon, so my legs were a little bit tired. We did a whole range of things that I’ve not done for many years including some pull ups using rings and some squats… lots of squats. There were squats with a medicine ball, squats throwing a medicine ball and just plain squats. I’ve no idea how many squats I did, but the next day my legs hurt and by Wednesday I wondered whether I would ever be able to stand without groaning again!

In my second class, the focus was on inversions. This was much safer territory for me. I stopped doing gymnastics in 2008, but muscle memory means that I still know how to do a handstand. We did a variety of handstands in groups of three and also had to walk up the wall into a handstand position for me. It felt good as I knew that I could do it. We also had to balance in crow position (from yoga). I used to spend a lot of time doing various balance on the beam and have practised this position in yoga, so it was something that I knew I could do. I felt great when the class finished and was pleased that I did not ache afterwards.

Last week, my friend Roelie came along to the class with me. I’m significantly older than the other participants, so it was great to have a friend who’s not in her early twenties to train with. The focus of the session was using kettlebells. A few years back, I did a kettlebell workout with my karate instructor, Sean, but I’ve not used them since then. We spent quite a bit of time working on doing a Russian/Turkish get up (as demonstrated in this video). We also had to do knee-lifts, which involved working the lower abs by raising our knees to our chests whilst hanging from a bar. We had to do this in sets of 10. My biggest concern was whether I’d be able to reach the bar. Some of the taller blokes could reach up and touch it with their hands, whilst I was hoping that I would be able to jump high enough to reach it! Fortunately, I managed it, but it’s a long time since I’ve done anything like that, so my hands didn’t like it!

The only frustration that I’ve had so far is that each class seems to have some burpees in it. Unfortunately, my low blood pressure means that I’m not allowed to do burpees as I always end up fainting. I’ve been told to do the burpees slowly, but I’m not convinced that it has any benefit for me and just makes me look like I can’t do them 😦

On 24th November, entry to Ironman Dublin 70.3 opened for people who had pre-registered. Stuart and I were fortunate enough to get places, along with three of our friends from Southampton Tri Club: Suzanne, Huw and Steve. Unlike Weymouth, I won’t be able to train on the course in advance, but I’m more confident now and I’m hoping that I’ll head into HIM training on the back of some successful half marathon training. My aim is to finish in under 7 hours, which will require me to improve on all disciplines. I think I wasted a lot of time in T1 at Weymouth and my run was poor, so they should be easy places to lose some time.

On 29th November, Rob and Stuart agreed to pace me at parkrun. I had several aims:

• Beat my fastest time at parkrun this year (25:45)
• Beat my Southampton parkrun PB (25:12)
• Beat my 5k PB (25:08)
• Finish in 24:59 or faster

I’ve blogged about how it went – I didn’t achieve all of my goals, but it was my 3rd fastest ever parkrun and I’m confident that with some consistent training and a healthy diet I’ll get there.

I’m now running again with Lordshill on a Monday evening. The pace of the groups is a little inconsistent at the moment, so it’s not always easy to work out which group to run with. I was dithering about joining Stu’s group (Group F) for some sprints when I was asked to help out with Group D on Monday. I agreed to tail run, which was probably a good decision. Before we started running, Teri got me to pose for a quick photo with James who won the Best New Male Athlete award by Southampton Tri Club. Teri humorously referred to us as the ‘king and queen of tri’ – I’m not sure I’m at that level yet, but I’m still proud enough to keep polishing my trophy!

Celebrating my tri club win with James, who was awarded best new male

After running, I headed down to swimming. It had been cold outside, which meant that the pool felt warm for a change… the pool at The Quays is always really cold! It was a tiring session, but it’s always hard to swim for an hour when you’ve already done an hour of strength and conditioning, an hour of running and have spent nearly an hour commuting by bike!

On Thursday evenings, I’ve been running at the track with Huw from STC. He’s a great coach – I find him very supportive and motivational and I love running on the track as it has such a lovely bouncy surface. This week’s session was 600ms. We had to jog/walk/recover for 200m before running 400m at 5k pace followed by 200m at faster than 5k pace. I managed to do six reps before calling it a day. It was a tough session, but I know that it’s what will make the difference when it comes to getting a 5k PB.

On Friday evening, I did a 750m swimming time trial that I’ve blogged about. It was tough!

Yesterday, I didn’t go to parkrun. I’ve been considering having laser eye surgery for a while, so I booked a consultation for Saturday afternoon. I was not allowed to wear my contact lenses for 24 hour beforehand, which meant that I couldn’t do parkrun as I cannot run with my glasses on. As an alternative, I went swimming with STC. I knew it would be tough as it was only 12 hours after I finished swimming with SUTRI.

I hardly ever swim with STC on a Saturday morning, so I had no idea who would be in my lane or what I could expect. Fortunately, it wasn’t too busy and the other people in my lane were not significantly faster than me. I was quite proud of myself for managing 4 lengths of butterfly (my previous best was 1/4 length). It wasn’t great – I’m quite surprised none of the lifeguards tried to save me – but I didn’t drown. Sadly, Garmin thinks I was doing freestyle… but at least it recognised that it was a swimming stroke! I should probably admit that I had fins on… But I also had to do another 4 lengths single arm without fins, at which point I nearly died! Afterwards, we went for a hot drink with some of the others swimmers. It was so difficult to recognise people without their swimming hats and goggles on!

On Saturday evening, I made a lovely dinner: sesame, honey, ginger and tofu stir-fry.

Sesame, honey, ginger and tofu stir-fry

It’s based on an old recipe that I had for cabbage stir-fry.  Ingredients:

• 1 chopped clove of garlic
• Small piece of chopped ginger
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• Some sesame seeds (I used a mixture of black and white seeds)
• Any stir-fry veg (I used mangetout, red pepper [capsicum], baby corn, spring onions [scallions], broccoli spears and a red chilli
• Tofu

It worked out really well 🙂

Today has been a busy day. This morning, Stuart and I ran up to The Common for another training run with the Marafun crew. I dithered a bit, but went into the 9 minute mile group again. If I’m going to get a PB then I’ll need to manage faster than that pace on race day!

After we finished the group run, Stuart and I ran home, where I made some spirulina smoothies.

This afternoon, we joined Coach Ant’s fun run: Santahampton.

We arrived a little late, but it was easy to see where we needed to go as there were plenty of people out with costumes on:

Arriving at Santahampton

The local newspaper had sent a photographer and also a journalist (who turned out to be one of my former students. I love it when I hear about my people I’ve taught doing well).

Coach Ant briefed everyone about the route, and then we were off.

Ant starting the run

I jogged with some people that I know – we were at the back, but that was fine as it was a fun sociable event. I really enjoyed having a chance to say hello to people that I know.

Afterwards, we were all rewarded with a mince pie.

Ant with Sandra and her huskies

My favourite Christmas elf – Liz and her medal.

Secret Santa (aka Rikki)

Papping the photographer – a quick snap of Jules

How’s your week been? Have you got any festive runs scheduled?

Mmmm maple protein pancakes

As a vegetarian, I’ve had an interest in protein for a long time. There’s lots of conflicting information about the healthiness of vegetarian diets, with some people arguing that it’s not possible to get enough protein from plant sources. I disagree with this, but as a very active person who is trying to lose weight, it is preferable for me to increase the amount of protein in my diet, so that I’m relying less on carbs to curb my hunger. Protein is also good for building muscle, and with the cross-training sessions that I’ve been doing, that’s definitely something that I need help with!

The lovely people at myprotein.com recently sent me some protein pancake mix and some Spirulina powder to try.

What a great slogan – I’ve got lots of ambition and it definitely needs fuelling!

I’ve tried protein powder before, but have only used it in a smoothie or porridge. I’m not a great baker, but I love pancakes, so I was excited to try the protein pancake mix.

On Sunday morning, I went out for a training run withe the Marafun people. I ran up to the meeting point, and then we went out for a 10.5km run. The group I was in was being led by Rob, a coach from my running club, and Pete a Run Leader from my running club. They’re both lovely guys and experienced runners. Rob is a firm believer in Maffetone training for endurance sports – this is aerobic training (low heart rate). Unfortunately, it’s a tough kind of training to start off with as it involves lots of slow running initially. My husband is trying it at the moment – I hope it works out as well for him as it has done for his friends.

It was cold and wet when we were out running… and I felt even colder after we had stopped for a chat at the end. Fortunately, we had a short run to get home and help me to warm up again. Overall, I ran just over 15km, with most of it at quite a fast pace… which meant that I felt I deserved a treat. Maple protein pancakes were on the menu.

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the packet was to open and even more surprised by the heavenly aroma that greeted me. I had expected it to have a synthetic smell; instead, it smelt exactly like a jar of maple syrup – delicious.

The next step in the process was to weigh out the powder and mix it with milk or water – I decided to go for a combination of milk and water. A true chef would have weighed out the powder and then slowly added the liquid whilst stirring to form a smooth paste… but I’m not a true chef, so I weighed out the protein powder in my measure jug and then topped it up with the liquid. It was a bit lumpy and took a bit of whisking to smooth out the lumps – oops! I think it would also have been possible to mix it in a smoothie shaker, but I don’t have one.

I heated some oil in my omelette pan and added the mixture. It smelt so good that I was desperate for it to be ready. It was looking great until I tried to turn it over… my culinary skills let me down, so it didn’t quite go as planned.

At this stage, I must point out that this is what always happens to my pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I have never fried a perfect pancake first time, but I usually get it right before I run out of batter!  I also believe in the authenticity of my blogging – this is my real life, it’s not just someone’s beautifully staged instagram account – so I thought I should share these images with you.

I dished up the pancake anyway, as I was desperate to try it. It tasted a thousand times better than it looks. I had thought that it might not taste as good as it smelled, but it was much better. I thought it might need some additional maple syrup, but it was perfect as it was.

Fortunately, there was more batter left, so I was able to make some more pancakes, which turned out much better:

I made up the mixture as described on the packet and was able to make 4 large pancakes. They all tasted really good, even if they didn’t all look perfect.

So, next up is the Spirulina… I’d love to hear whether you’ve tried it before and what your recommendations are. I’m hoping to be able to make some delicious smoothies for after training.

If you’d like to try some myprotein.com products, there are some discount codes available here: http://www.myprotein.com/voucher-codes.list

Starting my half marathon training

Muddy cross-country run or a sociable long run? Decisions, decisions. This morning I had to choose between doing a cross-country race or a long run with other people who are training for Southampton Half Marathon. Although the weather forecast was good, I decided to avoid the cross-country race as my chest was still feeling the effects of yesterday’s run and also the heavy rain meant that it would be a very muddy course.

I was feeling quite tired, so I didn’t get up as early as I had planned, which meant that I didn’t have a lot of spare time before we were due to meet others. I ran up to The Common and met Teri on the way. Shortly afterwards, Stu caught up with us. It was quite a cold morning, but I had decided against wearing a headband and was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Teri was concerned that she wouldn’t warm up, but I knew that if I was moving at a reasonable pace there was more risk that I would overheat than be too cold.

We met other people outside The Hawthorns and were divided into ability groups. I considered joining the 8:30-9:00 min/mile group, as my half marathon PB was run at a pace of 8:34 min/mile (5:19/km), but I decided to be sensible and stay with the 9:00 min/mile group. This proved to be the right decision as I was quite tired by the end of the run.

After a quick warm up, the coaches and run leaders were allocated to various groups. I was in a group of about 10 with Nic leading and Stu back-marking. We went for a lovely run along some of the route of the half marathon, going through town and towards the Itchen Bridge before heading back to our starting point.

The run up to The Common had been quite slow with my first km (uphill with no warm up) taking me over 7 minutes, so I was quite pleased that until the final km of my 15km run, I managed to maintain a pace of under 6:00/km. My average pace for the run was 5:47/km. I’m hoping to maintain a pace of 5:40/km next weekend, so I think that may be possible, although it will depend on the wind.

I think that Marafun have hit on a great idea of organising regular long training runs in the build up to ABP Southampton Half Marathon and they’ve got some enthusiastic local runners to lead them. I’ll definitely be back for more!

Enjoying the sunshine with Stu at the end of our long run

As I had worked quite hard, I felt really hungry when I got in, so I treated myself to a cinnamon bagel and a glass of tropical nuun.

The rest of today has been spent catching up with chores – there is never enough time during the week. I’ve just been watching Downton Abbey and although I don’t need a large retinue of servants (my house is tiny), it would be lovely to have a housekeeper!

I’m trying to get back to eating more healthily, so I made a frittata that I can eat for lunch this week at work. I also wanted to use up some kale that I had, so I adapted an Isa Chandra Moskowitz recipe to make a kale and sweet potato stew. I’ve made the ‘proper’ recipe several times before and really like it. It includes quinoa, but I didn’t have quite enough, so I supplemented it with some bulgar wheat. The parsnip and potatoes were subbed with sweet potato and the navy/white/haricot beans were replaced by pinto and kidney beans. Delicious and vegan!

Sweet potato, kale, quinoa and bean stew

If you’re interested in more photos of the food that I make, please follow me on instagram: http://instagram.com/tamsynmsmith

This week is going to be busy. I’ve got a new fitness class to try tomorrow as well as leading a running group and swimming. Then on Tuesday, I’ve got swimming. However, the workout that I’m looking forward to most is Thursday night’s track session. I feel that my speed work is starting to pay off and I’m desperate to do more.

What are you looking forward to this week?

Injuries – 1; First week of Challenge Weymouth training schedule – 0

I was meant to start the first week of my first half iron distance triathlon training schedule this week, but I’m still struggling with arm pain and my swollen knee doesn’t seem to be deflating, so I’m already behind schedule.

I should have been doing an hour on my turbo trainer yesterday, which might have been manageable, but my bike was off with The Bike Guy getting new brakes and bar tape fitted, so I couldn’t do that. Tonight’s session is meant to be a 2km swim (which might be further than I’ve ever done in an hour), but my arm is just too painful to risk swimming. I feel like I’m being terribly lazy, but I’m also trying to heed my doctor’s words of resting for 2-3 weeks. I think I’ll be ready to train sooner than that, but I don’t want to risk making my arm worse.

This means that I’ve had a bit more time at home than I would usually have, so I’ve entered my first race for 2015. I’ve entered the ballot for London Marathon, but even with a second chance via my running club’s ballot, I probably won’t get a place. As a consequence, I’ve now signed myself up for Marafun Southampton, which is the first half marathon to take place in the city for many years. I am familiar with much of the route:

Marafun Southampton route

The bridge over the river (Itchen Bridge) is likely to be the most challenging part of the run, although Burgess Road, which is the long straight at the top of the map, is also a long hill. For me, the massive advantage is that it’s a distance that I like and I’ll be able to train in familiar surroundings. I am likely to practise the route in chunks, so that by the time race day comes I am feeling really well prepared.

Today’s other ‘excitement’ was that I got myself organised to use the peak flow meter that I was prescribed. I have to blow into it three times a day and record the data, to see whether my asthma is being controlled. Apparently a normal reading for a woman who is my age and height should be about 442l/min. This morning’s reading was 290l/min, this afternoon it was 450l/min, and tonight it was 480l/min. It’ll be interesting to see how it compares tomorrow.

I also received an exciting parcel today: odlo Evolution sports underwear for women. They’re a fairly long base-layer that I want to try out under indecently short running shorts. I’ll let you know how I get on with that!

My blog has also received a lot of traffic from Poland this week. I don’t speak Polish, but a quick use of Google Translate suggests that I was being used on a forum as an example of someone who is 30kg overweight, but is still able to exercise. The topic was about the persecution of obese people. I don’t mind being used as an example, but I object to the suggestion that I am (or have been) 30kg overweight… if I only weighed 6st (84lbs/39kg) then I would be severely underweight! Maybe I’ve misunderstood the article. If any of my readers speaks Polish, I’d love to know what the discussion was all about: http://forum.gazeta.pl/forum/w,567,150970875,,Dyskryminacja_otylych_wreszcie_ktos_glosno_walczy.html?v=2

My husband shared the following interview with junior pro-cyclist Jasper Styuven with me: http://www.manualforspeed.com/development/blue-or-blue/ He knows how much I love my clothing/bike etc to match!

I’ve been failing in my diet this week, as I’ve been feeling down about being injured and unable to exercise, however, I thought this article on Greatist was worth reading: 67 Science-backed ways to lose weight What do you think? Do you follow any of these tips?