4/22/10

Thursday’s Training – Am: 48 mins with 6*1 min hard, 1 min easy

Mileage – 7 Miles

I woke up at 6am this morning and headed down to the restaurant to get a coffee and croissant before heading out for my run. I relaxed in my room for a while and was glad to see that the weather was going to be nice. I had been told by some of the marathon staff that there was a park a couple of miles away so I made an attempt at finding it. I missed Jamaica road somehow and headed down a different street and winded my way through all the streets until I found it and suddenly I was at the park. As I ran around, I was amazed to see a disused track fenced up beside a sports centre. It’s a shame to see a perfectly good track just sitting there and unable to be used. I found a good stretch of flat path and did my mini fartlek on it so that I could get my legs moving a bit. I felt pretty good and was running pretty fast so hopefully come race day, I can do the same. After I was finished, I jogged back to the hotel and stretched for a little while before showering and heading down to breakfast.

I was disappointed to see that no porridge was available but I am going to ask if they can get some for race day. I headed up to the athlete lounge to se if I could get on the computers and I found James Thie (former international athlete and working for the marathon this weekend), Dan Robinson and our pace maker, Mike Morgan from the USA. We sat and chatted for a little white but I got up at 10.30am as I was scheduled to get a massage in the next room. The massage was great and just what I needed before the busy day ahead. Once I was finished it was straight off to do some press photos and some TV interviews outside of the hotel with the Tower bridge in the background. After about half an hour of doing that, we headed back inside and then Dan and I had our press conference. It was fairly straight forward and there were no questions that stumped me. I also managed to avoid telling anyone my time goals for the race, which seem to be the question that everyone kept bringing up. Dan and I then had one on one interviews with the respective papers and then again we headed outside for some more BBC TV interviews. This all went onto about 1.30pm so it was good timing as I was meeting one of the Mizuno media reps to head over and do some work at the marathon expo. I quickly went upstairs and got changed into my race gear and after grabbing a sandwich and coffee we headed off to the DLR train.

One of the many photo's from todays press work

The expo looked great and I immediately saw my old housemate from Florida, Mark Buckingham who was working at the Timex stand. I had a quick word but promised I would head back later and catch up with him. The Mizuno stand was really nice and I had a quick peek at all the shoes they had out as I haven’t tried out a lot of the range that they have. I spent the next hour or so doing interviews with various magazines, newspapers, radio and TV channels and then finally got to see the Online Precision Fit system that Mizuno have come up with. Its basically site where you can go and answer a bunch of questions about your weight, body type, foot strike, leg movement and flexibility and it will narrow down the shoes that would be good for you. This saves a lot of time with having to deal with the wall of shoes that can be a bit daunting when entering a running store. The system chose for me the Wave Rider (which I already use) and the Wave Precision so I tried a pair on and they felt great. After having a bit of a jog on the treadmill with them, I fully agreed that the shoes were well suited to me. The Mizuno guys actually let me keep the shoes so I was really happy about that. I headed back to the Timex stand and had a good blether with Mark for a while before his boss offered me their new watch to use during the race. Again, I was happy to oblige and the watch turned out to be a really good one. It’s a tap screen so you just have to slap your wrist when you want to take a split. It will then tell you whether it’s faster or slower than the split that you will have programmed into the watch. It means that this will be perfect for Sunday as it will tell me exactly how much quicker or slower than my projected pace I am and I can (hopefully) make the appropriate pace changes. I decided to finally get off my feet and headed back to the hotel so I could relax for a while.

Not long after getting back, I got a call from one of my groomsmen, Andy Scott, who I went to school with. He lives in London so we decided to catch up and have dinner so he headed over to the hotel and we headed over to the Dickens Inn for some dinner. We both had some pizza and salad and chatted for quite a while and caught up on all our news. We left there around 9pm and walked back to the hotel where I bumped into some more friends. One of them was Ian Hornabrook who I also used to live with in Florida. I hadn’t seen him for 4 years so it was good to see him and we promised to catch up more after the race. Andy headed home and I headed to my room and talked to Julie for a while before watching some TV and heading to sleep around 11pm. I wasn’t as tired tonight so found it hard to sleep but even more annoying was that after sleeping for a couple of hours, I woke up from a dream and found my body was really hot. This made it very tough to get back to sleep but after wriggling about for 20 minutes or so, I managed to slip back into my much needed sleep.

Here were some of the interviews:

Click Here

4/21/10

Wednesday's Training - Am: 20 mins easy Pm: 20 mins easy

Mileage - 6 Miles

Cover of this weeks AW

Today was a travel day down to London so I didn't get much training in. I was going to get up early and get a workout of 10*1 min hard, 1 min easy in but I woke up later and didn't want to risk missing the bus to the train station so I just went for a shake out run. The rest of the day was travelling to London. Bus to Leuchars, Train to Edinburgh, Train to London. I got to the Tower Hotel around 4.30pm and once I was checked in I headed to the 12th floor to let them know I was here and pick up my passes. I made the mistake of going by the media room before I went for my second run as I was roped into getting some photos taken and giving a few impromptu interviews. It was a long time before I actually got out for my run and when I started, I could feel my back pinching so decided to just do another shake out run and settle for doing some good strides the next day. A good amount of stretching and a nice hot shower later, I headed down to the Carvary and had a big roast dinner. That filled me up nicely for the night and I just settled into my room and went to sleep early.

Short blog today but tomorrow's will be a bit longer as my day is jammed full of activities.

4/20/10

Tuesday’s Training – Am: 52 mins easy Pm: 27 mins easy

Mileage – 11 Miles

Julie sent me some pictures of how the house is coming along

I woke up automatically at 6.20am this morning, which I was happy about as I thought it would be hard to start waking up at that time during this trip. I will be waking up around 5.45am on race morning so this was perfect. I went out for my run at 7.30am and headed over to the golf courses so I could run my second favourite route in the world (First is the Mesa Trail in Boulder). The run takes you out along a trail following the famous Old Course and it spits you out at the end of the beach where the opening scene of Chariots of Fire was filmed. This morning was incredibly windy and I almost came to a stand still at one point when I hit an exposed fairway. I had a good time watching some guys trying to tee off as their balls kept falling off the tee’s and then once they had hit the ball it would shoot up into the air (carried by the wind) and then hit the ground about 50 meters away and start rolling backwards. I would have laughed but I was having just as much trouble trying to stay vertical. I can’t believe I’m saying this but it was windier than Flagstaff! Luckily, once I got to the beach I was running with the wind and it was plain sailing from there. The sand was hard but the loose sand was being blown across into the sea so it created a very cool misty effect. With the sun still rising into the sky, the town looked beautiful. This is the reason I love this run so much – When you get to the beach you are just looking at the town the whole way in and with so many ancient buildings on the skyline, it can take your breath away. I was just running very easily so I got back to the house and woke up my legs a bit with some drills and some hard strides. I then headed into the house and got some good stretching in before having some breakfast and heading into town to get some chores done.

Once I got back I just lay in front of the TV for a few hours with my feet up until my mum arrived. We caught up for a wee bit and then I headed out for a short jog again. This time I went over to the university playing fields, which I also love running on. It takes about 10 minutes to get around the perimeter of the fields and its nice and soft as they keep very good care of the fields. There is also a 4-lane track there but it is easy to miss as it is green and blends right into the grass. I felt good and again did some drills, strides and stretching afterwards to activate my fast twitch fibres.

I made some dinner of sausages, asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes and then we got ready to go to the East Fife Sports Council awards ceremony. My mum won the Master’s award and Fife AC seem to clear up most of the other awards so that was great. We headed back to the house and it was getting late so I headed straight to bed.

4/19/10

Monday's Training - Am: 5*1km with 2mins rec (on the road). Pm: 30 mins easy

Mileage - 15 Miles

This morning was a complete turn around from the last few days. I woke up just before 7am, which is the same time I wake up back in the USA so I think I am back onto my usual routine and over the jet lag. I headed out the door at 8.30am for half a mile so that I could stretch afterwards and then went for a 3 mile warm up. I was going to do the workout on the track but decided to head out onto a 1km road straight by my old school. I thought this would be better as I may get carried away on the track and if I was on the road, I wouldn’t know what pace I would be going. The first rep was in 2.50 and it felt pretty easy. I was running against the wind so I figured that I would get a nice tail wind for reps 2 and 4 but as usual, when I started my next rep, I was running into a stronger headwind! That’s the St Andrew’s Effect that I mentioned in a previous blog and it was staying true for this trip home. I felt really relaxed on all my reps and decided to pick it up just a little bit on the last rep and it didn’t feel too much different so I was happy about this. I was happy to get a little spark back in my legs and feel fine again. I headed back to the house after a 3 mile warm down and then went down to the Castle Sands so that I could take an ice bath in the Rock Pool there. I can’t believe they used to use this as a swimming pool back in the day. It was really cold and almost as soon as I had gotten into the water, it started to snow! It only lasted for a few minutes but it was enough to dampen my thoughts of a warm fire that was keeping me going. The view from the water is fantastic though as on one side you have the ruins of the old cathedral and then on the other side was the ruins of St Andrews castle. I towelled off after 12 minutes and headed back to the house for a warm shower and some food. I spent much of the afternoon just relaxing in front of the TV with my feet up.

The Castle Sands

I went for a second run at 3pm as I was getting a massage at 4pm. I felt good again and was feeling very easy at the pace that I was struggling with yesterday. I headed over to the St Andrews FC grounds for my massage with Jez Tomlinson. He did a great job of getting into my muscles and digging into the knots and tight bits. He did leave the worst for last though as he got stuck into my glutes. They were really tight and needed some work so I was really glad he got in and put me through the pain of deep tissue massage. I headed over to the Castle Sands again and stood in the water for a second ice bath of the day. I actually got a little crowd of Japanese people pointing and staring at me from the cliff top as they pondered what I was doing. The waves were pretty big so I headed over to a different section of the beach where there was an inlet and there were no waves. I finished up just as it started to rain so I scrambled out and try to pull my clothes on. I went back to the house and had a nice hot shower and then re heated some leftover pasta with some garlic bread and salad.

4/18/10

Sunday's Training - Am: 64 mins easy Pm: 28 mins easy

Mileage - 14 Miles

Weekly Mileage - 88 Miles

So things are now getting a little frustrating. My legs still aren't coming around and I felt really tired on both of my runs today. I woke up after a good sleep and sat around on the computer while I had some coffee and toast. At 10.30am I walked into town and headed to Church but I was freezing all the way there as there was a chill in the wind. I was in my running clothes as I was meeting Tom afterwards to go for a run. The service was very different from the ones I am used to in the states and it was a little strange to hear a priest doing his homily and not trying to keep the attention of his congregation. Each to their own I guess. I headed over to Tom's apartment afterwards and we waited for his flat mate to arrive and then headed out onto the beach and golf course for the run. I didn't feel good to start but after about 5 miles I did feel a little better. We did 2 loops and then I left the guys as I headed back to Ronnie's. I did some drills and some hard strides to see if that would wake my legs up but no success. After doing some stretching I had a big breakfast and then curled up in front of the TV and fell asleep for a little while.

I wasn't going to run again but I did end up heading out the door as I wanted to see how my legs felt. I only ran 4 miles but they seem to take a long time. I can only hope that my legs will start responding in the next couple of days. Its really strange that I can feel great everyday while running 150 miles in a week but I feel awful once I bring the mileage down and start running easier. I am reassured by almost everyone that this is what it feels like before the marathon and Andi Jones sent me a message saying that this is actually harder than the training and the race! I can well believe that! Once I got back I grabbed a shower and cooked some lamb burgers, brussels and mashed potato and then caught up with Julie for a while. I then just relaxed in front of the TV watching a film and headed to bed around 11pm.

4/17/10

Saturday's Training - Am: 62 mins slow Pm: 55 mins easy

Mileage - 16.5 Miles

I woke up at 7.30am so that I could head into Perth with my dad and get a run in on a soft surface rather than running along the side of the dual carriageway. Dad dropped me off at the Sports Centre and then headed off to the gym while I went for my run. There are 2 big green areas in Perth called the Inches (South and North). The Scottish national cross country championships have been held there a few times and I actually had my most disappointing loss there. I was running the senior race for the first time and was running well at the time. I desperately wanted to win but had a bad run on the day came 3rd. I think that is one of the only times I have cried after a race. Anyway, I started my run at the South Inch and ran over to the North, did a loop of that and then headed out on a trail that follows the river. I ran until 30 mins and then just turned back and ran the same route back. I was feeling really tired this morning so was running very slowly, no more than a shuffle really. I showered in the sports centre afterwards and then walked over to the gym where my dad was finishing up. Before heading back to the house, we picked up some groceries and I was able to grab some real bacon. The difference between bacon in the UK and the USA is the fat content. the USA version is almost pure fat whereas the UK version is almost all meat. We got back and I made some bacon and scrambled eggs and then I went to bed so I could take a nap. I woke up feeling a lot better but I was still a little groggy but I was meeting my friend, Tom, in Dundee so I would grab some coffee once I got there. We drove into Dundee and I had a good time catching up with Tom and talking about what we were both up to and if we had heard anything about our friends from our school days. After a while I had went back to St Andrews on the bus and headed out for another run. I met one of the university runners, Tom Cunningham, and we did loops of the playing fields for a while before heading back into town. I ran with him to his house and then ran along the Lade Braes (a paved trail that leads from the middle of town out to the edge of town, almost like an urban trail) and back to Ronnie's house. I felt a lot better running this evening but still a little stale so hopefully that will disappear over the next couple of days. I grabbed my wallet from the house and ran onto the store so I could get some supplies for the house.

Once I got back, there was a message from Ronnie saying that he and his wife would be stuck in Jordan for while (They went there on a cycling holiday) so could I water all the plants in the green house. I made up some dinner of pasta with lots of veggies and then caught up with Julie for a while on Skype. I headed to bed pretty early but watched programs on my computer until I got sleepy and fell asleep around midnight.

Here is a link to an article that the Scotsman newspaper wrote about me this week:

http://sport.scotsman.com/athletics/Baptised-Andrew-Lemoncello-has-faith.6235018.jp

4/16/10

Friday's Training - Am: 76 mins (6 miles easy in 38 mins, 6 miles hard - 5.04, 5.07, 4.59, 5.00, 4.52, 4.55, 1 mile easy.

Mileage - 13 Miles

I only got 6 hours of sleep last night as I fell asleep at 2.30am and woke up at 8.30am so I could get the workout done and head into Dundee to meet my dad later on. I was actually feeling ok when I went out the door but my legs didn't have any snap to them at all so I wasn't looking forward to the 6 mile pick up. I got through the first 6 miles no problem and had headed out on the beach road so that I could turn around for the start of the hard 6 miles and then out along the bike path that heads towards Dundee. I was finding the hard section tough right from the start so I really tried to get into a good rhythm and flow through it rather than grind away and tense up. This didn't work! When I got to the bike path I was heading into the wind and was getting put off by the times I was running but I knew to expect to still feel bad as I'm still in the post altitude lag time. Once I turned around and was running a little quicker I was still working hard and that was at around marathon pace so I that got me a bit frustrated. Right now is the hardest time for me. I know not to worry about my fitness because I had great workouts last week and this is the time that I should be feeling my worst but its just annoying to wake up everyday and slog through the runs. A few more days and i'll be as right as rain though so i'm looking forward to that.

Glendoick House. My dad and his wife live in the apartment on the upper right hand side of the building that you can see.

After the run, I headed into Dundee and met my Dad and we just sat outside in the lovely weather, drinking coffee and chatting. A friend of mine from school walked by which was really weird as I was going to be meeting him the next day in town. After a while, Dad and I headed back to Glendoick (where he lives) and just relaxed after having some fajitas for dinner.