Training again

The days have been passing by slowly but it has become easier now that I am back training twice a day. I've only been getting 2 to 3 shifts a week at work so that has left me to entertain myself during the days and get things done that i had been putting off for a while. The one thing I am finding that I am able to do is sleep a lot more. I've never been a great sleeper even when I was running 150 miles during the week but since starting back running, I am finding that I can sleep 9 hours at night with a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. This is great as I always struggle to stay asleep when the sun comes up and the light starts poking through the blinds.

Last weeks training consisted of running 69 miles with 2 days running twice. I ran very easy all week and am ready to start hitting some good sessions again. On Monday I did a light workout of 10 laps of the track alternating between 100m hard and 100m easy. Yesterday I met the guys and we went for a run up Shultz Pass. I hadn't run these trails for a long time as they had been covered in snow and I have moved to the other side of town. It was nice to get back on these trails as I used to run them almost everyday. I almost didn't get out for my second run as I had been sitting around for a while and really didn't feel like getting out into strong winds. Luckily, Julie's workmate, Cariee, came round to run with Julie so I made myself put my shoes on and get out onto the trails. I actually felt fine as soon as I started running so the run went by pretty quickly. We all got back to the apartment around the same time and were greeted with the fantastic smell of the crock pot dinner that I had put on to cook at 8am. I had basically just thrown everything I could find in the kitchen in the pot and let it cook all day. A big hung of steak, navy beans, carrots, potatoes, loads of spices and some chilies rounded out the ingredients and luckily it turned out well. We ate this stew with a massive loaf of freshly baked bread and then relaxed in front of the TV and continued to get through season 4 of "It's always sunny in Philidelphia".

I was supposed to do a fartlek this morning but I wasn't feeling great for some reason so I just jogged for 30 mins and talked to Greg about what I should do. We decided upon doing it tomorrow up at Buffalo Park so I would just take the rest of the day easy. I am just going to run an easy 10 miles this evening through the trails. I have recently been running in full tracksuit as I was just reading about why the Kenyans do that so often. I could never understand why the Kenyans would do this but I have been reading "More Fire" by Toby Tanser (a follow up to the famous "Train Hard, Win Easy - The Kenyan Way") and the runners explain that if they are running in lots of clothes and being uncomfortable during the run, they will feel so much faster when they get to the start line of their race and they are wearing next to nothing. Doing this right now is ok as it is a bit chilly with the high winds so i'll see how I feel doing this during the summer when there is no wind and its nice and hot.

Our house is really coming along with the shingles being finished and the electrics all being wired throughout the house. They are about to put the dry wall in so Julie and I are going to wire the house for Surround sound as its fairly easy to do now that there are no wall in place. This will save a lot of time and money over doing it later down the line so we will be doing that tonight. They are anticipating that the house will be finished in a month or so and we are getting excited about moving in.

I'm hopefully going to get some video up on here soon. I was given a video camera when I made the Olympic team so I will hopefully get some nice footage of training and anything else that I find interesting. I will try and post some of the olympic videos that I just rediscovered also.

Back to blogging

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be getting back to regular blogging in the next few days. I have had a nice relaxing time during the post marathon recovery time so will be starting back up with some light sessions next week. I had a nice run on the trails with Greg and Ian this morning and now the busy weekend starts. I'm helping out at the regional high school track meet today and then heading into a big night at work tonight. I'll be quite busy for the rest of the weekend so i'll fill everyone in on Monday with how things have been going and what my future plans are.

I hope everyone is having a great time training as the weather starts to pick up. Again, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have (adlemoncello@hotmail.com).

Cheers

Andrew

First day back

After 2 days off of running and my legs feeling great, I went for a run on Woody Mountain Rd with a my friend of mine, Rob. My legs certainly didn't feel like they had a marathon in them and felt quite loose and frisky. We just ran easy and I was only supposed to go 20 mins but I ended up running 47 mins as it was an out and back run. On the way home, I stopped by Burritos Fiesta and got one of the best burrito's that I have ever had. That is saying something as that is always the first thing I order where ever I go in the states. I'm really glad that Scotland has a good place to get burritos now also. Illegal Jacks is doing a great job of churning out some great Tex Mex food and its perfect for after training.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into some hard training in a few weeks time and getting back into a good routine. I'm all over the place right. I'm waking up very early and the days are going on for ever as I don't have work until tomorrow and no real training so passing the time is the hard part of my day. I got an email from my agent, Jurrie, with a list of road races in the summer that I could run in. They are all big races and will be very competitive so that will great for me to be pushed to the limit every time I race. I let the selectors know that I will to be running the European Champs marathon in the summer and I think they were rightfully a bit annoyed with me. It was a spur of the moment, post marathon that I said that I want to run the marathon so I will now always talk to Greg and Jurrie first before deciding on anything. I will now look towards a fast marathon in the autumn. Chicago and Amsterdam are the 2 I think I would like to choose from but Amsterdam is a Mizuno race and my agents organise the race so that may be the perfect set up for me.

Julie and I walked through the house last (the roof is now on and will be getting wired for electricity next week) and everything looks great. We are getting really excited about the progress and can't wait to move in. Our house being the first one on the plot means that when we move in, there will be a lot of building going on around us but that will only last for a couple of months.

I'm now going to run a hot bath and add some epsom salts to help my legs to relax. I am predicting that I will also pass out as soon as I get out of the bath so that will be great as I have been waking up so early.

Lastly, I made the cover of Athletics Weekly again. Click HERE to view.

You can now follow me on Twitter also @LemonRuns

Reflections

I've decided to jot down all the things that have been going through my head since the race. I was disappointed with the run but all the nice messages that I have been getting from everyone on here, facebook and twitter (LemonRuns) has really lifted my spirits and made me look at the brighter side of things.

Cons:

I ran a lot slower than I had hoped

I wasn't tough enough mentally

Struggled when it got windy

I really wanted to make a statement to prove what kind of athlete I am

Pros:

Great experience

Knowing that I can run 2.13 on my own

My legs not being trashed afterwards showing that I can run a lot faster

Fantastic support from everyone (even people that I don't know)

I tend to run better after a failure so I am very determined to run fast later in the year

I am taking a couple of days off and then starting a recovery cycle of running for 20 mins one day, day off the next. Greg is big on making sure that we don't overdo it after a marathon as there is still a lot of micro trauma in the legs that needs to heal before going on to do any races or hard workouts. It is now 2 days after the race and my legs feel fine. My left IT band is a little tight but it just feels like I have done a hard speed session. Given this fact, I think we can shorten my recovery phase and I can start concentrating on whatever races we choose to run. I now think (after talking to my agents and Greg) that Barcelona might be out of the books as they don't want me to destroy my body in the blazing heat of the Spanish sun. Jos Hermans and I had a good talk about future plans and he said that he had seen so many athletes ruin themselves in hot weather marathons and haven't been able to get back from it. With my big goals being in 2012 and 2014 I really have to think about this. I think it may be a good decision to hit some fast road races and really get my half marathon time down to something decent so when I want to go through half way in a marathon in 64 mins, it will hopefully feel easy.

Greg is happy with the result as it was far from a perfect day. He told me that with better pacemakers and being in an actual racing environment instead of solo running that I will easily run faster. He has got my head back in the place where it should be and I have now stopped feeling sorry for myself and being annoyed about the race.

I can't tell you how great the Marathon team did in making sure that everything was perfect for us on the lead up to the race. The workers did everything and beyond to make sure we suffered no stress and could concentrate on the task at hand rather than worrying about little things that they could take of for us.

It was so uplifting to get back to my room and see how many messages of congratulations and well wishes that I had from everyone. I hope that I can inspire people to run and train hard and also to enjoy the sport. The main reason I run is because I love it so much and that feeling I get when I cross the finish line knowing that I have run well. Its something that gets me through the hard days because I know without those seemingly never ending painful days, there are no easy days when running comes effortlessly. I get inspired by those of you who are out there for the love of the sport and getting around the course and enjoying yourselves. It is so much harder for those runners who are out there for 4-5 hours as that is how long they are on their feet for. I am only on mine for a couple of hours so my job is easier than theirs. The pain and suffering they go through, battling against injuries and cramping, is so amazing and I applaud those people. Without them, events like the London marathon wouldn't be what it is.

I am looking forward to having a little time off and having a few drinks here and there. Our friends are throwing a party/BBQ this weekend at one of the local parks in honour of Jill who finished the Big Sur marathon in 4.54 only 2 weeks after her final round of chemotherapy. We are so proud of her and simply amazed by how well she has coped with everything she has been going through. We are all looking forward to those celebrations and just enjoying ourselves with great company and great beer! I found a mini keg of Warsteiner beer when I was in Phoenix a few weeks ago so i'm looking forward to tucking into that.

I hope all of you out there who were running had a fantastic day and if you weren't, were at least able to get some inspiration from the 37,000 runners who were able to get round the 26.2 miles.

4/25/10

London Marathon!!!

I woke up at around 5.40am so I could get my breakfast 4 hours before the race. I had some porridge with honey, toast with jam, coffee and orange juice. I sat with Dan and then Richard Nerurkar joined us for a little while. I went back to the room and double checked all my running gear and then headed down to Starbucks to get a big coffee for the ride over to the start. They had set up some tents for the elite athletes and it was great to feel the warmth of the fans they had installed in there. There were a bunch of yoga mats set up on the floor for everyone to sit on and relax before the race. With about 45 mins to the start, I went for a short jog before going through all my stretches. I then put on my waterproof gear as it had started to rain and headed over to the adjacent field to jog for 10 mins. I was feeling good and ready for the race. I went back to the tent and dried off my feet and covered them in vaseline before putting some dry socks on. I then put vaseline on every other part of my body and then headed out to the start. I wanted to wear my new Oakley's but with it being a little darker outside now with the rain I decided against it. I stood on the start line knowing that I was ready to run well and confident with what I had to do over the next couple of hours.

I felt very easy at my desired pace as we ran through the first few miles. This really helped my head as I knew I would need to get through the first half of the race as easily as possible. The 3rd mile is very downhill so it was good to have some time in the bank if we slipped off pace at any time. The crowds were really loud and enthusiastic especially once we passed Cutty Sark. Our splits were fluctuating a little bit which was a little annoying as I prefer to run a steady pace but I don't know if my pace maker had ever done any pacing before. I wasn't confident that he was going to be able to get me through the contracted 20 miles so I decided to leave it for a few miles and then reassess the situation. We got to 10 miles about 10 secs off pace and then came a 5.07 mile so I decided to take off as I didn't want to lose any more time by waiting for the pacer to do his job. I went through the half way point in 65.25 (the pacer went through in 65.45) and was lifted by the support of the crowd crossing over Tower Bridge. I knew I was going to have to dig deep for the rest of the race as I was going to be alone and I was getting to the windy section of the course. There were a lot of corners and straights and it didn't matter what direction I was going in, I was always running into the wind! I really dropped some slow splits here (a few 5.20s and even a 5.30 later on) so I had to refocus and motivate myself and try to keep a good pace. It was pretty demoralising knowing that a fast time was out of reach now and Greg was was bang on the mark when he said that I would really have to start caring after the 20 mile mark. It would have been so easy to stop running and jog it in but my long training runs had set me up for this type of feeling and it was easy to block these thoughts out. The last few miles were a lot easier, mentally as the crowds are there the whole way. Although I wasn't running fast, I was able to dig a little deeper but again, I the headwind was getting stronger all the time. Approaching Big Ben was a great feeling as I knew I only had a few minutes of running left so it felt like the time flew by at this point. Running down Birdcage Walk was great but the crowds weren't being that enthusiastic (I don't think they knew I was British) so on a couple of occasions I put my hands up to my ears to get them going a bit as I would need the help getting to the finish. I felt like I was jogging at this point so it was good to reach the final straight and finally make it though the finish line. I finished in 8th place with a time of 2.13.40. I was really disappointed and I was quite emotional so it took a little while for me to relax and be ready to speak to the BBC. The good thing was that my legs felt fine so I knew there was still a lot left in the tank. This bodes well for my future marathons and I'm already looking forward to the next one. I got a short massage before heading to the bus back to the hotel. The bus actually took us to the river where we got a boat along the river to the front of the hotel. I had a shower (I had no chaffing so the shower was a good one) before heading down to grab some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and then my friend Andy came and met me and we had a drink down in the bar. There was a banquet at 6pm so I got changed for that and we headed off on the buses to the venue.

The banquet was good and I was presented with the Jim Peter's Trophy for being first Brit. Unfortunately I was starting to get pretty sleepy, as were the others at my table, so we decided to head back around 10.30pm and get to sleep. I passes out right away!

Overall, the experience of the marathon was fantastic. I had so much fun running in front of the home crowd and finishing in the top ten of a major marathon.

I will be continuing the blog but maybe not everyday now as I will be taking a short break now and giving my legs a nice rest. I hope that all of you that were running the marathon had a fantastic day and ran well.

Here is the Glasgow Herald interview with a pretty cool photo: Click Here

4/24/10

Saturday's Training - 30 mins easy with drills and strides.

Mileage - 4 Miles

Today was all about just ticking over. I got up early and had a coffee and croissant in the restaurant before meeting Dan Robinson at 7am for an easy run. We were basically just turning our feet over so the run went by pretty quickly. I felt good doing my drills and strides so I headed upstairs, did a bunch of stretching and then headed down to breakfast. I filled up as much as I could with lots of carbs and then went and got a massage. The rest of the was spent mulling about and trying not to think about the race. I met my friend Angie for lunch and then just relaxed in my room for a long while. We had a technical meeting at 5pm and then got stuck into dinner. It was a buffet so that was good for topping up the glycogen levels. I talked to Julie for a little while before heading to bed and getting to sleep early.

4/23/10

Friday’s Training – Am: 48 mins easy Pm: 20 mins easy

Mileage – 10 Miles

I had a nice easy day today. It was good that I had got all my duties out of the way yesterday as that would give me 2 days just to relax and unwind before the race. I woke up a little later at around 6.40am and headed downstairs to have a coffee and croissant. There were already some athletes in the restaurant, having done their morning runs. Once I was finished, I went back up to my room and relaxed for a bit until 7.30am when I headed out for my run. I kept being told that if you head along the river towards the east that there was some good running but I just found it to be twisty, cobbled roads. I got to a bridge and decided to head back along the road that is part of the course. I followed this all the way along to around the 24 mile mark on the course and turned around and headed back to the hotel. I had some fantastic weather for the run and it was really nice to see the sights as I ran along beside the Thames. I did all my drills and then headed up to the room so I could get on with some stretching. My room is pretty small so I had to go out into the area beside the elevator’s as that was the nearest place with enough room. I headed down to breakfast after this where I had some fried potatoes, beans, bacon, porridge with honey, banana and croissant. I knew all that food would get me sleepy so I headed up to my room, had a nice hot shower and then tucked myself in and had a nap.

Once I had woken up, I headed downstairs and met Pete Riley (elite athlete coordinator for the Great Run races and good athlete himself) in the bar. We sat and had some lunch and caught up on what’s been going on with each other. I expressed my interest in running the Great North Run as I still haven’t run it. After we had finished up, I walked downstairs and sat with Dan Robinson in the lounge for a while before Dave Monti (elite athlete coordinator for the New York Road Runners) joined us and told us a few stories about the Boston and Rotterdam marathons. I headed up to the athlete lounge for a little while to watch last years race but then remembered that I had to get back to the room so I could talk to Julie on Skype. It was good to see Julie again as I had missed her yesterday with how busy my day was. There has been no more movement on the house as it has snowed the past couple of days in Flagstaff. I then talked to Greg for a while and filled him on how I’ve been feeling. He was supposed to be here but with the flights being messed up, he wasn’t able to get here. He had sent me all my fuelling strategies for the final 3 days before the race and I have been following well. The rest of the day was spent mulling about and relaxing with my feet up.

I went for my second run at 5.30pm and felt good. This was just a shake out run to get my legs moving so it was pretty slow but I did some dynamic stretches afterwards so that my body was nice and loose. I quickly got changed and met Kim Smith and one of my agents, Valentijn in the lobby as we had to go to the welcome banquet on a boat that was moored outside the hotel. Kim and I headed onto the boat and tried to scoff down as much of the canapés and bread that was on offer as we were both pretty hungry. After a few speeches were made, we headed out and I went over to the Dickins Inn again to grab some dinner. All the other British guys had just been for dinner so I was on my own but that was fine as I usually eat pretty quickly and wanted to get back to my room as it was starting to get late. I had a lasagne and a sticky toffee pudding. I have spent much of my build up to the marathon with no desserts but now I get to use the marathon as an excuse to eat them! The meal was very average so I won’t be going there tomorrow. I don’t usually like to eat so late and then head to bed but as it was getting close to 10pm I just brushed my teeth and put my head down for the night.