:-) didja ever think when you started your journey that you would be a significantly above average runner? How cool is that to discover that kind of talent!

I never imagined that there was a half decent runner lurking under there. I always did want to run though, so maybe my mind was trying to tell me something.

Good news of the morning, my official time for the half has been amended to 1:49:30 so I'm a happy girlie today.

Helen, we knew your official time was under 1:50 all along, but that is really good that you don't have to qualify it or justify it to yourself or anyone else now.

Have you given any thought to trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon? I'm not sure how old you are, but qualifying times for women start at 3:40 and go up 5 minutes every 5 years of age after 35 (e.g. a 37 year old like me would need 3:45-not holding MY breath). You half time certainly puts you in that ballpark. Not sure if that is a big deal over there, but here it is the Holy Grail of running and people talk of qualifying in hushed, reverent tones.

Anne

At the moment I'm just focussing on trying to do a marathon properly - in Berlin I only managed 4:51 despite having a half time of 1:54 at the time, so I'm just focussing on trying to get that down a bit without getting too carried away. Then the next goal will to try to get a "Good for Age" time for London so I don't need to apply through the ballot - for me that's 3:45 (I'm 28), which is roughly what the predictors seem to think I could do based on my half/10k times. Then after that I'll look further afield, but I don't really have the money to spend on travelling to the US for a marathon at the moment anyway, so Boston isn't a high priority. It is something I'll look into at some point, but only once I've got to London GFA standard.

It took DH about 3 marathons to get it figured out properly and then he was really fast after that. I'm sure you'll do the same, and probably quicker than him because he is so hard-headed. Running Boston is an honor, but qualifying is the achievement! We are going this year--his family is from Boston and so we make a big family trip out of it.

It sounds like the GFA time for London is similar. You sound like you are really on track to make that, if not at this marathon, then the next.

Boston is one of my dreams right now. I might make it a life goal in a few years. Realistically I'd have to take off at least another 20 lbs to make it, probably more like 30, and I don't know if I've got that in me after the first 115! And give up triathlon and just focus on running. And get my behind back to the track for speedwork. Of course, I have other, more important concerns at the moment, but long term goals/dreams like that help keep me on course.

Anne

Anne - that's the rough plan, to do it in a few maras time. I realised it's like losing weight. Although I got here in the end, and had the potential to get down to this weight at the start, it didn't happen overnight and it took time to get to this stage.

Before Berlin I got all excited by race time predictors saying that I'd be under 4 hours, pushed myself too hard and trained too fast at first, burnt myself out a bit and my pace started plummeting and I didn't have the energy to do my long runs properly. I still got out there and tried, but very few of them went according to plan. This time I've got that bit more experience and I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as possible without making the same mistakes. I'm not going to make any bold predictions, but I'd be more than happy with something between 4:00-4:15 or so, then a bit of a break before aiming for GFA either in Amsterdam in October, or London next April (the chances are that I'll get a club place for London next year anyway - you don't need to get the time to be able to run the race, but if you get the time you've got guaranteed entry, otherwise you have to go through a complicated series of ballots and club entry selection processes).

Anyway, this morning I did just over 4 miles of intervals on the treadmill. The plan for the weekend is to get my long run done tomorrow (14 - 15 miles) and then see how I feel and what the weather's like for cross country on Sunday.

Anne - I wouldnt think you would have to give up the triathlon completely, but you wouldnt be able to focus on it. I guess I see it as I can DO triathlons, but not COMPETE (not that I am competitive anyway, I am only mediocre in swimming and running and godawful at biking)

I made the best strides in both endurance and speed the years I had a significant portion of my training in swimming and biking. But you have to give up most of the speedwork in the other events and just use them for base building cardio. (Although when I had just a small injury that was keeping me from running hard, I did my sprint work in the pool and it worked pretty well).

I really hope to BQ someday. I think my best shot is in the 40-44 age range. I still have a lot of just plain fitness improvement left in me right now, so I think I can still get faster for a few more years. Before I got pregnant I was looking at aiming for a 4:15-4:30. I dont know if I can get back there by this fall or not. But I am hoping to finally be able to string together multiple seasons of running, I havent ever been able to consistantly run for more than 9 months with out getting derailed and having to start over.

It was a lovely morning for running today, cool and clear blue skies. A bit windy in places, but not too bad. I ended up doing 15.5 miles, a bit more than my target, because it felt so good, and I didn't even take any walk breaks which is a first for a run over 13 miles - every run I did in preparation for Berlin had a break at some point. I feel GOOD today!

15 miles! Wow! One day I'll do runs like that......maybe!

Today was the second group run with the 10k training team -- we ran 2 miles, which should've been easy, but they took us through a rather hilly area so it was kind of tough. I didn't take any walk breaks, though, and I was pretty comfortable throughout.

Today I braved the -14C which felt like -23C and had a great 6.26k run in 47:04... I feel virtous :D...

I really don't like the sound of those temperatures! I thought it was cold enough here during the week, but I suppose ti depends what you're used to.

Lisa, it's surprising how quickly you can build up. It's not quick quick, but a couple of years ago I remember celebrating the first time I ran 5k and feeling like it was a huge achievement. Which it was, of course, but I'd never have dreamed what else I'd end up doing.

Lisa --great job...Helen is right. I remember how long it took me to build up to a 5K nonstop..seemed like forever, and now it is my "minimum"

It doesnt matter if I havent run in months, psychologically I know I can do 3 miles, so that is usually where I start. The brain is an amazing thing.

Oh I totally forgot, yesterday was a major milestone...when I was finishing up my run yesterday morning it was light enough to see a whole block! Thats the first time I've noticed any light at all this year! what a boost.

I did cross country in the end. Between 4 and 5 miles I think, although they're not officially measured so I don't know. I managed to get a scoring place for the club again, which I was pretty pleased about considering I did a 15 miler yesterday and don't have any trail shoes to run in. I did think I was mad though when I dragged myself out of bed to stand on a cold, windy exposed hillside, today was so NOT a nice day for running compared to yesterday :(

Do you ever think you're just slightly mad paying for the privilege of putting yourself through that on a cold winters morning?

:carrot: :carrot: I won the club time trial tonight! :carrot: :carrot:

It's a handicap, so I wasn't necessarily fastest round, but because I took a minute off my time from last time I did it I was fast enough to catch the people in front of me, and not be caught by the people behind. I suspect I'll be set off later next time though. I was quite surprised by my speed after two fairly hard runs over the past two days. I promise I won't run tomorrow, I think my legs have earned a rest!

(It was about 2.9 miles, and I got round in 23:27)

That's fantastic, Helen!! You're my running role model, you know!

I planned to run a bit yesterday, then Tues, then Thurs, but my schedule was thrown off because I got VERY sick. Horrible cold, congestion, sore throat, etc -- no workout of any kind today or yesterday. Ugh!! I'm quite worried that I won't be ready for the 3-mile group run on Saturday.

How do you guys feel about running when you're sick? Do you do it when you're just coming off a cold, or do you wait until you're completely better?

lisa, it depends how sick I was. If you were REALLY sick (something that lasts more than 3-4 days, or had a high fever or severe cough), wait or you can get sick over and over and over.

general rule I have always read is if all the symptoms are above the neck--go for it as long as it doesnt wear you out, if they involve lungs, fever, excessive fatigue rest. Personally I err on the side of rest.

At this point you still have plenty of time before Saturday. If you can get out there once or twice this week for a gentle jog, go for it, but be ready to walk more or work with a slower group than normal. If you still feel like crud all week and havent been back out there, skip the group run, do a shorter one on your own and jump back in next week. Missing one group run will not derail your training nearly as much as pushing tooo hard when sick.

Great job Helen, and yes,every morning when my alarm goes off and I see the dark sky and the frosty street, I wonder why I do this "for" myself.

10.1 yesterday, 4.3 or so today.

Well, I took a rest the last two days because of my sickness, but today I trudged back into the gym and got on the treadmill. 3.2 miles overall, but 2 were running. I couldn't run the 2 miles straight because I was still rather weak (and I have trouble with doing that on a treadmill anyway because of the consistent pace, I suppose). I did a mile, took a short walk break, did another half mile, took a short walk break, then did the last half mile. A bit worried about Saturday's 3-mile group run, but somehow I'll manage. I always seem to!

My husband coaches the intermediate runners, so he wasn't with my pack last Saturday, but he noticed that I was one of the runners in the front of my pack. Yay! I know he's proud of me for doing this at all, but I really want him to be proud of me not just as my husband but as a fellow runner and as a running coach. I'd respect him for his dedication to running even if I weren't madly in love with him, after all!

Good on you for making him proud!

I ran just over 7 miles with running club tonight. It felt much harder than normal, I think my monster effort over the weekend took it out of me more than I realised. I want to do another long one this weekend, but I haven't decided quite how far I want to go yet. I'll see how I feel and what the weather's like on Saturday.

I kind of committed to doing Amsterdam in October earlier. I haven't registered yet, but I booked some flights over there for marathon weekend. It would be a shame to be there and not do it... They accept registrations right up until the day (or they did this year) so I have plenty of time to decide whether I'm doing the full or the half because it won't sell out. It will probably be the full, it's a while after Edinburgh so plenty of time to recover and train up again.