Tag: half-marathon

Only 68 days….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

….until the Rat Race Dirty Weekend at Burghley House in Stamford. Just to remind you, actually it may be just to remind myself: 20 miles. 200 obstacles. You did indeed read that right. 20 miles. 200 obstacles. Apparently, “It's bigger, bolder and badder than ever!” I think the time has come to put in a bit extra work.

Since Janathon I've been taking it a bit easy. Completed about a dozen runs, the longest around 10 miles. So with the spectre of the Rat Race Dirty Weekend on the horizon, plus the Newton's Fraction Half-Marathon just round the corner, tonight's run was to include obstacles. When I say obstacles, I actually mean just one obstacle. It may not look like much, but it's an obstacle all the same…

You may look at it and say: call that an obstacle? Granted, it is only 2 feet high, and when I approached it for the first time I sailed over it like a salmon swimming upstream on it's impossibly long migration to its spawning grounds. However, after 4 miles of trail running through the woods at a pretty brisk pace, when I reached it for the second time, it looked more like this….

Suffice to say I cleared it. I'm ready.

 

Boom!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

How is the training going for the half-marathon I hear you ask? You still on target to beat your PB?

Well….'sort of' is my reply.

Over the last couple of weeks I've completed a few long runs at a pretty decent pace. Although all slower than my target pace for the half. The furthest I've run at target pace is about six miles and that was a struggle in the last mile or so. So still of plenty of hard work required in the next few weeks.

This morning I attended Peterborough Parkrun and I had decided to run it without a watch. This meant starting off running fast and trying to maintain it. It paid off, new Parkrun PB: 19.37.

Lovely jubbly!

 

This is a ‘proper’ challenge….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 3 Comments

Forget your project365, your monthly projects*, your Juneathon, your Janathon**, your 1SE***, and any other pathetic ‘little’ challenges.

This is the mother of all challenges. Run a half-marathon. Run a half-marathon I hear you say?!? Sounds rubbish I know, but let me fill you in with the details. No it’s not dressed as a donkey, a gorilla, a fairy, or any other ridiculous outfit. Nor is it running backwards, or juggling, or any other ridiculous combination of activities. It is simply to beat my PB. Simple.

My current PB stands at 1 hour 36 minutes 30 seconds. Which, even if I say so myself, is pretty quick. I ran this time four years ago when I was running and entering a lot more races than I have been lately. So this challenge is a proper challenge. It will require some actual training, something I have not done since 2006 when I completed the London Marathon. I have a training plan: a tweaked Runner’s World half-marathon training plan. The chosen event, Peterborough Great Eastern Run, the same race I ran current PB on. This is a good flat, and they say, fast course. Race takes place on Sunday 13th October, so I have plenty of time to build some speed into my legs.

I do have a couple of concerns:

  • Time. The next four weeks are ok, I’m on holiday, but finding the time at the start of a new school year maybe slightly more tricky.
  • Pace. To complete the 13.1 miles in a PB my target pace is 7.22 min/mile. It is very rare that I’m ever running at that pace, except maybe club training nights, but anyway never at such a long distance. Hence why I plan on actually doing some ‘proper’ training.

I was planning on running this half-marathon a while back, but since then the school where I work is now entering a team and raising money for Cancer Research UK, I think under the rather fetching name of ‘The CBEC Stars’. I’m sure there is an online site somewhere to donate, but I have absolutely no idea where. But don’t be despondent, I know you are all eager to sponsor such a worthwhile charity, so will post a link in the coming weeks.

So let me just clarify, the time to beat is:

1.36:30

So what about some sort of fantastic mantra for the challenge? An inspirational phrase that will see me through to completion? I thought long and hard about this….

“Fortune favours the brave.” Publius Terence

…..it’s hardly brave running a half-marathon….

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” Vince Lombardi

….too long, I’ll never remember that whilst running…

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never have tried to succeed.” Theodore Roosevelt

….sounds a bit negative…..so discounted them all in favour of…..

“Get Better” Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

* Failed – the unicycle is REALLY hard to ride

** Failed – cba

*** Failed – updated app and it deleted all previous video clips!! Grrrr!

Great Eastern Run

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

A lovely bright morning welcomed all runners of the Great Eastern Run to Peterborough. The course has changed slightly to last year, it now starts on the Embankment rather than in the city centre, but more importantly, it is still 13.1 miles long.

The past three weeks training has been pretty non-existent due to various niggling injuries. Therefore today's plan was a nice steady pace. Got to halfway in 52 mins, and feeling pretty good, ran the second half in 50 mins. Finishing in a pretty respectable time of 1.42 which I was happy with considering the last month. You can probably tell that the race was pretty uneventful, Peterborough is not known for its fantastic scenery, although I did spot what I think was a tree at one point. But I was given a goody bag, medal and a ridiculously bright t-shirt for my efforts.

The real fun and games began at the finish….

Firstly, when I went to pick up bag from the storage point, they couldn't find it. I had to hang about watching some bloke desperately searching for it, at the annoyance to other runners. I had borrowed Amy's rucksack because mine had somehow disappeared. Therefore when asked what colour it was I said it was black, which I thought it was, it was in fact more of a grey. Doh!

Secondly, I had parked in the closest car park, not realising that the exit to the car park was actually on the race route. Therefore, it was not opened until most of the runners had finished. So in conclusion it took me an hour and forty minutes to run the race and the same amount of time to exit the car park!

And now for something completely different….

A crazy Austrian man jumped from 24 miles up in the air in an attempt to break the sound barrier….

And….he did it!