Bath Half Marathon 2008 - back in action

Friday 14th March
Wasn't sure at this stage whether I'd be fit to run the Bath half on Sunday so decided to train right up to the event.

Today it was just the lunchtime body pump class, and in the afternoon I had a leg massage with Ali. He really got deep into the muscles, especially the troublesome calf, and after subjecting me to 40 minutes of agony, told me I should be ok to run Sunday.

Saturday 15th March
Went to body pump again, going nice and light on the squats and lunges. Didn't feel all that confident I would be able to run at Bath the next day, but had the usual pasta dinner and got my stuff ready anyway.

Sunday 16th March - Bath Half Marathon
This should have been a day to remember, and in the end it was - but mostly not for the right reasons.

Caught the train to Bath (actually it was a replacement coach) and turned up at the runners village to find out the start had been delayed by an hour. This was never going to work in my favour, as it would mess up my body clock.

It had rained heavily and the runners village was like a quagmire. My trainers got covered in mud as I tried to find the lucozade station. I walked around the city for a little while, had a coffee and a snack.

When I eventually did get to the start line I tested my calf and it was still feeling sore. I really wasn't sure ifI was doing the right thing by running.

In the end, when I got going it was fine. In fact, I managed around 8-minute mile pace for the first 5 miles. However at that point I decided I wasn't going to risk any damage by pushing myself and turned my watch off. In any case, at about mile 10 I got a really bad stitch, the worst I had ever had in a race, and it was all I could do just to keep going. It just wasn't a PB kind of day.

As it turned out, I was quite happy to finish in 1 hour 51 minutes, given that two hours previously I wasn't even sure I should be running. Too many things had militated against me getting a good time.

So off I went, covered in mud, to get a Schwartz burger (if you haven't had one, you haven't lived) and a couple of beers on the way home. It was nice to know I could enjoy myself for the rest of the day as no work tomorrow.

Monday 17th March
Called in at the gym in the afternoon and did 5k very slowly on the treadmill. My legs were incredibly sore (probably because I couldn't stretch before or after the race yesterday) and I had a recurrence of my stitch?

Off to see the Sugababes in Oxford in the evening so once again my policy of not drinking bit the dust..it was worth it though as it was a fantastic concert. Just a shame I hadn't had a better result to celebrate. Still, the main thing is I'm running again.

Tuesday 18th March
Track session in the evening. Was still feeling very sore (and more than a little hungover) but really wanted to go so I did. The session was 15 * 400m, starting an effort every 2 minutes 30 seconds. I missed out the 5th and 10th efforts, as I didn't want to take any risks and needed the loo! Was feeling really rough and stayed at the back of the group, but I doubt I could have pushed myself any harder on my own.

Wednesday 19th March
Just did body pump in the evening, still taking it quite steady as my legs were still sore. As I write, they are a lot looser so maybe it helped? No spinning as I have a 10 mile race at Maidenhead on Friday (only really doing it because I was offered a lift) so will rest until then.