Category: Marathon

The Taper

Posted on by chunkyrunner41

The taper is when you reduce your activity a bit so as not to arrive on the start line of your event, exhausted and crying. I’m hoping to not be exhausted, I’ve actually scheduled some crying in, but more of that later…
It’s a weird time. I’ve spent the last few months being grumpy about having to run in the cold/wind/rain/now it’s too hot/it’s raining again – you get the picture, and now I’m not supposed to be running and so all I want to do is go and run 10k….just in case. I want to do a run that feels easy and so I will be confident going into the race, but alas, running for me never feels easy and so the anxiety continues.
Yesterday I was supposed to run “easy”. I set off feeling like this was going to be the run where it finally clicked and I would be happy, but alas, the whole run was awful. I felt so slow I was going backwards, but when I finished, I found that I had been running 45 seconds FASTER per kilometre than average. My head is swimming!


I have my last run this evening with The Teacher, who is running the London Marathon, a sports massage tomorrow and then apart from walking and some stretching, nothing until Sunday. I will say, that the most positive thing about this whole training process has been that I have rediscovered my love for running with other people again. I haven’t really run with other people since Hattie moved up North and I started triathlon training. Cycling and swimming in groups yes, but running no. This is almost certainly one of the reasons why my running has faltered so badly as running alone is not a lot of fun.

But the running gang has returned and they have been amazing. The Teacher and I have trundled at least once a week for the past few weeks and it’s been great to run/chat again. Miss Eastpond is another one who has been AMAZING at accompanying me on some weekend long runs. This started with her meeting me for 5k in the middle of a long run and then she was suddenly running half marathons with me, when she didn’t have to?! Finally Sandra-Dee, who became my unofficial coach in the final few weeks. She has been brilliant at meeting me for those mid-week long runs when I’d had enough and was on my knees. She made sure I got those miles in.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your kindness and it’s been fun.

I have a beeper (Gym Boss) that beeps every 30 seconds which is better than using my watch. My rule is that I do not walk more than 30 seconds at a time. If I run 30/30 then my average pace per kilometre is around 9.20—9.40 per minute. However, at Bath Half, I counted beeps and ran 90/30, 60/30 and 30/30 depending on how I was feeling and this gave me an overall, much faster, pace of 8.57 per kilometre and over 42 kilometres, this will make quite a difference and so this is the plan. 90/30 as much as possible but 60/30 and 30/30 as needed. It doesn’t matter if the running is slow, just do not to walk more than 30 seconds. It will also give my brain something to do and keep it occupied as I will need to count the beeps. If I zone out, there’s always the chance that my brain will work out the enormity of the task ahead and a full freak out might occur, so constantly counting up to 3 lots of 30 will keep us all on the straight and narrow.
I know that completing a marathon is as much about the mental battle as the physical one so I have been working hard to reframe my thinking. I’ve run 28K twice now and both times I was fairly done by the end, so the idea of 14k more after this is fairly daunting.
I am confident that I can do the distance (because I’m very stubborn) but I’m worried about the sweeper and so I must go for it speedwise, but not too soon, else it will all go wrong.

Therefore, I have decided that next Sunday is: 3 10k races, 2 parkruns, a cry, possible vomit and gritting my teeth over the final 2.2 kilometres.

If all goes to plan, it will look something like this:
0-10k. 10k training run – this is easy pace – a Sunday training run. No PBs here. 60/30 and 30/30 for the first 2-3k and then winding up to the 90/30, 60/30 and 30/30.


10-20k. 10k race – time to get comfortable. Not sitting back and beginning to stretch out a bit. Not going for a PB but certainly within a minute of it. Ideally here I will be running 90/30 and 60/30 alternatively with the odd 30/30 thrown in if I’m feeling I need a breather.


20-30k. 10k race – here is where it’s going to start to pinch. No time to think just counting. 90/30, 60/30 and 30/30 on a loop constantly with no let up.


As each 10k ticks over, I tell myself that I’m starting a new race. I’ve run the Bristol 10k enough times that I will envisage myself in the pen, being ready to go again.


As we enter the final 12k, we change to a different strategy. I’m no longer running 10k races and now I am doing park run. At this point there are 2 park runs to get to 40k.
The first of these parkruns is not one where I’m going for a PB, it’s one of those that take place in the middle of a long run ie a park run sandwich. It needs to be steady but not all out. I think this is where tears might start and the fear might start to creep in, but hopefully with the counting of beeps, I can just focus on the task. This parkrun will be Eastville Parkrun as this is traditionally my choice for a parkrun sandwich.
The second parkrun is the one where I will have nothing left and will need to run it with my head. I will be mentally going for a PB, but realistically will be hanging on for dear life at 30/30. Tears and anger are very likely to feature in this 40 minute window and I must keep moving forwards. I’ve been to some dark places over the past couple of years and I will need to remember this. Hopefully my hydration strategy will be working else I will be crying lumps of salt. Grit my teeth and dig in. DO NOT STOP.


Assuming I am still alive at 40k, it’s 2.2k to the end (although I will probably end up running further because you always do). There is no strategy for this. I’ll be hungry and tired and just wanting to get it over with. I will be promising myself that I will never put myself through anything like this and I will invoke my inner Diana Prince and shuffle to the finish line.


I also have the added incentive of my daughter needing to get a train home Sunday night after cheering me and my husband on. I need to get over that finish line in a decent time to stop her getting home too late. (Husband and Merida are both also doing the race too so I need to wish them both the best of luck).


So there we have it. Unhelpfully, the weather forecast is warm and sunny but my 2 long runs were done on warm days so I’m not going to let that worry me. Gels are ready, hydration is ready, trainers picked, kit tested. Just me and 42.2k to do. I am plagued by my failure at Weymouth 70.3 but this is my chance to put it to bed forever.

Wish me luck.

I do not have a charity place for Manchester Marathon but I would be very grateful if you would consider sponsoring me to run the marathon for the Mind Charity.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/claire-tiley-2?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=015

The following was written by my daughter:
Last year my youngest daughter went to an inpatient unit for 4 months after struggling with her mental health. She had struggled for the majority of her teenage years. She said “every single person goes through something at some point in their life that no one knows about” and I completely agree. It is for her and everyone else who understands and has experienced this, that I will have in my mind as I run on Sunday so…
I would be extremely grateful if you could spare a few pennies for this charity.
Thank you.

25 sleeps to go…

Posted on by chunkyrunner41

Apparently, that is how long it is until the Manchester Marathon. I’m quite conflicted as my daughter is travelling overseas at the moment with her lovely boyfriend (Gap year shenanigans) and I’m missing her a lot and want her arrival home to come quickly and it’s 29 sleeps until I see her. But of course, before I can see her, there is that little matter of 26.2 miles.

When I wrote my last blog, I was genuinely very unsure whether I was going to run the race or not. Self doubt was my middle name, but now, finally and happily, I am in a different mindset.
I am going to start the race and as long as I don’t get sweepered (yes I am trademarking that word) off the course, I will complete it.

It’s been a tricky few weeks. The weather was bad and cold. Work was busy and I had a terrible virus which put me in bed for 2 days in the week before I was due to run the Bath Half – which unbeknownst to anyone else, I was using to make my final decision about whether to run Manchester or not.
In the end Bath Half went fairly well. I decided to just take it easy and aim to simply get round in one piece. One the day, I ran much faster than I had been in training and apart from a random 4 minute window of pain shooting through my left boob at 10 and a half miles, it was ok. When the pain struck I genuinely worried that I was having a heart attack (I’ve read they present in the arms) and I couldn’t breathe at all. I was completely stopped in my tracks. A lovely lady who was sort of running with me (she would overtake me, then I her etc ) stopped to help. Spectators gave me a chair (no idea where it came from) and some orange squash which tasted like ambrosia and then the pain stopped and so I was off again.
I was tired but knew I would finish. However, mile 12 was COMPLETELY uphill. What kind of sick joke is that? All I could hear around me were runners swearing as well as spectators agreeing with us and encouraging us on…I walked this part, angrily and then finally finished, somehow sprinting over the finish line. Merida and Professor Fizz (who had finished before me) were kindly waiting for me, giggling whilst complaining about the hill. I got my medal and went home feeling happy but also resigned that if I was this far in, I’m doing the marathon.

There are a few things I have decided/learnt over the past few weeks.
1) I can definitely do the marathon, I genuinely think anyone can if they train for it. The only variable is how fast they will do it. I am hoping to beat the sweeper and will do my best not to get caught so I can get my medal. Else, I will riot.

2) This is probably the most important one – the marathon is going to hurt. All the training plans take you up to a longest run of 20-22 miles, but the marathon itself is 26.2 miles. Basically from 17 miles, everything starts to fall apart and it hurts. You’re hungry, thirsty (and my goodness I have learned a lot about fuelling and hydration over the past weeks) and everything will ache. I have reconciled that once you understand this, it’s not as scary as it was. It’s going to hurt like a female dog. Accept it and carry on.

3) I am exhausted all of the time and fairly grumpy. My life revolves around
• How many hydration tablets have I had in a 24 hour window?
• Why do my ankles hurt so much?
• Do I REALLY need to go upstairs?
• What’s the earliest time I can go to bed and not seem antisocial?
• Can I squeeze in a nap in my lunchhour?
• And constantly planning the best route for the long run.

4) My face is falling apart. I noticed around Christmas that I was developing excsma around my nose and summised this was due to the fact that I was sweating a lot. (I am a very sweaty runner). At this point of training, my face is almost falling off. I have scabs and I’m applying nappy rash cream to my face before I head out for runs. I am looking forward to returning to shorter, less sweaty runs – and probably more swimming and a day at a spa for a facial.

5) Bras. Now I could write a whole blog on this alone, but basically, my bras are trying to kill me. The chafing is off the charts and I look like I have been whipped with the chafing taking the top layer of my skin off under the band (front and back). It then is very sore and then scabs up, just in time to be ripped apart again by the following long run on the next weekend. I have tried Vaseline, body glide and various other emollients. I have bought new bras and these do the same or (in the case of one of them which is underwired) stab me. I have puncture marks on the front of my boobs and under. It’s not good and nothing works. So I refer myself back to point number 2. It is going to hurt and almost certainly bleed.

I’m entering the final stint with the biggest run on the plan for this weekend – 32k (20 miles). I have no idea when I’m going to do it yet as I have a family birthday party this weekend and pilates to fit in, but it will get done. Then the taper will begin with long runs going down to “only” a half marathon and then 10 miles. What weird universe are we living in when this is what I am typing ONLY a half marathon and I’m pleased? This universe. This is my universe and I’m as shocked as you are.

Valentine Vows

Posted on by chunkyrunner41

So here we are then. I’m 50 and I feel it.
The problem is I remember who I used to be and it’s hard to reconcile the two.
I had a difficult year last year and I lost my exercise way. I gained weight and had almost completely forgotten what it was to be fit, but then by chance one evening, picking up my eldest daughter from work, I saw a reformer pilates taster class. I went and was hooked. In the Summer I started going, Merida too, to a 9am Saturday class and every week, we followed it with coffee and a catch up chat. It became a staple and quickly became my favourite couple of hours of the whole week. I think since last August I have missed maybe 6 classes, certainly no more and although it’s very tough, I love it.

So a little routine started. I then started doing a few weights and then a couple of spin classes and I was beginning to feel a bit more in the groove. Merida and I discussed how we didn’t enjoy running and we’d found a way to be fit without needing to run.
One Sunday we had a conversation about how we definitely were over the running phase of our lives and we were happy about it.

The next day I signed up for Manchester Marathon and so, did Merida. You can’t make it up.

WHY? What is wrong with me?

I can tell you how it happened. My husband. We’ll blame him and his running mates who were talking that they should do a marathon as one of them, also 50 this year, had a thing that when he dies, he wants his eulogy to include that he ran a marathon. No-one ever mentions that you ran half marathons, they only mention the marathon. So they were all signing up.

Merida had trained for a marathon twice during covid, twice had completed the 22 mile long training run and then both times, the race had been cancelled. She has unfinished business.
Me? I’m just an idiot with, as a wise man once said, “an ego that is writing cheques that my body can’t cash” but I thought if there’s a few of us doing it, we might as well. It seemed like the universe was sending me a sign.

I checked the cut off and it’s 6 hours after the final person has crossed the start line – I’ve put in an optimistic (Ie unrealistic) finish time so I reckon I have about 7 hours to get round. This is still 90 minutes less than that stupid triathlon I trained for, so it seemed simple.
What I hadn’t factored in, as I excitedly wrote my training plan in a shiny new notebook that I bought especially for the new project, was that I was actually going to have to run……and if you’ve read this before, you’ll know that this is not my favourite thing to do.
So I’m in a bit of a bind. It’s 11 weeks to go and I’m run/walking as there is no way I can run that distance and I feel it’s better to plan the walks, than just sob my way round. But it’s hard.
I’ve bought the Runna app and am following the plan. It’s tricky to adapt it to run/walking but I’m doing the best I can.

What I am struggling with is consistency. Some weeks I manage the 4 runs and I feel like a rockstar. I have run/walked 10 miles so far on my longest run and, who am I kidding, it was awful, but I did it.

Work is busy and I am SO FED UP with running in the cold. I’m also sad to say that I am a bit too nervous to run in the dark on my own – I know it’s stupid, but I am so there we are. I joined a gym so I can do my intervals and tempo run on a treadmill (easier to keep pace) and this leaves only 2 outside runs to complete – one on a Sunday (Saturday is still pilates) and then the other one……..which is the one I struggle with. It really needs to be done at lunchtime (because it’s light and I cannot get out of bed in the morning to do it before work), it often is impossible to get out at this time due to endless Teams meetings and calls. Pre covid, I could do calls with a ruby red face, but now the risk is too great in case the dreaded words “shall we jump on a Teams instead” is uttered.

I’ve never suffered with SAD before but I genuinely think this year I am. My motivation is at zero and I’m worried about another DNF so I’m restarting this blog to give me a bit of focus. I’ve also made an appointment with the doctor to consider having my HRT increased as well.

I hadn’t run for over a week this morning and this evening, after work, I took myself off with the dog squad and went for a little run/walk to clear my head. I feel better. It’s so ANNOYING but it’s true.
So, I’m back writing this blog for inspiration.
Consistency is what I need so I’m going back to basics. The blog kept me going at the beginning of my running journey and now once again, I hope it’s going to help me get where I need to be.