Brighton Half Marathon

/ Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

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I had got most of my kit ready the night before, but that was no consolation when my alarm went off at 05.30. I got up and went downstairs and had my usual breakfast of porridge and chia seeds, last minute check of kit and I was set to go.

The journey to Brighton was not too bad, it took around an hour and a half arriving at the park and ride at 8 o’clock, then a quick queue for the bus and a 10 minute ride to the start.

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I have to say that this was the first big event I have been to, I believe there was an estimated 10,000 competitors on the day, and by far the largest group of runners I have run with, although the majority of them finished way ahead of me.

 

When I entered this race I had estimated my finish time to be around 2 and a half hours, so I crossed the start line around 10 minutes after the starting gun, which was fine, as there was so many people it was hard to get any sort of pace going, this continued for about the first mile, then the field of runners thinned out slightly and I could get in a steady rhythm. It was now a matter of keeping my head down and just keeping going.

I set my sights on the 2.30 hour pacer, my plan was to ensure I kept in front of them so that I could finish with a fairly comfortable time. At around the 5 mile mark there was a drinks station and a loo, the queue for this was fairly small, around 5 people, so i stopped and made use of it, what i had not accounted for was that the laddies take somewhat longer, and by the time a got in and did the necessaries, it had taken around 15 minutes, and when I got running again my legs had started to seize up and was quite hard to get into a rhythm again ( this was to be repeated again at mile 9, costing me even more time ).

So I continued to run on in the vein hope of making up the lost time, sadly this was not to be, by mile 11 an old knee injury had started play up and all I could then do was take it easy, and just concentrate on not doing any real further injury and to cross the finish line in what ever time it turned out to be.me

My official finish time was 2 hours 39 minutes, not a great time, but it will do.

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What I have learnt during this race is “Do not use the loos early on”;  overall this was a good race, fairly flat and a good course to get a PB, I will see how a fair next year.

Long ish Training Run#2

/ Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

Today I undertook another long run, the idea was to run 10 miles or 2 hours, I was meant to get up early and run early; this I kind of achieved, I had planned   to get up at 6 and then go running shortly after, however I actually got up at 7 and ran pretty much straight away. I had read somewhere that occasionally exercising before taking on any nutrition teaches the body to use up the glycogen levels and as such makes for a better run in the long term as you would not need to take on gels etc during the run.

So I got ready and headed out of the door; as soon as I began running I new not eating was a bad idea, as I started to suffer pretty much straight away and wasn’t even a mile in, with the Brighton Half Marathon booked for the next weekend, I knew i just had to keep going, so onward  plodded, and believe me when I say it was a plod, looking at my splits afterwards I saw how bad it was.

The only positive I could take from this run was experience of being on my feet for a prolonged length of time which would undoubtedly help on my next race.

Next week I will concentrate on a couple of short runs at a higher pace, and hope that this will aid in my half marathon run.

1st LongTraining Run 14.1 Miles.

/ Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

So today was the first long run, in fact as it turned out it was the furthest I have ever run, I had only set out to run 11 miles but wanted to get to Motley hill for my turn around.

I started off fairly solidly but by the time I was at mile two my legs started to ache, I put this down to the fact I had not run for a few days and pushed on, I carried on ticking off the miles and was soon at the Riverside country park. I generally felt o.k. Which is surprising as I was trying out a new nutrition strategy (Tailwind), I would normally have taken a gel by this time but although the legs were tired, I genuinely felt I didn,t need to.

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At the start of the run I had packed two UD hard flasks which had Tailwind in, and as a backup a Solomon soft flask with water, all packed up in my new AK race vest ( review coming soon).

I got to mile 9 at Motney hill, and it was the time to turn around and head back, as I started back I realized that the two UD flasks I was using were nearly empty and would not last the distance back ( bugger ), I had estimated that each flask would last an hour and at this point I was two hours in and nearly empty, oh well all I could do was plod on and get back as best as I could, I managed to get half way back on what nutrition I had, in now swapped over to the backup water which managed to get me back home.

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A quick walk around the block as a warm down, and I was done. For me this was a hard run as it was the furthest I have ever gone also I am still struggling with my fitness which added to the struggle; however done is done and it was now shower and relax.

 

 

My First Blog Post

Featured / Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

Hi, and welcome. These blogs are about my journey from couch potato to well not couch potato and what I have learnt along the way. I started running in September 2015, and have been running ever since, do I think of myself as a runner……….Well no not really!. I like running as it gives me a sense of achievement and a release from the stresses of work, and when I’m out running the only thing I really think about is putting one foot in front of the other.

I have recently joined a local running club “Medway Runners”, who have been a great help with regular training runs and tons of encouragement, oh and I tend to enter a fair few races, some of them on my own and some with the running club, for me the races are not necessarily about what time I finish in but more importantly the goal is to finish and have fun along the way.all

 

London Winter Run 10k

/ Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

img_0529So the morning started with me parking at Ebbsfleet Intl. and getting the fast train to St. Pancras and then two tubes to Charing Cross. Once there it was a short walk to Trafalgar square.

Once there it was hand our bags into the Bag drop-off point, and get ready for the race. It took at least 20 minutes to walk to the race point, however despite the cold and needing the loo, the atmosphere was excellent. When we got to the start there was a short talk about the reasons why the race was being run, some motivational speech followed by a bang and blast of the Snow cannon and we were off.

My intention for this race was always to use it as an exercise in getting some extra miles in and to work on a slower pace, so with this in mind I was fairly happy to stay towards the back of the pack. As we progressed up Kingsway, I had to bear off and pop into the Costa Coffee to use their facilities, once this was done it was time to re-join the race.

The race carried on without any dramas and I was soon high fiving the penguins along the strand, once done we headed down Holborn viaduct and passed St Paul’s Cathedral and along to the drink station and then back around to St Paul’s Cathedral and back along Holborn Viaduct to Fletcher Lane, the Strand and then onto Charing Cross towards the finish line where there were free Polar Bear Hugs.img_0510

My finish time for this was 1hour 14 minutes, and an awesome medal to boot. All in all this was a really well organised race from start to finish and special thanks has to go to the spectators and marshals for all the cheering they done along the route. On the downside the entry fee to enter was quite high especially when you factor in the travel arrangements.

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Canterbury 10 Mile Race

/ Sean Eyers / Leave a comment

I approach this first race of the year with some apprehension, due to a knee injury I picked up three months previous I had done virtually no training and was somewhat concerned on how I would cope with running the 1o miles.

The day started out cold, damp and foggy, it took me about an hour to travel the distance to Canterbury, where I found a parking space and walked to the meeting hall where I picked up my race number and timing chip. Once all was attached I handed my bag into the bag check in, and then I had about 45 minutes before the start of the race.

With 10 minutes to a go I quickly went to the loo (turns out not so quickly as the queue was horrendous, as it is in these events).I then proceeded to the start line, where I joined all the other runners, I was towards the back, as I was only concerned with finishing and not on the time.img_0460

The race started well, and we ran through the normal streets before going into the more rural areas, across farm land, and country lanes. It continued to be foggy and damp throughout the race however this did not dampen my spirits and I continued to plod away the miles reaching ever closer to the finish line.

On races in excess of 10k I normally take some gels (SIS) every 2 miles, this seemed to work on Sittingbourne 10 mile race with great success, but today it just wasn’t having any benefit so I carried on ticking off the miles. My finishing time for this event was 1hour 45 minutes which is 7 minutes off my PB, I am fairly o.k. with this time as I did not really do any training.medal

I am constantly amazed on how well organised these races are, there was a lot of support around the course by the marshals and spectator’s, it does wonders for your self esteem when you hear people cheering your name “Come on Sean” and “your nearly there”. I also have to say that the official photos seemed to be taken most of the way around the course, which was a surprise as you normally get one half way around and then at the end.

All in all a good day out.

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