by Mollie Millington | Jun 16, 2021 | guest post, running
This week, we hear from my friend and neighbour, Matt. He started running during lockdown with a David Goggin’s 4x4x48 challenge as his first challenge (read about the first 24 hour here and the last 24 hours here). He has spent the last few month’s working on a half marathon PB as a competition between friends. Everyone was to run a half marathon on the same day, but not on the same course. Here, Matt shares what he learned during training and how the event went.
Running a half marathon PB
For 14 weeks I trained to run a PB for the half marathon. That being said, achieving a PB was not going to be too hard given that this was the first time I have properly trained for a race. I had run a couple of half marathons in the past, but only ever in long training runs (the first time I tried the distance, I paced myself to come in at just under 2 hours so that I could tick a sub-2 hour half off the list). I was excited to see what I could achieve when I committed to a goal.
On Saturday 29th May, with the help of a friend who had kindly offered to pace me, I ran a half marathon PB (TT) of 1 hour 42 mins and 18 seconds!
I missed both my A goal (1 hour 38 mins) and my B goal (1 hour 40 mins) but, all things considered, I was actually very pleased. Here are some of my reflections on the effort on the day, and on the training that came before it.
Training to a plan was great for accountability:
I have not always been a runner; I only really took it up a couple of years ago as part of an effort to lose weight. Until this training block, I had always just gone out to run 5k or 10k (or whatever distance Mollie had convinced me to tag along for) without a purpose or a goal. Some friends and I arranged our own virtual 5k TT during lockdown and I did a few intervals in preparation but didn’t follow a plan; I underperformed on that day and was extremely frustrated with myself! After that experience, I was determined to train properly for this half marathon so I signed up to a Garmin training plan that I could download to my watch.
Having the structure of being told what workout to do each day was a massive help and I made sure I didn’t miss a session. It actually made running way more fun because I knew what I had to achieve in each session and so I was never tempted to slack off when things got tough.
That being said, I followed the plan to the letter and I am not sure the latter weeks of the plan suited me perfectly. I felt that the plan switched from hard intervals, speed work and long runs to tempo/goal pace runs too early. Next time I will be in a better position to make my own decisions about the design of the plan and I will probably do a bit more mileage and have a bit less of a taper.
Easy runs to heart rate were a game changer:
For the entirety of the training block, the plan suggested my easy paced runs (including the weekend long run) should be between 5.16 – 5.54 p/km which at first, compared to my previous tactic of just going out and running at a moderate pace, felt pretty slow. As a result, I ran the easy paced runs and long runs at the start of my plan towards the top end of this pace interval. However, half way through the training, after reading more and more about running to heart rate, I decided to run these sessions to 130 bpm and forget about the pace.
This made a huge difference. Although I was able to run relatively comfortably at 5.16 p/km, when I slowed down a bit (to meet the 130 bpm goal) I recovered a lot quicker and felt less physically tired. This helped to go harder in the interval and speed work sessions; and within a few weeks, I was able to run at 5.20 p/km at 130 bpm.
Working full time and training is hard:
As I’ve already said, I stuck to my training plan religiously; but balancing training with a full time job is not straightforward. I work in the finance industry and regularly work 10-12 hours per day sat at a laptop. This means that it can be difficult to find the time to squeeze in three sessions of 40-75 minutes during the week. In the end, it took a combination of flexibility/opportunism (for example, being prepared to run at 9pm at night or squeezing in an intervals session between meetings) and a very understanding partner (who didn’t complain about having to do more than her fair share of cooking and household admin to allow me to get more running in).
Getting enough running in on top of work also impacted on my sleep. I often found that I was faced with a choice of getting enough sleep or having enough down time in the evening. Choosing to end the day with at least a couple of hours of television, or reading, meant that I regularly got a bit less than 7 hours sleep; and towards the end of the 14 week training block I really noticed I was feeling a bit fatigued.
Conditions are a huge factor in performance:
Between February and early May the weather in London was relatively cold, which meant that the vast majority of my training was undertaken in conditions between 3 – 12 degrees celsius. In these conditions, I had never had to think about the impact of heat and consequently had never tested my nutrition and hydration strategies outside of this range.
On race day the weather started at 16 degrees in the shade at 10.30am, rising to over 20 degrees by 12.30pm with close to 70% humidity. This was a lot hotter and humid than anything I had run in during the preceding 14 weeks – I had missed perfect conditions by 3 days. I considered changing the plan and setting off earlier to reduce the heat, but that would have meant throwing off my morning routine and running the risk of needing the bathroom mid-race.
Long story short, I kept to the originally planned timings and figured that I would deal with slightly hotter conditions. In hindsight, this was probably unwise. In training I had progressed to a point where I could comfortably run large intervals at race pace with a heart rate of between 150-160 bpm, however within a couple of kilometres of starting the race my heart rate had rocketed to over 160 bpm. Part of this could have been nerves, but I suspect a large part of it was the heat. And in the heat, I was never able to get my heart rate down again (my average heart rate over the race was 169 bpm).
When you think you are done, there is definitely more left to give:
After spiking my heart rate early in the race, after 9 km I felt much worse than I should have done. Until then I had been able to keep broadly to race pace (4.40 p/km) but I started to realise that I was unlikely to be able to maintain this for another 12 km. I asked my friend who was pacing me to take off 5 seconds p/km in the hope that if I was able to recover a little then I could make it up in the final few kms when I didn’t have to worry about preserving energy.
The course I had chosen was a 5.77 km loop through the Olympic park, along the canal, and around Hackney marshes. At the start of the fourth loop, I hit a wall. I had heard people talk about hitting a wall when running long distances, but I had never experienced it until then. Having run 17 km, with only 4 km to go, I suddenly felt like I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the end. My right hip was starting to hurt with every step, one of my abs was cramping, and mentally I wasn’t in a good place.
Even being so close to the finish, I started to think about the prospect of stepping off the course and conceding defeat. I’m really glad that my friend was pacing me, because one of my biggest thoughts to counter the negativity was that he had travelled across London to run for me (even carrying my water) and therefore I couldn’t let him down by stopping.
According to my Garmin/Strava, I managed to keep the pace at around 5.00 p/km for the next 2 kms; although in the moment I had lost all ability to think about anything other than the distance counting down (which seemed to take an age) and continuing to put one foot in front of the other. The second to last km was the slowest at 5 minutes 23 seconds but for all I knew it could have been 7 minutes – I was in that much pain! When it came to the final 200m I tried to pick up the pace or even sprint, but immediately my calves started to cramp up and I hobbled the last hundred metres before collapsing at the side of the path.
A combination of the heat and potentially not enough water meant that the last few km were harder than I had ever imagined, but I can safely say that I got absolutely everything out of my body. Whilst it wasn’t quite the time I was hoping for, I am pleased with the effort and I learned a lot of valuable lessons from both the training and the race itself.
It’s now time to spend a few weeks relaxing, focussing on some other sports such as cycling (without feeling guilty that it’s not on the training plan), and running just for fun; until I decide on my next challenge!
by Mollie Millington | Jun 13, 2021 | exercise, quickie
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- 2-3 minute jog/run, 10 burpees, 1-2 minute run, 10 burpees
1 min- High knee jumps – jump in air and bring knees up to hit your hands while elbows are at 90 degrees
1 min- Hop, hop, low squat with cross, jab, cross, jab
1 min- Jump/Skip rope (you can pretend if you don’t have one on hand)
1 min- Alternating side squats
1 min- Alternating reverse lunge
1 min- Tricep dips
1 min- Push/Press ups
1 min- Tricep dips
1 min- Leg lifts
1 min- Supermans
1 min- Wall sits
by Mollie Millington | Jun 6, 2021 | exercise, quickie
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- 1 min- jumping jacks/star jumps, 1 min- prisoner squats (fingers on ears, squat down and then jump as high as you can)
1 min- Walking lunges
1 min- Cocoons
1 min- Reverse walking lunges (walk backwards)
1 min- Leg lifts
1 min- Bicycles
1 min- Bear crawl if you exercise regularly, push/press up if you are new to exercise
1 min- Crab dips for triceps
30 sec each side- Side plank
1 min- Jumping jacks/star jumps
1 min- Deep squat pulses while on toes
1 min- Around the world arms holding a water bottle or light weight
by Mollie Millington | May 30, 2021 | exercise, quickie
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- 1 min- mountain climbers, 1 min- jumping jacks/star jumps, 1 min- mountain climbers
1 min- Frontal and lateral raise (so arms are in L shape, alternating sides)
1 min- Plyometric squats (jump to switch which leg is in front)
1 min- Inchworm
1 min- Jump forward by going into deep squat and then swinging arms to jump forward and land on both feet
1 min- Bicep curl- lift hands up for 3 counts and lower for 1 count
1 min- Speed skater jumps
1 min each leg- Lunge and then bring knee up before repeating
1 min- Press ups against the wall, back of a bench, or on the ground
1 min- Leg lifts with holding feet above ground for 5 seconds before lifting legs up again
1 min- Crunches
1 min- Walking plank by going from elbows and then up to hands, then back to elbows
by Mollie Millington | May 23, 2021 | exercise, quickie
For this week’s quickie, you will need a flight of stairs and a reasonable amount of fitness. Be sure to hold on to the railing to avoid injury.
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- Walk up and down stairs for 3 minutes or until you start to break a sweat
1 min- ‘Box jump’ on to the lowest step from the ground. If this is too advanced, you can do step ups
1 min- Push/Press ups, inclined on steps for beginner, declined for advanced
1 min- One legged squat (right leg off side of step for a greater range of motion, squat with left leg)
1 min- One legged squat (left leg off side of step for a greater range of motion, squat with right leg)
1 min- Tricep dips
1 min- Reverse lunge by placing one leg on a step but facing away from stairs. Add in lateral raise
1 min- Reverse lunge by placing the other leg on step. Add in frontal raise
1 min- Stand close to bottom step, bend over, and place hands on the bottom step (or 2nd step if you can’t reach bottom step). Bend arms at the elbow to lower head closer to the step. Exhale and extend arms
1 min- Climb steps 2 at a time, but lunge before switching lead legs
1 min- Perform a plank on your hands rather than elbows. To make it more challenging, perform on a decline
1 min- Boat pose on the bottom step
by Mollie Millington | May 16, 2021 | exercise, quickie
For today’s workout, you will need either tins of soup, bottles of water or light weights.
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- Jog for 1 min, then pick up the pace for the next minute, and again for the 3rd minute
1 min- Burpees
1 min- Lunges
1 min- Bicycles (abdominal exercise) Think about the twist by doing slow and controlled
1 min- Press/Push ups over 4 counts (3 to lower and 1 to come back up)
1 min- Reverse curls (have legs in air and lift hips up off ground)
1 min- ‘Fire hydrant’ on left leg (kneel on all 4’s. Lift leg out to side with knee at 90 degrees)
1 min- ‘Fire hydrant’ on right leg (kneel on all 4’s. Lift leg out to side with knee at 90 degrees)
1 min- Boat pose
1 min- Alternating frontal and lateral arm raises with calf raises. Hold can of soup or bottle of water to make it more challenging
1 min- Triceps kickback You can do this with both arms while standing by hinging forward at the waist with a slight bend in your knees
1 min- Sumo squats (without a bar though. If you want you can hold a weight)
by Mollie Millington | May 13, 2021 | clothes, running
Salomon is a brand that I grew up with on the slopes. Since I moved to London, I started working with them to explore the roads and trails. They are super supportive of the running community, working with Love Trails Festival and putting on their own events at Box Hill. My winter shoes are Salomon GTX trail shoes, which keep my feet dry. I ran across the Wadi Rum desert in a Salomon 6L rucksack*. This week, I received the S/Lab Fore-Tex Shakedry* to review and it looks like Saturday will have appropriate weather to do so (full review coming soon).
Last week, Salomon contacted me about their Her Way campaign. Women do so much at home, work, training, and more, making them pretty inspirational wouldn’t you say? Salomon agree and are championing female awesome-ness with a new short film ‘Her Way’ produced by women and featuring three incredible ladies who are doing it their way and proving female stereotypes don’t exist (one is a nurse who has a daughter with Down Syndrome. I follow her on Instagram.). They are also giving away an amazing weekend in the Cotswolds for you and a female friend.
Salomon encourages you to nominate an inspiring woman from your day to day life, a mum, sister, bestie, girlfriend, and if you’re picked, both you and she will be invited to spend a fabulous weekend (23rd -25th of June) in the Cotswolds. Entries close 31 May, so if you want to win an exclusive invitation to Salomon’s Women’s Getaway and a full head to toe Salomon outfit for you and your friend, submit your nomination today. Ten runners up will win a Salomon WMN box including some sustainable Salomon goodies. All it takes is a few minutes of your time for the chance to play outdoors with one of your favourite people.
I am going to nominate my friend Becs, who became a mom last year during the pandemic. She is handling it like a champ even though she hasn’t been able to have family and friends help out her and her husband out. She is always up for an adventure, an incredible ultra runner, and someone I am lucky to call a friend. Fingers crossed she can leave the baby with her husband for the weekend if we win.
There a few pieces from the Salomon women’s collection that I would love to get my hands on:
Outline shell jacket in Olive. Springtime can be a bit rainy, especially if I am camping. s specifically created for women and provides protection from the elements thanks to a 2.5 layer membrane, with robust 3 layer panels on exposed areas to give added protection. Super light and easy to compress and stow, Salomon’s MotionFit technology delivers freedom of movement whether you’re trail running or hiking with a backpack. I tend to keep a raincoat handy just in case I need one, and layering is a good way to keep warm and dry.
On my feet, the Salomon Sense 4 are made for the trails. Not only do I love the colors, but these shoes are comfy and responsive thanks to Salomon’s OptivibeTM cushioning incorporated into a design aimed to absorb vibrations and decrease muscle fatigue without weighing you down. A full rubber Contagrip® outsole gives confident grip on any terrain and Profeel film protects your feet from sharp objects. They also have a neutral support which I need for my Achilles issues.
Who are your favourite people to explore the outdoors with? What makes them special in your eyes? Leave a comment below and let me know.
*Indicates I was gifted the product for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
by Mollie Millington | May 9, 2021 | exercise, quickie
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- Walk up and down stairs for 2 minutes. Squats for 1 minute
1 min- Push/Press ups against a wall, on a stable counter top, or on the ground
1 min- Knee lift to opposite elbow while standing. Twist upper body at the waist
1 min- Walking lunges
1 min- Jumping jacks/star jumps
1 min- Mountain climbers
1 min- Push/Press ups on knees or toes
1 min- Boat pose
1 min- Forearm plank
1 min- Supermans
30 sec- Side plank left
30 sec- Side plank right
1 min- Hop-hop-low squat then 4 punches
1 min- Lunge down then jump up and switch legs into another lunge
by Mollie Millington | May 7, 2021 | clothes, product review, sponsored post
When I saw that my blood sugar could be monitored in real time using the Supersapiens app and an Abbott blood glucose sensor, I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread (Facebook advert algorithms work!). As a scientist, anything that provides data on my performance helps me understand what is going well and what isn’t. As a person with a very sensitive stomach, I am cautious about what I use as fuel during training. At some of my World Marathon Major races, I stopped five times to use the bathroom. This makes it very hard to PB if you are constantly wondering if you will have an accident and where the location of the next toilet is. The technology the Supersapiens app is offering, along with the Abbott Libre sensor, will hopefully help me nail down how often I need to fuel (maybe not every 5k?) and what works best for a stable blood glucose.
Many diabetics use a biosensor to monitoring their glucose levels through interstitial fluid rather than the traditional finger prick to obtain blood. The Abbott FreeStyle Libre 2 sensor tracks glucose every five minutes via an app or monitor. There is no limitation on the range of readings and you can program an alarm to indicate if the glucose reading it too high or too low. In contrast, the Libre sensor tracks in real time via Blue Tooth range of 50-200mg/dL. For this reason, the Libre sensor is not suitable for diabetics.
I have only worn the biosensor a few days so far, but already have a few tips on how to make the most out of your sensor. In all the photos on the Supersapiens website (and this blog post), the sensor is applied to the outside of the arm. Three days after applying my first sensor, I knocked it off by bumping into the door frame. May I suggest mounting the sensor on the inside or underneath your arm? One of the other ambassadors purchased an armband holder* to keep the sensor in place. Rotate where you put the sensor so the skin can heal. I have read that a few diabetics will put their sensor on their thigh or chest but I have not seen this an an approved spot to wear the Libre sensor. Before application, clean area (use hand sanitizer or ethanol to remove oil from the skin) and shave the area if it is hairy to ensure a good seal with the sticky pad. The sensor will stay on for a shower and for up to 30 minutes when swimming in shallow water. You can buy a single use performance patch for races to ensure it does not come off. My friend who is diabetic says she uses athletic tape to adhere the sensor sometimes but can’t guarantee how long it will stay on for.
Over the first week, I had to get used to maintaining connectivity via Bluetooth. Sometimes the sensor disconnected and I had to initially reconnect with NFC to sync to my phone before the Bluetooth kicked in. I am not a very techy person, so if you have any tips on the connectivity, please leave a comment below. While I was sleeping, the app and sensor disconnected but this may be to my phone going into power saving mode. The biosensor will hold data for a maximum of eight hours. Luckily, Maple never lets me sleep in late so I was able to see my glucose is fairly stable while I sleep.
The more information you can add to your glucose graph, the better, as that is how you can start to understand how your body creates and uses glucose. I love how you can enter ‘events’ to the graph to log when you eat, sleep, fast, stressed and/or exercise. I would suggest entering events after they occur as the time options are not in real time. I just kept a small list of things to log throughout the day and sat down at night to record them. Many of the members of the Ambassador Facebook group have commented on how combining foods will affect the glucose reaction. For example, eating pasta alone causes a spike but if you add vegetables and beans, the glycogen is released more slowly.
Supersapiens has a large knowledge area to its website, where you can read more about glucose monitoring. They also have a Strava club, Facebook group and Zoom calls every week to talk to their experts (although Zoom might be for ambassadors only). To learn more about glucose monitoring, as well as some tricks and hacks for the continuous glucose monitors, check out Type One Talks on YouTube. I find his info very useful. He even reviewed the Libre sensor.
Are you interested in trying these sensors out? Apply to become a Supersapiens Ambassador via this link. You would be in the company of Nick Butter, the first person to run a marathon in every country in the world, is currently circumnavigating Great Britain by running 200 marathons in 100 days. Fuelling will be a large part of making this challenge a success. Another name you may have heard of is Eliud Kipchoge, who is also using the Supersapiens app and Libre sensors to maximize his performance. I am excited to say he and I will both be at Tokyo Marathon in October, but I don’t think I will be able to catch him.
I will be wearing my remaining sensors in an inconspicuous place for the next six weeks in the hopes that they last the entire two weeks. I haven’t decided yet whether I will be investing in the biosensor and app in the long term yet. Now that I just started working with a run coach, it is the perfect time to focus on the fuelling aspect too and use the data alongside her sessions. I would love to hear if you think glucose monitoring is the way forward and if you have any questions about how it works. Leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer them in my follow up post.
This post was sponsored by Myprotein. They also gave me the clothes in the photos above. The pink outfit is from their Adapt range, red and black from their Power Ultra 2.0 range, and casual wear from their Raw Training line. Supersapiens sent me complimentary sensors as part of their ambassador program. All opinions are honest and my own.
*Affiliate link, which costs the buyer nothing additional and helps pay for this site
by Mollie Millington | May 2, 2021 | exercise, quickie
For today’s workout, you will need either tins of soup, bottles of water or light weights.
Remember to go for QUALITY over quantity. If you are unclear what the exercise is I am describing, please look for a video or arrange for an in-person tutorial with me. Please consult your doctor before engaging on any fitness regime. Don’t forget to breathe! Please email me if you want tips on how to make the quickies easier or more challenging (mollie@ptmollie.com).
Warm up- 1 min mountain climbers, 1 min burpees (modify with incline press up on a bench if necessary), 1 min star jumps
1 min- Hip raises with right leg in air
1 min- Hip raises with left leg in air
1 min- Toe touches
1 min- Forearm plank (make more challenging by stepping feet out, out, then in, in)
1 min- Press ups (down for 3 beats, up for 1)
1 min- Reverse lunge (in standing position, step one foot behind you for a lunge. Return foot to start. Repeat on other leg)
1 min- Star jumps or burpees
1 min- Reverse lunge (in standing position, step one foot behind you for a lunge. Return foot to start. Repeat on other leg)
1 min- Prisoner squats (Place hands on ears. Squat down and then jump up)
30 sec- Small arm circles forward (Hold bottle of water in each hand to make more difficult)
30 sec- Small arm circles backward (Hold bottle of water in each hand to make more difficult)
1 min- Bicycle abdominal exercise (Keep elbows wide and twist slowly to feel on your sides)
1 min- Windshield wipers (Lay on back with feet up in air. Drop one leg to the side as low as you can while you keep hips on the ground. Lift foot back up to start. Repeat on other leg)
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