Overview

I've grumbled about cyclists on this Blog before (sorry Jon). If I was Eddie Izzard I'd be well p*ssed off that Walliams and his bunch of two-wheeling glory-goons were given a prime time BBC1 slot and loads of PR for their 4 days of taking turns to go cycling, while his nearly 2 months of continuous running alone was bumped to a virtual graveyard slot on BBC3.

Jimmy Carr essentially went for a pint and a 2 hour bike ride - which he walked at least half of. Meanwhile, there was a luxury coach for the cyclists to lounge around in and a full support crew - including pro cyclists to manage all the pacing for them.

All the Izzmeister had was a people carrier containing a physiotherapy graduate, a fat photographer and his slightly irritating publicist plus a vegetarian crusty on a rickshaw. Keeping a sad face while the crusty shed tears over roadkill alone would have taken more effort than Jimmy Carr's bike ride. I wasn't fooled. I know who the real hero of this year's Sport Relief was.

Another great episode last night though as Eddie ran from Glasgow to London - finally finishing in Trafalgar Square:

WATCH IT ON iPLAYER HERE

... Meanwhile... It's been a slow week for me on account of those pesky 'tiba troubles'. After the 20 miler at the weekend I had a couple of days off then decided to risk Tuesday night's track session. I was thinking I'd take it easy as most of the sessions recently have been longer and slightly slower what with forthcoming marathons. Not this week though - a full-on speed session! 'Great'.  Two sets of 400m,600m 1000m 600m 400m with the task being to run the 600s and the 1kms at the same fast pace as the 400s. This was not good for my shin.

I got through the first set ok, but starting again after the recovery everything got painful. I decided there was no point in pushing through a speed session only to end up taking more forced days off so I cut the second 1km short at 400m and called it a night.

Since then I've been back on the ice packs and Ibuprophen with my leg in the air. It's not a disaster, but the pain was worse than it had been after the weekend's 20 miles so my conclusion is that the pace is a problem so I'm going to ease off speed sessions until I've got my last long runs out of the way.

Yesterday I was back on the Cross trainer. There was an 11 mile run in the training plan... gulp! Headphones? Check. Mind knumbing TV? Check. Thousand yard stare? Check. Ok, Go!...

Just over 90 minutes later and I was done - and fairly done for. Felt good to get a hefty session in though and I treated myself to a very meat and cheese-based scoff-up later (once the kids had finally agreed to attempt sleep).

Nothing to do now until Sunday. I've got the Reading Half and although I'm not going to race it like I did in Brighton, I can't be bothered to run it with a sore shin, so I'm going to spend the next two days doing everything I can to get it ship-shape. Good luck to everyone who's racing at the weekend and hopefully see a few of you in Reading.

Happy running.

D

Tags: London Marathon 2010, Reading Half Marathon, Eddie Izzard, Cross training

Post Views: 27

Just casually wondering whether to risk a pair of shorts for track training tonight. I'm guessing that once the sun goes down it'll be cold again - so probably best to stick to the slug smugglers for another week or two - but exciting to have shorts nudging their way back on to the agenda.

Of course once the man-tights have been folded neatly away in the boxes marked 'winter stuff' and sent on a dust gathering mission in the atic, there can be no avoiding the facts: we are almost there. With just a few big runs left on the training plan we're just weeks away from our peak and from the headf**k that is 'tapering'.

Everything is now about finishing the last few big tasks and coming out the other side injury free. It's a terrifying prospect picking up an injury at this stage which might wipe out all the hard work that we've put in... gulp! (just ask His Royal Beckhamsley) Time to steady the ship - then.

With these thoughts begining to enter my head at the end of last week I was debating what to do about my first 20 mile run. My shins were pretty twitchy on Friday and a little voice was telling me to think about calling it off rather than making things get worse. I've never been one to listen ot the voices of reason though so fingers were firmly crossed instead...

Last year I took a lot of Ibuprophen on my training runs, too much, and I'm not sure that it didn't help to make things worse. This year I've been deliberately taking none to give me a better feel for when anything goes wrong. On Saturday I began to play around with a counter arguement though - if the pain makes me change my gait I could get other injuries, so I might just have a little bit... Two tablets later and I was off.

I was on my own this week so didn't bother with the Richmond train. I just started at my normal spot on the canal and headed for Islington. As usual when running alone I set off too quickly and was having to check my pace constantly. Eventually though, I fell in behind a couple of blokes that were running at an OK pace - staying about 20 yards back of course in case they suspected me of enjoying their arse wiggles.

I had one good 20 mile run last year and a disasterous one on which I ended up stopping at 18miles. I am very aware now that this lowered my confidence in the race itself and contributed to my unsatisfactory performance. Although the thinking is that we should under nourish on long training runs to teach the body to burn fat reserves - I took 4 gels. I decided that for this 20 I was going to take one every 5 miles even if I didn't feel the need as I'm going to do that on the day. I felt it was important psychologically to have a good run in the bank.

To digress slightly here (it is relevant I promise), I bumped into an old workmate at a sort of work reunion thing on Friday night. He's doing the marathon too and training with a guy from Runners World. He said something that they talk about that really stuck in my head: "your mind will always give up long before your body will". This is so true. It is almost always the mind that convices us to reduce our goals. I have found that with mental focus the body can constantly surprise me in what it can achieve....

So, I took 4 gels on the basis that I wanted the psychological boost from a strong run more than the physical effects of restricting nourishment. I have another 20 and a 22 in the plan which will work to build that anyway. First gel at 5 miles approaching Islington then, back to Camden and Primrose Hill then around the outside of Regents Park before running past Lords, down Maida Vale & the Edgeware Road to Paddington and then into Hyde Park at about 12 miles. 

There was some sort of charity race going on and they were all running in the opposite direction to me so I had lots of puffed out runners to watch by way of distraction.

After Hyde Park things got very annoying due to the number of tourists to weave through as I ran down Constitution hill past Buckingham Palace, down the Mall and around St James' Park. It was worth it though to run on this route. Passing Horseguards Parade it occurred to me that (all being well) the next time I'd see it I'd probably be wrapped in tinfoil - cue lump-in-throat. It's harder to breathe with a lump in your throat after 15 miles though so I looked away. Up Birdcage Walk I went and in my mind I could see that sign "600 Yards to go" that sits in the middle of the crossing point there. I remembered how that had felt last year - I'd really picked myself up by then (after a few disasters) and was loving it. Cue lump-in-throat no.2... d'oh! composed myself and carried on. It almost happened again as I came past the palace (once again visualising that overhead bridge with 385 yards to go emblazened across it), but luckily the fence that I had to vault over to avoid the amateur Dutch photographers that had just backed into my path was enough of a distraction.

The last five miles were the hard bit as it was more or less gently up hill the whole way back to Kensal Rise, but I just pushed on and in the end it wasn't so bad. My shin had been 'there' the whole run, but hadn't felt like it was getting worse and when I finished. I was totally wiped out as you'd expect but amazingly, if I'd absolutely had to go on for a little bit more I probably could have. I finished the 20 miles in 2:44:37 which would give me a full hour to complete the last 6 miles and still hit my target of 3:45. All in all this was just what I'd wanted to get out of it so I'm very happy.  here are my splits:

7:56, 8:16, 8:16, 7:57, 7:42, 8:00, 8:00, 8:28, 7:49, 8:22, 8:22, 8:09, 8:19, 8:19, 8:16, 8:24, 8:33, 8:41, 8:30, 8:05

Average pace was 8:13 m/mile for the 20 miles, but you can see that I started slowing down for the last 5 miles so looks like I might end up needing that hour for the last 6!

I'm going to the track tonight, but will take it easy as I'm still feeling very tender below the knee and the rest of the week I think I will have some extra rest days and possibly just swim on the others. Reading Half is on Sunday, but I'm not going to try and beat my Brighton time or even get close to it so feel OK about not running again this week.

Nothing else to report I'm afraid... Oh yeah! Almost forgot. My Whizz-Kidz vest arrived - it's a tottally new look. Gone are the days of the garish yellow and turquoise and it's in with green & white! Quite liked it actually and the good thing is that I had a heads up from last year not to order the large so I don't have to run in a yellow & blue mini-dress this year - it actually fits like a vest hurray! I'm picking up my new club vest tonight too so you never know - you might get treated to a vest extravaganza photoshoot on the next post. Although if I've sent the wife to sleep again at the very mention of running - I may not have anyone to take the pictures.

Happy Running.

D

Tags: London Marathon 2010, 20 mile run

Post Views: 41

While watching the Eddie Izzard progrmme last night I initially wondered why the missus had fallen asleep on the sofa. Thoughts of 'Philistine!' rattled around etc...  But of course it was pretty simple. Marathon running obcessions are, essentially, excrutiatingly boring to all those inhabiting the real world - including my wife.

I on the other hand was lapping up every minute of it. He was taking a long time to get through each one, but when you see him knocking those miles out day after day, you just can't help but have your heart warmed by the thought that although 26 miles is a very long way, it's just one mile twenty six times. Therefore - on the basis of just putting one foot infront of the other and taking the miles one at a time - it shouldn't be the horribly daunting task that we all fret about after all. At this point the mind wanters whistfully off into a bonefide LaLaLand where running is easy and everything is coooool, Maaaan!

WAAAAAKE UP SOLDIER... LOOK ALIVE...ONE, TWO, ONE, TWO... DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY... blah, blah, balh! What I mean to say is: unfortunately, for anyone (other than court-shod commedians), this is sadly not the reality. In our little worlds, the feat of marathon running (even when it's just one marathon ) will require an unavoidable sustained effort to prepare. This is not least because we only have one shot at it (one shot at a time anyway), so we have to make it count and we need to get the most out of it.

[did any of that make ANY sense?]

Anyway, this week the training (sort of ) continued. Or at least it tried to amidst a few distractions...

I can't even begin to expleain how excrutiating Tuesday's 'networking event' was that caused me to miss my track session with the running club (Grrrrrr... see previous post). It was billed as a sort of unsigned band evening in the bar of a big recording studio. For that read a staff cafe serving a few drinks while a balding busker in his mid forties strummed his aucostic guitar and warbled out a series of instantly forgetable mumblings. Alex (the mate that I'd dragged along) and I were the only two people standing up in a totally silent room filled with head nodders trying to look intellectual. If this was a new talent evening, then not only had the record company execs decided to swerve it, but even their secretaries had passed the tickets down to the work experience kids. Definitely not worth missing training for. As soon as I'd pressed the relevant flesh, we scarpered. Anyway, I digress. This is supposed to be a training blog...

Wednesday was supposed to be a cross training instead of running day to save my shins. As I trdged up to the gym after work and saw 9 miles on the sheet though, I just couldn't bear the thought of it. I was frustrated at missing track training the previous night so I decided to risk a little treadmill run instead of cross training. '6 miles', I thought - couldn't do any harm. Needless to say I did all 9 in the end and came off with a painful and clicking ankle as well as a grumpy shin.... Fffrrrrrpppp! - Or nearly Fffrrrrrpppp! anyway, only a night of ice magic and a bit of massage and foam rolling seemed to get the shin back to just minor pain rather than anything more serious. The ankle on the other hand was still clicking, but was at least less painful.

Thursday was a tempo session of three miles with an easy mile either end, so this time I was on the cross trainer again: using Dave's official conversion table (by which: 0.5km of cross trainer distance at 15/25 resistance  = 1 mile running) I did 9mins then 3x 7mins then 9 mins again. Felt like a good session and my ankle appeared to have no more complaints so 20 miles on Saturday morning would appear to be still on. Hurraaayy! (Huurraaayy??? 20 miles???)

Meanwhile... as we're on the subject of marathon videos (or at least that's were this rambling post started) I've decided to give you all a marathon video treat today... In fact it's an extravaganza that could well keep you going all weekend...

Firstly of course there's part 2 of the Izzard documentary for anyone who missed it. That's on iPlayer:

WATCH IZZARD PT2 AGAIN HERE

Then there's an entire film - you're going to need a bit of time so you might want to watch the trailer first...

WATCH THE TRAILER FIRST HERE

Now, before we get on to the full film, be warned: it is very cheesy and American in parts. Your wife / husband / civil partner / dog / cat etc will all fall asleep if you let them see you watching it or try to show it to them, but you will think it is good. It's a documentary that follows 6 people from beginner to elite runner as they train for the 2005 Chicago Marathon and really gets you in the mood. Here's the link to part one (it's in 10 parts) when it ends the next part will be on the you tube playlist on the right and so on after each part...

WATCH PART ONE HERE

And finally one of our own... This guy is keeping a video diary of his training for this year's London marathon and it's pretty funny. You can watch all the episodes on his youtube channel, but here is my favourite - where he shows us how to make our own isotonic energy drink...

WATCH HOW TO MAKE YOuR OWN DRINK HERE

Looking forward to all your reviews. Happy running.

D

Tags: London Marathon 2010, marathon videos

Post Views: 38

'Blowing hot and cold' is the best way to describe the current training situation. I've spent loads of time on the cross trainer and not a lot of time running. The good news is that the long runs are happening and going OK. The shins are, as usual, my major problem. 

I ran 16 miles with my usual running partner Shane last Saturday which was a great route - we got an early train from Kensal Rise down to Richmond and ran back along the Thames path to Chelsea, then back up to Kensal Rise through Earls Court, Holland Park and Ladbroke Grove to Kensal Rise again. With the grumpy rainy weather and very muddy trail between Kew and Putney it was tough going, but as we crossed over the river to the North bank the sun came out and the rest of the run was ok. It was the longest Shane had run in a long time so we didn't over do the pace, but still managed to complete with an average pace of 8:45 minutes per mile. This was a little bit slower than my target marathon pace for 3:45, but it was just about getting the miles in. No more Shane from here on in though. After he does the Reading Half, I'm on my own!

Shins played up again afterwards, so I took Sunday off and went to the gym on Monday for a bit of cross training. 40 mins - which I put down as one of my 4 mile easy runs.

Track session on Tuesday turned into a 5 mile tempo run as the floodlights were out so nothing much of interest to report other than another mini battering for the shins (hey ho!) 5 miles in the end at an average pace of 7:40 m/m.

Afterwards there was time for a quick chat with Brendan the coach though about how best to spare the horses to make sure the long runs don't suffer:

"Should I keep the pace and drop the miles or keep the miles and drop the pace on the midweek runs?"

The answer was clear:

"March is all about hay in the barn!"

"Eh?"... "OK!"

So do the miles it was... just one problem: no chance of shins surviving and 8 & a 9 mile run back to back and still being ready for another 18 on Saturday. So, Wednesday and Thursday, I was back in pergatory... 1hr 20 mins and 1 hour 9mins on the cross trainer instead. Horrible I tells Yeh!

Rest on Friday and it was all going well until my eldest daughter got chicken pox. By Friday night they had really kicked in. I felt so sorry for her as she was miserable and was just constantly wanting a bath all through the night in the hope of escaping the itching. It was hard work, but once again I was rescued by my lovely wife who allowed me to skive off the worst of it and go into the spare room at about 2.30. Still felt too guilty to sleep though. Finally in the wee hours Ivy went to sleep - and then so did we.

Up with the Birds on Saturday morning for another trip to Richmond. I was running with Keith - one of the guys from Kensal Rise who are all running for the same charity, there were once 9 of us - now there are 5! There was also a new guy coming along who'd been introduced over email by a friend because he was finding his training lonely - Kyle. Turns out Kyle was a nice chap and as well as living reasonably close to me is also doing the identical runners world training plan to me, so this was a potential running partner all the way through to the marathon if it worked out. Result!... Shane who?

This time the weather was lovely as we set off along the River and by extending the route a bit further through Chelsea, Fulham Knightsbridge and hyde Park we stretched it out to 18 miles. Keith dropped back a few times and around 12 miles took a wrong turn so we lost him for the rest of the route, but Kyle turned out to be running right on the pace that I was happy with and we finished the 18 miles bang on our marathon pace of 8:30 m/m so both very satisfied.(Keith was fine by the way - we phoned him as soon as we got in and he'd finished the run).

Even my shins didn't mess me around too badly - I survived without any real issues and although they have been a bit tender since, they are not in bad shape. Sunday was a day off and Monday was another 4 mile easy run translated to the cross trainer.

Annoyingly today is my track session with the running club but I'm not going to be able to make it as I've got to go to a pointless work related drinks thing. I've been grumpy about it all day so to make amends I sneaked out of the office this afternoon and squeezed in an hour of sports massage. Thought about an interval session at the gym, but sports massage won. Owch! Eeech! Owch! etc... but good to get things losened up with all that hay to load into the barn over the next few weeks. 20 miles planned for the weekend and Reading Half the week after so good to get a bit of extra rest in and hopefully fit in a few more midweek runs for the rest of the month.

Will try to catch up on everyone else's blogs tomorrow as I've got to hop it now to pretend to be interested in some small talk over drinks.

Happy running

PS.  To cheer everyone up here's a link to part 1 of Eddie Izzard's running round the uk documentary on iplayer in case anyone missed it. It's great viewing and given the number of marathons that he's running back to back it sort of puts the whinging that we all do about the prospect of one measley little marathon into perspective. In fact it almost makes you stop worrying because you just think - "It can't be that hard - you just have to keep on running..."  :o)  Enjoy... (part 2 is on BBC3 on Thursday night)

WATCH EDDIE IZZARD HERE

Tags: London Marathon 2010, Sports massage, Eddie Izzard, Reading Half Marathon, long runs

Post Views: 64

One hour and eighteen minutes on the cross trainer last night! One whole hour and eighteen minutes of sheer boredom too. I did my best to work up an interest in the early champions league clash between CSKA Moscow and Sevilla, or in the fluffy tales of local council blunders on the regional news but nothing would help. Even the MTV type channel was running some sort of Richard Clayderman special with nothing over 40 beats per minute allowed. I was dying out there. Being injured is officially sh*t.

I've worked out that doing 0.5 km on the cross trainer (well the way the ones in our gym measure anyway) is probably close to or slightly more than the equivalent of a mile on the treadmill. In fact, i have no idea what distance is supposed to mean on a cross trainer - what sort of distance are you supposed to be covering? Walking with ski poles? Because if that's what they're telling me then maybe they mean wading through mud with two iron bars? That's not like any walking I've tried.

Anyway, that's how I decided to work it and so I did 4.5km at 16/25 resistance in 1:15 plus a bit of a backwards cool down at the end as a replacement for a nine mile run. I'll definitely be hoping to do that somewhere else next week, that's for sure. At least the showers were back to normal when I finished.

Now, not being one to miss an opportunity to swing the subject back to my PB on Sunday, how could I not use the arrival of the official pictures as a further excuse? I do promise to make this my final mention of it though... probably... :o)

3-4 miles in: somewhere on the 5 mile headwind stretch heading for Hove

8 miles in after the turn back to Brighton & finally with the wind behind

Snarling into the wind & rain on the home straight

Reaching the line - hurraaay!

Nick heading for Hove

Nick on the miserable final stretch into a gale

Nick approaching the line (31 seconds slower than me, teehee!)

Did I mention that it was windy and there was a gale? ...Yeah? ...fair enough! I'll leave it then.

Tags: London Marathon 2010, Sussex Beacon Half Marathon, shin splints, cross trainer, grumpy but gloating too

Post Views: 51

The come-down from Sunday's half has been a mixed bag. I've been quietly buzzing about the time of course, but unfortunately I am paying the price now. By Sunday evening my right shin was pretty sore and although I was hoping it would be fine after 24 hours or so, It's clearly going to take longer than that.

Annoyingly, this meant missing running club track session last night - so still no picture of the weed in the vest to share with you (maybe I'll colllect it next week). Not a disaster, but I suppose it would have been nice to go down there and wait to be asked how I got on, before quietly mentioning the time as casually as possible... :o) 

It's frustrating to have to veer off the training plan too, but I'm determined not to let myself get too stressed about it. Other than a 9 mile run scheduled for today, I had a couple of different interval sessions down for Tuesday and Thursday, then an easy run on Saturday before a 16 mile LSR on Sunday. I'm going to do the closest I can to all of those on the Cross trainer this week until my shin starts to feel better and hopefully I'll be up and running on time for the 16 - which I'll take very easy. That's as good as I can do and I suspect that I won't lose much from the week. It might even be good for me to switch things a bit.

On Tuesday's I normally swap the training plan's interval session for whatever the track session is at the running club, so I wasn't that worried about going to the gym instead last night. The plan said jog a mile, run three fast mile intervals with short recoveries then jog a mile, so I put the resistance on 15/25 and did an easy 10 mins, cranked the resistance up and went flat out for 3 x 7 mins with 2 min easy in between then did another 10 mins on 15. My shin felt fine afterwards and any remaining stiffness from the race was cleared out too. 

The evening was going well in fact - until the water went off in the gym as I was in full lather-up... frrrrrrpphh! I had to waddle (looking like a soap yetti) to get my water bottle from my locker and fill it in the toilets, (where there was still a slight dribble frop the tap) then go back to the showers and try to squirt all the soap off (thank heavens for the inventor of the 'sports cap' eh!?). By the time I was leaving, the gym staff still hadn't even sent anyone in there to handle the delicate PR of the situation so there was a growing mob of angry naked blokes baying for blood! I skiddadled before things turned any uglier.

Today presents the challenge of replicating a 9 mile steady run. In cross trainer terms I think I'm going to have to go for about an hour and a quarter. Mmmm... sounds boring. I hope they've at least got the water back on.

Ok, one last bit of showing off about the race on Sunday before I go... I looked up the results again and can't help mentioning that I'd come 432nd out of over 6000 runners... Aaaaahhh! (basks in a smug, rosie, glow). I think I'd be skipping around today - only, Mr Shin he say, 'No!'.

Tags: London Marathon 2010, Sussex Beacon Half Marathon 2010, PB, Abominable Soap Man, shin splints

Post Views: 79

I'm thinking of changing the rules on race preperation. Saturday was spent looking after the kids at the park all morning with only a greasy toasted sandwich from the cafe for lunch, then standing up all afternoon/evening at my nephew's first birthday with nothing but sausage rolls etc to eat. I grabbed the bowl of couscous (which no one else seemed interested in) and wolfed it down along with a few glasses of water while everyone else settled in for a liquid 'celebration'. Not ideal, although I did get permission to sleep in the spare room while Nifa dealt with the kids during the night. Somehow, it all worked, so maybe I'm going to have to try this again!

I was expecting my poor diet to make things difficult for yesterday's race and when the weather started getting worse and worse all the way down on the train I was beginning to think that I'd just go easy and get the day over with.

The Sussex Beacon Half was my first ever race last year ahead of doing the London marathon and at a time when a single 11 mile run was the peak of my lifetime's running so it was a big landmark. I finished it in 1:52 and was limping around for about a week afterwards. Obviously, I wanted to do much better than that this year, but I will probably always want to come back just because it feels significant for me. I was a bit disappointed with the set up I have to say though.

Maybe it was because I've done a few more races since or maybe it was just down to the weather conditions, but the organisation was not great. I only saw mile markers for miles 1 and 2 and missed a couple of drinks stations because the people manning them were chatting rather than handing the drinks out. Luckily, it was raining so hard that you could just open your mouth and look up if you were thirsty anyway (in fact with the rain regularly coming in sideways you didn't always even have to look up!).

In a few places on the course there only seemed to be the pavement to share between the competitors and the spectators which made things very crowded. One part in particular, when we came past the start area again, there were so many spectators milling around or even standing in our way that I had to weave between them. One narrow pavement really wasn't enough room for the crowd not to be seregated at such a busy section of the course. Especially as this was just over two miles into a race of over 6000 runners. We came through the same section again after about 10.5 miles and by that stage they had closed off one half of the road for us to run on too, but it was a bit too late by then - obviously the field was a lot more spread out at 10 miles compared to 2.

The race itself went well for me. As my first run of the year in shorts it was a very shivery start line, but with everyone in good spirits - already soaked - and jumping up and down to keep warm. All I could think of as I stood on the line was the time that the running club coach had suggested I should try to run. It was crazy and way below my PB of 1:42 in the Royal Parks Half back in October. I'd told him I wouldn't be going for it as I didn't want to get injured, but I'm sure anyone who's read this blog before will know that I'm not very good at being sensible...

So... it was going round and round in my mind. Could I do 1:35? I'd run 10k at that sort of pace a few weeks ago, but doing two and a bit of those in a row was a lot to contemplate. And have I mentioned that the wind was blowing a gale??? ('Yes just a few times Dave') - Even in the sheltered start area? I knew that I shouldn't but of course I started doing the mental calculations...

We were off... There was a bit of congestion to begin with but ,probably a bit due to the cold but mainly due to the pressure of Brendan's (coach) voice in my head, I set off like the clappers. I was one of those idiots bobbing and weaving (I'm sorry if I nudged past you - I feel ashamed of myself for this). Stupid of course. I thought, 'I'll do the first mile or two without looking at my watch and see how I get on'.

Of course I did look at my watch but, amazingly, the first 2 miles were out of the way in under 14 mins. I was encouraged (terrified) by this and kept going. I got to 4 miles and was still holding 7 minute miles so I realised I'd saved over a minute on the 7:15 pace required for Brendan's time. That meant I could have an easier mile up ahead somewhere and still make it.

There wsa the small matter of 9 more long miles to go though so it was a bit soon to be getting carried away really. By this point we were on a five mile straight stretch going all the way out to Hove with torrential rain being blown into our faces by a head on gale (did I mention that there was a gale?). It was pergatory. I took a gel with a caffine boost at about mile 6 in the hope of some inspiration (they promised 'focus' on the packet you see...), but I was flagging into the wind (you know... that gale) and I knew it. The slog to the turn went on forever. All I could think was 'I'll have this wind at my back after we turn'.

Finally we did turn - and moved 200 yards inland. I couldn't feel the wind behind me, but it was either there or the lack of headwind helped me get things back together. 8,9 & 10 passed then we were getting into the business end. It now became very difficult to cope with the mental battle against my silly pace. With only 3 miles to go you can't really take it one mile at a time. you know your going to have to try to keep it up for three miles and that feels like a lot.

I began to wonder what 'digging deep' really meant. Was I supposed to be doing that now? 'When in doubt, pump your arms and focus on posture', I thought. I got a bit of a lift and began to think about one of the other factors that was motivating me to push on...

Last year I did this race with my mate Nick who had done hardly any training and then went straight out and ran it in 1:33. It was sooo annoying at the time as I was really trying hard just to cope with running at all. He was with me again this year and had been goading on the train me about whether I'd be able to beat him. I hadn't risen to it at all but of course it was there in my mind. At the start  we'd lost eachother at the bagage drop and I knew that he'd started behind me as i'd seen him on one of the early zigzags. I'd expected him to pass me, but so far he hadn't. That was now my main target. No matter how bad I felt, I was going to finish before Nick. We were going to be running the same zigzags over the final 2 miles, so we'd both see each other then. I know how competitive Nick is so I knew that if he was close to me he'd try to catch me and I knew that I'd not have anything left if it came down to a race.

I pushed on as fast as I could - which was feeling very, very slow by now. Past 11, into the zigzags and out to the last turn just after mile 12. It was a long straight run into the wind and as I turned it really picked up and the rain, which had eased off, turned back into a deluge! (have I mentioned the wind and the rain already?) My legs were like lead. I actually thought of stopping and walking at least twice. Then I saw Nick going the other way. He gave me a puffed smile and a nod. We both knew that he was too far behind to catch me but as he'd started behind me I thought it was going to be pretty close on the chip times. I think this just gave me enough to push on. Coming into the final couple of hundred yards I realised how well I'd done. I still had to get there though so I worked my arms, in the hope of creating momentum, but finally I heard that wonderous"beep" of joy and so it at last I was over the line. The official time was 1:32:57 - 20 minutes quicker than last year and well under Brendan's target. I couldn't believe it. In a reversal of roles from last year I was there to clap Nick over the line which I tried not to be too smug about. He took it very well. I'd beaten his chip time by just 31 seconds! What a race. We even got a medal this year which is one improvement on last year anyway. I'll be treasuring that one as I can't imagine ever beating that time again.

My splits were as follows: 6:58, 6:41, 6:57, 6:49, 7:00, 7:11, 7:21, 7:25, 7:06, 7:08, 7:08, 7:04, 7:12 (not sure what my 0.1 mile was as I forgot to turn my Garmin off on the line as usual).

Thee were two other friends of ours running in the race and we'd agreed to meet up with afterwards, but the weather was so utterly miserable that Nick and I got straight on the train back to London and after hot baths (separately) we went out for a gigantic Sunday lunch in the pub with the kids and the girls. Those pints really went down well and I promise I didn't mention the 31 seconds all that many times...

Tags: London Marathon, Sussex Beacon Half Marathon, Brighton, PB, 1:32:57, smug

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The big news was that I finally joined the Queens Park Harriers last Tuesday. No vest yet, but I'm all paid up and I've had the full handshake and everything. I showed their website to the wife when I got back as part of the general flurry of excitement that was washing over me but to my surprise she began to laugh.

"What?", I said.

"Oh my God Dave, that's one of the geekiest bunch of blokes I've ever seen. Are these your new mates?"

She just doesn't understand Man! I mean, what's geeky about a bunch of middle age blokes standing in a field with various lengths of tiny shorts pulled up beyond belly-button height and a generous sprinkling of national health spectacles and beards? I suppose she might have had a slight point, but I didn't let this diminish my sense of pride at the prospect of donning their 'famous' red and white hooped vest.

Here they are in all their glory if you want to look: The Mighty Harriers

The rest of last week was a bit of a treadmillathon. Wednesday was 8 miles in 1:06 which was very boring, but at a steady 8:20 was manageable. Then Thursday was 6 miles with the middle 4 being at 7:15 pace so a tiny bit less time to get bored give the extra pain. Total time: 0:46:15. Two days on the treadmill was obviously beginning to take its toll on my shins as I could really feel them by Thursday evening so I vowed to get back on the road for the remainder of the week. 

My main problem seems to be just fitting the runs in around work and family commitments, especially during the week. Even when I manage to get to the gym for a run on my way home from work, I'm still having to rush off straight afterwards and not getting enough time to stretch and cool down. It is frustrating, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way around it.

Friday was a day off as a result. My training plan has a 4 mile easy run in for Saturdays most weeks, but I often do that on the way home on a Friday so that Saturday can be a family day and it also gives me a bit of recovery before the Long run on Sunday. I thought it was best to get the rest in for my shins this week though.

On Saturday it was quite late in the day before I had time to go out, so it was hard to get motivated. I headed out on the canal and felt much better after a 4 miler which was supposed to be easy but ended up as a bit of a tempo run coming home in 29:39 about 7:24 m/mile pace. I was pleased with that, but it was a bit stupid as it was very close to the planed 15 miler for Sunday morning.

Now that I've got over the half marathon mark with my long runs, the main problem is that I no longer have a training partner. I can usually get Shane roped into anything up to about 12 miles, but after that I'm (understandably) on my own. And so it was on Sunday. It's not that I mind running on my own at all, but the problem is that with no one to talk to I end up doing what I did on Saturday and going at it a bit too fast. Mainly just through impatience I think. Sunday wasn't really any exception - exactly 8 minute mile pace for the run overall. My time for the 15 miles was 2:00:43 with splits as follows:

7:55, 7:52, 8:06, 8:10, 7:50, 8:37, 8:06, 8:28, 7:44, 8:00, 7:58, 8:09, 8:06, 7:59, 7:39

I also checked my 13.1 mile time which was 1:45:49. Overall I was very pleased with this run and it gave me good confidence for next week's half marathon in Brighton, but I was absolutely wiped out after it. Which one led to the other I don't know, but I was left at the end of the week with the dreaded feeling of illness creeping in. Not good.

Spent part of Monday and Tuesday in bed drinking Lemsips and then despite torrential rain decided that going into the office for the afternoon yesterday was qualification enough to be going back out to track training last night. Clever? Eh no! A confidence denting drop-out ensued. The session was two sets of 8x400m alternating between 10k and 3k pace on each 400 so I waded through the sleet and 3inch floods on the track to do the first set of 8 and decided to call it a day. The fact that I hadn't eaten properly for a couple of days just wouldn't stop sticking its nose into my attempts to stay with the pack. So, shame-facedly I whispered goodbye to the coach and tootled off. I've got some serious resting to do this week though as he has suggested that I go for a ridiculous time in Brighton. I'm not even going to write it down because I can assure you that I won't be attempting it, but given the half marathon time from Sunday's 15 mile run and the fact that there should be fewer obstacles, tourists and Camden Markets in my way on that route, I would hope that I can beat my time at the Royal Parks race of 1:42. I'm not going to put on too much pressure though. Let's just see how it pans out.

Good luck to anyone else who's racing this weekend and if you're in Brighton say hello. I'm going to bunk off early from work now, as it almost looks like spring outside, and go and do today's 7 miler outdoors instead of on the treadmill. Huuraaay!

Tags: London Marathon 2010, Sussex Beacon Half Marathon 2010, 37 mile week

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