My apsirations for FLM 2007 are influenced by events of the past and so I'm going to give an overview of my running history. I started training for my first marathon 3 years ago. In that time I've run 4 marathons: FLM 04, FLM 05, Cardiff 05 and FLM 06.
They've all provided very different memories and also taught me very different things. My first one remains my most treasured experience and comes close to being the perfect marathon: I ran an even paced race and the time was very pleasing given the low mileage (average 32 miles per week).
FLM 05 was a very different story. I put in considerable more training and 5 weeks before the race a I ran the Silverstone half marathon in 1 hour 23 mins 52 secs (at the end of a heavy week of running). I was on course for soemthing close to 3 hours. But a few days after Silverstone I tore a hamstring muscle, which meant virtually no training for the last 4.5 weeks. It was touch and go as to whether I would make the start line; but I surprised myself and 2 days before the marathon I passed myself fit! Well, being the mug that I am, I would wouldn't I. This was the London marathon and I couldn't miss out on an event in which total strangers you call out your name as if you've scored the winning goal in an FA cup final! I remember jogging around Greenwich park on the morning of the race, feeling very frightened. Would I make it? Would my hamstring go again? As it happened, I was going well until 19 miles and then I started to tire, drastically. The last 6 miles were excruciating; I had no energy and my thighs were very painful -- it was as if I had midgets strapped to my thighs who were stabbing me in the legs over and over again. I struggled to the finish line, feeling awful. I had to lie down on the Mall for an hour afterwards. I felt very ill. On the one hand I was so pleased that I had finished my second marathon. But I was also very disappointed that I hadn't been able to run anywhere near my potential and that I had suffered so much. The latter really bothered me.
So I decided to prepare for another marathon. I had originally targeted the Kent Coastal Marathon, in early September. On the day the temperatures were in the 80s -- it was hot and humid, and by 10 miles I was feeling very unwell. I managed to get to the halfway mark in 1 hr 37 mins, feeling completely spent, so I balied out. Sensible decision!
I was down but I had made the right decision. Sitting on the beach in Margate an hour later I resolved to do the Cardiff marathon 5 weeks later. I reasoned that the weather would be cooler and the course easier (it's a flat course whereas the Kent marathon is hilly).
As luck would have it I caught a virus a week before the Cardiff marathon and I only decided to run the race the day before. So we (me, my wife and two girls) set off for Cardiff. I felt awaful that Saturday -- my legs were like jelly and felt very low in energy. And on Sunday morning the day of the race I felt really bad -- stuffy nose, weak legs. "What am I doing here" I asked myself as I made my way to the start. The first 4 miles were very sluggish and I didn't think that I would be able to continue. But then I put on my MP3 player and heard "Somewhere only we know" by Keane. My race changed. I felt more energetic, more committed so I started to catch and overtake groups of runners. By 10 miles I was running strong and 3 hours 15 minutes was a real possibility. Then disaster -- I twisted my left knee badly on the cobbles at Cardiff castle. I had reached half-way in 1hr 35 mins but I was in agony because of my knee. The sensible thing would have been to have stopped. But I felt so full of energy and I so wanted to prove to myself that I could run under 3 hours 15 mins (which would get me an automatic entry in the FLM) that I decided to continue. The pain subsided sufficiently for me to continue although it was still very uncomfortable. I held a strong pace until the last 3 miles, and came in at 3 hrs 11 minutes. I was chuffed, and I was also in pain -- I wondered if I had done any permanent damage. I'd find out over the next few days. I knew that the twisted knee and recent infection had slowed me down in the second half of the race, and so my joy at beating 3 hrs 15 mins was tainted by the knowledge that I had a faster, stronger marathon in me.
It took 4 weeks before I could run again. My training for 2006 London marathon was dogged with continual injuries (calf, hamstring, foot, back) and so I was limited to 3 runs a week -- but these were really hard sessions to make up for the lack of mileage. 10 days before the marathon I became unwell with a bad infection and was on high dose antibiotics for a week; I lost 3-4 kilos in that time. The night before the marathon I was surfing the net to establish what what risks were associated with running a marathon after a recent infection -- especially the risk of myocarditis (an infection of the heart muscle, which is potentially fatal). I found out that the highest risk was with a recent viral infection and since my infection had responded to antibiotics I reasoned my infection was bacterial. I had decided to run the marathon, but to ensure that I didn't overdo things I ran with a heart rate monitor.
Standing at the start line in Greenwich park, I felt all my post-infection lethargy lift. I felt good. I was running very strong until mile 20, and then I started to suffer -- my legs felt heavy, and I started to slow. I ran the second half 4 minutes slower than the first half and finished in 3 hrs 12 mins. It was a good performance. But it wasn't "the perfect marathon." Yet again an infection just before the marathon had affected my performance
So on to the London marathon 2007. If I was going to run this elusive perfect marathon, I was going to have to change the way I trained. It was clear to me that in each of my last 3 marathons I had become ill and/or peaked too early. I was going to have to change the way I trained.
No more hard, intensive sessions which would bring me to near collapse at the end of each run. Instead I was going to build a solid endurance base by running slowly (I hate that word!) for at least 16 weeks and then for the last 6-8 weeks start to introduce the high quality fast runs. The question is: do I have the patience to run slowly for 16 weeks. I'm not convinced.
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That's 16 weeks of "slow" running now -- it was as exciting as a watching paint dry. I hope it's produced the desired objective of boosting my endurance. It got so boring in the last month that I ended up buying an ipod shuffle and listening to motivational anthems such as the theme for Rocky -- although I didn't feel like I was "flying high now" when I was plodding along!
Slow running gives you a lot of time to think. I've finally realised that marathon training is a bizarre activity. You spend hours in the cold and rain pounding your body while trying to dodge homicidal transit van drivers in order to get fit enough so you can experience dehydration, hunger, exhaustion and PAIN with 32000 other people. So why would someone want to run/jog/walk/crawl the London marathon? Well, I've conducted a highly rigorous scientific study in which I've explored people's motives (such a study should only be tried by those with appropriate qualifications). Based on my study (hmm, was it n=5 or 6?) and from lurking on marathon training websites, people seem to do marathons for one of the following reasons:
1. For some it represents a spiritual experience, a means of connecting with lost ones, especially by running for a charity that has personal significance. Respect to you lot. I hope you get from the marathon what you need.
2. For some, their life feels empty and lacking in meaning so they try to numb their emptiness by aiming for a goal that distracts them from reality. I fear that for this group, the marathon will only bring temporary relief from their emptiness.
3. For others they think, "this will be a larrrff". It won't. Ask Jade Goody.
4. And then there are those who are disappointed with their lives and so they start looking around for some "big" achievement that will make them feel better about themselves. Sadly the euphoria associated with running a marathon is short-lived.
5. Then there are those of us who sit on our withering bottoms all day communicating with a computer (like now!), who remember that once upon a time they were fit, active and lean. These people deceive themselves that middle age can be reversed or halted by running a marathon. It won't.
Hmmm.
Right, I'm off to do 1 hour of fast running at an average heart rate of 160.
