Bracknell Half - Tapering?

Bracknell Half Marathon this year comes one week before Milton Keynes marathon, so you would normally call it a tapering run.  However, it is more likely that you would have to call it a race - a proper Balls out, Peddle to the metal race - being as it features the usual Duncan and James Ball vs Dave and Chris Peddle amateur smackdown, with me in the front row, usually shaking my head at what passes for race tactics.  But, like watching kids run, it can be fun.  For a view of the front of the Balls vs Peddles race you can see Duncan's blog post - it's a thrilling read!

I did this race for the first time last year, the week after London marathon and I suffered in the last 3 miles from the injuries that slowed me down in the marathon.  This time I was fit and in good form coming off the back of a parkrun PB and a near PB 10k training run in the week.  The weather turned out to be perfect as well, with rain easing off before the start and staying cool and cloudy until the finish.

The plan for Bracknell was to go out for a 1:48:00 finish.  That means an average 8:15/mile pace and because I like to try and run a negative split I would try to start at 8:25/mile for the first 2 miles to warm up, then up it to 8:15 pace until the last couple of miles, before pushing for the finish line. Well that works OK if it's a pan flat course, which Bracknell isn't, so it's more of a guide.  

For this run I had James Ball and Dave Peddle with me, James saying he wanted to stick with my pace as long as he could.  Dave Peddle was taking the race with James seriously and he pulled away from James and me at 5 miles looking strong and running with good style, though he was still in sight on the main hill at 8miles.  James stuck with the pace all the way to the big hill on Harvest Ride, when he started to drop back a little.  I figured the elastic between me and James had broken on the hill and didn't look back on the mile long descent down Long Hill Road until I turned into the next underpass to find James only 30m behind. A great effort by James to keep in touch.

Post run medal shot

From here the course goes through a lot of wooded cycle ways through houses and it's only a little undulating until closing in on the 12 mile mark when you get into a tarmac path through woodland and a steep drop down towards Southill Park and the finish.  I flew down the hill feeling really good and caught up with Dave who was a bit panicked to see me, calling out "Where's James?" I said 100m back, but I don't think he heard me.  Pushing on to the line I made sure not to reach for the Garmin until after I'd crossed the finish. The official finish time was 1:47:03, a minute ahead of plan I think due to the fast run in and a PB by 2.5minutes.  To top it all, the rest of the guys had great races too, with Duncan coming in a couple of seconds ahead of Chris and Dave a minute or two ahead of James with Chris, Dave and James all setting new PB times.

Splits:  8:15 8:22 8:21 8:19 8:09 8:32 8:25 8:27 8:04 8:14 8:19 8:08 7:29 3

Ups and Downs - Running and Illness

At Last - a Plan
Following on with this Spring running season's theme of joyful chaos instead of a training plan, the end of April will find me at Bracknell Half Marathon.  This comes 1 week before my target race for the Spring season - Milton Keynes Marathon - so would normally be a tapering run in any sensible training plan.

With a month to go before the marathon and having not had any structure to training, I decided to plan a couple of long runs (15 and 18 miles), hill sessions (4 to 5 miles) and a quick parkrun to get me into race trim before tackling Bracknell Half.  Fortunately this fitted into the Easter half term holidays when I had a long week off.  On the Monday before Easter I did the 15 mile run from Sandhurst, south along the Blackwater Valley path until it meets the Basingstoke Canal, then along the canal to Frimley Lodge park followed by a lap and a half of the parkrun course to make the distance to a nice round 15miles.  Perfect. I felt great at the end of the run, met the family in the park and, after a picnic lunch and recovery icecream, had a kick around playing footy with Julia and the kids.

More bike riding, swimming and playing footy in the park with the kids over the next few days (aka cross-training) and then a hill session on the Sandhurst Joggers handicap course in Crowthorne and, with a day off on Friday, I was feeling fresh for a go at a quick run at Frimley Lodge parkrun.  Most of my parkruns this year have been run with Elinor (8) and it has been great to see her enjoying her running and improving.  However, since January I have attempted only 3 quick parkruns and managed to struggle round in a best time of 24:10, two minutes off my best from last October.  So, I did a deal with the kids and told them I would run once a month by myself, once with Alfred and twice with Elinor.

Smashing parkrun
The Saturday of the Easter weekend was cool and sunny and the course was in perfect condition.  I took up my usual start position wide on the left and near the front so I can get across the start line quickly but keep out of the way of the faster runners for the first right hander around the field before the canal section.  Everyone's tactic for Frimley is to go like the clappers round this first field then settle into your race pace on the canal, hopefully not being blocked in by slower runners.

On the canal I could see Duncan Ball and Chris Peddle 30m ahead of me and decided to try and keep them in sight, which I managed all the way on to the 2nd lap, when I caught up to Duncan at about 4k and he urged me on with a call of "Go for it coach!"  With 500m to go I could just see Chris 100m in front so tried to pick up the pace - he was still a target.  All this time I hadn't once looked at my time, just concentrating on my breathing and trying to keep the pace even all the way round and I decided I wasn't going to make a grab for my watch until after crossing the finish line.  When I did hit the Garmin it read 21:46 and I nearly hit the floor in shock - a PB by nearly 30 seconds and one of my goals for the year achieved (a sub-22 parkrun).

Not very long after Alfred and Elinor came in within a minute of Elinor's PB after running together, with Alfred saying how well little sister had run (will the aliens who abducted our son please give us the real one back?!) and then saying how proud he was of Dad's new PB.  Brilliant, and topped off with Julia getting a new PB, taking another 30 seconds of her best time.

Heart Worries?
Banging out a PB like that is a great indication of form and fitness, I think, so it was a real boost to my confidence with a marathon coming up soon.  Two days later and I was setting off for an 18 mile run and eventually learning an important lesson.  18 miles is a long way and you have prepare for a training run like that just as well as if it was a race. So a day or two carb loading, then a good night's sleep and up 3 hours before the run for a decent breakfast and drinks to get properly hydrated. Not this time - no carb loading, didn't sleep well and had a drink and a banana before setting off.  Also, after my parkrun heroics, I felt like I had an allergy or flu, with sneezing and a runny nose for the rest of Saturday.  I felt a bit weird and unbalanced for the first 3 miles of the run, then OK up to 10miles then completely drained for the next 3, so I baled out and called for a lift home - better doing that than trying to go another 5 miles and doing some damage.

Maybe I had had a 24 hour flu thing and this was nothing to worry about?  The problem was that I felt strange the rest of the day and also back at work the next day.  Even though I had been drinking and eating well, I felt a bit dizzy and off balance with a noticeably high pulse.  Worryingly, every few minutes I was getting a strange "missed a beat" feeling followed by good old thump in my heart.  That was something I've never felt before, so I decided to book a doctor's appointment to get checked out. The earliest appointment I could get was the next Tuesday (a week away!) and after a planned 10k training run at race pace followed by Bracknell Half.

Well, the 10k run on the Frimley Hospital route went well, as did Bracknell Half (more on that next time) and I went to the doc's feeling fine.  I went through the symptoms and mentioned doing Bracknell Half and his first question was did I run a quick time? I suppose that would have to be a good sign that I had got over any illness and hadn't done any damage by running while ill.  Blood pressure and pulse checked out OK and I learned some interesting things.

If you are ill and you are feeling aches in joints and muscles, then definitely DO NOT RUN.  This seems obvious, but runners are not normal people and will do almost anything to get their running fix.  The aches in your muscles are due to damage that the virus is doing and, as the heart is a muscle, it can be affected the same way. Stressing your heart by going for a run can lead to much more serious and possibly permanent damage to the heart muscle.  Try knitting or parkrun volunteering instead!

Your heart does not beat completely regularly and misses a beat and resets itself on to its regular rhythm and this happens often, maybe a few times a minute.  Also, while the heart is not beating it is filling with blood, so if it misses a beat it fills up even more and the next beat back will be extra strong.  Most of the time you never feel this, however, if you are an endurance athlete, you will have a larger heart than the average idle layabout and one that beats slower too, so these missed beats and reset pulses can be much more noticeable.  This can be even more pronounced if you are ill or have been over-training when the extra stress your body is feeling raises your pulse.

So, the weird heart feelings were just normal.  More importantly I know I haven't done any damage by training hard in the week and racing at Bracknell and I can go into my next marathon without worrying about keeling over in the last mile.  Things are definitely looking up.

How Not to Train for a Spring Marathon

Jumping straight into this one, let's compare January to April in both 2013 and 2014.  December 2013 I found out I had a place in London marathon, I got a plan together care of Alison Lenaghan and then followed it obsessively, fitting in key races along the way:

• Wokingham Half fell on the day I needed to do a 13 mile long run.
• Surrey Spitfire 20 was just at the right time to a long training run in early March.
• Bolt Round the Holt 21k trail run was just right for a longish run during my taper.

Jump to 2014 and I had done Portsmouth Coastal Waterside marathon just before Christmas taking 20 minutes off my previous best in 4:14, then entered Milton Keynes marathon and did the following:

• Jan 12 - Winter Tanners 30mile trail ultramarathon - did this because I didn't have much on in January.
• Feb 9 - Wokingham Half Marathon (cancelled) so ran a 14mile training run with Alison (who did 20miles)
• Feb 16 - Bramley 20 miles road race - did this because it's a local race, I'd not done it before and I was sure lots of people I know would be doing it.
• Mar 9 - Surrey Half Marathon - the first running of this event, so I just had to do it.
• Mar 16 - Fleet Half Marathon - another local run that lots of friends would be doing.
• Mar 23 - Sandhurst Joggers Canal Run 20miles - a good long group training run timed perfectly for those running London (so not me then).

In between this lot has been a mix of parkruns (mostly steady runs with the kids), club handicap runs (mostly tough hilly and fast as I possibly can) and a few mid-week training runs with friends and family.  So no plan or structure and just running events because it's fun or I haven't done them before, or both. Here's a quick run down of the events and how things went.

Typical terrain on this year's Tanners. Glorious Mud!
Photo: Kelvin Gower

Winter Tanners 31 miles trail ultramarathon 8:30 (yes, 8 hours and 30 minutes! with 1hour standing still reading route instructions).
OK, it actually says 30miles on the course description, but there is a reasonable chance of getting lost trying to follow the route instructions.  As I said in my last post, Kelvin, who I ran this with, has a blog post about this race (see Mr K's running blog ) so I won't repeat his race description.

 This was by far the hardest run/jog/walk that I have ever done. 31 miles of mud and big hills. By the time we got to 10 miles I was thinking "I feel as tired as I did when I was 24miles into Portsmouth marathon, and I still have 20 miles of hills to go!" Desperate and negative thoughts then. If I hadn't been running with Kelvin then at best I would have baled out on to the 20mile course or maybe even quit.  Just goes to show how much running performance is down to mental toughness, but it's runs like these where you learn about yourself and what you are capable of. If you finish, then no run is a failure.


Bramley 20 - 3:05:57.
This is an undulating/hilly 2 lap course mostly out in the countryside to the north of Bramley near Reading.  It was a sunny cool morning and the plan was to do 9min miles all the way round.  I set off with Alison and a couple of her friends who were running the same plan, but they pulled away after only 3 miles leaving me to run by myself.  I was on pace until the start of the second lap when I slowed a bit.

I was gradually hauling in runners ahead of me until about 15 miles when I came up to a woman called Polly who stopped in tears just as I passed her. I wasn't so desperate for a PB that I had to run on so I walked with her for a few 10s of metres and got chatting, then jogging. She said it was the furthest that she had run, but she hadn't taken on much water or any gels and the friend that she had been running with had left her on the first lap.  Fortunately the next water stop was just round the corner and it had energy drinks also.  That gave us both a boost and soon we were back to running close to 9min mile pace.  Going up the next hill at about 16miles, we picked up another couple of runners and had a group going, chatting and running and keeping our spirits up.

Bramley 20, looking fresh, so must be the first lap.
Photo: Colin Brassington

At 17 miles Polly said she was going to have to slow a bit and urged me to carry on. I finished at a good pace and not far off the 3 hour time I was looking for.  Polly finished about 10 minutes later.  Next day she sent a very nice message of thanks through to Sandhurst Joggers' chairman, saying how grateful she was for the company and that she was sorry to mess up my race. I think I got just as much benefit from running with Polly and the others we picked up on route.  I was quicker over the last 5 miles than miles 10 to 15 and got a new 20mile PB by nearly 20 minutes. A very good result all round.

Surrey Half Marathon - 1:49:55. It was the first running of this event on an undulating out and back course from the Spectrum sports centre on the north side of Guildford to Woking town centre and back.  I met up with the usual crowd of friends form Frimley parkrun. I think the plan was that I would run with James and Duncan Ball at about 1:50:00 pace, but after dropping my bag off I couldn't find them at the start so I ran the whole race by myself.  To start with it was a cool but sunny day. Nice conditions but could be getting hot later in the day.

The route starts off with a slight rise from the sports centre, then gets into a long steady downhill section over the next 1.5miles. At 3miles there is a hill then an undulating course out in the country lanes to Woking.  I was hoping to get to 5 miles before being passed by the leaders coming back the other way, but i had only got to 4.5miles when they breezed by. Still, just the site of them got everyone around us running a bit quicker. Around Woking I spotted several Sandhurst Joggers who were out marshalling and on the route back, the out and back course came into its own, as I saw loads of other Sandhurst runners that I wouldn't have.

Surrey Half: Post run Frimley Crew team photo

Approaching 10 miles you get back to the Mile 3 hill and the last water stop, again manned by Sandhurst runners and after a smacked bum from Vicky Horne (?!) I was on the run-in with just a 1.5mile hill to go.  I was feeling really good after what I thought was a steady run so far and pushed on for the finish with the last 3 miles passing in 8:13, 8:00 and 7:33.  Soon after the last hill you drop down towards the sports centre and turn off the main road onto a sandy track, which was a little tight and awkward to run on, before arriving on the athletics track for the last 300m to the finish line. My time 1:49:55 was a real surprise as I was aiming for about 1:52:00 and the only slight disappointment was I was just 2 seconds outside a PB.

Caught in the act. Running for the line.
Photo: Rachel Davis

For a new event, I thought Surrey did a decent job.  Parking was OK, race village had plenty of toilets and an efficient bag drop.  The course was a challenge, but quite scenic in the countryside and with good support in Guildford and Woking.  Next year it's run in reverse and I've already entered.  Check out the video of Surrey Half, with a great scene with Duncan Ball finishing and collapsing on the ground in agony after (about 2:30 in). A dead cert for a BAFTA darling!

Fleet Half Marathon - 1:49:28
After nearly getting an unintended PB at Surrey Half, 1 week later it was time for a proper attempt.  Again, the Ball brothers had a plan that involved running with me as a pacer along with Chris Peddle and Abby Fudge. My plan was to do a progressive race in 3 sections with a target time of 1:49:00.

We set off as a group but that didn't last for long.  Abby was feeling good for this race so quickly got bored of being in the crowds and picked up her pace. Duncan Ball and Chris decided to go with her and disappeared as well and so it was just up to me and James Ball to maintain a sensible pace.  On about the first mile mark we came up to Ian Watson (a fellow Sandhurst Jogger) and we chatted for a while. Very soon after I got a shooting pain in my right calf that had me hobbling for a few paces. That eased off for a few minutes, then a different part of my calf got a similar shooting pain.  I thought my race was over inside 2 miles, but I kept going for a bit longer to see if the pain would ease or worsen.

With the Fleet course you do a small loop around the town for about 3 miles before returning to near the start, which would be a good place to bale out.  However, keeping up the chat with Ian and James took my mind off the calf pain, so by 3 or 4 miles it was a dull ache that I could keep running on.  This seemed to help Ian keep a decent pace as well who was suffering from neck and shoulder pain.  At 5 miles James had to slow down a bit, and by 6 I had left Ian as well as I went from my 8:20/mile to 8:10/mile pace sections.  At about 8 miles I came up to Chris Peddle who was suffering in the heat and then at about 10miles found Duncan again and just ahead was Will Thrower (another Frimley Lodge parkrunner).  We ran together for a while, but by now I was trying to step up the pace for the run in to the finish.

At 12 miles I came up to Richard Fyvie, a sub-21minute Frimley parkrunner, who was running his first half marathon, but was walking his way to the last hill. We ran together for a few hundred metres until we were most of the way up the last kicker of a hill.  The run in to the finish sweeps downhill until turning left into the sports field with a new finish on a tarmac road instead of a grassy field (which was a sea of mud last year). The road is narrow and twisty so it's hard to see the finish until you are on top of it, but I managed to keep my final sprint going to the line for a new PB by about 20 seconds.  As soon as I crossed the line my calf seized up and I could barely walk.  Still, a very good result considering the injury, which turned out to be minor.

Canal Run 20 miles - 3:06:40
This is Sandhurst Joggers' annual canal run, set up to coincide with most runner's final long run before London Marathon. It's along Basingstoke canal and people get dropped off at 10, 15, 18, 20 or 23 miles away from Frimley Lodge park and run back, with a drink and feed stop at Fleet 10miles from the finish.  I think there were around 50 of us running and it's a fun event, helped by the perfect cool weather.  I planned to run this at close to marathon pace and the first 10 miles went by at a steady 9:00 to 9:10/mile pace. The countryside was pleasant to run in and the route all flat apart from the diversion around a landslip which took us down and back up a steady hill for 1 1/2 miles or so.  I stopped for 5 minutes at Fleet for a piece of my (now famous!) flapjack and a top up of the drink bottle.

The next 7 miles I ran at about 10min/mile pace with Gabby Bassett who at 20 miles was on her longest ever run, just testing the waters to see if she has a marathon in her. She definitely has on this performance.  For the last 3 miles I decided to pick up the pace and got back to 9min miles for 2 miles, finishing strongly at below 8:30 pace and a time close to a 20mile PB.  Even better, I had no calf pain at all, just slightly aching feet from running on the stony canal towpaths.  The next day was even better, not even stiff legs and I was out playing football in the park with Alf in the evening. The good recovery possibly had something to do with the post run gammon egg and chips with a bit of extra salt. Definitely recommended.

2014 - Where Now? And Happy Families

I love running in races, and there is a certain magic about the longer distances.  The marathon.  Just the word evokes a sense of history and epic achievement and it's the ultimate distance in many runner's minds.  Having done London marathon, I could quite reasonably have said "That's it. I've done the ultimate road marathon; I don't need to do any more than that." Then I could have gone on to have a very happy life running parkruns, 10ks and the occasional half and happily enjoying the post-run bacon sandwich with friends.

But then, what if...?  What if I hadn't been recovering from an Achilles injury before starting training for London and been starting at such a low base? What if I hadn't got ankle and foot injuries in the weeks before the marathon? What if I hadn't fallen apart at 20 miles.  Would I have hit my target time and would I be capable of going sub-4?  

So that meant doing Portsmouth (flat meant quick in my mind) and then The Pilgrim (got talked into it by one of the organisers who I happen to work with).  Unfortunately with Portsmouth, I wasn't banking on some course congestion on the narrow sections and the wet and muddy conditions.  That left me thinking about more marathons for 2014 and maybe, eventually a sub-4 hour time.

The problem about all this focus on long distances and entering races is it can mean a lot of time away from the family both in training and doing events and can cost quite a lot of money.  Solutions then: Make a plan for the whole year so you can recognise when you are doing too much, get creative with training, enter cheap races and, if you can, get the rest of the family into running.

My plan for the year centres around doing a marathon in the spring and another in the autumn.  I didn't get into London, so I was thinking Brighton or Milton Keynes. Turns out a friend from work is doing Milton Keynes so that made my mind up for spring. Then I went for Abingdon as a reasonably flat PB attempt for the autumn - I imagine it will be full of quick runners who will clear off out of my way.   Having got 2 serious target races, the rest should be down to whatever fun events I can fill the calendar with: This is what I booked:

February: Wokingham Half, Bramley 20

March: Surrey Half, Fleet Half

April: Bracknell Half

May: Milton Keynes Marathon, Hook 10

June: Endure 24

July: Elstead Marathon, Thunder Run

September: Farnham Pilgrim Marathon

October: Abingdon Marathon, Halloween 5 Nite run (probably)

To that little lot you can add marshaling at London Marathon and running a few shorter races in the summer like the Yateley 10k series (I'll probably marshal at 1 or 2 of these and run 1) and then a couple of the Woodland 5 series.

That looks like quite a lot (could be 18 races!) and haven't I just broken one of my rules for a happy running family, you might ask.  Well, there are no more than 2 races a month, and I figured I could bribe the family to come along to at least one a month with the promise of a decent post run pub lunch.  And Wokingham, Fleet, Bracknell, Hook, Elstead and the Pilgrim are relatively cheap being run by running clubs, councils or charitable ventures who aren't looking for big profit margins.  Then Milton Keynes and Abingdon are both very reasonably priced compared to say Brighton.

Still, that left a bit of a gap in January, August and November/December.  I have to leave a gap in August to fit in a family holiday and it's too hot to run far anyway. November/December can be left to do some club cross country runs, but I decided to do something about January which turned out to be quite reckless... enter a trail ultramarathon!

So, scanning around for cheap events lead me to the pages of the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) and their Challenge events. Run, jog or walk distances from 20miles to 30miles and even 50miles along hiking trails finding your own way using several pages of coded instructions.  I entered the Surrey LDWA group's Winter Tanner event - a 30 mile very hilly, very muddy mostly trail run.  It cost an embarrassingly low £6 to enter or £4 for members, so I joined LDWA for £13. Still bloody cheap for an event like this.  I'll leave a description of the event and my blooding as an ultramarathon runner till later, but for an excellent write up of the event see my friend and mentor Mr K's running blog .

A final note on making for a happy running family. Try and get them all running.  Well, this has been a huge success and I have my involvement with Frimley Lodge parkrun to thank for that.  Both Elinor (8) and Alfred (10) have given up Saturday morning swimming lessons and are now regular parkrunners and my wife Julia, not wanting to be left out, followed a couch to 5k training plan and is now also a regular runner and parkrunner. It's amazing what the offer of a post run bacon sandwich can do!

After London, Now what...? Catch up to 2014

I've not posted for a long while - shame on me!  2013 turned out to be a really good running year.  After London marathon (my first) I went on to run two more in the autumn and winter and got a PB in every distance I ran from 100m to marathon.  I just didn't run a mile race, otherwise I would have had a full set.  So here are the highlights:

Marathons:

On St Marth's Hill 

The Farnham Pilgrim - 4:59:10 A little bit longer than a marathon, partly due to it being long and partly due to me taking a wrong turning at about 15miles.  Nearly all on trails following or parallel to the Pilgrim's Way path from The Sands rec southeast of Farnham to St Marth's hill, which is southeast of Guildford, and then back again.  Reasonable weather, hilly trail run which I did the first 12 miles with my work friend Adam Brossler until the lower slopes of St Marth's hill.


I waited 5 minutes at the aid station at the top trying all their squash and all the different kinds of biscuit that they had before heading off.  The last 2 miles were really tough with a good mile uphill to the finish, desperately trying to get under 5 hours.  Highlights - great views, getting spooked by witches in the woods, very good marshals and aid stops and nice goody bag.

Chris, Pam, me, Emma and Vicky from Sandhurst Joggers

Portsmouth Coastal Waterside - 4:14:32 I thought I would do a flat marathon to try and get a good time and this one is as flat a marathon as you can get being at sea level all the way.  The weather was foul in the days before which made the trail sections muddy or full of puddles and the race started in a howling gale and lashing with rain. 30minutes in and the rain eased off and the weather was fine but cold and windy the rest of the day. The out and back course meant I saw loads of Sandhurst Joggers folks on the way, which was good, but the onshore winds made the tide come in higher and quicker which meant the beach section at 24 miles was flooded and we had to wade through the icy sea.  It took me a mile more to warm back up and get running again. The finish was after a 2 mile slog all along the sea front into the cold howling wind.  Highlights - running with so many friends from SJ, wading through the sea (one to tell the grandkids) and coming away with a decent PB.

Half Marathons:

Bracknell Half with James and Duncan Ball 1 week after London.
The one and only time the Ball brothers said they
wanted pacing and actually stuck with me, instead of
blasting off into the distance when the gun went.

Bracknell 1:53:43:  One week after London at the end of April! What was I thinking? Certainly not "resting a day per mile raced", but I booked this one before I got my place at London and, as I was able to run I went for it. A course of 2 halves: the first being generally downhill on cycle lanes and underpasses through housing estates, the second half hilly with more main roads to go along. The finish is in Southill Park near the arts centre and is perfect for a post race drink. A funny little HM with a nice finish and a great goody bag - a kit bag with towel, drink and snack. Finished with some of the London foot and ankle injuries playing up a bit, but a PB all the same.

Burnham Beeches - 1:49:53:
A HM in mid-August? The potential for it to be a hot race had apparently been realized with a vengeance the previous year, and the field was down a lot this time.  It was quite warm, so why I picked a hilly, hot HM for a PB attempt, in fact a sub-1:50 attempt, I don't know.  That meant taking over 3 minutes off my previous best.  I must have thought that doing a marathon had got my mind used to the idea of coping with pain so why not aim high?  The course is 2 laps gaining height in steps up to 3miles, then a downhill mile followed by a couple more hills to the end of the lap. I had a plan to start steady and then pick up the pace on the second lap. The hills were hard and I was 20 or 30 secs down on plan going into the last 2 miles. The finish is in school grounds with a wicked drop from the croquet pitch to the rugby field (that kind of school) but I arrived there with no target runner to chase down. Fortunately Alfred and Elinor (my kids) were waiting for me and Alf ran round ahead on the infield shouting encouragement. I crossed the line hit the stop button, saw 1:49:59 on the timer and nearly collapsed. A very tough race - apparently I looked like a very salty sea dog afterwards - but nice countryside, finish area and stuff to do for the waiting family (they went swimming, lucky things). Only problem was a long walk back to the car park.

Other Highlights:
The Elstead Marathon - About 5.5miles cross country run around the village of Elstead near Farnham on a balmy Friday evening in July. The race takes in sandy trails, lovely views across heathland, woodland and included extra hazards in the form of a horse, a gate to climb, a ploughed field and a river to cross. An absolute gem of a run and with a finish area with a good barbecue, a WI cake stall and a decent pub this all makes for the perfect running experience. Forget the race time - you get the results "eventually" and they might look something like what your Garmin said you got, but then again they might not.

The Cabbage Patch 10 - 1:19:03. I wanted to do this race as I had never done a 10miler and it was one that Paula Fudge (our greatest female runner at Frimley Lodge parkrun) had won in her heyday as an elite GB runner. So, a run with good history. You run each side of the river Thames between Twickenham and Richmond. The bits alongside the river are really nice, the bits in housing estates not so much. It's pretty flat of course, with the Hampton Wick and Richmond bridges being the only "hills". I went out with a plan to do sub-80mins and just managed it with a dash over the last mile to get 1:19.

FLP Rio Moment - Getting photo-bombed by
little old lady in the Canal Cafe

Frimley Lodge parkrun - 5th October  A PB at 22:14 after recovering from the Pilgrim marathon.  Hills make you stronger and marathons make you mentally tough.  This was one of those runs where I decided I was going to go out quick, keep going fast enough to make it hurt and then keep going.

Mortimer 10k and Julian Farrell 10k - I did the usual Yateley 10k series and Woodland 5 cross country runs over the summer and had a couple of autumn 10ks booked to take advantage of the after-effects of marathon training.  Mortimer was 2 weeks after the Pilgrim and I did the children's 3k run with Alf and Elinor before running the 10k. Mortimer is a really well run event with a lot of entertainment for the family, good parking and a nice hilly route - actually a monster hill from 7.5 to 8.5k. Still got a 10k PB, so the kids run must have been a good warm up.  Julian Farrell 10k is run by Camberley Athletics club and basically consists of one enormous hill with a few undulations at he start and end. I got to the top with Ray from SJ and we stuck together for the descent and most of the run in, but I managed to stretch away over the last 1km. A good challenging local road race with good support from the local clubs.  Brought my 10k PB down to 47:38.

Here are the Lowlights of 2013:
You would expect that any list of lowlights for a runner would just be a list of injuries and you would be mostly right.  This year it wasn't Achilles strains, but left plantar fascia (just prior to London) and a right calf strain (just after Portsmouth) that set me back a bit. But neither really stopped me from running for more than a week.  I have to lay praise at the door of Abby Fudge's treatment room at Reform and Renew Osteopathy for keeping me going as I stepped up to greater distances. I am sure I must have the tightest, knottiest calf muscles she has ever seen. She has the thumbs of an angel and works miracles with them.

Medal haul up to the Farnham Pilgrim

The only bad run of the year was the Olympic Park Anniversary Run - 5 miles around the Olympic park finishing in the Olympic stadium sounds fabulous, but apart from the stadium, everything about the run was crap.  It was expensive, there were no trains running (usual for a Sunday), parking was a lottery (dump car in a back street a mile away), the bag drop was difficult to find, the route was crowded all the way round and you were basically running through a building site.  Now, I know I can't run a PB in every race, but I at least want the option and so that, along with the cost and transport problems, makes this race, along with all other central London races like the Bupa 10k, a non-starter for me.  Give me a trail with a view any day.

Of course, I don't include the London Marathon in this list, as it is just about the greatest road race experience you can ever have. On that last positive note, we say goodbye to a great 2013 and catch up next time with 2014.  Onwards and Upwards.....

I'm a Marathon Runner

The Marathon Question

I have been a Sandhurst Joggers member for over three years and I’ve been running for only just over 4 years.  I never really had an ambition to do a marathon until last year, when I had done the Wokingham and Reading half marathons and actually had a really good time while at the same time hitting my target of a sub-2 hour time.  Those results were achieved without training properly for them, so after watching VLM2012 on the telly I thought I really could have a go at doing a marathon if I actually trained for it.

My thought was that I would do my first (possibly only) marathon for myself, thinking I didn’t want to have to commit to running for a charity and raising a lot of money at the same time as putting the hours in for training (as it was I did raise over £200 for Christopher's Smile). I put my name down for the ballot as soon as it opened.  I thought I probably wouldn’t get a place at London, but if I still felt like doing a marathon in the spring maybe I could enter Abingdon, or the Farnham Pilgrim in September. 

I then forgot about marathons but decided to do more running with the club and started to turn up at Friday track sessions with my two children when the kids track started in April.  After a few sessions I started to see improvements in my Frimley parkrun times and I was really enjoying my running.  I entered the Yateley 10k series and Woodland 5s and went through a bit of a purple patch getting my first PB at Frimley in over 18months and, having set a goal of a sub-50 10k, managing to do it at the first Yateley 10k race.

Aaah Achilles!

Then disaster struck. I was doing all this running and not paying any attention to warming up or down, stretching or massage and the second Yateley 10k race saw me pulling out half way with an Achilles injury.  This probably came about as a result of tight calf muscles and I got some massage sessions, but they didn’t really fix the problem.  So, when the Elvis magazine came out in October and I still hadn’t sorted out my injury, I thought at first that wasn’t such a bad thing.  Then I thought “Bloody hell, I’ve been rejected.” 

That didn’t feel good at all, so to make me feel better, I entered some spring half marathons – Wokingham (because it’s in February), Fleet (I’d never done it before) and Bracknell (as near to a home half marathon as I could get). Having committed to this little lot I sought out some proper physiotherapy and went to see Elrina-Mistress of Pain in Elvetham Heath.       This is her:

  

                       

                                                  

And this is what she did to me:

A combination of deep massage (ouch) and electro-acupuncture (really ouch!) started to make a difference and by early December 2012 I was on the mend. So, as I had been given the go ahead to get back to running and Christmas was approaching I decided I would go along on the Christmas Lights run and skittles after.  I had a last minute panic before setting off trying to find my proof of entry to the London marathon, and was late setting off with the runners as I was waiting for a friend to turn up. I caught up with the SJ runners and had a nice pain free easy run around Yateley, just without my friend David from Cove Joggers.  After the warm down and stretch in the car park at Frogmore I called David and we had a debate about whether we would go to the skittles, but he relented when I offered to drive us both there. 

Shock and Awe

Come the time of the Marathon Draw, I thought “I never win anything, so I’ll just keep eating my curry and see about second helpings after it’s calmed down”.  I had a bit of a shock though when the first name out of the hat was RICHARD …somebody else. Then the last name out was ME! I stood up, waved, smiled a bit, looked a bit embarrassed and thought “Damn, I really have to start training now!” I think I spent the rest of the evening still looking a bit shocked as I kept getting reassuring comments from our experienced marathon runners, things like “You’re a runner, you can get round a marathon already” and “Training is just about achieving your time.”

Christmas was a really good time as far as running went. I did 5 parkruns including Christmas Day and New Years Day with my daughter Elinor (7) as she wanted to get her 10 runs T-shirt.  Those runs were all in the 32 to 35 minute range, so nice and gentle.  The real confidence booster was going on the Mince Pie run at a very muddy and quite hilly Lightwater and coming out pain free. Unfortunately I missed the message that said bring trail shoes.

January saw my last physio session and the start of training proper with a 16 week programme aiming for a time around 4:15 to 4:30 or around 10minute mile pace.  If I was fit to start with I could be on for a sub 4 hour time (dream on!), but from where I started I have to be realistic and have a target based on where I was then, not where I think I should have been in a perfect world. 

Training Hard

So my long runs started at 8 to 10 miles and gradually increased over 13 weeks to 20 miles.  It’s was all pretty smooth going considering my monthly mileage in the few months before Christmas was less than 40miles followed by 101 miles for January, 116 for February and 150 for March – all record breaking months for me.  Along the way I did Wokingham Half (2:02), Surrey Spitfire 20 (3:26) and Fleet Half (1:55 and a PB) with weekly parkruns and interval sessions in the mix mostly done in the rain or snow, but at least I managed to keep smiling through them. 

  

Above: Wokingham HM and Fleet HM, both in the cold and rain!

Aaah Plantar Fascia! (Maybe)

Then – my worst nightmare struck! Having done my last 20 mile long run and started into my first week of tapering I had entered the Bolt Round the Holt 21k.  I did this with Kelvin from Cove Joggers and I started the morning with a steady parkrun at Frimley followed by a dash down to Alice Holt to find the start delayed.  The run was tough but I ran it as a steady training run at about 9:30/mile pace and finished in 2:05 in good condition, moving fine and with no pain.  My training plan had me doing 15 miles, but I did 16 miles with a 45 minute break after the first 3.  After the run I was walking OK, did my warm down, stretching, hot chocolate and then home to a hot bath and lunch.  Three hours later my left foot was all swollen under the toes and I could hardly walk!



Fat Foot - It's all Alice Holt's Fault



I spent all day Sunday on the sofa, holding on to the furniture when I had to walk and eventually crawling upstairs to bed thinking that the marathon was over for me just when I had done all the hard work. Monday I was slightly better – still limping but I could walk the 50m from the car park to the entrance to work.  I saw my physio in the evening and had some serious foot massage which was torture (I have really ticklish feet!) and I was diagnosed with a possible plantar fascia injury.  I say possible because she had difficulty getting any reaction to her poking and prodding around the bottom of my foot. My treatment was to rest and ice it, with the neat trick of using a frozen orange instead of a tennis ball to roll around the arch of my foot.  By Wednesday I was walking normally and I cycled to work completely pain free.  Thursday my first post-injury jog was 4.5miles from Sandhurst to Crowthorne and through Wellington College, all completed pain free at marathon pace.  I did a gentle parkun at Frimley on Saturday and then on Sunday jogged from Sandhurst to the Lookout with another 3 miles while there, making 8.5 hilly miles.  I was feeling pretty much fixed.

Let’s Do This!

The last week before the marathon I hadn’t completely convinced myself that I would be at the start line, but I got back to the training plan with runs on Wednesday and Thursday completed without incident and on Friday I went to the Expo to get my number.  That’s when I thought “I really am doing this!” and the excitement started to build.  Saturday after a very gentle parkrun, cake, breakfast at the Basingstoke Canal Centre café I got back home and started to sort out my kit.  I probably should have done this earlier, but I hadn’t sorted out whether I was wearing baggy or tight shorts, long or short socks, which shoes or even which underpants!  I did know that I was wearing my Sandhurst Joggers vest, though. I wouldn’t be running the marathon in the first place if it wasn’t for SJ so duty and loyalty to the club had to be recognised.

 

Left – last minute test run on Saturday evening - the new shoes with orange laces won out but only because they were most comfortable (honest).

Race Day

Saturday night finally I had all my kit ready and went to bed early, then woke up on Marathon Morning before the five alarms I had set went off. Got my porridge, banana and golden syrup breakfast made, dressed, went to the loo for the third time and set off to catch the coach. 

The atmosphere on the coach was great, like going on holiday, and we got to Blackheath with no trouble just after 8am.  There was a great feeling amongst everybody in the start area, I found a few friends to try and chill with, had a coffee went to the loo, then the urinals standing next to a 6ft tall cockroach, who was looking nervously up at the blazing sunshine.  Finally it was time to get changed, get rid of my bag and make my way over to the start. 

I was in blue start Pen 9, edging towards Pen 8.  10am and the planned whistle to mark to 30seconds silence for the victims of the Boston bombings couldn’t be heard, but a minute later I could see past the hot air balloons in the distance there were people running, so I shouted out “I see people running! We’re away!” and a big cheer went up around me. We stayed standing for a few minutes more, then began with a march of the penguins shuffle, then walk and then jog to the start at just over 12minutes.

My plan was to get under 4:30 and I set off comfortably at 10min/mile pace.  The sun beat down, the crowds cheered, the bands played and I was having a great time chatting to runners and waving to people who shouted my name.  I met Janet Ford at about 10 miles and ran with her for a mile or so. At 14miles I heard an extra loud shout and saw my wife Julia and kids Alfred and Elinor so stopped for a chat for half a minute.  So far so good. I was fuelling and drinking OK, possibly overdoing the drink, but I saw a portaloo without a queue, stopped for a loo break managing a 1min pit stop.

20 miles was when problems started.  Pain in my left foot, inside of my right ankle and right knee all seemed to come at once.  The foot pain gradually worsened and my pace slowed from rock steady 10min miles to 11:30/mile over the last 6 miles.  The run along The Embankment was agony and Big Ben seemed to take forever to pass.  I was being overtaken by so many runners, but then I noticed many people hanging on to the barriers with cramp and I just kept telling myself “You’re still running and you’re not stopping.” The turn by Buckingham Palace, the “385 Yards to Go” banner and then the finish was in sight. 

I crossed the line with a huge smile on my face to hugs and handshakes from I don’t know who, but they were obviously Sandhurst Joggers. Got into the right hand lane for tag snip and medal from Vicky Rice(I think). Coming down the ramp I kissed my medal and for a moment I was nearly in tears. Now, I am a marathon runner. And that is all that matters.

 

Medal Winners after the finish: with Alison, Kelvin and David of Cove Joggers:   Result 4:35:55



Into London and Spring Half Marathons - Race Prep

I've done a few half marathons now and I'm in training for my first marathon which will be the London Marathon in April. Now, I got my place through a prize draw with my running club Sandhurst Joggers just before Christmas 2012. At the time I was doing very little running, just a mid week 10k and a parkrun, so less than 10 miles a week.  The reason was yet another Achilles injury (the left this time) picked up in July.  I had finally got round to getting proper physio and was nearing the end of treatment when the running gods smiled on me and I got my place. When I found out it was a moment of both elation and worry.  Time to start training.

Pre-Christmas my monthly mileage was only 25 to 35 miles. I had a final physio session in the first week of January and was cleared to ease back into running.  Thanks to Alison I had a training plan and thanks to all my other Frimley Lodge parkrun friends I had loads of training partners, most of whom are doing half, full or even ultra marathons thorughout the spring season.  My plan, starting from such a low point in fitness, is to do London at 10min/mile pace and get in under 4:30.  The plan shows me gradually building up a weekly long run from 8miles to 20miles before the race over 16 weeks.  January saw 101 running miles, February 116miles and I'll be breaking another mileage record in March. The plan appears to be working.

As I didn't know until quite late on that I wad doing London, I had decided to enter every local half marathon that I could - Wokingham (10Feb), Fleet (17Mar), Bolt Round the Holt (6Apr trail) and Bracknell (28Apr).  Fitting London into this little lot seems almost madness, but actually Wokingham came on a day when my long run was 13miles anyway, Fleet comes between weeks when the long run is 18miles and is race practice and Bolt Round the Holt is in the first week of tapering.  The only mildly daft one then is Bracknell which comes a week after London - so that's a loosener then!? The icing on this training cake was then entering the Surrey Spitfire 20 mile race (3Mar). It's great having a big social get together for a race come training run with the added benefit of not having to carry your own water and getting a medal for it.

I know a few people who are tackling their first half marathon.  Training for them has been going quite smoothly with only minor blips for illness and maybe the odd niggle, not actual injury. Long runs have been up to 10 miles or for a real confidence boost a full 13 miles. However, I'm pretty sure that nobody's half marathon training has included taking on fluids or other nutrition while running and I've heard people say they were dead on their feet after 10 or 11 miles - just the point when you should be picking up the pace for the run in to the finish. 

Before this year I had done three half marathons with times of 2:07, 1:58 and 1:57.  The difference wasn't training as in all cases my training was pretty poor. So that leaves race preparation and nutrition.  Basically I was 10 minutes quicker and vastly more comfortable and happy just because I carb loaded and hydrated well before the race, and took on carbs and water during it.

Carb loading for a half marathon usually means eating more than you would normally during training for 2 days before the race. For a 70kg male that could mean going from 400-500g per day to 600-700g per day of carbs.  Obviously it's best if your carbs are generally from whole grains rather than processed sugars or chips, but you can do your carb loading by adding healthy snacks between normal meals - take 4 pieces and fruit to work for mid-morning and mid-afternoon, maybe some flapjack too.

Race prep should be about keeping hydrated the day befoe and on race morning and getting all your kit ready well ahead of time so you don't waste energy panicking about not being able to find your race number.  Race morning I like to get up and have an early breakfast of a regular sized bowl of porridge at least 2 1/2 to 3hours before the race with fruit juice and water. By the time you go for your second pee of the day it should be pale straw colour, not dark yellow.

For during the race I usually take 4 energy gels and have 1 just before the start with a sip of water.  Then I have one about every 30mins or 3 miles.  This usually fits in well with water stations which are often at around 3mile intervals.  I find the gels give me both a mental and physical boost and it helps break down the race into small chunks with a reward for completing each one.  Remember also that getting to 10miles and taking your first gel when you are tired won't give you much benefit - start taking them early.

As for drinking water, it's obviously really important. I take a drink at every water station. If they have little bottles (like at Reading) great, you can grab and go. If it's just cups, then I know if I try to run and drink I'll spill most of it, so for 5 or 6 paces I walk and drink and if the cups are only half full I take 2. Walking for that amount of time takes hardly any time and if it means you stay better hydrated you'll gain it all back and more in the last 3 miles. Again, don't wait until you're thirsty, take a drink at every opportunity.

After the race, when you've come in nicely below your target time, you need to start your recovery.  I don't intend to give up running for weeks afterwards - I've got to be back training in a couple of days after all. I like to take a banana (replaces carbs and potassium), crisps or nuts (more salt and some protein) and also a bottle of milkshake (carbs and really good for protein).  Your body needs to replace fluids and salts and to repair the damage you've just done to your muscles and it's best to start the process by getting in your recovery food and drink in the half hour immediately after the race.

Try and leave a bit of room for a pub lunch afterwards to celebrate your achievement.