Diary of an Athletic Nobody – London Calling!

Less than a week to go to the big one, all the hard work has been done and now the tapper is well and truly underway. This my third marathon in less than 12 months but there hasn’t been a moment when it has felt like a chore to get out and do the miles/effort or what ever.

The previous two marathons went as well as could be expected and I’ll walk through what I done and where I thought I went right/wrong in these races. First up was Edinburgh in May 2011. After initially entering Lochaber I mixed my dates up and missed the race. A scrambled ensued and knowing a load of the Striders were entering Edinburgh I got in on a charity place for Oxfam. I had to raise £600 but with my employees kindly matching £for£ I easily raised the £600 and more (£1420 in the end).

Training wise I really found the long runs a struggle and the 20+ in particular were really hard going. I’d never ran this distance before and on the one hand the ease at which my PLS colleagues eat up the distance knocked my confidence and had me thinking that maybe the marathon wasn’t for me. On the other hand I was in the shape of my life, I was breezing around at 5:40 pace in 5 mile races and feeling fine. On the day itself everything went to plan. I had a slight rush in the morning to pick up my number but aside from that everything went like clockwork. The weather was perfect and I had a great crowd around me for the 1st miles.

My first error came when I caught up with a group that contained Marc Jacques from the Liverpool Running Club. He commented on how well I was going and I pushed on to the group ahead. From about 14 to 18 miles the small group quickened up, each of taking turn to push the pace a little. Big mistake. I got to 20 in 2:06 but I started to slow rapidly. The weather didn’t help and it was really windy with not much protection around me from the elements I struggled to keep going. The one massive plus was that I knew I was easily going to break the 3 hour which was my main target.

Better more experienced runners than me hadn’t achieved this so it was a big boost knowing that as long as I kept running I was easily going to make it. The last 4 miles were a hell, but a strangely enjoyable one! I finished with a canter, getting a respectable 2:56:01.

Liverpool in October I decided to up the mileage and done a lot of double sessions, peaking one week at over 90 miles. I still stuck my Edinburgh routine of big week followed by ¾ the miles which I’ve also done this year for London. Although I didn’t feel I had the speed at Liverpool, I certainly had the endurance and was going to kick off the race by running 6:10’s for as long as I could. I wasn’t bothered about blowing up was I already had the sub 3 in bag from Edinburgh so thought running Liverpool in a more aggressive manner and trying to get to 20 miles in around 2:03/2:04. The start was delayed by nearly 1 hour and I quick re-assessed this strategy, deciding to run a more conservative 6:20.

Again though, I started really pushing on in the tunnel, went far too quick 11 to 14, mainly down to the fact the crowds were going mental, it felt like I was winning the race! Again I wobbled around the 21 mile mark, not slowing as dramatically as Edinburgh but it was still a hard slog to 24 miles before I hit the down hill on Parliament Street and opened up for the last couple of miles. I hit the tape in 2:55:34, glad of the PB in what was a tougher course than Edinburgh, but the atmosphere was brilliant and carried me around.

So, lesson learnt. I’ll be starting off in a conservative(?) 6:25 pace but wont sweat it I get between that and 6:30 pace. If and it’s a big if, I get to 20 or further still feeling feeling good, I’ll try to push on, 40 min 10k’s are the goal but anything under my PB will be great.

I’ve done another good few sessions last week, finishing off with a 10k race at Croxteth Park on Sunday. I was massively hung over following the Semi-Final all day booze up on Saturday but managed a credible 37:20ish with a good warm up/down.

WEEK FIFTEEN 09/04-15/04
MONDAY 18 miles 7:30 pace 18
TUESDAY 4 miles slow am - track session 8 x 2:30 at 5:21 pace - 8 x 200m 33 secs average with warm up/down 7
WEDNESDAY 6 miles easy 6
THURSDAY 7 miles with x2 marathon pace x2 half marathon pace 7
FRIDAY 6 miles xc - last 2 quicker than marathon pace 6
SATURDAY rest
SUNDAY 10k Croxteth Country Park with warm up/down 10

Total 54