Like most marathon training schedules I’ve seen, mine starts with a rest day, so today, which also happened to be a day off work, was spent in deep contemplation of the task ahead rather than any actual physical training. I’ve been here before several times over the last four or so years, but have yet to get anywhere near completion, so to put it all on the line like this, out in the open as it were, is no small matter for me.
Past efforts have always been cut short by illness, injury or plain lack of motivation. But I’m fairly confident now of being past the worst of my injury problems, and whilst there’s little to be done about unexpected illness, I’m as fit and healthy as ever. Motivation though, that’s another thing. To keep up a fairly demanding schedule for four months requires a fair amount of determination, or at least a massive desire to get the thing done. And it’s not easy to stay that focussed for such a length of time. As someone once said, motivation is like personal hygiene – you need it on a daily basis.
In search of motivation, I’ve spent a fair chunk of time today re-reading past exploits of RC champions here, watching Rocky movies and various videos on marathons and other athletic super-events to try and get the juices flowing a little more, and to perhaps discover what it is that drives me. If I can discover that and grab hold of it, then motivation should not be a problem.
The question I always seem to end up asking – especially when things are really going wrong – is why am I doing this? What exactly am I trying to prove? But as I discovered yesterday in the 8km “fun” run, the reason isn’t always that obvious.
In fact I’ve come to believe that the reason “why” is actually largely irrelevant. There’s probably no grab-all answer that would ever satisfy me in any case, and certainly not the cynics such as my brother or some of the clowns at work. But for whatever reason we start these things, the reason for carrying on is that, as John Collins the founder of the Ironman concept said; “ (it’s) about finishing what you started…about being able to do what you set out to do…maybe not as fast as the person in front of you, but certainly faster than the person who never started.”
Or, as someone else once said, “well you know a fella can’t just sit around”. So for whatever reason I started this thing, it’s got to be worth finishing. I hate quitting.
So (deep breath in), here we go…
"the cynics such as my brother or some of the clowns at work"
Hang on tight to those sorts of guys. They are the best possible motivation fuel there is going. What they don't understand is that every drop of derision solidifies and becomes part of an ever-growing rock that gets stuffed back into their gobs the moment you cross that finishing line.
And boy, does that feel good...
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
The 'why' question is one I've faced myself lately.
I know why I started. Once I'd completed a marathon I moved on to wanting to do so on my own terms; in other words without feeling that I might keel over and die at any moment. Recently I came to realise it's not the races for me but the training runs I'd miss if I stopped. Sure, races provide goals but invariably I enjoy them less than the sociable, pressure-free environs of a Sunday with the JSJers or a lonesome, contemplative lope over my beautiful hills. I guess we're moving back to Sheehan and his singular experiment theory; the man has a point. Running it seems is my religion; my faith. It stimulates my body and my mind, makes me challenge myself, encourages me to respect and admire others.
Motiviation for me takes several forms. Fear - fear of terminal larditude, fear of frailty, of failing health - is a factor. But in truth I derive huge pleasure from feeling warm blood pump through my arteries, from the festival of endorphins coursing through me after a lung-bursting effort, and from the one-ness with nature than running offroad delivers. And then there's the creative side-effects; if I wasn't running I simply wouldn't write. At all. The one fuels the other and both enhance my sense of self. So much in life is by necessity shared with and influenced by others; this running/ writing symbiosis is all for me.
As you say, there's always the exploits of others. I take inspiration from the stories told here; from your own epic fight against the ravages of time and the frailty of the human condition. From BB and his impossibly difficult challenges described with such modesty, as if everyone does this sort of thing all the time in the running Shangri-La of Ponferrada; from Antonio and his boundless enthusiasm for the fiesta that is running in Andalucia. And from the mighty El Gordo, a man who simply will not allow life's guilty pleasures to nail him to that sofa, who rises time and again from the canvas to invite the Beast to do its worst. Our own Thomas Covenant, baring his tortured soul before howling into the teeth of the maelstrom and diving back into the fray.
There are plenty of things in life that motivate, excite, entertain and enthrall us.
This magical realm has added a new dimension and introduced amazing characters to my life. To stop running, to give up this running life, would be to risk losing that. Not something I'm prepared to contemplate just yet.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I have three marathon reports on this hallowed forum...somewhere. They seem to have dropped off the end - lucky I kept copies.
I actually printed out the following quote and stuck it on my office wall. From the keyboard of our Mighty El Gordo, came the following...
“But what few understand is that every frozen minute of training, every shred of pain, every missed indulgence, every ounce of frustration and tedium and dread that fill those long pre-race months... are all worth it. When you pile up all those great rocks of pain and sulkiness and boredom and sacrifice on one side of the scales, and your solitary finisher's medal on the other, you find to your astonishment and delight, a perfect balance”.
If that piece helps you even half as much as it helped me through my first training campain, then you will succeed. I'm not pretending it's easy, not going to say that you won't have setbacks or bad runs - because you will. It's how you overcome them and move on that's important.
" ... Looking back on this adventure, I see the locals clapping politely with their Pimms around the maypole in Stratford, whooping crowds and skyline views in Downtown Chicago, and a green Macmillan board with my name on it waving wildly outside the Tower of London. And thats not to mention over 100 London traffic lights all run on red in the same day. Its been fantastic, and Im not going to give it up now.... "
Nigel! I feel honoured - nice to see you back mate. And SP - yes, thanks for reminding me of EG's memorable words. Definitely worth printing out*.
Day 2 was the first day of actual running in this campaign, and also the day I made my first mistake. I should say that I'm not by nature a creature of habit - I prefer variety to regularity, and chaos over order. Which is not to say I can't be organised when I need to, but I do like life to be a little different, if not actually messy.
So when I woke up and found myself to be feeling really, really well, and that it was a beaut morning, I decided (unusually) to get my run out of the way early, rather than later in the day as I had "scheduled". So I wolfed a banana and drove off to a nice little 2.5km loop road (closed off to traffic) that I had wanted to try out. The plan was to do three laps, but within a few hundred meters I realised that in my haste I'd forgotten two important things. The first and least important was a small matter of the wrong glasses. I have running glasses which are an old pair that clamp on to my noggin nice and tight. I was running instead in my everyday, lightweight titanium things which slip off my face at the first hint of perspiration. Annoying, but manageable (just).
But unfortunately I'd also forgotten to use, and bring my ventolin, and was already - less than a kilometre into the run - suffering an asthmatic, well, let's call it an episode rather than a full scale attack... unpleasant and difficult even so. I managed to finish the first lap but I was operating on what felt like about one third lung capacity and really suffering so there was nothing for it other than to collapse back into the car and drive home for the necessary medication.
It's wonderful stuff this ventolin - a doctor told me once that as an effective disease-preventing, life-saving medicine it was right up there with penicillin. Certainly within a few minutes I was right as rain and jumped on the treadmill to finish my run, and finished it off rather well, too. So, an interrupted, but none-the-less completed 7.5km to kick off the training.
My training schedule is more-or-less a novicey "plan to finish" one, consisting of just 3 runs per week for the most part, with a 4th added toward the business end. Mondays and Saturdays are generally the rest days, with 2 cross training days, which will be mainly cycling and weights. Kilometrage ranges from about 25km per week at the start to a peak of 62 in week 13. There's a little bit of hill work and intervals thrown into the mix as well, but not a lot really. Of course this is all rubbery and I fully expect to vary the schedule as I go.
I still find it daunting, especially when I f*ck up the first run, but I have a sense of "now or never" about this attempt, so it's head down, bum up and have a crack ...er, if you'll excuse the terrible pun.
Track du jour: none today, other than sound the of birds twittering, the hum of distant traffic, and the death-rattle wheezing of an asthmatic git who forgot his medication.
*In fact I did exactly that, adding them to the bottom of my printed training schedule/calendar.
These things rarely go to plan. I've woken up early on my own Day One, to find a horrible ache in the small of my back, as though I'd spent yesterday digging a couple of graves.
So I'll defer the plan for an early run, and do something this evening instead.
Main worry is my weight. After the usual initial plummet, it seems to have hit a plateau around 20 pounds too soon, despite the alcohol boycott holding firm.
Anyway, well done on getting off to a good start -- eventually. I also have running glasses i.e. ones that stay on. For races and long runs I usually wear lenses.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Adapt and survive - the best thing there was you found a way to get the job done in spite of a tempting set of (self-inflicted) circumstances. You passed the first test
Man, any aspiring athletes joining this group are going to be impressed.
Inhalers, special glasses, back spasms, alcohol issues . . . we are the running zimmers And we rule!
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Seafront Plodder Wrote:I have three marathon reports on this hallowed forum...somewhere. They seem to have dropped off the end - lucky I kept copies.
They exist.
They even exist here, but aren't showing up for some reason. I'll get round to it at some point. Probably around the time I upload the Almeria video. :o
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Seafront Plodder Wrote:I have three marathon reports on this hallowed forum...somewhere. They seem to have dropped off the end - lucky I kept copies.
I would very much like to read them SP - I very clearly remember your NY marathon campaign, and actually draw a great deal of inspiration from your efforts there - going through that much pain and yet perservering showed true grit (as John Wayne would say).
If those posts could be restored, I'd love to re-visit them.
Cross Training Day - I took advantage of this and cycled into town to collect my race number (a rather fetching bright red "158") for Sunday's 11km race and to pick up some silicon lubricant for my treadmill which has been a little recalcitrant of late.
Later, back at home I did half an hour of weights. I have a set of dumbbells and a medicine ball, and have a developed a bit of a routine which I can do without putting strain on the knees, i.e. I only do sets either lying down or sitting up, but never standing, as I found with even a modest set of weights the strain on the knees was doing a lot more harm than good. So over the past few months I've developed a routine in which I do mainly extensions, presses, raises, flyes and curls, with situps thrown in between sets - basically anything that I can without having to stand. It all seems to be doing the trick, but would probably give a personal trainer the heebies.
Anyway, at this point, I'm feeling really good and confident. Early days yet, but it's a good start.
Unusually for me I was up very early (4 a.m.) to watch the UEFA Cup final, and as the treadmill sits pretty much directly in front of the tv, it seemed eminently sensible to get my run done at the same time. And so I did - a 6km tempo run, peaking at a little below race pace. Being such an ungodly hour I had to start very slow, so it took a little over 40 minutes, but reasonably well done in the end I thought.
At the end of the run, which coincided with half time in the match I had just enough time to shower and change and race off to work (6 a.m. start), boot up the machines and switch the work TV on with about a minute to spare before Denisov kicked the first for Zenit. In the end I thought two-nil a fair result, with Rangers never really looking that aggressive, at least to my inexpert eye.
So blimey, two runs into the schedule and they've both been twirly. Don't expect this to become habit forming though... I'm still not a morning person. Although it is nice not to have to think about it for the rest of the day.
Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:In the end I thought two-nil a fair result, with Rangers never really looking that aggressive, at least to my inexpert eye.
Sadly some of the Rangers fans more than made up for their teams' lack of aggression, hurling bottles and bricks at police and stabbing a ZSP supporter in scenes reminiscent of the bad old days of the soccer hooligan. Media lovies are suggesting that the failure of a giant screen in an outdoor area where around ten thousand fans had congregated is somehow mitigation for trashing the city centre. Nothing to do with necking stong lager for twelve hours straight then.
Nice to see the 'friendliest fans in the world [SIZE="1"]TM[/SIZE]' enhancing their reputation. No doubt UEFA will call for an immediate ban on British clubs in Europe. Rowdies and Chelski fans who can afford to visit Moscow next week can be assured of an even warmer welcome from the city police.
Good to see the running enthusiasm continues unabated. Although I find the idea of running on a treaddie abhorent I can appreciate the advantages of combining training with watching sport. I could try the same thing here during today's Lords test against the Kiwis except . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . .
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Cross training day - Cross training was dictated by circumstance today, with my sturdy old Ford Falcon chucking in the towel yesterday evening and requiring a tow truck in somewhat tragic circumstances. So today's daily commute was by necessity the bike, and then a longish walk this afternoon to collect the repaired vehicle. By the time the opportunity to do some weights came around I was too shagged to bother, and am now contemplating an evening in front of the box - Black Books, Doctor Who and Friday night football (Aussie Rules Footy, the real stuff ).
The other excitement today was acquiring a pair of Brooks Adrenalines for nearly one third the regular price - in fact they were quite a bit cheaper than my regular, trusty and very well priced Brooks Vapors. Initial thoughts are that the Adrenalines are very nice indeed, and I'm faced with a dilemma - do I throw conventional wisdom to the wind and risk running my race on Sunday in them? I think not, but it is tempting. Tomorrow is a rest day, so Sunday will be the first opportunity to give them a good workout. Still, I think I'll play it safe and stick with the tried and tested Vapors until next week.
But I'm seriously peed off, because of the lousy behaviour of the Glaswegian fans, the Rowdies match will now not be shown on any of the big screens in Manchester City Centre.
So thanks a Lot Rangers, you played lousy game anyway and why on earth did you come down here when you knew you couldnt get a ticket, why didn't you stay and trash your own city.
Rant over. I just hope there is a bit of the city left to run round on Sunday. I enclode before and afters of Piccadily gardens
MLCM man, I think I would stick with your Vapors for Sunday, - The Devil You Know. Glad your poorly car is better :-)
I'm with SW on the Brookies mate. I have run a race in brand spanking shoes but the perceived wuisdom is I got away with it (and it was only a 10k). You'll love the Adrenalines - both my roadie and offie variants are excellent. Hmm, come to think of it my roadies are well past their sell-by date; best hunt around for a new pair.
Good luck on Sunday. I'm headed out on the apres-golf ale with Cap'n Tom; mercifully SP's in the Big Apple so it should be a light session.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Cross Training Day. First big departure from the schedule - this was scheduled to be a rest day, but it was such a nice autumnal day here that I went for a walk long enough to count as cross training. I decided to take the car and park it near the finish line for tomorrow's race (which is a point to point, rather than out and back or loop), and walked back home, leaving me just a nice 3km warm up walk to the start line tomorrow morning.
I walked back through the quaint, historic districts - through the Saturday markets, round the waterfront, through the old parts of town etc. And I was very disciplined - I ignored my favourite bratwurst & sauerkraut stall at the markets; walked past two of my very favourite pubs, and completely ignored the wonderful cafes and coffee shops that are dotted throughout the area these days. I was sorely tempted too by the handful of pubs that I've yet to cross off my list of "unvisited Hobart pubs", several of which I walked past this afternoon. But I resisted. Now I really know I'm in training. But actually I don't feel deprived, as the promise of a fine run tomorrow is more appealing than a couple of beers in a pub somewhere.
stillwaddler Wrote:But I'm seriously peed off, because of the lousy behaviour of the Glaswegian fans, the Rowdies match will now not be shown on any of the big screens in Manchester City Centre.... MLCM man, I think I would stick with your Vapors for Sunday, - The Devil You Know. Glad your poorly car is better :-)
I'm somewhat perplexed about soccer hooliganism - for some reason it seems to be the one sport that regularly incites awful behaviour, despite other, arguably more violent sports (I'm thinking rugby, ice hockey etc.) not suffering nearly the same level of off-field rowdiness.
I sometimes wonder if it's just the nature of the game - there aren't too many other sports that can leave you in agony for 90 minutes knowing that one split second can alter everything. Perhaps that kind agony is all too easily vented in antisocial ways? But I don't suppose there's a simple answer, nor an easy solution. We see it here in Australia too - soccer crowds going mad and literally rioting when it's not even a seriously major sport here. Meanwhile far more aggressive and popular sports such as Aussie Rules football and Rubgy League and Union suffer relatively little hooliganism.
One would hope someone somewhere could explain it, but it seems not.
Anyway, hope Manchester returns to normal soon. I'll be an honourary Man U fan next week just for solidarity's sake*.
And yes sw (and Sweder), I'll definitely wear the Vapors tomorrow!
*If anyone's that interested, I've actually always had a bit of a soft spot for Crystal Palace from the days when I was a little nipper and just liked the sound of them! But for tonight's FA Cup final I'm madly supporting Portsmouth, which was my Dad's team and home town.
Crikey -- bad luck on getting up at 4 a.m. to watch the Rangers-Zenit final. Rangers have been one of the worst teams I've ever seen to get so far in a cup competition. I suppose Wimbledon in 88 and Greece in 2004 may run them close, though at least there was more of a 'fairytale' attached to those two, and they had the decency to go ahead and win the FA Cup and Euro 2004 respectively, thus neatly completing the story. Rangers, with a mystifying record in this year's euro-competitions (did I hear right that they won only 2 of their 12 games leading up to the final??), finally got the come-uppance they should have received some months ago. I can't recall a more negative, less interesting football team. It was so bad that I turned over at half time and watched The Apprentice instead. Ah, now, as the man said, that's entertainment.
Good luck for the race, and well done on keeping your commitment up thus far. I've done alright too, and will write that up later. As for shoes, I have several times worn a brand new pair of shoes in a race becaue they feel so comfy and cushioned HOWEVER, I've only done this with brands I already know. Specifically, New Balance 854s. I've had a long stream of 854s and always had a couple of new pairs waiting in the bottom of the wardrobe. I think there were two Almerias when I wore a new pair, right out of the box, for the race. Didn't do my performance much good, but my feet felt great.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Adelaide Marathon Campaign - Week 1 of 16
And SP - yes, thanks for reminding me of EG's memorable words. Definitely worth printing out*. 
