Road to London 2009

[marathondan]

So, I’m going to run my second marathon.

Not a big deal for many residents of this virtual running club, but a medium-to-large one for me. It’s taken a couple of weeks to commit. Pretty much every time I’ve woken up in the last two weeks, either in the middle of the night (more often to deal with No. 1 daughter than No. 2 at the moment) or at the unholy hour of 0530 (to get a day’s work in and still get to pick Luke up from school), I’ve thought: "come on, life is hard enough, the last thing I need is to run a marathon."

But after a short time those feelings evaporate. The unthinkable becomes thinkable again. But still, there’s no burning desire to do it, either. I’ve run a few times recently, and not especially enjoyed it, although it’s nice to get re-acquainted with the post-run endorphin glow. I could definitely do without this. But it won’t be that bad, I will stretch myself and test myself and discover new things, and it will be a great journey, even if the novelty factor isn’t there this time.

And if I can raise a couple of grand for charity, for about 75 hours work (excluding logging and blogging :o), then that’s good work to be doing. No-one said work is meant to be easy, or (always) fun.

So here I go. I’m starting to feel settled with the decision.

[Sweder]

I applaud your decision Dan, and your pragmatic view of what lies ahead.
Having done so recently myself may I suggest picking up a copy of Feet In The Clouds? Whilst it's focus is very much on fell running I find the tales of absurd dedication and sacrifice help me when I'm in two minds about getting out there in the mornings. Of course reading a book won't help with your time-management issues, but it's one of those you can easily dip in and out of.

I've been thinking about city marathons lately, and more to the point whether or not I've run my last one (Paris). I'd like to do London sub-4 but even if I take a place or get in there's no guarantees. I'd have to wake up with everything just right, have no injury issues and be in great form. Perhaps the tales of your own battles this time will prove inspirational. I'll certainly enjoy reading about them. Good on yer.

[El Gordo]

Well done Dan, we'll help in any way we can. Interesting remark you made about the number of hours of running vs the "logging and blogging". Made me realise that I spend far longer logging and blogging (I do like that phrase...) than running. It doesn't seem right. Perhaps I should try to have a rule that the time spent writing about it shouldn't exceed the time spent doing it. I'd find it hard to stick to though.

Will you try to stick to a schedule? Or just do what feels right, and what you can fit in? It's a couple of years since I ran a marathon so I don't mean to sound like an expert, but I am finding that I know the lay of the land, and myself, well enough to be able to establish my own training plan. Sticking to it is another matter. It won't be easy, given your work and family commitments, but I'm sure you'll manage it. I hope that getting out there a few times a week will help you deal with the other stuff, rather than 'the other stuff' seeming to get in the way of your running schedule.

Any thoughts about races over the coming months? I've put my name down for Cliveden again this year, but am reluctant to be too confident about anything after that. Wokingham Half comes just a week after Almeria, and I'm not sure if the emotional scarring will have subsided enough by then -- not to mention the alcohol poisoning. A week after that is the Bramley 10/20. And end of March is the Reading Half. Haven't done Reading for ages, so injury/apathy permitting, I'll hope to revisit it this time. I'm not entering any of these just yet though. Too much forward planning seems to spell disaster.

Good luck for the London adventure. Regardless of how cool you feel about it at the moment, the excitement will gradually build and consume you. Make sure you tell us about it.

[marathondan]

Thanks for the supportive comments guys. Talk of battles and adventures are just what I need to fire myself up.

I could have done with FITC this week, as I’ve been doing 5-hour round trips to Cambridge. In theory I was working on the train, but the appeal of writing offline emails palls pretty quickly… Will look it out.

Sweder, to me your off-road adventures are far more challenging than city marathons, with their flat routes and uplifting atmosphere. I can’t imagine grinding out the last 6.2 along a windy ridge, with only a few hundred strung-out (in more than one sense) runners for company, and the odd sheep for support. I know you are sensibly wary of hardtop – I may regret this in 10 years – so I guess the main question is: do you want to inflict the torturous tarmac on your knees one more time?

EG, face it, you enjoy writing at least as much as running, if not more. OK, sitting on our arses writing that we can’t get motivated to go out running is clearly ironic, but your proposed rule seems unnecessary to me. Logging and blogging (or charting and farting [around]) is an essential part of the self-motivation process for many.

I wouldn’t trust myself not to have a schedule. For a start, it’s a golden opportunity to create spreadsheets when I should be working. I’ll post details shortly, and you’ll soon be wishing you’d never asked.

By the way, you’ve both picked up on "time-management issues" and "work and family commitments". I hope to never sound like I’m complaining. I really have a very comfortable middle-class existence. Others who are far less fortunate than me manage to achieve much more. I just need to keep an eye on my priorities and make sure that running fits into the list at an appropriate point.

As for races: no plans yet. I’ve never entered Cliveden, because by the time it closes in mid-November I’ve never made firm plans for New Year. I feel no compulsion to enter any races in the near future, but at some point the bug may bite again. Wokingham, and various local 10Ks, are possibilities. I’m a bit snobbish about Reading these days, feeling it’s poor value for money for the (ahem) "frequent" racer.

[El Gordo]

Reading is horribly expensive, agreed. It's £28 in 2009, and you have to buy your teeshirt for another £12 (though Reading shirts are among the best I've come across). If it was 50 miles away, I probably wouldn't consider it but it's my local big race, and I feel drawn to it. I also think it's a really good event -- if you like that sort of thing.

There's undoubtedly something more satisfying about the thought of rustic, wind-blown battles with the hills... but the fact is there aren't many of those happening around here. In Swederland, there's an endless string of hills and an endless string of races of all distances, to go with them. Berkshire seems to be village 10K territory, with a couple of high profile spring halfs. Maybe if I ever changed my life enough to become a better runner, I'd head for the hills -- even if I had to travel. Just now though I quite like the well-attended town races where I see enough specimens at the same level as me to feel comfortable.

[marathondan]

This will be the family-friendly, clear-conscience marathon, brought to you by Less Is More™ Training Products. The Rules are as follows:

1. The fundraising target shall be £2000. (Pledge amount is £1500. The charity is Sense.)

2. The time target shall be sub 4. (PB is 3:50.)

3. The number of training runs per week shall be three (3).

4. The Long Run shall be conducted on a weekday evening. (That is, not during Family Time.)

So, less is more, for sure. I’ll take the Hal Higdon novice plan, cut out one of the short runs, and throw some speedwork into the middle of the medium session. Cross-training? Pretty unlikely, unless my wife’s threat to get a rower or static bike materialises. (I might give that somemore thought, actually.)

Rule 4 will be the biggest challenge. 18 miles of suburban laps, in the dark and cold and rain, with an early start the next day and still the washing up to do? Um, yeah, bring it on. Right.

I don’t know if sub 4 is possible for me on three sessions a week. I might not even be able to run all the way on three sessions a week. But Rule 2 is something to aim for.

The plan proper will kick off just before Christmas. Until then, the goal is just to get into the habit of running again. Six short runs in the bag so far. It’s not as hard as I feared - yet.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Best of luck with your schedule MD. My planned marathon is the week before FLM, so our schedules will largely parallel. My schedule is also massively compromised (in my case by work committments) so it will be interesting to compare progress.

But I like the less-is-more approach - works for me.

[marathondan]

Thanks mate - good luck to you, too. I notice that you are heading for April as well. Am I right in thinking you're cramming something like 6 days work into 4, and then taking a long weekend? Sounds like it will be hard to get any training done in those work days.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Am I right in thinking you're cramming something like 6 days work into 4, and then taking a long weekend? Sounds like it will be hard to get any training done in those work days.

Yes, I get plenty of days off, which is the good part, but work up to 4 days straight where I leave home at 5:30am and get back around 8 pm, which makes it difficult to get into a training routine each week. Still, that's just an excuse, and the training shall be done... he says grimly.

[El Gordo]

This will be the family-friendly, clear-conscience marathon, brought to you by Less Is More™ Training Products. The Rules are as follows:

1. The fundraising target shall be £2000. (Pledge amount is £1500. The charity is Sense.)

2. The time target shall be sub 4. (PB is 3:50.)

3. The number of training runs per week shall be three (3).

4. The Long Run shall be conducted on a weekday evening. (That is, not during Family Time.)

So, less is more, for sure. I’ll take the Hal Higdon novice plan, cut out one of the short runs, and throw some speedwork into the middle of the medium session. Cross-training? Pretty unlikely, unless my wife’s threat to get a rower or static bike materialises. (I might give that somemore thought, actually.)

Rule 4 will be the biggest challenge. 18 miles of suburban laps, in the dark and cold and rain, with an early start the next day and still the washing up to do? Um, yeah, bring it on. Right.

I don’t know if sub 4 is possible for me on three sessions a week. I might not even be able to run all the way on three sessions a week. But Rule 2 is something to aim for.

The plan proper will kick off just before Christmas. Until then, the goal is just to get into the habit of running again. Six short runs in the bag so far. It’s not as hard as I feared - yet.

Dan, do take a look at the Furman marathon plan(s) at http://www.furman.edu/first/index.htm . These have had quite a lot of coverage in RW and elsewhere. They specialise in 3-runs-per-week marathon training, and claim to be very successful. I'm considering using one their schedule if things continue to go well. They last 16 weeks, so I don't need to decide until after Christmas.

[marathondan]

EG - thanks for that, most interesting! I see they have nicked my idea of putting speedwork in the middle of the medium session. It's interesting (and sensible) that they put emphasis on the hard sessions to improve conditioning. I had been thinking of my short run as a recovery from the long one, but maybe I need to think again and work harder.

And having been brought up in the Hal Higdon "LSD" school, where "time on feet" is the mantra, I'm a bit wary of running long at near target pace (as well as it being bloody knackering). But maybe that's another way of setting a realistic target pace (unlike last time - a sweet first 30K, then the predictable fade for the last 12.2).

Having said that, I just checked my logs. Back in June I was running the paces and distances specified in the first few long runs of the first-time program. (No point trying the improver program - it's not my first marathon, but given the constraints I'm not trying to improve.)

As you say, something to ponder over the next few weeks. Thanks.

[marathondan]

Just two three milers logged this week, as most of the days were spent chugging up and down to Cambridge on the train (a 5 hour round trip), getting home in time to fall onto the sofa and thence to bed, and repeat.

The second run (Saturday night) felt like the first "real" run of the campaign – with a few recent looseners under my belt, I felt ready to go for it a little. The watch only showed a minute’s improvement, but it was good to hit at least fourth gear for the first time in months. TdJ: Blondie, Maria – the perfect cadence (for me) for a 10K-style sprint finish.

My Golden Bond place is confirmed with FLM, so I’m now officially in…

[Sweder]

I'm a big fan of 'Less Is More'. I dined on LiM for Paris in 2006 and bagged a PB on an average of three runs per week. The key is the long run, extending the mileage carefully, using the other two as either recovery or speed/ fartlek sessions.

The main benefits (aside from time efficiency) are less opportunity for injuries and a surprising freshness on those longer runs. you don't get as many 'duff' outings either. The one downside is if you miss a run (though timetable conflict or illness) it feels like a big part of your schedule (which it is, at least percentage wise).

I don't think you need to run long at race pace at all. Time on your feet is far more important, or at least that's the consensus of us Brighton lot (we discussed this over coffee the other Saturday). Short speedwork sessions between the bigguns are great for improving race pace and aerobic recovery time. You've been there before so you know you'll up your pace on raceday through pure excitement. Might be worth slipping a half or two into the schedule to relight the racing fire. Running a half with your full marathon head on, whilst tough to do, is a comfortable and reassuring experience.

[marathondan]

Thanks for the thoughts, Sweder. If it's good enough for the Brighton Mafia, it's good enough for me! I also like the idea of running as little as possible, to avoid injury!

Incidentally, the link EG posted wasn't (mostly) proposing doing the long run at race pace, but at race pace plus 30 sec to 1 min. This sounded quite fast to me, but of course an extra 1mm is actually quite a lot.

Many things to ponder over the next few weeks...

[marathondan]

Mon 17th Nov: another late evening suburban 3-miler. After my previous success, I treated this as a tempo run, and knocked another 42 sec off my circuit time. Quite gratifying, but let’s not do too much too soon. Once a week only for this kind of thing, at this stage, else Mr Tweak will be paying a visit to Mr Hamstring.

Thu 20th Nov: I failed to make yesterday’s planned lunchtime run, so as penance I dragged myself out at 0610, having driven to work, for a half hour plod around the identikit backstreets of Bracknell. Not as bad as I feared, but if I’m going to do any meaningful training in the early hours of the morning, rather than just workaday trudging, then I’ll need to find some serious inspiration and energy from somewhere. But hey, isn’t that what this is all about...?

Sat 22nd Nov: late evening again, just short of 5 miles. My longest run for three and a half months. A crisp, starlit night necessitated full body coverage for the first time this winter. Had there been any breeze propelling the icy air, and a second layer would have been in order. I easily necked half a litre of water in the first two miles, but was dismayed to find that my usual halfway refill tap was out of order. Bigger bottle next time, and probably to be taken on each and every run. Hydration is something I’ve neglected since rarely venturing into double-figure runs over recent years. One of those little things that will soon become second nature again.

In the light of discussions above, I noted that this run was 4 sec slower than my target race pace of 9:10. A pretty meaningless figure for such a short run, but I'll keep an eye on that as the distance increases.

A good week: all missions accomplished. Next week: um, probably the same again.

[El Gordo]

Going back to the previous discussion, I was reading some of Tim Noakes's great Lore of Running last night. His take is that running at race pace in training is a throroughtly bad idea because a) it greatly increases your chance of injury and b) it's almost impossible to achieve anyway, because of the psychological factors present under competitive conditions that aren't there in training. No professional athlete that he's aware of tries running long at race pace, though speed and tempo runs will try to push up to that level for relatively short periods.

For anyone who doesn't know the Noakes book, I'd strongly recommend it, though it's quite daunting in its depth and sheeer size. Here's a brief blog post review I came across:

http://blog.zentience.org/2007/12/tim-no...nning.html

And here are Noakes's 15 Laws of Training:

http://www.duhac.tcdlife.ie/Training/15laws1.php

[marathondan]

Great link to the 15 laws; thanks.

#6 is my favourite...

[marathondan]

All fairly tickety-boo here in pre-season training camp. Next week will be the first week proper of the training programme. I'm mostly managing to stick to three runs a week. Last week was a bit of a wobble due to MLCM-style 14 hour days commuting to Cambridge. Other than there's only been one run missed due to genuine apathy.

At the moment it's just about getting back into the habit of running regularly, and it seems to be working. I'm running very comfortably for an hour; I won't bother increasing that for a few weeks as 6 miles is the starting distance for the long run. I'm building some quiet enthusiasm, and negative thoughts are fairly few and far between. (Anyhow: there's money riding on this now; I have a job to do, so negative thoughts will just have to be ignored.)

All but one runs have been completed in darkness. I'm starting to quite enjoy this, especially the evening ones - running after the day's work is done seems conducive to an "easy" pace, and running just before bedtime is a good way to ensure rest and elevation straight after the run. I'm also trying to stick to one fartlek session a week - I haven't done this for years, and it's a bit of a shock to the system, but I can feel it doing me good.

Still in the foothills of Mt. Marathon, but going well so far.