andy Wrote:Let's be honest boys, retaining all this data simultaneously is not a man thing...
...So I contort myself to peer between my legs at the wall mirror. The distant reflection of the instructor shows a reversed idea of where my body should be. And by the time I've worked it out, we're somewhere else.
Could this also explain why I could never quite master the actions to Nutbush City Limits?
FYI, I've been trying to post some stuff for the past couple of days but the internet connection in this hotel in Germany is hopeless. Doesn't like me sending or receiving files. Will try again later.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Zürich. Good for you for citing your doubts, Andy. They skit around and catch you when you are least expecting it. The classic response would be a simple reassuring message, but I'm not going to do it. So there.
I have read a few books by a sports psychologist (Alan Fine) who surfaced about ten years ago when such things were first fashionable. He coached David Feherty, a charming Northern Irish golf star who had just blown the Italian Open by choking down the stretch. Well, not even down the stretch, but actually on the very last hole, where he carted it straight out of bounds off the tee, and successfully negated a whole week's work and his first ever Tour victory in half a second. Feherty was distraught for months, hating himself for his failure.
Fine reasoned that Feherty clearly had the talent, but could not bear the tension. And the approach he took was simple. He simply told Feherty to imagine what was the worst which could possibly happen at such moments. 'Fire it out of bounds again,' was the obvious answer. So - would this make him unhappy ? - Yes, very. But would it kill him ? - No. Would anyone else care ? - Not many, actually, and not that much. Could he live with that failure again, given time, even though the pain would be worse than ever ? - Yes.
What Fine was doing was to ask Feherty to face the worst, to accept the possibility, even perhaps the likelihood, of defeat, and to deal with it ahead of time. The idea was that this was the only way he could ever liberate himself to cope with that same situation again.
Amazingly, the following year, Feherty was again leading the Italian Open by a single shot as he teed off on that same last hole. He knew that whatever happened, he could live with the outcome, somehow. This time, he hit the fairway, and went on to win the event. More successes followed, and for a few years he was amongst the top players in Europe, playing in the Ryder Cup several times, and always accrediting himself well.
Then, suddenly, Feherty seemed to lose the ability to play at the highest level any more, just at the very time when he had been offered a plum commentating post on US TV. He still does that job, and is amongst the best broadcasters in the game, the only shame being that we don't hear him much on this side of the pond these days, unless we have Sky (which I don't).
So perhaps it was good to see you visualising the broom wagon. Looking full on into the face of failure is the only way of doing it with marathon running, and with many other challenges, I think, or at least the only way of doing it when we know our own weaknesses and can see where we've struggled before. So what ? - just do your best. It's all that you can do, or anyone can do, and there's just no point beating yourself up about it - the biggest achievement is simply to try, and keep trying. And on that score, you've won already, many times over.
Andy presumably you have considered the alternative strategy. The one where you follow the 4:30 pace group to get 'ahead' of target, then try to hang on as long as possible, knowing you can get away with a walk break if needed.
Nigel - thanks for taking the time to post that. Interesting. It's an old cliché to note that top sportspeople need great mental toughness as well as talent. Who will ever forget the Steve Davis - Denis Taylor snooker final in 1985? With both players spurning numerous chances to win the match, you saw a rare example of sportspeople at the top of their profession totally losing their nerve when it mattered.
My situation is hardly the same as theirs of course, or the golfer, though my approach is pretty similar, as you note. I have to rationalise, and say, look, I'd like to achieve this goal but come on, what's the worst that can happen? If I don't make it, then so be it. It means I'll just have to have another few days away in some European city that I've not been to before, and try again. It's not failure at all, just deferred success. Yeah, that sounds better.....
SP - re your suggestion about joining the 4:30 pacing group. I've toyed with this one before, but I'm not sure it makes sense to deliberately run at more than a minute a mile faster than you have to for the first half of the race. Doesn't this just ensure that you're more knackered than you need to be in the last half? True, you then have a cushion to try to absorb the slower progress, but I'm not sure that it's a good approach. But I really don't know for sure. I guess it will have worked for some. The normal wisdom (wasn't he a comedian...?) is simply to establish your target time, then aim for a steady pace.
To be honest, I've no idea what will happen on the day. Part of me is dispirited, for reasons I've talked about, but equally, the fact is that I did the Bramley 20 in my target pace, and if you add the extra pizzazz of a top marathon in a pretty setting, and if you take away the freezing, drizzley Hampshire conditions, then perhaps I could just chug along for another 6 miles.
We'll see. Thanks for the giving me some stuff to chew over though guys, it's much appreciated.
Andy
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Ooh self doubt, I know what that is all about, but you did achieve exactly the right pace on the Bramley 20 miler in horrible weather conditions, you have at least completed marathons before at not much outside your target finishing time, go on Andy, just give it a go and see what happens. The thought of being bundled into the Did Not Finish Bus (would you have to have your head covered by a blanket in case anyone recognised you?) may be just the incentive you need. If you dont make the time, well, you will probably still have had an interesting schelpp round a city you havent visited before.
(easy for me to say from the position of someone who has never even covered 26 miles before ;-) )
Quote:This time it was all about Thinking Big. Yes, I can achieve anything I want if I decide that it is to be. I have trouble with this claim, because it is clearly a lie. No matter how ambitious, determined and hard-working I am, I will never win the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon. I will never score the winning goal in the World Cup Final. This verboten area beyond realistic ambition is never addressed.
...
But wasn't the London Marathon in 2002 supposed to sweep all that away?
Yes of course, running a marathon is supposed to prove that the sky's the limit, and that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. To many people, as a marathon runner you are already a high achiever.
I guess running a marathon affirmed the above somewhat for me, with the following caveats:
1. Clearly some things are off limits, as you point out. Run a marathon yes, run a sub 2:30 marathon no. Natural talent plays a part, especially in the more extreme ambitions.
2. Most things are achievable, provided you stick to the relevant laws of reality. E.g. pretty much anyone can run a marathon, provided they put in the training for six months. Pretty much anyone can run a successful business, provided they can raise finance, work 80 hours a week and if necessary get professional help to make up for gaps in their skills. Pretty much anyone can write a novel, provided they write for an hour a day for two years and then find a very patient editor. Etc.
PS - I hope NLP isn't non-linear programming.
PPS - actually, a quick google will tell you what it is. But that would spoil the surprise.
Dan, yes, I did consider the Google option but to be honest, I just didn't have sufficient curiosity to work up the enthusiam to execute the 2 mouse clicks and 3 key-presses necessary.
I agree of course that most non-silly ambitions are achievable with the right attitude.
All I need now of course is... the right attitude.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Why I do believe I might make an ultra runner of you yet Andy!
This was probably just the kind of event you needed to do when you're suffering a bit of a running crisis. I think we all go through phases in our running careers when we wonder why we're doing it, particularly if we've got a bit hooked into racing and become a bit too fixated on our times.
Last year I ran a tough little hill race (the Carnethy 5) and hated every second of it. A junior clubmate who I had always beaten on the road romped past me going up the hill (he's a very keen cyclist) and I spent the whole race with my eyes glued to his back and felt terrible at the end. This year, I lost sight of him at the start and decided that in the absense of proof, I'd assume that I was ahead of him (even though I knew this was very unlikely). I made a point of NOT looking at my watch. There was a howling gale at the top of the hills and icy frozen ground. I enjoyed almost every second of that race despite running slower than last year. That race was a timely reminder for me that times aren't everything. It's nice to keep trying for better times but you shouldn't let worrying about them ruin your enjoyment of the sport.
I would definitely have benefitted from some kind of garmin device during my one and only marathon. A lack of even pacing turned the event into abit of a struggle at the end.
But overall I prefer not measuring my running. I might glance at the clock as I leave the house or speculate as to the length of my route. But you know when you're running well and when you're not without spreadsheets. And I like the idea of learning how to pace myself properly.
glaconman Wrote:...you know when you're running well and when you're not without spreadsheets...
True.
For me, the main benefit of keeping records is not to analyse when I'm running well or badly but, well, just for the pleasure of keeping records. I think it comes down to some of us being recorders and some not. I like to log and compare things. I'd admit that this is largely a fairly useless exercise in my case because things don't change very quickly, but records do help keep me motivated. That said, since I've had my new Garmin I've not looked at the spreadsheet because the data is all in the watch, and can be downloaded to various software apps.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
News reports this morning confirmed that Paula Radcliffe has officially withdrawn from the 2006 Flora London Marathon. The foot injury that caused Radcliffe to miss the Komwelf Games last month requires 'total rest'.
Of course, we all know the real reason Paula's pulled out . . .
. . . don't we, SP?
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
