I feel like a fat Rocky

Considering the title of this piece it would therefore mean that my daughter, Rosy, would have to be the character Mickey played by Burgess Meredith. Let me explain... being the school holidays I have been at home with Rosy doing various activities but yesterday we decided to go for a short bike ride as it was sunny. As it was only 5 miles it really wasn't too much of a big deal for this 2012 challenge but upon looking at the data I decided that it was more than likely possible for the next time we venture out that I run it while Rosy cycles. Upon waking up and seeing the sun shining I knew this was the day to trial it, I still need to run but they only need to be for about an hour as I'm tapering down in readyness for the London Marathon that "The Old Hand" and I are doing. Unfortunately Rosy didn't surface till about 11am, she must be tired, so after some lunch we headed out.

Now then, the fans of the Rocky films out there will understand this next bit. Whilst running through the country roads of Halstead with Rosy cycling alongside me I suddenly remembered the scene from Rocky where Sylvester Stalone was in training for the big fight and Burgess Meredith was cycling alongside him shouting various choice words of encouragement. Unfortunately for me though, there were plenty of times when I had to call Rosy back because I just couldn't keep up with her and that is where the title of this blog post comes from.

In all honesty this blog post is just a big excuse to see if I can embed a 3D 'fly-by' of our route. If it works it'll be below... if it doesn't... it won't be below, or anywhere else for that matter.

Lots of love

Wannabe

Fighting Talk

Now, I'm not talking about the banter between myself and "The Guru" as that is banter, pure and simple. I'm talking about some sort of mantra that can keep a guy like me going through 26.2 miles of road running in just under 2 weeks time.

There's a well know saying that goes something like,

"If you think you're beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't,
If you like to win but you think you can't, It's almost sure you won't,
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
Success begins with a fellow's will,
It's all in the state of the mind."

From what I understand there have been studies on the usefulness of mantras and they say that positive self-talk can reduce anxiety, increase effort and boost self-confidence. This is something that I have always believed. If you think you are a lucky person your subconscious mind is automatically more attentive and observant whereas if you think you are unlucky you invariably wont notice that £10 note laying on the pavement as you walk past it. From memory it's also got something to do with the reticular motor in your brain which regulates how much you take in of what you see through your eyes. I digress though, basically there is lots of evidence showing that what we say to ourselves can influence what we say to ourselves can influence how we feel and how we perform (Runners World).

I can't just copy other people's mantras, like "This is what you came for, you're in command" as it needs to be meaningful, relevant and specific to my needs. It needs to be positive, short, energetic and to embed some sort of instructions. As the people of Runners World say, I've got to build it, believe it and become it.

Being less than 2 weeks to the marathon now I'm focusing my mind more towards the race day and the actual race. I'm getting my kit together, thinking about meals and visualising running through those mileage points that I know are going to be difficult. I haven't thought of my mantra yet, but on the back of the first London Marathon I earned it says "It's not the taking part that counts, it's the finishing" and I can't wait to see what this one will say.

The Wannabe.

Now counting down in days

For "The Old Hand" and myself the day is getting closer, the day is in sight, the day is fast becoming a reality rather than a dream. The day is Sunday the 22nd April 2012, the day is known as the Virgin London Marathon 2012.

As I'm sure you know, we were both lucky enough to get in and found this out six months ago way back in October. It was unfortunate that "The Guru" was refused entry but on a more positive side it has meant that the rest of us have been able to use this as a source of motivation to keep running and gradually gain points in this little competition of ours.

It has to be said that I am really looking forward to the marathon. There was a time when I was thinking that there was no way I would be able to do it in a time I would be happy with, mainly due to my lazy arse attitude to training, but thanks to this "2012 in 2012" challenge things are slightly back on track and I'm happy again. Optimistically I'm still wanting to get as close to 4hrs30 as possible but I know how much I slow down by after the 13 mile mark so my actual time is more likely to be closer to 5hrs. Still, I'm happy with that as I know that if I continue with the training, and train slightly more than I am at the moment, then it will get better and next year my time will be 4hrs30.

Now then, the day is in sight and no longer am I saying the marathon is in a month or two...

the marathon is in 19 days!

Half Marathon Day Tomorrow

For myself and The Guru, tomorrow is a race day. A day when we are both going to be running an organised half marathon. For The Guru the day will start at 7.30am when he'll leave Chelmsford for a 11.00am start at Silverstone. I will be starting at 9.00am from the Colchester United football ground and considering I have run a half marathon every weekend for the last three weekends, I am feeling a little nervous.

Still, it should be fun and I look forward to seeing what time The Guru clocks in at. Myself, I'm hoping for 2hrs9mins.

When is "enough" enough?

With the London Marathon looming I have to say that I am getting more focussed but with that focus comes doubt. Optimistically I have always said that anyone can complete a marathon, it is just about pacing, mental strength and a 'can do' attitude. Having completed it twice before, with very little training, I felt that I could simply do it again without too much stress.

The problem comes when I start thinking that the last time I completed a marathon was in 1999 when I was a sprightly 22 years of age. The only training I did for that marathon was a 2 mile run 7 days prior and a 26.2 mile run about 365 days prior (the 1998 London Marathon). I completed the marathon in 5hrs 5mins and my legs felt every minute of that the next day. Being 35 now and constantly being told that the last marathon was over 10 years ago when I start complaining of achy muscles, some doubt has begun to creep in. I know that I'll easily be able to complete the course, I have no doubt of that, but my aim is to complete it in a good time, a time of less than 5 hrs and preferably closer to 4hrs30. At the beginning of this challenge I had thought this was easily possible but having left the training a little late I now have my doubts.

Training is now focused and going well, I know I can run a half marathon in 2hrs10 at an average pace of 6mph but I had planned to increase my long run distance by 2 miles each weekend with my last long run being 20 miles on the 31st March. The problem with this is that yesterday I completed a 14 mile run, it started off well but after 10 miles the speed dropped below my desired 6mph. There wasn't much I could do about it either as my legs felt really quite heavy and by the time the 14 miles was up I was saying "it was too far". It is now the next day and although my legs feel achy they feel no worse than they did last week after a 12 mile run. Was it really too far?

So, when is "enough" enough? Last night I was contemplating doing no longer a run than the one I did yesterday leading up to 22nd April, the London Marathon, because in my head I was thinking that way I would complete half of it comfortably. Now though, I'm thinking that I have the Colchester Half Marathon next weekend and that maybe the "it was too far" feeling I had yesterday was because I knew I was at the end of my run.
To answer my title question, when is "enough" enough? Is it when I can comfortably run the marathon distance, is it when I can run the distance in under 4hrs, is it when I can run two marathons only a month apart and still want to do another the following month?

It's time to plan my training for next week and to continue increasing the distance because now I feel...

ENOUGH IS NEVER ENOUGH! You've always got to push yourself.

These are the thoughts of a Wannabe.

And it's back on

So the marathon training has not been going exactly to plan, but at least it's still been moving, albeit very slowly. I went for a run outdoors today which is unusual as I've been favouring the indoor treadmill run recently and strangely enough I quite enjoyed it. I decided on a route that I had been on about a year ago and remember starting off quite slowly and almost turning back. This time though it was really quite different. The first couple of miles went quite quickly and I was confident when hitting mile 4. This new found confidence meant that I had time to plan an extension to my run, just a couple of miles mind.

Unfortunately, my legs started feeling it after the 6 mile mark and by the time I arrived home, after 8.6 miles, they were definitely feeling heavier. On saying this, I think another run on Friday is called for but of a smaller distance and faster pace all ready for another 8.6 miler at the weekend. I know it's not too long now till the London Marathon but I'm still confident about completing it in a good(ish) time. I wonder how The Old Hand is getting on.

On a slightly different note, I had a phone call from the charity I'm running for and felt quite embarrassed when he asked how far I had run so far. That's the sort of encouragement I need to get back out there.

Off to bed now for me.

See you soon.

Wannabe

Gun-ho and kissing the guns!

Well Mr Wannabe you really have been pushing yourself and managed to do over 2012 press ups. I can not believe you have done over a thousand in the last 4 days. Super human effort. I suppose you are now going to attack the squat thrusts with the same vigour and gun-ho attitude? But please think about the marathon and training for that. It is not far away and if you want to get under your target time you need to get organised, motivated and structured with your running.

I promise this is the last time I'll mentioned this and maybe I'm banging on about this so much because I'm still not allowed to run and once again didn't get in to the London marathon. Anway another reason I will stop mentioning this lack of training is that the less training you and the old hand do the more you'll damage your bodies, therefore the longer to recover and more time out of action you'll have allowing me to catch up for lost time.

So carry on boys with your press-ups and squats! You'll be great at the marathon, no problem at all, your legs will be fine - the cheering crowd will get you around. Think positively the more time it takes you to complete it means more total time towards your 2012 minute goal!