All Is Quiet On The Western Front

I was just looking on here the other day and realised how long it had been since anyone had posted on here. It certainly has been a while. Has it been because we haven't been doing anything, has it been because we've been too lazy or have we just been too busy. I know what my excuse is, but what about the others?

For me, the truth is simply that I've lost some of my motivation and with that I've been focusing on other things. After the marathon there wasn't much for me to target towards, yes I had two sprint triathlons but I also knew I could complete those as they were nothing new. I guess the thing with me is that I need something to train for because at the moment the best motivation is just completing something. I've discovered that if the event is something big that I haven't done before then I'm more likely to train for it out of fear of failure.

What I need to do now is to get motivation to finish these races in a good time, and not just get round. I've got a completely different challenge coming up next year, hopefully between now and then I'll get motivated to go fast as well.

The Wannabe

50% of the Marathon Men can walk again

It's been a while since the last post so I figured I'd better put fingers to keys and get another blog post written. But what to say first?


Of course there is the fact that The Wannabe (me) is in the lead with the points, The Guru has steadily been increasing his mileage and The Old Hand has toyed with the idea of retiring from running.


There's also the fact that The Guru has signed up to the Luton Marathon and has desires to get a time that indicates he is "good for his age" and will therefore get automatic entry into the London Marathon.


But probably the most noteworthy news is that The Wannabe (me) and The Old Hand have completed the London Marathon and are walking normally again. Well, almost.... unfortunately The Old Hand had a slight accident in the first 10 minutes which meant that he had to travel, I won't use the word run, the final 25 miles/6+hours with a sprained ankle. He's been signed off work for the last two weeks so hopefully he'll be walking around next week.

Back to the London Marathon though, it was a great day with plenty of sunshine and no rain, at least for those who finished in a semi-reasonable time. As you can see by the picture of The Old Hand, right, he was ready for anything, apart from a pesky drain. He had his iphone on one arm tweeting out his progress every three miles, his ipod on the other arm giving him vital tunes to pound the streets to and a whole wristful of potential pace times.

Then there was me, left, with my pockets full of carb gels to give that well needed boost and an ipod, as well as my phone to hand, ready for those moments of boredom.

 

We both started the day in high spirits as there wasn't a cloud in the sky, we had our painters overalls on, a tip given to us by The Guru, and we had filled our bellies with as much free lucozade as humanly possible.

My game plan for this 26.2 mile run was to start off nice and slow, 11min/miles, in order to be able to last the course. I also figured that in order to relieve some of the boredom of running I could take photos en-route and send out to all my faithful followers.

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, it was certainly quite a challenge to run, take these photos and tweet them all at the same time but I managed it and it certainly helped me to keep a good pace and not get bored. When tweeting and taking photos my pace definitely dropped but then I was able to focus and get back on time again. The only problem came when I started to get a little tired and somehow managed to switch my camera to take photos with a blue tint! This was around the 13 mile mark just before I had a beer with a school colleague at the water station.

After the first half of the marathon everything still seemed fine but by 20 miles I had the first twinges of cramp in one of my legs. My running mantra of "Be strong, Be bold" helped me through this and I carried on running albeit slightly slower now. This pattern continued and my pace was steadily decreasing, I hadn't done enough training! Thankfully I was determined not to stop and continued on regardless of the cramp, which kept coming and going like the wind.

 

The last few miles are a bit of a blur, I remember just wanting to finish and looking at my watch to see exactly how far I had run. I remember wishing that I had trained harder and I remember thinking I wanted another beer. The battery on my phone was close to dying and although I had another one to hand I didn't want to waste any time swapping them over... I really just wanted to finish the race.

Before too long though it was all over, I had missed my photo opportunities with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament but I did not mind. It was over and I had one more marathon under my belt.

So...what is next. The Old Hand has informed me that Mersea has a half marathon on the cards and The Guru has signed up to Luton marathon. 

I may have to do both!

The Wannabe

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.