Tom Roper's Running Training

The end of week eleven

After last week's low mileage, I'm well and truly back on track with 46.46 miles under my belt, and, indeed, my feet. While more competitive souls took themselves to the Eastbourne Half or to the Steyning Stinger, and I eagerly await Sweder's account of the latter, I went for a 19-mile plod. Quite how much of a plod can be deduced by the fact that I reached the half marathon point in a disgraceful 2:40, something of a personal worst. Still, I had to keep going for another six miles, so my conservative pace was perhaps justified, though it makes me wonder about my marathon target.

I set off up Seaford Head. Why make it easy, after all? Then I took myself down to the mouth of the Cuckmere, the Golden Galleon and off into Friston Forest. I went as far as the hill above Jevington before turning and trying a new route, which took me, as I expected down into Litlington. On to Alfriston, then up again, to Bo Peep, and back to Seaford by way of High and Over.

It was hard work, but there were pleasures to be had. After the 17-miles point, apart from the knowledge that the dish of scrambled eggs that had haunted me throughout was now only minutes away, there was the agreeable realisation that I was now running further than I had at any point in this bout of marathon training. Could I have run another seven at the end? Yes, if I had to.

Nature notes: some sheep so white I suspected them of using bleach, and a heron.

Here's the elevation, to prove there were some hills:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total mileage this week: 46.46
Five weeks till the Brighton marathon

Postcript, Monday evening: I've been walking like a ruptured duck all day. It's not yesterday's run, it's Saturday's swim. I had an attack of cramp at the end of my session. Also my hands hurt: I was wearing hand paddles.

Town and country midweek runs

Hard work here, 6.75 miles on Tuesday, 10 miles yesterday and 6 today. I am looking forward to my rest day. I made the most of the contrast between London and Sussex. On Tuesday I ran along Regent's Canal as far as Camden Lock, through that curious hinterland of the British Library, overlooked by the crazy Gothic of Gilbert Scott's St Pancras station, and today on a tourist route, down to Waterloo Bridge, along the Thames path by the south bank, and back over the Millennium Bridge to St Paul's. In between I ran a ten-miler round Seaford.

All of these runs took place in freezing northerly or north-easterly winds, and I did not thank the estates department when I found the showers running cold after today's run. Perhaps they believe that cold showers build moral fibre, and prevent impure thoughts.

The wine fairy has visited, with a whole case of gorgeous wines from Adnams. I shall be firm and leave them in the rack until 10th April.

Brighton marathon training day

As it was my birthday on Sunday, rather than pass the day in sottish debauches in one or more Seaford pubs, I enrolled myself for the last of the Brighton marathon training days. It seemed like a good idea, and so it was, thought I went not sure what to expect. I have a low tolerance of motivational speakers, and have often thought I might change careers and become a demotivational speaker.

In fact it was a splendid day. I could have done without the fashion show by Saucony and it might have been better to let a woman speaker discuss sports bras, which I expect she would have managed to do without sniggering. I didn't take a great deal away from the nutritionist who spoke either, but she certainly knew her onions. I am a little resistant to nutritional advice and my usual marathon training diet is to eat lots, cut out alcohol for the last eight weeks, have pasta the night before and porridge in the morning. She lost me when she mentioned quinoa. But runners around me were taking notes avidly, so I'm sure many found it useful.

The best sessions were those led by Richard Nerurkar, author, as he reminded us more than once, of Marathon Running: from beginning to elite, an excellent book which has guided me through most of my past marathons. Indeed. I regret not using his training plans for this one. His advice to us, with six weeks left to go was not to attempt anything too heroic. If training has been going well, we should go for one more long run of something over three hours, perhaps 3:10 or 3:20, and the other long runs of around 2:30, and then to move into the taper. In the taper, he advised us to remember that we cannot now make ourselves any fitter. He reminded us of the necessity to take the first half of the race, or even the first twenty miles, at a conservative pace, offering us a six word mantra: 'easy, easy, persevere, make it count'. We should know now which shoes we would be wearing, should be planning our pre-race routine and should get to know the course. He advises negative splits, something I've never had the discipline to manage.

Also outstanding was the down to earth practical advice offered by Tom Naylor's mother (an awful way to refer to someone who runs sub 3.00 marathons, but I didn't note her name). She echoed many of Richard Nerurkar's points, that we should plans and rehearse race-day routines, abstain from alcohol for three days beforehand (so with eight weeks off the sauce I should streak round the course), and ghet a good night's sleep on the Friday night, as we would be too nervous and excited on Saturday.

To avoid loo stops during the race, she advised drinking normally up to two hours before the race, then taking no liquid until 15 minutes before the start, and then 150ml of water before the start.

We should by now know the time we are aiming for, and she advised doubling our time for a half-marathon and adding ten minutes. I'm not sure this works; by this calculation, I should be able to run a marathon in under four hours, but my personal best is 4:10.

She offered some mental and physical tricks to help one through the race.

Mentally

• remember how far you've come
• break the race into chunks and tick them off
• look forward to places where you know you have supporters
• count (breaths, for example)

Physically

• change your posture or running style every so often
• if you feel a niggle or injury coming on, think hard about the part of the body that is hurting

Afterwards, she advised a paddle in the sea.

At the day they also announced some of the big names in distance running who'll be speaking at the marathon exhibition seminar, the party afterwards and a running event in Stanmer Park on 26th June, incliuding an 8K trail run. This should be a piece of cake for BSMS runners, who regularly run through the woods.

The day ended with questions and answers. The very jolly physio told us of one casualty brought into the medical tents, a young man wearing bermuda shorts who came in with the elite runners group. Caught up in the excitement, he had set off with the elite group and stayed with them for miles, till he came to grief. She also advised us strongly not to eat all our gels at once.

 

A week's running

I write this late. I have today's run to write up as well, but that will have to wait. Last week, week ten of marathon training, did not go entirely to plan; instead of a rest day on Monday and Friday, I ended up having rest days on Monday and Tuesday and then running every day for the rest of the week. On Wednesday I ran up to King's Cross through some of the side streets, on Thursday to Finsbury Park and back, and on Friday down to Tower Hill and along the bank of the Thames, and on Saturday a three miler on Seaford front. On Sunday instead of a long run I ran as part of the Brighton Marathon training day, of which more in another post. We ran for sixty minutes, out to Ovingdean. We were each instructed to turn when we reached thirty minutes, so that we should all have arrived home at the same time. I ran it at a good pace, almost too good: I started near the front, forgetting that the runners in front of me were people who run sub 3:00 marathons without breaking sweat. I had to slow down.

Total mileage this week: a modest 26.47
Six weeks till the Brighton Marathon

In which children pass remarks about my shorts

I crowned a week of many miles with a seventeen mile run, much of it in thick fog with no better than 5m visibility, up to High and Over, to Bo Peep, Firle Beacon, the Beddingham TV aerials and back on the ridge above Norton and Bishopstone, and finishing up with Tidemills and the seafront. As I passed the sailing club the drinkers in the bar raised their glasses to me, and for the second time in two days a young child remarked to a parent on my shorts, 'look, Mummy, there's a man running in shorts'. This shows the decadence of modern youth. When I was their age, I was allowed to wear nothing else, even in the ice and snow bound winter of 1962-63. In spite of the thick fog, there were hang-gliders at Firle Bostal.

Total mileage this week: 40.63
Seven weeks till the Brighton marathon.

 

Seven and eight miles

On with the relentless accumulation of distance. I ran seven miles with the Striders on Wednesday evening, and eight on my own yesterday afternoon. Having an afternoon off I was able to run over Seaford Head in a soft late afternoon light

Round Shoreditch Park

Tuesdays are sacred to speed sessions, today's consisting of twelve fast 200m legs, with 100m recoveries
and a mile warm-up and cool-down.
I ran through Hoxton to Shoreditch Park to do this, past landmarks such as Cooke's pie and mash shop. I have never patronised the Hoxton branch, though I used to visit the Dalston one, where live eels writhed in the window.
Shoreditch Park is not pretty, but it is satisfying to run round it, as close to the perimeter as possible. Three circuits were enough to despatch the prescribed sessions. I see that my fastest 200m took 00:01:04:67, my slowest 00:01:11:62

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Fifteen miles: half way there

Thus concludes the eighth week of a sixteen week training programme. So far, so good. Apart from the knee injury, things have generally gone well. What was Norman Douglas talking about when he wrote South Wind? Today the wind blew from the south, but as cold as any north-easterly, bearing freezing rain. I wondered what to wear, and though I had a long-sleeved top under a waterproof running jacket, I could have done with an extra layer.

It was so unpleasant that, for all my time on the tops of the downs, I saw but one other person, a rambler. The car parks at Bo Peep and Firle Bostal, usually crammed with people taking dogs and children for walks along the top of the escarpment, were deserted. But the knee held out; the only time it hurt was when I ran into the wind and rain. My gloves were worse than useless, and my hands were so cold that I made a hash of opening a gel at mile 9 or thereabouts. I ended up with sticky energy gel all over me, but none in my mouth. In summer this is unpleasant and hazardous, as it attracts wasps, but in winter, there is a particular discomfort in being coated in sticky stuff in freezing temperatures, that I had not experienced before.

I missed the Janathon lunch yesterday; my swimming lesson, which I shan't bore you with, prevented me from getting to London in time. I was pleased to see that Jogblog was properly honoured for organising it all: see Helsieboo's blog for an account.

There's still some uncertainty about a half-marathon in the training period. The Steyning Stinger is full.

Miles this week: 30.75
8 weeks till the Brighton Marathon

 

Janathon

 

Back to the canal

I'm taking it carefully. The schedule required an eight mile run today, but my knee still hurts a week after the accident, and I seem to have knocked the scab off in places, so I thought best not to attempt anything to ambitious. In any case, work commitments meant that I could not afford to take too long away from the desk. So I ran four miles, much of it along the canal.

I've stayed away from the canal recently. For all its romance, it is not easy running. There's lots of walkers, dogs, cyclists and other runners to dodge on a narrow tow-path and I find myself very nervous as I approach the tunnels under the bridges, in case I meet an oncoming cyclist, or a troll.

It was another warm and sunny day. I shall run again tomorrow, again not far, but I think it more important to get out and run than to try for heroic distances. By Sunday I hope to be back to fifteen miles.

Good lad yourself

'Good lad yourself', cried an old lady on the Holloway Road, as I ran along in on a beautiful pre-spring day. I thanked her with a gracious wave. My knee is not right, but I thought an easy session would not hurt, so I have put back today's speed session till later in the week.

This was another nostalgic run, up to the Angel, the length of the Liverpool Road, down Holloway Road and back through Barnsbury.

Tomorrow evening, there is what may be for runners the most interesting of the Marathon 2500 events, organised to mark the 2500th anniversary of the battle of Marathon. Dean Karnazes, who ran 50 marathons in 50 UDS states on 50 consecutive days,  and Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History, and A G Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge, will be discussing the Battle of Marathon and Modern Sports. Register to participate online here: http://marathon2500-5.eventbrite.com/