Was it all worth it?

About a week ago I ran my first marathon. It was a quiet and frosty morning. The start and finish line were my driveway and I was the only competitor, which meant that I won the event (and lost technically having placed first and last).

Like so many interests I have picked up over the years, my goals on running have changed more times that I care to recall, but the one that has remained constant was to run that distance.

26.2. Just a number right? But for novice runners this number has a hold over us in the same way as the height of Everest does for mountaineers or speed does for racing drivers.

The run itself was uneventful. Camelbak, Garmin, iPod and a handful of SiS Smart1 gels (berry and caffeine) and the whole thing went without a hitch. Under 4 hours for my first attempt was a very pleasant surprise and slightly faster tan I would have paced myself, but when it feels good, it feels good. What can I say.

People who I have told can't seem to understand the desire to run this distance and this made me reflect on whether or not it was worth the early start, the discomfort of running in the freezing cold and the aches afterwards.

I assure you that it was.

For those thinking about running a marathon soon or in the future, there is something a little bit magical about going the distance. I learnt a lot about myself as a runner during the four hours I was on the road. Like how often I need gels and how much water I get through. Where the aches come in and equally strangely, when they disappear. My knee ached at 7 miles and was feeling great again by 15. I took a gel every three miles after the first 10).

I realised that I am capable of accomplishing great things with determination and preparation. I have scoffed at the 10% rule in the past and I am sure that some can do without it. But for me, it got me to 22 miles, injury free and prepared for that last push to 26.2.

It made me realise that for me it is about going the distance alone and accomplishing something personal. Something which only a year ago I never thought I would manage. So was it worth the training, the preparation and the effort? Hell yes it was.

 I always expected to run 26.2 and then collapse in a heap, exhausted. Overjoyed but drained of all energy. I was surprised and happy to find that I had loads left in me. I'm not saying I could have done it all again, but I could have run further. I ached, sure, and needed a few days recovery. But I was far from spent.

2012 is to be my year of ultras with my first ultramarathon planned for May. Whereas before it loomed on the horizon like an approaching storm ready to test me and try to break me. It now seems like a challenge to prepare for. Finishing it will be a huge challenge but I now believe I can.

Looking back at 12 months of recording my running in a blog, I've accomplished more than I would have imagined. Not just the distance and the experience or the results and the medals. But a sense of achievement and personal pride which other interests have never given me.

I was asked once why I run and I did not know the answer.

If I was asked now I'd reply "Why wouldn't I?"

Respect the miles.

When I put together the training plan for running an ultramarathon I was under no illusion that it would be easy.
I knew it was a long term project
I knew it would mean running a huge amount in training
I knew it would get boring doing them
I knew all of this and still started on it.

I never really figured myself as the type of person who would commit to a long term project like this and stick to it.
Two years ago, when I ran recreationally for the first time it wasn't easy and it wasn't fun, but slowly the work started paying off and I saw and felt the improvements. Rather than running because I had to, I was running for pleasure and to improve performance.
Events came and went, I collected medals, I got the goody bags and I established a fine collection of raceday t-shirts and race numbers.

I'm not sure where I read the phrase "Respect the Miles", but the further I run, the more gravitas it has. Respect for the miles that others are running regardless of how far. Respect for the miles I put in. Respect for the miles that a person can make themselves run. All runners know how much of a toll running takes on your body. So constantly increasing them increases that exponentially.

But if anyone is out there, reading this, wondering if they can run further and faster let me tell you this. Two years ago I was overweight and unfit. The first time I ran eight miles I was so busted that I managed to get upstairs for a shower but couldn't bend my legs to come back down the stairs. After my first half-marathon, I sat on a wall, fell in a bush and seriously doubted my ability to get back out .I know some amazing runners who run a marathon per week. I know others who regularly run ultra-marathon distances. Equally impressive are those new to the sport putting in their first 5k, booking their 10's, returning from injury to run half-marathons for the first time in years.

Whatever your distance is, watever your ability, respect what you achieve. Take a step back from the effort and the sweat and look at what you have accomplished. Respect the miles and the effort that it takes to run them.

TodayI ran 16.5 miles, next week will be 18 and by New Year I'll be up to the elusive 26.4 miles. It has taken me two years to get to the point where I can run 4 times a week and increase by 10% each week, but it's been worth the wait.

This morning I ran through a sunrise. From the sharp frost with a crystal clear moon, to a vanilla sky sunrise I watched the world wake up as I put the miles in.
Thanks to running, every week I am accomplishing something new, that I have never done before. As long as I respect the miles I think I'll be fine.

Listen to your heart....

Having made the decision to "go ultra", this week the training started.
I never fail to be impressed at the amazing level of support you can get from social networking. On twitter I have been able to get advice and support form lots of amazing people. Some are professional runners and athletes and others are keen amateurs, but as I've always found with runners, it's an inclusive sport.

From words of praise and support to lengthy technical advice, with the help of these great people, I have got the confidence and the plan to get ultra fit by next summer and Marathon ready in April.

I've had to reassess my goals along the way, all for the best. There is now no point in me leaving the marathon training for next year. My marathon in April means I could start to train in the new-year, but by July I need to be able to do 70 miles, so the marathon in MK has become a training run along the way. The best news is that I have the chance to run with my brother in MK now. He's a great guy who got me into the sport in the first place and for this and so many other things I will be eternally grateful.

 So the goals have become:

a) Be running 40 miles p/w by January.

b) Finish MK Marathon in April in sub 4 hours.

c) Be running 50 miles per week by April.

d) Complete 70 mile ultramarathon in July (I'm not putting any time limit on that one).

So this week was a 27.5 mile week, including a 13.2 mile road run in my new Brooks Gelatine trainers, a 6 mile trail run in Trailgoves and an early morning 8.3 miler. These are all runs I have done before, but I have taken a new approach to them.

What has changed is the training methods I'm using. After listening to an interview with an amazing ultra runner called Lee McKinley, I have started using the HRM on my Garmin to set an upper limit for my heart rate. If during the run I reach that limit I slow my pace/effort to bring it down to my target. I have used the target of 75% of my max HRM which is 150bpm. Using an external measure of your effort (hrm) rather than "how you feel" means you never start too fast it push too hard, important as the distances increase. The trade off for losing a small amount of pace is a massive increase in stamina. To give an idea of the benefits of this method, I ran a half marathon yesterday in 1:49:37, only four minutes off my PB and with the strength in my legs to keep going a lot further if I had to.

As the distances increase I'll consider dropping this to 140 bpm, but as a method for increasing distance and stamina it's second to none.

Once again running has surprised me with how good it makes you feel and how you can improve with effort. And runners have impressed me with huge levels of support along the way.

Northface Blacks single track trailrun.

One year ago exactly I completed my first trailrun and was immediately hooked on being closer to nature and engaging with the countryside. Along with a free copy of Trailrunning magazine I got some nice kit and had a great day, well satisfied with my 49:06 time.

But what a difference a year makes....

Last year I attended as a Trail virgin, nervous and excited, buzzing with excitement. In 12 months, the excitement hasn't gone, but my focus and determination have increased hugely. My wife came with me today, looking to do her first run, the equally challenging 5k. The weather was immense, chilled and with a heavy dew, but bright and windy. A great day to be outside.

I can't talk about the 5, but the 10k route starts with a quick first section, bringing the first mile in under 6 and a half minutes, before plunging into the shadows and single track on undulating terrain.
After tackling Bison hill, nearly 300ft of ascent, the course opens into woodland and farmland before returning to the start on open chalkland.

I put myself near the front of the pack for the first time in a race and gave it everything to keep up, instead of starting near the back and working through the pack. It seemed to work and without the pressure of overtaking, I settled into a fast pace, averaging 7:29 min/miles over the entire course.

I ended up in 31st position out of 430 runners. A good result for me.

On reflection, I enjoyed the day, I love the trails round here and I'm happy with the result. But most of all I loved sharing the day with my family. They were all there and its the support at these events that gets you through the tough parts.

God knows how much support I'll need to complete an ultra!

Just one day to go...

Work is over for a few days, as well as the normal family stuff I now have a day to prepare for the race tomorrow. Although in all honesty, I've been preparing for this for ages.

I can safely say that this is the race I have most prepared for in the two years since I took my first (difficult and awkward) steps into the world of running. I've run further and faster than ever before and am in the best shape of my life (yet, I have by no means finished).

DirtRunning are a local company who arrange trail runs of various lengths, this one is short at only 5 miles but is set in the beautiful Ashridge Estate about five miles from where I live and train.

The hills in the distance covered in cloud are part of tomorrows race.

So this morning's run was just three miles of loosening up, a few hills, a fats downhill section, but nothing too gnarly or difficult that I could hurt myself or go too fast.

The weather in this country is famously unpredictable, so after a wet Summer and a grey start to Autumn, it came as no surprise but with a great amount of pleasure that the sun was up, the air was fresh and the sky was clear. It's just the kind of weather I love to trailrun in.

I'm wearing the Garmin tomorrow to track my pace and the target will be 7:15 min/miles. This is fast for me, especially on unknown trails but I think it's achievable. I'll also be wearing the immense Merrell Trailgloves, the best running shoes I have owned.

So the plan is no booze tonight, lots of water, a nice light dinner and an early night.

'Cos tomorrow is race day, and that's my favourite day of the week.



There is no fate but what we make....

This week, while the countdown to a couple of events continues to tick along, I started think about all the things running has done for me over the last two years.
I've been introduced to a whole new world of sport which is always thought was inaccessible for people like me.
A sport which singlehandedly presses my nerd, adrenaline and weight loss buttons.
Through this blog and Twitter I've met and spoken to likeminded people who all run for their own reasons, but are joined by the fact that they all run.
I've learned the importance of surrounding myself with positive people, who support and empower my desire to run further and faster.
But most of all I've realised that for the first time in ages I have the self-confidence to know that I'm good at something and continuing to get better.

I've set new goals and have some great events planned this year, but most exciting is looking to the future with a sense of excitement in knowing that I have lots more miles to run.

So I've drawn up a bucketlist. I know some of these are easier to achieve than others, but I intend to complete them all.

*complete a marathon
*complete a marathon in sub 4 hours
*compete in an event abroad
*run in central London
*run an ultramarathon

This year I aim to tick off one of these by completing a marathon, but recognise that I have a lot of training to do before I get there. I'm still massively impressed by anyone who has the determination to go the distance and hope that I will too.

Training for the upcoming events continued this week with trails, stamina and hill sessions. Distance is back up to 9 miles and I've plenty more in me. The plan is to.increase in line with the upcoming events.
10k in October
Halfmarathon in November and
Marathon in December.

Who knows what January will bring.....

New toy.

Started my new training plan today ready for the 5mile trail run in just 3 weeks. I've planned a mix of tempo runs, hillsprints, slow runs and fartlek.
And to celebrate and motivate myself I bought a new Garmin forerunner watch.
I took it out tonight for its test run and was well impressed. Incredibly accurate and clear to see performance stats. The best part is the amount of data that you can upload afterwards. Easy to read and some interesting feedback. Seeing your performance over 1 mile splits really encourages you to keep a pace. In this case I was looking to go slow and averaged 8:10 min/miles.

Wore the merrells again and felt light on my feet the whole way. After 2 years of trying out kit combinations I may have found the right mix.

It's not your pace that makes you a runner....

 It had  to happen eventually. Everyone said that if you don't take care of yourself or if you increase distance too quickly you'll end up with an injury. But did I listen?

For anyone who knows me in the real world you will know full well that I never listen to good advice.

 I approached my marathon training plan with my usual level of enthusiasm and completed an above target 16.5 miles and felt amazing. I kid you not, at the end that run I was certain I was heading for some sort of bright future in running, maybe a late call up to TeamGB for 2012.

If I could increase my distance that quick and maintain pace surely I could achieve anything. For one bright and shining moment I felt invincible. A god among mortals. An athlete among amateurs.

So excited was I that I set up my playlist for the next run a week in advance and went on to a couple of 60 minute interval sessions during the week, looking forward to topping 17 miles the following Sunday.

But that Sunday never came. Tuesday and Thursday (now known as Bastard Thursday) saw to that.

Long story short I limp home from both runs with a knee that feels like its been bent forward at 90 degrees. There is no flexibility and no strength there whatsoever.

Over the following two days I pitched wildly between never running again and planning ultra marathons to prove my knee wrong. But however I tried to look at it I was still a frustrated runner who could barely walk let alone run.

It took 48 hours for me to stop seeing this as a tragedy and start seeing it as what it is.

It's just another challenge. I have faced a lot and I will face plenty more.

And if there's anything that running has taught me it's that you can accomplish anything with determination and stamina. I'm not racing to complete my first marathon any more, I'll go when I'm ready. I've cancelled Eden and realised that for now my goal is recovery and focusing on the 10k I'm running in October.

I'm working on strength and flexibility in my legs and core to compensate for gammy knee and will be back on the trails soon.


One thing I learned this week was how great the running community is. Lots of people have wished me well but Twitter has proved an invaluable source of support and information with one guy @100mara100weeks being a constant source of inspiration and support. He is an ex-soldier and is running 100 marathons in 100 weeks to raise awareness and funds for Help for Heroes. He's a legend and well worth a follow/mention. I've decided to donate my entry money from the cancelled run to him as I think he is amazing and a  true inspiration having never run a marathon before!

There's a lot to be said about the benefits of running, mentally and physically. For me it's an opportunity to unplug my brain and let subconscious sort things out. Difficult decisions seem less daunting and somehow trivial once you spend some time under the sky with the world passing you by, realising what a small part of it you really are. It's a huge destresser for me and speaking to friends recently I know others feel the same.

And it doesn't matter how fast you are. It's not your pace that makes you a runner, but your ability to put one foot in front of the other, over and over again.

Every day's a school day....

I mentioned in a previous blog, that I believe you can learn something every time you go out running. It turns out this is never more true than when you are pushing the boundaries of what you can do.

As training for the Eden Project Marathon gets underway, I've notched up 35.44 miles this week, A mixture of trails and intervals, on minimalist and conventional running shoes.

The minimalist session was my longest one on five-fingers yet. An hour in these minimalist shoes, left my calf's in knots on Thursday and my 45 minute short run yesterday was exactly the cure I needed. That "short" run was a warm up to the main event which I did this morning.

MiCoach was insisting that I increase mileage to get marathon ready and so I headed out at 8am to  do 2hours and 30 minutes on the road. Fortunately, the weather was good, great in fact, and in the allotted time I completed 16.5 miles.

This is great because
A) it's the furthest I have ever run, and
B) it's the longest time I've ever spent running.

A summary of stats showing the crazy increase between last week and this week.


And while I'm happy with this, running this sort of distance/time made me try new things and as I said at the start every day is a school day.

I tried carb-loading for the first time yesterday, I'm still not eating much sugar or starchy stuff so an evening of pasta and popcorn left me buzzing with energy this morning and allowed me to complete the run on little supplements (a couple of SiS gels).

I started hydrating on Friday. Regular drinking rather than when I was thirsty meant that I never felt that parched today and if truth be told, could have gone further.

Thirdly, knowing I'd get bored of music after a while I started on an audio book instead. This was a gamble as I love ,music to run to, but boy did it pay off. On a boring road session like this one, the story kept the mind entertained and let the legs get on with running. The miles literally flew by.

This week will see the donation page for Great Ormond Street set up and then I can really start publicising the run in October. Until then it's business as usual.

Me.

The road.

The biggest challenge yet....

Eden 2011

One more goal....

Over the last two weeks I've not run as much as I'd like.

Why?

1) My new minimalist running shoes crippled me and left me with no calf movement for a week,
2) I worked overtime on nights doing a 60 hour week and feeling pretty crap, and
3) I spent last weekend blasting round Yorksire on my Motorbike with friends (although I did manage a cheeky 8k in the moring before everyone lese got up).

Have I been resting and enjoying the break from running?

Have I hell!!!

I've realised that having met two of my three goals for this year I needed to really test myself. When I set the three goals of losing weight, beating my 10k PB and raising money for charity, I kind of figured that the third would be the easiest. And it pobably would be but for the fact that I seem to think differently now.
Rather than accept and achieve the norm I find myself constatntly testing and pushing myself. Having realised that I can accomplish anything I really want to, when I decided to do a run for charity, I figured I had to come up with something unique....

I have planned a run which will smash any goals I've set before and I'm well excited for it.

I'm looking to finalise details this week as i want to get some support first but watch this space....

13 miles of trails

I had a great 2-hour run last week, pace was nothing exceptional but the distance was 13 miles/20k and the scenery and trails on the way were well worth the effort.

I've mentioned before the desire to reach the furthest available hill, my usual routes have a "beacon" hill on the horizon that has been calling me, "siren-like" for as long as I can remember and today I decided to reach it, one way or the other.

I got lost twice, ended up running through private property and seeing a deer. I asked a bus driver and a dog-walker for directions and used google maps (thanks iphone) to locate a public footpath, but eventually I made it.

A five minute stop and a 9-bar (nutrition, not cannabis) later I ran a whole different way home.

Using the new Nike+ app is a change having moved from adidas micoach. I find the Nike app much better, it allows gps recording when iphone is worn on the arm, has better music management and some other very cool elements.

What I liked most about this run was that I did it myself, without a need to get somewhere, no other competitors  or target pace, I gave it 100% on the hills and reached half marathon distance along the way.

 I think every run teaches you something.

Sometimes the lessons are learned afterwards when you get back and realised you could have gone further.

Other times you realise as you lace up your running shoes that you have dedication where others do not.

This run taught me that anything is possible if you can imagine it. And I know how stupid that sounds, but I have come a long way in under two years.  I've run to the horizon and made it back alive. I've entered competieions that I wiould never have though possible and in six months alone I've lost two stone of fat which has haunted me (ghost-fat?) for years and have got others interested in running along the way.

The question then isn't what can I achieve, but "what can't I?"