Mission accomplished – a sub three marathon

The day had finally arrived. I had not run at all for ten days prior and exercised with a couple of steady bike rides, the second of which incurred a puncture, plus a number of sedate dog walks. The logic behind this was to conserve energy and give my blistered toe every possible chance to make as good a recovery as possible. Whatever happened, I was determined to run. I had too many people already sponsor me to not, Matt, his wife Julie and Louise had all made the trip in support plus I was keen to see what I could do. I don’t particularly enjoy marathons, there are many other distances I prefer running. Yet the marathon for me remains the ultimate test.

My year had been rammed full of highs running wise. I’d achieved my club standards at the highest level, I’d secured county standards at diamond level and broken a couple more club records. I’d won a race, finished first at a fistful of parkruns, picked up a hatful of age grade prizes and won some cash. I’d ticked off goals of 100 consecutive parkruns in the top 10, the club’s first sub five minute mile and set personal bests at all 11 distances raced from mile to 20 miles. The only outstanding aim was the sub three marathon, the hardest and most prestigious achievement of all. Hard because of the distance, the months of endurance training required, the commitment and especially because of the limited opportunity to right wrongs. If you get a 5K wrong or its too warm to PB, there’s always another one around the corner, plus you have time to recover. I am of the belief you have to peak for a marathon to do your very best, which is why Matt’s stellar achievements over the distance remain both incredible and incomprehensible for someone like me. If Berlin went badly, the chances of me being able to perform well and on a fast course were decidedly slim, so this was a crucial race with which to finish the year and possibly, depending on how I felt afterwards, my running career.

I was uncharacteristically nervous all week leading up to the race. My main concern was my toe. It wasn’t painful but it wasn’t improving. I’d decided to run regardless and hoped it wouldn’t get wrecked in the process. If it did, I would just have to live with the consequences. I would Vaseline it well and avoid puddles. Nothing new there really! I was worried about having to let Serena Baker down as I had agreed to help pace her in the upcoming Chester marathon two weeks later. We arrived in Berlin but I was struggling to settle. I was distant, distracted and edgy. I broke my alcohol ban on Friday night and dived into a large stein of beer as I thought it might help relax me. The city was great. I’d love to go back as there was so much we didn’t see.

Registration and number collection was administered with typical Germanic efficiency. We had a look around the Expo and Matt shared many useful marathon tips. I couldn’t really decide how I was going to run. In a perfect world, I’d liked to have run negative splits, be strong at 20 miles and break 2:50 which was a gamble in itself as going too hard early could lead to a catastrophic blow out and me missing the ultimate 3 hour target. That said, I was so confident that I would break three hours, injury or act of God aside, I didn’t want to be left thinking as what I might have been capable of if I had really gone for it. This was a real about-turn for someone who wasted most of his youth being too shy to ask girls he liked out on dates. I monitored the weather forecast which changed constantly and planned my journey to the start and conditions looked promising for a decent time. I had to seize my opportunity. There would be no regrets this time.

I’m not a big fan of hanging around at the start of races. I generally try and do a 15 minute warm up then get stuck in. There were absolutely no plans for me to warm up here. I made sure I kept warm and dry beforehand but my first few miles of the race would be my warm up. Anything to conserve precious energy. The heavy overnight rain had left the streets wet but other than fog, mizzle and humidity, the weather wasn’t all that bad. No oppressive heat, no strong winds, no extremes of temperature. I left my bag at the bag drop, once I finally located it and made my way to the start dressed in a large Biffa recycling bag. We all waited about fifteen to twenty minutes with a bit of big screen visual entertainment to pass the time and we were off. It took a minute to get to the start line but once there, you could run with seemingly gay abandon, no constantly checking your stride or looking for room, the big wide roads took care of that and there was enough space to run freely.

I opted to wear my trusty Asics Nimbus 18s, with over 750 miles on the clock, along with the charity’s running vest. My club vest would definitely be more comfortable but I thought it only right and proper to endorse the charity as they were the ones who gave me the opportunity and I was effectively in a new 295 strong running club for the day. I would just have to put up with any additional chafing.

Despite Matt advising me to have a plan beforehand and stick rigidly to it, I confess I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I had to break three hours that was the whole point, I would likely PB but I wanted to see what I could really achieve. I had to gamble. Could I run sub 2:50 for example? If I ran 2:59:59, I would no doubt be pleased but possibly disappointed that if this was my peak of physical fitness in my life ever, then I’d never know if there was there a bit more to come? The risk of going hard is that it can all explode in your face late on. If the wheels come off, then there is nothing you can do, no matter how mentally strong you think you are. I opted for a compromise. Try and hit 86 minutes for the first half and negative split the race with an 84 minute second leg. If there was insufficient gas in the tank, I could still afford to run a 94 to get my sub three hour time. Were I to run a slower first half, an 89 or 90 for example, I was effectively kissing goodbye to a sub 2:50, despite it being a better tactic for a more measured race. Here, the fact that I had not raced a marathon for 18 months disadvantaged me as I respected the distance but forgot the feelings.

The first mile was decent enough, 6:51, bang on pace for sub 3 hours. It always takes me a few miles to get going and to get a rhythm so this was a perfect start. Very early on I started sweating which worried me, I hadn’t gone far. Looking back, it was probably the humidity as I didn’t end up with any illness to speak of. After two miles, my Garmin stopped working. This was not in the plan either but I refused to let it bother me. I remained fully focussed for the task in hand. Fortunately, both the time and pacing elements kept functioning so I was able to complete the race via a great deal of mental arithmetic converting kilometre markers into miles and working out the splits from there. Not ideal but all I could do. My watch did pick up again half an hour later but the distance was clearly wrong so I just had to make do.

I covered 10K well within myself and made it to halfway in 86:30 feeling comfortable. Extrapolating this would have given me 2:53 which would be more than acceptable. I set out with six target times, 2:49:59, 2:50:10, 2:50:40, 2:55:01, 2:59:59 and 3:12:26. The first three were hugely ambitious but not beyond me I felt. I honestly don’t remember a great deal about the scenery other than it was wet underfoot and there were decent crowds everywhere hollering support. Not as intimate as London but the course was faster with nowhere to slow you down.

A key thing was for me to feel strong at 20 miles and be overtaking more people than were coming past me. I wasn’t entirely sure of my 20 mile split but I did know that I was tiring and going up a gear was unlikely. I saw my little support group and had a number of shout outs from the charity, I overtook a number of runners from the charity too, as if I raised my game upon seeing the vest, wanting to be the first to finish! I wasn’t! I saw a Hermitage Harriers runner going backwards three quarters of the way in but it was very much a case of head down and concentrate. Water stations were plentiful but trying to drink out of plastic cups on the hoof was not the easiest. I rarely slow at water stops in the UK and find like a pit-stop in car racing, vital seconds can be made up by executing your grab quickly and efficiently while other runners fanny around. More water ended up on my vest than in my mouth and consequently, my race number was hanging on by just two pins at the end despite numerous attempts to refasten it over the last eight miles.

With three miles to go, I knew I was on for my time unless I were to give up and walk for a few minutes. Tempting as it was, I couldn’t chuck it in after having worked so hard to put myself in the position of joining the exclusive sub-three club. I worked out what I needed to do in order to get under 2:55 but by this stage I was totally unable to change pace. I was going flat out and due to the obvious fatigue, this was now at a mile pace of just over 7 minute miles for the first time in the race and there was nothing I could do to speed up, I just had to “keep pedalling” and get to the end as Dave would say. A more apt phrase I could not suggest. I saw Louise, Matt and Julie for a third time who bawled encouragement at me while I looked ahead and felt awful. I knew I was nearly there. I had broken the last fifteen kilometres into bite size chunks but when I foolishly converted this into time, it didn’t provide much encouragement.

I was beginning to haemorrhage time but luckily the finish wasn’t too far off. Due to my watch failure, I was unaware of where exactly the finish line was, not that I could do much about it anyway. Matt’s club record was a goal and if the race finished at the iconic Brandenburg Gate, then I would just sneak it. I looked for the timing mats as I approached but sadly there were none and the finish was another minute up the road. I ploughed on regardless and put a forlorn spurt on in the final seconds, if you can even call it that, to get over the line before the minute hand changed again. I stopped my watch a few metres beyond the line as I always do and had done it in 2:56 dead which meant 2:55:57 on the official timings.

I was incredibly tired and pretty pleased. I wasn’t overwhelmed by a rush of pure elation as I hoped. The slow trudge back to the others began but first I was gagging for some water. I picked up a plastic sheet for warmth, collected my goody bag, had my medal draped over my neck. I finally found some water and became a mess of coordination as in my weary state I found myself almost unable to do the most simple of tasks. I took a little sit down on a small block of concrete at the foot of some Harris fencing and soaked in the atmosphere for a good ten minutes. I had done it. I remember an old boss of mine from my Bairstow Eves days, Lee Wainwright explaining to me about how he would approach running a marathon in under three hours, presumably to make a point at the time and me thinking that he wouldn’t manage it, although I admired his self-confidence in believing he could. Saying it and doing it are two very different things as I discovered.

This makes me realise how impressive Matt Tonks is as a runner. We are very similar in ability these days but how he keeps coming back to run quality marathons time and again is an astounding feat of physical endurance and mental strength. I’m feeling like a king after doing one yet this guy has done (and keeps doing) several. Phenomenal. On the way to the bag collection point, I began to get emotional, I’m not sure why as I didn’t know what I was feeling. There was a mixture of all sorts, pride, relief, closure, satisfaction and even disappointment strangely. My bottom lip began to wobble and I started welling up but in true British style, I toughed it out and pulled myself together, General Melchet style!

A post race massage probably helped a bit as my legs felt worse than ever after any race I can remember. I nearly kicked the two student physios in the face as my calves cramped up repeatedly. I was all apologies but they took it in their Germanic stride. I was keen to shovel anything and everything down my neck at this point, fruit, lager, more water. I didn’t really want anything yet I wanted anything! Upon meeting the others we headed slowly back to the hotel where I tried to clean myself up. My overriding memory of this was lying on my back in a double shower cubicle trying to replicate the feeling of being in a bath whilst singing “Macho Man” by the Village People. My wife must have thought I had gone mental.

My toe survived, no worse than when I started. I was terribly achy in my legs but felt confident there were no injury worries immediately ahead which was good. I promised to pace Serena to her marathon goal two weeks afterwards so I felt it imperative that I rest properly so as not to let her down. It’s weird that I didn’t get out of breath running for almost three hours yet my legs were destroyed. That’s the difference between a marathon and other shorter distances I guess.

After a spot of tourism visiting Checkpoint Charlie, we had a few beers and a celebratory meal in the city. I’m not sure what lies next for me. There’s plenty of time to think and decide, so this may not be the final blog from me as I do enjoy writing them from time to time. There are too many people to thank individually here in helping me achieve this long held goal. Each and every person who sponsored me played a part for which I am particularly grateful. My wife Louise has been a star in allowing me to indulge my running in both my marathon training campaigns. Plus there are plenty from my club who have provided a mixture of support, company and advice through the journey, again too many to list but special thanks to Matt Tonks, Damo Taylor, Dave Jackson and Ted Franklin as well as anyone who reads this blog and proffers positive feedback and of course interest. It all helped, so thanks! WE DID IT!

Underground station en route to the start

Number at the ready

In race action

Post race destruction

Back at the hotel

Evening celebratory meal

Berlin Observation Tower

In the papers

 

 

 

Entering the final week

I thought I would update this blog as I’m not sure when I will next get the chance to before the big race. With a week to go, there is a lot to be positive about. I am trying to banish all negative thoughts and concentrate on what is good. The blister that appeared on Thursday alarmed me but if nothing else it will enable me to get plenty of rest this week while I give it every possible opportunity to heal. Luckily, Badgers have an excellent chiropodist amongst their ranks, Leesa Dennis. In fact, I think I helped recruit her years ago! She was able to squeeze me in on Friday and gave me good treatment as well as sound advice and reassurance that all looks positive for next Sunday. The only thing that alarmed me was how long I had left it between appointments!

The plan is to rest the toe as much as possible from now. I will do a couple of gentle bike rides just to keep moving but certainly nothing involving major effort which is what the running equivalent would have entailed otherwise. I trust the training I have done and am actually excited about the challenge rather than nervous. Whether this is a good thing or not I don’t know, but I will treat it as a positive sign! I have also vowed to eat pasta at every opportunity between now and next weekend and keep off the beer, a plan stymied somewhat earlier in the month!

A week ago, I contemplated running either a parkrun or the Tamworth 5 mile race on Sunday. To protect my toe, I have ended up doing neither but I think this will serve me well in that I will be raring to go come Sunday. I went out for a sedate 20 mile mountain bike ride today, exploring some more new potential run routes and thinking about the marathon. Not just my own but others’ too. I bumped into half a dozen fellow Badgers on their Sunday long run. Jared Karim, Alan Argyle and Rob Crow all running in October. Rob is someone who has really impressed me with his graft while Alan I feel is very similar to me in terms of what we are trying to achieve and how we think about our running. I am 42 and hoping to crack three hours. Alan is 20 years my senior and aiming to go sub four. We are both relatively new to running and he needs to knock ten minutes off his PB set two years ago to achieve his goal. I need to find 12 minutes from my time of four years ago to achieve something pretty comparable to his achievement in my view. I was thinking what advice I would offer Alan and then use the advice for myself, scaling the times down accordingly but keeping the principles of pacing and strategy. It helped pass the time.

I spent quite a lot of time thinking about Serena Baker, who I have agreed to pace at the Chester marathon in October. How she might want to run, how she might feel when fatiguing, what to say to her late on to keep her motivated. It would probably be better if I talked to her direct I guess! I thought about what I wanted to achieve and set five targets for the race of varying difficulty. I have done a weather check but not a course profile check. I doubt I will be isolated and get lost given the number of runners and I hear the course is flat. That will do me. In previous marathons, I have been unbelievably amateurish. Coombe Abbey for example in 2013, which I also ran with Serena, I never bothered to even look at the weather forecast when we ended up racing on what was the hottest day of the year at the end of June!

When I ran my PB of 3:12:26 at Chester in 2013, I was very relaxed with no target time in mind and ran to how I felt. The race went swimmingly well and I was always moving forward apart from the final mile when four people overtook me.  I left it all out there which was why there were no question marks about that performance in my mind. I measured it to perfection. Nothing left at the end but no crawling over the final few miles either. At the time, I had got the best out of myself that I possibly could have. I drew upon some of my training, which was tough. I remember one long run, 15 miles I think, where I was broken at the end of it. Incorporating the gruelling Merevale Lane, I recall trucking around Abeles Way Industrial Estate to make the requisite mileage up, always a mistake mentally and physically (always plan your route well beforehand folks). This time around, I don’t seem to have had that suffering, yet I have undoubtedly trained more, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Maybe I would have got a bit more work done pre-taper time but it doesn’t matter now. I did as much as I could at the time and have no regrets.

I am writing this while watching the final of the Champion’s League of Darts. I think you can look at many sports and pull things out, especially regarding sports psychology, to improve performance in your chosen field. To see Phil Taylor remain top of his trade and so hungry for so long is itself an astounding feat. One of my favourite players to watch is Gary Anderson. You can tell from his body language when he is in a good place. I’ve seen him give games up and beat himself up when things aren’t going well but he has learnt how to deal with this in more recent times and is a far better performer as a result. It’s confidence, determination, a bit of inner steel, will-to-win. All traits I hope to exhibit and that in turn will serve me well when I race. I have to smile my way round too!

I have tried to draw upon many of the positive experiences I have had in training and also good race experiences to pull upon. My best career race (to date) is my 79 minute half marathon at Wrexham. There was no pressure, but I ran well and was always in control. I ran six-minute miles for an hour, felt tired, took a (relative) breather for a mile and pushed it home, always thinking positively and never about giving up or struggling. The perfect mindset. I genuinely feel I am a better runner now. My 10 mile race at Countesthorpe was quicker per mile and I had more than enough to keep it going for another three. On a course with more lumps too.

I have five goals because I think its important to stay motivated if things don’t quite go to plan. My training hasn’t been 100% perfect but life never is. You just have to make the best of the situations you are in. John Hanson I know is a big advocate of this multi-goal approach. When he is feeling chipper, there are few better at offering advice and encouragement than John. This could be my best race of the year, I certainly hope it is! However I fare, position wise, it will be my lowest finish of the season! This season, my average positional finish including parkruns is 9th. The race is purely one against the clock – a time trial. Sure, there will be mini-races within the race but time is everything.

Leading the way (briefly) in the Atherstone 10K!

Practising focussing!

 

 

Berlin Marathon 2017 – days away

It’s been a little while since my last post and I feel there is so much to catch up on. Firstly, we were both truly overwhelmed by the amount of good wishes and kind words conveyed to us by so many people, even complete strangers have taken the time to be kind to us which means so much. We were shocked at just how rife fertility issues are in today’s world and slowly but surely we are doing our best to get back to normal. I had huge doubts about airing something so personal but in hindsight it has been a massive help. I am not sure I have processed the whole situation properly yet. I have been concentrating on being strong for my wife and distracting myself with the graft of marathon training which has given me a different focus. Maybe I am storing up problems for the future but hopefully not. One feeling I remember vividly from last month was that while I was desperately sad for what had happened, in many ways I felt worse when I had to take time off work with stress three years ago. I felt guilty that this was so but it is how it was. I cared massively about my job but never more than I care about my family and home life. On reflection, I think I felt better equipped to deal with adversity in 2017 and a lot of that was due to the NHS stress management course I attended during the summer of 2014. I thought it helped a little getting me through a tough time then but the lessons learned have no doubt helped me now.

Another thing to help me is my running. I don’t have a marathon plan as such, other than to try and run 60 miles a week before winding it down with three weeks to go. August was a key month for graft. I had to manage to fit in running with work, adequate rest periods and eating. I have never eaten so much in my life which is saying something! Luckily the warm weather and long days make it more enjoyable than winter training. I also had to be sensible about racing. I love the competition of a race and the summer is packed with opportunities. I was pretty disciplined about my schedule however and feel happy with how it panned out.

A key component part of marathon training seems to be a weekly long run. The day after the Bourton mile race I managed 15 with Matt and Damo but the heat was telling and I ended up bare-chested and drinking water from some poor souls outside tap on the front of their bungalow in Witherley. I was brought up better than this but I was truly desperate! My long runs were being run at a pace quicker than conventional wisdom dictates, however, they gave me confidence which is half the battle and there is an element that I have undoubtedly improved from earlier in the year to the point where my “easy” pace is now quicker. That and a sense to get done in good time all made for faster long runs. I did a 20 miler at target marathon pace and a 22.2 miler, my longest run similarly. Only the 20 miler on a red hot Bank Holiday Monday was done at a more sedate pace but I had raced a 10K only the day before, got drunk in the afternoon and wanted to be sensible in the heat.

I did a lot of double up days midweek to get the mileage up and in hindsight I would like to have done one more long run. The final two weeks of August were marked by a succession of little niggles which I managed well enough to keep them as that, taking additional rest days or bike riding in lieu of running in order to keep grafting. My mileage dropped to 35 and 50 for those two weeks, although both supplemented by some good bike riding.

There were races. I ran a decent 10K at Draycote Water, fuming at the fact I had been deafed-out trying to gain entry to a league race after my initial entry had not processed properly. I finished fifth to claim the final prize (still never received it mind!) I wasn’t racing for a time, simply a place. I had a proper race with a runner from Worcester, Robbie Campbell. I almost took fourth place too but didn’t quite have enough to get there. There’s a long finishing straight at Draycote – almost a mile long. I went early but sometimes you shouldn’t die wondering! I ended up with a PB of 35:33 which was an unexpected fillip.

 I was really pleased with how I ran at my home town race the Atherstone 10K, a really tough course but I grabbed 4th place and first vet back too and only getting beaten by a GB athlete (Ellis Cross) a former French athlete (Ludovic Renou) and the top runner in CV9 over the last few years, Scott Hudspith. No shame being beaten by that company. I would like to have raced a half marathon but used the final league race of the season, the ten mile John Fraser race in Countesthorpe as a slightly shorter substitute. Again, I was really pleased how I ran, very relaxed. I felt  that there was more to come however, but delighted with taking over a minute off my PB which was set on a flatter course, albeit in hotter weather. I had heavy shoes on for foot protection rather than speed. For the first time, I broke an hour for the distance. It was good to see Danny back in the groove too – that was possibly the best race I have seen him run, over a minute ahead of me.

At the 5 mile Joy Cann race at Huncote, I found a massive effort to reel in and outsprint Chris Baxter to make the top ten, I did one parkrun, at Kingsbury, and won comfortably, making it 4 from 4 in 2017. I also bagged the vet prize in finishing fourth at the Leicester 5K race that Danny won brilliantly, enabling our men’s team (of which I was a part) to win another armful of wine. These little successes are great for boosting confidence and I am really buying into the idea of a positive mental attitude towards sport and life in general. The benefits are clear to see and hopefully will help me in my marathon.

After the ten mile race, I felt good enough to run up the challenging Merevale Lane for extra mileage, however, it was probably a mistake as a blister appeared on my big toe. My feet have often been problematic and the last two weeks had seen the blister issue re-appear after a long period of time. Louise advised me not to run again until Berlin in three weeks time so I took to the bike and fell off at high speed. Luckily, Matt was kind enough to drive out in his van to come and collect me and the bike. More than anyone, he has been massively helpful with his advice during this campaign. It is such a shame now that he will be unable to compete as well due to a nasty calf injury. He was flying too and I know he was really focussing on Berlin to make an impression. He may have run over 150 marathons now but to miss one you have trained specifically for and got massively revved up about is particularly hard. I should know, not that it’s any comfort to him!

I was furious after coming off the bike, not to mention sore. I walked for about a mile back to the main road, bleeding from my elbow and hand but it was my hip that took the brunt of the fall and it was only yesterday where I have been able to sleep on that side of my body. I have been able to run unhampered mind, however, it may have been better if I had more rest. A few more runs done, including a gentle 10K tonight with Damo, have left me with a blister on my right big toe again. I only felt it when I got home but I think that will be my last run now until race day. I have eleven days for it to heal. Hardly the perfect taper period. Other than that I am feeling confident! I simply have to do it – I’ve raised almost £1,700 for Prostate Cancer UK.