Ironman and Marathon Training (and Racing) with a normal chap

Punchbowl Marathon (30) - LDWA Surrey

2012-02-13T22:02:00.000Z

Last weekend was meant to be Deal Half Marathon. I had entered it a while back and it fitted well with the marathon schedule that I am following.... but, last Friday I was not convinced that I wanted to run a fast half marathon in sub-zero temperatures. I wasn't worried about the preparation for the distance, or the course, or anything other than the fact that I knew if I started it I would race it hard to see how close to the McMillan Race Calculator predicted time I could get... (1:34:ish). So my nagging doubts about the half brought me in direct conflict with a burning desire to do the Punchbowl Marathon. Maria has done the Punchbowl Marathon pretty much every year for the last 5 or 6 years, each time in very different conditions, and each time, she has loved it. I also wanted to get into the Punchbowl. Over the last 35+ years I have been driven, or driven myself, around the Punchbowl countless times on route to school in Petersfield or to visit friends who still live in Petersfield area. For no other reason, it has always had a magical lure and attraction to me.

So how to do it? The Punchbowl Mara is a classic in the LDWA Challenge series and fills up months in advance. With no entries on the day, I emailed a few friends (in the real and virtual worlds) to see if I could find anyone who had entered but could no longer run, and I hit the jackpot. I was in..... Deal half would have to wait for another day.

For one day I would be someone else.... in normal road races I would never do this, but on an LDWA event it's each man for their own, no insurance, no come back and no rules. Maria was already running it and was going to keep another friend of ours company for the day. Both were happy for me to tag along and as we set off at 6am on Sunday morning at -5 degrees I knew that I had made the right decision. Little did I know that there would be snow falling over Deal a few hours later and the half marathon would be cancelled 10 minutes before it was meant to start. Which means, of course, that the race will be deferred to later in the year and my place is therefore still assured.

So at about 8.30 am Maria and I, with another running friend, were ready to launch ourselves out of Witley Village Hall and into the Surrey Hinterland. And into just a brilliant day. The running was gentle, there was absolutely no point being heroic as the ground was frozen solid and quite dangerous in places , particularly on the tracks that had had traffic over them as the snow had been packed to a glass like smoothness which trail shoes would not cut into. I also had to pinch myself more than once as I was heading out on my second (ever) ultra in less than 4 weeks. It was cold, brutally cold, but oddly, once we had all settled into a good pace and got the layering of clothes right it became comfortably cold. The course was stunning and very soon we were traversing our way though the bottom of the Punchbowl, I found this oddly emotional looking up at where the road used to be. It is one of the most beautiful places in the South of England... and here I was up to my ankles in fresh snow brushing through the heather in the heart of the bowl. Fabulous.

The route is genuinely lovely, looping around a mostly unspoilt area of the Weald and past some simply magical houses, views, villages and other landmarks....

Naturally there were comedy moments... cracking open a cold can of baked beans in one of the checkpoints for my lunch raised a few eyebrows from the gnarled and accomplished LDWA folk, although this turned into complete astonishment when I pulled out a pack of Peanut Butter and Syrup Sarnies. Discussing the relative merits of Harley Davidson motorbikes versus Japanese sports bikes was another somewhat surreal moment in the day. As to the aches and pains of a long distance run, just as they started to really bite in and hurt, I discovered the perfect solution..... if you drop a metal 5 bar gate on your big toe all previous woes are instantly banished, replaced by the brain spasms of agony of a freshly crushed digit! At about mile 27 I offered Maria a "Shotblok".. these are my staple racing nutrition, but not something that M is used to, in fact she may have never eaten them before. It was like watching a doping scandal unfold in front of my eyes... a simple (orange) shotblok gave her such a buzz that she tore off over the horizon laughing, skipping and exhibiting such a high level of energy that I gobbled down a few more bloks to try an emulate her enthusiasm (alas, not so successfully). I had better hide my stash of shotbloks in case of future theft!

I am still a relative newbie to LDWA events, but I find that they continue to come through with splendid events of astonishingly good value. Great routes, a fantastic mix of lovely folk who attend them and I feel very proud to be a member of the LDWA.

Well done to Surrey Group for putting on another stunning Punchbowl Marathon. And I hope that I have not embarrassed my on-line running mate Chris with, what some might consider, to be a fairly pedestrian time. These are not races, they are great days out.

On on...

B Races

2012-02-11T08:59:00.000Z

I've just answered a question from someone who is concerned that a 10k race has been cancelled and this might affect their preparation for a late spring marathon. This got me thinking - why do we race in the build up to big events? For me the answer is easy. It's an excellent way to check progress in training; to monitor general fitness and health; to confirm pace and endurance in comparison to target pace for the A Race (the target race at the end of the schedule). It is also a way of practicing race pacing as most people go haring off for the first few miles and then die in a ditch somewhere. It's also a good chance to try different nutrition and hydration strategies. And finally it is a chance to have fun. You can meet new people some of whom will be preparing for the same event as you and just have fun.

But does it matter if the race is cancelled? Will this blow your chances of success in the A Race? Frankly, in my opinion, no! OK, it's irritating and a bit of a waste of money, but generally it won't make the slightest difference to the main result as long as you stay faithful to the training schedule and don't lose motivation.

Deal Half Marathon for me tomorrow... pacing will be off as it's so cold, but I will enjoy it nevertheless. It's a new route to me despite it being so local.

On on..........

Canterbury 10 Miler (29 January)

2012-01-29T17:58:00.000Z

It's the end of week 4 of 16 of the build up to the 2012 London Marathon. So far so good, but I need some clear evidence of progress and I have been itching to drop some data into the McMillan Race Calculator to see whether or not I am training at the right pace. I think the intensity has been about right and having done 142 miles of running this month so far and am feeling pretty fit. The endurance is coming along too. Winter Tanners (31 miles) two weeks ago was a hoot. My first ultra and I absolutely loved every yard of it. I ran it with M and some other friends and we had a ball. I now can't wait until the next LDWA long run.

In terms of structuring my training, the schedule is working and is comfortable. That said, the January Runners World Challenge has been brilliant to get the post Christmas blues banished and increase motivation levels. Last year it was UK v US; this year we stayed local and it was North UK v South UK. It looks like us softy southerners will lose, but that really isn't the point. It has also been an amazing insight into the amount of training other people do (some absolutely awesome distances by some folk)!

So the Canterbury 10. Woke to freezing conditions - damp and very cold. I would rather colder and crisper but there is no choosing your weather; so 3 degrees and damp would have to do. Arrived in plenty of time and collected number and chip and then lurked around the School Sports Hall trying to spot friendly faces. Met up with and chatted to our friendly sports masseuse (Tim Sutton) who was there to give post race massages in support of the race, and also some other buddies from Thanet Road Runners. I couldn't spot Seb in the crowd which was a shame as I really wanted to meet him properly having corresponded by email for a while. Did a few half hearted stretches and started to feel curiously nervous. M had left me to my own devices by this stage so that she could get out to Bridge and give me a big shout as I ran through so I wandered up to a busy starting pen.

The route

The start was mad, but it was chip timed so no point barging over the start line..... And suddenly we were off... I settled into a comfy pace from the off. There were way too many people with, clearly, a wildly optimistic view of their own ability and for the first mile many of us were dodging around them while the field sorted itself out. Miles 1 and 2 flew past trying to avoid the pot holes, and, as we clipped through Mile 3, I got my first time check. Time elapsed 20:14, so running under 7 min mile pace! I got a big boost seeing Maria outside the butchers in Bridge Village and gave her my gloves and shouted out a time check so she would know what pace I was running and therefore where I would be on the course. Speed was a bit quick at this point so backed off a bit, also helped by a water station and a quick pee stop which probably lost me a minute!

Mile 5 and a timing mat, good thinking Invicta. 36 mins on the nose, pace steady now for the next few miles despite some fairly nasty upulations! Nearly ground to a halt at the top of Bekesbourne Hill! 3 Miles out from the end and time to up the pace. Legs felt strong and I was boosted in the knowledge that I was going to be way under the 1:20:00 target that I had set myself.

A newly configured finish shoot now sees you looking down a gentle descent straight into the finish line. Much much better than the finish from previous years. Half a mile out and nobody was going to pass me. There were two lads behind me and now I was racing. Still feeling strong and running with good form (although apparently not looking as fresh as I felt) I swept down the hill and across the finish line in 1:11:32.

Brilliant race, and a negative split. 36 mins for the first half and 35:32 for the second.

Done............

Deal Half Marathon next in 2 weeks time. Slightly scarily I have now put the time for this into McMillan and if I can keep things going like this I should be aiming at a 1:35 half marathon (that will be a 7 minute Personal Best) and a 3:20 marathon (a 48 minute PB). This seems too far fetched for words. Lets see how the training progresses. I have a half marathon and a 20 miler to fine tune the final target for London.

On on.

Winter is closing in...

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000Z

while some of you might be sat on your sofas, carefully booking holidays on your laptops, I've been booking races! Four months of training has somehow rushed by since Challenge Copenhagen and so far so good. Base level fitness is high, all niggles have receded into the background, work is under control and I've even got the garden tidy! With a marathon in April looming, the training needs to become more organised.

But the weather is closing in... it is time to man up and face the challenge of whatever nature's worst imagination can conjure up. As I sit and type there are 70mph winds and rain battering the roof, it's going to be a fun winter.

Found this on the Internet and loved it. There's nothing for it, but wrap up and get out anyway.

Happy running folks.

On on

Gatliff Marathon Weekend

2011-12-02T19:49:00.003Z

Gatliff has always conjured thoughts of mud, mud and more mud. Maria has run it before and found conditions underfoot very challenging. But with a dry spell leading up to last weekend and a burning desire for a long slow run, I was in. Three routes to choose from: 20k, 35k and 50k. Maria was doing the 50k with 4 friends of ours; all fellow nut-cases/ultra runners! I chose the 35k. Not quite a marathon, but still a fairly solid long run. Weather was OK with just a few showers threatening, cold and clear, but very windy. An icy penetrating wind... more on this in a sec.

Registration was a disaster. Not enough people, and the three people there seemed very disorganised and thus, stressed! They had even run out of instructions for the 35k route. But hey ho, the event is only £8 so mustn't grumble. I was given instructions for the 50k and told to run to checkpoint 1 (10k point) where they would have some of the correct route cards. So with some trepidation I set off (forgetting to press start on my garmin - normal form for me)!

The run itself can be split into three parts. Part 1 - It was cold and windy, and the rain had started so I had put a cycling jacket on over 2 other layers - why do I keep doing this. Every time I do it I get too hot. Sure enough, 3kms in and I was overheating. Not trusting myself, as it was still cold, I stayed too hot and also, in my sweaty confusion, didn't drink anything. Notwithstanding this, I was plodding along at a fair pace though humming away to random tunes on my iphone or chatting to the few runners out on the course who I caught up with. Navigation was very tricky in the first bit and quite a few times I stopped (along with others) and scratched my head a bit, or abortively set off along paths only to retrace my steps. Getting across the golf course was a nightmare as there was no indication of where on earth any of us were meant to go. The golfers must have had a real belly laugh at a whole load of us all running around in different directions trying to get off which ever fairway we had crossed. It was Brownian motion runners style!

After 7k, I aborted the jacket and instantly felt cold as my layers underneath were sodden. It took a few miles to warm up again, but once blow dried I was actually fine for the rest of the day. Next time no jacket, or perhaps a gillet.

Part 2, hilly. Navigation over the hills was easier as the route followed better defined paths. Not much to say other than walked the ups (as they were very steep) and walked the downs (as they too were very steep). The route seemed to zigzag along the escarpment to the North Downs. Odd route choice! Had some fun with some cows in this section. Playful they might have been, but when 40 young cows want to play with you it all gets a bit surreal so I hopped over a fence and tracked along the other side of the wire along the edge of the field to the target gate much to the horror of another runner in the field who was then left on his own and became the target of the cows' affection! I didn't hear exactly what he shouted at me, but it sounded something like "you bastard"!! Met up with him at the gate and we both had a laugh about it.

Part 3, last 15k... bit flat but easy running with some impossible navigation. Right from the last check point navigation was a problem with some of the route card reversed. Turn right then left actually meaning the reverse! I think that, notwithstanding each year is a different route, sections are simply cut and pasted from previous years into the current years route card and maybe there were some transposition errors.

Back to the Rugby Club and logged off the route in 5 hrs 13ish mins.

In summary... cracking day (if a little breezy), basic but friendly aid stations, route card nowhere near LDWA standards, not as much mud as I feared, some unfriendly walkers, some friendly walkers and runners too, a good selection of nosh at the end with limitless quantities of tea, great facilities too (showers/changing etc) at the Rugby Club.

One week on and odd that I had no DOMS, in fact no ill effects from the run at all, not even that tired the next day. Maybe Maria is right, maybe I should do my long runs off road. Will I do it again, very probably.

I've made this a quiet week, mostly because I've had a brutal week at work, but good to ease off for a few days and fit in a bit of recovery. Back to the schedule tomorrow. Route below if anyone wants to work it out themselves!

On on............