Day 48: Long run Intervals
Today, I hit the halfway point of my training! My legs still aching from yesterday’s race, I decided to postpone today’s 18-miler for a couple of days for recovery and to fit into my week.
As a substitute I wound up running intervals up the same killer hill I ventured to last week (wow, that feels like ages ago!). There’s a Strava challenge that I signed up for, to accumulate 2000m of elevation throughout the month. The fact that I’ve only got 3 days left to complete it with significant boosts being last week’s hill reps and yesterday’s race showed how little I have hills in my training. That would change. Last time I did 8 reps. I’m further along in my training, I’ll do 10 reps today, I told myself.
Urgh. I should have slapped myself over the head. As I opened the car door, the wind was so strong it nearly ripped the door off! (slight hyperbole, but it was pretty violent…) Persisting nevertheless, I had a gentle jog up the hill as a warm up. Even that felt tough!
As I launched into the workout, any belief that I’d have an easier time quickly dissipated. Nearing the top of the hill, I chastised myself for randomly choosing 10 reps and seriously considered dropping it down to 8. No. I’m sick of giving up. I’d stick with 10, for better or worse.
I’d foolishly thought I could manage 6:00-6:15 p/mile pace, I was barely able to make 7:30, with some reps drifting over 8:00! However, I learned to use more of my body to propel myself; swinging arms, higher knees, launching from toes. Kind of like when Apollo Creed said of Rocky in Rocky III, “he’s going to stretch and use muscles he never knew he had.” This wasn’t supposed to be an easy jaunt, this was to be a workout.
An apt Bon Jovi lyric also served me well (“Livin’ on a Prayer”, the one with the famous chorus “we’re halfway there!”), “you live for the fight when that’s all that you got.” Remembering that I’m training for the London Marathon, imagining myself hurtling down the final stretch; that’s what’s I’m fighting for, and helped as a distraction when the pain got tough. Every hill, every mile, every step; it’s all for those 3 hours!
Day 47: XC National Championships
Still not a fan of cross country, I nonetheless was kind of looking forward to this race. At my first county-level event, I was awstruck by the running clubs present, the calibre of runners, and was eager to be in that atmosphere again. I’d also watched “I am Bolt” last night, and so was also motivated by seeing what Usain Bolt do what comes naturally to him while also overcoming adversity.
Thinking there would only be about 200 runners like the XC a few weeks back, imagine my surprise when an email from England Athletics mentioned the event, and that there’d be over 8,000 runners!
*eep* Feeling like an ant amongst giants, I reminded myself to just do the best I could and not be concerned about not even cracking the top 50% of the leaderboard. Nonetheless, as I pinned the number to my club vest, I couldn’t help but feel a connection to every runner ever, having seen Farah and Bolt pin their numbers on just like every other runner.
And then the race. GO! Pretty packed in here. Don’t try to be a hero, just stick with the pack for now. The rest of my club are getting away! Ah man, am I going to be the last finisher of my club? That’d be embarrassing, particularly after the times I’ve ran lately. Okay, my main excuse will be that I’m not used to XC. Woops, someone tumbled. Should I help? Nah, he’s fine and knowing me I’d be a hindrance to everyone else. That’d be a headline: “Disaster at XC due to obstructive Good Samaritan.” Slight downhill, bit muddy but not too bad. Hey, there’s one of the other club runners. Try to catch up, but DO NOT SPRINT. Okay, catching up slowly. Just focus on him and… look at the size of that puddle! Oh no, I’m gonna have to go through it! Ew, ew, ew! It’s deep! My feet are cold! And these aren’t even my trainers! I’m only 0.7 miles in, I have another 7 to go with wet, dirty feet! Caught up to him now, catch my breath. Stick with him for a mile or so, then focus on the next guy. Huh, starting to break from him already. And there’s a downhill. Sweet! Ok, same again, catch up without sprinting. Tough to break through the crowd though.
“Hey, are any of our club in front of us?”
“No, you’re in the lead.”
“We,” I correct him. Right before inadvertently leaving him behind as well.
I’m leading the club? There are eight of us, how did that happen? Nah, there has to be someone in front. And don’t try to be a hero, keep it steady. And now there’s a bog. Great. *splosh squelch squirch* Nearly lost a shoe there! Ok, sloppy terrain, stick to the firmer terrain at the edge. Man alive, look at that hill! No exertion, just keep it steady. Damn, this is tough. I’d walk if it wouldn’t be so embarrassing. Why isn’t the hill ending? Finally, a downhill! Breathe steady, catch your breath. Except I’m gasping like a fish on dry land. Oh no, is that a ditch? Forget going through that! Summon up strength, and… leapt over it! Superman would be proud!
Ok, quick check of my watch; only halfway?! What was I thinking?! This is a national event, and I’m just some schmuck that just started running! Why do people say “go hard or go home” like it’s a bad thing? I could be wrapped up warm, drinking coffee! Instead of, yep, here’s more mud! Bit of wind, use that guy as a windguard. Even better, you’re heading to the firm outer terrain. Thanks man, you’re a lifesaver. Ok, just one parkrun left. I’ve got to stop telling myself that, it’s getting annoying. And it’s the return of that oh-so-awful hill!
Up, up, up. Did I say that out loud? Stop talking to yourself! Come on, this is what you’ve trained under. There you go, you made it up the hill, the worst is behind you. Oh, my beloved downhill, I’ve missed you. Man, my abs are absolutely killing. Must be the constant effort of keeping my legs attached to my body while mud pits threaten to rip them away. Ok, just 0.3 miles left before there’s only 1.5 miles left. I can do this.
Man, it’s that ditch again. No energy for another Superman leap. Ew, right up my leg! Man up, emerge from this mud bath like Wolverine! Roar! Here comes the finishing lap exit. Try to take that one solid path through the mud… and, my foot’s gone straight through it. I don’t even care anymore. Oh what, another long hill?! What was that I was saying about the worst being behind me? Sweating like crazy, this headscarf is coming off. Shouldn’t have wiped my face, I just know I’ve got mud on it now! Ok, reached the top. Power on to the finish!
Oh, I have no energy. Just try to make it to the finish! Is that dirt in my mouth? Eh, whatever. That guy’s coming up pretty fast, shame I can’t… hey, where’s this energy coming from? Come on, you take him! Oh man, might have kicked too early, starting to… nope, someone else is coming, so I’ve got more power! Keep it going! Finished! No idea what position I’m in or if my time is good, but being the first finisher of my club will do!
Another from my club came in soon after, apparently he was gaining on me before I sprinted. The other club runners came in just a few minutes later, giving the opportunity to chat about the travail of the course (autocorrect just changed that to “curse.” Seems appropriate!).
“Did you enjoy that, Shaun?”
“Err… ‘enjoy’ is relative.” But you know, I kind of did. I’m just not in the mood to go through it again!
Day 46: Progression run
I watched “No Easy Mile” last night, a documentary about the British hero – and my doppelganger – Mo Farah and his journey to Rio 2016. In awe of his training regime and seeing his improvements after defeats, I was buzzing for today’s run.
So while the rest of the country was panicking and perturbed during the affectionally dubbed “Doris Day” (a gale-force storm that had blown in), there was me eager to go out! I don’t have access to all the fancy stuff Farah does, but a strong wind – for once – would be useful to provide resistance.
The plan said to run 8 miles, starting off from a jog and gradually speeding up until the last 2 miles were sub-7:00s. I’d planned to run it in 10-second decrements (8:00, 7:50, 7:40, etc) but as the last couple of miles would have to be 6:59 and 6:49, it kind of felt like it’d be cheating. So at the last minute I decided to go with 15 second decrements, which would put my last 3 miles under 7:00.
Doris was brutal to me from the start! Fortunately, my first two miles where she’d put me under pressure were only a jog, so I took it with a smile. I reminisced about the times when I first started running, where the pace which I now jogged at through a storm would be the best I could hope for on my best day! Despite almost getting knocked over by a car doing a random U-turn and also slow jogging at lights that took forever to change, my first 2 miles came in perfectly.
Partway through the third mile, Doris and I became friends and she pushed me along. I wouldn’t be lulled into false security though; I passed mutiple strewn branches, destroyed billboards and damaged road signs which evidenced her harsh nature. She could turn on me like that!
She began to swirl around me during the fifth mile, unsure whether to love me or hate me. Just cruising along, I began daydreaming of what the final 0.2 of the marathon would be like. Would it be like the crowd cheering for Farah in London 2012 as I finished successfully? Or would I have missed the target and I’d kick myself like he did in Beijing 2008? Back in the present, a glance at my watch said I was 3 seconds over target with only 0.03 of the mile left. An exerting sprint proved useless, and my record up to that point was tarnished. Grr!
Determined not to let it happen again, I monitored my pace more closely, even as I observed the devastation Doris had wrought, a felled tree on my path. Good job I didn’t come out earlier…
Despite an uphill during the penultimate mile, my pace had continued to stay on track. Last mile; 6:15, a parkrun pace. I burst into a sprint for that final mile. About a tenth of the way in, a thought rang clear in my head: This is a fast pace after 7 miles. It didn’t even occur to me I couldn’t do it! The first quarter came in at a blistering 6:03. Checking my watch again after what felt like 5 minutes, it showed the same pace but I’d only gone a further tenth of a mile! Keep pushing. Doris was furious with me, that harsh tempest. Bring it on, baby. The pace was going well, but I couldn’t afford to slow down; at that pace, it would have a much larger effect than my earlier miles and could easily rip me down to 6:30. Fortunately, I was feeling fine and kept it up! 6:09!
There weren’t any crowds chanting my name, but I had a great sense of accomplishment anyway. Here’s a clue to my next challenge that came through the post this week:
I don’t know what will happen on the day, but I’m confident and looking forward to it!
Thanks for the workout, Doris!
Day 45: Midweek long run
My legs are achy. I didn’t sleep much last night (thanks, baby daughter). I have a busy workday and evening.
Tough. You have to run. Oh, ok then.
Not going to lie, I was worried about this one. This would be the longest I’ve run at marathon pace and was thus a significant step in the training. The more mathematically-minded among you would have noticed that in order to achieve sub-3 I’d need to run at 6:52, but I’ve been training at 6:45.
Years ago when I first started trying for a sub-90 half marathon, I aimed for 6:52 pace but constantly came up short on race day. I’ve since learned to give myself a good buffer to better prepare me for the last stages of a race. If I was successful today, then I’d have a good chance of doing it again on race day and affording enough time to slow down a shade for the remaining 11 miles.
Zipping off, I was sorely disappointed that my first mile clocked in at a minute over target. A minute. A lifetime in the world of running. Err… that was a warm-up mile. Doesn’t count. I shrugged it off and decided – against the ideology of Shaun-from-three-weeks-ago – not to try to make it up by blitzing the next few miles and instead just run those at target pace. So imagine my surprise when I unintentionally kept running faster than target, and actually brought the average pace down to only 2 seconds over target!
The run felt good, perhaps because of rest and the training, perhaps because of a wind assist for the first half. Around 11 miles in, I came to my dreaded half-mile steady hill with the wind now against me. I put into practice a lesson recently learned; don’t exert yourself on the hills. Intending to only slow down to 7:00, I was annoyed that I was coming in at over 7:20. Don’t be an idiot, just keep it steady. Forcing myself not to burst into a sprint, I eventually reached the apex and casually brought the pace down to 7:10. Curious as to what effect that had on my overall average, I had only lost ONE second! A worthwhile sacrifice, as I felt confident in maintaining the pace for the remainder of the run.
I started to breathe heavyish around the 13 mile mark, but with a bit of concentration to lower my heart rate I controlled my body’s efforts and successfully had an overall average of my target pace. If this was marathon day, it would be enough to allow me to run the rest of the race at over 7:00 p/mile, a manageable feat!
NB: Strava had my first mile at 6:55, not 7:45. Good job I didn’t try to burn myself out unnecessarily!
Day 44: Intervals
Whatever doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger!
Feeling as though I hadn’t run for a week (though it had only been 30 hours), I joined my fellow club runners for a track session; 800m sprints with 200m rest, 8 times. With a bit of a stiff wind and apprehension of my capability, I eased into my warm up.
There was a new guy there. Instantly I knew I had to destroy him.
As soon as I set off into the sprint, my legs felt so full of power! Though I was already at my 5k pace, I felt as though I could push it harder. Easy boy, save it for later. Go figure, I’m learning to hold myself back!
Nemesis-Newbie kept up, and all the group finished the first rep around the same time. Perhaps we were just testing the waters.
Leaving the pack behind, Nemesis-Newbie and I ran at the same pace in the second rep. He surprised me at the end with a sprint finish. Heh; newbie. You’ll pay for that later. Sizing up Nemesis-Newbie, I did the runner’s greeting by asking of his PBs; turned out they were very similar to mine. Yep, this would be a fun session!
Third and fourth reps were the same, though the finishes were tighter despite that I could have pushed harder for the final stretches. See? You’re paying for it already.
Fifth rep; game time! I left the pack behind, keeping an eye on the shadows to monitor how far back he was. Anyone else I’d be able to hear panting a mile off; his breathing was steady and quiet. He was about 5 seconds back. Keeping my pace steady, I let him exert himself and gain on me for a draw finish.
Sixth rep, same again but I went all out for the final 100m. Catching him by surprise, he suddenly burst into a sprint too. He faltered just before the finish line, allowing me a slight but sweet victory. I gave him a nod; the battle we’d waged in our heads was now physical!
Seventh rep, I was so far ahead of the pack I wondered if I’d done something wrong! No kidding, I had a strange sensation of me moving at normal speed while everyone else was in slow motion. Needless to say, I was so far ahead of Nemesis-Newbie – about 10 seconds – that I didn’t even need a sprint to beat him.
Final rep, give it everything I’ve got! Disappointingly the penultimate lap only came in just on target, but I more than made up for it afterwards, gaining time and a very comfortable lead.
Maybe it was the effect of the training, perhaps it was my pseudo-resting since Sunday. Regardless, I felt energised and excited for what the running week has in store. (what’s tomorrow… 15 miles?! Dammit!)
And Nemesis-Newbie? We shook hands, and congratualated each other on a well-run session. But I could see it in his eyes; the war has just begun…
Day 43: Recovery run
If you want your life to change, change your life.
Chalking up yesterday’s failure to a combination of general exhaustion with being out at stupid o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t going to let it get me down. Nonetheless, I’ll make some life changes to ensure I get the best out of my training (little things like cutting down on bread and biscuits, walking up the 7 flights of stairs to my office’s desk instead of the elevator, etc).
I’m nearly halfway through my training, and though I now feel pretty confident about achieving under 3:05, the thought of being confident enough to achieve sub-3 with only just over a month of training left (the last month is largely tapering down) is just out of reach. So, time to up my game a bit.
But not with my run today! Today was just purely about stretching the legs, catching Pokémon, getting the heart rate slightly up – and you know what? – just enjoying being out! I hit one of my favorite routes, gave “the nod” to every runner I saw (with a 50% response rate, yay!) and checked I was back on form, ready for this week’s challenges. Which was my biggest change of all, listening to my body instead of running it ragged; one missed session won’t impact the training.
I will work smarter and harder.
The Shorn Runner 
I like the nod. Obvious enough that, if spotted, should get a reciprocal nod, and inconspicuous enough that you don’t feel like a tool if you don’t get one back.
LikeLike
Totally agree. I like to think I’ve got that balance just right, but I wonder if I just end up looking like that Churchill dog!
LikeLike