Inside the mind of a runner (aka a deranged idiot)

Once again it's been a while since my last post.

This time I thought, rather than bore you with the statistics of my latest run, I'd explore how the training affects me psychologically.

Repetitive questions seem to have emerged over the past 7 weeks since I began training. Firstly and most pervasively, should I ...? For example, should I put today's run off until tomorrow? Should I eat a curry, because it might affect my run tomorrow? Should I have a beer tonight or not? These and many other 'should I' questions form regular thoughts for me, and I'd imagine a lot of other runners. The best answer I've found for these so far, is to do what you'd normally do unless this has an adverse effect. At this point consider changing strategy for similar situations in the future. I guess the best example of this is having a curry the night before a run. I'm not going to take you down this road too far, as it just gets messy, suffice to say, from experience it's best to leave a curry until the night before a rest day.

The second sort of questions are the 'can I...' questions. These reflect doubts, which I like to think are inevitable when tackling new and challenging situations. 'Can I run 16 miles, even though I've never run that far before?', 'Can I manage 7 min 20 secs / per mile for 30 Min's threshold training?' Whereas the 'should I...' questions emerge in situations outside the actual act of running, 'can I...' questions often occur during the act of running itself. My strategy for dealing with these thus far has been to think: 'well you know what, I don't know, but I'm going to try' (unless I've had a curry the night before). Sorry for this rather American high school football coach attitude, but I'm stubborn, and so far it's worked pretty well.

The final category of questions always tend to occur during running. These are the 'when is...' questions and reflect notions of physical and psychological exhaustion, either from running intensity or pure distance. The best example is 'when is this going to stop?' but other examples include 'when is my knee going feel normal?', 'when is my stitch going to pass?', 'when is the Rottweiler going to stop looking at me that way?' etc. Now I think in the short term, these are the most difficult questions to deal with. This is because you know there is an easy answer (Rottweilers excluded)- STOP RUNNING. This would, however, constitute a breaking of the golden rule. How then, do I get passed this and not end up walking home? Well, I think the most frequent strategy I use is to kid myself that I'm only going to run a shorter distance, or run slower once I reach a certain marker. In Leeds this is usually the end of the canal, which means I've still got another mile to home. I find that this helps immensely and once I reach the marker, my mind switches to 'it's only another mile to go and you can keep this pace up'.

In the marathon then, all I need to do is find my marker and start kidding myself or think Roots Manuva, Witness!

Enjoy!

Gareth

Greater distance, and this time greater confidence

The last couple of weeks have been really busy.

Along with the running, other challenges have been cropping up along the way. I gave my first lecture this week which ironically was on stress in sport. Hopefully the students got something out of it. It was certainly another good step on the academic career, and after some initial nerves at the start I really enjoyed the experience. Big thanks to Tom as he took the first half.

Anyway onto the running. Last week involved threshold running, a couple of 30-40 Min's runs and a 60min run on the Sunday. Fairly easy all round. This week has been tougher. After the lecture on Tue, I headed out in York and along the river ran 5.55miles in 44 Min's. Thursday I set out just as it was getting dark. After a slowish start, when I got to the canal I realised that the night was closing in pretty quickly, so I upped my pace and beat my 5k time by a min or so. This now stands at 23 Min's 32 secs. Yesterday's weather was awful so I headed to the gym for an easy 30min run and a workout.

Today was the big one. Just over 14 miles in 1hr 55 Min's. I ran the half quicker than two weeks ago in 1hr 47 Min's. Along the way I also beat my time for the 10k, now 51min 25 secs. This was also a tougher route than last time because I ran up the hill into Headingley which was a killer. The most encouraging thing was that although I was completely knackered at the end, I think I could have kept going for another mile or two at least. So where as last time I ran over 13 I was feeling more apprehensive about the marathon, this Sunday has boosted my confidence.

Here's to more nice weather and brighter evenings for running when the clocks go forward.

Gareth

Kenyan Hills and My First Half Marathon Distance

We had a night out with with friends down in Barnsley on Fri - 'Great lasagna and chocolate pancakes Trin'. This meant that Sat was spent eating fry-ups and drinking gallons of water in order to cure the hangover.

After getting back home about 4ish, I headed downstairs to the gym for some Kenyan Hills still feeling pretty groggy. A couple of weeks ago I'd dipped out of the hills, so this was my first attempt. At first I thought I'd give the hill program a go on level 20 at 12 kph. Well, after 2 Min's of this I was hanging on for fear of producing an outtake from SAW or HOSTEL. In other words it was a bit too hard, so I started again. This time with the speed and incline under my control, I increased the gradient to 8.0 and went at 11 kph for 2 Min's before resting at 10 kph for 1 Min and then repeating. All in all I completed 10 sets of 2 Min's, including the mad dash at the start. This was pretty exhausting. Not quite as tough as the threshold training, but not far off.

On Sunday I woke up reasonably early and headed out on the week's long run. The sun was beaming but the water was still frozen in the shady parts. All in all it was a great morning for running. Joanna came along for the first 1.75 miles. This was the first time I'd run with anyone else during my training and I felt a slight sense of loneliness as she turned back for home and I carried on up the canal.

I reached half way - 6.75 miles - in 1hr. As I turned around I thought about every step now taking me closer to home, and how this thought might help me during the marathon. At this point I felt fine, my breathing was steady and my legs still felt strong. This continued up until about 11 miles by which time I was feeling the strain of increasing my pace. The last 2 miles were tough but when I made it to the end of the canal I'd completed the half marathon distance - 13.1 miles - in 1hr 52Min's. I continued home at a sluggish pace and completed 13.44 miles in 1hr 55Min's.

I felt that for my third week of training this was a good achievement, but the more I run long distances, the more I'm starting to realise just how far 26.2 miles is.

Gareth

Tipping the threshold

Yesterday I completed a session of threshold running.

I went to the gym after uni and because I was feeling pretty ropey from an annoying cold, I was planning to switch threshold running with today's session - an easy 20min jog and 40 Min's cross training (i.e. cycling and weights).

Anyway after 5 Min's on the treadmill I'd started to feel OK, so I decided crank up the speed and have a go at the thresholds. This basically involved running as fast as possible for 15Min's then having a 5 min jog, then going again as fast as possible for 15Min's before a 5min jog at the end.

To tell you the truth this is one of, if not the toughest forms of training I've ever done. It puts a massive strain on cardiovascular system for a sustained period, and it's really hard to judge what speed to try and aim for throughout the first 15Min's. This is basically because although 15Min's doesn't sound like a lot, when running at speed, it is. Set off too fast and the lungs burn and the legs run out of steam, leaving no energy for round two. This is basically what I did last night. In the first round of 15 Min's I ran about 3.75km, leaving me completely knackered for round two. In round two only manage to last at round 1 pace for 5Min's before dropping to 8min/miles and then reducing to 9min/miles for the last 5 Min's.

Still I completed an overall total of 5 miles in 42 Min's, which was pretty good. I think for the next threshold session I need to aim for 7'20''/mile which should give me a good chance of making round two as worthwhile as round one. If I can keep consistent pace over the two rounds it will improve my overall speed and strength come marathon day May 23rd.

Gareth

Week 2 - Hills, canals and colds

It's been a while since my last post, as the more important task of proposal writing has taken over.

I'm going to run you through the week's events from back to front (more to aid my memory than anything else) - so here we go.

Sunday was a long run. This was tough but I managed 10.10miles in 90mins which was an acheivement because the wine had been flowing the night before at Jo's Mum and Dad's (Happy Birthday Sue). Running next to the canal for the first four miles felt easy but the hill into Headingley which stretches over about a mile was a killer.

Saturday was meant to be cross training but this ended up being a walk to the market which doesn't really qualify. I did wake up with the biggest crick in my neck though which still aches now (excuses, excuses).

Friday was a rest day so I watched the Wales v France game which was enough to get the heart rate going towards maximum levels but not really exercise. What a try by Shane but you can't give the French a 20 point lead.

I trained intervals in York on Thursday. This was pretty tough as I had to run at 10k pace (7mins/mile) for 6mins then jog for 5mins and repeat four times. This meant I ran 5.77miles in 46mins which averages out at about 8min/mile. Although it was tough, it was the first run since I started my training where I noticed my legs feeling stronger and better able to cope with the distance.

Wed involved a short but quick hill running session. Finding hills in Leeds City Centre is pretty tough but between North Street and the road which goes to Chapeltown there is a good zig zag route of hilly streets. I worked the legs hard on the uphill sections and completed 2.76m in 21mins (7'49''/mile).

Tuesday was an easy 30min recovery run.

Monday was 5-a-side football.

That was last week.

I now have a stinker of a cold but the show must go on. Easy recovery 30min run today, but not looking forward to the threshold running tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Gareth

A good first week: BUT OH NO, SNOW!

Well, if you read my last blog you'll know my schedule for last week. I started with an easy lead in, with rest on Mon and a light jog on Tue. These were fine and I even managed to go for a walk on Mon with Jo, although we did get drenched on our way back. I was always going to find Wed the hardest session in terms of intensity and this proved to be the case. My lungs were burning as I motored on down the canal in Leeds; 10mins as fast as you can I kept telling myself, earn your rest, earn your rest. Then the 2 min jog/rest came and it seemed to dissapear instantly. I then had to start again; another 10mins the other way but this time I was on the home straight. Breathing heavy, but feeling ok and I even felt a sense of enjoyment, as it was the first time I'd been able to run quickly for 4 months. I looked at my watch, the final two mins and a glimpse of the end of the canal - a long way away. Eventually I finished the 10mins and the canal, before I jogged, exhausted, for home. Even at this laboured pace for the last .75m I'd managed 37mins and 4.77m.

Thu I trained in the gym. Then I played my first game of staff 5-a-side on Fri. I rested on Sat, so I'm yet to tackle the Kenyan Hills. On Sun I looked out the window and there it was - the dreaded SNOW. This meant I either had to dip out of the week's long run or do it on the treadmill. Maybe because it's the first week or maybe just because I'm stubborn, I chose option 2. I love to bore myself self stupid once in while anyway. For my toil I gained three small victories: firstly I completed 75mins running; secondly I ran over 8m; and finally, I watched the treadmill give up after 60mins; I had to start it again for the final 15mins. Haha I'd beaten the treadmill! I would have still been much happier running outside though.

Gareth

The Real Deal

Right then,

After a fairly decent pre-training period over the last two weeks (I ran again on Sun), there's a slight step up in training for me this week. I'm going to follow the improver's training schedule I got from runners world. This is a 14 week lead up to the marathon.

Week 1 - includes:
Mon - Rest (which i managed admirably);
Tue - Steady jog 25 Min's (completed on the treadmill early this am despite going for a curry last night);
Wed - Two 10min runs at 80-90% effort with 2 Min's recovery jog between (this will be hard);
Thu - 30 Min's cross training e.g. swimming, cycling or gym and 30 Min's steady jog (doable);
Friday - rest (again doable);
Sat - Kenyan Hills which involves running up a steep hill for 2Min's jogging back down, and repeating for 15 Min's (this will be very hard)
Sun - Long run for 75 Min's (sort of hard but doable)

I'll report how I get on soon. Remember this is the easy part.

Gareth