Days to go 11 (“Good grief, Charlie Brown!”)
Miles today 0
Miles this week 6 (another 16-20 planned)
Miles last week 40
Miles 2011 398
Other exercise Yoga
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
Haruki Murakami
This week, dear Reader, I start with a confession.
The Fear has landed.
In fact, it snuck up on me unexpectedly 10 days or so ago: the Saturday I was due to join SG for our final long training run of 22 miles. Poor SG succumbed to her umpteenth cold of the season, and so it was left to me to hit the road alone. I’m sorry to say, I simply couldn’t.
My shoes were at the door. My pocket bulged with gels. My water-bottle was full. My toes were taped; my hair, plaited; my SportsBand, strapped on. I was dressed and ready to go. I made my final trip upstairs to the bathroom and then, instead of skipping downstairs and out the door, I found myself hiding under the duvet, sobbing and snivelling and feeling terribly sorry for myself.It all seemed too much: too big a challenge and too far. I couldn’t imagine myself leaving the house and plodding along the lanes and tracks to reach two miles let alone 22. My legs were lead and my heart was heavier.
When CM returned home after a morning of chores, he found me in a soggy disconsolate heap. He coaxed me from my pit and made me face the rest of the day.
Although the afternoon was punctuated with dry, rattling sobs and deep sighs, I got over myself – and on Sunday, SG and I headed out for a gentle six miles.* Since then, I have run 34 more, and broken in my new shoes which are proudly laced with my red charity laces, ready for the Big One.
* Thank you, SG, for bravely dragging yourself out. Sorry it made you sicker. If needs be, I’ll give you a piggy-back in London.
Before you rush to logon to see if it’s too late to get a refund on your sponsorship, apparently, this kind of wobble – let’s politely call it – is perfectly natural. Even elite runners get the jitters from time to time. In fact, it seems okay to write at least one such episode into your marathon training schedule.
The advice from all quarters seems to be that a marathon is no laughing matter – not sure if that includes the maniacal, hysterical shrieks I find myself emitting from time to time – and the mileage must be respected. Before considering the challenge, you need to have been running “seriously” for at least a year: 25 miles per week over four or five sessions.
Once you have decided you’re ready to attempt the marathon challenge, you must draw up a training schedule and gradually build the mileage. OMgoodG! This sounds so sensible and calculated. And it’s so not how I initially increased my miles. No wonder I feel rather wobbly.
This got me thinking about the possibility of a half-marathon. It was not, at first, a calculated, conscious decision. It was an accident, a mistake. A couple of missed turnings and I found myself – albeit unconsciously at the time – en route to the London Marathon 2011.
And the mileage is only part of the story. As well as getting my legs used to pootling along at a steady, comfortable pace for hours on end, I have to train my lungs, brain and upper body – presumably so that when my feet are worn out I can trot along on my hands.
Key to transforming myself into a honed running machine is cross-training. This isn’t a description of my state of mind whilst running in the wind and rain, it is more about mixing up my exercise regime in preparation for the Big One. As if running weren’t enough, I really ought to be indulging in other forms of exercise to strengthen various muscle groups and improve my aerobic activity and recovery.
But to be honest, my exercise diet was rather more varied prior to embarking on this marathon malarkey. Each week, I used to select from a menu of running, swimming, cycling, gardening and yoga as well as walking uphill and down dale of a Sunday. Now my activity carte du jour has been reduced to running, gardening and yoga. There just aren’t enough hours in the week to squeeze in all the miles, my chores, a full-time job and a rest-day every now and then.
Still, yoga is a good partner for running, apparently. It strengthens my core whilst unknotting and stretching muscles scrunched and tangled by high-impact sports. Its focus on the breath, marrying of mind and body, and immersion in the here and now are also important to efficient,
injury-free running. And it seems to be helping. Certainly, I have found Savasana particularly useful and tend to adopt it after every run.
Practising yoga really does help with the flexibility, but I know that I don’t do enough of a warm up and warm down either side of each run. I’ve seen seasoned athletes prepare for the few events I’ve entered and their warm up would be enough to exhaust me for the day let alone prepare my muscles for the long-distance race ahead. And the last thing I feel like doing after running 13 miles or so is trying to touch my toes while my hamstrings scream like banshees.
One thing I do seem to have got right is hill-training. Apparently, climbing hills builds your stamina and works your muscles far more than flat running. I live in a rather undulating area so I tell myself that each of my miles is worth far more than those covered in less hilly terrain. London is supposed to be a flat course, so look out for me skipping around it like a carefree little mountain goat...
It’s positive thinking like this that keeps you going. All of the marathon gurus stress the importance of affirmative thoughts and mantras. Visualisation is also popular: see yourself outstripping the field; imagine crossing the finish line with a big smile on your face; watch yourself eating that huge slab of cake after the last killer mile...
SG and I try to adhere to this optimistic way of thinking and running (see The loneliness of the long distance runner, 4 March). As well as our favourite maxims, we also ban certain negative four and two letter words. Neither of us is allowed to utter the vile syllable “hill” or the noxious sound “up” when we are training. We substitute them with “straight” and “along”. So, we run “along here a bit” and “straight over to Bloominghillfordby”. It works a treat and those cursed straight-alongs don’t hurt anywhere near as much.
One word we do enjoy is “taper”: “cutting back on the distance and intensity of training runs during the two-week period prior to the marathon”.
Woohoo and hallelujah!
Tapering also requires us to keep stretching; build up food reserves and stay hydrated; have a leg massage and treat blisters and calluses.
Can do.
Resting and being fresh for the Big One is essential. When you look at the stats, it makes sense. Since first using my SportsBand in January, I have run 398 miles; burnt 37,838 calories; and pounded the streets for 65 hours and 26 minutes.
And so, dear Reader, when you cheer for SG and me on Sunday 17 April and we smile and wave back, please remember that it’s not just the 26 miles round London that we have to conquer. They’re just the tip of the iceberg, the icing on the cake. You are witnessing the last few hours of a journey spanning more than 12 months and several hundred miles.
So, though it’s going to hurt like heck and I know I’m going to cry with the sheer joy and agony of it all, London is the gala performance. It is has got to be my bestest, happiest running yet.
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