Whatever you do, don’t skip the loo!

 

An intriguing title I’m sure you will agree, but a very applicable one indeed.

What drives me to that kind of statement? Well yesterday (Thursday 26^th) I woke up with my alarm at 4:15 as normal, BUT, for some reason went back to sleep and ended up waking again looking at my watch only to see the time sitting at about 4:50!

4:50!!?? Holy ****!!

 

I recently drafted yet another revised training plan, this time based around the ultra-running champion Sage Canaday; who is currently training for his Olympic trials qualification race in a few weeks. I have taken all of the runs that he has been logging in Strava since the beginning of his training, and drew up my own calendar  leading up to the London Marathon. All I did was knock a few km off here and there depending on what type of run he did; for example, if he ran an 18km easy session, I listed put that down as a 15k session. If he logged a 30k session made up of different types of sessions moulded into one I would plan a half marathon distance built up of different types of runs too.

So far the idea has been working brilliantly, and I’ve been knocking personal best times around like skittles. Someone at work recently pointed out that I shouldn’t be surprised at how well I’ve been progressing if I’ve been trying to replicate a pro runner training for the Olympics! Guess not when you think of it like that!

 

The main thing for me recently has been to not slip up, not to adjust the plan; and to stick with it. To wake up late on a day that I have a 10k planned for the morning before work; and then another in the evening after work; put that entire plan at risk. I know it sounds anal, but I can’t afford to mess up my morning routine in the slightest. If I leave my house even 5 minutes later than normal it can add about 20 minutes to my drive due to the influx of traffic that seems to suddenly appear after 6:30AM.

 

So I woke up late and had to get my behind into gear so that I could get a good 10k session on the books. I shot out of bed, whipped the gear one, shovelled a banana down my throat and dashed out the door. I got about 2km into the run when suddenly it happened. I won’t go into too many details, but let’s just say that my stomach suddenly reminded me that I forgot to do a very significant part of my morning routine, “rumble, rumble; gurgle, gurgle”; it grumbled at me. 

From that moment on the stride was very much shortened; no, there hadn’t been any accidents; not yet; but I didn’t want there to be either. Every turning point on my route was preceded with a very serious mental debate as to whether or not I should just turn home and pack in the run. Yes I could go home and then dash out again but that would break my rhythm etc… and I knew that once back indoors I wouldn’t want to go back out again.

Each debate was met with the same answer; “I feel fine now, just take the turn and get on with it; it’s only a few more km to go and then you’ll be home!”

Each time I thought that though I would be grumbled at once more about 3-400 meters down the road. I pressed on, and on, and on; until finally back home and through the door.

What was even more annoying was that I didn’t even think to reset my Garmin, so all my data was lost apart from the overall time and distance of the run itself. How annoying; but; at least I didn’t skip the run, and I got the 10k done under difficult circumstances. I will never complain about the wind….headwinds that is….again.

 

So that was that, run number one for the day done, but it did mean that I needed to really make up for it when I got to my evening session, and make up for it I did. I ran that second 10k after work like a man possessed and set a new personal best of 45:39; a whole 2:04 quicker than my last 10k PB. Like I said, I seem to be knocking personal bests around like skittles lately. I bust out a new 5k PB of 21:24 on the 21^st, set a new distance PB of 30k the very next day, as well as setting myself a new 15k PB of 1:11:26 on Wednesday just gone (25^th).

 

Overall my training for the Silverstone half marathon; and then the London marathon; has been going so well that the idea has begun to creep into my head that I might just be able to pull off the unthinkable; get a half marathon time of around 1hr42, and then even a marathon time of around 3hrs30! My initial targets were 1hr45 and 3hrs45 respectively, but a fellow bug pointed me to the runners world pace calculator which says I should be able to achieve 1hr42 and 3hr33. Another bug (FYI – I am part of an online running community called TheRunningBug, where we refer to one another as “bugs”, or “BugMates”)  then dropped the seed into my head that I could start to realistically look at 3hrs30! Damn you Ian! Damn you! Lolol…. Once an idea gets put into my head it starts to germinate and take root. My brain is like a gill net, catches onto every little idea and doesn’t let go! This is not a good thing because if I do start believing in those kinds of times then I get really upset with myself if I don’t achieve the target.

Still; like I said; with the performances I have been achieving lately, these little ideas are forming very golden trimmings! 

 

Let’s talk about the distance PB for a bit too shall we; especially since this was a major event for me personally. The furthest I have ever run before was a 28.77km session. I must be honest, I have been ridiculously nervous about the upcoming marathon, not just because my fundraising is not going too well (*cough*cough* http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AndrewRunningMadDorsett ;@) ) but also because I have been terrified of the distance element. I know that there is still a fair amount of time before the big day arrives, but 42.2km is a long way to run, and when you’ve only just gone over the half way marker once before, it becomes a little more scary.

I gave the wife the heads up that I was going to be putting in a monster session, and that I did not know how long I was going to be out; “as long you don’t wake me up when you leave I don’t care!” …class!

 

I got everything ready; full hydration bottle loaded with lovely cola flavoured electrolytes; the last few homemade energy tabs tucked away in my pocket, and a sis energy gel just for a last minute emergency energy booster.

 

I decided to do the “right” thing and go for a little 5k warm up run first; I don’t see the point to be honest; I am unorthodox; but then I don’t really run a warm up run like you should; I run a warm up run like any other run really.

I set off on the venture pretty much as soon as I got back from the “warm up”.

 

I didn’t really have a plan, all I knew was that I wanted to run, run, and then hopefully run some more. I decided the best way to achieve this was to head out in a direction that I hadn’t been for some time; so I went the route of my old favourite Cromwell Golf Club way; a road I hadn’t been down for months due to the dark winter mornings and lack of lighting around there. I could go out, run a specific distance, turn around, get home and then head out on my normal half marathon route. Running a plan like that would ensure that I got the distance I wanted; if it went to plan that is!

I put an extra bottle of water in my car so that I could come past on my way back from the first section of the run and treat the car as a half way aide station, refill my hydration bottle and then head back out again for the second leg of the venture.

 

I was so happy that I did go that route because it is such a lovely; scenic road to take.

The kilometers ticked over bit by bit and before I knew it I was at the 10k mark. I had thought that if I turned around to head back at 10k then that would be 20 and would be able to then head out on my more regular half marathon route which would essentially take me to 40km in total roughly. But I didn’t want to turn around. I wanted to keep going; so I did. I eventually turned around at about the 12 or 13km mark, still feeling extremely fresh, and wanting to carry on further, but the traffic was beginning to pick up and I found myself having to step off the road and stand on the side; in the mud; waiting for the cars to pass. If there are one or two cars coming toward me, and I know that there is nothing coming from behind then I wouldn’t worry about staying on the road, but when I can hear cars coming from behind, with cars ahead of me I know that they are not going to have a lot of room to move aside for me. I try to be as considerate and sensible as I can be when I run the roads with no pavements.

I had completely drained my water bottle only a few kilometers from home, but didn’t want to stop as I was only at the 26km mark. I knew that I only had a few more to do before hitting the distance PB, but I knew that I had a little bit more than that so I turned to the SiS gel to give me just that little bit extra that I needed.

I decided that stopping at home to refill the water bottle would shut me down at this stage, and that I wouldn’t want to go on further, especially if I had hit the distance PB, so I just carried on through and hit my more regular 5k route option. At least I would beat my PB and still extend it by a few more kilometers. Looking back on the entire run I really wish I had stopped at the car now and filled my bottle. I think I could have gone on much further. By the end of it all I had run a total of 30 kilometers and just went for a nice little cool down run around the block. All in all I had completed 36 kilometers; 5k warm up, 30k LSR, 1k cool down. I think it is very safe to say that I was completely over the moon with the entire session, and if anything, it has fuelled my desire to run an ultra-marathon at some stage.

This performance has really boosted my confidence in regards to being able to complete the marathon in under 4hrs at least. I’ve also been boosted by the fact that there were a number of little stop starts due to the traffic, and the allowance of a few very short walking breaks; yet I still managed to do all 36km combined in a total of 3hrs16mins. If I can pull off a proper race performance on the day, the 3hr30 idea is made so much more real. I just need to remember to fill that water bottle at specific aide stations provided by the charity I am running for.

My little energy tabs I made worked wonders too, I gobbled one at a time at roughly every fourth kilometer, and I really do think that they made a huge amount of difference to my overall performance. I will definitely be packing enough of these for the big day too. If I can avoid using a gel I will do.

 

At the end of all of this I guess it’s safe to return to the title. Remember; make sure you are clear of all toilet requirements before you take on the run you have planned; and then believe in yourself when running to targets, and train like you’ve never trained before. The hard work begins to pay back what you put into it eventually.