This is the last blog until I’ve completed the Amsterdam
Marathon. When approaching races like this, I always, without fail, look back
at when I started running and the progress that I’ve hopefully made. Back in
April 2013 I was persuaded via a friend on twitter to enter the Cardiff Half
Marathon in October of that year, the longest I’d run prior to that being a
Swansea Bay 10K some 10 years earlier, and it has to be said, some 3 stone
lighter. I didn’t really know what I was doing when I was training for this,
other than trying to increase the distance I could run each time. No tempo
runs, no fartleks, no hill work .. nothing, other than run and keep going until
I couldn’t go any longer, which, typically, wasn’t very long anyhow ! I managed
to complete the ½ in 2 hours 4 mins, my longest run prior to that race being 9
miles .. yes, the 13.1 miles hurt ! The following week I joined 3M’s Roadrunners,
based in Gorseinon and its been relentless forward progress since ( barring a 3
month lay off due to a rotator cuff injury).
I get asked quite often what do I do when my training or a
race hasn’t gone to plan, its been bad etc. I find the singularly most
important thing is to always, without fail, look for a positive in every single
piece of training that I do. Did I mention, WITHOUT FAIL ! No matter how bad
the run has gone, no matter how bad I feel after it, no matter how far away
from the training session goals I am, I look for and always find a positive,
WITHOUT FAIL (I have mentioned that before haven’t I?). As an example, the London Marathon was not a good run, twisting my ankle at 8.5 miles in & having to run / walk /hobble the remaining 17 miles home ! The positives from that were that I finished it (where others may have pulled out) and that I was only 30 minutes off my PB even with a dodgy ankle. See, the power of positive thinking !
Anyhow, enough of the
rose tinted stuff, what’s happened since the last blog … quite a lot and all
positive yet again … the first West Glamorgan Cross Country League fixture of the
season took place at Llanmadoc in the Gower. It was our clubs turn to host a
fixture so a lot of organising went on between some fantastic people at the
club, the National Trust and others. Working nights meant I wasn’t really in
the right place to run, but I did help man the cake stall and thanks to all the
great people who brought cakes and then bought other peoples, we raised £240 on
the day, between my charity and another club members, so £120 more for the
cause, great stuff.
Runs over the past 2 weeks …. (all logged on Strava now,
if you’re really that interested in looking at the splits and so on !)
18 miler along Llanelli coastal path, aiming to keep my
heart rate around 145 bpm .. achieved the aim at a pace of 9’ 51 mins
Club race 5K race from Llanelli Leisure centre out and back,
the day after an 18 miler, legs felt heavy, but I managed to beat my 5K PB by 5
seconds, lord knows how that happened ….
Hilly 12.5 miler, with 3Kg pack on my back at marathon pace,
again achieved aim, pace per mile was 8’54 seconds - with hills and weight on my back, very
pleased with how that went.
Fartlek session along Llanelli coastal path, about 6 miles
in total, 1 min effort, 1 minute recovery for 30 mins, peaked my speed at 5
mins 30 seconds a mile ( ok only for a minute but I felt like Mo Farah at one
point !)
Gentle 5 miler after the previous days club training, 5.1
miles in total at a pace of 8 mins 19 seconds.
10K training run along Llanelli coastal path, not really
pushing it and not paying much attention to time / pace, at least not until I
looked at my watch after the 5th mile. My pace for which was 8 mins
… anyhow, I looked at the total time so far and could see that I was on for a
PB if I pushed hard for the final mile and a bit. Last mile was completed in 6
mins 55 seconds menaing I PB’d my 10k time on a training run by 25 seconds …
it’s strange how these things happen but very pleasing when they do !
So, what do I hope to get from the Amsterdam Marathon, well,
my target time is to get under 4 hours .. anything better than that will be a
bonus !
Fundraising continues with some very generous people out
there donating prizes and money, they know who they are, thank you, all of you.
Quick reminder of the fundraising night being held on the 14th
November in The Old Inn, Penllergaer, Swansea. It’s shaping up to be a good
night, got some great raffle prizes, and confirmed items for the auction, to
date are
1. Signed
football by the Manchester City squad
2. Signed
football shirt by the Everton squad
3. Cowbay
hat with about 40 rugby badges on (kindly donated by Casper)
4. Golf
4 ball in the Vale Resort, Hensol (kindly donate by Aspire2Be)
5. Framed
& signed Ospreys away shirt 2010/2011 season (kindly donated by Becky Clark/
The Bank Statement)
6. Liverpool
football shirt, signed by Glen Johnson (kindly donated by Steve Furnell)
There may be more to come as well
…. If you’re interested in any of the items above, make a bid and let me know …
also, if you have anything you feel like donating to the auction, again, I’d
love to hear form you.
Once again, congratulation on surviving this far, the £10
date in the diary continues, if you wish to donate £10 for a chance to win
£300, click on the link and enter your name and the date you want when you
donate …. I’ll confirm that the date you’ve chosen is free (if not, you can
chose another one) .. clicky here to donate http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/MdS-Madness
Finally, I have to share this photo, its of two members from
the running club, one was helping the other achieve a PB in the recent Caridff
Half, just look at the determination on their faces … fantastic team work …
which reminds me, make sure you have self belief beyond reason, be your biggest
fan and smash it !
See you after Amsterdam
Fatboy
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