I’m currently writing a book! About my novice exploits as a runner, and all the things I wish I had known before I did my first marathon. And my second marathon. And my third. So it’s pretty hard to write a book like that if I don’t actually go out and do some marathons.
These past two years (mid 2022 to mid 2024) have been particularly fraught, hence there has been a bit of an on/off relationship with my self administered training programme. This blogpost is mainly about that recent two year history.
Although first, I will need to tell a short story for those of you who have not been following me for the past twenty years or so!
I took up running to combat an unhealthy life style. I was 43 when that decision was made, I had an imprecise plan, but it did at least include a 10K race within a year of starting my newly found hobby. In the early years I did three 10K races, then a ropey half marathon, and then another couple of 10K races. Finally, I decided that I would do a marathon when I was 50.
A milestone achievement at a milestone age.
That meant more 10K races, and another Half, and plenty of training inbetween. In 2013, when I was 50 years old, I completed my first marathon. I did Milton Keynes in the most unimpressive way imaginable. Next, aged 55 (in 2018) I completed the Geneva Marathon with a marginally better performance. And then I planned to do my third marathon in 2023, aged 60.
It didn’t happen!
Owing to minor injuries in 2022 and 2023, I relaxed my 5 year cycle, and instead of 2023 I planned to do my third marathon in 2024, aged 61.
My training routes are mainly in central London, and I spend of lot of time on The Thames Path running along the South Bank. The lengths and the routes vary, but if you imagine Tower Bridge at one end, and Battersea Bridge at the other, you get a feel for my territory. And I’m a 6 o’clock man! Normally I wake at 5 o’clock (seven days a week) and I have a habit of always being out of the door at 6 on the dot, to run. Which was good until it wasn’t. No matter the weather, nor the season, nor the amount of (meaning the lack of) daylight, I would run my routes under London street lights . . . and that’s the problem.
London – 14 Dec 2023
Raised paving stones and sunken drains have been responsible for a number of injuries. In the dark I can’t see them. Yes, I’ve had other minor tumbles, clipping kerb stones, or losing my footing on gravel, but the only serious injuries were always the result of uneven pavements. After a particularly troubling tumble in Aug 2023, I started wearing a TubiGrip on my left knee, and I still went and did the Tonbridge Half Marathon on 1 Oct 2023. A bad injury (when it was dark) in mid Oct 2023 saw me substitute swimming (for 6 weeks) in place of my regular running. Then the clocks went back, I spent more time running in the dark. By December I was following my normal running routine again, and then on Boxing day (in the dark at about 6.30am) disaster struck (again)!
London – 26 Dec 2023
By this time I had already been looking ahead for marathons I could run in 2024. Boston (UK) in April, Peterborough in May, Loch Ness in September, and Chelmsford in October. I had registered to do Boston on 28 Apr 2024.
After the tumble on Boxing Day, I took some time to think. Having done no running by mid January 2024, I asked to defer my Boston 2024 entry to 2025. I also gave up running in the dark. I resolved to wait as long as it took (not merely rest for the recommended 6 weeks) and I would resume running when I felt that I was truly ready. In my diary I wrote that might be one or two years. By the end of March 2024 I was running again, and I booked my place for the Loch Ness Marathon on 29 Sep 2024.
It’s OK to not be OK – stopping at 8K of a 10K run
London – 28 Sep 2023
Then, two more false starts in early 2024, and two more injury breaks followed. It was nothing serious, there had been no more falls (because there was no more running in the dark) but my body was telling me that I wasn’t ready to pursue my full training programme the way I normally do. The ligaments in my left knee were telling me to take it easy on them. I went for a 20K walk one day, and took an unplanned break after 16K. Luckily, by early July 2024, I was feeling 100% again. I could run without any complaints, and I was back to my normal weekly pattern:
Tuesday: 7K
Thursday: 7K
Sunday: 10K
However, if I was going to be ready for the Loch Ness Marathon on 29 Sep 2024 I would have to step it up a bit.
Yokohama – 16 May 2024
Some time ago I scaled back my mid week runs from 10K to 7K. I don’t really have enough time before work on a Tuesday and a Thursday to do 10K, but it was the normal pattern a while back. And it will have to be the normal pattern again “now”. In place of the sevens I substituted 10, and in place of the ten I substituted 15.
Tuesday: 10K
Thursday: 10K
Sunday: 15K
The Sunday runs soon became 20K, and at the beginning of August I made time for myself to work on a heftier weekly pattern. Doing 10+10+20 wasn’t enough, I needed more muscle strength and hence more distance. I had never been this ambitious before. Another change of routine:
Tuesday: 15K
Thursday: 15K
Sunday: 25K
As I write this on Sunday 25 Aug 2024 I call tell you that I have followed that exact pattern for the past three weeks without any problems other than my calf muscles complaining about the unexpectedly high work load. There is no way that I can do more than 15K mid week without changing my work pattern. Over the next three weeks my Sunday runs will be extended to 30K, and then a further three weeks at 35K.
What that means is, that I am not going to be ready to do Loch Ness. Which is a shame, because it looks like a lovely event, and I really like Scotland. I could risk it, and I could probably finish, but what if I didn’t? It will take me two days to drive there, and two to drive back. I also had six nights booked in a hotel in Inverness. In total, ten days away from London, and a budget of well over £1,000. That’s a lot of time and energy and money, when I am borderline fit to run 42K at the end of September
But as they say in their race guide “if your training has not gone to plan, we ask you give serious consideration to your ability to run the marathon”. So I have had to let them know that I am dropping out. Instead (today, Sunday 25 Aug 2024) I have registered to do the Chelmsford Marathon. That gives me seven weeks of training, and most importantly, three Sunday runs at 30K, and three more Sunday runs at 35K. I will certainly be fit to do 42K by mid October. The extra two weeks is enough to boost my stamina and to boost my confidence. Moreover, Chelmsford is a simple train ride from London, with a super off peak day return costing me less than £30.
And the book? The draft version already runs to more than 50,000 words, so it’s a serious book, starting with the early days in 2005.
Rural France, near CERN in Geneva – 2 May 2018
Let’s see how I cope with Chelmsford on 13 Oct 2024. Then I can write the Chelmsford chapter! And hopefully that means that the book can be published before the end of 2024.
Footnote
8 Sep 2024 edit – Unrelated to running, I had a stupid, trivial accident on Wednesday 4 Sep 2024, resulting in a broken toe! Nothing serious at all, but just enough to stop my marathon training in its tracks. Hence no Chelmsford Marathon on 13 Oct 2024. And the book will be delayed until I actually get to run a third marathon!