London/Manchester/Harlow
My second race ( and second marathon ) could hardly have been more different in scale and character from the first. From the thousands of runners and spectators and the high profile media razzamatazz that accompanied the London Marathon, my second foray into marathon running had an altogether lower key feel about it. The 3 forts marathon – more on this link: o.t.s.o…..the 3 Forts Challenge – started and finished on the playing fields of a school on the outskirts of Worthing, and attracted a field of approximately 300 starters. The majority of its course was off road, and roller-coasted up and down some of the fiercest hills that the south downs has to offer, passing by 3 ancient iron age hill forts (hence the name) along the way. Involving a total climb of some 3500 ft, this was never designed to produce fast times, the aim primarily being to complete the test. My drinking mate – Iain Presnell – the guy who gave me the London marathon number, was also my running mate, and he had also entered the 3 forts. His background in athletics was very much that of a track runner, specializing as a sprinter and possessing some very impressive personal best times over 100, 200 and 400 metres. However, he enjoyed longer distance running too, and joined me for much of my training in these early days. The course was exceptionally tough, but for the first 13 miles, Iain and I ran together at a steady pace. At 15 miles Iain started to struggle and I stopped for a few minutes to wait for him. Just before 17 miles though, he said he’d had enough, finally retiring at the 19 mile point, so I pushed on alone finishing in 120th position in 4 hrs 28 mins 52 seconds. Although slower than my debut time, when the nature of the course was taken into account I was sure that being just 6 minutes down actually meant that I’d made some good progress in the few weeks since I had become a regular runner.
I gave myself a couple of weeks off to recover, resuming on 6th July. Clearly, I’d been bitten by the bug, as I already had my next race lined up. The “Pony” British Marathon was being staged in Manchester on Sunday 23rd August, and was probably that city’s attempt to upstage London as the host of the biggest “peoples” marathon, and for a first attempt they succeeded by attracting a starting field of 8,700. I upped the number of days I trained each week from 3 to 4 or occasionally 5, and naturally the weekly mileage for the 7 weeks leading up to the Manchester race saw a corresponding increase, averaging about 30 miles per week and peaking with a new high week of 42 miles. My general training pace was getting quicker, and I started to throw in some much longer runs, with a 19 miler in late July, then 2 runs of 21 ½ and 20 miles within 6 days of each other in mid August. None of this running was planned in any scientific way, but the combination of shorter quicker paced runs and long slower efforts was definitely resulting in improvement. A 3½ mile run 5 days prior to the race marked the end of my preparations. Travelling to Manchester with Kim, and Iain and his girlfriend Jackie the day before the race, we stayed overnight in the university accommodation. Considering that my personal best at this distance was 4hrs 17’ I had set myself a pretty tough target, with an aim of 3hrs 30., and the pace I set off at felt like hard work. Covering the first 16 miles at 7 minute mile pace was somewhat optimistic, and beyond that point I started slowing. With a lot of time in hand, my 3hrs 30 target remained very achievable until the last two miles at which point a very severe stitch forced me to stop and walk a few hundred yards, putting paid to my target. I still managed to cross the line in 3hrs 31’ 57”, very well satisfied. More than 45 minutes off my p.b felt like a very good step forward. Iain also achieved his aim of completing a marathon, finishing in 4 hrs 33’.
After a weeks recovery, I resumed running again on the 30th August and started to look out for another marathon to run. A well established fixture on the athletics calendar – The Harlow marathon – was the choice. Taking place on the 25th October, it gave me just 6 weeks to get myself ready. A gentle first week back of 22 miles was followed with a leap up to 51 miles, which included a single long run of 22 miles, then another week of 49 miles during which notes in my diary included remarks such as “running so badly” and “feeling so tired”, which maybe shouldn’t have been too surprising. The end of September suddenly saw a spell of stomach illness and de-motivation which resulted in me running just 3 times in 16 days, only resuming normal running on 4th October, just 3 weeks before the race. Far from ideal preparation, but a 21+ mile run in under 2 hrs 30 one week before the Harlow race suggested I was in reasonable shape. As for the race itself, my notes from the time say little more than that I set off at a rather fast pace, but it felt comfortable so I went on at that pace. Had a good, problem free run and crossed the line in 3hrs 14’ 09”, knocking nearly 18 minutes off my p.b. Well pleased !
Despite the pleasure I felt with the improvement in my running, the lack of direction and focus in reflected in the fact that I ran a total of just 4 times in the whole of November to log just 21 miles ! This was followed by a modest increase through a snowy December, averaging around 20 miles per week. The day before New Year’s Eve I did something that altered my approach to running and would give my training the focus that it had lacked up to that point – I joined Tonbridge Athletics Club. More next time…..
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