Running the Virgin London Marathon 2010

And so, after all those months of training race day was finally upon me. I always knew that after picking up an injury so late on in my training build up that I'd lost a significant amount of fitness but I had no idea how far behind I was until I got half way through the this years London marathon. For me the race became a different run altogether, a test of endurance, mental as much as physical far greater than I originally anticipated.

The day began with clouded skies and a heavy downpour, something that came as a welcome surprise to all of us gathering on Blackheath Common after all the predictions of record high temperatures and burning hot sunshine. If the forecasters had been right the weather would have been a marathon runners worst nightmare. But the weather spirits were kind to us, giving us just enough rain to keep it cool without being too damp for the start of the race.

I joined my start group in pen 3 and immediately felt out of place. Looking at the the runners around me I could see they were more toned and more focused than myself. I knew I was way too far forward in the start and I was going to get in the way of the other runners.

I had decided to not try and run an 8 minute mile pace, that would have been stupid, so my plan was to set off and settle as quickly as possible into a comfortable pace closer to 8:20/mile and as the race started I very quickly found a relatively decent pace to go along with. I passed the first mile mark at 8 minutes 24, way over my original 3:30 target pace but close enough to a 3:35 finish to make it up over the second half of the race if I felt capable of doing so. That was my plan, to stay within reach of beating my personal best without setting off too quickly and doing myself in.

I continued, enjoying the support and the occasion, even through those early stages the crowds lining the street are quite vocal and larger that I remembered from my previous race. I kind of forgot about my running for a bit, just drifting along quite happily and I crossed the three mile mark just 40 seconds off the pace, I felt quite comfortable.

As I ran through Charlton I was careful to not get too confident, I passed the 5 mile marker more quickly than I ought to have done reducing my time deficit to only 14 seconds so I decided to ease off over the next mile or so completing the first 10km in an unspectacular but reasonable 52 minutes. I passed the famous Cutty Sark, still boarded up and no more than a pile of scaffolding at the moment, turning into Deptford and heading towards Surrey Quays my pace still a good 40 second off but well within reach. 40 seconds down is not too bad, I had just passed the eight mile marker and I still felt comfortable.

The first sign of trouble came around mile 10. I became aware of a tightness in my right calf muscle, something that originally appeared during my training and my physio suggested was a sign that I was in some way over-compensating for the injury I'd incurred on my left side. I immediately slowed down, even considering stopping to stretch it but deciding against it I carried on, trying to stay relaxed, trying to keep my rhythm going. The tightness in my calf stayed about the same but I was aware that had really slowed down, I was now a good minute and a half off my pace but I knew that it was better to slow down at that stage in the race rather than suffer later on.

The crowds along Jamaica road were amazing much larger that I remembered from my previous London Marathon. All the way from Rotherhithe and Bemondsey to Tower Bridge, every inch of space lining the route was taken. The noise was incredible.

Over Tower bridge I ran, crossing that halfway point at a stately 1 hour 55 minutes. I comforted myself that this was a similar time I crossed the halfway point as I did the last time I ran the London marathon but the ache on my calf muscle grew worse and I knew as I approached the 14th mile that something was very wrong and it wasn't going to get better. Again, I slowed down.

It was like a chain reaction, what started as a dull ache became a sharp pressure in my Achilles. Then I started to develop a pain in my piriformis muscle, everything was starting to feel like it was closing up. It was becoming hard to concentrate on anything other than the growing pain, I was stiffening up, losing my form.

It was about at that point that I passed the water station manned by the children from the school I work in. Just seeing them gave me such a lift, I completely forgot about the pain for a minute or two. There's nothing like seeing people you know by the side of the course, friends, colleagues, family, close ones to give you support. Years after a race like the marathon, when you close your eyes, you can still see the look on their faces the moment when they see you pass by, a look of sheer joy and elation.

Just after I left Narrow Street and tuned right into the underground roundabout as I entered The Isle of Dogs. There were a few runners by the side of the road stretching their calf muscles, I decided to try and do the same. The stretch seemed to do some good but not for long, soon the pain came back, soon I stopped again, another stretch. I manages to make it to Mudchute where I stopped by a medic and had an emergency sports massage. Again this pit stop served to alleviate the pain slightly but as I passed Cross harbour my Piriformis decided to join the shut down party, producing a pain not unlike being injected with an inappropriately large, rusty, six inch nail inserted very slowly and under great pressure into my lower back. Just at that point I looked at my watch and three hours passed by. My race was over.

I was in a strange state of mind; on the one hand all was lost, there was no way I was going to finish the race in less that four hours and mentally I was shot. I had to think really hard and really fast, I had to very quickly set myself a new target. On the other hand there's something to be said for the sporting cliché, "dig deep". I started shouting at myself, motivating myself, 9 miles to go, I can run 9 miles, easy, that's less than the run home from work I was doing during my training all winter. Take each mile one at a time, beak each mile down into sections. I just had to finish, that would be my target, I wanted that finishers medal more than anything in the world, I visualised the medal hanging around my neck, holding the medal, crossing the finish line, that was my motivation

By the time I rounded Canery Warf I could only run for about two minutes before my leg stopped working, I don't mind admitting it but I wanted to do nothing more than stop. Just as I turned to head towards Billingsgate there was a Saint John's medical centre, There were a couple of runners who had already decided enough was enough, sitting there in the warm sunshine receiving a massage, a cold drink in hand. Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on me but I'm sure they were listening to some relaxing music. It looked like heaven.

And that is pretty much how the rest of my race went on, the pain grew increasingly debilitating, making it only possible to run for shorter and shorter periods. I counted from one to a hundred, running for a hundred seconds, walking for a hundred seconds. I counted down the miles, shouting the number out loud, I just had to keep going, I tried walking faster, continuing to push myself as hard as I possibly could. I was constantly being passed by other runners, but there were others suffering like myself. i managed to strike up a few conversations as I went along.

If there was any advantage to be found in the pain I was forcing myself to go through, it was that I really got to appreciate the enormity of the crowd, the support was absolutely huge. Every now and again people would see me walking, "COME ON RICHARD", "KEEP GOING! NOT FAR TO GO NOW, YOU'RE DOING GREAT!" The spectators really did help me through it.

I passed under the 25 mile maker, along The Embankment, the Houses of Parliament in view, people screaming my name, verbally pushing me along. I was determined to run across the finish line. I hobbled onto bird cage walk, I saw a man collapsed by the side of the road, what a place to collapse I thought, virtually in sight of the finish.

I rounded onto The Mall and there it was, the end. I really was in a state of complete agony, I could barely walk let alone run but I forced one more jog out of me, I made it over the line and nearly fell over. I'd done it, ironically I very nearly walked straight past the woman handing out the medals.

I decided as soon as I crossed the finish line that I wouldn't even think about how the race had gone, I was just so pleased to have finished. As a spectator over the years I had seen runners in my position and now I know exactly what they were going through.

I was hours off my race target time finally crossing the line with a time of 5:02. This time though, I was more proud of my performance than when I got my personal best. It was, in a way, what marathon running is all about. It takes a lot of guts to run a marathon, anyone that runs this race will at some point want to stop. Part of running a marathon is dealing with the voices inside that want you to give up, I had to convince myself that giving up wasn't an option.

At the end of the race, just like the last time I ran the marathon, just like the last time I ran a half marathon or just like the last time I ran any other race, as soon as I crossed the finish line there was only one thought going through my mind...

"I can do better than that".

See you next year London.

Warm weather training

That's right, your eyes do not deceive you, WARM weather training. It doesn't seem that long ago I was complaining about the sub-zero temperatures, in fact, at one point in January the weather was so bad I couldn't run for a week. Sheet ice inches thick covered just about every pavement in South East London.

We Brits are famed for our obsession with the weather but I don't think anyone could argue that the last four months have not been easy for us lot training for the London marathon. I've ran through sub-zero snow covered streets, pouring rain so bad that it left standing water a foot deep in some places along the River Thames, and today, something completely different... hot sunshine and high humidity.

Not that I'm complaining, one of my worries about the up coming marathon has always been that the later than usual start (a week later than last years) left the event vulnerable to warm or even hot weather.

This morning I woke up and did my usual preparation of porridge, bananas, stretching and circuits. While watching the weather forecast I realised that today was going to be a warm one, "hmmmmm", thinks I, "..here's an opportunity to get some warm weather running in".

Now, I've ran a warm marathon before and I can tell you, I did not enjoy it, not one bit; and that was after months of training through an unspeakably hot German summer in Cologne. Running in warm weather takes some getting used to and after months of training though the coldest winter to hit Europe for 70 years, any opportunity to run in the sun has to be taken.

I actually waited until about one o'clock, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, the heat had built up to 19 Celsius in the shade, making the in the sun temperature well into the mid-twenties. After about 3 miles of running I really started to flag, I started getting worried that if these conditions were to be repeated on the 25th, I wouldn't make it. After four miles I stopped and had a stretch, I started to relax, drinking regularly, pacing myself nicely. I realised that I had gone off too fast, running close to 7:50/ mile pace, I eased off to around 8:10/mile pace and all of a sudden I really started to enjoy it.

I ran around Peckham Rye Common three times (about 5 miles), enjoying the sun beating down on me, the sight of people soaking up the warm spring sunshine, dog walkers, builders and other runners all out there, I just relaxed and got on with it.

I'm planning a 13 mile run on Sunday, apparently it's going to cool off a bit, it will be sunny but not nearly as hot as it was today, shame really, I would really enjoy another thirteen miles just like today.

London Marathon: 12 interesting facts

When it comes to Marathon running you can't read anything in any running related literature without coming across a statistic, usually in the first paragraph. So, in the tradition of Marathon writing, I thought I would include as many statistics as I can find here for your reference.

1. Over the course of a marathon the average runner will lose 2.5 litres of water.

2. Over 26.2 miles runners will take 30 000 steps, over three times their body weight is transferred though their heel every time is hits the ground.

3. The current course record holder for the London marathon is Sammy Wanjiru with a time of 2 hours, five minutes and ten seconds. The current male World record holder is Haile Gabresalassie with a time of 2:03:59 set in Berlin, 2008.

4. The slowest marathon finisher was Major Phil Packer who completed the course with a time of 13 days, a remarkable time considering Packer lost his legs in Afghanistan only starting to use crutches a month before the race.

5. The fastest marathon completed dressed as a vegetable was recorded in 2009 by Robert Protheno who crossed the finish line dressed as a large carrot in 3:34:55.

6. Over it's history, enough water has been handed out to runners to fill 150 Olympic sized swimming pools!

7. The last British winner of the London marathon was Paula Radcliffe who broke the World record with a time of 2:15:25. However, the last British man to win was Eamonn Martin way back in 1993 who was not actually a professional athlete at the time.

8. 1 in every 67 414 London marathon runners dies. This is comparable with many daily activities.

9. The course distance of 26 miles 385 yards is not in fact, the distance from Marathon to Athens in Greece but was the distance ran at the London Olympics in 1908 when Italian, Dorando, famously barely crossed the line but was subsequently disqualified after receiving assistance from the clerk of the course. The Gold medal was awarded to the second placed American, Johnny Hayes. Promoters and bookies set up a subsequent series of rematches but insisted the race be run over the exact distance ran in London. The International Olympic committee sanction the distance the following year and ever since then the World knows the Marathon as the distance set in London, not Greece.

10. The first Womens Marathon race did not exist as an Olympic event until 1984 in Los Angeles. Back in 1981 the winner of the men's race received 1375 pounds while the winner of the women's race received a wrist watch. Fortunately, there is a bit more equality these days with both the male and the female winners receiving the same prize money of 36000 pounds.

11. The human body can only store approximately 2000 calories in the form of glycogen which is converted from carbohydrates and stored in the liver and muscles. Most runners run out of glycogen between the 18 and 20 mile mark. This is commonly referred to as "hitting the wall".

12. The most common profession amongst marathon runners is teaching.

Hill training

My training week is broken down into three core sessions, a long run at the weekend, a decent mixed paced (either a Fartlek, interval or threshold) run and a long hill session. Today I ran one of the long hill or Kenyan hill sessions which comprised of quite simply running up and down a fairly challenging hill four times. My local hill is One Tree Hill which is close to Honor Oak Park train station, a climb which I have become quite familiar with as it's part of he route I take to get to Peckham Common where I do quite a lot of my running at present. I run up one side, down the other to East Dulwich Road where I turn around and repeat the process. The route is about one and a half miles long so after a few reps the miles start to stack up.

So what's the point? What advantage is there to putting my legs through this kind of self inflicted torture? Well I first read about Kenyan Hill sessions in an article in Runners World magazine just before I started training for the 2006 London Marathon. Having struggled around the Cologne Marathon I was determined to finish the London race with a little more style than the exhausted heap I ended up with in Germany. Reading the article the writer had spent some time in Kenya training with the National athletics team where one day they went out for a hill training session. Our journalist had been used to hill training sessions that comprised of short, fast runs up hills so off he set, pounding his way to the top only to discover that the whole Kenyan national Marathon team wasn't even half way up the hill. The Kenyans were jogging at a steady pace as he passed them on the way back down and by the time he's turned around he had caught up with them again they had only just reached the summit. The Journalist managed a couple more reps before his knees started to ache but the Kenyans went on, maintaining a steady pace, jogging to the top and then recovering on the way down for another four hours. FOUR HOURS!

Kenyan Hill sessions are designed to help build deep muscle strength, the kind of muscle you need late on in a marathon post about 20 miles when all your glycogen reserves have been used up and you're really staring to hurt. There are many advantages to this kind of training for example:

• Developing your aerobic capacity; your body learns to use oxygen more efficiently over longer distances.
• Increased stamina, enabling you to run longer and further.
• Improved running action (biometrics), giving you a spring in your step than enables you to develop a longer stride length and reduced stress with ground impact.

Reading the article I was impressed. This sounded like just the kind of thing I needed to help boost my strength so off I went, looking for an appropriate hill. Fortunately, at that time I was living in Charlton, an area of South East London that is basically on a hill and just down the road from me was Shooters Hill one of the highest points in London. Actually, Shooters Hill is probably a bit too big for a Kenyan Hill session but I did it anyway, starting of with two climbs. I can still remember the way I felt after the first time I did it, I was in absolute agony!

There is another very good reason for doing these kind of training sessions and that's a psychological one. I can pretty much guarantee that the way you feel as you reach the summit on you 4th or 5th rep, your legs will feel not dissimilar to the way you'll feel at the end of a marathon. You will want to stop. This kind of mental preparation is invaluable, you might get it on some of your longer distance training runs but you get it every time on a Kenyan session.