I wrote previously, after London Marathon about doing some soul searching to find the magic formula to going under 3:30 in the marathon. I printed my findings and I scored a 60 %…. out of 100%. I was doing ok, but I wanted better than ok …I wanted to get results.
Doing average gets you average *. Doing enough to get by just gets you by. I wanted more. Let me quickly revisit where I was.
*I want to stress that when I refer to average I don’t in anyway link to time, I link to my behaviours, training etc
5km 20:21 (Season Best)
10km 40:44 (season Best)
13.1M 1:33:45 (Last year)
Marathon 3:30:59 (Last year)
I had a programme which I thought gave me all I needed, but was I looking at the principles of training, the intensities of running, paces I needed to achieve and recovery I needed to take, NO! I was doing what I thought was right, doing enough to get by, doing average..4/5
I didn’t have a coach – I didn’t think I needed one; I had a programme and the Metro sessions, which were part coached, so I would be fine. 2/5
My nutrition wasn’t great, and I was weighing 80kgs when racing at London, and this wasn’t changing or maybe it was I wasn’t recording it to know…I didn’t think I would get hung up on weight but knowing that I was overweight for my size didn’t sit well with me…so I rated this 2/5
My motivation is a strong characteristic, I want to improve, I want to achieve and I’m lucky to have met some very supportive individuals along the way that too want to improve and challenge themselves. Put it this way, finding out I was only doing average, made me want to improve more…I want to be better than average. 4/5
Monitoring load and recovery was always a strong point for me, but its hard when you battle to try and fit runs in to a day, or have trips away, or if your training plan just doesn’t allow the recovery…or you think your recovering but your not?! 3/5
Total – 60% 15/25
How was I to improve? – after all I’m still short of my sub 3:30…Ive been told numerous times your faster than that…but in reality I am not until the clock reads under 3:30. So where am I now? The dust is almost settled following the Loch Ness Marathon what have I done differently?
I got a coach to help me with the training intensities, I made myself accountable, I wanted to be better than average so got help.
Ginie Barrand and I spoke after a race where she said she had seen my post on the Magic Formula and noticed about the coaching, and she was willing to help me in this area. Being very appreciative of peoples time, I initially thanked her and played it down, I am an average athlete right, why would you want to help me? She was great, we spoke at length about what my goals were and we left the finish line of Chapleton of Elsick 10km with Ginie agreeing to write me a programme to guide me towards Loch Ness Marathon (just over 12 weeks away).
The feedback was – you are doing to many sessions, running too fast for most of these and the paces are not consistent. Do you know what paces you are meant to be running at? – No, No I don’t know what my lactate threshold pace versus my marathon paced runs versus my recovery paced runs…. I tend to run as fast as I can for lactate, a little slower for marathon and do whatever speed in recovery to get them sessions done. OK – let me help.
Nutrition improved with reduced snacks and focusing on filling up with good quality food rather than snacking on processed foods etc. My weight reduced in the 20 or so weeks from London 80.1kg to race day weight of 73.85kg, just over 6kgs weight loss due in part to nutrition changes and fueling for the sessions appropriately.
Motivation and support – All I can say is thank you to all those who invested time to drop me a message of good luck, hints and tips for the course, how to prepare for standing in the cold at the start right up to those who took in books for me to read, suggested reading, gave heart warming words on how to achieve. ( Dave Andrews, Tony Little, Jen Dixon, Russell Willox…too many too mention)
Recovery has been mainly due to the paces of the running, taking the pace out of the recovery runs has been important. Food and drink as soon after also has been something new, where as before I would eat all sorts crisps, chocolate etc to replenish.
So after 12 weeks where are we:
5km 19:46 (35s) 20:21 (Season Best)
10km Not raced one since 40:44 (season Best)
13.1M 1:28:59 (4min 46s) 1:33:45 (Last year)
Marathon 3:14:42 (16mins 17s) 3:30:59 (Last year)
Results – improving on average
Good Programme = 5/5
Good Coaching = 5/5
Good Nutrition = 4/5
Motivation & Support = 4/5
Good Recovery = 4/5
Total – 88% 22/25
Take home messages for ME, were I wasn’t happy with average. I wanted to see if I could do it, I probably never believed I could but trusted the processes and learnt from previous experiences. I think if I were to offer any advice from my experience it would be :
- Get help with training, make it specific to your goal. Paces, sessions and load has to be specific to what you need them to be
- If you want something really bad, reflect on why you haven’t achieved it to date, and plan how you will change to achieve it in the future
- You will most likely fall short on the journey, but that is part of the process. I have had 3 marathons that were short of expectations, but each one helped shape the most recent run, the distance/result is a journey achieved over many years of running
- Surround yourself with like minded folks, people re-emphasising the positive part of running. People willing to message support, contribute books to read and offer tips on their success and failure.
- Don’t ever be scared by your goals, or doubt they can be achieved
- Discipline, when motivation and excitement wain.
Thanks always for reading, don’t settle for good when you can be great (no matter your goal).
