Above was a year ago today, where Heartbreak Hill was true to it’s name and utterly broke me. I’ve always amazed when I look back at the picture and can’t see a deeper grimace – at the time when Amrit ran past me it was possibly the worst I’ve ever felt in a marathon. It can’t have been more than 5 minutes after this when I stopped and walked / ran the rest of the race.
A year is a long time in running and I’ve learnt a lot over the last year, changed some things, refined others and engaged at a deeper level with running. Here are some of the things that stick out in my mind, none of these are rocket science, all standard pieces of advice and yet all pieces of advice that are so much more effective to absorb once you experience the lesson:
- Enjoyment is key. Not something new, but something that has been hugely reinforced.
- I needed more protein in my diet – the constant muscular aches / pains / breakdowns almost dissipated once I started to supplement with protein back in late Oct / early Nov. The upshot has been the longest unbroken training period I’ve had in years.
- Relaxing, not pushing and listening to where I am on the day, alongside what I have been able to do in training is key.
- Doubling is not something I enjoy for a variety of reasons – mainly due to pushing a cold shower / meditation to an unspecified time later in the day. I’ve found that running once a day (unless lifting weights) in the afternoon is ideal for me. I find I’m so much more productive if I get up, cold shower (if not sea-swimming later), meditate, hot lemon & ginger is a routine that sets me up superbly for the day ahead. I also find running in the afternoon easier mentally & physically than first thing.
- Training for an ultra and running with a rucksack I really don’t enjoy. Run commute was fine, but the longer runs at the weekends I really, really don’t enjoy having the bag. I want to run free, which means any future mountain races need to be shorter (up to 5-6 hours at most, as I could do that with a waistband). This all fine as training for one thing has reinforced another.
- Which takes me onto my next point. I primarily love marathon training. I think it’s a combination of not ever feeling I’ve quite got it (and possibly never well) but I like the total length of the training blocks, the structure of the blocks, the structure of the sessions, the length of the sessions. I’ve yet to complete a marathon training block without some challenging niggle / injury. I’m now in a place where I think it’s possible and so am curious what I can do if I manage that.
- You can run a 50k trail race off a block of marathon training, which seems pretty obvious but bore weight at Eastbourne.
- Running in a group on Sunday’s has been great. I’ve been weighing up the trade off between running a session I want in my head vs just running with a group and doing a version of whatever they are. I’m thinking that the solution may be to have a structured solo session once a week and then a general long run on a Sunday.
- Strength work does work, does make me stronger and feel better. I need to plan this carefully and allow to oscilate alongside my running training.
- Coaching myself is better than being coached. The flexibility, freedom, choice and planning are something I love and when I take them away I lose too much from running.
- Running is like the sea, changeable yet constant. Unpredictable and rewarding. Punishing if you fail to show respect.
BreatheToMove 