Saturday, 20th February – 64 days to go

I’m not really susceptible to addictions, but parkrun has become one of them. Brilliant idea by Paul Sinton-Hewitt and fantastic delivery in Leeds by Tom and the team.

My marathon training for today will be a run round the park. For once we’re up early enough for Liz to drop me at the lights at Shaw Lane so I can warm up with a one mile run to the park. I carefully avoid the piles of chunder dotted about the pavements by last night’s Otley Run students and start a circuit of the park. Paul is putting out the directional signs and kilometre markers so I join him. He’s on his own as Liz G isn’t feeling too good so won’t be running today. We join the throng setting up at the finish line and I do a warm up lap with Helen and Rick.

I report the results of last night’s foray into the world of marathon time predictors and Helen confirms that these are notoriously optimistic. Double your half marathon time and add ten per cent is her advice. I tell her I’ve just listened to the first Marathon Talk podcast and am impressed with the quality and she tells me they’ve got better since then, so that’s something to look forward to. Rick recounts a tale of being dragged across the kitchen by his daughter’s enormous puppy and we’re at the start line.

It’s a great turn out and there’s an award for Aamir who’s running his one hundredth parkrun this morning; as this is only race number one hundred and twenty three this is quite an achievement.

Until recently I’d been looking for a PB every week. Whenever I recognised that I wasn’t in that kind of form I would try and take George down. We’re of a similar standard but have a different approach; he sets off slowly and then winds it up for the last half of the race. I try and build a lead and hang on at the end as he’s got a terrific finish. Due to a combination of injury, snow & ice and more sensible marathon training I’ve stopped looking for a fast 5k time. There’s still unfinished business with George as he leads our personal series by some way, but I’ve been using the last few parkruns as practice for running at and around my marathon pace. Consequently, I’ve spent the last few races looking to tag on to someone who’s running between 22 and 24 minutes. Unfortunately for her, I’ve picked on Ellie and have run round with her for the last three or four Saturdays.

We’re off and I settle into a rhythm and catch Rick on the corner. Paul is really going for it today and is way ahead. Rick says he can’t get his breathing right in the cold weather so isn’t going to go for a PB today. We catch Ellie at about 1.5k and decide we’ll run with her for the rest of the race. Ellie likes a fast start and this time has looked really strong going up the slope on the first lap. We keep up a good pace until about 2.5k when Ellie lets forth a plaintive wail “I’m cold”! Fortunately, Rick is more of a gentleman than I am and offers up his running gloves. Ellie’s hands are so cold she can’t get her fingers into the gloves so Rick performs some sort of stately dance alongside her while helping her get the gloves on. Alison goes past just before the 3k marker and gives Ellie a shout of encouragement.

I’m convinced we’ve lost too much time with the glove exchange and that Ellie won’t get a PB today. Rick dispenses proper coaching advice about running style and visualisation and I make a mental note to try some of these techniques myself when I’m next trying to go for a fast one. The best I can do is blurt out “You can still do this Ellie, but it’ll really hurt”. I don’t think you’ll find that one in the coaching manuals. We keep up a good pace and by the time we get to the last 300 meters Ellie is away on a fast finish. We can’t keep up with her as she gets loads of encouragement from Sam, the marshals and those congregated around the finish line. That was a really good run in sub zero conditions. Ellie has improved her PB by nine seconds, Paul was four seconds off his PB and Alison has knocked a second off her previous best.

When I started to recognise parkrunners and their performances I was puzzled as to why people of different abilities sometimes ran around together. This must be a lose/lose situation I thought. Surely the faster runner will be frustrated at running at a slower pace, while the slower runner will feel under pressure to run at a pace that is faster than they would like? Now I think I’ve got it. Since running with Ellie I’ve understood that I don’t really go for it when I think I’m going for it. When it starts to hurt I pull back in a way that she doesn’t. Also, I’ve changed my view on runners with a fast finish; I used to think they must be running too slowly during the race if they can suddenly pick up the pace at the end. I can see this isn’t the case. Some people are just blessed with a fast finish. I reckon if I do some proper speed work I may be able to improve my finish. At the moment I seem to be upping the effort at the end of a run but this isn’t converted into faster movement.

So at the end of my first “real” week of marathon training where am I?

In a Bridget Jones Diary meets Fetcheveryone style this is how it’s looking:

Weight 73.1 kg
Total Mileage 28.5 miles
Long Run 12.5 miles
Long Run Pace 10:00
Days without alcohol 5

I last got weighed just before I started the Thursday Distance Training sessions, I think it was Saturday, 16th January. I weighed 74.9 kg so 1.8 kg has disapparated since then. Not sure of my weight in “real money”. In a fit of pique I changed the scales from imperial to metric when I hit thirteen and a half stone and neither of us can remember how to change it back again.