Friday 29 November 2013

Frankfurt Marathon 2013 Video Highlights


Here's a short highlights movie from the Frankfurt Marathon I've put together. Includes bits from the official video, me passing 30,35,40km,at the finish and some footage shot by my very able support crew of one, Jason. Also includes a lot of sections with Ian Habgood from Bournemouth AC as we were traded places a couple of times on the way around the course! It starts with some suitability teutonic audio...


Thursday 14 November 2013

Post Frankfurt Marathon Notes & Thoughts


Now the dust has settled from the race in Germany, I've put together a bunch of extra thoughts & notes on the pre/during/post race stages. There's also some more photos (taken by my very talented support crew of one, Jason Rheinberg!) 
 
Frankfurt in the autumn


The old part of town
 
Pre race nutrition
I switched to a low carb/high fat diet from Monday before to Thursday evening to bring my weight down abit, and off-set for the low running volume in the last week (144 down to 140.5lb). It was then normal carb intake from Thursday evening through Friday and then one-day carb load on Saturday. This was based on 10-11g carbohydrate per kg body weight, so around 650g in total. Carb load food consisted of;
  • Banana/porridge & honey/rye toast & jam/OJ for breakfast. 
  • 750ml of torq energy drink/mule bar mid morning. 
  • Sweet potato soup/rye toast/1xBeet it Sport for lunch. 
  • 750ml torq energy drink in the afternoon. 
  • Chicken/butternut squash/courgette/mushrooms/Green peppers/onion/brown rice for dinner (plus a small glass of champagne, celebrating our friends new baby!). 
Race morning started at 6:15, the weigh-in (post abulations) revealed the carb-load had added a few pounds, up to 146lbs from 141.5 on Saturday morning (likely due to all the extra fluid retained to store the glycogen in my muscles/liver - 3g of water for every 1g of carbs). Breakfast consisted of a small banana, a small bowl of porridge with honey and a double expresso black coffee. 1 double expresso gel shot gel 1 hour pre race and a citrus Clif gel 10 mins before the start. I also drank most of a bottle of lucozade sport before the start, but stopped drinking 1 hour pre-start (and made use of the start line portaloos!)

Race strategy

The plan was to keep the pace between 5:45 and 5:55 per mile, while monitoring my heart rate to keep it below marathon HR (165bpm). I'd estimated that somewhere around 2:32 pace would likely be achievable, so was aiming for 18:00/5k. As I said in my race report, the pace was difficult to track in the first 5k due to tall buildings, my heart rate was averaging a bit too high (~168bpm) and as a result I clocked a 17:38 for the first 5k. From 5k to 25k I ran to heart rate, sticking with a good sized group and trying not to work too hard into the wind and rain. From 25k onwards the wind & rain became less of an issue. Going down wind from 30-35k and with plenty of energy in reserve allowed me to put the hammer down and put in a 17:30 5k. The negative split was a bit of an accident really, but having done it I can see the benefit of controlling the effort in the first half and then pushing on in the second half. Physiologically it was great reeling in so many people on the run back into the city centre!
A normal sight on a early Sunday morning...in the African rift valley
The Race Leaders

Race nutrition
I umm'd and err'd about the gel strategy, at London there is lots of flexibility with a water station every mile, but at Frankfurt they are more widely spaced. I don't get an gastric issues with gels, so aim for the optimal 75g of carbs per hour that the body can digest. In the end I opted for a gel every 5k up to 35k and then an optional one for around 37.5k. I took all 8 in the end, although I'm not sure the final one (at around 37/38k) was really worth taking. Only took sips of water to lubricate the gels & wash my mouth out. I was using a combination of GU Roctane (caffeinated) and Clif Shot Razz (non-caffeinated) gels

Gel Plan & Water Stations -  splits based on 2h32'
 
(21/24g of carb per Roctane/Clif gel - aiming for approx 75g/hour (recommended caffeine intake of 3mg/kg body weight  = 195mg max  recommended limit of 390mg)

  • One hour pre start - GEL Clif Double Expresso (24g/100mg)
  • Hour 1
    • 10mins pre Start - GEL Clif Citrus (24g/25mg)
    • 5k (3.1M) - 00:18:00 - GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
    • 10k (6.2M) - 00:36:01 -  GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
    • 12.5k (7.8M) - 00:45:00 
    • 15k (9.3M) - 00:54:02 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg
  • Hour 2
    • 17.5k (10.9M) - 01:03:00
    • 20k (12.4M) - 01:12:02- GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
    • 22.5k (14M) - 01:21:00 
    • 25k (15.5M) - 01:30:03 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
    • 27.5k (17M) - 01:39:00
    • 30k (18.6M) - 01:48:03 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
    • 32.5k (20.2M) - 01:57:00
  • Hour 3
    • 35k (21.75M) - 02:06:04  - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
    • 37.5k (23.3M) - 02:15:00 - GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
    • 40k (24.9M) - 02:24:05


Race Recovery
My legs have been radically different post Frankfurt compared to previous PB marathons. After the last two London marathons (2012 & 2013), my legs have suffered from serious muscle fatigue for a good week or more, my legs were also very painful in the last 6-8 miles of both races (lots of damage being done!). This wasn't the case during or after Frankfurt, my legs were pretty much pain free throughout the race and I only had relatively minor delayed onset muscle fatigue (DOMS) for a few days post race. One suggestion I've heard for this is that running a negative split helps, conserving energy in the first half of the race (and limiting muscle damage), which allows you to push harder in the second half. I guess it would maybe be due to the overall duration at a set effort level being lower (one half lower effort than the other instead of 2.5 hrs continuous)? The week straight after the race, I took it easy and only ran twice, but surprised myself on both occasions with how easy and quick my runing was! So now I have been back into typical running for nearly two weeks and things generally feel good, although I think I may find out at the Gosport Half this weekend that my legs still have a bit of the marathon in them!
 
Made the killer mistake of sitting down post race...now how do I get up?

Training Plan/execution recap & thoughts
Due to a niggling issue with my left shin (which never caused me any running pain) I had regular physio sessions during the training period. The upside of this was that, in the course of investigating the shin, I ended up finding quite a few muscle imbalances/weaknesses which could be worked. So I was doing regular (1-2 times a week) core/stretching sessions and got into the habit of doing dynamic stretches pre-run (my glutes and hip flexors in particular) and stretching post-run too. I also did a couple of running form tune-up sessions with The Running School in Southampton, which nicely served to jog my muscle memory and also helped identify tight/weak muscle groups to work on.

In general the marathon specific training went ok, the preceding 'speed' phase hadn't gone very well, possibly partly due to the hot summer lingering right to the end of August. My half marathon PB attempt at Maidenhead at the start of September was a bit of a flop and I only managed 1:14:43 (30s outside PB from Wokingham in Feb). The first couple of marathon specific sessions (copied from the previous spring training plan from Bournemouth AC) didn't go very well either, the first one was very warm and the second was very windy! The breakthrough came at the New Forest Marathon, which I ran as a target MP +20s training run. Probably did this a little fast as it then took about 10 days to recover from before I was ready for the next hard session. But i feel that the marathon distance in training did me good, so I'll aim to do this again for London 2014, just a little slower, relative to MP, next time. The other key run was the "marathon special block" a Renato Canova (coach to the Kenyan elites) workout. Basically 6M steady followed by 6M marathon effort, twice in a day (and a few more miles to get home in each case!), when that went to plan I was much more confident of being able to hit a decent PB in Germany....
 
Below is a summary of the key sessions I did in the last 6-7wks before Frankfurt

Marathon Specific Phase Key Sessions & Mileage
  • 6 weeks out - Total Mileage = 69
    • Thurs AM Specific Extensive Endurance 5M Easy/4x3M@6:14/5:55/6:55/6:15 (1M rec @ 6:47/6:51/6:40) Total 21M@6:35M- hot on the prom even at 7am!
  • 5 weeks out - Total Mileage = 81.3
    • Tues PM 24'@5:58/M-(3')/18'@5:59/M(3')/12'@6:01/M(3')/6'@5:59/M(2')/3'@5:37/M Total 15.8M @ 6:25/M (windy solo prom run) 
    • Sun AM Long even continuous paced run - NFR Marathon (tMP +20-30' 6:10-6:20) - 02:41:37 (6:09/M) 1st place overall
  • 4 weeks out -  Total Mileage = 70.1
    • Sun AM 18M @ 6:45/M inc 2x0.5M (6:01/M & 5:54/M)/ 1M (5:36/M)/0.5M (5:34/M) and 4M progressivre (6:44-5:55/M)
  • 3 weeks out - Total Mileage =81.5
    • Tues PM 30' av.5:53/M(rec 3')/4x5'av.5:39/M(rec 2')/(rec 3')/30' av.6:02/M total 18.3M 6:18/M (windy solo prom run)
    • Sun AM 5M Easy/15M MP effort (av 6:00/M)/3M Easy Total 23M @ 6:24/M
  • 2 weeks out - Total Mileage =83
    • Weds Special MP Block 
      • AM 6M(6:34/M)/6M(5:48/M)/2.75M(6:40/M)  
      • PM 6M(6:28/M)/6M(5:47//M)/3.3M(6:45/M)
    • Sun AM 3.7M(6:56/M)/MP Rhythm - Solent Half(1:15:34-5:46/M)/1.6M (7:32/M)
  • 1 week out (Taper) - Total Mileage = 50
    • Tues PM 1.7M / 5x5min(rec3") av 5:16/M / 2M Total 10.2M@6:36/M
    • Sat AM 2M inc strides(6:38/M)/Poole Parkrun (16:59 5:27/M)/1.6M(7:22/M) & 21M Bike (av 14.2mph) - by accident, missed the train home!
    • Sun PM Medium Pace Progressive Run 12.1M inc 11M progressive (6:45/6:35/6:28/6:33/6:19/6:12/6:05/5:56/5:48/5:53/5:52/7:09) Av6:19/M


Friday 1 November 2013

Frankfurt Marathon 2013 Race Report


The whole race weekend was quite an experience, as we drove from the UK to friends in Brussels for Thursday night, where my wife, Milly and son, Cameron stayed for the weekend and I drove on down to Frankfurt with an old uni house-mate (road trip!). The autobahn proved to be quite an entertaining experience. Although it was busy and lots of roadworks/variable speed limits limited the amount of car top speed testing that could be done (record was 206kph and still accelerating, not bad for a Honda!). The friends we were staying with in Darmstadt near Frankfurt where expecting a baby fairly imminently, low and behold we got a text message on Thursday to say labour had started and the baby ended up arriving later that day! This changed the plans slightly and we ended up getting a hotel room for Saturday, but we got the added bonus of meeting the new-born and helping out with running errands/do shopping etc...

We stopped off at the race expo in the Frankfurt Messe exhibition centre on Friday afternoon to get number/chip business done and dusted. Friday night involved wetting the baby’s head with (for me) a very modest amount of local 'Landenbier' and some top quality German grub. Saturday was combination of wandering around Darmstadt and an afternoon trip to the 'Jungenstillbad', which are the town's public baths. This had a great range of saunas/steam rooms and thermal pools, a great way to relax before a race, although there was a strict no trunks policy in the saunas ... We had an early dinner at our friends flat and then got back to the hotel to sort out race kit and get an early night.



Market Day in Darmstadt

Race day dawned with clear skies but fairly windy. The temperature was mild and forecast to rise up to 18/19C, but this didn’t turn out to be a problem as it clouded over (and rained) just after the start. Getting to the start from Darmstadt turned out to be a painless 20min drive to the main parking for the Messe exhibition centre and then a 5min shuttle bus ride to the start itself.
I had plenty of time to sort my gear out go for a jog/dynamic stretch in the small park adjacent to the start line and managed to meet a fellow runner that I've been swapping training notes with. We had a good chat before the start while waiting in the pen ready to go..

The final section of the course into the Festehalle (left of shot)

0-5km – (17:38)
I got a reasonable position in the pen about 4-5 rows back from the front, but it didn’t really matter as there was a sizable gap to the elites in front and we weren’t brought forward before the gun, so I crossed the line around 20secs after the start. My plan was to aim for 18 mins per 5k which would put me on for a 2:32. The first 1km was a bit hectic as I had to navigate a fair number of slower runners. The combination of that and the tall buildings playing havoc with the Garmin meant judging the pace was difficult. I was keeping an eye on my average heart rate (HR) which was coming out a bit high (168 vs marathon HR of 165bpm), but it does have a tendency to spike at the start of a run. Probably a bit of a fast start, but I don’t think it limited me later on in the race too much.



5-10km – (18:30)
As things started to settle down I had a choice between two groups to go with, both with female elite runners and pacers. As my HR was still a bit high (av 166) I opted for the second group, which turned out to be the Brit ladies Emily Wicks and Hayley Haining, as I figured the group in front was on more like 2:30 pace (leading German ladies). As I tried to rein in my HR (and keeping in a group) the pace dropped, but I wasn’t worried as I wanted to keep things under control given the fast first 5k and the prospect of a strongish headwind for 13 or so km from 14k onwards.



10-15km – (18:24) & 15-20km – (18:30)
By 15k my average HR for the last 5k was down to 165 and I was ticking along nicely in the middle of my target pace band of 5:45-5:55/M. At this point I wasn’t pressurizing myself to push the pace down, I always felt that 2:31 would be a big ask and the conditions were far from ideal for an optimal run. So I kept in the group and kept tabs on my HR. At 20k my average HR had dropped to 164. We got pretty wet along this stretch and the wind was strong enough to take a bit off the pace.

20-25km – (18:05)
With hindsight my conservative approach in the first half started to pay off from halfway onwards. The average HR for 20-25km was still 164, but now I was back to sub 5:50 pace. At some point in this section me and a couple of other guys drifted off the front of the group we were in as the pace increased. I went through halfway in 77:02. Around 22k a familiar yellow and blue strip vest of Bournemouth AC pulled up alongside, worn by Ian Habgood. I was a little surprised as Ian has a sub 2:30 PB, but he’d arrived late at the start and had had to work through a lot of course traffic to get up into clear space. I let him carry on as I didn’t fancy my chances of being able to maintain his sort of pace. Unfortunately he took the two guys running with me with him! So I was left to run solo, although I managed to keep them in sight…

25-30km – (18:06)
Things continued to pick up as we finally made the turn at the far end of the course and started to head back towards the city centre. I was maintaining the pace but my HR was now down to around 163bpm. Realizing I was probably running a bit under MP effort now, I started to push on.

30-35km – (17:35)
This was definitely the best section of the race; with 20M bagged I was really motoring and passed a lot of people. Looking back I probably went too fast (averaging sub HM PB pace!) a bit too soon. My lap HR average spiked up to 167bpm, so I think it would have been better to put in progressively faster 5k’s between 30-35 and 35-40. Also the wind was now working to our advantage with the whole 5k, straight, flat and dead downwind!



35-40km – (18:03)
As we returned to the city centre with swirling winds and lots of corners my pace dropped back down to the original target level. It was starting to get tough by this point and my HR was still up at 167 despite the drop in pace. I was into head down and get on with it mode! Caught up with Ian from BAC and we swapped positions a couple of times in the final few km. unlike all my previous marathons, I hadn’t got any pain in my legs this time (at VLM this year it was my quads that nearly ceased up), but my general fatigue levels were very high by now. Physiologically it was very hard work too, being unfamiliar with the course, the multiple twists/turns and the blustery winds which made some sections easier and others much harder! We hung on, along with another Brit in a light blue Bideford AC vest.




40-42.2km – (8:06)
The last 2.2k was not pleasant. Ian pulled in front and helped drag me along, but the look on my face from the photos at that point says it all! We ran into the wind for the final km along a street which acted like a wind tunnel. Then as we made the final turn by the Messeturm tower to the Festehalle finish, we got hit smack in the face by gusts of wind which felt like it almost stopped you dead! I was very relieved to get inside into the finish straight and down the red carpet to the line for 2:32:57 and a 3 minute PB!

Finish Straight gurning!

Post Race Refeeshment



Friday 30 August 2013

Training Notes - 30/08/2013

No serious running for me at the weekend (in line with my more relaxed training approach for the autumn), but did round 4 of the Salty Seadog sprint tri at Boscombe pier on Saturday. It was my first ever and I learnt 3 things 1) my swimming is terrible 2) my bike fitness is only marginally better 3) my running is reasonable (3rd best 5k time in the field ). Happy to get through unscathed in 29th place in 1:2x:xx
Having a more speed orientated week this week before a little taper to Maidenhead HM a week on Sunday (8th Sept). I joined the Tuesday night BAC session doing 8x800m on the Littledown grass loop and discovered that my speed work has been sorely lacking over the summer av of 5:16/M, which is only a tiny bit better than my last 6x1M session average.... 11.3M in total.
Thursday night's 6 x 1 mile reps session turned out to be a bit brutal.... due to a co-incidental spot of email/facebook organisation we ended up with a good bunch out on the track, fired up for a good session. Did 4:59/5:10/5:15/5:19/5:13/5:13 off a 400m jog recovery (c. 2-3min) average of 5:11/M. First rep was definitely over enthusiastic and I paid for it subsequently! Still very happy to be 7"/M faster than the equivalent workout at the start of July. Ran 4M to the track with 5x20" strides and back 5.3M which was a bit progressive in pace from 9:37/M to 6:22/M (my legs were fairly well shot straight after the reps), for 17.2M @ 6:50/M overall.
Managed to break my mile PB by less than a second in the 1st rep, but at least it's now the right side of 5:00 
Just a 7.2M @ 7:14/M easy run first thing around the Rheinfield Drive area in Forest this morning, but the legs felt surprisingly good given the intensity/distance from the previous evening.

Turning out to be quite a big week, hit 60+ miles by Friday and still have a 15 miler with 10M tempo planned for early doors on Sunday, looking forward to tapering with a few fast 400s and a cheeky fast mile on Wednesday. If you're in or around the New Forest check out the Magic Mile event being held at Woodside in Lymington on Weds evening, details here .

Friday 23 August 2013

Training notes - 23/08/2013

Wednesday night was the final round of the local RR10 summer XC series, 3 laps (4.3M) of the park around IBM Hursley near Winchester. Had a good first mile and then faded a bit, with a stitch threatening. Thankfully had no-one in close proximity behind (probably contributed to the slow down by letting me slacken off) and managed 17th in the end. Think I just about squeezed a top 10 place for the series. 
I seemed to have gone backwards a bit compared to those I was racing against earlier in the series, but I figure this is probably down to my lack of speed/track work compared to a lot of them! Mentioned the stitch issue to a club mate afterwards and he suggested getting my iron-levels checked to see if I have any deficiency as this can cause them...
Day off from running Thursday, so did 3x750M in the pool this morning as a bit of prep for the spot of multi-sport larking about on Saturday morning I'm signed up for.
My intended progressive 10miler this morning didn't really go to plan.... Went down to Bournemouth prom for a traffic free flat route. Started with 3M easy which felt pretty good and then got on the prom the start the 10M out and back section. Set off a bit quick and clocked 6:09/6:04/6:00/5:58/5:56/5:55 for the first 6M, although I was struggling to get a good rhythm going. It was very warm already and I was going downwind, which was helping the pace, but I was getting pretty hot. Turned around at 6 miles and hit a cooling but surprisingly stiff breeze. Mile 7 was not pretty, managed only 6:08 and canned the effort at that point as it felt the quality was only going to go one way! Looking back at my heart rate data, it was really too high (av176bpm) for the pace I was doing, my marathon HR is normally 165bpm give or take a beat....

 Ran the rest easy for 15.3M total@6:42/M. Overall an ok run, as a 7 mile tempo. Wind/warmth didn't help and I felt my glutes were refusing to play ball this morning (I could feel my calves getting a bit sore/tight, good sign they're over-working). But also I've been playing around with more low-carb/high fat eating this week (except for Weds when I had a decent amount of carbs in prep for the race) and I really felt drained at the end of the 7M effort today. Usually if I struggle in a session and it's down to muscle soreness/fatigue or conditions, I find I can pick it back up to a good steady pace after a mile or so recovery. But today the whole run back to the car was fairly hard work (~7:30/M!). So think I was a bit carb-depleted, good learning experience on fueling.... Also should factor in that I've fitted in 60M in 5 days, which won't have done my glycogen levels much good either 

That's pretty much it for running this week apart from the small matter of the 5k at the end of the Boscombe Sprint Triathlon I'm having a crack at tomorrow...

Thursday 22 August 2013

Quick Race Report - Stur Half (4th August)

Going back a bit, I did a bit of racing at the start of August with the Sturminster Newton (Stur) Half in Dorset on Sunday 4th. Planned to go out hard and see what happened. Hilly-ish course (mostly in the back half) so not PB potential, but a good mid-summer fitness gauge. 
First 5 miles were speedy coming in under HM PB pace (5:39) with a lead group of 3 (including fellow Club Captain, Simon Munro from Bournemouth) The other two guys slowly started to pull away as I slowed down a bit. Lost a place back to 4th before recovering one to finish 3rd overall in 1:15:55. Very happy to go sub 76mins on a lumpy course at an early point in autumn marathon training.
It was nice to feel like I was moving reasonably quickly in a race again, some of my other recent efforts have felt decidedly pedestrian...


Leading off from the gun - what's wrong with a little early enthusiasm? (the downhill start did help...)

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Training Notes - 21/08/2013

My hamstring resolved itself from last week, but unfortunately the mile reps session never happened (As the track was in use for an event when I turned up!), so I did a decent length tempo around Southampton Common instead, 14.5M inc 13.2M tempo@6:18/M, which was a bit quicker than I intended but ok.

Due to wedding commitments the past weekend,  I got the long run for the week in on Friday morning, post trip to the physio (shin still an issue, but answers may be forth coming, I hope). Did 22.6M as 1hr(ish) even pace (7:00/M) and then 10x0.5M at faster than MP with 3min even pace and 1min steady inbetween. Averaged 5:45/M for the efforts and they felt pretty good and smooth. Popped another couple of steady pace miles on the end for good measure. A good pre-specific marathon phase session and I guess a bit akin to the 'Kenyan Fartlek' where runners surge for nominated periods in a given easy/steady run.


Got the last round of the local RR10 XC series today, but I'm a bit worried about the state of my left piriformis after a running technique session on Monday lunchtime. Been for a jog and a few strides at lunchtime today and it feels not too bad, so lots of gentle warm up and dynamic stretching pre-race tonight! 

Also planning to do a medium-fast progressive run this Friday, about 1 hour long, starting at around 6:20/M and winding it up to sub half marathon pace if possible. Then got a bit of a change at the weekend as I've entered a sprint Tri at Boscombe beach on Saturday morning so no long run this week.

Monday 12 August 2013

Training Notes - 12/08/13

This weekend's long run was another combo effort consisting of 5M easy/1M inc 5x20s strides/Parkrun/3M Easy/5M HM Tempo/5M easy. The Parkrun was also a mob match between New Forest & Lordshill from Southampton, although I didn't really have any competition at the front end and finished 1st in 17:17 for a new course record (still very soft, but improving!). HM tempo section was tough, flat but largely offroad and uneven, managed to averaged 5:49/M for the 5M. That said I felt pretty good on the 5M easy at the end and turned the pace up to 'steady' to get home in time. Total of 22M@6:28/M although there was a 15min pause before and 30min after Parkrun to catch my breath. Also due to the amount of higher intensity mileage, I decided to ditch the 'fresh air and water' approach this time and have breakfast plus a couple of gels (before/after Parkrun), think it helped towards the end of the run, as I was happily ticking along around 6:30/M on the way home.
Downside of Saturday is that I have aggravated my R hamstring a bit, I felt it a bit on Friday's run but it seemed ok running on Saturday. Stil a bit sore today, so giving it good doses of foam roller and a couple of rest days to try and sort it out.
Subject to the state of my hamstring the plan is to do a 6 x 1 mile reps session on the track Wednesday and then a long run Friday (got the day off) with 1hr Easy pace followed by 10x0.5mile marathon pace/effort with 0.5 mile recovery and 1min even pace inbetween. I'm at a wedding this weekend, so got to fit the hard sessions in during the week as a result!
Link to Garmin Stats Brockenhurst Parkrun #12 and 3M/5M HM Tempo/5M section below

Saturday 8 June 2013

Brockenhurst Parkrun No.3 - 8th June 2013

(Run report written for the Brockenhurst Parkrun webpage)

The run of great weather (on Saturdays at least, but that's what counts!) continued for the third Brockenhurst Parkrun this week. There was not a cloud in the sky, but a bit of a strong wind blowing from the north east making the run up the railway line side of the course loop a bit tougher.

This was my third Brockenhurst outing in three weeks and each has given a different persective on the event. Run no. 1 was as a normal runner and I found the course to be really pleasant, flat and potentially quite fast. At run no.2 I was volunteering, helping to run the event by giving out position tokens and the end of the finish funnel. It was a really great experience to see everyone finishing and helping the run organisation go smoothly. Run no. 3 was different again, as my wife was running a Parkrun for the the first time, so I decided to accompany her for moral support and buggy pushing duty! As this wasn't going to be a flat out run effort, and given the all grass nature of the course, I decided to also try out running barefoot. Running without shoes was really nice, the course is generally short soft grass, with only a few harder bits of ground. Although it was a little chilly and damp underfoot in the sections where the sun had yet to reach! Running with a baby buggy was also really good, apart from a few bumpy patches along the north side of the course it's nice and smooth all the way around. 

This week 37 runners finished the run, there were 7 first time runners and 19 Parkrunners new to Brockenhurst. In first place was Paul Bartlett in 18:53 and First Lady was Heather Butcher in 23:52.



Friday 10 May 2013

Spring Marathon Training Retrospective 1 - Form Training

So now the dust has settled after the climax of Spring marathon training at the Virgin London Marathon at few weeks ago, I've had a bit time to reflect on the training process and the plan I followed. I'm intending to look back at a few aspect of the training schedule and what I've learnt from this campaign.

Going back to the start of the the year on of the first major changes I made this year was to sign up for a series of running form training session with The Running School in Southampton. It was an idea I had been toying with for some time, since I had a free form analysis video session back earlier in mid 2012. That initial session highlighted several form deficiencies including low heel lift, a heavier bias on the right foot and poor arm swing action.

Around the same time I did a functional assessment with a personal trainer, the most important result of which was the realisation that not only were my glute group of muscles (the 'bum' muscles) quite weak but they were also very poor at activating and hence were not doing very much. After the PT session I adapted my gym core strength program to help address some of the issues identified, but these were mostly static floor exercises.

Fast Forward to the end of 2012 and I decided that, prior to embarking on the specific phase of my London marathon training, it would be a good time to try and address the running form issues the running school assessment had found.

A bit of previous internet reading had uncovered some research on the methodology used by companies such as The Running School, which revolves around providing feedback (both visual and audio) to the participate on a treadmill to focus on various 'cues' that will help improve running form, so it appears to have a good basis. The process requires multiple sessions to enable the muscles to adapt and effectively 'learn' the modified movements.

So I signed up for a set of six one hour sessions with The Running School in Southampton under the instruction of Paul Bartlett, starting in early January 2013. The structure of the sessions was a mix of both short but intense treadmill intervals with (15-1min) and slightly longer steady (2-3min) intervals. There was also a lot variation in the gradient and speeds (depending on the length of the intervals), with the aim to really try and accentuate the intended running movements. The treadmill reps were regularly interspersed with static floor exercises aimed to activate and strength the key muscle groups which are used when running. As the sessions progressed we also did some short shuttle runs outside to practice what had been learnt on the treadmill in a more natural running environment.

So how did I get on? Well as the functional assessment from earlier in 2012 had indicated, my glute muscle groups were not only weak but also pretty poor at actually doing anything in the first place! It would appear that my lower leg muscles (calves etc...) have been doing more than their fair share of the work when I run... So getting the glutes to activate was a key aim of the sessions. Although the indicator of poor glute usage was a low heel lift as my legs returned from behind me, the answer was not to simply actively lift or flick my heels (this likely just wastes energy in the hamstrings doing so). Instead, Paul got me to focus on pushing my legs back straight and then lifting my heels right at the rear most position in the leg swing cycle. He also used a range of floor exercises to help strengthen the muscles and promote activation. These included  bridges with single leg holds, pendulums (swinging one leg straight behind), the glute activating 'good morning' and single leg squats. We also did some more dynamic plyometic exercises (lunge jumps and squat jumps). Paul also asked me to do sets of some of the key exercises at home too to help reinforce them (I got quite good at doing pendulums and single leg squats whilst cleaning my teeth!)

The other key element that were worked on was the proper use of my arm swing to counter the torque reaction forces generated by the opposite leg. Various photos/videos of me at the end of races had highlighted that when fatigued my right arm swing becomes noticeably reduced. The timing of the six sessions was structured such that the first couple were quite close together and then the remaining spread over a number of weeks to ensure the modifications in form get properly learnt.

The end result can be seen in the video below where my original form (from back in mid 2012) is compared with that from after the last of the six form training sessions. It's important to note that in the 'after' video I'm running naturally (i.e. not trying to exaggerate the new action I'd learnt)



For comparison the next couple of videos show how I look when trying to exaggerate the actions, which is what I was trying to do in a lot of the treadmill intervals.





Having done the Running School sessions, I was eager to see what effect it had had on my running. Whilst I was still mid-way through the training sessions I ran the Stubbington 10k. Although the time wasn't anything special (35:05, very similar to my previous 10k in December), I felt much stronger and controlled than in any previous 10k's. My first race after completing the form training was the Wokingham Half Marathon in early February. My previous PB had been 76:29 (from the Gosport Half in Nov 2012), so I was very happy to knock over 2 minutes off with a time of 74:13. Although this improvement probably can't be entirely attributed to the running form training, as I had done 5-6 weeks of HM orientated training in the lead up (more on this in a future blog post), it almostly certainly played a significant role. Very interestingly again I felt very strong throughout the Wokingham race, whereas previous all-out effort halfs have got pretty wobbly in the final few miles!

Since Wokingham I've set PBs at 10k (33:35 Eastleigh 10k), 5k (16:42 Poole Parkrun) and most importantly in the Marathon (02:36:16 London Marathon).

Overall I was very happy with the results from the running form training. It suited me very well having come new into running later in life, hence I never really learnt to run 'properly' (i.e. through youth athletics).

Friday 26 April 2013

Virgin London Marathon 2013

16 weeks of training came to ahead on Sunday 21st April with the Virgin London Marathon. As I had run a sub 2 hour 45 min time (02:43:33) in the 2012 race, I had qualified for a place on the UK Athletics Championship start for London this year. I was awake ahead of my alarm at 5:30am and was greeted by a ideal looking marathon running day, with clear skies, little wind and low temperatures. In fact it was cold enough for a spot of early frost! The forecast was for temperatures to rise to 13-14 degrees by the afternoon and the wind to fill in slightly from the south west to 3-9mph. After a spot of breakfast and final kit bag checks it was off to catch the underground from Ealing to Charing Cross followed by the train to Blackheath.


I arrived at the UKA Championship enclosure at the Blue start fairly early so had plenty of time to go through loading up my gels, doing pre-race checks and a few trips to the toilet. I could also watch the elite runners & wheelchair athletes warming up on Shooters Hill Road alongside. I met up with fellow New Forest Runners Erica Fogg and Becky Hollowbread who also had championship start places. At 9:30 it was time to put my kit bag on the truck going to the finish and do a quick warm up before the start. Just before 10:00 we were lined up just behind the elite men's field (including Mo-halfway-Farah!). Before the off a poignant 30 sec silence was held in memory of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing which took place less than a week earlier. It was quite moving to experience the collective silence of 34,000 runners.

The hooter went and we were off. My main target for the race was to run under six minute mile pace and from my training sessions and races I felt that somewhere between 5:55 to 6:00 min/mile would be achievable in the marathon. Things felt nice and comfortable for the first few miles, which was a good sign, and I exchanged a few words with a couple of other runners I knew including John Austen Half winner Ben Evans (Guildford & Godalming) and Charlie Wartnaby (Cambridge & Coleridge AC - Charlie W on the Runners World Sub-3 forum).

The most important factor to start with was to ensure I kept the pace under control for the initial part of the race. Despite trying the first 4 miles were a bit faster than planned (helped by the downhill section to the Thames), so I reined the pace in a bit going through Greenwich. The first 5k was covered in 18:09 and 5 to 10k in 18:30. A few miles in, I passed a jogging Steve Way (Bournemouth AC) who had unfortunately had to pull out with a troublesome glute, a real shame considering his great training in the run up (I had taken part in the Bournemouth marathon training sessions too). Also bumped into Pete Thompson, another Bournemouth runner who I'd spent many miles chasing up and down the prom on Wednesday nights.

Around 10-11 miles, going through Rotherhithe, I got in a decent size group (including the first two ladies) going at about the same pace as me and stuck with them for a while. As we approached Tower Bridge I felt things needed to push on a bit, so moved to the front of the group and led across the bridge. The atmosphere on Tower Bridge was mind blowing, packed on both sides with supporters making a lot of noise! I came off the bridge slightly deaf in my left ear, and going a bit faster with extra enthusiasm.
Front of the elite mens field just over halfway
Somewhere around 12 to 13 miles I was joined by fellow Runners World sub-3 forum poster Jim Sawle (aka Lucky Jim) who'd apparently been close behind me for a while and we paced the next few miles together. I went through half way in 1:17:54, a few seconds under target for a 2:36 time and it was still feeling under control. Got a great lift from my cheering family just past half way too.
Just past the halfway point on The Highway

The effort started to get a bit hard as I headed around the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf (15-20 miles) and my right inner quad (VMO) started to tighten up a bit. It had been causing a bit of trouble during training so I wasn't too surprised. The back and forth section around the offices of Canary Wharf isn't the nicest part of the course, with the tall buildings tending to funnel whatever wind happens to be blowing and multiple turns back and forth. The buildings also play havoc with GPS signals, so for a few miles most of the running was done on feel. The clock at 20 miles was showing 1:58:58 which meant I was still nicely on target. Going back past the Pickburn clan on the other side of the The Highway at mile 22, the right quad was gradually tightening up and the left one had started joined in! The final 3-4 miles were a physiological fight to maintain the pace as pain in my quads intensified, I was expecting cramp at any moment! Thankfully it didn't happen. Despite the discomfort, I managed to keep on target and passed 39 people in the last 7km with no-one over taking me.

The final section up Bird Cage Walk to Buckingham Palace was tough, not helped by mistaking the 600m to go sign for 400m! I just had enough energy left to pull out a (little) bit of extra speed for the final straight down The Mall to the finish. I finished in 2:36:16 for 89th place overall, an improvement of over 7 minutes on my previous PB (London 2012).

Video from the BBC stream of me crossing the finish line (~9:45min)

The post run recovery was a couple of pints in the sun on the pavement outside The Red Lion pub in Whitehall with a number of other runners (including a good selection from the Sub-3 forum), a very satisfying way to celebrate a great race!

Garmin GPS data from the race