So for around £70 I spent my paper money on a Polar Edge which was pretty basic in that all it measured was a heartrate and I think it had a self lit screen! The Edge lasted for years and I was still using it in 2001 for the London Marathon.

When I got into triathlon more seriously in 2002 I realised that I wanted something a little more sophisticated. So I purchased a Polar S710. Apart from it falling apart in the last few years this watch was excellent. I loved downloading all the exercise files into the Polar software and pouring over the data, which even included a gradient profile.

I was bugged by the fact that the S710 didn't do distance and round about that time Timex brought out a groundbreaking watch called the Timex 50 Speed & Distance (there was a Timex 100 which allowed you to take 100 time splits). The main feature was that it measured speed and distance using GPS. The downside was that the GPS signal was picked up by a rather bulky receiver that strapped onto your arm. Never really did like the watch and probably didn't really justify the spend on it. It was pretty unrealiable in town or under trees but I did use it to pace my marathon PB!

• Did I do enough?
• Does my knee hurt?
• I feel really tired and lethargic
• My legs look thin and weak
• I feel heavy
• Am I coming down with something

I say with the exception of feeling tired and lethargic I've felt all of the above recently.

The marathon really is such a tough cookie to crack. Every year it's a different test with factors such as illness, work, family and of course injury getting in the way of the "perfect" build up. I refuse to use any of these as excuses for not achieving my goal this year. I'll talk a little more about the goal though.  The goal is to break 2.45. There you go, I've said it, although I think I said it back in November when I started training properly. In fact the quote was as follows:

"The primary goal is to dip under 2hrs 45 mins although I do feel I'm capable of closer to 2.40"

I still concur with the later part of this statement although I'm not going to allow any goal creepage. One day I'll go close to 2.40 although I'm setting my stall out to just run 2.45 on Sunday by aiming to run the 1st half marathon in around 1h.21m.30s. that translates to 6mins13s per mile. Assuming I run the dream race and don't fade at all that will bring me into the finish in around 2hrs43mins. If by some miracle i run a negative split………yeah whatever. If you look at the splits for people who do the London Marathon in under 2.45, very few run a negative split. The top elite runners will though.

My preparation has had the following flaws:

1) I had 2 weeks off in January and 1 week off in February due to colds that turned into infections (and antibiotics)

2) 3 weeks out from the marathon I developed acute ITBS. I've not been able to taper properly and missed the last long 20 mile run. 

There have been times when I've doubted whether I'll start and also times I've felt like packing the campaign in and entering a late season marathon instead. I actually believe I can run sub 2.45 even off an imperfect build. Kingston was run at 5m54s per mile which using the many race calculators that exist out there would bring me home in around 2.39-2.41. I'm calculating that the lack of miles over the last 3 weeks will take the edge of this as most calculators assume you've done the miles (although it's anyone's guess as to the definition of what this actually is). In 2003 when I ran my marathon PB I didn't exceed 45 miles, but then again I was riding 5-6 hours on the bike. This time I put in 2 excellent weeks in early March to compliment all the steady mileage I'd done in January and February. I've never run over 60 miles in one week before. This time I managed two weeks of over 70 miles (even a 75 mile week!).

So I'm signing off now having talked it all through. Writing it all down is like self help therapy! Watch this space to see what happends on Sunday. 

Above is my race setup for Ironman Arizona with the exception of the tools and tubs I will be taking. Recent additions to the bike that I have been riding for the last 12 weeks are the rear disc (thanks to Kate Foster for lending me this), the carbon front wheel and the profile bottle cages behind the seat. I will be putting my tub and tools in an old bottle and these will be going behind the saddle. The other space will be used for storage when going through aid stations. I plan to re-fill the profile aero bottle with gatorade on the move and also down most of a bottle of water at each aid station. The bike position isnt particularly aggressive but its very comfortable and my back is pretty much flat anyway.

I came across this little gem while on Slowtwitch this evening. It really made me laugh. There's a lot of debate about who it's aimed at but I just think it's funny that he should choose to do this right after crossing the finish line. He must have been running with a whole lot of anger in him. Whoever it's aimed at certainly provided some fire in his belly.  I reckon he'll be out for a 3rd title later this year. Hopefully I'll be there (way behind of course) to see him do it!

I posted the image and the text above a little too quickly. It turns out that if you look very carefully it's actually a church spire in the background and he's really just punching the air. Click here for the proof. 

Had an excellent time at the TCR show. I've attended all 5 of the shows and this was probably the best. Plus as you can see from the pictures above I managed to do a bit of hob nobbing with the stars. Pictured above are the current Hawaii Ironman World Champion and the current ITU World Champion, Tim Don. 

The athletes I have coached have made their first big improvement when they have moved on to seven-days-a-week training; the second big improvement comes when they move on to twice a day. Firstly you must be ready to run seven days a week, in other words don't jump straight in from a base of three or four days a week. Secondly, if you have established seven-days-a-week running, don't move to 14 sessions per week overnight. All new training loads have to be gradually introduced so that the body can adapt to the new level of effort. The concerns expressed by most people who start on this system are about losing leg speed. My own experience, and that of those who followed the training in 2004, is that you do not lose leg speed – it comes back quickly enough once 10K pace training is introduced – and most of the feeling of loss of speed is in fact due to your body adapting to the increased training load (mileage). The schedule is not rocket science – there are no 'magic' sessions that suddenly make you a faster runner. Its success is in following a systematic build-up and in straightforward hard work. The marathon is an endurance event that requires a long, steady build-up starting as early as possible. The early stages require a lot of mindless running of steady miles. It needs to be this way, but there is no harm in running a few races to keep short-term interest. However, it is important not to taper for every race, as you will never fully develop the base you need. In the early stages, you need to get used to training through your races. You have a ready-made excuse, for yourself or anyone questioning your performances: you're training for London. Looking back through my 1983 diary, between getting the Commonwealth Games bronze medal in October 1982 and winning London in April 1983 I had a number of relative disasters – finishing fifth in the Kent Cross-Country Championships, a long way down on the winner was one – but every now and again a good result in a cross-country relay or 10-mile road race would indicate all was okay. By March, results will start to come – in January 1983 I ran 48:32 for 10 miles on a flat course; by March I posted 47:11 on a hilly course. For interest, my training notes leading up to winning London in April 1983 are published on www.209events.com.

TRAINING NOTES

For those running once a day, the session that should be dropped is in brackets. Most of the training is expressed as time rather than distance – this is to accommodate slower runners who may not be able to run 20 miles in under 2 hrs 30 mins. Time on feet has been shown to be the best way of judging the level of training that prevents runners from overtraining – which would be the case for slower runners if the schedule suggested running 20 to 22 miles every Sunday and 15 miles midweek. There is no reason at all why slower runners can't follow the seven-day-a-week schedules, and running for time rather than distance keeps the duration of sessions at a level that enables recovery. But for quicker runners, if the time allocated is two hours this means a long run of 18-20 miles. An easy run listed as 30 to 40 minutes implies a distance of around 5 miles. Don't get paranoid about the distance run, however – endurance is not an exact science and everyone will handle mileage differently. The most important thing is the cumulative effect of all of your training and not whether you manage to run 20 to 22 miles every Sunday. I have expressed effort in two ways: a) percentage of maximum heart rate, and b) actual running speed. Steady runs will be at around 70-75 per cent effort and you will find that your steady pace will improve over the weeks. When running speeds are indicated, eg marathon pace, half-marathon pace, 10K pace, etc, you should use your projected pace – if your current PB for the marathon is 3:00 and you are aiming at 2:50, you should train at 2:50 pace. There is often confusion over the words 'threshold' and 'tempo' running. Here, 'threshold' running is equal to the speed you can maintain for one hour of exercise. For some, that will be around half-marathon pace, for others it may be closer to 10-mile pace or even 10K pace. 'Tempo' I use more loosely. It may have a target speed attached to it, or it may be simply a faster run typical of most club runs through the winter. There's a lot to be said for being non-specific and just going hell for leather around town with the pack – it is the way a lot of our best known athletes developed through clubs like Gateshead, Tipton, Coventry and my own club Invicta. Be careful, though, that every night isn't a club night! (Sessions to drop on once-a-day training level)

THE PROGRAMME

Dates build to the 2006 Flora London Marathon Sunday 6 Nov: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR) Monday 7 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Tuesday 8 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Wednesday 9 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 10 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm < 40 mins fartlek – completely free/go as you feel Friday 11 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm <1hr steady Saturday 12 Nov: am XC Race or 40 mins Tempo run ( Sunday 13 Nov: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR) Monday 14 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Tuesday 15 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Wednesday 16 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 17 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm < 40 mins fartlek – completely free/go as you feel Friday 18 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm <1hr steady Saturday 19 Nov: am XC Race or 40 mins Tempo run ( Sunday 20 Nov: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR), pm (30 mins easy) Monday 21 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Tuesday 22 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm <1 hr fartlek – go as you please Wednesday 23 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 24 Nov: am (30-40 mins), pm 1 hr steady Friday 25 Nov: am (30 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Saturday 26 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 40 mins Tempo Run (< marathon pace) Sunday 27 Nov: 2 hrs steady (70% may HR), pm (30-40 mins easy) Monday 28 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Tuesday 29 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm < 1 hr fartlek – 10-12 efforts between 1 min and 5 mins. Wednesday 30 Nov: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 1 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Friday 2 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Saturday 3 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm XC Race or 40 mins Temp run (marathon Sunday 4 Dec: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR), pm (30 to 40 mins easy) Monday 5 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), 1 hr steady Tuesday 6 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr fartlek – 12 to 15 efforts varying between 1 min and 5 mins Wednesday 7 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 8 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Friday 9 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Saturday 10 Dec: am 1 hr steady, pm 30 mins hill circuit (continuous run on 1km circuit with approx 500m shallow uphill, 500m downhill) Sunday 11 Dec: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR), pm (30 to 40 mins easy) Monday 12 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), 1 hr steady Tuesday 13 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr fartlek – 12 to 15 efforts varying between 1 min and 5 mins Wednesday 14 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 15 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Friday 16 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm rest or 30 mins easy Saturday 17 Dec: am (1 hr steady), pm 30 mins hill circuit (continuous run on 1km circuit with approx 500m shallow uphill, 500m downhill) Sunday 18 Dec: am 2 hrs steady (70% max HR), pm (30 to 40 mins easy). Monday 19 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), 1 hr steady Tuesday 20 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr fartlek – 12 to 15 efforts varying between 1 min and 5 mins Wednesday 21 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Thursday 22 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Friday 23 Dec: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 1 hr steady Saturday 24 Dec: am 2 hr steady (70% MAX hr), pm 30 mins hill circuit (continuous run on 1km circuit with approx 500m shallow uphill, 500m downhill) Sun 25 Dec: am 1 hr steady – Xmas Day – try out new trainers, T-shirt, GPS system! Lots of pud and Champagne. Mon 26 Dec: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady Tues 27 Dec: am (30-50 mins), pm Tempo Run – 40 mins @ half marathon pace, 10 mins warm up/10 mins cool off jogs. Wed 28 Dec: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady. Thu 29 Dec: am (30-40 mins), pm 30 mins hill circuits – 10 mins warm up/cool down jog Fri 30 Dec: am (30-40 min) pm 1 hr steady Sat 31 Dec: am 45 mins fartlek (aim at approx 12 efforts between 45 sec and 4 mins) pm (30-40 mins easy) Sun 1 Jan: am 2hrs 30mins steady, pm (30-40 mins easy) Mon 2 Jan: (am 30-40 mins steady), pm 40 mins Tempo Run (85% MaxHR – 15 min warm-up & cool-down) Tue 3 Jan: (am 30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady Wed 4 Jan: (am 30-40 mins steady), pm 1hr 30 mins steady. Thu 5 Jan: (am 30-40 mins steady), pm 40 mins hill circuits – 10 mins warm-up/cool down. Fri 6 Jan: (am 30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady. Sat 7 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 40 min at projected marathon pace (10 mins warm-up/cool down), or, eg, County Cross-Country. Sun 8 Jan: am 2hrs 30 mins steady, pm (30-40 mins easy), or 15 miles steady, rising to fast. Mon 9 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady Tue 10 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 30 mins Tempo run (85% MaxHR – 15 mins warm-up/cool down). Wed 11 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr 30 mins steady, or 1 hr steady. Thu 12 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), Hill session – 10 x 2 mins up moderately steep hill (not too steep as it alters your leg action) with jog back recovery, or 45 mins fartlek. Fri 13 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady, or rest. Sat 14 Jan am (30-40 mins steady), pm < 1 hr steady. Sun 15 Jan: am: 2 to 2 .30 steady, pm (30 mins easy) Mon 16 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady Tue 17 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 30 mins Tempo run (85% MaxHR – 15 mins warm up/cool down) Wed 18 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady) pm 1 hr 30 mins steady. Thu 19 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 12 x 2 mins up moderately steep hill, jog back recovery – long warm up/down. Fri 20 Jan: am (30-40 min steady), pm <1 hr easy. Sat 21 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm < 1 hr steady. Sun 22 Jan: am: 2 to 2 .30 steady, pm (30 mins easy) Mon 23 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady Tue 24 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 30 mins Tempo run (85% MaxHR – 15 mins warm up/cool down) Wed 25 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady) pm 1 hr 30 mins steady. Thu 26 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 14 x 2 mins up moderately steep hill, jog back recovery – long warm up/down. Fri 27 Jan: am (30-40 min steady), pm <1 hr easy. Sat 28 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm < 1 hr steady. (eg Area XC Champs) Sun 29 Jan: am: 2 to 2 .30 steady, pm (30 mins easy) Mon 30 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr including 30 mins Tempo Run (Marathon speed). Tue 31 Jan: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr fartlek – 15 efforts of around 400mts. Wed 1 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady) pm 1 hr 30 mins steady. Thu 2 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 15 x 2 mins up moderately steep hill, jog back recovery – long warm up/down. Fri 3 Feb: am (30-40 min steady), pm <1 hr easy. Sat 4 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm < 1 hr steady. Sun 5 Feb: am 2 hrs steady. Mon 6 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady. Tue 7 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady. Wed 8 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr seady. Thu 9 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm 45min<1 hr fartlek – 10-15 efforts between 1 & 2 mins. Fri 10 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm (30-40 mins steady) Sat 11 Feb: <1hr steady. Sun 12 Feb: am <2hrs 30 mins (if not racing), pm (30-40 min easy) Mon 13 Feb: am (30-40 mins easy), pm <1 hr steady. Tue 14 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <1hr Tempo run (marathon pace Wed 15 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <1hr 30 mins steady. Thu 16 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <1hr Fartlek (15 to 20 efforts between 1 min & 2 mins duration). Fri 17 Feb: am (30-40 mins steady), pm 1 hr steady. Sat 18 Feb: am Hill circuits 6 to 8 x 1km, hill length approx 4 mins duration & hold rhythm on the downhill section, pm 45 mins easy. Sun 19 Feb: am 2hrs 30mn<3hrs, pm (30 mins easy). Mon 20 Feb: am (30-40 mins easy), pm <75 mins steady. Tue 21 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm < Tempo Wed 22 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm <90 mins steady Thu 23 Feb: am (30-40 mins, pm <75 mins steady. Fri 24 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm <1 hr steady Sat 25 Feb: am (30-40 mins), pm <1hr steady (Possible half-marathon race ) Sun 26 Feb: am <2 hrs 30 min, pm (30 mins easy) Mon 27 Feb: am (30-40 mins easy), <1 hr Tempo run Tue 28 Feb: am (30-40 Mins steady), pm warm up – 15 to 20 x 400m @ 10km pace, 100m jog recovery. Wed 1 Mar: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <90 mins steady. Thu 2 Mar: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <1 hr steady Fri 3 Mar: am (30-40 mins steady), pm <1 hr steady Sat 4 Mar : am warm up, 6 x 1000m at 10km pace, 2 mins recovery, warm down, pm (30-40 min easy). Sun 5 Mar: am 2hrs steady, pm rest Mon 6 Mar: am rest (or 30-40 mins easy), pm <1hr tempo. Tue 7 Mar: am rest (or 30-40 mins steady), pm warm up, <20 x 200m at 5km pace, 100m jog rec., long cool down. Wed 8 Mar: am rest (or 30-40 mins steady), pm 90 mins steady. Thu 9 Mar: am rest (or 30-40 mins steady), pm <1 hr steady. Fri 10 Mar: am rest (or 30-40 mins steady), pm <1 hr steady. Sat 11 Mar: am <30 mins, pm 6 x 1km at 10km pace, 2 mins jog recovery. Sun 12 Mar: am <2hrs 30 mins, pm (30-40 mins easy) Mon 13 Mar: am (30-40 mins), pm < 1 hr tempo run Tue 14 Mar: am (30-40 mins), pm warm-up, <20 x 400m/100m jog recovery, cool down. Wed 15 Mar: am (30-40 mins), pm < 1 hr steady to fast, but not as much as threshold level. Thu 16 Mar: am (30-40 mins), pm warm-up, 8 x 1000m, 2 mins rec., cool down Fri 17 Mar: am (30-40 mins), pm <1 hr steady Sat 18 Mar: am 8 miles, alternating miles at marathon pace & steady pace – approx. 40-sec differential in pace. (Possible half-marathon race). Sun 19 Mar: am 30km, first 10km easy, next 10km quicker, last 10km at marathon pace, pm rest. Mon 20 Mar: (am 30 mins steady), pm 1 hr good pace (up to Marathon pace but cooling off for the last 10 mins). Tue 21 Mar: (am 30 mins steady), pm 12 x 400m, 3km pace, 2 mins recovery. Wed 22 Mar: 90 mins steady. Thu 23 Mar: (am 30 mins steady), pm 5 x 1km, 5km pace, 2 mins recovery. Fri 24 Mar: 2 x 45 mins steady. Sat 25 Mar: (am 30 mins steady), pm 8 miles alternating miles at half-marathon and marathon pace. Sun 26 Mar: 20 miles pushing last 5 miles at marathon pace. pm rest. Mon 27 Mar: 10 miles steady. Tue 28 Mar: am (30-40 mins easy), pm 12 x 400 at 5km pace, 2 min recovery. Wed 29 Mar: am (30-40 min easy), 15 miles steady. Thu 30 Mar: am (30-40 mins easy), 5 x 1km at 5km pace, 3 mins recovery. Fri 31 Mar: am (30-40 min easy), pm <1 hr steady. Sat 1 Apr: 8 miles alternating miles at marathon pace & half-marathon pace. Sun 2 Apr: am 20/22 miles, pm rest Mon 3 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 45 mins steady Tue 4 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 12 x 400 @ 3km pace, 200 jog rec. Wed 5 APr: am (30 mins easy), pm 10 miles – picking up pace. Thu 6 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 8 x 1km @ 10km pace, 2 mins recovery. Fri 7 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 10 miles steady. Sat 8 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 10 miles steady. Sun 9 Apr: am 20 miles, pm rest (or 10km race) Mon 10 Apr: am (30 mins easy), pm 10 miles steady Tue 11 Apr Mar: am (30 mins easy), pm 10 x 400 @ mile speed, 200 jog rec. Wed 12 Apr: am (30 mins easy), 10 miles steady Thu 13 Apr: am rest, pm Marathon pace fartlek run – hold efforts of up to 5 mins at marathon pace, interspersed with recovery at steady pace (relaxed fartlek style <10 miles) Fri 14 APR: am rest, pm 45 mins steady Sat 15 Apr: Short race or threshold run <40 mins Sun 16 Apr: <12 miles steady Mon 17 Apr: <10 miles steady Tue 18 Apr: 10 x 200m hard strides in racing flats, 200 jog rec. Wed 19 Apr: <45 mins steady Thu 20 Apr: <45 mins steady – start carbo loading with pm meal. Fri 21 Apr: Rest or 20 mins easy – highest carbo intake on this day, high water intake Sat 22Apr: 20 mins easy – reduce food intake after 6pm, high water intake

Contents

Plan It 1

The Weather 1

Carbo Loading. 2

The Night Before. 2

Energy Sources. 2

The Start 3

Running with Other People. 3

Calls of Nature. 4

Bad Patches. 4

The Last Bit 5

Pain. 5

The Wall 5

The End. 6

Drinks, Gels Et Cetera. 6

Clothing and Toys. 7

Afterwards. 8

On a Lighter Note. 8

Plan It

Successful planning and execution of a race like this is very hard but going in with no plan has to be worse than having some idea of what you can do. All your plan needs to be is a realistic estimate of how long the first mile will take allowing for the congestion of the start. If you didn’t know it can easily take 10-15 minutes for the last runners to cross the start line, they will also have to accept a stop/start pace for the next few miles, although nearer the front it is a few seconds. The organisers believe this slow start is the cause of their high completion rates as it acts to stop people going off too fast. But it’s very frustrating all the same if you are in one of the last bins. NB London does try to record times from the start line as well as from the gun.

The next part of your plan is to estimate the average minutes per mile you want to do the first and second halves of the race in. Forgetting congestion, a highly accurate benchmark is to take a good comparable (flat) recent half marathon, double your time and add ten minutes if you are in the 3 to 5 hour range. Another good benchmark is to take the time of a twenty miler you raced in your build/ training phase and assume you will be able to maintain this pace for the full 26. Ideally you want to run a negative split with the second half of the race taking 49% of your time compared to 51% for the first half, although this has been hard as the first half of London is generally thought faster than the second half. Many quality PBs including the current world records are set this way, and there is a reason, which I’ll come to later. There is no evidence that says negative splits only work for the elite.

All this thinking comes to a head during the week before the marathon. It’s very easy to adopt completely lunatic strategies even at the last minute as your friends give you their wisdom or people egg you on to try something that’s got no record of working for you (or anybody else!). Try to keep a level head about your form, health, the weather etc. You are the best judge of how hot or rainy conditions affect your running. The quicker runners may find themselves obsessing about minutiae of speed and splits. What may be better is to accept a possible range and then rebuild your plan when you are actually running. One of the nice things about a marathon is you have loads of time once you’ve started to assess how you’re feeling before things get serious.

The Weather

April is an unpredictable month and we usually get lots of small anti-cyclones spinning in off the Atlantic. What this means is that the 5 day forecasts available on the Wednesday before are typically 99% wrong. Also the weather can change from sunny to showers very easily during the course of the race. If rain is likely you have two strategies. Wear very little and let it dry off when/ if it stops, wear more to keep warm and accept the weight gain. The prevailing winds are usually from the WSW but if we get a SE wind then it will be worth 1-2 minutes off your time. You should try to factor an adjustment into your target pace for the wind as you go round the course. Do spend time trying to memorise the direction you run each segment in if you can, it can be very comforting to know that the slow mile you’ve just done was due to a wind factor and not early fatigue.

Carbo Loading

The simplest safest thing to do is to make sure that you have high carbohydrate meals in the two days before the race (rice, pasta, potatoes, lentils) and a similar light breakfast on the day itself. There are other strategies out there including a period of several days carbo starvation followed by 100% carbo intake but I’ve never had the nerve to gamble three months intensive training on what sounds like a high risk food plan in the last week. Regardless, remember you are training much less hard in the final week and don’t need to eat as much as you have been. Carbo loading is not about stuffing yourself until you feel sick.

Anyway, breakfast is very important as you have not taken in any nutrition during the night and your liver stores will need topping up. Breakfast should be of foods your gut is familiar with anything like; toast cereal, porridge. Force it down, even if you are feeling nervous. Face it, you’re going to inflict far worse on your body a few hours later! Coffee? Caffeine is a diuretic which may affect some people, but there is also evidence that it can enhance endurance ability, particularly when a final kick or sprint is required. My view is that if you normally take it then sticking to your normal routine probably won’t do you any harm.

The Night Before

Don’t pack your bag the night before. Lay it out so you can see what you have. If you pack it you will be unpacking it in the morning to check you have all the stuff. Hopefully you’ve got a good list of all the clothes stuff you want.

Getting to sleep may be tough. There’s little evidence one night’s poor sleep will have much a detrimental effect on an athlete’s performance. Equally a small beer, glass of wine whatever your fancy is will probably do you little harm for the morning.

Energy Sources

You basically have two sources of energy powering your muscles through the race;

Body fat in your tissues and liver.

Glycogen resident in your muscle fibre.

Muscle glycogen is excellent stuff, it doesn’t need to be transported to where it delivers energy, nor does it need anything else to release itself. In fact one of the by products of its use is water, which helps your hydration balance. This is what we developed to escape those sabre toothed tigers and is what sprinters rely upon. The problem is that you carry vastly more energy in your body fat (even though you’ve reduced your body fat percentages during training). Body fat is why you can survive for weeks and months just drinking water. Turning body fat into glucose requires oxygen and once this is done you have to transport it via your blood stream to your leg muscles. In all running other than sprints we are tapping both sources, but in a marathon you need to maximise your use of body fat. The main technique is to run as aerobically as possible for as much of the race as possible as this slows your consumption of muscle glycogen which is effectively a finite resource you will exhaust. Anaerobic running also hastens the decline in muscle efficiency so running aerobically for as long as possible also makes it less effort overall. The combination of these two are the reasons why negative splits off slow starts produce faster overall times.

The easiest test I use to confirm that I’m running aerobically is to chat with other runners during the first ten miles. If you can speak comfortably then you are running at the right pace. If you can’t then you are going too fast and MUST SLOW DOWN. This is your goal for the first five miles, stay calm, keep it slow. Remember this is a longer race than anything else you’ve done so the pace has to be slower than the pace you would set off for a half marathon or even a twenty mile race. Don’t worry about this, you are in a drug fuelled frenzy of adrenaline and endorphins. Remember your plan. I’m coming to the view that the mental discipline required to go slowly enough in the first half is comparable to that required to keep your pace up in the last few miles. It feels slow, you are being passed by other runners all the time. Sit tight, you have many miles to catch them up later. Make the most of this bit, you’re running well within your limits, enjoy the race! You won’t later!!

One thing you can do to take your mind off the pressure is to “high five” some of the children lining the early miles of the course. It’s not a lot of effort, they enjoy it and it calms you down which is a good thing.

Running too fast early on accelerates the inevitable muscle fatigue. This is a major cause of slowing down later. World records are set by well-prepared top athletes, on good courses, in good conditions. Most marathon world records also show good execution of race plans with “relatively” slow starts and very swift second halves. For the rest of us a pace early on which is 5 -10 seconds a mile too quick can easily result in a fall off of 30 seconds – 2 minutes a mile later. You also increase the likelihood of hitting “the Wall” (see later)….There are really very, very few runners who are able to achieve marathon PBs with a “Fast start and hang in there for several hours!” strategy. Despite all the many reasons why it’s tough at the end a good third of marathoners simply state “Total Exhaustion” as the issue they faced in the last part of the race.

The Start

There are three starts, Blue, Green and Red. Blue is; Elite, AAA Championships and the faster club runners. Green is “Good for Age” (and no I’m not there yet!) plus celebrities, e.g. soccer players who generally are great over 20 yards but not experienced at a continuous 26 miles, but every year there are some very creditable exceptions. Red is fast overseas entries and most of the fun-runners. The race is started by a celebrity on Blue. Blue and Green meet up after a few hundred yards while Red takes its own route rising very slightly through Charlton until merging with Blue/Green as they come down to the Thames flood plain. Most people do a fairly short warm-up. All you should aim to do is to loosen yourself up enough to be able to manage the pace you will be doing early on. If you are stuck back with the masses, no warm up at all may be needed other than to calm your nerves. Equally to get a good position in your starting bin you will want to reach it in good time. Don’t fret about this just set off calmly. If you haven’t been able to warm up as much as you would like don’t try to set off at your target pace. Go a bit slower and think about all the energy you are conserving as you warm up.

One thing I have done is go for a 5 minute very slow jog just after breakfast. It will be a warm up. It helps settle your stomach and get your digestion going and minimise issues later. You are under no pressure at that time. Do check out your route to the start. If it involves catching a train from London Bridge expect hugely crowded conditions. It’s better to arrive much earlier and then just lie down and rest for a bit than get stressed out fighting to squeeze onto a train that is way over its legal passenger limit let alone the animal welfare rules and spend fifteen minutes being squashed out of shape and asphyxiated.

There’s a lot of waiting around before the start. Stay calm, grease any bits of your anatomy which could chaff. Your body will be sending you plenty of discomfort signals without you provoking it. If you do miss a bit there are St John’s ambulance volunteers on the course with Vaseline should you need it.

Running with Other People

Don’t agree to run with anyone else for the whole race. A few seconds/mile difference in pace between you will make one of you feel like they are being held back while the other will be dragged along too quickly. Do try and find people (in your starting bin) to run with in the first 5-10 miles but make sure the pace you agree is the one you all want to do. Running in a group like this gives you a buffer against the constant temptation to speed up early on and stay with the people who are overtaking you constantly. Remember you are running slower than in any other race you do and it will feel very unnatural. Staying with your group gives you stability in the face of this pressure. Most such groups I have been in tend to drift apart by 10 miles quite naturally. I suggest you agree beforehand to just let this happen. By this stage everyone has calmed down and you will find people who you don’t know who are running at exactly the pace you want to follow. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself! For the truly introverted (who’ll be studying their feet) you can always spot someone wearing the same shoes and ask them how they find running in them.

To point out the obvious it will be congested at the start. Even where I run in the 6:00 min/mile section we are jostling elbows for the first few miles. Don’t let it affect you, just stay calm and recognise that you won’t get to run at exactly the pace you want early on. You may need to surge slightly (but keep it calm!) to get past some people or have an easier few minutes while you wait for an opening. Waiting is always the best strategy. You will be amazed later at how hard it is to increase your pace.

If you didn’t know, the course drops from its initial elevation to the Thames at about miles 3/4. You should expect to pick up about 30 seconds down the hill over these miles if your way is clear. Most people don’t go down the hill fast enough, but this is something you need to practice in training.

Calls of Nature

With luck this won’t be necessary. Get well hydrated when you get up and then drink very sparingly in the hour before the race. Get to Blackheath early and take full advantage of the immense number of portaloos. After the gun, don’t drink for the first half hour (tiny sips don’t matter). If you feel you need to go then do stop and go because it won’t get any better but do wait a short while to make sure it’s not just nerves. You will feel better and run faster straight after and make up the time loss. The course has plenty of stations. FYI once your body warms up and starts sweating (to keep you cool) your gut stops sending fluid to your bladder as it knows you need it elsewhere so this should not be a problem after the first hour, if at all.

The Middle Bit

I have a number of things to do in the middle bit. This is the comfort zone of the race when you should be happy with the pace you’re doing (relative to how you feel). One big thing to do is to relax. All the race start congestion and adrenaline is gone and you need to conserve energy for later. Just find someone who’s doing exactly the pace you want and tuck in behind them, not necessarily right behind them but just treat them as an anchor point and switch off. Try relaxing your shoulders, lowering your hands and reducing your arm swing a bit. I even close my eyes slightly and try to drift off into a trance like state. Don’t trip over, so keep your eyes on the road, London wins no awards for the smoothness of its road surfaces although the Western end of the Highway was resurfaced last year and Narrow Street has just been done this year. Even if you only manage it for a mile or so it will have saved you effort. There is research which shows that runners asked to give 96% effort went faster than when they were asked to give 100%, because they were less tense.

If you are worried that your joints, shins etc may not be able to stand the distance it’s even more important to try and move smoothly. It’s the peak impacts that you want to reduce and watching the road surface intently will enable you to compensate each footfall. Yes, very boring but you don’t want to crawl the last miles because some weakness resurfaces with a vengeance. A further question is where to run on the road. There’s a blue line which follows the most direct route and this is a good thing to do especially when you’re tired as it’s quite easy to go slightly off course, particularly along the Embankment. Another factor is the camber of the road. Few runners are totally symmetric with both legs being exactly the same length. You will find it more comfortable to run on the side of the road where the camber compensates for you leg length discrepancy, i.e. if your right leg is longer than your left, run on the right side of the road. If you don’t know, experiment a bit and should easily be able to tell which side feels nicer.

The other thing to do is some serious calculations about your total time and what minutes per mile you want to be doing at the end. These days I treat the race as 26 separate one mile time trials to break it up. PS You should be running faster than you were at the start now although it will feel easier as you’ve warmed up. The course is measured several times but there are a few points that seem many years to be slightly quicker or slower. Mile 10 seems to be a bit uphill and can take 10-15 seconds longer than the miles around it. Also the mid-point and Mile 13 have been a bit out of alignment sometimes. Don’t get stressed by any weird splits. One year all the clocks after Mile 4 were exactly a minute out, check with the runners around you before panicking.

Don’t be worried about running behind somebody, particularly if there is a headwind. It’s legal. All the pros do it. Often I talk to the runners around me and we agree to share the burden so everyone goes quicker. It can be worth 10 to 20 seconds every mile particularly if it’s windy. It will make you appreciate the vast difference in stride lengths runners have. Beyond the obvious fact that taller runners take longer strides, older runners are less flexible and stride length shortens with age. Don’t look at their feet, watch their shoulders.

Bad Patches

Going through a bad patch is something many marathoners experience. Roughly half the reports from the professionals speak of periods when they struggle to maintain their pace. Lots of things can cause this; hydration or glucose dips, and they can happen at any time even in the first few miles. However do not assume that this is the end. Most times they go away naturally unless you’ve fallen into the trap of going off too fast. Just stick with it and remember this is very likely to be a phase that will pass. Marathons can also bring out stitches for runners who never get them at other times. The current medical view on stitches is that you’re stressing the core internal stability muscles one of whose jobs is to keep your internal organs in place while you bang your body around. If you get a stitch, try breathing out just as the foot on the opposite side from the stitch hits the ground. The theory is that you will reduce the stress on the muscle spasming and it will go away.

Cramps are another very common problem, particularly at the end. Unfortunately most of the guidance is focused on prevention through training and conditioning which is not much good in the actual marathon. There is some research which suggests a fifteen minute stretch of the particular muscle before you start may help. Again very useful for the clairvoyant amongst us. If you think you are on the verge of cramping up then it’s probably better to ease up for a few minutes as the alternative may be rolling in agony in the gutter while the ill-informed crowd eggs you on to get up and run. Again the key is to relax and just think, “I’m having a deliberate easy patch and I will save this to expend later”. If it’s a wet day expect your calf muscles to do much more work than usual. Your calf muscle works hard during your toe-off and in wet conditions your toes slip constantly requiring your calves to have to work much harder to achieve the same cruise.

The Last Bit

One comment accepted by many experienced marathoners is that the race doesn’t start until the last six miles. This is certainly true at the front where in many years it seems to be a fast twenty mile elite group run which then turns into a 10k race. Another truism is that the mental effort is about the same to run the last six miles as to run the first twenty. The key is to keep going and to hold your pace. This is the point when mental toughness counts as much as running ability. Unfortunately, you will see many runners who are slowing dramatically, walking or even stopping. Ignore them. Don’t look at them, don’t think about it. They are not part of your race. Your race is about chasing the person who is holding their pace in front of you and trying to pass them or not get dropped by them. Concentration is essential. All the waving and looking for friends is for the first ten miles. The last six is just raw focus and will-power. When you sprint as fast as you can for 10 seconds, all you do is look where you are going and focus on making your body move. You can feel each muscle and tendon and joint as it tires. This is exactly the same, you just have to do it for a lot longer! (This is a point where it helps to have practiced this!)

One sad reality of the last few miles is that you can put a push and then find at the next mile marker that you’ve merely maintained your pace, or even worse that you’ve slowed. Don’t tense up, be aware this can happen. Think about floating and running fluidly. When Kelly Holmes won her second gold medal in the Athens Olympics as she ran the last 50 metres to out sprint her opponents she was saying to herself, “Relax, Relax”, Not “Punch! Punch!”

There is evidence that athletes who can keep ideas of “strength” “power” “There is no pain” in their minds out-perform those who are thinking “God this hurts so much” “I will have to slow down”. You are in charge of the ideas you think about during the race.

For those who’ve run the race before last year, both sets of cobble are now gone and there are fourteen less turns on the new course. This is thought to be worth 1- 2 minutes overall.

There are a very small number of runners who find they’ve run the first twenty so conservatively that they really can speed up in the last part. Obviously go for it and feel exuberant.

There are also runners who find they’re going to finish inside their target time. The real risk to these runners is that they take their foot off the gas and ease up. Don’t Do This!! Think of a better target that truly stretches you and go for it! Now you’re in the same situation as the rest of the field, striving to achieve something that seems slightly out of reach.

Pain

Sorry about this…… It is going to hurt. A Lot! All over! Especially that section between your ears and your toes. Whether you do 2:10 or 5:00 hours, your own pride, determination, crowd pressure will make you push yourself to the limit.

Accept this reality, embrace it, put it in a mental box, throw the box into the Thames and just carry the thought “You signed up for this. You knew it would hurt. Stop whinging about it. Everyone else hurts too. You are not unique in this. Everyone is wishing you to do well. MOVE ON!!”

Instead try focusing on, say;

1) Fighting the classic technique flaws that appear later on;

Shorter stride

Head dipping

Excessive arm swing

Asymmetric motion.

2) Chasing the person in front!

The Wall

The experts are split over whether it exists (it’s proved hard to isolate medically). Most of my friends are convinced it does. My view is that you reach a point where your muscle glycogen is gone, and your consumption of energy exceeds the rate your blood stream is able to feed glucose from your fat cells, and your body just concludes energy expenditure rates exceed acquisition and you have to get back in balance (i.e. stop right now!). Additionally, your brain relies on glucose in your blood for power so your mental processes probably get affected too. I’ve heard a theory that your body after waiting a few minutes to check that you really do need this rate of energy expenditure starts to break down muscle fibre itself to supply energy. We know that many animals (including humans) have emergency override processes for life threatening situations. Two things seem clear. If you are really determined, a second wind does appear after about 5 minutes but you really do have to force yourself for a few minutes. Secondly, it takes several months to fully recover from a really hard fast marathon, so it’s pretty feasible you are damaging/destroying a few things along the way.

The End

It may not look it on TV but the run in from the final corner to the finish is a pretty long sprint. Practically, if you want to get that authentic “Jim Peters” stagger at the line you need to wind it up and go semi-anaerobic about Parliament Square. This will hurt a lot, last several minutes but guarantee all the attention from the St John’s Ambulance staff you ever wanted and give you the satisfaction that whatever else happened, the last kilometre was as quick as feasible that day. Personally I find it’s a natural transition from the manic, panting, jarring, aching torment of the Embankment, you just overload your lungs, pump your arms and go for the line. And fall over!

Drinks, Gels Et Cetera

1. You need to drink fluids regularly. As your stomach contracts during the race this will get harder and we all end marathons dehydrated to some extent. If it is truly hot you need to make a really hard effort, particularly early on. It’s estimated that it takes up to 30 minutes for a drink to do you good, and your thirst reaction is known to be a very crude signal of how much and when you need to drink. Getting this wrong will have a much greater impact on your performance than anything to do with salts or energy levels.

2. Slower runners are able to drink more than quicker runners (although they do not need more fluid). Water stations are easier to navigate, and they are on the course longer than their quicker fellows. Organisers are now worrying about the number of cases of jogger/walkers spending many hours walking the course drinking constantly and ending up with hyponatremic collapse through leeching sodium from their bodies. They are recommending less intensive drinking. If you have trained properly you should know how dehydrated you are after a long run and have a feel for this. The marathon is at race pace rather than a training long run and will get you hotter but you should be much less wrapped up too and the two have opposite effects. Form your own judgement. This is why I recommend races in training to give you personal data about how different conditions affect you. There is no simple “one size fits all” answer here. Without being prescriptive anyone who expects to run under four hours will probably not drink enough on a normal day and need to drink 50% than normal more on a hot day.

Anyway, there is plenty of water on the course. After the early stages there is water every mile so there is no need to worry if you miss a station. Anyone around you with their own camelbak didn’t read the race instructions.

3. Any form of isotonic drink gets absorbed faster than pure water and this is its key advantage over ordinary water, but frankly this only matters in very hot conditions (like 1996). When it’s very hot, the rate at which fluid leaves your stomach to your tissues matters, and isotonic drinks are better for this. But we are describing extreme conditions. Most runners would not choose or be comfortable drinking at this rate even on a very hot day without practicing. Isotonic drinks are also available from stations on the course.

4. There is a sound principle that if you are depleting energy stores then any means of replenishing them will help you maintain effort levels but this is much clearer in ultra marathons than in marathons. There is no product in the world today which instantly restores muscle glycogen, so they can’t give you the main energy source you’re running low on. Gels definitely give you a short term glucose boost but you will need to drink more water partly to wash them down and also because the chemistry of digestion consumes water. Your running performance is not thought to be dramatically affected by the consumption of trace elements like potassium contrary to the marketing blurb.

If you do want to take gels then it’s worth practicing on your long runs just to sort out the logistics carrying them, unwrapping them and then smearing goo all over your face when you miss your mouth. When you take them is a personal preference. I currently take one just before the start (why not add a sugar rush to the adrenaline high?) and then one each hour. You may not feel like taking one when you’re out running so it’s best to decide a schedule before you start. Those who can break the taboo of taking sweets from strangers often find the jelly babies offered randomly round the course and I know of a number of people who claim very good experiences from them.

The only other legal substance which appears to help is caffeine which some gels include. This is my current choice and is a good example of something which tastes disgusting at rest but OK in the race.

Creatine is being researched heavily but seems to have two effects; firstly it seems to aid recovery from hard strength training and secondly it increases body weight. The second effect probably makes it detrimental for marathons although this is still being debated and researched as some of the research suggests the body is actually storing more water which sounds like a good thing for endurance running.

5. The bulk of the scientific “facts” about these products are not based on independently funded research by reputable scientists. Most of it is from the marketing departments of companies who’s goal is to get you to buy the stuff. The demand for serious sports drinks/gels is tiny compared to the vast number of wannabes who just want a sweet fizzy drink with a cool label that does no good (e.g. Gatorade, Lucozade).

6. The hard long miles you did in January and February will do far more for you than any product during the race.

Clothing and Toys

London is warmer than most other parts of the UK, Winter should be over, and you will be surrounded by lots of people. Overdressing exacerbates the heat/dehydration problem. Leggings are winter wear and slow you down. I’ve never seen anyone who looked like they needed more layers at the halfway point. The opposite is more common. Modern wicking “coolmax” fabrics are well worth it particularly if it is hot or you encounter a series of showers. March 2006 was the coldest on record, however April is a different season. Don’t assume Winter is still here. Beyond coolmax the only special idea is one adopted by the finest female marathoner to date by far. Paula wears compressions socks which are the same socks promoted to prevent deep vein thrombosis on long air journeys. The theory behind these socks is that general vibration is one of the causes of the muscle fatigue and the grip these socks provide will lessen the vibration and fatigue. I know of no evidence this is effective, beyond the obvious of Paula’s achievements.

Don’t wear anything you haven’t done a decent run in before. Your feet swell significantly during a marathon and you don’t want to discover that your flash new shoes rub. The same is true for clothing.

Racing shoes are generally only advised for runners going under three hours. There is a tradeoff between the speed from their lightness versus the leg fatigue brought on by running in a shoe with less cushioning and support. Shoe manufacturers now supply a huge range of shoes and many people settle for a lighter trainer. Virtually no one attempts a truly lightweight shoe. Some shoes work better or worse in different conditions. Asics are the top FLM brand but have no reputation in wet conditions, while Nike struggle for consistency between their frequent editions of the same models.

There are two popular strategies on socks. One is to pick a brand like Thorlos and get extra cushioning. There is a potential disadvantage in that they are so thick they can hold enormous volumes of fluid, particularly on a wet day. Alternatively many runners opt for the two layer blister free socks. These work by allowing the layers of fabric to slide over each other avoiding the stress on the skin and preventing the blister. Go with what felt best in training.

Do make sure you have enough clothing to be warm and dry afterwards particularly if rain is forecast, i.e. a complete change of clothes plus some extra layers. You will have no energy to do anything to keep yourself warm so you may need to overdress. I have never regretted putting extra thermal layers in my bag, if it’s wet they all go on until I am inside for the rest of the day .

And Do take a bin liner to wear while you line up for the start or a old T-shirt you’re happy to throw away after the first couple of miles. Bin-liners may sound naff but they’re very effective. If you also bring an empty bottle of water with you it can double as a private portaloo for the blokes while you wait in your starting bin!

Taking phones, I-Pods on the race……..Get a Life! Leave them with your post race bag. There is plenty of excellent uplifting music on the course.

I’m generally against heat rate monitors for two reasons. The pressure of the monitor band on your chest for several hours must slow you down. Secondly I don’t believe it is realistic to compare data you’ve gained mostly from training with the peak stresses of racing. Most people use heat rate monitors in training to do two things, 1) to record general easy run/ long run rates and 2) to see how hard they can stress their heart during effort like intervals. Neither of these relates to marathon racing. You’ll only be out of breath in the last few yards. I think it’s better to listen to your body. The only athletes who regularly race with such devices are professional cyclists and triathletes but both groups are notorious for being gizmo mad!

Afterwards

Keep walking, moving (slowly) for as long as possible, ideally several hours. One of the most common causes of runners collapsing at the end of marathons is the pooling of blood in the lower limbs (postural hypotension). One simple cure is to lie on your back with your feet up in the air for a while if you are feeling dizzy. You will be dehydrated and will need to drink a lot for the next few hours. Eat the plastic sandwiches/sweets in the goodie bag if you can. There is evidence that eating within 30 minutes of finishing a hard run has a dramatic impact on your body’s glycogen recovery. After all, you’ll be spending the next week analysing your performance and convincing yourself that you will be doing another one because you’re sure you could train and execute it better.

If this has provokes comments, questions, knowledge of quality research into the subject please feel free to e-mail me.

On a Lighter Note

If you want to look good in the pictures practice smiling naturally in the mirror while someone is sticking a skewer into somewhere painful. Otherwise give up and just look intense! Most photographers are on Tower Bridge and the Embankment plus the finish.

For the Ladies;

Karie recommends carrying lipstick in your shorts’ pocket for the finish zone pictures.

Pack high heels because you have the perfect excuse for any wobbles. Plus any alcohol afterwards will go straight to everyone’s head so your chances of pulling are 100%. Of course your chances of being able to do anything are 0%!

And if you thought the long runs were boring wait till you’ve had the twentieth conversation on the Monday on “What time did you do? Did it hurt?”