Race day…what went wrong! At the 15 mile mark I dropped out ;-(

Defending champion Martin Lel pulled out before the race with a hip injury, and Paul Radcliffe did not make it to the start due to injury. It seems that the preparation is tough on the body.

I set off on pace for my sub 2:30 but at only the 6 mile mark my hip flexor started to hurt. I can cope with pain, as well as the next guy, and so struggled on. I had started running at 5:30 pace per mile and even after my hip started to hurt I was able maintain around 5:40 pace.

While I was on target for my goal time I was willing to struggle on. At the half way mark I went through in 1:14:05 and although still on target the pain was now severe. What a happened next was that my hip locked up and I was forced to limp. Without full use of my right leg I dropped immediately down to 10 minute miling, the writing was on the wall. I struggled on to the 15 mile mark, in the vain hope that the hip would loosen up again, but after 30mins and only covering 3miles, I knew I was in serious danger of being over taken by a Santa Clause or an incredible hulk, as the fancy dress runners closed in on me.

During my 30 minutes of hobbling I had plenty of time to think things through. I had just devoted 6 months of my life to a running a sub 2:30 marathon, I have averaged over 60 miles a week, running a total of 2,400 miles and peaked at 130 miles for one week. I had done countless track sessions at race pace and dropped weight from 70kg to only 62kg. At work, and with family and friends everyone around has had to pull a little harder so that I could get the extra few miles in training, or to allow me to rest up. I have constantly, promoted the idea that with a positive mind you can achieve your goals, and yet here was I about to drop out.

But for me, it was not about finishing. I know I can finish a marathon. If my goal was to finish and raise money for charity I would have done so. In fact, I take my hat off to Katie Price who completed the marathon in 7 hours 11 minutes, but as she said, she was going to finish. It was just a pity that she had to cut up the £70 pair of elite 2XU compression tights I gave her, so that she could get her injured knee strapped.

By stopping when I realised my goal was unattainable, I knew I would get over this hurdle quicker. When I reached Rieko she took the picture above, and pulled me off the course, she also knew this battle was lost.

On the positive side, I have really enjoyed the last 6 months, I have got the buzz back for sport, after 5 years of drifting and am so proud that I have got such a great family and friends that have allowed me to train so hard. I also realise that I cannot stop now and let the last 6 months of hard work go to waste, so it is onwards and upwards.

Last year on the track I ran the 2nd fastest time in the UK for 3,000m in the in the V45 category, at 8:52, with very little training, this year I will want to get that down under 8:50, and run the fastest time. I also want to run a sun 15 minute 5,000m. Luckily, track training requires much less time than marathon training, although the intensity of each session is higher. I will be able to fit this around my work and family without making too many selfish demands, and hopefully draw on the extensive base work I have put in over the winter.

As for next year’s London Marathon, I have managed to pre-qualify at the Reading Half Marathon, so I don’t need to commit for 6 months yet. Whether I run or not I shall leave that decision to my family and work colleagues!

Finally, it really was a great day, and the crowds were awesome, I heard my name shouted so many times, that it made it even harder to drop out. At the end out of 36,000 runners less than 1,000 of us pulled out, and so I assume most people came away contented, and those that didn’t you have to pick yourselves up, re-evaluate, and set the next target. But just as I have done, enjoy the journey along the way.

Keep logging on to see how, I am going back to basics, using my swim, bike and run background more effectively to keep me injury free and run faster on the track this summer.

Thanks for reading my London Marathon blog,

Mike

1 day 13 hours until the start of the London Marathon.

With just one day to go to London, the carbo-loading should be taking place as well as hydrating properly.

For me, I was hoping to spend my last few days before the run relaxing, but unfortunately as regular readers will appreciate, the real world got in the way. I have been at the London Marathon Expo demonstrating Newton running shoes. The shoes have been very popular and the work kept me on my toes all day. Not ideal, but that’s life.

But having to cope with reality is what we all face. So after a hard day’s work, it is good to get out a jog for 20-30 minutes to stop all the blood from pooling in the legs. For me I shall do last my last few 400m reps which I outlined in an earlier blog entry. This should help the recovery process.

Most likely, by the time you read this, all the training will be complete, the only thing to do is focus on race day. One thing I always do the day before a major race, is lay out all my kit, to ensure I have it all. I will also be watching all the weather forecasts to make sure my clothing is appropriate for the weather.

What is very important is to sit down in a quiet room and mentally take yourself through the race. This may sound silly to some of you, but I sit down and work out what I will be doing on race day.

My start is 9:45am so I shall have a light breakfast, (usually cornflakes) at around 5am. 600 calories is the maximum I would eat. All my carbo loading will have been done the day before. I may go back to bed until 7am or probably lie there will my legs up and then I may do a little light stretching.

As I am staying in London I shall get the train to the start. My aim is to arrive 1 hour before hand. I will have some old t-shirts, tights as well as a plastic bin liner to wear just prior to start. These will be clothes that I don’t care if they get lost or stolen.

I pack toilet paper, because it always seems to run out in the port-a-loos before I get there. I will start jogging and loosening up from about 20 minutes before the start and keep this going until the race starts. It is a common mistake to warm up and then sit down and wait to run, this will just undo all your good work to raise the pulse and warm up your muscles.

I have planned all my mile marker times. I can remember them, but if you are unsure write them on your wrist and look at them in the race to ensure you stick to pace. Make sure you take your race nutrition with you.

I assume that I will only get water at an aid station, anything else that I need, I take with me. I plan to take one gel every 30 minutes, at the 30 minute, 60 minute, 90 minute and 120 minute mark. I will take 4 gels, attached to a belt. This pattern has worked well for me in triathlon. I take my gels just before an aid station and wash them down with water.

Try to imagine yourself running round the course, keeping relaxed and fluid, work out where you will drink water and take your nutrition. Decide what time you will get to the start and when to hand in your kit back. Once I have fixed everything in my mind race day is easy because I know what I need to do and when. It reduces the pre race stress to a minimum.

The final comment, is try not to make excuses for a poor run, plan to run well and expect to do well. Enjoy the day!

To follow on from my not so perfect taper, I managed 71 min 40 sec in the Reading Half Marathon yesterday. This run has given me renewed confidence to break my 2 hours 30 min target for the London Marathon (just 26 days away now). It should rank me in the top few fastest for my age in the country. I went through the 10km marker at 32 min 30 sec, but slowed up the last 5km, as I have a busy schedule coming up and didn’t want to aggravate my injuries.

The best news is that at 46, my recent performances have just got me selected to the Belgrave Harriers ‘A Team’ for the Southern qualifiers of the National 12 Stage relay Championships, this weekend. And as defending National Champions, competition for a place on the team was hot. I will now turn my immediate attention to a very fast and furious 5.5km run next Sunday, and aim to maintain sub 5 min mile pace for the race!

My tip for anyone else considering racing on consecutive weeks, is to get all the hard training out of the way first, use the races to develop your race fitness and ensure that the days in between are spent maximising recovery, i.e. short easy runs, stretching, massage, icing tender muscles, and most importantly eating well and sleeping as much as possible.

If done correctly the races will help to raise you level of fitness, if not they will burn you out, before the main event!

On Sunday 22nd Feb over 11,000 people lined up for the 20th Okinawa Marathon.

Okinawa is a sub tropical Japanese Island near to Taiwan. February is usually the coolest month at around 18°c, but this year was unusually hot. The temperature at 9am was 25°c and it was very humid making running conditions much tougher than expected.

The course was not the pan flat marathon I was lead to believe. It is best described as challenging. A flat fast first 10km, followed by a very hilly 25km with over 300m of climb, before a sharp 5km downhill run into to the finish.

At the age of 46 this was my first ever stand alone marathon, although I had run a marathon as part of my Ironman, the pace in that was much slower. Still, after over 30 years of running it reminded me of some very basic lessons.

• Check out the course before entering and practice for that course
• Check out the typical weather conditions and allow time to acclimatize.

At the front end of the field, the winner Akira Kubooka from Hiroshima was about 5 minutes slower than usual, but still well clear of the field.

Apart from Kubooka-san everyone seemed much slower in the heat.

1st Akira Kubooka 2:24:05
2nd Yoshimasu Kunitake 2:31:41
3rd Junichi Soto 2:36:26
15th Mike Trees 2:43:48

Mariko Yasusato won the women’s race for the second year in a row, in a very creditable 2:49:22. Over 60 people managed to get round the course in under 3 hours.

For me, I won the over 40′s age group in 2 hours 43 minutes 48 seconds (15th overall).

At the half way I was in 6th place (1 hour 14 minutes 48 seconds, my target split for the London Marathon). However, I think that the heat, humidity and hills got to me. By 25km I had severe cramp in my right leg and left foot. It was so painful I was forced to stop every kilometre or so to stretch. As to be expected this had a disastrous effect on my time. And I took just under 1 hour 30 minutes for the second half. In hindsight, I should have taken on salts, in the form of isotonic drinks, to help prevent cramping. This would have meant me preparing my own special drinks as there was only water at the aid stations. I didn’t, but I should have known better.

However, I was happy with the nutrition, taking about 500kcal of carbohydrate gels while running. I took these with me from the start, and did not feel low on energy at any point…It was the pain from the cramps that slowed me down.

I intend to put the following plan into action, based upon this test run:

1. At the London Marathon I shall start at the same pace 3:30/km (17:30min/5km) as I still think that a sub 2 hour 30 is tough but realistic aim. In Okinawa my heart rate did not rise above 150.

2. I shall ensure that I take isotonic drinks to replace the salts lost from sweat, even though I am not expecting the same heat at the London Marathon

3. Okinawa was part of my long distance build up and so I did not taper for this race. My legs were rather tired on the start line and this may have played a part in my cramping, so I will also be taking a long 2 week taper before the London Marathon

4. Over the next 2 months I shall train as planned, I have now got a rest week to ensure that my legs recover, and after that shall spend the next 6 weeks working on marathon race pace work, with just one long run a week.

I now feel more confident about running my target time at the London Marathon than I did before Okinawa and I still feel that for me, running a marathon as preparation for a marathon is the best strategy…time will tell if I am right or not.

Tokyo, Japan.

I have had a good 5 days of training. This has been my long distance training for the London Marathon, and this Sunday will be my final test…the Okinawa Marathon. As I said in my previous blog, I am running a marathon as training for The London Marathon in April, and it shall be my first 26.1mile run, but my plan is to see how tough it is, to get my nutrition, water intake, and equally importantly my pacing right.

I once did an Ironman event in 1994 and was lucky enough to break the British record in my first and only official Ironman, however 3 months before doing it I raced The Strongman in Japan, which is just shy of the official Ironman distance. Not giving the distance enough respect, I went off too fast in the Strongman and ended up walking the last half of the marathon run, a painful experience, followed by a night in hospital on a drip, which I will never forget and do not want to repeat again. However, I leant my lessons well and in Ironman Japan, in May 1994, I did just over 8hours 50mins, which was then a British record.

Back to the present, you can now understand why I have put a marathon in my preparation for The London Marathon. This week’s Okinawa Marathon will come at the end of 100miles training, so far I have managed 80miles in 5 days! I now have only 3 day left to the marathon to put in a very short taper…lots of sleep, food, water and stretching, and a massage a day is my treat for all the running I’ve done.

Although long runs just before a race will tire me, they also have an advantage to them as they build up blood plasma which is will raise the body’s ability to absorb oxygen and so if in these 3 days taper my legs recover enough, I should run OK. 100mile the week before The London Marathon is not something I intend to do, but as this week in Japan is officially part of my over distance training period, I don’t mind if I am still tired during the Okinawa Marathon. You see how it all pans out in my next blog.

Other news from Japan.

I ran on the Oda Field track in Tokyo yesterday with a good friend, Takashi Arai. He is a very talented runner with a 10km best time of 28mins 14secs. Triathlon Consultants are supporting him with Newton Running shoes and 2XU apparel , Arai-san tried out the Newton’s in his first ever Ironman at Hawaii last year and did the 3rd fastest run split in the event with an amazing 2hours 49mins!

On the track yesterday we did a set of 10x1km intervals, I was testing out my Newton Distance Race shoes which I shall use on Sunday in the marathon. After this week’s long slow running if felt great to flow round the track at 3min 06 pace per km (about 5 min miling). If I was in England I would have been the fastest on the track , however, this is Tokyo, I was just making up the numbers, following Takashi and others around as they reeled off sub 2min 50′s per 1,000m with only a 200m jog recovery.

I was euphoric to be able to run with such quality, Arai-san makes sub 30min /10km pace look easy!

As part of my sponsorship, I have set him a tough goal, to run the first ever sub 2hour 40min marathon at the Hawaii Ironman this year, but before then he will need to swim and ride enough to ensure he qualifies again as qualifying is not a foregone conclusion. Last year’s winner Craig Alexander, took the run split in 2hours 45mins also wearing the Newtons…I think the message is getting out that these shoes are fast. I hope I don’t let my Newton’s down on Sunday!!

This past week has been a great week for London Marathon training. On the track mid week at Reading, I did a great set 1 mile followed by 8 x 800m and finally 1 mile to finish. This is great training for anything from 10km upwards. The aim is to pick you race distance pace and hold it the whole session. My 10km race pace is 31mins which means running 5min miles or approximately 75 seconds per 400m.

As it happened I went out in 5:03 for the first mile and then knocked off 8 x 800m in 2:33 average pace before running the final mile in 5:03. The fastest I have run for a long time.

This faster running may have been aided by the fact I was sat at my desk all week so was not as tired as usual from travel. I didn’t wear spikes on the track but had my beloved Newtons on which really do give great energy return and make the whole session easier. If you start off too fast it is impossible to run the last mile as fast as the first, so this is a great way to check your pace is correct. As I only took 90 seconds rest between each hard run. I am confident that I am capable of running between 31min 30 and 31min flat for a 10km road race at present.

If you structure your training correctly it will give you confidence in a race. If you are training for the London Marathon, alter you pace accordingly so that you are running at your target marathon pace. You body will become efficient at what it does most, so this will help your running efficiency at race pace.

This good track session gave me the confidence I needed for my usual Saturday morning time trial round Bushy Park. I ran 11 seconds faster than usual; doing it is 16:09. As it was very cold I ran in my 2XU thermal compression tights and thermal top, I think shorts and vest would have been slower, as I would have struggled to stay warm. Correct clothing is also vital to running well and enjoying your training.