To Run…or not to Run

To run or not to run…   No poems or tales of adventure this week – just a question. If you are training for an upcoming event (of any distance) and…

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Paris as a supporter

This weekend 16 of us boarded a train bound for Paris. For some it was to add another marathon to their growing list of achievements, for one it was to run her first (well done Debbie) and for the rest of us it was to to cheer as loud as we could when we saw a Leighton Fun Runner come past during the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon. We were all booked into the same hotel but as we all arrived at different times decided to meet up at the Expo where team LFR collected their snazzy green bags and race numbers before heading off for a bite to eat, a few beers and a trip up a few step to the Sacré-Cœur before calling it a night. The following day was spent mooching around Paris with a bit of sightseeing.  What was meant to be a lazy day turned into almost 8 miles of walking so even us spectators earned the massive carb-load fest and a few bottles of wine that night. Sunday greeted us with a bright sunny morning which for us spectators was perfect but for the poor runners meant shorts and vest tops and by the end of it a bit of sun burn. With the Lads, Chair Claire and Katy all setting off for their early start time the rest of us headed down to the Arc de Triomphe to see off the rest of the girls. Paris has got to be one of the easiest marathons to spectate at. There are very few barriers and no real marshals along the majority of the route and we found ourselves walking alongside the runners as we headed to the 2k mark to see the girls pass through. After a few shouts of encouragement we then head over to a park for some breakfast before finding a great spot sat on a bridge where we got to see the earlier group come past at about 27k.  As always we were overly ambitious in our hope to catch the girls again on route so spent a few miles walking about to find a well needed pint before heading over to the finish. We found a great spot just before 42k were we got to see all the girls finish what was a very hot marathon. We had an amazing day and got a real buzz seeing our team achieve so much. I think we may have enjoyed it even more than the runners and even had our own blisters to show from the 10 miles we managed to clock up around the course. Do I want to run a Marathon myself now? Definitely not but I'm more than happy having a day or weekend away to support the club members who are mad enough. Supporting can be great fun so why not sign up to join in with our Leighton 20 next Sunday or the LFR Mile at the MK Marathon in May? 

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What happened to the fun?

With the benefit of hindsight, I’ll wager that all the things that end up pear-shaped in life will all have seemed like a good idea at the time. They may have even started with some small innocuous sentence. Here are some classics… Lets just go for a quick drink, yeah just the one... I’ll have the vindaloo please… We probably won't need trail shoes… Who else is entering the <insert marathon here> You probably didn’t even get to the end before working out that a marathon would be up there in the list of stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time, and there’s a lot of truth in that. It's not just beginners who, when getting close to the M-Day, start to have doubts about their choices, all runners go through it.
 
One of the biggest reasons why runners start to feel like they’ve made a mistake and shouldn’t have entered a marathon is the sheer, unrelenting boredom combined with physical and mental fatigue that kicks in roughly two thirds of the way through the plan. Most likely you’ve trained through the dark, rain, sleet, wind and possibly snow. You’ve woken up at stupid o’clock at the weekend. You’ve run alone, with people, in crowds. You’ve worried you’ve peaked too early, you’ve worried you’re not ready, you’ve worried you wont finish. You’ve been unable to walk properly for days on end. You’ve felt permanently hungry and gorged on whatever is in your cupboards…for days on end. You’ve felt deflated, elated and agitated in the same day. To cut it short, you’ve been through the grinder, and then some….and there’s still weeks to go. So what’s that all about then? Why do we put ourselves through all that? Some might say the end is worth it. The moment when you hold your beer in one hand, medal in the other, and wear the smile of a champion, grinning from ear to ear, makes it all worthwhile. I know it is, because I’ve been there, but first-timers don’t.
 
So, could we do that any differently and still get to the same place? This is the million dollar question…the single biggest thing that no-one thinks of at the start of the training, is just how drained you will become just trying to stick to the plan. Many simply stop! Many give up on running altogether as a result. It’s a fact. No-one, it seems, factors in any ‘fun’ training events into their schedule to break up the monotony of ‘mile after mile’ and give them a little something to look forward to. Simple things can break up the miles, like speedwork sessions with the club or novelty races, or parkrun. More important than simply entering ‘fun’ events, is attending with a ‘fun’ state of mind. Take away the pressure, relax, and run for a laugh for a change. You could try running off road too, the change of scenery from buildings to trees and the feel of trails underfoot will help remove the some of the stress of the training. It seems to make a lot of sense to try and factor some fun stuff into the plan, just to keep sane and also force yourself to run with less pressure. In the end, there are no magic formulas though, but it's true that you stand a better chance of being in top shape on the start line if you de-stress yourself along the marathon training journey, remembering that above everything else, it should be fun, and when it's not, your body soon lets you know about it.

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Don’t Tempt the Piper..

An attempt at a poem about 1st time marathon running….   Don’t tempt the piper… There once was a runner boy from Leighton, Who’s three mates said lets run…

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Tips for Cold Weather Running

Wear several thin layers (wicking material if possible), rather than one thick layer. This way if you warm up you can take a layer off to adjust –…

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Carrie – Out of Action

So back in January, Captain Rob blogged about staying injury free, I must have missed that one!  So the last few weeks I have been trying to keep myself from turning into a couch potato whilst I've been out of action, but here are a few of the things that I have learnt or have kept me from going slightly mad from the lack of endorphins… LISTEN TO YOUR BODYWell firstly I would say, don't keep running for a few weeks convincing yourself the 'niggle' will go away on its own like I did.  It took me two weeks of suffering before I took notice of the pain I was getting whilst walking and running.  Listen to your body, I’m sure I would be back out there now had I not tried to ignore it.  I might have even made it worse than it already was by carrying on regardless. GET CHECKED OUTIn the end, I did have to go and pay a visit to a physio.  I tell my clients all the time that google is not always your friend despite trying to self diagnose this injury. Relieved at least that I wasn’t going to have my leg chopped off he did proceeded to stick needles in me.  Now coming from a medical vocation you would think a teeny tiny needle sticking out of your leg would be a breeze… I am the biggest wimp when it comes to needles so for me that was quite traumatic. REST UPTake advantage of not having to pound the pavement for a few weeks.  Got a box set you have been dying to start?  Or a good book that’s collecting dust?  If you have a reason to be sat on the sofa, take advantage, it's guilt free!  Oh and try not to do too much internet shopping, that might get expensive. DO YOUR EXERCISESIf you do pay a trip to a physio then make sure you do what they say.  If they give you exercises to do then do them, it will only take a few minutes and if you are lucky you can do them sat in front of the TV too.  A fellow club runner who has recently been out of action for over a year will tell you it is amazing how you can bounce back if you know what you need to do to get you back in your trainers. ALTERNATIVE ACTIVITIESEven walking has been a bit of a struggle seeing as it is my ankle that is giving me jip.  I have however been able to hula hoop (in front of the tv too, I like that), work on my core stability with a bit of pilates and yoga, and I had planned on hitting the pool but it’s not much fun getting out of a cold pool on a cold day (I might have to resort to that next week as I am getting a bit fidgety.) Thankfully my ankle has not protested whilst on my bike so that has seen a few more trips round the block than it normally would.  I may even bring it out Tuesday night and beast people out on their leg stretch.  Got a gym membership?  Hit the weights and work on the bits that don't get much action when you run. HANG OUT WITH RUNNERSThere is still a buzz from seeing your fellow runners, so I still turned up to club to help out at 5caKe night and took part in the Pilates night.  I’ve also still been volunteering at parkrun each week, that has been great as when someone comes through the finishing funnel looking like they might vomit I’ve been thinking rather them than me! BE PATIENTOk i’m struggling a bit with this one.  Two weeks might have well have been two months with the moaning I’m doing and I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that have been out of action for a lot longer, but I know it won’t get me out any quicker.  Run Smart!!!

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No Pressure

There are some golden rules for race day that explain how to maximise your race day experience and give you the best possible conditions to grab a PB. Things like hydrating and resting properly in the days leading up to a race, arriving in good time and eating sensibly the morning of a race, whilst not strictly training related, can all help your performance on the day.  That said, It’s very common to hear about new runners talking about what happened during a race and saying “if only I didn’t….” but the same is also true of more experienced runners. We are all guilty as charged, your honour. I raced last weekend and being honest, I was not expecting to do well. My training was not specific for this half marathon, or anything at all really, just running what I could, when I could and enjoying it. Also, in the days leading up to the race I had some intensive birthday celebrations, which is not exactly textbook race prep either. Finally, for reasons unknown the posse going to the race had decided to travel down on the day, and when we realised at what time in the morning the roads would start closing around the city, it was too late to get a hotel the night before. Our fate was sealed…we would have to be up at 4am to get there in time. So arriving in Brighton untrained, slightly jaded from recent celebrations, but wired on coffee I headed over to the race start with the team. I recall thinking low expectation thoughts “We got here in time, and the weather looks good, so let’s just enjoy the day!” After looking at the map upside down for 10 minutes the walk to the bag drop turned out to be way longer than anticipated, leaving us right at the back of nearly 9000 people with the race start imminent. Toilets! We quickly scanned the surrounding area and were amazed by the size of the queues. You know things are bad when people start heading off to ‘go’ in the sea! 3 minutes to race start and I realise I need to get to my race pen, which was separated from me by about 8000 runners, so I start shimmying my way in and out and as the race countdown starts I am close but not close enough, but hey….never mind, no pressure, it's just a race and I knew I was only there to enjoy myself and support the others from the club. That’s where the comedy ended and where the racing started. Autopilot kicked in. Moving around slower runners, holding back a bit at the start, then powering up through the field once warmed up. The only mistake made during the race was stopping at mile 10 to down a gel, which I then nearly choked on, so had to take on some water. Stupid! Not only did I lose time doing that, but it also takes a bit of time to get up to the pace again. However, I didn’t kick myself hard, “it's just a race” I told myself, no pressure! So….with no specific training, jaded, tired and probably dehydrated, after losing time at the start and during the race I crossed the line with a 1:31 PB …. I’d love to say it was because I trained hard for it, rested properly, ate sensibly and hit each point of my race-day strategy, but I’d be lying -  I did the opposite of all that. On reflection what I think happened is that by taking a much more relaxed approach and having very low expectations I was able to access personal resources on the day that are required to beat a personal best. Here’s the real question: Can stress and pressure suppress performances on race day? There seems to be plenty of articles on the interweb about it, like this one. http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-stress-can-help-and-hurt-running So I think it’s fair to say that the ‘no pressure’ line seems to work for me. I might not make some of the mistakes again, but then again I’ll probably make others, but so what? It’s all about what you learn along the way, right? From now on I will definitely try to put less pressure on myself for results because you never know, until you turn up for a race with low expectations, exactly what you are capable of.

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It’s not what you know, it’s who you know…..

So New Year had come and gone, and in its wake was a number of resolutions – I’m probably very similar to a lot of people in the sense that at New Year, I say New Year, New Me, and make a list of things which for the best part of a couple of weeks I stick to, before giving up! This year it has been somewhat different! Last year for Virgin London Marathon I had a training plan, which I didn’t religiously stick to. I did as best I could with the time that I had but I wasn’t disciplined and I allowed excuses to get me out of putting in the miles. This year, I didn’t have a plan……..but I knew a girl who did! Jude has been running with Leighton Fun Runners for a couple of years now, she has a little boy in the same year and school as my son, and she is training for London Marathon (she’s got a charity place raising money for CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JudeWilson2) Jude has a plan, and she’s kindly let me piggy back on her training. We have been motivating each other since the beginning of the year to get up, sometimes very early, on the weekends and run long distances. We have run in the bitter cold. We have run in the snow. We have run in the rain. We have run with hangovers. We have run distances from 3 miles to 18 miles. Most importantly, we have run when neither of us wanted to. But we have done it together. Now I know that when you are training for a marathon it is important to do those shorter distances, and I know it is important to maintain your speed sessions and I also know that it is very important to get in those long distances. But what I know even more is that without Jude, it would have been a lot harder! So big thank you! Training has been going pretty well this year, with consistent pace, and I’ve felt pretty strong, not just over distance but over hills and speed. Apart from two weeks in January where I was out with a chest infection I’ve stuck to the plan and I’m starting to really feel confident about Milton Keynes Marathon. Plus with my new found discipline and the motivation and support of my training buddy I’m noticing some great results in what I resolved to achieve at the beginning of the year. Roll on May 2nd! Achievements this year Since joining Weight Watchers on 16th January, I have lost 13lbs. On Thursday 25th February, during Speed & Stamina, I recorded a 7.52 min/mil (previous quickest was 8.08) During the month of February I ran over 115 miles (my biggest ever monthly mileage on record). I ran up Shenley Hill without stopping!!!!!!

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Breaking Psychological Barriers

It's often said that the only barrier to progress is in the mind, with the idea that all things can be possible if at first we believe that we can. Nothing is truer or more relevant for runners. Runners often get stuck in a training rut, or pass through oceans of time before hitting a pb, purely because they cannot get past their own mind first.In the beginning, most runners enjoy a vast improvement in their performances, nailing pb’s all the time, mainly through physical changes in the body and adaptation as the body physically gets used to running. Then, the inevitable plateau occurs and runners start to believe that ‘this is it’ and that they have reached the limit of their capabilities. Nothing is further from the truth, they just don’t know it. This is an example of a psychological barrier where a runner accepts their position because they believe they have reached their physical limit. Unlocking this can be tricky, but it starts with positivity. Understanding that there is always an improvement to be made in any situation is key in progressing and this is the same for all runners irrespective of ability. Some rules for breaking through a mental barrier;It starts with positivity, you have to believe you can do it. Saying ‘I’m not sure’ won’t cut it, you have to go for it completely. Drop the failures of the past. You literally have to shut out all previous performances. Invariably, if you don’t then you’ll dig up some bad race or other and it will start to haunt you.Barrier breaker: You need a mantra. Something that you can roll out when things get tough. A lot of runners use something personal to them, perhaps emotive, but it needs to be something that works immediately in refocusing you on the job in hand of smashing through the mental barrier. “you’re stronger than this”, or “trust your training” are well-cited examples but have some fun with your own!Breakdown the distance: Looking at 26.2 miles and chewing off 1mile chunks at a time might not be a good idea, but thinking of it as four 6-mile segments might help. Take each one at a time. Then with a few miles to go – imagine it’s just a cheeky 5k, so might as well push hard, not far to go. Alternatively break down the distances by landmark – push until the clock-tower, then when you get there pick another…but keep the brain busy!Imagination: ok so we’re not talking about picturing yourself on the podium next to an elite, but picture yourself basking in your own glory, crossing the line with the time you wanted. Hold the image with you. Be realistic with your goals, but keep the image with you. With the right ‘brain training’ you can definitely cross through barriers and understanding this can help you to keep pushing that bit more…and improve.Whatever the barrier, you can arm yourself with tools to break through and take positive steps to ensuring that during race training and on race day you are in the right place to get the result you are looking for.

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Volunteering

This week, I've been thinking lots about Leighton Fun Runners and what makes us different from other running clubs. One of the things that stood out for me is the amazing team spirit and camaraderie we have built up over the years. Taking a look back at events in the past few months, there's nothing better to see than a group of club runners cheering on and supporting fellow LFR's right to the end of the race, or runners of all abilities stepping up to help lead group runs on club nights and weekends, and I think thats what makes us special. We pull together and support each other and that, in my opinion, is the best characteristic a club could have. We've talked a lot recently about volunteering and how you can get involved with the club more but have you ever stopped to wonder how a running club functions? How races, events, club nights and meets go from idea to reality? Running clubs provide valuable services to the community fulfilling athletic, charity, social functions as well as providing a place for people to very simply get together and exercise. The club is always grateful of whatever support it gets but maybe you were wondering how you could be part of some of our great events? I imagine sometimes people are concerned about what could be involved, or how much time helping could take up, but don’t worry, normally it's just a couple of hours of your time and a whole bunch of cheering and enthusiasm. Why do people volunteer? Many people volunteer because they want to put something back into the club that has perhaps given them a lot in the past. People who are passionate about sport, especially running or about supporting local events in the community They want others to enjoy what they have been privileged to enjoy Perhaps they understand that if no-one volunteers that events cannot take place, and therefore want to help make stuff happen. What do LFR members help with? Run leaders (weekend long runs, club nights, Fartlek sessions, track sessions, S&S sessions) First Aid Cake night assistance at HQ Marshaling at events like parkrun, Leighton 10k Event support (MK Marathon, London Marathon, Leighton 10k, Dirt Half and XC series ) Writing articles for our website (race reports, blogs, interesting links) Social events (attendance, support, kit) Why do our volunteers do it?" "If you can make the event memorable for the runners, I find that the satisfaction and reward are greater from volunteering than from running in the event yourself. People remember the event and they remember you. And you make more friends!” Anthony Smith “There is nothing more rewarding than being part of helping someone achieve something.“ Carrie Tyas “The old adage “you get back what you put in" is very true, giving up a few hours to volunteer pays dividends in the warm glow of knowing you are helping out at a worthwhile event, seeing other people benefit from your efforts and getting to know other people who you might not normally come into contact with" Christine Ayers So, if you’re interested in helping out with a run, or marshaling at an event or just pouring tea at the 5caKe night, please do let us know. It's always good to see new members wanting to get more involved and give something back and we guarantee it's good fun too!

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