Fifth and Final....London Marathon 2018

Never say never, but this year's race was not part of the season's plan which is to prepare for the European Duathlon Championships in October. As that's October, the 26.2 plod wouldn't really affect things that late in the year and so having qualified for this at last year's London marathon with a 'good for age' time, the honour of achieving that whilst so many runners face the frustration of missing out in the regular 'ballot', meant that i felt obliged....

It really is my last marathon though, honest, unless i rise to the challenge of unfinished business at Snowdon in the future. I have no beef with London. Four attempts so far, attempts at a sub 3 hour time. Two successful, two failures. A hat trick would be nice i guess. 

Training for a sub 3 for me, is pretty hard. I never manage huge mileage, due to both time and fatigue constraints - my body doesn't really like more than 35-40 mile weeks without some old war wounds rearing their heads, plus I'm not getting any younger. A couple of 20 milers bolted onto my duathlon schedule was about all i did to prep for London. I knew this wasn't enough, despite some assurances that I'd be good. 20 miles every Sunday in the winter we just had? No thanks!

The first 20 mile training run involved a 10 mile straight out the door - dead east, into the Beast of the East, at night, with snow and ice all around. My partner Theresa decided to bike along side me for company in that weather. Guess who was the colder at the end?! With 17 miles done, i was also getting cold and commanded Tez to ride on home, put the bath on and order a curry. That's what pretty much got me through the last 3 miles. The minute she left, my pace went from 7.30 to 9 minute miles. It's all in the head they say ;-)


Straight through the door, up the stairs and into a lovely warm bath, whilst eating Poppadoms with mint dip.. It doesn't get much better than that!

The second 20 went better. It was after a rough bout of flu and was one of my first runs back. The first 17 were a measured plod with a marathon pace final three. It felt good.

On race day, despite 6 months of continuous shite (i mean weather, the kind of weather Bishop had to deal with in Aliens in order to get a signal to the backup craft in orbit, to rescue Sigourney Weaver), the sun decided to come out on marathon week, and baked the country in a heatwave. This was mainly good, but nobody except those flush enough to afford multiple foreign training camps (cough 'Mo), had any time to acclimatise between British Winter 2018 and this instant 24 degree heat.

I spent a few days in London pre-race but stupidly left registration until the Saturday. It was a low point in my life, and also a kind of busmans holiday. I've spent many an expo working at Excel and now the shoe was on the other foot. It was super busy, busier than any show I'd worked at there, and it seems we caught the lunchtime rush. London was packed that weekend and after a busy morning of doing Highbury Parkrun and eating a fry up, it took the rest of the day to get to the expo on packed, hot trains, register, look around the expo and get back to central London. Lesson learned. I was ratty and had to take a siesta in the early evening and even then, the legs were heavy. Kids - don't leave it til Saturday to register for the London Marathon!

Worse still, i missed an invite for a curry on Oxford St with my training partner Ed Land, and back at Expo, I'd paid for some new gear but left it on the counter. Like i said - low point!

The race prep was fine. Another packed train ride to Maze Hill, but that was expected and the communal anticipation of all the competitors was great to be part of. I got to my start area with 30 mins to spare, and queued for the toilet before dropping my bag off (i hadn't forgotten anything). Actually i had forgotten something, the most important piece of race day kit that all athletes need (jointly holding the honour with safety pins) - BOG ROLL!! The portaloo was devoid of it. I looked at my spare Mavic socks in my bag (take note Anita Worthing - i do own more than one pair), they looked back at me. I took a minute to decide their fate. There was no bin in the loo... What to do? Luckily Tim Lawson of Secret Training (the nutrition brand) had sent me a race day bag at the start of the year, containing no toilet paper, but a host of products designed to help you at the races - Vaseline, pre-race rub, post-race wash, suncream, pins, flannels, moisturiser AND a pack of baby wipes. Tim, you are a saviour.

I quickly lined up for the start and we were off. I was in the first wave and so the road should have been easy to navigate. It wasn't, and as our green start merged with red and then blue, it became very cluttered and difficult to keep pace. I guess this is only going to get worse at major marathon events as they accept more and more competitors. The sub 3 hour pacer was ahead of me, but he'd started about a minute ahead and i was only about 20 seconds behind him. Whilst i physically couldn't move up to him without swiping vast swathes of runners out the way like a Giant Orc, i was in a fairly good place. Mile one was a tad slow, mile two was fast, mile three super fast (downhill) and then miles 4,5,6 were stable at 6.45 pace. I didn't feel as fluid or fresh as previous London races/ I put it down to the heat, age and my Saturday experience. 

Twice i spurted up to the pacer when the opportunity arose, using up valuable energy. 30 second surges helped me latch onto the group trying to stay with him, and as my watch verified but kept drifting back ever so slightly, to a more comfortable pace. I overheard someone discussing our pace, saying that we were 5 minutes up, and so heading for a 2.55. That also confirmed what my watch was telling me. I knew a 2.55 was not an option, but it was good to know i had the buffer, at least for a short while.

The first 10 miles seemed to go on for ever, and i was getting a tad bored waiting to hit the halfway mark. When it finally arrived, i was lagging a bit further back than I'd like, and i later found out that Mr Green pacer had pulled out with fatigue! The blue pacer came past a bit later and i had trouble latching on to him too, so the writing was on the wall. At 15 miles i saw Theresa, but she didn't see me. I could only muster one syllable and not the required three, and so "OOOiiii" it was.


By 16 miles my pace was fading into the 7.10's but i still had time in hand. Being honest, i didnt have the urge to hurt myself as much as in the past. My quads were tight and screaming. Other muscles were fine. My ankle joint has been a bit dodgy recently and it flared up again on the day. Mile 17 was 8 minutes and after that i stopped trying as the time was gone. I settled into a shorter stride that didn't hurt. My pulse immediatly got lower and i started to enjoy the last 10 miles, looking around the landmarks and taking in the atmosphere whilst being overtaken by a Camel, Penguin, a man on the toilet and numerous other Guinness world fancy dress record attempts. So I stopped to chat to Theresa at mile 20, yet she was shocked and told me to finish and not waste time!

The heat was well, hot, but it wasn't the reason for my demise. I reckon I'd have had a similar result in the cold - just lack of miles. I saw many people suffering and i started to pick a few off in the last 4 miles which made a change. I had drank well, and had had a couple of gels. My fueling was fine but the fish n chips and a couple of beers at the end were most welcome.

That's it for me in what was the busiest London Marathon I've done in terms of crowds & competitors. Next year I'll be supporting Theresa at the side of the road if she is lucky enough to get in. It's shorter races for me from now on with possibly another go at Snowdon one day.

London Marathon Summary
2011 - 3.12
2013 - 2.58
2016 - 2.56
2017 - 3.14
2018 - 3.25

Once again thank you to our Three_GB local sponsors Alexanders Estate Agents, Safety Net Services & Huw Lewis Tyres for their support in helping us get to Ibiza for the European Duathlon Championships later this year, also to Andrew Poole who looks after our social media activities for this.

The socks have been sealed for retirement.

Don't waste time at the bar, order two pints.

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? %^$&" it's Dai James!!!

Well, its good news all round, (i think), and the training shall commence this week after my ten minute trial on Friday evening.

Despite the odd moment of searing pain when my ankle is pressed in some unnatural position whilst lying on the sofa(!), it has gained strength over the past week. The physio instructed various exercises of which many I've forgotten but luckily I've remembered enough to carry out a pre-bedtime ritual each night. He told me that once I can hop, I can try a run and so after a glorious yet painful looking leap last Wednesday night, I past myself fit enough to try a jog on the tenth day since the physio's words.

So strapping myself up with tape and a compression sock, I donned the dusty Asics trainers and scooted down the road and onto a small circuit comprising of Myn y Ddol, San Bruiec bridge, cycle path & return. So far so good and there was no sign of a limp.

As I stared into the distance along the straight section of cycle path I could see a swarm of runners coming towards me. 'Jeez they look fast' I thought. 'It must be the elite crew from up top' was another muse, bearing in mind that I use glasses when driving and watching the TV. Just as the group were about hit me, I recognised the main protagonist as one Dai James, followed closely by all the usual suspects - Bash, Dai Rob, John etc. There was a quick exchange of greetings but something wasn't right...they were running efficiently and not chatting about the football, that's right, there was no sign of Adriano!

So no more than five minutes into my first run for a while and I see the AC crowd on full steam ahead mode. I didn't turn around to join them, I just trotted around the course and back to the house, seeing them again at Myn y Ddol, so I guess they were doing some circular efforts or were maybe doing a reccy of the 10k course.

Result - minimal pain, no extra swelling.......same again Monday night then!

Still in the pits

Three weeks after the ankle 'crack', I'm still sitting on the sidelines looking on bitter & twisted as the evening trainers run past the house in prep for the Aber 10k.

After a second visit to the physio, it looks like I have damaged this - Posterior Tibial Tendon, plus some minor ligament damage. Worst case scenario is that it is completely snapped, which will result in the loss of my arch in said foot and a long time out, the best case is that it will continue to heal and i will be able to run in about 10 days time.

It will come to the cruch soon as to whether to carry on with this marathon idea this year or defer til 2012. I don't want to delay it, and will be quite happy just to do this years edition and forget abot timings, maybe doing a second marathon later in the year, but I will need at least 10 weeks of prep, which gives me only 3 more to heal.

I can now stand on tiptoe and i walk without a limp, but running is a different ball game and my calf muscle has reduced in size a little.

On the plus side, cycling doesn't hurt! This means I have been exercising on the turbo trainer and with the Ystwyth CC I've also kept the weight down. I managed not to put any weight on over Christmas which was tough on discipline but will hopefully speed up my return to running form when I start. Hopefully I will be able to try a run this Friday as this would be 10 days after the physio's 10 day curfew.

Good luck to all Aber AC guys & girls this Sunday for the 10k. I'll be marshalling somewhere out on course and cheering you all on :-)

Stupid Stupid Stupid!

Well I'd like to start this instalment of the Marathon Diary with news of long, enjoyable beachside runs in the surroundings of the Playa Blanca promenade in Lanzarote amongst the other people who escaped the UK ice & snow and headed out overseas for Christmas.

Unfortunately the day before travelling, with itchy feet the previous week due to prolongued days of no runs thanks to the treacherous ice, I decided to head to the Penweddig fields for an easy lunchtime session in the snowy field. The rest is comedy...

After getting ready in the car at Plascrug car park, which took a good 10 minutes due to the shear amount of layers needed not to freeze to death in the -4 temperatures, I trotted off past the Leisure Centre and around the back of the swimming pool and on past Penweddig School. I remembered there was an access gate to the field somewhere, oh there it is I've gone past it, stop, turn, slip, CRACK, ouch, really ouch!

After feeling sick for a second, I'd realised I'd slipped in front of a window containing a class of schoolchildren and thought better of rolling around in agony which is what i wanted to do, so I got up, put some weight on it and pretended to be OK. I was more annoyed with the fact that I'd taken so long to get dressed, and now, 1 minute into my 'run' it was over.

The bus drivers who were parked up waiting to take the kids home were looking at proceedings with interest as was the class. Bugger it I thought, I've come this far, I'm gonna try and run.....So I climbed the gate and hobbled into the field.

I realised that I could just about put weight down if I landed on my heel, so thats what I did for three laps. The generous snow dropping cushioned my strides and the adrenaline I guess hid the pain a little. In hindsight I suppose this was a stupid thing to do, especially as I heard the crack, despite wearing an i-pod shuffle playing Metallica, later the physio would tell me that cracks are often heard 'through the body' in these situations. Great!

Driving back to work was difficult, my left ankle was the one I hurt and so clutch control made me laugh for some strange reason. The pain was a kind of 'i stubbed my toe' pain which although bad, just gave me the giggles. I know, thats weird!

Touch wood I've never been proper injured before, and after a distress call to fellow crock Helen Marshall, I managed to get an appointment with her physio the very next day. The pain wasn't actually that bad when I visited him but he diagnosed a grade 1 or 2 ankle ligament tear, on the inside and outer ligaments. I hobbled home feeling sorry for myself. We were flying out to Lanzarote the next day where I had planned some serious marathon mileage.

Running was definately out (and still is two weeks later), and so I located the hotel gym and strapped myself in to the gym bike in true Kevin Costner putting his boots back on in Dances with Wolves style.

I was limping like a good un, but thankfully the motion of pedalling wasnt too bad and I got some good bike sessions in.

So all is not lost. The marathon training schedule was supposed to start in earnest on Jan 1st, hopefully I'll be able to manage a trot in a weeks time. I'm off to get that confirmed with the physio now.

Trying to run on Planet Hoth

I'm fully fixed now after the last episode. I'm two weeks in from my hospital release, and one week into my return to running. In the end, I took 13 days off, which aint good, but aint that bad either.

My first run was a fairly gentle 4 miler, the problem being that I felt so fresh and good that within a mile i was up to 7 - 7 1/2 min miling. I tried to slow myself down but I suppose it was the feeling of being out there again that just made me go and go. Running along the prom in the cold with no one else around certainly beat being couped up inside and I enjoyed it.

I can't say I really felt too bad the next morning either. I was expecting to have some pain in the calves and thighs as is usually the case after a lay-off but to my surprise, all was ok. I ran on my usual 4 mile route and had a sneaky look at my time at the end which was under 30 minutes. I remember half killing myself on this course just to get 30 minutes back in the days before I joined Aber AC so I'm pleased about that.

Next day was the AC Christmas Handicap 5k time trial. The afore-mentioned legs were holding up after the previous nights exertions and there was a good turnout from club members as we amassed at the 'totem pole'.

The various groups took off at their handicap time slots and I set off with Phoebe, Jos and Steve King. That was about the last I saw of any of them! Phoebe and Steve decided to go for an easy one and did a recovery jog whereas Jos did the polar opposite and took off. Imagine a drag race where the one car stalls on the start line... thats how i felt as Jos disappeared into the distance. Nevermind, I got into my own pace (something I've been forcing myself to do as it generally seems to end up in a faster result), and chugged on.

The course is familiar to all and its a nice flat 5k that can produce some fast times. Richard zoomed past on his way to what was probably a fast 18 or even a 17 but that was not enough to catch some of the early starters who held off the scratch runners.

Onto the prom and I had caught a few people, and may have even caught site of Jos somewhere by the Old College, but it was probably someone else, a high vis vest is pretty hard to distinguish from another!

On the line I came in with 19.12, my second fastest time ever on that course and one of my fastest 5k's, so all cannot be too bad!

I got out again on the Thursday (with much heavier legs this time) but siince then its all been about coping with the snow we had dumped on us here in Aberystwyth on Thursday night. Everyone is in the same boat, and some local runners have managed to get out over the weekend. Bridget even did 10 miles on Saturday according to her Facebook updates so well done to those who managed it. I feel uber guilty as I didnt venture out due to the icy conditions.

I'm gonna have to try tonight and will probably head down to the prom and knock out a few miles...see how it goes!

Spanner in the works!

Well part two of the marathon diary was supposed to show the first shades of improvement, indeed all was going well with a decent hour and 19 mins last Sunday, followed by 2 x one mile efforts on Tuesday night. What with the recent ice & snow, the official session was cancelled so I popped down the prom where the salty air had prevented the weather from ruining the last ice free pavement in Ceredigion.

Only two x 1 mile efforts I hear you say? Well the phone company had booked a call with me at 7pm and if I didn’t answer, they would treat the one month old lack of internet problem as solved, so the session was cut short and anyway, the 10k was coming up and there was the rest of the week wasn’t there?

By Wednesday morning I was in A&E having an ECG and throwing up into a pan at the same time, I think it fused the machine, they had to get a new one!  My cheeky lunchtime Double Decker had triggered an old war wound of mine – Crohns disease!
The scenario goes like this – eat something that you’re tired & weary body doesn’t quite get on with, wait a few hours and explode. A bit like getting impregnated by one of those squids in the Alien trilogy with similar consequences, but with crisps and chocolate, not squids!
Add red meat (that evenings spag bol) into the equation and the blisters in my small intestine closed up, sending the latest meal back up to the stomach and causing severe cramps.
I know this now after it being explained by the Doctors at Ysbyty Bronglais. There is no cure at present, it’s a bit like excema of the inside of the digestive system, acting like a volcano laying dormant sometimes like in my case for almost a year, lulling you into feeling you’ve beaten it, only to be struck down at the inappropriate moment.

There are options – have the offending segments cut out (!) or take a series of drugs to stall the problem. It can burn itself out in some cases, or get worse. I can’t say I’m a major sufferer compared to most, twice/three times a year I’m in pain for a few days and throw up a few times. Not nice but some people have terrible episodes and can’t really venture far from the loo at any time.

So far I’ve refused drugs and have tried to eat healthy. I got cocky recently and started fish & chips at the Dolphin and other delights – all with no problem but in the end it came back.
So although my system is fast recovering, they won’t let me out for the weekend and it’s goodbye to the 10k and any training for a few more days. I’m on a liquid diet for a few days, possibly followed by blender food for a while after that to give my system a break. Because it’s inflammation, it’s a clot risk until they are happy. I feel fine again but they know best. It’s snowing outside anyway and the 10k has a pitch inspection tomorrow.

So all being well, I’ll be back into the routine without any aftershocks (very rare), just with the lingering feeling that it can comeback if I risk a chocolate digestive with my tea after my next training session!
So it’s a few more nights of fending off the Aliens ala Sigourney then a chat with the consultant to see what to do.

Onwards and upwards!