Amsterdam - Marathon J

I went to see the stadium we are going to start and hopefully finish in, it was an inspiring trip for many reasons, but I’ll let the pictures tell the story:

I saw this container and figured it was our destiny surely they are referring to Mofo’s. “I believe in the Mofo spirit” as do containers.

Directions are straight forward enough, they’ve almost spelt it correctly.

Entrance to the stadium.

I am not so sure about this statue can you do that in 2008? Apparently the games were here in 1928 and it was here where the tradition of running with a lighted torch started! It’s an educational blog. 45 days to 2008 Olympics.

The start and finish track.

The ground is bouncy!

This is where they will be buying flowers to throw at us as we finish, I expect the housewives favorite, Marathon B, will get the most!



Hey I’m not homophobic, nothing like, so they have a monument, how cool is that? Only in Amsterdam……and I suspect……….. maybe San Francisco.

Next, I retired to the hotel bar to have my last drink as the training starts in earnest tomorrow, I have managed to put a few pounds on with the business trips and need to get my body, mind and Zen spirit back into the marathon zone. My pilgrimage ended I am inspired, tomorrow is new custom fit shoes day, which will give birth to a new me, serious Marathon J, I’ll be in the zone……….

…….until the next excuse…….

The excuse for a bad week....

Marathon T

It’s not been the best week – due to work commitments and packing I haven’t managed a run since the end of last week. I think this might be the longest break since this all began back in January…and I am not happy about it.

The break is due to the fact that Marathon B and I (along with 180,000 close friends) are off to the Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts tonight. As every year this means almost a full weekend of piling gear up in the garage and sifting through it to obtain the true essentials for the festival (this will be my eleventh time at Glasto), then packing them up, cursing, unpacking them, staring at the pile in bewilderment, repacking, unpacking (you get the idea)….this process can take several days while everything is forced into a rucksack only to be removed later – then surreptitiously repacked another evening.

It is a time honoured tradition and one that I have been through many times (from the first time turning up with an enormous 8 person tent borrowed from my folks, together with camping stove, tins of food, etc etc) – to nowadays and our ultra-lightweight dome tent and nothing but clothes and cash….I have learned over the years that anything you need can be purchased within the festival site – and anything that can’t – you don’t actually need..

Adding to the excitement is the fact that this year looks set to be a very sunny one…Having taken our nieces to the last two Glasto mud-fests, it will be great for them to experience Glasto in its true glory – sun shining and naked hippies everywhere!

So, the running looks like it is going to suffer over the next week, but on the 2nd July I am determined to get back on track and training hard.

Before then I have five full days of hedonistic excess to look forward to.

See you in a field in Somerset – mine’s a Brothers cider.

Marathon T

The Boat House - Marathon J

Well the manageress from La Carla and The Bastile before that is now at The Boat House and finally they have turned a corner, the staff seem to care and give the appearance of knowing what’s going on. The result was a thoroughly nice evening with the Luxon's which gave rise to the problem of over indulgence, we really had to do that last bottle of red, impacting my running performance on Sunday.
Sunday came all too quickly, in bed there were a million reasons to stay put and only one to get up, slowly I got up, put on my neon running shirt heart rate monitor and shoes. I stabbed at Garmin 405 again but try as I might could get the display I wanted, time of the run, distance and pace, surely it must be able to do that! The run it’s self was horrid, but i had not prepared at all for it, firstly my virtual running partner whizzed off and I could not catch him, I felt dreadful, I even had shin splints for a while, where did they come from, the alcohol from the previous night was pouring out of me and the running was slow. I hit Mont Fallu and almost stopped, boy is that steep, running past Jacksons, again, (about 4 miles into the run) my pace quickened, only slightly, soon after I was on the railway walk and it was all down hill to the Boat House to retrieve my car from the night before.

Depressing stats
1hr 23min
9 miles
149 bpm
1124 calories
9.12 min mile average pace

My shoes look well worn now I look at the heels, so I'm going to do as the doctor ordered 6 months ago and get a custom fit pair.

I ran with a back pack for the first time to see how it felt, in summary it was ok, will try to load it up with food for the next long run.

No mates

Marathon T, it saddens me to think you have no mates and are destined to a life of running alone. If I could sustain your pace I'd offer to help out, but since you are way too fast you are on your chuffing own.

Actually Jan Ward might be able to help you, I believe she let you finish the half in front of her and declared she could go much faster, perhaps she'll be your mate?

I have you now.....

Marathon T

I feel I have to respond….and I think I might have you on the following impeccable logic.

You are making the mental leap that we all have friends able to drop everything (and us out in the wilderness) whenever we decide we want to go for a run. There is almost never anyone available to do this in my life….in fact in terms of the activity of running – friends are only rarely able to share the experience….if you will indulge me, the following quiz should settle this….

Can you pick the classic film/book combo from the following?

a) The chumminess of the long-distance runner
b) The Loneliness of the long-distance runner
c) The long-distance runner goes out with a few mates to find a hill to run down, then out for a nice meal and chat.

It’s a solitary pursuit, just grab trainers and go…and that’s the way we like it.

(The Lonely) Marathon T QED

Hill running response - Marathon J

Marathon T you over analyse this hill business - it's really simple
Get a mate to drop you at the top run down- Simple or in your langauge of choice Quod Erat Demonstrandum (QED).

Having just spent £45 at the Chiroprator I can tell you hill runing is bad for your wallet too, apparently it's stooping forward that does the damage, so I need to change my runing style or aviod hills.....hhhmmmm tricky.

Well I have a dodgy back/hip joint so the stooping and hills are not good, I have to say though that the hills that caused this were in Hong kong and were ridiculously steep.

Just my simple opinion.

Radical hill theory....

Marathon T

In response to the query about my sanity here is my theory of hill running….

If you have never run up a specific hill before your options are:

a) Go and park at (or find your way to) the top and run down.
b) Park at (or run to) the bottom and run up.

Now the obvious choice would be to test it out by running down it first (much as Marathon J did)…However, if you are on an ‘out-and-back’ route (as I generally am), this leaves you with the dilemma of finding your way to the top of the hill (via some other route – which could include an even worse hill) or seeing if it is suitable by running up it…

Now, the obvious thing about running up a hill is if it gets too steep you can always turn round and jog back down. If you choose to park/start at the top and run down, then halfway down find it is very steep, you have the wonderful prospect of turning round and running back up it. This is not sensible.

So following this theory – always test a hill by running up it…

Genius.

And I thank you.

This week:

Monday – 10 miles: 7:40 average
Tuesday – Club night: 12 x 1 min sprint with 1 min recovery, 6:00 average
Thursday – 4.5 miles 7:30 average

Marathon T

Training despite H5N1 Bird Flu Marathon J

Well Garmin 405 has a point, in Hong Kong I did not think I’d found a satellite but turning Garmin on for a training run today (despite recovering from Asia bird flu) Garmin sprung into life and recorded that I had travelled 5995 miles in 168 hours so averaging 35 miles per hour, which has me completing the marathon in under an hour and smashing the world record! Something is not right......

So I stabbed at the controls, hopefully, and managed to turn it on, although I was not very happy with the display as the information was not presented as before. I really must read the manual.

Anyway for reasons I’m not allowed to divulge I started my run from Ian Woosnam’s house, lets just say his swing is looking better after our chat, enough said!
I ran down the road and up past Jacksons, there is a very nice Aston Martin DBS with my name on it, I just need the associated wining lottery ticket now. Then I passed the airport, carried on and picked up the railway walk, the one that marathon T ran up the week after the half, I figured I’d work out how steep it is by running down it rather than up, for somebody as hugely intelligent as marathon T he sometimes does some silly things, fancy running up it to see how steep it is, as Mr T (of the A Team) would say "Fool".

Anyway, I arrived on the front and ran past the boat house, I’m planning to have a large amount of food and wine there on Saturday night with the Luxon's, anyway running on the flat was hard work given I’d just run 2 miles down hill, but the view was stunning, clear blue sky and sea lapping gently on the beach. First Tower was a long time coming but I hoped I’d get a rest waiting to cross the Esplanade, no luck the little green man greeted me as I arrived so I ran straight across and then up the huge hill, my technique for hills is to ignore them and pretend they are flat. On this occasion it worked though I struggled to overtake a guy walking up it.

Half a mile on the flat and I was home, Garmin was not very helpful on my performance, I struggled through more menus than I knew I had, including one giving me directions home and telling me I had arrived!

Eventually I found a history menu with the following information:

Run time 1hr 11 min 27 seconds
Miles 8.08
Calories 1026
Minute mile average 8.50
Heart rate 154 bpm

Garmin 405 first report

Marathon J please read the manual you are not running at 35 miles per hour, you Muppett!

Garmin 405 over and out.

Cross Training...

Marathon T

It’s been a while – and although this won’t be as exotic in terms of location as some of the recent training updates (honestly, who else has a job like Marathon J – I have never known the like)…here’s the latest from me.

I have been cross-training for the last few weeks, running, touch rugby, weights and cycling. Basically anything to keep me ticking over until the marathon training starts in earnest.

The majority of my Running miles have been in the gym, with the exception of a few sessions with the Jersey Spartans AC. These have been primarily speed sessions, with efforts of around 5 – 10 mins at a time (followed by brief rest). I am still at the back – but can at least see the front runners…so that has to count as progress (or a very straight training course).

Having purchased a new bike I have also been trying to get out on the roads a bit. In fact on Saturday Marathon B and I finished the first ‘Tour de Jersey’. I left my hovel at 9am on Saturday and cycled the 9 miles to Marathon B’s luxury seaview apartment, to begin the ride. After a quick road side maintenance session as we both pumped our tyres and fixed rattles etc, we were off. It began well with the first 6 miles either downhill or flat along the seafront, but the dawdling along came to an abrupt halt as we encountered our first hill at L’etacq. We went from grinning and joking to gasping for breath within seconds. Halfway up the hill I honestly thought I was on my last legs – but kept churning away and just made it to the top in one piece. I dived off the bike and turned to watch Marathon B completing the last few metres.

Marathon B - giving the hill what for....

Vehicles struggling up the hill in Marathon B's wake.

After the monster hill we took a gentle ride down into Greve de Lecq, where we decided to take on some carbs (have a sit down at the café), and mentally prepared for the second hill of the day, back out of the bay…As we reached the top – again gasping for breath – we began to dissect the ride and effort so far, we quickly decided our performance may have been hampered by lack of fluid intake and therefore to guard us against burn out so early in the day, stopped into the Les Fontaines pub for a pint of Brothers Cider (much as they do in the real Tour – I understand)…

One pint of Strawberry and Pear cider later we were back on the bikes and following the start of the half marathon route. After about half a mile we came across a hill (just as Marathon B had predicted) which I have absolutely no recollection of during the marathon. Honestly, I do not remember running up it at all – and after only 5 mins of the race too. That conquered, we were on through the ‘green lanes’ with the memories of the race flooding back. As we continued and entered Trinity we were feeling the lack of fluid issue creeping up on us again, so to nip it in the bud we stopped into the Trinity Arms for a second pint – and another rest stop.

By now it was becoming obvious that the Tour de France riders probably did not keep cider in their bike bottles, as interestingly it made every slight incline feel like an alp. We snaked back across the Island and hit some serious speed as we entered waterworks valley, I managed to get ¾ of the way down it freewheeling before I remembered that the full marathon course has us running up it from miles 5 – 9…That is not going to be pleasant.

We hit the seafront once again and went our separate ways – I had a final hill over the fort to climb (which actually felt easy) – then a gentle ride back home.

Totals for the ride – 36 miles….3 monster hills….2 pints….and no mechanical dramas. All-in-all a satisfactory lunchtimes work.

Back to the running this week….going for a long one tonight – 12 miles or so.

Marathon T

Hong Kong - Marathon J

Well managed 1 run last week on the treadmill 11K in one hour, it was extremely hard work, this week I’ve managed 3 x 30 minute sessions and then yesterday a tour of Hong Kong which goes as follows:

Garmin sucks, I could not acquire any satellites so have no idea how far I ran, I turned right from my hotel to be confronted with a hill, actually more of a cliff face about 1 in 4. By the time I had reached 4 blocks up I was really panting hard, my map was getting crumpled and I’d put my finger through the location of my hotel, it was also rather hot.

I headed east and was almost instantly run over by a taxi, I thumped his bonnet and ran past. I saw a sign for the botanical gardens so headed there, I missed the turn (so I found out later) and carried on up, Hong Kong is extremely high! Eventually I ran out of stairs and pavement, I was presented with a road protected by Armco barriers and no pedestrian protection or path ways, the view was stunning but it was unsafe to carry on so I turned back. After several minutes and 1000’s of feet lower down I found the entrance to the gardens, they were nice and full of locals doing martial arts with knives, swords and bamboo, they use bamboo for everything here including scaffolding!

Anyway I stopped to look at my map which was getting much harder to read, a local called Ling Ling took pity on me gave me directions to the Hong Kong park, great I thought, until I found out that, like Hong Kong taxis, she had no sense of direction and so I was lost again. Eventually I arrived at an area called Admiralty with my map in tatters, at which point I headed back West in the general direction of the hotel. Running past the Mandarin was nice though they did not appear too pleased with my perspiration on their marble flooring, anyway I carried on to where I thought I needed to turn inland again. After a few turns and dodgy streets I was totally lost....again, my map was now only good as a paper mache ball, great if I was 5 and had some paint, but not great as a navigation device. I thought, tomorrow I’m going back to the gym or maybe fitness first, which I'd seen in the next street to my hotel. I was desperately looking for a sign or landmark I could recognize, then I saw fitness first! Wow I have navigated my way back cub scout style, no Garmin help at all. Arriving back to the hotel I took the lift to the gym and banged out another 15 minutes, my total run was 65 minutes, and included being lost for most of the time and arguing with taxis trying to kill me the rest of the time. Bottom line as much as I hate running machines, they are the best bet here.

To give you a scale of that hill, Nigel walked only half way up it and this is what he looked like

Nigel half way up the hill where we turned off to replenish our lost energy....... in a bar

Nigel's shirt in the bar

Nigel rehydrating

Training with real runners...

Marathon T

Another new distance last night; so inevitably another PB. I attended an organised 5km race on the Jersey Spartans club evening, my first ever outing at the distance.

After a gentle warm-up we lined up for the start of the sprint down the seafront. As soon as the whistle had gone for the start it became apparent the gulf in ability between me and the rest of the runners. As they gradually disappeared into the distance I could not generate enough speed to even vaguely keep up. I settled in to a fast pace (in fact it felt almost suicidal for me) and decided to see how far I could sustain it. At the halfway point I was blowing hard, but thankfully as I turned for the finish the wind was behind me and I felt much better. As I passed the 2.5 mile mark my legs felt spent, it amazed me how quickly you can ruin your legs. The fear of being caught by the under 9’s in the race spurred me on and I managed to just about hold it together to finish in 21.06. This put me in about 45th position from the 55 runners!

The whole experience has been an eye opener for me – and has highlighted just how far I need to progress before I can consider myself a competent runner. I am going to start going to the club nights on a Tuesday to see if I can gain any training tips and definitely going to start including shorter sprint sessions in my regular programme for the marathon.

There is a very long way to go.

Marathon T