AMSTERDAM HALF MARATHON

14 weeks after restarting my training I stood impatiently at the start line waiting for the gun to go off signalling the start of the ING Amsterdam half marathon. A huge amount rested on this race - it was a life line for the project - one last time to prove myself. If I every needed to get a result this was it.

The training in the last 8 weeks building up to the race had been a huge success. There were only two sessions which I should not have done when fatigue started to raise its ugly head, but for once I had not been so stubborn and taken the advice of coaches and fellow runners with the advice to “train hard but train smart.”

In the weeks leading up to the race I had been in contact with race director Jan Willem Mijderwijk about the possibility of filming from the back of a motor bike. Behind the UK and Japan there are a huge amount of hits on the Road to Beijing website from viewers in Holland and fortunately he agreed to the request.

Now all I needed was to finalise the arrangements, stay injury free and in good health.

I managed only one of the above! On the Thursday before the race I picked up a cold, (after not having any problems for the last 4 months) waking up on race days I did contemplate dropping out of the race. The same had happened for the Reading half marathon back in March when after 3 miles I effectively had to drop out. Accommodation, flight, filming etc from my own funds dictated that I would race but that I would run with how my body felt not what the watch said.

My other concern was the fact that 4 days before the race my cameraman’s passport was still in the post... 4 hours before the start of the flight was due to depart it had still not arrived and frantic measures were put in place to find a cameraman in Amsterdam.

Distance running and stress are not a good combination and even 20 minutes before the start I was still finalising the filming arrangements. In some ways this maybe helped because I forgot about my cold, how I was feeling and used the time I had left to really focus and get in the zone.

I can't remember the race that well but I started off at a slow controlled pace and decided to get to 15k before racing. I went through 5km in 16:20 which was way to fast but according to fellow Serpentine runner Darren McNeely who posted a very impressive sub 1:12 the marker was about 15-20 seconds out.

I felt pretty relaxed, running just inside the comfort zone and eased through 10km in 34:20 which was another personal best. By this stage I was starting to pass some of the slower marathon runners which in some ways gave me a big confidence booster but at times it was rather frustrating weaving in and out of the runners.

At 15 km I knew that I would start to struggle a bit due to not doing enough tempo runs but by this stage I was running with two other runners. I tried to relax and started to count... When I start to struggle my right hand twists inward and everything become tighter. This does not help with the stride, efficiency etc. so I have come up with a way of dealing with this problem, taking my mind of the discomfort by counting to 50 seconds every now and then when the pain hits worst and you think about slowing down and your body tells you to stop.

My basic philosophy behind it is that in the closing stages of a race when you are thinking about the finish line and starting to hurt, by counting to 50 seconds it is a long enough time to be distracting, it eats up another 250 metres but it is not so long that it becomes and effort to count to.

I know lots of other runners have different ideas of getting the best out of themselves mentally by playing tricks, using positive messaging etc. I can assure you that have tried them all, plus a number of other unconventional ones... whatever works for you.

The race finished in the Olympic stadium around 3/4 of the track - I had a good battle with another runner but by now the bile in my stomach was churning and made a desperate bid to escape.

I collapsed into the arms of Runners World Holland write Ramiro Ameneiro who I had only had contact through e-mail. I think I was just happy to finish and seeing a friendly face was great relief. I was delighted with the result of 1:13:46 which was a huge PB by 1:30.

The result was hugely significant as it shows me what is possible for next year. I am sure that I can run for this pace for the full Marathon in London next year with the right training, rest, taper etc. The question is how much further can I progress my half marathon time?

I was told about a book called the dip - it explains when you start a project, business, training etc it is fun, full of optimism and exciting but it soon gets to a point when it gets so hard that you want to give up. I was in that place at the start of the summer, I questioned if it was worth the pain, effort, disappointment - the answer was yes. I am very glad that I was mature enough to realise that then.

I would like to thank the race organisers at the ING Amsterdam half marathon for the generosity and help on the day. I can't stress enough that the project could not happen with people like Mr Mijderwijk help.

Thank you very much also to everyone who has taken the time to write wishing me the best of luck with the project, it is hugely appreciated.

Finally this is when the project can get really interesting. It give a good base for the documentary to really start exploring the reasons behind the decline in British marathon running. As far as my own running goals, I am under no illusions as to how hard the next 22 weeks of training are going to be but I can wait! Watch this space...

THANKFULLY THERE ARE NO HILLS IN AMSTERDAM.

In two weeks time I am running in the Amsterdam half marathon which has been my primary focus over the last 12 weeks of training. After this week of really hard training I felt tired and lethargic after the track session on Thursday evening and decided to have two easy days before attempting the Wimbledon 10 miler on the weekend. I did not want to run flat out but fast enough to get the benefits of a quality tempo run in a race environment.

No one told me that there were 6 steep hills however. After some rather confusing instruction at the start of the race at the athletic club, instead of the advertised one lap of the track we did two and consequently I was rather bemused when passing through 1 mile the time on my watch read 7:20 – I might have been tired but this was ridiculous slow. It transpired that it should have been only the one lap so consequently each marker was 400 metres out as was the finish line 10 metres around the corner of the park entrance.

I don’t like hills much and today was my idea of a nightmare when it comes to running fast. Being a big guy 6’2’’ 80kg going up can be quite hard work but even going down had no advantage as my leg turn over relative to other runners of a similar standard is rather slow. On the flat I was over taking runners but on the downhill the gap was always closed.

I was running the race with my friend and polar explore Ben Saunders (www.bensaunders.com) who decided he was going to stay with me for as long as he could and by 4 miles he was still there nipping at my heals. While I now have far more experience and was running well within myself I think that experience can sometimes be a hindrance. In the past I used to run every race with reckless abandonment, of course with varying degrees of success. Just because you are fitter does not mean that you should not push yourself to your limits, but what I have learnt is that there is a time and a place for this type of mentality. I picked up the speed in the last 3 miles to come in just over an hour, with all things being equal I was pretty pleased with.

Before the race I was chatting to Ben about running and how I had got into it. I do have moment when I think what the hell am I doing running another race on a Sunday morning? I used to love being in the Pub swigging beer with my mates, smoking like a chimney, eating fast food and screaming at the Rugby on the TV. There are times when I miss that part of my life, but there is an inner satisfaction that I have experience through this running project that ranks far above anything else I have ever done before.