THE ROAD TO BEIJING

DVD release!

2010-02-03T03:47:00.000-08:00

It's taken a long time but the DVD of marathon running documentary "Running to the Limits' will be available for world wide distribution from the 15th of February 2010. The DVD is packed with loads of extra features including :- an extended version of the documentary, behind the scenes training video and additional interviews and footage.

For more information please visit www.alexvero.co.uk or contact me at alex@alexvero.co.uk

Any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Alex

THE NEXT CHAPTER

2008-03-16T01:42:00.000-07:00

"I am afraid that you are not going to be able to run the London Marathon"

I looked over at the words coming from the doctors mouth and my face paled.

I had to train for 120 weeks and only had another 5 to go and I was there. That really hurts, but thats life, sometimes things don't work out the way you hope.

The MRI scan showed up a couple of areas of fluid in the sheath of the achilles tendon. Every time I ran for more then 20 minutes it would rub inside the sheath against the achilles and become painfully inflamed and forming the dreaded "crepitis" a crunching sound in felt when the heel is flexed.

The stupid thing about this is that it all started with a blister on my other foot. Having not had a single one for nearly 2 years I completed a 20 mile run to find a huge blister had developed due to the bunching of the sock.

It happend just before heading to Ethiopia and because I was away in the home of distance running I did more training then I would or should have done had I been in the UK. At that stage the problem was just about manageable and I booked an appointment with the physio which resulted in a cortisone injection to calm the problem.

Problem fixed and I jumped back into the running... too much too soon. The problem came back in a mild form and after a week of cross training I eased cautiously back into the running. Again the problem raised it ugly head and back to the aqua jogging I went. This happend for a third time, 3 days into the running program and I ended back at square one.

Those few weeks were torture. Would I be able to run in London? Have I done enough training even if I can? Will we be able to sort out the visa for Mengsitu my Ethiopian friend? Will we be able to arrange permission from the BBC to film the race and will the London Marathon agree to accept his entry.

Now that I am out for 4 - 6 weeks of proper training which will include some very easy running and cross training, these troublesome questions have become irrelevant.

Was I going to qualify even if I had stayed injury free? The answer to that it no way. For the last year of the project my aim has been to run under 2:30 and the classification as an elite marathon runner.

On a personal level not being able to run in London is hugely disappointing as so much of my efforts were directed to this race in my home town. I might be out of London and "The Road to Beijing" title might be irrelevant but the project has strangely evolved and taken a turn towards the documentary that I wanted to produce in the first place. At the time I did not have the funds or contacts to make it happen, but now this further setback could prove to be just the necessary change in direction the documentary needed.

At this time I can't go into too much detail as a few things need to be arranged but I can tell you that the documentary will be following two more stories in addition to Mengsitu and my own and will most likely be culminating at the Amsterdam Marathon in October 2008.

Finally thanks very much from everyone that has written to me. I will try to get back to as many of you as I can as it is really appreciated

Off to get in the pool for another hour of aqua jogging. For those of you that think running is boring the times that by ten and you will have some idea about aqua jogging.

My PC has a virus and is away being fixed but will endevour to update the website as soon as I can.

Thanks

Alex

THE BIGGEST DANGER TO RUNNERS - REVISED FOR THE 3RD TIME

2008-01-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

This is an article from the New York Times that was sent to me by Joel Patenaude about the training camp that I would have been staying in. It is pretty frightening to think that if I had arranged to travel a few days earlier then I would have been caught up in the violence.

Lornah Kiplagat’s afternoon run is out of the question. Even though her training center in Iten, Kenya, is only a mile from her house, the short trip is more daunting than any race.

Daily life in her village 18 miles outside the city of Eldoret, which has been battered by bloody violence in the past week, is punctuated by the sound of gunfire. Every day brings more roadblocks of blazing tires soaked in gasoline. Vigilante groups, wielding knives and automatic weapons, are constantly on patrol.

“It’s very tough to go running,” said Toby Tanser, a member of the New York Road Runners board of directors who is training with Kiplagat, the half-marathon world record holder. “Because if one of the vigilantes catch you, they want to know what you’re doing just running when the country is at war. And the mobs are always trying to recruit anyone who is healthy.”

The violence that has torn across Kenya since the disputed presidential election last Sunday has reached some of the nation’s top athletes.

With communications worsening on a daily basis — people are unable to purchase mobile phone credit — some of running’s biggest names remain unaccounted for.
Several calls to the home of the former marathon world record holder Paul Tergat went unanswered, and Lisa Buster, the agent for the marathon world champion Catherine Ndereba, said that a text message on Friday was the first time she had heard from Ndereba in several days. Ndereba’s message to Buster said that she was safe.

Still, many athletes have committed themselves to continue training. Tanser said that one marathoner he knows completes his daily hour-and-a-half runs by staying within a five-minute radius of his house.

Kiplagat, who is preparing for the Dubai marathon Jan. 18, has had to limit herself to a single run around 5:30 a.m. Afterward, she spends the rest of the day indoors at the High Altitude Training Center, which she operates with her husband and coach, Pieter Langerhorst.

This week, she also took responsibility for the safety of 15 visiting athletes from Ireland and the Netherlands. In cooperation with the Dutch embassy in Nairobi, she orchestrated an evacuation Wednesday.

“We got heavily armed police escorts to take them to the Eldoret airport, which is about 25 miles from here,” Langerhorst said in a telephone interview from the couple’s home Thursday.

“From there we had a charter flight to Nairobi. They slept in Nairobi and this morning took a KLM flight to Amsterdam.”

The next day the camp was in danger of being torched. “There was a house next door that the mob wanted to burn,” Tanser said. “And we were taking things out of one side of the camp to another because the flames climbed so high. They’ll burn any house that happens to belong to someone of the wrong tribe.”

The only people left at the training center and Langerhorst’s home are Langerhorst; Kiplagat; Tanser; Hilda Kibet, the New York City half-marathon champion; and a dozen or so refugees. Five girls ages 3 to 12 are also staying in the house. It is because of them that Tanser has decided to stay in Kenya.

“They witnessed people being sliced to death and they need people here to cheer them up and take care of them,” he said. “For children to see people cut up with knives, it’s a horrible situation. So we stay up with them, playing the guitar and singing.”
Athletes have not been spared from the violence. Last Saturday, the marathon world champion Luke Kibet walked to downtown Eldoret from his home about two miles away. He was trying to buy food. “But when I arrived with two of my friends,” he said, “there were people shooting in the air.”

In the Rift Valley in the far west of Kenya, the conflict has largely broken down along tribal lines. The Kikuyu support President Mwai Kibaki, who was declared the winner of last week’s election by a narrow margin despite evidence of ballot rigging. The Kalenjin, of which Kibet is a member, and Luo back Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate who has said he was robbed of the presidency.
So when Kibet headed into town, he knew that any run-ins with the Kikuyu would be incendiary.

“I saw a big group of Kikuyu coming towards us on the street,” he said. “And suddenly I was on the floor, trying to stay awake.”

Kibet had been struck in the back of the head with a stone. His friends rushed him to a hospital, where he was treated for a deep flesh wound and a concussion. Doctors told him he would be unable to train for three weeks.

Three hours later, Lucas Sang, a middle-distance runner who competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics as part of Kenya’s 4x400-meter relay team, was hacked to death. Kibet said he believed it was the same group that assaulted him. Reliable information is sparse, and Kibet said it took two days of searching before he discovered Sang’s fate. Sang’s funeral will be in Eldoret on Saturday.

But Kibet says he has no plans to leave. “Some days it’s not dangerous and some days it is,” he said. “But I’m staying here to recover and I want to start training again.”

Other athletes who had made plans to compete abroad long before the election barely managed to escape. The marathoners Simon Wangai and Peter Muthuma, who are competing this weekend at a marathon in Xiamen, China, traveled to Nairobi separately from the Ngong region in central Kenya. Rioting has been especially intense on the outskirts of Nairobi. Now the police have blocked all traffic into the city.

“I had to walk the last five kilometers into Nairobi,” Wangai said in a telephone interview from Xiamen. “I was very frightened that I would be robbed or hurt by the mob because I was carrying my bags.”

Muthuma had to do the same, but he and Wangai said they still planned to return to Kenya on Tuesday.

Despite the violence, Kiplagat and Tanser still make their way to the training camp through the bush. Members of militia groups line the main roads. “It’s a waiting game,” Tanser said. “We just watch news all the time, but there’s no information around.”

For the time being, the afternoon runs are staying off the schedule

THE BIGGEST DANGER TO RUNNERS - REVISED

2007-12-29T08:31:00.000-08:00

Having posted only a few day earlier in this blog that running was a dangerous sport I would like to reiterate that point. I mentioned that children were the biggest menace to runners but would like to change my mind as to the number one danger.

Running on Tenby beach this afternoon I was approached by a yapping dog and decided to slow to a stop until the owner had caught up and got it under control. However in the blink of an eye the dog decided that my lower right leg look like an attractive slab of meat and proceeded to attack. I can tell you that being bitten is a rather unpleasant experience and it hurt like hell. At first I was in total shock, then saw red and contemplated kicking the dogs head clean off…

Blood started seeping down my leg, soaking my socks and into my shoes. The owner came rushing up and apologised profusely before I limped back to my girlfriend house.

Luckily I had had my tetanus booster the day before and was able to treat the wound with antiseptic. I hope it will be fine and I should be back on my feet tomorrow for a 2 hour long run but its just another case of external factors effecting running performance.

I just hope that I don’t come face to face with a lion while out running Kenya, that really would signify the end of the project.

HOW TO RUN THE SAME TIME TWO DIFFERENT WAYS

2007-12-29T03:24:00.000-08:00

Since the big success of the Amsterdam half marathon (1:13:45 - 3:30 per km for 21.1km's) I have really worked hard on my speed in the last 2 months culminating with a 5km race. Today's race was a rather frustrating realisation of my lack of speed endurance, as I ran the same time for the race as I did in September. I had been training very hard so as to be capable of running at 16:15 pace which is 3:15 per km. The problem being that I can maintain 3:30 per km quite comfortably over the long distances and in my current shape I can probably get this down to around 3:25 per km but rather foolishly I ran the fist 2km at 3:12 pace and subsequently started to slow over the last few km.

Its not a bad result but it does reinforced the need for good pace judgment in races. In the time frame that I have left before the London Marathon how much will this 5km speed improve? Will I ever be able to break 16:15? Have I reached my VO2 Max or will I beneift from this speed work later on down the line.

Who knows? The good thing is that running in the Marathon, VO2 Max is not the most important factor, endurance is and I seem to have that part under control. I wonder how much difference running in Kenya will make, drop a few pounds, running more distance?

One thing that it does confirm is that its clear that I don’t possess a natural talent for running. Based on my half marathon time I should be able to run around the 16 minute mark. Considering that I am in much better shape now then in October maybe even faster.

I will find out the answer to that on the 10th of February in the half marathon, a better predictor of my potential marathon time.

RUNNING... A CONTACT SPORT?

2007-12-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

Running is an incredibly simplistic sport. All you need is a pair of trainers, or in some cases just your bare feet. In running all you have to do is get from A to B in the shortest amount of time possible by putting one foot in front of another.

Sounds easy but somewhere between point A and point B you might encounter a few obstacles. It takes me to the point of this blog which revolves around the question of running being a contact sport. Staying with the family over the Christmas period I wanted to keep up my training and on Christmas Eve I decided to go for a steady 10 mile run around the picturesque Virginia Water Lake. Rounding a corner I saw that the water from a drainage ditch had over flown onto the tarmac path and due to the recent drop in temperature had frozen solid.

Hurtling around the corner came a young girl of around 6 years old on a brand spanking new pink bike. She was swerving manically in an attempt to master the art of cycling in a straight line. Cautious of this young child I moved over to one side giving her room to pass. Before I knew it she decided to steer directly at me. Out of control she slammed on the breaks, skidding on the ice towards my legs. Just in time I jumped over her to avoid the collision before helping her to her feet and back on the bike. The thing about this incident is that it not the first time I’ve nearly been badly injured while running.

In the two years since I started this project I have encountered more dangers through running than any other sport that I have taken part in including Skiing and Rugby. The worst offenders are children and animals. Children on scooters are a serial menace to runners, swerving unpredictably without even contemplating look around they can strike at anytime. I have also been chased my rabid dogs in Lanzarote, attacked by a man while running down the side of Hyde Park who tried to punch me in the face (possibly hired by the posters on the lets run forum), had food thrown at me, been spat at, verbally abused, nearly run over numerous times by over eager drivers, had a old woman throw herself in front of me during a marathon (long story... not dissimilar though to suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, but it’s got to be children who are the biggest danger of the lot. Running in my experience can be a sport fraught with danger.

TO THE KENYAN HILLS

2007-12-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Since the Amsterdam half marathon my training has been going very well except for a few interruptions due to illness. The trip to Lanzarote was a fantastic experience but by the end of 3 really hard weeks training I was pretty exhausted and ready for a rest. On my return a huge number of editing jobs had built up that had to be done before Christmas and consequently I have not been able to update the website as frequently as I would like and for this I apologise.

On the 3rd of January to the 27th I am off to Kenya to train but more importantly document/attempt to explain why contrary to the decline of top end marathon running in Britain there has been a huge increase in the numbers of world class marathon runners in Kenya. In 2006 over 500 Kenyan runners ran under 2:20 compare this to the 5 runners in the UK this year and you can understand why the Kenyan athletes are so dominant on the international stage.

Another interesting fact that was bought to my attention was that Britain’s top Marathon runner Jon Brown has decided to swap countries to Canada after having his lottery funding terminated. Britain’s second best runner Tomas Abuy who ran a fantastic time for the Dublin Marathon of 2:10 has been told that his time will not count for the qualifying for the Beijing Olympics because he did not tell anyone that he was going for it. This leaves Dan Robinson the only British runner to have qualified having run under 2:15 in the London Marathon 2007. The good news is that this leaves the door open to another 10 or so runners who will be hungry for a place, thus hopefully having the desired effect of improved times this April.

As far as my own training, I am ticking away still but realise that getting much faster than 2:30 for London is just not going to happen, no matter how positive my attitude is. I am really enjoying the training again, running better than ever and looking forward to the half marathon on the 10th of February which I think will be my only 100% race in the build up to the Marathon.

While I am away in Kenya internet access will be limited so I might not be able to get back to everyone who writes to me but I will defiantly write on my return. For all those that are in touch with messages of support, questions about the documentary and training advice thank you very much for taking the time to write. If anyone else has any questions please feel free to get in touch.
When I do get the chance to use the internet I will write on this blog about the trip and how the training and documentary are going.

Have a very Happy Christmas and New Year and a very prosperous 2008!

LOOK ON THE POSITIVE SIDE

2007-11-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

For the last 4 days I have been in bed with the flu, this was no ordinary flu, this was man flu!

I read about an American runner called Le May - when he was at the peak of his training he would avoid taking public transport and sometimes even his family. Is this extreme? If you are not into running you might think so but after spending 4 days in bed feeling like death I am coming around to his way of thinking.

Due to the recent change in weather in the UK everyone gets ill; it’s only a matter of time before it hits you. After a particularly gruelling track session on Tuesday evening I went around to visit my girlfriend who had not been feeling too well, instead of me looking after her she had to look after me. I was totally exhausted and that night my immune system must have been hugely weakened as I woke feeling awful.

Waking in the middle of the night to find your sheets drenched in sweat that smells like TCP due to all the medication you have been taking is particularly unpleasant, coughing until your lungs are red raw is excruciatingly painful especially as due to my asthma they are highly sensitive. I remember going into a pub once before the ban and coming out feeling like I had smoked a packet. The only thing that you can do is take you medicine, rest and wait.

It has put my training back a bit but I have decided to look at this minor setback as a positive thing. I am prone to training too hard at times and maybe jumped back into hard training too soon after the Amsterdam half marathon while my calf muscles were still very sore. The way I am viewing it is that if I had not picked up the flu I would have probably picked up another injury, so the forced break although frustrating is not the end of the world. To look at it another way my legs are feeling amazingly pain free this evening.

CONFIDE IN YOUR DIARY

2007-11-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

Since starting the project almost 22 months ago I have used various methods of keeping track of my training through the use of a diary or training log. The success and length of these logs has varied hugely with some entries lasting a matter of days due to the complexity of the information. Before long you miss a few days, forget what you did and lose interest.

When I started training again back in July this year I decided that to keep my focus, attempt to identity the early signs of over training and most importantly what works I kept a diary for 90 days leading up to the Amsterdam half marathon in which I ran a big PB of 1:13:46.

In the past I have laughed at people who kept diaries, why worry about the past when you can look forward to the future. However to understand where you are going you need to know where you have been. I kept things simple with five entries;

1) Resting heart rate
2) Weight
3) Food
4) Exercise - including distance
5) Over all comment

By the end of the first month I read back all the entries and started to see a pattern emerging. I could see instantly where I had performed well in my training, what I had eaten before hand and what areas needed work on.

A friend down at the track told me a story of when David Bedford was at the peak of his training. One evening he was relaxing in the bath after a hard week. Tallying up the number of miles he had run for the week he suddenly realised that he might be a couple short of his target, instead of just accepting that he might have made a mistake he jumped out of the bath and ran another 6 miles just to make sure, before getting back in the bath.

Using a diary can be a great motivational tool, however beware as you can become a slave to your diaries desire for the distance box to tally up.

AMSTERDAM HALF MARATHON

2007-10-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

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.

PIPPED AT THE POST!

2007-09-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

“If you want to run faster, you need to run slower” read the quote from an old edition of Runners World as I lay in the bath trying to relax my aching muscle this morning. The idea behind the quote is that instead of charging off like a headless chicken over the first km then dieing an ignominious death 500 metres later you start off controlled, picking up the pace during the race for a faster overall finish time.

Looking out the window of my editing studio at the blustery, wet and cold conditions I did for a minute think that running the 5km race today could be missed. Besides I had had a great track session on Tuesday and a good 16 mile steady tempo run on Wednesday but unfortunately it’s not really in my nature to turn down a race.

The field was not as strong as usual due to a number of runners taking place in a national relay competition on Saturday, but there were still a number of good runners that would push me today.

My legs felt pretty heavy as the gun went off and thankfully the first 1km into a strong head wind up along the side of Hyde Park was relatively slow at 3:30. Tucked in behind the lead pack of 6 or 7 runners I felt relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of being in control. Past 2km the pack had been whittled down to 3 and I started to sense that I might get my second win in as many weeks. By the 3rd km it was down to me and a fellow Serpentine runner called Eric Phillips. The previous month he had run past me at this point, finishing more then 20 seconds in front and would not have been unduly concerned about my presence.

My advantage would be that he had no idea how much training I had done over the last month and passing under the bridge at 3.5km I wanted to see how he was feeling and surged up the hill creating a 3 second gap. I was feeling great, feeling like a real runner, I was in the unfamiliar position of leading this race and loving it, looking back now to my first outing over the course I finished down in 78th in over 20 minutes. Back then it would have been almost unimaginable to be in this position.

Eric was still there however and breathing down my neck with 400 metres to go, I knew and he knew that if it came down to a sprint finish he would win so I tried to up the tempo again, but with just over 200 metres to go he came passed me. I tired to respond but it was too late, my vision started to blur and darken due to the lack of oxygen to my brain (or it might have had something to do with shutting my eyes). My efforts had been in vain, disappointingly I finished only 1 second behind him.

The time 16:57 was not that quick and 17 seconds slow then I had hoped for, but through 4km it felt like I was on a fast paced tempo run. What the race taught me was the need for good pace judgement from the start; certainly for the longer races pacing will be everything.

OVERTRAINING SYNDROME

2007-09-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I dropped out of the first race that I have every entered. It was a 10 mile race staring at 7:45am in Battersea Park which I was treating as a tempo run. Through 5 miles I felt alright, not moving great, tight hamstrings but matching stride for stride with a good runner from Belgrave Harriers. A mile and a half later I just stopped… I had had enough…

Was it the early start, lack of breakfast and warm up time, heavy training load over the last few weeks, or was it the idea of running another 2 and a half laps around a park circuit that I have done a hundred times and suffered so much in the process.

Earlier in the week I stopped during another tempo run – I had had a very tough few days training and realised that I was working too hard for the pace so just jogged in the final few miles. Is this experience coming into play or am I getting mentally weaker?

Overtraining syndrome has been researched extensively in runners – increase in quantity, quality, stress not enough sleep are all to blame. It affects every runner in a different way and can play havoc to a training programme and race results.

Chronic fatigue is the general side effect of over training, the effect on the body are clear but to me it’s the mind that can be just as easily effected by this. Due to the nature of the Road to Beijing project I feel that I have been on the precipice of overtraining since I started running in January 2006.

Looking through my old training logs in the 18 week build up to the Paris Marathon it amazed me that I could handle the work load then. Some weeks I was running 2 track, 2 tempo, 1 hill session and a 25 mile long run. What’s interesting is that my minds motivation to reach the target for the Marathon blocked out the body’s fatigue.

One of my best results the Wokingham half marathon (1:15:23) came after a period of overtraining. On the Thursday evening down the track I ran 3 x 1 mile – 5:30, 5:42, 6:10 collapsing exhausted afterwards. This should not have been that tough a session but on the 3km jog back home I noted in my log that I cried due to being so tired.

What I have learnt from looking back through the old log is that you can get away with overtraining for a short period of time but over a sustained period it will come back and hit you hard.

A few days of easy running/rest should do it… I hope…

First Race Win!

2007-09-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

It had been a long time coming, but for the first time since the start of The Road to Beijing project I managed to win a 10km race. I entered the race in Clapham Common as a last minute re think as I had confused the date of next months Henley Half Marathon. Having read reports by last years entrants complaining that the race was in fact 12.3 km might have had something to do with a rather weaker field, with the more competitive minded runners worrying about the chances of getting a PB. Races that are 100 metres or so long are short are annoying but 2.3km long is just ridiculous.

I had one aim in mind and that was to stick with the leaders for as long as possible and finish as high up as I could, a time would be pointless so I decided to leave my watch at home. 400 or so runners toed the line and after a fast start over 500 meters I snuck in behind the lead pair trying to ascertain how good they really were. One guy was breathing way to hard for this earlier on but the other guy although older looked strong and experienced. After the first 2km or so I decided to put in a 30 second surge to see if he could stay with me. The gap opened at once and remained for the remainder of the the first of three laps, but the second place runner had changed, I did not recognise him from the start and he was beginning to close the gap.

I felt very relaxed, but decided that now was the time to step it up a gear, I felt like I was reaping the benefits of the hard work in training over the last two months. I still could not quite believe that I was winning, I was in the lead of a race and by quite some way. Towards the end of the second lap I started to lap some of the slower runners and decided that as I was still feeling very fresh I would pick it up another notch. By now the challenge from behind was fading and even though I knew the gap must have been more then a minute I could not quite bring myself to believe that I was going to win a race. With 1km to go I was passing the bulk of the field. I passed one group of guys who cried out as I passed them "you've got to be joking, that's so unfair" another commented "Its alright for some" as I steamed passed. It did make be think however that this guy trundling along was me 18 months earlier, I don't have a genetic advantage over him, it's just that I have been prepared to train harder then him, and Yes I am afraid it is fair that I am lapping you.

I cruised the final km and crossed the line, awesome, love it, I've won a race! I was presented with champagne and gave a quick speech about how well all the runners were doing, the merits of the charity "Starfish" and also had time to congratulate the 2nd and 3rd place runners before jumping in the car and headed home. Job done.

The Serpentine 5km at the end of the month won't be quite this easy.

The experience of age

2007-09-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

8 weeks ago author of "The 50 Greatest Marathon Race" Will Cockerell invited me down to join in a with a group of runners at Battersea park track coached by one of Britain's best coaches 80 year old Frank Horwill.

I hated every minute of the first few sessions. I was unfit, overweight and pretty disillusioned with the state of my own running and the course of the documentary at that time. I did know that if I stuck it out and came week in week out it would get easier and in turn become a more rewarding experience.

My cameraman turned up to film one of the first track sessions, this was at a time when I was still getting quite a few abusive e-mails from runners angry about the way I was making the documentary. I was rather sheepish and apprehensive of the what the other runners down at the track would think. Fortunately for me they are a great bunch of people who are highly motivated and encouraging in equal measures to those around them.

This evening after the first 500 metre rep I had a really painful stitch in my diaphragm. I asked Frank what the best way to get rid of it was. Stitches are something that every runner experiences and over the years I have tried every methods of getting rid of them; breathing all the way in/out, stamping it out etc. Franks said "ahh now, get to your knees and bend over". I cautiously got to the ground half expecting Frank to shock the stitch out of me by kicking me. He picked up my legs and pulled them up over my head so that I was in a vertical handstand position and began to count to ten.

Amazingly after this I ran the remanding 10 sets without any discomfort. After the sessions I thanked Frank and asked him where he had learnt this trick "Ahh, you see the thing is when you get to my age one is very well read. I learnt it from a group studying the causes of stitches in New Zealand. They found out that if you tip someone on their head the ligaments around the diaphragm release and prevent the cramping" he ended this with his trade mark smile and walked off with his hands behind his back.

Middlesex & Open 10km

2007-09-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last weeks 5km had give me a real boost of confidence. Not because it was particually quick or that I ran that well but I felt that I was approaching some kind of form again. Today's 10km had a very strong field with club runners from all over London taking part. It was also the Serpentine RC club championships 10km race and there must have been about 100 member turning out.

Over the last 2 weeks I have been really working on my speed over 300-500 meters at far faster then 5km pace and today it really paid off. As always the race started way to fast, through 1km in 3:20, however I was not overly concerned as by 5km I had over taken a number of the more eager runner and settled into a good steady rhythm.

The only problem with concentrating on speed is that you tend to neglect distance and by 8km I was starting to feel the effects of not running over 16miles in the last 2 months. Coming into the finish with just over 200 meters to go a veteran runner huffed and puffed his way passed my in long kick for the finish. I reacted well and caught up along side with 100 meters to go. I glanced at the clock - 34:55 - in a bid to squeze a few more seconds from my time and create a competitive sprint for the line I mentioned to my fellow competitor "That he was doing well for an old man" at this we both took off for the line, him through anger at this young upstart's cheek and myself at the thought of saying this and then being beaten.

I pipped him to it, before projectile vomiting over the finish line. Before I had time to catch my breath my fellow competitor who was now red in the face demanded my age. Spluttering to explain my tactics he soon saw the funny side of it.

35:05 and a PB by over 20 seconds (I think I have run 34:30 in a half marathon) but another good solid result to build on.

The evening before I had been around at a friends house having dinner when he said to me that although what I am doing is very commendable I could not win with the project. He explained further that if say next year you run a marathon in the 2:20's people will say "Well he had loads of talent" and if I did not break 2:40 then they will say "Well he did not train hard enough".

The documentary will explain why some people are more suited to running faster then others, but that even if you are not well suited to running you can still achive a great deal. I could have taken a half hearted attitude that if I ran a 3:00 hour marathon and then said "That it I'm not going to run any faster because xyz" then the documentary would not work. It will only work on the basis that the effort level is extraordinary, and only then can you say I gave it everything.

Abdi

2007-09-08T03:31:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday evening I joined a number of Serpentine Club runners for a steady run around the 3 Parks (Hyde, Green and St James's) at around 4:00 per km pace. I was feeling a little stiff from the track session the previous evening but good enough to get a good run in.

During the run a friend of mine Abdi came bounding up alongside me before we had a good chat about how his training was going. Half way round our conversation was cut short when Abdi informed me that he had to take his leg off to drain the sweat in the knee socket caused by the humidity in the air!

In one of the first races that i did over the Serpentine 5km course I was approaching 3km and noticed Abdi a few seconds in front of me and was staggered at how well he was running. I thought there was no way that I was going to be beaten by a guy with one leg, to my relief I did beat him... by a few seconds.

It is amazing what he has achieved and the courage and humility that he goes about it. Unfortunately he won't be able to run in the Paralympics next year due to the distances only going up to 400 meters but he does tell me that he is going to be running the London Marathon! If he does I can assure you that he will beat a great many abled bodied athletes and he'll do it with a big smile on his face.

The need for Speed!

2007-09-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

Down at the track last night I joined the 800 and 1500 runners group who were running 10 x 300 metre repetitions at their 1500 meters pace. I dawned on me during the session the importance of speed in Marathon running.

While training for the Paris Marathon I had got to a stage where my 5km time was run at almost the same speed as that which I could achieve over a half marathon. This was a great indication of how much endurance I had built up but that while running at 3:30 per km was reasonably comfortable running at anything faster then 3:20 per km spelt disaster.

What I realised during the running of the 300's last night was that I was running at my 400 meter race pace and even if I had wanted to run quicker I just did not have the speed in my legs to achive this. This brings me back to a comment made by Emil Zatopek on his training methods, "Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast." Although churning out 100 x 400 meter reps for a week might not be advisable I am certainly coming around to the importance of speed in my training.

Back Racing

2007-09-04T01:58:00.000-07:00

Just over 7 months to go till the London Marathon!

Having suffered from a string of injuries and at times the resulting disillusionment from the end of April through to June, I have been stepping up my training in one last push to get as close to a qualifying time in the 2008 London Marathon as is possible

It has been tough work getting back to full fitness over the summer but feel that I am now approaching a level of fitness similar to that of March earlier this year.

I ran a good solid 5km race on Friday 31 August in a time of 17:12. I have certainly learnt the importance of rest and recovery and while I will be training incredibly hard over the next 7 months I will also be training smart.

I will be updating the blog with my own progress and developments in the documentary.