Author: MarathonMannUK

..to win an awesome piece of bling to proudly hang upon my door!  When Awesome Virtual Running Events announced a 2017 1000 mile challenge, I just had to enter, I’ve always been a high mileage man so this appeals to me immensely.

My goal for 2017 is in fact 1,500 miles and during the year I want to do a 200 mile month.  Maybe I’ll award myself the medal when I’ve done both of these things but then again, maybe i’ll just get it when I’ve done 1000 like everyone else!

I have often observed that when I do high mileage, I do my fastest times in races.  It’s a correlation but whether  or not it’s cause and effect it continues to hold true.  This doesn’t work for everyone because many of my running friends don’t do nearly the same mileage as me but run a lot faster; it’s not fair.

Although  I have been taking it easy of late, there is such a thing as being too cautious so although I wasn’t planning to run today, I went out for 6 miles.   This went well and I think a 100 miles for February is definitely do-able.

“Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.” 2 John 1:8 NIVUK

Regular readers of my blog will know that I am quite a fan of the early morning run. Some people say to me “I don’t know how you can do that” or “I’m not a morning person”. I know it can be a struggle, the prospect of another hour in a nice warm bed, or getting out into the cold, dark, wet and cruel outdoors – no contest you may say.  The reward though is a great feeling that carries you forth into the day.

When we went on holiday to Slovenia last year, we swam in a mountain lake that was so cold it was painful. Although my wife Helen is made of sterner stuff, I had to withdraw pretty quickly because I couldn’t stand it.  However, I am told that if I had repeated that dip for several days, I would find that my body would acclimatise and the temperature would become quite bearable.

This is analogous to getting up early in the morning for a run. Until this morning, I had not gone out early for over a month and getting out of bed was especially hard. However, once I was out and warmed up I felt great but I have a feeling I will have to invoke willpower for the next few times until I am acclimatised again!

It’s a great way to start the day and it does really set you up so I encourage every runner to go through the pain and give it a try.  Just be careful though, at that time in the morning, your body is not warmed up so take it steady and don’t try and break any speed records.  A few years ago I got some injuries while out in the morning and my physio told me it was to do with not being warmed up properly. Since then I have been fine though, taking it easy for the first few miles!

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:12‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬ http://bible.com/113/rom.13.12.nivuk

This popular expression comes from a list of “Seven Heavenly Virtues” which were invented to offset the “Seven Deadly Sins”.  These Seven Virtues come from   “Psychomachia,” an epic poem written in the fifth century.  Despite it’s ancient origins, this expression holds true, especially in the field of running where being patient can pay dividends.

Having been ill for most of January, my running fitness and strength has gone out the window!  This is something that all runners need to face up to at some time or other, either via injury or illness, it’s inevitable that you will be knocked back at sometime or other.  When this happens, all you want to do is get out running again and however, irrational it may seem, you want to start where you left off.  But of course, it doesn’t work like that!  I remember once recovering from a hamstring injury.  I thought I was OK so ran a 10 mile race too early and at the 5 mile point it went again.  I was back to square-one.

The last time I was hit by illness was last year and I can look back on how long it took me to recover.   As a benchmark I ran Leamington parkrun on Saturday at a time just over 27 minutes.  This was about the time I was running 5Ks back in August last year when I was starting to recover.   So, I did an analysis of my average times in parkruns during my recovery and  how long it took me to get from 27 minutes to around 23, which is a good time for me when I am fit.

It took me about three months, which tells me that I can not expect to be “back” until around the end of April and I shouldn’t expect miracles or be tempted to over-do things.

I can be thankful that years of experience and fitness means that I don’t lose everything.  I can remember when my goal was to do three miles in under 30 minutes and I remember what a daunting milestone that was.  I know that many runners would be aiming to run 27 minutes as a goal.  I also know of many runners who would consider my norm of 23 minutes as “slow”. Whatever level you are in running, your goals are equally challenging and your efforts and equally worth that of any other athlete, regardless of level!

“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  Romans 8:25 NIV