2nd Time Lucky?

Last Updated on Monday, 14 June 2010 06:36 Written by The Virtual Runner Monday, 14 June 2010 06:36

Well, I think I’ve narrowed down when and where my next marathon “attempt” will be.  Frankly, this event wasn’t my first choice for a second attempt but there aren’t that many local-ish marathons before the end of the year.

http://www.farnhampilgrim.org.uk/

The event’s route is described as “mixed and mainly off-road”… great.  However, I figure that if I put the training down then, so what?  I can’t wimp out just because it’s not perfectly flat.  Besides, do I really care how long it’s going to take me to finish?  My main goal is survival for my first marathon!

I haven’t actually booked it yet, and frankly if it fills up before I can register (like the New Forest Marathon!) then I’m sorry in advance, I will be delaying my 1st marathon attempt until April next year!  Yup, if I can’t get into this marathon then I’ve decided to push it back a full year until April 2011.  Bad-side:  I’ve had to put it back so far and people were expecting me to do one.  Good-side:  It will give me the opportunity to save more money.

Let’s be positive though!  I’m going to do the marathon on 19th September in Farnham!  I’ve even did a basic training plan for long runs as follows:-

• 20th Jun – 07 miles
• 27th Jun – 08 miles
• 04th Jul – 09 miles
• 11th Jul – 10 miles
• 18th Jul – 12 miles
• 25th Jul – 10 miles
• 01st Aug – 13 miles
• 08th Aug – 15 miles
• 15th Aug – 17 miles
• 22nd Aug – 18 miles
• 29th Aug – 20 miles
• 05th Sep – 15 miles (day before we go to Greece)
• 12th Sep – 10 miles (this one might be in Greece)
• 19th Sep – Marathon

I’ve also decided that running 3 days a week is not enough for me and I’m going to go back to running on Tue, Wed, Fri and Sun.  I will try and make Tue an easy 10km run and Wed/Fri will be some 40 – 50min interval and hill training each week.  Those two training sessions have to be the big thing and I want to focus on those as well as weight training on Mon and Thu.  This means Sat will be the only day I’m not actually doing some sort of exercise.  Too much?  Perhaps.  But I’m aiming high on purpose.

Wish me luck people!

Full of Crap

Last Updated on Monday, 24 May 2010 06:16 Written by The Virtual Runner Sunday, 23 May 2010 09:46

I didn’t do the marathon.  I know, I know… I put in all that training!

Everything was going well and we flew to Canada as planned.  However, the second or third day there I started sneezing a lot and I thought it was just allergies (my sisters have pets).  Nope.  Full blown cold kicked in and I was seriously congested in the sinuses.  No problem I thought.  It’s “above the neck” so I’ll continue on like normal.

By Saturday I was feeling pretty rough and wasn’t sleeping well.  I was sticking to the plan though and drinking lots of fluids to stay hydrated for the marathon the following day.  I even went to collect my race pack from the race expo on Sat afternoon/evening.

Sunday morning, coughing and exhausted.  I couldn’t do it.  I was too ill and I was scared to put myself through about 5 hours of running whilst being ill.  To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  My friends jokes of calling me a “real virtual runner” didn’t help much either.

So, that was it.  I was a virtual runner with a bad cold, race number, timing chip and new t-shirt but no completed marathon.  To top it all off I’ve been raising money for charity and I feel as though I’ve let people down.

Put it all together and I’m on a bit of a downer at the moment!

So, what am I doing to sort all of this out and get back on form?  I’m thinking about it and I haven’t decided yet.  I’ll do one of the following:-

1. Register for a new marathon in the autumn and use the time to get in even more training and raise more money for charity (although I’ll feel as though I’m putting things off).
2. Do my own “virtual marathon” by completing 26.2 miles myself and documenting it using my Garmin Forerunner and video.  This means I would need to attempt the distance over the next couple of weeks.  Probably on a Sunday around Reading, Berkshire.  The downside to this is that there is no medal and no finish line.  Will I still feel the same completing it?  Or am I just doing it for the sake of doing it?  A guilt marathon.

I’d be grateful if any of you out there could comment on this post and give me your thoughts and opinions on what you would do in this situation.

As for running, I went and ran for an hour this morning and it was the first time I’ve run in about 2 1/2 weeks.  My hip flexors were a bit sore afterwards but it felt okay.  I’ll probably push the 10k running for the whole week and do a bit most mornings in order to get myself ready to plod around the Bupa 10,000 in London this weekend.  I’ve got my race pack through and it’s a great event to do.  I certainly won’t be getting a PB this year but I’ll still get the medal.  I love the medals!

Once I’ve done the 10k I’ll give you a write up about it and let you know what it was like.  I’m supposed to have a VIP pass to the elite/celeb area before the race so who knows who or what I’ll see!  I’m taking my wife with me because I’m rubbish at spotting anyone famous!

Now, you may or may not be wondering about the title of this blog.  I mean, to say “full of crap” kind of indicates that I’ve lied about something.  But I haven’t.  “Full of crap” relates to the ridiculous amount of food I ate while in Canada.  There is nothing to do where we were.  Fredericton, New Brunswick is a beautiful city in Canada but it’s boring!  So, everything seemed to revolve around food and eating out.  To top it all off, I missed a lot of foods that I used to eat when I lived there so I felt I had to try as much as possible.  Bad idea.

The flight home was a bit uncomfortable and my wife and I thought we may have to book extra seats; one for each butt cheek.

To make myself feel a bit better I went on a (kind of) liquid diet for a couple of days.  Man, it felt nice.  All I ate was cereal for breakfast (I know it’s not a liquid but I need some fibre and stuff.  Most important meal of the day!) soups, yoghurt, smoothies etc.  No more bloated feeling!  All ruined today with a massive feast of delicious burnt bbq meaty goodness.  Damn.

Tomorrow the liquid diet starts again.  It’s a nice cleanse for me and I’ll probably try and do it for the whole week.  At the end of the week I’ll assess how I feel and decide whether to continue.

Yours sincerely,

Fatty Chubberson