The Big Wales Thing was a big run for me, and a culmination of a lot of training runs to get ready. After it was all over I didn't feel I had a huge reason to keep going out at the frequency I had been, or run those distances. And I certainly didn't want to put a rucksack back on!
I was pondering what would be the best way to maintain the fitness I had built up. Run a 12 mile run every weekend? Run three 5-milers a week? I settled into the occasional short run ... until my brother Pete disturbed the restful rhythm.
We had been pondering doing Man v Mountain again, but in the end decided that it just wasn't worth the money. We'd done that and had done ok, and didn't really fancy shelling out £120 for another t-shirt and a medal. (I could go on at some length about the price of Rat Race events, but shall leave that for another day!)
We were already signed up for our fifth OMM at the end of October, but were vaguely looking for something else to fill the gap.
Then Pete came up with the Clarendon Marathon.
I have never run an organised marathon. I am always put off by the miles of roads and the sheer organisation of it, I don't really want to be herded around 26 miles of course with hundreds of other people, tapes, drink stations, etc. It all seems a bit sterile, and a million miles away from the off-road countryside running I enjoy. But the Clarendon is a bit different. For a start it is off-road, tracing a path across the hills and ridges between two of the most historic towns in the country, from Salisbury to Winchester. It is also rather hilly, which sets it apart from most marathons.
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| Clarendon Marathon Profile - 2150 feet of climb |
Of course we were soon both signed up and wondering how the hell we were going to get marathon fit in a mere 10 weeks! I settled on a fairly conventional plan of three runs a week:
- One fastish medium length run of six miles or so.
- One harder short run - with either a big hill or some intervals
- A longer weekend run, rising in 2 mile increments to 22 miles, 3 weeks before the event, an then tapering back down.
So far it hasn't been going too badly. My first run of over 10 miles was very very hard. I almost gave up after 5 miles, feeling completely knackered on a slight incline. Where had that mountain fit feeling gone? But the following week I managed 15 miles fairly successfully. My 17 mile run was spoiled by starting too fast, leaving me knackered and walking at 15 miles, but I managed to run the last mile or so. The following week I focused on staying slow to start with, with some success, and then ran the last 7 miles with Kath and two girls from the village. That really helped.
I have had a couple of brilliant hill runs, which have boosted my confidence, one up Beacon Hill (which I often pass on the way home from work) and one up Crook Peak (at the end of the Mendips.)
I have really been helped on hill by a snippet from "Feet in the Clouds" by Richard Askwith. (I'll do a review of this brilliant book about fell running and how it feels to run in the hills some other day.) Near the beginning of the book there is a throwaway remark about running up hills, and he says "This isn't quite as hard as it sounds, once you've ... worked out how to change down to a sufficiently low gear."
I realised that I have never really thought about how I do long hills, and have now noticed that I tend to throw myself at them hard, and so get knackered half way up. Recently I have focused on the low gear - short steps but enough tempo to keep the momentum going. And it works! I now seem to have a good low geared rhythm that slowly gets me up hills without getting too tired.
Yesterday I joined my brother and other members of Totton Running Club for a 30k run to celebrate the club's 30th anniversary. We followed a meandering route from Totton to Lyndhurst, with a good mixture of road, track and off track running. There were breaks at 8 and 4 miles, both at pubs, where some brave souls had a pint of the local best. Pete and I stuck to orange juice and water! It was a great run, at a sensibly leisurely pace of about 10 min/mile. Some tea and sandwiches a the end, and Pete and I jogged and walked (mainly walked!) the three miles back to his house, across the forest. A good day out, and perfect timing for the Clarendon.
Pete and I, looking remarkably fresh after 19 milea!
22 miles next weekend!
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