Into the "Marathon Year"

Well, something had to give over the holidays and it looks like it was my blogging!
...and my waistline.
...and my running -well not that much.
...and my "cross training". The pool has been not seen for a couple of weeks, but I can blame the England Cricket Team for that! Early morning / late night agony in front ot Sky TV live from down under doesn't help put you in the right frame of mind for driving out in the dark at 7 am to head off and do 40 lengths.

In my last entry I was just about to run my last race of 2006 and the fourth in 5 weekends at the Great Langdale Christmas Pudding 10k on December 17th. Well James and I ran the race and both posted PB's. Mine of 46.28 was just 15 seconds LOWER, YES LOWER! than his. Not that we are at all competitive, father and son. Of course not.

I periodically forget just how much I love the Lake District. Perhaps it's remoteness - 4 hours on the M40 / M6 is remote - and keeps it out of your mind as a place to visit for a short period of time. As a holiday destination for Mr and Mrs Coffeeman, it lacks some of the things that ensure marital peace - blue skies, calmness, dryness and warmth - so we have just not spent as much time up there as we should have. I have kept a romantic notion of the Lakeland Fells since my teenage years. (I have no interest in the lakes themselves, except as scenic foreground for the main characters). Two "team-bonding" field trips as a grammar school boy were my first real experiences of the great outdoors and I can remember a real feeling of wilderness up above Wasdale. Easter holidays 1971 I think it was.

On the saturday before our race and with our Fiat Punto packed with an absurd amount of his paraphernalia for 2 weeks christmas vac, James and I checked into a B&B in Ambleside and headed off for the start of our race in the Langdale Valley for a recce. After heavy rain for a couple of days all over the country, I was amazed to see the fells of the Langdale horseshoe topped with fresh snow. After a pint and some soup in the Sticklebarn Tavern, we needed very little mutual egging on to yomp up the waterfall path along the ghyll to Stickle Tarn. It's what "lads 'n' dads" do isn't it?

We struck lucky with the weather. It wasn't raining and we could see across the valley! As we hopped our way back down to the hotels I did begin to wonder whether it was the perfect preparation for a 10k the next day, but the view and the mild feeling of conquest was worth it!

The next morning the weather was even better and James even ran in his sunglasses. If every race in the UK had a setting like this one, well everyone might want to be a runner! The sharp odour of wet sheep in our nostrils, 500 or so runners headed off along the lane back towards Elterwater on a "Cumbrian undulating" out & back with a loop in the middle. After starting slowly we stepped up the pace and were soon running at 7:30 pace, picking off other runners all the way. James had done virtually no training, apart from heavy exercise of his pint glass arm, since the Ravenstonedale 10k and I was determined myself to run as fast as I could. At 3 miles he complained of some calf stiffness and said he would ease off a bit, so off I went (I thought) and I gritted my teeth through the tough uphill miles between 3 and 5 to finally finish near to my ultimate goal time. I intended to jog back to meet James and was just getting my breath when he clapped me on the shoulder. He'd been beaten - but not tamed!

Considering the time of year I got in some fairly good running over the holidays - and it was pretty sociable stuff - in tune with the season. Gangs of multi-generational runners cluttered up the by-roads and footpaths around some sleeping Buckinghamshire villages. The old guys complained of their niggles and aches and pains - the young guys just kept looking back occasionally to make sure they weren't handing their dads too much of a hammering. Touching really. It continued to be pretty mild, but I still managed to develop a "stiffness" in my left hamstring that pulled me up sharp on a 5 miler with James around the streets of Spalding and there's been an easing off since. Too much roadwork, not enough flexibility exercises, and some general stagnation may be to blame. It's not an injury needing treatment - yet! And I have just run 11 miles on it at marathon pace without much of an adverse reaction. My endurance feels good and a marathon 5 weeks from now should really hold no fears for me now.

I am now very much back where I was in late September, but without the acute achilles tendonitis and with some new PB's at 10k and Half Marathon that point to a sub 4 hour marathon if I have that endurance. The only way to really be confident will be to run the 2 20 mile plus runs in the next 3 weeks. Let's hope the legs hold out!