Learning about some of the mental aspects of running

I like the saying 'every days a school day' and the idea that it's always time to learn something new and running is no different.  

Last Wednesday was certainly one of these days as I attended the third part of 'legs, head, heart' @RunningWorks, a seminar looking at some of the mental aspects of long distance running.

I really enjoyed the evening and took away a lot of learning points. The talks from Dr Dan Gordon and Andrew Cohen-Wray also posed me several questions I could apply to my training and racing as I seek to improve. 

Here are some points I learnt from the evening which I hope you will find useful: 

First up Dr Dan spoke about pacing, an understanding of what pacing actually is and means as well as insights into research findings from Anglia Ruskin University's studies into marathon pacing. 

An understanding of pacing, Dr Dan explained that everyone paces, even small kids playing in the play ground. 

Judging your pace successfully is about optimising your physical performance. This is the basic idea of being able to run any given distance in your fastest possible time. We tend to think of pacing more in terms of long distance running but it's good to remember that even Usain Bolt has to pace himself over his sprint distances. 

Pacing is physiological and emotional

The brain regulates your pace based on comparisons to your previous runs.

The idea of global experience or being able to relax ahead of a marathon because you have ran several before and completed many long runs so you can think, 'I have been there and I have done that' and you are not fazed by the challenge that lies ahead of you. This experience of having done things before is important as experience matters when it come to pacing you need to have a frame of reference based on previous race experiences. 

Pacing well in training does not equate to pacing well in a marathon. Pacing is a learnt response and cannot be learnt through training. 

If you are interested in trying to calculate what pace you should be running your next marathon at a useful tool might be the flying runner pace calculator. 

The second part of the talk was from Andrew Cohen-Wray, Athlete in mind sharing his thoughts on marathon mental preparation. 

Goals

He posed some interesting questions to think over that are quite hard to get your head around. When training for a specific goal, whether it being completing a distance or finishing in a certain time 'what will happen if you don't get it?' Or 'what won't happen if you don't get it?'. I found these ideas really interesting and gave me a lot to think over.

Fears 

Then to help you deal with any fears you might have about a race naming your fears can help, knowing what you are afraid of can help you to overcome them and to worry less. Also thinking about what's the worse that could happen? Being aware of the worse case scenario can help you to prepare for all eventualities. 

Chunks

It's a common concept that a lot of us do, break your event down into chunks to help you cope with the overall task. Whether this is by mile, kilometre, 10K section, next jelly baby or energy gel or next lap. 

A marathon is after all only 8 and a bit parkruns if you look at it that way! 

The two most important things I took away for the evening though are as follows: 

'Learning the difference that makes the difference'

What little thing can you change to your training or race preparation that will make a big difference? Whether it's mental or physical there will be little things that can make a change. 

'Be the best that you can be'

Be aware of your own limitations and know what your capable of achieving in both training and a race. E.g. Can you realistically commit to a long run every weekend during marathon training if you work full time and have family commitments? This leads to the idea that 'you can only do what you can do with what you have'. I know I do not have the body and physical capabilities to run a 2.30 marathon neither do I have the finances to have a weekly massage or personal training sessions three times a week. I know however that with the right training I can run a sub 4 hour marathon and that needs to be my focus. 

So that's my closing thought, be the best you can be, learn what you can and work hard to achieve your goals, simples! 

Enjoying life and enjoying running

Yesterday was a classic day, a day to make you feel good, great actually. 

I didn't do anything mind blowingly amazing just had a good time doing things I love. Unfortunately it was a work day so that took up a large proportion of my day and I can't see I really enjoyed that bit of the day.

It was an early start to the day, the early bird catches the worm and all that. I was up at 5.30 and out the door soon after 6 braving -2 temperatures as winter finally seems to have hit the UK. 

A train and a tube into central London brought me to Regents Park and meeting up with running buddy Tony.

An early morning track session was planned, as we jogged to the running track we both marveled at the wintry scene we were running through. 

Once at the track the hard work began, we had scheduled a 800m interval session, 4x 800m @ 5K pace sandwiched with 400m recovery laps. Physically it was tough but mentally it was OK as 4 sets of effort is a nice number to deal with, after lap one you know you are already a quarter done and before you know it your finished. 

It was a great session that left me buzzing through the day. I was showered and changed and ready for work before 9. I love achieving things before work, I like getting up with a focus in mind rather than the drudgery of just another day of work in prospect. 

After a pretty stressful and busy day at work it was time to enjoy the evening with an overdue birthday trip to Yo Sushi with the wife. 

I know it's not the most amazing restaurant and certainly not the best sushi venue and can have quite a marmite affect on sushi lovers and haters alike, but I like it, it's a fun place to eat out. 

Pretty soon we had wracked up an impressive tower of plates. 

It was soon time to head home and get an early night and time to reflect on an enjoyable day. 

It's always good to be thankful for the good things in life and to remember to enjoy life. 

The day was very much my kind of day; running, being busy and enjoying large amounts of food.

I also wanted to capture that day as it summarised what my blog is all about quite nicely, pretty easy going, understated ramblings including some running and some food. If you like this then check out my blog here, follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page, or check me out on bloglovin. 

Happy running! 

Reinvigorating my running

You know when you put something off a few times and then before you know it you have been putting it for ages, then all of a sudden it's been so long since you did the thing it's hard to go back to it? 

When you keep procrastinating, become perhaps a bit lazy and start making up excuses and all of a sudden it's been months since you did the thing you were meant to do? 

Well this happened to me...

For almost the last year I have been in the lucky position to work literally opposite Regents Park, I can actually see the park from my desk. A runners dream right?! (I am open to discussing job swap opportunities!)

Then early last year I started running in Regents Park in the morning before work most often accompanied by at least one running buddy and the run usually consisted of a track session using the running track on the north side of the park. 

The track is a better setting for an early morning session than any gym

Back in the autumn for one reason and another I stopped going, it's so easy to fall out of a good routine and life can throw so many things to get in the way.

Last week I finally got back to running an early morning session. I loved it, it felt amazing, I loved being in London so early, I loved exercising before work and feeling great throughout the day.

A pre dawn shot of London overlooking Regents Park

I was annoyed with myself for having missed out on so many of these sessions over the last six months. 

Then on Saturday I took part in a run with UK fitness bloggers which departed from near Liverpool Street and explored a little area nestled in between Wanstead, the river and the City. 

I really enjoyed the experience of exploring, running somewhere new and taking in some sights.

I realised I had gone a bit stale with my running. I remembered how fun running can be when you use it as an opportunity to explore and for adventure.

So last night after work I embarked on a partial run commute home, leaving my work near Great Portland Street I ran through the City and along the river back to Liverpool Street to catch the train home.

It felt great! I ticked up sub 5 minute KMs despite a back pack and a heavy laptop.

London looked epic lit up in the winter night.  

I hadn't run in London for over a year and not even spent that much time walking around either. So many regular places I used to pas have changed, larger buildings disappeared, new modern structures cropping up all over the place. 

I suppose the point of my story is the idea that usually you won't regret doing things but you do regret not doing things.  

It's a notion based on a quote from a wiser man than me.

A Happy Running Birthday

This weekend was my birthday and as soon as I realised a few months back that my birthday fell on a Sunday I knew I would be running somewhere. After all your birthday doesn't fall on a Sunday very often so as a runner you need to grab the rare opportunity of a birthday race. 

Initially I liked the idea of taking part in the London Winter Run, a mass participation 10K event through central London with fake snow and hugs from polar bears it looked like a whole lot of fun. Then my competitive side got the better of me and I thought about doing something a bit more ambitious and soon found a Half Marathon courtesy of RunthroughUK who were holding a range of races including a Half Marathon in Victoria Park. When my two running buddies Tony and Chris were keen on a Half marathon in the early part of the year it was all set. 

Not being a massive fun of Christmas I thought having an event in January was a perfect way to distract myself from all the Christmas nonsense with lots of training and then earn myself a nice, massive, shiny birthday PB. 

Great plan right?! What could be a better birthday gift to myself?

Well it didn't go quite to plan, I had a bit of a cough and cold over Christmas which scuppered my training plans then over New Year and into the early part of January it developed into a horrible cough. To make it worse I then suffers the triple whammy of flu, an infection in my tooth requiring root canal work and a slight calf strain. So long story short I wasn't stood on the start line in great shape.

But I'm getting ahead of myself the Half Marathon was the second part of my birthday weekend running adventures.

Part one was a meet up with UK Fitness Bloggers on Saturday morning for a 5K jaunt around East London. 

An expertly taken selfie courtesy of Michael @coachmikeybee

The meet up was organised by UK Fitness Bloggers founder Helen and hosted by the Runners Works, a running shop, runners training base, cafe, treatment facility all rolled into one just a few minutes away from Liverpool Street station. 

It was great to meet up with some fellow bloggers and we headed out on our run led my running coach Mollie who got us nicely warmed up before talking us through the course she had planned out for us.

The group of us of varying abilities jogged off towards Wanstead and I soon paired up with Alin who runs a great fitness blog with his wife and Beagles over at pennyplainfit.co.uk well worth checking out for fitness tips and healthy recipes. 

We chatted and took in the sites of a different part of the city and kind of meandered our way in the general direction of our planned route. OK so we got lost and ran about 6K but hey we had fun and got a few great selfies on the way round!

Most importantly we helped support RODS a charity for orphaned children with Down Syndrome. 

Post run we all made the most of the comfortable surroundings of the Running Works Cafe, Secret Frog and a tasty assortment of hot drinks and cakes. 

I really enjoyed this little adventures on a quiet Saturday morning in the normal bustling city, enjoying seeing some great site and meeting some new people.

So back to part two of my running weekend and the Half Marathon. Originally I thought Victoria Park would be quick and easy to get to as its East London location is not too far from my Essex home, early morning Sunday transport had other ideas! So a 5.30 alarm call for me! Happy Birthday indeed! 

At Mile End I met up with Tony and Chris and we jogged over to the start area. The forecasted heavy rain had so far held off but it wasn't to stay away all morning as a light but persistent drizzle started to fall about 15 minutes before the race start and continued throughout the race.

Race wise I knew it was going to be a struggle as I have only done one nine mile I the last month or two as my only long run so I left Tony and Chris to chase PBs and I set off on my plod round. 

I set off nicely and was well ahead of both a target pace (I hoped for around 4.55min/km) and my expected pace (I thought it would be a struggle to stay under 5.10min/km) after the first 7K. I ticked off the first 10K in 49 minutes and knew it was going to be a struggle for here on in, and it was.

If you know Victoria Park then you know it's not massive and so the Half Marathon route was 6.5 laps. Mental torture for some but for me I find running repetitive laps very freeing as it allows you to focus on your running as you are not thinking about the course ahead or what's around the next corner. 

Towards 8 miles I was starting to struggle and by mile nine I was unusually for me mid race in a dark place. I had a nagging pain in my left abdomen, I was wet and as my pace had dropped I had got so cold, my legs were tired and I didn't really want to run. My mind reflected on the fact I could have been having fun in central London at the Winter Run with all the Polar bears running a gentle 10K but no here I was not in fit enough shape to comfortable run 13 miles feeling cold, wet and miserable, what an idiot! 

After a while my energy gel kicked in and my mood brightened, miles 8 and 9 seemed to take forever but miles 10-13 flew by and I was soon kicking for the finish. It was great to have Tony and Chris support me in the final straight and finishing with my last kilometer being my fastest of the race was a real positive. 

An official final time of a disappointing 1.49.56 was only brightened by massive PBs from my two training partners. A big shout out to the increasingly impressive Bramster for knicking the groups Half Marathon record, it's only on loan! 

Post race frost bite and hypothermia seemed like real possibilities so we used what energy we had left to hot foot it to a nearby Costa for much need hot drinks and some calorific refueling. 

Overall, a part from the rain it was a decent event, well organised with enthusiast, friendly marshals with homemade flapjack and a great bit of bling you can't ask for too much more.

So that was my birthday weekend of running, 29K of running, some great locations, new friends made and great experiences. What better way to spend a birthday than to spend it running?!