30 Years of Running Marathons
30 Years of Running Marathons
Shin Splints and Strides: Navigating Challenges on the Road to a 10K Race
Have you ever faced the challenge of running with shin splints or a gout flare-up? That’s exactly what I'm dealing with as I prepare for an exhilarating 10K race at Green Park. Join me as I share my personal story of overcoming these hurdles, reflecting on how a 10K back in 2017 rekindled my passion for running. You’ll hear about the scenic, flat route that’s keeping my spirits high and how I'm determined to savor every moment of the race, despite the setbacks.
Our conversation goes beyond the physical prep; it’s about the mental game too. I break down my race day routine, from stretching and hydration to porridge and peanut butter bagels, and even the joy of mingling in the race village. Learn how I use Strava and Garmin apps to strategically familiarize myself with the course, ensuring I hit those key landmarks with confidence. Whether it’s my special runner’s T-shirt for cooling down or my plan to handle logistics and warm-ups, there’s a lot to prepare for and enjoy.
As we look forward to the race, I discuss pacing strategies and mindset for various distances, from 5Ks to marathons. You’ll get insights into my unique approach to racing, the thrill of earning medals, and the sense of community that keeps us all going. The excitement of participating in races, balancing training and avoiding injuries, is a theme throughout. So, lace up your sneakers and get ready to feel the race-day excitement and anticipation through my 30 years of running experiences.
Thanks for listening. Keep on running.
The race is on. The race is on. So let's get straight into this episode of 30 years of running marathons. And today I'm so excited, I'm like a kid on Christmas morning because tomorrow I've got a race and I love a race. There's nothing more I like than a good race, running with others, that social camaraderie of running together okay, competitive as well, but it's just that sense of that feeling of all being in it together. And it's not the biggest race is tomorrow, it's a 10k, so it's not a marathon or even a half marathon, but it will test me because for the last two weeks I've had my injury problems, so I've had shin splints and more recently I have the onset of gout.
Speaker 1:And for those of you who don't know, gout is a form of arthritis and I get it because my dad had it and basically what happens is you get it in, you can get it in your joints, you get it in your hands, knees it's very common in the big toe and I often get it in my knee or in my foot or my shin I'm sorry, not my shin, more my ankle, but I have had problems with my shin, so I've had shin splints recently as well. But yeah, so I've had this, this gout, certainly in the last week, coming on and I you know I don't get that many attacks a year, two or three maybe a year and it was coming in on my right toe and gout can be really painful. Because basically, cut a long story short, what gout is is basically this purines in food, certainly in certain foods, for example, like red meat, and these purines are normally flushed out by your kidneys and for most people it just gets flushed out quite easily. If it doesn't get flushed out that easily, then what happens is these crystals form, they rub together and it gets very painful. They say it's one of the most painful things you can get. I think that's off the childbirth and gallstones, so it really is a painful thing. I wouldn't wish it on anybody and I childbirth and gallstone, so it really is a painful thing. I wouldn't wish it on anybody and I could sense it coming on this week my right toe.
Speaker 1:Luckily it hasn't led to anything but, as can tell my training. So, for example, in the last couple of weeks, last Monday I managed a nine mile run which I was really pleased with, and then this week I didn't do anything till Thursday. As I said, I had this gout coming in on my right toe and I just struggled to walk. And the thing about gout is it can come on quickly and it can go really quickly and when it starts like that, when you feel it coming on, you're either going to stop it or it's just going to go full blown. If it had gone full blown, it could take me a week to recover, even though I've got medication for it. So I was just praying that it wasn't going to get full blown because even though it stopped me from training and I had, you know, really struggled to walk, I thought to myself if I can do a run on Thursday, then you know I'm not on my full fitness, but you know it's 10K, it's not a half marathon. If it's a half marathon, I might have second thoughts, even though I could probably struggle around, you know, if my cat cleared up, but it's 10K.
Speaker 1:So I normally do park runs every week. If you listen to my previous episodes, I've done park runs which are 5K. I tend to work in miles, so so 5k is about just over three miles, 10k is just over six miles. So I'm thinking to myself well, this is like two sprints, because a 5k. I'm really pushing it. You know I run it really quickly, obviously far quicker than the half marathon or marathon, and tomorrow is going to be a sprint, but it's going to be a sprint and a case of of hanging on, and I've done this race a few times actually.
Speaker 1:I did it back in 2017. It's the, the green park, the redden 10k and a few. A few weeks ago I actually ran the redden half marathon and it's right next to the redden football stadium and, uh, where the uh redden half marathon finished, and it's run in this um place called green park, which is like a business park, so it's all going to be run on closed roads and it's a nice, really flat route, um, and it's in the countryside, this business park, even though it's off main road, it's. It's very scenic, very you know, they've said it so designed it, so it's quite rural, quite environmentally friendly, a really nice place to run on closed roads. And I'll say, back in 2017, I ran it and that was the year after I lost my nan and I lost quite a lot actually in my life and it was a big, big turning point for me and at that time I didn't know whether I was going to carry on running a lot because my nan was my biggest fan and once she was gone, I was more or less left with nothing.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's another story, but yeah, I didn't really want to carry on running, but I ran this 10K. In fact, I joined a Facebook group and ran it with others there and it really sort of reignited my fire to continue on running and that's what I have done. So, yeah, getting back to the story of the 10k in 2017, when I did run it, I got just outside 45 minutes and I was running with a pacemaker who had been in this Facebook group that I joined and I think I got up to about the fourth mile and then I just couldn't keep up with him because he started going up a hill. But I mean, he was great. He came up to me afterwards and he knew it was emotional race for me and he said you know what happened to you. And I said well, you know, once you hit the hills, it's not not big hills, I think we're going over the motorway and I struggled to kill, but I actually did in 46 minutes.
Speaker 1:I was really pleased and you know, I have to be honest with you, there's no way I'm going to do 46 minutes tomorrow. Um, I was looking at more like 54 minutes, which is eight and a half minute pace per mile, but I don't think that's going to happen because, uh, the runs I've been running at the moment. For example, I ran eight miles on Thursday which I was really pleased with because my gout had cleared up Thankfully, touch wood, it had gone. But that was nine minute, 13 pace and, ok, on race day you always will do it a bit faster because you know it's just the whole buzz of being in a race. You know the race environment, being with other runners and you compete against other runners so that competitive spirit comes out with you. I mean there will be some crowds there, but not so much because this is very much a uh, a closed off course and spaced out. But you know, certainly at the finish and start that that there will be spectators. Their friends have had me there, so, um, you know just the whole race environment. You know it's like a one-off uh, you're going there to get your medal and you're going to give it all. So I expect to do a bit faster than that. You know, maybe nine minute uh pace, which would give me around about 55, 55, 56 minutes is what I'm looking for and, as I said, I ran it 2017. To start my nanda, I was really pleased with 46 minutes, but then I had unfinished business because I was so disappointed. I kept up with the pacemaker and got the 45 minutes and, being just outside a minute outside 46 minutes, and I went back and actually uh, ran it with a friend that I made on the Facebook group and I actually did it in 44 minutes. I think it's 44 minutes 40 and that was my PB and it's, you know, it stands at my PB today.
Speaker 1:And that was back in 2019 in fact, 2019, if you listened, I think it's on one of my other previous episodes. You know, 2019 was a real stellar year for me. Um, I did so much running and I thoroughly enjoyed. I did some really fast times. Um, I went out to dublin I think I ran my second fastest ever marathon. So it was a really good year for me. And that followed a really bad year in 2018.
Speaker 1:And that's what happens in running. You know it goes in cycles. You get on this nice bit of form because you're you're pushing your body to the max. There's a fine line between success and failure, then you're always on the edge for getting injuries when you're really pushing yourself. And if you listen to my previous episodes, you know I'm very competitive. I'm very much a perfectionist. I'll never be satisfied and sometimes I just have to rein it in because you know I would just go out for a run and sometimes I won't feel like it and but then I go out for like 10 miles, 15 miles. You know a few hours like that and it always happens and it's it's probably not really the best way to train. You should have a specific training plan and if it says you do two or three miles, do that and do more sprint work, do the short distances because they'll build you up for the longer distances.
Speaker 1:But I tend to go by how my body feels and often when I wake up I just don't feel like running. It can take me an hour to get out the door, but when I get out there, because I enjoy running so much, I just, you know, go on for hours. So every run tends to turn into a long run. And you know I could easily have done 10 miles this thursday, but you know it's saturday today and the race is tomorrow, so I've had two days off because I'm thinking, you know, if I don't, okay, it's only another couple of miles, but do another couple of miles and that's at 10 miles. You know, I've got two days to recover. I'm not being training much, because any, any training I do now it's not going to make a blind bit of difference. You know, I only ran that, just to give me the confidence.
Speaker 1:Really I wanted to say to myself, yes, I can do six miles, and yet again, I'd only plan to maybe run you know 5k, three miles, just to get my legs loose to, to feel that you know I'm okay. And then I thought, no, no, I'll go to six miles, the distance to 10k of the race on Sunday. And then, of course, once I got out there, it was such a lovely day and I hadn't run for a while, I was feeling good, I thought I better make it most of it. And it really took a lot of self-control to bring myself back to the eight miles and not do the 10 miles. And boy was I fighting with myself and I had to say to myself no, this is for the best, because even the eight miles might be too much. You know I might not recover by sunday.
Speaker 1:But it's giving me the confidence because it's over the distance. You know it's at least six miles what the race distance is, but a couple of miles over that. So I'm going into the race. You know a little, a little bit confident. And the day before race I always get a lot of nerves. You know, after all these years I still get very nervous and even though I say only 10K, you know it's still.
Speaker 1:You know, I always say treat every race with a lot of respect, and I do, especially as I haven't done the training. So I don't take any race for granted. And if you listen to my previous episode, um, you'll know. You'll know, when I first started out running all those many moons ago, I was young and naive and I thought, yeah, I can run a marathon, then come down to half marathon, that's easy, it's half the distance. But no, it doesn't quite work like that. It's not quite as linear as that, it's's certainly not as binary as that, as all this and that and that. There's so much in between You've got to take into account.
Speaker 1:So tomorrow, and especially as I haven't done much training, I'm giving it my full respect and there's a lot you can do when you're preparing for a race, especially the day before. So, as I say, I've had a long day working, but this afternoon I've been stretching, keeping hydrated, drinking sports drink, doing some yoga and just mentally thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow. Also, what I've done is I've washed my kit I've even washed my bedding so I can get a good night's sleep pinning my number on my shirt, getting my rucksack ready, which I'm taking with me, all the things I need to take with me a sports drink, a banana. I write out a checklist as well, so what I need to take and also, essentially, what time I'm going to leave in the morning, what time I'm going to go to bed tonight, what time I'm going to get up in the, what time I'm going to go to bed tonight, what time I'm going to get up in the morning I normally like at least a good two hours before I have to leave the house to wake up.
Speaker 1:What breakfast I'm going to have tomorrow. So your breakfast, breakfast in the morning before your race you should already have done this many times before, before you run. I mean, my breakfast is normally always the same, so it's normally a porridge, pot, peanut butter, bagel and then a banana, um, and I always have a black coffee when I first wake up as well, and plenty of water and I have something like a, an energy sort of uh a drink, multitamin drink, something like a Barocca as well. I have in the morning as well, before I set off. So tomorrow I'm actually catching the train because it's such an easy place to get to by train. It also means I can have a drink after the race to celebrate. So, and hopefully there'll be a lot to celebrate after the race to celebrate. So, and hopefully there'll be a lot to celebrate. So, yeah, I'm going to leave the house about 7.25 to 7.30 tomorrow.
Speaker 1:I walk to the station, train leaves 7.45, gets in at 8.08 and I've got about half an hour until the second train leaves for Green Park. So I'll probably get a cup of coffee there and just relax, and then I get on the train. It's literally seven minutes to Green Park. So I'll probably get a a cup of coffee there and just relax, and then I get on the train it's literally seven minutes to Green Park and I get seen at 8 44 and then racing start till 10 30, but I always like to get there a bit early because, okay, it's not the biggest races, but it's still going to be like a few, few hundred people there and things like toilets. You know they get busy. I've got to put my stuff in the bag drop, so there'll be a bag drop there. They'll give you a label and I can change, put all my clothes in the bag, anything else I want to put in my rucksack and leave it and then collect it in. So you've got to allow for things like that and also if there's obviously any cancellations and trains and delays or anything. So I always like to get there a little bit early and I just love to soak up the atmosphere, to be honest with you, because there will always be, you know, people there early as well and it's just great to soak up the atmosphere. You know they'll have a a really sort of small race village there, um, where there might be a little stall selling stuff and there'll be refreshments and even might be a little bar there, I think. I think I remember last time I had a little cheeky little cider after the race with my friend, so so, yeah, I'll have a look around there, I'll have a look at the start and finish line and just soak up the whole atmosphere, do a bit of stretching, maybe a light jog just to warm up for it, and then I'll get changed in plenty of time for the top.
Speaker 1:Now, tomorrow, surprisingly for here in the UK I think it's going to be a nice hot day. It hasn't been particularly warm today, but I think it's going to be quite warm tomorrow. Heck, I might even need some sun green, but who knows. But I think it's going to be a nice warm day tomorrow, which I don't mind. I'd rather it was warmer than you know too cold or raining, certainly. I don't like the rain in the wind. So if it's hot, that's fine, I can deal with it.
Speaker 1:I've got a special runner's T-shirt that I wore for the last few races. I call it my lucky shirt and it's designed so when you do sweat, it diverts all the sweat from your body, so it actually cools you down. I was used to running a vest because, you know, logically, I think that's cooler because it hasn't got any sleeves. But this shirt is so good because it and it literally does work. It just diverts all the sweat away from it and actually helps in cooling you down. So I don't mind it being a hot day tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Um, it's something I'm not used to because, being in the uk, we tend to get the odd hot day for summer and then it it changes to a more colder condition. So it's very hard to get used to. But I've run in all conditions over the years. You know snow, freezing, cold, um, really hot temperatures. So and also and you know it's, it's 10k, it's, it's not a marathon. If it's a marathon you would worry more over 26 miles. You know being out there for four hours. But you know I'm planning, you know one good hour, one good push in an hour. You know real hard work in an hour, really stretch it out and then relax for the rest of the day. And it'd be nice to finish, you know, to have a cheeky little drink out in the sun. It really will be nice. So, um, yeah, it's going to be a a nice day tomorrow.
Speaker 1:So another thing I do as well uh, before the race, I I tend to look at the course route and I have to admit I'm not always on the ball on this. Sometimes I do forget to look, or sometimes literally in in the heat of the moment. It tends to all go out of my mind where we are and this is like specific landmarks, but I've got it on my strava app. So I've got a strava app on my phone strava and garmin app and I've actually looked back to 2019 when I last ran it and it's got a map of the route I ran. So it's got a map of the course and on that course it's plotted um each mile. So I've got it plotted in each mile and it's got my pace on there as well and it also shows you where I I was faster, where I was slower, around the course.
Speaker 1:And I'm looking at that and I'm trying to like memorize different, different bits. So, for example, I know in the last mile there's two mini roundabouts. Bear in mind, this is a course that's closed off, so the road's closed off, but there are two little mini roundabouts. So, for example, something like that I remember and I do remember from running it before, but I couldn't remember off the top of my head where it was one or two mini roundabouts. And that makes all the difference in the last mile, because hopefully, in the last mile I'm I'm really going to be pushing it because it is, you know, it is a 10k, so hopefully I'll have the energy to really push it. For that I always say the final mile is the longest, but this final mile on the 10k, I really want to be pushing it now if I thought there was only one mini roundabout. I see the mini roundabout and then I start sprinting too soon. You know that's a major faux pas. So it's good to know things like that. So that's a good thing to know.
Speaker 1:In the final mile, I'm also looking at the corners of the map. So, for example, I'm looking on the route and I'm looking to see where each mile roughly is. As I say, I've told you, I've working. I'm working miles, so I can look, I can look on the map and, for example, I can see we. We come out, we go from the start. We come around the corner and what you do is you actually come out to the first mile and then you actually turn back on yourself and then you turn around to left and you come out and there's a lot of uh lakes by looks of it on this course laguna park and then you come around three.
Speaker 1:Now I do remember looking at this map I'm looking at it now where I actually struggled to get by on my pacemaker in 2017. I said it was the fourth mile market. It was crossing the motorway. So, for example, between three and four, probably about three and a half miles is where we cross the motorway. So I'll try and lodge that in my memory to think well, okay, as we turn the corner and this is the furthest point of the course actually. So looking at this, I've got it on my phone now that's the first point of the course three and a half miles and I can look at that and of course, also get the elevation here on my phone. But I can see that three and a half miles we cross the motorway. That's going to be the hilly bit. Then we get around to four. I'm going to see if there's any other landmarks. It's just like greenery sort of twists and turned, come into pinchwood.
Speaker 1:So we're coming around the lake at five curtains farm road I can remember something like that mile five, um, and then we're turning to the right and it in fact curtains farm road is goes all the way down until you turn back on to where you came out from, round to um lap one mile one, uh, which is the fact. I think that's longmead avenue, um, and I can zoom in on here. And yeah, sorry, not longmead longwater avenue, yeah, so curtains road, we turn back on longwater avenue, which is where we started, which is where the first uh mile uh route is. So you turn back on yourself and this is where I was talking about the mini roundabout. So we've got one mini roundabout and then we've got another mini roundabout, just so we've got one mini roundabout and then we've got another mini roundabout, just as you pass the last mini roundabout six miles and then Tenkai, I think, is roughly 6.2 miles, so 0.2, just under a quarter, and then you come all the way back to the finish. So I look at this and I try to remember things like that, whether I will or not in the heat of the moment, but I will try.
Speaker 1:Another thing I'll look at is obviously my timings. So, as I said to you, it's probably nine minute pace. You're looking about maybe 56 minutes. Between 8, 30 and 9. You might get 54 minute. I mean, there are ways. You know pace calculators. You can look online, which is which is what I do to try and work out the pace.
Speaker 1:I look at my previous times as well, and I say my previous times. A few weeks ago some of the short distances were 8.30, but I've not done that for the last maybe two, three weeks. I'm looking at more nine minute mile pace, which might be 56 minutes. I mean I certainly want to get under the hour. I'd be very disappointed if I didn't get under the hour, be very disappointed I didn't get under the hour. Um, but I am, yeah, it's, I'm. I'm looking at, yeah, if I, if I did 56 minutes, that that would be okay. I mean, 54 minutes would be good. Uh, that might be really pushing it. But yeah, 55 to 6 minutes, that's that's not nine minute pace. So literally how I this is how my mindset works. So I'm looking at it tomorrow.
Speaker 1:I mean, normally, when I go into a race like half marathon or a marathon, I don't think of it as a half marathon or a marathon. I tend to break it down, maybe not so much in a half marathon, but certainly the marathon. If I had to think, oh, I've got to run 26 miles, I'd never complete it. So then I tend to break it down into a half marathon, which I know this sounds a bit bit funny, but you know, to me a half marathon that sounds doable and it certainly does. I think you'd agree it certainly does compared to a marathon. So, and because I've done so many half marathons, then it seems a lot easier than saying 26 miles. You know, you're comparing one and a half hours to two hours compared to the four. So that's all right. So my mindset for this tomorrow is going to be OK, it's 10k, so that's, let's say, literally two park runs. Ok, so maybe I'm going to yeah, to be honest, I'll be thinking of it as a park run. I don't know, maybe not quite as fast as a park run, because a park run I've been running 8.30 and whether I'll be able to hang on for 8.30 or I'm not sure. See, my last park run was one, two, I think three weeks ago, because I was injured. You see, that was 8.25 pace, that was 26 minutes and that would certainly get me the 54 minutes. So you know, I could aim for that and then hang on.
Speaker 1:I mean, people talk a negative split, where you do the first bit and then you leave enough energy for the next half. I mean, yeah, that's more appropriate in the marathon, half marathon, but even in the marathon and half marathon I tend to ignore that advice because I know I'm going to slow down anyway. I don't think I've ever done a negative split. Or I think I did a negative split once I think that was in the main net half good few years ago and a friend of mine, um, I ran past her and she said, oh, you must be doing negative split because I suddenly passed her on the second lap and I'm like, back then I didn't even know what negative split was.
Speaker 1:But it's very rare to do a negative split, normally because I know I'm going to slow down anyway, especially in half marathon, marathon, I try to push it faster, obviously not too fast in the first mile, because that's a killer that will really lose it for you in the second half. But I certainly try to give it a good push in the first half because you're going to slow down no matter what. So you might as well try and bank as much as you can. So, yeah, that's so tomorrow I could do maybe think of it as a 5K. So that's just over three miles. Do it for three miles so I could really go for 825 mile pace. And then what I'll do is I'll split the next half. So that's three miles, or 3.2 by split into three miles. So after you really pushed it for the three miles, then I would probably look at going to the fifth mile. So then I'll try and get up to the fifth mile and then the fifth mile.
Speaker 1:You're hoping you know the last mile. There's going to be more crowds around there. The finish there, I know I've got the two mini roundabouts. It's a straight road. I've run it on the start coming up. Hopefully I'm going to better really push it in that final mile.
Speaker 1:I've always said the last mile is the longest and it tends to drag out the longest. But in something like a 10k like this and I know this this final mile here is something that I can really, you know, push for and I and and hopefully obviously, even though I haven't had the training recently, the last few weeks, hopefully you know the muscle memory and maybe the rest has helped. Um, I'll have had it in the bank from from previous weeks that I've got that stamina to really push it because it's just the 10k in that final mile. So, yeah, I'm gonna tomorrow. I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm really going to try and push it, maybe not quite as fast as my park run, but I mean, what the heck? You know, you only live once. I think I'll really push it out on that first three miles and then see what happens in the last three miles If I collapse.
Speaker 1:I collapse, I mean, you know, hopefully, hopefully, you know, as long as I finish, I guess that's the main thing. Get under an hour, that's good. 55 minutes, brilliant. I mean. If I get 54 minutes, yeah, I'll be ecstatic. But you know, as I say to you all the time, you know it's all about getting that medal, getting that bling.
Speaker 1:You know, a race is a race, no matter what you do. It's a 5k. Get my teeth in where it's a 5k or 10k, whatever it is, a race is a race and I get as much satisfaction out of running a 10k as I do a marathon. Well, I say that. I mean I, I have to say marathon is probably my favorite race. But you know, I just love running races because you know, most of the time running on my own and you know it's not too bad this time of year.
Speaker 1:But when you're training through winter, especially in the UK, and it'd be cold and blustering, you don't really want to run, and you know, and you have to push yourself to get out there. Now it's the races that keep you motivated. You get your races lined up for the year and, okay, sometimes it doesn't always go as planned because you get injuries, you can't do all the races that you want to. So any race that I can do, any race I've got a slight chance, even if I have been injured, and even if I've got the finish. If I've got a slight chance of just to just to um finish it, I will, because I want to get the bling and I want to have that race memory and something to look back on.
Speaker 1:And I'm very mindful of the moment because for that hour I'm thinking of nothing else and the harder I push myself, the harder I don't think of anything else. There are no distractions. I'm just totally thinking of the race. I'm distracted by a mobile phone, messages or anything. I'm just in my own little world, or should I say the the runner's world, because we're all in this together and there'll be plenty of people faster than me tomorrow. There'll be plenty of people slower than me tomorrow, but you know we're all in this together. We're all in this to run it at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:Most people don't even care what time you do. You know it's it in this together. We're all in this to run it. At the end of the day, most people don't even care what time you do. You know it's. It's another race, and that's how I look at it as. And I'm just so excited tomorrow because, even though I'm nervous, I'm excited because it's going to be a race and I know it'll all be over in a flash. So I want to make sure I go out there and give it 110 percent and but it's good to do this preparation as well, because I think it's good. I mean, I, you know so. I've been so since I've gone from work, I've been stretching, I've been doing yoga, meditating. You know I prepare myself for tomorrow. I'm gonna get there. You know my race checklist, my timings and everything and that, and okay, I might not remember every detail of the race in the heat of the moment and that, but these little things all add up and you can prepare yourself as much as you can.
Speaker 1:Obviously, on race day, I don't know exactly how my body's going to react. I mean, for example, at work today, I have aches and pains on my legs. The gout touch would have seemed to have stayed away. But you know, my left knee and the top just above my knee seems to be hurting. I'm not sure whether it's gout, because sometimes I get gout there, or whether it's probably what we would call as paranoia, which is not a marathon tomorrow, but paranoia is the term when, certainly in race week, when you're tapering, you get all these niggles and that that you think are there.
Speaker 1:Um, and that's because you're not doing the training and you know you, and you think you're losing your fitness. You're getting frustrated and you know, just as I'm talking to you now, I can feel aches and pains in my my right shin and my left leg and, and this happens every single time before a race, and even when I get to start line, I'm never sure how my body's going to react. It's only when I've you know that hooter goes and I start, and even then I'm not sure. I wait to the first mile always takes me a long time to warm up. I'll probably be warmed up by the time the race finishes at six miles, but that's when I really get into my zone. But it is just this. I say just a six miles. Six miles is is it's long for anybody, even for me, and you know, I say in jest, but I'm still going to treat you with respect tomorrow, but I also have to understand that I should be able to do this quickly.
Speaker 1:You know I I have been. I have done longer races. I did Red and Half a few weeks ago and I have been running longer distances. Just the last few weeks has been curtailed a bit, but I've got the muscle memory to know that I can do this. But yeah, all these little things add up and I mean hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight. It's very difficult sometimes and, to be honest, it's more important that you get a good night sleep. You know, the days before, because more often than not you won't sleep the night before a race. I'm hoping I do, because I didn't sleep much last night and I was up really early for work, so I'm feeling a little bit tired. So I'm planning on, you know, getting a good night's sleep tonight. So you know all electronics. You know iPads, laptops, phones off early enough so I can clear my head, do a bit of reading yeah, maybe think about what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:I do a lot of visualization, so I visualize them. At two races that I've done there, in 2017, when I got just over 45 minutes, and 2019 when I got my pb of 44 minutes. I can still remember those races. So I visualize that and how I felt and how I'm going to feel tomorrow. And I visualize how I'm going to get there tomorrow, that all going smoothly, I'm going to run the race all smoothly, I'm going to celebrate afterwards. So I do all that. But I don't want to get there tomorrow. That all going smoothly, how I'm going to run the race all smoothly, how I'm going to celebrate afterwards. So I do all that.
Speaker 1:But I don't want to get you know at the same time. You know I get to do this. I mustn't get too wound up by it all. I do this for fun and it shouldn't become a chore. So there gets to a point where you get to overkill. So you know I'm not going to get to that point where I overanalyze too much because I'm not in the position to win the race. I'm just in the position to hopefully run the race injury free and do the best that I can compared to to what I know I can do.
Speaker 1:And it's not about being anybody else, it's about beating myself. And if I can go out there and give 110%, no matter what time, I can ask for no more. So if I can get a good night's sleep tonight, that'll be nice because I'll still be up fairly early tomorrow and, as I say, it takes me a good two hours to really get, you know, moving in the morning, to feel awake and feel alive, and I don't want to be in a rush in the morning. So I'd rather get up that little bit early and have my breakfast in plenty of time and and you know my breakfast will be, you know I'll probably have it about seven. So that's a good three and a half hours before um, which for some people is is, you know it's too long before the race.
Speaker 1:But for me, I mean I've often done early morning runs. I've never eaten beforehand, I've never eaten before park run. I'm not here till I come back almost lunchtime. So for me it depends if you're used to, uh, to running after you're eating, maybe after an hour, then that's fine. But for me I know I can't. I mean I might take a banana with me and I'll probably eat that maybe an hour before, but that'll be just a banana if I feel peckish.
Speaker 1:But you know, at the end of the day this is a 10k, it's not a marathon, so I don't need to do extensive carbo loading. I mean this evening, probably in an hour or so's time after this, I will, um, I'll be making a nice homemade chickpea, uh, pasta, uh, so technically not carbo loading. I mean carbo loading is when you know the last few days you really stock up with carbs, cut down your proteins and have high carbohydrate meals seems like pasta. For the last three days. You know, I haven't really done that. I'm not overstocking and you don't really need to have a big. You know you don't have a too big a meal the night before because you don't want to feel bloated on the start line.
Speaker 1:You know, try and do what you always do. Don't try anything different with your meals. Do what you always have done the night before, and my go-to has always been a courgette pasta. So I do really nice homemade courgette pasta. Or, for example, today mine is going to be a chickpea pasta, really simple, homemade, easy chickpea pasta. In fact it's going to be like spaghetti. Sometimes I do it with with tagliatelle, another form of pasta, but today it's going to be a spaghetti. Um, you know, spaghetti, tagliatelle, similar types of pasta, but any pasta. I mean. You can do rice as well.
Speaker 1:Rice is very good carbohydrates, but a lot of runners tend to stick to pasta, and I've got chickpeas in there which are full of protein. You don't need a lot of protein, it's more. Say more about carbs now, and then, once the race is finished, then you stock up on the proteins, like the meats and anything like that, to to replace any, you know, muscle damage you've incurred from, from, yeah, things like obviously I'll have a banana after my meal tonight. That's full of carbohydrates and also, apparently, that's good for my gout as well, because it's full of potassium, which stops the gout, so it lowers the uric acid, so that's good for me as well. And bananas are very, very good for your stress as well. Not that I'm really stressed, to be honest. To be honest, I'm, to be honest, I'm more excited than stressed because, even though the training's not been there last couple of weeks, I still think I can have a good run. I think the rest will do me good. I'm I'm so wound up at the moment, so that's why I'm hoping I can sleep. I'll probably have a mug of horlicks tonight, just just to sell myself, but, um, I'm so looking forward to it because I've had good memories of running there the last couple of times. And then obviously we had COVID, where the race wasn't being put on. So when we think back to COVID times, you know races weren't being put on and we had to run virtual races and that that's why it's important.
Speaker 1:If you've got any slim chance of being able to do these events, don't worry about the time. Life's too short. These races come around once a year. Do any race that you can. Life's too short. These races come around once a year. Do any race that you can. I'm not saying be foolish. You know, don't run a marathon if you haven't done any training. But you know, if you feel you've got a certain amount of training in you, you can do these races at no matter what speed. And you know, obviously for me I've got the experience, I know sort of what I can and can't do and what amount of training. Then if you feel you can do it, then do it. You know, as I say, I'm hoping for this time of 55 minutes. Tomorrow it might be 54. You know, I definitely want to get under an hour, but even if I got over an hour it wouldn't be the end of the world, it'd be another race.
Speaker 1:The main important thing is I don't get injured because of other races coming up, in fact next saturday, so I'm recording this on saturday day before very unusual, but I mentioned it in my previous episodes. I've got a race that I haven't run before called the clifton 10k. So there's another 10k and that's usually run in the evening at quarter past seven in the evening, and it's going to be, uh, very different for me um, lucky I'm not working that day but very different to run an evening race because I'm very much a morning person. I mean, I have done evening uh races before. A few years ago I did a race series called dinton pastures 10k where there were several 10ks over thursday nights about the same time. So I have done it before and I've done 24-hour races, but it's not really my forte. By then I'm really tired. But, as I say, luckily I'm not working that day and this forms part of the series. So I did the Banksfield 5K trail run a few weeks ago and then, after this Clifton 10K, you've got the Burnham Beaches Half Marathon, then all three medals stick together, which the burning beaches half marathon, then all three medals stick together, which is going to be really nice to, you know, to display, to show off. Um, apparently the organized say you've got up to two years to collect all three parts. But heck, I'm not waiting for three years, life's too short, let's just get over, done with this year. So, um, that will be just under uh, a week, um, from this race on sunday. So that'll be interesting. So I'll probably do a few, hopefully do a few more runs, but obviously, you know if you've got another race coming up, you know I won't be running on Monday, see what it's like on Tuesday, and then not run, obviously too close, not run on the Friday. I think I'm working Friday anyway and you know, just relax, um, you know I'll have most of saturday off and then and then and do that. So you know it's starting a few weeks coming up and then I think, in in july we're already in june in in july.
Speaker 1:I've got another 10k race, beat the boat, so very much 10ks at the moment, but you know they're well. I say they're fun races. They're probably my least favorite of races, but I know they're good for me. I know they're well. I say they're fun races. They're probably my least favorite of races, but I know they're good for me. I know they're good for my speed because I build up my speed for the half marathon distance and the marathon distance, which you know, I've got plenty of half marathons and marathons coming up later on in the year, um, just certainly during the summer, and then a big marathon in the year. So so, yeah, all these 10ks are good at building speed up and as I tend not to do much speed work, which I know, that's something I need to really hanker down on and do more speed work.
Speaker 1:I mean I do hill work. As you listen to my previous episodes, you know I've done a lot of hill work, running up jerry's cross hill several times and that helps your speed. But I haven't done an interval training for ages and I guess because I, you know, on and off with injuries, when I do get back to running, I tend just to see how far I can go and I just enjoy that, you know seeing if I can do the distance, because stamina and endurance is important, obviously for things like half marathon and marathon, and you know the things like the speed work like the icing on the cake, but you do need both. You know to know to run that. You know the perfect marathon or half marathon, you know if you want to improve your times, as we need to do. But, as I say, because I've been injured, I come back. I try to build the stamina up, first of all because you do have to have that, that stamina. Before you can embark on, you know, sprint work, you've got to have a good base of stamina, a good base of endurance, because if you don't, then you're going to injure yourself while you're doing the speed work. So it's important to have that good base.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I digress here, so yeah. So what's the time in now? So six o'clock in the evening here, so I better go and have some dinner, make my homemade chickpea pasta and then, as I say, I shall probably watch a bit of telly while I'm having my dinner and then afterwards, you know, think about the rest of tomorrow, do a bit of visualization and that, as I say, get an early night, do a bit of reading and hopefully wake up tomorrow fully energized and really excited for what's coming up. As I say, I hope you can tell that I'm really excited at the moment, um, and I, I just can't wait to get out there and I know it's going to be a lovely day. I hope I can do myself justice. I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:I say it's, it's, it's. It's a 10 K, so not my favorite distance, but it is one of my favorite races in a sense. It's a beautiful location We'll be running in, it's a great atmosphere, a lot of runners that I met who were running red and half they'll be there doing this 10 K as well. So a great atmosphere and yeah, I just, I just love race days. It's just, it's just, I just, it's just. It's just such a beautiful feeling to be running. It's not just the pleasure of running, it's the pain and the pleasure of really pushing yourself. I say you just forget everything for that hour as you're running and it's just, it's just one of the best feelings in the world.
Speaker 1:And I just, I just can't wait for tomorrow and I've just got to contend my excitement for tomorrow and, just, you know, wind it down a bit because I've got to be able to sleep tonight. So I've done all my preparation. So I thought I'd come on here and do the podcast and just give you a bit of an insight into how I prepare for a race and just I probably just really get it out of my system. To be honest, you can see I'm sort of waffling now because I'm so excited and, yeah, it's just great for me to be able to do this podcast, this episode, and just tell you how I prepare for a race and how excited I am for this race tomorrow, and I hope it gives you good insight into how to prepare for a race as well.
Speaker 1:Every runner will do it differently, but this is just how I prepare. And all these little things add up and yeah, now I'm just waffling add up and yeah, now I'm just waffling, so I think I will uh sign off, go and uh make my chickpea pasta and get a good night's sleep. So, on my next episode, I will let you know how the race went. So, fingers crossed for me it should be a good race tomorrow, and I'll let you know on the next episode of 30 years of running marathons. See you later, thank you.
