London Marathon Training Blog by ckemp32

The bags are in the hallway. The last 3-miler run. If none of the 2,307 (and counting) things that I've envisaged going wrong happen, then I should make it to the start line.

Last week I ran a 5 mile out-and-in and at the turn-around point found myself almost unconsciously walking and for a mile I just went totally negative. I hadn't trained enough, my feet would never hold up, air travel aggravates gout, my body-clock will think it's running the race at 1:45am and so on. Eventually I broke into a trot again, but I admit that I've never felt so intimidated by a forthcoming race as at that moment.

Fortunately there have been a few better runs since then and what am I going to do anyway, not run the race? In the end, it's just another long run. You find your pace, get a few miles under your belt and settle down for the duration. And at the end of this one, at least you get a medal!

So we're off to London in 30 minutes and I don't know if I'll get a chance to blog again before the race, so I'd like to say a few words about my brother Anthony. It's not the sole reason for running the LM of course, but I have tried to raise some money for the Meath Foundation in Anthony's memory. He suffered from epilepsy and he died far too young as a result. But he was brave and cheerful in the face of a great deal of adversity and when the going gets tough on Sunday (and it will) I'll be thinking of Anthony and I'll do my best to put on a smile just as he always did.

Let's rock 'n roll!

Five Mile Drive in Point Defiance Park is not quite 5 miles, so 4 times around is closer to 19 than 20 miles. However, although it is a loop, due to an interesting confluence of its geographical position, the earth’s rotation and its orbit around the sun, the road is entirely uphill.

 It is in fact the killer run of the training schedule. Last year, doing the 20 miler on flat Meeker Trail the week afterwards was, despite some of the most interesting weather I've ever run in, quite good fun. So going into my taper a week ahead of the rest of the group isn’t that big a deal in terms of being race-ready. 

When I stopped at the car to massage my feet after the 3rd time around, it took several minutes of loin-girding to get going for a 4th. Brutal. But it was a glorious spring day and it was the last long run. You know you can't quit or how could you even line up for the race itself? These are the runs that really push you and make you realize that, no matter how tough it gets, you always have some more in the tank if you dig deep enough. 

After London it's going to be a time for some hard questions. My foot problems not only cause a lot of pain but they also make me a not-terribly-good runner and as I've been a reasonably okay athlete throughout my life it's hard to be the slow-poke at the back. Co-incidentally, on the way to work there was an item on NPR (National Public Radio) about willpower, which finished on the subject of running marathons. It sort of turned the subject on its head because a lot of it dealt with the problems marathoners have adjusting to not being able to run marathons any more and that gave me some food for thought. Apparently most marathoners begin abandoning the sport at an increasing rate during their 50's and 60's (not sure what that says about my own perversity starting at 55) and find it hard to make the adjustment to stopping. My problem is feet, so I'll try and find solutions for that first. Then, if I can't clear up those issues it will probably be time to look at something like triathlon. Cycling and swimming have never been favourite activities, but I could probably be okay at both and a half-ironman shouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility.

 Meanwhile, let the taper begin! For the non-runners amongst you, the taper is when you steadily decrease your mileage for a few weeks before a race. This achieves a number of results; raised glycogen levels and generally improved body function and strength (counter-intuitive though that sounds), a chance to decrease or lose some of those injuries and niggles and not least, to build a fresh appetite for running. By the end of the taper you should be bursting with energy and jonesing to get running. Yeah, right.

 The really hard work is done now, though it's never a good time to get complacent. On my 2nd lap this weekend I turned both my ankles within a couple of minutes of each other while running over rough ground. I recovered okay both times but my heart was in my mouth; snapped ligaments and there goes the marathon. It doesn't bear thinking about too much, but something like that does do wonders for your concentration.

After arriving back from a slap-up meat and two veg at Shenanigans on the Tacoma riviera (aka Ruston Way) and casting a mellow eye over the preceding entry, it strikes me, not for the first time, that this blog could be taken as awfully whiney.

What it's meant to be is just a straightforward record of the trials and tribulations of a 57 year old man pushing a body that has been put through far too much abuse into condition to run 26 miles. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but the truth is that I get a huge kick out of all this. If it wasn't hard what would be the point? I hope I get to cross that finish line because I think it will be one of the highlights of my life and a few months of agonizing pain mild discomfort won't matter a damn once it's over.

The last big week. Suck it up!

After a somewhat disastrous 2 weeks, the final week of heavy-duty training begins.

A major gout attack killed training for 5 days and, while the group had some fun at a local 10k last Saturday, I was barely able to stand up and walk. As the long runs resumed, I desperately needed a decent 18 miler yesterday and fortunately got one, though the rain and cold left me drained and as exhausted as I've ever been after a run. The drive home was painful as I couldn't stop shaking and my fingers did that weird draining of blood thing where they go paper white. It took an extra long soak and lying in bed to watch a recording of England's 4-0 win over Slovakia, to revive me.

Actually, when the two weeks between the 17 and 18 milers is looked at as a whole and compared to my original training plan, there was very little lost in mileage. It just felt that way and the runs I did do were completed in some pain, but now there's just one more long run to come before I enter the tapering pre-race period. Once that's done I think the race itself will start to become a reality and then I can start to really panic.

I'm  glad I have last years Tacoma marathon under my belt or I might have just felt overwhelmed by the difficulties this year. I've had to evolve ongoing strategies to handle the various foot pains I've experienced. This week saw me running with padded straps to handle my Plantar fasciitis and a gel pad for my Mortons Neuroma and I now stop for a couple of minutes every 3 miles or so and massage the toes of my right foot so that it stays pain free. Perhaps custom orthotics is the way to go, but so close to the race is not the time to start down a new path. It's a case of finding what works and going with it. It's also possible that years of gout have left my right foot weakened enough that I'll never run long distances pain free and I just have to accept that. One things for sure, my goal is simply to endure to the finishing line and forget about time.

So on to next Saturday and Point Defiance park for 4 times round Five Mile Drive. At least it will be a change of scenery, though the rotten weather looks set to continue. Damn but it's been a miserable spring so far. My understanding is that last years race was rather warm and a lot of people had problems coping with it. That would be bad news for me, us red-heads don't do well in the heat. But there'll be time to worry about that after next week.

I told Ben that my next venture after London will be to get my sky-diving license, my daughter Christa and I did tandem jumps last year. He thinks this is a silly idea but did understand my reasoning that, in the worst possible scenario, it only hurts for a second.