21/30

Project Good For Age Week 21 of 30

Goal : Automatic Entry Into the London Marathon

How? : Run a 3:15 Mara @ Manchester Mara in April (Current PB 4:45)

First Step : Run a 45 Minute 10k @ Windmill 10k race on 12th November (achieved) (10k time at start of project : 58 mins) www.fyldecoastrunners.com/uploads/5/2/4/9/52490083/w10k3_overallresults_classic.pdf

Next Stop : Blackpool half mara in Feb – Target 1:37 (Current PB 1:58)

It’s race day next week.

Everything boils down to Race Day.

Everything.

Blackpool is ready.

Deca Dave is ready (he’s very kindly agreed to pace me!)

My supporters are ready….

Just on the supporters….

I ran a poll on social media asking the following question this week….

“Do you think that iron rookie will be able to reduce his half mara time from a current PB of 2 hours down to 1:37 at the blackpool half next weekend having trained exclusively on a treadmill for the last 10 weeks?”…

I couldn’t believe it when nearly a whopping 300 people saw the ‘tweet’ and ‘voted’ with a huge 50% of them saying they think I will do it.

That’s 150 ‘fans’ willing me over the line….

One hundred and fifty.

Even some of the 50% who don’t think it will be possible said things like ‘but i’m still willing you every step of the way’

I’m touched.

I didn’t realise that so many of you actually gave a shit…..

Beleive me when I say – I will hear every single one of your ‘voices’ on race day.

Every single one.

But am I ready???

Here is how training went this week….

Monday 5k on the mill

So I took the piss out of myself last week for having ‘man flu’

Whilst I took the piss, let’s have it right.

This was no ‘hairy fairy man flu’

I was proper ill.

Sky high Temperature, terrible cough, chest infection, knackered all the time.

Proper zonked.

So much so, I took the weekend off.

Even Monday I still wasn’t right.

I still had a high temperature and was still feeling like shit.

But, I went the gym anyway, as you do.

This will be a great opportunity to answer the age old question once and for all – ‘should you train when you are ill?’ I thought to myself.

My god do not do this.

Rest instead.

Don’t get me wrong, the first kilometre @speed 15 I felt like a caged racehorse that had been set free.

But once I got into the second kilometre I began to feel terrible and then progressively worse until the end.

How I held on for 5km is beyond me.

The session looked liked this:

0-1 @ speed 15

1-2 @ Speed 14

2-3 @ Speed 15

3-5 speed 14

Wednesday 5km on the mill

I still wasn’t right and this session turned out even worse.

I started coughing at about 2.5km and it felt like I was breathing through my ’emergency pipe’

It was so bad I almost gave up at 4km.

How I didn’t switch the machine off at 4km I will never know.

I’ve figured out what’s wrong.

My breathing isn’t right.

Its not ‘lucid.’

When I try and take a really deep breath, like really deep, it hurts.

That aint good.

Im worried that pressing ahead with the training like a dick instead of ‘resting up’ has done more harm than good here….

In the end, it went ‘exactly as above.’

I’m not ‘playing the violin’ for ‘sympathy’ here you must understand…

Not at all.

I’m saying it so that if you yourself ever get any sort of chest infection….

FORGET YOUR TRAINING – YOU SHOULD REST THE FUK UP!!

Friday 5k on the mill

Thank god, I’m starting to feel better and finally managed to get back to my old routine today.

make no mostake, I’m still not 100%, but its slowly getting easier.

So much so that I knocks out the ‘old set’

0-1 @ 15

1-2 @ 14

2-3 @15

3-4 @ 14

4-5 @ 15

Got to be honest, buzzing about this.

Just praying that this bug, whatever it is, does one for race day.

Not an excuse.

Fact.

And The fact is, it’s pissing me off

Big time….

Sunday 19k on the mill @ target race pace (speed 13) 88:30

The issue with running on the mill for so long is that boredom can start to creep in…

My plan to overcome this was ‘inspirational podcast’ for the first hour followed by pumping dance music for the last 30 mins, ‘sip of the electrolyte drink’ every 3km (trust me, it’s a real treat) and all fuelled by caffeine laced gels along the way.

In fairness, everything went to plan for the first hour and before I know where I am I’m at 13km.

Unfortunately, this is when technology failed me.

Everything died.

M phone died.

My ‘ipod’ died.

Me strava watch died.

Even the fukin USB lead that I brought to charge the buggers up with ‘died’.

But there is no excuse for this.

All those pieces of equipment should be fully charged and ready to go the night before.

2 years down the line and I still haven’t learnt.

Tut tut.

However, this is how I got through it..

I said to myself……

At 13km you can have a gel.

Then, In 2km you will be at 15km.

Then, In another 2km you will be at 17km.

And, once you get to 17km, there will only be 2 more left to do….

Madness aint it, these little tricks we play on ourselves?

I’ve got to say though, it worked perfectly, I would even go as far as to say that 13-17 were the best kilometres of the lot from a ‘how it felt’ perspective.

At 17.5km I began to hold on a bit but before you know where you are its 18 and its pretty much all over.

Buzzing.

More importantly – no sign of the dreaded lurgy.

Until after…

On ‘cool down’ I was coughing and spluttering as if I smoked 20 a day, but I didn’t care, my work was done.

Just on the lurgy, it has helped get my weight down to a low during this process of 13/4 – One last focus on the diet next week and we are cooking on gas…

Every cloud and all that.

Back to todays session and I cant begin to tell you the psychological boost hitting 19 of the 21 kilometres at target race pace has given me going into race week.

The plan is to continue with the speed sessions next week and we will see what happens Sunday.

Am I ready?…

Yeah, why not…

Oh and by the way

Want to know who Deca Dave is?

He’s a legend.

And he’s very kindly agreed to pace me at Blackpool next week…

“That’s Cheating?” I hear you all cry….

I don’t make the rules kid…

Then again….?

To your amazing journey!

www.iron-rookie.com/decca-dave/

Next update : 18/02/18 : Race Day

Well Rookie?

Like this article? then you will love this book!, it’s all about how I went from zero fitness to completing an Ironman triathlon, it’s only just come out but it has got some fantastic reviews already!- you can check them out here: (also available on Amazon in the US but please read the UK reviews first!)

Read about Deca Dave here…