Nepal Training Update #2

Countdown to Nepal – 7 weeks

Next race – Kielder Run-Bike-Run 16 days, Kielder Marathon - 17 days

I have done training!

Thanks for reading, see you next time!

OK, a little more than that… 
In my last update, written from the only seat I could find in Dusseldorf airport next to a working power socket, I talked about how I had carefully crafted a plan then promptly ignored it as I allowed life to overtake me; spending more time in airports and hotels than at home. Well, since then I think it’s fair to say the situation has drastically improved.

I am hesitant to say I was playing catch up with my training plan. “Catch-up” echoes of turning up at the bar an hour and a half after everyone else and immediately drinking two pints, a bottle of Apple VK and a shot of jägermeister before being able to enjoy the first normal drink of the night; all so that you can say you have caught up. Playing catch-up with a training plan and your drinking buddies have a lot of similarities. It feels like a great idea at the time, to begin with it works and all the world is full of laughter and wonder. Then suddenly it unravels; the dark cloud descends, the wonder has become pain and exhaustion. All accompanied by a not insignificant amount of vomit.

I took a good look at my plan and worked out how to close the gap with the best chance of avoiding the running equivalent of being in the kebab shop at 10pm trying to explain to anyone who will listen, what went wrong. My first free weekend to fit in a long run was prescribed to be an 18 miler. This was clearly too much, my last long run was a 12 miler in February. July had seen the Chevy chase (19 miles of Northumberland’s highest hills) and the Thunder run (5 laps of a 10km cross country loop in 24 hours) so I had been doing distance but not in a training situation and certainly not running continuously.

Luck was with me for that weekend. Anna McNuff was passing through Newcastle on her epic Barefoot Britain challenge and I joined her for what turned out to be 16 miles. The pace was conversational and I felt great the whole way. A nice confidence booster that I had the millage in my legs. Because the pace had been slower than my usual long run pace and I was still conscious of stepping up too fast, a week later I set out to consolidate with another 16 mile run at my usual long run effort, heart rate zone 2.

Another week on and my responsible head was firmly in place. I had been getting to the two club sessions each week with good consistency and seeing my speed creep back. All good training plans include cycles with weeks of lower millage. This allows the body to recover, reset the “norm” and gives you a platform to build further on. So, between my stints volunteering at the world transplant games I squeezed in a hilly 10 mile run, once again staying in zone 2 for heart rate, even if that meant power walking up a couple of hills. At this point I was still lagging behind my training plan for long run distance. The key in this situation is not to panic. I knew I was building up as quick as I was prepared to and, more importantly, I knew I would get there by the time it counted.

After my down week, it was time to hit that 18 miler. On a hot Sunday morning I laced up and set off for the recently re-opened Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel, conveniently located almost exactly 9 miles along the river tyne from my house. Sometimes these running loops write themselves, and better yet, come with national cycle path signs to follow! With that under my belt I could feel my confidence starting to climb. Which was lucky because it was about to be challenged.

Training showing signs of paying off with a new best time at the Signals Relays in Hetton-leHole...even if the picture is a clear example of my poor running form, something to work on over the winter perhaps 😒

At some point around this time I remembered that in Nepal I need to carry a hydration pack so probably need to train with one. I once found out the hard way what difference a few kilos of weight in a bag can make if you aren't used to it. So when I set out on my next long run I did so with a backpack. I wasn’t even halfway through the planned 20 miles when I realised that I had never run that far continuously. In my previous marathon attempt my longest training run was 18 miles and on race day, thanks to a few stomach issues, I was walk-jogging from 14 miles. There must be something about that distance because I was somewhere between 14 and 15 miles into the long run when my bowels woke up.

I was getting close to home and decided to call it short. I couldn't carry on and expect it not to cost me a piece of clothing. 16 miles with the weight of the bag was equivalent to last weeks 18 right? So I'm not going backwards...am I? After crashing through the front door and ejecting my bag somewhere in the hallway I had a few moments to sit on the porcelain and think. My watch said I had covered 16.5 miles. I could stop here, call it “rain stops play” and try to work out what went wrong for G.I. Joe and fix it for next time.

Or I could fix it now.

I have known for a while, my weak point is my head. It is all too easy to train the body but ignore your mind and that’s what I have been doing for much too long. When it gets tough in training that's when you need to push to build mental toughness. Unfortunately, my skill lies with being able to find that perfect reason why I eased up after mile 7, or why “this race was just a training run really”. Now was the time to take the chance to work on that. I, like all dedicated runners, have a 5km loop from my front door. That would get me almost to the target 20, but more importantly, it was full of bail out points. So many opportunities to turn back early or take shortcuts. If my stomach gets no better, then I can take one for the sake of my washing machine, if the problem is my head then every missed turn is a tiny mental win.

I ditched the bag, pulled up my big boy pants and got back out the door. My legs were tired, everything ached, but stepping back outside was almost like turning a light on in my head. I think I knew in the first few steps that I wasn't taking a single shortcut. I would offer myself each option as it came, then smile as it passed me by.

3.5 miles later I had managed exactly that. 

I have never before felt so good about completing a training session. I really think this will prove to be the most important run of my training block. Not because I hit the next big milestone, but how I got there. I might have been two weeks behind my training plan, but at this point, I am in the best position I can be, and I haven’t got there by luck.

I recently saw this quote that pretty well summed up the head space I am trying to find, only I haven’t been through anything like the hardship Sarah has:

“Am I 100 percent? No. But I’m the best that I can be right now, with what I’ve been through, with more fire and fight than ever.”— Sarah Thomas, a 37-year-old breast cancer survivor who has become the first person to swim across the English channel four times.

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