Don't Stop Me Now: 26.2 Tales of a Runner's Obsession by Vassos Alexander

Author:Vassos Alexander [Alexander, Vassos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

14

Scissor Sisters, Running Out

‘Outlaw’ Ironman Triathlon, Mile 14

Nearly there now... almost... wait for it... wait for it... here it comes... closer... closer still... just a few more strides now, and... Yes! Done it! Half way!

13.1 miles completed. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Actually, who am I kidding? That was brutal. Beyond brutal. And this is only half way. Which means I’ve got it all to do over again. Another 13.1 miles. And each mile, I suspect, no I don’t suspect, I know, each mile will mature into more and more of a nightmare as I grow more and more knackered.

And reaching the halfway point is meant to be a win.

It all began in a moment of outrageous optimism after a few glasses of wine. A little the worse for wear one evening in early December, I came home from the pub and decided to devise a training schedule for my next marathon. An actual training schedule rather than some haphazard 800m repeats on Mondays and the odd long run. It was borne of an ill-advised determination to compete with my crazy cousin, and also to test my limits a little.

So on the back of a letter from my accountant (Hi Hugo, I do file them away too you know) I concocted a training schedule comprising one gym session and five runs a week: a long run, two fast or interval runs and two easy runs. I never thought I’d stick to it, but basically, miraculously, I did.

Official training run number one: Monday December 12th: a trot round several bends of the River Thames to Richmond Park, followed by as many sprints up the big hill at Pembroke Lodge as I could manage (six, since you ask, though my record is 30). Then back home the quick way. Just over two hours in total.

Fantastic, I thought. What a great run. I should make a note of it, stick it in a training diary so I can see how I get on with my training week by week. And that’s exactly what I did: I simply noted down that first run in a computer file imaginatively entitled My New Training Diary. Then I made a note of the 40-minute easy run the following day, and the 30-minute tempo the day after that, the intervals after a rest day and the gentle hour which rounded off my week. On Sunday evening it was positively refreshing to look back through and see a semblance of structure to my running. So I noted down the following week’s efforts, and did the same the week after that – in fact, every run throughout that drunkenly devised, somewhat arbitrary 12-week plan was noted down. I’d look forward to my Sunday perusal of my weekly athletic achievements. A little pitiful perhaps, but I found there was nothing like seeing your best sweaty efforts written down in black and white to motivate you to do better the following week.

And so began a mild obsession with writing down the details of every run I’ve completed ever since.

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