One of the great things about this site is the variety of the blogging styles.  There are some who purely update on what is going on with their running and how they see themselves progressing – almost an extension of their training dairies.  Then there are others like Simon’s who thinks a bit outside of the box – his last two are perfect examples with a picture guide to one of his routes and a look back to a 10k in 2004 which he ran.

As the newest athlete to the site, I’m still finding my feet.  My training logs and race reports are quite detailed and so if my blogs focussed entirely on my current running it really would be overkill!  I’ve said it before but I’m not the fastest on the site but in terms of years in the sport I’m possibly the most experienced and have many tales of experience to tell some of which I have learnt a lot from, and maybe sharing them on here will stop some readers making the same mistakes?

I often think when I’m out running about content for my blogs.  And if a subject comes to mind and I get flashes of inspiration, I will either write it down or type it up when I get back!  A bit like a songwriter I guess, the only difference is that I am not musically gifted (anyone who has heard me on the karaoke will testify to that!)

On Saturday in the race hotel in Bristol, I was talking to Hallamshire’s Dave Archer who I was rooming with.  And as our conversation developed, I was having several flashes of inspiration.  There was a continuation to the theme of last weeks blog, the subject of running on the morning of a race, and races which look after British athletes really well.  All of these are topical and relevant to this week.  I’ve managed to cover race support in my Bristol race report.  But the other topics are all worthy of a blog this week, and so this week you get two for the price of one.  Bargain!


Keeping the pressure off

Last weeks blog seemed to be a popular one judging by the feedback I have had from readers.  It’s reassuring to get any form of feedback as it means people are actually reading them!  So I thought I’d continue with the same theme this week.

Possibly the biggest story of 2010 and certainly for me the most inspirational is that of Chris Thompson.  Chris as I’m sure you are all aware was a hugely talented junior, battling with Mo Farah through the junior age groups.  But as Mo has progressed through the ranks, Thommo’s career has stuttered, with some one off promising performances but no consistency of performance or progression.  He hit a real low point back in December of last year when his selection for the European Cross Country Championships was criticised by many on the Eightlane website and he subsequently trailed in towards the rear of the field.  In 2010, Thommo has finally discovered some consistency in his training which has brought about a continuous progression in performance throughout the year, the highlights being a 13:11 5000m, a 27:29 10000m and of course that silver medal behind Farah in the European Championships over 10000m.

I have probably taken a keener interest than most in following Thommo’s progression this year, and there’s a good reason for that.  Back in March, I received a facebook inbox from Chris enquiring about the Trafford 10k which I was organising.  Chris was in the UK, saw the race and thought he might as well do it as he was over here for that one weekend only.  The message came through on the Thursday night, and I replied saying we’d be delighted to welcome him to the race should he wish to run.  Come Saturday evening, I had heard no more from Chris and assumed his interest was not serious and he wasn’t coming.  At around 8pm, my phone rings and it’s Chris on the other end. 

CT: “Dave, it’s Chris Thompson, how you doing?  I’m still interested in running the race tomorrow if that’s ok, have you still got a number for me”
DN: “Yeah sure, it will be great to have you on the race.  Where are you staying?”
CT: “Well, that’s the thing.  I need to find a place to stay and was wondering if I was still ok to crash at yours, you said it would be”
DN: “Yeah, of course.  Where are you now”
CT: “Aldershot”
DN: “Aldershot?!  But it’s 8pm!  You won’t get here til after midnight!  The race is at 9:30am!”

I went on to give Chris some directions on how to get here.  And sure enough, on the stroke of midnight, there was a knock on the door.  I suggest to Chris that he probably wants to hit the hay immediately.  Now anyone that knows Chris knows the lad can talk!  After 30mins talking about life in Oregon, I ask if he wants to get some sleep, and the conversation just moves onto his experience at the European Cross.  This was a really interesting conversation and ties in really well with my blog from last week about how athletes run at their best when they are happy, relaxed, carefree and do not impose any pressure on themselves.  Chris admitted that he had seen the posts on eightlane and they had “got to him” and affected his race completely.  He was quite happy to admit (and I know he won’t mind me sharing it on here) that he spent most of the evening after the race in tears. 

Eventually, I concede I am going to have to go to bed myself as I have to be up at 6:30am to set the race up and then have a 20 mile run to do after the race!  It’s now 1am, surely Chris is going to want to get some bed rest himself.  “Do you have an internet connection for my laptop, I just need to do a few things”...

Sunday 7^th March 2010, race day, and I have been on site at the race since dawn.  Thommo’s number and chip are sat waiting for him and we get to within 30mins of the race start.  I’m starting to get a little anxious and phone Matt Bond, who is travelling with Thommo.  They are just approaching the race venue.  He’s not going to have much time to warm up!  Chris starts a little jog around the car park about 20mins before kick off and he is as relaxed and as laid back as you possibly could be.  Matt reveals that he woke up at 8:00am (90mins before the race) and said he went to bed at about 3:30am.  He had some porridge and yoghurt (white chocolate and raspberry muller corner for the record) and eventually, he casually strolled out of the house ready for the 30min drive to Partington.

The race will live in my memory forever.  With 27min30 on the clock, the commentator announces that the leader is on his way.  I suspect this means he is 400-500m away.  All of a sudden, Thommo comes into vision, 200m away from the finish.  I scream out loud “What the F***!!”.  Thommo crosses the line on 28:02 and I repeatedly am shouting “How did he do that?”.  I run over to him and ask him that very question, and he gives the understated response of “I’ve been training”.  But as we chatted further, he said that the time was beyond anything he had hoped for and he was not expecting that whatsoever!

So you have two contrasting scenarios involving a fit Chris Thompson.  The first – where he has let small talk on the internet get to him and allowed it to destroy his race.  And the second, where he has arrived with no pressure or expectation whatsoever, had unorthodox preparation and ran what was at the time the race of his life!  It’s a great little story about Thommo’s weekend at our place and hopefully it backs up again what I was talking about last week about the laid back approach often being the best!

As an athlete you need focus but you can’t afford to get overly anxious and I think many athletes do before races.  In my race report from Bristol Half Marathon, I mentioned something which in the past I would have got wound up and stressed about but I’ve learnt the best thing you can do is focus on the job in hand and forget any external factors.  Sometimes it’s easier said than done but I see so many athletes out there doing what I spent years doing, getting overly anxious before races, I’m sure there’s athletes that can identify with this, I just hope some take something from what I’ve written and change their mindsets a little.  Thinking beforehand about what you want to think about in the race helps.  Think positive thoughts about how you would like to feel in the race and visualise how that would feel.  I find this works really well for me, sometimes you can get to a hill, it becomes hard work but then you imagine yourself bouncing, floating up it and just thinking about that feeling can make the race feel so much easier.  Something to think about for many I’m sure...


The pre-race morning jog

Those who have followed my training logs so far will see that I like to do a jog on the morning of a race.  I know there are athletes that do, and athletes that don’t so I thought I would share my experience of it, why I do it and some of the lessons learnt.  It seems like a good week to talk about it given my experience this weekend!

Going all the way back to November 2000, and I have just been awarded my first “North of England” representative vest for a cross country international in Ghent, Belgium.  I had been allocated to share a room with Martin Hilton from Leeds City AC.  On the morning of the race, Martin got up and asked if I was coming for a run with him.  I looked at him totally flabbergasted and said “a run on race day?  Are you mad?!”.  He replied that it was only 15mins dead slow just to wake the body up and most people he knew did it.  Being an impressionable young athlete, I thought this was something I should be doing and tried it for the first time out there.  The race didn’t go well, but wasn’t a disaster.  I’d just say it was below par.  I didn’t feel any benefit or ill effects as a result of doing it, and decided it was something I wouldn’t do again.  Lesson learnt – never try anything new before a big race – which at the time for me this was as big as it got!

So how did I come to be in this routine of doing them before every race after that experience?  Well, I was marathon training in 2008 and decided there was some races I would train through.  I went on to do a few races having done 30mins very very slow in the morning and had some good results and felt good.  I wondered if my experience in Ghent was a one off so started experimenting with 15min runs before breakfast on race day.  Initially I was doing this for most of my races but not all as I was still experimenting and uncertain as to the benefits.  But as I did more and more, I realised I was feeling some noticeable benefits.

Firstly, I generally feel better on my double days on my second run.  The first run is always a slow one.  The races where I tried a jog in the morning, I was feeling a lot more switched on and physically and mentally ready to race.  My metabolism had noticeably improved and I was digesting and processing my food quicker.  I had historically struggled with morning races but a slow jog before breakfast left me feeling much more awake and alert.  I’ve now run every race since June 2009 with a pre-race morning jog and I reckon it’s here to stay!

It’s not always a success though and I’ve learnt a few things along the way.  The key thing is that you can’t do them too close to the race.  My two worst races in the last 12 months have come when I’ve ended the pre-race jog less than 2 hours before my warm up for the race.  There was the Northern 12 Stage Relays earlier this year and the Blackburn 5k in July. 

So this weekend when I had a 9am race was going to mean a very early pre-race jog!   I was in the race hotel the night before and Steve Way and Paul Marteletti asked if I fancied meeting them at 5:05am.  At this point I realised just how early and decided to go it alone.  I set my alarm for 5:15am and was into my running by 5:27am!  I had a bit of an experience on this one and it meant I was out for 50mins (30mins jog before deciding that was plenty and walking the rest), hence it being so topical.  See the race report on Bristol for full details!

The routine for me leading up to any race now I am really comfortable with.  Two days before the race, I take a complete rest day and pay a visit to the Chippy for Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas.  The day before the race is an easy run 4-6 miles depending on how big the race is and where I’m at with my training.  I don’t eat vast amounts on this day.  Race day, I have jam sandwiches 3-4 hours before race start time and time my pre-race 3 miler to end ready for the sandwiches.  After years of experimentation, I’ve found this is a routine I am most comfortable with.  What I would suggest to any young athletes reading this is not to copy exactly what I do, but to experiment yourselves and see what works best for you.  Everyone is different and for a start you’re not all marathon runners!  But you can certainly play on variations of it with percentage reductions to each run one possible option!

Keep training hard,

Cheers,
Dave