What went well/Even better if/Next steps

At the end of June, before training for the Istanbul Marathon began in earnest, I contemplated what I wanted to achieve – both on race day and within my training for it. Here, I’ll review each target I set myself and talk about what’s next after my legs have returned from the dead.

Target 1: Run before work

Yeah, this was a monumental failure. I think the earliest I ever got out to run was about 8:30am on a weekend. I simply couldn’t be arsed. Next.

Target 2: Stretch and recover (before and after runs)

This isn’t looking good is it? I started this one off quite well, but like most things I find distinctly unappealing, I didn’t really end up doing much at all. I had two sports massages – one at the start of training and another a week before the race – and I might have half-heartedly warmed up a bit more before some of the long runs, but that’s about it. Bad man.

Target 3: Run 170+ miles in a month, 50+ miles in a week at the peak of training

Close one, this. I ran two weeks of just over 45 miles but never quite made 50, and my most mile-heavy month was in September with 165 miles. Not so sad I didn’t achieve this one – I took rest days when forced or when I felt I needed to. Maybe next time.

Target 4: PB in 5k, 10k and HM during training.

Now we’re talking. On July 14th, I surprised myself with a 10k PB in the Adidas City Run Shoreditch. I’d planned to used this race to help set my training zones and didn’t really have any aspirations to PB the distance so early but it happened and I was pleased. Slightly put out that I was only 8 seconds off going sub-40min, but you can’t have everything, right? Next up, I hit a PB in the Dorney Lake Half Marathon on August 11th with a time of 1:30:57. Again, I can’t help but now want to work at getting into the 1:20’s. I didn’t actually race a 5k during the training, so can’t quite call a full house, but I’m confident one is round the corner.

Target 5: Run sub-3:20 in Istanbul

Ah the big one. It’s why we’re all here, so I’ll cut to the chase – I ran sub-3:20 in Istanbul! In fact, I was 3 seconds off going sub-3:18, finishing in a time of 3:18:02. Of course, I am absolutely over the moon with this – it confirms I trained well and did more right than I did wrong – but there is a caveat. I really think I could have run even faster. The truth is, I got rather cocky around mile 17. Up until then, I’d paced the race perfectly, keeping to with a few seconds of 7:17/mile, but because I felt good I got greedy and sped up. The next two miles, I posted 7:12 and 7:08. The two after that, I slowed to 7:23 and 7:22, and then the mother of all side stitches appeared. I felt like I’d taken a punch by Iron Mike and I keeled over and have to walk for 30 seconds just to ease the pain. Surreal. I managed to get going again, but it remained to a lesser extent for the rest of the race and I was never able to regain the pace I’d done so well to sustain previously. Ah, what could have been! Still, I loved every second of that race and truly believe that, next time, I’ll get it right. Maybe.

Coming up in 2020…

So there we go. I managed to achieve what I wanted to overall, despite not hitting some of the less important targets and that’s ok with me. But, as ever, I’m not finished. I’m just getting started… Here’s what I want to do next, in 2020 and beyond.

Achieve a new set of Personal Bests

I know I can run faster. Age has not yet caught up with me to the point where I can’t do more to get better. So I’ve already got some times in mind to train for next year. These are:

• Sub-19 5k
• Sub-40 10k
• Sub-1:30 Half Marathon
• Sub-3:10 Marathon

I reckon 5k and 10k should be relatively easy to hit. The tricky ones will be shaving off 58 seconds in the half and finding a way to be more consistent in the marathon and avoid bonking early. I’m running marathons faster and the wall is being hit later and later, but it’s still being hit. I want to run straight through it, screaming and wailing, and not bent over in excruciating pain.

Finish an Ultramarathon

This one should, in theory, happen without much problem on May 6th as I’ve entered the North Downs way 50 mile Ultramarathon which will be my first attempt. Unlike the marathon, I won’t be focussed on time, I just want the finish. I very nearly threw myself into booking a 100 miler, but glad I had some sense at last. Looking forward to this one.

Run a marathon with Yasmin

I’ll be over the moon when this finally happens. My much better half caught the running bug last year and had been planning on tackling her first London Marathon in April 2020. Such is life, that was soon put on hold when we found out we were expecting our first child together. She’s been through the ringer since; a scary trip to hospital with a case of Pneumonia really knocked her for six and recovery has been very much at the forefront of all of our minds. But when baby boy appears in December, she’ll be returning once again to the sport that she was quickly falling in love with. I know she’s itching to get back out there and I’d love to be able to run a marathon with her. We’re tentatively looking at Valencia in Dec 2020.

Get more kids involved with running

I’m a Primary School teacher and part of my role includes coordinating PE provision. We’ve already done some wonderful things at school – we’ve installed a running track around our field, we’ve given each child a pedometer to monitor their activity during the day and we’ve held fundraising opportunities but I’d like to do even more, particularly around Junior Parkruns for example.

2020 should be a good one!

Cheers

JM