Craig Batterham writes:
I usually write my blogs on the tube into work in the mornings and have 2-3 on the go at any time but was struggling to come up with content that I could send in to be published on the web site but recent events and a catch-up with coach Jenny provided just the inspiration I need and want to take this time to reflect a little.
I didn’t know Rob, I only met him once under a shop awning in Kingston on a very wet morning just before the half marathon there, so his passing hasn’t had the same personal impact on me but I can clearly see what he meant to some of the other Eagles that did have the pleasure knowing him better. I did know the British tourist who made the papers last week who died after a high speed skiing accident and it is events like these that make me realise how lucky I am to be able to run, to be able to train for something like the London Marathon, be part of a group of people like the Eagles. I look back at years that have gone before, the two times I have been close to the end myself and the things I would have done differently had I known then what I know now. Foremost among those is running, something that I wish I had found earlier when I was younger and fitter.
Tonight I had a call with Jenny to catch up on how the training was going, to feed back on the recent races and look at the short, medium and long term goals ahead. It’n now seven weeks into the marathon training and around three months since I started working with Jenny to achieve my goals and the change is quite clear. The metrics from Training Peaks show a clear and steady improvement over the same period even if it sometimes doesn’t feel this way when I’m actually out doing the running bit. I’m seeing it in the times I am running as well. Although Farnborough was a bust for me for a number of different reasons my time was still very close to the previous year. A 5k run around the Velopark, a looping mile track with short sharp hills in it, produced a time very close to my PB, and the London Winter Run was the same, a mere 21 seconds away from a PB. Both of these were run as a hard effort for fun with no target in mind and very little, if any, checking of the watch. I wasn’t chasing a new PB. They are coming though, I can feel it. After a year of frustration these noticeable improvements are a fantastic boost yet I still worry I am forgetting how to run at a faster pace when I am out on an easy run. “Trust the training” is on repeat in my head right now.
We also discussed pacing for the marathon and if I’d had any thoughts on it. I’ve had a lot of thoughts on it ever since I learnt what GMP meant in the Strava posts of other Eagles I keep seeing pop up in the more recent weeks. I’ve used the quiet time on the long runs to mull over questions like this in my head and had made that choice a long time ago, but this was the first time Jenny and I spoke about it. Last April I ran (bit of an over-exaggeration 😳) the Manchester Marathon just ten months after starting the Couch to 5k and a history of never having run before. My preparation and training were poor and there were a few weeks off in the middle of the training plan due to an (I suspect) imagined injury. It wasn’t fun.
You can see where it all fell apart for me in the plot (above). I’d gone into the race all wrong, I was not physically or mentally ready for this and the last few miles were so hard. The only thing I have done in the past that was tougher is dragging myself over the big rocks to get onto the crater rim of Kilimanjaro. I was choking back tears of relief as I walked through the finish funnel at Manchester and took the usual medal selfie on my way through the finish funnel.
So London can only have one goal for me and that’s to run 100% of the distance. Time is not a consideration for me in this race. Getting to the end and feeling good about it is my only target here, so we haven’t set a pace target just yet. That can wait for New York in November. Time enough to build a bigger base and work on speed in the summer months. Then it is on to Berlin ‘24 as the next major goal for me.
I’m a completely different person with my running now. I’m not looking at which race I can enter next or how many medals I can collect in the year. It’s quality over quantity now this year with the two marathons the only target races.
Feels weird.