An eventful two weeks

Luke Goodman writes

It’s been an eventful last couple of weeks since my last blog. From the high two weeks ago of completing my longest run to date, the last two weeks have thrown up quite a few challenges.

Caz’s mum hasn’t been well and has been in hospital for two weeks. She is starting to feel better and will hopefully be home soon. While she has been in hospital it has meant I have been around looking after the boys in the afternoon and then once Caz gets back from work and visiting her mum, I then head home to continue with my work. It has meant long full on days for me and the thought of running has been farthest from my mind.

On top of Sylvia being in hospital, there have also been two separate trips to A&E with Oliver. One resulted in him being on crutches, the other time he was given antibiotics. He is thankfully starting to feel a little better and is now walking without the crutches so will hopefully be back running in time for the track mile at the end of the month.

With the school holidays, Caz and I had already booked a little break in Kent for a few days and with Sylvia in hospital she insisted we still go. It is nice and relaxing here and from day one I was able to go for a run – it was so nice being back running again and in the countryside. I ran with Caz and Harry on an undulating 5k loop that was recommended to us.

There are just a few weeks to go now so hopefully I will be able to get a few more longer runs in and then be in a position to really enjoy the atmosphere of London Marathon.

The reason I run marathons

Luke Goodman writes:

There are many reasons that people run marathons, from going for a specific time to the challenge of the distance and everything else in between. There have been occasions in the past where I have run a marathon for a time, and maybe that is something I will look at doing again in the future. For the past couple of years though running a marathon has taken on a different meaning for me. It has been about the community aspect that has really driven me on.

There is nothing like travelling to a city and rocking up for a marathon to then bump into someone unexpectedly. That is the great thing about marathons and the running community – you’re never alone. A great example of this is when I ran Newport Marathon. After finishing the race I had a quick turnaround before getting a train to meet up with Caz and the boys for a holiday. Needing a bit of salt after the marathon, off to McDonalds I went for a quick bite before heading to the station. And who should I bump into but none other than podium finisher Melissah! It was great seeing a friendly face after the race and Melissah was loving her Red McDonalds looking T shirt we got as you can clearly see

The community aspect of the marathon running community is something that cannot be underestimated. There are times when you might not feel like running or maybe being injured and not able to run, but that doesn’t matter. Everyone is welcome regardless of speed, background etc and everyone comes together as one. A great example of this is the huge flock of people that went to Seville last year to celebrate Pete Mizzi’s 100th marathon. It was a great example of how running can bring everyone together and be a great support network for many people. We all had a lot of fun that weekend, with one of the highlights of everyone donning masks for Pete’s face to surprise him around the 40km mark.

People often ask me what my favourite marathon is. It is hard to select just one as each one holds different memories and all have a special place in my heart. I guess though my favourite marathon would have to have been Copenhagen in 2019. It wasn’t a great run by me, in fact it was my slowest marathon as I wasn’t feeling well. But what made it so memorable was the fact that it was Caz’s first marathon! Caz had only joined the beginners a couple of years earlier and if you had told her then that she would be running a marathon a couple of years later I’m sure she would have laughed so hard she’d had peed herself. But run it she did. She pushed her boundaries of what she thought was possible and had an amazing time and did incredible. I was (and am) very proud of her. There were several highlights for Caz that day, with one being during the race when Sweet Caroline came on around the 8 mile mark. She started dancing along and singing without a care in the world.

Another was after the finish and going and putting her feet in the water afterwards to cool down. 

So there are just a few thoughts of what makes a marathon so special to me. It is something that I hope to be able to continue doing in the years ahead, I’ll just have to hope that my body holds together long enough. 

In terms of training, I have slowly started to up my distances and reached double figures for miles run in a week for the first time in over a year. I ran to Northala parkrun and then ran with Alan and Alix, who both helped get me around. Oliver lowered his pb to just over 20 minutes and no doubt it will be under in no time at all. Harry got a pb and continues to keep on lowering his times. Caz ran her fastest 5k in years despite not having run much recently, so I am sure if she runs a little more her times will continue to drop quickly also. All in all a great morning for us. 

Prior to London I am hoping to get a double digits run or two in, but if I don’t I am not too worried as I know that the atmosphere and support and the community of runners will get me around.

Plodding along

Luke writes:

Time seems to be going quite fast lately, not while I’m running, just in general. It’s hard to believe that it is now less than 7 weeks until Sylvia’s (Caz’s mum's) birthday – or what some other people call St George’s Day. I’m looking forward to that day as it should be a lot of fun with lots of celebrations. Oh, and it’s also London Marathon that day too – time to ramp up the training a little I guess :P

As has been the case for a little while now, training is progressing steadily. I won’t be in a position to be getting in any long runs beforehand but I have been in that position in the past and have managed. This time around I have the added benefit though of having done some strength work during the lead up, so hopefully that, along with previous experience of having run multiple marathons will help.

I’ve managed to join up with a few mates for runs recently which has been nice. Though I have yet to manage to get myself out for 5am runs like I used to in the past. I do miss those runs, getting out while most people are in bed. I say most because often on those runs I would see Becky Fennelly out at that time running as well. I wonder if Becky is still getting up for those early morning runs…

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 100th parkrun. It was nice to be able to share it with Alan and Alix who have often run with me at parkrun while I have been building up my strength and pace. It was also really nice to have Oliver scan my 100th run – he has been volunteering at parkrun for the Duke of Edinburgh award. Parkrun has become a staple now where Caz, Oliver, Harry and myself are at Gunnersbury most Saturdays to get a bit of exercise and enjoy a nice start to the weekend.

What to write…

Luke Goodman writes:

So it’s time for another instalment of what will Luke ramble on about… To be honest, as I sit here typing this, I still have no idea what will come out. For me, writing and sharing my thoughts and what I am doing is not something that comes naturally. It is foreign to me to share what is going on in my life to so many people, especially when I haven’t even met many of them. I am generally quiet a quiet person so having to share what is going on fills me with anxiety every time I write one of these.

So here goes… I’m sure like many Eagles who knew Rob, the last few weeks have been bit of a blur. I have found it hard to be motivated to do anything, instead just wanting to sit quietly and ponder life and the choices I have made and those that I may make going forward. I have struggled with work, exercise and life in general. But luckily I have a good support network around me who helped get me out and about and start to get back to my positive self.

A few weeks ago I started seeing a physio for my knee. Not that my knee was giving me issues, I just wanted to make sure I was doing all I could to try and avoid repeat injuries. The first thing my physio discovered was that I had a lost a lot of muscle in my leg since my knee operation last year. My physio Greg (recommended by Melissah) set me up with a host of exercises that I had to do twice a day plus other more intense ones to do twice a week. Despite lacking motivation generally, I am still a very determined person (or as Caz calls it stubborn) so I have been doing all my exercises without fail. I last saw Greg on Friday and he was amazed at the progress I had made. We have now ramped up the program which is exciting with additional strength exercises added. I am also doing my cardio work which again is slowly increasing. All in all, I am feeling cautiously optimistic for London.

When speaking with Greg, I asked him about core exercises and if I could also work some of them into my workouts. He very enthusiastically said yes with a sly grin. I now know why. Upon doing my first 10-minute abs workout on YouTube, it then took me 3 days until I was able to laugh again without wanting to cry! I have persevered though, and the recovery time is now starting to get a bit shorter thankfully.

On the cardio front, I have been cycling, swimming and using the cross-trainer among other things. I’ve also been running a couple of times a week which has included doing parkrun most weeks Last weekend I ran Gunnersbury with Harry as his normal running mate was away on holidays, so Harry let me run with him. We had good chat on our run which also included a few little walk breaks as Harry wasn’t feeling the best On the home straight though Harry wanted to run. The race then was on! It must have been quite the site, a middle aged overweight man racing against a slim 12 year old, but race we did! Every time Harry sped up a bit I would try and keep up, to the point where crossing the finish line we were both pretty much flat out. It was nice to actually run quickly again, even if it was only for a short burst. Looking on Garmin Connect afterwards I could see that we dipped under the 6 minute mile bracket. It has been a long time since I ran at that speed, so it was a nice feeling to know that it was in there. It’s amazing what racing a 12 year old will do for you 😊

The next couple of weeks I am hoping to continue on with what I have been doing. I am getting stronger each week, fitter as well. The journey to London is a different one to normal but it is one I am enjoying and can see the long term benefits of.

Slow and Steady

Luke Goodman writes:

It is amazing how fast time goes when you have a race that you want to get fit and prepared for. These last two weeks have flown by! I am slowly starting to increase the amount of exercise I am doing on a weekly basis. For the past couple of weeks, I have managed to do some form of exercise most days which is a big improvement from where I was a couple of months ago. I’ve started to enjoy getting on my turbo trainer at home and cycle around the world of Zwift. I’m slowly building up the distance and frequency that I’m on the bike and I have noticed small improvements which is promising. I’m also doing more strength and conditioning which hopefully will help with injury prevention and overall fitness and strength.

The highlight for me in the past week though is that I have increased my longest run! For the past month or so, all of my runs were 5k distance, which were primarily done at parkrun. I started with one run a week and then have moved to two. During the last week I managed to run the mind-blowing distance of 3.5 miles! I was so excited! Now I know I’ve run marathons before, but the one thing I have learnt is that it is all relative. While running 3.5 miles might not sound a lot to some (or most) people, to me this was a mini-breakthrough and as a result I am now looking forward to slight increases in distance over the coming weeks.

One of the reasons I was able to run that little bit further during the week was because a mate of mine was over from New Zealand and in town for a few days, and he wanted to go for a run. So one cold day I met up with him and his son for a lunchtime run. It is amazing what running with others can do in overcoming obstacles such as being able to run that bit further than you thought, or giving you some extra motivation to get out there and do something when it would otherwise be so much easier and warmer to stay indoors. I am very lucky to have met lots of people through the Eagles that have joined me for runs in the past, or motivated and encouraged me at other times to get out there and go for a run.

I can remember last year when I ran the virtual London Marathon for A Mile in Her Shoes. In the days leading up to it, I was just going to set out by myself and see how I got on. Then all of a sudden, despite setting off before 6am, I was met with Keith and then Jay, who both joined me for most of the first half of the marathon. It certainly made the time go faster and it was really enjoyable. I was then expecting to run the second half by myself, but Lucy had other ideas! She had spoken with Jay and Keith and they’d given her an idea of where I was running. She then ran around in circles hoping to bump into me – and bump into me she did! She then joined me for the second half of my marathon, helping me continue when I felt like stopping and providing endless conversation 😊 The support of the running community and the Eagles really does help and cannot be underestimated.

I think my focus on the coming weeks will be to be able to join others on runs again as I have missed this when I haven’t been able to run. I think that sometimes when people like me have lost fitness there is that concern that you will slow the others down if you join them, or that they won’t want to run with you because you can’t run as far or as fast. My experience shows this couldn’t be further from the truth for most people. So in the next week or two, I am going to try and make an effort to run with others. At present because I am still building up strength I am only running in the days as I need to be careful where I step, but going forward I hope to join a clubrun or two prior to London. But for the next week, I’m sure a few of you will be hearing from me for a run and Caz watch out, as you will be the first 😊

An Unorthodox Approach

Luke Goodman writes:

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s already 2023 and we are nearly halfway through January! I keep getting people coming up to me and asking how the marathon training is going, and to be honest I’m not too sure what to say to them at the moment. It’s a strange feeling as I’ve never thought about training for a marathon so far in advance before. Normally for a marathon at the end of April I’d start thinking about starting training sometime in mid-March. Surely my 3-5 week “training plans” from the past will be fine again… although maybe not this time. 

2022 was a tough year for me in terms of running. After a knee injury in February and subsequent surgery months later, I only got back to running again in December. I started off with a parkrun naturally and it was such a nice feeling to be back running around with everyone else on a Saturday morning. A few more parkruns later and here I am, looking forward to the London marathon! It’s going to be a different challenge for me preparing for London this year. Having had 10 months off with zero running, filling the void it left with food and drink, this adventure I am starting will surely have a few twists and turns along the way. For a start, rather than following a traditional 16 week training plan, which would be primarily focused on running (and rightly so), my self-prepared training plan will be a little unorthodox. I’m going to be trying something different this time around to get fit and ready for the start line. The reason I’m choosing this approach is to try and protect my knee while getting fitter and stronger at the same time. It’ll be interesting to see how I get on. 

So my approach for London marathon training is not going to be about running 😬 I will be swimming, cycling, on the rowing machine and doing some gym classes as the main focus of my training. I will of course also be doing some running but it will not be the focal point of my preparations for London. I’ve no idea how it’s going to turn out! All I know is I’m sure I’ll have fun along the way learning and trying new things and enjoying the different challenge it poses and the adventures ahead.