if I can do it, so can you (maybe)
I learnt a lot from my race here last year. And it has been working. Through my marathon block this time, I ran my fastest 10k in 10yrs, as well as my fastest ever parkrun. The marathon sessions have all been faster than ever, and feeling better than ever too.
If I wanted to run sub 2:20 for the first time, I’d have to do something different. At my age, I also faced the law of diminishing returns. Time is not some made up construct in our heads. I’m older than I was. I don’t feel like I used to. I can’t run as smoothly, jump as high, recover as quickly.
So if you have to train harder just to stay the same, what do you have to do to improve?
I am still trying to nail all my 2022 goals (see further below) but am also adding the following:
I reach Rhosydd quarry, fifty miles and sixteen hours in, it is the dead of night. A scary enough place in daylight, where young men worked and died, deep in the hillside tunnels. Slate ruins loom silently around me. The moon shadows play tricks on my eyes, ghosts are closing in from all around.
I’ve reached a crossroads. If I turn right, down the hill, towards my home town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, I could get in my warm, safe bed, and make all this end.
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This week I set myself the challenge of nailing my long run. When you’re training for the marathon, the long run is the most important session of the week. Zooming round the track or parkrun is fine, but if you are too tired to get in a solid long run, your training is not as relevant as it could be. I got out of the habit of prioritising the long run the last few months. I needed to get back on it.
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Then, the final race of the day was called, the Dads Race. I had totally forgot this was a thing. I was called over by some of the other dads. My kids started chanting for me to race. I did the bravest thing I could do in that situation.
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