Hello, is it knees your looking for?

So I got bored of writing these for ages, and I know you got bored of reading them. But, you’re here now aren’t you? Don’t lie to me I know you are.

So since I last wrote I have experienced the highs and lows of marathon training, as Ronan Keating would say, life is a rollercoaster. I’ve still been massively slacking off on my shorter runs during the week, to the extent that I’ve basically done nothing but a long weekend run each time. I’m sure this wasn’t the best idea, but I’m invested now.

I’ve luckily had some company on my two longest runs, with Pete training for the Manchester marathon this weekend which definitely made them more bearable. I nearly used the word enjoyable then, but when you’re running 30 and 35km I don’t think that word really applies. Slightly disheartening however is when he calls them his ‘slow’ runs whilst I struggle alongside him. At least we got to explore all the Tesco Metros in London as we stopped to buy lucosades on the way.

My most recent long run was last weekend with the aforementioned 35km which should really be cause for celebration. However, the last 5km were absolutely excruciating as my old enemy, my knees, decided to give up on me. To the extent that after stopping to cross the last road before my house when I attempted to start running again I physically couldn’t move. Not ideal.

This led to some extra complications on my long run of this weekend, as I set off with the intention of doing another 35km run in the sunshine, only to have to stop after 3km and walk home.

I’ve decided to give my knees a week to recover, which 4 weeks until the event is slightly terrifying, but I’m hoping it’s enough to save them. Almost all my hopes of hitting my target time are therefore annoyingly out the window, but I’m still determined to do it as fast as I can.

The end is definitely in sight now which is both motivating and terrifying in equal measure, if anyone would like to donate as I near my target please do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samscott23

Cheers

Samwise Gammy-knee

Blister Act 2: Back in the habit

Well I haven’t written for some time, which I’m sure many of you are thankful for. It’s mainly because I haven’t actually been doing very much running. But after forcing myself back to my plan I thought I better get back on this too.

After training going very well for the first few weeks I somewhat took my foot off the pedal and slacked off for a while. I’ve only really been focusing on doing my long runs and not doing any of the short ones in between which I’m sure is not the best idea. After my successful 20km at the end of January, I followed it with my first ever half marathon distance, doing 22km in just over 1hr42 which I was really pleased with. It wasn’t exactly how I had planned to do my first ever half marathon, alone in the dark on the streets of Wandsworth, but oh well. I had to do this on a Wednesday due to once again getting too drunk on Saturday nights and writing off my Sundays, this has become a familiar theme.

After picking up a bit of a leg injury in my next match and once again getting too drunk on the Saturday, I only went running on Thursday last week, attempting to get straight back into it with 23km. A lack of fitness and a sore leg meant I gave up after 16.5km, which is really annoying when you find yourself quite far from home and still have to jog back.

Last night I set off again aiming for 23km, but due to more lack of preparation in route planning I ended up going 25km which I guess is a positive! I experienced a few firsts on my run last night, the first time I’ve run that far, the first time I’ve run for over 2 hours, and the first time I’ve had to stop for a quick wee on Clapham Common.

I’m going to attempt to get my mid-week runs back on schedule, but I can’t really bend my knees too well right now, so will have to see how that goes!

Why does it always rain on me

I’m sure you were all waiting with baited breath for the next instalment of my thrilling (thrills not guaranteed) running blog so sorry for the delay. If you were actually looking forward to it, may I suggest you take a long look at yourself, even I’m finding this tedious…

But I’ve started so I’ll finish as they say, so here we go. Two key findings from my extensive research over the past month or so:

Running is boring.

Rain is very unpleasant.

Due to a combination of laziness, rain and a fairly grumpy attitude, channelling the personality of a domestic house cat, last week was my least committed to training. I only managed to get out once in the week, but I did get through a pretty quick 12km on Wednesday, mainly quicker than normal because of the aforementioned rain threatening to get me.

On Saturday I had another lacrosse match on a muddy pitch in Oxford, and once again managed to secure my now trademark d**k of the day performance, which caused me to once again drink too much on the train back to London. Cut to Sunday morning as I set out to attempt my long run for the week, with a target distance of 19km. Then skip forwards to about 3km and 15minutes later as I gave up and turned around to walk home to lounge about and watch Federer vs Nadal. I’m not blaming the alcohol this time, but the heavy legs I had because of the grass pitch for the game before, but I would bet that the beer certainly didn’t help.

Because of the extra week I’ve managed to give myself due to overly efficient planning, the temptation to just skip the week’s long run and push it back to this week was incredibly tempting. But showing previously undiscovered willpower I did it on Monday instead. My theory is there will definitely be worse weeks for me in the next few months and I’ll really need that cushion. So I managed to get 20km done on Monday night in 1hr36m too which I’m really pleased with. It was made considerably worse by my wireless headphones dying after 4km, leaving me with nothing but my own thoughts for company for the remaining 16km, lesson learnt!

Training is still going terrifyingly well, expect a catastrophe soon! 

Now is the winter of our discontent...

Update: its bloody cold in London right now. Luckily my Christmas presents of running gloves, tights and a fetching hat are really coming into their own right now. However, all the shiny new lycra in the world can’t save you from attempting to run on a hangover, 0/10, would not recommend.

I struggled a bit this week to fit my running into a fairly busy week, only getting out and about twice before my long run yesterday. Monday’s run too was only brief, but meeting up with Chris at St Paul’s and running around there at least broke up the tedium of my usual tour of Tooting/Balham/Clapham. We managed to dodge the majority of tourists, only ruining a handful of photos as we crossed Tower Bridge.

I did also get out for an 11.5km run on Thursday evening, which was unpleasant but fairly manageable and I was pretty pleased with my average speed at just over 4.40 per/km.

On Saturday I had a lacrosse match on an extremely frozen pitch, and due to my commitment to the ‘total lacrosse’ style of play ended up spending more time in attack than my usual defence. This was received reasonably poorly by my team mates who subsequently voted me dick of the day, and resulted in me drinking considerably more than I had planned to, hence the hangover.

Bleary-eyed on Sunday morning I set off on my long run, and due to once again my inability to prepare for anything properly, went out with no real plan of where I was running to. I was aiming at 16km, which would be a good few kilometres further than I’ve ever run. The horrifying realisation when my running app announced I was at 6km and I still needed to do another 10km was one of the lowest moments from my training. But, I did somehow make it, with only a couple of periods of walking. Because of the lack of planning a route I also made it to 16.8km which I’m really pleased with. Next stop, 19km, eeeeurgh

Onwards!

100 days to go...

This week I got an email telling me it’s now under 100 days until the marathon which panicked me somewhat. Once I remembered that is still almost a third of the year away I managed to calm down and carry on with what has so far been a reasonable start to training.

I’ve also realised due to my general ineptitude and inability to count backwards, I began my 17 week training plan a week early, so after confirmation from the London Marathon organisers that they wouldn’t be able to move it forwards seven days for me, I’m having to adapt. At least it wasn’t the other way around, and now I have an extra week back up for when I inevitably get bored of running and quit for a bit.

I managed to get through a couple of 8-9km runs in this week whilst dodging rain and snow which I have absolutely zero interest in running in. The lack of a lacrosse match this weekend meant that I could do my long run on Saturday instead, getting through nearly 15km, now the furthest I have ever run. It turned out to be a shrewd move as I got unintentionally extremely drunk on Saturday night, woke up fully clothed at 12pm on Sunday and was in no shape to go running.

I also managed to get out to a local Morrisons during the week to do some extra fundraising which was pretty helpful for my total. If anyone can spare any money to sponsor me I would really appreciate it. The stories I hear daily of young people with cancer and the work CLIC Sargent do to support them is truly inspirational and is entirely reliant on voluntary donations. If you can, please donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samscott23

Onwards with training!

The difficult second album

Well, I’ve done it. My goal of this year was to run a marathon, and I have completed it. Granted, its split up into five separate runs since the New Year, but I’m going to count it.

I’ve just got back from my long Sunday run, this time 13km which I completed in 1hr5mins, with no stopping and no bastard shin splints which I’m taking as a huge positive. It turns out the key to avoiding these is warming up, who knew that was important? It was made slightly harder by an aching body after a lacrosse match with a small squad yesterday, but I did at least manage to not be lured by the post-game beers which normally ensue.

The week started off with a realisation that I’m currently the heaviest I’ve ever been, and about ¾ of a stone heavier than I thought I was. So now an added objective is to shed some of the Christmas bulk, as I’m essentially running round with a back pack on which can’t be good for me.

Week 2 of training went much better than the first, some of the runs could even have been described as enjoyable. However, I have been off work for the week just dossing around and trying to get Sheffield United into the Premier League on Football Manager, so next week is likely to be significantly harder as I’m forced to run in the dark after work.

I’ve also realised that I need to find some new routes to run, as the delights of Tooting Bec Commons can only take you so far. Sunday in Tooting is also clearly the day for joggers as the paths were full of lycra, myself included, which caused me some issue as I found myself competing against them and trying to overtake anyone in front of me, not that I’m competitive at all.

Onto Week 3 of the plan, looks to be more of the same and only 14km on the Sunday which should hopefully be okay, famous last words?

I've made a huge mistake

As you know if you’re reading this, I have entered the London Marathon this year, and, as a natural born quitter (see unfinished travel blog from 4 years ago as proof… I made it back if you wondered), I thought writing a blog might help keep me on track.

The basic structure of my training plan involves a few runs throughout the week, and then a long run on a Sunday, so I’m going to try and update this blog when I get back from them. The distances slowly build up throughout the schedule as my mental health slowly lowers. As it is Sunday I’ve just got back from my first ‘long’ run, which fortunately was only 10km, which is pretty achievable; under normal circumstances.

However, being New Year’s Day I have had to battle a week of Christmas indulgence after my mum bought enough food for a rugby team, forgetting there were only three people eating Christmas dinner this year. I’ve also been fighting against a cold I’ve had for well over a week, and newly developed shin splints, which are now the bane of my existence, so I only made it 7km, a rough start. All the new running gear in the world I got for Christmas clearly can’t prevent my body being a right tit to me sometimes.

To be clear, this marathon is absolutely not part of a new year new me programme, but just something I’ve always wanted to do. However, I hadn’t really thought it through, particularly the part about running during winter, it rained today on my run, I was sad.

The other big aspect of my preparation for the marathon is my fundraising target, which has got off to a pretty strong start thanks to you lovely people. If you do fancy sponsoring me my page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samscott23

Any advice or words of encouragement also greatly appreciated.

Wish me luck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEnMo78zE74

(Me earlier)