The Heat is On

Something happened to me last week that has not happened for a very long time. I finished a run and was absolutely shattered.

Now this is not to say that when I run normally I finish feeling fresh as a daisy, of course not. But this was different. This was feeling that I was relieved it was over, that I had pretty much nothing left to give, that had I been pushed I doubt I would have been able to go much further at all. I had run fourteen miles, not an inconsiderable distance of course, but nothing like the challenge that awaits me. And I think my reaction to this was mainly down to one thing. The heat.

I am not a fan of warm weather running. Living in Aberdeen my tolerance for heat is pretty low – so apologies now to everyone else who is reading this and thinking “what is he on about, talking about running in heat in the frozen north?”. But if truth be told, I much prefer a run on a cold, crisp winter or spring morning to a run in full sunshine and little wind.

The other thing – and I think this is psychological as much as anything – is that I am now formally training to run another marathon. This one is going to be slightly different to the two I have run before, in that this is a virtual race, I will be doing it on my own and I will be running it in Aberdeen on a course of my choosing. The race I have entered is the virtual Dublin Marathon which, along with other race distances, will take place on the final weekend of October, the real Dublin Marathon having been cancelled like virtually every other race this year.

“I need to make sure I do not psyche myself out“

I have more than three months therefore to prepare and get ready for the big distance again and I am already in good shape, routinely running between thirty and forty miles a week for the past couple of months. That is the kind of weekly mileage I was running when I trained for the marathons in the past, but I need to make sure I do not psyche myself out of it before I get going. I also think this applies regardless of the distance you face, whether it is 1km, 5km or all the way to an ultra. Make sure you get your head around the distance.

My previous marathons have given me confidence that I can do it again, bolstered by the seventeen mile run I did last month, but when I sit back and look at the marathon training plan I intend to follow, it can begin to get overwhelming. I will come back to this in a bit, but for now, the heat.

I am an early morning running for my long runs. My Sunday morning routine is to get up around 6am, bit of breakfast, back to bed for half an hour, then out at around 7am for whatever distance I choose. Running at that time, in summer at least, means that I can get a lot of mileage in before it gets too warm, but it can also mean that I run in some of the clearest weather of the day. Aberdeen seems to have a habit of having clear nights and early mornings, and then cloud cover builds so that by lunchtime it is much less sunny.

“it has a profound effect on my running“

Last Sunday was a classic example of that. Barely a cloud in the sky for the entire route through the city, a very light breeze from the south, and slowly rising temperatures. Now I realise that this is not really hot, not by any stretch of the imagination, but when you are used to running in the kind of temperatures we get here in the north-east of Scotland, as soon as the temps tick into the high teens Celcius it has a profound effect on my running. Throw in any kind of humidity and then all bets are off.

Things heating up as I made it along the beachfront in Aberdeen

I made it through the run itself, but the last few uphill miles in particular were a struggle, all the way up to my house. As soon as I stopped outside my front garden, that was when it hit me just how tired I actually was. I was seriously knackered, properly done in. Normally I walk around for a few minutes to cool down before going indoors, but I could not get into the house quick enough to get out of the sun and get some more fluid inside me, in addition to the drink I had taken with me. I always take a drink when I am doing a run of more than ten miles.

The rest of the day was pretty much just spent trying to recover. Then my first run back on Tuesday – after a rest day on Monday – was a very laboured 5km plod on extremely tired legs. All of this was giving me serious pause for thought about what lies ahead for the marathon training schedule, so back to the psychological part.

“a daunting prospect”

I know that I do not need to change much about the distances I am doing during the week, in fact if anything I should dial them down slightly, but what I am looking at now is a solid three month spell of long runs building from ten to twelve miles this weekend through to around twenty miles as we get towards the end of September/start of October. This is a daunting prospect.

I need to relax. I need to refocus and remind myself that this is doable, and not let it play on my mind. This is, after all, supposed to be for fun. I have felt better as the week has gone on, the tiredness and lethargy has left my legs as I have done some other runs, including one where I managed to get lost and had to drag myself out of a mudbath and another in biblical rain showers with friends.

A nice view, but I really should have stuck to the path

The other thing I need to remind myself of is that when I come to do the run in October, the temperatures are highly unlikely to be anything like as warm as they are this month or are doing to be for the next six to eight weeks. This will be the first time I have trained for an autumn marathon – both Stirling and Barcelona were in the Spring – so that is something I just need to get used to. While for those races the temperatures went from icy cold to mildly warm during the training over the winter months, for this one, the temperatures will be heading in the opposite direction.

This is what I need to tell myself over the next few weeks of long runs, that when it comes to the big one itself, it is not going to be like this.

Part of the challenge of the marathon is physical, of course, but so much of it is psychological. Going in with a positive mindset is essential. I know there will be ups and downs. I know there will be days, like last weekend, when I will think the challenge is too great, that the distance is beyond me, that I am not strong enough to do it, that I will think, “I still have twelve miles to go, how on earth am I going to get through all of that when I feel this tired after fourteen?”.

And I will recall turning into the Plaza Espana after twenty six miles of the Barcelona Marathon and looking to the finish line knowing that I have done this before and can do it again. But at the moment, that finish line feels an awful long way off. A marathon is not twenty six point two miles, it is the hundreds of miles you put in to get you to the start line. That journey starts here.

Time After Time

Just going out for a run is enough, but which time of day do you find is best?

Simply finding the time can be difficult, balancing out all of the other demands which are placed upon us these days, but if you do have the time and can make the choice, the other question is, does it make a difference when you run?

When I am working and at home, then I am usually an evening runner during the week and a morning runner at the weekend. I usually travel for work – no prospect of that happening anytime soon – and when I am away then I always favour a run in the morning. Better to get it done when I have control over my own timetable than rely on trying to fit something in much later in the day when work may run on or additional social commitments might get in the way. For various reasons I am off work at the moment for the next few weeks, so I have changed to run in the mornings all of the time.

You see things in a different light. I have been fortunate to see some spectacular sunrises – particularly through the autumn and winter months – and the view of a city waking up to another day. This week’s runs have all been in the morning, and again I have managed to discover new places to run and new views to enjoy, thanks to recommendations from friends.

• 

• 

• 

• 

New views on my runs this week

If I had a free choice, I would always run in the mornings. Running in the evening does have benefits – when lockdown started and I was permanently working from home the prospect of some release and time on my own to process what was going on was a key motivational factor in helping me out the door – but I find the downsides hard to deal with.

Often in the evening I am already tired from a long day at work and it can be challenging to drag myself off the sofa and away from the phone/laptop/social media/TV out into the dark, cold and rainy Aberdeen climate. Now my regular JogScotland runs are always in the evenings, but for them there is the additional motivation of running with friends and that certainly helps.

But as a solo runner – and the majority of my runs are done on my own – then it is about your own internal engine to get you started. Other rewards then come, this week I got my certificate for completing my virtual Race to the Stones Marathon challenge and I look forward to receiving my medal in due course.

Another challenge completed

You might think that forcing yourself out of bed on a cold and dark morning would be as challenging as getting up and going later in the day, and in many respects you are not wrong in that. But I find that a completely different proposition from the evening challenge.

If I resolve in my head that I am going to go out for a run in the morning, then it takes some pretty big obstacle to prevent me from doing it. I am not sure why that is, but I think it emphasises to me again the importance of the mental side of running. Once I have decided, that gives me the interior kick to set my alarm and then just go for it. Trust me, there have been plenty of times when I just wanted to turn over, wrap myself even deeper in the duvet and not bother, but I genuinely cannot recall the last time that happened.

And then once you are out, then it is a completely different story (after the first few minutes of struggle of course) and the endorphins flow, the miles tick by and the positivity of a run takes over.

“gives me energy for the day ahead”

Doing it in the morning, also gets it done, it gets it over with and it sets me up for the day, knowing that I have done my bit to stay healthy, boost my system and keep fit. The other thing I have found – and this may seem counter-intuitive – is that rather than making me tired for the rest of the day, a run in the morning gives me energy for the day ahead.

I find it kicks my metabolism out of its lethargy and gets me going. I feel energised, more optimistic, enthused about the challenges which are ahead. A long run on a Sunday may not have me feeling that way, but when you have bashed out a half marathon before 10am, then it is not unreasonable to fancy resting up for a bit.

Running early provides another benefit. I am very conscious of the amount of time my running takes up, and I do not necessarily want that time to impinge on other things I want to do with my family. So by running early, it has the added benefit of leaving the rest of the day clear for other things that may be going on in my life.

Now you might have noticed that I have not talked about running in the afternoon. For me, too hot, not convenient, streets are too busy, too much traffic around, too many other people out and about. Yeah, if you run in the afternoon then you are just weird…

Only joking. Run when you can, when it works for you, when it fits in with your lifestyle and your commitments. Just run.

Rest

Running regularly is really important to maintain fitness and motivation – for me at least – but you know what else I find hugely important? Having a rest.

For the past few months I have been running very regularly, five times a week. Being at home and not travelling has given me the time to establish a running routine pretty much on a par with when I have been marathon training in the past.

Mondays and Fridays have been rest days with Sundays my regular day for a long run, all the way up to the seventeen miles I did a couple of weeks back. But I firmly believe the only way that I have been able to run these kinds of distances is because there are the days when I do not go running at all.

My weekly mileage has averaged around 30 miles a week since May – after cutting back in April due to the restrictions around Coronavirus – and I feel comfortable at that kind of range. At a minimum I have ran a marathon distance over the week, sometimes extending up to forty miles in total.

Last week I set out to run at least a marathon in the week as part of the virtual Race to the Stones challenge. That in itself was not too huge a test because of my current fitness level, but I ended up running the distance over three days rather than the full week, spurred on by great running weather and an eight mile run on Tuesday that morphed into a twelve miler.

“I was pretty tired”

With that run done I was almost halfway there, then a 10km with a friend turned into seven miles and I was only seven miles short of the finish line. Do not get me wrong, I was pretty tired after nineteen miles in two days, but running on tired legs is something you get used to and with only seven to go I felt I had it in me to get there with one final push on Thursday evening.

I did decide to run an easy course, downhill and flat so that I would finish at the beach area in Aberdeen, and it was a perfect night for running. Barely any wind, temperatures in the low 60s fahrenheit (around 15C) and so as I approached the last mile I could even manage a bit of a sprint finish to get there.

So the last mile of my marathon challenge was also the fastest mile of my marathon challenge – oh to be able to do that in a real marathon race – as I bust a gut to get it done and finish on the beach front with views of a flat calm North Sea.

One challenge done, I also received the reward from another challenge last week, for a run I actually did back in March, before the lockdown was put in place.

The London Landmarks Half Marathon was one race which was cancelled and then turned into a virtual event – the Local Landmarks Challenge – to raise money for the charities which would have missed out from receiving donations raised by runners taking part. Back in March I ran through some of my favourite Aberdeen locations and this week I got my hands on the medal.

As the London Landmarks race is not taking place, the medal that I received is the one which runners doing the race would have got and now it is hanging with pride among my collection

• 

  The excellent London Landmarks Half Marathon medal is the latest to hang on my wall

• 

After completing my marathon challenge, I took the decision to take things a bit easy for the rest of the week. I went for a run on Saturday with my friend Susan but this Sunday, for the first time I months, I did not go for a run.

Now this had a lot to do with the fact that on Saturday my wife and I had met up with friends who we had not seen for months and it was great to have a beer and a catch up, but it is also to do with knowing when my body needs a rest.

“Rest is as important as running”

I could have easily gone for a run on Sunday evening, but I decided not to, to give my body an extra day to recover. Rest is as important as running. It is the time your body gets to strengthen your muscles and also can help to refresh the mind. Becoming stale and jaded has been something I have been attempting to avoid these last few months, choosing different routes to run, going different distances and then, ultimately, just taking it easy.

I did, however, find it hard not to feel guilty at not going out. Part of me was craving to go and feeling bad that I was not. But that sense of guilt has to be balanced with the bigger picture. Will missing one run make any difference to my fitness or my ability to get out this week? No, it really won’t. In fact, missing a few runs will not have a huge impact, and in reality, I think the rest will provide many benefits.

So if you have days when you just cannot face going out, that is totally ok. We all have those days. And I know that when I do go out next, my body and mind will be fresher because of the days when I sat on my sofa.

Stick With It

Starting to run is so hard I often wonder why persist? I do not just mean when you have never run before and you are starting out, I also mean when even experienced runners lace up and get going. It can hard to see the light ahead.

Those first few hundred metres or few miles are a fiesta for the protesting body. These can be the times when everything hurts. My lungs, my legs, my knees, my calves, my ankles, my knees, my shins, my toes, my neck, my arms. A chorus of cries to stop, to give up, to rest those aching bones and tight muscles.

It is as if your physical self is engaged in a battle royal with your mental self – each with diametrically opposite requirements. One to thrown in the towel and get back to the house, the other to drive you on further away from the comforts of your sofa or your bed.

“those early agonies”

It is about pushing through those times and actually convincing yourself that those early agonies are going to be a distant memory once you get going. Now, of course, there are times when your body genuinely is telling the truth and not just faking it for the sake of a moan. Knowing when to rest is as important as knowing when to run. But if I am fit and healthy, then it is about my mind winning that early cat and mouse battle with my body and keeping going.

It would be easy to say that – as someone who has been running for a few years now – that this is just what everyone needs to do. You have to force yourself. You have to persist. You have to keep going. But that denies the reality of our experience. None of this is straightforward. It is a learned behaviour. It is firstly about believing, then later, knowing that regardless of how hard those starting miles feel, it will get better. Most of the time.

“I was genuinely fearful”

This is also where you need to believe in yourself. I fully realise that the last few months have motivated some and de-motivated others. I have had low times, no doubt. There have been times I have felt anxious and worried. There have times I have eaten too much. There have been times I have probably drank too much. There were times I was genuinely fearful for what was going to happen. I am still concerned for what the future holds. But running has helped me cope.

Finding that same mental strength which lets me deal with the opening strides of a run has also got me through the last few months. This is not the same for everyone. I am not preaching anything here. All I would do is just urge everyone to have belief, have faith in themselves of what they are capable of. Because I can guarantee, you are far more capable than you think you are.

“Trust yourself, it will get better”

So when you do start your run and your body is protesting, trust yourself, it will get better. And when you get through that initial stage, the rewards can be great. Now getting to this point may take a long time. It is not going to happen overnight and it is definitely not going to happen if you let the doubting voices win. The only thing I can say is persevere.

This was brought home to me last weekend, when I had decided I would go for a long run on my own on Sunday morning. I wanted to run in some places in the city where I had not been running for months because of the lockdown restrictions to exercise close to home.

It was really hard going to start with. The wind was from the south so pretty much straight into my face for most of the first seven and a half miles. At loads of stages I wanted to stop, of course I did, particularly when the weather forecast lied to me again and the rain, which was not due to arrive until after I had finished, actually began after only about twenty minutes of the run.

• 

• 

• 

The bridges over the River Dee and a deserted Union Street in Aberdeen

But as the run went on – pace-wise I was taking it nice and easy, this was about distance and nothing else – those early struggles became a distant memory; left far behind as the miles ticked over. And then by the time I reached the city centre about ten miles in, I reached that part of of a run which makes it all worthwhile.

Everything felt good. My breathing was easy. My body was strong. Nothing was aching. Mentally my thoughts were clear. I was relaxed. Now this feeling does not last forever – I truly wish it did – but when it happens it is transformational. It justifies all the other stuff I go through to get to this point. It erases the pain of those early miles and convinces me I can go further.

This point of run does not happen on every one – in fact, it occurs on very few. On some distances, particularly shorter ones, it never happens. For them it is a case of sucking it up, pulling up my big boy pants and just getting on with it, knowing that when I finish, the endorphins which will be flowing through me at that point will give me the physical and mental strength to justify why I went out in the first place. And why I will go out again.

On the way home, about twelve miles in, five miles to home

Sunday’s run ended up being seventeen miles (27km), probably the longest run I have done since the Barcelona Marathon in March last year. It was hard, of course, but it felt great to get there and also to feel that I had the strength and motivation to go further if I had wanted.

My round the city route

Seventeen was more than enough though, but it has made me think that perhaps I could run another marathon. Who knows when that would be though, as I am very sceptical about racing at all this year, given the current situation. But the important point for me was the sense that the fight through those early metres and miles was so worth it for the benefits it brought. And then there was also this.

Our daughter’s home made Victoria Sponge

Who needs any other motivation than a nice slice of cake at the end? Persevere and there will be rewards – maybe not cake of course but you know what I mean. So if you have never run before, or you have but the motivation has seeped out of you through these last few months and you are going back to the start once more, just keep going. Take it easy. Stick with it.

And for those experienced runners that you see and you think they have it easy because they are always out pounding out the miles? Just know that your struggles are also their struggles. We all start from the same place. Those first few paces are the worst. Get through them and who knows how far we can all go.