I have reached the point where there is nothing more I can do. With a week to go to the virtual Dublin Marathon, I am as fit as I am going to be. I feel ready.
The weeks immediately prior to a marathon – or any race – are when I usually spend my time worrying about a variety of things. My fitness, what clothes am I going to wear, what will the weather be when the race takes place, how will I travel to get there, what will it be like at the start line and on and on and on. This time around? I feel relaxed about the challenge ahead. Still cautious, of course, but I am in no way in panic mode.
There are loads of reasons why this is the case. One of the more obvious ones is that, as it is a virtual race and I can run it from my house, then there are no worries about travelling, accommodation, parking, getting to the start line. The start line is as soon as I step out my front door and start the app on my phone to signal that I am on my way. And the weather? It is Scotland in October. The weather will be the weather, so there is little point in worrying about that.
“I have done all I can”
But I think the main reason why I feel relatively ok with everything is that I know that I have done all I can to get me to this point. I have followed the training plan since I signed up for the race at the middle of July and in fact, for a few of the weeks of the training plan I actually exceeded the mileage that I was due to run.
This comes from the knowledge of the previous training regimes I have followed for the two other marathons I have done. This time around, I knew what was ahead of me and while yes, there have been moments where I have felt a bit overwhelmed by the challenge ahead, generally I have approached the training knowing that each run was driving me towards a greater goal. And that every run would be worth it, regardless of how I felt during it.
“I feel better prepared than I have felt before”
I have run further than I have ever run before in a week and in a month. I have clocked up almost as many miles now as I did for the whole of last year. I have run five days a week solidly since back in March. I know what it takes to get round a marathon course and this time around, I feel better prepared than I have felt before.
Not all of the training was enjoyable of course, some of it has been a total slog, but I will be eternally grateful to my friends who have run with me on Saturdays through the summer and autumn – Susan and Cara – and my regular long Sunday run training partner, Jeanette, who will run the race with me.
Marathon training is a bit of a solo pursuit and the majority of my runs have been on my own, but every pace with my friends was easier than every pace I ran on my own. Every conversation we had helped distract me from the physical difficulties I may have been going through at that particular time. Every hill we ran up we ran up together, encouraging each other to get to the top. Every rainy or windy morning, the simple fact we were running together made sure we turned up and got each other around the course As Susan pointed out to me fairly recently, “if you want to run fast, run on your own. If you want to run far, run with friends”.
Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland have meant that – in recent weeks – I have only been able to run with one of these friends at a time (the picture of me with Cara and Susan was from back in the summer). The simple pick me up when we have been able to run together gave me extra impetus to do the runs on my own.
“No run is wasted”
Those solo runs have given me the mental strength to get through the tough times. Everything combines when it comes to running a marathon. No run is wasted, in fact in many ways I always feel the terrible ones count more! Every inch of every mile has counted and I will be supremely grateful to all of them for how they have helped get me to where I am now.
I also got another boost this week when I received my medal for the recent Marathon in a Day Challenge which I did with a number of virtual friends last month. This was running as part of a team of five people to cover the marathon distance in one twenty four hour period. So I ran (virtually) with four other people who I only know through running groups on social media. Not the same as running with real friends I know, but such groups can be really supportive too.
As my training winds down, reducing in both distance covered and in time spent pounding the pavements, this could have lead me to begin to think too much about the challenge of next weekend. Thankfully, this week has been extremely busy at work, so I have had little time to ponder exactly how I am going to handle getting around twenty six point two miles of Aberdeen next Sunday morning.
“That is how crazy marathon training is”
I have continued to run of course, sticking the training plan and running four times this week as usual, with tomorrow’s long run to come. The ironic thing is that by the end of this week I will have run around thirty miles in total. And you know what? That feels like I have barely been out of the house this week. That is how crazy marathon training is. Back in the Spring I began to aim to cover a marathon distance each week and that felt like a stretch. After three months of training, running thirty miles – with the furthest distance of one run being only nine miles – feels like having the week off!
This period of tapering is crucial to allowing your body to relax and recover from the rigours of training and the relentless miles to be in the best possible shape to complete the distance. At times it feels like my fitness is just draining away, but I know that is the demons in my head playing tricks.
One more week to go.
craigaw 1969 