Still Running (weakly). Issue 154

PAST – inspiration – “You want to try and get under 50?  I’ll pace you,” I said to a friend at the Yateley 10km in 2004.  I had gone to the race with the intention of attacking my vets personal best of about 40 minutes, but I decided to sacrifice that opportunity to help my mate.

Wasn’t that kind?

No!  It was simply the excuse I needed to avoid the agony of the test.  It was my comfort blanket.

Comfort blankets!

Back in the day, when some running races were still small and changing rooms were usually available, you couldn’t move in there for the excuses being bandied around – “I had a cold this week – just going to take it easy today,” “This hamstring’s been niggling – I’ll jog round at the back with Stan.”

Comfort blankets!

At school, I had a bad stammer, but, as Head Boy, I had to make a speech on Speech Day.  The rehearsal went so badly that the headmaster suggested the Head Girl do the speech instead.  I gratefully said, “Yes,” took up my metaphorical comfort blanket and left the literal stage.

Fiona was a very good runner.  Back in the 90s, we used to go to a lot of races together.  She had run a 40:23 10km and was desperate to get under 40.  Thing is, every 10km race we went to, also had a 5km option…….

Which she always took.  “Good speed training,” she said.

“But at some point, you’re going to have to grasp the nettle and attack a 10km,” I said.

“I know,” she said, with a faraway look in her eyes.

She never did, and now she never will.

She held on to her comfort blanket.

PRESENT – perspiration – Further evidence of female superiority in the longest of races came in the Cococona 250 last weekend with 34-year-old Rachel Entrekin winning outright in a new course record of 56:09:48.

“Somewhere around mile 200, I slept for five minutes at an aid station.  Then around 230 miles, I took two seven-minute naps on the floor.  And food, it's impossible to say how much I ate but as far as real food goes, I had a lot of mashed potatoes.  Mashed potatoes are the best.  You get tired of chewing, and you don't want to expend any extra energy doing that.

The male course record was also set this year with Kilian Korth finishing in 57:28:36.

Entrekin joins a growing line of women who have beaten all the men.  For example, Pam Reed won the Badwater Ultramarathon outright in 2002 and 2003.  And Jasmin Paris won the 268-mile Montane Spine Race along the Pennine Way in 2019, beating all of the men, and shattering the previous (either sex) record by 12 hours.

And such dominance can extend to other endurance sports too.  Swimming?  In September 2019, an American lady called Sarah Thomas became the first person ever to swim the channel four times consecutively!  Cycling?  Way back in the 1967 Otley 12-hour cycling trial, Beryl Burton won the event outright, recording a distance of 277.25 miles that was a record for all-comers, men and women.    

FUTURE – suggestion – So, how do we ditch the comfort blanket and submit to the test?

Three tips.

Firstly, keep firmly in mind why this target is so important to you.  Look at your training diary in the weeks leading up to the race (you do keep a training diary, don’t you?!)  Examine just how much effort you have put in – all those long runs, all those speed sessions, all those mornings when you didn’t want to get up, all those evenings when you didn’t want to go out.

Will they mean anything like as much if you don’t top them off with the performance that they warrant?

Secondly, be accountable to someone.  A coach is a great idea, because a good coach will not let you off the hook.  A good coach will talk to you in the days before the race.  They will remind you of everything you need to do before and during the event.  They may even be there themselves.

It doesn’t have to be a coach.  But the alternative – a family member perhaps, or a friend – is likely to be less immune to your protestations or sobs of, “I just can’t do it,” than your mean old coach!

Thirdly, you will have a routine that you follow on the morning of race day.  However much you don’t want to do it, however bad you feel (and your hypochondria will kick in here to convince you that, a) you have suddenly acquired a sore throat, b) that calf is really painful, c) you’re just plain exhausted), just trust the process.

This is not rocket science.

Get up, go to the loo, put on your kit, eat, drink, loo, pack, loo (!), get there, ignore the coffee kiosk unless that’s a vital part of your prep, don’t dally too long chatting to friends, drink, loo, do a really good warm up, finally line up.

You are committing yourself to a challenge of monstrous proportions, so don’t try and confront the monster head on, plug yourself into the process to creep up on it in this way, and you will find yourself on the start line with your body – and your mind – primed for the task ahead.

I used to sit in the changing rooms before races and smile to myself at the excuses being broadcast, and I made a pact with myself there and then, that, whenever I turned up to a race, I would never use an excuse.

If someone asked me how I was feeling, I would answer, “I feel great.  I’m going for it today.”

Discipline of this sort is a muscle whose strength you can enhance through its regular use.

Commit often enough and commitment is no longer a problem.

Emil Zatopek, Czech winner of four Olympic gold medals in 1948-52, said, “If one can stick to the training throughout many long years, then willpower is no longer a problem.  It’s raining?  That doesn’t matter.  I am tired?  That’s beside the point.  It’s simply that I just have to.”

Do you have a comfort blanket?  Be honest.  So now, can you ditch it for good?