The best laid plans of mice and men... MR. M'S JOURNEY TO THE 2017 GREAT NORTH RUN

In January Mr M wrote his first blog in a 4 part mini series all about his journey to the BIG Great North Run in September. Here is his 2nd instalment including a number of different experiences at a variety of races over the past 6 months. Keep reading to see how he is getting on. 

Remember the chest infection I was suffering from at the time of writing my first blog post? Well that lingered on for ages, to the extent that I didn't feel well enough to go out for my first run of 2017 until February 18^th (a park run). Eight days later I completed the 5k Stroke Association Resolution Run with a still recovering chest and an ankle I'd rolled in footy training earlier that week. I was just relieved to cross the line.

Tara, Michael, Oscar (the dog), Emma and Sarah

That was the feeling when I crossed the line of the Freeman Fun Run in April. I'd only managed to run 20km total since the Resolution Run and this was a last minute entry when Melissa had to withdraw. Suffice to say going out for an Italian and drinking plenty of house wine the night before, combined with the temperature on the day and a sadistic route which climbed out of Jesmond Dene did not make it the most fun of runs. I did, however, cross the line in 7^th place overall which is quite an achievement and one I doubt I'll ever match!

Freeman Run - Alison, Ay, Sarah, Emma, Michael + Oscar (the dog)

As April went on I built up the combined running/cycling distance (111.6 km) cycling to my new job or running in the lighter evenings after work. The regular footy season got under way with weekly training and matches to and with my first 10k  (Sunderland 10k) of the year on May 7^th things were looking good, with the slight exception I was going to spend the first 3 days of that week in Amsterdam with some of the lads from footy...

Suffice to say the beer to exercise ratio of that week swayed wholly to the former. Despite my lack of preparation it still felt good to assemble on the start line of a major, mass participation running event again and when we set off it was pure fun swarming through the streets of my home city and crossing the Wearmouth Bridge (twice!) The week caught up with me pretty quickly though and I was suffering before I'd run 3km. Fortunately, and unusually for a 10k, there were 4 water stations along the route so that helped in some respects.

Since I started running I've found I always have something left for the finishing straight and this was no exception. I'd pulled out my headphones after crossing the Wearmouth Bridge on the return so I could take in the atmosphere and this combined with seeing the race clock approaching the 50 minute mark prompted me to kick extremely hard to get over the line before it. I had forgotten I hadn't crossed the start line for a good minute at the start and so was very, very happy with my chip time of 48:55, a mere 19 seconds slower than my personal best!

The following  weeks were a bit of a whirlwind as Melissa and me moved into our new flat and then jetted of to Vienna for a week (keep your eyes peeled for her posts on our holiday - here & here). Whilst I didn't clock up many km running before my next 10k I did get out on the bike a lot more, especially with the HSBC UK City Ride Newcastle taking place at the beginning of July. I clocked up a combined total of 163 km between the Sunderland 10k and arriving at the start of the Great North 10k.

 I felt much better prepared for the Great North 10k than the Sunderland City 10k, even if I had played a game of Aussie Rules the day before. As with the Freeman Fun Run it was another warm day and had there not been a water station at the start line I would definitely have struggled more than I did.

Michael, Tara, Emma, Tracey, Sarah and Kat

I got off to a good start and where I normally find I have to overtake several people within the first few km as I find a comfortable pace I had managed to position myself so that I didn't have to weave around slower runners.

As with the Sunderland 10k I seemed to be blowing quite early on and so the water at 4.5 km was a relief. IT's reassuring when on a route like this you hit the point it turns back on itself and it allowed me to take the SIS gel I had been saving for the second half of the course. I could've done with saving some of the water as it left my mouth surprisingly dry!

By the time I hit the base of the 'Slog of the Tyne' I didn't feel like I had much left in the legs and it took a lot of willpower to not slow to a walk at any point in the last 2 km, especially when climbing the 'Slog on the Tyne' itself. Once we were back onto the roads I realised it wasn't far at all to the finish line in Gateshead Stadium, and it was an incredible experience running through the gates and onto the track of the stadium with the crowds in the stand cheering runners on towards that finish line. As I rounded the track onto the finishing straight I opened up the taps even if it left me feeling like I was close to collapsing after crossing the line. I think I finished the bottle of water in the finisher's pack before putting the hard earned medal around my neck!

I hadn't given much thought to my finishing time as I knew how much I felt I was struggling. Melissa had been tracking my run using the official app and when she told me I had crossed the line in 48:33 I was delighted: it was a new PB by 3 seconds!

I'd been putting off any proper training for the Great North Run until after the Great North 10k so where do I go from here?

On Wednesday I've got the Durham City Run 10k (a last minute sign up) and then a two month break until the Gateshead Trail 10k. I've also signed up for the Great North 5k this year to accompany  Melissa. The pace will be slower for me so it'll be a nice warm-up for the GNR the following day. It'll be the first time we'll run the full course and cross the line of a run together so I'm looking forward to that.

The footy season draws to a close in a fortnight (with us playing in the Plate Final for a second year running!) which frees up my Saturdays and I can realistically can start doing weekly 'long' runs of 10 km building up to half marathon distance and maybe a bit more. I will also try run from work a couple of nights a week which is a distance just over 6 km and the majority of which is uphill. Hopefully all of this should leave me sufficiently prepared when I come to assemble on the central motorway on September 10^th.

My next blog post should come in late August as I reach the final weeks of training for the GNR.

We'll see you in September - Mr. M's Journey to the 2017 Great North Run

It's January and everyone starts out the year with something outside of their little bubble that they want to try. I think it's normal for many people in the North East to want to try out the famous Great North Run. If you live in Newcastle you know you have to try it once in your lifetime which is why I was not surprised at all when Mr. M. told me he wanted to do it when I first met him 3 months ago. He asked if he could go a little series about his training up to the big day and I thought it would be a great idea. We decided to do 4 posts and this is the first installment all about receiving the e-mail to say you got your ballot place.

“We’ll see you on the start line in September!”

That’s was the first line of the email announcing the results of The Times ballot for the 2017 Simplyhealth Great North Run.

As is so often the case I met it the surprising news with a combination of excitement and trepidation, the latter in particular as I was (and still am) suffering from a chest infection and it is double the distance of anything I've run so far. Nevertheless, I was in!

Let’s backtrack a bit…

Up until June last year I hadn’t run more than 2.5k, a 12 minute run a few times a week to keep me fit for Australian Rules Football. Despite my best efforts I was having a disappointing season and was in need of a sense of achievement, and somehow arrived at the conclusion that I should run a 10k. With the inaugural Prince Bishops Durham City Run a mere 16 days away I decided that I would attempt a 5+km run depending on how that went sign up for the Durham City Run or not.

Surprisingly after a 5.4k run which left me soaked to the skin (it was raining), I was feeling rather optimistic and so began a crash training program which saw me run 47.8km in total in the build-up, including a 10.2km run in 51:47. I finished the event itself in 52:18 and, more importantly, I felt great! I wanted more and over time signed up for the Gateshead Trail 10k, the Great North 5k and then the Newcastle Mo Run with Melissa. My regular 2.5km turned into a regular 5.4km and I tried whenever possible to do the Park Run on Saturday mornings.

Growing up in the North East it's hard to avoid the influence of the Great North Run and it has been on my bucket list for at few years despite my relative lack of distance running experience. It was with hope, then, that I bought The Times on 7^th January to sign up to their exclusive ballot for 3000 GNR places...

Back to the main event...

What time am I aiming for?

This is my first half marathon and, as with my first 10k, my main aim is to complete it and unlike any other half marathon, in my opinion, it’s as much about the atmosphere as anything else.

That being said, entry forms for events require a predicted time and for these, I use Runner’s World Race Time Predictor. This estimated a finishing time of 1:55:03 based on my last 5.4km run. As I wasn’t at peak fitness when I ran that I am hopeful that I’ll go sub 2 hours.

So, what’s my training plan for the Great North Run? Do I even have a training plan?

I had already signed up for the 2017 Simplyhealth Great North 10k and have since signed up for the Siglion Sunderland City 10k. With these events in early May, early July and the GNR on 10^th September I already have a rather neat pattern of two months between events forming. If I go ahead with the Stroke Association Resolution Run in late February that's an additional 10k loosely fitting into this.

The footy season runs from April to August which will keep my fitness up (whilst hopefully leaving me uninjured) and I will be continuing with my 5.4km runs as a baseline.

In addition, I’ll be increasing the distance of set runs in the weeks before each major event and it is my intention to have completed a few half marathon distance runs by mid/late August before taking it easy in the final weeks.

I hope you enjoyed reading Mr. M post and hopefully his next few posts will be helpful when it comes to training.posts. So make sure you come back for them.