Over the past few weeks my writing has taken a bit of a back seat due to the training to get through my first marathon, so I thought why not write a piece about the training, not exactly a how-to guide as completing one marathon does not make me an expert in the field so to speak, but I thought I could share my experiences of the journey. So this is a story not about architecture but the journey to a special place.
The journey really began in 2011 when I arrived in Bahrain and spent the first weekend driving around the north of the Island looking for somewhere to live I arrived at Amwaj Islands and drove a full circuit thinking this would be a great place to start running. So the rest is history in that sense I have been living at Amwaj ever since. The circuit that I drove on my first look is a 5k loop (or 3 miles in old money) with villas and apartments and water on both sides, fresh sea air and relatively little traffic. Starting running at 40 takes longer than say in your 20's in that recovery takes a little longer and I suppose experience gives a sense of when and when not to push. The first runs were not always runs, sometimes more walk than run sometimes not running through 'stitch' where years earlier I would have just gone for it, but then running was a support activity to my rowing so there was always another goal and purpose to running.
Here it was all about the running, but with no goal it is difficult to remain motivated, and indeed when out on those early runs it would be more that my concentration would go than any physical barrier to running. From March 2012 as the temperatures steadily climbed through the 30s into the 40s running became more laboured and it became a bit too easy to say it's too hot tonight and runs would get er..missed. Into September the pool at the apartment complex looked more and more inviting and running would become supplemented with swimming, short distances at first but gradually building up to 800m. The advantage with Bahrain's temperatures is that I was swimming well into November.
I found out about the 2012 Bahrain Half-Marathon only after it had happened, although in January 2012 I was nowhere near ready. At the beginning of November I returned from a visit to London with a clear intent to complete the 2013 Bahrain Half-Marathon. At this point I had recorded around 50k running, I did not start keeping a diary until later but there were a lot of runs that were below 5k, and 110 lengths of the pool adding up to 3850 metres, after a year's work I felt that I was ready to start training.
I had done my homework, downloading training program and settled on one from 'Marathon Rookie' that prepares you for a half-marathon in 10 weeks. and went out running with a purpose. The program is quite simple: 3 runs during the week and a longer one on the weekend. Rest days are important and never run more than 2 days in succession. I also made a couple of rules of my own: 1. If I missed a run for any reason, I would not try to make up for it by adding another run into the week, just move on to the next one. 2. If there were niggles that were making running difficult I would switch to gym work, using the general rule that 5k run = 10 on the bike, I was also using my old friend the ergo machine usually doing 5k after the bike. I did weight training could help on rest days to build strength, using light weights but high reps.
So with a training program underway I joined Bahrain Road Runners (BRR), and quickly discovered that my 10 week program would be shortened to 8 as the half-marathon date was confirmed at 2 weeks earlier than in the previous year. I looked back at what I had done previous to starting training, and felt that I had enough in the bank so decided to 'keep calm and carry on'. December, my first event with BRR the Cross Island Classic' a nice gentle run across the desert for 17k, which turned out to be at the right place in the training program (relative to the end) to be running that sort of distance, with a time of 1:54:46, I felt that I was relatively close to my previous half marathon time of 1:50:00 in 1994.
With the 17k under my belt I had the confidence that I could easily cope with 21k (13.1 miles) particularly as some of my new friends from the Cross Island were saying that the terrain makes it harder that the half marathon. The last week of the training programme is more about preparation than training, which turned out to be a hard week at work, long days, and one of those days where meetings mean that healthy eating and carb-loading go out of the window, as the day's diet comprised mainly coffee and biscuits. The first 15k of the half-marathon went well, keeping good pace, the last 6 got more and more difficult as my energy levels depleted rapidly, finishing with a time of over 2 hours I felt that I should have done better, but at the time that was the best I could do and maybe I should not be comparing my time with the last one that I posted 18 years earlier.
The decision to go for the full Marathon came the day before the half at bib pick-up when the gem of an idea was inserted into my head, (thanks Zoe) that it is possible to go from half to full marathon in 4 weeks. Again I did my homework I downloaded a training programme from the same site as before, this time 16 weeks and figured that the first 12 weeks are gone and concentrated on the last 4. I also read a lot of blogs from people saying that the marathon is a 'different animal' and it is not possible to just go from half to full, but I made the decision that the half was only part of the build up to the full, and largely ignored what I felt was negative advice.
First night running after the half-marathon 8k (5 miles) felt amazing, I was stronger, quicker and increasing the distances should not be a problem. Second night the 13k (8 miles) became only 3k as I just had no energy. Two days later tried again and felt the same after 5k also the cartilage in my right knee had began to get inflamed and the marathon looked doubtful. On the following day I went back to the gym just a light session with weights, and made the decision to concentrate on gym work for the coming week, energy levels recovered and I started recording my ergo times over 5000m dropping from 25:35 to 22:40 within 10 days, in the same 10 days I had completed just one run over 7.5k. I kept up the gym work until one week before the marathon, I mapped out a 30k circuit where I had no choice but to keep going: Amwaj along the highway to Dry Dock, over the southern bridge to Mina Salman, along the corniche past 'Funland' and the National Museum, back over the middle bridge and along the corniche on Muharraq, past the airport and back to Amwaj. A route that looks great on Google earth, but in reality is challenging due to the Ministry of Works' love of digging great big holes everywhere along with the regional dislike for footpaths that actually link up. The circuit completed probably running 18k and walking the other 12 and a couple days to recover I felt that the Marathon was a 'go'.
So here I am one week after completing my first Marathon still feeling good, it has taken a few days to recover but I am ready to start training again, and start planning the next events. OK just to sum up then: Training following the program: 12 weeks.
Distance ran in training: prior to half marathon: 132k. Cycle: 90k. Row: 22.5k. Swim 800m.
Distance ran in training: Half-marathon to full marathon: 56k. Cycle 63k. Row: 32k.
I will just finish up by just 'sticking with it' and staying fixed on a goal has made training far, far easier and it was also easier starting the gym when I was already reasonably fit, I find training on machines quite difficult. There is a quote on the training program that I have been using that has kept me motivated and it goes like this:
"Now if you are going to win any battle you are going to have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired" - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian.
Amwaj 2012
The journey really began in 2011 when I arrived in Bahrain and spent the first weekend driving around the north of the Island looking for somewhere to live I arrived at Amwaj Islands and drove a full circuit thinking this would be a great place to start running. So the rest is history in that sense I have been living at Amwaj ever since. The circuit that I drove on my first look is a 5k loop (or 3 miles in old money) with villas and apartments and water on both sides, fresh sea air and relatively little traffic. Starting running at 40 takes longer than say in your 20's in that recovery takes a little longer and I suppose experience gives a sense of when and when not to push. The first runs were not always runs, sometimes more walk than run sometimes not running through 'stitch' where years earlier I would have just gone for it, but then running was a support activity to my rowing so there was always another goal and purpose to running.
Here it was all about the running, but with no goal it is difficult to remain motivated, and indeed when out on those early runs it would be more that my concentration would go than any physical barrier to running. From March 2012 as the temperatures steadily climbed through the 30s into the 40s running became more laboured and it became a bit too easy to say it's too hot tonight and runs would get er..missed. Into September the pool at the apartment complex looked more and more inviting and running would become supplemented with swimming, short distances at first but gradually building up to 800m. The advantage with Bahrain's temperatures is that I was swimming well into November.
I found out about the 2012 Bahrain Half-Marathon only after it had happened, although in January 2012 I was nowhere near ready. At the beginning of November I returned from a visit to London with a clear intent to complete the 2013 Bahrain Half-Marathon. At this point I had recorded around 50k running, I did not start keeping a diary until later but there were a lot of runs that were below 5k, and 110 lengths of the pool adding up to 3850 metres, after a year's work I felt that I was ready to start training.
I had done my homework, downloading training program and settled on one from 'Marathon Rookie' that prepares you for a half-marathon in 10 weeks. and went out running with a purpose. The program is quite simple: 3 runs during the week and a longer one on the weekend. Rest days are important and never run more than 2 days in succession. I also made a couple of rules of my own: 1. If I missed a run for any reason, I would not try to make up for it by adding another run into the week, just move on to the next one. 2. If there were niggles that were making running difficult I would switch to gym work, using the general rule that 5k run = 10 on the bike, I was also using my old friend the ergo machine usually doing 5k after the bike. I did weight training could help on rest days to build strength, using light weights but high reps.
So with a training program underway I joined Bahrain Road Runners (BRR), and quickly discovered that my 10 week program would be shortened to 8 as the half-marathon date was confirmed at 2 weeks earlier than in the previous year. I looked back at what I had done previous to starting training, and felt that I had enough in the bank so decided to 'keep calm and carry on'. December, my first event with BRR the Cross Island Classic' a nice gentle run across the desert for 17k, which turned out to be at the right place in the training program (relative to the end) to be running that sort of distance, with a time of 1:54:46, I felt that I was relatively close to my previous half marathon time of 1:50:00 in 1994.
With the 17k under my belt I had the confidence that I could easily cope with 21k (13.1 miles) particularly as some of my new friends from the Cross Island were saying that the terrain makes it harder that the half marathon. The last week of the training programme is more about preparation than training, which turned out to be a hard week at work, long days, and one of those days where meetings mean that healthy eating and carb-loading go out of the window, as the day's diet comprised mainly coffee and biscuits. The first 15k of the half-marathon went well, keeping good pace, the last 6 got more and more difficult as my energy levels depleted rapidly, finishing with a time of over 2 hours I felt that I should have done better, but at the time that was the best I could do and maybe I should not be comparing my time with the last one that I posted 18 years earlier.
The decision to go for the full Marathon came the day before the half at bib pick-up when the gem of an idea was inserted into my head, (thanks Zoe) that it is possible to go from half to full marathon in 4 weeks. Again I did my homework I downloaded a training programme from the same site as before, this time 16 weeks and figured that the first 12 weeks are gone and concentrated on the last 4. I also read a lot of blogs from people saying that the marathon is a 'different animal' and it is not possible to just go from half to full, but I made the decision that the half was only part of the build up to the full, and largely ignored what I felt was negative advice.
First night running after the half-marathon 8k (5 miles) felt amazing, I was stronger, quicker and increasing the distances should not be a problem. Second night the 13k (8 miles) became only 3k as I just had no energy. Two days later tried again and felt the same after 5k also the cartilage in my right knee had began to get inflamed and the marathon looked doubtful. On the following day I went back to the gym just a light session with weights, and made the decision to concentrate on gym work for the coming week, energy levels recovered and I started recording my ergo times over 5000m dropping from 25:35 to 22:40 within 10 days, in the same 10 days I had completed just one run over 7.5k. I kept up the gym work until one week before the marathon, I mapped out a 30k circuit where I had no choice but to keep going: Amwaj along the highway to Dry Dock, over the southern bridge to Mina Salman, along the corniche past 'Funland' and the National Museum, back over the middle bridge and along the corniche on Muharraq, past the airport and back to Amwaj. A route that looks great on Google earth, but in reality is challenging due to the Ministry of Works' love of digging great big holes everywhere along with the regional dislike for footpaths that actually link up. The circuit completed probably running 18k and walking the other 12 and a couple days to recover I felt that the Marathon was a 'go'.
So here I am one week after completing my first Marathon still feeling good, it has taken a few days to recover but I am ready to start training again, and start planning the next events. OK just to sum up then: Training following the program: 12 weeks.
Distance ran in training: prior to half marathon: 132k. Cycle: 90k. Row: 22.5k. Swim 800m.
Distance ran in training: Half-marathon to full marathon: 56k. Cycle 63k. Row: 32k.
I will just finish up by just 'sticking with it' and staying fixed on a goal has made training far, far easier and it was also easier starting the gym when I was already reasonably fit, I find training on machines quite difficult. There is a quote on the training program that I have been using that has kept me motivated and it goes like this:
"Now if you are going to win any battle you are going to have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired" - George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian.
Amwaj 2012
