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What a day! what an experience!

Here goes for my memories with bonus tips for other first time Marathon runners.

Preparation

I followed the Furnam FIRST training program which consists of three runs per week - a fast run of between 6-10 miles - intervals of 10x800m flat-out and long runs from 17-23 miles. In total I did four 20 mile and two 23 mile runs. All timed so I knew my target pace quite accurately at between 4:10-4:15. I had practiced using gels (sugar boosts) and drinking enough not to dehydrate. I was well prepared was not injured and I felt confident I would be able to get around without hitting the wall. So I set my race band to 4:13 and went to London feeling ready.

Getting to the start

It’s been raining now for about 2/3 weeks almost non-stop so the prediction was for rain. But on the day it was perfect, no rain or wind and about 15 degrees. A little warmer than I would have liked but nothing major. We stayed in the TravelLodge in Stratford which is on the DLR so I could get a direct train to the start. On the Saturday we went down to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark, Maritime Museum and Observatory. We found Greenwich Park sits on a big hill.

I was at the blue start on the far side of the hill so the recommendation to go to Blackheath rather than Greenwich is good advice. It’s a long uphill walk otherwise. The tube trains were absolutely packed - like the Northern line on a busy morning. So leave early. Or even better, take the bus which is free for marathon runners as well.

The organisers say only runners should go to the start and we followed this advice, but lots of families came along and I think it would have been good to have them with me at the start. There was lots going on and things to see. Going to the loo is the big thing at the start. Huge queues for the loo's but there are a couple of alternatives. There are men urinals if you look around plus at the start there is a mass men's wee. Apart from that not much else apart from waving goodbye to your bag of stuff that disappears in a lorry to the finish.

The start

We all lined-up in a very long queue at the start and it was very quiet was little to no talking waiting out the 10-15 mins to the 9:45 start. We started walking at 9:45 and were doing a light jog as we crossed the start line after about 5 mins. OMG! It's started!

The course

I had my stopwatch running and my pace band on and there are big mile markers. But watch-out, I'm certain they move the mile markers further and further apart as you go. By about 20 miles they must have been a least 3 miles apart! Either way for the first 6 miles I followed my race band quite accurately.

What I had not prepared for were the other runners - thousands of them. They were everywhere, pushing past, holding me up, and stopping - just like me. This makes the running difficult with lots of dodging and speeding-up/slowing-down. It wasn't like this on my quiet training runs in Norfolk on flat straight empty country lanes. I couldn't get running rhythm as I was constantly ducking left and right to overtake / avoid people.

The crowds are great and very supportive. I found the best thing was the high-fives. A couple stick in my memory. The first was high-fiving a policeman and the second was you get gangs of kids all with their hand out and you go along high-fiving the lot of them.

The course does two things. Sometimes it narrows meaning us runners get squeezed together and we slow down. Also it undulates. I thought it was a flat course and coming from Norfolk know a flat course when I see one. The London Marathon does have hills. So if you haven’t done any hill training it’s a bit of a shock.

There are regular water, sports drink and gels stops along the way. These are great, well run and absolute life-savers. But you have to be constantly on the lookout for plastic bottles on the route in case you trip-up.

So how did I do?

Well I had my race band and my six months training. I was injury free and well rested. I was well prepared and confident. My target was 4:10-4:15 and I finished in 4:34, about 20 minutes past my target. I found the first 6 miles fine, as you would expect. I followed the race band and got to about 9 miles feeling OK. Between 9 and 12 miles I started to find the pace a little challenging but nothing too bad and went over Tower Bridge about 60 seconds off the pace. This is where I made a crucial mistake; I tried to speed-up a bit to make-up the lost time. I thought I would go about 10-15 seconds per mile faster. What I should have done was live with it. So as I approached Docklands I found I was feeling tired, not a good sign. I made it through Docklands but at about 19-miles next to Billingsgate Market I hit the wall. I had to walk for about 4/5 minutes to recover. I got going again but once you hit the wall there is no going back. I spent the last 6 miles running/walking, which was exactly what I tried to avoid. I came in 19670th out of 36672 runners so just below the 50% average. Disappointed? Not a bit of it.

The finish

Wow! Not a lot. Medal, goody bag and thanks for coming. No changing area no showers. We met-up under the lions of Trafalgar Square and the overwhelming need is to eat, drink and go home.

My tips

I was well prepared to run 26.2 miles on my home training course in 4:10-4:15. But not prepared to run the London Marathon in 4:10-4:15. It's a different and harder course. It has hills and I trained entirely on the flat.

It has a huge number of other runners and other obstacles. It's a little like running up and down the aisles of Tesco on a busy Saturday morning for26 miles. I think the nearest you can get to this is cross-country / fartlek training, something that continually breaks the rhythm.

I think I should have dropped my target down to 4:20-4:25, but hindsight is a luxury.

I would have done a different type of run, I would have done 6 miles flat out to get near to the wall then 10 miles at marathon pace to practice running while exhausted.

Would have also done the crossing-training part of the Furnam FIRST training plan to get the "constant tiredness" element in the training.

Either way, entry in for next year and will continue training/running till I own it!

Week 28 - Finally here!

Just light training this week, 7 miles, 5miles and 10 miles - total of 22 miles. I've developed a shin splint so have tried to do the minimum to rest my leg. Apart from that all on track. One last push on the sponsorship this week. I'm going to miss the training.

Week 27 -Blah, blah, blah!

I understand that my obsession with completing the London Marathon in a couple of weeks has become a teency bit boring.So blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah . Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Just doing it to get noticed by Samantha Black really. 

Week 26 - Four letter words!

Stats for the week steady 10 miles 1:28:45, fast (for me) 5k 23:58, very last long run 22.8 miles in 3 hours 42 mins. Half a year of training and I can now start to wind down with nothing longer than a short 14 miler next weekend. A number of four letter words kicked-in at 21 miles on Sunday things like ouch, hurt, pain but not walk. My target time is settled at 4:15 with a hope to have enough energy left at 22 miles to put in below 10 min per miles pace for the last 4 miles. What I have learned is no matter how good you feel in the first half do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE increase the pace. It will come back to bite very hard when you get into the 20+ mile zone this six more miles to go.
Week 25 – Nearly there
Stats for the week – steady 10m in 90:45 - Yasso 10x800's at 8.3mph - 13m long run in 1:57, total of 28miles. Not too far this week, very last of the great big long runs on Sunday. Its a 23miler then I start to wind down for the big day. I noticed yesterday my resting heart beat has dropped from 60 to 50 beats per minute so my heart has become 18% more efficient - nice one heart!
Week 24 – No more heroics
Stats for the week – 8.4mile tempo 75mins (was going for 10m but knee hurt) - 5m speed - Long Run 20m 3:16, total of 33miles. Didn't feel very fit this week. Bit concerned about my right knee that seemed to hurt a bit so took it easy. Still ran 33 miles but watching to stay injury free. Did fifth 20 mile run and thought it would be easy. But discovered at 17 miles that 20 mile runs are always hard!
Week 23 – KONY 2012 -What it's all for!
Stats for the week – 10mile tempo 91mins - 5k speed 24:23- Fast Long Run 13.2 1:55:40, total of 26miles. Focus was on speed this week with fastest yet for 5k and half-marathon. Both point to 4 hour marathon!! I started thinking I'd do 4 hours 30min. Still going for 4:10, but will see. Good to see Kony & the Lords Resistance Army in the media, helps explain the terrible things in the region. Helps explain why I'm fund raising for the child soliders and victims!
Week 22 – Put that in your pipe and smoke it
Stats for the week – 7mile tempo 61:04mins - Yasso 800s 10*3:39 - Long Run 22.75miles 3hrs 38mins, total of 35miles. Went off too fast on the tempo run and pulled-up at 7miles from a target of 10, good learning experience. Pleased with the long-run this week. Again felt I could have done the full distance and the time was where I hope to be at 9:36 min per mile. A good week.
Week 21 – It's not about the trainers! (But the Gels are good!)
Stats for the week – 5mile tempo 43:44mins - 4.5m London 35:50 - Long Run 13miles 1hrs 59mins, total of 20miles. It was an "easy" week as recovering from last weeks 20miler plus a lot of miles next week - plan being 10m, 10*800m & 21m. Just three 20+ mile long runs to go. Everything coming into place. Pleased I started training early and can now just finish off the training with confidence.
Week 20 – Gels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats for the week – 7mile tempo 60mins - 5k 25:20- Long Run 20.5miles 3hrs 18mins, total of 30miles. Everything this week was on doing the long run without hitting the wall and I did it. I got-up at 5am and ate porridge and sports drink and tea. On the run I drank double my normal amout and swapped water for sports drink. At 1:30 and 2:30 I ate a Gu Gel for energy. Experiment worked!! I think I could have done the other 6 miles without a problem today. Bring it on!! Focus now on speedwork and a bit more speedwork.
Week 19 – Started well but crashed on long run
Stats for the week – 10mile tempo 84:16 - Yasso 800s 10*3:39 - Long Run 19.3miles 3hrs 9mins (crashed), total of 34miles. The mid-week stats have improved from the week 16 baseline, 7mins faster for 10miles and 11 seconds off the 800m sprints. I ran the same 20 mile course as week 17 but crashed bad. In fact it was the hardest run of all 19 weeks. Came in feeling sick and wiped-out. I faded bad from 15miles although trying to run a negative split. Only three more 20 mile runs to go, all good practice. I really don't want to be stopping at 20 miles and walking the last 6! Tough, tough, tough.
Week 18 – Thanks for the sponsorship!
Stats for the week – 10k tempo 51:13 - Yasso 800s 10*3:42 - Long Run 13miles 123mins (on treadmill due to snow), total of 24miles. An easy week focussed on speed and recovering from last weeks 20 miles. Very pleased to have received sponsorship, with Aviva doubling amount I'm at £250. Next week is a hard week with the 2nd 20 mile run plus 10 mile tempo and Yassos. I'm thinking of not setting a target time and just taking the first half easy and seeing whats left for the 2nd.
Week 17 – I have a cunning plan!
Stats for the week – 10mile tempo 89:11 – Yasso 800s 10*3:45 – Long run 20miles 3:10. That’s 37 miles for the week over three runs plus Xtraining.
I took a look at the half-marathon & full marathon finish times for people like me in last year’s marathon. I found 98% of people run the second half slower than the first, on average 19-20% slower. Now all the books talk about running a steady pace the whole way around, if you go too fast in the first half you pay for it in the second. But 98% of people do exactly that. My plan is to go slow in the first half and be highly motivated for the second as I run past loads of people who are fading – I can dream!
Week 16 – Bummer, went too fast on my long run!
After my injury over Xmas, I’ve joined a gym for 3-month so I can avoid bad weather. Today it’s blowing a gale so I thought I would try my long-run on a treadmill. Target for this week was 18-miles. But I’m not used to them and went too fast and had to stop at 13.5 miles, bummer. But good news is I‘ve nailed my training program. Three runs per week….
- 10 miles with slight speed increase each week, baseline 91 mins for lactic acid tolerance building
- Second is Yasso 800s which are 10 lots of half-mile sprints with 60sec rest, baseline 3:50min per half-mile for building VO2Max
- Third is Long run, 18-22 miles every other week with short 14 miles in between for building endurance.
Plus I’m going to be doing circuit training with Oliver B twice a week. That is all.
Week 15 – Feelin them mitochondria multiply what an ATP rush!
Things must be going well when an easy week is a 14 mile long run. Came in bang on my target marathon pace and felt I could have done a few more miles. But that’s still 12 miles short. The mileage starts ramping-up now with 5 * 20-22 milers over Jan/Feb/Mar. Hopefully I will start getting some sponsorship soon. Big thank you’s to Katrina, Toby & Simon for sponsoring me!!!!!!!!!!!
Week 12-14 – The fall and rise of Robin Barnwell.
A small slip on the only icy day of 2011 resulted in very painful right knee. I spent weeks 12-14 not running, visiting physio and slowly recovering. I was concerned I would have to pull-out of Marathon. But I’m back! Managed a slow 17.8 miles Sunday. I'm now in full training 3 runs per week plus 2 days cross training. I'm going to start asking for sponsorship so hopefully will get a good response.
Week 11 – Tough week!
Not a good week. I was slow on the London Tempo runs – 1 & 2 mins off the pace. I pulled-up on the long-run at 13 miles with hamstring pain and ducked the last 6 miles. I wanted to a do big long-run before the Xmas break. I think the best bit this week was when you get lost in thought and look-up to find you’ve done a quarter mile without noticing. Going to stop long-runs for a couple of weeks and focus on more frequent short (5-10 mile) runs plus intervals/Xtrain. Must not get injured!
Week 10 – Faster but not fast enough
The proof points are there, not missed a training session yet, stopped drinking, lost 10lbs in weight, have a map of the route by my bed, continual improvement in speed and stamina. My target is sub 4-hours and I was looking at last year’s results to see where I needed to be at the half-way point. Some people were 1:40 and died in the second half, some were 1:50 and faded and some were 1:59 and just kept on going. So I tried a fast half marathon today, came in 1:56:36 which is my fastest ever but I don’t think its fast enough. I want to hit 1:50 and run 1:59 on the day to have lots left for the second half.
Week 9 – Thank you Gaia for your mercy!
After last week’s heroics of running into a force 10 gale, Gaia was merciful and asked the wind gods to relent. This gave me opportunity to do a 17 miler. Plus a new PB on my London tempo run, down to 35mins for 4.5 miles this more to come. A good solid week.
Week 8 – VO2max & Gales
What a tough run! Running mile after mile straight into a gale is a killer, for the first time I had to abandon the run at 11.5 miles and walk last 3 miles home. Hope it’s not like this in April! Also I’ve added a new type of running from this week, Intervals. It’s a series of short fast runs with short rest in between. It’s the final running type I need for my Furnam training approach. Difficult to decide what hurts more now, reaching fatigue point on long run or lung-bursting intervals – tempo runs are luxury.
Week 7 – Check out my Guns!
I smashed my target time for tempo run in London this week. This Furman First training approach is fantastic, destroying my personal bests. Went up to over 14miles for long-run today, was difficult but will speed up now I’ve run the distance, pleased to be going more than half the distance now. I can see why you need to do five 20-22 miles runs to prepare, building endurance is tough!
Week 6 – I need knew targets!
Complete stillness and quiet, Sun rising on the horizon, mist rolling over the fields, all I can hear is the rhythmic thud, thud, thud of my feet and my breath in harmony. Good week, running sub 8 miles in London and under 2 hours for half-marathon. I need knew targets, I wonder if 7:45 a mile is humanly possible.
Week 5 – Headwinds and puddles
Slow tempo London run on Wednesday, still recovering from last Sunday. Did a good 10k on Friday – 52mins but everything was focused on the Sunday long run. Headed out very slow after last weeks too fast mistake and picked-up the pace as I went. Came home a minute slower at 2 hours 4 mins, strong headwinds and 10 metre puddles got me wet. But felt great coming home felt I could have done another 3 miles no problem (well some problem!).
Week 4 - Tough Long Run!
Tempo runs in London going well – "seven something per mile now". Stretched the weekly long run to half-marathon, OK for first 90mins then Boom! slowed right down to a snail’s pace, went far too fast in first 6 miles. Building endurance is tough. Looking to add Strides from next week – half-mile at speed * 8 with small rest in between.
Week 3 - 8 min miles!
Touched 8min miles on the Thursday Tempo run in London – didn’t think I could run this fast! Next will be "seven something per mile"! Good long run, same 11mile route – 90sec off last week.
Week 2 - Good progress – no injury.
First, check-out my stunning Karate demonstration video! Good week, nearly down to 8min miles for short (5 mile) weekday runs, knocked 6 mins off this morning’s long run. Going to follow the Furnam FIRST training program – 3-runs per week. Long run, fast medium run and 8*800m plus 2 days Xtraining.
Week 1 - The Perfect First Long Run.
Up at 6:30am, cup of tea, out by 7am, its pouring with rain. Got soaked to skin. Puddles so big that you have run through them, no other choice. Rain driving into my eyes make it hard to see. Eleven miles in one hour forty. The perfect first long run.