Finally back on the wagon

Since I have started trying to get back to fitness, it has become abundantly clear that I started this blog off at a premature stage. I knew that trying to return to running 400m would be very difficult but I think I underestimated just what a bad state I had let my body get into. To give you an idea, it is basically the same as this picture (apart from the fact that I was never near as buff as in the left picture and I actually looked worse than the right but anyway...)

 

When I wrote my last blog post, I had fully intended to get off the road and back onto the track within a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in a couple of 'jumpers for goalposts' footy matches I managed to tweak my hamstring not once but twice which meant that I couldn't even begin to entertain the idea of sprinting. Sprinting was beginning to look like an utopian dream - an abstract concept and something that my body was rejecting. This was slightly concerning as it was hamstring pulls that basically put my sprinting 'career' to the sword. However, I also knew that it was poor conditioning and asking too much of my body too soon which usually caused the pulls. Therefore, I took the decision to take things easy and not rush things and this partly explains the reason why I haven't written much about it. The other reason is that I'm the worst 'I'll do it tomorrow' person in the entire history of the human race. I make Hamlet look like Alexander the Great.

Anyway, exciting news dear reader. I have now completed two weeks of three running sessions a week. They have been baby steps but it definitely involved going down to the running track, putting on my spikes and running up and down a bit. Which is definitely progress. To be more specific I have decided to follow a short to long training programme which very simply involves doing short and intensive sprints early on in the off season and building up to longer runs throughout winter and beyond. For those reading who are not 400m geeks, this could be seen as unusual as the accepted wisdom for quarter miler training is to start off doing longer runs to build up stamina (or aerobic capacity) and then move to short, more intense runs to build speed, speed endurance and something called special endurance as training progresses towards the season. My logic for going against the grain is threefold:

Firstly - I am quite simply not fit enough to do 'proper' longer 400m sessions at the moment. I am therefore building up my stamina (aerobic fitness) through other activities such as exercise bikes/slow runs. By doing shorter runs, I should be able to run myself fit so that going into September 2013, I am ready to start training 'properly'.

Secondly - I have lost most of the speed I once had (which for those that know me, wasn't much to begin with). Whilst a lot of the 400m demands special and speed endurance, having decent speed is vital. After all, it is a sprint. This is something that I feel I need to work on and if I get it right, it will help me to produce better sessions when I start to do 'longer' runs later on in the year.

Thirdly - I followed a similar programme in my last year of university with Coach Martyn Jones, someone who and whose ideas I have a lot of respect for. I don't think short to long programmes are quite for me and I fully intend to revert back to long to short in 2013/14 but I did get some very decent immediate results from  Coach Jones' training that year. In that December I was probably the fittest I have ever been and I remember running a 300m in 34.9 and then a 600m in 1.23 ten minutes after (indoors).

So my sessions so far have involved doing 2x4 60m runs with 1 minute between the reps and 4 minutes between the sets. This has felt pretty weird to be honest. I've definitely lost the ability to run quick and in some ways it feels like somebody has transplanted my head onto a slow and overweight person's body. Unfortunately, that is now just my slow and overweight body.

I have also been going down to a small wood back in Ormskirk called 'Ruff Wood'. This is a great place to take drugs and have outdoor sex but it also a great place to train as it has a 1km path which follows the circumference of the wood. This can be occasionally boggy but on the whole its a good solid surface to run on (if you can dodge the dog walkers). I used to be able to do a lap of the wood in 2m 56 secs and I would usually knock out 3x1 laps (5 mins rest) in an average of 3m 10 secs. The first time I went down I managed two laps in a 4min 10 sec average and today I've been again and managed two laps in a 3 min 50sec average which was very pleasing. As I've said this is very much baby steps but I am definitely going in the right direction and very much back on the 400m wagon.

In terms of going forward, I fully intend to continue with a short to long programme but I will lengthen the turnaround distances from 60m incrementally to 100m over the next few weeks. I'm also debating whether I should join a training group in the next couple of months. Going down to train on my own is easy at the moment as the sun is shining and its nice and warm - I'm fully aware that this will not be the case for much longer. Being part of a group will probably aid my motivation but it will also reduce my autonomy in picking sessions. Will keep people posted on that one.  

Long overdue post...

Its been quite a while since my last (and first) post. The reason? Well, quite simply, its just been really difficult to sit down and find the time to write (that and I'm a born procrastinator). This has also been the case with my running as I've really struggled to get back into the rhythm of going out to train. For many years, since I started training properly, going training almost happened subconsciously. Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings were just training days. Looking back to some Sunday mornings post a uni night out I struggle to believe that I actually functioned, never mind make it to training for a 10:30am hill session. Not particularly proud of that, and it must have been a contributing factor to my times going downhill but it does illustrate what an involuntary, reflex reaction going to training was.

It has been difficult to try and get this back after such a long time out. It's not been for the want of trying either but as I am a bit older now, boring middle aged things have started to sneak up on me and get in the way - such as doing a bit of DIY or staying late to finish a report at work. I knew this would be the case as it was a contributing factor to me stopping in the first place but it has surprised me how hard its been to get disciplined again.

Having said all of that, I have actually been doing some running since my last post. As I was starting from such a low base (see previous post for gory details), I thought it would be best to start with some long(ish!) runs at a very slow pace just to get my general conditioning better. I won't bore you reader with the minutiae of every run but suffice to say I started out pretty crap 3 weeks ago and I am still pretty crap but less so. I'm doing a 5k circuit on a very flat road course and my first run took 23 mins(!) with a lot of walking and I am now down to 18 mins with no walks and a sprint finish.*

*As a quick aside, I am making a solemn vow to you now dear reader, that I won't bullshit on any times that I give here. Some might be quite embarrassing, particularly when I start back on the track but I want this to be an honest account that I can look back on in a couple of years and see some real progress.

I expect to carry on with the long runs for this week (probably another 2-3) and then next week I will move onto some shorter tempo grass runs for a month which I will do 3 times a week. I'm hoping that I can be disciplined enough to carry on with the longer runs a couple of times a week because I've found them beneficial - particularly in loosening up my hip flexers and lower back. I always used to give long distance runners a bit of stick in the various training groups that I've been a part of - calling them uncharitable things such as 'joggers' and asking them 'why don't they just try to run a bit quicker?' I can see now that such dunderhead things were borne out of an insecurity as I've never really been able to 'do' long distance. Every track and field discipline is challenging and has its own idiosyncratic demands but I think being able to train for middle/long distance takes a special type of determination that requires intelligence, patience and the ability for one to be comfortable in their own head for a considerable amount of time. Talents, alas, that I seem to lack.

Anyway, I digress. Despite this blogs' and as a corollary; my return to athletics' stuttering start, I intend to keep this blog updated every week and hopefully it will become more interesting as I start to do some 'proper' 400m sessions. I am tempted to do a Stretford Open in late August just to set a marker but at the moment, the thought of it scares the life out of me. I'm only planning to get back on the track in October so maybe it will come a little bit too early. If I can get myself back in a routine we shall see...

As a final point, I would just like to thank everyone who commented on this blog through Facebook - many of you former training partners. Whilst some of you have understandably given me some deserved abuse for my very public show of catharsis (Mike), all of you have been supportive which has reinforced to me why I wanted to get back into athletics - at whatever level - everyone is just really sound.

Cheers.

Mark

The start of a long journey...

Firstly, if you are reading this, thank you for taking the time to do so. I'm writing this blog mainly as a motivational tool for myself so I do apologise if it occasionally wanders into the realm of self indulgence. I am hoping, however, that this blog will successfully diary my attempts to turn myself from a lapsed (and very unfit) former 400m runner back into a decent 400m club runner. If it provides any inspiration or at the very least a twinge of mild amusement from anyone who reads it then it will have been worthwhile.

A bit of background about myself. From the age of 17 until 23 I trained for the 400m with varying degrees of success. Early on, it went very well. My first full season saw me turn out a 49.1 seconds personal best and a couple of North of England finals along the way. My second season as an 18 year old saw an improvement on that personal best to 48.07 seconds and a couple of North of England junior championships. I then went to away to the University of Sheffield to study History and looking back this was the beginning of the end for my 'elite' 400m career. A combination of drinking, late nights and other priorities led to a slow and incremental decline in my times and enjoyment in the sport. A job followed and it became increasingly difficult to drag myself out to train in the wind and the rain when I knew it was unlikely that I would ever run another personal best. I stopped training on the 15 February 2011 and to be honest, at the time it felt like a relief. For 6 years I had trained 4/5 times a week and made a number of sacrifices in terms of friends, jobs and girlfriends. Being a 400m runner can be a selfish existence and I was glad to see the back of it.

If anyone is interested in further detail, my power of 10 profile can be found here:

http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=21247

Picture of me now - 

1) I work on the bottom floor of a two story office and I'm climbing the back stairwell to go and see someone on the top floor. At the top, I pause for breath for 5 seconds.

2) Playing football for a Saturday league team - a lad who could be generously described as 'portly' takes the ball past me. Sprinting to catch up with him, I pull my hamstring.

3) Deciding to 'get fit' last week, I go for a run. I last 10 minutes before I have to walk as the shock to my nervous system is so great that my left foot has gone numb and my lower back is on fire.

I think it would be a fair assessment to describe my current physical condition as 'poor'. Time is the greatest healer but she can also be a cruel mistress.

Ruminating on this situation at my work desk (eating a twix), I started to think about how I felt when I was training for athletics. All those negative feelings that had once festered and taken all the joy out of it had gone. "Oh Mark, take off those tartan tinted spectacles - you hated the lactic and the injuries" said the wee devil on my left shoulder - "you only did it because you liked winning - have another twix". He had a point. Turning to my right shoulder, there was a wee angel (let's call her Trisha Farrell for all my LPS peeps) and she said "what about your training partners, the camaraderie, the feeling of accomplishment after a difficult session - the knowledge of a personal victory". With this, I threw down the twix and declared "By Jove! You are correct little Trish. I now fear for my mental health but I am clear in the sense that athletics was and is not an external reinforcement of my super-ego but rather an intrinsic need that is vital for a sense of personal accomplishment and identity."*

On the back of this epiphany, I have decided to try and make some sort of comeback to the world of athletics. I have just turned 25 and by my reckoning I have about 8-10 years of peak physical capability left. I intend to make the most of this and try and get myself back up to 'decent club runner level' by this time next year. I define this as the ability to run sub 51 seconds for the 400m. So reader, if you will be so kind, join me on this journey from unfit slob to slightly above average 400m runner. It won't be signed up for a book/film deal but hopefully it will prove entertaining nonetheless.

I would also appreciate it if anyone with an athletics background could give me some pointers for training etc.

Mark Grimshaw

*this was not actually said out loud or in my head. But I did not have another twix.