fbpx

Me

After one week of marathon training I am absolutely exhausted. While I did not expect marathon training to be a walk in the park I didn’t expect to be this knackered after one week, especially considering that I haven’t been working which has enabled me to rest up more.
Nevertheless the training this week has gone really well. The sessions this week have been executed with the upmost professionalism and I’m extremely happy with my performance. I did a threshold hill session on Thursday for 40 minutes in very cold and windy conditions and I feel these are the sessions that when I look back after the marathon will be the ones that made the difference.
I’m very much hoping for some warmer and less windy weather for this coming week as it is a thousand times easier to motivate myself to get out and run when the sun is shining and there’s not a hurricane blowing outside.

Nick’s tip of the YEAR

With 2014 rapidly approaching I always feel it is important to set some aims for the year ahead in all areas of my life in order to keep myself motivated. For 2013 I set myself the aim of running 2,013 miles in the year. It is with regret that I must admit that I have fallen short of this aim, with an estimated exit mileage for the year of 1,955 miles. Which as the crow flies is the distance from Twickenham, London to the centre of Libya, North Africa.
For the New Year try setting yourself aims so that you stay motivated. Having an aim like total mileage for the year not only gives you a continuous aim that lasts the entire year, it also can let you have weekly and monthly stage aims.
My personal aim for 2014 is to achieve a personal best at every distance I race in the year. I achieved this in 2013 and so I think it is a great aim and one which I can strive towards.

Races around the globe this YEAR

This week I wanted to reflect back on one specific race from the year that was 2013…The Berlin Marathon and the world record run by Wilson Kipsang in 2.03.23. Kipsang knocked 15 seconds off the previous record and 19 seconds off his own previous best time.
Averaging at a pace of 4 minutes 42.6 seconds per mile, the run was truly breath-taking. I like to consider that earlier this year I did a one mile time trial on a track and finished in 4 minutes 59 seconds, which perhaps highlights the level of achievement by Kipsang on the streets of Berlin.
Much has been said about the sub 2 hour marathon which I think will inevitably happen but not for many years yet. I think we all must consider that Wilson averaged at 14 minutes 37 seconds per each 5km which the majority of us mortals would kill to have as our 5km personal best times. To achieve a sub 2 hour marathon the super human would have to be 1,157 metres ahead of Wilson Kipsang when they finished the race…that’s a big distance all considering…the for mentioned super human would also be running at an average pace of 4 minutes 34.8 seconds per mile!

Quote of the Week

“I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” (Unknown)

I like the sentiment of this week’s quote; do the things that enhance your life and add to the journey.

For some final motivation in 2013 please have a look at this video…we don’t always achieve our aims the first time of asking but life’s winners don’t give up!

 

Happy New Year and keep on running!