If you want to know how to do something, listen to someone
with proven practical experience rather than an academic, as they say.
So when
I decided to sign up for the London Royal Parks Half Marathon this year
(something I’ve never had any previous inclination to do) I turned to my
personal trainer Gaby Rosenthal who also has a sideline in running marathons;
finishing 2nd in the 2012 London half marathon, 4th in
the 2008 London full marathon in the female listings.
I told her that I was
raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and what was important to me: 1.
Enjoying the process and the race. 2. Not injuring myself 3. Finishing in a
good time. And of course, 4. Looking good at the finish line if
I get photographed!
Gaby started me off on a short book called ‘Slow
Burn’ by Stu Mittleman who holds various long distance running records which
make my half marathon jog around the London Royal Parks seem like…. well, a
walk in the park! He ran 587 miles in 6 days. 1000 miles in 12 days and then
3000 miles from San Diego to New York in a leisurely 56 days. He also took an
entire corporate team of non-runners through the New York Marathon with only 9
weeks training. Clearly he was someone to give me some insight.
Reading the book, it's clear that Stu has taken himself into the Zen space of running. It explained a lot to me about the body's metabolic processes, much of which I've sort of heard of before but never really understood until now. Gaby also put the Nike App on my iPhone which is brilliant for tracking performance whilst running.
Beyond 10-20 minutes on a treadmill I had never run long
distance, other than an attempt at a 10k in Regents Park 3 years ago which was more
of an endurance test. I finished quite well at about the midway point of 400
runners at 47m 20s but can’t say I enjoyed it and never went back to distance
running.
'Slow Burn' has changed everything: in the 3 weeks
since I started I’ve run 10k four times with pleasure and relative ease, and a 13k
run too. Not superfast, my last 10k yesterday morning was 52m 25s but I have 7
months to work on my fitness and stamina and am aiming to shave a fair bit off
that. In last year's London Half Marathon the top 10% were within 1h 40m and
Gaby suggests this would be a creditable achievement for a beginner. Watch this
space...
