Road to LA2028 - Update One - It's a Start

 Apologies for the delay in getting this first update to you.  I am now eight weeks into this latest reset.  It hasn't gone brilliantly, I would give it 4.5 out of 10, but we are moving.  22 runs completed in 53 days, so just shy of 3 runs a week.  It isn't the four I originally planned but there is some consistency.  I am struggling to find the gaps in my life to run.  I generally have three, Thursday evening while the girls are at performance team, Saturday lunchtime with the girls at dance and Sunday morning when they have gymnastics.  I just need to find myself that fourth spot, and that will be my aim in October.

In addition to finding gaps, the gaps I do have are a little on the short side.  Each of them are about an hour in length, which limits me on the long run.  Lauren and I appear to have engineered a bigger space for me.  So 8am - 11am Saturday morning should be the long run slot but not this weekend as that is the girls 7th birthday.

In those 22 runs I have travelled for approaching 15 hours and covered 92.1 miles, averaging just over 4 miles a run.  I say run, each of my runs still contains some element of walking.  I am making a real conscious effort to regulate the walk breaks and am stopping my Garmin each time, and so I have really good data on my run speed and walk speed as well as the time I am spending doing each of them.

My longest run came this Sunday when I ran for 90 minutes and covered nearly 9 miles.  The majority of the run was 4 minutes running and 1 minute walking, but that turned into more 3 minutes run / 2 minutes walk for the last 20 minutes or so.  Most of my runs I am aiming to run 80% and walk 20% but on my longer runs that is lower.  This Sunday it was 75% run, and in my only other hour plus run, I ran as little as 60% of it.

In addition to monitoring the run/walk split and paces, I have also been looking at my heart-rate.  Given the readings, I am happy that I do still require the walk breaks.  I recently did a 5 mile time trial, and despite having some short walk breaks my average HR was 166.  The majority of my runs average in the 150-159 HR zone, with the remaining runs in the more intense 160-169 range.  Given my estimated maximum heart rate of 180, every run has been 80% plus, and so far too intense.

I am rather bumbling around at the minute with the heart rate data, it isn't a tool I have used previously.  I am currently just monitoring it, but when I get fitter I will use it to ensure that the intensity of each session is where I want it to be.  My current fitness level means I just don't have the range of efforts, everything is just hard work.

I am signed up for the Yorkshire Marathon on the 20th October, I don't think I will be attending it.  I fear it will be another Milton Keynes slugfest, and by completing Milton Keynes I have proven I can do it.   This race is a 4 hour drive each way, potentially an overnight stay, it is just lots more effort.  I may be inspired and do it, but I think the most likely outcome is a DNS.  

I have just signed up to the Stratford-upon-Avon marathon next April.  It is the same day as the London marathon.  It is a race I have done before, both the full and half marathon and is one I enjoy.  I will look to start a proper 17 week training plan beginning 1st January, and until then I am just trying to lay down a base from which to build on in 2025.

Despite the 4.5/10 rating I gave myself I am still pleased with the start I have made.  I have now run 289 miles in 2024, the most of any year since 2017.  I have also beaten my monthly totals.  54 miles in September was the most in September since 2019, the same with August.  If I can manage to run just 50 miles a month for the remaining three months of 2024, I will finish with something like 450 miles which would be more than the combined miles I have run in the last 4 years.  The bar is obviously incredibly low given how little I have run since having the girls, but a win's a win.  I will look to provide you with another update at the end of October.

The Road to LA 2028

For those following me on Strava or Fetch, you may have noticed my runs beginning with a number followed by R2LA28. This is to do with my latest run reset. It stands for Road to Los Angeles 2028. I fully embraced the Olympics, as I do every four years, and I wanted a plan to motivate my running moving forwards. 

My R2LA28 in no way means that I have my heart set on an improbable uplift in my performance worthy of a spot on Team GB in time for 2028. Instead I am just using those Olympics as a timetable for me, to get my butt into gear. 

I am now 40, and will soon be getting into last chance territory for ever beating my existing PB's. Four years seems an excessively long-time scale, but given my personal worst marathon time of 5:23:24 set in May this year, and my hour 10km in the Newmarket 10k in July, there is clearly considerable work to do. 

If you are going to set goals, they might as well be real stretch goals, I have thus gone well beyond a nice new set of PB's, and instead am targeting a range of PB's based around a sub 3 hour marathon. Here is a run down of the targets, along with my current PB's. 

5k - Target 18:59 - Current PB - 19:21 (Set 2011) - Time required 22 seconds 

5 Miles - Target 30:59 - Current PB - 35:08 (Set 2016) - Time required 4 mins 9 seconds 

10k - Target - 38:59 - Current PB - 41:44 (Set 2015) - Time required 2 minutes 45 seconds 

10 Miles - Target - 64:59 - Current PB - 1:10:39 (Set 2017) - Time required 5 minutes 40 seconds 

HM - Target 1:26:59 - Current PB - 1:30:05 (Set 2011) - Time required 3 minutes 6 seconds 

15 Miles - Target 1:39:59 - Current PB - 2:06:41 (Set 2011) - Time required 26 minutes 42 seconds 

20 Miles - Target 2:14:59 - Current PB - 2:36:24 (Set 2017) - Time required 21 minutes 25 seconds Marathon - Target 2:59:59 - Current PB - 3:34:28 (Set 2011) - Time required 34 minutes 29 seconds 

You're crazy, you're wasting your time, you don't have a chance, maybe some of your responses. I hear and understand your reservations. I am now 40 years old, I am carrying somewhere in the region of 4-5 stone more than my lightest race weight, many of these PB's are 13 years old. If it was easy, everyone would do it. 

All I would say is I need to embrace my inner American. Reserved, modest, realist Brit is not going to cut it. We are going to have to go full, chase your dream, if you can imagine it you can do it, over confident, back yourself yank. 

I was once told that people don't change, you reach adulthood and you are who you are. I have grudgingly come to accept that it wasn't so far off the mark as the years have passed. 

I now have to throw that in the bin, and believe that a leopard can change its spots. Where once I wouldn't give my full effort, where I would shirk the long runs, I am now a changed man and will pursue each run with gusto. 

So now we have outlined that I am going to have a complete personality and attitude shift from the previous fifteen years of available evidence, let us now move onto the specifics of the plan. 

One final point regarding the existing PB's. Those going back to 2011 may look less promising, but I was in the best running shape of my life as recently as 2017, prior to the arrival of the girls. I set my 20 mile PB then and should have pushed on and set a new Marathon PB shortly thereafter but took my foot off the gas, and it has never gone back on. 

Now to the plan. This will involve me running a minimum of 4 times a week on average over the course of the four years. 4 runs x say 50 weeks x 4 years gets you to 800 runs. We really start to get some momentum and maybe we hit 5 runs a week and then we are talking 1,000 runs before LA 2028 kicks off. Wouldn't that be something. 

Google maps tells me that SoFi Stadium one of the venues for the LA 2028 games is 5,466 miles away. Could we possibly run the equivalent of Rayleigh to LA? Ok, now we are cooking! 

These are all wildly ambitious goals, but that is what I need right now. Something to get my juices flowing, to force my running mojo back into existence. I ran my first R2LA28 run on Friday the 9th August 2024, and have now run 7 times in 10 days, an average of nearly 5 runs a week. I have only covered 25.7 miles (avg 3.67 miles per run) with a longest run of 7km. I have also required walking breaks, with 15% of that longest run, being walked. 

But we have started, and all good things require a start. I will blog monthly to hold myself accountable for chasing these super stretchy targets, come back at the end of August to see how I have got on.

Milton Keynes Marathon - Race Report

To mark my running of the Milton Keynes Marathon this Bank Holiday Monday I thought I would resurrect this blog. I haven't written one since running my 20 Mile PB back in March 2017. A lot has happened in the intervening 7 years. My wife and I have had twin girls, who are rapidly approaching their seventh birthdays, and they have taken up lots of my time when not working or blogging about sport. Thus running has very much taken a back seat. I have run somewhere in the region of 750 miles in the near 7 years since the girls were born. For comparison, that is less than any singular year between 2010 and 2016 when I was running regularly.

I have raced very little since the autumn of 2017, the occasional parkrun, the Newmarket 10k most summers, a brutal couple of undertrained half marathons and a slog around the Essex 20 in over 4 hours. Milton Keynes was thus my first marathon post children. Yes, for the observant among you, I do appreciate as the man I didn't actually birth the girls, but I still think pre and post children helps explain the significant drop off in my performance.

My prep for Milton Keynes was a little better than my previous races but not my much. I had run the occasional 5k in the early months of the year, but managed to kick start something more regular in April, on our holiday to Dubai to see Amy, Col and the girls. I then managed to maintain it on my return, running four or five times a week. These wouldn't be hugely long, in the 5k-10k range with the exception being a 10 miler in a little under 100 minutes with a 4min run/ 1min walk pacing strategy. It all added up to 73 miles in April spread across 17 runs, my highest mileage month since March 2017, admittedly not a very high bar to beat.

I was still keen to do the Marathon, if for no other reason than to get a long run in. It would be my 12th marathon, with my PB set way back in 2011 at Chester when I ran 3:34, my personal worst was set at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington in 2014 when I ran 4:40. On that occasion I was coming back from an injury so hadn't run much in the buildup. I did a 20km run just prior to the race and ran it at just over 9-minute miling, and so felt able to complete the marathon. I ran the first half well, before blowing up in some style in the second half.

Leading up to Milton Keynes I was mulling over what I was capable of, and you start having silly thoughts. I suddenly started thinking 4:30-4:40 was on. 10-minute miles gets me to 4:20 and builds in a little fade near the end. With hindsight, and after reviewing the Washington race it is clear those Milton Keynes targets were wildly ambitious. My 10-mile run/walk tester was hard work, it wasn't as if I had done it finishing full of beans and like I had another 2 or 3 hours in me.

I am now well into this blog about the Milton Keynes marathon, and we haven't even reached Milton Keynes. Let's get to it. I was solo for the marathon, with Lauren and the girls finding much better ways to spend their Bank Holiday Monday. They went for breakfast, played a game of bowling, and did a bit of shopping before heading to my parents for lunch. I on the other hand woke at 5am, had a quick breakfast and shower before getting on the road by 5:40. The roads were quiet at that time, and I got to the start at the MK Dons stadium by half 7. Given it was a football stadium geared up for big events it handled the marathon well. The only downside being a lack of toilet facilities being open, which is never good with thousands of nervous, overhydrated runners. I grabbed my number and then headed towards the start area. I spotted a McDonald's and knew that would be my first stop, post-race. I was a little keen as there was still an hour until the 9am start. I found myself a quiet spot and waited until we were called to our start areas.

I was hoping to see my friend Pete, but we managed to miss each other. I knew if I didn't see him at the start that I wouldn't see him all race. He was targeting sub 3 hours, whilst I was looking for sub-5. There were four sections red, yellow, green, and blue. I was in yellow, obviously a little optimistic when putting in my estimated finish time upon signing up. I still seemed to end up near the back and didn't get to start until half 9. It was a minor frustration, but I was keen to put all my energy into forward movement and not worrying about outside things.

When I finally got over the start line the roads were crowded, the half marathon was running alongside the full marathon. I enjoyed the atmosphere that bought, but it did mean that my 4-minute run/ 1 minute walk strategy was out the window. The crowds of runners were so thick that I decided to just keep running but at a steady pace, moving through the field as gaps emerged. I had completed two miles at a steady 10-minute miling before I took my first walk recovery on a slight uphill. That became my strategy early on. Take it steady when running, and if I felt in need of a breather then be sure to take it on an upslope. This worked really well, and I made it through 9 miles in 91:32 so about 10:10 per mile on average. Miles 8 and 9 were a little slower, more like 10:30's and so it was no surprise that come the 10th mile the walk breaks were starting to lengthen. Where I had good discipline in those early stages it was now starting to wane. I now whatsapped the family saying that the run/walk structure had gone, and the splits bear that out.

Before I continue with the nitty gritty of splits and the running, I thought I would look at some of the characters I saw on my travels. There was the chatty, chipper Welsh lady. She was having a great time and chatting with everyone. There were the two dubious looking gentlemen offering lube, an offer I politely declined. The crowds were really good around the course, and I happily accepted several offers of gummy bears and jelly babies. My race number had my name on it, so there were lots of 'Go Simon' etc which really helped. My favorite crowd contribution was when a woman saw me on my phone and said, "Got to keep up with the socials Simon." I had been texting Lauren and the family WhatsApp group with my progress. It did make me smile though. The only blemish on my day was some unsolicited advice from a fellow runner, telling me I shouldn't be walking. My advice to him, keep your views to yourself.

Back to the running we were now in the to and fro section. Still trying to fight the urge to walk. The middle 7 miles in 87 minutes and so we are now in the 12:30 min/mile kind of area. By now the half marathon runners are finished and heading home, leaving us marathoners to our second lap. Much of the route was the same for both races but there was a section by the canal that only the full marathon runners did. I didn't enjoy that quite so much. As I tired, my strategy was effectively to run the downhills and walk the rest, and being by the canal everything was flat, and I was struggling to get running. It was at this stage that the rain started to come. It wasn't heavy and I was very lucky considering the forecast a week out from the race. A properly wet 5 hours out on the course would have made the task all the more challenging.

So, we have had the 9 miles at 10:10 min/miles followed by the 7 miles at 12:30 min/miles which still leaves the 10 miles remaining at 14:30 min/miles. At that stage you know the personal worst is in the bag and you still have a long way to go to McDonald's and home. The crowds are starting to thin and head home after a long day, and with the weather starting to turn. The runners have now really thinned out and at my kind of pace everyone is doing some walking. I was quicker on the downhills and so would catch people up, but they would then move away on the flats and so that yo-yoing would continue for mile after mile.

The marshals were really good at geeing you up and were working hard clearing up the course. I'm sure they were still there an hour or so after I went by. I was continuing to tick off the km's / miles ever so slowly, but at least I knew that the finish was guaranteed. My Garmin was beginning to bleep at me that it was running low on battery. I had been manually splitting it every time I walked or ran and that had the effect of using the battery up faster. It eventually gave up a couple of miles from the end. I was most upset about the lost steps; I had promised Lauren a 50,000-step day.

I managed to log the last couple of miles on my phone, and for most of those final two miles it was very much business as usual. Lots of walking with the occasional burst of running. I had saved enough energy for the final 500 metres. I managed to get going on the run into the stadium, I reached the 26 mile marker and so knew there was only 300 or so metres left, I ran well around the outside of the pitch, it must have only been 8:30 - 09:00 min miles but it felt like flying compared to the trudge of the last 3 hours. I went through the line, relieved to have completed it. I was given my medal and grabbed an alcohol-free beer and my t-shirt before heading for that long overdue McDonald's.

Once in the car I got to work on the food. 5 Chicken Selects were had before I set off. Then two cheeseburgers, two cans of diet coke, two bottles of water, two caramel bars and a packet of ready salted crisps in the near three hours it took to get home with all the traffic. I think I made a pretty good dent in the 3,000 or so calories that I expended on the marathon. Aside from the traffic it was an uneventful drive home, no signs of the cramp that I feared might appear.

My feelings on the marathon are all very positive. A personal worst by nearly 45 minutes wouldn't normally elicit those types of feelings, but I wasn't just under trained, I was barely trained. I did also mistime my blood donating, as I gave my pint of blood 6 days before the race. In the end I think I ran for a little over 2 hours and walked for a little over 3 hours, but I got it done. You have something not quite right in your head to spend 12 hours of your Bank Holiday Monday driving to and from a race, to find out what you already know, that you aren't currently very fit. It is definitely the start of something. I have my 24-hour race in July and another marathon already booked in October. I hope to be in far better shape for the Yorkshire Marathon on the 20th October, and maybe after that we can outline some of my goals for 2025 and beyond. For now, I will enjoy the feeling of transporting myself 26.2 miles under my own steam at the Milton Keynes Marathon.