Slow & Steady wins the race

Whilst training for the Malta Marathon in 2016, I had the one goal in mind, a sub 4 hour run.  I had only recently smashed my sub 2 hour target on the half and thought to myself, "it is only the same again and I feel great after 13.1 mile!".

During the training plan put together online, I was predicted at 3hrs and 45 minutes with four hard runs a week.  I learnt the hard way that training does not always go to plan!

I was pushing myself harder and harder each session as the level of intensity increased.  With daily life also occurring, fitting in the runs was harder and harder. After a few weeks I started to get pains in my knees.  I found it difficult to kneel down without a shooting pain, but I pushed on, I had training to do.  Eventually, I had to accept injury and take time out.  With the sub four hour run still in my subconscious I was soon back out on the roads, determined to succeed.

I did run the Malta Marathon, I wore two knee supports for the full race, I ran a great first 10 mile, then pain struck.  My finish time was 4 hours 49 minutes.  Although elated that I had crossed the line on one of the most difficult challenges I had ever faced and although I had stated to everyone around me that I would NEVER run another marathon again, the sub four hour run niggled in the back of my mind.

Skip forward a couple of years and my wife "pushed" me to giving it another go, so training began again.  This time I looked at what it would take to run a 3hour 59 minute and 59 second race and set this as my goal time.  Again, injury struck mid training, this time with a hip flexor strain that took weeks to recover from.  I crossed the line in Malta in 4 hours 42 minutes knocking 7 minutes off my personal best, but this time I got the bug!

I have now signed up to a couple more marathons, but the difference this time around is the training that I am doing for them.  I am not aiming for a time, I am aiming to run the marathon in complete enjoyment and be pain free.

My training plan this time round does not focus at all around time but endurance and distance.  I am clocking up the miles and enjoying every one of them.  As I am not pushing for PB's and sub four hour milestones, but covering miles in perfect harmony.  I have returned from some double digit runs in the last couple of weeks and then gone about my normal weekend day, shopping, running around with a crazy two year old and enjoying life.

Due to the runs being of a more sedate nature, my pacing has improved.  I am consistent from first to the last mile.  Instead of pushing my body to places it does not want to go, I am slow, steady and pain free.

Sometimes you just have to take a step backwards to move forwards.

I am writing this post now, 2 months before race day and I know that my time for my next marathon will not be sub 4 but it will be a PB.  I am running slower to get a faster time