5 days away now and the weather forecasting guru’s are talking. As a scientist (physics – real science) at heart, I don’t have much faith in long term weather forecasts – it’s all chaos theory and little butterflies flapping their wings in China could cause havoc.
But the bets are in and from a straw poll taken earlier today we have…
So about 10 degrees C and it might be cloudy with a bit of rain. Lose the rain and I’m happy with that!
It’s the final countdown…
And a reminder of the classic Europe song from 1986…
This time next week it will be over for a few, nearly over for others and a little to still go for a lot. The London Marathon 2012 – the year of the London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. What a great year to run 26.2 miles around this amazing city in the biggest charity fund raising event there is with 40k other people!
The training’s nearly done – 15, 17 or 21 weeks hard running. Now in the final taper stages. Stretching lots. Sleeping nicely. Eating well with a few extra carbs. And all getting ready for next Sunday – 22nd April. With a visit to the London Marathon Expo this week to pick up your number and bits. It’s all getting exciting!
I still need to remind myself what time it starts on Sunday and then recap on plans to get up, eat and get up to London with Mrs. Noble and the kids and my mum & dad in-law as the Noble support crew.
The plan for me for the final 7 days looks like this…
And still going for the last week of charity donations for Whizz-Kidz. It all helps with the great work that they do for the children that they look after. All donations still very very gratefully received – just go to my Just Giving page.
Interestingly the last post on this painful and unsightly running injury continues to have the highest number of views. So a follow-up is overdue and needed after 600+ more training miles and no nipple problems!
There are specialist (expensive) creams and roll-on things, special plastic covers (yes really) and even special (small) plasters. There are also compression tops, running tops made from special materials and even running with no top on! But what I’ve found that works 100% of the time for me, is good old fashioned Vaseline. A plain old big tub of the stuff – that costs less than £2.50 – sitting with my running kit ready. Just a good rub on either side about 5 minutes before a run – from 30 minutes ones up to 3 hour 30 minute ones – and no bleeding or soreness. Result. Don’t put it on and after the longer runs you know it. One possible side effect – that I’ve not seen much of – is it can stain your running top.
What is this amazing product? It dates back to the 1850’s and actually started as the residue that had to be remove from oil rig pumps. Some bright sparks had been rubbing on them to heal cuts and burns. Exactly what made them do is, is a whole other question. But 150+ years on and it’s a runners’ dream product – with a fair bit of refinement to give us what it is today (medicinal petroleum jelly).
And amazingly it’s good for other things – that you may not know about – like hayfever. One I need to test again as it’s that time of the year…
Don’t forget your tub for the big day. 9 sleeps time for me for the London Marathon.
Never thought I’d say this but the tapering part of the training – even week 1 of it – isn’t easy. Having been increasing weekly distances for the last few months now and getting new PB’s for different distances, pulling back and not pushing yourself is hard.
The 10 miler I did on Thursday – with 4 x 1 mile intervals – was a whole 4 minutes slower than the last time. Very frustrating but it was meant to be that slow – and I had to keep telling myself that.
A reminder of why tapering is so important…
Even harder this coming week – only 24 miles planned. And less than 2 weeks until the big day tomorrow – London Marathon 2012 on April 22nd.
I always try to run after food – normally an hour ish after breakfast or 1-2 hours after lunch or dinner. And I’ve always found my energy levels pretty good like this. For some longer long runs I’ll take energy drinks with me though most times not. On the marathon itself, back in 2009, I found myself drinking the energy drinks along the route whenever they were available – my energy levels then just seemed to be shot to bits, so I needed the top-ups.
A good review of some of the more commonly available energy gels and snacks is here.
This last weekend I did an early morning 1/2 marathon and decided not to have breakfast – but did have a small packet of Jelly Belly’s sport beans (about 30 minutes before the run). The run started well – and along one of my usual routes – but even before half way my pace had slowed far more than I’d wanted and the running was hard. Managed to do 1:46 but it was no way near where I wanted to be. For me breakfast is a must before the morning runs.
Not a fry-up though – as good as that looks. A nice bowl of gluten free cereals and rice milk. And no coffee before running – to save me having to go to the loo mid-way.
After my longer runs now, I alway drink a bottle (or 2 for long long ones) of Lucozade Sports Orange Body Gel – the same drink they hand-out along the London Marathon route.
What do you eat before you run? And how long before?
First one this year – and for this marathon training – done this morning. And did I forget how hilly Richmond Park actually is or what? Slightly different route to the last long runs in Richmond Park – pretty much going the other way round the park. Which turned out to be the hillier way round (is that a real word?).
It seems such a nice park when you get in and start running round, but there are many killer hills. Elevation changes of over 50m along route and some very quick changes, i.e. short steep hills. And then some long not as steep ones thrown in. All good training.
Pace was around 10% slower than planned marathon pace – which is good – but just found out it was a slower pace than back in 2009 (though the route was different and hillier as mentioned, and I did a 10 mile run yesterday, so little time to recover). Do need to leave longer gaps before the long runs.
Early start this morning – out for 8am – but then back before 11am and the rest of the day still ahead (and you’ve done a 20 mile run already). Great way to start the weekend. Hunger levels have been something else today!
To help raise money for these guys and the great work they doing helping disabled children be as mobile as they can and basically just be kids. This is where your help is needed and every penny they get in donations goes to help these children.
This is a link to Whizz-Kidz TV advert…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mOBg6AlmsQ]
Funny but with a very strong point that’s easy to see why the work they do is so important for the children. Things we all take for granted, that these guys can’t do without the help from Whizz-Kidz and these amazing wheelchairs.
Please dig deep and give as much as you can to help (my Just Giving Page).
Forget tennis elbow, runners nipple is an official long distance running injury and it hurts. It even has it’s own Wikipedia entry – under the official title “Fissure of the nipple“.
The first time you get it, you’ve no idea until you’ve finished running and look down at your t-shirt and see the blood. And then it hurts (and even more when you get a shower afterwards). All being well you’re not wearing a white running top.
For men it’s even more frustrating, why should they bleed? They seem to have no purpose or use but they still bleed and hurt – rubbish.
Once you start building up the mileage (runs an hour or longer or thereabouts) you’re into runners nipple territory and a little prep before your runs help big time. Good old Vaseline helps and for me 90% of the time stops it happening. Longer runs just mean more Vaseline. And worst case it doesn’t happen as bad.
You can buy – more expensive – branded goods like “Body Glide” and they work just as well, and according to the labels are better than plain Vaseline. Personal preference really. Some theories about one reacting to cold and water worse but I’ve never noticed. You can even go as far as nipple covers or guards, small plasters, though these can move and come off. For ladies, good sports bras can really help. Decent running tops help as well – as the materials don’t rub as much.
On the London Marathon route, the helpers – including 1st aiders – around the course, have jars of Vaseline to use as you run round.
Not a dangerous running injury as such but can be painful so a bit of prep before your run is well worthwhile.
And yes you can even get the fridge magnets…
A quick reminder what the London Marathon is all about – raising money for charity. It is probably the biggest running event in the world, is definitely the biggest fund raising event in the world and has raised over £450 million for a range of great causes since 1981. That’s an amazing amount of money raised for good causes. Participants raise around £50 million in each event every year now and over 75% of the people running are doing it for charity.
These are some pretty amazing facts and really add to the experience on the day. Running with over 36,000 other people (and this number grows every year), some in fancy dress, some out to break world records, with professional athletes and with the best crowd and city sights in the world to see, is nothing short of an awesome experience.
Whilst I’m not doing it in fancy dress, I’m still aiming to raise as much money as possible for Whizz-Kidz, through donations from friends, family and others who are kind enough to donate to this good cause, Christmas carol singing with the guys from Whizz-Kidz, a karate club kickathon (everyone doing as many kicks as they can in 2 hours with prizes for the ones doing the most and the best techniques) and more.
Some really important facts about what Whizz-Kidz do are below:
The money we raise for them goes to helping all these children live much more active lives – something we all take for granted.
So how can you help? One donation is all it takes. A big big thank you to everyone who’s made a donation so far. If you’d like to make a donation just go to http://www.justgiving.com/jasonnoble1 and follow the instructions.
You can also make a guess at how long it will take me to finish and be in with the chance of winning a bottle of bubbly. To make a guess go to my Guessability page.
And of course if you’d prefer to donate with good old fashioned cash or a cheque, let me know and I’ll give you details on how to get it to me.
My fund raising target is an ambitious £3,000 and I need your help to get there!
Next post about running this week…