Marathons etc.

A Bit of Dodgy Wiring

My first experience of endurance running began with the Seville Marathon in February 2011.  I had heard while living in Madrid that this was a good race, particularly owing to its extremely flat course.  Prior to beginning training for this race I had been getting palpitations when out running and it was suggested to me that it may be a good idea to go and talk to the doctor about this before beginning training for a marathon. I was eventually diagnosed with Supra-Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT), meaning I had a dodgy bit of wiring in my heart. The treatment for this involved putting some electrodes up through a blood vessel in my groin and neck to find the dodgy connection and burn it away. Unfortunately this would prevent me training for some time after and I therefore decided to have it done after the race and was given some pills for the meantime.  

While these tablets worked during training, possibly not terribly surprisingly they didn't hold all the way through the race, and at just over 30 km my heart rate jumped to over 240 bpm.  I stopped straight away to try and stop it but after the thick end of 10 minutes it wasn't getting any better so I decided to carry on. I can’t say it was the most comfortable experience with my chest hurting and my heart pounding but given it was the last part of my first marathon I would probably have been feeling fairly uncomfortable anyway. Ironically I think it may have helped slightly, giving me a sustained adrenaline boost over the last 10 – 12 km and making up for my complete lack of knowledge and experience of marathon nutrition which I suspect would have resulted in my hitting The Wall otherwise.

A few weeks afterwards I had the operation, and to date have had no symptoms since, though I found the recovery a little bizarre - going from running a marathon to taking an hour to hobble less than a mile to the doctors is a bit of a contrast! Anyway it didn't last long.  

Chester, Edinburgh and Manchester 

The next marathon was Chester the following October.  There’s not much to tell about this race, other than to say that I didn’t entirely agree with its description as a flat and fast course. This wasn’t helped by my first experience of The Wall and, in my confusion, ending up convinced that I had passed the 23 mile marker three times! Suffice it to say I then got a feeling for the importance of getting my nutrition right…

The next one was in Edinburgh the following may which, while warm (over 20 degrees) was pleasant (lovely views) and everything seemed to come together to give me a time I was pleased with. 

More recently (April 2013) I ran the Greater Manchester Marathon as a training race on my way to The Wall Run.  This did not go well, and I managed to run it a full 8 minutes slower than Seville, having managed to progressively improve my tie over the first three.  Several things went wrong (no good excuses!) and together resulted in a terrible race, though it was a good learning experience, and I managed to come through it without injuring myself, so on the whole I decided it was a positive experience! Looking on the bright side is important in this business!

About Me

I have been running since I was 12 or possibly even earlier, I can't really remember. Initially it was an effective way of avoiding being made to play other sports at school! I kept it up when I was at university but it was only towards the end of 2010 that I got into endurance running when I decided to enter the Seville Marathon in February 2011. That was supposed to be to be a one off... It turns out that this marathon running lark is quite addictive... A succession of other races have followed (which I'll cover in another post), and now I've ended up entering myself for the Marathon des Sables in 2014. Hmm..., this should be interesting!

I am a fairly typical runner of average ability, not really competitive, except possibly with myself. My interest and enthusiasm for this sport has increased hugely since joining my running club the Manchester Frontrunners where I have made many good runner friends. 

This is me on top of Robinson in the Lake District after a very impressive hail storm (you might notice my legs are a little pink - hail stones on bare legs hurt!):

... not exactly your tall, lean and strong runner type!

I wanted to find a way of ensuring that I kept a bit of a record of both my preparation and of the event itself. Hopefully this will also be a useful tool to keep myself focused on the end goal, especially when I forget why I am putting myself through all this! 

There are many blogs and other websites out there detailing the experiences of people training for and completing the Marathon des Sables, and from these I have taken quite a bit of inspiration over the past year or so since entering.  A particularly good one is justajog.com by Kate Lee.

My musings are therefore unlikely to be ground breaking, but this is my contribution to the pool of information out there. I have absorbed a huge amount from what other people have generously shared, and it has helped my motivation enormously as well as providing me with very valuable insights over the last year or so.

I hope this account will provide at least a little useful information to others mad enough to be considering entering the MdS or similar events, and some insight into my motivation for others who can't comprehend why on earth someone might want to run 150 miles through the Sahara with a heavy pack on their back!