Me? Get a Running Coach? Never!

 To be honest, I've never particularly taken my running very seriously. OK, I've trained hard enough to get round a few fairly serious races and I've spent more money on shoes than a fashion-conscious twenty-something, but I've basically winged it. I know I'm not fast and I'll never win anything and as long as I have a good day out on the hills, I'm a happy bunny.

Taking photos is a good way to get a rest during hard sessions.

However, over the autumn, I listened to a couple of podcast interviews with running coaches and I realised that my rather hit and miss approach may not be enough to get me through my big project for this year, the 108 mile Spine Flare race. I've learned enough to know that while I might be able to blag my way round a fifty miler, 100 miles is a very different kettle of fish. I'm an overweight, old bloke who is prone to injury and I couldn't simply pile on the miles hoping that sheer grit alone would get me through. Certainly, sheer grit will be called for, but it will need to be backed up with a bit of science and know how. So, I talked to Dave Troman of Love To Run Coaching to see if he reckoned he could help. Dave seems to be a bit of an optimist and he thought he'd be able to help me get round the Flare and perhaps even go a bit faster than I expected.

I've been working with Dave for three months now and, yes, it is helping.

The strange thing is that I'm now running significantly less distance than I would be if I were following my own plan, but when I do longer distances I am enjoying them more. The majority of our contact is through an online system called Final Surge. The basic interface is a calendar screen. Each week, Dave sets me activities for each day. When I do whatever it is that I'm supposed to do, the information from my running watch; speed, distance, heart-rate and such like is all uploaded and Dave can see how I've done.

The basic outline of each week is more or less the same. Tuesday and Thursday are harder runs, Wednesday and Sunday are shorter easy runs, while Saturday is my long run. Mondays and Fridays are marked as rest days in the calendar, but they both involve some tortuous exercises to build a stronger core. 

A long run out on the Pennine Way: recce-ing the route of the Flare.

This weekly pattern is part of a broader monthly routine, whereby the intensity of the running builds up over three weeks, to be followed by a relatively easy week, before going round again, this time focussing on something different. This month's block is focussing on speed endurance going uphill. Today was the first hard session and it involved running hard uphill for five minutes and then jogging back down slowly for five minutes, repeating this three times. On Thursday, it will be six minutes uphill with five minutes recovery and by the end of the block, I'll have a session that has ten minutes uphill with five minutes recovery, X 3! 

This is all helping to build a good base and the rest of the training blocks between now and the race will involve focussing on race specific things; building distance and running downhill. The thing is, in a long race like the Flare, I'm never likely to actually run up a hill, but running downhill will be important. So Dave is going to have me hiking up the hill as hard as I can and then running down, while carrying the pack that I'll need for the race. 

The same increasing pattern is mirrored on the Saturday long runs. The first week of the block has a two hour run, and this builds up to five or six hours before the rest week. The idea is always to allow enough time for my body to recover so that I get the best out of each training session. The sort of continuous long mileage that I would normally do just doesn't allow this recovery - so no wonder I often get injured.

So, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm still not fast and I never will be (I wasn't fast when I was in my twenties). I feel slightly embarrassed knowing that Dave gets to see my tortoise like progress after each run, but I am making progress. 

I will admit, that when I'm doing some of hard sessions, I reckon that I'd rather just be out exploring on the hills or running on some of my favourite trails, but if I'm going to take this big race seriously, I do need to prepare for it. 

Now, if only I could shift that lockdown tummy that I build up last year when the Spine was cancelled!