Ajay does the London Marathon - please sponsor me

[Ian A4size]

[quote]My first love was marathons

I was always a twix boy

[huw williams]

AJ - some advice as to preparing for a marathon.

Pick a realistic time you want to get round in and train towards it. Don't run with the "I just want to get round" mentallity - its too random.

For example:

When we trained for the sub 3hr runs we trained at bang on 7 minute mile pace - that would get us home in slightly outside 3 hours so we knew on the day we'd have to do a couple of the miles within the distance at faster than that pace. As it turned out on the day I managed quite a few of them at sub 7 minute pace and got a 2.48.

If you want to get round in under 5 hours you need to train at around 10 minute mile pace which would get you in at 4hrs 36 - not being experienced at the distance you'll fall apart slightly at around 18 miles and slow down, so basically you'll have 24 minutes to play with. That's almost one minute per mile average and should be more than enough to get you in inside the 5 hour target.

As a cash incentive, if you get round in under 5 hours I'll sponsor you a pound per mile

Good luck

[ajay khandelwal]

Thanks Huw. Taking money off your hands is good incentive to train hard! I went out with Dulwich Runners yesterday. Did a good 7.5 mile run in about 80 minutes. That's about 10 - 11 minute miles which is what Huw is suggesting for a sub five hour time.

Got home and went straight for dinner thinking 'got to get food in me before 20 minutes is up to replenish my glycogen levels'. Ninder came down and saw me eating on my own and was not to impressed, her looking saying, 'I haven't eaten+baby's been crying+valentines and your eating a bowl of micro waved food on your own in sweating kit with lights off and not a plate in sight'....My look back tried to imply 'glycogen window crucial replenishment required or my half marathon effort on Sunday will fall apart'

However due to the fact the lights were off and my limited range of facial expressions when compared to Ninder, I don't think I was able to convey this. I think I lost the who is most hungry competition and my promise that I could combine marathon training with being good dad went up in smoke.

Note to self - eat something before coming in the door after training to turn oneself from carbo grabbing monster into something more civilised. If that fails - eat a banana - that's fairly controversy free in our house. Anyone can eat a banana at any time without having to ask if anyone else wants one. This doesn't apply for any other food stuff or drink.

Today has been a happier food day and I feed Priya her first bottle today which was great. H ad day at home (compressed hours !) so went to Up and Running shop in East Dulwich and bought a New Balance running top for Sunday. Took baby into shop too - I wanted to get her on the tread mill for some gait analysis, but she kept falling over...Also bought some energy SIS drinks, and some anti-chaffing lotion, as I found my thighs were rubbing causing me some discomfort. Plan to do some stretches this afternoon following a sheet of exercises I got on Sunday. Never done any streches when cycling, but it looks like its really important for running.

OK, baby crying now. So better go and get her !

[huw williams]

ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL - So get stretching Mr Stiffo

[Dr Frigo]

Hee hee I love your training blog Ajay keep it up

[ajay khandelwal]

Due to popular demand (1 vote, thanks Slyv), I'm back blogging, which is definitely easier than running.

Ended last night by telling my wife that 'child care is easy'. The problem with child care internet site and books is that they spend 20 pages telling you if your baby cries it may be this, or it may be that, or this, or that. After 20 pages it tells you not to worry. Hang on a minute, this book has just spent 20 pages getting you into state of heightened frenzy about your child and then tellls you not to worry. How is that possible? My approach is therefore to go by feel alone. I have to ban Ninder from the same floor of the house, as she doesn't like the way I balance baby on one arm and the volume of the music etc. But me and baby have a great time and volume of music drowns out any crying. By the end of the evening I had decided that I was a child care guru. Move over Gina bloody Ford. Here comes Ajay 'The Sups' Khandelwal.

Woke up this morning at 9am. Thought about various excuses to ring up sick. Felt shattered. Could barely move, even though my wife did all the night time feeds. Ouch. I was stuck to the bed. Realised if I stated at home my newly self-appointed child care guru status could be in serious jeopardy as I became bad tempered blob on sofa. Got up very slowly. Mentally redefined my new 'compressed hours' as less hours, ie 36 hours compressed into 28 hours.

Calories - apple and banana for breakfast. Ate apple on P4 bus. No bin to throw apple core. Didn't want to be a gangster and leave it on the floor. Looked for bin. The only bin they had was for 'used tickets'. Wrapped up apple core in newspaper and put in man bag. Hang on a minute. Why am I telling you this. This blog is supposed to be about marathon training, not apple eating and disposal. Strange thing happens when you start a stream of consciousness, you just start writing anything. And then you get paranoid like Toks and start asking people if you are coming across as completely mad.

Arrived at work 10 am. Compressed hours working very well. Gave team meaningless internal file audit task to take their minds off the exact formula of my time compression.

For lunch I had a jacket potato without butter! And some salad and filling. And a coffee. Although not drinking alcohol my team want to take me out to wet the babies head at 4pm so will have 1 pint only. Saving energy for Sunday half marathon in Brighton. Plan to run very slowly for first 10 miles and then pick off a few runners at the end. I've never run more than 7 miles, so will be first. Goal is time of 2.20. I've been told if you double your half marathon time and add 20 minutes you get your full marathon time. So 2.20 X 2 = 4.40+ 20 = 5 hours.

[Andrew G]

Great stuff Ajay, very entertaining, good luck on Sunday.

Don't worry about coming across slightly mad. Who wants to be normal, that's boring!

[ajay khandelwal]

Sunday Blog
Sussex Beacon half marathon

Decided I would get train down and Ninder and baby Priya and my mother would come down by car and cheer me on at finish. Wasn't sure how this was all going to work out, as Priya is only 5 weeks old.
Woke up at 7 and had 2 shredded wheat and a banana and walked to Forest Hill train station and alighted at East Croydon.
Decided things were going too smoothly, so decided to order a coffee 2 minutes before 8.29 train to Brighton was due to arrive. Guy serving coffee was really slow, and started to count out my 8.01 pence change in pound coins, slowing down with the last five coins, 5,6,7,8. I ran towards the train, runners got on, doors shut. Aw! Read the notice on the side of the platform, 'doors may close 30 seconds before the train is due to depart.'

Next train was 8.52 which would get me to Brighton 9.50. Start time for the race was 10.00. I wondered for a few minutes why I missed the train, was a good sign. Got ready on the train and jumped in a taxi out the other side to Madeira Road. Grabbed 4 pins to put on my race number and gave my bag to a race Marshall and asked her to put it the bag storage for me, which she kindly did. Briefly thought of Maria David, who was alway cutting it fine to the start of bike rides. I remember when Monty would tell us all to be ready 9am sharp for rides in Mallorca, and we always had to fetch her from a cafe, where she would be reading the papers! I was on the start line 10 am and off.

First 4 miles weaving through the town I felt good, didn't go too hard, remembering what they told me in the club, go slow, go slow. Chatted to a fellow BHF rider. About mile five picked up the pace and found I had done 6.5 miles in 1 hour, thats sub 10 minute miles. Ran well till mile 7. Then shooting pain in my right knee. Probably because I'd never run more than 7 miles ! Running is much more painful than cycling, it hurts with every footfall. I slowed down, but decided to keep going, knowing the pain would subside, as the endorphins did their work.

I enjoyed running up the drags, and letting my body freewheel down the slopes. View was great along the coast, and there was live music to cheer us on. Found the going hard after mile 9, so started chatting to other runners who were walking, telling them to keep going. That really helped me, as most of them started running. I saw a couple of guys walking who had blown me away at mile 5, and told them to get a move on too ! Towards the end, I saw a friend who had broken a rib and was suppoting his wife do the run. All of this kept me going, and helped me ignore the fact it hurt.

When we got to 12 miles, we had a nice run in along the sea front. There was a woman, Leona, running for a cancer charity, and we decided to go for a sprint finish. So, I got the crowd shouting, and we went for it, which was great, just like the sprint finish at Charlwood, except for the small fact that I was in position 2 thousand and something in a field of 3,000.
Couldn't see Ninder or Priya at finish so was gutted, esp. with all the cheering and sprinting ! Clock time showed 2.17, chip time 2.14.25. Thats about 10.5 minute miles I think. Ninder arrived at finish 2.20 (my target time) so we caught up for some fish and chips, feed and nappy change, and return to London.

On the way back, I read about the Marathon de Sables. £500 to enter, 3 year wait, 151 miles in six days, carrying your own kit and sleeping bag. No supporters in the desert, temp upto 50 degrees. I can tell you now, not one for me. Type of thing Slyvain would be up for though ?

[Andrew G]

Well done Ajay, how did your feet fair particularly...
[quote]Injuries: swelling on left foot in fold of flesh between big toe and ball of foot

[Ian A4size]

I guess its not to soon to be on the train to the finishing point

[ajay khandelwal]

Thanks guys...
If the train was good enough for the early entrants to the tdf its good enough for me on the marathon...

Andrew...I showed my injury to Johnno in Up and Running in Dulwich and he had a good squeeze and checked me on the running machine etc...but couldn't find cause. He suggested I could buy some insoles for 30 off the net that could help cushion my feet. As it didn't hurt when I ran I didn't bother, and it has now turned into a callous (?). Didn't cause me any problems during the run. My knees hurt today though when I walk up the stairs...!

[adrian]

[quote] fish and chips, feed and nappy change

[Toks]

Great stuff Super. I'm in an internet cafe surrounded by columbians who can't understand why I'm howling with laughter at a blue screen with some text on it. In here you're only allowed to laugh at YouTube stuff apparently.Oh by the way here's a guaranteed £20 from me as long as you finish. But you must run at least 85% of it

[ajay khandelwal]

Thanks Toks - Sorry to hear about your wheel episode Hope its fixed now !

I got some good pictures of me sprinting at the end of the half marathon (time 2.14) (Ed. Isn't that how long it takes to run a full marathon? No, its less than that...)

You got to admit I saved something special for the cameras. I look like I think I broke the WR.

Although I don't know how the old guy pretending to be me got in to this set of snaps !

[ajay khandelwal]

http://www.sportcam.net/site3/public/re ... 6&search=1