Here is an article written by Lois Kerrison - one of the athletes we help to coach, about her big Challenge. It is called Challenge 40 and is all about raising money for charity through doing a tough challenge - 40 Half or Full Marathons by the time she is 40. Read the full article to find out more - it is worth a look.   more »

Well, it has finally got a bit warmer (I wish this global warming would get a bit of a shufty on!) and we can at last think about the track season, which has been going to some extend for about a month.

The league match season gets going about this time of year, so frantic team managers will be phoning around their athletes trying to get them out and maybe to take on just that one extra event for the team!  A couple of years back yours truly ended up doing 38 events in 5 matches we were so short at my club - hammer and shot not being my particularly specialities (in fact there was a danger of them dropping on my foot as opposed to the grass....).

Elite athletes are either away warm weather training or have just got back, having sampled the delights of running in warm (or hot) conditions and are hoping the recent warm weather holds so they don't have to step their training back to allow for that.

The BUSA Championships are next weekend as the universities roll into gear to get their top athletes out, in excess of a thousand athletes will descend on Bedford to take part in this event.

Then the second weekend of May is one of the traditional highlights of the season - the County Championships.  All 50odd counties in the country hold their championships on the same weekend with thousands of enthausiastic athletes taking part in them, some counties being extremely strong and other where one person will go home with half a dozen gold medals due to the weaker fields.

So, athletes, coaches, team managers, officials, parents and all the others involved in the sport get out your summer clothes and sun-tan lotion and get ready for a great summer.

As Momentum Sports had 12 athletes running in this years marathon, I thought I would go up and watch.  I took advice of where to go, how to get there, how to spot people and just how much fun it was all going to be.

I left REALLY early and drove up to just south of the river and grabbed the first parking space I found (only to later see at least 100 spaces in various places nearer my destination - doh!).  It was about 3 miles to where I'd agreed to meet some other spectators so off I set at a jog - in all my warmest gear - in the sun!  You guessed it, I started to feel very hot (I'm sure most people wouldn't be dumb enough to run in t-shirt, two sweatshirts, a waterproof top and ski trousers!).  At one point I thought I wouldn't make it and the "Wall" was truly being hit - and then Tower Bridge and a sea of humanity hoved into view.

At this point the London Marathon came alive - I just missed the Elite Women going past, but even those just behind got a huge roar, which must be fantastic as a competitor.  There were banners, flags, whistle and so so many people.  It was great.

I went over the bridge and and turned right along the only part of the course where you can see runners going both ways.  Thousands of people lined the route, but eventually I met my friends and got a good vantage point and watched the top guys go out and back and the top women going back past the 22 mile point.  They are shifting! - and for over 2 hours!!!!!!

And then the mass of humanity started flowing past and just kept flowing.  Picking out the athletes I've been helping was impossible (I saw one of the 12!), but it was still great - even a couple of heavy cloud bursts didn't dampen the spirits.

So - a great day out and one to be thoroughly recommended to all - I had no idea who had won (you need a TV for that), but it was a very different experience to the goggle box and one everyone should try at least one (even if you are not running!)

I am feeling pretty sorry for myself at the moment.  Having been in quite good shape (for an aged fella) a few weeks ago, I have had a minor hamstring tear and now my achilles is sore.

Hummmmphhh

I'm trying not to sulk by keeping myself busy and treating my achilles like the guest of honour at a pampering festival - and it is working - but Oh - so slowly.

Am going to try running a half mile tonight at about 6.30 min/mile pace, so tomorrow I'll either be in a great mood - or stomping off to part with some cash at the physios - and being a total nightmare to live with!

Roll on tomorrow.....

 

Just one week to go to the London marathon now and hopefully all of your training is done and dusted.

You are fit and strong and ready for what is going to be thrown at you on the day.  You have nearly finished tapering off your training now and it might be that you are thinking maybe just do a few more runs as you can't believe you don't need just a few more miles under your belt.

Avoid the temptation - a couple of light runs this week is all that you need.  This isn't much you can do now to change what will happen on the day.  Stuffing a few extra sessions in last minute is worse that cramming for exams - and that never did much good - trust me I tried!  All you can do is leave yourself tired for the big day and do you really want that to catch up with you 20-odd miles into the race.

I have heard of people who rent piles or dvds or have decide to start writing a book just to stop themselves doing the training they know isn't going to help in the last few days.

What lengths have you gone to to avoid overtraining the week of a race?

Good luck to one and all who are running, may you get the times that you want, raise plenty of money for charity and have lots of fun.

Whilst surfing the internet I came across Richard Irvine-Brown who is a BBC journalist.

He is running the marathon this year in London and has been blogging his progress on the BBC website.

It is quite interesting stuff.  He has been doing it as an experiment - trying out different kinds of training on different weeks, with varying degrees of success.

One week he devoted entirely to fartlek training (including taking advice from Momentum Sports in the article), but because he did it every day he found his legs were in pieces by the end.

Have a look, it makes an interesting read.  The page about him is below - go to the bottom for his list of articles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/U7774651

 

It is really tough being a runner.  If you want to perform at your best you need to eat and drink properly, avoid excess alcohol (some would say this is none) and get plenty of sleep.

Obviously, the rewards outweigh the negatives, but how do you know you are going to get it right.

Hopefully, here at Momentum Sports we can help you out a bit.  We are working on a large Sports Nutrition section on the site (at www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtSportsNutrition.asp) which will help you see the proverbial wood from the trees.

This is quite a big subject, there is a lot there already, but we'll be adding to it in the forthcoming weeks as well.

If there is a subject that we have missed, which you feel you'd like to know about please let us know.