BLACKPOOL MARATHON

THE BOYS DO THE BUSINESS AT THE BLACKPOOL MARATHON
Waking up at 5.30am with the rain lashing down on the bedroom window i thought what a stupid idea it had been to enter the BLACKPOOL MARATHON, it was a good job Rob Mcgrath was coming to pick me up or i might not have made it out of my nice warm bed!
Someone at work asked me if i was running London i said "no Blackpool ! " He said does that mean you have to run up and down the GOLDEN MILE 26 times? well not quite! but you do have to run 2 laps inc half the distance running on the most unforgiving surface known to runners, Concrete ! ooch!!!
The rain stopped by the time we got to Blackpool only to start again just before the 9am start1
The half and full marathon start together which meant there was over 2000 of us on the start line with about 700 in the full marathon.
Rob Ashworth surged away at the front running 6 min miles for the first 9 miles before settling down to a more sensible pace.
Rob Mcgrath and me had to hold our selves back and not get carried away with the pace of the half marathon runners, it was good fun running along the closed roads with a big crowd cheering us on inc Niz and Sarah !
Just behind was virgin marathon runner Peter Roome running a canny race. We headed south almost to the Airport before turning round , back past the famous tower into a slight head wind. At about nine miles we came off the road and headed along the concrete sea wall all the way to Bispham before turning around and back to the start for the second lap.
As we started the second lap the heavens really opened up turning the road into a river! shoes became heavy and clothing stuck to our bodies in a sodden mess,Triathlete Peter Roome must have felt at home splashing along the flooded concrete wall for the second time. The road we had been running on felt like a velvet trail compared to this dam concrete! Muscles already stiff from the cold rain really felt the extra impact from this unforgiving surface, we all went through good and bad patches but i think we all used our mental strength to pull us through, up front Rob ashworth stormed through the finish line to finish 6 th in 2.42.27 a fantastic ron by the 2007 anglesea marathon winner!
i was now making my way over what felt like a mountain,on the first lap it had been but a slight hill, once over the top it was just one mile downhill to the finish, with 300m to go I passed the 10th place runner like he was stuck to the road, with 200m to go i had the choice of turning left or right at the cones, i shouted at the marshal in desperation for help, he said left and I followed his instructions only to realize a few seconds later he'd sent me on another lap, I turned around and sprinted back only to lose my 10th place, BUMMER! I had to make do with 11th , 2.48.41 and FIRST IN MY AGE GROUP
I finished with few aches and pains in my legs and even ran the day after the race so the CHIRUNNING IS WORKING WELL,
Rob Mcgrath was was next in, finishing only 29 secs behind me, setting a new p.b. by 10minutes, Rob has trained harder than ever before and was well pleased with his result 14th 2.49.10
Peter Roome overcame his first marathon with remarkable style and finished with a very impressive 2.55.52 well and truly smashing the 3 hour barrier.
At the end of the day I think we put in a pretty AWESOME performance and made TEAM S.W.A.C. proud!
In the half marathon Ray handly finished 37th 1.26.03 and still had the energy to stay behind and cheers us marathon boys on !
results http://www.tdl.ltd.uk/
RACE PHOTOS

28th April
THE DAY AFTER
AMAZINGLY VERY FEW ACHES AND PAINS! in my past 5 marathons i could hardly walk for 2 days let alone run and had to walk downstairs sideways because of the incredible pain in my legs. This time things are very different thanks to Danny Dreyer's CHIRUNNING. I even ran today with only slight aches in my legs, AWESOME. = 1 MIN RUN,ONE MIN WALK = 27mins

29th April
Steady run over Jon's sandhill loop, felt quite good! = 1.20
30th April
LEG SPEED SESSION
120m x 6 , max 15.6 mph, ran back at 9.5-10mph = 36mins
Evening
run with niz =26 mins
1st May
Interval session with Rob, 3x 1 lap round the little nature trail,this inc a fast section on grass and board walk and then a section of challenging sandhills before looping back round to finish, because we are still recovering from the marathon we kept the session light! set off steady and made each interval faster. ran the last effort 20secs faster than last year which was pleasing , and a good sign for Mondays WATERLOO 15 K. 4.50, 4.23, 4.06 = 56 mins
2nd May
Run with Niz = 23.28
Sat 3rd
Run over the big sandhills, steady = 1.33.45

THE BOYS DO THE BUSINESS AT BLACKPOOL MARATHON

UNOFFICIAL EARLY RESULTS BLACKPOOL MARATHON

ROB ASHWORTH 2.43
ME 2.48
ROB MCGRATH 2.49
PETER ROOME 2.56


THANKS TO; DANNY DREYER
ARTHUR LYDIARD
ROB MCGRATH FOR BEING MY TRAINING BUDDY
AND MOST OF ALL MY WIFE NIZ FOR SUPPORT

GUIDANCE FROM A GURU

IN DANNY DREYER'S BOOK CHIRUNNING HE RECOMMENDS NAGETIVE SPLITS WHEN RACING, THIS SOUNDED LIKE A GOOD IDEA BECAUSE IN THE PAST I HAVE ALWAYS BLASTED AWAY AT THE START AND HOPED THAT I COULD KEEP IT TOGETHER UNTIL THE END. MOST TIMES IN THE MARATHON I WOULD SLOW DRAMATICALLY TOWARDS THE LAST 6 MILES. SO I ASKED DANNY TO HELP ME, I TOLD HIM THAT I THOUGHT I WAS IN 2.50 SHAPE AND COULD HE TELL ME THE PACE TO RUN MY NEGATIVE SPLITS?
HE KINDLY GAVE ME THE FOLLOWING ADVISE ; If it’s a reasonably flat course you should try to come through the half at a 6:35 which would put you at 1:26:15. A much easier start will leave you with much more at the end. That means your second half can be1:24 and everyone comes home happy.

Cheers,
Danny
SO HERE IS MY PACE CHART FOR THE BLACKPOOL MARATHON
1 Miles - 0:06:35.04
5 Miles - 0:32:55.19
10 Miles - 1:05:50.38
13.1 MILES=1.26.15
THEN I WILL INCREASE THE PACE TO 6.25 TO GIVE A SECOND HALF TIME OF 1.24.03 AND A TOTAL TIME OF 2.50.18
fri 25th
easy run with Niz = 10 mins
sat 26
1 mile warm up, one mile 6.23, one mile warm down = 20 mins

I WANT TO FLY LIKE A EAGLE LET MY SPIRIT CARRY ME

STEADY RUN WITH STEADY EDDIE OVER THE SANDHILL 4 LOOP, FEELING LIKE I HAD TO HOLD MYSELF BACK, FEELING GOOD ! =37MINS

FLY LIKE A EAGLE

TIME FOR SPEED

After morning rain the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful warm afternoon, we have waited for this weather for so long,April has been a succession of cold windy drab days. I headed to the park once again taking in the warm sunshine and the sight of the new leaves and blossom on the trees and bushes, bright colours of reds,yellows,purple and every shade of green shimmering in the bright sunlight. I was filled with a sense of new life and hope! once inside vic park i ran a slow mile, 6.13 a fast mile 5.20 [my fastest in over 3 years!] and then finished with a steady 6.04 mile. my work was done!
= 35mins

4 wheel drive

Tue 22nd
It was a beautiful evening, warm with just a gentle breeze when i set off for a run round my favorite sandhill loop. I was feeling great and running felt effortless. I really had to hold myself back as i felt like running forever! Danny Dreyer had emailed me with a tip on how to run up hills faster and i put it to the test! AWESOME it felt like i had 4 wheel drive as i ran up the very steep sand dunes. THANKS DANNY! = 33 mins

COUNT DOWN TO THE BLACKPOOL MARATHON

With just 6 days to go it was time for some final sharpening, I was greeted with some warmer weather and could run in a racing vest for the first time in training this year, but there was still a stiff breeze blowing to slow me down a bit !
my aim was to run 3 x 1 mile 2 of the miles at marathon pace and one mile hard. 6.23,5.27 and 6.17 followed,I worked on my CHIRUNNING FORM and finished feeling pretty good and confident about my up coming Marathon. my plan is to run 6.30 pace up to 20 miles and then if i feel good try and push the pace from there, anyway one thing is for sure and that is the ARTHUR LYDIARD training is starting to pay off and the CHIRUNNING is helping me run smoother and with better running economy but most of all less aches and pains and with a lot more enjoyment. = 30mins

BEEN RUNNING A LONG TIME!

Running 'key to human evolution'

one week to go before the blackpool marathon

Easy run with Jon round the sandhill 6 loop = 57min.
Sat 19th
With just a week to go before the BLACKPOOL MARATHON, I reduced my long run down to just 1 hour 15 mins of effort, running a sandhill loop i have used for many years I was surprised to run my second fastest time ever ,without really trying ! It was a cold windy day feeling more like the middle of winter than the end of April. Tess the mad sheep dog enjoyed herself bounding along in front of me as i worked at keeping good CHIRUNNING form.After over an hour of running the big sand dunes i ran the last mile on the road at 10 mph+ finishing very strongly! =1.15.39







Photo;BLACKPOOL, the location for next week's marathon.

CLICK HERE FOR DANNY DREYERS BLOG ON CHIRUNNING

ARTHUR LYDIARD TRAINING PROGRAM; train like a champion! click here.

RYAN HALL

America's Next Great Runner

Finishing fifth in just his third marathon ever, Ryan Hall, 25, announced to the world on sunday that America's next great distance runner is a force to be reckoned with ! Hall crossed the line one minute and two seconds behind the winner, Martin Lel of Kenya, who finished in 2:05:15 - a new London Marathon record. But, as the New York Times reports, it was ten miles before the finish line that an obviously strong Hall pulled up next to Lel and fellow Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru and asked the two leaders to pick up their pace.

"I thought: 'This is a classic move. I tell the pacemakers to go faster and they drop me,'" Hall said afterward. READ MORE;

CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY OF RYAN HALL

THE TEN GOLDEN RULES OF RUNNING, CLICK HERE