Big Stadiums and Other Stories

Last Sunday was the first of two major sporting events happening for me this April. Brentford’s first visit to Wembley Stadium since 1985 ultimately ended in defeat with Carlisle United winning the Football League Trophy. The most disappointing thing about the day was that Brentford didn’t play as well as I’ve seen in other big games this season, the performances against Everton and Birmingham City in the League Cup were some way off.

Every football fan becomes a great manager after a defeat, I won’t bore you with the one or two things I’d have done differently with our starting line up.

It’s also easy to wonder how much the big occasion played a part. Carlisle were making their return to Wembley following a 4-1 loss in the same competition a year ago, and although there will have been alterations from that team, knowing what playing in a stadium that size, and in front of over 40,000 people is like, not to mention wanting to right the wrong of twelve months ago, must have been a help.

Brentford will just have to emulate the Cumbrians in 2012.

With the game kicking off at 1:30 PM, jump forward two weeks to marathon time and I expect to have finished running by then, and will have had more than enough chance to soak up the atmosphere of the day.

One of the things which sets the London Marathon apart from many others is the vast number of spectators. Unless you’re at the very top end of elite sport, this race presents a once in a lifetime chance to experience an atmosphere usually reserved only for a select few.

Those that have run the London Marathon have said the atmosphere is something I won’t forget. I do however have one previous experience of competing in front of a large crowd.

In 2002 I ran for England at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, in an event titled 100M for Elite Athletes with Disabilities, a bit of a misleading name really since this was purely a sight loss-based competition. There was a wheel chair 800M race as well and probably some swimming stuff, but luckily I wasn’t having to keep up with those on wheels, or get wet.

The Commonwealth Games had previously included a couple of disabled competitions as demonstration events, but Manchester was, as far as I’m aware, the first time they’d counted towards the medals table alongside the likes of Paula Radcliffe, Dwain Chambers and Ian Thorpe.

Being the only English athlete in my race, the loudest cheer was reserved for me, despite a mere handful of people in the 35,000 strong crowd having a clue who I was. I didn’t get out of my first round heat, fellow English competitor Andy Curtis (blind British 100M record holder) made the semi final.

The marathon will be very different from that July day in Manchester for many reasons. Although the numbers watching both on the streets of London and on TV will be higher, it will be far harder to pick out individuals with the volume of runners taking part. This means anyone who might get stage fright can hide.

I don’t think my start in the City of Manchester Stadium was my usual flier, but that won’t be an issue in Blackheath. In fact, I’ve no idea how long it will take me to get over the start line, let alone the finish!

This is one of the things I like about distance running over sprinting, if something doesn’t work out in the early stages, there’s more than enough time to put it right and still achieve the goal you’re aiming for.

With the 100M, it’s all over before you know where you are. Thinking back, the actual racing bit of the Commonwealth Games is a bit of a blur. Things I do remember include:

Thinking what a friendly bloke Mark Lewis Francis was, despite having just busted his hamstring.
Loving the fact you could eat at any time throughout the day and night.
Swapping T-shirt with one of the Bahamas 4X400M relay team because their kit was the coolest looking of every country. This was done the morning after the last night of track and field, and they’d done rather well for themselves. He and his team mates were a touch rough around the edges having spent most of the night in a nearby bar. The T-shirt hangs on my bedroom wall, I can’t wear it for it comes down to my knees and could be rapped around me twice!

Returning to the crowd, my other memory was from the stadium on the last night. It seemed every finalist who was English were inspired by the atmosphere, producing the sort of gold rush the organisers of 2012 will be hoping to replicate. Those staging this event performed a master stroke by putting the words to ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ on the big screen, with each medal ceremony being treated with a “come on folks, let’s out sing our last effort” attitude.

Pretty much every athlete left in the ground did a lap of honour at the end, with ‘Simply the Best’ followed by yet another lung busting ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.

All I can say is, if the Manchester City fans give their vocal chords that amount of welly should their team reach the Champions League next season their players can’t fail to be inspired.

Strike It Lucky

From the moment I got my marathon place, I wasn’t short of people offering me bits of advice. One consistent message that came across was that I would need an element of luck for my debut marathon to be a successful experience. Getting to the start line in one piece appeared to be a not inconsiderable challenge. Writing this just under three weeks away, with the last long run done before beginning to decrease the intensity of the training (tapering as it’s called), things look good for the turning up goal to be achieved.

To quote this week’s marathon email newsletter, “it's crucial to allow the body to recover from the hard training you've put in over the last few months”. This allows for any fatigue in the body to leave, and any niggles the chance to recover. In short, this is one of those, creating your own luck moment.

Unfortunately it’s impossible to have one hundred percent control over the luck thing. You can be sensible and listen to the body, cutting back or stopping altogether if you think there’s a risk of a niggle becoming more serious – as I have done a couple of times during the marathon preparation for my left calf. You can take care when running, watching out for potential ankle turners on rough ground and so on, but five months is more than enough time for a freak injury to occur.

There has been something in the two weeks before my last seven races, over the past six months, that has forced me to cut down considerably, or even stop running. Each time the rest and, on occasions visit to a physio has got me to the start line in one piece, with me either meeting, or exceeding the target set for that event.

Running being an individual, non-contact sport, the athlete has a far greater control over luck than those who play team sports. A current case in point is that of Brentford goalkeeper Richard Lee. Having been arguably the best Bee this season, especially in penalty shoot out victories in the Johnston’s Paint Trophy, Lee will miss out on a career highlight of playing in the JPT final at Wembley next Sunday. Whilst pulling off a crucial save in the home match against Leyton Orient last weekend, Lee landed awkwardly and looks set to miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. No one can talk to him about how you create your own luck on this occasion.

It’s with avoiding accidents in mind, as well as making sure the body is as fresh as possible on April 17th that the tapering process starts here. What this means is, nothing that will tire me out, distances and intensity will decrease, and no risks are to be taken.

The past seven days has been, give or take a mile or two, my biggest mileage week of the training period. I followed up Cranleigh 21 with between 8 and 9 on Thursday night, and 14 this morning, including a 21.35 5K at Kingston Parkrun.

This Week's Miles: March 13th

Having not run over last weekend, this week began with an 8 miler on Monday night, which took a shade over an hour to complete.

Tuesday sore another steady run, only 6 miles this time. I say steady, that was the plan, in fact this became a session with 3 lots of 3 to 4 minutes of tempo running, sepperated by recovery jogging.

As I finished I became aware of cramp at the bottom of my left calf, the one which I had trouble with before the Wokingham Half Marathon in February.

With London Marathon day being five weeks today, at the time of writing, I’m not about to take any risks that might result in injury, either one which effects my preparation over the next month or worse, puts me out of the marathon altogether.

I decided there was far more to lose than gain from my usual Thursday night run, so stayed at home with what turned out to be a poor Manchester City performance in the Europa League for company. The last time I picked up a calf niggle I wrote about how Sunday morning’s aren’t the most exciting times of the week without running, neither it turns out are Thursday nights.

The rest and attention from the hot water bottle(the latter designed to loosen muscles without putting any pressure on them) did the job, and I was back out this morning. The route was planned with a number of get out points early on in case the calf played up, but an hour in and all was fine. Today’s effort ended up being the 20 miles that was hoped for at the start of the week, the distance covered in 2 hours 41 minutes (or there abouts). There was no pain or stiffness in the calf afterwards.

I experimented with Powerbar Gels again, this time using blackcurrent, which, whilst still not being what I would choose to consume, was a considerable improvement on the strawberry and banana one I used last week.

Aside from some running-based discussions, topics covered with Andrew today included Brentfords win at Charlton yesterday, Tottenham removing AC Milan from the Champion’s League on Wednesday and the fantastic victory for Quins RL at St Helens on Friday night – once I’m done with this marathon my rugby league away trips will be back on.

Instead of a day out in Warrington next Sunday, it’s the final race before London, or, if you prefer, the third of the four race plan. Cranleigh 21 is something of a pre-London favourite. It will also be the longest I’ll run before April 17th.

Total for this week: 34 miles.

Football, Physio and Fancy-Dress

I know this is my third post in as many days, but I read something this afternoon which I felt needed to be shared.

In an earlier entry I wrote about fancy-dress. Someone had asked me if I were going running the marathon in a costume, a suggestion that was quickly cast aside.

I did however point out that, were I to go as something, then it would need to be one half of a pair since I’m attached to someone else. Salt and Pepper pots, Chuckle Brothers and the like, that sort of thing. I certainly didn’t consider this as an idea:

A product engineer from Wiltshire is going to be running his first London Marathon dressed as a pair of testicles to raise awareness of male cancer.

Stuart March, from Calne, is hoping to raise some £2,000 for the Male Cancer Awareness Campaign (MCAC).

He got the idea after seeing someone else run as the charity mascot in the Brighton Marathon last year.

Apparently Mr Testicles has taken part in four marathons - New York, Chicago, LA as well as Brighton - but like Stuart, this will be his first London outing.

See the story I read on the
Press Association website, it's well worth a look.

Calf update: as I expected it’s tight, not torn. The left leg, along with lots of other bits of me, were given a fair old battering tonight. These physios don’t hold back!

Wokingham decision to be made on Thursday.

And, not only will April be my first marathon, but my first trip to Wembley for football, following Brentford’s victory over Exeter in the Johnston’s Paint Trophy tonight. It’s fair to say, there have been times this year when a blog post featuring the subjects of Brentford and bollocks wouldn’t have been a happy coincidence (Yeovil and Dagenham, ahem).

It might not be the glamourous end of football, but I guarantee you’ll see more entertainment on April 3rd than when England play there.

Running Music: Canned Heat 'Let's Work Together'

So far:

The Clash ‘London Calling’
Arcade Fire ‘Keep the Car Running’
Iron Maiden ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’

And next:

Canned Heat ‘Let's Work Together’

They played the
Brian Ferry version of this song before the teams came out at Griffin Park on Monday night, ahead of the
Johnston’s Paint Trophy Southern Area Final first leg between Brentford and Exeter – I know that’s a mouthful but a potential trip to Wembley is a potential trip to Wembley, no matter what you call it.

Having blogged about guide running being all about teamwork last week, this seemed the perfect song to put on the list.

Plus, I did actually have it in my head while doing a lap of Richmond Park last night.

Written by Wilbert Harrison and originally titled ‘Let’s Stick Together’, the Canned Heat cover appeared on the 1970 album ‘Future Blues’. The song became their biggest UK success, reaching number 2 on its release in January 1970.