Virgin London Marathon Result

It’s been two weeks since the race but it’s still fresh in the mind and now in a position to post this up after just getting back from our family holiday. Here’s my latest blog update…Results wise I finished 14th overall in a time of 2.14.27, which was a PB by over 2 minutes (previous PB was 2.16.48, which I ran in London last year) although I was actually a little disappointed with the time. I was looking to get under the Olympic & World Champs A Standard of 2.12 and whilst clearly that was still my ideal outcome I made the choice over the race weekend to start with the 2.13 pace group. Partly I felt that the 2.11 group might be a little too quick at this stage and I didn’t want to damage my changes of running in the region of 2.12-2.13 which would have been a good stepping stone to running something faster in the future. I feel on reflection I made the right choice as many of the 2.11 group seemed to struggle and whilst my finish time was not what I was after there were lots of plus points to take away.

In terms of how the race unfolded, the group I set out with included Stephen Shay (USA) one of the mexican athletes (there were a number Mexicans running, I believe they may have been using this as a trial race) and fellow Brits Dave Webb, Tom Payne and Martin Williams and of course our pacemaker (Max King, a former American steeplechaser, with a marathon best of 2.15). We set off on schedule with myself, Shay and Dave Webb tucking in behind the pacemaker then Martin, the Mexican and Tom Payne in behind us. Generally the pace was spot on throughout although there were a few fluctuations in pace even though the actual mile splits were pretty much bang on (2.13 pace is basically 5.05 per mile). The personal drinks stations (which are every 5k) were a bit busy for our group as unfortunately myself and the three other Brits in the group all happened to choose the same drinks table, which is done the night before the race. This really was a case of sods law because when you deliver your drinks to the organisors the day before everyone can choose the table you would like to be on (there's a choice of tables 1 of 4) and as luck would have it we all choose table 2 and so of the 6 people who had drinks on this table 4 of us all happened to arrive at the table at the same time. Fortunately it didn't seem to effect anything and we filtered through without any major issues. Some time around 8 to 10 miles the group shrunk to just myself, Shay, Webb and our Mexican friend and we reached half way together in 66.37. At this stage I felt really comfortable and was growing in confidence, it was around this stage we started to catch people too, the first person being the Australian Colis Birmingham who was making his marathon debut. Not long after this I saw my wife and friends who were watching at the 14 mile mark, feeling good I gave them a quick thumbs up as I passed (not something I normally do during a race). It wasn't until around 16 to 17 miles that I noticed that I starting to work a little more but looking at my 5k splits this was the quickest split the weather may have also been a bit of factor too as by this time it was starting to quite warm. It was also around this point that the group caught and passed one of the other british athletes, Phil Wicks. The group by this point was just myself, Webb and the mexican however over the next couple of miles this just became myself and Max (our pacemaker).

The only hitch around this time occurred at the 30k mark when I managed to miss the 30k drinks station, annoying because it was here I had attached a carb gel to my sports bottle, luckily I had attached another at the next 5k station as back up but I was ready for the gel at 30k mark. Shortly after the this we hit the 20mile mark, pretty much still bang on 2.13 pace at this point but from here I was on my own. From here unfortunately the pace dropped off a little bit, possibly more than I should have allowed, however I didn’t really check my mile splits at this stages and just focused on keeping myself inj one piece and ticking off people as they came back to me during the last few miles. Also by now the temperature got pretty warm by now.

Around 22 I passed Tomas Abya and a little further along the road I passed Chema Martinez (silver medalist at last years Euro champs), passing people in the closing stages whilst you still feeling quite strong gives you a lot of inner strength and when I passed the remaining british runner Andrew Lemoncello I felt for the first time in marathon I was able to enjoy the last half mile! The crowd support over the last 800m was just awesome too and it was a great feeling to be the first British finisher with and to get that kind of crowd reaction provided perhaps a small taste of what could be next August if I can achieve my goals. Since the marathon the legs seem to have recovered fairly well. I didn’t run a step for the first 7 days after the race. We went on a family holiday the day after the race and it was nice to be able to take it easy (well as much as you can do with active 2 year old!).. Now I just need to work out how I can fit in an altitude trip before the World Championships as well as ahead a 10 day holding camp and also be around to attend the birth of our second child which is due the first week of August. The Marathon in Daegu in on 4th September. In the meantime I have an MRI scan on my knee in couple of weeks, it’s something which has been around since returning from my first training camp at the start of February. I’ve been able to train on it without too many problems so hopefully nothing to be worried about. As for now I’ve doing some easy runs this week, just once a day of between 20 to 40minutes and other than feeling a bit of a slouch I think I’m ready to get back on the horse and start putting some proper training in again, so next stop Daegu.

Race day is almost here...

Well race day is almost here! its less than one week until the race so the both the excitment and adrenaline is building, although I must admit I don't get nerves in the same way I used to for the shorter distances races. When you are racing for over 2 hours its not quite the same as a race that only lasts a few minutes but I think the feeling of adulation and satifaction runs deeper come the finish line when things go well in Marathon. When a big race approaches you inevitably start to reflect back on your build up at some stage as part of the process of getting your mind focused on the task ahead and looking back this time there is a lot to be positive about, more so than my two previous marathons. Certainly I am far better prepared in terms of general training that I was for the London Marathon 12 months ago so anything less than a personal best would be disappointing. Certainly the UKA/London Marathon supported training camps out in Kenya have made a big different to my preparation and with better workouts I've been doing this all suggests that my body is more than capable of taking a good chunk of that my best time. You can of course never fully replicate what willl happen on the day itself but I feel I ready and will continue to make sure of the next few days I look after myself and tick all the right boxes. On a separate note I wasn't able to upload pictures very easily whilst in Kenya so below are a few pictures I took whilst there... Runners stay here! ....

The only way to travel, by Matatu...

One morning we went down to watch an an adhoc 'Discovery' race organised by a German race agent...

In January I went into town of Elderot, the roads were strangely clear of traffic due to the Kenyan Priminster coming into town...

The other British runner who were here in March...

St Patricks Celebrations

I’ve been in Kenya for two weeks now and in terms of training I feel like things are slotting into place well. I have been carrying a few niggling injuries over the past few weeks but being hear has allowed me to manage them better, with regular treatment and additional rest between training. The running itself has been a bit more unusual compared with my first trip in January, in that we have had quite a bit of rain last week, fortunately it didn’t disrupted training, although I did find myself a little low on clean training kit at times. There were also a lot less Kenyan’s out training first thing in the morning too… they don’t like the cold or the rain, so they often wait for it to clear up for going out running.

I have been running most of my day to day steady runs with the other British runners who out hear which includes Andy Baddeley, Mike Skinner, Ben Whitby, Mark Draper & Tom Bedford who are all part of the same training group back home. Whilst they have different immediate terms goals to me we have started most easy or steady runs together which has been good.

In terms for my key training sessions these have been on my own mostly with my a good 30k tempo run on on Friday, using and out and back route along a road called Kaptuli, a short 20mins drive from the training centre. Whilst still being offroad it provided me with slightly flatter route than the options directly around the centre. I ran the run solo but did have Barnabus, a local Kenyan who works for Lorna & Pieter as a driver and general worker at the centre following me in car. He drove behind me in a 4x4 and pulled alongside me every 5k to provide drinks. He certainly needed the 4x4 too, as with the overnight rain we encountered a few tricky muddy patches along the route. It was a good session for me though and confirmed to me that my fitness is good and that I’ve managed to acclimatization to the altitude as much as I would have hoped for. It was arguably one of the hardest workouts I’ve done too with the high altitude and an undulated route a tough combination on what was my longest marathon tempo run to date. More recently I joined the other guys for a track workout yesterday. We drove to Eldoret Univeristy track on this occasion as we had heard it was a better surface than the Iten track. I thought Iten track was busy with some 80+ Kenyan distance runners on there last week, however this was something else with some 120+ using the Univeristy, there seemed bearing enough of a gap between training groups to slot in to do our session, however once we got going we seemed to fit nicely around the various moving trains around the track. There were a number of Kenya’s better know athletes training that morning with Eluid Kipchoge (5000m Pb 12.43) on track, unsurprisingly he was not even at the front of his training group (of some 30-40runners).

Outside of training I have been lucky enough to time my training trip with the 50th Anniversary of the St Patrick High School here in Iten. For those who read my blog entries back in January you may remember me writing about the School. It’s one of Kenya’s most famous, particular in terms of running, some 30plus Olympic runners having attended the school, there is a tree planted and marked for each athlete within the school grounds.

The anniversary took place on Saturday and was attended by thousands of locals as well as many famous past students and religious and politicial leaders, with the current Prime Minister Raila Odinga being one of those. We didn’t stay long enough to see any of the athletes who were reportedly also attending but I did pick myself up a programme which included the school athletics records…the school record for the 800m is 1.43.64 and the 1500m record is 3.33.24, so not to shabby for a secondary school. It’s worth noting though that some Kenya’s don’t attend secondary school at the same ages as we do. They will often take a couple of years out between primary and secondary school to work so they have the money to attend as the like of St Patrick’s, which is a boarding school. That said both athletes in question (Japheth Kimatui and William Chirchir) were both 18 when they ran those times. Whilst we did not stay for the full celebrations it was a privilege to attend and clearly a big deal for local people and those who run the school, so something to tell the grand kids about. Next week are hoping to go into one of the classes during lesson time which should be fun, apparently the kids love to see Mzunga’s!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in my blog posts, I wanted to include some additional pictures but the internet isn't great here and I couldnt manage to add them, so I will have to post them up on my return home.

20k Race Result & back in Kenya

Last Sunday I raced on the road over 20k in Alphen, Holland, finishing 5th in 60mins 30secs. This was the only race I have planned in my London preparation so I was keen to race well, which I think I managed. Conditions were very windy unfortunately which is apparently quite common for this event, making things a little tougher. I was aiming to run sub 60mins which would equate to around 63mins for the half marathon but the wind put paid to that, with a 4km section in particular directly into a strong headwind. I also ran the last 12km solo but found that I was able to get into a good rhythm and hold my pace well (when not into the wind). A good result and bodes well going into the last 6 weeks of preparation for London. You can find offical race results here www.prorun.nl/live/ my race is the 20k wedstrijdloop which you need to click on (far right on the tool bar).

Following the race I was back on my travels that evening flying back to London Gatwick before then jumping on a bus to Heathrow. I stayed overnight in Heathrow before then getting my flight to Nairobi, not before squeezing in an early morning jog around Heathrow I might add. I also had to stay overnight in Nairobi too as I arrived late at night before then completing my travels with the short flight to Eldoret (nearest airport to Iten, where I am based) and a 40mins bus ride to my final destination. Needless to say I was pretty tired but pleased that the travelling was over, unfortunately though I couldn’t run that day (which I had planned to do) due to my left knee & shin giving me some trouble, both had faired up after the race and I don’t think the long haul flight helped as my left ankle had doubled in size. Fortunately I was able to get some treatment on it that day from David Kirui a therapist who works with world famous Gerard Hartman, who is also based in Kenya during certain times of the year. Thankfully I was back into normal training the next day and the injuries seem to be starting to settle down. I even ran my first harder workout today which was 6 x 2k, I ran this with a small group of german athletes who also staying at the centre. I not quite fully acclimatized yet but I was happy to get a solid session under my belt.

One of my faviourite pics from my last trip to Kenya...

Today saw the arrival of further british athletes, namely Andy Baddeley, Mike skinner, Ben Whitby and Mark Draper, so it will be nice to have company on some of my runs. Although I came out on my own there have been some familiar faces on camp too, namely a few athletes (who are on extended training camps here) and friendly staff whom I met back in Janurary.

Today has been a busy day at the centre as they have played host to some Kenyan delegates for some kind of a conference. Apparently attended by one of the richest men in Kenya… I was told a story today he is not a man to cross, as apparently some of his rivals in the past have randomly disappeared without a trace!

Right that’s it for now as it time for my afternoon nap, which now forms part of my daily routine. One last thing, I had a really fun interview with Tom Williams from Marathon Talk the other day. Any keen runners there who have not heard of Marathon Talk, you should check it out, Tom along with Martin Yelling present the show which is free weekly podcast and well worth a listen. There’s been some really insightful interview with many well know runners and I certainly recommend you give it a listen.

Competitive would be understating it

My Kenyan training trip is almost at an end now but it was been a fantastic experience and certainly the best training camp I have been on… the Kenyan way is a very simple lifestyle but a very effective one in terms of getting the best out of your running. Our lifestyle has involved little else other than running, eating and resting, perhaps the odd game of table tennis and a few hands of cards.

In terms of training last week for me saw me top over 120miles for the week for the first time and the terrain and altitude will have certainly given my body some good conditions that I wouldn’t find anywhere else in the world. I’ve got some good long runs in here too with runs building from 2hours at the start of the camp to 2hr 30 by last Sunday. The pace of these has been good too at a little over 6minute minute mile pace, which is certainly a lot more taxing than it would have been down at sleep level not to mention the inclusion of the hills here. The only other session I did last week was 40min tempo run, I had the company of Reid Coolsaet from Canada who is one their fastest marathon runners (with PB of 2.11.23). It was a good solid tempo run for us, I believe Reid’s first in a while and we managed to average under 5.30 per mile over undulate 4km circuit. I have been pretty rubbish with my photography here in Kenya but checkout Reid’s blog for some great snaps of the sort of things going on out here.

It’s certainly not difficult to understand having been here why Kenyan athletes have been so successful over recent years. I have read various articles in the past that cite a variety of reasons for the success of distance running here and of course like most things it a combination of various circumstances but it does strike me that there are a few stand out reasons. Such as everybody runs here!, where as most other countries have a variety of other sports to choice from there doesn’t seem to be the options here so pool of people is far larger. Of course the environment/climate is a key factor, particularly the altitude that most elite distance runners seek out, that’s part of the reason why I’m here after all. Then there is the desire, as the Spanish 1500m athlete Casado put it to me the other day… ‘you can see it in their eyes’. Whilst I’m not say that I lack desire nor does any other elite athlete in most cases but I think it’s a little different here when the desire is to escape poverty. Plus there is also the fairly cut throat approach to the free food and housing that many of the training groups here provide, as these privileges are soon removed if you are not performing and there are no shortage of athletes to fill the spaces. I was aware that Kenya had many athletes of a world class standard but there are even more than I realised here, many of whom will never get the chance to race outside of Kenyan as there just so many vying for the same thing. When you have half marathon won in 62mins (at over 2000m altitude) and regular fields of over 500 runners all trying to be noticed in their discovery XC races it little wonder the standard is so high.

Also in my last post I think I mentioned there seems to be an incredibly number of children in Iten, a quick search on google reveals that the average age of Kenya is in fact 18years old, so this explains things. Iten is also famous for one of its schools in particular, ‘St Patrick’s’ although one of many Christian school here this one is a little different, it’s a boarding school which is sort after as not only does it have a good reputation in terms of education but it has a bit of history of producing world class athletes. I believe it has produced more Olympic runners than any other school, they have trees planted with names of the athletes who have been to an Olympics, with more than 30 in total. Wilson Kipketer (former 800m world holder) being one of many Olympic medallists to attend the school.

This trip has been a real eye opener but I have enjoyed it tremendously, so much so that I will be coming back here in March for a further 3 and half weeks as part of my final build up into the London Marathon. I must admit I do continue to find it difficult being apart from the family, whilst I realise these sort of camps are essential to coming a better athletes I miss out on funny things that Thomas seems to do on a daily basis... one of his xmas presents was Toy Story the movie and he is apparently now walking around with his hands on hips, a serious look on his face and stating I am Buzz Lightyear! :-)

The Kenya Experience

Hi folks

Much to update you about on here as per normal, where to start… well first of all in terms of racing I’ve raced a couple of times already this year, one was a local race in Guernsey on the famous soil that is the Full Course race on New Years day (course so called due to using part of the L’Ancresse Common horse racing course…so I’m told) and the other was representing Great Britain in the snowy fields that were the BUPA Edinburgh XC Team Challenge. The latter is a new event held within the normal Edinburgh XC event that I ran in last year. Both went well in the whole scheme of things, whilst not particularly setting the world alight I wasn’t expecting to be in peak shape right now, that will be saved for the London Marathon in April which I will be running again this year. Whilst I am now back in full training I have not been placing too much emphasis on the harder workouts up to this point as I wanted to make sure my body was willing and able after a long 2010 season, the Edinburgh race signified the start of a new training cycle and the start of my London build up.

I am now currently in Kenya, as some followers may know, I am on the UKA/London Marathon altitude training camp in Iten, Kenya. Iten is small village approx 30miles from Eldorat and has a history of producing great Kenyan athletes. Where we are staying is Lorna Kiplagat’s place and is known as the HATC (High Altitude Training Centre), although Lorna now represents Holland due to marrying a dutchmen (Pieter) who runs the place, she is still a hero in these parts. Many famous Kenyan athletes have originated from here or are based here, to name them would take forever plus there are many lesser-know Kenyan athletes that train here in the numerous groups that you see out every morning on the trails. Many of these guys would be good enough to walk into any other counties national squad but they are just one of many. The world rankings for the marathon speaks for themselves with more than half of the worlds top 200 coming from Kenya alone. Running is just a way of life out here, I heard this morning that something like 4000 people live in Iten and something like 1000 of them run! Myself and John Beattie joined one (of the many) training groups for an easy run last Friday… there was approx 50 in the group, also to give you an idea one of the standard the slowest guys in the group was a 2.17 marathon runner.

It really is a running mecca out here and you can’t fail to be inspired by the environment. It’s a very friendly and safe environment too, on every run you see literally hundreds of kids along the red dusty trials (which leave your shoes permanently red in colour). There seems to be lots of schools out here for the size of the place and all the kids shout out ‘how are you’ in their cute African accents, many run alongside you when you run past them or want high 5's as you pass them. The other day one of them grabbed Steff (Twell’s) hand and just wanted to ran with her for a few minutes like this, they also love it when you response to them too… hakuna-Matata is a good one! (think Lion king here). There is certainly no obesity out here too, few people can afford a car and all the kids walk or run to school around here. So not only are they living at 2400m above sea level but they also run everywhere partly because they have too but they also seem to love it too. Furthermore I have been here one week now and I’m yet to hear any kids crying or whining, they just get on with things.

Lorna’s place where we are staying at (the HATC) has everything you need but is fairly basis compared with western world luxury. Every rooms has 2 single beds per room with its own toilet and shower, it can be the luck of draw as to whether you get hot water some days but like I say its all we really need and any Kenyan would consider where are a complete luxury. The food is pretty good, there’s always plenty of it and meals change daily with plenty of rice dishes, lentils, beefs stews, salads and occasionally fish. Meats such as chicken are used sparingly but the beef stews are good and go down well. Desert which we have after every evening meal is pretty much always fresh fruit, grown locally as is pretty much all of the food here. We have however found a more westernised place to go for the occasional treat… Keiro View, which is restaurant (which also has accommodation) that overlooks the Rift Valley, we went there the other day and it has breath taking views. I posted a picture up on my twitter page, unfortunately internet can be a little slow so I won’t be posting up any other pic’s at the moment.

In terms of training we are meeting every morning for a 7am run (6am if you want to run with the Kenyan’s) before breakfast, the only exceptions are key session days when we start the warm up at 9.30am or the long run day which is at 9am, this is so we can get some breakfast in first. Training for me personally is going pretty well, you have to respect the altitude for the first few days otherwise it will break you but I think I have adapted quite well. It can be tough trying to regulate your breathing initially though and any hill soon gets you breathing hard and they are plenty of them out here, flat sections are few and far between.

I am now one week in with just less than 3 to go…I have a very understanding wife, who also had to move house without out me last week, technically making us homeless for a week or so whilst our new purchase is being sorted out. She is a bit of a star, although she tells me that she is banking all my trips away for when I retire from running!

Unfortunately there are other downsides to being away for so long too, as well as missing my family in general is that I seem to be missing out on my sons new daily antic’s… he has now mastered the art of climbing out of his cot, oh and he can pee standing up too now! He seems to be coping well without me and whilst I get a quick chat on the phone with him a few days a week as like most children he soon loses interest and is off playing with toys rather than speak to me.

Another bummer is that I will miss out on just about every awards night going in Guernsey, I have been nominated for an award at the Guernsey Sports Commissions Awards, as well as the SportingBet Channel Island Sports Personality of the Year and I have also been short listed for the Ambassador of Year Award at the Guernsey Achievement Awards…no laughing please! No seriously it’s a real honour to be nominated for any one of these awards let alone all three, I am very proud of where I come from and it’s always special to get any sort of recognition locally, whether that be winning awards or just simply being nominated. I can’t think of a more supportive place I’d rather live than Guernsey. Only a few weeks before xmas a complete stranger stop me on a run and told me that he had a lump in his throat watching me cross the line during the TV coverage of the London marathon.

Anyway I better go as its time for some dinner, I will try posting up next week with more details and perhaps give you a further idea of the training and what a typical day consists of.

That’s all for now folks.

Lee

It's been a while!

I often seem to start my posts with an apology for not updating the blog for so long but this time it really has been a while! although I won't apologize as such, as its just been crazy busy for me these last few weeks, but at least I do have lots to talk different things to talk about. Most of which is exciting and positive although there was sad news recently for me personally. Unfortunately my grand father passed away recently, he was a true Guern at little over 5 feet talk and a very hard working man, by far the hardest working person I have ever met. He was truely a very unique and likeable character and will be missed by a lot of people, it will not be the same without him. It does tend to be these sort of things that makes you put life in perspective as you never know when things will change.

Many things have are changing for me in other aspects of life too at the moment, i'm off to Kenya In January for a month of altitude training, however whilst I am away we will be selling our house and moving to another. Not the best timing but I guess there probably never is and I have a very understanding wife! Another exciting venture I have become involved with with these past few weeks is the Guernsey Sports Commission 'Rising Stars Programme' which is geared towards helping gifted young Guernsey Sports Star achieve their potential. Checkout there new website to find out more about that. www.gscrisingstars.com

Training seems to be slotting into place quite nicely amongst a crazy few weeks, I am up at around 90 to 95 miles per week at the moment and sessions are starting to come a bit easier now after some early winter blues. I'm also feeling quite strong generally from my gym work at the moment too... i've even added a bit of muscle! not that you'd notice on my 'Mr Muscle' style frame! Fitness testing in Loughborough this week confirmed i'm in good shape considering I'm yet to add any faster pace work as yet so I'm really looking forward now to getting out to Kenya and building on that now. Before that however I do have my last race of the year and first race of next to fit in, i'm running a 10k in Poole on Boxing Day and I have also been selected for the GB team in the Edinburgh cross Country on 8th January which will be a team match team against teams from the USA and a Europe Select. It promises to be a very strong field and just the sort of thing i need to get back racing.

I will get some regular updates going in the new year when I'm out in Kenya but until next year I leave with a quote my wife wrote to me in a text 'remember the important things in life as you never know when a tram may come crashing off a viaduct', ok unless you watch Coronation Street that maybe lost on you! however I knew what she was saying.

Until next time.