I walk along near my friends, with my wife further back and feel curiously detached. I think to myself is this what it feels like to be relaxed, or maybe I am just alone? The roaring of the waves and the whistling of the wind should make it hard to think; but in a strange way it is almost seems like white noise, slowing down my thoughts and giving me time to be present. Sort of like listening to one of those sea shells that you can hear the echo of the sea in.
Compared to even the small town that I live in, the landscape seems so empty; just the sky, waves, beach and the land above the beach. Even though my friends are close by, I feel distant, as I reflect on the last twelve weeks of training for Valencia. My friend’s dog sprints, stops and then strides around us every so often; reminding me that I am not alone.
I smile at the dog, he reminds me what running should be about. His running is spontaneous, playful and above all he seems to be enjoying himself. I realise that since May my running hasn’t quite felt like that. With my feet sinking into the sand as I walk along, I watch the dog run near the sea and then scamper back as the waves come rushing in. I join him to see what the water feels like, and manage to get my shoes soaked. I laugh and realise that I am beginning to unwind from a busy few months of work and trying to get through this marathon training cycle.
I feel of mixture of surprise and relief that I am in good shape for Valencia. Since my hamstring injury in May, it took a while to regain the fitness I had before London. I tried to work with the approach of getting perspective by looking at whatever hardships other people were going through. Whilst this may seem cruel, that didn’t provide relief for the frustration I felt about this missed injury. What did help was taking responsibility and placing my situation in context.
I had, deep down, known that my previous physio was not getting to the bottom of the problem with my hamstrings. I could have done something about it earlier though, but that said, there was also an element of bad luck. Ultimately I did take action and it has shown me that there will always be outside factors that come in to play a negative or positive role in whatever you are trying to pursue. Life, very much like running, is about how you deal with those ‘factors’ and keep moving forward.
This is where context comes into play. Whilst accepting part of the role I took in aggravating my hamstring injury- after discussions with my coach, friends and family- I came to recognise that circumstance was crucial to understand where my training is and where it will go. I had peaked perfectly for London, while getting three good PBs along the way, and then got a bad hamstring injury.
It was always going to be a challenge to achieve the same build up as I did for London, but this was made worse by my hamstring problems. Even for elites, there are only so many times that they can peak in the year. So being race fit for Valencia is an achievement in itself. I have learnt to place this build-up in its own context rather than comparing it to London.
It could be an apocryphal tale, but Brendan Foster was rumoured to say that he knew that he was training at his best; when he woke up tired and went to bed tired after training. For me the second half of this year, has certainly felt like one of the most attritional periods of training I have been through. Besides undertaking harder marathon paced workouts, I have had to do battle with a minor calf strain and a recurring shoulder issue from my rugby playing days along the way. It certainly has not come to me as easily as my build-up for the first half of the year.
The counterpoint to finding the training harder the second time around with my coach, is that I have entered uncharted territory. One of the things that I am most proud of is that I have been able to train all year round and properly for two marathons. This is a personal first and best for me in my five year marathon career to-date. It was only when I started running in 2014 that I was able to train for two marathons and secure improvements in both races. Do I know what is going to happen at Valencia? No, but what I do know is that after all the training I have put in that I want to give the best possible performance I can.
That was one of the main things that struck me as I walked along the beach, was that I felt a sense of nervousness that wasn’t just related to me pushing myself beyond my current limits at the marathon distance. It was the excitement and fear of racing a marathon abroad for the first time and after doing consistent training all year round for the first time since 2014. With the rhythm of the waves crashing on the shore, I came to the realisation that maybe this was what was always scaring me about training for a second marathon in the year- the fear of not knowing. I felt safe in how I approached London and knew the course well, whereas with Valencia the only thing I knew was that the course was meant to be flat and fast. Everything else to do with the city was a novelty.
I can hear my friends calling for me to catch-up as we make our way along the beach, a peace descends upon me. It is these nerves that confirm to me that I am doing the right thing. Before this beach walk I had constantly questioned whether I had done the right thing by spending money and my annual leave by trying to run a marathon abroad in the winter. My fear of not knowing how this will turn out, shows to me that I am going beyond my comfort zone and it is something worth doing. Just before I catch-up with my friends I remember a quote that I saw at the first 20 mile race I ever did -the Grizzly Race. It was a race that terrified me, as I had never run that distance across countryside, hills and gravel beach; however it was also one of the most enjoyable races I have ever done. The scenery, the course and the people were tremendous. Along the course were signs reading out inspirational signs, and this one stuck in my head:
All it takes is all you've got.
Marc Davis
I’ve given my Valencia training everything I’ve got, and I look forward to facing that same fear on Sunday 1 December 2019.
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