A Marathon Journey Derailed but Not Defeated

The Marathon Bug: How It All Began

Ever dreamt about running a marathon?

You’re not alone.

I’ve been captivated by the London Marathon since childhood, I remember watching it on TV every single year. Seeing the athletes finish and then seeing all the normal people coming through. I’ve memories of celebrities waving to the camera as they head on by.

A whole bunch of times in the past I applied to the London Marathon, but with no luck. Remember when you had to pay anyway and ended up with some awful swag as your reward? I remember a grey, terrible-quality fleecy number, sponsored by Flora.

Not quite what you hope for from your application. It was probably for the best to be fair, there was no way I would’ve been in the right place to take on a marathon then.

That dream faded away.

For a while.

More recently I was able to support Gabby through her training and as she completed her own race in Warsaw. This was the final catalyst I needed. I spent the day from start to finish wandering over Warsaw to try and meet Gabby as often as possible, seeing everyone running through, including a couple of people from my old home town running club.

Coming into 2020, I decided that this was the year. I’d had quite a good 2019 and was feeling pretty strong so we entered the Kraków marathon. Only, that didn’t happen.

The small matter of a global pandemic put pay to that idea.

The re-organised event? Well with a little one arriving to join the family, it just wasn’t the right time.

Fast forward a few years and an opportunity arose. I set a deadline: complete a marathon before my 40th birthday. I spoke to everyone involved to make sure we were all on board. Training for a marathon is an incredibly selfish thing after all.

This wasn’t just a fleeting wish; it was a dream solidified by witnessing the dedication of marathon runners firsthand. I did the whole researching a plan before settling down on one. I put it in the calendar. It was solidified.

The Blueprint: My Training Plan

Through the winter I was running fairly regularly and going along to 5 race 5km series at CityTrail Lublin (with only one race missed when I got stuck on the motorway courtesy of a particularly heavy snowfall). TrainAsOne was my guide throughout this. Adaptive training was vital when the weather and circumstances cause so many changes.

Packed ice does not make for a good running buddy.

When spring arrived, it really signalled the start of my marathon journey.

When it came to starting that commitment to marathon training, setting the goal up as my ‘A race’ within TrainAsOne and getting started was all I needed to do.

The challenge I found after a while was the uncertainty that having an adaptive training plan brings, plus the reliance on the ‘oh it’ll rewrite itself’ every time I didn’t feel like going for a run. It really appealed to the procrastinating lazy creature that resides within me. It wasn’t working.

What I needed, was a fixed structure.

What I ended up settling on, was actually a hybrid between TrainAsOne and a traditional running plan. I used the exact same training plan Gabby had used those years older to build my framework.

This created the structure I needed. I did this in TrainAsOne and flitted between the workouts each suggested. It meant I had choice but, choices with the same goals in mind. It really worked for me.

This created the structure.

Mondays were a rest day with some light mobility work.

Tuesdays became a strength/interval day with hill repeats or intervals of varying lengths.

Wednesdays were a workout day, or a physio day earlier on in the plan.

Thursdays were another mobility day.

Fridays were an easy day.

Saturdays were a mix of easy running and tempo running

Sundays the ubiquitous long run, where my boundaries were pushed and tested, topping out at 32km over the duration of the plan.

I wrote a little bit about the journey to 32km in this post: here

Using TrainAsOne custom workouts I was able to plug all of this, including the exact progression of long runs that I wanted to do, following the plan. TrainAsOne then took over and through a combination of assessments was able to provide the training paces needed. It also provided options for the interval and tempo days that helped me feel like I had a little more choice over what workout I did.

To read more about TrainAsOne you can read: here

Something I really appreciated was its ability to adapt to the conditions.

When the weather was heading upwards of 30 degrees in the morning, TrainAsOne had my paces slow down. When it was cooler, the opposite. I really like that it completely took the thinking out of this – once my structure was in place, all I had to do was run my runs.

One of the best things I did throughout the training was to get a specific paper diary. I’d keep track in there of every run I planned, every run I did, and every run I didn’t. I’d mark the reasons why I missed runs, I used it to plan in advance what was coming up. It became my running guru. Checking in on a daily basis, whilst not going anywhere close to the process of journalling kept me aware of what I was doing, how far I had come and where I was going. Being able to reflect back on what made a run feel good, what made it feel bad whether that was the weather, the food I’d eaten or otherwise was very useful.

It was one of the reasons I ended up settling on my standard pre-run breakfast of peanut butter, honey and banana on toast that needed to be over 2 hours before my run. That kind of information might’ve gotten itself lost.

It also helped define what worked for me when it came to fuelling the run. I tried a few different fueling ways, before settling for gels for ease. I found that if I

It’s certainly a practice I plan on continuing and will happily recommend it alongside all the tech options that I also find myself using.

Navigating Life’s Challenges While Chasing a Marathon Dream

Life’s unpredictability became a constant companion during my training. Naturally, this is part of life, regardless of whether you’re training for something or just getting by.

Of course, having a young family will always offer opportunities for all your best-laid plans to unravel. Along with that, the summer heat became a formidable adversary, forcing me to cut short a planned 24 km run at just 18 km. Forcing runs to turn into hikes as I struggled, even in the early mornings, to keep cool and stop my heart rate rocketing. On top of that the challenges in recovering when you’re overheated, struggling to keep hydrated and then not sleeping overly well. We’re lucky to live in a forested river valley so we had it easy compared to those in cities and towns.

Despite unexpected family events, work travel (running around the old town of Istanbul was an absolute, hilly, highlight!) and even a music festival, I adapted my schedule to stay committed to my goal. If that meant moving the long run from it’s traditional Sunday slot, that’s what happened. If it meant I’d have to sacrifice one of my other weekend runs, that’s the way it was.

Facing the Ghosts of Injuries Past and Present

The spectre of injury was ever-present, as it has been for as long as I remember. But I took proactive steps to mitigate it. A physiotherapist helped me confront my Achilles issues, a long-standing concern going back, and being unaddressed, for many a year. We fit the sessions into the Wednesday slot, so I’d have Thursdays off for recovery. Strength and mobility exercises became an integral part of my routine, serving as a preventive measure against common injuries.

They worked, and once the physio’s work had really started to take effect, I managed to get through the entire training block with no problems at all aside from the heat, yeah, it really was that bad for me.

I felt a real sense of stress into the last few weeks though. Post that last 32km long run and as I headed into the taper, I was terrified of injuring myself. Any little niggle or knock was suddenly the end of my dream, I did everything I could to avoid getting hurt.

I wasn’t going to go through all this training, all this work for it to be undone by something innocuous.

The 11th Hour: When Everything Goes Wrong

I was on the cusp of realizing my dream something innocuous cropped up.

The Wednesday before the marathon saw a kids party at preschool, our little one, much like his father would, ate quite a lot of sweets. Overnight, he threw up, again and again and again. And again. The smell was so sweet I was certain it was down to what he ate.

Aside from having precisely no sleep, it wasn’t too bad. The boy was feeling better by the morning, we were able to get him to drink and then slowly eat. The parental spidey senses stopped tingling. I could relax Well, as much as you can in that situation.

Thursday passed, Friday passed, and there were no ill effects. Definitely had something to do with the sweets he ate at school. On Saturday we made our way up to Warsaw.

I went and registered. I was bouncing. The hype and energy were off the charts. Tomorrow was going to be marathon day. We went to a party, where I was very careful not to eat anything that could trigger any issues the next day.

Making our way back to the apartment, everything was fine, we grabbed some bits from the shop to make sure I had my staple peanut butter, honey and banana on toast for breakfast and a bit of last-minute carbs for the evening.

Sleep came surprisingly easily, beating the timer I set on my podcast that I use to help me focus on anything other than thoughts in my brain. It’s like the day before Christmas after all.

Then, the problem happened. I woke up and forgive me if this is TMI, but I had a bit of stomach pain and thought that perhaps this was due to needing a poo. So I went. Everything was normal, you’ll be glad to know. The stomach pain faded, for a moment before coming back, a wave growing. Oh.

Perhaps it’s just a bit of pre-race nerves or maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that last sandwich.

Oh.

The vomit started.

I managed to get back to sleep but only for a fleeting moment.

Oh.

It came back.

Perhaps it’s just nerves Gabby suggested. Perhaps. Fingers crossed.

Oh.

It was not nerves.

Come 5 am and after spending 4 hours going back and forth between the bathroom and the bed, it dawned on me, there was absolutely no chance of running the marathon. I was already incredibly dehydrated. I hadn’t been able to keep anything down so pre-race breakfast was out of the window. Running a marathon unable to fuel or hydrate, that’s just not wise.

It was a devastating setback, but Gabby’s unwavering support suggested and helped me find another marathon opportunity just a month away. Maybe it’s not all been a waste.

We decided to get out of Warsaw as soon as possible, not wanting to be trapped by the impending road closures around our apartment. Not wanting to be trapped watching all those people taking on the challenge I should’ve been.

I didn’t stop throwing up for well over 24 hours.

I ended up not starting to eat properly until the following weekend.

The Second Chance That Wasn’t: Falling Sick, Again

Four weeks to go until Poznań, I spent the whole of Monday feeling absolutely dreadful. I could barely look after myself.

I took this moment to try and build out a plan. What would these next four weeks need to look like to get me back to shape ready to run a marathon? A plan started to form.

The first week was about recovery, it had to be. With starting to move built into the latter half of the week and a couple of runs at the weekend. These were by necessity shortish, with 14km on the Saturday and 5km on the Sunday. Both went well. The next week then was a mini peak week, with an aim of getting up to somewhere around the 25km mark for the long run.

I aborted the run early, making it to just past 20km. The reason? I felt a little niggle in my left knee – particularly around the IT band, something I have felt before and did not want to aggravate it with only two weeks to go.

It was probably over-conservative but, understandable given what had gone on before.

My resilience was tested though. Within a couple of days of the week following that run, the boy was full of a cold that seemed to be deepening as every day went by. Soon, Gabby also succumbed to it.

There was a desperate scramble to massively up the volume of nutrients in my diet. Trying to ensure I didn’t go down with it if I could avoid it.

The days passed by, and aside from feeling a little tired and under the weather, possibly due to the onset of autumn, everything was fine. The buzz ahead of Poznań was starting to rise.

A week before the marathon I had a 14km easy run and it went like a dream. I just wanted to keep running. Now I was excited. I’d been stretching and working on the few niggles that cropped up post illness and they were all feeling fine. I knew my target pace was going to be lower than it would’ve been for Warsaw. That vomiting bug did a lot of damage.

Wednesday came and went. Things were feeling good. I’d started to get my stuff together, started to pack my bags for the trip.

Thursday morning.

Oh.

I’m ill. It got me, it hit me hard. but it was just a head cold. Just a little cough but it’s doable like this, yeah, I’ll need to downgrade my expectations but it’ll be fine, or so I thought.

Friday Morning.

Oh no.

Despite my earnest attempts to recover, the cold moved well and truly onto my chest. A real deep cough developed bringing up some not-so-pleasant gloop. I was shattered chasing the kids around in the morning. Another dawning revelation happened. I’m not running Poznań. There’s just no way that I’m taking a risk with my health, especially when it’s into your chest. I really do subscribe to the above-the-neck / below-the-neck rule and any time I’ve ignored it in the past, it’s come back to bite.

Dream over.

For now.

Redefining Success: The Marathon Continues

While missing two marathons was disheartening, it doesn’t define my journey or quench my ambition. Health remains my top priority, and my marathon dream is far from over. The setbacks have been challenging, but they’ve only fueled my determination. The finish line may have eluded me for now, but it’s still in my sights, and I’m more committed than ever to crossing it.

As one of my very oldest friends, Jo said in a message:

“But you did the hardest part, the getting up and out every run when it’s cold, wet, you hurt, missing events to run, eating well drinking less, everything else that comes with it. Be proud of that! The race was the easy part

I now know what it takes to build that baseline of fitness for a marathon. I know that I can do it. After my 32km long run, I felt comfortable. I know that with people around, crowds around and that big old goal at the end of the actual road, I’d be able to get around the route. I’m certain of it. That bodes well for the future. There’ll be other opportunities.

For now, the finish line is blurry, what does it look like and when? Do I still aim to finish a marathon before I hit 40 like my goal? What would that look like where the only real options now are mountain, winter ultras (which often will have a marathon as the ‘easy’ option…)?

I guess these are all things yet to come. After being hit by those disappointments multiple times now, I don’t feel like I’m in the place to decide what’s next.

Naturally though, I’ve got plenty of ideas.

Most more ridiculous than a marathon.

Let me know in the comments what you think.

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