Now aside from running a fair bit, I also love reading about running, writing about running and, if it is appropriate, advising people about running. It is also true that the inner-geek in me loves to look at and try out new running kit.

I would also love to earn my living through running and help as many people as possible to discover the wonders of running, fitness and sport in general. So I have made a decision, that my personal ramblings are not really a route to achieving my goals – let’s face it, this blog is pretty self indulgent! In order to further my plans for world domination – a world where everyone runs by the way! – I have decided to launch a website where I will focus on the things I discover as I indulge my love of running (and much, much less on me, thank goodness). So please, please come and have a look at the other site and give me all the feedback you can, positive or negative.

You can now find me here: http://www.simonfreeman.co.uk

But I climbed on my bike and headed off along the A412 St Albans Road, for an appointment with pain and suffering – my first track race since school days and the first time I had ever raced over 3,000m. My coach, Nick Anderson, has been badgering me to come to the Watford Harriers open meet and run the 3,000m, in order – he says – to get out of my comfort zone. On arrival at a really lovely venue, I was greeted by a field full of athletes – a really wonderful sight.

There were a few older athletes, me included, but by far the majority as far as I could see, were junior athletes, up to 18 years old. As I weaved my way through the runners sprawled on the grass watching the action or warming up for their event or cooling down after it, there was a wonderful buzz of excited voices. Everyone was friendly, greeting those they were to compete with like the friends they clearly are, sharing thoughts on the nights races and talking about aims for the events that were to come.

My race came and went. I had a great time and I think I gave a good account of myself.

But the real eye-opener for me, was how many dedicated, fit and competitive young people there are who are prepared to come to Watford on a Wednesday night – and in the case of the runners in my race – wait until after 10pm before they get their opportunity for pain and suffering. After reading Christine Ohuruogu’s comments yesterday (you can read my response to that here) I had a bit of a feeling of despair; that the task of really exciting youngsters about athletics, the Olympics and sport in general was an impossible task – but after last night my spirits are soaring. Talking to the parents and coaches making up the very, very vocal support last night, I realise that for them the task is keeping children and young people engaged in athletics and for that I think we need super heroes and in that case the Olympics will, I’m sure, deliver. So if you fancy trying racing on the track for the first time or returning to the track or, if you are already racing on the track, you fancy racing at a friendly open meet, get yourself along to Watford and marvel at the fact that we have not lost an entire generation from sport… it’s just that the ones in Watford town centre don’t know what is going on 3 miles up the road.

Actually I don’t think she is wrong, but I think there is a danger that the current set of political leaders think that by throwing a huge amount of money at the Olympics, they can turn an entire generation of youngsters from x-box playing, fast food scoffing couch potatoes into Olympians of the future. Sorry, but I just don’t think that works.

And I also think it is rather patronising. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of hardworking coaches and teacher and community leaders, some paid, some voluntary, who have tried for decades to get and keep kids involved in sport. My inspirational friend and mentor Charlie Dark set up the RunDemCrew to help others, and especially young people, discover the way that sport can be a power for good. He did not do that because there is an Olympic Games just around the corner, he did that because he realises the amount of work there is to do and it needed to start immediately.

So sorry Christine and Seb Coe and all the others who are responsible for what I am sure will be one of the most amazing events I will witness in my lifetime – the problems that we face in society, that sport can help to tackle, are not new – they are at least in part the legacy of under-funding in education and a general dismissal of young people for past decades and decades. And one two-week spectacle is not going to reverse the trend of young people losing the motivation for and interest in sport – only decades and decades of hard work and dedication is going to do that. So if the Olympics in 2012 is a catalyst for that, then great. But do not think for one minute that because you set up a few taster sessions and put on a good show next year, your responsibility to young people has been discharged. There is much, much more work to do.

Generally my weekly programme is;

Monday – one run
Tuesday – double day: easy run and then session
Wednesday – one longer run
Thursday – double day: easy run and then session
Friday – rest day
Saturday – double day
Sunday – long run

However Larkin’s article quotes Marathon Performance Training Group’s elite coach Brad Hudson, who says that the key is to run for more than 80 minutes, which triggers certain physiological changes that are ideal for endurance athletes and especially marathon runners.

So what to do? I love my long and mid-length runs and would happily drop a 30 minute recovery run in order to fit in at least one more run of over 80 minutes. But then that could easily be the route to injury if the increased mileage is not managed carefully. Actually I suspect that my coach will increase my mileage as we approach the Seville marathon in February and that will probably mean at least two 80+ minute runs per week, so I probably don’t need to worry. But for those of you considering double days but wondering how to fit them in, how about adding to one of your existing runs and making that a mid-length run. Who knows… maybe 2:08:37 could be on the cards!

Running is a massive part of my life. I often run ten times a week. Social activities can and do take a back-seat or are manipulated to allow for running. I think and talk and read and write about running all the time. So when my wife and I were planning the wedding, she was not surprised – indeed she was totally supportive – when I suggested that I should organise a group run for anyone who fancied it on the morning of the wedding. Unsurprisingly there were quite a few people up and ready to run at 9am…

The place where we held our wedding ceremony is in a valley and so we set off at a very easy conversational pace up-hill, through the trees in the beautiful sunny, cool summer morning. The run was perfect. Easy to navigate, it meant that those who wanted to had back early could easily find their way to where we started. It was a gentle up-hill which meant that it was reasonably hard work but nothing so excessive. We ran slowly which meant that there was talking all the way, which was absolutely appropriate for a pre-wedding run. And it was significantly quicker on the way back than on the way there.

We got back to some bread from the local bakery and jams made by my wife’s Mum and aunties and a feeling of total relaxation and happiness (at least I did!) and the run was followed by the best party I have ever been to. What a wonderful start to married life.

Oh, and our honeymoon? Running and hiking in the Alps around Chamonix. Perfect!

Equally compelling viewing is the video that usually pops up to the side of the race coverage video – that of Dick Beardsley describing the end of the race from his point of view and, I guess, with the benefit of hindsight.

What strikes me about Dick’s monologue is what he thought during the final few hundred meters of the race. Dick Beardsley had been leading the race, albeit only by the length of his arm, for most of the 26.2 miles. However Alberto Salazar was the favourite and, as Beardsley acknowledges, Salazar  was considered to have the better kick, so it was no surprise when Salazar dropped the hammer with less than a kilometer to go and passed Beardsley just as his hamstring cramped up.

Dick could have eased up at that point. With a cramp in his hamstring and against one of the greatest marathoners of all time and certainly of his generation, Beardsley knew that second place was his and there would be no shame in that. But he didn’t…

Instead he put in one of the fiercest comebacks in any marathon and with only a few hundred meters to go, Beardsley went for the win.

So what does that mean for us? Well I think the simple lesson is don’t give up. I know that in the end Dick Beardsley did not win the 1982 Boston marathon. But he did know as he crossed the finish line that he had given his all and exceeded everyone’s expectations of him, perhaps even his own expectations. I think that the way he raced and didn’t give up also illustrates the kind of man he is and the level that he was training at. He gave it his all and this is what I think that everyone should do, whether that is running the first 10K or the 100th marathon, giving it all allows us to find out what we really are capable of.

So have a look at the videos and remind yourself of your aim. Then in every way you can make sure you give it 100%… you never know U2 might find out that you are capable of more than you ever thought possible.

The talk wasn’t really aimed at people like me. It was a talk organised by the Yellings’ primary sponsor Adidas for a group of people who had won an opportunity to be given some high-level training tips and a free pair of shoes after a pretty cursory gait analysis. But Liz or Martin – I can’t remember which – did talk about something that is pertinent to everyone who runs and wants to be the best they can be. They asked us to each think about how big our training budget is. It is an interesting question; what are you prepared to give up in pursuit of your ultimate achievement?

Smoke? Well you’d better give that up. Junk food addict? A salad might help now and then. Three square meals a day? Might have to swap that for more smaller meals throughout the day. Working eighteen hour days? A job that takes less time will be required. Avid clubber out every Saturday until the wee small hours? That’s not going to help with the long runs on a Sunday. Getting married in two weeks?…

Well, I am getting married in two weeks, to the most beautiful woman I have ever met. And it is, without doubt so far, the most important thing I have ever done. It isn’t something I do every day. Indeed I never intend to do it again. And it takes time and commitment to organise a wedding – ask my fiancée because she is doing most of it. But I also have quite a bit to contribute and that is taking up both time and mental space.

The reality is that there are only 24 hours in a day and so as the wedding takes up more and more time, something else has to give. It isn’t going to be work – we are in a recession and every business needs to work harder than ever at the moment just to stay afloat. Oh and I have a wedding to pay for! Sleeping and eating are two of my favourite activities so they have to stay. And Julie and I have already stopped going out much!

So running is going to take a back seat for a couple of weeks. I will still try to run every day, unless I can’t… and then I won’t. The truth of the matter is that for the next fortnight I have no idea what my budget is, so I will spend when I can and when I can’t, I won’t. I think that one of the characteristics of my running has been a lack of flexibility and that has been useful to a degree. But foregoing parties and meals out and nights in and dancing and drinking is all well and good, because they will come round again. But the wedding… that is a once in a lifetime thing and I am going to do everything I can to ensure my new wife has a wonderful day.

It’s only two weeks after all and then I’ll start training for the Bristol half… I’ll have a HUGE budget by then!

When I arrived at the track I immediately recognised Perri Shakes-Drayton sitting on the track with a group of runners, chatting. I know Perri from interviewing her a couple of times for Ransacker (you can see the interviews here and here) but I was bowled over, when having finished my first 400m she smiled and waved to me. After I had finished my session and before she started hers, we had a brief chat. I congratulated her on her amazing performance in Olso last weekend which you can see here with a lovely interview. She said that she is going to the Bedford International Games tomorrow (have a look here) to run in the 200m and then to Stockholm for the European championships. What a hard-working athlete!

I sat in the stands at Bedford and ate a snack post-session, watching Perri and her co-athletes doing their session, which was really inspiring. Then I headed into the west end in search of tracksuit trousers.

Of late I have decided that I need to be more fluid in my running-life interface. By that I mean that I need to be able to make running work with all the other things in my life including work and play. The key to this, I think is a mindset that doesn’t accept barriers. However another aspect is the practicalities and the ability to do a session or get to a session and then go straight on to something else is important. So I was in search of the perfect super-lightweight tracksuit pants. I have jackets that screw up into a ball the size of a grapefruit, but I needed trousers that did the same. So I went to one of the meccas of cool running gear, Nike Town London. Sadly I saw a lot of nice stuff, but very little that I would call proper running gear. The shorts seem to be getting baggier and baggier and there is really only one racing flat – the Nike Zoom Streak 3 – which I would love to try one day – and no lightweight tracksuit trousers (indeed there were NO tracksuit trousers of any kind in the running section of the store!) So it was that I ended up in the ASICS store on Argyll Street. Here there were two pairs of gossamer-thin black tracksuit trousers – and I ended up with the Men’s Woven Pants for £35. They really do scrunch up into the size of an orange and I think they will just the thing.

I got home from the west end and had a nap for an hour and a half and now I about to go out for my recovery run today. I think I have realised today that it is possible to put running at the centre of your life and still manage all the other things there are to do (especially work which, I acknowledge is really useful when you want to go and buy things!) so I am going to try to hang on to this feeling and see where it takes me. See you in half an hour or so…

It was the kind of session that makes me feel like a real runner, where I knowingly and willingly push myself beyond my comfort zone and I can feel the benefit of the pain that subsides to leave another few nuggets of strength and endurance and confidence in the training bank. I have to say that I love track because it exposes me and shows me where I need to improve, how far I have come and how far I have to go. If you’ve never done track before, give it a go and unleash the inner athlete!

Let’s suppose for a minute, that there was an opportunity to live rent-free for a period. I am not talking about winning the lottery, which means that it is unlikely that one would ever have to work again. I am talking about an opportunity to take a break (or to put it another, somewhat less positive way, to create a hole in one’s CV!) which would necessitate a return to the drudge of paid employment after the rent-free period.

What concerns me when I think about this is that I know of two very good runners – one, who I will call Runner A with a 2:17 PB and the other, who will be known as Runner B, with a 2:16 PB – who are both tremendously dedicated to their running. Let’s face it you don’t run in the ‘teens’ without being dedicated. And there are bound to be many similarities between them. But there is one very, very significant difference. Runner B has a very demanding full-time job while Runner A has given up work entirely to concentrate on his running.

As someone who can’t get enough running history, I wonder why it is that we now seem to have more and more athletes who are professionals and yet there is no one now who can get close to the times that were common twenty and thirty years ago. I love reading about the exploits of runners like Steve Jones who thought about running full time after winning the Chicago Marathon in 1984 but decided against it and carried on working as an engineer in the RAF starting at 8am and finishing at 4.15pm every day. Another amazing runner from back in the day, Ron Hill, started his eponymous company in 1970, the same year he won the 74th Boston Marathon in a course record 2:10:30 and two years before running in the Olympic marathon in Munich. He attributes some of the innovations through which his company made its fortunes on ideas he had when running to work in the mornings and home in the evenings.

On the other hand, Bill Rogers is famous for saying that “I always say if the marathon is a part-time interest, you will only get part-time results” and I think it is obvious that in order to get the best out oneself it is important to find as much time as possible to train and time to rest without the physical and psychological distractions that come from a demanding job if possible.

However what we are talking about here are elite runners – Bill Rogers had a personal best of 2:09:27, Steve Jones is still the UK record holder with 2:07:13 and Ron Hill ran 2:09:28. What about us more modest runners? I recently attended an evening hosted by Adidas at which Liz and Martin Yelling gave a talk to a group of runners, many of whom were starting out on their running journey, so the advice was tailored to them. But they did talk about one thing that I thought related to someone like me as much as to someone training for their first marathon – the training budget. What the Yellings mean by this is the amount of time that one is prepared to put into training and preparing for the marathon. Obviously if you need to fit running in around a challenging job, a busy social life, family commitments and other interests, then the available budget for running will be necessarily limited and so will be the results that one can expect to achieve. On the other hand, if one can afford to cut work down to the absolute minimum (or indeed not working at all) and can therefore dedicate all the time outside of sleeping and eating to running then the budget is huge and therefore the results that one can expect to achieve will be proportionally better than someone with a smaller budget. That seems pretty logical.

However the relationship can’t be linear can it? This brings me back to my initial question. If, hypothetically, it was possible to live with absolutely minimal expenses – so minimal in fact that it was not really necessary to work at all, or at least only a very, very small amount – would it be possible to go from mere mortal to elite. It didn’t work for many people – Alex Vero being possibly the most high profile, but it has worked for others who have decided that they are going to give it 100%. So here is my question; if you were in a situation where you didn’t need to work in order to survive financially for a year and you could give yourself the opportunity to focus 100% on something (like running for example) would you do it? And if not why not.