Reece goes outward bound...

I’m starting this month’s post with some information about the Outward Bound Trust, the charity for which I am running the London Marathon.  This, of course, includes a particular plug for my fundraising page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece  through which donations can be made directly on line and messages left.  I hugely appreciate both the donations and the messages - they give me an absolutely vital motivational push for the long training runs on weekend mornings!

The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity dedicated to unlocking the potential in young people through learning and adventure in the wild. The Trust changes the lives of thousands of disadvantaged young people every year.  

Many of the participants the Trust works with suffer from low self-esteem, poor educational achievement and an inability to trust others. Through challenge and adventure in the outdoors, they have positive experiences, perhaps for the first time in their lives. They gain confidence, begin to trust others, take responsibility for their actions and understand what they are truly capable of achieving in life.

The Outward Bound Trust was founded in 1941 and hundreds of participants’ stories from across the decades can be accessed at:   http://www.outwardboundgenerations.org.uk/content/stories

Some of the comments from recent participants that stuck out for me:

“The Outward Bound Trust is the most life changing organisation that I have been to and I will never forget what I learnt and what I can still learn from it.”

“Outward Bound has benefited me immensely by helping me unlock my full potential, and pushing me out of my comfort zone, to make me do things that I would never have thought to do. The activities which we did there you would never think someone like me would do normally. It was amazing.”

“I learned that I can honestly do anything I set my mind to, I thought that before Outward Bound I would be too scared to do anything, but now I am 100 percent confident I can.”

Having worked in the education and children’s services sector for over 25 years, I am thrilled that the Outward Bound Trust have given me the chance to run the London Marathon and in turn I have set myself the aim of raising £2,000. 

My own experiences of learning and adventure in the wild are certainly not as extensive as what is offered by the Outward Bound Trust but nevertheless have been incredibly important for me and I can easily relate to the comments above.  This is the case even though my experience of outdoor challenge in recent years has been mainly limited to:

Camping at music festivals (the mud at Download Festival 2012 was a particular challenge!)….
 

A bit of night fishing (subject to demand big fish photos are available!)…
 

Some amazing walks along the Dorset coastline…

And passing some outward bound skills to the new generation…

 

But if I’m not getting the full Outward Bound challenge experience these days, I think I am making up for it with my marathon challenge!

On that front I am absolutely thrilled to say that since my Christmas post I have hit the targets I set myself – certainly in terms of distance.  New Year’s Eve saw me reach the 13 mile mark for the first time since September and I built up to a run of 15+ miles last week.  However, I’m almost jumping up and down (but the legs can’t take it at the moment!) to say that this morning I ran 17.14 miles in just under 2 hours 32 minutes!  I’m particularly proud of this run as not only was I averaging at 8m52s per mile but I only slipped above a pace of 9m miles on mile eight and my fastest mile was 8m40s.  That means I maintained an even pace better than I’ve ever done before at this sort of distance.  Furthermore, that is the longest run I’ve done since the Brighton Marathon last April.

As my ankles, shins and calves are still regularly moaning at me, I’m trying to negotiate a deal with them.  On the basis that they get me through the long weekend runs, I’m cutting down on the midweek runs and making more use of the cross-trainer and rowing machines at the gym.  At least for this week we seem to have a reasonably amicable truce!  I’m still working hard to maintain my progress towards meeting my target of a sub 4 hour marathon and, particularly after this morning, I still believe it is a realistic possibility.

I can’t believe the luck I’ve had with the weather this year – despite all the rain there has been over the last month or more, somehow I’ve found myself running at times when the worst I’ve faced is light drizzle.  Perhaps I shouldn’t speak too early but at the moment the contrast with last winter’s training (in snow, sleet and gales) is immense – today along the Thames was wonderful.

By my next post I plan to be closing in on the 20 mile mark and, if you are near Hampton Court on Sunday 23 February, look out for me in the Hampton Court Half Marathon.  Of course, after tempting fate about the weather, it might be “Dancing on Ice”!

Once again – a massive thanks for the donations and messages of support!

Very best wishes….

John
25 January 2014

The going gets tough and Reece gets running...

The going gets tough and Reece gets running…

After my last post, sent in the euphoric glow of getting a place in the London Marathon, I enjoyed a reasonably relaxed few weeks of planning my training strategy.  However, the phase where physical exertion was pretty much an optional extra has come to an end and I am now into week 3 of an 18 week programme that is intended to get me in shape for a sub 4 hour marathon on 13^th April 2014!

My intention has been to have a fairly easy progression towards the 4-5 training days per week that I expect to hit by late January.  This is partly to allow for the inevitable “distractions” (let’s face it - excesses) of the Christmas period and also in recognition that there are a few more aches and pains in my legs than I’m happy to admit to!  As I start drafting this post on Christmas Eve night, having had an early morning 6 miler, I have an ice pack on each calf and I’m contemplating putting a third down my pants!  [sorry about that – perhaps too much information!]

It was great to go out with the Bearcat Running Club on Sunday morning (22^nd December) and complete 11 miles of running.  That’s the furthest I’ve run since September when I competed in three half marathons in a 4 week period (getting  a time of 1h51m in the first and 1h47m in the other two).  You’d think that having done the half marathons I wouldn’t see too much significance in an 11 mile run at a slower pace just three months later, but it was actually a massive psychological boost.  I’m “looking forward” to extending my long runs to 13-16 mile distance in the second half of January and then further extending the distance in February.

Apart from the once a week long runs I have also been starting to incorporate “interval training” in my schedule.  These sessions involve fast paced periods of running interspersed with recovery periods run at a significantly slower pace.  I did some of this in my training for the half marathons and they are certainly not much fun!  In these sessions I aim to complete at least 8 five minute cycles, each cycle split into 3 minutes at fast pace and 2 minutes at recovery pace (or the other way round in moments of desperation!).  The sessions start off OK but by the fourth or fifth cycle I’m just about hanging on with the very uncomfortable awareness that there are at least three or four cycles still to do!  This is supposed to be very good for my fitness but, as I say, I could do with a few less aches!

It is important for me to recognise that in the early phase of my training it has been a fantastic boost to receive messages of support and also contributions to my chosen charity, The Outward Bound Trust.  You will see from my fund raising page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece that I have reached the £100 mark and these early contributions are hugely appreciated – they have really helped me stay focussed on my twin objectives – to raise £2,000 and run the London Marathon in less than 4 hours!

Anyway, as I finish this post on the night of Christmas Day, having got a “Santa Run” (another 6 miler) out of the way this morning, I’m looking forward to hitting a 16 mile run by my next post.  For now, I’m off to try some festive pain relief as an alternative to the ice packs….

Merry Christmas!!!

John

PS - if you're interested in how I got on in April 2013 at the Brighton Marathon see:  http://jrbrightonmarathon2013.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/saga-of-brighton-marathon-2013.html

Reece runs amok...!

Reece runs amok….!

 

 

Or, perhaps just… runs the London Marathon!!!

Reece is back - perhaps not the biggest blockbuster sequel of the year but certainly one of the longest!

This is with reference to my first marathon which, if you were a recipient of my email bombardment over the course of last winter/spring you may know all about! 

So how to make the sequel bigger, better and bolder than the original?

Well, for a start, this is the London Marathon and, much as I loved running the Brighton Marathon and I certainly wouldn’t say no to running it again one day, the London Marathon has got to be the marathon to experience in this country and one of the top marathon events in the world. 

But apart from the fact that, for those who have a passing interest about my fate on 13^th April 2014, there is a remote chance of spotting me among 30,000 other runners on the TV coverage (I know that at the very least my mum will be looking out for me!), why would you care whether I’m running in London, Brighton or anywhere else?

So what else can I say to convince you that this sequel will be bigger, better and bolder than the original?

How about faster?

Having started my training for Brighton 2013 with the aim of finishing inside 4 hours 45 minutes and ultimately feeling like I was killing myself from mile 18 onwards to finish in 4 hours 21 minutes, what more can I do?

But that’s not the question I’m asking myself.  My question is - can I beat 4 hours?

Right now as I ask myself that question there’s a grimace on my face as I envisage the pain involved in answering that question in the affirmative and making it come true! 

I’m quite happy to be generous in sharing my pain and my marathon updates over the next few months are likely to be doing just that! 

Most importantly I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled to be given the opportunity to run the London Marathon – I remember watching the TV coverage of one of the very early London Marathons (possibly the first in 1981 – before my 17^th birthday) and feeling inspired (shame it took over 30 years for that inspiration to mature!).  I am massively grateful to The Outward Bound Trust for giving me this chance for a dream to come true and, in the spirit of bigger, better and bolder I’m sticking my neck out and setting myself a fundraising target of £2,000!

I’ve worked for over 25 years in education and children’s services organisations and it adds to my motivation that I’m raising funds for The Outward Bound Trust – an organisation that aims to help young people realise their potential through learning in the wild and creating a supportive and challenging environment in which they can learn about themselves and see clearly what they might truly be capable of achieving in life.

Every contribution to my fundraising means a huge amount to me and gives me the extra motivation to get to the London finish line in less than 4 hours (every time I mention that target the grimace returns… sometimes with a few tears!).

By the way – in mentioning the “grimace”, if you know me well you’ve probably seen the look before.  If you need a reminder, check out the photos on my fundraising website http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnReece .  One photo captures an absolute classic grimace – and that was after only 10 miles!

As well as the grimace, the site provides links with extra information about The Outward Bound Trust and The London Marathon.

 

Many, many thanks and look out for me on the road!