Here begins the taper

On Saturday I did my 20 mile run - the longest of my marathon training, three weeks before the race.

I was a bit nervous and was very grumpy with my children the evening before! I sorted my playlist (podcasts - Kermode & Mayo, Marathon Training Academy, The Food Programme, Simon Mayo); got my fuels ready (one SIS gel as soon as I got out of bed at 0530, the one each 35-45 minutes during the run, and a protein bar for as soon as I got home); planned my route (heading East or West along the coastal roads depending on the wind direction!); then I set my alarm clock and settled down for an early night (9pm). I was a bit too excited to sleep, but nothing ever keeps me awake for long!

I like the wind to be against me on the way out, and giving me a helpful push as I head home. So on this occassion I headed west - noodling around the newbuild housing developments at Leith and Granton as I headed for Barnton, Cramond, and back along the coastal roads and paths. The weather was dry and bright, and it was daylight by the time I went out - lovely

But it was utterly brilliant. Awesome. I don't know if it's endorphins released by the effort, or being really chuffed at my achievement, but afterwards, colours were brighter, people were friendlier, smells were smellier - every sense I had was heightened!

And tastes were tastier... I can be sure of this because my bacon & fried egg roll was really, really delicious!! And the protein bar was really, really unpleasant!

So now I start to wind down my distances - which is apparently its own set of challenges and my family should watch out for even more grumping from me!

Talent vs Hard Work

I heard a brilliant episode of FourThought on Radio 4 tonight. Matthew Syed is a former table tennis champion who was spending 15 minutes of airtime talking about the tensions between talent and hard work, and which of these is the key to success.

Syed argued that anybody who is any good at anything has practiced that activity for thousands of hours. Even Mozart, as a young boy, had spent thousands of hours working on his piano playing, and his progress had not always been astronomical - he progressed at a normal pace, but spent so long working hard at it that he became the child prodigy he was.

London's black cab drivers have a massive knowledge of the capital's roads and how to get around them. In fact the relevant part of their brain is larger than it is in non-cab drivers! But they weren't born that way - they developed their brains through hard work and practice.

While talent may be important, it is hard work that leads to success.

Also Syed discussed how, if the key component to success is talent, there would be no point in working hard. And talented people would always expect to rise to the top.  Which would give us a lazy society, where nobody bothered to work subjects they weren't top of the class in.

Running Guru Jack Daniels makes similar points in his book Daniels' Running Formula. Assuming there can be no hard work without motivation, Daniels believes

"there are four kinds of distance runners:
1. Those who have inherent ability and the motivation to use that ability
2. Those who have the ability to do well but aren't motivated to use their ability
3. Those who lack much ability but have great motivation to achieve success
4. Those who lack ability and aren't motivated."

While Daniels states that it's the type-1 runners who are champions, he also helpfully says that it is type-3 runners who are "fun to coach and deserve your appreciation and attention."!

Daniels adds that opportunity and direction are key factors in achieving success in running.

Paul McKenna makes more similar points in Change Your Life in Seven Days. He talks about "neural pathways", and how learning new habits - like believing in your own success - is a matter of strenthening those pathways in your brain.

So, whether or not you are born with "talent" - you can still achieve ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO.

Reassuringly un-injured.

So it's day 1 (rest day) of my biggest marathon training week. 40 miles in 5 days. Bring it on!

I went to the osteopath today. I have a recurrent problem with the alignment of my pelvis, not really helped by my dancing and my tendancy towards hypermobility in my pelvis. I am lucky enough to see an amazing osteopath, Lynne Bennet, who knows my body really well and never fails to make things right when I'm feeling out of sorts.

For about a fortnight I'd been having minor backache, especially when dancing, and especially in rehearsals. Rehearsals are different to real dancing because there's so much hanging around - it's not continuous movement, it's waiting to have things explained, waiting to make decisions, walking through stage patterns, then perhaps a minute of dancing, then some more waiting. It means often having to dance on cooled muscles.

I haven't been in agony but things haven't been right so I was off to Napiers this morning. Lynne laughed when I said I was marathon training. She looked at my back and said that of course, I will finish the marathon because I'm so determined (how nice to be seen that way!) but that I might suffer for it afterwards. She treated me and called it 'damage limitation'. Hmm. But she did say that I don't have an injury - it's just that my 'body is treating the alignment of my spine *as if* it's an injury'. Oh.

So, no injuries, come on then!!

The down side is that she gave me quite a lot of treatment. I left feeling quite light-headed and the day went downhill from there. I became unable to stop eating (aaaargh) and just wanted to go to bed!

I forced myself to go to pilates class, because missing 3 weeks of pilates over the Easter holidays was, I think, one of the reasons my back has been playing up. Sadly there was a substitute teacher and the class was much more rushed and harsh than usual. After 10 minutes I suddenly felt like crying, and spent the next 50 minutes with tears running down my face! And even though I was having a terrible time, I'm so thron that I wouldn't leave a class I'd paid for, and snivelled till the end!

And it was a freezing, rainy day.

It's 9pm and I'm going to bed right now. I know I'll do a brilliant 5 miles in the morning, with my no injury. It's already been decided.

I'm going to College!!

I'm going to college in August!

I got offered a place on Jewel & Esk College's HNC course in Health, Fitness and Exercise. I've accepted it!

I'm really pleased and excited at the prospect, and I'm enjoying getting my head around the idea that life's going to be overhauled by the end of the year. My daughter will start school, I won't be needed as a full-time mummy any more, and I'll be going to college and studying. And working. And being a mummy.

I am really excited and looking forward to it. I have so many questions about college:
do they still use books?
do I need to wear fitness clothes every day?
will I be every bit as annoying as the mature students who were on my university course when I was 17?
will there be lots of colouring-in?

I'm so excited. Only four months! Wow!!

Fuelled up on Jelly Babies

Today's running lesson: don't put jelly babies in your pocket on rainy days.

I read in Runner's World that some runners shun isotonic energy drinks and other advanced fuelling strategies in favour of good old jelly babies. I liked the sound of that, and got some jelly babies to keep in my pocket for big runs. The yellow ones were disgusting, but apart from that they were quite a nice distraction, along with my energy mix.

But today at 5am it was seriously rainy when I headed out for my 9 miles. I didn't sweat so much and didn't munch my sugary treats - and when I got home they'd turned to goo in my pocket. They were still discernably jelly babies. Just covered in an kind of sugary amniotic fluid.

And the yellow one was still disgusting.

Otherwise, the running is great. My 18 miles on Saturday felt pretty good - no niggles, no problems, and man! did the bacon & egg roll I had afterwards taste GOOD!! I had an incentive to get home fast - I had to take my daughter to her ballet class - and I'd asked the kids to make their own breakfast while I was out and not to wake up daddy! There comes a time in every child's life when they have to pour their own Blueberry Wheats and peel their own satsuma - and for my cherubs, it was last Saturday at 7.30am. Anyway, I did 18 miles in 2 hours 50 minutes. Not that I was really counting.

Fuelling is preoccupying me at the moment. I always run on an empty stomach, but that's mainly because I run first thing in the morning - 0530 or 0600. The Marathon starts at 1000 and I really don't think I can make it till 1000 any day without any food! So I'm thinking I'll get up at 0600 to eat, that way I'll be empty by race time, just top up my glycogen levels with an energy gel before the race. But I won't get the chance to check the tactic before the race.

I'm indebted to the Marathon Training Academy for keeping me going these last few weeks and for all the information on fuelling, training and recovery. More on them later.

What's blowing my mind at the moment is how my perception of distance has changed. This morning I did 9 miles and didn't think twice about it - didn't worry that it might be hard, just went out and took it on like it was easy. And when you think something's easy, it does become a whole lot easier. Until a month ago, 10 miles was what I considered to be a challenging big run! But now 10 miles isn't a big deal. I'm amazed at how my attitude's changed. I guess I know now that I'm capable of more!

Last night I'd organised a training and/or recovery with the other Leith Primary Runners, who are all running legs of the Marathon Relay. I was the only one there... but as I don't want them to feel guilty or in any way put off, I've told them that it was a great evening (it was, I went home and kept warm!) and we need to meet up again soon (we do!) I know they're all training, and we're all busy - but at least they have to meet each other so they know who they're supposed to be handing their batons too!

College Interview Day

I arrived at Jewel & Esk College at 0845 for my 0900 interview and at least 20 others were there already! I tried hard not to notice that they were pretty much all younger than me, but it’s quite hard to not notice when some of them have their mums with them, or are wearing school uniform!

I was feeling good, positive and reasonably confident, even if my subconscious told a different story. Last night I had my recurrent stress dream about missing the start of a race and not being able to run - with a new, added extra scene where I went to the loo and a hand came out of the u-bend and grabbed my bum!

When all 55 of us had arrived, we were lead through the building to a theatre space where we were introduced to 4 of the 5 teaching staff in the Health & Fitness Department, and the 1-year HNC course was outlined for us. First in the room, I walked straight up to the front and sat on the floor – I found it strange that anybody would want to skulk at the back but most people did, and had to be cajoled to the front so that everyone could get in the door!

There have been 200 applications for 40 places on the HNC course. Lots of the applicants were already Telford students who’d studied access courses in the last year to try to get a place on the NHC course, but we were assured that when it comes to awarding places, we were all equal.

News to me was that the college is to merge with two other Edinburgh colleges – Telford and Stevenson – in October, and as yet there’s no decision on where further health & fitness courses will be delivered. 

After a good while of listening, sticky numbers were distributed for us all to wear on our fronts. I was lucky number 40! With 40 places on the course, I do hope it’s a good omen!

The first part of our assessment was a short exercise to music class, lead by one of the tutors, Gillian. She made it clear that the point wasn’t to be perfect, but to throw yourself into it. Well, that’s right up my street, and the fact it was exercise to music was even better! Salsa moves, facing each wall, shoulder shimmies – I was in my element and grinned throughout. I suspect there are a lot of show-offs in a health & fitness class – but I couldn’t see because I was too busy being Up The Front!

Next was a bodyweight circuit with Simon – the meatiest of the tutors, and a graduate of the course. This was more challenging – squats, jump squats, press-ups, burpees and lots of static poses. Woah – I was wobbling by the end of those 10 minutes! Lots of the applicants had well-toned upper bodies and did the ‘manly’ option of jump-switching hand positions between push-ups – which is surely just showing off ;) Simon said he was impressed that nobody quit, and I suspect he wasn’t thinking too much about our technique!

We were split into groups according the month of our birthday – an exercise it getting us to speak to each other, but I’m not sure it worked. I was the only December birthday, which struck me as a bit spooky. 

Anyway, we were lead upstairs to some nice, modern, comfy classrooms with smartboards where we had a group discussion on how the fitness industry can tackle Scotland’s poor record of exercise and increasing obesity. Simon was to listen in to our discussions and assess us – he told us the trick was to keep talking and not be quiet. 

Most of the 5 people in my group managed to contribute usefully, although I found myself asking open questions, encouraging people to talk, and noticed that the others seemed to be addressing their comments to me – I didn’t *mean* to take on a tutor role but I suspect I did!

Finally, there was an interview booklet to fill in, with questions including:

“What is the difference between a health & fitness course and a sports-based course?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
 “If you go to the gym, describe your typical workout, reps, weights, structure etc.”;

as well as a pie chart to fill in with details of your typical daily nutrition; a questionnaire to grade yourself on the type of learner you are (visual, auditory, kinetic); and a “fill in the name of the muscle, joint or bone” pop quiz. I wonder how many more of these I would have known the answer to if I’d done Higher PE.

Then there was a long and boring wait to be taken for a one-to-one interview with one of the staff.  My 10 minutes were with Mel, a former gym manager and currently teaching the course unit in ante- and post-natal fitness. She was very friendly and encouraging, and it felt much more like a chat about my goals and current work than a formal interview. The fact I didn’t have my 1989 SQA certificates didn’t seem to matter, she seemed happy enough to see my First Class Degree from Stirling University and my Post-Graduate Diploma from the CIPR. I don’t think there were many others like that around today.

I enjoyed my child-free time with a quick cup of tea in The Club – I’d been in the college for four hours and I was parched! I reflected that although the 200 applications for 40 places make it a tough course to get on to, I felt like I was the only one in the room who *really wanted* to get on the course – or at least the only one who gave that impression.

When I started my degree course in 1991, it was the only Film & Media course in Scotland (at that time!) and the competition was really tough. I later found out that the board had been impressed that I had Higher Physics, not that I’d been working in journalism in my year out. 

So, although it’s hard to predict what a college is looking for, if Jewel & Esk are looking for someone  smart and enthusiastic, who’s happy to throw themselves into any task, encourage others and really, really wants to be on their course,  they’ll want me on the basis of my performance today.

A chance to shine

I am twelve hours away from my college interview and feeling a bit nervous.

I have a 9am interview at Jewel & Esk College for a place on their HNC course in Fitness, Health and Exercise - a one-year full time course which hopefully would lead me to their SVQ Level 3 course, Exercise & Fitness: Personal Training Award. It willbe a group discussion and an individual interview, and I am to take "full indoor kit", which I assume is gym wear!

I am just about over the fact I can't find my certificates to prove that I got O Grades and Highers in the late 1980s; I have looked out my clothes, printed out the details of my referees, checked that I can get parked when I arrive. But I still need to do a bit of work to fix my head!

This is my opportunity to check out the course, the department and the college to see that it's right for me. After all, if it isn't, there are other choices, other course providers, other qualifications. This is as much about *them* being right for *me* as it is about me being right for them.

I want to (as I said in my application) "work in the fitness industry, and it is my ambition to be a personal trainer. I am enthusiastic about fitness, and I find helping others achieve their goals to be rewarding and worthwhile." And tomorrow is one of the early steps along that path. Tomorrow is an opportunity to be seized, not a test to be afraid of!

I suspect this course can take me where I want to be. If it is right for me, things will flow easily. I am good enough for this course, and this course will be better if I am on it. I read this quote by Marianne Williamson in a book by Paul McKenna and I find it inspiring:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' 
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? 
Actually, who are you not to be? 
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. 
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 
We are all meant to shine, as children do. 
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. 
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 
As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

I'm off to shine now.