Back In February 2012 (way before I tried to seek fame and fortune as a North-East Runner blogger) I was looking for a race to round off my season. Any of you who have had the misfortune to read my GNR blogs will realise that as a less than dedicated runner any chance to go “off-piste” I’ll grab with both hands.
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An early start saw the intrepid Tuck family minus eldest daughter but with added in-laws eschewing the normal relaxing Saturday before the big race and heading up to Gateshead for the Mini and Junior Great Run events. On what turned out to be a gloriously sunny day we had an absolute ball. First up was youngest daughter running in the Mini event. She’d played cat and mouse with her parents for the preceding week as to which of us would have the honour of being her accompanying adult. It’s been a strange experience writing my blog this week. I missed the normal Monday deadline due to work and family commitments. Being pushed for time on Tuesday as well, I settled down on Wednesday lunchtime to write my normal vaudeville piece. I had a few things I wanted to mention and maybe a theme would emerge for the overall blog which would kind of neatly encapsulate the Great North Run and the training that we’ve all done (some more than others!) ready for the big day. Whinge, whinge, moan, moan. Having had my pet lip tripping me up since my race pack arrived it’s only fair to report that Great Run have relented and bumped me up through the starting zones for the big day. Secretly I was concerned that I’d laid it on a bit heavy in my letter of complaint and was half expecting to be moved right to the back or in a fit of “That’ll show him” find myself lurking behind Mo Farah up at the sharp end. No blog last week as I was caught up in that whole back to normality, back to work thing that engulfs us when we get back from holiday. As an aid to beating the post holiday blues I opened up my GNR pack to have a look at my race number and starting zone. I’ll admit to being disappointed to find that I have been allocated a position in pink zone J. This is the second to last starting group so makes running a decent time more difficult given the volume of runners ahead. Not a long blog this week. Currently on holiday with the rest of the Tucks so training has taken a backseat to beer, wine, BBQ and playing on the slides in the pool. I do try and run up the steps of the slides quickly as some form of interval training. I think that this has more psychological benefits as opposed to physiological as my portliness is increasing on an almost hourly basis. I started this last week of training inspired by the performance of my friends from Sun City Tri who competed in Ironman UK, Bolton. For those of you who aren’t of the multi-sport persuasion that is a 2.4m swim followed by a 112m bike ride and then a full 26.2m marathon to finish, all within 17 hours. There is something very special about seeing ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Training this week has seen a bit more structure return as my general fitness picks up. I guess most of us have followed a training plan cadged from the internet, magazine or over enthusiastic running evangelist at work. However I identified a massive error on my training plan for Saturday 13th July. The week had been progressing well. I’d started cross training again at my outdoor boot camp and even dug out the Garmin and Heart Rate Monitor. However on that fateful Saturday, the training plan said rest or 35 min run or 45 mins cross training. In reality the “training session” that followed took the form of: In my heart of hearts I know it’s a race that’s gotten too big. It’s not a race for getting a PB unless you are right up the front as you have to run round 40 000 other people to do it. This often includes a man carrying a fridge or someone dressed as Scooby Doo. Neither is it an easy course, drive the 13.1 miles in a car and you sail through to South Shields. Stick your trainers on and you find that it’s a lot hillier than you remember. |
Brian TuckBrian started running in 2008, initially to lose some weight. Since then he has gone on to complete a number of races, as well as triathlons. Archives
February 2013
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