Training for a marathon, I knew I’d have to knock out a lot of slow road miles in my training, after all on 23rd April I’m going to be running 26.2 miles around London, at a (very!) steady pace. | "it’s full of tall, graceful men and women, with loping strides" | |
So I was a tad surprised to find myself at the university running track on Thursday night, complete with coach, stop watch and bun-huggers. OK, I’m lying about the bun-huggers (the teeny, weeny shorts worn by elite runners), they’re not designed for people with thighs! The club I run with (Knavesmire Harriers) prides itself on catering for all abilities. The track session on a Thursday night is definitely for the speed queens among them, it’s full of tall, graceful men and women, with loping strides that glide around at a terrific speed. But I’ve been told that speed training is beneficial for marathon runners too, so I put my self-consciousness to one side and decided to give it a go. The idea is that if you improve your ability to fuel your body by running at a faster speed than normal over short repetitions, then your running efficiency during longer runs will improve too. Knavesmire Harriers' coach Pete was quick to allay my fears about how fast I'd have to run, he explained that it's all relative. What's fast for me is slow for others and vice versa, so we worked out what speed I should be running at and off I went! I thought it would be demoralising being lapped by other runners, but actually I found their talent and ability really inspiring! I managed my 6 sets of 800 metres (I had to be told that that was twice round the track) and felt ready to collapse at the end. The morning after, I feel like I’ve had a work out, but am going to try and keep at it for a little while before deciding whether it’s doing me any good. I don’t reckon I’ll ever be filling Kelly Holmes’ shoes, but if it helps me achieve my 3:45 marathon, it’ll be worth it! Nick | 
