BREAKING NEWS: A new challenge!

Well hello again blogging world!

So I thought I would let the world know that I have now set myself a new challenge, and that is to run the Belfast City Marathon on May 3rd, 2010.

Now of course, I don't do anything by halves, so instead of just saying I'm going to complete it, I decided to find out the average time for a marathon. 4hrs 30mins.

All my life I have been just above the average mark, so the first challenge is finishing earlier than 4hrs 30.

Then I decided that I should set myself a target of around 3 hrs 30. A target that many people would aim for.

And not even happy with that, I've decided that I'm going to develop my own training technique, and aim to do it in as fast a time as physically possible, i.e. less than 3 hrs. A target that seasoned and experienced runners would aspire to.

Let me share my theory with you.

• Train until you can run flat out for a mile and do it in 5 to 6 minutes.
• Once you can do that, then increase the distance by 0.5 miles, and run that in 9 minutes.
• Once you can do that, repeat the increments of 0.5 miles and 3 minutes.
• Eventually your body will be able to run 15 miles in 1hr 15 / 1hr 30. This leaves you just over 11 miles to complete the race. Continue to train, aiming to do 12-15 miles on big training days (once every 2 weeks), but only aiming to improve your time.
  

I would love to come in at a record breaking Ethiopian pace of less than 2hrs 15, but I went for a run last night and it didn't go down so well. As I have only started running yesterday, I'm aiming for the mile mark.
Foolishly I thought I had retained some level of stamina from my Mizen 2 Malin cycle (see previous posts), but alas, I have not. After running nearly half a mile, I thought I was undergoing cardiac arrest, and was trying to wave down passing cars in the hope someone would stop and perform CPR on me. I arrived home gasping to Sharon that I needed an adrenaline shot to the heart immediately or I might die.

I completed my first mile in an embarrassing time of 11m 18s.

This is going to be tough...