​One of the favourite topics amongst my running friends is the number of times they've entered the ballot for VLM and not got a place. It's on the bucket list for lots of people.  I got tired of entering after 5 attempts and went off to do Paris (a brilliant venue for a first marathon) and Hull (for sentimental reasons, my old university city) but the desire for London never went away. Every year I would enter and expect the dreaded rejection email. 

This year was no different...except the story changed when HERC announced their names drawn from the hat. Woohoo!! It was finally my turn. 

Having followed a beginner plan a couple of times, I chose the improver plan from the VLM site by Martin Yelling. The plan has 4 sessions per week, a schedule I felt was achievable. Once I start a plan, I'm OCD about following it, unlike any other aspect of my life (OCD is not a term I'm usually associated with!).

I'd previously found the mid-week runs difficult in the evenings, too cold, too dark, too tired...you get the picture. I decided to try a new early morning approach, still too cold and dark but at least I wouldn't be tired, eh?

All went well for weeks, even the early mornings were ok (yes, I was shocked too). The training plan talks a lot about being in tune with your heart rate so I used it to ensure I was working at the right effort levels. The long runs called for an easy pace and this meant I slowed down considerably to keep my heart rate low enough. It didn't feel like I was working very hard, ideal.

Week 8 - on my recovery run and my ankle started to hurt. I didn't think much of it until the following morning when it was too painful to walk. 

And that's where the training ended. I followed all the advice to rest, sure that I'd be back pounding the streets soon but it took 3 weeks to walk properly and another 2 before I could take the impact from jogging. I saw a podiatrist and she explained that I had been overpronating, probably due to a shorter stride pattern on the longer runs. 

It was hard to accept that I wouldn't be ready for the VLM, I spoke to friends about possibly using a run/walk strategy but I wasn't fit enough for that. I particularly felt like I'd let all the other members of HERC down, having taken a treasured VLM place. 

I tried to see the positive side, it took a while but I got there eventually. 

1. I have a guaranteed place for next year and I'll still be able to represent HERC. 

2. I've discovered that morning running in the week works for me. 

3. I've also found out that slower running isn't always better. 

4. My injury isn't permanent and I'll still be able to run, something I never take for granted. 

See you next year for, hopefully,  part 2 of my report. 

My plan for London was to get in via a good for age (GFA) time as I had one prior my knee operation, but two months before the closing date the organizers decided to move the goal posts and my GFA time was no longer good enough.  At this stage I decided I would do Boston instead (15th April).   I put my name in for the London place not really thinking about the consequences of doing so, but here I am with 13 days between Boston marathon and London marathon.

Training started with just easy miles in the legs ending up with the Portsmouth Coastal marathon in December which i finished in 3.22 which was a good run considering my buildup.  The target for April was a sub 3 hour marathon (accountability here we are)

I decided to follow a proper plan and decided to go with the Jack Daniels (no - not the drink!) book.  This is broadly pick your own mileage but each week there would be 2 hard sessions.  I picked my peak mileage of 100km (~62 miles) and started to follow the plan.  The first session was 6 miles easy then 6x1km followed by another 3 miles easy so about 14 miles in total. I remember finishing this session and wondering what i had got myself into as this was the hardest "long run" I had ever done, especially in January when it was freezing cold.  With a certain amount of determination I did all of the required sessions following the plan exactly until my first race of the year. 

In March I did Bramley 20 with the idea of doing this at marathon pace to get an idea of fitness and mentally prepare myself for running at pace for 2 hours plus.  Coming down with illness on the day of the race wasn't part of the plan. I remember getting to about 10k and feeling rubbish ,tired and generally wondering why i was running. In the end i pushed round to 17 miles before I stopped, re-grouped and jogged in.  Although at the time I was disappointed not doing the full 20 miles at pace in hindsight it was still a useful run.  

Training continued well until 3 weeks before Boston when I came down with tonsillitis and missed my first week of training. I didn't feel great and didn't miss training whatsoever. Perhaps this was a way of my body asking for a rest?  Recovered form that and then promptly injured myself in taper week and here I am now resting as much as possible hoping I'll recover by Boston. 

The plan between Boston and London?  No idea, if anyone has any hints or tips for running 2 marathons within 2 weeks please let me know!

Even thought the last 2-3 weeks of training haven't been great I'm looking forward to the big city marathons with the hustle and bustle that comes with lots of support and the associated noise.

We're pleased to announce an 8-week Beginner's Running Course starting on Monday the 20th of May.

More details can be found here... http://www.hedgeendrunningclub.com/beginners.html

We’ve had an unprecedented number of nominations for one particular member, and it should come as no surprise that February’s Member of the Month award is presented to Jordan Winbourne.

Jordan has been training very hard over the winter for the Brighton Marathon in April, and this discipline and dedication has paid off in his race performances so far this year:

On the 10th February he achieved a 3 and a half minute PB at the Barcelona Half Marathon, running 78:35; one of the fastest times ever by a HERC runner.  

On 23rd February he broke 18 minutes at parkrun for the first time, running 17:24 at Whiteley Parkrun.

On 16th March he ran the Eton Dorney 20 Mile race in 2 hours and 8 minutes. To put that into perspective, if he had continued at that pace he’d have run a 2:48 marathon!

Of course, most recently he was 1st male at club championships, completing the Eastleigh 10k in 35:05; a PB by over a minute.

Even more impressive is that fact that, until just over 3 years ago, Jordan had never done any running. For those of you that aren’t aware, Jordan played snooker for England for several years.  He represented England Under 21’s in two European Championships and a World Championships in China, where he reached the quarterfinals. Due to the traveling and some poor results, he gave up on his dream of being a professional snooker player and began running. It’s clear that Jordan has since applied the same ethos to his running training that he applied to his snooker practice, and many at the club are excited to see what Jordan can achieve over the next few years.

Many congratulations for all that you have achieved so far this year Jordan, and we look forward to seeing the culmination of your training at Brighton in just over a week.