Saturday was an important and hugely interesting day. ‘Meet The Experts’ was a day of presentations arranged by Virgin London Marathon. I had no idea what was in store but hoped to gather information and inspiration.
Driving early to Peterborough station was a joy – empty roads and just the most glorious scenery. The views over Rutland Water were magnificent; a hard frost, misty waters and the sun peeping out from a light fog. I caught the fast train from Peterborough to Kings Cross at 8.30am and enjoyed the rare opportunity of reading a book during daylight hours (The Book Thief
So here’s the low-down on what I learned from the lectures:
There seems little point mentioning the elite field of marathon runners, all of whom I have no chance of running with unless I go very wrong indeed. Needless to say there are quite a few Kenyans and a comprehensive list can be found here
The celebs, on the other hand, that might end up alongside me are – Katie Price (she ran last year with previous husband Peter Andre..wonder if new hubby is joining her this year?), Jessie Wallace (Eastenders’ Kat Slater) and Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman & Eastenders’ Zoe Slater), Eddie Jordan (Formula One supremo), Shirley Robertson OBE (British Sailor & double Olympic Gold Medallist), Jonathan Pearce (BBC Sports Commentator, who swore that after the last one he would never, ever do the London Marathon again!), Natalie Imbruglia (described at ‘Meet The Experts’ as actress, singer &…crumpet!), Charlize Theron and ‘SATC’ star Kim Cattrell (both also falling into the ‘crumpet’ category allegedly!)
Mark Griffith, Virgin London Marathon Start Co-ordinator, took the stage to give a brief idea of what we could expect on the day, the various starting points, times and transportation logistics.
Assistant Race Director, Lisa Thompson, went on to explain that there would be around 35,000 runners this year and there will be 660,000 bottles of Nestle Pure Life Water .. which roughly translates to about 7 litres for every runner (more than enough!)
A first this year wil
l be Lucozade Carbo Gels on offer at the 14 & 21 mile markers ..click here if you’re unsure what carbo gels are. There will also be run-through-showers available to help combat the weather if it’s a warm day.. no, I’m not joking..although, don’t expect to get drenched and lather up..they offer a fine mist of cold water to help cool overheating runners. For those interested in coming down to support the 35,000 runners there’s a really useful interactive Spectator’s Map available.
Andrew Smith, Finish Co-ordinator, reminded us all to smile at the finish line as BBCi will be watching us and official photographs will be taken of every runner crossing the finish line. He also showed off the prized Virgin London Marathon medal that we’re all desperate to wear round our necks and informed us that all the results will be posted on www.london-marathon.co.uk.
Professor Sam. Murphy gave a fascinating talk about running styles and injury prevention. Posture is important, run tall, don’t slouch, don’t lean forward too much..in fact, everything your Mother/Sgt.Major always told you about standing up straight, chest out, shoulders back..is pretty much the same in running! It’s also recognised that stretching before a run is less important than a proper warm up.
The editor of Runners World will be running with us all, as one of the Pacer groups supplied by the magazine. The Pacer groups are all experienced marathon runners and operate in 6 pacing groups:
- 7 minute mile
- 8 minute mile
- 9 minute mile
- 10 minute mile
- 11 minute mile and
- Get you Round!
We also had a very interesting talk from the major sponsor Virgin Money Giving. The London Marathon is the single biggest annual fundraising event in the WORLD! In 2009, over £47million was raised by runners of the London Marathon for charity. Online fundraising has become increasingly popular over the last couple of years as it saves charities a huge amount of money and paperwork. As online fundraising has become popular, ways to spread the message online have also increased. More people than ever (me included) are using Twitter, Facebook, Team Pages etc. to raise awareness and sponsorship. Other sites to look at are www.realbuzz.com and www.runbritain.com
The Science bit was lead by Prof. Nick Morgan, Head of Sport Science at the Lucozade Sport Science Academy. Nick’s talk primarily centred on Fuel and Fluid – and if you’ve been a regular reader of this site, you’ll know that finally the message has hit home with me!
Dave Bedford, Race Director, is often referred to as one of sports most colourful characters .. now I understand why! Making his entrance from the back of the lecture theatre to a blaring Tom Jones number whilst in full drag, wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Very down-to-earth, very funny ..he could do stand up any day!!
In 2008 the average finish time of a London Marathoner was 4 hours 26 minutes.
In 2009, the average was 4 hours 41 minutes -
this slight increase was due to last years London Marathon
being the second hottest in it’s 30 year history.
Olympian and Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist, Liz Yelling and her husband, Martin took to the stage to discuss training in the final two weeks prior to the marathon. The concept of ‘tapering’ (scaling down distances in preparation for the big one!), cross training, & nutrition were all covered. I had a chance to speak to Liz after the event and discussed a variety of issues. Liz suggested that 4 weeks prior to the marathon my longest run should be 14-22 miles! Whilst using a treadmill is ok, in her opinion I should still be aiming to do my weekly long run outside. I was relieved to hear that it’s not just me that gets tired arms on a long run .. and you can never underestimate the importance of those glutes exercises!! I hugely admire Liz’s achievements and both Martin and Liz were very kind to take the time to chat with me … I think they’re a wonderful team. Here’s a photo that Martin took of Liz and me … unfortunately, I appear to be doing my Wallace & Gromit grin!
Along with all the interesting lectures, it was a great day to meet the wonderful Macmillan Cancer Support girls, Alice and Sue. It turns out that Sue will be running in the Kilomathon too, so it will be great to see a familiar face in Nottingham on March 14th. I also had the opportunity to meet Mark Williamson who has run over 30 marathons and is on track to raising a phenomenal £1million for Macmillan! I really felt part of a great team with everyone being so supportive.
So, now I’m home and revitalised with energy and enthusiasm ..better get on with my training then!
