Last winter in the build up to Reading half marathon, I spent numerous weeks helping one of my friend train for it. I didn't mind hte idea of it, I waas training myself and by doing that I got to do longer runs, and at a forced slower pace than normal, which was good for me. And this year I get to do the same, with a different friend for a different race.
When I tarted doing it last year, I had only been running for about 9 months. Maybe less. I started after the Reading half the year before. I'd been out, watched, cheered and then it got me thinking, why not. I had always been one of the more active fitter people out of my various groups of friends, but after moving here I was suddenly not. Everyone it seemed was going to the gym, or doing something and I was feeling a bit unhealthy. I think more than anything it was the shame of that which drove me to pick up a pair of trainers and head out the door. I started with the simple of goal of doing the half marathon the year after. I had 3 times in mind, one that i would be disappointed if I took longer than, one that I wanted to do and one that I would be thrilled if I managed. They were quite spread out, andwent from very challenging to something I should have been able to do from day one.
When the autumn rolled round I entered a couple of races to see how I was coping. Henley and Gosport came and went and I suddenly had to changee my goals. I'd done Henley in 97minutes, when my top target was 90. Suddenly that wasn't quite so out of the question, but it was still going to proof difficult.
It was with the confidence from this that I started helping my friend train. She had one main goal which was to complete the cursed thing. As time goals went, she would have loved to been able to do it 2hrs 6 - steady at 6 minutes per km. It doesnt sound much, but trying to keep going at a solid pace which is as fast as you can for voer 2 hours? It is not an easy thing to do, even if you think that pace is slow. It is something that is personal, not one sizee fits all. So my goal in this was to try and seee to it that they could run the whole thing, not get scared by the distancee, and hopefully be able to run at a constant pace.
Starting from about half distance we went for weekly runs, gradually growing in distance up to just a couple of kms short of the full distance. We rarely went at the full pace, because the thought wass that the race efffect, having a rowd cheering and the adrenaline going, and people to try o catch would help spur on. This is something I had found hugely helpful in Henley; I think it saved me about 8 minutes.
The race came and went, and she finished, frustratingly a little bi outside of her target time. I'd managed to shave another 5 minutes off my own time, aganisingly close to my initial ridiculous goa, but it wasn't to e in the end. There's always the next one anyway.
Bu I was hugely proud of her. I spent months helping (or so I like to think) and to see someone achieve something they didn'tt think because of that is hugely rewarding. May even have been more so for me than for her, but I doubt that. I can't explain the feeling, it was just fantastic.
And now i get to do it all over again! I get to see someone go from the fear of half the distance, to hopefully completing it, and maybe even getting the time that they want. When it is something that doesn't come quite naturally to people, being able to help them achieve it is such a great feeling.
I just hope that i am actually helping!
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