Under Pressure

It used to start with a phone call, or a subtle remark in a conversation. "Come and do the (insert insane running activity here) with me and (insert other insane runners here) in March". You'd politely decline, but privately think that it might just be the sort of race you'd like to enter. Others would join in the whispering campaign, phone calls, chance 'meetings' in streets with fellow runners etc. would subtly build the pressure until you decide, "Ah, what the heck!" and enter the race.

In today's social media savvy world the avalanche starts at full speed. Posts and comments on Facebook, stripped of any subtlety, flood your inbox, or worse still, flood someone else's inbox with your name tagged in every comment! Such is how I now find myself signed up to the Two Bays 28k trail run for January 12, 2013. Some say you have to be hard to be a trail runner, but basically I'm just weak as piss when it comes to peer pressure!

Two Bays pirate sticker.

So.... now I find myself re-assessing the training plan. Those nice comfortable 12k runs as a build-up to my half are now to be replaced with either trail runs (none close by me) or longer long runs to build distance into the legs; and quickly. How on earth did I go from a steady 12 week half marathon plan to a 6 week 28k trails plan?

Which brings me to the topic of competition, friendly or otherwise. A club I ran with in Tasmania ran all the club races as handicap events, the idea being that if the handicappers got their stuff right we all ran over the finish line at the same time. Of course that never happened. Apart from the usual issues of lack of effort, sickness, injury or not having trained for the terrain, handicapping can never take into consideration the human bodies capacity to pull out all stops to beat a fellow runner (friend or foe!). Many a time a runner find themselves focusing on just finishing, only to hear the footsteps of a fast finishing back marker. This would initiate one final effort, one final sprint, one cruel strain on heart and lungs! Followed by a collapse over the line with barely enough breath to tell anyone that you'll never do that again. And I would.... do it again, that is! I just can't help myself sometimes.

Competition is good, so long as it's healthy. And as runners we need to understand that even though we say we don't race, most of us given the chance will compete at some stage or another (race you for the last Tim Tam etc.). Take the Two Bays race. The initial agreement was to run as a team. All of us in some sort of fancy dress (board shorts for the blokes, sarongs for the girls seems to be de rigueur), taking some time to allow for the slower runners whilst taking pictures along the way. that was until one of the organisers posted the winning mixed team time from this years race. A quick calculation presented us with average times that were within our grasp. Not easy times mind you, but with any whiff of possibility does hope reside! Now it's got a little serious. Team members agonising over lack of trail experience, lack of mileage or just lack of confidence. Mind you some members have decided that being Christmas, the after race party piss up requires far more attention to detail. You know who you are....

I have no qualms about the distance, although looking at the profile I can say that some 'strategic' walking will be in order early on. That is if I want to finish looking strong.

And having spent a bit of time last blog talking about training plans and sticking to them, I can say that my current half marathon plan is in a state of disarray. The actual run I am supposed to do on the 12th is a 12k build-up.... yeah right!

A view to run 28k's for? Should be worth it.