Photograph Quiz:
Photo no 14:-From 25.7 ‘200’ to 2:55 marathon in the 80s,what stadium is this athlete using?
Nowthen then Blog,
The postal charges go up tomorrow, so it is a blessing in disguise that our relationship over the past couple of months must come to an end in about three weeks time. I know friends will be friends and you’re my best friend. Sad. Its a hard life, however; it is two weeks to the big mega trudge, so that makes me even more depressed. I don’t feel under pressure even though it’s been a hard life for the past couple of months. Crocodile tears. When I sold my soul to the devil to start this blog to you Blog, I didn’t think it would end so quickly. I feel cheated. When I went on the comparison web to get the best deal, it wasn’t too clear. I used ‘WWW. Better the devil you know.com’ and that told me that ‘Faust’ had better short term rates than ‘Dorian Grey’, but I have my doubts. ‘We three Kings – Mr Cameroon, Mr Leggit and Mr Moribund’ gave me a good deal but the final bonus seemed poor. Mr Wells Ferago’s terms seemed too good to be true, and if something seems too good to be true, as my old granny used to say, ‘Go for it Blog.’ So I settled for the simple ‘Pay nowt now and pay later if they can catch you.’ I want to live forever but the agreement runs out in three weeks. The show must go on. So it will be up into the loft to see the damage?
Two weeks to get your money pledged, the odds still look pretty good to me ..... all we are saying, is give kids a chance:- Tiny Tim’s Children’s Centre and Newlife. (£1 per guess at my finishing time, remember)
Over the weekend there has been a conference in Coventry at Warwick University devoted to distance running. Aimed at coaches and athletes, an impressive line up of international marathon runners and established coaches were on hand to lecture, offer advice and answer questions. From experience I am somewhat ambivalent to coaches. Three experiences. I didn’t start running until I was 17 years old and within months, was advised by the coach at the club I was a member of, to ‘pack it in as you are wasting my and your time.’! Nowt like a bit subtle innuendo? Not that he coached me. Running was too precious to share with anyone else. I just trained with the club athletes who he did coach. With my attitude, I suppose I only had myself to blame! When I asked a nationally renowned coach for advice a little later, I was met with a very cool response when he learned my best time for 3 miles was a shade under 16 mins. Twelve months later, I met another national coach at the club annual dinner. My p.b. still hovered around 15½ mins, but he was most generous. He had time to talk to me, he invited me round to his house to discuss training / racing on numerous occasions, he made me welcome at his training sessions. Would a plodder today be invited to train with a group which included a world record holder, two sub 4 minute milers (this was in the mid 60s remember) and a European champion?? I very much doubt it. I was a little out classed but nobody seemed to mind. I didn’t agree with his methods or he with mine, but he had time for me; we argued our differences. The biggest compliment he could pay me was when he told a mutual friend that I was the one athlete that he had met who was the most unlikely to succeed. The point being, he still spent a lot of time and effort with me, although my achievements were going to be somewhat limited.
A coach can never tell what is going on inside an athlete’s head. When I started running they were few athletic publications available. I worked my training out on completely different principles to accepted practice and was not really interested in what others did. I still aren’t. With little success or improvement at university, in my final year, I discussed with a friend, the ways the body reacts to extreme stresses and strains. She was studying the psychological effects on physical activities (or it could have been the other way round??). Some of the latest research on the subject seemed to make a great deal of sense to me and I could see that it could be applied to athletics and how training could be organised. My training from that point on was based on the principles of those researches! It seems strange but it’s true, not really an athletic approach. Perhaps if I’d have used standard practice, I might have performed better. I just don’t know, I just don’t care.
Colin
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