After the initial excitement of receiving my
marathon place, I thought about where I went wrong
last year and wondered how I was going to be able
to get to the appropriate level of fitness in time for
next April, without falling into the same trap of
overtraining. I then thought about the coaching tip
that I had so recently written.
Suddenly the excitement evaporated as I
remembered that marathon training programmes are
invariably about hard work and just getting through
what you need to do. What will happen to my new
found fun and the sheer pleasure of running just for
the sake of running? Can marathon training and fun
coexist side by side?
I knew for certain that I didn’t want to commit to a
training program that I found stifling, restrictive and
fundamentally unenjoyable. So I made a decision
there and then that my goal for the marathon and for
all of my training leading up to it, is to have fun and
enjoy every moment of it more than I have enjoyed
any of my previous 3 marathons. That's it, I am going
to completely resist aiming for any time-oriented goal.
Now I know that the words enjoy and marathon don’t
usually appear in the same sentence in most people’s
vocabulary, even that of seasoned marathon runners
(remember those pictures of Paula Radcliffe sitting at
the side of the road at the 2004 Olympic Marathon in
Athens). The marathon, more than most other
sporting events, has a definite link to the old “no
pain, no gain” philosophy and the concept of
suffering in order to gain and feel the achievement.
I’m being rather radical here but I don’t believe it has
to be that way.
So, I have made a commitment to resist the
pressures on me, which I know will be many. External
pressure from other runners and even non-runners,
whose usual question is always along the lines
of “how long do you hope to run it in?”, as that
seems to be the only way most of us can measure
how well someone has done in a marathon. And I
have to be honest, I know there will also be internal
pressure from myself at times when I think “if I just
train a bit harder I might be able to beat my previous
time”.
In actual fact, I believe that anyone who takes part
in a marathon, whether they complete it or not,
whether they walk the whole thing or not, deserves
to feel proud and also a huge sense of achievement.
The next thought that entered my head was “how
am I going to measure how well I do against my goal
of having fun?” Most of you are probably aware of
the SMART acronym that applies to goal setting.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable
(or Agreed depending on who you talk to), Realistic
and Timed. Now while I believe that my goal of
having fun in, and leading up to, the marathon is
achievable, realistic and timed, it does rather fall
down on the specific and measurable fronts.
How can you measure fun? How much fun is enough?
Well, obviously it will have to be personal to me. But
what I’ve come up with is a fun factor, which can
be anything from 0 (as in no fun at all) to 10 (the
most fun you can have with your clothes on). I have
started thinking about how much fun I’m having on
every training run, and I intend to do it on marathon
day as well. If it is below 7 out of 10, my task is to
change something there and then to make it a 7 or
higher.
I have never been a fan of keeping a training log but
I have also started recording each run in my diary
with how long I ran, my fun factor score and why I
gave it that score. That is all I’m recording. I see this
as an excellent way of also understanding what is
really important to me (both in my running and in my
life).
So, after my initial excitement at receiving my race
entry confirmation and then the concern that I
wouldn’t be able to maintain the fun in my running
and train for a marathon, I’m now more
excited than
ever.
I have also adapted the same fun factor concept to
my working days. Once again, anything below 7 out
of 10 requires my immediate intervention and a
change.
My challenge for you is to try the same fun factor
scoring to your own life. What about that for a New
Year’s resolution, to take on responsibility for keeping
your own fun factor above 7 out of 10?
And when you don’t succeed, congratulate yourself
on your failure and take action to get to 7 or above
again. Let me know what you discover from the
exercise. I’m already up and running, so to speak.
