What is the X percent?

In 2009 I started running, my Forrest Gump moment. Unfit and unhealthy blah, blah- you know the story, there’s a million others similar out there. 

Like all those others I became passionate about running. Made all the mistakes- too much, too soon. I ran my first marathon eight months after my first run. At thirty five I limped my way to a 4:22 marathon with a bad dose of tendonitis in my underprepared knees. The pain didn't deter me I was hooked. 

I embarked on a journey into a new world, a world of all things running. I learned by reading up in books and online, I learned a lot from my own mistakes and slowly I improved. 

Other race distances were sampled- 5k’s, 10k’s, half marathons, more marathons. I got quicker......... sub 4 hours. I delighted in the journey, ‘I can go quicker’. Sub 3:45, sub 3:30 times continued to improve.

I traveled to marathons overseas. Berlin, Barcelona, New York, Miami. Discovering new places and getting faster. 

Then I decided running further was my future- 50k, 60k, 80k. Running over mountain trails and into uncharted territory.

I soon realised the running further usually meant running slower so the marathons I did run were slower than my PB which was then down to 3:15. I decided I wanted to see how fast I could get. Seeing people finish marathons in 2:xx had always intrigued me, surely I couldn't run that time? Slowly It became a goal, a fixation. I ran on. The PB's lowered- 3:12, 3:10, 3:09, 3:07. Then from the age of 44 it changed, 3:10, 3:12. Plateaued, peaked, over the hill. The sub 3 dream was starting to fade. I reviewed my training and apart from some niggles that had hampered training and getting older nothing had changed. I looked at my lifetime stats-

Total Activities: 3824 (10 years)

Total Distance: 22,332.31 miles

Total Activity Time: 3031:07:08 h:m:s

Activity Calories: 2,423,382 C

Total Elev Gain: 313,793 m

Average Speed: 7.1 mph

All those miles, all that time and yet I was feeling like I’d come up short. I tried many things to improve- high milage, adding more speed work. I was running consistently over 2000 miles a year but much like the fabled wall in the marathon itself I seemed to have reached a wall that was a boundary of my own ability. 

2019 has been a strange year, I've struggled with niggles including a tendinopathy in my achilles which meant it was difficult to walk most morning let alone run. Six sessions of painful shockwave therapy, some strength and conditioning and cross training saw me turn the corner over the summer. But it still seemed 2019 was to be the first year I would not run a marathon since my first in 2009. 

The summer rolled on, I felt better and friends and club mates turned their attention to marathon training. I started joining them for the 'shorter' long runs and pretty soon I was on board to run the Dublin marathon. For the first time ever I did't follow a plan but employed some of the lessons I'd learned over the years to hit the targets I knew would see me arrive at the start line in decent shape while listening to my body and not over doing it. 

The October bank holiday weekend rolled around and I found myself standing at the start line of the Dublin marathon. The result was a 3:12 not my fastest but an enjoyable experience on race day where I ran comfortably. 

Post marathon I ensured I recovered properly which is something I'd very much neglected in the past, rushing back into hard training too quick, plans for whats next started to develop in my head. 

Could I string a decent training block together and try for a sub 3? Where could I improve? A different training plan, a coach, running shoes with springs? The answer to these questions dawned on me......I could improve everywhere. 

To achieve my goals I would have to gain every possible performance improvement, take every marginal gain in the hope that pooled together those small gains could deliver the extra percent improvement required to reach the goal.

If nike could promise 4% and the 'Next' percent improvement from deciding to purchase their shoes surly I could gain as much if not more by improving my training, recovery, diet, sleep, mentality.....the list goes on. 

The decision was made, a spring marathon in 2020 with renewed purpose. 20 weeks to find and eke out every ounce of improvement to give me a shot and my long term goal. I need to find an improvement of 8% from my last marathon, 5% improvement on my PB from 18 months ago. 

I'm not sure how much improvement is available to me so I've christened it the X Percent. Having reviewed training plans I've settled on the Hanson Marathon Method. I've also been reviewing some recovery techniques, brain training techniques as well as other running gear, gadgets and gizmos that come with promises of gains. From beet root shots to elevation masks to the now famous Nike go faster shoes I'll be trying them all and logging the results here to help others improve or save their money and time!