Training for a marathon… in winter in Scotland

Training for a marathon… in winter in Scotland

By Andrew Patterson

One of the problems with the London marathon is that it takes place in April which means that all your training has to take place in the winter. Living in Scotland this presents some additional challenges, not least the weather. Time during the week is very limited so the only time I have to do the long run is at the weekend. I watch the weather forecast avidly and hope that some sunshine symbols appear on it but alas the reality is rain from Friday night to Monday morning. The other day I sat in the car with the rain battering the roof and thinking that I wouldn’t walk a dog in this weather, and the thought of three hours of running in it didn’t appeal to me at all. I was just about to give up and go home when a lady ran past on her morning run. That was inspiration enough and I set off. Alas the rain turned to sleet and the sleet turned into snow exactly at the half way point. I finished a 20 mile run with a numb face and I was wet through. My clothing probably weighed a couple of kilograms more than when I set off, but given that you need a fair amount of determination to run a marathon, if I can cope with this weather and still run then this will help the mental challenge.

Another interesting challenge is running on snow and ice. They both have different levels of grip and this varies according to temperature. Frozen compacted snow has very good grip, lumpy ice is just uncomfortable to run on and black ice is treacherous. The key to running on ice is to relax and soften the knees and the hips and to plan ahead to avoid sudden deceleration or direction changes. Actually, concentrating on relaxing helps your running form immensely.

With rain comes puddles and given that I really dislike running with wet feet I will do everything that I can to avoid running through puddles. Modern running shoes have mesh uppers that allow moisture and heat to escape; they are also rather good at letting water in. I have had to keep my head up to spot the puddles in advance and find a running line around them. Now in the latter stages of a race one inevitably has to overtake slower runners and I realise that I have had the perfect training for having to run around people and all that puddle avoidance will pay dividends on the day.

There is nowhere flat to run where I live and finding a long route that doesn’t involve lots of ascent and descent is not easy. The flattest routes tend to involve roads and country roads don’t have pavements so this also means cars. The good thing is that I can hear them long before they see me so I can take avoiding action but I turned a corner recently and I met a peloton of about 30 cyclists coming towards me. I realised that the first cyclists had seen me and would probably go round me but then I would be hit by all the bikes behind them. The safest thing to do was cross to the other side of the road. They were grateful. Thankfully there will be no cars or cyclists on the marathon but I am prepared for them if there are.

I don’t run with music playing in my ears. I like to hear the birdsong and listen out for traffic. I also couldn’t cope with the beat of the tune being in a different time to my running pace. Running gives time and space to think and I know that many people have running play lists that may be upbeat and motivational and this helps them get through the run. As I was running in the rain I started making up my own play list, and here are a few thoughts:

Raindrops keep falling’ on my head – BJ Thomas

Walking in the rain – Grace Jones

Singin’ in the rain – Mint Royale version

Madness – Muse

Heaven knows I’m miserable now – The Smiths

So, with all this training if April 24^th in London is 5 degrees and raining I will be perfectly prepared.