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17th July 2008 - LATEST UPDATE
At the
end of last week I headed up to Birmingham to watch Ben in
the AAA 5km championship. I have to confess it was the first
athletics meeting that I had ever been to and I thoroughly
enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to others. The
controversial drug cheat sprinter Dwain Chambers ran a
fantastic time of 10 seconds dead for the 100 meters and
some other fine performances were achieved throughout the
day.
This
was Ben's last track race before his focus shifted towards
the Bristol half marathon and the Amsterdam marathon in
October. By his own admission Ben was further down the field
then he would have liked and struggled with the early pace
but despite this came home in a respectable time of 14:30.
The event was a last chance at Olympic qualification over
the distance for the runners but unfortunately even the
winner came a good 40 seconds off the required time.
Speaking to a member of the crowd, and he might have been
wrong, but only 2 distance runners from the 3000 metres to
marathon distances have actually made the plane to Beijing?
Orabana healthy energy drinks which launches next month have
provided Ben and myself with free samples of their new
product. Having recently resumed a decent percentage of my
training I need all the right nutrients and support to train
at my best day in day out which Orbana provides. Importantly
for me tastes great and is healthy.
Last
week I met up with running ledged and top UK coach Bruce
Tulloh who has helped me throughout the project. We
discussed what I could do to get the best out of my training
over the next 3 months before Amsterdam. I am running 3
times a weeks for up to an hour and although feeling pretty
fit I am still not able to cope with the heavy work loads
that I was used to prior to this injury. What I thought
would be a week long injury has dragged on for just over 6
months now, frustrating would be an understatement but
slowly but surely I am heading in the right direction. The
reality is that running under 2 hours 30 minutes for the
marathon in Amsterdam is going to be near on impossible
unless things get better very quickly. That's the nature of
running and anyone who has been though a persistent injury
will know the feelings associate with it.
On a
positive not I recently bought a new racing bike and have
substituted my other runs with long hard sessions in
Richmond Park. I have also been training hard in the pool
and the gym which is now really paying off. Aerobically I
might be in great shape and when it comes to taking part in
a Triathlon I should be flying around but the you can't
cheat a marathon, and so only time will tell if I can
culminate the project with a respectable time.
Finally George my cameraman nearly died a few weeks back
with two blood clots in his lungs. The causes are still
unknown but fortunately he is making a steady recovery and
over the next few months should be returning to work. I have
mentioned it before, but in a project where a lot has gone
wrong at various times this is just another one to add to
the list. There is no way that George will be able to come
to Ethiopia with Ben and myself at the end of August and
unfortunately the budget will not stretch any further, so
instead of being in front of the camera my role will be
directing the documentary from behind the lens.
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