Marathon Entry Process

Well with my enforced rest continuing I have no fitness details to write about so I thought I would put my thoughts about marathon entry processes down in type! Yes I have had a "Sorry" magazine from London Marathon along with so many other people.

There have been many comments on social networks about the process for the entry to the London Marathon including various questions about the fairness of the ballot. I think many people think that the ballot is a totally random pull names out of a hat type ballot but I do not believe this. I think that ages and times entered on the entry play a part. I don't know if I have read that this is fact or that it was something that has been suggested, either way it is a possibility.

The only way that people would believe that the ballot is truly fair is for the organisers to be totally open about the process. The drawback to this is that if there are factors around age and estimated times people would try to give themselves a better chance by fiddling these factors on their entry.

So it is a bit of a dilemma for the organisers if they give out too much information then they risk people trying to rig the process and if they keep it too secret they are accused of a lack of fairness.

I can't complain about the entry process personally, I have been lucky enough to get a place in the ballot twice and also ran the marathon twice more on a charity place.  The first ballot place I was successful with was just after they had scrapped the 5 rejections and your in rule, this is a rule that is widely being complained about not being in existence anymore. I guess the problem is that there were too many people who qualified for a place under this rule so it became impossible to honour and I can understand it being
removed.

The other rule that has changed this year that has come in for criticism is the Good For Age time changes, something that was never going to affect me.  My thoughts on this are that the times needed to be revised due to too many people achieving the standard, people are getting quicker! the issue I have is how the change was implemented mid year, surely the change should have been effective the following year when people had not trained and planned for the previous standard?

I do understand that there is huge frustration out there due to some people getting a place multiple times through the ballot whilst others enter the ballot every year for years and always get a rejection, something is clearly wrong with the entry system but I can not come up with an alternative that would suit all!
 
One thing that I do not understand is the delay between entry in April and finding out if you have been successful in October, this has not changed since the old paper system that I completed back in 2000 for my first attempt. Now the entry is fully computerised and it still takes the same length of time and we still have to wait for a magazine to drop through the letter box, surely this could be changed to be more efficient?

Other marathons have a first come first served entry process which people are suggesting for London, the issue I can see with this is that there are only so many places for the public, I am not sure the exact figure is ever published, but it has got to be less than 30,000! The ballot allows 100,000 people to enter and that sells out in a matter of hours, I remember the first year that Virgin sponsored the event the website could not cope with the numbers entering the ballot so how feasible a first come first served entry system would be I don't know. I'm sure some people would claim that is not fair either.

As many people have pointed out there are plenty of other marathons around the UK to enter, personally I have run the Brighton marathon every year since it started in 2010 and I have entered for next year too, how long I can keep running it every year I don't know, I guess it depends how long it is that it remains a first come first served entry marathon!!  I have run 9 marathons all together and along with the 4 in London and 4 in Brighton the only other one is at the end of The Outlaw Triathlon, I really must widen my marathon tastes!

So in summary, the London marathon entry system is not perfect but I don't have a solution for it but there are many other marathons out there that people can run if they want.

Now hopefully tomorrow I can get back on my bike and start training again ready for Brighton in April and Ironman UK in July!!

Rest & Recovery

Well I have nothing fitness wise to report since my last post!

I have taken a few days to recover post Henley and then ended up having another ambulance trip on Friday, apparently I had vertigo which completely knocked me sideways.  I think it may have been a smaller attack that took me out of Henley.

I awoke on Friday morning, yes Friday 13th, with a storming headache and no control over my arms or legs.  Getting upright to go to the bathroom brought on nausea and a definite wish to be horizontal rather than vertical!

So I ended up laying flat out on the floor of my bedroom whilst Amanda called for an ambulance, fortunately my eldest was up as he was due to be going to work.  He managed to contact them and they covered his shift so that he could stay and help.

The paramedics arrived and I still had an overwhelming desire to be horizontal despite their best intentions to get me sitting up! I felt sorry for them as they struggled to get all 6ft 2 and 14st 10 of me in a chair down my stairs into the waiting ambulance!  I must loose some weight!

Anyway after a short while we were off to the local A&E with me sweating profusely and unable to open my eyes due to the fact that when I did I was so dis-orientated that I felt that they had put me in a stretcher and raised it up to the roof of the ambulance!

After what felt like an age, but was really quite quick, I was pushed into a cubicle in the A&E department of the Princess Royal Hospital. A few tests later it must have been like a scene from Casualty as I was rushed through to the resus room and the doors slammed shut in Amanda's face.  I could hear lots of people crowding around and being asked constantly if I had pains in my chest, I didn't.

Eventually a Dr managed to convince me to open my eyes and ask me to follow his finger, immediately he was relieved to pronounce that it was vertigo and that the waiting anesthetist would not be required but that I would need to go for the CT scan anyway.

Obviously Amanda had given them some history about my fitness endeavors as they noted that my oxygen levels were showing as 86, the Dr made a comment that I should be in high 90's if I only had 1 lung working so the machine must be wrong! I could hear alarms going whenever I had that little clip thing on my finger, I would later find out that this was due to my pulse going below 50 which triggered the alarm! 1 nurse later that evening would resort to taking my pulse manually due to not believing the machine!

So I have had a pretty good checkup nothing wrong with my Head, Heart or Lungs just a dodgy inner ear!

Anyway this means that I need to take longer off before starting my training for Iron Man UK in Bolton in July which means that Andy King will probably beat me in that race now, I would have beaten him if I had managed to start my training straight after Henley, Honest!!

Challenge Henley

I think this is going to be the hardest write up I have ever done.

Ever since I started challenging myself to get fit I have always said no matter what I will finish the event. Well last weekend I didn't manage to finish Challenge Henley!

Things didn't start too well when on Friday trying to get my car ready to take my youngest son to his Nanny's where he was staying for the weekend, I tripped going out the front door and fell flat on my face jarring my shoulder.  By Saturday it didn't feel too bad and I thought I had got away with it.

So Saturday arrived and we travelled to Henley to register for the event,  rack the bikes and sort our different coloured bags out with the relevant kit.

All sorted, dinner eaten and checked into the hotel it was time to get some sleep!

Sunday arrived all too early! Porridge for breakfast and a cup of tea drunk it was time to head off to the start to meet up with Dave.

As we arrived at the start the Thames was covered in mist all looked very strange. A last minute check of red bag kit and the bikes complete it was time to don the wetsuits and await the start.

Due to the mist the start was delayed by 10 mins but then it was time to jump into the Thames and we were off.

The curse of The Outlaw returned and my breathing was all to pot again in the swim, I started following Dave but soon lost touch. It seemed like an age before the turn buoy arrived, at one point I thought I was getting close as I saw another swimmer going the other way but then realised they had a yellow hat on so was one of the pros! My shoulder started to hurt about 2 thirds of the way out to the turn giving twangs of pain every few strokes.

As soon as I rounded the buoy I was swamped by swimmers in green hats, the age groupers that had started 10 mins behind us!

With the mist over the water I could not see that much so had no idea how long it was to get back to the finish, eventually though I could hear the PA system so knew I was close. Arriving at the finish I was dragged onto the pontoon and on into transition.

A not so quick change and I was off on my bike. Amanda and Jennie cheered us on our way apparently I was only just behind Dave, according to the time sheets after I was only 45 seconds behind Dave at the end of the swim. He did take some more time out of me in the transition so I was just over a minute behind him starting the bike section.

I felt so much better starting the bike than I had at The Outlaw and was soon into my riding. After about 5 miles I had caught up with Dave and had a brief word as I went past, things were looking good.

Then the wheels started to come off, about 10 miles in and my shoulder flared up and was painful enough that I couldn't rest my weight on it as I rode. This pain lasted for a short while before easing off so I thought I would be ok.

Then about 20 miles the pain came back with a vengeance just as I saw Dave coming the other way, he asked if I was ok as I was riding with my arm down by my side, my response was "No"

I carried on resting my hand on my Tri-bars pad hoping the pain would relent like it had 10 miles earlier. As I reached the top of the road there was a right turn at which point I felt very dizzy. It was obvious that I would not be able to carry on and at the next junction I had to stop and lay down. 

The Marshall at the turn reported in that I was in need of medical assistance. Unfortunately the first car that arrived was on his way to a collision between 3 other riders. He stopped to give me a quick check over and ensure an ambulance was on its way to collect me.

The ambulance arrived and I was soon being checked over and transported back to the medical tent at the finish where I was checked again.

I have to say I could not have been looked after better the marshals and medical team were fantastic.

I kept a check on how Dave was doing on the website, it was great to see that he finished in a PB. I felt bad that I hadn't been able to stay to support him to the finish but I was under orders to rest as I looked a strange beige colour!

So now my attention turns to Ironman UK at Bolton next year, I am determined to sort out the problem I have with open water swimming!!

Cyclist Safety

Hi I have not posted anything recently mainly as my training has been a bit boring, I did fit in a swim last night to test out my new goggls for Challenge Henley at the weekend, hence my trip to work this morning was by train!

Travelling in by train gave me time to read an open letter to Laura Trott by Justin Shevlin.

Now I didn't see the article that he refers to so am not really qualified to comment on most of it. I do however have some issues with his response.

Laura is quoted as saying

“Cyclists wonder why they get a bad name. I see cyclists jumping in and out of the buses and people wonder why they get hit…..Cyclists need to help themselves and should not jump red lights. I would ride in London but I certainly wouldn’t ride like that, you just have to be careful. I can understand going down the outside of traffic but you should obey the rules of the road because we’re all road users”

Justin has an issue with this, thinking that it gives car drivers an excuse to think badly of all cyclists. Personally I agree with Laura on this quote, cyclists should obey the rules of the road and not jump red lights etc. Justin goes on to explain that he rode many miles around London including going through red lights. At this point he lost some credibility in my eyes. He goes on to ask is it just weaving if you are on a bike but overtaking if you are in a car, well no, you can overtake busses on a bike but I would suggest it becomes weaving when you go from overtaking one side to undertaking the other and back again without due care for other road users around you.

A quote from Justin is

"I know this wasn’t your intention, but today, as a direct result of what you said, cyclists on their morning commute would have felt more vulnerable and more at risk than they did on Friday morning."

We'll actually no I will not feel any more vulnerable on my cycle home tonight as a result of knowing of Laura's comments but I will as a result of Justin's and I will explain why.

Reading Laura's comments I find myself agreeing with the comments she makes, cyclists do need to help themselves, be aware of other road users around them and obey the rules of the road especially red lights.

Yes I agree with Justin that there is a minority of cyclists that do behave badly on the road but they will affect a drivers perception of all cyclists.  I like to think that I am not one of them, I obey red lights and am careful about how my riding affects other road users.

Justin's comments on the other hand seem to be aimed at excusing cyclists bad behaviour and suggest that as a cyclist there is no need for him to obey the rules. This attitude I feel will play into the hands of the frustrated drivers that he mentions. Now this may be me taking his comments the wrong way and not what he intended.

One comment of Justin's that I do agree with is with regards to the lack of comments about irresponsible drivers. In order to make London's roads safer ALL road users need to play nicely together and take some responsibility for each others safety.

This I believe can only happen if we all obey the rules of the road and don't have certain factions trying to make excuses or reasons for their own side to break the rules. I have heard comments along the lines of

"It is safer for me as a cyclist to jump a red light than wait with all the other traffic"

Now while they may believe this to be true the fact remains that cyclists jumping red lights is illegal, puts the cyclist in a position on the road that other road users don't expect them to be and gives drivers a reason to moan about all cyclists. 

However if, for example, there are junctions where it would be safer for cyclists to turn left on a red light, and I'm sure there probably are, then this needs proper planning including education of all road users to avoid the problems I mention above.

I read an article on the way home last night about lorries being fitted with safety equipment. Whilst I applaud any improvement to cyclist safety I did worry about the stats quoted. They suggested that the devices they were talking about would have saved 5 of 14 cyclist lives lost on the streets. Now I fully agree that these safety improvements are a great idea and if they even save 1 live they will be worth it but I feel it shows that there is still a lot more that needs doing to improve safety on our roads.

There will always be people of all modes of transport that complain about each other but I believe that the irresponsible road users of all manner are in a minority, I have met many polite car drivers on my rides.

I'm sure that just as Justin disagrees with Laura and I disagree with some of Justin's comments people will disagree with my point of view but hey wouldn't life be boring if we all had the same view!  One point of view that I hope we can all agree on though is that there is plenty that can and should be done to improve cyclist safety on our roads.

Throughout Laura's, Justin's and my own comments we have all views on what can be done to aid safety. There are many people and agencies who can assist with improving the saftey of cyclists on our roads and as I highlight above with regards to the lorries there is much to be done. There are also others who can throw obsticles in our way but ultimately there is only 1 person responsible for my saftey, given the current rules and limitations, as I ride to and from my London office!