I knew full well that I was going to start training for the London Marathon in January. So, preparing to beg a little, I asked for a GPS running watch for Christmas. I knew instantly which make I wanted. Garmin seems to have the market cornered on this type of technology. Sure there are plenty of sat nav systems out there for your car. But trying to get one small enough to fit on your wrist is a challenge.

Having seen a fellow runner’s Garmin, I knew what I wanted my watch to do. I wanted a breakdown of my runs after I’d been on them. So, the distance I’d travelled, the route I took, the time I ran it in and, if possible, my split times.

I initially looked at the Garmin Forerunner 305. The price was a little lower than the latest model and it did everything I wanted it to. But when Santa went to get it for me, he must have been worried about my street cred. The watch is apparently quite large; not dissimilar to having a calculator strapped to your wrist.

So there it was, my new Garmin Forerunner 405. In the box was the watch, a heart rate monitor, a USB ‘ANT Stick’ and a charging clip. The watch still looked quite bulky to me and there’s an extended portion to the south of the face that makes the watch quite lengthy before the flexible strap allows it to curl around your wrist. But it is by no means restrictive and, when you learn that that this is designed so that the antenna is constantly pointing up at the sky to get better satellite reception, you quickly forgive the shape.

The fun stuff happens on your first run. Once you’ve acquired your satellites, hit the start button and you’re off. You can then view your progress in one of three ways:

1. With your time, pace and distance all on one screen.
2. With your current heart rate.
3. Or with your progress against a virtual partner.

And that’s the beauty of this watch. Say you want to run the marathon in under 4 hours (a little over 9 minutes a mile). Simply set your virtual partner to run at 9 minute miles and go. The watch will tell you if you are behind or ahead of your little running partner so you can judge whether to speed up or if you can ease off a bit. Who needs a man with a balloon on his back?!

Once you’re back (and you’ve installed the ‘ANT Stick’) just set your watch down next to your computer and watch it instantly transfer your run to your computer without you even pressing a button. It then displays your run using Google Maps, shows you how far it was, how many calories you’ve burned, your elevation gain and your mile split times. Check out this 15-miler I ran with the watch on. I didn’t use the heart rate monitor as I find that I can’t get the size quite right and it restricts my breathing.

I love the mapping function. I went out for a long run one morning and stupidly had a fry up before I left. You can actually see on the map the moment I couldn’t run any more and was stranded 4 miles from home! Click here for the ‘fry-up run‘. I also turned the watch on for 10 minutes during a 5-a-side football game. I could win some abstract art competition with that (hit ’satellite’ above the map to see an aerial view)!

The downsides? Well I’m lucky that my birthday falls right next to Christmas. The watch was a joint birthday and Christmas present because of the price. A snip at RRP £259.99.

Long sleeve tops are another problem. Most menu functions are activated using a touch-sensitive bezel and a sweaty top brushing over the controls can change a few settings annoyingly easily. Also, if you’re a city runner, tall buildings can affect the accuracy of the watch. You can see in this run where I miraculously walked on water around the docks at Canary Wharf. To be fair, this is an area with three of the tallest buildings in the country so some disruption is to be expected.

All foibles aside, I couldn’t live without this watch now. It’s been fairly crucial in my marathon training and I’m getting some pretty decent times in my marathon training because I’m pushing myself a little bit further. 4 hours 45 minutes to beat this year. Lets see if this watch can help me do it.

Image by bignoseduglyguy via Flickr

As I finished a 14-miler last weekend I passed two runners coming in the other direction. These two chaps, virtually sprinting, were about 7 feet tall and didn’t have an ounce of fat on them. If you’d have cooked them up and made a jogger-burger you’d still be chewing the meat a week later. These two were as toned as they come.

I’d manage to finish my 14-mile training run in about 2 hours 10 minutes (not bad going considering I was taking it easy). Who knows at what stage these two runners were. But just from the look of their posture, the length of their stride and the clothes they were wearing you could tell that they were professionals. Or at least ran for more than a hobby.

This got me thinking. How much of a lifestyle change do you have to make to become a professional runner? How much competition is there? What sort of money are we talking for a race win? How fast do you really have to be?

The first thing to distinguish is which type of event are we trying to excel in? Track runners have a completely different training regime and diet to distance runners. This being a blog about the London Marathon, we’ll focus on marathon running.

1. Training

My (intermediate level) training plan for the marathon consists of 5 runs a week. Every Saturday I’ll go on my long run, adding a mile each week until I’ve hit 21 miles before tapering off a few weeks before a race. I’ll be lucky if I run more than 30 miles a week in the mid stages. Paula Radcliffe’s training plan for the same race sees her running 150 miles a week. That’s the equivalent of London to Cardiff each week!

Working on an 8-day cycle, she’ll typically do two runs a day (swapping some runs for a session with the weights or a sports massage). There’s no denying that in order to race at a competitive level some serious time on the road is needed. This raises the question of holding down a job. Surely there aren’t enough hours in the day?

2. Diet

As well as giving up your free time, there are certain foods you must give up (or at least cut down on) to have a chance of competing professionally. Keep the refined sugars and fat down and the carbs and protein up. Also, due to the increased level of training, professional runners have to eat often. To speed recovery, a runner will usually eat within half an hour after a run. So say hello to bananas, rice and salmon and wave goodbye to crisps, iced-cream and fizzy drinks (although our favourite record holder can’t go without her daily dark chocolate fix).

3. Competition

To compete in the London Marathon as a male elite runner you need to be able to run a marathon in under 2 hours 45 minutes (sub 3.15 if you are female). No small feat. But plenty elite runners manage this each year and are in with a shot of claiming victory.

The World Marathon Majors compiles the big 5 city marathons (Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin and our favourite London). In order to qualify you must score in the top 5 in at least 4 of these events. Again, no small feat. But this is where the prize money starts to get interesting.

4. Money

Let’s not beat about the bush. To start making money from winning races you’ve got to be good. Really good. To get in the money at the London Marathon you’ve got to be able to run a sub 2:11:00 (sub 2:28:00 for women). This will earn you a cool $1000.

But get past a certain level and the money starts to get pretty tasty. Finish first place in the London Marathon and you can expect upwards of $50,000. And it doesn’t stop there.

Finish the marathon in under 2:05:00 and you’ll get a $100,000 kicker. Break the course record in the process and you’ll get another $25,000. Break the World record and you’ll land yourself another $125,000 on top of all your winnings! So if you are a world record breaker, there is potential to win upwards of $300,000!

Couple that with winning the World Marathon Majors and you’re on your way to becoming a millionaire.

Running for a living
(cue cheesy stock photo)

Let’s face it. Unless you’re the best of the best, you’re not going to see any prize money from entering a marathon. The decision to turn professional can’t be easy. As we’ve seen, training is a full-time job and requires ultimate dedication. To gamble a lifestyle on the premise of winning a race seems to me to be a big gamble. It is no surprise then that the majority of professionals start young and gain their confidence and technique through years of experience (from track running out of a school club).

Of course, earning a living from running doesn’t just have to come from winning races. Coaches and personal trainers at a basic level can charge around £50 an hour for their services. Get a job at a running magazine, writing about your favourite sport and you’ve obtained the epitome of job satisfaction!

I’d love to hear from any althetes who run full time. Do you know anyone who makes a living out of running? How big a yearly income can they expect? Feel free to comment below and let us know.

If there ever was a frank reminder of those, not just running the marathon, but who decide to perform magnificent feats in the name of charity, then the JustGiving awards was it.

Last year, JustGiving came under some scrutiny in the media. The spin was that people were claiming to be emotionally blackmailed into donating via online charity sites such as them. An unnamed Daily Mail columnist (no surprises there) would not be bullied into donating via the web when she could just as easily donate her cash and know that all of her money was going straight to her charity.

But when Major Phil Packer manages to raise over £1.3 million for Help for Heroes, or a campaign to stop X-Factor from claiming yet another Christmas #1 raises over £100,000 for Shelter in less than 2 months, you have to face facts. Since its inception in 1999, JustGiving has helped over 8,000 charities raise over £450 million. None of this would have been possible without the ease and speed at which users are able to donate online.

But, JustGiving admit themselves that they would be nothing without their fundraisers. So what better way to show their appreciation than by throwing their first ever awards ceremony in London to celebrate the amazing people that give up their lives for others.

There were four categories; Most Innovative Fundraiser, Most Popular Fundraiser, Most Successful Fundraiser and the Incredible Achievement award.

Most Innovative Fundraiser Winner – Simon Painter and David Wood
Si and Big Dave, dressed in orange prison jump suits, blagged their way from Manchester to Luanda, Angola armed with nothing more than their passports. So far they’ve raised over £2,500 for the KidsCan Cancer Research Centre and they hit this target with a heap of donations from strangers on their 30 hour journey, who’d seen the JustGiving link printed on their sleeves. I was sat on the table next to these guys and after winning the award it was clearly a very emotional moment. But that didn’t stop them all from getting on Twitter! Youtube video of the moment they won here.

Most Popular Fundraiser Winner – Sophie Atay
When Sophie Atay was 15 months old her mother felt a lump on her tummy. She was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer called stage four neuroblastoma and the antibody treatment that would give her a better chance of survival would cost over $500,000. But after Sophie’s story was featured in the media, 40,000 people went to her JustGiving page and her total now stands at over £500,000. She was unable to be at the event as she is now in New York undergoing the treatment.

Most Successful Fundraiser – Phil Packer
I ran the marathon last year with Phil and I smashed his time! Well, when I say ‘ran with him’, I really mean that I ran the same marathon as him. And when I say ’smashed his time’ it might be worth mentioning that Major Packer lost the use of his legs after a spinal cord injury sustained while fighting in Iraq. After being told by doctors that he’d never walk again, Phil walked the London Marathon 2009 over the course of 14 days but has also completed a number of other challenges (including rowing the Channel!), raising over £1.3 million for Help For Heroes.

N.B. Instead of reeling off an acceptance speech, Phil probably raised about £1000 for Robyn Higgins that night by suggesting people raise their hands if they would like to donate £10 to her cause. He also pledged to donate £100 himself

Incredible Achievement Award Winner – Will Hemsley, Jonathan Hughes and Nick Mclelland
(AKA Ride2Recovery)
After Will’s brother suffered spinal injuries after a stabbing in 2008, him and two friends decided to organise the challenge of the century to raise money for Aspire and Spinal Research. 24 rugby-playing lads completed a 600-mile bike ride through England, France and Switzerland and have so far raised over £78,000.

Overall, a smashing, emotional roller-coaster ride of an event and a great chance to meet the JustGiving team. The big message I’ve taken from the night is not to forget the reason you’re running for your charity. A more heartfelt and genuine story is likely to result in much more donations. The stories told at the awards put my fundraising idea to shame so it’s time to get my finger out and start getting down to the real reason I’m running.

Well done to all award winners and all nominees.

P.S. An added bonus to the evening. I finally got to meet ‘Rhino Head’ Becki Button (famous in the London Marathon tweeting world of 2009). She was fasten-ating. Get it?

Nothing will prepare you for the first time you lose a toenail because you forgot to trim them before a long run. Or for the number of blisters your feet can accumulate in an hour. I actually can not get rid of one of my blisters, which I now affectionately refer to as the ‘grape’. Apologies to those who are eating while reading this.

There are three ways to combat blisters.

1. Run so hard and so often that your feet callous up to the texture of sand paper.
2. Buy a big pack of sterilised needles and get popping.
3. Wear the correct socks for you.

If you’ve seen that scene from Run Fat Boy Run then my guess is you’ll want to avoid option 2. So professional socks it is! Luckily our friends at Fitness Footwear sent me a new pair of sports socks to try out.

The first thing to get into your head when buying running socks is that a really good pair will come in proper sizes so make sure you know your current shoe size before buying. The next is material. Check the label. If the socks are made from cotton then stay well away. Cotton, once wet, takes forever to dry out.

My usual socks, the WrightSock Running Crew are made from a material that wicks away moisture well. They also have a double-layer system that prevents blisters. Blisters are caused when there is friction between the two layers of your skin (the epidermis and dermis) and moisture builds between these two layers. My socks have an extra thin layer that slides around so that your skin doesn’t. The downside? They cost a bloody fortune.

So, for the last few months I’ve tried out the cheaper model that Fitness Footwear provided, the North Face Lightweight Running Sock. They don’t have a double-layer but they are made from Spandex and are designed to keep my feet dry as much as possible. They’re also a very good fit, which minimises the risk of any material bunching up and making your run uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, since using the socks I’ve accumulated more blisters than before. So either my feet are too sweaty or it’s time for a new pair of shoes.

Herein lies the dilemma. When training for a marathon, most will accomplish 5 runs a week. So it’s either put your washing on every day or spend over £50 to stock up on enough professional running socks to last you the week!

After my doctor basically told me to stop being an idiot, stop training, take some paracetamol and go to bed, I’m now halting my marathon training until I’m back up to full strength.

It’s a tough little conundrum. Like last year, I’ve taken on a 16-week training plan for this year’s marathon. Some don’t think that’s enough but 5-6 runs a week for 4 months will do me plenty.

I’d kept up a fairly decent 10k pace before beginning my training so it wasn’t too much of a shock to the system once starting. But how in the name of all that is holy am I supposed to train in the worst snow Britain has seen for decades, not get a cold and have any chance of beating my time last year?!

For those who are abroad or have been living underground, arctic conditions brought Britain to a standstill in early 2010 as transport officials faced the perils of running out of grit. Even getting to the gym was impossible for some so treadmill running was out. When it wasn’t snowing, temperatures were so low that the icy snow held on and didn’t melt for a couple of weeks. I ventured out in the snow for a 10k to kick off the 2010 training but without a pair of running spikes it was fairly comical.

So am I missing out on vital training hours? Will I have to catch up on the missed miles? How much will my fitness level deteriorate during the time spent bed-ridden? What can I do as an alternative?

Well if you are house-bound because of the weather there’s not a lot you can do in terms of running. But here are a few ideas to get your heart rate up without having to own your own personal gym equipment:

• Exercise DVDs
  If you don’t live in a flat and can get away with stomping on the floor a bit then try out an exercise DVD. All you need is a couple of yellow-pages and a love for celebrities.
  .
• Core exercises
  A strong core is a huge benefit for runners. It’ll give you a tidy running posture which will make your run far more efficient. I’ve recently experienced mild back pain as a result of not exercising my core and stretching out my back muscles after running. Try out these core strengthening exercises from Runner’s World. Remember, it’s all about control, not number of reps and luckily, you don’t need a lot of room to do them.
  .
• Bike Trainer
  Own a bike and have enough room to pedal indoors in front of the TV? One of these bike trainers allows you to pedal indoors and work up a sweat. TIP: put a towel underneath to catch your sweat or face the wrath of your husband/wife/mother.

If you are ill then it depends on the neck rule (check out this post from Coach Joe English). Basically if you’re symptoms are felt from the neck up (runny nosy, headache) then you’re probably alright to run. Any symptoms felt from the neck down (coughs, chest pain) then it’s a no go. I wrote a post on this just before the marathon in 2009.

Try not to worry about losing out on training time (I know it’s hard). It takes a good couple of weeks to really lose the effects of training and pushing yourself without allowing your body to recover will just mean that your body takes longer to heal.

If you have any tips on how you’ve been training during the Winter months or how to get rid of a cold quicker then do leave a comment below.

Sir Jog A Lot was started to keep friends and family interested in my 2009 London Marathon training while trying to raise money for the MS Society. I quickly realised while training that there are plenty of running-related foibles to write about and a ton of things to consider before taking up a marathon.

SJAL has changed quite a bit since January 2009, turning from the original Wordpress blog (still live here) into what you can see now. One big change was the introduction of reviews after the 2009 marathon. I was deeply concerned about losing the die-hard fans, who were reading the blog purely for its penetrative look into the psyche of an amateur runner. But I’ve tried to use the PR industry as much to your advantage as mine by giving away as many of the products as I can in the 6 competitions we ran last year.

Although you’ve been able to see advertising on this blog for some time, I can safely say that Sir Jog A Lot has made absolutely no money (not for the want of trying). I wasn’t taught economics at school! The only money I’ve made off the back of this blog has gone straight to charity, either by indirect sponsorship for the MS Society or through the Sponsor this block! campaign, which is on its way to making the Lymphoma Association £1500!

One year on and I’m back where I began; training for the London Marathon (2010). Best of luck to those who are training for the first ever Virgin London Marathon and I hope you’ll get touch through the comments on this blog with any tips, advice or well-wishing to your fellow marathon runners.

James

Another lovely PR got in touch and has provided me with a pair of Nike LunarGlides to test out. Now I’m a big fan of Nike’s work. Their website that allows you to custom design your own trainers is awesome (that’s right, you can be just like Michael Jordon). I also own a pair of Nike 90 football boots which I have scored many a (own) goal in. But I’m afraid, this time, Nike get a C+ from me. Could do better.

Like a pair of football boots, the LunarGlides only seem to come in dark colours*. Now you may disagree, but I don’t associate dark trainers with a jog-loving athlete. I associate dark trainers with the kind of person that likes to play music loudly from a mobile phone at the back of a bus.

P.S. Apologies if you thought this review was going to judge comfort, width and durability.

All superficiality aside though, for a shoe that costs £80 I’m surprised at how cheap the LunarGlides feel. The fabric around the toes feels like felt and the underside of the tongue and heel resembles beach towel. The reason for this is weight loss. The trainers are very light for how bulky they look. The designer of this shoe has also focused very hard on the soles, which incorporate something called ‘Dynamic Support’.

The advantage of having a ‘Dynamic Support‘ sole (patent pending) is that these trainers are designed to suit just about anybody. It is designed to respond to each step as the ‘LunarLite foam core that sits within a firmer foam carriage and features a rear-foot wedge, provides stability when needed’.

Fancy! Well what this translates to is that if you’re a neutral runner, these shoes will be perfect. But unfortunately you can’t have the best of both worlds and being an overpronator I was left with quite a few blisters. My advice is if you have an unusual running gait then try a more specialised shoe.

The LunarGlide+, like most good sports trainers, has a removable sole. But in this case it is to allow access to the gap underneath for the Nike+ sensor, allowing you to sync up your run with your ipod and play your ‘power song’ at the right moment (an extra £19).

I feel I’ve been a little harsh about these trainers as on the feet of the right person they are an ideal running shoe (a friend of mine owns a pair and swears by them). I have actually found a use for them though. On a dark 5-a-side football pitch, the bright stripe of the sole is a great target for your team mates to pass to!

* The LunarGlide+ have a specific design for women as they run differently to men. An added bonus is that the women’s version comes in white!

If you have any gems like to contribute then please leave a comment!

1. The 50 Best Costumes At The 2009 London Marathon: http://bit.ly/2BXuqe

I recognise a few of these! I remember being passed by the Baywatch Hotties.

2. Ben Cohen races 60kg Timber Wolf: http://bit.ly/5MwSNC

Fast or food? Something tells me this wolf would run a lot faster if it was hungry!

3. Lee Evans and Tony Grounds run the London Marathon: http://bit.ly/14l1o5

Check out some of the celeb names on their JustGiving page.

4. QWOP Running Game: http://bit.ly/JMip

Possibly the most annoying yet addictive game on the planet

5. GPS Marathon Run: http://bit.ly/5SXrBw

An oldie but a goodie. Jenny spells out her JustGiving page using a GPS tracker.

6. Want to run a faster marathon? Start walking: http://bit.ly/5s44oo

An interesting technique to potentially increase your marathon times. Can you hack the chat from the crowd though?

7. Nike Naked Running Camp: http://bit.ly/77GX2

Nice trainers. Do they come in size 15?

8. Eddie Izzard’s 43 marathons in 51 days: http://bit.ly/HbnMq

Mile 1 – 10 hours. Mile 43 – 5 hours.

9. The Amazing Running Man: http://bit.ly/7a3ol

…although he doesn’t run very much.

10. Berlino The Bear: http://bit.ly/3NmfU

Berlino, the Berlin Athletics mascot had some fun didn’t he?

If you were lucky enough to have been given a ballot place, then count yourself lucky indeed! You had less than a 1 in 5 shot. 100,000 entrants will have been turned down to run in 2010. I was one of them so thank your lucky stars you even have a shot.

If you managed to grab a charity place then count yourself even luckier. To grab one of the 12,500 guaranteed places you have a 1 in 8 shot!

Unless you’re a celebrity, the hardest part of the London Marathon is getting in!

Guaranteed (Golden Bond) places come at a cost. Sponsorship targets range from £1000 – £2500 and most charities will make you sign a form to say that you will have banked the money by a certain date. For the 2009 marathon my target was £2000, which I smashed by over £400. But in order to do that I had to win an amateur video competition, beg my company for a sizeable donation and rely on the huge generosity of my friends and family, who will no doubt be suffering from ‘donor fatigue’ this time around.

I’ll be covering off unique ways to raise money in this blog in the months to come. But before that I have to plug my own!

To help me reach my sponsorship target of £1500, Sir Jog A Lot has begun a Sponsor this block! campaign. Businesses, websites, bloggers and individuals can all be part of the campaign by donating to the Lymphoma Association and sponsoring a block on SJAL’s sponsorship wall. Your block will act as an advert; you can upload a picture and your block will link back to your website/blog.

The wall will stay up until 31st December 2010 and the more you sponsor, the higher up the wall your block will appear. Donations can be as little as £2 and please don’t worry if that’s all you can give. You’ll still get a block!

If you are one of the top 4 sponsors, your block will appear of every page on the Sir Jog A Lot blog. Click here or on any of the blocks on the right-hand side to donate. Donations are accepted via JustGiving and your money will go directly to the Lymphoma Association (there’s nothing Million Dollar Homepage about this blog!).

Thank you so much for your support. A very very close family member was nearly taken from us by Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a nasty form of cancer. I think you’ll agree that the Lymphoma Association deserves every penny it can get.

Not only could you simply re-tweet @sirjogalot, but many of you were given an extra shot at getting the answer to the question right! So how many miles is a marathon race? Well thanks to my typo, it was either B, 26.2 miles or C, 26.2 miles.

This week’s winner is Daniel Lambert from Watford. Congratulations Daniel. You win a load of running goodies (pictured here) including a Reebok Running Pack.