Jordan & Raymond Update - June 24

This is an update podcast episode where the hosts discuss their training progress and upcoming events. They are pleased with their progress towards their June goals and encourage listeners to keep pushing. They also mention that they have hired someone named Marianne to help with back-end tasks so they can focus on providing support to their clients. They then discuss their recent marathon experience and how they dealt with injuries and nerves leading up to the race. They were both happy with their performance and plan to continue running marathons in the future. Hello, guys, and welcome to the next episode of the private members' podcast within the progress project. Today's episode is an update with myself and Raymond. Raymond, how's it going, mate? All good, mate. Thank you for having me on again. All good. Good. So, these update podcasts have always been going down well. Just a bit of an update from myself, Raymond, how our training is going, some programme updates and things like that. But in terms of the programme itself, there's nothing really major to dive into in detail, other than I'm really, really pleased with how we're getting on with our June goals. It's been a good challenge. There's increased the focus during a month that typically can be quite difficult with holidays and heading into the summer and stuff like that, so I've been really, really happy. We're pretty much exactly halfway through, so just keep pushing. If we're struggling with it, reach out. There's still time to turn it around and achieve it. If we're well on track, then brilliant. Just keep going. The other thing was, just to point out again, I messaged this on Thursday, quite a good reaction, but we've got Marianne on board just to help myself and Raymond with some back-end stuff. So, me and Raymond want our full focus to be on you guys, on making sure all your programmes are up to date, making sure you're getting the support, the service that you need. So, in order for us to dedicate even more time, we've got Marianne on board so that she can be in the background and do more of the gathering information tasks that take time away from me and Raymond. So, that's only going to be a positive thing, but if anybody has any questions, let us know. Go hear from Marianne, she's going to be in the background ticking things off and updating data for me and Raymond. So, if anyone's got any questions around it, just let us know, but it will be a good thing going forward. So, looking forward to that. In terms of today's chat with Raymond, we're just going to be diving into how we've been over the last six to eight weeks, I think, since we've done the last one. It's been prior to Raymond and myself doing the Edinburgh marathon, so we're going to go into that and just where we're at currently with training and what's coming up on the horizon. So, how's things been going with yourself, Raymond, mate? Yeah, all good. I think it was the six-week mark, it must have been, because, obviously, we got the all-go for the marathon, and it was just the final thoughts before that, but it has been the tail end of May, so we're about four weeks post-marathon, give or take. Aye, something like that, three or four weeks out. Four weeks this weekend, I think it is. Yeah, and we're kind of in a wee lull stage now, where it's the foot off the pedal. Obviously, the volume has decreased massively from marathon training, but it's still just kind of ticking away, but I do feel the effects of post-event blues a wee bit. I'm looking forward to the 12-week specific for the Glasgow 10k, and then that's going to tie in nicely to me and you doing doubles in Birmingham, which I know a lot of the team are going to travel down, and we're going to have a big squad down there competing, but I do feel like I'm ready for that 12-week to start. I'm in a kind of wee lull stage now, where it's just ticking over. Still training, still trying to keep the running volume somewhat at 25k per week, but I think coming off a big, massive event that you've been training and planning for for a while, you do feel the effects of it. Once you kind of finish that, you're a bit like, well, what's next? Motivation does dip massively, so that's the first time I've probably experienced that. Yeah, I think it is good to potentially have a few weeks where you haven't got something to say, especially after a big event, because it can be difficult. I've kind of went off the back of the marathon and straight into the ultra training. I've kind of used the marathon as part of my training, but some of the guys in the programme have had Edinburgh marathon straight into the ultra, so it's been quite intense for them. After the ultra, they'll probably be looking for potential a week or two that's scaled back a wee bit, because sometimes it can be quite intense, but then I get what you mean, Matt, in terms of if it's four weeks, five weeks where it's before the next block starts, it can be a wee bit when I actually feel like I just want to get going again, but it's good to use these periods just to kind of reset, consolidate, get the focus in, that you don't want those periods lasting too long, because like you say, you can end up getting a wee bit complacent, foot right off the gas, and it can end up being harder to get back into the swing of things when things do ramp up. In terms of the marathon itself, mate, how did you enjoy it? Obviously, was it like 10, did you count 10 or 12 runs that you didn't manage during training at the training block? It was 12 in total I missed, so the first two I missed because it was after High Rocks, I believe, wasn't it? Yeah. When I started myself, so obviously week after High Rocks, I loaded the plan and I think I had just remember it was like a 16k in that tempo run, and I just was in a lot of pain after Glasgow High Rocks, body was in bits, so the first two runs were the week after that that I missed, and then I was sort of flying for a good bit, and then when my back went, I think it was just three weeks that I missed, and that was about 10 runs that I missed, so 12 in total, which is a good bit, but nothing crazy. I did give myself a bit of a fright when I looked at the spreadsheet when I got my first run in, after my back injury, and I was like, jeez, that's 10 runs that I've missed on the bounce there, but I think it was like a 5k, 7k, and then we went for a half marathon just to kind of see, because we didn't have long, once we ticked the marathon box, I was giving about 18k, I was like, right, okay, we're good to go here. Yeah, that was quite a big chunk that was missing. I was getting a wee bit worried at points, because obviously you went from maybe running 12k maximum at the start of the year, and even at that point saying, right, we're going to do a marathon at the end of May, that's quite challenging, ticking every single box, so despite the fact then when you got injured, I was a wee bit concerned, I was a wee bit worried for the marathon, just because when we do the plans and the running plans, I do probably factor in 10% of the runs potentially being missed, just due to people's life's work, maybe a wee niggles here and there, but you probably missed well more than that, so it's like a wee bit concerned, but on the day, mate, I was absolutely buzzing with it, to be honest. There was not a single bit where I thought, you're going to struggle here and you're not going to do it, which I was very, very impressed with, considering how training was really quite badly affected in that three-week period especially. Were you a bit nervous prior to the marathon, mate? Did you feel all right? No, I was definitely nervous, mate. I think I always knew I was going to finish it. My training was really good and I felt I had a good pace, but because the initial goal was sub 3.45, the goal course changed to sub 4, and I'm glad we changed that, because having a crash and burn, I think if we tried to push for 3.45 and manoeuvre straight away, because we tried to stick to the 3.45 pace a few times, it was just not going to happen. Obviously, a few other folks have done it, and everyone has a goal time in mind. You do put more pressure on yourself, and I kept on thinking, the days leading up to it, I was like, I'm going to be absolutely fuming if I don't hit this sub 4. At the same time, I was like, it's your first marathon. I did have a wee mindset change, but to even miss it by five, ten, two minutes, you're still doing your first marathon. Once I got that in my head, I was like, you know what, there's a good squad here, there's five of us doing it in total, just go out and enjoy it. I think that mindset definitely helped. I'll be honest, I wasn't still going for the sub 4, and I would have been disappointed if I missed it, but it was unreal. To just get in the atmosphere in the day, obviously, we got there with Gordie, Chris, and we went down and got a wee coffee and stuff with David Moran as well. Just the whole day, it was fantastic. It definitely helps when you're doing it in a big group. The train runs before it, getting up at five, six in the morning, meeting folk, and there's two, three years, you've done a half-marathon or further by seven in the morning. It's absolutely brilliant. The actual day itself, all bar the weather, was pretty perfect. I probably loved every single minute of it until 32k, and then you're in a world of pain, like you said. The race only starts when there's 10k to go, but it will definitely not be my last marathon anyway. The weather was horrible, but getting started, and after the first five, 10k, we were really settling the pace. It was timed perfectly, mate. I was expecting, as we were going, I kept looking at you, mate. I was expecting you to be like, well, I'm starting to die here, but even the last 10k, you put your headphones in, but I was continuously looking at you, making sure it's okay. You looked worse at that other half-marathon, mate. That other half-marathon looked like more of a struggle than that marathon. I looked and went, he's going to struggle a bit over the line here. We came in at the 357, but even that last 10k, obviously, you could tell it was a hard effort, but you still looked strong. You didn't look like, I'm about to die here. As you see, some people in the last 10k of a marathon walking, stopping, struggling. That was a really great effort, considering how quickly you'd moved up to the marathon level, and just with the training impact as well. I think it's just mindset, though, because for anyone who's not familiar with the Edinburgh look, I think when you get to mile 10, you start to go out towards the sticks. It's like a wee thermometer. You run away from yourself, do a wee semi-circle out at a forestry, and then you come back on yourself, but the full way out, it's a very, very gradual decline. I became aware of that at one point, and I was like, oh, it'll only be a mile or two down the road, because I was like, we need to come back up this look. It is quite a flat course Edinburgh, obviously, but just going out the few miles, and like, oh, this is going to be a wee straight incline coming back. I'm pretty sure it lasted four or five miles. In the full time, I was like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold this pace coming back, but I got to a point at the very bottom of that decline, and we've turned and come back to where I was like, I'm not missing this sub-four just because of a tiny wee hill. I was kind of building up, but once you get in amongst it, and the atmosphere is great, and then we pass Scotland, Christian Alley, and everyone's smiling and good to go, you just dig deep and you find a way. It's funny how a half marathon eight weeks prior to that felt harder. I think it was five days ago that I had a marathon, and I was really digging deep. I don't want to get any point in the marathon, because I think I'm in trouble here, but I know that we're on for it, and we're going to get sub-four. It's funny how, if you just stick to the plans, it works. I'm a prime example as well. I didn't really have much running background in January, and you start to have a solid running block in your sub-four. You just need to trust the process, and you'll be fine. Yeah, definitely. I was absolutely delighted with it. Like you say, it was a great day. The weather was not great. The only thing I would say, when we've done Edinburgh marathons, it's a bit of a nightmare at the end of it. It was chaos. I had good ideas in my head, because we had—Lauren was doing the half marathon earlier on, and then we had yourself, Dave Morling, Chris, Scotty, Ali, and I was hoping to just meet everybody afterwards, get a few pictures, chat to people, but it was just chaos. It was really hard to meet anybody. The rain was downpouring, but it was good, nonetheless, to turn up there in a group, and everybody was pushing each other on. Everyone got great results. Another thing you mentioned there on goals. I know goals can put a bit of pressure on you, but it can also force you to push harder than you did. I was speaking to Chris Martin on this, as well. We said, after the back injury, let's just try and complete it. We'll just plod along. We could have potentially just done that and done it in 4.15, something like that, 4.20, and you would have been like, yes, I've picked up my first marathon, but what we said was, let's just still try and go for sub-4. We'll still try and go for it, and we got that. Others—Chris Martin, for instance, you might remember him saying, like, we'd set a goal of initially 3.45. After training, we thought, you know what? I think you could do quicker than that. We changed it to 3.30, which is obviously a push goal. I think goals are at 3.31, and Chris Martin's at 3.32. They've just missed the 3.30 goal, so that can initially be a disappointment, but then at the same time, you're like, no, you're 12, 13, 14 minutes ahead of the 3.45 initial goal. If we just kept the goal at 3.45, the likelihood is you would have paced yourself at 3.45 and got that, but you might have got 3.43 when you were capable of a 3.31 or a 3.32. When it comes to goals, just missing out on your goal isn't a bad thing. It actually means that the goal's been right, because if you're smashing the goal every single time easily, it's not a challenging enough goal. It's just to remember that, guys. Obviously, it's a bit of pressure. A bit of pressure can be good, but don't get yourself feeling sick and nervous and too worried about the goal. I've set big goals, I've missed them. It means you're pushing yourself forward, and you're going to get further than you did if you don't set them. Brilliant day, brilliant effort, mate. I was delighted to see you get through that. Since then, mate, back has been okay. How's things feeling? Back's been brilliant, mate. Touch wood. Christmas, but I've got to go train now, so I don't want to drink myself up. Obviously, we had a niche for Sarah, who qualified for all championships. I know that's going to be a topic that's coming up soon, so I won't say too much on that. The week after was just recovery. I wasn't too bad, to be fair. I had a few days to get back on my feet, and then we had a niche there. I've just been doing what I can in between, and we've got a good, clear run for the next few weeks prior to the big thing, which is the Glasgow techie and high rock. I'm just trying to keep the discipline and motivation high just now, keep the mileage high, and just take the boxes and keep plugging away. Touch wood, but I have zero issues at the back. Hopefully, there's a few folk nursing injuries just now. A lot of the boys are doing the ultra, obviously, and there are a few half-marathons and marathons cropping up in the next few months as well. It's just practising what you preach. We've talked about loads on podcast, but you just need to look after the small things that are going to allow you to get to the gym. The last thing you want to do is wake up in the morning and do 10-minute stretching before bed when you've had a full day working, but it's just remembering how it feels when you can't train and when you're injured. If you do these small things now, it's just going to hopefully prevent that. You can't totally avoid injuries, but you can definitely do things to try and avoid them completely. We're doing well now, mate. Brilliant. It's good to see everybody inside the programme as well taking on this advice. Soul Streets the other night focused on recovery. It was chock-a-block busy. Flex and Flow Yoga selling out every single time—well, not selling out, but it's all getting fully booked up within minutes of me putting out the calendar. People are getting involved in it and doing that, which is great. In terms of next focuses, Raymond's going on to Glasgow Great Scottish Run, but we're going to focus on a fast 10k. Raymond's spent the first half of the year building up the base, getting to a good distance he's in there, getting to that marathon mark. Now he's built up that big engine there of endurance. We can now tweak that and it's going to be more about speed now, like how fast can we get, and that's what's going to lead into the High Rocks season starting off. Raymond's starting at the end of October in Birmingham, but planning another good few races over the season. That's why Raymond's going for a fast 10k into High Rocks. I'm going to be similar. I've got the ultra marathon four weeks on Saturday, running the blades. A good few of the guys are doing that as well. My mileage is still being very high at the moment, but I'll be doing the Great Scottish Run 10k as well, alongside Raymond, just trying to get a really, really fast 10k. I'm very, very excited for that. Stay tuned for more announcements around the Great Scottish Run. I think I counted about 75% of you on the programme are doing either the 10k or the half marathon, so it's going to be a massive, massive day. I'm going to announce a wee bit about it in the next couple of weeks as well. There will be a few more people coming on board just specifically for the Great Scottish Run. It's going to be a great day and I'm really, really looking forward to that. I'm just very, very excited for training for the second half of the year. It's been a good first half of the year with big achievements from inside the programme and yourself, Raymond, as well. It's going to be an even bigger second half of the year. I know what you're saying. There's so much to look forward to. We've talked to a few folk in High Rocks running tracks and stuff, so it's so much easier when it's team handed. When we go down to Birmingham, there's going to be six folk competing, probably more than that. We're trying to get a few folk on board and a friendly family coming down, so it's so much easier when there's a group again. We'll be shouting a brunnel on over the course of the weekend as well. It's going to be a great Scottish run. I can't wait for that, it'll be brilliant. Yeah, no, that is over in July, August, heading into that. It's the perfect time to get the running shoes on and really push hard for a few weeks with longer days and hopefully a bit of better weather and stuff like that, so I'm really, really looking forward to that. Update from both of us, both injury free at the moment, which is probably the first time in a couple of podcasts that we've done. Feeling good, things are going really, really well. Training-wise, there's a lot more still to come. Mate, anything else that you wanted to add in today? No, all good. Looking forward to smashing the second half of the year, mate. Everyone's smashing it and it's motivation for us as well. I was messaging David King the other day. We've been getting up at four or five in the morning to keep training, the first thing, and even having this kind of deload phase, it makes us feel lazier now. Obviously, I'm not training for the ultra or running the blades, and yous are all up at four or five in the morning, so we know it's important. That's why it's a good community, everyone pushing each other just to keep their head down and keep working, mate. Yeah, definitely. That's why we consistently share wins and people's progress. It's inspiration, it's inspiring, being part of the team, and me and Raymond aren't exempt from that. Although we are the coaches, we are trying to lead from the front, we still get inspiration off you guys as well. Let's keep it going. Let's all tick off our June goals. If anyone's struggling with regards to the June goal, reach out. There's still time for us to tweak things and make sure we can still get to it. Looking forward to catching up. Any questions, any feedback off the back of this podcast, give us a shout, and we'll speak to you soon. Good, mate. Cheers.