The returning runner…
Act 54 – Guest blog by Paul Forbes (World Champion, World Record holder)
Early Days
I grew up in an age where activity was second nature. It seems to me that the streets were always full of kids playing, fighting, picking teams for a game, running or cycling. There wasn’t a game we couldn’t master, we had golfers, footballers, tennis players you name it. All of us subliminally honing hand to eye co-ordination, spatial awareness and developing a natural aerobic base the best coaches would be hard pushed to replicate. Our formal access to sport was at school in the form of our Phys Ed department, with the core sports of football, rugby, field hockey etc taking precedence over the less popular pursuits. Anything outside the box, while applauded, made you a bit odd. I can only remember 1 or 2 other guys that ran so we were oddities. I was a pretty good all-rounder and was very rarely left on the sidelines when team sides were picked. We grew up quickly and with attitude, we needed it. Sink or swim wasn’t an idiom at our end of the street, they bloody meant it.
An introduction
In the autumn of 1969 (12yo), I went with some mates to a running track not too far away. When we arrived, the coach was about to start a race and I asked if I could join in. I lined up with some seasoned lads who were wearing spikes, club vest, shorts etc and was told to take it easy, just run twice round the track and follow the lads. I didn’t follow anybody; I went straight to the front and stayed there. When I left the track that night, I was the newest member of Edinburgh Athletic Club. Some 55 years on I’m now an Honorary Life member.
After a few months training, I won the district Junior Boys XC title and I was hooked. Over the next couple of years, I didn’t excel much. I was a decent XC and RR but I really only ran consistently in the autumn and winter months, track didn’t interest me much, I was too slow to make any impact in a race and usually languished at the rear. This all changed when I started training at the Meadowbank track in Edinburgh and coach Walker had us running reps, hills, steady runs AND ,more importantly, track racing. I took to it like a duck to water.
I began winning Scottish School titles over the 2k steeplechase and 800 flat, my RR took on a new importance, and I was competing with the seniors over 5k and the shorter road distances.
By the age of 17 I was racing at senior level over the 800 (1.53ish 800). My 18th year was seminal. In the course of that year I made the Junior World XC team, picked up 2nd over 800 at Junior National level indoors, ran my first 3k Chase (steeplechase) in 9.08, took 2nd at the Senior national chase in 9.10, ran at GB junior level and finished the year with a 1.50 flat 800. I was on my way.
In 1976 I ran a 1.48 800 in the early season and picked up my first senior GB vest versus the USSR in Ukraine. (I ran like a donkey!) Over the next 10 years I gained another 9 GB vests (23 Scottish vests) and ran some decent races. I was never a podium finisher at a major champs but I had a decent career, travelled the world and had a blast.
In 1986 I was over the hill, less than 20 years of running and I hung up my spikes. I escaped physically intact, and my baggage consisted of some disappointing races, poor decisions and some flashbacks where ‘I wish I had done this or that’. But I get to sleep ok.
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Another go at it.
After nearly 30 years out, I was encouraged by my wife, Kim, to take up park running. So, I did. I was 58, overweight, out of shape and I seriously wondered what on earth I was thinking about. I’d never considered Masters running, these guys were way ahead of me. However, I did consider trying to catch that guy 10 seconds ahead of me in the park run-and so it began. The next 2 years were fraught with injury and frustration. I should point out, none of the injuries were at all sexy. Simple things like soleus or quad strain, knee or IT band, Achilles niggle and so on. Not enough to stop me but, man, over a period of years it drains you, I was all for throwing in the towel. I’m not going to go through a litany of injuries and how to cure them, I couldn’t, I don’t have that knowledge. Suffice to say, when I eventually got it together, I had had a year of consistent basic training and started to train like a 60-year-old-not a 16-year-old!
I was never seriously injured at any point in my career, whether that’s down to luck or clever care and maintenance I’m not sure. So, no horror stories of career threatening injury or wonderful recovery. A hamstring problem in Edinburgh is likely to need the same treatment as a hamstring injury in New York.
If treatments for most injuries are the same the world over, what differs might be individual approach to being out of the loop. Many people, me included, are incredulous that they’re injured at all and press on in the deluded hope that an injury isn’t as serious as it seems and will clear up in a few days. It won’t. This year (in May) I took ownership of an innocuous hamstring cramp which morphed into a full-blown tendinopathy. I must have known it was coming as I had put a recovery plan in place which helped me to stay confident about my prospects, preserve my sanity and look forward to a planned return to running around mid-October. The plan doesn’t have a magic sauce or anything revelatory about it. It’s about being in control, working within your re-hab parameters, maintaining motivational focus and remaining resilient throughout the process of recovering.
None of this is profound, medically proven, psychologically confirmed or otherwise endorsed as a sure thing. But it beats sitting in the garden howling at the moon.
Ooyah🤔!
First off , stop running! This is the start of self-determination that you will drive the recovery process. Accepting the fact that you are injured will influence confirmation bias in your psyche in regard to the decision to stop running as a positive move. Moreover, you will have initiated the motivational momentum toward your recovery.
Get an appointment for a professional diagnosis. You have to know what you’re dealing with. Don’t listen to your best pal or someone down the club-they’re not you. While 2 hamstring injuries will have similarities our unique traits as homo-sapiens distinguish us from each other. You need your own check-up, not your best pals opinion.
Listen and follow the advice your given, you’re paying for it, why would you ignore it!?
Construct a framework for the re-hab required (similar to putting together a training schedule). The framework should include a timeframe which will help you to monitor your progress. Using a timeframe will also help you to avoid taking short-cuts back to fitness. It’s not uncommon to think that you’re getting ahead of the curve but it’s usually short lived and a sure way to extend your longed-for return to competition. Also using the framework, you can map your progress visually (like your training diary) which gives your motivation a shot in the arm.
Maintain your usual routine. It’s important to stay in touch with training squads, coaches and partners. Training regularly has the attribute of aiding mental clarity, that clarity helps you to think positively and progressively. Just because you’re out of the running doesn’t mean you should be out of touch. Get to the track and do your re-hab when you usually train. Monitor some sessions, hold a watch, go to local races and support friends, do some officiating, stay engaged with the process!
Use some of your free time for reflection of where you are, where you’re going and how you’re getting there. Make plans and aspire to recover fully. Do a bit of reading, find out more about your injury, understanding more about it will help with your re-hab. I often go over old training diaries looking for areas that I can make improvements to, or I compare sessions I used building up to a championship race. Anything on a positive note will help with the resilience required to keep you motivated while you’re recovering.
I hope that some of the above is useful to anyone on the recovery path. Being injured is frustrating but, like your training, work out a plan and set a realistic target for recovery. The framework will help to keep you motivated and focused; it’s easily adapted to fit individual circumstances and highly flexible. Undoubtedly, it’s not perfect but then neither am I.
Probably the most difficult part of recovering from injury is maintaining the resilience required to focus on your motivation to recover. Or, maybe it’s maintaining the motivation to remain resilient enough to focus on the challenge of recovering. Although separate stimuli, these two can only work together and taken in isolation are abjectly futile, they complement and need each other to be effective. In terms of using both to affect recovery you need to know the difference between the two. Motivation is the focus or drive to reach an outcome (in this case recovery) while resilience is the ability to cope with and handle setbacks or adversity. It’s easy to be upbeat and buoyant at the start of a new challenge, a few weeks or months down and the line the novelty can wear off, reality sets in and it can all become a chore. Motivation wanes and resilience starts to fade, the end of the tunnel looks pretty bloody far away. YOU need to give yourself a shake.
I’m reminded of this from Ernest Hemmingway- slowly we realise that resilience isn’t always about grand acts of bravery: sometimes it’s just a whisper- “keep going”.
As Dickens’s Mr Mcawber cried ; “Ride on! Ride on over all obstacles and win the race!”
Coming back into the sport after an almost 30-year break, would prove difficult. Without training partners, it would be even harder.
Of course, things had changed. I was 30 years older, 2 stone heavier (28 lbs), I couldn’t touch my toes (I still can’t) and I had no-one to train with. I never regarded any of these as a particular problem and I set about building a small but like-minded training group. Each of us bringing something to the party in terms of our physical strengths, mental fortitude, technical nous and downright running ability.
The group has been fairly consistent over the last past three years, and I’ve been fortunate to have had the same training partners. We share the same solid work ethic, growth mindset and intuitive drive which is required to get the best out of our sessions and races. Although I don’t coach them, per se, I do have a strong input when it comes to track work and advice. Being involved in another’s training is a big responsibility and I take it seriously. With so many methods, structures, approaches, theories, systems of training around, you could easily get snowed under, so I keep it simple. As a coaching philosophy, I regard myself more as a facilitator or mentor. I set goals and targets with the input of the team; they engage in the decision-making process and learn from this. Motivation is intrinsic and is encouraged by the progressive make-up of the work, engendering confidence, innovation, resourcefulness and commitment. This is a holistic approach to the “coaching philosophy” but separate from the more important “training philosophy”.
A training philosophy is the area of specifics, the what, the why, the how, the melting pot of experimental adaptation that precedes the next training block. What goes into this isn’t what’s going to come out! I keep my work as simple as possible and on any given year I use this wee equation:
- DISTANCE-PACE-RECOVERY
- CONSISTENCY
What you put into it though should be specific to achieving your goal. Our work-outs at this time of year(Nov 25) are along the following lines:
· 4x600-5min recovery
· 8x300-2min recovery
· 1x5k-Tempo
· Roadwork, hills, trails, rest/recovery as needed
In order to continue to progress, I challenge what I already know and aim to optimise both the single session and the overall development of the training process. I gather evidence-based information for making training adjustments both ad hoc and longer term. It would be easy (I’m sure it would be interesting too) to quote sessions, times, recoveries etc that we use, particularly at this time of year, but it’s not happening. You’d be surprised at the number of people who would try to replicate the work and end up hurting themselves. It happened recently where 1 session, just 1, was picked up by an athlete (not of our group) and attempted. It was a very quick session which we’d been working on for a month. It didn’t end well. Sometimes you just can’t tell people.
Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction (JFK).
I haven’t run much at all since the world champs in Gothenburg in 2024. Constant niggles came and went followed pretty quickly by coughs, viruses, bugs and generally a period of ill health. I never raced at all indoors this year and had 2 attempts at 400 (both in the 62sec region) but that was it. Quite possibly my body just giving me a wee heads up to take it easy for a while, I’ll listen.
Looking back over the last few years and you’ll see world records and world titles, more than one or two stand-out moments. I don’t sit at night and revel in past successes or wallow in defeats. I fact I get more of a buzz when Graeme Gemmell, John Thompson or Laura Haggarty turn in a good performance. One of the best races I ran recently was my first defeat to Laura over 1500. Although I headed her into the home straight, she blew past me and headed me by over a second at the end. It was my best race that year (24) by far. Best races don’t mean best performances. I know that John T would rather run 100% in last place than run 90% in second. When GG and Laura step off a track I know there’s nothing left in the tank.
Here’s something that stands out for me and it’s to do with the prep for the Euro champs in Pescara, Italy in 2023. Coming off the World indoors in Torun I was in tremendous shape. I’d had a consistent winter with little interruption to training and was looking forward to putting together training programmes for the group. In between the hard work I hoped to race at least twice in a month with little or no taper. As it turned out, I raced more and trained less!
July 8th-Masters 1500, 4.47.1
July 17th -Burntisland Highland Games-800, Laura 3rd, GG 5th me 6th
July 18th-Inverary Highland Games-800,GG 1st, me 4th
July 28th-Scotstoun 1500, 4.39.15
July 29th-Livvi park-run 5K 21.30
July 30th-Grangemouth 800,2.15.76
August 6th-Nuneaton 1500 , 4.50 (3 hrs) 800-2.21
August 8th-Linwood ,800 ,2.17.46
August 19th-Belfast, 800, 2.15.99 (2 hrs) 400-62
August 26th-Stirling, Monument Mile,5.08(UK M65 record)
Sept 23rd-European champs 1500-4.44.40
Sept 29th-European champs 800-2.13.74
In between these races I only ran short sharp track or easy steady runs. When I got to Pescara I was flying. That season is the most outstanding I’ve ever had, bar none. When people ask me about my best races I struggle to come up with anything definitive. Ask me about my best season – that’s easy!
Photo: Paul with training partners and fellow Great Britain masters stars (from left: Laura Haggerty, Paul Forbes, Graeme Gemmell, John Thompson)