Natural Born Winners

Over the last few weeks, one of the best things that I have been watching on the television is a series called "Natural Born Winners" on the bbc - if you haven't caught any of them already then I highly recommend that you look the 4 part programme up on the iplayer as it is well worth a watch.

The idea of the show is that they follow 4 ex professional athletes, each of whom have been champions of their own sport, as they attempt to get to grips with new challenges and new sports across the world, as they battle it out to prove themselves the best all round athlete. The four competitors focused on in the series are: GB sprinter Iwan Thomas, ex-Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas, Canadian 100m Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and Former Speedway racer James Toseland.

In the first episode the athletes take on a gruelling 22.5 mile fell race, known as "man vs horse", as 15 minutes after the start of the run, horses are released and the race is on to see if any of the competitors can make it back before them. The second episode sees the men in Turkey competing in a traditional Turk sport of oil wrestling. Third, they head off to India for a martial art battle known as 'Kalari', and finally they end the series with a trip to Japan as they take each other on at 'Yabusame' an ancient Asian sport of horseback archery.

The fascinating thing about this programme is listening to each of the athletes stories of life as champions and adapting to life after professional competition.

Without wanting to ruin the show for anyone, there was a standout performer throughout the process, as James Toseland took to each event like a duck to water, adapting to each one and overcoming all the obstacles laid in front of him. As he stated himself - you have to be a quick learner when you are throwing a bike around corners at 200mph! 

Iwan Thomas was competitive throughout, Gareth Thomas was hindered by his size and phobias, but gave each competition his best shot. Donovan Bailey on the other hand proved something of an enigma. Obviously unfit and overweight, he also struggled to muster any motivation and failed to become competitive, let alone master any of the sports.

Bailey was the fastest man in the world when he won Olympic gold in the 100m in Atlanta 1996, however in the first episode he claimed another - much unwanted - title, the slowest competitor in the history of the "man vs horse" race, slugging over the finish line in an agonising 8 and a half hours!

The final part of the programme proved eye-opening, as the athletes compared their tales of injury, competitiveness, training and desire to be the best. 

Iwan Thomas admitted that he had struggled to accept his career was over and still desperately craved competitive sport. This despite not having ran on a track for some 10 years.

Similarly James Toseland was near tears as he spoke of the "bereavement" at having to retire early from motorbike racing due to serious injury - he had, he admitted, struggled to fill the hole that the adrenaline Motorsport provided him with had left behind. 

In contrast, Gareth Thomas and Donovan Bailey were somewhat of a polar opposite - having spoke of accepting that their own time was over and instead choosing to sit back and enjoy the performances of the next generation. There was, they claimed, no jealousy or need to feel competitive any more.

Which brought a question to me of how I would cope with no longer being competitive in running? I would like to think that running will always be a part of my life, as it has become such a huge part of it over the last 5 years. Hopefully I have a few years of improvement in me, then eventually I will peak, then the performances will begin to tail off. Injuries may play a part, or other aspects of life may take priority - that is life. 

But I bet it must be difficult. To be at the top of your sport, even at a local level, and then admit to yourself that you are no longer capable of the level of performance you strive for. To become a slower runner, to be beaten by people that you know you would have previously have been in front of. I suppose that is why many of the front runners drop off the scene once they have peaked? Whereas some accept it and continue regardless in their veteran categories etc, some fall by the wayside and that must be a shame to the sport.

Whilst I am able to and have the motivation, I aim to make the most of it and improve as much as I can and claim times and race wins wherever possible. Because that is what I enjoy. Fun running to me is winning or running pb's - yes I am a competitive sod sorry!

This week I continued my push to try and race myself back into some form by competing in the Beaverbrooks Blackpool 10k. 

It proved to be the hottest day of the year so far by some distance, as the temperature must have easily hit the mid 20's. That combined with a thin front end of the field reflected in the time that I recorded (not sure, but around 33:20), however I was pleased to claim a comfortable victory and to run almost pain free having struggled with a bad back again in the last week.

Training-wise, despite the back pain I trained fairly well through the week. I did a solo track session on Tuesday, setting myself quite a tough session of a 1 mile tempo (4:55), followed by 8 x 400m 68's off a minute recovery) and 4 x 200m (30 seconds off a 30 second recovery). Then on Thursday I recorded an average pace of 5:43 for my 8 progression run, in comparison to 5:51 the previous week. I think the rest during the previous week did me some good, hopefully I will reap the benefits in the weeks to come.

Total mileage for the week: 65

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 

Total mileage for the month so far (May): 65

Total mileage so far 2016: 1283

Average miles per day 2016: 10.02