ASICS Target 26.2 Team: Lee

Introducing the fourth member of our ASICS Target 26.2 team - Lee (aka Choisty)

With Virgin London Marathon Championship qualification as his goal, Lee will be mentored by Steve Smythe on this thread (starting December 26).

He’ll be posting his training progress and be receiving physio and nutrition advice from the ASICS PRO Team live on this thread so make sure you bookmark this thread to find out how he gets on.

You can read more about Lee's running background and goals by clicking on the article link at the top of the thread.

Good luck Lee!

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 10:54

Well done on getting chosen Choisty and you've got the best person possible to guide you on your way to gaining that Championship Qualification time.
Bon chance mon ami!
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:18

Lee,

Congrats !

Was great meeting you in Birmingham and hope the coaching converts your obvious talent for running into a seriously quick time at Paris.

All the best ...

Graham K

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:19

No string vests now ya hear!

Brilliant news - will look forward to following your progress!  Good luck

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:20

Cheers guys..I have to say I though everyone deserved to get through as Brum was brilliant and that was because of the people, I didn't go to sleep 'til about 1am that night.  I would be keen to meet up again at one of the halves coming up as part of the prize.

I was told to keep quiet but I have been bursting to get on here as I am very very ...very excited!

So here goes for the target of 2:45 championship qualifying time in Paris (stretch target 2:39)

SB - I do have a string running vest!

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:35

Aye ... 02:39 should be the target 

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:40

Well done Lee, could tell you had talent from the Bootcamp. Good luck
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 11:57

Congratulations!, and inspiring target.. Looking forward to catching up with you and the others on Saturday.

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 12:21

Lee - keep smiling as I know you will - good to be lapped several times by you at boot camp, even though we were in different groups!!  Enjoy, enjoy and good luck.
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 12:33

Well done Lee - see you on Saturday!
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 12:42

Glad to see it's you that got through Lee. All the best with it. Will be following your progress keenly
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 12:53

Ah Choisty, well done.  I thought you'd win.  I'm sure it was the dopey smile that did it.
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 12:55

Thank you all it means a lot, and I look forward to seeing people in London, where I'm a bit worried about the health check as since I had the snip I don't liek check my health too closely .

SNHN, it's not just the smile that's dopey!!! as I hope to prove

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 13:22

Stolen from KR's thread but details have been changed to mine!

A bit of a background picture:

Age: 38
Resident: North Hampshire (Kingsclere nr. Basingstoke)
Status: Married
Children: 1 Girl (7) 1 Boy (4)
Pets: 4 Fish
Driving Licence: Clean
Music: Anything but Plastic Pop or Jazz
Food: Roast Dinner
Film: Toy Story
Marathons: 2:54:37 (2006) Qty = 5 + 2 in training last marathon was 2007
20miles: 2:01:13 (2011)
Half: 1:16:06 (2010)
10 miles: 56:53  (2011)
10k: 34:33 (2011)
5 miles: 27:45 (2011)
5k: 16:50 (2010)
3000m S/C: 10:36.4 (2011)
2000m S/C: 6:50.5 (2011)

Total races = 188

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 13:44

Well done Choisty (how did you get that nickname?) and I am glad to see you get roped into steeplechase at Southern League matches but maybe you didn't have to be roped in: your time shows you are somewhat decent at the event.

I am not planning to get anywhere near your time  but I am interested in seeing how you deal with the mental side of it. Even at 2:45, let alone 2:39 (which IMHO is a bridge to far), you are looking to knock 10 minutes or so off you PB. Your half and 10 mile times say it is possible but it is a big leap and not the usual 2 or 3 minutes a year safely safely others do.

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 14:08

Congratulations Lee! Look forward to seeing you on saturday

2:39 is an amazing goal - I hope you get there! x

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 14:44

Fiddy, 

I never need my arm twisting for a spot of chasing, it's where the name Choisty comes form, as Choisty was 50-1 outsider for the national I picked in a sweepstake, it won the virtual national in the indy, then fell at the first in the actually event.

The way I work for goals are main goal, stretch goal and perfect goal...mine this time around is main goal 2:45, stretch goal sub 2:40, perfect goal 2:38.  What that means is I will train for 2:38 and my pace will be based on that so that if on the day things don't quite go to plan I have a little bit in the reserve tank.

Also as I haven't run a marathon for a long time and since then I have taken 7mins off my 10mile time I think there is scope to improve by the required amount.

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 15:27

As a clubmate of Lee I'm really pleased that he has been chosen for this.

We are a tiny club and don't have the coaching staff for Lee's level of performance even though the club is extremely successful.

Hopefully we will all be able to learn from Lee's experience.

However, I could add a few different things to his list of "achievements" .

Hope all goes well.

Piers

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:07

Piers wrote (see)

However, I could add a few different things to his list of "achievements" .

Dish the filth Piers
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:21

Choisty, what sort of mileage do you do a week currently,ie do you keep a diary? Also how do you structure your year, your training and your racing?
Your 2-01 for 20 looks promising for your targets next spring so did you train specifically for it or was it something you just went and did?
I take it you self coach and am trying to get a feel for how you train - is it structured or as you feel or somewhere in the middle?

As someone who aspires to your short distance times I'm simply interested as to how you've got them: by accident or design?
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:23

And the marathons in training you allude to, what are they about?
Sorry for all the questions!
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:25

Well for those hoping to see him in London on Saturday; I woudn't wait, he'll probably end up in South Wales.

His sense of direction is atrocious; he was once running along the North Devon coast and he somehow managed to run the wrong direction!

Piers

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:33

Piers, if you mention the test way there will be no beer tonight!

Matchstick Man wrote (see)

Choisty, what sort of mileage do you do a week currently,ie do you keep a diary? Also how do you structure your year, your training and your racing? Your 2-01 for 20 looks promising for your targets next spring so did you train specifically for it or was it something you just went and did? I take it you self coach and am trying to get a feel for how you train - is it structured or as you feel or somewhere in the middle? As someone who aspires to your short distance times I'm simply interested as to how you've got them: by accident or design?

No worries about the questions. 

• I normally run 40-50mpw but at the moment I'm trying to get a base for the marathon (I was planning on success) so am running about 70mpw.
• I structure my week normally as Mon - tempo run; Tue - Reps; Wed - Longer run; Thu - Club reps; Fri - Run for fun; Sat - Long Run; Sun - Rest.  I have doubled up on Mon and Thu recently
• My 2:01 for 20miles should of been 1:58, I really didn't take it seriously I did it to complete all 12 Hampshire road race league event and win a prize.  I went through 10 in 58:30 and was on the same pace through 16, however I then ran out of energy, I hadn't tapered or taken gels, I just drank water on the day!
• My years is pretty much the same throughout, although in the summer I do run on the track so train shorter (ish), but I don't race in June.
• I used to have a training plan, but now I just short of play it by ear...I can't wait to have a plan and a fully though out goal again that is very exciting for me.  My last one was sub 1hr for 10.
• So I have got here mainly by design but more recently by simply running
• I ran two full marathons in training as my long runs, this helped loads (I ran one in 3:05) as I new I was in shape to break 3hrs so on the start line it wasn't a hope but a belief.

The thing I think helps most with training, racing and running is to smile and enjoy it

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 16:56

• Don't worry Norfolk Reps tonight and I'm your coach of choice this evening as Franny's away.

Won't hurt you too much

 Piers

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 17:54

Congratulations, Lee! I voted for you so I am glad you are one of the lucky winners! Keep on smiling
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 19:17

I voted for you to and glad to see you got through as feel this thread is going to make very interesting reading.
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 20:02

Congratulations Lee! I always enjoy reading the training of the speedier runners. Your usual mileage is relatively low, so assuming you don't break down with the bigger miles I can see plenty of room for improvement. I expect to see you on the Champs start at VLM 2013.
Posted: 15/12/2011 at 20:48

I had a feeling when I met you first thing at Bootcamp that you'd make a great member of the final 5. A great goal to aim for! Well done Lee on making the team and all the very best for Paris. I'll be following the forums and tracking your progress. 

Congratulations and don't forget to take enough change for the car park!

Abi 

Posted: 15/12/2011 at 21:43

Well done mate, well deserved.
Posted: 16/12/2011 at 00:07

Thank you all for your votes and congratulations, I hope to make this interesting reading, one thing is for sure I am likely to go off on a tangent from tiem to time. 

CC2 I have worked up to 90+mpw when marathon training before without injury problems so am hopeful I can again.

Abi, I've decieded to take the train at the weekend so I don't have to faff about in central london in the car

Posted: 16/12/2011 at 08:50

As piers said we did "Norfolk" reps at the club last night, now this session stems from our training week last year when we joined a session of North Norfolk Beach Runners and in true runners style each rep turned into a wee bit of a race.  However the session was a complete mix of differing length and pace of rep and you never new what was coming next, so often it was flat out only to find the rep suddenly extended by 200m.

Last nights session was a series 4 x 2min 30s on a hill, then on to a new area for 3 x 1.2km cruise reps, then 5 x 100m hill sprints with the last being a race between the two groups with the slower paced group having a head start, which they used exceptionally well to win by a street.

Posted: 16/12/2011 at 09:08

Well a beautiful lunchtime run today, 10miles at easy pace watching & hearing the Jays in the trees over head
Posted: 16/12/2011 at 16:42

Followed by mince pies, Hestons once with the pine scented sugar, this was not so good
Posted: 16/12/2011 at 16:44

Another Clubmate of Choisty's....................

Piers is 100% right about Lee's sense of direction and the "Test Way" episode is the classic of his navigational blunders.

All the best with your training Lee, I will have to look at new ways to make you suffer on Thursday nights.

Posted: 16/12/2011 at 18:53

Congratulations Choisty. Good luck for the weeks ahead
Posted: 17/12/2011 at 00:15

Well done Choisty. Really pleased to see a really fast runner in the SSX this year. I'll be peaking through the curtains, following you as a dirty lurker!

Best of luck
Posted: 17/12/2011 at 10:11

Lee, it was a pleasure to met you yesterday . Well done and think we are both going to enjoy the next few months.
Posted: 18/12/2011 at 23:14

Thank you guys what a weekend, so much has happened but overall I am still almost speechless. Saturday started with an early start an on an Icey train journey up I managed to write my Christmas cards. On arrival I met Emma and Alice and had a most welcome coffee before we got into the serious business of hunting trainers. After a 3D footscan and gait analysis and loads of chat I chose the fabulous exel33 they are so smooth and fast I am going to enjoy those! We the got to choose kit and I was like a kit I a sweet shop. All kitted out we then had loads of piccies taken including in the middle of regent street!

To top things off we were given the fantastic garmin 610 which I hope to play with soon. Then it was off to BUPA very hungry.

We were tested for body fat mine is slightly less the usual, muscle slightly more the usual, core strength about average, flexibility way above average. Unfortunately I couldn't complete the tests as my heart had an irregularity which could be a blockage or a sign of increased athletic performance, I will find out next week! I was advised to take it easy until then.

So I decided to race this morning, which was wonderful through the frost, and even better I won individually and we won as a team! Then home quick shower and I got to watch my kids in their gymnastics Christmas show, they were fantastic.

Then home, the ironing and tidying up ready for a visit from relatives, now it is time for a rest!
Posted: 18/12/2011 at 23:16

Choisty wrote (see)

Unfortunately I couldn't complete the tests as my heart had an irregularity which could be a blockage or a sign of increased athletic performance, I will find out next week! I was advised to take it easy until then. So I decided to race this morning, which was wonderful through the frost, and even better I won individually and we won as a team!

Typical runner, told he may have a heart condition (and we all know it is the docs being ultra-cautious) and to take it easy so he races

We need more details than that, what race, what distance, what performance?

Posted: 19/12/2011 at 08:00

I was more worried about the Ironing. Can be a stressful and tiring business, that.

Nice win BTW
Posted: 19/12/2011 at 08:20