Playing the short game

I love running. I'm not very fast or particularly good at it, but I love running. I hate rest days.
I also have a burning ambition to complete a marathon, something I have yet to achieve despite four half marathons to my name.

This blog was initially to follow my training to run the Ras al Khaimah Half Marathon next month, but now I find myself part of a team representing The National in the relay challenge and will run 5km rather than 21km. Three colleagues will also run 5km (and we will follow their progress on this blog).

Once the face of it I should hate that fact: after all, only three paragraphs ago I stated my love for running then went on to declare a goal of running a full marathon. Now I'm running a quarter of the distance.

But, I'm beginning to change my mind. Being naturally tall and skinny, with long legs, I am suited to distance running but a half marathon takes up far too much training time than I can ever spare. Journalism is not a job that lends itself to regular or social hours, which is why my training here is often in the final minutes of the day after work.

Reducing the distance I run requires training schedules of weeks rather than months. I can run 5km in little over half an hour now, meaning for the next month I will focus on building up speed and strength rather than merely just the ability to keep going for more than two hours.

In training I've nailed half marathons. I can do it in less than two hours on a treadmill (I know this is not that fast for an enthusiastic amateur, but I never said I was any good), but have never managed to get a time below that figure in an actual race.

I did the Abu Dhabi Striders 10K at the end of last year, and had I not indulged in the Baskin Robbins and fizzy pop at the UAE v Manchester City friendly the night before I would have posted a time I would have been proud of. That's the last time my pre-race meal is ice cream rather than pasta.

This time, with just 5km to nail I will tailor my training for speed. Sometimes this means running just 1K, but sprinting the full distance (I did this the other night in less than five minutes). I don't fully understand why this makes you faster, but when upping the distance the next night my pace was naturally quicker.

What does all this mean for my running? Well, one day I aim to complete a marathon. For now, though, the focus is on shorter distances and recording some times I can be proud of.