Defiance in the face of science

SCIENTIFICALLY it can’t be done – but then didn’t they first say that about putting a man on the moon; splitting the atom and enhancing breasts with silicone?
According to science I am unable to complete my first challenge in the time I have set myself.
Running 13.1 miles in under two hours may be a doddle for some seasoned runners, but for me the science states the facts and right now I’m simply not fit enough to achieve it.
At my final pre-race medical with exercise physiologist George Wilson on Tuesday the facts brought home a heavy truth.
Yes, I had lost the best part of 10lbs; yes, I am certainly fitter than I was four weeks ago and I have cut my body fat percentage down to 16% – but I’m still not quite fit enough to make 13.1 miles in under 120 minutes.
Now, 128 minutes, that’s a different matter and that is exactly what my body says I am capable of.
After going through a rigorous treadmill test, where I gave a blood sample and had my heart rate monitored every two minutes as I steadily increased the speed, George was able to do a full breakdown of my optimum working level.
When your body starts producing too much lactic acid ( four millimoles) the muscles tire and before long the curtains get drawn.
So, the idea with this test was to discover my optimum workrate that operates just under that point and, for me, that is when my heart is pumping at 161bpm.
My body told me that if I keep up a steady pace at that heart rate – around 10km per hour – then I should complete 12.2 miles of Sunday’s Liverpool Half Marathon in exactly two hours.
But that will still leave me with ¾ of a mile to go.
Mission impossible then?
However, all is not lost, and what all the tests and sports science in the world cannot possibly predict is that for the last mile or so I am going to leg it!
Not surprisingly, George doesn’t share my optimism.
“All I can recommend is that you stick to your 161bpm heart rate otherwise you’ll tire so fast that you think you’ve been shot – that’s a promise,” he stated, like a granddad warning a little boy to stay off the train tracks.
“If you stay at your optimum level, and then get on your toes, really empty your locker, in the last mile – when it won’t matter how much lactic acid you’re producing – then you may finish in around two hours and eight minutes.
“But, if I am honest, you’re going to struggle to do it in under two.”
Crestfallen, I need help.
So I’ve roped in a couple of friends to help me achieve the seemingly unachievable.
Liverpool’s leading Olympic track star and Merseyside athlete of the year, Michael Rimmer, says that the big occasion should carry me along, but also warned against starting too quickly.
The Southport track star, Team GB’s number one 800m runner, started too quickly in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Japan last summer, and ended up watching the final from the stands.
He said: “The bigger the occasion the better you will usually run. I know that’s often the case with me. But it gets to you.
“I got carried away with thinking I would have to run faster than I actually did out in Osaka. I’m not a front runner but the adrenaline got to me and I decided to go for it.
“I was confident I could hold it but doing it in front of 50,000 with the Olympic champion running you down is a different matter to doing it in training.
“I was running scared and over the last 200m I was just waiting for them to pass me. With all that nervous energy I tightened up.
“If I had just sat with the pack I’m sure I would have qualified.
“That’s what you have to do. Stay with the pack and then push on in the closing stages and that’s how you will achieve your best time.”
I’ll also have my old mate Jack Walker, who has run the Liverpool Half Marathon twice in the past, including finishing last year’s in under two hours, alongside me and ready to push me over the finish line.
But what I also need is ECHO readers to get behind me as well.
If you’re planning on watching a friend or family member pound the pavement this Sunday then please give me a cheer and help me attempt to prove that anything is possible with a little hard work.