The challenge, which was a charity running and walking marathon, saw over 530 participants sign up for the event with the option to run or walk either 13 or 26 miles. Although this was my 15th Marathon length event it was my first trail marathon or indeed my first trail event and after hearing stories of trail events from my fellow club runners I was concerned I may get lost on route.

As we started from outside a foggy Lincoln Cathedral it was clear that a lot of participants were out to enjoy the views rather than see it as a competitive race. As I found a few people who were running a similar pace to me I was able to enjoy the lovely warm autumn day and the spectacular flat countryside. By utilising the event as my final long challenging training run I was able to not risk pushing myself too hard by getting caught up with the faster pace of a larger event.

Whilst I ran solely in my running gear and carrying a drinks bottle some people did concern me on the start line with their camelbaks, and ruck sacks with spare clothes and first aid kits but I was assured the course was well signposted and marshalled and I don’t need to carry a map. I now know that carrying a map or directions on a trail race is a good idea.

As the Arts and Heritage Trail is an established route following public footpaths and bridleways allowing followers to see beautiful artworks and church architecture along the way as well as taking in a variety of Lincolnshire villages and countryside, at lot of the route is well signposted. I also imagine that if you are walking you have a chance to consult a map at junctions were the signs are not so clear. Unfortunately we got lost a couple of times, once accidentally cutting off a corner and the second time due to the farmer ploughing his field on Saturday afternoon. What has been an obvious pathway had become a ploughed field and a steady stream of runners followed each other round the edge towards the church on a main road. Only when we found there were no more signposts did we end up having to knock on the door of a local house to discover which village we were in and how far away from the next checkpoint we were. This detour more than made up for the first short cut and we ended up running nearly 27 miles in total but it added to the novelty of the event.

In spite of this I came third lady home and was welcomed home by a good crowd of supporters at the finish, T shirt, certificate, and a free massage by local professional sports therapists. Along with the great camaraderie between all the runners and fellow walkers you pass on route I recommend taking part in it next year in training for a winter marathon and will certainly be looking for more trail events as part of my marathon preparations next year.

As I contemplated my weakness, I wondered what motivates us to participate in sport and carry on training in such conditions. There are many reasons people take up sports:

• Helping to lose weight
• Wanting to improve fitness
• Participating in a social activity
• Fulfilling a challenge to raise money for charity
• Completing an event in memory of a loved one.

Most of these factors are intrinsic motivators. Motivation to doing something because we want to for fun or pleasure, or the satisfaction we get mastering a skill or achieving a goal. But once the challenge has been completed, the weight lost and the fitness gained, to continue being intrinsically motivated we have to keep setting and achieving goals to obtain a sense of fulfilment. Aside from simple self enhancement what else continues to motivate us in sport?

Freud believed that the motivation to participate in sport was a natural need to express male sexuality. Another psychologist, Rogers, believed that rather than sexual impulses motivating us to play sport it’s the need for love, acceptance and respect from others. As well as seeking extrinsic incentives such as social approval and fame, other external factors providing motivation include materialistic rewards such as winning trophies, or life changes through financial gains.

Whilst these may be extrinsic motivation for elite sports people to push themselves harder in training and competition. There must be some other factor that doesn’t let us average athletes give up. We may enjoy the social aspect of our sport, yet we also happily train alone. Whilst our performance may occasionally make up the numbers in our clubs road race team, we generally rarely make an impact in the results of a race nor receive praise and admiration from our peers.  

Can there be other motivations for us to participate in our chosen sport and to carry on training? Often there is a psychological effect from sport as the brain releases pleasurable chemicals during continuous strenuous exercise. This ’runners high’ associated with the release of endorphins, is also thought to be contributed to by other chemicals such as adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. 

Perhaps this is my motivation to keep training – the runners high I experience during a marathon. But maybe if I also craved social admiration I would be motivated to push myself even harder. Or simply I could imagine the extra bar of chocolate I can consume guilt free if I run an extra 5 miles.  Next time it rains and I choose to go for a run, I’ll have to think harder about just what is my motivation.

Will Wimbledon 2009 be a repeat of last years US Open final with Murray and Federer?

It’s Wimbledon fortnight, the unofficial start of the UK summer. There is real hope this year that through Andy Murray, the world number 3, the UK may get a home Wimbledon champion, the first since Fred Perry in 1936. Unfortunately for tennis fans reigning champion and world number one Rafael Nadal had to withdraw last week with a knee injury. With Nadal unable to defend his crown this year it gives the opportunity for Roger Federer to once again be the world number one. Fans will be looking forward to a final featuring both Murray and Federer and with so much for both men to play for, hopefully a final less one sided than the US open final last year that Federer dominated to win.

Professional tennis has recently begun to allow players to challenge the umpire’s calls by utilising a computer system called Hawk-eye. Hawk-eye visually tracks the path of the ball and displays a record of its actual path as a graphic image. The US Open in 2006 was the first Grand Slam tournament to use Hawk-eye allowing players to challenge line calls. As long as the player continues to challenge incorrect umpire calls, the player is allowed to continue making challenges.

Research recently published in the journal Current Biology, investigated how the position the moving tennis ball is perceived to have bounced depends on the direction the ball is travelling in. A perceptual error is often made by professional tennis umpires, which players could exploit to their advantage, with successful challenges having significant effects on the outcome of matches.

There are commonly two types of errors made by tennis umpires:

• ‘Predicted errors’ are those in which the umpire judges incorrectly that the ball’s bounce position was further forward in the direction of the balls travel. These errors are commonly when a ball bounces on the line and so in play, yet is called out.
• ‘Unpredicted errors’ are those incorrect judgements that the tennis ball moved in a direction opposite of the balls motion, these errors are often when a ball bouncing out of play is called in.

To measure whether umpires accurately perceive the position at which a tennis ball bounces, the researchers from the University of California randomly reviewed 4457 points from random 57 matches played during Wimbledon 2007. They reviewed and recorded each case in which a tennis ball landed close to or on a line. Of 83 erroneous calls 70 were classified as predicted errors by the researchers and only 13 were unpredicted. Of 85 players challenges that were called 25 calls were overturned, a umpire error rate of around 30%.  The researchers also looked at Wimbledon 2008 matches and found that of all the players’ challenges that got over turned, 69% were predicted errors.

Whilst players are likely to have the same misperception that the umpires have, they are likely to challenge too few predicted errors. The author Dr David Whitney, suggests that players should maximise their challenges because the referee error rate is high amongst close calls. But also players should predominantly challenge calls consistent with perceptual error for example they should concentrate their challenges on balls that are called ‘out’.

The skill of challenging umpire’s calls is now an essential part of the professional tennis game.  It  would be assumed  that both umpires and players are aware of research such as this but it will be interesting to watch this year’s Wimbledon to see if umpires still have a bias towards predicted errors, or with all the pressures and emotion on court if players restrain themselves to only challenge calls of ‘out’.

I have lost ¼ inch on each bicep and half an inch across my chest, 1/2 inch at my waist and 3/4 inch across my navel. There were no changes around my hips, bum and lower legs although each thigh lost almost 1.5inches.

My knee still gives me some pain and I’m still doing exercise to strengthen the muscles in my legs with the high reps obviously helping to tone my thighs. I’ve started running a few times a week, so far only 3-4 miles and at marathon pace, so not too fast. My physio says that it is important I don’t tire my legs while they are weak as I may develop poor technique running over longer distances leading to more problems later on.

I’m quite satisfied with my results I have achieved with little effort and I haven’t noticed the missing sugar from my coffee, nor do I really need a second chocolate bar in the evening. Over the next few weeks I’m looking to increase my running and other cardiovascular exercise and hope fully lose some inches from my hips. I’ll let you know how I get on.

I chose 9 points to measure on my body which I’ve shown on my photos. Point A is at my biceps and point B across my chest. I’m never sure exactly where to measure for hips and waist so I’m going to measure at the thinnest part of my waist (D), level with my navel (C), across hip bone (E) and widest part of my bum (F). The final points are the widest part of my thighs (G), above my knees (H) and across my calves (J).

I’m also interested in measuring my improvement in fitness not just changes in weight and body inches, so I am also measuring my resting heart rate.

• A Bicep 11 1/4 inches (L) 11 1/4 inches (R)
• B Chest 36 1/2 inches
• C Navel 31 inches
• D Waist 28 3/4 inches
• E Hips 35 1/4 inches
• F Bum 39 inches
• G Thigh 23 3/4 inches (L) 23 3/4 inches (R)
• H Knee 19 inches (L) 19 inches (R)
• J Calf 15 inches (L) 15 1/4 inches (R)
• Weight 9 St 10lb (136lbs)
• Height 5 ft 2
• Body Mass Index (BMI) 24.9
• Resting Heart Rate 63 beats per minute (BPM)

Looking at these measurements I’m a bit concerned that my BMI is so close to being overweight and my waist and bum definitely could lose some inches. But my priority is to concentrate with strengthening my right leg so I can move on to more intensive cardiovascular and endurance training.

Hopefully we’ll see some changes in these numbers next  few weeks.