Mark Kleanthous and the London Marathon go back a long way. The Leighton Buzzard man ran the very first edition of the race in 1981 – and now, he’ll be back this year as a 65-year-old trying to break the 3:20 mark. If he does so, it’ll be his fastest marathon in 25 years and an extraordinary feat. RW caught up with Mark to find out how he’s managed to stay quick into his 60s – and what advice he has for others looking to do the same.
‘I finished last in the school cross-country race when I was 10. My sports school teacher, who I looked up to at the time, said, “Mark, you’ll never run a marathon.” I felt embarrassed, but somewhere inside me I think it planted a seed: I wanted to prove him wrong.
‘I first heard about the London Marathon in Athletics Weekly. There was no internet back then. To enter it, I had to go the building society, write out a cheque and send it on a self-addressed envelope. I was 20 at the time.
‘I tried joining a few well-known running clubs, but felt rejected, so tried to work it all out myself. I think that I got up to about 10 miles before that first marathon. I was so unprepared. I remember wearing two pairs of socks in a pair of New Balance shoes that were far too big, because someone had told me that that’s what you should do. I was really struggling by the end, but I’d been bitten by the marathon bug.
Supplied by Jungle Cat Solutions
Mark deep in the pain cave during the final miles of his first London Marathon
‘I now run a maximum of five times a week and I have two consecutive rest days a week. I took up triathlon, competing in 40 Ironman-distance triathlons, and still like to replicate that sort of cross-training. The last three years, I’ve also been using a Concept2 rowing machine. When I’m cycling, I make sure that I used a very high cadence to try to replicate my running cadence, while keeping my heart rate low.
‘Sometimes I’ll do, say, a 90-minute long run and then hop straight on the bike and keep going. It’s a way of getting in the volume while reducing the injury risk.
‘I swim a bit, too. You don’t necessarily have to swim fast, but you can skip some breaths. So you might breathe in every fourth or fifth stroke. It’s hypoxic training – you’re building up your lungs. You have to work up to slowly, though, and make sure that you’re not getting light-headed.
‘I don’t stretch and I don’t do intervals. Instead of stretching, I warm up slowly on the run. It always amazes me how fast some people run to warm up for a race. I run slowly, do some strides at race pace, then I’m ready to go. In terms of intervals, marathon runners tend to do them too quickly, then do their long runs too slowly. So there’s hardly anything in their training that replicates the race.
‘I sometimes speak to runners in their 70s, who say that it takes them more than a week to recover from a hard track session. For me, I want to run again tomorrow and the day after, so I prioritise consistency over one-off sessions.
‘Technique is important as well. Back in the 80s, I used to run with someone who told me, “Put pennies in your pocket and try to keep them from rattling around too much.” I’ve since progressed to wearing a Camelbak that’s half full of water and trying to run without it sloshing around excessively.
‘This year, I ran 1:29 at the Cambridge Half Marathon. I won my age category by almost four minutes. And it’s a big race – there are over 14,000 runners. So you start thinking, “What could I do over the marathon?” So I decided to see if I could beat my time from 25 years ago – I’m aiming to run sub-3:20.
‘I’ve run 126 marathons over the years and have only finished slower than four hours on two occasions, both at Beachy Head. My decline has been very gradual and I think that’s because I don’t tend to get injured. I listen to my body. I’m happy to take time off. I’m happy to cross-train.
Supplied by Jungle Cat Solutions
Mark has run more than 100 marathons – and shows no sign of slowing down
‘Lots of people get tapering wrong. The more confident that I am, the less I run during the taper and the better I perform. That means me going out for literally 15 to 20 minutes a few times a week. Too many people run too much during the taper and get to the start line with tired legs.
‘I also take the natural food supplement CurraNZ, which is made from New Zealand blackcurrants. It’s definitely reduced DOMS after workouts. CurraNZ also helps me to maintain pace for longer, which in the latter stages of a marathon is often where time is lost. I tend to take one a day, but I’ll take three on race morning – two a few hours before the race, then one just beforehand.’
Mark is running this year’s London Marathon for Leighton Buzzard Mencap – you can support his fundraising efforts here.
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