London Marathon : just 5 weeks to go

Last week was exhausting and this week both better and worse for different reasons. I've had some reason to pause and reflect. Just how selfish is the pursuit of a marathon or triathlon ? Sarah Morice-Brubaker thinks it's hugely selfish moreover it's a crime against God - really .. (here). She insightfully points out "That some Nazi's used to do distance running." Compelling stuff Sarah. Sadly most of the folk I follow on Twitter are connected in some way to swimming, cycling or running - so there's a lot of us hell-bound. Dear help Lance eh ? This stuff is what I admire and there's an infinity of genuine health reasons to do it. But is 8h a week of tramping over hill and dale simply self-indulgence ? When I think of some of the stuff I'm actually paid to do for 40h per week it hardly seems that way. I could use that time in the community ? I could spend more time interacting with my family ? I could varnish doors and dig gardens. But I choose to run. Seems to me that running (or triathlon) gives me something really precious - a clear clean crisp equation: What I put in I get out. I can't think of practically anything else in life that's like that. Relationships are so vulnerable to interpretation and mis-understanding, communication too often almost random : what you thought you said, what you actually said, what they thought you said and what they thought you meant when they heard what they thought you said. It's too wretchedly complicated. Wheels within wheels ; truth simply a relative concept in the mind of the thinker. Working lives too often a set of compromises and fraught with 17 levels of complexity. Thankfully running is just like a dog - it's simple, it's natural, it has no agenda's, it gets you outdoors, it's got a largely meat diet, you can trust it, it helps you meet really nice people, if you're good to it then it's good to you. A companion for life. Ok maybe there's less licking.

I found this on the subject and the DareToTriLife podcast referred to Ms Samuelson previously (here).
"While a senior at Bowdoin College, Joan Benoit Samuelson won the 1979 Boston Marathon as a virtual unknown and set a record for American women. She won it again in 1983. In 1984, Samuelson won the first ever women's Olympic Marathon. She continues to be a role model and ambassador in distance running and women's athletics. Here are some quotes from this running legend:

• "The challenge and the energy running requires may be a selfish one, but it actually motivates me to be stronger in my relationships."
• "As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are."
• "Those long runs cleanse my system, physically and mentally."
• "Love yourself, for who and what you are; protect your dream and develop your talent to the fullest extent."
• "Keep varying the program. Your body will tell you what to do."
• "Every time I fail, I assume I will be a stronger person for it. I keep on running figuratively and literally, despite a limp that gets more noticeable with each passing season, because for me there has always been a place to go and a terrible urgency to get there."      

Running and Triathon have given and still give me some of the most precious relationships and memories I have. I get older but in some absolute measures I somehow actually get better ! In 5 weeks my family will take a house in London for 4 or 5 days and we'll have the London marathon as a focus - but the real deal is the time we spend together. I took my son to Ironman Canada in 2008 - we had a great time and renewed family friendships that even this year sees my Mum heading back to Vancouver. My sister ran 5k last year in Paris and it's a life-memory for me (and her !) The race is a simply a passport to a lifestyle and training is the price we pay. 8 hours in a 168 per week. Time for context : how much TV does the average UK citizen consume ? According to this : here : US citizens spent (on average !!!) a staggering 34h a week in 2009.  Oh Sarah - there's your next blogpost ! I don't watch sport - I do sport. Not hugely or even vaguely well but well enough to bring balance to my life, to make me think about nutrition and to put me in touch with great people. I think my 8h makes me more of whom I want to be - and gives me more interaction with those I want to interact with. So Sarah - I'm leaving the doors unvarnished and lacing up the trainers - Get Over It - It's Who I Am.

Rant over.....

91k this week (Rest Week - No ! Just kidding). Was a bit preoccupied /demotivated and dropped some distance through the week. There - I confessed. Seem somehow to have clocked up 800k since the campaign began on 1 Nov 2011. The landmarks this week were the Yasso 800's on Weds : these are taking a bit of getting used to and are mentally horrid when you are starting 1 of 6 repeats ; in fact 6 of 6 is not much better actually. It's amazing how long 3min can be. However it's good to get a little speedwork and that makes me think of future triathlons later in the year - so good crossover. These things are supposed to be good predictors of a marathon time - I have no idea but you gotta believe I'd take 2:59.48 right now.

13.1 Miles - Today. 

Today's long run was 22 miles again - but the plan asked the lonely runner to attempt the last 3-4 miles at race pace. This is obviously a new interpretation of "long slow miles". Tried hard to improve my nutrition from last week and really did much better - with very reduced nausea. It was : 2 Miles = water ; 3 miles = Gell ;  6Miles = sports drink ; repeat * 3.5 :  Sadly some sod nicked my water bottle - I think it was a cyclist ! Could you believe that ? Rural Argyll at 10am on Mother's Day and you get your water stolen ! What is the world coming to ?

13.1 Miles - 5 weeks today. Notice it is dark !

So how did I do today ? I would be disingenuous if I didn't say I was pleased. I did surprize myself and actually did the last 6k quite quickly (for me). I don't know what this means but the nutrition was so much better and if "mood is food" then that's probably the main reason. Note : almost certainly you have enough muscle glycogen to finish when you start the race but BLOOD glucose is a different matter - the brain needs pure glucose via the bloodstream - be sure to feed that brain. It was also a beautiful spring-like day (which certainly helps). I'm in new territory here - so lets hope we all stay injury free.

Today was Mother's Day in the UK. We miss Averil's Mum very much and we thank Dylan (and his mystery accomplice) so much for his card. We still managed flowers and gluten-free chocolate cake for Dearly Beloved. To all of you have a great week of training and racing (stolen from Bob Babbit) : here do take care ...

Week 9 of Training. 7 Weeks to Race Day

Sorry it's been some time since I updated the Blog .. you'll see why shortly. But let's explore where we are. Stats : Since 2nd Jan I have "run" 585.9k V a planned distance of 630.9k : I have thus achieved 92.8% of the planned distance and dropped just 4 of 54 workouts. This week was over 90k of running !

Very happy creature in snow.

Last couple of weeks have been a  bit of a washout with fairly stressful and demanding domestic situations. Poor old Tilly (in the snow with Frisbee left) had some serious issues post surgery so both Dearly Beloved and I have had to cope with gently nursing her back.

Unhappy creature in Funnel !

Dearly Beloved also in need of much nursing at the same time - and she's still recovering from the Haunted Ford Kuga episode that Ford eventually fixed (much to their credit outwith the warranty period - many thanks to Greenock Ford for sticking with us). At the time of writing Tilly's making great progress but is so very very bored. She has a protective funnel thing (above)which actually she's been great about. But she's a smart and active dog - who has decided to make a new career out of running up the stairs. I'm using up loads of leave - which is just how it needs to be - and in honesty work have been great about that.

Had a great trip in early Feb to visit Grandson, Son and his Partner. Did the marathoner's trick of starting early and running down the road to met by dearly beloved. Got the timings almost perfect : and it was the longest distance up to that point : 26k ! Probably a bit pungent though - sorry Tom. It was a great lunch.

Also during Feb took the plunge and attempted the British Triathlon Level 1 Coaching Course and (I'm sooooo proud of this) ... on the 1st Sunday of Coaching I did my 23k long run before the tuition began !!! How's that for hard-core ?

That was ....running at 06.38am - IN FEB - IN ARGYLL !

The morning was icy where I live and my A3 was skidding along to Paul Simon's "Slip Sliding Away" blasting on the radio - you couldn't have written the script. Sadly 2 weeks later it was impossible to run the 18 miler before the final Coaching exam so I took the Monday off instead - did that workout just fine but was subsequently attacked by a MAN COLD !

      It's just about at that point that Dearly Beloved asks about my elderberry extract supplement. Of course - they ran out weeks ago. I took these faithfully last year while training for Paris and I swear by them. You should too ..Wikipedia says ...

 A small study published in 2004 showed that 93% of flu patients given elderberry extract were completely symptom-free within two days; those taking a placebo recovered in about six days.^[9][10] A 2009 study found that the H1N1 inhibition activities of the elderberry flavonoids compare favorably to the known anti-influenza activities of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Amantadine.^[11] A 2004 study found that symptoms of influenza A and B virus infections were relieved on average 4 days earlier and use of rescue medication was significantly less in those receiving elderberry extract compared with placebo. The study stated, "Elderberry extract seems to offer an efficient, safe and cost-effective treatment for influenza. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger study".^[12] Elderberries were well known to Native American medicine people, who described the fruit as "strengthening the inner warrior".

Well if anyone needs their "inner warrior" strengthened it's yours truly. Ordered supplies from Revital (here) and they arrived next day. Dropped 3 workouts - missed travelling to Blackpool for the Half-marathon test but was able to support Dearly Beloved with Tilly and that was more important. Feeling back in form and have a spare stash of elderberry if needed.

Loved the Triathlon Course and really hope I pass. The on-line resource was comprehensive & excellent and a lovely lady working for Argyll & Bute Active Schools (Jillian) was able to support the costs through funding. I thus need to repay her by coaching over the summer & am looking forward to doing that. She's a power-house of positivity and is keen to spread the triathlon gospel into local schools. A junior Tri is scheduled for April 2012 in Argyll and I hope to help. The other folks on the course were just fantastic : Will, Babs, Shona, Harry and Martin. They were so impressive and accomplished. Great role models. If you love to run, swim or bike - don't wait - you too can coach. There is so much great stuff on YouTube and the web. Just do it - people need your example.

So what about the training ? OK well now we're over half-way in the plan there's a change - hills might be "out" and "marathon pace" runs might be "in" get a load of this ....

...this is from Friday. Note the 11.8k @ 4.16 pace. Nearly killed me ! But it's in the bank and who knows. The trick would be to do that pace from 30k to finish in the marathon - think I could ? I think you're right. No chance. But I have 7 more weeks to work on it so who knows. You can follow the gory details of todays Long Slow 32.5k run by clicking on "View Details" below ... If you are going to "play" the run I dare you to play this audio at the same time click here then click back on this page to play the run.

What I tried to do was "chuck in" one of these "marathon pace" splits into a 5k zone from 20k-25k. See what happened ...

... it's Split 5 ... and I did manage 4:15 pace. I'm pretty proud of that. The section was flat though - but all the same a 21:16 5k split after 20k is OK. But look at the collapse from 25k-30k ? That's in part due to a steep climb but mostly as I wanted the world to end. It was tough. But the 4:15 wasn't too bad and maybe on race day ? Buoyed by the crowd ? Perhaps that's a pace I could keep in the last 10k ? And that's interesting. It would probably mean a "negative split" race - but that seems unfashionable now. Check out here and Rick Moris writes (here) ...

  

I know that most coaches recommend negative splits in a marathon but I believe that running negative splits in a marathon may be very difficult. A better choice would be even pacing. Negative splitting in a marathon usually does not happen for several reasons. The marathon is performed at a pace that is well within the “comfort zone” of most runners. The pace does not feel hard. It is very difficult to remain patient and keep your pace down for the first 13 to 15 miles of a race. In addition your pace usually slows in the last half of a marathon due to decreased muscle resiliency, hypoglycemia and neuromuscular fatigue. Studies have shown marathon performances are generally better when a runners pace does not vary by more than 2 to 3 percent during a marathon.

So that's just about where we are - I'm too afraid to look at the plan for next week in case it's 22 miles (just did and it is !). At least rest days are now Mondays. Need stretching. Best of luck to Claire who won the Ebay auction for my 310XT - I now have traded up to a 910XT - with every intention of remembering what a triathlon looks like ... You should consider this too - check out the following (incredible) review here and view the item in my Amazon portal. More soon, take care. 

Dare to Tri Affirmations ?

What's your dream ? If you're a triathlete, distance runner, endurance swimmer or cyclist chances are you have a personally important race date in 2012 or 2013 already fixed in your mind. The longer the event distance or the greater your desire to improve means more planning, training and preparation. Dreaming of a cycling century ride, a marathon or Ironman 2 or 3 years distant is the easy part : - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, June 2015. Easy. Even using the Visa card to book the entry slot is relatively painless (at the time - if not when the bill arrives !). But doing that strength and conditioning session, stretching, an early morning swim set or completing a scheduled long run on a gloomy Tuesday in February ? Often not so easy.

Reaching the event date in your best condition or achieving an outstanding performance is a series of good decisions. These small good decisions build into best performance eg. packing your kit the night before, logging your workouts, good meal choices day after day, disciplined sleeptime, keeping in mind the purpose and best outcome of every workout - and prioritising training events to make sure they happen. For me it's a constant struggle to find the time for workouts. But - this is my choice and too often I'm choosing worklife over "real-life". If I prepared better and focused more I'd leave on time more often and gain a better life-balance. I need a constant reminder to make time for what I value.

So just how do we breakdown life into manageable short term goals and, day by day, "hold onto the dream" that leads us to those major landmarks in our lives ? While formal goal setting itself is critical you should also consider Affirmations as a tool. The "Queen" of affirmations seems to be someone called Louise L Hay. In her "I can do it" book she writes ...

"An affirmation is really anything you say and think. A lot of what we normally say and think is quite negative and and doesn't create good experiences for us. We have to retrain our thinking and speaking into positive patterns if we want to change our lives. Every thought you think and every word you speak is an affirmation. All of our self talk, our internal dialogue, is a stream of affirmations. You need to pay attention to your thoughts so that you can begin to eliminate the ones creating experiences you do not want in your life. However it's time for all of us to wake up and begin to consciously create our lives in away that pleases and supports us. "

This technique is perhaps under-used because it seems quite self-absorbed or at least self-indulgent. Perhaps a touch saccharine for inhibited UK Ango-Saxon types. Linda Wallenfels on trifuel.com writes ...

" Some people have difficulty with affirmations. They feel they are deceiving themselves when they make statements about something that may be true in the future, but is not true now. The Tao philosophy states, affirmations are not self-deception but self-direction".

Done properly affirmations can be a potent and constant reminder of why we do what we do and why it's important to us in the first place. To begin with the process of introspection actually helps us define what we value so we can put energy doing more of it.  So time taken writing affirmations can help us to confront our existing choices and places our decisions into context.

Think of it a different way - do you have a "power song" or a playlist you use on your MP3 ? You probably have this to motivate you - to get you out the door in the morning or to put in that extra effort to get through a tough workout. That you put that song there and use it in training is partly a recognition that you benefit from help to achieve those tough goals. Affirmations can pull us back to what we hold as important and to inspire progress towards what we value.  Remez Sasson has this definition...

Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and which are repeated many times, in order to impress the subconscious mind and trigger it into positive action. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the affirmations, they have to be repeated with attention, conviction, interest and desire.

Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter writes :
Whenever you want to maximize your chances of getting the results you want, affirmations are one of the fastest ways to arrive there. If you want to create real changes in the way you train and compete, use affirmations to:

• Improve concentration

• Relax and sleep well

• Build self-confidence

• Accelerate learning of athletic skills

• Deal with fear and negativity

• Heal quickly from injuries

• Increase endurance and strength

• Train faster and lighter

There is an excellent (and free) podcast explaining affirmations from Bevan James Eyles - find it here to download. You'll also be able to find a PDF worksheet to work through on the site & it's great value for money & easy to access. Listen to the podcast then give yourself a clear afternoon to get maximum impact from the worksheet.

If you remain in any doubt that affirmations can work for you then think of the opposite effect ie. negative thoughts, negative attitude or negative speech. Remember the quote from Henry Ford : “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.”  We all recognise the danger of negative speech when dealing with family or work colleagues. If we are carelessly negative we so often lower the self-esteem, confidence and motivation of others - it's the same with our "self talk". You wouldn't talk yourself "down" ahead of an important athletic or social event would you ?


Affirmations help to talk ourselves "up". Livestrong.Com have an excellent summary article (here) which gives many examples of negative scripts and positive self-affirmations.  Bevan James Eyles starts the process by asking us to think about inspirational quotes which already have meaning for us. We all have these sayings. They could be from any part of your life eg. a religous quote, Shakespeare, a family saying - the Simpsons even ! Something inspirational I read recently was from a talk given by Chrissie Wellington and relayed by Simon Ward -

Q. How many hours do you train each week Chrissie ?
A. 168

A 168 hour training week sums up Chrissie's attitude perfectly - every decison she makes throughout that week is related to her training and her training is designed to deliver the goals which are important to her. Ward writes :

There is the physiological training which probably occupies 25-35 hours per week but then even when she’s not engaged in these everything else she does is geared towards making these hours as productive as possible.  For example – eating (which involves choosing the right food for refuelling and repair), stretching, relaxing, sleeping, planning) she admits to being anally retentive and obsessive but in my experience this could apply to most successful athletes in a range of sports and similar traits are shared by the most successful entrepreneurs and entertainers.

Other examples of quotes that might make it onto your worksheet  :

• Be the change you want to see in the world
• Think Win Win
• Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
• Does it matter that it matters ? - Prioritize what is truely important.
• Focus on your strengths
• Ever tried ? Ever failed ? No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
• The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it.

The importance of chosen inspirational quotes (eg. here) are that they have a deep resonance with your own personality and values. Keeping you reminded of them helps you to choose the behaviours that flow from those values.

Bevan's worksheet will guide you through a process that helps you identify the behaviours or habits that "work best" for you & which you want to do more often. These are habits that will help to deliver those big life goals and help eliminate "stuff" that gets in the way. In my own world it can be as simple as knowing that I'm at my best in the morning ; that I am more productive when I have a prioritized workplan for the day (set the day before) and that I feel at my best when I eat along paleo lines. Certainly I feel most alive and energized (and actually work better) on the days I complete a structured workout session. I also want to keep the main goals in sight to ensure I have the right context.

While Bevan is focused on getting you to explore, understand and write down your chosen affirmations (so you can refer to them daily) he also describes reading them while listening to a motivational song - some music that thrills or uplifts. It is possible to go a step further and select a playlist that you can use in the car on the way to work or even during an excercize . Endurance athletes spend so much time training that this is a great way to keep affirmations in your mind. Affirmations are dynamic and will change over time - they evolve as your life situation and your own goal-set changes. Review them every 3 months to keep them fresh. If you weave them around your own inspirational songs it can be a very powerful motivation. Take this example from Julie (running her 1st marathon in Oct):

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Podsafe Playlist provided by MusicAlley.Com and featured ...

Hope is Calling, Fishing for Comets

Get Up & Go Out, Senor Happy 

Happy, Jerico 

See the Sun, Black Lab 

Fly Fly Fly, Adrina Thorpe

One Million Dollar Theme, The Dead Rocks

You could download this from here. So what's on my PowerList ? That's a very personal question but since almost no-one will ever read this or get this far ....  here goes my London 2012 Marathon list ...........

• Feeling Good, Nina Simone
• Don't need to justify this selection if you're a human being and alive you'll get it !
• I Like The Way You Move, Bodyrockers
• Upbeat, blood pumping, positive, the sheer joy of athletic movement
• River Deep, Mountain High, Glee or Tina Turner
• The joy of a life lived with Dearly Beloved (and a spooky puppy reference)
• Hot, Avril Lavigne
• A reflection on how just how lucky a guy can get (see above).  
• Bohemian Like You, The Dandy Warhols
• Free, easy, original & carefree. Just like Tom (and a spooky cooking reference)  
• Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, The Blues Brothers
• Mum, Sister, wider family & the amazing people I work, swim & train with
• Come as You Are, Beverley Knight
• Involve who I can when I can - no barriers to entry - infinite approachability 
• Proud, Heather Small
• Keeping focused on the major goals but respecting the steps that get you there
• 100 Years, Five For Fighting
• Remember life is fragile and fleeting - make the most of every moment
• Right Here Right Now (Freemasons Remix), Fatboy Slim
• This moment is all there ever is - what can I do to make the best of this situation - Right Here, Right Now (remember brain training from DareToTriLife Book Club ?)
• Planetary (GO!), My Chemical Romance
• Hugely energiziing. You can achieve anything after this track. No limits. Let yourself loose on the world.

Get the idea ? Enjoy Julie's Affirmations - think this could work for you ? If you'd like help in setting up your own Affirmations PowerList I suggest you start with Bevan's podcast & worksheet (link above). Then scan YouTube for some motivational speechs / texts. Julie (above) used Steve Jobs and Lance Armstrong. There's loads of great content out there. Select your own "power songs" from your library and c'est fini. If you want help in doing any of this drop an Email to DareToTriLife@GMail.Com 

Need more on Affirmations ? Try here  ...

Reasons the BBC Got It Wrong

Tonight the BBC's flagship sports programme "Sports Personality of the Year" will air on BBC1. It's a national and compulsive view - much like Children in Need or the Last Night of the Proms. Even people who don't like sport watch this programme. It is simply a showcase of sport and is highly motivational. I won't be watching this year and I urge you to boycott the show and Tweet your disapproval. The system of selection is to canvas the sports "experts" from 27 major UK newspapers : The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Mirror, The Sun, The Western News, The Belfast Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Independent etc etc. These guys (and I bet they are overwhelmingly guys) create a shortlist and the BBC takes it from there. That's where the flaw is in the system - how many non-football, non-rugby, non-F1, non-cricket or non-horse racing column inches are in your paper today ?  Of these how many concern female achievement ? There are no females in the 10 finalists selected. The BBC got this so wrong. It's a disgrace - they should have had the courage to pull the list and start again.

Elsewhere on this blog I've considered Chrissie Wellington to be the BBC's Sports Personality of the Decade in Waiting (see podcast here). Chrissie's got personality to burn and she's a 4 time World Champion. Yes, it's true that triathlon cannot rate with football in the national sporting consciousness - all but surely at the very least Alistair Brownlee could have made the list - he dominates in Olympic distance triathlon and will almost certainly take gold next year - he's the reining World Champion for a reason.
Here's the BBC listing ...

• Mark Cavendish
• Darren Clarke
• Alastair Cook
• Luke Donald
• Mo Farah
• Dai Greene
• Amir Khan
• Rory McIlroy
• Andy Murray
• Andrew Strauss

You can watch presenter Luke Humphry wriggling to try and justify the selection below. Yes Luke you're so right "it's disappointing" ...



Lets forget the sexism and focus on pure performance - just how many world champions do you see on this list ?  Here.  There are 3 golfers & while I'm certainly triathlon biased there is a real and genuine debate as to if golf should even be considered a sport - a skill yes - but an athletic pursuit ? Check this entry from the Huffington Post : here. Golf a sport - like darts maybe ?

Looking for a UK female World Champion for Sports Personality of the Year ? Here's 8 amazing World Champions just from triathlon and duathlon ...

1. Helen Jenkins, ITU World Champion, Beijing, September 2011
2. Chrissie Wellington, Ironman World Champion, Kona, October 2011
3. Katie Hewison, ITU Duathlon World Champion, Edinburgh, September 2011
4. Rachel Joyce, ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champion, November 2011
5. Lesley Paterson, XTERRA World Championship, Maui, 2011
6. Faye McClelland, ITU World Champion Paratriathlon Female TRI-4, Beijing 2011
7. Jane Egan, ITU World Champion Paratriathlon Female TRI-1, Beijing 2011
8. Charlotte Ellis, ITU World Champion Paratriathlon Female TRI-6, Beijing 2011

OK, yes, I'm triathlon obsessed but what about England's most successful ever cricket captain ?

Check out Charlotte Edwards achevements here.  Then there's a huge groundswell of support for Sarah Stevenson - World Champion in Tae Kwon Do and the Guardian's Sports Personality of the year read about Sarah here.

Kerry Ane Payne is World Champion in the Open Water 10k and was crowned Open Water Swimmer of the Year.

Hayley Turner is the inaugural William Hill Sportswoman of the Year. She won 83 races in 2011 - including 2 prestigious Group 1 wins. Find out more here.

What about 3 times World Champion Beth Tweddle then ? GB's women's team made their best ever result at the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships (here). Not good enough for BBC Sports Personality of the Year though - what's a girl gotta do ?

Contrast the Engand Woman's rugby team with the derided male performances of 2011. Maggie "The Machine" Alphonsi scored her 25th try for England in the outstanding 10-0 defeat of World Champions New Zealand in November 2011. Find out more about Maggie here and here. Engand's women went on to claim the series with 2 wins and a draw and hopes for the 2014 World Cup are bouyant. Kate Youde in the Independent sums up the problem and exactly why the BBC should have done better.  "The profile of women's sport is a "chicken and egg" problem ..Women's rugby does not get the coverage, so people don't know about it, he says, and it is difficult to put it on a bigger stage at the moment to give it that profile." Sports Personality of the Year is that stage.

BBC - this is not political correctness. With these Awards you have a duty and responsibility to showcase exceptional people and inspire us all towards activity and wellbeing. The newspapers are notoriously myopic in their coverage - you should have had the moral courage to rip up the list and reflect on the world class performances of 50% of our population. Woman's sport needs showcased, promoted and equalized with the men. 2011 was not an exceptional year for Andy Murray - it was an exceptional year for Chrissie Wellington as retained her unbeaten World Title for the 4th time and where Sarah Stevenson became the most successful Taekwondo athlete in history. More than that - Sarah's story is moving, dramatic and inspiring. Sarah is the perfect Sports Personality of 2011.