I’ve been struggling to find the motivation and time to write much on here of late. The reason being that I’ve started training for a new career.

Teaching.

Now, I’ve heard all sorts on this. Everyone seems to have an opinion that they want me to hear when I tell them that I’m going into the profession (I don’t remember ever asking, but I’m told anyway). Their profound intrusions into my consciousness centre around two principal – and I paraphrase – assertions.

First comes the statement “…*blah blah blah* you’re brave *blah blah blah*…” and second the promise that “…*blah blah blah* you’ll drown under the workload *blah blah blah*…” Two ‘prophesies’ borne out of zero experience and purely anecdotal misappropriation. A bit like this blog really, so I can, at least, relate.

I’ll address the first one, first. Telling me, or anyone else doing what I’m setting out to do, that I’m “brave” is like calling me a moron. Thanks for that. I know you might mean well but think about what you’re telling me for a second. Why does going into a profession that seeks to promote and enhance the values of knowledge becomes a “brave” thing to do? Oh, you’re going to tell me it’s because the kids are really difficult? Every single kid?!? I’ve worked with adults that are less switched on or less motivated by what they’re doing than the kids I’ve been fortunate enough to teach so far. Many, many ‘adults’. But what of behaviour? Have you ever been coming out of a pub/club/kebab shop in town and been started on by a 12 year old girl? Have you ever stumbled past a 13 year old boy comatose on the pavement after their fifth round of sambuca’s? Me neither. You’ve probably seen me like that though, and I’ve probably seen you like it too.

The second one then. Do you do anything at work? Last time I checked I’m pretty sure we don’t turn up somewhere for 8-9hrs a day and produce sweet FA. Well, in theory we don’t. Yeah, there’s planning involved in teaching, which can take up time in the happy place known as the ‘extra-curricular’ realm. It’s part of what being professional is all about. The overwhelming majority of successful workplaces will do a form of professional development. If you don’t, that’s on you. If you’re crap with your time management (because that’s essentially what it boils down to; your ability to stave off laziness in other words) then your workload will increase relative to the amount of fucks you give; ‘the more fucks, the less workload’ in the ‘Fellicionado Ratio for Proximal Time Management’ hypothesis.

Aaaaannnnnyyyyyyywho.

Long-winded intro aside, the aim of this little series (and we’ll see how long this lasts given my abject failure at other ‘series’ that I’ve attempted to flog) is to provide some relatable context to the silent majority. The full-time amateurs. Those who, like me, dream big but face the obstacle of ‘life’. The life of bills, mortgage, full-time work and family weighed against the desire to be the best that they can be in their running life. I’ll try to make this series of diary-esque posts succinct, so that your time isn’t wasted even more by wading through drivel. I’ll also try to maintain my honesty and integrity throughout. There will be a semblance of truth in the being “brave” and battling “workload” idioms. I’ll not shy away from that. When it’s crap, you’ll know it’s crap. Likewise when it’s good, I’ll tell you.

As always, if you disagree with something message me and we’ll debate it like adults, don’t just try and find a way to threaten, bully and sue me because you don’t like one person’s version of the truth.

Part One (finally):

I’ve had a lot of advice on teaching from a lot of different people. Let’s say around 50. I’ve chosen to listen to approximately 5 of those opinions/snippets of advice. Why? Well, I trust the opinions of those 5 based on the context in which they’re giving me the information and my knowledge of them and their own personal values. The other 45, frankly, have no clue what they’re talking about and are effectively just regurgitating crap that they’ve been fed through various outlets extraneous to them. They lack ‘independent thought’ on the matter, in other words.

I started to implement the advice/knowledge from those trusted 5 from the get-go. I’m now 6-weeks into my ITT (Initial Teacher Training) year with a Schools Direct school alliance based out of the North Lakes and West Cumbria. It’s been pretty tough but not quite as bad as what I first thought. I was told prior to my first placement that your ITT year is the worst. I was then told at my first placement that in actual fact it’s the NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) year that is worst. I’ve just bought a book (‘pedagogy’ is not a dirty word….though I still don’t actually believe that it is a word) on teaching, which tells me that ‘no’ in actual, actual fact it’s the first five years that are the worst.

In short, there’s a lot of negativity surrounding teaching. Far from the ‘growth mindset’ espoused by Carol Dweck and now doing the rounds as the new buzzword to solve the education ‘crisis’ that we’re apparently in.

The irony.

The irony that we tell the pupils that it’s ok to make mistakes, that we must learn from errors, that ‘to err is to be human’, that a positive attitude is the greatest facilitator of furthering knowledge and understanding, and yet we, as ‘professionals’ seem to be intent on drowning under the morose tap-tapping of the ‘educational crisis drip’. We don’t adopt the ‘growth mindset’ that we’re so hell-bent on clinging to.

The teacher’s that I work with at my first placement school near the Eden valley are excellent. Truly excellent. My specific department has four teachers (five if you shoe-horn me in there). They’re each different but they’re each fantastic at what they do. I know that I will (and already have) learnt so much from them. It’s a good thing to be going into work each day knowing that.

My running took a bit of a dive in those first 6-weeks well, the first 4 of them. The combination of a long old season on the fells and the shock of having to be somewhere for a purpose each day took its toll and I had to withdraw from one of my target races.

I’m doing better now, thanks for asking.

A switch of focus and an honest exchange of views have paid dividends, and I’m back feeling motivated to capitalise on the successes that 2018 has brought and channel them into next year where some lofty goals await. It’s tough trying to find that equilibrium between work and life. A key bit of advice from my ‘5’ was to strike that balance early and maintain it. I don’t ever want running to be a chore and I really love my wife, so seeing her is pretty damn high on the agenda! I also really want to do the best I can in this whole teaching sphere, both personally, because it sucks to suck at something, and professionally because teachers make a difference.

I’ve got the Cheshire 10k coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve not run at relative speed for a while! There’s nowhere to hide on the roads in that respect. It’ll be nice to remove some of the variables intrinsic to fell/hill/mountain running and just concentrate on the pure effort of moving quickly from start to finish. Well, it’ll be nice in retrospect. It’s never ‘nice’ at the time.

The training I’ve alluded to has ramped up. It’s not on the fells for 65-70 miles with 4,000m ascent per week anymore; now it’s 85-90 miles with 1,000m ascent (you can’t escape the hills in the Lakes) per week, centred on 2-3 speedier sessions. One of them is captured brilliantly in Ally’s awesome blog here. I wish I’d never read it beforehand!

I started this ITT with the aim of continuing the body-clock schedule of where I was before, in terms of running. That meant getting up at 5:30am to get the training in. This is unsustainable! I could do it before, when I was 3-4 months younger. Not now though. I don’t get the mid-afternoon nap that I was getting before. Should maybe have gone into Early Years teaching rather than Secondary – they still get the milk and nap at around 2pm right?!? Nowadays the ‘easy’ runs I’ll try and do in the morning; the speedier ones immediately after school. If I give myself the option of going home I’d never go back out!

On the plus side, getting up early SUCKS, but I only do it two or three times a week now.

September saw two races – Ring of Steall Skyrace (58th, I think) where the wheels were never even ‘on’ and Meall nan Tarmachan (3rd), a race I’d won, in the slowest winning time ever, a couple of years previously. I didn’t do well in these ones!

The cold, hard figures…

September – 559.1km with 23,229m ascent over a period of 52hrs 9mins.

October (so far) – 441.4km with 8,935m ascent over a period (so far, again) of 37hrs 51mins. There’s still a week to go!

Running into next week be li…….shoot me

Photo above superbly captured by Stephen Wilson at www.granddayoutphotography.co.uk