At the start of the year I posted a few goals for 2013, so as it's New Year's Eve it seems a good time to have a bit of a think back over the running year.
I've had some successes, and other things came in which changed the nature of my running a bit.
- Get down consistently below 13 stone. I have done this comfortably, although I haven't obsessed about it. It's just kind of happened, with a couple of tweaks to my eating/drinking and increasing of exercise.
- Be wary of my alcohol intake and go for "streaks" of being teetotal (probably between holiday times). I'm afraid I failed on this except for the first few months of the year, although my intake generally has vastly reduced compared to previous years. This has helped with the above weight goal.
- Crack a 1:45 for a half marathon. This was my main time challenge for 2013, and I managed this twice, so I have to be pleased with that. There were however two other races where I had aimed to go under 1:45 and I failed, so this 1:45 time still isn't a given for me. On the other hand, I think I've got more in me so this is kind of a mixed bag really.
- My blog says "Get around a full marathon and actually enjoy it (unlike London 2010)!! A time of sub-4:30 would be great...", so I did actually do this with a 4:08, however off of a 1:42 half this is a weak time. So, I'm pleased I got close to that 4hr mark, but I didn't break it. I can't even really say I'll definitely do it in 2014, as I so far haven't entered any.
- Get under 45mins for a 10K. I did this with a 43:40, so no complaints there, although I thought this was going to be toughest time target. According to Macmillan, this is my "best" time, which is a bit strange and points to a lack of endurance at longer distances. On a "fair" course, I did Sunday's 10K and also went under 45mins.
- Keep it going with the Trotters (running club). I did this, and this is a big part of the reason for any running improvement I've had, along with the weight loss. I also marshalled at 4 events, which I really enjoyed.
- Rack up 1200-1500 miles in the year. This was more of a measure of consistency and to see if I could stay injury free (i.e., 30 miles a week on average for a year) and I managed this. I've just checked Garmin Connect and I've done 1624 this year. Now I know this isn't massive mileage by any stretch, but it's the most consistent I've ever been so I've got to be happy with this (which I am!).
- Keep my back healthy!!! This was the last goal, but I noted it was also the most important and (touch wood!) I seem to have done that after big problems in 2011.
Two things that kind of crept up on me that weren't on the radar at the start of the year were a) parkrun and b) off road running.
Parkrun is just brilliant and I'll try and keep them going. I've done 19 this year, with my first being in June. For next year, I'm not going to put a target number on this as with the amount of races I'm hoping to do I don't expect I'll get that many done, but I do enjoy them and I will get along when I can.
Offroad has been a relatively late introduction to me. My regular parkrun is off road terrain, but it's fine in the summer/dry. However, in the rain it's a mud bath. Due to this I bought some trail shoes and have since done 2 "proper" off road races. I always shied away from off road, but due to me getting into it a bit means I can have a go at the club championship next year, which is one of my main goals.
As well as the club championship my other main goal is to see if I can get under 1:40 for a half, so we'll see how that goes.
So in summary, I think I've had a good year where I've enjoyed my running although I'm disappointed with my marathon time. Although not quick, my lower distances are better than my higher distances (according to Macmillan), which can only be that I lack endurance, so that's something to look at. I've had PBs at all my distances too, which is a good sign:
5K - 21:29
10K - 43:40
Half: 1:42:02
Marathon: 4:08:12
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
Post-Xmas post
A quick update since my last post is that I unfortunately didn't manage to get one of my club's London Marathon places, but I am first reserve in the unlikely event that someone pulls out.
Over the Xmas period, I managed to keep the running going so I'm quite pleased. I also got a 10K race in yesterday! It was called the Stoke Stampede in Taunton and it was a great little race and the conditions were perfect - it may have been a tad cold for some people, but it was perfect for me. I managed to get around in 44:02 (this is my Garmin's time, so unofficial at the moment). It's not quite a PB, but my PB is on a course where the first mile is down hill so I don't really count that. This is a PB on a course that I would consider to be a fair one so I'm really pleased as I feel I've finished the year on a bit of a high!
Mile splits were 7:17, 7:14, 7:07, 7:01, 6:55, 6:45 with the last bit at 1:42 so you can see I got progressively quicker, although I definitely lost a few seconds in the first mile or so due to congestion. This is an average of 7:03, and I had nothing left at the end.
I'm already looking forward to my next 10K which is next weekend on a very flat course although if it's windy the course can be tough as it's fairly exposed. The next race is the first one that is part of my club's championship and it will be a good way to ease myself into that. There are a large number of my club doing it so that should be good.
Over the Xmas period, I managed to keep the running going so I'm quite pleased. I also got a 10K race in yesterday! It was called the Stoke Stampede in Taunton and it was a great little race and the conditions were perfect - it may have been a tad cold for some people, but it was perfect for me. I managed to get around in 44:02 (this is my Garmin's time, so unofficial at the moment). It's not quite a PB, but my PB is on a course where the first mile is down hill so I don't really count that. This is a PB on a course that I would consider to be a fair one so I'm really pleased as I feel I've finished the year on a bit of a high!
Mile splits were 7:17, 7:14, 7:07, 7:01, 6:55, 6:45 with the last bit at 1:42 so you can see I got progressively quicker, although I definitely lost a few seconds in the first mile or so due to congestion. This is an average of 7:03, and I had nothing left at the end.
I'm already looking forward to my next 10K which is next weekend on a very flat course although if it's windy the course can be tough as it's fairly exposed. The next race is the first one that is part of my club's championship and it will be a good way to ease myself into that. There are a large number of my club doing it so that should be good.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Dogs, hills, long runs and the London Marathon options (plus 100th post)
Dogs
I got a 10-miler in on Tuesday at a steady 10 min/miles. One part of it is a long stretch of flat gravel path section that is used by runners, walkers, cyclists, dog walkers and runs along the back of a local racecourse. Anyway, I use it quite regularly and there is one chap who has a small dog who I've seen a few times. This dog isn't dangerous (in fact, it looks a lovely little thing), but it runs very quickly up and down this long path whilst the owner saunters along. It was turning dark, and a cyclist was coming along at what I would have considered a sensible pace and had all the winter gear on. The dog was legging it up towards him and unfortunately the cyclist ran over the dog. There was a lot of yelping but the dog was fine.
I'm getting to the point, but the dog owner absolutely lost it with the cyclist ("If I see you here again I'll throw you over the f'in fence" type of thing). The cyclist had stopped and I jogged up next to the cyclist and didn't say anything, but then the dog owner started having a go at me as well! Something like "And you - you need to slow the f down as well!".
I initially felt a warm burst of pride that he thought I was running too quickly, but I quickly realised the chap was delusional! I just calmly pointed out that it was a shared path and that I saw the whole thing with the cyclist and felt the cyclist was going at a safe pace. The dog owner wasn't happy though!
In all seriousness, over the last 12-15 months since I've been running more regularly, I quite often see altercations between different groups of people. On this occasion though, I thought the cyclist hadn't done anything wrong and the dog owner was very over the top in his reaction.
Hills!!
Wednesday night is the club night that I usually do and there is a choice of sessions to attend. This week was one of my favourite sessions, known as Pitt Hill. It's a hill-repeat session where you run hard up the hill (and also along a flat stretch) and then a long jog recovery. We jogged from the club house and then did one loop as a warm up, and then 5 intervals.
I know these things are as only as tough as you make them, but I always feel like I've had a good work out on these sessions. The instructions are to run hard up the hill and went it levels out keep pushing until a certain point. When it levels out, you're absolutely knackered, your lungs are bursting, your legs feel like jelly and you really just want a little lie down, but it's only another 50m so you dig in. There's always some friendly competition as well which helps, and then there is a long jog recovery (about 3.5mins), before the next effort. The jog recovery for me is very slow, but that means I can attack the next effort which is the point of the session.
The times don't mean very much, but I pressed the lap button and the efforts were quite consistent which I was pleased with, and each effort being about a 1/4 of a mile.
1 1:51.9 0.24
2 1:48.2 0.23
3 1:51.5 0.23
4 1:50.8 0.23
5 1:54.2 0.24
Long runs
I did a 12-miler yesterday, going out at 10min/miles. I often do something like this and the pace is always a close approximation but yesterday's session, according to my Garmin, was precisely 10min/mile over the 12 miles. Little things!
London Marathon
This weekend is the first extra chance I have to get in to next year's London Marathon, following the failure to get in via the public ballot. I am in the club's ballot for a London place, and the ballot takes place at this weekend's Xmas party, so I'm looking forward to that.
Also on Saturday is the last of the "run 8 parkruns in a row for a chance of a London place" promotion. The odds of getting a place via that route are very slim though as they have 2 marathon places, but currently over 4000 people still in with a shout.
I have entered various other competitions (Lucozade, Holiday Inn etc) and this week Timex had a promotion, which I had to give a reason with no more than 100 words as why I wanted the prize, which included Timex's new GPS watch. I wrote:
100th post on this blog
This happens to be the 100th post on this blog. Looking back, I've waffled a lot, but I'm pleased with keeping the blog going.
I got a 10-miler in on Tuesday at a steady 10 min/miles. One part of it is a long stretch of flat gravel path section that is used by runners, walkers, cyclists, dog walkers and runs along the back of a local racecourse. Anyway, I use it quite regularly and there is one chap who has a small dog who I've seen a few times. This dog isn't dangerous (in fact, it looks a lovely little thing), but it runs very quickly up and down this long path whilst the owner saunters along. It was turning dark, and a cyclist was coming along at what I would have considered a sensible pace and had all the winter gear on. The dog was legging it up towards him and unfortunately the cyclist ran over the dog. There was a lot of yelping but the dog was fine.
I'm getting to the point, but the dog owner absolutely lost it with the cyclist ("If I see you here again I'll throw you over the f'in fence" type of thing). The cyclist had stopped and I jogged up next to the cyclist and didn't say anything, but then the dog owner started having a go at me as well! Something like "And you - you need to slow the f down as well!".
I initially felt a warm burst of pride that he thought I was running too quickly, but I quickly realised the chap was delusional! I just calmly pointed out that it was a shared path and that I saw the whole thing with the cyclist and felt the cyclist was going at a safe pace. The dog owner wasn't happy though!
In all seriousness, over the last 12-15 months since I've been running more regularly, I quite often see altercations between different groups of people. On this occasion though, I thought the cyclist hadn't done anything wrong and the dog owner was very over the top in his reaction.
Hills!!
Wednesday night is the club night that I usually do and there is a choice of sessions to attend. This week was one of my favourite sessions, known as Pitt Hill. It's a hill-repeat session where you run hard up the hill (and also along a flat stretch) and then a long jog recovery. We jogged from the club house and then did one loop as a warm up, and then 5 intervals.
I know these things are as only as tough as you make them, but I always feel like I've had a good work out on these sessions. The instructions are to run hard up the hill and went it levels out keep pushing until a certain point. When it levels out, you're absolutely knackered, your lungs are bursting, your legs feel like jelly and you really just want a little lie down, but it's only another 50m so you dig in. There's always some friendly competition as well which helps, and then there is a long jog recovery (about 3.5mins), before the next effort. The jog recovery for me is very slow, but that means I can attack the next effort which is the point of the session.
The times don't mean very much, but I pressed the lap button and the efforts were quite consistent which I was pleased with, and each effort being about a 1/4 of a mile.
1 1:51.9 0.24
2 1:48.2 0.23
3 1:51.5 0.23
4 1:50.8 0.23
5 1:54.2 0.24
Long runs
I did a 12-miler yesterday, going out at 10min/miles. I often do something like this and the pace is always a close approximation but yesterday's session, according to my Garmin, was precisely 10min/mile over the 12 miles. Little things!
London Marathon
This weekend is the first extra chance I have to get in to next year's London Marathon, following the failure to get in via the public ballot. I am in the club's ballot for a London place, and the ballot takes place at this weekend's Xmas party, so I'm looking forward to that.
Also on Saturday is the last of the "run 8 parkruns in a row for a chance of a London place" promotion. The odds of getting a place via that route are very slim though as they have 2 marathon places, but currently over 4000 people still in with a shout.
I have entered various other competitions (Lucozade, Holiday Inn etc) and this week Timex had a promotion, which I had to give a reason with no more than 100 words as why I wanted the prize, which included Timex's new GPS watch. I wrote:
I am a regular poster to the Runner's World forums and a subscriber to the magazine. The London Marathon and I also have unfinished business as the last time I did it (2010) I crawled around in 5:15, when the course well and truly beat me. Some decent training, together with the Timex Ironman Run Trainer for extra motivation, will hopefully see me do much better. When all my clubmates see my shiny new device and see me knock minutes off of my PB, I’m hopeful that they will all go out and buy the new Timex device too.
100th post on this blog
This happens to be the 100th post on this blog. Looking back, I've waffled a lot, but I'm pleased with keeping the blog going.
Monday, December 09, 2013
Exeter Santa Run 5K
My wife and I took part on the Exeter Santa Run 5K yesterday, and it was great fun.
It ended up being my 6th day of running in a row, which isn't something I usually do, but it was all fine. Proceeds went to a local charity, and for the entry fee runners got a Santa suit, a timed event and a decent medal to finish. I'd definitely do this event again.
Me limbering up at the start:
At the start line, and it was a cracking day for running. These suits were very hot though, which made me think again about what those people who do a marathon in a gorilla suit must go through!
There was some bling at the end. My wife pointed out that the medals were in the shape of a Christmas tree bauble, so when we got him we tool the ribbons off the medal and stuck ours on our tree, which we had put up the day before.
It ended up being my 6th day of running in a row, which isn't something I usually do, but it was all fine. Proceeds went to a local charity, and for the entry fee runners got a Santa suit, a timed event and a decent medal to finish. I'd definitely do this event again.
Me limbering up at the start:
At the start line, and it was a cracking day for running. These suits were very hot though, which made me think again about what those people who do a marathon in a gorilla suit must go through!
There was some bling at the end. My wife pointed out that the medals were in the shape of a Christmas tree bauble, so when we got him we tool the ribbons off the medal and stuck ours on our tree, which we had put up the day before.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Bicton Blister 10
I got another off road race in yesterday, called the Bicton Blister. It's 10.25 mile multi-terrain race on Woodbury Common in East Devon, starting and finishing at Bicton College. The start and finish are short road sections, with the remainder of the race being on sandy, stony and muddy paths across the Commons of East Devon. There is also "The Bicton Lite" which is the Bicton Blister's little Brother and is 4.5 miles with the same start and finish but less distance on the Commons.
After The Drogo last week, I searched around for another off road race and this came up as recommended. I have heard of the race before, but usually don't even look at it as it's off road. Due to this, I had missed the online entry cutoff so had to enter on the day, which is what I did.
There were 431 people who the 10 miler and 78 who did the "lite" version, so again it's a relatively big event. I got around in 1:31:51 which I was quite pleased with really, although I did struggle on a couple of the hills. I covered the last mile, which was on road, in about 7:30 so I was pleased I finished strong. I got caked in mud though!
A massive highlight for me was when we were winding down through some woods at around 5 miles on a tricky section and in the distance I heard what sounded like bagpipes. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me as I couldn't see anyone playing, and I had just about convinced myself that it must be someone with a good sound system of some sort. However, the music got louder and I turned a corner and suddenly these 2 bagpipe players came into view. It was a great thing for such a local race in the middle of nowhere and really put a spring in my step for the next mile or so!
The profile of the race is below and is quite challenging, I think.
I know I've only done 2 of these and they're not 'A races' for me but I find I'm enjoying them even though I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind for it yesterday for some reason. For example, I find I turn up and don't have any nerves on the start. Usually for halfs or marathons I'm quite nervous on the start line so I'm hoping this new mindset will transfer into my 'A races'.
Compared to what I'm used to, they seem more like adventure courses than a 'race' as such. For example I splashed through some obstacles that can really only be described as bogs, scrambled up and down some very rocky trails and tried picking the quickest route through some thick woods. Great stuff. Don't get me wrong; I know many people do race them and some are stupidly quick!!
I think because one off-roader can't really be compared to another it's more a case of me just doing my best on the day rather than rigidly trying to stick to a specific pace. There's certainly no time to relax on these courses and although I'm relatively slow I'm hoping it'll help with my road running in terns of strength, but we'll see. I am hoping that when I run a flat half marathon, it will seem much easier compared to these off road races. That's the plan, anyway!
After The Drogo last week, I searched around for another off road race and this came up as recommended. I have heard of the race before, but usually don't even look at it as it's off road. Due to this, I had missed the online entry cutoff so had to enter on the day, which is what I did.
There were 431 people who the 10 miler and 78 who did the "lite" version, so again it's a relatively big event. I got around in 1:31:51 which I was quite pleased with really, although I did struggle on a couple of the hills. I covered the last mile, which was on road, in about 7:30 so I was pleased I finished strong. I got caked in mud though!
A massive highlight for me was when we were winding down through some woods at around 5 miles on a tricky section and in the distance I heard what sounded like bagpipes. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me as I couldn't see anyone playing, and I had just about convinced myself that it must be someone with a good sound system of some sort. However, the music got louder and I turned a corner and suddenly these 2 bagpipe players came into view. It was a great thing for such a local race in the middle of nowhere and really put a spring in my step for the next mile or so!
The profile of the race is below and is quite challenging, I think.
I know I've only done 2 of these and they're not 'A races' for me but I find I'm enjoying them even though I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind for it yesterday for some reason. For example, I find I turn up and don't have any nerves on the start. Usually for halfs or marathons I'm quite nervous on the start line so I'm hoping this new mindset will transfer into my 'A races'.
Compared to what I'm used to, they seem more like adventure courses than a 'race' as such. For example I splashed through some obstacles that can really only be described as bogs, scrambled up and down some very rocky trails and tried picking the quickest route through some thick woods. Great stuff. Don't get me wrong; I know many people do race them and some are stupidly quick!!
I think because one off-roader can't really be compared to another it's more a case of me just doing my best on the day rather than rigidly trying to stick to a specific pace. There's certainly no time to relax on these courses and although I'm relatively slow I'm hoping it'll help with my road running in terns of strength, but we'll see. I am hoping that when I run a flat half marathon, it will seem much easier compared to these off road races. That's the plan, anyway!
Monday, November 18, 2013
A bit of a break, but I'm back to it
After DMV I had a two or three weeks off, as I was feeling a bit despondent....not to mention very tired! However, I'm back to it now as I did 38 miles week and 32 miles the week before.
There has been quite a bit going on and below is a quick summary.
parkrun have a London marathon promotion
As I have mentioned a couple of times, I'm getting quite into parkruns. I have now done 14 parkruns in total, and they have a promotion on at the moment where if you compete or marshall at 8 parkruns in a row between Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 you're in with a chance of getting a place in London marathon for 2014. It is Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 very slim odds, but you've got to be in to win it. With the marshalling points I got via my Club, I do still have two chances for a place in London.
The only slight concern was that my "home" parkrun was getting very muddy and I was getting no where fast using my usual road shoes, although I was enjoying the events. However, it is my birthday soon and my wife kindly bought my some trail shoes which have really helped and I've got out 3 times with them.
Speaking of trail shoes...
...I got a 10-mile off road race in yesterday called The Drogo 10, which is a tough trail race around Castle Drogo.
I entered the event on a bit of a whim on Saturday night, not knowing very much about it and had presumed it was a reasonably small event (i.e., a couple of hundred at most). However, there were well over 500 entrants who had pre-registered so it was bigger than I had expected and with entrants on the day they may have got close the 550 limit.
I bumped into a few people who I knew, and they had completed the event before so there was lots of chat about the course and there was a great atmposhere before the gun went off. I had checked the route profile before the event and had decided to go off steady and see how I felt on the inclines.
I had also intended to keep in sight of a fellow club mate who is a similar standard to me on half marathons (he didn't know of my plan to try and keep him in sight!). However, within the first mile it was clear I wasn't going to keep up with him as he was like a mountain goat going down the hills whereas I.....urrrm, wasn't.
In the first couple of miles I was warned that there would be congestion as we had to cross a stile and also a bridge in single file, but that was fine. I (and everyone else around me) probably lost about a minute or two here, so nothing to worry about. However, if this race gets put into the Club Championship (which it has in the past) I'd probably start further forward in an effort to lose less time here.
I got to mile 3 and the hill just reared up, and it was muddy/stoney. At this point I thought about running it, but I knew there was another massive hill at mile 8 so I decided to walk and conserve energy, as did most other people around me. There were a couple of people who were gamely trying to run it, but I found myself overtaking them anyway as I walking (I have long legs).
At the top of the hill, I found myself in a group of about 20 people who were all more or less my ability and we were having a bit of banter and it was a great atmosphere. I was secretly trying to pick off a few people, and I'm sure there were others who were trying to pick me off, which is all fine and to be expected
At about mile 5 there was a steep descent and this was probably the biggest learning experience for me as I was incredibly wary going down here as it was really dodgy underfoot, whereas other people (who I had just passed) were bounding down and re-overtaking me. If I'm to get better at these events, I need to figure out how to run down these hills! On the positive, my new trail shoes were fine and gave plenty of grip. My issue was a confidence one.
From mile 6-8 it was a flat section along the river (still muddy/stoney) and I repassed a few people and I got into a bit of a rhythm. There were a couple of small rivers/lakes crossing the path so we got soaked, but it was all good.
Mile 8 came around and I again took on the same strategy and walked it, and even with this my legs were feeling like jelly by this point. However, at the top of this there is only a mile or so to go and I pushed on at the top and finished strong.
I finished in a time of 1:34:06, which I'm quite pleased with really. I know I'm not going to break any records, but it was a great event and I'd do it again.
The chap I was going to try and keep up with did it in just over 1hr30mins, so there is room for improvement. Also, if I had known I was going to do the event I probably wouldn't have run 12 miles on Friday night and a reasonably quick parkrun on Saturday.
Here is a screengrab of the profile from my Garmin:
Here is a quick pic of me snapped my a club mate who was spectating:
There has been quite a bit going on and below is a quick summary.
parkrun have a London marathon promotion
As I have mentioned a couple of times, I'm getting quite into parkruns. I have now done 14 parkruns in total, and they have a promotion on at the moment where if you compete or marshall at 8 parkruns in a row between Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 you're in with a chance of getting a place in London marathon for 2014. It is Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 very slim odds, but you've got to be in to win it. With the marshalling points I got via my Club, I do still have two chances for a place in London.
The only slight concern was that my "home" parkrun was getting very muddy and I was getting no where fast using my usual road shoes, although I was enjoying the events. However, it is my birthday soon and my wife kindly bought my some trail shoes which have really helped and I've got out 3 times with them.
Speaking of trail shoes...
...I got a 10-mile off road race in yesterday called The Drogo 10, which is a tough trail race around Castle Drogo.
I entered the event on a bit of a whim on Saturday night, not knowing very much about it and had presumed it was a reasonably small event (i.e., a couple of hundred at most). However, there were well over 500 entrants who had pre-registered so it was bigger than I had expected and with entrants on the day they may have got close the 550 limit.
I bumped into a few people who I knew, and they had completed the event before so there was lots of chat about the course and there was a great atmposhere before the gun went off. I had checked the route profile before the event and had decided to go off steady and see how I felt on the inclines.
I had also intended to keep in sight of a fellow club mate who is a similar standard to me on half marathons (he didn't know of my plan to try and keep him in sight!). However, within the first mile it was clear I wasn't going to keep up with him as he was like a mountain goat going down the hills whereas I.....urrrm, wasn't.
In the first couple of miles I was warned that there would be congestion as we had to cross a stile and also a bridge in single file, but that was fine. I (and everyone else around me) probably lost about a minute or two here, so nothing to worry about. However, if this race gets put into the Club Championship (which it has in the past) I'd probably start further forward in an effort to lose less time here.
I got to mile 3 and the hill just reared up, and it was muddy/stoney. At this point I thought about running it, but I knew there was another massive hill at mile 8 so I decided to walk and conserve energy, as did most other people around me. There were a couple of people who were gamely trying to run it, but I found myself overtaking them anyway as I walking (I have long legs).
At the top of the hill, I found myself in a group of about 20 people who were all more or less my ability and we were having a bit of banter and it was a great atmosphere. I was secretly trying to pick off a few people, and I'm sure there were others who were trying to pick me off, which is all fine and to be expected
At about mile 5 there was a steep descent and this was probably the biggest learning experience for me as I was incredibly wary going down here as it was really dodgy underfoot, whereas other people (who I had just passed) were bounding down and re-overtaking me. If I'm to get better at these events, I need to figure out how to run down these hills! On the positive, my new trail shoes were fine and gave plenty of grip. My issue was a confidence one.
From mile 6-8 it was a flat section along the river (still muddy/stoney) and I repassed a few people and I got into a bit of a rhythm. There were a couple of small rivers/lakes crossing the path so we got soaked, but it was all good.
Mile 8 came around and I again took on the same strategy and walked it, and even with this my legs were feeling like jelly by this point. However, at the top of this there is only a mile or so to go and I pushed on at the top and finished strong.
I finished in a time of 1:34:06, which I'm quite pleased with really. I know I'm not going to break any records, but it was a great event and I'd do it again.
The chap I was going to try and keep up with did it in just over 1hr30mins, so there is room for improvement. Also, if I had known I was going to do the event I probably wouldn't have run 12 miles on Friday night and a reasonably quick parkrun on Saturday.
Here is a screengrab of the profile from my Garmin:
Here is a quick pic of me snapped my a club mate who was spectating:
Monday, October 21, 2013
Dartmoor Vale Marathon
I got around DMV marathon yesterday, but I can't say that it was a particularly pleasurable experience.
I got to the start line at my usual 1 or 2 minutes before the start. I had been at the course for about an hour, but just pottering about. I get nervous before these things, and just tend to do my own thing. I am rarely seen in any club pre-race photo as I always arrive so "promptly".
This is the course profile:
When the start happened, I went off steady (which was the plan) and was running with clubmate for a mile or two. I also ran/jogged up the first hill and got to 10-mile mark in good shape, which was where my wife was for the first lap. We exchanged a few words and I was off again.
I was still running comfortably and got to the half marathon point in 1hr59. Just before this point, all the half marathon runners I was with turned off to head for home and at this point I was running more or less by myself, which I had prepared for so it wasn't a shock. I was still feeling fine in myself, but at about 17 miles I felt some tightness in my hamstrings and I got to 18 miles (which is just before the big hill, for the second time) in pretty bad shape. By this time, I knew sub-4 wasn't going to happen so at this point it was just doing what I could to get around. My wife was here and she gave some words for support and off I went again.
At about 20-miles I was well and truly on my own with no one in sight ahead or behind me, and then the rain started. It was ridiculously heavy, and I was questioning why I was out there. Out loud I'm afraid I uttered the words "I'm never f'in doing another one of these f'in things ever a-f'in-gain" and I found those last 6 miles hard. Someone I know who has ran over 300 marathons has said it was the heaviest rain she has ever known in over 20-years of running.
At around this point I was struggling to run up hill or down hill as my hamstrings were sore, and also my hips were hurting. I was really just walking, with a bit of shuffling every now and again at this point. At about mile 23 it was the home stretch, and by this time I was with a drawn out line of people who all looked equally dejected in one way or another and we were passing and repassing each other all the way to the finish. I managed to jog through the finish line in an official time of 4:21:26. A marshall offered me a seat, but I declined as I didn't think I would be able to stand back up again! My wife was at the finish and she shepherded me to the car where I got a change of clothes and did some stretching.
I was home in 10-mins (the great thing about this one is that it's so local) and had a bath and went straight to the pub. I was hungry so had a Gourmet Burger meal....and then had another one for dessert I was still under my calorie goal for the day, so that was all fine!
This morning whilst writing this, I'm pleased I've done it but I realise (yet again!) that I have so much to learn. I don't know why I cramped up so badly. I feel the training I've done has been representative of the course profile (i.e., I feel I was prepared for the hills) but I was just in pain. Yesterday, I was wondering if I'd "thrown the towel in" and "wasn't willing to push through the pain", but this morning I honestly don't think that was the case.
So, on reflection, I'm glad I have ticked one off and I am pleased I completed the event. OK, I'm not delighted with the time but, deep down, I know it is the best I could have done on the day. I am taking some positives from it as well. I think my food/drink strategy was fine as from an energy perspective I was okay on the race and I don't feel too bad this morning, apart from the soreness in my hammies).
Apologies if this is coming across as a negative report, but it is accurate :)
I got to the start line at my usual 1 or 2 minutes before the start. I had been at the course for about an hour, but just pottering about. I get nervous before these things, and just tend to do my own thing. I am rarely seen in any club pre-race photo as I always arrive so "promptly".
This is the course profile:
When the start happened, I went off steady (which was the plan) and was running with clubmate for a mile or two. I also ran/jogged up the first hill and got to 10-mile mark in good shape, which was where my wife was for the first lap. We exchanged a few words and I was off again.
I was still running comfortably and got to the half marathon point in 1hr59. Just before this point, all the half marathon runners I was with turned off to head for home and at this point I was running more or less by myself, which I had prepared for so it wasn't a shock. I was still feeling fine in myself, but at about 17 miles I felt some tightness in my hamstrings and I got to 18 miles (which is just before the big hill, for the second time) in pretty bad shape. By this time, I knew sub-4 wasn't going to happen so at this point it was just doing what I could to get around. My wife was here and she gave some words for support and off I went again.
At about 20-miles I was well and truly on my own with no one in sight ahead or behind me, and then the rain started. It was ridiculously heavy, and I was questioning why I was out there. Out loud I'm afraid I uttered the words "I'm never f'in doing another one of these f'in things ever a-f'in-gain" and I found those last 6 miles hard. Someone I know who has ran over 300 marathons has said it was the heaviest rain she has ever known in over 20-years of running.
At around this point I was struggling to run up hill or down hill as my hamstrings were sore, and also my hips were hurting. I was really just walking, with a bit of shuffling every now and again at this point. At about mile 23 it was the home stretch, and by this time I was with a drawn out line of people who all looked equally dejected in one way or another and we were passing and repassing each other all the way to the finish. I managed to jog through the finish line in an official time of 4:21:26. A marshall offered me a seat, but I declined as I didn't think I would be able to stand back up again! My wife was at the finish and she shepherded me to the car where I got a change of clothes and did some stretching.
I was home in 10-mins (the great thing about this one is that it's so local) and had a bath and went straight to the pub. I was hungry so had a Gourmet Burger meal....and then had another one for dessert I was still under my calorie goal for the day, so that was all fine!
This morning whilst writing this, I'm pleased I've done it but I realise (yet again!) that I have so much to learn. I don't know why I cramped up so badly. I feel the training I've done has been representative of the course profile (i.e., I feel I was prepared for the hills) but I was just in pain. Yesterday, I was wondering if I'd "thrown the towel in" and "wasn't willing to push through the pain", but this morning I honestly don't think that was the case.
So, on reflection, I'm glad I have ticked one off and I am pleased I completed the event. OK, I'm not delighted with the time but, deep down, I know it is the best I could have done on the day. I am taking some positives from it as well. I think my food/drink strategy was fine as from an energy perspective I was okay on the race and I don't feel too bad this morning, apart from the soreness in my hammies).
Apologies if this is coming across as a negative report, but it is accurate :)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
A running-related update
A quick update
I haven't blogged for a month or so, but I'm still keeping things ticking over. I did pick up a bit of a cold so had to take it easy for a week or so, but since my last post I've done the following which isn't where I wanted to be, but it's not too bad.
w/e 22nd September: 38.53 miles
w/e 29th September: 18.15 miles
w/e 6th October: 32.98 miles
Next up for me is still Dartmoor Vale Marathon and I'm still hoping to do it. I've been considering dropping back the half marathon but at the moment I'm still planning on doing the race. If I do it, the target time is 4hrs to 4hrs30mins, so we'll see how it goes.
Since my last post many thousands of people have had the disappointment of not getting a ballot place on 2014's London Marathon and unfortunately was one of those people. I do still have a chance of a place via by club (I've marshalled at 4 events, which ensures I'm eligible for the club ballot) but obviously that's not guaranteed. My sister-in-law is talking about doing the Edinburgh marathon (which is a fast one!) to get a GFA time for London 2015 but I can't commit to that yet as if I do get the London place I'd prefer to do that one.
P&D for me?
Even though I haven't got this marathon out of the way yet, I'm thinking ahead to the spring already and (reluctantly) find myself revisiting P&D again. I'm again looking at the 18-week 55-mile plan and think I should be able to start it in reasonable shape mileage-wise.
P&D is quite technical (I'm quite a simple soul at heart....) but I have come up with the below based on my current Half marathon time (1hr42) with a view of getting into the sub-4 category next Spring.
- Long/Medium Long runs- 10:21 to 10:48min/mile. This is based on 15-20% slower than MP).
- Marathon Pace runs. 9min/mile.
- General Aerobic runs- 10:21 to 11:15min/mile (15-25% slower than MP). 11:15 is slow, even for me.
- Lactate Threshold - 8min/mile. P&D says between 15K and Half pace. I've never ran a 15K but 8min/mile is 1hr45 for a Half. My PB is 1hr42 on a fair course. P&D say that people on this training plan should be at the slower end of the range for these LT sessions so I came up with 8min/miles.
- VO2 max - 7min/mile. This is very slightly slower than my 5K average PB on a flat course and looking at the schedules, the VO2 max sessions are interval sessions where I think I could do this pace (or slightly quicker for the shorter intervals).
- Recovery - P&D doesn't really specify the recovery pace, although it says it should be the slowest session of the week. Slower than the 11:15 GA pace seems very slow though....
I do these paces anyway in various sessions, with the exception of the GA run which is slower than what I would do currently and I think I'd do the LSRs at 10min/mile pace. However, it's the mileage increase that is a concern for me in terms of tiredness. The most I've done for this marathon is 45 miles in a week but I've done several high 30s and a couple of low 40s.
The other big difference compared to what I do now is the amount of miles at Marathon Pace that are in the Medium/Long runs, but I can definitely see how this would improve my chances of getting the sub-4. I think if I can do these it will be a confidence booster, if nothing else.
Sub-4 should be within my grasp based on my Half PB (probably not in October though). Some predictors even say 3:45 but I'm well off that currently with my PB currently at 4hr08.
Another concern with P&D is the stories I hear of people getting injured. I'm still not sure yet on if I am going to follow the plan. I may follow it loosely with a view of getting some more miles in as I think that is what I need to do if I want to see sub-4.
A couple of specific session that I enjoyed
5K individual time trial
For one reason or another I haven't done a parkrun for a few weeks so I decided to go out and time myself on a flat loop I know.
There's an industrial estate near me that my running club use for various interval sessions as it is pancake flat, and it's very quiet when everything is shut (evenings and Sundays), apart from the odd learner driver. It's 2 miles from my house, so I jogged down there and warmed up. I had set my Garmin up to count down from 5K so altough I know it's not 100% accurate the Garmin read 21:38 for the 5K effort. My PB at a flat parkrun is 21:29 so I was pleased with my effort, and then I jogged the 2 miles home.
6x600m with the club
Last night I did a 6x600m session with the club, with 200m recovery, in one loop.
Interval Time Dist Av Pace
1 2:29.4 0.37 6:39
2 2:35.0 0.38 6:53
3 2:34.6 0.38 6:48
4 2:33.3 0.37 6:51
5 2:33.5 0.37 6:50
6 2:28.0 0.37 6:35
It's not a measured course so it relied on me clicking the lap button on the efforts but 0.37 of a mile is 595m (according to Google). I'm pretty pleased with that; it's relatively consistent and I finished strong, although I was gasping at the end which I suppose is the point!
I haven't blogged for a month or so, but I'm still keeping things ticking over. I did pick up a bit of a cold so had to take it easy for a week or so, but since my last post I've done the following which isn't where I wanted to be, but it's not too bad.
w/e 22nd September: 38.53 miles
w/e 29th September: 18.15 miles
w/e 6th October: 32.98 miles
Next up for me is still Dartmoor Vale Marathon and I'm still hoping to do it. I've been considering dropping back the half marathon but at the moment I'm still planning on doing the race. If I do it, the target time is 4hrs to 4hrs30mins, so we'll see how it goes.
Since my last post many thousands of people have had the disappointment of not getting a ballot place on 2014's London Marathon and unfortunately was one of those people. I do still have a chance of a place via by club (I've marshalled at 4 events, which ensures I'm eligible for the club ballot) but obviously that's not guaranteed. My sister-in-law is talking about doing the Edinburgh marathon (which is a fast one!) to get a GFA time for London 2015 but I can't commit to that yet as if I do get the London place I'd prefer to do that one.
P&D for me?
Even though I haven't got this marathon out of the way yet, I'm thinking ahead to the spring already and (reluctantly) find myself revisiting P&D again. I'm again looking at the 18-week 55-mile plan and think I should be able to start it in reasonable shape mileage-wise.
P&D is quite technical (I'm quite a simple soul at heart....) but I have come up with the below based on my current Half marathon time (1hr42) with a view of getting into the sub-4 category next Spring.
- Long/Medium Long runs- 10:21 to 10:48min/mile. This is based on 15-20% slower than MP).
- Marathon Pace runs. 9min/mile.
- General Aerobic runs- 10:21 to 11:15min/mile (15-25% slower than MP). 11:15 is slow, even for me.
- Lactate Threshold - 8min/mile. P&D says between 15K and Half pace. I've never ran a 15K but 8min/mile is 1hr45 for a Half. My PB is 1hr42 on a fair course. P&D say that people on this training plan should be at the slower end of the range for these LT sessions so I came up with 8min/miles.
- VO2 max - 7min/mile. This is very slightly slower than my 5K average PB on a flat course and looking at the schedules, the VO2 max sessions are interval sessions where I think I could do this pace (or slightly quicker for the shorter intervals).
- Recovery - P&D doesn't really specify the recovery pace, although it says it should be the slowest session of the week. Slower than the 11:15 GA pace seems very slow though....
I do these paces anyway in various sessions, with the exception of the GA run which is slower than what I would do currently and I think I'd do the LSRs at 10min/mile pace. However, it's the mileage increase that is a concern for me in terms of tiredness. The most I've done for this marathon is 45 miles in a week but I've done several high 30s and a couple of low 40s.
The other big difference compared to what I do now is the amount of miles at Marathon Pace that are in the Medium/Long runs, but I can definitely see how this would improve my chances of getting the sub-4. I think if I can do these it will be a confidence booster, if nothing else.
Sub-4 should be within my grasp based on my Half PB (probably not in October though). Some predictors even say 3:45 but I'm well off that currently with my PB currently at 4hr08.
Another concern with P&D is the stories I hear of people getting injured. I'm still not sure yet on if I am going to follow the plan. I may follow it loosely with a view of getting some more miles in as I think that is what I need to do if I want to see sub-4.
A couple of specific session that I enjoyed
5K individual time trial
For one reason or another I haven't done a parkrun for a few weeks so I decided to go out and time myself on a flat loop I know.
There's an industrial estate near me that my running club use for various interval sessions as it is pancake flat, and it's very quiet when everything is shut (evenings and Sundays), apart from the odd learner driver. It's 2 miles from my house, so I jogged down there and warmed up. I had set my Garmin up to count down from 5K so altough I know it's not 100% accurate the Garmin read 21:38 for the 5K effort. My PB at a flat parkrun is 21:29 so I was pleased with my effort, and then I jogged the 2 miles home.
6x600m with the club
Last night I did a 6x600m session with the club, with 200m recovery, in one loop.
Interval Time Dist Av Pace
1 2:29.4 0.37 6:39
2 2:35.0 0.38 6:53
3 2:34.6 0.38 6:48
4 2:33.3 0.37 6:51
5 2:33.5 0.37 6:50
6 2:28.0 0.37 6:35
It's not a measured course so it relied on me clicking the lap button on the efforts but 0.37 of a mile is 595m (according to Google). I'm pretty pleased with that; it's relatively consistent and I finished strong, although I was gasping at the end which I suppose is the point!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
A pretty good training week following the Half last week, plus a chat with a quick runner
I feel I have done some good sessions this week, following the disappointment of the Half mast week. On Tuesday I went out and did 9 miles at my target Half Marathon pace, which was a nice confidence booster after last weekend. I'm still convinced I've got a sub-1hr40min in me, but I've got to get it done as I know "talk is cheap".
Wednesday was a "reccie run" of the Ladies 10K I'm marshalling at this morning and the purpose of these runs is for the ladies to run the course, and the men to know their marshalling points. My wife is thinking about doing the race this morning so I'll be on the look out for her.
Due to time constraints this week I found myself having to do back-to-back longish runs, which I haven't done before. Anyway, I did 10 flattish miles (9min/mile) on Friday night after work and then tagged along for a club run on Saturday morning where I got 15.5 in (10min/mile, including regrouping), with plenty of hills. I'm quite pleased actually as I felt ok and feel I've got my long run 'out of the way'. I know it's not the same as say a 20 miler but I'm happy and I did have 2 or 3 cheeky beers on saturday afternoon!
On the club run yesterday I got talking to a runner who in his day was quick (2hr34 marathon). It was fascinating talking to him and I know techniques may have changed since his day as his PB was 30 years ago. Basically though when I asked what his key sessions were, he did LSRs at 1.5min/mile over his goal pace and did extremely tough (his words) four or five by 1 mile intervals where the intervals were maybe 30-45 seconds quicker than his goal pace. This session was great for the mental side of things as well, knowing he could push through the pain and maintain a pace. Those were his two main weekly sessions, plus a 10 mile "time trial" where he knew the mile markers (this was before GPS), which was also tough. He did reel off his other sessions, and I didn't spot any rest days although I may have missed it. He was doing 65ish miles a week at this point.
Interestingly, he said it wasn't initially a conscious decision for him to do his LSRs at the pace he did. He kept very detailed notes and when he went back over them at one point he noticed the 1.5 mins slower than goal pace calulcation, so stuck with it.
He also said that what worked for him didn't work for others that were at his kind of level in his club, and vice versa. He just did what worked for him. For example, he trained himself not to take any water at all when racing a marathon as he said taking water slowed him down. People at his club said he should be taking water as they thought he'd do even better, but he tried it and it didn't work for him. When he did ultras, he did take "liquid food" but I'm not sure what that was.
He did share my view about the shame that there were no British men who turned up for the recent World Championships and he put the blame squarely with the "suits" who run athletics, who he doesn't think care enough about road running and do little to bring athletes on.
I felt a bit embarassed talking to him about my goals when he asked me (sub-4 mara and sub 1:40 half) as they are very slow compared to his times, but he was great and unassuming and just happy to chat about things. His main goal at the moment is to do 1500 miles this year (which he is on target for), and I beleive he is doing the Club Championship and chipping away at a timed course he runs regularly with the club.
He did write a great piece in the club magazine a few months ago so I'm going to dig that out and have another read through. The level of hard work and dedication to get to these sort of times is amazing. I just worked out what a 2hr34 marathon would be - that is averaging under 6 min/mile! Unbelievable.
Wednesday was a "reccie run" of the Ladies 10K I'm marshalling at this morning and the purpose of these runs is for the ladies to run the course, and the men to know their marshalling points. My wife is thinking about doing the race this morning so I'll be on the look out for her.
Due to time constraints this week I found myself having to do back-to-back longish runs, which I haven't done before. Anyway, I did 10 flattish miles (9min/mile) on Friday night after work and then tagged along for a club run on Saturday morning where I got 15.5 in (10min/mile, including regrouping), with plenty of hills. I'm quite pleased actually as I felt ok and feel I've got my long run 'out of the way'. I know it's not the same as say a 20 miler but I'm happy and I did have 2 or 3 cheeky beers on saturday afternoon!
On the club run yesterday I got talking to a runner who in his day was quick (2hr34 marathon). It was fascinating talking to him and I know techniques may have changed since his day as his PB was 30 years ago. Basically though when I asked what his key sessions were, he did LSRs at 1.5min/mile over his goal pace and did extremely tough (his words) four or five by 1 mile intervals where the intervals were maybe 30-45 seconds quicker than his goal pace. This session was great for the mental side of things as well, knowing he could push through the pain and maintain a pace. Those were his two main weekly sessions, plus a 10 mile "time trial" where he knew the mile markers (this was before GPS), which was also tough. He did reel off his other sessions, and I didn't spot any rest days although I may have missed it. He was doing 65ish miles a week at this point.
Interestingly, he said it wasn't initially a conscious decision for him to do his LSRs at the pace he did. He kept very detailed notes and when he went back over them at one point he noticed the 1.5 mins slower than goal pace calulcation, so stuck with it.
He also said that what worked for him didn't work for others that were at his kind of level in his club, and vice versa. He just did what worked for him. For example, he trained himself not to take any water at all when racing a marathon as he said taking water slowed him down. People at his club said he should be taking water as they thought he'd do even better, but he tried it and it didn't work for him. When he did ultras, he did take "liquid food" but I'm not sure what that was.
He did share my view about the shame that there were no British men who turned up for the recent World Championships and he put the blame squarely with the "suits" who run athletics, who he doesn't think care enough about road running and do little to bring athletes on.
I felt a bit embarassed talking to him about my goals when he asked me (sub-4 mara and sub 1:40 half) as they are very slow compared to his times, but he was great and unassuming and just happy to chat about things. His main goal at the moment is to do 1500 miles this year (which he is on target for), and I beleive he is doing the Club Championship and chipping away at a timed course he runs regularly with the club.
He did write a great piece in the club magazine a few months ago so I'm going to dig that out and have another read through. The level of hard work and dedication to get to these sort of times is amazing. I just worked out what a 2hr34 marathon would be - that is averaging under 6 min/mile! Unbelievable.
Sunday, September 08, 2013
Bridgwater Half Marathon
Bridgwater Half done in 1:49:34 (that's from my Garmin; official results not out yet), which is 10mins slower than I was hoping for, so not a great day at the office today. On the positive, it's a good event and it was well supported/marshalled etc.
If the event had been on Saturday AM instead of Sunday I would have been a DNS because I was having stomach issues that would have meant running would have been, erm, dangerous (if you get my drift). However, the issue cleared up late on Saturday and I had done my best to rehyrdate myself enough. I was up for the race come Sunday and was feeling relatively good at the start line.
The first 6 miles were fine and I was on target to sneak under 1hr40 for the first time (PB is 1hr42). I felt in control and felt I was going to be able to push on in the second half, but then at around 9 miles I had some stomach pain that unfortuantely just stopped me dead in my tracks and I just had to pull into the side of road. After a few seconds I started walking (in total I walked for nearly 3/4 of a mile) and from 10miles onwards I knew any time was out of the window so I was just doing what I could to finish. In the circumstances, those last 3 miles were tough but I'm also pleased I managed to complete the race. This running malarkey is funny because this time last year I would have been happy with sub-1hr50 but it wasn't what I hoping for at this even. I think in hindsight even though I felt okay at the start line, it's clear I wasn't fully over my stomach issue. My mind was playing tricks on me as well (I was swearing to myself, not out loud I hasten to add!) and at that point I was beaten mentally as well, I'm afraid to say.
I think the course is pretty good for a PB attempt, so maybe I'll go back next year and have another crack at it.
So in summary, Bridgwater is a good event which didn't come right for me personally on the day but I know I'm running relatively well so I'm hopeful this is a minor blip. Onwards and upwards!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Forest Flyer
I have had to move things around a bit this week as we're having our bathroom done and one of the workmen didn't leave until 8:30pm on Wednesday and I was really tired on Thursday after work. I'm still hoping to get 5 session in this week though, but I wanted 10-11 days between my long run and the next Half Marathon, which won't happen if I do get a long run in on Sunday.
Anyway, I managed to get a number for a local race called the Forest Flyer tonight (Friday) which is a 5-mile race that is part of the Teignbridge Trotters Club Championship. I'm not doing the Championship, but as my wife wasn't getting back from a trip away until late on Friday I decided to get a run out. I don't overly like the off road stuff but this was more of a trail race with no large obstacles so the terrain wasn't bad. There was a very large hill at the end (it lasted 1 mile) which was a killer, but I enjoyed the event. I won't be sure of my my time until the results are published as I forgot to stop my watch, but it was 38:50ish I think which I'm quite pleased with.
The profile of the event is below.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Torbay 10K, and a bit of a look back over the last 12 months
I got to the Torbay 10K start line in good shape so was raring to go at the 6pm start. I've done this course a few times before and know there can be a bit of a bottleneck so I stood in the first quarter of the field hoping that would mean I'd have a clear run out, which worked out to be the case. I also don't feel I held any quicker runners up, so I stood in about the right spot for me I think. The conditions were good - it was dry, but not too hot and there was a bit of a breeze. This "bit of a breeze" was a headwind for maybe 1 mile of the course, but it wasn't too bad.
I know the course very well and I had promised myself that I would go out steadily and leave something for a strongish finish and the first mile was done in 7:10, which was actually a bit quicker than I had anticipated but I felt okay. The second mile includes a reasonable hill but then miles 3, 4 and 5 are basically flat and I had planned to use this part of the course to settle into a rhythm and see how I felt, knowing that the 6th mile includes an uphill section, before a fast downhill section to the finish. I was gasping at the end and the last 200m were very hard, but I kept a reasonable pace so I think that means I paced the race well, which I'm pleased about.
Looking back, I think that it all came together and I managed a chip time of 45:31 so I'm pleased. This isn't a PB (my PB is on an easier course than this), but it is a strong course record as I've knocked over 4 minutes off of the time from last year, which at that point was my PB. It was after this race last year that I decided to join a running club, and I'm really glad I did. I'm sure Mo wouldn't do this, but we did have a couple of beers and some pizza to celebrate!
My wife also did great and managed a PB as well, so she was really pleased.
The last 12 months
It was immediately after 2012's Torbay 10K that I decided to join the Teignbridge Trotters and I'm so glad I did. It feels like the right time to review the last 12 months as I know my running has come on so much, plus I've met loads of people through the Club which is very friendly and welcoming. My PBs in 10K, Halfs and the marathon have tumbled in the last 12 months, and I've lost about 1.5 stone in weight and about 5% in body fat (according to my scales, which I'm not sure how accurate they are on the body fat %), which has helped as well!
Turning a bit towards my inner geek, Garmin Connect has some reports that can let you analyse lots of things and below are a few highlights .
- In the last year I've done 1564 miles, which is way more than I've ever done and is an average of 30 miles per week, every week.
- This shows I have been very consistent, which I think has been part of the the key and I'm hoping to keep that going, depending on injuries.
- According to my Garmin, I've burned nearly 250,000 calories! Again, I'm not sure how accurate this is but it's probably in about the right area. That is a lot of pizza that be consumed to make up for that shortfall....!
- For the majority of the last 12 months, I've done either 4 or 5 runs per week with 4 weeks where I planned only 3 sessions per week before an event. There are just two exceptions to this. The first week in January I picked up an injury so only did one session that week and for a holiday in April I only got two sessions in. I think that is pretty consistent and has definitely helped with my running.
I have no real targets in mind, apart from to keep up the running with the club and to see if I can continue chipping away at those times. I know I've been really lucky with injures this past 12 months and hopefully that will remain the case. This time twelve months ago, if anyone asked I wouldn't really have called myself as "a runner". This year, if anyone asked I do count my self as a runner and I have really got the bug!
One thing I think I need to do is start to become more structured in my training, which I will try and look at before a Spring marathon attempt where I'd like to go sub-4 hours. I think that is my main goal and I think is achievable on the right day.
I know the course very well and I had promised myself that I would go out steadily and leave something for a strongish finish and the first mile was done in 7:10, which was actually a bit quicker than I had anticipated but I felt okay. The second mile includes a reasonable hill but then miles 3, 4 and 5 are basically flat and I had planned to use this part of the course to settle into a rhythm and see how I felt, knowing that the 6th mile includes an uphill section, before a fast downhill section to the finish. I was gasping at the end and the last 200m were very hard, but I kept a reasonable pace so I think that means I paced the race well, which I'm pleased about.
Looking back, I think that it all came together and I managed a chip time of 45:31 so I'm pleased. This isn't a PB (my PB is on an easier course than this), but it is a strong course record as I've knocked over 4 minutes off of the time from last year, which at that point was my PB. It was after this race last year that I decided to join a running club, and I'm really glad I did. I'm sure Mo wouldn't do this, but we did have a couple of beers and some pizza to celebrate!
My wife also did great and managed a PB as well, so she was really pleased.
The last 12 months
It was immediately after 2012's Torbay 10K that I decided to join the Teignbridge Trotters and I'm so glad I did. It feels like the right time to review the last 12 months as I know my running has come on so much, plus I've met loads of people through the Club which is very friendly and welcoming. My PBs in 10K, Halfs and the marathon have tumbled in the last 12 months, and I've lost about 1.5 stone in weight and about 5% in body fat (according to my scales, which I'm not sure how accurate they are on the body fat %), which has helped as well!
Turning a bit towards my inner geek, Garmin Connect has some reports that can let you analyse lots of things and below are a few highlights .
- In the last year I've done 1564 miles, which is way more than I've ever done and is an average of 30 miles per week, every week.
- This shows I have been very consistent, which I think has been part of the the key and I'm hoping to keep that going, depending on injuries.
- According to my Garmin, I've burned nearly 250,000 calories! Again, I'm not sure how accurate this is but it's probably in about the right area. That is a lot of pizza that be consumed to make up for that shortfall....!
- For the majority of the last 12 months, I've done either 4 or 5 runs per week with 4 weeks where I planned only 3 sessions per week before an event. There are just two exceptions to this. The first week in January I picked up an injury so only did one session that week and for a holiday in April I only got two sessions in. I think that is pretty consistent and has definitely helped with my running.
I have no real targets in mind, apart from to keep up the running with the club and to see if I can continue chipping away at those times. I know I've been really lucky with injures this past 12 months and hopefully that will remain the case. This time twelve months ago, if anyone asked I wouldn't really have called myself as "a runner". This year, if anyone asked I do count my self as a runner and I have really got the bug!
One thing I think I need to do is start to become more structured in my training, which I will try and look at before a Spring marathon attempt where I'd like to go sub-4 hours. I think that is my main goal and I think is achievable on the right day.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
It was the Men's World Championship Marathon in Moscow yesterday and I watched the whole race. I was on the look out for Yuki Kawauchi, as he is very popular on Marathon Talk. He is a 2:08 runner and has a full time job in Japan and he races a lot! He did get a bit of coverage on the BBC as well. He didn't do amazingly well (he finished 18th), but it was good to see him.
I mentioned back in June for the Torbay Half that I had arranged to meet an old school friend after the race. I went out with him and his brother again last night, and it was good to catch up and we were talking about running, triathlons etc. He was talking about that he has removed most (if not all) sugar from his diet and has seen him times tumble this year. It's food for thought for me (no pun intended) as I still think I need to lose a few pounds from a running perspective.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had read Chrissie Wellington's (A Life Without Limits) book about Ironman, which was a very good read. Chrissie raced a lot at the renowned Kona Ironman event, and there are rumours going around the Internet that Gordon Ramsay is doing the event this year. There are no real reputable sources that I can find (except the Daily Mail, which has delighted in publishing pictures of Ramsay getting changed for a training session, which I'm not going to link to here) but there is a thread on Runner's World about it. It will be interesting to see if Ramsay does the event, although it seems he hasn't made the qualification time so may have got a place as he is a celebrity.
My wife and I went out for another run this morning around our popular stomping ground of Torquay/Paignton. We had seen adverts around for a Sky Ride event in Paignton, and it was good to see that it was very well attended. Basically, a few roads are closed from 10:30am-4pm, and it is an opportunity for people to get out on their bikes in a safe environment. The event was really well attended which is good to see. I'm not sure if it's a regular thing, but details of my local event are here.
I mentioned back in June for the Torbay Half that I had arranged to meet an old school friend after the race. I went out with him and his brother again last night, and it was good to catch up and we were talking about running, triathlons etc. He was talking about that he has removed most (if not all) sugar from his diet and has seen him times tumble this year. It's food for thought for me (no pun intended) as I still think I need to lose a few pounds from a running perspective.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had read Chrissie Wellington's (A Life Without Limits) book about Ironman, which was a very good read. Chrissie raced a lot at the renowned Kona Ironman event, and there are rumours going around the Internet that Gordon Ramsay is doing the event this year. There are no real reputable sources that I can find (except the Daily Mail, which has delighted in publishing pictures of Ramsay getting changed for a training session, which I'm not going to link to here) but there is a thread on Runner's World about it. It will be interesting to see if Ramsay does the event, although it seems he hasn't made the qualification time so may have got a place as he is a celebrity.
My wife and I went out for another run this morning around our popular stomping ground of Torquay/Paignton. We had seen adverts around for a Sky Ride event in Paignton, and it was good to see that it was very well attended. Basically, a few roads are closed from 10:30am-4pm, and it is an opportunity for people to get out on their bikes in a safe environment. The event was really well attended which is good to see. I'm not sure if it's a regular thing, but details of my local event are here.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
In Tartiflette we trust!
As I mentioned in my previous blog, we were in Annecy recently. One of the key, local dishes there is tartiflette which is basically a cheese, ham and potato dish (made with the local reblochon cheese). We bought a couple of authentic tartiflette dishes and found that do Tesco do the correct cheese so in order to reminisce a bit about our holiday we made the dish tonight. Not sure what this has to do with running, but it was very nice!
Below is our very nice meal....
On a couple of occasions whilst in Annecy, I saw a sticker on a car or bike as per the below, which made be smile.
Below is our very nice meal....
On a couple of occasions whilst in Annecy, I saw a sticker on a car or bike as per the below, which made be smile.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Holiday!!
My wife and I have just come back from a great 10-days holiday where we did lots of 'non-running' related stuff and really had a great time away (lots of eating, drinking, relaxing, etc etc). I did manage to get a few runs in too, so I'm pleased that I manage to keep things ticking over. My plan purposefully didn't show any sessions whilst away, so I'm happy to have got 5 sessions in totalling around 30 miles.
We travelled down to Annecy on the train from Paris and stayed at the same hotel as the last time we were in Annecy, so settled straight in with the first of many tartiflettes and glasses of wine.
For those that may not know, Annecy is in the Alps and is on a lake that shares the same name. The lake is fantastic and very clean (it is the cleanest lake in Europe). There is stunning and inspiring scenery and I got three runs in (two 7-milers and one 5-miler), including one with my wife which was great! The photos don't really do it justice, but here are a couple, with the first with me proudly wearing my Trotters shirt!
On another day, we took a walk up into the mountains which was great. There were a handful of runners up there too, but it's not something I'd contemplate as the paths are very steep and narrow! There were some great views on the way up though, and my Garmin shows that we peaked at over 2200ft which wasn't too bad.
Whilst in Annecy, I took the opportunity to read Chrissie Wellington's 'A life without limits'. Chrissie is a British Ironman competitor and turned professional fairly late (late 20s). It's a great read and charts her progress to various world titles and records in that gruelling sport.
We caught the train back from Annecy to London and headed to York for a few days, again by train. York is a great city with lots of things to do, and the food and beer at very good! I got two runs in along the River Ouze (a 6 and 5-miler) which I enjoyed. So although I haven't been doing massive mileage I am pleased to have kept things ticking over, and I always enjoy running in new places to keep things fresh.
On the way back from York I started reading the Brownlees' 'Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story'. I haven't finished it yet, but it's good so far.
I'm still on holiday from work for the rest of this week, and have a few plans but the full training won't resume until next week. I need to kick start things for Dartmoor Vale in October. Logistically it's going to be a bit tough for a week or so as we're getting our bathroom done and we don't have a second loo/shower, so that may prove interesting!
Monday, July 29, 2013
A bit of a disappointing parkrun. There's always another one coming up soon though!
I got a parkrun in on the weekend, but ended up being disappointed with my time of 21:43 (PB on that course is 21:29 from 2 weeks ago).
I was really "up for" the event and had kind of planned the training week to be in fighting form for the Saturday morning, hence why I'm a bit disappointed. I did 1.5 mile warmup, with some short blasts at my 5K race pace and I toed the start line feeling good. I don't usually do this type of warm-up but I'm sure the warm-up wasn't the issue for my disappointing time.
Unfortunately, I did the classic beginner mistake and set off far too quickly and got slower as the event went on. Splits were 6:31, 7:00, 7:18 and 52secs for the last bit. I glanced at my watch in the first mile and saw I was doing 5:45 which is just stupid and I basically struggled from then on. I can't really explain it except to say I got caught up with a bunch of quicker runners in the first half a mile or so and so I didn't run my own event (I'm being careful not to call the parkrun a race....!)
Maybe it's misplaced, but I'm convinced I've got a 20:XX in me, even if it's 20:59 which is what I was hoping for on Saturday as the conditions were perfect and, like I say, I was feeling good. This would be 6:45 min/mile pace. I'm basing this on what I can do 5x1K intervals in, with each interval being at 6min/mile, sometimes quicker. Am I deluded that I think I've got a 20:59 in me? I hope not!
I'll tell you one thing. The pain from a fast (for me) 5K is a whole different kind of pain compared to a marathon. Not worse pain, just different. I genuinely thought I was going to throw up at the end!
Nevermind - there's always the next one.
This week is a fairly standard week, and it has cooled down. At the moment though there are some very sharp showers so that may be a shock to the system, but I prefer that to the blazing heat.
Monday, July 22, 2013
20 mile LSR, a personal weekly record and marshalling at the Haytor Heller
Long run, and a bit of a look back over my training
I mentioned on my last update that I was hoping to get an 18-mile LSR done on the weekend, and I'm pleased to say that I actually managed 20 miles. I started at around 7.30am and it was much cooler and more pleasant than earlier in the week, but I still drank 1.5L of water on the run as well as making sure I was well hydrated before the run! For long runs, I always run with a 750ml bottle of water/TorQ Energy on a waist belt, and this time I parked my car on the route with another 750ml stored in the cool boot. It wasn't a particularly inspiring route but I'm pleased I got the miles in.
I was a bit worried about how the long run would go because since my marathon at the start of May, I have only done one 16 miler. I've done lots of 10-13 mile runs (and lots of shorter runs) but I was getting worried that I wasn't getting in enough long miles. However, it seems I still have some fitness as the run itself was fine (apart from the amount of water I needed) so I'm pleased. Also, since the marathon I've been consistent with the sessions I've been going as I've clocked up nearly 350 miles over 48 sessions since 7th May.
The main reason for pushing on from 18-miles to 20-miles was due to the fact that I knew this would take me to a new personal weekly mileage record of 45 miles in a week. The majority of these miles have been in very hot weather and I am hoping training in the hot weather will stand my in good stead for when the weather starts to cool again. This was off of 5 sessions a week, which I've now been doing for 4 weeks. The fifth run per week is effectively the parkrun, which although only 5K is a good run out each week.
Below are my weekly stats since the marathon:
I think that is pretty consistent, so I am really pleased with that. The two "3-sessions per week" weeks are due to a) the week after the marathon where I reduced the mileage and did a recovery week and b) a holiday week, where I was just pleased to get any running in at all. The w/c 17th June wasn't 5 sessions because that was the week of the Torbay Half Marathon where I had a lighter week in the run up to that event. I've included the "Calories" column just as a matter of interest really, as I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but it is interesting non-the-less.
There are two things that I think I need to work on, or at least keep in mind, in the run up to the October marathon I have lined up. Firstly, I need to incorporate some hill training as part of my longer runs. This is because the Dartmoor Vale marathon is quite "lumpy". I am hoping that after the summer season is out of the way I will be able to get a long to a few Trotter weekend social runs where there are often some hills thrown into those sessions.
Secondly, I am aware I haven't really been doing enough speed work. This is at least partly due to the hotter weather, where it's harder to get the speed in without feeling quickly drained. On the positive though, I am at least getting a parkrun in which is a good, quick run out and they are enjoyable too.
Haytor Heller marshalling
The other thing I mentioned in my previous post is that I was marshalling at the Haytor Heller, which is put on by my running club (Teignbridge Trotters). It was a brilliant event in hot weather, and it's great to be a very small part of the running of these events. The winner again did the event in under 40-mins which is just mind boggling and equates to around 6.5min/miles on what is very tough terrain.
I had a great marshalling point which was in a shaded area where the runners come down a path, over an old granite bridge and disappear up through the trees before a very steep incline. After the event, I went back to race HQ where I had my complementary burger which went down very well indeed!
I mentioned on my last update that I was hoping to get an 18-mile LSR done on the weekend, and I'm pleased to say that I actually managed 20 miles. I started at around 7.30am and it was much cooler and more pleasant than earlier in the week, but I still drank 1.5L of water on the run as well as making sure I was well hydrated before the run! For long runs, I always run with a 750ml bottle of water/TorQ Energy on a waist belt, and this time I parked my car on the route with another 750ml stored in the cool boot. It wasn't a particularly inspiring route but I'm pleased I got the miles in.
I was a bit worried about how the long run would go because since my marathon at the start of May, I have only done one 16 miler. I've done lots of 10-13 mile runs (and lots of shorter runs) but I was getting worried that I wasn't getting in enough long miles. However, it seems I still have some fitness as the run itself was fine (apart from the amount of water I needed) so I'm pleased. Also, since the marathon I've been consistent with the sessions I've been going as I've clocked up nearly 350 miles over 48 sessions since 7th May.
The main reason for pushing on from 18-miles to 20-miles was due to the fact that I knew this would take me to a new personal weekly mileage record of 45 miles in a week. The majority of these miles have been in very hot weather and I am hoping training in the hot weather will stand my in good stead for when the weather starts to cool again. This was off of 5 sessions a week, which I've now been doing for 4 weeks. The fifth run per week is effectively the parkrun, which although only 5K is a good run out each week.
Below are my weekly stats since the marathon:
| Time Period (w/c) | Number of sessions | Distance | Elapsed time | Calories |
| 15/07/2013 | 5 | 45.19 | 07:45:11 | 6,288 |
| 08/07/2013 | 5 | 36.63 | 05:37:15 | 5,186 |
| 01/07/2013 | 5 | 34.04 | 05:06:00 | 4,851 |
| 24/06/2013 | 5 | 32.44 | 05:11:08 | 4,652 |
| 17/06/2013 | 4 | 29.92 | 04:13:30 | 4,279 |
| 10/06/2013 | 5 | 36.18 | 05:36:59 | 5,153 |
| 03/06/2013 | 5 | 38.9 | 06:19:31 | 5,524 |
| 27/05/2013 | 3 | 23 | 03:28:40 | 3,521 |
| 20/05/2013 | 4 | 31.96 | 05:02:00 | 4,945 |
| 13/05/2013 | 4 | 22.37 | 03:25:19 | 3,369 |
| 06/05/2013 | 3 | 14.1 | 02:15:19 | 2,183 |
| Summary | 48/77 | 344.75 | 54:00:53 | 49,950 |
I think that is pretty consistent, so I am really pleased with that. The two "3-sessions per week" weeks are due to a) the week after the marathon where I reduced the mileage and did a recovery week and b) a holiday week, where I was just pleased to get any running in at all. The w/c 17th June wasn't 5 sessions because that was the week of the Torbay Half Marathon where I had a lighter week in the run up to that event. I've included the "Calories" column just as a matter of interest really, as I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but it is interesting non-the-less.
There are two things that I think I need to work on, or at least keep in mind, in the run up to the October marathon I have lined up. Firstly, I need to incorporate some hill training as part of my longer runs. This is because the Dartmoor Vale marathon is quite "lumpy". I am hoping that after the summer season is out of the way I will be able to get a long to a few Trotter weekend social runs where there are often some hills thrown into those sessions.
Secondly, I am aware I haven't really been doing enough speed work. This is at least partly due to the hotter weather, where it's harder to get the speed in without feeling quickly drained. On the positive though, I am at least getting a parkrun in which is a good, quick run out and they are enjoyable too.
Haytor Heller marshalling
The other thing I mentioned in my previous post is that I was marshalling at the Haytor Heller, which is put on by my running club (Teignbridge Trotters). It was a brilliant event in hot weather, and it's great to be a very small part of the running of these events. The winner again did the event in under 40-mins which is just mind boggling and equates to around 6.5min/miles on what is very tough terrain.
I had a great marshalling point which was in a shaded area where the runners come down a path, over an old granite bridge and disappear up through the trees before a very steep incline. After the event, I went back to race HQ where I had my complementary burger which went down very well indeed!
Friday, July 19, 2013
A hot week!
Everyone is enjoying the prolonged nice weather, including myself. However, it's not good for running, but I'm doing my best to keep going. I'm drinking plenty of water each day and I've completed each session so far this week.
Wednesday, was the "reccy run" of the Haytor Heller event which is put on by Teignbridge Trotters. It's 6 miles on a tough trail course; I would say it's unrunnable for large parts of it, with large boulders/stones, very steep inclines/declines, a small river crossing etc. However, I had a look at the course record, and it is under 40mins, which is actually quicker than I can run 6 miles on a nice, flat tarmac course which is a bit humbling. The group that I was in ended up being the middle group, and we did stop a few times to let people catch up etc, but we took 90 minutes to do the course! This was on a pleasant, dry evening, if a bit hot. I can imagine it would have easily been 30mins longer if it had been raining heavily.
Generally, I don't like the offroad stuff but I did enjoy it last night even though it was very much a shuffle/walk/climb strategy that I adopted. It was made even better that we all ended up at a hotel owned by a fellow Trotter near Haytor, which we had a meal and a couple of shandies.
I'm marshaling the event on Saturday so I hope I don't send the lead runners off in the wrong direction! I can imagine it would very easy to do in the middle of nowhere on Dartmoor.... Below is the trace of my "reccy run". The trace has gone wrong slightly, as the straight line shouldn't be there and is from the end of the route back to the hotel.
Thursday I did a 10-miler after work and it was extremely hot, but I'm pleased I got the miles in. Also, I happened to find a crispy fiver on the floor, which helped give be a boost! Tomorrow I'm planning a parkrun (plus the marshalling duties) and then I'm hoping to 18 on Sunday. I think the only way I'm going to get 18 in is if I get up early on the morning when it'll hopefully be cooler, so we'll see how that works out!
Wednesday, was the "reccy run" of the Haytor Heller event which is put on by Teignbridge Trotters. It's 6 miles on a tough trail course; I would say it's unrunnable for large parts of it, with large boulders/stones, very steep inclines/declines, a small river crossing etc. However, I had a look at the course record, and it is under 40mins, which is actually quicker than I can run 6 miles on a nice, flat tarmac course which is a bit humbling. The group that I was in ended up being the middle group, and we did stop a few times to let people catch up etc, but we took 90 minutes to do the course! This was on a pleasant, dry evening, if a bit hot. I can imagine it would have easily been 30mins longer if it had been raining heavily.
Generally, I don't like the offroad stuff but I did enjoy it last night even though it was very much a shuffle/walk/climb strategy that I adopted. It was made even better that we all ended up at a hotel owned by a fellow Trotter near Haytor, which we had a meal and a couple of shandies.
I'm marshaling the event on Saturday so I hope I don't send the lead runners off in the wrong direction! I can imagine it would very easy to do in the middle of nowhere on Dartmoor.... Below is the trace of my "reccy run". The trace has gone wrong slightly, as the straight line shouldn't be there and is from the end of the route back to the hotel.
Thursday I did a 10-miler after work and it was extremely hot, but I'm pleased I got the miles in. Also, I happened to find a crispy fiver on the floor, which helped give be a boost! Tomorrow I'm planning a parkrun (plus the marshalling duties) and then I'm hoping to 18 on Sunday. I think the only way I'm going to get 18 in is if I get up early on the morning when it'll hopefully be cooler, so we'll see how that works out!
Monday, July 15, 2013
parkrun PB, plus a busy week planned.
I mentioned in a recent post that Barnstaple parkrun looked flat and fast. My wife and I fancied a weekend away and we like the North Devon area so we decided to book into a hotel in Barnstaple with a view of doing the parkrun on the Saturday AM and relaxing the rest of the weekend.
I mentioned in that post that I thought Barnstaple would be fast and mentioned getting a 20.xx time. Unfortunately, I was some way off of getting this time but I did manage a PB of 21:29. It was only a 3-second PB, but it still counts. It's interesting though as I genuinely though that Barnstaple would be significantly quicker than Killerton but it turns out I was wrong.
The splits were:
1 6:39.3
2 6:48.8
3 7:01.2
3.14 1:00.2 (Avg Pace: 7:04), with an overall average pace of 6:49.
I mentioned in that post that I thought Barnstaple would be fast and mentioned getting a 20.xx time. Unfortunately, I was some way off of getting this time but I did manage a PB of 21:29. It was only a 3-second PB, but it still counts. It's interesting though as I genuinely though that Barnstaple would be significantly quicker than Killerton but it turns out I was wrong.
The splits were:
1 6:39.3
2 6:48.8
3 7:01.2
3.14 1:00.2 (Avg Pace: 7:04), with an overall average pace of 6:49.
Disappointingly, you can see that my second and third miles were significantly slower than the first mile, so there is something to work on there. I would definitely do the Barnstaple parkrun again though, and I hope to keep chipping away at my time to see if can get that elusive 20.xx time. To do that, I need to average around 06:45 for the 5K, although Barnstaple was very slightly long (according to my Garmin) which could be a slight issue for me.
Moving on to this week, I have got a slightly unusual week planned. I am marshalling at a club event (the Haytor Heller) on Saturday and there is a "reccie run" on Wednesday which I am attending also, so I'll be doing 6-7 miles around Dartmoor on Wednesday evening. It should be good, but I expect it's going to be quite hot and I don't love the off road stuff. A fellow member owns a hotel near Haytor so we'll be going back to there for some food afterwards.
Other than that, I have the usual mix of sessions planned with an 18 miler planned for the weekend. We'll see how that goes, as I haven't really been enjoying this warmer weather from a running point of view.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
5x1K session
I was due to do a 5x1K session with the club last night, but there was a last minute of change of training route to one I don't especially like, so I decided to do my own session on a course I know. I did a 5x1K session by myself with plenty of recovery in between (plus 2 mile w/u and 2 mile c/d). It had cooled a bit, but it was a tough session and the stats for the efforts were:
Time Av pace
4:09.7 6:41
3:58.0 6:25
3:56.4 6:21
3:54.5 6:18
3:59.7 6:23, which is an average pace for the 1K efforts of 6:25.
I'm relatively pleased with that as I felt strong on the run, but also disheartened as I did the same session on the same route (the only difference being that it was with the Club and not by myself) back in March and the average pace then was more or less the same (6.24), so I seem to have plateued a bit
Looking back through my training log, I'm pleased that I've kept the consistency going with a mixture of LSRs, speed sessions etc (I've done 300 miles since my marathon at the start of May, covering 41 training sessions) but it seems I need to tweak something if I want to improve. Not sure what yet though....
Rest day for me today as I've ran 3 days in a row this week.
Time Av pace
4:09.7 6:41
3:58.0 6:25
3:56.4 6:21
3:54.5 6:18
3:59.7 6:23, which is an average pace for the 1K efforts of 6:25.
I'm relatively pleased with that as I felt strong on the run, but also disheartened as I did the same session on the same route (the only difference being that it was with the Club and not by myself) back in March and the average pace then was more or less the same (6.24), so I seem to have plateued a bit
Looking back through my training log, I'm pleased that I've kept the consistency going with a mixture of LSRs, speed sessions etc (I've done 300 miles since my marathon at the start of May, covering 41 training sessions) but it seems I need to tweak something if I want to improve. Not sure what yet though....
Rest day for me today as I've ran 3 days in a row this week.
Monday, July 08, 2013
parkrun PB and some inspiration
My wife and I went and did a parkrun on the weekend, and we both got PBs which is great. I finished in 21:32 and was 27/142 with an age grading of 62% which I'm really pleased with. This time is nearly 90seconds quicker than my first attempt on 8th June and nearly 30 seconds quicker than my previous official PB of 22:05 on 15th June. I do have my eye on getting a 20.xx as I think I should be able to do that on a flat course, and I under Barnstaple parkrun is flat so I'm thinking of heading there soon to see what I can do there.
I have recently finished a great book; Running with Kenyans, by Adharanand Finn. It is a great book, but I wanted to blog about one particular section. I know that runners are often asked "Why do you do it?"or "What's the point?" and I think a couple of paragraphs in one section of Finn's book really stand out for me to help explain this.
I have recently finished a great book; Running with Kenyans, by Adharanand Finn. It is a great book, but I wanted to blog about one particular section. I know that runners are often asked "Why do you do it?"or "What's the point?" and I think a couple of paragraphs in one section of Finn's book really stand out for me to help explain this.
"As humans, on a basic level, we get hungry, we sleep, we yearn for love, we run. Just watch small children left unsupervised to play. They can't stop running. It is part of what makes us human."I'm not sure if I should directly quote much more but it is a great book, and Finn was interviewed over two recent episodes of marathonTALK which I also think is definitely worth a listen.
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
A bit of an update
I haven't posted since my win over my sister-in-law in the Torbay Half Marathon, but I've been keeping the training going.
I did a parkrun (my 3rd, at Killerton) on Saturday and went for a medium long run with a couple of club mates on the Sunday which helped me towards a weekly mileage of 32.44 over 5 sessions following the half marathon. This was about 5 miles down on my original weekly plan, but I was feeling quite tired last week so decided not to do the planned 15 LSR but settled for around 10 instead.
This week I've got around 40 miles planned including an 18 mile LSR, but I'll see how that goes. I did a 6 mile easy run yesterday and felt fine, and today I've got an 8 mile with 5 at half marathon pace planned.
For the run up to the Dartmoor Vale marathon I was looking around for a fast half marathon and have settled on Bridgwater Half Marathon in September. It's not the best timing as it's a bit too far away from the Dartmoor Vale marathon but it will be a good test to see where I am with my fitness and general speed. Looking at the course profile (although the course has changed since last year) I will be looking for a PB, but as always, it depends on so many things leading up to the event as well as what happens on the day itself.
My wife and I are also looking at doing an "away" parkrun and may travel up to Barnstaple for a couple of nights. Barnstaple is where we visited prior to my PB at Bideford half marathon but I expect I won't be quite as careful regarding food (and, importantly, drink!) for a 5K. We happen to know of a decent cocktail place in Barnstaple where I hope to be sampling a few drinks on the Saturday evening.
I did a parkrun (my 3rd, at Killerton) on Saturday and went for a medium long run with a couple of club mates on the Sunday which helped me towards a weekly mileage of 32.44 over 5 sessions following the half marathon. This was about 5 miles down on my original weekly plan, but I was feeling quite tired last week so decided not to do the planned 15 LSR but settled for around 10 instead.
This week I've got around 40 miles planned including an 18 mile LSR, but I'll see how that goes. I did a 6 mile easy run yesterday and felt fine, and today I've got an 8 mile with 5 at half marathon pace planned.
For the run up to the Dartmoor Vale marathon I was looking around for a fast half marathon and have settled on Bridgwater Half Marathon in September. It's not the best timing as it's a bit too far away from the Dartmoor Vale marathon but it will be a good test to see where I am with my fitness and general speed. Looking at the course profile (although the course has changed since last year) I will be looking for a PB, but as always, it depends on so many things leading up to the event as well as what happens on the day itself.
My wife and I are also looking at doing an "away" parkrun and may travel up to Barnstaple for a couple of nights. Barnstaple is where we visited prior to my PB at Bideford half marathon but I expect I won't be quite as careful regarding food (and, importantly, drink!) for a 5K. We happen to know of a decent cocktail place in Barnstaple where I hope to be sampling a few drinks on the Saturday evening.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Torbay Half Marathon completed in 1:43:36
I'm really pleased to say that I completed the Torbay Half Marathon yesterday in a course record time of 1:43:36. I'm happy with this time as it is a strong course record for me with my previous best on this course being 1:55:16 from 2007. Also, last year I struggled around in 2:00:16 so this is nearly 17 minutes quicker (i.e., about 1min 20seconds per mile, which is quite a big improvement).
It was a great race for many reasons:
It was a great race for many reasons:
- As well as me running the event, my wife, sister-in-law and my father-in-law were all running the race and we all finished the event being really happy with our respective times.
- It was the first relatively large event that I ran where a large number of club mates were also participating. About 40 Teignbridge Trotters did the event and there were lots of other Trotters out on the course cheering everyone on, which was great and really added to the atmosphere.
- Prior to the race I had arranged to meet up with an old school friend and his brother. I hadn't seen the school mate for probably nearly 20 years, although I do see his brother occasionally when I'm out running. It was great to meet up for a couple of beers after the race with them and hopefully we'll do it again soon.
I'm skirting around the subject, but as I mentioned in a previous post I wanted to do well in this event and I wanted to beat my sister-in-law. We had a bet on which said the loser would buy a round of drinks after the race and I'm pleased to say that I managed to beat her (it could be said that I annihilated her...) quite comfortably with my 1:43:36 against her 1:48:19. This is the first time I've managed to beat her and it's good that her time of 1:48 would previously comfortably have been good enough, so it does show that my training is paying off. She did really well too though, and she's already challenged me for a rematch on this course next year.
In terms of the preparation for the event, I think I learned a few things from it. I have tracked my calorie intake in the run up to the event on MFP and although it was (obviously) way over for the days prior to the event I felt more prepared for an event than ever before. Basically, if I was hungry I ate more or less what I wanted, with the focus on carbs. For example, on Saturday afternoon I found myself feeling peckish and even though it was only a couple of hours until our evening meal I bought a large cheese baguette. I think this mentality and approach really helped.
Also, the event itself went well. The splits for the event were 8:20, 8:05, 7:53, 7:43, 7:48, 8:01, 7:37, 7:49, 7:48, 7:39, 7:43, 8:28, 7:39. It was a slow first mile as it always tends to be at these relatively big events (1500+ finishers) but this suits me really as it forces me to start off steadily. The 8:28 for the 12th mile is due to a hill so although it may look like I was drastically tiring there, the hill is the reason. Looking at the Garmin I negative split by about 20 seconds so I'm pleased with that too!
Weather conditions were more or less perfect I'd say as it was cool with a bit of drizzle in the air for some of it. For about 2 miles (2 lots of 1 mile from Torquay back towards Paignton) there was a bit of a headwind but it was manageable.
It's unfortunate that it's not a PB (1:42:02 at Bideford from March is my PB) but I'm still really pleased as I think Torbay is a tougher course. Yesterday was the end of the the first week of my Autumn marathon training plan, so I'm starting in good shape for that I hope.
So, all in all, a great event...made even better by me getting a couple of cheeky beers in at my SiL's expense!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
2nd parkrun (and the small matter of registering for my second marathon this year).
This morning I got my second parkrun in as many weeks competed, and I'm pleased to say I trimmed nearly a minute off the time from last week on the same Killerton course. The time this week was 22:05. Looking at the results for the event (I'm told I mustn't call the parkruns races....) I noticed that there were 14 SM 35-39 (my age category) and I finished in 5th place so I'm quite pleased with that really. Overall I was 36/174.
The fact that I had completed the course last week really helped. I purposefully stood closer to the start line so I didn't get held up as much as last week in the first few hundred metres. Also, knowing the profile of the course help and I ran quite a good race I think, although I did tire in from about 2.5 miles. I don't think I could have gone any quicker today, so I'm pleased with this as a realistic time and it gives me something to aim for now. It was also great as my wife came along for her first parkrun and came second out of six in her age category, in a time of 25:25.
Oh, and I've entered my second marathon of the year. I entered yesterday evening and I'm in for the Dartmoor Vale Marathon in October. The course is very local to me, so although it is a tough course and a potentially demoralising race as it's a two-lap course, I decided to give it a go. I need to get some hill training in though; the below is a the profile of the half marathon from when I did the race last year. The full marathon is more or less two lots of this route, apart from the last mile or so which splits off towards the finish. The section where it rises from 200ft to about 480ft in about mile is particularly tough.
The fact that I had completed the course last week really helped. I purposefully stood closer to the start line so I didn't get held up as much as last week in the first few hundred metres. Also, knowing the profile of the course help and I ran quite a good race I think, although I did tire in from about 2.5 miles. I don't think I could have gone any quicker today, so I'm pleased with this as a realistic time and it gives me something to aim for now. It was also great as my wife came along for her first parkrun and came second out of six in her age category, in a time of 25:25.
Oh, and I've entered my second marathon of the year. I entered yesterday evening and I'm in for the Dartmoor Vale Marathon in October. The course is very local to me, so although it is a tough course and a potentially demoralising race as it's a two-lap course, I decided to give it a go. I need to get some hill training in though; the below is a the profile of the half marathon from when I did the race last year. The full marathon is more or less two lots of this route, apart from the last mile or so which splits off towards the finish. The section where it rises from 200ft to about 480ft in about mile is particularly tough.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Autumn marathon?
I did a 13 mile LSR last night; it was supposed to be 14 miles, but I somehow miscalculated the route and only noticed when I got home! Anyway, it ended up being 11 miles at 10min/mile pace and then for the last two I purposefully stepped it up and did them in 7:40 and 7:31, which I was really pleased with. I was tired at the end, but felt good.
Part of my LSR yesterday included a loop of the Torbay route. Before I joined Teignbridge Trotters the vast majority of my training was on that route. I used to park at a leisure centre as I was a gym member (I've since ditched the membership) and run from there. I think a relatively large number of Teignbridge Trotters are invading Torbay again for the Half. Last time I checked I think there were 30-odd Trotters entered so it should be a good event.
I'm planning a slow 6-8 tonight after work, and then hoping to get to a parkrun tomorrow for the second time in two weeks (my first ever parkrun was last week).
I've found myself looking at other marathons. I was very tempted with Florence marathon in November as I know a couple of people who are doing it. It looks a great place, but I can't really justify the time off work for it and flying out Friday and back Monday would mean two days off work, and being a teacher my wife couldn't come either. So looking at UK ones I looked at Bournemouth but at 50 quid, that's a rip off so I'm definitely not doing that! Isle of Wight looks interesting, but I hear they sometimes get traffic issues getting over and back. Therefore, top contenders at the moment are New Forest in September or Dartmoor Vale in October. I fancy the New Forest one as it gets good reviews, but timing/training wise it may be a few weeks too early. Dartmoor Vale is local to me so logistically is much easier, but there's a massive hill on the course. I have done the Dartmoor Vale Half a couple of times which means for the marathon course I'd have to do the hill twice, so not sure on that. On the halfs I've done I remember thinking "Hmmm, I couldn't face doing this course twice!".
I've got plenty of time to book something, but it's strange I find myself looking at another one now. After my marathon in May I had told myself I wouldn't look to do another one until next year but I find myself researching ones for this year anyway...
Part of my LSR yesterday included a loop of the Torbay route. Before I joined Teignbridge Trotters the vast majority of my training was on that route. I used to park at a leisure centre as I was a gym member (I've since ditched the membership) and run from there. I think a relatively large number of Teignbridge Trotters are invading Torbay again for the Half. Last time I checked I think there were 30-odd Trotters entered so it should be a good event.
I'm planning a slow 6-8 tonight after work, and then hoping to get to a parkrun tomorrow for the second time in two weeks (my first ever parkrun was last week).
I've found myself looking at other marathons. I was very tempted with Florence marathon in November as I know a couple of people who are doing it. It looks a great place, but I can't really justify the time off work for it and flying out Friday and back Monday would mean two days off work, and being a teacher my wife couldn't come either. So looking at UK ones I looked at Bournemouth but at 50 quid, that's a rip off so I'm definitely not doing that! Isle of Wight looks interesting, but I hear they sometimes get traffic issues getting over and back. Therefore, top contenders at the moment are New Forest in September or Dartmoor Vale in October. I fancy the New Forest one as it gets good reviews, but timing/training wise it may be a few weeks too early. Dartmoor Vale is local to me so logistically is much easier, but there's a massive hill on the course. I have done the Dartmoor Vale Half a couple of times which means for the marathon course I'd have to do the hill twice, so not sure on that. On the halfs I've done I remember thinking "Hmmm, I couldn't face doing this course twice!".
I've got plenty of time to book something, but it's strange I find myself looking at another one now. After my marathon in May I had told myself I wouldn't look to do another one until next year but I find myself researching ones for this year anyway...
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
A couple of interesting sessions
I was really pleased with the session I did yesterday. It's an 8-mile route where I do 2 miles warmup, 5 miles at quicker than half marathon race pace and then 1 mile warm down. It was a lot cooler yesterday than it was on the weekend and for the 5-mile block I managed 7:28, 7:26, 7:18, 7:15, 7:24 which is an average of 7:22. One week earlier, on more or less the same course when it was hotter I only managed 7:50, 7:39, 7:40, 7:36, 7:45 which is an average of 7:42. I'm really pleased with that and I now have a bit more confidence going into the Torbay Half, as long as it remains cool.
On the Shades thread on Runner's World there is currently a lot of talk about Base Training (BT). There are various methods of doing BT but the simplest seems to be the Maffetone method of building a good aerobic base, based on a heart rate that is the Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF). Someone on the thread has seen some great results from this. When he started, he could run at 12 min/mile at his MAF of 142bpm. After sometime, at the same 142bpm he was running 8:30 min/miles, so it means that he was going a lot quicker for the same level of exertion.
From the Maffetone site:
So, for me I'm 37. I don't have any injury and I more less fall into section 2)c). Therefore, 180-37 gives me a MAF of 143, meaning my MAF zone for base training is between 133 and 143 BMP. This means that all training should be done between these zones (without exception), which equates to quite a low heart rate for most people which can be off-putting as the pace is slow.
There is more about this here and a good blog post from an ultra runner here.
Anyway, I had an easy 5-miler planned today and I thought I'd give it a go to see what pace I'd be running at if I did try BT. I'm afraid I didn't manage to stay in the 133-143 range for the whole run but I was relatively pleased. A screenshot of my HR together with the route elevation is:
You can see I started off too quickly but got into the routine okay. The average for the run was 143, so I was relatively pleased.
I'm not committing to doing this yet as it means lots of slow miles for a period of several weeks but it's interesting doing a quick test to see what it's all about. To be honest, I'm not sure if I have the patience for it but I'll definitely be keeping it mind.
On the Shades thread on Runner's World there is currently a lot of talk about Base Training (BT). There are various methods of doing BT but the simplest seems to be the Maffetone method of building a good aerobic base, based on a heart rate that is the Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF). Someone on the thread has seen some great results from this. When he started, he could run at 12 min/mile at his MAF of 142bpm. After sometime, at the same 142bpm he was running 8:30 min/miles, so it means that he was going a lot quicker for the same level of exertion.
From the Maffetone site:
To find your maximum aerobic training heart rate, there are two important steps. First, subtract your age from 180. Next, find the best category for your present state of fitness and health, and make the appropriate adjustments:
1. Subtract your age from 180.
2. Modify this number by selecting among the following categories the one that best matches your fitness and health profile:
a. If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or are on any regular medication, subtract an additional 10.
b. If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back into training, subtract an additional 5.
c. If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems just mentioned, keep the number (180–age) the same.
d. If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems listed above, and have made progress in competition without injury, add 5.
So, for me I'm 37. I don't have any injury and I more less fall into section 2)c). Therefore, 180-37 gives me a MAF of 143, meaning my MAF zone for base training is between 133 and 143 BMP. This means that all training should be done between these zones (without exception), which equates to quite a low heart rate for most people which can be off-putting as the pace is slow.
There is more about this here and a good blog post from an ultra runner here.
Anyway, I had an easy 5-miler planned today and I thought I'd give it a go to see what pace I'd be running at if I did try BT. I'm afraid I didn't manage to stay in the 133-143 range for the whole run but I was relatively pleased. A screenshot of my HR together with the route elevation is:
I'm not committing to doing this yet as it means lots of slow miles for a period of several weeks but it's interesting doing a quick test to see what it's all about. To be honest, I'm not sure if I have the patience for it but I'll definitely be keeping it mind.
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