Nearly done for 2011 then.
A good year it has to be said. Some good races, enjoyable runs, and my fastest times in many a year.
January - Just getting back into things following the few weeks layoff in Autumn '10, I had a decent enough race on the 1st at Nine Standards and then a few weeks later ran the Four Villages half marathon in exactly my anticipated time of 1hr 20min.
February was all about marathon training and the hilly 21 mile race over the lakeland passes. For something like a fourth year in a row I ran faster than the year before - good signs.
March was my holiday to the sun of Lanzarote and a lot of good training despite the horrendous wind most days.
April was the London Marathon - the climax of the previous 4 months training. It didn't go well at all. In the end I jogged home just inside the cutoff for automatic qualification for the 2012 race.
Keen top prove I was fighting fit and that the London result was NOT indicative of my true ability I entered the Keswick Half on 1st May. I got 1hr 22min and 10th place on this very hilly course and felt vindicated.
I spent the next few weeks training long in the hills for the Lakes 50 at the end of July. Again though I had a poor performance. A navigational error in the first quarter of the route and trouble eating led to my head going. I kind of gave up on the race and I ran the last 25 miles in good company so at least it was enjoyable if not the speed/time I had hoped for.
I minor setback in August meant missing the Dumfries 10k for a second successive year. I had planned to take a rest in September and stuck to my plan.
By October I was keen to train hard again and began a series of racing that almost proved too much.
Cross Country, a midweek half marathon, more XC, track sessions, rock hard 10 mile training runs.
On the first weekend of November I ran the Derwentwater 10 mile event. I knew I could beat the hour but then just prior to the start I said I admitted I was actually looking to run a 58. Despite having the heaviest legs ever I ran a mid 58 and was delighted. Two weeks later and a little more tapered I ran a long 56 at the Brampton 10 miler. Not delighted (I thought I could do a 55) but pleased with my fastest time for 6 years.
I then continued racing, 10k, XC etc, most weekends through until nearly Christmas. Crucially though, I didn't train at all in between the weekends racing, so I felt relatively fresh and able to race hard. The break from formal training did me good and I have enjoyed getting out in the daylight since finishing work for Christmas and have ran most days in the last week and a half.
2012 starts as 2011 did - the Nine standards fell race - tomorrow.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Alive and kicking
After the Brampton 10 I deliberately took my foot off the pedal. I did zero training mon- fri for four weeks. I did run a couple of nights, but very slowly, just a jog with scamp or an easy 5 or 7 miler.
Each weekend though I did a race on the Saturday and a long run of either 13 miles or 2 hours in the fells.
I was unconcerned about fitness ebbing away as I felt I needed the mental break to be ready to begin my next campaign.
This culminated in the Langdale Xmas pudding 10k which I ran in 35:30. Following that run I now feel assured that I can run a 34 minute 10k again.
Just as I was ready to begin regular nightly running again (if not quite structured training quite yet) I came down with a mild dose of winter bug. After a couple of days in front of the fire and some early nights I tried a tentative return to my 10 mile loop. Ouch! I had to turn for home after 3 miles and felt awful, but the next was much better again and managed 13 at 7 pace without issue.
I've been out the last two nights - just the 5 mile loop for now but I plan to increase the pace each day.
My biggest dilemma currently is when to start my training program for London Marathon. Its exactly 16 weeks from New Years Day to the the race. In the past I have stuck to a 16 week schedule and found myself ready to race by about week 13. Thing is if I train unspecifically for January it might be a bit tough to then up the mileage/pace for a 12 week program.
I also discovered today that Berlin Marathon 2012 (September) is full!!! If I want to continue my mini ambition to run all 5 World Marathon Majors I will need to go to Chicago - but conversely that race hasn't even opened yet!
Not much else happening - Snow came to Lakeland, Penrith Stu still ugly, people still buying race photos, Scamp still cute as a pup.
Oh yes - sorry Pauline, I didn't do the Tour de Helvellyn. It was always a bit unlikely to be honest and coincided with the day I couldn't run 10 miles, so just as well I think.
Each weekend though I did a race on the Saturday and a long run of either 13 miles or 2 hours in the fells.
I was unconcerned about fitness ebbing away as I felt I needed the mental break to be ready to begin my next campaign.
This culminated in the Langdale Xmas pudding 10k which I ran in 35:30. Following that run I now feel assured that I can run a 34 minute 10k again.
Just as I was ready to begin regular nightly running again (if not quite structured training quite yet) I came down with a mild dose of winter bug. After a couple of days in front of the fire and some early nights I tried a tentative return to my 10 mile loop. Ouch! I had to turn for home after 3 miles and felt awful, but the next was much better again and managed 13 at 7 pace without issue.
I've been out the last two nights - just the 5 mile loop for now but I plan to increase the pace each day.
My biggest dilemma currently is when to start my training program for London Marathon. Its exactly 16 weeks from New Years Day to the the race. In the past I have stuck to a 16 week schedule and found myself ready to race by about week 13. Thing is if I train unspecifically for January it might be a bit tough to then up the mileage/pace for a 12 week program.
I also discovered today that Berlin Marathon 2012 (September) is full!!! If I want to continue my mini ambition to run all 5 World Marathon Majors I will need to go to Chicago - but conversely that race hasn't even opened yet!
Not much else happening - Snow came to Lakeland, Penrith Stu still ugly, people still buying race photos, Scamp still cute as a pup.
Oh yes - sorry Pauline, I didn't do the Tour de Helvellyn. It was always a bit unlikely to be honest and coincided with the day I couldn't run 10 miles, so just as well I think.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
56:52
Just a quick report on yesterdays final (for me) big race of 2011. The Brampton to Carlisle 10 miler.
I ensured I was up early and finished eating with 4 hours to the gun = no trouble from a stitch
I had took it very easy all week with 2x 1mile at 90% midweek and just a 4m jog every night with Scamp, so my legs were not tired or lacking in 'race ping' as they had been at Derwentwater 10.
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Me. Plucky behind (obviously) and my Keswick teamate Josh |
We set off down the hill in Brampton and I found myself running near Milly, Jason and Chris. Plucky had made a slightly better start and was running alongside George and Harry (who had both beaten us by a good margin at Derwent). I knew I needed to be running with the likes of George if I was to have a strong day so I eased myself up into thier group which also contained Steve Hebblewthwaite and Josh from Keswick - two more lads who always beat me.
It seemed a bit fast but I was managing OK and by three miles we had only been running for 16 minutes!
At three miles there is a reasonable little climb which saw George and Harry ease away a few metres ahead, and Plucky lose a similar distance behind. Very soon after, Steve Hebb also eased away leaving just me and Josh running together.
I tried so very very hard from about 3.5 to 5 miles to try and regain contact with my three erstwhile companions. I almost made it too, but with still 15 metres to gain I began falling back and resigned myself. The effort had been enough to get rid of Josh though so I was now completely on my own. And very knackered.
At 6 miles my time was 33:12 (5:32 pace) but I really struggled from thereon in. I only just beat 24 minutes for those last 4 miles, such was the drop off in my pace. I was only passed by a couple of lads though. Unfortunately one of them was Jason who took the V40 1st place (didnt even realise I had been in 1st place). Immediately upon crossing the line I was off to take photos of those who finished after I did so didnt get to the presentation but it turns out we won the veterans team prize and I got 2nd V40.
I frontran from 3miles and it was 9.5miles when I was caught by another runner. If only I had been able to run in that wee group with George, Harry and Steve Hebb' I reckon I would have been carried along to at least a minute faster compared to doing those 6 miles on my own. Still, its my fastest time for 6 years and I know I can go a bit faster still - theres plenty of life in this old dog yet.
Time for a lovely rest now.
Apart from next Saturdays XC meeting in Carlisle ( could win the series vets championship if all goes well)
And the Cumbria XC champs the week after
Oh and maybe the 37 mile ultra Tour de Helvellyn the week before xmas
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Not raining
My plan to train like a demon to get into some kind of form for the Brampton to Carlisle 10 has been thwarted somewhat by being so bloody knackered from racing that I have still been training much less than usual.
The run with Plucky has to be through the town now its dark by 5pm and consequently we have to take a little extra care at junctions, with pedestrians and at road crossings etc. Doesn't matter though - the effort is still the same ( brisk to hard) and we have no measured route or way of knowing our pace anyway so its all about the effort for the given time. I cant remember if I ran the next day but if I did it would just have been a slow jog.
No such trouble remembering what happened last Thursday. I went down to the track to train with the Harriers who were doing 800metre reps. Now 800s are OK for me. Its the shortest distance I would usually run (apart from an occasional 400 as part of a pyramid session), but I would usually do 6 of them - the session set by the club coach was for 8!!
As we began I found myself leading the second group (first group is ridiculously fast even for the first half a lap to ever consider running with). I knew there was no way I was a fast enough runner to be leading some of those lads and sure enough at the bell, when the coach called out 74 seconds, they are buzzed past me and I trailed in at 2:31. The recovery seemed ludicrously long at 800m jogging, but I saw little point in doing my 'own thing' and stuck with the program. AS i settled into the session I was knocking out 2:29s consistently and even managed a 2:25 for my sixth. I paid for that one though as my seventh and final efforts were both just inside 2:40. Still, 6 by 800 metres at inside 5 minute miling average pace is my best for perhaps 5 years. Later that evening I felt the most tired I have felt since marathon training earlier this year - a good kind of tired.
Friday I saw little point in running and instead I walked Scamp for extra time. Saturday, the day prior to a race I popped down to Glenridding and enjoyed a fellwalk (with a little jogging included) with Scamp, and my camera taking some shots of runners in a big trailrunning event being held in the valleys.
Sunday morning saw the city shrouded in a heavy mist but as I drove South I left the mist behind and witnessed the most magnificent views I've seen in a good long while (this would be an ideal opportunity to include a couple of photos had I stopped to take any). By the time I got to Keswick I was feeling on top of the world and looking forward to running in the spectacular surroundings. Having walked Scamp or 60 minutes earlier, I then took him for another short walk in Keswick before he had to sit in the van for a couple of hours while I raced. I think now that this was possibly just a tad too much time on my feet to then race well, but no matter, this was only to be the precursor race to Brampton, two weeks later.
The gun sounded and we were off. A big contingent from Border Harriers were present. Way ahead was James Douglas (winner in 2010 and eventual 3rd 2011) and just a head was George Thompson (vet 55 from January). Then I was in a group containing Harry Earl, Chris Neil, Jason Holmes and Plucky (plucky NOT in Border any more - hey maybe he wants to join Eden Runners?). At three miles we were on exactly 17 minutes, at four we had gained another 15 seconds over "evens" and I figured this would give a sub hour result as long as everything held together on the much hillier second half. At about 5 miles myself and Harry had caught George and left Chris, Jason and Plucky behind. George rallied though and took Harry with him. I was isolated and by six miles Jason caught and passed me. At 8 miles Chris also caught me but at 9 there was only 20 metres between the three of us. I had 6 minutes 15 seconds available to run 58:59 and saw little point in going flat out to beat the other two lads. So they both beat me, which is a bit galling, but my time of 58:30 means I ran a 5:45 final mile and importantly DIDN'T crucify myself to be, say 18th instead of 21st.
I had said for ages that I wanted to run sub 60 for the race but I knew I had a 58 in me and with the conditions near perfect I am really very pleased with my performance. At no point in the race did I feel like I was actually racing though - In a good racing race I will be pushing myself rock hard and enjoying it and knowing I am running well and forcing the pace and getting absolutely everything available from my body out via my heart and lungs, through my legs and onto the tarmac. Here it was more a case of running hard but not flat out - heart and lungs working hard but unable to push to the maximum due to leg muscles being so tired and unresponsive and brain frightened of something going wrong and having to drastically slow down. At Brampton I will go to pains to ensure my legs are in good shape. I will NOT be going on a long walk prior and I will be be adopting a do or die attitude. If Jason and Chris want to take me on they need to be prepared for a MUCH harder time than last Sunday. I may overdo it and crawl home from 7 miles but if I get it right I will run sub 56 minutes.
Bring it on - I cant bloody wait.
The day after the Derwent race I met up with Milly and Gareth and enjoyed a very easy 50 minute jog with loads of craic about the race and catching up in general. Poor Gareth has been out injured for weeks and wasnt as involved with the craic and more involved in trying to keep up with us.
Tonight I joined Plucky again for the 50 minute pacey run. After a two mile jog to meet up approx halfway between our homes we launch into a brisk tempo. Darren was also present. Strange lad Darren in that he could keep up with me and Plucky tonight (even though at one point Plucky was dropped by a few metres) yet in races he is always well behind us (61 mins at Derwent 10). As we neared the point when we part company I suggested it would be funny if we both then slowed down as the pressure to keep up the high pace was gone once we were alone. Plucky said he WOULD be slowing down - in other words he was finding it too hard to continue. I saw this as an opportunity to gain over him by ensuring I ran as hard as I could all the way home. So I did. Darren has a Garmin and it showed 6:12 pace when we went our separate ways - thats not bad considering its through town and the varoius obstructions to free running as I described earlier.
Track again coming up Thursday - dont know what Ill do tomorrow.
The run with Plucky has to be through the town now its dark by 5pm and consequently we have to take a little extra care at junctions, with pedestrians and at road crossings etc. Doesn't matter though - the effort is still the same ( brisk to hard) and we have no measured route or way of knowing our pace anyway so its all about the effort for the given time. I cant remember if I ran the next day but if I did it would just have been a slow jog.
No such trouble remembering what happened last Thursday. I went down to the track to train with the Harriers who were doing 800metre reps. Now 800s are OK for me. Its the shortest distance I would usually run (apart from an occasional 400 as part of a pyramid session), but I would usually do 6 of them - the session set by the club coach was for 8!!
As we began I found myself leading the second group (first group is ridiculously fast even for the first half a lap to ever consider running with). I knew there was no way I was a fast enough runner to be leading some of those lads and sure enough at the bell, when the coach called out 74 seconds, they are buzzed past me and I trailed in at 2:31. The recovery seemed ludicrously long at 800m jogging, but I saw little point in doing my 'own thing' and stuck with the program. AS i settled into the session I was knocking out 2:29s consistently and even managed a 2:25 for my sixth. I paid for that one though as my seventh and final efforts were both just inside 2:40. Still, 6 by 800 metres at inside 5 minute miling average pace is my best for perhaps 5 years. Later that evening I felt the most tired I have felt since marathon training earlier this year - a good kind of tired.
Friday I saw little point in running and instead I walked Scamp for extra time. Saturday, the day prior to a race I popped down to Glenridding and enjoyed a fellwalk (with a little jogging included) with Scamp, and my camera taking some shots of runners in a big trailrunning event being held in the valleys.
Sunday morning saw the city shrouded in a heavy mist but as I drove South I left the mist behind and witnessed the most magnificent views I've seen in a good long while (this would be an ideal opportunity to include a couple of photos had I stopped to take any). By the time I got to Keswick I was feeling on top of the world and looking forward to running in the spectacular surroundings. Having walked Scamp or 60 minutes earlier, I then took him for another short walk in Keswick before he had to sit in the van for a couple of hours while I raced. I think now that this was possibly just a tad too much time on my feet to then race well, but no matter, this was only to be the precursor race to Brampton, two weeks later.
The gun sounded and we were off. A big contingent from Border Harriers were present. Way ahead was James Douglas (winner in 2010 and eventual 3rd 2011) and just a head was George Thompson (vet 55 from January). Then I was in a group containing Harry Earl, Chris Neil, Jason Holmes and Plucky (plucky NOT in Border any more - hey maybe he wants to join Eden Runners?). At three miles we were on exactly 17 minutes, at four we had gained another 15 seconds over "evens" and I figured this would give a sub hour result as long as everything held together on the much hillier second half. At about 5 miles myself and Harry had caught George and left Chris, Jason and Plucky behind. George rallied though and took Harry with him. I was isolated and by six miles Jason caught and passed me. At 8 miles Chris also caught me but at 9 there was only 20 metres between the three of us. I had 6 minutes 15 seconds available to run 58:59 and saw little point in going flat out to beat the other two lads. So they both beat me, which is a bit galling, but my time of 58:30 means I ran a 5:45 final mile and importantly DIDN'T crucify myself to be, say 18th instead of 21st.
I had said for ages that I wanted to run sub 60 for the race but I knew I had a 58 in me and with the conditions near perfect I am really very pleased with my performance. At no point in the race did I feel like I was actually racing though - In a good racing race I will be pushing myself rock hard and enjoying it and knowing I am running well and forcing the pace and getting absolutely everything available from my body out via my heart and lungs, through my legs and onto the tarmac. Here it was more a case of running hard but not flat out - heart and lungs working hard but unable to push to the maximum due to leg muscles being so tired and unresponsive and brain frightened of something going wrong and having to drastically slow down. At Brampton I will go to pains to ensure my legs are in good shape. I will NOT be going on a long walk prior and I will be be adopting a do or die attitude. If Jason and Chris want to take me on they need to be prepared for a MUCH harder time than last Sunday. I may overdo it and crawl home from 7 miles but if I get it right I will run sub 56 minutes.
Bring it on - I cant bloody wait.
The day after the Derwent race I met up with Milly and Gareth and enjoyed a very easy 50 minute jog with loads of craic about the race and catching up in general. Poor Gareth has been out injured for weeks and wasnt as involved with the craic and more involved in trying to keep up with us.
Tonight I joined Plucky again for the 50 minute pacey run. After a two mile jog to meet up approx halfway between our homes we launch into a brisk tempo. Darren was also present. Strange lad Darren in that he could keep up with me and Plucky tonight (even though at one point Plucky was dropped by a few metres) yet in races he is always well behind us (61 mins at Derwent 10). As we neared the point when we part company I suggested it would be funny if we both then slowed down as the pressure to keep up the high pace was gone once we were alone. Plucky said he WOULD be slowing down - in other words he was finding it too hard to continue. I saw this as an opportunity to gain over him by ensuring I ran as hard as I could all the way home. So I did. Darren has a Garmin and it showed 6:12 pace when we went our separate ways - thats not bad considering its through town and the varoius obstructions to free running as I described earlier.
Track again coming up Thursday - dont know what Ill do tomorrow.
Monday, October 31, 2011
No training
First there was a Cross Country meet at Penrith, then 4 days later an offroad, hilly, half marathon then 3 days after that another cross country, this time at Burnley. Inbetween that I haven't trained - didn't seem to be any need to.
The first XC was for the veteran Championship of Cumbria. I didn't win! The following day I enjoyed an outing in the valley behind Skiddaw, running about 15 miles or so in real gloomy conditions. Very easy pace though and little climbing.
Then Monday I met up with Milly who was doing some fartlek training. Id done a handful of miles easy and basically was going home but I joined in a five minute effort with him, then a two before jogging the short distance home while he got on with the rest of his session.
Whilst I never intended the midweek race to curtail my normal training I figured that to run 10m brisk with Plucky just 17 hours prior would be likely to get me injured so I rested up on Tuesday.
The half marathon was on forest tracks in an RAF base about 20 miles from Carlisle. Only about 120 entered it and most of them were RAF personnel. I knew the winning time in previous years was more than 1hr 20 and reckoned I would be able to run somewhere in that time region myself. It wasn't to be though as a young gun recorded 1:18 to my 1:21 (for third place). I was quite strong for most of the run. I almost caught the second placed lad with about 3m to go but then I faded in the final 1.5m and he pulled away again. Some lads were talking afterwards about how they both ran approx 2 mins slower at this event than the Cumbrian run just a few weeks earlier. So that would have given me a 1:19 or so if I had followed suit. 1:19 is not quite where I want to be though. I reckon I should be able to run sub 6min miling for all distances up to and including the half. However, I think the time to run a good half is when the marathon miles are in your system, perhaps early march.
The two days following the Half I did bugger all really, just a four mile jog one afternoon.
Then suddenly it was Saturday and the Burnley Cross Country was upon me. I know I shouldn't have ran it really, or certainly not at full effort, but I'd said weeks ago I would have a go at the Mid Lancs League meetings and I didn't want to back out.
Conditions were blustery but dry. Very muddy in places, but avoidable for the most part. There was even a section of about 200m of tarmac path which was Ideal for me as I was one of the few not using spikes so I could blast past folk taking care to keep to the grassy edges. With 350 runners I was always in company, and notably with fellow Border Harriers Jason Holmes and Chris Neil close by. I managed to drop them both after a lap or so but then about half a mile before the end of the race my half marathon came back to haunt me as my legs turned to mush. I was overtaken left and right and only the fast approaching finish line saved me from losing a lot more places.
Bearing in mind that I always said one race per week was too much for me, to run 3 within 8 days was a bit daft. Better than going training though. Next weekend is yet another race - the Derwentwater 10. At least there are 8 days between it and the XC so I should be OK. Theres also the Brampton to Carlisle 10 two weeks after the Derwent 10. I will be tapering a little for the B to C and therefore NOT racing the XC the weekend before it.
Yesterday (Sunday) I had a walk up a local fell - not far or steep. Today I jogged out for about 4 miles with Scamp. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel able to push on a bit with Plucky but I certainly couldn't have done anything tough today - legs are not trashed and sore just aching from deep within!
The first XC was for the veteran Championship of Cumbria. I didn't win! The following day I enjoyed an outing in the valley behind Skiddaw, running about 15 miles or so in real gloomy conditions. Very easy pace though and little climbing.
Then Monday I met up with Milly who was doing some fartlek training. Id done a handful of miles easy and basically was going home but I joined in a five minute effort with him, then a two before jogging the short distance home while he got on with the rest of his session.
Whilst I never intended the midweek race to curtail my normal training I figured that to run 10m brisk with Plucky just 17 hours prior would be likely to get me injured so I rested up on Tuesday.
The half marathon was on forest tracks in an RAF base about 20 miles from Carlisle. Only about 120 entered it and most of them were RAF personnel. I knew the winning time in previous years was more than 1hr 20 and reckoned I would be able to run somewhere in that time region myself. It wasn't to be though as a young gun recorded 1:18 to my 1:21 (for third place). I was quite strong for most of the run. I almost caught the second placed lad with about 3m to go but then I faded in the final 1.5m and he pulled away again. Some lads were talking afterwards about how they both ran approx 2 mins slower at this event than the Cumbrian run just a few weeks earlier. So that would have given me a 1:19 or so if I had followed suit. 1:19 is not quite where I want to be though. I reckon I should be able to run sub 6min miling for all distances up to and including the half. However, I think the time to run a good half is when the marathon miles are in your system, perhaps early march.
The two days following the Half I did bugger all really, just a four mile jog one afternoon.
Then suddenly it was Saturday and the Burnley Cross Country was upon me. I know I shouldn't have ran it really, or certainly not at full effort, but I'd said weeks ago I would have a go at the Mid Lancs League meetings and I didn't want to back out.
Conditions were blustery but dry. Very muddy in places, but avoidable for the most part. There was even a section of about 200m of tarmac path which was Ideal for me as I was one of the few not using spikes so I could blast past folk taking care to keep to the grassy edges. With 350 runners I was always in company, and notably with fellow Border Harriers Jason Holmes and Chris Neil close by. I managed to drop them both after a lap or so but then about half a mile before the end of the race my half marathon came back to haunt me as my legs turned to mush. I was overtaken left and right and only the fast approaching finish line saved me from losing a lot more places.
Bearing in mind that I always said one race per week was too much for me, to run 3 within 8 days was a bit daft. Better than going training though. Next weekend is yet another race - the Derwentwater 10. At least there are 8 days between it and the XC so I should be OK. Theres also the Brampton to Carlisle 10 two weeks after the Derwent 10. I will be tapering a little for the B to C and therefore NOT racing the XC the weekend before it.
Yesterday (Sunday) I had a walk up a local fell - not far or steep. Today I jogged out for about 4 miles with Scamp. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel able to push on a bit with Plucky but I certainly couldn't have done anything tough today - legs are not trashed and sore just aching from deep within!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Title shmitle
In a nod to Rick I'm not running anywhere today (Friday)
Mind you I have trained a bit hard since last weekend and with a race tomorrow I thought it would be daft to do 'owt more than a jog with Scamp. We walked home through town and the park though, so no jog even.
On sunday I was full of good intentions to run for an hour in the low fells near Cockermouth immediately prior to photographing the English Schools Fell Championship for which I had been commissioned. Various things taking my time and attention meant this was more like a 10 minute run up a hill followed by a 4 minute run back down it for fear of being late for the races. Not to worry though - I had ran the day before and even after I finished this short one I was then back on the fell with my heavy bag and covered at least 2 more miles albeit walking.
Weather wise Monday was poor. Plenty of showers and damn cold too. It seemed to have improved when I left he house with Scamp for a jog in the evening. I planned a route to see us out for at least an hour. But after 40 minutes the rain came back - with a vengeance! My choice of clothing offered little protection and I was soaked through within seconds. I considered sheltering somewhere but then decided picking up the pace and getting home ASAP was the best option. So only about 50 minutes mostly easy.
Plucky said he was up for a bit of a bash on Tuesdays for a few weeks to come so I went to his house after work and we ran a hilly 9.3 miles. Not having seen him for several weeks we had a good craic as we toured the countryside. This was unusual as Plucky usually says little when trying hard. I wasn't trying very hard either but we did seem to be flying along rather well. The calculator afterwards said 6:15 pace which was simply remarkeable as it had never felt anything more than a brisk jog.
I think we must have been well rested for Tuesdays run because the next day I felt like the 6:08 pace I managed for my "flat" 5 mile circuit was about as fast as I was comfortable with!
(Dont read the next sentence Rick) Next day I went to the track and completed 4 by 1600metres with the club.I hadnt done 'mile reps' for a few weeks but figured I should be able to run 5:30 pace so planned on 82 seconds per lap. Lap one was 78 seconds - and that wasn't by keeping up with any of the lads who I knew better than to try to - just a bit of an enthusiastic start by me. Not surprisingly I slowed from that pace and recorded 5:26. For the next rep I stated I would be running 80secs/lap and I stuck to that exactly until 800m when I thereafter ran 81 and 82 to give me a 5:23 mile. For my third I lapped at 79s then struggled at the bell but still recorded my best for the night (and year) of 5:19. The final rep I wanted to run in 5:30 and ran very even laps to record 5:29. An excellent session, far and away my fastest average pace for several years. If I can repeat this over 5x 1 mile then the theory says I should be able to run 34 minute 10ks.
Mind you I have trained a bit hard since last weekend and with a race tomorrow I thought it would be daft to do 'owt more than a jog with Scamp. We walked home through town and the park though, so no jog even.
On sunday I was full of good intentions to run for an hour in the low fells near Cockermouth immediately prior to photographing the English Schools Fell Championship for which I had been commissioned. Various things taking my time and attention meant this was more like a 10 minute run up a hill followed by a 4 minute run back down it for fear of being late for the races. Not to worry though - I had ran the day before and even after I finished this short one I was then back on the fell with my heavy bag and covered at least 2 more miles albeit walking.
Weather wise Monday was poor. Plenty of showers and damn cold too. It seemed to have improved when I left he house with Scamp for a jog in the evening. I planned a route to see us out for at least an hour. But after 40 minutes the rain came back - with a vengeance! My choice of clothing offered little protection and I was soaked through within seconds. I considered sheltering somewhere but then decided picking up the pace and getting home ASAP was the best option. So only about 50 minutes mostly easy.
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| Scamp |
Plucky said he was up for a bit of a bash on Tuesdays for a few weeks to come so I went to his house after work and we ran a hilly 9.3 miles. Not having seen him for several weeks we had a good craic as we toured the countryside. This was unusual as Plucky usually says little when trying hard. I wasn't trying very hard either but we did seem to be flying along rather well. The calculator afterwards said 6:15 pace which was simply remarkeable as it had never felt anything more than a brisk jog.
I think we must have been well rested for Tuesdays run because the next day I felt like the 6:08 pace I managed for my "flat" 5 mile circuit was about as fast as I was comfortable with!
(Dont read the next sentence Rick) Next day I went to the track and completed 4 by 1600metres with the club.I hadnt done 'mile reps' for a few weeks but figured I should be able to run 5:30 pace so planned on 82 seconds per lap. Lap one was 78 seconds - and that wasn't by keeping up with any of the lads who I knew better than to try to - just a bit of an enthusiastic start by me. Not surprisingly I slowed from that pace and recorded 5:26. For the next rep I stated I would be running 80secs/lap and I stuck to that exactly until 800m when I thereafter ran 81 and 82 to give me a 5:23 mile. For my third I lapped at 79s then struggled at the bell but still recorded my best for the night (and year) of 5:19. The final rep I wanted to run in 5:30 and ran very even laps to record 5:29. An excellent session, far and away my fastest average pace for several years. If I can repeat this over 5x 1 mile then the theory says I should be able to run 34 minute 10ks.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
One week older - lots faster
I admit to being a little disappointed at taking nearly 69 minutes for the ten mile run last Sunday. Despite not trying very hard I hoped to still run inside 68 if I'm honest. The next day I had an easy hours jogging around the park and golf course with Scamp.
Having recently joined Keswick AC as a second claim member it was rather apt that I should end up training with some Keswick members on Tuesday. Not on the fell though. Bizarrely it was on the Sheepmount track where I trained with Russell and Pippa Madams. My first track session in months was a real shock to the system. I only did about 4500metres consisting of mainly 800 and 1200 efforts which I ran at about 5:30 pace. Running there and back as well as a one mile warmup was a decent mileage for the day though.
Next day I was back to some recovery jogging on the grass with Scamp, then Thursday and Friday were the same run both evenings - 5 mile Houghton loop. 30:46 and 30:51 were decent enough times although I would prefer to be knocking out these inside 30:30.
Undecided what to do today (Saturday) I hung about the house all morning and watched the GP qualifying. After walking off my breakfast with Scamp I finally got up the motivation to go for a run. It was a lovely sunny day with temps in the teens centigrade. Vest weather.
I started my watch at the 13 mile route start point and decided if I felt rubbish to cut it short at the 10 turn.
I didn't put much effort into the early miles and expected to be running at about 6:45-6:55 pace. I only have vague checkpoints on this route but was pretty sure I was running much faster than anticipated. The second half was headwind today and also features the main hills, such as they are. I finished with 1:25:30 which is about 6:35 pace. Excellent result for a very routine run. Only the last three miles could be described as 'hard running' and if I was to do some marathon pace efforts on this route then I would be confident of my ability to run 15-20secs/mile faster than today.
Having recently joined Keswick AC as a second claim member it was rather apt that I should end up training with some Keswick members on Tuesday. Not on the fell though. Bizarrely it was on the Sheepmount track where I trained with Russell and Pippa Madams. My first track session in months was a real shock to the system. I only did about 4500metres consisting of mainly 800 and 1200 efforts which I ran at about 5:30 pace. Running there and back as well as a one mile warmup was a decent mileage for the day though.
Next day I was back to some recovery jogging on the grass with Scamp, then Thursday and Friday were the same run both evenings - 5 mile Houghton loop. 30:46 and 30:51 were decent enough times although I would prefer to be knocking out these inside 30:30.
Undecided what to do today (Saturday) I hung about the house all morning and watched the GP qualifying. After walking off my breakfast with Scamp I finally got up the motivation to go for a run. It was a lovely sunny day with temps in the teens centigrade. Vest weather.
I started my watch at the 13 mile route start point and decided if I felt rubbish to cut it short at the 10 turn.
I didn't put much effort into the early miles and expected to be running at about 6:45-6:55 pace. I only have vague checkpoints on this route but was pretty sure I was running much faster than anticipated. The second half was headwind today and also features the main hills, such as they are. I finished with 1:25:30 which is about 6:35 pace. Excellent result for a very routine run. Only the last three miles could be described as 'hard running' and if I was to do some marathon pace efforts on this route then I would be confident of my ability to run 15-20secs/mile faster than today.
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