Well that is exactly what happened as I slobbed to my heart's content :)
But now it is time to start getting ready for VLM, which is now 13 weeks away on April 21st.
More of that later, but just to fill in the gap between October and now:
Races Completed Since Chester Marathon in October
There is no need to go into any great detail about these, but this is a list of races and parkruns with 2012 best times in brackets just to show how relaxed this period has been:
21st Oct - Cabbage Patch 10 1:06:20 (1:01:04)
18th Nov - Leeds Abbey Dash 41:34 (36:19)
2nd Dec - Guy's 10 1:06:07 (1:01:04)
16th Dec - Telford 10K 39:34 (36:19)
30th Dec - Ward Green 6 37:14 (N/A)
5th Jan - Yorkshire XC Champs 45:27 (N/A)
9th Jan - Dorothy Hyman Winter 3,000m 11:03 (10:05)
and parkruns (2012 best 17:25 (twice))........
13th Oct - Dewsbury 22:49
20th Oct - St Albans 20:05
27th Oct - Dewsbury 19:31
17th Nov - Dewsbury 23:05
24th Nov - Hull 19:18
1st Dec - Dewsbury 20:49
8th Dec - Mansfield 18:46
15th Dec - Dewsbury 19:47
22nd Dec - Congleton 20:51
25th Dec - Dewsbury 21:49
29th Dec - Dewsbury 19:51
1st Jan - Southampton 19:13
1st Jan - Netley Abbey 20:50
5th Jan - Dewsbury 20:36
12th Jan - Dewsbury 19:28
19th Jan - Dewsbury 20:06
It wouldnt take a genius to notice that Dewsbury has appeared prominently in the above list. This is largely due to becoming Event Director there since the last posting. There will, however, still be plenty visiting of other venues in the coming weeks and months. We have a really good event team at Dewsbury with plenty capable Run Directors so that means that everyone is free to engage in a spot of parkrun tourism when the fancy takes them.
So onto 2013 -
As with the start of 2012 the challenge is to try to beat the ageing process. I define that as running at least one comeback PB at one of the standard distances. If that is achieved I win, if not the ageing process wins. Lets do battle :)
And these are the comeback PBs that have to be attacked:
800m 2:20.05
1500m 4:47.30
1 Mile 5:00.2
3000m 10:05.57
5K 17:25
10K 36:19
10 Miles 59:52
HM 1:18:41
20 Miles 2:15:03 (but this doesnt count as its too soft !)
Marathon 2:55:36
The trouble is that by having a pretty good 2012 it is going to be a whole lot tougher to clock up comeback PBs in 2013. Then again, where would the fun be if it was easy?
The main aims for 2013 are going to be:
1. VLM in April and
2. Leeds Golden Mile in September
........... the latter being a surprise even to me :p
If you'd told me at the start of 2012 that I'd be actively targetting a mile race I would have out chuckled the Chuckle Brothers!
But that all changed when Tom Williams made a chance comment, suggesting that I might want to join him in a 1500m track race at Stretford last July. My immediate thought was 'Yeah right, me a 1500?' but by the time that thought reached my lips it had become 'Okay, go on then'.
And as a result a fun Summer of track racing was had. :)
I know a few people who got involved with track racing last year who surprised themselves at how much they enjoyed it, so I am not alone in getting sucked into this strange world of trying to inflict as much pain on yourself as is humanly possible.
But the most intriguing thing was that by the end of the Summer I had clocked up UK age group rankings of No.6 for the road mile and No.7 for the track mile. My first reaction to this was amusement as we all know that not many people actually run mile races any more.
But then came the next thought of wondering just what might be possible if I gave it a concentrated effort for a few months, ie a bit like the question that each Marathon Talk interviewee is asked.
5:00.2 off the back of marathon training suggests that specific mile training should deliver something a bit quicker. Sounds logical enough but then again not all things to do with running turn out to be logical, so it will be more of an interesting experiment just to see.......
But before then it is VLM:
The aim for the next 14 weeks is just to get plenty good training under the belt, enjoy the journey and get to the start line at Blackheath feeling ready to put in a good performance. Hopefully that will mean closing the gap a bit more between the 2:55 at Chester and the 2:45 required for a Championship place at London. There are other milestones of interest along the way, ie sub 2:50 and the small matter of my 20 year old PB 2:48:58. For now though that means getting some decent mileage going:
VLM 2013 - Week 1 of 14
Mon 14/1 10.0 Miles 1:26:47 (8:40/mile)
Tues 15/1 Rest Day
Weds 16/1 20.0 Miles 2:49:17 (8:28/mile) (1st 10 @8:51, 2nd 10 @8:04)
Thurs 17/1 10.0 Miles 1:34:41 (9:28/mile)
Fri 18/1 10.0 Miles 1:33:48 (9:23/mile)
Sat 19/1 5.0 Miles incl Dewsbury parkrun 20:06
Sun 20/1 23.0 Miles 3:18:21 (8:36/mile)
Week's Mileage: 78.0 Miles
Just about all this week's mileage has been run on snow and hills so I reckon there is additional training benefit due from the harder work involved.
This was Dewsbury parkrun to give an idea of conditions:
And next week.......
It will be a case of just getting another decent week of solid mileage in but in amongst the miles there will be a 2 mile track race at the Dorothy Hyman Stadium in Cudworth on Wednesday evening and the first bit of international parkrun tourism when visiting Malahide parkrun in Dublin on Saturday.
There is a group of something like 15, arranged by Jason Newell, going over so it should be a fun trip.
There may be some of this involved:
There is also some added interest to this particular VLM build up as I am publicly mentoring Keir Williams on the Runner's World forum. Keir is looking to break 2:50 at London so if you want to follow his progress, here it is. I have plenty confidence that he will achieve his target :)
Impressive targets!
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