Mon 17/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:29/mile
Mon 17/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:18/mile
Tues 18/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:45/mile
Tues 18/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:17/mile
Weds 19/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:22/mile
Weds 19/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:31/mile
Thurs 20/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:42/mile
Thurs 20/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:42/mile
Fri 21/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:49/mile
Sat 22/8: (am) 4.0 miles (inc Northallerton parkrun (2nd 18:14 (3.1 miles @5:52/mile) [Hannah (1st) 18:54]
Sat 22/8: (pm) 10.0 miles (Burnsall 10 1:02:29 (9th) (10.0 miles @ 6:15/mile) [Hannah (1st) 1:04:18]
Sun 23/8: 7.0 miles @ 6:19/mile Rochdale HM (DNF) [Hannah (3rd) 1:26:51]
Total Weekly Mileage: 57.0 Miles
Week 6
Mon 24/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 9:31/mile
Mon 24/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:48/mile
Tues 25/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 9:30/mile
Weds 26/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 9:16/mile
Weds 26/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:03/mile
Thurs 27/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:45/mile
Thurs 27/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:27/mile
Fri 28/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:37/mile
Fri 28/8: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:27/mile
Sat 29/8: 2.0 miles incl Leeds Golden Mile 5:05.0 (6th) [Hannah (1st) 5:07.8]
Sun 30/8: 7.0 miles @ 5:58/mile Jim Dingwall 10K (7th) 37:11 [Hannah (1st) 37:09]
Total Weekly Mileage: 52.21 miles
A couple of weeks in one go this time, which marks the half way mark towards the Yorkshire Marathon.
Both weeks 5 and 6 had Mon to Fri consisting of nine slow 4 mile runs as the base for the week and then the weekends became a bit more interesting:
Sat 22nd Aug - Northallerton parkrun 18:14 (2nd) [Hannah 18:54 (1st)]
Saturday morning saw our first visit to the newly formed Northallerton parkrun.
After a very accomplished run briefing by Steve Middleton we set off around what is a very flat course. Flat it may be but it still felt relatively tough going due to being largely on grass and quite twisty.
This was at about halfway. The picture gives a good clue as to who was working hardest at this point and it wasn't Rob Scott, who from this point on sauntered off to break the course record!
Sat 22nd Aug - Burnsall 10 Miles 1:02:29 (9th) [Hannah 1:04:18 (1st) ]
The Burnsall Fell Running festival in the Yorkshire Dales was the setting for Saturday afternoon.
Despite it's title the organisers also include a 10 mile road race to accommodate those of us more mindful of self preservation! A very hilly course with it's worst section being served up around the 8 mile point.
On the whole the race went well except for a short period just after halfway when a couple of uphill sections caused the calves to cramp up, something which I rarely experience. It was probably explained by the extremely hot and humid conditions but care was needed over the closing stages, especially knowing what was coming at 8 miles.
Nonetheless 6:15/mile around a course like that was a good result.
From mile 2 onwards Hannah had what she described as 'a proper head to head battle' with Sarah Cumber.
Eight miles of trying to break each other and then it came down to the last downhill mile into the village.
The combatants entering the final 400 metres:
Hannah finally got away by 14 seconds and finished with a broad smile on her face proclaiming 'that's what racing is all about'.
1st and 2nd are pictured below with Burnsall schoolboy Andy Hodge, a rower with the pedigree of European Champion, 4 times World Champion and twice Olympic Champion:
Watching the fell race afterwards just served to reiterate that lovely smooth tarmac is the place to be.
Sun 23rd Aug - Rochdale Half Marathon (DNF) [Hannah 1:26:51 (3rd)]
The next morning saw the inaugural Rochdale Half Marathon, organised by Cannonball Events in conjunction with Rochdale Council. John Lloyd, Matthew Kelly and the rest of the Cannonball team did a great job of getting this off the ground.
Another hot and humid day but plenty of water had been taken on beforehand in preparation.
The course was a 2 lapper, so the start/finish banner was also passed under at exactly the halfway point. In a nutshell, the first half of each loop was uphill and the return to the town centre was, you've guessed it, downhill.
Bearing in mind the calf problems the previous afternoon it felt as though they had loosened up enough in the meantime to not be at risk of any significant damage.
Despite that, the aim was to be cautious for the first uphill 3 miles. It was flowing quite nicely up to the turnaround point and on the way back into town until around the 5 mile mark. However, the next downhill mile produced significant tightening of both calves, which created question marks about whether it was worth setting off on the 2nd lap.
Having just worked through into the top 10, the position would have been the only reason to continue but it couldn't justify potentially doing significant damage, which might lead to 2-3 weeks of soreness ...... so a rare DNF became the best decision on the day.
Up front there was a cracking race as the leading three contenders entered the final 400m shoulder to shoulder.
After having the hard battle over the hills around Burnsall just a few hours earlier it would have been understandable if Hannah had wanted a more controlled run in this race.
That may well have been her intention but having worked through the field to get into the top 3 she wasn't going to give up that 3rd position without a fight in the closing stages. Joanne Nelson in 4th was no more than 5 metres behind and closing coming into the last 400 metres but, unfortunately for her, one of her teammates shouted 'Go Jo, 3rd is yours!'.
That alerted Hannah to what was going on behind and lit the touch paper. As a result, a 5 second cushion was pulled out by the end. The second really good battle in less than 24 hours :)
As can be seen from the winning times from the likes of Dave Archer and Dave Norman the times reflected a tough event and, as such, one of the performances of the day was landed by Martin Hall with 1:23:03 in 10th place.
Sat 29th Aug - Leeds Golden Mile (6th) 5:05.0 [Hannah 5:07.8 (1st)]
With the last event being the DNF at Rochdale and just a series of slow 8+ min/mile stuff in the meantime it may not have been the wisest move to test out the calves by hurtling around a track in a mile race but at least it was flat.
This has become a firm fixture on the calendar now thanks to the efforts of Mark Hetherington and caters for all abilities, giving rare access to track mile racing for a lot of us.
Thankfully there wasn't even a hint of any tightness or soreness, which validated the DNF to some extent, and a very enjoyable evenly paced mile effort was the result. It was actually the fastest mile for a couple of years at 5:05. A time 10 seconds slower would have been about the pre-race expectation.
It was difficult to know where Hannah was during the race but she was bound to be close and knowing the final kick she was going to unleash it had to be a full on effort all the way though the line to claim a slim advantage.
Revenge for the defeat at the Westminster Mile where we both clocked 5:07 :)
Sun 30th Aug - Jim Dingwall Memorial 10k 37:11 (7th) [Hannah 37:09 (1st) ]
After giving the fast twitch muscles a rare workout the afternoon before it was going to be interesting to see how things would hold together over a flat 10k.
This was a memorial race for Jim Dingwall. For those that don't know the background, Jim was a bit of a running legend who ran for Falkirk before moving to Hull with his job. With a marathon PB of 2:11 he had a very uncomplicated approach to running which involved racing plenty races and running consistently throughout the year, he wasn't particularly interested in 'seasons' or 'peaking' as such. A good example was when he ran two hard 10,000m races, including a PB of 28:55, in the same week that he won the Scottish Marathon championship in 2:16.
Uncomplicated approaches can get decent results :)
Some people cut it fine by entering races on the day but this was a case where we took the phrase 'entering at the last minute' a bit too literally.
We actually arrived in plenty of time but due to queues and a bit of confusion in the registration administration we only got entered at 8:58am for a 9am race. That would be tight enough - but the start was a full km away.
We half expected to meet the race coming in the opposite direction but thankfully they were a little late with the starters orders and we made it in time. Phew!
An enjoyable sunny race unfolded without feeling too much in the way of after effects from the Saturday mile race. After working through into 4th place at 6k, the 7th k was spent monitoring the gap to 3rd to decide whether it was worth a chase over the closing stages. As the gap had closed slightly it was time to up the effort level to have a go at closing it down. However, the mind was willing but the legs seemed to put the achors on and stated in no uncertain terms that there were no more gears to be had.
So getting ready to chase down a podium place had quickly become a case of being a sitting duck for anyone chasing from behind.
Sure enough 5th came past at 8km and then 6th at 9.5km.
Very shortly afterwards 7th also came past, the leading lady! Was she going to get revenge for the day before so quickly? No matter how much I asked, the legs would not respond, or at least not until it was too late.
Across the line in 37:11 to Hannah's 37:09.
So a 2 second victory on Saturday and a 2 second defeat on Sunday means honours even for the weekend, right?
Not so quick - very unusually for a 10k the results were published to 0.1 seconds:
37:09.1 and 37:11.7 - a 2.6 second victory to Hannah.
The mile results were also published to 0.1 seconds:
5:05.0 and 5:07.8 - a 2.8 second victory to me.
So, an unquestionable resounding victory for yours truly across the weekend. Must try harder, Oldroyd ;)
Next Week:
The last couple of weeks have been relatively low mileage but that has been intentional knowing what is lined up for the next couple of weeks - next Saturday will see an attempt at the inaugural St Albans Stampede 12 hour race, which we have entered as a pair.
With a little more insight about what to expect after taking part in Thunder Run it is another event where the main aim is to get plenty miles completed without incurring injury and then anything else will be a bonus.
Marathon Building Blocks (getting a bit long now but this is the year in a nutshell once all the slow short runs are removed) :
15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile
22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile
28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile
28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile
1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile
8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile
14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile
14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile
15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile
21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile
28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
29th March: 11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)
4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile
12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile
18th April: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile
19th April: 5.8 miles @ 6:04/mile
26th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:32/mile
4th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:40/mile
6th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile
10th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile
13th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile
16th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
17th May: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile
20th May: 3.1 miles @ 5:37/mile
23rd May: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
24th May: 1.0 mile @ 5:07/mile
30th May: 26.21 miles @ 6:37/mile
6th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:58/mile
7th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:05/mile
10th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 6:20/mile
13th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile
14th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:02/mile
20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile
20th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile
21st Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:31/mile
25th Jun: 10.0 miles @ 5:57/mile
26th Jun: 13.1 miles @ 6:11/mile
27th Jun: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile
27th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:15/mile
28th Jun: 6.21 miles @ 6:42/mile
1st Jul: 1.0 miles @ 5:11/mile
5th Jul: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile
9th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile
11th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile
12th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile
18th Jul: 3.1 miles @ 5:57/mile
18th Jul: 6.21 miles @ 5:43/mile
19th Jul: 13.1 miles @ 6:15/mile
22nd Jul: 2.75 miles @ 5:50/mile
25th/26th Jul: 62.1 miles @ 8:00/mile
1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:54/mile
1st Aug: 3.1 miles @ 6:47/mile
1st Aug: 6.21 miles @ 6:24/mile
2nd Aug: 13.1 miles @ 6:34/mile
6th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:49/mile
8th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile
9th Aug: 5.0 miles @ 5:57/mile
15th Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:40/mile
16th Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:00/mile
22nd Aug: 3.1 miles @ 5:52/mile
22nd Aug: 10.0 miles @ 6:15/mile
23rd Aug: 6.5 miles @ 6:19/mile
29th Aug: 1.0 miles @ 5:05/mile
30th Aug: 6.21 miles @ 5:58/mile
Recent Marathon Record
2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)
2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)
2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)
2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)
2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)
2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)
2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)
2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)
2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)
2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)
2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)
2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)
2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)
2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)
2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)
2015 April - London Marathon 2:50:55 (Age 48)
2015 May - Belfast City Marathon 2:54:54 (Age 48)
2015 May - Kent Roadrunner Marathon 2:53:34 (Age 49) (4th)
2015 July - Potteries Marathon 2:52:40 (Age 49) (6th)
