Week 10
Mon 21/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:23/mile
Mon 21/9: (pm) 6.0 miles @ 8:40/mile
Tues 22/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:42/mile
Tues 22/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:55/mile
Weds 23/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:54/mile
Thurs 24/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:56/mile
Thurs 24/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:31/mile
Thurs 24/9: (pm) 5.7 miles @ 9:20/mile
Fri 25/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:54/mile
Fri 25/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:32/mile
Sat 26/9: 4.0 miles incl. Halifax parkrun 18:02 (2nd) (3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile) [Hannah 18:51 (1st)]
Sat 26/9: 4.0 miles incl. Ron Hill's 77th 5k 18:38 (3rd) (3.1 miles @ 5:59/mile) [Hannah 18:45 (1st)]
Sat 26/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:16/mile
Sun 27/9: 7.0 miles incl Bradford 10K 36:26 (24th) (6.21 miles @ 5:51/mile) [Hannah 36:33 (1st)]
Sun 27/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:29/mile
Total Weekly Mileage: 66.70 Miles
Week 10 wasn't high mileage but it did contain 15 runs, the pattern of a high volume of short runs seems to work well compared to a lower volume of longer runs. It may be counter intuitive and contrary to nearly all marathon training advice but It seems to work for us.
As outlined a couple of weeks ago, with Yorkshire now getting close it is time for some shorter racing to get the legs turning over. With that in mind week 10 worked out well :
Sat 26th Sept - Halifax parkrun 18:02 (2nd) [Hannah 18:51 (1st)]
As with last week our intended target was Birkenhead parkrun. Last week we missed our target by about 3 miles ending up at Princes parkrun, this week we excelled ourselves and missed the target by about 80 miles. If we try again next week we'll probably end up on the continent somewhere!
Anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable visit to Shroggs Park in Halifax, a parkrun consisting of 3.5 laps of quite stiff undulations. As there was a 180 degrees, come to a standstill, turnaround point on each lap it was quite a testing course all in all.
Sat 26th Sept (2pm) - Ron Hill's 77th Birthday 5K 18:38 (3rd) [Hannah 18:45 (1st)]
It was over to Brownhouse Wham reservoir on the dark side of the Pennines on Saturday afternoon to have a bash at Ron Hill's birthday 5K.
This was a 5k course with no redeeming features, it was a fell race in all but name - hilly, rocky, muddy and 'orrible. In summary I concur with Ron's own view of 'not my type of course'.
However, putting the course to one side it was a superb event run with a really good atmosphere. It started in a residential cul-de-sac outside someone's house and ended at a pub ready for sunny beer garden Guinness swilling :)
Ron Hill crossing the finish sporting an appropriate race number:
As for the race itself, considering the type of course I was surprised to get up into 3rd place in the 2nd mile. It was only in the last 400m or so that there appeared to be someone closing from behind to try to nick the podium finish. I'll let you guess who it was ...........
Here she is receiving her prize for 1st lady (4th overall) from the ex marathon world record holder himself:
If only there was a speech bubble above Arth's head here - 'Yes, I know Mr Hill is very, very famous but what's that there that he's giving to Steve, is it food?'
(Pic courtesy of Andy O'sullivan MBE, race supremo)
For once I felt reasonably tall :)
It is probably worth a quick reminder at this stage of the achievements of Ron Hill:
1969 European Marathon - Gold
1971 European Marathon - Bronze
1970 Commonwealth Games Marathon - Gold
1970 Boston Marathon - Winner (new course record by 3 minutes in 2:10:30)
In 1968 he twice set stunning new world records for 10 miles - 47:02.2 and then lowered to 46:44.0 later in the year. Imagine 1 solitary mile in 4:40, Ron ran 10 back to back.
In the 1970 Commonwealth Games Marathon in Edinburgh he became only the 2nd man in history to break 2:10 and in the process set a new World Record of 2:09:28.
He is, of course, very well known for his running longevity and in total ran 115 marathons. Of these,
112 sub 2:50
29 sub 2:20
There are plenty more highlights to his career including National XC titles but as he will be reading this I won't embarrass him further ;)
Despite all the achievements though in my early days of running he always struck me as someone who raced because he enjoyed racing, regardless of the level. There was just the same determination to nick a place at the end of a local 10k as there was when he was winning major championships or at least it appeared that way.
Most elite athletes announce their retirement from competitive running, the scribes are still waiting for Ron Hill's announcement!
For anyone who thinks that similar achievements in the modern era would swiftly lead to a knighthood I believe a campaign to get Ron a knighthood is gathering a head of steam. Watch out for any petitions doing the rounds in the near future.
This was the pre-race number plate smackdown with Dr Hill :
As a momento of the event we all received a mug depicting the last time we crossed paths at Heaton Park in December for Ron's 50 years of daily running streak. I may even have taken this photo but there were a few of us gathered around at the time to capture the iconic moment.
Pictured from the left in blue is Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a little known chap who started a little known 5k run series, Paul Smith, Ron Hill and in the black on the right is Bruce Green.
This was Bruce Green post finish on Saturday still basking in his newly discovered mug fame :)
Sun 27th Sept - Bradford 10k 36:26 (24th) [Hannah 36:33 (1st)]
Having last run this race in 2009 in a time of 39:17 it was going to be interesting to compare how the 49 year old version would do against the 43 year old version back then.
Conditions were perfect as the Mayor of Bradford got things underway at 9am. Frank Beresford (716, eventual 3rd) and Tom Adams (451, winner) already in prominent positions:
Just after 4k, hard at work but feeling pretty good:
(Pic courtesy of Ian Watson)
And literally a handful of seconds behind an airborne Hannah, sporting the purple gloves for the first time in months, very much in touch with PB pace:
(Pic courtesy of Ian Watson)
Just after 5k and this is the turnaround point showing just how short the gap was with Martin Fillingham in between having a strong run. From this point it was a straightforward 4.5km run back into the centre of Bradford to the finish:
For the whole run back into the city there was what seemed like a continuous stream of 'Come on Hannah' type comments. Clearly she was very close, it was a case of deja vu from the Ron Hill race the previous afternoon and, coincidentally, by the time we got back to City Hall the margin was exactly the same, ie a wafer thin 7 seconds:
The Ladies Podium:
1. Hannah Oldroyd 36:35
2. Jane McCarthy (Ilkley) 38:42
3. Kirsty Allen (Baildon) 39:15
Elsewhere on Sunday there seemed to be impressive performances all over the place. Of particular note:
Berlin Marathon
Adam Prentis (2:59:00)
Delighted to see that Adam Prentis has bagged his first sub 3 marathon at 52 years old after being on a continuous improvement cycle for the last 5 or 6 years.
His previous PB was 3:04 earlier in 2015 taking the total improvement to 11 minutes for the year.
Al Chapman (2:59:13)
Another excellently judged first time sub 3 performance although with a gun time of 3:00:01 there may well have been a moment or two where he thought it had been missed until realisation set in and a little prayer of thanks was offered to the God of chip timing :)
Jason Cherriman (left) and Phil Sanders (right)
Obviously the faster you get the harder it becomes to run PBs so it is fair to say that Jason had done himself no favours by running 2:22:49 at the Yorkshire Marathon last year and then 2:22:12 at London this year, running PBs at that kind of level must become exponentially more difficult.
Nonetheless the boy did good and timed yet another PB to perfection by clocking 2:21:51 in Berlin. That is quite a series of marathon performances!
As for Phil Sanders, well he's too old to be running really fast marathon times. The only problem is that nobody seems to have told him! At 42 a time of 2:30:30 speaks for itself.....
Matt Pyatt (2:36:59)
A massive achievement also for Matt Pyatt who yesterday achieved one of the big marathon running milestones, the sub 6:00/mile marathon!
From a first marathon of 3:44 as recently as 2012 this is a phenomenal achievement. Congratulations Matt.
Nottingham Marathon
Dave Crossley (3:01)
Not quite Dave's A target but a whopping 14 minute improvement on the previous PB of 3:15 from 2012. Sub 3 is inevitable in time .......
Causeway Coastal Ultra 40 Miles - Mark Ramsey
Last, and a long, long way from least our good friend Mark Ramsey completed his first Ultra at the weekend running 40 miles in 26Extreme's Causeway Coastal event in Northern Ireland.
There's no stopping the progress and determination of this chap along with Janine Ramsey. Between them they are inspiring a whole gang of new runners in Northern Ireland to achieve things they never thought possible.
I'm sure they won't mind me sharing this but this was Mark and Janine around 2010-11 :
And this is the same two trouble makers more recently :)
As a summary of the weekend it would be difficult to sum it up better than Hannah's post yesterday evening :)
Next Week:
As the next week is the penultimate week before Yorkshire it should probably involve lots of resting ;)
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
5th Sept: 48.0 miles @ 7:11/mile
13th Sept: 26.21 miles @ 6:51/mile
19th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile
20th Sept: 13.1 miles @ 6:03/mile
26th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile
26th Sept: 3.1 miles @ 5:59/mile
27th Sept: 6.21 miles @ 5:51/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)
2015 September - Mary Anderson Colour Marathon 2:59:17 (Age 49) (7th)
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