VLM 2013 - Week 12 of 14

VLM - Week 12 of 14
Week 12 - (Mon 1/4 - Sun 8/4)

Mon: Rest Day
Tues: 10.0 Miles @ 8:37/mile
Weds: 9.0 Miles incl. Spencer's Dash (4.8 miles) 29:22 (6:05/mile - 12th)
Thurs: 10.0 Miles @ 8:48/mile
Fri: Rest Day
Sat: 11.0 Miles incl. Colchester parkrun 18:02 (5:48/mile) (2nd) + Chelmsford freedom parkrun, Canvey Island PUP
Sun: 14.0 Miles incl. Friskney HM 1:22:27 (6:16/mile) (8th)


Total Mileage: 54.0 Miles



Three races this week which cumulatively amounted to around 21 miles of effort at an average of about 6:00/mile with a bit lower overall mileage. Happy enough  with that three weeks out....



Wednesday - Spencer's Dash

Spencer's Dash is a 3.7 mile hilly race series that takes place on the first Wednesday of each month from April through to September.

It has been going quite some time now, in fact I was reminded this week that my own PB for this race is 20 years old next month!, and it has always been run over the 3.7 mile distance. But that all changed this week as 3.7 miles became 4.8 ish miles. The reason being that the one bit of the course that is usually off road was impassable because of snow drifts so instead of cancelling, a longer all road course was used as an alternative.

As a result there was not really anything to judge the time against but my legs felt strong enough albeit with not much in the way of zippiness, pretty much as expected with a 26 miler and a hard 10K in the previous 7 days.

A decent run. The start:

Saturday - Colchester parkrun

Saturday was time for a visit to the very scenic inaugural Colchester Castle parkrun along with Hyde Park Harriers, Vicky Megson and Chris Taylor, Dawn and John Broom and Hannah.

Bright sunshine greeted the 128 runners to what is sure to prove to be a popular event.

After an initial run around the course it appeared that the course could be quite complicated and technical, the sort of scenario that has often delivered up fun moments of going off course at previous inaugural events.


Plenty concentration going on while the course description was being delivered:

As such it brought a wry smile to my face as just after the start it appeared that the zippiness had reappeared in the legs and and I found myself with no runners to follow:

My thoughts now revolved around when rather than if I was going to go off in the wrong direction.

But ironically, it all went smoothly until the moment when Tim Ballard went into the lead just as we reached this point:

He didnt realise that this was the 180 degree turn point and carried on in the direction of the houses up ahead. Memories flooded back of Worsley Woods and our 5.5 mile inaugural parkrun so, being the kind soul that I am, I called him back as soon as I realised. He didnt lose too much time and was able to go on to get first place with a time of 17:48.

My own 18:02 was very pleasing on a course with three stiff climbs up to the castle:

Anne Gould made a short video about 'parkrun tourists' during our visit, which included some of my waffling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQsFu_VIWJA


Saturday - Chelmsford parkrun

After suitable refuelling, it was time for Hannah and myself to go and explore more of Essex. First stop, Chelmsford parkrun for a bit of freedom parkrunning.

Chelmsford parkrun is a bit unusual in that it is run in two parks, Central Park and Admiral's Park:

 However, despite copious studying of the course map, our version of Chelmsford parkrun involved two parks plus two towns. Somehow we managed to leave both parks, leave Chelmsford and end up in Writtle!

It isnt't often that you meet signs like this during a parkrun:

.
Apart from that it went well :)

Saturday - Canvey Island PUP

After completing our slightly deviant version of Chelmsford parkrun we decided that it was time for a Pop Up parkrun aka a PUP.

And what better place than Canvey Island. For those that dont know, Canvey Island sits below sea level and is protected by a 14 mile sea wall. When we got there mid afternoon the sun was shining brightly, the sea was calm and it really did feel like Summer.

In just over a week we had gone from running in 6ft snow drifts and sub zero temperatures to this:

We really enjoyed our 5K along the sea wall here and there is no reason why it wouldnt make an excellent regular event, should anyone in that area fancy setting it up!

Sunday - Friskney Half Marathon

Sunday saw a trip up to Friskney, a quiet little village about 10 miles from Skegness.

This race had a really relaxed low key feel to it as indicated by our relaxing next to the start line not too long before start time:

A few more runners turned up in time for the start, including eventual winner Matt Pyatt in all white in the centre of the shot:

The course was completely flat around country lanes that were pretty much traffic free and it appeared that there was going to be very little wind to be concerned about.

However, once under way, it became clear almost straight away that due to the field being so small there was going to be some lonely running to do. It also turned out that due to the exposed nature of the course there was some significant wind on fairly long stretches of the course, not strong winds but enough to start nibbling at times.
 
The first 5 miles were  5:53, 6:00, 6:07, 6:13, 6:11 for an overall 30:27 (6:05/mile)
 
Miles 6-10 then followed in: 6:24, 6:18, 6:10, 6:16, 6:21 for 31:29 (6:18/mile)

and to finish off: 6:27, 6:38, 6:31 with an overall time of 1:22:27 (6:16/mile)

I enjoyed the first 5 miles but after that it became increasingly difficult to keep concentrating and remembering that there was a race going on. I would often be on my own with nothing to be seen either in front or behind that suggested that a race was going on, no other runners, no signage, just me on a quiet country lane.

And in those circumstances I just couldnt keep the tempo high enough for an attempt on a sub 1:20 time, even though it felt possible in the early stages.

I recalibrated to make the purpose of the exercise to be to show how comfortable 2:50 marathon pace could feel even without all the usual race day stimulii and, in that sense, it went very well.

The finishing position was 8th but remarkably only 7th vet as 9 of the top 10 were vets!

The organisation and friendly relaxed nature of the event was excellent and I would happily take part again.
 

This was Hannah's  loot for finishing as 1st Senior Lady although, as she would readily point out, that was actually 4th lady overall due to the vets again dominating. She picked up a significant 10 mile PB en route of 71:xx before hitting what was the toughest part of the race, the final 5K.

 

The standout performance of the day though was undoubtedly Matt Pyatt's who certainly had no problems keeping his concentration levels high as he managed to slice a whopping 3:50 off his PB to land a time of 1:15:19 and 1st place. A big breakthrough performance.




Next Week:

Week 13 of 14 will be time to start doing a bit less.

At the moment it is looking like:

1. Weds - Sth Yorks Road league 5 miles
2. Sat(am) - Leeds parkrun (pacing Jocelyn Payne)
3. Sat(pm) - 12 Stage Road Relay, Birmingham

It is very likely that the Saturday morning parkrun pacing will now be redundant since Jocelyn managed to smash her 5K PB of 17:59 down to 17:43 this last weekend, so there will be nothing left to prove to herself on that front.

On the nutrition front, Monday to Wednesday will be used as a carb depletion phase before returning to normal diet for the rest of the week. Then the same routine will be followed next week as well, a routine which seems to have paid dividends each time it has been used previously.



VLM Prospects:

It feels like the training is now done.

The legs are feeling a bit tired as a result of the various 'bringing to a peak' races, which is to be expected at this stage, so it is just a case of letting them get back to full strength now over the next couple of weeks and then they should be hopefully in good condition and raring to go on the VLM start line!

VLM 2013 - Week 11 of 14

VLM - Week 11 of 14
Week 11 - (Mon 25/3 - Sun 31/3)

Mon: Rest Day
Tues: 26.0 Miles @ 8:40/mile
Weds: 6.21 Miles @ 8:53/mile
Thurs: 6.21 Miles @ 8:28/mile
Fri: 12.4 Miles @ 7:11/mile (parkruns x 4 Pennington, Worsley, Wythenshawe, Oldham)
Sat: 4.0 Miles incl. Dewsbury parkrun (8th) 20:01 (6:27/mile)
Sun: 14.2 Miles incl. Tulip 10K (7th) 36:49 (5:55/mile) + (parkruns x 2, King's Lynn, Barnsley)



Total Mileage: 69.2 Miles



In terms of places visited, this week certainly didnt turn out as expected. Early in the week, the outline was looking something like:

1. A 26 miler on either Tuesday or Sunday
2. Thursday - 3,000m track race, Cudworth
3. Friday - Calder Vale 10 Mile, Garstang
4. Saturday - Dewsbury parkrun
5. Sunday - Crewe 10K

By the end of the week,

a) 3 of the planned locations had disappeared for various reasons - Cudworth 3000m, Calder Vale 10 Miles and Crewe 10K.

b) 7 unplanned locations had been visited - Pennington Flash parkrun, Worsley Woods parkrun, Wythenshawe parkrun, Oldham parkrun, Spalding, Kings Lynn parkrun and Barnsley parkrun.

It is a week which could be summarised as mainly bonkers, random and pointless but, at the same time, immensely enjoyable and successful :)





Tuesday - 26 Miles

The idea was to get a 26 mile LSR in roughly 3-4 weeks out from VLM. However, it would have been easy to develop strains and niggles which could have persisted through to VLM if anything had been forced or had become too much of a struggle in the later stages.

So, it was a case of setting off, seeing how the first 8 mile loop felt and taking it from there. To make things a little more challenging, most of the course was unrunnable in it's normal form due to pavements being piled high with snow, up to 6 feet in places.

But because there were virtually no people or cars around, running on the road was perfectly reasonable. It was a bit eerie though being out between 5:15pm and 9pm on a normal weekday and seeing so little activity.

After most of the first loop was completed I was joined by Hannah, who was looking to do her longest ever continuous training run but not quite as far as 26 miles!

It was an unfuelled run, as has also been the case for all the other LSRs of the campaign to encourage fat utilisation as a fuel source.  In this case it meant that the last food consumed before the run was at about 11am.

The run progressed well at a nice relaxed pace and seemed to be over in no time, feeling as strong and controlled towards the end as any other part of the run.

Hannah was also untroubled in completing 21 miles, and 23.5 miles for the day, her longest continuous training run.

The overall pace was not really relevant on a hilly, snow covered course but averaged out at 8:40/mile. All in all, a case of job done and nice to get it completed nearer to 4 weeks out rather than 3 weeks out.




Friday - Random parkrun tour
 

A very straightforward bank holiday excursion over to Garstang for the Calder Vale 10 was the prospect on Friday.

What's more, with a 1pm start time a very relaxed start to the day was on the cards. What could possibly go wrong?

Hmmmm, well it all went well until getting within 20 miles of Garstang about 90 minutes before race time and then everything came to a halt on the M61. Time ticked away and ticked away some more so we decided to have a bit of a meander, via Blackburn and Chorley-ish, exploring alternative routes. We kept hitting long looking queues no matter what we tried.

Unbeknown to us the race had actually been delayed because of the traffic problems but at about 12:40pm it dawned on us that we werent actually that bothered whether we got to the race or not, so instead of sitting in more traffic queues we went for a bucket of coffee, served by a 6 foot gay rabbit, somewhere on the M6 and started thinking up a creative way to fill the day. The result was:


Friday - Pennington Flash parkrun

I had been to Pennington before, a visit that resulted in me grovelling about on all fours in some undergrowth after taking a wrong turn, so clearly it wouldnt be difficult to find. It was after all just a right turn off the straightforward A580.

Or at least it would have been easy..........assuming travel in the right direction along the A580. As it was, an unexpected visit to Liverpool appeared on the agenda as Aintree racecourse came into view :p

Ah well, we got there eventually and our first running stride of the day was taken some time after 4pm despite a 10am-ish set off. The Flash was looking very scenic and relaxing in the late afternoon sun as we went about our first freedom parkrun of the day.

Both Hannah and myself were quite happy to have a gentle run enjoying the scenery but it became a bit progressive as we started to get into the flow.

Splits were 7:32, 7:10, 6:39 for a 21:54 starter 5K

Friday - Worsley Woods parkrun

The next random stop was another venue that I know only too well.......for getting lost during a parkrun! :p

This was the place where myself and Peter Woodward went slightly off course whilst leading the inaugural event and ended up running a 5.5 mile parkrun!


The main obstacle this time was a handful of random drunks hanging around on the old railway platform.

Nonetheless the run itself was fun and with the outward half being a bit uphill the return turned into a good strong training effort.

Splits were 7:49, 6:52, 6:25 for a 21:43 second 5K of the day.

Friday - Wythenshawe parkrun

It was now a toss up between Guinness and the next Freedom parkrun but because we were really enjoying the runs in the evening sunshine we decided to crack on and visit Wythenshawe for our third parkrun venue of the day.

It was a bit of a task remembering the first part of this course, despite various markings on trees, so we ended up doing a bit of Benny Hill like random running around any old trees we came across to get this one underway.

As was now becoming the patterm, a progressive run was had with the following splits:

7:37, 7:07, 6:47 for a 22:11 third 5K.

Friday - Oldham parkrun

Although it didnt take long to get from Wythenshawe to Oldham there was just enough time to go from full daylight to pitch black nightime by the time we pulled up at Alexandra Park.

The park was empty except a group of drunk teenagers, who must have been hardy because the air was icy at this point, and some angry sounding geese that didnt seem overly pleased with our presence.

The first lap was a bit of a shivery one but once in the flow it was again another enjoyable progressive one, albeit a bit slower than the previous ones due to not being able to see much of the course.

8:07, 7:27, 7:10 for a 23:14 fourth 5K

Still keen to carry on, despite the dark and the cold, we then moved on to Heaton Park. We were prepared for this one with headtorch at the ready. But when we arrived to find the park gates locked and an 8ft steel fence around the perimeter, it seemed that the dead batteries in the headtorch were a sign that it was now time for pub refuelling. So that is what we did :)

In summary though, what appeared to be a day of just messing about and having no end of laughs along the way, the day actually turned out to be a decent block of training. We were both quite happy with the way the day had turned out as opposed to tackling a 5 mile continuous climb in the middle of the Calder Vale 10.



Saturday - Dewsbury parkrun

There was still lingering snow and ice dotted around the park, but despite this, this week's parkrun was run in bright sunshine and had a definite Spring like feel to it. At last!

I tried to keep it to a relaxed effort with a view to having a good go at a flat 10k the day after. The result was 20:01 at 6:27/mile.

Sunday - Tulip 10K, Spalding

The intention for Sunday was to have a crack at a flat 10K at Crewe.

That would have required entries on the day to be available, which they weren't, so as a result Crewe was replaced by Spalding on Saturday evening and the Tulip 10K became the target instead with a travelling party of Dawn and John Broom, myself and Hannah.

We knew this was quite a low key race but the words 'flat and fast' lured us down into Lincolnshire.

What an impressive array of tulips:

Dawn Broom getting cuddly with the 2km Tulip marker:

The warm up consisted of running up and down in the car park of a bulb processing factory trying to trigger the lorry speed limit  sensors. I was feeling rather chuffed with my 13mph until someone topped it with a 15mph clocking. That is 4 minute miling warming up!

It did indeed turn out to be a flat, out and back, course but the outwards 5K was into a bit of a headwind. It certainly wasn't anything remotely resembling the strength of what was encountered last Sunday in the Thirsk 10 but it was still nice to get to halfway with the prospect of tackling the return 5K with no wind obstruction.

Splits of 18:32 and 18:17 for an overall 36:49 for 7th place was very pleasing just 5 days after a 26 mile run.

Mile splits were: 5:46, 6:01, 6:07, 5:54, 5:56, 5:48

To give context, these are the 10K/10000s since last October's Chester Marathon:

18th Nov - Abbey Dash 41:34
16th Dec - Telford 10K 39:33
3rd Feb - Dewsbury 10K 38:12
6th Feb - Track 10,000 38:29
31st Mar - Tulip 10K 36:49

And this was even more satisfying because it was pretty much a solo run, in fact for the last 5K there were long stretches during which I couldnt see another runner, so to keep the concentration consistent was a good sign.

The other performances were

8th John Broom 37:31
14th Hannah Oldroyd 39:35 (1st lady)
29th Dawn Broom 42:38

The performance of the day was undoubtedly Hannah's with a time something like 90 secs quicker than her previous PB!





Sunday - King's Lynn parkrun

After the Tulip 10K it was time to get back into some freedom parkrunning, for no other reason than because it was there.

The unique feature of King's Lynn is that you get to swing around a lamppost on each of the three laps. Some people are easily amused :) But it was well worth the 60 mile round trip.

It was good to have a pair of legs that were showing no sign that they had just run a hard 10K.

Splits for this one were: 8:45, 8:20, 7:30 for a 25:10 post McDonald's session.

Sunday - Barnsley parkrun

After dropping off John and Dawn we then went and squeezed in a final random freedom parkrun of the weekend... at Locke Park, Barnsley.

This one was a relaxing way to get a few more miles in the bank without straining anything.

Splits were: 8:20, 7:59, 7:49 for a 25:08 last parkrun of the week.

I am advised that the important stats for this somewhat unusual VLM training week are (for two of us):

McFlurries -  8
Miles Driven - 600+ ( some of them were even in the right direction!)
Occurences of travel in wrong direction - The fingers on one hand wouldn't suffice.
Miles Run - 135.04 Miles
parkrun courses run - 8
McDonald's coffees - 25
Costa Coffees (buckets) - 2
Counties visited - 11
Lost phones - 2
Minutes of Stress - 0
Impromptu Fits of Laughter - 792 (approx :) )
Guinness - 23.5 pints
Raisins - 0 (an obvious area to work on........)




Next Week:

Week 12 will be the last week of full training before VLM.

The first fixed element is already starting to look decidedly unfixed due to remaining weather problems around Barnsley.

There will be plenty slow, steady miles and then the weekend will consist of a parkrun somewhere and a longer race somewhere, but as is the way of things at the moment race scheduling is fluid! (and that isn't just the Guinness :p )





VLM Prospects:

Three weeks to go and, as has been the case for the last few weeks, the nearer it gets the more ready the legs feel. Really looking forward to it.

VLM 2103 - Week 10 of 14

VLM - Week 10 of 14
Week 10 - (Mon 18/3 - Sun 24/3)


Mon: Rest Day
Tues: 10.0 Miles @ 8:57/mile
Weds: 16.0 Miles @ 8:32/mile
Thurs: 10.0 Miles @ 8:18/mile
Fri: 6.21 Miles @ 8:44/mile
Sat: 4.0 Miles incl. Leeds parkrun 21:37 (12th)(6:59/mile)
Sun: 12.0 Miles incl. Thirsk 10 1:03:08 (50th/4th V45) (29:55, 33:13) (6:19/mile)

Total Mileage: 58.21 Miles


The three fixed elements pencilled in for this week were:
1. Sat(am) - Preston parkrun
2. Sat(pm) - 12 Stage Road Relays, Blackpool
3. Sun - Thirsk 10

As can be seen from the summary above, it didnt quite turn out that way after the worst snow dump of the winter put a random spoke in the works.

Nonetheless, a decent enough week:



Wednesday - 16.0 Miles

Another midweek hilly long one with Hannah but, in keeping with the last 2-3 weeks, keeping the distance a good bit short of 20 miles to allow speed development at the weekend to be the main focus.

It was a flowing, no drama run at 8:32/mile and felt just how these runs should feel at this stage, ie nothing aching and no real sense of having done a long run the next morning. Somehow though I always manage to get outkicked at the end, no matter what devious tactics I try to employ. We certainly dont need to worry about Hannah's 0.21 miles down The Mall!!!



Saturday - Leeds parkrun

The idea of nipping over to do Preston parkrun on Saturday morning on the way to the 12 Stage Road Relays at Blackpool were scuppered from the outset when seeing what the overnight weather systems had decided to deliver:

One of the few events to survive the weather demons was at Leeds, so that is where we ended up at 9am.

Since Jocelyn Payne was also there we decided to bring forward the planned attempt on her 5K PB from 13th April. 17:30 was the plan, 21:48 was the result. I thought that was a decent pacing effort....but she has now sacked me :p

In all seriousness though, the uppermost thought was just to have a run round without getting too sore from all the slipping around. That was achieved but I still managed to leave Leeds parkrun with stinging soreness. Apparently I was just 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' as Hannah's arm swung around at almost terminal velocity and connected perfectly with my left cheek. I never realised that parkrun post run coffees were such a dangerous activity!!

Dr Ken Fox surveying the Kirkstall Harriers team setting up the course:

Sunday - Thirsk 10

This was the scene that we left on Saturday evening, with 3-4ft deep snow, and yet 45 minutes later we were in Thirsk where there was almost no sign of any snow at all.

An excellent evening of pre race top notch cuisine and quality ales was provided by Dan Holdsworth, along with overnight accommodation a mere 200 metres from the Thirsk 10 race HQ. This made for a very relaxed race morning.

It might have been relaxed but as Hannah and myself went to do our first recce of the outdoor conditions, the iciness of the air hit you immediately. Furthermore, although it didnt appear too bad initially, once we had run up and down the last mile of the race it was clear that the wind was going to be horrible.

Thirsk 10 is always a good race for bumping into people that you havent seen for a while with its catchment area naturally extending up into the North East. As such, it was good to bump into Kelly Dodds on the start line, for whom this really represented a comeback race after a protracted period of non racing. It was even better to see that she probably had one of the best runs of the day, finishing mere seconds outside her PB of 74:12.

Also, as we were chatting with Dan in the car park pre-race, a chap ran past, gave the thumbs up and shouted 'Love your blog'. Since everyone was well wrapped up I have no idea whether it was someone I knew or not. Who were you? That made my morning :)

As the race got underway it was sunny and conditions were actually pleasant, in fact not far off being perfect.
I'm in the light blue Barnsley AC vest, with white long sleeved shirt with Hannah, to my left,  showing me a clean pair of heels in the early stages! Despite our wimpiness, there were plenty hardy souls, such as Ian Ogden and Martin Sanders, quite happily running in just a running vest in these sub zero conditions. Mad or hard?

I was looking to potentially be in comeback PB shape in time for this race, which would require a 59:52 or better.




The first 5 miles seemed very comfortable with splits of 6:06, 5:57, 5:51, 5:57, 6:01 for a first half of 29:55.

On the basis of how everything was feeling at this stage, it seemed entirely reasonable that I was in shape to run a negative split from here, which I usually do at Thirsk, and therefore in shape to run a comeback PB.

However, the only way that was actually going to happen in this race was if the gale force winds from the warm up had miraculously dwindled to a mild breeze for the closing stages. It didnt take long to find out that that wasnt the case. As the corner was turned just after the half way point, so that we were now running in the direction of the finish, there was an immediate slowing as the headwind did its best to push us back in the direction of the A1.

The remaining splits were 6:36, 6:17, 6:21, 6:48, 6:42 for a second half of 33:13 and an overall 1:03:08.

That sort of tailing off would normally indicate some kind of spectacularly inept blowing up but on this occasion I was quite happy at the finish that this was sub 60 fitness.

To show how the wind affected others:

Kevin Ogden - 26:55, 31:27
Kev Doyle - 28:59, 31:33
Hannah Oldroyd - 35:16, 39:24
Kelly Dodds - 35:45, 38:41

Usually you think of wind as being worth a few seconds here and there but on this occasion it was worth minutes.

So did it fulfil it's purpose as the next in the series of 'bringing to a peak' races? Definitely. As with the hills in last week's Sth Yorks HM, it was pleasing that the average pace into the strong headwinds wasnt much outside 2:50 marathon pace.

Post race refuelling started with a humongous carvery and continued on to include McFlurries, Guinness etc etc So it is a bit of a mystery as to how at the end of the weekend weight has actually dropped just below Chester Marathon weight for the first time. Clearly these must be slimming Yorkshire puds:

Next Week:

There are a few things pencilled in for this next week:

1. Potentially a couple of attempts at a 26 miler. This all depends on feeling up to it on one of the two days that I could fit it in and on the weather clearing up to allow it. If it doesnt get fitted in this week then that will be it because it will then be getting too close to VLM.

2. Thursday - Club Championship 3,000m, Cudworth

With this being open to guests as well it should prove to be a good evening of racing.

3. Saturday - Dewsbury parkrun

4. Another race - There will also be another race in there as well, probably a 10 miler, but still currently weighing up options.


VLM Prospects?

There was nothing in this last week that has changed my optimism, so just four weeks to go now and it is still looking good to be ready right on time. Just have to avoid trips, slip and other calamities now which could prove quite a challenge with some of the company I keep!

VLM 2013 - Week 9 of 14

VLM - Week 9 of 14
Week 9 - (Mon 11/3 - Sun 17/3)

Mon:  Rest Day
Tues: 10.0 Miles @ 8:47/mile
Weds: 16.0 Miles @ 8:44/mile
Thurs: 10.0 Miles @ 9:31/mile
Fri: 6.21 Miles @ 8:54/mile
Sat: 6.0 Miles incl. Dewsbury parkrun (5th) 18:40 (5:48,5:48,6:13)
Sun: 16.0 Miles incl. Sth Yorks HM 1:22:08 (6:16/mile) (16th/ 1st V45)

Total Mileage: 64.21 Miles


As indicated at the end of last week, this week was intended to be pretty straightforward with mostly slow, steady running midweek.

It wouldnt really have been sensible to do anything else between a big 20 mile session at Spen last Sunday and a hard run half marathon seven days later. It is when feeling good at this stage of the build up that you are at most risk of overcooking things, so caution is still the name of the game.




Saturday - Dewsbury parkrun

This week's Dewsbury parkrun was significant for a couple of reasons.

1. On a personal note it clocked up my 200th parkrun, which is no more significant than the 122nd, the 173rd or the 187th but nonetheless it does refocus on what a great concept this is.

To have had 200 5K events at something like 89 different venues all free of charge and to have met so many interesting like minded people along the way makes you realise just what a great addition this is to what was available previously.

2. The young man wearing white with green hoops in the pic above, Jack Hallas,  achieved something yesterday that seemed highly unlikely to ever happen at Dewsbury due to the difficulty of the course. That achievement was to run the fastest parkrun of all those run in England yesterday , probably 100+ events and 15-20,000 individual runs, with a 15:55 clocking.

My own run was intended to be a strong but not flat out effort. With a course PB of 18:04 I would have pushed on if I thought that was going to be achievable but after the first two miles both at 5:48 it didnt really feel there for the taking so I backed right off in order to save the legs for Sunday's half marathon. A final 18:40 with miles of 5:48, 5:48 and 6:13 is still a good leg turnover session.

And this was Tom Howard who finished just a few seconds behind to equal his Dewsbury PB of 18:46 just seven days after running his all time PB at Hull. Not too shabby for someone who was convinced things werent going too well........:

And thankfully after last week's key incident at Hull, this was a relatively incident free parkrun morning :)


Sunday - South Yorkshire Half Marathon

As mentioned last week, anything around the 1:21:xx of last year for this race would represent a decent effort and keep things on track.

The outcome was officially 1:22:08 (6:16/mile) for 16th place (1st V45) but this is a good bit better than it first looks.


A course change from last year added significantly to the difficulty by adding in an extra loop on each of the two laps. This new loop involved a pretty stiff climb just to come straight back down again to meet up with where last year's course came out.

So, being realistic, this must represent 1:20 fitness, which I am delighted about with 5 weeks to go.

The splits were: 6:06, 6:07, 6:06, 6:10, 6:28, 6:11, 6:08, 6:16, 6:30, 6:12, 6:34, 6:30, 6:08

It isnt difficult to see where the hills cropped up in the above splits but it is actually the slowest miles that I take most positives out of. Considering the steepness and length of some of the climbs it is comforting to see that the pace didnt really slip outside 2:50 marathon pace even on the toughest sections.


Big performance today came from:

Lee Smith - 1:19:59, his first sub 1:20 clocking and on a course like that is some achievement.



Next Week:

Again, the focus will be on the 'bringing to a peak' races at the weekend, so nothing other than steady running midweek and then:

1. Saturday (am): Preston parkrun - a fairly relaxed effort to act as a warm up for the next event.This is a really nice venue so it will be good to pay another visit.

This was the start of the inaugural event at Preston on a lovely sunny morning last May, I am over to the left in all black with the famous Peter Woodward to my right. We still remain the only two people to have run a 5+ mile  parkrun at Worsley Woods after getting a little lost. :p

2. Saturday (am/pm): Northern 12 Stage Road Relays, Blackpool. I think I have a short leg allocated for this (and, yes, I know short legs are something I am very familiar with before the jokes start :) ) so should be a short sharp effort.

3. Sunday - Thirsk 10.
If conditions are favourable this could lend itself to be the first genuine attempt of the year at a comeback PB. That currently stands at 59:52 so will be a tough call but even getting somewhere close will mean a decent confidence boost for VLM.

Dan Holdsworth has kindly offered to provide accommodation and fuelling for this one before he assumes the responsibility of driving the lead car. So, depending on how his navigation skills stand up, we could end up running any old random distance during this race :p


VLM

With 5 weeks to go, this is about where I wanted to be at this stage. All the 8:30-9:00/mile stuff back in Jan/Feb has started to translate pretty well into sustained speed. There is a little way to go yet but right now it is all feeling good for an enjoyable run around London.

VLM 2013 - Week 8 of 14

VLM - Week 8 of 14
Week 8 - (Mon 4/3 - Sun 10/3)

Mon: 10.0 Miles @ 8:27/mile
Tues: 8.0 Miles incl. 3 x 1 mile (400 jog recov) 5:50, 5:44, 5:46 (Avg. 5:47/mile)
Weds: 11.0 Miles @ 8:18/mile
Thurs: 10.0 Miles @ 8:01/mile
Fri: 6.21 Miles @ 8:46/mile
Sat: 8.0 Miles incl. Hull parkrun 17:54 (6th) (5:50, 5:46, 5:47) (Avg. 5:45/mile)
Sun: 21.0 Miles incl. Spen 20 2:18:02 (1:12:29 (7:15/mile), 1:05:33 (6:33/mile))

Total Mileage: 74.21 Miles


This week turned out pretty much as scripted.

After all the weeks of very relaxed slow mileage, it was time to start encouraging a bit of speed development to come through in the final 5 weeks of full training and I was very pleased with the response.



Tues - Track Interval Session 3 x 1 mile (400 jog)

The aim with this session was just to liven the legs up a bit to get them ready for having a go at landing a 17:xx 5K at Hull parkrun four days later.As such, it wasnt really about running each rep as quickly as possible but concentrating on accelerating the final 400m of each one to experience some faster paces.

The rep times were 5:50, 5:46, 5:47, nothing spectacular but there was enough in the way they felt to convince that a 17:xx was very realistic and probably with a bit to spare.




Saturday - Hull parkrun. After the mile reps on Tuesday this run was approached with plenty confidence that the first 17:xx of the year would be there if I could execute it properly.

However, that was on the assumption that conditions would be reasonably kind. What we were actually greeted with was a pretty grim, wet and windy East Park, which was clearly going to cost some time.

But that doesnt affect the execution of getting the effort level right, so it was just a case of getting stuck in and seeing what came out of the other end. As long as there was some sign of speed coming through I was going to be reasonably happy.

It turned out well, feeling strong and controlled but certainly hampered by the wind and wet feet. So got to be happy with 17:54 with splits of 5:50, 5:46, 5:47. The splits are almost identical to the rep times on Tuesday, so it was effectively the three reps strung together.

Considering the overall 5K comeback PB is 17:25, which was run twice on this same course, and considering that the conditions were easily worth 20 seconds,  I am delighted to be back within touching distance of it already. It feels like a potential 16:xx isnt totally out of the question in the coming weeks. Dawn Broom actually managed to achieve the near impossible by getting a picture of me actually putting a decent amount of effort into a run :p

But the drama of the day was nothing to do with the run, it was more related to this second picture above.
That is a car key which travelled to Hull without its associated car, then decided it wanted to stay in Hull, unbeknown to me, while we returned to Leeds.



It was back in Leeds when ready to get back in my own car that this key was suddenly reclassified as 'whereabouts unknown'.


There then ensued a period of several hours that involved phone calls to the RAC, locksmiths quoting £300 for a replacement, and a very lucky break that finally resolved the matter about 9:30pm (more than 12 hours after the parkrun) at a place called Walkington, just outside Hull, where the above pic was taken.


The lucky break involved a rare good idea from Hannah Oldroyd, some exceptional helpfulness from Hull parkrun volunteer Peter Rodmell and a brilliant effort from Jason Newell, who readily volunteered to drive the 140 mile round trip to Hull for the second time in the day in order to save my bacon!


Many thanks to the rescuers :)



Sunday - Spen 20

Surely after yesterday's events, the day of the Spen 20 had to be a little more incident free?

The idea for this race was to start breeding some marathon confidence and, as such, what was intended was to take the first half of this very hilly 20 miler steadily, ie no faster than 70 mins, and then start upping the effort level over the second half but without feeling like I was hanging on for the finish. Something around 65 minutes, or 2:50 marathon pace, would be ideal for the second half.

The first half was run with John Broom and felt very comfortable in 1:12:29 (7:15/mile).


From the 10 mile marker it was then time to starting asking the legs some questions and seeing how they responded. Suffice to say, I was a little taken by surprise at just how well they did respond. Following the 10th mile in 7:12, the tough 11th was covered in 6:09! I was expecting something around 6:20-6:30, but it was feeling good so there was no real concern that there was going to be a price to pay for this acceleration.


The remaining miles were ticked off in 6:30, 6:31, 6:20, 6:25, 6:37, 6:59, 6:59, 6:35, 6:17.

The two 6:59s were slowed quite significantly by a freezing wind picking up strength on the top of the moor, so an overall second half of 1:05:33 (6:33/mile) was very pleasing.

The last part of the plan of not feeling as though I was hanging on for the finish was also achieved to the point that, if push came to shove, a 42 minute 10K could probably have been tagged on the end to complete a sub 3 marathon today. Off such a steady start that is a really nice position to be in 6 weeks out from VLM :)

It also earned a small trophy for becoming Yorkshire Vets V45 Champ. Now, that isnt the same as saying that I was first V45 in the race, which I definitely wasnt, but we'll quickly gloss over that bit ;)

This is moi, Dawn Broom (ladies V45 champ) and Dave Thompson (2nd overall):

Much hilarity and calorie laden huge desserts were had during the post race refuelling (with Hannah Oldroyd valiantly trying to avoid being photographed, Dawn and John Broom and photographer Jason Newell) :

And following on from the shenanigans with the missing car key yesterday, it now looks like the trophy pictured above has been taken as hostage against its will to some secret location. The kidnapper has issued a photo to show that it is safe and well but hasnt yet entered into negotiations for its safe release:

Next Week

Quite a straightforward week coming up consisting of plenty mid week steady miles and another overall 70-80 mile week.

There may be another interval session but not as a main priority, if I feel up for it I'll do one, if not I'll wait for the weekend for the next chunk of speed development.

1. Saturday - Dewsbury parkrun. This will actually clock up the milestone of my 200th parkrun and therefore the last metre before the finishing line will be the 1,000,000th official parkrun metre - that sounds a lot!

This will be a strongish effort but certainly not flat out because the emphasis will be on Sunday's race:

2. Sunday - South Yorkshire Half Marathon



This will be the next of the 'bringing to a peak' races. It is an undulating race with some decent climbs involved but the benchmark will be getting somewhere close to last year's time of 1:21:xx. Anything around there will be a pretty decent effort.


As for progress towards VLM, it is a very fortunate position to be in where I'm looking forward to it more and more the closer the race gets, which tends to suggest that things are going pretty well. Six weeks feels just about right to get to the start line feeling ready for the challenge. Fingers crossed of course, plenty can happen in 6 weeks.....

VLM 2013 - Week 7 of 14

VLM - Week 7 of 14
Week 7 - (Mon 25/2 - Sun 3/3)

Mon: Rest Day
Tues: Rest Day
Weds: 10.0 Miles @ 7:56/mile
Thurs: 18.0 Miles @ 8:12/mile
Fri: 10.0 Miles @ 8:53/mile
Sat: 6.0 Miles incl Delamere parkrun 18:54 (10th) (5:54, 6:01, 6:14)
Sun: 16.36 Miles @ 8:50/mile

Total Mileage: 60.36 Miles


This week was  a good example of being flexible with the training after taking account of feedback from the legs.

As mentioned last week, the outline for this week was to get roughly 80 miles in including:
1. A 20 miler
2. A 15-18 miler
3 A progressive 10 miler finishing around 6:00/mile
4. A parkrun.

But in the early part of the week I was very cautious about the delayed effects of running hard three times in two days totalling 20 miles on various surface types, ie Dewsbury parkrun, National XC and Snake Lane 10 all within about 27 hours.

So on both Monday and Tuesday it felt that rest was the most appropriate use of each day. The Tuesday would have been used for the progressive 10 miler but that would have been a struggle to complete, and with the potential training stimulus not being that far removed from the Snake Lane 10 miles @ 6:30/mile two days earlier, I was quite happy with opting for a rest day instead.

In a nutshell the week became one of consolidation with predominantly steady running, which is actually well timed with a series of longer 'bringing to a peak' races lined up over the next 3-4 weeks.


Saturday - Delamere parkrun

This was the inaugural event in a scenic setting in Delamere Forest in Cheshire.

The chances of running this at all had been completely written off at about 8:30am when the sat nav info was indicating an arrival time of 9:14am. This was due to a very awkward bit of new roadworks around Hyde which was causing ridiculously lengthy delays for what it was (but nothing compared to the problems that it was going to cause for the poor people trying to get through the same spot later in the day).

So backup plans involving going to one of South Manchester, Wythenshawe, Heaton Park or Bramhall were formulated, all within easy reach within the time available. Heaton Park was most likely as Dawn and John Broom hadnt actually run at that venue before.

However, we then decided that we would go to Delamere anyway based on the logic that even if we were 15 minutes late we should still be able to get around without holding up marshals etc.

To cut a long story short we actually arrived at 8:58am (dont ask!) just as the run was about to get underway:

This now ranks as the third latest arrival at a distant parkrun after Gorleston 9:01am (after a 4.5 hr drive) and Gunnersbury 9:03am (after a 3 hour drive).

After numerous quick hellos to plenty familiar faces we were off with no warm up whatsoever and, with that in mind, it was satisfying enough to come away with an 18:54 on a 100% trail course.

The hardest part was still to come though when faced with the choice of a bacon baguette, a bacon butty, a toasted bacon butty or a bacon bap!!! At least the coffee was straightforward :)

Considering that the last time I took part in an inaugural parkrun on a 100% trail course it involved a 2 mile detour at Worsley Woods after being led astray by Peter Woodward,  this one has to go down as a resounding success despite the tight arrival time.

Mingling post run in the glorious morning sunshine with Jason Newell, Hannah Oldroyd and half of John Broom! :

And contrary to rumours this was not me running in the opposite direction to the other runners again, it was actually a warm down:

 As you can tell from the pics above the setting is hard to beat and so a visit to Delamere parkrun is to be highly recommended if you get chance.


Sunday - 16.36 Miles

This was shorter than most Sunday runs recently but fitted the bill in terms of keeping the 20+ milers more spaced out coming into the last 7 weeks with just a planned 26 miler 3-4 weeks out going much beyond 20.

This is to let the speed development start coming through and to allow the upping of the volume of batches of 6:15-6:30 miles.

The 16 miles also represented a very positive run for Hannah Oldroyd in her recovery from a damaged ankle after a bad twisting during a XC race three weeks ago. Keeping the pace steady and stopping before it became too much of a struggle this acted as a very significant step in terms of getting VLM back on her agenda.






Next Week:

This coming week is a week when it is time to start getting a feel for where the training is at and to begin the focus on London.

The fixed elements are:

1. Saturday - Hull parkrun. The aim to is to finally get the first 17:xx of the year on the board but, more importantly, to feel strong in the final mile and try to get somewhere close to 5:30.

2. Spen 20 - A hilly 20 miler which will be used to breed confidence more than anything else. The plan will be to have a very comfortable first 10 miles and then get to work. As long as the legs keep responding I'll keep upping the intensity but not to the point where I'm hanging on for the finishing line. A strong final 10 with something left in the tank is the overall aim.

The overall mileage this week should get back up around 80 and there will probably be a rare interval session added in, probably on Tuesday, to liven the legs up ready for the 5K attempt on Saturday. This will be a 4 x 1 mile (400 jog) session.


Still no concerns about VLM, 7 weeks to go and very much looking forward to it :)

VLM 2013 - Week 6 of 14

VLM - Week 6 of 14
Week 6 - (Mon 18/2 - Sun 24/2)

Mon: 10.0 Miles @ 8:44/mile
Tues: 6.21 Miles @ 8:32/mile
Weds: 8.0 Miles incl Dorothy Hyman 5,000m 18:36 (5:59/mile)
Thurs: 18.0 Miles @ 7:47/mile
Fri: 6.21 Miles @ 8:33/mile
Sat(am): 6.0 Miles incl. Dewsbury parkrun 18:27 (5:56, 5:50, 5:53) (2nd)
Sat(pm): 8.5 Miles incl. National XC Champs 58:13 (613th)
Sun: 15.0 Miles incl. Snake Lane 10 1:04:58 (6:30/mile)

Total Mileage: 77.9 Miles




Another week in the region of 80 miles, which I reckon is just about my sweet spot for marathon training. Any more and the following week would need to compensate, so 80 is about the most that is maintainable over a few weeks for me.

This week deliberately included a good volume of hard graft miles, 23.5 miles of tough work which is probably about double the quantity of miles that I could manage as out and out quality work.

It was very varied too comprising of flat tarmac, hilly tarmac, track racing and mud racing. Painful exfoliation was also thrown into the mix :p

So, in very rough layman's terms the VLM build up is following three phases:

a) Mileage with not much concern about anything else.
b) Mileage plus hard graft.
c) Slightly lower mileage plus speed development.

...and it is that middle stage at the moment.




Wednesday - Dorothy Hyman Winter 5,000m

The legs felt ready for the first 17:xx of the year leading into this but conditions and the way the race developed just didnt allow it.

It was a freezing night and lungs full of icy air always lead to relatively poor performances on my part. Add this to the bit of wind that was about and the fact that the race was all run in a large gap and a pretty mediocre 18:36 was the result.

Interestingly, the legs at the end didnt feel as though they had been in a race at all due to the lungs being the limiting factor.


As this was the last race in the winter series of 4 races it is appropriate to thank Gavin Felton, Dave Bennett and Keith Binney for their efforts in putting on these races, especially considering that officiating is usually done in sub zero temperatures.




Thursday Hilly 18.0 Miler

Now this was a good run :)

Probably due to the previous night's lack of speed the legs were still in good shape and therefore for roughly the same effort as the earlier comparable runs this ended up being at least 30 secs/mile quicker.

The same efforts on the same course so far in this build up have produced:

10th Jan: 18.0 Hilly Miles @ 9:28/mile, weight 74.5kg
4th Feb: 18.0 Hilly Miles @ 8:19/mile, weight 73.2kg
21st Feb: 18.0 Hilly Miles @ 7:47/mile, weight 71.6kg

Nothing wrong with that sequence :)





Saturday(am) - Dewsbury parkrun

After the 18:36 on the track on Wednesday night I was interested in seeing what the outcome would be running the same distance on a course which is accepted as being 40 secs slower.

The answer was a strong feeling 18:27, which confirmed what I was thinking about 17:xx times being back on the agenda.

A trip to Hull parkrun on 9th March has been booked in to prove the point beyond any reasonable doubt :)

I would really like to see a 16:xx time closer to VLM but one step at a time........





Saturday(pm) - National XC, Sunderland

It was quite a shock to drive from Dewsbury in dry, clear conditions and then reach the area around Durham to find a serious dumping of snow and ice.

And because the Senior Men's race at the National XC is the last race at 3pm all the snowfall had been well and truly churned into the ground to create the deepest and most extensive mud fest I have seen in one of these events.

None of the photos seem to show quite how deep the mud was but this pic of Dr Ken Fox ploughing around the course gives some idea. If you look at the runners in the background you will see how runners are completely avoiding the middle section and preferring to run a longer course instead.

 This was teammate Dave Crossley thoroughly enjoying his Saturday afternoon:

As for my own run I actually quite enjoyed it, mainly because I had no expectations at all and just came to work hard and go away with some stored up training benefit.

Even though it was difficult to get into any sort of rhythm you could find a passable route around the course that enabled you to achieve the ultimate combination of a) Staying upright and b) Moving in a forwards direction.

At least you could for MOST of the time :p

As we were just starting out on the final of three laps, I was unknowingly being closely tracked by this teammate, who was just getting ready for his attack:

Before I knew it he had shoulder barged me, causing me to go crashing down into the quagmire. As I carefully prised my winded body out of the strong suction I heard an evil laugh disappearing into the distance.


At least that is the story doing the rounds. I've no idea where the story came from.....;)

But after getting back up I was still too fast for photographer, Dawn Broom :)

And once that mud had dried on it ripped hairs out of my legs like I've never known before - I believe some people actually pay for similar experiences!!!

And this was my pacemaker from my 10 mile PB race back in 1987 trying to blag an autograph from the famous Kev Doyle:

Sunday - Snake Lane 10, Pocklington nr. York

A cold, crisp but Sunny morning for this outing involving lots of familiar faces. There wasnt even a hint of snow or mud, in complete contrast to yesterday afternoon up in the North East.

Snake Lane is undoubtedly a fast course and conditions this morning were good enough for PB chasing. But, that wasnt on my agenda, of course, after yesterday's efforts.

So I had to set my stall out for what I did want to get out of it on very tired legs.

My thinking was that if I got around at around 6:30/mile, ie roughly 2:50 marathon pace, without overly struggling, after having had a week of doing everything I could to batter the legs then that would be a satisfying outcome.

I half expected to maybe be able to run at that sort of pace for 3 or 4 miles and then have to manage a decline as the legs gave up the ghost.

It started okay with a first mile of 6:30 and a second mile of 6:30. How did that happen? But that was it in terms of checking the pace, happy in the knowledge that it was about right.

The next checking of the Garmin was at the end, which showed 1:04:58, an average of 6:30, and a halfway split of exactly 32:30!! It looked like a programmed schedule rather than actual splits but sure enough they were genuine!

So I got what I wanted out of it without straining anything but that isnt to say it was easy, in fact it was quite a grind and I was glad when it was over. But I have to be happy at just the fact that I could grind it out at the end of this week. It should produce some decent benefits in a couple of weeks.



Big performances today came from:

Jacquie Robson - Took a huge 6 minutes off her PB after sensibly avoiding the lure of the National XC yesterday while, meanwhile, hubby Alister was in the same boat as me starting on battered legs and suffered the same grinding toil as a result.

Phill Taylor - Using the same impeccable pacing skills he employed to land his 3rd place in October's Chester Marathon he delivered a negative split to take his PB down from 54:22 to around 53:19.

Rich Spooner - Another to take a hefty chunk of over a minute off his PB to clock 57:26.

John Robson (no relation to Jacqui above, or at least I dont think so!) - First time under the much sought after 60 minute barrier with a much deserved 59:45.

Which all shows that there was absolutely nothing wrong with conditions.



Next Week:

Unusually, there are no fixed elements set for this coming week, although I have a slight suspicion that there may be a parkrun at 9am on Saturday morning!

So, as a broad outline, I will be looking to get another 80ish mile in with most of the following components:

1. A 20 mile LSR
2. A 15-18 mile MLR
3. A progressive 10 Miler, finishing at around 6:00/mile or just under.
4. parkrun 5K

The order will sort itself out as the week progresses.

And in terms of VLM, it still all feels nicely on track :)