VLM 2013 - Week 13 of 14

VLM - Week 13 of 14
Week 13 - (Mon 8/4 - Sun 14/4)

Mon: 8.0 Miles @ 8:50/mile
Tues: Rest Day
Weds: 5.0 Miles incl. Sth Yorks Road league 32:29 (6:24/mile) (6:52, 6:36, 5:37, 7:02, 5:55)
Thurs: 3.1 Miles incl. Pontefract freedom parkrun 28:00 (9:00/mile)
Fri: 6.21 Miles @ 8:47/mile
Sat (am): 4.5 Miles incl. Peter Pan parkrun (4th) 18:06 (5:56, 5:58, 5;49)
Sat (pm): 7.0 Miles incl. National 12 Stage Relays 17:49 (6:10, 5:37, 5:49)
Sun: 7.0 Miles @ 9:30/mile

Total Mileage: 40.78 Miles




On the face of it the content of this week looks okay, ie mileage at about 2/3rds of  previous weeks while keeping regularity and intensity in the mix.

However, what is disguised in the middle of the week was that I was unable to walk or even put any weight on my right leg on Thursday morning and with that in mind the recovery since has been nothing short of remarkable and everything is back on track.........




Wednesday - Sth Yorks Road League, Lodge Moor


Wednesday evening saw the first in the series of  four Sth Yorks Road Leage 5 mile road races.

The races are being run in a very different order to that originally planned due to courses still being blocked by snow. Although it isn't apparent from the picture below, the Lodge Moor course also had plenty of snow around but not enough to make it unrunnable.

I was planning to use this as a 'slightly faster than MP' session, so maybe 6:15-6:20/mile with the emphasis on smoothness and not straining anything.

Things didn't start out too well though due to someone turning their minibus into a bonfire on the M1 just at the time I was approaching the same section of road. The end result was arriving at 6:55 for a 7:00 race, just enough time to pin the number on!

Not being one to underestimate the injury risk of such situations I stuck myself way back in the field and took a very cautious start to the race. However, no matter how cautious the pace, I wasnt prepared for having to climb a mountain like incline in the early part of the race. This was far too steep for entertaining the original purpose of the run, ie smooth evenish pacing, and what was to follow was even worse, even steeper downhill followed by even steeper uphill.

Getting to the end of this having averaged 6:24/mile without feeling like it had been pushed too hard was actually quite pleasing but it wasn't very long before I realised that all was not well as my right hip began collapsing when trying to stand.

Thursday - Pontefract freedom parkrun

By Thursday morning the hip wasn't taking any weight at all and it was quite painful to just move the right leg at all even without any load bearing.

On the face of it, it would seem quite serious to be in this situation so close to a marathon but because it was something that was strained rather than snapped/broken it didn't really cause too much concern. I remember saying to Hannah that even though I couldn't walk in the morning it would hopefully be just a few hours before a slow jog would be back on the agenda.

And that is how it turned out as we popped over to do a freedom parkrun at Pontefract.

I would have been happy to manage a mile slow jog just to confirm that nothing was broken but in the end got the full 5K done, albeit slowly, and suffered no worrying consequences as a result.

Saturday (am) - Peter Pan parkrun

The original intention for Saturday morning was to pace Jocelyn Payne to an attempted 5K PB at Leeds parkrun, where she was looking to beat 17:43 and hopefully get close to 17:30.

However, after the midweek strain whatever I was going to do on Saturday morning needed to involve:
a) A very steady start
b) Flatness, so as not to put too much strain on the hip if it wasn't 100%.

So a trip to the inaugural Peter Pan parkrun in West Hull, with it's completely flat course, seemed more appropriate.

It worked out very well with splits of 5:56, 5:58, 5:49 for 4th place in 18:06 off a very steady start and confirmed that there was no residual problem. For a course that consisted of 3 laps with half of each lap on grass this was a good outcome.

There was also a welcome return to sub 20 territory for Hannah with a 1st place in 19:36.

Saturday (pm) - National 12 Stage Road Relays, Sutton Park, Birmingham

After Peter Pan it was straight down to Sutton Park in Birmingham for the National 12 Stage Relays.

The event consists of 6 long legs of about 5.3 miles and 6 short legs of about 3 miles. The last time that Barnsley AC had qualified for this event a few years ago the overall time for the 49.8 miles had been 4:51.

The combined efforts this time around were:

 52  Barnsley Athletic Club              4:50:39
David Thompson   (59) 30:12
        Tom White        (64) 17:01
        Darren Middleton (51) 28:25
        Christian Shaw   (53) 17:31
        David Driver     (55) 30:49
        Keith Littlewood (55) 17:44
        Paul Altree      (61) 32:52
        Steven Darby     (60) 17:49
        Shaun Dimelow    (61) 32:47
        John Broom       (58) 17:44
        Gavin Felten     (53) 30:25
        David Brooksbank (52) 17:20

I make that something like 5:48/mile average over the whole event and yet we ended up being about 8 miles behind the winners, Belgrave.

It was quite a testing course, especially in the first half, so splits of 6:10, 5:37, 5:49 were pleasing enough.

It is a bit unfair to those of us with short legs to put some pretty lumpy sleeping policemen on the long uphill finishing straight:

Some of the team at the conclusion of the event in Sutton Park:

Sunday - Baitings Reservoir, Ripponden

After racing twice on Saturday it was time for a gentle amble on Sunday. Hannah and myself went over to Baiting's Reservoir and had a run around some of the very challenging hills above Ripponden as well as through the Scandinavian type woods surrounding the reservoir. A very pleasant relaxed 7 miles:

 This was followed by the last meal of significant carbs for 3 days at this scenic venue:

The Bad News:

It looks like the trusty pair of Green Silence have expired just before making it to their second VLM. They had a good innings and it was good while it lasted:

Next Week:

So the final week arrives and a nice easy week lies ahead.

The idea will be to have two complete rest days, probably Monday and Friday with the overall week looking something like this:

Mon: Rest
Tues: 10K easy
Weds: Sth Yorks Road league, Penistone 5 miles (@ MP ish)
Thurs: 10K easy
Fri: Rest
Sat: parkrun (about 24 mins)
Sun: (very early am) 1 mile v. v. easy
Sun: VLM + Beer

So, about 22 miles plus the race.

Mon to Weds will be a carb depletion phase as per last week followed by re-introduction of carbs for the rest of the week to get ready for Sunday.




VLM Prospects:

Nothing has changed so really looking forward to getting to the start line on Sunday, relaxing into the first few miles and then building the race step by step to hopefully deliver something satisfying by the time this sight is reached:

But ultimately this is the final destination where lots of salt encrusted marathon runners will be swapping stories deep into Sunday afternoon:

The next blog will be after the event so if anyone is interested in tracking progress, the running number is 31891.

I am not thinking in terms of specific targets but would like to make some more progress and dip inside the comeback PB of 2:55:36. Anything quicker would be a bonus but the general approach is to build the race with the right effort levels and come out of the other end feeling as though I've given it my best shot, regardless of the outcome.

Week 12 of 14 (Part 2) - Carb Depletion

Since posting yesterday's summary of Week 12 there have been several questions about what sort of nonsense thinking is involved in doing a carb depletion this week as opposed to the more usual marathon routine of final week carb depletion/carb loading?

So, instead of answering the same question more than once, this is the nonsense thinking employed:


Carb Depletion followed by Carb loading:

Carb depletion followed by a carb loading period used to be the modus operandi for years but then fell out of favour because of the bloated feeling that people were experiencing on the start line as well as doubts about whether carb depletion actually did any good.

The theory on the carb depletion was that it would make the body hungry for carbs and lead to a super compensation effect when carbs were re-introduced. The thinking was was that this would lead to a greater capacity for energy storage for the start of the marathon.

However, despite plenty attempts there has been no evidence to suggest that any super compensation effect actually exists at all.

The chances are that it doesnt, you have a certain number of mitochondria as a result of the training, each with a certain capacity for fuel storage, it isnt very likely that a carb depletion/carb loading routine is going to do much to change that total storage capacity.

So that leads to two questions:
a) Is there any point in carb loading?
b) Is there any point in carb depletion?

a) Carb loading -  There isnt much doubt that most runners really overdo this aspect. Normal eating will get carb stores filled up, especially with minimal exercise going on at the same time. Because carbs attach to water molecules, it isnt surprising that piling excess carbs in leads to an uncomfortable bloated feeling. If the body is giving off discomfort feelings then surely it is trying to say something?

b) Carb depletion - If carb depletion doesnt cause a supercompensation effect then why bother with it at all? On the basis that I have always felt stronger and rejuvenated in some way after a carb depletion I am convinced it is a beneficial process for some reason. What that reason is doesnt really matter but it is entirely possible that leaving carbs out of the diet for 3 days forces you to consume nutrients that may have become a bit deficient during the weeks of training. Getting these topped up and consuming plenty protein to strengthen muscles and connective tissues seems to be where the benefits are.

And if that is the case, is there any need to leave it until the last week to get strengthened up? If it is going to work in the last week then it is going to work in the penultimate week as well.



It may be way off the mark from what is really happening but because it has worked for me a few times now the Double Carb Depletion approach, without any excessive 'carb loading' is worth pursuing again in my books.  :)

If I crash and burn at VLM it may be time to reevaluate!



Also, because the carb depletion benefit isnt related to storage capacity it doesnt apply just to marathon build ups. Full strength muscles and connective tissues must be a good thing for all race distances, not to mention for injury prevention purposes. I used it to very good effect before last year's GNR and have never felt better

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!