Running On A Raisin

Monday, 14 September 2015

Yorkshire Marathon 2015 (Week 8 of 12)

Week 8

Mon 7/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 9:47/mile

Mon 7/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 9:04/mile

Tues 8/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:55/mile

Tues 8/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:37/mile

Weds 9/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:57/mile

Weds 9/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:50/mile

Thurs 10/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:45/mile

Thurs 10/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:33/mile

Fri 11/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:43/mile

Sat 12/9: 3.1 miles @ 9:20/mile

Sun 13/9: Mary Anderson Colour Marathon 2:59:17 (6:51/mile)(7th) [Hannah 2:57:50 (6:48/mile)(1st)]

Total Weekly Mileage: 65.31 Miles

Week 8 started with the interesting question of just how long does it take to recover from running 48 miles in a 12 hour period?

There was a little bit more heaviness than that experienced after a more 'normal' distance but not as much as might be expected, so that was good news.

The week consisted of the normal relaxed running followed by the best way to gauge marathon fitness - by running a marathon.

Saturday 12th September - Shore 10k, Killough, Co Down

A new record was set on Saturday morning as a sequence of three consecutive Saturday mornings without running a parkrun was completed, the longest such sequence since that first barcode was printed many moons ago.

After Run Directing at Bramley parkrun and last week's St Albans Enduro the third Saturday in the sequence took us to a lovely spot on the County Down coast, a place called Killough, for the Shore 10K.

Being sensible for once we didn't run this one but instead got trusted with the timekeeping duties:

As Hannah and myself did the button pressing we were expertly supervised by chief button pressing overseer, Lil Arth, from his elevated vantage point:

An enthusiastic start to the junior race:

Killough is a place of breathtaking scenery and provided the setting for the 2012 Academy Award winning film The Shore:

Some of the scenes were filmed in the local pub, The Anchor Bar, so there was only one place to go to recuperate from all that button pressing:

Race Director Mags Mathieson is a devout officianado of Prosecco so it took a wee while to convince her that the local speciality was a special creation called Black Prosecco :)

The scene for a gentle 5k run later in the day near Newcastle and overlooked by the Mourne Mountains:

Sunday 13th September - The Mary Anderson Colour Marathon, Carrickmore 2:59:17 (7th), Hannah 2:57:50 (1st)

Sunday involved a trip to the small village of Carrickmore in County Tyrone. The first thing to say about this village, and the surrounding area, is just how welcoming and friendly everyone is.

It would be easy for anyone in mainland UK to do a bit of Googling, discovering that Carrickmore was cetainly no stranger to paramilitary activity in the past and be very wary of ever visiting the place. But that really would be a shame as the reality is that this is a great part of the world to visit, which is why we keep going back to do some more exploring :)

The one thing that is clear from the background of the photo below is that this area is not flat. We had seen a course profile of the route beforehand that gave the impression that it was going to be a relatively gentle, undulating course - it wasn't, it was tough!

The event had a very relaxed feel to it, especially with an element of James Campbell (The Monaghan 10 organiser) tomfoolery on the start line:

This may look like focussed contemplation of the race ahead just like what proper athletes do. However, in actuality Delfim Pimentel and myself were watching the impressive sight of a car being picked up and shifted by brute force to clear the race route:

All ready for the uphill start in Carrickmore Main Street outside the Patrician Hall :

In the early stages, Hannah settling into a steady rhythm:

......... and then quite enjoying her little self as things progressed:

Halfway - 1:25:31 (Hannah 1:28:39)

The first half of the race was all about seeing what the legs wanted to do. A consistent 6:30/mile seemed ok but it didn't really feel as though it was flowing as would normally be the case in the first half of a marathon. Hannah had a similar experience so it was readily explained by a bit of lingering muscle fatigue from the 12 hour effort 8 days earlier.

The halfway mat was crossed in 4th place although there was no way of knowing that at the time as there were relay runners mixed in with the full distance runners.

The three leaders were still in sight just up ahead but there was sure to be some later acceleration with a recent 2:22 runner and a recent 2:31 runner in there somewhere.

However, anything can happen in a marathon and if one of the leaders ran into a bit of trouble then there would be a £200 cheque for 3rd place up for grabs.

Hannah went though halfway in a more conservative 1:28:39 and 10th place, which as things turned out was just about perfectly judged.

The 2nd Half

As the race progressed into the second half it became a bit clearer why the leaders had approached the first half cautiously, there was no flat road to be found.

The flattest bits were as we passed through the villages of Loughmacrory and Sixmilecross:

As the hills kept rolling I could feel the pace gradually ebbing away, nothing dramatic but the sustainable pace for the remainder of the race was clearly going to be a bit slower than what had gone before. The legs still felt strong so there were no great concerns but it would still be nice to keep the overall time to sub 3 if possible.

At 22 miles I had slipped back to 7th place overall but was just eyeing up regaining 6th when a familiar voice appeared from behind. Appearing to be in a very jaunty mood for this stage of the race, Hannah came up alongside and then, after a brief swapping of notes, she eased off up the road to take that 6th place that I'd been eyeing up!

Over the next couple of miles she looked very relaxed as she opened up a good 200m gap. She usually holds together pretty well in the closing stages so things were looking good for a potential win.

For my part there seemed to be enough time to keep the final time under 3 hours but it wasn't a given as the 24 mile marker was passed. To try to make sure that the pace didn't drift too much the best approach in the circumstances was to pick a fight!

There was a relay runner just ahead who was currently in 5th place in that event. He had no idea that I wasn't also in that race so he rose to the challenge and inadvertently provided me with a perfect pacemaker for the next mile and a bit. He then faded but we were now in the closing stages and Hannah was about 300m up ahead just turning into the GAA club to enter the finish area.

Another photo, another smile - had she been smiling the whole way round? This was the final few metres coming into the finish to land the spoils:

And a minute and a bit later I eventually joined the party :)

As can be seen from the results below, Hannah's splits were well judged with just a 33 secs positive split. On the other hand, mine look as though I had a horrendous experience which really wasn't the case, it was just a case of letting the legs dictate their pace.

A slower first half would have produced a better overall time but that is purely hindsight and in general terms it felt like a very positive experience on the road to York.

The medal was an impressively chunky offering, almost (but not quite) on a par with the Kent Roadrunner medal for it's part in the recent upsurge in A & E referrals for neck injuries :

The Ladies podium (from left) - Natalie Hall, Hannah, Tara Malone

Team Ormeau Runners bringing it home in the relay race in a time of 4:21:41, an impressive performance especially considering that most of the team are recent recruits to this running lark after becoming involved through a beginners running group linked to Ormeau parkrun and enthusiastically encouraged and cajoled by our good friends, Janine and Mark Ramsey.

Ormeau Runners - Nora Gilbody, Aine Ni, Lynzi Kinnear, Janine Ramsey:

Not up to the standard of the Kent Roadrunner Marathon where marathon running and cartwheeling were a combined event :

The race report as presented on NIRunning.com:

Next Week:

With 4 weeks to go to Yorkshire it feels like we've got plenty of the long stuff in the legs with the last 10 weeks having included two sub-3 marathons (Potteries and Mary Anderson Colour Marathon), a 48 mile effort (St Albans Enduro) and a 62.1 mile event (Thunder Run).

The remaining time will be for shorter races starting next week with a swiftish parkrun followed by the 2nd running of the excellent Vale of York Half Marathon on Sunday.

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

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)

Monday, 7 September 2015

Yorkshire Marathon 2015 (Week 7 of 12)

Week 7

Mon 31/8: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:56/mile

Mon 31/8: (pm) 8.0 miles @ 8:36/mile

Tues 1/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 9:02/mile

Tues 1/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:46/mile

Weds 2/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:27/mile

Weds 2/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 8:15/mile

Thurs 3/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:09/mile

Thurs 3/9: (pm) 4.0 miles @ 7:57/mile

Fri 4/9: (am) 4.0 miles @ 8:31/mile

Sat 5/9: 48.0 miles St Albans Stampede 12 Hours - 96.0 miles 11:28:53 (7:11/mile) 1st Pair

Sun 6/9: 4.0 miles @ 9:47/mile

Total Weekly Mileage: 92.0 miles

The simple principle employed in our marathon build ups is to race lots and to ensure that racing covers a wide range of distances.

With that in mind, the last couple of weeks have involved going from one end of the scale, last Saturday's Leeds Golden Mile, to the complete opposite end this week with the inaugural St Albans Stampede 12 Hours Enduro.

We had never entered a 12 hour event before but did at least have the experience of the Adidas Thunder Run six weeks ago to call upon.

Saturday 5th Sept 2015 (9am) - St Albans Stampede Enduro

This was an inaugural event hosted by St Albans Striders and was therefore a relatively small event to get the fixture established. Nick Bradley and the team got the arrangements spot on with the race HQ, and camping space, being no more than a minute's walk from the Start/Finish area.

The course was a 4 mile loop set in the picturesque surroundings of Heartwood Forest, a Woodlands Trust site.This was coming up to the mile point on the course:

........ and this was in the woods at about the half way mark:

It was an undulating course split roughly 50/50 between grass and firm paths but for an off road course seemed to flow really well:

The changeover point which would be seen many times during the day:

The Approach

From our experience at Thunder Run we felt that when competing as a pair a course of only 4 miles was too short to employ a single lap strategy for too much of the event.

It is a trade off between not wanting the individual stints to be too long but, at the same time, not wanting the breaks to be too short when trying to refuel.

So we had an outline plan to complete a single lap each at the start to familiarise ourselves with the course and thereafter switch to doubles (8 miles) for the bulk of the event. We would then probably switch back to singles right at the end to round the event off.

Expectations were that lap times of 31-32 minutes would be doable and that we should be able to complete 22 laps with a possible bonus one at the end if things went well.

The Race

The first 6 Hours:

At Thunder Run we covered 14 x 10k laps (86.8 miles) in 11:46 in the first half of the event so there was at least some basis to set expectations against. The pace at Thunder Run had been consistent at around 8:00/mile and didn't fall away as the hours ticked by so it seemed reasonable to expect that something around that pace was where we needed to be here at St Albans too.

The first and last half mile sections of each lap were uphill, which of course meant that on a double lap there would be a continuous 1 mile uphill climb, but nonetheless the course was more free flowing than that at Thunder Run.

At the end of the first lap the clock showed 26:27!

6:38/mile, or 2:53 marathon pace, certainly wasn't going to be sustainable for 12 hours but we settled into a sustainable rhythm pretty quickly once the double laps started.

After a few laps our average lap was being displayed on the race laptop at about 28:30-28:40 and although it looked a bit quick we were feeling in control through the first few hours. Interestingly, every double lap had a quicker 2nd lap than 1st as muscles warmed back up which confirmed the double lap strategy.

After 2 laps in 56:21 the leaderboard was showing us with a 7 minute lead which could of course mean one of two things, we could be doing well or we could have overcooked it in the early stages. The chances are that it was the latter considering it was still below 3:10 marathon pace.

On we went though ignoring the leaderboard and completed the first 12 laps in 5:43:16 (7:09/mile).

A check on the leaderboard now showed that the lead had grown a bit to 17 minutes. That sounds like a lot but can disintegrate so quickly if the going gets tough.

Apparently I was quite enjoying myself :)

The second 6 hours:

It is surprising how quickly the hours pass by once settled into a routine.

There were ebbs and flows for both of us in terms of energy levels but the pace remained consistent in the same narrow band of lap times as the next 3-4 hours ticked away.

There was a friendly face (and waggy tail) waiting to greet us on the completion of each lap:

Because the laps were mostly below 30 minutes our target was slowly moving upwards from the initial 22 laps to more like 24 laps. It even seemed like 25 laps was possible if we needed to add another one on the end.

However, once we had completed 22 laps the lead had grown enough to be comfortable to set the stall out for one final single lap each (to keep things nice and even) and then enjoy a celebratory Guinness on the Finish line regardless of whether there was plenty time left.

My final lap, the 23rd, was still in daylight but by the time Hannah started the final 24th lap it was pitch black and unfortunately the headtorch malfunctioned. How she still ran a similar time is a mystery!

By 11 hours, 28 minutes and 53 seconds we were done with 96 miles in the bag and quite surprised at how well it had all gone.

The 2nd batch of 12 laps had taken 5:45:37 compared to 5:43:16 for the first 12 laps and it would have been even closer if it hadn't been for that headtorch issue on the final lap.

The overall pace for the 96 miles was around 3:07 marathon pace give or take, which is a good bit swifter than the 3:30 ish pace that we were expecting.

A good day all round :)

If anyone fancies it for next year we would highly recommend it.

The Stats

The raw stats were as follows:

1. 26:27 Steve

2. 28:54 Hannah

3. 28:57 Steve

4. 28:04 Steve

5. 29:35 Hannah

6. 28:26 Hannah

7. 28:52 Steve

8. 27:42 Steve

9. 29:58 Hannah

10. 28:39 Hannah

11. 29:03 Steve

12. 27:39 Steve

13. 28:56 Hannah

14. 27:40 Hannah

15. 29:13 Steve

16. 28:27 Steve

17. 28:29 Hannah

18. 27:36 Hannah

19. 30:17 Steve

20. 28:53 Steve

21. 28:48 Hannah

22. 28:28 Hannah

23. 28:06 Steve

24. 30:44 Hannah

1st 48 miles (12 laps) - 5:43:16 (7:09/mile)

2nd 48 miles (12 laps) - 5:45:37 (7:12/mile)

The Run Report

This was the run report by Race Director, Nick Bradley, a very complimentary chap :)

The very appropriate bottle opener presented on the Finish line:

The race HQ: