... for some very generous donations, including £200 from Abbott Laboratories Limited and a couple of substantial personal donations from other runners.
Not much to report over the past two weeks. After our bike ride to Stratford and back, Leon and I expanded our cross-training options by buying a brace of nice Specialized hard-tail mountain bikes. I am gradually learning to handle this new toy. I've continued to run and swim and cycle, though slightly less because I've had two very full weeks at work. Leon's running ground to a halt soon after mine did. I may not be as good a runner as he is, but Leon seems to need me to be training in order to keep motivated himself.
Then on Friday I tested my Bad Leg with a gentle 4-mile run. It was fine.
And yesterday evening, after 31 miles of mountain-biking on predominantly rough canal paths, I ran just over 5 miles at around 10mm pace. It was fine again.
So today I raced. Without any children to transport, Leon and I cycled the 6 miles to Kingshurst for the Centurion Grand Prix 5-mile race. Leon decided not to run, and was deployed as a hazard-warning sign over a patch of black ice on the path. It was perfect weather for a PB attempt, and I'm at my PB-setting weight (49kg), but it was all too evident that swimming and cycling are not enough to maintain running fitness. I pottered round comfortably in 42:35, even slower than my last outing. My shin twinged very subtly. I won't run tomorrow.
AND I was presented with a nice little trophy by the club for being Runner of the Month for October, apparently because I'd done lots of marathons. I was chuffed to bits about that :o)
This week as things stand I have two full days and three half-days at work, so I'm hoping to have time to do more training, still mainly swimming and cycling but with regular short runs.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Weekly Report from the Injury Bench.
Don't tell anyone I said this, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the past week.
Accepting that my shin would recover a lot more quickly if I stopped running was disappointing, but also quite liberating. I was giving myself permission to stop doing an activity which hurt and replace it with activities that didn't hurt. I stopped clinging hopefully to advice to "reduce mileage", and took note of Matt Fitzgerald's words in Brain Training for Runners:
Take it from one who learned the lesson in the hardest way possible. You will come out ahead in the long run (so to speak) if you adopt a zero tolerance policy towards injury pain ... and react to it with a hair trigger by ceasing your running as soon as the pain reaches red-flag level and not running again until you can do so without pain.
And later in the same chapter:
In the meantime, stay fit by replacing your running workouts with similar workouts in a nonimpact aerobic activity such as bicycling or deep-water running that you can do pain-free. Doing so will not only keep you fit while your injury heals and you correct its causes, but it will also greatly reduce the temptation to resume running too quickly.
I've had to fit my cross-training around a busy week at work, and think I've done not too badly.
Walking (with occasional little experimental runs): 33.04 miles, average pace 13.59mm.
Cycling: 95.07 miles.
Swimming: 3960m
Long Run Substitute: 70.8-mile bike ride with Leon, to Stratford and back along minor roads.
Niggles: Low back DOMS after my first bike ride in months. Must learn to relax in the saddle!
Sofa-spud days: None.
What I'm logging as "walking" has been done solely as training, unladen, wearing running-shoes, and concentrating on technique. I've probably walked almost as far again just going to work and to the pool and doing my housecalls. Being able to walk quickly without aggravating my shin has undoubtedly made cross-training more accessible.
All of my cross-training, give or take some uphill efforts on the bike, has been aerobic, and my body appears to have slipped happily into a routine of churning out little Krebs cycles instead of having to cope with unpredictable and sometimes intense demands for glycogen synthesis and breakdown. It feels as if it's ticking over very smoothly indeed :o)
My shin is definitely a great deal quieter than it was a week ago, but it wasn't entirely painfree when I tested it out with some very gentle running during my walk tonight so I'm anticipating at least another week on the bench.
Accepting that my shin would recover a lot more quickly if I stopped running was disappointing, but also quite liberating. I was giving myself permission to stop doing an activity which hurt and replace it with activities that didn't hurt. I stopped clinging hopefully to advice to "reduce mileage", and took note of Matt Fitzgerald's words in Brain Training for Runners:
Take it from one who learned the lesson in the hardest way possible. You will come out ahead in the long run (so to speak) if you adopt a zero tolerance policy towards injury pain ... and react to it with a hair trigger by ceasing your running as soon as the pain reaches red-flag level and not running again until you can do so without pain.
And later in the same chapter:
In the meantime, stay fit by replacing your running workouts with similar workouts in a nonimpact aerobic activity such as bicycling or deep-water running that you can do pain-free. Doing so will not only keep you fit while your injury heals and you correct its causes, but it will also greatly reduce the temptation to resume running too quickly.
I've had to fit my cross-training around a busy week at work, and think I've done not too badly.
Walking (with occasional little experimental runs): 33.04 miles, average pace 13.59mm.
Cycling: 95.07 miles.
Swimming: 3960m
Long Run Substitute: 70.8-mile bike ride with Leon, to Stratford and back along minor roads.
Niggles: Low back DOMS after my first bike ride in months. Must learn to relax in the saddle!
Sofa-spud days: None.
What I'm logging as "walking" has been done solely as training, unladen, wearing running-shoes, and concentrating on technique. I've probably walked almost as far again just going to work and to the pool and doing my housecalls. Being able to walk quickly without aggravating my shin has undoubtedly made cross-training more accessible.
All of my cross-training, give or take some uphill efforts on the bike, has been aerobic, and my body appears to have slipped happily into a routine of churning out little Krebs cycles instead of having to cope with unpredictable and sometimes intense demands for glycogen synthesis and breakdown. It feels as if it's ticking over very smoothly indeed :o)
My shin is definitely a great deal quieter than it was a week ago, but it wasn't entirely painfree when I tested it out with some very gentle running during my walk tonight so I'm anticipating at least another week on the bench.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Weekly Summary
[Looks for Grumpy Face Smiley.]
Running mileage: 10.31 miles, average pace 9.50mm, all of it on Monday.
Various permutations of walk/run sessions: 21.37 miles.
Swimming: 2.2 kilometres.
Climbing: One 90-minute session.
Niggles: Have I mentioned that my training has been temporarily kiboshed by a sore shin? Yes? Oh, OK. And the lining of my nose has been stripped off by the chlorine in the swimming-pool.
Sofa-spud days: Friday.
Taking notice of whether or not I like the idea of cross-training isn't a luxury I can afford. If I keep running, my shin isn't going to get better. I don't want to lose impetus, and I don't want to lose fitness. In my pre-running days, I kept in shape almost exclusively by walking and swimming, and I've turned the clock back. I'm working full-time this week and next, and the adults-only hour at our local pool is conveniently between my morning and afternoon sessions. Swimming isn't running, but it has the undeniable virtue of not making my shin hurt.
I suppose less running has to mean less chocolate ... roll on recovery ;o)
Running mileage: 10.31 miles, average pace 9.50mm, all of it on Monday.
Various permutations of walk/run sessions: 21.37 miles.
Swimming: 2.2 kilometres.
Climbing: One 90-minute session.
Niggles: Have I mentioned that my training has been temporarily kiboshed by a sore shin? Yes? Oh, OK. And the lining of my nose has been stripped off by the chlorine in the swimming-pool.
Sofa-spud days: Friday.
Taking notice of whether or not I like the idea of cross-training isn't a luxury I can afford. If I keep running, my shin isn't going to get better. I don't want to lose impetus, and I don't want to lose fitness. In my pre-running days, I kept in shape almost exclusively by walking and swimming, and I've turned the clock back. I'm working full-time this week and next, and the adults-only hour at our local pool is conveniently between my morning and afternoon sessions. Swimming isn't running, but it has the undeniable virtue of not making my shin hurt.
I suppose less running has to mean less chocolate ... roll on recovery ;o)
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Spoke too soon!
On Monday I did just over 10 miles of running, split into two short runs. After the second run, my shin was sore, in a bad-dose-of-toothache-in-my-tibia sort of way, for fully half an hour.
On Tuesday, Leon and I went to Sutton Park to take some photographs of ourselves for the Brathay website and for the Centurion Running Club newsletter.
Yes, I know about the Q-angle and the K-bend and the femoral anteversion and the gruesome overpronation and the hairbrush-dodging, but ... does my bum look big in this?
;o)
After our photoshoot, we put on lots of clothes and went for a little off-road run. It proved to be even littler than we'd expected. We ran on the grass for about three-quarters of a mile, then set off down a rough, damp, stony path. F-lite 230s are excellent shoes for road-running, but they don't perform well when the underfoot conditions are more than slightly knobbly. I tensed up. My shin hurt. My left calf cramped. I had pain in my right buttock and thigh. Slowing down to walking-pace seemed the safest strategy.
I resolved then to stop running until I could walk without any shin pain.
Yesterday, I was climbing the walls. No, really. Leon and I are both partial to a bit of verticality, and for the first time in many months we dusted off our harnesses and climbing boots and went down to the Redpoint Climbing Centre to play.
Climbing is great fun, but it doesn't really help maintain running fitness. Now, I hate cross-training. I'm not an athlete, and I'm not the sort of person who exercises for the sheer joy of exercising. I'm a recreational runner. I don't want to do aqua-jogging, or spin on a stationary bike like a hamster on a wheel. I hate swimming. I'm too sound-sensitive to do "classes" at the gym (apart from yoga, and life's too short to waste on yoga).
I can't afford to lose fitness or training momentum, though. Leon has kindly offered to set up the turbo-trainer for me, and Kim has offered to lend me her aqua-jogging belt. Meanwhile, I'll do plenty of purposeful walking. I went to the local pool this afternoon and the experience wasn't as dire as I recalled, although my swimming is as scruffy as ever. Hopefully it won't be long before I'm back pounding the pavements.
Meanwhile, my priority is to make sure Leon doesn't forget to go out running :o)
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Weekly Summary
Total mileage: 56.92 miles
Profile: 100% steady road running, average pace 9.42mm
Longest run: 11.32 miles at 9.29mm pace.
Niggles: Just my right shin!
Sofa-spud days: None.
As predicted, a slower week, with almost 80% of the mileage coming in the 5 days after a blood donation. It typically takes 10 days for my exercise tolerance to come back to normal.
I plan to do around 70mpw for each of the next three weeks, maintaining an easy pace. Leon and I have agreed that we ought to start including some speedwork in December. We'll have to work out the least disruptive way of doing this.
Earlier this year, with the 10-in-10 on our wish-list for 2009, we asked an experienced coach for training advice. He devised a schedule for Leon and tweaked the sessions for me to reflect my slower pace. Unfortunately, the schedules didn't take into account that Leon and I like to train together and that, historically, I'm the one who has been able to tolerate higher training loads. I was unhappy at not being considered capable of handling as many miles, or as many reps on interval sessions, as Leon was, and I was unimpressed that so much of our training would have to be done separately.
Well-intentioned advice on coping strategies, and reminders that lots of two-runner couples don't train together and that maybe I should go out and find new playmates of similar ability to myself, completely missed the point and left me feeling as if I was being unreasonable. My confidence in my athletic ability is a fragile thing, and when Leon said something that I interpreted as "I can't do my long runs with you because you're too slow," which was not, of course, what he actually said, it crumbled to dust.
I barely ran a step from mid-June until the beginning of August. Leon's training log for those weeks looks similarly sparse. What was the point in being divided by a shared interest?
Since we picked up our training again, it's been straightforward. Lots of steady aerobic mileage for both of us, running together whenever we can. More miles overall for me because Leon was sidelined with a virus for a few days. No fancy sessions that we've had to think hard about.
On Wednesday, we did our standard 8-mile route. Leon was wearing his new Puma Salohs and I was as curious as he was to see how they performed when he ran fast, so I suggested that he went ahead, did a faster mile while I continued to plod along at my own pace, and came back to meet me. He did that three times. It was a very successful session and it may be worth looking at variations on that theme.
Meanwhile, I need to make more red blood cells before even thinking about speedwork ;o)
Profile: 100% steady road running, average pace 9.42mm
Longest run: 11.32 miles at 9.29mm pace.
Niggles: Just my right shin!
Sofa-spud days: None.
As predicted, a slower week, with almost 80% of the mileage coming in the 5 days after a blood donation. It typically takes 10 days for my exercise tolerance to come back to normal.
I plan to do around 70mpw for each of the next three weeks, maintaining an easy pace. Leon and I have agreed that we ought to start including some speedwork in December. We'll have to work out the least disruptive way of doing this.
Earlier this year, with the 10-in-10 on our wish-list for 2009, we asked an experienced coach for training advice. He devised a schedule for Leon and tweaked the sessions for me to reflect my slower pace. Unfortunately, the schedules didn't take into account that Leon and I like to train together and that, historically, I'm the one who has been able to tolerate higher training loads. I was unhappy at not being considered capable of handling as many miles, or as many reps on interval sessions, as Leon was, and I was unimpressed that so much of our training would have to be done separately.
Well-intentioned advice on coping strategies, and reminders that lots of two-runner couples don't train together and that maybe I should go out and find new playmates of similar ability to myself, completely missed the point and left me feeling as if I was being unreasonable. My confidence in my athletic ability is a fragile thing, and when Leon said something that I interpreted as "I can't do my long runs with you because you're too slow," which was not, of course, what he actually said, it crumbled to dust.
I barely ran a step from mid-June until the beginning of August. Leon's training log for those weeks looks similarly sparse. What was the point in being divided by a shared interest?
Since we picked up our training again, it's been straightforward. Lots of steady aerobic mileage for both of us, running together whenever we can. More miles overall for me because Leon was sidelined with a virus for a few days. No fancy sessions that we've had to think hard about.
On Wednesday, we did our standard 8-mile route. Leon was wearing his new Puma Salohs and I was as curious as he was to see how they performed when he ran fast, so I suggested that he went ahead, did a faster mile while I continued to plod along at my own pace, and came back to meet me. He did that three times. It was a very successful session and it may be worth looking at variations on that theme.
Meanwhile, I need to make more red blood cells before even thinking about speedwork ;o)
Easy Week and a shoe experiment
I'd planned to make this a pretty easy week training-wise. No particularly hard sessions. Not worrying too much about mileage...
My Inov-8 f-lite 230's are coming towards the end of their useful running life, and having reached 603 miles they have done themselves proud. I'll get a little more out of them before I wear trough the outsole, but I doubt that I'll get to 700 miles - so less than a week of running left in them!
In the absence of a promised new pair of f-lite 230's from Inov-8, I ordered a Puma Salohs to try. It's a shoe that a number of people who have a similar running style to me wear, and I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to try them out.
They are very comfortable - the midsole and outsole are made of denser materials than the f-lite, and the 'feel' on the ground is slightly less 'direct'
The decent test I gave them was on a 9 mile run that I did with Lorna, into which I injected 3 Tempo miles - at 6:13 - 5:53 and 5:50 min/mile. It's a shoe that comes into it's own at faster paces, although the harder compound rubber outsole is not as grippy on damp pavements as to be ideal.
It's a shoe that I'll road-test properly, as I'm often asked for advice with regard to shoes and the differences between them!!
The remainder of the weeks' training was all spent running with Lorna - and so it was with some surspise that I found that I'd racked up 57 miles. I really didn't notice the distance, which I'm guessing has to be a good sign.
Just the one day where I didn't especially enjoy running, all the rest were fabulous
57.24 miles
One Intervals-ish session that was 9.4 miles long
47.84 miles of aerobic running.
Quite a pleasing result for what was planned as an easy week and felt like an easy week!!
More of the same next week I think.
Lorna and I had a chat the other night and agreed that introducing some speed and harder stuff through December in the build up to a targetted faster 'raced' marathon in February made a great deal of sense, and then maintain that speed while building up the back to back long days in the run in to May!
Sounds like a plan!!
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
A Right Shin-annigan :o(
I still have shin splints. It's nothing worse than that, and according to this article from Peak Performance, I have a moderately severe dose of this common running injury and should be reducing my mileage and doing exercises to strengthen my ankle dorsiflexors. Bah! Why couldn't the cure involve eating raspberry cheesecake rather than doing boring exercises?
The article also recommends NSAIDs. I know runners who don't get out of bed without taking ibuprofen. I never normally take NSAIDs for anything other than period pain. But I'm going to take 1g of nabumetone daily for the next week to see whether it makes a difference.
Last week, I did have quite a drastic cutback week ...
Total mileage: 35.5 miles
Profile: 82.5% steady road running, average pace 9.37mm
3.5% running with Beth (12), average pace 10.42mm
14% Centurion Grand Prix 5-mile race, average pace 8.14mm
Longest run: 9.2 miles at 9.51mm
Niggles: Just my right shin, in case I haven't mentioned it already.
Sofa-spud days: Saturday
My legs were clearly hungover from the weekend, as demonstrated by the slower average pace (though it hasn't dropped below my target training pace) and, especially, by my performance at the club race. The Centurion Grand Prix 5-mile race is run once a month for six months, and this month's was the first in the current series. This time last year, I ran it in 36:46 and got an age category prize. On Sunday, I took 41:11 over it (a PW for the course if you exclude the time I ran it with a dose of gastroenteritis) despite being at a good racing weight and having some decent mileage behind me. There was no power in my quads or hamstrings.
Considering how close I came to not starting at all because my shin was painful, I'm happy enough with that result.
This week's mileage will be higher, but the pace will be relatively sedate because I donated blood yesterday afternoon. I was able to run a few hours later, but every little updulate exposed the fact that I'd lost a chunk of my oxygen-carrying capacity. Nothing a few steak butties won't put right :o)
The article also recommends NSAIDs. I know runners who don't get out of bed without taking ibuprofen. I never normally take NSAIDs for anything other than period pain. But I'm going to take 1g of nabumetone daily for the next week to see whether it makes a difference.
Last week, I did have quite a drastic cutback week ...
Total mileage: 35.5 miles
Profile: 82.5% steady road running, average pace 9.37mm
3.5% running with Beth (12), average pace 10.42mm
14% Centurion Grand Prix 5-mile race, average pace 8.14mm
Longest run: 9.2 miles at 9.51mm
Niggles: Just my right shin, in case I haven't mentioned it already.
Sofa-spud days: Saturday
My legs were clearly hungover from the weekend, as demonstrated by the slower average pace (though it hasn't dropped below my target training pace) and, especially, by my performance at the club race. The Centurion Grand Prix 5-mile race is run once a month for six months, and this month's was the first in the current series. This time last year, I ran it in 36:46 and got an age category prize. On Sunday, I took 41:11 over it (a PW for the course if you exclude the time I ran it with a dose of gastroenteritis) despite being at a good racing weight and having some decent mileage behind me. There was no power in my quads or hamstrings.
Considering how close I came to not starting at all because my shin was painful, I'm happy enough with that result.
This week's mileage will be higher, but the pace will be relatively sedate because I donated blood yesterday afternoon. I was able to run a few hours later, but every little updulate exposed the fact that I'd lost a chunk of my oxygen-carrying capacity. Nothing a few steak butties won't put right :o)
Monday, 3 November 2008
A light week - and an unexpected PB!
Following the exertions of last weekend, a nice cutback week was definitely on the menu. I probably overdid it a bit - more than halving my mileage from the week before, and getting to the end of the week in no frame of mind for racing.
But my children were in residence, and wanted to race. Especially my eldest who has a decent chance of placing in the series if he does four of the 6 races.
The series is the Centurions Grand Prix - a series of 5mile (and 2K) races held on the first weekend of the month from November, meaning that Race 1 was on Sunday. Come the morning and my 3 little 'uns were all up for it. Whereas I was looking out of the window and secretly hoping that the weather would grace us with enough inclemency to have to stay indoors!
No such luck!
Overcast and a bit dreary looking, but no rain, little wind, and relatively warm in the circumstances.
We ran with the kids in the 2K to keep warm, and because it is just the Best being able to run with your kids
I ran with my middle child - who had to work hard being, as he is, the least sporty of my brood! He ran his little legs off, became pink of face, and smashed his PB for the course by over a minute - AND dipped under 14 minutes.
A magnificent achievement.
My youngest, who's 6, ran completely on her own for the first time and it was fantastic to watch her. She has a running style to die for!
She didn't pb - but I was really proud of her in completing the whole course without the need for verbal cajoling, or someone to hold her hand.
Fantastic!!
My eldest ran hard, finished in 9th place - then declared himself disappointed with the way he ran. He shouldn't be. He actually did fantastically well - and was only 14 seconds slower than his best for the course - AND there was a closed gate to negotiate which is normally open!
Having taken the kids back to the Gym for shelter and warmth, Lorna and I headed back to the start. I STILL wasn't sure how I was going to run, and was definitely not in race-mode.
I decided to see how the first mile went, and take it from there. And I felt OK!
Marginally over 6 min/mile pace, and running hard but steady.
By the time half way came, I had consolidated my place, and felt strong enough to click off pretty regular mile splits - so I did. And in so doing posted an 8 second PB.
I was reminded after finishing just how friendly our club is, as I was approached by a number of folk who all introduced themselves and had a chat. Excellent!
Back to the training this week. Not too hard, but keeping the miles ticking over.
Just one observation from todays run.
There are occasions when you run in such a way that you seem to just stroke the ground backwards with little effort, like you are only touching the ground to stop gravity pulling you downwards. Much of the 8 miles Lorna and I ran today felt like that. It was very satisfying!
Saturday, 1 November 2008
262 miles ...
... that's 10 marathons, isn't it?
It's also my total mileage for October.
Just need to be able to condense that into 10 days now!
It's also my total mileage for October.
Just need to be able to condense that into 10 days now!
Thursday, 30 October 2008
The perils of peer pressure!
I have a Footwear Problem.
I'm a late convert to running in lightweight shoes. Like Leon, I'm very keen on the Inov8 F-lite 230 as a road shoe, although I prefer the Nike Vaporfly. A preference that is currently of academic interest only as the Vaporfly has been discontinued and the F-lite 230 won't be available in my size until the new models go into production next year.
My F-lite 230s have done 300 miles.
My Vaporflys have done about 550 miles - more than double their allotted lifespan. I have another pair stashed away, but they won't last forever and I need an alternative shoe.
There has been much discussion on Fetch about the Adidas Adizero PRO, as modelled by one Mr Gebrselassie, and several people ordered them and declared them quite satisfactory. For a couple of weeks I dithered and swithered and put them in my cybertrolley and took them out again. They sounded perfect, but I've never worn Adidas below my ankles.
Last week I hit "spend", and they arrived on Monday. A pair for Leon and a pair for me.
They weigh virtually nothing. I put them on and was surprised by how big and baggy they felt. I went out for a run. Although thin, the soles were disappointingly rigid and unresponsive. I decided to reserve judgement until I'd taken them out a few more times.
The next day, I had a sore right shin. Not the fleeting niggle I've had a couple of times over the last few weeks. A proper sore shin.
I should have trusted my own judgement, shouldn't I?
If anyone knows where I might be able to buy Nike Vaporflys in UK size 5.5, please tell me. I did ask Nike if they'd give me some for the 10-in-10, but they sent me back a letter inviting me, in the most pleasantly-worded way imaginable, to go and boil my head.
Meanwhile ... [leafs through chapter on managing early shin splints].
I'm a late convert to running in lightweight shoes. Like Leon, I'm very keen on the Inov8 F-lite 230 as a road shoe, although I prefer the Nike Vaporfly. A preference that is currently of academic interest only as the Vaporfly has been discontinued and the F-lite 230 won't be available in my size until the new models go into production next year.
My F-lite 230s have done 300 miles.
My Vaporflys have done about 550 miles - more than double their allotted lifespan. I have another pair stashed away, but they won't last forever and I need an alternative shoe.
There has been much discussion on Fetch about the Adidas Adizero PRO, as modelled by one Mr Gebrselassie, and several people ordered them and declared them quite satisfactory. For a couple of weeks I dithered and swithered and put them in my cybertrolley and took them out again. They sounded perfect, but I've never worn Adidas below my ankles.
Last week I hit "spend", and they arrived on Monday. A pair for Leon and a pair for me.
They weigh virtually nothing. I put them on and was surprised by how big and baggy they felt. I went out for a run. Although thin, the soles were disappointingly rigid and unresponsive. I decided to reserve judgement until I'd taken them out a few more times.
The next day, I had a sore right shin. Not the fleeting niggle I've had a couple of times over the last few weeks. A proper sore shin.
I should have trusted my own judgement, shouldn't I?
If anyone knows where I might be able to buy Nike Vaporflys in UK size 5.5, please tell me. I did ask Nike if they'd give me some for the 10-in-10, but they sent me back a letter inviting me, in the most pleasantly-worded way imaginable, to go and boil my head.
Meanwhile ... [leafs through chapter on managing early shin splints].
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Weekend Warrioring Part 2
The First EDF Birmingham Half-Marathon
At last, a half-marathon in Birmingham!
When we sent off our entries, the plan was that Leon would race it, aiming for sub-1:25, and I would amble round with Catriona, my 17-year-old daughter. When Catriona's race plans were sabotaged by failure to train compounded by a nasty viral throat infection, I briefly considered racing, then the Snowdonia plan was formed and I offered to run with my friend Kim and try to support her to a PB in the 2:20s. We persuaded Beth to join us. Beth is a relatively new runner and had run her first half-marathon in 2:42 at Cardiff the week before. I was confident that she was capable of taking a chunk off that time.
The extra hour's sleep meant that getting up at 6am wasn't too much of a struggle. We'd decided to park the car at the finish and get the shuttle-bus back to the start, which proved to be a good strategy, even though the traffic in Perry Barr was heavier than the organisers had anticipated and we were given the opportunity to get off the bus early and walk to the Alexander Stadium. It was raining lightly. I kept my OMM Kamleika jacket on. By the time we finished, it was dry and sunny and I must have looked rather silly wearing a raincoat.
A quick pre-race loo-stop (plenty of Portaloos, shortish queues), then we went to the start to meet a group of Fetchies at the front of the "orange" section.. Don't you just hate slow runners who don't start at the back? "Everyone will overtake us," I warned Kim and Beth. "Just let them go." Leon went off to try to hook up with Neil, who was aiming for sub-1:40.
The start was delayed by about 15 minutes, and a couple of girls got up on the stage and tried to initiate one of those aerobics-class-type warm-ups to "Girls on Film". Given how tightly we were packed, I think that encouraging people to leap around and punch the air was irresponsible and would like this particular feature edited out of future events. Please. This is supposed to be a credible race, not a fun-run.
It took us about a minute to cross the start-line. The first few miles, across the overpasses along the A34, were more undulating than I'd expected, then we had a steady, shallow updulate into the city centre. The support in the city centre was fantastic. Lots of people, lots of cheering, no whistles. FLM take note!
Just before 6 miles, Beth had a loo-stop, I waited for her, and Kim, who was clearly having a Bad Patch, went on. We pelted down the next couple of hills and caught up with her, but she fell back again on the next gentle updulate and I had to make an executive decision. Kim's PB wasn't going to happen today, and I'd said I'd stay with her ... but Beth was running very well indeed, and if I stayed with Kim she'd hang back too and compromise her own excellent prospect of a PB. Besides, I know that Kim likes to be left to stomp out her Bad Patches by herself, and she would hate to hold anyone back.So Beth and I went on, feeling slightly guilty.
Beth really was running well, despite repeatedly predicting the imminent demise of various parts of her body in a totally matter-of-fact way. From 8 miles, I knew her PB was in the bag even if she slowed to 13.30mm pace - but she wasn't slowing. On the way, she notched up a 10-mile PB by 5 minutes (1:53:43). By 11 miles, sub-2:30 was looking like a very real prospect. Beth was clearly in a little more discomfort than she was at the start, but she was still giving it everything. Or so I thought ...
"So where's the finish?" she asked, as we ran down Broad Street bantering with the supporters.
"There," I replied, pointing to the flag. And she took off as if she'd been fired from a gun, leaving me chewing on a mouthful of dust. I pelted after her, but still finished a full 5 seconds behind.
2:27:58 for Beth, 2:28:03 for me. AND the first time I've ever run a negative split in a half-marathon!
We'd seen Kim coming up Hagley Road as we ran back towards town. She'd come through her Bad Patch and picked up her pace again. I'd shouted that I'd go back for her, intending to drop Beth off just before the finish, loop back and run in with Kim, but the way the route was fenced off made that impossible. She finished in a creditable 2:40:29 - not a PB, but a good display of mental toughness.
The finish was reasonably well-organised, with plenty of water and Powerade, a nice cotton goody-bag, a big blingy Brummie medal, decent t-shirts (they even had them in "XS", which is almost not too big for me) and sundry bits of tat. Traidcraft dried kiwi-fruit? [Rolls eyes] This is Birmingham. The Home of Chocolate.
Apart from a few teething-troubles, our inaugural half-marathon was a fabulous event and made me proud of my adopted city. The first few miles are unscenic, but the Edgbaston section is as attractive as you'll find in any big city race. There were pockets of support all around the course, which had obviously been carefully planned to allow for road closures to take place without disrupting the main shopping areas, bus routes and through traffic. Only a Brummie or a map-geek would have spotted just how convoluted miles 5-12 were!
The course is one that would suit me well for racing, and now I've done a recce, I can aim for sub-1:36 here next year :o)
At last, a half-marathon in Birmingham!
When we sent off our entries, the plan was that Leon would race it, aiming for sub-1:25, and I would amble round with Catriona, my 17-year-old daughter. When Catriona's race plans were sabotaged by failure to train compounded by a nasty viral throat infection, I briefly considered racing, then the Snowdonia plan was formed and I offered to run with my friend Kim and try to support her to a PB in the 2:20s. We persuaded Beth to join us. Beth is a relatively new runner and had run her first half-marathon in 2:42 at Cardiff the week before. I was confident that she was capable of taking a chunk off that time.
The extra hour's sleep meant that getting up at 6am wasn't too much of a struggle. We'd decided to park the car at the finish and get the shuttle-bus back to the start, which proved to be a good strategy, even though the traffic in Perry Barr was heavier than the organisers had anticipated and we were given the opportunity to get off the bus early and walk to the Alexander Stadium. It was raining lightly. I kept my OMM Kamleika jacket on. By the time we finished, it was dry and sunny and I must have looked rather silly wearing a raincoat.
A quick pre-race loo-stop (plenty of Portaloos, shortish queues), then we went to the start to meet a group of Fetchies at the front of the "orange" section.. Don't you just hate slow runners who don't start at the back? "Everyone will overtake us," I warned Kim and Beth. "Just let them go." Leon went off to try to hook up with Neil, who was aiming for sub-1:40.
The start was delayed by about 15 minutes, and a couple of girls got up on the stage and tried to initiate one of those aerobics-class-type warm-ups to "Girls on Film". Given how tightly we were packed, I think that encouraging people to leap around and punch the air was irresponsible and would like this particular feature edited out of future events. Please. This is supposed to be a credible race, not a fun-run.
It took us about a minute to cross the start-line. The first few miles, across the overpasses along the A34, were more undulating than I'd expected, then we had a steady, shallow updulate into the city centre. The support in the city centre was fantastic. Lots of people, lots of cheering, no whistles. FLM take note!
Just before 6 miles, Beth had a loo-stop, I waited for her, and Kim, who was clearly having a Bad Patch, went on. We pelted down the next couple of hills and caught up with her, but she fell back again on the next gentle updulate and I had to make an executive decision. Kim's PB wasn't going to happen today, and I'd said I'd stay with her ... but Beth was running very well indeed, and if I stayed with Kim she'd hang back too and compromise her own excellent prospect of a PB. Besides, I know that Kim likes to be left to stomp out her Bad Patches by herself, and she would hate to hold anyone back.So Beth and I went on, feeling slightly guilty.
Beth really was running well, despite repeatedly predicting the imminent demise of various parts of her body in a totally matter-of-fact way. From 8 miles, I knew her PB was in the bag even if she slowed to 13.30mm pace - but she wasn't slowing. On the way, she notched up a 10-mile PB by 5 minutes (1:53:43). By 11 miles, sub-2:30 was looking like a very real prospect. Beth was clearly in a little more discomfort than she was at the start, but she was still giving it everything. Or so I thought ...
"So where's the finish?" she asked, as we ran down Broad Street bantering with the supporters.
"There," I replied, pointing to the flag. And she took off as if she'd been fired from a gun, leaving me chewing on a mouthful of dust. I pelted after her, but still finished a full 5 seconds behind.
2:27:58 for Beth, 2:28:03 for me. AND the first time I've ever run a negative split in a half-marathon!
We'd seen Kim coming up Hagley Road as we ran back towards town. She'd come through her Bad Patch and picked up her pace again. I'd shouted that I'd go back for her, intending to drop Beth off just before the finish, loop back and run in with Kim, but the way the route was fenced off made that impossible. She finished in a creditable 2:40:29 - not a PB, but a good display of mental toughness.
The finish was reasonably well-organised, with plenty of water and Powerade, a nice cotton goody-bag, a big blingy Brummie medal, decent t-shirts (they even had them in "XS", which is almost not too big for me) and sundry bits of tat. Traidcraft dried kiwi-fruit? [Rolls eyes] This is Birmingham. The Home of Chocolate.
Apart from a few teething-troubles, our inaugural half-marathon was a fabulous event and made me proud of my adopted city. The first few miles are unscenic, but the Edgbaston section is as attractive as you'll find in any big city race. There were pockets of support all around the course, which had obviously been carefully planned to allow for road closures to take place without disrupting the main shopping areas, bus routes and through traffic. Only a Brummie or a map-geek would have spotted just how convoluted miles 5-12 were!
The course is one that would suit me well for racing, and now I've done a recce, I can aim for sub-1:36 here next year :o)
Weekend Warrioring Part 1
Snowdonia Marathon
"Whose stupid idea was this?" I said to Leon, as we huddled together behind a wall near the start-line in a rather ineffectual attempt to stay warm and dry.
"Yours," he replied. Sometimes my lovely husband is SO not a gentleman! He was right, though. The suggestion that we should try to scavenge some unwanted Snowdonia Marathon places barely a week before the race had been mine, and I'd done a lot of the active scavenging. The only reason we hadn't entered sooner and targeted the race was that we had decided we ought to support our home city's inaugural half-marathon the following day, but with the 10-in-10 to train for it seemed like a good idea to race twice in the same weekend and, for the first time ever, to run in the same marathon but not run together. I was hoping to be a bit faster than at Langdale, with 4:30 my aspirational time.
We'd set off from Birmingham at 5.30am. Until 20 miles from Llanberis, there had been no sign of rain or wind. A beautiful red sunrise had followed us in. Then the wind started to pick up, and by the time we had parked and set off to register it was obvious that the forecast rain wasn't far away.
Registration in the Community Centre was quick and simple. We met Steve Edwards (who holds the 10-in-10 world record), and several people from Fetch. I had a wander round and resolved to return after the race with my purse to buy some of the lovely offerings from the hand-made jewellery stall and Dilys the Sheep, as well as a souvenir hoodie. Leon had already descended with glee upon the Snowdonia Marathon buffs.
The race starts in a lay-by a couple of miles out of Llanberis and buses are laid on. We got on the first bus. Elementary error. The first bus got us there more than an hour before the race was due to begin, and the start area consists of a gantry and a few Portaloos. It was cold, it was windy, and it was starting to rain. Not only that, there was a sign warning us that there were perygls in the vicinity. Leon had told me some scary tales of perygl encounters from his days as an Outward Bound tutor. I was secretly a little worried about these tough little Welsh gremlins.
I was wearing tights, a merino wool baselayer, gloves, my JW Ultra buff and my yellow windproof gilet, having decided that my Montane windproofs would be distractingly rustly in the wind. We had forgotten to bring bin-liners to wear at the start.
We weren't planning to race hard, so we started well back. Starting off a race with numb feet and all the toes of my right foot raynauded-out was a new experience but I'd warmed up within a mile.
For the first few miles I felt a little sluggish, but still appeared to be passing people, even going uphill, without working particularly hard. Once we'd got to the top of the Pass at 4 miles, I was ready for the downhill ... wheeeeeeee! I coasted out four consecutive miles at sub-8mm pace. After that, the route undulated gently to Beddgelert. I was still running strongly - just under 9mm pace. "I'll regret this later," I started to tell myself, then remembered the Brain Training. "I'm nearly half-way, I'm about to go through the half-marathon split at Snowdonia in two hours flat, and I am showing no signs of weakening." That's better!
The two-mile drag uphill from Beddgelert was vigorously wind-assisted. I was soaking wet from top to toe, I was a bit chilly, the lovely views that we'd had at the start had been obscured by a falling cloud-base, and I was telling everyone I passed that I loved tail-winds. Trying to run downhill with the wind blowing me to a standstill was just as entertaining, in a perverse sort of way.
I must add that, in my part of the field at least, the atmosphere was calm and uncomplaining, even in the squalliest weather. That was good. What's not so good is that I have never seen so much litter dropped by runners during a race. And don't try to tell me that it was the grockles. Grockles don't eat gels.
Up to Mile 22, I'd have said that the course was easier than either Windermere or Langdale. There had only been two big updulates, both were runnable, and the gradual downhills were fantastic for banking saved time. Had the course continued to undulate in a civilised manner for the last five miles I'd have cracked 4 hours, even with a brief loo-stop, because I didn't hit The Wall or fade away and continued to overtake people almost till the end. The Waunfaur climb, however, put an end to my running-all-the-way intentions. I ran some of it, and was pleased with a 13.33-minute mile in Mile 23.
When the slope became gentler, the road underfoot became a muddy, puddly trail. The wind at that point was vicious, and swirled round in such a way that it was impossible to brace yourself against it properly. The slippery, uneven conditions underfoot added to the hazard. Several people were blown over and for once I was glad of my low centre of gravity.
The sharp descent into Llanberis starts with a bit of fell-running. Fell-running descents are not my strongest point, especially in Vaporflys, and I was overtaken mightily at this point. I did manage to claw a few places back once we were on the road again. Nothing - NOTHING - at either Langdale or Windermere comes close to this evil little sting in Snowdonia's tail.
The last mile is a relatively tedious drag around the roads into Llanberis. When I got to the Mile 26 marker, I noted that I had to do the wee pennies in well under 2 minutes if I was going to crack 4:10. I was ready to stop running, not to pick up the pace.
Sod it, the worst I can do is puke on the finish-line, and nobody knows who I am. I gave it everything. Didn't even look to see if Leon was among the few bedraggled spectators by the finish.
4:09:54, 495th overall, and if I had been running officially I'd have been 11th FV40. Not bad for a race I'd run at the last minute with a pacing strategy of "set off easy and see how you go" :o)
Leon, bless him, wasn't expecting me for another 20 minutes or more, so by the time he'd got changed and brought my clothes to the finish I was colder than I've ever been after a race despite having wrapped myself around a cup of hot tea. The hall was heaving with space-blanketed runners and supporters and all thoughts of buying handknits and hoodies were gone - we just wanted to get into the car, put on the air-conditioning, and go home.
There was a lot more water coming off the hills than there had been in the morning, but by the time we'd reached the border we had left all trace of the weather behind. And I didn't see a single perygl. I wonder if the rain kept them away?
"Whose stupid idea was this?" I said to Leon, as we huddled together behind a wall near the start-line in a rather ineffectual attempt to stay warm and dry.
"Yours," he replied. Sometimes my lovely husband is SO not a gentleman! He was right, though. The suggestion that we should try to scavenge some unwanted Snowdonia Marathon places barely a week before the race had been mine, and I'd done a lot of the active scavenging. The only reason we hadn't entered sooner and targeted the race was that we had decided we ought to support our home city's inaugural half-marathon the following day, but with the 10-in-10 to train for it seemed like a good idea to race twice in the same weekend and, for the first time ever, to run in the same marathon but not run together. I was hoping to be a bit faster than at Langdale, with 4:30 my aspirational time.
We'd set off from Birmingham at 5.30am. Until 20 miles from Llanberis, there had been no sign of rain or wind. A beautiful red sunrise had followed us in. Then the wind started to pick up, and by the time we had parked and set off to register it was obvious that the forecast rain wasn't far away.
Registration in the Community Centre was quick and simple. We met Steve Edwards (who holds the 10-in-10 world record), and several people from Fetch. I had a wander round and resolved to return after the race with my purse to buy some of the lovely offerings from the hand-made jewellery stall and Dilys the Sheep, as well as a souvenir hoodie. Leon had already descended with glee upon the Snowdonia Marathon buffs.
The race starts in a lay-by a couple of miles out of Llanberis and buses are laid on. We got on the first bus. Elementary error. The first bus got us there more than an hour before the race was due to begin, and the start area consists of a gantry and a few Portaloos. It was cold, it was windy, and it was starting to rain. Not only that, there was a sign warning us that there were perygls in the vicinity. Leon had told me some scary tales of perygl encounters from his days as an Outward Bound tutor. I was secretly a little worried about these tough little Welsh gremlins.
I was wearing tights, a merino wool baselayer, gloves, my JW Ultra buff and my yellow windproof gilet, having decided that my Montane windproofs would be distractingly rustly in the wind. We had forgotten to bring bin-liners to wear at the start.
We weren't planning to race hard, so we started well back. Starting off a race with numb feet and all the toes of my right foot raynauded-out was a new experience but I'd warmed up within a mile.
For the first few miles I felt a little sluggish, but still appeared to be passing people, even going uphill, without working particularly hard. Once we'd got to the top of the Pass at 4 miles, I was ready for the downhill ... wheeeeeeee! I coasted out four consecutive miles at sub-8mm pace. After that, the route undulated gently to Beddgelert. I was still running strongly - just under 9mm pace. "I'll regret this later," I started to tell myself, then remembered the Brain Training. "I'm nearly half-way, I'm about to go through the half-marathon split at Snowdonia in two hours flat, and I am showing no signs of weakening." That's better!
The two-mile drag uphill from Beddgelert was vigorously wind-assisted. I was soaking wet from top to toe, I was a bit chilly, the lovely views that we'd had at the start had been obscured by a falling cloud-base, and I was telling everyone I passed that I loved tail-winds. Trying to run downhill with the wind blowing me to a standstill was just as entertaining, in a perverse sort of way.
I must add that, in my part of the field at least, the atmosphere was calm and uncomplaining, even in the squalliest weather. That was good. What's not so good is that I have never seen so much litter dropped by runners during a race. And don't try to tell me that it was the grockles. Grockles don't eat gels.
Up to Mile 22, I'd have said that the course was easier than either Windermere or Langdale. There had only been two big updulates, both were runnable, and the gradual downhills were fantastic for banking saved time. Had the course continued to undulate in a civilised manner for the last five miles I'd have cracked 4 hours, even with a brief loo-stop, because I didn't hit The Wall or fade away and continued to overtake people almost till the end. The Waunfaur climb, however, put an end to my running-all-the-way intentions. I ran some of it, and was pleased with a 13.33-minute mile in Mile 23.
When the slope became gentler, the road underfoot became a muddy, puddly trail. The wind at that point was vicious, and swirled round in such a way that it was impossible to brace yourself against it properly. The slippery, uneven conditions underfoot added to the hazard. Several people were blown over and for once I was glad of my low centre of gravity.
The sharp descent into Llanberis starts with a bit of fell-running. Fell-running descents are not my strongest point, especially in Vaporflys, and I was overtaken mightily at this point. I did manage to claw a few places back once we were on the road again. Nothing - NOTHING - at either Langdale or Windermere comes close to this evil little sting in Snowdonia's tail.
The last mile is a relatively tedious drag around the roads into Llanberis. When I got to the Mile 26 marker, I noted that I had to do the wee pennies in well under 2 minutes if I was going to crack 4:10. I was ready to stop running, not to pick up the pace.
Sod it, the worst I can do is puke on the finish-line, and nobody knows who I am. I gave it everything. Didn't even look to see if Leon was among the few bedraggled spectators by the finish.
4:09:54, 495th overall, and if I had been running officially I'd have been 11th FV40. Not bad for a race I'd run at the last minute with a pacing strategy of "set off easy and see how you go" :o)
Leon, bless him, wasn't expecting me for another 20 minutes or more, so by the time he'd got changed and brought my clothes to the finish I was colder than I've ever been after a race despite having wrapped myself around a cup of hot tea. The hall was heaving with space-blanketed runners and supporters and all thoughts of buying handknits and hoodies were gone - we just wanted to get into the car, put on the air-conditioning, and go home.
There was a lot more water coming off the hills than there had been in the morning, but by the time we'd reached the border we had left all trace of the weather behind. And I didn't see a single perygl. I wonder if the rain kept them away?
Last week's statistics
Weekly mileage: 69.64 miles
Profile: 43.5% steady road running, average pace 9.10mm
37.5% Snowdonia Marathon, average pace 9.32mm
19% Birmingham Half-Marathon, average pace 11.18mm
Longest run: 26.2 miles, Snowdonia Marathon.
Niggles: I'm watching a little twinge in my right shin, having had a tibial stress fracture on the left a few years ago.
Sofa-spud days: Friday, which was a mini-taper and carbo-load day.
Note that I am not obsessed enough to go and run round the block to bring the mileage up to a nice round 70.
A very pleasing week indeed, with far more confident training runs, a good marathon, and a great day out in Birmingham. Of which, more to follow :o)
Profile: 43.5% steady road running, average pace 9.10mm
37.5% Snowdonia Marathon, average pace 9.32mm
19% Birmingham Half-Marathon, average pace 11.18mm
Longest run: 26.2 miles, Snowdonia Marathon.
Niggles: I'm watching a little twinge in my right shin, having had a tibial stress fracture on the left a few years ago.
Sofa-spud days: Friday, which was a mini-taper and carbo-load day.
Note that I am not obsessed enough to go and run round the block to bring the mileage up to a nice round 70.
A very pleasing week indeed, with far more confident training runs, a good marathon, and a great day out in Birmingham. Of which, more to follow :o)
Monday, 27 October 2008
Snowdonia Marathon and Birmingham Half Marathon
Lorna and I have had a busy weekend!
The Snowdonia marathon was one that had been on our Must Do list for quite some time. With the inaugural running of our local city half marathon falling on the same weekend, we'd felt that supporting the local event had to take precedence this year.
That was until we were accepted for the 10 in 10, of course!!
So very late in the day, we were able to procure numbers for the Snowdonia event with a plan to run it at our own paces and then just see how we felt in terms of a goal on Sunday.
The story of Snowdonia
...was one of wind rain - and wind, and more rain - and not wearing enough clothes to keep my legs warm!
The first climb up the Llanberis Pass was brilliant. A slight head/side wind that was swirling about and a fair bit of precipitation - but I made steady progress through the bit of the field I was in.
Over the top of the Pass and the wind was in our backs. What fun it was hopping off the ground and being blown along approaching 6min/miles on occasion down the first section of descent!
Turned the corner and the head wind down hill was fabulous - strong enough to stop you running too fast - not too strong to slow you up. This was good!
And running nicely.
reaching the bottom of the valley where the route gently undulated was also nice.
Sheltered initially.
Then we came to Beddgelert and the 2 mile Updulate.
Fabulous - really enjoyed this bit - did start to notice that as the terrain became more exposed to the elements, and the breeze was in our backs, that my legs were getting a little cold.
I was REALLY looking forward to the climb at Waunfawr, but as the exposed miles ticked past, I felt the ominous signs of my calves turning to stone. Not an "I've been working too hard" threatened cramp - an "I've got so cold that no matter what you do, I'm just going to hurt more and more" pain.
And because I had to stop and couple of times to stretch them out, I cooled off even more
Come Waunfawr, come the climb. And I *couldn't* run. Gutted
So I walked up much of it with someone I knew from the Fetch Forum, and once it started to even off on the gravel track, I cautiously started running again. Was OK, not great and the pace was turgidly slow.....
Until we went over the top of the hill.
It was quite breezy here, and a few people were getting knocked about by the unpredictability of the wind. But it was Off-Road
So I put on my Fell-running head...
Relaxed...
and flew!
I LOVED this bit
The rough ground was just what I needed, and I started to pick of countless runners who found this bit "tough on tired legs"
For me it was just the tonic my legs needed.
Picking the flat grassy bits to run on (because it's easier!!!!!)
Splashing through the muddy bits and the puddles while people tippy-toed around them,
And hammering down the descent, everything well with the world again
It was AWESOME
Warmed me back up again too, so the last slightly contrived mile around the back of Llanberis wasn't so bad!
And in the last 0.2 mile has a great duel with a young fella who showed a decent turn of pace - but not quite decent enough!!!!
It wasn't the race I had planned and as a result of a Schoolboy error I missed out on the section of the race I was most looking forward to.
Finished in 3:50 which was quite a bit slower than I wanted - but given the conditions and the mistakes I made, I was very happy with having made it across to North Wales to do this!!
We had friends coming to to stay with us to run the Birmingham Half the next day, so we had to shoot off after the end of the race to get back in time to greet them, and as a result missed out on what was certainly an excellent social gathering afterwards.
The story of the Birmingham Half Marathon
...necessitated another early start on Sunday morning
The race began at 9:30, and we had to get the car parked at the finish to catch a Shuttle Bus to the start by 8:15.
The rain was just stopping as we arrived at the start.....
Being - as I was - not entirely sure how I was going to run the Birmingham Half Marathon, and having seen on a thread on Fetch that 'N' (who I'd not met before) looking to run about 1:40, I thought
I know... I'll see if we can meet up and run together for as long as my legs last.
So I dis-robed as far as my "I'm a Fetchie" kit -
which included long X-socks - I was taking no chances with cold calves today - and ambled about a bit slightly nearer the front than where Lorna and the group that she was going to be running with were congregated...
And sure enough I was rewarded with a tap on the shoulder from 'N'
RESULT!
We introduced ourselves properly and had a chat, and we agreed that we'd run together for as long as we could, and see how it went!
Brilliant. It gave me a specific target to aim for AND someone to run with!!!
I was glad that it was a nice early start too, because my legs were still asleep, and hadn't had time to complain about having run around North Wales yesterday
I was really pleased to find that I was suffering no ill-effects from yesterday, and we were bounding along at slightly under the 7:30 target pace that had been set.
I liked this course.
It undulated.
The updulates were soft enough not to have to work too hard at, and the downdulates were that perfect angle to let gravity do the work and speed down without having to apply the brakes
Ideal!
At some point I said "I'm REALLY enjoying this"
'N' replied with "Ask me if I am after 13 miles...!!!"
The only mile split that was disappointing was mile 9 where I think we relaxed a bit too much.
Having reached mile 10, however, 'N' had done some maths, and realised that he was actually on for a really decent time and was going to be pretty close to a pb, and "Wouldn't forgive myself for not at least trying for it"
So at the turn on Hagley Road with the fast slightly downhill 2-and-some-small-pennies mile run in, we kicked for home
HARD!
Mile 10 7:38 Fine - but here the thoughts of a decent time kicked in
And from mile 10¾ the ¼ mile splits went like this:
7:16
7:04
6:55
6:40
6:48
6:44
6:45
6:43
Then we could see the Finish gantry about 500m away
6:01
5:38
It was phenomenal.
I'd be lying if I said it was an easy run - it wasn't! But it was a run that I was able to churn out comfortably at a decent pace that was very pleasing after the rigours of Saturday.
And it was very pleasing to realise that I had more in the tank to pick the pace up over the last 2 miles to that extent.
And 'N'...??
PB by 6 seconds.
Now THAT was priceless!!!!
The Snowdonia marathon was one that had been on our Must Do list for quite some time. With the inaugural running of our local city half marathon falling on the same weekend, we'd felt that supporting the local event had to take precedence this year.
That was until we were accepted for the 10 in 10, of course!!
So very late in the day, we were able to procure numbers for the Snowdonia event with a plan to run it at our own paces and then just see how we felt in terms of a goal on Sunday.
The story of Snowdonia
...was one of wind rain - and wind, and more rain - and not wearing enough clothes to keep my legs warm!
The first climb up the Llanberis Pass was brilliant. A slight head/side wind that was swirling about and a fair bit of precipitation - but I made steady progress through the bit of the field I was in.
Over the top of the Pass and the wind was in our backs. What fun it was hopping off the ground and being blown along approaching 6min/miles on occasion down the first section of descent!
Turned the corner and the head wind down hill was fabulous - strong enough to stop you running too fast - not too strong to slow you up. This was good!
And running nicely.
reaching the bottom of the valley where the route gently undulated was also nice.
Sheltered initially.
Then we came to Beddgelert and the 2 mile Updulate.
Fabulous - really enjoyed this bit - did start to notice that as the terrain became more exposed to the elements, and the breeze was in our backs, that my legs were getting a little cold.
I was REALLY looking forward to the climb at Waunfawr, but as the exposed miles ticked past, I felt the ominous signs of my calves turning to stone. Not an "I've been working too hard" threatened cramp - an "I've got so cold that no matter what you do, I'm just going to hurt more and more" pain.
And because I had to stop and couple of times to stretch them out, I cooled off even more
Come Waunfawr, come the climb. And I *couldn't* run. Gutted
So I walked up much of it with someone I knew from the Fetch Forum, and once it started to even off on the gravel track, I cautiously started running again. Was OK, not great and the pace was turgidly slow.....
Until we went over the top of the hill.
It was quite breezy here, and a few people were getting knocked about by the unpredictability of the wind. But it was Off-Road
So I put on my Fell-running head...
Relaxed...
and flew!
I LOVED this bit
The rough ground was just what I needed, and I started to pick of countless runners who found this bit "tough on tired legs"
For me it was just the tonic my legs needed.
Picking the flat grassy bits to run on (because it's easier!!!!!)
Splashing through the muddy bits and the puddles while people tippy-toed around them,
And hammering down the descent, everything well with the world again
It was AWESOME
Warmed me back up again too, so the last slightly contrived mile around the back of Llanberis wasn't so bad!
And in the last 0.2 mile has a great duel with a young fella who showed a decent turn of pace - but not quite decent enough!!!!
It wasn't the race I had planned and as a result of a Schoolboy error I missed out on the section of the race I was most looking forward to.
Finished in 3:50 which was quite a bit slower than I wanted - but given the conditions and the mistakes I made, I was very happy with having made it across to North Wales to do this!!
We had friends coming to to stay with us to run the Birmingham Half the next day, so we had to shoot off after the end of the race to get back in time to greet them, and as a result missed out on what was certainly an excellent social gathering afterwards.
The story of the Birmingham Half Marathon
...necessitated another early start on Sunday morning
The race began at 9:30, and we had to get the car parked at the finish to catch a Shuttle Bus to the start by 8:15.
The rain was just stopping as we arrived at the start.....
Being - as I was - not entirely sure how I was going to run the Birmingham Half Marathon, and having seen on a thread on Fetch that 'N' (who I'd not met before) looking to run about 1:40, I thought
I know... I'll see if we can meet up and run together for as long as my legs last.
So I dis-robed as far as my "I'm a Fetchie" kit -
which included long X-socks - I was taking no chances with cold calves today - and ambled about a bit slightly nearer the front than where Lorna and the group that she was going to be running with were congregated...
And sure enough I was rewarded with a tap on the shoulder from 'N'
RESULT!
We introduced ourselves properly and had a chat, and we agreed that we'd run together for as long as we could, and see how it went!
Brilliant. It gave me a specific target to aim for AND someone to run with!!!
I was glad that it was a nice early start too, because my legs were still asleep, and hadn't had time to complain about having run around North Wales yesterday
I was really pleased to find that I was suffering no ill-effects from yesterday, and we were bounding along at slightly under the 7:30 target pace that had been set.
I liked this course.
It undulated.
The updulates were soft enough not to have to work too hard at, and the downdulates were that perfect angle to let gravity do the work and speed down without having to apply the brakes
Ideal!
At some point I said "I'm REALLY enjoying this"
'N' replied with "Ask me if I am after 13 miles...!!!"
The only mile split that was disappointing was mile 9 where I think we relaxed a bit too much.
Having reached mile 10, however, 'N' had done some maths, and realised that he was actually on for a really decent time and was going to be pretty close to a pb, and "Wouldn't forgive myself for not at least trying for it"
So at the turn on Hagley Road with the fast slightly downhill 2-and-some-small-pennies mile run in, we kicked for home
HARD!
Mile 10 7:38 Fine - but here the thoughts of a decent time kicked in
And from mile 10¾ the ¼ mile splits went like this:
7:16
7:04
6:55
6:40
6:48
6:44
6:45
6:43
Then we could see the Finish gantry about 500m away
6:01
5:38
It was phenomenal.
I'd be lying if I said it was an easy run - it wasn't! But it was a run that I was able to churn out comfortably at a decent pace that was very pleasing after the rigours of Saturday.
And it was very pleasing to realise that I had more in the tank to pick the pace up over the last 2 miles to that extent.
And 'N'...??
PB by 6 seconds.
Now THAT was priceless!!!!
Thursday, 23 October 2008
It's the little things!!!!
Today Lorna and I went out for a little 5 mile 'leg-turner'. It was lovely running weather: cool enough to be comfortable; breezy enough in the right direction to make the route we ran a real pleasure; cloudy enough to suggest that some proper weather might be on the way.
And we cracked on at a decent pace. 3 of the 5 miles started with 8:** and that included the last one, which has a stiff little hill and is nett uphill!!!!
So the legs were certainly working very nicely.
While we were running I was thinking a bit about my shoes.
These are they:
Actually - this WAS them the day they got used for the first time! On a lovely sunny evening in Skye with just enough breeze to keep the midges away!!
It was something of an experiment really. Shoes that weight 230 grammes and are pared right down to a minimum might not be some people's idea of an ideal road running shoe. Especially one that is aimed at the Trail Racing fraternity. I bought a pair for Lorna too..... "because they are Blue!"
Actually, that's not entirely true! We both tromp about the hills both running and walking in lightweight fell shoes, and have done for a number of years, and we knew that this shoe was likely to be very comfortable..... even if we couldn't use it as a road shoe.
Neither of us run with a heel-striking gait, which was clear from the wear pattern of out 'other' running shoes, so theoretically, there was no reason why this particular shoe shouldn't suit.
Any doubts that either of us may have had were dispelled in that first 4.17 mile run.
Here is what I said about them at the time....
"...Just taken the his 'n hers Inov-8 F-Lite 230's out for a spin
Initial Impressions.......
I could use this as a road shoe.
Comfortable in a - So Light You Hardly Know It's There - way.
Stealth Running just 'happens'
It helped that this run was on a quiet minor road on Skye..... but even so....!!
I like!!!!!!!!!..."
Incredible comfort for a shoe with such a thin sole, and you really don't know you are wearing them!!
That was 505 miles ago!!
I'll be wearing them to potter around a hilly marathon on Saturday, and our local Half marathon on Sunday.
This is ALSO something that has raised a few eyebrows among some of my fellow runners. Using effectively a racing flat for longer distance races.
But it's really not that surprising!
I have worked on my running style over a fairly long period, and I'm now at a point where I don't 'clatter' the ground with each footfall. I run the same without shoes as I do with them, and THAT is highly protective of your feet, ankles, knees hips and so on. The dynamic impact forces of running are reduced to a bare minimum, and the feedback that your brain gets from a very light shoe is instantaneous - and allows you to make tiny adjustments to keep the way you run 'light'
You simply don't get that in a very cushioned shoe!
As an aside, a significant thing that I've noticed is that the balls of my feet don't hurt after a long run any more - and neither do the fronts of my ankles! And I was the most comfortable I've ever been at the end of the Langdale marathon 6 weeks ago.
And my shoes are as great to run in now - 500+ miles later - as they were when I first tried them!
Now THAT is a quality bit of kit.
Considering the fact that I now almost exclusively use Inov-8 shoes for all my running and outdoor activity, I wrote to them to ask if they would consider supporting us in our training, and for the 10-in-10.
I was really pleased to get a response to my email with the news that Inov-8 would, in fact, be happy to support us. There was certainly something of a sharp intake of breath when I expressed my intention to run ALL 10 marathons in the f-lite 230's.
But that IS my intention.
We will get through a few pairs of shoes before May - but as I have have said before, any help is very gratefully received
And we cracked on at a decent pace. 3 of the 5 miles started with 8:** and that included the last one, which has a stiff little hill and is nett uphill!!!!
So the legs were certainly working very nicely.
While we were running I was thinking a bit about my shoes.
These are they:
Actually - this WAS them the day they got used for the first time! On a lovely sunny evening in Skye with just enough breeze to keep the midges away!!
It was something of an experiment really. Shoes that weight 230 grammes and are pared right down to a minimum might not be some people's idea of an ideal road running shoe. Especially one that is aimed at the Trail Racing fraternity. I bought a pair for Lorna too..... "because they are Blue!"
Actually, that's not entirely true! We both tromp about the hills both running and walking in lightweight fell shoes, and have done for a number of years, and we knew that this shoe was likely to be very comfortable..... even if we couldn't use it as a road shoe.
Neither of us run with a heel-striking gait, which was clear from the wear pattern of out 'other' running shoes, so theoretically, there was no reason why this particular shoe shouldn't suit.
Any doubts that either of us may have had were dispelled in that first 4.17 mile run.
Here is what I said about them at the time....
"...Just taken the his 'n hers Inov-8 F-Lite 230's out for a spin
Initial Impressions.......
I could use this as a road shoe.
Comfortable in a - So Light You Hardly Know It's There - way.
Stealth Running just 'happens'
It helped that this run was on a quiet minor road on Skye..... but even so....!!
I like!!!!!!!!!
..."Incredible comfort for a shoe with such a thin sole, and you really don't know you are wearing them!!
That was 505 miles ago!!
I'll be wearing them to potter around a hilly marathon on Saturday, and our local Half marathon on Sunday.
This is ALSO something that has raised a few eyebrows among some of my fellow runners. Using effectively a racing flat for longer distance races.
But it's really not that surprising!
I have worked on my running style over a fairly long period, and I'm now at a point where I don't 'clatter' the ground with each footfall. I run the same without shoes as I do with them, and THAT is highly protective of your feet, ankles, knees hips and so on. The dynamic impact forces of running are reduced to a bare minimum, and the feedback that your brain gets from a very light shoe is instantaneous - and allows you to make tiny adjustments to keep the way you run 'light'
You simply don't get that in a very cushioned shoe!
As an aside, a significant thing that I've noticed is that the balls of my feet don't hurt after a long run any more - and neither do the fronts of my ankles! And I was the most comfortable I've ever been at the end of the Langdale marathon 6 weeks ago.
And my shoes are as great to run in now - 500+ miles later - as they were when I first tried them!
Now THAT is a quality bit of kit.
Considering the fact that I now almost exclusively use Inov-8 shoes for all my running and outdoor activity, I wrote to them to ask if they would consider supporting us in our training, and for the 10-in-10.
I was really pleased to get a response to my email with the news that Inov-8 would, in fact, be happy to support us. There was certainly something of a sharp intake of breath when I expressed my intention to run ALL 10 marathons in the f-lite 230's.
But that IS my intention.
We will get through a few pairs of shoes before May - but as I have have said before, any help is very gratefully received
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Leon's Secret Speed Formula?
We have two elderly boy-cats called Tizzy and Tinka. They sometimes pee in Leon's trainers, but not in mine. We thought it might be an alpha-male thing, but the vet said it's probably because cats always pee on the smelliest thing they can find.
As you may have spotted, Leon runs a lot faster than I do.
Today I planned to do a gentle 4 or 5 mile run, work permitting, and a suitable opportunity arose in the early afternoon.
I unpacked my kit-bag, and opened the plastic bag with my F-lite 230s in.
The smell of cat-pee almost knocked me over! I should have put the shoes through the washing-machine after they had a dog-poo encounter a few runs ago. The vet was right.
I wore them anyway. It was that or run in my work shoes. And, with little effort, I rolled out 5.32 miles at an average pace of 8.43mm, which is 30s/mile faster than my recent good-legs runs and 60s/mile faster than some of my more ploddy runs. That's despite over 12 miles at a respectable pace yesterday. The only thing I'd done differently was to wear daps that the cat had peed in.
From now on I'm going to store my trainers in the cat-litter tray, then once I've won a few races I'll bottle and sell my "secret". Only through Leon's company, of course. It'll go down a treat - runners are suckers for magic go-faster potions :o)
As you may have spotted, Leon runs a lot faster than I do.
Today I planned to do a gentle 4 or 5 mile run, work permitting, and a suitable opportunity arose in the early afternoon.
I unpacked my kit-bag, and opened the plastic bag with my F-lite 230s in.
The smell of cat-pee almost knocked me over! I should have put the shoes through the washing-machine after they had a dog-poo encounter a few runs ago. The vet was right.
I wore them anyway. It was that or run in my work shoes. And, with little effort, I rolled out 5.32 miles at an average pace of 8.43mm, which is 30s/mile faster than my recent good-legs runs and 60s/mile faster than some of my more ploddy runs. That's despite over 12 miles at a respectable pace yesterday. The only thing I'd done differently was to wear daps that the cat had peed in.
From now on I'm going to store my trainers in the cat-litter tray, then once I've won a few races I'll bottle and sell my "secret". Only through Leon's company, of course. It'll go down a treat - runners are suckers for magic go-faster potions :o)
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Good Call, me!!!
Sometimes the extra days rest, to make sure that you are completely over a viral thing, is definitely worth it!
I woke up this morning with no hint of a sore throat and all glands were back to their rightful size.
So after the School run this morning I thought it would be a good opportunity for a decent, but not too long, 'leg-turner'. There was a chance that I'd be able to meet Lorna for a lengthier run later on, so I didn't want to go too mad!! And the weather was perfect, sunny but cool, and a slight breeze.
Fantastic.
My left calf had inexplicably cramped twice in the night and was a little stiff, but didn't stop me from running - and running quite nicely.
5 miles at an average of 7:23 min/mile. It was relaxed and comfortable. 7:30's are a Good Pace for me!
And a little later had a fantastic run with Lorna in between her work sessions.
12 miles at 9:12 min/mile.
Brilliant aerobic conditioning for me - and a stunning run for Lorna who is running better than I think I've ever seen her run.
And news hot off the press..... it looks like I'll be able to run a marathon this weekend. One off my 'Must-Do' list. So I'm really pleased about that :o)
Monday, 20 October 2008
Final Day Off
I have been sensible today.
The last fragments of sore throatedness have been disappearing today. And so despite straining at the leash, and WANTING to get out and run..... I didn't.
I will tomorrow, though.
Twice, probably!!
Sunday, 19 October 2008
A Short week for me
I'd planned a fairly robust training week after the Langdale Fell race to give my legs and brain something to think about rather than just pottering about in the same old same old pattern.
It was a plan that I had to review on Thursday as I was developing a sore throat and a swollen gland in my neck.
It's a symptom that I watch out for and treat with caution - and this approach has served me well over the years.
In normal circumstances by pulling back and resting for 24 hours, it sorts itself out... but this has hung around until today!
Monday - I rested. Legs were still feeling the effects of racing and walking - and I'd planned to rest anyway
Tuesday - 6 miles Tempo. Cracked this out at 6:55min/mile, and it felt good! Legs were a little heavy, and 6 miles was my limit for the day. But my legs were much happier for the blast than they were before. There's nothing like a good 'blow away the cobwebs' run for that :o)
Wednesday - 10½ miles Aerobic running. This was a fantastic run. Really enjoyable!
Thursday - Intially planned an easy run and a Tempo run - but I was starting to feel slightly below par, and my Early Warning System was alarming at me - so doubled up with 2 Aerobic runs at 9:16 and 9:42min/mile.
Friday - driving all day and definitely not feeling well enough to run
Saturday - Worst day with a high temperature and very sore throat. In hindsight, I was right to not run on Friday
Today - Have obviously seen the back of it. Feeling MUCH better, but decided to rest again having driven for 6 hours - have a decent nights sleep, and see how things are tomorrow
So - good training in the early part of the week - and being sensible in the latter part of the week means a mileage of just 29.4 miles.
But I'm in good shape, I have no niggles, and I'm really pleased with the way I'm running at the moment.
It was a plan that I had to review on Thursday as I was developing a sore throat and a swollen gland in my neck.
It's a symptom that I watch out for and treat with caution - and this approach has served me well over the years.
In normal circumstances by pulling back and resting for 24 hours, it sorts itself out... but this has hung around until today!
Monday - I rested. Legs were still feeling the effects of racing and walking - and I'd planned to rest anyway
Tuesday - 6 miles Tempo. Cracked this out at 6:55min/mile, and it felt good! Legs were a little heavy, and 6 miles was my limit for the day. But my legs were much happier for the blast than they were before. There's nothing like a good 'blow away the cobwebs' run for that :o)
Wednesday - 10½ miles Aerobic running. This was a fantastic run. Really enjoyable!
Thursday - Intially planned an easy run and a Tempo run - but I was starting to feel slightly below par, and my Early Warning System was alarming at me - so doubled up with 2 Aerobic runs at 9:16 and 9:42min/mile.
Friday - driving all day and definitely not feeling well enough to run
Saturday - Worst day with a high temperature and very sore throat. In hindsight, I was right to not run on Friday
Today - Have obviously seen the back of it. Feeling MUCH better, but decided to rest again having driven for 6 hours - have a decent nights sleep, and see how things are tomorrow
So - good training in the early part of the week - and being sensible in the latter part of the week means a mileage of just 29.4 miles.
But I'm in good shape, I have no niggles, and I'm really pleased with the way I'm running at the moment.
Weekly Summary
Weekly mileage: 67.47 miles
Profile: 100% steady road-running, average pace 9.31mm
Longest run: 15.15 miles at 9.25mm pace. And it felt quite long enough!
Niggles: [Takes a deep breath.]
Monday - Woke at 3am to pee warm beetroot juice. Found some Cefaclor, expiry date August 2006. Took three-day course properly. It worked.
Wednesday - strange crampy pain around my left heel, mostly laterally. Came on about a mile into a run, was quite uncomfortable for a mile or two, then eased off. Was still there on Thursday morning but disappeared as soon as I started Thursday afternoon's run and hasn't come back.
Wednesday, after run - nail from third toe on my left foot came off in my hand. Nailbed fine, with healthy new nail growing in.
Thursday evening - tripped over a speck of dust in the dark and measured my length on the pavement. Took skin off right knee and left elbow, and still haven't retrieved the last piece of grit from my left hand.
Saturday - Slight tenderness at the front of both ankles.
(I'm OK, really I am!)
Sofa-spud days: None, but Monday and Saturday were "easy" days.
A good week. Lots of comfortable miles at target pace, and an increase in the length of my longest run. Although doing races as training is an enjoyable strategy, the mental toughness that comes from doing those solitary long training runs is important if I'm going to be prepared to run marathon after marathon mostly on my own.
I'm also planning to do my long training runs at planned marathon pace rather than plodding them out more slowly. Or, more accurately, I'm planning to do the 10-in-10 at a long-training-run effort-level. I may twiddle around with the pace on some of my other runs, but those long runs will remain around 9.30mm.
Next weekend will involve training by running must-do races. So I plan to cut back in the early part of the week, a process likely to be helped by the fact that for the next fortnight I won't be working on my doorstep with a long break between sessions.
Profile: 100% steady road-running, average pace 9.31mm
Longest run: 15.15 miles at 9.25mm pace. And it felt quite long enough!
Niggles: [Takes a deep breath.]
Monday - Woke at 3am to pee warm beetroot juice. Found some Cefaclor, expiry date August 2006. Took three-day course properly. It worked.
Wednesday - strange crampy pain around my left heel, mostly laterally. Came on about a mile into a run, was quite uncomfortable for a mile or two, then eased off. Was still there on Thursday morning but disappeared as soon as I started Thursday afternoon's run and hasn't come back.
Wednesday, after run - nail from third toe on my left foot came off in my hand. Nailbed fine, with healthy new nail growing in.
Thursday evening - tripped over a speck of dust in the dark and measured my length on the pavement. Took skin off right knee and left elbow, and still haven't retrieved the last piece of grit from my left hand.
Saturday - Slight tenderness at the front of both ankles.
(I'm OK, really I am!)
Sofa-spud days: None, but Monday and Saturday were "easy" days.
A good week. Lots of comfortable miles at target pace, and an increase in the length of my longest run. Although doing races as training is an enjoyable strategy, the mental toughness that comes from doing those solitary long training runs is important if I'm going to be prepared to run marathon after marathon mostly on my own.
I'm also planning to do my long training runs at planned marathon pace rather than plodding them out more slowly. Or, more accurately, I'm planning to do the 10-in-10 at a long-training-run effort-level. I may twiddle around with the pace on some of my other runs, but those long runs will remain around 9.30mm.
Next weekend will involve training by running must-do races. So I plan to cut back in the early part of the week, a process likely to be helped by the fact that for the next fortnight I won't be working on my doorstep with a long break between sessions.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Abingdon Marathon :o)
We won't be there this weekend, although lots of our friends are running or supporting. Maybe it's just as well, because Leon has been bitten by a Martcrag Moor mosquito and has malaria. Or maybe it's just man-flu and an over-imaginative doctor in the house. Whatever it is, if his temperature doesn't come down overnight I'll be cooking a full English breakfast on his chest in the morning.
When the Abingdon Marathon was last run, in 2006, we were there. Leon had a place. I didn't. An autumn marathon wasn't on my agenda. I'd restarted training in June after a long gap enforced by domestic upheavals, and my target race was the Windsor half-marathon. Which is why, about six weeks before the race, I heard myself offering to relieve someone of an Abingdon race number that they didn't want.
My training went well. I got up to 50mpw for the first time ever, and didn't break down. I did everything right for Windsor, didn't have a particularly good race on the day, and still brought my PB down from a frustrating 2:00:47 to 1:47:54. Two weeks later, I did the Kenilworth half-marathon as a training run without any taper, and finished comfortably in 1:42:24. A few days later I did my only pre-Abingdon long training run - a 19-miler.
I was running faster and more consistently than I ever had before, and Leon offered to give up his chance of sub-3:15 to help me aim for sub-4. This would be an even bigger leap than I'd made at the half-marathon distance, since my marathon PB was 4:41:21.
We had company for the race. Valerie, also looking for sub-4, ran with us for the first 17 miles but then had to drop back a little. And early on, we were joined by a V70 gentleman who was aiming for the 5 hours he needed to qualify for Boston. "I'll stay with you for as long as I can keep up," he said. He stayed back with Valerie, then caught us up again a few miles later and went on to leave us to eat his dust. Respect :o)
I saw The Wall. I gently ploughed through it and, for the first time ever in a marathon, came out the other side running strongly again. That was an enduring lesson.
We finished in 3:54:49. I was delighted - and, physically, absolutely fine.
Next lesson. We went out for a late lunch with a group from Runner's World and Fetch, to which we'd just been introduced the previous evening. We found ourselves sitting beside the MV45 winner and another very fast male runner. This gave us an opportunity to observe what champion distance-runners regard as recovery-food. We were very pleased to note that instead of a protein shake and a handful of pills, they each had half a farmyard, fried, with chips, and washed down with a pint of beer. Anything green and leafy was left on the side of the plate.
If I could turn in that sort of marathon performance off half-marathon training, what could I achieve if I actually targeted a marathon? After five consecutive ballot rejections, I had a guaranteed FLM place for 2007 ... sub-3:45? Sub-3:30?
Pride goes before a fall, and that's a story for another time. But that Abingdon performance showed me that I could take control of a marathon instead of letting it happen to me :o)
When the Abingdon Marathon was last run, in 2006, we were there. Leon had a place. I didn't. An autumn marathon wasn't on my agenda. I'd restarted training in June after a long gap enforced by domestic upheavals, and my target race was the Windsor half-marathon. Which is why, about six weeks before the race, I heard myself offering to relieve someone of an Abingdon race number that they didn't want.
My training went well. I got up to 50mpw for the first time ever, and didn't break down. I did everything right for Windsor, didn't have a particularly good race on the day, and still brought my PB down from a frustrating 2:00:47 to 1:47:54. Two weeks later, I did the Kenilworth half-marathon as a training run without any taper, and finished comfortably in 1:42:24. A few days later I did my only pre-Abingdon long training run - a 19-miler.
I was running faster and more consistently than I ever had before, and Leon offered to give up his chance of sub-3:15 to help me aim for sub-4. This would be an even bigger leap than I'd made at the half-marathon distance, since my marathon PB was 4:41:21.
We had company for the race. Valerie, also looking for sub-4, ran with us for the first 17 miles but then had to drop back a little. And early on, we were joined by a V70 gentleman who was aiming for the 5 hours he needed to qualify for Boston. "I'll stay with you for as long as I can keep up," he said. He stayed back with Valerie, then caught us up again a few miles later and went on to leave us to eat his dust. Respect :o)
I saw The Wall. I gently ploughed through it and, for the first time ever in a marathon, came out the other side running strongly again. That was an enduring lesson.
We finished in 3:54:49. I was delighted - and, physically, absolutely fine.
Next lesson. We went out for a late lunch with a group from Runner's World and Fetch, to which we'd just been introduced the previous evening. We found ourselves sitting beside the MV45 winner and another very fast male runner. This gave us an opportunity to observe what champion distance-runners regard as recovery-food. We were very pleased to note that instead of a protein shake and a handful of pills, they each had half a farmyard, fried, with chips, and washed down with a pint of beer. Anything green and leafy was left on the side of the plate.
If I could turn in that sort of marathon performance off half-marathon training, what could I achieve if I actually targeted a marathon? After five consecutive ballot rejections, I had a guaranteed FLM place for 2007 ... sub-3:45? Sub-3:30?
Pride goes before a fall, and that's a story for another time. But that Abingdon performance showed me that I could take control of a marathon instead of letting it happen to me :o)
Friday, 17 October 2008
Life
Sometimes gets in the way!!!
Helping my step-son with a job this morning, and 6 hours driving put paid to any training thoughts I might have had.
It's probably a blessing in disguise. A slightly sore throat is hanging about, so a day resting from training isn't going to hurt!!
Helping my step-son with a job this morning, and 6 hours driving put paid to any training thoughts I might have had.
It's probably a blessing in disguise. A slightly sore throat is hanging about, so a day resting from training isn't going to hurt!!
Thursday, 16 October 2008
A huge "Thank You" to socksfox
When we started out on our little journey towards May of next year - there were a couple of "Stare you in the Face" priorities:
Training - lots of it - and geared towards the ultimate goal of successfully completing the 10 marathons is good shape;
Sponsorship - it is a fantastic thing that Brathay do for disadvantaged children - and work that I have had a very personal investment in in the past, so supporting it as well as we can is really important to us.
And Kit..!!
For Small companies, financial investment in charitable causes can be really complicated, and a bit of an accounting nightmare. With this in mind, we asked socksfox - the only retailer that we could find who could supply us with Falke SK1 Ski socks a couple of years ago - if they would consider supplying us with the Falke RU4 Socks that are our running foot-covering of choice.
Well -
Not only did they agree to assist us in this regard, the personalised service and interest that we have subsequently received has been outstanding!
And it is very much appreciated!!
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Every training run should have an objective ...
... and the objective of my run today was to do 10 miles at my aspirational 10-in-10 pace on slightly sluggish and over-used legs. Running on legs that would prefer to be resting is something I expect to be doing rather a lot in May.
Leon blogged earlier about adaptation. Well, adaptation is my favourite physiological process too. It's taken me from being barely able to move for days after my first marathon to being able to complete two marathons on consecutive days then spend the next day hill-walking and scrambling. It's made me such a fuel-efficient runner that I can maintain my weight easily even at 70mpw without blowing the food-budget. It's made running 10 marathons in 10 days look feasible.
What would you expect to happen to a recreational athlete if they ran a marathon every day for 10 days? Conventional wisdom suggests that they'd develop progressive muscle glycogen depletion, accumulate microscopic muscle damage, and produce increasing amounts of cortisol and other stress hormones. A more holistic assessment would consider the complex neuromuscular, psychological, immunological and endocrine changes that take place with intense prolonged exercise. Either way, the conclusion would be that the athlete's performance would decline and they would succumb to physical and mental fatigue, illness or injury.
What actually happens?
http://www.brathaychallenge.co.uk/brathay-10-in-10-marathon-times-2008.asp
Those are last year's participants' times. Everyone finished apart from Susan Adams, who fractured her foot in the 6th race (and whom I'm delighted to see will be back in 2009). Most of the runners ran remarkably consistently over the 10 days, without the progressive fading-out that might be predicted. Some got faster as the days went on. One man ran a PB - that's a career PB, not just a 10-in-10 PB - on the seventh marathon.
There are no short-cuts to that sort of performance, and you can't do it on bloody-mindedness alone. It's the result of years of running experience.
Back to today. My legs were feeling the effects of the run I did yesterday - 9 miles at 9.30mm pace, then a fast quarter-mile to finish - and my calves hadn't forgotten the 20 miles of hill-walking at the weekend. Leon and I had decided yesterday that we'd do 10 miles together this afternoon between my work sessions, and there was no reason to abandon that plan.
I was very pleased with an average pace of 9.45mm for 10.5 miles on an undulating route, and could have gone on longer had I not needed to go back to work.
I'm hoping that the rhubarb crumble and custard we had for dinner tonight will have worked its magic by tomorrow :o)
Leon blogged earlier about adaptation. Well, adaptation is my favourite physiological process too. It's taken me from being barely able to move for days after my first marathon to being able to complete two marathons on consecutive days then spend the next day hill-walking and scrambling. It's made me such a fuel-efficient runner that I can maintain my weight easily even at 70mpw without blowing the food-budget. It's made running 10 marathons in 10 days look feasible.
What would you expect to happen to a recreational athlete if they ran a marathon every day for 10 days? Conventional wisdom suggests that they'd develop progressive muscle glycogen depletion, accumulate microscopic muscle damage, and produce increasing amounts of cortisol and other stress hormones. A more holistic assessment would consider the complex neuromuscular, psychological, immunological and endocrine changes that take place with intense prolonged exercise. Either way, the conclusion would be that the athlete's performance would decline and they would succumb to physical and mental fatigue, illness or injury.
What actually happens?
http://www.brathaychallenge.co.uk/brathay-10-in-10-marathon-times-2008.asp
Those are last year's participants' times. Everyone finished apart from Susan Adams, who fractured her foot in the 6th race (and whom I'm delighted to see will be back in 2009). Most of the runners ran remarkably consistently over the 10 days, without the progressive fading-out that might be predicted. Some got faster as the days went on. One man ran a PB - that's a career PB, not just a 10-in-10 PB - on the seventh marathon.
There are no short-cuts to that sort of performance, and you can't do it on bloody-mindedness alone. It's the result of years of running experience.
Back to today. My legs were feeling the effects of the run I did yesterday - 9 miles at 9.30mm pace, then a fast quarter-mile to finish - and my calves hadn't forgotten the 20 miles of hill-walking at the weekend. Leon and I had decided yesterday that we'd do 10 miles together this afternoon between my work sessions, and there was no reason to abandon that plan.
I was very pleased with an average pace of 9.45mm for 10.5 miles on an undulating route, and could have gone on longer had I not needed to go back to work.
I'm hoping that the rhubarb crumble and custard we had for dinner tonight will have worked its magic by tomorrow :o)
Adaptation - Some thoughts
Yesterday Lorna and I ran at different times. I had to shoot off to a meeting when she was at home at lunchtime, so we didn't run together.
I was still feeling the remnants of the effects of a hard run race on Saturday and a longish day on the hill on Sunday, but fancied turning my legs over with a bit of pace. So I chose one of our standard training routes and decided to make 6 miles of it a Tempo run
Aim for 6:50 - 7:10 and see how it goes, I thought!
There was a degree of sluggishness to my legs that I could still feel - but not too bad, and the undulating route is one that I know very well. And it was passing at a slightly higher effort level than the last time I'd done it as a Tempo, but not overly so. I started to tire a little in the last mile, but maintained the pace nicely.
I had half a mile to complete after the 6 miles to get home - so used that as a gentle Cool Down.
The interesting thing was that my legs felt better after the run, than they had before! Looser and with fewer aches! Is it the effect of training consistently, or is it the cumulative effect of a running 'history'.... or perhaps a bit of both.
We had a bit of a chat about a Fell series AND a Trail Series that look very enticing for after the 10-in-10, and what kind of recovery would be needed after the event. It's a bit of an unknown, but our training is going to be focused on making sure that we are in the kind of condition that WILL allow us to do multiple back-to-back hard days... and then look forward to the next challenge without too much of a pause!
It IS noticeable for both of us, though, that we are recovering more quickly, and able to train at relatively high volume since having a relatively long break earlier in the year!
Monday, 13 October 2008
Langdale Horseshoe Fell Race Report
I was really nervous about this. More than I have been for all but a couple of races in the past, and they were significant 'target' races. So in a way I suppose that illustrated the importance with which I was viewing it.
For a Fell race, it's big!
There were around 500 runners..... all milling about at the start. And that was intimidating enough as it was. Because there were some hardy looking wiry, strip o' wind, proper fell running types who I doubted I'd see again once we were off!
On Thursday and Friday there had been "End-Of-The-World" weather according to my very good friend and 'confidence' booster, Stu!!!!! And the evidence was there to be seen with the amount of wet stuff coming off the hill!
"Martcrag Moor is going to EAT people," I wryly observed to Lorna on the way up!!!
Having no idea how I was going to do, and no idea who the characters around me were and what THEY might do, I stuck myself right in the middle of the crowd for the start. I didn't fancy being too far in front - being knocked down by a tidal wave of rampaging Fast Folk Fell Runners, and then being ceremoniously trampled into the path by 500 pairs of be-studded feet.....
and yet I knew that from previous years' results, that it was unlikely that I'd be last.
It worked out OK!
The first section from Old Dungeon Ghyll is along a footpath - quite narrow, but with a few places for passing people with "Stomp Me Into The Mud" 'written' on their backs
(That SO could've been me!)
It wasn't a path though - it was a river! It made for interesting foot-fall experiences as there was no way of telling what was under the water - Flat stony path, ankle-turning rocks, Sucking Mud, novice who'd started too near the front, perhaps ........
By looking for the often easier alternatives to the main path, I made up quite a few places in that first section.
Then the first climb started. Already there were loads of folk breathing much harder than me I noted.
That's got to be good, I thought!
The first mile 'beeped' just under Pike Howe on a very narrow little bit of traversing path.
From here up to Stickle Tarn I kept thinking "I can run this" but there was no way that I could with the volume of people around me... so I accepted that for the most part this was a fact-finding mission.
Yes - I can Run up hills
Yes - I can run down hills (though not as well as I go UP them!)
Yes - I can do THIS route
Yes - I COULD be going faster
But......
I'd never put all the bits together at the same time before!
There are types of ground that I'm confident on - big rocks is one of them, so while loads of people were tentatively crossing Stickle Ghyll, I saw the big stepping stones that I knew were there from a previous visit - and hammered across them - and in so doing passed about 20 people!
Excellent!!
Lorna, and our friends Jim and Agi had set off earlier to be up at the Tarn before the runners arrived - I looked for them as I ran around it, but didn't see them. I wondered if they might have gone up higher as I knew the route they were planning to take, so I hoped that I hadn't just missed them, and I'd see them later.
I was quickly learning that making up time on other people was more about making really good route decisions than simply being 'quick'!
And making decisions that play to your strengths too!!
I was really surprised, even at this early stage how quickly I had to think... and adjust... and re-plan
No chance to get bored!!!
Checkpoint 1 came up at 1.8 miles - a couple of folk with clipboards noting down the numbers as people went past.
Mile 2 'pinged' half way up the climb towards Thunacar Knott. Lorna and I have been up this route a couple of times before, and it seemed to go by pretty quickly this time. Thunacar Knott and Checkpoint 2 hovered into view. Which meant the really nice descent on soft ground to Martcrag Moor was to follow!!
Lorna, Jim and Agi saw me go past - the JW Ultra Buff was 'distinctive', apparently!
HA HA Mr Bog - I WIN!!!
And just as that thought went through my head......
....I plunged to belly button depth into the Quick-Mud. I was carrying quite a bit of forward momentum, so as my legs stopped, my body carried on moving forwards - and in went the chest, arms and head!
For a brief moment I must have looked like a turtle!
But I was enjoying myself so much that I just chuckled quietly to myself - and extricated myself as quickly as I could. I wasn't the only person eaten by the Moor that day..!!
Down into Langdale Combe, and I was overtaken by two runners - I definitely need to work on my descending!
I could see the line of runners on the ascending traverse up through Black Crags, but looking at it, they were intially losing height to gain it again, so I decided to head to the first grassy ledge above the trod, and hammer along that. Good decision! I climbed quickly and was running again at pace, rejoining the trod about halfway up. And I'd passed 15-20 people!!! Nice!!
Over the col and onto the boggy section towards Angle Tarn. Another micro-bog-swallowing moment along here but otherwise relatively easy running and was able to pick off another few runners!
Angle Tarn was at 4.8 miles and 1:08 from the start. I enjoyed this bit - running up the main path (well, mostly on the grass at the side) picking off a few more people and not getting passed until I got to the third checkpoint at Esk Hause shelter.
5.5 miles in and 1:20
970m of ascent to this point!!
I was hoping to get here in 1:30 - so I was quite chuffed at being there a little earlier than that.
Decision time - Over Esk Pike - or follow the race line on the traverse
There was a gap ahead of me - so Traverse it was.
This section is quite difficult, the ground is really rough and steep - there are soapy rocks everywhere - and BIG holes of thigh-deep Sucking Mud, and the 'path' is small, clinging as it does to the North-East slopes of Esk Pike
I LOVED it
About half way along the traverse I caught the 3 blokes ahead of me which slowed me up a little - but that was fine, I kept reminding myself - you've still got 3 climbs and 2 long descents to come!!!!!
As the traverse ended and widened at the Ore Gap -
(1:33, 6.3 miles) - I went past 2 of the 3 chaps. And on to the grassy trod which I KNEW I could find on my way up to Bowfell.
Couldn't have done that better! I saw lots of people who'd gone the longer way, over to my left, and I got to Bowfell summit and Checkpoint 4
1:42 (6.9 miles).
Into unknown territory for me now.
There was no-one ahead of me that I could see when I reached 3 tarns having come off Bowfell - and I knew the race line traversed around the right side of the crags at the 730m contour. I needn't have worried, it was REALLY obvious where I needed to go - and the 'path' was really nice to run on too.
I rounded a corner and there were 3 other runners going the same way as me. It was nice to have confirmation that I was in the right place - but I was relying on my own hill-craft to get me where I wanted to go. I really enjoyed this section. SO much nicer than following the 'safe' cairned route some 60 metres above!
The ground steepened a little but as still runnable until the last little scramble onto Crinkle Crags and Checkpoint 5
2:03 (8.2 miles)
Again I was at the front of the group heading to the Bad Step - No queue - Excellent. No question as to which route to take then!!!!
As I started on the descent to the Step, I did my ankle-turning thing. The ligaments on my left ankle are very 'loose' and occasionally I'll turn my ankle - It always looks worse than it is, as my foot turns through a whole 90 degrees so that the sole faces where my right foot would be if I were standing still - but there was a collective [GASP] from a group of lads sat eating their Butties.
I just carried on running
When I got there there was a walker struggling their way up the Step..
"OK if I come down, mate?"
"Not while I'm on it"
So I gave him enough space to continue and lowered myself down, pushed off, turned and started running again.
Here I made a tiny error
I was looking for the path that skirted the right hand side of the ridge path - though I saw it at the col, and dropped 10 metres in height - only to realise that I had to then traverse back up to it on an easy grassy path. I was a bit annoyed with myself about that, but I didn't really lose much because of it.
Then came a reasonably grassy (if you chose your route carefully) descent towards Red Tarn and the final little climb to Pike of Blisco. When I started to ascend, I realised that I was getting a little tired, and the middle of my right quad started to suggest that it might like to cramp.
I dropped to a fast walk (still ascending at 20m/minute though) and part way up it started to ease.
It was both a relief and with a degree of dread that I touched the cairn on Pike o'Blisco
2:27 (10 miles)
Climbing done, 1495m of it - just 600m of descent over the next 4km to come...
[GULP]
I was able to follow an Ambleside runner onto the grassy line - which luckily just served to confirm that I was going where I thought I should have been, and then the trod over Wrynose Fell and down to the final checkpoint at the cattle grid by Side Pike was really obvious.
Actually - It's a nicer way off the hill than the main footpath - by SOME margin!!!!
I was really tiring now though and 4 runners went past me over the course of the descent. My running-on-the-flat legs were working pretty well though, and once we reached the last 0.3 mile flat section to the finish, I was reeling in a couple of the runners who had previously passed me.
I didn't catch them - but I didn't mind. I'd worked as hard as I could on the day.
I finished in 2:48 which I was really pleased with
In 82nd place on the very provisional Sticky-Label-On-A-Board results at the finish.
So what were my impressions of my first Fell Race...??
▬ It was tough! My legs haven't worked that hard in a long time
▬ I'm glad that I can read a map and that I did some planning - it made life a lot easier!
▬ I'm not a great descender - I need to work on it!
▬ X-talons are a very good racing shoe - I only had one loss-of-traction fall and that was on the final descent
▬ Fully weighting a foot against the sharp edge of a rock causes bruising (did this on the Esk Pike Traverse)
▬ Peat bog doesn't taste great!
▬ Plastic buckets filled with water to scoop into your own self-service paper cup (Pint ones - none of this 330ml rubbish!!) and add Orange squash to - is the drink of the Gods when you are thirsty after a hard run on the Fell
▬ Doing an AL as your first one is probably a bit silly - but this one ROCKED!!!!
If you are at all tempted to have a go at running on Trails and Fells, then do it!!!
It is awesome in the extreme..!!
Elevation profile
For a Fell race, it's big!
There were around 500 runners..... all milling about at the start. And that was intimidating enough as it was. Because there were some hardy looking wiry, strip o' wind, proper fell running types who I doubted I'd see again once we were off!
On Thursday and Friday there had been "End-Of-The-World" weather according to my very good friend and 'confidence' booster, Stu!!!!! And the evidence was there to be seen with the amount of wet stuff coming off the hill!
"Martcrag Moor is going to EAT people," I wryly observed to Lorna on the way up!!!
Having no idea how I was going to do, and no idea who the characters around me were and what THEY might do, I stuck myself right in the middle of the crowd for the start. I didn't fancy being too far in front - being knocked down by a tidal wave of rampaging Fast Folk Fell Runners, and then being ceremoniously trampled into the path by 500 pairs of be-studded feet.....
and yet I knew that from previous years' results, that it was unlikely that I'd be last.It worked out OK!
The first section from Old Dungeon Ghyll is along a footpath - quite narrow, but with a few places for passing people with "Stomp Me Into The Mud" 'written' on their backs
(That SO could've been me!)
It wasn't a path though - it was a river! It made for interesting foot-fall experiences as there was no way of telling what was under the water - Flat stony path, ankle-turning rocks, Sucking Mud, novice who'd started too near the front, perhaps ........
By looking for the often easier alternatives to the main path, I made up quite a few places in that first section.
Then the first climb started. Already there were loads of folk breathing much harder than me I noted.
That's got to be good, I thought!
The first mile 'beeped' just under Pike Howe on a very narrow little bit of traversing path.
From here up to Stickle Tarn I kept thinking "I can run this" but there was no way that I could with the volume of people around me... so I accepted that for the most part this was a fact-finding mission.
Yes - I can Run up hills
Yes - I can run down hills (though not as well as I go UP them!)
Yes - I can do THIS route
Yes - I COULD be going faster
But......
I'd never put all the bits together at the same time before!
There are types of ground that I'm confident on - big rocks is one of them, so while loads of people were tentatively crossing Stickle Ghyll, I saw the big stepping stones that I knew were there from a previous visit - and hammered across them - and in so doing passed about 20 people!
Excellent!!
Lorna, and our friends Jim and Agi had set off earlier to be up at the Tarn before the runners arrived - I looked for them as I ran around it, but didn't see them. I wondered if they might have gone up higher as I knew the route they were planning to take, so I hoped that I hadn't just missed them, and I'd see them later.
I was quickly learning that making up time on other people was more about making really good route decisions than simply being 'quick'!
And making decisions that play to your strengths too!!
I was really surprised, even at this early stage how quickly I had to think... and adjust... and re-plan
No chance to get bored!!!
Checkpoint 1 came up at 1.8 miles - a couple of folk with clipboards noting down the numbers as people went past.
Mile 2 'pinged' half way up the climb towards Thunacar Knott. Lorna and I have been up this route a couple of times before, and it seemed to go by pretty quickly this time. Thunacar Knott and Checkpoint 2 hovered into view. Which meant the really nice descent on soft ground to Martcrag Moor was to follow!!
Lorna, Jim and Agi saw me go past - the JW Ultra Buff was 'distinctive', apparently!
Runners heading to their doom on Martcarg Moor
Centrally in the cloud is Crinkle Crags,
the col to the right is Three Tarns
The visibility was perfect and route-finding was simple. As I came to the flatter wetter part of the Moor, I saw the bit of bog that had swallowed me the last time I was here, and went to the side that HAD been more solid last time. Didn't slow down at all....Centrally in the cloud is Crinkle Crags,
the col to the right is Three Tarns
HA HA Mr Bog - I WIN!!!
And just as that thought went through my head......
....I plunged to belly button depth into the Quick-Mud. I was carrying quite a bit of forward momentum, so as my legs stopped, my body carried on moving forwards - and in went the chest, arms and head!
For a brief moment I must have looked like a turtle!
But I was enjoying myself so much that I just chuckled quietly to myself - and extricated myself as quickly as I could. I wasn't the only person eaten by the Moor that day..!!
Down into Langdale Combe, and I was overtaken by two runners - I definitely need to work on my descending!
I could see the line of runners on the ascending traverse up through Black Crags, but looking at it, they were intially losing height to gain it again, so I decided to head to the first grassy ledge above the trod, and hammer along that. Good decision! I climbed quickly and was running again at pace, rejoining the trod about halfway up. And I'd passed 15-20 people!!! Nice!!
Over the col and onto the boggy section towards Angle Tarn. Another micro-bog-swallowing moment along here but otherwise relatively easy running and was able to pick off another few runners!
Angle Tarn was at 4.8 miles and 1:08 from the start. I enjoyed this bit - running up the main path (well, mostly on the grass at the side) picking off a few more people and not getting passed until I got to the third checkpoint at Esk Hause shelter.
5.5 miles in and 1:20
970m of ascent to this point!!
I was hoping to get here in 1:30 - so I was quite chuffed at being there a little earlier than that.
Decision time - Over Esk Pike - or follow the race line on the traverse
There was a gap ahead of me - so Traverse it was.
This section is quite difficult, the ground is really rough and steep - there are soapy rocks everywhere - and BIG holes of thigh-deep Sucking Mud, and the 'path' is small, clinging as it does to the North-East slopes of Esk Pike
I LOVED it
About half way along the traverse I caught the 3 blokes ahead of me which slowed me up a little - but that was fine, I kept reminding myself - you've still got 3 climbs and 2 long descents to come!!!!!
As the traverse ended and widened at the Ore Gap -
(1:33, 6.3 miles) - I went past 2 of the 3 chaps. And on to the grassy trod which I KNEW I could find on my way up to Bowfell.
Couldn't have done that better! I saw lots of people who'd gone the longer way, over to my left, and I got to Bowfell summit and Checkpoint 4
1:42 (6.9 miles).
Into unknown territory for me now.
There was no-one ahead of me that I could see when I reached 3 tarns having come off Bowfell - and I knew the race line traversed around the right side of the crags at the 730m contour. I needn't have worried, it was REALLY obvious where I needed to go - and the 'path' was really nice to run on too.
I rounded a corner and there were 3 other runners going the same way as me. It was nice to have confirmation that I was in the right place - but I was relying on my own hill-craft to get me where I wanted to go. I really enjoyed this section. SO much nicer than following the 'safe' cairned route some 60 metres above!
The ground steepened a little but as still runnable until the last little scramble onto Crinkle Crags and Checkpoint 5
2:03 (8.2 miles)
Again I was at the front of the group heading to the Bad Step - No queue - Excellent. No question as to which route to take then!!!!
As I started on the descent to the Step, I did my ankle-turning thing. The ligaments on my left ankle are very 'loose' and occasionally I'll turn my ankle - It always looks worse than it is, as my foot turns through a whole 90 degrees so that the sole faces where my right foot would be if I were standing still - but there was a collective [GASP] from a group of lads sat eating their Butties.
I just carried on running
When I got there there was a walker struggling their way up the Step..
"OK if I come down, mate?"
"Not while I'm on it"
So I gave him enough space to continue and lowered myself down, pushed off, turned and started running again.
Here I made a tiny error
I was looking for the path that skirted the right hand side of the ridge path - though I saw it at the col, and dropped 10 metres in height - only to realise that I had to then traverse back up to it on an easy grassy path. I was a bit annoyed with myself about that, but I didn't really lose much because of it.
Then came a reasonably grassy (if you chose your route carefully) descent towards Red Tarn and the final little climb to Pike of Blisco. When I started to ascend, I realised that I was getting a little tired, and the middle of my right quad started to suggest that it might like to cramp.
I dropped to a fast walk (still ascending at 20m/minute though) and part way up it started to ease.
It was both a relief and with a degree of dread that I touched the cairn on Pike o'Blisco
2:27 (10 miles)
Climbing done, 1495m of it - just 600m of descent over the next 4km to come...
[GULP]
I was able to follow an Ambleside runner onto the grassy line - which luckily just served to confirm that I was going where I thought I should have been, and then the trod over Wrynose Fell and down to the final checkpoint at the cattle grid by Side Pike was really obvious.
Actually - It's a nicer way off the hill than the main footpath - by SOME margin!!!!
I was really tiring now though and 4 runners went past me over the course of the descent. My running-on-the-flat legs were working pretty well though, and once we reached the last 0.3 mile flat section to the finish, I was reeling in a couple of the runners who had previously passed me.
I didn't catch them - but I didn't mind. I'd worked as hard as I could on the day.
I finished in 2:48 which I was really pleased with
In 82nd place on the very provisional Sticky-Label-On-A-Board results at the finish.
So what were my impressions of my first Fell Race...??
▬ It was tough! My legs haven't worked that hard in a long time
▬ I'm glad that I can read a map and that I did some planning - it made life a lot easier!
▬ I'm not a great descender - I need to work on it!
▬ X-talons are a very good racing shoe - I only had one loss-of-traction fall and that was on the final descent
▬ Fully weighting a foot against the sharp edge of a rock causes bruising (did this on the Esk Pike Traverse)
▬ Peat bog doesn't taste great!
▬ Plastic buckets filled with water to scoop into your own self-service paper cup (Pint ones - none of this 330ml rubbish!!) and add Orange squash to - is the drink of the Gods when you are thirsty after a hard run on the Fell
▬ Doing an AL as your first one is probably a bit silly - but this one ROCKED!!!!
If you are at all tempted to have a go at running on Trails and Fells, then do it!!!
It is awesome in the extreme..!!
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