Reaping the rewards of targeted training

Still playing catch up, so an account of my racing and training from mid September to mid October. Brief race reports since I have such a bad memory I can't remember a great deal about them, apart from usually the finish. And the cakes.

Keeping a Training Log

So after a promising race at Shelford, I was encouraged to continue along the same training path - namely gym sessions with short sharp bursts on the treadmill to finish. I'm now running sub 4min kilometres comfortably on the treadmill, usually doing 3km, with an emphasis on pushing hard on the last one. Writing this blog retrospectively, I am having to use my training log to check details - and not for the first time I am glad that I do record these details. Along with distances and paces, which I record for all training, as well as races, I usually put a brief note regarding how I felt, specifically relating to my ongoing injury/illness. Over the last 18 months I have tried a number of different tactics to minimise discomfort:

Altering distance:
At the end of last year I opted to slow down pace and try longer distance instead, but after the Stort 30 in October 2014 and then this year's London Marathon I went the other way and tried just shorter races.

Joining the gym and easing off the mileage:
This seems to have helped tremendously, but less miles under my belt leads to a slowing of pace as I hit the latter part of a race (less stamina) so it's all about getting a balance.

Running on an empty stomach:

I had no idea my fist was that big...

I am attempting not to eat anything at all before running, so going out first thing before breakfast if I can, and on race days, racing on an empty stomach too. I also now avoid coffee and instead drink ginger tea before a run, which is known for its stomach settling qualities.

Losing weight:
I have blogged before about this - I tried "No Junk July" and duly lost a fair bit, but (rather predictably according to a nutritionist I know) it soon came back on again in what I like to call "Thank God It's August!" I want to get down closer to my recommended running weight, which requires a loss of around two stone. I began my latest effort to lose weight - which I think is going to be a lot more sustainable - on the 12th October, and I will write about this in my next blog. I know, you can hardly wait...

Anyway, I record all these details in my training log to see if, over time, I can pick up a pattern. I now have a probable diagnosis and an appointment mid December with a specialist, so the end is hopefully in sight. Again, more on this in my next blog.

Tuesday Training Sessions

I have mentioned these before, but it's a point worth making I think - structured speedwork sessions led by a qualified coach are invaluable if, like me, your race times are important to you. Since I began running, I have often noticed a pattern between my speed and how often I attend these sessions - so I go whenever I can.

Value for money
Club membership fees are low anyway, but if you consider how much running coaches or personal trainers charge, then by comparison they become not just low but ridiculously low. In fact, because I save £2 per race entry fee as an affiliated club runner, I am actually better off than I would be were I not a member - and effectively then all the other benefits to being a club runner come free. Such as these weekly training sessions.

What you get
So okay, the coaching is not on a one to one level, but you do get:

1) an explanation at the start as to what the session is designed to achieve
2) the security of knowing your coach will ensure you are properly warmed up beforehand
3) a well thought out session based on sound coaching principles
4) a group of mixed ability but like-minded fellow runners who are all pushing hard
5) a proper warm down afterwards, with advice on post-run stretching
6) the chance to talk to the coach afterwards if you feel you need any specific advice

But more than anything, I find you run far harder than you might if you were to attempt to recreate the session yourself as part of your training schedule. Running with others encourages you to push harder than you might. Perhaps because there is someone of similar ability with whom you may share a friendly rivalry. Maybe because you will be more likely to ease off or do fewer reps if you are on your own (rather than in front of your club colleagues) when it starts to get hard. Which it will, if you're giving maximum effort.

Almost every time I have attended a Tuesday session, I have felt like stopping at the half way point. It is the second half that is therefore of most benefit to me personally, since I am then encouraged that I have managed to run hard despite already feeling exhausted, and this gives me the confidence to set a demanding pace at the start of a race knowing that, providing I am determined enough, I should be able to keep going. So much of running well is about belief and confidence, a fact I appreciate more and more with every passing race.

Examples of Tuesday speedwork sessions

23rd Sept
Timed Intervals (Pyramid)

Pyramid sessions = hard work

Although most of us of course have our watches to keep track of time, for this session we are listening out for our coach to blow the whistle. It's a great session for a group of mixed ability, since it's an out and back course, using part of our club 5km time trial route, and every runner (in theory) will get back to the start/finish line at the same time,

So you run hard for 30 secs, stop on the whistle, have a short recovery period, then on the whistle you run back. The aim is to run at the same pace so that you get back to the start line as the whistle goes again, signifying that it has taken you 30 secs. After a short recovery, you then run off again, this time for 60 secs, again a short break then hopefully 60 secs back. The process is repeated again for 90 secs (this one is tough - 90 secs seems to last forever, and you're convinced you've run too far to be able to hear the whistle!) So again, 90 secs back, then down to 60 secs out and back, and finally a 30 secs out and back. So 30-60-90-60-30 gives you the pyramid. I said finally, but this is just the first set - so a longer break this time, but then you repeat the whole process again. Which is the real killer.

Apparently we hadn't finished yet

So as with all of our speedwork sessions, the aim is to give maximum effort -- but you need to be realistic, because if you were to go off too hard for the first 30 secs run, you would be on your knees by the time the 90 secs run came around. So there is some pacing required, and I usually find this the hardest part of the session, learning how hard to push. I find it much easier to do one off all-out efforts followed by longer recovery periods - and that's the difference between reps and intervals (where the gap between runs is deliberately shorter to replicate that race-day feeling of running tired.)

My aim with these sessions is now to try to make sure I am still running as quickly at the end as I was at the beginning. With varied success - some days this goes better than others. I do always enjoy the last 30 secs burst though, safe in the knowledge that I no longer need to reserve energy for another run, and as such I try to replicate a sprint finish, purely because it's a good feeling when you're running at your fastest, and if you finish the session exhausted, you know it's done you good.

7th Oct
400 metre reps

Much more my sort of thing. All out for one lap of the track, a long enough break to recover, then off again. In the summer we use a track, but in winter (because there is no lighting at the school field) we have a route around the back of the leisure centre - which I admit I prefer to running on the grass, although there is a nasty slope right at the start. This session again has a half way point for a proper recovery, so it will be 5 x 400metres for one set, and the same again for the second half. As the month progressed, I felt myself getting stronger and stronger, perhaps as a result of the hard work at the gym. This was a good session for me.

21st Oct
Chapel Drive (paired efforts)

Not a technical term, just the road we use. Probably my favourite winter training session - this is a paired effort, where you and a team-mate run half each of a figure of eight course. So you run the first half, tag your team mate, and your recovery period is the time it takes them to complete their half, before they in turn tag you and you set off again. You each run 4 times, competing against all the other pairs. Again, a decent break at halfway, then another set of the same - although often changing something slightly, perhaps reversing who runs first or, as we did this time, running the route backwards. As in, the other direction. Not actually running backwards, which would be silly.

Something about running as part of a team makes you run faster, try harder. It was always the same for me at school, when, as a sprinter, my best event was always relay, which I loved. For this

No way I was missing this sesssion,
even if I had to come straight from work

particular week, I concentrated hard on my running form - aiming to forefoot strike rather than crashing down on my heels. To do so I try to lean forward ever so slightly. I am also practising increasing my cadence - the number of steps I take per minute. Generally speaking, the higher your cadence, the quicker you'll be. You want to aim to keep your feet landing under your body, and if you are leaning forward this will naturally then lead you into your next step. It seems a bit counter-intuitive to start with -- surely longer strides will help you cover the ground quicker -- but in fact, if your foot lands in front of your body this will actually act as a brake, and the proven most economical form is to keep those feet underneath your body if you can. When I get this right, it feels good - but it's not yet coming naturally, and the further I run, the more likely I am to slip back into bad habits. On this session though, with relatively short distances, I was able to maintain proper form pretty well, and felt quick.

Races

Colchester Parkrun

So in between all this training, I began to make some progress with my race times, albeit slower progress than I would have liked. I ran the Club Time Trial at the end of September with a slightly disappointing 20m24, which I had expected to go slightly better. The following Saturday I travelled back to Colchester to compete in what was my 50TH PARKRUN

Nice shirt, but one of us is going the wrong way

You get a T-shirt for reaching this milestone: unfortunately not actually on the day, and I have since learnt they are out of stock - but I'll get one eventually. But I did get a mention from the race director before the start, which was nice. It's always good to return to my "home" parkrun, where I have a lot of good friends who run regularly, and although the run itself wasn't great, I never really expect a great time there because of the big hill (which you do twice) - and it's more about the social side of things, and the cafe afterwards.

Abington 10km

Far more encouraging was my performance at this is a great local race, that always gets a good HRC turnout.

Fellow club runners Siobhan and Stephen at Abington

I'd never done it before, but had heard good things about it, and I was very grateful to Charlotte for looking after Harry whilst I ran. This was my first attempt at racing with no breakfast and it seemed to help, with minimal discomfort meaning I could concentrate on keeping up a decent pace throughout. In the end I got 42m23, my second quickest 10k and only just over half a minute outside my PB. It was great to have my two favourite people cheering me in, and nice to then stay on and cheer in our other club runners.

Nowton Parkrun and Saxon Five Mile

The following weekend Charlotte and I ran our local parkrun, with my aim to get under 21mins for the first time there. I am still learning how best to run this course, a two lap route almost all on grass (except for a short woodland section) so I doubt I'll ever get a great time - but it's good strength/stamina training, and at least it's fairly flat - just one slight incline at the start of each lap. I came in at 20m59, so bang on target - and 20th place, so things beginning to improve.

Next up was the Saxon 5 - a key race for me since it was the next in the Suffolk Grand Prix series, and a half decent performance was likely to see me move up a bit in my age category.

Annoyingly I was still 39 when the series began, back at the Stowmarket HM in March, and so although for the remainder of the series I have been 40 years old, I have had to compete in the 18-39 category for this year's competition.

Struggled to find a relevant picture of the race. So here's a
Saxon 5 Module, complete with Heating Unit

I came in 11th in my category, with a decent enough time of 35m02. Since I was hoping to get around 35mins, or 7min mile pace, this was fine - especially since it involved a fair bit of running on grass, which always slows me down (as it would most people,) I think almost a mile to start with was around the field that the Saxons Running Club own, and the finish also used this field, and with a small woodland section too, this was fairly described as "multi-terrain." I remember one particularly annoying stretch which ran down a lovely straight flat road, but because there were no pavements, for safety reasons we had to stick to the grass verge. My off-road running is improving, no doubt down to the core-strengthening work at the gym, and the occasional foray into Ickworth Park on training runs with Charlotte, as well as the Nowton Parkruns mentioned above  - but I will always chose road races if I can, and I suspect on a 5 mile road race now I would get close to my pb, if not beat it. I shall find out on 23rd November at the Hadleigh 5, although there are hills to factor in there.

So this result was enough to secure 3rd in our club Grand Prix, and puts me up to 4th in my Suffolk GP category, with one race remaining (the aforementioned Hadleigh 5.)

The End Bit

All of which takes me up to 20th October, the date when I saw an NHS physiotherapist who gave me some good news - and where I shall leave this blog, since I'm aware it's already gone on far too long. Next blog should see me catch back up to the present day, with the aim to then write shorter and more regular, hopefully weekly posts. The aim is to always write about my running in an honest way, and to share the bits of knowledge I have picked up from the many experienced runners I am lucky to know, in addition to the things I read in Runners' World Magazine, or in some of the excellent running books out there (currently close to completing "Born to Run," which I would highly recommend.)

I am aware that the main title I chose for this blog is "Competing for Fun." Sometimes it may seem like I over-complicate things, think (way) too much about my running, and this is a comment I often get from friends and club colleagues. I must remember that the reason I first chose to run was for enjoyment, and sometimes I have been guilty of losing sight of this, especially (naturally) when I'm not achieving the times I want.

Important to remember, running is sometimes about simply
having fun with good friends. Parkrun encapsulates this perfectly.

But finally, I am back thoroughly enjoying my running again, and I can feel I am on the verge of breaking pbs on a regular basis, as I get fitter, stronger, leaner, etc. The enjoyment for me has always come simply from hitting targets, and the great feeling this gives me. But more recently, and this will be the main theme of my next post, I am finding I am enjoying the process of getting there too. Running is more than just a hobby for me - it is an integral part of my life: it helps regulate my mood, it gives me a feeling of self-worth (when I get it right!), it's how I met Charlotte, and I have made plenty of friends along the way too - so without wanting to sound over the top (too late?) it's a massive part of who I am.

I am trying to channel the knowledge I have picked up into something very positive, using it to inform my training, and to achieve my potential as a runner. I have become much better at being realistic about specific races, based on how training is going, what the course is like, and what my health/injury situation is. So I try very hard not to beat myself up when I have an off day. But I am confident there is a lot more left in me - there are runners older than me who are far quicker - and I know I am yet to peak.

As always I am extremely grateful to everyone who takes the time to read my ramblings - and for the kind words from some of you who claim to actually quite enjoy them. 

Shelford (almost) 5km

So much to catch up on. Haven't blogged for a while, and since my last post a lot has happened, all good. Possibly too much to put into one blog - so I have decided to catch up in smaller chunks, starting with a promising 5k at Shelford. I hand wrote this blog shortly after this race - it represents my thoughts at that time:

An Apology

In an attempt to make this blog intelligble to any non runners who may have accidentally stumbled across it, I may have to veer off on a number of tangents to ensure certain running related terms are explained. Your patience is appreciated.

A new PB - but there was a catch....

A difficult blog to write - because by rights I ought to be jumping up and down with unadulterated and slightly excessive joy, having finally beaten my old 5km PB time set back in April 2013 - and not just beaten it, but taken a big chunk off as well, with an official time of 19m10 at the Shelford 5km
(14th September.) I had specifically entered this since I needed to submit a bonus race for our club Grand Prix. This race, being billed as fast and flat, promised my best chance of a high WAVA score.

Tangent 1: WAVA

WAVA stands for....actually, I have no idea, but what I do know is that it is a universally accepted way to "score" a runner's performance, factoring in their gender, age, and the distance run, to give a percentage score, which can then be used to compare that performance against either that of another runner, or against the time achieved by the same runner at other distances. So by using WAVA, I can

Pace correctly and I could totally win this

see that yes, I may well have just managed to beat a 60 year old lady to the finish line, but if she was only a few seconds behind then she would have soundly beaten me in terms of WAVA. Perhaps I should have elbowed her slightly harder as I went past. But I digress. I can also see, by comparing my own WAVA scores for different distances, that I am better at 5kms, for example, than Marathons, Since it allows all runners to compete against each other in a much fairer way than by simply specific finish times, it is therefore the system used by our running club when calculating points for our club Grand Prix.


Try this link if you want to calculate your own WAVA score for a given distance/time. WAVA is now often referred to as WMA. (No, I don't know what that stands for either)
http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/age-graded-calculator

Tangent 2: Grand Prix Series

I get the impression that there are still a few club members who don't fully understand how the competition works. If you aren't an HRC member, or if you are but you already know, or indeed if you simply don't care, then feel free to skip the remainder of this section. I'm not promising things get any more interesting further on, but you will at least save yourself a few minutes.

So, for anyone still reading this bit, here goes: A selection of races across the season are designated as Grand Prix fixtures. All races that form part of the Suffolk Grand Prix series are also in ours, plus some of the more popular local races, eg Cambridge HM, Abington 10km, etc. At the end of the competition, your best six races are used to calculate your final score. And these performances are scored using WAVA.

Confusion remains as to exactly what you need
to do to enter the club Grand Prix

To further complicate matters, if one of the races that you ultimately use in the series was a Suffolk Grand Prix fixture, you will get 20 bonus points. This will make even a relatively poor WAVA score into a pretty good one - so for example, I struggled around Framlingham 10km (as I bored you with in my last blog) and scored a WAVA of 58.1%. But add on the 20 to give 78.1%, and it becomes a better score than a much better 10km race that I ran earlier in the year at Ashdon. The reason behind this is to encourage club runners to compete in the Suffolk Grand Prix Series - since this includes a club competition element. For the same reason, there are bonus points awarded for every Kevin Henry fixture race you compete in - but those races themselves are not included. So, if like me, you ran all 5, you have another 100 points, irrespective of how well you did. Effectively, if most of your Club GP scores are from Suffolk GP races, and you chose to compete for the club across the whole KH series, you stand an excellent chance of doing well in the club GP competition.

All clear? Good, I'll move on. Oh, except to add that, in addition to all the above, you also get the opportunity to add on a bonus race of your choice. This can be any race, any distance, but you need to declare it in advance. So obviously, you pick a race you think you'll do well at.....

So getting back to the blog...

By looking at my WAVA scores, I know that 5k is my strongest distance. I also know this because at the moment anything further than 5k and I feel like I might die. However, this is not quite so scientific, so for now we'll stick with WAVA.

Interestingly (ish) even looking at WAVA scores for some of my best ever longer distance races (eg my Stowmarket HM time or my 10km PB at Haver10) I can see that my WAVA is still lower than even what I would consider a slightly disappointing 5km time. All this confirms that I am right to tailor my training towards the shorter distances - I am never going to get a sub 3hr Marathon but I do believe I can get a sub 18min 5km one day. Please forgive this momentary burst of self-confidence - it probably won't happen again. Generally I think when it comes to running I err towards pessimism, In fact, if pessimism was an Olympic sport, I reckon I'd have an outside chance of picking up a Bronze.

So after Shelford, with a new 5km PB, and a first ever WAVA score in the 70s, I should be on top of the world. Unfortunately, I find myself unable to celebrate the time, since my GPS watch recorded the distance as only 4.71km.

Tangent 3 : GPS watches

A lot of runners use some form of GPS device - usually a watch, although many use a mobile phone App instead - in order to record not only how fast they've run, but also how far. This becomes invaluable when you need to know your pace. Knowing pace is not something all runners worry about: it becomes more important the more competitive you are. Most club runners ARE competitive - if only against themselves. This is the beauty of racing - only a very few are ever going to be in contention to get podium places, but you can ALWAYS aim for a PB. Knowing pace is useful for a training run, but there are ways around it without shelling out £100 + for the latest Garmin.

Best to be prepared in case a battery goes dead

When I first began running, I would measure the run I was planning to take using MapMyRun, a simple to use website that allows you to plot your intended route to find out mileage, and then simply use the stopwatch function on a regular watch to record time taken, before doing the maths later on to work out an overall pace. As I progressed and I wanted to know how long each individual mile was taking, I would drive my car around a route, noting memorable landmarks as close as possible to where each mile fell on my car's odometer. I was able to do this prior to my first ever race, since it was local, but of course this would be impracticable for most races, and once you get to the stage where you want to know your pace throughout a race, it's probably time to get a decent watch.  Unfortunately on the morning of that first race, they announced that they had changed the start line position by some way, and my race strategy (such as it was) fell into disarray. It was at this point that I decided to buy myself a Garmin Forerunner 410.

A pacer event is a great way for runners to try to
achieve their target time.

The watch has a number of functions I have never even looked at, but you can set the main screen to show the things you want to keep track of whilst running, so for me that's Time, Distance and Pace. So for example, falling away in the middle of a 5km race has always been a problem for me, and I have been training hard to change this, but it is only by religiously checking my pace on the Garmin that I can tell if I am managing to maintain the correct pace or not. Another feature of the watch, which I am only just really beginning to utilise, is the "virtual pacer." So before a race, I work out what average pace I need to achieve a certain time, and then throughout I can flick across to this secondary screen and see if I am on target or not. This proves very useful when running as an official pacer (for example at Parkrun or Time Trial) when it is important to try to be as consistent as possible for those runners relying on me to get them round in a particular time.

So anyway, on a 5km race day, I always aim to stay at 4min per km pace, which would give me a time of 20mins. When setting my PB back in April last year, I held this pace for 4km then pushed on for the last kilometre, Some races have kilometre or mile markers which are helpful to those running simply by stopwatch, but of course they merely tell you how the last mile has gone, whereas the GPS watch tells you how the current mile is going. There will often be a small discrepancy between the watch and the distance markers, and when this is the case, I tend to assume the mile marker is the more accurate, since in order to achieve a proper race licence, the organisers are required to have the course accurately measured. Not only do all GPS watches have a small margin of error, but every runner will actually run a slightly different distance to his or her fellow competitors, depending on which line they take around corners, etc.

Ordinarily the 5km races I compete in will be on narrow tracks or paths (parkruns) or pavements (time trials) and so the variation of route between different runners will be negligible. But for the Shelford 5km, there were road closures in place, meaning there was no need to stick to the pavements, or even the left hand side of the road, as you would normally. I am told that when organisers measure a course, there is a standard way of doing so, keeping within a certain distance of the left-hand side, so if on a right hand bend we took the shortest racing line we would actually end up running quite a bit less than the official distance. It's the same principle of course as to why everyone sticks to the inside lane in a track race - or why, when a race is to be run in lanes, there is a stagger introduced. You only need to consider how significant that stagger is in, say, a 400 metre race, to realise just how many metres may be saved over the course of a 5km road race by someone consistently taking the racing line. I suspect that there was a element of this that led to my watch coming up significantly short - but apparently there were a large number of other runners who contacted the organisers afterwards to mention this problem, and the response was that there may also have been a slight last minute adjustment to the route due to a problem with one of the road closure points. So a combination of those two factors consequently led to the race being less than the official 5km.

The race itself

km 1

So we started off with a nice straight chase out of the recreation ground, before turning into the road. Since this was a straightforward out and back route, the same 100 metre stretch of grass would be ideal for a sprint finish at the end. We went through km1 with my watch showing 3m57, but slightly less than 1km. Due to the aforementioned margin of error on all GPS devices, this seemed close enough to be negligible - I knew I was on pace and felt good.

km 2

"Have you not got any full ones?"

The second km marker came far too soon according to my watch - I think I was at 7m37, and there was no way I was running that well. At the halfway point, we did a U-turn to come back down the route, and I saw Charlotte coming the other way, running stongly and clearly well on course for a PB. We yelled encouragement to each other and soon afterwards there was a welcome drinks station, Unusual to have one in a 5km race - but since my mouth was feeling pretty dry, I grabbed a cup and did my best to get some water down me. Which I did. All down me. Trying to drink from a plastic cup even during a half marathon is hard enough - but to do so at 5km pace requires a level of skill I clearly don't possess. The trick is to try to squeeze the cup into a spout shape at the top, unfortunately when you squeeze cheap plastic cups they tend to split. I approached the 3rd kilometre point still with a dry mouth, but at least the rest of my face was nice and wet.

km3

It was at this point that I decided I would have to rely soley on my GPS for distance, since there was no sign of a marker at all. Just at the point when I decided I must have missed it - perhaps whilst attempting to clear my nose of water - it appeared, at about 3.25km. If this was accurate, then I was well behind pace, so I opted to believe what my watch was telling me instead, which was only just a few seconds over 12mins, so not too bad.

km4

I dropped a few more seconds on the next kilometre, and I knew I wouldn't be getting a new PB, but it was just possible that, with a really strong last 1000 metres, I may be able to get under 20mins. With my ongoing groin condition (I have since had a diagnosis which I will blog about in due course) I am aware I have been running slightly within myself, for fear that pushing hard early on may bring on the usual discomfort and ruin the race. As such, I often run the bulk of a race below maximum effort, but on the plus side I usually then have plenty left for the final push.

The finish line

So since the previous two km markers had been some way off what my watch said, I had been expecting the final race distance to come up long also - but I was surprised to realise as I approached what I thought was going to be the last 500 metres, that I could actually see the turn into the recreation ground, and the finish line. This meant I had not begun my final push early enough - but on the plus side, I had plenty left for a strong sprint to the line, which I crossed in a time of 19m10s,

So I ought to be delighted, but I know that I didn't run that fast, and I am more inclined to believe my watch, which showed a finish distance of 4.71km, giving an average pace of 4m04s per km. Although this suggests a correct 5km time of 20m20s, I genuinely feel I would have got a lot closer to 20mins had the course been accurate, since I would have begun my push for home much earlier, and given how strong I felt crossing the line I suspect I could have run a decent last kilometre, I am seeing the outcome as about what I expected - another slight improvement following my targeted 5km training which - if I stay on track, will hopefully lead to me breaking my pb for real before the end of the year.

Couldn't help feeling slightly deflated as I crossed the finish line

As for the Grand Prix, both Charlotte and I felt uncomfortable about submitting these times as our bonus race, and so have decided to use whatever time we get at our next parkrun instead. This is a real shame for Charlotte since her average pace at Shelford means she would definitely have got a new PB even if the race had been the full 5km. She is running really well at the moment, so there is plenty for both of us to feel happy about as we move towards the end of the year.

Since competing at Shelford, we have both seen further improvements, which I will be blogging about shortly.

Rethinking My Running

Charlotte and I have settled into life in Chedburgh

It has been a few weeks since my last blog, and a lot has happened in that time, though not much in the way of running. Regular readers of this blog - yes, pay attention both of you - may recall I was preparing to go for a 5k pb at the end of July club time trial. This didn't happen - clearly I would have blogged if it had! - in fact, I didn't run it at all, preferring instead to help out at the finish line. In fact, I haven't even been out training since Charlotte and I moved into our new house mid July, having become somewhat disillusioned with running due to my repeated failure to improve my times.

Running for me has always been extremely helpful mentally: I find the training runs allow me time on my own to think things through, and help me deal with the stresses of every day life, and that decent races results help to boost my self-confidence. Unfortunately, easing off my usual training mileage after the London Marathon, whilst leading to a big reduction in my ongoing discomfort, has also led (not unexpectedly) to a down-turn in fitness and an inability to maintain the kind of pace I would like to run at. No sooner did I try to increase my mileage again than the discomfort returned, and so I made the decision to join the leisure centre gym in Haverhill, and to get my exercise fix that way instead.

As part of my sessions I make sure I end with a quick blast on the treadmill, usually doing 3km, and speeding up on the last kilometre. The hope is that this will allow me to remain competitive in 5km races, which has always been my favourite distance. I have now been at the gym for about 5 weeks, and so far results have been mixed:

Races since joining the gym

Race One: Kedington 5km

This, the 4th race in the Kevin Henry Series of club races, involves a big hill that takes up most of the 2nd kilometre. As with most runners, we spent a lot of time discussing how this might affect results.

Checking out the route beforehand by bike

My theory prior to the race was that this course still has the potential for fast times, since once the hill is out of the way, you can push hard, safe in the knowledge that the remainder is either flat or downhill. A lot of my club colleagues proved me right with some fantastic times. My own race didn't quite work out that way - I wasn't too displeased with my pace up the hill, but struggled to find the energy required to push on once I reached the top. Since this came very soon after I had joined the gym, I hadn't been expecting miracles and was fairly philosophical about it, although it was disappointing in comparison with the other KH races I had done so far this year.

Race two: Nowton Parkrun

One benefit of the location of Chedburgh is its proximity to Nowton Park - maybe only 15mins drive away - which means we have a new local parkrun. This is a reasonably straightforward course - two laps, with no nasty hills - but it is primarily on grassy tracks, with a short woodland section each lap. The grass is closely mown and not too hard to run on, but with my dislike of off-road running, I doubt this will ever be a pb course for me. However, I had not been prepared for quite how badly I would run there. The first time was fairly soon after we'd moved in - I ran without my Garmin at Charlotte's suggestion, so that I wouldn't stress about pace on the way round, and used it just to get used to the course. The result was just under 22mins, and it hurt throughout. After a couple of weeks at the gym, I returned expecting to see some improvement. However, on the morning I was feeling discomfort even before I began, and I ended up going over 22mins.

Race three: Club Time Trial

Hmm. Well I smiled a bit I think

Although it was my turn to look after the stopwatch for our August time trial, my co-organiser Andy was unable to run due to injury and agreed to step in for me, primarily since I had a job interview (for a managerial position at work) and wasn't sure if I'd make it in time. As things transpired, I got away earlier than expected, and so was able to run.

The run went well - my best 5km time for a while, at 20m24. I wonder if not being particularly focused on the race helped (I was obviously concentrating far more that day on the interview - which went well I think, but we are yet to hear who got the position.)

Another thing that helped was that a runner of similar speed to me, also named Andy, was just in front of me for the first half of the race, which helped me with my pacing. But this was the first time since joining the gym that I really felt the benefit of the extra strength this is clearly going to give me - and in particular, at around the halfway point, when I usually begin to flag, I had a very strong kilometre, and was able to get past Andy and push on well. Unsurprisingly, kilometre 4 proved tough, but it's still relatively early days and I was happy enough with the result.

Race four : Framlingham 10km

Charlotte booked us a superb B&B for the weekend, more like a boutique hotel really, and we explored Aldeburgh, Thorpeness and Framlingham itself on the Saturday, We were both entering the race primarily since it forms part of the Suffolk Grand Prix series, meaning the opportunity to score points for the club. There was a good turn out from HRC, and a fair smattering of pbs - including a massive improvement for Charlotte, For me, this proved to be one of my worst ever races - I even had to stop part-way round briefly, which is crazy for such a short distance - but rather than getting too down about it, I know it simply proves I am right to concentrate purely on 5km combined with gymwork, until I can get whatever my problem is sorted out. To this end I have registered with my new local surgery, with whom I hope to begin the whole investigative process again, in the hope that a new doctor may be able to shed some light on what's going on.

Race five: Cambridge & Coleridge 5KM

And so to a race last Thursday, the last of the KH series, and a much more encouraging performance, My time, admittedly on a fast flat course, was 20m15, and it was a similar experience to the last time trial, with a strong opening 3km in particular. If I have one regret, it is that I was unable to run hard for the last part since I felt a pb was on the cards having gone through 3km at only just over 12mins. For some reason I can't explain there was practically no discomfort at all, so I can't blame that - and at least I maintained pace, so there is plenty to be positive about.

Next steps

I think I kind of agree with this. Perhaps not completely. But sort of.

I think perhaps my next step at the gym will be to see if I can either increase speed in my 3km blasts, or to extend to 4km. Of course, running on a treadmill at your required pace is as straightforward as setting the buttons and then just gritting your teeth - slow down and you'd just fall off the back, so it's not an option. Running in a race requires much more willpower to maintain pace when it begins to feel tough, when just slowing down slightly is so tempting. I look back at my PB runs from over a year ago and can clearly remember how much they hurt from start to finish, not because of anything medical or injury related, but purely because it's total effort throughout. It's the reason so many recreational runners prefer to do longer races. For me, the reward of getting a good time following a really hard run race is why I run. I think that as my strength increases following all this gym work, I will feel more inclined to work harder during races to get the results I want. I am already experiencing this at the mid point of these 5km runs, when I am pushing on at the point that historically I have always eased off. I just need to discover that extra bit of willpower to keep working for longer.

I have 3 more races to complete this year: a couple of 5 milers to complete the Suffolk Grand Prix series, and the other a 5km road race in Shelford next weekend. I think the 5 milers may prove to be similar to Framlingham - a bit too far, and probably not great in terms of time - but it will be good to complete the series. The 5km race is a rare opportunity to run my favourite distance on road rather than track or trail, and this will be the race I submit as my "bonus" race for our club Grand Prix. With another week of work at the gym, I really hope to get under 20mins again.

It's always good to have ambition, and to have certain targets you want to achieve, in running or any sport. Following an up and down KH series, I am determined to come back stronger for next year, and think that this will be my main focus. The first six male runners and first four female runners from each club score the bulk of the points, based on their finishing position. These are then added together - with the club with the lowest points total finishing first. Your club's score is further reduced by subtracting one point for each runner that completes the course from your club. HRC have achieved fantastic turnouts in all five races, and we have had our best ever series. Last year I think I was always in our top six, but my best finish this year was seventh club runner home, so my aim for next year is to get back into points-scoring contention. Based on the results from this year, this will probably mean that I need to get into approximately 19min shape. Since my PB still stands at 19m44, this may seem unrealistic - but I hope that with plenty of hard work and determination, I can still make big improvements.

For the time being, just being able to get sub 20mins again on a regular basis would be fantastic, perhaps starting with next weekend.

Losing Weight and Chasing that 5KM PB

So to start with, a disclaimer: this is simply a blog post about my decision to try to lose some weight, which I believe will help me with my running and at the same time help me to feel happier in myself. It is not at all scientific, nor should it be seen as constituting advice. As with all my previous blogs, please rest assured that I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about.

One at a time, please

Step One: Realisation

I remember when the wii-fit board first came out, and I tried to buy one as a family Christmas present.
Everywhere local had sold out, and when I eventually tracked one down miles away, I was so pleased with myself that I unpacked it as soon as I got it home, as an early festive treat. Unfortunately, when I first stood on it to begin set up, my reward for all my hard work was to be told that I was overweight.

This was further confirmed when some pictures appeared on facebook after a lad's day out in London, when I was shocked to see how big I was looking. At just under 6 foot, and almost at 15 stone, I was not exactly morbidly obese, but I clearly had some work to do if I was to get myself in shape, and feel happy with how I looked again.

 

Step Two: Joining the gym, and treadmill running

I used a well known brand of slimming milkshakes to help me shed a fair amount of weight in the beginning. These may or may not be a good idea - and again I want to point out this blog is not intended to constitute advice - but it worked for me in that it allowed me to lose enough to feel confident enough to join a gym.
I attended for about a year, sticking rigidly to the plan drawn up for me at my induction, and I got noticeably thinner, stronger and more muscular. In terms of running, I used the treadmill to do interval sessions (alternating between 1min slow, 1min fast) which is an excellent way to burn calories. Sadly, family breakup meant I had to leave Haverhill in May 2011, and with that I left the gym as well.

On the plus side, I now had daily access to a treadmill, so began to concentrate on using that as a way of continuing the weight loss and improving my fitness. I had my eye on a debut half marathon, and began to build up my distances. For some reason, it never really occurred to me to try running outside - I clearly have quite a high boredom threshold, and am quite happy running up to ten miles on a treadmill providing I have my ipod to listen to. Unfortunately a niggly back problem meant I had to stop running for a bit, the half marathon plan was temporarily shelved, and my weight began to climb again.

Step Three: The Great Outdoors

A few months later, in March 2012, I moved to Hundon - much nearer to my kids, and a lovely part of the county to live in. With no treadmill, and with the cost of rejoining the gym proving financially prohibitive at the time, I had no option but to try running outside. My back was now fine, but I had lost a lot of the fitness I had worked so hard to find, and I clearly remember only getting 1.5 miles in to my first run before I had to stop, completely exhausted. Turning back for home I stopped again a couple of times, and that first run of 3 miles took me over 30 minutes. However, with the scenery, fresh air, and nice weather, I was hooked. And more than anything, I really enjoyed the sense that, unlike with my previous treadmill miles, I had actually run somewhere, and that given time I would be able to build up my distances and properly explore the new area where I lived in a way I never would with my car. I bought a large ordinance survey map for my lounge wall, and began plotting new routes to try before I left the house each run. Before long, I had a number of decent routes and knew the surrounding area really well.

The aptly named "Mare Hill" formed part of my regular route. I also used to run up Cock Hill in Kedington regularly, but when I tried to find a picture on Google Images the results were quite horrific...

One particular 5 mile route became a favourite, and I would set out each day to try to better my previous time. I went from approximately 10min miles when I first started up to around 7m40 pace, and learnt how to deal with hills in the process. Fairly soon after I began this new chapter in my fitness regime, I saw a local half marathon advertised, and this became my focus - ideal because in addition to my usual routes, I could also jump in the car and after only a short journey, I could train on the actual route. At the end of May 2012, I ran my first ever race in a respectable time, and encouraged by this I joined Haverhill Running Club, and began racing regularly. Within a year, my half marathon time had improved by 14 minutes, and my 5km time from an initial 21mins at my first ever parkrun, down to 19m44 a couple of times at club time trials. More on this later, since this remains a 5k pb. All was going well, and I was down to 10.5 stone, and feeling great.

Bad Health/Injury

In April 2013, I again moved away from the area, and this meant I attended running club far less frequently. I have never regularly attended the Thursday, sociable runs, but I love the Tuesday speedwork sessions, and I can see a direct link between these and my short distance times. But more relevant still, I began to experience some bladder/stomach problems, which have never been satisfactorily diagnosed, and which continue to dog me over a year later. For about a year, up to and including the VMLM, I was affected by problems every time I ran - sometimes nothing more than mild discomfort, but often much worse. My race times all fell away, and my PBs from 2012 seemed like impossible targets. Although the problems increased during and immediately after running, they were present all the time, and initially not directly linked by doctors to running - and besides, I have always used running as a way of keeping myself mentally healthy - and so I decided not to stop running, but merely slow down. I remember one or two races in particular that were truly horrible - including having to stop midway through the Newmarket 10k, which I believe I may have quit if it hadn't been part of the Suffolk Grand Prix series - but in the main I found I could deal with the situation providing I slowed down a bit, gritted my teeth and just got on with it.

I did my first Ultra, a 30 mile "race" that actually went better than the two marathons I have attempted before and since. The day afterwards I was finally told the problem was almost certainly running related rather than medical, and a short break of a couple of weeks seemed to confirm this as everything settled. I therefore began having physio, which did seem to help initially, combined with some yogalates to work on core strength. However, the problem never went away completely, and I began looking for new ways to enjoy running - volunteering regularly at my local parkrun, and at a couple of races, joining the club committee, and doing a lot more pacing, which allowed me to still enjoy hitting PBs, just not my own. Getting a club place in the London Marathon meant I continued to log the miles, and in fact my preparation for this went pretty well, as I got better at dealing with the situation.

Although, as blogged about previously, the marathon itself didn't go well, this did seem to be merely a blip in what had otherwise been quite an encouraging first half of the year. I have been attending Tuesday sessions regularly, and with parkruns most weekends and a fair few races too, my times have been steadily coming back down - with new PBs at 5mile and 10k distance already this year. I have found for some reason that I am not experiencing the discomfort so much during these shorter races and training sessions, despite the level of activity being that much more intense. I now believe that the problem is linked more with high mileage than anything else - a couple of months of no more than 50 miles and I actually believed it had gone away, but no sooner did I begin to increase the mileage (to 100 last month)  -  as I began to think about an autumn marathon - than the pain has come back again.

Decision Time

Despite having already paid to enter the inaugural Chelmsford Marathon in October, I have now decided I am going to give this place up, and remain focused on shorter races, thus allowing me to cut back my monthly training miles again . I am not prepared to go back to dealing with daily discomfort again, and hope that maybe with only 2 or 3 runs a week, with the emphasis on quality rather than quantity, I can still improve my times whilst continuing to enjoy my running. To fill in the gaps and get my daily exercise fix, I intend to rejoin the gym, and the improvement in overall strength  and conditioning, particularly regarding core strength, should still enable me to get quicker. Having made this decision, I feel a lot more relaxed about the rest of the year's running - to be honest, the thought on embarking on another marathon training schedule didn't particularly appeal anyway, irrespective of the anticipated increase in discomfort.

I had an encouraging run at an Ekiden (marathon relay) event over the weekend, running the first, 7.2km leg for the club in just under 30mins - which roughly equates to 10k PB pace. However I suffered for it the next day, and think I may well adapt a stategy of run one day, rest the next, with maybe two days rest after a hard race. But nonetheless, it seems I have rediscovered my old pace for this type of distance - 6m45 per mile on three separate occasions now - and it's just the 5k PB that's proving elusive. Which brings me to the original reason for this blog - my focus on this month's club time trial.

Why Can't I hit my old 5km times?

There may be a number of reasons for this. Firstly, it is a distance I race very often, and these races have probably helped me tremendously in terms of acting as excellent training/tempo sessions for subsequent 5mile and 10k races. Effectively, whilst hitting 6m30 pace over a 5k results in a time I would find disappointing as I chase my 19m44 PB, it is great preparation for me to be able to run 15secs a mile slower in a slightly longer race and hit a new PB, as was the case at both Bury 5 and Haver10K. What I guess I'm not doing enough of is running quicker than my current 5k PB pace - and so to do this it may be a good idea to run some more 1k rep sessions, which are easy enough to replicate on my own with a Garmin watch, in addition to the sessions I do with the club. Again, this fits well with the idea of running shorter but faster training sessions, and I can incorporate some interval treadmill sessions into my gym sessions as well, which will all help.

Lighter shoes, or "racing flats" : less weight to pick up with every stride

But another factor must be that I am now back weighing 12.5 stone - 2 stone heavier than when I set those old 5k PBs. I think I am probably a stronger and more intelligent runner than I was back then, but if I'm carrying around additional 2 stone it's perhaps no wonder that in the very shortest distances that I race, I'm unable to find that 10-15seconds per mile than I so desperately need. It does rather make a mockery of my having bought lightweight running shoes, to save a few grams!


At the last club time trial, I asked one of our quicker runners, Martin, if he would mind helping me set a new PB at this month's run. These 5k races fall on the last Thursday of each month, and since I now jointly organise these along with a club colleague, I rarely get the chance to race one. However, at the end of this month, Andy will be in charge of the stopwatch, and providing I get a full raft of volunteers, I will be able to go for a time. Martin is going to attempt to get me round in 19m30, which equates roughly to 6m20 pace  - with a sprint finish. This is a great opportunity for me to set a new PB, on a flat course, with an excellent experienced pacer on board. Having set this up, I was determined to do all that I could to achieve my goal - and that meant, alongside some smart training, that I needed to lose some of that weight.

No Junk July

A few days after I had began to watch what I ate, I heard about a facebook page called NO JUNK JULY, encouraging participants to ditch unhealthy food for a month. On the banned list were such things as chocolate bars, crisps, takeaways, fry-ups, fizzy drinks, cakes - in short, most of things I enjoy eating the most. I joined up since I felt the support and encouragement of others was bound to help. I began well enough, only slipping up a couple of times (cake, what else?!) but then I found I was beginning to fret about a weekend away meeting  a number of Charlotte's relatives, which I knew would test me to the limit, with the promise of a large family BBQ and plenty of beer. I had already begun to become slightly disillusioned with the whole cold turkey approach to things, and found I was permanently hungry, craving certain foods and generally getting a bit tetchy. I knew that I had made some positive changes, which I believed I could stick to, so I decided to stop beating myself up over the occasional lapse - any type of diet which you hate is unlikely to succeed - and enjoy the weekend, safe in the knowledge I would have the willpower to spend the majority of days eating more healthily.

What has surprised me most is how easily I adjusted back to the new healthier diet after what proved to be an enjoyable weekend. I went the whole of the following week sticking rigidly to my new routine of smoothies for lunch, and avoiding the work vending machine, which I used to raid at the start AND end of each shift. Snacking between meals now involves fruit, and I seem to have got past the feeling hungry stage and settled into the new diet quite well. The first hint that losing weight could help my times came with a decent performance as a parkrun tourist in Newport that weekend, where I came 12th out of a field of over 300. Early days, but I have already lost about 8 or 9 pounds, and am noticeably thinner around the middle.
Charlotte has been very supportive of this lifestyle change, and got a great new PB herself in Newport.

Portion Control

When I have an evening race, I need to ask for an early work shift to allow me to finish in time - this typically involves getting up and eating breakfast around 5am. With lunch around 11am, it means that by the time I finish at around 6pm I am more than ready for my main meal of the day. Obviously eating a cooked meal so close to a 7.30pm race start would be a bad idea - besides, quite often there would not be enough time since I tend to travel straight to the race venue after work.

Dinner was slightly disappointing

So  recently, I hit upon the (blindingly obvious) idea of eating my main meal at lunchtime on such days. Not only do I then begin my race feeling less hungry, but my body has had plenty of time to digest the meal and I have some fuel on board for the race - which I will usually top up with a banana about an hour before the start.

I have tried this twice, and it has worked well both times - the first time led to a new 5mile PB at Bury, and the second to my best ever race placing in a Kevin Henry fixture. What was interesting about the second time was that the microwave-ready meal I bought that day happened to be a weightwatchers one : purely because it looked the most appetising on offer. When I served it up, I was dismayed at how little there seemed to be on the plate - but I felt perfectly full once finished, and it made me realise how unnecessarily large my main meal tends to be. Like many people, I find it hard to leave food on my plate, so even when I know I have cooked too much, I still tend to finish it off. Cooking smaller portions is an incredibly obvious and easy way to reduce calorie intake, and combined with having cut out most of the unhealthy stuff too, I am confident I can continue to lose the weight I want, with the target to have lost a stone by the end of the month, and ultimately to get back down to my 10.5stone "fighting weight."

17 Days to go

And so, with time running out before the time trial, I need to ensure I keep pushing hard in my training sessions, and keep watching what I eat and drink. I don't know if I will get a pb or not, but if I can maintain this new healthier mindset, I am convinced I will eventually hit my ultimate twin targets : a sub 19min 5km and a sub 40min 10km.

Perhaps next year I will think again about going for another marathon, but for the time being I have a much clearer focus on what I want to achieve in my running.

Racing Throughout May

If January through to April was all about training for and running the London Marathon, then throughout May I rediscovered my love of the shorter distance. I have always been better at the 5k races, and have always felt I should probably be better than I am at 10k too – and it’s not just the races themselves, but the training: long slow runs bore me, and I much prefer a shorter, more intense training session, such as the excellent Tuesday night club ones run by Trevor, Steven and David. These sessions are extremely hard to replicate on your own – much easier to push yourself properly when there are others around you doing the same, and the camaraderie/banter in between
reps helps make the hour more enjoyable: they are hard but fun, which is exactly what good training should be. I had a period of about 8 months when I hardly ever made club training, and my times all began to fall off – and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that since I resumed Tuesday sessions from the turn of the year, I have been able to steadily chip away at my 5k times and am now back
close to my pb from over a year ago.

And so, the races in May came thick and fast.

Running along the same tracks the horses train on

Firstly, Newmarket Heath 6k: running without Garmin and just going by feel alone, I was pleased to come within 30 seconds of my time from last year, when I was running at my quickest. This was the first indication to me, after a disappointing London Marathon, that it wouldn’t take much to get back to my old times again, and possibly go quicker.


Next up, the first Kevin Henry race of the season at Impington. Everyone talked about the PB potential of the course – nice and flat, wide enough for no congestion, and good surface underfoot. I came within a few seconds of a PB, and my first sub-20 run in a KH fixture, so I was happy with that.

Next came the Ashdon 10km, the first of 3 races over that distance that I deliberately set up for May, with the aim to improve my time over what I find quite a tough distance to pace properly. Ashdon was hilly and off road – two factors I always try to avoid where possible, so again this was a conscious decision to try to take myself out of my comfort zone, and tackle things I find tough. My time was respectable enough, but the overriding memory of the day was the huge HRC turnout, which made for an enjoyable social occasion. Oh, and the cake. Obviously.

Lots of Haverhill Runners

Lots of Cake

Second 10k of the month, the inaugural Haver10. Again, a great club turnout for this and the Half, and my best ever race: a new PB for the distance and 5th place overall – obviously not the most competitive of races, a fact which I’m sure will change in future years as more local runners become aware of the event. But a nice flat route in the main, which just a slight incline coming back out of Sturmer.

A field of about 180 so I was chuffed with my finishing position

Nice to run on roads I know so well – having a good mental picture of how far there is to go has got to help, and I was pleased to keep my pace reasonably consistent throughout, with enough left for a sprint finish. 41m50 suggests that my sub 40m target is not quite as ridiculous as it has seemed over the last year, although there is still a long way to go.

In between all these races, there have been my weekly Parkruns. I have traditionally tended to neglect hills as part of my training, so Colchester Castle Parkrun on a weekly basis has helped tremendously with that. It’s a tough one to pace, since the first half is all flat or downhill, before then you tackle the big hill twice in the latter part of the race. So I never know whether to go all out to start with, and get some time in the bank, or whether to try and save something for the tougher second half. On this particular occasion, there was a 20min pacer, and since I was determined to go sub 20 for the first time there, I settled in behind him and let him do the thinking for me – even choosing to run without my watch. I was chuffed to bits when I was able to go past him with half a kilometre to go, and with a strong finish, I was sure I had a new PB – only to discover he had paced it incorrectly, and I had only matched my previous best time there, of 20m07. To be fair, I have been an official pacer there myself on two previous occasions, and not managed to cross the line at exactly the right time - it's not as easy at it seems.

But the most enjoyable race of the month for me was my last – the Bupa 10000, in London. I entered this mainly because it fell on my 40th birthday, and I had a few Colchester-based friends doing it too, with the promise of a day’s drinking and eating to follow. Charlotte and I arrived at our hotel the evening before, and like all good athletes, immediately began focusing on the following day’s events: being able to visualise what’s in store can only be helpful – and so, with this in mind, we found the pub we were planning to spend the next day in, and began sampling their beers. In fairness, we had only intended to have one – but the champions’ league final was on, and one thing led to another….anyway, we did at least get back to the hotel at a reasonable time, although unfortunately their bar was still open, and …

A great weekend, though not particularly from a running perspective

So not ideal, but it meant we turned up on race morning with very little expectation of setting quick times, and thus avoiding a lot of the pre-race nerves that we both normally suffer with. I was convinced it wasn’t a race with PB potential anyway, due to the huge number of entrants – second only the London Marathon in terms of what I’d experienced before – and I was anticipating congestion throughout. In fact, this wasn’t the case at all, the start being brilliantly organised in waves based on your predicted times, and so providing you were near the front there was no reason why you would be held up at all. Charlotte managed a new PB, and whilst my own time was some way outside my best, I am convinced I can do it quicker next year with the right preparation. But that wasn’t why I entered – and it was great to experience a race atmosphere similar to the Marathon, but with 20 miles less to run.

A busy month of racing came to an end with the club time trial, and another great turnout of over 70 runners. Andrew and I take it in turns to organise or run, and this month it was his turn on the stopwatch, but I didn’t feel I was in shape to go for a time, so instead paced Charlotte, who achieved a big new PB and a first ever sub 24min time. One of the things I have discovered over the last year is the pleasure you can get from running with others, helping someone to a new PB is the next best thing to getting one yourself. And getting more involved with the club in terms of helping organise the time trials, etc, has been a great way to get to know more club members, and to feel more a part of the club. Big thanks as always to our volunteers, without whom this can’t go ahead each month.

Haverhill Running Club seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment. We have always been a friendly, welcoming club – but it’s great to see so many people attending training, time trials, and local races. To get over sixty runners at the first Kevin Henry fixture in Impington was fantastic, but unbelievably we got even more - about seventy five - at the June fixture in Newmarket, running near the famous Rowley Mile racecourse. As I type this, we are only a week away from fixture number three, hosted by Saffron Walden, and another big club turnout is on the cards.

The bulk of this blog first appeared in the club newletter, which can be found on our website, www.haverhillrunningclub.com. The next blog will follow shortly and will deal with two very different race experiences in Bury St Edmunds. In the meantime, if you enjoy reading running blogs, please have a look at those of my friends:

http://throughthefieldsofmersea.blogspot.co.uk/
http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/
http://fruittlooprunner.blogspot.co.uk/

Back in love with running

 

Ok, so firstly, in no way am I blogging so soon after my last post simply to avoid doing what I ought to be doing today, ie job-hunting. That is not the case at all. Important to get that straight.

Kevin Henry Series

Right, so I am blogging because I am on a high after yesterday evening's race, a 5k that forms part of the Kevin Henry Series. This series is a local inter-club event comprising 5 races, held over the Summer each year, from May - September. Well, Summer - ish. Each one is hosted by a different local club, all of whom compete over the series : yesterday was the first one of the year, held by Cambridge Tri, at Impington.

The scoring rules are straight-forward, in a complicated kind of way. Top 6 male athletes and top 4 female athletes from each club all score points based on their finishing position within their gender.

Simples

So the first male athlete home scores 1 point, the second scores 2, etc, and the same process for the ladies. The lower the score therefore the better. If, like me, you don't finish in the top 6, then your time and finishing position become irrelevant in terms of the competition, but you score a point simply for competing. Each point earned in this way is then subtracted from the score compiled by your top 6, so the more attendees from your club, the lower your final score will be.

Traditionally, or at least since 2012 when I've been attending, we have had relatively small turnouts at these races, with the notable exception of our own, in Kedington. I shall blog about this race later in the Summer, but it was the first race I ever did for the club, and has a horrific hill that didn't combine well with the KFC I'd had about an hour before.

This year, Sian-Marie from our club has been pushing hard to get people involved - I may also have banged on about it a bit on our facebook page. Haverhill Running Club has a rightly-earned reputation for being a friendly sociable club, and everyone's priority is to keep it that way. However, along with a few others, I feel we should push to be a bit more competitive too - and the nice thing about this series of races is that everyone who runs can help contribute to lowering our score, irrespective of what level they are currently at.

So it was fantastic to see 63 club members at Impington last night. Included within this number were a fair few new members, who have been coming along to training sessions and time trials, but who were competing in their first ever club race. This was great to see, and I hope they will all be back for the next race in June.

Personally, I did okay. My Gold target was to hit a new pb for 5k, which has stood at 19m44 for nearly a year now. Silver target was to get under 20mins, which I have managed 5 times previously at parkruns and time trials, but never in a club race. For this occasion, knowing I am pretty much back to my best, and that this course had big pb potential, I didn't set a Bronze target.

Ashdon 10k

The only possible problem would be how much my previous race at the Ashdon 10k, on Bank Holiday Monday, may have taken out of me. This race also had an excellent turnout from the club, and probably at least half of us did both, so this wasn't going to be an easy excuse to use with club colleagues.

A great turnout at a great local race, with great cakes afterwards. I can thoroughly recommend Ashdon 10k for the demanding off road terrain through farmer's fields, the tough undulating course, and the chocolate cake and apricot flapjack.

Didn't catch the guy in front but in truly chivalrous fashion we both overtook the lady

Ashdon was off-road and hilly, and was never going to be a pb for me - I was very pleased to get home in just over 45mins, coming in 27th place overall and 4th home for the club. We had 3 runners in the top 10: Bryan got 9th place, Martin - who picked up a trophy for first 50+ runner (as did Cheryl for the ladies) came 5th, and there was an excellent 2nd place finish for Andy, with whom I organise the monthly time trials, and who is in excellent form at the moment. For me this was a race I wanted to do for 2 reasons - mainly because it is always well attended by the club, and as such is a nice social occasion, but also just so I could get used to running the distance again ahead of the next 2 I have booked.

Pacing the Race

Back to yesterday then. The race was very straightforward, being two laps of a farm on concrete track, followed by a straight run to the finish. The lap was essentially a big square, so a combination of good surface, no twisty turny bits, and perfect weather conditions (the rain held off for the duration of the run and the temperature was fine) meant that there was no reason not to get a decent time. My pacing strategy was straightforward too. A 20 minute 5k needs 4min kilometres. I have recently begun resetting my Garmin watch to metric when I run a 5k, whereas for all other distances I still prefer to work in miles. However, since the watch still records lap times each mile, I get a beep and a display showing my mile time as well, so I can work in both. The plan then was to try to keep to 4min kilometres for the first 4, and then push on for the last kilometre to get that pb -- a 3m43 last kilometre would suffice, and I have managed 3m15 in training (albeit as part of an interval session with breaks in between.)

So first kilometre, and I went off too fast, as always. Very hard not to get carried away at the start of any race, and with this series being extremely competitive, being all club runners, it meant that even standing a little way off the front I was still surrounded by fast runners, and found myself swept along at their pace. I went through in well under 4mins, and realised I needed to slow up a little to ensure I didn't burn out too quickly. So for the second kilometre I hit 4mins pretty much dead on, before slowing a little in kilometres 3 and 4 before pulling it back in the last one. My watch records the lap times as follows:

Mile 1:            6m14                                    pace per kilometre: 3m52
Mile 2:            6m37                                    pace per kilometre: 4m07
Mile 3:            6m29                                    pace per kilometre: 4m02
last 0.1miles :   28 seconds                            pace per kilometre: 2m57

So a finishing time of 19m48, comfortably under 20mins and only 4 seconds off my pb. Next time I will try to go a bit steadier for the first mile - this is a mistake I make regularly at parkrun too, and although it is nice to go through the first mile ahead of schedule with "time in the bank" this invariably leads to a poor mid-section of the race. The other thing I must work on is my pre-race warm-up : Charlotte and I ran perhaps half a kilometre beforehand, but I have been told you want a good ten minutes warm up prior to attempting a fast 5k, and that should include some "strides" to finish with, ie getting your body used to the speed you intend to start at -- this is something I tend to neglect, and it will be interesting to see if this helps. I worked out today that I have raced over 50 times now at this distance, with parkruns, time trials and KH races, but I still have a lot to learn.

Interestingly enough, Charlotte was also exactly 4 seconds outside her pb, and we both finished 8th for the club in our respective gender categories. Well, I thought that was interesting anyway. I think that our post-race reactions were also quite interesting - I was pretty pleased, although I feel I can definitely get quicker, whereas Charlotte was far from happy with her performance. Providing this is channelled correctly, disappointment with a performance can be a good thing -- I think I am probably getting close to what I am capable of, and that knocking a few seconds off here and there is the best I can hope for, whereas both Charlotte and I believe that she can improve by some way still : and she has the ability combined with the determination to do just that. We both have our targets to have reached by the end of the series, and I'm pretty sure we'll both get there.

Next up

And so on Sunday May 11th, the next challenge awaits - the inaugural Haverhill 10k.

Photo taken before some wag drew a "C" in front

This is part of a family fun day that also includes the Haverhalf, but I opted for the shorter distance to fit in better with my priority for the Summer, which is to get my 5k and 10k times down. Having done Ashdon 10k last Monday, and with the Bupa 10000 in London on May 25th, this will make 3 10k races in total for May, plus the 6k Newmarket Heath race I ran on the 1st, the KH as waffled on about above, and the next time trial at the end of the month which  I hope to be able to run in - if I can rope enough people in to volunteer.

Haverhill promises pb potential, being flat and not particularly congested (unlike the 10000 later in the month in London.) My 10k pb, set back in December 2012, stands at 42m40. If I can maintain 4m15 pace throughout, therefore, I will beat it comfortably, and the way my running is going at the moment this really should be do-able. I shall of course blog about this in due course.