4 races left

This particular post is now on it's 3rd re-write. I should probably explain:

1st edition (written Monday 22nd June)

Initially it was going to be called "How to get a PB." A particularly brave, or possibly stupid title. The thinking was, with Gt Bentley 5 on the horizon, that I would write the blog almost in diary form, over the course of two weeks, detailing how I was changing things in order to grab a new 5 mile PB and hopefully get under 32mins for the first time in the process. By giving the post such a confident title I hoped to convince myself in advance that I would definitely achieve this - and also, by telling everyone it would happen, I would force myself to ensure it did, to avoid looking like a complete idiot.

By saying "telling everyone" - I mean of course, telling everyone who reads my blog. According to the stats available to me, I'm nearing 7000 views since I began back in March 2014. I've posted 27 times, which would mean around 260 readers for each post - so once again, many thanks to all of you for taking the time to plough through. It was never really meant to be just a race write up, but more about concentrating on the thoughts that accompany my running - and from the individual feedback I get from time to time, it seems it's this aspect that is of more interest. So with this is mind, the plan was to try to get back to this format - not to ignore the races, but to blog mainly about my training and preparation, both physical and mental, with the race reports a gauge of how things are progressing.

I quite like the idea of diary format, though - and it would help keep the blog up to date if I wrote a bit each day, and posted once a week. It would also - hopefully - be a better way of following the thought processes as I trained towards what I hoped would be improved times throughout the rest of the year and beyond.

All of this seemed like a good idea, but then, having thought about things a bit more carefully, I changed my mind...

I sometimes think I spend more time writing
about running than I spend actually running.

2nd edition (written Wednesday 24th June/Thursday 25th June)

This revised post was going to concentrate more on longer-term aims and objectives, looking at how much I race (and whether to reduce this) and pinpointing some key races later on in the Summer that I wanted to do well at.

Why did I shelve the "How to get a PB" idea - well, a couple of reasons really.

The first - I realised that, if I ran the course at Great Bentley without changing much, I'd have a good chance of getting a PB anyway, so it would be a bit disingenuous to claim it was anything to do with any alteration to my training. The reason I'm targeting this particular race is because it's flat, and on road - much easier than the other 5 mile courses I've raced recently. I think that if I can run Great Bentley at the same level I ran Bury, for example, the result will be a slight improvement on my best time for the distance.

And secondly, it was unlikely that any changes I made over the two week period would have any effect on me physically in time for 3rd July - the body takes a while to adapt, and although different experts draw different conclusions as to exactly how long it takes before a specific training session can be expected to have an impact in terms of improvement, it seems it's somewhere between 8-14 days at best. So if I managed to get myself into a proper training regime, I needed to look further ahead than this particular race.

However, by getting into the right regime now, it would mean psychologically that I'd be in a much better place when I lined up in what is the last of the Friday Five Series that I've enjoyed so much. With the knowledge that I've been pushing myself hard in training comes increased confidence that I can do the same come race day, and my sense of belief is key to running well. And if a warm-up before a race gets your body prepared for what you're about to do to it - well, surely running 5 miles most days in the week leading up to a 5 mile race would have a similar effect? As much as anything, it's about getting in the zone, if that's not too over the top.

So the conclusion to all this was that I was going to start training more wisely, as I've done before to good effect, and whilst was I hoping this may have some effect in this key race, it was probably now more a question of looking slightly further ahead, to other races on the horizon, in particular with a view perhaps to finally getting that sub 40min 10km at Littleport at the end of July, and then looking even further ahead to the remaining Suffolk GP fixtures.

Over-racing?

I'll be fine, just give me a minute. Oh, and I'll see you
at Parkrun in the morning?

I've been thinking a lot recently about how often I race - which is all the time! Hardly a week goes by without one, even if just a parkrun. When I say "just" a parkrun, I don't mean to belittle these fantastic events, which have become a big part of my running life over the last couple of years. But even the parkrun organisers themselves like to say they're not races - and although I almost always treat them as such, I suspect I probably shouldn't. And it's not just parkruns - with Kevin Henry fixtures, Suffolk Grand Prix races, attempts to get a sub 40min 10k races, attempts to get sub 32min 5mile races - it's been a pretty packed schedule for some time now, and undoubtedly it's been too much.

Why too much?

Because you simply can't expect to get a PB week in, week out. Training schedules should include easier weeks, to give the body - and mind - time to recover. Ideally you should be building week on week towards a peak, before easing off a little and then going again. Charlotte and I have been enjoying watching the diamond league athletics on TV recently, plus the recent European Team Championships in Russia. Frequently throughout, I've heard commentators talking about athletes building towards the Worlds later this year. They don't enter every event in the build up, instead they seem to just target a few specific ones - presumably that they then use to find out where they're at. Quite a lot of Team GB's best athletes didn't travel to Cheboksary, again presumably because it didn't quite fit with their training schedule. In fact, although very few of the really big names seemed to be there, it was good to see some of our up-and-coming athletes representing their country instead.

And with all these ideas floating around in my head, I was starting to look forward to knuckling down to some proper training, rather than just moving from one race to another. I probably wouldn't reduce the races - it's what I love - but rather, I would prioritise them: so some races might be "A" races and would be PB attempts, but the majority would be used simply as stepping-stones to get to those more important fixtures, and perhaps I might even use some - particularly parkruns, which I do so often - to experiment with different tactics.

All of which seemed like I was in danger of finally settling into a sensible training regime. Which leads me to the reason why I then shelved edition 2, and am ending up posting the following instead....

Consultant Appointment (Thursday 25th June)

How many times have I bleated on about my "injury" over the course of this blog? It's a strange one, because it's never really stopped me running, but it has definitely affected what I've been able to achieve. At times, specific races have been really grim, but in general I've found I've been able to compete reasonably well, and there have been quite a few races where I've not felt any discomfort at all. However, what is undeniable is the effect it's had on my training. As a general rule, the more I train (whether in terms of regularity or distance), the more discomfort I'm in. Perhaps not surprisingly, given that I haven't been prepared to stop racing, I've sought at times to lessen the discomfort by reducing the amount of training I do.

And I've found over the last two years that the only successful way to deal with things has been to concentrate on shorter races, which in turn require less training. If at all possible - work permitting - I attend speedwork club sessions each Tuesday. I nearly always rock up at parkrun on a Saturday, and then if I'm free on the Sunday, I'll probably race somewhere. Other than that, if I go out just once more in the week, my body seems to be able to cope with that.

I was gutted when the police brought my run streak
to a premature end...

Of course, because I'm not really doing a structured week of training, I'm finding it hard to improve. For some reason, without any obvious side effects, I was able to ramp up the training a bit towards the end of last year, and as a result I improved over all distances - but when I began really increasing the distances as I commenced marathon training, the pain started to return again. I was really pleased with my Half Marathon improvement in February, but after a fairly disastrous 20 mile effort at Tarpley (due to starting too fast, not the injury!) it's been getting steadily worse. A calf injury, which ultimately led me to pulling out of London this year, coincided with my last treatment - Hip Manipulation - and as a result it was hard to tell if this had been successful. But once this newer injury eased, I began to increase the training again - and about 2 weeks into what turned out to be a 30 day running streak (definition: where you see how many consecutive days you can go running without a break), I started experiencing the old discomfort. Although I stubbornly kept training, it has now got back to the stage where every day is uncomfortable, running or not, and it was a relief to know that I had a follow-up appointment booked in where I could update Mr Khanduja and see what else could be done.

And the answer, apparently, is keyhole surgery. I'm no expert, but I have to say I'm still not 100% convinced it's to do with the hips - referred pain - but I have no option but to trust him! The best news is that part of the procedure involves getting a camera in there to have a look at things, so no doubt if it's not what he thinks, he'll at least discover what is causing the problem. Assuming he's right, he's then going to shave some excess bone off, and I've been warned that it's a long recovery period: 4 weeks off work (I'm a temp at the moment - so that's not going to happen!) and 16 weeks in total before he can then move on to doing the other hip. So the plan is - and I am very lucky that everything's moving so quickly - to get the first operation done 16th July, which gives me plenty of time to recover and get back working before I start my new permanent job in September.

My new job will involve studying for exams and a degree alongside working full time, and we can only take holidays in between terms, so ideally we'll get the other hip done to fit in with the Christmas holidays. At this point, having been through it once with the first op, I'll know how long I actually need off work (I'm hoping 4 weeks is overly cautious on his part.) I've also been warned that I'll be on crutches initially after each op - a new experience, having been fortunate never to have broken bones or anything before.
So, having been hit with this news - what next? Race, of course!

Wibbly Wobbly Log Jog (5mile) - Friday 26th June

My next race was the day after, so no time to dwell on things - off to Thetford Forest on the Friday evening for what turned out to be a really enjoyable event. Named the wibbly wobbly - possibly because of the twisty-turny circuit, or possibly because of what it does to your legs - this is an off-road 5 miler set in and around High Lodge, which is between Brandon and Thetford. The route takes you along a forest track to start with, before you divert off into the forest itself and follow a narrow path in amongst the trees, with plenty of dips and craters to negotiate, (including one really tough "bombhole" with an ascent similar to the North face of the Eiger) before you get back onto a nice flat stretch to finish with, where I was able to find enough for a strong sprint finish, which seems to be happening at the end of most races at the moment - which is nice!

Strangely, it was when you were running the flatter, easier parts that you realised how exhausted you were - once on the trails you just dug in and went with the flow, more concerned about keeping your footing and following the correct route than you were about your time or how tired you were. I have to say it was one of my favourite event of the year so far - in part probably because there was no pressure to do anything. So many races this year have been part of a series, or offered PB potential - this one, I just turned up and had no idea how I'd do, and probably relaxed a bit more than usual
because it really didn't matter.

Oh Great!

Oh. Really Great!

In the end, although my time was (as expected) down on my usual 5 mile time, I was really happy to grab 11th place out of a field of over 300, and to make it home in one piece without being attacked by adders or succumbing to Lyme Disease (seriously, we were warned about both in the pre-race briefing, whilst being nearly drowned by a sudden downpour - and we do this for fun?!)

Gt Cornard Parkrun - Saturday 27th June

Happy with my last kilometre, and a
sprint finish to claim 2nd place

With a slightly sore ankle after the previous evening's exploits, and a bit of a struggle to get out of bed in time, I wasn't expecting great things when I made it with minutes to spare for this week's attempt to defend my title. Which, incidentally, is meant tongue in cheek - I'm well aware that I'm only grabbing first places because this is one of the less competitive parkruns around. I like it because it's so flat that it's a really good gauge of where I'm at - and the truth appears to be that I'm comfortably in the low 19s but not getting any quicker, which ties in with what I mentioned earlier in relation to not really training properly. No matter - at least I've found some consistency, which I've always struggled with in the past - and regular sub 20s is something I'd have been very happy with a year ago.


This week, Bury parkrun was cancelled, so it was no surprise to see one or two of the regular runners from Nowton Park turning up at Gt Cornard, including one Odette Robson, who is well known locally as one of the fastest ladies in the region, and certainly considerably quicker than me. I knew I was racing for second at best, and in the end I needed to work hard on the sprint finish to just grab it from a young lad who, I later realised, was Odette's son, and who is clearly going to be very quick himself in years to come. So anyway, the winning run has come to an end, but another decent time (19m14) and I guess at least I was first male!

Coming up next? 

So the plan to get a decent training regime going has failed spectacularly - but I did at least manage a good club track session on Tuesday, and I feel I'm running strongly at the moment: I genuinely believe I'll get that 5 mile PB if run as well as I have done in tougher 5 milers so far this year. Before that, there's the small matter of the next Kevin Henry race - I'm writing this late on Wednesday evening, so in less than 24hrs time.

My first ever race for the club was at this same fixture in 2012. I'm hiding in the back row somewhere - but I'll always remember one or two runners took the time to come and talk to me and I was made to feel very welcome. I hope, despite a push to become more competitive over the last couple of years, that we never lose the "Happy Running Club" tag.

This fixture at Kedington (a village just a few miles outside Haverhill) is our club's home event. We're hoping to hit at least 100 HRC runners, and I love the fact that everyone who takes part for the club knows that they're contributing to our score. Particularly pleasing is the number of new members, including those who have just completed our latest beginner course, who are planning to run - it's not an easy course, and they'll be rightly proud of their achievement when they cross the line. Hopefully we'll be able to hang on to 2nd place in the table - the highest the club's ever been - and tonight I've just heard we remain top of the Suffolk GP table now that the most recent race result has been factored in, which is more great news for a club that is now both friendly and competitive.

I wanted to mention too that, in the Suffolk Grand Prix Individual Competition, Charlotte has now moved up to 3rd place in her age category (18-35) - a fantastic achievement for a runner who is much better than she thinks she is (and I make no apologies for being a bit biased!)


I'm not sure how I'll get on at Kedington - the hill is a real killer, going on for nearly a mile (I actually drove back that way tonight after dropping my son off and measured it on my car's odometer!) I think the plan is to go out hard, to get as decent a first half mile in as possible, before tackling the ascent, hopefully not losing too many places - but importantly, trying not to get too disheartened if I do - and then push on hard once I get to the top of the hill. I should have a big advantage on this route since I used to live on it - pretty much at the halfway point - and I can visualise each part of it pretty well, which is extremely helpful during a race when deciding when to push and when to ease off. However, I am slightly traumatised by last year's run, when I had a bit of a mare - one of the races where I was affected by the injury - and so I'm not expecting a PB, or anything close to it, but a sub 20 would be nice.

Working hard to improve my times

One change I have managed this week is more sleep - often overlooked by runners, but if you're looking for something that can have pretty instant results, this is a sure fire winner, and is something all the best coaches stress as being vital to decent performances. Obvious perhaps, but we all have busy lives and it's often neglected. I've managed to get a good 7 hours each night since Sunday, and it's bound to have a positive effect.

So with this better sleep pattern, coupled with encouraging runs over the weekend, I'm feeling confident that I can go out and grab some good performances before I'm sidelined for a few months. There are four races in total to come - after racing KH and Gt Bentley, it's only a week before the Ekiden relay, when I'm running a 7.2km leg as part of this team relay event - competing alongside Charlotte in a Commando Team.

And then finally, 3 days before the first op, I run the 1500 metres at the Defra Sportsday. Seriously, such a thing does exist. Without taking it too seriously (!) I am keen to see what I can do over this shorter distance - and besides, I get to represent Natural England - and more to the point, it's a day off work but still on full pay. I believe I may also have been roped into the veterans football tournament as well, and it should prove to be a fun day out if nothing else - and since it will be the last time I run properly for quite some time, I'll certainly give it my all, and just see what happens.

For now though, I'm just going to try to get the most out of these last four events, and my next blog will deal with the first two - hopefully including a report on a new 5 mile PB.

The Friday Five Series and associated ramblings

So my last two posts covered a busy month of racing throughout May, but there's one more race from a hectic month that I haven't yet covered, since it was the first of a series, and it made sense to carry it over to the start of this month's round up:

Friday Five

Race socks are an important part of your running kit...

The Friday 5 is a series of 5 races, each one 5 miles. On Fridays. Hence the name. You only need to do 4 of the 5 to qualify for a series position (and a medal I believe!) - ideally of course you'd do all 5 and lose your worst performance. Much like the Suffolk GP, scoring is based on position rather than time, but they're popular with club runners across the whole region and, because when it comes to scoring they're not just limited to our county's runners, they're even more competitive.

We were already booked into the 3rd fixture on June 19th - at Stowmarket - because it's part of the Suffolk GP -  and seeing that we would also be free to race the Bury event on June 12th, we decided we'd have a crack at the series, and so entered the first one, in Ipswich, as something of a last minute decision.

This meant we also needed to enter the final event, which I have now targeted as a 5 mile PB attempt, since it's at Great Bentley, which is totally flat and where I recorded my best ever Half Marathon result earlier this year. It's been a while (too long) since I did some targeted training for a specific race, and my next post will cover how I intend to get this PB.

Ipswich Friday 5: 29th May

This was ridiculously hard*
(*not actual race footage. But a bit like this)

Ipswich's course, however, is not flat at all. In addition to one or two tough hills, there is a horrible woodland section towards the end, which I would genuinely rank amongst the toughest sections of any race I've competed it. Despite this, I felt I ran fairly well, and I was a little disappointed with my finish time of 33m01 according to my watch - and even more disappointed when the official time came out as 33m08 (not sure how that happened!) There was better news however when it came to my finish position. As a general rule, in most races I look to finish in the top 10%, perhaps a little better in a parkrun, but I downgrade this expectation when it's a really competitive race, like for example a Kevin Henry fixture or a Grand Prix race. Looking at the entrants for this race, my aim was top 50, so I was happy to come in 45th overall - and more importantly, in terms of the scoring, 7th in my age category.

I did this race two years ago, and it took me 3 minutes longer, which got me 100th place. I'd like to say this is indicates the extent to which I've improved since then, but I think my result from 2013 was probably slightly skewed by having run the Edinburgh marathon the weekend before. Still, a course PB is a course PB!

Newmarket 5km - Kevin Henry Fixture 3: 11th June

The nice thing about 5kms is that you can recover from them fairly quickly so despite the next Friday 5 fixture being the day after, I was happy to go for a time in this important club race, knowing it probably wouldn't affect things too much the next evening. Besides, if I had to prioritise, it would always be these 5km races - the highlight of the racing year for me, even if they don't always go to plan.

Fortunately, though, this one did. It's very straightforward - flat, and with a decent enough surface underfoot. I remember I found it psychologically quite tough last year, because it's just one big lap and not the most interesting of courses - but for whatever reason this time around, everything felt good, and I found myself enjoying the challenge of trying to race alongside what is always a strong field of runners for these events. Unusually for me in a 5km, I didn't really have a bad kilometre, and I had plenty left at the end to gain a fair few places in the sprint finish. 56th position represents my best ever in a KH fixture, and my time of 19m16 was also a KH PB, and about a minute and a half quicker than I managed on the same course last year.

Bury Friday 5: 12th June

We were unable to make the 2nd fixture in Kirton, meaning we wouldn't have the luxury of binning our worst of the 5 fixtures. It also means that, as the race series scoring progresses, we are further down the table than those who have run all of them - until it all evens up at the end. No matter - I ran 33m47 in this event last year, which at the time was a new PB, and I was hoping to further improve this time, knowing that I'm running better than I was 12 months ago.

The race follows part of the Nowton Parkrun, so knowing this well, both Charlotte and I had an advantage there - it then goes out on to the quiet local roads before you return to the park for a lovely flat straight run in to the finish line. I was really pleased with how I paced this one, and found I had plenty left for a decent last mile and a strong sprint finish, Although I was a little outside my 5 mile PB set last November in Hadleigh, I did manage to improve my time on this course by almost a minute and a half, just like at the Newmarket 5km the day before - and my finish position of 36th was a big improvement on the 81st I got last year.

Stowmarket Friday 5: 19th June

Okay - this one was horrific! It's set in Haughley Park, which I'm sure would be a lovely place to run around on a training run, but not so much fun when you're going for a time. I tend to avoid the cross country races that many of my club colleagues compete in every winter: I know my strengths, and off-road isn't one of them. One the cross country fixtures is set in the same park, and although I would imagine that's even tougher, this definitely felt much harder than the typical race I would go in for.

On the plus side, before our race, my son Harry, 11, ran in his first ever race for the club - he was chuffed to bits with his new club vest, and his medal, and seemed to really enjoy the experience. I was particularly impressed with how he set off very sensibly towards the back of the field and thought about his pacing - I could learn a lot from him! His race was 2.5km, and he ran a very respectable time and - more importantly - had a smile on his face at the end.

A genuinely lovely location.
Perhaps for a nice day out. Maybe even a wedding.
Just not for a race.

It was nice that our race was 2 laps, and he was able to cheer us and our Haverhill RC friends on as we made our way round. I have to be honest, after a strong first mile, I was beginning to think I could maybe do something quite decent - but the course found me out very quickly, and as I began the 2nd lap I would quite happily have quit there and then. Miles 3 and 4 felt like a real slog, and as a couple of team-mates went past me, having clearly paced things far more sensibly, I was really struggling to hang on. The last mile was a big improvement - more down to stubbornness than anything else I think - and I did manage to rescue a bit of pride, but my finish time was a fair bit down on my target, and it was clear to me that I either need to work harder on my off-road running, or I need to work harder on choosing the right races to enter.

I was surprised, when the results came out, that my finish position was 40th, which cheered me up a bit, and 7th in my age category seems to be about where I'm likely to finish in the series overall, so perhaps not so bad after all - but it's more about how I felt I ran the race - as in, very poorly.
I think I need to learn to be more realistic when I'm off-road, and not try to set off at my usual pace - because it's only going to go one way, and there's nothing worse than spending most of a race being overtaken.

I need to work on my pacing.
Harry needs to work on his smiling.

Remiss of me not to mention how Charlotte has been getting on in these races. Very well in fact - finishing consistently high up her age category which - being Female Open - includes lots of very good athletes. Her times are always consistent, hitting her sub 40 min target each time - and grabbing a great new PB at Bury for good measure. Her finish at Bury was the strongest I've ever seen her run - and I really hope that the strong final position she's on course for in both the Friday 5 and the Suffolk GP series gives her the confidence she needs to keep pushing on, because although she's already a good runner, I think there's loads more to come.

Loss of Confidence/Motivation

How many times have I mentioned the importance of confidence when it comes to running? For me personally, getting my head right is almost as important as getting my body right. Possibly more so - because when I'm feeling in the right frame of mind for running well, the training and racing seem to take care of themselves anyway. For whatever reason - and I'm not entirely sure I can put my finger on it - I had a strange week in the lead up to Stowmarket, losing interest in running and not bothering to train at all. It meant, despite having really enjoyed a run around Clare with Charlotte on the previous Sunday, I then did nothing at all for the next 4 days, and although I suppose I went into the race well rested, I genuinely wasn't sure until the day itself if I would even bother running - maybe just watch Harry and then Charlotte race instead.

A lot of it has to do with my groin/stomach/bladder issue, which has come back quite badly as I've increased my mileage throughout May and June. It leaves me feeling pretty uncomfortable before and during most runs, and this increases on race day due to the added factor of nerves which unsettles me at the best of times. I've suffered from this on and off over the last couple of years, which I've found extremely frustrating, not least because it's proved very difficult to diagnose - but I'm not as concerned this time because, as I've mentioned before, I'm now under the excellent care of Mr Khanduja at the Nuffield Hospital in Cambridge. Although we both hoped the hip manipulation I had three months back had done the trick, he didn't discharge me from his care in case it hadn't, and I'm due to see him again next week, at which time I can update him on the situation and he'll no doubt move things forward as a result - with keyhole surgery the likely outcome, being a solution he mentioned before.

It's been a long week, but I think I'm finally on top of everything....

Additionally, work has gone from being very relaxed to being very stressful in a relatively short space of time. I work for Natural England at present, a non-departmental governmental body - so I'm not quite a civil servant, but similar. We help farmers implement environmentally friendly farming methods, and a big deadline has recently been looming which has led to a dramatic increase in work load and pressure. It's been good for me, as I prepare in three months time to embark on a new career in the Civil Service proper, initially on a four year course to reach managerial level, which I'm sure will involve working under similar amounts of pressure at times, particularly as it involves studying for exams and a degree alongside the regular work. But just recently, for the first time since starting at Natural England in January, I've been finding it harder to switch off at the end of the day, and I think this has left me less inclined to go out for a run when I get home - which actually has been pretty late most evenings recently anyway.

Anyway, for whatever reason, I seemed to have lost my motivation a bit in the week leading up to Stowmarket, and then when it didn't go as I'd have liked, I was even more down. The solution? Get up early the next morning, and try to rebuild some confidence with a decent parkrun.

Great Cornard Parkrun - 20th June

I do like Great Cornard - and not just because they let me win! I like it because it's flat, and although it's on grass, it's a decent surface to run on (ie closely mown, just like running on a sports field.) I also like it because, like most parkruns, it's friendly, and you get to see the same faces each week. Not only is this nice from a social perspective, but it helps when you race, because you have a good idea of how you're doing - so you're not just relying on what your watch says, but because you can judge in relation to how others you recognise are doing as well. In fact, the last time I ran here, I forgot my watch - but I was still able to get the pacing about right and, as I did on the previous occasion, I managed to front run and hold on for the win.

This time, I really wasn't sure how it would go - low on confidence, and with my calf muscles really aching from the previous night's efforts: they always seem much worse after off-road racing, which must have something to do with the extra work they're doing in terms of balance/stability on the uneven surface. I should probably check things like that before putting them in my blog - I may have just made that up.

Either way, I decided I'd not set off like an idiot for once, and let someone else set the pace. There is a strong runner called Richard, who I've chatted to a couple of times there - a nice bloke, and on his day a much quicker runner than I am, though currently coming back after injury. His times have been gradually improving as he does so, and it won't be long before he's back winning again I'm sure, so when he set off in the lead, I determined to try to stay reasonably close behind him, and see how the race panned out. Unusually, I had decided I wasn't too worried about time this week - I thought probably I wouldn't get anything great after the previous evening - but I did think it would be nice to maintain the winning streak if I could!

Me. Grimacing. It may be a smile. But probably a grimace.

Running alongside me for most of the race was a young lad, Drew, whose PB is also quicker than mine - despite the fact that he runs in the 15-17 age category. He's finished in the top three in each of the weeks I've been there, and I'm sure he's more than capable of beating me on his day - so it was clear to me I had my work cut out this week. It took until part way round the second lap before I managed to draw level with Richard, who by his own admission is just lacking that little bit of fitness at the moment which, once it's back, will probably see him beat me easily. Even allowing for this, I hadn't managed to stretch out much of a lead over him as we neared the end, and I was just wondering what I had left in me for a sprint finish if I needed it when Drew surprised both of us by coming past, and looking pretty comfortable as he did so.

As a result, I kicked for home much earlier than I normally would - and I discovered two things by doing so, Firstly, that I should be kicking for home earlier all the time, since I was able to sprint probably twice the distance I thought I could. And secondly - that by doing so, you can make up quite a lot of time. Sounds obvious? Yes, I suppose it is really, but I was chuffed to bits not only to grab the win but to also get my quickest time on the course - 19m09, which is also my best parkrun time this year. I remain convinced that this course offers PB potential - and I certainly think I should be getting sub 19mins here. It will help me if, as expected, both Richard and Drew continue to improve and get back to their best - I'll have to concede victory I'm sure, but I think by trying to keep up with them my own times should come down as a result.

Next Up?

We're doing the Wibbly Wobbly Log Jog next Friday. Bit of a weird name for a race, and an unusual race in that it runs through Thetford Forest - not, as we did at Breckland 10km, along roads through the forest ,but actually through the forest. Right now, I can't quite remember why we entered this one - it looks tough! - but it should be a bit of fun, with times going out of the window, which is quite possibly what I need. I'm going to try to approach it as just that - a fun training run - and part of the bigger picture as I train specifically for the last of the Friday Five fixtures, which as I mentioned earlier I am targeting for a PB run. Great Bentley 5 then has become one of the key races of the year for me.

My next post will concentrate just on this one race, and the build-up to it - focusing on what I hope will be a sensible and structured training approach resulting in a time I'm pleased with, with an aim of getting in the region of 31mins. 

May - a busy month : Part Two

As promised/threatened, a round-up of the 2nd half of May.

Great Cornard Parkrun - 16th May

I have been promising myself a trip to this parkrun for some time now - ever since I heard it was very flat and full of PB potential. Having gone over 20mins at my previous parkrun, I felt it would be nice to get back below again - and it's always good to try out a new course. It also offered that rarest of opportunities - to race without really feeling any pressure, since I had no previous time on the course to compete against, and I could just see how things went.

Whether or not it's a good idea to race twice in the same weekend is debatable - certainly if you want a decent result on a Sunday you don't want to go for broke the day before - so the ideal outcome, with Woodbridge 10km the day after, would be a reasonable time, a reasonable finish position, but for it to have felt reasonably comfortable throughout.

And if those were the criteria - I have to say it worked out perfectly. Not knowing any of the other runners, I had no idea who I should be running with - I've been caught out before at races settling in behind a fellow runner for the first kilometre or so before realising I haven't got a hope in hell of matching them! So I settled in behind the lead runner but made sure I checked my watch regularly to ensure I didn't go off too fast. In the event, I found I had to slow within the first kilometre to make sure I didn't take the lead -- not something I normally have to worry about! It was clearly not as competitive a field as most of the parkruns I've done, but I had no intention of leading the way when I didn't know the route, so I tucked in behind and determined to stay there, even if it meant sacrificing my time - from very early on, it was clear that I had a chance of winning a race here, for the first time ever!

The course, although it is basically two laps of a two-field course, is not particularly straightforward - the way is marked by cones but until you get to grips with it, you're relying on either the marshals or the runners in front to show you the way. Unfortunately, probably around about the kilometre mark, we went the wrong way! A marshal realised what had happened fairly quickly, and called us back - I would say (and the distance on the watch later on seems to confirm this) that we only went perhaps 70 or 80 metres before being redirected. This meant turning back the way we'd come, so effectively this added on another 160 metres or so to our final race distance (0.1 of a mile.)

Ah, elephants. So wise.

I think probably about 5 or 6 of us were affected, and of course when we rejoined the course a few of the next batch of runners had gone through, so I would say I rejoined in around 12th or 13th place. No matter - I had been running a bit slower than normal to stay in 2nd and so I was able, just by getting back up to normal speed, to gradually regain places. Funnily enough, I was still fairly confident at this stage that I could get back into contention for the win - and since the time now had become largely irrelevant, in some ways it actually helped. (That makes a lot more sense in my head than it appears to on the page.)

The course was indeed nice and flat - all on grass, but closely mown, and not at all difficult to run on. At one point we looped back on ourselves and so it was possible gauge the distance between me and the new leaders quite easily. And I found myself back up to 3rd place as we came past the start/finish area to start the second lap.

The two runners still ahead of me proved more difficult to catch, but there was still plenty of time left and I gradually gained on them over the next kilometre or so. I spent the last kilometre sitting just behind the leader, again not wanting to take over in case I went the wrong way, and then was able to get past him in the sprint finish. So my first ever race victory! The time wasn't particularly quick - 20m11 - but this was very much a race where I ran for position rather than time, and I have to say it was a good feeling!

Woodbridge 10km - 17th May

And so the next day, buoyed by this win, Charlotte and I set off for what turned out to be a very tough 10km race in Woodbridge. This two lap course provides a couple of nasty hills, and was a real test of strength as well as pace. I have to say I really enjoyed it - the crowds were fantastic: it sounds like a cliche you would see on a race poster but the whole town really does seem to turn out to cheer you on. Other than the big city races I've done, I've not experienced anything like it - and I can see now why it sells out  a matter of hours after entries open.

I think it sold out even quicker this year because it was part of the Suffolk GP series which I've talked about before. I push this series whenever I can with my running club colleagues, and in the event both our mens and ladies teams ran really well - taking us top of the club standings after the first 2 fixtures. Individually I was pretty pleased with 5th Suffolk Runner home in the MV40 category - the GP series is all scored on position, and that leaves me in 7th overall in my age category. Charlotte is doing better, currently 5th in the Female Open category, having hit a new PB at this race.

My time - 41m10 - was a marginal PB too, taking a few more seconds off my time from Colchester - but it was a much more challenging course, and relatively speaking it felt like a much stronger run. I still believe I should be closer to 40mins for the distance, and perhaps if I ran that strongly but on an easier course, I might just go under. Running, like so much in life, is all about ifs, buts and maybes! It's not that often that everything coincides at once - but the days when you feel good, the weather's favourable, you run well, and it happens to be on a PB course : well I suppose they're the days every runners dreams of - and they do happen, you just have to keep believing! What I particularly enjoyed about Woodbridge - afterwards, not during - was that the last 3 kilometres were my quickest: proof that my stamina and endurance has improved. I even managed an uphill sprint finish!

Sometimes, once you've finished a race, you remember it differently.
So it was good to find this picture, and confirm how hellish it really was

Saffron Walden 5km - Kevin Henry Fixture 2: 21st May

The second of this series of six, which always take place on a Thursday evening. It's always a different type of preparation for an evening race but I think I prefer it: time to have a decent meal 3 hours or so before, and my stomach is always much more settled than first thing in the morning, although the nerves still play their part in the final hour before the start.

This course - actually at Newport - is the most scenic of the six, but also probably the hardest. In the build-up we were all talking about two things.

Last minute course preparations - part one

Firstly there's the dreaded concrete hill  - a horrible section that completely destroys your pace somewhere between kilometres 3 and 4. This did indeed prove to be tough - but in fact, not as bad as I was anticipating. I always tackle hills in the same way following some good advice received early on in my running career - concentrate on maintaining effort rather than pace. It's obvious that the only way you would maintain pace when going up hill would be to work harder than you were on the flat. This means, when you get to the top, you're going to be exhausted, and find it much harder to maintain pace for the remainder of the race. It would be the equivalent - if there hadn't been a hill - of suddenly putting a sprint into the middle of your race. So instead, I try to keep my rhythm the same, my cadence the same, my breathing the same - hopefully by doing this my heartrate will also remain constant - and I just accept that I'll drop a bit of time. This way, even though I don't tend to catch people on hills, I find I can resume race pace fairly quickly on reaching the top, and I then tend to overtake people who have tired themselves out on the ascent. And of course, hilly courses don't have to destroy your overall time - because there'll be downhill sections too!

and part two....

Secondly, there was a warning, particularly to our quicker runners, to make sure you started fairly near the front - because otherwise there was a risk of getting hemmed in through a section that follows a narrow path with limited overtaking places. I wasn't sure if this advice applied to me but -ever the optimist - I thought I'd push through to start reasonably near the quickies. I did remember this section from the previous year - but in the event, the vegetation had been cut back to the point where there was actually plenty of room to get past people if you felt so inclined.

What I hadn't remembered was just how tough the start was - a long incline, albeit not particularly steep, but on a really bad surface, with potholes, ridges, loose stones -- in short, it was very hard to get off to a decent start, and I felt much more tired after kilometre one that I should have done according to my watch time. No matter, it was simply a question of accepting it's a tough course, and doing the best I could from that point on when - except for the aforementioned concrete hill - it does become a lot easier. I was trying to hold a little back for a decent finish, and after struggling a bit in that first kilometre I have to say I felt pretty comfortable for most of the race.

With just over a kilometre to go, I was joined by club colleague Craig, who has been improving steadily since joining the club and I suspect is no-where near his peak yet. We briefly discussed how the race was going - and it was clear we'd both had a similar tactic of trying to save something for the last part. Craig then pushed on, and I determined to keep him in sight - and by doing we both passed a fair few runners before rounding the final corner for the (uphill) sprint finish. At this point I knew I had enough left to gain some places, and with KH being all about finish position, I kicked for home, passing about a dozen runners in the process (I checked afterwards, in case I dreamt that bit, and it really was about 12 or 13 places gained,) The only runner I passed who then responded was Craig, who was clearly having none of it and went back past me just before the line. Chatting about the race afterwards in the pub, we both wondered if maybe we'd saved too much for the finish and should have pushed a little harder throughout the bulk of the race - we probably shouldn't have had that much energy left - but it is a nice feeling to finish strongly.

And in fact overall I feel pretty pleased with my run. After being disappointed with my placing at the first KH race at Impington in April, I was much more encouraged by this result, closer to hitting the top 50 (a long held aim!) and getting a time considerably quicker than last year in the process (1min23s better, to be precise!)

Great Cornard Parkrun - 23rd May

And so back to Great Cornard - having finally found a race I can win, I'm going to make the most of it! This week was a pacer event - I've talked about these before: they're a great way for people to achieve PBs, by doing their best to stick with the official pacer for their target time.

For me, the nearest pacer to my own time was the first one, running at 20mins. I knew that by keeping ahead of him, I'd beat my time from the previous week - and now that I had a better idea of the course, I felt confident enough to set out at the front and see what happened. This meant I could go for a time, not just position - and so I set off at about pb pace for the first kilometre, building a lead over the next group of runners, who were running with the 20 minute pacer.

I've never led a proper race from start to finish before, but I have done at club time trial on occasion, and it's not particularly easy! I think part of the problem is worrying that you'll look a proper idiot if you blow up part way through and everyone starts overtaking you - so it creates a pressure to maintain your original pace for as long as possible. In terms of time, this is a good thing - but in terms of enjoyment......well, suffice to say I found it tough! But the marshals at Great Cornard are all really nice, and very encouraging - so just as you begin to flag, there's always the next one pushing you on. Towards the end, the runner in 2nd place was definitely gaining on me - and I have to be honest, by this point I'd stopped caring about my time and was just keen to keep the lead, so I saved a little for the final section and was able to finish strongly for a time of 19m11 - a minute quicker than the previous week, and another win.

This is one of mine! Great to see volunteers of all ages

All parkruns are friendly events, and Great Cornard is no exception - I already have a few people that I have got to know there a little, and everyone's very welcoming. I like to move about and try different ones, but this is now a firm favourite. I've been back a couple more times in June, grabbing another win - albeit with a slightly slower time - and helping out as a volunteer last weekend. Parkrun only operates with volunteers, so it's important to pitch in from time to time. The organisation suggest you volunteer 3 times a year - in reality, whilst some people probably don't hit this quota, a great many people do a great deal more, with many of the same faces helping week in week out. I have set my own personal target of helping out roughly once every 5 visits, so it was high time I put my name forward - and I ended up being the photographer, which was quite a fun role to try. The pictures came out fine, although I don't think David Bailey has much to worry about.

Next blog

As I type, it's mid June - I've fallen somewhat behind with the blog due to pressures at work amongst other things! This leads to mammoth posts like this one - and I've had one or two comments from people suggesting they can be a little long! Not for the first time I'm going to promise to post shorter blogs but more regularly, since - whilst I'm keen to play catch up - I really want to get back to what the blog is supposed to be about - my thoughts on running, rather than just a write-up of my races.

That said, next up I'll concentrate on the Friday 5 series - I've already raced two of these, with the third this coming Friday - and in addition there's the most recent Kevin Henry fixture at Newmarket to report on.

But once I've got these out of the way, I really hope to talk some more about how I'm looking to adopt a much more structured approach to my training and racing, looking towards some key targets that I'm hoping to break in the second half of the year.

May - a busy month: Part One

This post was written before the weekend of 16th-17th May, but not published, since I hadn't added in the pictures in time. You wouldn't believe how long that bit takes. All just for an excuse to include a couple of bad jokes. Anyway, since to write a post covering the whole month would make things ridiculously long, I've decided to split May's racing into two parts. 


The races come thick and fast - well, hopefully fast - at this time of year. You could easily find a local race every weekend, and although I tend to avoid racing on the alternate weekends that my son stays over, there has still been plenty of opportunity to pull on the club vest over the last couple of weeks.

Nowton Parkrun - Saturday 2nd May

I always seem to go off too quick...

I mentioned two races in my last post - the second of which I found myself struggling in a bit due to a cold. This proved hard to shake off - probably because I kept trying to race! - and so I had an equally disappointing run a couple of days later, when I stupidly chose parkrun over a lie-in, and my string of sub 20min 5kms came to an end as a result. If it was going to end anywhere, it was always likely to be at Bury Parkrun, which I find tough, and so it proved, with a finish time of 20m12, Although I kept pace with the leaders for maybe half a kilometre or so, I then found myself being overtaken and dropping time throughout the remainder of the race.

One of my key targets this year is to break 40mins for a 10km. There is added incentive to do so since I need a qualifying time for the new Ipswich Twilight 5km race in August. This race requires you to have posted either a sub 20min 5km or a sub 40min 10km. Unfortunately, they don't accept parkruns or (unsurprisingly) club time trials - and so despite all the 5km races I've recently completed within the qualifying time, none of them can secure qualification. No matter - a sub 40min 10km should really be achievable, and to this end I entered 3 races in a row, the first of which was the Breckland 10km.

Breckland 10km - Monday 4th May

A race with plenty of PB potential - almost completely flat, just a very slight incline early on, which -being an out and back course - you feel the benefit of on the way back anyway. Exactly the kind of race I like - local, small-ish (a field of 284 runners) and scenic too: a road course, but through Thetford Forest.

Some marathon runners, and most ultra-runners, will always
stop at water stations, to ensure they actually get a proper drink -
but in a 10km race, the loss of even a few seconds is clearly
going to have a much bigger relative impact on your finish time.  

I set off a bit too quick, as usual, but quickly reigned myself in, with the aim of settling at around 4min km pace - but from about the 3rd km onwards, it was clear to me this wasn't going to happen. In fact, at the halfway point, finding breathing tough and dropping places, I decided I would actually stop and take a few seconds rest at the water station.
This had the benefit of allowing me to drink the water rather than just tip it all down my top as normal, and I started off again feeling much happier - although knowing that any chance of a PB, let alone a sub 40min, had well and truly gone.

As it was, I managed to pick things up a bit 2nd half, helped in part by the support of Neil, who I mentioned last blog had completed the London Marathon this year, against medical advice!  His wife, Christine, was the lead lady and Neil was supporting her along the route, using a bike to stop at strategic points, cheer her on and then cycle further down. On the way out, I was just ahead of Christine, and after she passed me at halfway, I then spent the 2nd half attempting to catch her back up - and so I got the benefit of Neil's encouragement throughout! In the end, she did achieve first lady - another trophy! - and I didn't quite catch her, but I did get pretty close to my PB (set roughly a year ago.)

As I mentioned last blog, it seems pathetic to moan about a simple cold - and it's just a question of being realistic about these things: it will have affected my time a bit, but compared to what loads of fellow runners go through, it's really no big deal, and there are always other races. And in fact, I didn't have to wait long: because a few days later, it was time to travel to Newmarket for one of my favourite events on the racing calender.

Newmarket Heath - Thursday 7th May

For the benefit of overseas readers who may not know, Newmarket is known as "The Home of Racing." As in, horse racing. Although billed as "approximately 6km", this is nearer 5.5km, all off-road, using in part the sandy/earthy tracks that the racehorses are trained on, with the rest mainly on grass, and a woodland section too,
Although a fair few club runners compete, notably a big contingent from Newmarket Joggers (who organise the race), there is a separate element of competition too - with a number of the town's racing stables putting together teams for the event. This was the 3rd year I'd entered - as it was for Charlotte, although in 2013 she hadn't yet joined the club, and so we'd not met. Last year we had just started dating, and it's nice this year as we start to revisit events we did together 12 months previously.

It proved to be one of my best ever races - a finish time over a minute quicker than last year, of 21m39: and according to my watch, an average pace of exactly 4 mins per km, which was bang on my target. This equates to a 20min 5km, which for a tough off-road race like this is really pleasing. The race commences with a long drag uphill, and I made the decision to take it easy on this part, and gradually build the pace, confident that I could make up lost time at the end, when there's a lovely downhill sprint finish.

A tough uphill start - I made sure I took it easy, and enjoyed
the experience of overtaking rather than being overtaken for
most of the remainder of the race.

Most pleasing of all was the way I did indeed manage to build my pace, with every kilometre quicker than the last - not something I've ever managed in a race before - and I really enjoyed the sprint finish, which saw me pick off 4 or 5 runners. According to my watch, I was running at 3m10 pace (per km) for the last half a kilometre, which suggests all those Tuesday speedwork sessions are helping.

Having done really well with our diet over the last few weeks, Charlotte and I decided it was about time we treated ourselves and, with an evening planned in front of the TV watching the election results come in (yes, we're really that exciting) we decided to grab a couple of pizzas on the way home, before stopping off to vote and then settling down for a nice night.

It was then just a question of waiting for the all-important results to come in - and Newmarket Joggers didn't let us down, declaring marginally before Houghton and Sunderland South. I finished in 21st place overall, 4th in my age category. Charlotte had a great run, knocking off over a minute too - and smashing her sub 27min target with a time of 26m04, placing her 13th female in what was a pretty competitive field. Christine, who I mentioned was 1st lady at Breckland, got another placing in this one - 3rd female - whilst her son Seb, who is a phenomenal runner, ran out overall winner. It's important to be optimistic as a runner, but equally, you have to be realistic about who you can take on. My guess is I won't be finishing ahead of Seb any time soon. To be honest, I was worn out just watching his warm up!

Colchester 10km - May 10th

And so it seemed that I was over the cold, and there's been no re-occurrence of the calf injury. So it's full steam ahead for the rest of the summer. I'm looking forward to getting back into a proper training regime, but for the moment there's barely time in between races.

Next up was a 10km in my home town. Billed as fast and flat, this represented another good chance of a PB and the sub 40min I'm looking for this year. I hadn't realised that the route actually takes in a fair bit of the 8 mile training route I did so often when I was back living in Colchester a year ago, and knowing the town so well meant there were no nasty surprises along the way.

However, for some reason - and it was a hot day, so I guess that may be partly to blame - I just wasn't quite right on the day. Worryingly, I had a small amount of groin pain throughout too, which makes me wonder if the old problem hasn't gone away after all - but I'm not sure it made too much difference and for the time being I'm just going to see how it goes - it may just have been a one-off.

I made a conscious decision to start off more sensibly than normal - this is a tactic I'm going to keep employing for the next few races to see if it works - and so for 2 or 3 kilometres I felt pretty relaxed, and was only a few seconds off sub 40min pace. The maths is easy for this target - 4 minute kilometres is bang on - and this is a pace I'm comfortably under at 5km, so it really shouldn't be so tough. However, when on the 4th kilometre I decided it was time to pick up the pace a bit, I found I couldn't manage it, and so I went through the half way point at 20m30.

Fairly recently, I hit upon the idea of having my watch set in both metric and imperial - so the readout for distance and pace on the main screen will be in kilometres, but the lap function is set to miles - meaning every time I complete a mile it comes up with how long it took. I find this helpful since I have run using imperial for so long that I have a much better sense of what represents a good pace. Effectively I suppose I'm saying that, even when I'm running a 5km or 10km, I still prefer to think in miles.

However, for this race, I forgot that I'd reset the lap function to kilometres - which I think I did for Breckland - and then, having raced Newmarket Heath, I'd switched the settings for distance and pace back to miles, so I could see my average paces etc. Having then forgotten to switch back (are you keeping up with this?) I now found myself, as I set off at Colchester, seeing everything back to front - my main screen showing pace and distance in miles, but with the laps coming up each kilometre.

Essential race kit?

I've spoken before about doing mental arithmetic during a race - it helps in some ways, since it keeps your mind off the fact that everything hurts! So in many ways, the fact the watch showed different information from normal was not a major problem. Except that, having done the maths beforehand for this race, I had decided exactly what pacing strategy I would use, and of course I'd done this in metric! Consequently, I had to try to convert pace from imperial to metric as I was going along, and this proved too much for my brain to cope with! But this is a mere detail - I can hardly blame my finish time on my watch settings!

Suffice to say, I had 3 targets as usual: Gold was sub 40min, Silver was sub 41min, and Bronze was a new PB - so anything under 41m50, set at Haver10 almost a year ago. Passing halfway in 20m30 - much the same as I did at Breckland - would have been fine if the tactic of going off slower had meant I had plenty left for the 2nd half - but in the event, I found it impossible to pick up the pace, and I finished in 41m14. So still a PB, which I probably should be happier about - but disappointing compared to where I thought I was.

The finish, on the running track used by the Colchester based running clubs, was a nice way to end the race though, and whilst I didn't quite have enough for a sprint, I did pick up a little bit of speed in front of a reasonably large group of spectators, including Charlotte (who I could hear cheering me on as soon as I joined the track) and Harry, who ran alongside me for the last 100metres or so. I was much happier about the result later on when I saw my placing - 38th out of 476, so not too shabby after all, in what is a fairly competitive field.

Time Trial - May 12th

Time trials are so close together at
the moment, there's little point
getting everything out of the boot in
between each one.
So I haven't bothered.

As organisers of the monthly time trial for our club, Charlotte and I were a little concerned that we may not get a good turnout this time, because we've had to change our schedule to accomodate the Kevin Henry series over the summer. So whereas time trial has traditionally always been the last Thursday of the month, we've now incorporated it into our Tuesday training schedule, and there was only a gap of 3 weeks between this one and the last. Coupled with the Kevin Henry races too, I wondered if people may feel there was a bit of 5km overkill at the moment! Fortunately, this fear proved unfounded, and we had over 50 runners, which was great to see. When you add in the volunteers - another 9 or 10 people - it's a decent turnout of club members each time, and - hopefully- an enjoyable evening for everyone involved.

As an added bonus for me personally, Charlotte is always happy to do the stopwatch, and so providing we have enough volunteers elsewhere, I now get the opportunity - after helping to get everything set up - to run each time. Which means this was the fourth time in a row I've been able to take part. I feel a bit guilty about this, so will probably take on a volunteer role next time - to be honest, I could probably do with a rest by then anyway!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, having run a PB at Colchester only 2 days before, I didn't manage to beat my time from last month. However, the new tactic of setting off more sensibly meant that it didn't feel anywhere near as hard as normal, and I was happy enough to get just under 19m30, although much like during the weekend's 10km, I felt unable to increase the pace when required in the 2nd half of the race, and so didn't get as close to 19mins as I might have liked. The groin pain was present but negligible - clearly I still need to get this sorted, but it hasn't returned to anywhere near the level it was before - at least, not yet - and I don't think it really affected my time.

How to improve?

I've talked about possibly racing too much at the moment, and not fitting in much training as a result. It's nonsensical to keep turning up to races expecting to be quicker than last time if you're not doing some targeted training in between. That said, I look at the 5km races as good training for the 10kms, and vice versa - even a slightly disappointing 5km is a decent speed session, and a 10km is a good tempo run! But I need to do more and, whilst my legs do need time to recover in between these races, there's no reason for not working other areas - and this is where the gym comes in. I've been 3 times this week, working on core strengthening exercises in the main, but always adding in a quick blast on the treadmill for good measure at the end of each session. 

I have a bad habit of returning to the gym for my exercise fix when I can't run, but then abandoning these important cross-training sessions when I can get back out on the roads training. I've actually worked out a training schedule which I shall attempt to follow throughout the remainder of the summer, leading towards the final KH of the season, and I have built in plenty of gym sessions which I shall do my best to follow! There's really no excuse now I'm working in an office with a gym downstairs, and I know the massive benefit that comes from improving my all-round strength

Next up - Woodbridge 10km, then Saffron Strider KH 5km

Two important races coming up then - the next fixture in the Suffolk GP series is this coming Sunday, and then the Thursday afterwards will  be the 2nd of the KH fixtures, at Saffron Walden. These are the races that matter most to me, since we're (hopefully) gathering points for the club. I don't hold out much hope for PBs in either, since Woodbridge is hillier than either Colchester or Breckland, and the Saffron Striders 5km, actually held at Newport, is quite tough too - including the dreaded "concrete hill" that KH regulars know all too well. However, due to the way the scoring works in both, position is more important than time, and the aim is always to beat as many runners in club vests as possible!

I may well sneak in a parkrun as well on Saturday morning - I'm trying to convince Charlotte that not only do we not require a lie-in, but that we should try a different course from normal, potentially the one at Great Cornard that seems to promise fast times. It's probably not a great idea to race twice in consecutive days, but I find I recover pretty quickly from a 5km, and I'm enjoying running every day at the moment - and the idea of having a free Saturday morning and NOT going along to parkrun just doesn't sit well with me! And I really want my 100 T-shirt - only 35 to go!

.


So the next blog will cover these next two races - and (spoiler alert) details of my first ever race victory, at Great Cornard Parkrun, followed by a successful defence this morning. Things seem to be back on track. More soon.

A tale of two 5Ks

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Well ok, not exactly - and quite why I've begun this week's blog in such a Dickensian fashion, I have no idea - but anyway, the point is, I've raced two 5kms since I last posted, and with contrasting results. The first was a club time trial, the second the opening fixture of the Kevin Henry Series.

Mental Preparation

Sometimes I stumble across a great joke whilst writing this blog.
Maybe next week....?

I've blogged before about the importance I place on being in the right place psychologically when I'm at the start line of a race. I think a lot about a race in the days building up to it - making sure I get my training right, trying to eat the right things, laying off the alcohol (usually!) and also looking at my previous results and trying to identify ways I can shave some time off. I look for factors that are clearly in my favour, things that suggest that I should definitely run quicker than last time. Whether or not I've been training well is a major factor, so too my (ever flucuating) weight, and also what the course and conditons will be like.

Turning up at the start line believing I'm going to run a PB time doesn't necessarily mean I will. But I know that believing I won't guarantees I won't. I've become much better at judging these things, and often now race with a goal in mind that isn't a PB, but is realistic based on circumstances. But it's nice when I approach a race, as I did last week, believing I can run my best yet.

Of course, club time trials are not official races as such, but I treat them as if they are. When I say that, I'm not too worried about position - it entirely depends on who else turns up as to whereabouts I finish. But I am bothered about my time. In Kevin Henry races, it's all about position - but there's no harm in trying for a decent time too - and of course, one should lead to the other anyway.

I often look at a 5km course I've run, and calculate what I may have got had it been flatter, or if it had been run on a better surface, or perhaps if it had been less congested. Most courses have some kind of "catch" - take, for example, the various parkrun courses I've run:

Parkruns - each one different

(list of excuses)

Nowton - Bury St Edmunds is entirely off-road, which I dislike, although I'm getting better at reducing the difference this makes to my time. It's a two lap course, and there's a slight incline near the start which seems twice as bad second time round - but I've learnt where to ease off and where to push, and my times have improved recently there. The surface was pretty bad over the winter but will get a lot easier, so my times there should hopefully come down.

High time I ran Colchester again

Colchester Castle  is very hilly, although again I have improved the way I've run the course over time. It's laps, with the start and finish in the same place - so therefore clearly there's as much downhill as uphill, although it doesn't always feel like it. I've become better at pushing hard on the downhill sections, and consequently my last run there was one of only two sub 19mins I'd managed at the time.

Thetford is nice and flat, about half on paths and half off-road - but the off-road section includes a grassy meadow which, over the winter, has been pretty muddy and tough to run on. Much like Bury, this will become easier now the better weather appears to have arrived, and I'm looking forward to trying it again soon.

Milton - Cambridge  is the course I ran my first few parkruns on. It's pretty narrow, and very popular - you need to push up towards the front at the start if you don't want to get held up, although obviously you need to make sure you don't get in the way of those faster than you. It's also twisty turny through the woods, but I set my old PB here back in December, and it remains a favourite.

Conditions were tough

Wimpole is a course I've only ever tried once, since Milton was snowed off. Since it's only just
down the road from Cambridge, it was also deep in snow - but judged less dangerous. However, it was pretty tough, especially the big hill - which would probably have destroyed my time even in good weather! Putting my foot through an icy puddle and into freezing cold water didn't help much either.


Worsley Woods, as I mentioned in my last blog, looked ideal for a PB, until I discovered 3 sets of steps in the middle of it, within a mile of woodland running that would also have had an impact on times.

Gunpowder - Harlow is a very straightforward, 2 lap course - but it's very open, and can be very windy. However, in terms of surface and lack of incline, it's got to be a PB course on the right day, and although it's a bit of a drive, I'd like to try it again sometime.

And this one definitely needs revisiting

Tredegar - Newport - I can't actually find any excuses for this one. Great surface, two laps but entirely flat - the only real catch is that it's about 5 hours drive away. Next time we stay with Charlotte's sister and her partner, I hope we'll visit this one again.

These could all sound like excuses - they're honestly not, it's just about working out how I've done each time, and whether the difference in time is down to me or the course/conditions. Which is important psychologically. Because if I know a particular course is tougher, I won't beat myself up when I don't get a PB - instead, I'll compare my performance with previous efforts at the same park. Which is why I got almost as much pleasure breaking 19m30 at Nowton recently as I did when I broke 19mins at Colchester and then Cambridge at the end of last year.

1ST RACE: 

Club Time Trial (Tuesday 21st April)

And the point of all this - our club time trial route has pretty much no catch whatsoever. There's a very slight incline within the first kilometre, but this usually helps reign me in a bit after going off a bit too fast - and it's an out and back course so you get the benefit as you're coming home, just when you need it in the last section. Other than that, completely flat throughout - and on a decent surface. So in other words - a definite PB course - and a true reflection of where you're at with your 5km running.


So, feeling confident, I set off at a more sensible pace than usual, and after about half a kilometre, with positions settling down, I found myself tucked in behind Mat and Trev - two of the club's quickest runners, and not people I would realistically expect to finish ahead of. So I was quite happy sitting in 3rd place, and I used them as unofficial pacers to try to get me round in a decent time. Although the gap inevitably grew as the race wore on, I wasn't too far behind for the first half, and I was probably most pleased with kilometres 2 and 3, when I made a conscious effort to keep relatively close behind them, and consequently held pace much better than usual.

The run as a whole reminded me of when I first went under 20 mins, back in April 2013. I remember that day feeling that I was pushing hard throughout the race, and being absolutely exhausted at the finish - and that's pretty much how you set a 5km PB - you have to accept it's probably going to be fairly unpleasant throughout! My first few parkruns at Milton were much the same - practically collapsing on the grass at the finish, and taking a fair while to get my breathing back to normal. I think a combination of factors has led to me not pushing myself as hard as I might for a long time - but I'm pleased to say I'm now back able to do this again, and enjoying the challenge it provides. And the feeling afterwards that you've given your all can't - in my opinion anyway - be bettered.

And so, having re-focused on speed-related training, and lost about 4 pounds since getting back on track with the diet again, I was able to turn out a decent run, including a push for the finish line - since with one kilometre left, a check of the watch told me I was on for a sub 19min time. In the end, I recorded 18m53 - 4 seconds off my PB and 11 seconds of my previous best on the course. So a successful run, and leaving me feeling full of confidence with the far more important KH fixture just round the corner.

2ND RACE: 

Impington 5km - Kevin Henry Fixture 1: Thurs 30th April

It's important to me that I run well throughout the forthcoming Kevin Henry Series, which I've mentioned often throughout my blog posts. A clear indication - not, as you may believe, that my blog is both boring and repetitive - no, it's a clear indication of the level of importance I attach to these races. For me, racing doesn't get any better than these club events.

After last year's series finished, I set myself twin targets for this year's races:

a) to try to get under 20mins for each one, and under 19mins for the quicker courses, and
b) hopefully by doing so, contribute points towards the HRC score by making the top 6 home for the club.

Since setting these targets, I've broken 19mins three times and so it seems a realistic prospect that I may do so again during the course of the series. Target b) seems much less likely, however, since the level of competition within the club has become much tougher. Two new members have joined, and immediately established themselves in the top 6 - and additionally, a couple of other runners have improved to the extent that top 6 this year now seems improbable. This doesn't particularly matter - of course, I'm competitive against fellow club members and know which ones I should be able to finish ahead of - but ideally we'd have 6 incredibly quick runners setting the lowest possible points tally, because that would be great for the club. The rest of us still earn a completion point for each race we finish, and in a sense it wouldn't bode well for the club if I did finish in a points scoring position, since I'm still some way off the quickest runners in the region, and it would suggest as a club we were some way behind the competition.

Looked horrible anyway......

Since the time trial, I have continued to stick rigidly to the diet (now 7 pounds lost) - this has included twice choosing a light option when eating out, turning down dessert too, and in addition
sticking to non-alcoholic drinks. It doesn't ruin a night out - which after all should be more about the company you're in rather than what you're consuming - but I'm not saying I've found it easy! The reward is what the scales say the next day - and hopefully the improved race times that follow.

I'd also completed a couple of decent speedwork training sessions to follow up my new PB, and so everything pointed towards a really good performance at Impington. Crucially, no re-occurrence of the troublesome calf injury - and absolutely no sign of any hip/groin related problems, which thankfully does now seem to be behind me. So of course, with everything looking good for a new PB - sod's law kicked in, and I picked up a cold.

I genuinely don't tend to take time off work ill - partly because in my current position, as in my last, I lose the day's pay. But also - genuinely - because I feel guilty for letting people down. I need to feel pretty lousy not to go in - but this was the position I found myself in Tuesday night after training, when I got home and felt really rough. A good night's sleep sometimes cures these things, but I woke in the morning feeling worse, and decided to call in sick and see if I could sleep it off. In fact, I ended up taking the Thursday off too - and two days of complete rest seemed to do the trick, since by the afternoon I was feeling almost back to normal, although I was still doing a passable impression of Louis Armstrong whenever I attempted to speak.

As a bonus, I managed to catch up on some important work for the club whilst lying in bed feeling sorry for myself - my duties as a committee member include keeping the club results up to date on the website, and so too the club all-time records: quite a few of these are being beaten at the moment, suggesting this is one of the most successful periods the club has known. Although time consuming, I do enjoy doing these tasks, allowing me as it does to keep up-to-date with how all my friends and club colleagues are getting on. I've also recently taken on responsibility for keeping the fixtures page on the website up-to-date too - and this took up most of Thursday morning, but alerted me to a number of local races I hadn't previously been aware of.

Last minute race-prep

Anyway, having decided Thursday afternoon that I would definitely be back into work the following day, I decided I could probably get round a 5km in one piece that evening, even though a PB now looked unlikely. The advice with running and colds tends to be that it's fine to run with a head cold, but if the problem extends to the chest, then best leave it. By this stage, I was merely a bit bunged up, so I didn't anticipate too many problems.

A PB course

Impington is totally flat, and on a good surface - as quick a 5km course as you could wish for. A number of club colleagues proved this by setting new PBs - not least Charlotte, who knocked a staggering 50secs off hers, hopefully giving her the confidence she needs to push on and have a great summer of racing. The club as a whole did fantastically well, and currently sit 2nd in the table after this first fixture - a combination of some great times near the front of the field and a huge club turnout of nearly 90 runners.

Such a great race series - I intend to blog separately about it some time (bet you can't wait for that one)

And my own run?  I set off a little way back from the front, and attempted to keep below 4min kms, which guarantees a sub 20mins finishing time. The first couple of kms were fine, but I then began to drop off the pace a little and felt much more breathless than usual, much as I'd anticipated I would. At the 4km marker I knew I just needed a semi-decent last push and I'd go under 20mins, which I did, with an as-yet unofficial time of 19m50: and I managed to catch a couple of runners before the line in the process - although whether this will affect the overall scoring remains to be seen - certainly I was no-where near the HRC top 6.

Did I mention I'd turned down TWO
desserts recently? This was the other one

But no matter, I'm sure I'd have gone quicker without the cold. And I'm relatively happy with the time anyway. I think, possibly given how hard I originally worked to get under the 20min barrier, I'll always consider that to be a decent time - and this extends the sub 20 run, meaning I've found consistency at long last with my 5km times - and I'll be hoping for another this morning when I leave in a few minutes for parkrun.


And of course it's important to keep things in perspective. I was really annoyed that my preparation for the race had been in vain - I'd turned down two desserts for goodness sake - but friends are currently going through far worse, and no doubt moaning considerably less about it all.

Friends such as club member, Paul, who would ordinarily be at these events, and who quietly goes about being very quick - he would certainly have made the scoring positions. Sadly, a few days ago, he suffered a stroke, and although there has been some improvement to his condition, he remains in hospital as I write. It was a nice touch that a couple of club members organised a shirt for all of us to sign after the race for him, and we all wish him the speediest of recoveries. I know of another fellow runner, Neil, who is suffering from cancer, and who planned to do the first few miles of this year's London Marathon for one last time - expecting to pull out just past Cutty Sark. Against all medical advice he completed the whole race! These guys are truly inspirational, and if I ever end up being half the runner they have been, I'll be very very happy.

And so onwards and upwards, as they say - in half an hour or so I'll be off to do another parkrun, but the next big race is this Bank Holiday Monday, a 10km at Breckland that promises another course with PB potential. The target for this is to go sub 40mins for the first time - a real benchmark time that was one of my main aims at the beginning of 2015. The cold has all but gone, so once again - no excuses!