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. 

Bouncing back from the London Marathon

It has taken me a while to get round to blogging about my London Marathon run, mainly because it didn’t go according to plan and I didn’t want to publish a predominantly negative report. Three weeks on, and it’s much easier to take the positives out of what was a truly amazing experience.

Pre-race build up

So the night before, due to a mix up I won’t bore you with, I discovered I didn’t actually have a hotel room booked in London after all. This didn’t turn out to be a major problem, plan B simply involved getting up a bit earlier and driving to Redbridge Tube Station, from where I was able to hop onto the underground – and all went smoothly. I hooked up with Charlotte at London Bridge Station, and we travelled the last part together, which was a lovely way to begin the day.

There is no way I would have found myself so calm and relaxed at the Blue Start in Blackheath had it not been for Charlotte. Partly because she’s such good company, but mainly because she stopped me getting on the wrong train and ending up in Greenwich.

There is always an element of nervousness related to the unknown when you compete in a race for the first time. This Thursday I ran an off-road 6k race in Newmarket, but having done this event last year I knew exactly where to go, where to park, where the toilets were, what the course was like, etc – and I was able to concentrate fully on the race itself. For the marathon, I had been stressing somewhat about getting to the correct start point on time, the legendary queues for the toilets, etc – but in the end, everything went really well and I found myself with the same air of confidence that I’d had throughout training. Having bumped into some Colchester based friends on the tube, Nina and Paul, and Jean and Darren, we then managed to find another friend Chris at the start, and then a couple of fellow HRC runners – Mark and Dave – just before getting into our starting pens. Having given different finish time predictions when entering, Charlotte and I were in different pens, but we could both hear Mo being introduced to the crowd before the roar signifying the race had begun. Back in pen 6 we began a calm walk towards the start line, and only 6 minutes later I was off and running.

For the non-runners amongst you (just remind me why you would be reading this again?) there is a small chip which you attach to your shoe-laces that registers as you pass over a timing

mat placed at the start line. This is common to many races – certainly nearly all big events use this system – and another mat at the finish ensures you get an accurate race time, irrespective of how long it may take to reach the start line, clearly an issue in a race where 36000 runners have to file through the start. London is the first race I have ever done which also recorded times every 5km, with another mat at the halfway point too. This allows friends and family to follow your progress “live” via the internet, if they so wish, and also allows you to analyse your 5k “splits” afterwards, to see how well you paced yourself.

The first few miles

And so the first few miles went by, and it was immediately apparent to me this was going to be unlike any I had ever run before. I remember, in both the 20 mile races that I ran in training, those first 2 or 3 miles were psychologically hard because of the fear of how far there was left to go. This proved not to be a problem at London – I was far too busy   

a) enjoying the huge level of support, and trying to spot friends in the crowd  

b) looking forward to running past the various famous landmarks : Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, etc

c)  trying to ensure I didn't trip over the people in front or get stood on by the people behind

Ultimately this congestion, which doesn’t ever really seem to dissipate, makes it hard to pace yourself evenly. Although in theory everyone else in your start pen should be running at a similar speed, in practice there appeared to be a massive variation in pace, most people appearing to be much slower than I wanted to be, and so for perhaps the whole of the first half of the race I found myself overtaking, weaving in and out of fellow competitors, and unable to settle into a decent rhythm. Consequently, whilst my pace was slower than I had intended, I think I expended a lot more energy in getting to halfway, and certainly felt a lot more tired, than my 1hr53 time suggests (more than a minute per mile slower than what I would consider to be a comfortable half marathon pace.)

Targets

I had decided on three targets at the suggestion of my friend Angela, who does the same – and smashed her Gold target and pb at Manchester the week before. You can read her blog here: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/

So Gold was 3hr40, Silver 3hr45, and Bronze a very straightforward (or so I thought) sub 4hr target. However, as my training progressed, I foolishly began to believe I could manage closer to 3hr30, which in fairness my two 20 mile race performances did suggest was feasible. 

On the day, my plan was to run at 8m30 pace for the first 10 miles, then see if I could push to 8min pace for the next 10, and then push harder still for the last 6.2 miles. The big unknown was how much time I would lose in the crowds at the start, and I made the decision not to try and make up any lost time, but simply to accept it as something I couldn’t do anything about.

Consequently, looking at the stats, the first half really wasn’t too bad. It was pretty clear to me as I approached Tower Bridge that the 3hr30 wasn’t going to happen, but I still hadn’t ruled out Gold, or at least Silver, although as already stated, I already felt far more tired than I should have by that stage. My mile splits up to mile 15 were all below 9min miles, so comfortably within 4 hour pace, as follows:

Mile 1:   8m40

Mile 2:   8m46

Mile 3:   8m23

Mile 4:   8m22

Mile 5:   8m35

Mile 6:   8m46

Mile 7:   8m47

Mile 8:   8m27

Mile 9:   8m42

Mile 10: 8m42

Mile 11: 8m24

Mile 12: 8m40

Mile 13: 8m41

Mile 14: 8m46

Mile 15: 8m47

I think the heat on the day played a big part in what happened next – which was that, far from pushing on in the second half, I began to struggle simply to keep the same pace up, and at about mile 16 I could feel myself getting close to cramping up, meaning I made the decision to abandon Gold and Silver, and merely try to complete in under 4 hours.

Cramping up

When you sweat you lose vital salts from your body, and unfortunately on a hot day the natural tendency to drink more speeds up this process. The way to combat this is to take on board gels/sports drinks to replace these lost electrolytes. I think I probably should have had my first gel earlier than mile 10 – but I also think I just have to accept I am not good at running in hot weather, having had very similar experiences at Edinburgh Marathon last year and at the Grunty Fen Half Marathon too. 

By mile 18 I was cramping badly, and had to begin alternating between walking and running since the pain was too much. There’s not much you can do once the muscle cramps set in, and the horrible realisation, as I passed mile 20 in exactly 3 hours, that I wouldn’t even beat my Bronze target, left me thoroughly fed up and miserable. All I needed was to do the last 6.2 miles in an hour, fully 15 minutes more than I would normally need for a comfortable 10km, and the frustration was that I didn’t feel exhausted, I wasn’t out of breath, and I just desperately wanted to be able to run properly again and at least get under 4 hours. But alternating between running and walking as I was, I couldn't even manage 10min miles. I did actually stop to ask the St John’ Ambulance guys for some help around mile 22, but in all honesty their response - “it’s only 4 miles to go mate,” - whilst not exactly helpful, was really all they could say.

Mile 16:  9m36

Mile 17:  9m07

Mile 18:  9m17

Mile 19:  10m56

Mile 20:  10m38

Mile 21:  10m02

Mile 22:  12m55

Mile 23:  13m44

Mile 24:  9m46

Mile 25:  14m19

Mile 26:  12m11

The signage along the way helped keep spirits high

Fantastic Support

Of course, realising things were going so badly meant that I can’t honestly say I enjoyed the race, certainly not the second half – and I also became slightly disorientated towards the end: I had some friends from the Commando Runners who had come to cheer us on, and it took me ages to register who it was screaming “IAN!!” in my face (sorry Laura) let alone to focus on who else was there in the group (about 8 friends were there supporting us all.)

Similarly there was a group of Haverhill Running Club supporters who called out my name towards the end, and I couldn’t work out who they were at all. But it was nice that so many friends came out to support us all, and the atmosphere throughout the race was totally unlike anything I have ever experienced before. On reflection, whilst the hot weather didn't help us runners, I am so glad the supporters had a nice day and could enjoy watching the event.

The Finish Line

Pretty sure this was a lie

Beforehand, I had visions of charging down the finishing straight at The Mall, dipping under my target and punching the air in delight. Having first stopped my watch of course. The reality was somewhat different. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed crossing the line, given that I was merely shuffling at this stage.
When they put my medal around my neck, it fell behind the running number I had pinned to my vest, and I didn’t feel inclined to get it out and have a look – nor did I go and have my official finisher photo taken. I merely collected my bag and headed for the meeting point to wait for Charlotte. She was wasn’t far behind, recording an impressive 4hr40 for her first ever marathon, despite her ongoing knee injury and having a bad stitch at around mile 22 that she managed to get through to finish strongly. She was rightly proud of her achievement, and seeing her and her family at the end helped snap me out of my grumpiness.  We then met up with a few more club runners who had all run well, and had kind words for me that further improved my mood.



26.2 miles is a long way, and it IS a great medal

Interestingly, the reaction from friends and work colleagues afterwards has been very different to that following other races I have done. London clearly resonates more with non-runners, with people seeming genuinely impressed that I have completed the London Marathon,

even though I have raced the same distance before and indeed further. Of course, non-runners will have no real interest in my time, and whether or not it’s decent, whereas I think a few people at running club are surprised I didn’t do better than 4hr19. However, I have had nothing but positive and encouraging comments from everyone at HRC – it really is a very friendly and supportive club, and I am always proud to wear the club vest. I also know I will get plenty of help and advice the next time I try. You can find out more about the club by visiting their new website, at www.haverhillrunningclub.com

 

What next?

Although I posted “never again” on my facebook status later that day, in reality I knew it wouldn’t be long before I started thinking about trying another marathon. Much like Mo, I am unprepared to leave it like that. (Sadly, that’s about the only similarity between Mr Farah and I.) I had originally intended to compete with fellow club members in the Istanbul “Eurasia” Marathon this autumn, but I have now decided to put this back to 2015, preferring my next attempt to be more local, more low-key, and cheaper. All I want to do, if I can find a suitable race later on this year, is get round in under 4 hours – which I really ought to be able to do. Once I have managed this, I believe psychologically the distance will no longer worry me, and I can then work on getting my time down to something more commensurate with what I can manage in training.

Undeniably though, my forte is always likely to be the shorter distances, and since Marathon Day I have run three sub 20m30 parkuns, including equalling my Colchester course pb this morning with a time of 20m07. Last Thursday, Charlotte and I ran the Newmarket Heath 6k, a race along the gallops used by the race-horses when they train. It is hilly, off-road, and was a deliberate decision to take myself out of my comfort zone, and having left my Garmin at home, I ran purely on feel, and was pleased to keep up a decent (and I believe consistent) pace throughout, with a time of 22m45, which means I am very close to where I was this time last year, before illness and injury began to affect my times. I am running pretty much pain free at the moment and feeling very positive about my racing again. Charlotte smashed her time from last year by 30 seconds, and there is a lot more to come. Attending races with her makes them even more rewarding and enjoyable. 

Next up we have the Ashdon 10k, again off-road with some nasty hills, followed by the inaugural Haverhill 10k, and then back to London for the Bupa 10k, back racing Mo again. I believe Ashdon will be too hilly for me to trouble my pb, but I am feeling positive I may be able do so in Haverhill – the time to beat is 42m40. The Bupa 10k is more for fun – and will involve staying in London for the weekend to celebrate my 40^th birthday. Yet another benefit of being a runner – I am looking forward to turning 40 since I move up to a new age category, and will be competing as one of the youngest in the 40-44 group, whereas up until now I have been at the uppermost limit of the 18-39s.

Although I am keen to improve as a 10k runner, my favourite and best distance will remain 5k, and my favourite events of the year are fast approaching – the Kevin Henry 5k Series. 5 local clubs each host their own event, 1 a month throughout the summer. Top 6 males home from each club score the bulk of the points, and my aim is to get my time down significantly over the next few months so that I might score for the club, and hopefully get under 19mins by the end of the year in the process.

If I can manage that, and somewhere along the line quietly complete a sub 4 hour marathon, then it will go down as having been a successful year, with hopefully more to come in 2015.

Camels, Tapering and the Virgin Money London Marathon

Pleasant Distractions

A lot of non-running related matters, all good - highlights being beginning a fantastic new relationship and getting final confirmation of my diploma coming through, and so beginning the search for a new job - have meant I haven't blogged for a while. I haven't run a lot recently either, which in the build up to the London Marathon may seem like a bad thing. In fact it's fine - but more later, first I need to report on last Saturday and the small part I played in a World Record Run.

Camel Run

So I was honoured to be asked by my good friends Rob "front end" Saunders and Lorraine "rear end" Collins, to be part of the support crew for their world record attempt at Colchester Castle Parkrun, where they ran the 5km route dressed in a pantomime camel costume.

In ancient Roman times, Colchester was known as Camulodunum

This stemmed from a fancy dress run at Christmas and the realisation that by going slightly quicker they could get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

To do so, they had to make a formal attempt to get under 30mins, involving copious amounts of paperwork, proof that the course was accurately measured, at least two separate videos as evidence, and the whole thing to be witnessed by a public notary. Along with another friend, Gareth, I was appointed an official camel pacer. On the day, Gareth took over the role of clearing the way, and ensuring fellow parkrunners didn't get trampled by our marauding camel, and I concentrated on keeping the time and pace consistent throughout, whilst also giving verbal instructions since vision was limited from inside the costume. Especially at the rear end. Apart from the last quarter mile or so, when Rob began making some alarming noises suggestive of imminent vomiting, all went well, and they achieved a superb time of 25m30 - hopefully a record that will stand for some time. The atmosphere around the park was great, loads of "come on camel" type cheering all the way, and I believe I can speak for all members of the entourage, including Angela, Cath and Graham following with their video cameras, when I say it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. However, I have never known Lorraine so quiet.

The award for cheesiest grin goes to.....The day had begun with my being unexpectedly awarded a trophy - this was the parkrun's first anniversary in Colchester and so lots of awards were given out, including to fellow Commando Runners Danny (Male Points Winner) Jen (Best female junior) and Kerry and family (Best volunteers.) Regarding my own award, for "Male Parkrunner of the Year", I understand this was awarded on the basis of embodying the ethos of parkrun - ie, in part for my running, (on a good day I tend to make top 20 but I am far from being one of the fastest ) but also for volunteering regularly, pacing, guiding, etc. I suspect that being friends with most of the core committee members (who made up the voting panel) didn't do me any harm either! 

On Sunday, a number of Commando Runners (this is a running group I am a part of that is based primarily in the Colchester area, though not exclusively) competed in marathons. Angela had a fantastic run at Manchester, getting under 3hr40 which guarantees her a good-for-age place at London next year, and is only 5 minutes outside the time she needs to qualify for her dream race in Boston. Danny managed a sub 3hr25 debut marathon in Brighton, the first step on a journey I suspect towards the holy grail of amateur running, a sub 3hr marathon. Lots of other friends also managed great times at Brighton, and these runs have only made me more determined to do well myself at London.

Which is tomorrow.....

Tapering

And so back to the fact that I haven't run much recently. This is deliberate, and is known as tapering. It is the part of a marathon training schedule all runners fear. Let me explain

Most marathon training plans are at least 16 weeks long. For London, this means beginning just before Christmas. I didn't do this. I enjoyed Christmas safe in the knowledge I would knuckle down in the New Year, and coming off a good base fitness level, 15 weeks proved to be fine. I haven't actually followed a specific plan, but have used one or two as a guide, including the excellent one drawn up by our club coach Trevor. Life tends to make it impossible to follow a plan to the letter, but I have ensured I have kept up my usual mix of runs each week, whilst using the plan to let me know how far my weekly long run should be. I booked in four races as part of my training, being an initial half marathon to help me decide what pace I should train at, two 20 mile races to give me experience of racing longer distances, and a final half to tell me whereabouts I was as I neared the end of my training. All went well, and with the exception of a lean couple of weeks after the second 20 mile race (the Essex 20) which took a lot out of me, being quite hilly and on a warm day, I have been fortunate that I have been able to train fairly well throughout. I had a slight niggle in my left ankle and calf after that race, compounded by a freak accident at work involving a car and an un-applied handbrake, but a couple of days of discomfort and then all was well.

And so, towards the end of all good training plans, you come to the taper. Essentially, this means dramatically reducing your mileage in the final two or three weeks before race-day, to ensure you go into the race with fresh legs. Since your body only reaps the benefits of a run about two weeks after you've done it, there is practically nothing to be gained from running in the last two weeks, other than to keep your muscles from tightening and, more importantly, to keep your mind right. Any runs done in this time should really be at a pretty gentle pace, and over much shorter distances. When you have become used to high mileage, it becomes surprisingly difficult to reduce your training level so dramatically. To go from a peak mileage of around 60 down to perhaps only 15 or so is strangely difficult.

Some runners begin to feel guilty that they are not running when they would be normally. Some panic that if they don't run, their fitness level will drop off. It is common to begin imagining illnesses and injuries. Every minor ache becomes a potential race-threatening major injury. Every cough of sneeze is imagined to be the onset of some horrible disease. It is known as taper madness, and can ruin your race if you let it.

Personally, I prefer to take the whole of the final week off completely, with the exception of a relaxed parkrun on the Saturday. This has worked for me ever since I began racing. Today I ran with a friend, Michael, who got a pb, despite having only run his debut marathon last Sunday in Brighton. The previous week, I only ran once - a 10 mile training run with fellow HRC runner Charlotte (also running London,) who needed to check where she was with a knee injury (all good fortunately.) Charlotte and I have begun dating very recently, and this has been at exactly the right time regarding the marathon, since it has given us both something else to occupy our minds, and has stopped the taper madness from getting to us. I should probably point out this is not why I am dating her, just a useful side effect...

Virgin Money London Marathon

I am going into tomorrow's race full of confidence and with few worries. Thursday I had my pre-race sports massage/physio with Becky, and all seems okay. Yesterday Charlotte and I met up with some more commandos - Nina, Paul and Jean - at the expo in the Excel arena, where you pick up your number, etc, but also a really great day out, making it all seem very real and imminent. And so I am ready to run only my second ever marathon.

Target 3hr40

Or maybe 3hr30. My training suggests I should be somewhere between the two -- my first half marathon of the training plan gave me the confidence to aim for 8m30 pace per mile, but as I've progressed through the plan, my times have improved, and I think 8m15 or even 8m00 is achievable. The race day strategy now is to start off at 8m30 pace for the first 10 miles, then up the pace to 8m00 until mile 20, and then see if I can "race" the last 6.2 miles (or 10k) to get as close to 3hr30 as I can. Whether or not this is achievable, I really don't know -- but good to go into a race with a demanding target, and I know that whatever happens, it's going to be an incredible experience.

I shall of course be blogging next week with a full report. To anyone else reading this who is competing tomorrow, in the VMLM or anywhere else - have a great race.

Learning from experience

 

I completed my first competitive race on my birthday weekend back in May 2012. Having spent a fair bit of time working up to a reasonable level of fitness on a treadmill, I moved to Hundon, near Haverhill, in March 2012. I began running outside for the first time in many years, and on the quiet country roads near my house I became seriously hooked. A local shop had an advert in the window for the Withersfield Half Marathon, and that gave me a target to train towards. 

I didn’t really know a great deal about running in those days – I just ran! However, looking back, my preparation actually wasn’t all that bad – my daily 5 mile route took in a couple of hills, and I also did a few training runs on the actual race route, so I knew what to expect.

I rather optimistically went for the small vest option, hence why I didn't join the front row for this photo

The race itself was very small – less than 70 runners. Despite this, a top ten finish was something of a surprise, and I was only 3 minutes outside the time I had set myself. However, whilst I was genuinely quite pleased, there was an element of disappointment because I had been bang on target right up until mile 10. A few days beforehand, I had overdone a training run and so went into the race with tired legs. The last 3 miles were hard.

Lesson one learnt: understand the importance of tapering before a race. Ideally, do not try out a new route the week of a race, get hopelessly lost, and end up running over 12miles before finally finding where you parked the car.

The most important consequence of that day, however, was my decision to join Haverhill Running Club, having seen a few members at the event. Whilst waiting for my application to go through, I ran my first ever parkrun (5km) in Cambridge, in a time of 21mins, and a 10km in Huntingdon, where I only just missed out on my 45mins target. So I joined the club with some half decent performances behind me, but with plenty of room for improvement.

First Club Race

Running is all about making the right choices

My first race for the club was the Kedington 5km, part of an inter-club series of races. This route actually ran right past where I lived, and I trained on these roads every day. I had already decided I was better suited to the shorter distance stuff, and was looking forward to putting in a good run. This was an evening fixture, and before the days when I understood the importance of not just what you eat before a race, but when you eat it. The route takes in a long, steep hill, which I had run many times in training, but on the night, it all but defeated me. My stomach was killing me throughout the run, and I was massively disappointed with my time. 

Lesson two learnt: do not eat a big dinner less than an hour before the start of a race. Particularly not a Zinger Tower meal. And whatever you do, don’t go large.

Are You Running or Training?

But despite this early set back, joining the club proved to be a good decision. I remember chatting to one experienced member who told me he only trained 3 times I week. I told him I trained 5 or 6 days a week – and he replied “train, or just run?” It remains the best bit of advice I have ever been given with my running, and from that day onwards I have tried hard to mix up my running sessions each week – ideally getting in a tempo run, a longer slower run, as well as (more recently) recovery runs if needed. I love to race and do so most weekends at parkrun, but Tuesday night speedwork sessions at running club provide me with that extra push that I can never quite replicate on my own.

Lesson three learnt: don’t just run. Think about what you hope to achieve each time you go out.

Entering Races

Not actually me, but you get the idea

I tried a lot more races throughout the rest of 2012, highlights being a 10km PB running alongside the Thames, and a couple of reasonable 10 milers too. I was again surprised and delighted to receive the “best new member” trophy at the annual club awards night, and my good start continued into the Spring of 2013, setting new PBs at all distances, including getting close to breaking the magic 70min barrier for 10 miles, and finally, after many many attempts, getting under 20mins for a 5km, which I then achieved a further couple of times. I also managed to finally record a half marathon time I could be pleased with, after a few attempts including a horrendous run round Grunty Fen on a ridiculously hot day where I barely made it home in under 2hrs.

Lesson four learnt: on a hot day, adjust your target. 

In the end, I finally conquered the distance simply by repeatedly entering half marathons until I got it right. At Cambridge, I got 1hr43, although found it tough – the following week, in my home town of Colchester, I almost hit my 1hr40 target, and finished strongly. This was a watershed race for me, the distance no longer bothered me, and a couple of weeks later I set what remains my Half PB – 1hr34m - at Stowmarket.

Lesson five learnt: if you find a particular distance psychologically difficult, keep doing it and you will eventually crack it.

Marathon: Too Soon?

These times all came about whilst I was training for my first ever marathon, in Edinburgh – again on my birthday weekend, so exactly a year after I had first begun competing. Unfortunately, this proved to be a complete disaster.

All my training pointed to 3hrs 30mins, and then about 4 weeks out, I developed a problem with my left knee. Physiotherapy and rest sorted this out, but I lost out of a fair bit of mileage, and was only fit to run again about a week before. Anxious to test out the knee, I made the decision to run the Soham half marathon, at marathon pace. All went well on the day, no reaction to the injury, and I had never felt so comfortable over the distance. But one week was simply not enough time to recover, and although the first 15 miles in Edinburgh were fine, and I was pretty much on target, running 8min miles comfortably, I soon began to run out of steam. At around 18 miles or so, already falling slightly behind schedule, I began to get cramp. First in my thighs, which was not good. Then in my calves, which was even worse. I was shuffling by this stage, and 8 more miles seemed impossible.

I stopped a few times, but had a determination not to walk, so simply stood at the side of the road until the pain went away, then carried on. But when the cramp spread to the soles of my feet, I knew I just had to give in and walk/shuffle/crawl my way to the finish. My time in the end was 4hr25, nearly an hour outside my target. I would imagine anyone watching me trying to change out of my sweaty clothes in the finish area would have found it highly amusing, but I couldn’t move any limb without it cramping up – even my arms – and for a couple of days afterwards I could barely walk. It took a few days too before I could take any sort of pride out of the fact that I had at least completed a marathon. And a few more before I decided I absolutely had to do another one, to put things right. I’m still not 100% sure why I cramped up, but I suspect a combination of getting my gel strategy wrong, possibly drinking too much on what was a very hot day, and perhaps general tiredness in the legs from the previous weekend, all played a part.

Lesson five learnt: get your nutrition/hydration strategy sorted out during your long training runs. And accept that, over the course of your 16 weeks of marathon training, there is a good chance you will pick up a niggle or two, and don’t try and compensate for lost mileage by ignoring the taper.

And whilst we’re at it: don’t then try and run a 5mile race PB the following Friday. In my defence, this was a part of the Suffolk Grand Prix series that I was doing well in, and races where you represent your club are always my priority. But whilst I ended up 2^nd overall in the Male Senior Category (ages 18-39) for the series, Ipswich 5 was not my finest performance, and on reflection racing hard so soon after such a tough experience was not the brightest move.

Lesson six learnt: allow time to rest after a hard race.

 

Running with Discomfort

I still don’t know whether Edinburgh was the cause, or merely part of the cause, but I haven’t been right ever since, and that was over a year ago. What I first thought were medical problems were finally discovered to be running related, and despite regular physiotherapy and working hard on my core strength and my flexibility, every run comes with an element of discomfort, although some days are worse than others. For some time I was unable to get close to my usual times, so much so that I decided to stop racing shorter distances and train for an Ultra -- admittedly only a mini-ultra but 30 miles is still 30 miles! I needed something to focus my training on that would distract me from the fact that I was getting slower! This proved to be a good decision - I enjoyed the experience, and was quite pleased to get home in under 5 hours. I can't honestly say I have got the ultra bug - I have no desire to run anything further! - but suddenly a marathon doesn't seem quite so daunting, and most importantly, it helped me to enjoy my running again. And recently there has been some improvement – I’m sure partly because I have become better at dealing with it, but also through paying closer attention to diet, stretching, yogalates (I'll leave that to another thread,) regular physio and, of course, to training smarter. 

For almost a year, since I moved away from Haverhill, I have neglected my speedwork, primarily because they are very difficult sessions to do on your own. Since the start of 2014, with the London Marathon my big target, I have been making the effort to attend club training sessions most weeks, and I think a combination of this and a determination to do well in my club vest in London are finally paying dividends.

My 5km times are now back nearer to the 20min mark, and I have had two very encouraging 20 mile races as part of my build up, clocking 2hr45 for both, which points to a decent time come marathon day. I made the decision to “race” both of these 20 milers, and if I can replicate that pace over 26.2 miles in 3 weeks time I shall be pretty happy, with a time of around 3hrs 40mins on the cards.

I did have a bit of a blip after the Essex 20, feeling very tired for a few days, and then having a bit of a dip in motivation which I find hard to explain. Then a short training run ended in me limping back home after only 3 miles, convinced I had seriously damaged my left calf/ankle. A trip to Becky, my physio, reassured me that nothing was torn, and we put the problem down to the new shoes I have been running in, and a problem with the lacing of these which I have now sorted. 

Weekend Races

On Saturday I ran a decent parkrun, recording a time within 30 secs of my course PB, yet without feeling I had really worked hard.

I may be wearing my Stort 30 T-shirt, but still definitely prefer the shorter distance races. Parkun has become a regular weekly fixture for me, whether racing, pacing or volunteering. As a short fast hilly race, it is a great workout and as my marathon training has progressed, my Colchester Castle Parkrun times have come down accordingly.

And on Sunday, I ran the Stowmarket Half Marathon, my last race before I begin my taper. I set myself a target of 7m30pace per mile, equating to a finish time of 1hr38m15. All went well, except for a slightly poor 12th mile, but I found a bit at the end and finished only 3 seconds outside my target, making it my 2nd best Half time, and only the 2nd time I've come in under 1hr40. Exactly the nice confidence boost I needed ahead of the big day. This race is now without doubt my favourite of the racing calender - not just because I seem to run well there, but due to the excellent organisation of the event, put on by Stowmarket Striders, which just seems to tick every box for me.

London 2014

And so not long now until London. Hotel all booked: no race-morning travel other than a short train journey to Blackheath, therefore no ridiculously early alarm call. The day before I shall visit the expo to pick up my number, and then the focus will be on relaxing, finding somewhere nice for a pre-race meal, and getting a good night’s sleep. I was very lucky to get a club place for what is undoubtedly the biggest race of my running “career” to date, and feel a real responsibility to do the club proud. In a sense, everything so far has been leading up to this, and hopefully the mistakes I have made along the way will all have helped to prepare me better for this one big event.

My current thinking is that my “problems” may well be medical after all, so at some point I shall be trying a different doctor, to see if anything else can be checked out. However, I now feel confident that I am a much more intelligent runner than I was, going into races far better prepared, far stronger and more powerful, and if I can finally get pain free, I hope to be setting more PBs in the years to come, having learnt so much from all my experiences over the last couple of years.

If you enjoyed reading my blog, please check out those of my friends:

Angela : http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/

Teresa:  http://throughthefieldsofmersea.blogspot.co.uk/

Nicki:   http://fruittlooprunner.blogspot.co.uk/

Cross Country - A Different Type of Race

Thanks for all the kind comments on here and facebook following my first ever blog last week. For week two, I have included photos and sub-headings, in an attempt to liven things up a bit. I hope you enjoy it.

Colchester Castle Parkrun

So last week's blog was all about how I prepare for a race, specifically when I'm hoping for a decent time. Clearly I got something right, since I managed to knock 23secs off my course pb, and at 20m07 I was tantalisingly close to breaking that 20min barrier, and not far off my 5km pb. Big thanks to one of my parkrun friends for taking pity on me as I laboured round, and giving up his own time to help me get mine, in the true spirit of parkrun.

Danny, a regular sub 20min runner, pushing me at the finish

So an encouraging start to the month, but an unusual weekend - with my poorly son unable to stay over as planned. I went over to see him for the remainder of the Saturday, and he was well enough to humiliate me at various xbox games, as is the norm, but not to come back home with me afterwards. The relevance of this to a running blog being that, after an enjoyable day of being repeatedly shot in the head/thrashed at FIFA, I found myself back home late on a Saturday night, with a completely free Sunday stretched out ahead of me.

Choices

So my options for the following day included:

a) doing a long slow run, which I really should have done as part of my marathon training. But I was unable to get in touch with anyone this late in the day to arrange anything, and I wasn't in the mood to run alone.

b) go and help out at the St Peter's Way Ultra. I had some good friends attending, volunteering at checkpoints, and this option promised good company -- but no running. 3 friends successfully completed the 45mile race. Which is nuts. You can read Nicki's blog about this amazing achievement here: St Peter's Way Ultra

so anyway, I went with:

c) answer the call from Haverhill Running Club, for more members to compete in the final cross country event of the winter series, at Nowton Park, just outside Bury St Edmunds. I hate cross country, but the promise of a good pub meal afterwards helped swing it for me.

So, at about midnight, with no proper pre-race dinner inside me *, no idea what clean running kit I had, and not really entirely sure where I was racing and how far, I decided I should probably get a few hours sleep, as unprepared for a race as I've ever been.

* Pre-race meal, - in my defence, eaten with my son before I knew I would be racing the next day. Debate rages amongst the scientific community as to the nutritional value of alphabetti spaghetti on toast. As I type, sadly no firm conclusions have been drawn from the research. At least it is pasta though.

 

Suffolk Cross Country Series, Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds

Race day morning then, and I cobbled together what kit I could find - fortunately my HRC vest was clean, since you have to wear this for a club race, them's the rules - and after a slight panic before finally locating my trail shoes rotting in the back of a wardrobe, which explained that strange smell, I was ready for the one hour drive to the race. I usually spend this drive on race morning going over endless calculations in my mind relating to paces and finishing times, but on this occasion I had no idea what I was capable of, and was unusually relaxed about this. I had been told it was "about 5 miles," but I never run well off-road, and how badly depends on the conditions, so I went into the event with no time expectations whatsoever.

A good turnout of club members made for some nerve-settling pre-run banter, and despite the long grassy slope I could see stretching out ahead of us at the start, I felt strangely calm. We set off, and I followed my recently adopted routine of setting into a comfortably fast pace for a good couple of minutes before my first check of the watch. I was pleased to discover I was at about 7m15 pace, and whilst I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain that for the whole run, it felt good and I began to calculate a finishing time which I felt would be acceptable. In the end, despite a poor middle section of the race, I averaged 7m30 pace, coming in at just a fraction over 40mins. Particularly pleasing was my final push, which I began at mile 3.5, and cranked up a bit with what I thought was half a mile to go. Unfortunately, as my GPS watch moved onto 5 miles, the finishing line was not yet in sight, but I was able to maintain my speed until the line came at 5.33miles - further proof that you really can't plan the same way for a cross country event.

One of the benefits of running with fellow club runners is that you get to know roughly where you should be placed, in relation to others, and I was happy enough to be 5th home for the club, and to sneak into the top 100, which represented a marked improvement on my previous efforts at off road racing.

It should be said that the highlight of the day, in all honesty, was the meal in the pub afterwards, but that merely confirmed to me that I'd made the right choice of event, and it had turned into a good running weekend.

Conclusions?

So there are two possible conclusions to draw from all this. Given that my preparation for the cross country was completely contradictory to that recommended in last week's blog, and yet both runs resulted in relatively decent performances, it's just possible I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about. You may have reached that conclusion some time back. Frankly, I find that slightly hurtful, but I'll let it go.

I prefer to look at it this way. Sometimes, when you race, it's on a course you know, over a distance you know, and you're after a specific time. So you look to take out as many variables as you can. Hence, eating the same dinner and breakfast as you did before your last good race, wearing the same kit, maybe even following a particular "lucky" routine. We've all seen pole vaulters, triple jumpers, high jumpers, etc, going through their peculiar rituals. Remember the way Jonny Wilkinson prepared in exactly the same way before each conversion? Cristiano Ronaldo stands in exactly the same way before taking every free kick. Perri from Diversity does a weird tapping-fingers-on-head thing before he goes for a somersault. If you don't believe me, you can check out old episodes of Splash! on itv player. You're probably better off just believing me.

I've never done anything quite so strange. Although I did once have a pair of lucky pants that I wore religiously for every race, until that fateful day when, halfway through the 3rd race of the 2013 Suffolk Grand Prix Series, the elastic went. I actually had a decent enough run around Lowestoft that day, but my form went right out of the window.


Point being, some races you know what to expect, and sticking to a routine can all help. Even visualising the race beforehand can be helpful. Cross country, you can't do that. Or at least, I can't. Not knowing the exact distance, not knowing the course, not knowing how tough the conditions will be underfoot, makes it almost impossible to predict a rough pace, let alone a finishing time. Far better then, for these events, not to over-think things, and just go with whatever happens on the day.

So that, I guess, is my conclusion from the weekend. It's not always about chasing a pb. Sometimes, knowing that you will be running a challenging race, with a bunch of good friends, and that the day itself will be an enjoyable social occasion, is more important than spending time worrying about the race itself.

And sometimes, if you don't spend time worrying about the race itself, you may just end up pleasantly surprised.

PB Hunting

 

So this is my first ever blog about my running. I have no idea who is going to read it – but I guess even if no-one but me ever does, it will still act as a useful record for me to read back over the weeks, months, perhaps even years, to remind myself of how I was feeling at various stages throughout my running “career.” 

In common with most semi-serious runners, I keep a training log. In this I record my times, my distances, my pace, and sometimes - if I’m feeling particularly geeky – a breakdown of individual miles run. What I don’t record is how I feel. That’s what this blog will do for me. I have no idea what it will do for you, but I hope you enjoy reading it.

 

I’ve called the blog Competing for Fun, because that’s what I do. Every runner has their own reason for running. Or more than one. For me, running is all about racing. Not necessarily for a particular position (although I do usually have a rough idea of whereabouts I feel I should finish), but racing to try to beat a particular time, and for the pleasure that brings me. I haven’t managed a personal best, at any distance, for about ¾ of a year - which isn’t great. But there’s more than one way to enjoy a race result … you can set a target, relevant to whereabouts you are in your training, and aim to beat that. Or, as I have been doing more and more over the last year, you can run with a fellow runner, pacing them to hopefully beat their own target. Helping a new runner get below 30mins in a 5km race for the first time, for example, can be just as satisfying as getting a sub 20min time yourself. Well, almost.

But tomorrow, I’m going for a time at Parkrun, Colchester. My I set my pb for this route - 20m30 - just over a month ago. I’m running better now than I was then, with an encouraging 20 mile effort last week the highlight of my running year so far, as my training progresses nicely towards this year’s London Marathon. Although my 5k pb is 19m44, set in April 2013,  I would really love to get close to 20mins this time around, which I think for Colchester Castle Parkrun would probably represent a better performance, given the hills. 

To (hopefully) achieve this time, I shall do the following:

 Turn up early enough for a warm up. Normally for a 9am start at parkrun, I turn up around 8.55am. This  isn’t helpful.

Wear suitable clothing.  I once announced to some friends that vest and shorts are the only suitable clothing to race in. They take regular digs at me because I have frequently been spotted running in multiple layers, hat and gloves, etc – but genuinely, for a fast 5k, I wouldn’t want to be wearing anything else because, no matter how cold you feel at the start line, if you’re running hard you soon warm up.

 Eat a decent breakfast. I recently discovered Wheat free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Muesli. I don’t really get the Dairy Free bit, since they surely can’t expect anyone to eat it without milk? But finally I have found a filling breakfast that doesn’t play havoc with my innards. Unfortunately, not only have they managed to remove all traces of wheat and gluten from the product, but they have also managed to remove all traces of tastiness too.

 Race the first half hard. Not sure I would normally recommend this, but the first half at Colchester is all downhill or flat. Previous tactic has been to try to save something for the more difficult second half, which involves the large hill from lower to upper Castle Park, twice. Tomorrow I intend to work really hard for the first bit, and get some time in the bank before it gets tough.  

 And finally, the one thing I have never tried at Colchester, is to start at the front. Sounds obvious – and I always used to do this at Cambridge, where I have set all my fastest times. Weaving in and out of runners taking things slightly steadier than you is not the ideal way to start a race: the sudden bursts of speed required to overtake seriously drain your energy levels, and the stop/start nature of this type of running will seriously disrupt your rhythm. Also, I find it much easier to maintain a decent pace right from the start than attempting to build up to one.

So, there’s my plan for tomorrow. Oh, and Get a decent night’s sleep. So I’ll leave it there.