Results for Action Heart are in - I'm 236 out of 762 in a time of 40 minutes 41 secs, which predicts a half-marathon time of just under 1 hour 53 on the Lucozade site, which comes in pretty close to the time calculated on the % of the winner's time.
This week, other commitments (like a job interview and taking Katherine to the airport) interfered with my normal training days, so I trained Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday I followed the Coalport Dodger route from Stirchley and Dawley Station, past Madeley Market Station, and down into Coalport. And then back! Part of my intention to remove the sting from that long gruelling run back up into Telford. It seemed to work, this time (I don't know whether it was second wind, or the slope actually eases) I was able to pick up the pace as I neared Madeley, and I covered the 8 miles in 1 hour 12 minutes, 35 minutes going down, and 37 minutes coming back up. Wednesday was only remarkable in that, for the 3rd consecutive run on this route, I've completed it in just over 38 minutes (38:02, 38:09, 38:08), and Friday was about 5 1/2 miles - when I tried to measure it on Runfinder, it packed up on me! I'll do it later!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Take Heart
After last Sunday's long run, the rest of the week's training was relatively light. Tuesday saw a return to intervals - 3 laps of just over a mile, with a half-mile recovery between - and the interval time was no real improvement over my first attempt, except that the later laps were closer to the first lap. Speed not really improving, but the ability to maintain it is. Thursday was a fairly fast straight 4 miles, at just better than 9 minute miles. Still a way to go. The Saturday run I pulled forward to Friday, and just ran an easy 3 miles, to leave me fresh for Sunday's race. When I say easy, my Heart Rate averaged 133 - I'm usually pulling somewhere in the 160s!
Sunday's race was the Action Heart 5, starting from Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, so plenty of medical backup in the event of a mishap! Again, plenty of professional-looking athletes, many of them seem to be wearing heart monitors, certainly some of the wrist watches wouldn't look out of place as Tuvok's tactical array!
Having made the mistake of starting at the front at Delamere, I lined up some distance back from the start line, only to find the space in front of me filled with even slower runners. The hooter goes, and off we set, with me alternating between running and walking, because it was so congested that I was in danger of running into somebody! We get clear of the hospital grounds, and I start passing people, generally getting more of a feeling of being in a race than I did at Delamere, where I only passed about a dozen people in the whole 6 miles. Unlike Delamere, however, it's much more of a road race - actually being run on the road, with cars in side roads having to stop to let us pass, and cars on the main roads keeping towards the middle to avoid running us down. I tend to keep on the pavement, and I'm looking around at every junction, something that other runners don't do. Am I the only one who doesn't totally trust drivers?
We reach the "1 mile" marker, and somebody behind me says "8 minutes - quite good", and I mentally agree. That will give me a respectable 40 minutes for the distance, although I'd like to do better. Perhaps I can pick the pace up later.
About half-way round, and we start down the hill along Himley Road, and I put my fell-running expertise to use, and start flying past people, using gravity to take me. Finally, we hit the 4 mile mark, and turn for home, and start up another hill. Somebody near me complains about it all being hills - I invite him to Ironbridge next month! I plan my big finish, when I will pull back another couple of places, to begin with about 200 yards to go, as we re-enter the hospital grounds. Somehow, the legs don't seem to want to know, and the guy in front of me actually starts to pull away (his big finish beats my big finish!), and I can hear the patter of tiny feet closing in from behind me. The fear of losing a place does what the carrot of gaining a place failed to do, and I manage to pull the last bit of performance out of my legs, and I at least hold my place to cross the line in ?th place. (No results yet - watch this space!). I know, however, that I finished in just over 40 minutes, because the pace car, with stop-watch on top, is parked near the finish, and I can see that it's already over 40.
Over the line, make sure that they've got my number, pick up my Large commemorative T-shirt, collect a drink, and sit and let the legs recover. Then, back to the car (fortunately, I've got on-site parking, rather than about half-a-mile away on the Servosteel car park), get changed, drink a bit more, eat a banana, then back to the race marquee and look around the Sweatshop stand, where they've got a rail of vests and t-shirts, most at reduced prices. I spot a nice red singlet reduced to a fiver, and I'm just about to put my hand in my pocket when I overhear somebody say something about a discount. Back to the car again, collect the discount voucher for a fiver off anything from Sweatshop that came with my race information, and I am now the proud possessor of a singlet that cost me nothing!
All in all, a pretty good day, a new t-shirt and free singlet (both in my racing colour of red), and a time that is about 150% of the winner's, compared with 168% at Delamere. Taking the Ironbridge winner as 1 hour 15, 150% is 1 hour 52, whereas 168% is 2 hours 7. The 7 weeks between Delamere and Dudley has reduced my Ironbridge time by 15 minutes, and I've got 4 weeks left to go - another 7.5 minutes would get me home in 1 hour 45. The dream is still alive, at least in my calculations!
Finally, back home, a bite to eat, and I'm off with Owain to get some upper-body strength training in on the Severn, while helping him with some paddling practice for Devizes-Westminster.
Sunday's race was the Action Heart 5, starting from Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, so plenty of medical backup in the event of a mishap! Again, plenty of professional-looking athletes, many of them seem to be wearing heart monitors, certainly some of the wrist watches wouldn't look out of place as Tuvok's tactical array!
Having made the mistake of starting at the front at Delamere, I lined up some distance back from the start line, only to find the space in front of me filled with even slower runners. The hooter goes, and off we set, with me alternating between running and walking, because it was so congested that I was in danger of running into somebody! We get clear of the hospital grounds, and I start passing people, generally getting more of a feeling of being in a race than I did at Delamere, where I only passed about a dozen people in the whole 6 miles. Unlike Delamere, however, it's much more of a road race - actually being run on the road, with cars in side roads having to stop to let us pass, and cars on the main roads keeping towards the middle to avoid running us down. I tend to keep on the pavement, and I'm looking around at every junction, something that other runners don't do. Am I the only one who doesn't totally trust drivers?
We reach the "1 mile" marker, and somebody behind me says "8 minutes - quite good", and I mentally agree. That will give me a respectable 40 minutes for the distance, although I'd like to do better. Perhaps I can pick the pace up later.
About half-way round, and we start down the hill along Himley Road, and I put my fell-running expertise to use, and start flying past people, using gravity to take me. Finally, we hit the 4 mile mark, and turn for home, and start up another hill. Somebody near me complains about it all being hills - I invite him to Ironbridge next month! I plan my big finish, when I will pull back another couple of places, to begin with about 200 yards to go, as we re-enter the hospital grounds. Somehow, the legs don't seem to want to know, and the guy in front of me actually starts to pull away (his big finish beats my big finish!), and I can hear the patter of tiny feet closing in from behind me. The fear of losing a place does what the carrot of gaining a place failed to do, and I manage to pull the last bit of performance out of my legs, and I at least hold my place to cross the line in ?th place. (No results yet - watch this space!). I know, however, that I finished in just over 40 minutes, because the pace car, with stop-watch on top, is parked near the finish, and I can see that it's already over 40.
Over the line, make sure that they've got my number, pick up my Large commemorative T-shirt, collect a drink, and sit and let the legs recover. Then, back to the car (fortunately, I've got on-site parking, rather than about half-a-mile away on the Servosteel car park), get changed, drink a bit more, eat a banana, then back to the race marquee and look around the Sweatshop stand, where they've got a rail of vests and t-shirts, most at reduced prices. I spot a nice red singlet reduced to a fiver, and I'm just about to put my hand in my pocket when I overhear somebody say something about a discount. Back to the car again, collect the discount voucher for a fiver off anything from Sweatshop that came with my race information, and I am now the proud possessor of a singlet that cost me nothing!
All in all, a pretty good day, a new t-shirt and free singlet (both in my racing colour of red), and a time that is about 150% of the winner's, compared with 168% at Delamere. Taking the Ironbridge winner as 1 hour 15, 150% is 1 hour 52, whereas 168% is 2 hours 7. The 7 weeks between Delamere and Dudley has reduced my Ironbridge time by 15 minutes, and I've got 4 weeks left to go - another 7.5 minutes would get me home in 1 hour 45. The dream is still alive, at least in my calculations!
Finally, back home, a bite to eat, and I'm off with Owain to get some upper-body strength training in on the Severn, while helping him with some paddling practice for Devizes-Westminster.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Wrong kind of snow
Finally the snow disappeared, and I was able to get back into training shoes - heavenly light after nearly two weeks of running in boots! Again, I exceeded the planned training mileage, and this Sunday's long run (nearly 11 miles) was in only 1 hour 41 minutes. 3 weeks ago I ran 10 miles for the first time, in 1 hour 47, now I've run a mile further in 6 minutes shorter. If I can add another mile and reduce by 6 minutes every 3 weeks for the next 6 weeks, that's the half in 1 hour 29! Unfortunately, I've only got 5 weeks, but anything like that rate of improvement will knock spots off my target time.
I seem to be vacillating between unreasonable optimism (see above) and a certain despondency that I haven't yet covered 13 miles in 1 3/4 hours. So, I need a backup plan. Checking on last year's results, 2nd in the over-60 class was run in 1 hour 42 by Colin Tether, number 613, so look up photos of last year's race, go through them until I come across number 613, and clock what Colin Tether looks like. Admittedly, out of a field of 540 in last year's event, one person will be difficult to pick out, but there won't be that many that look old enough to be in the over-60s. So, if I can pick him out, stick to him like glue, and outsprint him, as long as there isn't more than 1 new 0ver-60 coming up from the under-50s, the podium is mine!
Something else that I need to check up on is how glycogen loading works, to plan my pre-race diet. Come to think of it, I have another race next Sunday, so this week would be a good time to experiment. Googling "Glycogen Loading"...
I seem to be vacillating between unreasonable optimism (see above) and a certain despondency that I haven't yet covered 13 miles in 1 3/4 hours. So, I need a backup plan. Checking on last year's results, 2nd in the over-60 class was run in 1 hour 42 by Colin Tether, number 613, so look up photos of last year's race, go through them until I come across number 613, and clock what Colin Tether looks like. Admittedly, out of a field of 540 in last year's event, one person will be difficult to pick out, but there won't be that many that look old enough to be in the over-60s. So, if I can pick him out, stick to him like glue, and outsprint him, as long as there isn't more than 1 new 0ver-60 coming up from the under-50s, the podium is mine!
Something else that I need to check up on is how glycogen loading works, to plan my pre-race diet. Come to think of it, I have another race next Sunday, so this week would be a good time to experiment. Googling "Glycogen Loading"...
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Cold Snap
After last Sunday's bitter cold, the snow finally arrived on Monday, and the UK, apparently, ground to a halt. The mobile phone network was overloaded with people calling in with the excuse that they were snowed in, the broadband internet took a beating from all those people who stayed and worked from home, and even SatNavs failed - the snow blinded the satellites!
The effect it had on me? I put on my hiking boots, and ran in those for three out of this week's four runs (the snow disappeared for Wednesday before coming down again on Thursday). Having spent all that money on state of the art running shoes, it may seem silly, but Emil Zatopek and Roy Fowler used to deliberately train wearing army boots - runnning shoes were a piece of cake after that! It does make it hard to compare this week's times with previous efforts, because of the extra weight that I'm carrying, the closest that I've got as a comparable run is this Sunday, but again I exceeded the planned mileage over the week.
Long run, and bearing in mind the extra weight of the boots, I'm thinking of a shorter run to balance out, but just how much shorter? Wendy suggests that, as I'm training my body to run for about 2 hours, I run outwards for an hour, then turn around and head back. Fair enough, point my feet in the direction of the Wrekin, and set off. Check my time at the All Labour in Vain, just over half an hour, out across Lightmoor, and slog up into Little Wenlock, barely managing to put one foot in front of another by the time I reach the top, and then on towards the Wrekin. Up ahead there's a little coppice, that will make a good landmark to use on Runfinder, and I've reached there in just under 54 minutes, I'll probably take longer on the way back, with fatigue setting in, so I'll turn around here.
A couple of weeks back, I checked with the organisers as to what would be provided at the drinks stations - wisdom says that you should train with it, to ensure that you don't get some sort of unwelcome reaction during the race itself. Anyway, this is an event that isn't sponsored by one of the energy drinks makers, and what's on offer is water (sponsored by Severn-Trent?). So any energy (and wisdom says that you WILL need some!) has to be provided by the individual runner. I could take my own energy drink with me, but it seems to make more sense to use an energy gel, and wash it down with the water provided. And the recommendation is that it takes a LOT of water, not just the quick splash that you can get with the regular bottle.
So, I'm testing the gel today, and I take a break of a couple of minutes to get my breathing back to normal so that I can take a big swig of water, and then I set off walking, not running, to make sure that I've drunk enough. About half my water bottle (I measured it to about 500 ml) later, it's taken me 4 minutes, say quarter of a mile covered, and I've taken on board the whole gel pack. Now, it's back to running, and (maybe it's the placebo effect, maybe it's the chance to get some oxygen into the bloodstream) I'm feeling thoroughly energetic again. Going through Little Dawley, I overhaul a man on a bike - OK, so he's a pensioner, but...
Finally, I get back, in 1 hour 46 minutes, so the homeward half, notwithstanding the walking at the turnaround, was fractionally faster than the outward half. Energy drink + (I think) downhill on the way home just beats fatigue. Plug the route into Runfinder, and it comes out as just under the ten miles, marginally further than a fortnight ago, and a minute faster. And in boots!
I did some research into the railway line from Coalport, and I was right, the climb up into Madeley is along that route. I also found out that this climb is "1 in 31 - believed to be the steepest gradient over which locomotive-hauled standard gauge passenger trains have ever travelled in the UK"! Having felt like the little engine that could, I believe it!
The effect it had on me? I put on my hiking boots, and ran in those for three out of this week's four runs (the snow disappeared for Wednesday before coming down again on Thursday). Having spent all that money on state of the art running shoes, it may seem silly, but Emil Zatopek and Roy Fowler used to deliberately train wearing army boots - runnning shoes were a piece of cake after that! It does make it hard to compare this week's times with previous efforts, because of the extra weight that I'm carrying, the closest that I've got as a comparable run is this Sunday, but again I exceeded the planned mileage over the week.
Long run, and bearing in mind the extra weight of the boots, I'm thinking of a shorter run to balance out, but just how much shorter? Wendy suggests that, as I'm training my body to run for about 2 hours, I run outwards for an hour, then turn around and head back. Fair enough, point my feet in the direction of the Wrekin, and set off. Check my time at the All Labour in Vain, just over half an hour, out across Lightmoor, and slog up into Little Wenlock, barely managing to put one foot in front of another by the time I reach the top, and then on towards the Wrekin. Up ahead there's a little coppice, that will make a good landmark to use on Runfinder, and I've reached there in just under 54 minutes, I'll probably take longer on the way back, with fatigue setting in, so I'll turn around here.
A couple of weeks back, I checked with the organisers as to what would be provided at the drinks stations - wisdom says that you should train with it, to ensure that you don't get some sort of unwelcome reaction during the race itself. Anyway, this is an event that isn't sponsored by one of the energy drinks makers, and what's on offer is water (sponsored by Severn-Trent?). So any energy (and wisdom says that you WILL need some!) has to be provided by the individual runner. I could take my own energy drink with me, but it seems to make more sense to use an energy gel, and wash it down with the water provided. And the recommendation is that it takes a LOT of water, not just the quick splash that you can get with the regular bottle.
So, I'm testing the gel today, and I take a break of a couple of minutes to get my breathing back to normal so that I can take a big swig of water, and then I set off walking, not running, to make sure that I've drunk enough. About half my water bottle (I measured it to about 500 ml) later, it's taken me 4 minutes, say quarter of a mile covered, and I've taken on board the whole gel pack. Now, it's back to running, and (maybe it's the placebo effect, maybe it's the chance to get some oxygen into the bloodstream) I'm feeling thoroughly energetic again. Going through Little Dawley, I overhaul a man on a bike - OK, so he's a pensioner, but...
Finally, I get back, in 1 hour 46 minutes, so the homeward half, notwithstanding the walking at the turnaround, was fractionally faster than the outward half. Energy drink + (I think) downhill on the way home just beats fatigue. Plug the route into Runfinder, and it comes out as just under the ten miles, marginally further than a fortnight ago, and a minute faster. And in boots!
I did some research into the railway line from Coalport, and I was right, the climb up into Madeley is along that route. I also found out that this climb is "1 in 31 - believed to be the steepest gradient over which locomotive-hauled standard gauge passenger trains have ever travelled in the UK"! Having felt like the little engine that could, I believe it!
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Half-way there
Well, slightly more than half-way - I've completed 9 weeks of training, and the race is in 7 weeks time. A good week, for the first time I felt that I was running, instead of just shuffling quickly! Again, I exceeded the planned distance by 3 miles, this time without the benefit of a free session at Fitness First. The Thursday run was especially encouraging, taking in about 5 miles of the Silkin way, and doing it in 43 minutes - just a little slower than the 42 minutes that I predicted to the Action Heart 5 organisers when I put in my entry. And, if Delamere is anything to go by, my competitive instincts will chop a few more minutes off!
Of course, Sunday is Long Run Day, and the (revised) plan was to run to the foot of the Wrekin, which is about 10 miles, again. The reason for the revised plan is that last Sunday I came home rather muddy, and my wife suggested that NOT getting muddy would be a good idea. So come up with a route that, unlike that current state of the Ironbridge course, isn't too muddy. OK, www.runfinder.co.uk/ shows a route to the foot of the Wrekin that takes in some back roads, so I can go that way, and come back the normal way through Little Wenlock. Now, last night's weather forecast was talking about temperatures that were pretty low, but then just look out for that wind-chill factor! Thermal vest on, and I'm trotting along quite happily, sun beating down out of a clear sky, and not feeling too cold at all. Turn off down Dog-in-the-lane to start the "back roads" section of the route, and it quickly (well, as quickly as anything does at 6 mph!) turned into an almost unused lane leading to a farm, where it was obvious that visitors are infrequent, and probably unwelcome - certainly the dogs didn't seem too welcoming. I've passed a sign indicating that this was no through road, but I'm on foot, so I'm guessing that it's only impassable to wheeled vehicles. After about a mile of decent track after the farm, I come across a couple of large rocks in the way, that would clearly prove a problem for a car, even an off-roader, but us runners are more agile than that. Unfortunately, there appears to be a stream rising at that point, and the track that continues after the rocks is more stream than track. Bearing the muddiness injunction in mind, I give it up after a cursory attempt, and return the way that I'd come. Having failed to reach my destination, I added in another loop to make up the mileage, and started on the return leg. NOW the sun had gone in, and I'm heading across Lightmoor straight into an Easterly wind that may not be direct from the Urals, but there's precious little shelter up there - the clue is in the name! - and it's going through my jogging bottoms as if they weren't there.
I go past a couple of little boys, whom I can hear, as I head off, mimicking my breathing. You run 10 miles and then take the mick, little so-and-sos!
All along, I've felt as if I haven't been really hitting it as hard as in earlier sessions this week, and I'm already making excuses to myself about how I haven't really recovered from last Sunday, and the other session were hard, so it's not surprising that it's a poor performance, and, surprise, surprise, I get back in just under the 2 hours - 10 minutes longer than last Sunday's time for 10 miles. Then I go onto Runfinder, and plot the actual route that I followed. Bigger surprise, it's over 11 miles! Over a mile more, and only 10 minutes longer! Further AND faster than last week!
Of course, Sunday is Long Run Day, and the (revised) plan was to run to the foot of the Wrekin, which is about 10 miles, again. The reason for the revised plan is that last Sunday I came home rather muddy, and my wife suggested that NOT getting muddy would be a good idea. So come up with a route that, unlike that current state of the Ironbridge course, isn't too muddy. OK, www.runfinder.co.uk/ shows a route to the foot of the Wrekin that takes in some back roads, so I can go that way, and come back the normal way through Little Wenlock. Now, last night's weather forecast was talking about temperatures that were pretty low, but then just look out for that wind-chill factor! Thermal vest on, and I'm trotting along quite happily, sun beating down out of a clear sky, and not feeling too cold at all. Turn off down Dog-in-the-lane to start the "back roads" section of the route, and it quickly (well, as quickly as anything does at 6 mph!) turned into an almost unused lane leading to a farm, where it was obvious that visitors are infrequent, and probably unwelcome - certainly the dogs didn't seem too welcoming. I've passed a sign indicating that this was no through road, but I'm on foot, so I'm guessing that it's only impassable to wheeled vehicles. After about a mile of decent track after the farm, I come across a couple of large rocks in the way, that would clearly prove a problem for a car, even an off-roader, but us runners are more agile than that. Unfortunately, there appears to be a stream rising at that point, and the track that continues after the rocks is more stream than track. Bearing the muddiness injunction in mind, I give it up after a cursory attempt, and return the way that I'd come. Having failed to reach my destination, I added in another loop to make up the mileage, and started on the return leg. NOW the sun had gone in, and I'm heading across Lightmoor straight into an Easterly wind that may not be direct from the Urals, but there's precious little shelter up there - the clue is in the name! - and it's going through my jogging bottoms as if they weren't there.
I go past a couple of little boys, whom I can hear, as I head off, mimicking my breathing. You run 10 miles and then take the mick, little so-and-sos!
All along, I've felt as if I haven't been really hitting it as hard as in earlier sessions this week, and I'm already making excuses to myself about how I haven't really recovered from last Sunday, and the other session were hard, so it's not surprising that it's a poor performance, and, surprise, surprise, I get back in just under the 2 hours - 10 minutes longer than last Sunday's time for 10 miles. Then I go onto Runfinder, and plot the actual route that I followed. Bigger surprise, it's over 11 miles! Over a mile more, and only 10 minutes longer! Further AND faster than last week!
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