Sunday, July 30, 2006

Crystal Palace Grand Prix

I had a fantastic weekend away in London training with my Serpentine friends.

First up on Friday evening though was the Crystal Palace Grand Prix event. We had fantastic seats right by the 100m start - perfect for autograph hunting by a certain junior member of the party. Wonderful weather too!

I hope some of the wealth of talent on display rubs off on me. I wouldn't go far wrong learning from these 3: Berhane Adere, Tirunesh Dibaba and Jo Pavey.
Pavey, Dibaba, Adere

After today's shocking news of Justin Gatlin's doping failure, perhaps it's just as well we didn't have the big showdown against Asafa Powell. Here is Powell with some of his rather individual friends:
Asafa Powell and friends

And here's someone who I hope and pray is clean: Marion Jones
Marion Jones

A great evening's entertainment!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Weekly summary - 13 weeks to go

I was on leave at home last week so took the opportunity to push the mileage a bit.

82.7 miles!

That's the biggest weekly mileage I've ever done, and during the hottest week of the year too! It was tough though, particularly after the hill session on Thursday: I was very tired on Friday and Saturday. I recovered for the Sunday run though and didn't feel too bad despite the high humidity.

I have another week of living the pro athlete lifestyle, with some big training sessions planned, and then a return to work and perhaps slightly less full-on training!

Monday6 milesam: Easy run pm: massage 
Tuesday10 milesam: 4 miles easy pm: 6 miles club run 8:11/mile 131bpm splits:8:46 7:23 7:31 7:55 8:33 8:55Hellishly hot - tried to keep pushing for 4 miles but gave up after 3 and jogged the rest. As ever lately, I could only get my ave lap HR up to 140, but it did peak at 146bpm
Wednesday14.1 milesam: 10 miles easy 115bpm 9:13/mile pm: 4.1 miles steady club social runMorning run very hot again - felt sluggish. Cooler by the evening
Thursday11 milesam: 4.2 miles pm: 6.8 miles hill sessionHill session 10*60secs up steep hill. 54 59 57 56 58 59 59 58 60 60secs. Very tough!
Friday11.2 milesam: 4.5 miles easy pm: 6.7 miles easy 
Saturday8.5 milesam: 4 miles easy pm 4.5 miles easy 
Sunday21.9 milesam: 18.5 miles 8:57/mile 117bpm 68%MHR pm: 3.4 miles easyRan 8 miles slow to join regular Sunday club run - ran shuttle runs back and forth to club mates, to add distance. Very humid - tougher than last week
Total82.7 miles  

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Too warm!

Well the weather this week has been hot, very hot, but I'm not complaining. I've done my highest mileage ever, it's been uncomfortable, but I've managed OK. There's no point moaning about how bad the British weather is all year, and then complaining about it being too hot in the summer. So no protest will you hear from me.

Apart from one very small thing...

I like my ice baths. They seem to work for me. They freshen my legs up a treat. One of my first posts on this blog, "Ouch that's cold" was on this very subject. I sit in icy water at about 5°C for maybe 15 minutes, and then heat my legs back up in a hot bath. The cold shuts down the capillaries, squeezes out the accumulated rubbish, and reduces any inflammation. The heat then opens everything up and the blood courses through and flushes out the system. That's the theory. It has its opponents, but it seems to work for me.

Another runner's essential is the shower. Mine is a standard electric shower with 2 heat settings and a flow control marked cold at 1 o'clock through to hot at 11 o'clock. During the winter I have it on the high setting and the dial on about 4 o'clock. As winter turns to spring, I've noticed I have to turn the dial progressively towards the cold end of the dial as the tank in the loft heats up. Eventually the dial ends up at 1 o-clock, and the minimum temperature.

My shower is its own little weather station. It's a measure of how hot a summer it is, as to whether I have to start using the low heat setting. Some bad years I don't need to bother with the lower setting. Usually though, at the peak of the summer, I have to switch to low heat, otherwise the shower is just too hot.

This year has been exceptional. I switched to low heat weeks ago and haven't used the high setting since. In fact the flow control has been steadily progressing from around a 6 o'clock setting through 3 o'clock, and is now on 1 o'clock. I can't get the shower any 'colder' without switching off the heater completely. The water coming from the nozzle is the same temperature on the low heat setting as it is during the winter with the high heat setting.

The water in the tank in the loft, feeding the shower and bath, is rather warm!

And so to my ice bath.

Realising the water from the tap was quite warm, I bought an extra bag of ice from Tesco. I filled the bath, put in the ice, which melted rather quickly, put on my Helly-Hansen, fleece, and woolly hat and jumped in.

Mmm! Rather pleasant! In fact I felt a bit warm, so removed the hat. This wasn't the ice bath experience I usually have. It all felt rather nice and cooling - a most pleasant escape from the heat.

I had my thermometer handy so popped it in the bath: 17°C! Not exactly cold. In fact if that was the sea temperature, I'd regard it as quite swimmable; not what you want from an ice bath, having paid Tesco for the privilege.


B***er!



Postscript: I am aware that if I'd run the taps beforehand to empty the roof tank, and let it fill with fresh water from the mains, then the water would have been colder. However, being the tree-hugging, planet-saving, eco-warrior that I am, in view of the current water shortage I elected not to do that.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Weekly summary - 14 weeks to go

A pretty good week culminating in the 3000m and 1500m tracks races on Saturday. I then did a long run on Sunday feeling great, so I'm pleased I can do the race/long run combo.

I was reminded how much I need my sleep though earlier in the week. On Tuesday night I worked until 1am and so lost 3½ hours sleep - I was wrecked on Wednesday. I caught up a bit of sleep, but by Thursday and the club handicap race I wasn't able to push hard - I had nothing. Even so, my pace was pretty good and I knocked a minute off my PB, all without even getting up to marathon effort.

Fortunately I recovered well by Saturday, so didn't disgrace myself on the track.

Boy it's hot!

Monday5.5 milesEasy run 
Tuesday10.7 milesam: 4.2 miles easy pm: 6.5 miles club run 7:46/mile 136bpmTired - couldn't get my HR up
Wednesday10.8 milesam: 4.8 miles easy pm: 6 miles easyWell below par after working till 1am previous night/morning
Thursday13.5 milesam: 4 miles pm: 9.5 miles Club 7.5mile handicap race 7:50/mile 134bpmRan as hard as i could but couldn't get my HR up to even mara pace - fatigue!
Friday5 milesEasy run 9:23 108bpm 
Saturday6 milesSouthern Women's League Div 1 Dagenham 
Sunday17.2 miles8:52/mile 119bpm 69%MHRRan 8 miles slow to join regular Sunday club run - ran shuttle runs back and forth to club mates, to add distance
Total68.7 miles  

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Southern Womens League Div 1 Dagenham Mayesbrook

What a fantastic day out!

Man it was hot, but I only had to run 2 miles, so how hot could it be?

We assembled for the 3000m and I laughed at the markswoman as she tried to spell out "puzzle" with our team letters as she lined us up on the start line. I don't think she was amused at my frivolity.

We were off and I held back for the first lap while the youngsters went off way too quick. I soon overtook most of the field, including Pompey's Jane and Helen (yes - we had a 2hr30min coach journey to race against Portsmouth!), and for much of the race was sitting in 2nd. Then the heat took its effect - it was 3:30pm and it was touching 30°C! It felt like my head was going to explode. I kept it going though, but Helen took me at 600m to go, finishing strongly. I finished in 11:56.1 in 3rd place - quite pleased given the heat and my high mileage.
Splits:
46.6 (200)
95.9
97.0
93.8
95.4
96.6
97.4
93.0

During the day I drank 4.5 litres of water! I started the race well hydrated, but my throat dried out by the start and I ran the whole race breathing hard (obviously) with no saliva in my mouth. The result: at the finish my throat was raw and I couldn't stop coughing. I started the 1500m sucking a Fox's Glacier Mint.

Ah yes, the 1500m. Thanks Mike!

I 'volunteered' to race the 1500m 40mins later. It went better than I thought it might. At least my pace was faster than the 3000m. I finished feeling OK - maybe I could have run it a bit faster? Those youngsters had much fresher legs than me, but at least I finished ahead of 2 or 3 of them. I finished 4th B-stream so got us some points. I overtook our A-stream Charlotte with 400m to go, but she had a big kick and took me on the straight (youngsters!)
Time: 5:46.4 (a PB of course, being my first ever 1500m).
Splits:
65.6 (300m)
95.9
94.0
94.3


Oh boy did I feel old! I was our oldest athlete. Dee and myself are vets, with a chasm of an age gap to the rest of the team. I felt rather out of place on a coach full of girls, though technically I suppose at least half of them were 'Senior Women'. It makes a change from Victory AC where most of the club are in their 40s and 50s. I hope the team keep it going past school and university - I wish I'd started my running earlier!

I felt sorry for Dee - she ran the 400m hurdles for the first time in 20 years (a talented schoolgirl). She took 3 hurdles looking like a total pro and then realised she wasn't 15 anymore!
Well done Dee: long jump, 400m hurdles, 400m flat, high jump - that showed the youngsters!

Special mention for manager Mike. A team event like that takes some organising. Well done.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Essex day. Hopefully I demonstrated that you're not past it pushing 45!

The pics, in chronological order, with an awesome shot of Hannah to kick off:
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham
Southern Women's League div 1 Dagenham

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Weekly summary - 15 weeks to go

A cutback week in terms of mileage - I dropped the doubles - but it included a 5000m, my best age graded performance ever, and my hardest ever interval session 3 days later. I think a better way to do recovery weeks would be to keep the mileage but drop the intensity. Upping the pace in the summer months seems the traditional training pattern though.

Next week it's back up to 70 miles, the on up to 80 in the weeks after that!

Monday5 miles5000m 20:36 6:37/mile 
Tuesday6.9 milesGentle club run 8:30/mile 123bpmVery warm evening
Wednesday6 milesEasy run 9:14/mile 110bpmGlyco-depleted!
Thursday8 miles8*980m @ 5km pace 2-3mins recoveryVery hard session
Friday5.6 milesEasy run 9:23 110bpm 
Saturday6 milesEasy run 9:03 115bpm 
Sunday16.5 miles8:38/mile 121bpm 70%MHRRan 8 miles to join regular Sunday club run, so first half slow, second half much quicker
Total54 miles  

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Pigani Zonda

Pigani Zonda

Hi, Mr Pig here. Susie is getting too fast, so I picked up a little something at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed to keep up with her.

Friday, July 07, 2006

My toughest ever session

On Mike Gratton's advice I tried a 'bulkier' session last night. I did 8 1000m reps at 5k pace: 6:36/mile - the pace I ran my 5000m at on Monday. In other words I ran a total of 8 kilometres at a pace I would only be able to sustain for 5 kilometres. I've never run a session like this before, either in terms of total distance or the 'excess' distance over the notional race distance.

The intervals were a bit short of 1000m - maybe 980m. Times as follows:
4:02
4:01
4:00
4:02
3:59
4:04
4:01
4:04

6:36/mile would be 4:01 per interval.
HR reached 157bpm - 91% of max HR

The first 3 recoveries were 2 mins, but realising how tough this was, I took 3 mins for the remaining recoveries. Maybe I didn't need such long recoveries as my HR was dropping to 95bpm between reps. It was hellishly humid, so the longer recovery let me cool down.

The last couple of reps were a real struggle. I had to push hard to keep to the pace, but I did manage it. It was very like the 5000m where I desperately wanted the pain to stop. Apart from the physiological benefits, I'm sure this will help me psychologically when I start to tire in a race.

All in all it was a really tough session but I'm glad I did it.

I hope I don't have to do a session where I run greater than race distance at marathon pace!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Weekly summary - 16 weeks to go

After my fun (and fast!) intervals on Tuesday, I did our club short handicap race on Thursday at little more than tempo pace, but got a PB by 30secs - 3.65miles over 2 footbridges and through 3 gates in 26:34. I got into a mega sprint with Dave M, who had started behind me and was catching me in the last 100m - I was awarded it (it was close!) and got 5th - great fun!

I'm not sure I want to make a habit of rising at 5:30am for a Saturday long run, but I did it, and made my piano lesson on time. I confess that my 4 miles in the evening (the 'shag run') was during the England v Portugal match - streets and beach to myself - lovely!

Sunday was possibly going to be a short breakfast run with the club, but when work intervened and kept me on my computer in a sweltering hot house for 5 hours, I decided rest was in order. This was the first rest day in over a month, so maybe I needed it. It was probably the best prep for the 5000m on Monday night, and with hindsight seemed to do me good!

I'll cut the mileage back slightly this week, before pushing up to 80 miles in my 2-week break.

Monday5 milesEasy run 
Tuesday10.8 milesam: 4.2 miles easy pm: Intervals 10*300m, 5*100mFun!
Wednesday7.7 milespm: Easy run 9:10/mile 114bpm 
Thursday10.2 milesam: 4 miles easy pm:6.2 miles 3.65 mile club handicap race 144bpm 83%MaxHRRan a PB 26:34 at tempo effort initially. Got into a death sprint with Dave M - pipped him on the line!
Friday10.3 milesam: 4 miles easy pm: 6.3 miles easy 112bpm 
Saturday19 milesam: 15 miles steady 116bpm 8:57/mile pm:4 miles easyGot up at 5:30am to get my long run in before my piano lesson. Difficult to get the pace up at first but got my dignity back with some 8:30 miles to finish
SundayRest First rest for a month!
Total63 miles  

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

In the heat of battle: Southern Vets 5000m

Last night I did my first ever track race: the Southern Counties Vets League 5000m in Portsmouth. I had a great race finishing in 20:36.9 - I've never done something measured in tenths before!
Susie
Lap times were as follows:
50 (200m)
97
98
97
97
99
99
99
100
102
102
99
92

The times are the least important part: I finished 4th and was 3rd scorer behind Karen Hazlitt and A.N.Other. I beat Jane Georgiou and Tina Turner (no, the other one!), 2 runners whom I've admired for years and never got anywhere near before. I am so pleased! I ran for my new 2nd claim track club Havant AC as their B stream runner but was top scorer, lapping my Havant W50 team mate Marilyn (also Victory AC 1st claim), a W35 Winchester runner, and possibly someone else - memory hazy there.

I ran a pretty even race - the slowing down approaching the final mile was largely because Tina and Jane were slowing and I sat behind them for a bit before deciding I could push past at 800m.

Ignoring Karen Hazlitt for a moment, I went out with the lead pack, which felt so good - I let the others go ahead a little bit, but was able to pick off 2 or 3 in the first half, before realising I might get some major scalps in the last half. I ran behind Bev, our Havant guest runner, for most of the race, took her and Tina at about 800m and Jane at 400m but Bev had a huge kick and took me easily in the last 100m.

Karen was in a league of her own. She lapped the entire field before half way and then cruised the rest of the race.

Beth, fellow Victoryite, and my Havant A stream runner, finished well, I think giving her daughter something to be proud of - her main concern for the race. I don't know her or Marilyn's time unfortunately.

It was very hot. It felt very tough. I enjoyed it enormously!

The 5k team: Marilyn, Susie and Beth
Marilyn, Susie, Beth

In the 800m, another Victoryite Amanda limped in with a pulled calf muscle - take care Amanda - get well soon. She still put in a good effort though, even with a damaged calf:
Amanda

Yet another Victoryite Neil looked like he was struggling in the 3000m, but then he had just run the 800m:
Neil

I must also mention Victoryite Graham, helping out with the officiating (or was he just spectating and roaring us on?).

It may sound like it was all Victory runners for Havant AC. I haven't yet mentioned Victoryite Liz running for City of Portsmouth, and her partner Martin race walking for Havant. Havant AC does seem to be the traditional home for the Victory AC track runners. The pure-blood Havant AC runners are a lovely bunch though - special mention for captain Vicki. I think I may have found a second home!

Vicki took this photo - hence the gap:
Havant AC

June total mileage

June total mileage: 247 miles

Year to date total: 1375 miles


Getting back to full mileage now. For the first time ever, I went the entire month without a rest day! That won't be the case for July, having already had a rest day as 5000m race preparation (report to follow). I won't be chasing a Ron Hill style running streak, as I think it's dangerous to just blindly go running when there might be occasions when it would be more sensible to rest. At least I've proved to myself I can do daily running and train/race well.