Running towards London

I'm back! And now some music...

2009-07-25T06:17:00.002+01:00

Here's the reason I've been away:

The Forest of Miracles

It all started with a nasty virus that forced me to stop running. It gave me time though to finish my album. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

I am back running now though, and getting back to full fitness. I'll be blogging races again in September. Stay tuned!

A little cross country: The Lordshill 10

2008-11-04T12:59:00.001Z

This was a race of mixed emotions for me. I produced, fitness-wise, my best performance ever, running a PB at a very relaxed sub-marathon pace. I finished 3rd in my age category and I assume I am due a Hampshire bronze medal (to be confirmed). My pace and HR data predict that I'm on target for a sub-1:30 performance in the Gosport Half Marathon to claim my London championship place.

You'd think I'd be happy!

Truth is, it was something of a wasted effort as yet again it was a very poor turnout from the Victory women and we failed to field a team. At this rate we are heading for demotion and Harry Redknapp won't be able to save us. What is up with our girls this year? We did brilliantly last year!

One more whinge while I'm in the groove: yet again we have a 'road' race with a major chunk of off-road, with a mile of unsurfaced trail and a finish on grass, with a very tight (and unnecessary) hairpin on very wet grass right at the end which left me struggling for grip in my racing flats. Is this the taste of things to come? Are we to expect that one by one all our road races will move off road? Should we trade in our flats for trail shoes? I gather that the Gosport Half Marathon now includes a cycle path - I hope it's properly surfaced - this is my crunch qualifying race and I don't want to come unstuck with bottlenecks and trying to run at speed over uneven ground!

I imagine the organisers at Lordshill are under the same pressures as Gosport to take the race away from busy roads. The way the new course was 'sold' to me though was that it is now flatter and faster without the killer hill at 7 miles. Thing is though, I know hills slow you down, but that killer hill was the defining feature of the old course. It was what gave the race its character. Take it away and you take away the spice, potentially making for quite a bland race. Add to that the inclusion of the unsurfaced section and the tight and slippery grass finish and I'm unconvinced it's an improvement.

Having said that, it's a pleasant enough course, certainly faster than the old course, but with sufficient undulations to slow the times a little - maybe still a PB course though. It's just a shame I don't like getting my racing flats muddy!

Here though is why I'm really happy with my performance:
7:04 131bpm
7:16 142bpm
6:41 142bpm
7:04 143bpm
7:10 143bpm
7:03 142bpm
6:58 143bpm
7:04 143bpm
7:27 143bpm
7:05 144bpm
overall: 1:11:20 7:08/mile 142bpm

That's less than marathon effort (145bpm). By the time we factor up the pace to 150bpm for my half marathon attempt in 2 weeks time I'll be flying. Fingers crossed for sub-1:30 at Gosport and my London Marathon championship place!

Slugging it out: The Stansted Slog 2008

2008-09-22T19:53:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd give the Stansted Slog a go as a pleasant alternative to the usual Sunday run, although as most of it is run on trails that we run every Sunday anyway it wasn't really that much of a change. I really should have taken a camera with me, but if you want an idea of the look and feel of the race then my Sunday Run post is pretty much it (in fact Stansted House is the backdrop of the first photo).

This was only the 3rd running of the event, which surprised me somewhat as it seemed to be one of those traditional events that everyone does and I'd yet to attempt. Maybe that's an indication of the quality of the organisation provided by Pompey Joggers. Certainly you'd be hard pushed to find a better venue, starting and finishing as it does in front of Stansted House. The toilets are also the best I've come across at an event, being the stone floored stable-block toilets used by visitors to the house. Good toilet facilities are always a great asset for any race - I'm not kidding here! It makes a big difference.

The weather couldn't have been better. It was rather cool in the shade but you soon warmed up in the unbroken sunshine. It was perfect running weather: all that sunshine and no overheating! The conditions underfoot too were perfect - hardly any mud and good firm footing.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to avoid any of the glorious hills of the South Downs, but for those wanting a slightly flatter shorter route there was the 8-mile Stansted Slug as an alternative to the 13-mile Slog.

At 10:30am precisely we set off and immediately I was running on familiar trails, albeit on a route parallel to our more usual path through Stansted Forest. There's something magical in running through woods on a bright sunny day as the light flickers and picks out fleeting features on the forest floor. It all seems somehow a heightened reality - who needs drugs when you have all this?

My aims for the day were to have a nice training run: a progression run where I start out slowly and pick up my pace throughout the race to hit half marathon pace at the end. I'd intended to stay with Diana for more than just the first mile, but as we ran through the trees I couldn't help start to pick up places one by one and I left her behind. It was also a relief to get past the big smelly brute ahead of me (some enormous guy, not Diana, I should point out). How can someone smell that bad only 1 mile into a race?

On we slogged past the beautiful Idsworth Church, this time approached from the opposite direction to our usual Sunday route. The setting of the church is amazing - right out on its own among the fields. Such is the lack of surfaced access to it, that a wooden bridge has been built at the foot of the hill, to keep the congregation's Sunday finery out of the mud that naturally forms in the hollow during the winter.

I'd been warned about the big hill we were about to climb, but in the description of how bad it was I'd assumed it was the near vertical climb further up the valley. In fact we were about to climb the hill I've done many times before: steep but runnable - it just goes on a bit. We got a small respite half way up and then continued to climb the now shallower gradient up on to the ridge. I'd commented to a fellow runner that I was relieved we hadn't gone up the steep bit. I now listened in amusement how my tale was being relayed back down the field "She reckons this is the easy bit and she's glad we haven't gone up the steep part!" "What??!".

As we got to the top of the ridge the runner ahead of me stumbled and nearly went over on his ankle. He commented that this was the last place to turn an ankle, being so inaccessible. I replied that if he was lucky "we might be in Air Ambulance territory". As I spoke those words I immediately heard the familiar low rumble of a helicopter behind me and I shouted "Wow, that was quick service". It wasn't as familiar a rumble as I thought though, as to my surprise I turned to see a Lancaster Bomber fly low over our heads. I later realised it was on its way to the Goodwood motor racing circuit for their revival meeting. What a spectacular sight! They don't build them like that any more.

On we slogged and we came to the really steep bit I'd mentioned earlier, though mercifully we were going down it. I love going fast downhill but I had to patiently wait behind the other runners due to the narrowness of the path. I suppose I could have launched myself straight over the edge of the winding path but I was concerned about what might be lurking in the long grass, cowpats aside. At the bottom of the hill I passed Rob who'd taken a wrong turn and ended up on the Slog course instead of the Slug. An unexpected treat for Rob then!

We were soon on to the only unfamiliar part of the course, as we ran up from Ditcham towards West Marden. People moaned about this afterwards, it being a long interminable slog up a big hill, but I didn't mind it: it was shallow enough that you could run with a reasonably normal gait - you just had to pace it and be patient. The reward at the end though was a steep well surfaced drop down into West Marden where I could now use my full range of descending techniques. I love running fast downhill!

Someone who isn't going to love running downhill is Andy whom I met climbing out of West Marden. I could see by his limp and the dirt on his back that he might have taken a tumble. He'd gone over on his ankle coming down the steep bit. I suggested now was a good time to drop out as we'd just passed the marshals at the drinks station. His reply was that he'd never yet dropped out of a race and he wasn't going to now. With 4 miles to go and the revelation that he thought he might have broken something, was this really such a good idea? He gave us a shock at the finish when, following treatment, we thought he had been taken off to hospital, but he eventually emerged with a strapped ankle, presumably intact.

Back to the last few miles of the race and I'd been having trouble picking up my pace due to the steepness of the terrain, although I had been overtaking a steady stream of runners right from the start. Now that we'd climbed out of West Marden though, the terrain started to flatten out and I was able to really pick up the pace and drive for the finish. I was pleased with my pace for the last few miles, almost to half marathon pace, though due to 8 miles and a heavy gym session the day before, there was a touch of fatigue preventing me getting my heart rate up to where it should have been.

As we basked in the sunshine at the finish, swapping stories and checking out the strapping on Andy's ankle, we witnessed a very tired Kevin arrive to complete his first (near) half marathon. He now knows he'll easily finish the Great North Run in 2 weeks' time. Well done Kevin!

It's a shame for Rob that after 13 miles of Slog, he was listed as last finisher in the Slug!

Fab day, great run!

The Oxford and Cambridge boat race: Southern Counties Veterans Athletic finals Ashford 2008

2008-09-07T18:17:00.003+01:00

We looked out over the deserted track and infield of Julie Rose Stadium as it submerged under a deluge of epic proportions. The rain had come too late to interfere with the battle between Cambridge and Radley (near Oxford) who, as we stood watching the waves of torrential rain batter the stadium, had just been named joint winners for 2008. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't sink the 2 crews, finishing just behind them in third. After my soaking in the first event of the day, the pole vault - more on that later - the rain had in fact held off until after the last event to make for a very enjoyable, if windy, day.

My main, and arguably only, contribution had been the 3000m towards the end of the event. We went into it with a good chance of victory, so needing as many points as we could muster - no pressure then! I've been suffering cramps and spasm in my calves for the last couple of months, whenever I do races or speedwork, so had hoped there wouldn't be quite so much pressure to run hard. In the event though things played out quite well.

With Steph running A-string, myself B-string and Marilyn our V50 runner, we had a strong line-up, but we were up against it when it came to Cambridge Harriers: they had the UK W40 champion Clare Elms on their team along with someone who looked like she could have been Clare's sister running B-string. The regular creases in the B-string runner's vest suggested it had just come out of its wrapping - I hope they hadn't recruited her into the team just for that event - that wouldn't really be in the spirit.

The race started and the first lap went by at quite a sedentary pace - real championship running. The quality soon started to show though as the Cambridge women picked up the pace. Steph gave chase but I realised my battle was with the B-string runners and this worked out quite well for me as the Cambridge B runner took off with her team mate at a pace I knew I couldn't match, leaving me still running comfortably on the shoulder of the Herts and Phoenix runner in 2nd place. Radley were somewhere behind but this didn't surprise or concern me as their strengths seemed to lie very much with field events and sprints rather than endurance running.

I was running at around 10k pace, putting in 100 second laps, although the effort seemed greater due to the strong headwind in the home straight. My Herts quarry seemed strong, lapping consistently, but I knew I had plenty in reserve - hopefully this wouldn't be too brutal a race for my fragile calves.

With each lap I monitored my friend's breathing as I heard shouts of "good tracking Susie" from my team mates at the side. The most telling evidence of her condition came on each running of the home straight. I was unable to get any real drafting due to the angle of the wind so just sat on her shoulder and monitored her effort. The first few laps she ran strongly, but with 3 laps to go she was noticeably struggling into the wind. With 2 laps to go I was now having to slow slightly to remain behind her in the straight. I knew the time had come to make my move.

She picked up her pace again as we swung out of the wind and I moved along side her along the back straight. As we rounded the bend with under 600m to go I heard a little voice echoing from a running book in my head "When you make your move, make it decisively". I picked up the pace and powered past her into the wind, sensing the gap widening behind me.

I felt good! In fact I felt great! With 200m to go I picked up the pace again with Pete shouting "Easy!" from the sidelines. Did he mean to take it easy or that I made it look easy? My second surge was fairly pointless as I'd already sealed 2nd place B-string, but it felt good to finish strongly to the cheers of my team-mates.

Steph got 2nd A-string behind Clare and I got 2nd B-string behind their other extremely talented runner, who in fact beat Steph into 3rd place on the track. I think their V50 also won. We got good points, but unfortunately lost ground to Cambridge.

My time was slow: 12:29.5, but I was pleased with how I ran. My penultimate lap was a full 10s faster than any of the previous laps, and my last 200m was covered in a comfortable 44s - my mile PB pace. Satisfaction in 7½ laps!

A major source of my apprehension before the 3000m was my performance in the pole-vault at the start of the event: I failed to make the opening height of 1.40m and so despite Cambridge not fielding a vaulter I failed to score any points - you'd have thought I'd get a point for at least trying!

My pole-vaulting hadn't started well. I watched in frustration at the men warming up (ie practising!) as we searched in vain for someone who could get me access to a stadium pole I could borrow. When I finally found one I was left on my own to warm up in a heavy shower, while everyone else sheltered. I managed 3 jumps onto the mat, just enough to establish that the pole was far longer than I was used to and I should be holding it well down the pole. It was then time to jump for real over an opening height 30cm higher than I'd normally be allowed to start at in the league. I'd cleared 1.40m several times in practise a year ago, but after my torn stomach muscle I hadn't jumped since. I was nervous! It didn't go well! I think we'll leave the story there!

Apart from the pole-vault it was a great day with some great performances from the team. If only we'd been at full strength, we might have had those 7 points we needed to win. Here's to the finals next year: watch out everyone - we'll be back!

The Sunday Run

2008-07-27T20:45:00.003+01:00

I thought I'd give you a flavour of what I do most Sunday mornings: the club run.

We're really lucky as we have the South Downs to play with.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Distance runners shouldn't do field events: discus! Southern Vets League 5000m

2008-07-15T11:25:00.004+01:00

This is the one-year anniversary of my worst ever injury, after trying the pole vault last year led to 4 months out with a psoas minor tear/spasm.

To celebrate the anniversary, last night I thought I'd try another field event: the discus!

To be fair, the discus is a lot easier on the body than pole vault, and at least I'd done the discus before: 30 years before!

The really insane thing though is that once again I took to quite a technical event with ease and after a couple of 20m-plus throws and a no-throw, I threw 25.01m to win the event!

It took me years to attain the Athletics Weekly standards in running and finally see my name in the magazine, but on my first attempt at discus I attained the standard! That will see me ranked 9th W45 so far this year in the UK - higher than any of my running rankings! How mad is that?

Almost as a footnote really, I then ran 20:39.7 in the 5000m, finishing 1st B string runner and 3rd on the track behind Karen from Winchester and team-mate Bev. I was a bit disappointed with the time after my 20:13 on the road, but I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently after so much racing. My calves are still feeling sore!

My maximum haul of 15 points helped the supposedly under-strength team to an easy victory by a large margin. We've made the southern finals. Result!

Twitching: Promenade 5k race 2

2008-07-03T12:49:00.002+01:00

3 races in 5 days: it started with a season's best 3000m in Walton, then a 5th place and a very welcome prize voucher in Purbrook and last night finished off with a 5k PB in Portsmouth. I got through it, but not without consequence: last night I had the worst case of night cramps I've ever experienced.

Although I couldn't feel it, I could see my calves twitching constantly. That wasn't so bad, but every time I fell asleep my calves would lock solid giving me a very rude awakening. I tried everything: compression socks, massage, cold packs, hot packs, isotonic drinks, salty drinks, and even drugs: Syndol contains a muscle relaxant so I thought I'd give that a go. Nothing worked. After 4 hours I finally dropped off to sleep properly and got a few hours of uninterrupted sleep before a rude awakening at 6am with another bout of cramp. Ouch!

The race went well though. My calves were a bit sore beforehand but I put this down to Tuesday's massage rather than any real tightness, and they soon felt OK once I was warmed up.

I had a good tussle with Rachel, who was also recovering from Purbrook after her 3rd place. We ran together for 3 kms before I dropped her. Her team mate Kaye tried to motivate her back into the race (my ears are still ringing!) but Rachel's legs were having none of it.

I had hoped for a sub-20, and the first 2 kilometres were very promising, but congestion around the lake as we tried to pass some slower men (one of whom dropped out after we'd struggled to squeeze past him on the narrow bit - injury or did he just give up? - odd) meant we lost some time. The slight breeze seemed to slow us a bit on the exposed part of the prom. Once I got back into some shelter for the final kilometre, my pace recovered back to sub-20. The result was 20:12 on my watch - a road PB by 10s. That leaves me hopeful I can dip under 20 on the track in a fortnight's time and hopefully also on next month's Promenade 5k.

Karrie won the race again - good luck to her in the GB 800m trials in 10 days time - go girl! I think I was in 6th or 7th - I haven't seen the results yet. Hopefully I'm in with a chance of an age group prize for the series.

A good evening's racing but not such a good night!

The great south run: The Purbrook Ladies 5

2008-07-02T12:32:00.002+01:00

I love the Purbrook Ladies 5, as I've said previously on this blog. It's a true race, unlike most road races where you are drowning in a sea of men (which might be OK in other circumstances) unable to see who you are really racing against. Of course, this is my perspective at the front, but for the majority of us it's a fun event with a really good spirit of camaraderie. It's an excellent step up for those who've been introduced to running through the Race For Life. For me though, I love the chance to start a race from the start line: it's taken me a few years to feel I've earned my place there, but on Sunday I had my toe on the line knowing I wasn't going to win but feeling I was a real top 5 prospect.

It's uncanny how we all know each other's pace and have pretty much decided before the start roughly where we'll finish: the start line photo in The News reveals that with one exception the first 5 places were all on the front line. The remaining places in the top ten were all visible on the second row. The one absentee from the start line photo was an unattached runner who must have worked her way up from further back (she stalked me for the last few miles).

I was unsure how well recovered I was from the previous day's 3000m. Someone had suggested that the 3000m might be a good warmup for the race, but I know my own legs better than that. Emma, the eventual winner of the race, had also raced 3000m on the Saturday, but things were different for her: she could afford the ease off a bit and still be fairly comfortable at the front. I had no such luxury!

At the gun, I tried to stay at a relaxed pace, fearful of how my legs would feel, and so was a little concerned at being in 3rd place behind Emma and Jane. I felt a little easier when Rachel and Angie went past me, taking the pressure off me. With hindsight, maybe I should have pushed harder, but I also had the thought of the Promenade 5k 3 days later - this was the toughest few days of racing I've ever attempted! I think in my mind I'd already settled for 5th by the end of the first mile, but still hoped I could catch a place or 2.

After 2 or 3 miles I was still in 5th behind Angie, but could now sense a runner behind me. She tested me on a downhill section and I could now see she was an unattached runner I'd not met before. These races can get a bit predictable without some new blood, so she was a welcome addition. I hope we can get her signed up for a club :-) I overtook her again on the next uphill section, but a short while later she was challenging again and I was able to use her to close on Angie.

As we neared the final run in, the 3 of us, Angie, myself and Victoria (I later found out her name) were together across the road. I couldn't help positioning myself between the other 2 for the photographer - one has to consider these things! I haven't seen the photo yet, but it should look good. With Victoria's help I cruised past Angie and chased Victoria down the final hill and up the short rise to the finish. I felt fresh but couldn't catch her. I finished in 5th - my best result yet in the Purbrook Ladies 5.

With hindsight I could maybe have pushed harder and finished further up, but I'm pleased with my 5th place on tired legs. My heart rate was quite low compared to what it normally is for this distance, so hopefully that's an indication that I can recover well for the Promenade 5k on Wednesday (tonight, as I write this).

It's a reflection of the lack of young runners that 3 of the top 6 were over 45. Hopefully though Victoria will be encouraged by her 4th place and keep her running going. If you're local Victoria then how about joining Victory AC? :-)

Talking of Victory AC, we had a good turn out, but didn't manage a team prize this year. Well done to Marilyn for yet another age group prize, this time over-60.

It's a great race. It feels as if it's fighting its place as the last bastion of competitive women-only road racing - long may it continue!

Southern Women's League Walton

2008-06-29T18:01:00.002+01:00

These league matches can be a long day, but I decided to catch the coach up to Walton with the team, rather than driving up on my own as I did last time. It was a fun day out in some gorgeous weather.

My job was to run the 3000m as the B-string runner, duly completing it in 11:55.9 and getting a 2nd place and some useful points for our 2nd place match result. It turned into a bit of a time trial, as the lead pack of A-runners disappeared into the distance (well, 100m in the distance anyway), leaving me on my own for most of the 7.5 laps with no one to pace off. It was a bit windy down the home straight, adding to my pacing problems. I started on PB pace but lost it after 3 laps before recovering my pace on the last lap. I was 13 secs off PB, but I was left feeling that a track PB of some sort is still possible this season given the right race.

Our A-string runner Bev was then called up to do the 1500m a short while later, an honour I had 2 seasons ago, which I'm not keen on repeating!

She looked strong but it was quite an effort. Well done Bev.

Unusually there was also a men's match on at the same time. It didn't feature our men, but I did spot some familiar faces from my online contacts.

We never run steeplechase, but the men got the chance to cool off in the hot conditions. It looked fun!

Welcome to the asylum: The Midsummer Dream 2008

2008-06-22T15:11:00.005+01:00

It seemed anything like a midsummer's day as we assembled outside the Hook and Parrot on Seaton seafront. Even the assembled superheroes were covering up before the start.

We had the race briefing from Dave Dungbeetle, before the wackiest start ever, as the clockwise runners faced the anti-clockwise runners (or clock-unwise in the language of the Axe Valley Running Asylum) and a scrum ensued as we tried to run through the other group of runners.

Off I set in a clock-unwise direction towards the first stop at the Harbour Inn Axmouth, to be greeted by the aforementioned Dave Dungbeetle.

and I was privileged to wear the famous hat.

We now were able to view some of the fancy dress on offer, such as Pompey's Tyrolean twins

and assorted flappers, cowboys and indians.

Our team had a hula flavour, desperately trying to make the most of the awful weather (although it had now stopped raining!)

On to Colyton and the next drink.

Now whatever you think is going on in this photo, I can assure you it isn't. It's just your average river crossing.

The very misty humid conditions gave a jungle flavour to some of the wooded parts.

On to Southleigh and the cream tea served up by the dough maidens.

It went down well!

A quick pose and on up a killer of a hill.

By now we were meeting the clockwise runners. A pack of dogs passed us as we pounded on up the hill.

Fortunately there was a reward at the top with a barrel of beer tucked away in a farm yard.

Eventually we arrived at the Fountainhead in Street, just outside Branscombe. More beer! (I had my first taste of perry - very nice)

The climb out of Street:

And on down to the seafront and a view of what we had coming up:

I was disappointed to find that the MV Napoli had been pretty much dismantled by now.

At least another killer climb gave a lovely view back to Branscombe beach.

Penultimate pub, but oh the irony: In Beer I had orange juice!

18 miles of running and back at Seaton and a seaside reward!

A fantastic run - huge fun, but it can take its toll on the legs in more ways than one. My shins are to be featured in a remake of the exorcist!

Tactical: SCVAC 1500m Portsmouth

2008-06-17T17:34:00.001+01:00

I went into this race wanting a PB, but you can't always have things your way and run every race like a time trial. These are races and the most important thing is to race those around you and score points for the team.

Who to race though? As ever, team mate Bev went galloping off chasing the Winchester A and B runners, Karen and Michaela - no hope of me keeping up with that little battle. That left me once more in the middle chasing Liz from Portsmouth and Audra from Winchester. Trouble was, neither Liz or Audra were in my points race, Audra being a guest runner and Liz over-50.

The first lap saw us spot on PB pace, for me at any rate. The second and third laps saw me hovering on Liz's shoulder: it was only afterwards that I realised we had slowed down a few seconds - I'm not good at taking on board the times relayed to us by the timekeeper. Despite the slowing it wasn't easy to get past Liz - I suspect her race craft was such that she was surging every time I tried to pass. The result was that I wasn't able to get past until we were taking the bell for the last lap.

Now in the clear I was able to pick up the pace and try to catch Audra. It was too late though and by the line she was still a second ahead and me 5 seconds off my PB.

My immediate reaction on crossing the line was that I hadn't run particularly hard, having had a fairly gentle 2nd and 3rd laps. I should be pleased with a 5:31.7 and its 79% age grading, but I felt that I should have had the confidence to push past Liz earlier. Not too bad though.

As I welcomed the other runners in, along came Ceal who promptly burst into tears, such was her relief to have finished the race in a good time and in one piece, having been worrying beforehand about the state of her hamstrings ahead of the vet championships. It's a high emotion sport this running lark!

Ambitions: The Hayling Billy 5

2008-06-12T13:48:00.001+01:00

I was confident going into this. My legs felt pretty good after the Winchester 10k and I was looking forward to doing my local race for the first time in 5 years, having been responsible for the results service in the last 4 races.

I'd seen the pre-entries and thought I stood a chance of placing quite high. I was definitely up for this one.

It was fun helping with the kids races beforehand. I'd not seen the kids races before as I'd always been stuck in the tent with the computer. I hope we continue to grow this aspect of the race - it looked a lot of fun.

Soon though it was time to focus on my own race. First up, as part of the warm up, was a jog home to go to the loo. It's nice having a race this local!

A quick jog back, a few drills and strides and we were lined up ready to go. My team mate Gina was next to me and on the other side of the track were my other rivals Angela and Paula from Denmead.

The Hayling Billy 5 is named after the defunct Hayling Billy railway line which now forms a footpath up the western coast of Hayling Island. The race is a simple out and back route with a tight turn around a pole at 2.5 miles. It's straight and absolutely pancake flat and with quite a reasonable trail surface it is potentially a very quick course despite the lack of tarmac. The narrowness of the path could cause problems, particularly at the start, but it seems to work quite well, even with 300 runners. Mind you, I wasn't starting at the back!

The gun went and we were straight into our running with a tight bunch of 5 women tucked in behind the leaders. We were heading off at way too high a pace, certainly for me at any rate. I suspected the pace was a tad high for the others too as I've raced them all before and we should have been fairly well matched. I resolved to sit back a bit and conserve my energy as Gina roared off into the distance leaving the red vests of Paula and Angela and the blue vest of a Pompey Jogger just ahead of me. At the end of the first mile I was in 5th as I tried to stay in touch without overstretching myself.

Soon I'd got past the Pompey girl who as suspected had gone off too fast and was having to slow down. I was just behind the Denmead girls and relieved that Gina in first place was not getting too much further ahead - she clearly had had to slow down a touch too. So it remained for the next mile before Angela and I closed on Paula and overtook her. I then eased past Angela to set me up nicely for the turnaround.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a women's race but there were men in the race too! It's great to be able to watch the lead runners come whistling past down the other side of the trail as you near the half way mark. I remember seeing James the leader and my team mates Steve and Richard, but that was about it - my focus was totally on my own race and the fact that Gina was still 100m ahead of me.

As I dashed round the pole I don't think I was aware of where Angela and Paula were, although they must have been right on my shoulder - my attention was fully ahead. As I headed back down the trail I was getting shouts of encouragement from my other team mates as I passed them. I should have acknowledged them but I was really taking this seriously!

I was now in a group a 3 men slowly but certainly closing on Gina. I guess they may have had the thought that they couldn't let themselves be beaten by a girl, but this worked for me as I could let them pace me across the gap. At each landmark I'd count my paces to measure the gap: with 1.5 miles to go, 30 paces, a mile to go, 20 paces. I can do this!

By 800m I was on Gina's shoulder and wondering if I should wait and give it all in a final sprint. She made up my mind for me though as she seemed to falter slightly. I gritted my teeth against the pain and went for it. Gina didn't seem able to follow me, but I wasn't going to look back to find out. I could now see the finish line coming up and tried to squeeze out a little more effort.

In a chance conversation I'd had last week, we'd been talking about running ambitions. I'd talked about targets such as the 3:15 marathon and a sub-20 5k, but I remember saying that the one thing I'd really like to do just once in my life was to win a race outright - not 1st in age group, I'd already done that, but the first woman across the line. I'd thought about the possibility of doing it tonight but hadn't dared hope for too much, not knowing what shape I was in after the weekend.

But now, there was the finish line and my dream just 100m ahead of me. I pushed and pushed for all I was worth, threw my arms in the air and crossed the white line, ambition fulfilled. I don't know whether I was aware that there were cameras from the local paper there, but I hope they got a good shot of me - I'll find out on Friday when the report is published. I suspect I'll be down at the newspaper offices to order a copy of the photo!

I was shattered at the end. That was a job well done. 33:40 is a PB by 30s, but the time isn't important. I went off a little quick and suffered slightly, but it was all about balancing the need to pace well with the need to stay in touch with the lead. My tactics were just right and I'm really pleased with that.

Wow! Where next?

Heat tempered: Winchester AAIR 10k

2008-06-11T09:37:00.002+01:00

As I stood under the tree with a refreshing breeze gently chilling me I thought that just maybe this race might be fairly comfortable.

Wrong!

For the 2nd road race league event in a row this was a scorcher!

I really like running in the heat: gentle runs under clear blue skies, interval sessions where you sweat with the satisfaction of a job well done, your muscles warm and loose and ready for the effort. Racing is another matter entirely. I seem to hit my maximum in terms of heat dissipation way before I hit my racing maximum. Unless I take it reasonably easy there will come a point where my head starts throbbing and my skin tingles, leaving me no choice but to slow down. My tolerance of the heat seems low.

Today was just such a day. Coming at the end of a hard week of training featuring several double training days and being just 3 days before the Hayling Billy 5, my motivation for pushing myself to my thermal limit was not great.

The course description on the Runners World website was rather curious: "Flat/hilly". I guess there was a flattish mile after half way, but with most of the first half being steadily uphill and the second half still somehow managing to have its share of uphill sections I wouldn't really want to use the term 'flat' anywhere in the description. Let's just say it's not a PB course!

I finished just under 46 minutes - not a particularly sparkling performance. My average heart rate was below what I'd run a marathon at and my pace was pretty much marathon pace, but given the heat and hills maybe I should feel encouraged by the good pace at that HR as I haven't felt at my best since London. It felt quite a hard effort - as I've mentioned I'm not a fan of heat. However, I seem to have recovered well from it so maybe my body has dealt with it as just a 6 mile marathon pace run, despite how it felt on the day.

I did my bit for the team though, leading us in to an excellent 2nd place on the day (well done girls!) and securing our position of 4th in the league - our best place ever as far as I'm aware. I really think we punch well above our weight considering the size of the club. A big well done to the ladies of Victory AC.

Our men had a solid finish to ensure they remained a place above relegation in the final league results. While not such dizzy heights as the ladies, it's still a very good performance remaining in the top of 3 divisions.

Tonight is the Hayling Billy 5 where I'm hoping for a PB. Let's find out just how well I have recovered.

Human interaction

2008-06-05T21:57:00.003+01:00

I was coaching tonight at the local country park. We've had clashes with fishermen in the past (yob fishermen from the local estate who think a fishing permit gives them exclusive use of the park) and my runners were looking nervously at a group of 'yoofs' sitting next to the lake blocking the path. I set the session off in the opposite direction and went over to have a friendly word with the teens:

"Excuse me folks, but we have a group of runners coming past in a bit. There's no need to move, but if you could clear your bikes off the path that would be appreciated"

A few questions were then asked about what we were doing and how many of us there were and I jogged off to join the session.

"Thanks for letting us know" said one of them as I departed.

Treat them with respect, you get respect!

I think I learnt a life lesson tonight.

Southern Women's League Division1 Reading 3000m

2008-06-05T16:05:00.003+01:00

A late report from last Saturday, but I've just got the result so I thought I'd better blog it for completeness.

I finished 2nd A-string runner in 11:59.8, so heading in the right direction. I finished 2nd behind online pal RachE who was a minute ahead of me despite waving to her other half in the stands on each lap. I got a better age grading score though, according to the Fetcheveryone site so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I helped the team to 2nd place, putting us 4th in the league.

It was an odd sort of race as we also had the Premier Division match running at the same time, so there were some Reading AC and Newquay & Par runners ahead. It gave me some targets though, particularly when I started to lap people at the end. I lapped my team-mate just as I was closing on someone from the other match - it amused me to have her shout "Go get her" as I passed. Shame it didn't make any difference points-wise!

I felt pretty good and paced it quite well, so another plus point over the vets match from 2 weeks ago. Here are the stats which I presume I must have got from some magic remote collection system, because of course HRMs are illegal in races of 10000m and shorter!
93s 138bpm
96s 154bpm
98s 156bpm
96s 159bpm
96s 160bpm
98s 161bpm
96s 162bpm
47s 163bpm
result: 11:59.8

Footnote:
Here's the rule we race under:

RULE 21 ASSISTANCE
(1) The following shall be interpreted as assistance
(a) Pacing by persons not participating in a race, unless assisting a blind or partially sighted runner.
(b) Receiving advice or similar assistance during an event from an individual located within the competition area.
(c) The use of any technical device.
Athletes receiving assistance as defined above are liable to be disqualified.
(2) The following shall not be interpreted as assistance:
(a) Communication during an event between athletes, and other
persons not within the competition area.
(b) A medical examination during the progress of an event by medical personnel solely to determine whether an athlete is fit enough to continue in the competition.
(c) The use of heart monitors in races in excess of 10000m.

My interpretation of the above is that even wearing a watch is illegal, however Kelly Holmes crossed the line for Olympic Gold wearing the same Polar HRM I wear.

I assume she wasn't wearing the chest strap though. Clearly she wasn't taking splits as I assume she didn't have time to start it, however she would have had the advantage of the stadium clock anyway. I don't look at my watch anyway as I can usually judge the laps from the timekeeper calling the times from the track side. The data is useful for post-race analysis though. I've never been challenged, but I wonder if some over-zealous official might one day want to flex his muscles?

The marathon that never was: Edinburgh 2008

2008-06-02T15:53:00.002+01:00

I've waited 8 days before blogging my Edinburgh Marathon experience - more a matter of internet availability than hesitation over what to write.

This was the first race I've ever failed to finish. At 10 miles, having just passed the finish at Musselbrough Race Course, with a 16 mile loop still to run, having battled 30mph headwinds for 5 miles and another 8 miles of headwind to go, being unable to sustain the pace required form sub-3:15, I bailed. I was very happy. Normally I'd feel a terrible sense of having not given my best - "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever" said Lance Armstrong. In this particular case though, it was the right decision.

They say that to run a marathon you have to have forgotten your previous marathon. The memories of London 2008 were still very much to the fore! I left a bit of my soul (and sole!) on the streets of London. "I can't imagine putting in that much effort ever again" I said to someone after slumping to the kerb in the baggage retrieval area on The Mall. That was a touch of the Steve Redgraves, but it was largely true. I think to ever put that level of effort into another race I will have to have got the desire back: I will need to have forgotten just how much that hurt!

In the weeks following London I felt ill. For 17 days (I counted) I felt exhausted; I felt like I had the flu (I'm fairly sure I didn't though). My legs recovered but I still lacked energy. My dreadful experience of the Alton 10 after 4 weeks, I put down to the fierce heat, but with hindsight I was still suffering from London. This was a very different experience from my Boston recovery: my quads were trashed after the marathon but I soon got my energy back and positively bounded around Alton, albeit in much cooler conditions. The following week I felt great for the Isle of Wight marathon, only 5 weeks after London, picking up a Hampshire gold medal in the process.

A possible difference between the 2 scenarios was the different nature of the Boston and London courses: Boston is hilly and London is pretty flat. Though the hills in Boston can punish the unwary, and certainly got me, I think they at least give your legs a bit of a change of scenery. In London, you are using the same muscle group for a full 26.2 miles, and that will wear you down.

I entered Edinburgh as a safety net. If the weather in London had been hot again and I'd fallen short of my target, at least I'd be able to try again 6 weeks later. This happened to a friend last year: she ran 3:28 in the heat of London, but 3:13 in the rain of Edinburgh. This year though the adverse conditions were reversed: near perfect conditions in London, and a strong headwind in Edinburgh which was destined to add at least 5 minutes to runners times.

So at 10 miles into Edinburgh, realising that I wasn't going to make my target, and not wanting to subject myself to another month in a dark pit of fatigue, and realising for every extra step I took I was going to have to walk an extra step back to the warmth of my rucksack on the baggage lorry, I baled.

Suddenly the world seemed a nicer place: I was going to be able to devote energy to the dear friends I was staying with, whom I hadn't seen for a few years. I was going to be able to do races in the coming weeks that I wouldn't have been able to do. I was going to be able to get back to proper training and simply run! - I love the simple act of running, and to be able to run 10 miles to Roslin Chapel (of Da Vinci code fame) 2 days later, in the cold and wet, was a joy in itself - impossible if I'd just raced 26.2 miles.

As luck would have it I met my friend's son on the way back to the finish at the race course. We were able to sit in the relative warmth of the grandstand (it was still a cold day despite the sunshine) and cheer his mum home to a victory in the W50 category (an astonishing achievement, after so many injury problems, that had me in tears).

We had a great time at the finish soaking up the atmosphere. It's a great location for the finish of what potentially is a very fast marathon. Vicarious marathon running is great fun, if a little emotional!

The application letter for a championship place in the Flora London Marathon 2009 has now been sent, based on my 3:15:18. I couldn't help mentioning the time I spent waiting to get past the Maasai warriors in the opening mile.

It's only 18 seconds.

Pretty please?

Compression Socks

2008-05-21T21:02:00.003+01:00

In the heat of Alton 10 days ago I wore compression socks for the first time in a race to see how they felt. I'd say they felt hot, so it maybe wasn't the best circumstances in which to try them. I would say that my calves felt very comfortable though, having suffered a bit from tight calves lately in the aftermath of London and my calf niggles and cramping problems (post race cramping, that is). Despite the hilly course, which made my hamstrings sore the next day, my calves felt fine, so maybe there's something to recommend them.

I wore them again on Monday evening for the 3000m and my (potentially) sore calves certainly felt very comfortable and trouble free.

Do they make you quicker? This is a claim I've seen in advertising blurb, but in the words of Public Enemy 'Don't Believe The Hype'. I had to find out for myself whether there could be any noticeable speed benefit.

If they do indeed make you faster then you should be able to see this as a lower heart rate when running at a particular pace. This would be such a subtle effect that there's no way you'd see this on the road with all the vagueries of terrain and weather, so I decided to conduct a treadmill test: running at 12kph or 8:00/mile I ran an interval session, alternating ordinary socks with compression socks. I'd warm up in ordinary socks for 10 minutes and then record heart rate for the last minute, then during a 2-minute sitting recovery I'd swap socks and run a 3 minute interval in compression socks, again recording heart rate for the last minute. I'd then swap socks during another 2 minute sitting recovery and continue with the 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off format.

Rather than rely on the HRM to give me the average HR for the final 1 minute of effort in each interval, I took the individual readings and averaged them myself, as I realised I'd need a better resolution than 1bpm as any effect was likely to be subtle.

The results were a bit disappointing. The first interval in the compression socks was indeed a beat lower, but this was simply because my HR hadn't had long enough to get back up after the 2 minute recovery. I knew that it would take a few intervals to reach a steady state, but what I saw was anything but steady. Due to the heat in the gym my HR kept rising during the first few intervals after the initial drop, but once I'd started sweating then my HR started to drop back down again. Of the 8 intervals, 4 in compression socks, there was no real pattern other than a sort of oscillation of HR back and forth which initailly favoured the compression socks but ultimately favoured the ordinary socks.

I won't publish the figures as they are frankly rubbish. The compression socks did average out with a fractionally lower HR, but considering there were as many intervals where the ordinary socks scored better, then the results are pretty meaningless.

I need to see if I can come up with a better protocol which gives steadier results. My only thought is that the test needs to go on a lot longer so that hopefully I reach a steady state without this oscillation between different HR levels. I will also run a control at some point with the same protocol but without swapping socks, just to confirm I get a similar result. Science!

So inconclusive on whether compression socks make you faster, but I'd say they do have an effect on calf comfort. If you tend to suffer with calf trouble in marathons then I'd say give them a go.

For reference, the socks I tested were Medilast Sport.

If Edinburgh is cool then I may well give them a try.

Southern Vets League Basingstoke: 3000m

2008-05-20T16:33:00.003+01:00

What a contrast to Alton last week! I was standing watching the pole-vaulting in the middle of the field wearing multiple layers and gloves, freezing my gluteus maximus off.

Yes, watching the pole-vault. After last year's debacle there's no way I was pole-vaulting only 6 days before a marathon. I would like to have a go later in the season though, being better prepared through weight training and the willingness to let my muscles recover before any intense marathon training. Last night though I had to watch poor Havant team-mate Amanda make some abortive attempts to get over the bar, having never done it before. Amanda could have high jumped the height, but the pole floored her so to speak. I left Lynne to win it for Portsmouth (presumably - I didn't check the result).

So to the 3000m, and after a lengthy warm up to make sure my tired hamstrings behaved I was standing in crop-top, shorts and compression socks (more on those in a later post) at the start, freezing my gluteus maximus, medius, minimus, gemellus, obturator and piriformis off! Fortunately we didn't have too long to wait.

As ever I went off too fast - more like mile pace than 3k pace - not helped by having unfamiliar faces around me, as my team mate Bev went off with 2 Winchester women and a Woking woman. It took me half a lap to realise I wasn't going to be able to keep up with them, and another half lap to get into my own rhythm. Unfortunately this left me in no-mans-land back from the lead group, running on my own.

It took me another lap to realise that my anticipated pace of 93s per lap was a tad ambitious as Bev disappeared off chasing close behind the lead Winchester woman. There then followed the usual 5 laps of mind games:
"It's starting to hurt..." "Don't you dare slow down..." "Keep pushing through the pain..." "You can do this..." "Just 4 more laps - less than a mile"

It helped in the closing stages that I had a tail-ender to chase down and lap. It's so much easier when you aren't running on your own! I then had a Winchester woman ahead of me. Had I caught the A-string runner? Surely not. I'm fairly sure I was lapping her, but she didn't seem like an over-50. The single letter on her back seemed to imply she was A-string. Maybe I was lapping a guest runner. Until I see the full results I won't know the answer to that one.

Whatever her status, she helped me keep my pace going over the last 200m and push hard for the line, before collapsing on my back on the track gasping for air, as seems to be my habit.

12:05.3

I'm a bit disappointed with that time as it's 20s slower than last year. I was hoping for a confidence boost before Edinburgh. My pace wasn't for lack of trying though - my throat was raw afterwards, and my heart rate was where I'd expect it to be at the end. Looking back at last year's stats I was generally a beat or 2 down though, which might account for 1 or 2 seconds per lap.

My stats:
90s 134bpm
95s 151bpm
97s 152bpm
97s 154bpm
99s 156bpm
101s 156bpm
98s 156bpm
47s 158bpm

Bev had a great race, finishing a minute ahead of me. Apparently it was a close run race with the Winchester runner just pipping her to the win. Both Bev and I finished 2nd in our respective A and B races.

It was a good night for the club. I haven't seen the full results yet, but with the javelin still going on when we left, we were leading the match by a healthy margin. I think the men were 2nd, but don't quote me.

I was hoping for better - my fear being that I've lost a little fitness since London, but I've done all the preparation I can for Edinburgh so must now try to look forward. Can I now get myself in the mental frame of mind for another 26.2 miles of maximum effort? How much of me did I leave on the streets of London? 5 days to find the answer.

Pompey played up, Susie sweated.

2008-05-17T18:45:00.003+01:00

"One more - come on!!" "Uggh! Aaaah! F**k! F****k!! F*********k!!!".

These were the sounds almost drowning out my earphones, as I tried to watch the FA Cup Final from the sanctuary of a treadmill set at 11.3kph.

12 miles of easy but hot and sweaty running and your local team wins 1-0. It's not often I watch a football match, but that's one hell of a good way to watch one, ignorant brutes aside.

Once the brutes had departed, the gym was 100% female, perhaps not surprisingly. I found it odd that there seemed to be little interest in the football though - most of the personal TV screens showing music videos and feature films - I thought there would at least be an academic interest in a major local event.

At the final whistle though the woman opposite me let out a polite "yeah!" with a raised fist, before pulling her hand down with an apologetic smile. That small gesture made my day - very amusing.

What a contrast to the foul-mouthed brutes of the first half!

1-0 to Pompey. A polite "yeah!" to that!

Trapped in the kitchen: The Alton 10

2008-05-12T16:05:00.003+01:00

I found history repeating itself yesterday. In the Totton 10k last year, a week before London, I reached half way dizzy and sick and for the first time in a 10k I walked.

At the Alton 10 yesterday in 27°C of blazing sun I got to the 2nd water stop at 7 miles thinking not again!. My head throbbed, my arms tingled, and my motivation for doing the race, with the Edinburgh Marathon 2 weeks away, was not great. I walked. This was a pattern that I kept up for another 2 miles, seeing a hill as an excuse to walk. There are a lot of hills in the Alton 10!

I wasn't the only one having a bad day though: I'd dropped team-mate Graham earlier in the race, when he started to struggle in the heat. He caught me again in my walk breaks and I guess kept me going for a while. He wasn't able to respond though when I decided I ought to at least run the last mile to claw back a few points for the team. At least I was able to overtake most of the women who had overtaken me in the last walk break. Team-mate Shelly finished just behind me and so I assume, having also picked off the same runners I'd overtaken, must have finished strongly.

I love running in the heat, I really do! Long runs, interval sessions, general training runs - the summer sun just makes you want to get out there and do it. Even track races can be fun in the heat - even a 5000m is only just long enough for you to start feeling the heat. Anything longer though, and I'm toast (almost literally!).

The race yesterday wasn't even supposed to be an all out effort - with Edinburgh in mind I'd decided to peg my pace back to marathon effort, running on heart rate. Trouble was, I'd done an 18-mile run on Friday evening, already feeling tired from the Promenade 5k, and I wasn't at my freshest for Alton. Marathon effort in cooler weather would have felt tough, but in the heat it nearly finished me off.

And why did I think it was a good idea to "find some shade" afterwards and try to cool off lying on the floor of a hot airless school gym? I lay there pouring with sweat, expecting to feel cooler, but continued to boil and feel dizzy. Only once I'd gone back into the sun and Diana had poured water over me did I start to feel OK.

I was amazed at how some people seemed to cope with the heat. Tony led our boys home to a very impressive, and much needed, team 5th place. Toby Lambert won the race in a faster time than last year's winner (in cool weather).

"At least the forecast for Edinburgh is perfect - cool and damp" I said to someone afterwards. Unfortunately that forecast had changed by the time I got home to warm and sunny. Nooo! Please let it be cool. I really can't stand the heat and I really can't get out of the kitchen. Fortunately as I write this the forecast has gone back to cool and cloudy, such is the vague nature of a 14-day forecast.

Last year's hot Totton was a warning of what to expect in London. Let's hope the hot Alton doesn't predict the one thing that will stop me going sub-3:15 in Edinburgh.

Portsmouth Promenade 5k Race 1

2008-05-09T16:03:00.002+01:00

This was a last minute decision. That's a truly rare event in the Windsurfin'Susie world of running. Usually things are meticulously planned: key races identified and schedules shaped, training planned around other races where points are needed for the team, and, if the schedule permits or requires it, sharpeners identified which help bring me to a peak for the target races.

After last year's injury, I had a score to settle. I was placed well in the Promenade 5k after 2 races, with all to play for in the last race, and a prize up for grabs. My little pole-vaulting come over-training, come bizarre gym psoas minor tear incident put paid to all that.

I wanted to do the series, but with under a week to go till the first race my legs were still feeling the effects of the London Marathon. While still hopeful I'd be recovered in time, how would the 5k sit with me doing the Alton 10, 2 weeks before the Edinburgh Marathon, followed by a 3000m 6 days before the marathon? While I had no doubt I could recover from any one of these races, I wasn't so sure running them all flat out would leave me time to recover and be properly fresh for Edinburgh. After much debate, I finally decided that running a hilly 10-mile race flat out only 2 weeks before a marathon and only 4 weeks after the previous marathon was not such a good idea. Alton would be run at marathon effort, the track 3000m on the Monday before Edinburgh would be run flat out as my last bit of speedwork, and the Promenade 5k was on.

There have been some minor alterations to the course this year due to the new swimming pool slowly emerging from the ground at the Mountbatten Centre. One course alteration happened at the very last minute when the council decided to dig up the path into the park, leaving us with a very sharp left turn with 200m to go. As race plans have to be lodged with the authorities in order to get a race permit, why are race organisers never consulted over planned road works? The Bramley 20 was cancelled this year when the village was dug up with very little notice. Is it no wonder that road races are under threat?! At least the parking was OK despite the building works and the cycle race taking place in the stadium.

Back to the race though, and what a contrast to the weather of last year! Gone were the howling gales and we had ourselves a beautiful hot summer's spring evening - too hot for any distance over 5k, but perfect weather for this race. It was lovely being able to stand around with most of one's flesh exposed (and in my case just about as much as I could legally get away with) without feeling cold. A nice bit of heat acclimatisation in case Edinburgh is warm. (At the moment the forecast for Edinburgh is cool and damp, ie perfect, not that you can trust such a long range forecast.)

I hadn't tapered for this race, and in fact was treading the fine line between the need to recover from London and getting some final hard training in before tapering for Edinburgh. I wasn't expecting much from the race except some solid points on the board and the hope of at least beating last year's time of 21 minutes in the strong winds. Talking to Havant team mate Jane before the race (I was in my first claim Victory colours tonight) I thought that maybe I could keep up with her. Once the gun went though it was quite obvious she was still her usual speedy self as she steadily pulled away from me. I noticed that Stubbington Susie was keeping pace with her though, confirming my suspicions that she's come on quite well recently. I'll have to train hard this summer if I'm to keep pace with them!

I managed to keep a good pace going, but without a prospect of catching the AFD woman ahead of me I admit I settled back a bit in the 4th kilometre. A final push though saw me across the line in a reasonable 20:42. I was left questioning whether I should have tapered (I'd done 6 miles the night before and hadn't rested for 10 days), as my heart rate data made it quite clear that I should have been a place higher and nearly a minute quicker, but I guess I've now got a target for next time. The fact that my 5k PB is now 2 years old is starting to get to me. Oh dear, if I'm not competing with those around me I'm competing with my own times!

There were some good runs from team mates Richard, Richard and Jo. Well done too to local star Karrie for being first lady. I haven't seen the other results yet to know how the others got on. Thanks go to TR, Dave and Gina (marshalling) for their much appreciated support, and to Lynne, Pete, Gerry and the team for another great race.

As a social event, it was very enjoyable, bumping into on-line friends, chatting sports science to fellow coaches, renewing acquaintances with other runners.

Now was it really Bradley Wiggins I spotted watching the cycle racing?

Back on track

2008-05-02T16:28:00.002+01:00

My recovery is progressing nicely as I start to build (and taper!) towards the Edinburgh Marathon in 3 weeks time.

I've just done my first bit of speedwork since London: 8x400m at 10k pace with 100m jog recoveries, followed by 4x300m at 5k pace with 100m walk recoveries. I confess I was making it up on the spot as I had no idea how I would feel. There's no doubt I still have a touch of marathon in my legs, but what a contrast to earlier in the week:

On Monday, 15 days after London, I felt awful. I had done a very gentle 8 miles the previous day, my first longish run since the marathon, and had felt OK, but later on that day was starting to feel really tired. By Monday I was a complete zombie. OK, my flesh wasn't grey and putrid, but I did get a strange desire to eat my colleague's brain after a difficult meeting. My higher thought processes seemed absent and I spent much of the day staring blankly at a computer screen. (Please stifle any urge to say "So what's new?"!)

How could I feel so bad so suddenly? I'd rested for a week, and then introduced gentle running on alternate days, no more than 5 miles at a time, before doing that gentle 8 miles: pretty much my usual plan for marathon recovery. After 2 weeks I'd usually expect to start feeling better, but here I was thinking there was something wrong with me.

What a contrast the following day though!

I made sure I had nearly 10 hours sleep on Monday night; I've been typically getting at least 9 hours a night since the marathon. On the Tuesday I was feeling much better. I even managed a couple of near-marathon-effort miles in the Tuesday night club run. Things were looking up!

By Wednesday I was feeling generally OK - quite a turn around.

So for the record, it's taken me 17 days to feel like I'm back to normal.

The caveat of course is that I still have the marathon in my legs and don't expect to be back at my best for at least another week, but at least I've got over the general malaise that always dogs me post-marathon.

So having originally thought that this marathon had hit me harder than any of my previous marathons, in fact it's pretty much the same recovery time, albeit with 'Black Monday' thrown in to the mix!

And so to Edinburgh...

New training method?

2008-04-24T14:27:00.002+01:00

My fellow coach Pete suggested we should adopt the following training method in our club:

I think it has legs!

18 seconds: The Flora London Marathon 2008

2008-04-14T16:40:00.004+01:00

3:15:18
That's almost a race report in itself. I wanted 3:15, and I'll be telling people my PB is now "3:15", but will that time be enough to get me on the elite start next year, for which a time of under 3:15:00 is needed (the organisers are always careful to include the ":00" on the end!)?

I'm delighted, but at the same time a little concerned. It's a huge PB, but is it what I wanted? Could I have mustered just a little extra effort and managed 18s quicker? Hindsight's so very easy after the event.

If you'd offered me that time the day before the marathon I'd have grabbed it straight away. My calf muscles had been a problem for the final days of the taper - the right calf had gone into spasm during a gentle run on Tuesday and although the Thursday massage hadn't revealed a problem, it tightened again during a gentle 3 miles that evening. The calf had been sore all day Friday and had been tingling on Saturday. I thought maybe it had settled down by Saturday evening, but as I climbed the stairs for bed, it again 'grabbed' - I was worried. On the morning of the marathon I was still very concerned about how tight my calf muscles were - they didn't feel right.

In the event, the calves weren't a problem, so maybe it was pre-marathon paranoia as my friends had claimed. I felt uncomfortable for the first 2 miles but my calves relaxed off and I didn't notice them again - until after the finish that is! I staggered through the finish, grabbed medal, refreshment and baggage, and as I lifted my foot over a kerb I got hit by the most almighty cramp. I've never experienced that before! I've had night cramps but I've never cramped after a race, or during for that matter. Ouch! Was it the suspected damage, or was it simple dehydration? I felt a little like the hypochondriac who had "I told you I was ill" on his tomb-stone. My calves feel dodgy today, but hopefully I haven't done too much damage.

Back to the race, the story is best illustrated by looking at my splits and how my intermediate times compared to the 3:15 steady pace schedule:

Lap	Split	HR	Schedule	Actual	Difference
1	07:48	130bpm	07:27	07:48	-21s
2	07:23	137bpm	14:53	15:12	-19s
3	06:52	140bpm	22:20	22:05	15s
4	07:14	142bpm	29:46	29:19	27s
5	07:04	145bpm	37:13	36:24	49s
6	07:36	144bpm	44:39	44:00	39s
7	07:30	144bpm	52:06	51:30	36s
8	07:12	144bpm	59:32	58:42	50s
9	07:28	144bpm	01:06:59	01:06:11	48s
10	07:21	142bpm	01:14:26	01:13:33	53s
11	07:10	144bpm	01:21:52	01:20:43	69s
12	07:28	144bpm	01:29:19	01:28:12	67s
13	07:22	145bpm	01:36:45	01:35:34	71s
14	07:14	142bpm	01:44:12	01:42:50	82s
15	07:14	142bpm	01:51:38	01:50:04	94s
16	07:25	143bpm	01:59:05	01:57:30	95s
17	07:18	145bpm	02:06:31	02:04:48	103s
18	07:19	146bpm	02:13:58	02:12:07	111s
19	07:39	146bpm	02:21:24	02:19:46	98s
20	07:37	143bpm	02:28:51	02:27:25	86s
21	07:42	142bpm	02:36:18	02:35:07	71s
22	07:35	143bpm	02:43:44	02:42:42	62s
23	07:46	143bpm	02:51:11	02:50:29	42s
24	07:26	144bpm	02:58:37	02:57:55	42s
25	08:02	145bpm	03:06:04	03:05:58	6s
26	07:42	147bpm	03:13:30	03:13:40	-10s
26.2	01:38	149bpm	03:15:00	03:15:18	-18s

I wasn't able to get up to pace immediately, being quite far back from the green start line. It also didn't help that the Maasai Warriors were attracting quite a number of hangers-on and were blocking the road somewhat. Once I got past them, and presumably a host of other celebs positioned ahead of us on the start line, I started to run at nearer my natural pace. I have every respect for the Maasai Warriors, but it does bug me how they position the celebrities on the start line and then put a selection of the country's fastest runners behind them. Just how does Amanda Holden's mum get on the green start for her first marathon when the rest of us have to qualify for the privilege?

Back to the race.

As you can see, after a couple of miles I was back on track and making up time. I was soon into my running and happy that I was able to run the required pace with my heart rate nicely under control. In fact I felt really good!

I could hear regular shouts of "Go Suzy", but as I hadn't got my name on my crop top I realised it was another runner with whom I'd kept pace for a few miles. I realised it was the Cornwall AC runner ahead and I introduced myself, establishing that we were both targetting 3:15. Suzy was great. We ran together for 10 miles or more, sharing water and pacing each other. Suzy seemed very strong, and I felt strong too. I was grinning as a realised that I was on for a big PB at the very least.

We pressed on and built up a nice cushion against our schedule. Soon we had made up the delay in crossing the start line and the course clock was now showing that we were ahead of schedule. In reality we were some 90s ahead of schedule.

At 17 miles I still felt good, but as Suzy pushed up the slight hill at Mudchute I couldn't quite keep up with her and the elastic that had kept us together for 10 miles broke. I still felt strong, but clearly Suzy was on great form. That was the last I saw of her. Post race analysis revealed that she accelerated at that point and was able to run the last half of the race faster than the first - a negative split - so difficult to do in a marathon. She finished in 3:12 - great performance!

The weather had been kind to us this year. Temperatures were cool - perfect in fact. We started in sunshine and finished in sunshine but had some quite heavy rain mid-race. Some people were bothered by the rain, but I found it OK - it didn't get me cold. If anything it might have helped me push my pace. After Suzy had dropped me, the rain stopped. I actually wonder if I could have kept the pace up if the rain had persisted. I like rain!

I just had to hold it together. I was still on pace but by 20 miles I was starting to lose time by a few seconds per mile. By 23 miles I was still what appeared at the time to be a minute ahead, and still optimistic, but it was getting harder to maintain pace. The presence of friend Graham on the sidelines - my only spectator sighting - had helped, but I now had to dig deep. I could see the time ticking away, but at 25 miles I was still just ahead. Surely I could keep it going with a last big push?

I was amazed to see people walking on Birdcage Walk within 800m of the finish. Surely they could keep going? Runners were shouting at them to keep running. There's no way I would ever stop, but I guess if they were targetting 3:15 and they realised they'd missed it then the mind just switches off? I was still hopeful, but as I turned into the Mall and sprinted for the finish I realised I'd lost the battle with the clock. Even sprinting the fastest I could muster, I barely managed to get back onto scheduled pace - I still lost a few seconds in the last 385 yards. At least that makes me feel good that I'd given it everything I had.

I crossed the line in 3:15:18, to be presented with a medal by the woman I'd met 2 days earlier on a customer visit to the Forestry Commission in Hampshire. Well they say it's a small world!

I'm really pleased with that performance, but I hope that 18 seconds doesn't come back to haunt me!

A tale of 2 cities: Totton 10k 2008

2008-04-06T17:16:00.003+01:00

I had a shock when I looked out of the window this morning.

I'd had a leisurely breakfast, showered, and had pretty much got ready to leave for the race before I opened the curtains. I saw a scene I've never seen before in my 20 years on the south coast: blizzard conditions! I scraped 4" of snow off the car and set out for Totton in extremely unsafe conditions, with cars crawling along the M27 in the worst snow I've ever driven in (and I lived in France once, driving regularly to the Alps!). Changing lane was really not the thing to do as you had to drive through the ridge of snow on the white line, but I really hadn't got time to wait behind someone doing 15mph on the motorway! The traffic report on the radio painted a picture of doom saying that conditions were nearly impassable nearer Totton between junctions 4 and 6. This was starting to worry me!

I got to the dreaded junction 6 to find the snow had stopped falling, the road was clear and there was just a sprinkling of snow by the side of the road. I arrived in Totton in plenty of time to find the sun starting to show itself, making the light dusting of snow on top of the hedgerows sparkle. Quite a contrast.

Having feared that the race would be cancelled, we now had pretty good conditions, albeit a tad chilly. Trouble was, did we have a team? A lot of my club mates had decided to take the advice offered on the radio and stay at home. Oh dear!

We just managed to field a men's and women's team but there were a lot of no-shows. This was going to bias the race rather unfairly against those from the Portsmouth area. Southampton's revenge for Harry Redknapp taking Pompey to the cup final?

The race plan for me remained unaltered. After last year's fiasco in the heat, this was going to be strictly marathon pace, saving myself for London next week. I warmed up for a couple of easy miles and lined up in all my winter woollies: hat, gloves, leggings, long sleeves - not my usual race apparel!

The race went well, and we finished in bright sunshine - what a contrast! I stuck to my game plan, keeping to marathon heart rate, with my pace spot on the 7:15/mile I need to do in London (I only need 7:25/mile for 3:15, but I always lose 10s/mile in London for whatever reason). John M was supporting from the roadside and pointed out I had a Winchester woman behind me, so I allowed myself a flourish in the last 300m, picking my pace and HR up somewhat.

I'd been just behind team mate Graham for much of the race, but couldn't quite close him down, sticking to my HR plan. He finished just ahead of me to become the first Victory man across the line, much to his surprise. If I'd allowed myself 1bpm more, I'd have been the first Victory runner over the line, male or female - an illustration of how depleted we were.

It was nice to meet an old friend afterwards, who I confess I didn't realise was a runner, as I jogged back down the field to add a couple of miles. Poor Lisa was struggling somewhat with an ankle problem.

We did get a men's and women's team result in the end, so well done to everyone for having the courage to press on out of Portsmouth. The race didn't seem unusually thin on numbers so I suspect we've been penalised somewhat by the hand of fate!

Here are my stats:
1 4:38 no HR 7:27/mile
2 4:30 140bpm 7:14/mile
3 4:29 141bpm 7:13/mile
4&5 4:32 144bpm 7:18/mile
6 4:30 144bpm 7:14/mile
7 4:30 145bpm 7:14/mile
8 4:32 146bpm 7:18/mile
9 4:42 145bpm 7:34/mile
10 4:11 148bpm 6:44/mile
Total 45:09 144bpm ave 7:16/mile
5th place W45

I was running in heavy shoes and full kit, so hopefully will be quicker still on marathon day, although these figures are exactly what I need (7:15/mile 144bpm). Also, I was a little heavy legged from doing some lab tests yesterday - more on this soon (boy, it was fun!). I've always claimed that fatigue doesn't affect my pace/HR relationship - let's hope I'm wrong and I'll find myself flying along in London - fingers crossed!

Weather: The Compton Downland Challenge 20

2008-03-22T19:00:00.003Z

The average person's body has about 400-500g of stored glycogen.

I started the race today with 400g less glycogen than most people!

Ooh that was a tough one! We started in gale force driving snow. That was a first for me!

The snow lasted for well over an hour before it became mere snow showers. Eventually we had a couple of sunny intervals. These were accompanied by horizontal hail. We really did have it all today.

I've trained hard this week: a hard hill run on Tuesday evening, weights Wednesday morning, 12 miles Wednesday evening, 4 miles Thursday morning, a Kenyan Hills session Thursday evening with very sore glutes and adductors from the weights and a double on Friday with 5 miles in the morning and another 5 miles in the evening.

This was never really going to be a comfortable 20-miler!

The original plan was to take it easy in the first half and then push it on in the second half with some marathon effort. By 4 miles though I was really hungry and running on empty. It was then just a matter of gritting my teeth against the snow and pushing on. It wasn't pretty, but I finished feeling fairly comfortable for a nice easy 20-mile training run, although in terms of effort expended it was more the equivalent of a 24-mile flat tarmac run. Despite the lack of marathon specific quality, I guess a 24-miler must count for something.

The course is a lovely bit of off-road, ignoring the weather for a moment, with 2200ft of climbing. I particularly liked the run through the woods to emerge on the high downs above the Thames - shame we had to contend with a freezing cold gale full in our faces as we descended the downs. Fortunately I was wearing 2 Helly-Hansen's, a club vest, a Gore-Tex jacket, hat and gloves - the most I've ever worn in a race.

I felt sorry for those who carried on at the end, to do the 40-mile option, although some decided to call it quits at 20. Judging by the laughter of those around me, some were enjoying the prospect of 40 miles though. It amused me when one guy referred to me doing the "sprint option".

It was nice to see all the old forum faces: RichK, RFJ, Gobi, Tigger's mate Roo. Well done to club mate Steve for finishing 3rd - top performance!

An experience!

Go Team! Go me! Eastleigh 10k 2008

2008-03-16T19:23:00.005Z

Well done girls!

1st vet team: Miranda, Susie, Shelly
3rd senior women's team: Miranda, Susie, Shelly, Lucy
I didn't fare badly either:
Bronze Medal South of England Championships W45
Silver Medal Hampshire W45
3rd place W45

I picked up 3 lots of B&Q vouchers, and even more should I forget to hand the others theirs! ;-)

I so desperately wanted a PB but I was a minute out. I quote the results page:
The strong North wind (averaging about 20mph at the time of the race) slowed times considerably.

I reckoned after the race that I lost 30 secs to the wind, but it might have been more. Some of the lead men lost a minute over last year and the lead woman, Natalie Harvey, lost over 30s. Due to possible fatigue my heart rate was slightly down on last year so I guess I need to be happy that I'm as fit as last year and in good shape for London. How can I be unhappy after that prize haul? Our vets beat Winchester for heaven's sake!

I got to meet my online pals hilly and BR whom I haven't seen for ages. I also had a chat with our marathon hero Dan Robinson (good luck in London!), and met Leon Taylor, our Athens silver medal diver (yum!).

What of the race? I had a little virtual partner on my Garmin, which was me running the race last year - I'd know at any point how far I was behind PB schedule - nice feature. Unfortunately we started straight into the strong headwind and the little virtual me was soon leaving me behind. That just left me to focus on the real people around me, such as Stubbington Bev, my Havant track partner, and her Stubby team mate Susie. I caught the 2 of them at half way and dropped Bev, but Susie pulled away from me, finishing just ahead. That wind was particularly cruel on the run in around the edge of the playing fields - it was pretty much a re-run of 2 years ago, although without the sunshine. I've just noticed I mentioned Dan Robinson in the report 2 years ago, having watched him get Commonwealth Bronze - how spooky is that?

A very good day at the office!

Finally, as always, the heart rate data. Notice how much higher my HR was 2 years ago!
4:10 139bpm
4:11 148bpm
4:12 150bpm
4:37 152bpm (slight uphill)
4:01 150bpm (slight downhill)
4:09 153bpm
4:12 154bpm
4:14 152bpm
4:17 152bpm
4:24 153bpm (into the wind)

42:26 150bpm ave

The 20-miler

2008-03-05T16:00:00.001Z

I thought I'd share my controversial views on 20-milers. I say controversial, as what I'm about to say seems to offend some people, but it's my blog and I'll say what I want. So here goes:
Do not race 20-milers!

I need to explain that one a bit of course, so first of all let me say that this is very much in the context of marathon training. I should also say that I'm not suggesting you don't do 20-mile races - they are excellent training. I should also say that I have done more than a dozen 20-mile races, but the closest I've come to racing one flat out was last year at Worthing where I jogged the first 5 miles, then picked the pace up and ran much of the remainder at marathon pace, finishing in 2:31:33 - an average pace of 7:33/mile, which was actually faster than the pace I subsequently ran the (very hot) London Marathon in! That was a measured effort and I recovered well for London 3 weeks later - it was the heat that did me in on the day, or so I believe - but this hints at the problems of using 20-mile races as marathon training.

What I mean by racing a 20-miler is putting maximum effort into your run to achieve the best time you can. I have never done this, I confess, but I know many people who have regretted racing 20 (some deny the 20 caused the problem but in the context of their training I believe it was a, or even the, major factor). The problem is simply the amount of recovery needed afterwards. It can take a full 3 weeks to recover from 20 miles of maximum effort, and that ignores the effect of whatever training you choose to do subsequently.

Most people are pushing it quite hard in the run up to a marathon. 20-mile training runs are all part of the formula, and very necessary too, but there are much better ways to tackle the 20-mile training run than running it flat out. The 20-miler should be one component of a balanced training program, allowing sufficient recovery to perform your interval sessions and tempo runs. Jog a 20-miler and you should be feeling fairly fresh 2 days later for your tempo run or your mile reps. Race a 20-miler though, and the following week you are feeling jaded and unable to put any effort into the training. You try harder and push all you can to achieve the right paces but just can't manage it. Of course that's the optimistic outlook. At worst you push too hard, get ill or injured and miss the marathon completely.

20-mile races, flat out, are hard. It should be fairly evident that their impact is almost as great as that of a marathon. One unseen risk is that your immune system pretty much collapses for 24 hours afterwards, laying you wide open to whatever bugs are around. You push on with your training and a week or 2 later you are laid up in bed with flu symptoms.

Even running a 20-mile race at marathon pace is hard. It's 20/26th of the effort of a marathon: 77% of a marathon is very tough!

20-mile races, as training, are however very useful. They are brilliant practise for getting your fuelling and hydration strategy right. What better way to do a training run than in company with others and having drinks laid on for you without the need to run with a bottle belt or camelbak? You need to view them as training runs though and run them sensibly.

Early in your marathon program I'd suggest just jogging them. Take them nice and easy and don't worry about the clock, other than to make sure you are at least a minute/mile slower than your marathon pace. There is a school of thought that says you shouldn't do your long runs too slowly as they are not specific enough. While I can see that it might come as a bit of a shock doing 26.2 miles at 7:30/mile when you've only run at 11:00/mile in training, as long as you have been doing tempo runs, and you do include some faster long runs then the occasional reeeeaaally slow run won't do any harm. Generally try to keep them between 1 and 2 minutes/mile slower than marathon pace.

Later in your program, with maybe 6 weeks to go to the marathon, try adding a fast finish to the run. Jog the first 15 miles and then try lifting the pace up to marathon pace for the last 5 miles. Make sure you carbo-load for the race as you'll find this very tough if you're low on fuel.

The hardest I reckon you should run is 15 miles of marathon effort (although I personally think that 10 miles of marathon effort is sufficient). Try this 3 weeks out, no closer. Jog the first 5 miles and then pick up the pace for the last 15. Remember that 15 miles of marathon pace is a very hard training run. Don't do this closer than 3 weeks to the marathon. Give yourself a day or 2 of recovery and you should be OK but look for signs of fatigue. If you attempt a 20-miler only 2 weeks out then jog it - don't attempt a large amount of marathon pace running so close to the marathon.

Of course people will still want to race a 20-miler, but if you absolutely must then I'd say: don't try this within a month of the marathon, consider taking several days off afterwards, and cut right back on the training afterwards with little or no speedwork for a week or 2. Bear in mind the context in which you do the race. How much other racing have you done? What is your training load? Remember that the marathon is (probably) your target. If the 20-miler is your target though, then good luck to you - you obviously won't mind if you don't do that well in the marathon.

It's amazing how heated on-line discussions can get when I say "Don't race 20-milers", but hopefully I've presented a balanced view on the topic.

Going downhill fast

2008-02-26T13:09:00.003Z

After our 'Kenyan Hills' session on Thursday some concerns were raised about doing a session that required running downhill at speed. I completely understand these concerns and the perceived danger of damage to the legs that running downhill can cause, but as we'll see, there's a lot we can do to avoid such problems.

First, let me recap the session for those of you who weren't there. The idea is to run the session close to threshold effort. Rather than run flat out up hill and jog back down, we throttle back a bit on our uphill efforts and push the pace downhill to keep the effort going. In heart rate terms, rather than see the HR rocket during the efforts and drop right down on the recoveries, it peaks a lot lower, around or just above threshold level, and drops only a little on the run back down the hill. The session then becomes more of a tempo run, but with a whole lot of hills thrown in. We still get the strength benefits of a hill session, but now we are targeting our aerobic system rather than it being a predominantly anaerobic session. As you know, I'm passionate about focussing on the most appropriate energy system to us as endurance runners. The session also has an added benefit in that it's a form of race rehearsal: in races you need to keep your effort fairly even over hills, throttling back on the speed uphill and being able to power over the crest and off downhill. Pushing hard uphill so that your legs turn to jelly and then staggering over the crest will simply mean that all the people you overtook on the way up will come screaming past you on the downhill.

Incidentally, in Lanzarote I was trained by the man who first coined the expression 'Kenyan Hills': Keith Anderson. Keith had the opportunity to go and train with the Kenyans in the Ngong hills. He saw how they ran tempo sessions over a rolling hill course, and the brought the session back to the UK. We can learn a lot from those Kenyans!

So why is running downhill seen as such a damaging thing to do? The answer lies with what's known as eccentric muscle contractions. Imagine holding a dumbell in your relaxed arm and doing a biceps curl. As you draw the dumbell up towards you, your biceps contract and shorten. This is called a concentric contraction. Now lower the dumbell in a controlled manner. As you lower, the biceps are still contracted, under tension, and doing work, but this time they are lengthening. This is called an eccentric contraction. The training effect of an eccentric contraction is greater than that of a concentric contraction, as the tiny amounts of damage done by the loading, which give the training effect, are greater under eccentric loading than concentric loading. For this reason it is important that you should always lower the dumbell in a controlled fashion, during the eccentric phase, as this is where the most training benefit is. This concept should be familiar to those of you who weight-train.

So now let's look at what happens when you run downhill. As your foot hits the ground in front of you, it has dropped further than usual and your momentum going into the foot strike is a lot greater. Your leg then flexes to absorb the shock of the landing and much of this is taken by the quads as they lengthen to absorb the impact. In other words your quads are under eccentric loading - they are being worked hard and potentially could be left quite sore by a heavy session of this.

Let me give you a couple of examples of the damage potential of downhill running, both from the granddaddy of the downhill: the Boston Marathon. The course is characterised by an opening 3 or 4 miles of continuous downhill that will pound away at the legs of the unwary. At around the 20 mile mark we then have a series of hills culminating in Heartbreak Hill followed by a mile of continuous downhill before the flat run into Boston. In 1982 Grete Waitz had been running on world record pace, helped no doubt by the opening downhill miles, before cresting Heartbreak Hill with a big lead. With just 5 miles to go she retired at the bottom of the hill, the pain in her legs being too great to continue.

My experience of Boston was that I'd trained and trained for downhill running, learning the correct technique, having been advised by a former London Marathon winner Mike Gratton. On the day though I wasn't able to execute the plan, for reasons I'll explain shortly, resulting in pain in my knees by half way. The descent of Heartbreak Hill was excruciating - despite the steep hill I was no faster downhill than I was on the flat, such was the pain with every downhill stride. I finished the marathon is a respectable 3:31, but 2 days later I was barely able to walk. My legs buckled as I was handed my cases at Heathrow and the other passengers had to help me to my feet, the destruction of my quads now being complete.

All is not lost though. With correct technique we can avoid such problems. This is why I was careful on Thursday to talk about the proper technique for downhill running.

The key to comfortable downhill running is to avoid the eccentric loading of our quads as much as possible. This is done 2 ways:

Lean forward down the hill - this reduces the amount of extra height we get with each step and reduces the impact of each stride.

Avoid heel striking - it is natural when running downhill to dig your heels in to slow you down, but it is this that causes all the pounding and eccentric loading. You need to be as light on your feet as possible and try to land more on your forefoot. Natural forefoot runners have an advantage in this respect, but we should all try to achieve this.

We can achieve a smooth light gait by another couple of techniques:

Relax! Play the rag doll and keep your upper body really loose. If you tense you will start to dig your heels in.

Let gravity take over. Pick up your cadence and let the hill do the work. (This is pretty much the same point as above.)

Consciously lift your heels behind you, more than you normally would. This will help you land more on your forefoot, and will help lengthen your stride downhill without digging your heels in. It will also help with the gravity assisted increase of pace.

There will come a time when the hill is too steep to be able to do the above and the heels start to dig. On the road, these hills tend to have road signs warning motorists of the gradient, and we don't tend to encounter them too often. Farlington Avenue in Portsmouth is just about at the limit of where I can comfortably employ this technique. The Boston Marathon certainly has nothing anywhere near this gradient, so is eminently suitable for this.

At steeper gradients there is a different, 'Gazelle', technique used by fell runners, but this requires a lobotomy, and besides is really a racing technique rather than something designed to preserve your quads. Having said that, I do find it more comfortable to employ the 'Gazelle' technique on steep off road than try to hobble down slowly, but the ankle-turning potential is great. Maybe I'll describe it in a later article.

So having described the technique, and told of how I practised it meticulously in preparation for Boston, why did Boston go so wrong? Two things conspired against me at the start:

The crowds - we were packed into the pens like sardines, and although we were running smoothly from the gun, there wasn't room to get comfortable and relaxed.

My natural pace, resulting in a finish time of 3:31, was far greater than my qualifying time of 3:47 would indicate, so I was in a pen with slower runners.

So the gun went and for the first 3 miles I had to keep my pace in check, unable to run freely. I was digging in my heels, trying to slow down to avoid bumping into people, and it all went wrong from there. My pace was conservative from the gun, but unlike other marathons where this would have been a virtue, it actually helped to tire my quads. If I'd been able to relax and let my pace flow, my quads would have been in far better shape by the end.

So next time you are out for a run and encounter a downhill, try practising the technique. You don't have to wait until the next hill session. Your quads (and knees and everything else connected to them) will thank you for it!

Saucony National Cross Country Championships 2008

2008-02-24T18:58:00.006Z

Liz Yelling opens up what became a huge lead:

Here she crests the hill for the first time. When I saw her crest the hill on the next lap I thought something was wrong - I didn't see any of the rest of the field!:

It was a very steep hill!

Get a load of that arm action:

Marilyn goes up in style:

The men's field:

Mike concentrates:

John beats the hill:

Graham unfortunately had to retire after returning too soon after illness:

Tom Humphries opens up a lead to go on to win:

Mike Skinner ulitmately finished 5th:

Neil crests the hill working hard:

That was my first National XC, and it was a great experience. It was nice to bump into a couple of old chums, Tigger's Mate Roo and Ratcatcher. It's a shame I didn't get to see Steph Twell win the juniors (easily too, judging by the results). I did see Liz Yelling on her way to a big win (I never actually saw the 2nd place runner as she was so far behind!), but it would have been nice to watch the race - I'd have loved to see how the elites ran the hill - it was only a 100m long but very steep!

Alton Towers is a good venue. The weather was dry and conditions good underfoot, but I'd hate to think what that course would be like if it had rained a lot - I reckon it would have been a quagmire.

Many thanks to Alex and Carol for their support and photography skills. Further thanks to Alex for driving. Well worth the trip!

Pace vs HR

2008-02-22T19:02:00.003Z

The faster you run the higher your heart rate - this much is obvious. However, it's useful to know the exact relationship between pace and heart rate. In most people an increase of 10 bpm will give an increase in pace of 30-40secs/mile, although as we'll see it's not a simple linear relationship.

Following on from Wednesday's pace test I thought I'd re-run a mini test at a slow pace to check whether my pace/HR relationship is still what it used to be.

Here's a short 2-lap test I ran this morning:
7:30am 22nd Feb 2008 - 3 miles slow pace 2x1.5 miles continuous:

Lap time	Heart rate	Pace
13:26	115bpm	8:58/mile
13:26	115bpm	8:58/mile

I also wanted to make this my first proper double training day (I've been doing morning gym sessions with some treadmill running, but not run 2 pure running sessions in the same day in this campaign as yet), so I decided to re-run the session this evening to see how my heart rate looked:

5:00pm 22nd Feb 2008 - 3 miles slow pace 2x1.5 miles continuous:

Lap time	Heart rate	Pace
13:27	112bpm	8:58/mile
13:24	112bpm	8:56/mile

The temperature for both sessions was within 1°C and the weather conditions were virtually identical.

The results are interesting: a 3bpm difference is at least 10secs/mile! That's a minute off your 10k time. This confirms what I suspected: I've read that your performance is better in the evening when your body is at its proper temperature and you're at your metabolic peak (around mid-afternoon in fact). Food for thought next time you are choosing whether to do that 10k at 9am on a Sunday or have a go at the Wednesday evening 10k for your PB attempt!

I digress though. We now have 2 (evening) data points:

Pace	Heart rate	Speed
8:56/mile	112bpm	6.72mph
7:24/mile	141bpm	8.11mph

So there we have it: 32secs/mile for every 10bpm rise in heart rate.

Of course it's not that simple. It never is, is it? I said earlier that it isn't a simple linear relationship. You'll notice in the table above I've added a column for speed, a measurement we runners rarely use. This is because for good physiological reasons heart rate is proportional to speed while we are running aerobically. The faster we run, the more power we require, in a simple linear relationship. The extra power requires extra oxygen, and this is delivered by a higher heart rate - all in simple linear relationships to the speed.

So lets add a couple of extra points to the above table:

Pace	Heart rate	Speed
8:56/mile	112bpm	6.72mph
8:20/mile	122bpm	7.20mph	Interpolated
7:52/mile	131bpm	7.63mph	Interpolated
7:24/mile	141bpm	8.11mph

So, assuming those interpolated points are correct (theory says they are), then my pace increases by 36secs/mile for every 10bpm at the bottom of my range, and 32secs/mile for every 10bpm at the top of my range. (It will be interesting to re-run the test to confirm these paces/HRs.)

So why is this important? I know that I can run a 10k at 156bpm when fresh. This should equate to a pace of 6:47/mile or a time of 42:13. Oh well, I'm not on PB form yet, some 50secs short in fact. Let's hope the taper works wonders, because the science doesn't lie!

Probably.

Marathon pacing part 4 - pace test

2008-02-21T12:37:00.003Z

I ran the promised pace test last night. The plan had been to run 2 more laps, to run a little faster, at a slightly higher heart rate, but I still clearly had the Meon Valley Plod in my legs. I couldn't keep the pace going, so jogged the remainder of the 10 miles after just 4 1.5-mile laps of my test circuit.

The good news is that my pace was good, but unfortunately I didn't get the confirmation that I could keep the pace going without any heart rate drift. My heart rate was constant (after the first lap where I was still warming up), but the drop in pace was an indication that I was struggling. If I'd kept my pace even then the chances are that I would have seen a rise in HR by maybe a beat.

Still, 1bpm is not very much, and shows I was pretty close to my marathon pace. Contrast this to last time and you 'll see that at 15s/mile quicker I was getting quite a rise in heart rate over a much shorter space of time (laps a third of the distance). The last test's 7:07/mile is clearly faster than what I can currently sustain for a marathon, whereas last night's 7:25/mile is quite close to marathon pace.

I'll re-run the test in a few weeks' time when I'll hopefully be a bit fresher and will be able to run further.

This was a good training session though, and certainly not a wasted opportunity: a good marathon-specific session with some worthwhile data as a result - bargain!

6 miles marathon pace 4x1.5 miles continuous:

Lap time	Heart rate	Pace
11:06	134bpm	7:24/mile
11:02	141bpm	7:21/mile
11:07	141bpm	7:24/mile
11:11	141bpm	7:27/mile

A little hill running: Meon Valley Plod 2008

2008-02-19T13:02:00.001Z

"When did you last run?"
"Ryde 10 a couple of weeks back"
I clearly hadn't understood the question. A short while later:
"When did you last train?"
"Yesterday"
"How far?"
"6 miles"
As we stood at the start, it occurred to me how that short bit of conversation defined the difference in attitude between us. To me this was just another training run, to her it was a race, a challenge, something to prepare for.

My only concern had been how many layers to wear. It had been -4C overnight at home and despite the sunshine it was barely above freezing now. There were some in just vest and shorts, but no way was I going to push even remotedly hard. This was a nice gentle training run.

Gentle?

This race is hard. Don't let the glorious countryside, or on this occasion the brilliant sunshine, fool you. There are some very steep hills, including Old Winchester Hill and Butser Hill, the highest on the South Downs, and some very difficult underfoot conditions. This year the going was good, unlike the previous years of mud, mud and more mud, but there were still some very difficult rutted paths to negotiate, and still a good smattering of mud to keep the mudpluggers happy.

Before the start the race director warned us not to complain if the 'nearly 20 miles' published in the race details turned out to be a bit further, or the mile markers were a few yards out. It turned out to be 21 miles!

We were under way and I was into my stride feeling good and running a good pace for my easy effort. A few up and downs and we hit our first steep hill at 3 miles and the field reduced to a slow walk. We then found ourselves queuing at a stile. I watched as the queue began to stretch down the hill. I must have waited nearly 5 minutes. This would be OK if it was the same for everyone but the tail-enders turned left, over a fence and carried on up the hill in the next field. I figured they'd get caught out as they'd have to negotiate the barbed wire back into our field, but at the top the 2 fields merged and they were able to cut a big corner as the 2 halves of the field merged on the top of the downs. Now I know this was just a training run, and I was determinedly not racing, but it narked me a bit to be overtaken by Nick, no disrespect, whom I must have been several minutes ahead of by then. I had a bit of a moan to Marilyn too as I passed her along with all the other tail-enders. Just for good measure I had a whinge at our supporters - thanks Gina for letting me vent. Ah well, it's just a training run.

On we plodded and eventually arrived at East Meon church, where the mud 2 years ago had been impossibly slippery. This year was possibly worse! The ground was firm but we were left with firm ruts with a thin coat of mud on top which made it very difficult to run. The ruts were regularly spaced across the path, at a spacing just too short to maintain a comfortable stride. If only they'd been spaced a little further apart I might have got a rhythm going. In the end, I succumbed and fell flat on my face. Fortunately it was a soft landing - nothing damaged, just my pride.

The ground was still frozen in places but it was becoming quite a warm day, which soon baked the mud onto me. The drink station was a welcome sight, as I bumped into my friend from the start line. I'm sure I'd been ahead of her before the stile! I was determined not to ask which route she took. This is not a race, it's a training run!

I had my first of 5 chunks of very nice fruit cake. I think the race has sponsorship from a cake company. Good move! Definitely a race for cake lovers! It was also nice to have slices of orange at the aid station. Good organisation.

I was running with my friend for most of the second half but determined not to race. We then got to Butser Hill and the huge climb and I started to pull away from her. Aha! (I'm not racing. I'm not racing)

At the top of Butser we met our supporters Graham and Gina again (did I see Kevin too?) and I heard them shout something about Malcolm. Maybe I was catching him? I stopped at the next aid station for a relaxed orange, water, cake number 3, to be caught by my friend and then passed by Malcolm as he rushed past with his game face on. No time to consider the rum on offer at the aid station (yes, rum!). Must get a move on! No wait, this is a training run.

I had another relaxed stop at the final, unofficial, aid station, but could see Malcolm in the distance as my friend, whom I wasn't racing, pushed on. I caught her, passed her, and eventually caught and passed Malcolm, whom I also was not racing. Malcolm caught me again as I strolled up the last hill and with a mile to go he was just ahead of me.

My recent long training runs have been rather uncomfortable, partly due to the after effects of the damage to my psoas and abdominals, the original injury that stopped me running for 4 months, and also partly due to very tight adductors which seem to have been struggling with the increased mileage. After 20 miles today though I felt in remarkably good shape. I'd only had a small amount of tightness in my lower abs and my adductors felt OK. It was with immense relief that as we passed the mile to go sign I felt full of running. I pushed the pace up a bit and overtook the 3 women I could see up ahead. By the finish I'd opened up a gap of 2 minutes on Malcolm. Good job I wasn't racing him!

The 21 miles took me 3:44:09. If I'd been running the same heart rate on flat tarmac I'd have covered 28 miles. That's one hell of a training run!

This is a fantastic race. It's well organised by Pompey Joggers. The scenery is stunning, but boy it's hard.

Let's hope we can get back to the mud bath next year!

Marathon pacing part3

2008-02-16T15:44:00.005Z

In part 2 I described a marathon pace test. I tried a mini one on Thursday. Could I sustain a pace for a number of miles without any increase in HR?

No

I was running a bit too quickly. It seems from the results my marathon HR is currently nearer 143bpm, with a pace of maybe 7:20, based on educated guesswork. With a few more weeks of tempo runs and aerobic work maybe it will go back up to its original 145bpm level.

The session I ran was 758m laps of the paths round the back of the leisure centre where the club trains. The others were doing paarlauf, running alternate laps in pairs. As I'd had a good interval session earlier in the week while coaching a tempo run, I decided it was my turn for a tempo run. So instead of alternating laps with my partner, I paced my partner for her lap and then carried on and ran my own lap at the same pace. I found myself running with a couple of others and it was clearly getting a bit competitive, so I ended up running a little faster than maybe I should have.

Still the results are quite promising. My HR was drifting up a little, so 7:07/mile is clearly faster than marathon pace, as I knew it would be. My pace for a given HR looks good though as it is pretty much what I was running before the injury. Hopefully a marathon pace of 7:15/mile is realistic.

I'll rerun the test next week, going much further though, maybe 7-8 miles, and running a little slower, 7:15-7:20/mile, so that hopefully I see a constant HR.

4.7 miles marathon pace 10x758m continuous:

Lap time	Heart rate	Pace
3:28	no HR	7:21/mile
3:20	no HR	7:04/mile
3:23	no HR	7:11/mile
3:22	144bpm	7:08/mile
3:20	144bpm	7:04/mile
3:21	145bpm	7:06/mile
3:20	145bpm	7:04/mile
3:20	146bpm	7:04/mile
3:21	146bpm	7:06/mile
3:18	146bpm	7:00/mile
Average pace		7:07/mile

One final comment: it seemed like I was breathing almost as hard as some of the others I ran the session with, with them running at their 10k or 5k pace. This captures an important point about endurance training. We were roughly the same weight so, ignoring running economy for a moment, need roughly the same energy expenditure to propel us at that speed. This means we have roughly the same oxygen requirement hence the same rate of breathing. These are gross generalisations you understand, as running economy is of course important.

Why then could I keep going lap after lap when the others needed recoveries? The answer lies with the lactate threshold. By training one's aerobic system with lots of slow running, and frequent tempo/threshold running we enable the body to work faster and faster at ever higher heart rates without accumulating lactate, hence raising the lactate threshold.

For marathon running we need bags of endurance to last the distance, but if we want to run our fastest marathon then we need to work on our lactate threshold so that we can sustain a good pace. Go and bang out those miles, but don't forget the tempo runs!

Marathon pacing part 2

2008-02-11T16:35:00.002Z

Having read Marathon pacing we now know the importance of knowing your marathon pace (or effort), but how can we work out what that is?

The McMillan calculator is always a good place to start:
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Enter a time for a recent race and you'll get a prediction of your marathon pace/time:
Here are some example paces/times based on 10k times:

10k time	mara pace	mara time
36:00	6:27/mile	2:49
40:00	7:10/mile	3:08
44:00	7:53/mile	3:27
48:00	8:36/mile	3:46
52:00	9:19/mile	4:04
56:00	10:02/mile	4:23

Of course there is a catch with the above times. The predicted marathon times assume that you have trained adequately for the marathon. This means having done lots of long runs so that your endurance is well trained. For most people, particularly those attempting their first marathon, they won't have done anything like the mileage of long runs to enable them to maintain that pace right to the finish. In practise I'd say it is unrealistic to expect to get within 10-15 minutes of the predicted time for your first marathon. In other words, you'd be wise to add on an extra 30secs/mile. Of course, if you are prepared to do at least 3 20-mile runs, preferably 5, then good luck to you. However, if this is your first marathon, then you might not have the background of mileage to be able to do that amount of training without injury. Life is a compromise - accept your limitations and set yourself a more realistic goal. If you are following a 'get you round' schedule which culminates in just 1 20-mile run 3 weeks before the marathon then you should probably add a minute onto the predicted marathon pace. Pace prediction really is a black art, but don't set unrealistic goals if you are not prepared to put in the mileage.

Many of you will no doubt be following schedules with titles such as 'sub 3:45'. I'm not a fan of this style of schedule as it too can set unrealistic expectations that simply following the schedule will guarantee a target time. Firstly, unless you can run a 48:00 10k, don't expect to be able to run a 3:45 marathon. Secondly, the sort of schedule needed by a middle-aged woman to get 3:45 is very different to that of a young man. 3:45 for a young healthy man is quite a soft target, whereas for an older woman it is much tougher: in fact 3:45 is the London 'Good For Age' qualifying standard. Don't expect to achieve 3:45 following a 3:45 schedule if you're anything other than slim young and male, even if you can run a 48 min 10k. Harsh but fair I think.

Those quoted marathon paces above are still useful though, even if it is unrealistic to be able to run 26.2 miles of that pace. A regular weekly run at that pace will help develop your aerobic capacity. Just be careful you don't become a one-pace runner always running at around that pace. You should do regular sessions of faster running, such as a tempo run or interval session, and the bulk of your running should be much slower, at least 30s preferably 1 minute/mile slower in fact.

I was careful to talk of marathon 'effort' in the previous article, rather than pace, and a great way to measure effort is heart rate. HR pacing for me is by far the best strategy as it takes physiological and ambient conditions into account. It has its detractors though. Some say it is too limiting and they prefer to run on feel. I certainly admire those who can run an entire marathon on feel, but I know several cases of crash and burn where the perception of what pace felt right was somewhat wide of the mark. HR monitoring is an extra piece of information you can use to shape your strategy on the day. It's a very personal thing though and getting your own personal level right is essential. I loath using formulae as everyone is different and the quoted formulae can give errors of +/-10bpm on max HR. MaxHR is a fairly well defined concept, despite inaccuracies in formulae, but then trying to predict marathon pace HR from maxHR on assumptions about someone's lactate threshold is fraught with difficulty. I think I have the answer though.

This is my personal method for determining marathon HR. I've not seen this written anywhere, but it works for me and for the, admittedly limited number of, people whose HR data I've seen. If anyone has further data they can add to support this, then please let me know:

Go out and run a flat fast 10k race. Make sure you're fairly fresh, run it well, even paced, and take your kilometre splits and average HRs. If you've run it well then your HR will not drop towards the end of the race - this just ensures that you have paced it well and given your best. The pace isn't critical and having a pancake flat course isn't that critical either; just avoid big hills as the downhill bits tend to make your HR drop as it's difficult to keep pushing at maximum effort down a big hill. The point here is we are trying to find what your best HR for a 10k is.

If you have run a good 10k race, take the average HR for the race, subtract 10bpm and that is your marathon HR.

The above naturally factors in a number of variables. If your lactate threshold (LT) isn't particularly well developed then your marathon HR will be correspondingly lower. Some elites can run marathons at a ridiculously high percentage of maxHR, but of course their 10k pace is even higher: well above threshold. Slower runners are unable to push hard for the duration of a 10k, running at a much lower level compared to LT, so their marathon pace is proportionally lower.

For most people, 10bpm corresponds to about a 40s/mile drop in pace, which is in line with the slowing down formula used in the McMillan pace tables, and often quoted as 'Horwill's Law' after coach Frank Horwill who uses the rule that pace drops by 4s per 400m lap every time the distance doubles - a drop of 16s/mile for every doubling. (See this month's Running Fitness magazine). I personally think it's nearer 5s per 400m lap for slower runners and nearer 3s per lap for elites - you can never entirely generalise these things across elites, club runners and beginners.

You have to know how to use your marathon HR, as your HR will not be constant for the full marathon distance. You need to start the marathon nice and relaxed and let your HR gradually rise over the first 2 miles to eventually hit your marathon HR. If you find you've hit your HR after the first few hundred metres then you've gone off too quickly - slow down! You should then be able to maintain this level until after half way, maybe up to 16 miles. At this point your aim should be to maintain your pace as your HR naturally starts to rise. By now you may find yourself slowing, which is almost inevitable in a marathon, but try to at least maintain your HR if not your pace. If you've paced correctly you should be able to let your HR rise by maybe 1bpm every mile until by the end of the marathon it is at the sort of levels you see in a 10k. If you can do this then you've paced well.

People assume that as you hit the wall your HR rockets, but in fact the opposite is true. Your HR is simply a reflection of your bodies demand for oxygen. If you slow down then regardless of how hard you think you are pushing then your HR falls. Other factors such as heat and dehydration can affect your HR of course, but if you run out of fuel to burn, your heart doesn't need to pump oxygen to your muscles.

Of course, going into a marathon armed only with a HR level and the assurance that Susie says this is the HR you need to run at, wouldn't fill me with a huge amount of confidence. There is a test we can do to verify this HR though. In a marathon we are effectively running at a steady state where lactate levels are static. Any increase in lactate means we will be unable to sustain the pace. Increasing lactate will mean an increase in HR - see my article on cardiac drift. We can use cardiac drift, or rather its absence, to verify that we have the right marathon HR:

Go to a track, or find yourself a nice flat sheltered street loop. I have one near home that is exactly 1.5 miles, although knowing the distance isn't absolutely critical unless you also want to verify your marathon pace. A track is ideal but we don't all have a track local to us. Choose a nice cool windless evening or at least try to ensure you're not going to be getting significantly hotter as you run, which will push up your HR. Winter evenings training for London are perfect. Set off as if you are starting your marathon and aim to hit your marathon HR after a good warm up of 2 miles. Now maintain your pace, noting your lap times, and trying to keep your laps very even. If you can keep going for 8 miles, maybe 10, without any increase in your HR, then you are running at or below your marathon HR.

I've blogged some of these tests in the past: 1, 2, 3. I shall be trying one in the next few weeks. They are actually very good training runs. 8 or 10 miles of marathon pace is quite a tough workout, and excellent marathon preparation. Your lap times also give you a very good fitness indicator and a good prediction of marathon time. As your training progresses you should hopefully see your pace improve. I like these tests - you are verifying your fitness and pace, and yet you are not compromising your training - you'll actually improve as a result of doing the test.

I'll report back on one of these pace tests next week as I'm planning on doing a 10 mile marathon pace run midweek before the national XC champs, in place of the Tuesday and Thursday speedwork. I'll aim for 7:15/mile and hope that my heart rate sits at 145bpm or less for much of the run. If I can manage that then I'll be happy that I'm on target for my 3:15 London Marathon. I'll try not to panic if I don't quite make it, as there are 8 weeks left, but I was running at 7:00/mile last night at my threshold of 150bpm, so it's looking promising.

Have fun training!

Classic tempo - map and distances

2008-02-11T11:45:00.000Z

This post is aimed squarely at Victory AC, but I'll add some pacing advice for the rest of you.

The run I described in "The classic tempo session" is pictured below, or at least the middle 'effort' part of the run. I was musing over how you can know what pace you are running at if you don't have a pacing device, when I discovered a happy coincidence with the mile markers:

Starting at the entrance to the Ship Inn, or the far side of the entrance where the pavement resumes to be precise, the 1-mile mark is on the far corner of Avenue Road, the third left on Hayling. (Click the 'Show Distance Markers' checkbox below)

The run continues, turning left down Victoria Avenue, left on Rogers Mead, right briefly on Avenue Road, left on Kingsway, left round the bend and right back onto the main road.

The 2-mile mark is then the entrance to Hayling Trailers, or this side of the entrance to be precise.

Returning to the entrance of the Ship Inn is a total of 2.65 miles, with roughly a 1.5 mile jog back to the Havant Leisure Centre (you didn't expect me to measure the whole run did you?)

So now you can check your pace, providing you have a watch, but what pace should you be running?

I'll leave you to re-read the advice of the original article for pacing, but I will add that you need to be fairly relaxed about your initial take up of pace. The sensations I describe of breathing heavily will only start to come on after a mile or so, and the longing for the end of the effort will only happen a bit further on. If you are breathing heavily after 100m then you have shot off too quickly.

It is better to get a feel for the pace rather than rely on pace tables, but the original article includes pace advice based on 10k times. The trouble is if you are improving then you should be running quicker than those paces. Also, if your typical 10k race is a fairly relaxed affair then you aren't going to be running your tempo runs fast enough based on 10k times. As long as you are breathing heavily at the end and wanting to slow down, without actually having flogged yourself to a standstill, then you have probably got it about right.

The above route gives about 20 minutes effort for a 48 minute 10k runner. For faster runners you'd be advised to keep running past the Ship Inn for your full 20 minutes. For the faster runners I'd suggest breaking it down into 2 15-minute efforts with a jog back to the main group as recovery between the efforts. Let's try to not get too spread out.

To my club, enjoy your run tomorrow, to everyone else, add 20 minutes of good effort to the middle of just 1 or 2 runs each week and you'll really notice the benefits. Go on, give it a go!

Victory AC tempo run
Find more Runs in Havant, United Kingdom

The joy of running

2008-02-10T16:41:00.000Z

Take a look at the route of this morning's long run:

How often do you get to run 16 miles with only a few hundred metres of road? I don't think I thanked Diana and Belinda enough for the run, but it was fantastic: the most beautiful countryside imaginable. We ran through the South Downs and Kingley Vale, which I'm reliably informed is Europe's oldest yew forest. We also went past the Devil's Humps which give a wonderful 360° view of the Sussex countryside. The weather was fantastic: the brilliant sunshine felt so warm in the open, while the ground was still frozen in the depth's of the forest.

It was muddy, boy was it muddy, and there were some killer hills. I reckon as a result that was my slowest long run, certainly in recent years, but who cares when you have that scenery.

Thanks girls!

Marathon pacing

2008-02-08T14:06:00.000Z

If you've read my "Train fast, get slower" article, you may have gleaned the following bits of information:

The anaerobic system burns glycogen to fuel the muscles

The aerobic system burns the by-products of the anaerobic system (pyruvate) alongside fat. There is a limit to how fast it can burn the pyruvate. The leftover pyruvate breaks down as lactate which needs to be shuttled away from the muscle.

The faster we run, the more we use the anaerobic system and the more we rely on glycogen as our fuel source.

Combine the above with the fact that glycogen stores are limited to the extent that we barely have enough to last 26.2 miles, and we have the following implications for how we run a marathon:

We must have as much glycogen on board as possible before we start the marathon

We have to be as frugal as possible with our use of glycogen

We can address the first point by carbo-loading properly in the days beforehand. There are techniques for carbo-loading which I may discuss later, but there's plenty of information out there for those who want it. Some talk of hitting 'the wall', as if it's inevitable regardless of how well you carbo-load. This brings us to the second point.

The slower you run, the greater proportion of fat you burn, and the less glycogen you burn. Provided you have trained your fat burning ability with lots of long runs and providing you pace properly then you can make it to the finish line feeling good. Have you ever seen Paula Radcliffe hit the wall? Hmm maybe a bad example there as of course she hit an ancient Greek wall full on in Athens, when a stomach problem caused by anti-inflammatories prevented her carbo-loading properly. For all of her other marathons she's paced perfectly right to the end - not a brick in sight!

My personal experience has been varied. I've jogged a couple of marathons, Beachy Head and Salisbury, where I've been full of beans (pasta actually) right to the end. I've run a flat out marathon where my pacing was perfect and I ran the last 8 miles with no hint of a slow down (Abingdon). I've also scraped through a marathon where I pretty much ran out of fuel in the last 3 miles, but managed not to hit the wall (for reasons I'll explain shortly) - London last year. I've never actually hit the wall full on. I've just encountered a few bricks now and then.

The essential thing is to know your marathon effort and stick to it regardless. The thing to avoid at all costs is going off too fast and letting the lactate start to accumulate in your legs. Lactate for marathon runners is a complete no-no. In shorter races you can get away with a bit of exuberance and recover your pace as the lactate levels subside. In marathons, any excess lactate is effectively lost glycogen. You'll pay dearly at the end as you run out of your precious fuel source. It's all too easy when you're rested, tapered and fresh to get swept along in the crowd, so let me repeat:

Do not under any circumstances start the marathon too quickly!

Once you go over your marathon effort you are wasting fuel and bringing forward the inevitable collision with that wall. This might be at 20 miles, the traditional home of the wall, but if you run too fast you can hit it much earlier. I remember Jo Pavey hitting the wall in the Great North Run - a half marathon!

Notice I said you need to know your marathon effort. Knowing your pace in the cold of winter is one thing but if it's hot on marathon day you have to be prepared to slow down. In the heat, blood is diverted to the skin for cooling, depriving the muscles of precious oxygen and interfering with their ability to process pyruvate resulting in raised lactate levels. Fortunately for those of us using heart rate monitors for pacing, HR remains a pretty good guide for pacing in the heat: stick to the same HR as usual and you are naturally forced to slow down to a more appropriate pace.

I will deal with how to determine your ideal pace/effort in a later article, but to close I'll say a bit more about the wall and how to avoid it.

Your ability to replace lost glycogen is rather limited - for example it can take a couple of days to fully restock after a marathon - it's something that doesn't happen quickly. You'll see lots of advice about having the right fuelling strategy on race day with energy drinks and gels, but as necessary as this is, you're not replacing glycogen to any real extent. The main reason for consuming sugars on the run is to maintain blood sugar levels.

The muscles use glycogen: this is a chain of glucose molecules which can be stored in either the muscles themselves or, to a larger extent, the liver. The brain however uses simple glucose as its fuel source - this can be derived from glycogen or can be directly from the sugars you ingest. The brain, as the most important organ in the body, gets priority when it comes to the food rations. If the brain's sugar supply starts to dwindle due to dropping glycogen levels then it simply switches off non-essential systems to stop wasting energy. Unfortunately for us marathon runners, these non-essential systems include our legs: we hit the dreaded wall! By consuming sugars in the form of energy drinks, gels, power bars, jelly babies or whatever, we spare the glycogen and keep the brain's energy supply going. We might run out of glycogen and slow down at the end of the marathon, but we can keep burning fat for fuel and can keep going at a reasonable, albeit slower, pace.

I think that's enough for now. In future posts I'll try to explain the techniques I use for determining marathon pace (or effort), and I'll go into more detail about race day strategy. I've given you the why, you'll have to wait for the how.

Wind-swept distant shores: Ryde 10 2008

2008-02-04T13:04:00.000Z

Well not that distant, seeing as how I can see the start across the Solent only just down the road from my house. It was certainly wind-swept though: it was not pleasant to have a cloud of sand blown in my face as I approached the finish line!

The overnight strong winds had left me wondering what would happen if the ferries were cancelled. Would the race still go on, just for the benefit of the locals and those who'd stayed in a hotel overnight? As it happened, the crossing was a bit lumpy near Portsmouth, but things got a lot smoother as we approached the lee of the Isle of Wight.

It was a cold one in the wind, with much debate beforehand about what to wear. I made the right choice in having a t-shirt under my vest, running in shorts, and keeping my hands warm in gloves. Looking around the field there was every combination imaginable from full rain jacket and leggings down to just vest and shorts. I don't think I spotted any crop tops though.

The race got under way with the slog up the road out of Ryde - a long uphill into the wind. It soon became apparent that I was still running on tired legs as I couldn't get my heart rate up to its usual levels. I had been very tired in the early part of last week with huge amounts of sleep, so despite it being a cutback week it probably wasn't enough to fully recover - maybe I was fighting off a bug? Anyway, I watched as several of the usual suspects pulled away from me without me able to respond - I felt fairly comfortable but couldn't seem to get my legs turning over much faster. I had to content myself with staying in contact with the group I found myself in, while watching the familiar faces, or rather their vests, drift off into the distance.

At Seaview after 6 or 7 miles I got overtaken by another couple of familiar faces, as Winchester Madeleine overtook me followed by Pompey Ros a while later. This time I was able to keep them in sight though. I hung on and used the big downhill at the end to lift my pace a bit and as we came onto the seafront for the last ¾ miles. I hung on to Ros as she pushed on and dragged me up to Madeleine. Ros seemed strong, so I resigned myself to just trying to outsprint Madeleine and let Ros lead me home. I wondered about leaving it till the last 100m to push past Madeleine so that she wouldn't be able to respond, but I seemed stronger and began the push overtaking her at 300m in the aforementioned cloud of sand. I then realised I could get back to Ros so I gave it everything I could. I took her just before the line - very satisfying.

I had hoped I'd be further up the field, but I guess fatigue had played its part. On checking my heart rate I found that was the lowest average HR I've ever recorded in a hard run race. Still, it was a PB - my last 10-mile race was Ryde 2007, the Hayling 10 having being cancelled due to what I believe are policing issues. I finished 5th W45, having hoped for more.

I saw Beth just after she'd come in. There's a bit of Cheshire cat in her DNA I reckon. I think she's quite pleased with her recent improvements!

Thanks to Shelly and Beth I think we scored well, although I haven't seen the Road Race League scores yet. We also had a good score from the B-team - well done girls.

Now the techie stuff. Not the best set of HR splits. It is quite odd how my ave HR just keeps getting lower and lower. Hopefully by Eastleigh I will be less tired and can put on a better show.

The mile markers seemed accurate - the variation in lap times is a reflection of the terrain - hilly!

7:41 no HR
7:27 146bpm
6:46 145bpm
7:18 147bpm
7:48 146bpm
7:41 141bpm
7:06 139bpm
7:22 139bpm
8:10 141bpm
6:59 145bpm
overall 1:14:25 143bpm

Addendum: I've now seen the Hampshire Road Race League results and the girls have climbed a place in div 1 to 4th. Nice going! The boys are hovering above relegation - careful lads!

The Law of Club Runs

2008-02-01T10:03:00.000Z

A coach friend of mine posted this today on the Runners World forum. It amused me, and is particularly relevant to my recent posts on training pace.

The Law of Club Runs states: " when any group of runners from the same club gets together on a club night, no matter how many runners are pleading injury, tiredness, needing to take it easy tonight etc, the actual pace of the group will always be at least 30 seconds per mile faster than the announced pace of the group. This is invariant to the pace of the group: 5 min milers just as guilty as 9 min milers."

Mind you, a bit of competition is not necessarily a bad thing!

Train fast, get slower

2008-01-28T16:24:00.000Z

The correct training pace has been a bit of a crusade for me lately. On the one hand I've been trying to get people to speed up their running, introducing the idea of a tempo run into the Tuesday night runs, but on the other hand I've been trying to persuade folks to slow down their intervals on a Thursday night.

"Slow down? Are you serious?"

Yes!

Most of us in the typical running club are aiming at running distances of 5 miles or more, competing as we do in Cross-Country and road races. The shortest race most of us ever do is a 5k or the wonderful Victory AC 3.65 mile short handicap race. This being the case, there is generally no need to train faster than your 5k race pace. Think about this next time you are blasting round the first of your 400m intervals - do you reckon you could keep going for a few more repetitions without a recovery?

Probably not.

In fact for most of your training year, you'd be better running your intervals at 10k pace and doing a few more of them than perhaps you are accustomed. So do you reckon you could keep going for another 24 of your 400m reps?

I thought not.

Now before I continue let's get one thing straight for those of you who answered yes to those questions, thinking "24 laps chatting away to Jocasta and Henry - no problem". I'm not saying the slower the better. I'm talking about training at the appropriate pace for your aspirations. There may well be some of you who have aspirations of outdipping Christine Ohuruogu to take 400m gold. For you, a 400m rep that leaves you on the verge of depositing the remains of your bacon, lettuce and tomato on the steps of the pavilion, followed by a 20 minute comatose recovery may well be the way forward. For the rest of you it's time to rein in those competitive instincts and look at the bigger, and longer, picture.

But surely, the faster I do my speedwork, the faster I'll be able to run a 10k?

No!

As bizarre as it sounds, doing fast anaerobic speedwork (your 1-mile pace and faster) will make you a slower distance runner.

The message is that you can't be a master of all distances. If you are training at the sort of paces that a middle distance runner runs then you'll become a better middle distance runner, but unless you are very careful you'll become a worse 10k runner.

To understand why this might happen it helps to understand a little about energy systems:

There are 3 main energy systems: Creatine Phosphate (CP), Anaerobic and Aerobic.
The CP system provides fast energy for just short bursts of activity of just a few seconds. This is 100m sprint territory and as distance runners we can pretty much ignore it, so I will!

The anaerobic system is another high activity, high demand system which can provide energy for efforts of up to a couple of minutes. We're still in sprint territory here but longer distances up to 400m, although it is still important at longer distances (but read on...!).

The aerobic system is the major system for distance runners for anything from 800m upwards. It specialises in efficient supply of energy for long periods of time.

Those are the main energy systems. Let's look at the last 2 in more detail, starting with the Anaerobic System.

The Anaerobic System uses a method known as anaerobic glycolysis to supply energy. Molecules of glycogen are broken down, without the need for oxygen - hence 'anaerobic', to produce a molecule called ATP which fuels the muscle contractions. It is a fast energy source, suited to fast speeds, but is inefficient: for every molecule of ATP produced, a molecule of pyruvate is produced. This by-product has to be dealt with, and this is where the Aerobic System comes in.

The Aerobic System takes fuel and efficiently combines it with oxygen to produce more molecules of ATP for fuelling the muscle contractions. This fuel can be in the form of fat (most of us have heard the term fat-burning) or pyruvate. We can therefore see how the anaerobic and aerobic systems work in harmony: the anaerobic system taking glycogen and quickly but inefficiently fuels the muscles, while the aerobic system mops up the pyruvate produced to provide a slower but more efficient energy system. Along side this is the fat burning system, the 'other half' of the aerobic system. While there are limited supplies of glycogen, as marathon runners will attest, the fat burning system can go on and on. Fancy an ultra anyone?

If we consider the aerobic system as actually 2 systems, then with the anaerobic system we can see how the 3 systems work in harmony. At slow speeds we have the fat burning system providing most of the energy, with the aerobic and anaerobic providing only a little. At higher speeds the other half of the aerobic system is more heavily used, and at high speeds it's mostly about the anaerobic system. Personal trainers have made us aware of a 'fat-burning zone' implying that at low speeds you are just burning fat, but the truth is that all 3 mechanisms are in use all of the time but the relative weight of them changes with the speed being run. Even at rest, the anaerobic system is being used to some extent but as the speed increases the balance starts to shift in favour of it. We tend to think of the anaerobic system as being the prime source for sprinters, but this plays down the importance of the aerobic system. In the 400m, only half the energy comes from the anaerobic system, the rest being aerobic. In the 1500m, only 20% of the energy comes from the anaerobic system. By the time we get to 10km less than 5% of the energy is from the anaerobic system.

Most of us have heard of glycogen and are aware of the importance of carbo-loading to ensure the muscles and liver are well stocked with it, and are aware of the importance of it for endurance running and marathons. Many of us might be surprised to find then that it's the anaerobic system and not aerobic system that uses the glycogen. The anaerobic system breaks down the glycogen and produces pyruvate as a by-product which the aerobic system then combines with oxygen. Any pyruvate that doesn't get used in this way breaks down into lactate and hydrogen ions. The lactate has to be disposed of by being shuttled away by the blood. We will often refer to lactate build up causing 'the burn' during sprints, but in fact it's the hydrogen ions which actually cause the burn, producing an acidic environment which is toxic to the muscles, reducing their efficiency. High levels of lactate, and hence hydrogen ions cannot be tolerated for very long.

At rest there is a small amount of lactate in the blood (around 1mmol/l) as the anaerobic system is always there ticking away in the background. We then start a low level of exercise and lactate levels actually drop as the pyruvate is gobbled up by the aerobic system. The pace increases and the anaerobic system is called on a bit more, producing more pyruvate, but the aerobic system uses it all and lactate levels remain under control. At marathon pace, things are still under control although lactate levels have now risen to maybe 2mmol/l as the balance starts to shift. As we get past half marathon pace towards 10k pace the anaerobic system is now being called on more heavily but the aerobic system can still cope - lactate levels are up around 4mmol/l but are not increasing by much and we can sustain this pace for as much as an hour (a pace known as the Lactate Threshold). As the pace increases, the aerobic system is increasingly unable to cope with the amounts of pyruvate output by the anaerobic system and lactate levels rocket. We are now at paces which can only be sustained for a few minutes before we have to stop - we are passing into true anaerobic territory.

A key indicator of distance running capability is the lactate threshold (LT). By training the aerobic system to utilise pyruvate we can run at higher and higher heart rates, at faster speeds, for longer and longer without lactate levels rising. To train the LT you typically run at speeds around the LT - simple!

So what's wrong with sprint training?

Nothing, if you want to be a sprinter.

There's a certain intuitive logic that says that if you want to race at a particular speed then you should train at that speed. Train at sprint speeds to be a sprinter. By training at fast speeds, eg mile pace and upwards, you are training your anaerobic system. You are making your body able to produce more and more anaerobic power, which in turn produces greater quantities of pyruvate. This unfortunately has the effect of swamping your muscles in lactate, as the aerobic system is unable to cope. The result is your lactate threshold actually drops. For every bit of anaerobic training you do, you have to do far far more aerobic training to compensate. When it comes to the likes of Haile Gebrselassie, where he's developed his aerobic system to the best it's humanly possible then the differentiator for him is his ability to open up a killer sprint in the final 100m of a 10000m and pip Paul Tergat to Olympic gold. For the rest of us mortals, why concentrate on the last 1% of a race when we can make the most improvements by concentrating on the other 99%? For 10k training the aerobic system is king.

By doing too much anaerobic style training you are tipping the balance of your energy systems in favour of your anaerobic system and leaving your aerobic system struggling to control the levels of lactate produced. It may sound odd, but for distance running of 10km and upwards, having a weak anaerobic system is actually a virtue. Without the large amounts of lactate, we can run at a high heart rate and high pace for long periods of time without lactate build up. By working on pushing up your Lactate Threshold by regular doses of training around the LT, and by avoiding going into our anaerobic zone, we become better distance runners.

So next time you feel like blasting those 400m reps to leave you a quivering wreck after the first few, think again. Throttle back, keep it at 10k pace, take some fairly short jog recoveries and do a few more repeats than you otherwise would have been able to - you're aerobic system will love you for it.

Refs: Energy system contribution during 400m to 1,500m running, by Matt R. Spencer, Paul B. Gastin and Warren R. Payne. New studies in Athletics, no. 4/1996.

Sex

2008-01-18T15:04:00.000Z

OK, I may have an odd idea of sex, but I'm telling you - I'm going to have this gadgets children.

Lies, damned lies, and HR data: Stubbington 10k 2008

2008-01-15T15:41:00.000Z

I usually do a race report then add the HR data at the end, but let's get straight in there with a HR analysis (that's Heart Rate, not Human Resources, in case I've just caused a flutter with any personnel department workers):
4:27 135bpm
4:32 146bpm
4:38 148bpm
4:18 147bpm
4:25 148bpm
4:21 148bpm
4:20 146bpm
4:29 148bpm
4:38 149bpm
4:28 147bpm
Overall: 44:41 146bpm
Ave pace 7:11/mile

So that's over 3 minutes down on my best - an indication of the loss of fitness I've suffered since injury.

Hang on a one second though: take a look at the overall heart rate figure. I've run a marathon at a heart rate higher than that. Look at the pace too. If I can manage that pace/HR for London I'm laughing: that's well inside the pace needed for a sub-3:15 marathon.

There are 2 effects in action here as far as I can tell. Firstly, and most importantly: fatigue. I've been training hard, within the limits of the 30-40 miles my body can stand in a week at the moment, and I didn't taper for the race, except for a day's rest on Saturday. As I've seen in the past, this doesn't generally affect my HR/pace relationship: for a given HR I can generally maintain the same speed regardless of how tired I am. The way fatigue affects me is my ability to maintain a particular effort level or HR. I have been able to maintain 155bpm for a 10k in the past, but when tired I just can't get my HR high enough.

Another effect is lactate threshold. The higher one's lactate threshold the higher a HR one can maintain. My LT may well be down at the moment, but surely not by 10bpm? Regardless of my LT level I would not have thought a suppressed LT would cause a drop in the pace/HR relationship though - HR is a fairly direct measure of oxygen consumption which in turn is a fairly direct measure of energy consumption (when operating aerobically), so my running economy, the energy per mile, seems as good as ever. The main effect of a suppressed LT would be my ability to sustain a particular HR for the entire marathon distance. Maybe what the data is telling me is that my endurance is down, but not necessarily my pace? I won't know the answer to that without blood lactate measurements.

So what I'm saying is despite being 3 minutes down, I can take a lot of encouragement from that result that I haven't lost the amount of fitness I feared.

I have many long runs to do between now and 13th April, but things are looking good!

As for actual reportage, the race was dry, temperatures very mild for January, but it was very windy. This was particularly a problem along Lee-On-Solent seafront but it didn't bother me too much, although it would certainly have added a chunk onto my time. The split start, now in its 2nd year, seemed to work quite well, with us sub-45 runners going one side of the roundabout and the slower runners going the other side of the roundabout. There didn't seem to be so much barging this year when the 2 sets of runners met up. As ever, the organisation seemed very good - a top 10k.

As for the team, despite what at first seemed a disappointing turnout from the girls, through injury and illness, and a small matter of a XC race the day before, thanks particularly to Miranda and Lucy we actually scored quite well to put us a solid mid-table in Div 1. Nice work girls!

The men too, although not of course showing the same quality as the girls, fared well to find themselves 7th in Div 1. Keep it going boys - don't let yourselves drift any lower though.

Next up, the Ryde 10 on 3rd Feb - see you there!

Cross Country Photo

2008-01-11T16:13:00.001Z

I found this photo on the Winchester and District AC site (click on the link - it's too big to fit on the blog page). It's a photo of Joy Radford as she towed me through the field overtaking my team mates - this is at the end of lap 1 half way through the field.

Hampshire Cross Country Championships

2008-01-07T14:57:00.000Z

Saturday was the Hampshire Cross Country Championships - my first race since injury.

This was always going to be a tester: a chance to sit at the back and test how my legs felt, letting the rest of the team do all the work. Oh what joy then when team captain Marilyn told me that we'd had several dropouts due to commitments/injury/illness and she was 'relying on me'. No pressure then!

We arrived at a rather saturated Dibden Inclosure: a beautiful location on the edge of the New Forest. I put on my brand new spikes having first debated spike placement, being the spike virgin I am. They immediately got baptised as I warmed up on sodden ground ankle deep in water in places. As I did my side step drills my adductor tightened - not the best of starts! With hindsight I should have tried to massage away the tightness as I didn't do myself any favours racing with a tight adductor. I seem to have got away with it though, despite running much of the race with a feeling in my lower abdomen worryingly similar to the original psoas minor injury!!

The start was uphill which helped me sit back and let Shelly and Lucy go off and take up the pace. As we U-turned on to the first of the 2 laps I encountered a small gorse bush right in the middle of the course on the bend, which I ran straight through giving me several long scratches on my leg. Surely they could have put the turn 1 metre further south?

The course is fairly flat with terrain varying from grass, sandy trail with or without tree roots depending on whether it was heath or woodland, and a few short sections of boggy mud. Hills were mercifully few with 2 short but steep sections on each lap. All in all quite a nice course.

I made a few places up as soon as we hit the first boggy bit as runners pussy-footed around the edges trying to avoid the thickest mud. Why do we do that? It was much quicker to just plough through the middle, taking the direct route. I nearly lost a shoe on one bit though!

I also overtook a few on the uphill sections, which rather surprised me. I haven't done any hill training in the last 6 months so expected to be poor on the hills. What I have done though is lots of weight training: I'm currently dead-lifting my body weight and squatting 75kg. It looks like the strength work may be paying off!

I was overtaking regularly on the first lap and by the 2nd I caught and overtook Shelly and Lucy, somewhat to my surprise. The 2 of them were having a good battle, with Shelly eventually prevailing. Well done to Lucy who has been improving rapidly lately. Let's hope she can continue to improve at the same rate!

I led the team home. Given that I've only been running outside for a month I'm over the moon about that. I'm clearly slower than I was, but I haven't lost too much speed in my time off. That makes me optimistic that I can get everything back in time for FLM08. The power of cross-training during injury!

Marilyn and Ruth followed us home to score well for the team. Lucy is a senior, so the rest of us were all needed to score for the vet team. We finished 12th senior team and 5th vet team - a good result! I was 43rd and 5th W45. Marilyn was 2nd W60 - nice one Marilyn.

The men were also 5th vet team and 16th senior team - well done boys.

The classic tempo session

2008-01-02T12:34:00.000Z

I coached the Tuesday club run yesterday as our level 2s were away enjoying the New Year festivities. We usually just belt off on a pre-determined route, some choosing to run it hard, others preferring to chat away a gentle jog. I thought it would make a change to actually coach the session and introduce the idea of a tempo run.

The plan was to split the run into 3 sections - a gentle jog warmup, a middle section of effort, followed by a jog recovery. The route was out and back which lent itself nicely to being split in this way. We ran out from Havant Leisure Centre at a gentle pace (9:30/mile in the case of the group I was pacing), then at the Ship Inn, a distance of 1.6 miles, we picked the pace up for 20 minutes. We ran onto Hayling Island, down the main road, around a loop of Victoria Avenue, Rogers Mead and Kingsway and back up to the Ship Inn, a distance of about 2.5 miles. We then slowed back down to jog back to the Leisure Centre along the same route.

Tempo runs are done at threshold pace, the main issue being exactly what this pace is. I was pacing my group at around 8:00/mile - a pace appropriate for a 48-49 minute 10k runner. The usual description of threshold pace is that it is "Comfortably Hard": you are right on the edge of your comfort zone. At the end of the effort section of the run you should be welcoming the chance to slow down and jog back, but it shouldn't be so fast that you are exhausted and reduced to walking at the end of the effort. The specific pace is that which you can sustain for an hour when racing (and properly rested). For most people this is a little slower than your 10k race pace and a little quicker than 10-mile race pace, although for the fastest men in the club it will be near enough your 10-mile race pace. When running at this pace you should be unable to maintain a conversation. Speech will be along the lines of: "I'm OK - huh huh - at this - huh huh - pace - huh huh - but - huh - I don't - huh - think I - huh - want to go - huh huh - much faster".

Typical paces are as follows:
36-minute 10k runner: tempo pace 6:00/mile (this is your 10-mile pace)
40-minute 10k runner: tempo pace 6:40/mile
44-minute 10k runner: 7:20/mile
48-minute 10k runner: 8:00/mile
52-minute 10k runner: 8:40/mile
60-minute 10k runner: 9:40/mile (ie your 10k pace)
The recovery/warmup paces should be at least a minute/mile slower than the above.
By "xx-minute 10k runner" I mean someone who is currently capable of running a 10k in this time, not someone who aspires to one day run this time or someone with a PB of that time from a few years ago. Be honest with yourself about your capabilities. Some of the improvers in the club may need to run a little quicker if their last 10k was a while ago and they are now much quicker. Out-of-form or recovering runners will need to run a little slower. I have a 41-minute 10k PB but I'd estimate that I'm currently a couple of minutes off that, so I'd run tempo at around 7:15/mile.

This style of run has great benefits for the distance runner. It's great training for your aerobic system, which for anyone racing 800m and above (ie most of us) has a huge impact. At this pace you are just starting to accumulate lactate in your legs and these sessions train your body to mop up the lactate and use it as fuel for your aerobic system. Doing regular tempo runs enables you to run longer and faster at higher heart rates.

As you can only sustain an hour of this pace racing flat out then clearly you only need to run it for a much shorter period in training. The typical session involves just 20 minutes at tempo as part of a longer run, as described above. As you improve, you can extend this to 30 minutes. Another variation is to do 2 15-minute efforts, with 5 minutes of jog recovery between them.

I will pace further sessions for the club in the future, but the important thing is to recognise your own threshold pace as to get the most out of the session you need to be running as close to it as you can. Clearly, if running in a large group then only some will be at the right pace, others will be either too fast or too slow.

My apologies to those who would prefer a nice chat, but at least you get to chat for the first and last bits, even if the subject of the chatting is along the lines of "That Windsurfin' Susie's a bit of a hard task-master isn't she!". I hope a lot of you will continue to do these sessions as I'd rank them at least as important as interval sessions in developing your fitness and racing abilities. I hope you enjoy them!

Queenie's Christmas Massage

2007-12-25T13:11:00.000Z

Merry Christmas everyone!

I did a tempo run this morning, the first bit of sustained speed I've done for 5 months. It was tough but I'm glad I could do it.

Without the power of massage I doubt I would have been able to run this morning. I've been relying on my massage therapist to keep me going over the last few weeks as I've built back up quickly. With Xmas upon us I've had to rely on my own self massage to keep me going.

My calves were the first to complain, but I was able to keep them nice and loose with some regular gentle massaging (Molton Brown massage oil - fragrant!). Then after the 9-mile Sunday run my knee was aching because of a tight quad. More Molton Brown and a bit of vigorous massage and it was all fixed. (It's tough doing an intense massage yourself - it felt like quite a workout.)

Then yesterday I stepped off the bottom stair to be greeted by an intense pain in the ball of my left foot. It was a slight concern as I've never had anything like that before, but I realised it was most probably a tight muscle in my foot trapping a nerve; the foot muscles don't get used during cycling so they have presumably took a bit of a beating since my return to running. I iced and heated during the day and tried rolling a tennis ball under my foot, but when I did my core exercises in the evening I was still getting pain. I got the oil out and had a real good go at the sole of my foot. I could feel a mass of tight muscle back towards my heel and a slightly crunchy feeling in the middle of foot. A few minutes of vigorous fiddling later and the pain was gone.

This morning I applied a heat pack and did some more gentle massage before my run as my foot ached a bit. The run felt fine - my foot had a rather warm feeling to it but there was no sign of pain or soreness. Massage rules!

I won't try to teach massage techniques on this blog - you can google "self massage" if you want to. What I will say is always use oil, massage towards the heart (or you could damage your veins by creating a back pressure), and don't press hard on any trigger points you find, just keep moving firmly over them until they ease. (You may want to google "trigger points" too.)

Happy seasonal massages!

Speed returns

2007-12-21T19:09:00.000Z

I've spent a few weeks now building up gradually on the treadmill. I've been doing some low key speed sessions on the treadmill and building it up gradually so that my return to the faster stuff wouldn't be such a shock to the system. So last night it was time for my first proper speed session (even though it was only my 3rd outing on tarmac!).

The details:
10x400m with 155m jog recovery:

1:42 effort, 57s recovery
1:46 effort, 57s rec 127bpm minimum during recovery
1:44 effort, 57s rec 128bpm
1:42 effort max 148bpm, 57s rec 133bpm
1:42 effort max 149bpm, 58s 131bpm
1:43 effort max 150bpm, 58s 134bpm
1:40 effort max 152bpm, 60s 134bpm (training partner picked it up a bit)
1:43 effort max 151bpm, 62s 133bpm (me leading once more)
1:42 effort max 151bpm, 72s 122bpm (longer rec to let HR drop to 125bpm)
1:41 effort max 153bpm

The higher HRs are the maximum I reached at the end of the interval. The lower HRs are what it dropped to during recovery. The HRs compare pretty well with the last time I ran this 8 months ago, but my times were only 4 or 5s slower, so I'm pretty pleased with that. My calves are a bit sore today, but tonight's gentle 4 miles seemed OK. It seems I've kept my cardio fitness going quite well, but I just have to get my legs used to the pounding again.

I'm back!

2007-12-05T12:53:00.000Z

I've been somewhat quiet on this blog for many months now. That's what injury does to me. I don't like blogging despair and despondency, and there's been a bit of that lately. However, things are getting better so hello again!

As you have now gathered, I got injured. The short headline is I damaged a stomach muscle pole-vaulting. The longer version is it's a little more complicated than that and could in fact have been mostly a back problem.

Back in July, after 3 hard races in the space of a week, and during a full 70-mile week of marathon training I decided to try pole-vaulting. Initial impressions were good - I can pole-vault! The following day though my hip flexors were sore, to the point that I was having trouble lifting my left leg. If I'd taken a few days rest then I think that would have been the last of it, but of course I kept the training going as it didn't seem to affect my running. After a full week of training I ran a 20-miler, suffering what I thought was stitch for just about the whole way. Maybe it was that run, or maybe the crunches I did in the gym the following day, but I'd seriously damaged my psoas minor. I tried a few days rest, I tried running on grass, I tried doing just drills (heel flicks, fast feet, and high steps didn't seem to hurt - it was only the forward stride which was the problem), but after a couple of weeks I realised I was going to have to stop running completely to allow it to heal.

It's easy to blame the pole-vault, but it's not that simple. The day before the pole-vault session I ran a 5000m track race. During the warm up I remember commenting to team mate Gina that I had stitch before I'd even started. Stitch had been an increasing feature of my races but as always I'd try to massage it away, sometimes successfully, or just ignore it and carry on. I didn't actually tear anything during the pole-vault and the soreness I felt the following day was on the left hand side, not the right where the stitch problems and subsequent injury problems were.

Once I'd accepted the full seriousness of the injury then the real frustrations set in. I couldn't run - that was a simple fact. The sharp burning sensation in my crotch was worrying, presumably caused by the psoas minor locked in spasm across the right hand side of my pelvis pulling my symphysis pubis (the pubic joint between the 2 halves of the pelvis) apart. Walking was painful too. I could walk up and down stairs OK but every step forward on level ground was accompanied by pain from the psoas minor. I could cycle without pain, but everything else seemed to aggravate it. Rest just seemed to make things worse as the muscle just tightened.

The psoas minor runs from your lower back, just under the ribs (T12/L1) to your pubic bone and is mostly deep inside under several layers of abdominal muscle. You can massage the very top of the muscle in your back, or the very bottom of the muscle (actually the tendon) near your crotch, but you can't really get at the bulk of the muscle, making treatment a problem. An annoying aspect of all this is that 40% off the population don't actually have a psoas minor! There was me thinking that we're pretty much all muscular copies of each other and there are a whole load of folks, men and women, out there who don't have this muscle to injure! I read various reports on the internet about how this injury can be worse than achilles problems and how some people resort to surgery to have the tendon cut, effectively removing the muscle. This didn't help - there's no way I was going to resort to surgery!

Through all this, my old back problems came back - not helped by the cycling which always affects my back. I needed to do my core exercises to help the back, but any form of abdominal exercise hurt the injury. I was receiving regular physio to my back and stomach but independent of this I discovered that if I really dug my thumb into the vertebra around the origin of the psoas I could get some relief from the psoas spasm/pain. The idea that somehow the injury was back related started to form, but as the pain was in my crotch and the back soreness was quite a distance away, I wasn't entirely sure.

I went to spectate the Toronto marathon. I had tried to get my money back from my 'Sports Direct' holiday insurance, but apparently coverage for 'Cancellation due to injury' only applies to injuries serious enough to stop you travelling. I'd read all the small print and thought I was covered - another lesson learnt there. I made the most of my trip but it was tough watching the marathon from the sidelines having travelled all that way - at least my trip to Niagara Falls the following day made up for what was a pretty lousy weekend. Perhaps the hindsight highlight of the trip though was a chance encounter with a chiropractor at the marathon expo. I described my symptoms, suspicious of the fact that my back problems were part of the overall problem and the chiro seemed certain that he could fix my problem with just some back manipulation. He reckoned the nerve supplying the psoas minor was being trapped and not allowing the muscle to relax, explaining that you need a nerve supply to both tense a muscle and also to relax it. I ought to book some sessions with him. Shame he was in Toronto!

I returned to the UK with renewed hope that treating my back was the way forward. I enrolled in a back class and went to see a chiropractor, in addition to the physiotherapy I'd been having every week since the injury. There was no miracle cure but I did start to notice improvements. The first few back classes were a little disconcerting at first with the pain, albeit slight, that I was getting during the abdominal exercises, but a few weeks later I was able to do the class without pain. I returned to the gym and discovered that I could use the cross trainer. In fact the only exercises I couldn't do in the gym were the treadmill and lunges. My spirits lifted at the realisation that I could do full gym sessions with aerobic exercise that was closely related to running. After a few more weeks of gym I was able to tolerate brief spells on the treadmill provided I kept the gradient flat and the speed low.

All these improvements came when I started with the chiropractor. The chiro will of course tell you that he fixed me, but of course I was still having physio and going to the back class and then gym. I suspect the treatment wouldn't have been effective without the exercise - it's a whole synergy thing.

It has now got to the stage where I have run 3 miles on grass without pain. I ran onto the tarmac afterwards and realised I still have a little way to go yet as the hard surface still jarred a lot. I think I'll wait another week or 2 before declaring myself injury free but I think I'm back now.

Only 4 months 7 days 19 hours to go until the London Marathon!

SCVAC finals Ashford

2007-08-22T21:29:00.000+01:00

I wasn't taking part in the finals due to injury (I'll blog an injury update shortly), so I went along as supporter and photographer. The team did really well, leading at first, to eventually finish 2nd to Blackheath.

Well done girls!

2 week summary - 11 weeks to go

2007-07-20T15:40:00.000+01:00

I've missed a week of summarising so here're the previous 2 weeks:

	a.m.		p.m.
	Miles	Notes	Miles	Notes
Mon 02 Jul	Rest
Tue	0		4.1	easy recovery 08:54/mile 114bpm.
Wed	0		5.6	Promenade 5k. 4th place, losing a finishing straight sprint. very windy!Splits/ave HRs: 3:59 141bpm 4:05 153bpm 4:11 156bpm 4:12 156bpm 4:00 158bpm 20:30 153bpm 06:36/mile 153bpm.
Thu	2	Gym sesh	6.1	jogged club sesh at Staunton park 09:27 /mile 102bpm.
Fri	0		13.6	long run. Bit tired towards end. Blustery wind 08:22/mile 122bpm.
Sat	Rest
Sun	5.9	easy run round Stansted 10:42/mile 106bpm.	0
Total	37.3

	a.m.		p.m.
	Miles	Notes	Miles	Notes
Mon 09 Jul	0		6.1	SCVAC Hants & Surrey 5000m. 2nd A-string, 4th on track. 20:05.4 Splits: 93s 130bpm 99s 148bpm 98s 151bpm 96s 153bpm 97s 155bpm 97s 157bpm 97s 158bpm 96s 158bpm 96s 158bpm 97s 158bpm 97s 156bpm 141s 156bpm =94s/lap (head down so missed the split) 20:05.4 153bpm ave 78.2% age grading. 06:28/mile 153bpm.
Tue	0		2	easy jog at the track after pole vault session, plus some drills 08:45/mile 119bpm.
Wed	0		11	First time I've done a midweek 11-miler in under 90mins! Warm! 08:10/mile 125bpm.
Thu	2	Gym sesh	8.9	long handicap, run at mara pace. Paces between gates: 7:40 119bpm 7:28 131 7:35 136 6:56 142 6:48 141 7:10 142 7:32 141 7:39 141 7:28 140 7:20 143 7:41 139 7:26 142 7:39 141 7:05 143 07:34/mile 136bpm. 57:21 - PB!
Fri	4.5	easy run along seafront 09:20/mile 106bpm.	4.9	Beaulieu social run 09:36/mile .
Sat	7.1	Lactate test session - bit disappointed as there were some dodgy readings: 1:49/lap 7:18/mile 140bpm 4.4mml/l? 1:44/lap 6:58/mile 147bpm 3.7mml/l 1:40/lap 6:42/mile 152bpm 3.7mml/l 3 min recoveries 20mins gentle jogging then flat out 400m in 80s 13.7mml/l .	0
Sun	20.1	Easy paced run up to Rowlands castle, with a loop through Chalton and a lovely forest loop to finish. 09:10/mile 116bpm.	0
Total	66.6

Pole vault!

2007-07-11T21:50:00.000+01:00

I discovered yesterday evening I can pole vault!

After a few drills, I sailed over the opening height first time, with coach Lynne commenting that that was all I had to do to score points. She then started talking about the height I needed to do at the southern finals and had me thinking "ooh, that sounds a bit tougher - maybe I won't be scoring after all". It then turned out she was talking about the height I needed to win it! I sailed over the bar within 20cm of that height, and definitely feel I could challenge that with another session.

I only had a couple of failures as Lynne put the bar up, and again, and again...
I feel I could have gone the extra 20cm as I didn't have any failures on the final height, but I was getting a bit tired by then. Waaaheeey!

It was such a buzz - I've not had that adrenaline tingle since my wave-sailing days - that bar is not dissimilar in feeling to approaching an 8ft wave at speed - total commitment required.

I've a few sore bits today - left lateral deltoid, right brachialis - but nothing I can't work on in the gym.

Wow!

You'll note I haven't quoted any heights - I'm being coy for now - Isinbayeva has her spies out and I don't want to give anything away before Beijing.

SCVAC League Hants & Surrey Division Portsmouth 5000m

2007-07-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

First the headline: We beat Winchester and have made the southern vet finals in Ashford. Hooray for Havant!

I found myself running as A string runner tonight, with Gina, whom I've never beaten, as B string. I started confidently, perhaps too confidently, leading Lucy Elliott, British international, round the first bend - out the corner of my eye I thought she was Jan, also from Winchester, with whom I've had some good tussles. I was sensible enough to let Lucy run off into the distance as I established my own pace. This left me leading the remainder of the pack round the track for the next 7 or 8 laps. It was quite tough into the wind down the back straight - a good effort needed in the F3-4. Everyone was careful to shelter behind me - the other Winchester runner Sue thanked me for that afterwards - cheers! ;-)

I realised I was outside 20 minute pace at this point. In a really nice gesture, Gina then took on the pace setting, deliberately to try to get me under 20. Gina led for a few laps but then the other 2 Winchester women started to pull away from us and with 600m to go I started to wind it up and pulled away from Gina.

I finished 4th on the track behind the 3 Winchester women, but was only 10s behind 2nd place Jan so I'm quite pleased with that. I was 2nd A-string, finishing ahead of Gina (for the first time!) who was 2nd B-string.

Poor Ceal was running as A-string for Portsmouth - there wasn't a W60 race, but due to absences she wasn't even W50! She got a 93.5% age grading for her performance though, which after an earlier 200m is pretty good going - no doubt a UK leading performance!

A mention too for Marilyn who scored well in the W50 class behind Jan and Jane. She had just done the 800m but even so managed to top 80% age grading. We vets like to keep tabs on our age gradings - it's something to hang on to as we get slower. Here's a link to an age grading calculator.

For my part I guess I can tell everyone I finished 2nd to Lucy Elliott after leading her in the first part of the race?

There's a tinge of disappointment failing to get under 20 minutes, finishing in 20:05.4, but the wind was a factor, as presumably were the 2 races the previous week. It was still a big PB though, so I need to learn to be satisfied with my performances!

Splits:
93s 130bpm
99s 148bpm
98s 151bpm
96s 153bpm
97s 155bpm
97s 157bpm
97s 158bpm
96s 158bpm
96s 158bpm
97s 158bpm
97s 156bpm
141s 156bpm =94s/lap (focussed, so missed the final 200m split)

20:05.4 153bpm ave 78.2% age grading.

Interesting how once again my HR dropped at the end despite an increase in pace. I felt absolutely wrecked on crossing the line - major effort.

Portsmouth Promenade 5k

2007-07-08T15:19:00.000+01:00

A few days late with my race report, but I've been waiting to see the results for confirmation of my series position.

It was yet another windy promenade race, this time F5-6. It was mostly a problem coming back in along the prom, but with the prom snaking round there were times going out too when we were into the wind. After a gale force Victory 5 last December, a near gale first 5k in May and a fresh breeze for the D-day 10k, wind appears to be the main spoiler of what could be a very fast flat course.

The hope before the race had been to dip under 20 minutes for the first time, but I soon realised that the wind was going to make this a problem. I started promisingly though with a 4 minute first kilometre but from then on I tried to just tuck in behind the other runners and save what energy I could.

For the next couple of kms I was tucked behind first a City of Portsmouth woman, and then ran a threesome on the return down the prom with women from Stubbington and Winchester. I always feel I have a disadvantage into the wind, being quite tall. I was trying to shelter behind other runners, but with hindsight I should have had the confidence to push on past these runners.

At 4km I felt strong and was able to push past the other 2 quite easily. My target was then an Aldershot Farnham and District woman 100m ahead. I was able to slowly reel her in over the last kilometre until by the time we entered the park for the finish I was just behind her.

It was here I made a tactical error!

I was aware that I wasn't far outside my PB and didn't want to waste any time sitting behind the AFD woman. With only 150m to go just how much time did I think I was going to lose? I ran past her immediately on catching her and pushed on for the line. On seeing me, she kicked hard for the line and I didn't have a reply. I finished just behind her.

What I didn't realise was that sprint was for 3rd place! I should have held back and kicked hard close to the line to take her by surprise. Club mate Kevin was spectating and immediately afterwards commented on my tactical blunder - it was quite obvious!

The significance of losing 3rd place didn't fully come to light until I saw the results yesterday. I'm now 2 points behind 3rd place in the series. In the next race I have to finish 2 places ahead of my nearest rival. If I'd won that sprint I would have just had to beat her to get 3rd place in the series. Now I can't race her, but have to push on ahead and try to put some distance between us.

I'm not entirely sure how the prizes are allocated for the series, but I'm 2nd W45 with no chance of catching Jane, leader of the W45s and 2nd in the series. There are only prizes for the first runner in each category. I hope I don't get the situation of a prize going to a younger slower runner!

It's going to be a very competitive next race. Should be good!

Splits/ave HRs:
3:59 141bpm
4:05 153bpm
4:11 156bpm
4:12 156bpm
4:00 158bpm
20:30 153bpm ave
4th woman, 2nd W45

Weekly summary - 13 weeks to go

2007-07-07T17:35:00.000+01:00

A bit late getting this summary together - this is for a week ago.
The weeks to go count has skipped a couple of weeks because this is now the count down to the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on September 30th. I've not booked yet, but I am fairly certain this is the one I am now doing.

	a.m.	0	p.m.	0
	Miles	Notes	Miles	Notes
Mon 25 Jun	2	Gym sesh - now up to 61kg deadlift!	6.2	Easy run. Felt pretty tired at first, but warmed up and finished well. 08:38/mile 112bpm.
Tue	4.5	easy run along seafront past ferry 09:22/mile .	7.3	12x400m off 45s, 2min rest after first 6 reps. Alternate reps into wind - tough to maintain pace. 92s 135bpm max 94s 145bpm max into wind 91s 143bpm 92s 148bpm 91s 145bpm 93s 152bpm 2min recover 93s 141bpm 97s 147bpm 92s 144bpm 96s 148bpm 94s 144bpm 96s 148bpm
Wed	0		11.	Steady run in the rain. Got some proper soakings from passing cars! 08:14/mile 118bpm.
Thu	0		4.1	Club short handicap, jogged. Felt awful! Probably hadn't eaten enough after previous night's 11- miler 08:50/mile .
Fri	Rest
Sat	Rest
Sun	6.6	Pubrook Ladies 5mile 7th place. Splits: 6:18 146bpm 6:41 154bpm 6:48 153bpm 7:30 153bpm 6:50 151bpm 34:10 06:50/mile 152bpm	3	easy run - stitch! 08:59/mile 116bpm.
Total	44.7

So close: The Purbrook Ladies 5

2007-07-01T16:33:00.000+01:00

I was so proud of the team today!

I love this race. It's a tough one, hilly, but it's such a great atmosphere. It's nice to do a road race where you can start on the actual start line. Once the gun goes, you know exactly who you are racing and where you are in the race and it makes for some really good racing. That's my perception from the sharp end, but I guess from my past experiences it's nice to do a friendly race where you are not self conscious and don't have to worry about all the sweaty men rushing past you.

Have you ever seen such a relaxed start as this? Proper racing!:

Before the start, I'd had a good look at the start list and realised we had a strong team with Chris and Gina. I was eagerly telling Chris that we had a chance to win the team prize. This was till I spotted Shona at the start. With Kath that makes 2 Winchester elite ladies. Guess I spoke a little too soon. Oops!

Not surprisingly Kath and Shona left the rest of us standing at the start. That's 6mins/mile worth of standing - they can certainly shift, those two. I slotted in behind team-mate Gina and Jane from Havant. I would dearly have loved to have tried to keep pace with them, but I was aware of the need to tread carefully in the first mile: with a steady uphill opening half mile, followed by a steep downhill, it's very easy to overdo it before the mile's out. I kept in touch with the two of them though but realised that perhaps I wasn't going to catch them.

I had a bit of a tussle with a Norwich woman at the first mile mark, running shoulder to shoulder, but she had the measure of me and pulled away as the road once more turned uphill.

The course is a tricky one. It never really levels out. It seems to be always either uphill or downhill, with some tricky little steeper bits, and a strength sapping long uphill in the 4th mile. Not a course for PBs then, except if, like me, it's the only 5-mile you've been doing in the last 3 years!

We were so lucky with the weather. It remained dry for the entire race. We even had some sun for a mile or so.

Hills are not exactly a speciality of mine, being tall and relatively heavy, but I wasn't doing too badly. I kept Gina in my sight all the way, and watched as the Norwich runner caught her. Someone shouted that I was well ahead in 6th place with just over a mile to go. I wasn't going to glance back, but I could judge from the marshals' applause that there was someone behind me and it sounded like she was getting closer. I should be able to hold her off for the remaining mile though.

Well no actually.

As we crested the last hill before the final down-up into the finish, Chris, my team mate, came past me. That girl loves those hills! I made an effort to stay with her but it wasn't to be. It was bitter-sweet, as I would have loved to beat her, but what a finish we had in prospect with Gina, Chris and myself in close order, finishing 5th, 6th and 7th. Victory power!

At the finish Chris revealed just how much effort she'd put into getting past me. Well done Chris! My turn next time ;-)

The excitement grew though as word went round that we'd beaten Winchester! Surely not! Victory AC isn't the sort of team that beats Winchester. With Kath 1st and Shona 2nd, it all came down to where the 3rd place Winchester runner finished.

Shona 2nd, and Kath 1st:

Alas, it seems Victory AC isn't the sort of team that beats Winchester. Their 3rd runner Hannah finished 14th, meaning they beat us by just 1 point! Next time maybe?

We did really well though with Gina picking up a prize for 5th, Chris getting 1st W35 prize, I got 1st W45, Marilyn 1st W55, and we got bottles of wine for 2nd team.

Special mention for Emma, whom I waited for at the end. I ran with her down the last slope before ordering her to give it all on the final uphill 200m, telling her to catch the woman in front. She did! She caught up a big gap and finished a place or 2 higher. Well done Emma. Well paced!

The prizes. No, I'm not wearing anything underneath:

Marilyn W55:

2nd team prize:

The squad, most of us anyway:

Finally, this is my favourite photo, despite it being another team (the host club in fact). A gaggle of dead Pompey Joggers:

Thanks to Pauline, the race director, for the photos.

Finally a report from me wouldn't be complete without splits and HR data. Here they are. There might be a little fatigue evident in the low HR figures, but it's always difficult to maintain a high HR on a hilly course. I think I generally paced well, but maybe I did slow a little in the last mile - Chris will probably claim I did anyway.

Splits and ave HRs:
6:18 146bpm
6:41 154bpm
6:48 153bpm
7:30 153bpm
6:50 151bpm

34:09 (unofficial) 152bpm ave
A PB of course!

Weekly summary - 16 weeks to go

2007-06-25T15:30:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd start blogging my weekly training again, seeing as we're getting within a training programme's distance of the marathon. Which marathon? Not sure yet, but probably Leicester.

Now that fetcheveryone has started exporting training data, I've written a spreadsheet that converts the fetcheveryone format into my blog format, so it should make life easier each week putting the summaries together. The spreadsheet is a bit particular to my training and style of recording data, but if anyone wants a copy then let me know. You might need a bit of knowledge of Excel formulae to understand how it works.

	a.m.		p.m.
	Miles	Notes	Miles	Notes
Mon 18 Jun	2	Gym sesh	4.5	easy run 08:58/mile 111bpm.
Tue	0		7.8	Off road tempo. Effort laps:7:24 135bpm, 8:10 139bpm, 7:54 143bpm, 7:21 138bpm, 7:41 140bpm. overall: 08:00/mile 127bpm.
Wed	4.5	easy run offroad 09:10/mile 111bpm.	6.	easy run. Fell over on left knee again. Grazed knee, arm and side 09:13/mile 109bpm.
Thu	3.7	easy run 08:57/mile 108bpm.	5.9	6*797m, 90s recover: 3:15 141bpm max up 3:10 144bpm max down slight headwind 3:11 149bpm up 3:10 149bpm down 3:10 153bpm up 3:07 152bpm down
Fri	2	Gym sesh	4.6	easy run offroad 09:02/mile 106bpm.
Sat	18.2	ran to club barbie 14 miles, pause 30min, then group run of 4 miles. Bit tired 09:22/mile 114bpm.	0
Sun	8.3	Easy club run 09:26/mile 104bpm.	0
Total	67.4

South Downs Marathon and Relay

2007-06-17T17:26:00.000+01:00

We had fun yesterday in the South Downs Marathon relay.

There was a last minute panic (well, last 12 hours actually) when a team member dropped out, but Marilyn stepped in and saved the day.

So it was me on the first leg (arguably the toughest), Steve on the second leg (arguably the easiest), Marilyn on the third leg (arguably the toughest, but I think she wins that argument), and Louise on the fourth leg (no argument).

There was a little bit of adrenaline at the start when we only got together as a team, with chip and numbers, with 10 minutes to go, but once the number and chip were on all was good. I was pleased with getting under an hour for my 7.5 miles. I'd gone off a little fast trying to keep up with the lead woman, but once I'd adopted a more sensible pace all was good and I finished strongly.

Steve was next up, running a good pace, and here seen finishing in some quite dark conditions, just before the first of the downpours of the day.

Next up, saviour of the day Marilyn, finishing in much brighter conditions:

Louise did a great last leg, having talked down her chances beforehand. I think she was quite relieved!

We finished in 3:43:55 in 28th place out of the 79 teams that started. Not a bad result! I'd like to know how we compared to the women's teams, having been classified as a men's team. I think we finished between the 2nd and 3rd women's teams, but the results so far published don't make the distinction.

Special mention to Craig, who was originally going to run before breaking a metatarsal a few weeks ago. He wasn't the last minute dropout - he gave us several weeks notice, and did the driving on the day. Thanks Craig!

Meanwhile in the marathon proper, the men's winner was Stuart Mills in a phenomenal 2:51:06. That time will take some beating!

The women's winner was Annabelle Stearns in 3:22:00. She was 6 minutes ahead of last year's winner Dawn, seen here:

Dawn's other half John also finished 2nd. The perfect couple!

At the other end of the field, Ruth finished her 59th marathon having endured some torrential downpours. Here she is finishing with Jo:

They were followed swiftly by Victory's finest Carol and Nicola. Carol got the first W60 prize and an interview with a reporter from the local paper. Well done Carol! (It matters not how many other W60s there were in the field). Well done too to Nicola for sticking with Carol after her glute problems at mile 10.

Well done too to the other Victory runners: Neil, Nick and Malcolm. Neil lost 15 minutes getting his hand patched after a nasty fall, finishing in 3:54. Malcolm had a great run in 4:21 - much faster than last year's scorching hot marathon. I'm guessing Nick had a better time this year with a 5:50, having stayed conscious this time!

Despite the brief bursts of torrential rain, it was a really good day out!

Southern Vets League Woking: 1500m

2007-06-12T12:55:00.000+01:00

I did my best age-graded performance ever last night:
1500m 5:26.7 - 79.6% age graded

I finished 4th, winning the B-string race.

This was the closest track race I've done. I went out with the second group as Winchester elite Karen H went haring off in the lead as per usual. We did the first lap in 86s with my team mate Bev leading the pack with a Woking woman behind her, Winchester Jan (w50) and me following very closely. We then slowed a bit and we bunched right up in a tight box formation 2 abreast. I wondered about taking the lead but lacked the confidence to do this, so just sat there on the shoulder of Jan. I clipped her heel as we slowed - oops. 2nd lap was 89s - slower than I'd intended. Things then started to wind up a bit but we remained a tight pack right up to 200m. I then took Woking but Bev was already pulling away and she put in a very good sprint down the straight. I thought I could stick with Jan but she was too strong and I finished 3rd of the pack of 4, in 4th.

Despite the PB and the best age-graded performance so far, I'm a bit disappointed I didn't go for it on lap 2 as I might have knocked a second or 2 off and got the magic 80%. I might even have got a higher place, but it's hard to say. I did a negative split but I didn't have any kick at the end - just maintained my pace.

HR data/splits - I didn't get a 3rd lap split:
400m 86s 140bpm ave 150bpm max 5:44/mile
400m 89s 152bpm ave 153bpm max 5:56/mile
700m 152s 156bpm ave 159bpm max 5:47/mile

I know I'll be told my HR is too low, but I'm not sure you can read too much into such a short race. My HR went higher after the finish but I don't have the data as I hit stop on the watch.

Team-wise, we were leading right up to the last 2 events but lost out to Winchester. We still have a chance of making the finals though as we've only had 1st and 2nds, whereas Winchester have had a 3rd place.

Ceal was there in the 1500, running as a 50-year-old in a super vet Portsmouth team where their W35s were both over 50. I'm not sure how Ceal got on, but she lost out to the much younger Jan.

Marilyn was in loads of events including the 1500m, getting plenty of points. I wish I could have watched her triple jump - I think she won it.

Poor Neil looked done in at the end of the match having done the 1500m and 5000m and then the 800m leg of the medley relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m). He was soaking wet at the end of the 5000m, it being a very warm, humid night.

Loads of other good performance from Amanda, Dee, Shelagh, in fact everyone, but I don't have the results to hand.

Next round coming up on 9th July in Portsmouth. I'm doing the 5000m - a very painful experience, but hopefully one I'll only have to endure for less than 20 minutes. Who knows, maybe a double milestone: sub-20 and 80%+? Fingers crossed.

Speed

2007-06-08T16:14:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted any training for a while, so here's some...

I have a 1500m on Monday night and felt the need to get my legs turning over quickly in preparation - neuromuscular training rather than cardiovascular - there's no way I could make any CV improvements in just 3 days. So on Mike G's recommendation I tried the following session:

10 x 50m builds, 100m timed sprint, 50 m walk recovery:
22s
21s
20s
19s
19s
19s
18s
18s
17s
17s
Max for the session was only 150bpm.

I finished with a 300m pace rehearsal for Monday, 100m splits 22,21,21.

I was right up on my toes running tall with good knee lift. This was as much a session for training form (in spikes) as it was for developing speed.

I jogged down to the same track used for the D-day 10k, carrying my spikes, and jogged back again. I might make a habit of doing low key lunchtime track sessions as little 'extras'.

Now here's a thing...
I've seen a formula (oh how we love formulae!) which says that you add 4s per 400m for every doubling of the distance. Now this probably breaks down when you get anaerobic, but...

Taking 17s as my 100m time, which will err on the slow side as I could easily run faster than that when fresh, then that is 68s/400, so my paces might be:
200m 72s/400 36s/200
400m 76s(/400)
800m 80s/400
1600m 84s/400

which makes the 87/88s per lap I was aiming for in the 1500m seem a little cautious. Maybe I should go for it! 5:15-5:20 seems a possibility.

I know it's a tad extreme extrapolating 1500m from 100m rep times, but the 100s were very controlled. The McMillan calculator seems to agree with me, which incidentally predicts a marathon time of 3:14:51, the magic mark, from a 100m time of 17s.

Predicting marathon times from 100m times? - you're 'aving a laaarrf!

D-day 10k Portsmouth

2007-06-07T12:47:00.000+01:00

This was the first time I've done this race, previous years having clashed with other commitments. It is held on the Wednesday nearest to D-day, which this year happened to actually be D-day: 6th June.

The course starts at the Mountbatten Centre with 2 laps of the track before heading up the promenade, following the Promenade 5k course, looping round Hilsea Lido and returning for another lap of the track before heading out again for a second lap round the Lido. The course can be quite exposed, as we discovered for the 5k, and though the wind was lighter there was still a stiff breeze on the outward journey along the prom. The temperature was around 19°C when we started, so not too bad in the cooling breeze.

After a good bit of chin wagging with some familiar faces at the start, I spotted some more of the usual suspects on the start line and realised I was in for a bit of a race. I started off sensibly though, letting my first target Paula run away a bit, and letting my team mate Graham provide the pacing. After about 1km we overtook Paula and caught my other team mate Dave, who was having a hard time - I think he pulled out at half way.

I was then caught by Bev my Havant track team mate, running for her first-claim club Stubbington, and we ran together for a couple of kilometres. I would have been content to just keep pace with Bev but I managed to get the confidence to push on and away from her. It's all very well having these little battles - they're certainly fun - but ultimately you have to run your own race and make your own pacing decisions. With hindsight I'm glad I pushed on.

By half way I'd dropped Bev and was able to push past Graham and on back up the promenade. Up ahead I could see 3 more women and I knew I had to catch them if I was to be in with a chance of a prize. I tried to remember my racing tactics and make each overtaking decisive so that they couldn't latch on to me. In fact, as they were all in a line I pretty much ended up overtaking them all in one go - that's decisive! It resulted in my fastest kilometre but I felt strong so kept pushing for the finish, helped by a couple of men who had seemingly made the move with me.

I heard a marshal shout that the 3rd place woman was 70m ahead. I couldn't see her, but did he really mean I was in 4th? Good news indeed.

I felt a couple of people on my shoulder and kept expecting to see a woman push past me in the run in. Unusually for me I had a quick glance over my shoulder, but there were only men trying to pace off me. One overtook me and I used him to lift me for the final push for the line.

I crossed the line 4th woman and 1st W45. I'm very pleased with that: my best result ever for such a large field (450 runners). Kath Bailey won with Karrie Blake, last year's winner, 2nd. I finished ahead of all the W35 and W40 runners (with the exception of W35 Kath) so it's a shame I wasn't given the W35 prize - I'd have been quite happy with that! I hope the W35 and W40 winners didn't get more money than me. (I've already admitted to being a pot-hunter - well it is nice to win)

I was a bit slower than I'd hoped, in 42:45, but everyone seemed to think they were a bit slow. There was quite a bit of breeze and it was still quite warm, so maybe that's the explanation.

I was pleased with how I ran - absolutely even 5k splits 21:22, 21:23. I wondered if maybe I could have gone off a bit quicker, but as I was pushing hard in the last couple of kms for a dead even split, then maybe I paced it right. It's certainly much easier picking people off one by one than trying to defend your position.

My splits:
1 4:13 139bpm
2 4:15 150bpm
3,4 4:22 152bpm
5 4:09 153bpm
6 4:25 157bpm
7 3:58 159bpm
8 4:24 158bpm
9 4:30 158bpm
10 4:05 158bpm
42:45 ave 153bpm

The uneven splits could have been due to the wind on the outgoing half of each of the 2 laps, or it could have been the fact that the km markers were on lampposts so were all +/-30m

Very pleased, and £15 better off!

Dulwich 10k

2007-06-05T12:48:00.000+01:00

Well this race had been billed as the great showdown between me and my good friend Slow-Coach, however her 'Slow' billing is becoming increasingly less justified, whereas her 'Coach' billing is fully justified after the beasting I got at her hill session the day before.

Saturday was the aforementioned hill session. This was going to be a nice easy session in Greenwich Park, focusing mainly on technique.

Easy?

After an initial warmup, drills, and basic running technique work we took to the hills. 6 long steep repeats later and my legs were jelly. Then came the downhill technique work with some hair-raisingly fast descents and I was barely holding it together. So why did I choose that moment to try my steep downhill 'gazelle' technique? Ouch! The technique involves jumping each time your one foot hits the ground, then taking a quick tiny step with your other foot, then repeating the whole thing again. It has worked well for me on previous occasions, but I don't usually try it with jelly legs. As I came haring down the hill and hit the flat tarmac path halfway down, my legs buckled. I managed to miss the tarmac and rolled onto the grass, with what I think was quite a well controlled fall, but my knee hit the ground hard resulting in some bad bruising.

No time to wallow in self pity though as what came next was an uphill/downhill relay: teams of 3 passing a baton up and down a hill so that each runner does 2 uphill runs and 2 downhill runs. Great fun but incredibly manic. My knee was sore but OK to run on. It was good fun, but I was well and truly finished at the close of the session.

My thanks go to Slow-Coach for a great training session - really well thought out. It wasn't the best way to prepare for a 10k though!

I could relate the tale of an afternoon of culture at the Antony Gormley exhibition, but this is a running blog. Go see it though - it's fantastic.

And so to the Dulwich 10k. This is a low key event, part of a summer series of races for local London clubs. I was running as a guest. It's very informal: names are taken at the start, £1 is collected, you line up, run 3 laps of Dulwich Park and the pavements of the road around the outside, and remember to grab a cloakroom ticket as you cross the line, so that your place and name can be registered.

It was a lovely day. Both Saturday and now Sunday were hot and sunny. The park was beautiful in the hot sunshine.

Slow-Coach set off purposefully with me pacing just behind her. I would dearly have loved to just sit there and then outsprint her at the end, but I was mindful of the D-day 10k in 3 days time, and not wanting to overdo things. As it happened though I had no choice in the matter as my legs were not going to cooperate. That Saturday hill session was the culmination of several hard days of training and as I suspected I didn't have anything left. I was content to just leave Slow-Coach to pull away after the first lap and for me to cruise in a minute or 2 behind her. She was 2nd woman in around 43 minutes. I was 4th woman, if the shouts of support were accurate, in 44:46 - quite slow, but considering my average HR was only 142bpm, well below marathon effort, I'm quite pleased with that. I'll count that as a good marathon pace to threshold training effort.

Next up was the kids race. Slow-Coach Junior was running in this - what a fantastic run. He showed great maturity at the grand old age of 12. He let the others go sprinting away from him and then patiently reeled them in well before half way. He then pulled away from them and won by a huge margin. Brilliant effort. We were all dead chuffed!

I was tucking into a sandwich when I got a call to stand in on the 3rd leg of the fun relay. This was something of a surprise! I handed my sandwich over to the nearest available sandwich minder (tip: don't put an unwrapped sandwich in a rucksack with tracky bottoms!), and tried as best as I could to warm up and get my aching (and bruised) legs back in working order.

It was great fun! I've never run such a short distance: it was about 500m per lap, marked out by cones on the grass. It was such a close race. I took the baton in 2nd place for Serpentine and just about managed to hold the gap on the 1st place runner from Ealing and Southall. Our final runner was closing on 1st all the way round the last lap but couldn't quite close the gap. We came 2nd with nothing separating the 1,2,3. Another case of jelly legs for me, but such great fun.

A fantastic weekend!

Things that I've learnt?:

Don't believe someone who says you'll be fine for a 10k as the hill session is a nice easy one focusing mainly on technique.
Don't try out dangerous downhill techniques on tired legs.
I look good in Serpentine red!

Southern Vets League Basingstoke: 3000m

2007-05-22T12:39:00.000+01:00

My first track race of the season was last night, running for Havant AC.

It had rained all day, was raining when we arrived, but the rain held off for the event. It was rather cool and the track was covered in puddles, but the conditions were OK for me.

The cool conditions may have been a factor in several muscle strains and tears though. Poor Rob pulled up in the 200m with a torn hamstring and Tom Buckner pulled a calf muscle in the steeplechase. I felt sorry for Tom as the announcer declared "And here we see ex-international steeplechaser Tom Buckner still showing good technique, despite his lack of pace". Cheek! Tom scored some good points though, but I think team captain Pete was a bit disappointed by the several DNFs dragging the men's score down.

Meanwhile, the women were doing somewhat better.

I watched Vicki and Amanda show everyone how it was done in the 800m and then it was my turn in the 3000m.

I had a good race, winning the B race, pacing well and knocking 14s off my PB. Teammate Bev took a half lap lead over me early on, but from there I seemed to keep pace with her. I tracked Winchester woman Jan for much of the race, but she pulled away on the last half lap. At least I didn't get lapped by (Winchester's) Karen Hazlitt this time, but she had done the Great Manchester run the previous day (in under 35 mins). You may ask how I finished behind 2 Winchester women and still won the B race - I don't know - I assume one of them was guesting. I did however lap another Winchester woman and lapped my W50 team mate Marilyn, who provided a good target in the finish straight. I just had to lap you Marilyn - sorry!

I finished in 11:42.4.
The age graded result was 78.7% (the older you get, the more you rely on age grading to tell you how you've done!)

Here are the splits:
92s 124bpm
94s 151bpm
94s 153bpm
93s 155bpm
93s 157bpm
94s 158bpm
94s 158bpm
46s 157bpm

You will notice that the last 200m is a slightly lower ave HR even though it was as fast a pace as the opening lap and faster than the penultimate lap. My HR dropped by 2 or 3 beats in the finish straight despite me pushing hard for the line, and presumably picking up speed (chasing Marilyn!). I can only assume this was some weird effect of going totally anaerobic and dropping the need for oxygen? I'm not sure, but it might be something to research.

It was a fraction slower than I'd hoped, but I had a fairly full week/weekend and didn't taper for the race. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

In the women's match we were winning by the time of the final event, the discus, which was still going on when we left. Well done team!

Emsworth to Basingstoke Charity Relay 2007

2007-05-20T17:22:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday 12th May the club ran the Emsworth Basingstoke Charity Relay in aid of Motor Neurone Disease. I've just got Jan's photos. Here they are:
The girls team:

The boys A team:

Dave leads off the boys A team:

followed by Toby for the B team:

and Vicky for the girls

Amanda takes over from Belinda at Chalton:

Amanda then hands on to Susie. This is serious relay changeover stuff!:

Belinda to Marilyn at West Worldham:

Marilyn then hands to Shelly south of Alton:

It can be exciting stuff, but sometimes you're on your own:

The girls won their race against the other 3 (or 2?) girls teams. The boys A didn't manage to repeat their previous win, finishing 6th after some unfortunate navigation errors. The B team finished just behind us girls - sorry boys! (and girl).

We were so lucky with the weather - sun and no sign of rain, despite the soaking Basingstoke got earlier in the day. Great fun!

For a full description of the race, see the report from 2 years ago.

Portsmouth Promenade 5k

2007-05-10T12:32:00.000+01:00

Again I raced with a target in mind, and again I missed my target. This time though I was not disappointed as I had a great race.

The target was 20:00, one of my aims for 2007, which I'm sure I'll get as soon as I get the marathon out of my legs. I finished in 21:04 which I'm reasonably happy with given the conditions.

It was very windy! It was blowing a force 7, by my reckoning - not quite a gale but pretty hard to run into. We had much of the last 3km into the wind and it cost a lot of time.

My enjoyment of the race was saved though by my battle with Tina. I overtook Tina at the start, then she overtook me at 1km and I took her back shortly afterwards as we ran shoulder to shoulder round the Lido. She then took me at 3km as we struggled with the wind and she held the lead until the final run in. Helped by a couple of faster guys providing pacing targets I managed to get back to about 10m behind her as we weaved around the paths in the park. As we entered the final straight I still didn't think I was going to be able to catch her, but somehow I found an extra gear and pulled back 10m in a sprint for the line. I finished just ahead of Tina and turned what could have been another moan about weather conditions robbing me of a time, into a rewarding true run race.

Thank you Tina! I love this sort of racing and don't get too many chances to have such a close battle. I finished 2nd W45 which is far more important than the time as this is a 3-race series. I hope the rest of the series is as good as this one!

The splits:
3:54 147bpm wind behind
4:06 156bpm mostly behind, some buffeting
4:20 159bpm mostly in front
4:28 159bpm headwind all the way
4:11 158bpm some headwind

I think I paced reasonably well, but maybe I did fade a little in the last km as my HR dropped slightly.

I look forward to the next round in July where I will hopefully have a fresh, marathon-recovered, pair of legs and a proper crack at that 20-minute barrier (in windless conditions?)

We may have had a good team score as Gina finished ahead of me in 20:24ish (I think) and Sacha coming in behind me. We had at least 4 men running: Neil, Graham, Toby and Bob. Sorry if I didn't spot anyone else. Thanks to Marilyn and Kevin for their support.

The men's race was won by James Baker, with Sophie Morris of Windsor Slough and Eton winning the women's race with a time quite close to Lucy Elliott's course record - pretty good in such windy conditions.

Heart Rate Kinetics

2007-05-07T14:01:00.000+01:00

I had an epiphany recently. It wasn't exactly a road to Damascus moment, but for someone obsessed with all things heart rate, it was another step towards my cardiac enlightenment.

For years I've recorded heart rates of each run, and plotted curves looking for trends and signs of improving performance. I'd always tended to ignore the first mile though, as it takes time for the heart rate to stabilise and provide any data that could be interpreted meaningfully.

Then the other day I read an article on VO₂ kinetics, which indicated that maybe that first mile's data may not be so meaningless after all.

I've always understood heart rate to be a good indication of oxygen demand and lactate levels. While heart rate monitors are good for this in aerobic exercise, eg marathon pacing, there are times when they are not so useful, namely high level exercise and short duration events (intervals) where the HR hasn't stabilised.

To see how the HR ramps up at the start of the effort, here's my heart rate plot of the first kilometre of the Eastleigh 10k:

In this plot you can see the HR curve increasing exponentially up to a value of 146bpm by the end of the first km. As there isn't a stable HR level to pace off, I'd always assumed the initial data was best ignored.

However, a Peak Performance article reveals that this data may be useful after all.

The thing I'd never quite understood is that if HR indicates oxygen demand, then why is the oxygen demand apparently less during the opening minutes? Surely if you are running aerobically at an even effort then oxygen demand should be constant? I'd assumed that HR wasn't a reliable indicator of oxygen demand until after a few minutes when you'd warmed up.

The revelation came seeing a VO₂ plot in the pages of Peak Performance of the initial minutes of high intensity exercise. This was a plot of the actual oxygen consumption, measured using a face mask and oxygen analyser, rather than a heart rate plot. The thing was though that it looked the same as the above. Oxygen demand increased exponentially just as HR did. Heart rate wasn't such a bad indicator of oxygen demand after all.

So if the effort is constant, but oxygen demand isn't, what's going on?

It takes a while for the muscles to 'warm up' and for the mitochondria to all come on line and process the much needed oxygen. This means that for the first few minutes of exercise there is an oxygen debt. In the absence of an adequate oxygen supply the muscles are forced to produce energy anaerobically, and this means:

Lactate!

Ah, music to my ears!

Clearly then, the faster the muscles get up to their maximum oxygen uptake the better, as there will be a smaller oxygen debt and less lactate build up. Any build up of lactate early on will have a major impact on subsequent performance as the muscle's efficiency is reduced. The smaller the oxygen debt the better.

This whole process of oxygen uptake is known as 'VO₂ kinetics'.

So how do we maximise our VO₂ kinetics? The most effective way is a good warmup. Allow me to demonstrate.

Here is a HR plot of a treadmill session I did on Saturday. The blue line shows 4 minutes of effort at 14.5kph. It was a little dodgy going straight to 10k pace without a warmup so I did at least do some mobility exercises. I was careful to keep my HR down though so that I was performing from cold. After the first effort I had 5 minutes of standing recovery to get my HR down quickly. The green plot shows a second 14.5kph effort of 4 minutes following the 5 minute recovery. The first effort had thus acted as a warmup. The red dotted curve I'll explain later.

A word of caution: these are HR plots not VO₂ plots. HR will give a fair indication of oxygen uptake as the greater the demand for oxygen the faster the heart has to beat, but HR and VO₂ are not the same - heat can affect HR as blood is pumped to the skin for cooling and causing a restricted oxygen supply to the muscles. Here though, with short efforts and a full recovery, it is likely that both efforts are being done in similar conditions with similar oxygen transport.

Having said that, clearly the green plot shows a faster increase in HR. The slope of the 2 curves is initially similar, with a small lag on the blue curve, but then there is something of a blip on the blue curve and the gap between the 2 increases somewhat. It is a fair bet that the oxygen debt for the second curve is less than the first. Personally, the second effort felt a lot more comfortable. I've noticed this effect too when running fast intervals - it takes 2 or 3 efforts before my legs feel comfortable, despite them all being the same pace.

The dotted red line in the above plot is a mathematical plot - an exponential curve with a time constant of 25s. What this means is that every 25s the gap between the current HR value and the value it is tending towards, 147bpm in this case, is halved. My time constant is thus about 25s.

Clearly the smaller one's time constant the better. The PP article made it clear that a good warmup will influence this, but also that endurance training can improve the time constant. Current research does not show what sort of training might have the best influence though.

I was intrigued to learn that the person with the fastest measured VO₂ kinetics is Paula Radcliffe with a time constant of 8-9s. Whether this is down to training or genetics is unknown. Maybe I should try 140-mile weeks and test again.

Of course my time constant is measuring HR kinetics and not necessarily VO₂ kinetics - they may not be the same, though I can assure you I don't have a VO₂ time constant of 9s!

So what more can I learn from this data? It appears that we have a way of quantifying the effects of a warmup. I wouldn't call 4mins of 10k pace followed by 5mins standing, the best warmup. What I want to do is repeat this test with my usual warmup of 10mins jogging followed by some 30s sprints picking up the pace. In order to influence the oxygen uptake one has to warmup around threshold pace or faster in order to generate a bit of lactate. It's important to have a bit of recovery before the race (or test) though, as otherwise the warmup might impact the performance. I think my standard warmup fits the bill, so it will be interesting to see how it affects the test.

Can I improve the effectiveness of my warmup? With the track season coming up, I hope I can. Watch this space for details.

Reference: Peak Performance Number 245: Oxygen kinetics - start smart for a mean finish!

London Marathon: Technical report

2007-04-30T21:27:00.000+01:00

First up, here are the splits compared with my 'perfect marathon' at Abingdon.

	London		Abingdon
1	07:43	135bpm	07:59	no hr
2	07:27	144bpm	07:27	144bpm
3	07:06	146	07:36	146
4	07:23	147	07:53	148
5	07:24	147	07:22	146
6	07:45	147	07:48	146
7	07:39	145	07:32	145
8	07:32	146	08:36	145
9	07:40	146	07:30	144
10	07:37	146	07:38	146
11	07:38	144	07:44	146
12	07:37	145	07:39	146
13	07:39	145	07:38	146
14	07:37	145	07:40	147
15	07:37	145	08:02	149
16	07:37	145	07:48	148
17	07:46	145	07:32	151
18	07:34	146	07:55	151
19	08:02	146	07:58	152
20	07:53	144	07:53	154
21	07:57	145	07:48	153
22	07:56	144	07:50	155
23	08:00	145	07:47	154
24	07:43	145	07:53	154
25	08:30	144	08:24	156
26.2	09:54	146	07:25	158
			01:38	160

10 km	0:46:27
20 km	1:34:00
half	1:39:07
30 km	2:21:38
40 km	3:11:21
finish	3:22:22

The main factor to consider when looking at the above results is the heat. It was anything from 23°C to 27°C according to which report you believe. The heat pushes your heart rate up as blood is diverted from the muscles to the skin for cooling and makes the heart work faster to get oxygen to the muscles. Unfortunately you can't simply run at a higher HR because the restricted blood supply makes the muscles less efficient and lactate levels rise. Your only option is to slow down back to your usual HR level. This year's marathon was full of stories of people who tried to run at their normal pace and then had to slow dramatically when they lost the battle with their blood chemistry.

Apart from the effects of the heat slowing my overall pace, what disappointed me at London was the fact that I slowed quite significantly in the final miles, despite running cautiously, whereas at Abingdon I was strong to the tape. At Abingdon I only lost 90secs in the last half, whereas at London I lost 4 minutes. At London I couldn't keep pushing my HR up like I did at Abingdon, although my pace wasn't as slow as the difference in HR between the two races might suggest. Incidentally, the slow 25th mile in both races are in fact due to displaced mile markers rather than my pace, which was still around 8:00/mile according to my GPS.

I was telling everyone that I went off at too high a HR and paid for it at the end. To some extent this is true, as I was trying to maintain a 7:25/mile pace in the face of a raised HR, but in fact the HR splits for the opening miles compare favourably with Abingdon where my pacing was spot on.

Was it the heat causing dehydration and loss of performance in the closing stages? Maybe.

Was it the late start to the training and the loss of January to illness and lack of 20-milers causing a lack of endurance? Maybe.

Could it be that in the heat you have to be conservative and go off at an even lower HR to avoid overheating later? Maybe.

Could it be a lack of warmup which caused an early rise of lactate which caused problems later on? (I've been reading about VO₂ kinetics and the importance of a proper warmup). Maybe.

Was my lactate threshold lower due to lack of marathon pace training runs or tempo runs, and so not able to tolerate such a high HR? Maybe.

Questions aside, I ran a sensible race. I took a sip of water every mile and sloshed the rest over me. I took a gel (SiS Go gel) every 4 miles. I felt spent at the end but not unduly distressed, just a little dehydrated maybe. I just seemed to lack strength in the last 3 miles.

I'm not going to obsess about my 'failure', which of course in many people's eyes is a resounding success. It always pays though to look at your performance and analyse what went wrong and what you need to do better. Regardless of how I ran the race, the main reason for being a lot slower than anticipated was the sudden heat, for which I was unprepared.

So what would I have done differently? Not much really. I could have taken it easier after Abingdon and avoided injury, but I doubt I could have avoided the illness. Maybe running Ryde 10 after a week in bed wasn't such a good idea though - it probably extended the illness. The injury and illness combined to restrict the time I had for the build up - this would seem to be the main problem apart from the heat.

I'll now work towards an autumn marathon to go for 3:15 again. As I felt before London I was already on 3:15 form in cool conditions, given another 6 months of injury free consistent training I should be able to get 3:15 comfortably. I hope so!

It's been 2 weeks since the marathon and my recover is going well, in that my legs feel OK. I have been rather tired since the marathon though - more so than for previous marathons I think. I've been getting at least 8 hours sleep per night, but by mid afternoon I'm falling asleep at my desk, and then falling asleep in front of the tele. Is this psychological, ie a lack of focus after the marathon, or physical? A bit of both I think.

I have a 5k race on Wednesday, so a chance to gauge my physical recovery. I think I should do well, although maybe not at my absolute best. Then it's back into full training for that 3:15!

This isn't me

2007-04-26T13:24:00.000+01:00

My legs feel great, and I'm running tonight.
I thought you might enjoy this though:

Keep watching to the end!

The Flora London Marathon

2007-04-23T17:34:00.000+01:00

How do I write this without sounding disappointed with a new PB and club record?

3:22:22

Yet again I miss the 3:15 target, but this time the problem wasn't so much me. It was hot. Very hot!

It was lovely weather for the spectators though. I hope they didn't get too badly sunburnt. For once, I managed to spot a load of my supporters - I think that's the first time I've managed to spot anyone at all. Thanks to: Karen, Rory, Lars, Sara, Steve, Catherine, Rob, Ian, Carol, Pete. Did I miss anyone? Thanks folks - you really helped.

The target was 3:15 or 7:25/mile and in cooler weather the plan would have been to run 7:15/mile - something my training, and the much cooler Worthing 20 indicated I could do. From the outset though I realised how much the warm weather was affecting my pace. It was warm from the gun and I saw my pace dropping away after only a few miles, as I tried to keep my heart rate down. I think it's worth me explaining heart rate and running in the heat in a later posting, but you simply run at the same heart rate as you would in cool conditions. A heart rate monitor is a useful tool in the heat.

I may have been hot, but I had a much easier time than a friend of mine, whom I met a short distance in. I grabbed the hand of Tony The Tiger as I passed him - I wasn't sure how much he could see or hear - he was wearing the full, and heavy, Leicester Tigers mascot costume. He was raising money for Matt Hampson - a rugby player for Leicester Tigers who was paralysed in a scrum. Tony is a very quick (sub-3) marathon runner but he was going to have a tough run today. He eventually finished in 4:22 - far tougher than he'd ever imagined. Well done Tony.

By 8 miles I'd resigned myself to a 3:20 target: any faster and I'd risk blowing up big-style. It was at this point that I met Gordon Ramsay and enquired how he was doing. He said he'd be happy with 4:00 hours. I explained we'd been running at 3:20 pace and wished him luck. I was a lot faster than him at this point so he'd clearly gone off way too fast. He finished in 4:20 - oops!

At each water station I grabbed a bottle, took a gulp, and then doused myself with the remainder. It helped, and with occasional shade there were glimmers of hope that my pace might improve, but it was still getting hotter and hotter. I only ever took one bottle at each station. I gather some must have been taking 2 bottles though as, despite Dave Bedford's bullish claims that "there's more chance of drowning out there than running out of water", some stations did indeed run out of water for the tail-enders. Lynne, who took over 6 hours (hats off to you Lynne!) resorted to picking up discarded bottles off the road - not good.

I passed half way in 1:39:07, feeling OK but knowing that 3:15 was impossible and that I had a tough run ahead.

It was nice to see the elite men come past on the other side of the road. I spotted Martin Lel (the eventual winner) and Felix Limo (last year's winner) and there was Paul Tergat! I'd finally seen one of running's greats in the flesh. Where was 'The Greatest' though? Where was Haile Gebrselassie? I later found out he'd withdrawn with stitch affecting his breathing. It's a tough game this marathon running.

We got some relief from the heat as we passed through Canary Wharf - we even got a breeze which felt lovely, particularly when doused with water. What a contrast as we emerged from the shade back into the intense sunlight though. I could feel the heat reflecting up off the tarmac and my face was glowing, almost throbbing. How much further?

I passed Karen's friend Jane whom I'd met at the start. She too had been going for 3:15, but unlike me had stuck with her game plan. She was starting to suffer big style with the fast early pace. I would complete the remaining miles nearly a minute/mile faster than her!

I was now working out worst case scenarios in my head as we passed each mile marker - what would my finish time be if I can only manage 8:00/mile from here? I realised I'd missed 3:20, but was still hopeful of being well inside my 3:24 PB.

As we passed the Tower of London I got a boost with the familiar site of a Victory AC vest. As I approached I recognised Paul. As we neared Blackfriars I said hello and woke him up - I think his concentration was waning a bit. He took off into the distance. I thought he might have done me a favour as I now had a target to run me in, but I couldn't quite keep up with him. I kept him in sight along the embankment, but by Big Ben I'd lost him.

I gritted my teeth and gave what I had left up Birdcage Walk and into the world's best marathon finish area. Smile for the camera, job done.

I remembered Geoff Wightman's comments on last week's Boston Marathon and the torrential gale-force headwinds: it's bad but at least it's biblically bad, so we have something to talk about afterwards. I don't think the heat was quite biblically hot, but I'd set a PB and new club record in the hottest London Marathon ever. That's something I suppose!

Well done all the Victory people! Commiserations to Neil for a personal worst and a visit to the medical tent for dehydration. Congrats to James for a sub-3 PB - impressive stuff. Congrats too for PBs to Graham and Bob. Congrats for maiden finishes to Lesley, Alan and Paul (if you ignore his 2 Ironman marathons!!). Congrats to Paul B, Alex, Nick and Richard for simply finishing. Well done team.

Training summary: the taper

2007-04-20T20:26:00.000+01:00

My taper was a 2-week affair detailed below. I was particularly pleased with Tuesday's 400m reps, as they were my fastest ever reps, running the last 6 faster than 6:00/mile, and still fairly comfortable. There then followed some marathon pace intervals in the club handicap race, although I probably ran quicker than marathon pace due to the terrain and the gates/bridges. Totton was a disaster in racing terms but actually proved to be quite a good workout - 6km hard plus 3 marathon pace 1km intervals - under the circumstances that was probably a better preparation for London than 10km flat out.

My final 3 mile run felt really comfortable and was quick despite the fresh headwind.

I'm as ready as I can be. This is the fittest I've ever been before a marathon. I'm currently concerned about the predicted warm weather, but I think this will be a good one. Bring it on!

Monday 9th April	2 miles	am: 2 miles treadie plus weights
Tuesday	5.7 miles	pm: 8x400m 75s jog/walk 92s no HR 91s 146bpm 90s 149bpm 89s 151bpm 89s 151bpm 88s 153bpm 89s 153bpm 89s 153bpm peaked at 5:54/mile	Very pleased - fastest flat pace I've ever run!
Wednesday	7.6 miles	pm:7.6 miles @8:42/mile 116bpm	Easy off road run
Thursday	7.5 miles	pm: Club handicap race 60:32 131bpm	Ran the race as 4mins marathon pace 7:15/mile, 4 mins steady
Friday	Rest		Club annual dinner
Saturday	Rest
Sunday	7 miles	Totton 10k 45:25 149bpm
Total	29.8 miles
Monday 16th April	4.5 miles	pm: offroad steady 8:28 123bpm
Tuesday	5.15 miles	pm: Easy off road club run 118bpm
Wednesday	Rest		Hardly restful as spent afternoon at FLM expo and evening walking at the club social run/walk
Thursday	4.5 miles	pm: Really easy jog to club session then 2 400m intervals 7:15/mile
Friday	3 miles	8:11/mile 118bpm into fresh headwind
Saturday	Rest		Drive up to London
Sunday	26.2 miles	Flora London Marathon in ???
Total excluding marathon	17.2 miles

The Team: Totton 10k

2007-04-15T19:35:00.000+01:00

I have a wonderful bunch of friends in Victory AC. I wonder if they realised how much they've touched me this weekend?

I had a dreadful race! We needed to score some solid points to avoid relegation from division 1. We were third from bottom but we were not mathematically safe by any means. We needed a good turn out and we got it. The pressure was off me - phew!

The weather was incredibly warm: 25°C to be precise - ridiculous for April. I hope it's cooler next weekend! We set off with Gina setting an amazing pace for such hot conditions with me following and Chris, Ruth and the rest of the girls behind.

I realised after a 4 minute first kilometre that I was going way too fast for the conditions. My heart rate was 158bpm as a result of the heat. I may have been capable of maintaining the pace on a cooler day but in this heat it was more like 5k pace. I was doomed to blow up if I kept going at that rate. So why didn't I slow down?

Each km split showed a slower time, but my HR remained high - idiot!

At the water station at 6km I was feeling dizzy and, with a mind on not harming my London chances, walked. Major guilt feelings! I got going again but felt awful and the sense of self preservation was getting stronger. When Chris caught me, I realised that my contribution to the team was dwindling and the desire to cool down got stronger.

I walked again.

Finally, having had another break, Ruth caught me in the last km and the pressure was finally off. I crossed the line in 45+ mins feeling shattered.

I'd let the team down. I was an idiot. I'd paced badly. I shouldn't have gone off at such a stupid cool weather pace. I'd walked, given in, a loser.

Everyone I spoke to was supportive though! So many said they expected great things from me next week and I was right to back off. Everyone totally understood my situation. They all made me feel really good. What a bunch! Thankyou.

We survived relegation. Marilyn won the W55 prize - she looked so relaxed at the finish - what a star! The world is good.

Footnote:
'The team' voted me "Club member of the year" at the annual dinner on Friday. I was dead chuffed. That is such an honour. I also picked up the "Most improved" and the "Colin Goater shield" (for most outstanding single performance), hogging the trophies somewhat. I worked hard for the latter 2, but the club member of the year is really special. Thank you so much.

Here are the pics:

If I'd known I was getting those trophies, I'd have made more of an effort:

Weekly summary - 2 weeks to go

2007-04-11T12:57:00.000+01:00

The highlight of the week, apart from some rather fine intervals on Thursday, had to be my big run on Saturday. What a run! Glorious sunshine and stunning scenery. My friends were recceing the route of the Emsworth to Basingstoke Charity Relay so I seized the opportunity to do a point to point run and grab a lift back at the end. They were only recceing 2 or 3 legs, so I wasn't going to have any company - alas, I think I'm doomed to always run my big runs alone. It was nice to meet them at the end though.

The route I took is detailed on the above link, by clicking 'route maps'. I ran from near Warblington church to Vann farm near Selborne - legs 2 to 10. The 2 highlghts for me were legs 6, for the Queen Elizabeth Forest and the total feeling of summer, and leg 9 for the infamous Shoulder of Mutton Hill (the name is obscured on the map, but it is the continuation of the ridge marked as Ashford Hill). SOMH is so steep it's laughable. It's such an effort to even walk up. I've met people who claim they've run up it during the race, but I frankly don't believe them. It's a unique challenge though, and the view from the top is spectacular. I'm not sure it's what you want 15 miles into a run, but it certainly was the highlight regardless of the reason.

The taper has now begun: no more doubles! Totton 10k next week, which I have a good feeling about, and then a small matter of a marathon. Not long now!

Monday	Rest		I think I earned a rest!
Tuesday	7.6 miles	am: massage	pm: Recce of club handicap route 8:01/mile 125bpm - low HR considering pace was interrupted by 12 gates and 4 bridges 7:35-7:45/mile between gates
Wednesday	11 miles	am: 2 miles treadie + weights session - now up to 56kg deadlift	pm: 9 miles offroad 8:34/mile no HR data
Thursday	11.9 miles	am: 4.3 miles easy	pm: 8x800m 60sec recovery 3:13 147bpm max 3:16 149bpm 3:15 152bpm 3:15 152bpm 3:19 151bpm 3:16 152bpm 3:15 155bpm 3:21 152bpm legs a bit tired, stitch on last interval, but generally went well
Friday	4.5 miles	am: easy run offroad, no pace or HR data - freedom!
Saturday	19 miles	am: The Big One! Following Hangers Way from Havant to Selborne. Slow pace 10:30/mile due to the difficult terrain - often rutted from horses hooves in now hard baked mud	Nicest long run I've ever done!
Sunday	7.5 miles	am: Very easy run with the club - ridiculously low HR 103bpm - it was reading below 100 for much of the run
Total	61.5 miles

Weekly summary - 3 weeks to go

2007-04-05T14:05:00.000+01:00

A week of very hard running, following on from the Eastleigh 10k. I'm tired, but set up quite nicely for tapering.

My confidence is sky high after first the Eastleigh 10k and then the Worthing 20 - speed and endurance! I still have the Totton 10k a week before London, and am optimistic of going even quicker there.

I'm only going to taper properly for 2 weeks, with another full week and a 20-miler next weekend, but my mileage will drop slightly this week.

Monday	4.5 miles		4.5 miles easy offroad 113bpm
Tuesday	6.75 miles	am: massage	pm: 6.8 miles hill run - ran hard 7:28/mile 141bpm. Surprisingly warm 16°C
Wednesday	12.5 miles	am:2 miles treadie plus gym/weights	pm: 10.5 miles 8:41/mile 114bpm mostly offroad
Thursday	10.2 miles	am: 4.6 miles easy 9:02/mile 114bpm	pm 5.6miles club 3.6 mile handicap race 26:01 over bridges, through gates 7:14/mile 139bpm. PB despite low HR, but I was running about as hard as I could - tired!
Friday	6 miles	6 miles easy offroad 9:06/mile 109bpm
Saturday	Rest
Sunday	21.5 miles	Worthing 20 2:31:33 7:35/mile 137bpm	Club record despite running first half gently. Very pleased with the result!
Total	61.5 miles

Worthing 20

2007-04-02T12:59:00.000+01:00

You just know things are going well with your training when 15 miles into a 20-mile run you move up a gear and feel like you are just floating effortlessly. I had a great run at Worthing yesterday, and all because of a rest day!

At the wet wet wet Mad March Hare 20, try as I might I couldn't get my pace up - this was largely to be expected though after a very tough week of training without any form of taper. I needed a bit of a confidence boost yesterday though, so I took the unusual step on Saturday of not running at all - no exercise, nothing - a rest day.

What a difference a day makes! Despite reservations beforehand about some tightness in my calves, as soon as the race began I knew I was going to have a good run.

Conditions were not ideal - there was a stiff northeasterly wind to contend with along the seafront feeling very cold for the first 2 of the 4 5-mile laps. Despite the wind though, the first few miles I was fighting to keep my speed down - my legs just wanted to run! The plan was to keep the first 10 miles nice and slow, at least 40secs/mile slower than marathon pace, and then pick it up in the second half to marathon pace and maybe push harder in the last 2 or 3 miles. Here are the splits and heart rate stats:

8:03 119bpm
8:05 no HR
7:54 no HR
7:48 no HR
7:50 130bpm
7:54 132bpm
8:01 133bpm
7:49 132bpm
7:48 132bpm
7:31 135bpm
7:21 142bpm
7:30 142bpm
7:16 140bpm
7:15 141bpm
7:22 142bpm
7:23 143bpm
7:34 144bpm
7:06 146bpm
7:08 145bpm
7:03 148bpm

2:31:33

137bpm ave (subject to lack of steady HR data in miles 2 to 4 - not sweating enough!)

Compared to runs recently where I've had trouble pushing up to marathon pace, things felt so easy. This is really good news as it not only means I'm on top form, but also I'm on top of the training and not getting the fatigue of earlier weeks.

The best news though is I was well within the 7:25/mile target pace without my HR ever going near my normal marathon HR of 145bpm until the last miles. 3:15 is deinitely on!

Good news too for Neil, as he's put his poor Mad March Hare result behind him with a comfortable 2:20. I lapped Bob at around 14 miles, before nearly getting lapped myself by the winner - I just avoided it as the lead car overtook me and turned left for the finish with Nick Baker fast approaching. Bob seemed pleased with his 3:29, although he was a minute/mile down on his best 20-miler despite some recent PBs at 10k - best to keep something back for the big day in London.

Thanks go to Carol for supporting us, being the 10-mile cloakroom attendant, and finish line supplier of Belgian Buns!

I believe my 2:31:33 is now the overall women's club record. We weren't sure of the previous mark as we thought Chris had run faster, but we couldn't produce evidence of the fact. I think this mark removes the uncertainty. Anyone know any different?

Next race is the Totton 10k in 2 weeks - a final sharpener before London. Things are looking promising!

Weekly summary - 4 weeks to go

2007-03-29T11:31:00.000+01:00

I'm so happy to finish the week with a 10k PB! It confirms I have my form back and can challenge that 3:15 mark in London.

It was another tiring week - I find the combination of a hard Tuesday run with a gym session and a longish run on Wednesday leaves me quite tired by Thursday. I was quite happy to take it easy on Thursday and taper down for the 10k. What a boost on Friday getting such a low HR in my regular fitness test recovery run!

Not long to go now. I'm feeling really on top of things. Worthing 20 this weekend - I'll see if I can push the last half of the race and get another PB (and club record!)

Monday	Rest
Tuesday	8.3 miles	am: Gym session (incl 15x51kg deadlift) + 2 miles treadie	pm: 2x2-miles off 3mins 6:57 no hr 6:46 146bpm 3mins 7:00 145bpm 7:01 148bpm
Wednesday	13.8 miles	am: 4.6 miles easy	9.2 miles 8:55/mile 114bpm Feeling tired
Thursday	7.9 miles	am: 4.2 miles easy	pm: 3.7 miles easy
Friday	4 miles		pm: fitness test 4@9:00/mile 107bpm
Saturday	Rest	am:
Sunday	8.2 miles	Eastleigh 10k 41:29 6:41/mile 152bpm
Total	42.2 miles

Eastleigh 10k 2007

2007-03-25T20:08:00.000+01:00

Here's my initial report. I may revise it a bit when I've seen the results of the others - as a team we were a little under strength, but I think the girls at least did OK.

For me, I suspected I was on PB form, so it was all about going out at a good pace and having the confidence that I could sustain that pace. I usually string these reports out a bit, suspense in the story telling and all that, but let's cut to the chase:

km splits:
4:07 137bpm
4:06 148bpm
4:07 151bpm
4:24 154bpm (slight uphill)
4:02 151bpm (slight downhill)
4:08 154bpm
4:10 156bpm
4:05 157bpm
4:07 157bpm
4:09 157bpm
41:29 152bpm

3rd W45 with £30 B&Q vouchers
PB by 40sec, best ever age graded at 78.9%

HR was slightly down on my highest ever 10k HR (155bpm at Totton last year), so probably a bit of fatigue, unsurprisingly. My pace judgement though was pretty good. I'd wondered about trying to keep up with Guy, who I reckoned was heading for just over 40 minutes (which was in fact the case), but I'm glad I didn't try to go with him as I was pretty spent at the end.

It was a very high quality field with 1500 entries. Frank Tickner won the men with a sub-30, and Natalie Harvey won the women with what the race organiser thinks is the UK's fastest time this year (32 something?).

Slight controversy with the club records, as I thought I'd taken the club age record. Having discussed this with Marilyn whose record I thought I'd taken, it seems there was an error and her overall record of 40:34 is actually the W45 record not W50. I'm the club statistician, but if we are apportioning blame then I think the error lies with my predecessor - oops! I guess I need to get faster.

Whatever the stats, I'm very pleased with that result as it's the first time the Macmillan calculator has predicted a marathon time of under 3:15 (just!).

43bpm, 107bpm

2007-03-24T20:47:00.000Z

Thought I'd blog a couple of heart rates.

43bpm used to be my resting heart rate, although I've seen it much lower than that, depending on when I measure it. (Do you measure it on waking quietly or after being rudely awakened by the alarm clock? There's a huge range of values to be had there.)

No, 43bpm was the heart rate I saw the other night as I stood at my front door waiting for my Garmin to pick up the satellites. Incredibly low. I wonder what my minimum HR is? I haven't tried reading it for ages - I've given up trying to take my resting HR as there is such a large variance depending on how I wake up in a morning.

107bpm on the other hand is the average HR I recorded for a 4-mile run last night.

I have this fitness test I do every now and then. A year ago I ran a 4-mile route from home trying to average 9:00/mile for the whole route. I recorded the data on my Garmin and turned it into a 'Course'. I can then replay this route later and rerun the same route against a virtual 'me', thereby replaying the whole event exactly. Ignoring effects of heat and wind for a moment, the average heart rate for the run is then an indication of my fitness.

Clearly my ability to run 4 miles at 9:00/mile can't be used as a direct measure of marathon readiness, but it does give a good indication of how my running economy is progressing. It's also an easy recovery run, despite being a fitness test, so can be slotted into the training at any time.

Last night I recorded an average of 107bpm. This is only 1bpm higher than my best ever, recorded at my peak last summer.

A good sign! Providing I'm not too tired from all the training, the Eastleigh 10k should go well tomorrow!

I think I may have to record a new version of this 4-mile test - 107bpm is a bit silly even for a recovery run - some couch potatoes would have a resting HR that high.

Weekly summary - 5 weeks to go

2007-03-23T12:34:00.000Z

Well that was a tough week. My first full week of doubles while working full time on a stressful job with over 2 hours of travelling each day.

It nearly worked. By Saturday I was so tired and my calves were so tight that I felt I had no choice but to rest.

By Sunday though, things were better and I managed a strong 20.7 miles, despite feeling very rough at first having to run the first few miles into a strong cross/head-wind.

The dodgy legs could simply have been the gym session on Friday. I would normally have an easy day on Friday after 3 hard days midweek, but this Friday was my monthly gym assessment with my trainer Elaine. Normally these sessions are really easy, not involving much gym work, just a few bits and pieces here and there. I had some spare time though and made sure I finished up with my usual weight routine, including some 50kg deadlifts. On top of that, I tried 30secs of a plyometric exercise Elaine showed me - scissor jump squats. This had my quads burning after only 30 secs, and I don't suppose it was too kind on my calves either. In the evening, after my run my calves were very tight and by Saturday I was just too tired to do anything. Was this all avoidable?

By listening to my body and taking the rest I needed I seem to be OK and continuing on strongly. Only a few more hard weeks to go!

Monday	8.6 miles	am:4.6 miles easy	4 miles fitness test 9:00/mile following Garmin course. HR 108bpm only 2bpm higher than best ever - good news!
Tuesday	7.8 miles	am: massage	pm: Club run over Portsdown Hill HR 139bpm pace 7:44/mile
Wednesday	12.5 miles	am: gym session, 2 miles on treadie	pm: 10.5 miles 8:31/mile 119bpm good pace - felt good! HR was only 43bpm standing outside front door waiting for Garmin to get satellite lock!
Thursday	10 miles	am: 4 miles easy	pm: 6 miles. 4x1516m off 3mins: 6:36 max 143bpm 7:00/mile 6:23 max 147bpm 6:46/mile 6:21 max 148bpm 6:44/mile 6:24 max 151bpm 6:48/mile
Friday	9 miles	am:2.3 miles gym assessment with personal trainer. Did 30secs of plyometric scissor jump squats - a bad idea?	pm: 6.7 miles easy. Calf tightened up afterwards
Saturday	Rest		Legs feeling very dodgy - a result of yesterday's gym + plyometrics - effectively 4 hard days in a row?
Sunday	20.7 miles	am 20.7 miles @8:42/mile 122bpm Felt tired at first into string headwind, but finished feeling better with a 7:30 mile
Total	68.6 miles

ps this report is a tad late due to pressures of work. Life's tough!

Rest

2007-03-18T18:45:00.000Z

I blog occasional training sessions (did I tell you about my mile reps last Thursday? No?), but I don't think I've blogged a rest day before now.

After a hard week, along came Saturday and I just didn't feel like running. My calves were really tight, I was worried I'd damage them if I went for a run, and I was generally knackered! A rest day was required.

I run daily. Some people chase 'streaks', desperate to get in as many days in a row as possible, but I'm determined not to get into the mentality that I have to run every day regardless. If I feel I need to rest then I'll rest.

I get lectured every now and then about how I must take regular rest days. I'm convinced it is possible to train hard and train every day, sometimes twice a day. If you get the balance right between hard sessions and easy sessions then daily running is OK. Sometimes you get the balance wrong though.

I had a hard hilly club run on Tuesday, a gym session and a 10-mile run on Wednesday, and a tough mile reps session on Thursday (did I mention that already?), all as doubles - morning and evening. Friday would normally have been really easy, for the sake of balance, but I had a gym assessment session with my trainer on Friday morning. I tried out a plyometric exercise with her - just 30 secs of scissor squat jumps and my legs were burning. I've never tried plyometrics before - they're very hard on the legs! That alone might have been enough to push me over the edge, but I did all my usual leg strength work as well. Friday was no longer an easy day!

I ran an easy, but very tired, hour run on Friday evening, and that just about finished me - my calves were very tight aftrwards. One day of hard running too many - I learned that lesson in Lanzarote last year!

After resting Saturday, today's long run went well despite the strong wind - although I felt very tired at the start running into the headwind. I finished strongly though with a 7:30 last mile. In all, 20.7 miles at 8:42/mile in 3 hours at an ave HR of 122bpm 70%MHR.

I enjoyed my day of rest!

Weekly summary - 6 weeks to go

2007-03-12T20:36:00.000Z

A cutback week in terms of mileage, but a good quality 400m session. My pace is really improving and may now be back to what it was during the summer.

Looking good!

Monday	2 miles	easy running coaching the beginners group
Tuesday	Rest		First rest day in ages
Wednesday	9.6 miles	am:2 miles treadie+weights pm:7.6 miles steady 8:23/mile 120bpm	Very encouraged by the pace for sucha low HR!
Thursday	6.5 miles	Interval session: 15x400m reps with 150m jog recovery, generally around 54s, down to 130bpm, pace around 6:30/mile reps: 98s 132bpm max 98s 142bpm max 98s 150bpm max 99s 160bpm max 97s 145bpm max 97s 146bpm max 97s 147bpm max 96s 149bpm max 97s 149bpm max 97s 148bpm max 96s 150bpm max 97s 150bpm max 97s 150bpm max 98s 149bpm max 95s 152bpm max	Felt good!
Friday	6.5 miles	easy pace 8:41/mile 116bpm	Felt tired
Saturday	6.6 miles	am: 4.6 miles easy off road pm: 2 miles treadie+weights
Sunday	15 miles	steady pace hilly road circuit 8:47/mile 117bpm
Total	46.2 miles

Weekly summary - 7 weeks to go

2007-03-06T19:31:00.000Z

My first decent hard week of training - at last!

I knew I was going to be tired by the end of the week, as demonstrated by my inability to run at marathon effort in the MMH20, but this was all part of the plan really. I will take an easy week this week, hopefully recover well, and then be able to push on hard the week after.

7 weeks to go! London sounds really close now.

Monday	6.7 miles	am:2 miles treadie plus weights pm:4.7 miles varied pace	Evening session coaching the beginners
Tuesday	10.6 miles	am:4 miles easy pm:6.6 hilly club run 7:58/mile 137bpm	Portsdown Hill run: 2 miles up 300ft climb, steep 250ft downhill, 1 mile flat, steep up 150ft, back down. Couldn't quite get HR up to marathon effort - tired
Wednesday	12 miles	am:2 miles treadie plus weights pm:10 miles steady	Very windy! Hard work
Thursday	7.5 miles	am: massage pm:mile reps session, 4*1-mile generally at 6:50 max HR 154bpm
Friday	12.1 miles	am:4.5 miles easy pm:7.6 miles easy/steady 8:39/mile 116bpm
Saturday	6 miles	am:easy 6 miles
Sunday	20 miles	Mad March Hare 20 2:39:00 133bpm	Very wet, very windy, hard work!
Total	74.9 miles

A little light swimming: Christchurch Mad March Hare 20

2007-03-04T19:12:00.000Z

I knew things were going to be tough when at mile 1 we had to run through ankle deep water and my shoes and socks were sodden. I had no idea at this stage just how tough though!

After 16 miles of continuous rain and many many flooded sections of road, we were treated to the ultimate water torture: a stream, or was it a drainage ditch, had burst it banks and the darling little torrent was joyfully bubbling its way down the road. We had to run 400m or what felt more like 800m ankle deep in water. I've run through floods before, but what was quite bizarre this time was that after we emerged heavy footed from the flood, my feet were frozen - I had absolutely no feeling in them at all. Never before have I run with my legs apparently ending at the ankles. They took a mile to thaw out and get the feeling back. Ouch!

While all this was going on we were battling into a very strong headwind. This was tough!

So as you can guess, my finish time wasn't sparkling - but it was never meant to be. The plan was to jog the first 5 miles, which I did, and then push the pace up to marathon effort. I knew from the start though that this was going to be difficult: after a hard week's training of 72 miles with a hard mile reps session on Thursday, 12 miles on Friday, and a weary 6 miles on Saturday, I knew fatigue was going to be a factor. This was only ever supposed to be a training run on the way to London though.

I never managed to get my heart rate above 140bpm: 5bpm below my usual marathon effort. Most of the time my HR was much lower. The result was my pace never got up to my current marathon capabilities. Having said that though I was only 5secs/mile outside my marathon PB pace over the last 15 miles of this race, so the signs are there that I've made good progress since Abingdon (and the illness!).

In the end I crossed the line in 2:39:00 (going by what the marshal shouted), for an average heart rate of 133bpm or 77% of maximum. Not much more than a steady run, despite the effort I put in. I'll take that as a positive.

We got 4 girls across the line, so hopefully have a reasonable team score - well done Amanda, Marilyn and Belinda. The boys suffered somewhat, particularly Neil who only finished a few minutes ahead of me. I suspect their result wasn't what they had hoped for!

That was just about the worst conditions I've raced in, second only to the horizontal hail of the 2004 Stafford 20. Even the torrential rain of the Isle Of Wight Marathon didn't come close. By the end my hands were so cold it took a huge effort to squeeze the safety pins open to take my race number off. Then there was the mud of the playing fields which hosted the finish line and the changing tents. Perhaps next year we might have a ground sheet?

Now don't you just hate it when you walk into the tent to find there's a mad woman in a Victory AC vest shouting "Wasn't that fantastic?! I love conditions like that! Great fun! What a race! Boy I enjoyed that!"? Sorry girls, but there were such dark dejected looks on your faces I felt the mood needed lifting a little. Running - love it!

Mile reps - a recovery experiment

2007-03-03T13:50:00.000Z

I thought I'd post Thursday night's mile reps session. It was an encouraging session in terms of my pace, but it was also an experiment, as I was recovering by jogging until my HR dropped to 125bpm. This was as a result of a discussion I'd had about a recommendation in 'The Coach' magazine about waiting until your HR has dropped to 120bpm during recoveries.

The discussion was that 120bpm seemed a bit low considering that most people jog at a higher rate than that. Everyone has a different max HR anyway, so why make a blanket recommendation of an asolute heart rate? I remembered, during a roastingly hot summer's 8*1000m session, using 125bpm as a mark for recovery, so decided to try using this level as a recovery experiment for the night's mile reps.

So the plan was to jog between each of the 4 1-mile reps and go again once my HR had dropped to 125bpm. Here are the results:

6:47 max HR 150bpm 1:31 recovery
6:49 max HR 154bpm 1:51 recovery
6:51 max HR 154bpm 1:36 recovery
7:06 max HR 149bpm 1:15 recovery (taken after the last rep prior to the warm down)

The last one was a bit slow: I think I could have done it quicker if properly motivated - I was running on my own at the end - I'm in a bit of a no mans land pace-wise at the moment. It's noticeable how the lower effort of the last rep required less recovery.

During the recoveries my HR was dropping quite quickly after an initial plateau, so 120bpm recoveries wouldn't actually be that much longer. I was knackered by the last rep though: I really felt I needed longer recoveries - our standard club session is to take 3 minutes recovery. Despite the increasingly tough efforts though, my recovery seemed the same each time.

On the Runner's World forum, 'Slow-Coach' did some research into recommendations for HR during recovery. Here is her reply:

A bit of lunchtime Googling revealed a range of prescriptions as to what your HR should go down to during the recovery as follows:

Brianmac.com: 100-110 bpm
Sportsmedicine.com: 100-110 bpm
Marc Grosso (US coach): 120 bpm
Powers and Healy, 2001; Fox, Bowers and Foss, 1993 and Reilly et al: 120-140 bpm
Ackland and Reid, 1994: Training HR - 50 bpm
Gerschler: effort at 170-180 bpm; recovery at 120-140.

These last authorities are cited on a couple of sites.

However, no-one says why a particular value is necessary.
My theory would be that the recovery HR should depend on the age-related maximum of the individual and the intensity of the effort. So the "Training HR - 50 bpm" is the closest fit to that I think. But it depends on which energy system one is trying to train. I think if it's the lactate system one should keep the recoveries shorter (i.e. restart at a higher % of your max), than if it's the ATP system. But there is no real guidance I could see on Google.

So the jury's out then. I think, as ever, HR is just one more source of input into a session. I think its main use is to ensure you are getting sufficient recovery; it's not a reason for cutting your recovery in my opinion. If you find that your HR isn't dropping so much in later efforts then take longer recovery to ensure you recover to the same HR as previous efforts. What the recovery target should be is anyone's guess, but maybe 'Training HR - 50 bpm' is a good guide. As 'Slow-Coach' says though, different sessions may require different recovery levels as lactate training requires a shorter recovery than sprint intervals.

Weekly summary - 8 weeks to go

2007-03-01T10:25:00.000Z

That's better! I'm starting to feel more like my old self with some decent mileage. I still seem to be clearing my throat regularly and coughing up gunk, but the symptoms are very mild. I had a blip on Thursday when it felt like my throat was getting sore again, but it didn't amount to anything. Maybe when I'm sore from gym work or running it kicks my immune system? I've often wondered whether muscle damage is treated by the body like an infection and causes the glands to swell - I've experienced similar symptoms before when tired, thinking I'm coming down with something, and then felt fine the following day. Whatever the case, the panic is over.

As I write this, I've take some time off work and am doing a week of hard training to kick start the campaign. I seem to be back on track. Fingers crossed I'll have recovered my former pace in time for London and can have my first proper crack at 3:15!

Monday	4.5 miles	Easy run coaching the beginners
Tuesday	10 miles	am: 3.5miles easy pm:6.5 tempo run 2 x 2-mile with 3min jog recover. miles: 7:25 131bpm, 7:22 143, 3mins, 7:15 147bpm, 7:17 150bpm	Felt good! Well paced - not my fastest, but well on the road to recovery
Wednesday	10.7 miles	am:Gym sesh with 2miles treadmill pm: 8.7miles easy 119bpm 8:54/mile
Thursday	5.5miles	pm: jogged the club session	Throat felt a bit iffy, but turned out OK
Friday	6.4 miles	am: Gym assessment with trainer pm: 5.8 miles easy
Saturday	6 miles	am: easy 6 miles 114bpm 9:14/mile
Sunday	20 miles	Bramley 20: Steady run 2:53:03 8:39/mile 127bpm
Total	63.1 miles

Bramley 20

2007-02-27T11:19:00.000Z

This should have been my third 20-miler of the campaign but due to illness was my first 20 and longest run since the Abingdon marathon. What was called for was a good bit of discipline to keep things really easy and make sure I recover well for a hard week of training before the Mad March Hare 20 next week.

I'd made a tentative arrangement to meet TR from my online training group but couldn't spot the orange vest anywhere at the start. I set off at the start feeling all alone in a field of hundreds, not having spoken to anyone all day, and not having any team mates around me. Poor little me!

I wasn't too sure about the weather. I had tights and a long sleeved Helly-Hansen on under my club vest, but no hat and gloves. With some spots of rain at mile 1 and some dark clouds I wondered if I was wearing enough layers for jogging. In the end though we were really lucky with the weather, particularly as it rained on the journey there and on the journey back. We even had some sunshine during the race.

I'd told TR to look out for a tall bird in a Victory vest, as I'd be the only one (Victory vest or tall bird for that matter), but I was really pleased when team mate Beth passed me at 3 miles, particularly as I hadn't seen her in ages (it turns out hugging someone whilst running is quite tricky!). Could I resist the urge to race her? She was doing the 10-mile option, presumably a fair bit quicker than my 20-mile pace. Discipline Susie!

Another pleasant surprise was the familiar sound of Mick'n'Phil coming up behind me. Where does Phil get all that energy to drag is dad round? ;-) They were going at a pretty good pace - another target to not aim at.

I was managing to keep my pace and heart rate under control and feeling quite good. We were 8 miles in and I could see a lot of the 10-milers were preparing themselves for the push to the finish. I was aware too that I'd been shoulder to shoulder with a guy for a few miles now. He must be using me for pacing. Should I introduce myself? Nah!

As we entered the last mile of the first half I caught up with Beth. I wasn't sure if she was keeping her pace down for her running partner, but she looked to be slowing. This surprised me a little, as I've had some good battles with Beth in the past and thought she might be faster. I eased past her and carried on for my second lap.

The guy was still there pacing me so I finally broke the silence. We chatted about snowboarding, ankle injuries and broken collar bones, as you do, which passed the time nicely on what was becoming a pleasant Sunday run.

I caught Mick'n'Phil as we hit the hill at 16-miles. I grabbed the handle of Phil's chair to offer assistance. Mick waved me away. That must have been quite a hard push up the hill. Fantastic effort.

My legs were beginnig to tire a little but I was pleased I was able to pick up the pace a little for the closing miles - still keeping things fairly easy though. I finished in 2:53:03. An average of 8:39/mile and 127bpm, with an even pace: a pretty good training run.

I finally met TR at the finish and had a chat - another virtual pal made real. I also met Louisa, one of Karen's Greenwich hill session runners, who'd done a great time of 2:17 - looking good for London!

I guess I wasn't on my own so much after all!

Weekly summary - 9 weeks to go

2007-02-20T12:38:00.000Z

Another interruption to my training with a week off due to sinusitis. There was some horrible stuff coming out of my painful eyes! With hindsight maybe I could have avoided all this by resting longer the first time around and not doing the Ryde 10 and the Southern Cross Country, but it's a bit late now. At least I scored the club some useful points!

It's been 4½ weeks since onset of symptoms and my throat is still slightly gunged up, however I'm definitely on the mend now. A few more days and I should finally be clear of the bug. Fingers crossed!

I'll try to ramp up the mileage now as best I can, and hopefully get back on track for London in a few weeks. Hopefully I can still put in a reasonable performance.

Bramley 20 next week, followed by the Mad March Hare 20 the following week. I should hopefully be OK for both now, but will be taking them very easy!

Monday 5th Feb	3 miles	3 miles easy coaching my beginners group	Feeling rough again!
Tuesday	0 miles
Wednesday	0 miles		Sinusitis! On antibiotics
Thursday	0 miles
Friday	0 miles
Saturday	0 miles
Sunday	0 miles		So much wanted to do a long run but still feeling tired
Total	3 miles

Monday 12th Feb	3 miles	Hill session with beginners group	Feeling better
Tuesday	6.1 miles	Very easy club run
Wednesday	6.6 miles	Easy run	A little bit tired but OK. Did some weights afterwards
Thursday	5.5 miles	Steady club run 8:44/mile 125bpm
Friday	6.6 miles	easy run
Saturday	4 miles	Early morning easy run	Was going to go to the gym in the evening but felt tired and changed my mind
Sunday	15 miles	First 6 miles on road 8:48/mile 125bpm followed by 9 offroad	Felt tired afterwards but pleased that the run went well
Total	46.8 miles

A career high point?

2007-02-18T18:56:00.000Z

After another rough patch having missed a week with sinusitis (details in the training summary to follow), I was in need of cheering up when I attended the Havant Borough Sports Council 27th annual awards on Thursday.

I'd been nominated for 'Veteran Sportwoman Of The Year', for my marathon results and services to the club. This blog was also quoted in the citation!

I duly won the award - pleasantly surprised, but figuring I was one of very few nominees - silly self-deprecating me. I was dead chuffed though - very honoured.

Then at the high point of the evening, in a room full of English schools 100m finalists, county 400m champions, English international judoka, and 70-year old record breaking weight lifters, the title of "Havant Borough Sportsperson Of The Year" was announced. Quite a shock! Me! Blimmin' 'eck. So now I have a rather large silver trophy with my name below Kath Bailey's. Cool!

I'm very honoured by this. I hope I can live up to the title, being very off form at the moment having missed a lot of training through illness.

A friend asked me if this was the high point of my athletics career. I think it is! In a different way, the other high point was running down The Mall in a flood of tears in my first marathon. How do you judge between the two? Magic moments both.

Lots more to do yet though - onwards and upwards.

Weekly summary - 11 weeks to go

2007-02-05T15:14:00.000Z

I enjoyed the cross country, but was it too much too soon after the illness/Ryde 10 combination? I don't feel ill, but my throat has got sore again, fortunately without the fever symptoms this time.

I may have to take some more time off. This is very frustrating as I feel ready to up my mileage. Mind you, there may be signs that I'm suffering by continuing to run as my paces have been down in the last few days. Maybe a day or 2 of rest will really benefit me.

Monday	6 miles	am:2 miles treadie + weights pm: 4miles coaching beginners	First gym sesh in 12 days after illness
Tuesday	5.5 miles	easy club run 128bpm	Glutes really sore after gym session
Wednesday	8.7 miles	am:2 miles treadie + weights pm: 6.7miles easy	Very tired for evening run, but glutes less sore
Thursday	5.2 miles	jogged the club session	Still tired
Friday	4.2 miles	am: easy hilly run 9:12/mile 121bpm	HR seemed high, felt tired, so didn't run in the evening
Saturday	6.2 miles	SEAA vets XC 3.55miles 7:46/mile 153bpm	Throat sore - was it a bad idea to run?
Sunday	18 miles	9:06/mile 123bpm	HR a bit high - getting ill again?
Total	53.8 miles

Southern Vets Cross Country 2006

2007-02-04T18:47:00.000Z

A beautiful day for a bit of cross country, so we made the trip to the wonderfully named Mad Bess Woods in Ruislip for the SEAA veterans cross country championships.

First up the boys in the over-50s (I guess that makes them quite mature 'boys').
Here's 2 I found in a tree:

Pete led them home:

followed by Graham:

and John:

Next up were the girls, also proud tree-huggers:

Here's Amanda:

Marilyn:

and Belinda:

and at the poorly named finish line, the team:

I have no idea how we got on, as the results haven't been posted yet, but any fears of finishing at the rear of the field proved unfounded so I suspect we represented the club well.

I ran OK, leading the girls home, but I think the effects of the virus are still there. Pete commented how I didn't appear to be moving freely at the end. Pete's a good observer, the mark of a good coach, and his comments are significant. I hope I get my 'mojo' back soon. Another week of gentle running is needed I think.

(Yes I know a hilly 10-mile race followed by a hard-run cross country isn't exactly easy running, but I promise to take a bit easier next week!)

A little music

2007-02-02T21:11:00.000Z

OK, this is a running blog, but
a) If I ran to music this is what I'd currently be running to (when I posted this it was playing "Me plus one" - love it!)
b) You can type "Shoot the runner" in the title field and watch that video - instant relevance!

You can watch all of Kasabian's videos on the player - cool!

Weekly summary - 12 weeks to go

2007-02-02T20:08:00.000Z

A bit of a catch up, as I didn't fancy doing my weekly summary whilst ill in bed.

A fortnight to forget really, but things were starting to come together. I just hope my first illness in well over a year isn't as a result of overdoing it.

I feel tired as I write this, with the prospect of the Southern Veteran Cross Country Championships tomorrow, followed by my first long run in a month the day after. I hope I'm OK.

London seems very close, and my training is way off track. Hopefully a more positive outlook next week.

Monday 15th Jan	1.5 miles	Very easy!	Coaching a group of beginners
Tuesday	7.5 miles	Hilly tempo run with the club 135bpm ave	Tired, so couldn't get HR any higher
Wednesday	10.3 miles	am: gym sesh with 2 miles treadie pm: 8.2 miles easy 112bpm 1hr15
Thursday	9.7 miles	am:3.3 miles pm:6.4 miles tempo 758m laps: 3 laps fast, 1 lap slow, 3 laps fast, 1 lap slow, 2 laps fast: 10:06 145bpm, 9:56 143bpm, 6:49 141bpm maxHR 147bpm.	Morning run in storm force winds - throat felt sore afterwards
Friday	3.5 miles	am: easy run	Abandoned evening run, feeling rough
Saturday	1 mile?	Some running on 'Fitness in Running and Walking' course	Throat now quite sore and feeling ill
Sunday	0 miles		In bed!
Total	33.5 miles

Monday 22nd Jan	0 miles		In bed feeling very tired - throat painful
Tuesday	0 miles		Still in bed
Wednesday	0 miles		Feeling better but still tired
Thursday	0 miles		Returned to work but too tired to run
Friday	4 miles	Pace test 4 miles 9:00/mile 113bpm	Not a bad pace considering
Saturday	5.6 miles	easy run 116bpm	Feeling back to normal
Sunday	13 miles	Ryde 10 1:17:54 7:47/mile 145bpm	A bit too much too soon!
Total	22.6 miles

Ryde 10

2007-01-31T16:34:00.000Z

After not even a sniffle for 18 months, I spent much of last week in bed, so the Ryde 10 was never going to be a walk in the park.

I'd struggled through my UK:Athletics 'Fitness in Running and Walking' course the Saturday before and taken to my bed on the Sunday, not to resurface until Thursday. I possibly exaggerate there, but I felt pretty darn rough for a good 4 days. (Did I mention I'm now a qualified 'Fitness Leader'? but I digress).

I missed the club sessions last week, but by Friday felt OK for a gentle 4 miles. A gentle 5 miles followed on the Saturday, and I felt ready for Ryde the following day. OK, I was still a bit snotty, but the fever had gone for 3 days now. How hard could 10 miles be?

'Very hard' was the answer.

The course was described as undulating on the Runner's World website, but as I said this on the ferry, a voice behind (Sara from Eastleigh) shouted out "It's hilly!". It was!

The weather wasn't too bad: a chilly westerly to run into along the seafront, but the sun came out for the second half of the race, and running through St Helens and down into Seaview it was rather lovely - nice to see the Spinnaker Tower come into view across a blue Solent as we headed down the steep hill into Seaview.

Ah, the hills! There are a couple of flat bits on the seafront in Ryde and Seaview, but this is the toughest 10-mile road race I've done. You get the flavour of the course after the flat loop of Ryde canoe lake, as you head up the hill out of Ryde to join the course of the Brading 10k past Tesco. It's then undulating all the way until a steep downhill into Seaview and a mile of flat seafront. I was feeling quite weak by then and wondering, as Ryde pier came into view, if I was going to be able to keep going into the headwind all the way to Ryde, 2 miles away. I needn't have worried about the wind though as we turned off Seaview seafront and up the steepest hill of the day - cruel.

I hadn't felt too bad for the first few miles, even managing a chat with an IOW Road Runner about how a marshal had tried to stop us to let some traffic through at the lights. (The nerve!) The hills kept coming though and my legs got progressively fatigued as the race wore on, despite my heart rate monitor showing quite a low heart rate (when you're tired your heart rate drops, which is the opposite of what some might imagine, but it's simple physics that the slower you go the less energy you are expending and the less oxygen you need). I'd been chasing various runners with some success in the early stages. By Seaview at 7 miles I finally caught Anita, newly signed for Denmead, but the wheels were starting to come off and she later eased back past me. With the cruel hill out of Seaview, the world started passing me. On the hill down into Ryde, when I'd normally expect to be passing people (I have no fear downhill!) I was again overtaken, recognising Cheryl from Gosport amongst others. I then had to suffer passing the finishing line at 9+ miles, knowing I had to drag my tattered body out and back round the canoe lake for nearly a mile.

I finished feeling worse than I've felt after most marathons. Fortunately I don't seem to have done myself any harm. I feared the virus might flare up again, but after 3 days all seems well.

The girls done good, as they say, with Shelly and Amanda coming in close behind me to score some solid points and keep us 2 places above the drop zone in Division 1. Marilyn, Nicola and Carol scored well for the B team, leaving us 5th in the B league - going well!

I'll spare you all the technical data, as splits are fairly meaningless on such a hilly course. What I will say though, is that I only averaged 145bpm for the race, lower than the average for the Abingdon Marathon. This shows how tired I was. Ultimately this race only scores in my training diary as a 10-mile marathon pace effort. Despite how I felt at the end, in recovery terms it does seem that this was a fairly gentle run. I hope I'm right about that, as I have the Southern Vet XC Championships on Saturday, followed by my first big training run in ages on Sunday.

Onwards and upwards!

Weekly summary - 14 weeks to go

2007-01-17T12:39:00.000Z

An easier week leading up to Stubbington, but I think I was still a bit tired for the race. The gym sessions are quite tiring and I think are a significant training load - on Friday my glutes were quite sore from the weights.

Stubbington was a good stake in the ground from which to build: I'm looking forward to next week and the start of the doubles.

Monday	1 mile	Easy jogging	Coaching a group of beginners
Tuesday	7 miles	Hill run 133bpm	HR lower than I would have liked - fatigue no doubt
Wednesday	8.2 miles	am:2 miles treadmill+weights pm: 6.2 miles 9:37/mile no HR data
Thursday	5.9 miles	Easy run 118bpm
Friday	Rest		Drove 180miles up to the Midlands
Saturday	4.6 miles	easy run 8:54/mile 115bpm	Hilly run around Shropshire lanes, + drive back
Sunday	8.9miles	Stubbington 10k +warmup/down 6:55/mile 148bpm
Total	35.6 miles