Past the Woolpack

John Carr 5k tonight after a full 56 hours recovery since the last race.

Thought on the startline that there were too many good V40s for me to feature in the podium positions.

As I went through the race, moving past people who finished 2 minutes behind me I moved up through the gears in the normal way - 1st, 2nd, 3rd but hey - who's taken my 4th and 5th gears? Kms 3 and 4 are spent treading water and wanting it to end. The 5th km brings a surge to overtake a couple of guys who look a similar age and I finish in 16:58 - not great but ok at the moment.

Turns out I got 3rd YVAA award as one guy in front had not entered the championships - I think he thought he had. Not my favourite way to win an award - he was 32 secs faster on the night. However a decent night out.

Nice try but no cigar.

Hi. Two of my stated aims at the beginning of this blog were to break my HM and 10kpbs by large amounts. The races took place in the last fortnight and resulted in pbs (just) but not the amount I had hoped for.

Brass Monkey HM was 73:40 (from a pb of 74:21 and a goal of 72:59). I don't think I could have run it much better and finished in front of runners I hadn't beaten before and just behind others I've been after for a while.

Dewsbury 10k was today and something was not quite right. I've had hassle at work and Mrs BR has been feeling low this week. I did all the other bits right (rest, diet, taper etc) but on the day I towed my balls off to finish either bang on my pb or 1 sec quicker. I was a bit lower down the field than 2 weeks ago but I suppose a pb is a pb.

10 weeks to go until London, which is the big one. It would be nice to set a 10 mile pb along the way (Folkestone on 25th March) but I feel slightly encouraged, without being over the moon, about the first part of my challenge.

On the improvement curve.

The week after my last post was a bit difficult - tummy bug meant I couldn't hold onto carbs. I bonked badly on 2 easy runs with clubmates and only raced on the Sunday as I needed the points for our club league:-).

The race, Ward Green 6, saw me set off well in the first lap, but crash badly in the second lap. That is unusual for me as I usually come on strong at halfway. Again, I put it down to depletion due to bug.

Two weeks decent training after that (fresh and on holiday from work) saw 97 and 90 miles with some good sessions. This culminated in a South Yorkshire XC Championship race where I finished 10th having cruised the 2nd half at around HM pace. Felt really strong.

Since then I've put in a good 4 x 1200 session followed by 5k @ 165-170 HR. I've sorted out a few dietary issues and really believe this year will be my year.

I'll rest up well next week, try and avoid any undue stress and try and rock at York on 23rd Jan.

Paying the Price for Over Reaching

The week after the 106 mile week was 90 miles. Towards the end the tendon really did start to play up. Last Sunday it brought me to a standstill after 1hr 50 mins. Then the pain transferred to the top of my foot along the line of the big toe.

I eased back totally with 3 miles in 2 days then raced our club handicap (4 miles) on Thursday night. A physio visit on Friday confirmed an inflamed achilles, causing lower leg problems due to the usual tightness around there. I moved into the Tiger Paws for a couple of runs on Saturday and Sunday, and a combination of leg raises, stretching, ice and ibuprofen seems to be doing the trick.

Just one work session planned next week then the Ward Green 6 on Boxing Day.

Fingers crossed that I have got to the problem in time and once again learnt the lesson of not trying to up mileage and intensity at the same time.

Mileage up where it should be - need to be careful now

Well I got my mileage up to 106 last week. This included a good 17 mile run with 10 miles @ 6:10 pace in the middle.

However a tendon strain in my right leg just between the ankle and the calf developed the following Monday and Tuesday. I took half a day off which seemed to help and I was able to run 4 x 3 laps @ 79 secs each on the Weds morning. This week's mileage looks to be heading for the mid 90s, and I will have to be careful to ensure adequate stretching, nutrition and sleep.

A disappointing Leeds Abbey Dash

28th November saw the return to the course which holds my pb (33:41) from 2003. After posting 34:50 on an undulating Barnsley 10k 2 weeks ago whilst being race director, I was looking at sub 34 as standard.

However, despite beating some of the usual suspects by a fair margin and putting everything I could into the race, I clocked just under 34:20 (waiting for chip time).

Possible explanations are...

1. I'm not anaerobically trained yet. Last year I had done a fair bit of fast stuff in the summer, so still had that edge.

2. I was a little dehydrated - felt thirsty on the start line.

3. Still 3lbs over ideal weight on race morning

The conditions weren't as good as last year - quite a stiff wind in the first 5k.

I'm tempted to find another 10k near the end of December to get that sub-34, but Hadd would call it `peaking at the potatoes' - ie, seeing how the training is taking effect instead of saving it for race day proper, so I'll lay off.

A mixed week - mileage a worry

75 miles put in this week. The work session on Friday had to be cut short as I was running late. 5 x 500m in 96 secs ad 8 x 1200m in 84 secs per lap was the order, but I found it a real struggle to hit those paces. Still trying to get those FT fibres up and running after a year off!

I'm finding I'm getting tired at the moment and looking for excuses to bag morning runs, or not to go the extra mile on evening runs. I'm due a down week this coming week in preparation for a pb attempt at the Leeds Abbey Dash (if I can shift 6lbs I seem to have accumulated somewhere)...(somewhere being the DilRaj Indian Resturant, Barnsley and Rhythm and Booze - purveyors of cheap Stella)!

After that race it's 4 clear weeks training where I aim to hit not below 90mpw and over 100 if I can.