Bedford Harriers Half Marathon

And so a after a couple more good training sessions during the following, the weekend took a downhill turn with a stomach bug of some kind.  Unfortunate after picking up a nice award at the Parklands Jog and Run Christmas party on the Friday night.

Having decided that I really didn't deserve the award after hosing each of my marathons this year as well as my original goal race at TR24, a weekend of illness has to be turned around.  And if you can't get your long run in at the weekend, well, it may as well be a taper then.  A bit of searching later, and entry to the Bedford Harriers Half Marathon was lined up for the following weekend.

I like running ultra marathons.  Where I am in the field, they're sociable and relaxed.  Walking almost always features and completing the distance in the top half of the field.  A 5k is brutal little blast but at least it is over in short space of time.  The distances between are a sliding scale from good form and a massive output of effort through to easy jogging and physical tiredness through time on feet.  The tipping point for me is the half marathon which is short enough that it feels like my form should be good from start to finish, but it is just long enough that the legs and mind can get tired in the latter stages.  This is why my PB still stands from 2011 in a race where I jog walked the last two miles in quite some pain.  I've not been keen to go hard at one since then.  But after a number of key races being failed this year and 2013 drawing to a close, it seemed like a particularly soft PB to attack but with little idea on what paces to target.

In the week before the race, I kept up the usual training with speedwork on the Tuesday and Thursday and used Saturday's parkrun to test a pace that I felt I could hold for the half.  The first three kilometres at that pace felt tough, but I tried to remind myself that I always hate the first two miles of a race, whatever pace I am running.  It still planted a seed of doubt on the viability of the pace but I had decided that I was going to go out relatively hard (i.e. harder than I have for anything over a 10k before) and then look to up the pace with 5k to go.  If everything crumbled and I had misjudged the effort and my fitness, I figures I could cruise through the second half and still grab a PB anyway.  A simple enough plan to which I also added that I wouldn't allow any kilometre splits to slide above a certain pace either.  I knew the course was a little undulating and that I would use effort to guide some of the pacing, but I didn't want to let myself switch off on too many of the uphills and thus start giving myself an excuse to drift away from the goals.  Finally, I wasn't going to be taking on any nutrition or water during the race.  These have caused some stomach issues in a couple of longer races this year and I felt the cool weather meant I could blag 13.1 miles before the consequences caught up with me.

It couldn't have really gone better.  The first 10 miles were exactly to plan.  Paces within a couple of seconds of the target, accelerated the downhills and worked the uphills without blowing hard.  Mentally, I was getting a little tired in the 8-10 mile stages and wondered if I would have anything to accelerate with in those last few miles.  I also kept reflecting on that emergency gel in my shorts pocket.  But lo and behold, at the 10 mile mark was a beautiful sweeping downhill that helped to build momentum into the finish and removed all concerns from my mind.  My legs continued to turn over.  My knees continued to drive.  My heels continued to flick up behind.  This was great.  And when the flat came, and later the hills, the fact that I was crushing my goals meant that I didn't panic when I realised that I was running my 10k pace for those last 5 kilometres, nor when I noticed that I was below my 5k pace during that last kilometre uphill.  And when running into the line, the time spent wondering if those 400metres were ever going to end were half felt.  It felt smooth and easy.  I had happily drifted past dozens of people in those last few miles and continued to do so up until the line.

The race couldn't have gone better.  I had got in 4 minutes below my best possible dream goal.  I felt absolutely fine (if a little spaced out until I found some calories).  My legs had more than coped and a day later, still feel great.  I had put in a decent effort and finished feeling good and knowing there was more to come.  I'm unusually pleased with this.  A nice way to round out the year.

Of course, there are three more weeks left of 2013...

Heavy Legs But Good Training

So after a little more than a week of more solid training, the old feeling of unresponsive legs has returned.  It is oddly reassuring.

Post-Snowdonia recovery is going well.  A weekend of walking during a navigation course with constantly cold and wet feet in the Peak District seemed to help as a starting point and a progressive return to training has started to develop well.  Light circuits on Wednesday followed by a few minutes off road and then Thursday's club track session of 300s at 80% effort. Friday a recovery run and then a couple of events at the weekend.

Saturday was the Seagrave Wolds Challenge, a 16 mile off road run a little outside of Leicester.  Beautifully organised.  Starting from the local village hall where, being on the edge of my local running events, it was interesting to see different running club vests.  It also seems that Salomon's decision to offer a wider range of colours in their Speedcross 3s has paid off handsomely.  I've never been to an event where they have been more visible in numbers (and bright hues) despite this being a small, local race through some fields.  Pleased to see the smattering of Inov-8s too as well as the usual cross section of road shoes.  Being my first appearance at this race, it did leave me pondering whether I'd made the right decision to wear the somewhat aggressive Fellcross 2s.  Much as I enjoy them off road (they're now permanently the colour of mud - at least I think it is mud), I am aware that their grip on tarmac, or worse still, stone, is somewhat akin to rollerblading.  Fortunately, the race briefing laid my mind at ease in this area, while also highlighting the particularly heavy going for the first two and last two miles of the race.  Having decided to use the race as a hard training session, those last two miles preyed on my mind until the end.  We set of from the front of the hall with a short tarmac section before we dropped into fields whereupon the reason for the warning became clear.  We were crossing on unmarked paths and the field was ploughed, heavy clay.  The type that really wants to stay attached to your shoes until the double in size and treble in weight.  Well, won't this be fun in the latter stages of the race?  There wasn't much in the elevation profile of the race to cause any worry and after settling in to a steady pace and slipping my estimated finish time backwards with each clay-filled field, I started to enjoy the race.  Looking back, the whole thing went by quickly.  The gels were taken at roughly 40 minute intervals and went down without the type of problems I seem to suffer in marathons.  Grabbed a little water at the aid stations, but nothing significant.  I particularly enjoyed the section roughly two thirds of the way around when we ran along the canal, although the canal had overflowed into the path enough at one point that we did a bit of splashing.  All except when we had to duck through the tunnels on the wet stones and I couldn't help but imagine sliding headfirst into the canal.  There were some lovely woodland sections too but they went by quickly while I was trying to assess how well my legs were coping and how much I was going to put in at the end.  Coming out of that canal section into the final few miles I held my pace which the guys and gals around me were struggling to do.  I guess I picked up a dozen places or so in the last couple of heavy miles although this became difficult with gates or styles every couple of hundred yards during one section.  And finally, in the last kilometre, I did drop to a walk for a few yards.  A muddy field with a slight incline where the grass just ripped away as you tried to move forward rather than provide any traction.  The two guys ahead were just too far away from me to catch.  The guy behind that I had just passed was not going to be coming back at me.  And so, for the count of ten, I strode steadily forward and pulled myself together for the last few hundred metres.  The only complication left for me was trying to work out how I actually finished the event having not realised that I needed to find someone to scan the bar code on my wrist band.  Great little event and I was grateful for the abundant tea and crumble which I consumed in my slightly dazed state before setting off.  It is a race that I intend to return to next year.

And then Sunday's run, to be undertaken at roughly recovery pace, was the Remembrance 11k at Fineshade Woods between Stamford and Corby.  It is a race that I attended last year and also an area that I've used for training previously.  A 3k loop, followed by a 8k loop, mainly on well maintained gravel trail.  No real adventures here other than being amused by a guy in the last couple of miles who's ego was larger than his ability.  Watching him respond any time a girl went to overtake him was moderately amusing and led to a somewhat inevitable detonation in the last kilometre.  It took me the first mile or so before my legs started to respond and, although obviously heavy from the previous day, they kept moving fairly easily throughout the race.  There may have been a minor hangover in there too but it didn't cause any problems.

Monday interval session with Parklands Jog and Run was not a lot of fun and I could have coped without the decreasing recoveries but my pace held up okay.  It did convince me to take a couple of lighter days to recover and so I look forward to Thursday's track session with the club with a bit more enthusiasm.  3x 1500m efforts.  Much more my thing.

Refocusing

In approaching the writing of this post, it became apparent there has been a bit of a gap.  The previous post is still in draft and seems to cover the 2013 adidas Thunder Run (I am pretty sure it started as a wrap up of the London Marathon).  It would therefore suggest that the few other ultramarathons that I have slogged through have passed without comment as well as a number of shorter and less fun events.  But, another road marathon has passed and despite the over-whelming beauty of the Snowdonia course, the end result has been a disappointment with much of the problem starting with GI issues.  This has now occurred in each of the four road marathons.  Obviously, being able to run faster wouldn't have hurt the time either.  Also, a slight increase in weight probably isn't helping.  I guess these things happen when the last two months has largely been tapering for the Hardmoors 60, recovery, manic week of training, and then tapering for Snowdonia, and you don't adjust your calorie intake accordingly.

So it is the time for better focus.  Slightly better food, higher mileage and targeted sessions.  I can't say the idea excites me, but the end result does.  Long miles at an easy pace means I am pretty confident of finishing most ultras that I enter these days, generally at the right end of the field, but I'd like to move forward somewhat.  I would also like to enter a couple where my ability to meet the cutoffs isn't assured with my current ability.  I am aware from the previous couple of years that my biggest improvements have been during the structured training for London, and from high mileage weeks.

So, November 1st approaches and with it, a bit more effort.  I plan to stay away from anything that will be heavy on the legs for another couple of days but the diet seems like somewhere to start.

Such fun!

Final pre-London

Yes, yes.  I know London was yesterday, but a race report without at least a partial update on the proceeding weeks feels like another gap in a blog that is already more gap than actual blog.

So that cold, it cleared up.  It hang around in the chest for a little while but short of hard extended sprints, it didn't cause any really problems, just additional effort to get things done until it eventually faded away.

The calves eased up after a week without running.but I could still feel a nagging pain in them during runs and so the last few weeks of pre-London training lacked the long sessions that were in the plan and efforts were reduced in time or pace, but so be it.  Getting to the start line relatively healthy was more important than hobbling there with a perfect training plan.

And this would have been the final notes during the taper phase if not for a bit of a running shoe shopping spree and then the unconstrained desire to use them once they arrived.  With a week of no running, the internet drew me in and practically forced me to make the purchases so it's nor really my fault.  Anyway, the Inov-8 Roclite 315s had to go back for a different size.  The Saucony Endorphin Track Spikes seem like a good fit but have to be tested in anger.  And then the most beautiful of the bunch, the Salomon S-Lab Sense Ultras.  And this last pair are the ones that tempted me into running a couple of sessions that I really didn't have to, such as the interval session on the grass six days before the marathon, and the 300m intervals on the track three days before the marathon.  You know, the sort of sessions you would tell anyone in their right mind not to do.  To not be so stupid.

So, in the last two days before the goal race of the year, the calves were still feeling usable, although a little more tender than I would have chosen, and I felt relatively fit and healthy.  A balance that I'm happy to take into the day.  Several months of quality training were in the legs, and probably just as importantly, in the mind.  Time to perform.

Increasing Training Volume

Week 2 of solid training (i.e. using a plan and trying to stick to it).

Target mileage of 86.9km (54M) but felt slightly short at 85.4km.  The key sessions of the week, first two, 5 by 1km, and 10 by 600m with a 200m acceleration felt good and the paces clicked relatively comfortable but today's long run of 13.5M call pulled at 11.5M.  Decided to head out straight from waking skipping those important bodily functions caused an early finish.  Dammit!.  On the whole, I doubt it is going to really impact to a marathon finishing time three months away, but I'd have liked to have been able to comfortably tick off each session with the objective met.

Diet could use some work.  Calories need to be restricted a little more, there are a few pounds I'll be happy running around London without, but the general balance isn't bad.  A few too many snack bars instead of real food, but when time is short, it is certainly better than skipping the meal at the important time.

Sleep is about as good as it has ever been.  6-8 hours most nights and although my eyes look a little dark. that's probably workload related.  I'll need to keep an eye on this area in particular but this has been a good start.

Injuries. None.  Well, one.  Odd little pulled muscle in my lower left abs.  Only actually noticeable when doing crunches which is just as well.  It's been hanging around for a few weeks, its not getting worse but I'm not sure its improving either.  Something else to keep an eye on.

And cross training.  Largely non-existant.  Managed to get to a circuit training session on Saturday however taekwondo and swimming are still absent.

And so I guess a report card for the week would probably be B+.

And so looking forward, next week has the same volume.  I'm looking forward to seeing if those paces continue to feel comfortable and with the following week being lower mileage, it may be a good point to move to the next set of paces.

Training Week 1, 2013

Frankly I'm tied but only partly through training.

A good week in general but a few gaps in the specifics.

New Year's Day's easy 13 miles around Pitsford turned into something a little more demanding in terms of pace and became 16 miles through the undulating countryside between some nearby villages.  Genuinely good fun in places and it wasn't a pace I could have held with this time last year.  Well not without making myself good for nothing for a few days afterwards.  As ever, Steve was to blame.

The short easy sessions were there-or-thereabouts in terms of speed.  Generally the problem was keeping the easiest of miles to a slow enough pace.

The second quality session of the week was interesting.  Three miles, first at marathon pace, second at half-marathon pace and third at 10k pace.  Repeat another two times.  Including the warm up and cool down, 12.5 miles of running around in circles at the track.  Before arriving, I didn't think I could finish the session.  After the first set and I was pretty sure I'd detonate during the third set.  And then it was suddenly finished.  Paces were all good, within a couple of seconds either side of the goal pace.  And so I'm really pleased to have got in another session that I don't think I could have completed just a few months ago.

That Thursday night session was however the high point of the week as Friday brought with it a leaving party for a colleague and as a result, Saturday morning brought the first heavy hangover I've had for months if not years.  Just about pulled myself together enough to marshal at the County Cross Country Championship in Abington Park.  Somewhat sobering watching those guys run themselves into the ground for four tough old laps of a sapping course.

And feeling humbled, I managed to crank out a light mile in the evening before completing the mileage for week one with Sunday's easy run which would have been much easier without the ill effects from the excessive alcohol still floating around my body.

So in review, good to have got the two quality sessions in.  Happy to have hit the target 42 miles and in retrospect, a lighter end to the week knowing that the following week targets 54 miles may turn out to be a good thing.

15 weeks until London.