Horsforth 10k Race Report

In the aftermath of today's race I can't help but feel reminded of three races I was involved with last year:

The Leeds Half Marathon - Where I was marshaling at the finish and was interested to note that the fastest runners often seemed close to collapse or throwing up at the end, making me realise that its not just ability and training but that the faster runners simply seem able to push themselves harder.

The Kirkstall 7.25m trail race - Where I ran without my Garmin (as it froze a little while before) so had no idea of pace, but actually ran what was my best performance (relative to the others) of the year.

The Great Yorkshire Run 10k - Where I'd targeted 45:59 but finished in 46:03, still a PB by 30 seconds but where I was really irked at not having a time beginning '45'.

So, what happened today then?

As per Das Kleine Plan I was to work to a target of 46:46 and had variable kilometre pace targets for each split (from 5:20 for the steepest uphill kilometre to 4:15 for the final one). I also knew that 46 minutes (new PB) would equate to an average of 4:36.

Unfortunately though, after a warm up jog and some stretches my Garmin bleeped to give a 'low battery' warning. Odd, as it had been on charge since Thursday, but I knew from previous experience that it tended to last a good hour after the first warning. It didn't bleep again but as I stood a few metres behind the start line I looked down and saw a blank screen! No Garmin for this race meaning all my careful planning disappeared up the Swanny - I'd have to run by feel and hope for the best.

We set off and I kept to what felt a reasonable pace through the opening 3km. The race has a notoriously difficult start with these opening kilometres a long, occasionally steep, uphill drag, barring a short downhill midway. It was certainly hard work - hard enough for a little voice to implore me to stop but easy enough that I didn't have to listen to it.

On reaching the end of the uphill at the A65 I needed a good 30m of flat to recover and regain my rhythm but I was able to pass a couple of runners as well as repeatedly fend off 'attacks' from a Kirkstall runner. It still felt tough so that even the fairly long downhill to the river didn't seem to offer any respite or recovery and it was here as I gradually started to suffer with stitch that the Kirkstall chap finally got ahead.

After crossing an ancient packhorse bridge across the River Aire I headed up a short uphill to the canal towpath but here I stopped for 10s to get rid of the stitch. I'm not sure if I genuinely needed to or if it was the bad voice briefly getting the better of me when I could have run it off just as easily. I don't know, but about half a dozen runners did pass me here.

What followed was 3.5km along the flat canal towpath. It felt a long section and whilst I seemed to be holding to my rhythm OK (with effort) some of the runners who had been just ahead at the start of the canal had gradually pulled further ahead by the time we left it. Then again, I can only recall three passing me (and staying past) and I managed to haul in an equal number myself. The 'slow down/stop' voice that had accompanied me all the way seemed to be getting louder and I had to make a conscious effort to ignore it.

At the end of the canal was a painful flight of steep steps up to the road and just before I reached them a girl who had passed me (and been passed back) passed me once more and I could hear a guy right behind me too but I managed to reach the steps just before him.
At the top there was a brief downhill and I took advantage of that to hold off the guy and pass the girl again and we stayed in that order along the road before entering a fairly narrow 100m or so of enclosed path just before the finishing straight.

I still had no idea of pace or time at this point but was heartened that Victoria, another Abbey Runner, hadn't yet passed me. This time last year we were running neck and neck in races and she seemed to have stepped up a gear since - knocking 3 minutes off last year's time in the Kirkstall 7.25 last week. So, the later it was that she passed me the more likely it was that I'd get a good time.

Anyway, as I came out of the path there was about 150m to go and I got first sight of the clock. I was shocked to see it saying 44:30/44:35 or similar and tried to speed up as best I could in order to get in under 45 minutes. I was just too worn out to go for an all out sprint, possibly not helped by the lack of anyone just in front to aim for, and the seconds seemed to pass very quickly. With 50m to go I was finally able to go all out but as I passed the clock I'm sure it was registering 45:03.

That's a full minute off the PB on a far from easy course, Victoria never did pass me, and I'm clearly in better shape than I realized but as I stumbled, retching, through the chutes my immediate emotions were disappointment and annoyance at missing 'forty four something'.

Now, had I had the Garmin on I'm sure it would have recorded a time a second or two under 45 minutes as it'll have taken a few seconds to pass the start after the gun. Equally, had I had the Garmin on I doubt I'd have allowed/pushed myself to run close to 45 minutes in the first place.

Overall I'm delighted!

Weekend woes to weekend wonders

It occurred to me on Saturday morning that a subtle change in approach had taken place.

When weighing daily the results on the scales would warp my self image so that, for example, if I appeared heavier than expected I would look in the mirror and see a flabby physique whereas if the scales suggested loss or that I was ahead of target I'd be happy at how lean I looked. To some extent the mirror maybe did reflect the scales but not to the extent I felt.

Now, starved of weight feedback, I have to look more carefully but perhaps what clues I find are all the more reliable. So, on Saturday morning I felt my stomach certainly looked pretty flat, I felt I looked a little less flabby and was pleased to find when putting on jeans that I've gone back to the tightest notch on the belt.

Mind you, the second half of Saturday might have undone some of that!

I did a short (2.6 mile) jog with a few strides thrown in on Saturday lunchtime and found even that to be tough, but again I suspected that I was poorly hydrated despite making more of an effort to drink more water rather than the Rooibos or 7up Zero that had been mainstays of previous days.

Late afternoon I headed to Bradford to meet the family as Charlotte's dance club had been putting on a show at the Alhambra theatre and with Saturday having both a matinee and evening performance she had 2 hours off in which we'd all eat and then watch her in the evening show.

I knew this would mean high calories as we'd agreed to walk up the hill to one of Bradford's many curry houses but wasn't too concerned as I was happy to have plenty of glycogen in the muscles ahead of Sunday's relay race. In the end I ate more than planned though - Charlotte wanted a starter so we all had (unplanned starters) then she couldn't eat much of her curry so I felt obliged to eat some of it and finally the others wanted to order a naan bread (that the particular curry house is famed for and are the size of 5/6 ordinary naans put together) and then ate very little of it so I again felt obliged to eat until full to make more of a dent in it.

The theatre also contained challenges. Its custom to get sweet and/or an interval ice cream and I ended up with my very own over priced box of Smarties, though mercifully no ice cream. On getting in I had 2 pieces of unnecessary toast.

Yesterday, I needed to meet at the running club at 12:30 so Peter (my team mate) and I could sort out transport and logistics, and then was due to run about 1:50pm. I had a bowl of Special K in the morning along with many, many drinks of water and was thankful that it appeared to be breezy and overcast outside.

By 1:30 that had changed to sunny with occasional breaks and it felt warm as we stood and waited.

Bang on time the preceding pair came in, I took the baton and off we went.

I knew the route very well for the first 3.5 miles and by the end of that section, and for a half mile beyond, we averaged 8.0 minutes a mile. I was pleased with that. Not that it was particularly fast but I hadn't run much, it was an undulating route and it was hot and sunny (with all clouds now having gone). Moreover, I'd seen the team's performance from the last 2 years and knew that our leg had taken 1:28 and 1:25 and so an average pace of 8.30 and 8.50. We seemed well ahead, although Peter my team mate had warned that the second half is tougher than the first.

He was right. As we crossed the Harewood estate at the 4 mile marker we left some shady woods and set off through a gate and up a steep rough track. I'd ran the reverse in a trail race and thought there would be 1/4 mile uphill followed by 1/3 mile flat before we reached the road. In the end it was a full mile of uphill by the end of which Peter was a fair way further back.

As part of the relay rules the pair have to finish together so there's no point in one getting too far ahead of the other. For the most part I'd ran 5-10m ahead so far acting as a sort of pacemaker and Peter, who hadn't done too much serious training for a few months, was able to hold on to what, at that stage, felt a comfortable pace to me.

The end of the uphill was marked by the busy A61 and sod's law being what it is we arrived about 2 seconds too late to run straight across and had to wait well over a minute eventually finding a half gap to sprint through in the two streams of traffic.

The hill and the crossing, along with the 2 gates meant we'd lost a fair chunk of time but mile 5, along a trail once more, wasn't far from 8.0 minute pace despite containing 3 more gates.

The gates became a very regular feature from there on and one of the reasons why we steadily lost time. If running together a gate would mean 10 seconds lost in stopping, opening and closing but typically I was a little ahead so I'd stop, open and wait but the net loss would be about the same. Some gates were more difficult though. There was one that had been tied together with twine half way down so we spent 10/15 seconds working this out and then had to climb over (probably losing half a minute), at another a horse rider had opened it and left it for us to close but having not opened it we couldn't see where it closed again giving an additional 15 seconds or so before we figured that it just hooked onto some barbed wire.

As well as the gates there were a few stiles to clamber over and all these obstacles (I'd guess at 4-5 per mile from mile 6) took time and disrupted rhythm.

They weren't the only challenge. By mile 6 we had other problems. The heat, for me, had become quite oppressive and whilst being fully hydrated when we set off and getting a cup of water at 7.5 miles I flagged a bit in the last two and realised later from colour and frequency of toilet trips that I'd got dehydrated again. Navigation was also an issue. Peter knew the route but I didn't so he tended to shout an instruction for where the next turn was but there were times when I'd need to stop and beckon back for guidance and two occasions where I took a wrong turn in one case assuming a gate was the one we wanted and another where I turned left about 5m too early and merrily headed off on the wrong track before being called back.

The other issue was the hills. There were some downhill sections but the uphills seemed longer. There were two uphill road sections that were steep and baking, including 1/4 mile to the finish, but two that skirted recently ploughed, rocky fields stick out for their length and gradient, and by the end of one of these I felt shattered struggling to get back into rhythm quickly on the short flat section that followed.

The downhills too seemed difficult. Firstly there appeared to be fewer and they were shorter but they frequently seemed to take place over rough ground or on narrow twisting paths regularly punctuated by stiles or gates and so giving limited opportunity to speed up and make up some time.

By 9 miles I felt less able or inclined to be a pacesetter as the lack of recent running began to take it's toll on me and in the last mile we were often running together again and in the end we finished in 1hr 27 mins - pretty much on track with the last 2 year's performance. Bearing in mind the weather and our recent running history I think we did OK.

Immediately after I felt fine but after an hour I was shattered - very much like the aftermath of a gruelling long run feeling tired, hungry yet not hungry (difficult to explain that one)and by 7.45pm I was struggling to stay awake as I lay on the bed reading.

Happily though I felt no groin pain during the run nor since and even the back/piriformis pain and Achillies pain that have greeted me on getting out of bed most mornings of late don't seem evident today. That being the case I feel pretty good about things.

Nerd porn

After 10 days without really having a laptop its good to be back online on my new netbook. I've even pushed the boat out and bought MS Office so there will be no more messing about with MS Works spreadsheets.

Its amazing how much is stored on a pc - pictures, videos, weight/running/training/racing spreadsheets, lists - all now lost.

One thing that is good to be back with is Garmin Connect. Fortunately, as its not stored locally all the old data is still there and I've been able to look at the last few runs. Twostick out - the 14 mile LSR from the Sunday before last and the Castle Douglas race.

The LSR looks to have been slightly hillier than a normal LSR by about 200ft extra of elevation with pretty constant ups and downs but the first half generally downhill and the second half more generally uphill, giving mile splits of:

8:57
8:15
8:17
8:10
8:00
8:15
8:28
8:22
8:11
8:20
8:27
8:12
8:19
8:28

The notable increases/decreases look to match pretty well to changes in gradient, so happy with that.

Castle Douglas was more of a surprise. I'd remembered the course as constantly undulating gently and the first mile or two bein generally downhill. That doesn't seem to be the case. Mile one and two look to be billiard table flat, mile three had a long uphill drag and short decline giving a small net ascent, mile four was up and down a fair bit and mile 5 had two downs and an up to give a slight net descent.

That gave rise to confirmed mile splits of:

7:15
7:17
7:29
7:12
6:43

I don't think it tells me anything that will change the plan for Birchwood though.

Castle Douglas 5 Mile Road Race

This race provided one of the sternest tests yet in my running career.

Not the actual running of the race – that was pretty straightforward – but actually finding out when and where this Brigadoon of races would take place tested my endurance far more than the average weekend long run.

We’d decided to go camping for a few days in Dumfries & Galloway and while trawling the net for likely things to see and do I saw a fleeting reference to a ‘fun run’ as part of Castle Douglas’s Civic Week. I assumed that meant a one mile jog round a park but a bit more Googling found a second oblique reference that suggested it might actually be a 5 mile road race but there was no mention of time or location. Obvious solution: look on runners World’s events listing. Nothing there. OK, try John Schofield’s site: nothing there either. A bit more Googling and I had a date and a time: well, two times actually. It was almost definitely on the 27th and would start at 6.30pm and/or 7pm and would probably start somewhere in or near ‘Lochside Park’. I tried an appeal for information on Runners World’s forums – all that got was a virtual tumbleweed.

It was mentioned as a club championship event on the Dumfries RC website though so I felt sure it must exist and decided to just check with the local Tourist Information when we arrived in the area. They were pretty good and confirmed the location and that the start time was 7pm (the race at 6.30pm was to be a ‘bogie race’ and that’s not what you might think), but also advised calling in at a tea room down the road where the event Chairman would have all the details. When I got there only the Chairman’s wife was in residence and she couldn’t confirm what day or time the run was taking place let alone whether there were entries on the day and recommended I “...just turn up about seven - I’m sure that’ll be fine”.

After considering her advice I got there just after six and was the 5th person to register (so I got an ‘elite’ number), and headed back to the car to kill time until just before seven – the now confirmed start time. The fee was £4 so there’d be no souvenir t-shit/mug/towel but that wouldn’t have been in keeping for such a hidden event!

By the time I got to the start area a few minutes before seven there was quite a throng of runners chatting or warming up as they preferred. Around half were from Dumfries RC, with the remainder from Dumfries Harriers, Annan & District AC, Galloway Harriers, various other Scottish clubs and a fairly small smattering of unattached runners. And me. In the event the lady in the tea room was right – by 7.10 they’d just about finished registering runners and we got underway about 5 minutes later.

The course was a good one – almost all on road aside from the last section back into the park and gently undulating all the way round in a large almost un-marshalled loop, relying on 4 arrow signs to guide any runners as to which turns to take.

My race was pretty good too. Having spent much of the winter away from the sport nursing a groin injury I’m still feeling my way back and the two races I’ve ran (the club 5k handicap and Washburn relay) were both ones where I ran without a plan, set off too quickly and tired in the closing stages so they didn’t really tell me anything about where I was but did give me a few things to learn (see July's last post). So, this time I knew what mile splits I wanted and did my best to stick to them.

I'd set a target for myself of 7m 20s per mile. That was 1s faster than Washburn but for an event that was a mile longer. It would equate to a 10k of 45m 31s - faster than my PB from last year but not quite down at the sort of time I think I'm capable of this year, so, a decent benchmark of progress.

I set of quickly again, aided by a slight downhill, but this time I noticed it and slowed myself up so that mile one was completed in 7:16. By this stage the field had thinned out a bit and a lady runner seemed to be using me to pace her. Letting gravity do it's thing on a short downhill managed to shake her off and took me past 3 others in mile two which stayed pretty even at 7:18.

Mile three continued to undulate but had a little more up than down. During that mile I was passed by one guy early on but passed him again at the end of a long drag and he faded away. Time for mile three was 7m 30s - not sure if that was just the hills or a lack of concentration - I suspect it was maybe the former as by the end of it I had 4 runners in sight ahead of me whenever there was a long straight stretch, which mile three had a lot of.

I could see throughout the penultimate mile that I seemed to be very slowly gaining on the gang of four. They were quite spread out - a stick like veteran from Annan AC, a twenty something lad from Dumfries Harriers who looked like a thin Kurt Cobain, a guy in a yellow vest and a lady from Dumfries Running Club furthest ahead. Maybe mile four was a little flatter but they seemed to spread more by the end of it with me only a few metres behind the vet, who in turn was only a few metres behind the Harrier, then a fair gap to the chap in yellow and probably the same distance as ever between me and the Dumfries lass. I felt less fatigued strangely, as if I was only just truly finding my rhythm, and ran 7m 12s for mile four.

In the early stages of the last mile it was interesting to watch what was happening ahead of me. The vet drew level with the Harrier but didn't pass him and half a minute later the Harrier had pulled away again. I assumed that meant the vet had gambled on an increased effort he couldn't sustain and had shot his bolt, and took the opportunistic approach of passing him there and then.

I'd read, and subsequently practised, that when you pass someone you should sustain the increased speed for a little longer to put distance between you and mentally break them from any notion of going with you. In doing that I found I wasn't far behind the Harrier so decided to be opportunistic again and pass him in the same move. The increased pace felt sustainable so, knowing I was probably approaching the last half mile I carried on at that pace to the finish - running my quickest mile split by some way at 6:44. That felt good.

What didn’t feel so good was the pain for 48hrs afterwards as I was feeling my groin throughout that time (well someone’s got to and I was the only volunteer...) but hopefully I can get that under control again. It’s certainly not as bad as it was last autumn so fingers crossed.

Overall time was 35:29 and an average of 7m 12s (the course measured slightly short). I was 30s behind the Dumfries lass, only 6 behind yellow vest, 12 ahead of the vet, 18 ahead of Kurt Cobain (who the vet evidently passed again), over a minute ahead of the chap who'd passed me and then been passed back and about a minute and a half ahead of the woman who was using me to pace with in the first mile or two. 34th overall out of 108, which considering it was a very clubby event, was good, and the time is the best relative time I've run to date and equates to 44:45 as a 10k time.

So, what have I learned this time?

1) Pacing did make a positive difference - as expected.
2) Patience is indeed a virtue - stick to the pace and you'll get your rewards but...
3) ...continue to 'read' other runners - are they breathing hard, slowing, looking ragged - if so take advantage and pass them, don't slow with them.
4) I seemed to get stronger (relatively and in terms of pace) later in the race, implying I need to do a bit of warming up (which I've neglected thus far this year) and so hit my straps earlier.
5) There's more in the tank, especially with a few pounds more lost, so dropping the target to 7m 10s at Birchwood could be on the cards, particularly as its flatter.

Mind you, all of that is dependent on the ol' groin. More on that later...

Race complete and lots to learn

Its difficult starting to race again after a decent lay off. Your fitness is a bit of an unknown, your preparation dis-jointed and you're simply not used to running in competition. For similar reasons Super Leeds United have just had two pre-season friendlies in Slovakia and for me I have had a couple of low key Yorkshire races before the targeted runs of the autumn.

Yesterday was the second of these - the Washburn Valley Relay - with the first being the club 5k handicap 3 weeks ago.

As with the handicap I can't decide if I'm pleased with progress or not, but I am certain I can learn a lot from the experience which is, I suppose, all I was ever really looking for.

Background
The WVR is a 3 person relay event with teams invited from Yorkshire running clubs. All clubs enter 1-3 'serious' single sex teams containing their elite runners while the bigger, more local clubs enter some mixed teams too. I was in one of the latter. If the number of teams was similar to last year there will have been just shy of 60 teams.

The three legs consist of loops around or near Swinsty & Fewston reservoirs and measure between 3 and 4 miles each. Aside from a final 800m on road they are on fairly rough trails.

I ran leg 2, the longest leg at a shade over 4 miles, which starts with a fairly steep descent and finishes with a fairly steep ascent. Aside from the last 800m across the dam being on road, its a narrow trail that constantly twists, turns and undulates around the reservoir. Aside from the start and finish none of the uphills are long or terribly steep (5- 20m each) but they and the twists prevent any sort of rhythm and mean sightings of runners in front of you are pretty infrequent.

My Race
Dave, my team mate on leg one, ran a stormer, placing us a number of positions ahead of where I'd have guessed we might have been before the race. Whilst that was great for the team it meant I'd be running ahead of a number of faster runners and was unlikely to have many to chase in front of me. In other words I'd be being hunted!

I set off about 8/10 seconds behind a guy I know from another club. He's older than me but was one of that club's best runners, yet I knew his time last year wasn't great so took a split second decision to try and close the gap and use him to pull me along.

Big mistake.

The steep descent and a deliberate aim to close the gap meant I was running far faster than I should have and this wasn't helped by my 'target' pulling away. Like the racehorse that was sneakilly trained with weights under the saddle to fool the bookmakers he was obviously injured last year and this year had returned very much to form!

After about 1/4 of a mile I had passed one runner and was running at under 6 minutes a mile and despite trying to slow down (and being forced to by the twisting up and down path) the first mile was still done in only 2 seconds over 7 minutes. Yet even with that respectable pace a runner passed me!

Despite being denied the benefits of the downhill start the second mile still wasn't much slower at 7 minutes 11 seconds so by the end of that mile I was starting to feel it and was passed by another runner (who bore an uncanny - but dark haired- resemblance to 70s childrens TV character Catweazle). That meant mile three slowed unavoidably though that wasn't helped by my missing a turn meaning I ran past by 5m and had to stop and turn round. That probably cost me 5 seconds overall.

I knew there were others not far behind me as I could hear them but was fairly powerless to stop a couple more passing me in the third mile as the pace slowed right down to 7 minutes 38 seconds.

Mind you, I wasn't the only one labouring a bit. Ahead of me I occasionally got glimpses of a lithe female and an equally svelte male and got the impression I was very slowly gaining on them both. Equally, I knew there was a Horsforth runner not far behind me at 2 miles but he never did catch me and I suspect I pulled away again by the finish.

The final mile didn't seem to get any slower and with half a mile to go I passed the lad in front before reaching a short steep climb back to the dam, where I could hear someone right on my heels.

That turned out to be Dominic, another Abbey Runner (whose recent 5k time was an enormous 3 minutes faster than mine), and whilst he passed me his presence did pull me along a little bit meaning my finish was credible and not too far behind him. I wasn't passed by anyone else, though the lass in front wasn't quite caught by me as she'd clearly left something in the tank for the finish.

After leg 3's finish I found we were the highest placed of the club's mixed teams. My own feelings were mixed. I'd found it a difficult course/distance to get to grips with and my immediate thought was that the average pace of 7 mins 21 seconds should have been faster by 5/6 seconds a mile. Maybe more - particularly as the sort of 10k time I hope to be running by late autumn would be some 18 seconds a mile brisker and for 2 miles further!

However, having had time to consider it since I probably didn't do too badly. The results might not get posted until early next week but judging by last year's times I'd have been comfortably in the top half which is OK considering the standard is far higher than for a typical club run and infinitely higher than a mass participation RFL/BUPA 10k/Jane Tomlinson style run.

What have I learned?
- I used to run races to a set mile/KM split target but didn't do that yesterday. Doing so might have helped me run a more even (and overall faster) pace. So...run with a plan.

- Its difficult to read much into times for this type of event so don't get hung up on them. For all I know running a flat and straight road course for the same distance could easily have been 10 seconds a mile faster and would certainly have been easier to find a rhythm for.

- I'm psychologically better as a hunter than prey. Some people are great at holding other runners off but I get a bigger lift from chasing someone down. That's interesting food for thought for race start positions. Start too far back and you spend your time weaving in and out but you are passing people; too far forward and it could be demoralising to be repeatedly passed.

- I'm on one race photo and I look flabbier than I'd hoped. Maybe I'm just being narcissistic but either way the planned for weight loss should sort that out - which in turn will have a marked effect on speed (one article I read last week suggested 14s off a 10k time for every pound!)

- Also on the photo I can see I'm heel striking. Its in the last 500m so maybe it was down to tiredness but whilst my foot doesn't look to be dorsiflexed to anything like the degree it was 12 months ago it wasn't the mid foot strike I'd have expected to see. Maybe time to get myself videoed?


Next race will be the Birchwood 10k on 22nd August so a little time to go. I want to PB there but it isn't my ultimate target, its another marker race, so I'll carry on with the weight loss and training and see where we get to.

Better balance

Definitely a more balanced week.

Four trips to the gym, sticking to weight loss practises and fairly consistent running - albeit a few miles short on Sunday.


Monday
First day firmly back on the waggon. Went out for a short lunchtime run round the block three times from home. 2.9 miles with some strides.

Tuesday
Club 5k handicap in the evening. All told I did ok. Beat my handicap (albeit that it was possibly a bit high) and finished 11/38. Felt I was capable of more but warm weather, hills and little experience of pacing a 5k all caught me out - last mile being down almost at half marathon pace. Managed to limit the damage at the rather good club barbecue afterwards too!

Wednesday
Took the opportunity to do an easy paced 4 miles along the canal from Rodley. Easy paced but not easy - much too warm for that. The possible lower abs/groin unease I felt seems to have disappeared.

Thursday
Managed a brief lunchtime trip to the gym to do some weights but the planned speed session on the track had to be canned when work got in the way. May not have been a bad thing as it would have been 6 consecutive days running.

Friday
Was due to be a rest day but having missed the previous day's speed session I headed for the gym in the evening and did some weights.

Saturday
Ran with Bethan in the morning - a slow 4.5 miles - then cycled to the gym to lift some weights. In creased the weights again and for the first time got some slight DOMS in the back the following day!

Sunday
Ran round the course for the Pudsey 10k. I'd intended to run round it twice but after the first I decided to head to Eccup for the second 6 miles. By the time I'd got there I felt tired and stiff (didn't sleep well the night before) so skipped it. Probably over ate due to the big roast dinner but no binge and wont have truly gained from it. Pudsey is a very hilly course for a 10k though - nearly 700ft of climb.

Good results overall.

I measured myself on Saturday and have lost centimetres from everywhere compared with 4 weeks ago; weight was 4lb down (and fat percentage too) by the last time I weighed on Friday, enjoyed doing the weights and had a reasonable running week. Plus, I felt I already looked better and certainly felt better.

Making Wednesday an 'official' weigh in day alongside the family weigh in day of Saturday to help me stay focused throughout the week. Will post some results then.

Best do the old running round up for last week now!

It all started rather painfully. Two races in two days had taken it's toll and everything (almost!) south of my waist was stiff and painful; particularly my glutes and calves. I couldn't even walk properly.

All that meant that Monday was a rest day and on Tuesday I booked for a massage for the following day. I did manage to run Tuesday evening with Abbey. A shade under 7 hilly miles. Felt stiff at the outset then it slowly eased through the run, though running downhill I could feel it in the glutes and when faced with a short steep hill my calves felt absolutely dead.

The massage the next day wasn't pleasurable - the pain on massaging the knot(s) in my glutes was strong but hopefully it did some good and I did just over 7 equally hilly miles with Kirkstall that evening. That was done slightly slower, with a couple of stops en route, though my legs (and me in general) felt tired and not up to speeding up.

Rest was the plan for the remainder of the week though I did go out for an hour's bike ride on Thursday which also seemed to help the legs feel better.

I had thought of taking Beth out for a short run Saturday as she's only ran twice since July but other plans for her and the rest of the family precluded that, so the next run was the Harewood 10 mile trail race on the Sunday.

I did this race in 2006 and it was fairly tough - with a fair amount of climbing and downhills, 2-3 stiles, lots of narrow trails and a final mile that was almost entirely up a steep climb contributing to a course with a net ascent of about 120ft.

It was good running weather - bright, breezy and cool - and there was a good showing from Abbey with a dozen or more running it.

The first mile is pretty much flat overall and the second has a good descent and this, combined with my finding myself nearer the front than I intended led to the first 2 miles being over 40 seconds ahead of target pace (having used the road PB from Wistow as the target even though this was an appreciably tougher event).

Mile 3 was all uphill barring a very brief drop at the end and that immediately wiped out the time in the bank and put me about 7 seconds down overall. It also left me pooped for the undulating 4th mile as we headed across fields to the flatter environs of the reservoir and after 4 miles I was down by 22 seconds.

Theoretically that should have been the cue to speed up a little and claw that back - a couple of flat miles that would allow me to get some sort of rhythm going - but the legs still didn't feel quite able. Not sure if it was still after effects from the previous weekend, the early hills or the pace but I had dropped a further 30 seconds by the time I reached the 6 mile mark.

I lost more time in mile 7 as we left the reservoir across undulating fields before joining a narrow track where I spent a bit of time boxed behind a tiring runner. I'd felt very fatigued at the beginning of that mile but the slower pace on the trail allowed me to recover a bit, and whilst I lost another 30 seconds in that mile (now 83 behind) I felt good going into the friendly mile 8.

Here there was a gentle downhill for the mile and I was able to claw back 10 seconds. Then, in mile 9, there was a steady and occasionally steep downhill that I could fly down and in the process pull back another 35 seconds.

Had it been a flat last mile I'd have then had a chance at hitting the target but immediately at the beginning of the final mile you're faced with the first of two steep climbs going straight up ahead of you. Mind you, I'd used the road PB as a target but realistically I just wanted to be vaguely close - maybe within two minutes - as that felt like a reasonable comparison bearing in mind the gradient and terrain differences, and I was well on course for that.

The last mile consisted of the first steep rise for maybe a third of a mile, then 100m or so of flat, before another equally steep climb that's a little more than a third of a mile and then the final 400m that's at best flat or at worst a very, very slight incline.

The first climb was tiring but for the second I was able to pass a couple of runners and still have enough breath left to speak to another runner who laboured past me - presumably she didn't have enough breath as she completely blanked me and my compliment about her hill running skills!

I speeded up a little to the finish - enough to keep the runners behind at bay without wishing to pass the ones in front or go all out. Final time was 40 seconds slower than Wistow 3 weeks previously. That felt good and when I looked at other Abbey Runners times (who had done both races) they were all between 3.5% and 9.5% slower whereas I was less than 1% slower. Whether that showed that I could have done more at Wistow or that Harewood was particularly good I can't be sure but I guess its good news either way!

Had a rest day last Monday following Sunday's exertions then ran as normal with Abbey on the Tuesday - 6.7 hilly miles averaging (despite a slow first couple of miles) 7:45 a mile.

Next day I ran again, this time with Kirkstall Harriers.

They run Mondays & Wednesdays so there's the option to join them as second claim club as the training fits nicely around the Abbey nights. My thinking is that during the winter when its dark and wet it'll be difficult to motivate myself to go out and keep up with the planned marathon training but if I have routine club nights I'll stick to them.

Similar sort of run - hilly 6.77 miles with a couple of slow miles at first and a final average of 7:49.

Thursday and Friday were rest days ahead of Saturday's trail race, the Saab Salomon Turbo X in Sheffield.

That proved to be a very taxing race. It consisted of a 10 mile route through woods, up and down extremely steep hills (on all fours to get up some of them), over felled trees, through a couple of becks and also several hundred yards of mud filled trench with the stinking grey mass between knee and bum height!

I got round ok but it was far more tiring than the 10 miles (or time that was 30 minutes slower than my pb for the distance) would imply. Really good goody bag and Salomon technical running shirt though. I finished 94th out of getting on for 400.

The next day was the Horsforth 10k. I know, its crazy to do two races on consecutive days, but it was local and as I'd payed my money I wanted my t-shirt!

Trouble was, my calves and glutes were really stiff and sore when I woke Sunday morning. I don't normally get any post race DOMS so it showed how tough Sheffield had been the day before. I got there early, did half a mile warm up and had a really good stretch. I felt better after that - still sore but ok.

I still had a real dilema in how to approach the race though. Common sense said to run it very slowly but, muscle soreness aside, I felt good and wondered if I could get a pb on a relatively difficult course...

The course profile is 2 miles uphill from the start along narrow private road, then 2 miles downhill to the canal, followed by 2 miles flat along the towpath and a couple of undulations in the last 0.2 miles to the finish.

I started a bit further back than I intended and was boxed a bit for the first mile. The uphill was a real challenge to aching calves and by the end of the second mile I was 67 seconds off target pace. I accepted then that a pb wasn't on the cards but recovered about half of that time in the next 2 miles of descent.

The canal section proved to be the most difficult. By that time my legs felt uncharacteristically tired and, feeling the effects of the previous day, keeping close to pace felt mentally very, very tough. I managed to pass a few people and battle it out with a girl from Kirkstall (eventually giving in on about the 4th time she tried to pass me) which helped drag me along but I lost about another 8 seconds by the time the 9km mark was reached.

I speeded up a bit then though and had a sprint finish of sorts, probably passing another half a dozen people, finishing in 46:13. That's 10 seconds away from the pb but considering the course profile and my legs being shot I was very pleased!

Problem was that within minutes of finishing every muscle south of my waist was seizing up....

...but that's the story of the first half of this week!

Four down - seven to go!

On Saturday I remembered that there was a 7.25 mile trail race on in Kirkstall so decided to substitute my planned LSR for that. That increased my planned races to 11 between 23/08 and 29/11 but now its done I'm still over a third of the way through.

It was a challenging but enjoyable race, starting with a lap of the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey's ruins, across Burley rugby union's pitches, a drag up the A65, down and along the river until the footbridge at Newlay, then across some fields to the canal which was followed until The Railway pub. That was just over halfway and the turnaround point.

From The Railway we headed over the ancient packhorse bridge across the river Aire and then broadly alongside the river before heading up a steep hill to a new housing estate and back to Newlay to head back up the valley to the A65 and a descent that reversed the opening 1.5 miles.

This featured paths that I didn't know were there but it was hillier than I'd expected and at one point - after the steepest section - I could feel the bile rising and was reduced to more of a shuffle for 100m or so. That particular hill immediately followed an undulating but long and general uphill track away from the river and I'd decided to take it easy up there. Trouble was a couple of Abbey supporters had positioned themselves there and their cries of encouragement made me feel I had to go onwards hard!

The other difficulty I'd had was that my Garmin had frozen just before I went to register. This meant I had to run with no guide as to how far we'd gone or what pace I was maintaining. This wasn't essential as I wasn't chasing a PB but it felt strange. Not sure if it may have helped me though as despite the terrain, the hills, the extra 1.05 miles and the twists and turns I completed it in 53:25 meaning my average pace was exactly the same as for the 10k PB in Sheffield a fortnight earlier!

I only ran two other times in the week. Partly because there was little opportunity to run with Bethan but mainly as I was taking it easy on the psoas.

I ran with the faster group at Abbey on Tuesday evening. The overall pace was 8:01 - faster than I ran with the slower group as you'd expect - but there were very few stops and those there were lasted only a few seconds, meaning we covered 7.28 miles in a couple of minutes under the hour. I'll stick with them from now.

Thursday's run wasn't so great. I did a little over 6 miles but it felt hard work. Opening mile was done in 8:20 and each one hereafter got progressively slower, yet each felt like I was running a minute a mile faster. That's the last two Thursdays that felt tough, but I've a plan to tackle that (more later).

My other fitness thing for this week was taking delivery of a bike on Tuesday. I haven't rode a bike in nearly 15 years and even through childhood didn't ride that often so I felt a bit nervy taking it out for a short ride on Tuesday. Yesterday I went out for an hour and a half with a friend and by the end of that felt alot better about hills/gears/bends/traffic. It was a nice ride round Bramhope, Otley Chevin, Guiseley, Carlton, Yeadon and back home. Also pleasing that my running fitness transfers fairly easilly to cycling.

Weight was also good news. By Friday I was down to 11st 11lb. I've over eaten and not logged since then but I'll be back on track today and hope to see a further drop this week.

Yesterday's run also gave rise to another idea.

I'm facing 16 weeks of long runs along the canal again before Paris*, starting in mid December. I like the canal side runs - traffic free, scenic, quiet, flat - but I do want some variety, espescially after my last 2 runs there haven't felt so good. I do have the Abbey run on Tuesday evening but need to do one or two more decent runs a week - especially while Beth isn't running as much )which had added in short, light 'filler' runs).

The solution: Kirkstall Harriers run Monday & Wednesday doing runs of 6.5 - 7 miles. I'm going to look into running with them and maybe joining as second claim club. That would give me another run, in company and of a reasonable length, that I could do each week assuming I did one or the other of the Mon/Wed with the Abbey Tuesday run fixed.

I'm in Birmingham on Wednesday but hopefully could get back in time to try a run with them this Wednesday.

If I do that as well as Tuesday plus the 2 races planned for the weekend that'll take me over 30 miles for the week even without warm ups, cool downs or a run with Beth. Only possible fly in the ointment is a trip to the physio today to check out the psoas where rest might be reccomended.

A much better week.

Beth returned to the juniors running club on Monday so I went for a 4 mile recovery run that turned out to be rather more hilly than planned. I took a turn on a whim and ended up going through some hilly woods before running back to the club down and then up steep hills. Ah well, tested the legs a bit after Sunday's race eh?

Tuesday was my own day at the running club. I still hadn't got round to joining up with a faster group but the previous week that hadn't been an issue as a small group of us had broken off and ran at a faster pace but this week that didn't happen. I took the first couple of downhill miles easy but from then on was haring off on my own for each interval. A decent enough run but not ideal to have to wait so long between 'intervals' and probably not ideal for the other runners to see someone shoot away.

After a rest day on Wednesday I went out along the canal on Thursday evening. It was still and warm as we went through a mini Indian summer and I found it hard work. The psoas was very painful for the first few strides and then 'present' thereafter and I felt a bit pooped. I'd planned on doing anything between 5 and 6 miles and ended up doing 5. I decided to pass it off as the bad run before a good race.

Rest day again on Friday and then 3 very gentle miles with Beth on Saturday morning.

Yesterday was race day - the inaugural Wistow 10 miles. Preparation had been much easier than for the previous week and I was that organised I even took a packed lunch to avoid a McDonalds visit on the way home! Got there early, parked up, listened to the Archers (!) and had a little warm up jog between visits to the loo.

Jogged down to the start with some of the other Abbey Runners (there must have been about 15 there)and off we went.

It was a flat, figure of eight course mainly on exposed single track lanes. That made it essentially traffic free but occassionally the steady wind proved a problem (I swear it was never behind us). Mercifully the temperature stayed at about 15c and the sun hidden behind clouds.

I'd aimed to run at 7:40 to 7:45 miles throughout. That would give me a time betwen 1:16:38 and 1:17:30. Based on the 10k times that looked ok - though it was a decent stamina test - and the fastest 10 mile training run (with a couple of untimed breaks too) only averaged 8:14 a mile.

I quickly got into a steady pace aided by the Garmin's new setting of displaying average pace to date and covered the first two miles at 7:36 each. A little faster than planned but not too much. Mile 3 slowed a little to 7:41 and then a few seconds walk to drink water from a plastic cup in mile 4 kept that to 7:42.

That was the pattern for the next few miles. I kept my eye on the average pace as it crept from 7:38 to 7:39 and on to 7:41 at one point, again following a few seconds walk to drink once more.

By this time the field had thinned out alot. In fact, I don't recall passing anyone after the first drinks station until mile 5 by which time one guy had noisilly and slowly gone past me. By the 6.2 mile drinks station I'd passed two others and went passed the noisy lad again. As I reached 7.5 miles I realised I was very slowly gaining on the gaggle of runners I could see in the distance and shortly after passed one and was within 30m of the next. At the 8 mile mark I passed him and a minute or two later the one after him - though one of the two I'd passed at 5 miles went easilly past me - and was within sight of another.

He was passed just as we headed into the last mile.

All the way round the mile markers had been measuring 0.05 miles short and I hoped they'd stay that way - giving me a nice little time bonus - but the 9th mile had speeded up to 7:34 again after a couple in the late 40s. I seemed pretty much on track.

As we entered the village I passed another runner before drawing alongside another Abbey for a brief word or two of encouragement each way before pushing ahead. I then turned a corner and the finish was suddenly 20m ahaead.

I crossed the line at 1:16:52. Not quite down to the first target but easilly within the second. I was pleased - especially as I knew I could have pushed harder in the middle miles and hadn't gone for a fast finish at the end (last mile was 7:28).

I did spot that the last mile measured long, something that everyone seemed to be commenting on afterwards, so that not only was the time bonus lost but the final measurement was 10.04. Ah well - more evidence of a moral victory and the average throughout was 7:39!

The psoas pain wasn't too bad during or after nd seems ok today. I'll keep working at it and hopefully the absence of a race this week will help.

Diet wise, after a couple of weeks where I'd gone up and down but ultimately lost nothing I stuck at things more and was rewarded with being 11st 12.8lb by the end of the week. Yesterday was a post race binge (popcorn, ice cream, malt loaf, roast dinner, Eton mess, M&Ms, digestive biscuits etc) but I'll allow that guilt free. Aim this week is to get some 'space' under the 12st barrier.

All in all a good week.

Wow. Just spotted that last week was the lowest mileage week since the end of April/early May at only 14.49 miles, yet I feel fairly knackered right now!

During the 13.2 miles last Sunday I had some groin/lower abs pain that I'd had a hint of during the 2 races the previous week. By Tuesday morning it still felt a little sore and 'Fizz' one of the Paris veterans who is a Physio suggested it could be a sore psoas muscle. I looked it up and it matched the symptoms, location and cause so I've been doing stretches for that through the week.

I felt a bit below par during the day on Tuesday and by evening fleetingly considered not going out for the club run. I did though - mainly to test the psoas - which held up ok and I felt much better afterwards. It was a fairly easy paced 5.51 miles but it included the hill on Spen Lane that I'd last ran in March and found tough. On Tuesday it felt pretty easy.

On Wednesday I'd normally run with Bethan but we've got out of the running routine since the holiday in France and I'd decided to rest alot during the week anyway so that didn't happen.

Similar with Thursday - 5/6 miles planned but I dropped them for the pesky psoas and because I still felt under the weather.

I did do a short run on Saturday though. I joined the Virgin Active gym on Friday and did 2 x 1 mile on the treadmill. I found it hard work and couldn't do more than 1/4 of a mile at 10k pace. Between that and still feeling just a little ropey I toyed with the idea of skipping the Great Yorkshire Run 10k on the Sunday.

I didn't though, and duly parked up in Sheffield at 8am yesterday.

I'd been delighted with 46:33 at Birchwood a fortnight earlier and had decided that with no weight loss in the intervening fortnight I should go for 4:35 a kilometre to nose me under the 46 minute barrier. To that I added the proviso that if I didn't feel I had it in me on the day through muscle soreness or general malaise I could just trot round the remainder.

It was essentially an out and back course. The first kilometre was downhill fairly steeply and then there was 500m of undulating followed by 7km that was pretty much flat before 500m undulating again then a final kilometre that was relentlessly uphill.

I found it quite tough from the off. After the first downhill I had 26 seconds 'in the bank' as it were and didn't eat much into that as the race progressed but it felt harder work than it did 2 weeks ago - not that I was out of breath or anything just that I didn't feel too peppy and frequently felt negative.

The course wasn't exciting and the pace pretty even so little to report until the Garmin bleeped and I began the 9th kilometre, by which time I still had 24 seconds in the bank. I'd been warned the final hill was a bit of a killer but from 1500m to go I found I couldn't speed up and struggled to even hold the pace. I just about held the effort constant on the hills in the second half of that kilometre but i'd dropped half of the banked time.

The Garmin bleeped again for one kilometre to go and with me 12 seconds to the good and a strong finisher all should have been well but just getting up the hill felt really draining. I managed to speed up in the last 50m or so but it was hardly a sprint finish. Mentally I'd set my stall just to hang on in the final kilometre and when I looked at my watch as I crossed the line I felt deflated to see 46:04 - missed it by 4 seconds. I'm sure I could have found those seconds somewhere.

Interestingly the Garmin measured it long - with the first 10 kilometres being completed under 46 minutes but the additional 65m was what cost me. Splits were:

4:09 (6:40 per mile)

4:34 (7:21 per mile)

4:36 (7:24 per mile)

4:39 (7:29 per mile)

4:39 (7:29 per mile)

4:29 (7:14 per mile)

4:36 (7:25 per mile)

4:34 (7:21 per mile)

4:47 (7:42 per mile)

4:43 (7:35 per mile)

Then the last 65m at 6:02 per mile pace.

The official time rounded me down a little to 46:03 and as thats a PB by 30 seconds I should be pleased - especially as I didn't feel quite in tip top condition and the course had an extra 450ft of climb & descent compared to Birchwood, but having been on course all the way until the finish to breaking 46 minutes and running within the pace target on the Garmin I can't help but feel dissapointed not to have got under that barrier.