Watford 1/2 Marathon

So it’s been a long while since I have posted anything here but more about that later.

Sunday was the Asics Watford Half Marathon and it was good to be racing again. This is a really nice course round quiet country lanes, although it is very hilly  and this is a local race for me so no need to get up too early which is a bonus!

I do like the night before a race, the sense of anticipation and there is something  therapeutic about writing a kit list, packing my bag , checking it all off and sorting out the tunes on the iPod.

Looking at the course profile in the race programme the night before I think I scared myself a little, it always looks worse on paper than it really is so there was a sense of apprehension, especially after struggling with the long hill at Henley in October, although I was better prepared for hills this time round.

The weather was good, a bit cloudy and a little windy at times but not too cold, perfect conditions for me really.

The first couple of miles were pretty unpleasant, there was a lot of traffic to get through and a lot of doubling back on local roads. I’ve been suffering with a frozen shoulder and some ITB issues in my right leg and I was finding it hard to get in to a rhythm and feeling a distinct lack of sense of purpose about what I was doing.

Happily between the 2 and 3 mile markers I came up behind the Runners World 9 min/mile pacer and latched on to him and everything just seemed to drop in to place after that. I relaxed into my stride and zoned out. Hills were attacked and conquered and the miles were flying by. I think the added focus of having a pacer really helped. The initial plan was to stick with him until after the 4 mile hill then pass him and move on but it was good to be running in a little group with someone else driving the pace and there was a lot of overtaking going on passing people on hills, which always feels good.

We went through the half way at exactly 1hr on the clock but 58:30 on my Garmin, which I was pretty happy with. This is effectively the highest point on the course so it’s kind of all downhill from there and at this point I was hoping for a negative split on the way back.

But I was running without the usual carb gels and towards the top of the dog of a hill at somewhere after 8 miles I had to have a banana stop. The battery acid was flowing in my legs and carbs were required. This was possibly the finest tasting banana in my life but I reckon it cost me 30 seconds.

I probably lost another 30 with the music tempo change at 10 mile marker, I always switch to The Prodigy for the last 3 miles and so it was bye bye negative split, but well worth the stop for the boost I get from ‘Invaders must Die’

I finally finished in 1:57:44 on the Garmin (official times come out tomorrow in the local paper. Not a PB but an improvement on the 1.59 at Henley and I am pretty happy with that time over this course.

My split times were as follows, not really sure where the 8:27 came from for mile 8 – 08:34 08:57 08:38 09:14 09:07 09:05 08:56 08:27 09:17 09:05 09:11 09:24 09:05

This run was powered by Booka Shade, The Prodigy, Lucozade Sport, Bananas and Kung Fu spirit.

Post race nutrition provided in the form of bacon rolls at Kenny’s house, thanks for that!

My legs were pretty sore on Monday, so I rested Monday and Tuesday and was back at Wing Chun last night.

What’s next? I’m building up to a UK based ultra or Endurance event in early May. I think a couple of mid distance trail runs through March and April are on the cards. I think I will probably start out with something small (in ultra terms) maybe a 33 miler?!

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Back to reality

It’s always nasty getting back to work after a holiday. Particularly so this time around as I had a 5:30 am start my first day back and a presentation to deliver to fifty people. England is cold and wet and particularly dark at that time of the morning, nasty!

Tonight was Wing Chun night and I really did need to train. I felt tired and jet lagged most of the day but after an hour and a half of fitness, pad drills and a bit of Chi Sao I feel a million times better. I found out today that I can now apply to start training for my brown sash grading which is quality news and will be a good focus for next year. It was cool a couple of weeks ago that I got to take my first Wing Chun class, it was a real experience and maybe something to consider for the future. It’s amazing how much you have to examine your own Kung Fu when trying to teach others.

I need to get back out on the road now for a run, I didn’t manage much on holiday only about 15 miles over the two weeks but it’s time to start building up some long slow distance towards the end of the year and get some quality speed and hill sessions built in to the program. I am lucky enough next year to be joining the Project Jericho team for the 24 hour Adidas Thunder Run so lots of goals to aim for next year.

I bought myself a little present while on holiday; I replaced my trusty old Garmin Forerunner 201 with a nice new 405 so I am looking forward to taking it for a test run tomorrow night!

Virginia Trails

I don’t have a lot of time for long blog posts on holiday but very briefly my early morning trail run in Prince William Forest Park on Tuesday morning was lovely. The drive down was amazing about 10 miles on winding forest roads lined each side with dense forest and truly stunning autumn colours. 

The park itself is an unspoilt protected area with over 30 miles of accessible trails and you could run all day without seeing another person although I only had an hour.

I set off down a trail and spent probably the first five minutes going downhill, which I knew would make for fun on the way back. If I had more time I would have tried to find a circular route as I hate retracing my steps.

A couple of other Virginia running pics below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henley 1/2 Marathon

So the Henley half is done. The weather was good on Sunday, a little cloudy and a bit chilly at the start. I arrived with Kenny with what I thought was a 1/2 hour to spare until we realised we were being sent to park at the very end of the car park with  a half mile walk to the start. We got to the start with minutes to spare as the 10k race was kicking off and somehow we managed to end up at the front which made for a good start.

Henley is a nice little town on the Thames in rolling Oxfordshire countryside and we set off out of town on a country lane that ran parallel with the Thames for a couple of miles. The houses we passed were stunning, oh how the other half live!

At mile three we doubled back on ourselves on a riverside path passing motor launches and university rowing boats out for training. Early pace was pretty good and I felt OK, the Thames path took us all the way back in to town and miles 4 to 6 passed quickly and pretty uneventfully although I was starting to get a bit of pain in my right knee and hamstring and was slowing a bit.

Looking at my split times on the Garmin the pacing is definitely a bit better, maybe I set off a bit too quick but it was all nice and even up till about mile six where I lost 15 seconds.  It always happens at lease once in a race but I completely missed the 6 mile marker.

After crossing the bridge over the Thames we headed out of town and I was starting to feel a little tired. Some time after the 7 mile marker we started heading up for over 1.5 miles of hill, which was pretty steep at times and seemed to go on forever.  I slowed right down and really paced it, clearly not enough hill training! It was amusing when I heard three guys coming up the hill behind me giving it the large one that ‘we own this hill’ and they went hammering past me. About 5 mins later I passed one of them walking and looking knackered and I didn’t see him again. By now I was repeating the mantras ‘All hills come to an end’  and ‘what goes up must come down’.  The agony was finally over just before the 9 mile marker when it leveled out a bit. I was really tired by then and it was time to get some music on so I got the Prodigy album ‘Invaders Must Die’ on at full volume on the iPod, which along with another carb gel really gave me a boost.

Downhill was awesome, I just let gravity take it’s course and kept the legs turning over and hammered it down passing a load of people who’d belted up the hill past me. Definitely not great on the knees but necessary after losing so much time up the hill. Interestingly I did 7 to 8 in 10.06, slowed right down to 11.52 in 8 to 9 but did 9 to 10 in 7.56.

Once we were back on the flat it was time to dig in for the last three miles, I just kept focusing on trying to maintain a reasonable pace and pick off the next target in front of me. It is so frustrating when people seem to be gliding effortlessly past you. The last two miles were pretty evil; it had started to get a lot warmer, the sun was out and I was hot. My legs were really hurting and the tiny, rational part of my mind was requesting an immediate cessation of activities. This is where I believe the martial arts training plays a big part in my running and it’s all about the psychological strength and determination.

Finally the end was in sight and I crossed the line in 1:59:52. Not a PB but I was determined to finish in under two hours and I did (just), although that is way off my original target time set back in June. For the first time ever my chip time and Garmin time were identical to the second, weird.

Post run nutrition came in the shape of a lovely roast dinner cooked by my wife washed down with a few beers and some red wine, and I think I ate enough for about three grown men.

Let’s be honest now, I did not do anywhere near enough good quality training, but it’s nice to be able to finish under 2 hours without following a training program religiously all the same. But nowhere near good enough! There is an awful lot of work to be done if I am going to rise to and meet the challenges ahead and changes will have to be made!

As my Kung Fu instructor delights in telling us with a smile during ritual torture (Fitness Training) Remember pain is just weakness leaving the body, and no one cares!

I have thrown away both my old pairs of running shoes and will be replacing them with one pair of minimal shoes and some trail / fell shoes for the hills and muddy stuff.

I’ll do another half in January, and then I have to decide if I do another marathon in May or if it’s time for my first ultra?

Fun on the Fells

So I had my first fell running experience on Saturday morning and it was pretty amazing. The weather was good, cool and clear after rain and I set off with a spring in my step. The spring lasted  approximately five minutes until I realised just how tough running straight up a Lakeland hill is. I have done a lot of walking in the mountains over the years but I had forgotten the effort required to lug my (now not inconsiderate) frame upwards.

Going Up!

I should point out I was not wearing the right shoes having to make do with a pair of old Saucony road shoes with no grip so traction was a problem. The surface was a mixture of damp sheep shorn grass, loose wet scree and wet slabs of  rock and was by no means easy to run on, coupled with the sheer exertion of running up hill it was very tough. You have to find your lowest possible gear and of course accept that small distances will take a lot longer to travel for far more effort. I still can’t work out if my legs or my  lungs were burning more.

It's tough up there!

There was no real path as such except a sheep track and there were a lot of sheep, including this poor one in the picture! The views even at a few hundred feet of elevation are ample reward for the effort. I got to about 1000 feet in 25 mins or so and was exhausted but exhilarated. I only had an hour to spare for my run and it was with sadness that after a brief traverse across the slope I headed down again, I could have spent all day up there.

Going down is when the fun really starts. Gravity is, in one sense, on your side and theoretically makes it easier but control is a major problem and I either fell or slipped at least three times on my descent. The strain on knees and thighs on the way down is immense. I almost turned an ankle slipping on a rock, broke my Garmin strap in another fall and funniest of all lost my footing on scree and managed to sit backwards in a gorse bush; not recommended! My wife spent ages removing gorse splinters from my palms on Sunday night and it’s ridiculous how much things like that hurt.

I am very much looking forward to my next trip to the mountains although for the next few months I will have to make do with Hertfordshire hills.

View over to Hopegill Head and Ladyside Pike

Going Off Grid

I am heading up to the Lake District for the weekend with my eldest daughter to visit my Mum. She lives in a tiny village near Keswick and there is no mobile signal and no broadband connection so I will be effectively off grid from about 6pm today for a couple of days.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow morning’s run, there are fells right behind the house and tomorrow I am going vertical, time for a bit of proper hill training! The plan is 30 minutes straight up and 10 mins back down again. I will be interested to see which gives out first legs or lungs. More and pics to follow next week when I plug back in. I’m looking forward to some of my mothers home cooking no matter what happens.

I have just passed Preston on the train and the views are just starting to get nice now out of the window, starting to get hillier and a lot greener and the weather is improving the further North we go.

Dilemma

So I’m getting ready to go out training and can’t make up my mind. Hills or track? The dog wants to come with me and if I go for hills he will have to stay on the lead and won’t be happy but I’m not sure I can face the track tonight. Decisions. I think I’m just going to wing it, get my shoes on and see where my feet take me.

Post run nutrition

So I bailed at 11.5 miles, messed up my route and tell the truth was pretty damn hungry and tired! Was a good run though, did the 11.5 in about 1hr 50; quite nice and steady 10 minute miling. Fitness still isn’t quite there yet, but with 4 weeks to go should still be on for a PB.

I definitely need to focus on speed work and hills over the next few weeks and I think I need some new shoes, sooner rather than later so I get a chance to break them in.

My lovely wife was kind enough to have dinner waiting for me when I got back, proper post run nutrition a lovely turkey curry and a cold beer!!! Can’t ask for much more than that.

I have sore feet and tired legs but a nice full belly and a beer in my hand!

Life is good and the best thing is no work tomorrow and a visit to the tattoo shop for my final colour session.

Too hot

Too humid this morning. I got very hot doing a 30 minute hill workout…nothing to do with last night’ s red wine of course, hills are tough!

The program calls for 12 miles at 9:00 min pace tomorrow but I might have to nick a couple of miles off that, have to see how I feel after a Project Jericho strike and grapple open mat session tomorrow afternoon.

I fully expect some new and interesting aches and pains after a couple of hours getting grounded and pounded but really looking forward to it. We got a little taste towards the end of class Wednesday night and I’m loving it, it’s gonna be fun.