Winter Series #5 - the wet and windy one

We've had every weather going for this year's Winter Series, this time is was heavy rain and strong winds with Storm Dennis causing mayhem over the weekend.

Saturday saw most of the local parkruns cancelled because of flooding or high winds, but the final event of the Winter Series went ahead as planned, well the winds had dropped a bit to gusting merely to 42 mph rather than the 56 we'd had on Saturday.

It was quite mild at the sports ground in Illmington at the start of the race as it's fairly sheltered by the hill from westerly winds.  The top of Lark Stoke hill was a different matter! the wind took your breath away and slowed everyone to a crawl.   The rain didn't seem too heavy but it was fairly constant and by the time the 10k was over I was properly wet under my waterproof (though some of that would have blown in and I had the zip partly undone most of the time as it was quite warm plus it's not the most breathable waterproof in the world).

2019 - 20 Hoody

Turning the corner and heading downhill with the wind behind me I clocked my fastest mile time of the year so far - doesn't count really when you're running down a 1 in 6 hill.

Not a big mileage week (just 21 miles) as I'd had two planned rest days, then skipped Friday evenings run on account of the bad weather.  That means overall progress towards John O'Groats has temporarily slowed a bit but still looking like it will be an achievable distance for the year provided I don't get injured.

The Slippy One

Race 4 of this year's Tempo Events winter series can only be described as "the slippy one!"  It's normal to walk up the hills on this event but this is the first time I've also walked down a hill on a road race.  Now I need to wash the mud off my road shoes where I walked down the muddy grass verge.

On a different subject RED (Run Every Day) January is going ok, with all runs completed.  Runs on what would normally be rest days have been limited to 20 mins easy running.  I've also been focussing on hill repeats since the start of the year.  I'm not sure they are doing any good - I didn't get any further up Campden Hill today than I did a couple of months ago before I resorted to walking.

It's also been particularly wet a couple of times this week resulting in a good soaking while out running.  Still when you watch the Spine Race it all fades into insignificance compared to what those people go through.

Total miles so far this year:  76.54
Elevation gained this year: 1252m (Almost to the top of Mount Vesuvius (1281m)

Compton Verney Half Marathon

After the very wet Hilly 10k of two weeks ago the weather has done a sudden flip to very hot at times.  It was nearly 20 deg at Parkrun on Saturday morning.  Fortunately it had cooled down a bit for Sunday and was merely in the high teens for most of the Compton Verney Half Marathon.

This was the first time I'd entered this particular event having handed out water to runners for the last 2 years (Scouts were out handing out water again this year).  With one very short exception (where you run 25 yards down a road to turn round a bollard and run back again to make up the full distance) it's actually a really nice route.

The start is in front of Compton Verney House, now an art gallery and park.  The first half mile or so through the park's landscaped gardens is undulating before you get a long downhill section.  If you've studied the route map you of course realise that you're going to have to run back up this in the closing miles of the race.  It then heads off into the countryside along nice quiet lanes.  

I deliberately started right at the back of the field to avoid the temptation to sprint off too fast at first.  There is a small risk of getting blocked but knowing that you go onto closed roads fairly quickly it's not too much of a worry as there is plenty of overtaking room.  I then spent the entire race picking off runners ahead of me.  I find that's a far better way to maintain a good pace throughout than constantly looking at the figures on a watch.  Especially as it automatically encourages you to negative split the race - the further you go the faster you have to run to keep overtaking people.

The organisers, Tempo Events, put out plenty of water stations, including extra drops of water every couple of miles when it's hot.  There were even semi-frozen ice pops being handed out by a marshal this year.  Lovely.

The final hill isn't so lovely.  Although it's not actually that steep or that long coming as it does around mile 12 it's enough to drain the energy from you, especially if it's hot.  I decided to play it tactically and walk up the steepest section of the hill, knowing that it was then pretty much gently down hill to the finish.  The tactic paid off with the final mile being my fastest by a few seconds.

I'd set myself an 'A' target of under 1 hr 58 with a 'B' target of under 2 hours.  In the end I was 7 seconds under my 'A' target so pretty pleasing overall.

This has got to be the biggest and heaviest bit of bling in my growing collection!  The ribbon is about an 1 and a half across

This little chap is nothing to do with running.  I spotted him (her?) soaking up the sun on Saturday afternoon when the temperature hit 30C.  

Totals for the week:

Miles: 24.27

Elevation gained: 187 m

Le Jog: 582 miles (just past Kenmore)

Cheering

Spent this morning cheering on other runners at Stratford's Big 10k where Scouts were marshalling and handing out water.  Clearing up the mess after you've been on a water point is always a challenge with empty bottles thrown in the hedges.  Seriously, it's a running race not a throwing competition.  Just drop it on the verge where it's easy for volunteers to pick up!

And if you're walking your dog on the Stratford Greenway - there's no such thing as a poop fairy.  It might be the countryside but pick it up!  (Huge thanks to Sarah for dealing with this unpleasant job around where we were setting up the water point)

At least the rain held off for the race itself.  Later on, just as I was thinking must go for a run it started to pour down.  I had time for a run or to eat tea before heading off to the anniversary service at the Barn.  Combine pouring rain with strong winds and the promise of cake at the Barn and it was an easy decision.

Total distance: 200 yards (sprinting to car and back so as not to get too wet)
Slices of cake eaten:  just one - a very nice slice of chocolate cake