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.

RED January

I came across RED January at Parkrun - someone had a t-shirt from last year's event.  Run Every Day in January appealed, something different as I normally only run 5 days a week tops.  Some of it has been hard, but as they say 90% of success is in your head.  It's been cold, most days I've run in the dark, or the rain, or it's been blowing a gale - or all of them.

As an example last Wednesday I had two meetings after work the second not finishing until 9.30 pm.  It was nearly 10 by the time I got home and I'd still not been running.  If it had happened on 2nd January I'd have given up there and then and said it was impossible but on the 29th - there was no way I was throwing away 28 days of running.  

Quick change into running gear and head out the door.  Just 20 minutes and a couple of miles.  And Garmin gave me a new badge 😎 

Throw in Parkrun on Saturday and Sunday's 10 miler and I actually ran for 33 days straight.  

Total miles for January - 125.86

1000 miles and Christmas Day Parkrun

At the beginning of the year my goal was to do a virtual Land's End to John O'Groats.  That landmark passed at the beginning of October so I reset the goal aiming to cover 1000 miles this year.  Tuesday's run finished with exactly 1001 miles recorded.

Wednesday was Christmas Day and Christmas Day parkrun.  It was touch and go whether Evesham would be on or not as the course was underwater on Monday.  Tuesday lunchtime they posted a video showing one of the core team sweeping the mud and gravel off the path - Evesham parkrun was on!

It's a few years since I'd done Evesham parkrun and they'd made a few changes.  There's now a winter route which keeps entirely to the riverside path - good job as the course I knew had standing water on it still.  The path is very narrow and with runners going in both directions, plus dog walkers, over-taking is near impossible for the first mile - I think 10:10 must be the slowest mile I've ever done in Parkrun except for the time I was tailwalker.  Miles 2 & 3 were faster as the runners were more spread out and overtaking became possible.  

Another change was they'd tarmaced almost all the riverside path - and I'd worn my trail shoes 😖.  Not the best combination.

Now the next question - where to go for a New Year's Day double?  

John O'Groats

Reached John O'Groats in my virtual run and now heading back south.  The weather is typically bleak for the location, very windy, raining and cold.  Remnants of hurricane Lorenzo

Elevation gained: 10765 metres

New target is 1000 miles by 31 Dec.

Catch up

Just realised it's over a month since I wrote an update.  The highlight of this catch up has to be my PB at the Stratford 10k.  In 2016 I ran 51:34 which was a PB and I was pretty chuffed at the time.  The last two years I'd been handing out water at this event so I was determined to run it this year.  Based on my Stratford Parkrun time I was predicted to run 51:24, so just a couple of seconds faster.  

What actually happened was I smashed my target time and finished in 49:04.  I knew I was in with a chance of getting around 50 minutes at the 8k mark but I was shocked that I got so far under that.  Shocked and also worried that I was about to be spectacularly sick in front of all the spectators at the finish - I don't understand how you can feel fine while running but the moment you slow down you want to throw up!  

Two weeks on and now I'm worried that I'm never going to get anywhere near that time again.  Everything just came right on the day.  I'd done lots of interval work including working my way through McMillans World's Best 5k workout plan followed by the 10k workout plan (which I didn't quite manage to complete).  The weather was perfect too.  12C and no wind whatsoever.  Plus three days in a tent followed by hand digging 90 ft rows of potatoes is obviously the perfect way to spend a taper week.

Since then training has been a bit hit-and-miss.  I did start out with a plan to do some longer interval sessions in preparation for the Stroud Half but the reality is work and life have been too busy to make consistent progress with these.  Add in an enforced two week break in the middle of it and it's not really working.  I still might run the event but the chances of me being able to get under the 1hr 50 predicted by my 10k time seem slim.  

On a positive note I'm now only 25 miles from John O'Groats in my virtual LeJog.

Messy Week

Some weeks just feel like they mess up your training with lots of bitty things to do.  This was one of them.  Out four nights in a row.  Monday and Tuesday were early evening starts so no running then.  Which meant five consecutive days running starting Wednesday which isn't good and the quality of the sessions suffered - especially Thursday's intervals which was only half as long as it should have been.  On the plus side the new interval paces are achievable without too much pain.

Friday was a run in torrential rain on flooded roads.  So wet that I'd worn my heavier waterproof jacket.  After the run I dropped it in the back of the car to drive home.  20 mins later a big puddle had collected where it had drained.

My usual parkrun was cancelled this week for a cycling event so I had planned to go to Stratford which is my next NENDY* run.  Only I overslept - doh!  So just a gentle three miles later in the day.

Sunday was an easy 10 miles to finish the week.

Stats for the week:

Miles: 22.72
Elevation gained: 331 m
LeJog: 641 miles (just over 1000km and halfway between Dalchalloch and Inverness)



*Nearest event not done yet

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)

Bourton Hilly 10k

This time last year I'm sure we were sweltering in a heat wave (though memory is a funny thing and not always accurate).  This week has varied from slightly wet through wet to very wet.  The weather theme was a continuation of the previous week where Parkrun had been run in a torrential downpour.  Tuesday evenings tempo run was merely wet in comparison.  

The slightly wet day was Thursday when it was interval training.  Although there was no precipitation falling from the sky it was very wet underfoot with rivers running down the roads.  And the second day this week of drying trainers.

I'd clocked some good (and consistent) interval times on Thursday and Friday was payback day with heavy legs and aching muscles.  The deadlegs continued on Saturday for Parkrun which had the added advantage of cold thrown into the weather mix - long sleeves and gloves in June!  

With a week of heavy rain the parkrun course had standing water in places which was hard to miss.  This week was an easy effort with a time several minutes outside my PB.

On Thursday the weather forecast for Sunday had been dry in the morning with heavy showers after lunch.  This optimistic forecast meant I signed up for Bourton Road Runners hilly 10k race.  The forecast remained optimistic until Saturday evening when it changed to light showers in the morning.  By Sunday it had changed again to heavy continuous rain and the conditions did not disappoint.  Waterproofs were needed to get from the car park to the check in.  

The start was marked by shivering runners huddled under a few trees for shelter.  The race started by heading up The Steeps.  As in previous times (when the event was known as Humph's Hilly Half and there wasn't a 10k option) I walked most of the first mile.  Despite walking I still managed to overtake a number of runners on the hill. 

The heavy rain continued until about mile 3 when it eased to a steady drizzle.  By that time I'd nicely warmed up and was finally able to take off my waterproof jacket.  

The last mile of the race was particularly unpleasant under foot with deep puddles and mud.  Plus the occasional car parked on the pavement.  By the finish I had mud to the knees and my socks and trainers looked like I'd done a cross country race rather than a road race - Muddy is a State of Happiness 😊

Based on my Parkrun PB my predicted 10k time (depending on which formula you use) was between 55 and 56 minutes.  Add in the need to walk on The Steeps and I'd told myself anything under 58 minutes would be good.  In the end I was over a minute quicker than the fastest predicted time which was very satisfying.  Which justified celebrating with a cup of tea and very nice piece of vegan cake at the finish - as well as changing into my nice new, bright orange finishers t-shirt.

The original training schedule (before I had the mad idea of entering a 10k race) said 9 miles on Sunday which meant another easy couple of miles just before lunch.  Overall a few miles down on the mileage target for the week but given the weather not too bad.

This week's stats:
20.76 miles
295m elevation gained
Le Jog: 530 miles - reached Falkirk

And a badge from a week or so ago.  Who knew there was a Global Running Day?

Week 16 - Race Week

Lots of travelling for work this week with a trip up to Scotland.  Not ideal preparation for a marathon with the travel, eating in hotels and restaurants and long days.  Good job it was taper week or I'd have got no training in.

Managed a couple of 3 mile runs along the Clyde - very, very flat compared with home.  

Saturday was a very chilly day as timekeeper at Parkrun.  Very glad that the strongest winds went through on the Saturday rather than during Sunday's race.

Sunday was very cold first thing.  Managed to hang on to all my layers until about 20 mins before the start of the Stratford Marathon, then bundled them into my bag and dropped them off.  Lots of people shivering on the start line then discarding clothing over the first couple of miles. 

Plenty of water points but the bottled water tasted vile.  Even flavoured with Tailwind it wasn't great.  But needs must ...

Also a lot more runners in the Marathon this year, so it wasn't quite running on your own once the half split off.  And some support around the course, except on the Greenway where you need it most.  At least I had my head prepared for the lack of support on lap 2 this time.

It wasn't the best race I've ever run (in fact it's my slowest ever marathon time 😢) Possibly a bit undertrained - certainly didn't manage all of the pace work and long runs.  Also started a bit too fast - easy done but it took it's toll later.  Was doing well up until about 21 miles when suddenly I ran out of steam.  It always happens at this point, perhaps I'm just not meant to run marathons.  Ended up running 300 paces then walking 100 until mile 25 which I walked just about all of.  Managed to save a bit for running in the park at the finish but my legs had gone pretty stiff by that point.  

Crossing the finish line was lovely, but within seconds my legs had seized up.  Struggled to walk to the bag drop and then to the car.  Have spent the afternoon eating and drinking - managed to drop 1.5kg during the race.  

As always a really nice finishers medal for this event.

Stats for the week:
Miles: 31.13
Elevation gained: 184 metres
LeJog: over half way to John O'Groats

Week 15 - Happy Easter

A big drop in mileage this week for the taper.  It seems strange to have time to do other stuff than just run.  

Tuesday was 3 miles at target marathon pace.  I've no idea what my target pace is really, so I opted for the faster end of my easy pace.  I doubt I'd be able to keep it up for a whole marathon though, especially going up hill out of Welford.

Thursday's tempo run was just 2 miles (plus a warm up and cool down). Strangely the first mile, where it's running slightly downhill, was 20 seconds slower than the second where it's slightly uphill.  Maybe it's to do with not being properly warmed up as the first mile felt much harder than the second.

I didn't run at Parkrun this week, the temptation to ignore easy injunction would have been too much.  Instead a took a turn at volunteering, handing out tokens and congratulations to the finishers.  There's only so many times you can say "well done" or "good running" in a morning.  

Sunday's long run was just a baby at 8 miles.  It was the first long run of the year in warm conditions (19C) which made it feel quite hard at times even though I wasn't pushing the pace at all.  Forgetting to drink for the first 3 miles probably didn't help, as did feeling thirsty before I'd even started to run.  The forecast is for the temperatures to drop back again next week.

Happy Easter.

This week in numbers:
Miles: 19.03
Elevation gained: 227.38 metres
LeJog: 402.82 (not quite halfway)

Week 11 - Parkrun PB #3

Another easier week in the training programme combined with a dry week weather wise so I took the chance to aim for a PB at this week's Parkrun.  The ground had dried out a lot and apart from a few rabbit holes and moles hills the ground was nice and firm.  In all a very pleasing run with all three laps run at exactly the same pace, a sprint finish and 1 min 11 secs knocked off my PB for the course.  Still got a bit of a way to go to match my best ever age grade score - for now I'm 99th in the Age Graded League.

Today's long run was in complete contrast to last weeks - warm and light winds with clear signs that spring isn't far away now. Lovely to be running in shorts again instead of wrapped up against the weather.

 

View towards Chipping Campden

It's also time for a bit of spring cleaning.  Marley's three teddies have been through the wash and put out to dry in the sun

Mr Ted, Baby Ted and Mrs Ted.  Mrs Ted is Marley's favourite as she's still got her squeak

Next week it's back to the final big mileage grind in the run up (run down?) to the Stratford Marathon.  Need to find time to keep up the strength training or all the good work of the last 10 weeks will be undone.

Stats for the week:
Mileage: 25.68 miles
Elevation gained: 336 metres
LeJog: 280.49 miles (24 miles to Shrewsbury)

Week 4 and a grim run to finish

Just 6.8 miles today to end an easy week in training.  But conditions were grim.  Heavy rain yesterday afternoon and overnight has turned the ground to deep mud.  Combine that with winds gusting to 40 mph, torrential sleety downpours and temperatures hovering around 4C (and feeling like -2C) and grim just about covers it.  In places the mud was so slippy it was impossible to run and stay upright.  Needless to say there was no one out, not even a dog walker.

Mud, deep, slippy mud!

Unlike last week I was actually warm enough on this week's run.  Long sleeve merino top, merino t-shirt, full waterproof jacket with hood, long trousers, 2 buffs (one as hat, one as scarf) and two pair gloves (one inside the other) just about did it without overheating.  Just some very muddy trainers to wash and dry.

This week's totals:

18.34 miles

226 m elevation

LeJog: 89.18 miles

Chilly

A chilly 1C for tonight's run.  Not quite a frosty badge from Garmin but cold enough to get to the fingers.  Nothing of course compared to the conditions on the Spine Race. 

Week 2

A heavily overcast and blustery 8 miles to end the week.  

15 weeks to the Stratford Marathon so entry now submitted before it fills up.

Totals for the week: 21.9 miles, elevation gained 272m.

LeJog - 44.4 miles (between Redruth and Bodmin)  or 5% of the way to John o'Groats 

Running Lesson #2

When picking socks out in the dark for running after work it's a good idea to check that you have both a left and a right foot 😟 

Week 1

Finished the first week of January with an easy 8 miles.  Quite warm in the sunshine, definitely didn't need a t-shirt over the long sleeved top.  

Totals for the week:  25.23 miles (includes New Year's eve's run), elevation gained 290m. 

LeJog - 22.55 miles

16 weeks to the Stratford Marathon

Parkrun PB

Now that there's a much closer Parkrun I plan on going more often.  As each Parkrun course is different you need to set a PB for each time you attend a new course - and you don't get a PB for the first event.  This week I took 11 secs on last week's time (admittedly I didn't try too hard last week as you need to know the course to try a PB) finishing in 29:08.  Not spectacularly fast but still pleasing and it's fun to ring the bell.

If anything the course was wetter this week than last, even though we've not had any rain, with a lot more mud stuck to the shoes at the end.  It was also much colder - long sleeve t-shirt, short sleeve t-shirt, hat, gloves and longs cold.

Followed up later in the day with a short 2.5 mile easy run to make the planned 5 miles for the day.

1%

With today's 4.75 mile tempo run I've completed 1% of this year's LeJog challenge.  Always good to get the zero out of the way.

Happy New Year

First run of 2019, an easy 4 miles to open this year's LeJog challenge.  And Garmin gave me a badge 😀

Happy New Year

Swimming, Run for Rich and 12 hour challenge hike

In a moment of enthusiasm, and encouraged by a colleague who does triathlons, I signed up for some swimming coaching.  10 weeks to be precise.  The first session was yesterday evening.

Fortunately I'm not the only "beginner".  Don't take that wrong everyone there is a competent swimmer, beginner just means you've not had any formal coaching on technique since you did your 200m badge aged 10.   The session was good with plenty of variation on the drills and individual input from the coaches.  It's the first time I've swum with fins since the dreaded rigid plastic things I had aged 10.  It's a bit weird at first and the fins rub a bit on the top of the foot but it was ok.  

Even weirder is swimming on the surface while using a snorkel.  Despite having a cold all week and not being able to breathe through my nose as soon as I tried using the snorkel I had lots of water up my nose!  A nose clip definitely helps.  

I went to my first park run of the year in Cheltenham today to remember Rich who died unexpectedly last week aged just 33.  Rich was a keen ultra-runner, member of the core park run team at Cheltenham and all round good guy.  I ran the 9-2-5 event with him last summer - or to be precise we were both running in the same place at the same time but he'd lap me every two or three laps.  Despite the heat he didn't slow down all day, not even when he was eating his lunch.  I spoke to him just a few days before he died.  Rich was always happier talking about your goals than his achievements.  He could run a marathon in just over 3 hours yet he'd rather talk about how your last 3 mile training run went than his achievements.  

There was a record turnout at Cheltenham Parkrun with 723 runners, many wearing peaked caps - I'd never seen Rich without a cap so it was a good tribute.  There were some lovely tributes read and a minutes applause for Rich.  Run in Peace, Rich.

Today was the Scouts 12 hour challenge hike, which I joined at lunchtime once I'd got back from Cheltenham.  Compared to the last time we did this they set a cracking pace only slowing down in the last hour or so.  They walked from Chipping Campden to Sudeley Castle - a total of 19.1 miles and 599m of ascent.  So well done to Aidan, Amelia, Archie, Ben, Cameron, Egan, Emilia, Isaac, Issy, Izzie, Lily, Luke, Sarah, Thomas, Tom, Toby, Will, William as well as Leaders Kerry, Sharon and Darren, and parents Ben and James.  And thanks to David for being the support vehicle driver and keeping us supplied with drinks and goodies.