Fantastic morning, about 10 degrees, clear blue sky and no wind.
For the first time I can remember they stopped taking entrants on the day so the Kaputins missed out. Fortunately the other 20 Harriers got in and performed admirably.
PBs from Ian, DaveA and DaveK and great first runs from Thelma, Jean and Frances.
I was aiming for sub 31 and got pretty close with 31.04.
First mile 6.00, bit slower than planned, but fairly comfortable
Second in 6.21, feeling OK, but about 10 secs off pace
Third, 6.29, mostly uphill, again a bit off the pace
Fourth, 6.06, downhill, put please to keep the pace up
Final mile, 6.08 on the flat - pleased to keep going!
Overall I'm pretty pleased with that, well outside my PB or 30.09, but better than last year.
Now I can move on to some speed work in preparation for the British indoor at the end of February.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Romsey 5
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tapering for the Romsey 5
The Romsey 5 is one of my favourite road races of the season, not just because it's local. It marks the transition for me from mainly endurance training to more speed based work. I use it as a marker for what sort of shape I'm in and then adjust the training accordingly for the next phase. All my endurance work is designed to give me a strong base ready for the more explosive work in the next few months.
Because it's one of my key runs I treat it like a proper race. Building up to it with specific training for 5 miles, then tapering down in the last week.
This week has been deliberately light. I skipped the heavy gym session on Wednesday and then did a couple of slow 4 to 5 mile runs on Thursday and Friday evening.
This morning I swapped the usual club run for 40 minutes of yoga. My heart rate has dropped down below 50 so it's just a matter of loading up on pasta tonight, then getting a good nights sleep in preparation.
Ian and I cranked out sub 33 last week in a trial run. My goal is to go sub 31 tomorrow. This will mean averaging about 6.10 each mile. The key will be the first two miles. I'll aim to be dragged along to the first mile marker in under 6 mins, then get to 2 miles on 12. Mile 3 is tough, so target is over 18, but then aim to make it up in the last 2 which are either down hill or flat miles.
Burn's night tribute
Having spent a brilliant week in the Highlands last year I can't understand why so many Scots leave there?
When we lived in North Carolina we found half the population had Scottish blood somewhere in them (Now its about 75% Mexican as well). Each summer we visited the Grand Father mountain Highland games for the gathering of the clans.
The picture shows me with the leader of the Gunns. He wouldn't lend me his socks :(
Its only now that I've noticed the gun pointing at my head.
The first year I took part in the sprints, picking up a couple of silvers and a bronze in the 100, 220 and 440 yds races on a cinder track. The seond year sadly the sprints were rained off so I entered the Famous Kilted mile. I went round the clans and borrowed a kilt from the 'Gu
nn clan' (Their moto I think is 'The right to bear bums').
With my high knee lift I opted not to run as a true Scotsman. Even so the kilt was a little restricting. Fortunately the competition wasn't too strong, I had a conversation with a guy most of the way round about how much beer he'd drunk the night before. Kicked for home with 200 to go and ran off with the trophy.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Culture of amateurism
Steve Cram, commentator and former 1500m World record holder, says from his luxury mansion,
There are too many white, middle-class volunteer coaches in athletics.
Read some more in today Times, and in one of the BBC's blogs.
Apparently there are only 21 paid performance coaches in the UK.
I'm assuming the cheque is in the post?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
More recovery
Early morning run with the Mountbatten ladies. Interesting pace judgement by some of the athletes.
Sprint, get stitch or cramp, walk, sprint, get stitch or cramp, walk....repeat for two miles.
Apparently there is no logical explanation for either the stitch or the cramp and obviously no connection with the running pace....
I've decided to skip the usual gym session tonight - two reasons. Firstly, my heart rate is about 55 at rest (more than 10% over normal) which says I should rest, secondly, with the Romsey 5 this Sunday I don't need a tough session. I plan to taper down from now, so just a couple of short light runs between now and Sunday.
Recovery and Rehab
Recovery
Tough weekend, the fast 5 miles and the slow 9er we're pretty challenging. By Monday I just needed a kip, so no training.
Rehab
Tuesday kicked off with a half hour of yoga and finished with a decent track session
The yoga was based around back stretching. That should help with the core stability.
Went to the track after work. I'd decided I'd play it by ear and take it as easy as possible. Worst case, I'd not run and just coach my group.
Fortunately coach Tony had a 400s session planned for us, 12x400 with 1 min recovery. I like these so decided to start and see how far I got.
Target time 80 seconds. Got to 5 all on target. Then did the 6th in 82, so decided to drop out for 1. This effectively gave me 3.20 rest instead of the usual 1. this was enough and I carried on, completing the final 6 on target. Pretty please with the session and feel back in some sort of shape.
Monday, January 21, 2008
The CC (Cross Country) 6
Sunday morning was the Harriers' turn to host the CC6 so none of us were able to race. Not such a bad thing once we'd seen the course around Oliver's Battery in Winchester. A figure of eight course, most of it uphill.
Not wanting to miss a chance of a few miles training, six of us ran home from Winchester. Following the Monarch's way for most of the route, we put in about 9 miles of mud and hills. Fairly slow pace, but since my legs were drained by about 7 miles, I wasn't complaining to hard.
So a couple of good runs over the weekend - one short and fast, one long and slow.
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