Going For Gold

After waking up this morning to the sounds of heavy rain hammering the Velux and wind whistling through the eaves, M & I were less than hopeful of a PB at the Thirsk 10m today. I'd settled on the idea of just running a good race, putting a fast time firmly to the back of my mind. This plan remained for most of the journey over, under darkened skies (we even had our headlights on for goodness sake).

Anyway, we arrived in good time to pick up our chips (for timing not the tasty fried sort) and after a frisky warm up, a visit to Tesco's loos and a Garmin casualty we were ready for off in what was rather miserable & wet conditions. Lots of local stars were there for this North of England 10m Champs race. After a bit of delay jogging about a lot in circles to stay warm, the race got off to a blistering start. I'm not sure how blistering as I had no watch to guide me but judging by the local talent there were many targeting this Champs race and gunning for PBs.

The pacey start and virtual swim through flooded sections left us all soaked from half a mile in. I somehow hung on, unsure of what the pace was and passed a few ladies who'd overcooked the start, finally passing the leading lady runner at around 4 miles. I hung on to some burly blokes to take shelter from breezy sections and felt strong right through to mile 8. Serious leg burn then set in and I had to drag myself home for the final 2 miles losing a bit of time to come in with a PB at 58.25. I was a bit disappointed to not make it under 58. M had a storming race and ran 59.19 - he's inching ever closer (eek). A big PB means he's on for a fine time at Ribble Valley. We both came home with lots of cash, (M for 3rd V40 and 2nd Men's team prize). I also got my gold medal and am proudly telling all I'm the Northern 10m Champ for another year. Results here & NoEAA report here.

Well done to all running mates who did great today, including Mark H who ran strong and should be very chuffed with his returning form. Our Bingley boys also ran well and won medals for the men's team champs and many Otley mates did good too, (well done particularly to Josie girl & Julian M). Now for some emergency Garmin surgery.

Feet Up

After trying my very best to behave all week and avoid tough VO2 sessions or long runs I was expecting to feel full of beans by this weekend. I seem to remember thinking the same during my recent rest weeks, when you'd expect to feel fresh and frisky and instead I seem to feel a weird kind of training cold turkey; the legs feel sore and stiff and energy levels don't reflect the dramatic reduction in body flogging.

Last night another trot around the local hockey pitches under dark and soggy skies meant an easy run and a chance to save the legs from the tarmac. It also meant an early start to some Friday night sofa surfing and catch up TV. Yay. This morning was another easy amble around the village in daylight. A treat after what seems like pretty uninterrupted nocturnal training since the clocks went back and winter came to visit.
Heart rate and legs are telling me I'm a very creaky old duffer. Hopefully the adrenalin and focus of tomorrow's race will be the wake up call I need. Though its the North of England 10m Champs it still feels sort of nicely low key after the rather stressful races in recent months. I'm really looking forward to catching up with all those friendly local faces, (particularly during the race) and will ponder this as I enjoy my slobbing Saturday. Now then, back to some serious fueling.

Jelly Bliss

Another very long day in the office today meant another late start out for the evening run, which also means I've only just sat down to some fuel and blogging. I'm just starting on my pud. Its a bit naughty but tonight I've indulged in jelly & ice cream. Phwoar.

Having given myself permission to relax a bit and respond to how tired I felt after the hard slog of the XC on Saturday I'm kinda quite enjoying these easy runs and feeling pretty chilled about this week's training. The energy is slowly seeping back though I did have some weird spiking on my heart rate tonight; either I had three heart attacks in quick succession or there was a lack of sweatiness to get the chest strap working. Erm, that wasn't meant to sound kinky at all. Back to the jelly and ice cream, mmm, food of the gods. I hear its Paula's favourite.

La, la, la, la, I'm Running In The Rain..

I know its becoming a bit boring for everyone now but the rain has featured pretty heavily in my life since I last blogged. A very easy run in the rain on Monday was a first attempt to recover from the weekend. Unfortunately it just didn't seem to be enough down time to help this old body bounce back. Last night was a half-hearted intervals session on the grass in the rain to get the legs turning over. After rep #5 my legs felt mashed and were clearly not over the exploits of the last few days. So, an easy run in the rain during my lunch break included me noisily sploshing my way through endless canal side puddles from Leeds. Its not often I get out in the day and I always feel a bit guilty running in my lunch break, I'm not quite sure why. Anyway, the torture of a cold shower welcomed me back to work to then stare out at the rain falling on the rooftops of Leeds. I'm not sure why my legs feel quite so tired, I think they're a bit depressed by the weather. I intend to listen to the body and ease off for the next few days. More telly and sofa surfing instead. Poor me.

Recce'd Legs

A supposedly easy jaunt was planned today to explore the route for December's annual team event, the Calderdale Way Relay. Both M & I are racing leg 6 in our respective team pairs and were joined by club mate Steve B for the recce run. I say easy, it was fairly easy paced today but my legs have pretty much had it with me this week. They weren't very happy with the freezing mud and climbs around the route and were achingly glad to get back to the warmth of our little car for some hot coffee and biscuit dunking. The route was approx 10.5 miles of pretty fast terrain with the odd bit of climb through woodland trails and farmland.

My fatigue and general physical flatness was offset this morning by going to watch the Abbey Dash 10k. It was an awe inspiring sight to see so many runners in such a dizzying flow. As well as lots of club mates and loads of local running acquaintances (including Phil from Horsforth - sorry I missed shouting you on Phil!) I was keeping a special lookout for some work pals, one of whom was attempting her first ever 10k. Wendy had never run until January this year and I think secretly thought I was mad-as-a-box-of-frogs bonkers for being so keen on the sport. She never imagined she could run for 10 minutes never mind 10k and certainly never thought she'd find herself racing. Today she achieved her first 10k in a very respectable time with no stops or walking interludes and I reckon she is now completely hooked. I can't wait to see her at work tomorrow and hear the post race account. There were loads of other great performances and superb PBs today from work colleagues and club mates on this very fast course. Too many to mention except for perhaps a special note on Josie H who has been chasing a 10k time and thoroughly deserved her storming PB today (well done girl!). See full results here.

2 Race or Not 2 Race...

Got up feeling a bit groggy this morning after a massage from Maggie the mauler last night. She's very good and found out those various bits of leg muscle that I didn't know were crying out for a bit of attention. I'm now at my peak volume for this training plan until Xmas and I'd quite fancy a weekend off competition. A tough weekend of racing and long runs last week with two tough sessions Tues and Thurs make we feel less chirpy about the slog around the XC course at Wakefield today. Last year we competed in most of the Complete Runner league races and loved it (with the exception of the mud bath at Nunroyd). Today though these legs are hiding in cosy pajamas, quivering at the thought of that gloomy, foggy dampness that awaits outside. Shall we/shan't we... could it be a nice little wake me up in time for the Thirsk 10m next weekend..?

Bedtime: Well I did it. Legs felt completely dead and lacking any zip which I suppose is to be expected. Thornes Park is a great XC course but tough when running with lots of miles in your legs. It was a great race and I felt just a tad regretful that I wasn't fresher to give the leaders a good race but happy with my run and that's another excellent speed session in the bank. The men's race was truly awesome, Jonny Brownlee & Andrew Pearson were neck and neck throughout. Amazing runners. M ran great, finishing 58th overall which is a sign of his fantastic progress since last year (he was 3 mins quicker on the same course!). Well done M! Results here.

鮮美肋骨

I can hardly believe its Thursday already and time again for some quality running, in what seems to be constantly grizzly weather. In anticipation of tonight's labours I called in to my favourite Chinese supermarket at lunchtime (always a bad idea go into supermarkets when hungry I find) and stocked up on some favourite treats, M was chuffed to have a stack of ribs to gnaw through over the weekend, the freezer is overflowing with won ton dumplings and I've just polished off a rather generous bowl of udon soup; very yummy noodly fuel after a tough long run tonight. The plan to do some threshold paced efforts was set aside for the sake of the planned XC race on Saturday. So, tonight a steady 13m, battling some gruesome gusts and trying to remember this is just the stuff that'll make this Runningbear tough for London.

Simples

Simple hills it was then. 5 x 4 mins to be exact and tough it was too after the exploits of the weekend. I'm feeling much clearer and happier about what I'm doing which is a nice way to feel after what seems like months of fretting and fiddling with my training. The hard work is starting to pay off. Each hill rep brought its own special pain but I still had some strength in my legs despite the 20 miler on Sunday. That just wouldn't have been manageable for my body a few months ago. So I'm slowly remembering that quality days are where the work is, easy days are to be enjoyed.

The hard hills efforts now out of the way mean tonight's easy bimble around Ilkley should be relaxed and a chance to stretch the legs but nothing more. That leaves more time for catching up on bits of missed telly and digging out the Ben & Jerry's for a bit of a yummy treat. Some more instalments of In Treatment are on the cards tonight. Its a must see. Check it out on Sky Arts...a demain.

No Frills

These old legs have been feeling heavy and tired after XC racing and that super long run this weekend. A nice and supposedly easy 5m on Monday was a reminder of the necessity of these recovery days being exactly that. I dragged myself around the village at dawn wearing a pair of wooden legs wondering where my bouncy & bendy ones had got to.

The last few days have included lots of reflective training chats with M, his pa and some revisiting of our dog-eared running books. I've also been looking back at what I've done since I started a structured training plan two years ago, (a great advantage of keeping a log). All these elements have combined to form a really useful process; reminding myself of the running basics that I've somehow forgotten in recent months.

In trying to capture what made all the difference to bring the big improvements over the last 2 years, one of the most striking things was the simplicity of my training. My efforts to find new and sophisticated ways of doing intervals or drills or some other fancy session is all a bit unnecessary. I've been reminded of the basics, proper recovery around high quality work. Giving the body enough space to respond to hard training is a key discipline and rather crazily, is just as tough for me as it is churning out those yucky intervals at the track. The wild distractions of hilly drills and the like all now seem to be just a bit of nonsense. Keeping it simple is the Runningbear motto. So tonight, simple hills, definitely no drills & no more frills.

Golden Weekend

Well, I have to confess to being a bit of a blog skiver these last few days, it's been a bit hectic this week though & I can't believe it was Wednesday since my last post. It was a wishy-washy training week, with a good session Tuesday & then half easing down but half not for the rest of the week. M and I journeyed to Birmingham on Friday for a stay in a very cosy hotel so we'd be ready fresh faced for the XC international on Saturday. M was overjoyed to have permission to eat a full English whilst I settled for a meagre boiled eggie on toast, (sausages and racing don't mix). We then set out to pick up 'Old Man' Teasey; M's pa travelled half way across the country to join team Runningbear this weekend. We arrived at Alexander Stadium in time for kit collection and team photos which I deftly avoided.

A truly wild, wet and windy day made for a hard core cross country outing. Complete with the rather frightening red England pants I shivered my way to the start line, along with my England team mates for a competitive 6k race in rather wild and wintry conditions. M and Old Man Teasey were a great support as I trundled around the course, second behind super Vet Debbie Walters (who was running in the W40 category) and just holding off the first W35 Ireland counter. I think I maintained the pace into lap #2, building a bit of a lead but reached the final lap feeling pretty spent with a hard training week in my legs. I was relieved to hold on to the lead for the W35 race and great runs from fellow team mates brought a convincing W35 England team victory and gold medals for us all. No pics sadly as I forgot to show M how to use the pocket camera or maybe he just got distracted by the fetching red pants...anyways, I really enjoyed a proper cross country race with real mud and rain and plenty of windy gusts to battle.

After a welcome refuel in a fine Italian joint and some good running chat with M and his pa last night we were both out again for a long one this morning, my longest ever in fact. It felt wondrous to run under expansive blue sunny skies for the full 20 miles, taking in 9 miles of trail and finishing with a tarmac loop into Ilkley and home again. The pace averaged 7.29 and reflected a conscious decision to run these long ones a bit slower to leave room for more fun at the track on Tuesdays. M ran 18m and seemed to cope better than ever with the distance. I'm keeping my eye on him for Thirsk 10m, some very good racing and PBs are definitely on the menu these next few weeks.