She Takes Sea Shots On The Sea Shore

I'm back on the bright side after lots of ice, elevation and gentle running; these leggies are back in business! Thanks to all fellow blog chums for the top tips and moral support. I had a bit of a panic over what was probably just very grumbly legs from the 20miler. Anyways, am building back up and have tested things out with a tougher session this week; a 13miler on Wednesday with a few tempo miles chucked in. All was well and even my giant blister (legacy from Bramley) has behaved itself.

Today was a bit of a treat. A trip out to the seaside with Mr RB for some 10k action and a walk on the seafront. M spotted the Stanley Park 10k a couple of weeks ago and decided a jaunt out to Blackpool for some fresh sea air might be just what we need. This pretty fast and frisky route around the undulations of Stanley Park was an opportunity for this Runningbear to debut her movie making skills, act as dutiful clapper, cheerleader and coat-holder whilst M did the business.

 

A quality field turned out this morning, the race won convincingly by Steve Littler of Wesham, with a Horwich talent chasing him down to take 2nd. M came home in a respectable 12th overall and with a PB of 35.24 (the official results robbed him of a second but I have photographic evidence!). So, a small(ish) step for Mr RB but a PB all the same. The day was topped off with fish and chips by the sea, a stroll along the promenade, some brief arcade action and a bag of fresh, warm donuts to warm us from the pier back to the car. I got to play with the new camera too.

The Great North 10k 2010

After a bit more of an adventure than we'd bargained for these last twenty four hours we're just back home. I'm too tired to blog right now, especially after the long ride home in a recovery truck [don't ask!]

For those very eager followers I've posted some event pics below. I think they capture the wild Sunderland weather (no fast times today) and the highlights of our elite quarters in the players' area at the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland AFC...you might spot the odd star in the 'Players Lounge' too. I finished 5th lady overall, which more than made up for the slow times on today's undulating and windy course. My new scarlet T6s were a dream to race in and looked magic with the spangly laces, even if I  do say so myself! It'll all be on the telly next week and as I write no chip times up but initial gun time results here. Laters...

Rothwell Roundup

Not much change here for old Runningbear as yet but a week of resting up, perpetual  eating and plenty of navel gazing has given rise to a bit more of an appetite for running again, if only to make the most of the fresh spring sunshine and shaking the office out of my head. The May Day bank holiday brought its own excitement though, as M prepared for another 10k race effort and another PB prospect whilst the running is going so good.

Rothwell 10k has been regarded as a superfast 'assisted' course with its net downhill and crazy-fast first half where most entrants set a 5k PB en route.  A new course this year certainly put paid to that with a lollipop route taking in some moderate  but taxing undulations along the way.

There seemed to be fewer local faces out this year; the competition of a busy  May racing calendar perhaps but I still managed to spot a few stars, including Spen boys Anthony B and Kevin O, who were both looking pretty sharp coming into the finish.

The bank holiday started with brilliant blue skies and a fresh breeze making for near perfect conditions. I accompanied M acting as team support, cake/general fuel manager as well as photo snapper. (I'm not so great at the fuel management when left sole officer in charge of tasty treats).

The race led off after a few mins delay with a fast and furious first mile that some runners I'm sure came to regret. I spent the next 30 mins fumbling pointing the camera at  random things and a few fluffy clouds, distracting myself from the rather nippy breeze.

Sure enough 27 mins later the leading fella flies past at the 9k point with a 3 minute lead and not long after M appears. He was driving through strong and focused and looking like the winner. He was a lean and mean machine. The strength and fitness shone through as M ran a fantastic PB of 35.31, slicing a healthy 27 seconds off his recent Salford time and taking a V40 scalp or two before the finish. A really marvellous run in tough windy conditions and an inspiration to me to get my a** in gear sometime soon. Well done M, again.

Salford Success

Since early in the year, M has had a Good Friday 10k planned for an Easter treat as part of his own racing plan; the Salford 10k. This is a fab, fast and as flat as you get in the North of England for those fancying a bit of frisky Friday running before an Easter weekend of Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies and long runs. After my Wilmslow weariness I'd guessed I wouldn't be up for the race though was planning a threshold run and bobbed along to play team support role for a change for the two Bingley boys. Both M & Tricky were out running their first 10k in a while and seeking a good indicator of fitness after their recent injury woes.

The 2 lap course is a pretty brisk one though a bit breezy on the back straight. The plan was for me to split off 20 mins before the start and run a healthy warm up before rejoining the boys to chase the race for a 6 mile threshold run. We parted at 9.40am and both were a little ruffled with pre-race nerves but eager to get going. Unfortunately, M missed his lucky kiss as I arrived from my warm up a couple of minutes after the start. I had to belt around the course to catch the stragglers up and then quite enjoyed a fun chasing game for the next six miles, maintaining threshold place and passing through the field, eager to see how the boys had fared at the end of the race.

My own run was a good solid session if a tad confusing for spectators but nothing compared to the fab performances of two fine sub 36 minute 10ks! Tricky led the pair home in 35.39, not far off his best on the same course last year and M stormed home, just one second off his PB set in late December, finishing in 35.58. This is so impressive after the frustrations of M's glute injury early in the new year. So, a very worthwhile trip out and a very promising indicator of the coming months. I may have to withhold my lucky kisses in future; it seems to do just the trick.

Ribble Trouble

The funny feeling that race day wasn't to be my day had been kicking about in my head all week. The last couple of weeks I've felt a bit stale and tired of racing. But, Ribble Valley 10k is such a high quality race it couldn't be missed and there was no pressure to be up there with the likes of Helen Clitheroe leading the ladies out, followed by all-stars Katie Ingram and Rebecca Robinson! I'd been thinking that my Thirsk 10m time was an indicator that I should at least match my PB, 35.20 on this course and so hoped I'd be feeling up for it on the day.

Somehow I just wasn't. This is such a great race too with some great names from the international running scene and lots of mates turning out including a healthy number of Bingley vests. Even Kevin O kindly made the trip over, chauffeuring our Bingley trio and more than ably supporting us around the course with the most excellent hand clapping and bag management.

Needless to say the race got off to a flying start and careful not to burn it too early I held back thinking my strength would bring me through the field. On that basis I had a reasonable start clocking 5.42 for my first mile, a bit slow but at least within reach of what I needed to do. Pleased with myself for holding back I gradually passed many of those who'd overcooked their first mile but feeling less comfortable than would be expected and the race just unravelled from there. As the miles clocked by I seemed unable to find my usual pace and by mile 3 knew it wasn't to be my day with a feeble 5.53 split and mashed legs. My heart sank, knowing it was just a matter of hanging on. I was then lifted in a small way by the sight of Rebecca Robinson just ahead. I worked for the remainder of the course slowly catching her and nearly made it until she seemed to recover in the last descent and maintained her few seconds lead. I dragged myself over the line in 35.51, rather displeased and feeling like I'd run a marathon.

Great runs for many though, including M who had a storming performance coming in with a PB of 35.57 (only 6 seconds behind me - eek!). Results here. Tricky managed to run strong with no knee trouble this time and Mark H who had run 20 miles on Tuesday still made it over the line in a respectable time. I clocked Anthony B of Chasing Pavements who was a little way in front returning to form, running near to but not quite matching his own best. Fellow club mates all did great, including M, Stewart M & John C who won another prize for Male Vets Team and special mention of course to Vic Wilkinson, club mate and incredible athlete. Vic managed a sub 35 10k after a major injury earlier this year and secured the bronze champs medal, well deserved for an awesome run. I finished 5th overall & 1st V35. I didn't come home empty handed at least but I was a bit fed up with myself. Its an easy rest week now to give the body and mind a break before marathon training kicks off. No more sulks now, there's a new training year to think about.

Chevin Chase 2009

Its come around quick this year, our annual jaunt over the hill to watch the nutty lot doing the Chevin Chase on Boxing Day, made even more nutty given the icy, snowy descents. We saw the leading Brownlee brother (and ahem, clubmate as well as new world triathlon champion) perform some particularly impressive stunt rolls whilst the chasing pack were still nowhere to be seen at the two mile marker. The race drama was only enhanced by the wealth of silly costume antics, hope you enjoy the pics below.

M & I smuggled in an easy 4 miles this morning though it was treacherous and slightly mad trying to run across the naturally formed ice rink in front of the house. I gave up and walked the worst sections so not much of training session and certainly no fat burning was going on. That Christmas curry will no doubt come back to haunt these rapidly growing hips...

Tomorrow is another day and I'm now fully defrosted after all digits became painfully cold whilst taking snaps of today's race. I've just checked out the entry list for tomorrow and what an awesome line up it is for this fast 10k. Its good not to have any pressure to be up there, a top 10 placing would be good, top 5 would be awesome though the saddlebags might weigh me down. I'll be watching my back of course as M certainly fancies his chances, and so do I.

Sprouts an' all

Well now, ho, ho, ho to my fellow bloggers. Merry Christmas and all that. Hope those of you who partake in the gift giving and sprout munching are having fun and haven't overdone things already? Its been a low output week blogging wise so thought I'd make a special effort for readers - I hope you appreciate the festive flavour, (I promise I'll remove the Xmas mix tape before it drives you all insane).

I trust Santa was very generous and brought you all that you were hoping for, including some top kit. As a non festive person generally we have avoided the gift giving. M's Germanic routes would normally see him doing it all yesterday anyway. We had a rather comical Xmas video call with M's clan last night after discovering Skype. This wonder of the modern world is free and takes literally 5 mins to set up free video calls to anywhere in the world. And in case you missed it, I said free. Skype rocks as some old fella said. Much recommended if you've not discovered this yet.

Anyway, plans today include a run on this gorgeous and clear sunny day before tucking in to a Christmas curry. I also bought a bag of sprouts for a festive touch. This week and next are rest weeks from hard training as a ploy to be fresh for the marathon plans starting in January. The fact that Ribble Valley 10k falls right in the middle is a bit inconvenient, particularly so because I've been eating everything in sight and seem to have already grown by several pounds in the last week. Needless to say I'm not at my preferred race weight. In fact I look a bit of a porker and might need to ease off the cake. I'm not worried. Do I seem worried? No doubt the miles I'll soon be belting out will see to that. But enough chatter from me. Have a good one today and we might see some of you shivering at the Chevin Chase tomorrow.

Fandabidozi

Well, relaxing seems to help. After feeling pretty chilled about the race last night and in the absence of the usual pre-race butterflies in my tummy this morning, we drove over to Pudsey for the 10k trail challenge under grey skies, anticipating a muddy and slow race today. We weren't far wrong though the drizzle sort of helped to keep us reasonably cool in the muggy conditions.

Pudsey Pacers do a great job of organising this pretty tough road & trail event, attracting over 400 runners and some real quality amongst them. You even get a fresh banana with your T-shirt at the finish.

Both M and I were feeling a bit rubbish in the warm up after a heavy training week & decided it should be approached as nothing more than a solid threshold run. We lined up next to an army of P & B boys; they all looked tough and very fast and led out the race at a blistering pace. I managed to run my own race at least, easing off the pace in the first mile, (I've made that mistake before; running a sub 5.30 first mile and never recovering). Anyway I stayed relaxed & ran cautiously for the first half to then push on for the second. This course has two stinker climbs and lots of mud and trail so felt pleased with my strength and came back first lady by a good margin. M also ran great, just a minute or so behind me and taking some good scalps. He's definitely back to his pre-op form.

Anyway, I picked up some more goodies for my efforts. The prize giving was a bit embarrassing as I won 3 different categories and ended up like a Crackerjack contestant with arms full of trophies, bottles of wine and a rather nice trainer token. A good morning's work. Now then, time for the post-race refueling...

Wrecked Recce Legs

It was a nice change to run out on away terrain tonight. M & I planned for an early finish at work & managed to get out of the office by 5pm for a guided recce with Nigel A again around the Pudsey 10k Challenge route.

This is a bit of an anniversary run, being my first ever 10k race as a newcomer to running in 2005. This is a pretty challenging course with some killer hills and tough trail sections. Not one for a time which only adds to the fun; setting pacing aside and forcing you to focus on just running a good race. Though we've not entered yet this is likely to feature as a July fixure along with revisiting one or two other local favourites on and off road this Summer. The tame pace was welcome tonight with pretty tired legs from earlier in the week and a track session to try and pull off tomorrow. Haven't decided what reps to do yet but will be something longer to build in a bit of strength work. I need to burn off a fair bit to warrant a very overdue visit to Lidl. I've been choco softie free for two days now. Its starting to hurt.

Dilemma

8.20am. Have woken up after a terrible night's sleep with a very sore tooth and a rather swollen patch in my mouth that made my breakfast difficult to swallow. Am thinking abscess!? Really stuck now whether to stay behind and try and find an emergency dentist or take the trip to Manchester and do this 10k race. Why do these things always happen at the weekend? This couldn't be worse timing!

And Toothy Tales of Torture...

16.45pm. Well, this Platt Fields 10k being the only road race planned for a while I set aside the tooth ache and went to Manchester to race instead. The dentist's answer machine message advising of the £115 call out fee was an additional motivator to try and live with the pain. I'm now less sure the race was worth the toothy sacrifice as we parked up at Platt Fields in shimmering heat and stifling humidity. The race was 1 small and 3 large laps around the park perimeter and incorporated the Northern Vets 10k champs. The 3 of us (me, M and old club mate Sally M) were all preparing our excuses; panicked by the heat and humidity, we all resolved to start out steady and just hoped we could get round in one piece. I was feeling less than fresh when 12pm arrived and prepared myself for a tough time on the start line but remained hopeful to be up in the prizes; by this stage thoughts of a decent a time had gone out of the window. Anyway, I think its safe to say that the race was absolute torture from the first mile. I'm not good at running in the heat and today was a mixture of baking stretches in full sun interchanged with hot, suffocating and humid tunnels of vegetation hell! Hope you're getting the sticky picture..

I ran a pretty cautious first mile but the splits just went downhill after that and I finished well down on what I'd hoped to do with a final time of 37.11. The other two had an equally tough time with Sally finishing 2.5 mins down on her last 10k time and M feeling so bad on this airless and stifling course with his dodgy chest that he had to stop 2 miles in. Times for the day were generally down by 1-2 mins for most so am trying hard not to freak out at my final result.

Reflecting on the race, the biggest challenge was to keep going, I was very close to stopping in parts, especially on this multi lapped course and quite a few didn't make it through. I was relieved to win the ladies race and I've some very nice vouchers to show for it, I also managed 10th position overall and came home with another impressive trophy for the NVAC Champs V35 prize. I'm so glad its over though, Summer racing is too hard.

Where Art Thou Mojo?

Strangely, I'm feeling kind of elated. Having fretted about how hard this morning's Salford 10k would be and knowing I've lost my edge seemed to give me permission to really enjoy this morning's race, free from any pressure of a PB or a position. There were some names out this morning and I felt relieved to be free from the pressure of having to worry about anyone else and just run my own race. With no Garmin to check or idea of pacing I ran this one feeling relaxed. This is a great race and a definite date for my diary next year. The course comprises of two laps through a fairly built up area around Salford. The course was fast and flat but nicely varied, keeping the likes of me suitably distracted along the way, (I've the concentration span of a gnat in road races). I struggled to recognise many of those around me and was resigned to my time being nearer 37 mins so was nicely surprised to finish 3rd lady in 35.51. I'm pretty far off my form earlier this year but I'm glad to have managed a sub 36. A better story was the success of my ultra fast Bingley team mates all of whom had great runs today. My lovely M managed to grab his first sub 37 mins over this distance. His training and general strength will see much faster times to come this year but no pressure ; ) just glad to see him making the progress he's been working for. Tricky Ricky also had a fab run with a new PB, a storming run - am so excited to see how he'll get on at FLM. He's in awesome shape though I was mischievously smiling that his time today was just 1 sec outside my PB, not sure that'll last long though. Bingley boys also took the vets team prize, with Tricky, John C (awesome as always) and Peter P having a stormer after his battle to run me off the road to the finish, (I've got bruises from his elbows to prove it ; ) Our old club mate Jane B also had a fantastic run smashing her PB by 30 seconds, not long before her sub 40 comes I reckon.

Anyway, the real bonus is having raced at the start of the bank holiday so that we now have 3 more full days to do some lovely, easy off road runs and some serious eating. I do prefer getting the race in early and then enjoying some proper running for the remaining weekend. Got a fresh lasagne ready to go in the oven and a lovely lemon and almond tart for pud. Looking forward to a glass of wine and some great company tonight. A demain.