So, after last years outing to Scotland, this years event was much easier to get to as it was in and around Reading in the south of England.
Day 1 was the sprint event held at the University of Reading campus where my course was a 1.9km straight line course around the building in the campus where (obviously) none of the direct routes were possible as they all went straight through buildings! Not the greatest run as I made some route choice errors (wrong way round buildings and managed to mislay the final control and lost a couple of minutes as I found my way again. Oops.
Day 2 was in the beautiful woods at Hambleden just north east of Henley. It was bitterly cold, but I loved the location and the 10km & 410m climb course. I made a silly error at one control, but was fairly consistent through the others not getting utterly lost (as I did last year).
Day 3 was in Cold Ash woods just north of Newbury and south of the M4. This was a must wetter area than day 2 and pretty boggy in places. Did not enjoy the 9.5km course nearly as much as yesterday and it took almost 10 minutes longer even with far less climb.
Day 4 was the relays in a slightly different part of Hambleden. Again, the weather was good and running the second leg in the company of Alan Honey (first) and Jeremy Tonge (third) we came a very respectable 27th of 57 teams competing in the senior mens competition.
Although the weekend was pretty cold, it was brilliant and I enjoyed every day. I came 71st overall out of 123 during the main two days.
http://www.thejk.org.uk/jk2013/
Tuesday 2 April 2013
Friday 8 March 2013
Bath Half Marathon 2013
For the seventh straight year, I ran the bath half marathon on 3rd March with my brother around the streets of Bath with thousands of other runners and the usual crowds of supporters. This year was a little different to last year though, with the temperature around 20 degrees lower.
Arriving in Bath to see my brothers family before the run, the outside temperature gauge read -1 degrees Celcius and I'm pretty sure the temperature did not come much above zero for the whole day. Given my decision to run again in my supergirl fancy dress outfit to embarrass my brother (as much as anything else), I at least had something to cover my arms, but my legs got pretty cold in the long wait at the start line for the gun to go off. My brother was feeling pretty confident this year about his training and so we went off at quite a pace and ended up doing the first few miles not far off 7m40s each. Despite a bit of a slow down in miles 9 and 10, we kept pretty much at this sort of pace throughout the race and it was brilliant to get my brother to a new PB of 1.43.29. I was finding it quite difficult to slow down in the last mile and despite high fiving most of the crowds in that last mile uphill I still ended up finishing 8 seconds ahead of him in 1.43.21.
The cold weather meant a decrease in the number of people cheering in the streets (compared to last year) but the fancy dress still meant that we got plenty of cheers for supergirl, superwoman, superman and superthingy as well as one cheer for batwoman ?!?
I've had a week to recover now and need to start thinking about my 10km ambitions for the year. I'll get posting soon.
Arriving in Bath to see my brothers family before the run, the outside temperature gauge read -1 degrees Celcius and I'm pretty sure the temperature did not come much above zero for the whole day. Given my decision to run again in my supergirl fancy dress outfit to embarrass my brother (as much as anything else), I at least had something to cover my arms, but my legs got pretty cold in the long wait at the start line for the gun to go off. My brother was feeling pretty confident this year about his training and so we went off at quite a pace and ended up doing the first few miles not far off 7m40s each. Despite a bit of a slow down in miles 9 and 10, we kept pretty much at this sort of pace throughout the race and it was brilliant to get my brother to a new PB of 1.43.29. I was finding it quite difficult to slow down in the last mile and despite high fiving most of the crowds in that last mile uphill I still ended up finishing 8 seconds ahead of him in 1.43.21.
The cold weather meant a decrease in the number of people cheering in the streets (compared to last year) but the fancy dress still meant that we got plenty of cheers for supergirl, superwoman, superman and superthingy as well as one cheer for batwoman ?!?
I've had a week to recover now and need to start thinking about my 10km ambitions for the year. I'll get posting soon.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Lack of direction
2013 is not looking as good as 2012 with my running. Since my last half marathon, training has been reasonably good, but I still do not feel the incentive I had to do well last year.7
Added to that, I pulled my quadriceps muscle on Friday evening whilst coaching the children at NSAA. So no running yesterday and today!
So, I need to get myself into a challenge again and working towards an objective. Bath half is a good start (although I'll be running with my brother again).
After that I need a decent 10km race to get my speed going. I think I'm going to start doing the parkruns more regularly and see how it goes!
Added to that, I pulled my quadriceps muscle on Friday evening whilst coaching the children at NSAA. So no running yesterday and today!
So, I need to get myself into a challenge again and working towards an objective. Bath half is a good start (although I'll be running with my brother again).
After that I need a decent 10km race to get my speed going. I think I'm going to start doing the parkruns more regularly and see how it goes!
Saturday 5 January 2013
Challenges for 2013
After some contemplation over my Christmas break about a successful and fun 2012 running half marathons, the time came to think about what to do in 2013. I almost felt lost over Christmas with a lack of focus in my running despite entering the usual Clevedon boxing day 4 mile run (a PB by my watch) and the Hangover 10km (almost a PB) near Weston Super Mare. After a year of always having the next race planned and a training plan in place to take me there, I feel directionless without some sort of plan for the year.
So, I have decided to renew my monthly race plan, but to replace the half marathon with the 10km, with the objective of going sub 40 minutes sometime during the year and perhaps to average sub 42 minutes. Given that my January 1st race was completed in 41m25s, the average may not be too tricky, but given that races are not always flat and fast, I must assume that some will be much slower than the 40 minute goal.
There are plenty of 10km races locally during the year, so need to pick some and go with it. I have previously raced the Frenchay 10km in April and the towpath series in Bristol from June to August.
I also have grown to enjoy blogging on this site, so despite the fact that 2012 has gone, I will continue to post my contemplation here.
Current thoughts on races are as follows:
January - Hangover 10km - 41m25s
February - Bath Skyline 10km
March - Hemington 10k ?
April - Frenchay 10km
May - GWR Towpath
June - GWR Towpath
July - GWR Towpath
August - GWR Towpath
September - ?
October - ?
November - Bath Skyline ?
December - Wyvern Christmas Cracker
This will be the minimum number as I think I will probably add some other local races in as well as tempo runs.
Happy new year!
So, I have decided to renew my monthly race plan, but to replace the half marathon with the 10km, with the objective of going sub 40 minutes sometime during the year and perhaps to average sub 42 minutes. Given that my January 1st race was completed in 41m25s, the average may not be too tricky, but given that races are not always flat and fast, I must assume that some will be much slower than the 40 minute goal.
There are plenty of 10km races locally during the year, so need to pick some and go with it. I have previously raced the Frenchay 10km in April and the towpath series in Bristol from June to August.
I also have grown to enjoy blogging on this site, so despite the fact that 2012 has gone, I will continue to post my contemplation here.
Current thoughts on races are as follows:
January - Hangover 10km - 41m25s
February - Bath Skyline 10km
March - Hemington 10k ?
April - Frenchay 10km
May - GWR Towpath
June - GWR Towpath
July - GWR Towpath
August - GWR Towpath
September - ?
October - ?
November - Bath Skyline ?
December - Wyvern Christmas Cracker
This will be the minimum number as I think I will probably add some other local races in as well as tempo runs.
Happy new year!
Sunday 9 December 2012
It's over for 2012
Well, that's it. All of my twelve half marathons for 2012 are over and despite some setbacks during the year, I have completed one in every month without any serious injury and with a fitness level I never would have dreamed of at the beginning of the year.
Todays race was the inaugural AVR Wiltshire half marathon staged near Trowbridge in the UK. As it was my last race of the year, I was aiming to try to beat my PB from Cologne and so set off with a pace of 6.45 in mind.
My actual mile splits were:
6.41 6.52 6.47 6.46 6.43 6.45 7.00 6.44 7.18 6.52 6.55 6.52 6.41
You can probably see from the middle section that there were two nasty hills (see the route profile).
Up until the 10km marker I still felt as if I was on for a sub 1.29 PB but the two hills just knackered me and pulled me back further than it was possible to come back from.
It was also pretty windy with a wind speed of 17mph according to met office with 27mph gusts. That wasn't too bad in the early miles when I was running in a group and managing to draft others. However, when I went off by myself after about 4 miles it became much harder. One guy from Salisbury that I overtook at 5 miles then managed to catch me up on the second hill and although I tried to stay with him, he just had far too much energy and finished 40 seconds in front of me.
Overall, it was a great race and it made a good end to the weekend. On Saturday, I was coaching with the SW Junior orienteering squad as we had our Christmas weekend training on Salisbury Plain (although I wasn't doing much running!).
Anyway, I finished in 1h 29 minutes and 58 seconds. Not quite what I wanted, but if I'm honest, a pretty good finish to my challenge year. Even better, I finished the first 10km in 41m59s (a chip time - not estimated) which is the second fastest time I have ever raced.
Roll on my two Christmas races and I better decide what I'm going to do for 2013!
Todays race was the inaugural AVR Wiltshire half marathon staged near Trowbridge in the UK. As it was my last race of the year, I was aiming to try to beat my PB from Cologne and so set off with a pace of 6.45 in mind.
My actual mile splits were:
6.41 6.52 6.47 6.46 6.43 6.45 7.00 6.44 7.18 6.52 6.55 6.52 6.41
Up until the 10km marker I still felt as if I was on for a sub 1.29 PB but the two hills just knackered me and pulled me back further than it was possible to come back from.
It was also pretty windy with a wind speed of 17mph according to met office with 27mph gusts. That wasn't too bad in the early miles when I was running in a group and managing to draft others. However, when I went off by myself after about 4 miles it became much harder. One guy from Salisbury that I overtook at 5 miles then managed to catch me up on the second hill and although I tried to stay with him, he just had far too much energy and finished 40 seconds in front of me.Overall, it was a great race and it made a good end to the weekend. On Saturday, I was coaching with the SW Junior orienteering squad as we had our Christmas weekend training on Salisbury Plain (although I wasn't doing much running!).
Anyway, I finished in 1h 29 minutes and 58 seconds. Not quite what I wanted, but if I'm honest, a pretty good finish to my challenge year. Even better, I finished the first 10km in 41m59s (a chip time - not estimated) which is the second fastest time I have ever raced.
Roll on my two Christmas races and I better decide what I'm going to do for 2013!
Monday 3 December 2012
60 miles
For the very first time ever, last week I ran over 60 miles. In fact 60.28 miles by my Garmin GPS watch.
For me, this is a major achievement and although I know many other runners who clock up far more, I do believe that this is probably the most I'll do in a little while.
The reason, of course, is clear. I am running my final half marathon of 2012 near Trowbridge on Sunday and I really do want to try to beat the 89 minute mark. I only need to do 1.5 seconds per mile faster than I have run my last three races and I will do this!
I remember back in 2006 when I first took up running and met a guy who I assumed was about as good as me. I assumed that my 25 miles a week was pretty good at the time and was utterly shocked when he told me about his 60 mile weekly mileage. Of course, I also learned that he had PBs which were massively better than I could even dream about. Since then, I have always been careful when comparing myself against other runners as it is very easy to make assumptions due to weight, gait or slow training running which bear no resemblance to the speed they can run in a race.
There are so many things about my 2012 challenge which have had a lasting impact on me. I am fitter and faster, have run more miles in a year than ever before and have several new PBs. But the key thing I think I have learnt is that I really enjoy my running and the ability to challenge myself on a regular basis. If you assume that you have achieved the best possible, it is easy to start believing it. That is how I felt after getting my sub 90 minute half marathon PB in 2009. For two years, I accepted that I would probably never better it.
My 2012 challenge has made me believe that I can always still improve and challenge myself to do better and I hope that I can carry on doing this in running and life in general.
For me, this is a major achievement and although I know many other runners who clock up far more, I do believe that this is probably the most I'll do in a little while.
The reason, of course, is clear. I am running my final half marathon of 2012 near Trowbridge on Sunday and I really do want to try to beat the 89 minute mark. I only need to do 1.5 seconds per mile faster than I have run my last three races and I will do this!
I remember back in 2006 when I first took up running and met a guy who I assumed was about as good as me. I assumed that my 25 miles a week was pretty good at the time and was utterly shocked when he told me about his 60 mile weekly mileage. Of course, I also learned that he had PBs which were massively better than I could even dream about. Since then, I have always been careful when comparing myself against other runners as it is very easy to make assumptions due to weight, gait or slow training running which bear no resemblance to the speed they can run in a race.
There are so many things about my 2012 challenge which have had a lasting impact on me. I am fitter and faster, have run more miles in a year than ever before and have several new PBs. But the key thing I think I have learnt is that I really enjoy my running and the ability to challenge myself on a regular basis. If you assume that you have achieved the best possible, it is easy to start believing it. That is how I felt after getting my sub 90 minute half marathon PB in 2009. For two years, I accepted that I would probably never better it.
My 2012 challenge has made me believe that I can always still improve and challenge myself to do better and I hope that I can carry on doing this in running and life in general.
Monday 26 November 2012
Preparing for 2013
With only 13 days until my last half marathon of 2012 and, assuming that the Mayan Calendar end does not imply the end of the world on 21st December, I need to start some planning for my running challenges for 2013.
I certainly will not be starting off the year in quite such style as 2012 in Tromso and Spitzbergen, but I do intend to make 2013 another year of challenges. What I cannot decide is which one to choose from.
I think it is probably a year to keep fairly clear of half marathons and, although I have already booked to run in Bath 2013 and will probably run in Bristol again, I think I will stick to some shorter races and make some changes to my shorter distance PBs which I think should be quite easy given my speed this year.
As an example, my 5 mile PB is 34.04 but I also know that I can run a 5 mile tempo training run in around 33.17 so this should fall pretty quickly. My 5km PB is 20.37ish and a month ago I ran a time trial on my own on a windy track in 20.05.
My 10km PB may be a little harder to beat as this is set currently at 41.17 and I have not beaten this time in any of my training runs or half marathons. However, my 10km split this month was 42.21 in the Shakespeare Raceway half marathon and so I do think this one should fall.
In addition to just beating PBs, I also want to get ahead of my friend Simon in our PBs. I better him in half and full marathon, but he beats me in everything lower than 13 miles.
I also want to improve my Orienteering and this is really only possible my doing events and training offroad.
Lastly, I have also thought of just trying to do lots and lots of the Free Bristol Park Runs. These are 5km events held at Ashton Court each and every Saturday of the year. Perhaps trying to run as many as possible could be an interesting challenge and would not break the bank (as some of the half marathons could certainly do).
I have a month to think about it and anyway, I will finish the year off with my half marathon on 9th December and the Boxing day run in Clevedon on 26th December. 2013 will then kick off with the Hangover 10km in Kewstoke on 1st January.
I certainly will not be starting off the year in quite such style as 2012 in Tromso and Spitzbergen, but I do intend to make 2013 another year of challenges. What I cannot decide is which one to choose from.
I think it is probably a year to keep fairly clear of half marathons and, although I have already booked to run in Bath 2013 and will probably run in Bristol again, I think I will stick to some shorter races and make some changes to my shorter distance PBs which I think should be quite easy given my speed this year.
As an example, my 5 mile PB is 34.04 but I also know that I can run a 5 mile tempo training run in around 33.17 so this should fall pretty quickly. My 5km PB is 20.37ish and a month ago I ran a time trial on my own on a windy track in 20.05.
My 10km PB may be a little harder to beat as this is set currently at 41.17 and I have not beaten this time in any of my training runs or half marathons. However, my 10km split this month was 42.21 in the Shakespeare Raceway half marathon and so I do think this one should fall.
In addition to just beating PBs, I also want to get ahead of my friend Simon in our PBs. I better him in half and full marathon, but he beats me in everything lower than 13 miles.
I also want to improve my Orienteering and this is really only possible my doing events and training offroad.
Lastly, I have also thought of just trying to do lots and lots of the Free Bristol Park Runs. These are 5km events held at Ashton Court each and every Saturday of the year. Perhaps trying to run as many as possible could be an interesting challenge and would not break the bank (as some of the half marathons could certainly do).
I have a month to think about it and anyway, I will finish the year off with my half marathon on 9th December and the Boxing day run in Clevedon on 26th December. 2013 will then kick off with the Hangover 10km in Kewstoke on 1st January.
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