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Project Sub 1:16:47 – Training Weeks 1-3 (ish)

Following the new 5 mile and 5K PBs at the end of July, the target soon switched to Nottingham and the Robin Hood Half Marathon on September 28th. As someone pointed out, I’ve broken my old bests over all distances save the half marathon in the last year. I’ve peppered the half marathon best, standing at 1:16:47 three times since last September – I’m fairly determined I’m capable of going quicker. 

Paradoxically training for the upcoming race coincided with two weeks of a significant drop in training volume – the first week deliberate, the second down to illness. A couple of days after the Lincoln 5k I headed down with the kids to see my family in Minehead. I managed three runs during the five day stay.

The first was a fairly gentle affair up to Dunster Castle and down to the beach back to Minehead as the legs slowly recovered from the long drive. The next day I headed to my personal nemesis when down in Minehead – the Greenaleigh Lower Road Climb which takes you out of Minehead and towards North Hill along the coastal path.

With an opening 0.4 mile ramp of 18% average and then shortly after 0.3 mile at 19% average, I’ve never made it all the way to the top without stopping at some point for a breather – sometimes in my lower moments I’ve walked much of the way up. It was one of those Rocky moments as sometimes slowly, but determinedly, I made it all the way to the top of these Strava segments and beyond all the way from sea level to 800ft above it without stopping, except for a few necessary seconds to negotiate a gate. I was rewarded with a stunning view of the surrounding moors and coastline, a KOM on Strava for my efforts and a pleasant run back down into Minehead as the heavens opened – marking what has effectively become the end of the pleasant summer weather we had in June and July.

I took a couple of days off before taking on one last run on the final day before heading back home. I returned to Dunster forest – where I’d enjoyed a pleasant run back at Xmas. The weather was shocking – torrential rain – the forest was a good place to be offering some shelter. It rained so much my heart rate monitor got a little frazzled and gave some truly erratic readings. I enjoyed my little adventure to Carhampton and back though, taking on over 1800 ft of climbing in just over ten miles along good quality trails.

Back home in Grantham there was a short run on the Wednesday before a routine club run of 14 miles on the Thursday evening, albeit with a couple of quick miles near the start of the run when I caught up the lead pack after a stop at the bowling alley (No time for a quick game, alas). Friday saw no running as it was time to attend the wedding of a good friend. My wife and I had a blast, my head didn’t thank me and the four miles run early on the Saturday morning were painful on the head until the adrenaline did a good job of blasting the hangover out of me.

There was no time to rest though as we were straight off on our family holiday to the Yorkshire Dales. I managed a run on the Sunday morning – this time completing it just before the heavens opened for the day. Heading to Ingleton and back on fairly narrow country lanes, it was an enjoyable if sometimes hair-raising run as the constant undulations and blind bends made it a challenge to safely avoid the traffic. I also had annoyingly forgotten my Garmin ANT communicator, which meant I couldn’t create or follow any pre-planned routes, which would mean it was going to be mostly out-and-back affairs.

That run also featured the first tickles of a sore throat, which by Monday had developed into a full blown cold. By Tuesday I was feeling decidedly unwell, if I wake declaring no intention of entertaining a run at any part of the day, I know I’m feeling decidedly sub-par. This continued through to Friday, when the cold relented just enough to head out on a run with the camera.

Mostly enjoying the scenery but allowing as much effort as the tight chest would allow on the hills, it was a sometimes groggy affair, but a relief to have at least got one good run in during the holiday week and one where I took my camera with me to capture a few images.

Houses typical of where we stayed.
Houses typical of where we stayed.
The River Greta
The River Greta
Plenty of hills like this to be found
Plenty of hills like this to be found
A fishing lake
A fishing lake
The busy road marked the point to return home.
The busy road marked the point to return home.
The busy road marked the point to return home.
The busy road marked the point to return home.
Yorkshire cannot help but be scenic.
Yorkshire cannot help but be scenic.
The hill I had to tackle twice...
The hill I had to tackle twice…

The last shot is of a fairly steep hill (The photo doesn’t do it justice) I stupidly decided to run it twice near the end as I’d stopped to take the photo, ran off to the bottom and beyond, then realised I’d not started the Garmin. I somewhat weirdly decided to run back to where I’d took the photo to recommence the run…

The following morning saw a short 4 mile run before driving home. Painfully low on mileage for the week I opted on the Sunday morning to join some club members from GRC on a long run which turned into a 21 mile two lap affair, where I used and abused three training partners on different parts of the run. It was here that the Turquoise Nike Air Pegasus’ finally destroyed themselves mid-run, making the last 8 miles or so quite a sore affair.

The first week proper of training for the half marathon began the following day with an easy 6 miles breaking a new pair of Pegasus’. Club intervals on the Tuesday saw a welcome visit from Britain’s #99 marathon runner from 2013 Alastair Pickburn. Running hill repeats, we had a good, fairly evenly matched session together, which saw me take another second off the Strava segment for a rep and overall a much better performance than when we ran the same session a couple of months earlier.

Wednesday saw an easy paced run just shy of ten miles; Thursday was a little more complicated. First was a run to the train station to get a train to Nottingham to run to the hospital to pick up the wife, which was all done with a rucksack and laptop in tow. Once I’d driven us back home, caught up on about three hours of work in an hour, I hot footed it to the running club for a most enjoyable off-road run which came in at exactly half marathon distance. Not quick at any point and something of a struggle on tired legs, it was a welcome antidote to the stresses of the real world. I was shattered by the end though with eighteen miles completed on very little food – the protein shakes came out for the first time since Sub 1:16:47 began, and plenty more were consumed over the weekend.

Friday was a mere four miles of recovery in the evening. Saturday should have been an early morning run but I woke too late – it was almost planned as I’d really fancied a little quick run in the evening. This turned out to be a swift 6 mile affair with the pace wound up in the final stages to sub six minute miles – still a rarity for me in training.

Sunday should have been a 13 mile long run, but with work I decided to break it into two 10KM efforts. The morning run was fairly pleasing, averaging 6:41 pace only just after getting up. After a busy day behind the computer desk, I headed out in the evening for a second 10KM. The legs felt decidedly shaky at times, the head a little woozy as I was clearly tired, but pleasingly I was able to knock out a forty minute ten km effort, with the second five km run in just over 19 minutes. I’m not sure what this training weekend will bring, but I’d like to think that the repeated miles at a pace I don’t run that often will see me in good stead.

Monday was a Bank Holiday so felt like the weekend. The weather was rubbish, feeling like a cold day in October rather than late summer. The legs were a little weak for most of the run, but I managed 11 1/2 miles comfortably inside my Jack Daniels prescribed easy run pace.

So the opening three weeks or so of training done, one good solid week behind me. Some aches and niggles, but hopefully nothing that cannot be contained. The next few weeks are key, the plan to continue hopefully with the reps and to mix up the runs so some are run reasonably quick. It’s a fairly sketchy plan, so expect it all to change without warning….

 

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Trainer Obituary – Nike Pegasus 29 (Turquoise) – 18 February 2014 – August 17 2014.

Nike Air Pegasus 29 (Turquoise)
Nike Air Pegasus 29 (Turquoise)

The third and final pair of Nike Air Pegasus 29 to be worn, Turquoise, as they were better known, were first worn on the 18th February 2014 and abruptly retired on August 17 2014 following a 21 mile run which saw the forefoot deteriorate rapidly to the point of them all but splitting.

As with its two predecessors, Turquoise became the go to trainer for all types of runs save racing. They did, however, see an unexpected race outing at the 29 mile long Baslow Boot Bash – a mostly off road affair – when the Puma trail shoes felt a little uncomfortable in warm up. They hence hold the honourable distinction of being worn for the longest ever run I’ve performed.

Like nearly all Pegasus’ I’ve owned, they performed admirably until around 500 miles then suffered a rapid decline in cushioning, culminating in the near splitting of the forefoot that saw them promptly chucked into the recycling bin.

They were replaced by the Nike Air Pegasus 30, a predictably similar performing shoe, but, predictably too, slightly different. Time will tell as to whether they prove to be as popular as the 29’s.

 

 

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Lincoln Wellington 5k – Tuesday 29th July 2014

Fairly fresh from the five mile race in Nottingham six days earlier, I lined up next to an athletics track near the Yarborough Leisure Centre in Lincoln about to take part in the third, of four, races of the Lincoln Wellington 5k Series. Before the five miler I’d not planned on racing here, but the day after I thought it would be good if I could squeeze another race in before my summer holidays and a search on Fetcheveryone produced this golden opportunity to have a stab at firstly beating my 5k PB and, more pertinently, going sub 17 for 5000 meters for the first time.

With that in mind my training was fairly easy post five mile race. The hamstrings took a couple of days for the pain to subside completely but they did. A long run with GRC on Thursday was followed by four consecutive easy paced and moderate mileage runs – the only real effort was put in on an attack on the Minnett’s Hill Strava segment which I was able to reclaim. The only real issues became a pair of blisters on each Achilles, a legacy of the new Lunar Racers worn on Wednesday (And a known issue apparently) and troublesome in certain pairs of my trainers.

I arrived in Lincoln a little later than planned and seemed to faff around for far too long getting ready to go for a warm up – the result of which it was only two miles instead of the planned three. The planned wearing of new Lunar Racers was also swiftly abandoned after just a few meters of running, the Achilles’ blisters far too sore. Thankfully at the last minute I’d packed my old Nike Frees which would be more than adequate for the race. The warm up at least did allow me to recce the course, which would be a small lap of playing fields next to an Athletics track followed by three large laps of two playing fields. The course was near pancake fat, the corners not too tight. All nearly ideal save for a strengthening wind after a warm, cloudy day, which would be direct into our faces for half of each lap.

A small but fairly competitive field lined up at 7:30pm for the start of the race. I placed myself on the front row, but as the whistle blew at the off, I made a steady start to sit somewhere just outside the top 15 after the opening short lap. I planned to race in a similar manner to last week, speeding up through the race and picking off the field all the way through to the finish. I’m no expert at 5k pacing – some like to go off really fast and hang on as best as possible. I tried that at Peterborough at a parkrun last year and found it one of the least enjoyable runs ever as I died a thousand deaths in the final mile. I’ll far rather sacrifice a second or two in the opening stages to ensure a stronger finish.

Steady pace was also a relative term for the Garmin indicated that the first half mile had been run at sub five minute mile pace. I thought, although running well, this was a bit bogus and queried the reliability, once again, of my 910XT.  As we began the start of the first large lap I had other issues to contend with, namely the headwind. Feeling quite strong I worked my way to the front of a small group and pushed on, knowing that this would mean others behind me would be sheltering from the wind behind me. I felt I had no choice; if I wanted a quick time I’d have to do it the hard way.

Also with no km or mile markers I only had my Garmin to use to judge how well I was going. If I could trust it I was flying – the first mile covered in 5:05. Like last week, although working hard, it was feeling quite easy. The second mile was covered halfway through the second lap – Garmin said it took 5:11. As we began the final lap I knew that if I could hold it together a PB was assured. Again into the headwind, as I passed a couple of runners, I could feel them joining the queue behind be sheltering – doing less work than I. This spurred me on to push harder, trying to break the tow, which, save for one runners proved successful. Mile three flashed on the Garmin 5:12. Fantastic! I was on for a sub 16 minute run! A Kenilworth Runners’ club record beckoned!

It would have done were the finish just around the corner, which it wasn’t. It was around half a lap away. A quick look at the watch showed I had around 85 seconds to finish the race in sub 17 minutes. The post mortem of how the Garmin had added nearly 400m to the 5k course would come later, now I just had to run as fast as possible.

Thankfully I had two factors to help. After 20 seconds or so of headwind, the final stages were aided with a tailwind. Secondly a runner, who had been sheltering behind me, passed me and began an early kick for home. Sensing it was now or never I kicked on too and stuck with him, before passing him when I saw a painted mark on the path saying 200m which I assumed meant 200 meters to the finish.

I gave it everything sprinting too and past the finish line (the Garmin had me running the final 0.32 miles at 4:37 pace). I knew the PB was a formality, the sub 17 was close. I looked at the watch. 16:55! I did it! Sub 17 done and at a proper 5k, not a free-to-enter timed run that is the 5k that is parkrun. 49 seconds better than my previous 5k best (The 2012 BRAT 5k at Rowheath), 25 seconds quicker than my parkrun PB also set in 2012).

I finished eighth, 35 seconds behind the winner, and the first, as far as I could tell, to not collapse into an exhausted heap at the finish. I couldn’t decide whether this is because I am in pretty good condition at the moment or I just didn’t try as hard as the others (I imagine it is a bit of both). I jogged back down the course to cheer home club runner Ben, who also knocked a great chunk off his 5km best.

So a fair journey for a short race, but a successful trip. As someone from GRC pointed out, from October last year to now, I have broken PBs at every distance raced with the exception of the half marathon. That will hopefully come in late September at Nottingham. It’s Project Sub 1:16:47!