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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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No Way To Taper

So today, illness or other unforeseen circumstance permitting, I am going to take part in the Milton Keynes Marathon on Monday, where I plan to help pace a friend hopefully somewhere close to 3:20.  It is a bit of a gamble to run but hopefully things will be okay.

Monday saw me back on the bike, off for a two hour quick blast deliberately taking in some of the steeper hills in the surrounding area, including Terrace Hill, which made it into Simon Warren’s 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs: A Road Cyclist’s Guide to Britain’s Hills. As he explains in the book, this is by no means a particularly tough climb in the pantheon of climbs but does hold a reputation in the surrounding area and as such sees plenty of Strava activity. My legs, still suffering from the exertions of the weekend and the quads in particular still stubbornly refusing to work properly, meant that each and every hill was a laboured affair. I currently stand a lowly 244th at best on the numerous Terrace Hill segments on Strava. One to return to when I get a bit better.

On Monday my recent purchase: Quick Strength for Runners: 8 Weeks to a Better Runner’s Body arrived and after reading it cover to cover on Monday night, ran through my first session on the Tuesday. It was by no means impossible, but left me in no doubt that strength, especially in my core, is really very weak and surely one of the main contributing factors to my frequent hip injuries.

After that session I opted to test my hip and right Achilles with an easy paced 6 mile run. The legs were pretty stiff after a week of cycling but there was definitely far less pain in the left hip and thigh – presumably after some strengthening work on the bike, and the right Achilles was bearable. The run wasn’t particularly quick, but that wasn’t the intention.

Wednesday saw me back on the bike and following a 52 mile ride down to Melton Mowbray and back, returning via Belvoir. In glorious weather the ride went really well, feeling noticeably stronger in the quads and glutes. I was able to pedal my way through the gentle inclines in a higher gear than previously and was able to pedal out of the saddle for much longer than I was able to before on the steep hills. At a whisper shy of 18mph this was significantly faster than the rides of equivalent length and difficulty of last week.

Thursday and it was the main test on the legs to see if I was up to racing on Monday. A club run over the fields and to Denton Reservoir – which I hadn’t previously the pleasure of running around – the pace was very gentle but in a way that was a good thing as time on feet was a good test on the Achilles in particular. Things began promisingly – just a little ache for a couple of miles then no discomfort at all for the next seven. Then in the final four miles it began to ache again, so that by the end it was really quite sore.

Once home I iced and massaged and opted to wait and see what happened in the morning. No discomfort on waking, no stiffness (which is typical of a regular Achilles injury). It made me think again that the majority of the pain is being referred from higher up the calf. And indeed on massaging the outside of the calf I found some seriously tight spots which I managed to loosen a little (but not yet completely). This was done during session two of the Strength training plan, which was mostly weights based. My back was seriously tight but I just about managed all the reps.

I was going to ride this morning but felt I needed to test the legs one more time. So I went for a six mile run, practicing hitting the splits I plan to take my friend through on Monday. The hips and pelvis didn’t want to know for the first miles, the left IT Band a bit tight too. But the Achilles, apart from being a little achy, wasn’t really troublesome at all. I was expecting it to feel terrible based on how I ended my run yesterday. Further fuel to my referred pain theory,

Hitting the splits was a little tricky as the average pacing on the Garmin was all over the shop, but I just about managed it. Now there’s two days to get the legs ready for what is going to be a long run on Monday, even if it isn’t at my regular marathon pace. Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy the support and all the beauty that the home of concrete cows has to offer.

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More Miles–Some Smiles

Thursday saw me have a massage in the morning. I had feint hopes of all my ills being cured in one session, but just walking home afterwards I realised that the Achilles alone is some way off being comfortable to run on. I took Thursday off, planning to ride long on Friday.

Friday was a day of frustration, suffering problems with computer hardware and various other things. That meant rather being ready to ride at around 10am as planned, I wasn’t ready to gone 3:30pm. I’d knocked up a 30 mile or so ride. I’d spent some time trying to get the route to work properly on the mobile phone before giving up and returning to the old faithful Garmin Venture Etrex CX, originally purchased back in 2007 for my Land’s End to John O’Groats adventure.

The main problems I had with the unit back then and subsequently were that the route mapping was slow and unpredictable, often sending you on wild long excursions – not handy when you are on 100 mile plus rides. The other more frustrating problem was the device would turn itself off at the first hint of a bump, which is something of a common affair with our poor British road surface. I’d tried squeezing the batteries with crushed matchsticks in between the electrical contacts with minimal success. Then last year my Dad gave me a tip for temperamental battery contacts: place a small strip of tin foil between the + end of the battery and the contact itself. Since then the Etrex has worked like a charm and hasn’t switched off yet due to being bounced around. And, based on tips from the internet, I opted to abandon the routing (More like forced as the modern mapping websites create too many waypoints for the Garmin to handle) and follow the purple roads manually, which, apart from a few visibility issues in the rain, has worked like a dream.

That the unit didn’t suffer major water damage on Friday’s run was a major surprise. It had rained on and off during the day, and had been dry for a while, but almost on cue as I left the house it began to rain, becoming more intense as the ride continued to the point where come the end of the ride it was nearly dark with leaden skies. The route sent me north towards Newark without actually entering the town upon-Trent, running a rough figure of 8 through Hough-On-The-Hill, which was the only real area of elevation on an otherwise flat ride.

Despite the rain the ride was fairly enjoyable on mostly quiet roads. I had a near tumble on a slippery manhole cover just before tackling a crossing of the busy A17 which left me a little nervous for the next few miles. I got good speed up heading back down Stragglethorpe Lane before a final struggle on the Hough-on-the-Hill revisited from another angle. I finished the ride having covered 32 miles at an average of 18.08 mph, an improvement on Wednesday’s ride.

Friday night and I mapped out a ride taking me down to Rutland Water, looping it and then heading home. I had some issues with a waypoint limit on the Etrex but thought I had it all covered. Some dreams of taking on a Sportive in the near future saw me take a look at the UK cycling website, when, to great coincidence. it transpired that the Dare2B Rutland Cycle Tour was taking place on Saturday morning. I had no idea what route they’d be taking, only that they were heading north from Rutland Water, with the long ride cyclists tackling a loop of Belvoir Castle.

I was out by 10am on Saturday for my ride, the roads beginning to dry after a night of rain, which finally relented minutes before I left. Looking at the weather forecast I knew that I’d have a headwind for the opening half of the ride, so I focused on conserving energy for the second half of the ride, hoping the tail wind would produce good speeds. It wasn’t long after leaving Grantham that I began spotting the Sportive riders heading in the other direction on their ride. Over the next few hours I must have passed around 100 of them as I uncannily seemed to have mapped out a route very similar to theirs. All a very friendly bunch, I said plenty of hellos and good morning.

The run down to Rutland Water, despite the wind was very pleasant, and after a melted Snickers break, a brief wrong turn and plenty of jelly beans I began to ride back home, relishing the tail wind pushing me on. I had a problem not long later when it turns out that the Etrex is limited to 250 positions per ride when following a route. This meant that somewhere near Oakham I ran out of routing. Moreover, opting to have the backlight on permanently (As I had done on Friday when it was too dark to see the screen) had eaten all but the last quarter of the battery life. Very fortunately I had created an alternate Rutland route which took me down to the mass of water in the opposite direction, so to speak. I was able to follow the route in reverse which worked perfectly save for the final 10 miles or so repeating the roads that I took on the way down rather than heading the alternate way I planned, which knocked a mile or three of the final total. As for the batteries, I thought about trying to find a shop for some replacements, eventually I risked it and by turning off the backlight completely I just about made it home with the unit still functioning.

The jelly beans certainly did the trick because I stayed strong until the end of the ride, pretty much riding successive quicker five mile segments as the ride went on. I ended the 58 mile ride averaging 17.32 mph, which is probably up on what I was riding on the few rides I made last year, and not a million miles away from the best cycle years of recent times in 2007 and 08, when I put in a around 3000 miles over the two years.

I mapped another ride for Sunday, around 10 miles longer and heading towards the flatlands of the Fens – approaching, but not quite reaching, Spalding. I chose the route deliberately because the weather forecast predicted quite stiff winds blowing from the east, meaning that if I could survive the opening half of the ride, I could enjoy a swift run home.

I was out at just gone 8am, pretty impressive considering a fair amount of wine was drunk on a Saturday night out. The first miles were slow as I climbed out of Grantham, bemoaning my inability to get any jelly beans out of the freezer bag I’d put them into after similar problems with their original packaging a day earlier (After 45 miles of struggling I finally poured a lot of them direct into a cycle pocket which worked much better).

Much of the opening 35 miles were fairly tortuous. I’m not particularly strong on the flat at the best of times, not helped by my inability to properly use the handlebar drops – which is a big disadvantage when riding into a headwind. And, aside from 5 miles or so when I headed south, the headwind was relentless as I traversed near deserted lanes on the exposed fens. An amusing Strava segment I passed, the Col du la Railway Bridge Gosberton sums up the total flatness of the area, the 0.1 mile segment with an average gradient of 1% representing the stiffest climb around for as far as the eyes could see.

The wind, much stiffer than yesterday, took its toll. I stopped for a breather at 36 miles, just after I’d turned and began heading home. I’m not a huge fan of the fens from an aesthetic viewpoint, but the area around Surfleet, following the River Glen, was very picturesque on this sunny spring morning.

Surfleet Seas EndThe Pub Where I Briefly StoppedThe Old Faithful - She'll Do Until I Can Afford A Carbon Bike

Invigorated by the Mars Bar break and enthused by the prospect of a tailwind all the way home, I set off with renewed vigour. The ride along Station Road beside the River Glen was good fun: flat and fast with a few corners to keep the attention. The same couldn’t be said for the B1397 High Fen, which was six miles of all, bar a pair of 90 degree chicanes, dead straight, dead flat road. I found the biggest gear I could turn and churned away. By the end I was quite tired, turning a big gear is, in many ways, as hard as climbing and descending. Plus with near relentless flat land for the best part of 50 miles, there’d barely been a minute’s cycling when I wasn’t pedalling. I know I am used to running where such a free break is the stuff of fantasy, but pedalling consistently for hours on end takes its toll.

In many ways, although tired, I was relieved that crossing the A15 meant that the terrain would take a generally upward theme, with plenty of twists and undulations. According to Strava this was by far my strongest part of the ride, and, to my great surprise, I clocked fourth overall on one Segment. I’ve barely troubled the top 100 on most segments, so to come fourth was something of a thrill.

Approaching Grantham there was the quick drop down the A52 into town. I favoured one last climb towards Harrowby rather than face the dreaded traffic nightmare that is the centre of town – this sapping any energy I had left. I finished the ride of 67 miles averaging 17.24 mph, which was just a smidge down on Saturday’s ride and was not bad considering I was averaging around 15mph at the turnaround thanks to the headwind.

So four bike rides, a very stiff neck and sore right arm, but the legs are feeling  generally quite good and enjoying the break from running. I imagine I’ll be cycling for the first half of next week before testing the legs with a run to decide whether I’ll take part in the Milton Keynes Marathon.

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Day 69–A Little Frustration But Pleased With The Run

I set out for the run a little later than planned, watching the bobsleigh on TV and reading about the controversy over in America with Nike/USADA disqualifying a Brooks athlete in the ladies 3000m in frankly ridiculous circumstances. If I moaned a couple of days ago about short track speed skating not having an appeal process and some baffling decisions, then athletics took it to a new level with Alberto Salazar appealing the appeal of an appeal and eventually getting his way when some Nike people had a closed door meeting with USADA officials.

I thought briefly about burning my seven or so pairs of Nike trainers in protest, but thought the better of it for when push comes to shove, for my feet anyway, they make the best trainers on the market. I just wish they didn’t, allegedly, have such a questionable influence on the outcome of elite sport.

With that injustice out of the way I drove out to Somerby to follow a route known as the Old Somerby 19  based on a Strava upload from a club mate which I downloaded and eventually managed to get it uploaded to my watch (a process that took way longer than it should have). As the title of the run suggests it was 19 miles and I wanted to run something closer to 22 miles, so I began the run with a loop of Somerby, stopping to return to the car and discarding the gloves which, despite the strong wind, were not necessary as the temperature was a balmy 12C.

The first mile was 7:09, which is quick for me for an opening mile. The second was 6:42, then 6:43, and the fourth in 6:28. Regardless of whether the wind was helping me this was swift stuff so early in a run. It was reminiscent of an 18 mile run I did back in October when, similarly to today, I hit 6:38 after the second mile and was pretty much able to hold that fairly comfortably for the rest of the run. The next four miles confirmed I was in that kind of form: 6:37; 6:23; 6:39; and 6:37.

Then things briefly went awry. My Garmin 910XT has a known issue where, when following a course, it is horribly prone to repeatedly telling me I am off course and then back on course (When I never left the course in the first place), delays in refreshing the course line and, worse still, random power offs. Ever since that happened mid run last November I now make a point of checking the watch frequently to the point of paranoia. That was justified today as somewhere around 8.2 miles the unit powered off randomly. It turned back on, took a while to find satellites and I continued running, but something wasn’t right – the distance didn’t appear to be increasing and the route I was taking on the course map bared little relation to what I was actually running.

I made the decision to stop and stop the following of the course. This had the effect of resetting the mileage and elapsed time to zero, something it doesn’t usually do. I powered the watch off and on again, was relieved to see at least my run was stored in the history rather than disappearing into the ether, and recommenced the run. It was ultimately no more than an annoyance, but for flagship watch it is unacceptable and Garmin will be receiving a phone call in the morning. At the end of the day my old 305 could handle courses near perfectly and this more expensive watch handles them badly to the point of it being nearly broken.

The rest of the run went fairly quickly as my mind mulled over exactly what I would be saying to Garmin in the morning. There were a few tough miles when I turned to face the head wind, which almost at times had me stopping in my tracks. By and large though the pace was relatively consistent and the legs remained good, albeit with a little tiring in the closing legs, which is only to be expected. At 7.6 miles on the new run the watch powered itself off again. I kept cool, gave it a few seconds and turned the watch back on. This time I was able to recommence without having to create a third leg to this long run.

As I returned to Somerby the watch was showing around 12.5 miles on the second leg of the run. The maths wasn’t too great at this point of the run, but I reckoned I should do another lap of Somerby to ensure the run was over twenty miles and hopefully nearer 22. It ended at 13.3 (Half marathon completed in 1:28) which mean a total of 21.7 miles, both segments averaging 6:41. The pace was unarguably consistent

This also meant a new record mileage week of 86.5 miles, which came as something of a unplanned surprise. There were very few quick miles as I spent most of the week recovering from Stamford, but today’s run left me in no doubt that things are coming together very nicely – as long as I stay fit and healthy!

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Day 46 – 314 For 1

I was planning on making today a rest day – Friday has been my most frequent day off from running for some years now and with the final day of F1 testing in Jerez, the only chance I would have got to head out and run would be in the evening: a Friday night run is something I can count on the fingers on one hand I have done.

But the planned rest was planned before I realised yesterday I could break my mileage record for a calendar month. After yesterday’s effort I calculated I needed to run seven miles. As the day wore on I found myself less inclined to head out; the weather looked and sounded truly horrible – wet, windy, and, by all accounts, cold. I tried to talk myself out of it but in the end the lure of a PB of sorts proved too great and so it was, at 7:30pm, I left the comfort of my home to run seven long miles.

Once again this week I got lucky in that the icy cold rain had relented and all I was faced with was a stiff wind, which, although cold, was thankfully not the arctic blast I’d been hearing so much about on the TV weather forecast. the first couple of miles were a real trial – the legs were stiff, bits ached, and the mind was constantly asking why? why? as I struggled into the wind and up the first of two climbs.

Salvation came, not for the first time this week, from the Sansa Clip, who almost seemed to sense my mental frailty and chose  to play, once again, Kingdom of Rust by Doves. Despite my legs determination to not run easily, the song seemed to override the pins and before I knew it I was running 7:20 miles and getting quicker. It helped too that I’d literally turned a corner and the wind was a cross come tail wind that began to blow me ever quicker back towards home.

Heading up to Barrowby Gate, it was Strava’s turn to will me on as I knew there was a trophy to be had if I just upped the pace a touch along this hilly road. That tackled, the run was psychologically as good as done with just a mile and a half of downhill or flat running to tackle. Before I knew it I was home – seven and a half miles run, Best of all, I managed to make it indoors just as the heavens opened again.

I barely had time to shower before I was uploading my run to Fetcheveryone and Strava. Fetch was the most important, official confirmation of my mileage was up and there for all to see.

Official Confirmation314 miles – two more than March 2012 when I was training for the London Marathon that I was unable to run and then took part in the Shakespeare Marathon that wasn’t (That story is for another day, it took many months to come to terms with that one and it still winds me up just thinking about it…).

Hopefully this year my marathons go to plan. If they don’t well at least I have my Strava Gold Trophy for Barrowby Gate to treasure (although someone could easily beat that). January is done. All in all a very good month, as good as I could have hoped for, and well on track to, hopefully, Sub 2:45.