Recent training

Recent training has been going well and I've now started including more speedwork as it's only 10 weeks before the Commonwealth Championships.  The organising committee have set up a new website at http://www.cmudc2011.org/en/  Well worth a look.

A couple of long runs last Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning showed that I've recovered from the 100 miler.  The Monday run especially as that was my first long fartlek since 31 May.

Yesterday evening I took part, again, in the Otley AC organised Washburn Valley Relay for the club's B team.  Sadly I'm not quick enough any more for the A team although someone mentioned that for a club to have an international runner in their B team ...

I ran the first leg (of three) and covered the 3.02 undulating miles in about 20:30.  Pleased with that as it improves my course best by about 50 seconds.  An excellent event at which there appeared to be a record number of teams taking part - the large car park was overflowing.  Official results are not available yet but check the club's website in a few days and I'm sure they'll be there.  Thanks to Nick Hodgkinson, John Dade, Andrew Robertshaw and Julian Mawson for their work in organising this relay in, what regular readers will know, is my favourite local running location.

This morning, bright and early [well it was when I left home !!!] I ventured out for a session of hill reps up and down Newall Carr Bank on the northern outskirts of Otley.  After about 20 minutes it began raining and progressively got worse over then next hour or so.  I just smiled to myself as I remembered the ULTRArace.100 in the Cotswolds when it rained continually for 12 hours or so.

After that deluge I'm sure I'll never be put off by rain ever again.

first race of 2011

Yesterday 12 men from Otley AC travelled north to Catterick Garrison for the annual North of England 12 stage road relay.  As a team we usually finish about 30th with the top 25 qualifying for the National 12 stage road relay a fortnight later.  Although we did finish in the top 25 a few years ago but then couldn't get a team together for the National!!!

The format follows a similar pattern every year although the venue and courses change continually.  This year we had 6 stages of 8k alternating with 6 stages of 4k.  I was on down to run the 8th stage ... a short one.

Long before I started we had come to the conclusion that the course must be shorter that the advertised distance as the times were far too quick ... 13 men ran the 8k (5 miles) stages in 22:30 or quicker.

I found the course to my liking but there was a bit of a headwind during one long straight section - it was cold too.  I ran the 4k in 14:15 and later worked out that that equates to 5:44 per mile ... I know I didn't run that quickly so I immediately knew it had to be short.

Back at home I used the internet to measure the course and found it to be about 3.7k (2.3 miles) and thus my time equates to about 6:10 per mile.  Yes, that's more like it ... I'm quite pleased with that actually as most of the time I was running by myself.

Good speedwork - even for me.

The Otley AC team results were:

(1) ... Liam Dunne ... 8k in 26:03 ... finished in 31st position
(2) ... Ben Cousen ... 4k in 13:26 ... finished in 31st position
(3) ... Edward Davies ... 8k in 26:08 ... finished in 30th position
(4) ... Howard Jeffrey ... 4k in 16:44 ... finished in 35th position
(5) ... Ian Fisher ... 8k in 23:16 ... finished in 27th position
(6) ... John Armitstead ... 4k in 14:39 ... finished in 28th position
(7) ... Huw Illingworth ... 8k in 27:49 ... finished in 30th position
(8) ... me ... 4k in 14:15 ... finished in 30th position
(9) ... Andrew Robertshaw ... 8k in 25:18 ... finished in 30th position
(10) ... Mick Jeffrey ... 4k in 14:44 ... finished in 29th position
(11) ... Julian Mawson ... 8k in 26:29 ... finished in 28th position
(12) ... Matt Broughton ... 4k in 14:54 ... finished in 29th position

Overall it was a very enjoyable day out ... it's just a shame the club couldn't get a team in the women's 6 stage relay held at the same time.

Thanks to Mick Jeffrey for organising everything and to Jack & Kath Robertshaw for coming to support.

club night

Haven't run since Sunday and already my knee feels much better.  I feel able to take part in the weekend's handicap and then possibly return to training - at a reduced level initially of course.

Last night Otley AC held a social event after training at the local cricket club and in the quiz Andrew Robertshaw, Julian Mawson, Colin Best and myself won.  Our score was a measly 14.5 out of 30 but that's not the point - we won.  The prize was a bottle of beer each ... I don't like beer but I'm sure Fay or Keir will enjoy it.

Thanks to Dominic Egan for organising that and to Carol and John for the food too which was wonderful.

yesterday's relay

Yesterday afternoon was my first race since the Perth Ultra Fest four weeks ago.  It was the North of England 6 stage road relays held at Wythenshaw Park in Manchester.

Mick Jeffrey did a sterling job organising two Otley AC teams featuring a good number of newer members of the club.  I ran for the B team and covered my 5.6k stage in 20:55.  I'm very pleased with that as it represents about 18:40 for 5k ... not bad considering I've only done two speedwork sessions in the last month.

Also pleased because it was surprisingly muddy out on the roads.  And then I remembered ... I was in Manchester - it rains a lot there.

Good to see Julian there too after his health scare earlier this year.

recent running

Just a short post about the last three days running ...

WEDNESDAY:  long run ... 25+ miles in about 3h 30.  Basically ran from Otley to Silsden and back, quite boring but a good run with a few largish hills.

THURSDAY (am):  long run ... not quite 25 miles fartlek.  This took about 3h 15 and included the large hill from Kirkstall to Headingley and also the hill from Burley almost to Guiseley.  Also included 5.7 miles of the Leeds Liverpool Canal.

THURSDAY (pm):  a steady six miles with Colin, Jack and Matthew of Otley AC.  Good to see Julian running again after his recent health scare.

FRIDAY:  eight miles tempo.  The target was somewhere between 52:48 and 54:15.  I could only manage 55:36 but I suppose that wasn't too bad after the previous two days which also included the usual cycling and other exercises.

Rest day tomorrow then seven days of crash training beginning on Sunday.

Harrogate League

Last night's fourth Harrogate League race was a bit strange.  It was a 4.8 mile trail race hosted by Nidd Valley Road Runners at Harrogate Hockey Club.

It was perfectly normal until about 10 minutes before the start when all the runners were walked to the start area.  OK so far ... until we realised that the narrow path we had spent five minutes walking along was actually part of the course.  The first part.  This was made all the worse by the realisation that I was now at the wrong end of the massed runners.  I wasn't the only one who, for the first 400m or so, was faced with a wall of slower runners on a narrow path.

And then came the bollard at the end of this path followed by a few sharp twists and turns until we got onto the course proper which was basically a disused railway line which had been transformed into a very pleasant public footpath northwards to the River Nidd.

The final four and a quarter miles along these paths (quite narrow in places) saw me passing loads of other runners from all clubs.  Not a single soul passed me though and towards the end I even passed Simon Anderson who was obviously having a hard time of it.  He should be at least a minute quicker than me on this course.

Overall I was extremely pleased with my run which shows that I have now recovered from the Brive race (and the Bradford Millennium Way Relay last weekend).

It was good to see Julian Mawson there after his recent health scare and major operation.  He was still recovering and I'm sure most people there were made aware, for a short while at least, of our own mortality.  Julian isn't yet 40 years old so hopefully he'll make a speedy and strong recovery.

Results

Back home and happy ... but aching all over.

Ran 228.011 km (141 miles 1196 yards) in London finishing in third place. Well pleased with that as it is over the 225 km qualifying distance set by England Athletics for the Commonwealth Championships next year.

Full details can be found on the race website.

However ... the one thing that let me down was the too frequent visits to the gents. I feel I lost at least 3k by simply not being on the track. At this early stage I tend to feel this problem was caused by my sodium potassium ratio being wrong. The overall ratio in my food and drink was just under 7:1 but my guess is that it should be higher.

Anybody out there have any thoughts on this matter ?

One thing I was very pleased with is that whilst running the second half of the race (especially in the second half of each hour long segment) I was moving much quicker that the two guys in front of me. I passed them far more often than they passed me. I think they were walking quicker or for less time than me and didn't pee as much.

Two people ended up in hospital - including the winner (Chris Finill) - I hope they're both OK.

Thanks to everyone involved with the race: organisers, helpers, lap counters, runners, crew members, etc. It really was a good one.

Oh yes ... I didn't collapse !!! Kept moving for 10 to 20 minutes after the race then sat on the floor with my feet on a chair for a while. Didn't shower or take off my compression tights either. All this seemed to work brilliantly until I got on the tube at about 2.30pm - keeled over after about 10 minutes. Got a taxi to King's Cross instead.

Mustn't go underground after an ultra race in future :)

Thanks also to my crew, Fay and Keir and also to Julian for keeping the Otley AC website updated with my progress.

I'll update the other pages on this site in the next few days.

Very last minute stuff

Last night Bridget Barr and Sarah Tomlinson, of Otley AC gave a very interesting, but brief, talk/demonstration about the principles of ChiRunning. I certainly came away with one or two ideas that may help my racing.

And talking of racing ... hopefully there will be updates on my progress in London. These updates will appear on the Otley AC website thanks to Julian Mawson.

Just finished packing, I leave home in 40 minutes ... full of nervous energy - just managing to keep a lid on it though.

Thanks for the comment Pat, much appreciated.