Wasp before Winchester

Tomorrow I am planning on heading up to Winchester after work to run in the Winchester 5k race. Now my training hasn’t really been geared towards such a short distance, but I’m keen to run it because: a) I haven’t run a 5k since February last year and it would be good to try and beat my time; b) It will act as a good short fast tempo session; c) Races are fun.

So with tomorrow night in mind, this evening I went for a 35 minute run just to keep my legs feeling fresh. About 5 minutes into the run I felt a sharp pain at the bottom of my neck (below my throat, between my clavicular bones) was aware of something trying to get down my t-shirt, and a searing pain spreading up through my neck. I stopped and pulled my t-shirt off and flapped it around for a bit, probably looking like a nutter, making sure that the wasp (as I’m pretty certain that’s what it must have been) was gone. I stopped for a few minutes and considered the quite considerable pain in my neck and carried on to finish my run.

That might seem a bit daft, but there was a reason behind it. I can’t remember the last time I was stung by a wasp, but I can remember that I didn’t have any adverse reactions (just that it bloody hurt). I had only gotten 5 minutes into my run and didn’t want to cut it short. Also, my runs are training runs for races (even though I’m no elite). My philosophy is that if you train in all conditions then you can race in all conditions. If I can train after being stung by a wasp in the neck, then I can race after being stung by a wasp in the neck. I know it might seem like mindless bravado, but running is often about overcoming the doubts in your mind telling you to slow down or stop when it hurts or gets uncomfortable, but the more you can train your mind to overcome those moments, the more you’ll enjoy running.

That is why I carried on.

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Le Tour tribute challenge

The Tour de France started yesterday and to mark that I have decided to set myself the challenge of doing some act of physical activity on each of the days that there is a stage. This will mean that for 21 of the next 23 days I will bike, run or do something else. I admit that this might not sound like the most difficult of challenges – certainly compared to racing 3,500 km around France – but rather it is a clever way of motivating myself to boost my base level of fitness over the next three weeks in preparation for the Isle of Wight Half Marathon in August.
Yesterday’s stage in the real Tour was a 15.5 km time trial in Monaco won convincingly by Fabian Cancellara with Bradley Wiggins finishing in third and the leaders posting times of less than twenty minutes. I decided to start my tour challenge with a 15.5 km time trial aswell, but on foot. It took me 73 minutes, which is very close to the fastest time I’ve managed over that distance. Indeed, it may even be the fastest, but I haven’t had a chance to check yet.
So not a bad start. Now I just need to decide what to do for today.
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Needles and Gooch

Right then.  What have I been up to?

I got over my cold (which was probably a sinus infection, but I’m too stubborn to go and see a doctor) and ran the Needles XC Half Marathon on 31 May.  It was the second time that I had run the race, and because I had done it before I knew that it is not a race that you go out super-hard in.  It is too hilly, there are too many stiles near the start, and it was too hot.  However, what really makes the race difficult to run fast is the view.  Running from the beach, up to the top of the downs, overlooking the Needles, and up past the battery to the Tennyson monument rewards you with some of the most spectacular views you are ever likely to find in a running race.  As such, the best tactic is just to enjoy the event.  Because of this (and my illness-interrupted build up), I’m not too fussed that I actually finished a minute or so slower than last year, because I had a great time doing it.  If it wasn’t for the fact that it is likely to clash with mine and Heather’s wedding I would definitely try and do it next year.

After the Needles I took a little break to recover and turned my attention to the London to Brighton bike ride on 21 June.  With three weeks to prepare I did a few long bike rides, eventually building up to 60 km in just over two hours – a fantastic ride that took me through the New Forest at dawn to end up sat on Lepe Beach, looking at the Isle of Wight wake just before seven a.m.  I put skinny tyres on my bike and attached two bottle cages, bought some padded boxers and gloves and was all set up for the 50-ish mile ride to Brighton.  The original team went through some changes with drop-outs and new members, but in the end four riders rode out from Ashtead in Surrey to try and join up with the BHF organised ride to the coast.  Quickly adopting the name Team Gooch, Lez, Luke (Lez’s cousin), Dan (Lez’s other cousin’s boyfriend) and myself taped bananas to our bikes and headed out.

It soon became apparent that there were four different levels of fitness on display, but that was no obstacle to the team spirit of Team Gooch.  If we got strung out we would wait and regroup.  At the bottom of Ditchling Beacon (the tough climb just before Brighton) we stopped, rested and ate, before rejoining the masses attacking the hill.  In some respects the miles we had already done were a long warm-up, as it was the Beacon that really decided the pecking order.  I adopted a little gear and proceeded to spin my way up the hill.  I’d say about 80% of the riders climbing the hill at that point were doing it on foot, but I stayed on my bike and was pleased that I kept pace with others that were cycling, even overtaking a few.  A little sooner that I had expected I was at the top.  Coming out of the trees and cresting the woods to find a road narrowed by hundreds of cyclists in the road and standing by the sides was quite an experience.  I could imagine that I’d just climbed the Ventoux.  I found a patch of grass to perch on and waited for my Team Gooch team-mates.  Luke was next having cycled the whole way up.  Not bad for a 13 year old.  Lez followed, having got off his bike, and was followed by Dan.  A bit of a rest, then the fun bit:  the descent into Brighton.  Coming down the hill Team Gooch approached speeds of approximately 70 kph, which I’m fairly certain is the fastest any of us have ever been on a bike, and then we rode on the flat, through the city, to the finish at the beach, where we cycled across the line more-or-less together,  Team Gooch, triumphant.  It didn’t matter who was the fittest, fastest, or who had ridden up Ditchling Beacon, as we had all set out together, and we had all finished together.  Along with about 30,000 others.

So now, after a couple of days off, I am back to running, and looking forward to the next challenge.  My next main target is the Isle of Wight Half Marathon in the middle of August, and after that I have decided that I am going to run in the Isle of Wight Fell Series in September.  I will try and do a couple of other races before these two, and then it will be into 24 weeks of marathon training before next March.  I would also like to try and cycle around the Isle of Wight before the summer is out.

I’m pleased to say that I am currently feeling really fit (though I could do with a fast road race to confirm this), which unfortunately means that I keep thinking about future challenges (for late 2010, 2011) which are probably, at this stage at least, a little beyond my capabilities.  I’m not going to write about what I’m thinking of, because then I’ll feel pressured to deliver, but I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Team Gooch (though most likely with a slightly different roster).

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Epistaxis

I’m running again.  I’ve now completed my first full week of training since being ill, having managed half a week before that.

The cold that I had developed into one of the worst colds that I can remember having.  It then decided to behave like sinusitis (I didn’t go to the doctor as I’m a stubborn bugger and didn’t want to just be given antibiotics, so I don’t know that it was sinusitis, but it certainly appeared to be sinusitis), which made the frontal area of my head feel like it was exploding.  And then it did.  For six consecutive days I had at least one, though usually two or three, nosebleeds.  Sometimes just little dribblers, but with a few full-blown streamers.  The nosebleeds meant that I couldn’t sort the cold out as I couldn’t pick, blow, or sniff my nose as it would aggravate the blood vessels.  Eventually, the problem sorted itself out, but by that point I had lost the best part of two weeks training.

I’ve been working hard to catch up, but come the weekend of the Needles XC Half I won’t be as prepared as I would like.  Fortunately, the build up to Reading means that I was fitter than at the start of my training for the Needles last year.  Besides, I wasn’t going to run the race flat out anyway (as you can’t), so I can enjoy the scenery.

In other news, Heather and I got engaged last Sunday.  Whoop!

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Germs: Snot funny

The base building plan went really well for the last two weeks, but has ground to a bit of a halt as I have a stinking cold of the stiff muscle, achey head, rasping cough, inflamed sinus, runny mucus, watery eye, complete lethargy variety.

The first week was about getting into the routine, which I carried on into last week.  I actually ran each day from Sunday to Saturday – the first time I had managed this – for a total of a little over thirty miles.

The intention was that I would repeat this for this week and the next before adding in more distance and speedwork to build up to the Needles XC Half.  But, at the moment all I am doing is sitting on the sofa feeling shit.  Which is what I did yesterday as well.  I should be back at work tomorrow, but I think it might still be a couple of days before I run again as I can barely breathe say down, let alone moving.

On another note, it was the London Marathon on Sunday.  The mens’ race was a bit of an odd one with Wanjiru’s victory perhaps a given, even if the pacing was a little unpredictable.  The womens’ race was good to watch from a British perspective as Mara Yamauchi (who has for a while been consistently good, but not quite world class) really broke through into the top tier of female marathoners.  Irina Mikitenko (who is the best in the world right now) won, but she was given a run for her money by Yamauchi who was the only person in a field that included all three Olympic medallists that could hang on to her right up until the closing stages to post the second fastest time this year.

It now seems that if Radcliffe is fit in August that Great Britain will have two genuine medal contenders.  It is just a little unfortunate that the same can’t currently be said about the British men (though there should be at least one British man at the world championships as the first British finisher, and therefore new British champion, Andi Jones did make the qualifying standard).

As for Lynne, she ran an impressive 4:25′, which is fantastic.

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Needles training plan

Following Reading last month I needed to find a new event to aim for.  Obviously my long term goal is Barcelona next March, which is aaaages away.  That said, the physical activities that I do this year are all with next March in mind.

I have already begun planning my training for the marathon in order that I know how fit I will have to be before I begin.  I have decided on adapting a Jack Daniels plan from Daniels’ Running Formula.  Daniels suggests that given my current race times, a marathon scraping under 3:30′ could be possible.  So, I have decided that is my goal and I want to be bloody sure of achieving it.  My Berlin build up didn’t consist of enough miles, so I didn’t have the endurance to hit my time goal of sub-4.  With that in mind I have worked out that the maximum number of miles I could hope to run in a week (from a time point of view) is about fifty, running six days a week.  So this is what I am currently expecting to aim for.  There are those who could manage 3:30′ on less mileage than this, but as I said, I want to be bloody sure of achieving it.  If the result of running what some might consider an excessive ‘mileage to time goal ratio’, I run faster than intended, then so be it.  This plan will start with a six week base building phase of steady, easy miles towards the end of September.  The problem is, even at the start of this base-building phase, I will need to be running far in excess of my current mileage.

For the whole of 2008 I ran an average of sixteen miles a week, with a maximum of 33 miles in one week.  For the 24 weeks of my marathon training plan I am currently expecting that I will be running an average of about forty miles a week with a handful of fifties.   Fortunately, I have lots of time in which to build up to this level, as a gradual increase in mileage and number of days running per week is key to avoid over-training injuries.  It is all well and good elite marathoners running in excess of 150 miles a week, but I am nowhere near that fast and running most certainly does not pay my bills.

Thus, we get back to the point that was hinted upon at the top of this post.  I need races to train for, but that training also needs to be building up to the marathon training plan.  So far in 2009 I have averaged twenty miles a week, with a maximum of fortysix miles (which is really thirty as that week had a long run on Sunday and another the following Saturday, which is really a new week in my eyes).  With Reading done in a time I am very happy with, my sights are now set on the Needles XC Half Marathon on 31 May.  I did this race last year and it was brilliant.  It is very tough as it is all hills and there are no mile markers to aid pacing, but the scenery makes it all worth the effort.  Thus, I am going to run it not with a the goal of gunning for a half marathon PB, but with the vague aim of possibly beating my time from last year (twenty-five minutes adrift of my PB).  If I don’t manage this I’m not too fussed.  I will be doing the race to enjoy the view and the atmosphere of what is a brilliant event.

I will also be doing the race to see if I can manage a sustained period of running at a greater weekly mileage than I have done so far.  There are six and a bit weeks to go until the race, which gives me enough time to prepare for the race and the increased time spent running.  So, my plan is as follows:  This week get back used to running regularly.  For the next three weeks run at least five days a week, in the morning, at an easy pace for about fortyfive minutes with a long run of an hour and a half (about twenty five to thirty miles per week).  After that the long runs will increase for a couple of weeks, with the addition of faster midweek sessions, building up to a maximum week of forty miles and then a swift taper in the last week.  With any luck I will find this amount of running OK and I will be able to carry on with a similar, or slightly reduced level after the Needles, before looking towards my next key race.  If it works out too hard at the moment, then I still have enough time to get used to it before September.

I have done three days in a row so far this week and will run tomorrow morning, to prepare for the start of the plan next week, and so far it all seems good.  The ankle pain that I had been feeling has pretty much died down (possibly because I’m running in a fresh, new pair of Asics Gel 3000s, rather than my two old pairs that had 400 and 500 miles on them) and I’m strangely enjoying getting up early every morning (rather than just a couple of mornings a week).  At the risk of sounding cheesy, I feel like I am reaping the benefits of fresh air and exercise by living deliberately – that is, choosing to get up early and run in the rain before breakfast.

I shall keep this site updated with my progress.

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Rethinking this weekend

I had thought that I might run the Newport to Ryde race on the Isle of Wight this Saturday, but now I am thinking that I might give it a miss.

It’s Easter weekend, so squeezing in a race that begins in the afternoon and finishes in a different town to the one it begins in is likely to be logistically tricky.

Not only that, but it will have only been 13 days since Reading.  I had been building up to Reading for a good few months and had thought of it as an “A” race.  As such, I made sure I peaked for it and ran as fast as I could in the race.  My three runs since resuming my running have told me that I am still feeling the effects of the half marathon.  I think it will be a few weeks until I get fully into my stride again.  That said, there is a 5k in Southampton a week on Sunday that has caught my eye.  If I feel OK by the end of next week I might give it a blast.  But, there’s no rush, and I would much rather build up my fitness gradually, rather than risk an injury.

In the meantime, the main focus for my running at the moment is to re-establish a base.  I think I’m going to run the rest of April with no pressure on myself, maintaining at least four runs a week for a total of at least twenty miles.  Once that is done, I can start thinking about a late summer, or autumn race that I can designate as my next “A” race.  That race would be my last main focus before I switch to twenty-four weeks of dedicated marathon training.  At the moment I think that will be the Isle of Wight Half Marathon at the end of August.  That would leave me with about a month before phase I of marathon training begins.

As well as running, I’m still keen on the idea of cycling from London to Brighton, and there is a rather crazy plan being formulated to complete a six man swim relay swim around the Isle of Wight in September…

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The weekend marathoning hit a new level?

I’m going to unashamedly agree with the consensus on other sites such as LetsRun.com, that last weekend might well prove to be the weekend that marathon running hit a new level.

Sure, it was back in September that Haile Gebrselassie made history by running under 2:04′, but there was no great charge of runners immediately after that hitting that sort of time.  That is, until last weekend.

It is understandable that this delay should have occurred.  Haile’s performance was effectively a time trial, rather than an out and out race (despite the best efforts of James Kwambai), which gives you an edge when setting even paced record attempts.  It also happened at the tail end of the season, as other marathoners might be winding down their season before putting in the base miles to prepare for the spring marathon season.  Thus, though Haile’s world record broke a massive psychological barrier, it was always going to be some months before the effects would be witnessed.

As said above, those effects were witnessed last weekend.  Whereas 2:06′, or 2:05′ would once have been very hard to achieve and would have all but ensured victory, the mental barrier has been lowered and the top marathoners, especially the Kenyans, are now aiming for 2:04′ (or better).  And not just Sammy Wanjiru, the Beijing Olympic champion, who has stated that he feels sub-two hours within five years is a possibility.  Relatively unknown runners are pulling out some hitherto unexpectedly fast times.

Sunday’s Rotterdam Marathon, was won by Duncan Kibet in the 2:04′27″, the third fastest time ever.  In second place was the man who pushed Haile, James Kwambai, also in 2:04′27″.  Only Haile has run faster.  Twice.  Third and fourth were Abel Kirui and Patrick Makau in 2:05′04″ (PB) and 2:06′14″ (debut).  Four other runners ran under 2:10′.  Seven of the top eight got PBs, and only one wasn’t Kenyan (he was Ethiopian).  The first European was Spain’s Ignacio Carcares who PB’d in 2:12′40″ and finished eleventh.  Though the weather was perfect and Rotterdam is a fast course, this was not considered to be a particularly high quality field.  It is an IAAF Silver Label race, not a Major, like Boston, or London which occur later this month.

At roughly the same time, in Paris, Vincent Kipruto broke the course record there to win in 2:05′47″.  Five others finished under 2:07′ (equalling a record set in London), with eleven running under 2:09′ (a new record).  For seven of the top ten, their times were PBs.  The Marathon de Paris is an IAAF Gold Label race, but could still be considered a ‘B’ marathon, yet it witnessed what could arguably be considered the fastest marathon ever (in terms of top ten finishing times).

Before last weekend, 2009’s top two times were Haile’s 2:05′29″ from Dubai, and Benjamin Kolum Kiptoo’s 2:07′17″ from Roma.  They now occupy positions four and twelve.  Of the eleven runners to finish in 2:06’something this year, ten happened last weekend.

And the season is only just beginning.  Boston and London are this month, and both are boasting quality line-ups.  Don’t expect any records from Boston, as the course is tough, but London is fast and has the faster line-up.  In August, the world championships are taking place in Berlin, which was where the world record was set, and in September it is the Berlin Marathon itself, which has seen the world record broken in two consecutive years.  Who can do it?  Before last weekend, it would have seemed that Wanjiru was the man to beat, certainly he has talked himself up, but if last weekend has shown anything, it is that a whole new set of marathoners (particularly Kenyans) are believing that they can run a lot faster than they could before, and are doing it.

I’m going to stick my neck out a little and predict that Haile’s world record will be beaten this year.  Possibly not by much, but it will fall.  Sub-2:03′ is some way off, let alone sub-2:00′, but 2:03′30″ is a possibility.  But I don’t know who will manage it.

All we need now is for the British marathoners to believe that they can run faster.  It would be absolutely fantastic if a Brit could run under 2:10′ this year.  If they want to finish in the top twenty of any top marathon they’re going to need to.  I, needless to say, won’t be the runner to do that.

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Reading Half Marathon, 29.03.09

A little over a week ago I ran in the Reading Half Marathon, and had a very good time.  Well worth the early start!

Due to traffic in Reading, Heather and I worked out that we would need to be in Reading at about 0800, to ensure enough time to park in the city centre and get the free shuttle bus down to the Madejski Stadium before the buses stopped at 0845.  As such, we would need to leave well before 0700.  This meant getting up at 0600.  Because the clocks changed that night, it felt like getting up at 0500.  In the event, Heather made the most of a clear, early Sunday morning M3 and got up to Basingstoke in 25 mins, which meant we could get into the centre of Reading just after 0800, and have time to have a break on the M4.

Once we got to the stadium we met up with Alan and Brett (running), and Donna and Sarah (WAGs).  There then followed the usual hanging around, changing of clothes, drinking of fluids, and evacuation of fluids before we headed to the start area.  Alan and White had entered into the red start area (under 1:40′), whereas I headed slightly behind them into the blue start pen (1:40′ – 2:00′).  At about 1008 I crossed the start line and was on my way.

I fairly quickly dropped into a nice feeling rhythm, despite having to battle through the usual crowds just after the start, and was pleased to see that I passed the first mile mark pretty much bang on my target pace of 7′30 per mile.  As boring as it seems to write, the first few miles went by without much drama.  The pace felt good, the sun was out, the weather warm, but not too much and the race had a really good atmosphere.

At about 8 miles I took on a Zipvit gel (I had decided to go with the untried products and was pleased to discover that they were spot on) and had about a mile of very minor stomach cramp as that was digested, but nothing major.  From about 9 miles (the point where I had told myself I would review the pace) I started to think that maybe I should back off the pace a bit as it was beginning to get tougher.  This might have happened, except another part of my mind reminded me of the passage in Daniels’ Running Formula that says to speed up when it gets tough, just in case you surprise yourself.  In the end, I stuck to my 7′30″s.  I’m glad of this as the last couple of miles got tougher, as much mentally as physically as they consisted of long straight sections, including one 180 degree turn so you know exactly how far you have to go.  At about 11 miles I overtook Brett who had started ahead of me.  I also noticed that there were very few ‘blue’ runners around me and I was mostly running with ‘red’ runners who had got off one or two minutes ahead of me.

With about half a mile ago I decided to go for it and pushed the pace on to the finish.  The race has a spectacular finish as all the runners run into the stadium (a fully enclosed bowl) where they are met with the cheering of all the friends, families and other spectators that are sat in the stadium (maybe 10,000 people).  The track laid over the football pitch is a bit slippery and I nearly went over, but maintained my sprint to the line.  I was patted on the back by a runner who said that he had been using me as a pacer for the last few miles, but couldn’t overtake me at the finish, and mumbled something back to him, but my mind wasn’t really working at this point.

I finished in 1:37′49.  I was aiming for 1:39′, but wasn’t really sure what I could manage.  The race felt like a bit of a breakthrough for me.  Even though I am in no danger of troubling the frontrunners, I had come to the race with a plan and executed it exactly.  My pacing was even and when I sprinted at the finish I was really pushing hard.  I have sprinted to the finish of every race I have run, but it has been because I paced myself too slowly and had a lot more to give (except maybe Berlin).  Not in Reading.  I finished Reading knowing I couldn’t have run much faster at all (though with more training, I can, of course, improve on that time).  I improved my half marathon PB by over 25 minutes and broke my 10 mile PB en route.  Alan just went out with no plan or pacing strategy whatsoever and ran 1:28′ (the bugger) and Brett finished about 5 minutes behind me.  Charlie (from Heather’s work) ran his first half marathon (and I think running race of any kind) in under 1:50′ and Lynne (and Jo) finished in the low 1:50’s.  With the exception of Brett’s bleeding toe, everyone had a great race.

I had a week off work, and a week off running last week, and am going to get straight back into things this week, with the aim of running the Newport to Ryde seven miler on the Isle of Wight on Saturday.

After all, I need to keep the effort up, as my Reading time suggests that I should be capable (with the right training) of running sub-3:30′ in Barcelona next year.

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The internet, and a Japanese man with a wig

The internet is a marvellous thing when it comes to wasting time. Recently I have become very adept at finding interesting websites related to running. I thought I would share a few so have updated the links category on the right hand side (I have also managed to get a Flickr gallery link in at the top). Sites definitely worth looking at to keep abreast of what’s happening are Mud, Sweat & Tears, and Lets Run.

It was Lets Run that first brought the very excellent Japan Running News to my attention. The site is written by a translator and runner by the name of Brett Larner. What is particularly good about this site is that it provides great insight into Japanese running culture. The Japanese, it seems, absolutely love distance running and have a brilliant attitude towards it. This is something that is perfectly demonstrated by the following.

Last week saw the Tokyo Marathon held. It is raced by some of the world’s best elite runners, of which many are Japanese, as well as thousands of recreational runners. Hundreds of thousands of people apply and those that run are selected by a lottery. In addition to the usual human interest stories that arise from such big events, one man in particular caught the attention of the media and all who watched the race, by running in a comedy, curly-haired wig. Not so strange you might think – plenty of people run marathons in fancy dress – but this guy was fast and was running with the elites.

His name is Nobuaki Takata. He is an amateur, but has a PB of 2:19′31″ and finished the Tokyo Marathon in 2:25′38″, next to the women’s winner.  If he was British he would have been in the top ten of male marathoners last year.  So all the statistics suggest he must be a pretty serious runner.

Yet, he ran in a wig.

The thought process is explained in the following JRN translation of Takata’s blog entries before the race:

My legs are really heavy today, so I guess I’m working harder than I thought. On days like this I get out my leg massage machine and pretty soon my legs are feeling right. I have another problem, though. I can’t concentrate at work because I can’t stop thinking about the Tokyo Marathon…..

Should I run wearing the wig?

The Tokyo Marathon is supposed to be a big festival so the wig would fit right in, but I’m not going to do it. I’m entered in the elite division and the race organizers probably wouldn’t be happy about it since they picked me. If I was running in the general division I’d definitely do it with the wig. But wait, what’s that?

Wig: ”Please take me!! Wear me in Tokyo!!”
Me: ”Sorry. Not this time.”
Wig: ”It’s been SIX YEARS since you wore me for the Kyoto Half!! Come on!!”
Me: ”Maybe in the Hokkaido Marathon.”
Wig: ”No, wait, don’t put me back in the closet!! Nooooo…….”

…

It’s 5 minutes before the start and we’re lining up. I’ve got the wig in my hands.

2 minutes to go. They’ve let the general division people move up behind us, so it’s time to put the wig on!! I’ve never really been nervous doing this before, but I’m sweating now.

Start – a rocket dash.

Wig status:
Fit – OK
Wind resistance – No problem
Positioning – Perfect

Let’s go!!

The rest of the post can be found here.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Takata-san’s run inspires all sorts of wig-running related high jinks.  I would also like to know if 2:25′ is a record for a marathon run wearing a wig?

Finally, I have changed the title image of this blog.  It now shows Brendan Foster leading Lasse Viren.  Runners looked so much cooler back then…

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