Easy recovery run

Yesterday's race in the Harrogate League was a bit harder than I'd expected, so today I was feeling quite sore in the legs. A very slow easy recovery run was called for. I ran my regular two bridges run to Addingham & back. My pace was more than two minutes per km slower than yesterday's race (on a much easier route), but it was as much as I could sensibly manage.

The official results for the race show that I finished in 31:42 (8.1km very hilly) in 26th place out of 284 runners. We managed to finish in first place in both the vets & senior vets team races. I was happy enough to be first M55 (the first 3 were all from Ilkley Harriers), but surprised that I'm now also leading the series on the age graded handicap. I was intending to use these races as fast training runs, but I may have to take them a bit more seriously now.

Harrogate League race 1 - Ilkley

This evening was the first race in the 2010 Harrogate & Distraict Summer Race League, organised by Ilkley Harriers. The course was 8.1k including a 2k climb up Owler Park Road & a 2k descent down Carters Lane, with a bit of flat at the beginning & end. After several weeks of warm sunny weather, it was raining & the temperature dropped a few degrees.

I decided on a cautious start heading towards the climb. Once we started going up I felt OK & started overtaking people, usually I'm not quick on the hills. There were plenty of Ilkley runners around me, Ben S a few places in front, I managed to overtake Andy W & Steve C near the top of the hill. There were quite a few Otley runners around as well, including Josie H with whom I'd been warming up earlier. At about halfway I was told that I was in 29th place (not sure how many were running - probably about 250).

I managed to overtake a few people on the descent, but was overtaken by a few others, including Mark I in the last 100m who was absolutely flying - the track sessions had clearly helped his finishing sprint. My finishing time was 31:44, which wasn't too bad for 8.1 k with those hills. Checking my Garmin stats I ran one of the kms in 3:12 - which is almost certainly the fastest kilometre that I've ever run (although it was down a steep hill).

Not seen the official results yet, but I'm hopeful of having done well in my age category & we should have done quite well in the vets & super vets (over 55) team competitions. Quite a satisfying evening's race, but really it was a fast training run in preparation for the John Carr 5k series which starts on Wednesday.

Running without a watch

Normally I always wear my Garmin when I'm running, even if I'm not concerned about how far or how fast I'm going. Today, I was just about to set off on my run when I realised that all of the charge had gone from my watch, so I had the option of waiting half an hour or so for it to have sufficient charge or going without it. I chose to run without it.

I'd taken another day off from running yesterday & my plan for this week is to take it easy before racing on Thursday evening. I now have 4 races in 4 weeks, so I don't want to be worn out before I even start. So just going out for a slow steady run was what was required today. I ran my regular two bridges route, so I knew how far it would be & I really wasn't interested in the pace, so not having my watch wasn't a problem. Even so it felt a bit like setting off running naked.

Thursday's race is a fairly low key one in the local Harrogate & District Summer League, a hilly 4.9 miles course. I've been preparing more, however, for the John Carr 5k series which starts next week. I'm not intending to do any more speed sessions in the next few weeks apart from the races.

Three peaks race (spectating)

Up early this morning to run the Ilkley Harriers 'Hard run' interval session, before heading off the Ingleborough to watch the Three Peaks race. With it being the weekend of the London marathon as well as the Three Peaks, I wasn't expecting too many of us to be running this morning. As it turned out there were 6 of us, including Richard R & Jeff P to push the pace along.


As usual we ran efforts of 2X3 minutes, 2X4 minutes, 2X5 minutes & 3X6 minutes, with about 3 minutes of recoveries between the efforts. The course is out & back along the Nesfield Road to the A59, which is quite undulating, with a couple of significant hills up to Nesfield (which always are part of effort sections). Overall I averaged a bit less than 3:50 minutes per km during the efforts, which I was quite happy with considering that I was still feeling the effects of Wednesday's track session. In total I ran 16k, including regrouping & running from & to home.



Not much time to get showered, changed & something to eat, before driving up to Clapham. Arriving at Clapham at 10:45, I reckoned that I had about 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the top of Ingleborough before the first runner. It was therefore quite a brisk walk, especially after running an interval session. I managed to get to the top with about 10 minutes to spare.



The weather was perfect for the many spectators: warm, little wind, sunny, very dry. Not sure that the runners would be so enthusiastic about the temperature (the car showed 23 degrees when I got back to Clapham).






I've never watched the Three Peaks race before. I was surprised how slowly the leading runners were walking up the final climb to the summit of Ingleborough.....by this stage they had run about 30k, climbing Penyghent & Whernside along the way, so I guess that it's not really surprising that they looked worn out. There were some seriously quick runners, including Ilkley's Tom A & Dave W, who were looking well tired going up. The really impressive thing though, especially for the leading runners was the speed that they went down the steep rocky descent from the top. I have no idea how they can run so quickly downhill on boulders.

After about an hour of watching runners reach the summit, I headed off down the path towards Horton, which was the same route that the runners were taking, so I was mindful about keeping out of their way. There were some very weary runners making their way on the long descent to the finish....it must be about 10k into Horton. One runner in particular took a really bad fall just in front of me, he just lost concentration.


I turned off back to Clapham from Sulber Nick, making a walk of about 18k in total. Quite a lot of exercise & fresh air today covering more than 34k, so I'm going to have a couple of beers now.

Effects of Wednesday's session

Yesterday I didn't run, but this morning I could still feel quite a bit of stiffness in my legs following the fast track session on Wednesday...... I guess that I'm just not used to running at that kind of speed. Today I decided to run my regular two bridges route & just see how I felt when I got running.

Surprisingly I was running faster than I normally run this route when I'm just out for a steady run. I added on an extra loop around Addingham, to make the total distance just short of 14k, at an average of a bit less than 5 minutes per km. I was quite happy with that, even though my legs were still sore at the end of the run. Good job that I'm not racing until next Thursday.

It's a busy weekend for long races with the Three Peaks on Saturday & the London Marathon on Sunday. Good luck to everyone taking part in both. I'm thinking of maybe going to watch the race on Ingleborough tomorrow.

Fast track session

This evening's track session at Carnegie was very different to previous sessions. We did short fast reps with relatively long recoveries. The sessions was: 6X150m, 12X200m, 8X300m with walk/jog recoveries of similar time to the efforts.

I was running in a group with Mark I, David B & Nick P. We averaged 27 seconds per 150m, 37 seconds for the 200s & 56 seconds for the 300s, which is considerably faster than we would normally run in a track session. The idea, according to coach Pete was to get used to running at a much faster speed, out of our normal comfort zone and to sharpen us up for the forthcoming 5k races.

The average pace for the efforts was equivalent to running a 15 minute 5k, albeit with about 15 minutes of recoveries along the way.

I didn't write a blog about Monday or Tuesday's runs. On Monday I ran up on the moors past the Swastika Stone & Windgate Nick covering about 13k very slowly. Yesterday was a similar distance covering the course of next week's Harrogate League race in Ilkley with laps around the park at the start & finish.

Same again - only different

Today I ran the same distance as yesterday, about 18.5k at a very similar overall pace, but the two days of running were really very different. Yesterday was the 5k Parkrun in Bradford plus warm up, then a hilly warm down run having a good chat along the way. This afternoon I set off intending to run a steady two bridges run to Addingham & back, but once I got underway I decided on a change of plan.

Instead of turning left over the suspension bridge after Nesfield, I carried straight on to Bolton Bridge. Rather than running the same route on the way back, I reverted to plan A & went over the bridge to Addingham for the return via Low Mill to Ilkley. So I did complete the run that I was intending to do at the start, I just added on an extra 7k or so in the middle.

My pace today was 5:10 minutes per km which is fine for a longish steady run & probably a bit quicker than I would have expected after racing yesterday. Having said that, the race yesterday was more like a fast training run, as I hadn't really prepared for it, with some hard training runs over the previous two weeks.

Bradford Parkrun

Today was the first ever Parkrun at Lister Park in Bradford. Conditions were perfect: dry, pleasantly warm & sunny. The park which is better known to most of us from Bradford as Manningham Park was looking at its best: flower beds in bloom, well maintained paths & Cartwright Hall as impressive as ever. There were quite a lot of non runners around, but this wasn't a problem at all as the paths are 4 or 5 metres wide throughout the park.

I did a couple of laps of the course as a warm up (the race is 3 & a bit laps), then at the start saw plenty of familiar faces, including Andy W & his young daughter, Justin P, Josie H from Otley AC & Richard B from Bingley Harriers. There was a good attendance of maybe a hundred or so runners, which is good for a first event.

The pace was brisk as ever at the start of a 5k, after a few hundred metres I was in about 10th place with Justin not far ahead & Josie alongside. The problem with the course is the hill which comes after about 1k on the first lap, it starts of quite steep, then levels out a bit, but is continuously uphill for about 500m. This certainly makes the route much slower than it otherwise would be.

I worked my way past a few runners, including Justin, who is recovering from illness. The finish of the race is just after the 3rd time up the hill, with an extra incline added on for good measure.
I finished in 18:45 (unofficial timing, not seen the results yet) in 5th place. The time was nothing special, but considering it includes three climbs up the hill I was quite happy with my run.

After the race I joined Justin, Josie & Richard on a 9.5k warm down run, including plenty more hills & a good chat. There was a pleasant section through Northcliffe Park, which covered part of my old school cross country course. All in all it was a very enjoyable morning's running, covering about 18.5k in total including the race.

Just an easy run

Yesterday was a rest day, but I've still run more than 100km in the last 7 days, so today another easy run was called for. I ran a variation of the two bridges route, with an extra loop around Addingham, just over 13.5k. Pace was steady at about 5:10 minutes per km.

Tomorrow if I can persuade myself to get out of bed early, I'll go over to Bradford to do the new Parkrun course at Lister Park. I've not run around there for at least 40 years, so it should be interesting. The course looks to be better than the Leeds Hyde Park course, so it should be a bit quicker....we'll have to see. There is a short sharp hill up the side of Emm Lane, although I'm not sure whether we go up or down that.

Miles on the track

This evening's track session was 2X1600m (approx 1 mile) with 2 minute recoveries, 2X800m with 1 minute recoveries then 3X400m with 30 second recoveries, followed by optional 200m sprints.

I was running in a group with Mark I, Nick P & a guy from Otley. We ran the 1600m reps in 5:45, then the 800s in 2:49 & the 400s between 1:21 & 1:23. I was quite happy with this session as I felt very strong during the 1600s & whilst it seemed like hard work for the 800s & 400s, we were running at a faster pace. Following yesterday's 23k run & 10k walk, I was pleased to be able to run quickly this evening with no ill effects.

The average pace for the 6k of efforts was 3:32 minutes per km - comfortably quicker than my target of 18 minutes for 5k, so that's good news.

During the 400m reps, even though I'd speeded up from the longer reps, I was slowing compared to my running partners, so I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about finishing with some 200m sprints. I only did one of them, most of the rest of the group ran two. I managed to run 34 seconds which made me the slowest in the group (having been at the front for the mile reps). Coach Pete asked me to write in my blog that he was faster than me over 200m....well done Pete!

Out along the Dalesway

This morning I ran out along the Dalesway path. Even though it starts within 100m of where I live I don't often run along this path as it tends to be quite muddy, however, given that it's not rained for a few weeks I gave it a try today. The last time I ran this route it was thick snow..... no problems with the white stuff today, it was warm & sunny again.

I ran as far as the Cavendish Pavilion, before turning & heading back to Ilkley, covering just about 23km. It was quite a long run, especially a couple of days after the 20km run on Sunday, but I was only running at a steady pace. The route is almost all off road & fairly flat, so it made a pleasant change from running on tarmac.

This afternoon's activity involved a 3 hour dog walk along the canal towpath from Gargrave to East Marton & back. So I've certainly had sufficient exercise today. I'll pass on the Ilkley Harriers club run this evening.

Just an easy Monday run

The weather was perfect for running again today, so it was a pity that I was feeling quite tired after recent running and another long off road route was certainly out of the question. I opted to run the two bridges run, which is my regular shortish easy running route.

Pace was steady today: 5:15 minutes per km is about average for this route. It still surprises me that I can speed up by about a minute & a half per km when I'm racing or doing an efforts session, as it seems like hard work when I'm just out running at a steady pace.

This week should be a chance to get in some solid training, tomorrow I might do another longish off road run, then Wednesday is the Carnegie track session. On Saturday there is a new 5k Parkrun starting in Bradford, so I might go along to that & treat it as a fast training run.

Not quite as planned

When I set off for my run today the plan was to run around the course of the Ilkley trail race. I headed off by the river to the bottom of Middleton Woods, then up through the first section of the woods & across Curly Hill to join the actual route of the race.

On the track up to the moor I met Andrew & Alison B who were running in the opposite direction, they had just run around the trail race route. I reached concrete square, the conditions were perfect for running, warm, sunny dry underfoot & no wind. I then decided on the change of plan, Round Hill was looking very inviting in front of me, so I deviated from the trail race route at headed upwards. I'd never been up Round Hill from this direction, but I figured that there must be a path.

If there was a path, then I didn't find it! The ground became very boggy, alternating with big clumps of heather making running very difficult. I persevered and eventually reached the summit of Round Hill. From there I headed off along the ridge to Beamsley Beacon. The views were spectacular from up there, with the clear visibility: towards Simon's Seat & the Dales on the right hand side, Pendle Hill in front & Ilkley off to the left hand side. From Beamsley Beacon I descended to the road, then rejoined the trail race route from the log piles.

In total I ran almost 20k, most of it off road. I was running very slowly for most of the way, but I was quite happy with that given the number of fast sessions that I've done in the last week. It was a really pleasurable run & remarkable how few people were around, contrasting with the hoards of people who had descended on the park back in Ilkley.

Saturday morning hard run

I decided to have a day off from running yesterday. It would have been perfect conditions for a run, but I reckoned that I would benefit more from a rest day following two races & track session this week.

This morning I got up early to do the Ilkley Harriers 'Hard Run'. It's an interval session out & back along the Nesfield Road. Conditions were again really good: sunny, dry, no wind although the temperature was a bit low at 7:45 am. The last time I'd done this session, there was ice & snow on the roads.

We did 2X3 mins, 2X4 mins, 3X5 mins & 2X6 mins with regrouping & jog recoveries in between. I was running the efforts with Steve W who normally is faster than me, but he's training for the 3 peaks race at the moment, so I was a bit sharper than him today.

In total we did 41 minutes of efforts, covering about 10.7k, that is around 3:50 minutes per kilometre pace. I was quite pleased with that as the Nesfield Road is fairly hilly & generally I don't run fast early on a morning. In total I ran 15.7k.

No fast running today

After 2 races & a track session in the previous 4 days, today's run was definitely going to be a steady one. It would have been perfect conditions for a long run today, pleasantly mild, no wind, no rain, dry underfoot, but again a long run would have been a bad idea.

I opted to run the 'two bridges' run but I extended it by setting off to the road bridge out along the Leeds Road. This added about 3k to the normal route, making about 14.5k in total. I felt fine, but certainly could not have run quickly. There was a slight twinge from my achilles on the way back, although I don't think that it's anything serious.

Tomorrow should be another easy running day, it would be good to get off road somewhere, providing it's not too busy with the Easter holidays.

My next scheduled race is still 3 weeks away, so I'm not too concerned with being a bit fatigued at the moment. The plan is to have a couple of weeks of longer runs, before sharpening up for the John Carr 5k series in May.

2 races in 3 days then a track session

Not sure that it was wise to run a track session this evening after the 5 mile race on Sunday & yesterday's Bunny Run fell race. I enjoy the weekly track sessions & so I decided that I'd go along anyway & just do a steady run.

The session from coach Pete this evening was 4X300m, 3X500m, 2X700m, 2X900m, 1X1100m, with 100m jog recovery after each effort, plus an extra 90 seconds recovery before the 1100. We were quite thin on the ground this evening, with only Mark I from my regular running partners able to make it.

Mark set off on the 300m reps at a very brisk speed, equivalent to about 80 seconds 400m pace. I was running considerably slower than that closer to 92 seconds equivalent. As the session went on, Mark slowed a bit & I was able to comfortably maintain 91/92 seconds per 400m. By the time we got to the 1100m, I was able to run relatively much more strongly covering the 1st 1k in 3:37, less than 10 seconds slower than Mark.

The really encouraging thing is that I was able to maintain a constant pace throughout this quite long session, despite the fatigue in my legs. Even though the pace was 5 or 6 seconds per lap slower than I'd normally run on the track, it was still equivalent to less than 38 minutes for a 10k. At no time during the session did I feel to be running at more than 80% effort.

I now don't have any races planned for 3 weeks (we were unsuccessful in getting a team together for the National road relay). It will be good to get some solid training in without the distraction of races for the next couple of weeks.

Bunny Run

This evening I ran the Bunny Run on the moors above Haworth. Technically it's a fell race, but it's more like a cross country race really. It's only about 4.5k, there were more than 320 runners with plenty of youngsters.

The start was like a cavalry charge with everyone seemingly going off at a manic pace. I found myself well down the field after the first 400m or so, with the kids in particular setting off really quickly. Then it was a question of trying to work my way past as many runners as possible for the rest of the race. The conditions were quite good, not too wet underfoot, no rain & reasonable temperature.

Ilkley Harriers were well represented in the race, I guess that there must have been 35 or 40 of us. Tom A finished second. I finished just behind Steve W. My time was unofficially 20:27, which is about 35 seconds faster than I did over this course last year, so I should be quite happy with that.

The results of Sunday's Halton 5 have now been published. I was 21st out of 696 finishers in 30:24. The winners time was more than 2 minutes slower than the previous year, which shows the effect of the strong headwind. Looking at the Power of Ten UK rankings, this result should put me in 6th place this year in the M55 category. I was 2nd M55 in the race, the guy who beat me is the fastest M55 in the UK at 5 miles.

P.S. According to the official results, I was 73rd in the Bunny Run out of 308 finishers in 20:27. Last year I was 93rd, out of 286 in 21:03.

(Bunny Run photos by Paul Wood)

Running in reverse

It's strange that we get used to running regular routes in a certain direction. Today I decided to run my regular Two Bridges run the opposite way to the way I normally go. Even though I run this route at least once a week, it's only the second time that I've run it in a clockwise direction.

My pace was suitably slow after yesterday's race. No ill effects, just a bit of general sluggishness. Conditions were OK today, no rain, not too cold, not much wind. There were quite a lot of other runners out, I guess because it's Easter.

Reflecting on yesterday's race, I still haven't seen the official results, I was quite happy with the run. I'm sure that I would have been well under 30 minutes for the 5 miles if it hadn't been for the strong headwind for the whole race. Indeed, my Garmin showed me running 29:50 for 5 miles, but the actual race finish was about 150 metres beyond this.

Tomorrow I'm intending to do the Bunny Run at Haworth. It's supposed to be a fell race, but it's actually more like a 5k cross country race, so it should be fast & furious. I won't be taking it too seriously, so not too bothered about timings or placings.

Halton 5 miles

It was actually a very enjoyable race this morning, although I'm not quite sure why. The course is just about flat and fairly straight & potentially very quick. The problem is that it's a 'point to point' course & today that meant that we had quite a strong head wind for the whole race. Normally you get some respite from the wind, but not today.

I travelled to the race with Richard R, neither of us had run a 5 mile race before, so we were both guaranteed PBs. There were about 800 people running, of which the majority weren't club runners, the clubs that were represented were mainly local ones from the Merseyside area, so there were no familiar faces at the start line.

The race starts going over the Runcorn Bridge, which apparently is the same design as the Sydney Harbour Bridge (although I'm sure that it would have been a lot warmer running in Sydney today). Richard set of at a blistering pace, being close to the lead at the end of the bridge and within half a mile was at least 20 seconds ahead of me. It wasn't that I set off slowly, going through the first mile in about 5:37.

My intention had been to try to run under 30 minutes, my mile splits gave me some confidence of being able to achieve this: 5:37, 5:47, 6:02, 6:02 for the first 4. Throughout the race I stayed about 20 seconds behind Richard. By the last mile the headwind was taking it's toll & I was slowing, the problem was that my Garmin beeped for 5 miles (in about 29:50) still about 150 metres from the finish. So my actual finish time was about 30:22 (not seen the official results yet). Richard reckoned that he was about 30:04.

In some ways it was disappointing to not run faster than 30 minutes, but I probably finished in the first 30 or so runners out of about 800 which wasn't too bad. If the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction, I'm sure that times would have been well over a minute faster.....maybe another time?

It's a well organised race, well marshalled on closed roads & with a goody bag, t-shirt, free coffee, water & hot cross buns at the finish & free coach ride back to the car park at the start. Not bad for £7 entry fee (why do some races charge 3 or 4 times that amount?).

A bit like Malaysia

Before going for my run this morning I watched the qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The weather looked very much like it was in Ilkley; bursts of heavy rain followed by short dry spells.

I ran the two bridges route, out around the park, then along the Nesfield Road to the suspension bridge & over to Addingham, then back through Low Mill & along by the A65. I got very wet for the first half of the run, then it dried up for the second half, before heavy rain again just as I got home.

My pace was very steady as I'm racing at the Halton 5 tomorrow. I felt very sluggish, but hopefully everything will be fine in the morning. It's a very early start tomorrow, as it's about an hour & a half drive to Widnes & we need to be there before 8:30 as Richard R hasn't got his number yet. No partying tonight then.

1st quarter review

We've now finished the first 3 months of 2010 & I thought that it would be worthwhile to check on my running progress, compared to the first 3 months of 2009. The main difference is that in 2009 my training was affected by a series of injuries which had started in 2008, affecting both lower legs (calf, achilles, ankle), in contrast in 2010, I've only had minor disruption from injury.

This year I've raced 9 times, compared to 8 races in 2009. The only road race that I did in both years was the Dewsbury 10k where I improved from 39:57 in 2009 to 37:04. This year I've been 1st M55 at Dewsbury 10k, Brass Monkey Half Marathon & Wakefield 10k, whereas last year at the Dewsbury 10k I was 9th M50 & was also beaten by 7 M55s. In the Peco cross country series, last year I was 4th M50, this year I was 1st M50.

This year I'm currently ranked 5th in the UK at 10k for M55 & 11th at half marathon, last year I didn't get a qualifying ranking time until December when I was 163rd at 10k for M50. For a few weeks I was ranked 1st at 10k for M55.

Up to the end of March in 2009, I ran a total of 600.3 km, averaging 46.7 km per week. This year I've run 1022.7 km averaging 79.8 km per week. The main difference in my training is the addition of weekly track sessions, which have helped to improve my running speed. Last year as a result of the injuries I did more cross training: bike riding, gym, walking etc.

Overall, I've made good progress in comparison to the start of 2009. On a week by week basis, progress isn't always obvious, but over 12 months it becomes clearer. The challenge now is to continue to improve. This will inevitably become harder as realistically I should be getting slower with age.

Today I went for an easy recovery run in the Strid Wood, about 14.5k. It was bright & sunny, but a bit breezy. Given that it's almost Easter there were ice cream vans out around the place, but they didn't seem to be getting much business as it was less than 5 degrees & near to zero with the wind chill.