Parkrun 5k - Hyde Park, Leeds

Not the fastest 5k I've ever done. I finished in 6th place in 18:54, 20 seconds slower than I ran on the same course a couple of weeks ago. Conditions weren't great: cold (zero degrees), wet & very muddy in places, a bit of ice on some of the corners & a few snow flurries. Also I was still feeling a bit tired from the hilly run yesterday afternoon.

I did a longish warm up & a similar length warm down, so in total I ran 13.2 k, with the race in the middle. In reality, it was probably more like a tempo run than a race. So overall not too dissatisfied with the morning's effort.

I think that Parkruns are a great concept. There has been some criticism of them from some club runners, but personally I think that it's great to encourage people to run a 5k time trial. Technically they're not called races, although I'm not really sure what the difference is. The good thing about Parkruns is that you get runners of all ages & abilities, from elite international athletes to people who have never run before. This morning there were 2 young girls aged about 10 running with their mum & they seemed to be having a great time, getting lots of encouragement from everyone there. It's also free to take part.

ski & run

This morning I went to Xscape at Castleford to do a couple of hours of indoor downhill skiing. It's not really cross training, but it was good fun.

This afternoon's run was a hilly 13.5k around Ilkley. After a few days of feeling quite sluggish, I was running fine, although not pushing it too much up the hills. It was quite wet after 24 hours of continuous rain, but it doesn't make too much difference running on the roads, apart from the odd puddle.

I'm undecided for tomorrow whether to do the Parkrun 5k in Leeds, the Ilkley Harriers 'Hard run' interval training, or something else. Running a hilly 13.5k this afternoon wasn't the best preparation for a 5k race early tomorrow morning, but I can treat it as a fast training run if I decide to go there.

Back to slow running

The legs were feeling a bit stiff after yesterday's track session, so today's run was a steady jog around the 2 bridges route. Conditions were fine, no snow, no ice, no rain, a little bit of mud. I don't think that I could have run much faster than I did today, but it was good to go out and run. The problem now with wearing a Garmin for every run is that there is a danger to over analyse every split time of every run. Sometimes I think that it would be better if I left my watch at home.

My next planned race is the Peco cross country on 7 March, but that is quite a low key event & more of a fast training run. After that is the Northern 12 stage relay in Manchester, assuming that I get into the Ilkley Harriers team (as captain I'm responsible for selecting the team, but I need to be sure that we have the fastest 12 available, so I might not make it). I'm then intending to run the Wakefield 10k on 28 March. I've run the Wakefield race once before & I don't think that the course is as fast as Dewsbury, so it might be a struggle to beat my recent 10k best.

A bit quicker on the track

Having not done any fast running at all for nearly 2 weeks, I wasn't sure about how things would be on the track this evening. I gave running a miss yesterday to try to get over the fatigue that I seemed to have on Monday. It was very cold on the track, about 1 degree, with piles of snow at the side & it was quite foggy.

We did a tough session of 5X800, 2X400 & 5X800 the recoveries were quite short, 45 seconds between the 800s, 40 between the 400s & a longer 2 minutes between the 400s & 800s. For the first set of 800s, I ran between 2:52 & 2:54, then speeded up to 81 seconds for each of the 400s, then slowed to between 2:54 & 2:57 for the second set of 800s. I was running with Paul O, I think that we kept each other going very well, although Paul was much faster than me on the 400s.

Overall it was a hard session & I felt to be running quite well apart from having a bit of a stitch midway through the second set of 800s. I was pleased to be able to run at a much faster pace than I have been running recently. It is strange to run about 2 minutes per kilometre faster than recent runs, without any adverse effects.

I did my warm up run with Ian F, formerly of Otley AC. It's good to see him back running again after a break of several weeks. Even though he was obviously a bit rusty, he was still lapping the track much faster than the rest of us.

Top of UK rankings!

I'm sure that I'll never achieve this again, so it's worth a bit of a celebration. The Power of Ten UK rankings are now showing me as 1st in the M55 UK 10k rankings for 2010 for my run at Dewsbury. The guy who was previously listed 1st has been taken off the list because he was actually a M50. It's very early in the year & I'm sure that there will be lots of people who overtake me during the year, but even if it's only for a few days, it's good to be top of the UK rankings.

Today I felt anything but fast when I went out for my run. I was full of good intentions to run a bit quicker after 10 days or so of only slow running, but it wasn't to be. Not sure what the problem is, maybe a bit tired, maybe need a bit of a break, maybe need to do a track session to get some speed back, who knows? I ran 14k out & back on the Nesfield Road again, similar to yesterday, but without the loops around the park at the beginning & end.

Sunday morning run

There were a few options today: the fell race on Ilkley Moor, a run along by the canal, staying in bed or a steady run along the Nesfield Road. I would like to have done the fell race, but I don't seem to have much natural ability at fell running (slow going uphill & even slower going down), plus it was snowing which would make the course even more difficult than it already is. I wasn't sure about getting the car out to go to the canal, given that the snow was coming down quite heavily. Staying in bed all morning was never a realistic option. So I opted to head off around the park & out on the Nesfield Road.

After a very long drive yesterday (made worse by long delays on Eurotunnel) & a busy few days in Belgium & France, it soon became apparent that I wasn't going to be running quickly this morning. I struggled out to Bolton Bridge, then turned around came back again. There was some snow on the road & the snow continued to fall throughout my run, but it was quite wet snow & not very slippery.

In total I managed to run almost 20k at a very slow pace. At least I went out & ran. This was the first weekend since early January that I didn't race....probably just as well. My legs need recharging a bit.

Part 3, but no ice

Out in the forest at Waterloo again. The overnight thaw had continued and daytime temperatures were well above freezing, so virtually all of the snow & ice had gone, being replaced by gravel & mud. I ran a similar route to yesterday, just a bit quicker as it was easier to stay upright.

It is quite pleasant running through the woods, generally the paths are well surfaced & there weren't too many people around. After a busy week, however, I was a bit tired to go too far or too quickly.

This afternoon the cultural part of the trip was a visit to the battlefields, including a climb up the 226 steps to the monument, La Butte de Lion (above).

Tomorrow is the journey back home, so almost certainly no running.