Trying to prioritise races

There are so many races at the moment it's difficult to know which ones to do & which ones to miss. To achieve optimum performance, I'm sure that it makes sense to race sparingly & concentrate on particular key events. The problem is that I enjoy racing regularly & am not keen on having a structured training plan building up to specific races.

In a couple of weeks it's a real dilemma: on Sunday 13th I've entered a 5 mile race at Long Eaton (I've set myself a target of beating 30 minutes for 5 miles & there are very few 5 mile races on the calendar), on Tuesday 15th is the St. Ives Trail race (I've done this race the last 2 years & it's a great race also it's a counter in the Ilkley Harriers league), on Thursday 17th it's a Harrogate League race (currently I'm leading in the series for M55 & we are trying to win 3 of the team competitions), on Sunday 20th it's the BMAF 5k at Horwich (I would like to do well in the individual race & we should have a good team in this national championship).

Clearly I can't do all of those races & even doing 3 out of the 4 is a bit much if I want to run well in the 5k. Not sure how to prioritise things. It also means that it's difficult to fit in speed training. On the positive side at least I'm not injured (although I may be if I race too often).

Today was another warm day and I opted for an easy two bridges run to Addingham and back. I would have much preferred to go to the track this evening, but again with a Harrogate League race tomorrow I can't fit everything in.

Busy Bank Holiday

A bright & sunny Bank Holiday brought lots of people to Ilkley. After spending most of the day gardening, I headed off for a run late afternoon. I just set off running today without any plan of where I was going to go. Even though I'm not one for following schedules, this is unusual, even for me. I normally decide where I'm going before leaving the house.

I started off running through the park, but it was a bit busy with the holiday crowds, so I cut through to Leeds Road before crossing the bridge near Denton. I didn't really fancy a hilly run after yesterday's trail race, but somehow I found myself running up Carters Lane. From the top I went along to Middleton Grange & joined the bridlepath that joins the top of Owler Park Road. From here I new that there were several footpaths that go towards Nesfield, but I managed to find one that I'd never been on before.

After crossing a field I got to a very steep wooded valley, not really sure what had happened to the path. After a bit of scrambling through the undergrowth I eventually found a proper path which led to the road near the top of the hill in Nesfield. I returned to Ilkley along the road & finished with a lap around the park. By now a lot of the day trippers had already left.

In total I ran about 13.5k at a very sedate pace. It was quite an enjoyable run, but next time I think that I'll choose a different route from Middleton to Nesfield.

Ilkley Trail race

(Thanks to Terry Lonergan for the photo)

The route of the Ilkley Trail race is great for just going out for a run, but it's a tough course for a race. Having run this race the previous 2 years, I knew that it wasn't really my kind of race: long uphill to start with, tough moorland section in the middle & a fast descent to finish, almost 11.5k. Fortunately this year it was quite dry underfoot, despite yeaterday's rain.

I felt fine going up the hill, but was overtaken by several people on the moorland section, which was hard going into the strong wind. Once we got on to the short road section before the downhill, I seemed to get my energy back, maybe it was just the effects of having tarmac under my feet. I managed to get back passed a few people on the descent, having struggled on that section last year.

My finishing time was 50.14, which was about 3 1/2 minutes faster than I did last year & 36th position compared to 79th. I was second in the M55 category, beaten by Nick P who is much more at home on this kind of terrain than I am. Overall it was a reasonable run, although it is a bit frustrating to be relatively much slower than I am on the roads.

A few days easy running

On Thursday & Friday I ran the two bridges run from Ilkley to Addingham & back both days. This tends to be my 'default' run that I do when I don't feel particularly inspired to run anywhere else & I want to do an easy/steady run. So 11.5k each day at an easy pace.

Today I thought that I should run somewhere different, but with the Ilkley Trail race tomorrow I didn't want to do anything too demanding. I opted for a hilly run around Ilkley & Middleton, just over 11.5k. Again my pace was quite slow, but it didn't make sense to try to run quickly.

The Ilkley Trail race is a very enjoyable route which I often use in training, but I'm not particularly suited to racing over the hilly off road terrain. I'm even worse at running quickly down steep hills than I am at running up steep hills. So my intention is really to use it as a fast training run, rather than with any expectations of doing well in the race. Normally I'd reduce the distance that I run in the week before a race, but I've done the opposite this week, clocking close to 100km, so I'm getting plenty of excuses in. There are more important races to come in the next few weeks.

Carnegie track session

This evening's 'official' track session was cancelled, but as we didn't hear about the cancellation until we arrived at the track we decided to go ahead with one anyway. We had a good evenly matched group of 4 of us taking part: Richard R, Josie H & Mark I, with Terry L acting as timekeeper.

The session was 4X1 mile with 4 minute jog recoveries. Given that we were all running at the same speed, we alternated the pace making which certainly helped with motivation. The time for each of the reps was: 5:41, 5:41, 5:44 & 5:42 so very consistent, marginally slower than my 5k race pace, so probably just what was required.

It was really good to be back running on the track after several missed weeks due to clashes with midweek races. I think that I really benefit from running regular track sessions & that much of my improvement this year is a result of the work done on the track.

Club run on the moors

This evening I ran with the Ilkley Harriers club run. We had a really good mixed ability group & headed up on the moors. I haven't done a Tuesday club run for a few weeks, so it was really good to have a pleasant run & a great chat.

Initially heading along the Dalesway path, we then headed up towards Addingham Moorside & near to Windgate Nick, before heading along the ridge to the trig point. This route would normally be quite muddy, but given that we've had very little rain for several weeks it was easily runnable today.We returned to Ilkley via Keighley Road, with an off road detour where the true fell runners were able to show off their descending skills....I was steadily bringing up the rear of the group at this point.

We ran just over 13k, plus a bit more for me running to & from home. It was a very enjoyable run, with plenty of opportunity for running chat. Tomorrow's track session will be different!

Some like it hot

It's been quite warm the last few days, up to about 28 degrees. Yesterday I went for another longish run, following Saturday's long run on the hills. I went out along the Nesfield Road to Bolton Bridge & back, with a bit of a loop around the park. In all I ran 17k at a very slow pace: combined effects of two races during the week, after effects of a cold & previous days run.

Today's run wasn't much quicker, about 5:25 minutes per km pace.....very slow for a flattish road run. I ran my regular two bridges route, about 11.5k. Not too worried about the slow pace, it's more an opportunity to take it easy without taking too much of a break from running.

Wednesday should be back on the track at Carnegie for the first time in about a month having had a layoff for the John Carr series & Harrogate league races.