No running for a while

Still struggling with the virus that I've had for a couple of weeks. After a series of tests yesterday, medical opinion is that I shouldn't run until it clears up. It's a bit frustrating to say the least, but hopefully taking a summer break will do me some good.

Wednesday track session

I've been suffering with a bit of a virus since Sunday's race, so I was a bit wary about pushing things too hard on the track this evening. It was quite a demanding session: 4X200, 4X400, 4X600, 4X400, 4X200, 1X800, with only short recoveries...... 8k of efforts in total. There were 4 of us doing the session: Mark I, Rachael B, Nick P & myself.

Rachael & Mark were both running quite a bit faster than me this evening. I was happy to just concentrate on completing the session at a moderate pace, rather than go too quickly & need to cut it short. My pace was around 80 seconds per lap for the 200s & 400s, 84 seconds per lap for the 600s and slightly slower again for the 800. I was happy with the session overall, despite not being the quickest. No real effects of the 'bug' & no after effects from racing on Thursday & Sunday.

I now have a good break from racing (apart from the Harrogate League handicap next week). My next race will be the BMAF half marathon towards the end of August, so I have about 6 weeks to recover, then prepare for that.

First ever track race - BMAF 5000m

Not quite sure why I chose a national championship event in Cardiff for my first ever track race. I was well out of my comfort zone before the start of the race - there were 3 pages of rules & regulations: you needed to register before you signed the declaration sheet (whatever that is), these had to be done at least 2 hours before the race otherwise you were disqualified, you needed to be in a 'call room' at least 20 minutes before the race, 2 race numbers had to be worn & 2 lane numbers (all in the correct position). Asking the very efficient officials basic questions brought looks of incredulity (especially when I told them that I'd never done a track race before).

The weather was wet & very windy, quite a change from the recent dry, still, sunny conditions. I was at the track 3 hours before my race to give me sufficient time to ensure that I didn't fall foul of the various cut off times. Warming up was a bit difficult to ensure that I would be in the 'call room' at the required hour.

My race was the 5000m for M50 & M55s, so it was actually two races in one, with separate results for each. 14 runners had entered the M55 race & 9 the M50 one, but I think that there were only about 15 or so actually started in total. Four of the M50 runners set off at a very fast pace, so I decided to let them go, settling into a group of 3 M55s and a couple of M50s.

My plan before the race had been to try to run at an even pace around 84 seconds per lap, but this plan soon went out of the window mainly because of the conditions. It was clear that there wasn't much difference between the 3 of us leading the M55 race & which ever of us was setting the pace was making it much easier for the other 2, as they could just follow on the tough 'home straight' into the wind. In effect it became a very tactical race with each of us trying to break away, getting pulled back, then trying to avoid leading......... not a good recipe for running a fast even pace.

I made a tactical mistake of trying a final attack with just over 2 laps to go, which resulted in my opponents being able to follow me for the closing stages of the race. I did all the hard work until I was overtaken on the home straight & beaten into second place by 1 second.

I suppose that I should be pleased about winning a silver medal in a national championship in my first ever track race, but I know that I could have done better if I'd timed the finish differently. Having said that the guy who beat me, David Oxland of Notts AC, is a very experienced track runner & he may well have beaten me whatever tactics I'd adopted (he'd won this event the previous year by 17 seconds & was silver medalist in the European Masters Indoor track championships - only missing gold by 0.17 seconds).

Having had my first attempt at racing on the track, I'm tempted to give it another go - I'll certainly have a better idea what to expect next time around.

Harrogate League race 5 - Hudswell

After a week of very easy slow running, with no session faster than 5 minutes/km, to try to overcome the recent lethargy, it was back to racing yesterday evening at the final race in the Harrogate League series. I'd had strong warnings from Coach Pete to take it very easy in this race, considering that I'm racing in the British Masters 5000m on Sunday.......he said that it would be better to give this race a miss altogether. However, I only needed to score a few points to secure the M55 prize for the series and we needed some team points as well.

I had run this same course 2 years ago, it's all on the roads, which is an improvement from most of the HL races this year. The first half of the race was uphill, then a turnaround with descent to the finish. I set off at a very steady pace comfortably behind a few runners who I normally run with.

For the first half of the race I felt as though I wanted to accelerate, but had Pete's warnings in my mind, so I continued at what seemed like a very easy pace for a race (averaging just over 4 minutes per km on the uphill half). At halfway I'd just managed to catch up to my regular track partner Mark I so we ran together for the start of the return leg. After a kilometre or so Mark decided that he'd try to catch another clubmate Mark M-W who was about 25 metres ahead of us, so he suddenly speeded up. I decided to not go with Mark's injection of pace, but to carry on at about the same speed.

As we got nearer to the finish I was still feeling very fresh & relaxed, quite unusual for me at this stage of a race, so I picked up the pace (with only about 1km to go I figured that I wouldn't do too much damage for Sunday). I managed to overtake both Marks as well as 3 or 4 other runners. My finishing time was 31:01 for just over 8k, which was 2 1/2 minutes quicker than I did on this course 2 years ago. I finished in 24th place with hopefully sufficient points for the individual age group series win & team wins in the vets team & super vets.

Looking at my Garmin stats after the race I averaged 3:52 minutes per km, which is nothing special, although I ran the last km in 3:05....probably the fastest km that I've ever run! I now have a couple of days to recover before my debut track race on Sunday.

York Race for Life - spectating

My daughter Katie who until a few weeks ago had never been interested in running at all decided to run the Race for Life 10k in York. It's a women only event, which isn't really a race, it's very much a charity fundraiser. I was designated to be chauffeur & supporter, but also took on the role of water carrier, as it was the hottest day of the year and there weren't many water stations.

The course was a zigzag couple of laps around the Knavesmire in York, all on grass. Between the 10k and later 5k, there were over 5000 women running. Most of the women taking part weren't regular runners & it was a great achievement for most of them to run 10k, especially in the heat. I don't know who the girl was who finished first, but she looked to be flying around the course - most however were happy just to get around.

Katie set off at a steady pace, which was very wise, and she was was able to run the whole way, finishing tired but well satisfied. She also raised a lot of money for charity, so great credit to her & all of the other participants.

Somehow I managed to run 14.5k going backwards & forwards, offering support & sourcing as many bottles of water as possible. I don't think that I would like to have been racing in the hot weather today.

Not so sharp on the track

There were only Mark I & myself running on the track this evening. The session was 15X400m, in blocks of five: 30 seconds recovery after each of the 1st 4 reps, then a 2 minute break, before repeating the 30 seconds for the next 4 sets etc.

I was still feeling a bit jaded after all of the recent racing, whereas Mark was clearly very sharp, so it was going to be a difficult session. After a first couple of laps getting into the swing of things, we settled into a consistent 80/81 seconds per lap, gradually getting a little bit quicker. I was following Mark around the track as he was more capable of setting the pace today. In the last set of 5 reps, we managed to get under 80 seconds for some of the 400s, but by the last one I'd clearly had enough, slowing to 82 seconds.

The good news is that I completed the session at a pace which was a few seconds per lap quicker than my 5k race pace. The bad news is that it was a bit of a struggle & I probably need to take it easy for a few days before next week's track race.

A change is as good as a rest

After yesterday's 5k race around the town centre of Horwich, I decided to do something completely different today. Not the most obvious choice for a recovery run was a 21k route including Simons Seat, the Strid Wood and a section of the Dalesway on a hot sunny day.

My pace today was on the very slow side of slow, which was just about all I could manage, but it was really enjoyable just to go out & run. The route is very diverse with moorland, woods, fields, paths & short road sections. Underfoot conditions were very firm as we've had a very dry year so far.

No races for me this week. It's good to have a bit of a break from racing as I think I've become a bit stale over the last couple of weeks. Next week I've got a Harrogate League race midweek, then the British Masters 5000m on the track in Cardiff. That will be a new experience for me as I've never raced on the track before.