Brass Monkey half marathon

I decided to run after all, not 100% confident that the hamstring would survive. I wore compression shorts for the first time in a race just to give the leg a bit of protection. My plan was to set off at normal race speed & see how things went (I know that a more sensible option would have been to take it easy at the start & then to speed up if all was OK).

After only about 3k I realised the folly of setting off quickly. Even though I was running at about the same pace as last year (3:45 per km for the 1st 5k), my leg was tightening & complaining about going fast. From then it became a question of slowing down & nursing the hamstring to the finish. It was a bit frustrating getting overtaken by lots of runners & 17 or 18 km of slowing down is a long way. The 1st 10k took me about 38:20 & the 2nd 10k 40:14.

On the positive side I got to see lots of people that I wouldn't have seen if I'd run a more even paced race. Clubmates Steve W & Steve C both overtook me and had an epic battle to be the 1st Ilkley Harrier to finish, with Steve C just taking the honours.

There were lots of fellow bloggers in the race. Antony B was much nearer the front of the race than me & seemed to be quite satisfied with his run. Sarah J was treating the race as a training run & was looking far too comfortable & cheery when she overtook me, still finishing 3rd in the ladies race (well done to Marc on a PB). Simon A from Otley overtook me about halfway around. Andy W was running as part of his marathon preparation and was just behind me at the finish.

Special mention to clubmate Jane B who ran under 90 minutes for the 1st time being paced by Andrew M. She celebrated with a bottle of champagne & a prize for 2nd F40.

I finished the race in 84:14, almost 3 minutes slower than last year. Somehow I still managed to win £20 as 1st M55, & hopefully I've done no long term damage to the hamstring.

The winner of the race had apparently come all the way from New Zealand & set a new course record in 65 minutes & a few seconds (presumably he didn't travel over just for this race).

To race or not to race?

That is the question. My sore upper leg is the problem, not sure if it's my hamstring that's playing up. I've never had a hamstring injury before...... I thought that it was something that sprinters & footballers suffered from. It's not a major injury as I can still run & isn't a problem when I'm walking around. The issue is when I run quickly that it becomes sore. I'm a bit nervous about racing with it as it may suddenly get much worse when I run at race speed.

Today I went out for a steady 11.5k run to Addingham. I was wary about putting in any fast bursts in case it would aggravate the problem. Generally I felt fine whilst running, it was quite cold, but dry & sunny.

I guess that I'll take a view tomorrow on the merits of racing on Sunday.

Ice again on the track

This evening there was again a covering of ice on the Carnegie track, so spikes were certainly required. Richard R didn't have any spikes so he had to run around the outside. It was just Brit T & me to start with, but Mark I joined in part way through. The session was 600m, 800, 1k, 1.2k, then repeat, with 90 second recoveries.

I had two reasons to take it easy: firstly I've got a sore left upper leg & secondly it's the Brass Monkey half marathon on Sunday. I was a bit wary of trying to run too quickly and aggravating the injury, so my intention was to run no quicker than 90 seconds per lap......way off the pace of recent weeks.

From an effort point of view, the session was very comfortable, I was easily able to run all of the reps within a second per lap of the target 90 seconds average. However I was very much aware of my sore leg & was mindful that I could be making it worse by running on the track. Tomorrow will be another non running day - the second this week, which will hopefully give the leg a bit of a rest to recover in time for Sunday's race.

Half marathon preparation

Feeling a bit sluggish this week, in the build up to the Brass Monkey half marathon, I decided to compare my preparation this year with last year. I decided to look at the 9 weeks up to the week before the race date. I guess opinions will be divided on what is 'good' half marathon preparation, but here is the analysis that I've done:

2011

distance run: 805 km (average 89 km/week)
distance of 5 longest runs: 108 km (21.5 km average)
4 races, 4 track sessions, 5 rest days.

2010

distance run: 726 km (average 81 km/week)
distance of 5 longest runs: 108 km (21.6 km average)
5 races, 5 track sessions, 8 rest days

Overall I've run about 10% further this year than last year, although there is no difference in the total length of my 5 longest runs. The three fewer rest days account for much of the difference in total distance run. The weather this year was much colder (with more snow) in late November & throughout December, but relatively milder in January. This affected when I ran races & track sessions...... The Thirsk 10 was cancelled this year & most of the December track sessions, whereas last year it was January when the majority of track sessions were cancelled.

Certainly there are quite a few other factors which will affect how quickly I run at this year's Brass Monkey race, for example last year the conditions were ideal (cool, dry, no wind) & I seemed to have one of those days when running seems easy (until the last 5k). Currently I feel as though running fast is hard work, although hopefully that will change by the weekend.

Today's run was an easy 14k out & back on the Nesfield Road to the A59. The outward leg seemed to be a real struggle, even though I was only going at a very modest pace. On the way back I did at least speed up a bit & running seemed a bit more comfortable. Not sure that I got much benefit from yesterday's rest day.

Peco cross country - Kirkstall

I enjoy doing cross country races, however, I seem to be much slower running in mud than I am on the roads or track compared to other runners. Not sure if it's my build or running style or some other reason. Today's course in Bramley woods was quite undulating & heavy rain on Saturday meant that there was quite a lot of mud in places......but not as bad as it might have been.

I finished in 49th place, which is my worst result at a Peco race for a couple of years. I'm not too bothered about the result as the priority is the half marathon next week. I was feeling quite sluggish at the start, so it was probably just one of those 'off days'.....better this week than next.

The plan for the next few days is to take it easy with the running, I probably need a couple of rest days. I've only had 3 non running days since the end of November, so the batteries need recharging a bit.

Running slowly

Thursday & Friday were both very slow runs. After the Wednesday evening track sessions I always find it difficult to run properly the following day. Yesterday I opted for an easy run to Addingham, one of my regular steady routes, about 11.5k. Today was a bit hillier, around Middleton with a loop around Rupert Road, just over13k. I was running a bit quicker today than yesterday, but nothing to get excited about.

The weather is very mild at the moment which makes running a bit more pleasant than the severe cold we had recently, it's also fairly dry which helps as well.

On Sunday I'm intending to do the Peco cross country at Bramley. For me it's a very low key race & really a chance to get used to racing again before next week's Brass Monkey half marathon. There's not really much comparison between an 8k cross country race & a road half marathon, but at least it will be a welcome break from regular road training.

Longer reps on the track

This evening was perfect for running on the track. It was mild, dry & no wind - a complete contrast to last week's icy run. The session was also very different to last week's session. Instead of very short fast reps, we did longer efforts today: 1X2k, 5X1k, with 90 second recoveries. Three of us were running, Mark I, Richard R & myself with coach Pete in charge.

I felt much more at home with the longer reps. Considering the longer distances that I've been running in recent weeks & the lack of fast speedwork, it probably makes sense that running 2k & 1k efforts seemed easier than last week's 300s & 400s.

The slowest kilometre that I ran was actually the 1st half of the 2k, in 3:35. The fastest was the 2nd half of the 2k in 3:30. For the single kilometre efforts they were all between 3:31 & 3:34. This gave an overall average of about 85 seconds per lap, which is 4 or 5 seconds slower than last week's average, but getting a bit closer to the pace that I will be able to run next week's half marathon. Running 21.1k on the road is very different to 7k total of efforts on the track.

Overall I was pleased with the consistency of this evening's session. To prepare for my 3000m track races in February & March, I will need to do more short faster efforts, but as preparation for a half marathon, it was probably about right.