A different Sunday run

Last Sunday was the Brass Monkey half marathon, this week I opted out of running in the Peco cross country race as I was still feeling soreness in my legs (the hamstring problem seemed to lead to general tightness in both legs). So after a couple of days with no running at all to see if it would improve the situation, I decided to just go out for a run & see how things were.

I set off around the park in Ilkley, dodging the dogs & their owners, kids on bikes & the various rugby & football matches. It was then out along the Nesfield Road. My running seemed to be a bit sluggish, but the pace wasn't too bad for a steady run. The further I went, I was gradually able to speed up without too many complaints from the legs.

I turned back at the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Bridge, with a vague plan to see if I could run a bit quicker on the way home. Somewhat surprisingly I was able to keep increasing the pace, so that for the last 2-3km I was actually running quicker than some of the final kilometres of last week's race.....most odd.

So I ran just over 20k, with the second half considerably faster than the first half. The legs don't seem too bad, so we'll see how the recovery is before getting too excited. Next week it's the Dewsbury 10k, so it would be good to see if I can do a reasonable run there.

Pyramid track session

This evening's track session was a pyramid: 1x200, 1x400, 1x600, 1x800, 1x1000, 1x1200, 1x1000, 1x800, 1x600, 1x400, 1x200. Recoveries were mainly 75 & 90 seconds. Mark I, David B & myself ran the session with Brit T joining us for some of the efforts. Coach Pete kept us focused on what we were meant to be doing.

Conditions were not too bad, a bit cold, but no ice, dry, but a bit of a breeze (unusually blowing against us on the home straight). My leg was still a bit sore, but didn't impact significantly on how I was able to run the session.....except on the 200m reps where I couldn't run too quickly.

My overall average was 85 seconds per lap, with a high degree of consistency, I was lapping in the 1200m only marginally slower than in the 400s. My running partners were generally faster than me on the shorter reps & slower on the longer reps.

I was quite pleased with the session & I don't seem to be making my leg injury any worse. I'll take it a bit easier over the next few days & hopefully there might be some signs of improvement. I'm probably going to give the Peco cross country a miss on Sunday as the last one did coincide with the start of my hamstring problems.

The Hound of Windgate Nick

Today I went for a run up on to the moors. I decided to visit the 'Hound of Windgate Nick' (see story here).....it's certainly an impressive sight. The route that I took to get there was 10k virtually all uphill, via Hebers Ghyll Drive, Addingham Moorside & Light Bank Road on road, track, fields & moors.

For those who are wondering about the hamstring injury, following Sunday's race, it didn't seem to get any worse. I went for a very slow run around the park yesterday & despite general leg soreness, I didn't have any adverse reaction from the hamstring. My conclusion at the moment is that it doesn't seem to make much difference whether or not I run on it, the main thing that aggravates it is running quickly, but the effects seem to be only short term. Very curious.

Back to this afternoon's run. The good thing about running 10k uphill, is that I had a very long downhill to follow. I returned by way of the Swastika Stone, Parish Ghyll Drive & Grove Road (details here for anyone interested). It's a very enjoyable route, even on a misty day with heavy drizzle. Despite the weather it wasn't too muddy, so running conditions were quite good for the time of year.

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.