The past week has certainly followed a theme. Plenty of climbing in an attempt to improve my form uphill and also hopefully my pace on the flat. As the Pride 10k approaches on the 9th I feel that my pace and stamina are good, with an attempt at a sub 50 definitely feasible. Last weekend also saw the 2014 edition of the Thunder Run take place. A group of us want to get a team into the 2015 event and the blogs, photos and videos have just increased the hype around the event.
Run #1 - Long and Slow
My LSR was due to take place on Sunday morning. Instead I found myself in bed until half nine! It's rare that I lie in by that much, 7am is considered a weekend bonus, so I must have been needing the extra time. With other things planned for the day, slotting in a long run was impractical so I awarded myself a rest day and moved week 5 around to accommodate.
Hill sprints were moved to Thursday and a change of shift allowed for a nice long run on Tuesday morning. The target was 100 minutes, a gentle ten miler. Unfortunately my pre run procrastination took hold and I was out of the house far too late to complete 100. Rather than abandon the plan completely I amended my route. I had intended to run north out of Stansted, through Quendon and then take a right back down to Elsenham.
Instead I turned right at the Ugley Checkers pub and headed into Elsenham from this direction, chopping 3k from the route.
Hill sprints were moved to Thursday and a change of shift allowed for a nice long run on Tuesday morning. The target was 100 minutes, a gentle ten miler. Unfortunately my pre run procrastination took hold and I was out of the house far too late to complete 100. Rather than abandon the plan completely I amended my route. I had intended to run north out of Stansted, through Quendon and then take a right back down to Elsenham.
Instead I turned right at the Ugley Checkers pub and headed into Elsenham from this direction, chopping 3k from the route.
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| A beautiful morning for running |
My rhythm appeared to be pretty good throughout, every kilometre between 5:47 and 6:06 apart from a slower warm up. I think the penultimate kilometre was even the fastest, despite including the climb up Chapel Hill. I coasted home with 13.1km in 1:18 and rewarded myself with some Cacao Chocolate Milk from Denmark. The benefit to the change of route was another hill discovered. A nice half kilometre 30m climb as the country lane rises from underneath the M11 will be ideal for some extended hill work, especially if the Thunder entry does happen!
Run #2 - Hill Sprints
I do question my sanity at times when I review my run plan and see what activities I signed myself up for. Deferred to Thursday from Tuesday was a hill sprint session. Not just any hill sprints, a whole perfect ten of them. I don't thinking ever completed a full ten before and certainly when I started on the Thursday morning I considered cutting short on plenty of occasions! I first started hill sprinting on Water Mill Lane next to Farnham cricket club, but then realised that in just running back afterwards this included a further three climbs. Then I moved to the start of the lane, now with time being a premium I've just picked a nice 200m stint along Lime Kiln Lane out the west of Stansted with a 9m climb of varying angles.
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| The short but sweet Lime Kiln Lane sprint section |
Let's not mistake this, hill sprints are hard work! By halfway through I was already counting down to the end. The efforts were strong, I felt that I was pushing hard up the hill and not pressuring myself to jog down, taking as much time as I needed to be ready for the next ascend. The effort was there until the end, although the final climb back into Stansted was lacking in momentum!
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| An excellent set of hill sprints |
Being a recent convert to Strava I was very happy with a segment record for the hill sprint. Stansted doesn't have a huge number of segments, normally I'm mid table to bottom half as most of my local runs are slow and easy. My sprint work had put me top of the tree for the Lime Kiln Lane hill sprint, best of 40 seconds. Exception my penultimate climb, everything was between 40-45 seconds.
Run #3 - Wimpole parkrun
My plan on Saturday was to head north west to take on one of the notorious parkrun Hill of Dooms, at the National Trust Wimpole Estate. My work earlier in the week and recent exploits at Great Notley had left me confident that I could cope with the hill and return a good time.
There was a bit of rain on the drive across, but the weather was perfect for running. After an intro from the Run Director we were off to the start line.
I'd made a mistake straight away by lining up too far back. This resulted in a slow and frustrating start, lots of chopping around as I tried to negotiate my way into some space. I caught up with a Thunder Runner and had a brief chat with her about how awesome the event was, would be a shame not to get a 2015 team entered.
The hill was approaching, though my pacing was good and I was slightly confused. I sensed that the course had changed slightly, I was sure the hill started the second kilometre. This time we were through 2km before starting the climb, probably better for banking some pace. In two previous attempts I'd run once and succumbed to walking once so I was determined to run all the way up. The first section of the ascend is fairly shallow, you then turn ninety degrees to the right and the steepness begins.
I dragged myself up and used the following downhill to recover, some decided to walk up and almost sprint down, that can't be any more sustainable. The descend then gets steeper and I allowed myself to coast down easy and started to kick in to a decent pace on the flat. Conditions under foot were good, the trail shoes were handy but not mandatory.
There was a brief, shallow climb up to a footbridge and then we were all heading back into the final kilometre. As we ran across a gravelled driveway I was sure the course had definitely changed, I certainly didn't remember this! I then saw the finish, no linger in the field, but right where the start was. This was a vast improvement as previously you had to turn into another field, finish and then walk back to the start to get scanned.
This time it was just a straight sprint finish. I was alongside a lady who was also kicking for the line so I urged us both on to finish strongly & I got a nice kick to my finish.
Unfortunately I managed to not stop my GPS so I wasn't fully aware of my time until the official text came through later. At 24:40 I'd run a PB for the course, taking 36 seconds off of my effort in September. Though the course was slightly different, it still includes a damn steep hill to haul yourself up! The hill sessions are definitely paying dividends & according to my runbritain profile that was my 2nd best run in terms of overall performance.
Once I'd picked up Mrs H following her night at the Newmarket races & made it into Cambridge it was time to take on some breakfast. We headed to Afternoon Tease, a local cafe near the heart of the city that I was aware of from twitter & instagram. Mrs H was opting just for strong coffee for some reason, whilst I polished off avocado, feta & chilli jam on sourdough toast. Not a combination I'd think of myself, but it was a plateful of awesomeness. If you're in the centre of Cambridge & want to try something away from the standard fayre, give Afternoon Tease a visit, the cakes also looked magnificent.
We finished the day with a Ploughmans, stopping at the excellent Gog Magog Hills farm shop on our way south from Cambridge to pick up some cheese. An excellent day of running & food combined!
The Conclusion
Another solid week. Very happy with the progress being made in distance & speed. If I can keep my dodgy glute under control alongside those dodgy calves & ITB then I should be on for a good return at the Pride 10k on Saturday & Richmond in another 6 weeks.
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| Strava course record! |
Run #3 - Wimpole parkrun
My plan on Saturday was to head north west to take on one of the notorious parkrun Hill of Dooms, at the National Trust Wimpole Estate. My work earlier in the week and recent exploits at Great Notley had left me confident that I could cope with the hill and return a good time.
There was a bit of rain on the drive across, but the weather was perfect for running. After an intro from the Run Director we were off to the start line.
 |
| Wimpole parkrun - September 2013 route |
I'd made a mistake straight away by lining up too far back. This resulted in a slow and frustrating start, lots of chopping around as I tried to negotiate my way into some space. I caught up with a Thunder Runner and had a brief chat with her about how awesome the event was, would be a shame not to get a 2015 team entered.
The hill was approaching, though my pacing was good and I was slightly confused. I sensed that the course had changed slightly, I was sure the hill started the second kilometre. This time we were through 2km before starting the climb, probably better for banking some pace. In two previous attempts I'd run once and succumbed to walking once so I was determined to run all the way up. The first section of the ascend is fairly shallow, you then turn ninety degrees to the right and the steepness begins.
 |
| Wimpole parkrun - August 2014 route, slight change at the start & a simpler finish |
I dragged myself up and used the following downhill to recover, some decided to walk up and almost sprint down, that can't be any more sustainable. The descend then gets steeper and I allowed myself to coast down easy and started to kick in to a decent pace on the flat. Conditions under foot were good, the trail shoes were handy but not mandatory.
There was a brief, shallow climb up to a footbridge and then we were all heading back into the final kilometre. As we ran across a gravelled driveway I was sure the course had definitely changed, I certainly didn't remember this! I then saw the finish, no linger in the field, but right where the start was. This was a vast improvement as previously you had to turn into another field, finish and then walk back to the start to get scanned.
This time it was just a straight sprint finish. I was alongside a lady who was also kicking for the line so I urged us both on to finish strongly & I got a nice kick to my finish.
 |
| Kilometre splits - spot the slow start & the only marginal reduction overall in the uphill kilometre |
The Eat
Once I'd picked up Mrs H following her night at the Newmarket races & made it into Cambridge it was time to take on some breakfast. We headed to Afternoon Tease, a local cafe near the heart of the city that I was aware of from twitter & instagram. Mrs H was opting just for strong coffee for some reason, whilst I polished off avocado, feta & chilli jam on sourdough toast. Not a combination I'd think of myself, but it was a plateful of awesomeness. If you're in the centre of Cambridge & want to try something away from the standard fayre, give Afternoon Tease a visit, the cakes also looked magnificent.
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| Avocado, feta, chilli jam on Sourdough toast. Awesome! |
The Conclusion
Another solid week. Very happy with the progress being made in distance & speed. If I can keep my dodgy glute under control alongside those dodgy calves & ITB then I should be on for a good return at the Pride 10k on Saturday & Richmond in another 6 weeks.
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