Stansted 10k and some disastrous volunteering. Richmond Half 2/12

We're a sixth of the way to the Richmond Half. This meant it was time for a four run week. Working an early shift meant lunchtime runs as I wasn't prepared to wake at half four and evening running has never agreed with me. The week started well, fartlekking around Battersea Park probably drew some confused expressions. My pace was pleasing though, the sprint sections held strong throughout. I dropped Wednesday's run as I had a cricket game in the evening and didn't know how involved I'd be. After scoring two with the bat and not being required with the ball I probably could have snuck out at lunchtime.

On Friday I again had cricket in the evening but with an eye on the forecast and the rain overnight I suspected that would be a non starter. So a colleague and I retraced my Battersea steps, just at an easy pace though in order to preserve the legs ahead of Sunday.

parkrun Volunteering

My new schedule allows be alternate Saturdays off, with Paula at Comic Con I headed across to Great Notley parkrun for my volunteering debut. As numbers allowed all of the regular places to be covered I was able to head to the top of the hill of doom to offer encouragement and high fives to everyone as they got to the peak.

pre parkrun briefing, awkward moment when we realised all our outfits matched

Unfortunately things didn't completely turn out that way. As the leaders approached the front runner asked which way round, I presumed he meant round the bird, the large plinth on the top of the hill, so I said either way is fine. I didn't realise they'd headed down the back of the hill until a non parkrunner doing hill work pointed out they're going the wrong way. Luckily everyone else headed on the usual course and the two guys that had an inadvertent detour were back on track with a 5.2km parkrun.
I was absolutely mortified, forgetting that this is a new event and that not everyone will know the course, researched beforehand or might not have heard the brief. There isn't usually a marshal at the top of the hill so I'm not sure what would have happened either way.
Once I'd repositioned myself to avoid confusion and reminded myself mistakes happen I got on with my task of cheering folks on. The top of the hill is where you're at your most knackered and I hope a smile and some kind words to encourage everyone downhill at least brought some cheer to people. Not everyone touched the bird, but I managed some good photos and encouraged anyone that wanted it.
At the end of my duties I told Race Director Len about my directing debacle. For another week I made the race report, for all the wrong reasons though! I managed to catch up with some of the guys thrown off course and though they could be rightfully pissed they accepted my apologies.
My first volunteering experience certainly was an eye opener though. I guess the number of volunteers you need depends on the course and event size but there appeared to be a dozen of us to cover the event. The amount of organisation and dedication from the core team needed to make every single parkrun go smoothly is immense and I'd recommend everyone tries to give up at least one Saturday morning to be the other half of the parkrun story.

Stansted 10k

Having an event literally on your doorstep makes it rude not to compete. The Stansted 10k takes place every 2 years and starts and finishes all of 5 minutes from our house. I'd cajoled Joel, Paul & Emily with the offer of BBQ, warning them in advance that the course was a tough one. Joel had seen a map my run of a previous event and declared in advance that it didn't appear to be too bad.

Pre Race Team Um Bongo photo - Joel, me, Paul & Emily

Heavy overnight rain and a majority trail route left me opting for some old Adidas Supernova Sequence trainers rather than write off some of my newer pairs. We were all expecting even more heavy rain during the event, to the point of nearly running in jackets. My mind was cast back to you the 2012 edition that featured nearly every season. By the start the sun had well and truly put it's hat on, Paul, Emily and myself lining up together with the intention of Paul pacing us to a 54:00. Regular readers will find this pacing strategy bizarre, after all just a month ago we were tearing up the HBO within 52:00. This was a testament to just how tough the course was. In 2012 I clocked a 56:23, just weeks after a 51:38 HBO so I felt a 54 was a fair target to aim for.

Less than 1k in, we were almost enjoying it at this stage!

We started well, taking in the first couple of kilometres to bank some time & then having a really good third which was essentially downhill all the way. This led us to the first climb of the day, Watermill Lane alongside Farnham cricket club. I've always found this to be a tough ascend, but attacked it climbing up 21m in 300m travelled. I was able to recover my pace straight away & still return a 5:18 kilometre, adding more into the bank. Unfortunately my caviller approach to the first hill meant we left Emily behind, but Paul was happy to continue pacing me. The Grade Adjusted Pace was 4:48/km, in hindsight perhaps this was too fast!

The course then travelled towards Farnham, including a nice decline before heading off the road just as the ford approached. At 25:45 through 5km I was feeling good, but knowing every second banked would be needed as the course would only be getting tougher from this point on. The next climb appeared to finish after 400m but after consulting my post run stats I can see it continued way past Farnham church, a full 1.1km over which we ascended 18m. I joked at the time that Paul was lying when he said the hill had ended!!!

At 6km we passed another water station, thanked the volunteers for their support and enjoyed some downhill respite. The descend was gentle but brought us to a climb I'd forgotten about from my 2012 attempt. Another 17m up over the course of 400m. Probably means nothing to most ardent hill runners but by the peak I was beginning to labour & was thankful that the course flatten out as we approached the road between Stortford & Manuden. The next kilometre was nearly all downhill, but my pace didn't recover as well as expected & the need to cross a footbridge at walking pace in single file also killed my momentum.

Not an ideal time to lose momentum as a morale killing hill was to follow. You could see it from the point at which you emerged from the footbridge. Run along the field, turn ninety degrees and start climbing. In 2012 this climb & the downhill were crazy as the heavens had opened leaving the course a mud bath. The climb itself on paper doesn't look too bad, 10 metres over the course of 200, barely a scratch surely? But everyone around us was succumbing to walking pace. I was determined & as we reached the peak Paul encouraged me to recharge & carry on. My words of "I'm struggling" and a quick scan of my face persuaded Paul that was indeed the truth and at that point the aim of the race became to finish. My head had become very light with the effort of the climb, something I've not experienced in race conditions for a while. The fourth climb of the run nearly finished me off, but in my mind it was a case of one more, then a medal.

It is only when you look back that you can see the truth. From the footbridge, the start of the 4th climb to the end of what I thought was the 5th at Bentfield there was actually another climb. Each has a mere 200 metres of light descend before you're called upon to climb again. So in truth, from 8.0km to 9.4km you ascend a total of 30m. Ok that's only one Great Notley hill of doom, but it's at the end of the 10km!!!

My 9th kilometre at 6:03 at the fact the course appeared to be measuring slightly long meant the target of a 54:00 wasn't on, but that wasn't going to stop me pushing. At the final water station I took a bottle of water & threw it over myself. It wasn't pretty though it provided me with the slap in the face needed. The support as we finished the last hill and entered Bentfield Green was a great. It gave me a chance to kick & I attempted to drive home to the finish line. Of course there had to be a cruel minor uphill to finish the event & a high curb to negotiate, but I dragged myself over the line in 54:28, nearly two minutes faster than my 2012 exploits.

Medal. Knackered.

Paul was thankful that I hadn't collapsed on him & I was equally thankful that he'd given me the extra push needed to a very tough course. I was also thankful for a picket fence someone had installed on their front garden as it propped me up whilst I sat post race. Emily came through moments later & soon we were joined by Joel, the first person to finish a race claiming they hated me!

The Eat

Of course the only way to adequately reward people for hard work is to fire up the bbq. Numbers were lower than expected, though this allowed me the luxury of having ample food already in stock and not needing to make homemade burgers. I'd put together some nacho bean patties for Emily & Paul though we reserved these for last as their consistency suggested they might not grill well!

We laid on a spread of standard sausages and burgers and supplemented it with a number of creations including zesty chicken, coconut prawns, stuffed mushrooms, cajun and chilli asparagus and courgette completing our efforts. These were added to by Emily with some stellar guacamole and some always popular halloumi kebabs. It's fair to say no one went hungry!!!

Post run milkshakes. Still knackered.

Post run we all enjoyed a milkshake, though if I was the perfect host this would have been some specially purchased Cacio or Mr Shericks!

The Conclusion 

Without doubt the Stansted 10k is the toughest event of that distance I've competed in. I'd forgotten just how brutal the course was, 100m of climbing across the whole distance. In total there were six climbs and all but one were in the second half of the run. This was definitely an event for going out hard in an attempt to bank time. In hindsight perhaps an energy gel taken after 3km would have helped. Or even more hill sprints. To put the result into context, I was 4:10 slower than my best of a month ago, the fact that the gap is a minute closer than 2012 tells me I'm a much stronger than two years ago. 

The best reaction was Joel's. Back in November he hated the Greenwich Mo Run due to its severity. This was tougher and took longer, yet he was able to savour the experience and vowed to come back faster and stronger for the 2016 edition. The sense of achievement in conquering a tough course is something you can't explain. Sure I was slower than usual, but for the course I did the best I could. My aim with this event is to run it every time it occurs and chip away at that time. I think this has set me up perfectly for a sub 50 at the Pride 10k in four weeks time. 

An unexpected PB - Richmond Training Week 1/12

The first week of Richmond Half training has ended. In terms of easing myself into a plan it fit the bill. One tempo run, an easy & a parkrun. No major distances, not even 17km completed for the week, but a good start. My reintroduction to hill sprints on Tuesday went well as I headed out to Lime Kiln Lane in Stansted & found a usual stretch to take on five times. Of course whilst attempting to sprint up a hill you feel horrendous, especially by the end, but the intention isn't to make you sprint hills in a race, but to provide more power generally. To give some perspective, each 48 second hill sprint (nothing if not consistent) included a 9 metre climb, where as the Great Notley parkrun hill is 29m!

The easy run on Thursday gave an opportunity to complete a full loop out of the back of Stansted & through the town. I was aware that my glutes were still playing up on downhill stretches, I need to get that issue resolved before it proves more of an issue as my training plan progresses. Despite running easy I did move through the gears as I returned home, eager to not miss my train into London for work!

This brought us to parkrunday. Yesterday was also Paula's birthday & I'd tabled the idea of going to Southend to enjoy the amusements, but also so that I could visit the parkrun. After some persuasion (finding an Ace Comics store in the town helped seal the deal) Paula agreed to an early start & we were on the road down to Shoeburyness (the parkrun isn't in Southend itself).

Conditions were changeable, they'd been plenty of rain and drizzle on our way down. By the time we arrived at the park it appeared the rain had cleared up, leaving a dull grey sky, hardly the scene for a delightful run next to the sea!

The Run

After a short but quiet race briefing we were led to the start & I tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to line myself up with similar runners. The lack of a megaphone appeared to leave many unaware that the run had started and we were off to a walking start. The slightly slower start gave me a chance to get into a nice rhythm, though it returned my slowest kilometre, 5:00.

The course was a simple three lapper that included a challenging turn towards the sea & into a wall of wind. The fresh sea air was beneficial & the longest stretch of the lap hugged the coastal wall. My second, third and fourth kilometres averaged 4:50/km, leaving me looking at a low 24 minute run if I could maintain the pace.

Lap 2 - Presuming I'm on for a 24:30

Instead what happened was that I was able to push the pace a bit more, dropping down to 4:30/km pace. I didn't feel especially quicker, but realised I was approaching the line, a quick glance at my watch showed I was still to enter the 24th minute. With this in mind I carried on pushing, not easy as there was a slight rise at the lap end & the finish was about the only part of the lap not on perfect tarmac. My face in the background of some of the finishing photos is one of pure determination as I clenched my teeth to get over the line. I tried to give the double thumbs up as I crossed the line and shut down the GPS. The last minute looks to have been one of the fastest I've ran & I was surprised to see 23:31 starring back at me from the display of my Garmin.

Finishing in 23:31. Nothing left to give other than the thumbs up

The Conclusion

Although the course was quick, I certainly wasn't expecting that result. A PB by 21 seconds is the biggest improvement I've returned at 5k since 2011. To PB at the start of a new training plan is a very pleasant surprise. I suspect near perfect conditions contributed, well rested, cool weather, bouncy tarmac surface, flat & in a good place mentally all could have been beneficial to the result. That said, being well rested should mean that my best pace would be out of my grasp.

When runbritain finally published all of the parkrun stats since March there was an interesting result included within my handicap. The 25:02 last week at Great Notley was one of my top five results based on course toughness. So although it was my slowest result in some time, according to the handicap system it was better than a 24:24 at Oak Hill. Perhaps I was in form then & I just didn't know it.

Either way I'll bank the PB & aim to get even closed to 23:00.

If anyone is PB hunting then I'd recommend a trip to the Southend event. The park isn't overly picturesque, but if the coastal wind isn't too bad then the course is seriously quick. If you fail to clock a decent time here I'd be surprised.

The Eat

A trip to the seaside doesn't quite equate with healthy eating. By the time we'd left Southend I'd consumed a Wimpy Shake, Gregg's Sausage Roll, Rossi Ice Cream, Slush & some of the worse chips I've ever tasted (avoid The Pavilion, part of Adventure Land & find a decent chippy)!!!

Seaside goodies

We followed this path of dietary destruction with a BBQ in the evening. Paula's folks, Alec & my folks came over as we lit the BBQ as I piloted some home made burger recipes. Unfortunately the burgers lost structural integrity leading to variety of shapes being served up. Thankfully both the combinations tasted good, just need to work on forming them better. The Mexican burgers proved too wet & fell apart, the Stilton & Apple too dry so also fell apart!!!! The slow cooked in beer ribs finished well on the BBQ, though I think belly slices would be much better.

BBQ Time!

Apart from some pitta I managed to avoid bread throughout, enjoying my homemade slaw (included apple & pear), chargrilled Aubergine & Asparagus. If that wasn't enough desert was both birthday cake & a home made pavlova brought across by my Mum.

Salads for the rest of the week then.....