One last easy, then ten days off

Sometimes common sense isn't high on my agenda when writing training plans. The sadist in me scheduled 70 minutes of easy running for Monday, less than 24 hours after the SW 10k. Instead of subscribing to this nonsense I drew a line under September, deciding a shorter run on Tuesday would be a better idea.

The Run

Before heading to Gatwick I headed out to take on the loop, my most consistently used circuit during the summer. This time I ran it north to south, meaning a slow kilometre and a half descend started the run. This could be the last midweek running of the loop until March, it's not a route I can take on without natural light. A weekend special involving hill sprints might be the only way I see it until March. My pace was purposefully easy, though if my momentum allowed I wasn't slowing myself down.

So October starts with an easy 7km, a total that won't be built on for nearly two weeks. As I write this I'm at a poolside bar in Mauritius, there won't be much running to be found here!!!

Just give me some tarmac!

When I planned my autumn, the schedule was flexible to allow for London Marathon 2014 training. Being a ballot loser means I can stick to my current 10k, speed focus for the season. The Saffron Walden 10k was one of the events I'd selected to compete in. It ticked all the boxes; local (ten minute drive), right distance, cheap, run bling included (tech t-shirt). The only concern was the promise - 90% off road.
What did this mean? Farm lanes, bridleways, country lanes closed to traffic? In reality it was a course devoid of tarmac. 2km max on roads or country lanes, the last km on a lush but pot holed school field, the rest on tractor trails & narrow paths, except for a devilish hill on a farm concrete track.
After the Wimpole hill the day before what I needed was a nice, flat, bouncy, brand new tarmaced course. What I got was my idea of running hell: hills, headwinds & solid tractor runs baked by the sun. To add to my misery, no music on the grounds of elf safety!

The Run

I lined up on the start line without a plan, or a time to aim for. I'd seen a course profile & knew this wasn't a place to gun for a PB. Anything under 55:00 would be a decent mark. My last off road 10k was in Stansted last summer, a mud affected mid 56. The field was small, approximately 200 runners, no chips, just a megaphone & klaxon. This was very much a club race, lots of turn out from the clubs in the locality. I started reasonably well, making sure to pass the beginners that always seem to want to start at the front before the course narrowed. I was barely a kilometre in & still struggling for rhythm when we hit the double header of a hill & tractor path. By two km my Achilles was smarting, possibly due to the parkrun the day before combined with the underfoot conditions. I was considering adding another dnf to my collection.
The course continued to undulate and I found myself well above the 55:00 pace and rapidly losing interest. These are the moments that test you as a runner, when the challenge becomes mental rather than physical. I realised that the course was going to be horrific and to dig in. Once you chat with some fellow runners you recognise that everyone is facing the same conditions, even the leader didn't look like he was enjoying himself. Having a section that doubled back actually helped as I started to focus on running in a group around me, noticing I was in a good position.
My pace continued to be less than expected, but I started to find some drive after 5km, counting myself back to the finish line, 25 minutes left, 20, 15. The 7th km brought a 25m climb, not as severe as Wimpole the day previously, but a longer climb. I got 80% up & had to revert to walking alongside another runner. My glutes were killing me the moment I started running again!
By this stage I was back under the 55:00 pace and had time for a chat with a Clapham Chaser as the course found some tarmac again with 2km to go. We were coming back to the school where the finish was based, single file though as the course narrowed to a footpath. With 800m left we entered the school field, still running in a decent pack, all around what I thought would be a mid 54 time.
In between the rabbit holes & mole hills I tried to up my pace on the lush school field. 500m out and I was still at the rear of my pack when I managed to find some parkrun pace.
I crossed the line in 53:29, overhauling all but two that were ahead of me, even getting a head duck on the line in to grab a place. Maybe I'm overly competitive but having so many people to race at the end made me faster, almost made the hills and tractor trails worth it.

The Eat

The beauty of local runs is that they offer access to the eat straight away. The cake stand is a staple of small events. I scoffed on a 50p slice of carrot cake that was, for that moment in time the best slice of cake ever.
Homemade pizzas followed up in the evening as we're clearing out the fridge ahead of holiday.

The Conclusion

Having been so negative during the race, I'm happy with the time returned. My parkrun exploits the day before probably put a minute on my time, but I'm not sure I'd have made it up the hill fully even if I was fresh.
September has been a good month. Another 100 kilometre month, two sub 2:00:00 half marathons, with a PB thrown in for good measure.
The added highlight was getting so close to a 5k PB. I feel that my running is the best it has ever been & now the results are starting to prove this.
September might have been the month that I found out I wouldn't be running the London Marathon, but it was also the month I found form at every distance.

Pick a parkrun, any parkrun

Sometimes opportunities present themselves. When 50 shirt parkrunner Sean mentioned he was due in Cambridge on a Saturday morning, it presented a chance to travel north and take on a parkrun.
The original plan was Cambridge, an event I've not run in over 2 years. We'd also discussed Wimpole, me talking up the much fabled hill of doom. By Saturday morning Huntingdon was also an option, a new parkrun for us both. We decided on Cambridge and headed north on the m11. Traffic was good though and I felt we should take on doom hill, so I diverted us to Wimpole.

The Run

A glorious day presented itself, dry weather meant the Wimpole course would be at it's best. From past experience of the course I knew I'd be nowhere near a lifetime PB. I'd run a 28:50 back in February the week after the Barcelona half, at a time that my running form was at its worst. A course PB was a given today, I'd set a target in my mind of sub 26, feeling the course profile made it at least a minute and a half slower than most.
With that in mind my pacing was bizarre! I passed the 1 kilometre marker at 4:27/km, which I think is my fastest ever kilometre!! I continued to push as the course started to incline just before 2km. As soon as you hit 2k, Wimpole provided its highlight, the hill of doom. In my previous visit I managed to stay running the whole hill, a short but sharp at 30m climb. This time I got halfway and realised to conserve energy and walk up. Even at the peak of the hill it took time to recover, a 3rd km at 5:34 the proof! At this point I had adjusted my expectations to a low 26.
Soon the course provided some downhill, I was greeted with the best marshal advise ever "Mind the cow pat"! Cow crap avoided I started to recover my pace, although a return to uphill just before 4km was fun! Soon the grass was replaced by tarmac underfoot & I focused on the last km, back under the 26 mark. The last 250m was back on the grass and the timing lady was great in offering everyone encouragement to cross the line. I even tried to smile as Paula was on photo duty. To my surprise I finished in 25:16. This meant the last km was covered in 4:52. Overall splits of 4:27, 5:06, 5:34, 5:17, 4:52 and a course PB smashed by 3:34!!!!! This is more a mark of how bad I was earlier in the year. Given how tough the Wimpole course is, I think today's time is my best 5k since my PB. Even if it included a slight walk!!!

The Eat

On the recommendation of the Race Director we headed to the cafe and gorged on a selection of excellent cakes. With Wimpole the hill might take, but the cafe? gives back.

The Conclusion

Very happy with today's run. I'm no fan of off road running, yet there is something special about this parkrun. The hill is short, sharp & cruel, but if you can conquer it you'll be a better runner. Small matter of the Saffron Walden 10k in the morning, another off road race.....

A return to the tempo run

The work canter was cancelled yesterday. Admittedly that just means I lost the opportunity to roll out a lame excuse for not partaking. Work is hectic enough pre holiday without a sweaty slog around Westminster!
Back to the plan for this morning. Even shocked myself by being ready to run just 20 minutes after rolling out of bed. The training plan was simple; two ten minute tempo blocks, three five minute easy stints, in club sandwich formation (even the running part of the blog has some food references!!).
The Run
My first ten minute tempo averaged 5:22/km, the second around 5:31/km. Not quite the ideal pace, but lots of little abrupt hills & several smaller inclines that don't even appear to be hills until you analyse the route post run. Overall it's better than a straight easy run, much more gained from the short sharp intervals.
Even the canter is getting an upgrade. A long awaited return to Cambridge parkrun on Saturday as my Copenhagen pacer Sean is heading there for the day. Then a local 10k race on Sunday. A perfect weekend.
The Eat
No eat to discuss just yet, off to a German bar with the work guys tonight, I see bratwurst in my future......

Easy does it

Yesterday's run became this morning's run as I swapped running shoes over & got back out for an easy paced run. The morning light is slowly being lost & with fog being the order of the morning I had to find some urban routes around Stansted rather than head down the usual country lanes.
Not much to write about today. My pace was up above 6:00/km as I struggled for momentum of constantly changing direction / crossing roads. It is also the start of a new training plan, motivation can be hard to find at times.
One thing I did realise early on, not long sleeved weather just yet! A nice sweat was the result.
In theory I'm running the work canter tomorrow. Whether I can find the desire to thrash around Westminster whilst avoiding tourists during lunchtime remains to be seen.

Stats!

I'm in the office early, instead of running this morning. So to add some running focus to my day I've managed to work out how to create a nice graph in Excel.

A visual representation of my parkrun progress over the past three years. Of course this doesn't take into account any conditions or different runs, but it is a nice indicator of when I've been quick & when I've been slow. For example, my PB at the start of 2012 remains in place to this day, though recent improvements (and increases in the number of parkruns participated in) suggest it might be broken soon.
It is also fitting that my slowness at the end of 2012 / start of 2013 is very clear to see. Injuries / lack of training / extra weight. The graph doesn't tell the entire story, the Highbury & Islington January 2013 run was in the ice after all!
The trend since March this year is especially pleasing though. It was after the MK Half in January that I adopted a training plan & it looks to be paying dividends.

Chelmsford parkrun

The alarm sounds at 0715 on a Saturday, what kind of a fool sets an alarm that early on a weekend? A parkrun fool of course! Being a parkrun nomad means that an early wake up & a 30+ minute drive are always a requirement to getting a quick 5k in.
A group of five parkrun tourists descended on Chelmsford Central parkrun yesterday morning. I was immediately confused by a funfair sitting exactly where the start / finish line was last time I visited. Conditions we certainly more helpful than my previous visit, no ice or snow to be seen anywhere. Mrs H wasn't running, an autumnal cold had caught her.

The Run
After the pre race brief we headed to the start line. The first thing I noticed was how much the event had grown since January. We were underway and I tried to settle into a rhythm. I passed the first km marker under the 5 minute mark & kept running around the 5:00/km pace. My plan was to aim for 25:00 or just under, see how to body was after the more painful than expected half marathon recovery.
Throughout the latter half of the run I felt like I was running on empty, perhaps salad the night before & a slice of toast in the morning was insufficient? That said, I usually run empty before work so I'm used to the feeling. Around halfway we also veered off the nice tarmac path to take in some grass. I know many runners prefer grass to pavement, I've never been one of them. We also encountered the course's only hill, a fairly easy 10 metre incline followed by a straight descend back onto the tarmac.
I soon hit the 4km marker, the mental soundtrack always seems to be "just 5 minutes to go", much like last week's "just 5km to go". My pace was still good, I felt like a high 24 was on the cards as I started to find more final kilometre pace. Only when I got to 400m to go did I realise my time was going to be much faster. With approx 2 minutes of running left my watch was still mid 22:00, so I kicked at 400 & tried to maintain the pace to the end.
I crossed the line in 24:26. Five seconds quicker than at Oak Hill a month ago and only five above my 5km personal best. Given that I wasn't PB hunting yesterday & other than half marathons all of my month's training has been easy, I'm very happy with that result. My 11 week plan to the end of November includes five parkrun visits currently, that PB might just get broken soon.
Even more impressive was the result our friend Joely returned. For the past couple of months myself & Fergie had been encouraging / borderline bullying him into making some progress with his running. Yesterday Fergie's job was to pace Joel to a 35:00 PB. Joel crossed the line in 32:52, an incredible 3:07 off of his PB. Joel was the first to ask when we're parkrunning next! It's great to see a friend get the enjoyment & sense of achievement from all the hard work.

The Eat
After some shopping around Chelmsford we headed home, baked up a camembert, baked up some garlic & had a lazy afternoon. Even managed a lie in this morning, it's nice to wake up and not have a half marathon to run!!!