HM Week 7 - Multitasking

I'm three weeks out from the Cambridge Half and I think everything has just clicked. For the first time in this training cycle I'm as happy as I can be with where I am and have adjusted my goals accordingly.
Last week just followed the script perfectly, I got what I needed to out of the week.

The Run #1

This was a deferred long run from the Sunday just passed. A couple of extra days off had allowed my persistent cold to clear up again & not needing to get into London until 12 gave me some admin time at home and the opportunity to get out for a long run without time pressures. At half six I left the house with my headtorch on and took to the streets towards Bishop's Stortford. Even with some light the run alongside quite a busy B road in the dark was a bit hairy. At least this is the one pavement the local authorities have bothered to tidy up so I wasn't having to play with the traffic.
After crossing the A120 I took on the Parsonage Lane estate, my old home territory. A slow climb all the way up to the senior school, followed by a downhill along Dunmow Road, through the Hockerill lights and into the town.
I was soon on Rye Street, trying to keep my pace even on the relatively flat section before heading back into Stansted. My total distance was still a bit short so I threw in some diversions on the route home, clocking 15km. Once home I was straight onto the foam roller, easing out the quads, happy with the slow, but steady work.

The Run #2

Later in the working week I broke up the day with a lunchtime jaunt to Battersea Park. Once more I used the run to go easy and increase the pace where it felt right. Getting out over halfway through a work day breaks up the routine nicely. Bizarrely the short section in Battersea Park can be the worst part of the run, all depends on how many dog walkers are determined to herd ever increasing groups of unleashed dogs through the park. Traffic fumes, cyclists, vehicles lacking in indicators, walkers without a sense of direction I can generally cope with, groups of dogs raises the heartbeat though.
The run itself passed without consequence. This time I didn't push too much, just used the occasion to join the hordes of lunchtime runners escape the office.

The Run #3

After a stint of volunteering at Great Notley parkrun on Saturday it was time to fit a long run into Sunday. Our core team were due to meet at the forest for 1000 & I'd further condensed my timeline by offering a lift, so I'd need to be out of the door by 0925. Regular readers know I'm no fan of afternoon or evening running, this meant trying to get my 18km long run in before heading to the forest.
I counted back from 0925. Say 30 minutes to get showered takes me to 0855, allow two hours for running gets to 0655, the mandatory half an hour of pre run faffing takes the alarm setting to 0625. Knowing the penchant for procrastination I opted for a reluctant 0600 Sunday morning alarm. Technically a lie in, but I don't think 25 minutes is cause for much celebration.
I actually hauled myself out the door just after half six, head torch attached for the first half hour or so waiting for daylight. My route had a definite 16km and the need to add a bit of free styling upon my return to Stansted. I headed north, through Quendon and towards Newport before turning back to Elsenham. The section from the B road into Elsenham always surprises with its length, seems to take as absolute age!
After a slow first click, my pace settled into a nice easy rhythm, just over the 6:00/km mark. The goal once more was distance rather than pace, this week had been a light bulb one for me. I had realised that (yes it took a while) that the PB wouldn't be threatened at Cambridge despite that being the original intention. My job for Cambridge is to finish, maybe at best sneak a sub two hour, but generally run without pressure. It will serve as a long training run for the following weekend's Larmer Tree half, surely the toughest event I'll have taken part in. They'll be no point flogging myself around Cambridge for something that isn't achievable only to compromise the race the next week. This year is all about the marathon effort & for that slow & steady leads the way.

A stunning day down the Forest later on Sunday

I had to complete a couple of laps of the railway station car park in Elsenham, waiting on the barriers to be raised (didn't fancy the multiple flights of stairs) & then once back in Stansted I felt fresh enough to run up Chapel Hill & take myself towards Bentfield Green before heading home. The 18th kilometre was the fastest by 40 seconds on the average & included a recovery post hill climb. To finish strongly felt great & I got into the house & straight onto the foam roller to start recovery.

Such a pretty face post run!

The Eat

The past week was a feast of some sorts, seemed to consume some rather good food throughout the week. I started with a visit to Wimpy on Monday evening whilst away with work. Regular readers will know how much I love the consistency to mediocrity that Wimpy strive for, nothing like a throw back to a bygone age. Of course combining with a large shake meant that I was regretting the meal within an hour, but sometimes the feast is worth the torture!

On Wednesday evening I finally paid a visit to Sticks N Sushi in Covent Garden. I'd been trying to line up a meal there for a while & plans have not quite come off. So with Burak & I needing to do some planning for our Tokyo trip, it seemed like an ideal choice. The concept is simple. Sticks - yakitori style cooked sticks of food & sushi - standard sushi plus some more extravagant options. The food was sublime. We started with a sashimi platter, then dived into a plethora of sticks & some sushi rolls. Scallops on a stick, beef & crunchy garlic on a stick, asparagus wrapped in bacon & emmental cheese wrapped in bacon, all kinds of awesomeness. You could easily go crazy in a place like this & just keep ordering, we almost did but chose instead to opt for desert.

Sashimi

I had a espresso cup filled with a white chocolate & licorice mousse, topped with a raspberry froth. This was just about perfect, the tartness of the raspberry matched the mousse perfectly & the licorice was a very subtle undertone. This was indeed a treat of a meal & one that will be repeated when pocket money allows. The menu presents an ideal introduction to those on the sushi fence. Just try a bit, if it isn't to your liking there are plenty of other good quality options.

Sticks

Throughout the week I was supplementing my intake with limited addition Toffee Kitkats, as noted already Nestle, happy for you to send me a box or five so that I can carry out some quality assurance!

Offering my services to Nestle for taste testing....

When the weekend arrived I decided to try something else from my encyclopaedia style Mexico cookbook. I opted for pork ribs, cooked in a mango, tequila & chilli salsa. I served this up with a huge dish of mac & cheese. The ribs were excellent. I was really happy with the fruity sauce, had a nice flavour to it & then packed a bit of a chilli punch towards the end. The mac & cheese served a second purpose as I used some on Sunday evening to create my own take on the mac & cheese sandwich I'd tried from Grill my Cheese. In fact, nearly a week later we still have leftovers, might have to give that another attempt tonight :)

My attempt at Grilling my cheese...

Oh Tequila, it makes me happy....

Despite all of this gluttony, I actually had a decent week of eating & the weight has dropped back down a bit, here's hoping that's a corner turned.

Forgot about this cheeky donut on Sunday afternoon.....

The Conclusion

A week of running I was really happy with. After the disappointment of waking up with a cold last Sunday, I was able to get two long runs in & feel very comfortable throughout both. The strong finish on Sunday tells me that I can turn it up a little bit for the Cambridge Half, which is natural under race conditions. For a training cycle that has been quite stop start, I feel in decent form over distance. Paying little attention to pace has definitely worked on this occasion.

HM6 - Bored of the lurg

It is fair to say that preparations for the Cambridge Half have been my worst pre event since the Reggae Half back in 2012. At least then I had a genuine injury to recover from! The weekend has just ended, not with a long run, but with me reaching for the Lemsip once more. Quite frankly, I'm bored of being ill now. Sunday morning I woke up to a very scratchy throat, cough & a bunged up nose, a relapse into the heavy cold I'd had & not successfully shaken off. There was no point in heading out for a spluttering, poor quality long run. Even the weather was mocking me, beautiful sunshine, perfect running conditions. Hopefully I can fix this in a couple of days & be back out on the road shortly.

The Run #1 & #2 - Mooching around Battersea

I hadn't managed to get out for a run until Wednesday lunchtime. There was simply too much ice & snow around at home, bored of not running I chucked all of my kit into my work bag & dragged myself into London an hour earlier than planned so that I could run. My lunchtime runs (as you'll notice) don't take on much inspiration, I like to keep to a rhythm so avoid crossing roads where possible. Therefore on both Wednesday & Friday (when I repeated the trick), I left Westminster & headed to Battersea Park. I also lacked ambition & just skirted the top of the park rather than complete a full lap, I didn't need a lunchtime 10k.
Pace on both runs was intended to be easy. Despite this I found myself getting progressively quicker on my Wednesday effort, with so little tempo training achieved so far in 2015 I didn't fight it & was eager to see how comfortable I'd be going through the gears. A run is good for both body & mind, I found myself pleasantly surprised with being able to hold, maintain & improve pace.

The Run #3 - Gladstone parkrun

All the best plans are written in pencil they say. We'd had a day in London planned for weeks, so I'd looked at the parkrun map (surely regular readers won't be surprised at this) & found Wanstead Flats was close to our usual entry point for London, Redbridge station. I was even due to meet Simon from Hatfield Forest NT there, though we'd not be running together unless he wanted a new personal worst.
Our morning changed in pursuit of a second car. We've been in need of one for a while & after viewing some uninspiring choices I'd found what looked to be a pristine Alfa next to Wembley Stadium. Other viewers were lined up for Saturday, so could we get there early, they opened at half nine after all.....
Another viewing on the parkrun map (predictable I know) suggested that we could indeed get there early & I could still get a bit of parkrun tourism done en route. Gladstone parkrun has views of Wembley (I was told by the RD, wasn't able to take it in myself) so was the perfect solution.
It was, to quote the weatherman "chuffing cold" on Saturday morning, something that didn't seem to register as the group of runners waited, shuffling from side to side keeping warming waiting for the event to start. Events starting on time has been debated recently & I'm always a fan on starting to time where possible. I can understand the view point of it being a free event & relaxed, but if folks have plans (such as viewing an Alfa) to keep, delays aren't appreciated. All was forgiven when the RD started his briefing, he did so with charm & humour, getting everyone ready to run with a bit of audience participation. I certainly picked up some tips, which as someone on the road to Event Directorship is always good.
My change in course required some research beforehand, so I asked the UK parkrun tourist community what I should expect from Gladstone. I was happy to see the suggestion of road trainers, no need for trail, a welcome respite. I didn't read too much into the "a bit of up & down" comment, surely there was nothing to fear?
The run is a simple two lapper with a slight tail at either end. Turns out there is enough up & down to be a bit of a punisher, I'm sure my GPS is lying when suggesting only 44m elevation gain overall! I know realistically that a PB isn't going to happen, but felt I should still try to run on the limit & see what happened, could be messy, could be triumphant.
I'm not overly sure I'm getting much enjoyment from running at the moment, maybe enjoyment is the wrong word. The experience is still one I like, but my current lack of performance is frustrating & I find every run like this to be a grind. I don't expect to just enjoy the hills that were present around Gladstone, but when on form I can at least attack them, now I just feel like I'm surviving them. Now with Cambridge in mind that won't be an issue, the course is pancake flat. The week after sees a trip down to the Larmer Half & some truly tough hillwork. A visit to the dentist is more appealing at present!
Knowing my current limitations makes me a bit less precious about finishing times. I'd noticed a guy running back to pick up a wandering barcode, realised I could grab it for him & make his life easier. I also tried to chat to a fellow 50 shirt runner, he didn't appear overly keen to converse, perhaps it was a PB week for him & he was straining every sinew to get to the line. I couldn't even persuade a sprint finish from myself. Just didn't feel the need, it wouldn't have made a significant change to my finish time, a steady 26:23.

The grumpy runner returns

It was only afterwards when chatting to the Run Director that he made me aware of the views of Wembley, my grumpy self absorbed slog had missed all of this. Really what is the point of parkrun tourism if I pay no attention to anything?!? On my visit to Brentwood later in the month I'll make sure I actually raise my head a bit & take in the surroundings.

The Run #4 - DNS

Sunday morning brought a familiar sensation, scratchy throat, bunged up nose & a persistent cough. The lurgy that had consumed me since mid January was once again back. No point in trying to get that 18km run in, best to put the kettle on instead & try to flush the illness out. I'm bored of being ill now, though also relieved that it is interrupting the half training & that the spring isn't dedicated to London Marathon training. My expectations for Cambridge are now very low, great round & get home is the aim, my 15th half marathon will not be for the glory.
I spent Sunday engrossed in parkrun paperwork instead. I'd also picked up a 2000 piece loom band kit, once all of the contents had been disposed of it was time to fashion it into a finish token sorting box.

A fine bodge...

The Eat

We found some decent Dim Sum at the Drunken Monkey in London after a round of crazy golf at the Swingers pop up. Good food, though the service wasn't amazing, appears to be an issue when establishments build in a service charge. The pork buns were excellent as you'd expect though. I also impressed myself with my own ingenuity earlier in the week. Cooking up a hand prepared chicken schnitzel & forming it burger style with cheeses, avocado & cooked Serrano ham. Definitely made running around London at lunchtime worth while!
I did also discover the Toffee Kitkat. Feeling I can't comment on just how darn good it is until I've tried a decent sample size of maybe 50 or 100. Of course Nestle are welcome to send some to me to accelerate my testing.

4 fingers of kitkat = approx 2km of running.....

The Conclusion

I bought the Alfa.

Hmmmmmm Alfa.

HM Week 5 - The tourist returns

The last update included some optimism, I'd got back on track with my training program & was starting to add some distance in hope of recovering form for the Cambridge Half. It also mentioned that I'd started to be struck down by the winter lurg.

Hopefully this explains where the update for Week 4 of the training plan went! After the long run on January 18th, it wasn't until Saturday morning of the 31st that I laced up once more, more in hope than expectation that I'd beaten away the winter cold. In truth I'm now midway through week 6 & still having to dose up as the lingering aftermath of the manflu keeps trying to pull me back under its shroud.
Week 4 was indeed a complete bust. I spent the rest of the day after the long Sunday run feeling sorry for myself & the entire week was filled with Lemsip & a whole line up of treatments taken before bed. My throat was bad enough on Saturday that I needed to use the megaphone whilst on Run Director duties at Great Notley parkrun. So the total mileage for week 4 was a nice big fat zero.
The start of week 5 wasn't much better. I was still opting for Lucozade / Berocca / Lemsip chasers when arriving at the office, though by the end of the week I was at least weaning off of the Sudafed inhaler & plethora of Robitussin solutions we appear to have stocked in the house. Saturday was a chance to get out & run again. In truth I had started to feel better towards the end of the week, but I didn't want a relapse to scupper my parkrun plans.
The fortnight of Run Directoring at Great Notley was a great experience. Not only did we get to spend time together as a core team, we managed to learn more about each of the roles & by getting to direct I was able to establish a greater understanding of what is needed to make an event successful. Great Notley have been superb in helping us establish & providing both assistance & advice. Though it won't be possible to ever return the favour, should future events want our help, I've been set an example in how to assist.

Run #1 - Harlow parkrun

After three straight weeks of race & run directing I'd earmarked the next few weeks for a bit of parkrun tourism, interlaced with a bit of volunteering at Great Notley. Suggest tourist destinations of Harlow, Wanstead, Brentwood & Pendle to your average person & they'd presume you're a bit crazy. Thankfully rather than being crazy, I'm merely a parkrun tourist!
 It had been over three months since I'd ventured out for some parkrun tourism, an unheard of break between new courses. During that time two further local events had started. I'd already volunteered at Harlow parkrun as a photographer in their second week, but had scheduled myself a visit in January or February. Brentwood had also appeared on the parkrun map after a long journey to initialisation & I'd been liaising with their ED, Leigh in order to make a visit & catch up with them to understand what their experience had been like. With that visit pencilled in for later in February, I decided to make the short drive to Harlow.
The event is nearly three months old & already a local community is starting to establish itself. Event Director Vicky was actually up at the Cambridge 5th birthday celebrations & this was the first week where she wouldn't be present. I could sense a nervousness like a mother dropping their child at school for the first day from Vicky when we'd chatted during the week. In truth she had nothing to fear, all of the team at Harlow know precisely what they're doing, you'd not be able to tell the event is still in it's infancy.
I'd visited previously for Event #2, Harlow being the first event that I'd volunteered at before running the course. On my previous visit I was aware that the funky configuration of two full laps and then a mini lap led to some confusion at the bridge, as long as I was still coherent enough to count to three I felt safe in the knowledge that I should be ok. Seeing the course map it was hard to visualise, I only knew of the grassy hill towards the end of the lap as that's where I'd been on photographer duty. Explaining the course as a multi lap out and back with a switchback and a smaller third lap on multi terrain almost feels like the rules to Go Johnny Go Go Go Go from the League of Gentlemen! In truth it was far simpler, especially from the middle of the pack.
Onto the run itself and it would be fair to say I had no illusions of grandeur. Taking time off at the end of 2014, combined with two weeks of illness had reduced my expectations to merely finishing, sub 30 would be nice. Of course pride plays a part in proceedings and I was determined to at least push myself, despite the lack of training this wouldn't be an easy paced plod. The multi lap configuration gave the option to thank the marshals on multiple occasions, also for high five opportunities as Robin one of the core team had donned foam fingers to direct traffic.

Such a happy face :)

The course was intriguing. Enough tarmac to give the impression of being fast, but looks can be deceptive. Harlow have managed to provide a challenging course, three 180 turns, a nice downhill stretch in both big laps, but an uphill uncompacted grassy climb. Every lap starts with a short uphill as well. The hill wasn't too bad, but the surface meant that you'd want at least trail shoes, though the rest of the course wouldn't suit mudclaws unless you ran alongside the paths. The truly enjoyable downhill comes as you cross the bridge a third time & get to turn right for a short burst to the finish. Despite my fellow core team member Paul urging me to sprint finish, there were no such shenanigans on this occasion. I just wanted to stop, get my token & try to get away from people before I started coughing my lungs up.

The Eat

The reward for the run was to call into Tezzos, get a nice small loaf of tiger bread & make myself some Welsh Rarebit. My last effort wasn't great, this time the consistency was a lot better & the taste was close to spot on. A nice belly of pork was shared in the evening, proper winter food!

Hmmmm, Welsh Rarebit

The Conclusion

On paper, a 27:11 is frankly awful. But my current form & lack of miles leave me with a time that I'll take, with every intention of smashing it to pieces on my next visit to Harlow.

The Run #2

Sunday morning gave an opportunity to get out for a nice long run. Ten miles would be the order of the day. The temperature had finally risen slightly, so I headed out towards Farnham with the intention of dropping back into Stortford before heading northbound home. This would mean plenty of hills & negotiating the ford en route to Farnham. Part of the course was included in the Stansted 10k, but the last time I ran through the ford was in 2013, when I ended up calling the wife to get picked up from the side of the road, this would be a chance to take that monkey off of my back.
In retrospect, the choice of route wasn't the wisest. The thaw had meant a lack of ice on the paths, but also resulted in runoff all the way down into the Ford, it was impassable on foot. I found myself trying to walk alongside it & then had to u-turn & run around the adjacent field instead. The uphill climb from the ford was therefore on heavy legs from the muddy field & it took a while for them to recover.
Thanfully there were no further pitfalls on the road into Stortford & I added further kilometres around the town centre and up onto the Stansted Road. Crossing the A120 I realised that I should have added further distance whilst in Stortford, I wasn't going to pick up the required mileage by running back directly. Instead I diverted towards Birchanger & up Tot Hill to punish the legs some more, then lapped Forest Hall Park to top up the totaliser.
I was soon home & onto the foam roller, happy to have got out for a long run. The pace was pretty horrendous, 1:40 for 10 miles, but I've already realised that Cambridge will not be a PB for me.

Have a happy relationship with my foam roller

HM Week 3 - Project Catchup

The old adage is that you shouldn't feel guilty for missing a run, it won't hurt in the long term. This wasn't how I felt about the 70 minutes of easy running I'd skipped on Sunday morning in lieu of a lie in before we headed to the south coast.
As touched on in the last update, squeezing in four runs last week would be tight. In the end I had some good fortune, meetings got moved around, giving me Friday morning back. Now though I write this on a Monday morning when I'm fighting off the lurgy, fearful already of missing my targets for week four before the week has even started.
The week started with a weigh in and was closely followed by some hushed expletives as to not wake anyone. After weeks of rest before Christmas and the predictable festive binge I'd found myself over the 14st barrier for the first time since May and thoroughly unimpressed with myself.
It used to be the sight of 15st on the scales that would press me into action, now it's 14. I really have no excuse to be getting that heavy, it won't help my pace return if I'm having to carry extra weight with me. I decided it was time to eat more sensibly during the week, indulging on the bad stuff only at weekends....

The Run(s)

Monday afforded me some daylight. I'd booked the day off as leave when we were considering staying on the south coast for longer. This gave me both a lie in and the chance to run without a headlamp. 70 minutes of easy running made for some funky route planning, insufficient time to get to Rickling or Stortford, so I'd have to be creative. Only now does it dawn on me that a lap of Elsenham would have ticked most of the boxes.
Instead I found myself on a much used summer route, the Lime Kiln Lane loop, from there I stayed on the main road until the Birchanger turn and headed back uphill to Forest Hall Park. Maintaining pace was fairly simple, the uphill push as unpleasant as you'd expect, I felt reasonable though. A few zig zags of Stansted and I was home and straight onto the foam roller, easing out the quads.
I could have gone out on Tuesday morning, unsure why I didn't in retrospect. All the running kit was laid out ready, I suspect the weather kept me in bed!

Onto the roller after Monday's easy effort

It wasn't until Thursday that I was on my feet and ready to start what was effectively the week's first run according to the plan. I'd swapped the order so it was time for some tempo, surely the heart monitor would come into it's own here? With time of the essence I opted for a quick five minutes warm up. The tempo routine was simple, 3 minutes at tempo, 2 recovery. I managed the prescribed five sets in the usual state, never as slow as I should be whilst recovering and never as fast as I could be during the tempo. The feedback was that I hadn't suffered enough, will need to push more on future runs!!
On Friday I managed to haul my ass out of the house with less faffing and another easy saunter around Stansted with the aid of my headtorch. I'd somehow managed to put my Garmin into lap mode, so found myself having to calculate what my total time was. To aim for 35-40 minutes mean around the six kilometre distance at easy pace.
All I needed was a long run on Sunday to leave me at even par and back on track for Cambridge. My usual pre run procrastination was dragged out even more than usual with a realisation that illness was on it's way. I could feel the build up of gunk on my lungs and took the unusual step of drinking a cup of tea before heading out of the door. Tea and original Lucozade are two signs that I'm ill. I put faith in the hot tea to melt through the catarrh on its way south!
I didn't feel too impeded so finally got myself out of the front door at twenty to eight. This long run would be 80 minutes in length, and opportunity to head out to the equally loved and hated Manuden to Rickling route. Other than a near constant hacking up throughout, I felt pretty good. Taking the run from the Manuden end certainly makes it a challenge. You climb up Mount Manuden as I've named it on Strava. The fun doesn't stop there though, you reach the crest and think that's it, only for a short downhill straight into another climb. It's another kilometre before you stop ascending. My pace was fairly consistent, only slowing for a particularly hairy section before Rickling, lots of ice to negotiate.
The rest of the run went to plan, trying to keep a rhythm on a horrendous pavement that the local authorities don't feel the need to maintain. I kicked into a faster pace before climbing up Pennington Lane, still had plenty in the tank after an hour of easy which was pleasing. I got home in 81 minutes, just slightly over target, though my fastest on this route is 76.

The Eat

I couldn't really indulge after the long run, the rest of the day I attempted to hibernate, fighting the lurgy. After a breakfast of eggs, avocado and salmon, nothing else in the day really had much inspiration. 

Long run reward

Trying to be good in the week failed, a colleague wanted a McRib and I was still yet to experience one. Let's just say the McRib is one of those things where the anticipation is greater than the pay off. I'll stick to my usual in the future (or even try to abstain)!
Whilst in London on Saturday I did try and intriguing burger from the Burger Cocktail restaurant, a Giraffe / Tesco sub chain. The regular pattie was topped with a mac and cheese breaded pattie. I'm not sure if it worked, all for the innovation though.

I did reward myself on Monday with a visit to Knead Food in Bishop's Stortford. The decadent sausage rolls they sell felt like a well deserved treat following 11 clicks earlier in the day!

Monday's reward

 The Conclusion

I'm back on track, though in essence I can get through a half marathon with just the easy runs under my belt. How quickly I can complete it will come down to the tempo sessions.

HM Week 2 - Forgetting the tempo

It should come as no surprise that within two weeks of my half marathon training plan starting I've slipped behind. I would make an awful juggler. It doesn't help that I've not printed the plan yet, so a copy resides on my work laptop. I then get into the office to see what I've missed doing for the day.
Even today, the Tuesday of week 3 I opted for a day off, only to realise I have a squash game tomorrow so wouldn't be running. No bother, I'll run Thursday & Friday, except that I have a meeting to drive to on Friday! I'm currently considering hill sprints at Notley after my Run Director shift on Saturday.
Last week (5/1) already included one deferred run, so the plan was to run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday. Or something similar, 4 runs essentially.
I started the week well, though stretching 60 minutes of running around Stansted in the dark made for some laps of Forest Hall Park. It was a tough slog, my pace was woeful as I embarked on my longest run since November. 2015 will be about endurance rather than speed though, I wasn't going to push myself here.

Staying safe in the dark hours

Tuesday is decided to go with a restart of DDP Yoga instead, straight back to the beginning with the Diamond Dozen. The resultant clicks in my shoulder and back suggested this was a good idea and I need to keep it up with further sessions and trying to move on from the most basic of move sets.
Wednesday was Tuesday's run if that makes any sense, 30 Easy. I had a new toy to play with, my heart rate monitor had arrived. A January sales bargain, it was time to gather even more data. Combined with the Strava premium subscription, this would provide me with even more feedback on my activity.

More stats than you can shake a stick at

Of course a half hour saunter around Stansted won't tell you much. I averaged 154 beats per minute, no idea if that is good or not at this stage. My suffer score, a Strava thing to indicate how hard the exercise was showed a low 48 (Fergie's Berlin Marathon was up in the 500s).
Thursday was meant to be a tempo day. Unfortunately no one had told the weatherman, it was raining cats, dogs and a whole damn zoo outside. Though I'm less of a fair weather runner these days, I wasn't getting out of bed for a soaking (still got absolutely soaked on my way to work later in the day).
Friday was a non starter, a squash game earlier morning meant I got my tempos in a different format. Shame I didn't have the HRM to hand, would have provided a far higher suffer score!!!
Two days of the weekend and two runs to get in. Luckily I'd planned both. Though not a tempo, I was going to take Sean & Emily for a tour of the Forest as they were visiting to assist with the Run for the Run. I'd then do seventy easy before we headed down to the south coast on Sunday.

Six go mad in a forest

I'll blog further on Saturday, it deserves more of a write up. Six of us made it around the proposed summer course and also managed to avoid the worst of the weather (mainly due to my faffing). We were joined by fellow Core Team member Karl, Paul & Emily were also in attendance after also volunteering.
The mudclaws purchase was vindicated straight away. Though the course would never be run in conditions experienced in Saturday, I was able to put a lot of faith in my stride, even in places where my NB trails were struggling. Sadly they weren't the same shade of bright yellow they began the run in, but pristine trail shoes aren't something you should aspire to.
The heavy underfoot conditions were tough on the legs though. My calves were burning up by the end of the 5km having been given a thorough work out.
I went to bed with weary legs & mind, plus the knowledge that I had Monday off of work. With that in mind I opted for a lie in.

They used to be so pretty....

So at the end of week two I'd completed three runs, though one was a carry over from the week previously. In truth I'd run four times in week one after the NYD parkrun double, but it isn't a training plan unless I'm in deficit. With a marathon approaching in 2015 I'll need to be more flexible, look at running at either end of the day, lunchtime etc to ensure I'm not skipping vital runs.
I doubt it going to be close to PB time in Cambridge. An ongoing argument with my scales suggests I need to drop a fair whack of weight to get close to where I was in the summer. Combine that with the time off I've taken and I don't see a quick half on the cards. 

The Eat

The food this week has touched both the sublime & the ridiculous. I had a day of meetings on Thursday & found myself near Piccadilly. This led to a first time visit to the Japan Centre. The first of many I think, this place was all kinds of awesome. It was nearly 4pm & I still had lunch so I opted for a massive bowl of salmon sashimi and boiled rice. The portions were huge & though the rice wasn't really of much interest, the fish was of excellent quality. I picked up some Pocky sweets & some wasabi paste to take home & was pretty happy with my visit.

Mega sashimi

The weekend saw a return of Burger Saturday. This week I combined a six ounce beef patty with Leerdammer cheese, then wrapped parma ham around a mozzarella melt & an onion ring. Add in some good quality Stokes ketchup and a gherkin and you have all kinds of awesome. I need to keep the food cheats to just the weekend though, my ongoing disagreement with the scales is starting to get repetitive!

Burger Saturday!

All about that pace

I make no apologies for the pun. It tickled me when it came into my head, even if it does mean I now have that Bass song as an ear worm.
That's to the festive parkrun rules Saturday saw me complete my fifth event in ten days. Just think how quickly I could achieve 100 club status if we had more public holidays! This would also be my third volunteering effort during that time, extra brownie points for me.
The first Saturday of every month is pacer day at Chelmsford. I'd volunteered twice previously and on both occasions ended up working overnight so having to pull out. At the third time of asking I would be donning the 30 shirt and trying to lead folks to a PB. Regular readers will know my success rate at pacing stands at 50%. Perhaps 66% if we remove the Takeley 10k where I was clearly too slow for Alec and told him to go on after a kilometre. I'd brought PBs to Emily & Joel, but also seen Fergie collapse (Edmonton 10k, still one of the more popular posts on this blog). I was confident that I could keep my success ratio increase on this occasion.

A variety of pacing options

I'd picked 30 minutes as it appealed for the simplicity of it. Six minutes per kilometre, no longer division required and even with my lack of training recently, a very achievable pace. The rather dank weather conditions had kept many away, but there still seemed to be a crowd of 250 assembled for the pre run briefing. Anyone that did score a PB would also have the opportunity to ring the PB bell, a new concept for Chelmsford and one that I shall be stealing! Perhaps a PB klaxon instead though (or clown horn)? 

The Run

Before the run started all of the others were paraded in front so that everyone could see who their pacers would be. Anyone wanting pacing would start to the right of the main start line, where we'd all lined up in time order. I was slightly concerned that the 31 guy behind me was already talking about potentially going faster than me, not sure that was the point!
It was tough to hear the run start over at the pacing area so suddenly we all saw the main field running. It meant I couldn't start my Garmin ahead of time to ensure I'd definitely be on pace. I appeared to have around half a dozen with me, the weather had certainly left some in bed for the day.
Progress on the first kilometre was slow, naturally as you're further back in the field and there were some nice large puddles that everyone wanted to avoid. We went past the marker at 6:08, so I kept everyone informed that we were over and would need to increase the pace for the second click. It was logical to do so, everyone was into a rhythm by this stage and the third kilometre included a muddy section that could slow people down. So at the 2km marker we were back in credit after a 5:46 split. I checked to make sure everyone was ok and still with me and we carried on, crossing the bridge and onto the grass & mud.

Leader of the pack...

The 29 pacer was at a decent gap ahead, I was using lampposts to ensure at this stage there was a decent 25-30 second gap. True to form, Mr 31 was far closer to my tail that I'd have liked.
The third kilometre also included a short climb in Admirals, this appeared to reduce the group around me as I tried to maintain pace. A 6:02 third click had us pretty much on the money for pace and after negotiating the downhill field in Admirals it was back into tarmac for the always longer than expected return to home.
The fourth kilometre is usually where I become unhinged in my parkrun efforts so I was aware that this could be make or break for my group. I kept talking, at 3.5km we were pretty much dead on 21:00, so I encouraged everyone, nine minutes and we're done.
By the 4km marker we were slightly under time, my fault as the smoothness of the surface had been conducive to a 5:51km. I now had just two ladies actually keeping with me for pacing and I was giving updates every 200m. As we passed under the viaduct, the finish line is in sight, though a nice 600m lap separates you from it. We had nearly four minutes to complete this as my runners had naturally sped up into the final lap. At this point one pushed on and I stayed at the side of my one remaining runner.
Entering the back straight I encouraged further, plenty of time to bring in a sub 30. As we turned the corner I sauntered home, no silly sprints for me this week. My job was to get people to the final corner with a sub 30 in sight and I'd achieved that.

So fast I was a blur

I crossed the line myself in 29:20, attributed to a faster final kilometre as my pacees sped up and the Garmin suggesting we were 50m short, which would account for all of 15 seconds.

The Eat (and shop)

To say I was cold and miserable after leaving the park would be an understatement. I should add that I was only miserable due to the persisting drizzle that had soaked me. I was taking a much travelled route to Greggs when I recalled that Run Active had a sale on and they were next door.
You have to get the order of things correct here. Don't load up in Greggs and then go into a running shop, they might not have discovered the nutritional qualities of pastry and you'll waste half an hour telling them about the hotter than the sun sausage roll actually burning calories using it's incredible heat.
So I went in to browse shoes first. Browse, honest. I'd been eyeing another pair of trails with Great Notley, the Forest and Endure 24 in mind. The New Balance are a good entry level trail, but conditions at Notley have called for something more extreme. What a coincidence that Run Active have a sale on all trail shoes then! The inov8 mudclaws were only available in precision fit, but after chatting with the staff it seemed a worthwhile exercise to try some on.
With saturated socks this meant another purchase was also necessary! Turns out the mudclaws fitted very nicely, I just opted for half a size up. And with a swipe of the credit card we'd seen another expensive parkrun adventure! If Mrs H isn't going to forgo a lie in to run or spectate then she's accountable for the spending, that's how it works right?

Hello pretty....

With some garish yellow shoes bought it was time for some replenishment. I popped into City Diner (formerly of Starburger fame) and got myself a chocolate thickshake. They use the same machines as Run for the Eat's #1 restaurant, Wimpy so I was onto a winner. Then just opposite was Gregory's the Baker and their equally loved sausage rolls. With a running shop, milkshake outlet and pastry emporium all based together, this end of the High Chelmer shopping centre appears to have been designed with me in mind!

The Conclusion

Pacing is fun and something I've got lots of enjoyment from. This was slightly different to running with a friend as you're not set on achieving a goal for just one person. If you're with a friend you can adjust pace to accommodate their needs. The idea here was to just maintain pace, only in the last kilometre did I step up with those that remained with me.
Of course as volurunning it counts to both the volunteering total and run count, so a good recommendation for those less inclined to give up a run. 

Double Trouble

2014 started with a parkrun, logic would suggest 2015 would follow suit. Why not start with two? The rules of parkrun allow for two events to be registered by a runner on a single day, the only trouble is finding a couple of events timed appropriately that aren't too far apart. Realistically the start times need to be 90 minutes apart, though some London events you could manage with just an hour between.
The other part of the logistics to work out is where would you run, how far are you willing to travel to complete the double. The good thing is, parkrun completely get into the spirit of the occasion and events work together to make sure doubles are possible. In 2014, there weren't many options available in Essex, so Chelmsford went ahead at the normal time of 0900. This year there are now a huge number of events possible.
Back in October I was involved in some of the planning, just in case we were live (newsflash, we're not). On a day when I was meant to be studying at home a rolling messenger conversation between Great Notley, Chelmsford, Maldon, Basildon, Harlow, Colchester, even Ipswich if memory serves me correctly ran for the whole afternoon. You see just because one combination works, doesn't mean others can't be considered. The rules allow for a start to be between 0830 & 1030, very few go early, it's New Year's Day after all. So based on a running time of 45 minutes, you need to be able to get to the second event start line in another 45. So think of the possibilities; Colchester & Ipswich, Maldon & Chelmsford, Great Notley & Colchester, Harlow & Chelmsford, Chelmsford & Great Notley.
With the location of Great Notley, it made most sense to pair with Chelmsford, though Colchester was reachable (and achieved by some in attendance), the drive across to Chelmsford is the shortest possible. You then have the question of what way round to run things. Chelmsford first, or Chelmsford second? Logistically Chelmsford is an easier setup and can be run with no signage and minimal marshaling. Though Notley experienced a sign free event between Xmas and New Year, with plenty of doubling up tourists expected, a full event would be required.

It was becoming clearer that Chelmsford should be the later of the two events, especially when you factor in Maldon Prom & their proximity to Chelmsford. It made sense for everyone to converge on the county's capital, the largest parkrun in Essex as a finale to the NYD double.

NYD is a special day for parkrunners, especially the tourist community. All events are encouraged to advertise their intentions so that runners from both near & far can make plans accordingly. Though my double would be at two of my local events, much tourist chatter could be found regarding the possibilities of visiting two new events in one, bonus parkrun day.

Once the plans were pencilled in, I offered my services to the GN core team to assist with the event running. This lead to me being the tailrunner on the day, able to both volunteer & run, a perfect start to the year. On top of this I gave the First Timers / Tourists Briefing. For those present, apologies if it appeared slightly rushed, I was being made aware that we had time constraints! It did give me a moment to realise a good order to run briefings in. Bring the tourists & first timers together, provide an overview of the course first, then send the tourists on their way & talk directly to the first timers. That way the experienced tourists get the information they need & the briefing is relevant to all.

I still seem to speed up when talking to a group of people, nothing I can't coach myself out of. I think this was the calmest I'd been at a briefing, not bad seeing as it was the biggest one I've had to deliver so far given the high number of tourists from both Chelmsford & Colchester. I also got an opportunity to welcome a school friend to parkrun, I might be a bit too much of a parkrun enthusiast at times, but it is always fun to see friends enjoy their first parkrun experience.

The Run #1 - Great Notley - Tailrunner

This was going to be a challenge of a different kind. My usual parkrun exploits when in decent condition are usually in the low 23 to high 25 mark, 4:35 - 5:10km would be a fair spread of my 5k pace, course dependent. My easy paced runs when training hover around the 6:00/km mark, when I paced Joel at St Neots, we ran at just over 6:30/km. The tail at Notley usually comes in between 40 - 55 minutes depending on the course conditions & with the hill now treacherous following a marathon the day before, I suspected we'd be at the slower end of the scale.

One of our Endure team mates, Paul had tailed in the past & advised that keeping running is the key. To me, it would be disrespectful to do anything other than run unless the person at the back of the field is themselves walking. You have to match the action of the slowest person on the run, walking whilst they run would not be appropriate behaviour in my mind.

I lined up at the very back of the field & gave the RD the thumbs up once all runners on the path had passed me, with the start line being moved for the winter it was always likely we might have late runners, especially with the event needing to start dead on time.

Starting off at the back of the field.

Once we were under way I started running, just dropping my pace so I was a couple of yards behind the back of the field. Before we'd even made the first corner I noticed another runner, so hung back as they were evidently a late starter. As soon as he was through I started up again, only to notice another regular, making his way to join me having run to the event! I stopped once more & then joined him, though in my mind I was panicking about making Chelmsford as he started walking! Thankfully it was just a breather & he was on his way.

So after half a kilometre I joined Dan, one of Notley's Core Team, I'd be his company on the way round. Dan is aiming for a PB on Saturday, but conditions were not on our side on this New Years Day morning. We passed through halfway in decent time, but the hill of doom was going to be walked, both up & down. My job as the tailrunner isn't to cajole anyone to run faster, just provide assurance on the course & encouragement, no one should feel they are the slowest person on the course, for that is the tailrunner's job. As we made our way down the hill we were passed by two ladies, After saying hello, I presumed they'd headed out for some early morning PT, a great new year's resolution. It wasn't until we spoke to a marshal later on that I found out they'd be late arrivals & we in fact catching up! Of course I couldn't have mitigated for this, once we are through the first corner I can't see any new arrivals!

Tail running

Dan's decision to walk the hill of doom was very sensible, I felt the descend was actually more dangerous & lost my footing momentarily on a couple of occasions whenever I ventured from the very perimeter of the path. Once on level footing we started to run again, we'd be on for a 50 minute finish, which would give us just enough time to get across to Chelmsford without having to set any land speed records!

One thing I do need to remember when tail running is to be less chatty. Just because the pace I'm doing isn't taxing me, it doesn't mean that the person I'm running alongside isn't suffering. After all, when I'm at the top of my pace & Paul is pacing me, I'm not much conversation myself, at times I can barely make it past grunting.

I crossed the line in 50:33 & after getting scanned it was time to head to Chelmsford for the second half of the double.

The Logistics

At this point I should provide a bit more back story on how this double was achieved. Alec, my brother in law was also interested in doubling up, so it made sense to try & share transport. Logic would have suggested that as we live further away than him, that I'd drive. But that logic didn't apply once I'd agreed to be the tail runner. So Alec got up earlier, drove out of his way to Stansted to pick me up. I couldn't even do the decent thing of remember any change for the car park. It'd got it out ready & everything, but rules dictate that I always forget something & this time it was £2.50.

The logic made perfect sense as Alec had the car running ready for me once I'd may my way from the finish area. It wasn't quite a case of tights on the head & Drive Drive Drive, but it was a parkrun getaway vehicle.

Luckily spare change was the only thing I'd forgotten as I slipped the mud caked trail shoes off & into a bag. They were followed by the soggy socks & sweatband & I towelled down the feet for a complete pit stop.

I was then into nice fresh socks & lacing up the Saucony Kinvaras for the first time in a while, everything has been trail of late. Had I two pairs of trail shoes I'd have opted for them, Chelmsford has just enough mud to keep them interested. Upon arrival in Chelmsford I ditched my jacket & shirt for a new long sleeve shirt & we were on our way.

My regular human clothes were already packed into the boot of the wife's car, she was due to meet us for breakfast afterwards & I'd planned ahead.

Once in the park I checked in with Gerry, the Event Director who had himself been present at Notley. He'd announced beforehand that the tail from GNPR was also running at Chelmsford.

The Run #2

I had no plan in my mind for how I'd run the second of two 5k. My legs felt ok as the tail running hadn't overly taxed me so I could have run hard. I set off with the intention of just enjoying it, get round & get some much deserved breakfast.
I was comfortable & had spotted Len from Great Notley in front of me as we left Central Park. I pulled myself up alongside & we spent an enjoyable half hour chatting. As my mentor for parkrun Event Directorship, it was great to just chat on a nice easy run together. Given my recent hiatus, a PB was never on the cards so why not enjoy the sociable side of running. It was certainly an aspect to running I hadn't embraced properly until 2014, to start a new year being sociable made perfect sense.

Len was more enthusiastic than I was......

For the second of the two runs I was in road shoes & this only caused an issue twice for me. The section between 2-3km was a bit treacherous, nothing like the Great Notley course, but far from ideal in roadies. The second occasion was in the finish funnel as a result of my own stupidity. By keeping to an easy pace, I had plenty in the tank. As we turned off the path towards the finish funnel, I challenged Len to a sprint. What followed was quite possibly the best sprint finish of my running career. I surprised myself with just how much pace & power I had. Not only did I drop Len straight away, but I calved through a few more finishers. If this had be caught on film in its entirety it would have been a fun watch, all I have is an awesome picture showing me straining everything to get across the line.

The Sprint Face!

The issue with a sprint is that you then need to decelerate through the funnel. This is a challenge at the best of times, I've seen plenty of runners go through the funnel, unable to stop themselves. I have also myself experienced the complete opposite, a complete halt the moment I crossed the line in Helsinki having put everything into a run. Add the sprint to a mud bath of a finish funnel and you have an issue. On two separate occasions I had to right myself in order to not go over before I'd left the funnel. Sprinting is for fools, that's the lesson learnt.

The Eat

Double up means double to food yes? Before leaving Chelmsford I'd consumed the obligatory Gregg's sausage roll (Dunkin Donuts was closed) & then supplemented that with a double cheeseburger. Not sated, it was time for Welsh Rarebit once home, though I need to work more on my method for this dish, not quite getting the combinations right currently.
I promise that in 2015 I'll eat less crap, just need to empty the house of it at the moment....

The Conclusion

A fine way to see in 2015. Two enjoyable runs with company, some volurunning included into the mix. The first time I've managed to score a NYD parkrun double & hopefully something I can repeat in the future.