Checking out the RunBritain rankings:
Overall for Doncaster AC Women
RunBritain rankings
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Monthly Archives: December 2016
South Yorkshire Cross Country Review
So my first year as a V40 went well, I finished 4th overall in South Yorkshire. 3rd would have been better but 2017 will be a good year for me I hope, the base training has been put in and the Cross Country racing will help for sure.
Norfolk Park was the toughest, because of the mud, Kiveton park was my best of the 4, really enjoyed that one, Cawthorne was good and the expected bad weather never showed up and finally Penistone was a good course, quite windy. In the new year I plan to do the Yorkshire and National Championships.
As the Cross Country courses change and some are at different venues I can not compare previous
courses and runs to what I did this year.
But last year I was typically running 6:30 minute miles on the courses and this year I was running between 6:07 and 6:20 minute miles so an obvious improvement. I am self coached and lead a fantastic training group at Doncaster AC, as well as playing a big role in leading our beginner groups (part of my secret training) #nosuchthingasjunkmiles for me 🙂
Another benchmark all club runners can use is your run Britain rankings, and you can see that I had a handicap score of 2.5 during the cross country season in 2015, during the 2016 cross country season this has risen to 0.9. These stats don’t lie and my improvement is down to our fantastic training group at Doncaster Athletic Club, and my increasing pride in wearing the vest. Every time I wear my vest I think of the club and I give over 100% I am also chasing Lee Milburn and Simon Wright as hard as I can!
I am ending the year in great shape and my targets for 2017 will be 1:18 for the half marathon, sub 59 for the 10 mile and to break 2:45 for the marathon, all massive PB’s if I can do them, would dearly like to go sub 17 at Doncaster parkrun as well.
2 more races planned for 2016 which means I will finish the year on 48 races.
Checking out some tunes
Edwinstow Trail Race 10k – 44th race of 2016
I have run this race twice, 2015 and 2016. The garmin distance both times gave 6.11 miles, all the race is in woodland under trees. The course was a little different in 2016 but I don’t know where the differences were other than the finish was harder in 2016.
This year, unfortunately our youngest daughter was ill the night before the race, a nasty virus is going around at the moment. So our sleep was disturbed.
Normal breakfast (cereal and coffee x 2). Set off to the race and forgot my Heart Rate Strap which is a shame as I like the post race stats. Also forgot my SIS gels (I know its only a 10k but I sometimes take one before the start).
Did remember my excellent Montrail off road shoes (you could have just about got away with road shoes).
This Weeks training has been:
| Monday | 5.5 miles recovery 6am with DW 7:45 pace. Short track session evening (4 x 200m hard with 200m rec) |
| Tuesday | Doncaster AC track session 4 x 1 mile with 800m jog rec (+WU / WD) |
| Wednesday | 7.1 Miles trail recovery running 7:45 pace |
| Thursday | Doncaster AC club run – 8.5 miles at 7:00 pace |
| Friday | Club Christmas party |
| Saturday | Hang over and volunteer at parkrun |
| Sunday | Race day – 10km trails at 5:49 Pace |
Did a mile jogging about and some strides and queued up on the start line. I 
started one row back. By about half a mile I was in tenth place, I was using the terrain to my advantage so trying to accelerate on the descents and working hard on the climbs to keep my pace up.
By about three miles I was closing in on second place and I briefly passed him, we then ran together for perhaps two miles, he was a very encouraging guy to run with and he helped me maintain my pace (he has run a 1:17:35 half marathon). At about 5 miles (29:00) he pulled away and I had to hold my pace to keep 3rd place, this was very tough. I managed it and finished with a time of 35:36. My road 10k PB is 35:25 so very pleased with that!
The winner finished 40 seconds ahead of me, he ran London in 2:33:46, Snowdonia 2:46:14 and recent ran a half marathon in 1:12:04.
2015 V 2016
| Mile | 2015 | 2016 |
| 1 | 6:20 | 5:52 |
| 2 | 6:16 | 6:01 |
| 3 | 6:30 | 5:42 |
| 4 | 6:48 | 5:49 |
| 5 | 6:05 | 5:43 |
| 6 | 6:23 | 5:47 |
| bit | 5:31 | 5:52 |
| TOTAL | 39:14 | 35:36 |
Special mention to Karen Lynch who came to the aid of a injured runner, so her time reflects that she stopped to help.
Doncaster AC results below:
| Pos | Num | M | F | Name | Cat | CatPos | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 329 | 003 | Martin James | M40 | (002/086) | 00:35:36 | |
| 32 | 345 | 030 | Chris Lawson | M40 | (012/086) | 00:41:15 | |
| 33 | 502 | 031 | Paul Bond | M50 | (003/75) | 00:41:18 | |
| 53 | 341 | 050 | George Laing | M50 | (008/075) | 00:42:55 | |
| 89 | 181 | 008 | Marie-Louise Taylor | F35 | (004/107) | 00:45:06 | |
| 125 | 91 | 014 | Rose James | F35 | (006/107) | 00:47:11 | |
| 197 | 474 | 036 | Kate Willett | F | (007/053) | 00:50:51 | |
| 217 | 108 | 046 | Karen Lynch | F35 | (016/107) | 00:51:50 | |
| 259 | 371 | 067 | Karey Miles | F35 | (026/107) | 00:54:13 | |
| 265 | 151 | 070 | Jodi Savage | F35 | (029/107) | 00:54:25 | |
| 404 | 183 | 153 | Caroline Temperton | F45 | (051/104) | 01:00:55 | |
| 430 | 436 | 170 | Sarah Smith | F35 | (065/107) | 01:02:51 | |
| 431 | 360 | 171 | Claire MacLeod | F45 | (060/104) | 01:02:51 | |
| 445 | 148 | 181 | Vicky Royle | F45 | (063/104) | 01:03:41 |
Doncaster parkrun photos 3 December 2016
Doncaster Parkrun photos from today here.
Want to learn to run and get fit?
Our next beginners running course is in January 2017. All you pay is £46 for the year, we give you two coached runs a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the course is very gentle. Click here for details.
If you can already run why not come down and give us a try, its free to run with us for the rest of the year (apart from track sessions). Our groups have a very wide range of abilities.
Doncaster AC Senior Members Christmas Party photos
Doncaster AC Senior Members Christmas Party photos – Best night ever. Click here!
Marathon 5:20 – 18 week low milage plan
I recommend the book Advanced Marathoning, this will give you a lot of knowledge and information.
You need to have a realistic target finish time in mind. A good simple formula is double your half marathon time and add 15 minutes (I add 10). So if you can run a 1:25 half this could get you a 3:00 – 3:05 marathon.
Sample 18 week training plan is below. This is a guide, swap days about as you need to. Don’t worry about missing a week through illness. If your tired, miss a run or cut it short. Add a few races in, I would. 10km and half marathons fit in well with the plan.
Definitions of runs:
- VO2 Max Intervals (Speed Session) – Typically 600m to 1600m at current 5k pace, recovery typically between half the time taken to run the interval to the full time taken to run the interval.
- Speed training – Reps of between 50 to 150m. Typically 10 x 100m with acceleration over the first 70m and the float for the last 30m. 100m walk recovery between.
- Threshold Runs – tempo runs of at least 20 minutes at approximate half marathon pace – 82 to 91% of your max heart rate.
- Marathon Pace Runs – Just that – 79 to 88% of your max heart rate.
- Long Runs (16+ miles) and Medium Long Runs (12+ miles) – 16 miles or further (10 to 20% slower than your TMP) – start at 20% and build up to 10% – 74 to 84% of your max heart rate.
- General Aerobic Runs – Up to 12 miles, start slower than recovery runs and build up to a little quicker than recovery runs (15 to 25% slower than your TMP) – 70 to 81% of your max heart rate
- Medium Long Run – 11 to 15 miles (same pace as long runs)
- Recovery Runs – Relatively short runs (4 or 5 miles) – half way through the run do some strides x 5 (if you want to). (20% slower than your TMP) – Below 76% of max heart rate
Considering Heart Rate
I do not train to heart rate, I have provided the bands for those who wish to. I train to pace and look at my heart data after the run. Different people will tell you different bands for your heart rates. Different books will use different formulas. Different watches might work out your bands differently. With experience you can work your own out.
To work out your max heart rate, one theoretical formula is 207 – 0.7 x your age, so for me this gives 180.
To work out your max heart rate by doing a interval session (if not feeling well don’t attempt it), just find a 600m long moderate hill, do a gentle warm up run three high intensity repeats, jogging back down. If you run these 600’s flat out your heart rate should be within 2 or 3 beats of your maximum at the end of the third repeat. Do a gentle warm down. You may have to repeat this a few times to get an average.
Tips
I recommend using at least two different pairs of running shoes which are different makes, and alternate between the two. Comfort is key, I run in Mizuno Wave Inspire and Saucony Omni, both available for about £60. The slight difference in shoes will reduce the risk of injury and give the shoes a chance to recover after a run..
One simple fitness test we all can use every day – run up a flight of stairs and see how you feel at the top, if its easy then your ready for a good run session. If its tough then evaluate what you will do and run a bit easier than you planned to.
You should warm up before all runs, minimum 1 mile steady, include some drills when warmed up but be aware of injury if the drills are new to you. Simple drills are high knees, bum kicks and strides. You should stretch after all runs.
You should expect some runs to go badly, don’t worry about this. Get the bad runs out of the way before race day. I always have a terrible long run building up to a Marathon.
If you don’t have a garmin watch I highly recommend investing in one or similar to record your runs and to see your pace in real time.
If you have some running friends of similar ability try to get them to run with you or consider joining a running club.
Supplements
I use SIS recovery and energy supplements. They are easily available at Supermarkets. During the marathon I take a gel every 30 minutes. Get a belt to carry them. Hydration, for runs over 1 hour I run with a bottle belt, I like to do this as I am carrying extra weight that I will not have in the race, I only drink water as supplements in water might not be compatible with the gels. If you cannot take gels, try jelly babies.
Training plans
These are all low mileage plans, if you want to increase the mileage then modify as you see fit but don’t burn out, you must make it to the start! I have not written in any doubling up runs, 2 runs in one day. Occasionally you may get the urge to do so, if so I would run the second as a slow recovery run. If you feel an injury coming on seek advise and drop the harder runs for a few days, take care of yourself. We are all different, and overtime more changes occur to you, the plans are a guide so if you wish to change something then do. But don’t be tempted to run fast all the time, enjoy the steady runs and get to the start line full of energy.
Run with others when you can, so make the plan fit in to club run nights. Do parkrun! Not always hard. Race often to get race fit but be sensible.
Do Cross Country races in your county championships and leagues, these will bring you on no end!
Trust in your ability and judgement, be confident and don’t be afraid to adjust your goals.