After Brass Monkey Half Marathon I did a couple of recovery runs (Monday / Tuesday), then on the Wednesday I got nasty rib pain and was unable to run again for a week.  Not the best build up to Ferriby 10 Mile and a bit annoying as I am training for London again.

Once again, I booked in to see Eddie Fletcher of Physiolink, a fellow runner at Doncaster AC and the man who fixes me when things are not right.  After his treatment, he gave me some stretches to do and told me I could run, so I did.

Wednesday – 4 miles @6:27 minute miles

Thursday – 7.25 miles @6:59 minute miles (sprained my ankle on this run lol)

Friday – 4.5 miles @ 7:21 minute miles (off road at night time)

Saturday – Rest

Sunday race day.

In the last 2 months I have PB’d over 10k (on a tough course), Half Marathon (Easy Course) and now today for the first time ever I got under 60 minutes for 10 miles, running 59:18.  If my build up had continued as it was going before Brass Monkey I would have got a better time today, I am sure of it.  But considering my last 3 road races have all been PB’s this continues to give me confidence on the build up to London 2017.  Its ok being a V40 runner!

Train Easy (usually), Race Hard – Ferriby History Below

Team Doncaster AC Results:

In order to build up my confidence in my estimated London Marathon time, I wanted to run a big PB in this race.  Nothing else mattered, focus on what motivates me, race to pace and remember what Carl Ryde told me to do and #WNHTFA

I have put in a couple of weeks of decent training and this was basically my 4th race of 2017 (in 2 weeks).  I have an overuse problem at the moment, under my left foot.  I decided to seek specialist advice and I had a treatment session with Eddie Fletcher on 9 January.  Its rare I see specialists but I recommend Eddie, top advice and top bloke.

Some of the DAC runners today

I was hoping for a 6 minute mile half marathon, of if things went really well to break 78 minutes.  I ended up running 76:30 which was 5:49 minute miles.  From memory I went through:

So todays PB was 4:44 – which is 21 seconds per mile.

Kit list:  Mizuno Wave Catalyst shoes £50.  Karrimor Shorts £5.  DAC Vest £20.  Garmin Fenix 3 (very expensive lol but will last several years).

Shout out to Richard Spooner, Paul Johnson, Simon Newton and Kevin Doyle, nice group to run with!

Thanks to all the DAC training squad, the two hard runs we do a week are what have brought me on more than anything else.  Going to keep my recovery runs around 8 minute miles, working well.  Thanks to Darren Wood, Rose James Janet Kerry for keeping me sensible.  I get lots of support on social media (as well as parkrun) as well, it all helps so thanks all.

Warming down like pros at the Yorkshire XC Championships!

Week 4 of my London training plan finished.

So you can see I am running at a wide variety of paces, from 5:40 minute miles to 8:16 minute miles.  Its all good.  Based on Pfitzinger / Douglas LT runs should be done at your half marathon race pace.  Because I ran hard at the Brass Monkey half, I have my lactate-threshold value both as a pace and a HR for threshold runs, its quite simple to work this out – race to your best ability for a half marathon after a warm up and at the end, check your average pace and heart rate for the race.  I don’t do many runs at this pace because they would kill me and I want to get the start of races fresh and not (too) injured.

For me race often works very well, I enjoy testing myself.

Loving these beats *Drum and bass fans only lol

So this morning I did my first long run for London Marathon and I ran with my HRM strap so I could get some data for post run review.  This was after racing two 5km parkruns yesterday so I was not on fresh legs.

The plan was for:

• 1. 5 miles at 7:30 to 7:20 pace.
• 2. Then 5 miles at 7:20 to 7:10 pace.
• 3. Then 5 Miles at 7:10 to 6:55 pace.  7.5 miles out and 7.5 miles back, on tarmac.  As it was icy I ended up running on grass verges for some of the run.

I have deleted a lot of the data but I left on what I think is interesting.

For reference, my recent 10km PB was run at 5:42 min miles, 165 Av HR, 172 cadence, 1.65m stride length and 226 Ground Contact time.

I can see that as my pace increased my run cadence did not (strides per minute), the pace was controlled by my stride length which increased 6cm as I went from part 1 to part 2, and then 6 cm from part 2 to part 3.  My ground contact time also reduced as my stride length increased.  My vertical oscillation did not change.

As I am getting over a cold I would not take to much interest in my HR readings.  The run felt easy, I did increase the pace for the last 2 miles to 6:45 so was working quite hard towards the end.

All this data is interesting but it is not going to make me any faster other than perhaps trying to increase my cadence a bit.

Unfortunately I caught a cold over Christmas.  I was not sure if I should run at all let alone run hard but we all know what runners are like.

25 December 2016

I had to go to Barnsley anyway on Christmas Day so decided to give it a go.  108 runners took part and I started near the front, my typical parkrun strategy is to start perhaps 10 or 15 people back and within about half a mile be in around my finish position, so that’s what I did.

Barnsley is a good course, all on paths with some hills (probably the hilliest parkrun I have done but I had not done many different ones).

My breathing was not great and my time was a little disappointing 19:09 in 3rd place.  But I was not feeling great.  I have run Barnsley parkrun 3 times (it was my 1st parkrun) and this particular run was my highest age grade of the 3 so that’s something.

Splits were 6:34, 6:48 and 6:40.

New Years Day – 1 January 2017

For the last 2 years we have done the Cleethorpes 10k but this year we thought we would stay a little closer to Doncaster and do the parkrun double.  James Osborne suggested Clumber Park 9am and Poolesbrook at 10:30.  They are 30 minutes drive apart.

So it was a chilly, wind and wet morning (it got wetter and windier as the morning progressed).  Several Doncaster AC runners met at Clumber Park and some went on to do the double parkrun.

I had not done Clumber or Poolesbrook before so just ran in road shoes (racing shoes) which was fine.

Clumber was a mix of road, trail and gravel.  With some gentle hills in woodland, 2 laps (usually run clockwise but the reverse today).

Poolesbrook was a good firm track and very flat.  3 laps around a lake and a bit extra to get the 5km in.

I am not over the cold and am still coughing, but I don’t think these runs caused me any problems.

Clumber Park was my 50th parkrun, its taken me 3 years to get to 50 and I am pleased to have done so.

Special mention to Jordan Street (Clowne RRC) – very encouraging guy, always gets me going when I am fading in races including both parkruns today.

My regular training week has consisted of Track Reps on Tuesday at club, Tempo or Threshold running on Thursdays at club, parkrun or racing on Sundays.  The rest of the runs tend to be at an easy pace (7:30 minute miles or slower).  I run most days and try to get 40 miles in or more a week (the reality is I tend to do just over 30 miles a week).  I don’t do gym, cycling, swimming or any other form of exercise unless I am injured, I don’t have time and running gives me everything I need.

The psychology of running is just as important as training (but perhaps not recognised as such), I am able to use my state of mind well in races, I know what motivates me to succeed and it costs me nothing.  A big part of this involves a 10 year old white, blue and green vest.

My biggest training aid is my garmin, I enjoy using it and like the data it gives me.

I became a V40 this year which has been good and I have had a few age group prizes.

Progress as measured on Power of 10 (ranked overall (so I assume all age groups and men and women) on Power of 10):

Having “fun” at the Thunder Run 2016. 33 DAC are going next year so pure chaos is expected x

I think my most impressive runs for 2016 were the London Marathon (My 5th consecutive marathon PB) and the Barnsley 10k.  I have run an average of 31.7 miles a week, I am determined to get closer to 40 a week in 2017!  I was hoping to break 2:50:00 at London but 2:51:24 was still a massive PB.  I did not know if I could run a 10k race faster than my 2015 PB time of 35:56.  So to run 35:26 was amazing, and then only a week later I ran 35:36 on a hilly trail 10k.

My average pace for the year is 7:45 minute miles across all training and racing, but I was able to run London Marathon at 6:32 minute miles and the Barnsley 10k at 5:42 minute miles.  I think that by keeping my pace slow on most training runs I have more energy all around and I pick up less injuries.  I typically have 1 or 2 physio / massage visits a year.  When I use to train at a faster pace regularly I was spending several hundred pounds a year on treatment (and I am racing faster now which is the result I am looking for).  This is what works for me, we are all different so if you are hitting your targets using a totally different method carry on as you are, but don’t be afraid to change if you are not getting what you want.

In to my 13th year of running, I ran PB’s in 10k, Half Marathon, 30k and Marathon.  I ran Parkrun PB’s.  I did not run a road 5km race but I unofficially broke my 5km time twice in 10km races hitting about 17:20.  I enjoy my running and racing, I ran some quite disappointing times in 10k races this year but its not a problem, just enter another and have another go, racing most weekends means its only a week until I can try to hit another PB and this takes the pressure off.

The best training squad in town – Proud to wear the vest! These people know how to improve and work hard to do so

Races not included in the below list are the Lady Bower 50 (miles), Thunder Run, Harewood House (short) trail Half Marathon and the Grindleford Gallop (22 miles).  So I have done about 48 races in 2016 (+ a few time trials).

The toughest race in 2016 was the Lady Bower 50, I was running 17 minute miles at one point!  So I have entered it again for 2017 lol.

I pulled out of the Ward Green 6 mile race on Boxing day as I was full of cold (I took my camera instead).

I have done about 40 volunteer parkrun roles in 2016, I have taken photographs at about 44 running events in 2016 and I have been part of an amazing group of Run Leaders helping about 150 new people start running with Doncaster AC.

As a family we had some amazing holidays, all of them basically turned in to training camps with Rose James, Janet Kerry and Carl Ryde.  Good times and sensible training advice.

Targets for 2017

• Sub 17 at a 5k / parkrun
• Sub 35 for a 10k
• Sub 60 for 10 miles
• Sub 80 for Half Marathon
• Sub 2:50:00 for Marathon
• To complete a 200 mile ultra