I completed my last long run yesterday so I am starting to ease back on my training.  Its 4 weeks until London, some sensible advice on this subject can be found here.

Yesterday I did my last long run, I have done 6 long runs of around 20 miles, I will only occasionally do a long run at around my target marathon pace, I will save that for the big day:

To get a gauge of my fitness going in to this block of training I ran 17.25 miles on 21 January and it felt easy running 6:52 pace with Chris Ward.  Another useful fitness test was the Brass Monkey Half Marathon on 14 January where I averaged 5:55 pace.

Grim up North Canal Canter 20 mile race

I would have done East Hull 20 but its original date clashed with Grindleford, so I entered Its Grim up North Canal Canter 20 mile race.  Having run 22 miles on Thursday, a rest day on Friday, I was on tired legs for the race on Saturday.  Four Doncaster AC runners took part, Janet Hampson, Luke Osbon, Mark Webster and myself.  Its a low key event with 6 races going off at the same time (all with different colour numbers), I had no idea who I would be running against.  I also had no idea of the course.

Team #DAC love these people

The race started late and I started on the front of the runners, I was in second place from the start, but the chap who was in front of me was doing the marathon (and he would go on to finish in around 2:37:00), after about 3 miles I was passed by another marathon runner who went on to finish in about 2:41:00.  So I was leading the 20 mile race.

The race was out and back and never left the canal paths.  The paths were good but around 4 miles were quite muddy.  The route was fairly flat but a few short sharp hills existed at lock gates.  The canal path is very well used by walkers, runners, cyclists and god walkers so it was a bit busy at times.  Drinks stations around every 3 miles and I stopped at about 5 of them to have a quick drink.  At the turn around point I stopped for a minute and had 3 drinks.

The finish

On the return part of the race I looked for 2nd place in the 20 mile race, I probably had about 1 mile lead.  It was great to run past all the runners doing the 20 mile, marathon, ultra.  I used 4 SIS gels (free from SIS) and used the race to test my kit for London, my Zipvit gel belt (£10), trainers (Mizuno Wave Rider £75) and I ran in my 1000 mile compression socks (£12).  DAC vest which has lasted 100’s of races and Karrimor shorts.

My post run analysis shows I ran in Zone 4, Lactate Sub Threshold (right at the bottom of this).  My Garmin VO2 max continues to improve and I feel very strong at the moment, I almost wish VLM was this week, I am very hopeful for a PB at London.  Its just about being able to endure the pain for as long as possible, and that is mainly a mental thing.

I went through 10k in under 38 minutes, 10 miles in 61 minutes, half marathon in 81 minutes and 20 miles in 2:06.  I know I was slowing but if I had gone on for the marathon distance I think I would have got around 2:50:00.  Which is great on tired legs.

Today I did a gentle recovery run, 4 miles at 7:16 pace.  Felt so easy, a bit quick really.

Tune from 1994 played at Diztruxshon, Uprising and BYO.  If I raced to music this would be it.

This remains one of the hardest races to enter, you have about 60 seconds to get sorted before it sells out.  This year, myself and Rose decided to stay over the night before the race at a hotel about 600m away from the start.  Nice food, drink and accommodation.  Not very nice weather….

On Friday evening the chance of the race being cancelled existed, depending on the amount of the snow on the roads in the morning.  Hardly any snow fell overnight, but light snow was falling from 7am.  The race was on.

Quick drive to the Race HQ to collect our numbers and dibber and back to the warm car.  We were reading -1 degrees C, with a wind chill of -10.  I decided to set off with 3 layers on.  We all ran with extra kit, the risk was if you got injured or lost or conditions got very bad, you had to take care you yourself whilst waiting for help.

We met up with the other Doncaster AC runners at the event, Janet Hampson and Luke Osbon, and it was great to see Chris Lawson.  We took the necessary selfies and made our way to the start.

Its a fast start with a bottleneck only 200m from the start and then onto narrow trails with stiles, even near the front of the field you get stuck.

The 1st climb

1.5 miles in to the race is the first climb out of Froggatt, this climb is 529 feet in less than 1 mile on muddy paths and grass.  I decided to take my coat off and put it in my pack on this climb.  Then a quick descent down to Eyam, through the village and then a gentle climb along bridleways, fields, many stiles and a bit of road, at the top we got a great view of Cressbrook.

The fast bit of the race starts now, 7.3 miles to 11.7 miiles basically all down hill on farm tracks down to Great Longstone, then on to the Monsal Trail to Bakewell.

The second major climb soon started, 391 feet in 0.4 miles, lots of walking on this muddy section.  Then running along wide open muddy fields down to Edensor, Chatsworth and Baslow.  Difficult to get speed up due to the conditions.

And on to the final climb, a very tough 677 feet in 2 miles.  Then technical running on the flat and descent back down to Grindleford.

I have not spoken about the weather yet, at times the conditions were the worse I had ever run in with horizontal snow blizzards, any exposed skin was in discomfort but its difficult to cover up the mouth and nose as my glasses mist up.  Visibility was poor on the most technical sections and soft snow covered up rocks, so the risk of injury is high.  I decided not to run hard on the descents given this danger.  You know its cold when your shoe laces have frozen solid and you put a buff on and it is solid ice.

The race was about 0.4 miles longer than last year and the conditions were a lot worse.

592 finished.  I could be disappointed with my time but I am not because of the conditions and I ran some of the more difficult climbs well.  You might have thought the ground would be frozen but it was not lol.

Great refreshments at the finish with coffee, soup and cake.  My GPS track is below.

So January was more about building a base, and finding out where my current level of fitness was. It allowed me to set my training zones based on pace and to set a realistic target for London.

In February I had a Lactate Threshold Test done with AB Sport Analytics and this pretty much confirmed my pace zones were spot on, although I need to slow my recovery runs down a bit, probably slower than 7:30 minute miles, and as the purpose of a recovery run is to get the body ready for the next hard session I keep them short, ideally less than 10km.  The test lasted about an hour and gave me seven zones.  I found the results very interesting and I will be running approximately 25% of the time to Threshold.

February was about building my endurance, and I covered 220 miles (I ran every day).  I have come out of February feeling really good, no fatigue and the niggles have reduced.  My Garmin VO2 Max has never been higher, regardless of its accuracy this must be a good indicator.

I ran 3 parkruns, one was part of a 20 mile run (the day after my test) and the other two I raced with times of 18:22 and 18:09.

I raced at the Dewsbury 10k which I just about equalled my all time PB.

I did the Hope Fell Race, and I was delighted with my result.  Fell racing helps to develop running technique and strength.  My good friend, Joe Wade has been competing in fell races for a couple of years and his running technique is as good as any I have seen.  Fell racing usually has very difficult climbs, steep descents and a few flat sections.  Its all very technical and one mile might be 12 minutes and the next mile 6 minutes.  The body is forced to adapt, some of the best road runners started out as fell runners.

I love competing, I see it as an essential part of training.  This is where I do most of my threshold training, because I race as hard as I can and this equates closely to the right zone up to half marathon distance.  To be race fit, race often.  Its obviously a balance but if your not injured or fatigued, then why not race often? I did around 50 in 2017 and have never felt better.  So at the end of February I have taken part in 11 events so far in 2018.

Going in to March I have some more long runs planned (mainly in races) and I will be probably sustaining a similar weekly mileage, although probably with a few rest days.  So far this year I have run 388 miles (25 miles up on last year).

Kit for my training so far has been 60% Mizuno (mainly wave rider but some in wave inspire), 10% Hoka, 10% Altra and 10% On’s, 10% Saloman.  The Wave Rider will be my marathon shoe.  My Fenix 3 watch is still working great.  My Flip Belt is good enough for carrying a phone and keys.  My Saloman pack is great for long runs.  I recently got a Milestone Footpod to use with Zwift, this has given me some interesting data, My Foot Strike is toe and my rate of impact is low, thanks to Paul Brown for the coaching, this is good technique.

Its snowing today and I did a lovely run in sandal beat.

Both these races are fantastic events with loads of club runners taking part to test their fitness early in the year, very friendly events.

Ferriby 10 mile – 28 January 2018

Last year I ran my best time for 10 miles at Ferriby.  I was about a minute slower this year but the conditions were a lot tougher, the first half of the race was in to a strong head wind, and I was not feeling 100% this time.

I stopped for about 30 seconds at the half way drinks station as I was in need of 2 cups of water.  Before the start I was begging water from other runners despite taking what I thought was enough, so thanks James Osborne and stranger.  I think I had a bit of a cold.

My splits were 5:40 6:34 6:18 6:31 6:27 5:41 5:45 5:31 5:38 6:05.  I knew I would have a fast second half, with most of it down hill and the wind more behind and I finished with a time of 60:18.  With better conditions I think I could have run around 58:30.

Dewsbury 10k – 4 February 2018

I have done this one a few times and never felt like I had run the time I thought I could.  I was very confident going in to this race I could run a good time and hopefully a PB.  I travelled with Peter and Joe and we all had similar aims in mind, and we all finished within 30 seconds of each other, we will work well together in training and racing.

My splits were 5:38 5:45 5:54 5:37 5:36 5:39 1:21.  its a climb for the first half so a faster second half.  I missed my PB by 1 second, oops.  Anyone can find 1 second.

No time to stop for a drink at the drinks station today so I must be feeling better.

Peter and Joe both smashed their PB’s as did Nicola, Lee and Simon.

Sub 35 minute 10k hopefully this year.

The below table breaks down my best splits in this race (it was slightly long on the garmin), so I ran a PB for 5k and 5 miles.

And this table gives me my race predictions based on todays performances and I think they are spot on.

And finally some running data, 172 cadence, 1.64m stride and Avg HR 162.

Now time to get some long runs and big mileage weeks in.

Top tune.

On Sunday I extended my long run to 17 miles, basically running from DRI to Thorne and back.  I was pleased to be joined by Chris Ward on a freezing cold morning.

We planned to run a couple of miles easy, then picking up the pace for a few miles, then dropping it back down a bit, then picking it up again.  The last 2 miles to be a cool down.  It was not really obvious until we turned around at 8.5 miles that the wind had been behind us for the first half, and then it started to snow.  But we fought the wind and hit some quick miles.

The warm up and cool down were around 7:15’s and the rest of the run were sub 7’s, with the fastest miles being 13 (6:31) – 152bpm, 14 (6:28) – 157bpm and 15 (6:07) – 163bpm.  The average pace for the 17 miles was 6:52 min miles and it all felt good, working together.

Unfortunately this run knocked my energy levels quite hard, I was tired on Monday and did a short recovery run.  I decided to have a rest day on Tuesday so helped out at Doncaster AC doing administration for our 50 beginner runners, and then coaching the track session.  Long runs at pace always tire me out during marathon training, even if the run felt easy which it did.

Wednesday woke up feeling tired, but improved as the day progressed, which was a good job as I had the 3000m to run at Barnsley AC in the evening.  A quick warm up and joined the runners at the start.  12 runners went in my heat including training partner Andrew Forsyth and some good friends from the local running community.  It was quite breezy so I think this probably impacted on my time, but not the place.  I finished with a PB on an outdoor track with a time of 10:26.  This is my 3rd year of running the 3000m and my 3rd consecutive year of PB’s.  I am not counting my indoor time.  As its so early in the year, my power of 10 ranking, ranks me as 10th V40 in the UK.  However the runners in positions 1 – 9 all ran indoors so I am ranked 1st V40 3000m outdoors man in the UK for a day or 2 lol.

Laps were 1:19, 1:21, 1:23, 1:25, 1:27, 1:24, 1:24 and 37 for the last 200.  I will do better.  Many thanks to the volunteers at Barnsley.

I then watched the 2nd heat and Rose ran in the 3rd heat.  lots more track racing for me this year, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10000m.

Thursday and feeling good, did admin for our amazing beginner runners (and read some brilliant feedback for our LiRF’s).  Then did meet and greet for some new runners who ran with us for the first time (and they all enjoyed it).  Then led group 1, averaging 6:24 minute miles (a steady 1st mile 7:21 and a storming last mile 5:39).  Some of the group gave assistance to an injured cyclist who had been hit by a car, hopefully he was ok, he had pain in his leg and went in an ambulance.

Friday and feeling ok, easy run to the bank.

Timekeeping tomorrow at parkrun.  Might take my camera.

Never seen this video before – combined my 2 favourite pastimes together, running and drum and bass.

The only time I push myself to run at this pace is either at interval training (once a week) or in races.  I would burn out if I regularly ran at this pace.  I ran 5:55 pace for 13.1 miles today and based on P&D Advanced Marathoning book, my Lactate-threshold pace is between 5:45 and 5:55 (although I need to lose a couple of kg for the faster end)

Todays race was to see how I am physically and to set a realistic target for London and to set my pace bands for the coming months.  I had already estimated my pace bands before Christmas and I am pleased to say they are spot on.

I was a minute faster last year in the same race, but I was also 2kg lighter.  Some people estimate that for each kg lost, you might run 2 seconds a mile quicker so I am going to happily take that and assume the Christmas excess slowed me down about a minute 🙂  My chip time was 1:17:31 which is my second fastest half marathon to date, I also broke my PB’s for 5 miles and 10 miles as they officially stand.  My HR was 5 BPM lower this year compared to last year so I see that as a big positive.  I also had a good group to run with last year, not so much this year.  I was pleased to feel no injuries or niggles at all, given I have upped the mileage and done lots of races this is good.  I took 1 gel at the start today and had a sip at the 3 water stations.

My target time for London is between 2:40:00 and 2:45:00 and to achieve this my training pace bands will be:

I will do a lot of races to keep me race fit and sharp on the road to London, races less than 10 miles I will race flat out.  Longer races will be at target marathon pace if the terrain allows.

Excluding Snowdonia which I did not take seriously, my marathon track record follows, my PB’s will end soon over the marathon distance but hoping for another good shot at it this year:

Today was also a good opportunity to test my running shoes, I am fairly shore I will run London in the Mizuno Wave Rider, they were great today.

I have written loads of training plans for my club mates at Doncaster AC, based on the P&D Advanced Marathoning book, get a copy from amazon.

I completed Run Every Day December for the 1st time, having attempted it a few times before but never got past about 20 days consecutive running.  I managed about 40 days this time which gave me a good base for coming in to London Training, including a 50 mile week over Christmas.

I am carrying a slight bit of extra weight but feeling pretty good.  I was very pleased with my track session last night of 12 x 400m with 200m walk recovery.  The recovery was long enough to allow me to run approx. 75 second reps.  That was the point of the session, to really push the speed and maintain good form.  I felt good running at 5 minute miles, just got to do it for a bit longer than 400m lol.  I really need some track spikes.

I finished the year V40 ranked 10th in the 3000mi, 87th 5000m, 113 for 10 mile, 148 for half marathon, 47th for 20 Mile and 138th for Marathon.  Not bad for a self coached club runner.  Hopeful for more to come in 2018, got a half marathon, marathon, 10k and 10 mile race entered (and a few others).

We start our Wednesday track speed, technique and strength sessions next week which should help.

4 races are missing from the below list (which is my power of 10 profile) – Thunder Run, 200 mile ultra, Boxing day at Braithwell and NYE run at Oxspring.  Probably 4 of my best (well London and Brass Monkey were the best) races.

Link to littlejoerunners blog

A bit of honesty.  Not written anything for ages, I am still struggling from the 200 mile race a bit, my ankles are the main issue, they feel quite stiff.

I have done lots of races including a fairly disastrous Snowdonia Marathon.  It is important to respect the distance, which I did not.  It was never going to be a PB but with some proper training I could have broke 3 hours.  I went through half way in 1:27 so a descent start but the reality was that I was struggling from 8 miles.  I dropped 40 minutes on the second half which is shocking.

The cross country season is now in full flow and I am not quite where I was last year, but still a counter for the club so its important to give them my best shot.  With one more fixture to go hopefully Doncaster AC will be promoted.

One of the race highlights of the year, the Barnsley 10k went ok, I finished in 11th place about 10 seconds a mile down on last years time.  36:37 this year.

Parkruns are going well, I could go sub 18 most days at Doncaster but not doing it that hard at the moment as got Sunday races on.  Scunthorpe is probably the fastest parkrun I have tried, will be back in a few weeks to try to run a parkrun PB.

Race planning for 2018

Yorkshire Cross Country Championships

Brass Monkey Half Marathon – 14 January 2018 (Enter 6am 21 October)

Ferriby 10 Mile – 28 January 2018

Stamford 30k – 11 February 2018

East Hull 20

London Marathon

The below is a dump of my garmin data for the months building up to London Marathon 2017.  The races I did are highlighted in red.

I PB’d in almost all of my races on the build up to the Marathon, my best performances were the Barnsley 10k 35:27, Brass Monkey Half 1:16:35 (approx. 6 minute PB) and Stamford 30k 1:55:09 (approx. 9 minute PB).  But it was not just about the long runs, I also PB’d on the 3000m track (EIS Sheffield) and at the Doncaster Parkrun getting the V40 age group record.

Two of my most memorable long runs were the Grindleford Gallop which is a very tough off road race and on the 5 March I ran a GFA time covering 26.2 miles in 3:04 carrying my own water at what felt like an easy pace.

Most of the Tuesday runs were on the track and the Thursday runs were club runs.