Nike Pegasus Turbo 35

I got these in September 2019. Those that know me know I am always looking for a bargain and I could not believe my luck with these.

Lots of my running friends were telling me how good these were, people that had previously done most of their running in Asics, Mizuno, On’s etc. I had only tried Nike shoes once before and I did not want to pay £130+ to find I did not like them.

I was browsing ebay one day and I found someone selling them for £30 (delivered), advertised as brand new with all sizes available and lots of colours. Why I ordered white I will never know….

The catches were, they did not come in a box and I had to order them from a ebay seller in China. So I ordered a pair, got a tracking number and followed them across the world to Doncaster, they arrived after about 10 days. I put them on and they were too small, I was gutted, I had not ordered UK size 10, I had ordered US size 10. So I sold these to Malc at running club for £30 and I ordered two more pairs of US size 11.

After a few days the two pairs arrived and I put one pair away and started running in the cheapest running shoe I had ever owned. Were they genuine Nike or a copy? Would they fall to bits? Would they injure me?

They are the best running shoes I have ever owned, I do not track the mileage I run in shoes, I just run in them until they wear out and the first pair is still feeling good to run in. The grip / rubber has warn out on the sole but until bits start falling off I will keep going, If I had to guess I would say I have done between 400 and 500 miles in them, and many races. They are good on road and off road.

The shoes seam to encourage you to run fast, so I would wear something else for recovery runs now like Mizuno or On’s. I am not sure if I would do a full marathon in them or if I would stick to Mizuno, I probably would give them a try though.

Unfortunately the seller is no longer on ebay, I would have got another 5 pairs if I could.

I am a total convert to Nike now after being a Mizuno runner for 16 years, I do still run in other shoe brands but if I want to feel like putting a great shoe on for a run, I pick these. I have not yet tried the 4% or newer carbon plate shoes.

I did recently pick up some Pegasus 36 shoes for £52 delivered, and these feel good. So a years worth of running shoes (three pairs) cost me around £112.

So I am in the rather unique place to have a pair of heavily warn shoes V brand new unworn shoes to compare.

Note how the shape has changed both at the toe and heal
The toe has permanently deformed, my toes do bent upwards when I run
The heal has also permanently deformed
The sole has significant wear, but I have not yet encountered any issues

Kit – Garmin Watches

Other bands do exist such as Suunto and Polar and they make some great looking watches, but I have only ever owned Garmin watches so I am only able to write about these. Once you have used a particular brand you get locked in to their ecosystem much like the Android and Apple ecosystem and it is difficult to change if you want to keep all your historical data and future data in one place. I will write about Garmin Connect another day.

As a minimum you need a sports watch to be able to tell you how far you have run, how fast you are currently running, time elapsed and average pace. Anything else is a bonus and even the most basic sports watches will tell you a lot more.

Sports watches have to be durable and able to take hot, cold, wet weather, you might even go swimming with it on if it is waterproof. If you are in to triathlon then get a tri watch. Ultra runners need a watch that offers great battery life and the option to recharge on the run as well as mapping ideally. Runners will not go wrong with the Forerunner watches, they are brilliant. The vivoactive watches probably offer the best value for multisport and general lifestyle.

The current collection at our house

Forerunner 205

My first Garmin watch was the Forerunner 205 which I purchased on 31 July 2007 for £105 from Amazon. At the time just about everyone had this or the 305 which was red, the 305 was slightly more advanced which allowed the user to connect a Heart Rate Monitor.

The watch was very bulky but you did not really notice it, it had very similar functionality to what we have in today’s watches but without the refinement and you would not wear it to the pub.

Garmin Forerunner 205 Review - Serious Running Blog || Serious ...

It had to be connected to a computer using a cradle and wire, this could be very hit and miss and the contacts required frequent cleaning to get rid of sweet and dirt. You connected it to transfer the data to the Garmin website, and you could sync the Garmin website to transfer the data to 3rd party websites such as Fetch Everyone which I still use today. This was the equivalent of Strava up until around 2013 when Strava realised they should support runners a bit more.

The 205 allowed runners to view up to 4 data screens, and as you can see, the data was easily readable, it auto lapped every mile and could be programmed to do interval training or to show a virtual runner. The GPS accuracy was as good as what we have today, possibly even better. Using the watch became second nature, you could use it without looking at it, you just remembered where the buttons were. I think Garmin have always been good at making products with easy usability. I used it for five years (in all weather) before I decided to upgrade, it was still working fine and I ended up giving it away to Carl Ryde.

Forerunner 410

My second Garmin watch was the 410 which I purchased on 16 May 2012 for £140 from Amazon. My previous watch was still working well but I wanted to try a watch that looked less bulky and it came with a heart rate monitor chest strap. The watch had 2 buttons and a touch screen, this compared with the 205 which I think had 7 buttons.

410 at the London Marathon

The technology was not quite ready for the reduction in size, the screen became less easy to read, cluttered, low resolution and could show less data. You could set the screen to scroll between screens but that was no good for me, I wanted to see the data I needed without waiting for it to scroll.

The 410 was wireless for the transfer of data, this used a protocol called ANT+, Bluetooth was not ready for Garmin watches. You had to plug in a USB stick that looked like a memory stick which was a bit hit and miss. I was wanting to be able to upload data without having to use computer and you could do this with a USB OTG cable, the ANT stick and an Andoid phone running some dodgy software. Not an easy solution but it worked sometimes.

To charge the watch Garmin developed a new cradle but again, this was not great and the contacts required regular cleaning.

The touch screen could be temperamental, and I remember when fell racing on a very wet night at Castleton the screen went mad.

I kept the watch until around March 2015, the watch was still going fine and it had got me through my first 3 marathons but I had seen a new watch that looked like a watch you could wear as a normal watch all the time so i decided to upgrade. We actually had 2, 405 watches (Rose also had one) and these were given away to Wayne Martison and Joe Wade and I am happy to see they are both still going strong.

Fenix 3

I left the Forerunner series when I got my third Garmin watch, the Fenix 3 from Gooutdoors (the day it was released) for £400. The first 50 people to get this watch got a free backpack worth over £50 which is a great piece of kit. At first I thought the watch was amazing but not for long.

I had a nightmare with the watch, Garmin had moved to a MTK GPS chip from some other manufacturer. I am not sure if this was the cause of the errors I kept getting but the GPS tracks were not as accurate, in addition sometimes when I ran past mobile phone masts my Garmin would teleport me a few hundred meters away and then back, which had the result of crazy inaccurate data. I had expected better from a £400 investment.

I contacted Garmin and after a couple of emails they agreed to replace it. Brilliant service from Garmin but i was dismayed to see the new watch did exactly the same. I probably persevered with it for 6 months, waiting for software updates etc but they did not fix it. I reached out to Garmin again, and they agreed to replace it again. I was pleased to find my 3rd Fenix 3 worked well and did not give me GPS errors, finally I could enjoy the watch. I had been running with my 410 and Fenix 3 at the same time as I could rely on the data from the 410. I was very pleased that Garmin had replaced the watch, I can not fault their customer service.

The watch connected to by phone via bluetooth, and it connected to my home network. Brilliant. I could install different watch faces, different data screens and widgets to get weather forecast and control music on my phone. The watched tracked my activity levels, it had a step counter, it knew when I went up stairs, it tracked my sleep. I never took it off. The battery was incredible, I could get a week out of it at a time, the screen was good and colour.

Image may contain: Martin James, standing, shoes, shorts and outdoor
Fenix 3 at the Trunce

No question, it is a big watch but it never bothered me when running. It does not have an optical HR sensor, the Fenix 3HR came later.

I was starting to do ultra races and I was able to produce my own GPX routes and get them on the screen for me to navigate.

Garmin had designed another cradle for the watch, mainly used for charging but also for data transfer to a PC. The designs were getting better and you could wear the cradle whilst running to charge the watch which I did.

I did feel the watch could have had a better processor in it, at times it was quite slow particularly when using it on long navigation races. With regards to Garmin putting out software updates, I still get them today, not bad for a 5 year old watch.

It died when I went open water swimming, it was ok in the water but when I got out the watch started randomly switching between screens and the buttons stopped working. I was gutted and took the watch to bits to try to see if I could dry it out. The buttons did not start working again unfortunately.

Fenix 5s plus

My fourth Garmin watch was the Fenix 5S plus from CeX for £299. I had been without a garmin for a couple of weeks and after a bit of research I decided to stick with the Fenix series. I had always wanted a watch that had internal memory for the storage of music. The watch was used but condition looked good.

It had the same button layout as the Fenix 3 and it was operated in a very similar method so I had no problem getting use to it. It has a more intuitive menu system, better screen and optical HR sensor.

I went for my first run with the watch and noticed one of the data screens showed a map, I was blown away, I have not loaded any maps on to the watch but as you can see below the detail of mapping is brilliant.

Unfortunately the battery is quite poor, I need to charge it every 2 or 3 days and if I use Bluetooth earphones with it the battery drains very quickly, not sure if I would get 3 hours out of a full charge. It may be that the watch needs a replacement battery and I will change it at some point if I can find a new one.

I am very pleased to see Garmin have adopted a standard charging cable for their watches now, hopefully they will stick with it, it seams to work well.

Garmin make amazing watches although I do think the high end prices are getting a bit silly. You do occasionally find amazing discounts so keep your eyes open.

Fenix 3 resurrection

After trying to fix the Fenix 3 many times over the last 6 months I did it! I had been taking it to bits and spraying the switches with contact cleaner. This would get them working again for a day or two before they packed in working again. As a last ditch attempt I just sprayed some standard WD 40 on the switches and 2 weeks later the watch seems to be working fine.

The family of Garmin watches

From left to right – Fenix 5S Plus, Forerunner 245 Music (daughters), Vivoactive 3 (Roses) and the Fenix 3.

How fast should you train?

We are all different, but these training intensities have always worked for me. I never really intentionally followed them, I just did them when I was running anyway but when I look back at sessions I have done over the last decade these were around the pace bands I ran to (and still do). Check out the Daniels’ Running Formula book if you want the in depth version of the below.

On the below calculator (at the bottom of this page) , Select Event Distance and input your time, then hit calculate.

The Race Paces just shows you how fast you need to run your splits in to run the time you input.

The Equivalent tab is a race predictor based on the time you provided.

The Training tab is the interesting one, it tells you how fast to undertake different types of running.

  • Easy – most of your running should be spent doing easy running, it helps the body to recover, builds up resistance to injury, develops the heart muscle. You should do a minimum of 30 minutes when you do an easy run.
  • Marathon – This is your estimated marathon pace. For those training for a marathon it is obviously useful to do some long runs at around this pace. Personally, when going out for a long steady run my pace will be between Marathon pace and the top end of easy pace.
  • Threshold – If you are in top condition and ready to race hard, threshold running is the pace you can sustain for 60 minutes. In reality, in training this is difficult to keep on pace for more than 30 minutes, its tough running and you will be pleased when its over. This is also called Tempo running. You do not have to do a Threshold run in one go, you can break it down in to sections of say 5 or 10 minutes, have a short rest and go again.
  • Interval Training – typically you run at around your 5k pace for distances of between 400m and 1000m and have a break between efforts. The length of the break will depend on the length of the interval. You don’t have to run to distance, you can run to time or on irregular circuit. You might also incorporate hill work.
  • Repetition Training – Very high intensity running with longer recoveries. Typically shorter reps of 200m, 300m, 400m and perhaps 800m. Recovery would be 2 to 3 times as long as it took you to run the effort. Or slow jog the recoveries of the same distance as the effort.

A typical weekly plan for me might look like

Monday – Easy running for 50 minutes (right at the slow end of the pace band).

Tuesday – Interval or Repetition training (usually interval training for me).

Wednesday – Easy Running for 50 minutes (near the fast end of the pace band).

Thursday – Threshold Run – Typically 1 mile easy, 5 miles of hard effort, 1 mile easy.

Friday – Rest or Easy running.

Saturday – Parkrun at threshold + a bit more easy.

Sunday – Long steady run somewhere between easy and marathon pace. Typically 90 minutes or 12 miles.

Training diary 21 Feb to 1 March

21 February – Rest day and meeting with Amie Knott. Biked 5 miles commute to work.

22 February – National Cross Country Championships. Nightmare trying to get to the venue, better planning needed. Took 50 minutes to travel about 400m causing grid lock on the local roads. The queue vanished after you had paid the parking marshals. Got the tent up, made a mad dash to get the teams race numbers and we were good to go. Some of out athletes had to make their own way to find us as their parents were stuck in the traffic.

Doncaster AC took around 20 athletes to the event and we made use of a gifted tent, thank you Jody.

The event was good, very tough underfoot for perhaps a quarter of the course, but that is a long way when for the senior men we had 8 miles to run. Very muddy in areas and pretty much slowing down to a walk (reflected in the pace of 7:11). Took a dive in one bog. I was 3rd man home from Doncaster. Well done to all out junior and senior athletes who took part.

Image may contain: 5 people, including Keith Bell, people standing, child, shorts and outdoor

Looking at my legs I had fallen down just before this

I finished in 733rd place, 1716 runner finished. I hope this shows the standard of the race, I am running around 36 minutes for a road 10k on the right day. Some of the best runners in the country racing against club runners of any standard. I binned my spikes after 4 years of action.

Image may contain: Martin James, shorts, child, outdoor and text

23 February – The rescheduled Scunthorpe Valentine 10k. Not ideal being the day after the cross country but at least the event still took place. The wind was brutal making the fist half of the race difficult, then a couple of miles of tailwind (but the damage had already been done), then a mile of cross wind not helping much and a finish on the running track. A great turnout form Doncaster AC with times from 36 minutes to 70 minutes showing how inclusive we are.

I worked as hard as I could, running with Simon Wright until about 2.5 miles, then I pulled away and passed Peter Badger and Connor Anderson (who finished 1st U20 I think). When we had the tail wind both Peter and Simon were able to catch me and pass me, Peter picked up the pace and beat me by 53 seconds. I tried to go with Simon but he had the edge and beat me by 4 seconds (finishing 1st M55). My wife, Rose ran a PB and finished 1st F40!

24 February 2020 – Bike to work, bike home. Steady recovery run of 10km length running at a pace of 8:25 minute miles with Todd.

25 February 2020 – Bike to work, bike home. Doncaster AC Track session, opted to pace Shaz as my legs were still battered.

  • 2 x 2000m – 8:22, 8:21
  • 1 x 1000m – 4:06
  • 2 x 400m – 1:30, 1:30
  • 2 x 200m – 0:38, 0:36

26 February 2020 – Bike to work, bike home. 6.6 miles from club, started steady (7:28) and built it up to fastest mile of 6:32.

27 February 2020 – Rose went away with running club to Bennidorm for a long weekend of fun and racing.

I ran with beginners who did 10 minutes running, 3 minutes walking and 10 minutes of running. The beginners are nearly at the end of the course and will make an amazing addition to the road runners at Doncaster Athletic Club.

After beginners I led a group 1 club run from the back of the group covering 7 miles at around 7:30 pace.

28 February – Was not sure if I could be bothered to run, got the day off so decided I could not waste the opportunity. Most of my running club including my wife Rose James Was Thompson are in Benidorm for the weekend so they are getting some warm weather training and racing Saturday night. Got my shoes on and set off, no music, water, gel. Got thinking as you do, how far should I go? No route planned or pace planned. Thought got to get a long run in sometime, just do it, 20 miles in at around 3 hour pace. Rained all the way, last 5 miles were rubbish with strong headwind, at times hail. Got home, could not get my keys to open the door, my hands were like ice. Eventually got in and had a coffee. Really pleased to have got my run in. That’s 201 for Feb miles so I get my 200 badge from Fitwins and have a day off tomorrow to recover for Norton.

29 February – Got my first volunteering badge at Cusworth parkrun after volunteering at Doncaster parkrun 124 times. Took photos which can be found here.

1 March – The Norton 9 road race. Another poor weather forecast with stormy winds, great…. Did 2.5 miles warm up basically running from the race HQ and car park a few times. Had no real expectations of running a great race. I set off like a rocket (never going to learn), the wind was behind us and down hill, looked at the garmin and hitting 4:55 minute miles. Rapidly backed off the pace letting Peter Badger and the leaders go. The tailwind helped for about the 1st mile, then became a cross wind. I was running with Mariusz until about 4 miles and I had to let him go, at around the same time Jono passed me, looking strong and he went with Mariusz. I don’t think my position changed from 4 miles till the finish. Worked hard up the 1st hill in to the head wind, legs went jelly like at the top. Kept working as hard as I could, Graham Beardsley got a photo of me (below).

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Photo by Graham Beardsley

Working hard to keep my place, turned the corner to run down to Willow Bridge and got a shout from Chris Ward. This would be the toughest mile climbing up into a direct headwind. Survived the climb and turned left and started the best bit, down hill with a tailwind, time to up the pace and see what happens. Did not catch anyone but ran a 5:46 mile.

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Photo by Dawn Fletcher

Nice to see my stride length is looking good and flying feet 😀 Over a minute PB on the 9 mile distance 55.10 😀 16th overall and proud NOT to be a team counter. 3 #DAC4ever 💙💚⚪ athletes ahead of me, a great team. Proud club captain delighted to see around 25 #DAC4ever athletes taking on the wind 👌 Check out my £30 Running shoes, love them @nikerunning

This weeks training diary – 9 to 16 February 2020

9 February 2020

I was down to run a 10k race but this was postponed for a week due to high winds. So I did a rare treadmill run, I have one at home and I did not fancy running in high winds. I did a total of 6.5 miles and the pace varied from 7:45 to 6 minute miles.

10 February 2020

Went down to track but opted not to run, was not feeling great so took a rest day. I had to work Sunday night so was tired after that.

11 February 2020

Bike to work, bike home.

Doncaster AC Club run. Track session, short warm up 0.75 miles, then in to the main session of 4 x 1000m > 2 min recovery. 2 x 500m > 1 min rec. 2 x 300m > 45 sec rec. Splits were not amazing but ok (was very windy and we had some hale storms):

1000m reps – 3:52, 3:55, 3:49 and 3:46.

500m reps – 1:47 and 1:46.

300m, reps were 59 and 1:03.

So total volume of effort was 5.6km. Was a bit slack with my warm down, just one lap of track.

12 February 2020

Mid week marathon morning training run:

0.5 mile warm up

10k out running at 7:11 minute mile pace. 10k back running 6:29 minute mile pace (headwind all the way back).

0.5 mile warm down.

Evening run with Rose, 7 mile head torch run at 8:43 minute miles. This was a bonus recovery run for me, so giving me a total of 20 miles for the day.

13 February 2020

Bike to work, bike home.

Doncaster AC Club run, 1 mile warm up, then running a loop of just over 2 miles twice with a short rest between, 1 mile warm down. This was my first (sub)threshold run of the week with a total volume of 4.5 miles averaging 6:09 pace for the loops. 6.8 miles total run for the day.

14 February 2020

Bike to work, bike home.

Head torch recovery run with my valentine Rose into Sandall Beat woods (very muddy), total of 6.06 miles at a nice steady 9:20 minute miles.

15 February 2020

Frickley parkrun for the 1st time, did a short warm up of 0.68 miles. Then ran the parkrun, excellent course and wonderful volunteers. Nice post run drink as well. I know it is the day after Valentines day but 1st lady was my wife, Rose James 😍and I was delighted to have a good run with the inspirational Simon Newton, I was delighted to finish 1st overall 😀 Thanks to Jody Breeze Was Elders for cake and great to see a good turnout from DAC.

My mile splits were 6:35, 6:04 and 6:02. Taking the hills in to account, the GAP pace was 5:47, 5:56, 5:53. My second (sub)threshold run of the week. It was a bit windy and raining, trail paths which were water logged and a bit muddy.

16 February 2020

Quite a windy forecast, did a run from Cantley park with 4 other runners, did 9 miles at 7:28 minute miles. Was not that bad really so a nice easy recovery run.

Total for the week (10 to 16th) is 49.9 miles and my average pace has been 7:23 minute miles including 1 speed session and two tempo (sub) threshold runs and lots of easy running.

2019 Running Review

4 Four Villages Half Marathon

After a fairly poor 2018 I was not really sure what to expect in 2019. I started the year training for the London Marathon. As I have said for many years, racing forms part of my training, I am not talking about running to threshold in a race, I always set off giving hard effort (based on the distance, how I am feeling and race tactics) and run as hard as I can whilst being sensible.

I did seven races in January including three parkruns, the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships, the Northern Cross Country Championships and two half marathons. Although I was delighted to win the V40 Northerm Masters championships I was disappointed with my half marathon times having not broken 80 minutes. Still a solid month with 205 miles (very high for me).

February was a bit quieter with 3 races, the highlight of which was only 3 days in to the

Dewsbury 10k

month. I went to Dewsbury with no real hope of running a PB, it is an out and back race with a slight climb on the way out. I got to halfway in 18 minutes and ran the second half in 17:22. I realized with about 200m to go I could PB if I took the pain and accelerated, so I finished with 35:22. Brilliant bonus considering I was training for a marathon. I struggled at the Stamford 30k with the headwind in the second half. The National Cross Country championships ended the month and I had a solid race despite almost going down with an ankle sprain. 143 Miles for February.

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Stamford 30k

March was quieter again with just 4 parkruns (18 or 19 minutes) and competing in the Yorkshire Veterans Cross Country Championships. I got a couple of long runs in including running out and back to watch the Gainsborough 10k at pace for 22.6 miles. 201 Miles for March.

Yorkshire Veterans Cross Country Championships – Photo Chris Cull

I eased back on my training through all of April so as to have fresh legs for London which was on 28 April. I did 3 parkruns (including one the day before the marathon at an easy pace). 158 miles for April. I had earned my place on the Championship Start and was determined to make up for last year. I had set a realistic target (2:50:00) based on my races and training building up to the marathon and was delighted to finish strongly with a time of 2:48:47. My blog about the marathon can be found here.

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400m race at Doncaster

I decided to take no rest days after the marathon, I did not feel broken (I was but I felt ok). I ended up doing 4 races in May and I threw the hammer! I 6 days after London I raced Gainsborough parkrun which is a very tough course. The day after I raced the North Lincs Half Marathon, again, just missing out on 80 minutes and finishing my 23rd race of 2019. Then it hit me and I was totally knackered. I raced the Askern 10k and finished with 36:22 and I also took a team of 6 to the British Masters Road Relays at Birmingham. I gave everything but struggled to run well. My May total was just 79 miles.

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British Masters Road Relays

During June I did some short races, I did the 5000m on the track in the South Yorkshire Track and Field League, not a great time 18:25, I did a last minute fill in (No time for a warm up), in the Northern Track and Field League 400m in 64 seconds, I ran a reasonable leg in the South Yorkshire Road Relays bringing our M40 team home in 4th place. Back up to 110 miles for the month. I decided not to run in the Pennine Barrier ultra, but was delighted for my team mates who smashed the team prize!

Pacing 90 minutes at the Doncaster Half Marathon – Photo John Rainsforth

July saw me get right back in to it, I did 5000m on the track in a better time 18:06, I did the 3000m steeplechase for the 1st time, 3 parkruns but the highlight was the Round Donny Run, a 30k race around my training routes and I finished 1st overall having a right laugh in the process, 22 runners from Doncaster AC finished the race. Mileage back up completing 161.7 miles in July.

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In August I completed six races, four brisk parkruns and two fell races. I do not do many fell races, at the end of the day I am a road runner, a track runner, a cross country runner, a fell runner and a parkrunner. I can not fit anymore races in. The trunce is a short trail / fell / road race which is great fun. The salt Cellar fell race was brutal. Great for training and conditioning.

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Salt Cellar Fell Race 02/08/2019 – Photo by Julie Meredith

On around the 29 August I entered the Yorkshire Marathon which was on the 20 October. Realistically I had 4 weeks to get my long runs in, no time to build up but this did not bother me, just give it my best and see what happens. I knew Rose was driving to Penistone on the 31 August, so I got a lift and did the parkrun, and ran back along the TPT to Doncaster. My first long run done and giving me a total of 193 Miles for August.

September and I got 4 long runs in.

I ran the Grindleford Gallop with my wife Rose, a tough 21 mile off road route at around 9 minute miles.

I ran with Wakefield, quite a tough run covering 20 miles at 6:55 pace – some road / off road.

I raced Equinox 24 hour relay race in a team of 5, we smashed it. I did 6 x 10k loops – 6:30s to 7:30s.

Image may contain: Martin James, smiling, standing, sky, outdoor and nature
Equinox

I also did four races, 2 parkruns, the mile on the track and the Northern 6 stage road relays. The mile was a disaster 🙂

That was it, time to taper covering 183 miles in the month.

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Northern Road Relays

During October I did six races including two parkruns, the first two events in the South Yorkshire Cross Country League, the Bridlington Half Marathon and the main race, the Yorkshire Marathon. The Half was 2 weeks out from the Marathon and conditions were poor with very wet and windy conditions. Cross country one week before the marathon would be my last hard session. Most people would not have risked a cross country so close but I have never injured myself competing in cross country and I typically do around 9 cross country races a year (not just the South Yorkshire events).

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Cross Country – Photo Chris Cull

The marathon day came along, I drove to York with Adam and we caught the bus to the start. Left it a bit late to get to the start and I started way back (probably 1000 places) from the start line (which was totally fine!). So I was passing people for the first 18 miles running to pace all the way. Got hard at 20 miles but hung on to get 2:47 off fairly hit and miss training. 163 Miles for October.

Yorkshire Marathon photo John Rainsforth

November and 5 races completed including three parkruns and two cross country races. We took about 30 runners from Doncaster AC to compete in the National Cross Country Relays – the course was very tough due to the mud but we had strong teams this year, and more local we took part at Kiveton on a very wet course.

Campsall Cross County – Photo Darren Wood

I also paced 40 minutes in the Doncaster 10k.

130 Miles for the month.

During December I decided to do RED (Run Everyday December) targeting 200 miles. At the same time I was targeting the Fitwins 200 mile target. I did five races including the final fixture in the South Yorkshire Cross Country league where I was proud to be part of the division 2 winning team.

I hit 250 miles for the month, my highest mileage month ever (excluding the 200 mile race).

Penistone Cross Country – photo Steve Frith

My stats for the year follow:

So, my highest mileage in the 16 years of my running journey and my Runbritain handicap is maintaining 🙂 Hoping for some improvement in 2020.

Runs over Christmas 2019

23 December at 6:30pm – Fun steady head torch run:

Meet at top of Lonsdale Avenue, Intake near bridge then we’ll run into the woods onto pit top. Pace nice and steady. All abilities welcome. Not sure on distance yet but if anyone wants to do just a few miles we can run with you back to your car then go back in the woods.

If you haven’t a headtorch don’t worry I have several. Just let me know if you need one.

24 December at 6:30 – Interval session:

Meet at the running track and run to the BT Call Centre (opposite Beefeater Lakeside). Do 1 lap to finish the warm up. Run timed efforts of (minutes) 2, 4, 6, 6, 4, 2, 1 (to blast a final rep in). Jog recovery of half the effort time so 3 minutes jogging after the 6 minute rep. Self time your efforts and recovery. Note the cabin and toilets will be closed.

https://gb.mapometer.com/running/route_4988477.html

25 December 9AM – parkrun.

I am doing Barnsley but Doncaster is on.

26 December – Tempo Run 9AM.

Running from my house as a warm up (warm up will be around 7:30 minute miles), then running 60 minutes hard in one effort (no regrouping) so if you are coming check the map and learn the route. I expect to run around 6:30 minute miles. Meet us either at my house or at the start of the tempo run. It is 1 mile from my house.

Tempo route is Run along Bawtry Road > Left at Cantley Traffic Lights > Right at McAuley roundabout on to Warning Tongue Lane > Right on to Bawtry Road > Right at Cantley Traffic Lights > Out and back on Cantley Lane to get you to 1 hour.

https://gb.mapometer.com/running/route_4988478.html

27 December – Recovery Run 10AM.

Running from Sandall Park out and back towards Hatfield, 8 minute miles 25 minutes each way.

28 December 9AM – parkrun.

Probably Doncaster. If I am feeling good I will do a long warm up, same route as 27 December but at around 7 minute miles.

29 December – Long Run 8AM

Cantley Park for between 90 minutes and 2 hours, probably around 7:15 minute miles.

30 December ???

31 December ???

Yorkshire Marathon 20 October 2019

I was not planning to do a Autumn Marathon but it was in the back of my mind. I was thinking maybe Chester to return to the race I first ran a marathon at in 2011 (8 years after I started running).

The opportunity to enter the Yorkshire Marathon with a GFA time came up and this would give me an extra 2 weeks to prepare for it so on 29 August I entered the race to compete in the British Masters Marathon Championships race which was taking place in this open race. I had 7 weeks to train for a marathon. 2:48:00 was the target, that would have qualified me for England last year I think.

Monthly mileage totals below building up to the marathon.

MayJuneJulyAugustSeptember
72.7110.6161.5197.7180.2

I knew I should already be up to 20 mile long runs but as I had not been marathon training I was up to rare 16 mile runs. I know I was in good shape having won the Round Donny run on 21 July which was around 30k of effort.

On 18 August I had done a 16 mile run at about 6:50 pace.

So I did my first long run on Saturday 31 August, we drove to Pennistone with a few from Doncaster AC, did parkrun and I ran home on the TPT (self supported with drinks and food). This would have actually been 29 miles but by the time I reached 22 miles I was tiring and Rose picked me up from Pastures Lodge. The parkrun was done at 6:21 pace and the run home 7:18 pace.

A few days after this 4 September 2019, Rose wanted to go and run the Grindleford Gallop whilst the kids were at school, so we did 21.5 miles at a nice steady pace of around 10:30 minute miles.

On 17 September I was invited by Chris Ward to run with Wakefield AC and I enjoyed a good run of 20 miles averaging 6:55 pace. Lots of off roading and a bit hilly. Remembered my HRM for a change and this averaged 141 BPM.

On 21 September and 22 September I went with a team from Doncaster AC and we smashed the Equinox 24 hour relay. I ran 6, 10km legs in 41, 42, 41, 45, 47, 46 minutes. So I counted this as a weekend of long runs. I had no more opportunities for long runs.

I recovered very well after this and on Club Tempo Thursday I ran a 10k route in 38 minutes.

I did 3 more races before the marathon, Sewerby parkrun averaging 6:13 pace, Bridlington Half Marathon averaging 6:20 pace (I did not really have a good run, it was wet and windy but I had a good last couple of miles and felt strong and thought yes I could keep this going for a longer race 🙂 ) and the last race was the 1st race in the South Yorkshire Cross Country League. Perhaps a bit of a gamble a week before the marathon but I don’t recall ever getting injured at cross country racing. I ran ok at XC running 6:43 pace on a hilly and slippery course.

The week of the marathon and not a great deal of running:

Had a slight feeling of a head cold all week, not really worried it will be ok on the day. Woke up on the day 5:45 with a sore throat so packed some paracetamol to take an hour before the race. Picked Adam up, drove to York park and ride, caught a bus to the race HQ and milled about for an hour with runners from club.

15 Minutes before headed over to the start and and was a bit dismayed to see a few thousand runners already in the pens, I had left it too late to get near the start but that just meant I would be held back for a while so i would not start too fast.

Race kit was Aldi / Lidl shorts and socks (highly recommended), HiFive gel / tri belt (to carry 4 SIS gels and again fab bit of kit), Mizuno Wave Riders (last years for £60), Fenix 5s Garmin and my beloved club vest which got me a lot of shout outs on the course.

Photo in first half of race by John Rainsforth

Started, took a minute to get over the start line, 1st mile in 6:31. Target pace was 6:20’s so did not get held back much. Took me a few (2?) miles to catch the 3 hour pacer.

I had not warmed up so good not to start at a very fast pace.

HR Plot shows I was warmed up by about 16 minutes?

Went through halfway in 1:22. Took a gel every 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Took a sip of water every 3 miles.

5 Mile splits were:

31:26 31:01 30:54 31:51 33:10

2 minute PB for 20 miles, then faded. The course was not as flat as I was expecting, nothing to hilly but the last hill in the last mile was tough. Down hill finish which was good. 2:47:57 finishing time so got my target and ran quicker than London 2019 and my HR was higher than London 2019.

Photo in last few miles of race by John Rainsforth

3 days after finishing I am at home with a chesty cough / cold so I guess I was not 100% well on the start line.

Great day for my fellow club runners and I know 3 out of the first 6 to finish overall, all amazing guys.

Full splits and other data below. Data fields in race as always were Time Elapsed, Distance Covered, Pace and Avg Pace.

Laps TimeAvg HRMax HRCadenceStrideOscillation
106:31.81521721731.4110.5
206:21.51731821721.4610.7
306:06.91571691711.5410.9
406:12.31491521701.5511
506:16.81491561701.5110.8
606:12.01511531701.5410.8
706:13.51511531691.5510.7
806:03.41541571691.5810.8
906:14.11541571691.4910.7
1006:19.31521561701.5210.6
1106:15.51511541691.5110.6
1206:01.91511531691.4710.8
1306:09.41521561691.4510.6
1406:09.21531551691.5510.8
1506:20.21541571691.5210.5
1606:20.71531561691.5210.5
1706:17.71551581691.5110.5
1806:13.71541561681.5310.6
1906:25.61551571691.4710.5
2006:35.91551581691.4510.5
2106:25.11551571681.4910.6
2206:33.91571591681.4410.5
2306:34.51571581681.4610.6
2406:49.71561571671.4210.6
2506:48.71571591671.4110.5
2607:07.71581601671.3510.4
2702:16.41611621701.4410.3
Summary02:47:571541821691.4910.6

DAC Winter Time Trial 2019 / 2020

17 MARCH 2019

All welcome, it is not an official event just a training run so it is run at peoples own risk. We do have younger people taking part who may do 1, 2 or 3 laps. It is up to parents to decide if children should take part. We try to marshal the route on the corners but there are straight sections which are not marshaled.

Couple of changes this year. The start and finish has been moved to the Doncaster Town Fields Sports Club – https://goo.gl/maps/uBwJyor2a9ZSWCrv6 Thanks to Martyn Walter for sorting this for us. We have car parking, toilets and a bar for after.

Dates planned are :

15 October, 19 November, 17 December, 28 January, 18 February, 17 March

15 October Results Here

19 November Results Here

17 December Results Here

28 January Results Here

The route of the run will still go clockwise as per previous recent years, it is a 3 lap course and the total length is 4.8 miles. The route is here:

Timing will be recorded on a tablet computer and a race number must be worn for this to work. Once you have been issued with a number, please keep it for life for use at DAC time trials.

Runners will be set off individually at around 10 second intervals. In the event of wet weather we will do a mass start. First runners off at 6:30pm. Registration from 6pm.

If you have been issued with a number already at one of our summer time trial events this year please fetch this number.

If your name is on this list then you will be able find your race number. If your name is not on the list please Click here to register, you will collect this on the night and keep it for life please.

Numbers Previously Allocated (sorted by name) – if your name is on this list please do not register for another number – if you have lost your number just find it and make another please

Adam Cotterill239
Adrian Fearn389
Alan Thumbleby252
Alistair Collis212
Allan Carson280
Amanda Weston341
Amber Hawkes300
Amber Teasdale323
Amelia Wilk400
Amie Knott215
Andrew Teasdale322
Andy Breeze207
Angela Rylatt312
Angela Stanley711
Anthony O’Connor292
Barry Prowse222
Beverley Radford242
Bill Topping117
Bridget Bouttell158
Caroline Bond716
Caroline Temperton316
Cayden Prowse704
Cheryl Price362
Chris Moran718
Chris Ward348
Christina Mallender257
Claire Angus243
Claire Beegan231
Claire Macleod247
Claire Sayles216
Craig Burton241
Daniel Hart376
Daniel Reeve708
Danny Powell284
Darren Smith705
Darren Whyman202
Darren Wood233
Dave Moores293
David Smith258
Dawn Fletcher162
Dawn Goodings225
Dawn Wilkinson337
Daz Lambert245
Debbie Williams254
Debs Thompson317
Denise Schade236
Denny Jones264
Diane McKirdy270
Diane Polwin282
Eddie Fletcher163
Elaine Green314
Elena Sarah329
Emily Hallam373
Emma Butterfield227
Emma Cowley382
Eve Horseman321
Fiona Gibbitus294
Fiona Munro271
Gary Brown211
George Laing289
George Phillips714
George Rowland710
Gill Hempstock327
Gill Pick291
Gill Skill344
Glynn Jones276
Hannah Bond399
Ian Mac364
Ian Malkin374
Isobel Jenkinson260
Jack Waugh383
Jackie Hutchinson394
Jacob Clark707
James Devaney372
Jane Purchase313
Janet Hampson320
Janet Powell263
Jannette Walters253
Jayne Beresford299
Jayne Hotterwell343
Jayne Pownall340
Jeanette Scandrett332
Jill Staves267
Jim McDonnah324
Jo Goodall722
Joanne Reynolds366
Jody Breeze213
Joe Wade361
John Atkins379
John Sheerin295
Jonathan Bird298
Jonathan Frary388
Joshua Latham712
Julie Cull226
Julie Kealey334
Karen Lewchenko246
Kate Ball203
Kay Bornw370
Kayleigh Coddington-Bishop333
Keith Bell290
Kevin Newman346
Kevin Waugh315
Kian Brown713
Kirsty Laing228
Kris Calvert368
Laura Ashton229
Laura Emmerson721
Laura Lewis378
Laura Mann251
Leanne Marriott352
Lesleyanne Mitchel377
Lewis Breeze359
Livi Cheesewright274
Louise Sheerin331
Lucy Crayston387
Lucy Hammond309
Luke Osbon319
Lynette Jenkins358
Lynn Olsen336
Lynne Webb261
Lynnette Temperton-Ball235
Malc Leggett351
Mandy Ashton390
Margaret Butler218
Maria Gollings296
Marie-Louise Taylor706
Mark Cawood328
Mark Kenworthy360
Mark Webster285
Martin Wilkinson723
Martyn Walter255
Matthew Fletcher281
Max Fox396
Max Jones357
Merv Christison269
Michael McBride350
Michael Reynolds310
Michelle Abell369
Michelle Guest230
Michelle L Ward224
Michelle Pitts223
Michelle Ward283
Mick Hair325
Mick Riley249
Mike Cullen210
Mo Rodwell356
NameBib
Natalie Bone354
Natalie Hepinstall214
Natalie Palmer353
Neil Hambleton288
Nick Newman391
Nick Ryall339
Nita Evans238
Pam Ryall371
Patrick Fox375
Paul Bond365
Paul Johnson326
Paul Schofield355
Paula Cheesewright272
Pete Wade275
Peter Badger347
Peter Butler219
Peter Oliver349
Peter Poppy381
Preston Clark715
Rae McGuire345
Rebecca Coates206
Richard Chandler395
Richard Hoggard392
Rose James287
Sally Hayes720
Sam Carson204
Sam Prowse221
Samantha Hill318
Samantha Perkins286
Sandra Meakin256
Sarah Bennett308
Sarah Frame266
Sarah Munday717
Sarah Ogg398
Sarah Smith262
Sharon Carson279
Sharon Heath311
Shaynie Coddington342
Shaz Wood265
Sian Randall384
Simon Clark380
Simon Parkin367
Simon Wright397
Sophie Beevers259
Sophie Troth719
Stephen Stewardson393
Steve Fox386
Stuart Bartley201
Stuart Beeby278
Stuart Lindsay232
Susan Beeby277
Susan Forbes240
Tammy Cullen209
Thomas Reeve709
Tom Chisholm205
Toria Hall335
Tracey Bark250
Tracey Christison268
Tracey Land385
Tracie Wayman234
Tracy Miller208
Trevor Blake217
Vic Hassall244
Vicky Keverne363
Vicky Lindley237
Wayne Brett248
Wayne Cheesewright273
Wayne Coddington338
Wayne Ingram330
Winifred Costello220
Yvonne Gibbon297

Equinox 24 Hour Relay 21 / 22 September 2019

Mark Webster got a team of 8 together to do the Cotswolds 24 hour relay. About 3 days before we were due to take part the event organisers cancelled. The team had been planning for weeks and we were gutted not to be taking part.

After a couple of weeks Mark found the Equinox 24 hour relay and 5 or the original team were available and this was booked.

Mark Webster

The venue was located at the Belvoir Castle Estate near Grantham and we decided to travel down in 2 VW vans and set up a camp area with tents, gazebo and club flags.

The team consisted of Mark, Andrew, Adam, Derick and Martin. Mark’s son James also came along and helped us with tea making etc..

Andrew Teasdale

We had a good camping spot on a corner.

When everything was set up we headed over to the event center and got some takeaway food and used the beer bus. We all decided we were not going to the beer mile and headed back to camp. We then decided to watch the beer mile and as Andrew and Mark had a beer in their hands, and were kind of dressed for running they made the correct choice and jumped into the start area. The start whistle went and about 100 runners downed a pint, then ran a mile as fast as they could. Our 2 runners were amazing and Andrew finished 3rd overall getting on the podium.

Martin James

We spotted Doncaster Tri Club who had 3 teams at the event and said hi. The 2 clubs supported each other over the race.

Back to camp and an early night. I slept well but some of the other team members were cold.

Got up around 7:30 on race day and Mark made bacon sandwiches which were amazing (sausage sandwiches on Sunday and lots of cups of tea over the weekend). We came up with a running order and headed up to the start. The order was set as Mark, Andrew, Martin, Adam, Derick. Repeat as long as possible.

Adam Cotterill

Very warm day, tough to run in between 12 noon and 6pm. One issue we had was the lack of drinking water on the site, water had to be boiled. So when Janet phoned to say she was popping over with Luke and asked what we needed we were grateful for the water they fetched is. It was great to see Stuart and Karen who popped over to see how we were getting on.

Mid afternoon we checked the team standings and we were 7th for the small team category. We checked again late afternoon and we were in 5th. We also noticed that we were 8th overall out of 909 categories. At around midnight we moved up to 3rd which was a massive shock, we hovered around this position until sunrise and found ourselves in 4th which was our finishing position for small teams (7th out of 909 teams). A brilliant team effort.

Derick Cave

Sunday morning the weather changed and at times heavy rain occurred but overall the weather was very good. Thanks to Martyn Walter for the loan of his gazebo.

We had the opportunity to get another lap in but we could not catch 3rd and we were sure the team below us could not catch us so we decided to end out race 23 hours and 52 minutes in to the race.

Mark and Derick both covered 5 laps of 10km so 31 miles each and Andrew, Adam and Martin did 6 laps of 10km so covered 36.2 miles each. All 5 of us covered Ultra Distance (which was the aim before we started) Our average 10km lap time was 51 minutes.

Photos by https://www.curleyphotography.co.uk/

Time of dayLap timePosition Category (Overall)
1Mark Webster12:51:5300:51:2072
(33)
Transition12:52:1000:00:1669
(32)
2Andrew Teasdale13:36:2900:44:1828
(16)
Transition13:36:4600:00:1727
(15)
3Martin James14:18:0200:41:1513
(8)
Transition14:18:1700:00:1512
(7)
4Adam Cotterill15:03:0900:44:518
(5)
Transition15:03:2600:00:177
(5)
5Derek Cave15:56:4300:53:169
(5)
Transition15:57:0200:00:189
(5)
6Mark Webster16:51:0600:54:0416
(11)
Transition16:51:2300:00:1716
(11)
7Andrew Teasdale17:35:1200:43:4814
(10)
Transition17:35:3100:00:1814
(10)
8Martin James18:17:2300:41:528
(5)
Transition18:17:4100:00:178
(5)
9Adam Cotterill19:02:2400:44:438
(5)
Transition19:02:4200:00:188
(5)
10Derek Cave19:57:5600:55:139
(5)
Transition19:58:2000:00:248
(5)
11Mark Webster20:57:0000:58:4014
(10)
Transition20:57:2100:00:2114
(10)
12Andrew Teasdale21:40:3600:43:148
(5)
Transition21:41:0000:00:248
(5)
13Martin James22:23:3500:42:346
(4)
Transition22:23:5800:00:226
(4)
14Lap14
Adam Cottrill
23:10:1000:46:125
(3)
Transition23:10:3700:00:265
(3)
15Derek Cave00:10:2700:59:507
(4)
Transition00:10:5700:00:307
(4)
16Mark Webster01:08:5400:57:567
(5)
Transition01:09:1700:00:227
(5)
9Andrew Teasdale01:53:3000:44:127
(5)
Transition01:54:0000:00:297
(5)
10Martin James02:39:5700:45:576
(4)
6Transition02:40:2000:00:235
(3)
Adam Cotterill03:30:5800:50:385
(3)
7Transition03:31:2400:00:255
(3)
Derek Cave04:36:0101:04:377
(4)
8Transition04:36:2900:00:277
(4)
Mark Webster05:39:2601:02:567
(4)
9Transition05:39:5400:00:287
(4)
7Andrew Teasdale06:24:3500:44:407
(4)
Transition06:24:5700:00:227
(4)
8Martin James07:11:5000:46:526
(4)
Transition07:12:1300:00:226
(4)
9Adam Cotterill08:07:5400:55:416
(4)
Transition08:08:2000:00:256
(4)
10Derek Cave09:24:4801:16:287
(4)
8Transition09:25:0900:00:217
(4)
Andrew Teasdale10:08:5600:43:477
(4)
9Transition10:09:1500:00:187
(4)
Martin James10:55:4000:46:257
(4)
10Transition10:56:0300:00:227
(4)
Adam Cotterill11:49:4700:53:447
(4)