Run & Race

Second Wind?

Gerry — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:18:27 +0000

After Storm Ciara when no chance of getting outside and in theory the worst being over I loooked forward to a long weekend run (hopefully off road) the following weekend. Nature had other plans however and come the weekend after Ciara Storm Dennis turned up and definitely a menace (second wind ?). Waited and waited for it to blow over through Sunday but come the evening with the weather drying out but the wind being just as strong and producing severe gusts decided to give up on the long run and opted for doing some kind of session in a flat well lit tree and building free location which turned out to be the local park and ride. In the evening when most of the cars had left and no I didn`t drive there just ran there ! Ended up being a weird tempo session with the recoveries(sic) being into the gale and the gusts and the faster elements slightly down wind. The recoveries felt more like hill efforts so an element of strength training and an interesting variation. Still and all can`t wait to get out and about off road. Can put up with the muddy mud and the muddy pools of water but not with the heavy rain and seriously gusty winds thrown in. Roll on spring ??

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Aarhus Agony

Gerry — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 18:25:43 +0000

Watched the World Cross Country Championships at the weekend.Hosted and staged by the Danes who had devised and designed an incredibly tough route. Virtually all ups and downs with one of the “ups” being particularly brutal. As ever the East Africans were up to the challenge and completely dominated all of the five races (Mixed Relay,Junior Women,Junior Men,Senior Women and Senior Men) with the Ugandans who are often overlooked in terms of the quality of their endurance athletes at last coming to the fore and finishing 1/2 in the Mens Senior Race. The BBC race commentators rated the course the toughest in the history of the event and one which would have been extraordinarily demanding if the weather leading up to the day had been unkind and created more difficult ground conditions. As it was the only “mud” which the competitors had to deal with was an artificially created 80 odd metre stretch which churned up a bit but was never really a problem. There was also a token 50 metre shallow puddle – again no problem for the runners. But those hills !! The images of the young Norwegian superstar Jacob Ingebrigsten lying on the ground totally exhausted and in some distress immediately after finishing 12th , but a long way behind the lead runners , summed it up. The BBC camera work was superb especially the coverage of the toughest of the hills leading up to the “museum” showing the sheer brutality of the gradient and the effect it was having on the runners. A blessing certainly was that the weather on the day itself was kind. I hope that the event is staged again at the same location. If not perhaps next year`s European XC championships ? In the meantime the Danes are to be congratulated for their imagination and initiative and they might one hopes consider retaining and maintaining the circuit for open cross country racing and as a runners tourist attraction ( a variation eg on amateurs getting to do Brands Hatch) ?

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2019 Resolved?

Gerry — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 22:14:42 +0000

OK so only a resolution start but first week into the New Year and have managed to fit in two Parkruns and a Kent Fitness League Cross Country Race as part of yes a resolution to run more races/parkruns in the coming year (injuries and domestics permitting). Two very different Parkruns 1.5 hours apart on New Year`s Day. A flat and very cold seaside Whitstable Parkrun followed by what seemed to be a comparatively mild but hilly Canterbury Parkrun. Followed on Sunday by the KFL cross country over what is usually an extremely muddy and challenging circuit at Nurstead Court Meopham. But surprise surprise due to the comparative lack of rain in recent months the ground conditions were actually quite dry including what is uually a 100 metre quagmire finishing straight. Nevertheless the course which is a horse eventing venue involved two hilly and energy sapping laps including two “splashes” through the notorious muddy pond and as an added treat this year a line of straw bales to hurdle – perhaps a left over from a horse event or a nod to the World Cross Country Championships where the courses are invariably flat with the occasional little articial little mounds or yes straw bales included to give the impression of “cross country” running. Nurstead Court , mud or no mud , is the real thing with a terrific variety of downland and woodland terrain. Next up Minnis Bay where I expect given recent weather and the forecast that the famous mudwater filled ditches will be dry ?

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Swanley Cross Country

Gerry — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:08:13 +0000

Always a special day. Remembrance Sunday and the second of the Kent Fitness League Cross Country series in Swanley Park. Over 500 runners falling silent for two minutes before the start and an emotional feel to the event which gives that extra incentive to “dig in” when the going gets tough. Quite a number of young athletes lost their lives in the Great War including some of the leading endurance runners of the time:

https://www.iaaf.org/news/feature/armistice-day-remembrance-track-field-olympia

On a day which promised Autumnal sunshine and showers we had just a single dark clouding over and a single sharp shower strangely during the two minutes silence. Once we were underway the dark clouds disappeared cleared and we were running below clear blue skies and in mild conditions. Lots of variable mud and leaves with a twisty, turning 3 lap course of just over 5 miles incorporating short but sapping hills at halfway and at the finish of each lap. Given the surreal mud free off – road conditions during the year it felt like getting back to good old fashioned cross country normality.

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Back to Knole Park

Gerry — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 12:27:22 +0000

After a very long break from races and a proper training regime due to a combination of injury niggles and domestics a return to the glorious Autumnal setting of Knole Park in Sevenoaks for the first of the season`s races in the Kent Cross Country Fitness League. As usual a huge turnout of well over 500 runners for the opening event and the warmish dry weather and a dry course made it feel more like a summer trail race.

A two lap course of just under six miles incorporating 4 short but very steep climbs and two long sapping uphill grinds makes Sevenoaks a serious psychological and physical challenge so at the end of the day an excellent de facto hard training session. And as always a great sense of team spirit and cameraderie.

Overall verdict? Will wait to see how my calves and knees recover. At the moment I am experiencing what I can only describe as “Under Use Injuries”.

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Fell Running Anyone ?

Gerry — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 18:14:03 +0000

Took the opportunity for a quick hill walking visit to Snowdonia at the weekend primarily planning to do the Snowdon Horseshoe time permitting on the Saturday and Tryfan on the Sunday. A little bit wary of the challenge having had a hamstring strain for about two months which has seriously curtailed training and racing. Also conscious of the fact that the weather forecast indicated very hot and sunny conditions. Not ideal for hill walking and scrambling. Started off on the Snowdon Ranger path which was a bit of a boring slog but certainly a good hill ascent training workout. Path very busy and the summit itself felt more like Piccadilly Circus on a Saturday afternoon with all ages shapes sizes and languages. Bit of a shock as my only previous visit to the summit in the past had been at around 5 am in the morning when it was beautifully quiet. On that occasion had gone up via the Crib Goch arete and then ran down from the summit via the PYG track.The “walk” along Crib Goch was as I remembered – exposed(particularly along the “Knife Edge” section) and requiring a lot of two hands on Grade 1 scrambling. Decided to turn back to the summit at the end of the arete so an interesting experience in there and back route finding. Given the heat and the time factor decided to leave the second part of the Horseshoe for another day. Decision also influenced by the fact that having negotiated all the major rocks of Crib Goch twice I somehow managed to trip over a small rock on the flat saddle section leading from the end of the arete back to Snowdon summit. Slightly bruised and cut hand,leg and bottom – but seriously injured ego! Woke up the the following morning with a stiff/sore hipbone and not sure whther I would be able to manage Tryfan which I had never done before but which I knew involved a lot of heavy duty rock scrambling in the summit approach. As it turned out despite it being an even hotter day managed the summit (marked by the famous twin slab rocks known as “Adam and Eve”) via the South Ridge Route. Busy but nowhere near the scale of footfall(and trainfall) compared with Snowdon.

What a tremendous weekend training work out for quads,calf and hamstrings with all that stretching and pushing on the rocks (appears touch wood to have had a positive effect on hamstring strain).

Having done a lot of reading on Fell Running in recent months I came away with a renewed respect for the Fell Running community who apart from the lung busting ascents have to negotiate a lot of potentially ankle breaking ridges and rocks in running as opposed to walking mode in pursuit of their hobby.

Caution not for the faint hearted or those wary of heights !

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Going out in the Midday Sun for a long long run

Gerry — Wed, 09 May 2018 13:25:23 +0000

The last few of weeks following on from the hypothermic Beast from the East have seen some of the highest spring temperatures on record and certainly the hottest conditions on record for the London Marathon with a lot of runners including elite runners suffering and slowing badly in the second half of the race. The usual culprit in this scenario certainly for a lot of the less experienced or first time marathoners is over exuberance in the first few miles of what is a fast course and allied to the extreme heat and little experience or practice in hydration and fueling techniques this can lead to a severe fall off in pace and potentially very serious problems in the second half of the race.

A lot of runners including experienced marathoners view preparation for a marathon as simply a question of maxing out on long runs and total weekly mileages interspersed with tempo runs intervals and the occasional hill session in the 14-16 week build up to the day with the basic thinking being that with all this mileage and quality trainingg under the belt the job is done. Yes most runners would have set for themselves a general race pace and split times plan based on their training and race times achievements and most runners will have a basic understanding of the need to hydrate before and during the race and to take on board some sort of supplementary fuel particularly during the second half. It is likely though that only a minority actually experimented and practiced hydration and fueling before and during the long runs in their programme.Given the conditions which transpired in London on the day this would have had major consequences.

When it comes to hydration and fueling needs each runner is of course different. However when it comes to hydration the basic principle is the same for everyone.We need blood to transport oxygen and nutrients to our muscles to enable muscular activity such as running and to dissipate skin heat generated by that activity and maintain a safe body core temperature. A major component in our blood circulatory system (our blood volume ) is water. We therefore need to be fully hydrated ( but not over hydrated) before a long run or a race and we need to replace what we are losing during a long run or a race. We lose water progressively during a long run or race so we should replace water progressively ie sipping not gulping.

So best advice is to use your longer pre marathon runs to practice fluid intake and as with your pacing and split times plan have a hydration strategy ready for the day. If as was the case with London it is forecast to be a “Midday Sun” challenge then plan to increase the relative amounts of water taken on board before the race and during the race to address the increased loss of fluid. Remember also to factor in a 3 or 4 extra degrees to the forecasted air temperature to allow for the reflected heat from the running surface the reduced air circulation resulting from the sheer volume of runners and the crowds the barricades and the building densities throughout the route.

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Shaggy Grass Story

Gerry — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 13:50:18 +0000

Spring has sprung/summer almost here. Well yes and no for runners. Yes the temperatures have shot up significantly and the daylight hours are longer but for off road running it`s still very much a winter cross country scenario given the recent very heavy spells of rain. E.G. during the week a 10k training run along what should by now be a reasonably dry Stour Valley Cycle Path route turned out to be a bit of a mudfest with long stretches of the path flooded. And yesterday a 5k run round a newly marked grass track turned out to be a bit of a slog through what was very long shaggy grass. Still good mental training as expecting ground conditions to be well what you would expect ground conditions to be when a track has been newly marked and instead having to dig deep and just get on with it.Dib dib !

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Beastly Running and Racing

Gerry — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 19:06:18 +0000

The weather in the last 3 – 4 weeks has to put it mildly(sic) being playing havoc with the training and racing programmes of runners. And without doing the research I imagine that a large number of scheduled individual road events as well as the weekly Park Runs here in the South East have had to be cancelled for health and safety reasons in terms of risks on the course and the risks of actually getting to and from locations.The Big Beast from the East has been and gone and we are currently experiencing a much less disruptive beastie but one which is still causing cancellations of events.These weeks must have been particularly frustrating for spring marathoners who have been unable to build on their mileage base at a critical point in their training programme and perhaps have missed a targeted half marathon or 20 mile race. The temptation understandably may have been and may still be to try to make up for lost mileage by increasing distance/duration of weekly endurance runs in the weeks remaining before the planned marathon. Wrong thing to do as it will undermine all the good work to date and could lead to over use injuries. Best advice is simply to carry on with the existing programme as is and make sure that the taper down period (ideally three weeks) is as originally planned and hopefully you will go into the big race with a positive mojo.

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Cross Country Cocktail Sunday 4th February

Gerry — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 18:09:59 +0000

First race back after a persistent Achilles niggle , minimal training , and only my second cross country effort in the season. Could not have chosen a worse one (or best depending on your XC tastes) in terms of conditions. In the final Kent Fitness League event over 5 miles round Blean Woods the British winter threw everything it had at us. A veritable cocktail of the best of traditional British winter weather. Bitterly cold , windy, heavy rainalternating with sleet or hailstone showers with an exotic mix of sunny spells and yes a rainbow as extra special flavouring. Difficult to keep warm and warm up in the open field at the start but once in the woods and sheltered not too bad. Underfoot conditions were just as expected ergo muddy molehills in the field , the unavoidable but not so deep as usual but still as dank as usual muddy pool on the exit from and the return into the field. As for the rest of the course basically varying degrees of quality mud. Still took it easy for the first half of the course and the Achilles appears to have survived the ordeal and hopefully no issues from tomorrow onwards with it. Shame as beginning to regret just a bit that I decided not to enter the Nationals at Parliament Hill in three weeks time where if the weather continues as is there will be the finest quality Cross Country mud to be found in all of the land.

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