Sunday 19 February 2017

Test Track 10 - Much More My Style

After my downbeat blog after last weeks Saltburn Half Marathon I am very happy to report much better times at the Test Track 10. This is a local race, one I haven't done previously, it's at the Ford centre and is around the test tracks and surrounding support roads. There is quite a bit using the banking, think a cycling velodrome, but we ran along the bottom so it wasn't too steep, there was the occasional incline, one of which was pretty brutal, but it was generally flat and the weather was not far from perfect, a little wind but nothing too great, all in all my kind of event.

Lauren and I got there just after half 8, an hour before the race start, lots of parking, race start very close by, so we could relax in the car before getting out for the race. I managed to drop and then lose one of my safety pins and so had to go for the three pin formation. The number did stay on this time though, unlike at Saltburn last week. I also managed to get GPS signal and get my heart rate monitor working before the go. I decided to skip the warm up, aerobics and co-ordination really aren't my specialism. We lined up and I was in the second row and we were off. It was fun to be in the front group, maybe in 10th and it wasn't for 100 metres but probably the first 500 metres before I decided this was far too fast for me so eased back. I haven't felt in a race like that, probably since me and Luke nearly lead into the first corner at Bromley parkrun.

I went through the first Kilometre in 4:08 my pre race target had been 4:30-4:40 (1:12 - 1:15 finish time)I felt good and was keen to get some time in the bank. My 10 Mile PB was 1:12:05 and so 4:30's were really the top end of where I wanted to be. The km's ticked on 4:12, 4:19, I was working hard and got to see Lauren. The looped nature of the course meant I got to see lots of Lauren over the 10 miles, it was a really nice little pick me up every 2 or 3 miles. 4:15, 4:18, 4:15 got me through 6km's just over 90 seconds up on 4:30 pace, probably a little too much, but I like to race hard. There were runners around me throughout the race, maybe not right on my shoulder but definitely close by, a nice change from the lonely desolate run along the cliffs last week.

I looked down at my watch half way through the 7th kilometre and realised the early pace had gone, and we were in my regular mid-race holding pattern. 4:30 now became the target pace in the hopes the time in the bank from that early burst would be protected. 4:32, 4:36, 4:25, 4:29, 4:31, 4:33, 4:31, 4:34 gets us to 14km. All look nicely paced, slightly different profiles and some wind with some wind against. What those splits don't show is I was working really hard, particularly the one decent incline on the course as you came down towards the finishing straight you turned right and round one of the banked sections. It was steep and both times I ran it, my body was screaming to have a walk up it, but I managed to keep turning my legs over and running it. Once you reached the top there was a nice downhill section then onto the finish straight which let me recover. As I went past the start/finish line with 2km to go I felt the beginnings of a stitch, and where I had been smiling and waving at Lauren each time I saw her, at this point I was really grimacing. I felt if I could just hold it together a PB should be on, but if I started to fall apart the time I had gained early on would soon evaporate.

The 15th km split was 4:41, I was clinging on, there was another banked section and I took over a couple of back markers, it was hard because you had to go up the banking and work hard to get past them. As I entered the last km and then the final straight I was overtaken by a small group of runners, that was a big help and gave me a little kick to get moving again. I wasn't racing them for position but trying to use them to spur me on for a sprint finish and to ensure the PB. Coming into the finishing chute I knew the PB was mine and as I looked down to stop my Garmin I was well inside 1:11 for the race and a final split of 4:11. The official time has me at 1:10:36 and 35th out of 287 runners a PB by 1 minute 29 seconds! I have worked really hard for the last 5 months and today was the first big dividend. If I can keep working hard, this should be the first of many PB's over the rest of 2017. The only slight blemish on an otherwise perfect race was the negotiation needed to get out of the carpark. The race had quietened down but the Marshalls were keen to keep us penned in for another hour for every last runner to finish. Thankfully they relented and we were safely on our way out and headed home before a cracking Birthday Roast dinner at my parents house.

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Lack of Mental Toughness

This is my story of the Saltburn Trail Half Marathon. Now before I begin my sad tale, let me first say the race is brutal, the course is tough, the marshall's and cameramen on the route are made of stern stuff to be out there in the weather we had and to still be cheering us on and supporting us. The organisers have created a course along the coast using public footpaths to really test even the toughest runners. It was enough to almost break me.

I am a fair weather runner, a flat track bully. I like to be out there in mild conditions, on the road, on the flat, not a puff of wind. That is where I enjoy myself, pushing my limits to go as fast as I can without mother nature or the course have too much say on my performance. I have shown in my 3 DNF's from a 100 or so races that I don't handle adversity too well. The Outlaw Iron Distance triathlon Part 2, the Thunder Run 24 and the Berlin Marathon. In any event I do, particularly in difficult conditions or over long distances I need a reason for being there.

In the Outlaw I had done it before, I had failed to train adequately again and couldn't find a reason to slog it out for another 8 hours to get the thing done. At the Thunder Run the heavy rain, the thunder, the lightening I couldn't find a reason to endure another 12 hours of that. At the Berlin Marathon I took the easy option, I had done more than 10 Marathons, I had failed to prepare adequately for this one, and so perhaps quite sensibly decided pulling the pin at halfway was the right option. A good training run done without too much damage to my body.

The Saltburn Trail Half Marathon could very easily have been my fourth DNF, the only things keeping me going were the fact I was raising the money for Sarcoma and not wanting to let Marcus down. The fact that if I did quit I would be cold, wet and in the middle of nowhere did also encourage me to get the thing done. The telephone calls to Lauren and Jan for some moral support were also a huge help to get me to the finish. So today I had my why, my reason to finish.

Even when I do manage to complete in these conditions, I still struggle to perform anywhere near my max, where as my brother Joe got 3 punctures on his first Ironman in appalling conditions he sucked it up and got it done and got it done well. I tend to throw my toys out the pram and once my A goal has gone I struggle to refocus. For this race I didn't particularly have an A goal, it was a race that was at the right time of the year in the right location and so I didn't start in the right mental place. When the weather was 45 mph winds, sleet hammering my face, once I had fallen twice, my recently healed broken bone and sprained wrist throbbing I was not in my happy place, I was a long way from it.

I had fallen on my butt and a guy asked me if I was ok and then told me to get out the way, which really got my back up. I was slip sliding all over the shop in the mud, keen not to fall again, only having eyes for the floor and the path in front of me. I had another guy ask to get past on a narrow section, for me the onus was on those guys to get past me. I had my own issues to worry about like staying upright, I didn't want to be looking over my shoulder and easing aside for every fella who wanted to race in the middle of the pack with me. I got a little rush of adrenaline and decided to go on a little burst and was hurdling brambles and taking over three of the guys who had recently passed me. The rush and anger soon subsided and I eased off, the 2 hours of trudging that still lay ahead of me were at the forefront of my mind.

The women I met on the course were totally different and as I was struggling we had some nice running chats and that kept my legs turning over. One of which I had met at the leisure centre before the start of the race and we then ended up running some of the last mile together which was great. I must have spoken to 3 or 4 guys or girls during the race and they were all having a lovely time, and I think they genuinely were. It just really brought home to me that this type of race isn't what I am about. In all the training goals, mileage targets, pace goals, you sometimes forget that you are actually meant to enjoy it. These cross country, trail races, mudfests, aren't enjoyable to me but cruel and unusual punishment. My race schedule is pretty booked up to October and it is predominantly road races with the one crazy 24 hour race. After that 24 hour race in July it is going to take one hell of a race or for me to have a total change of heart to get me back into these crazy races.

So I think I will leave my tale of Saltburn Half Marathon misery there.

The downsides:

- It was 15 Miles not 13.1 Miles
- There were 45mph winds, rain, sleet, I don't think there was snow.
- Mud, so much mud.
- Two falls.

The upsides:
- The donations that came in before I raced and since, they've brought home why I did it.
- I got it done. In just about 3 hours. Think the official time will have me just over.
- The phonecalls with Lauren, I would have been completely at a loss without them.
- The race schedule is now free of these crazy races.

Sorry for the downhearted race report. I am still on for a good mileage month in February it's my birthday Thursday and I have a nice flat 10 mile race round a race track on Sunday. I just need to hang in there for 2 or 3 more months and all being well should have a PB or two to my name and be in good shape to tackle my other PB's in the 2nd half of the year. I was one of the only half Marathon runners with my bare legs out and I'm sure Marcus would have been pleased I was part of the still in shorts brigade. Come back next week for a more upbeat blog.

Thursday 2 February 2017

January 2017 - Challenge Update

I am now into my 19th training week post Berlin Marathon fiasco, but only one month into my 2017 challenge. The base built in the last quarter of 2016 is yet to be truly tested. The mudfest that was the Benfleet 15 wasn't really the place. I have a busy race schedule coming up, a parkrun at my PB course of Albert Park in Middlesbrough, followed the next day by a trail half marathon, my birthday in the middle and then a local 10 mile race the following Sunday. All exciting and a couple of chances to really gauge where my fitness is at over the shorter distances.

The month of January went well, it's a really busy time of year for me workwise being an Accountant. Only 2 days off from the 3rd - 31st January. The work all got done and pleasingly so did the running.

- 22 Runs
- 163.5 miles (record high mileage month)
- 18.01 miles (longest run of any kind since April 2015, longest training run since October 2010)
- 2 races (1 new parkrun, Basildon, 1 15 mile X-Country)

All very pleasing, a long run or two short of perfect. Outside of the 18 and 15 milers my next best efforts were two 10 milers. But another month ticked off and my streak of running 5 times a week marches on.

Still looking for donations and another £60 was donated after I ran the Benfleet 15 with my hand in a splint and that was really pleasing. There are rumours of a potentially huge donation, and that would be incredible. All donations great or small though are massively appreciated. Here is the link if you feel so inclined.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/runformarcus2017