Scottish National Cross Country Championships, 18th February 2012

Up until the conclusion of my hill session two days before, I doubted whether to race the National at all. Even as I had my usual pre-race meal on Friday night and went to bed before 11pm, I was still swaying. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling like doing anything but racing, even after over 10 hours sleep. We had a few call offs among our men and women for various reasons. I surmised another one was the last thing the club needed. In addition, I wasn't willing to give up the club championship trophy so soon after winning it. Double points were on offer at the National. Having suitably convinced myself, my Dad drove me through to Callendar Park.

I arrived in time to see some earlier races but, to be honest, felt a bag of nerves and barely noticed how they were unfolding, preferring to check out as much of the course as possible. I lined up with no game plan other than to see how it went and to try to develop a strategy as the race developed.

Resisting to urge to dash up the first hill, I settled into a rhythm on the downhill stretch to the boating pond then along the trail towards the first climb in the trees on the opposite end of Callendar House. On my pre-race recce the previous week and that day, I seemed to miss all the muddy bits since I encountered thick, sticky mud through the trees. I found some firmer ground as I approached the ditch taking us across the Antonine Wall past Callendar House into the final kilometre or so loop leading to the home straight and the next two laps. Position wise, I guessed I was probably in the high teens/low 20s. I felt strong but had lingering doubts whether I could sustain things. During the lap, a number of runners made their intentions clear by giving Derek Hawkins company. I had seen Paul Sorrie alongside him playing a high risk strategy. He looked to be suffering as I overtook him after the ditch though he hung on gamely for 25th place.

So far so steady going into the second lap. I had worked my way into a group including, among others, Lewis Millar, John Newsom (both Central), Ben Hukins (Aberdeen), Thomas Fay (Shettleston) and Mark Pollard (Inverclyde). It was a topsy turvy race. Ross Houston (Central) and Jethro Lennox (Shettleston) were among those passing through on their way to 3rd and 8th respectively.

Running round the boating pond again, fellow Cambuslang runner Chris Wilson overtook me, encouraging me to keep with him. Despite all the swimming/aqua jogging training I had churned out, the lingering doubt of blowing up wouldn't go away so I remained cautious, staying in my ever evolving group. I was ticking off every landmark- hills, turnings, etc- knowing conquering each one was a step closer to the finish.

The race is on: athletes from Corstorphine, Hunter Bog Trotters, Cambuslang (me, number 612), Aberdeen, Inverclyde, Shettleston and Central slog it out. Photo courtesy of Scottish Athletics.

Into the home straight towards the final lap, I was still in this group. It splintered a bit at the top of the hill. I nudged ahead of Mark Pollard, Thomas Fay, John Newsom and Ben Hukins only for them to pull level on the downhill to the boating pond. I bided my time to the mud fest hill at the other end, finally deciding it was time to take a risk. If it fell apart, at least it wasn't long to suffer. I was adrift of Lewis Millar and a few others, including Kilbarchan's Chris Devenney, but pulled away from Pollard, Fay, Newsom and Hukins on the hill and attempted to negotiate a path through the mud and run hard off the top. It seemed to work and I negotiated the ditch safely, entering the final kilometre or so suffering but not to the extent I had expected. Positions mattered for the team competition. Chris and myself were the first two Cambuslang counters. Less than 5 minutes of running to hold on. The legs were suffering.

I clung on down the home straight without dropping a place, nearly catching Michael Crawley (Corstorphine) in the process, to take 13th place in a time of 41:47. I knew Michael had run a good race at the Alsager 5 so was happy to finish only 2 seconds adrift. Much further ahead of me, Derek Hawkins (Kilbarchan) burned off Andrew Douglas (Inveclyde) to win the race in 38:52 by 51 seconds.

The race drained me considerably but a second consecutive team bronze made the sacrifice worthwhile. Chris Wilson (6th), Iain MacCorquodale (17th), David Munro (28th), Robert Gilroy (32nd) and Stephen Wylie (33rd) completed our counting 6. Such was my tiredness, it took 4 days for my legs to recover fully. After struggling through a 10 mile jog the following day, I returned to the pool on the Monday since I was too sore to run. Normal pre-injury training has since resumed, with necessity since selection for the UK Cross Country in Birmingham on 4th March subsequently came my way. Happy days again.

Race results

Training Pre-National

A topsy turvy build up behind me, I got to the National Cross Country start line and made it out the other end 12km and 41 minutes later. Report to follow but, in summary, I finished 13th, Cambuslang's second team counter and claimed a team bronze medal to go with last year's. The following wasn't quite how I planned to prepare. All aqua jogs included a 100m swim warm up and 100m swim warm down.

Monday 6th February: 3.4 miles easy (21:19) plus 25 mins aqua jog including 2 x 5 mins.

Tuesday 7th: 42 mins aqua jog including 10 x 2 mins, 1 min jog recoveries.

Wednesday 8th: 4.1 miles easy (36:41)- Jog Scotland Canicross Group at Whitelee Windfarm, first day of slowly adding a little distance on.

Thursday 9th: Hill reps, High Point, 6 times, running hard off top, 4.95 miles including warm up and warm down- no relapse, good boost.

Friday 10th: 10km/6.2 miles (38:44) including 3 sets of 3 x 30 secs, 30 secs jog recoveries, 5 mins jogs between sets- another step forward.

Saturday 11th: Race- Falkirk Parkrun, Callendar Park, Falkirk, 1st in 16:06, 8.3 miles including warm down- multiple purpose. Another step up in distance, something competitive having missed Alsager plus a 2 lap jog round the National course.

Sunday 12th: 66 mins aqua jog, 15 mins easy then 5 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, all with 5 mins jog recoveries- long run with intervals in the swimming pool without moving a yard. Sore from the previous 4 days on dry land.

"Mileage-" running- 26 miles, swimming- 600m, aqua jogging- 2 hours 13 mins

Monday 13th: Track, 14 x 300m, first rep in 47 secs, remainder in 50-51 secs, all with 100m walk/jog recoveries, 5.75 miles including warm up and warm down- ouch!

Tuesday 14th: Club, shortened Hampden run, 6.3 miles easy (40:19).

Wednesday 15th: 50 mins aqua jog including 3 x 10 mins, 5 mins jog recoveries- tempo run.

Thursday 16th: Hill reps, High Point, 4 times including 2 x 3 mins, 1 min jog recovery, 3.9 miles including warm up and warm down- short and sharp.

Friday 17th: Rest

Saturday 18th: Race- Scottish National Cross Country Championships (12km), Callendar Park, Falkirk, 13th in 41:47, team bronze, 10-10.5 miles including warm down.

Sunday 19th: 10.4 miles easy (1:09:02)- recovery run.

"Mileage-" running- 36 miles, swimming- 200m, aqua jogging- 50 mins

The tendon feels great. Everywhere else aches!

Falkirk Parkrun, 11th February 2012

Pre-injury, the plan had been to visit Callendar Park last Saturday (4th February) for a pre-National familiarisation run then head south in the afternoon for the Alsager 5 the following day. Injury put paid to that so I revised the schedule and went to Falkirk a week later. Wanting to get at least one of each key session- tempo run, track session, hill session- done, more as a confidence boost than anything else, I opted for the Falkirk Parkrun to tick the tempo box.

Gradually upping the distance to 4 miles on Wednesday (see my last post about the Jog Scotland Canicross group), just over 5 on Thursday and 6 on Friday, this would be a sterner test, running further at a quicker pace on a mix of paths and trail over an undulating course.

Staying in bed for as long as I could get away with, until 7.40am, I had no time to shave, only shower, and blasted through to Falkirk, arriving 25 minutes before the start. This is one of the newer Parkruns, beginning in July 2011. It has quickly grown in popularity, now attracting slightly over 150 runners. Due to my long history of getting lost, I listened in to the first timers briefing as the route was described. Round the path at Callendar house, along the edge of the boating pond, right turn onto trail, gradual incline then undulation on trail onto the road, right turn then another sharp right back into the park towards the kiosk, right turn, up "Heartbreak Hill" back onto the trail then back the way you came for the last 1.5km or so.

Final instructions were given at the start to the field, which included two or three canicrossers. I had no time target. The aim was to finish uninjured. I moved in front along the boating pond, puffing hard already. Before long, I was on the trail, heading uphill among the trees bordering the park. Being chased by a friendly dog aside, I made decent progress onto the road then towards the kiosk then Heartbreak Hill. Taking the name from the Boston Marathon landmark, the Falkirk organisers certainly have a sense of humour. Thank goodness I'd done that hill session on Thursday or it would have been more of a shock.

Cruise control is maybe an exaggeration but I definitely did feel quite happy as I pushed to the finish line at Callendar House. A time of 16:06 represented a satisfactory shift on a tough course. I was very sore afterwards. Importantly however, it was soreness from a hard effort, not injury. Coming in 2nd, Brian Turner of Lothian Running Club recorded a course personal best of 17:08. Local athlete Claire Moffett finished first lady and 9th overall in 20:14.

I warmed down with a couple of laps round the National course to give me 8 miles overall, a big step forward. Back home, I shaved off my one and a half day growth then watched Queen's Park thump Montrose 5-0 to move up to 3rd in Division 3. Happy days.

Jog Scotland Canicross Group

Back in November, I wrote an article about canicross, in particular, focussing on Cani Fit, a dog training service and equipment supplier run by Rutherglen based Lindsay Cloughley (pictured on the right of the second photo below). At that time, she organised a canicross trail running group on Wednesday nights at Chatelherault Park in Hamilton. Lindsay has since achieved Jog Scotland status and restarted her canicross group afresh this year as a Jog Scotland group, again on Wednesdays, changing venue to Whitelee Windfarm. As part of my gentle re-introduction to running on dry land, I took up an invitation to attend and take some photos. Even following injury, I think my running still outshines my photography.

Admittedly, my heart was in my mouth driving up the narrow Fenwick Moor to the windfarm on a dark winter night. Once there though, it was a pretty enjoyable evening. Quite a large number of humans and canines had turned up and were divided into two groups for the warm up before a hill session. Having myself there meant I could lead a faster group for a longer warm up while Lindsay (and her Alaskan malamute Suko) could take the other group a shorter route. It worked well with both sets of canicrossers plus the recuperating injured runner reaching the hill in question at roughly the same time. Head torches galore.

Above: one of my better photos. I set the camera to "Night" setting, honestly.

Lindsay then paired folk off for 3 hill reps, taking care to make sure the dogs in pairs were compatible. My job was to set the pairs off. During it all, I tested my tendon with a couple of gentle reps up the hill. No adverse reaction. For the group warm down back I was leant a lovely natured dog called Pixie for some canicrossing who strode along with me at 40 minute 10k pace. I stopped every so often to attempt some action shots. Some turned out. A few didn't.

By the end, the faster group had covered approximately 5km and the second group, about 4km. The tired expressions and comments suggested it was just about enough for most. However, they had gone further than last week and are gradually improving fitness. One lady, who introduced herself as Wendy, and her four legged companion had arrived a little late having missed the windfarm cut off on the Fenwick Moor and ending up halfway to Kilmarnock. I therefore took up Lindsay's offer of a little extra run with Wendy around a 2km loop. During this, I gave Lindsay some feedback about the training group and asked more about Cani Fit. Two dogs are the most she will run at one time- one for each hand- which can be two of other people's or one plus her own, Suko. New dogs are initially run on their own to check both she and they are compatible. In my case, with a trepidaton of dogs, I suppose that would be important!

Just over 4 miles represented progress for me from recent 20 minute jogs and I had helped some people out at the same time. Quite content with my night's training and networking, heart back in mouth, I drove back down the Fenwick Moor home via Eaglesham, treating myself to a haggis supper for dinner and getting home in time to see the second half of Hearts v Celtic.

Useful Links

Cani Fit Facebook page

Cani Sports Scotland races- entry form for an event at Mugdock Park near Milngavie on 26th February. Well worth trying or spectating.

Jog Scotland Canicross group- more information on the group described above.

Some Stats and Second Injured Training Week

It having now been 17 months since the first post on this blog and I've been having a wee browse through its stats. Some interesting, some surreal, some I don't know what to make of them.

As I write this, the blog has been accessed 10,012 times since September 2010. Here is a breakdown of pageviews by country, described by Blogger as my "Audience." I'm unsure why the figures don't tally up. Anyway, quite what anyone in Russia makes of reports on Motherwell v Queen's Park etc is anyone's guess.

United Kingdom- 7,594 United States- 762

Ireland- 229

Germany- 196

Singapore- 125

Australia- 122

Russia- 108

Canada- 98

France- 59

New Zealand- 40 The "Traffic Sources" are interesting. The most frequent ones are the blogs by Chris Upson, Ian Goudie and Gary Bruce (I think that's his surname) from the Highlands, Facebook and good old Google. I wasn't sure whether to be interested or disturbed by some of the Google search terms. Top of the table is "runaway lawyer" (searched for 36 times) and other honourable mentions go to "stuart gibson lawyer" (7 times) and "stuart gibson runaway" (6 times). Finally, the most popular post has been the Annan Athletic v Queen's Park match report in September 2010 (accessed 204 times) followed by last year's Armagh 5k (accessed 107 times) then the Hugh Wilson 10k in November 2010 (accessed 90 times). However you find this and whatever you read, thank you for reading. Injury wise, I'm now approaching something gradually closer to normal training. Here is week two of injury recuperation. Monday 30th January: 30 mins aqua jog including 15 x 1.5 mins, 30 second jog recoveries- replicating a track session. Tuesday 31st: 40 mins aqua jog including efforts of 1 min, 3 mins, 5 mins, 5 mins, 3 mins, 1 min with 2 mins jog recoveries. Wednesday 1st February: Rest- follow up physio appointment. Big improvement. Run-aqua jog on alternate days prescribed. Kirsty and Gavin, thanks for giving me my dinner beforehand. Thursday 2nd: 3.6 miles easy (23:55)- first run on dry land for 9 days. Still feeling twinges. Friday 3rd: Swim, 6 x 200m crawl (all 4:10-4:20), 2 mins recoveries plus 20 mins aqua jog including a 10 mins effort- deep end of the pool closed off, did a swim session then a jog when it opened up. Got a "well done mate" from a lifeguard as I left pretty knackered. Saturday 4th: AM- 3 miles easy (21:02), PM- 1.5 miles easy (10:23)- intended to aqua jog after AM run but pool closed for a gala. Spent afternoon working on files and went out again before dinner for fresh air. No twinges at all either time. Sunday 5th: Swim, 4 x 100m crawl (all 2:30-2:35), 50m easy crawl recoveries plus 20 mins aqua jog including a 10 mins effort- as on Friday, deep end closed off then got a jog when it opened. Tried to replicate a tempo run by swimming continuously for 600m with 4 periods of effort with easy swimming to recover in between. Starting to feel right shoulder twinging from so much swimming. Each swim and aqua jog included a 100m breast stroke warm up and 100m breast stroke warm down. "Mileage:" running- 8 miles, swimming- 2900m, aqua jogging- 1 hour 56 minutes. Nearly over it hopefully.

Injury and Recuperation

The best laid plans and all that. I began 2012 with a clear game plan- run the Beith Harriers New Year Race, go into a 4 week training spell of 60 miles per week, ease back a bit for today's Alsager 5 Road Race, back up towards 60 for a week then taper right back for the National Cross Country on 18th February. I managed the 60 for 2 weeks and the third week looked like this:-

Monday 16th January: Track, 12 x 500m in 1:26-1:29, 9.5 miles including warm up and warm down- slippy track, really struggled, glad to get done (this is my training diary entry).

Tuesday 17th: Club, Hampden run in reverse, 7.8 miles (47:06).

Wednesday 18th: Tempo run, 20 mins easy, 5 x 5 mins with 2 mins jog recoveries, remainder easy, 10 miles (1:00:22).

Thursday 19th: Hill reps, High Point, 12 reps, steady all the way, 7.4 miles including warm up and warm down.

In what was in hindsight a foolish thing to do, I changed my footwear for Wednesday's tempo run, since the previous week's hadn't gone great, from my usual Asics model to K Swiss trainers I last wore in September at the Strathclyde Parkrun. The downside to a 3 minute improvement  for the 10 mile route was tiny twinges around my right shin. I didn't feel it during the hill session, which is on grass, but afterwards I did. Literally overnight, it worsened and on the Friday (20th) I limped around all day with severe pain in the shin area. No more running that week. I walked okay over the weekend but with great stiffness. 34 miles for the week.

A physio appointment (Iain Reid at Achilles Heel in Glasgow) diagnosed inflammation in the tendon which, whilst not thrilling news, was better than a stress fracture or shin splints. A diet of ice packs and stretches has happily meant, as I write this 16 days after the initial twinges, the tendon finally feels normal again. Naturally, Alsager didn't happen for me today but the National is still there. I'll be happy to be on the start line and setting no targets. Hopefully no-one else will either. Que sera sera.

Having been frustrated at no training of any kind for 3 days, I was introduced to a whole new world of aqua jogging, i.e. water running. Athletics Weekly magazine had an article on it in December 2011. "There's no impact, injury risk is minimal and muscle soreness is almost eliminated" and, according to aqua fitness coach Linda Ward:-

"A bonus is that you're out of the wind and rain where there's always a chance of slipping or falling. It also improves your posture, running style, strengthens your core and you can train at high intensity even with an injury because the water supports the body."

I can't say I've missed the wind, rain or even mud too much, I haven't slipped or fallen at all and I must be training at high intensity because I'm sleeping like a log at night and have the appetite of a horse. Whether my 18 year old haphazard, heel flick running style has improved remains to be seen.

As of now, I'm on a run-aqua jog program on alternate days. Yesterday I jogged for 5km not feeling a single twinge. I've had 2 weeks of a rather different training regime. Here's the first week. The second one will follow at a later date.

Monday 23rd January: 6.4 miles easy (43:43)- attempting to run again after 3 days off. Shin/tendon feeling stiff.

Tuesday 24th: 8.8 miles easy (58:03)- never comfortable, dragging the right leg behind me by the end.

Wednesday 25th: 40 mins aqua jog- 10 mins easy then 4 x 5 mins, 1 min jog recoveries- first ever aqua jog, felt silly for 5 minutes then started enjoying it.

Thursday 26th: 50 mins aqua jog- 10 mins easy then 14 x 2 mins, 1 min jog recoveries.

Friday 27th: Rest

Saturday 28th: Swim, 4 x 250m crawl (5:40-5:50), 60-90 secs recoveries, 100m breast stroke warm up, 100m breast stroke warm down- no quiet spot to aqua jog but had a swimming lane to myself, feeling the shin/tendon every time I kicked off the wall.

Sunday 29th: 30 mins aqua jog including 4 x 1 min, 2 mins alternate- "recovery run."

All aqua jog sessions included a 100m breast stroke warm up and 100m breast stroke warm down.

"Mileage-" running/hobbling- 15 miles, swimming- 1800m, aqua jogging- 2 hours

It must be said I'm going to miss the pool when fully fit again. I can console myself with a 100% race record so far this year (while it lasts anyway), one race, one win.