Training for Scottish Inter District Cross Country

I happily managed to build on my 3000m outing the previous week at Saturday's Inter District Cross Country Championships at Holyrood Park. Again taking part in the undercard of the televised international races, I had a similar result in the senior men 8km race to last year, 12th (2 places down) in a time of 27:01 (6 seconds quicker). I felt I lacked sharpness but felt very strong most of the way and definitely in a good deal better shape than one month previously. With the National Cross Country just over another month away, hopefully there is a bit more to come. A re-introduction of Monday track sessions may be the final missing piece.

 

Listed below is training up to the race. On week beginning Monday 9th December, I had taken 2 days rest which restored my enthusiasm to the extent I did 46 miles over the next 5 days. This was 46 miles more than I had expected to do that week. Much of the training below was done in appalling weather, making completion of it all the more pleasing.

Week Commencing Monday 16th December

 Monday: 6.2 miles easy (40:52).

Tuesday: 6.2 miles easy (39:28), Monday's route in reverse.

Wednesday: Rest- club Christmas dinner.

Thursday: 8 x High Point hill reps, 7 miles including warm up and warm down.

Friday: 8 miles easy (53:08)

Saturday: AM: Showground, East Kilbride, 10 mins (2 mins recovery), 4 x 3 mins (90 secs recoveries), 10 mins, 9.6 miles including warm up and warm down.
PM: 3.6 miles easy (23:56).

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 12.6 miles easy (1:24:46).

Mileage: 54

Week Commencing Monday 23rd December

Monday: 7.6 miles easy (52:07), run home from work.

Tuesday: Kelvin Industrial Estate, East Kilbride, 1 min, 3 mins, 5 mins, 3 mins, 1 min, 2 mins jog recoveries (4 miles in 24:43), 7 miles including warm up and warm down.

Wednesday (Christmas Day): 4,2 miles easy (27:32)- 3rd time unlucky, went out at 8.30am but the rest of the household had surfaced by the time I got back.

Thursday: 12 x High Point hill reps, 7.2 miles including warm up and warm down.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: AM: Showground, East Kilbride, 10 mins (2 mins recovery), 3 x 4 mins (90 secs recoveries), 10 mins, 9.75 miles including warm up and warm down.
PM: 3.25 miles easy (21:54).

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 13 miles easy (1:26:56).

Mileage: 52

Week Commencing Monday 30th December

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 9 miles easy (58:15), run home from work, longer route.

Wednesday (New Years Day): 4.2 miles brisk (25:47), same route as Christmas Day- on Christmas Day, I ran after an early night and no drink. This run was after less sleep and several beers and included a mile in under 6 minutes. Mystery!

Thursday: Showground, East Kilbride, 15 mins (3 mins recovery), 2 x 5 mins (2 mins recovery), 10 mins, 9.3 miles including warm up and warm down- felt strong.

Friday: 6 miles easy (41:04).

Saturday: Race- Glasgow Miler Meeting 3000m B race, Emirates Arena, 4th in 8:40.24 (indoor personal best), 7 miles including warm down.

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm (Eaglesham Moor end), 15.5 miles easy (1:51:11)- extremely windy.

Mileage: 51

Week Commencing Monday 6th January

Monday: 8 miles easy (54:44).

Tuesday: Club, Hampden run in reverse, 7.5-8 miles (50:13).

Wednesday: 8 x High Point hill reps, 5.75-6 miles including warm up and warm down.

Thursday: 7.5 miles approx. easy (51:59), run home from work.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Race- Scottish Inter District Cross Country Championships, Edinburgh, 8km, 12th in 27:01, team silver, 6-6.5 miles including warm down.

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm (Eaglesham Moor end), 16-16.5 miles easy (1:55:00).

Mileage: 51

Photo courtesy of Bobby Gavin.

 

Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meeting, 4th January 2014

I took full advantage of this year's festive period to train and have some proper rest and recovery (okay, and to also have some beers and play WWE 2K14 on my new Playstation 3). I also made a head start on a New Year resolution of reading more books instead of wrestling magazines by finishing a biography of the great cyclist Eddie Merckx. This sounds less impressive when I point out that I had started reading it on my summer holiday in July! A resolution definitely worth making.

 

I also hope to race more often since my strike rate is reducing year on year. 37 races in 2011, 32 in 2012 then only 24 in 2013. I put last year's average down to the Dublin Marathon which, from now on, will be referred to by the Irish Gaelic word "doluaite." It has a similar meaning to the word "unaussprechlich" I've used in discussion of a so called cross country once encountered in Inverkip.

 

Starting as I mean to go on, I submitted an entry for a series of 3000m races at the new Emirates Indoor Arena in Glasgow. The arena is directly across the road from Celtic Park. I attended the Celtic-Partick Thistle match on New Years Day, thus familiarising myself with the area. I drove there without difficulty before my navigation skills kicked in when I couldn't find my way into the arena car park. 10 minutes driving in a circle round Springfield Road and London Road later, I finally spotted the mini roundabout leading me to my desired destination.

 

After watching some earlier events to acclimatise to the indoor atmosphere then a caramel cake and cup of tea in the cafe, I was soon ready to line up in the B race, the first of 6 races to be run. Dougie Selman (Corstorphine) would be pacing at 8:30 pace. I ran the first of the 15 laps round the 200m track at the back of the pack before moving into the slipstream of Dougie, clubmates Owen Walpole and Alistair Campbell and Gavin McArdle (Kilbarchan). Alistair was struggling a little after a festive flu bug and pulled up after a few laps. I meanwhile maintained position, ignoring the clock until the 1000m mark which I reached in about 2:50. Spot on pacing and a nice personal boost.

 

Photo courtesy of Bobby Gavin.

 

I didn't think I was moving particularly smoothly but I could feel the benefit of recent much needed consistent training. I passed 2000m in 5:42. I had slipped slightly behind the front 3 but was more than happy to try and grind out the last kilometre as hard as possible. I had about 8:45 in mind pre-race so was well ahead of that schedule. Up in front, 16 year old Gavin had taken on the pace followed by Owen then Dougie who was now looking to finish the race. Gavin eventually began to tire and, in the later stages, I found myself closing him down. I reached 2600m in 7:30 then mustered 70 seconds for the last 400m to finish in a very satisfying time of 8:40.24. Gavin finished in 8:37.63. I know he is the current Scottish Schools 1500m champion and has schools international appearances to his name so I took encouragement from finishing so close. Owen won the race in 8:29.45, less than a second ahead of Dougie. I placed 4th out of 7 finishers.

 

I stayed on to watch the other races, plus cheer on another Cambuslang man, Andrew Mackenzie, Kilmarnock's Scott Martin and one of our ladies, Sarah Benson, in later races before going a relaxed 5 mile jog on a refreshingly dry, clear Glasgow night. I then managed to vacate the car park at the first time of asking.

 

This result, being only fractions away from my outdoor best from July 2012, is hugely encouraging but it's only one race. In saying that, as with my reading resolution, I've started as I mean to go on. With any luck, any unaussprechlich or doluaite experiences will be few and far between in 2014. Happy New Year.

 

Full results from the meeting are here.

2013- My Year in Running

2013 Statistics

2013 in words and numbers.

Races- 24, constituted thus:-

Road- 9

Track- 8

Cross Country- 6
Trail- 1

1st places- 4
2nd places- 3
3rd places- 8 (includes team positions in National Road Relay, George Cummings Road Relay and McAndrew Road Relay)

Clubs and Regions Represented:-

Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers- 16

Whitemoss- 6

West of Scotland- 2 (Scottish Inter District Cross Country Championships, UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships)

Personal or Course Bests Set- 9 (not including courses run for the first time)

Championship Results:-

Scottish Inter District Cross Country Championships (8km)- 27:07, 10th place, team gold
Scottish National Cross Country Championships (12km)- 39:38, 9th place, team silver
UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships (12km approx)- did not finish due to illness
Scottish National Road Relay Championships (5.8 miles, final leg)- 29:45, team bronze

Scottish 4km Cross Country Championships- 12:58, 28th place, 4th placed team
Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships (6 miles approx)- 30:59, individual silver, team gold
Scottish West District Cross Country Championships (10.5km approx)- 37:45, 11th place, team gold

Other Achievements
Scottish Cross Country Grand Prix, joint 7th place

Longest Race- Marathon

Shortest Race- 400m  

Best Race- Scottish National Cross Country. I trained well in the weeks leading up and everything simply clicked on the day to give me a second top 10 finish in 3 years. One of those afternoons you look back on with pride.

Worst Race- it would be easy to settle for the Dublin Marathon but to choose a race where I ran a personal best by over half an hour (2:37:58 in my second marathon compared to 3:08:06 for my first in 2005) seems silly. Unfortunately it was the UK Inter Counties Cross Country only 2 weeks after the National. I cursed my luck by catching a chest infection which aggravated my asthma and left me with no option but to drop out a race for the first time ever. A horrible feeling doing so and it made for a VERY long bus trip back from Birmingham.
 

Most Enjoyable Race- I didn't enjoy many in 2013. For the atmosphere, club camaraderie and post race meal and beer, the Armagh 5k Road Race. I also ran pretty well in a competitive field which gave me the confidence to run the way I did in the Scottish National Cross Country 9 days later.

Summary- the race list is shorter and disappointments are greater because, from June to October, I focused my energies on a tilt at the Commonwealth Games marathon qualifying time. Sadly, it didn't come off for me and it's a shame I didn't get a really good race performance during the training spell to show the work had been worth it. Whatever 2014's goals are, a marathon will not be among them. I certainly intend to make more use of my BMC membership than I did in 2013- I should have made it amount to more than one 5000m race in Manchester. Time to train hard, train smart and make use of the opportunities available. Hopefully the 2014 review is a tougher one to write.