Marymass 10km Road Race, 19th August 2015

Though I had entered this race in advance, I remained in two minds whether to keep training instead until learning that my brother had got my Dad a ticket for the Celtic-Malmo game at Celtic Park on the same night. I considered that I could take my Mum for a trip down the Ayrshire coast which would also allow me to race. Agreement was duly reached with all concerned. Since I hadn't been to this race since 2010 nor competed in Irvine since the 2012 West District Cross Country and had developed an uncanny knack of getting lost in the town up to and including my last visit, I felt a pre-race recce would be prudent. I therefore drove down after work 24 hours in advance on a beautiful evening for an easy 7 mile run. I got all the navigation gremlins out the way (one wrong turning and several laps in the car of the retail park), memorised my directions and had a relaxed plod (average 6:29/mile pace) in the late summer sunshine.

 

The following night, everything pre-race went to plan apart from the weather. While not cold or particularly windy, unfortunately, we encountered torrential rain. I warmed up under a railway bridge to keep dry then, after making sure my Mum was okay (she made a shopping trip to the nearby Asda during the race), I joined over 200 others on the start line outside Irvine Victoria Juniors' football ground. In Chris Upson and recent new recruits Simon Gold, David Stirling and John McCluskey, I had company from Cambuslang. Neil Renault, winner of Irvine's 5 mile race in July, had also travelled through from Edinburgh, protesting that it had been beautiful when he began his journey. The vagaries of the Scottish climate.

As we set off through the second exit of a roundabout then up a gradual incline past the train station, Neil immediately took the bull by the horns. I attempted to follow him but by 1km it was clear he was taking no prisoners and, by the time we joined the cycle path which formed much of the route, I found myself gradually becoming cut off. I resigned myself to a long, hard effort, all the while focussing on sustaining my own pace in the hope Neil's would drop off. I went through 5km in 16:20. Not great but better than Dundonald. By the turn between 5km and 6km, I got a glimpse of Neil. He was tucked in behind the lead bike and moving well.

Nevertheless, I stuck to my task. At one point, I lost sight of Neil, had no-one behind me and no other car on the road so went through a strange experience of running as hard as I could along an empty road in pouring rain completely by myself. The isolation ended as I approached the Magnum Centre at the Harbourside with 2km to go and got some encouragement from my Mum. Even though 2nd place was secure, I tried not to slacken off and maintained the effort to the finish line which I reached in 32:30. A good improvement on 2 weeks earlier. I had therefore run the next 5km slightly quicker, in 16:10.

Above: approaching the finish on the Harbourside. Photo courtesy of Kenny Phillips.

 

Neil totally destroyed my time, running 30:45. Clearly he's in serious training for something. Probably an autumn marathon? Del Young (Garscube) completed the top 3 with a similar solo effort to me of 33:57. In the ladies race, Dundonald winner Laura Wallace picked up another win with 39:27, narrowly ahead of Laura Devine (Garscube, 39:24) with Charlene Kelly (Dumbarton) 3rd in 40:34. In the Cambuslang stakes, Chris claimed first over 50 with 36:16, Simon earned a new personal best of 39:16 and David and John were happy with their shifts in less than ideal weather, 47:19 and 52:09 respectively.

 

It unfortunately wasn't a night to wait around and, being drenched and also mindful that wet conditions can aggravate my Mum's arthritis, got back to East Kilbride where we treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway.

Looking at my training diary while writing this report, I noted that I went into the race off the back of 46 miles of running in the previous 4 days. I'm looking longer term to the Copenhagen Half Marathon on 13th September then the 2015/16 road and cross country season and hopefully the spadework I'm putting in now will bear fruit later.

Finally, as hinted at, this is one of two races organised by Irvine AC. The other is a 5 miler in mid July run over a similar course though with a different start and finish. I thoroughly recommend both.

 

 

 

 

Copenhagen Half Marathon- The Reasons Why

In my last post, I mentioned that my next race target is the Copenhagen Half Marathon on 13th September. This is for a mixture of running and non-running related reasons.

 

The running ones stem from a desire to go into the autumn/winter road and cross country relays and beyond a bit fitter than in previous years. Often I have felt caught cold performance wise by the time the relays come round. Targeting a half marathon means pushing my mileage up for a spell and hopefully spin off benefits in race performance when I bring it back down. I also wish to keep my running fresh to prevent staleness creeping in which can happen if you're more or less churning out the same races on an annual cycle. Copenhagen is a race I've never tried before whereas the Stirling 10k on the same day is one I've now been to 3 times.

 

As time goes on, I'm also finding more and more that without goals to aim for, my motivation drops and training falters. July this year is a case in point. I had no major race to aim for so I more or less took the month off. This year I seem to have moved towards a pattern of selecting a target race, training specifically towards it, having a short down period afterwards (okay, July was a bit longer) then selecting the next one. My best race performances in 2015- Armagh, Birmingham and the BMCs in Stretford and Watford- have all been approached in this way. I didn't consciously adopt this approach, rather, it has slowly evolved and it seems to be working.

 

Not wishing to fix something which isn't broken, I've plotted out a 6 week build up to Copenhagen. I'm currently in week 2. I'll share my training at a later date, provided I get the desired race result.

 

The non-running reasons relate to my 6 month exchange at Lund University in Sweden for 6 months between January and June 2004. Lund is an hour away from Copenhagen by train across the Oresund Bridge. My then student budget stretched to a few trips to the Danish capital at that time. I particularly remember my parents and brother enjoying their excursion to the Carlsberg Brewery. The free samples beat taking a bank loan for a pint in a pub. The race is 2 days before my birthday and it has now been over 11 years since I left Lund. I haven't been for a single return visit. I've had a few false dawns over that decade and a bit but, encouraged by one of my bosses, I'm finally grasping the nettle and just doing it. I arrive in Copenhagen early evening on Friday 11th September and the plan is to get the nostalgic homecoming to my Swedish alma mater completed the following day and also have an excursion somewhere on Sunday afternoon after the race. Where I go and which country it will be in depends on how much time I will have. I fly home late afternoon on the Monday so there may be more time to do something that day as well.

 

I generally get misty eyed and sentimental when I think back to those days. Life was so different. I had a rag a muffin dress sense, dyed blond hair (in an effort to blend in), didn't have a job (student grants, loans and family sustained me), lived in student accommodation comprising a room and bathroom while sharing a lounge and kitchen with up to 14 others. I didn't drive and my main modes of transport were my 2 feet and a bicycle. I was care free and it constituted, without a shadow of a doubt, the best 6 months of my life. I would do it again tomorrow given the chance. In fact, I intend to live the way I did for these few days I'll spend back there. The hotel I've booked does bicycle hire after all. Who knows who I'll meet (probably no-one) but I look forward to being the 20 year old me again for a brief period.

Weighing up the running and non-running reasons, it certainly appears that the latter outweigh the former.

Above: a snap shot from life in Lund in 2004. Strange dress sense and dyed blond hair.

Dundonald 10km Road Race, 5th August 2015

I returned from the Costa del Sol 3 days before this race and, in terms of fitness, let's say I had been in better shape. Apart from 3 gentle jogs in the 90 plus degree heat and high humidity, I did no other running during my first week away. I followed more of a structure in the second week, doing 35-40 miles and averaging approximately 7:20/mile pace over the week. It was simply too hot to push any harder. I tended to go out shortly after breakfast which essentially meant from at least midday onwards the day was my own.

 

A perk of now working in Paisley manifested itself in that the day after my return was Paisley Fair Monday, thus, an extra day off. After very briefly popping in to the office to brace myself for the backlog I faced the next day (well, I checked my emails and chatted to one of the bosses), I drove to Dundonald for my long run and a pre-race recce. I covered 13 miles comprising the race route and a small section of the Smugglers Trail. After maintaining a reasonable pace on the road, I toiled in the trail, posting a couple of 8 minute miles along the way. Still, a good one under the belt.

 

Onto Wednesday and I returned to the village for my 11th attempt at the race. I got there an hour before the 7.30pm start time and decided to park up and get a breather before registering. Dozing off for 15 minutes probably wasn't a good sign. I had a bad dose of post holiday blues. Still, it freshened me up a bit and I got prepared for the very familiar challenge ahead.

 

The field of 199 runners, with large Ayr Seaforth and Kilmarnock Harrier contingents, were set off bang on time for the initial ascent up Dundonald Main Street and the climb towards Symington. Anyone who has been reading my previous 2 accounts of this race will know the drill by now- hilly first half and fast, flat second half. I felt very sluggish and was basically blowing out my backside all the way to Symington. I had a ding dong battle for the lead with Kenny Neil (Ayr Seaforth) who put up a determined challenge, causing me a lot of discomfort. As we approached halfway, he was still in my slipstream. The hills hadn't come to my rescue like they often have in other races. I went through 5km in 18:20. Even allowing for the undulations, this was considerably down on my pace in previous Dundonald outings.

 

With almost all the climbing out the way, I dug deep on the road out of Symington, trying to find another gear. A 3km split of 9:43 finally took me clear of Kenny and I passed 8km in 28:03. Determined to give myself some cause for optimism, I kept pushing. I maintained the surge until the last climb to Dundonald Castle then lap of the playing fields to the finish, all of which I negotiated on wobbly legs.

|Above: coming into the home straight, tired and relieved in equal measure.

 

I had produced 15:31 for the second 5km which brought me the race win with a final time of 33:51, 1:43 down on last year but not surprising in light of my comments at the beginning of this post. Kenny came through in approximately 35 minutes, showing that my increase in pace had been extremely necessary to shake off his threat. Stuart Murdoch (Kilmarnock Harriers) edged a close battle for 3rd in 37:10. For the ladies, Laura Wallace (Ayr Seaforth) took the honours in 16th overall with 39:42 ahead of her clubmate Gael Riddle (44:02) and Maria Doherty (Jog Scotland, 45:29).

 

After exchanging handshakes with a few runners, I cut a relieved figure as I posed for photos with the trophy (it's handed back after the photoshoot sadly but I did take away £40 prize money) taken by the Dundonald Highland Games organisers and The Ayrshire Post. A painful mile jog warm down afterwards then it was homeward bound.

 

This constituted a good "see where I am" type race and served to give my heart and lungs a good jolt. I went on to complete a 50 mile week off 5 days of running to round off my first week of preparation for the Copenhagen Half Marathon on 13th September. I felt in need of the break in July and now feel better for it. Onwards and upwards.

It's Been A While

The last month or so can certainly be described as hectic. As the date of my summer holiday approached (18th July), time became squeezed to the extent training and updating this blog effectively went out the window. With no race targets, I had intended July to be a "down" month running wise but the break came about a little sooner than I hoped, the week leading up to the holiday rather than the first week of it.

 

My running probably hit one of its all time peaks on the evening of 27th June at the British Milers Club Grand Prix, Watford. I lined up in the B 5000m for the highest quality track race I have ever been part of. Run in noisy surroundings under floodlights, I produced a personal best of 14:44.54 to finish 16th out of 18 finishers! It was an incredible atmosphere. I'll produce a more full write up when time allows.

 

The following Sunday (5th July) at Kilmarnock, I lined up again for Whitemoss in the Mens League. Fears of an "after the Lord Mayor's Show" feeling were dispelled when, after 12 years, I won my first ever race in the league, running 2:02.79 in the 800m B race. This was followed up with a personal best of 9:46.55 in the 3000m steeplechase and 15:06.19 for the 5000m, claiming maximum points in both events. More significantly, the team finished 3rd, a single point behind 2nd placed Lasswade, leaving the top 4 in Division 2 looking like this:-

 

1. Arbroath- 26

2. Lasswade- 21
3. Inverclyde- 20 (683 match points)
4. Whitemoss- 20 (637 match points)

 

This means, for the first time for several years, the team goes into the last match in contention for promotion. 2nd place and 8 points more than Lasswade at Meadowbank on 30th August will do it for us. You never know.

 

As for the holiday, my brother and I again had a relaxing 15 days in Benalmadena on Spain's Costa del Sol. It was our usual mix of sunshine, good food and a lot of refreshments. I may expand in a future post if time allows.

 

Above: the Costa del Sol coastline, stretching to Malaga and beyond.

 

 

Above: the award winning Benalmadena Marina.