Recent Training

For anyone interested, a run down of training since returning from holiday. While away, I ran 63 miles during the first week and 30 in the second (it was a holiday after all) then launched into this little lot.

Week Commencing Monday 29th July

Monday: 9.65 miles easy (1:01:52).

Tuesday: Club, 9.1 miles easy (58:02)

Wednesday: 2 miles easy, 1 mile hard (5:30), 2 miles easy, 1 mile hard (5:30), remainder easy, 10.25 miles (1:04:08).

Thursday: Rest- work related reasons.

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

Saturday: AM: 1 min, 3 mins, 5 mins, 3 mins, 1 min, all with 2 mins jog recoveries (4 miles in 23:16), 7 miles including warm up and warm down.
PM: 3 miles easy (19:22).

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 18 miles easy (2:05:34)- struggled during last 3 miles.

Mileage: 64

Week Commencing Monday 5th August

Monday: Track, 800m, 800m, 600m, 600m, 500m, 500m, 400m, 400m, 200m, 200m.
Times- 2:27, 2:26, 1:46, 1:47, 1:30, 1:29, 70, 70, 33, 32
8 miles including warm up and warm down.- very tough, felt sluggish and heavy.

Tuesday: Club, Blantyre Park in reverse, 8.5 miles easy (55:16).

Wednesday: 5 miles easy, 2 miles hard (10:57, mile times of 5:32 and 5:25), remainder easy, 10.5 miles (1:05:27).

Thursday: 9 miles approx. easy (1 hour approx)- run home from work, stay 7.5 miles from work but took a longer route. Ran without a stopwatch.

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: AM: 1 min, 3 mins, 5 mins, 3 mins, 1 min, all with 2 mins jog recoveries (4 miles in 22:58), 8 miles including warm up and warm down.
PM: 3 miles easy (19:18).

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 18 miles easy (2:04:57)- felt strong.

Mileage: 65

Week Commencing Monday 12th August

Monday: 8 x High Point hill reps, 7 miles including warm up and warm down- felt very fluent.

Tuesday: 9.65 miles easy (1:01:59)

Wednesday: 2 miles easy, 1 mile hard (5:29), 2 miles easy, 2 miles hard (11:11, mile times of 5:34 and 5:39), remainder easy, 10.5 miles (1:04:40)- very tiring, exhausted at the finish.

Thursday: 8-8.25 miles easy (53:00).

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: AM: Race- Nigel Barge Memorial 10km Road Race, 1st in 32:44, 8-8.5 miles including warm down. Below par run. See previous post for race report.
PM: 3 miles brisk (18:23).

Sunday:  Longer run, Whitelee Windfarm, 19 miles easy (2:13:57)- no ill effects, felt fine throughout and at the finish but jaded the rest of the day.

Mileage: 66

Nigel Barge Memorial 10km Road Race, 17th August 2013

This race is a little out of place in August. Dating back over 60 years, it was traditionally run on the first Saturday of the New Year. Inclement winter weather in recent years has seen postponements and the race appearing on the calendar in March. More bad weather this year saw a second postponement and the race moved to August, less than a year before the next one is due.

 

At one time, "the Barge" carried some prestige with the best runners in the country competing over the 5 mile course. Police restrictions saw changes to both the route and distance to now give us a 2 lap 10km course.

 

The weather was totally foul when I woke up on Saturday morning which did nothing for my enthusiasm. I needed a race though so made the trip to Garscube Estate. With a generous team prize on offer, I persuaded a few others from the club to compete with George Pettit, Robert Rossborough, Youssef Ennaoui and Eddie Carr all turning up.

 

The rain clearly dampened spirits since, despite over 130 pre-entries, only 106 runners lined up, including a number of on the day entries. Around one third of the pre-entries had stayed away. Despite some pre-race nerves, I settled into a good rhythm in the first kilometre round the estate. I already found myself clear so it was apparent I faced a long, solo effort. In a tradition dating to the New Year staging of the race, the leading runner up the first hill won a bottle of whisky. On completing the climb out the estate past Glasgow University Vet School, I had secured one prize. Unfortunately, I'm not a whisky drinker.

 

The course then goes downhill on the Switchback Road, left alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal, left again down Dawsholm Road, uphill to Maryhill Road, along that back to the estate. That was one lap so do that then repeat. The rain was torrential during the first lap and my clothing stuck to me. As my watch ticked towards 16 minutes at 5km, I knew I wasn't running at my best but resolved to try and push on and run the second lap quicker.

 

Up by the Vet School, I prepared to push hard down the switchback when problems started. Often a tough effort during a race can mess around with your stomach making you...well, need to bring up whatever you've last eaten. However, only after you've finished. I started feeling this way. Problem was I was still racing and had about 3km to go. I had no option. I stopped, leaned over and coughed but nothing happened.  A few strides later, I stopped again for the same thing. This time, I managed to spit. Things seemed to settle down but the scare threw my concentration. From there, I simply nursed myself round the rest of the course, finishing in a well below par 32:44. It was still enough to win. Being a huge fan of steak dinners, the two steaks and steak sausage the night before had maybe not been properly digested by race time. Lesson learned.

 

George, Robert and Youssef battled hard through the atrocious conditions, completing a clean sweep of the first 4 positions and, naturally, winning us the team prize. An easy one for Maryhill Harriers to work out. George and Robert were also delighted to claim individual prize money in addition to their respective £25 shares of the team pot. Eddie was the unfortunate one to miss being a counter but finished 32nd in a time of 43:25 before cheering on his son in the youngster's 3km race.

 

The prize money (£125), trophy and bottle of whisky are a nice consolation for the bad race experience and it was good for a few other guys in the club to share the glory. As luck would have it, I drove home in glorious sunshine!

 

Next up, 10,000m on the track in Aberdeen. The only way is up.

Full race results are here.

 



Hello Again

Hi, just a quick post to indicate that I'm still here. I had a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing 2 weeks in the Costa del Sol which thoroughly refreshed me if not my liver. Since returning, I've trained well towards one or two targets- forgive me for keeping them close to my chest. It will remain that way until the dates of said targets are upon me.

 

Amazingly, I haven't raced since Calderglen's trail race in June so essentially the schools have broken up for summer and returned again without me putting a toe on a start line anywhere. I haven't been injured (I've kept running) but simply haven't found anything I wanted to race. The Scottish Track Championships also came too soon after holiday. That will be remedied this Saturday with the Nigel Barge 10k Road Race. Fingers crossed my form picks up where I left off.

Holidays

With much relief, I'm pleased to say I will be away on my travels tomorrow. 2 weeks in Torremolinos in the Costa del Sol to clear my head, relax and, with any luck, put in a few miles. The recent weather in the west of Scotland has been a useful acclimatisation exercise.

 

The Costa del Sol coastline comprises Malaga, Torremolinos and Benalmadena. Think the Three Towns in Ayrshire, Stevenson, Saltcoats and Ardrossan with sunshine. The same thing really. Anyway, until the end of July, adios amigos!

Calderglen Harriers 10km Trail Race, 28th June 2013

Photos courtesy of Gillian Scott.

Unfamiliarity was the recurring theme for me at the Calderglen Harriers trail races at East Kilbride's Calderglen Park. Unfamiliar day (despite also racing the previous Friday, I don't normally run on Fridays), unfamiliar race (my first trail/multi terrain race since 2008), unfamiliar footwear (I would be wearing trail shoes bought last year which I had trained but not raced in) and unfamiliar feelings (I was being loudly tipped as race favourite, especially by the Calderglen posse marshalling at the finish). That said, I've trained on the trails countless times and was banking on home advantage seeing me through. Clubmate Robert Gilroy and experienced hillrunner Kenny Richmond were present and, with a few other east of Scotland runners not well known to me, I knew I'd need be on my toes.

I'd raced this twice before many moons ago. Firstly, as a just left school 17 year old Whitemoss athlete in the plookiness of adolescence in 2001, finishing 33rd out of 86 runners in a time of 44:43. One year on, in a Calderglen vest, I finished 40th out of 187 runners in 42:05. After that, I helped steward on different years when things like the race clashing with graduation day in 2005 didn't get in the way.

The route comprises a short loop near the entrance to the park, a longer, undulating trail out to Langlands, a trail loop around Langlands Industrial Estate then, provided you haven't been hit by a Sainsburys lorry going to or from the depot along the way, a shorter route back into the park to East Kilbride Sports Club and the finish. As the record field of just under 200 runners set off, it became apparent that time had dimmed my memory as the short loop was hillier and longer than I last remembered. At its conclusion, I had only just managed to work my way into 2nd behind Kenny after being caught out by a very fast start. Kenny also had a fair gap. While I did start to close it, I was working very hard to do so. At a bridge crossing at around 2-3km, I took the chance to move ahead.

Above: taking the lead tracked by Kenny Richmond (145) and Robert Gilroy (other side of the bridge).

In the lead I may have been but fluent I wasn't. The uneven trail surface, twists and turns and hazards, e.g. bridges, stairs, barriers, obstructed my rhythm and prevented me from building up any sort of commanding lead. As the course twisted and turned its way to Langlands, I glanced sideways to see Kenny and Robert running together. They would be pushing each other along while I was the sitting target. I kept attempting to replicate my hill sessions by running hard off the top of the hills. While it kept me in the lead, for the reasons stated, I wasn't pulling away. Robert in particular has had more recent experience of trail racing than me at the Scottish and UK Inter Counties races. As a previous participant and winner here as well, he remained a dangerous opponent.

Just before re-entering the trail, and as I passed the aforementioned Sainsburys depot, I was told I had about a 50m gap. Yikes, nowhere near enough. My attempts to up the ante were thwarted by encountering the last few runners still heading out. Another hazard but it's only courteous to afford everyone their chance to race. Once the crowds cleared, which in truth didn't take too long, I made a renewed effort to push on. I didn't need to look behind to know I was being chased. Around 2km from the finish, I came to a downhill stretch leading to the flat where I finally found my rhythm and stretched my legs out. Pity the race was now nearly finished. One last climb out the trail to kill my legs brought me out at Torrance House. All that remained was a fast, downhill finish on the grass.

Above: taking nothing for granted, pushing on in the home straight.

I felt completely drained on finishing in a time of 34:49, ensuring anyone with an each way on me got a return on their stakes. This is one tough course. No sooner had I stood up straight after catching my breath, Robert finished runner up in 35:13. An unknown quantity, Colin Thomas, was 3rd in 35:26. Robert and I immediately set about trying to recruit him. Kenny finished 4th in 35:56 followed by another East Kilbride based runner, Grant Baillie, in 36:42. In the ladies race, two east coast athletes, Edel Mooney and Scout Adkin edged out East Kilbride girl Louise Beveridge, living in Dundee and running for Liz McColgan's former club Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, who took the prize for 3rd lady in a time of 43:28.

The rewards were £80, a small trophy keepsake and, the coup de gras, the Jimmy Moore trophy. Jimmy was the head coach at East Kilbride AC then Calderglen Harriers on their formation and is now in his 80s. He was in attendance with his wife Myra to present the trophy. A nice wee moment.

Above: Jimmy Moore Memorial Trophy and the smaller momento behind it. This photo is my own.

The prizes didn't end there as a strong effort from George Pettit also sealed us the first team prize of £30 of vouchers each. I can't say I didn't get value from my entry fee. Well, that and horribly stiff legs all weekend. My thanks go to all at Calderglen Harriers for the warm welcome back.

We had a big contingent competing on the night. Full Cambuslang results are below.

1k

5th: Fearghus MacGregor, 4:14

3k

2nd: Struan Paton, 12:13

4th: Christopher McLew, 13:08

7th: Ruairidh MacGregor, 13:34

8th: Jonathan Anderson, 14:10

 

5k

3rd: Andrew Coulter, 16:36

 

10k

1st: Stuart Gibson, 34:49

2nd: Robert Gilroy, 35:13

12th: George Pettit, 38:49

19th: Robert Rossborough, 40:17

26th: Frank Hurley, 40:55- first M60

28th: Alick Walkinshaw, 40:58- first M50

33rd: Dan O'Connell, 41:49

For another take on the evening's races, courtesy of Calderglen's Alan Derrick, click here.

Glasgow Athletics Association Miler Meeting, 21st June 2013

Nervous is probably an understatement when it comes to describing how I felt before this event. I'd entered the 1500m, my first tilt at this distance for 10 months. With training geared more towards 5000m, I feared I would not have the required pace in my legs to do the 64 seconds per 400m pace the pacemaker would be setting in my race. I had taken a planned rest day on the Tuesday to see Bruce Springsteen at Hampden (awesome) but missed the following day's training too after a draining working day including a stressful and lengthy client meeting after attending a seminar (no, I wasn't hungover). On the Thursday, I did a short road session of 1 minute and 2 minute repetitions to turn my legs over.

 

Driving to Scotstoun, my Dad seemed to have more faith in me than I did. The mind is a strange thing. Had I planned 2 rest days in succession, I'd have felt fine. However, because the second one was unplanned, it bothered me. Sport can be mind over matter at times.

 

Due to my nerves, I didn't feel like speaking to anyone so kept to myself, trying to get into race mode. About the only person I smiled with was another guy in my heat Mickey Breen who, on me conveying my feelings, confessed being possessed of the same self doubt. He's also a lawyer so a degree of empathy between us I guess.

 

At long last, we got away and I took up residence at the tail end of the field. The pacemaker misjudged the pace asked for spectacularly as I battered through 400m in 63 seconds in second last position, 3 seconds or so off the lead. Only Alistair Campbell, using me as his own pacemaker (which I was fine with incidentally), was behind me. This tempo was clearly too fast for some of the field as I took closer order in the pack. I could feel the strength from my recent mileage (back to my winter level of 60 per week) and sessions (tried and trusted Windfarm runs, High Point hill reps, track work etc) kicking in. It kept me in contention. What I didn't have in speed I made up for in endurance. 67 seconds for the next 400m.

 

I continued to keep up and another good lap (66 seconds) took me through 1200m in 3:16. A 50 second final 300m would give me a time just outside my best of 4:05. I'd have taken that. Some conversation however at the recent club prizegiving had discussed the rarity with which I produced a sprint finish. I was determined to have one this time. Mustering every last energy reserve, I covered the last 300m in 46 seconds (61-62 second 400m pace) to finish 7th out of 12 finishers in a new personal best of 4:02.48. I just edged out Mickey who clocked 4:03.33. We exchanged high fives, congratulating each other on our efforts. Alistair however produced the turn of pace he kills me with just about every Monday night on the track to finish 3rd in 4:01.02. He's finding some very good form. 

 

The judicial examination over with for the night, I became more sociable then came up with a great idea for a warm down- if my Dad drove to Mount Florida, near Hampden, I could run there from Scotstoun and get picked up. It turned out a much longer run than anticipated, nearly 6.5 miles, and I felt fit for one of the beds in the adjacent Victoria Infirmary by the end. Running through the Tradeston area of Glasgow on a Friday night wasn't one of my better ideas.

 

At the same meeting, Ben Hukins ran 15:06.58 in the 5000m A race to claim West District bronze. Our other 1500m peformers were as follows:-

 

A race- Stewart Orr, 3:53.96

B race- Alistair Campbell, 4:01.02; Stuart Gibson, 4:02.48; Andrew Coulter, 4:14.88

D race- Greg Hastie, 4:18.53

F race- Niamh Brown, 5:00.32; Rebecca Bonomi, 5:20.87

Women's A race- Katie Bristow, 4:50.11

Women's B race- Eve Mackinnon, 4:53.26

 

 

Full results are on the Glasgow Athletics Association website.

British Milers Club Grand Prix, Manchester, 1st June 2013

Photos courtesy of Adrian Royle Photography. 

With a 2 week holiday coming up in the middle of July to break up the summer, the 5000m at the British Milers Club (BMC) meeting in Manchester formed my target race for this first half. Having run 15:14 after an earlier race that day and 15:09 on another day with heavy training in my legs at previous Mens League meetings, I felt this race was my chance to go under 15 minutes on the track for the first time since Bedford last August. I pulled back training in the week leading up and got a good night's sleep. I then simply hoped for a hassle free drive on race day. Thankfully it worked out that way, getting to Manchester without a hitch. I called in to a garage to fill up with diesel and asked directions to Sport City just to make sure. The track is located next to the Etihad Stadium which was used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is now home to Manchester City FC. Out the garage, turn left, end of the road, turn right. Easy....or it would have been if I'd been going to Old Trafford because that's where these directions lead me! A minor blip.

The track was the warm up area during the Commonwealth Games. The whole complex had a huge buzz about it with thousands of concert goers waiting to see Muse later that night. After getting a bite to eat in Asda then a bit of general milling about, my Mum, Dad and brother left me to go to declarations and gather my thoughts. My race, the C race, was quite early in a packed programme, at 6pm, which was a relief since I'd be driving home afterwards and being in either the A or B races after 9pm would have meant a very late departure. Next time I enter one of these, I'll do an overnight.

Club vests were acceptable but I felt I'd worked hard to earn my BMC member's vest so pulled it on for my debut race as a member. It had lay in the polythene since the day I got it, the same day as the Battle of Inverkip (see my 2012 West District Cross Country write up). I recognised VP City of Glasgow's Sean Fontana, who now works down south, but everyone else in the race were unknown quantities, as was I no doubt to them. I had my target pace in mind and knew I'd get the result I wanted if I managed it. Position would take care of itself.

Lining up in a large field of 18, I slowly worked my way up to 3rd behind the pacemaker and a guy in a green vest. Strangely, a first lap of 72 seconds felt very comfortable. This is exactly 15 minute pace so actually slightly slower than I wanted. I trusted the pacemaker to do his job though and soon enough, the pace did quicken to 70-71 seconds per lap. I knew I would have to work to sustain this later but, in the meantime, just tried to get a few laps behind me without feeling too strained.

 Above: tucking in behind the pacemaker (blue vest) and early leader (336).

By 2km, the pace at the front was around 14:40 pace. Once the pacemaker stepped aside, the green vest in front seemed to almost literally die a death. In a 75m-100m stretch, I gained on him stride for stride and overtook into the lead. I was now out in front working on my own. I passed 3km in 8:49, still on for under 15 minutes. All the work was being done on my own though. I front ran, ticking off the laps, doing my utmost to keep my shape. The 4th kilometre was a lonely one and my pace suffered. No-one caught me though and I rallied in the final kilometre. 

Above: being pursued in the later stages.

Sometimes, you have a sense someone is about to pass you. Sure enough, on the bell for the last lap, Sean Fontana came alongside and overtook. I tried to keep in contact but I'd blown a gasket. Still, a 69 second final lap brought me 2nd place and a time of 14:50.24, just outside my track best of 14:48.03. A good performance having taken on the pace alone. Sean clocked a deserved personal best of 14:46.88. He was one of 11 athletes out of the 18 finishers to run personal bests. Another 5, including me, ran season bests. However, I really need a sprint finish. My kilometre splits were 2:56, 2:53, 3:00, 3:02 and 2:59. I can see where the 2 seconds I was outside my best disappeared to.

On my warm down, I snaked through the last remaining folk still to take their places for the concert, turned down more than one bootlegger's offer of a ticket, gave Sarah Benson some encouragement in her 3000m steeplechase, chatted to Craig Ruddy and Elspeth Curran, both running 5000m races later on, then, after a hot dog and chips, set off home. I got in at midnight but my mind was too active to sleep so I had a wee beer with my parents and brother before finally going to bed in the small hours more than happy with how things had gone. As recently as 2011, these races weren't on my radar. Being in them feels fantastic. I know the improvement will stop sometime. I'll simply keep enjoying the rollercoaster while it lasts.

5000m race results