Lots of miles ... mostly in the car

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Instead of seeing a double booking as an annoyance, a quick chat with Claudie and we agreed that instead of being double booked we'd go to both events happening on the same day, thus letting nobody down. Only problem was that one was in Birmingham and the other in London. We live in Cirencester!

It is an indicator of how far the club has come in recent times that talk before the Midlands 12 stage relay in Sutton Park wasn't whether we'd make the top 25 teams and qualify for the Nationals, but just how much time and how many positions we could take from last year. Despite a couple of late withdrawals the team was pretty strong and we easily beat our 2008 time by three minutes and improved four places to 14th. The problem comes next year. Whilst there were a couple of teams just ahead, there was then a gap of a few minutes before we can contemplate competing with the likes of Cheltenham. But that must be the target and is attainable. Year on year improvement at these relays is a great barometer of the club's improvements. Can the team stay together and move forward? Difficult to say, there are issues, but only time will tell. I'll be too old and slow soon so other, younger guys can take my place. I take no great pleasure in still dragging my ageing limbs around, it's a young man's sport.

A quick shower then instead of heading for the M5 it was the M6/M1 for our rendezvous in London which we made just 10 minutes late. Despite a late night I managed a lonely, contemplative 23 miles next morning, just like the old days.

Picture depicts Solo the cat and my MG, both of which give the Wright family much pleasure in these difficult times.

Footnote on last week's Reading ½. Running Somewhere Else, the other running club in town, went up en masse to the event, hiring a bus and making a day of it. Their team spirit is fantastic and they all encourage each other. What a perfect set up: a running club based at a pub, that's my kind of club. No wonder the lovely Jacki, who has the dubious pleasure of cutting my hair (and a very fine job she does I hear you say) enjoys being part of their team. I'm tempted ...

In the money - Reading ½ Marathon

With the clocks going forward, it was a very early start on Sunday. In fact I got up just after Natalie got home from the delights of The Rock in Cirencester! For reasons that I don't intend to go into in this forum, it was a very late decision to run; whilst painting the garden fence between hail showers on Saturday, I had too much time to ponder and had virtually decided not to run. Still, we had a team with an outside chance of winning and there was always the £100 on offer to the first V50 ...
With a bit of blagging, thanks Chris & Wendy, I was not only able to purloin a free entry to the race but also managed an elite car parking space at the Madjeski Stadium. Paul Barlow particularly enjoyed being ushered through by lines of security officials and gave the royal wave.
I never felt particularly comfortable during the race - hardly surprising after six weeks with this bug / virus - but I tried to maintain a good pace throughout. After a particularly difficult spell through the centre of Reading - I found the twists & turns ruined my normally metronomic stride - I then locked into a great pace from about eight miles and managed a couple of sub 5.40 miles (57.50 at 10 miles). Bizarrely, in a field on 12,000 runners I was running totally alone for a few miles and couldn't even see the guys ahead. Finished strongly in the magnificent stadium and without any undue stress. Relatively pleased with my time; it's interesting that a year ago I would have been ecstatic with 76.02 such has been my progress. Had to wait until the next day to get the news that I'd won the V50 race by some five minutes.
Now I just need to get healthy and sort myself out.

End of winter ... doesn't feel that way

Last night was the last session at the club in the dark before the clocks change. Next week we'll be out on the grass in shorts & t-shirt soaking up the sun. That's the idea but the false dawn of last week's relatively balmy weather has morphed into a bitter Northerly wind this week and the full winter gear has had to go back on. I just hope summer heralds an improvement in my health. For the past six weeks I have felt totally battered.

The only running news in the last couple of weeks has been the hilarious saga of the club V55 ½ marathon record. Chris Riches ran Bath with the sole intention of beating Bob Ferris' time of 1.37.42. Being a canny fellow, perhaps thinking incorrectly that he would receive a free pint for every record broken, CR ran fairly cautiously yet still took a minute off Bob's time with c 1.36.40 by his reckoning. The idea being that, Bubka style, he would then take further small chunks off the time during the year thus earning more free beer. He triumphantly left a message on my answerphone that another record had fallen (I was working hard in the garden at the time if Claudie is reading this). But ... Claudie [seen in picture with Natalie in Rome last year] had seen Anne Pople earlier and she said that Ian was running the Forest of Dean ½ that day. Mmm, methinks, Ian's been seen out running with Dick's mob recently and when he runs he runs a lot (hyper- something or other), wonder what time he did? Turns out he ran 1.36.01 so my return call to CR was difficult, especially as it took me about five minutes before I could get a word in - he was still on a high - to break the news. "That's a great run by Ian, I'm really pleased for him" said CR through gritted teeth and without much conviction. However the story continues ...

Next day the Bath results appeared on the internet: CR 1.36.01, the exact same time as Ian ran! Did we have joint record holders? Should CR hold the record as he's older than IP? Were the Bath results a cock-up? For a few short hours e-mails were flying around between the three of us and for some strange reason Brian Barrowclough became involved: the banter was superb. We even held up the normally super efficient club website update pending official confirmation. Of course it couldn't last, the Bath results were indeed an almighty cock-up and were initially published to the nearest minute! IP is the new record holder and CR has to go back to the drawing board. Great entertainment whilst it lasted.

Finally, news that Chris Illman now has a blog; it is highly informative and very entertaining. Have a look on http://www.illmanrunning.blogspot.com/

Absolute final comment this week; a lovely, timely and very apt statement that I read last week says it all really: "The art of good marathon training is to ensure that The Wall has a door in it".

That was tough.

I have been racing for about 40 years but I honestly can't recall worse conditions for a road race than encountered on Sunday in the Gloucester '20'. Because of ongoing and well charted health problems, it was a last minute decision to run mainly based on the need to banish Andy Bradley's club V50 record into oblivion because of the stick he'd been giving me in the last two years. I also figured that if I felt bad I could treat the 20 as a training run. So after a lousy night's sleep (again!), I opened the curtains to a clear blue sky and what appeared to be a calm after the storm - the wind had been howling in the night. The atmosphere at the start in Frampton-on-Severn was very jovial. I was surprised that the 600 race limit had been reached; I suppose that's the effect of the London Marathon, only a few weeks to go so better do a few miles in preparation.

Decided to let Chris go for the glory and he duly obliged by going straight into the lead which he never relinquished. I settled into the second pack of four runners and we ran the first 6 miles together - at times it was hard to stop Dennis Walmsley talking, mainly about his previous best marathons but also asking about various aspects of Ciren AC: how my running was going so well, what time Chris aiming for at London (he scoffed when I told him, mainly as it's a time faster than he's done!) and whether Wendy was back running. Eventually the pack broke up with, surprisingly, Dennis the first to go out the back door.

Then it hit us! Turning the corner just after 7 miles the wind almost knocked us backwards. For the next mile or so it was head down, single file, into the wind and up some tough hills (note to all: never ask aforementioned Mr Bradley [seen here in Hungary, on right with Wendy, Paul Barlow & me] about contours of a course, he told me there were no hills of note. He was wrong!). The weather then got really nasty as freezing rain and spiky, painful hail started hitting us and the temperature plummeted. At times maintaining forward motion was almost impossible. I was wearing gloves but my fingers were numb. This lasted for 3-4 miles until the course turned direction at the start of the second of two laps (plus pan handle of 3 miles out / back). I was alone by this point and was able to stretch out again. It was a strange feeling though, or perhaps no feeling, because although my cadence picked up I couldn't feel my legs as they were numb from cold and the battering they'd received from the rain & hail.

Sure enough the wind hit again at 14 miles and lasted all the way through to the finish, although thankfully the rain had eased somewhat. I chased down a mad, long haired Russian from Headington (!), Vasily Zverev, for a few miles, catching him at 16, and also started lapping some of the poor souls who had another hour or two of purgatory to go through, before turning off for the 3 mile "run-in" to the finish. I use quote marks because by this stage and in those conditions the verb "to run" is probably not what best describes my attempts at forward motion. The combination of conditions, my health and the race distance all took their toll and I was struggling. Twice I slowed to a virtual jog as I was battered by the elements and both times I screamed out loud to myself to get moving again. The whole thing was quite surreal. I crawled across the finish line, bereft of emotion, looked at my watch and swore out loud. I knew times were irrelevant given the conditions but thought I could hold on to ensure that I would get the fastest V50 time in the country so far this year, namely 2:02:31. My splits were 29:22, 59:30 & 1.30.28. But no, all that effort and I missed top spot by 5 stupid seconds! My only pleasure came from replying to Mr Bradley's text asking about his record, which I broke by 24 minutes (conditions must have been tough that year Andy!). Now for his marathon record, but where ... ?

The final nightmare of the morning came after finishing. Rigamortis, hypothermia and frostbite were all kicking in yet I had to walk back across the canal bridge to the race HQ; I started walking along the towpath but in the wrong direction! It was only after a few minutes when I couldn't see a bridge in sight that I looked around and saw an official frantically waving his arms that I realised my mistake. There were, I'm sure, two more finishers up ahead of me, I just hope they are still not walking along the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal!

Grinding on

With Claudie away in France, the conversation with Solo the cat being a bit one way and the thought of having to sit through Scotland v Italy on tv, I decided to run the White Horse '5' despite feeling rubbish still. Did a few miles in the park first thing whilst Chris & Adrian were doing a 4 mile time trial; if anything this at least got my body out of its lethargy. The race was nondescript, classy at the front but only 56 runners in total meaning lots of gaps. Sustained good sub 5.30 miles and shaved another 10 seconds off my V50 pb with my fastest time in 19 years! Wanted sub 27 really, perhaps next time. Thankfully was totally oblivious to a fast finishing Paul Barlow nearly catching me.
Caught up with old Ranelagh teammate Mike McDowell at the race. He is 81 now and officiates for Severn AC despite suffering a severe stroke a couple of years back. He has been banging on at me to bring down the McDowell Salver, a solid silver trophy that he donated a few years ago to the first Ranelagh V50 which I won last winter. I duly obliged and we posed for the picture shown, a copy of which will now go into the Ranelagh archives.
Next day Cirencester had a bit of work to do to ensure runners-up spot in the Oxford League at a new course near Faringdon. Adrian, Paul, Barry Sampson and I ran an 8 mile loop before the race and another 4 afterwards to get a good morning's mileage combined with the race. Thanks to 3 in 11 and good support further down the field, we won on the day which was great news.
Then it was home, via a quick visit to my mum in Elm Grove Nursing Home, to discuss the evening's menu with Solo. I decided on some venison procured from work and marinated in red wine. Solo decided to do his own thing and dined at the top of the stairs on a particularly succulent and very fresh pigeon. There were feathers everywhere!

Beware the wounded warrior

Cricket lovers of a certain age will remember Gordon Greenidge very well. He was part of the invincible West Indies teams of the 80's and was a brutal opening batsman. However he always seemed to be injured. Sometimes he struggled to even limp to the crease because of a wrecked knee but his batting appeared to improve commensurate with the pain he was enduring. To see him limp out to bat was an almost certain guarantee that he would thrash a century off his good leg. What has this got to do with running you may well ask. Very little I guess but an example closer to home is Martin Pitts who has a permanent limp when running yet the more pronounced the limp the faster he appears to run.
In recent years I've had loads of injuries & illnesses and have often made a last minute decision to race even though I probably shouldn't - just ask Claudie! The Bourton 10km last Sunday was one such occasion. In my previous post I described the state of my back; that lingered all week. Then on the Thursday I moved from pain killers to paracetemol as I had another of my irregular bouts of hot sweats, thumping headaches, sore throats and battered body syndrome. I felt awful. However, you don't miss Bourton lightly as it's the fastest 10km around so I lined up ...
I went off at a decent pace (3.12, 3.10, 3.08 k's) as I wanted to get in and work with a group - too often I start easily and end up chasing throughout the race, which is hard graft. Legs felt great and the group worked really well together to the extent that we picked off the remnants from the group ahead, incl Dennis Walmsley, and by 4km had closed right up on Adrian Williams who was coming out the back door of his pack. I knew I was over extending though and just before 5km (16.21) I started to feel light headed. The second half was purgatory but I held on, thanks in part to good support on the course (including the pictured Justin & Tony), nearly throwing up in the funnel, and beat last year's time by over a minute with 33:36, also beating the the fastest V50 time in the country this year by 36 seconds. What excites me more is the knowledge that I wasn't feeling too well and I know there's more in the tank. View video of the race here: http://www.eightlane.com/generator.php?search=Video&id=805
Paid the price for my foolishness in running as I was totally washed out for the rest of the day and have felt lousy all week, thus ruining my training plans for the upcoming spring road races. Worth it though.
Club performances were slightly disappointing but there is no doubt that one day soon Cirencester are going to turn up a full strength squad and surprise the big clubs. We were second at Bourton to Cheltenham but should have won the team prize. What odds next year on Chris winning the race, Adrian getting a place and Cirencester winning the team race? You read it here first.

Time for reflection

Two weekends without racing: no bad thing given the weather and the need for some decent mileage. So, time for a bit of reflection and to get on my soap box a bit. On a personal level the training has been going well although at a price. I've churned out more winter miles and the last two weeks have been my biggest for many a year; just steady running, which is all my aching body will take but it seems to work. I really am aching all over; slipping on the frozen snow and lethal ice hasn't helped (picture is from our bedroom window), especially my ongoing Achilles problems and slight hamstring tweak. Went to see an excellent physio today, Helen Hall who practises in Cirencester & Fairford (I have number if anyone interested). She didn't mince her words but talked real sense. She also told me what I already know, my body is in pretty rough shape! Possibly more on this - the physio, not my body, in due course.

The point about how I feel at the moment and the training I'm doing is important. At some stage the hard miles need to be put in and by their very nature they make you weary. The fact that I am 52 (v nearly) just accentuates the pain. Most reading this are much younger than me and can therefore get away with it. I'm taking a gamble just to see if I can have one final fling at some relatively decent times but you lot can cross the weariness barrier and make progress.

I vowed when I started this blog that I wouldn't harp on about the 80's when everyone ran fast; if you ran 3 hours for a marathon you were in danger of coming last (it happened to a friend of mine); everyone ran 150 miles a week, drank 10 pints every night then ran 10 miles home in their hob nailed boots ... However if it helps to illustrate a point then why not? After all, the way people ran 25 years ago must hold some clues to what is still possible today despite our sedentary lifestyle. Sites like 8lane waffle on about training methods and theoretical quality sessions but the overriding thing that strikes me about the comments that I read there and elsewhere - and they are written by good runners - is a lack of consistency. Yes they train hard but not all the time. This, I think, more than anything else is the difference today. The long term view must be taken - forget the race coming up next month, yes do it but only as a stepping stone. The real target must be year on year improvements off good endurance training throughout the year and the belief that this will eventually lead to times currently totally out of range. It must be a lifestyle thing.

Work out what your base week is i.e. number of times you can run broken down into easy recoveries, intervals, tempo / threshold, fartlek, hills, lsd (long steady distance) then build into that being your normal week. Then just get on with it. As Steve Cram once said, if you want to be a better runner then run more miles.

We had a fantastic group of runners at Ranelagh and we all grew up together. The Wednesday night club run around Richmond Park was the highlight of the week as well as being a hard tempo run of generally 12-13 miles. The elation afterwards in the bar was sensational and if a Wednesday run was missed there was a real feeling that your weekly fix had been missed. This was a year round session done with friends with similar attitudes, the camaraderie was wonderful. That's why a talentless runner like me was able to post some half decent times. If I could do it then so could most of today's runners. You just have to have belief in your own ability and faith that consistent training will bring its rewards.

I'm attempting to build something similar with our Tuesday sessions at Cirencester. It's harder because it's a session evening but it is beginning to gel and I get the feeling that we are working well as a group, cajoling each other into sustaining the effort. It is definitely taking shape. I don't know what will happen during the summer, only time will tell.

Stop press: May have wrecked my Bourton chances. Got into an awkward position lifting my wheelchair bound mum from car to her chair, something I've done hundreds of times, and thought nothing of it at the time. A few hours later I tried to stand but couldn't as my back had seized up. I'd struggle to run a bath at the moment, let alone a 10k.