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.

Glutton for punishment

Three races in six days, not the most sensible thing to do - especially in January - but there were good reasons for all three:

1. Did Tuesday night's Bridge Inn 5km so that I could post a ranking time. Unfortunately after a lovely calm, dry day, the wind got up and the rain came down with bad consequences. I felt that I was competitive yet was well shy of my 16:45 target. My splits of 8:11 / 8:59 on the out & back course give the game away. It was straight into the wind on the way back. What was more annoying was tweaking a hamstring on the wet, dark, twisty footpath. Bah, humbug. Justin had planned to come down with me but must have seen the forecast as he pulled out, sensible man. Enjoyed the company of Chris Riches for a beer afterwards and we waxed lyrical on club problems.
2. I don't miss mob matches and Blackheath completed another winter's efforts (that's 135 now since 1974). Chris decided he needed a workout and racing on Saturday fits in much better to the training routine so he not only came along but he obliterated the field, winning by four minutes! His only problem on this old fashioned, traditional one lap course that took in a dozen stiles (see pictures of us both) and went up hill and down dale, was to stay on course. Great run and should give him confidence going forward. I was pleased to beat all Ranelagh bar Chris & thus win the Harry Sheer trophy as 1st V50, except that no one could find the trophy! Shame as Harry was a dear old friend of mine - he loved cricket & running - before he died many years ago.

3. Adrian was struggling all week to get a decent team out for the Oxford League. It was bitterly cold and I didn't fancy a long run alone so despite an aching body from yesterday's racing and long drive, I ran. I did a six mile run to get some Sunday miles in then lined up near the back of the field. With the bitter weather it wasn't too muddy so I wore flats - as I had at Blackheath - and had a lovely run, gradually moving through the field. The great news afterwards was that Cirencester won by a solitary point. Fantastic. Did a four mile recovery run in the evening before a long soak in the bath. I need a rest!