Back on the roads

The awards were presented by ascending age groups, eventually the moment came ...

The winner 

"first V55 and overall race winner ..."

there was an audible gasp from the assembled throng as I edged through to collect the trophy, grey hairs flowing in the wind.  Yes, an outright road race victory, my first in 20 years, well past my sell-by date but all the sweeter for that. I'd won the Horton Spring Bull Run, a lovely 4.3 mile race through undulating country lanes near Chipping Sodbury.

Two youngsters went haring off at the start, they told me afterwards that they clocked the first mile in 5.10, which is why I was nowhere near them.  I ambled along in their wake but quite quickly realised that one was quickly coming back to me; once I'd gone past him and got into a good rhythm, it was clear that the leader was also coming back. Sure enough I caught him at two miles, ran straight past him and didn't dare to look back for the rest of the race.  I won by two minutes!

Prior to Horton I ran two hard races on the roads.  Having enjoyed some off-roaders, I wanted to see how my fitness translated into standard distances.  The Maidenhead '10' has been going for 61 years and attracts a good field; this was going to be an excellent test so I decided to go out at a good pace rather that ease into the race and play 'catch-up'.  The plan worked well; it was so good to be in a competitive group early on - albeit a little frightening as I was unsure about whether I could sustain the pace - and the competitive juices flowed.  A final time of 60.54 was far better than anticipated (albeit a long way from the old training run adage of 'if it's an hour it must be 10 miles') and a real boost.

Two weeks later I lined up for the Worcester ½ Marathon at Sixways rugby stadium.  Recovery from Maidenhead hadn't been easy and I felt weary from the outset on a bumpy, rural course.  Apart from struggling on a couple of the hills, I maintained a fairly consistent pace and finished strongly for 6th place overall and another age group victory.  It's sad that a time of 82 minutes can be so high up in such a large field (c 800 finishers) but this old man isn't complaining. 

Where were the bluebells?

To get back into racing mode I thought a couple of off-roaders would set me up nicely.  Thus the last two weekends have involved some of the best countryside this fine land can produce.

Showing a clean pair of heels (literally) to Keith & Ed
at the start.  Gibbet can just be seen.

I last ran the Combe Gibbet to Overton '16' in 1990, yes 24 years ago.  It's a beautiful course taking in the Wayfarers and Test Way plus Watership Down, with some stunning views from the mainly high level tracks before dropping down into the Berkshire village of Overton.  Fellow mavericks Keith Firkin and Ed Morris - both building towards the Marlborough '33' in a few weeks - took the opportunity to join me and both appeared to enjoy it as much as I did despite some muddy conditions in places and an easterly head wind.

I did my usual thing with an easy start that saw me, according to later pictures, about 25th early on. Gradually picked off the faster starters, reaching my final finishing position of 9th by about halfway. Sixteen miles was a bit of a push for me but just when I started to struggle at around 12 miles a lady, to whom I will eternally be grateful, was dispensing jelly babies.  One of those sustained me through to the finish with muddied legs and blood pouring from my knee (no, no idea).  A highly recommended race.

A hundred metres left and both
feet off the ground!

Although it took a few days for my legs to recover - what a pleasure to be suffering from fatigue after a race, its been a long time - I was determined to have a go at the Bluebell 12km at Collingbourne Ducis, south of Marlborough, not least as Claudie is away in France for a week so I had time on my hands.  Good decision.

Heavy overnight rain plus a dose of logging by the Forestry Commission meant that the course was quite demanding, with deep muddied ruts making maintaining balance difficult at times.  It quickly became evident that the standard wasn't high as a threesome pulled away and I eased into fourth after my usual easy start.  I soon picked off the third place man although the top two were well clear at this stage.  By halfway I couldn't see another runner in front or behind, nor could I see any bluebells!  Sadly the wood had been decimated by the logging.  I felt stronger and stronger as the race progressed; I don't remember ever feeling so relaxed in a race.  Having caught a glimpse of the second man up ahead with a couple of miles to go I kicked on and pushed hard but was not quite able to catch him.  A real confidence booster none the less.

This weekend was made even better by hearing that my old running chum Rob Wise, making a comeback after many years away from the sport, cracked 20 minutes at a Parkrun yesterday and that Rachel Barber-Brock, whom I've been giving a little bit of advice recently, ran 3.05 at today's Manchester Marathon, a pb by 14 minutes.

Definitely time for a whisky with Mahler's 3rd thrown in.

The Bard

"In the highly unlikely event of a plane landing on the course during the race, please take evasive action."

Thus spoke the race director at the start of last Saturday's Shakespeare 10km on an old disused airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon.  I've heard some pretty strange things uttered on race start lines over the years, usually by mayors in their robes and chains or Norm Lane on top of a ladder at Bourton, but this was definitely a new one on me.  Apparently the airfield is still registered as such so would come into play in an emergency - I half expected MH370 to make an appearance - although given the numerous potholes around the course any sensible pilot would enschew the offer.

This was certainly a race with a difference, in fact four races in one; all on the start line together: 5km (1 lap), 10km (2), half marathon (4), marathon (8).  Sadly the race numbers didn't differentiate between distances so it was hard to work out who one was racing against.  The 5km 'lap' made life even more interesting consisting as it did of a star-like structure with five 'arms'.  Thus course was, essentially, out & back five times with a u-turn at the tip of each arm.  Of course the wind blew hard, making conditions pretty tough for all on the bleak flat landscape.  But it was fun; second guessing who was running what distance was intriguing and something I got totally wrong.  A negative split gave me a respectable time especially as I'd been laid low once again in the week leading up to the race with the consequences of eating cream cake (lactose intolerance kicked in with a vengeance).

With the race being on a Saturday, it was possible to get out for a decent long Sunday run just like the old days.  It is understandable that most road races have to be on Sundays these days but it does make life difficult for runners.  We were very lucky in years gone by when all races were on Saturdays: a good social with a few pints after the race then a long recovery run on Sunday morning made for the perfect weekend.

Weekends are so key in the training cycle of most runners who work full-time that they need to be utilised as best they can.  When I was at optimum mileage, my training week was set-up by how much I did on the weekend.  Typically it would go something like this:

Saturday: easy morning 5 miler; afternoon 2 mile warm-up, 8 mile race (mob match for example) at tempo pace, starting slowly, easing into the race, then running as I felt, 3 mile warm-down.  (Although I raced most weekends, most events were treated as tempo runs.)

Sunday: morning lsd of around 20 miles; late afternoon 3 mile recovery jog followed by large whisky, the Sunday papers and Rachmaninov's piano concerto blasting out on the stereo.

So, before getting into the working week a good 40 miles had already been ticked off.

Slaughter of the Heathens

Yes, still here.  This rarity, a blog from Wrighty, is dedicated to a Ranelagh chum David Rowe.  Not only does he openly admit to reading my efforts but he has a trigger on his system every time that the blog is updated.  Wow!  DR is a serial blogger himself as well as being an excellent photographer - the two go well together - so I should flag up his site for avid blog spotters: http://rowerunning.co.uk/  His musings from last year's Hawaii Ironman (Kona Diaries) are definitely worth scanning, especially for any others who, in DR's words, 'move across to the dark side of triathlon'.

Including school fixtures, of which there were many, I've been racing in Richmond Park for 45 years now, yet I've never seen it as wet as it was for the last of this season's mob matches against old rivals Blackheath Harriers.  Add in gale force winds, which at least conspired to blow the rain clouds away and avoid further topping-up, and conditions were tough in the extreme.  With a turnout of 75 we well and truly thrashed the Heathens for our first hat-trick of wins against them since 1923.

After another difficult winter for me, not helped by a tooth abscess necessitating root canal work, I was just glad to be able to run round at a half decent pace on the first half of each lap, before the aforementioned winds and puddles, that were more like sink-holes, dictated survival rather than competitive running was the name of the game.  Was pleased to beat Chris Owens for the first time this winter, albeit afterwards the 2013 V60 World Triathlon Champion said that he's currently training hard but doing little running.

My only Wynne Cup victory, unlikely though it seems at this early stage of SLH mob 1982.
Other Ranelagh: Riley, Harvey, Currie, Forrest, Hedger, McLachlan, Wise, Peace
Click on picture for enlarged view.

Ranelagh has had an excellent season: the men finished sixth in the highly competitive Surrey XC League Div 1; the women won promotion back to Div 1 and the club won three out of four mob matches, only losing very narrowly (one runner would have made the difference) to Orion Harriers.  A lot of credit has to go to the new club captain Phil Killingley - an appropriate winner against Blackheath and therefore Ranelagh club champion (the prestigious Wynne Cup) - and his team for instilling a great team spirit.  Not only are numbers turning out to the mobs but there's also an enthusiasm pervading the start line mass and support for fellow runners finishing down the field.  Members are turning out because they want to not because they've been press-ganged into running.  Wonderful to see.


 

Last one standing

The great thing about still being able to potter round courses at my age is that I invariably pick up a pot; not because I run well but because I'm one of only a few still standing.  Masters running is fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously.  I've often come across irate super-vets in their 60's or older complaining because they didn't win an award even though they were the only finisher at that age group.  I like to think that I do my bit for club athletics (results database, website updates etc) but there is no doubt that officials are becoming harder to find as runners want to carry on racing well past their sell-by date.

I've managed to haul my aching limbs around a few races in the last six months following yet another Achilles led absence.  Having dropped Claudie at Southampton Airport at the unearthly hour of 5am one summer's Saturday, I enjoyed the surreal experience of running a Parkrun on Greenham Common; I then did my first road race in nearly a year with a heartening performance in the Cricklade 10km before, dangerously, racing three times in as many weeks: the Horton Bull Run, a lovely six mile off-roader (see picture); the first mob match of the winter in Richmond Park; and a 10km in Washington DC whilst on a trip to see daughter Natalie who is working across the pond.

In each of the races I was first V55 (usually first V50 too), which only goes to prove the point already made.  Take both 10k's: I ran 38.49 and 38.52 - not bad for an old codger, especially one who eschews any form of speedwork (due aforementioned Achilles) - but pretty sad that I can't even run six minute miles these days.  The Washington race happened to be 30 years to the day since my marathon pb at New York where I averaged 33.50 for each of the 10k's (15.52/16.08 = 32.00 for first 10k was a mite ambitious and explains why I 'didn't get the trip').  Fitness and pace are all relative, of that there is no doubt.

If I can get through the winter without any further mishaps then I'd like to set a few more targets (despite comments above, I feel running is a bit of a life sentence for me for both physical and psychological reasons): going south of 17, 35, 58, 78 and 3 would be good.

Downhill

Unusually, the race exceeded the hyperbole at the recent Great North Run.  What a magnificent contest it was between Bekele, Farah and Gebrselassie up in the north-east, one of the all time epic races.  Raw racing at its competitive best and everybody smiling afterwards, that's how sport should be played out.

The denouement was fascinating and centred on how the two main protagonists handled the steep downhill section just over a mile before the finish: Bekele threw himself down the hill, striding out at full pace and pushing hard, whilst Farah was visibly tensing his thighs and wincing as he tried to stay in control.  The paradox of this being that the guy running faster was actually utilising less energy than the man holding back.  Of course if Mr Farah had signed me up as his coach I could have told him that in advance ...

I learnt a valuable lesson in running downhill when I ran in the Wimbledon '10' in the early 1980's.  The course is a tough one (I think it's still held), being three laps taking in Wimbledon's All England tennis courts as well as the edge of Wimbledon Common at the top of a steep hill.  In one particular year, two miles into the race, I was in a large pack of about a dozen runners contesting, I think, second place (GB international Paul Eales was already clear).  We turned to go down the long steep hill at the end of the first lap; the runners started to coast, dropping their arms, following what had been some hard graft along Parkside on the flat.  This seemed perfectly normal to me, a bit of respite in a hard distance race is always welcome.  One runner had other thoughts though ...

Don Faircloth from Croydon Harriers was a top athlete in his time having won a bronze medal at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games Marathon in 1970, running 2.12.  He was by now in his late 30's but still a canny racer.  Instead of coasting, Don kicked hard down the hill - just as Bekele did at the GNR last week - catching us all by surprise.  I decided to go with him; at first it felt very uncomfortable, being difficult to overstride, punch the arms and work hard down the hill, but running alongside Don I soon got used to it.  At the bottom of the hill we turned left along by the tennis courts, I looked behind and there was no-one there.  We'd broken the pack and taken some 30 metres out of them.  We did the same on the next lap and were fully clear of all opposition.  My young legs managed to get the better of Don's ageing pins near the end of the race (see photo, guy in distance was lapped), which netted me a pb of 51.00, a time I never bettered despite the severity of the course (in truth I hardly ran another competitive 10 miler).  We had a great chat after the run; Don told me that it never ceased to amaze him how runners, even the very best, ease off down hills just when they have everything in their favour: the ability to stride out with gravity helping and without over-expending energy, which can then be utilised to kick again along the ensuing flat section of a course (i.e. the corollary of kicking off the top of a hard hill climb).

Lesson learnt by Mo hopefully.

Footnote: as well as using this in races, it's also sensible in training because it gives legs the opportunity to run faster than they could otherwise manage (especially true for old gits like me who can't muster up a sprint on the flat if I tried).

Contrary dairy

Yes, still alive just about.  At least I think that's what my Garmin would tell me if I had one.  It has been an interesting couple of months since I last posted, not least because of an important discovery.

It seems that I have more in common with Paula Radcliffe than previously thought: as well as a lousy running style, we share the same best time for the New York City Marathon (2.23.12, for which she won about half a million dollars in 2004 and I collected a finishers medal in 1983, not that I'm bitter); we have both been involved in three World Half Marathon Championships - she won three, I coached an athlete who ran in three; and now, it seems, we share the frustration of living with a dairy, or lactose, intolerance ...

Whilst refraining from giving all the gory details of this unfortunate ailment, some indication needs to be portrayed to understand the ramifications of this intolerance.  Over the years I've always had problems with 'gut-rot' especially when running in the evenings.  I've experimented by eating more, eating less, eating at different times and different foods, all to no avail.  Many years ago I accepted that my constitution was such that I'd have to live with the problem, one that is not unusual amongst runners, a fact that helped me tolerate my affliction.

In recent years my issues have become markedly more apparent: once in Venice with Bill Leggate after Wendy's World Half, I ate an ice cream and within 20 minutes was in desperate straights ... eventually I had to dash into a café and straight to the toilet - thankfully vacant - for immediate relief.  I didn't leave a tip but felt sorry for the next incumbent.  There have also been other times, particularly after eating out, when the ramifications of going for a creamy dessert manifested themselves within minutes, sometimes creating very awkward situations.

I've generally cut out creamy products since these escapades but to be brutally frank my stools have remained 'loose' in the extreme.  About a month ago I decided to cut out milk - I liked a bowl of cereal in the morning - and the positive impact was virtually instantaneous.  I've tried lactose-free milk and soya milk, both work well but I prefer the latter on the occasional bowl of cereal.  I still need to adapt my diet accordingly so that I am able to replace the goodness in minerals and vitamins produced in particular by milk, but that will come with time.  In the meantime I am much more comfortable and confident walking about town ... I've had some really difficult experiences that cannot be written down here.  The relief is, quite literally, palpable!

Recent times have really wearied my body, there's not much left to suffer and I'm only 56.  Oh the joys of running being good for your health!  In the last five years I've suffered ailments to most of my body:

shoulder, neck, hip (all probably arthritis), hamstrings,
adductor, abdomen, Achilles (x2), heart palpitations, MS leg spasms
and that's before we venture above the neck ...

Whilst nothing compared to what some poor souls go through, that's enough problems for a runner to know when his time is probably up!  No doubt the next issue will be RSI after pounding out all this nonsense on the keyboard.

Oh for the days when running seemed so easy (pic: Ranelagh ½ 1984)