Training Log Archive: IanW

Wanted to do something 2h15 - 2h20 ish before next weekend. Joined together a few of the usual loops & bits I'd been on with the club.

Out to and along the Trent to Walton - Barton - NW to Forest Rd - Dunstall - Tatenhill Common - Battlestead Hill - Sandyford - Oaks Wood - Shobnall Fields - home.

Loop done clockwise deliberately so the hills were all later in the run. First 5 miles or so into the wind along the Trent, then a few showers appeared. Steady pace didn't feel much of an effort, and no problems with the shallow climb up to Forest Rd (~ 70 mins in). Felt the one up to Highlands Park a bit more (~85 mins), and slow but steady up Battlestead (~100 mins).

Legs were still turning over well along the top of Sinai (slight tailwind may have helped) - generally OK to the 2 hour mark, when noticed the calves were getting tight. Last couple of miles felt slightly harder work, but perhaps pushing a bit more to get it over and done with.

Happy with that - Winterfold will be a different prospect though - hillier, softer underfoot and bilberry to contend with. Temperatures currently forecast in the mid to high teens too, which isn't ideal...

Quick spin out on the same loop as 3 weeks ago - pushed it a bit more on the long drag out of Burton, going over a minute faster on this section, but legs felt they weren't working quite so well after that. Bit of a breeze too, which was noticeable at times.

Certainly aiming to go under 45 minutes for this loop this summer, and hopefully faster. Need to build up more bike-specific strength to do so - only really felt the lungs working on the uphill stretches.

knackered - not enough sleep recently

Feeling too much like hard work - from Friday Street car park to the 'start'

Plod doesn't come close - body didn't really want to play, but I persisted. Combination of warmth, tiredness and maybe a bit of dehydration Not sure what level to record this at...

Re-ran the first part of the JK2008 M21L course on Leith Hill, from Start to #19, as it was on the doorstep and relevant for next weekend. The terrain was a bit rougher than I remember, and surprisingly soft going underfoot. Good training/learning experience - no real mistakes but always a bit less confident without flags, and when the control sites have grown/been felled.

Back to the car, via an explore of one of the few bits of detail I haven't run through before. Felt easier, probably because it was downhill most of the way...

Schoolboy error of the week:

- Discover there's a Wednesday evening event at Bentley.
- Work out train/bike combo is possible, but likely too much of a faff.
- Forget that I'm working down south on Thursday.
- See wooded ridge as driving down, and eventually put 2 and 2 together.
- Check time and realise it's shortly after last start...

Would have been nice for a little run around. Oh well.

C • Shame, it's a great area. 1

Bit later home today so couldn't get to Hatton for the run. That, and my bike drivetrain is pretty dead - thinking new bike is probably the easier/better option.

Anyway - with it being such a great day it would have been rude not to go out and enjoy it. The disadvantage of the Tuesday club runs is the variable pace and inevitable stops - running on my own means I'm flexible to do what I want. Decided on the Tatenhill Common route (17th Feb/20th Mar for comparison) for a bit of extra length, and the aim of doing a tempo along the canal towpath at the end of the run.

So this was the 'warm-up' section - with all of the hills - felt a bit sluggish at times and the last climb up Battlestead Hill felt a bit tougher than I'd hoped it would. But going faster around this section than I had before - the fact that everything has dried out may have helped. And then the stretch into the water park didn't feel too bad. So over the canal bridge...

... and stretch the legs out along the grassy towpath. Aimed to settle into a decent but comfortable pace, not gutting myself, always feeling I could go faster. Took splits at each of the bridges:

Branston - 0.975k, 4:01
A38 - 1.25k, 4:59
Callister Way - 0.865k, 3:27
Off towpath - 0.285k, 1:07

First km felt easy and seemed to pass quickly, next section harder to maintain the pace, and felt long, but I was actually moving a bit faster. Didn't feel any harder after that, leg turnover generally felt smooth all the way, and still felt pretty fresh when I turned off to jog home.

Happy with that - definitely a confidence boost. :) Especially given that 5mins/km on this section during the March run didn't feel that much easier than today.

And an easy jog home - hint of a twinge in the calf going over the railway bridge. I often seem to be plodding on the run back after a faster section, but legs still quite fresh today.

If only I could bottle the feeling - would be great if all runs were like this!

So a bit more time to think about the weekend's "races" - the punctuation there quite deliberate. Apologies in advance if this has a bit of a philosophical feel to it, just feel the need to get the thoughts down somewhere.

Judging your performance is difficult if you don't know what you're trying to judge against. If you don't have any aims, or focus for a race, then 'good' and 'bad' are quite subjective. I chose to run this weekend because it looked like a decent pair of races in suitable/challenging terrains for the disciplines.

But there must have been a subconscious thought of 'I'm running in a British Champs race, must go full out' but everything around that didn't happen if I was going for the 'best possible result' outcome. No pre-event looking at maps, no proper warm ups, no focus on the doing the right things in the right order. Technique came second, must keep running fast...

And so things unravelled, spectacularly at times, as they did last weekend. Time was of the essence - what could have easily stayed as little errors/hesitations just ballooned, because I had in the back of my mind I had to keep moving. Sometimes that little extra investment in time can make minutes of difference - 5 seconds extra thinking is often all it needs. Why is it that the headless chicken option often comes out on top?

What to take from this? Sometimes, going out with no aims/goals/expectations can be fun, and good for you, but it is difficult to justify it 'going wrong' if all you can say is 'I was really stupid to have done that.' Having an aim, backing it up with a focussed race plan and concentrating on executing that plan during that race is often all you need to do. I can look back at the JK and see that for myself. And the determined efforts of the Slowies at London yesterday make that all the more obvious - get the process right, and the outcome follows - Mr FRBlackSheep himself has finally defied to odds to show this is the case ;)

C • I can testify going in with... 3