At the time of last writing, I was preparing for my latest outing over the 10km distance, at Birchwood. I had been warned that he course was no longer the quickest, after being changed a few years ago. However, traditionally, there had been a strong field to contend against, and so it was possible to still run decent times if you could get yourself in a race against those around you.
Sadly this year that just was not the case. I have to admit I was shocked at just how poor a quality this race provided - both in terms of the level of competition at the front end, and also the standard of the course provided.
Undulating, twisting, and just plain boring, the course failed to capture the imagination and inspire anything special. The endless roundabouts through industrial estates and motorway bridges made this a pretty dull race to be honest.
Furthermore, whereas last year the race had seen the likes of Ben Fish and David Rigby, amongst others, competing, this year the front end was sparsely contested. Perhaps word had got around of how poor a race Birchwood 10k has now become, if you are looking for fast times at least. To say that I ran some 32 seconds quicker at an undulating Worden Park 10k, when running out in front on my own, earlier this year says something about how slow this one is...
I didn't manage to put in a performance that I can say I am particularly proud of, although the 33:21 I recorded would have been a decent one on this type of course for me 12 months ago. But having set the bar higher for myself over the past year, I have to be honest and say that I fell short of my own expected standards.
That said, due to the lack of high quality at the front of the field, I found myself finishing in second place, clear of third by some 15-20 seconds, with a similar gap from myself to the winner. Furthermore, a strong turnout from the Wesham contingent saw us also bag the team prize. Accompanying me in completing our winning team was Lee Barlow, David Taylor and Steven Gore. So it wasn't all bad, as I was rewarded with £100 worth of New Balance vouchers for my second placed finish! I'm sure they will come in handy over the winter...
CORNWALL
The Friday following Birchwood 10k, saw me head off on a road trip down to Cornwall with my gorgeous girlfriend Molly. We made the most of an opportunity to spend a week away together before she heads off to university later this month.
It was great to get to relax together and spend some time chilling out and enjoying each other's company. The weeks leading up to the break had been so busy and stressful, I think we were both ready, and in need of the rest.
That said, I did make sure to pack my trainers and keep the mileage ticking over by fitting in 40 miles in the duration of the week. It might sound quite a lot to some of you - but bearing in mind I usually run 70 miles a week on top of a 50-60 hour working week, this was most definitely still a good rest! I think Moll was also more than happy to escape from me for 40 minutes or so each day too haha.
The rest of the week was spent catching up on lots of sleep (yay!), cooking together, playing lots of varieties of golf and walking/exploring all that the area had to offer.
It was a fantastic holiday and allowed me to recharge the batteries and return fighting fit and with the bit between my teeth once again.
One final blow out on the weekend I came home saw me join some of the other local runners for a great day/night out at Simon Denye's stag do. It is fair to say I am slower on the road in a go-kart than I am on foot!
RETURN TO TRAINING / NORTH WEST ROAD RELAYS
Keen to get straight back into my training programme, I have had a bumper week of mileage upon our return from Cornwall. Having averaged 68 miles a week for the 6 weeks leading up to the holiday, this first week back at it has seen me chuck in 77 miles of work - a new personal highest weekly mileage.
Part of the reason for this increase in miles is down to a longer speed session on the grass at Cottam Sports Arena on Tuesday, as I joined Dave Rigby for a session of 8x1000m and a 1 mile tempo to finish . Also, Thursday's tempo session with Rob Affleck was also longer than normal, as he concludes his training for Berlin. We did a 10 mile tempo, finishing up with 54:30 for the distance - exactly a minute quicker than my official PB for the distance, set at Preston 10 last winter!
I woke up to a sore calf on Friday, and despite taking it easy and only doing 10 slow miles on it after work, I couldn't shake off the tightness and knotting inside it.
I tested it out again on Saturday morning at Preston Park Run, and got around the run ok, taking it relatively conservatively in order to sustain my energy for the afternoon's relay championships at Ormskirk. It had been important for me mentally to be confident that I was able to run on the leg before I set out to properly race later on in the day.
My calf tightened up once again between runs, but I ensured that I did a lengthy warm up and stretched as much as possible before my turn to run.
Thankfully I didn't have long to wait. I was placed on the first leg and was up against some quality opposition - Blackpool's Luke Minns, Rossendale's Rob Webb, Paddy Dever of Preston Harriers, Barlick's Chris Singleton and Ian Livesey, as well as runners from Liverpool, Salford and many other big clubs were there.
I set off pretty conservatively again, content to sit in early doors and see who made early moves and what the general pace of the race around me was going to be. One lad from Clayton-Le-Moors went absolutely flying off from the track, and as I suspected at the time soon came back to the rest of us after he obviously misjudged the pace massively!
A Liverpool runner took the race on and proved to be too good, winning the leg by 7 seconds, but having been 4th place for most of the first out of the two laps, I managed to move through the front of the field as the race wore on.
Passing the lad from Clayton, I managed to remain within striking distance of young Paddy through the first lap, and was confident that the longer I stayed in range, the more likely it was that my endurance and strength would see me past him before the end of the leg.
I eventually moved past him at around the two mile mark and pressed on, moving clear of the pack behind me to finish in second place for the leg in a time of 15:51 for the 3.18km. It was a very satisfying performance for me, seen as I had been genuinely concerned about even making it round in one piece!
After the conclusion of the final leg, I was shocked and delighted to find out that the time I had ran was the quickest by any Lancashire runner on the day by four seconds, and the 3rd fastest recorded by any of the runners present too! So I got a nice little medal to take home as a souvenir for my efforts too.
I also have to say how good it was to be back part of a team event with the rest of Team Wesham once again - our first team finishing up in 32nd place out of the 80 teams that started the race. Lee Barlow, Steven Gore and Steve Myerscough completed our 4 man 'A' team. It was also great to see my dad compete in a relay event too, and it was brilliant to get the opportunity to cheer him on too.
I now have a week to get recovered and ready for the Northern 6 stage relays at Stanley Park, Blackpool, next Saturday!
