A slog

Following on from a busy previous week, which had been stacked with races and sessions, perhaps unsurprisingly I had been feeling the effects of all that work through last week.

I managed to still get out and run every day, and put together two decent sessions, along with my long run as planned - so I got my intended workload done, albeit it was pretty hard going.

Monday was my usual steady club-night run, then on Tuesday I changed my speed session for the week to a fartlek run, in order to try and freshen things up a bit and also to try and allow for me to be able to run without the pressure of worrying about hitting certain paces or timings. I did a two mile warm up to start, and a two mile cool down to finish, alongside 7 x 1200m of effort off a 400m jog recovery. It was a surprisingly successful session, considering how leggy I felt during the warm up, and for the whole 10 miles total distance of the run I managed to average out at 6 minute mileing.

Then, after an easy recovery run on Wednesday, I did my weekly tempo run with Mr Affleck on the Thursday and we upped the distance once again, this time ending up with 10 miles at an average of 5:30 mpm pace. The most pleasing aspect of this session is the consistency of the pacing throughout the run - we had targeted running the ten miles in approx 55 minutes, so couldn't have paced it much better!

Friday was another easy 7 mile run, followed by my long run on the Saturday where I managed to get in 16 miles at 6:25 pace, having grown into the run from feeling very lethargic and only going through half way at 6:35 pace and cranking it up through the second 8 miles. I completed the weeks workload with a leggy hour of running on the Sunday, clocking a final 9 miles.

A final note for this week - a huge congratulations to my mum on winning her first running trophy tonight at the Wesham summer handicap race! She has come a long way since joining the club just over 12 months ago. It's obviously where I get my running genes from!

Total mileage for the week: 72

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24    

Total mileage for the month of August: 300

Total mileage so far this month (September): 44

Total mileage so far 2016: 2281

Average miles per day 2016: 9.27

High volume

As we are nearing the end of the summer season, I had targeted one final assault on the 5k distance before the winter, that race being the mid Cheshire 5k in Kingsley on Thursday night. One of my main ambitions is to get to a sub 15 minute standard for the distance. Having already ran 15:07 and 15:08 this year and knowing that I am currently going along quite nicely, I fancied a crack at that target this time around.

A look at the results from a previous race on he same course back in April showed that there was a potential for some really quick times. 4 runners went sub 15 and a couple recorded low 15's in that one. I was hoping to get in amongst a good strong pack and get pulled around to a fast time.

Unfortunately, there wasn't the same depth of quality at the front end this time around however, which made it more difficult to hold the necessary pace. The first mile of the race was pretty much bang on target as we went through in 4:50, however the pace dropped drastically in mile two - which was an uphill mile, but was disappointing non-the-less as the pace dropped to 5:10 for the mile. The final mile was back down to my targeted pace, with the downhill section seeing me record a 4:47 mile. Sadly the damage had been done in mile two however and I was left finishing off with a still respectable 15:19. 

The good thing about the race was however that I managed to record an unexpected victory, running home as race winner by 7 seconds. Also, pleasingly, I found myself feeling incredibly comfortable throughout and I felt that I could have kept the pace up for another few miles - which bodes well for my next 10k races if I can maintain my current form and fitness.

Mid Cheshire 5k is a race that I would highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a good quick, PB potential course. It is a 4K loop, with an added kilometre down to the finish after he first loop is complete. It is similar to Chrisleton 5k for anyone that is familiar with that course.

The first half of the week had been something of a rest for me as I had tapered down a bit ahead of the 5k. On Monday I had done 9 miles at 6:14 pace, and on Tuesday I did a makeshift speed session down in the country lanes, as I was unable to make the track. I did a reduced volume of effort to save myself for the race day, settling for 6x800 off 60 seconds rest and doing them all in an average of 2:30. On Wednesday I took the day off completely (well I still worked of course, but you get what I mean!)

Post-race I did a steady 10 miles on Friday at 6:32 pace, and decided that due to reduced mileage this week to have a go at Lytham Hall Park Run on the Saturday to give me a little bit more volume for the pace work instead. I enjoyed the course despite the twist and turns, it is a four lap course and so there is quite a lot of overtaking involved. I took the run as a bit of a hard tempo and averaged out at a tad under 5:30s to finish in about 16:10ish.

On Sunday I was racing again (!) as I did the Great Eccleston 4 mile road race, simply because is it a part of the Wesham club championship fixtures, and also to try and show support for the local scouts and Alam Taylor the organiser being a member of our club too.

It was a small turnout, and is a low key event, but it was a nice gentle rolling course and I was able to run at my own pace without any pressure as I took a comfortable win in 20:32, with an extra lap before and after to build up the run into a longer effort of 12 miles to round off the week.

Total mileage for the week: 60

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:34

Total mileage this month (August): 274

Total mileage so far 2016: 2209

Average miles per day 2016: 9.24

Each to their own...

Wade Van Niekerk

Adam Peaty

Maddie Hinch

Usain Bolt

Mo Farah

Nick Skelton

Jason Kenny

Laura Trott

Michael Phelps

Simone Biles

Max Whitlock 

Andy Murray

Alistair Brownlee

These are just some of the dozens and dozens of names that roll off the tongue when you think of the brilliant performances that we have been fortunate enough to have witnessed in Rio these last two weeks in the Olympic Games.

They are all champions of their sport, Gold medalists, and now household names. Some of them already had been for a number of years, others have become heroes overnight. A few of them will probably be back to defend their titles in Tokyo in four years time, for others this is the pinnacle or their swan song.

What each and every one of those athletes - and the rest, there are far to many to name them all - are a part of though, is yet another exceptional Olympic legacy. For Team GB, the representatives have lifted a nation. Throughout 2016 we have been a country which has been divided, split almost down the middle by a political mine field. What these Games have done these past two weeks though has been quite incredible. For once, the news has been full of positive, uplifting news. It has allowed us to banish the negativity, for a fortnight at least. The overpaid, underperforming footballers have been overshadowed and hopefully shamed somewhat by the stars that are shining bright out in Rio.

It is a fact of sport though, that not everyone can be victorious. Anyone that witnessed Adam Gemili missing out on a bronze medal in the men's 200m sprint by 0.003 of a second, or Lutalo Muhammad's agonising last second defeat in the men's taikwendo final and his heartbreaking interview in the aftermath, will understand the fine margin between success and missing out on that elusive Gold medal.

I hope that those that found themselves unsuccessful this time are able to use the failure as a fuel for future success, and are able to find positives to take away from the Games too. They deserve to because of all the effort and dedication that they have already shown to get to the level they are at.

Not everyone can be an Olympian of course, just like not everyone can win a race, or complete a marathon in under 4 or 5 hours. Success means different things to different people, we shouldn't judge ourselves against others, but against ourselves and where we are, where we have come from and where we aspire to get to. We have to make the most of our own abilities, and of our own opportunities that we are afforded. Hopefully these Games can inspire more people to take up sports and to become the best that they can be.

My blog is my own little way of recording my personal progress, of logging where I am at each week, of stating my targets, of monitoring my success and failures. It is my way of summarising what I have done, of analysing any improvements that I have made, or that I need to make. It is also where I like to collect my thoughts and to give my personal perspective on matters concerning the sport that I love.

Not everybody likes that, or gets it, and I understand that - each to their own - but I would like to think that people can at least respect it.

I found this on a running group that I follow on Facebook (the irony of moaning about people writing about their boring running hobby on a social media page for runners wasn't lost on me...) and it made me chuckle, but I thought I would reply - not that they will be reading anyway though of course...

I enjoy writing, I always have, and I'm not about to stop just because it bores the odd person here and there. My advice if you don't like it, don't read it - please just scroll on when it pops up on your timeline!

This week's training included a steady 12 miler on Monday, followed by another easy 10k on Tuesday. I had to move my usual speed session to Wednesday this week due to work commitments on the Tuesday evening meaning I didn't have time to do a proper session. 

Instead on the Wednesday I managed 8 x 1000m off a 90 second jog recovery around the cycle track at Cottam Sports Arena, as the track was out of bounds. I didn't really get any serious speed up, averaging 3:10 per kilometre, but at least it was a session to tick over with until next week. It also acted as a good tough run the day before my Thursday tempo session, with this week being the second week in a row that I have had to double up with back to back sessions. Thursday's session actually went quite well as I managed to hold 5:30 pace for the full 9 miles of my tempo, a sign that possibly my endurance is improving and I am getting more used to running on tired legs.

Friday was a recovery run of 8 miles. I changed my long run day to Saturday this week in order to give myself an extra 24 hours recovery from it before a mid-week race planned for next week, despite some atrocious conditions of howling wind and rain I managed to complete my planned 18 miles at a healthy average pace of 6:22. Sunday was an easy day with just 7 miles at 6:44 pace.

Total mileage for the week: 77

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:20

Total mileage this month (August): 214

Total mileage so far 2016: 2149

Average miles per day 2016: 9.26

Everyone's a winner!

On Wednesday 10th August 2016, Max Whitlock wrote his name into the record books. A sensational night of performance across the whole spectrum of gymnastic apparatus led to him becoming the first British male to take a medal in the all around gymnastics competition in 108 years.

An unbelievable achievement, and an incredible series of performances and displays that he can be proud of - as were the rest of the watching nation back home, as Max flew the flag for team GB.

His bronze medal could be a watershed moment for Great British gymnastics, it could - and possibly should - be the moment that his sport is finally given the recognition it deserves for the level of difficulty, strength, endurance, creativity and commitment that it takes to perform as he did. He should be applauded and in my mind should be recognised in the next honours list, as should many of the other competing GB athletes that are proving to the world what a brilliant hotbed of sport our Island can be.

Sadly, in the immediate aftermath of his success however, a certain Piers Morgan decided to stick his considerable beak in and belittle the achievement, question why a bronze is seen as a success, and rather distastefully label Whitlock a 'loser' that needs to work harder and achieve a Gold medal to be truly considered successful.

In my mind that is a ridiculous point of view, a pathetic attempt to stir up controversy and to court publicity by a man that is a failed journalist, under whom The Mirror newspaper ran false stories and allegations against the British army, and which had a distasteful and very questionable attitude towards gathering their 'news' articles to say the least. He is a man that carved out a career in American television, but in less than a year was hounded out of the country such was his unpopularity. He came back with his tail between his legs and now sits on a morning soft news show back here in Britain once again - a shadow of his own previous success. His only sporting highlight is cowering next to his stumps as he was battered and bombarded by an over of Brett Lee deliveries in cricket nets for charity. Piers Morgan is the sort of guy that wouldn't understand the amount of hard work, commitment and desire that it takes to be successful in sport if he had it smacked in his face. In short, he is an arse.

We should be immensely proud of our sports men and women in Rio, they have been simply sensational once again, and have captured the imagination back home and hopefully will inspire the next generation. At the end of the day that will be their real legacy, not the colour of the medal hanging around their necks (or even if not at all!)

Last night Greg Rutherford secured a bronze in the long jump, whilst Jess Ennis-Hill claimed a silver in the Heptathlon. Neither took the Gold, but both gave us something to shout about, to cheer for, to stay up into the silly hours and roar at the tv for. These athletes make the ordinary Joe Public dream that anything is possible. For that we should salute them.

In the same athletics session we saw possibly our greatest ever track athlete stamp his name all over the history books once more again too. Magic Mo knows no bounds, his strength of belief to tuck in at the back of the field early doors, his strength of knowledge to ease his way through the field, his strength of courage and determination to pick himself up from that mid-race fall, and his strength of endurance to finish up with a 4:03 final mile to blow the opposition away was unbelievable. Yes last night truly was another Super Saturday.

We can't all be Olympians, but that doesn't mean we can't all be a success of our own. Success is something which should be judged on a sliding scale with relevance to who you are and how far you have come on. For many, if you get those trainers on and pound the miles out and cross that start and finish line, then that is a success in itself. Others of course will set higher standards, will focus on times and positions, that is only natural - but it doesn't make the achievements of anyone else become any less relevant.

On Wednesday night, whilst Whitlock was making history, a few hundred of us local amateur athletes took part in the latest of our own series of competition with our local interclub competition. After almost two years without defeat, spanning 11 races, I finally met my match at Chorley in the latest round. Luke Betts, running for the home team squeezed me out in a sprint through the final stages of the race, after a great three-way tussle with David Rigby of Preston.

It was a fantastic race in quite miserable conditions. The rain had poured down throughout the evening and was unrelenting through the entirety of the race as well, which made the underfoot conditions in the opening section through muddy woodland pretty difficult to negotiate. None the less, the early pace was fast (5:01 on the watch through mile one), with the three of us taking it in turns to lead out, stretch the field, push each other as much as possible and pull each other around the course. 

Chorley is one of my favourite courses in the series, a 4.8 mile two and a bit lap course, which throws a long hilly section and a couple of short sharp and steep down hills at you too. After the first big lap (approximately 3 miles), myself and Luke managed to pull away slightly and then it became a straight head to head race for the line. I attacked from quite far out, second time up the hill, as I was aware that Luke's finishing speed would be greater than my own, but he stuck with me and once we came into the last 400 he came into his own and ran away from me. I couldn't react or pick up the pace beyond what I was already at, and with that my run was over. But I was delighted with my run, and it was great to be pushed so hard. My time of 24:53 was more than 30 seconds faster than my winning time from last year, so that bodes well for my upcoming races and shows that I am in form.

I really stepped up my efforts in training this week too, looking to build on strongly in the next few weeks now that I fell back up to speed after my rest. I managed to record my highest mileage week in a couple of months too, which was pleasing.

I did a slightly longer run on Monday (13 miles) to make up for missing out on my Sunday long run due to racing instead at Blackpool Airshow 10k. 

Then on Tuesday I did a slightly reduced speed session, with one eye on the interclub. I did 10 x 480 metres, off a 320 metre recovery around Preston Docks. It was a nice session, and one which could almost be broken up into 3 sets - downwind I averaged 4:42 pace, into a headwind I averaged 5:03 pace and around the bend (traffic to contend with) I averaged 4:58 pace.

On Thursday I did a tempo session with Rob Affleck and was pleased with how comfortably I can now run on tired legs - a sign that the endurance is coming on now - we averaged 5:34 pace for 8.5 miles of the session.

Friday and Saturday were both easier running as I allowed the legs to recover from the previous 5 days exertions. I just went out and plodded a few steady miles on each day.

On Sunday I did my long run of 16.5 miles, at an average pace of 6:23, getting progressively quicker throughout and finishing at under 6 minute pace in the final miles. Not bad having been out for a few pints of the Saturday night and staying up to watch all the athletics!

That is it for this week - sorry for the rant! Believe in yourselves and keep doing what you are doing. Ignore Piers, we are all winners!

Total mileage for the week: 75

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage this month (August): 137

Total mileage so far 2016: 2072

Average miles per day 2016: 9.21

Airshows and Olympics

Following on from my first week of training since my summer break, this week I continued my push back to full fitness and sharpness with another tough spell of training, topped off with a blustery race along Blackpool prom for the Airshow 10k on Sunday.

Having been pleasantly surprised by the shape I was in at Podium 5k last Friday night, I decided to chuck in a 10k this weekend having heard that the great Andi Jones had signed up to run he race also. I had hoped that if we had got some favourable conditions I may have got pulled around in a good time - however the gusty weather along Blackpool's front meant that this was never in danger of being the case.

Rather than tucking in behind and merely trying to hang onto the back of Andi, I was determined to try and make an honest race out of it in the early stages and through the first quarter of the race we shared the workload and both pushed the pace. With the first mile being down wind, we soon ticked that off in 4:50, however after the turn down onto the concrete lower promenade we were hit by strong winds of 40-50mph and were sandblasted too all the way down the stretch towards the Pier at 4 miles. 

That meant we were running head first into the winds for a full 3 mile stretch, which gradually got the better of me. I managed to keep in touch with Andi until just before the half way point of the race, although he had begun to stretch out away from me from around the 4K mark. 

My splits into the headwinds were: mile 2 - 5:29, mile 3 - 5:43, mile 4 - 5:54. These splits show a couple of things, firstly how much the wind took out of me as I gradually slowed throughout this section to nearly as much as 6 minute mile-ing, but also secondly, how much easier it is when you have someone to work away with. As soon as Andi got a lead on me, I found it much tougher mentally to keep the push on. 

At 4 miles, the course saw us climb back up onto the higher promenade, back onto Tarmac and also turning back to have the wind in our sails once more. Unfortunately by this stage Andi was now long gone and I found myself running in on my own and again struggling a tad for motivation to push myself to hurt enough when it was clear that times were out of the window at this point. Mile 5 was quite undulating and I recorded 5:31, before a mainly downhill stretch through mile 6 at 5:19 pace. A quick look at my watch showed me that a final push would see me dip under 34 at least, and so I sprinted the .2 miles home at 4:50 pace to record a time of 33:52, some 63 seconds behind Andi Jones, but after all he is one of our nations best runners and has represented England and GB so I will take that!

Speaking of Team GB, Olympic fever has well and truly gripped me now, and the next couple of weeks it will dominate my life watching it all unfold - I might not find time for training! 😝

This week's training included a session of 6 x 1k, 2 x 400 and 2 x 200 on the track on Tuesday, and lots of steady running at around 6:30 pace through the week. Thursday saw me running an early 3 miles in the morning before work, as I had a rush on to get ready for Noel Gallagher at Lytham Festival after work, whilst Saturday's running was largely limited by resting up ahead of the race and also working in the morning, Sunday racing also meant no long run, so my mileage was restricted further.

Thanks Anne Mayers for the photo!

Total mileage for the week: 62

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:18

Total mileage this month (August): 62

Total mileage so far 2016: 1997

Average miles per day 2016: 9.16 

Holidays, Hisaronu's hills and hitting the roads again.

It's been a few weeks since my last blog update, so this week's will be a round up of everything that I have been up to in the last four weeks since I last wrote a piece on here. 

A fortnight's summer holiday has seen me take a little break from training in order to freshen up and allow the body to recover a little bit from all the strains of he first half of the year's running. It felt good to rest up and take it easy for a bit, but I am so happy to be back out and pounding the roads again once more now.

Week 1

The week leading up to my break, I tried my best to cram in as much training as possible, but seen as I was flying on the Saturday, it was a shortened week of training which saw me run each day from Monday to Friday before commencing on my week break Saturday to Saturday.

Due to it being a shortened week, the mileage was obviously affected. In order to try and counteract the negative aspect of this eventuality I decided to try and increase the intensity of each of my sessions and try running hard throughout every single training slot.

This week saw me complete a total of 44 miles - some two-thirds of my usual mileage that I have been recording through the summer season.

On the Monday I ran with David Taylor and Jason Barlow at the Wesham club training night - they pushed me to run at a decent pace and I managed a total of 7 miles with them at 6:14 pace, in addition to another 5 miles that I had done on my own earlier in the evening at 6:52 pace.

Tuesday was a track session which I completed on my own, with 9 x 800 metres at an average of 4:52 mpm pace.

Wednesday was a recovery run and I only managed 2 miles at 7:00 pace as I turned spectator, watching Moll running the Blackpool race for life. It wasn't a night that went to plan unfortunately as she ended up injured at around the 2k mark and we had to walk the remainder of the way! Fortunately she has since recovered from the subsequent cuts and bruises...

Thursday was a progressive tempo run with Affleck, running 8 miles of increasing levels of effort at an average of 5:44 pace, with a two mile cool down to complete.

As Friday was my last chance to burn off the remaining energy I had before the holiday I decided to chuck everything into a final 10 miler and got around my local route through the lanes at an average of 5:56 - not bad for a Friday night, the day following another hard session.

Saturday and Sunday were rest days.

Total mileage for the week: 44

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:27

Total mileage so far this month (July): 66

Total mileage so far 2016: 1820

Average miles per day 2016: 9.58

Week 2

In short, I didn't do much work!

Monday to Friday was pretty much complete rest - I didn't even do much swimming! Saturday and Sunday saw me complete my first tentative runs of the holiday, as I worked on a 5 mile route from the hotel, running 4.5 miles on the first attempt (6:50 pace) and 5 miles on the following morning (6:31 pace).

I found it hard going in the heat - even in the early morning, with temperatures hitting 25-27oC even at 7:15 in the morning! Not only that, but with humidity of in the region of 65-70% and being at a higher altitude to I'm used to back home, it was tough going, but the scenery was beautiful and I actually really enjoyed running in Turkey. I escaped into the forest most morning runs, and hit Hisaronu's hills, with the 5 miler seeing some 414 feet of elevation in just a short distance.

Anyway, since I didn't do much training this week, here is a picture of my most strenuous activity of the first week in Turkey - Camel riding with Moll! It was fun to try something new, and brilliant to get to spend quality time away from the stresses of every day life with Moll and the rest of my family who I love to bits.

Total mileage for the week: 9.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:36

Total mileage so far this month (July): 75.5

Total mileage so far 2016: 1829.5

Average miles per day 2016: 9.29

Week 3

The second week of my holiday saw me start to increase my morning efforts a little bit as I strived to try and ensure I kept ticking over and didn't lose too much fitness before I arrived home - especially with the amount I was eating and drinking whilst away!

I ran on Monday (5.0 miles), Wednesday (5.3 miles), Thursday (6.7 miles) and Friday (5.0 miles) and as well as the running I also swam a quarter of a mile each of those mornings in an attempt to bring my body temperature back down, whilst maintaining my increased heart rate a bit longer. This was an attempt to avoid the heat rash that I encountered last summer when trying to train in Malta.

Tuesday was a rest day for an excursion, while Saturday was also a rest day for travelling home.

On the Sunday I came crashing back down to earth with a bang as I went for a 16 mile long run with Affleck and I suffered badly! My average pace plummeted after mile 10 from a relatively healthy 6:25 pace to 6:38 by the end of it. Work to do to get back to where I was then...

Total mileage for the week: 38

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:30

Total mileage so far this month (July): 113.5

Total mileage so far 2016: 1867.5

Average miles per day 2016: 9.15

Week 4

No time to feel sorry for myself, I had to throw myself straight back into training, as I already had my eyes set on the perfect comeback race in order to see where exactly I am at ahead of the next round of training. Podium 5k was back this Friday and was advertising a stacked field and a race that would be streamed live on Facebook via Dave Norman's new brainchild "RunningLive" - if you get chance to check out the site, please do as it is a great idea and one that I really hope takes off. It is a great way to see how races unfold and what goes on around you, that you just cannot see or appreciate when you are running in the same race yourself. That, and it allows good publicity for the events themselves too.

So the first full week back was all geared towards trying to get onto that start line in some sort of shape, so that I didn't make a fool of myself by turning up completely unfit and rusty.

Monday saw me again run 4 miles on my own, before joining up with my club mates for a run at Wesham, doing a further 8 with Lee and Jason Barlow. I pushed myself to try and see what my legs would allow me to get down to and was surprised to hit sub 6 minute mile-ing fairly comfortably and peaked at 5:37 pace.

On Tuesday, an early finish at work allowed me the chance to get to the track early, so I had completed my session by the time anyone else had turned up! I managed 6 x 1000m off a 200m recovery. I never really pushed myself to my limit, but my average pace for the session was in and around 5:10 pace, so some way off my 5k pace, which was a slight concern, although as I say it was a solo session and without the adrenaline of a race day. That combined with it being my first session back made it a satisfactory effort.

Wednesday saw me tick over with 7 miles, with a further 6 coming on Thursday.

Friday was race night. The field that was assembled on the day wasn't quite as stacked as I had anticipated, which meant it would be a little bit more difficult to execute plan A - which was to try and get in a big group, tuck in and get carried around! Instead, plan B was simply to try and keep Ben Fish in sight for as long as possible. I knew that if I was in and around Ben, then I wouldn't be far off that elusive sub 15.

I managed to keep up for about 2.5k, before allowing a bit of a gap to open up. From there on in I got into a race for 4th place, which I narrowly missed out on in a final sprint. I finished 5th in 15:15, 8 seconds slower than my pb time, but considering the fact I am just back from holiday, I was absolutely delighted to record that time. It leaves me in good shape and a decent position ahead of my next phase of training. A few weeks of hard work and I will be better placed for another attack on that pb hopefully.

Saturday was a 8 mile recovery run, which was pleasantly not too painful actually.

Sunday was my long run day, and far different to the week previous, it actually went superbly. I ran a total of 18 miles at an average of 6:16 pace, my quickest long training run in a number of months. So perhaps the break has done me good, and a few more quality weeks of sessions could see me ready to hit some big races once again. Here's hoping!

Total mileage for the week: 67.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:29

Total mileage this month (July): 181

Total mileage so far 2016: 1935

Average miles per day 2016: 9.17

Photo credit David Belshaw

Witton Park Trail Relays

The Witton Park Trail Relays is an event that unfortunately I missed out on in 2015, as it fell on the day of my birthday and I was otherwise engaged (I don't think Moll would have been best pleased if I had have asked her to come along and watch me race instead of going out for a meal!). This year however, having heard lots about the success of the event from everyone involved the previous year, I made sure I left my diary clear to allow me to take part and see what it was all about for myself. 

If I'm being completely honest, I didn't really quite know what I had signed myself up for, having never taken part in any trail races previously. But I had figured that it couldn't be too dissimilar to crosscountry, and loving that event as I do I was pretty confident that I would enjoy the challenge. So much so that during the week, as other runners had been forced to drop out, I volunteered myself to run an extra leg for one of our other teams. At just over 2.35 miles each leg, how hard could it be?

On my first team, I would take the first leg before tagging on to James Mulvany on our second leg, with David Taylor bringing us home on the third and final leg. 

Arriving in plenty of time, I borrowed a pair of fell shoes off one of the other club members (I'm glad I didn't try running it in my road shoes!) and set about on a reccie of the course, with about half an hour to go before the race start. I'm glad I did, as it prepared me fully for what was ahead of me, the only problem being that a wrong turn meant that I ended up doing a longer 3 mile warm up and having to hurry up a bit on the last mile in order to get back to the start in time!

It was only once at the start that I realised just how many teams Wesham had entered into he competition, with some 16 of the 120 teams participating being Wesham blue! Being on leg one meant that my leg for the 'A' team was pretty much just a normal race, however as opposed to many races on the road, I didn't recognise many of the front runners, with the exception of Chris Singleton of Barlick. This meant I wasn't sure what to expect pace-wise or how the race would unfold. 

I decided that the best course of action was to try and grab the race by the scruff of the neck and run the first half of the race hard, in an attempt to get to the summit in first, with the idea being that it was all downhill from there...

...easier said than done! The first quarter of a mile is fairly flat, across field and up onto the trail path which began to wind its way through the woodland. I had successfully managed to get myself into the lead by the time we entered the woods and began the incline. The first half of the incline was fairly gradual, and aside from having to be aware of branches and roots and the uneven nature of the underfoot conditions, it was very much runnable.

This section of the race also saw you have to pass through two gates, but that was made simple as the marshals had opened them by the time the runners approached. At the top of the first section of the incline, we passed under a little tunnel and into the upper woodland area, where the hill began to get steadily steeper. A hundred yards or so after the tunnel, you had to take a sharp turn back almost upon yourself and straight up and onto the toughest climb of the course. It is difficult to know how far exactly this climb went on for, but according to my watch readings the total elevation on the whole run was 488ft and my first mile was down at 7:30 pace.

I managed to reach the summit just about in first place, but by this stage I was really blowing - I like hills, but this was more than I am used to! - and I didn't take the best approach to climbing over a tree stump that was led across the path near the top (I didn't notice the gap that was runnable between them!) and lost some time and momentum manoeuvring my legs over it.

Almost immediately as we reached the top, Chris Holdsworth of Clayton-le-moors Harriers - who went on to win the leg in the fastest time of the day, surged past me. I tried my hardest to keep him within range throughout the descent, as we plummeted back down the other side of the hill. In trying to keep myself in with a shout of first place I probably cost myself both energy and momentum as we came through the fields and into the final section of the race. I struggled with my foot placing as we negotiated a tricky section of a dozen or so wide steps, and at the bottom of those I was quickly passed by two Barlick Fell runners, despite finishing fairly quickly (my last 0.35 miles were recorded at 4:50 pace), I was unable to reign them back in and as such I found myself finishing the leg in fourth position.

I passed on to James Mulvany, who had an excellent leg and managed to gain the team a position as Wesham found themselves in and among the top three after leg 2, a position that David Taylor very nearly maintained as he was passed agonisingly on the finish line as we got pipped for a place on the podium and finished up in fourth place. It was an excellent showing and a great result for us, up against some of the top fell teams and teams much more used to this type of event and race. For Wesham to be up there competing with the likes of Clayton, Barlick and Blackburn on their own patch was fantastic. I loved being a part of a team in a relay environment again, having missed out on the 12 stage earlier on this season.

For my second leg, I learned from my first lap and took it a little easier up hill and had a bit more energy left for the down hill section. I decided not to bust too much of a gut second time around and to try and enjoy it, which I managed to - using those in front of me as motivation to keep on going throughout. I gained some 25-30 places for the team and recorded the 8th fastest leg of the night on my second attempt, despite being nearly a minute slower than my first lap.

Overall I loved the experience and would love to take part again next year - and this has shown me how good hill work is, I really need to find a big hill near me to practice on! My calves were in bits for a couple of days afterwards though, and knew that they had been in a real workout!

The rest of the week saw me do a steady 11.5 miles on Monday, a 2 x 2 mile tempo on the Tuesday (at 5:09 average pace) finished off with 4 x 200 metre strides at 30 seconds a piece. Wednesday I got out for an hour and ran 9 miles at a comfortable pace, Friday I went out early before work and plodded out 4 miles to try and get some of the lactic out of my legs from the previous evening. Saturday was a rest day and Sunday saw me do a long run at 6:15 pace for 17 miles with Rob Affleck, with a mile cool down giving us 18 miles in total.

Total mileage for the week: 62

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:40

Total mileage for June: 254

Total mileage so far this month (July): 22

Total mileage so far 2016: 1776

Average miles per day 2016: 9.70