WHERE DID THE WEEK GO!?

WEDNESDAY;  A BUSY 2 RES RUN 
Drugs company GlaxoSmithKline carried out a recent survey to determine the amount of "physical activity" the over-55s do compared with other age groups.  The survey found that over -55s are more active than the 18 to 25 year age group averaging 12 hours 6 minutes compared with 11 hours 38 minutes by those half there age.
  Walking of course for the over-55s is a very popular activity.  The trails of local Wharfedale swarm with my generation  whilst those half their age  are in the main hard at work.  Many not walking are of course in the gyms across the before lunch; so the figures are not really surprising.
  Sally M. joined for this week's "2 res run". We started out at 10.30 and just over an hour later, on a fairly mild late January morning, by car park was entirely full and it's a pretty big car park.  Confirmation of the upsurge in  recreational walking  as a retirement activity; and confirmation of the fact that running with a friend  leads to a faster pace even with chat all the way around!
FRIDAY:  A DISAPOINTING TRACK SESSION
 Following another visit to the soggy gravel pits on Thursday it was back to the track on Friday  in a bid to extract a tad more speed from the old legs with a set of 8 600s.
 A bid which failed as  I could only manage the same pace for one and a half laps as I did the previous week for two and a half laps!  Quite disappointing but I'll  put it down to the  strong winds prevailing on Friday.
At least the sun shone for the  midday session; two hours later  I drove back into a very heavy snow storm, hoping throughout that  the snow would not settle as it would severly hamper the preparation and running of the NORTHERN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS on Saturday at Pontefract.
 Fortunately as I reached the Yorkshire border there was no sign of the snow and as I drove towartds there were one ot two strange glances at the snow laden car.
 Forecasts for the Northerns were very favourable and proved correct.  Officials, spectators and most importantly competitors enjoyed a Pontefract Park  race course bathed in bright winter sunshine for all the races.  Just as well really as there was no heated facility at all at the venue to provide respite if the weather had have turned nasty as it can happen at this time of year.
It was a long day all in all as I had arrived at 10 in time to watch Georgia Malir, Sally's daughter, compete in the under 17 race.   Two year's ago she ran in the under 15s race and finished 81st.  Whilst still maintaining an excellent standard in the exam subjects and music (piano) under Sally's guidance she is maturing very nicely as a versatile young athlete performing well on the trails, fell and road.  Yesterday it was time to see how well she had progressed on the country.
 Seemingly buried by faster starters from the pens she had surged through the 5th place midway through the first lap and  held on well dropping only one place to finish 6th. An tremendous improvement of 75 places!
Well done, Georgia! 
  Those in front of her yesterday have enjoyed greater success in the last few years but they have a "new kid on the block" in their age group to worry about and she looks certain to being only one way if  she continues to work hard in her training.
  In the 3 hours  between Georgia's race and the senior races it was great to catch up with so many old friends from the northern region but ,with my new camera in hand , none of them asked me if I was running.
When it came to the senior mens race I must confess  I did have some regret at not entering as it was by no means a race exclusive to the under 40s.
 I did manage a rare run in the dark when I arrrived home of just 3 miles which left me fresher for the final run of the week.   A 12 miler on the canal from Silsden, as usual.
SUNDAY:  A VERY ENCOURAGING CANAL RUN. BEST OF THE YEAR?
 The canal was unusually busy as I ran closer to the planned turn at the famous Bingley 5 Rise Locks.  In fact  as the locks came into view so did a great crowd of people on the towpath adjacent to the locks.
Apparently the locks were beinng drained and hundreds had come out to watch!  At which point I turned back.  Not really being concerned to discover what was being uncovered on the base of the canal.
 Usual acceleration on the run from 9.14 opener to 8.01 uphill mile to finish. The run compensating for Friday's disappointing performance.  Obviously I'm build for distance rather than speed.  But at 9.5 stone I suppose tha's fairly predictable.
So 11.5 on the day.  Closing week 4 off at 43 miles.  Averaging 42 on the year.  Time for a race?!
 

BRASS MONKEY HALF MARATHON 1987

LOOKING BACK TO THIS DATE 25 YEARS AGO 1987

 My 1987 racing programme began in January as usual and ended in late October.  Nothing in November and then just one low key race in the December.  Several years took this shape in the '80s  as I  had stopped racing over the country.
 On  this date, JANUARY 25TH 1987 , I  returned  to York Knavesmire in an attempt to repeat my 1986 win in the BRASS MONKEY HALF MARATHON (67.55).   I had  run one race over 6 miles (the Woodkirk Valley 6 in Leeds) on January 6th.  clocking  32.20 on the undulating course ; perhaps indicating  that I was not in shape to run under 70 minutes again at this early stage of the year.
 In the weeks since Christmas I had covered 72, 69 and 80 miles with a longest run of 16 and had put in plenty of hill work but  hadn't really started speedwork.  The diary tells of  "head and chest slightly congested" "coughing and spluittering" "an unsettled night" on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday;  but clearly not serious enough to me racing!

 Pre-race favourite to win was RICHARD BUTTERFIELD
who was running for Skyrac A.C. at the time  (pictured here running for Horsforth Harriers alongside V.S. stalwart Bob Jackson).  He certainly figured from the gun but he was surrounded by phalanx of  white vests.   VALLEY STRIDERS were out in force!  4 of us were on his tail!  Must have been something we said as undeterred he ran away to win  in 68.07  but we held on to take 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place!!
 MARTIN HOPSON was 2nd 69.27,  HILARY MC EWAN  69.45 , I was 4TH IN 70.23 with last year's runner up, JEFF COULSON 5th .  GEORGE DEBNAM put the host club, Knavesmire Harriers, amongst the prizes with his sixth place in 71.01. 
  The race winner  later joined Valley Striders.  A case of I can beat them, but there are more of them,  so I'll join them!
 None of us would have threatened the 2012 winner YARED HAGUS (Wallsend) who  battled through the strong winds last Sunday to win in 66.42 but might well have pushed back this year's 2nd place finisher MATTHEW PIERSON (Holmfirth) (71.12) in 8th place?
 I only have a newspaper report for this 1987. It would be interesting to see a full results sheet.

NEW RUN ROUTES....SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND!

  Those that know me well know that I have time and inclination to run everyday.  Well you brush your teeth every day and brush your hair every day so why not run.  It's body maintenance after all.
  I DO however have very easy days and the session usually consists of jogging several laps down on the local fields.  No speed, no hills, no mud,  no traffic.  BUT  it is very open to the strong winds that tend to blow down Wharfedale and without company can tend to get a bit boring lapping grass for 40 or 50 minutes.
  Quite often I've noticed "doggie-walkers" , as I call them,   exiting over a fence at the corner of the far corner of the fields but until yesterday  never been tempted to discover where they have been heading.
  Bringing up the area  adjacent to the field  on  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/   revealed quite a large area of land with quite visible paths through woodland and around a couple of large ponds.  But quite a lot of trees so difficult to measure  exactly.
 I ventured in  yesterday and   within minutes came to a sign telling me I was in BEN RHYDDING GRAVEL PITS NATURE RESERVE.  Very grand I thought.  Should be well maintained paths and quite extensive, I thought.    Not quite so!  I  ran as large a loop as the terrain allowed and  was back at the sign having covered just a kilometre. 
   Somewhat disappointing but  I did at least discover a very good loop for an offroad speed session prticularly useful in windy conditions. Ideal for anyone doing a cross country season.  Still combining the Gravel Pits loop with the playing fields, covered twice,  gave me an easy 4 mile start to week 4.
  Being able to look for and then explore  routes which  are within a  short drive is one of the benefit of having more time for training and certainly the satellite pictures provided by gmap-pedometer and similar sites
are a tremendous aid to this.  A great bonus for the modern runner particularly within the measuring facility.
Just wish I'd had the means to measure runs so accurately when I was training in earnest in the '80s instead of driving around a route or trying to measure it with string on a map!
 
 



 

SAME QUANTITY...MORE QUALITY

 Whilst it's nice to have the freedom that being semi-retired gives me for training and other home activities it's also great, on occasions,  to get back to the coal face and spend some time iin the COMPLETE RUNNER shops;   listening to customers and help satisfy their running needs.
 Pat and I worked in the Nelson branch on Friday and Saturday and as always the experience proved invaluable in learning how running fits into the lives of boys and girls and men and women of all ages up to eighty. Such was the variety of customers who kept us very busy over the 2 days.
  But no so busy that I couldn't excuse myself for track session on Friday; followed by a gentle jog over 5 miles on Saturday morning.
 FRIDAY..........TRACK SESSION. This was the first rep session of the year in week 3 and I elected  to do 5 x 1K .  A session I had completed in week 6 last year;  so I was keen to see how times would compare.  A year older and essentially rebuilding anything close would be very acceptable.
Last year  I recorded  4.47   4.41   4.38   4.39   and  finished with a swifter 4.30.  I did not try to work to these times but in reviewing the session it was good to see that Friday's were very close except the last one during whioch I lost concentration and failed to finish with my fastest rep time.
So for the record   5 x 1K reps with a generous 2.20 jog/ walk interval recovery in cold blowy conditions.                                   4.44   4.42   4.40   4.37  4.37
  Plenty of scope for progression by increasing the reps,  reducing the recovery and of course getting them faster!  But it was a reasonable start, nevertheless.
In the last post I said it's easier to focus when training with others and so it proved on Friday.  I certainly  lost focus on that last rep.   I think I was getting hungry and started to think about what I was eating for lunch!  But still  the session overall was within one second on average on the same session in 2011,  provided good feedback on current fitness and  also gives a good idea of race time expectation.   Providing of course that I can find a race in the near future that is not already booked up.  
   Saturday's out and back jaunt on the canal was a gentle as I could make it  although I did manage a short sprint when attacked by a gaggle of geese who were probably in a bad mood as they couldn't comfortably swim in the water which had formed into choppy waves created by the gale force winds.
   Gales which  continued throughout the night and this morning brought through driving rain from the west as usual.   However Pat offered to drive me out and I was able to run back for 8 wind assisted miles. Now you may consider that  "wimpy" but as I've said before gale force winds and asthmatic runners are not compatible.
  The 8 miler brought the week's total to a solid 42.  No quantity progression but progression quality wise with  the track session and  several other miles in the week sub 8. So a pleasing week.
                              I hope and trust your week went equally well.  
 

 

THE PERFECT RUNNING PARTNER?

Fairly obvious really but  reading the following  in today's R.W. email ..........

"Studies have shown that athletes perform better together than alone. Find a running buddy—or a few—and you'll get faster while having more fun. " 

Certainly these Murlough AC members respendent in their Fastrax vests seem to be enjoying themselves on their beach run.   The email newsletter was timely as I was just reviewing  the 2011 times I had recorded for my near weekly 2 RESRUN as I call it, (the ever popular trail circuit around Yorkshire Water's Fewston and Swinsty reservoirs) run properly for the first time

this year yesterday.  

  It's amazing  but interesting how times vary for runs we run frequently.  Interesting in that records serve as  good feedback  for current levels of fitness;particularly useful when building up as I am at this stage.  Times for this 6.5 mile undulating circuit are generally around 61/62; around 60 minutes on a good day. 

 But the fastest clocking came when I was joined on the run by Sally M. and Jan from Ilkley Hrs...57.17!


The pace picked up similarly today covering a flat 6 mile road run.   Opened up with an 8.44 mile, accelerated to 8.22 but for most of the 3rd mile I had the company of a friend cycling.  Despite maintaining the chat for the mile,   my "paced" mile showed  acceleration further to 7.52.
 As I turned back and he cycled on,  I  spotted another runner in front and inevitably  just had to chase him.   The  pace was maintained sub 8.  But once he had  peeled off and the pace dipped to 8.06 and 8.15 for the last mile.   So  49.20 for the run. 
Still running ahead of where I was in week 7 last year;  but probably over 50 minutes if I had run the whole 6 miles solo.
 Runners World suggest that running with company keeps us "more focussed" and "less distracted by pain".   All well and good if your running mate shares your running aims and you are of a similar ability.   
 There is no way I would have run that 34.58 Salford 10k at the age of 50 in 1999 if I hadn't shared months of hard with a young Bingley H. lady I was assisting at the time.  Some good track sessions and some good long runs as well.   Similar relationships have been enjoyed since and have been mutually beneficial.   Problem now though is finding someone as slow as me who trains late morning!
  Mind you if  your partner  is aiming, say, for the 3 Peaks and you are working towards a spring marathon you might both have to compromise or go your separate ways,  for your long run at least.
 I would say that over the last 49 years  the greater part of my running has been self motivated and
run solo.  But certainly there is s tremendous advantage  is banging out track reps ,working shoulder to shoulder with a like  minded partner or group.
 On the other hand,  I wander just how many runners went to their club last night, joined in a session which they had not planned for and weren't prepared for and ended up injured.  Quite as few , no doubt.
 Meanwhile, all being well, I'll maintain my weekly solo  track  sessions  and hope that I can at least match the efforts of 2011.  I suspect most readers are members of a  club and regularly training hard shoulder to shoulder with club mates but if not perhaps finding a running partner or joining a club might be just the boost your running needs in 2012.


 

SLAB HOPPING ON ILKLEY MOOR

With pace being of little concern yesterday  I thought I would have a rare run on Ilkley Moor;  get nearer to  the cloudless blue skies and hopefully enjoy some magnificent view of both Wharfedale and Airedale.
  It would also give me a chance to test run the newly laid stone slabs which I mentioned in a previous post when Pat and I walked over them.   A massive haul of flagstones was helicoptered onto the moor earlier in 2011 after being recovered from a demolished mill in Lancashire.  Some of red paint used on them in their original situation can actually be seen on some.

 They've taken a while to put in place as plans to lay them on a very popular  route across the top of the moor were  put on hold, for fear the work could disturb the breeding season of ground-nesting birds such as grouse and lapwings.
 Pictures taken today show clearly how they are saving walkers and runners from sinking into thigh deep mud and water which can be seen to left and right of the flagstones.  The path project involved more than 1,000 flags, each of which weighs around a quarter-of-a-tonne.

  I ran on them  from Whetstone Gate in the west to Trig Point towards the east of the moor but have yet to check another path  I read  will run north from Dick Hudsons pub at the southern edge of the moor, replacing an ageing wooden ‘boardwalk’ route.  The aim of the new paths  is to  protect the moorland’s fragile peat areas and encourage the regrowth of vegetation either side of the stones.  However I'm sure many purists will object to paths on the moor being made "roadrunner friendly" considering going over the knees into peat to be all part of the fun.   The work on Ilkley Moor is costing £120,000 and is being    supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Following a deviation out and back along the track from COWPER'S CROSS (pictured above)  to bring the distance up to the planned 5 there was just time for a final shot before shooting down the track, said to have been neatly constructed by our Roman friends when they popped over from Italy to show us how to build straight roads.
  Check out the length of my legs. Useful for running or what!

Be patient or be a patient

SANDSIDE    LANCASHIRE

 Back to the desk after a few days away (one highlight being the sunset above taken near Sandside of the Morecambe Bay estuary) but catching up a pile of emails had to be the priority before my blog  posts,  of course.  It's amazing how emails accumalate when not dealt with continually throughout the day.
 Firstly, welcome to Graham Y. of Loftus as a follower.  All the best for 2012 , Graham.
 Returning to the running I hope your week 2 went well whatever stage of your season you are at.   The regional and national XC champoinships coming up but for me the foundation period continued with just a slight increase on the previous weeks.
 Whilst we all appreciate weekly mileage is only one measure of a week's training it is a key element.  Views vary slightly of course on planned progression.  One view is to consolidate with the same mileage over 3/4 weeks then add 1 mile for each session run in a week.   So if we do  40 miles  in  7 sessions for 4 weeks we then can justify the 5th week seeing 47 miles being covered.  
  Another view popular is to increase by a minumum of 5% but no more than 10%.
                         My view........just nudge last week's effort up a tad!
Having run 40 miles in week 1  I was looking for  43/44.
So  a 10% progression in quantity  but  looking also for better pace in the miles and  a faster 5K session as the week's speed work.  In short a few more miles.  Some faster miles and a faster speed session.  Simple.

GARMIN LETDOWN. 
Being away I chose to run Thursday's 5K effort on the Lancaster canal which was a nice change as it provided good views over Morecambe Bay running through Hest Bank.  Not my pic. but conditions similar.  Sunny, cool and blustery.
The plan was to run 4 miles steady
down the canal then turn running the 5K tempo with the remainder jogging.
   Mile one and two of the tempo went well (for me!) at 7.51 and 7.40 but then the Garmin showed battery low before going off seconds later.  I estimate however that I would have run 24.10. So some progression from the track 5K the week previous.
  The Garmin has been shutting down after 4/5 miles recently despite being fully charged . I deleted all history as I know this can be a problem a cause.  We contacted Garmin support and latest data is now installed.   But it still failed after a similar period.  Pain!
  Choice would seem to ditch my old pal the 205 which whilst quite bulky does provide time of day, pace, distance covered and time taken whilst training and racing  and go for the sleek 110 which seems more basic.
Or  go for a new internal battery which will cost nearly as much as trade on the 110.  Technology!!
 
THE LONG(est) RUN.  Last week it was 10 so I had in mind 12 but forced to "pull into the pits" at 5.5 miles,  back home on the  familiar Leeds Liverpool canal , I turned at that point and made it 11 miles.  Unlike others I tend to run late morning fuelled with breakfast so  by the time I hit the towpath I was of course combatting  mad cyclists, loose dogs etc.  all adding to the fun....and risk of falling into the icy waters.
 Usual acceleration scenario......first mile 9.12 last mile 8.12 averaging 8.43.  Where I was by week 7 last year. Progress!

There's a low half marathon next Sunday which would allow me to nudge up this Sunday run to 13 with some company.  Tempting but with snow forecast from Thursday.......who knows.

Whilst the last 4 weeks have been encouraging I am still "aware" of the left calf and know that I'm going to have to be careful  and not  do anything silly in the progression which will see me going backwards.
The phrase I recall is............"BE PATIENT OR BE A PATIENT!