Long Course Weekend is coming and a New Nemesis!

This weekend it is the Long Course Weekend (LCW) in Tenby and according to the timer on their website, it starts in 1 Day 5 Hours 56 Minutes and 11seconds ,sorry 10 seconds ,sorry 9 seconds.

A Wake Up Call: Race For Men 10k 16th of August

Dan: In my last blog, I said the Severn Bridge half marathon on 30th August would be my next race. An impromptu text from Rhys on Monday 10th asking if I fancied doing the Race For Men 10k race in Gloucester 6 days later changed that.

The three days leading up to this race was spent catching up with family and friends over several beers, so not the best preparation for a 10k I'll admit. Still, this was a completely flat course, running around a field so I was quietly confident of a decent time after the success of the much hillier Tenby 10k, maybe even another PB. How wrong I was.

The race itself was a fairly uneventful four lap course around a flat field. I got off to a decent start and kept up with the front group of 4. These lads were shifting and I was wary that there was no way I could maintain their pace for a full 10k. As it turns out, this group of 4 were only doing the 5k race which is why they were going so bloody fast and the reason I burned out rather quickly. What a numpty!

I carried on pushing as hard as I could and felt I was going at a decent pace, but my Garmin soon corrected that, showing ever decreasing km times. Disheartened by this I plodded on to the end.

I crossed the finish line somewhere between 45 and 46 minutes I think,  I was too disappointed to care.

This was a nice race on a lovely day and all for a good cause and I will do it again but it brought to light a few home truths. We need to take this challenge seriously if we are to succeed. I know it seems obvious, but you can't just rock up to a sportive event off the back of three days on the beer and expect to do well.
In fact, a complete re-think on diet, training, recovery, preparation and lifestyle is needed,  and with just over a year to go there is no time to lose. 

Rhys: Well this race was a disaster and as Dan says it has got me thinking. I'd gotten cocky after Liverpool and mocked the thought of a mere 10K as a stroll in the park. Unfortunately, Strolling is exactly what I did and I didn't even do the full 10k. I think the delay in the report on this has been due to some shame as detailed below.

Held at Plock Court in Gloucester, this was the male equivalent of the Run For Life Events which have been going for a few years now. As far as I'm aware this was the inaugural Race For Men (Edit: Completely Wrong - This is the 7th Year) and it was well attended and well organised. It may not have been the most stunning of courses (4 times round a large playing field) but it was a nice atmosphere and full of enthusiastic folk. Only real downside was they recommended to get there far too early for an 11am start, as such Me and Dan were waiting around from around 9.30 onwards. Still always nice to catch up.

Once the race started, I found myself in the front pack and realised I should have started much further back. I watched Dan hare off in a cloud of dust and managed not to attempt to keep up with him, which would have been a mistake. As the course went on, my legs started to hurt and not in a way of usual running. My legs had been funny all week since running up the hill by my house after a few cheeky pints, in flip flops. I fear I'd done more damage than I'd thought. As such I was walking more than usual and slower than usual. I managed the initial 2.5k lap in 15 minutes but the second lap was just a nightmare. Due to the circular nature of the course, I could keep track of where Dan was and he was doing pretty well. So well in fact that he lapped me on his 3rd lap, before I'd finished my 2nd. As I came to finish lap two, I could see my time was about 35 minutes and I couldn't see the next two laps going any better. As such seeing digression as the better part of valour, I decided I was only doing the 5K and finished. I was hugely disappointed with myself as I'd been hoping for this race to go well.

After having a quick lucozade, I watched the actual 10kers finish and even though Dan was gutted I believe he came about 4th in the 10k and the guy who finished 1st did it in around 41 minutes I believe.

As Dan has said, a reevaluation is needed. We both realised we'd been fairly lax that week on looking after ourselves and as I said I got Cocky. There's a huge need for me to knuckle down now as we approach the 1 year mark., I still need to sort out food, consistency or training. And unfortunately I fell off my booze reward wagon, The current plan is to start again 1st September and to have a semi detailed training schedule from that date too.

Mainly I need to learn that every race should be respected and not to be cocky about the shorter races.

I'd happily do this race again and I want to show it who's boss next time.

14th June: Swansea Half Marathon

Place: Swansea, South Wales


Organisers: Swansea Half Marathon Limited

Distance: Half Marathon (13.2 Miles)

Why?Why, So Early?

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not exactly a morning person. My preferred way to see the dawn is by staying awake all night and collapsing into bed after it peeks its little rays over the horizon. So imagine my surprise and chuffedness when I finally made an early morning gym session. More after the jump

The Best of Friends! The Worst of Friends

Every race I've ever done I've been so happy to see anyone coming out to support the competitors. As I briefly mentioned in my review of the Sheffield Half, the crowds were out in force. And once again thank you to you all. However the crowd are a double edged sword, let me explain after the jump.

The Bear

I've noticed a phenomenon when I'm running a longer distance. The Bear comes out. Let me explain after the jump.

12th of April: Sheffield Half-Marathon

The Place: Sheffield,South Yorkshire  12th April 2015 9.30am,

The Organisers: Jane Tomlinson's Run For All

Distance: Half Marathon

Beforehand: This is my home race, having been a proud resident of Sheffield for nearly 7 years.  As you'd expect for any race in Sheffield, its going to be hilly, as can be seen from the race profile below.

However it looks like it'll get easier after the 5 mile mark, so that's something at least. Being my home race and running past  my workplace you'd think that I'd have checked out the route by now. Au contraire, mes amis. In fact my training has gone belly up recently, as witnessed by the dearth of updates on this blog. Add in was laid up in bed with a bad back on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday, and this is not looking like the triumphant homecoming I was hoping for.

You may have heard of last year's water debacle so let's hope the same doesn't happen again.  I'm sure it won't and that lessons have been learnt (Its also new organisers this year).

And yes as per usual  I have a social engagement the night before, An Anniversary Party. Truly I am the worst athlete ever.

Prediction:  2hr 20 Minutes - due to training laxity and possible Spinal issues.

The Day: For once, I didn't have to drive anywhere, I just had to make it to the centre of town a quick bus ride away. I didn't have to drive but I did due to oversleeping after some cats had a knockdown brawl outside my window last night. I think it got so epic they knocked a potted tree down.. So I parked up in town and headed for the bag drop buses. Tag attached, I handed it over and started wandering towards the start. At this point I saw the 135 minute pace setter, so I thought I'll stick with this guy, and then I should make my predicted time.

After some warm ups by the Sheffield International Venues team, with some backing (CD) music from Ms. Taylor Swift and an introduction via PA to the celebs who'd be in the first batch of runners sent off. Obviously I'm not quite a local here yet as the only person I recognised was the legendary fundraiser John Burkhill, who you'll often see around Sheffield with his Green McMillan Pram.

The race started a bit late as there were still some cars on the route, which brings me to Thanks. Thank you Sheffield for letting us gum up so many of your roads today and for being out in force to cheer people on. That was one of the great thing about having your name printed on your number, people would cheer you on by name, even if you'd never seen them before. It certainly helps with a bit of motivation.

Its started out fairly gentle down Arundel Gate and we were soon at Eccleshall rd. This was proving a doddle so far, maybe I'd even get a PB. Now many of you are probably familiar with Eccy Rd but you've probably never realised that its all a hill. In the car, I'd never noticed, running up it, oh dear. From there it just got hillier,up until the 5 Mile mark, as can be seen by the break down of my pace. 

1st Five Miles: 11 mins 14 seconds a Mile
Last 8.1 Miles: 9 mins  55 Seconds a Mile
Average Pace: 10 mins 25 seconds a Mile

And the Wind. So much Wind. At one point it blew my foot into my other leg, almost toppling me. And it was blowing me all over the road. But hills with the wind in your face is not conducive to a fast time. 

Still the second part of the race was much faster and I was having to hold myself back from pelting it down the hills on the return into town. Got to conserve that energy.

Strangely enough whilst I'd been in peaks, someone had flattened out Eccy rd and it no longer seemed to be on a slope. Why couldn't they have done that earlier?

Coming up the final hill towards the roundabout by the Moor/John Lewis I was flagging, I was trudging, I was walking. Thank you to the guy at the 400 metre mark who said "Rhys, You can stop when your done, Pick it up Lad". See Peer Pressure even from strangers worked, I ran the rest of the way in. No Sprint finish but I was happy with myself. And look at the swag I got, plus a Mars Bar but I snaffled that fairly quickly.

Finishing Time: 2 hrs 16 Minutes 33 Seconds - So Not a PB but a tough course and did I mention the Wind?

Pros: 
Easy to get too, 
Well Organised Start, 
The Chicken Man I was chasing for most of the race (He beat me), 
The Warm Up, 
Plenty of Water

Cons: 
If you've driven on Sheffield's roads let me tell you they are no better to run on. I'm sure some runners were lost in the potholes along the way. 

The Bag situation after. They appeared to just have emptied the contents of the bus onto the floor outside and it turned into a cross between Bingo and a Jumble Sale. I only found my bag by luck as the tag had come off, one guy had been waiting for his bag for an hour and all that time at the front of the queue. It needs rethinking for next year.

Blisters: Not Many

Do it again? Yeah I would, although I will do much more hill work.

15th February: Liversedge Half Marathon

The Place: Liversedge, 11am, 15th Feb 2015

The Organisers: Robert Town Road Runners

The Distance: Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

Beforehand: I  know nothing about Liversedge, I'm sorry to say. I signed up for this as the weekend I had planned to do a half was unavailable. Liversedge is about an hours drive from my house in Sheffield. I'm fairly confident about this distance. I'm not looking to break records, just finish. I've made the decision to head out the night before for a few waters with some friends, although knowing me that will develop into something other than water.

Prediction: Sub 2 hrs 30

The Day: Well what do you know if developed into cocktails and dancing. Its a good job I know myself, so I interspersed booze with soft drinks. I woke up clear headed with a huge amount of Fog covering Sheffield. Definitely not weather that you want to head out in, but I'd curtailed my Fred Astaire like moves the night before and if I didn't go, then that would have been for nothing. So dragging myself out of bed, I pulled on my running tights, shorts and a long sleeved running top, before remembering to plaster the old nips. That is very important for long distance races, I sense a future uncomfortable post about that.

Getting to Liversedge ,or  I suppose to be technical Roberttown, was not difficult at all. A quick nip up the motorway and then some nice country roads. I had however neglected to realise what a popular race this was and had to park a good half a mile away from the start. Not too bad when you're starting but so far when you are finished. And once again after Cardiff Half, I made sure to park my car right by where I'd be running at the 12.5 mile mark, just to add a extra frisson of self control for the end.  Fortunately this time I didn't notice it, as I was in full on push to the end mode.

The registration, chip and number collection was in the church hall and went off without a hitch. I struggled to get my timing chip attached to my shoes, but that had nothing to do with the chip.

I ambled out into the cold, again and once again thought of another fine mess I'd got myself into. There was some warms up aerobics going on by the start but I didn't want to waste energy on that. I had 13.1 miles to warm up over.

The gun went off and all 600 of us begun. And oh the hills, so many hills. The entire first mile was down hill, which is nice to start but then you realise its a circular course. What goes down, must trudge up.

I've not been able to find a profile for this year's but last years looks pretty similar. (Thank you to @halfmarathonmad for the photo). As you can see lots of big drops then lots of climbs. I believe it was on the second big drop that someone raced passed me, making worried noises as he seemed to be out of control. I'd hope to give you a mile by mile account but its all a bit of a blur.

 I'll be honest with you I may have walked up some of the later hills, at least partly. However I ran the 1st 8 Miles in 75 minutes, according to the marshalls who I kept using for time checks. I find not havine a watch with me helps as I have to listen to my body rather than a ticking clock and  it also gives me an excuse for a quick chat with another person.

Towards the end I was spent, I was so tired, as I had had no idea of the hilliness of the course before starting. I'd not looked at the course, figuring each Half will be fairly similar to the last. Alas, twas not so. This was much more challenging course than any I've done before, still hopefully good practice for Sheffield Half in a few months.

I finally finished and well it was  A PERSONAL BEST. Somehow despite the hills and the odd bit of walking I had trounced my previous best time. I even managed a sprint finish, just to overtake the lady in front who'd I'd been trailing for miles. So I finished with a chip time of 2 hours 12 minuts 18 seconds and 2 miliseconds.

I got a so delicious bottle of water and a long sleeved tshirt, as shown below. Not the most amount of swag ever but for a smallish locally organised event more than enough.

Thank you Roberttown Road runners for organising this. I may well be back next year, if I can stomach the hills again.

Pros: Well organised, Friendly, Easy to get to

Cons: Hills,Hills,Hills

Blisters: Yep

Results:

2 hrs 12 mins 18 Secs - NEW PB