After a short jog to work on Monday morning, I set off back home again in the evening feeling good. The plan said a few miles with some surges, so I went with that - although some of the surges were a bit longer than they should have been because I was feeling fresh. I also admit to being tempted into running quicker by the sight of a pack of local club runners on an easy run through Porter Valley. Really must grow up.
Tuesday's session was a jog to the track followed by a relatively light session of 3 x 1000m off 5 minutes rest. I was careful to run with a bit of control - trying to avoid the typical sprint finish and conserve my old legs. I was happy with a consistent 3:04 for each rep though.
Wednesday is usually rest day, and as usual, I completely failed to rest. I did however keep well under 120bpm for mile or jog to work and the 8 mile trot home. I felt fine throughout and afterwards.
Thursday's session was a proper taper speed session - 10 x 1 minutes at around 5:30 pace, with a minute jog between. It felt good running easy at pace on the grass and I even managed to keep the total mileage for the day to less than 5 miles.
By Friday I was feeling pretty fresh - although still mindful of the usual niggles and pains down my left leg. The aches and pains seem to shift around randomly between my glutes, hamstrings and outside thigh. I did some brisk walks but avoided running altogether. The weekend was going to be hard enough.
I had about the worst night's sleep in the world on Friday - probably should have gone out for a run after all!
Saturday morning's alarm arrived much too quickly. I managed to get Lola out of bed (who was running in the U13 girl relays for City of Sheffield) and we were on the road for about 9am. It was a nice drive over to Blackpool in the sunshine - with all kinds of crap modern pop music filling the car. We were both in a pretty good mood though. I was probably bouyed by having hit my sub-70kg weight target just in the nick of time for the race - meaning I was about 2.5kg lighter than a month ago - enough to take around 20 seconds off a 5K time. I was also feeling pretty bouncy after my day off.
Lola got her 3km out of the way in around 13 minutes - and was furious about her time for about an hour. I said that she couldn't train for months for sprints and jumps and then expect to compete at the front of the long distance races. I am hoping that the experience persuades her to come out on a few runs with me over the next few weeks so she can get stuck into the XC season!
The rest of the squad arrived at about 1pm and there was the usual banter and warm ups as we surveyed the course and the conditions. It was still sunny and warm - actually a bit too hot for comfortable racing. There was a slight edge to the atmosphere too: months of build up to a race puts a bit of extra pressure on, and you could sense it in the air as people wondered how they would do against their own goals and how they would compare to their training partners. We'd soon find out.
Our first leg runner was Will B, who knocked out a cracking 20:53 over the 4.07 miles. Will brought the team home in 23rd place - just inside the qualifying 25. This was a great start as we knew that the first leg would have more than its fair share of top runners.
My race started smoothly - not too crowded but still plenty of company to run with. I went through the first mile comfortably holding my tempo breathing pattern, and the 2nd mile passed without too much bother too. As my breathing started to shorten at halfway, I switched to my race effort breathing pattern (breathing out hard every 3rd step) and pushed through mile 3 and into mile 4. Unusually for me, I looked at my watch at this point and saw that my average pace was 5:21. This spurred me on to gasp through the last 800m to the finish - clocking 21:45 and 5:20 average pace. I was well pleased with that - well over a minute faster than 2 years ago and not far off my 5K PB pace on a twisty, turny course. And, I had managed to gain a place too - taking us up to 22nd (should have been 20th but I lost the sprint finish to two track-loving whipper snappers!)
The whole team then proceeded to do the business - with a string of decent runs bringing us home in 17th position - easily qualifying for the nationals on the 3rd October. Our second team were 8th B team - showing that increasingly have the strength in depth to make a dent at the 12-stage relays next year. We even picked up a bronze medal for 3rd yorkshire team.
The drive home was easy enough and Lola was good company (as long as I let her choose the music). I was feeling the effort in my legs thought and was looking forward to kicking back at home for the evening.
Saturday night was another shocking night's sleep - a combination of the adrenaline rush from a good race, coupled with my nerves about me or one of the other runners getting lost on Sunday's Sheffield Way Relay.
It was bright if a little chilly when we arrived at Grenoside Woods at the start of the 2nd leg. Deb was running with Claire S, and I was with Alex P. I wasn't quite as nervous as I had been a few weeks ago about running with Alex as we had run about the same time at the northerns the day before.
The first male team from Dark Peak came storming up the hill at about 9:38 - meaning they had covered the first leg at a decent pace. Alex and I paced around nervously wondering how much headstart the leg 2 runners would have on us. Soon after, the Kimberworth and Steel City Striders runners also handed over their batons. Just as I was beginning to get really worried, our leg 1 pair (Ben and Gareth) came bounding up the trail. It was 9:48am meaning the (pretty handy) Dark Peak pair had got 10 minutes head start on us. Uncatchable but we knew we needed to make a dent in their lead to give our other runners a decent chance.
We set off down the hill at pace - with my excitement spilling over into a daft war cry about 'catching rabbits'. The trail is pretty rough but runnable and the first beep of the watch confirmed the first mile in 5:13. The 2nd mile finished in the bottom of the valley (5:24). As we started the 700ft ascent up to Kirk Edge Rd, I felt the energy flush out of my legs a bit - a timely reminder that Saturday had taken quite a bit out of me. I hung back a bit and let Alex power up the hill. I was breathing hard and was worried about blowing up. The course is basically a tale of two big bloody hills with some semi-runnable hard descents. Not for taking lightly.
As we got towards the top of the first hill, we were back together and running well. I had got into a nice climbing rhythm and the brow of the first climb was in sight. We caught the Steel City Striders team somewhere around this point.
The drop down into Loxley valley was a nice break - but you can't let your concentration drift as the ground is uneven and the brambles unforgiving. As we reached the fishing pond that signals the start of the second 700ft ascent, I was feeling pretty good and increasingly confident about having a go at the leg record of just under 1 hr 5 min. Halfway up the second hill, Alex dropped back a bit, but not so much that I slowed down - just taking a breather really as I had done on the first hill. I took over gate opening and closing duties, meaning we stayed pretty much together.
Before we knew it, we were heading down the final 2 mile descent through rough fields, over stiles, and squeezing past farm vehicles. As we hit the final mile, I picked the pace up to around 5:25 and kicked for the finish - opening up a bit of a gap on Alex who was feeling the weekend's work a bit. As usual though he had a decent bit left for the glory finish and we handed the baton over side-by-side - finishing the leg in 1:02:40 - and smashing the course record. That'll do I thought. The day finished nicely in the Nether Edge Bowling Club with a post-face buffet, awards and a few beers. Made all the sweeter by the team victory. The ladies finished 2nd.
Great weekend's work. Now back to it and ready for the nationals...
No comments:
Post a Comment