Stability Through Motion

The London Marathon looms, and everyone gets their running gear out to sit on the sofa and cheer on the millions. I was going to go along and add my own cheers, but the bluebell hunt continues and Sunday looks like it’ll be sunny after all, so the woods have won.

Okay, since the last reappearance of the NIGGLE, I’ve adjusted my training in two ways.

1. I’m only running on alternate days, no back to back running. This has led me to look at the FIRST running schedules from the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training. These are based around three intense running sessions a week plus two or three cross-training sessions. So far so good, although I’m only doing one running session at the suggested (much faster than usual for me) paces, as I’m still checking out my NIGGLE.
   Tuesday was a tempo session with 3 miles at my possible 10k pace. In fact this is last year’s 10k pace as I have no recent races to rely on. Suffice it to say, it feels fast to me – 6:24 per mile or 3:57 per kilometre, therefore 39:30 10k pace. I’ll be extremely happy if I can keep that up for 10k on May 17th in the Oxford 10k race.
2. I’ve been trying to run with a faster cadence. This is probably at the root of all the techniques that abound for trying to change your running style, become more efficient, and reduce injuries. It seems sensible advice, but it’s surprisingly hard to increase your cadence if you’re not running fast. Try counting the number of times one foot hits the ground in a minute. Mine usually hovered around 80 times, but I’m increasing that to the suggested 90. It certainly feels wierd, but I think the principle is that your feet spend less time on the ground. It beats trying to think too hard about running style, which has thrown me in the past in any attempts to alter my style. I have to say I’d always been quite happy with my style, it feels ‘natural’, fairly light, and I haven’t been THAT injury prone. But I’ll try anything to get rid of this year’s little NIGGLE.

As a precursor to the 10k, I’m finally going to race in a 5k event, tomorrow morning in glorious Basingstoke.

This is part of a weekly set of races around the country called Park Runs. They’re always 5ks, they’re free and apparently friendly. We shall see! I can’t predict anything about time because I’ve never raced a 5k. I’m quite scared to tell the truth, because it will probably mean trying harder to run than I’ve ever run before, and probably feeling like throwing up.

Oh, I guess I should fill in here all the other training I do in a week, since it’s currently quite a lot more mixed up than it used to be. Oh for the simple pleasures of January where it was run at one pace six days a week for 8 – 12 miles.

• Monday: rest
• Tuesday: tempo at 10k pace
• Wednesday: cross training, usually 60 mins on the bike at 100rpm with some short speedy bits and sometimes some rowing
• Thursday: for now just a general, off-road hilly 7 miles around Wytham. Eventually this should be an interval session
• Friday: cross-training, same as Weds. There are alternatives, but I’m sticking with biking for now
• Saturday: 10 mile run, easy. Eventually becoming a 10-13 mile run at a faster pace.
• Sunday: more cross-training as I wish

A whole line of parked cars in a muddy field spew a huge variety of people in tracksuit bottoms, hats and sweatshirts with numbers. You escape the attractive tracksuit bottoms, start jogging slowly around the field, doing a few token stretches, and a token pee into a not-so-discrete bush, ahem. After ten minutes, people start to gather at one end of this field while supporters disappear into cars to escape the drizzly, windy conditions. Now it’s just hairy legs, lycra and muffled conversation. A short communal walk up a muddy track and a whistle goes. Suddenly everyone starts running, the conversations stop and everyone around starts breathing more deeply.

That’s the start of your typical race – and it’s still a strange environment. There’s a weight of personal expectation in the air, but no crowd pressure and most of the time you’re totally alone chasing some figure ahead of you, or trying to escape from the heavy breathing behind you. At the other end is a very sweet encouraging line of spectators cheering you to the finish line, and you enter your very own personal Olympic stadium moment.

Yes, I ran the Andy Reading 10k race today near Bicester, and got a PB of 41:30. A nice end to the year, although still a way off the 40 minutes I’m aiming for if I want to be confident of a 3:15 marathon time in Antwerp next spring. No more racing now until the New Year, but plans include running trips up a few north Welsh mountains in the New Year.

To make a change from the endless 20 mile runs (okay, I’ve only done one this year), the schedule said do a 10k this weekend. So I did. But decided to just race myself so I could at least get in the top 100. Well, imagine my surprise when I only went and won it! In fact I am dead chuffed, because according to potentially dodgy Google mapping, I ran 10k in 41’30″, which is my best time ever.

Maybe I’m just a choker in races, or else those extra 1500 miles last year were just a complete waste of time, because I’m now running faster than I was this time last year, on much less training. I’ll be annoyed if that was the case, because those extra miles cost me about £240 in shoes alone

No pictures, because Marston Ferry Road and Headley Way etc haven’t changed that much. Anyway I couldn’t stop and take snaps because I had to push on and win. Oh, alright, I’ll put up an old archive photo just for fun.

I’m already having sleepless nights though about next weekend’s challenge – a 20 mile run with 2600 foot of ascent in the Black Mountains. I’ve got a psychosomatic bad back just thinking about it. I’ll let you know more about this when/if I recover from it.

but occasionally you need to keep tabs on the opposition. There were hundreds of ‘em at the Hooky 6 mile race on Sunday, in hot conditions. Boy. It was hot. Despite this I was really pleased that I was no slower than this time last year despite my off-period, and that I didn’t pick up any new aches or pains. Hook Norton is a lovely village, in fact the whole area is just ridiculously pretty. The atmosphere was the best of any race I’ve been to since the similarly rural Wargrave 10k last year – I think it’s the village atmosphere, and obviously lots of the club runners who turn up know each other well.

Details, details: 6 miles exactly (so not a 10k), 42’52, so averaging about 7’08 pace. Final position: 70th out of 250 or so. I don’t think I could have run any faster that day, there were a few climbs and pretty much no shade. Will I ever get under 40 minutes for the 10k? Of course, but not this year!