back in from 11 miles run: I had forgotten about hills! I went too fast on the way out (loving running in the lovely cool air) and paid for it on the uphills on the way back. BUT I ran all the hills, even the ones I normally walked in the past, just to make a point (not sure what point, but a point is the thing). 9.35 average pace hid the fact that there were some 8.XX and some 10.XX in there. The clue that I went too hard was that I had to lie on the floor for 10 minutes when I got home before getting in the shower! Feel good now though. Hope to readjust to the hills in time for Bala in 2.5 weeks, where the first half of the run is uphill.
Like CG ran Burbage Skyline last night - wanted to say hello to CG but couldn't make up my mind which Totley girl she was, and going up to random women saying "hello, are you Caterpillar Girl?" is too much even for me.
Anyway, was still feeling v. tired after Fred Whitton, drove up with a mate who was also shattered after a very hard race at the weekend but we went for a nic run together pre-race and both started to feel good and abandoned all plans of "just jogging round" and psyched each other up for a good, hard, competitive race.
During my warm-up I managed to cut my leg on something and stood on the start-line with blood flowing freely from my calf while I tried to staunch it with my other fell shoe, which turned a nice purple colour. Hid from marshalls in case I got pulled from the race.
Start was downhill to a stream crossing which involved having eyes on a vertical plane - one to look ahead and plan the route, the other to look down at terrain. Made some good tactical decisions, covered ground fast and found myself in a good position and feeling fine going up to the top of Millstone.
Then - disaster struck. Somehow, on a fairly innocuous narrow track I turned my (good!) ankle and went down hard. Lots of people stopped to help but I told them to carry on ... stood up ... ankle hurt ... tried to walk it off ... still hurt ... saw -the-girls-who-might-be-Caterpillar-girl go past ... someone else stopped and offered to get a marshall ... suddenly I was at the back of the field and didn't know what to do. I knew I had to get off the edge, so walked off ... ankle was hurting a bit less. .. jogged a bit ... ankle was OK as long as I avoided lateral movement (difficult in a fell race but possible). Saw the backsides of two members of a rival club vanishing in the distance and that old red mist descended and I thought "I will finish the race!" so that's what I did. In a peculiar reversal of my usual fell race experience I ended up overtaking people on the uphills, while they all overtook my going down as I had to walk. It's quite an odd experience to realise that your 'jogging while injured' pace is faster than some people's racing pace. got blocked my rival club members and ended up thigh deep in a bog at one stage but left them for dust (ha!). finished in 1:03 - I guess a good 10 minutes slower than predicted, then went to St Johns who patched up my ankle but were more concerned about some very dirty grazes on my knees of which I had been hitherto unaware.
Now, I've been fell running for 15 or so years, and never used to turn ankles or fall, but now this seems to happen too often. A question - do you think that this current state of affairs is due to the fact that (due to another injury) I do most of my training on the bike, which gives me a high level of fitness, and as a result my ankles and legs just don't have the lateral strength for off-road running, causing me to run far harder than my body can cope with? Or is it just due to getting old?
Ankle not too bad today - a bit sore, but OK for easy road running and cycling. Should be OK in a week or so.
Shall read back later, but have skimmed a bit and noticed Scooby doing another tri on 24th June.....me too! But not the same one. I am waiting to hear about my results.
Thanks for the nice comments about my picture, made me feel better on a bit of a dull day.
Matt, so sorry to hear your injury will stop you competing.
Been away but now I'm back, haven't had a chance to have a good read back as yet but will later today when I get a moment.
Not having a great time of it at the moment. After protecting my soleus from injury last week and taking it a bit easy training wise, I had to go away on a trip for a few days over the weekend, and wasn't able to train anyway. Then yesterday felt a little tired but went out to weekends scheduled "Tune-up race" against Garmin, and had a really good 10k run. But later in the day things started to deteriorate and by this morning it appears I've picked up a stinker of a cold. Terrible one, hot flushes the lot - "Man flu" I hear you say but it's not, its terrible. <sniff> And the worse thing is Edinburgh is now only 11.5 days away and I'm seriously frustrated. Having managed to avoid getting ill for 4 months with less than 2 weeks to go I'm sick. Typical! And the worse thing is that my 10k time suggests that I'm in really good shape...
So, having just taken shares out in Vitamin C manufacturers and Lemsip I'm dosing myself up and hoping for the best.
<Sniff>
Right, Me:
What: Nothing <sniff> Why: See above Last Hard: Yesterday Last rest: Monday
Melissa. Funnily enough ive also been thinking about the Western States 100 recently, but not until 2009. This year is del passatore; 2008 is the 'uphill' comrades and, hopefully, 2009 western states. Unfortunately they are all run around the same time each year so i dont think its feasable to do any more that 1 in any given year.
CG im also a member of the 'strictly road running' club. Ive dabbled with fell running in the past, including the man v's horse race in wales and im useless at it.
I did do very well one year though in the final south downs 80.
Not been on for a few days so a quick catch up is needed.
Monday 9 miles Tuesday 7 miles am 9 miles pm. Today steady 3.5 miles into work with the reverse journey this evening.
Lizzy - certainly not getting old... (at least I hope not) SiT - hope the missus is OK CG - lunatic!
Aborted lunchtime run as they ha big curry selection in the canteen (and I'm not turning that down) So running 6 miles ce soir at a reasonable pace to curb my guilt...
Imski/BR/NRG-b : pencilled in june 18th, weekend after the south downs, guess I'll be thirsty..
FIN - bummer getting a cold but much better now than this time next week, with a bit of luck you should be well shut of it by then just go easy till you are, good luck
lizzy - you're in the wars a bit this week. i don't think getting older necessarily makes you prone to ankle injuries but you may have a point about mostly training on the bike with a nice flat pedal to keep you straight. i believe wobble boards are pretty good for ankle mobility and strength, as are the calf raises and walking on your heels with toes in the air. hope it mends swiftly
my test went pretty smoothly, phew ;-) foot and ankle fine to run on now, went steady and only got discomfort when taking a tight right hand turn. did 7 miles at pretty steady 8.45 pace with HR at 141 rising to 146. i seem to be fine in this middle range stuff but feel my weaknesses are at both extremes - basic speed sessions and keeping HR steady at constant pace on the longer runs; anything over 8 miles it tends to creep up, or pace slow down. with a half planned for september and a glut of 5k's starting soon i need to build in some short fast reps and extend the long run currently at 12 miles. hopefully get it to at least 16 before then
Gobi/Flyaway - good to see I can still provoke an argument while lying in bed away from my pc:-))
Gobi - you could always buy some flashier go-faster wheels to improve your cycling time:-))
Well done CG and LizzyB. It reminded why I don't do fell races.
What: am 4 miles easy / pm Askern 10k why: some kind people sent a number through the post so it would be churlish not to this race. This will be my 8th consecutive year and one good performance to date. I don't give up easily!
Lizzy - I'm sorry, I think I saw you at a couple of points and thought I wonder if that's Lizzie? I wasn't brave enough to come over though but I will next time. Sorry too about your ankle but I'm certain it's nothing to do with getting old. You have my admiration for your guts and determination (and lunacy!). I enjoy training on the fells but I may take an early retirement from racing.
Clink - Glad to hear things are on the mend.
No run today as Mr C is in hospital having a minor operation but will need to be in until tomorrow afternoon. I couldn't possibly justify getting a babysitter for me to go out running, could I?
LizzyB - wow, you are in the wars at present. Gritty finish. Recover well.
CG - Well done on a tough course
I love trail races!!! And I love multi sport, it really gets you fit all over!
What: 1 hour kayak session round 5 islands at 06:00 d&d, then 10 mile easy run later Why: Not forgetting about 2 multi sport races and a big surfski race later in the year. Last Hard: getting out of bed at 05:00 this morning
Lizzy, meant to say before: ankles definitely get wabbly when you are not using them regularly, if you know what I mean. I used to iceskate a fair bit, for which your ankles have to be really strong, but after any little amount of time off they would get wabbly again. I think wearing shoes without a lot of support, like flipflops, helps.
WP awful isnt it when you are so used to wearing a garmin then forget it ?..I forgot mine at a race once..AND my stop watch I was all over the place.... I thought I was 9min miling till I got to 6 miles in 48 mins....arrggg not good in a 20 mile race !!
wow Hilly great mileage...even for a taper, glad you are back on form..
NN-I agree it is awful...that is bad in a race to forget it epecially a 20 miler...they really do help with pacing...if it had been anything but a recovery run think i would have had to come home and then ran.
ALF: Always a little further Miles makes smiles. Progression
Afternoon all, More Virgin Media related interent disruptions this morning!!!
Last night was 1st round of the South East Kent Summer Road relay series held at Folkestone!
Anything but summer though, gale force winds, freezing cold sea spray and heavy rain! I was on Team manager joint admin for my club, so had loads of things to do, ended up putting myself anchor leg for our a-string seniors.
The route around 2.75miles an out and back with two hill top climbs included!
My team mates did well to get the club into 2nd place at the hand over to myself, big gap too first place and no threat from behind or thats what I thought, so off I went not pushing that hard keeping things steady and controlled, first mile against wind, up the hill, then cruising around the switchback all nice and relaxed to start the return to the finish.. then.....!
Coming steamin down the hill, no more than 200-300m behind was one of Kents best road runners!! red alert bells sounded big-time, so the last mile or so, was a frantic flat out run from me, doing everything I could to keep this guy back, including cutting corners and coming dangerously close to going over the promenade and into the drink, but I prevailed and held 2nd place for the team much to my relief!! time being 15:16secs.
What: am: 6-miles easy already done, around 7:10mm pace, flat route and no wind for once, still feeling the effects from last nights blast! lol
pm: 3000m Open Track race at Dartford hoping for sub 10mins, but think I blew that chance last night, but who knows I will try!
Why 3rd race in 4-days a fast running overload week for me.
HILLY: 60-70mpw is a taper week for you! thats my hard weeks total mileage at present! lol
CG and LizzyB - now I know why I stick to road running.
Welsh Poppy - I also forgot my Garmin today and I never do that (well, clearly not "never", but you know what I mean).
So,
What: 4.2 miles (I know that 'cos I've done the route lots of times before, but I have no idea how long it took today) Why: nice day, wanted a bit of a blast Last hard: today Last rest: Monday
So, I've no idea what speed I was running at today. If pressed, I'd guess at about 7:50/mile. That's my sort of "just the wrong side of comfortable" pace, which is what it felt like.
MikeS - not got your email. I think you need to email me through the link on RW as I have a new email address from the one we used to exchange pleasantries on:-)
Comments
back in from 11 miles run: I had forgotten about hills! I went too fast on the way out (loving running in the lovely cool air) and paid for it on the uphills on the way back. BUT I ran all the hills, even the ones I normally walked in the past, just to make a point (not sure what point, but a point is the thing). 9.35 average pace hid the fact that there were some 8.XX and some 10.XX in there. The clue that I went too hard was that I had to lie on the floor for 10 minutes when I got home before getting in the shower! Feel good now though. Hope to readjust to the hills in time for Bala in 2.5 weeks, where the first half of the run is uphill.
Like CG ran Burbage Skyline last night - wanted to say hello to CG but couldn't make up my mind which Totley girl she was, and going up to random women saying "hello, are you Caterpillar Girl?" is too much even for me.
Anyway, was still feeling v. tired after Fred Whitton, drove up with a mate who was also shattered after a very hard race at the weekend but we went for a nic run together pre-race and both started to feel good and abandoned all plans of "just jogging round" and psyched each other up for a good, hard, competitive race.
During my warm-up I managed to cut my leg on something and stood on the start-line with blood flowing freely from my calf while I tried to staunch it with my other fell shoe, which turned a nice purple colour. Hid from marshalls in case I got pulled from the race.
Start was downhill to a stream crossing which involved having eyes on a vertical plane - one to look ahead and plan the route, the other to look down at terrain. Made some good tactical decisions, covered ground fast and found myself in a good position and feeling fine going up to the top of Millstone.
Then - disaster struck. Somehow, on a fairly innocuous narrow track I turned my (good!) ankle and went down hard. Lots of people stopped to help but I told them to carry on ... stood up ... ankle hurt ... tried to walk it off ... still hurt ... saw -the-girls-who-might-be-Caterpillar-girl go past ... someone else stopped and offered to get a marshall ... suddenly I was at the back of the field and didn't know what to do. I knew I had to get off the edge, so walked off ... ankle was hurting a bit less. .. jogged a bit ... ankle was OK as long as I avoided lateral movement (difficult in a fell race but possible). Saw the backsides of two members of a rival club vanishing in the distance and that old red mist descended and I thought "I will finish the race!" so that's what I did. In a peculiar reversal of my usual fell race experience I ended up overtaking people on the uphills, while they all overtook my going down as I had to walk. It's quite an odd experience to realise that your 'jogging while injured' pace is faster than some people's racing pace. got blocked my rival club members and ended up thigh deep in a bog at one stage but left them for dust (ha!). finished in 1:03 - I guess a good 10 minutes slower than predicted, then went to St Johns who patched up my ankle but were more concerned about some very dirty grazes on my knees of which I had been hitherto unaware.
Now, I've been fell running for 15 or so years, and never used to turn ankles or fall, but now this seems to happen too often. A question - do you think that this current state of affairs is due to the fact that (due to another injury) I do most of my training on the bike, which gives me a high level of fitness, and as a result my ankles and legs just don't have the lateral strength for off-road running, causing me to run far harder than my body can cope with? Or is it just due to getting old?
Ankle not too bad today - a bit sore, but OK for easy road running and cycling. Should be OK in a week or so.
Thanks for the nice comments about my picture,
made me feel better on a bit of a dull day.
Matt, so sorry to hear your injury will stop you competing.
Hope ankle is better soon Lizzy.
Been away but now I'm back, haven't had a chance to have a good read back as yet but will later today when I get a moment.
Not having a great time of it at the moment. After protecting my soleus from injury last week and taking it a bit easy training wise, I had to go away on a trip for a few days over the weekend, and wasn't able to train anyway. Then yesterday felt a little tired but went out to weekends scheduled "Tune-up race" against Garmin, and had a really good 10k run. But later in the day things started to deteriorate and by this morning it appears I've picked up a stinker of a cold. Terrible one, hot flushes the lot - "Man flu" I hear you say but it's not, its terrible. <sniff> And the worse thing is Edinburgh is now only 11.5 days away and I'm seriously frustrated. Having managed to avoid getting ill for 4 months with less than 2 weeks to go I'm sick. Typical! And the worse thing is that my 10k time suggests that I'm in really good shape...
So, having just taken shares out in Vitamin C manufacturers and Lemsip I'm dosing myself up and hoping for the best.
<Sniff>
Right, Me:
What: Nothing <sniff>
Why: See above
Last Hard: Yesterday
Last rest: Monday
Laters y'all. <sniff>
Right, off to read back...
FIN
Fell racing - no thank you.
Triathlon - when I swim as well as a brick I'll think about it.
What: 10.5 miles home from work, it WILL happen
Why: time for a long run
Last hard: 9 days
Last rest: 1 day
Last lyrics: 9 days
Oh yes, and I pick up my bike this evening. We shall see if I remember how to ride.
Day off tomorrow - taking the kids out with my parents who return to Canada on Friday.
Take it easy everyone
Melissa. Funnily enough ive also been thinking about the Western States 100 recently, but not until 2009. This year is del passatore; 2008 is the 'uphill' comrades and, hopefully, 2009 western states. Unfortunately they are all run around the same time each year so i dont think its feasable to do any more that 1 in any given year.
CG im also a member of the 'strictly road running' club. Ive dabbled with fell running in the past, including the man v's horse race in wales and im useless at it.
I did do very well one year though in the final south downs 80.
Not been on for a few days so a quick catch up is needed.
Monday 9 miles
Tuesday 7 miles am 9 miles pm.
Today steady 3.5 miles into work with the reverse journey this evening.
Good Runnings everyone.
SiT - hope the missus is OK
CG - lunatic!
Aborted lunchtime run as they ha big curry selection in the canteen (and I'm not turning that down)
So running 6 miles ce soir at a reasonable pace to curb my guilt...
Imski/BR/NRG-b : pencilled in june 18th, weekend after the south downs, guess I'll be thirsty..
lizzy - you're in the wars a bit this week. i don't think getting older necessarily makes you prone to ankle injuries but you may have a point about mostly training on the bike with a nice flat pedal to keep you straight. i believe wobble boards are pretty good for ankle mobility and strength, as are the calf raises and walking on your heels with toes in the air.
hope it mends swiftly
my test went pretty smoothly, phew ;-)
foot and ankle fine to run on now, went steady and only got discomfort when taking a tight right hand turn. did 7 miles at pretty steady 8.45 pace with HR at 141 rising to 146. i seem to be fine in this middle range stuff but feel my weaknesses are at both extremes - basic speed sessions and keeping HR steady at constant pace on the longer runs; anything over 8 miles it tends to creep up, or pace slow down.
with a half planned for september and a glut of 5k's starting soon i need to build in some short fast reps and extend the long run currently at 12 miles. hopefully get it to at least 16 before then
Gobi - you could always buy some flashier go-faster wheels to improve your cycling time:-))
Well done CG and LizzyB. It reminded why I don't do fell races.
What: am 4 miles easy / pm Askern 10k
why: some kind people sent a number through the post so it would be churlish not to this race. This will be my 8th consecutive year and one good performance to date. I don't give up easily!
Not to this race, should read not to do this race:-))
I could always try doing some training :¬)
Well done Lizzy and CG. Sounds like a toughy!
Tris are good fun I agree, but if you're really into improving your running times then I guess one would need to train specifically for running.
What I liked about tris was there were lots of different age categories so very inclusive.
what:4 miles easy
why:taper a little for marathon on Sat. So instead of 80 miles I'll do between 60 and 70:-)
Clink - Glad to hear things are on the mend.
No run today as Mr C is in hospital having a minor operation but will need to be in until tomorrow afternoon. I couldn't possibly justify getting a babysitter for me to go out running, could I?
have you been at my taper log again ?
LizzyB - wow, you are in the wars at present. Gritty finish. Recover well.
CG - Well done on a tough course
I love trail races!!! And I love multi sport, it really gets you fit all over!
What: 1 hour kayak session round 5 islands at 06:00 d&d, then 10 mile easy run later
Why: Not forgetting about 2 multi sport races and a big surfski race later in the year.
Last Hard: getting out of bed at 05:00 this morning
Have a great day
SiT Hope Mary is alright
What: 6.92 miles (avg HR 75%mhr)
Why: making the runs longer and some weight shifting
Last Hard: Sunday
Lyrics: no-can-do
Hilly - you call that taper!! Good luck with your marathon.
Cant believe it forgot garmin today first time in 2 years I felt so naked on my run at least it was a steady run:-)
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
wow Hilly great mileage...even for a taper, glad you are back on form..
NN-I agree it is awful...that is bad in a race to forget it epecially a 20 miler...they really do help with pacing...if it had been anything but a recovery run think i would have had to come home and then ran.
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
More Virgin Media related interent disruptions this morning!!!
Last night was 1st round of the South East Kent Summer Road relay series held at Folkestone!
Anything but summer though, gale force winds, freezing cold sea spray and heavy rain! I was on Team manager joint admin for my club, so had loads of things to do, ended up putting myself anchor leg for our a-string seniors.
The route around 2.75miles an out and back with two hill top climbs included!
My team mates did well to get the club into 2nd place at the hand over to myself, big gap too first place and no threat from behind or thats what I thought, so off I went not pushing that hard keeping things steady and controlled, first mile against wind, up the hill, then cruising around the switchback all nice and relaxed to start the return to the finish.. then.....!
Coming steamin down the hill, no more than 200-300m behind was one of Kents best road runners!! red alert bells sounded big-time, so the last mile or so, was a frantic flat out run from me, doing everything I could to keep this guy back, including cutting corners and coming dangerously close to going over the promenade and into the drink, but I prevailed and held 2nd place for the team much to my relief!! time being 15:16secs.
What:
am: 6-miles easy already done, around 7:10mm pace, flat route and no wind for once, still feeling the effects from last nights blast! lol
pm: 3000m Open Track race at Dartford
hoping for sub 10mins, but think I blew that chance last night, but who knows I will try!
Why
3rd race in 4-days a fast running overload week for me.
HILLY:
60-70mpw is a taper week for you! thats my hard weeks total mileage at present! lol
I've only had one 85 mile week during my comeback, so a mini taper and recovery then hopefully full steam ahead for South Downs and the autumn races.
Micksta - well done on holding on to 2nd place. BR wants to know who the runner behind you was.
Welsh Poppy - I also forgot my Garmin today and I never do that (well, clearly not "never", but you know what I mean).
So,
What: 4.2 miles (I know that 'cos I've done the route lots of times before, but I have no idea how long it took today)
Why: nice day, wanted a bit of a blast
Last hard: today
Last rest: Monday
So, I've no idea what speed I was running at today. If pressed, I'd guess at about 7:50/mile. That's my sort of "just the wrong side of comfortable" pace, which is what it felt like.
Why: Base building
Well raced Micksta and LizzyB/CG at Burbage. Must get round to trying a fell race one day...
Have a good day all
Dave
Still getting used to a) being on the same time zone as you lot b) running in the cool with rabbits and squirels for company.
Lizzy: Your one tough lady
Peter G: Surely Western States 100 is all trail running?
What: 7 miles AM, 4.5 PM all d & d
Why: Comrades
Last Hard: Sunday
Last rest: Saturday
Happy running
LizzyB, triple ouch - great determination
CG, good going.
Scooby, loved the repord and very well tri'ed
BR, have a real blast tonight
Micksta, great last mile, well done to the team.
Training,
What: 6m am, 12m pm
Why: recovery and general aerobic work.
Last hard: Yesterday
Last rest: Friday
Chucking it down at the moment, gonna get damp (