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Wednesday 15th August 2012
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Sounds good, Emzap!
I was reminiscing the other day (having found the medal in an old box).....Did you ever run in the University College Parliament Hill XC relays. Great event followed by the most awesome Soho based piss up in the whole history of piss ups!
Ah happy days
Only remember Hyde Park relays, Tom, and funnily enough went to them in 2010 and 2011...not what they were, of course! Was also reminded the other day about competing in track handicap races at various agricultural shows, especially Ashby-de-la-Zouch: I think these days with the likes of powerof10 they would do a better job with the handicapping.
Tom: the guy I am seeing tomorrow was a runner (2:26 in the first London marathon), has had several Achilles ops himself, was RW doctor, Medical Director for Commonwealth Games in Manchester, turned down same job for the Olympics as it would mean moving to London for a couple of years, GB team doc, etc etc...totally trust his judgement! He also cycled across USA in just over 30 days in May to celebrate his 65th birthday.
Speaking of grass tracks I believe that Peter Snell broke the world mile record on a grass track in NZ in the early 60s.
Also on the subject of grass, I remember once being eject from Worksop golf course by the golf pro whilst running round in my bear feet - I think it was during my "want to be like Bruce Tulloh" phase.
Peter Snell: just looked it up...800 on grass in 1:44.3. Remains the fastest ever 800 on grass.
Yes, I used to do a bare foot Bruce Tulloh impression too! First saw him run at the National at Western Park, Leicester, in 1964, in the days when big crowds actually used to go and watch. I remember it like yesterday even though I was only 8! I even recall Mel Batty winning and Ron Hill being 3rd: I had studied all their pictures in the evening paper the night before. Nowadays I doubt the national would get a mention at all!
Good news emzap and nice to have you back. It sounds as though you're settling in despite the missing items.
Thanks OH - too late for hill training now though!
You've caught me in a contemplative and nostalgic mood today, it's probably a reliving of the emotions that Olympic endeavour stir within...so here goes, with apologies to anyone who's seen this posting before:
Back in the 60's (1964 or 65, can't quite remember) a new PE teacher arrived at our school, he'd just graduated (from Loughborough) so he was only a handful of years older than us. Prior to his arrival the school cross country team was a joke, a repository for the gawky, uncoordinated, no ball skills, insufficient intellect to play chess deadbeats. Every year we competed in the North Mids Grammar Schools Xc race and every year we came last.....I mean, really last!
Anyway, when he arrived he told us that next year we could win this race. He showed us what to do, how to do it, motivated us, trained with us and turned us into a cohesive group running and training for each other. Not only did he make us better runners, he made us better people....and of course we won it, and the year after too. His motto was "nothing worthwhile was ever achieved easily"
As with people of his charisma and ability he moved on to better things (Lancaster University), and when his post was advertised, one of the requirements of his successor was a strong interest in athletics and cross-country as "this school had a tradition in those sports".
That's nearly 50 years ago now....and I'm still a better person for it and his 'nothing worthwhile...." mantra still rings true today.
tom, that's such a nice story
I bet that teacher has no idea what impact he had on you either!
alehouse - rain stopped play here a lot too, but more often it was rain meant no chance of play. Most of the kids season is finished now.
LMH - feeling better ? I had to think about it, so I guess the answer is yes. Not really sure how fit I am or not, but it's probably a case of under-cooked rather than raw at worse.
Blisters - think you mis-understood, I was trying to imply that you should take the menthol worry out of any running if you want to do any hard stuff. If your aim is IM Wales 2013 then how long the swim and bike take you and how much they take out of you and more relevant to your IM marathon running than how fast you can run stand alone. However next summer I suggest that you do include mile reps but do 10 of them with 30sec rest. I've done it once and the first five are a doddle, you need a strong pair of legs rather than a fast pair.
tom - always good to read your tales and that mantra
As I mentioned above, I've posted this story before...a couple of years ago. After it, I googled him, but couldn't find a great deal, other than he had retired having spent most of his working life at Lancaster.
I've just just googled him again, and found his obituary. Very upset now, but happy to read he did many worthwhile things during his life.
Lovely story Tom, and although it was sad to read that he died it was good to hear of how well he must have been thought of. I think he would have admired "consistent consistency"!
Re Western Park, I don't recall the Inter-counties being there unless it was 1967. From 1970 onwards they alternated between Markeaton Park at Derby and Braunstone Park in Leicester. Nationals (and English Schools) were held at Western Park as there was room for the big 3 mile lap whereas at Braunstone the max was 2.5 mile.
Sorry to hear that Tom. Thank you for sharing the story.
TR - whilst training normally now I'm miles behind where I would have expected to be, coach says that I'm where he would expect me to be 'early season'. Just a shame it's nearly the end then. Not sure if I can make up the difference before Abingdon. What's next for you?
Nice little clip of 1967 inter-counties (I hope!). Shows Bruce T in bare feet. Ron Hill was also bare footed to finish 2nd behind Dick Taylor.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/inter-counties-cross-country-championships/query/Tim
Aha, Tom has now admitted to being 13 years my senior. Important pieces of information for a part time stalker. I understand the roller coaster ride of injury, but remain intrigued as to why some injuries heal completely, whereas others remain as old war wounds that wake up every now and again. With such thoughts in mind I feel that I should risk everything at this point. I actually feel as though I am "between injuries". The heart/lung CV engine is several months short of reasonable tune, and the legs are a bit flabby. Mind you, the new bat wings are growing nicely.
TR, thanks for the input, the reason I tried a mile rep session was to gauge my current position as I have my first mini-triathlon on 26th August at Malmesbury. 400m pool/ 22k bike/ 5k run. Please note that I am referring to it as a mini-tri, and not a sprint...
No training today, the weather looked like it was the end of the world.
LMH - sounds like you are in a similar place to me, I havnt pinned on a number since VLM and my wettie hasnt got wet since Sept. Still got the Sept 1/2 IM in NF and I've looked at 5:10 on my garage door all winter but if I could have a refund then I'd probably take it. Now the cricket has finished I might some mojo to go with feeling healthier. However I do have the IoW 1/2 mara Sunday and there's nothing like a (flipping hard and hilly) race to get the fires burning.
Blisters - survive the swim, ride the bike like you stole it and smack the run is what you'll be needing then. Still my race plan at 1/2IM, if I was to ever do IM then I'd have to reign it in a bit. remember that 10x1M for next summer, it'll do your IM legs good.