It has been a long time since my last entry and there is alot to catch up on. First the big news, some weeks ago now I decided to enter the marathon in Valencia. I had been thinking about it throughout the summer but I didn't want to enter until I was confident I could do myself justice and, unlike Madrid and London, I could leave getting signed up until close to the day of the race, even now I think you can enter, you can see here http://maratondivinapastoravalencia.com/.
With one week to go I am in a much better state than in the lead up to my previous marathon attempts which were both hampered by injuries. Right now I have some pain in my calves but within a couple of days I'm confident it will have resolved itself, I stupidly tried to make a big change to my running form too quickly, essentially switching from heel-striking to forefoot-striking. Long term it is a change I want to make, its just not the right time now.
I have had two races since my last entry, both were good events for me and both are deserving of having an entry dedicated to them. So after a drought of entries look forward to a glut over the next couple of days.
In the meantime, happy running!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Return to racing
I have competed in two races in the last two weeks and notable success has been achieved in both, it seems progress is being made!
First was a 6k cross on the beach in Playa de San Juan, well half was on the beach, the other half was on the promenade. The big success for this race was that for the first time I won a trophy, I was fifth in my category and there were trophies for the first five in each category. You can see the trophy in all its glory below:
I have to admit, my probability of success in the race was greatly improved by the fact that there was a very popular duathlon race taking place about 10 kilometres along the coast so while the earlier races had averaged about 200 participants this one only had 72. I finished 10th overall and in my category there were just 15 runners. Nevertheless, I was very glad to win the trophy and I ran a good time, it was 5.8km and I got round in 22:12, averaging 3:50min/km.
Yesterday I was in my hometown, Northampton, conveniently enough the same day as the town's only popular running event. Up until 3 years ago there was no such event at all so I was glad to support the race, although it was clear that the organization could be improved, and as I've found in other races in England the goodie bag was a poor effort, it made the entry fee look very expensive. I hope the event keeps going and that they can make the required improvements (key points: more toilets at start line, make residents better informed of road closures, get more sponsors on board = better goodie bag, set a cutoff for finishing i.e. 90 minutes for 10k) because the town has alot to offer.
Anyway, with the choice of a 5k and 10k race I opted for the 10k. After my 10k training PB I really wanted a race to see what I could do, and perhaps unsurprising, I got a PB! My previous 10k pb in a race was 40:14 some 3 years ago, this time I got round in 39:22 but with a chipped time of 39:11 while I finished in 43rd place of 1,540 runners. I'm glad to have achieved the PB, it's only my second of the year, the other was in the marathon, and I was certainly due in. However, I think there is definitely more to come, I'd been nursing a cold earlier in the week and had an unsettled stomach before the race, less than perfect preparation, but I still managed a solid time. I went out reasonably hard once I'd negotiated the crowds at the start (apparently some people had difficulty reading the signs splitting runners by targeted finish times) and managed to hold things together all the way round, although I was struggling on an uphill section at about 6km and the last uphill bit in the last kilometre. I could hear some footsteps creeping up on me in the last couple of hundred metres but I managed to find something of a sprint finish to hold them off.
I'll be back with another post soon to talk through my plans for running in the next few months, hopefully yesterday's PB will set me up well for more in the next few months.
Until then, happy running!
First was a 6k cross on the beach in Playa de San Juan, well half was on the beach, the other half was on the promenade. The big success for this race was that for the first time I won a trophy, I was fifth in my category and there were trophies for the first five in each category. You can see the trophy in all its glory below:
I have to admit, my probability of success in the race was greatly improved by the fact that there was a very popular duathlon race taking place about 10 kilometres along the coast so while the earlier races had averaged about 200 participants this one only had 72. I finished 10th overall and in my category there were just 15 runners. Nevertheless, I was very glad to win the trophy and I ran a good time, it was 5.8km and I got round in 22:12, averaging 3:50min/km.
Yesterday I was in my hometown, Northampton, conveniently enough the same day as the town's only popular running event. Up until 3 years ago there was no such event at all so I was glad to support the race, although it was clear that the organization could be improved, and as I've found in other races in England the goodie bag was a poor effort, it made the entry fee look very expensive. I hope the event keeps going and that they can make the required improvements (key points: more toilets at start line, make residents better informed of road closures, get more sponsors on board = better goodie bag, set a cutoff for finishing i.e. 90 minutes for 10k) because the town has alot to offer.
Anyway, with the choice of a 5k and 10k race I opted for the 10k. After my 10k training PB I really wanted a race to see what I could do, and perhaps unsurprising, I got a PB! My previous 10k pb in a race was 40:14 some 3 years ago, this time I got round in 39:22 but with a chipped time of 39:11 while I finished in 43rd place of 1,540 runners. I'm glad to have achieved the PB, it's only my second of the year, the other was in the marathon, and I was certainly due in. However, I think there is definitely more to come, I'd been nursing a cold earlier in the week and had an unsettled stomach before the race, less than perfect preparation, but I still managed a solid time. I went out reasonably hard once I'd negotiated the crowds at the start (apparently some people had difficulty reading the signs splitting runners by targeted finish times) and managed to hold things together all the way round, although I was struggling on an uphill section at about 6km and the last uphill bit in the last kilometre. I could hear some footsteps creeping up on me in the last couple of hundred metres but I managed to find something of a sprint finish to hold them off.
I'll be back with another post soon to talk through my plans for running in the next few months, hopefully yesterday's PB will set me up well for more in the next few months.
Until then, happy running!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Update
It has been a while since my last post so there is alot to catch up on.
I raced twice in August, they were both beach races and both went pretty well. The first was in Urbanova, a small village on the beach about 10 minutes drive outside of Alicante city. The course was fairly tough since it was largely on soft sand so the times were pretty slow, the winner averaged 4:17 min/km whereas in the previous beach race he was doing around 3:30. In my case I slowed from 4:17 min/km to 5:04, but I improved to 28th place (of 152) from 39th (of 137), I was pleased with the improvement, a guy that finished just behind in the previous beach race came home 90 seconds behind me in Urbanova.
The following week was another beach race, this time in Playa de San Juan, its about 5 minutes drive from Alicante but in the opposite direction to Urbanova. San Juan is a town in its own right, with a good mix of residential blocks and hotels, its a touristy place but it doesn't seem to attract the ugly side of tourism. The race was much bigger than the previous two beach runs, this one has been going for twenty years now and attracted as many as 374 runners. This time the race was almost completely on hard sand so it allowed for much quicker times than in Urbanova, it was a 7km race and my average pace was 4:09 min/km. Looking at the results now it seems a bit disappointing, the same guy that I was pleased to beat by 90 seconds a week earlier came home only 3 seconds behind me at this one, however given events before the race I should be happy with it. I travelled to both Urbanova and San Juan on bike, while in Urbanova I'd arrived in plenty of time for San Juan I had underestimated how long it would take to get there and parked my bike up with only 10 minutes to go to the start of the race and I still had to get my running number and drop off my bag. Rushing about to get my number and get to the start I turned over my ankle slightly, after an initial worry that I'd got out of bed early and rushed to get to the race only to injure myself I calmed myself and found that I could still run ok, it just felt a little....weird. Anyway I went down to the start, took the first couple of kilometres fairly easy but after that I was confident that the ankle wasn't going to give out so got to running normally. Given that little episode I can be reasonably happy with my performance, I was 47th overall and 13th in my category (of 58).
The race in San Juan was five weeks ago now, since then I've had no more races but I've been doing plenty of training. The University reopened on the 1st September which meant I could get back to track sessions and the occasional session of flapping about in the pool and it seems progress is being made. Last week I did a 10km training run pushing pretty hard and managed for the very first time, in training or in a race, to run 10km in less than 40 minutes, I had 15 seconds to spare. It has been a target I've been aiming for for a while and it was a relief to finally get there, now to reach other goals! Next week I'm doing a 10k race in my home town, I hope that in a race situation I'll be able make a big dent into that PB. Progress has also been made towards the 3 minute kilometre, I produced a table with pb's for various distances upto 1km a couple of posts ago, it needs a couple of updates:
The * indicates a PB since the last update. I managed to get my PB for 400m to be exactly on 3:00min/km, and it is a performance I have repeated a couple of times now, while at the last update I reported the 200m PB, well I've been able to repeat that time fairly consistently in my last few sessions. The other change from last time I included this table is that I've added a time for 800m, it's 11 seconds outside my target pace but I've repeated the performance a few times and I'm confident with a few more tough sessions I'll be able to go quicker. I haven't tried to run a quick kilometre for a while, I'll do a few more sessions of series before I see how far I've come but looking at my 800m time I'm confident I would be able to go quicker than 3:20 right now.
After lots of positives I have one negative to report. On Thursday I made a long awaited return to football, a full 5 weeks after my previous game but again it caused problems with my back. During most of the game I was fine, but in the last five minutes I felt a pain, but on the plus side I noted exactly the movement I was doing to cause the problem. I was playing on the left and through most of the game when I had the ball I attacked on the outside, however with five minutes to go I saw space on the inside so went for it and that's when I felt the pain. In summary, it's a problem that occurs when I transfer my weight quickly from my left to the right. I'm going to take a break from football for a while now, hopefully with more time in the pool the muscles in my back will get stronger and balanced, so when I do play again I don't have to worry about it.
I think that's everything covered. I have a race on the beach tomorrow and the 10k in my town next week so I'll be back soon with further updates and to discuss my schedule for the year, with the big question being will I or won't I run an autumn marathon.
Until then, happy running!
I raced twice in August, they were both beach races and both went pretty well. The first was in Urbanova, a small village on the beach about 10 minutes drive outside of Alicante city. The course was fairly tough since it was largely on soft sand so the times were pretty slow, the winner averaged 4:17 min/km whereas in the previous beach race he was doing around 3:30. In my case I slowed from 4:17 min/km to 5:04, but I improved to 28th place (of 152) from 39th (of 137), I was pleased with the improvement, a guy that finished just behind in the previous beach race came home 90 seconds behind me in Urbanova.
The following week was another beach race, this time in Playa de San Juan, its about 5 minutes drive from Alicante but in the opposite direction to Urbanova. San Juan is a town in its own right, with a good mix of residential blocks and hotels, its a touristy place but it doesn't seem to attract the ugly side of tourism. The race was much bigger than the previous two beach runs, this one has been going for twenty years now and attracted as many as 374 runners. This time the race was almost completely on hard sand so it allowed for much quicker times than in Urbanova, it was a 7km race and my average pace was 4:09 min/km. Looking at the results now it seems a bit disappointing, the same guy that I was pleased to beat by 90 seconds a week earlier came home only 3 seconds behind me at this one, however given events before the race I should be happy with it. I travelled to both Urbanova and San Juan on bike, while in Urbanova I'd arrived in plenty of time for San Juan I had underestimated how long it would take to get there and parked my bike up with only 10 minutes to go to the start of the race and I still had to get my running number and drop off my bag. Rushing about to get my number and get to the start I turned over my ankle slightly, after an initial worry that I'd got out of bed early and rushed to get to the race only to injure myself I calmed myself and found that I could still run ok, it just felt a little....weird. Anyway I went down to the start, took the first couple of kilometres fairly easy but after that I was confident that the ankle wasn't going to give out so got to running normally. Given that little episode I can be reasonably happy with my performance, I was 47th overall and 13th in my category (of 58).
The race in San Juan was five weeks ago now, since then I've had no more races but I've been doing plenty of training. The University reopened on the 1st September which meant I could get back to track sessions and the occasional session of flapping about in the pool and it seems progress is being made. Last week I did a 10km training run pushing pretty hard and managed for the very first time, in training or in a race, to run 10km in less than 40 minutes, I had 15 seconds to spare. It has been a target I've been aiming for for a while and it was a relief to finally get there, now to reach other goals! Next week I'm doing a 10k race in my home town, I hope that in a race situation I'll be able make a big dent into that PB. Progress has also been made towards the 3 minute kilometre, I produced a table with pb's for various distances upto 1km a couple of posts ago, it needs a couple of updates:
| Desired Pace | Current Times | |
| 100m | 00:18 | 00:15 |
| 200m | 00:36 | 00:32 |
| 400m | 01:12 | 01:12* |
| 500m | 01:30 | 01:32dh |
| 800m | 02:24 | 02:35 |
| 1km | 03:00 | 03:20 |
The * indicates a PB since the last update. I managed to get my PB for 400m to be exactly on 3:00min/km, and it is a performance I have repeated a couple of times now, while at the last update I reported the 200m PB, well I've been able to repeat that time fairly consistently in my last few sessions. The other change from last time I included this table is that I've added a time for 800m, it's 11 seconds outside my target pace but I've repeated the performance a few times and I'm confident with a few more tough sessions I'll be able to go quicker. I haven't tried to run a quick kilometre for a while, I'll do a few more sessions of series before I see how far I've come but looking at my 800m time I'm confident I would be able to go quicker than 3:20 right now.
After lots of positives I have one negative to report. On Thursday I made a long awaited return to football, a full 5 weeks after my previous game but again it caused problems with my back. During most of the game I was fine, but in the last five minutes I felt a pain, but on the plus side I noted exactly the movement I was doing to cause the problem. I was playing on the left and through most of the game when I had the ball I attacked on the outside, however with five minutes to go I saw space on the inside so went for it and that's when I felt the pain. In summary, it's a problem that occurs when I transfer my weight quickly from my left to the right. I'm going to take a break from football for a while now, hopefully with more time in the pool the muscles in my back will get stronger and balanced, so when I do play again I don't have to worry about it.
I think that's everything covered. I have a race on the beach tomorrow and the 10k in my town next week so I'll be back soon with further updates and to discuss my schedule for the year, with the big question being will I or won't I run an autumn marathon.
Until then, happy running!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Summer Races
The recovery from my hamstring strain went well and now I'm back in full training, in fact I raced on three Sundays in row through July. Considering the training i'd missed all three races quite went well but I'm still not anywhere near to my 3:00min/km goal and for the next month I won't be able to do any track sessions as the University will be closed, which also rules out using the Uni pool or gym too.
Anyway, i'll continue to work on my speed over the next month and hopefully i'll be able to have another go at that 3 minute kilometre at the end of it.
Enough of that, now to the races. First off it was a 6km 'cross country' race on the beach. I was only just recovered from my hamstring strain when this one came around I so took it fairly easy. I finished in 39th place of 137 runners and was 11th in my category. It was a two lap race, I got around the first one in 13:15 but picked things up in the second, getting round in 12:25. It was my first experience of running on sand, for a first effort I think I did ok, it was hard work and at times very difficult to stay up right but all good fun and I'd imagine it counts as good strength training.
The link to the GPS info for the race is here.
Next up it was an urban 'cross' in Elche, Cross de Carrus. It was just a 15 minute run around, a 4km race. I finished in 15:17, in 30th place of 165 runners and in 10th place in my category. It was a nice little run and well worth the €5 entry fee, I got a running vest for my troubles which will definitely be made use along with some other assorted goodies. I was pleased with it, I was well under 4:00min/km pace despite the debilitating heat so it bodes well for the future. You can see the details here.
Finally there was the Mitat Mitja Marato de Torrellano, basically a race of a little over 10 kilometres. I completed this race two years ago and enjoyed it alot. This year the course had changed completely, it was 400m shorter and was now on the opposite side of the town, but it was still just as enjoyable, and more so because I felt I ran well. One of my goals is to run sub 40 minutes for 10k, and I was wasn't far off that in Torrellano, my pace over the race was 4:02 min/km, so only 20 seconds from my goal and given a better starting position I think I could have easily ran 20 seconds quicker in the first kilometre.
I finished in 49th place of 559 finishers, while I was 30th in my category (of 271), a satisfactory result and one I think I should be able to improve once I get the troubles I've had with my back resolved. I've have had problems for months now, things start to improve and then I can't control the urge to play football and it gets worse, now I have a month without playing football so hopefully that will let the injury recover properly. Basically it comes from the sharp stop starts and turns in football, running alone doesn't seem to aggravate things. Back on topic, you can see my run in Torrellano here. Torrellano was also only €5 and probably even better value than the 4k in Elche, the goodie bag wasn't so full but I still got a useable running vest and you expect to pay more for longer races.
Last weekend I was without a race, but this Sunday I have another, and although I haven't signed up yet I'll probably run the following week too. They are both beach races, its difficult to target a time for running on sand, if the course is on flat wet sand its very different to running on dunes, but I'll be aiming to improve on my finishing position each time, so for this week its 38th or better.
I'll let you know how got on on Monday, until then, happy running!
The link to the GPS info for the race is here.
Next up it was an urban 'cross' in Elche, Cross de Carrus. It was just a 15 minute run around, a 4km race. I finished in 15:17, in 30th place of 165 runners and in 10th place in my category. It was a nice little run and well worth the €5 entry fee, I got a running vest for my troubles which will definitely be made use along with some other assorted goodies. I was pleased with it, I was well under 4:00min/km pace despite the debilitating heat so it bodes well for the future. You can see the details here.
Finally there was the Mitat Mitja Marato de Torrellano, basically a race of a little over 10 kilometres. I completed this race two years ago and enjoyed it alot. This year the course had changed completely, it was 400m shorter and was now on the opposite side of the town, but it was still just as enjoyable, and more so because I felt I ran well. One of my goals is to run sub 40 minutes for 10k, and I was wasn't far off that in Torrellano, my pace over the race was 4:02 min/km, so only 20 seconds from my goal and given a better starting position I think I could have easily ran 20 seconds quicker in the first kilometre.
I finished in 49th place of 559 finishers, while I was 30th in my category (of 271), a satisfactory result and one I think I should be able to improve once I get the troubles I've had with my back resolved. I've have had problems for months now, things start to improve and then I can't control the urge to play football and it gets worse, now I have a month without playing football so hopefully that will let the injury recover properly. Basically it comes from the sharp stop starts and turns in football, running alone doesn't seem to aggravate things. Back on topic, you can see my run in Torrellano here. Torrellano was also only €5 and probably even better value than the 4k in Elche, the goodie bag wasn't so full but I still got a useable running vest and you expect to pay more for longer races.
Last weekend I was without a race, but this Sunday I have another, and although I haven't signed up yet I'll probably run the following week too. They are both beach races, its difficult to target a time for running on sand, if the course is on flat wet sand its very different to running on dunes, but I'll be aiming to improve on my finishing position each time, so for this week its 38th or better.
I'll let you know how got on on Monday, until then, happy running!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Hamstrung!
I've had a setback in training and my target of running a 3 minute kilometre before the end of the month has gone out of the window.
Saturday morning I went to the athletics track to do some sprints, I did 5 100m sprints without any problem, then while doing my first 200m effort I felt something in my hamstring. It was nothing drastic, no sharp pain, just a little discomfort. Anyway, I eased off it for a couple of days, but then went to play football and found it was still a problem.
I paid a visit to the physio yesterday and she recommended a slow build-up back to the level of training I was doing, so the next 3 weeks or so are lost. I'm to do short slow jogs, starting with 5 minutes yesterday and adding 5 minutes each day provided I'm not having any problems until I get to 30 minutes, then I can start doing some short sprints and work on hills
It's more than a little frustrating, but I'm still able to swim and cycle so I should be able to keep my fitness level up, I may even pay a visit to a gym. I just have to be smart about things and try to avoid doing something stupid that might turn a minor injury complaint into a major one.
Happy Running
Maratonero
Saturday morning I went to the athletics track to do some sprints, I did 5 100m sprints without any problem, then while doing my first 200m effort I felt something in my hamstring. It was nothing drastic, no sharp pain, just a little discomfort. Anyway, I eased off it for a couple of days, but then went to play football and found it was still a problem.
I paid a visit to the physio yesterday and she recommended a slow build-up back to the level of training I was doing, so the next 3 weeks or so are lost. I'm to do short slow jogs, starting with 5 minutes yesterday and adding 5 minutes each day provided I'm not having any problems until I get to 30 minutes, then I can start doing some short sprints and work on hills
It's more than a little frustrating, but I'm still able to swim and cycle so I should be able to keep my fitness level up, I may even pay a visit to a gym. I just have to be smart about things and try to avoid doing something stupid that might turn a minor injury complaint into a major one.
Happy Running
Maratonero
Friday, June 17, 2011
Update on 3 minute kilometre goal
It has been a while since I've blogged, I don't have so much to say, I'm still trying to improve my speed, I've made some progress but there is still a fairly long way to go.
I've taken a second off my times for both 200 and 400m while with the help of a steady down-slope I managed to cover 500m in 1:32, five seconds quicker than I'd managed previously. Here is the updated table of my times, a * indicates an improvement on the times in the last blog:
I've taken a second off my times for both 200 and 400m while with the help of a steady down-slope I managed to cover 500m in 1:32, five seconds quicker than I'd managed previously. Here is the updated table of my times, a * indicates an improvement on the times in the last blog:
| Desired Pace | Current Times | |
| 100m | 00:18 | 00:15 |
| 200m | 00:36 | 00:32* |
| 400m | 01:12 | 01:13* |
| 500m | 01:30 | 01:32*dh |
| 800m | 02:24 | - |
| 1km | 03:00 | 03:20 |
The target date to achieve my goal was the end of June, which is not too far away now. My 500m best was done after two previous fast 500m efforts with a jog recovery, I think given a walk recovery I probably would have come in under 90 seconds. I'd like to be able to do the 3 minute kilometre on the flat but it seems that's a little beyond me at this stage, but with a slight downhill and coming at it reasonably fresh I might just make it.
I'll be back in a couple of weeks to let you know how I got on.
Happy running
El maratonero
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Progress towards my 3:00 min/km goal
Last week I said I had set myself a goal of running just one kilometre in three minutes, I thought I would blog on how its going, what I'm doing to achieve the goal and give a bit of information on just how difficult a challenge it is.
While training for the marathon in Madrid I would do no more than one session of speed training a week and if I had a race on the weekend or if I played football in the week it would be a session I would drop. My speed training in general consists of going to the track and doing repeated fast paced efforts with a jog or walk recovery in between depending on how I feel. My typical session would consist of 4x100m efforts, 4x200m and 2 or more 400m.
In the last few weeks I've been doing two or three speed sessions a week. The second type of session is done on the road and involves fast past efforts of 500m or 1000m with a jog recovery, if just 1000m efforts I do 3 or 4 efforts. You can see an example of such a session here:1000m series
I said last week I was able to run 1 kilometre in 3:25, well this week saw a step forward, I managed a kilometre in 3:20. Clearly if I keep improving at this rate my target of 3:00 is well within reach in the next few weeks. However, my track session reminded me that it will be a difficult task. Below is a table that lists for various distances up to 1km the time that 3min/km pace would lead to for that distance together with the time I currently run that distance in.
As you can see, I can run at 3:00min/km pace over 100 and 200m but so far I've been unable to sustain that pace even up to 400m. If I can't sustain 3:00min/km pace for 500m it seems a huge ask to get to sustaining that pace for double that distance but that's what I'm trying to do.
It's not an impossible task, but it is a challenging one, but one that will hopefully pay dividends when I start upping my mileage later in the year ready to take on a new season of half marathons.
That's all for now,
Happy running
El Maratonero
While training for the marathon in Madrid I would do no more than one session of speed training a week and if I had a race on the weekend or if I played football in the week it would be a session I would drop. My speed training in general consists of going to the track and doing repeated fast paced efforts with a jog or walk recovery in between depending on how I feel. My typical session would consist of 4x100m efforts, 4x200m and 2 or more 400m.
In the last few weeks I've been doing two or three speed sessions a week. The second type of session is done on the road and involves fast past efforts of 500m or 1000m with a jog recovery, if just 1000m efforts I do 3 or 4 efforts. You can see an example of such a session here:1000m series
I said last week I was able to run 1 kilometre in 3:25, well this week saw a step forward, I managed a kilometre in 3:20. Clearly if I keep improving at this rate my target of 3:00 is well within reach in the next few weeks. However, my track session reminded me that it will be a difficult task. Below is a table that lists for various distances up to 1km the time that 3min/km pace would lead to for that distance together with the time I currently run that distance in.
| Desired Pace | Current Times | |
| 100m | 00:18 | 00:15 |
| 200m | 00:36 | 00:33 |
| 400m | 01:12 | 01:14 |
| 500m | 01:30 | 01:37 |
| 800m | 02:24 | - |
| 1km | 03:00 | 03:20 |
As you can see, I can run at 3:00min/km pace over 100 and 200m but so far I've been unable to sustain that pace even up to 400m. If I can't sustain 3:00min/km pace for 500m it seems a huge ask to get to sustaining that pace for double that distance but that's what I'm trying to do.
It's not an impossible task, but it is a challenging one, but one that will hopefully pay dividends when I start upping my mileage later in the year ready to take on a new season of half marathons.
That's all for now,
Happy running
El Maratonero
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