The results

So how did my decisions for the Flitwick 10k work out?  I won't bother to review the race because it was much the same as last year.  Although one thing that did annoy me was the entry form making a big fuss about making sure that you put a 'large' stamp on your SAE or your race entry pack wouldn't get to you... and when it arrived it was two sheets of A4 paper saying where the race was, when it started, and that we had to pick up our numbers and chips on the day.  They could have EMAILED that little information out, for goodness' sake.

Running it at all: well, I got round, which was the whole point.  I didn't have to walk, which was a pleasant surprise.  It took about 41 minutes, which even tells me that it might be worth attempting to do the midweek league races (thank goodness).

Race strategy: I simply didn't dare go fast.  But my 'jog' was fairly steady, at about 42-minute pace.  Just like at Sandy, my knee felt a little stiff after only a minute or two, but nothing worrying.  But this time it stayed that way - mostly.  A couple of times I had to change direction suddenly, and it didn't like that.  And in general a little pain just below my knee kept coming and going.

After a while I found I was speeding up a bit and overtaking people, but I always felt that if I tried to consciously push on and go faster I'd get myself into trouble.  Thankfully I was catching enough people to keep things interesting.  Right at the end John Franklin beat me in a sprint finish.  Well, only he was in the sprint finish, which explains why I came off second best!

Contact lenses: the question I asked myself when wondering whether to put my contact lenses in was 'well, how likely is it that my glasses will steam up or my face will get too sweaty to wear them?'.  What I should have asked was 'how much water am I likely to spill over my glasses when trying to take a drink from the water station?'  Since the answer would have been 'enough to embarrass even a four-year-old' perhaps I should have taken the other option on this one.

Listening to the iPod: well, I ran with it, but didn't actually use it.  I thought I'd wait until all the runners spread out, but actually that didn't happen until much later than normal (it's busier in the 41-42 minute part of the race than 36-37 minutes).  Normally it'd be single file by 2 or 3k, but this time it was more like 5k.  By which time I was more interested in enjoying the view (I didn't realise you could see Sharpenhoe Clappers from the route - well, the visibility was really poor last year).

Choice of clothing: I was running faster and for less time than I expected, so I probably could have done without the extra layer.  Oh well.  It hid the MP3 player.

So my injury has improved.  But it's not fixed.  The resting, stretching, massaging approach may be working (but since it's not possible to do a controlled test in these circumstances, we can't be certain that rest alone wouldn't have had the same result).  But it's probably worth seeing if a physio has any other ideas...

Preparing to fail

So how's my knee?  I suppose the short answer is I don't know.  I haven't really tested it out properly.  The most running I've done in the last few weeks was a mile jog from Hitchin railway station back home (after picking Lindsay up so she could take the car to the club while I sulked at home).  I could move OK, but my knee felt like it could give way at any moment.

So I suppose I've been avoiding the club a little.  There's not much I can do there, and although it's nice to see everyone, it's a bit depressing to see everyone enjoying themselves when I can't join in.  I can understand why people drop out of circulation when something like this happens.

So, it's the Flitwick 10k in a few hours, and of course I'm not confident.  If I hadn't entered a month or two ago I certainly wouldn't be attempting it today - but since it's a Run of the Month I'd still turn up to spectate and see how many Squirrels we can gather at the same place at the same time.  But I've paid, so I'll damn well get round the course.  Even if I have to walk.  I've been the trail cyclist at Standalone in the past, so if this event is anything like that I'm still in no danger of coming last.  But am I in danger of Lindsay beating me?  Well, that's a different worry.

But some worries go away.  I went to a gym session yesterday lunchtime called Boot Camp, which I normally avoid the day before a race.  I had a really fun time at a party last night and didn't care about eating curry, drinking beer or not getting much sleep.  I'll probably wear a T-shirt under my vest, which I wouldn't normally do in this weather.  I might not bother to put contact lenses in.  I might even take my iPod and listen to The Now Show.

I'm watching the start of the Chinese Grand Prix and they're all talking about race strategy (even though they're plodding around behind a safety car - Formula 1 is a bit of a joke this season).  I can only think of two strategies for myself: 1) jog along, try not to aggravate anything, see how long I last, or 2) go as fast as I can on the assumption that it's the amount of time I spend running that causes the problem, and so when I eventually have to jog/walk I'm further round the course.  I'm a bit too risk-averse for option 2.

But hopefully it'll be nice to just be out.

Nothing conclusive

Lindsay and I are in Switzerland for the weekend, so I had to get to the airport early on Friday evening, so I had the afternoon off work, so I had some free time to go and see Sharon to see if she could find anything wrong with my knee.  It wasn't the obvious 'ah yes, I can see the lump' diagnosis I was hoping for.

It might be an IT band thing.  There was a lot of tightness either side of the knee.  So perhaps that's going to be the answer.  But for now, some rest, some stretching (in a notoriously difficult area to stretch)... and some finger-crossing.

Well, I'm not running this weekend, anyway.  I'm enjoying the contrast of 14-degree temperature to sit in the garden in the sun... and in the snow.  Strange country.

The joy of gym

Thank goodness I can still go to the gym (actually, thank goodness I can still walk normally and climb the stairs at work and go shopping and do everything apart from running, but this post is only about the gym so let's ignore all that other stuff).

I miss running quite quickly when I can't do it, so something as simple as going to the circuit training classes at the gym are almost becoming a lifeline.  It's an addict thing.  Got to get the endorphine buzz from somewhere.

I even noticed the beginnings of arm muscles in myself the other day.  Now that would be a first.

Sandy 3 - 29 March 2009

After my sage advice to the Three Counties guy at Milton Keynes (don't set off too fast), I received some useful advice of my own today from Neil Ward:  If it hurts, stop.

 

We'd been talking about how we were doing, and my dodgy knee was mentioned.  This would be its first test for a couple of weeks.  So on a lovely sunnny morning, just after the clocks had gone forward, it was quite warm at the start of the Sandy 10.  I decided I would start fairly slowly (although now I think about it, that's the best way to aim for a PB on this course anyway), and see how I went.

 

I didn't feel anything at all in my knee.  For about 90 seconds.  And then it felt a bit stiff.  OK, that's not pain, so I'll carry on.  After a mile we got to the sharp uphill (see Statto's blog - well, where else? - for the elevation profile) and I was quite happy to jog up that.  Actually, as it happened, I was catching Statto up, so I obviously wasn't taking it as easy as I expected, but I felt fine.  In fact, I noticed, my knee wasn't hurting at all.  Hurrah!

 

At the top of the hill I met Sibbo and Shirley, doing excellent supporting work, and at two and a half miles were Astrid and Steve, out on a bike ride from Hitchin.  Lucky they chose to come to Sandy.  It was almost as if they knew we would be there.

 

I could see the 3 mile marker when my knee made itself known again.  This time it was a sharp pain, and not one to ignore.  I stopped.  I walked.  I waited.  Then I jogged a bit.  And it still hurt.  I crossed 3 miles in not much more than 19 minutes, so I hadn't lost much time, but my race was over.  A few more steps and I decided it would be a bit silly to carry on.

 

So for the first time ever, I dropped out of a race.  I took my vest off (don't worry, I had a T-shirt underneath) to prevent any rival clubs seeing a stricken NHRR member, and tried to persuade all the rest of the NHRR members that I was going to be fine (they all asked as they ran past - what a nice club we are!).

 

And I went back to have a proper chat with the McKeowns, and wandered back with Pete and Mrs C, and found that if I jogged slowly, and restricted the movement in my knee, I could actually move OK.  And I wasn't being overtaken all that much by runners in the 70-75 minute range.  Damn, I thought.  I could have carried on, and perhaps Lindsay wouldn't have beaten me.  And I could have had one of those nice blue long-sleeved tops.  (Actually, I'm sure if I asked nicely I would probably have been allowed one, but that wouldn't be right, would it?)

 

But no.  Resting didn't fix my problem, so on to step 2.  Let's see if Sharon can fix it.

An odd injury

I'm injured again and I don't know why.

The MK half marathon went OK.  I went for a jog the following day, and my right knee started to ache.  But after a few minutes the ache went away again.  I was so busy enjoying my run (because, due to a combination of too little daylight and too much work, this was the first time I'd been able to run after work and not need to stay under street lights) that I didn't think about it again.

The next day I ran at the club, and completed the speedwork session without any trouble.  But it was jogging back to the club that my knee started to hurt again.  And a few days later, on doing some circuits at the gym, it seemed that my knee hurt more when I was going slowly on it than when I was going fast.

So I don't know what's going on.  But I've been trying the approach that's worked best for me in the past: leave it alone and it'll sort itself out.  So I've done nothing for the last week... and hopefully I'll be able to get round Sandy on Sunday.

Milton Keynes Half - 8 March

Milton Keynes Half - 8 March

Another fairly local race that I've never done before.  It seemed an odd mix of seeming to be a big and small race, possibly because it wasn't organised by a running club.

The first thing we noticed - beyond the long queue of cars to reach the venue - was that there were no yellow signs guiding us there.  But that didn't matter because we'd received detailed step-by-step instructions in the post.

The HQ was at the Open University campus, although everyone was crammed into a small reception area, so it was a good job the weather was good.  There was a baggage area - but it was just the upstairs area of the HQ, and nothing was labelled, or attended.  I heard afterwards that some people claimed their bags were stolen, which I suppose wouldn't have been difficult.

There were lots of arrows painted on the floor pointing the right direction - but there was a significant absence of marshalls at some vital points, which could have led to trouble (in fact, judging by some of the comments on the Runners World forum, some people did go wrong).  Someone not far in front of me nearly missed a turn in the last mile until I shouted at him (not very competitive, I know, but my conscience wouldn't let me get away with anything else).

It was a good course for spectating, too, since we kept running near the HQ.  There were even spectator maps designed for the supporters.

Overall, I enjoyed the race.  It probably deserves its reputation of being a fast course, but the strong winds made that difficult this time.  In particular, I remember seeing the 10 mile mark and preparing to look at my watch for a split time, and then not seeming to get any closer to it.  The moment I got to the lamp post with the 10 mile sign on it, a huge gust of wind came along and I felt like I was going backwards!  Statto reckons that the wind would have made about a minute's worth of difference, and who am I to argue with him?

Speaking of which...  In the last mile I could see that I wasn't going to reach my 1:20 target and so gave up a bit.  I crossed the finish line, not unhappy with 1:21.  I only had enough time to stop and catch my breath when a cheery voice behind me said 'Hello, Gary!'  I'd forgotten all about Statto.  He hadn't eased off at all in the last mile - far from it - and finished only half a minute behind me.  That could have been nasty.  Forgetting he was there showed a shameful lack of respect, which I suppose I'm making amends for by mentioning it now, and I really will try not to let him finish anywhere near me in future!

And strangely, before the race (and this was all Martyn's fault) I got interviewed by someone from Three Counties Radio, who was running his first half marathon.  Thankfully it wasn't live, and it probably won't be broadcast because I didn't make much sense.  But I did give him the simplest, but best, piece of advice I know: don't set off too fast.  Of course, you only ever realise that's good advice after you don't take it.

Team East Haddon XC - 1 March

The final cross country proved a day of contrasts.  The furthest distance to travel, for the shortest distance to run.  As we drove up the M1 it got darker and damper - but the moment the race started the sun came out and it felt quite warm.  The mood was gloomy too, before the race, but by the end of the day things had brightened considerably.  I'd better explain.

 

Actually, it doesn't take much explaining.  As we gathered in the sports hall before the race it was clear that we were going to struggle to field a complete men's team.  Which set us grumbling about how useless all the absent squirrels were, of course.  But we got ourselves to the start as normal.

 

I had a strange start to the race.  The start line was at an angle to the course, so that the first corner was far closer to the right hand side of the start line than anywhere else.  Naturally, I stood there.  But nobody else did.  So when the race started and I darted for the corner, I found I was almost alone.  It took about a quarter of a mile before the fast boys overtook me, which was a very odd experience!  But even then it was clear that other clubs were a bit light on runners too.  Probably the best way to illustrate that is the fact that I came 7th.  Yes, I felt like I'd had a good run, but normally I'd be about 20th.

 

The sandwiches and cakes afterwards were very good - in fact, they rivalled our own efforts, which is saying something.  And it was just as well that it was sunny and warm outside, because we had a long time to wait before the results were ready (something about the software not being able to cope with the fact that we had a cancelled race).  And this is where the mood changed.  On the day it turned out that the men came 2nd (quality over quantity) and the ladies 3rd.  And that was enough to confirm NHRR as 3rd overall, and the men as 3rd too, which was better than expected.

 

So there.  A happy ending.

National Cross Country

Well, we were lucky with the weather.  After all the crazy conditions we've had recently, I was very pleasantly surprised to find Parliament Hill Fields bathed in warm sunshine.  I can't remember the last time I could stand at the start of a race in shorts and vest and feel warm.

As expected, the course was tough: the usual hills and mud.  It was actually less wet than it has been in previous years, so the mud was stickier, which made it even harder to get through.  But unlike the 15k course for the Southerns, this was only (!) 12k, so we only did 2 large laps instead of 3 medium ones.

Oddly, I had more family than club members running (well, Lindsay's family, really).  Lindsay, her mother, brother, sister and brother-in-law were all racing, and the only remaining Squirrels were Tash and Chris Priestley.  Although Pete, Karen and Ollie were there to shout encouragement (I think that's what they were doing!) from the sidelines.

So, just like the Southerns, I didn't really have much way of telling if I was doing well or not.  The only person I knew well enough to compare myself against was the aforementioned brother-in-law, and he smoothly overtook me after about 5k and proceeded to disappear off into the distance.  And my energy levels started to fall, and I didn't enjoy the second lap very much at all.  

Which made my thoughts start to take a negative turn.  Why was I doing this?  If I'd just stayed at home, it would have made absolutely no difference to the results.  We couldn't put a team together for either the men's or ladies' races, for a national event only an hour from home.  Why is our club getting so pathetic about cross country races?  Did nobody think they could manage it?  I know the name of the club is 'road runners', but that's not all we do.  And I'm bored of the marathon-training excuses too: I've managed to work cross-country events into a marathon schedule before, and a bit of off-road running on softer ground is better for you than endlessly pounding around roads.

Humph.

Anyway, it appears I came 524th - coincidentally, the same position as Lindsay did.  This wasn't so bad, since there were about 1500 people running, which was part of what makes the event such an experience in the first place.

Another cross country next week, then...

There snow cross country

I have mixed feelings about the Ampthill cross country being cancelled.  Or are we saying postponed?  I don't fancy our chances of being able to reschedule it within the current season.

Firstly, disappointment.  It's one of the best courses we do.  And well-organised.

Next, confusion.  What caused it?  Frozen car parks?  Soggy ground?  I suppose if the council made the decision, they had to do it during office hours, even though a decision made on Saturday might have kept the race alive.  And having 300 people do 2 laps of the park might have done too much damage if the ground is especially soft.

Finally, relief.  I'm doing a half marathon in a few weeks, and I can't remember the last time I've run that far. So Sunday proved a useful chance to try it out, and get out on the country lanes for the first time in quite a while.

High point (apart from simply being out there): running on non-icy non-slippy roads, but running past fields covered in snow.

Low point: coming across a huge flooded section of the Charlton-Preston road, and being completely unable to avoid it.  Cold wet feet from that point on.

A lot of catching up to do

You know those jobs that you never get round to doing, and the longer you put them off the harder they are to do?  Well, that's what it's been like trying to find time to get this blog back up to date.  So I'll do it in very small chunks.  Each of these would be a whole blog post on its own, but I never seem to find the time!

At the start of January we had a few days of snow.  This was exciting at the time, but after February's much heavier snow it seems like nothing.  Still, it was enough to cancel a Tuesday club night, apart from about 8 of us who ran a parlauff session around the cricket pitch, which was lots of fun.  That was probably the first time I met our new speedy girl Rachel...

...who had won our cross-country event (when I didn't know who she was) and went on to come about 4th in the Herts XC.  My thoughts on those races: our event was, as usual, very well organised*, and Santa's Grotto was especially fun.  But a word of advice: if you ever have a stone in your cross-country shoes, do try to notice it before you're on the start line.  I didn't have a good day at Watford at the Herts XC, although it was nice to run a course I've never seen before.  But I was plodding a lot.

* Although Steve McKeown and I were trying to put up the gazebo, and had to stop when there were no plastic connectors for all the rods to fit into.  They were last seen at Standalone.  Does anyone know where they are?  The gazebo is useless without them, obviously.

The Southern XC was quite fun too - very wet all the way round, pretty hilly, and only Lindsay and I there to represent the club.  I started slowly, and sped up half way round, which felt really good, overtaking lots of people.  But after looking at the results, I probably took it too easy early on.  The funniest part of the race was right at the start, when the horde of a few hundred runners all set off.  After a few seconds there were shouts of 'wa-hey!' from up ahead, and we soon found out what it was for as we stomped through a huge ankle-deep puddle, and splashed everyone up to their faces.

There seem to have been a lot of new people at the club recently, which is good.  It could be the January "new year's resolution" effect, or the "I've got a place in the London Marathon" effect... but it also seems to be the result of some disagreements within FVS Tri.  I've always thought this club was particularly friendly and welcoming, so if we gain new members because of that, then I think we deserve it.

There's been a lot of talk on the forum recently about running on treadmills.  I'm not a fan, but when the streets are full of ice, as they have been for the last couple of weeks, they can prove very useful.  My gym has a running club, and on Sunday morning its session was on the treadmills.  We all formed into pairs, and one person ran 1k as fast as possible, while the other cycled on another machine.  Then we swapped over.  Half a dozen of those made for quite a fun session.

Which brings us up to date.  Yesterday was the first time I've had a proper run from the club for what seems like ages (but it's only a couple of weeks).  And even though there was still ice to avoid, it felt very good to be out.

Buntingford 10

I entered this race too late, and got telephoned by a nice person from Royston Runners to explain this and wish me better luck next year.  (It's not better luck I need, it's better organisation.)  But since quite a few NHRR members dropped out late on, both Lindsay and I were able to get hold of numbers.  Once we got to race HQ we were also able to get hold of chips, but the next conversation was a little like this:

where do we go to do a number transfer?
What do you mean?
We've taken over someone else's numbers, so we need to change the registrations.
That's OK, you don't need to do that.
But if we run as we are, we'll be running under the wrong names and mess up the results.
But you've got a number and it's paid for?
Yes.
Oh, well, don't worry about it.

Fortunately Karen spotted the Royston Runners chairperson, who directed us to The Man In The Van outside, who very quickly amended the database, so all was well.  (Although with no audit trail, so I think I prefer the way we do it at Standalone, where number transfers are done by filling in a form.)

For some reason, every year I do this run I forget how difficult it is.  The first three or four miles are quite hilly, and they always catch me out - and this year I had an aching leg to contend with.  And it's usually cold, of course.  But after getting thoroughly depressed for the first half of the race, and thinking that I was going to be extremely slow, the second half comes as a welcome relief, and things start improving.  OK, I was never going to get close to an hour, but I was quite pleased when I finished in 61:04.

Earlier in the week Statto had said that if I was slower than about 61 minutes, then when he published the updated list of 'fastest 10 mile times over the last year', then he would be on top, rather than I.  So I left the race thinking my time would be enough to keep me at the top of the list.  But oh no - when Statto says 'about 61 minutes' he means... well, he means 61 minutes, since Statto's impressive 61:01 is now top of the list.  So I'm going to have to be fit, fast and injury-free by the time of the Fred Hughes 10...

Training partners

A few times recently I've commented how much I'm looking forward to getting back to training with what looks to be a promising little training group.  By coincidence, I've trained with most of them individually over the last few weeks.

On a cold, wet, windy Saturday morning I met James, to go for an off-road slip-athon for an hour or so.  It was the sort of weather I never would have chosen to go out running in, so it was a good thing that we'd arranged to meet previously.  With leggings, long sleeves, hat and gloves, there was very little of me showing, and as I ran back home through Hitchin town centre, I saw shoppers struggling with huge Woolworths carrier bags and wondered who looked sillier.

The following week the training schedule said we were to do 800m reps at Sainsbury's... but on the night there was hardly anyone at the club.  But Ollie said he'd arranged to meet Sibbo at the 800m venue, so I went with him.  It was very strange doing a speedwork session with only the two of us there, but it was quite fun to do so.  Sibbo never showed up.

And a similar thing happened on the Tuesday before Christmas.  While half the runners who turned up on the night went on their 'bling run', Statto wanted to stick to what it said on the schedule, which was the 2 x 3 mile session down and up the A505.  Unfortunately a muscle in my leg started giving me trouble on the first of the runs, so I bailed out of the second.  (And as it happened, without the pleasure of my company Statto felt he couldn't go on either, so it was quite a short session in the end.)

Now if only we could all train at the same time...