Training Diary: 26th March to 1st April

Mon, Mar 26, 2012 12:20 PM: 1:09:12 (10.02mi, 6:54/mi) - Run with Neil at lunch time from the office, nice and easy ten miles in the sunshine discussing our respective disasters at the weekend. Felt better than expected but legs stiff.


Tue, Mar 27, 2012 5:13 PM: 17:30 (2.5mi, 7:00/mi) - Normal warm up with John and Neil. John had the better weekend amongst us, running and winning a local 10k then driving down to Milton Keynes to run a long leg at the relays.

Going down the hill at 12 stage

Tue, Mar 27, 2012 5:41 PM: 34:28 (6.06mi total, 5:41/mi) - Session was 8 x 1k off 200 jog, reps in 2:59, 3:00, 3:00, 2:58, 2:58, 2:58, 2:57, 2:53. Legs felt heavy from the half but couldn't turn down a vest off session. Hard work but got it done. To be honest wasn't meant to be doing any sessions at all this week!

Tue, Mar 27, 2012 6:23 PM: 18:01 (2.17mi, 8:18/mi) - Standard cool down, legs very tired.


Wed, Mar 28, 2012 5:24 PM: 1:19:32 (11.74, 6:46/mi) - Run out through Burghley to the Southorpe loop. Lovely weather, but legs felt terrible. Too tired to even do strides.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 5:21 PM: 20:58 (3mi, 7:00/mi) - Longer warm up as a shorter session, all on the grass.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 5:49 PM: 25:33 (4.17mi, 6:08/mi) - Light session: 1mi tempo (400), 4 x 400 (200),(5) 4 x 200 (200). Reps in 4:50, 67, 65, 65, 65, 30, 29, 30, 30. Did session on my own in great weather again. Wore spikes for first time and got a little blister, but all in all the session felt controlled and good.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 6:18 PM: 22:46 (2.87mi, 7:56/mi) - Cool down with Sean in which I ranted about kids jogging in lane one and generally getting in the way.

Fri, Mar 30, 2012 4:05 PM: 44:39: (6.48mi, 6:54/mi) - Easy run on the river loop on my own. Got home early from work but legs felt terrible throughout, once again binned the strides.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 12:02 PM: 18:45, 2.5mi (7:30/mi) - Warm up around Sutton Park on my own with strides, felt okay a lot better than yesterday, had the standard five or six toilet stops.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 1:00 PM: 27:00: (5.4mi, 5:00/mi) - Midlands 12 Stage Relays: I got my time slightly quicker than official time, which seems about right considering I also looked at the total time when I came in and it differed from what was in the results. Just ran the leg tempo as never had anyone to run off and after passing the third guy at mile 3 never saw another runner to chase. Felt reasonably good throughout and looking forward to getting in a race in two weeks time and running sub 26:30. Legs a little heavy on the uphill drags but to be honest a lot better than they have felt all week. Finally got my new Streak XCs off Lisgo and was nice doing a race where my feet weren't being cut to pieces. 8th fastest long leg of the day, so not too bad considering how the last week has felt.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 1:46 PM: 56:15 (7.35mi, 7:39/mi) - Long cool down, first with Blunden then Lisgo after he had finished his leg and a little session. Gave a shout to O'Dowd who was so alone on his leg that he thought he had gone the wrong way until he saw us, shows how lonely and spread out it was out there. Finally received our gold medals for the first English team at Great South Run, only the five months late...

Sun, Apr 1, 2012 10:05 AM: 1:34:01 (14mi, 6:43/mi) - Long run from Thorpe Wood and out through the villages with Neil. Legs felt a little tired again and weather a little cooler than earlier in the week. Pleased to get something done a little steadier though.

Sun, Apr 1, 2012 5:12 PM: 27:12 (4mi, 6:49/mi) - Easy few miles to shake the legs out, out and back on the meadows, felt okay.
 

English 10mi champs winning team (note: Mens team despite how Martin appears on the right)

Total Weekly Mileage  82.26 miles - Easier week after the half, but pleased with the run out on Saturday and hopefully things will be a whole lot quicker at Nationals in two weeks time. Maybe heading to Watford on Wednesday for a cheeky 3000, however if it is -3 like it says it may well be ran in hat, gloves and tights!

Summer is Coming

Out on my own at a North Mids XC

The winter months are finally over and to be honest I can't wait to get onto the track and sort out some of my PBs from a couple of years ago. The winter went pretty well and I managed to win the counties, every north mids xc and get in and around the top 20 at both the national xc and the intercounties (Yes Bowser, the score is still 3-0 in 2012!). The disappointment was that I never really cracked out a decent road race as the Great South, Leeds Abbey Dash and most recently the Fleet Half Marathon all fell short of my desired race pace. This isn't a massive problem, but it is always nice to see some good PBs on the board and for your fitness to be represented by a figure that you know you are capable of. I will try and go into a each of those races and the rest of the winter more in depth over the coming weeks and months, but for now I want to focus on the track season.

Racing O'Dowd last Summer

I speak to a lot of distance guys and for some reason or another they hate the track. I thought I was one of these until I sat down and had realised that I had never really trained specifically for 3000, 5000 or even 10000m for a decent period of time. The one time I did do a bit of track work was back in early 2010 and it resulted in significant PBs and I really enjoyed those dreamy Tuesday nights of banter at Longford Park. So, maybe I just hated the track last year because I didn't do the specific training last year to allow me to run anywhere near what I thought I was capable of. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I will ever run a 1:50 800m or even a 3:45 1500m, but I know that with a sustained period of speed work following a full winter of miles that I will definitely run faster than last year. Also, if I ever want to run a decent marathon I know that first of all my 5000 and 10000m track times need to be a lot quicker than they are right now. In order to do that I know that I need to work on my basic speed, which many will argue is non-existent, so I may well have the odd outing over my beloved 1500m early on this season. 

I did even have a think about going for a marathon this Autumn at somewhere like Berlin, but I know that I am not quite ready for it yet. I admire the balls of some of the British lads attacking 2:12 at London in a few weeks, but realistically going out at sub 66 pace could cause carnage around the docklands. I hope a lot of them prove me wrong and a host of guys hit the Olympic qualifying standard, but I just can't see it happening. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I need to have a good summer of track work behind me before I even think about stepping up. I know a lad who ran 2:12 who said the exact same thing, he needed to be in high 28 10k shape and breaking 13:45 for 5000 in order to run a decent marathon. So, there is plenty of work to be done this summer and as long as this weather keeps up, hopefully a lot of it can be done in true Tom Straw style - with the vest off. After all if "you look good, you run good".

Tom Straw and Shane Robinson showing where thier love lies

Wind, Wind and more wind.

The last week or so has been unbelievably windy and the this has not helped the pacing of my harder runs. I read somewhere this week that the equivalent of running a 5:00 minute mile into a 20mph wind is a 5:40 or so when considering the VO2 impact it has. Whether this is true or not I have no idea, but what I know for certain is it is extremely hard to even run at half marathon pace for a mile or so into a strong wind. Talking about wind, I learnt a few months ago why you never seem to get the benefits of the wind on your back and why you feel the wind a lot more when you are running directly into it. This is because if you are running at say 10mph into a 10mph wind you are therefore going to be running into a 20mph wind (the 10mph wind and the 10mph resistance you are creating). It then means that if you are running at 10mph you will not feel the push of the wind unless it is any stronger than 10mph. I think I have got that right, but at the end of the day I am only repeating what I have read on Letsrun or somewhere and could have easily got this all wrong. But, it does makes sense if you think about it and I am definitely going to label the wind as the reason why I was unable to hit my target pace on the lactate threshold runs this week.

I have been doing a lot of steady mileage in the last few weeks and am starting to feel strong as a result of this work. My coach and I have sat down and said that over the next four or five weeks that I would just been running steady miles with a few progressive or lactate threshold runs thrown in. Lactate threshold runs are efforts where you run at a tempo effort so for someone like me I would run at 5:05 to 5:10 pace (half marathon pace) for a period of time. We are just easing into things this winter so are combining these efforts with progressive running and say do a warm up of three miles (7:00, 6:30, 6:00) then two miles at LT pace, one steady (6:15), two miles LT followed by two mile easy. The LT efforts will progress over the next few weeks so that by the end of this training block I can run 5 or so miles at LT and feel comfortable. This sounds easier than it appears as for example I could quite easily run a 5 mile road race tomorrow at LT pace and feel easy. The problem being is that in training it is always a struggle to get up to this sort of pace on your own, so hopefully with the help of Steve Robinson and if the wind ever eases off we can start stringing a few decent LT sessions together.

This weekend I ran the Grunty Fen half marathon, I was due to go on holiday this weekend so had already pulled out of two much bigger races, Bristol Half and Cardiff 10k. The attraction of Grunty Fen is that it is fairly flat and has some good prize money on offer and the incentive of setting a new course record. On the day it became apparent that the wind would prevent any records from being broken (in reaction to this the hairband came out!) and as soon as I ran into the wind at the one and a half mile point I had decided against killing myself. I went off at a decent pace and was around 5:05 at the mile and was already clear of a good group of runners who I thought might challenge me if the wind slowed the pace down (I think the above picture is about 200m into the race). Once I got out of the wind I picked things up for a few miles but only to around 5:15 pace and went through half way in just under 35 minutes feeling controlled (the pic below is around this point). The second lap is a lot longer and although the wind wasn't as brutal as early on it still had an effect. I looked over my shoulder at the 8mi point and could see I was a long way clear and knowing the course record was out of sight just eased off. I had spoken to my coach about this earlier and the week and he wanted me to ease off if I was well clear as it would do more damage than good by pushing on. The only problem I experienced in the last 5 miles was a tight right ITB because of the excessive camber on the fenland roads. I tried to run in the middle of the road at some points to stop this but kept being blown back into the gutter. I ended up winning by a minute and a half or so from John Clarke and Paul Halford, I expected James Lawler to be a bit closer to me but he was having a few problems with his stomach. Hopefully, James can put his run behind him and stay confident in the fact that he can run a good marathon when he represents England in Toronto in a few weeks time. All in all it was a good workout and gives me (or I should probably say Jenny) a nice little bit of spending money for my holiday on Friday. Excellent organisation and prizes at Grunty Fen, the course is perfect just a pity the wind is always likely to slow things down out on the fens. Profitable day for Philippa and I who went across from Stamford together over £600 worth of prizes accumulated by us both!

Below is the last two weeks of my training diary:

W/C 29/08 – Plan was to do a good solid week of mileage with some progressive running.

Mon 29th 9:39AM: 76:30 (11.29mi, 6:46/mi)- Easy run out on the Southorpe loop, plenty of off road. Ran a bit further than normal as one of the fields had been ploughed. A little tired.

Mon 29th 7:57PM: 36:51 (5.0mi, 7:22/mi) – Really easy run around the streets as it was getting dark and Burghley closed for Horse Trials. Just had a roast dinner so pretty heavy!

Tues 30th 12:31PM: 35:02 (5.11mi, 6:51/mi) – Easy run around ferry meadows at lunch time.

Tues 30th 6:14PM: (10mi) – Splits 6:50, 6:33, 6:23, 6:02, 5:59, 5:38, 5:30, 5:05, 5:00. 8 x 15 secs strides. – Times after 6mi approximate as watch died, ran with Steve and pulled away from in the last 2 miles and it felt pretty quick!

Weds 31st 6:49PM: 84:22 (12.27mi, 6:52/mi) – Very tired got home from work and slept for half hour before run. Felt a bit sluggish but got it done. Ran the Belmesthorpe loop, nice and undulating just got in before it was dark.

Thurs 1st Sep 11:55AM: 35:12 (5.14mi, 6:50/mi) – Easy run around Ferry Meadows at lunch again as I was too lazy to wake up!

Thurs 1st Sep 6:10PM: 67:00 (10mi, 6:42/mi) – Fartlek out to the rowing lake easy for 2.1mi then 4mins (5:00/mi), 5mins (5:05/mi), 3mins (4:55/mi), 90 secs (4:37/mi), 40 secs (4:02/mi), 40 secs (4:18/mi), 2mins (4:48/mi) with easy running in between no more than 2 mins rest on most. Then back to the track and forgot I had agreed to run an 800m which I ran in 2:03, with a 60 first lap then died off. Finished off with 2 x 100m strides.

Fri 2nd Sep 5:27PM: 36:39 (5mi, 7:22/mi) – Easy run with Stu around Ferry Meadows, warm and humid.

Sat 3rd Sep 8:51AM: 59:44 (10mi, 5:58/mi) – Lactate Threshold 2mi, 2mi steady, 2mi, run splits were 6:21, 6:13, 5:01, 5:07, 6:26, 6:28, 5:10, 5:18, 6:48, 6:44. Did the session on the road out through uffington and struggled with a stitch and the wind. Second rep was especially into the wind and I got the same stitch as last week after half a mile. Need to eat something before I do a session on a Saturday morning.

Sat 3rd Sep 5:42PM: 34:11 (5mi, 6:50/mi) – Easy out and back on the meadows.

Sun 4th Sep 8:51AM: 2:02.17 (18mi, 6:47/mi) – Long run, felt terrible as I did first 8mi on my own on the uffington loop, very humid and felt awful. Joined Philippa for rest of the run as she ran long the day before. Felt a million times better for rest of the run despite the wind, rain and humidity. Ran a lot of the run off road and felt strong towards the end.

Total Weekly Mileage – 97mi – Decent week, need to sort out the pacing on threshold runs though but hopefully will get better over the next few weeks.

W/C 05/09 – Idea to run another good week of mileage and to keep with the progressive runs. Doing Grunty Fen on the weekend and looking for a solid run in the region of 67:45 or 5:10s.

Mon 5th Sep 7:06AM: 36:44 (5.06mi, 7:15/mi) – Easy morning run measured some of the hills around the meadows to see suitability for hill training in the winter.

Mon 5th Sep 5:29PM: 96:42 (14.02mi, 6:53/mi) – Easy run with Philippa out to Pickworth via Casterton. Was only intending on doing 10mi but we got a bit carried away. Mostly offroad which was nice as it sheltered us from strong winds, felt good. Inc. 4 x 100m strides at 4:30/mi.

Tues 6th Sep 18:13PM: 68:19 (10.6mi, 6:26/mi) – Session of 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1,3,2. Was really windy and we just ran the loop from track out and back along the river. Splits were 1:00(4:56/mi), 2:00 (4:49/m), 3:00 (4:50/mi), 4:00 (5:03/mi), 4:00 (5:06mi), 3:00 (5:13/mi), 2:00 (4:47/mi), 1:00 (4:21/mi), 3:00 (4:45/mi), 2:00 (4:40/mi). Ran fully into wind on the 4mins and 3mins where the pace was slower. Felt very strong. No morning run as I was at the NEC all day. Inc 3 x 13 secs strides at 3:55/mi.

Weds 7th Sep 7:29AM: 37:27 (5.16mi, 7:15/mi) – Easy run around Burghley and back, tired and windy.

Weds 7th Sep 17:25PM: 72:25 (10.54mi, 6:52/mi) – Run with Philippa out through Ketton offroad. Felt nice and controlled and good. 4 x 100m strides 4:30 to 4:10 pace.

Thurs 8th Sep 7:32AM: 36:20 (5.12mi, 7:06/mi) – Easy morning run on the out and back Burghley route, no problems.

Thurs 8th Sep 18:15PM: 63:42 (10.15mi, 6:16/mi) – Lactate Threshold run of 2mi, 1mi steady, 2mi. Out and back along the river with Steve splits of: 7:14, 6:36, 6:31, 5:10, 5:15, 6:39, 5:11, 5:15, 7:30, 7:00. Very windy once again and didn’t choose the best parts of the river path to do effort on. Ran on gravel over the bridge and into wind on the last one!

13:05 (1.76mi, 7:26/mi) – Easy cool down with Laura then a 3 x strides at 4:30 to 4:20 pace on the track.

Fri 9th Sep 7:24AM: 34:52 (5.0mi, 6:58/mi) – Easy out and back at Burghley again really didn’t want to wake up and run in the wind. 99% humidity this morning!

Fri 9th Sep 17:03PM: 68:42 (10mi, 6:52/mi) – Came home ill from work as couldn’t stop sneezing and had a head cold. Slept and felt better so went out in the humidity again. Felt Ok but not great.

Sat 10th Sep 11:23AM: 36:30 (5.12mi, 7:07/mi) – Easy run out and back in Burghley then 4 x 15 secs strides at 4:15 to 4:05 pace.

Sun 11th Sep 9:57AM: 17:00 (2.25mi) – Warm up for Half Marathon with Paul, Chris and Michael.

Sun 11th Sep 10:30AM: 70:31 (Grunty Fen Half, 5:21/mi) – Extremely windy and was in the lead from the gun, went through half in 35mins feeling easy and realised record wasn’t on so ran nice and controlled. Mile splits of 5:04, 39, 35, 14, 16, 13, 21, 23, 28, 26, 24, 19, 17, 4:52 pace for last 0.16. Was in comfort zone most of the way, only problem was tight right ITB because of the camber and wind blowing me into the gutter!!!

17:37 (2.15mi) Cool Down with Paul Halford, Chris Wright and Andrew Thake.

Total Weekly Mileage – 100mi – Another good week and happy with half marathon in such bad conditions. Feeling strong.

Summer is over... bring on XC

The track season has come to an end and to be honest I can't wait to get stuck into cross country. My track season didn't completley go to plan, but after a sluggish start I managed to get to a level where I feel I can now build from. The main reason for not running PBs was tiredness from the winter mileage, I went into the track season incredibly strong but lacking the raw speed necessary to run a decent 3000 or 5000. I spoke to my old coach, Mark Baddeley, in early June after a disastrous performance at the first British League in Exeter. He soon got me to reduce my mileage to around 80 miles a week and get three good sessions a week in the schedule. In hindsight, I think if I went to him in March to speak about this then I would probably be writing about how I had run some new PBs this summer, but as my Mum says "if ifs and buts were pots and pans there would be no need for tinkers!"

I may not have run anywhere near the times that I wanted to run on the track, but I have come away a more intelligent athlete after the problems I have experienced. I sort of got it into my head that more miles would be the solution to evertything and this is definitely not the case for me. Don't get me wrong I run well off high mileage and think that in the winter I will again be running up to 120 mile a week. But, to run fast on the track I need to be doing three hard sessions a week and the rest of my mileage to be easy and of course incorporate a rest day. It is hard for me to tell myself that having a day off running is beneficial, however having a Friday off for the last couple of months has been brilliant. It allows me to really get stuck in on a Thursday night in the knowledge that I can just relax the following day. It also means that I feel fresh when I do the tempo or longer session on the Saturday and can then hit the times that I have been set.

The summer has also taught me that I need to prioritise the races that I do, as I can not expect to run fast week in week out. I had a couple of England race opportunities this summer, dunfermline half marathon and berlin 10k, that I would have been stupid to turn down. They may not have been especially fast, Dunfermline being hilly and berlin being extremley windy and wet, but they were not ideal races when focussing on racing over 5000m. So, for the winter I have set a couple of target races in November and then only put in races that are either compulsory, road relays, or fit into my schedule in the lead up. Also knowing that these races in the lead up are not my priority lifts off some of the pressure as I know that I can't expect to run PBs at these races if they are simply just part of training. Again, this is not saying that I won't run PBs, but simply a good, fast race will just be seen as an added bonus to the training benefits I get from running.

I am off on holiday in the middle of the month, so I will use September as a month to take it a bit easier. The cross country season in this country is exremley long so if I want to run well from November through to early March then I need to build up sensibly and not rush into things. To be honest, I doubt whether I will do any hard sessions at all over the next four weeks and simply do some progression runs and a couple of tempos. The next race on the calendar is the midland road relays, which is the day after I get home from Greece. Hopefully, by then I will have some good steady miles in the legs and be feeling strong and ready to get stuck into the real cross country work.

Below is last weeks training (w/c 22/08) in which I slightly upped the mileage as I did intend to call the track season to an end at Watford on the wednesday.

Mon 7:18 AM: 41:16 (6.02mi, 6:51/mi) - Easy morning run around Burghley, horse xc course set out and immacuately cut so makes good running!
Mon 5:28 PM: 68:03 (10.16mi, 6:41/mi)- Easy run on Barnack loop, felt amazingly good and then had a massage after!

Tues 7:11 AM: 37:42 (5.18mi, 7:16/mi) - Easy morning run around Burghley, calves sore after the massage last night.
Tues 6:49 PM: 70:02 (10.02mi, 6:59/mi) - Easy run on Barnack loop.

Wed 7:18AM: 24:17 (3.3mi shakeout) - 3 mile easy and then a couple of strides before work ahead of 3000m tonight.
Wed 8:58PM: 25:57 (3.05mi w/u)
Wed 10:15PM: 8:27.73 (3000m RACE @ Watford) - Good solid race, despite the time it started! Fairly slow up to 2000 as we reached it in 5:41, so pleased to dip 8:30 of that sort of pace. Grice ran a sub-60 last lap to win in 8:21 and I was never going to have the legs to finish that fast.
Wed 10:30PM: 10:00 (1.15mi c/d)

Thurs 12:14PM: 36:59 (5.15mi, 7:11/mi) - Easy morning run, a bit later as I didnt get back till late from Watford.
Thurs 6:05 PM: 67:33 (9.52mi, 7:05/mi) - Ran from track with Steve Robinson, nice and easy along the river and back. Did 6 x 70m strides at the end.

Fri 12:22 PM: 36:05 (5.10mi, 7:05/mi) - Easy lunch time run at work, felt amazingly good!

Sat 7:25 AM: 18:57 (2.5mi shakeout) inc 2 x 16 sec strides.
Sat 3:26 PM: 19:00 (2.5mi w/u)
Sat 4:10 PM: 15:16 (5000 race) - absolute shocker, must have been tired from races on Weds and last Saturday. Felt heavy from onset and then got a massive stich when the lead group made a move at 2k. Really struggled to keep breathing and running, only finished it to get the points for the team!
Sat 4:30 PM: 15:00 (2.0mi c/d) - Did a lap of the grass by the stadium with Matt O'Dowd, hopefully be able to join the Loughborough group at weekends in the winter.

Sun 12:12PM: 2:02.05 (18.54mi, 6:35/mi) - Good long run after watching Mo in the 10000. Hit it harder than I should at the start, which was probably something to do with Mo running that 52 last lap. Was a bit windy out in the countryside, but all in all a good solid run.

Weekly Total: 89.29mi - Good solid week of mileage, but a disappointing finish to the track season. Felt I was in shape to run a PB of sub 14:30 but wasn't the time or race to do it in.

Below is the video of the 5000 the week before last in Birmingham, where I ran 14:43:


Watch more video of BMC Grand Prix Final on www.athleticos.org

Running for England - Dunfermline Half 26th June

An England vest is something I have dreamed about ever since I started serious running at the age of 18. After the way racing has gone over the last few weeks and with results not matching my high expectations I could never of anticipated being selected for England. However, last Wednesday afternoon I received the call from Ian Ladbrooke at England Athletics informing me that I had been selected to run for England at Dunfermline Half Marathon. I am fully aware that others quicker than me turned down this opportunity, due to other commitments and with it being track season. However, despite the fact that I have cut the mileage recently, in the hope of getting some vibrancy back in the legs and chasing a 5000 pb, I wasnt prepared to follow suit. This was an opportunity that I could not turn down and to be honest I feel I am in much better half marathon shape than 5000 shape at the moment. Actually I have only spent two weeks at 80ish miles a week and in a strange way the half marathon date falls at what could be seen as the end of a taper!

My PB for the distance came in March at Wilmslow half, where we went off ridiculously hard and I just used my endurance to hang on and pick off a few guys over the last few miles. Since then I have added even more endurance and over the last week added a touch of speed that was horiffically lacking in my opening 3 and 5ks on the track. I had a long conversation with my coach a few weeks ago and we decided it was best to run 70-80mi a week for four weeks and get three good quality sessions in. Over the last two weeks this has gone really well and I have been feeling a lot better during training and the legs feel fresher for the cut backs. The Tuesday sessions, which is a track session of 10k volume, have really showed that I have not been putting in the required specific 5k pace to really get anywhere near my best. So hopefully, after the half I can get back onto the track and really start to aggressively hunt down my PBs.

Back to this weekend and I am really excited about making the trip up to Scotland to represent England. I think it is fantastic that England athletics are giving people like me the opportunity to race at this level and it really gives me the incentive to keep on trying to improve. I spoke to Craig, who was with me out in Portland, about the course and he said that it is testing to say the least. So, I'm not going up there with my eyes set on a big PB but rather on just doing a good job for the team and doing the best I can. I know the other guys in the England team on paper are perhaps a little quicker than me but I will give it my all to try and hang on with them and in the process beat the Scots!

Training week recently has been:
Mon am: Rest pm: 8mi steady (6:00 to 6:15pace) + 6 x 15sec strides
Tues am: 5mi easy pm: session (10k volume, 5/10k pace) eg. 4 x 1k at 2:55, 3 x 1mi at 4:55.
Weds am: Rest pm: 10mi easy (6:30 to 7:00pace) + 6 x 15sec strides
Thurs am: 5mi easy pm: session (up to 5k volume, 1500/3k pace) eg. 2x3x500m plus 5 x 200m
Fri: Rest Day
Sat am: session (tempo) eg. 6 x 1mi at half pace or 6mi tempo pm: 5mi plus 6 x 15sec strides
Sun: 15-18mi long run

London 10000 and Track Season

I am still yet to get round to posting a training log, but will aim to get something up before the London 10000 next Monday. In short training has been encouraging and the last four weeks I have averaged 100mpw and trying to hit three key sessions a week. I have also increased the intensity of some of my steady runs in the hope of getting a bit more quality into my summer training. Next Monday I will be running in the London 10000 and am looking to take a big chunk off my PB. I cant believe how many people seem to be entered for the race, so hopefully we can see a few Brits run some decent times. The British individual and team prizes are a massive incentive and if it means that more Brits get out to do the same race then it can be only be a good thing for the sport.

The next few weeks are going to be busy and after the race in London, I will be doing a 3000, 5000 and 10000 in the space of two weeks. All going well at London I will probably run the open 3000 at Watford next Wednesday before racing 5000 for Notts at the British Athletics League meet in Exeter. Then it will be up to Stretford to have my first real crack at a 10000 on the track. Again, all going well there will be a fair few lads between 29:45 and 30:15 that should allow me to go close to breaking 30 mins, but we will see. The 5000 in Exeter should also be good as I will be running for Notts AC for the first time on the track with Ian Kimpton an ex-LWAC teammate who is running higher claim on the track for Notts. Ian is running really well this year after having an amazing cross country season and it is nice to see a lad who puts in a lot of hard work get some rewards.

I have set myself some pretty tough goals for the season, 8:15 - 3000, 14:15 - 5000 and 29:45 - 10000, but I think with a some real decent track work over the next few months these can be achieved. After all, I managed to smash the targets I set last year and I thought they were a pretty steep ask at the time. I realise that training on my own isn't ideal but in comparing my recent track sessions to the same sessions at the same point last year I have noticed that I am actually running faster this year. So, after a moderate track session tonight the idea is to ease down and get ready for some hard races in the coming weeks, which will hopefully see my PBs whittled down to somewhere near those targets.

Bi-annual blog update...

I just recieved a message from a friend via twitter asking for my 'bi-annual' blog update. It is fair to say that I have neglected blog posting updates for a long time and can ensure you that I will try to get my training up in the next few days. This will actually probably happen tonight as I have an easy day of running and the girlfriend is out, so maybe between football manager sessions I can be tempted to write some kind of update.

Running has been going well over the last few months and despite a cheeky little 3000 at Watford towards the end of April, I am yet to really start my track season. I intend to really open up in early June once I have got the London 10000 out of the way. I am hoping to really smash out a good 10k in London as I every time I have been fit in the last few years I have always not managed to pencil in a 10k road race. My PB for 10k is actually during the Wilmslow Half Marathon, where I think we went through 10k in 30:50ish, not the 30:25 or so that the official splits say! All going well at London I will come back with a decent new PB which is more representative of the time I can run over that distance, if I sneak under 30:30 I will be happy.

I have done quite a few road 10k's recently but not really attacked any of them with the goal of trying to run a PB. I ran at Kings Lynn in early May and managed to win the race in 31:25 on a windy day and after having broke clear from Adrian Mussett at 7k. I was hoping to run a bit quicker there but after the race started in to head wind I quickly opted after the first k to let someone else lead. The pace then dipped somewhat and I think I may have even ran a negative split as I had plenty left to give.



I then attempted to run a 10k tempo at Eye the other week and was greeted with some more insane wind. After running a couple of 5:35 miles during miles 2 and 3, when I was almost flat out, it soon became clear even a 32:30 time would be hard-work. I didnt even manage to dip 33 mins in the end, but still got a workout from it.

Last weekend, I made my annual trip back home to Woodbridge to see family and run in my home town Woodbridge 10k. I love this event and held the course record, from my run in last years event. I managed to knock another 15 secs off it this year, winning in 31:30 on what is a tough, hilly course with litte or no competition. It is a pity that the race always falls on the same weekend as Manchester 10k as looking at some of the times from up there, I would have loved to get amongst the pack and crack out a decent time.

Anyway I should probably get back to work and training and crack on with another 100 mile week!

Aaron

Swimming and the Wind ... What a joke.

I have had a busy day today running 21 miles, doing some gym stuff and going for a swim, well if you can call it that! I am so bad at swimming its unreal, as I am out of breath after two lengths. The missus who can only run a couple of miles can do the same in the pool and not even be out of breath. I really don't get it, I'm thinking its because my technique is so bad but to be honest I don't care as I hate it. People say running is boring but seriously they would rather go into a pool, swallow loads of water and swim up and down the same 25m for half an hour? Jokers, Rather them than me, you just cant beat a good run even if the wind is gusting up to 50mph outside.

So, back to the running, I looked outside the window and from the looks of trees bending over double I decided a session of 1 mile, 2 mile, 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile was out of the question. Unless I ran with the wind for the entirety of the session and did a cool down of the same length back into the wind, I think I'll give that a miss then. In fact it reminded me of a few years back when I did a 10k on Mablethorpe promanade and the 5k back was all into a gale force wind, fun times.

I wasn't prepared to do any sort of run all on my own so I text Sam Mitchell, who was doing eight miles, and said I would jog out to his and attempt my 18 mile long run instead. The idea behind this is that I would then do a race on Sunday, a five mile local cross country, to make up for missing the session today. Anyway, the run was interesting to say the least and for the first time the wind actually was blowing me off my feet. Yes, I know that this should be expected when you way 9 stone wet through, but this is the first time that I actually couldn't run into the direction the wind was blowing. Decided to put the ipod on in the 10 miles I wasn't with Sam, listening to the latest installment from Marathon Talk to block out the noise of the wind. This week featured a Ron Hill interview, It is really inspiring to hear a guy who worked full time yet still produced some truly amazing results simply by putting in the graft, my sort of guy. Here are the details of the run:

9:52 AM: 2:03:31 (18.0mi, 6:52/mi) Mile splits were: 6:53, 6:46, 6:46, 7:20, 6:42, 6:43, 7:02, 7:05, 7:06, 7:13, 6:49, 6:54, 6:44, 6:56, 6:38, 6:40, 6:34, 6:32 - All this really shows is that when we had to run into the wind slightly we went above 7 minute mileing and when we came out of it we were too tired to do anything quicker!

Then this evening I decided to spend some quality time with Jenny by ... going down the gym. Only because I wanted to get another few miles done without going out in the wind and she agreed after I said we could get Chinese on the way back. I did three miles on the treadmill at 6:55/mi which felt nice and easy and allowed my legs to recover a bit. I definitely know I am coming back into some fitness as even after doing 21 miles today I feel pretty good and ready to race at the weekend, actually I'm really looking forward to it. Did some core exercises and 'stretched' while the missus did her 'routine' and then went for that ridiculous swim. I put stretched in quotation marks as for those who don't know me I am possibly the tightest athlete in the world. This was confirmed to me by an American physio stating that I had the tightest hamstrings in the US, after being repeatedly told by physios in England "They're the tightest things I have ever seen." This all means that my stretches, despite my effort, look quite ridiculous as I force my legs into positions that they really were not built to be pushed into. I wish I could become a bit more flexible and from reading Bryn's blog it seems he has had some success in this department, but I stretch twice a day and I really never see any improvements. The sauna was decent though and ate half a duck from the Chinese, great way to spend a Friday evening who says runners are no fun!

Back in the UK

It's been a while since I have posted anything, the main reason being that I have returned to the UK for good and have been busy sorting things out now I am home. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the US, even if it was only three months. The racing and training experience was invaluable and I would recommend it to any young athlete who wants the help and support that simply isn't available in the UK.

However, I do advise that any such athlete wanting to embark on such an adventure would secure a full scholarship at the university they attend unless they have thousands of pounds worth of savings. This is because financial worries, however small, seem a lot bigger when you are thousands of miles from home and have to pay for things such as accommodation and food. The reaction I often get to this is why didn't you get a job? Well in short, a student visa only allows you to work on campus except for extreme situations. Due to the fact I flew out to the States days before the start of term all the jobs on campus had been taken and the jobs I had arranged prior to going were non-existent. I did not want to borrow any more money from my family as I had already had to do this when I was an undergraduate and felt selfish continually asking for more money. This lack of money meant that I had to live like a first year student again and wasn't as comfortable as I had intended to be. These things start to escalate when you have things like a girlfriend back home and all add up and soon I found myself just wishing to be back home. I believe if I had been offered a full scholarship I would have at least stayed a year in the states and got to run the track season as well.

But I don't want to moan and sound like it was awful as this is certainly not the case. I had a fantastic time out there and met some brilliant people. The coach in Portland was one of the nicest guys I have ever met and if you're reading this and are capable of adding something to his team then drop me an email and ill put you in touch. The training out there is a different class, simply having ten guys around you of a similar ability and another twenty chasing behind you keep you on your toes. It is definitely a setup where any runner would improve, but sadly it is half way round the world and not on our doorstep. I wish that somewhere in the UK we could replicate this system and have groups of 15-20 athletes living and training together and being offered free kit and physio to help them financially. It is sad to think that all the money that is being wasted in this country could actually be put to some good use and then maybe we might start competing with progressive running nations like America again.

I realised that I never blogged about the nationals in Indiana, one word, INSANE! The pace the race is run at is unreal and the fact that David McNeil, a guy who finishes 8th at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the 5000 and a 10k PB of 28:03, can blow up and finish 150th odd. From my time and position it looks like I didn't have a great race, but oddly this wasn't the case. I actually crossed the finishing line thinking Ive ran well today and thought I couldn't have gave anymore than I did. Maybe my legs were a little tired from a busy cross country season and perhaps I had raced a few too many times in the season. But, I was pretty pleased as I felt a lot better than I did on the same course a few months before.


The course may not look too tough on first looks, but I can tell you it is brutal. The gun goes off and you sprint for about 600m up a gradual incline before heading down hill to the 1k marker. I got myself in a fairly good position with Craig Hopkins and I think we went through the 1k in about 2:52/3 from memory. You then enter a long straight way and floods of runners flew past me and at this point I didn't realise I had lost so many places and was slipping to the back of the field. While I'm talking about the depth of the field I will just mention that there are around 260 runners who all are capable of running sub 30:30 for 10'000, unbelievable depth.


Anyway, people were flying past me and I went through the 2k in 6:04 as we turned into a very strong headwind. From this point you are gradually running back up the hill all the way to the 5k point and start of the second lap and it was all into the wind. I worked hard to maintain my pace into the wind and as I went through 5k in 15:49 I was feeling strong and now passing quite a few people. I think I would have passed a lot more on the long straight past the finish (start of second lap) but I had to keep tucking in to shelter from the wind. The weather was bizarre for the race as it is usually freezing cold by all accounts and was in the days leading up to the race. However, come race day it was I think about 17 degrees (in English money) with very strong winds, which typically were in your face going back up the gradual inclines.


By, this point I was now Portland's 5th scorer and therefore key to helping our team finish as high as possibly (five out of seven in the team count to the team score). I had passed Frerker and Craigo was now not on my heels so I just kept pressing on passing more and more runners. I pushed on back down the hill and managed to take my second duck (an Oregon runner, Portland's bitter rivals) in the afternoon, NCAA x country is duck hunting season after all. I hit 8k in 25:33 and then all of a sudden my legs started to feel heavy and I just battled my way to the finish. The finish is tough in itself as you can see the finish line as you turn the final bend but still have about 800m to run. There were some funny sights of runners who just couldnt make the finish line and apparently people watching the race observed about the amount of runners who staggered across the line, brutal. I managed to cross the line in a kind of respectable 32:06 for 197th and 5th man on the team and helped the lads to a 13th pace finish overall.


Basically, I believe that a lack of experience in this standard of field cost me a good thirty to forty seconds. I think if I would have pushed on at a 1k and stayed near the top 100 then I would have maintained that position. I neglected the quality of some of the runners in the field by thinking they will all come back to me, where in truth even if some in front were hanging on they had already got themselves in a better position than me. The wind didn't help my tactics as it was difficult to pass people the latch onto the next group as the wind was ferocious at times. But, all I can say is that it was an amazing experience and a fantastic way to end my time in the states. Portland would have almost certainly got a top 4 spot if we could have had a full strength team out on the day, as my 5th score would have probably been better by almost 130 places! Hopefully, next year the lads can achieve what they deserve as I can say for a fact that the hard work and effort that everyone put in for the whole season was second to none and deserving of a podium spot.


Back in England things haven't gone as well as I had hoped as coming back in sub 30:30 shape I hoped to have a race on the roads around Christmas. But with Ribble Valley and Southwell being cancelled this sadly never materialised and then to top it off I got a chest infection which kept me off running for three weeks. However, I'm back 'getting it done' again and have had nearly four good weeks of mileage again and starting to feel like I am in some shape. I decided to give the Northerns a miss last weekend and glad I did after seeing the mudbath from a spectators position. I plan to get the training diary up in a few days and will go into more detail about my racing plans for the next few months, just back from a ridiculously windy 18 miler!


Aaron

Getting Round to Blogging Again

It has been a good few weeks since I posted anything and lots has happened since the last blog. There have been three races and plenty of training in between. Before I get into all the training stuff I want to congratulate my fellow Portland team-mate Trevor Dunbar on winning the NCAA West Regional Championships this weekend. The lad is a quality runner and lad and I'm sure he will go far in the sport. If you watch the video of the race you will see that he ran under control all the way and had more than enough in him to outkick the highly rated Sambu - who finished in second. Fair enough some of the Stanford lads were not running flat out, and doing just enough to qualify for the nationals next weekend, but you can only beat what's in front of you. I loved his comments after the race especially the quote "I figured I was up there, so I might as well win the thing."

My race went well, I managed a new PB over 10k despite the fact that it was a cross country race. Had a great weekend in Track town USA as Eugene is known and met some nice new people (its always good to get some more cheers during a race, thanks Maria and all the Portland alums!) as well as seeing Bill Dellinger, Chris Thompson and Jemma Simpson. I will get into the details of the race in my training blog later but just wanted to let people know that we qualified as #23 for the nationals, which will be held in Indiana on Monday 22nd November. The race will be live on flotrack.org and it starts at 12:48 Eastern Time (I think?!) Dont ask me why its on at such a random time, I think its just because the Americans like being a bit weird. So, in England it will be about 6pm so perfect time for getting home from work and trying to maybe catch a glimpse of me somewhere. I have promised my Dad that no hairband will be worn this time round, I have since managed to trim my fringe before races so hair doesn't blow in my eyes during the race. Yes, Mum I know I need a haircut, its just I don't trust any of these dodgy looking Portland hairdressers to do a decent job on touching my precious locks. But, I can assure you the socks will be on and although they aren't as white as they used to be (students don't wash whites and colours separately, waste of time if you ask me) hopefully you can see them somewhere amongst the crowd and give me a little cheer.

Here is the video of the race (I particularly enjoy the opening minute with all those team chants, I'm so glad we don't get involved in that sort of stuff!)Oh and I also forgot in my original post to give a shout out to another team mate Lars Erik Malde who placed 12th at the meet. Despite his faults in being a Manchester United fan, he had a solid race and managed to get all-region honours by finishing inside the top-25:

Regionals Week: A Boost of Confidence ahead of Nationals

So, onto the week of the regionals and all the talk this week was about how muddy the course would be. Last year, it rained the day before the race making things extremely sloppy underfoot and subsequently effecting the times massively. The forecast for the week was similar, rain the night before and drizzle and cold for the day of the race. This didn't bother me in the slightest as I knew a slower race would be to my advantage. I always struggle when the faster boys can up their cadence and pace on hard, flat courses. I would much rather a muddy, hilly course any day - probably because that is what we are used to back home. In terms of mileage for the week I was looking at doing between 80 and 85 miles, so that I could then cut down to 70 for the week of the nationals.

Monday 8th November
8:48 AM: 61:55 (10.0mi, 6:11/mi)
Ran a bit quicker than normal but felt extremely good throughout and nice to run at a steadier pace on the roads.

Tuesday 9th November
15:15 PM: 21:00 w/u (3mi),1200 flushout, 3 x cruise mile (200 jog), 4 x 800 (200 jog)(6.85mi total),16:00 c/d (2mi).
Reps were 4:11 flushout (5:25/mi), 5:05, 5:05, 5:03, 2:20, 2:20, 2:21, 2:20
Ran exactly to plan which was to do 5:05 miles and 2:20 for the 800s. However, the last few 800s were tougher than they should have been. Probably because it was absolutely freezing out and the wind around the top bend was horrific. I didn't get warm the entire session and had a jacket, hat and gloves on! Felt sorry for the rest of the team who were doing the annual four mile time trial after us. It wasn't a day for quick running and 16 mins into the cool down, I couldn't feel my hands so called it a day and jumped onto the warmth of the van. The shower when I got back was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me - I wont tell Jenny that though!

Wednesday 10th November
9:46 AM: 83:23 (13mi, 6:25/mi)
Good steady run on the roads, legs a little heavy during the last few miles but no serious issues.

Thursday 11th November
8:39 AM: 39:15 (6.0mi, 6:32/mi)
Easy morning run around Lombard and back to the house, feeling fresh and good.
14:55 PM: 50:57 (7.0mi)
Easy run with the lads to Pier Park and back.

Friday 12th November
14:45 PM: 44:02 inc strides (6mi)
Jog on the course with the team, didn't take long to get the picture its four big laps with a small finish loop at the end. Seems very nice underfoot and if it doesn't rain will be great conditions to run on. Went off onto a road for the rest of the jog and listened to how Alf wanted to ride a horse or something along those lines. In the evening we went out to an Italian restaurant on the Oregon campus, which was right near Hayward field. Once we got inside, their sat Bill Dellinger and Pat Tyson, Pre's old room-mate, who ushered over Dunbar for a chat.

Saturday 13th November
9:50 AM: 23:00 w/u (3mi), 30:53 (6.2mi race),16:22 c/d (2mi)
Ill try to go into depth about the race as much as I can remember. I was delighted with the time and how I ran the race and hopefully can replicate the performance at nationals. The rain that again was predicted the night before the race, again came a day late. So, our race was ran in cool, drizzly conditions which to be honest suited me fine. The video of the race is on the 'back to blogging' post.

As per usual, the announcers did their best to get all our team details wrong. 'Portland state' was the name tag on our starting box and Trevor Dunbar was announced as his Dad 'Marcus Dunbar' on the tannoy. The starting box was only big another for the team to line up in pairs of two, and Alf was on his heels as the gun went, but I pushed Frerker so that he pushed Alf so we could get underway. The first 1k is a bit of a blur, we found ourselves in about 100th place and a lot of bumping and elbowing was done by many - including me. A lot of runners went falling early on and I seem to remember at least three UCLA guys ploughing into the pole which was holding the tape and going down. From the pictures it was also evident that one of the favourites Chris Derrick had a big fall early on. Four of us, Frerker, Caulkins, Craig and I managed to 'pack up' early on, which is always a benefit as it allows you to have some space if the person next to you is a team-mate and not someone trying to battle you for position. We went through the mile very slow in 4:55 and to be honest it felt like we were jogging and I had to tell Caulkins to not get to eager as I could see he was looking to press on. However, it was important for us four to stay together and work as a team to move up the field and I knew Frerker has great race pace judgement so it was crucial to never stray too far ahead of him.

We moved through the field nicely in the next mile and probably grabbed another 25 spots and the group of us went through two miles in 10 minutes flat, which is on for a 31 minute 10k. It was crucial here not to panic at the slow pace and just concentrate on working through the pack. To highlight how condensed this pack was is the fact that the leaders only went through in 9:57. At just before the three mile point, a runner just in front of me fell, which caused no end of chaos. The guy who was immediately behind the faller went to jump him but got tangled and only managed to knee the guy in the head. I somehow managed to sidestep the pair and fall into the arms of Frerker who guided me on a safe path. However, I found out later that Craig was not so lucky and stumbled behind me, which he feels cost him dearly.

As we came past the start line at about three and a half miles, a visible gap started to emerge between the top 40 and the rest. I was feeling good so did my best to close the gap as quick as possible. Once I reached the pack I noticed that it was just Frerker who was alongside me from our original four and it was now Alf who we were hunting down. As we approached four miles and a dip which was covered with bark (which the picture below just misses) we both passed Alf, who was visibly struggling once again. This time it would be his calf that ruined his race and hopefully he can be fit for nationals and repeat his performance of last year which saw him receive All-American honours by finishing in 16th place.

I pushed hard at this point realising that if I could maintain this pace, I could possibly sneak into the top-25 for all region honours. I felt good coming through five miles where unfortunately I don't remember seeing the clock and was still picking up places. I could tell from the cheers of the crowd that I had put a few seconds on Frerker and was just concentrating on what was in front of me. However, coming into the final lap I realised that I didn't really know how big the finish loop was and lost concentration in trying to work out how much time I had left. With 600m to go Frerker drew level with me and I decided that because he knew the course and had ran it last year I would wait till he kicked and follow. However, his kick was astonishing and he blasted off and caught two or three guys in the last 150m and gained four seconds on me and five places - he finished 32nd, I finished 37th. Looking at the results its interesting to see that we weren't that far of the top-25, just ten seconds in fact. So, maybe if I could have maintained that pace for the last mile I could have sneaked an all-region certificate. However, I cant complain too much, I ended up with a PB of thirty seconds and have gained confidence from the fact that I know I can run strong through the pack. Up the front of the race, our very own Trevor Dunbar produced a spectacular finish to take the win. The picture below shows just how close it was at the sharp end of the field.


Sunday 14th November
10:05 AM: 83:28 (12mi)
Easy run in the forest with Frerker, Dunbar, Lars, Basset, Craig and Fauble. The last four miles down Lief were rather interesting with most trying to catch falling leaves and in the process doing a new kind of Fartlek. Awards go to Bassett for an amazing catch in front of an audience of two old ladies and their dog and for nearly falling off the hillside in the process. The second award goes to Craig Hopkins for failing to catch a single leaf, poor show old boy.
16:11 PM: 21:13 (3.0mi, 7:04/mi)
Gentle jog on my own after watching the girls football team go out on penalties in the playoffs. It was funny watching it has half the crowd clearly had no clue what happened after extra time. Also, weird to see that the Yanks use rolling subs in these games and apparently have as many subs throughout the match as they want. Oh, and another thing why the hell does the clock count down to zero and then a buzzer sound to announce the end of play or the half. This isn't Basketball or any other of your made up sports, this is Football leave it alone or font bother. Rant over.

Total Weekly Mileage - 80 miles- A great week, the race went to plan as before hand I said anything around 30:45 would be amazing. The crowds at the race were amazing and it shows the enthusiasm for the sport in America. When you have probably nearly sixty guys out on the course screaming for you it definitely keeps you going. As a result of the regionals the team qualified for the nationals, which is being held in Terre Haute, Indiana a week on Monday. Between now and then it is all about keeping the legs fresh and just turning over the legs with a light workout on Tuesday. I will try to post again before the nationals with my thoughts in the days before the event and some information on how to watch it.

Stronger and Healthier - 'Getting it done'

The aim of the week was to get a good solid week of mileage in, but not sacrifice the quality of the runs. It would be the last week of mileage before easing down and cutting my mileage ahead of the two most important races of the season. The weather in Portland recently has been extremely good and the sun has been shining allowing for some excellent Fall (Autumn for those in England) 'foliage' - which one of the Freshman is extremely excited about. It is really getting to a crucial stage in the season and I am starting to feel optimistic about my chances of making the nationals. The last few weeks of training have gone really well and I have noticed that I am definitely feeling stronger. Maybe, it was the low iron - which was diagnosed the start of the season and which I dismissed as false - that was having an effect. Over the past six weeks I have been taking tablets twice a day for it as well as some Vitamin C and things have definitely improved. Lets just hope that things stay this way and I don't pick up any niggles or colds over the next week or so now I have said that.

Monday 1st November
8:49 AM: 40:04 (6mi, 6:41/mi)
15:16 PM: 88:56 (13mi)
Easy run in the forest in the pouring rain. It chucked it down for the entire run so the forest had little streams running everywhere. Ran out and back with Christmas who afterwards had a sore hip, which isn't a good sign with some important races coming up and him being a key man in our success.

Tuesday 2nd November
15:18 PM: 22:01 w/u (3mi), 1200m flushout, 2 x 1000, 6 x 817m grass loop, 1000 (8.2mi total). ,19:20 c/d (2.5mi). Reps were 4:14 flushout(5:32/mi), 2:56, 2:55, 2:23, 2:21, 2:19, 2:21, 2:20, 2:21, 2:46.
Tough session, the first two 1000s felt easy enough, but for some reason we all struggled a bit on the grass. I don't know if it was because its a bit softer under foot or we have been hitting it hard the last few weeks but we had to cut down the intended 2 x 1000 at the end to just 1 x 1000. Ran the last rep with Trevor and Joash so it was bound to be a bit quicker.

Wednesday 3rd November
9:18 AM: 83:03 (13mi, 6:23/mi)
Nice steady mid-week longer run. These are now starting to feel good and I feel that I can cut down to 6:20s and feel quite controlled now.
17:50 PM: 34:09 (5mi, 6:50/mi)

Thursday 4th November
9:33 AM: 35:17 (5.56mi, 6:21/mi)
Easy morning run, the pace crept up a bit as I felt really good.
15:20 PM: 75:20 (11mi)
Run in the forest with the team.

Friday 5th November
15:22 PM: 21:38 w/u (3mi), 8 mile tempo (45:00, 5:37/mi) 21:53 c/d (3mi).
Ran the tempo on Lief in the forest which is very undulating and a bit muddy under foot. Started off slow and the idea was to cut down every mile and run 8 to 10 miles. I am never one to go for the shorter of the options but today my gleut tightened up at seven miles so I decided to just call it a day with Bassett and Cody at the 8 mile mark. Dunbar had already gone into the distance as he didn't want to go off really easy and Frerker, Lars, Craig and Caulkins all did ten with the last two miles at around 5 minute pace. I wasn't too bothered about missing out as it will keep my legs a little bit fresher and I still got a decent workout from doing eight.

Saturday 6th November
6:38 AM: 39:30 (5.2mi)
Early run with Craig before heading to watch the Man Utd v Wolves match downtown. Lars (Man Utd fan) and Geiger (adopted Wolves fan) wanted to watch the game and I will watch any game of football, while Craig and Scott were pulled along by the temptation of a full English breakfast. Decent game and decent food and Ipswich managed a win as well, so good start to the day.
15:06 PM: 62:23 (9mi)
Nice controlled run to Pier Park, couple of loops then back to campus. Ran with Craig, Scott and a few others, feeling strong.

Sunday 7th November
10:00 AM: 1:45:00 (15mi)
Shorter Sunday run this week with the regionals in mind. Just went on a short trail in the forest then onto Lief and back to campus. Felt good and the weather for November is unbelievable!

Total Weekly Mileage 110.16mi - Nice week of mileage with a good session on Tuesday and an easier tempo on Friday. From now on its all about easing down for the regionals then nationals as there isn't much I can do now which will benefit either of those races. The only thing I can do is make myself more tired so it will be important to run sensibly, get as much sleep as possible and eat healthily to ensure that doesn't happen.

Portland boys don't slow, thirty-two in a row!

Well, Ill start this blog by saying the lads did a 'great job' (that's some American for you right there) in executing the pre-race plan despite a few set-backs in and before the race. None of us wanted to be on the team that lost the Pilots record winning streak at the WCC - and I am pleased to say that we weren't. The aim before the race was to let Alf go out hard and burn some people off who were silly enough to go out with his pace. The aim was then for Craig, Cosby, Bassett and I to work through the field and pick off as many of these as possible and aim for those top five spots. I will get into details of the race a bit later on, but I also want to say congratulations to my English 'mate' Craig Hopkins for a stunning win this weekend. After a much better performance and week in general, all eyes are now on the regionals in a couple of weeks and fingers crossed with a solid performance the Pilots can roll onto nationals. I have posted a video of the race below and there are plenty of pictures that I will add throughout the post.



Monday 25th October
10:31 AM: 70:36 (11mi, 6:25/mi)
Steady run on my own on the road loop back to campus, now decided that I prefer doing eleven and five miles, instead of ten and six. The reason for this is that if I run at a decent pace eleven miles is around seventy minutes. Furthermore, eleven is my lucky number, which to be honest is the real reason behind the switch.
17:58 PM: 33:04 (5mi, 6:37/mi)
Easy run just before it got dark and after class.

Tuesday 26th October
15:18 PM 22:15 w/u (3mi), 1200 flushout, 2 x 1000 (400 rec), 3 x cruise mile (200 rec), 1000.(6.9 mi total) 27:00 c/d (3.3mi). Reps were 4:12 (5:29/mi) flushout, 2:58, 2:52, 5:14, 5:11, 5:14, 2:47.
Nice Easy session, the miles were very easy as we only aimed to do between 5:10 and 5:15s. I literally jogged at the back of the group and focused on feeling really relaxed. Last 1000 was a little quicker with Cosby blasting off and running a 2:43, I was going to go after him but no need and better to save it for the race at the weekend.


Wednesday 27th October
11:33 AM: 83:20 (13.0mi, 6:25/mi)
Solo run on and around Lombard, ran a little quicker than I intended but felt good.
18:13 PM: 35:30 (5.0mi, 7:06/mi)
Gentle run after class.

Thursday 28th October
9:06 AM: 46:49 (7mi, 6:42/mi)
15:03 PM: 53:28 (7.12mi)
Two easy runs, in the afternoon went out with the lads to Pier Park and ran back to school nice and slow with Fauble.

Friday 29th October
15:28 PM: 49:08 (6.5mi) inc strides
Jogged the course after arriving in San Jose and it was a hilly and these Americans have been making out. Ive added a picture below although you cant really see much because of all the fog. But the race has five good hills in it and lots of other undulations. Stayed in a room with Craigo in the hotel and we had some good quality British time watching a bit of James Bond before the team meeting. The idea for the race is for our pack to go out steady in around 4:50 for the first mile then to hold close to 5 minute mileing from there.


Saturday 30th October
8:48 AM: 23:41 w/u (3mi), race 25:11 (5th, 5mi total, 5:02/mi) ,c/d 35:29 (4.5mi)
Woke up and the promised rain never really materialised so spikes were out of the question as the ground was solid underneath due to Californian humidity. This wasn't a problem as we have done all our workouts in racing flats anyway and I love the streaks. However, when we got over to the course it started to drizzle and this is how it stayed for our race. With the race being in the hills this meant that it was really misty around the course and you can probably see that in the videos.

So, onto the race and all was going well until three minutes before the race, when it soon became apparent that there was only five of our lads on the start line. Cosby came running down the hill screaming "Coach, I don't have my vest!", so Coach had to run off and fetch a number while we frantically pulled off my purple long sleeve and proceeded to rip its sleeves off. I wish the video shows this as I'm sure they were filming it throughout. The starter then ordered that we shouldn't do any more strides and get ready for his gun. But, Craig was still wondering around at the top of the hill, probably sipping on his drinks bottle (the thing is constantly glued to his hand!) and dreaming of England. However, just before the gun he managed to make his way down to us and we were finally ready for the off.


The gun went and by the top of the first little incline about 200m in, I noticed my right shoe felt loose and to my horror looked down to find it untied and flying around. I made the decision not to stop and if the worst came to the worst I would kick it off and run without it. I called to Bassett to give me some space and tried to move into a spot out of trouble where nobody in the pack could stand on it. A mile in the group of four of us were in the perfect position and went through the mile in around 4:50, which is quick considering it has a big hill. However, to our horror by the end of the hill and the start of the two main laps Alf, who had established a good early lead taking a few crazy kids out with him, was visibly in pain and coming back towards us. We passed him soon after that and he called to us that he had pulled a hamstring or something, that was it, it was up to us we had to now all run well.

At around 5k, there is another hill as you pass the finish line to start the final lap. I decided that the San Francisco lad by this point was stretching his lead to much and someone out of the chasing pack had to make a move. I maintained the pace up the hill and by the top of it Craig turned to me and said "it's just me and you mate", as the other two portland guys had fallen off the pace. We were now in a pack of five, us two Portland guys, two San Francisco guys and Boyle of Gonzaga. We managed to quickly drop one of the San Fran guys and at the start of the fourth mile and another of the big hills Craig made a big move to catch Madeira of San Fran who had led from the gun. As soon as he caught him the pair slowed and the other three of us caught up and it was a five way race with 800m to go.

Coming round the final bend with the finish line in sight, Craig made another move and I went to follow but got cut up by the two San Francisco guys and lost five metres instantly. I never could make the stride difference up and subsequently got also passed by Boyle of Gonzaga in the final 300m. Craig went on to outkick the two San Fran guys and despite their early celebrations it soon became clear that we had secured the win for a 32nd year in a row. Full credit to the San Francisco guys they ran a strong race and were closer than ever to be beating us. If it hadnt been for Cody Wells stepping it up for a 6th place finish, who knows it could have gone the other way. I was pleased to run 25:11 but slightly disappointed with the finish and to lose three places in 500m of running. The time compares well to those of previous years where few people have broken 25 mins due to the hills and undulation of the course. Furthermore, with a loose shoe for the entire race, which was close to slipping off going up the hills, I suppose I should be pleased with it.

The rest of the day was a good laugh, we got to dress up and go to an awards banquet. Then afterwards went to San Fransisco and had a few pictures in front of the Golden Gate bridge with the trophy.

Sunday 31st October
9:58 AM: 1:58:35 (17mi)
Didn't have a great sleep as we went to the 'mansion' for a Halloween party. They seem to love Halloween out here and forced me and Craigo to dress up. DP and Fauble came to the rescue, supplying us with aged 8-10 m and m costumes which went down well. Mine being the better as it was just normal chocolate m and ms opposed to Craig's peanut m and m costume (why put nuts in chocolate? bad idea!). So the run was a bit of a shocker as combined with heavy legs from the race yesterday it was a bit of a death march. Got home and went for a well earned nap.

Total Weekly Mileage: 97ish Miles - All in all, a good week. Another team title and I was pleased that I felt a million times better during the race than I did at either Willamette or the Pre-Nationals. For once, I wasn't looking for the finish line a mile into the race, and felt strong right until the final mile. Hopefully, can reproduce this sort of performance at regionals where I think the course will be more like cross country back home (well underfoot at least).