Brigg Poppy Run 10k

Today was a return to 10k running, and my first standalone 10k of the year following my previous adventures with Team Newham over the summer.

I certainly picked a right old windy day for it too - with 21mph winds during the day leading up to the gale force winds expected overnight.

I rocked up at Brigg early enough to sit in my car for 20 mins, just so I could benefit from the 2 hours free parking, before making my way to registration to collect my race number of 398 for the day. There was a military challenge taking place at the same time where participants carried a heavy rucksack and wore boots throughout their 10k challenge. They were set off at 10.45am and it allowed me a further 15mins to warm up and estimate my place in the pack - there was no chip timing so I wanted to get as close to the front as possible.

There was a brief countdown before we were set off at 11.00 ! For the first mile I wanted to run a pace close to my usual parkrun first mile one, but as soon as we turned right out of the car park, it was apparent that the first half of the race would be run into a strong headwind - indeed I had to pull my visor down as far as I could so that it didn't blow off ! the first mile was hard work into the wind but I was satisfied enough to see 7.18 flash up on the Garmin at the end of it. Strangely, the field at this point had already strung out and I had plenty of room around me. the second mile slowed to 7.30 as expected, and in the third mile it was just a case of continuing to battle the wind, up a slight incline and down a farm lane to the turnaround cone. I've no idea how fast the third mile was but seem to thing I was averaging 7.31m/m at the halfway point which is only a few seconds outside my Parkrun PB !

As soon as I turned the cone, I felt the benefit of the backwind, however because of the battle with the wind I had no real energy left and tried to make the most out of it. Mile 4 was 7.37 and mile five a little slower at 7.51. As I had aimed to keep an average of 7.50m/miles before the race, I was happy to see that it was 5 miles before I even hit this benchmark. About 250 metres into the last mile though I got struck with really bad stitch and had to slow right down to a trot in an effort to reduce my breathing and to lighten the pain. This was annoying as I saw people coming past and must have looked like I'd badly blown up, but little by little I recovered and got back into Brigg with a 8.09 last mile. Now it was a strong run to the finish and crossing the line with a time of 48.18 which is my fastest 10k for 18 months.

Sheffield Hillsborough Parkrun

It was back to Sheffield this morning to pick up my bike from Planet X and having chanced Sheffield Castle Parkrun a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd pick a faster flatter Parkrun and opted for Hillsborough - you know what comes next......

That's right, it's Sheffield and it's built on hills, therefore nothing is entirely flat !

Got there pretty much on time in any case, and we made our way to the centre of the Park. My aim for the morning was to break 23 minutes and when we set off at 9.00 am I very quickly found myself congested and had to take a route diversion along the grass. The first part of the lap is a nice gradual slide down towards Sheffield Wednesday FC's Hillsborough stadium before taking in a tour of some tennis courts and then a long slog of a rise to the highest part of the course before a downhill to the start.

First lap clocked 7.17 but it was hard as I really pushed up the hill and I think I paid for it on the rest of the lap. Second lap 7.30 - slower as I paced the climb better, and on the third lap, by the time I got to the top of the climb I was truly wasted and my speed dropped off a cliff. I hit 3 miles at 7.38 and I ambled over the line finally in a total time of 23.09 - a whole 9 seconds outside of my time a couple of weeks ago on that roller coaster of a course at Sheffield Castle.....mmmm.... somethings are not always what they seem.....flat indeed !!!

Sheffield Castle Parkrun

Blimey !

We rocked up to this one this morning as we were in Sheffield for other business - there were 4 to choose from but this one was closest to where we needed to be.

When I got to Manor Park, I noticed immediately that there was a bloody great big climb, and hadn't figured on the course having 250 feet of overall climb. After an enthusiastic briefing, we were on our way and heading around the park for undulating first half - I saw 6.40 on the Garmin at one point, but that soon settled when I hit the mid way climb. From there it was a steady descent, before turning left for the main climb to end the lap. First circuit done in 7.28 and I thought that would be the start of a steady decline, but the next couple of laps ticked by in a similar pace and at the end my average pace was 7.31m/m which I am delighted with given that this course is the Wimbleball of all Parkruns !

Finished 9th on the day having been overtaken up the last hill, and closet yet to a first sub 23 min 5k run of the year !

East Leake Triathlon

Today was only my second sprint distance triathlon of the year and was to be the last one. I've been in Ibiza for a week and whilst I'd managed to behave myself with the wine and fatty food I was hardly in the shape of my life as I tackled todays challenge :

Swim 8.53
Got behind a slow swimmer on the first length and didn't really recover. swam OK, but exited the water at c.7.50 which was probably half a minute down on my true race pace. Took me a minute to run round to T1 and over the timing mat.

T1 - 0.55
Super smooth except I hadnt noticed that my race number had fallen off the bike.

Bike 35.25
Managed to squirt a gel into my face for the second race running. Bike course undulating with a strong wind seeming to circle and never really behind. Averaged 22mph after pushing it towards 23.5mph at the turn. Did not get overtaken which was a good sign that it was a decent split. 27th fastest I think overall and more to come next season. Dismounted slowly and need to master the dark art of the flying one ! T2 took 45 seconds.

Run 22.24
I would estimate that the run course is 4.7k rather than a full 5k, however it is three runs up an incline so I was grateful for the short course by the end of it. Raced a bloke who I thought was in my wave, but it turns out he was in one 3mins earlier. Ran a strong pace throughout, but there is massive scope for improvement for next year.

Overall - 47th out of 326. That's it for 2013 really - I have a 10k booked each month in Q4 and will regularly Parkrun, but its mostly now months of winter bike training ready for spring.

Newark Parkruns

So there's a new Parkrun in Newark that's been running for a couple of months and with it being only 20 minutes away it was rude not to decide to use it as Autumn speed training :

The idea is to pop over when I can (ideally fortnightly) for a Saturday morning bash - this is how they have gone...

02.11.13 23.41
How on earth I managed to post a Newark Parkrun PW today I will never know. I managed a 7.04 first lap buoyed by a bit of racing against a club mate early doors, knocked out a 2nd lap at 7.30 and kept up an average pace of 7.25m/m by the time I crossed the finish line. I have to admit that the really hard initial effort blew me up a little bit - but c'mon - a 7.25 average pace should have seen me in done in around 23mins dead !

26.10.13 41.55
As I was running the Poppy Run the next day, I offered to run this one with Heidi to see if we could get around in a new PB for her. Enjoyed the company at a more relaxed pace and Heidi managed to run at least 2.7 of the 3.1miles which is amazing although the result in the end didn't reflect the achievement.

14.09.13 - 23.26
Rain all night had soggied conditions somewhat and the temperature had definitely dropped a notch as I lined up for this weeks Parkrun. I was alert this time and positioned myself towards the front of the pack and was away at a good consistent speed. First mile clocked in 7.07 and felt very hard. I focused on a pack of runners in front of me and tried to keep it steady. Forgot to look at my watch for the second mile split but I did for the third mile which again saw me dying
 and it showed 7.30. I crossed the finish this week in 23.26 for a 5 second improvement on the week before in what I perceived to be a harder effort.

07.09.13 - 23.31 
Turned up nice and early as usual, parked too far away found out how undulating the course was on the walk through to the start. Got chatting and missed the start, spent the first 200m sprinting on the grass down the side to make sure I didn't lose too much ground. First lap of 3 felt reall good, the course was technical but enjoyable with a mix of terrains and some ups and downs along the way. Completely spent by the third laps finish, and happy to finish to post a sub 24 on a harder course than Colwick.

LRRA 30m TT

Got up this morning and really didn't fancy todays TT !

I didn't think I'd be able to keep going over the full distance given the actual lack of riding outside of club time trials for one thing, and the other was that I knew it was a windy open fen course !

By the time I'd digested a bit more caffeine though I came round to the idea a bit more and after quite a long warm up ready for my 9.38 start time.

Well the first 5 miles which I suspect were assisted came and went in 12 and a half minutes and I was averaging a good 24.5 mph. The next 5 also felt good, however culminated in a hill which slowed things down a little. Now it was a headwind tester as we turned left and I really had to battle to keep the speed at 22 mph. This road seemed to go on forever and I was thankful to get to the end of it !

I didn't get a lot of time to celebrate as a bloomin' great big Combine Harvester pulled out onto the road and I spent forever sat up following the thing at 16 mph. That was my tilt at the handicap finished at that point.

The rest of the TT was spent trying to catch people in front and cursing harvesting ! I did keep a good speed in the last 10 miles or so and dragged the average to c.23.5 mph to finish in 1.17.11, albeit a better day could have been had.

Next up is my last TT of the year - next Tuesdays Wheelers 5

Lincoln Wheelers Autumn 5 Series

26/08/13  11.40

Turned up to find out that I was supposed to be the organiser - d'oh !

Got over that little hiccup and agreed to take the reigns for the next two events. Made my way to the start to go off at no.6 and absolutely mullered the first couple of miles which felt like they were wind assisted.  Turned left to go to Laughterton and the road seemed to last forever ! Caught my minuteman and tried not to show how much it was beginning to hurt. Crossed the line with a minute PB at 11.40 and an average of over 25mph for the first time....

03/09/13 11.59

Slightly windier to the point of being 20 seconds slower than last week. Didn't feel I paced it very well and was hanging out my arse by the end of the third mile. By the time I'd hit the last mile I was really striggling and relieved to finish just under the 12 minute mark.

My TT season finished for 2013 !