Tag Archives: Running

Breaking those barriers – 5km fun runs

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A new Parkrun was set up back in July less than 1/2 mile from us – at Crane Park.  The ideal distance for me to get to, a short warm-up run there and no messing about with parking like at Bushy Park – with the 1,000 other runners they often get there.

Normally 40-60 runners at Crane Park and a very friendly group.  Some very very fast ones – just over 16 minutes I think was the record recently and always a couple with 18 or 19 minutes something.

I did my first one there back in July and got a rather nice 20:50.  My best was 20:19 from back in 2008 in Bushy Park.  I’ve done 11 or 12 runs since and my PB for Crane Park is 20:49.  Most other runs virtually around 20:50.  It’s a new barrier – physical or just in my head.  Normally come anything from 3rd to 7th or 8th but can’t crack the barrier.

Crane Park Parkrun route

 

The route is 1.5 laps – see the map.  A few inclines and lots of bends, particularly near the finish.  I still can’t judge properly when the finish is coming up and when to really step up a gear.  The finish line itself is on a sharp bend (to finish away from the other guys walking in the park and not cause traffic jams).

I’ve been overtaken by a fast 12 year old – very impressive – and then today by a guy with his small (but fast) dog pulling him along (for the whole 5km).

I had a new plan of attack last week – back to pace.  6:41 minutes per mile was the average pace last week, bang on a 20:50 finish time.  And I need to slow down at the start and not head off with the front runners at a too fast pace.  So this week, 4 training runs done in the week all focused on intervals and speed work, stretching every day, a banana for breakfast this morning, pasta last night and a plan to attack my pace.  I was all set this morning to break the barrier…

The heavens opened and there was a lot of rain as left the house and wet route with slippery leaves – not a major issue though.  Set off well at the planned pace – just a bit faster.  Managed to maintain it for about 1.5 miles then it slowed a bit but then got it back around 2.15 miles with a mile to go.  Picked up more for the last 1/4 mile or so and – despite being overtaken by the doggy and his owner – the average pace at the end was 6:42.  Just slower than last week.  Time slower as well.  The barrier still there!  Very frustrating.

Need a new plan of attack for my 5k and training.  Suggestions very very welcome…!

But without a doubt one of the best ways to start your weekend!

A 10k PB the day after the race

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Having run a very frustrating 10k last Sunday in the British 10k, and spent pretty much all of the race not running as well as I knew I could and weaving in and out of lots of walkers, I decided to go for broke and do another 10k – on my local route – and go for it, the very next day.

No this wouldn’t normally be do-able after running a good race and pushing yourself but no normal post race DOMS or anything even close this time.  After all my other races – 1/2 and full marathons – I’ve not been able to walk or do stairs for a good few days, never mind run!  10k is shorter sure but you should still feel something, if not at least very very tired and in need of a rest.

My local route is out 5km and back 5km with only a couple of roads to cross so no big issues being forced to drop pace.  And avoiding the gate into Bushy Park – which saves a good 10 seconds in and out.

I set off with a great pace – sub-7 minutes per mile and managed to maintain it until the dreaded turn around.  It then dropped back to around 7:08 and hovered there until the last mile or so.  Then I picked up a bit more and finished with a pace of 7 minutes per mile and time of 43 minutes and 30 seconds.  A whole minute better than my recent PB on the same route and 3 minutes better than the British 10k the day before.  Nice!

It just shows how bad the race had been for me.  This one felt good and sub-40 minutes by the end of the year is a possibility – with the right speed work!

Some 5k Parkruns to be done next and at a new one at our local Crane Park – less than one mile away from us, so nice and easy to get to on a Saturday morning.

The British 10k race report – or how not to organise a race

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From what first looked like a great race, past all the great sites in this great city – London – the reality was a little different!

An early start yesterday and a train journey up to London with the Noble gang.  As normal for any London races on Sundays, the trains and tubes were full of runners, which is always a nice sight!  And a painless journey up to London.

We arrived in plenty of time so managed a little walk around to see some sites – flags up all down Regent St. ready for the Olympics and our own Noble Bolt (me).

Lots of people around Picadilly Circus all heading to the race, so we wandered along in the general direction that everyone was going.  The heavens opened briefly – as forecast – but it didn’t last long and didn’t seem to worry anyone.  It’s only a little rain!

Then a very convoluted route to walk towards the start, over a mile away and lots and lots of people.  Nic and the kids left me in the queue and headed back – for a coffee and to find a good point to cheer me on (which they did but didn’t get to see me as it took me a lot longer than planned to get there and by that time they’d headed back to where we were going to meet after – see below).

I must have been 2/3 of the way back in the pack and the start was a long long way away with a huge crowd of runners queuing up.  The photo below shows what it was like…

An amazing monument – the Bomber Command Memorial – and great to see to it.  The start for the race is actually opposite on the other side of the road, so you have to loop round very slowly.

Once across the road you can start running and then cross the start already going.  Then you realise that it’s not going to be fast.  Despite entering your predicated finish times on the entry forms, it served no purpose and everyone starts wherever they want with no time pens.  Surely this is a school boy error – every other race I’ve done sets you up in order of predicted finish times so you can at least give it your best shot and go for a PB.  But not here.  Even those crossing the start line only a minute after the gun went off, complained of the same problem.  It took me about 25 minutes to cross the start line after the official start.

The whole race is then weaving in and out of people, a lot walking, only 1km in.  What’s that all about?  Not just a few, but a lot.

Still a nice route, though you don’t notice much as you’re watching out so you don’t trip over other runners.  A bit more rain on the route just crossing Westminster Bridge but the finish wasn’t too far away so time to pick up the speed – if I can…

Managed a nice last 1/4 mile finish really picking up the speed but didn’t feel I’d put everything in when I crossed the line.  Frustrating way to finish as I’d high hopes to get a PB for the distance.  But the sheer volume of runners at all speeds, meant this was never going to happen.

My official finish time was 46 minutes 34 seconds.  So 2 minutes over my recent PB.  My Garmin time was 43 minutes 39 seconds.  How that can be 3 minutes different I’ve no idea.  The Garmin also said I’d still got 0.17 miles to run.  That I can understand as it loses the signal in the tunnels (x3) but the time should still be correct.  So around 45-46 minutes I think.  Which given the much slower pace is ok.  Placing was 1195 out of 25,000 ish – maybe even near 30,000 – so not bad…

A couple of other photos from the race…

A few shots of the elite guys – 29 minutes to finish.  Awesome stuff…

 

And me after meeting my support crew, at Trafalgar Square, complete with my finishers medal…

Now the bad bits and looking at race reviews and reports from previous years, this happens every year.  That’s a bit shocking and how they’ve not listened and sorted these problems out is anyone’s guess.  Sponsored by a big name like Nike, surely it’s in their interest to get it right?  Just do it?  No?

To kick things off some reviews – from Runners World readers – of the 2010 and 2011 races…

Hmm, I didn’t find these before, but they’ve got it spot it.  And there’s more…

  • Charging 50p for toilets along the route is a joke.  They need to be free.  See how the London Marathon or Royal Parks 1/2 do it.  The £50 or £32 race fee should fund hiring toilets.  You don’t need many for 10k.
  • Medals not given as you finish but a mile later when collecting your bags is daft.  With my family there to support me, I didn’t have bags to collect but had to walk to where the bags were to collect the medal.  When you finish, you’re in a good mood, you should get a “Well done” and a medal around your neck.  Not thrown in a bag by some steward 20 minutes later who’s grumpy.
  • The £50 gold place I paid was for 2 t-shirts which I got but it seems plenty of others didn’t and there was other issues with t-shirts.  Not a big problem for me, for me the £50 was to race which I thought was ok.  But if you’re promising certain goodies as well then you need to stick to it.
  • Better signage from about 7km.  Mentioned by others as well.  Not brilliant and difficult to know how much further to go (unless you’ve got a watch / GPS tracker).  And there’s only 10 markers needed, it’s not asking for much.
  • Start pens by predicted finish times or make it clear it’s a fun run and people shouldn’t be going for PBs.  Again everyone else does this and it’s not new!  Or even different starting locations.
  • A more direct walk to the start – getting everyone to walk over a mile isn’t the way to do it.
  • This may just be me, but if you’re going to have Her Majesty’s Life Guard Band playing 3 verses of the National Anthem, encourage people to sing along at least to the first one.  No-one was singing, apart from me – at least where I was in the queue.
  • Plan for enough medals.  Yes they ran out.  Luckily I got one.  How they can run out is beyond me.  Do they not know how many people were expected to finish?  Kind of equals the number who started plus lets add a few extra, doesn’t it?  To finish and not get a medal sucks big time.

Most of these are basic issues and to say this run has been going a fair few years, it’s a disgrace really that the organisation of it is getting stick like this, year after year!  And it’s not just me – I promise.  Sure I’m quick to highlight when service (yes this is a service) is rubbish but only when it’s that bad it needs to be pointed out.

See Runners World reviews for the race this year…

And on the British 10k Facebook page for this year…

Yes it is the first 10k race I’ve done, I’m more used to 1/2 marathons and full marathons, but should the organisation be any different?  No.  Would I run this one again?  I don’t know.  The route is amazing and I get real goosebumps when running through London past all the great sites but the lack of good organisation is very disappointing.  Another 10k definitely and one in London – maybe the Bupa one has a lot of good reviews and feedback.

Another hard run – wrong time of the day

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Yes it’s that time of the year – pollen season is here – and the associated hayfever for millions of people.

This time of year running presents new challenges – avoiding grass and parks and generally nice outdoors type areas.  Training plans need adjusting and fine tuning to run in more built-up areas and at different times of the day.  The worst time to run is late morning and early afternoon, when the pollen count is generally at its highest.  So an early morning or evening run sound good.

Why then did I ignore this advice today?  And run on empty again (yes I’ve done this before and know it’s not good)!

An early start today and little breakfast, a busy morning in London (for a very enjoyable Digital Leaders Think Tank roundtable session (more on this in a later post) at the top of 30 St. Mary Axe – otherwise known as The Gherkin – with some spectacular views of London – see below) and hot and muggy weather.  Far from ideal conditions to do a 10k run with a decent time.

But it was on the plan so we did it.  Same route as the last couple of 10k training runs – nice and easy, and not much grass along the way.  Times for my 10k training runs so far vary from 44 1/2 minutes to 47 1/2 minutes – almost a 10% difference.  Today was the higher end – just over 47 1/2 minutes.  Rubbish.  But it should have been expected for all the reasons above.  See my earlier posts for some other thoughts on this.

Only just over one week to go until the British 10k.  2 more training runs planned this week and then 3 next.  Planning to leave 1-2 days between the last training run and the actual race.  With a 9:35am start and in central London, not in the parks, it should be a good time to run.

Just need to remember to eat first…!

10 top running tips

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10 tips from my previous blog posts on how to get the best out of your running…

  1. Always use Vaseline – read more (this helps with the infamous runner’s nipples)
  2. Don’t run on empty – read more
  3. Don’t run when not feeling well – read more
  4. Vary your training and run some hills – read more
  5. Ignore the weather and just run – read more
  6. Do some intervals (run slow and then fast and repeat) – read more
  7. Have a plan – read more
  8. Don’t forget to recover – read more
  9. Be motivated – read more
  10. Set a pace and keep to it – read more

These are tips that I’ve found work very well and help you improve – both speeds and distances covered and they help to keep injuries at bay.

One extra one not mentioned – let’s put in as number 0 – so right at the top, get good shoes!  So so so important and it makes a huge difference.  Go to a specialist running shop – like Sweatshop – and get professional advice.  Try the shoes out, test a few pairs and see which suit you best.  And the blog post about the good shoes tip is here.

The 45 minute barrier has been cracked again!

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Back to the running theme.  Only 3.5 weeks until the British 10k.  Here’s a quick reminder of the route of the race…

It goes past some of London’s best known (and best) sites and we’ll be able to wave (quickly) at the Queen in Buckingham Palace on way past.  With all the roads closed running along routes like this, it’s special and reminds you what a cool city London is.

For more details on the route and history around the places see below…

It’s going to be a busy race – with some 25,000 runners expected but they’ll be a real buzz about.  The Olympics starts here only a few weeks after and part of the route is the same as planned Olympic Marathon route – very cool.

It starts at 9:35 I think – so not too early.  It’s always a joy commuting up to central London for that time on a Sunday morning though – and typically there’s a normal Sunday train schedule running (i.e. not very frequent).

I’m aiming for a finish time of around 43 minutes on the day.  It may be difficult to start at the right pace depending on people traffic but the overall time is do-able.  I did a great 10k run (on the local roads) a week after the London Marathon and got just under 45 minutes.  A few others since then a bit slower but then a great great run yesterday (same route) and 30 seconds faster.  Sub-44 or even sub-43 is a possibility!

The winner last year came home in just over 29 minutes – that’s insane and awesome.  At the 4 minutes 35 seconds per mile pace again.  Which means they’re 2 miles ahead of me then – 30% of the race.  Amazing!

I’m really looking forward to this run and pushing myself.

How to focus in the age of distraction? And a 10k run.

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A superb mind-map from Learning Fundamentals in Australia about how to focus in the age of distraction…

With so much going on these days and the constant and growing need to feel and be connected, this is a great little pointer for how to better manage it all, and not get too consumed by it.

  • How often do you check e-mails?
  • Do you turn your phone off?
  • Do you use to-do lists?
  • Is there too much digital information?
  • Do you get much exercise?

A great link there back to running.  Running for me is a great distractor in itself – I’ve said before I don’t listen to music when I run and that helps me focus my mind on the running.  The pure freedom of just getting out and running is unbeatable and with the ability to keep pushing and improving yourself.

It’s the British 10k in less than one month’s time.  My training plan is going ok.  4 runs per week being done – pretty much, bar the week when my sister was over and a cold got the better of me.  Aiming for low 40 something minutes which I know I can do – need to focus on more speed work over the next 4 weeks.  Some great runs this week in the great British June weather – gales (which almost did knock me over), heavy rain (yes I got drenched) and sun!

These should not have been hard runs. What happened?

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2 very very hard runs this week.  Neither should have been particularly challenging – by the planned distances and paces alone.  8 miles yesterday – should have easily done it in under an hour but pace was all over the place after 1.5 miles in and finished up taking almost 1 hour 10 minutes.  Then 4.5 miles today – intervals – but way slower than normal. One other run this week – on Monday – only 5 miles but good pace and felt good.  So why so slow these last 2?

This is week 2 of the 10k plan.  One run from the 4 planned runs last week was missed – due to my little sister coming to stay with her family.  But wanted to do 3-4 this week and get back on track.  Started off ok on Monday with a good 5 mile run but then 3 days off and late nights and long days on trips – so too long a break between runs.

I picked up a cold on a work trip to London last week, which never helps, and it’s still lingering on the chest a bit.  And also has been passed onto the rest of the family as well.  To top it off, it’s very very hot, and pollen season here in the UK, so hayfever is kicking in.

Add all these together and running (or any other exercise) is going to take a hit.  When I set out yesterday for the 8 miles, I planned a nice easy 7:30 minutes per mile but finished at over 8:30 – rubbish.  Legs were so heavy as well.

Back to the normal plan next week – only 6 weeks to go.  And need to focus on pace and speed work more.

The moral of the story this week…

  1. Don’t leave big gaps between training
  2. Don’t run when sick or set realistic expectations and take it very very very slowly
  3. Come up with a plan on how outdoors to run during the pollen season

Number 3 is in progress and I’m open to all suggestions.  Do you suffer from seasonal ailments like hayfever and how do you train around them?  In previous years it’s not affected my running like this and never in May.

Some pointers that I’ve found to help me before (though not this week):

  • Wear wrap around shades
  • Run in the early morning where possible
  • Stick to roads and avoid parks and grassy areas
  • If you belong to a gym, use a treadmill – air conditioned enclosed spaces a big big plus
  • Rub Vaseline on your nose and up your nostrils – stops pollen particles getting up

Vaseline as a miracle running medicine again – you’ll remember the previous post on sore nipples.

Good service counts even when you’re running

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So how to mix a blog post on running and customer service…

I ran the London Marathon last week with the orthotics I had from the physio back in December last year in my shoes.  They gave more support in the Adizero shoes than without and by all accounts corrected the way my feet hit the ground.  They’re made by a company called Vectorthotics and clearly say on the package that if you are planning at doing any strenuous or endurance activities, the block bits should be glued on with more solid cement glue stuff.  Mine weren’t but they had held through all (or most) of the training runs and I’d had one pair already glued again by our local Timpson shop in Twickenham.

When it (the small blue block in the middle) has come loose before, you know it has as it clicks in the shoe a bit and you can hear it.  But I guess the noise of the other runners and crowd last weekend and total concentration on getting round, meant I had no chance to hear it, as it came off (and ended up towards the toes – maybe that’s why I didn’t run as fast as I had hoped… LOL).

So I needed to visit the shoe shop again and get them to glue it back on.  When I did this last time, they just did it, with a big smile and said don’t worry about paying, just put some money in the charity box they had in the shop.  Fantastic.  I’ll come back with service like this – we’d come back anyway as we’ve used them lots over the years and they’re good.  I ran in last Saturday early afternoon and the same guy was in and I asked the same question, if he could glue it on.  No questions asked he just did it.  And again no charge – just money in the box for charity.  It happened to be a rugby day on Saturday with a big Army and Navy game on at Twickenham Stadium and I got chatting to another customer in the shop (whilst we waited).  As I was chatting and waiting I noticed some signs on the walls in the shop.  One fine example below…

With a sign up like this from the company chairman, you know the service is going to be very good.  There are other similar signs up around the store, all saying it’s all about service and making sure they do right by you the customer.  And the same in all their stores.  I popped back today to take the photo and asked the guy before I did and explained why – and he smiled!

For me this is a huge statement, the guys in the shop are totally empowered to do what they need to to make it right.  And have the ok from the top to do so – no need to phone head office to check.  Make a decision there and then, to make sure the customer is happy.

This is unlike many other companies I know of who give the front line staff no empowerment and need everything run by the next level or two up.  Even for small things.  This does my head in – such a waste of time and effort on everyone’s part and 9 times out of 10, you get annoyed customers all the same.  Do we really need to check with HQ or the bosses boss if someone wants to bring a small item back for a few pounds or dollars and doesn’t have the receipt, it’s unopened and clearly from that shop?  No.  Think of the cost of checking and delays.  And the experience the customer is having.  Not good and as the customer you think twice about using them again.

Apple and Amazon are both great at customer service, and shining beacons for others to follow, and everyone knows they are good which is a huge huge part of what makes them so successful.  They are big and yes they have the money to do it properly but it’s not all about that, so it’s nice to see the little shops doing as good here.  Sure Timpson are a global chain but the shops are small and typically with one member of staff in – and ones you might not think of as leaders in customer service and customer experience – but Timpson do it very very well.  Thanks for the great service, we will be back.  And I’ve just discovered they even do a mystery shopper programme and you can sign up on the front page on the web site.  Nothing to hide.  Nice one!

What to do next and have you recovered?

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That’s it all over – all those months of training and 26.2 miles around London all done.  For charity, for fun, for your own PB, just to say you’ve done it or for a million other great reasons.  5 days on from the big event, the aches and pains just about gone, walking normally, going down stairs freely and back maybe doing a few easy runs!

The first few days are difficult and the legs don’t work as well as they should and stairs are very painful.  It’s amazing how different a 23 mile training run is to the actual 26.2 mile race.  For all my training runs over 20 miles, just showered and stretched after each and then carried on as normal and no issues the next day.  But add just 3 more miles and race conditions and it’s a whole different ball game.  When I did the London Marathon first back in 2009 it literally took about 2 weeks to recover.  This time 5 days – so something in the training worked.

For the recovery a number of things you need to do:

  1. Move – don’t just sit down and do nothing.
  2. Raise the legs – when you can when you are sitting down.
  3. Massage – to help those muscles, as soon as possible after the run.
  4. Ice packs or ice baths – haven’t tried these myself but people swear by them.
  5. Nutrition – water, carbohydrates and proteins.
  6. Active rest – do some easy exercise soon.

Number 6 is what seemed to be the transition point for me.  Legs – just legs nothing else really – very sore, until yesterday when I went for an easy 4 mile run with my gorgeous wife (owner of Snowballs in Summer).  Very easy and slow pace.  And after that legs pretty much back to normal.

Some great other links for articles on post-marathon recovery are:

How are your legs?

And then once recovered, what do you do next?  Training for these babies is full on and gives you a real focus.  Running 4+ days a week and doing more and more miles and seeing improvements along the way, really gives you a boost and focuses the mind.  So when it’s all over, there’s a gap – at least for a bit.  For a lot of people if you don’t enter races that often, what now?  Enter another race.  This year is London’s year and there are lots of great running events on.  One I’d only just heard about is the British 10k London on Sunday 8th July – a week or so before the London Olympics and covering part of the planned Olympic Marathon route.  Covers a lot of the great sights you see on the London Marathon and the Royal Parks Foundation 1/2 and “only” 6.25 miles (10km) and 25,000 people – so a great crowd running through normally busy roads in central London.  See the route plan below:

Even better as well as the ballot places, there are guaranteed places for a bargain price of £50 – only £18 ish more than the ballot place.  What a deal.  I couldn’t refuse and got myself a place last night.  A very different distance to the longer runs and needs different training.  Need to figure that out next and what sort of time I want to try and aim for.

And the event video from 2011…

Don’t forget of course the ballot for the Virgin London Marathon (VLM) 2013 opens on Monday 30th April – next week – and the number of ballot places are expected to fill up very quickly.