Yorkshire Marathon 2016: Week 5 of 16

M 9.5 miles HA (6:55mm), 5 miles (7:36mm)

T 6.5  miles HA (6:52mm), 6.5 miles (7:20mm)
W  10.5 miles Fartlek (6:27mm)
T 10 miles (6:30mm)
F 7.5 miles HA (7:22mm)
S 5 miles (7:21mm)
S 11 miles, including Great Yorkshire Run

Total 71 miles (6:48mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1014 beats per mile
Weight 141.7lbs
Body Fat 10.2%

This week was all about making sure I hit Sunday's Great Yorkshire run quite fresh. Despite it being  a slow course, I was keen to run well as I complete this phase of training. Being staged in Harrogate for the first time was also special to me, given I was born in the town and Mum still living there.

The week started off pretty sluggishly, probably due to the hard parkrun last Saturday and the hard hilly long run I did on the Sunday. Monday and Tuesday felt like a bit of a struggle and I didn't even need to get my layers on for a Heat Acclimatisation run on Tuesday evening as it was over 30 degrees!

Wednesday I did a bit of a sharpening session around Victoria Park in London as I needed to be in town for work. Again I started off feeling a touch sluggish but it went well overall. The session was 5X[3mins(60s), 1 mins (120s)] with the plan to run the 3 minute efforts at c 5 minute per mile pace and the 1 minute efforts at 4:40 pace. It came in pretty much bang on with the 3 minute efforts at 4:57 pace and the 1 minute efforts at 4:40 pace. This proved to be a hard session, as there was quite a decent amount of volume at high intensity but I was really pleased to be consistent with the splits.

And so with that I took it very easy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I really wanted to run well in my race. I stayed at Mum's on the Saturday which was very special as it's the house that I grew up in and the house my Mum was born in too. It was probably the last time I will get to stay the night there given Mum is selling up as she downsizes. It also meant getting my girls up and to the race should be less stressful given my Mum lives only a few minutes away from the start.

The plan simply was to race the competition and conditions as I found them and not be too concerned with the final time. Great Run events really are sublimely organised. So well organised and have such a 'big race' feel. There were thousands out to support the 3,000 entrants at the start and indeed around the course. After a somewhat lively warm up we were off on a short lap of about 2.2k.

Within 1k I had opened up a bit of a gap as we worked up a steady climb. And then the excitement got to me a touch as I knew we'd be passing back past the start where the hordes where waiting. I couldn't resist a few high fives as I went by!

After that we were off on a longer and tougher lap, up through Valley Gardens and then on to Harlow Carr Gardens before a quick lap of the Pinewoods and working back towards the finish. I took a few glances behind me but each time I checked the gap was growing. This was pleasing as the guy behind me, Joe Sagar had beaten me at Dewsbury 10k this year by a few seconds and I knew him to be in good form, having consistently run sub 33 for 10k this year, as well as an impressive 8:49 3,000m!

With the knowledge that the gap was growing in mind I could really enjoy the last few km without going to the well. I won comfortably by just under a minute from Joe in 32:55. A very pleasing run and I have to say I really did get a little too excited. See the below celebration of my 'temporary' idiocy and my first experience of 'breaking the tape' (just like you do in dreams and stuff!).

I then enjoyed a few moments of fame on a proper podium and met one of my all time heroes, John Mayock who is ranked 5th on the UK all time list for 1,500m. A legend of British distance running and a thoroughly nice chap.

So, a really fun weekend and a decent week's training. It was special for lots of reasons, mainly for personal ones which I wont go into here, but you can probably see how proud my Mum looks in the photo below. :-)

From a training point of view I am really pleased with where I am. Despite the time not being a PB I do think it is probably my best run over 10k I have ever done, given the multi terrain, hilly nature of the course and feel there was more in the locker had I needed it. I now go into the marathon specific phase of training, starting with a very easy week of one run a day. I have never been this fit or fresh going into the specific phase which is a very good place to be.

Yorkshire Marathon 2016: Week 4 of 16

M 8 miles HA (6:39mm), 5 miles (6:44mm)
T 7 miles HA (6:49mm)
W  8.5 miles including Doncaster 5k
T 5 miles (7:20mm), 9 miles HA (6:45mm)
F 5 miles (7:11mm)
S 9 miles including Fountains Abbey parkrun
S 16 miles (6:15mm), 5 miles (6:47mm)

Total 78 miles (6:38mm)
Aerobic efficiency 971 beats per mile
Weight 143.3lbs
Body Fat 10.5%

This week was to include two 5k blasts to see where I'm at! It was a mixed bag on reflection!

The first race was at Doncaster 5k on Wednesday evening. I went into this feeling super confident after a couple of decent sessions last week and starting to feel really quite fit, so was hoping to knock chunks off. Let me get my excuses in early.... I do most of my running, including quality first thing in the morning so running hard at 8pm is not that common for me. I'm usually thinking about going to bed at that time. I did run 102 miles last week with two very high quality sessions and a nippy long run, so was perhaps a bit tired and as I know I am better at the longer stuff than these relative sprints. Anyway, I only thought of these excuses after what can only be described as a very poor run. I set off feeling really quite comfortable with the lead group but by 2k although aerobically I felt really comfortable (my heart rate didn't get above 10k HR and in fact it averaged only 181 when the 10 mile race I did a couple of weeks ago it averaged 183!), my legs were accumulating lactic and I couldn't do anything to buffer it. This resulted in me slowing to a 15:47 finish time. Now, this is an official road PB but still a long way short of what I should be capable of. In hindsight I should have gone into it a bit fresher as 102 mile week is perhaps not conducive to fast 5k times. It was also a bit of a wasted opportunity as it was a good field and had I been fresher should have been dragged to a considerably better time. Still taking the positives from it, if my HR didnt get above 10k effort it bodes well for a decent, for me, 10k time at some point.

Then onto Saturday which was to be a day I have been looking forward to for a while. I did the Fountains Abbey parkrun as my Dad lives nearby and he'd been pestering me to do it again! It is quite a hilly course (certainly much slower than Doncaster 5k!), but we were met with beautiful sunshine and a bit of a stiff breeze. There cant be a prettier place to run a 5k on a Saturday morning, it is simply stunning. It was lovely to have my Old Man and Step-Mum Anne cheering me on too. After Wednesday's debacle I decided to take this a bit more cautiously and set off more relaxed and felt really good. it probably helped that it was in the morning but even so I was running well and feeling smooth. It quickly turned into a solo run but the kilometres were ticked off in 3:07, 3:20, 3:07, 3:14, 3:05 showing the undulations of the course. I was only really hammering it for the last two k (HR up at 190 for these two kms which is more representative of true 5k effort) as I was keen to get into the hurt box. I finished in 15:52, just one second outside my Course Record that I set the week before the Manchester Marathon a couple of years ago. It was a useful experience and a run that I am pleased with. Whilst slower than Wednesday night it was a lot better and I'd say worth at least 20 seconds on Wednesday's performance given the undulations and breeze.

I then spent the rest of Saturday with Dad and had quite simply one of the happiest days of my life. We don't get to spend much time alone together but it was truly special. We did two of our favourite things; we had a lovely Fish and Chip lunch and then went to the races at Ripon, which we frequently used to do many moons ago. The races weren't too successful (rather akin to my performance mid week!). However we did both get a winner and the best thing was it was for the same horse at 6/1 so we both cheered it home which made for just the perfect day. Simple pleasures but memories that'll last a lifetime.

This morning I was keen to get a bit of quality into my long run and given I'm doing a hilly 10k next week thought I'd get some hills in. With that in mind I proceeded to do 4 laps of 2.1 miles of the local park which is a set on a decent hill after a few miles warming up. The 16 mile run had 1200 feet of ascent which is a decent amount of vert for me. I also finished the run with a couple of miles at MP which came in at 5:26 average.

This coming week will see similar mileage, maybe a touch less but certainly a few easier days, on advice of Mike as I freshen up for a good go at the Great Yorkshire 10k next Sunday.

Pleasingly my aerobic efficiency has improved again, even with the continuation of a few Heat Acclimatisation runs showing that I am adapting quite nicely. Weight is also down another pound too so that's a good sign.

I have recently been pondering my strengths as a runner and why I my ability across the distances don't seem to make sense and I'm starting to draw some conclusions. I think my VO2max may actually be relatively quite poor which results in 'below par' performances at anything 10k or below. That said, I feel I can operate at a very high % of VO2max for half marathons and above. For example Marathon Heart rate is about 91-92% of Max HR which I am lead to believe is quite high (80-85% is more common). So the question is how do I improve VO2max? Mike and I have been trying and I do the odd session that suggests better things but I am coming to the conclusion that VO2Max isn't that trainable, especially not for someone who is now a seasoned runner. And doing some rough calculations it appears that the 'easiest' way to improve this number would be to shed some weight as by definition it's the total amount of oxygen that can be delivered to your muscles, per minute, per kg of body weight. Of course, one cant go on losing weight indefinitely but I do feel I could lose another c10lbs of fat without it impacting on my health and injury proneness. This would see a big uptick in VO2max and perhaps some improved times that would bring my performances more into line? Unfortunately I wont get to test this too much as I am shortly starting the marathon specific phase which means much reduced racing, but ironically should see my weight drop quite a bit!

Yorshire Marathon 2016: Week 3 of 16

M 8 miles (6:40mm), 6 miles HA (6:23mm)
T 10 miles HA (7:05mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
W 9 miles structured fartlek (6:05mm), 6 miles (7:23mm)
T 8 miles HA (7:03mm), 7.5 miles (6:43mm)
F 8.5 miles HA (6:46mm)
S 10 miles including 4X1M (90s) (5:55mm)
S 18.5 miles (6:21mm), 5 miles (6:51mm)

Total 102 miles (6:39mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1000 beats per mile
Weight 144.2lbs

Following on from last week's 10 mile race I was keen to step up the mileage a touch along with a couple of decent sessions as well as continuing with the occasional Heat Acclimatisation runs.

Naturally after a race you never know how quickly you are going to recover but on Monday I felt great. Yes the legs were a bit tired but I felt good to crack on. Tuesday was  a slightly different story though and I felt very fatigued but still managed to get some ploddy miles in. Indeed when I woke up on Wednesday, I decided to put off the structured fartlek Mike had set me until lunch time as I still felt pretty tired. I was to be honest dreading the session a little given how tired I felt and how tough it looked to be on paper - 2X1Mile (3mins), 3X1/2Mile(2mins). The miles were to be run hard and the 1/2miles were to be run even harder. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the miles came in at 4:51 and 4:50 and the 1/2s at around 4:40 pace. Whilst the Garmin can be a little optimistic on occasion these were as quick as I have ever run before. I looked back at when I did this session last year and remember struggling to break 5 minute pace for the miles and the 1/2 miles slowing from 4:50 pace to over 5:00pace by the end and feeling like I was dying in a sea of lactic. So a massive improvement. Maybe this shorter distance work is starting to click?

Saturday's session would be a good check to see whether Wednesday had been a fluke or not. Thankfully it didn't seem that it was! The plan was 4X1Mile off a short jog recovery of 90s. Mike had suggested that I run these at 5:05-5:00 if feeling good. I think it's fair to say I felt good because they came in at 4:59, 4:55, 4:54, 4:54. I came home with a big smile on my face as I now feel I genuinely am finally ready to give a 5k a good go! Luckily I have one booked in on Wednesday at the Doncaster 5k which tends to be a pretty competitive race so I should have some people to drag me around. I'll reserve myself from saying what I am targeting in terms of time, but with those two sessions this week I have to be confident of a PB! Mike reminded me that when I did this session in early April I averaged 5:08 for the miles and found it very hard. So an improvement of 12.5 secs per mile is massive and very encouraging.

 About 7 miles in and starting to feel it at Eccup 10 last week. Photo Credit: David Owen.

Sunday's long run was also a pleasant surprise after the hard session on Saturday with me ticking the miles off at a very decent pace under not a great deal of stress.

It's nice to be running strongly at this stage but I'm not kidding myself, there is a long way to go in the training yet. Thankfully though I am not suffering with any significant niggles at the moment. I put this down to occasional trips to Martin Anderson of Morley Chiropractic Clinic. He's got quite good at straightening me out given my dodgy pelvis! Running freely and pain free is a such a pleasure!

It nice to see my weight has dropped another couple of pounds due to a sensible diet and tick up in miles this week and I am visibly looking leaner so that is positive. Aerobic efficiency has improved a notch too.

So this coming week will see a reduction in miles due to the 5k on Wednesday and a planned hard parkrun at Fountains Abbey next Saturday when I make a visit to my Dad's.

Yorshire Marathon 2016: Week 2 of 16

M 8 miles HA (6:40mm), 5 miles (7:40mm)
T 10.5 miles HA (6:47mm), 5 miles (7:45mm)
W 16 miles (6:31mm), 45 minutes circuits
T 8 miles HA (7:17mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
F 7.5 miles HA (6:56mm)
S 5 miles (7:11mm), including some strides
S 14 miles including Eccup 10, 6 miles (7:25mm)

Total 90.5 miles (6:52mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1022 beats per mile
Weight 146.2lbs

After last weekend's half the focus this week was really just to get some decent mileage in before racing a local 10 miler today. I know from experience there is little point me trying to do a hard session in the days following a half marathon so the easy running was a bit of a relief. It did of course mean front loading the week a little with miles so I could have a couple of easier days before the race.

As I mentioned last week I feel like I am carrying a bit too much weight at the moment, certainly to be running my quickest. It doesn't mean I'm not fit now but I'm almost certainly a touch too heavy based on previous races where I have run well. In order to be in shape for Yorkshire Marathon this year, I definitely need to lose a few pounds. I was looking at some photos of me just before Yorkshire marathon a couple of years ago and I really was very lean indeed. Of course that was a real breakthrough race for me and although the training I had done was a big step up from what I had done previously I genuinely believe that a significant factor in that improvement was due to probably being about ½ stone lighter than I had been for previous marathons. So I am taking extra special care with my diet to ensure I am eating sensibly but also to try to lose the pounds that I need to turn myself into a lean mean racing snake. It goes without saying that there comes a point where any further weight loss is detrimental to performance because of loss of strength. It’s just the blubber I want to get rid of!

I also hinted that I was going to start a few new things this time around so something I am starting to experiment with is heat acclimatisation as I have read some interesting studies that suggest it can increase performance in both hot and cool conditions. If my understanding is correct it works due to increasing blood plasma volume and the ability of the body to start sweating earlier and more effectively retaining sodium. There’s a great blog here by Christoff Schwiening (a marathoner and Physiologist from the University of Cambridge) who explains it in quite simple terms. Now the way I have been doing this is on some of my easy runs I have been getting very dressed up so I look a bit like a football hooligan. So thermal tights, tracksuit bottoms, t-shirt, thermal top, woolly bobble hat, hoodie with the hood done up and a pair of gloves! It’s been really interesting doing this as I am seeing that my Heart Rate typically about 15 beats per minute higher than what I would expect for the same pace when wearing more typical running clothes. It is a proper sweat fest and not particularly pleasant but worth it as I look to find additional things that could help me get quicker. All the runs above that have HA next to them refer to heat acclimatisation runs. Interestingly on Fridays run I did notice a big drop in the beats per mile which could well hint at some adaptation already. I intend to keep these going a few times a week to see what sort of response I get in other races coming up over the next few weeks.

Daughter Mia wondering what on earth I'm up to

Today was a local 10 miler, the Holybank Trust Eccup 10 a long standing race that is known for being a tad bumpy so again thoughts of fast times were out the window again and today would be about racing. I knew a couple of other runners Scott Harrington (Otley), Aidan Johnson (Rotherham) and John Hobbs (Valley Striders) were all running who I thought would be good guys to race with and try and drag the pace along. The race got off to a pretty quick start and within the first couple of miles Scott and Aidan had built up a bit of a gap. Only about 15 metres but I wasn't prepared to work as hard as I would have to up the hills to stick with them.

Scott and Aidan putting the pressure on in the early stages with me being a tad more cautious

To my relief as we hit Alwoodley Lane, a flatter part of the course, I managed to get back on level terms. and as we made a turn into the reservoir I suddenly started to feel pretty good, so decided to push the pace here and see if either of them would come with me. It wasn't long before I noticed Scott had dropped off the pace but Aidan was following in quick order behind. I wanted to keep the pace honest so carried on pushing for the next four miles and built up a pretty sizable gap. Someone told me it was about 150 metres at one stage. It was here though that I started to feel pretty tired. My legs were not too pleased but I still felt I had more to give if I had to! Luckily by this stage the race was pretty much over and it would take a big effort for someone to catch me as my lead was about 150 metres and I still felt like I had something in reserve should I really need to find it!  As I ran past the 7 mile marker I was surprised to see two runners coming the other way. They looked like proper runners! Sure enough they were. I don't know who the chap was but the lady was only Laura Weightman, GB Olympian (9th at 1,500m London Olympics no less - although many who finished above her have now been busted for doping!). Laura has booked her seat to Rio by finishing 2nd at the recent British Trials. It certainly gave me a bit of a boost seeing such class whilst out racing. To be fair I could have done with her pacing me for a couple of miles as I was tiring. Mike Baxter was out on the course as well though in various spots and he helpfully told me I had a big lead at the point I needed to hear it most! I finished strongly up the final hill to take the win in 53:46 on what is a tough bumpy course. It was nice to be greeted by my Sister Becky and Brother in Law Nick who had turned out to cheer me home. I was really chuffed with the result at this stage as it proves that I am in good shape and nearly ready to start marathon training. It was also great to see Scott and Aidan pleased with their runs to complete the podium

Top Three: Me, Scott, Aidan

Aerobic efficiency is 'worse' than last week but this was to be expected given I did four HA runs which results in much higher heart rate readings for the same pace. This is mainly because of the extra heat I am generating and how much harder I am having to work to cool myself. I suspect over the coming weeks as I saw with my Friday run that I will become more and more efficient even with all those clothes on, albeit I never expect it to be as efficient as when I'm in sorts and vest.

Weight is currently at 146.2lbs which is at least 6 lbs heavier than I have raced recent marathons at. Thankfully I have another 14 weeks to get back to that which should be achievable, even with a two week trip to Poland in August! This coming week will see a couple of sessions which I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into.