Mad Monk and the dreaded cold

After getting my 20 miler and 31^st Birthday out the way the week before, my training plan said to do a steady 10 miler with only 7 days to go until Berlin. However, having seen the Kirkstall Abbey 7 mile race online, I figured this would be more fun than plodding out the lonely miles, promising myself I would take it easy and just enjoy the ride.

It was a nice surprise to see Carla at the start line. I worked with Carla at Savvy until she left for pastures new but we have kept in touch since and she has been well and truly bitten by the ultramarathon bug. The KA7 was her first race back after injuring her next 3 days in to the Dragon’s Back Race, 200 miles in 5 days over all the mountains in Wales, totalling an insane 45,000ft of ascent: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics/is-the-dragons-back-the-toughest-race-in-the-world-8073419.html  

One of the quirks of this particular race was to ‘catch the Mad Monk’, with one mysterious runner decked in robes and an oversized cross in keeping with the Abbey’s original inhabitants. I set off towards the back of the race with no intention of chasing the Monk but once the air horn went, competitiveness got a hold of me and I gradually moved up the field, clocking two six minute miles which was well ahead of my sub-3 hour marathon pace.

 

 

After heading up Kirkstall Road, the route cut into the woods and then out on to the towpath by the canal, up to Rodley before looping back around and down to the Abbey for the finish. At mile three, the monk was well behind and I was towards to the front of the field, with only two more groups of runners in front, I had a battle for position with a young club runner who I overtook but he then drew level again, running (deliberately I thought) through a puddle in his trail shoes to give me a splash (I was running in road shoes having not looked at the course profile before the race). This fired me up and I quickened the pace, dropping him and reeling in another runner in front.

The race was starting to stretch out now and despite having runners in my sight, the race was all downhill after the last wooded section and I couldn’t make up enough ground, finishing 9^th overall in a time of 41 minutes.

 

I was feeling pretty good with my morning’s work when I got home but became worried when I started to sneeze uncontrollably and I rapidly got worse so I got an early night to try and sleep it off. I woke up on Monday feeling just as bad and started to worry about recovering in time for the marathon that was now fast approaching. So I got home and made a chicken balti in an attempt to blow it out of my system.

Another early night and it seemed to do the trick as I woke up early on Tuesday and dragged myself to the gym. By Wednesday, I was feeling my old self again and woke up early for a good final treadmill/gym session. I also popped in for a quick massage at lunchtime with Leeds’ best sports masseuse, Jim Mason: http://www.sportsmassageleeds.co.uk/

I now feel in good shape and am looking forward to the race and taking in the sites of Berlin. I have also reached the half way point in my fundraising, passing the £1,000 mark with three months to go: www.justgiving.com/20-12

Next stop Berlin....

Tri again

After really enjoying my first triathlon experience, I went home and immediately booked my place on the Olympic distance Leeds Triathlon. After a day or two, I started to question the wisdom of this, mainly due to the swim being 1,500m open water in Roundhay Lake, nearly 4 times the distance of my first tri and without still being able to front crawl, which would put me at a distinct disadvantage.

In light of this, I decided to switch to the ‘sprint’ distance, which still included a 750m swim in open water, 24km bike and 6.4km run. This, I reasoned, would be more of a challenge than my first effort and I could save the Olympic distance for next year after I sort out my swimming over the winter.

Having picked up my race pack from the HQ at Roundhay Park on Saturday night, I went straight round to my mum and dad’s for a meal to celebrate their 40^th wedding anniversary which was great but didn’t give me a huge amount of time to sort everything out so I was slightly stressed on the morning of the race, especially as I needed to have my bike and kit set up in the transition area by 7.30am ahead of the pre-race briefing.

 

With Sarah’s help, I managed to get the bike and all the kit from the car to the transition area with a bit of time to spare and as the sprint wave start wasn’t until 8.45am, I had time to apply my number transfers, work out how to add my race number to my race belt and squeeze into my wetsuit (I got even more practise at this after needing the loo three times before I finally got started!)

When the time finally came, I donned my standard issue green swim cap, zipped up the wetsuit and made my way down to the water’s edge and into the lake in preparation for the start. The water was on the chilly side and it was the first time I had worn a wetsuit so it took a bit of getting used to, but once we got started, I managed to get into a rhythm with my breastroke and although quite a few front crawlers pulled away, I wasn’t too far behind when we reached the furthest buoy and turned round for return stretch.

 

Despite losing a bit of time on the race leaders, I climbed out of the water in the middle of the field (65^th out of 130 it turned out) and cheered on by Dad, Sarah, Julia, Roy and Rachael, I ran up to the transition area, peeling off my wetsuit as I went. My first transition was OK, though it did take a while to get my shoes, socks, race belt and helmet on plus dry off, de-rack the bike and push to the mount zone. Once I was out of the mount zone I tried to put the foot down, avoiding the dog walkers on the patch before getting out on to the open road.

 

It felt good to have the swim behind me and to be on the bike so I put the hammer down in an attempt to claw back some of the time lost in the lake. And it seemed to work as I generated good speed on the long stretch on the Wetherby road to Collingham passing loads of riders and despite a few steep inclines on the route back through Keswick, I powered through Shadwell and back up to Roundhay Park and into the second transition.

 

I lost a bit of time clomping along in my cycling shoes and then tying the laces on my trainers (whilst being annoyed with myself for not having used the tri laces I bought months ago) but was relatively quick out into the sunshine for two 3.2km laps of the park. The announcer also read my name out, saying ‘here comes Nick Robinson with his adidas sponsorship’ which was quite amusing to me and the friends and family who were cheering me on.

I slowly traded my cycling legs for my running ones and with this being my strongest discipline, attempted to work my way up through the field which I did with some success in lap 1and in lap 2 I tried to push myself as hard as possible with the finish line not far away. Re-entering the park for the last time, I kicked again to try and make up as many places as possible and improve my overall position, sprinting down the home straight and through the first set of flags that confusingly wasn’t the finish and through the second set of flags in an initial time of 1 hour 32 minutes.

It wasn’t until the Monday I got an email with final results:
Leeds Triathlon time: 01:30:46

Swim 00:17:57
T1 00:02:11
Cycle 00:47:11
T2 00:01:05
Run 00:23:55

That meant 10^th place overall which was fantastic, considering I lost an average of 5-6 mins on swim, giving me motivation to learn front crawl and progress to Olympic distance next year. I was also really pleased to have recorded the 7^th fastest cycle (I was 6^th fastest in the run) both of which have made me think about potentially working towards a half ironman next year with the goal of completing my first Iron Man in 2014 – now that sounds like a plan!!!

Pleasure and pain

With the Berlin marathon looming on the horizon, I belatedly downloaded a sub-3 hour training plan and found that I needed to increase the mileage quick, starting with a 10 mile run in under an hour over the Bank Holiday weekend and a half marathon race on the following Sunday so I looked around and the only half marathon on that day was over at Blackpool so I booked my place and toyed with the idea of staying over and having a weekend by the sea.

Things didn’t exactly go to plan as family and garden commitments meant the 10 mile run got put back until the Wednesday (though I did run 10 miles in under an hour on the treadmill before work – an average of over 16kph) and due to more gardening on the Saturday, I set off at 7am for the two hour drive to Blackpool feeling a bit tired and stiff.

The race was well organised with the HQ situated in the Hilton Hotel so I actually had a bit too much time to wait for the race to start at 10am on the promenade. I again managed to get to the front after a last minute loo dash and when the air horn went, I actually led out the race for the first 200 metres, eventually being passed by a group of four runners who gradually increased the pace and pulled away from me and the chasing pack.

I stuck to the plan of trying to run 6 minute miles, like I had done for the 10mph run in the week (which would mean a PB of under 1.20 or 80 mins), and for the first 5 miles I was on track, but when the race dropped down on to the promenade for the first time, my legs tightened up and I could feel myself starting to slow down. At the end of mile 6 I was passed by another group of three runners which I tried to keep up with but only managed to hang on the final runner in the group, putting me in 8^th position overall as I fought to stick as closely as I could to the 6 minute mile pace.

At mile 7 I started to feel slightly better so pushed ahead of the other runner and maintained through miles 8 and 9 before being passed by a lone runner clocking some serious pace – nothing I could do about that I told myself – as I fell into 9^th place.

At mile 10, I was really tightening up in my hamstrings, calf and back and was caught up by a Keswick Harriers runner who I battled to keep up with for the final three gruelling miles to the finish. It felt like an eternity as I was tying up badly and I got passed by another runner on the final mile before losing out in the final sprint to finish 13^th overall in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes and 50 seconds.

Although I was really pleased with this new PB (the training plan only required a 1.23 so I finished well within that), I missed out on a sub 1.20 and with it a top ten finish though it was still pretty satisfying in the circumstances. The hardest part was to come, with a two hour drive back home with the fear of impending cramp on the M62, before collapsing on the sofa for some well earned rest.

adipure technique

From my latest visit to adidas HQ in Germany, I managed to get my hands on the newly launched adipure adapt - designed as a training tool for runners to help them develop a more natural and efficient mid-forefoot running style.

Despite the slightly freaky appearance of the  ‘second skin’ upper, they are incredibly comfortable to wear, with a specially designed print that maps the areas of the foot that experience stress during running and providing them with additional support. The wafer thin sole is also surprisingly comfy, with the heel protected and the sole plate design mirroring the foot’s natural structure.

But the proof is obviously in the pudding and that is where they really impressed, making a 5k run round the block feel like a whole new running experience. Without wanting to jump on the ‘barefoot’ running band wagon, it definitely felt liberating to run in such a minimal shoe, whilst still feeling secure and protected from the road beneath.

Olympic spirit

Inspired by the heroic feats of Team GB at London 2012, I signed up for the Jane Tomlinson York 10k with the aim of improving my PB and getting under the 37 minute mark for the first time. I was further motivated by Mo Farah’s awe inspiring win in the 10k the night before, part of super Saturday that also saw Jess Ennis and Greg Rutherford raise the roof at the Olympic stadium – a night that surpassed even Seb Coe’s wildest dreams.

After an early start to pick up the numbers for Sarah and Tanya, plus a long wait in the portaloo queue, I managed to squeeze my way to the front of the start line to in a good position for a fast get away. Randomly, I was stood next to Mark Abdy, one of Ben’s childhood friends who is now a keen runner so we had a quick chat and then realised his dad Malc (my Dad’s barber) was stood on the other side of the barrier and he said they were planning on running the great North Run together in September.

The start was fast approaching but I could feel my bladder swelling up which wasn’t good. Luckily, I had an empty water bottle so during the national anthem, I discreetly relieved myself in the bottle, much to Abdy’s amusement.

It proved to be good timing as soon after, Premiership referee Howard Webb sounded the starting horn and we were off on a 10k loop of York’s historic town centre before doubling back to the finish on the Knavesmire in the shadow of the County Stand at York race course.

I made a decent start, making a conscious decision not to chase a group of around 5 runners who set the early pace and concentrate on my own rythmn – aiming for 3.36 minute kilometres which I managed to stick to, going through the 5k marker at bang on 18 minutes and on track for a new PB.

The aim then was to maintain the same pace through the middle of the race and deal with the discomfort (the Chrissie Wellington phrase for pain) of running on the limit for a sustained period.

I managed to keep going and at 8k, I was on track for a sub 36 but I started to tie up around the 9k mark (not helped by two random out and back turns that broke the stride pattern), losing a couple of places in the race.

After the final turn outside the county stand, there was one last corner before the home straight and the final push to the line. I tried to kick but had nothing left so lost another couple of places in the sprint but still crossed the line in a new PB of 36.33 – 14^th place overall.

Absolutely spent but satisfied, I walked back up to the side of the finishing straight to cheer Sarah home in under 50 minutes, a new PB and personal milestone so it was smiles all round and back home for coffee and cake and more Olympic magic on telly.

Tri something different

Due to a number reasons, including Matt's imminent fatherhood and Jamie's injury plus my lack of big distance endurance training and fear of injury ahead of Berlin, I took the decision to replace the Lakeland 50 mile race with my first triathlon, the Leeds Xpress Triathlon.

It was a sprint triathlon which consisted of a 400 metre swim, 22.6km bike and 5.4km run at Leeds Grammar School. The swim took place in the pool and due to me still not being able to front crawl, I put my swim down as 12 minutes so was in one of the first waves to start (which would turn out to be a blessing when the weather turned and it chucked it down just after I finished) but despite swimming breastroke, I got out of the pool in 9 minutes and after a slight delay getting dried off and cycling gear on and got on the bike.

The bike was an out and back on Harrogate road and despite struggling on a couple of hills, I got off the bike in a time of 48 minutes, stuck on my shoes and set off on two laps of the school grounds.

 

Again it was quite hilly and off road, not what you need when your legs don't feel like your own, but I managed to get round in just over 19 minutes, making my total time 1 hr 19 mins and 33 secs, 48th overall and not bad for a first tri!