Tom Roper's Running Training

Never look back

For my last trick, I ran a five miler, taking in most of Seaford front, in very windy conditions.

It hasn't been a great year. I see I lost a chunk of February to a chest infection, and running after my knee and the banks of the Clyde collided in July was at first impossible, and then very tentative.  In total I ran 687.33 miles in 125:27:16 h:m:s and climbed 11,712 m. Note the Everest is only 8,848m above sea level. 

Sweder published a much prettier graph on Running Commentary, but here's mine:

The best months therefore were January (marathon training and Janathon), March and June (Juneathon). Put these in perspetive, though. Serious athletes will run a hundred miles, my best monthly figures, in a week of training.

My race results for the year, one marathon, two halves, a ten miler and six 10ks, look lke this:

Eastbourne Half Marathon 4 March 2:13:33
Brighton Marathon 15 April 4:46:12
Rye Ten Mile 27 May 1:43:32
Petworth Park 10k 30 May 1:00:04
Seaford Half Marathon 3 June 2:38
Worthing 10k 6 June 56:25
John Faulds Hellingly 10k 9 September 1:04:35 
Hove Prom 10k 16 September 58:09
Brooks Brighton 10k 19 November 57:43
Crowborough 10k 2 December 1:02:33

Still, the orthopaedic surgeon has given me a clean bill of health, and I have the Three Forts to look forward to. As part of the campaign for that event, I have also entered the Chichester Priory 10k and the Hastings Half. Then there is Janathon to look forward to. 

Five weeks till the Chichester Priory 10k
Twelve weeks till the Hastings Half
Eighteen weeks till the Three Forts 

 

Bless me, father, for I have sinned

And it has been fourteen days since my last confession. 

There's nothing so tedious as a blogger blogging about how they haven't blogged. Instead, a tour of the past couple of weeks:

• I marshalled for the Mince Pie Ten Mile, my running club's annual winter event, ten miles that begin and end on tarmac, but take in some spectacular parts of the downs, some challenging hills and sometimes difficult weather conditions. I haven't run this for a few years, as there's rightly a three-line-whip on club members to marshal. Marshalling has its pleasures though, not least in this one when the competitors try to outdo one another, not only in speed and endurance, but in seasonal costume. Look at Sussex Sport Photography's photographs of the event to see what I mean. My unofficial marshal's prize goes to the two ladies who dressed as elves. I strongly suspect they were the two who came as angels last year. An honourable mention should go to the tiny terrier-type dog running with his master who passed me at my second marshalling spot, the nine-mile point, showing speed and energy that put the humans to shame
• I have signed up, against my better judgement, for Janathon. curated by the stern task-mistress JogBlog. This requires participants to run every day, log it and blog about it. Other types of exercise are permitted, including swimming, using apparatus in gyms, and dashing round gardens naked except for a dressing-gown. As the womenfolk bought a cross-trainer machine last year and have since resolutely failed to use it, I may sneak onto it on non-running days. 
• The Seaford Striders held their AGM at which, by popular acclaim, I was elected to the post of webmaster for the club. Well, actually I was the only candidate. It will be good to get stuck into a site again
• I have even run a little, but with difficulty. Breathing is hard, my legs and feet hurt, and I feel tired. Once work finishes tomorrow, I think some serious effort to start building mileage is indicated. 

Crowborough 10k and the Rubicon

The Crowborough 10k has a certain reputation. Usually the last event of the Sussex Grand Prix, and taking place in early December in the highest town above sea level in the whole of Sussex, it can be cold. Indeed, in 2010 the race had to be cancelled because of snow and ice, and an attempt to rerun it a couple of weeks later also failed thanks to General Winter.

Last Sunday it was chilly, and I was grateful for a base-layer and a long-sleeved top under my club vest. Looking round the race head-quarters before the start, I marvelled at the number of runners, men and women, who refused anything more than a vest on their upper body. Nor were these Spartans the fast runners who would get round a 10k before the cold could begin to bite, for even at the back of the pack, runners recording similar times to mine were also minimally clad. Our club captain urged us outside before the start, recommending some cold air in the lungs and on the limbs before the start. I have no idea if there's any evidence for this approach, but you don't argue with the captain, so I joined the huddle at the start. What sort of time was I aiming for, asked a fellow Strider. I replied that I just hoped to be back before the light went.

The race is a two lap triangle, with a descent and an ascent. At the start of the hill there's a ford and in some years runners are given a choice of fording the stream or taking a bridge to the side. This year the marshals guided us gently to the bridge. The uphill was harder than I remembered. After a 57 minute Brighton 10k, I was unsure whether I could stay under an hour here on this tougher course. In the event, I was two and a half minutes over the hour.

The marshals were superb, encouraging us all, even the slowcoaches in my section. My particular favourites were those with a bag of jelly babies half-way up the hill, and two young women about  half a mile from the finish who had equipped themselves with a list of entrants and were able to address us by our names.

I finished in 1:02:33, 347 out of 386 finishers.

Yesterday I went back to the orthopaedic surgeon to review the results of an MRI scan of my knee, injured back in July in Glasgow. He sees no major damage, is disinclined to operate and advised me to start increasing my training to see what happens. So, with this in mind, I today entered the Three Forts as my spring marathon. At 27.2 miles, this is in fact an ultra-marathon and represents my first race beyond the conventional 26.2 distance. David Cameron may be nervous of crossing Rubicons. I have no such fear. Training starts on 14 January. Alea iacta est!