A Day At The Races

Well, a day and an Evening to be precise. As the title suggests that is where I’ve been for my last two runs.

First race of the week was on 2nd May and was a 10k race around Dudley and Kingswinford. I only heard of this one after one of the lads at the club mentioned it to me, so I decided to register for it. Not decided yet though whether two races in the same week was madness or not. I think next time I do a race I’ll rest up a bit more and see if there’s any difference in my performance or not. Anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable race around Dudley and Kingswinford, quite rural and undulating. I tried my hardest to beat my last 10k time which was the Fradley 10k – chip time of 51:45, gun time of 52:45, and managed a chip time of 51:53 while my gun time was 52:10. Though I did start nearer the front this time, I’m reasonably pleased with this result as, while I didn’t manage to beat my chip time this race definitely was steeper in places than Fradley which was more or less flat. Got a very nice technical tee shirt as a memento too :-).

Next up, the big one which I’ve trained really hard for was the Lichfield half marathon yesterday. I was under the impression that it was going to be flat. Flat it certainly wasn’t! Not exactly hilly, but a couple of long steep inclines in places and it took in the Staffordshire countryside around Lichfield and Fradley. One of my favourite moments of this race was the little kids around something like mile 5 or 6 who were handing out free haribo, how lovely of them :-). Was also great to see lots of local people out cheering on the runners, it really does give you a buzz and massively helps. This was my first ever half marathon and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience so here’s to many more to come. Chip time was 2:06:05 while my gun time was 2:06:20. Not quite the sub 2 hours I was aiming for but still beating my personal best by about a minute. I plan to smash this next time! So, stats from my last runs:

April 30th 2012

Distance: 5 miles

Time: 0 hr 46 min 27 secs

Pace: 9:17 min/miles

May 2nd 2012

Distance: 6.21 miles

Time: 0 hr 51 min 56 secs

Pace: 8:22 min/miles

May 6th 2012

Distance: 13.06 miles

Time: 2 hr 06 min 07 secs

Pace: 9:39 min/miles

I have one more run planned for tomorrow and then I’m off to Cornwall for a couple of days for a well earned break!

Longest Run So Far

Ran 14 miles today, and I have never ever run that far before. Will need to obviously build on this though for the Wolves Marathon in September. Overall, though I’m pleased with my progress, I mean if someone suggested to me a year ago that I would be able to run a mile never mind 14 I’d have laughed at them. Read an article as well today in the mail online about Nell McAndrew running the London Marathon in sub 3 hours –

Nell McAndrews Sub 3 Marathon

I have nothing but admiration for anyone doing that but what outraged me were some of the comments that the oh so intelligent Great British public have made about her. Some wanker referred to her as skeletor and some equally uneducated tit said that distance runners are not fit or healthy as the body is not made to withstand such stress. Well how did humans used to hunt thousands of years ago for survival? By walking? Errm, I think not you fucking tosser, I’m really annoyed by this as you can probably tell. I just admire anyone who can run for 26 miles in less than 3 hours and she also beat James Cracknell so kudos to Nell on this.

Todays stats:

Distance: 14 miles

Time: 2 hr 25 min 18 secs

Pace: 10:23 min/mile

Running Clubs And Races

Been a little while since I last blogged. So whats been happening? Well, I’ve been thinking about joining a Running Club so did some searches on the Net to try and find a local one. Found one in Wolverhampton but they’re a little tricky to get to after work, and also found the Tipton Harriers who my Grandad used to run with years ago. Tipton Harriers are in a league of their own, in fact they’re the Running Club equivalent of Manchester United, or so I’ve been told. Decided to give them a bit of a miss as I’m not quite that quick yet. 🙂

So I came across West Brom Harriers who meet every Wednesday at 7:15 which is perfect for me to get to as it’s not too early, too late or too far from where I work. I’ve been running with them twice now, first time with a guy called Paul and we had a good chat and then on Wednesday I ran a 6 and a half mile run and shock horror, managed to keep up with the faster guys for the first 4 and a half miles, though I do believe that it may have just been a gentle jog for these lads as they’ve been running for years. Think I’m going to ask about joining the next time I go up in a couple of weeks as I can only improve running with a club, plus you get to wear the club colours and it’ll give me a sense of belonging. I’ve also never really belonged to a club or represented one before so it looks like a whole lot of fun.

I’ve entered another race which is a 10k run around Dudley and Kingswinford on 2nd May. I’m intending to use is as a warm up for the Lichfield Half Marathon a week on Sunday. My number for this came on Wednesday

So, I’m number 723 for this one. As long as I don’t come 723rd I’ll be happy. 🙂 Stats from the last few runs:

April 18th

This one was the first run with the running club and I didn’t have my watch with me so this may not be 100% accurate but it’s near enough.

Distance: 6 miles

Time: 0 hr 56 min 00 secs

Pace: 9:20 min/miles

April 19th

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 1 hr 09 min 53 secs

Pace: 9:59 min/miles

April 21st

Distance: 11.24 miles

Time: 1 hr 59 min 05 secs

Pace: 10:36 min/miles

April 23rd

Distance: 6 miles

Time: 0 hr 55 min 54 secs

Pace: 9:19 min/miles

April 25th

Second outing with the Running Club

Distance: 6.55 miles

Time: 0 hr 54 min 59 secs

Pace: 8:24 min/miles

Beat my 10K time during this run, only by 10 seconds though – it now stands at 51 mins 35 seconds.

April 26th

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 1 hr 11 min 42 secs

Pace: 10:15 min/miles

Tonights Run

6 miles tonight:

Summary

Distance:	6.00 mi
Time:	55:57
Avg Pace:	9:19 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	228 ft
Calories:	722

Time:	55:57
Moving Time:	55:56
Elapsed Time:	55:57

Avg Pace:	9:19 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	9:19 min/mi
Best Pace:	6:06 min/mi

Elevation Gain:	228 ft
Elevation Loss:	243 ft
MinElevation:	404 ft
MaxElevation:	523 ft

Number 266

This came today:

So in 3 weeks time I will be wearing this on the front of my top, woohoo, really can’t wait. This will be my first ever Half Marathon and is taking place in Lichfield, as you can probably tell from the picture. I’m just hoping that I can do it in a respectable time. I would love to do it in sub 2 hours, though I think that’s unlikely, but you never know with such things. I’ve run that distance twice now in training. First time that I ran it, I managed 2 hours 17 mins, second time I did it in 2 hours 7 mins. The course is meant to be reasonably flat and where I run in training is quite up and down so sub 2 hours? Well we shall see 🙂

Which brings me nicely on to today’s run. Went out for a long run today and managed 10.68 miles. Stats from this run:

Distance:	10.68 mi
Time:	1:46:29
Avg Pace:	9:58 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	516 ft
Calories:	1,307 C

Time:	1:46:29
Moving Time:	1:46:12
Elapsed Time:	1:46:29

Avg Pace:	9:58 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	9:57 min/mi
Best Pace:	6:22 min/mi

Aiming for 14 miles next week which will be the last really long run before I taper off off in preparation for Lichfield. Tomorrow I’m off for a bike ride up towards Lichfield with Colin. Just hope the weather stays nice.

Until next time 🙂

First run back

Well tonight was my first run back since Saturday when I attempted, rather foolishly, to do a ten mile run. Not that I’m incapable of running that distance, I am, and I’ve ran it a few times over the last couple of months. But on Saturday I had the start of some horrible bug or lurgy type virusey thing which has completely battered me into submission. Don’t think I’ve felt that weak or ill for ages. Anyway, I say attempted ‘cos that’s exactly what it was – a pathetic, feeble attempt at running and I managed 3 miles running and walked the rest of the way home. Ended up doing something like 5 and a half miles in total. From then until tonight, Ive done bugger all.

So, on to tonight’s entertainment. Went out with my running buddy Colin who’s been injured for a couple of weeks with a dodgy knee, what a couple of crocks we are eh! Anyway Colin had it strapped up, (phnarr, phnarr) his knee that is and we managed a good steady 5 miles. It was one of those runs where I felt like I could’ve gone on for longer so I’m quite pleased with that. Stats from my Garmin:

Distance:	5.01 mi
Time:	49:47
Avg Pace:	9:57 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	189 ft
Calories:	616 C