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Saturday 8th August 2020

I’m racing this evening.

After five months of no competition I finally have the opportunity to lace up my racing shoes tonight at the Podium 5k and I’m pretty excited. Back in March, when the whole country shut down and sport pressed the pause button, I had no idea how long it would be until racing would resume. In the mean time, I have consistently logged my biggest ever mileage and put in some very high quality training. At first this felt strange; I was training harder than ever before with no objectives to focus on. It also felt like just the right thing to do. For a start, I knew that I would never again get the opportunity to live the life of an elite athlete and that I should grab this opportunity with both hands. When I return to my physical place of work, I know life will be busier and more hectic and I want to know that I made the most of the time away. Secondly, running is the one thing I always turn to in difficult or uncertain times. It will always make me feel better and it will always allow me to think clearly and with a sense of perspective. Like many people in the last few months, I have reflected on the things that really matter. Running really matters to me.

During this time I have also managed to keep the quality of the sessions high, despite being in the strange position of not knowing which races I am trying to get in shape for. Without races it is hard to judge your current fitness but I feel that mine is good. I ran two time trials, the first a 14:42 3 mile on grass and the second a 30:56 10km on road. I feel I am fitter now than when I did these, so am optimistic of a good performance. Although my motivation and fitness levels are high, I know that racing will feel very different and that I am unaccustomed to pushing my body to its absolute maximum. If I can do this I feel I have it in me to run a great time.

Why do I do This? – Week Beginning 11 June

Sunday 17th June 2018

Below is part of a message exchange between me and my friend Tim yesterday:

I know this feeling. I have had this feeling recently and am neither the first nor the last athlete to ask themself such questions when a race goes badly.

Running is a strange sport. Failures outnumber successes by a significant margin and the most typical type of race is a humdrum, routine one, where it goes neither well nor badly. So why do we do it? In my opinion there are two strands to this question; the first is ‘why do we run at all?’ and the second is ‘why do we compete?’

The first can be answered in a multitude of ways to do with happiness, wellbeing, a sense of purpose and all of the other reasons runners typically give when asked why they run. The second is much more difficult to answer. Although those perfect races when everything comes together are few and far between, if you do the right training and commit yourself to the sport they happen just about frequently enough for it to be worth it. In fact, it could be argued that their scarcity is what makes them so special. If we didn’t have bad races we would never have anything to put the good ones into context or allow us to appreciate them. Any more frequent and we wouldn’t enjoy them, any less and we’d probably all quit and so something more rewarding.

Tim is going to have a great race very soon.

My Week

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 12km easy (22)

Tuesday: AM 9km easy / PM grass session 1,2,3,2,1,2,3,2,1 minutes with half previous effort recovery, 5*25s off 60s (26)

Wednesday: 16km easy (16)

Thursday: AM 9km easy / PM track session 10*400 off 3:00 in 63,3,3,3,3,2,3,4,4,3 (23)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: road session 10*2:00 off 90s, 9*50m hill sprints on grass (14)

Sunday: AM 13km easy / PM 10km easy (23)

GOHAHO – Week Beginning 01 January

Sunday 7th January 2018

Get Out Hard And Hang On

I decided to adopt a new strategy yesterday at the Warwickshire Cross Country Championships. With no team points at stake and with the race solely about individual performance I decided to just go for it. I won the race to the first corner, I won the race up the first hill, I even won the first lap. It’s just a shame the finish line was at the end of lap four.

As it turns out, the top three would have beaten me whichever way I had chosen to race. I probably would have hung on to fourth had I raced slightly more conservatively and sat in the pack for the first two laps, but sometimes you just need to get out there and go for it to really know what your limit is. Mine seems to be 5th in Warwickshire at the moment.

Next week we’re back at the same course for the third Birmingham League of the season. I might try this strategy again; I might revert to type and try and pick people off in the second half of the race, such is my normal cross country strategy. Either way, I am looking forward to it.

I love racing.

My Week

Monday: AM 12km easy, hurdle drills / PM 10km easy (22)

Tuesday: AM 9km easy / PM track session 16*400 with recoveries of 5*60s, 5*45s, 5*30s – all 66-68 (22)

Wednesday: 11 km easy (11)

Thursday: AM 8km easy / PM 10km with 2 miles hard (18)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: Warwickshire XC Championships, Warley Woods – 5th (15)

Sunday: 19km easy (19)

Training – Week Beginning 1 August

Monday 8th August 2016

I finally ran under 10 minutes for the steeplechase. I was pleased with my tactics in the 1500 which I ran on very tired legs!

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 13km easy (23)

Tuesday: AM 8km easy / PM Metchley session 5 x lap off 90s (23)

Wednesday: 15km easy (15)

Thursday: 10km easy (10)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: AM 8km easy / PM Midland League Division 2: 3000m steeplechase – 2nd in 9:52.5 (PB), 1500m – 3rd/1st B in 4:17.8 (23)

Sunday: 16km easy (16)

Taken from my training log.

Training – Week Beginning 27 June

Sunday 3rd July 2016

I was happy with the steeplechase and 1500, both run on tired legs.

1500m splits: 70 (400), 2:17 (800), 3:08 (1100), 4:14

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 13km easy (23)

Tuesday: AM 10km easy / PM grass session 8×2:00 off 60s (27)

Wednesday: 10km easy (10)

Thursday: 16km easy (16)

Friday: AM 14km easy / PM 10km progression (24)

Saturday: rest (0)

Sunday: AM 10km easy / PM Midland League Division 2: 2k steeplechase – 2nd in 6:32.0, 1500 – 2nd B in 4:14.0 (24)

Taken from my training log.