Quick Race Report - Stur Half (4th August)

Going back a bit, I did a bit of racing at the start of August with the Sturminster Newton (Stur) Half in Dorset on Sunday 4th. Planned to go out hard and see what happened. Hilly-ish course (mostly in the back half) so not PB potential, but a good mid-summer fitness gauge. 
First 5 miles were speedy coming in under HM PB pace (5:39) with a lead group of 3 (including fellow Club Captain, Simon Munro from Bournemouth) The other two guys slowly started to pull away as I slowed down a bit. Lost a place back to 4th before recovering one to finish 3rd overall in 1:15:55. Very happy to go sub 76mins on a lumpy course at an early point in autumn marathon training.
It was nice to feel like I was moving reasonably quickly in a race again, some of my other recent efforts have felt decidedly pedestrian...

Leading off from the gun - what's wrong with a little early enthusiasm? (the downhill start did help...)

Training Notes - 21/08/2013

My hamstring resolved itself from last week, but unfortunately the mile reps session never happened (As the track was in use for an event when I turned up!), so I did a decent length tempo around Southampton Common instead, 14.5M inc 13.2M tempo@6:18/M, which was a bit quicker than I intended but ok.

Due to wedding commitments the past weekend,  I got the long run for the week in on Friday morning, post trip to the physio (shin still an issue, but answers may be forth coming, I hope). Did 22.6M as 1hr(ish) even pace (7:00/M) and then 10x0.5M at faster than MP with 3min even pace and 1min steady inbetween. Averaged 5:45/M for the efforts and they felt pretty good and smooth. Popped another couple of steady pace miles on the end for good measure. A good pre-specific marathon phase session and I guess a bit akin to the 'Kenyan Fartlek' where runners surge for nominated periods in a given easy/steady run.

Got the last round of the local RR10 XC series today, but I'm a bit worried about the state of my left piriformis after a running technique session on Monday lunchtime. Been for a jog and a few strides at lunchtime today and it feels not too bad, so lots of gentle warm up and dynamic stretching pre-race tonight! 

Also planning to do a medium-fast progressive run this Friday, about 1 hour long, starting at around 6:20/M and winding it up to sub half marathon pace if possible. Then got a bit of a change at the weekend as I've entered a sprint Tri at Boscombe beach on Saturday morning so no long run this week.

Training Notes - 12/08/13

This weekend's long run was another combo effort consisting of 5M easy/1M inc 5x20s strides/Parkrun/3M Easy/5M HM Tempo/5M easy. The Parkrun was also a mob match between New Forest & Lordshill from Southampton, although I didn't really have any competition at the front end and finished 1st in 17:17 for a new course record (still very soft, but improving!). HM tempo section was tough, flat but largely offroad and uneven, managed to averaged 5:49/M for the 5M. That said I felt pretty good on the 5M easy at the end and turned the pace up to 'steady' to get home in time. Total of 22M@6:28/M although there was a 15min pause before and 30min after Parkrun to catch my breath. Also due to the amount of higher intensity mileage, I decided to ditch the 'fresh air and water' approach this time and have breakfast plus a couple of gels (before/after Parkrun), think it helped towards the end of the run, as I was happily ticking along around 6:30/M on the way home.

Downside of Saturday is that I have aggravated my R hamstring a bit, I felt it a bit on Friday's run but it seemed ok running on Saturday. Stil a bit sore today, so giving it good doses of foam roller and a couple of rest days to try and sort it out.
Subject to the state of my hamstring the plan is to do a 6 x 1 mile reps session on the track Wednesday and then a long run Friday (got the day off) with 1hr Easy pace followed by 10x0.5mile marathon pace/effort with 0.5 mile recovery and 1min even pace inbetween. I'm at a wedding this weekend, so got to fit the hard sessions in during the week as a result!

Link to Garmin Stats Brockenhurst Parkrun #12 and 3M/5M HM Tempo/5M section below

Brockenhurst Parkrun No.3 - 8th June 2013

(Run report written for the Brockenhurst Parkrun webpage)

The run of great weather (on Saturdays at least, but that's what counts!) continued for the third Brockenhurst Parkrun this week. There was not a cloud in the sky, but a bit of a strong wind blowing from the north east making the run up the railway line side of the course loop a bit tougher.

This was my third Brockenhurst outing in three weeks and each has given a different persective on the event. Run no. 1 was as a normal runner and I found the course to be really pleasant, flat and potentially quite fast. At run no.2 I was volunteering, helping to run the event by giving out position tokens and the end of the finish funnel. It was a really great experience to see everyone finishing and helping the run organisation go smoothly. Run no. 3 was different again, as my wife was running a Parkrun for the the first time, so I decided to accompany her for moral support and buggy pushing duty! As this wasn't going to be a flat out run effort, and given the all grass nature of the course, I decided to also try out running barefoot. Running without shoes was really nice, the course is generally short soft grass, with only a few harder bits of ground. Although it was a little chilly and damp underfoot in the sections where the sun had yet to reach! Running with a baby buggy was also really good, apart from a few bumpy patches along the north side of the course it's nice and smooth all the way around. 

This week 37 runners finished the run, there were 7 first time runners and 19 Parkrunners new to Brockenhurst. In first place was Paul Bartlett in 18:53 and First Lady was Heather Butcher in 23:52.

Spring Marathon Training Retrospective 1 - Form Training

So now the dust has settled after the climax of Spring marathon training at the Virgin London Marathon at few weeks ago, I've had a bit time to reflect on the training process and the plan I followed. I'm intending to look back at a few aspect of the training schedule and what I've learnt from this campaign.

Going back to the start of the the year on of the first major changes I made this year was to sign up for a series of running form training session with The Running School in Southampton. It was an idea I had been toying with for some time, since I had a free form analysis video session back earlier in mid 2012. That initial session highlighted several form deficiencies including low heel lift, a heavier bias on the right foot and poor arm swing action.

Around the same time I did a functional assessment with a personal trainer, the most important result of which was the realisation that not only were my glute group of muscles (the 'bum' muscles) quite weak but they were also very poor at activating and hence were not doing very much. After the PT session I adapted my gym core strength program to help address some of the issues identified, but these were mostly static floor exercises.

Fast Forward to the end of 2012 and I decided that, prior to embarking on the specific phase of my London marathon training, it would be a good time to try and address the running form issues the running school assessment had found.

A bit of previous internet reading had uncovered some research on the methodology used by companies such as The Running School, which revolves around providing feedback (both visual and audio) to the participate on a treadmill to focus on various 'cues' that will help improve running form, so it appears to have a good basis. The process requires multiple sessions to enable the muscles to adapt and effectively 'learn' the modified movements.

So I signed up for a set of six one hour sessions with The Running School in Southampton under the instruction of Paul Bartlett, starting in early January 2013. The structure of the sessions was a mix of both short but intense treadmill intervals with (15-1min) and slightly longer steady (2-3min) intervals. There was also a lot variation in the gradient and speeds (depending on the length of the intervals), with the aim to really try and accentuate the intended running movements. The treadmill reps were regularly interspersed with static floor exercises aimed to activate and strength the key muscle groups which are used when running. As the sessions progressed we also did some short shuttle runs outside to practice what had been learnt on the treadmill in a more natural running environment.

So how did I get on? Well as the functional assessment from earlier in 2012 had indicated, my glute muscle groups were not only weak but also pretty poor at actually doing anything in the first place! It would appear that my lower leg muscles (calves etc...) have been doing more than their fair share of the work when I run... So getting the glutes to activate was a key aim of the sessions. Although the indicator of poor glute usage was a low heel lift as my legs returned from behind me, the answer was not to simply actively lift or flick my heels (this likely just wastes energy in the hamstrings doing so). Instead, Paul got me to focus on pushing my legs back straight and then lifting my heels right at the rear most position in the leg swing cycle. He also used a range of floor exercises to help strengthen the muscles and promote activation. These included  bridges with single leg holds, pendulums (swinging one leg straight behind), the glute activating 'good morning' and single leg squats. We also did some more dynamic plyometic exercises (lunge jumps and squat jumps). Paul also asked me to do sets of some of the key exercises at home too to help reinforce them (I got quite good at doing pendulums and single leg squats whilst cleaning my teeth!)

The other key element that were worked on was the proper use of my arm swing to counter the torque reaction forces generated by the opposite leg. Various photos/videos of me at the end of races had highlighted that when fatigued my right arm swing becomes noticeably reduced. The timing of the six sessions was structured such that the first couple were quite close together and then the remaining spread over a number of weeks to ensure the modifications in form get properly learnt.

The end result can be seen in the video below where my original form (from back in mid 2012) is compared with that from after the last of the six form training sessions. It's important to note that in the 'after' video I'm running naturally (i.e. not trying to exaggerate the new action I'd learnt)

For comparison the next couple of videos show how I look when trying to exaggerate the actions, which is what I was trying to do in a lot of the treadmill intervals.





Having done the Running School sessions, I was eager to see what effect it had had on my running. Whilst I was still mid-way through the training sessions I ran the Stubbington 10k. Although the time wasn't anything special (35:05, very similar to my previous 10k in December), I felt much stronger and controlled than in any previous 10k's. My first race after completing the form training was the Wokingham Half Marathon in early February. My previous PB had been 76:29 (from the Gosport Half in Nov 2012), so I was very happy to knock over 2 minutes off with a time of 74:13. Although this improvement probably can't be entirely attributed to the running form training, as I had done 5-6 weeks of HM orientated training in the lead up (more on this in a future blog post), it almostly certainly played a significant role. Very interestingly again I felt very strong throughout the Wokingham race, whereas previous all-out effort halfs have got pretty wobbly in the final few miles!

Since Wokingham I've set PBs at 10k (33:35 Eastleigh 10k), 5k (16:42 Poole Parkrun) and most importantly in the Marathon (02:36:16 London Marathon).

Overall I was very happy with the results from the running form training. It suited me very well having come new into running later in life, hence I never really learnt to run 'properly' (i.e. through youth athletics).

Virgin London Marathon 2013

16 weeks of training came to ahead on Sunday 21st April with the Virgin London Marathon. As I had run a sub 2 hour 45 min time (02:43:33) in the 2012 race, I had qualified for a place on the UK Athletics Championship start for London this year. I was awake ahead of my alarm at 5:30am and was greeted by a ideal looking marathon running day, with clear skies, little wind and low temperatures. In fact it was cold enough for a spot of early frost! The forecast was for temperatures to rise to 13-14 degrees by the afternoon and the wind to fill in slightly from the south west to 3-9mph. After a spot of breakfast and final kit bag checks it was off to catch the underground from Ealing to Charing Cross followed by the train to Blackheath.

I arrived at the UKA Championship enclosure at the Blue start fairly early so had plenty of time to go through loading up my gels, doing pre-race checks and a few trips to the toilet. I could also watch the elite runners & wheelchair athletes warming up on Shooters Hill Road alongside. I met up with fellow New Forest Runners Erica Fogg and Becky Hollowbread who also had championship start places. At 9:30 it was time to put my kit bag on the truck going to the finish and do a quick warm up before the start. Just before 10:00 we were lined up just behind the elite men's field (including Mo-halfway-Farah!). Before the off a poignant 30 sec silence was held in memory of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing which took place less than a week earlier. It was quite moving to experience the collective silence of 34,000 runners.

The hooter went and we were off. My main target for the race was to run under six minute mile pace and from my training sessions and races I felt that somewhere between 5:55 to 6:00 min/mile would be achievable in the marathon. Things felt nice and comfortable for the first few miles, which was a good sign, and I exchanged a few words with a couple of other runners I knew including John Austen Half winner Ben Evans (Guildford & Godalming) and Charlie Wartnaby (Cambridge & Coleridge AC - Charlie W on the Runners World Sub-3 forum).

The most important factor to start with was to ensure I kept the pace under control for the initial part of the race. Despite trying the first 4 miles were a bit faster than planned (helped by the downhill section to the Thames), so I reined the pace in a bit going through Greenwich. The first 5k was covered in 18:09 and 5 to 10k in 18:30. A few miles in, I passed a jogging Steve Way (Bournemouth AC) who had unfortunately had to pull out with a troublesome glute, a real shame considering his great training in the run up (I had taken part in the Bournemouth marathon training sessions too). Also bumped into Pete Thompson, another Bournemouth runner who I'd spent many miles chasing up and down the prom on Wednesday nights.

Around 10-11 miles, going through Rotherhithe, I got in a decent size group (including the first two ladies) going at about the same pace as me and stuck with them for a while. As we approached Tower Bridge I felt things needed to push on a bit, so moved to the front of the group and led across the bridge. The atmosphere on Tower Bridge was mind blowing, packed on both sides with supporters making a lot of noise! I came off the bridge slightly deaf in my left ear, and going a bit faster with extra enthusiasm.

Front of the elite mens field just over halfway

Somewhere around 12 to 13 miles I was joined by fellow Runners World sub-3 forum poster Jim Sawle (aka Lucky Jim) who'd apparently been close behind me for a while and we paced the next few miles together. I went through half way in 1:17:54, a few seconds under target for a 2:36 time and it was still feeling under control. Got a great lift from my cheering family just past half way too.

Just past the halfway point on The Highway

The effort started to get a bit hard as I headed around the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf (15-20 miles) and my right inner quad (VMO) started to tighten up a bit. It had been causing a bit of trouble during training so I wasn't too surprised. The back and forth section around the offices of Canary Wharf isn't the nicest part of the course, with the tall buildings tending to funnel whatever wind happens to be blowing and multiple turns back and forth. The buildings also play havoc with GPS signals, so for a few miles most of the running was done on feel. The clock at 20 miles was showing 1:58:58 which meant I was still nicely on target. Going back past the Pickburn clan on the other side of the The Highway at mile 22, the right quad was gradually tightening up and the left one had started joined in! The final 3-4 miles were a physiological fight to maintain the pace as pain in my quads intensified, I was expecting cramp at any moment! Thankfully it didn't happen. Despite the discomfort, I managed to keep on target and passed 39 people in the last 7km with no-one over taking me.

The final section up Bird Cage Walk to Buckingham Palace was tough, not helped by mistaking the 600m to go sign for 400m! I just had enough energy left to pull out a (little) bit of extra speed for the final straight down The Mall to the finish. I finished in 2:36:16 for 89th place overall, an improvement of over 7 minutes on my previous PB (London 2012).

Video from the BBC stream of me crossing the finish line (~9:45min)

The post run recovery was a couple of pints in the sun on the pavement outside The Red Lion pub in Whitehall with a number of other runners (including a good selection from the Sub-3 forum), a very satisfying way to celebrate a great race!

Garmin GPS data from the race

Great South Run 2012

I ran the 10 mile Great South Run last Sunday, along with 24,999 other people! Thankfully had a fast club runner number, so got a spot just behind the elites up the front! The wind swung to the west and filled in as the morning went on, definitely not as bad a some previous years but still hard going in the final 2ml.

I'm pleased to report it went well, primary target was to get to 8ml, ie pre final headwind stretch, at target half marathon pace (5:45/ml) and after that I wasn't going to be too fussed as almost anything was going to be a PB today (previous was 1:03:xx). 

Going past HMS Victory in the Naval Dockyards at mile 2-3

Going out on the out & back section at mile 4

Went off quick and mile 1 came in at 5:33, was surprised at the low numbers of faster club runners, but hung in with a group who's pace backed off a bit and then stabilised around my target nicely. Hit the easterly turning point back to the finish at 8ml a bit under 5:45 pace I think, so main job for the day was complete. The last 2ml were slower into the wind (5:5x) but I came across the line in 57:39 (garmin time). Results put me 45th with a gun time of 57:42. Had very little trouble from my calves, felt pretty strong throughout the race and only got the odd prang of a stitch which was manageable. Overall very happy with a morning's running that's set a good benchmark after a month or two of training inconsistency, things are looking better for attempting a good time at Gosport (probably just over 75mins at a guess!)

Trying to go fast on the final stretch!