Fairland's Valley Race Results In

When I checked the race results yesterday I was amazed to discover that I finished in 6th place out of 205 marathon runners.  I thought I was just plodding around.  Still, my high placing would explain why my legs were feeling so tired.  I've definitely been feeling sorer after the Fairland's Valley Marathon than I was post South Downs, which should have been a harder race.  But maybe this also further confirms my difficulty to soreness ratio theory.

I wouldn't necessarily regard the Fairland's Valley Marathon as being particularly tough, providing you can interpret race instructions whilst running.  It is mostly run off-road and at times on fairly thick grass, which is more energy sapping than tarmac, but also a lot more pleasant.

There's also a few challenging short climbs.  But none of the hills were impossible to run up.

On the whole, the weekend's marathon was a really enjoyable race.  The number of participants was fairly small.  About 500 people in total took part, with 205 doing the marathon and the rest either opting to do the 50k ultra, or an 18 mile or 12 mile run.  As always with small events there was greater camaraderie and the runners were more supportive of each other. 


Marathon number 7 completed


The organisers had laid on a free barbecue at the finish, and I was very grateful for my cheese burger.  My one and only criticism of the event is that the race memento is a bit naff - a one size fits all baseball cap with the Spartans Running Club logo on, the club that organised the event.  Still, it was a cheapish event to enter, so I can't really complain.  I guess I prefer a medal.

Since Sunday I have now picked out my next marathon.  I've decided not to do the North Downs Marathon so that I can join my friend for his birthday celebrations.  Instead I will take part in 42k Pathfinder Walk which starts at Conington in Cambridgeshire.  It's another local event and only cost £7 to enter.  Although it's billed as a walk it is recognised by the 100 marathon club, in fact it was a member of the club who told me of the event.  There are also different start times for runners and walkers, so runners are definitely welcomed by the organisers.  I'll be posting my application today.

Fairland's Valley Marathon - Brief Post Race Report

Well, I've been a little slack on updating my blog over the last few weeks and also suffering slightly with a lack of motivation with regards to training.  I'm blaming Glastonbury and the warmer weather.  I'm hoping that today's marathon will give me the boost to get back on track with both.

This will just be a quick update.  I hope to write more later in the week.  Today's race was the Fairland's Valley Marathon, which started and finished in Stevenage.  I didn't have great expectations for either my time or the relative beauty of the course.  Stevenage isn't the most inspiring place on Earth.  However, I had my scepticism squashed soon into the run.  The countryside around Stevenage is varied and stunning.  Perhaps not quite Lake District stunning, but very nice none the less.  We ran through a good mix of woodland, country estates and meandering river valleys.  Given that it's only about a 45 to 50 minute drive from home, this is definitely a marathon that I'd do again, and which I would recommend to friends.

The need to follow written instructions and self navigate can be a bit of a pain, and I did go wrong on two occasions.  Fortunately, I realised my mistake very quickly so it didn't cost much in terms of time.  For the majority of the race I ran in a pack with six other runners.  By the time we'd reached the final checkpoint we'd become a group of three, and over the last few miles the three of us separated as we each focused on our own personal battles to reach the finish.  Thus, Dave from South Africa finished a couple of minutes ahead of me, and Beth running her first ever marathon finished about a minute behind me.  The two of them are pictured with me below.  I think you can work out who's who.

My finishing time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes.  This needs to be verified with the official results, which I expect will be on-line tomorrow. 

For the first time this year and don't have my next race booked already.  So I really need to get on to do that.  I haven't 100% picked out my August marathon yet.  I was going to do the North Downs Marathon, but that now clashes with a friend's birthday celebration.  If I can find an alternative attractive marathon to do on a different weekend, then I'll book that.  If not, I'll stick with my original plan even though it means letting a friend down.  I doubt if my absence from the party will be noticed that much.

Post Glastonbury Long Run

Boy that was a hard run today.  It’s been three weeks since South Downs Marathon and training has taken a bit of a slump in that time.  This was mainly due to being away for the best part of a week at Glastonbury Festival, which I treat as my one chance in the year to really let my hair down (what little I have) and have a bit of a wild time without thinking about the next race goal.  It’s great that it fell exactly half way through my marathon challenge for the year.

 

So, on Wednesday 22 June I left Cambridge at 6am with two friends (Victor and James) for the 5 hour drive to Glastonbury.  The weather wasn’t looking too great for the following days, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down.  We had a bit of a trek to find a camping pitch for the three of us.  Despite the fact that the gates only opened at 9am, the site was virtually full by the time we actually arrived on the main festival site just after mid-day.  Once we were pitched it was time to go and have our first festival meal.  There’s a vast choice of food available at Glastonbury and it is possible to eat very well.  My first meal was a Lebanese meze of cous cous salad, stuffed vine leaves, feta and spinach filo pastry parcels, falafel and hummus.

 

Lovely Glastonbury mud

Later on the Wednesday we met up with two other friends, Simon and Abigail.  We then pretty much stayed together as a group of five throughout Wednesday evening and all day on Thursday, trudging through the slurry like Glastonbury mud between bars and various venues.

 

First pint of hot spiced cider

The festival really kicks off from Friday morning, and it looked like the weather was going to pick up.  The day started well on Friday, but rain returned in time for Morrissey’s set and continued throughout U2.  Fortunately, it stayed dry and warm on Saturday and the mud started to dry out.  This meant that for the whole day we had to wade through ever hardening mud, which would cling to boots adding a good kilo of extra weight to each leg.  This would be the closest I’d come to doing any training.

 

Sunshine over Glastonbury Festival

Thankfully, the ground was mostly dry by Sunday afternoon and it was possible to lie out on the baked earth in the sun.  It was on Sunday that I got to experience my two absolute highlights of the weekend: TV On The Radio, and Queens Of The Stoneage, who were amongst one of the best headline bands I’ve seen at the Festival.

 

After the long walk from our camping pitch to the car Monday morning, we then had the five hour drive back to Cambridge to face.  I was very grateful that Victor was doing the driving.  I got home muddy and tired, with a rucksack of dirty clothes to wash and a tent to erect, hose down and dry off before putting it away.  That evening I had an early night to try and make up for only getting about 5 hours sleep each night for the previous five nights.  Then it was back to work as usual on Tuesday.  I felt as if I was working through a sleep deficit for the entire week and was very grateful for a long lie-in Saturday morning – to think I’d actually contemplated going to Parkrun.

Since Tuesday I’ve done more kettlebelling than running, which is a reverse to the norm for me.  I was a little apprehensive about today’s long run.  I knew it was going to hurt, but with my next marathon taking place in two weeks time I had no option but to get out for a 20 mile run.  I opted for the 20 mile loop via the villages of Bottisham, Swaffham Prior and Lode and finishing with an 8 mile run along the river.  It was a hot day, with temperatures in the mid 20s, and with very little shade on the route.  By mile 12 my legs were starting to hurt.  I tried to take in the sights along the river to take my mind off the run.  By the last 2 miles of the run I felt as if I was practically crawling along and the desire to just walk was overwhelming.  But I managed to dig deep and it was a huge relief to eventually find myself back at my front door.   For the rest of this week I need to focus on some good quality running to get back in to better shape for the Fairland’s Valley Marathon on 17 July.

 

Life on the Rive Cam

 

Wasted weekend (perhaps?)

This will be a quick update as I've done very little in the way of running since the last marathon.  I figured that if I'm going to keep tabs on all the good work I do I should also report on the pitfalls to my training.  Last weekend I was full of good intentions that didn't materialise, mainly because I spent a lot of it with a hangover.

Saturday's hangover was pathetic.  Ruth and I stayed in with a DVD Friday evening and drank one bottle of wine between us.  The next day I struggled through a few choirs with my hangover but couldn't summon the energy to do any training.  I had planned to do a kettlebell session and short 5 to 6 mile run.

On Saturday evening I went out with a bunch of mates for a lads' night out.  Most of them are now parents and we rarely all get together without respective wives, partners and children being in tow.  My hangover from the previous evening had just about gone by the time I was heading out.  I was expecting to only be out for a few beers and be home by 11.30pm.  We were kicked out of one pub when it closed at 11pm, but none of us quite felt ready to go home.  So we headed to a pub just down the street that was open to midnight.  However, when that pub closed we found ourselves going on to somewhere else.  I haven't confessed to Ruth what time I got in, but I came very close to watching sunrise.

So Sunday morning, of which I saw way more than I would have liked, I woke with my second hangover of the weekend.  At least this time I felt as if I deserved it.  Despite the magnitude of the hangover being more severe at first, I did manage to do some training later that day.  But the 14 mile run I'd planned didn't happen.  Instead I did some kettlebelling and I also played with my latest fitness toy.  My ViPR (which stands for Vitality, Performance and Re-conditioning) arrived earlier in the week, so I had a quick workout with that, too.

It must have been a good workout, because my abs have been complaining today.  Anyway, that's about it.  Tomorrow is my last working day before I head off to Glastonbury bright and early Wednesday morning.  Maybe all the drinking I did last weekend was good training for this forthcoming weekend.  Watch this space for my Glastonbury review.

South Downs Marathon Race Report

What a beautiful and brutal marathon that was.  Despite the South Downs Marathon being the toughest of the year so far, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The scenery was probably even more spectacular than the Windermere Marathon, largely due to the fact that so much of the marathon course was run along the top of the South Downs with great views of the surrounding countryside.  Of course, this was what made it tough, because to reach the view points meant running up hill.

The race started from the grounds of Slindon College, which is about 7 miles east of Chichester and 50 miles from my parental home in Winchester.  The college itself is a rather well appointed private school that specialises in the education of boys with dyslexia.  The grounds of the college made for a pleasant setting to whittle away the time whilst waiting for the race to start.  Rather unusually the race was set off in four waves.  The first wave consisted of the relay runners, made up of teams of four, who set off at 9am.  Solo runners who predicted it would take them longer than 5 hours to complete the marathon started at 9.20am, followed by runners who though it would take them between 4 and 5 hours at 9.40am.  Anyone who expected to complete the race in 4 hours or under, which included me, set off at 10am.

The start of wave 3 at Slindon College

I was at the college in plenty of time to watch all of the waves of runners depart.  The 20 minute duration between each wave of runners seemed to last forever, and there was very little to do except queue for the loos.  Which was my only gripe, the portaloo provision seemed minimal for the number of runners, and we weren’t allowed to use the loos in the school itself.  I would have been frantic if I’d been in one of the first two waves to start.  By the time it was my time to set off, the vast majority of runners and supporters had already gone on their way, and the grounds were suddenly very quiet for the last 20 minute period before my race was due to start, which was the only time that there wasn’t a massive queue for the toilets.



Waiting for my start time

As I mentioned in a previous post, the marathon is divided into four sections with a checkpoint at the end of each section.  The marathon was chip timed and used a disposable timing chip that I’ve never seen before.  A timing mat was present at all three checkpoints, as well as the start and finish, which gave the organisers reliable information about who was still left out on each part of the course.

When my race started at 10am, the runners stayed together as quite a tight pack for the first couple of miles, which were reasonably undulating, but with definitely more up than down.  From roughly the 2 mile point the incline got steeper and continued to go upwards for the next 2 miles.  This part of the route went through shady woodland with foxgloves growing wild in clusters of sunlight amongst the trees.  It was quite pretty and helped take my mind off the incline.  Towards the top of the first climb I started to pass more and more runners who had decided to walk up the hill.  I was on the verge of walking myself when I suddenly turned a corner and found myself running on the flat.  Shortly after this I was out of the trees and on top of the world.  It then became quite apparent that the climb had decimated the pack of runners.  I could see a pair of runners a short distance ahead of me but no one else.  I then looked over my shoulder and there were just a small number of runners emerging from the trees behind me.  I caught up with the pair ahead of me and decided to stay on their heels for a while and use them as my pace makers.  I didn’t let them know this, though.


Running on top of the Downs

The next couple of miles were fairly level running with good views of the surrounding South Downs and its villages.  I started to overtake runners who had left in the earlier waves from the five mile mark.  Six and a half miles in we reached the first steep descent down to the first checkpoint.  I let gravity take over and I flew down the hill passing plenty of runners who were using way too much energy and over exerting their quadriceps by breaking their descent.  I was grateful that it wasn’t raining; otherwise the white chalk path would have been treacherous. 

Starting the climb after the first checkpoint

At the bottom of the descent we crossed the busy A285, went through the first checkpoint and then started the climb back up to the next section of the Downs.  At first all of the runners attempted to run up the second big hill.  But it wasn’t long before more and more runners succumbed to the hill and decided to walk instead.  To start with runners adopted a system similar to the escalators on the London Underground.  People running would stick to the right and walkers would stay to the left.  But nearer the top of the climb the vast majority gave up all hope of running and competitors were walking on both sides of the path.  At this point anyone with enough determination left had to run through the thick grass to overtake the walkers.  From half way up I found myself half walking and half running to reach the top of the hill.  But once again, at the top of the climb we were rewarded with good views and level running, at least until it was time for the next steep descent to the second checkpoint and road crossing on the A286.



Halfway up the 2nd big climb - walkers left, runners right

The third section of the marathon was the toughest of the lot.  It was the most undulating, with short, steep climbs being quickly followed by steep descents.  Hardly any of the next six miles would be flat.  Throughout the previous section I had constantly been overtaking runners who had set off in the previous two waves.  But the third section of the marathon seemed to reduce everyone to the same speed.  I managed to run down some of the earlier slopes, but by the end of the third section of the course even running down had become painful and I didn’t trust myself to just let go and give in to gravity.  There were plenty of runners around me who were cut and covered in dust from falling over, and I didn’t want to end up with more grazes on top of the ones that I already had from my fall earlier in the week.  I don’t think I saw anyone run up any of the hills on the third section of the route.  Anyone making a valiant attempt from the bottom of a climb soon gave up and walked with the rest of us.  Still, we still had the views to take our minds off the pain.

One of the climbs on the third section of the course

On the approach to the third and final checkpoint a runner who had completed this marathon on a few previous occasions reassured me that the final section wasn’t as tough and that the last two miles were all down hill.  Thankfully, he was correct.  I had almost resigned myself to walking the last six miles.  At the start of the final section my feet felt mashed from being pushed to the front of my shoes on the descents and from all the running over hard chalk paths.  My legs also felt knackered from the effort of running up and down way more hills than I’m used to.  But somehow I managed to dig deep and carry on running, even though I only averaged a little slower than a 9 minute mile pace over the last six miles. 

I crossed the finish line in a time of 3 hours and 41 minutes and felt the usual wave of relief and elation wash over me.  However, this marathon felt like a much harder thought battle than most, and as such the sense of accomplishment was also higher than any of the previous five run so far this year.  With the agony also came the shear pleasure of running in a beautiful part of the English countryside.  The landscapes and vistas encountered seemed quintessentially English.  I almost felt as if I was on a location finding mission for an episode of Country File.  It certainly had been a rewarding marathon and I dare say that I will be back at some point.

Six down and six to go

Soon after crossing the line I met up with Ruth.  I then headed straight to a burger van for a well earned quarter pounder with extra bacon.  There’s nothing like rewarding yourself with junk food after burning off in excess of 3000 calories.  That’s what my Garmin tells me was my energy expenditure on the run.  It also tells me that I made a total ascent of 840m, which is 2724 feet, or similar to running up and over one of the major peaks in the Lake District National Park.

Amazingly, I feel in pretty good shape today (aside from two massive blisters on my little toes).  This helps back up my theory that the tougher the marathon the less sore you are afterwards.  I believe that flat marathons might be easier to complete, but in doing so you exercise your muscles in exactly the same way for the 3 to 5 hours that you run, leading to muscle fatigue.  On hilly courses the amount of work that is undertaken by the hamstrings and quadriceps is constantly changing.  So, whilst it might be physically harder, your leg muscles aren’t always working at the same rate or in the same way and, as a result, the repercussions the next day aren’t as severe.

Anyway, the completion of the South Downs Marathon means I am now half way through the target I set back in December last year.  In reviewing the list of marathons I drew up at that time, this is the first time that I have deviated from my original plan.  I had intended on running Cheltenham Marathon this month, but I think I made the right choice in switching to the South Downs.  It also had the advantage of enabling me to combine running a marathon with visiting family and friends.  Who says men can’t multi task?

Ouch!

Marathon number six takes place in 3 days time, which means carbo loading time again.  Unfortunately, I had a minor mishap yesterday, which means I'll be running with a few scrapes and bruises, but more of that later.

First of all, the weekend went to plan.  Saturday morning I went for a 5 mile run in a new pair of running shoes that I'd bought the previous day.  I managed to run the middle mile at a fast 5 minutes 40 seconds pace, which I was quite happy with.  I then did a mini 15 minute kettlebell workout before meeting with friends at the Cambridge Strawberry Fair in the afternoon.  The fair had become quite a raucous affair in previous years, with people travelling from far and wide for the free one day music festival.  Lots of my friends had stopped going as the level of drunken behaviour, violence and arrests increased.  It was scrapped last year on the recommendation of the police, but this year it was back with heightened security.  Ruth and I popped along with a couple of friends to see if anything had changed.  The major difference was only having two entry points with random bag searches, but the fair itself did also feel more relaxed.  Some effort has been made to change the emphasis of the fair, and as a result it is no longer just about music.  The dance tent has been scrapped, as it seems that that was held responsible for previous troubles, and instead there was a large open green with Medieval combat re-enactments taking place.  We only went along for the afternoon, so I can't comment on what happens after nightfall.

On Sunday I went for an 11 mile run with Jamsheed, Andrea G and Paul.  We just headed up the River Cam to Waterbeach and back, and had a very pleasant social run together.  The weather continued to be warm and dry.  Cambridge did eventually have a good, long downpour of rain on Sunday evening and Monday morning.  Fortunately, it stopped in time for me to teach my outdoor kettlebell class Monday lunchtime, and there has been very little sign of rain since, despite the forecast earlier in the week saying we'd have a good three days of rain.

The mishap that I mentioned above occurred yesterday morning.  I left home to go for an 8 mile run and I'd only gone a few hundred yards from my front door when I suddenly found myself sprawled on my back.  I really have no idea how it happened, one minute I was running, then I remember looking over my shoulder to check for traffic as I crossed a very quite side road, the next second I was falling to the ground.  I managed to get both hands out to break my fall and then I rolled onto my right elbow and hip, and then onto my back.  I have a grazed back and hip to show for it, which are more painful than I'd have thought possible.  After about 9 years of running this is the only time I can remember randomly falling over.  A few years back I remember being tripped when my foot disappeared down a hidden rabbit hole.  But yesterday I couldn't see anything on the pavement that I might have tripped over.  The footpath itself was in good condition.  I'll have to just put it down to being one of those things and hope it isn't a sign of old age.  Maybe fate decided I needed something to spice up my blog.

Countdown to South Downs Marathon

The big news this week relates to the arrival of race day information for the South Downs Marathon on June 11th.  I always knew that this was likely to be a tough marathon, but an inspection of the course profile, along with prospect of the race being on a very warm day, left me feeling a little apprehensive.

The marathon has been divided into four sections.  There is a checkpoint at the end of each section, which coincides with a road crossing.  I'm not too concerned about the first two sections.  The first section steadily climbs from 200 feet to about 700 feet over the first 4 miles, but you then run along a ridge along the South Downs Way before descending back down to 400 feet at the first checkpoint.  The second section also climbs quickly to about 700 feet followed by roughly 4 miles of fairly level running along the top of a ridge line before another quick descent to the second checkpoint.  It's the next two sections I'm concerned about.  Section 3 has another quick ascent, followed by 5 miles of undulating running.  Then the final section seems to be the most undulating section of the lot, and it finishes 200 feet higher than the start.  I think I'll be taking this one nice and steady from the start and opting to walk up several of the hills.

This week has been fairly busy training wise.  You might remember that I injured my right shoulder in the week before London Marathon, back in mid April.  It was only this week that I've felt that I could start doing some serious kettlebell training with it again.  So on Tuesday I set aside some time to have a good kettlebell workout.  I did lots of two hand and one arm swings at first just to check how my shoulder felt, then I started some snatches and military presses.  I started the workout with a 14kg kettlebell and then moved up to a 16kg bell, I didn't feel as if I should push my luck beyond this after several weeks of not using the bells so much.




Kettlebell one arm swing



Kettlebell Military Press

I've also run every day this week, except today, one way or another.  On Tuesday I ran with two clients; a gentle one in the morning and a not so gentle one in the evening.  On Wednesday I did my own interval training session, which I kept fairly short, but this was followed by putting the Sweaty Betty ladies through their paces.  I had them doing lots of short sprints with very little recovery time.  It was a tough session which had them complaining in all the right ways.  I think most enjoyed it, really!  I then followed this with an 11 mile run yesterday morning.  Since Monday the weather has gradually got warmer with each passing day.  By the time I finished my 11 miler yesterday I was a puddle of sweat.  I then did another quick kettlebell session this morning, focusing mainly on core specific exercises.

I hope to do a short run tomorrow followed by another kettlebell session.  On Sunday I'm toying with the idea of doing a long hill training session in preparation for the South Downs the following week, but I suspect I've left it a little late to do any serious hill work.  I'll see if I can persuade some friends to go to Royston hills with me.