Category Archives: Training

Sub-40 Project, Bideford 10k Training: Week 1

by Ben

Training for a sub-40 minute 10k? Ha, we’ve heard this story before, haven’t we? For whatever reason, this just seems to have been the big block for me. Way back in 2016, I set myself an ambitious plan to run sub-90 at the Bristol Half Marathon, and achieved it. Since then, I’ve just never really made any further headway. I’ve tried a few times to target 40 minutes, but for various reasons, it has never come off. So, we start again.

My target race is the Bideford 10k on 7 May – I ran the 10 miler there in November, so I have a good idea of the course. It has a little lump early on, but nothing particularly significant. The wind can be a pretty significant factor, but to be honest, that’s not much different anywhere else, so I’m not going to get too caught up on that.

For my plan, I’m self-coaching, combining the training philosophies from Faster Road Running and Daniels’ Running Formula with my own knowledge to make something that fits me. Or that’s the hope, anyway! I’ve explored the possibility of having a coach in the past, but remain convinced that I can do it myself. Possibly, if I don’t make the breakthroughs that I want this year, I might have to relent. But for now – I’m going to knuckle-down, be positive, and give this plan my all.

I’ve got reasonable mileage behind me – 30 to 35 miles per week feels pretty normal these days, and I feel confident that I can push up into the 40s throughout much of this training block. I think key workouts are going to be threshold work, something that I often neglect when I don’t have a written plan. I added them into my running last year, and did pretty well before getting ill in the autumn, and missing my target races.

So, introduction done, let’s have a look at week one:

  • Monday: Rest day
  • Tuesday: 7 miles easy with 6 x 12 sec hill and 6 x 100m strides
  • Wednesday: 9 miles steady
  • Thursday: Rest day
  • Friday: 8 miles threshold: 3 x 1 mile at threshold pace and 6 x 200m reps
  • Saturday: 3 miles recovery
  • Sunday: 10 miles long
Monday:

Rest day – I really want to be using these days to do some yoga and foam rolling work, but… I didn’t.

Tuesday:

I headed out for an initial five miles mostly around some country lanes. I averaged roughly 8:30 per mile for this part of the run, which seems about right, with a heart-rate around 130-140 bpm. The hill I chose for the hill reps was a little too shallow really, I’ll need to find something a bit more significant before doing these again. My pacing was also a bit all over the place. The strides after went much more smoothly, though I’m never quite sure exactly how hard to push on strides!

Wednesday:

For my midweek steady mileage, I’ll generally be trying to do these with my running club. This week, I was leading Group 2, which has a 7:30 to 8:00 per mile pace band, slightly quicker than my own steady pace band of roughly 7:45 to 8:45 per mile. I got out beforehand for 1.7 miles alone, and then managed to keep the club run to the slower end of the band, 7:55 per mile on average. This actually felt slightly harder than I would have liked at times – my legs still seem slightly fatigued from some cycling I did last week, and it just seemed to make everything feel a little harder than it should have done. Still, nine midweek evening miles done.

Thursday:

Rest day – still no yoga or foam rolling.

Friday:

The big one – threshold day! I was working down in Cornwall, and wanted to work out a way to fit this in nicely, rather than leaving it until I was home and doing loops of the Bathpool estate. (I’m sick of loops of the Bathpool estate.) So, I worked out that I could come off the A38 at Bodmin and do this session on the Camel Trail, a multi-use trail the follows the River Camel. (See what they did with the name there??) This worked pretty well, the surface was generally very good despite some light rain, and it was mostly flat. More on that later.

The gorgeous Camel Trail.

By the time I wrapped up my job and arrived, it was about half 12, and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, which wasn’t ideal preparation for a speed session. I started off along the trail for a couple of miles warm-up, and then cranked into the first mile threshold interval. I was targeting 6:44 for these. As usual, I set off too fast, but ended up not too far ahead of target pace, with a 6:41. The one minute rest went far too quickly before I ran the second in 6:42. Having hit half distance for the whole session, I turned around. For the first half of the run, I’d noticed a slight downhill assistance. For the second half, I definitely noticed the slight uphill resistance. Oh, and the headwind! Still, I hit 6:42 again for the third interval, though I really pushed my heart-rate up into the high 170s by the end of it. Still, the averages across each interval weren’t too far off: 169, 167, 172.

The quicker repeats didn’t go so well. My legs were very weary, the climb was very obvious in places, and twice I had to extend my recovery because of awkward road crossing. Aiming for 43 seconds, I ran 41, 39, 42, 42, 44, 45. By the time I finished this, my legs felt absolutely trashed. My watch declared the training effect of the run was 3.9 aerobic and 2.5 anaerobic. I have no idea what those numbers specifically mean, but they are much bigger than I normally see! As long as I can recover nicely from it, this was a great workout.

Saturday:

My plan called for three miles recovery, which tied in perfectly with our parkrun plans for me to run with my daughter. However, Lolly woke up ill, and her and my daughter decided to stay at home. I still headed out, going to Marine Parade parkrun where I met up with Kirk and Dawn. It can be far too easy to get caught up and run too fast at parkrun, so I kept my hoodie on, and did the first kilometre with Kirk, who had plans for a sub-30 finish time. I kept things pretty steady thereafter for a 28-minute finish, and was really happy to see Kirk sneak in just under 30 minutes.

Sunday:

Almost always my least favourite run of the week – the long run. I’ve always preferred running fast to running slow, and I often find Sunday long runs a battle to get myself out the door. Still, whether it was the positivity of the plan, and knowing how this run slotted in with the others, or just the sunshine, I’m not sure, but today felt pretty good. After a reasonably sedate first four miles, which averaged 8:37 per mile, I pushed on for the remaining six, averaging 7:50 per mile across those, including a surprising 7:35 for mile eight!

Considering that my legs still felt heavy from Friday, I was really happy with this run, though also a little worried that maybe I was overcooking things, and should have taken it all a little bit easier. We’ll have to see how next week goes.

Summary:
  • Mileage planned: 37.0
  • Mileage achieved: 37.5

This was a really solid first week. I came into it more fatigued than I would have liked, as I’d raced 5k and rode my bike for the first time in ages, but I still coped with the plan pretty well. The mileage was only a slight step up from what I’d been doing recently, but simply by adding a threshold workout in, the training effect seemed much higher. Next week ups the ante with harder workouts on both Tuesday and Friday, along with some slightly higher overall mileage, but I’m excited to see how it goes!

I don’t want to forget 2020

by Lolly

Happy New Year everyone! I can understand why a lot of people are happy to see the end of 2020, but it makes me sad the number of people saying they want to forget it completely.

In terms of running headlines, I had a bit of a shocker of the year. My main goal for the year was sub-25 5k. Right now, unless I’m feeling great and really pushing myself, I’d struggle to get sub-30. But that doesn’t mean I should write it off completely, because…

I ran 5k every Saturday in 2020

At the point parkrun stopped at the end of March (and this whole post focuses on that point onwards), I hadn’t missed an event in the year. Which was pretty good going given the weather issues we’d had. And I decided to keep that anchor in my week.

My route changed a few weeks in when the paths got too busy, and as a loop around roads it isn’t the most exciting, but it works. There’s something nice about it not being a decision. On Saturdays I get up, hydrate, have a small bit to eat, and then go run my loop. Nothing to think about. And yes, present tense, because 2020 ending doesn’t mean my streak has stopped.

Some weeks, particularly early on, I sped round the loop. Others were more gentle. Which brings me onto…

I got better at listening to my body

Like a lot of people, I experienced quite high stress levels last year. This was pretty draining, and meant that sometimes running hard would have been counter-productive. So I gave myself a little more slack in not pushing myself too far.

I also started taking my hormones into account more. I started tracking my cycle in 2019 (on an app called Clue if you’re interested), but while I knew certain days were better for running than others I never did anything about it. In 2020 I started looking at when my next cycle was due, and planning to take runs super gently if they coincided with the start.

And for some Saturdays, that meant run/walking. Because feeling good at the start of the weekend is more important than getting round a few seconds faster. And, also, being prepared to run/walk meant…

I still ran with my family

Although we didn’t manage it as often as we’d have liked, Lani and I managed to go for a few runs together after school. Sometimes we planned a route in advance, sometimes we just made a decision at every turn. Sometimes we walked about as much as we ran, sometimes we practised our ‘super strong running’, and sometimes we had truly playful fartleks.

One Saturday in December I woke up feeling particularly shocking, and knew I was going to need a very gentle run/walk. I asked Lani if she’d like to head out with me. Suddenly a very demoralising slog turned into an adventure. I’d run that route around 30 times in the year, but to her it was exciting and new. We chatted, we laughed, and had a great start to our weekend.

I also managed a few buggy runs, whether after morning drop-off on my day off, or when doing nursery pick up in the evening. Buggy running is something that makes me feel strong and confident, so I’d like to do it more.

And one of my last runs in the year was one of my favourites. In wisdom and understanding beyond her years, Lani had declared back in July that “if things are still like this at Christmas then we can still go for a family run in the morning”. So, on the first Christmas Day of her life that didn’t revolve around Longrun Meadow parkrun, we did just that. The 4 of us ran to Longrun Meadow, did one short lap through the icy puddles, and then ran home.

It was heaven.

Lolly’s mid-year running recap

by Lolly

So somehow we are now halfway through 2020. I’m not entirely sure how, as (like lots of other people) I’m convinced it’s still March. Which is somewhat demonstrated by my lack of blog posts in the meantime. Still, mid-year is a good time to reflect and reset.

The start of my year is pretty well documented, with me running more miles in January than in any month since 2015. February slipped a bit, but I still edged over the 50 mile marker I was hoping to hit.

And then March happened.

One week I was celebrating the latest batch of beginners graduating, with life pretty much as normal, the next week parkrun and club runs were being cancelled, and I was working from home. Soon followed by the kids being home as well.

The change in routine was drastic. Where before the walk to and from school and work meant I clocked up 3 miles of walking a day without trying, now I was walking a couple of metres to my desk, and had no decompression barrier between work life and home life.

The lack of parkrun hit me hardest. Towards the end of last year, when things were a bit all over the place, I promised myself that I would do parkrun every week. That whatever else happened, however I was feeling, it would be my anchor. And then it stopped. But, like lots of other people, I carried on. That first Saturday I headed off at exactly 9 o’clock, because I needed to process the adjustment properly.

By the third Saturday, I’d built up a rhythm and ran my fastest 5k of the year so far. The confidence boost was amazing. I might not be able to run parkrun, but I could make sure that I got fitter and stronger. Get my running back to where I want.

Over the three weeks that followed I got into the rhythm of running. My Saturday Morning 5k had to move to an earlier start time, and then to a different route, because of too many people. But it remained a positive driver in my week. I even managed to get some online workout classes in as well.

And then I crashed.

My body reacts really badly to stress. Up to a certain level I do ok, but sustained high levels of stress just break me. One Monday morning, I sat at my desk and realised I was too drained and exhausted to be sitting up. After spending the rest of the day curled up in bed, I was able to get through the rest of the week, albeit feeling pretty weak.

But when Saturday came round, I knew I had to run. Knew that my stress levels would not be improved by skipping out on my anchor. So I went out, putting no pressure pace, just doing what I felt my body could do. Acknowledging that the main purpose of the run was mental not physical.

After a few weeks of only running once a week, Ben pushed me out for an extra run. Just 2 miles down the road and back, but it was something. Since then my running has been really hit and miss. A few times I’ve run really well and felt like I was on the way back, and then some weeks I’ve been really tired and had to rest.

In January I ran 60 miles, in May I ran just 17. It was still 17 miles though, when it could very easily have been zero.

I’ve been really lucky during lockdown in lots of ways. My job transfers really well to working from home (in fact, I’m now a permanent home worker), and the company I work for have been amazingly understanding about those of us with kids at home. Ben got furloughed a couple of weeks in, which took off a lot of pressure with the kids. And my friends and family have so far managed to stay well.

My goals from the start of the year now seem a lifetime a way. Running a parkrun in sub-25 would obviously depend on parkrun being back, but also I’m currently taking a fair bit over 30 minutes to run 5k. With the right balance of training, and managing my energy levels, that should just be temporary. And as for running a half marathon I’m proud of, I imagine any races at the end of the year are going to be pretty busy, and I don’t think now is the best time to put my body through half marathon training.

So maybe I need some new goals, some new direction. I don’t know. What I do know, though, is that I’ll keep running 5k on a Saturday morning. Because it’s what I do.

Tired, slower, lacking in colour, but still running

Lolly’s training diary: February recap

by Lolly

So, perhaps inevitably, my training diary progress sort of lapsed. The longer I left it, the more there was to write, the less inclined I was to write about it. So here’s a sort of recap for all of February (shockingly, a week after I meant to write it).

parkruns – 5

I maintained my streak of making it to parkrun each week. The 1st and 8th were at Longrun Meadow, both with a mile each side to get there and back. Then the weather took a turn for the worse, so I went to Burnham and Highbridge on the 15th. This was a particularly tough run for me, with memories of such a good run there at the start of last year while feeling so out of shape. The 22nd saw a family outing to Eastville, where I ran with Lani and the buggy. And, finally, Lani and I celebrated the first ever Leap Day parkrun back at Burnham and Highbridge, this time for a reverse course.

Sometimes it’s more important to run happy than to run fast

Beginners group sessions – 4

Weeks 4 to 7 of the beginners group obviously progress immensely in terms of the amount of running, so the mileage from this added up quite nicely. I also ran to club and back home after each week – one week taking an extended 1 mile route in each direction.

Other runs – 4

So this isn’t quite the direction I was hoping this would go in, but there are still some positives to be found. The first week of February I was thick with cold, so skipped my now-regular Tuesday run. I had, however, run with Lani at Longrun Meadow juniors on the Sunday, which is something at least.
The next week, Ben was able to sort the kids, giving me a little longer than usual, so I made a full 6 miles. This was a massive boost psychologically, given my recent lack of running, and actually felt pretty good.
Then came half term, and my usual scheduled slot disappeared, but I forced myself out anyway. I was aiming for somewhere between 5 and 6 miles. There was freezing rain for half my run: I did exactly 5 miles.
And for my final Tuesday slot, I had to juggle extra children-related responsibilities, as Ben got stuck at work late. Through sheer insane determination I still got a 3.3 mile run in. And was rewarded with hail for the last few minutes.

Exercise classes – 4

February’s big news is that I joined a gym. Well technically that was the end of January’s big news, but I was thick with cold then so I couldn’t do anything about it. Based on my personal strength goals, I opted to try a Kettlebells class. This has definitely been a challenge, but it’s one I’m really enjoying. I’ll definitely be on the lighter weights for a while, although I’m nearly able to actually move the next day now.

Gym sessions – 2

I did my starter gym session the week after I started Kettlebells. In my past gym life (pre-children) I mostly did cardio with a bit of dumbbells/medicine balls etc. I did learn about all the weights machines but never really used them.
This time I made sure to take notes on different machines and settings, focusing on upper body strength. My favourite is definitely the cable machine, which I want to learn more exercises for. And in a complete reversal of my very first gym outings, I can no longer cope with treadmills. Forcing myself to stay on for 5 minutes to warm up was incredibly tedious, and I have no desire to repeat to confirm the hypothesis.

So there you have it, my February all wrapped up.

Miles in month: 50.5
Miles in year: 110.9

Lolly’s training diary: w/c 27th January

by Lolly

I sort of planned this week. By which I mean I wrote down a couple of days it would be nice to run.

Monday – rest day
Tuesday – 5.6 miles @ 11:02

I’m really trying to make Tuesday evening runs a habit. This week I had slightly longer than usual, so figured I could probably get 6 miles in. I was coming down with a cold, so it took me at least 3 miles to get into it. After that it became quite enjoyable, until the point I realised my route wasn’t long enough. Must plan more.

Wednesday – RFRC beginners week 3

Didn’t get any extra mileage in, but was pleased to still enjoy the group while very definitely full of cold.

Thursday – rest day
Friday – rest day
Total miles in January: 60.4
Saturday – 1 mile, Longrun Meadow parkrun, 1 mile

With the whole family struggling, touring wasn’t going to happen this week. I wasn’t feeling too bad first thing, and after running the mile to Longrun Meadow decided to go for it and see how I felt. I ended up running it in 28:46, which I’m pretty happy with given I definitely struggled with my cold. Great to see running friends, and with the mile home as well it took the pressure off running the next day.

Sunday – Longrun Meadow junior parkrun

I didn’t make it out for a ‘proper’ run, but I did go for another loop round Longrun Meadow with Lani. The puddles were significantly worse, and somehow despite constantly trying to splash me Lani finished only a second off her overall PB. More time to chat with running friends rounded off the week nicely.

Miles in week: 14
Miles in February so far: 6.2
Miles in 2020 so far: 66.8

I ran more miles in January than I’ve run in any month since July 2015. My previous highest January was 2018, when I ran 40.8 miles. The best part is though that I’m not doing anything crazy, I’m just getting runs in where I can. Which is an exciting platform to build on for the rest of the year.

Lolly’s training diary: w/c 13th & 20th January

by Lolly

My best intentions of keeping a training diary are already falling behind track, so here’s two weeks’ worth in one.

Monday – 4 x 2 min effort, 1 min recovery, plus warm up and cool down

I needed to do some sort of intervals, as I hadn’t tried out a programmed workout on my new watch and didn’t want my first go to be at beginners. Despite feeling a bit meh about the idea of going out I really loved this, and reminded myself quite how much I like going fast.

Tuesday – rest day

I’d hoped to do a strength or stretch workout, but it didn’t happen.

Wednesday – RFRC beginners week 1

My hope had been to add a couple of miles around this session, but for various reasons it didn’t work out.

Thursday – planned rest day
Friday – rest day

Again with the lack of stretching or strengthening

Saturday – Land’s End parkrun with buggy

This was a nice level of challenge for me, and given the shape I’m in I was happy with finishing in 34:24. I’d love to go back there when I’m feeling stronger to attack the hills, and just to enjoy the scenery again.

Sunday – 5.1 miles @ 10:36

My route was mostly constructed for simplicity reasons, as Ben was out racing and my knowledge of the area near Ben’s parents’ house isn’t great. So I ran down the hill, did the Penrose parkrun course, and then ran back up the hill. Emphasis on the up. Running all the way back up through town left me feeling really good about running. Aren’t endorphins great?

Miles in the week: 12.6
Miles in January so far: 39.4
Miles in 2020 so far: 39.4

Partly because of being away for the weekend and partly because I was annoyed with feeling I was failing, I didn’t plan anything for w/c 20th January.

Monday – rest day
Tuesday – 3.5 miles with buggy @ 12:09

This was one of those runs that just never seemed to click. I had to emergency stop when someone stepped out in front of me. I hadn’t tightened the front wheel enough so had to stop that. KK insisted on handing me his hat. And running felt bad the whole time. But I can’t lose sight of the fact I managed to get out after work and fit a run in around the kids.

Wednesday – RFRC beginners week 2, plus 1.3 miles

I managed to find a route to club that was almost exactly 1 mile, which was nice. On the way home I only ran as far as the supermarket, as I didn’t think running the rest of the way back with a bottle of wine was a good idea.

Thursday – rest day
Friday – 3.1 miles @ 10:53

Ben was able to do the school run in the morning, so I took advantage and snuck out. I wasn’t feeling amazing when I headed out, but felt much better once I’d run.

Saturday – Chippenham parkrun with buggy

Yeah, so this was tough. Circumstances meant that it was a test of brute strength, mental toughness, and then a lung-buster to finish. All in all, finishing in 36:31 was nothing short of a miracle.

Crazy-pace-charts-r-us
Sunday – rest day
Miles in the week: 13.4
Miles in January so far: 52.8
Miles in 2020 so far: 52.8

I really need to look at putting a proper plan together, so that I can get some more structured runs in.

Lolly’s Training Diary: w/c 6th January 2020

by Lolly

After losing my way a bit (a lot) with running last year, I’ve decided I need to set myself some achievable but challenging goals for 2020. Because, much as I hate to admit it, I’m way more likely to finally go on long runs again if I have something to aim at.

With that in mind, my goals are:

  1. Run a sub-25 parkrun
  2. Run a half marathon I’m proud of

To help honestly keep track of my progress, I’m also resurrecting my training diary. Which will look a bit weird for the next few weeks, while my principle is just “do something”, before I settle into a proper plan.

I have an actual diary and everything
Monday – rest day

I’d planned to do some strength work, but was just wiped so it wasn’t worth it.

Tuesday – 4.7 miles @ 11:03

Yay! A run! Managed to fit something in between various child-related commitments. Took it nice and steady for the most part, but still found it hard at the start as I really struggle running after work. Had to push a bit towards the end as I forgot I’m slower than I used to be, and so cut it fine to get back in time.

Wednesday – planned rest day
Thursday – rest day

Again with exhaustion

Friday – planned rest day
Saturday – Lydiard parkrun with Lani

Running a 5k parkrun with Lani isn’t the most strenuous of workouts, but it’s fun (other than fighting congestion) and definitely better than nothing. In future I’d like to try to tag some extra miles on when I run with her.

Sunday – Collett Park junior parkrun with Lani and buggy

This was more of a workout than it should have been as a) Lani is getting faster b) short sharp hills are tough with a buggy and c) I’m really not fit. It was a really nice place to run though.
I’d intended to go out for a ‘proper’ run later in the day, but for various reasons it just didn’t happen.

Miles in the week: 9
Miles in January so far: 26.8
Miles in 2020 so far: 26.8

An ‘I’m not really running’ update

by Ben

I don’t know what it is, but I just haven’t clicked this year. It has by no means been awful: other than when I fell over and made a hole in my knee, I haven’t been injured this year, and thankfully I’ve had none of the illness woes that I struggled with at the end of last year. I’ve just sort of, lost my mojo.

Heck, it wouldn’t take much for this year to finish as my second highest mileage ever, though as things stand I’m on course for my lowest total since 2015. (The difference between my current second most (810) and my fourth most (732) is about 80 miles.)

I have still been running though, and I’ve been trying to find the enjoyment while running. Even if sometimes that enjoyment isn’t actually the running itself.

My hopes of a sub-40 minute 10k this year faded away as it became clear that I just didn’t have the mental fortitude to string together consistent training weeks: I could do 30 miles one week, and then simply not run at all the following week. My last two months or so of running mileages go as such:

30, 0, 13, 0, 9, 30, 0, 18, 5, 11.

That said, I did manage to clock a sub-20 minute parkrun when we visited Burnham and Highbridge at the end of September (specifically for that purpose). While this isn’t a huge achievement for me, I would have been pretty annoyed looking at my parkrun history if I hadn’t done it.

Looking… fresh as a daisy(?!) during Burnham and Highbridge parkrun.

We also visited our 50th different parkrun; our ‘Cow’ (half a Cowell), when we went to Rogiet parkrun earlier in September.

I still have some races to look forward to, if I can get things together: the Brent Knoll race is one of my favourites, at the end of November. It isn’t the sort of race to worry too much about a time, but it’d be good to be able to have a run that I’m proud of, as I had to plod around this one last year at the height of feeling awful, in order to complete the Somerset Series.

Brent Knoll downhill fun!

After that is the Wellington Monument race, the weekend before Christmas, a local 10k that I’ve never done. Another one not to worry too much about time, it heads up a hill to Wellington Monument (surprise, surprise) before heading back down to the start again.

After that, in the first week of January, is the Stoke Stampede 10k. Weather dependent, this is genuinely quick course that I could attempt a PB on if I’m in good shape. It’s about 11 weeks away at the moment, so there is every chance that if I get my shit together, I could actually do well. If.

And after that, if I really manage to get my training sorted, is the Grizzly race in March.

It all seems in equal parts unlikely and perfectly achievable at the moment. But, I did manage to run my second Longrun Meadow parkrun of the year this week…

… and if I can do that, I can do anything!

Lolly’s Summer Summary

by Lolly

It’s fair to say that the summer holidays sent me a little off track this year. It was our first year of experiencing a school summer holiday, and the break in routine was tougher than expected. One of many things I dropped in an attempt to balance was blogging, and so I thought I would return with a little summary of my summer’s running. Unfortunately, I also seem to have dropped running, and so this is literally every run I did in those 6 and a bit weeks.

20th July – Longrun Meadow parkrun
We’d taken the decision not to tour over the summer – Ben spends enough time in holiday traffic at work without doing it for fun. So I kept it local at Longrun Meadow, taking the buggy round in a satisfactory 32:05

26th July – 4 mile run
The first week of the holidays, I took the kids to stay with my parents on the Isle of Man. We packed a lot in, but I struggled to find time and energy to run. The final morning was all or nothing, and so I had to choose between running somewhere new and doing my standard 4 mile loop. I kept it with what I know, and didn’t regret it one bit.

Crazy hair? Check. Broken contact lenses? Check. Amazing sea views? Check.

27th July – Longrun Meadow parkrun
I tried my hand at the First Timers briefing, which I’ve wanted to do for ages. Typically I picked a week with a course diversion. I then headed over for my run. At the start I bumped into Chris, who had been in my Beginners Group at RFRC this Spring. I kept him talking enough to slow him down for the first mile, then we kept things going til the end. He smashed his PB with a very respectable 28:11, and I had found a purpose to keep positive while running.

3rd August – Burnham & Highbridge parkrun
While I was struggling with being ‘trapped’ at home, my primary reason for heading away was that I was feeling rubbish and antisocial, and there was a takeover at Longrun Meadow (they got record turnout that day). So I took KK and the buggy over to Burnham. We got the last space in the car park (yay), got set up, and headed off for what I swore would be a gentle trot. Somewhere during one of the overtakes I remembered I am incapable of taking it easy at Burnham, and I finished in 29:11, a new buggy PB.

4th August – junior parkrun
11th August – junior parkrun
Consecutive runs at junior means one thing – I missed parkrun on 10th August.

17th August – Longrun Meadow parkrun
Starting to feel the pressure of an upcoming race, I pushed myself hard at parkrun. I felt pretty close to the limit the whole time, but the lack of running was really showing. I finished in 26:59, which was insanely good given my state of training, but absolutely gutting at the time when I knew I’d pushed so hard to get there.

18th August – junior parkrun + 1 mile buggy run
In a desperate attempt to get even the smallest run in, I ran a mile back from junior parkrun. With buggy, naturally.

24th August – Longrun Meadow parkrun
This was a bit of a weird run for me. The day before a race is often a time to go slow, but I’d already screwed up any chance of properly racing so just took it at what felt right. Mostly I spent the whole 29 minutes and 27 seconds thinking about how damn hot it was. And the fact that my race the next day would be starting an hour later.

Running Forever RC runner in Tikiboo zig zag leggings
As a coach, I have so much to say about this race photo…

25th August – Battle of Sedgemoor 10k
Ben’s done this race before, and wrote it up here. With my lack of training, I was purely running this for the Somerset Series, and gave myself the target of finishing in an hour. Since Ben ran it, the start has moved location, which means the race starts with a downhill, followed immediately by a long uphill. It was insanely hot, and the start was pretty crowded. There were a few too many cars close to runners on the course for my liking. I got to the 5k marker in around 28:30, and remember thinking how grateful I was to parkrun for knowing full well that I can run 5k in 31:30 when completely exhausted. And sure enough, I finished in 57:33.

31st August – Longrun Meadow parkrun
Rounding off the summer, I ran parkrun with both kids (one in the buggy, naturally). Lani struggled with her energy levels after a busy summer, and also with the fact she hadn’t been doing as much running recently. But we made it round in 50:58. It was also a great opportunity for Lani to showcase her brand new 10 top, which got her a lot of welcome attention.

Naturally I look a mess and she looks like a model.

So there you have it. Clearly my big success of the summer was to just keep turning up to parkrun. I’ve come to realise that if that’s the only run I do each week then at least I’m doing that. Obviously, I’d like to get my act together and start training properly, but I need to keep the balance so I appreciate the little bits.

But seriously, can we tour again now?

Ben’s training catch-up – #sub40

by Ben

I got pretty good at keeping a training diary throughout January and into February, until I tripped over and smashed my knee in. Since then, nothing. I basically didn’t run at all for a month, and then eased myself back in. I’ve had a few spring sniffles that have set me back a little bit, but mostly I’ve been racing. The Somerset Series gets pretty hectic through April, May and early June, and so it has been hard to find a training rhythm.

But after the recent Piddle Wood Plod, which I’ve yet to write up, we enter a quieter period through the summer. I’ve still got a few races scheduled, namely the Quantock Beast and the Pawlett Plod, but my focus is switching more long-term. Specifically, I want to address my 10k PB.

I last ran a real 10k ‘PB effort’ at the 2015 Battle of Sedgemoor 10k. That’s right, four years ago this summer. At that race, I ran 42:19. Sixteen months later, I ran 42:06 at the 2017 Chard Flyer, a time that I never really counted as my 10k PB, as I was concerned that the course was short. I’ve since realised that GPS really can be quite bad, and it probably wasn’t short. So let’s call my 10k PB 42:06. It isn’t quite that simple though. Although 42:06 is my 10k race PB, I have actually run a quicker 10k time during a race. At the 2016 Great Bristol Half, I clocked 41:24 for my first 10k.

Hopefully, I’ll look better than I did after the Chard Flyer…

So, I have two 10k times to beat: my official 10k race PB of 42:06, and my quickest time over the 10k distance of 41:24. Except that, actually, as I first discussed in August 2017, what I actually want to achieve is a sub-40 minute time. As such, my three targets for the summer are pretty obvious:

  • Gold: 39:59 (sub-40)
  • Silver: 41:23 (distance PB)
  • Bronze: 42:05 (race PB)

I’m not at my fittest at the moment, but I’m getting there. On the rather undulating Crewkerne 10k course, I ran a 43:48, and I should be able to improve on that fairly significantly on a flatter course. According to Strava, my grade-adjusted pace for that Crewkerne 10k was 6:46, which equates to a 10k time of 42:02. So in theory, without even needing to actually improve, I should be able to hit my bronze target. If I trust Strava, that is.

Of course, the crux of the matter is that there is a reason my 10k PB has got to stale. Yes, partly it is because I keep getting ill or injured. But it is also because I just haven’t run any flat, road 10k courses since that 2015 Battle of Sedgemoor race. This summer, I’m aiming to remedy that. The Chard Flyer has 474 feet of elevation, Crewkerne has 607 feet. The first of my ‘target’ races is the Wessex 10k, 215 feet, on 3 August. The second will be the Taunton 10k, 157 feet, on (provisionally) 29 September. If I don’t pull it off at either of them, I have my eye on some back-up races in November.

I have targets. I have races. All I need now is training. In the past, I’ve trusted to Pete Pfitzinger’s Faster Road Racing. But with an eight-week training window for the Wessex 10k, I simply don’t have the base mileage to be able to adapt his plans easily. So instead, I’m going to use a combination of his ideas, my knowledge, and some other stuff I’ve read, to come up with something suitable. Assuming that I’ve got my mileage up to a decent level during this first eight weeks, then I should be able to use an adaptation of Pfitzinger’s plan for the second eight weeks.

There we go. Sub-40 in either August, September or November. No worries.