Blackpool Rocks

BLACKPOOL HALF MARATHON RESULTS

Well actually it doesn't. But the half marathon does.

Debbie and I left Glasgow early on Saturday afternoon for the drive down south.  It was pouring with rain and very windy and I was thinking I had made the right choice not to do the nationals cross-country like everyone else was doing.  Arriving in Blackpool the wind was stronger and strange enough colder.  Maybe the XC was a better idea.  We checked into our B&B, The New World Hotel, and the worlds smallest hotel room tastefully decorated in safari prints.  At least it had a sea view although you couldn't see through the manky windows at the manky weather.  Now I really was wishing I was in my pink house (Debbie decorated) and the XC.  Time to eat.  Blackpool isn't the best place to go for a romantic meal with your wife.  Sure if I was 15 then the countless McDonalds and KFC's would be fine and dandy but not with a wife and a half marathon the next day.  We found a great wee Italian restaurant and had a great feed before an early night. Maybe things were looking up.

The next morning they certainly were.  We had a great breakfast at the hotel and the weather seemed to be easing.  Against my better judgement I had a bacon sandwich.

The race started at 11am and after a quick good luck to Debs we were off.  I was in the second front row at the beginning but within 10 seconds of the gun I must have dropped to 50th position but within minutes I was up to a top 10 position.  The route was up and down the seafront in one small loop and two larger loops.  A boring route but mostly flat although it was still windy.  As usual I was running far too fast in the first couple of miles but I soon settled down.  At about the 10 mile mark I noticed that I may be onto a PB if I could just pick up the pace for the last 3 miles.  The only thing was that the last two miles are into the wind with a horrible 180 degrees turn just 100m from the finish.  I didn't succeed and finished in 10th position in 1:17:09. 16 seconds behind my PB but my third fastest half time.  Quite happy as it was only a week after the 31 mile long run.  Debbie did even better.  Taking two and a half minutes off her PB in a time of 1:43:46.

5:29,5:42,5:52,5:55,5:58,6:12,6:09,5:58,5:55,5:56,5:58,6:13,5:40

YOU HAD TO DODGE WAVES ON THE COURSE

Because I was so happy with my skins shorts last week I decided that since I get more issues with my calves than anything else that I would reward myself with a pair of skins sox.  I would never ever wear them outside and they are just for recovery.

 

AHH RECOVERY TIME IN MY SLIPPERS

Thursday Training (Jog, Run, Sprint, Die)

I was looking forward to tonight.  A nice easy 5/6 mile run with the club.  My recovery week had been going great so far and I looked forward to the short run.  What a pity that none of the other guys in my pack felt the same and there was near enough a full turn out.  It was good to see Alex was back again after being off for what felt like months with the cold.  I think that he was probably verging on manflu and so I fully support his decision in taking the extended time off.  I hope that he had all the care and attention from a good woman to help nurse him back from deaths door.

The first mile of the run started nice and easy at 7:19/mi by which time Ali was warmed up and starting to push the pace.  I elected to stay with him tonight and it quickly ended up just the two of us.  I was struggling a bit on the uphills but luckily for me Ali was slowing down for them and letting me catch up.  Damn.  Although I know it is good for me to push there is sometimes you just want to take it easy.

Sprinting at 5:47/mi pace towards the end where Alex was already.  His manflu had reered it's ugly head again and he had cut the run short.  He really is a trooper.  I just hope that he isn't off again.  It's his turn to stay with Ali next week.

5.74mi in 36:03min @ 6:17 /mi

7:17, 6:31, 6:03, 5:47, 6:08, 4:14 (only 0.74mi)

Blow away those cobwebs

Just a little short run to blow away the cobwebs before the Garscube Committee meeting.  Not feeling any issues from the run on Saturday so I ended up pushing it a bit towards the end.

5miles in 33:31 @ 6:42/mi

7:00, 7:05, 6:41, 6:20, 6:23.

Something ever so slightly non-PC

This is absolutely hilarious.  It is terrible and I am sorry that it is full of swearing and has an ever so slight Celtic slant, but I haven't laughed so much in a long time and thought that I would post it.

 

Bread, Butter and Bradycardia

After my two days rest I checked my heart rate to make sure I was fully recovered.  My resting heart-rate is now 36 beats per minute.  I have always had a very low (bradycardic) heart rate but 36 is even a new low for me.  I took a look at the internet and found that the only people with lower heart rates are Kenyans and bodies in the morgue.  They also advice to go straight to the hospital and do not pick up £200 for passing go.  Don't believe everything you read on the internet.... I feel fine... Anyway I thought I would ask everyone who reads this to post their resting heart rate to get an idea of what everyone is.  Wait until you wake up in the morning and without getting up take your pulse for a full minute.  Do the full minute cause it is more accurate.  Then post to here as a comment. 

I have also added the Clustrmaps application to my Blog (on the right) which tells me what location people are from that visit the blog.  So hi to the American, Australian and someone from Central Europe.  Perhaps they visited by accident, oops.  I also have a few visits from the UK but I think I know who most of you are.  Post a comment, say hi or post your resting heart rate.  Thank you.  Okay on to the training then.

So after the weekends lovely run it was back to normal club training.  Tonight was long reps and it is more often than not around the winter warm up track.  On a plus side none of the fast guys were there tonight.  The first time around the 800m (0.51m) route felt quite easy but then Stephen M turned up and that meant that the rest would be faster.  All of them were with a 1 minute recovery.

2:51, 2:45, 2:41, 2:41, 2:42, 2:45, 2:40

For John with love

I really am starting to enjoy the long runs with the West Highland Way crowd now.  Will miss them after the race although I am sure that a couple of months recovery before running the Way might be a good idea.  Today I was asked if I run for a club.  Normally the reply would be "I run for Garscube Harriers" but today there was a pause.  I still run for Garscube but now I feel part of the WHW family.  Yes I belong to two clubs.  Garscube and the WHW.

Today's run was from Beinglass to Kingshouse.  A 31 mile run through what Ian B described as an easier section than last month up the bonnie banks of the loch.  My plan for today was not too feel as knackered as last month when I really struggled over the last four or five miles.  I wanted to finish strong but still at a manageable pace.  I think that the problem last month was my energy intake so today I would be running with my bra-pack full to the brim with energy drink and flapjacks.

We arrived at the Drovers early so that Debbie and Sharon could start at 9am with Graeme and Jim, the plan being that the faster group would start at 9:30.  This would mean we would hopefully be arriving at Kingshouse together for beer, soup and more beer.

I decided to leave my bra-pack in the boot of the car until the last possible moment.  Sharon would find something to slag Brad Pitt about so there was no way I was prancing about with my Ann Summers Hydration System with her lurking close by.

The 9:30 group consisted of John K, Ian B, Neal, Ian K, Thomas, Davie, Mike, Stoo and George.  It was good to see Thomas again as I hadn't seen him since the first training run and Neal who had got injured in the last run was back again no worse for wear.  Stoo and George were two newbies that I hadn't run with before.  Stoo knew Davie Aitken who is in my support team so we chatted for a bit before we where all away.

I started to run with Neal at the beginning when we left Beinglass.  It is the first time that I have chatted to him although I have seen him before.  We spoke about his injury on the last training run and how he was running two days after it.  I couldn't believe it as he couldn't even walk when I saw him pull out.  The last time I met him I thought that he was maybe a bit fanatical with mileage etc and that he would have to watch what he was doing, but as we spoke today I started to warm to him and found that he is just as fanatical as the rest of us doing this run. 

At first I was a bit worried that Neal would hurt his knee again especially as we both pushed the pace up towards Crianlarich but by the downhill towards the wigwams he was striding ahead so I thought that he would be fine.

Neal and I reached the wigwams first and I really didn't feel like stopping but these training runs are just as much a social event as they are about running and so we waited for the rest of the team.  Silke (Thomas's wife) was waiting for everyone with a boot full of goodies.  She has supported Thomas on all his long training runs and does a great job.  I am sure Debbie would do a great job on my support team.  Thinking of how I could talk her into giving up running and joining my support team would involve either breaking her legs or getting her pregnant.  Neither would go down too well.

Once into Tyndrum, Thomas started to run with me.  We picked up the pace as I knew that Debbie wasn't far ahead and I wanted to check how her sore hip was.

We caught up with Debbie and Sharon and stayed with them for a bit.  Debbie's hip seemed okay so Thomas and I pushed on and met up with Ellen, Mags and Aileen.  Ellen had had a fall and her hand was swollen quite badly.  Luckily Silke is also a doctor and so fixed her up when we got to Bridge of Orchy. This was when Ian appeared and he had fallen too and looked quite shaken by it.  I didn't really get a chance to speak to him before we were off again.

After the hill out of Bridge of Orchy,Thomas started to push the pace.  I read in his blog later that that this was his secret plan.  I couldn't keep up so let him go but soon got my second wind and caught back up with him.  We kept up the increased pace right into Rannoch Moor.  I love this section of the Way and today the scenery was gorgeous with clear skies, mountains with snow and the sun making it really quite warm.  Only thing was that my neck was starting to hurt a bit and I didn't get to look at the mountains much without shooting pain up to the base of my skull.  Just bad running posture and I really must try to relax a bit more.  This was where I started to feel really good.  In fact the last three miles ended up as 6:30 / mile which I was really pleased at.

I pulled away from Thomas and arrived at Kingshouse feeling very good at my strong finish.  Silke, Jon and his wife were there and cheered me to the end.  I felt like I was in a race.  Everyone more or less arrived within the next hour and so it was in to the pub for some soup and most of all some beer.

This was a really enjoyable run and I think that everyone had a great time.  Although it was only a third of the entire run it gave me a lot of confidence as I felt great at the end.  The skins seemed to do there job too as my quads and hamstring were not sore at all. 

Now taking a two day break from running before reps on Tuesday and an easy week.

I just read John K's blog and he was wondering where my posting was.  So this is for John.  Thank you for organising everything.

He also has a great slideshow on the day.

Thick Skinned

Why does the coach always schedule a 10 miler on Valentines Day?  Is it because only the die-hards turn up on such an important romantic day?  Unfortunately Debbie and me are one of the die-hards and so turned up for the session with similar couples that have 2 loves. Each other and running and of course the few people that are just glad to get away from their spouses/partners on such a soppy night.

Earlier this week Lesley had sent out an email asking someone for a route and I felt obliged to make one up.  It was either that or the normal 10 mile route along Maryhill Road back along GWR and then back.  It is a real chore of a route but after learning my offering I am sure that a few people wished for the old route.

My route was from the main gate, up Rannoch Drive, down Boclair, along Milngavie Road, up to Baljaffry, down the Stockie to Drymen Road to Station Road, up Pendicle onto Canniesburn Road then Drumchapel Road, Blairdardie, GWR, Anniesland and back to Garscube.  It's a pretty hilly route but a good challenge. 

The rest of the packs were well away by the time Ali and I left.  Ali was trying on some club clothing before he leaves for Arizona.  We met Euan in the car park and then we were off.  Ali stopped for a pee on Rannoch and Euan and I went ahead.  By Milngavie I was wondering where he had got too as he still hadn't caught us up.  Euan decided to just do the shorter route and so I was on my own going into Drumchapel.  I picked up the pace and started to catch some people and then it as back up into Garscube.

Here is my splits:

7:24,6:50,6:39,6:51,6:39,5:54 (oops),6:32,6:18,6:21,6:37,2:02 (1/3m)

10.34mi in 1:08:12 @ 6:36/mi

Then Debbie and me went home for our Valentines dinner. yum.;-)

After weeks of saying I wanted them Debbie had taken the hint and bought me a pair of Skins.  All that hinting wasn't because I was just thinking of myself because I was thinking of Debbie too.  I am sure she really wants to see me in a pair of skin tight pants.  I will try them out on Saturday.  Luckily I am thick skinned because the shorts certainly are not and leave nothing to the imagination.  Think I will play safe and wear a pair of shorts over them.

My Skins...  minus me....:-)

Weight a minute

 

Debbie had decided that today she wanted to run a long run at a faster pace as part of her marathon training and drive into town so she could have some flatter streets.   I am not so keen in running around the streets of Glasgow so I decided to take advantage and run from my house in Alexandria to town.  I am also not too keen on the A82 either so I decided on a new route.

The start was in Alexandria.  Onto the Balloch Horseshoe and follow the cycle route out towards Drymen. Then onto the West Highland Way to Milngavie and then a wee run into Glasgow City Centre to meet Debbie.  Only thing was that it works out as 27 miles.  Oh well, I'll take my time.

For such a long run I decided it was time to take the bra-pack out.  This pack is really good.  It's comfy, light and doesn't cause your top to ride up.  Pity that the bottle tastes like TCP.  This is the second time I have used it and even after a washing by Debbie and my normal extra strong energy drink it still has a TCP taste.  I am giving it one more chance before swapping the bottle with my trusty Platypus.

My new run was fantastic.  Being the first half decent weekend day of the year there was loads of people out on the cycle track and the WHW.  Lots of second glances at my bra-pack and I am sure that some teenage girls shouted something cheeky at my new fashion accessory which was drowned out by Alice in Chains on my IPod.  I finished the 27 miles in 3 hrs 30 mins but it was in fact only 3hrs 12 mins because I had stopped for 18 mins to talk to people, eat and enjoy the view etc.  I am really pleased with the time as I really didn't push hard although I was knackered by the end of it.

As everyone knows when you are on a long run your mind begins to wonder.  I had read recently that if you loose 150g from your footwear this will make you 5s per mile faster or 2min 11s faster in a marathon.  This is 8 minutes faster on the West Highland Way.  So weight a minute.  Maybe if I lose more weight off my body I could shave even more time.  Maybe not as much as the foot wear but still.  We have all heard of the Naked Rambler so how about the Naked Ultra Runner.  It's summer so not that cold and I'll be running far faster than the midges now that I have lost some weight.  Hair.  That must weigh something.  I will get it all shaved off.  Yes even those dodgy areas.  And it will make an excellent disguise when I appear in the newspapers for running about the hills naked.  What else could I lose weight with?  Skin!! Yes I could borrow Debbies exfoliating shower gel and if I use enough from now until June that must make me lighter.  Perhaps a bit redder but there must be a lot of weight in 4 or 5 layers of skin.  My Garmin weighs tonnes so its a gonner too and then there are the normal weight lose things. Eat less, colonic irragation.  Yeah Debbie makes me watch some pile of cr@p on TV.  Toenails, so overrated.  Part of your intestine.  Not needed.  Hey I could even make money by selling a kidney.  Who says that I am not committed to this race.

So if you happen to be on the West Highland Way on the 21st June then say hi to me.  I am the naked, red, bald, skinny guy being arrested while still high on diet pills and medication.

Thank god I only ran 27 miles.  Any further and I would have been imagining hacking off fingers.

Milburn Whinney XC Race

I went out with the local club the Milburn Harriers for their Whinney Hill XC Race.  The Millies seem a good bunch of guys with one of the guys, Jim running the WHW.

The race was 5 miles long although I was told 6 miles which was a little confusing when coming to the end.

Lindsay joined us for the race.

The start was quite slow but Lindsay and I couldn't go ahead as we didn't know where we were meant to be going.  We let Stevie from Milburn take the lead and followed a bit behind.  As the hills started I began to struggle a bit and although my spikes had been a good choice for the start I was questioning it by now.  The ground was rocky and in places very muddy.  A lot of the rocks were starting to hurt my feet.  By the top of Whinney Hill I was in 3rd place but I wasn't too concerned as I knew Lindsay would struggle more on the downhill.  Luck was on my side though when Lins stopped for a pee and I was able to take second with Stevie in my sights.

I caught Stevie and then tried to shake him but I wasn't able to which was probably a good thing as I had to check with him what way to go.  The last section was on road for 200 metres and I pulled away even although I was wearing my spikes.

A very good race, a good route for a future run (when it is a bit less muddy) and a good bunch of guys (and girl)

I hope they ask me back.

Cross my heart

Today I received a package from Amazon.  The Lore of Running book by Tim Noakes.  It looks fantastic and has a lot of information about ultra running.  It was recommended by the speakers at the Run and Become WHW night. Link to book

Also in my package was a new backpack for running.  I just haven't been able to get something I am happy with 100%.  I like backpacks but don't like the way you cant access it while running and I like bumbags but don't like the fact that I cant reach the bottle at the back whilst running.  So although both have plus points they also have there negative points and so I have never been completely happy with either.  That was until I saw the Nathan HPL series.  It is a race vest with a bladder backpack as well.  Designed especially for ultra marathons. 

The back pack has a 2 litre bladder and on the vest it has a big pocket that is on your chest area with two pouches that could be used for mobile phones etc.  Okay it all looks good but I am worried that it may feel like I am wearing a bra.   Will test it on the WHW run in two weeks time.

PS it was so good that Debbie bought one too.  And at £20 from Amazon it was a steal.

PSS I still haven't heard anything from Garmin on testing their new Forerunner 405.. :-(