A busy season ahead...

I've decided not to run Bushy Park Time Trial for 2 weeks and instead spend some time focussing on my other training as well as volunteering on Saturdays.

The first time I volunteered at Bushy Park I played photographer and took pictures of everyone running while last Saturday I registered names of those runners who finished onto the system. Next Saturday they have me up to be the "number checker". (I know, it sounds a bit strange but has to do with keeping synchronisation between the time keeper and the person handing out numbers so we'll see how that goes.)

Wednesday and Sundays at St Mary's Richmond Athletic Club will be my new home for athletics training where I am hoping to improve on my Javelin distance as well as pick up the pace on my shorter distance running. More on that as the season progresses.

I'm still running every Monday and Thursday at Sweatshop Teddington to keep the miles ticking over as well as trying to squeeze in Parkour training wherever possible.

Reading this post through it looks like I am tackling far to much at once, but things are not yet hectic and unmanageable. Once the athletic season kicks in it is bound to be a totally different story though.... :-)

Bushy Park 5k - 16 Feb 08 (New PB)

Message to me from Bushy Park: "Your position was 87th and your time was 0h:21m:07s"

Elmarie broke through the 30min mark today and completed the 5km in a brilliant time of 0h:29m:40s

I was a bit nervous going into the race today after being down with a cold all week and not able to get much training in, but I went for it anyways. I decided to try something different and pace it one kilometre at a time, and if my breathing became too difficult then I was just going to take it easy around the track and enjoy the run rather than push it.

I knew that in order to get anywhere near my best time I would need to stick within the 4min a km mark but as usual I pushed a little too fast on the 1st km, so I backed off and took it easy while keeping one eye on the watch at all times. Speeding up slightly when I needed to, and slowing down when the pace became too fast. One kilometre at a time...

It worked! By the time I hit halfway mark I knew I was heading for a decent time and felt no pressure to hurry up and pick up the pace. (Which is usually when I start feeling depressed and about to give up)

At one stage late in the run towards the 4km mark I remember having a chat with the runner next to me as I could see he was feeling the pressure and decided to offer some encouragement. (But I know that generally whenever I hand out encouragement like that it's usually because I probably need to hear it more than they do. :-p ) One of the things I remember saying was: "It's not a race, it's only time".

I remember saying this because for a few of the races I had done before I was very disheartened when other runners passed me after I had given my all and was about to collapse in a heap on the side of the track. I guess it was more to do with me coming to terms with the fact that the other runners were all running against their own times and I just needed to focus on my time, rather than think about it as a race.

It's not necessarily about who comes 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Although I know most of us would love to hit the number one spot one day and it’s certainly one good reason to keep on training and training and training...

Next Race: Asics Kingston 8.2 Mile

It's booked and I'm ready to go!

March 30th, bright and early at 8:00am is the start to the Asics Kingston 8.2mile and the next few weeks will be dedicated to setting a decent pace in order to finish within the hour.

There was the option to go for the full 2-laps making it a 16 miler, but I don't think I'm ready yet. I'll see how this 8mile race goes and then start thinking about half-marathons.... :-)

First 10k race completed - 45min

Elmarie and I joined up with close on 800 other runners to complete the Valentines 10k road race in Chessington. A clear, yet very cold, start to the day. (I remember scraping ice off the car window before leaving...)

It was our first 10k race and the results actually surprised us both. Even though we felt we were going much slower than during our training runs, we both cleared the finish line much sooner than we thought.

I came in at 124th with a time of 0:45:02 and El at 1:03:37. (which is a faster pace than her 5k runs at Bushy Park!)

I pushed hard at the start, probably a little too hard too soon, and soon found myself putting in a much slower pace as I hit the halfway mark. The water station was a little beyond this 5k mark, which itself was a rather interesting experience trying to grab a mouthful of water between strides. (Note to self: Try taking Hal Higdon's advice and STOP to drink)

For most of the race I ran alone, although right at the end I met up with a runner (Mark B) and we had a brief chat before deciding to push hard through the last stretch which was only about a few hundred meters. (Thanks for the well needed inspiration, Mark!)

Overall the race was very well organised and the marshal's were great. We got given t-shirts, shakes and chocolate bars at the finish to round things off, which was a nice touch.

Sprints and Strength Training

Thursday's training was a little different and involved a number of short/long sprints uphill to push endurance and build strength.

We started off from Teddington Sweatshop and ran a few km's to a school where we warmed up and started the sprints. It involved running fast (not exactly 100meter dash pace, but not slow jogging either) up a hill to a set marker and then slow pace back to recover, before reaching the bottom marker and starting the fast run uphill again.

Then after a number of these, we moved on to increase the distances of these uphill sprints a little bit more. At this point I noticed my calves starting to feel like they had done some serious work....

After 10 minutes of these we wrapped up and had a casual run back to the shop.

I've enjoyed these and it is certainly the type of training I would like to try experimenting with a little more.

No Bushy Park run on Saturday although I will be there to take pictures and volunteer if needed.

10k Race on Sunday and then depending on how I'm feeling Monday evening, I'll join up for the "easy" training run of over an hour that the Reading Marathon guys have planned....

7mile training run - Sweatshop Teddington

With the Valentine's 10k race coming up on Sunday 10th Feb, I decided to try running with the Teddington Sweatshop group to test my pace on longer distances. Most of my training to date has been my solo circuits around Teddington and I have had little to compare to apart from the weekly 5k time trials at Bushy Park on Saturdays.

The runners I ended up training with tonight turned out to be gearing up for the Reading Half Marathon and was a strong group. I was nervous and worried I'd not be able to keep up...

We started off from the Teddington Sweatshop and completed a figure 8 circuit around Teddington covering some of the areas I had trained on my own during the previous weeks, which was a relief as I knew the surfaces and where to avoid. (Training on unknown surfaces and environments can be quite tricky, and sometimes even dangerous. Make sure your first run in a new area is either with experienced runners on that road or take the first run really easy to just map the road out. You can always revisit it later and start pushing for a decent time. Safety First!)

The pace started out at around the 7:00min/mile mark, which I found very comfortable. We all were talking to each other about odds and ends and the first 5km seemed to pass quite quickly.

The second half of the circuit saw the pace pick up and I still felt OK. It was about this time I noticed my brand new funky running shoes had the laces tied up a little too tight. (Note to self, make sure they are not like that for the next run otherwise I will lose all feeling in my toes permanently...)

At the 10km mark I noticed I really had to focus on my breathing and timing. I could still talk during the run but it was not as easy as it was in the beginning. Things started to bother me and I was worried I might have to slow down a bit and let the guys go on without me... but I pushed through and soon was feeling confident as we took on the final stretch from Teddington Lock up the high street to the final stop back at Sweatshop Teddington.

Overall a GREAT run and I was very surprised to find out how far we had run. It could not have taken much more than 55min to complete although nobody held the official timing, but I go into the Sunday 10km race a lot more confident than I was before the training tonight.

The sessions at Sweatshop might become a regular for me if I can just make sure I get out of work ontime. Another note to self.... :-)