Running and Me - Part 4

The increase in average weekly mileage I’d started in late March 2008 and the increased base fitness and weight loss that came with it, was really starting to have an impact on my running. May and June saw the setting of new 10k and 5 Mile PBs (the latter being a V45 Club Record).

From a Club perspective, we were promoted back to Div 1 of the Midweek League, finishing on equal match points with FVS, but slightly behind on place-points. Having joined NHRR on the eve of a Midweek season, May 2008 marked my first year at the Club and also a useful marker of my progress. In 2007, I had scored for the team in just 1 of the races and my 10k times had ranged between 41:18 and 42:09. In 2008 I scored in all 4, with my 10k times ranging between 38:59 and 39:16.


St Albans HM - if you can't stand the heat - don't enter this race!

July saw a new half-marathon PB at Milton Keynes of 01:26:26. The heat conspired to produce two slow times in June and July too, with the St Albans half-marathon and the Harlow10. The weather always seems to be baking for the hilly St Albans race and 2008 was no exception. As a result my time (01:30:13) was 2m slower than my Nov07 PB and nearly 4m slower than I would achieve a month later at MK. The other scorcher at Harlow saw me post a time of 01:06:52, when I had been confident of 01:05:00. That confidence was shown to be justified later in the year, but these two races had shown how much warm weather can slow you down. In fact, many runners retired early in the Harlow race and one poor chap collapsed 200m of the finish.

August was not quite so warm, and I managed to improve my 5 mile V45 Club Record again to 30:24 at Cranfield. Just two days later, I also set a new 10k PB in the Bearbrook 10k (near Aylesbury) of 38:34.

My confidence was further boosted when, in September, I learned of my selection for the NHRR team in its very own Standalone 10k race. This was very special for two reasons; 1. it’s a genuine honour to make the team and 2. it would be the second anniversary of my first ever race (at that very same event). Preparation was to be far from smooth however.

I’d had a nasty pull in my left hamstring when the faster rep sessions started in the Spring. This seemed to respond to RICE very well and it all blew over. In early September, I felt a sharp pain in my right hamstring whilst motoring downhill in a Fartlek session. It’s a long, hard walk from Hitchin to Letchworth when you’re limping in pain! Fortunately, Pete Northover met me half way up Harkness hill with transport back to HQ. I did very little running for the next nine days and felt much better. Perhaps foolishly, I still ran the Leighton 10, and despite feeling tight in the warm-up and nearly pulling the hamstring again during the race, somehow set a new PB of 01:03:37. The following week (surprise surprise) the hamstring popped badly again - Standalone was less than two weeks away.

A week later I managed to complete a 10k training session, but at a cautious pace. I just jogged a few times to take me up to the day of the race. I had no idea if the hamstring would hold up to a full 10k effort and I was also concerned by the lack of speedwork and mileage I’d managed in the lead-up. Nonetheless, I found myself on the starting line in the rain. The good news was that the hamstring gave me no problems and that I set a new PB of 38:20. Never one to be truly satisfied, I still felt I had an even better 10k in me, given the patchy build-up.

November/December 2007 had seen my peak for that year, and 2008 would be the same. I’m not sure if this is the fruit of 6 months of hard work or the onset of cold weather or a bit of both. Whatever the reason, the pattern continued. My half-marathon PB came down by nearly 4 minutes at Stevenage (01:22:52). I took over 30 secs off my 5k PB in the first of the Stevenage 5k Series (17:53) and the following Sunday beat my 10k PB by over a minute at Chelmsford (37:15). That was my 3rd good PB in 3 years at the Essex race. I’ll aim to be back in 2009! I then knocked over a minute off my PB and V45 5-Mile Club Record at Wolverton (29:21). This was agonisingly close to my first ever 80% age-score (79.88%). Perhaps if I’d pipped Oliver Saville to the line I’d have made up the required 3 secs! Then in December, perhaps the best achievement of the lot; a new 10 Mile PB (and V45 Club Record) in Peterborough of 01:01:01.

It had been a great close to the year. I’d even scored for the team in the Dunstable and NHRR XC League races!!

Early 2009 saw a dip in form, not unlike 2008, but less severe. Based on 2008, I had expected a lull and deliberately backed off from racing to reduce the chance of real burnout – which is what I think happened between Jan-Mar 2008. In Jan and Feb 2009, I only did two races and for me, that’s really easing off! The Fred Hughes 10 time of 01:01:37 was pretty good coming soon after Xmas (and clouting a metal stile 1M from the finish) and the the Chessington 10k in Feb (37:40) pretty respectable given bad weather and illness had seriously curtailed speeedwork for several weeks.





Statto's race history measured by
Age% Scores (WAVA). Click image to enlarge


So now you are right up to date and can now enjoy regular blogetins as events unfold. Hopefully 2009 will be another year of improvement and I will stay injury-free.