Reasons to be cheerful...

...1, 2, 3

1. Training is going well, and now I'm managing 40+ mile-weeks regularly again (at last) I can really feel my body getting back into the groove. My favourite measure of base fitness (average speed vs average pace on easy runs) is also reflecting this with a recent step-change - see graph below.








Click to enlarge






2. I'm starting to feel in the mood to test myself in races again - a feeling that has been absent for over a year! Providing I can maintain training over the coming months (usual caveats apply) I'm quietly confident of posting some good performances before too long.

3. I've put down some encouraging training sessions over last few weeks, especially in the context of our tough new 'rolling recovery' sessions. It's quite a challenge to maintain 10k-pace reps when you are 'jogging' at half-marathon effort between them! Therefore, averaging consistently around 6 minute/mile in the last 4 sessions is a good sign. Hopefully this indicates that I am already capable of comfortably breaking 38min for 10k and that sub-37min is not an outrageous Spring target.

Squirrels romp to XCL Title

Another convincing showing puts icing on cake


With all 7 male scorers in the top 19, the Men made it 5/5 first places and their best performance of a stunning season. With the Ladies ably supporting with 4th on the day (and the series), NHRR finished 1st Overall with a massive 7 point gap to 2nd-placed Wootton. This is probably NHRR's best XCL season for over a decade or more. Well done to all runners and supporters!














I had my best race of the season also, continuing my steady improvement up the Men's field (51st, 49th, 39th and 32nd). I was quite conservative on the opening lap, and with a little less caution, might have climbed a few more places. All-in-all, I was happy with my progress after a difficult year. Hopefully I will be even leaner and meaner come the MWL road-race season!


Thanks to Karen Dodsworth for the photo

XCL Race 5 - Delapre Park Northampton

XCL Season Finale

I ran without my Garmin last time we did this race in Jan 2009 (a typo surely? ;o)), so have none of my usual data. Instead, I have plotted one lap (race = 2x identical laps) via mapmyrun.com. Full race details are on the XCL website


Click on image to enlarge












Barring disaster, we are well placed to retain both the Overall and Men's titles. A good turnout from the Ladies could see them finish in the top 3.

The course starts with a long, straight blast across the park to a slight bottle-neck before a left turn onto a an up-hill tree-lined path (S) adjacent to the main road. This section was a bit muddy last time, but frost may take care of that this time. Nearing the top of the hill, the path turns left into woodland-proper and narrows cosniderably in places. The route here is quite twisty and hillocky too, making overtaking tricky. On leaving the woods, there is a long straight (N) section beside (or on) a road/track. at the top of this section, the route turns left again on a earthen track before a final section back in the park to the start/finish area. Lap 2 is exactly the same.

3-counties XCL Overall Table (after race 4)

Just one race to go...

Christmas Knees-up

Life after the Stopsley bash

For the first few days after Stopsley XCL, I was encouraged by being able to to run almost normally, despite my knees having taken quite a beating. Strangely, running was less uncomfortable than walking. That was until the Thursday when I got some very sharp jabbing pains in my left knee - the one that had seemed to have taken the lesser impact in the fall. Cutting back on both speed and mileage for the rest of the week seemed to help ease this, although my knees did still feel stiff after runs.

In the week after Xmas I traded speed-work for easy-effort mileage, which seemed to help further ease any discomfort, as well as burning off excess fuel consumption! By New Year's day, I was able to complete a 3rd long run of the week with no ill effects either during or after the run. I think the break from speed-work was overdue in any case, so I (and my knees) are feeling quite refreshed and ready for the new training block.