Shibdon pond xc race report 17/11/2012

I went into this race still injured from the Cramlington race and xc training session the week after so it was never going to be a great performance. My hamstring hurt just walking so my plan was to try and run round comfortably and not make the injury any worse.

Because of this it was a pretty uneventful race, my hamstring was pretty sore all the way round but not sore enough to stop me running and didn't seem to be any worse  after the race.

It was the first time I had ran the course which is very short, flat and fast apart from a small hill you do a/few zig zags on.

Probably the slowest I've ever ran a race (i was 211th out of 460) , but at least I was able to race which is always a good thing.

Cramlington cross country 27 oct 12

First race of the cross country season and the conditions couldn't have been any more different than the last race in prudhoe back in march. Back then it's was breaking 20 degrees with sunny blue skies. Today the sky was pretty clear but temperatures were a lot lower and the abundance of rain (and overnight snow) in recent weeks resulted in the muddiest race I've ran so far.

The snow had melted by the time the race started, and there was an impressive turnout on the day.

After finishing 31st at prudhoe my aim was to try and break into the top 30 and make it into the medium pack. Even though I haven't ran much since kielder I think I'm still in pretty good shape so I thought I was capable of getting there.

When the race kicked off I made my way as close to the front as I could and felt pretty good for the first lap. Although certainly not a flat course, cramlington wasn't as challenging as wrekenton and didn't have the prudhoe hill. As Keith from the harriers said to me though at prudhoe all the courses are hard when your pushing hard which I felt I was for the whole race, and as the second lap went on I started to feel the effects.

Counting the people in front of me at this stage I was in around 25th place. I knew though that I would be overtaken by medium and fast pack runners by the end so breaking top 30 would be a difficult task.

Sure enough as the third lap unfurled I started to be overtaken and was slipping down the rankings. In a race I always think it gives you a psychological kick to overtake runners in the latter stages of a race, so it is a bit disheartening when this happens but I try and use this as motivation to run faster and keep ahead.

As the end of the race drew near I was feeling pretty tired and regretting the wine I had drank the night before, but I managed to put in a final sprint to overtake another runner on the line and finish in 38-23 in 41st place (out of 425 runners).

Even though it was disappointing to not make it into the medium pack again I only missed it by 17 seconds so that is my goal for the next race.

Kielder Marathon race report 7th Oct 2012

I've been running marathons for 2 and a half years now (this is my 5th) and I've now reached a point where it's getting harder and harder to get a pb. of the nature of the course I knew beating my Sunderland time of 3:04 was out of the question so my A goal was to try and beat last years time of 3-24.

I think I'm pretty much in the same shape as last year, although I haven't managed to get in as many long runs as I would have liked and haven't managed to get over 18 miles in training. Apart from my first marathon in Edinburgh I felt as least prepared as I ever have for a marathon so my confidence wasn't great going into the race.

I decided my race strategy was to try and sustain 7:30 to 7:40 mileing which would take me to around a 3-20 finish, and see how I felt later on in the race.

My mate Jonny was also doing the race this year too - his 3rd marathon and first time at kielder so I picked him up and we drove up together.

The weather was ideal for running - pretty nippy at first but clear skies all day and not a hint of wind - different story to last year. As we drove up towards Bellingham there was a stunning mist inversion covering the valleys below us, something that I remember from the first year I did the race.

As we set off the first mile was slow as ever - a combination of a hill right on the start line, and the difficulty of overtaking people on the narrow track. After around 5 miles or so though I had settled into a steady pace and was deliberately slowing myself down to keep close to my target pace.

Once I got up to around 7 miles I started to feel tired, but didn't want to take a gel so early as I had only brought 4 so I just kept going. The mental battle that normally kicks in later in the race had started already and the questions were floating round my head.

Why was I feeling so tired so early in the race?
If I was feeling this tired now, how would I feel later in the race?
Should I slow down and take it easy for a while? If so then it would be almost impossible to beat last years time.

I the end I decided to keep going at the pace I was running at for as long as I still could and hope I could sustain it till the end.

I took finally took my first gel after 11 miles, which didn't really help much but at least I was t feeling any worse and I went through halfway in 1-38.

I felt pretty much the same until around mile 15 when something bizarre happened. I took an energy drink from a feed station and it was like a kick start. All of a sudden the lethargy had gone and I felt really good.

I thought that the feeling wouldn't last long, maybe I mile or so and I would need another kick but by mile 17 I was still feeling great and started to push on and overtake people. I had another gel at mile 18 even though I felt like I didn't really need it and up until around mile 21 I still felt pretty good. I felt really confident of finishing now with a decent time and although the inevitable muscle soreness and fatigue started to kick in by mile 22 I was still able to sustain a decent pace. Thankfully the cramp that plagued me last year also stayed away.

The last few miles were pretty hard, and I had to dig deep to get through them, but it was a marked contrast to Sunderland where I was really suffering from around mile 14 and I was able to push on and overtake a few more people (including Jim from Saltwell who was suffering from cramp) .

My final time was 3:20:26 and I came 44th and Jonny did really well to finish in 4:19.

I got some massive pluses out of this race, firstly how well I was able to run considering the quality of my pre race preparation. I ended up taking all my gels but felt like I didn't need then all and could get away with less in the future.

Secondly I was happy at how consistent my pace was- although I didn't manage a negative split it is the closest I've ever came to one and I didn't implode in the second half of the race like I did in Sunderland. More than ever I feel like my best strategy is to pick a realistic finish time and try and stick to a constant pace all the way round, as opposed to starting faster to try and offset slowing down later in the race.

It is a massive psychological boost to speed up and overtake people in the latter stages of a marathon and something I am defiantly going to work on next year.

I've signed up for Sunderland again next year and my goal is to break 3 hours. For now though I'm going to have some much needed R&R and reflect on a great running year do far.

Great North Run race report 16 Sep 2012

Although I've been running again for just over 3 years now and ran on and off since I was a kid I've never done the Great North Run before. In fact I've never raced a half marathon so this was a first on a number of levels.

I've got a long time goal to try and crack 1-15 for the distance but I knew I wasn't in that type of shape for this race. Realistically I thought that I'd try and aim for 1-23 which meant just under 6-20 pace.

My biggest mistake of the day was underestimating the time it would take to get to the start line. I set out for South Shields at 8-30 to get there before the roads closed with Donna who was going to wait for me at the finish line. Heavy traffic and a busy metro ride back to town meant I didn't get to the start line till 10-20, with the race due to start at 10-40.

By this time I had missed the baggage bus so had to race up to the top of Claremont Road to put by bag on the late baggage bus. I was advised not to try and get back into my starting pen and join the race at the back which would have destroyed any chance I had of getting near my target time. For this reason I decided to take a chance and raced back down to my start pen (Orange B) which was just closing (aaaaegh - at least I had managed to get a warm up racing to the baggage bus and back).

Streams of runners were walking back up the road so I felt resigned to going all the way to the back when I noticed one of the pens still letting people in. I managed to just squeeze in, but it still was nearly 15 minutes before I reached the start line just as it started to rain.

I resisted the urge to high 5 Mo Farah as I crossed the line and finally started to run. This is only the second race I've ever taken part in where there is a significant amount of support along the way (the first being the Edinburgh Marathon) and I think this is one of the reasons the race has came to be so big as it certainly isn't the most scenic of routes.

From start to finish I was constantly dodging past people so found it difficult to maintain a steady pace but I still managed to maintain my target of 6-20 mileing. I managed to maintain this until around 9 miles where fatigue started to kick in and I reached a steady incline before the steep drop down to the coast.

Although a net downhill course the route certainly isn't flat with a number of steady climbs which shook things up a bit.

I had made a decision not to take on any fuel or drinks during the race, consistent with my training were I have ran up to 18 mile with little fueling. In retrospect maybe a gel at mile 8 may help so I will give this a try next time.

At the 12 mile point I put a final kick in to the finish line for a time of 1-23-31 , pretty much exactly what I was aiming for. Maybe with a better starting point I could have got closer to 1-20 , but this now gives me a mark in the sand to try and beat next year.

Having ran my first half marathon and first great north run I feel that with the right training and preparation that 1-15 is in reach and something I'd like to work towards next year.

Next up: Kielder Marathon

Chevy chase race report 7th July 2012

Because of working in London I missed the Saltwell Harriers fell race this year which I have ran for the past 2 years and is the only fell race I have participated in. I have walked the Chevy Chase 3 times but never ran it so I was excited, but nervous as to how the race would go.

I had been suffering from a chesty cough for a number of weeks and didn't feel in great shape so had made a decision to use the race as a learning experience and take it easy.

It had been raining heavily in the week leading up to the race and there had been talk of it being called off, but as race day arrived it was still on so I headed up to Wooler.

When I got there my brother Alan told me that because of the weather they had shortened the course to truncate The Cheviot and Hedgehope with a total distance of 12 miles instead of 20. To be honest given the shape I was in this was welcome news and totally changed my fueling strategy - I felt confident I could get round that distance with no fuel, but packed a bottle of Lucozade just on case.

After setting Alan off in the walk I returned to Wooler YH where I talked to Jim from the Saltwell Harriers for a bit- sadly he was missing this years race through injury.

As the race set off I settled into a steady pace and tried to enjoy it the best I could. Throughout the race visibility was never more than about 50 metres and rain was also a constant factor.

The first few miles went past relatively easy, apart from being almost instantly soaked from the rain and splashback from surface water. Luckily it wasn't too cold so t-shirt and shorts were order of the day.

As we reached Cheviot Knee the terrain started to become steeper and more boggy making it increasingly more difficult to run. At one point I went arse over tit into the middle of a huge peat bog, much to the amusement of some passing walkers. We were diverted before the climb up to the Cheviot which gave some welcome downhill running, although I twice slipped on this section and twisted my right ankle pretty badly.

At the bottom of the hill I passed both Alan and Jim who both gave some encouraging words. Then it was another steep ascent up towards Langley crags and a dead sheep at one of the checkpoints.

The next section is relatively flat with some good running along well marked tracks. I became a little complacent at this stage and took a wrong turn, even though it was my 4th time along the route. I really should have known better but the combination of the mist, running instead of walking and not having my map as handy as I should have had meant I wasted a few minutes getting my bearings before meeting up with a few other runners and finding the right way.

By this time it had became apparent that the route was significantly more than 12 miles and I was glad that I had decided to bring a bottle of Lucozade for an energy boost.

Although the race wasn't as long as a marathon (the final distance was 16 miles) with the nature of the terrain it is probably comparable. The biggest difference is that most marathons are flat road races where's its easier to run at a constant pace, but you generally don't stop running the whole time. Because some of the terrain on the Chevy is so steep it makes sense to walk these parts which breaks the run up and makes it a bit more mentally easier to handle (although it certainly isn't physically easier).

When I reached the aptly named Hell Path I was really starting to struggle, but being familiar with the route I knew that it was pretty much downhill from that point. Once I reached the last mile on Tarmac I put in a kick that helped me overtake a few people and reach the finish line where I got hosed down and picked up my goodie bag. Final time was 2:37:35 and I came 41st out of 142 finishers.

Whilst it was disappointing not to take on hedgehope and the cheviot I still really enjoyed the race and will defo be returning next year.

Angel View Race 31 May 2012

Weather wasn't great for this one , been steadily raining most of the day but at least it wasn't windy or particularly cold so this wasn't too much of a problem.

As I collected my race number from inside the angel inn it seemed like the saltwell harriers were out in force as the place was full of red and white tops. After a bit banter I headed out to do my warm up and then attempted to find the start line (not an easy task).

I always think its a challenge to try and work out your pace on a course you haven't raced before, especially when there's hills involved (as there was on this course), so my strategy was to hang in behind Chris (from the harriers) and see how that felt.

Even tho I was pretty close to the start line I found the first half a mile or so quite cramped and difficult to get past people, but I could see Jim and Chris from saltwell not far ahead so I wasn't too worried.

The route twisted and turned around single track around the angel sometimes on paths I didn't know existed even though I run up the railway tracks quite often. Since Sunderland marathon I haven't done any speed sessions as I haven't really felt right, so I was a little apprehensive as to how I would feel in the race but at the point where the route goes up the old railway track to wrekenton I felt pretty good and decided to push on a bit and try to catch chris.

Maybe because I live in an area with lots of hills I think I have a strength in this area and past a few runners on the way up including Chris. Disaster struck at the top though. The route loops back on itself back down the track again, but at the turning point I took a wider line that I should have as did the runner in front of me. By the time the marshall alerted us to this Chris had already turned round and was away back down the track.
I raced back down but didn't manage to catch him by the end.

I thought it was nice to see the runners behind us running back up the track in the opposite direction, and it was a good point to spectate for too.
All in all a great race and one I will defo be back for next year.

Sunderland Marathon race report

Well its been just over 2 weeks since the race and my legs are still as sore as they have ever been after a race. I've only ran 3 times since and never felt good so I guess its true what they say about taking around 3 weeks to fully recover from a marathon.
As far as the race is concerned I ran 3.04.08 to take 31st place (of around 1100 finishers) which is a massive PB and under the 3.10 I needed for a London good for age entry so I'm well pleased with that.
The day itself was sunny and warm (a little too warm for marathon running but no-where near as bad as Edinburgh in 2010), so I arrived with my friend John at the start in plenty time & quite relaxed. I hadn't done much running in the 2 weeks leading up to the race because of a few niggles in my left calf & right thigh which seemed to still be there during the warm up which worried me a little.
Before I knew it the gun was going and I was off and I hit my first problem - after about 200 metres my Nike+ decided I had already ran a mile (and not surprisingly a PB) so I had to uncomfortably fiddle on with it to restart it - great timing!!
I felt pretty good for the first 10k and went through it in 39.33 which in retrospect may have been a little quick. My goal was to break 3-10, but I still harboured a slight hope of breaking 3 hours and I that point I was on course (although I knew I would inevitably slow down as the race progressed).
By the time halfway came though I started to feel the pace and had slightly slowed down, going through in 1.28.18. In previous marathons it has been around the 18-20 mile mark that I have really started to really feel the fatigue kick in, but this time it really started to come on after halfway - probably a result of my earlier pace. By the time I got to around 16 miles I was more exhausted than I have ever felt in a race and my legs felt like lead weights. There was more than one occasion that I contemplated stopping and walking even just for a few minutes, but somehow I managed to keep going.
The course is very twisty and turny & because of this there were a few points that I passed the race leaders in the opposite direction which judging by the looks on their faces appeared that they were suffering as much as me. I also saw John and  few Saltwell Harriers pass the other way.
After about 19 miles the course loops back past the Stadium of Light and then goes up the coast to Seaburn and back down again. It was nice to have the support of the crowds at this point but I was really suffering and my legs were in agony. I had noticeably slowed down and knew by now I wasn't going to break 3 hours, but I was still on course to get under 3-10 and this was the main motivation that kept me going.
At around 23 miles the dreaded cramp flared up and I had to stop for a few seconds. I hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat of the problems that really slowed me down in the last few miles of Kielder last year but luckily it was a one off.
The last few miles were some of the toughest I have ever ran, but I finally managed to get across the finish line in 3.04.08. The pain in my legs was so bad it took me twice as long to get back to the car, but I came back to the to watch John finish in just under 4 hours 30 in his first marathon.
I've learned something different in every marathon I've ran do far. In this one I really pushed hard at the start and this definitely affected me later in the race. Could I have achieved a quicker time if I had not set off as fast, and pushed harder later in the race? I'll never know, but I do know that if I want to try and maintain that sort of pace for the entire race then I need to do more training (in the build up to Sunderland on average I ran 4 times a week with a max weekly mileage of 43 miles). I feel confident now that I will be able to run under 3 hours which I will try and do next year in London, and maybe later this year if I do another road marathon (I don't think I'll manage it as Kielder).
The biggest positive I took from this race was how hard I was able to push myself in the 2nd half of the race despite the agony in my legs and being absolutely exhausted.
Next up Chevy Chase....

Sunderland training

Just thought id collect my thoughts as to how my training for the marathon of the north is going. Past 2 weeks i have managed to get an 18 mile run in, and I'm currently averaging around 40 miles a week. The numbers aren't massive, but I have been doing more speed work than ever before and the longer distance I have to travel to work now means more walking and riding so I'm getting the benefits of cross training which I think is defo helping me.
With 2 full weeks of training to go before my taper I'm aiming to get to at least 20 miles, maybe 22 at a push for my longest run and my goal is still to go sub 3 hours, although I don't know if I've done enough training to get there. I guess time will tell.
On the positive side, I'm injury free, however the last couple of long runs I've done I have suffered from stomach issues (tecchy term - gi distress).
I'm using a different energy drink (asda's own brand because that is what they are going to be dishing out at the marathon of the north) so I don't know if it is that, or my food intake beforehand. On a positive note, because of this my on my 18 miler last week I only drank half a bottle, and this week only a quarter of a bottle without hitting the wall so I guess indirectly I'm training my body to use its energy stores well. As long as race day isn't too hot I'm pretty sure I can get round in water and energy gels alone so hopefully it's not a big problem.
I'm really looking forward to race day now and enjoying my running in general - plenty more racing to be had this year :-)
On a more sombre note i was saddened to hear of the passing of caballo blanco aka Micah true aka white horse, star of Chris mcdougals great book born to run. He was a great inspiration and will be sorely missed.

Prudhoe cross country race report

My second cross country race of the season, and in fact my second ever. I'd heard about the hill at prudhoe but hadn't really thought about it too much before today - soon I would find out how bad it was.
Got chatting to another runner on the walk up to the start line who also informed me there was also a stream to cross followed by another sharp hill and a tricky tree to negotiate. I was beginning to realize why prudhoe is considered to be the toughest of the cross country races.
With temperatures hitting 18 degrees it wasn't typical cross country weather but I certainly wasn't complaining as it also made for a lovely drive up and relaxing walk up to the start line.
Since joining the saltwell harriers I haven't been able to make any of the training sessions yet so didn't really know any of the other members yet, but I was made very welcome beforehand and had a good chat with a few of them.
As I'm training for the marathon of the north I've came off a pretty full on training week, running 9.5 miles at dinnertime and cycling to work and back (14 miles) yesterday but I felt pretty good at the start and confident that I could put in a good effort.
As the gun went off there were about 10 runners immediately off before me but I knew from wrekenton that this wouldn't last and I wouldn't be able to hold this position for the whole race, but even so for the first 10 minutes or so of the race I felt pretty strong .
Because of the hot weather the ground was pretty firm and my newly bought fell shoes were easily capable of coping with it, although I will probable invest in a pair of spikes for the new season.
After the initial small rise from the start line it's pretty much all downhill which is good for getting up a bit of speed (as long as you can keep on your feet) but as its a 2 lap course I knew that the further downhill I went the more I would have to climb again. Twice.
When the stream came it wasn't as bad as I thought and my feet got barely wet (unlike the Stanhope fell race where you go in almost up to your waist), and I still felt pretty good at this point.
Then shortly after came the hill.
I've ran up steeper and longer hills before but never in a race ( well maybe apart from stanhope but that's a different kettle of fish). On the positive side there was a lot of support with many people cheering and clapping which definitely helped the slog to the top which at times seemed like it was never ending.
Once I got to the top though it didn't take long to recover which I think is probably due to some of the intervals and speed work I've been doing over the past few weeks. I knew though that I had it to face again on the second lap.
By now I had been passed by a fair few runners and I had no idea what position I was in but still felt a lot better than I did at around the point at wrekenton.
The second lap went pretty much the same as the first with the additional dread of having to face the hill a second time. The only consolation I had was seeing other runners around me also struggling (apart from the odd runner from the fast/medium pack racing past like a mountain goat).
Almost at the Finish I was passed by Jim from saltwell who I had been talking too before the start who ran from the medium pack, and I finnished one place behind him. After the race he told me I had finnished in 31st place - one off getting into the medium pack aaargh!
Cross country is a difficult type of race to measure your progress. Because all of the courses are different you can't rely on times along so although I was about a minute faster than wrekenton this doesn't take into consideration the distance, terrain and on the day conditions. Even so I felt I had a much better race than wrekenton and felt a lot stronger throughout.
I still need to work on my pacing strategy - I'm pretty sure I couldn't have went up the hill any faster, but having run the course now I would like to think I could push myself a bit harder next time.
Roll on next season!!!!!

Feet in the clouds

Just finnished reading this fantastic book about fell running by Richard askwith. Fell running is an area I haven't really got into much in the past, although I have done a fair amount of fell walking. My fell running career so far has consisted of running the stanhope fell race for the last 2 years (around 6 miles), but it's something I have enjoyed and want to do more of and I have entered the Chevy chase this year as a first step.
The book is partly a history of fell running including biographies of giants such as joss naylor, billy bland and Kenny Stuart and partly a story of the authors battle and final success on his 4th attempt to achieve arguably one of the toughest endurance events in the world - the bob graham round.
This isn't an organized event, but rather an invidually arranged traverse of 42 of the highest peaks in the lake district over a distance of 72 miles which has to be achieved in 24 hours.
One thing I have learnt from the book and from my own experiences in fell running is that is is a very different beast to any other type of running. Although the uphill sections are undoubtably tough I think that the key to succesfull fell running is the ability to run quickly downhill, frequently over unstable terrain such as peat bog, ankle snapping grassy tufts and rocky ground.
Basically there are 2 options:
1. Cautious style - hold back on the descent to reduce the risk of falling arse over tit or snapping your ankles in half.
2. Kamikaze style - a headlong descent into the abyss with no regard to personal safety as fast as is physically possible (which according to some stories in the book led to some almost 3 minute miles being achieved)

The most successful fell runners undoubtably adopt the 2nd approach despite the risk of serious injury and this is also one of the appealing aspects of the sport.
The bob graham round is something that has been in the back of my mind for around a year now and is definitely one of my longer term goals. Definitely not this year, prob not next but hopefully before I'm 40.
I was massively inspired by Some of the stories in the book such as the fastest traverse (billy bland 13 hours 53 mins), most number of peaks in 24 hours (77 mark hartnell) and for me the most impressive joss naylor 70 peaks in 21 hours covering over 50 miles and 25,000 feet of ascent. At the age of 70.

I love running and will always continue do so as long as I am physically capable, and stories such as those described in this book give me so much encouragement of what the human body is capable of achieving, and also for how long it can continue to do so.
A cracking read and highly recommended.

Gateshead park run

First Gateshead park run today, and my second after Newcastle a few weeks back.
Ran down to the start as my warm up, although given the wind and rain on the way down I can't say I was that warm by the time I got there.
Was good to see Tom Williams make the effort to come down to the inaugural event and he gave a few words of encouragement before the start which was good to hear.
I was at the start of the field and when the gun went off was surprised to find myself in the lead for the first hundred meters or so. I'm still relatively inexperienced in racing and am not used to being in this position, so was expecting to be overtaken by a good few people at least.
This did happen as one lad ran past and I decided to try and hang in behind him and see how things panned out.
After the first lap of the top field I couldn't quite hang on and found myself drifting off the lead a touch, but on the positive side a few glances back revealed that there didn't appear to be anyone challenging me from behind.
After another lap round the lake I hadn't gained any ground on the lead, but I hadn't lost any more either, and had plenty encouraging shouts from the marshalls telling me that the lead was catchable and urging me to push on. A good few of them were from fellow saltwell harriers, despite me not really knowing any of them yet which I really appreciated and spurred me on.
In the end I just didn't have enough in me to push for the win, but was still well chuffed to get second place 23 seconds behind the lead with a parkrun and 5k pb of 18.49.
In reflection I wondered if I could have pushed harder for the win but I have concluded that once I let him build such a lead I was never going to regain that ground. In future races if I am going to try for the win I need to stay closer to the lead and find the strength to push on when the time comes.
Since I've decided to race more often this year I'm learning so much already and have another goal to for this year now:
8: win a parkrun

Wrekka fell race

Finally took the plunge yesterday and joined the saltwell harriers. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now but just never got round to it.
This meant I was able to compete in the wrekenton fixture of the nehl which seeing as its on my doorstep would have been a shame to miss it.
As it was my first cross country race I didn't really know what to expect, all I knew was that I would be starting in the slow pack with it being my first race.
After the gun went off it was immediately apparent that there was nothing slow about this pack as the leaders flew off into the distance.
The track is 3 laps of a roughly 2 mile course on the fields between wrekenton, Springfield estate and lean lane including 6 grueling ascents of the pit heap.
As it was just below zero the ground was pretty solid (although slightly churned up in places), which meant that my choice to wear my fell shoes instead of buying a pair of spikes worked out ok, although I had the usual heel blister on my right foot by the end of the race.
I felt like I started off ok, but didn't have the energy to really push on much after the first lap and was overtaken by more people than I was overtaking which was pretty demoralizing as I normally like to start further back and try and overtake people.
I did manage a final sprint for the finish line, but ultimately this only meant I prevented the runners behind from overtaking me and didn't quite manage to catch the few runners I front of me.
Overall I enjoyed the race and according to my nike+ I went round in 38:04 on a 5:68 mile course overall. Not sure about my position yet but Donna reckons I was about 40th out of a few hundred runners which sounds about right.
Things I take away from the race are:
1. At the minute I think I'm probably a better road runner than cross country runner.
2. I want to get better at cross country, and to do so I need to work on my technique (running downhill and pacing myself for starters) and do more training on rough terrain.

Next race is beginning of march in alnwick.....

Goals for 2012

Been thinking about these for a while and I think it's always good to write these down do here's my running goals for 2012:

1. Run a marathon in under 3 hours
2. Run great north run in under 1 hour 15 mins
3. Try and get my 10k time down as far as I can
4. Do another ultra
5. Do a lot more racing than I did last year
6. Join a running club (prob saltwell harriers)
7. Enjoy my running and stay injury free!

Kielder marathon race report

Didn't hit my target of 3-20 for the kielder marathon but I wasn't far off and now that ive had some time to reflect I'm pretty happy with the result.
The weather was always going to be a factor and whilst not quite as cold as last year it was windier and much wetter. Whilst running in the rain in the summer can sometimes be very refreshing and cooling, it's a different story on a cold windy October day and I think it was the rain that led me to make my biggest mistake of the day which I will come to later.
The organization seemed to be a lot better than last years unagural event and I managed to get into the car park without too much hassle. Then came the decision. I had bought a new running coat the week before and I was deciding whether to wear it or not. At the time the rain was more of a drizzle rather than a lashing storm, but I still had over an hour to go before the start of the race and the rain was set for the day so I decided to take the soft option and go for not just the coat which I had never wore before but a cap to keep the rain off my face too.
Probably the worst part of the day was the long queue for the bus to take us to the start , but I did get chatting to a a canny Scottish lad who was doing his first marathon.
Fast forward to the start, it took less than a mile to become aware of my 2 biggest mistakes of the day. Firstly although it was still raining ( and would continue to do so for the whole race) I was roasting more or less as soon as I started so the cap came off and so would the coat if I had somewhere to put it. It wasn't waterproof and by the end of the race it was a sodden mess hanging off me.
The second mistake, and one I really should have learned from was that the pockets of my running shorts are definitely not the best place to keep my gels. Every step I took led to them bouncing up and down, threatening to jump out at any minute. To be honest, I don't think either of these mistakes made much difference to my eventual time, but they definitely made a difference to my enjoyment of the day and are things I will have to address in future races.
To meet my goal of 3 hours 20 meant about 7-45 pace and thanks to my Nike+ running app I could constantly monitor how close I was to this.
One of the biggest keys to marathon running is pacing yourself, and going easy in those early miles. The first five or so miles were very comfortable and I was averaging around 7-30 miles despite all the constant up and downs that are a key feature of the kielder marathon.
Although this was only my third marathon ( fourth if you count the highlang fling ultra I did in April) I knew that the real challenge begins at around 18 miles as this is when your energy supplies are shot and you are in danger of hitting the wall. This is something's I experienced very badly at my first marathon in Edinburgh, and also at kielder last year so although I felt ok for the first half of the race it was something that was always in the back of my mind.
The time this point is reached at kielder is roughly when you run over the dam at the south end of the lake, and although I felt a lot better than I had the previous year at this pout I made an error that would define the rest of my race.
As I tried to perform the difficult task of eating a gel and taking a swig of my water bottle at the same time with freezing hands I dropped my bottle. The good news is that I managed to catch it, but the bad news was that I doing so led to a massive cramp in the back of my thigh which reduced me to a temporary walk. I managed to get going again pretty soon but my leg was sti very sore and I felt like it could go again at any minute and the constant up and downs defiantly didn't help.
At the same race last year by the time I got to 20 miles I was really struggling and my pace slowed dramatically. I had slowed this year too but that was partly due to my cramp and although I didn't feel great I definitely felt like I could push the pace a little more although I was still a little apprehensive in doing so for fear of blowing up and missing my goal time.
By the time I reached 22 miles I was just below my target pace, but not feeling any worse so made the decision to up the pace for the last 4 miles, feeling confident that I had enough left in the tank to get me through.
Almost immediately my cramp kicked in again and I wad again reduced to walking. Again I tried to get running as soon as I could but the pain was so bad it was more of a hobble than a run, although I did get back to running at pretty much the same pace ad I had been on before the cramp kicked in.
At this point I realized that I wasn't going to break 3-20 but I could still beat last years time of 3-34.
Between then and the end of the race I had to stop another 2 times due to the cramp, but I forced myself to keep going and try to get over the pain.
It was so frustrating to know that I had it in me to go faster but the cramp prevented me from doing so.
By the time I got to 400 meters to go I decided to make a break for the Finnish line and managed to pick off a few runners, but predictably the cramp kicked in again and I ended up barely walking over the Finnish line in 3-24.
Ive now had a fair amount of time to reflect on the race and and have the following thoughts/lessons:
1. Don't be scared if the weather and dress down
2. But a belt with gel pouches
3.cramp - my biggest problem on the day and the most worrying as I'm not sure how I'm going to get round this in future marathons. The 2 most commonly accepted causes of cramp are dehydration/ salt loss and asking your muscles to do something on a race that you haven't asked them in training. I don't think that I had done anything massively wrong in any of these areas as I had done plenty long training runs up to 20 miles, and had hydrated well and took enough gels during the race.
I think that maybe in future training I need to maybe go over 20 miles, and experiment with salt tablets/ectrolytes .
4. Having now completed 3 marathons I've now got the confidence to know that I can go the distance and I now need to work on my speed. My aim next year is to go under 3 hours ( not in kielder though ha ha) and I think Ive got it in me. The question is how far under I can go, and that is what I want to try and find out in the next few years.