PECO race 4: John Smeaton

I had to miss races 2 and 3 of the PECO series due to exams and injury respectively, so I was well up for race 4.

I varied the pre race routine a little, supplementing porridge with honey for soda bread with butter and jam.  The bucket of builders' tea remained!

It was a very cold but sunny day.  The ground was frozen solid and it was bitterly cold in the shade.  The race website gave a very confusing description of an out and back, loop and another out and back.  In fact the route was a very pleasant out, figure of eight and back over fields and footpaths.  Unlike the other runs in the series, which have been soul-destrying laps of horror, the course felt varied and when you saw a section of path you recognised, you knew you were within a mile of home!

So how was the race?  It was a cross country - it was bloody hard!  Mercifully there were no really steep hills (although this also meant no steep downhills, which is where I do most of my overtaking), but there were some long slogs up gentler inclines.  The ground was very hard, making it tough on the legs and difficult to find footing at times.

I had the usual crisis of motivation at about mile two and contemplated stopping.  Shortly after that, the big hill appeared and my attention was diverted to concentrating on carrying on.

I found it difficult to pace myself.  I ran some sections at well under 7:30, which is very fast for me, and didn't know whether I would have enough juice in the tank to make it round.  My quads were feeling pretty tired after the previous day's circuit training.

Once I hit the 'back' leg, with a mile and a half to go, I realised I would be able to hold my speed back to the finish line.  Nature tried to intervene, sending me flying flat on my side as I undertook a male runner on a corner.  It seemed to slow him down more than it did me.  He stopped to see if I was okay, I staggered to my feet, wiped my snotty nose with my muddy hand and left him for dust. 

The fall shook me up a bit though and I tucked in behind another female runner for half a mile or so while I tried to figure out whether I had done any serious damage.  On the home strait I stepped up a gear, putting on a burst of speed and overtaking by a few places.  Fantastic support from VARR gave me legs for a serious sprint finish.

I was totally exhausted when I crossed the finish line.  My legs had turned to jelly and it was all I could do to stagger to one side of the chute and try to hold down my breakfast (maybe I'll stick to porridge next time!).  It was worth it to be 36th woman and 3rd club woman home - I'm dead chuffed to have come third to Helen and Ali.

It was great cheering the other VARR runners home.  Jan and Kay put on gutsy sprint finishes, both gaining places in the last 50m to the chute, whilst Hamsa waltzed in looking as fresh as a daisy and claimed she spent the whole race daydreaming about food...

St Theresa's arranged a brilliant spread and I refuelled on pizza, banana, Yorkshire curd tart and two fairy cakes.  The sugar rush was not pleasant!

The fall has left me bruised and achy, though oddly not so much on the side I landed on.  I think the ground might have been so hard I bounced onto my front.  Sounds like a good excuse for some easy days and pampering.  Especially as I'm now tapering for next weekend's Radcliffe 10 mile.  Bring it on!

January review

The first month of 2010 has whizzed past.  Time for some reflection.


High points:

• Trail runs in the snow: we had 2-3 weeks of heavy snow which made my home turf of the Meanwood Valley Trail a magical kingdom
• A corking 5k PB at Parkrun: timer said 24:02, Garmin said 23:58.  I'm chuffed with either
• Getting my long runs up over the 9 mile mark: suddenly double figures doesn't seem as daunting
• First experience of spectating: I know how important it is as a runner to get encouragement from spectators, I never realised how passionately meant that encourgament is.  My heart was bursting with pride as I watched people slogging through a very tough cross country

Low points:

• Knee problems: these were bad for the first few weeks of January, eliciting 'involuntary vocalisations' and forcing me to miss another PECO XC
• Snow stops play: missing out on evening runs due to trecherously icy pavements

Progress against goals:

• Time goals: when I feed my new 5k PB into the FE number cruncher, it tells me I can aim for a 50 min 10k and a 1:50 half marathon.  Obviously there's a way to go to develop the endurance and strength needed to reach these goals, but it makes them seem more achievable
• Milage: breakeven point 84.93, actual milage 58.85.  Reasons for difference: injury, weather.  How am I going to put it right?  Little and often to consolidate my knee's recovery, rest followed by long runs at weekends
• Race a month: only just scraped under the wire this month as the Pennine 10k was postponed to 18 April and I had to sit out PECO race 3.  Ran PECO race 4 today, 36th woman home and 3rd club woman home.  Very pleasing :-)

Inspiration of the month:

Rona!  She cheered me up the night I found out I failed my FR exam, she made delicious flapjacks for us to eat when we did our first 'really' long run together, and we're doing Loch Ness 2011 together (aiming for sub 4:30).  Yay!

2010 Running Resolutions

One of the things running has taught me is how to set goals and figure out what you need to do to attain them.  These are my running resolutions for 2010:

1. Sub 2 hour half marathons:  Half marathons are the next step in my journey towards distance running.  I'll run my first ever half marathon in Sheffield in April.  I aim to break the 2 hour mark in Alderney on 4 September
2. Sub 50-min 10k: this is an ambitious one, but hopefully as my stamina increases and I do some speed training, I will be able to break the 50 min mark by the Abbey Dash in November
3. 1000 miles in 2010: a shade under 20 miles a week.  This seems like an achievable number that allows me to push for a goal whilst still having space to accomodate rest breaks if needed
4. Race a Month: Inspired by club member Kay, who set herself this challenge in 2008, I'll enter at least one race (Parkruns don't count except for the championship race) each month.  I'm hoping to get a good spread from 5k - 13.1 miles.

Welcome to The Adventures of the Roadkill Runner

Hi!


Why the Roadkill Runner? Having taken up running in the summer, it came as a bit of a shock when the nights drew in and I couldn't run my normal routes on trails after work. I realised I was going to have to start road running in the evenings. The day before my first race, to give me confidence, I jogged the mile and a half to my local running shop and bought myself a hi viz vest with a hedgehog on it. The Roadkill Runner was born!

These are my adventures, enjoy :-)