One year on

Today is exactly a year since I took up running, so I thought I should write a short blog to commemorate the occasion.  A lot has happened in the last 12 months, mostly good…

That first run took place on the hottest day of the year.  Since the Great Scottish 10k in 2009 I hadn’t run at all, apart from two short runs just to make sure I didn’t totally embarrass myself.  In the heat running is tough for anyone – I think I managed to do about 3.5k at a pretty slow pace, after which I was completely knackered.  It is amazing that I went out the following week, but I am glad that I did.  Since then I’ve only missed two Tuesdays and I’ve done and managed to achieve quite a lot:

• In my first race since 2009, the Great Scottish Run 10k in Glasgow at the start of October, I ran my first sub-40 minute 10k! 39 minutes 47 seconds, to be precise, which was very unexpected!  I’ve done lots of 10k’s since, with a PB of 36 minutes 14 seconds – but that course measured a bit short I think so I’ll go with my Garmin which says 36 minutes 58 seconds.
• I signed up for parkrun, which was a bit of a revelation. I still hate getting up early on a Saturday, but it’s worth it.  My first parkrun was Strathclyde Park, which I did in 22 minutes 17 seconds.  The second was Tollcross, a much bigger test due to the hills, with a time of 22 minutes 46 seconds.  I promptly set myself the target of getting under 20 minutes.  Nearly a year on I’ve done 38 parkruns, mainly at Tollcross, I’ve crossed the line first twice, and have a PB of 17 minutes 40 seconds (Strathclyde Park) and 18 Minutes 27 seconds (Tollcross).
• I took to running every day, doing this through October and then December (completing my first Marcothon) and also January.  I covered a huge distance and really developed as a runner – getting out there every day definitely has significant merits.
• I did a couple of things I said I never would – specifically a couple of half marathons and a marathon. I enjoyed them, and the training for them.  My targets were sub 1 hour 20 minutes for the half, and sub 3 hours for the marathon.  HM PB is 1hr 19 minutes 55 seconds, set in my first ever HM at the very hilly Strathaven course.  I did the marathon in 3hrs 37 mins, 10 seconds but didn’t manage to completely do it justice because…
• …I got injured. I still don’t know what the problem was, but it stopped me for a couple of months leading up to the marathon, and was very frustrating.  Getting back on form after injury has been hard, but I am getting there.  Whilst being injured isn’t great, I learned quite a bit as a result so silver linings, and all that.

As well as all this, I’ve taken on another huge challenge in the form of the Ride Across Britain and have been trying to juggle both running and cycling, which isn’t easy!

And, of course, I started writing this blog.  Not many people read it, but with only the odd exception I’ve generally had positive reactions and some nice comments in response to certain blogs.  I originally intended it to only capture my training towards the marathon and RAB, but I actually find it quite useful to write about running/cycling and the different events I attend.  It helps me reflect and think about things in a different way, and it has surprisingly proved to be helpful in training as a result.  I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll probably keep writing it even after RAB is finished.  Maybe in another 12 months I’ll be writing a quick summary of a second big year.  Hopefully the odd reader might hang around to see it…

Taking training up a notch…

In the last few weeks, the Scottish RAB contingent has really ramped up the training for our challenge in September.  Since the Ochil Hills sportive, I’ve got back into the routine of riding to and from work 2 or 3 days a week, using my hybrid bike.  I don’t especially like riding the hybrid – it’s heavy and feels slow and unresponsive but it is more practical and I know that it is giving me slightly better training.  By comparison, the road bike feels fast, light and effortless.  Riding to work also allows me to do around 60 miles a week without having to try to find the time to do so.

The Scottish RAB contingent had already been planning a training weekend at the start of August where we aim to cover some serious mileage, but towards the start of June Trish, one of the other Scottish riders, had suggested meeting up beforehand.  Ally, who lives in Aberdeen and has done RAB before, arranged to come down and eventually a group of 9 of us met up in the car park of Dobbies in Stirling on Saturday 24 June to take on a route suggested by Trish, who lives in the area.  Norman and Laura were both there, as was Laura’s other half David, along with Gill (who was only joining us briefly before heading off on holiday!), John, and Andrew.

After the introductions, Trish and Gill gave us a quick lesson in group riding and the things to look out for, before we took to the road.  The first part of the route took us out towards Thornhill and on towards Aberfoyle and the Duke’s Pass.  It was a really windy day, with potential gusts of us to 40mph forecast, so riding as a decent group was going to be essential!  Luckily the initial stages of the ride were pretty flat and we made good progress notwithstanding the wind, taking the opportunity to chat and get to know each other a bit better.

At around the 10km mark Andrew’s rear tyre exploded quite spectacularly.  We stopped to get the inner tube replaced and joked that 9 places were about to open up in this year’s ride as a result of us all dying of hypothermia – it was cold in that wind!  We just about survived and carried on, but within 100 yards Andrew’s tyre exploded again.  It was clear that unfortunately he wasn’t going any further – luckily he didn’t live too far away and was able to call his wife to rescue him!

The rest of us carried on to Thornhill, taking in some of the roads that we will actually ride in September.  A good chunk of this had recently been resurfaced and was smooth and flat – it would be ideal if all 969 miles in September were like that but unfortunately that won’t be the case!  Deloitte has recently announced that we will be sponsoring RAB for another few years but we have all agreed that the sponsorship would be better used resurfacing the full 969 miles of the route…

Gill left us at Thornhill and the rest of the group carried on up towards Aberfoyle.   A quick stop let us recover before attempting the climb up the pass.  Laura and David had done it a couple of times before and had told me it was tough – they were both aiming to do it without stopping this time.  The Duke’s Pass is a difficult climb, with the hardest bit being the start which is pretty steep, before it levels out a bit and becomes a fairly steady uphill drag.  Not far up the climb we passed a poor chap who had about 6 panniers on his bike and was spinning away in an exceptionally low gear – he was pedaling like mad but not making a great deal of progress carrying all that weight.  It must have taken him ages to get up there!  Given there isn’t much of me, I am pretty good on the hills so pulled away from the rest of the guys through the switchbacks up past Go Ape and on to the agreed meeting place at the top.  I just had time to take a quick picture before Norman arrived, quickly followed by the rest of the group.  Laura and David had more than achieved their aim of making it up without stopping and I think they found it much easier than their previous attempts.

What goes up must come down – the descent always feels like a reward, even when it is hampered by the gusting wind.  After we’d regrouped at the bottom, we carried on along Loch Venachar to the Venachar Lochside restaurant where we stopped for lunch and Ally and I made friends with the restaurant’s dog.  This was after I’d very nearly fallen when stopping – I’d un-clipped my left foot as normal and was putting it down when the wind blew me in the opposite direction!  Luckily I managed to un-clip my right foot and save myself just in time, but not before my left pedal had clattered my left shin.  My left leg is the one that had been injured and unfortunately it seems to be bearing the brunt of everything at the moment!

After a much needed break and opportunity to re-fuel, we got going again.  The road along the Lochside is pretty undulating – no big hills, but there aren’t many flat sections, so it really tests your ability to keep your cadence and momentum going without sapping your energy.  Our next port of call was Callander which we passed through as we headed back towards Thornhill over the mini braes, which is quite a fun section of undulating hills where you can really build up the speed and don’t really need to pedal too much.  When we got to Thornhill John, who had been struggling for a while, dropped off and took the shortest route back to the start point while the rest of us carried on towards Doune and Bridge of Allan, taking in the micro braes along the way.  Some parts of the route here had formed part of the Stirling marathon route, so it brought back some memories cycling on the same roads!  We got back to the car park after 55 good miles of cycling, and a very enjoyable day out with some great people.

The following day was a bit of a rinse and repeat – we met up at the same place and time.  All that differed was the route and the people involved.  Trish wasn’t riding but came along to say hello, but myself, Ally and Norman were all returning cast members, joined this time by Donna (on her first long ride, and first time in cleats), Alan, Jacqueline, and 2 Stuarts!  This was my first attempt at riding two long days back-to-back and I was a bit apprehensive about the potential effects of the previous day but I was quite pleased that apart from the leg muscles inevitably being tired, there were no issues to report.

Ally had designed a route which took us through Stirling and along the Carron Valley.  This meant a decent bit of climbing almost from the off.  Whilst the forecast had suggested the wind wouldn’t be as bad as the previous day, this wasn’t really borne out in practice – the Carron Valley is pretty high and open with nothing to break up the wind.  With tired legs from the previous day’s exertions, it definitely felt like more of a struggle!

Mid way through the Valley we stopped to regroup, which allowed Donna to earn her badge and experience her first fall…We then carried on to attempt the climb up the Crow Road.  As with the Duke’s Pass, this starts with quite a steep section before developing into a long uphill grind.  One of the Stuarts had not long returned from some cycling in the Alps, including one day with 15,000 ft of climbing, so he took off.  I kept him in sight for as long as I could but he steadily disappeared into the distance.  Once again the wind really made the climb a lot more difficult than it otherwise would be, and even the flat stretch at the top was tough.  The descent was, however, great fun – as long as you didn’t think about what would happen if you came off the bike at that sort of speed…

From the Crow we headed out towards Strathblane and on to our lunch stop at Killearn, a reward we could only benefit from following another tough climb!  Lunch was followed by a brief wrong turn, which took us down a decent hill that we had to turn around and climb back up again, before we headed across to Fintry and along to Kippen before tackling the rather worryingly named “Top of the World”.  As we were heading up the climb, Ally had a momentary lapse of concentration and veered off the verge.  I have no idea how he managed to catch it, but he got his foot unclipped, steadied himself and carried on, all without losing any momentum.  Very impressive!  Not long after, Ally explained that the climbing was basically done for the day – my response was to ask whether we’d done the Top of the World yet.  It turned out we were on it, and that we’d not really noticed!  The climb was a lot less of a problem than the name would suggest.

At the top we all decided to put our jackets on – the rainclouds were threatening and we knew that a fast descent would also be cold.  The descent didn’t disappoint – going quickly downhill in a group like that is a bit helter-skelter but great fun!  The end of the ride basically retraced parts of the previous days’ ride and, once the rain had dispersed, I attempted to remove my jacket while still riding.  Whilst I managed it, my gloves really got in the way and I had to use my teeth to help.  With hindsight stopping to take it off and then catching up would have been far easier!

Another excellent days’ riding with a great group of people, and the first weekend of long back-to-back rides successfully completed without any significant concerns either during the rides or in the couple of days after.  We covered 113 miles in total.  The reaction of my colleague Alan, who I’ve mentioned in this blog before, was to congratulate us on being well set for RAB.  I agreed, but explained that what we’d done over the weekend was only ONE day of RAB – his facial expression on realising that this was indeed the case really said it all!  While this weekend was a huge step forward, there is still a very long way to go…

Glasgow Men’s 10k

On Sunday 18^th June I participated in the Glasgow Men’s 10k event.  Like the Brian Goodwin 10k a couple of days before, this was a late entry – I’d been thinking about doing it for a while but if I am honest the Edinburgh 10k had dented my confidence a bit and as I said in my blog about that run, I’d lost a bit of motivation.  I didn’t really want to do another 10k if I was still struggling for fitness and wasn’t going to enjoy it.  However, a discussion one day with my colleague Alan escalated into madness quite quickly – we ended up planning to participate in an overnight cycling event from Carlisle to Edinburgh the night before, before getting across to Glasgow to do the 10k.  A totally stupid idea, but that was the plan, so I duly entered the 10k before we discovered that there were no bike spaces available on any trains to Carlisle on the Saturday, which meant we couldn’t get down there to do the cycle.  With hindsight, that was probably a good thing – ideally my first 100 mile bike ride won’t be undertaken in the dark whilst sleep deprived…

I was actually a bit nervous about this event – I’m not really sure why, but I think it was due to my last proper 10k being the Edinburgh event, which I was disappointed with.  Confidence plays a big part in running well and I knew that a bad run would dent my confidence further, while a good run would probably help turn the corner in getting my motivation back.  So while I knew there was no way I would be setting a PB, this run was actually pretty important!  Unfortunately the weather conditions weren’t all that great for setting a good time – it was pretty hot, but luckily there was some decent cloud cover so there wasn’t the issue of being stuck in the blistering sunshine like there was in Edinburgh.

My injury remained somewhat off being 100% and this, combined with the fact that I was still rebuilding my fitness (a long and arduous process) and recovering from a fairly brutal cold meant I wasn’t really sure what to aim for, but I set myself two targets – one key and the other just a nice to have.  The key objective was to run the full event without walking – this was the main source of my disappointment in my performance in Edinburgh and I was determined not to do the same again.  I was also aiming to try to achieve a time close to 40 minutes – I wasn’t too bothered about getting under that time, but to me 40 minutes is somehow symbolic and getting near to that level would show me that my fitness was heading in the right direction and the work I’d put in was starting to pay off.

The route itself was fairly interesting, albeit a bit unusual in places.  It took us through the car park of the SECC, past the SSE Hydro, along and over the Clyde a couple of times, then up through the City Centre, running up Buchanan Street (dodging the shoppers), past George Square and down through the Gorbals and Glasgow Green before coming back up to the finish at George Square.  Whilst the route was slightly convoluted, it did give some decent scope for support, particularly around George Square, and I thought the support around the course was generally pretty good.

I’d set off at what felt like a steady, comfortable pace of around 4 min/k that I felt I could keep going, at least for a while.  The first few k were pretty good but I then started to feel a bit tired and was struggling in the heat.  The 4^th k was pretty decent but I suffered a significant dip in energy as I was running up Buchanan Street and this, combined with being slightly delayed at the water stop, led to the 5^th k being relatively slow.

I was surprised to pick up my pace again for the 6^th k but through 7, 8 and 9 I felt like I was really struggling, not helped by the slightly random placing of the distance markers – the marker for the 8^th k was actually at around 7.6k which led to a false sense of progress, combined with a worry that the course was going to be very short – something that Glasgow events sadly have a bit of a reputation for.  Nevertheless, I was determined to keep my pace up as far as possible and not give into the temptation to walk, and I was happy that I managed to just about keep close to the 4min/k mark throughout.  A quick burst of speed, using up whatever energy I had left, got me to the finish in a time of 40 minutes 19 seconds, coming in 96^th out of a field of 2,049 runners.  Not bad considering injury and general lack of race fitness!

Most importantly, I enjoyed the run and I was very happy with my performance, which hopefully gives me a platform to build from – now I know that I can do that kind of time again, I can start pushing back towards where I was in mid/late March.  I’m not quite there yet but I am heading in the right direction, and I hope I’ll be back to my best soon!  I just need to be careful not to re-injure myself…

Overall, this was another really good event and whilst I said at the start I don’t entirely agree with having separate male and female events, having the Men’s 10k on Father’s Day is actually a pretty good idea and led to a good atmosphere.  I’ll likely be back next year, and will probably sign up for the Edinburgh Men’s 10k (which is in November so shouldn’t be hot!) as well.