Hogmanay Reps

8 rockets for Hogmanay (New Years Eve) reps.

I was the only JPM rocket and no sign of Paul or Martin at the freezing meeting point. Karen and Sarah were there with Richard somewhere between the girls and the four Elite, including messers Barnes and Weir.

Session was the classic 4 step inverted pyramid, so for the Aro Runners following the blog and looking for an explanation of the session to re-use it here goes.

Each effort is followed by a rest half as long as the rep you just did. Starting and ending in 4 mins. So we have 4 on then 2 recovery (2 being half of 4) then 3 on 1.5 off, then 2 on and 1 off then 1 on and 0.5 off. Now back up the other side of the Pyramid. 1 on 0.5 recovery, 2 on 1 off, 3 on 1.5 off, 4 on and finished. The second half is much harder as the reps are preceded by a shorter recovery.

I made a list of excuses before the session:
1) Jet lag
2) Change in weather from 30 to zero
3) No intervals for over a month (last reps on 24th Nov.)
4) Not sure the little running I did in the Dominican Republic was enough to count
5) Two weeks of all inclusive was showing on my waist as I failed to burn more calories than I consumed
6) Didn't eat enough for breakfast

However I amazed myself by keeping up with the girls until the 3 mins on the way back when they dropped me and the elite started to come through.

Karen dropped Sarah too. In the end the only slither of honour saved was that Richard didn't catch me on the last rep. That just kept me out of the C minus category!

From nowhere on the recovery back I suddenly have fast legs and bounced home chatting away to the elite on the recovery run. I remember when I could not hold the recovery pace let alone talk. It would seem all is not lost.

Dominican Republic

Too hot to run.

Even in the air conditioned gym.

Went out a few times at dawn to try and do some laps of the hotel. I thought 12 mins seemed long even in the heat for a loop, then I realised the mile loop was not to the front gate after the tenis courts but cut in front of them. That explained rather a lot.

One nice barefoot run along the beach which was fun and interesting but ever so slow.

Like I said, too hot to run. Swam more than I have ever done, in the see and the pool.

Easy Westminster loop

Paul described today as day five. This, in theory, is when I am permitted to partake of strenuous exercise again.

So after Paul emailed me to remind me of the significance of the fith day, just as I got to my desk Westlake was heading out for 'an easy one'. Been there, done that, just how easy exactly? He'd done 10k last night in 42mins and felt exhausted. Right I'm coming!

Unfortunately, the towel Gestapo have taken over the gym and I had zero appetite to fight the new one pound for a towel system, they are now making you swipe your card for a towel to check you are a paid up gym member. I might even join at this rate!

Headed out and chatted away the 4.2 miles moving along at a very comfortable pace. Nobody overtook us and we drifted past a few slackers or zone 1 no-hopes.

Westlake was kind to me. No kick. No drift faster. No ratchet for home.

Total time on feet a shade under 33 mins so all in all a pretty swift easy run with no negative side effects.

All in all very satisfying.

Wot no reps?

Aisha got to the meeting point just ahead of me and we stood on the hot air vent as the freezing rain drizzled down and the Rockets started arriving.

About 17 rockets headed up to the canal.

I asked Steve Scrutton if he saw us yesterday and he was complaining about the amount of noise three blokes from Hertfordshire can make and he admitted he was trying to sneak some speed work in while no-one was looking.

Ian called the session and I could not believe it. 1x24 mins. That's not a rep it is a tempo run. The top guns had a long loop to follow and Karen explained the B group plans. Aisha tried to get a mutiny of reps, but Ian himself said no so that was it.

Later I agreed with Martin if they do that again we'll just do 10x1 instead.

Having done a long tempo with Martin and Paul yesterday I did not fancy this shorter faster tempo much at all. Instantly decided to do it in two halfs. Slower out and then try to come back harder.

Quickly I overtook Aisha who complained about the pace, but by now I felt it was not too bad. Elite had vanished and the B group of Karen, Sarah, two blokes and Scrutton were ahead. I watched this group with interest. Karen led and looked very strong.

Behind I had Aisha and a bloke who was going to do the luton marathon on Sunday so was taking it easy.

At the turn I'd reduced the 35 seconds Scrutton had on me to 30. I noticed too that Karen's group had dropped him. As we left the park the elite came through at speed and I used their momentum to drag me closer to Steve. 24 seconds and closing.

By the next tunnel 18. Then 14. Then 8. Gottcha.

Locked in at 4 seconds behind timing the footfalls to match his and breathing quietly. Total stealth mode engaged. I decided to make my move on the bridge. As we came out the tunnel before it I eased wide and took a deep breath. At the foot of the bridge I focused on the top of the hill and pushed off hard with the toes which had the desired effect of propelling me to the top of the bridge at exactly the same time as Steve, who gave me the look of death. I let rip down the other side and figured I was 10m ahead. Held that for 40 seconds then risked dropping the pace a shade for some instant recovery, enjoyed that for 30 seconds then picked it back up for home. 80 percent all the way back with just enough in the tank for a sprint finish if it came to that. I need not have worried he was nowhere.

I was over the moon with that. 4.42 miles cleared in 29:27 which is an ave of 6:40 min miles or 4:08 min kms. BUT this was massively negatively split. I was so much faster on the way back, I was probably near 7 min miles out and more like 6:20s on the way back, which is well under my magic 4min km target.



I graciously listened to Steve's long list of excuses, which basically boiled down to it is much easier to catch someone from behind than to stay ahead at the front. Oh yes Steve, I know...

The Half Monty, A Long Lunchtime Run

I went out with Martin and Paul today. Three more evenly paced guys you are unlikely to ever find.

We did the half monty today, regents canal then around Victoria Park.

I talked myself round the first 5 miles then gave up as the pace took it's toll.

We were each taking a spell in the lead and rotating nicely all bunched up in our little group of three.

On the way out we saw a surprised looking Mr Scrutton furtively tanking it along the canal in the opposite direction, we gave him a cheer and a round of applause which made him smile.

As we came out of the park Ian Lockett was zooming along with two of his elite buddies again going the other way. We saw another couple of rockets and Paul commented on how this was our home turf. Nice feeling.

I shouted a Jean-Marc style "oi" at the tunnel to shift a walker and lucky I did as a bike stopped for us and then there was an almighty screeching of brakes from the tunnel as the biker met the walker.

Some guy just in front stopped running and was walking along as we went past on both sides. I noticed he had earphones in so I shouted a friendly "coming through!" Just as we drew level. The poor guy jumped out of his skin and screamed, the saw the funny side and shouted after us "Sorry boys, got a stitch!".

By this time we were on the last section of the canal and Paul wanted to know who decided we were going to speed up. Somehow that section of canal just inspires speed. Muscle memory, mind games, something like that. We instantly slowed down to something more maintainable and concentrated on not stopping at the end of the canal. Keep going was the mantra.

Then Martin wanted the time of day and announced he had a meeting at 1:30 and as it was 1:12 the conversation ended as the pace ramped and we motored back to the office.

Fantastic team effort, each one of us took time at the front and not a word was said it just happened. Speed home was great and as I forgot to press start until the canal all I know is that we got from the canal start and back to that point in exactly 45mins and we were out for about an hour. Hoping Paul has some stats from his foot pod thingy.

Top run with two top blokes. Nice one, thanks guys.

Scouser substitution, the snails cross the M1 on a long run

Paul was out on beers so had warned me he might not show, which justified my starting shot of right, 1 second past 7 he's late lets go.

But in order to redress the diversity balance of running fource, Ken had found a friend at the mother and baby swimming class (hold that thought those two are definitely male), who fitted the profile perfectly. Scouse, so that made up for Paul being missing. Slower that Ken. This now meant Ken was even slower than usual now he had someone to talk to as he dropped back.

Dave was there, in spite of his threat to go long and hard and I made up the four in running fource.

My initial plan to get on the Nickly line was destroyed by pitch blackness at the entry point and so Ken took us out on the Harpenden road then up Annables Lane and then right onto Kinsbourne Green Lane reverse running the Herts 10km route. Then we joined the Nicky Line as far as the travellers site and went through downtown Redbourn on a path Ken had never been on even though he had worked next to it for many years. On through the common noting the Geocache sites and nice wee museum they have.

Round the church and I must admit I'd been saving this one for a couple of miles. Hey guys look a new cemetery, so busy here they're dying to get in - Boom Boom!

Then I revealed my ploy for the day that was to continue last week's motorway theme and this time cross the M1. I've never done this on my running before was a another little ambition ticked off. Came back to the M1 on Gaddesden Lane, but I'd really wanted to be a couple of fields further on to go through the Nicky Line tunnel. But it was fine, job done.

Took a couple of attempts to get on the fields and footpaths on the other side of the Hemel Hempstead Rd as the guys did not like the way the footpaths veered back towards the M1. In the end I dont think we were actually on a footpath but really just making it up as I headed vaguely for the St. Albans road. We found familiar territory just after 10 miles as we joined the traditional Rebournbury loop path and everything was tickety boo once again. We survived the pure cross country mud bath.

Just at the tree lined section of path here we went past a kid, a bloke and two Alsatian dogs that were clutching a Tupperware box in the trees. If that's not another Geocache I'll eat my hat.

At Redbournbury Mill Dave was powering away, frustrated a the snails pace Ken and his buddy were going at and so as Dave and I pulled away from Ken and Anthony we upped the effort and got the heart beating. Dave said two words that meant so much. "The Tree". Neither of us spoke again or looked at the other, but the challenge had been laid down and I knew exactly what he meant. Just at the very top of the hill there is a large single tree and now we were going to work the hill as hard as we could. And we did. HRT hit 160 before we stopped increasing speed and I snuck into zone 5 for a bit. It only took 0.5miles to drop back to 133 (safe in zone two). At the tree we stopped and turned jogging back to find Anthony and Ken - we messed around suggesting we were of to do the hill again, but they were not in the mood for hill reps today.

By now Dave was seriously unable to go at the slow pace any more and he vanished off into the sunrise, but in doing so he missed the best bit of the whole run.

The look on Ken and Anthony's face was identical going up Crabtree Lane. They were in agony, tired and working hard to just keep the 9min miles going. I tried to encourage them, but I think it simply annoyed them that I could still speak. Ken went off along Gilpin Green and I decided to chaperon Anthony home just in case. By now he was 2 miles more than he'd ever run before and look whacked. But his parting words were, "Cheers mate, see you next week." Sterling stuff.

With those words not finished I lengthened the stride, leaned into the down hill of Crabtree Lane and joy, what joy to go a 8 min miles again. Felt like a sprint home, but was just what I needed to spin the legs at the end of a long slog.

Slowest mile over the crazy muddy fields at 10:25 and then the rest was not really that bad, but the whole thing felt painfully slow.

15.18miles cleared in 2:11. Ave pace 8:37, Ave hrt 142.

Swan Song Hounds and Hare

Prolog
When Martin sent the last call for runners note out I was amazed, not just by the sheer length of the list of runners, but the quality in there.
I felt for Andrew, who having won the handicap race last week found himself starting second with 18 hounds behind him.
Also in the starting line up was the Savage from DB (the first ever non JPM runner) who had been emailing me since before I even got on the train to work about focusing negative energy into the race and how he was pumped up on punk music.
I had a concrete duvet experience this morning and could not get out of bed. I had a stinking head ache and was bunged up more than the vicks inhaler could shift. Been taking the pills to dull the pain and decided to run anyway.
Been thinking about trying to hold Chris Burfoot today, at least until I catch Mr. Savage which I hope will happen around the Green Park Hill. Somehow I traditionally have the edge on him on the hills and he normally needs about 10 miles before his superior endurance kicks in. Although the 30 seconds start he has on me is a big ask as over 10km I can only beat him by about a minute. Should really be a sprint finish decider.

Race report
Good bunch of guys at the start. I got some ribbing about my luminous yellow top, which I was rather pleased about as that reinforced the deception that I was running in a yellow top, when actually, just before the start I whipped it of and ran in my jp morgan vest - ha!

Predictably Westlake kicked my top when I put it on the ground, but like Paul I am pretty good with that negative energy channelling thing.

Some strides to keep the heart rate up and then Clive went, then Paul and 30 to me. I could see chris shivering and was glad to get underway. As soon as I turned the corner I accelerated out of sight of the start to try and put some gap between Chris and I and also to see if I could gain on Paul early.

After half a mile I dropped back to what I felt a more realistic race pace was. No sign of Chris. Caught a glimpse of a white top closing fast at embankment tube in the reflection of a bus stop shelter and assumed it was Chris.

It was Mark Westlake who overtook me on Whitehall Place in a manoeuvre that I can only describe as unorthodox. He claims it was a friendly pat on the way past, however I'm certain people have gone to jail for less.

I decided to try and stay with him and he didn't seem too happy about that. We ran side by side up the middle of the road towards Horseguards. The lights were against us, but the first two lanes were clear and we crossed that far then I spotted a gap after a lorry I thought I could just about squeeze through. I changed direction quickly and without warning timing the acceleration to just miss the truck. Mark nearly went over in the middle of the road as I'd cut across him. I'd completely forgotten he was next to me. I apologised profusely later. As I dodged tourists and cut through photo opportunities to find a way under the arch to the parade ground I knew Mark was with me from the colourful tirade following me. Mark turned on the class here and dropped me, just at the point where Chris normally does. I could see Paul now, just twenty ahead. I avoided the policeman at the st james park corner, but mark nearly took him out. Went wide along birdcage walk and tried to close the gap to Paul, but could not. Then Paul overtook Clive. Buoyed by that Paul pushed on and I stopped closing the gap. I think it may have increased on the Green Park hill.

The hollow after Green Park tube is exactly half way and the second half is downhill. I glance at the watch as it rolls over to 17 mins and I kick.

Clive is looking round and I mis-interpret his hand signals as a friendly wave.

Get past him and try to kick again to avoid him following me too closely.

Paul has stretched his lead back to 25-30 seconds and I'm digging deep to hold the pace let alone catch him. He gets over the Mall early and I think perhaps a shade sub optimally. Suddenly I am aware of contact and that spurs me on. I call my intentions and get rewarded by the hound behind calling the gap on the mall and we both cross on a nice diagonal line that gets me another few metres closer to Paul. The long drag along the Mall lays out the targets, but the hound behind powers past me and I have just enough to stay in touch for the length of the mall then he drops me just before the parade ground. But by now I'm so close to Paul - just half a road and closing.

On the parade ground I notice my shoelace comes undone and I can't believe I've made such a schoolboy error. Get through the tourists nicely again, but then disaster strikes. As Paul and another get to the middle of the road the lorry and bus are already nearly level with me and I think I can run out in front of them and just get over the road but the two mounted police have other ideas and the horse is positioned in front of me and the hand of stop raised right at me. Retie my laces and watch in dismay as the boys in front pull further and further away. There is nothing I can do about it. I take deep breaths and try to think the heart rate back down. I move more left and as the police take a look over their shoulder to see what is happening behind them I'm through a gap and wide past the next set of traffic just before they too block my route. At that moment I see the guys turn the corner. Takes me 30 seconds to get to where they were and I now have a mile from hell to peg them back. I seriously doubt I can get 30 back on Paul over one mile, given it just took me 4 miles to catch him. Gutted, I soldier on.

Next up is Andrew Stubbs who I can't speak to on the way past as now I am at red line pace so I give him a clap and he smiles and laughs as I go past. Paul is a little closer. Catch a reflection of someone catching me and push harder. I take the next junction roadside and shave another few feet off the gap. Then it seemed the gap stopped getting smaller and I was too far to catch Paul. I focused on form and lifting the legs a shade higher. Ratchet for home at 800m, 400m and full speed from about 200m out.

32:22 is my fastest time since March this year and a 35 second improvement over last month. 6:32 minute miles and 4:04 min kms for 5 miles or 8kms is pretty good and taking out the road disaster would put me in line for the magic sub 40 10km.

Paul crossed the line ahead of me, but not by much. He ran a great race and pulled out the effort when I threatened which probably had a lot to do with my good time.

Post Race Analysis
There was a big turn out and most people were good runners who beat their target time.

In terms of pure time, I came 3rd and Paul was 4th - I beat him by 11 seconds, but like I say he crossed the line before me, so well done Paul.

Westlake was massive and super pleased to have just beaten Alan Ginn's best ever time.

With almost 20 runners, we've decided to change the route. Too many people nearly died today. So from now on it will be 3 bridges and I'll be in Switzerland. The end of an era. So nice to finish on a high.

Easy(ish) four miles

Westlake and the very fast Simon Egan were out today for their three bridges reps. I just caught them on the way out of the office and decided to keep them company as far as Westminster Bridge then as they went of to chase each other around the 3 bridges route on pyramid I dropped the pace to very easy run speed and made a mental note that it had taken around 16 mins to get the bridge.

I focused on form and could feel the mid sole strike nicely so opted to try some fartlek along the south side of the river which I enjoyed. Then I eased off completely to recover completely for getting over Blackfiars and onto the wee magic strip of riverside path from Blackfiars to Millennium bridge.

The only possible target was a fat lady waddling along so I simply did some side steps and strides until two more suitable candidates came past. Blue top and Mr. Whippy. Mr Whippy had just over taken blue top so I tucked in behind blue top to see what would happen - he quickly figured there was some nutter on his shoulder and tracked out and eased off, very polite too, but no fun. Mr Whippy's heel was almost touching his derriere and his arms were swinging like windmills. Not half way yet, but had dropped blue top so now was time to see what Mr Whippy was made of. Sterner stuff. Half pace took me to his shoulder, he span around and responded with more frenetic windmill action and a mild increase in speed. Sat at that until 200m out then straight to one minute rep pace and while the windmill span faster the speed did not come with it. Failed to notice a lady walking towards the steps and near miss as she saw me just in time.

Back in 33:40 so technically just about passes as an easy run, but with a faster than average out bound leg and plenty of riverside fun on the way back.

In the shelter of the wee park opposite the office I stretched off as the sun heated me up, not had that feeling for a while.

Aches and pains of the Sunday long and the rock hard reps are gone. Another rest day tomorrow sets up the Hounds and Hare on Friday nicely.

Very solid reps

I made it super early out today. Went through the meeting point far too soon to wait, so decided to use the extra time to JOG up to the canal and focus of form and recovery from Sunday's long muddy run that had racked up a fair old set of aches and pains. I was in half a mind to turn it into an easy run, but after a few mins my legs were moving more freely and I felt it would be fun to see the look on Paul, Steve and Martin's faces when they came over the bridge to see little old me already at the canal fully recovered and all set for the session.

Bumped into a top guy on his way up so moved up to chatting pace and had a blether with him as we streched off and waited for the guys to arrive. And in terms of performance potential we had the whole alphabet on show if you want to use Paul's grading system. Lots from pure newbie to top gun.

I tried to drift to the back and got a ton of comments about tactical positioning from Martin and Paul.

Session was called as yet another 24 mins on - this time split in 8 sets of 3 on with 1 recovery followed by a well needed two at the turn.

Aisha predictably set of, well, like a Rocket- but I knew she would fade and so the abuse about "Oi you blogged you were faster than her" was like water off a duck's back. And anyway someone who is actually behind you is in no position to make comments like that.

By rep three I was begining to get into it and was "steady" shall we say. Using just enough effort to clear the three mins with close to nothing left and the one minute was just enough recovery to be able to repeat the process. Martin offered to run ahead if I was to take the lead on the return, I made the trade.

We overtook Aisha during rep 3 and at the end of the rep I could see Paul and Aisha waving a bag of excuses, but I could not be bothered to try and comprehend the sign language and figured that after getting dispensation from the race organiser to take part in a Women's only race in Luton, Paul(a) had once again gone for the "girl's" option and headed back.

I'd have thrown and easy rep for the 4th, but Martin powered through it and we were on Scrutton's tail and had I not had another 4 sets of 3 to do I might have caught him. At the turn a small group formed and Martin gave us a serious pep talk. "Right guys, Karen overtaking us is ok, I can deal with that, but there is NO WAY we are letting Steve Scrutton catch us. Right boys, GOT IT?"

After that dead serious silience fell during and after the reps as Martin kicked of each one to set the pace and he huffed and puffed along. He didn't keep to the deal, stepping out and setting the pace himself at the start of the runs. By rep 6 I was feeling dizzy but just recovered enough to get back to the same pace in rep 7. And once again as form came to mind just before the metal humped bridge over the side canal I could feel the speed increase for free. I noticed Martin making even more noise than usual and after he looked at his watch for the 3rd time in 10 seconds I knew I had no choice other than to look at the top of the bridge, drive the knees high and push hard with the toes. The result was the desired gap which I managed to keep all the way to the end of rep 7 and by the end of rep 8 the gap was still there and I was seriously close to seeing breakfast again.

Now that is the sign of rock hard of reps.

At the end Strutton was on about "Where were you two? etc etc", but we were fine. Martin and I were evens stevens the whole way and ran a perfectly paced set of reps. Steve had gone out too fast with Aisha. The real class showed with only two elite catching me from the large field and I nearly crashed with Andy Wier as I missed the guy coming down through the last rep as he tried to overtake me on the uplock. My grovelling appology was accepted.

Right, so that's my high intensity work done for the week. I'm officially in taper until Friday's Hare and Hound, which will probably be my last ever.

Crossing the line, the A1M line.....

It was a mad week. Race on Wednesday. Reps on Thursday. Long mid-tempo on Friday. Earlies on Friday and a black tie dinner at the Liberal Club that finished gone midnight - this was all taking its toll.

Didn't feel too hot on Saturday as the snivels and sneezing came back. Overnight I thought of cancelling due to the battering storm that shook the house and lashed the windows hard.

But by 6:50 it was ok. Ken and Dave were on the drive and Paul was there before my Garmin found a satellite.

Out on the roads via Wheathampstead to the start of the Greenway via Codicote Road, which was not great due to the traffic.

But then the Greenway was a joy all the way the the A1M. Cheer as we crossed over the motorway - another wee dream ticked off.

Into Sherrards woods and around and vaguely back to the bridge over the A1M. In Sherrards woods the leaves were thick over the sodden muddy tracks which made the steep downhills mental. I was mocked for my skip 'n' ski technique. Strictly come dancing was mentioned a few times.

However, as it became clear normal running was impossible in some places and a cry next to me was Ken in a thorn bush. The blood oozed down his compression socks and mixed with the mud. We were all in stitches and at walking pace.

After the bridge we made the call to take the decent into the Brocket Hall golf course. Much nicer running that in reverse as it was downhill not uphill.

Spotted the same two old guys running on the course as last time and the same green keeper.

Came back behind the house and plenty of Swan signs marked the Lower Lea Valley Through Walk. We took it all the way to Wheathampstead then home via the traditional footpath.

While Ken may have won the half marathon when I was ill, he was not looking to hot on the hills today. He was struggling when Paul and Dave pulled away and looked like he was really working. We had to stop for him a couple of times and I went back for him at 12 miles. The 13.1 mark ticked around. Hey Ken that's half way Mr. London marathon man. Ken was due to go up Crabtree so I got to pick up the pace and catch Dave and Paul. But right behind me by the time we get to Crabtree is Ken himself, grinning merrily as he's clawed back the ground to get to Dave and Paul.

Paul was strong as ever and from the edge of brocket hall headed the group to the end and dragged us all the way back to 8min mile pace and I did my bit to sneak some zone 4 7:30 pace at the end. Still 1:34 mins in zone 3 can't be bad nor can 2:04 for time on feet.

Talk of the Ken v Niall deciding meet being the Herts Cross Country Champs. With the series level at 1 event each, this could be a big event.

Limehouse loop

Martin, Paul and I met up for the Limehouse loop. Martin argued hard for the anti-clockwise route arguing it was easier due to cobbles or something. He then took us backwards (ie West instead of East) and then down through a building site.

Paul and I slowed to a stop as the footpath was completely closed, at which point Martin crosses the barrier ignoring the health and safety guy in a high visibility jacket and hard hat waving at him. A lovely side step and he is past the guy and dodging the digger he was being protected from. He then takes us to a duel carriage way with more traffic than I've ever seen and we need to use the green cross code to get over at some lights. By now Paul is fuming as his route has an underpass.

Best bit of Martins route is the wee blue lights in a tunnel full of mopeds then we're back on Paul's route sort of and heading down to the Limehouse basin. Over the footbridge and that's it we're on the end of the canal - a wee dream of mine achieved.

We switch around the leader a few times and I notice a drift out of the chat zone and start asking tell me about questions. Martin falls for it and chats away, but Paul is having none of it. You're only asking me to "tell you about..." so it is me that is talking. Er, well yup.

Made the 8.5 or so miles in 67 mins 43 seconds and given the wind I and recent activity, race, reps, long tempo - no surprise I am tired.

Might be more later, but off out for a black tie dinner so bye for noo.

Post race recovery reps - I'm a B minus!

No Paul today. Martin was busy, but might have been coaxed out if there was some savage hunting to be done.
I was at the meeting point well early and next to arrive was Aisha leading a group of asset managers towards the meeting point. I waved at her and she waved back, changing direction to cut over to my side of the road. Unfortunately, her three buddies kept going in a straight on and the first guy bumped into her and nearly went over, followed by a pure keystone cops moment as the other two went into the first guy. They survived unscathed, but it was very funny.
Then the Scrutton arrived dribbling at the mouth before he'd even got to the meeting point. He cleaned himself up and then set off on a barrage of comments around how great it was to see such a mass of rubbish runners. On the way up I explained how in Paul's grading system he'd recently moved from a C to a B- trending B. The grin on his face said it all.
Alan Barnes (first man at the cross country in 30:mins) was at the canal resplendent in his long white compression socks! I gave a cheer for those. Nick was there too (sixth at the cross country).
My view was then respected by the elite as we needed some recovery reps for those who had raced and those who are going to race on the weekend at some elite bash. Ian Lockett himself set the session as :
12x 1min on 30seconds recovery, as hard as you like or stride it through.
Wind impact high, so 7 out 5 back.
Suddenly I panicked as me and some of the slow boys were in amongst the elite. Quick track back and we're off and I'm sort of in with Paul's B group. I decide to tuck in behind the girls and sure enough it is too fast and I'm dropped at the 4th rep. But there is still a ton of people behind me. Including the scrutton.
John Clarke (3rd at the cross country) goes by at full speed going the other way, he nods in response to my cheerful encouragement.
Battle through to the turn trading places with Steve and Aisha a few times. Easy one to the turn sets up the back five battle.
Ease through to catch Aisha on the first return leg. Karen's group go through on the 9th rep and I risk tucking in. Sarah is not holding Karen's pace and by the final rep I sneak past her.
As we finish the final rep I hear the voice of an out of breath Steve Scrutton "Guess who did not run hard enough yesterday?". He always has a come back this guy!
Great run back (chatting at elite recovery pace) to Alan who was pleased I'd had a good cross country after the bad half marathon race. It's great to be running again while not sick!
Nice to catch these guys thoughts and very nice not to be at the back on my own.
Now, where was Paul?
Possible Limehouse loop with Martin tomorrow. Looking forward to that.

Inter Financial Services Athletics Association Annual Cross Country Championships

Inter Financial Services Athletics Association Annual Cross Country Championships

This is the longest named race I've ever entered. In fact the title contains more information that their web site - click this link to the site.

The highlight is usually the great food after, the pie, bean and chips and that was no exception this year.

When I got to the start with Andy Stubbs the craic was all about why was I not wearing the ballet socks? Is the theory not true? When a bloke I'd never met before asked me about them I thought that was pretty weird. Alan Barnes, who won the race, stuck up for me pointing out that if they work who are they to knock them?

Next major conversation point was no Paul Savage. Garry, no I mean George, was furious as he put in the performance of the millennium and nearly caught me. He was sure that a race day pace like that would have put Paul firmly in his place.

Anyway, at the start it was cold and windy, but mercifully dry. Watched the first ladies come in and gave Aisha a big cheer and saw her respond with the arms pumping as she flew to the finish.

I decided one lesson of my half marathon disaster (other than don't catch a cold) was that I prefer to run from the back. So I crossed the line last. On the way up the incline to the trees I went past Andy and spotted George running the outside line as I picked off runners on the inside. As the field thinned out George urged me to push on and not wait for him. By now the pace was too easy so I pushed on.

Some steep downhills and uphills. I ran the downs a al Malcolm Balk's skip 'n' ski technique overtaking several bemused runners in the process.

Two loops at the top of the hill. The end of each loop has a nasty climb into the trees, followed by a steep decent to a pond and then a very steep incline to the top. I took a gel just before the start and took another as a reward for the first embankment climb.

Along the park the weak winter sun shone through the white cloud and that was the image of the day.

I kicked for the second loop and felt strong moving through the field. Held back on the approach to the pond as I wanted to overtake on the hill. I did and overtook more on the down. On the second climb after the pond I drove the knees high and looked at the top of the hill - the girls were there and someone shouted for 145 - hey that me. Little boost I needed just then to get over the hill and push for home. Perceived effort kick after 60s recovery and down to the finish.

Picked off first target, but the second was race on. He kicked hard. I focused on form and watched the gap stop growing. As the downhill opened up I kicked and drew nearer, but he responded brilliantly kicking hard to just beyond my 800m pace with about that to go. Just before the 100m bridge he kicked again and I responded - the crowd started screaming - I focus on form, not a single heel strike, and I'm closing the gap, but again he responds and just makes it to the line before me. I make a note of the number to say well done to the guy, it is 101. Jog over to JPM base camp to find out I'm second JPM vet!

Spot 101 in the trees doubled up in agony. He jogs back to KPMG base camp and I offer him my congratulations. While he was faster, I'm sure my form was better and I am certain my recovery was faster.

Quick jog back to Bank of England for a shower, some sausage roll, beans and chips. A few pints, the prize giving and plenty of great running stories. Especially Carol Loader who has run land's end to john o groats and will run 3 marathons in three days. Inspiring stuff. John Clarke from team jpm was 3rd male.

I did it in 41. Alan barns won it in 30. The word elite does not do these guys justice!



Comment of the night goes to an un-named runner, who on noticing that one of the ladies prize winning teams had a Murphy theme going on (ie they all have the same surname) and looked a lot like mother and two daughters combo came up with the line "A whole new world of fantasies".

On the way back to the station Andrew says how Priory Lane would be a nice long drag from some reps. Ok says I in jest race you to the guy on the bike. Away he zooms with back pack on and everything at full pelt. How many pints did he have?

Managed to upload the route, so here it is. Also, forgot to mention that I came in ahead of Chris Burfoot. Although he watched the last runner cross the tree line as he got changed at the start, he still made up the 6min 30s start he gave them and managed to not come last. Very impressive.

Rainbow

5.68 miles cleared on a lovely day at lunch time with 1,000 mile man Ken.

Chatted away as we zipped over to Wheathampstead then back up the edge of the Mid Herts golf club and home.

Mainly in zone 3 & 4 for me, except the beginning when I think the Garmin went wrong and reported me way over my max hrt for half a mile. Perhaps that was Ken's heart rate!

Enjoyed the sun and restarted a tradition that has almost died. When finishing the run at Batford springs, sprint the hill from the footbridge to the top of the path and stop there. My top pace was 4:36 min miles. Lovely prep for tomorrow's race.

Felt for Ken as he had to keep going as 6 miles does not cut the mustard for Marathon man. He needed another 4....

Today's picture did not come until after the run, as I walked my daughter home from school she spotted the most perfect rainbow I've seen in years, with each colour perfectly clear and complete from ground on one side to the other. It looked like we would walk through it to get home. That made me think of God's promises and how the rainbow offers hope after the rain. Looking forward to the race tomorrow.

New dawn

Excuses for not turning up for today's run were, in order of merit, as follows:
Simon, wining (MV40 section) in a 5 mile cross country race
Ken, ill missus
Dave, self inflicted drinking in London

So just Paul and Niall headed out after a 4 min wait to fly past Ken's to see if he had slept in or if 1,000 had suddenly seemed to much after only around 40. No sign of life at Murry towers.

We went out on the main road (compared to the trails we are normally on) and a guy on a bike warned us of floods up ahead - "Hope you two have your wellies with you". But before the road flooded we had enough light to brave first footpath of the day and were back in the groove as while wet the trails were runnable. We latched onto the Hertfordshire way and made the mission to get to Brocket Hall.

Mile six just before Cromer Hyde we caught our first magnificent view of Brocket Hall and the ride up to the house itself. Spurred on by the view and the clear weather the sun was now above the horizon that became today's picture.

No Brocket Hall run is complete with out going over the Palladian bridge. Normally, I'd hug the trees behind the house to get back to the Lea - but today I had new footpaths in mind. From the map I was sure we could get to the bottom corner of the course near Lemsford then climb up the side of the course to meet the start of the Ayot Greenway at Ayot Green. Check out the hill profile below.



Sure enough we found our way across the course, which looked in fantastic condition. Hardly any golfers and a few green keepers with everyone very friendly. We even bumped into a couple of guys coming down as we ran up. It was a tough climb up, very steep in places, so much so at one point I could put my hand out in front of me and touch the ground in front. Escape from the Palmerston golf course was at the 4th tee.

Click here for a map of the courses.

Now it was a simple matter to go past the Waggoners restaurant and find the Ayot Greenway - another flood avoided by doubling back and joining the Greenway at the very start.

The yellow tops were everywhere and every one was Ken for at least few seconds, but none really. We discussed the possible sponsorship we could inflict on him. I like Paul's idea of a bonus for going past the first 10km in MORE than a certain time. Mine will be revealed shortly.

Went over on a stone on the Greenway. Nasty moment as my foot landed mid sole I struck a fist sized stone. I relaxed my foot and tried to take the roll, but the stone popped right out of the ground and my left foot hit the ground at 90 degrees. I heard Paul shout something but by now it was slow motion as the right foot came down and I shut my eyes and thought about how much the next left foot fall was going to hurt. I relaxed as much as I could and readied myself for a fall, but I was just ok. I hurt, but not enough to stop me. That was very close and a timely reminder to all out in the wet and slippy conditions to be very careful.

No risk of a sprint finish today as we negotiated the final leg of the route to stay off the road a little longer.

By the last mile it was to hot for the red jacket of marathon rejection so off it came and by the finish we'd cleared 13 and 3/4 miles only straying into zone four on the big hill. I felt fresh as daisy, ankle slightly sore from the stone, but very happy to have shifted the cold that wrecked my half marathon last weekend so quickly. If only I'd felt like today last week. Ho hum, that's running for you! Still a new dawn and new day. Great run to get me in the mood for the cross country race on Wednesday.

Eastern Promise

I'd arranged to have several guys lined up for a wet lunchtime run. In the end Mark Westlake was still too tender from the night before to come out and left it to Andrew Stubs and I to hook up with fellow running fource buddy Paul.

I forgot my wet weather red jacket of marathon rejection, my cap and my snorkel.

However the cold had moved firmly out of my head into my chest, but I was not producing anything to worry about and knew it was safe to train again.

As I'd only done one run heading to docklands with a muppet who shall remain nameless who took me on a stair and road cross fest that was not idea I was a shade nervous about the new ground ahead.

Paul expertly lead the way entirely on virgin running routes as far as I was concerned. Some fantastic vistas of the docklands skyscrapers on the outbound leg and the vast majority of the running was canal or riverside. Going through St. Katherine's dock Paul wanted to know which of the rich men's boats was mine - I tactfully pointed out mine had already moved to it's new mooring in Lac Lemain.

Some nice drags for intervals down here. Treelined canals set back from the roads providing long straight sections - Paul knew the distance from each tree to the 800m mark and so on.

Low point was going under a bridge, I moved over to avoid a massive puddle under the bridge to smack into a waterfall about 6 inches deep that finished off the job of making me entirely soaked. Did I mention that it was tipping it down?

By now I was loving exploring this Eastern wonderland and caught up in the thought of glimpsing the end of regent's canal (where the lockett's rockets train) at Limehouse basin.

By now Andrew wanted to go back, but we convinced him to stay as far as the basin and turn there while we did a basin loop adding nearly a mile to the run.

Paul explained the rules to me. At a certain point I had to go much faster until another certain point. We must have pasted the first point before I noticed it because we'd both shut up as the work rate climbed and the pace shifted up a gear. Clearly, we both blamed each other for the 6:35 pace. My asthma caught up with me and so I had to slow down before the finish but Paul very graciously joined me at the recovery pace.

I ran into a wall and have a scrape on my arm to show for it. Left, when?, Now!, Ow!

We caught Andy on the way up from the river to London Wall. We slowed to his pace and for some mad reason I turned into a metronome and started beeping out the 90 cadence rhythm. We were all pretty much spot on.

Too wet to be described as candyfloss today, more like a sea weed kelp forest, swaying with the storm and yet strong and tall.

One very wet hour and 16 seconds was the total time on feet. Hope Paul can calculate the distance for me. My guess is about seven miles.

Candyfloss

Could not find a slow buddy to take out today and felt the maelstrom of reps at the canal were not for me after the poor performance at the weekend.

With a light drizzle to cool, it was off for the Blackfiars to Westminster loop. I'm getting better at these easy runs. Was concentrating on stepping back with the foot fall and taking great care to land mid-sole every time, in case a paparazzi caught a heel strike, so much so that I only noticed the 8th person in the bunch that went past me. I explored different angles and how that felt with the slow speed. Felt light and fluffy, the thought of candy floss popped into my head and that's how I felt. Carefree, enjoying the London skyline and watching the activity on the river.

Got bored with very slow at half way and moved out of the grey zone to reel in some more people at a shade away from half race pace (the first ten miles, before you ask!).

Came back over Blackfiars and tried out those angles at a different pace. Felt nice get up to 3/4 speed for a tiny section and decided that would do as the legs could feel stiffness at that rate. Eased of and back to the office for some chocolate milk although I didn't really feel like I had burnt off enough calories for it.

The snivels that were annoying me at the start of the run became a cold. I sneezed my way through the afternoon, eyes watering and nose running. In the evening as I write this my throat hurts too. This probably explains a fair bit of my under performance on Sunday. I was coming down with a cold.

Grand Union Canal Half Marathon

I was suddenly looking like top dog. 10km in 41mins implies a half close to 90mins and with Ken claiming a 99 target and Dave just of the plane and still walking like John Wayne after his exploits in the NY marathon the early betting was me going rather well relative to the guys.

The weeks before were not ideal prep for any of us, but we were cheerful enough as Dave rocked up 10mins early on my drive and we got to Ken's 5mins early and as Dave described something to me by waving his hand around he hit the horn and half the lights on Shakespeare came on as we woke half the street up. Opps.

We got down to the start very early and there was a hive of activity. Buses for the runners and tractors and forklift trucks going in every direction clearing the place up from the fireworks the night before. On my second visit to the portaloo I was a bit worried about the forklift truck zooming straight at it and even with Ken and Dave offering vast bribes to the guy he would not lift it up and take it away with me in it. Ha Ha very funny guys.

At the start met Chris Burfoot, veteran of this blog, as he tends to start the hound and hare a few seconds behind me, catch me quickly and then drop me through Horseguards. He was aiming for the low 90s.

Ken produced a silly hat, a bit like a swimming cap black with a yellow super hero flash on it. I should have kept my mouth shut as that would have been hilarious to see it on the photos.

Dave and Ken both required ibuprofen gel from my magic race bag. Dave's gel application was something to behold. He'd known this would be a hard race, so the gel offered the necessary relief.

Alexi, a top bloke we met on the bus, with minutes to the start was still wearing jeans and a jumper. If he'd run the race in that kit he'd have been well hard. However, he'd made the same kit selection as me and was delaying exposing it until the last second, in fact his skimpy shorts beat my gear - he actually wore less kit than me.

Ken pulled a pro trick by having his bag pre-tagged so he just chucked it in the van while Dave and I panicked in the slow moving queue. He disappeared and we all split up, but with seconds to spare we all found each other again right on the start line. Chris behind me, Ken in front, Dave to the side, Alexi to the other side. Felt like a club event where you know everyone.

Minute's silence before the hooter was a nice touch and it was well observed.

My race plan was to let 30-40 go then move up through the field. As I turned at the top of the field I counted, one, two, three, KENNY!!!!!, what was he going there? Seems he was actually in the lead for a few seconds after the hooter. Dave in 11th then me with Alexi and Chris behind me.

There is a narrow gate we clocked on our warm up run and I'd decided to avoid it completely and go canal-side, I executed this and closed a few more meters on Ken who by now was dropping back like a stone. Got past Ken in less than a mile.

I was working the lock gates exactly to plan. Driving the knees to the top and recovering fast on the other side. Caught plently of people doing that through the first 3 or 4 lock gates and while not comfortable was no longer cold and begining to find a rhythm. First mile was a shade fast a 6.45, and by mile five was going ok with each mile either just over or just under 7mins. At five miles Chris caught me. He was going really well and very chatty. I was thinging gel one, but decided not yet. I watched Chris pull away that annoyed me a little bit.

Felt good at 10km, went through in 42:30 which was a shade fast - but hey I needed the speed if something like a good time was going to happen.

I was caught by a lady in bright green top and we raced from 6 to 8 miles. I nibbled the gel and by the time the third water station happened I decided to eat the rest of the gel and let her pull away. At this point I new I had blown it. I was tired, breathing was fine, heart rate was low and not straying out of zone 4 - but somehow it was not happening for me. I was moving backward through the field and there was nothing I could do about it. Did a 7:30 mile then the 9th was better again as I visualised the hound and hare route and picked it back up to clear that mile in 7:13.

I got soaked as I dropped my water down me over my glove, vest and shorts going through a water station so as gel two went in as my reward for getting to the 10th mile marker and I flapped putting the wet glove back on two blokes went past at speed. I could not believe it as one of them was Ken. I decided to test him and drew level, I immediately attempted a McIntyre ratchet but he burst out laughing and kicked to near sprint speed grinning like a Cheshire cat and bouncing along with ease. I contrasted that with my tired state of being and decided three miles of hell were simply not worth it. He said "Come on, lets get the white top."

As the water station approached I knew I needed a drink and so I wimped out right there and then (where the marker is on the graph) and I stopped racing. I'd burnt my self out from 6-8 and was paying for it now. I walked through the water station and had mixed emotions watching Ken put daylight between us. It was great to see him going so well and to have been some part in his progress, but as with all great gurus the pupil will inevitably eventually take their master's place as the alpha male.




I later caught sight of Dave in the distance, but the long slog up the tree lined avenue was sapping and draining, I focused on form - I might be last, but I'll be certain to look good.

Actually got a second wind at around 12.5 miles and accelerated home to finish in the worst time of all the people I knew. 1h 36min 05s or ave pace 7min 20s. Lost 3 mins on Ken all in the last 3 miles. In the end it was Ken's day. He was looking good and strong, smashing 11 minutes off his PB with 1h 33mins.

Dave rocked home in 1h 34m, but after the race he looked as washed out and ill as I felt at mile 10.

My saving grace is that in 2007, over the same route I did it in 1h 32. Did I mention that?

I have my 2007 speed over five miles again, I'm going at my fastest ever for 10km and today was a bad day. Who knows what the future holds. Once thing that is certain is that both of us will do a half in under 90 sometime very soon.

Easy 4

I'm meeting up with my slighly above target weight and not quite race fit buddys more now in the run up to the race than previously. It is almost becoming regular and I hope when the taper is done they don't get to miffed at the pace increase.

Felt the need to spin the legs faster, but when push came to shove there were no elite to lift the pace so I just settled into the run, worked on the form and enjoyed not having to work at all as the miles ticked over.

4.12 in 35 with no increased work, all in the chatting zone at very comfy 8:30min mile pace.

All the more enjoyable having read about the rock hard rockets on Tuesday.

Got back to the office and Alan was gobbing off about there being no point to an easy short one.....

Easy like Sunday morning

Dave was on marathon duty in NY and the the non-tapering guys had vanished in a bluster of long run ambition.

Ken and I figured about five would be nice with the middle mile on at or around race pace. We set of three minutes early and took in the nice newly tarmacked section of the Harpenden Luton Cycleway.

Didn't fancy the sewage works path in the rain so took the cooters end lane back to the nicky like where we did some lock gate 'up and recover' practice. Well one. I believe this will be a factor in the race on Sunday. Many people will see the up locks coming and worry, slow over them, complain about the hrt spike and mess up the get back to race speed bit. As for me I plan to relish each and every lock gate. Having done them once or twice a week at reps for around two years I know how run them hard. Drive the knees up to the top. Let the toe off happen. Don't slow the cadence. Make the recovery on the flat, worry about hrt drift and ignore the spike. Never look down before 60seconds. A few in zone five is fine to keep the rhythm going. I aim to overtake as often as possible on the up ramps.

I forgot about the fast mile. Ken remembered and off we went, I messed up the buttons on the garmin stopping instead of lapping. I guessed I was a shade fast as Ken stopped matching the ratchets but I still felt good for one hour at that pace.

I fancy a negative split race on Sunday. But will decide on the day.

Ken suddenly veered off into a ploughed field at 90 degrees to the footpath. Was my chat really that boring? No, he was retrieving his hat which the wind had snatched away. It was very funny, honest.

Over took a lady twice on station road and offered her some Malcolm Balk style help with head position and arm swing. With those two small changes she felt the running was easier. She also looked suddenly like a runner that was flowing nicely, rather than one who was struggling to find the energy for the next step.

Made it home in 57 minutes with no clue how far we'd been. Check Ken's blog for that.

I'm a hound!

Today's hound and hare was hotting up with at least one elite on the start line and many improvers and semi-elite with good recent times in the mix. Only Jason had predicted 90mins which was ruled to be walking and slashed to 59 by the powers that be, ie me.

It was near perfect weather and three of us trotted down to the started together arriving 10 or so mins ahead of my start. The faster boys rocked up and the rest started leaving.

Chris Burfoot caught me as usual very quickly on Embankment and I managed as usual to keep with him until the far side of Horse Guards where he kicked and dropped me, net one down already. I could see Geoff ahead and resolved to focus on closing that gap and ignore Chris pulling away from me.

Went through a bizarre wall of pigeons and luckily avoided standing or running into any of them. Lots of half term let's visit London families wandering around even more aimlessly than your typical tourist.

Started counting the gap to Geoff on the Green park hill. Made little impact until the Mall. The marching band messed up a few of the guys but I saw it early and figured I could get past it around the far traffic lights and by the time I was half way back the lights changed in my favour and I got the racing line stealing a few meters on the guys ahead.

The sand on the side of the Mall was very bumpy and as I made an effort to catch a my first pray of the day it was uncomfortable to hold the pace on the bumpy surface. Went past Robert Rea, I offered and received some encouragement. The next target was Geoff and I was closing reasonably fast. Decided to hold back until after negotiating the melee at Hourse Gaurds. I had to shout at some people to keep them out of my racing line which revealed my position to Geoff who made an effort to hold me off, but I got past. Net one ahead.

At this point the elite guy (Richard Griffiths) went through. I admired his light footfalls, springy step and posture. I'd seen him run at Assembly Leagues before so I knew there was no point in challenging and simply let him go. Back to all square.

Next up was the unmistakable Andrew McCleery who was just ahead and going at around my pace. Just a shade bigger footfall circles and a focus on staying tall got me a pace injection for free and before I knew it I was past him. Now one ahead, two gone past and third overtaken.

Another guy was ahead (Larry Gerr) and I did not think I could catch him at first but with 200m to go I increased to half shin pace and as I went past him lengthened the spine, leaned into the run a little more and put everything I had into the sprint finish. I eased of a shade at the end as he had let me go and crossed three seconds ahead of him.

My time was 32:56 and that is the first sub 33 since March this year and you need to delve deep into the race archives to find the sub 33 before that back in 2007.

Was very chuffed with the absolute, relative (8th starter and 6th finisher), physical (felt hard but not maxed until the end) and mental (letting the better runners go) performance today.

Only one annoying road crossing that did not slow me much.

Why so good today? Less could be more? Perhaps.

Ditching the 2nd rep session for an easy run or threshold seems to be doing the trick. Now I need some sleep and some lovely taper for the race in 8 days time.

ps I won the vets prize today. I was the only hound over forty!!!

Easy 4 or 5

Easy run with the Malthouse today. Blethering pace for Westminster out Blackfiars back loop. Even at that, only had a couple of guys go past and Brian wanted to know how it felt as I let them go. It was hard, but it is getting easier not to go after them as I think more and more about the form.

After Blackfiars there is a nice stretch of footpath to the Millennium bridge steps where we allowed ourselves to go at a different pace, I changed up through mid-shin foot circles to what felt like tomorrow's race pace and then full knee circles and blasted the last bit as hard I could.

Jogged back to the office and did the 4.2 miles in 37 minutes, nearly a new record in slowness, only one minute shorter then the slowest ever for the loop. Then I jogged of in search of a bottle of malt whisky for my dad. Caused a bit of a stir in M&S trying to by a 12 year old malt in my running kit.

Anyway, roll on tomorrow's Hounds and Hare!

More powerful reps

Potential excuses for todays reps being bad.

1) Having been in Scotland at the weekend delivering my children to the half term playground that is Millport
2) Sunday going out to Luton Hoo (in flat shoes that trashed my tibialis posterier) then,
3) to the cinema to see couples retreat followed by a meal out then
4) power hour circuits on Monday night. Those were fun and Jo was back (800m in 2:21) so that made the shuttles at the end much more interesting and the young guns and some of us older dudes were finding out quickly just how fast Jo could go, the answer is very fast and give her more that the length of the hall I'm sure she could trash me, but over that distance I can just hold her pace. It was all very amusing.

None of all that mattered, I was fine.

At the meeting point in the Needs group were Scrutton, George, Paul, but no Martin.

George has been out for a while, but his comeback was most welcome.

Smaller group today and before you could say 6 by 4 with 90 off, three groups formed and Paul, George, Paul and I burst out laughing at the natural selection - hard stares from the elite group as they were clearly not going to condone enjoyment of any kind.

Scrutton zoomed away to lead rep one and he went through a puddle and splashed me. I spied a puddle 20m ahead and stamped down hard into it. Unfortunately, while soaking Steve (under the Geneva convention this is acceptable and appropriate retaliation) there was collateral damage and my apology was not enough for the back group who were pretty close to chucking me in the canal for that. Lucky for me I appear to be faster than them and with staying dry as motivation I had no choice but to lead the group through the first few reps.

Scrutton nearly hit a bike who was coming out of a tunnel and having slagged him of for that at the very same point I nearly crashed into a jogger. From then on every tunnel got a McIntyre shout as I went through.

Felt like a long way out and we were well past the park gates when we hit half way. Paul was still with me and George was still going well too.

Paul commented on form just after the turn. I noticed the non-sitting position and footfall circle working nicely just before then and the turn does indeed seem to be a good place to be thinking form.

The return leg was marked by a fast moving object closing in on us. This was Martin 'half reps' Wood late for the session but very keen to join in.

Two police were walking along looking out for something. Suddenly one of them jumps the railings then the other goes over too. The first one moves into the flats while the other makes a flanking maneuver around the back. We spot the target looking well guilty with bike. We offer to help catch the guy, but the police have him cornered so we just shout encouragement to the flanking officer.

Martin has upped the pace on the return leg. We're moving fast and I can hear him huffing and puffing on my shoulder. I focus on form again and try not to sit and slightly increase the footfall circle - again to my delight and surprise perceived effort drops and pace increases and Martin's footfalls aren't quite so loud anymore.

Dropped George somewhere after rep 4.

Psychologically prepared for the last rep. by stating my intention to let the elite through when they turn up without challenge.

I need not have bothered, as they never caught us. Made it perfectly back to the start point so thanks to Martin's timely arrival we'd done a perfectly balanced set of reps. I was very happy with today's session, 80-90 percent efforts by the end, but again feeling solid enough and light on feet.

With the race approaching fast and even Dave in taper, it's time for a rest day, then a slow day (watch out zone 1 slobs, here I come) and then a well timed Hare and Hound to round off the week - I'm going to get that hare this time!

Saturday is the new Sunday

Only Paul made it out after the last minute switch of day due to me going to Scotland today to drop off the kiddies at Grandad's. His first comment was to slag of my choice of kit, as being too hot. Gloves, hat and rainproof with long sleeve winter top.

Great new route opening up the joys of all things in the general direction of Symondshyde Wood. Headed out towards St. Albans, took a left turn towards Heartwood and stayed pretty much on the Hertfordshire way until we hit our first road. Slight disagreement on the route resolved by some old technology that I cunningly had in my pocket - a photocopy of a bit of the OS map. Ha I was right it is right.



We then went through a new farm and Paul talked me out of going too far in the direction of Brocket Hall - that would be more like 15-16, but one for another day. The whole area is saturated with footpaths to explore and we enjoyed the high content of new ground in the run. Held chatting pace most of the way.

The pace stopping is where we had to check the map!

Popped out of the wilderness at Wheathampstead having run parallel to devils dyke, thinking we were much further over. We solved the "too close to home" problem by going right up and over the top on the way home where I have not been for so long that counts as new footpaths for me. I also have only every done that area outbound never homeward. It's changed a bit with a new barn at one of the farms. Needed gel two here and struggled with the hill. Pace slowed and I recovered, notice the heart rate drift here. I need to watch that.

Final dip down and Paul took the lead and the stunning section came down very steeply through a field then some woods then suddenly right over an open ploughed field which was impressive with the dull grey clay soil framing Paul's luminous yellow top ahead of me.

He was right about the kit, too much. I was too hot. But still only complaint from a fantastic run.

Easy four miles

Found a tri-athlete who had been out for a while due to becoming a father for the first time, buying a house and generally being too busy.

So I was surprised when Brain set what felt like a decent pace, but he soon slowed and we gassed our way around the Westminster and Blackfiars loop. It was much easier to go slowly today and having a marker beside me kept me from zooming off. Even managed not to accelerate along the last bit of the drag to millenium bridge.

Got back to see a poor guy being scooped of the road out side the office into an ambulance. He'd been knocked off his scooter by a car.

Total distance 4.2miles in a very slow 33 mins one slower than when I tried to do the same loop with Mark slowly and 5 faster than my record slowest time for that loop.

ps. on the way home from the station a cotton t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms cashed up station road, even with back pack and coat on I could not resist. Caught him by half way and he errored in attempting to cross the road and gave me the look that said it all as I silently (what you can't hear won't hurt you) eased past him. He crossed the road and I guess we were at around 7min mile pace. He tried hard not to look back but clearly know exactly where I was as each nudge in pace was matched. I was faster on the down hill and I simply extended the circle of effort for free as I watched his effort increase as his heel strike sent him backwards. Then he truned off station road and I wound down the effort and enjoyed feeling the circle get smaller and the cadence stay the same as I dropped down through the gears. Slowed right to walking by the bottom of the hill. Te he that was fun.

Good Reps

The twenty or so rockets did not hang about today and that forced Martin into a pb from the office to the canal.

Scrutton was there doing some kind of steady run through the set, noted his new red running top - never seen the guy in anything other than 100% cotton before.

My excuse today was mainly focused around the battering I took last night from "Alex" the hulk with a sadistic streak that had given me the Guantanamo Bay treatment at Breathing Space. The tranquil setting and soft furnishings and delightful staff lulled me into a false sense on glentle expectation. Alex arrived and eyed me up. He listened dutifully to my abridged list of running injuries and aches and pains. Then the violence erupted. Within seconds he'd found and smashed a knot on my back and I was right on the pain threshold. This was 30 seconds in and at that point I remembered I'd booked an hour. Alex used all his weight and considerable upper body strength to pummel me hard and deep tissue or sports massage does not do this guy justice. I screamed, but did not cry. He told me when he worked at
Guantanamo Bay they would always talk when he got to the end of the muscle. By the end I was battered and bruised, but somehow lighter, especially on my left arm and oddly in my feet that had taken a special hammering and responded. I told Alex all about ARO runners and he said he'd love to hook up with them.

The reps were 8 by 3 off 1, with 2 at the turn. Dave, call me if you need to know what that means, can't be bothered explaining it.

Paul and Martin instantly appointed me leader of the "Needs" group and we were off. I felt light, loose and comfortable. Thought about throwing an easy one at rep 4 but decided to hold the pace and felt fine.

On the way back Paul ask if I was speeding up during one of the reps. No I replied, actually I was thinking about my foot circle (half shin pace), cadence, landing with my foot moving backwards and not sitting into the run. What - all that and you can still run? If you heel strike I'll kick your foot was Paul's helpful input along with why don't you get a squeaker implanted on your heel so it squeaks if you heel strike? I wonder if Aro Sports do those?

On the 5th or 6th rep I'd just adjusted into a more upright position and was thinking about how my feet were landing nicely when Paul crys out "OH NO NIALL'S THINKING ABOUT FORM AGAIN, HERE WE GO!" Somehow we probably were going faster and my perceived effort reduced. Amazing.

The elite streamed through on rep 7 and I was wise enough to keep at half shin pace and not respond.

The cheek from Paul escalated to sheer insolence as with forty seconds to go on rep 8 Paul challenged! I'd been wondering what knee pace would feel like and within seconds I knew two things, firstly that's very fast and to my delight it is faster than Paul. 20 seconds to go and I've overtaken him and a number of bemused elite who happened to have gone past us moments before. Paul suggested if only he'd gone later and more steady, he'd have "won". Keep the racing for races!

Massage, Alexander workshop with Malcolm or some combo of them both? Either way felt light, in control and solid as a rock. Noticed how not sitting into the reps on the acceleration really helped and focusing on increasing the foot circle as the key to speeding up and keeping the form.

As Martin pointed out, our next target to catch is Sarah's group. Whooo hooo!

Long Sunday Run

I'd met up with Simon mid week and suggested we offer the Running Fource Sunday run out the red hot Aro boys. Against all the whinging about the early start someone we did not know actually turned up, young gun John was there on the dot.

We headed off to collect Kenny in a the allotted 8 mins and made it fine. He could hear us coming from half a mile away and my stage whisper about running past or speeding up only helped us wake up Cowper Road rather than fool Ken's bionic ear.

There were two schools of thought for the day, the A team (aka Simon and Dave) were gobbing off about a fast 20 miles in Hatfield but they both turned up at mine (in Harpenden) having decided to start with us and then push off.

By the time we had got to Kenny's everyone was trying to get beside or behind me as they all wanted to offer an discerning opinion on Niall's foot fall - mid sole, hey was that a heel strike? Not even one mile in and I was wondering how wise sticking all that on yesterday's blog was.

Just after the A team made a "We're going to run at a different pace now" move at the Childwickbury gates John drops out and decides to U turn for home - poor chap was suffering with shin splints and we left him stretching off on Harpenden road.

By this time the A team's fast twenty was looking seriously in jeopardy. The B team were closing the gap fast. In spite of clear directions on the correct footpath to take the A team missed it completely so the B team got to shout at them to turn as they went past.

This then took us through the pick your own, I wanted to go straight on (because that's the foot path) but Kenny and Paul insisted we follow the A team on their perimeter sortie.

We found a gate in the school grounds and then the A team went round the outer edge of the school and round the Batchwood woods. They found a footpath and went into the woods, but the woods were clear so the B team took the racing line and went straight in to the trees and crashed through the undergrowth and got to the path seconds after the A team. Through the woods took us out behind the golf course, much better than the than planned route across the course. We were back on familiar turf, now on the Batchwood/Childwickbury path. Stunning views here firstly over to Gorhambury estate and then the brilliant red sunrise with St. Alban's skyline silhouetted and dominated by the cathedral. Worth getting up just for that.

Just before the park Kenny nearly went flying. He tripped over a kerb that was covered in leaves, he was OK and the B team continued. However, Paul and I now announced each up coming kerb with a big shout.

A team took an odd route into the park and our direct route had them again only metres in front going around Verulam lake. They went up the side past the Londinium Gate and we headed back, with Kenny re-living his glory football days at Kings.

More new territory as we went past the Roman theatre and jumped the gate with the warning to keep out between 8am and 6pm. Lovely tree lined avenue to run along with a smooth road - Kenny helped me out here by holding my head up for 30 seconds just to re-set as I felt I was stooping. Suddenly, I had a second wind as it all seemed much easier running not in a slump.

Turned right down onto Colne-Lee Valley Walk with a lovely riverside section on a grassy path and quaint buildings to admire and even quainter bridges to traverse. Crossed the road and Kenny was getting jumpy and thinking about cutting short the loop to get home to avoid marital strife.

Now running across this footpath is an access road to a sewage treatment plant. When I've been here before, coming the opposite way I noticed it was very hard to see where the footpath came out. I had in my head it was just before the footpath sign about 10 feet to the left of the sign. I confidently annouced "This way boys!" ducked down, pushed the branches of a tree out the road and ran straight into a sticky ball seed tree and went flying. By this time Kenny and Paul went into over drive and I got the slagging I richly deserved. "Use the force, Niall" was one of the better ones. Of course, I had forgotten to invert the instructions I'd mentally noted going the other way. My left leg was covered in sticky seed balls and I tried to take one off to chuck at Kenny but it just stuck to my glove.

By now the pace was picking back up as the slagging died down. Paul decided to stay with me, but Kenny needed the short option so took Beesonend hill at a pace that gives you an insight into the Wrath of Susan. If only he'd had that kind of motivation at the Herts 10km last weekend.

Then there were two.

We went round behind the fishery and shooting platforms and I was sure there was another exit to the fields further along, which a later look at the OS map confirmed is there - but you needed to go up one more field to get to it. This section was ploughed right to the edge and the footpath was barely there in parts.

Long slog home up the Nicky line, feeling the effort. Paul kept me honest and nudged the pace back up the hill to the stated goal pace and we made it home in under two hours, which is was pretty much bang on 8 min mile pace as advertised.

Breaking news is that John survived and is up for next week. Now there are six of us.

Kenny clocked up 12 and Paul and I did 14.3 miles - well it is traditional to over shoot slightly! The A team massively undershot, but still clocked an impressive 16.5 miles and while we saw them lots on the way out, they were looking good with little injections of pace to counter the B team's advantage of knowing where they were going.

Art of Running - Great Brickhill

Today I went to Malcolm Balk's Art of Running workshop in Great Brickhill with my friend Kevin and his fast son, here we are.



There was a real mix of new runners, Iron Men, improving runners and completely new runners.

In this blog I aim to capture the main points for me to work on and some of the drills we did that should help achieve the faster speed that will come from the better form.

Three key points:
1) head
2) footfall
3) don't push off

Firstly, and my wife spotted this during the 10km, I am hunched up. You can see this on my 10km photos and the ones below. There are three elements to my hunch, or what Malcolm calls running in the sitting position.
1) No neck, head is down and forwards
2) Chest, collapsed in and down
3) Bum sticks out at back




To help us not do this Malcolm recommended what he does, every time an ad comes on TV get of the sofa and onto your knees. Get into the slump, then correct it and hold the good position for the duration of one or two ads. Nice tip.

After finding where the pivot point in our heads were we worked on this in pairs by holding the partner's neck while they ran and then let go. Then we did some negative training by trying to run in the sitting position and seeing how hard it was compared to running with the head up open and free.

The footfall landing video was a shocker for me. I was sure I mid sole struck, but the left leg was a horror story. The knee locked and the heel crashed in. Interestingly the right leg was better. That explained the tibialis posterier in a second.

I was also very clearly pushing of with my toe. This sends the runner up and encourages the other foot to swing out and land infront and heel first. Opps.



Before working on the footfalls we did the following warm up which I really liked.

Light jumps with feet together and landing on the mid sole and just touching the ground with our heels. The build up to lifting the feet one after another and then finally moving forwards into a slow jog.

Then while running we worked on 180 cadence through all paces, 10min mile, 8 min mile, 7 min mile. Malcolm's metronome beeping away was awesome. I need to get one if only to annoy the heck out of my running buddies.

We worked on the pony prance to try and get the footfall landing underneath our hips and not in front. As it moves back is the ideal. At slow pace step over the ankle. At faster pace make the circle bigger and put more energy through the machine, step over the mid shin and so on until full pelt is up to the knee.

Good drill to try more often.

We did much of this bare foot around the cricket ground. Shade cold at first but I soon began to enjoy the grass and leaves underfoot and it certainly stops you heel striking with no shoes on. Once the shoes went back on it felt like I was running with a brick on each foot.

Malcolm suggested doing this once a week for five minutes or so.

At the second screening Malcolm made me do my run past twice, I was so loud on the way down. He said something that stuck. "What you can't hear won't hurt you." Light as a feather I floated back up - better. I worked out what I was doing. To try not to heel strike I was smashing my mid sole hard into the ground to make sure it hit before the heel and locking the ankle in the process. As I unravelled that I was depressed at the amount of work I still have to do on all this.

But later I realised that was the wrong way to look at it. If there had been nothing to correct I would have wasted an afternoon. I now have things to work on and I know why my left leg is in a worse state than the right. These things will by definition make me much faster and I now have a running buddy who's got the same theory around the corner. We agreed to go for an easy run together to practice. I fully intend to do that.

And finally this one is for Kenny. Malcolm took me aside and said "Hey Niall it's a shame I don't live here. I'd have you under 40mins for a 10km in no time. You know what your trouble is - you go out with those nutters from work and kill yourself every run trying to be competitive, don't you? What you need to do is go out dead slow more often and work on the technique."

Any fat slobs fancy a slow run in zone 1?

Steady Run

Went with Alan and once again employed the talk 'em slow policy that worked like a dream.

Alan was suffering from a hard early morngin session (in the gym) and I was suffering from a bad day at the office. The two combined perfectly and we did a three briges loop steady for me and easy for Alan.

Talked for 2/3 of the way and only slightly did the pace increase as we headed for home.

Pressed the wrong button to stop the watch and hit reset instead of stop, but think it was 53 mins. Wind was strong against on the way home and that slowed us down, felt faster than 8:11 min miles which is what that time implies. I know it was not 43 mins....

Easy run

Easy run with Mark Westlake is a contradiction in terms. Fresh from his Iron Man in Barcelona I talked him into a short easy run.

Alan Ginn was in the changing rooms retuning from a double loop three bridges and when Mark saw him he said 'out with Niall today, so it will be an easy one. Ha ha. '

I used the talk you into slowness technique and spun the story of Little Cumbrae becoming a yoga mecca all the way to Westminster Bridge.

On they way back we seemed to be over taking more people than I would want to on an easy run, but they were really slow.

Loop was completed in 32 mins. 8 mins faster than last weeks slow version of the route. 7:46 min miles - hmmm, not really slow enough.