Kenny failed to appear and so Dave, Paul and I headed off to the Greenway for some lovely mile reps. At the junction there were no surprises when the choice of short road or longer hilly trail went the way of the long route, well we wouldn't want to under distance would we!
We were imagining Kenny having driven out to the Greenway and parked up stitting pretty waiting for us supping a cup of tea playing the coach role - "again boys, faster this time!". Then as if on cue, a lumious yellow jacket is spotted though the trees heading right at us moving quickly - it must be Kenny - but no just a look a like. Then a yellow jacket cycled past us - thought is might be Kenny again but also no joy.
At the start of the Greenway we figured our session would be 7 mins on with 3 recovery. I wanted to do six, but was over-ruled after two and talked down to 4. Which was probably more realistic.
First one was a bit of a phaf as I had messed up the start on the Garmin and it had decided I was not doing the session I'd programmed in and started last night. On the recovery though got it all sorted and so reps 2-4 were Garmin led!
Dave had been at Laurence Nieberg's spinathon and done 4hours on the bike yesterday and Paul had knocked out 15 miles on the trails (albeit 30 seconds slower then when he did it last year) so I guess that explains why I found myself in the unusual position of leading the reps. Dave made an amazing sprint finish on the first rep to catch us, but the next three were hammered out at much less than the declared 7 minute mile pace: in fact it made hopeful reading cleared 1.04, 1.14 and 1.12 miles in those reps with ave pace of 6.44, 6.14 and 6.15 min miles. Very pleased with that. HRT was fine, quickly up to mid 150s and drifting to 165 and not going above that. Instant recovery on the stop.
More Kenny look alikes in yellow jackets. This guy is no-where and eveywhere today - are those yellow jackets franchised out?
Played the tank it past the joggers game on the way back from the Greenway, overtaking a couple of big blokes one of whom had a gammy leg and a jogger on the Lea Valley walk - great fun and injects a bid of speed - perhaps it gives the slow ones something to aspire to!
Got home to find a text from Kenny - injured playing football so can't run. Which begs the question why was he playing such a high risk sport so close to race day?
Sunday 22 February 2009
Thursday 19 February 2009
Thursday Intervals
I was on time and enjoyed the hot updraft from the vents at the meeting point.
Mutterings about something called the "Nationals" on Saturday meant the elite were looking for an easy session and not expecting many to turn up.
By the time we left there were only 10 of us and a suggestion of 12x 1on 30off, with 2 at 6. By the time we got to the canal most people were going to do their own thing so Karen, Steven and I were a wee group sticking to the original session at the back.
On the way out one of the bridges had water lapping at the edge of it as the canal seemed to be exhibiting symptoms of a neep tide. Infact, after a detour around the next bridge the problem became clear. Workmen had damed the canal and lift the water level higher with their blue tarpalin contraption. Three guys neck deep in the water building it. Lovely job.
By the time we returned to this spot it was ankle deep and the only way through was to go for it. Made rep 7 interesting. Kinnda ended up out of sync but still did all 12. Strugggled to get going on the first few and just about kept up with Karen's easy pace.
Mutterings about something called the "Nationals" on Saturday meant the elite were looking for an easy session and not expecting many to turn up.
By the time we left there were only 10 of us and a suggestion of 12x 1on 30off, with 2 at 6. By the time we got to the canal most people were going to do their own thing so Karen, Steven and I were a wee group sticking to the original session at the back.
On the way out one of the bridges had water lapping at the edge of it as the canal seemed to be exhibiting symptoms of a neep tide. Infact, after a detour around the next bridge the problem became clear. Workmen had damed the canal and lift the water level higher with their blue tarpalin contraption. Three guys neck deep in the water building it. Lovely job.
By the time we returned to this spot it was ankle deep and the only way through was to go for it. Made rep 7 interesting. Kinnda ended up out of sync but still did all 12. Strugggled to get going on the first few and just about kept up with Karen's easy pace.
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Tuesday Intervals
Stuck on the trading floor for 4 minutes more than expected, which meant I was out the office at 12:34 and seriously late for the meeting point. I caught a glimpse of what I thought was a bobbing head of a runner three whole blocks ahead. Must have set some kind of record in tanking it up to the canal, where I could see the group getting read to go.
Tucked in at the back and someone told me the great news, 10x 2 mins on and 1 min with a 2 min recovery after the 5th.
The natural order kicked in a I could not get to the pace, nor hold it. I had to jog through the recovery to stop being dropped completely. Began to catch up through the fifth rep and there was a guy at the canal abseiling down the side while smoking a fag. I was impressed.
Pushed through the way back and some kind of form was restored as I guess I recovered from the mile sprint to the start. Held up with Karen through reps 6,7 and 8 and the elite came through on the 9th. Oddly Steve was with them and there was a cry of move left to let them through and a "one more" that never came. That was Steve. Now on rep 10 just over half way through he was all elbows and I'm sure he deliberately cut me off between Karen canal side and some bloke walking towards us land side. But I went around the bloke on the embankment matrix style and used the downward momentum to accelerate up to maximum and held it for 40 seconds - come on Steve where were you?
Cruised back to the office feeling rather chuffed with myself.
Tucked in at the back and someone told me the great news, 10x 2 mins on and 1 min with a 2 min recovery after the 5th.
The natural order kicked in a I could not get to the pace, nor hold it. I had to jog through the recovery to stop being dropped completely. Began to catch up through the fifth rep and there was a guy at the canal abseiling down the side while smoking a fag. I was impressed.
Pushed through the way back and some kind of form was restored as I guess I recovered from the mile sprint to the start. Held up with Karen through reps 6,7 and 8 and the elite came through on the 9th. Oddly Steve was with them and there was a cry of move left to let them through and a "one more" that never came. That was Steve. Now on rep 10 just over half way through he was all elbows and I'm sure he deliberately cut me off between Karen canal side and some bloke walking towards us land side. But I went around the bloke on the embankment matrix style and used the downward momentum to accelerate up to maximum and held it for 40 seconds - come on Steve where were you?
Cruised back to the office feeling rather chuffed with myself.
Sunday 15 February 2009
Redbourn Beesonend Loop (Lea Valley Variation)
Today was billed as a fast 10 miles as the Berkhampstead Half approaches at full speed, only two weeks until race day. Eek!
All four of the guys turned up just on time and after some brief Garmin consultancy (Kenny thought he was cycling) we were ready to go.
Having published the traditional 9 miler which goes straight to the Nicky line I decided we needed more like 10 miles and so we headed off along the Lea Valley walk towards East Hyde, cutting back on ourselves up over Cooters End Lane and getting to the Nicky line off Ambrose Lane. I took some flack over that - the guys felt I'd taken them on a three mile detour to get to the one mile point. However, in my defence I'd argue its better to do the hill at mile 2 then mile 1 and I wanted to do a shade over 10 miles not 9 miles. Paul noted the trend we seem to have developed of over running, last week as a fast 10 that turned into 13.5 and this one was already 2 miles over at mile three.....
The trails that were shaded by the trees still had snow and ice on them and where the snow had melted there was a mud bath left over that made the going heavy in many places.
Paul was on fire, having had an easy week, he was bounding along and dragging us closer to a decent pace. The first mile was a corker, coming in at 7:17 and mile 5 was 7:37 and miles 9 and 10 were 7:31 and 7:26 and the last 0.8 was at 6:46 pace so some negative splitting going on and while not setting any records discounting the snow, ice and mud, I think we did ok.
Paul shot off after the Beesonend Lane doing an extra bit around the trees on Harpenden road and appearing out of nowhere ahead of us for the dash over the common.
I was weighed down by Dave's gel (41 grams) which he conned me into carrying for him and after the Beesoned climb he pulled away, but I managed to peg him back and we finished together, including a fast dash down Manland to the house.
Heart rate was interesting, got a peak through miles one and two when up in the 170s ave (166) then it dropped back to 143 and did not drift up until mile 5 when it started to drift up to the low 150s which seemed absolutely fine. Learning to run closer to that red line, which I think is still around 165.
Got a text from Kenny to confirm he made it home alive, he'd lost sight of us at Redbourn, where we voted and unanimously decided to leave him to his fate on the basis we'd been out here with him at least once in the last couple of years so he'd probably be alright.
Berkhampstead here we come!
All four of the guys turned up just on time and after some brief Garmin consultancy (Kenny thought he was cycling) we were ready to go.
Having published the traditional 9 miler which goes straight to the Nicky line I decided we needed more like 10 miles and so we headed off along the Lea Valley walk towards East Hyde, cutting back on ourselves up over Cooters End Lane and getting to the Nicky line off Ambrose Lane. I took some flack over that - the guys felt I'd taken them on a three mile detour to get to the one mile point. However, in my defence I'd argue its better to do the hill at mile 2 then mile 1 and I wanted to do a shade over 10 miles not 9 miles. Paul noted the trend we seem to have developed of over running, last week as a fast 10 that turned into 13.5 and this one was already 2 miles over at mile three.....
The trails that were shaded by the trees still had snow and ice on them and where the snow had melted there was a mud bath left over that made the going heavy in many places.
Paul was on fire, having had an easy week, he was bounding along and dragging us closer to a decent pace. The first mile was a corker, coming in at 7:17 and mile 5 was 7:37 and miles 9 and 10 were 7:31 and 7:26 and the last 0.8 was at 6:46 pace so some negative splitting going on and while not setting any records discounting the snow, ice and mud, I think we did ok.
Paul shot off after the Beesonend Lane doing an extra bit around the trees on Harpenden road and appearing out of nowhere ahead of us for the dash over the common.
I was weighed down by Dave's gel (41 grams) which he conned me into carrying for him and after the Beesoned climb he pulled away, but I managed to peg him back and we finished together, including a fast dash down Manland to the house.
Heart rate was interesting, got a peak through miles one and two when up in the 170s ave (166) then it dropped back to 143 and did not drift up until mile 5 when it started to drift up to the low 150s which seemed absolutely fine. Learning to run closer to that red line, which I think is still around 165.
Got a text from Kenny to confirm he made it home alive, he'd lost sight of us at Redbourn, where we voted and unanimously decided to leave him to his fate on the basis we'd been out here with him at least once in the last couple of years so he'd probably be alright.
Berkhampstead here we come!
Thursday 12 February 2009
Thursday Intervals with Rocket Lockets
Thursday intervals.
Today's session was eight one minute on with 30s recovery, 2mins recovery at the turn and eight one on with 30s recovery on the way back, so 16x 1 on 30 off.
Very good, off we trotted along the canal with ice still on the water as if we needed any more evidence of how cold it was.
Plenty of joggers leaping out our way today. The back group had me, Karen, Justin and Colin, but he pushed away clearly recovering from the rib injury he got skiing a couple of weeks ago. I held the pace on the way out and started back ok. Was struggling to hold the pace by rep 15 and Justin pulled away through 15. The elite started to come through on 16 and I went with the first one for a punishing last rep, just failing to catch Justin and peg the guy back.
No time for recovery as I had to rush back to work, but another solid session. Work rate is high but not excessive and while doing them I'd struggle to say I enjoyed the effect and sense of speed is really good. By the time I was back at the office I'd convinced my self that I had enjoyed it.
Today's session was eight one minute on with 30s recovery, 2mins recovery at the turn and eight one on with 30s recovery on the way back, so 16x 1 on 30 off.
Very good, off we trotted along the canal with ice still on the water as if we needed any more evidence of how cold it was.
Plenty of joggers leaping out our way today. The back group had me, Karen, Justin and Colin, but he pushed away clearly recovering from the rib injury he got skiing a couple of weeks ago. I held the pace on the way out and started back ok. Was struggling to hold the pace by rep 15 and Justin pulled away through 15. The elite started to come through on 16 and I went with the first one for a punishing last rep, just failing to catch Justin and peg the guy back.
No time for recovery as I had to rush back to work, but another solid session. Work rate is high but not excessive and while doing them I'd struggle to say I enjoyed the effect and sense of speed is really good. By the time I was back at the office I'd convinced my self that I had enjoyed it.
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Tuesday Intervals with Rocket Lockets
This session was tops. I set a new record for getting to the meeting place 3:41!
Then I was whacked before it started, but as I was early managed to recover on the run up to the canal. I remember when getting to the canal with these guys was a victory.
Some elite mumbling translated for the lesser mortals turned out be an 8 minute cycle as follows. 5 mins on, 30s recovery, 1 min fast, 90s recovery. Do it four times! Justin pipes up that this is "his" session after his famous inability to comprehend it in Oct 2008.
Colin, Justin, Aisha and I made up the back markers and somehow I (yes little old me) ended up leading through the first rep. I made a conscious effort not to over do rep two but again I was somehow at the front. At the turn we were right at the other end of the park, uncharted territory for me. On the way back the ice wind whipped into us and rep three felt like I was being pushed backwards. Karen was right beside me most of the way. Rep four I caught Aisha but Justin and Colin went through on the sprint and with 30s to go Karen drew level and I found something extra and kicked through to max out with Karen beside me and Justin and Colin just in front.
I felt strong and very pleased with the session. Stiff during the afternoon so will need some stretching this evening.
Then I was whacked before it started, but as I was early managed to recover on the run up to the canal. I remember when getting to the canal with these guys was a victory.
Some elite mumbling translated for the lesser mortals turned out be an 8 minute cycle as follows. 5 mins on, 30s recovery, 1 min fast, 90s recovery. Do it four times! Justin pipes up that this is "his" session after his famous inability to comprehend it in Oct 2008.
Colin, Justin, Aisha and I made up the back markers and somehow I (yes little old me) ended up leading through the first rep. I made a conscious effort not to over do rep two but again I was somehow at the front. At the turn we were right at the other end of the park, uncharted territory for me. On the way back the ice wind whipped into us and rep three felt like I was being pushed backwards. Karen was right beside me most of the way. Rep four I caught Aisha but Justin and Colin went through on the sprint and with 30s to go Karen drew level and I found something extra and kicked through to max out with Karen beside me and Justin and Colin just in front.
I felt strong and very pleased with the session. Stiff during the afternoon so will need some stretching this evening.
Sunday 8 February 2009
The Snow Covered Trails of Kimpton
All four Harpenden Heros set off for the long run today.
Kenny was there, nervous about the ice, but proving he is indeed not a woose.
Off we went out and up over the hills. The roads were a tad icy in places, but the trails were much more fun. Either clear, where we could get the speed back up, or snow covered. Rather rutted and mostly of the frozen variety.
There was a pink dawn which reflected of the snow and the rabbits could be seen from miles away racing each other across the fields.
Had the whole pace to ourselves with only a couple of dog walkers and very little traffic on the roads.
Highlight of the run was the climb back up from Kimpton, where we came up through a tree-lined trail with crunchy snow on it all the way to the top. On the foot fall the layer of frozen snow gave way and you sank down into whatever was underneath. Then it was hard work lifting the leg back up through the snow and the frozen crust. We'd half a mile of that at least. Paul had to tank it up the hill too as he'd had to answer the call of nature at the bottom (te he no pun intended).
We regrouped at the top and no sooner than we had worked out were we were and where we were going than Dave went arse over tit and hit the ground with bump and a curse. As a past master at falling he was a) ok and b) back up and running in seconds.
Kenny did not up the pace with us as we hit the clear paths before the Greenway, so I doubled back and made sure he got at least that far then we opened up for home. Paul took the direct route from the Greenway along the main road, but Dave and I came home through the normal Wheathampstead park and town route.
No sprint finish this week due to the ice covered trail.
Met some people just leaving the footpath who were amazed to see people returning from a long run.
Here's the route:
Kenny was there, nervous about the ice, but proving he is indeed not a woose.
Off we went out and up over the hills. The roads were a tad icy in places, but the trails were much more fun. Either clear, where we could get the speed back up, or snow covered. Rather rutted and mostly of the frozen variety.
There was a pink dawn which reflected of the snow and the rabbits could be seen from miles away racing each other across the fields.
Had the whole pace to ourselves with only a couple of dog walkers and very little traffic on the roads.
Highlight of the run was the climb back up from Kimpton, where we came up through a tree-lined trail with crunchy snow on it all the way to the top. On the foot fall the layer of frozen snow gave way and you sank down into whatever was underneath. Then it was hard work lifting the leg back up through the snow and the frozen crust. We'd half a mile of that at least. Paul had to tank it up the hill too as he'd had to answer the call of nature at the bottom (te he no pun intended).
We regrouped at the top and no sooner than we had worked out were we were and where we were going than Dave went arse over tit and hit the ground with bump and a curse. As a past master at falling he was a) ok and b) back up and running in seconds.
Kenny did not up the pace with us as we hit the clear paths before the Greenway, so I doubled back and made sure he got at least that far then we opened up for home. Paul took the direct route from the Greenway along the main road, but Dave and I came home through the normal Wheathampstead park and town route.
No sprint finish this week due to the ice covered trail.
Met some people just leaving the footpath who were amazed to see people returning from a long run.
Here's the route:
Friday 6 February 2009
Friday Run
Some of the guys I don't normally run with were keen to get out today so I went for it.
There were four of us including the zippy Hollyhoke who does the Hound and Hare loop in well under the magic thirty. That's fast btw.
He was not looking 100% and the wet and rain and remaining snow all had an impact, but he warmed up a couple of miles in and was soon injecting a bit of pace now and then to dust off his cobwebs. He toyed with the pack for a while letting us catch up and then pulling away again.
After half way he put in an injection of pace and shot off dragging us to a massive negative split. Just behind me I had the most vocal huffing and puffing behind me! That helped me push on and not slow up on the return leg.
Stopped at the foot of the millenium bridge, before jogging back as a recover. All in 49 mins for 6.7 miles, so even including the recovery jog that was 7:20 minute miles and for what it is worth I felt fine. Once the heart rate was up at pace the effort felt ok and given yesterday's intervals once agian I'm happy with that. Two of those plus one more mile at the same would get me a 96 half which I'd take right now.
There were four of us including the zippy Hollyhoke who does the Hound and Hare loop in well under the magic thirty. That's fast btw.
He was not looking 100% and the wet and rain and remaining snow all had an impact, but he warmed up a couple of miles in and was soon injecting a bit of pace now and then to dust off his cobwebs. He toyed with the pack for a while letting us catch up and then pulling away again.
After half way he put in an injection of pace and shot off dragging us to a massive negative split. Just behind me I had the most vocal huffing and puffing behind me! That helped me push on and not slow up on the return leg.
Stopped at the foot of the millenium bridge, before jogging back as a recover. All in 49 mins for 6.7 miles, so even including the recovery jog that was 7:20 minute miles and for what it is worth I felt fine. Once the heart rate was up at pace the effort felt ok and given yesterday's intervals once agian I'm happy with that. Two of those plus one more mile at the same would get me a 96 half which I'd take right now.
Thursday 5 February 2009
Thursday Intervals with Rocket Lockets
Made it to the RV with time to spare and was very pleased to see Aisha hiding in amongst the elite. Phew, thought it was just me and them for a bit. Karen turned up too and with spirits duely hightened we set off into the stinging sleet.
The towpath was still a little icy in places and very wet.
Session today was 1km strides, then 10 times 1 minute on and 30 seconds recovery, 5 out 5 back and no rest at half way.
Aisha dropped out after 4 and did a total of 8 reps, so technically that means I was not last.....
Anyway, held up ok through reps 1 to 5, struggled on 6 and 7, the elite came through at 8 and that spurred me on and rep 10 ended in a race with a sprint finish (where did that come from?). This is why reps in groups are always better than anything you can do with reps on your own.
Overall got very wet with the puddles and sleet was unpleasant, but the workout was good and I actually felt strong through the reps. Karen thinks we do them faster than her 5km pace (18mins) so that is fairly shifting. Happy with that.
The towpath was still a little icy in places and very wet.
Session today was 1km strides, then 10 times 1 minute on and 30 seconds recovery, 5 out 5 back and no rest at half way.
Aisha dropped out after 4 and did a total of 8 reps, so technically that means I was not last.....
Anyway, held up ok through reps 1 to 5, struggled on 6 and 7, the elite came through at 8 and that spurred me on and rep 10 ended in a race with a sprint finish (where did that come from?). This is why reps in groups are always better than anything you can do with reps on your own.
Overall got very wet with the puddles and sleet was unpleasant, but the workout was good and I actually felt strong through the reps. Karen thinks we do them faster than her 5km pace (18mins) so that is fairly shifting. Happy with that.
Sunday 1 February 2009
Kenny to the rescue
There were four of us on my drive at 7:15am and Ken was all newly Garmined up. That makes three out the four cats locked on the satellites and capturing more data than is really good for us.
Having published a route the night before we promptly ingnored it and used Paul's local knowledge to take some footpaths directly through Southdown to the country side and picked up the lane I was planning earlier. Worked like a dream.
The plan today was to do the verulam lake loop, but with an option of going long or short way around the park. Dave and I went long, up the path next to the Roman wall and along the top where Striders start their races. That was a tough climb, accounting for the slowest mile.
Paul chaperoned Kenny as far as the Batchwood/Childwickbury footpath and then pushed for home.
I took three gels and needed every one. It was so cold, a biting ice-wind from Russia chilled you to the bones if you unzipped your windproof. However, with all the cold weather kit on I was in danger of overheating a couple of times and the compromise that worked was leave the gloves off.
Somehow we seemed to be working ever so hard to not really acheive much in terms of speed. Steady 7:30 min/miles down, 7:50s flat and 8s up were hard. Perhaps the it was the cold and the wind. Perhaps too much over the last four days. Who knows?
Anyway, came out of the Childwickbury path and Dave calls "Company", just on the up hill there is a bloke moving at speed. Clearly, he's not just done 10 miles - but all the same having someone go past NEVER happens to us. I was gutted, Dave was philisophical about it. On the Harpenden road heading home we clock Ken about half a click ahead and give him a wave as he crosses the road. Unfortunately, that spurred him on to great things and started the spiral of events. Choice now facing Dave and I was to either chase Ken home or go longer back out to the tree lined avenue. By this time I was gasping for some water and the last gel had not kicked in yet. Vision was begining to go and I was getting tingly feelings that I did not like. Gel kicked in and the three Beesonend Lanes turned back into one and we decided to go for the Kenny chase. Taking it in turns to peg him back we finally did it on the down on the common (Garmin clocked me at 5:02 going past him) but that did it for me. Had to limp back to Ken's for some water - sorry for waking everyone up in your house. Ken's missus reckoned I looked aweful and ordered him to give me a lift home. How embarassing!
Still there was a 1h41m half marathon before I blew up at 13.2 miles!
Having published a route the night before we promptly ingnored it and used Paul's local knowledge to take some footpaths directly through Southdown to the country side and picked up the lane I was planning earlier. Worked like a dream.
The plan today was to do the verulam lake loop, but with an option of going long or short way around the park. Dave and I went long, up the path next to the Roman wall and along the top where Striders start their races. That was a tough climb, accounting for the slowest mile.
Paul chaperoned Kenny as far as the Batchwood/Childwickbury footpath and then pushed for home.
I took three gels and needed every one. It was so cold, a biting ice-wind from Russia chilled you to the bones if you unzipped your windproof. However, with all the cold weather kit on I was in danger of overheating a couple of times and the compromise that worked was leave the gloves off.
Somehow we seemed to be working ever so hard to not really acheive much in terms of speed. Steady 7:30 min/miles down, 7:50s flat and 8s up were hard. Perhaps the it was the cold and the wind. Perhaps too much over the last four days. Who knows?
Anyway, came out of the Childwickbury path and Dave calls "Company", just on the up hill there is a bloke moving at speed. Clearly, he's not just done 10 miles - but all the same having someone go past NEVER happens to us. I was gutted, Dave was philisophical about it. On the Harpenden road heading home we clock Ken about half a click ahead and give him a wave as he crosses the road. Unfortunately, that spurred him on to great things and started the spiral of events. Choice now facing Dave and I was to either chase Ken home or go longer back out to the tree lined avenue. By this time I was gasping for some water and the last gel had not kicked in yet. Vision was begining to go and I was getting tingly feelings that I did not like. Gel kicked in and the three Beesonend Lanes turned back into one and we decided to go for the Kenny chase. Taking it in turns to peg him back we finally did it on the down on the common (Garmin clocked me at 5:02 going past him) but that did it for me. Had to limp back to Ken's for some water - sorry for waking everyone up in your house. Ken's missus reckoned I looked aweful and ordered him to give me a lift home. How embarassing!
Still there was a 1h41m half marathon before I blew up at 13.2 miles!
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