Calf injury is very angry with me taking part in the VLM

After my first marathon last year I experienced elation, tiredness and constant hunger! It was no surprise to me after the Virgin London Marathon that these sensations would re-appear. An extra challenge was presented to me "the morning after" to navigate the tube and get a train to Slough.
The training course I spent the next three days on was interesting but not helped by the constant tiredness and aching legs, it was great however to eat like a pig all week!
Upon my return to home late on Wednesday I emptied my case to discover in horror my Brooks Ravenna 2's that had dutifully got me round the VLM had not made it back with me :( I must have left them behind when changing into my Adidas training shoes, so someone is now either the happy owner of a pair of shoes with just 96 miles on the clock... or they have been blown up by the police as a suspicious un-attended bag!

By Thursday my legs had eased up and blisters largely gone, so I strapped my angry calf up and headed up to the club to take my group out for a run. But alas my calf started giving me grief almost straight away and 2 miles in my knee was in agony. One of the runners, Lisa had a stitch (to which we can find no reason why they keep happening) and we walked back to the club whilst the rest of the group finished the run.

So as a good coach would tell me "give running a break" I have to take recovery as the only option to ensure the injury heals. Therefore the next race in my diary is out of bounds (Chester Half Marathon) though I will be there with the family to enjoy the race as a spectator.

I am now booked onto the sports first aider course with the St Johns ambulance folks on the 6th May so Chester will be my first club race as "Coach" complete with first aid bag!

I have yet to get a photo from the race, there are plenty on the marathonfoto website but at £50 for one digital download or £75 for all all them that is daylight robbery... so here is a picture of my time stuck to the fridge-freezer instead!

So for the next few weeks it will be a case of cross training and start the "New Me" working on my core, swimming and get this on Friday I started the http://www.hundredpushups.com app in the iPhone. So come the Robin Hood Marathon in September I should be a lot fitter, injury free and be able to not necessarily be faster than at London, but be better prepared, run more even paced and finish without loosing my shoes!

Saturday parkrun

Oldham parkrun had a good turnout despite a number of our regular runners on holiday... or warm weather training as I call it! In the mornings my calf is at its angriest so strapped it up and got their early with Stephen and enjoyed a kick about with the football. Jason Chapman from Sweatshop was back this week and had the timer role whilst Stephen did both marshalling points (Involved a bit of running for him!).

Simon Lake doubled up as registration and photographer, he took loads of great photos and here you can see me doing the  race brief... calf neatly tied up!

I truly relaxing Easter Sunday with no long run to do... something inside would rather a LSR for sure :(

Have a good week

Regards

Mark K

Virgin London Marathon a great race

It’s been a mad couple of weeks, the elation of passing my coaching exams last Saturday which was such hard work and a long day. It had a technical exam to start with and then into the practical assessments which takes up all day!

VLM Race report

The day started cloudy and we parted ways with Stuart and Dave as they headed off the to “Good for age” start. Both Chris’s were with me in pen two and as we crossed the line we were 40 seconds behind the elite men. The start was as predicted a mass of people entirely in the wrong pen meant doing my best to keep to the blue line and minimise weaving around (As it adds distance and increase the risk of calf strain, mile one thus resulted in a 7:46 and mile two 7:10 so was a minute off pace after the first two miles.

In marathon running being a bit slower at the start is not a bad thing as it generally warms you up for the torture that you will putting on your body over the next 26.2 miles.
So it is important not to rush to get the time back and eek your target pace back on at a small chunks and this will reduce the risk of blowing your race.

My left calf gave me grief from mile 3 and my heart sank, fortunately it eased off at mile 6 but kept me in a bit of discomfort through the rest of the race. The mile splits were roughly 6:50 for till mile 14 were I finally hit a 7:00 minute mile followed by another 7:01 at mile 15. This put me on a negative split overall which in normal racing terms is not ideal.

At mile 15 I caught up with Dave E and strode on, half a mile later he passed me and looked supreme as he run off into the distance and he finished with a 3:05:09 a super result.
I was caught by Nell McAndrew at around mile 17 and enjoyed a bit of a chat, aside from my beautiful wife Nell has to be one of the most gorgeous woman and a great runner. She is a superb ambassador for Cancer Research (UK) at mile 20 I remarked “I should change my name to Nell and get this great support you have” I am not sure if her laugh was to humour me or not!

Also at mile 20 is when the race turns on and your legs are really screaming at you and Nell just strode on as Dave E had some 4 miles before!

The last 6 miles were hard work and every muscle was cramping, scary but you just have to grit your teeth and use your “central governor” to override the pain. It is a wrench to see other runners however that have succumbed to the agony and put into wheelchairs or collapsing to the floor.

Turning onto the mall I had spasms in all the legs but tried my best to run tall and stick some pace in at the end, my time was a very rewarding 3:09:08

Split	time	diff	min/km	km/h
5K	00:22:34	22:34	04:31	13.29
10K	00:43:38	21:04	04:13	14.24
15K	01:04:58	21:20	04:16	14.07
20K	01:26:34	21:36	04:20	13.89
HALF	01:31:08	04:34	04:10	14.4
25K	01:48:25	17:17	04:26	13.56
30K	02:11:27	23:02	04:37	13.02
35K	02:34:45	23:18	04:40	12.88
40K	02:59:21	24:36:00	04:56	12.2
finish time	03:09:08	09:47	04:28	13.45

It has been a great climax to the end of three great weeks and now my legs are annoyed with me!

Have a great running week (I have a rest week planned.. oddly)

Mark K

Back on the road

The treatment for my chest infection starting Monday took a few days to start taking effect. I did one lap on the track on the cool down with Dave Emanuel and that was enough to set my chest off!
The runners did well, I set them on a pyramid session and finished them off with 10 minutes of "Indian File", all the guys are showing good improvement over the winter.

I was at the doctors Monday morning and thankfully my chest was declared clear of gunk but still put on a course of anti-biotic's and told not to race on Wednesday at the Vera Hirst 5K.
London is my "A" race and with it being just a few weeks away a 5K is not important enough to risk the race of the year.

So Wednesday night I arrived at the race with Lisa one of my runners who cares not for racing but still wanted to be there.
There were a flood of Royton Road Runners already there and were warming up as we arrived and I decided to record the start and finish of the race, the video can be seen on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDEyRaSzzYs

Andy O'Sullivan is a great race organiser and being an ex-copper has a great persuasive talent for getting you to volunteer. Those who know me best know that I volunteer for any running event if possible as it is just as much fun facilitating a race as running them!
It started with "Mark can you pick up those cones" and then "Could you assist Marylin on numbers please"
Now then... every week I volunteer at parkrun, Race Director, Timer, Numbers and registration and marshaling. Traditional road racing race management differs form parkrun thus...

• Runners register before the race and pin their number to the shirt
• The race is mass start and the timer set the race off (Using a stopwatch and a backup)
• Runners come through the funnel and the timer records the time to a position (Assistant shouts the time)
• The numbers person writes the runners number against the position (Assistant shouts the number out)
• After the race it takes ages to marry all the runner data in order to publish the results.

At parkrun:

• Runners register once... for life there is no number to pin and runners have a personal barcode
• The event have a mass start and the timer is started. (A backup iPhone, android app can be used)
• Runners come through funnel, the 'single' timer simply presses a button as they pass.
• The 'single' numbers person hands a barcoded finishing token.
• The runner takes their 'personal' barcode and finishing token to registration were they are scanned.
• After the event the timer and finishing scans are married up in minutes and published to the web via 3G.
• Usually before runners get home they get an email advising of their position (Which they already know) and the time.

So back to the race! The chance to take part in a road race funnel was awesome and felt at home at the "frenzy" of a race finish. 3 of my runners were racing for the first time and hopefully the practice runs made the evening a bit more enjoyable and they all did very well.

On Thursday the ladies were back at the club for a training run and I tried to take it easy on them but still put a quality session. So we headed off to Tandle Hills country park which to be fair.. .is hilly but they did well and ran up some and walked others. So a 3.5 mile run went well and it was my first run for a week and felt good to get some fresh air in my lungs, also stretch my legs instantly made the stress of inactivity fade away.

This weekend was the start of three of the biggest events for me in 2011 and they all happen in succession.
My sister Fay finally married David and has been the culmination of lots of planning, hard work and they are a great couple. For some reason I thought the Church service was in the morning and have been trying to secure a race director for Oldham parkrun to take my place... But I looked at the invite again and realised the service was to start at 12:30pm!

So as Jason was Race Director this week I took the opportunity to do a tempo run and this week won the event for the second time. This time it was John Cook keeping me honest and it was only on the last lap that I managed to create a gap, Oldham parkrun is a hilly course and the last lap is a bit longer, utilising the woodland walk. This is a scenic section of the park but is even more hilly which at the event of a race as we all know really hurts.

So a dash home and quick processing of the results meant I could grab a shower, get dressed and be at the Church in time!
The service was great, the afternoon speeches grand and the evening superb. The hotel is superb and back when planning my Virgin London Marathon training plan I at first was concerned that this week should be an 18 miler on the taper down to race say. That was until I mapped out the run home an found that the distance was far enough to fit the run in with some to spare!
Much as I would have loved to lounge in the luxurious spa facilities and fabulous pool which opens up to the outside with a large open window that makes steam drift over the edge... I was getting set for a run home.

The route seemed straight forward on paper but in practice I did not appreciate the undulation, figuring that as Bolton is a higher elevation than Oldham surely it would be mostly downhill.
In actual fact as you run from town to town it goes up and down, presumably because the lay of the land historically makes use of valleys. In any way it is just a fact that the North and East of Manchester are just plain hilly and any long run round these parts are going to have the odd hill in them any way.

I took some photo's on route, the first as I entered the outskirts of Rochdale, it was a great sight and triggered the feeling 'I am nearly home'. I ran on and turned off the direct road home to make use of the canal towpath, the plan was to do a couple of miles at marathon pace, two things put pay to that:

• The path is shut on large sections for ground works
• My legs were very tired from all those hills!

As I did my cool down and walked and jogged to the top of Tandle Hill I took a photo of the view from whence I came. 

What I saw was a huge black cloud closing in on me, I picked up the pace and took shelter in the trees till finally I reached the memorial tree for my foster father who passed away a few years ago. 

As I stood there reflecting on my memories of him I could not decide if the cold rain was his idea of a joke... or a welcome cooling effect! 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76911353

As I sit here with tired legs dreading doing the ironing I look ahead to the next two big weekends in this trilogy of big events my UK Athletics Level 2 coach assessment and that small race the VLM!

Have a great running week

Mark K

Chest Infection puts pay to running for over a week!

It has been a miserable week since the joy of racing the East Hull 20 and coming 38th out of 400 and hitting a great pace. Sunday evening I was "bushed" and crashed out on the sofa as you would expect completing an endurance event, Monday I woke up feeling groggy and managed to get through the day at work a little bit.... grumpy. By Tuesday I was floored with man-flu and failed to go to the track for my interval session, during the course of the Wednesday I stayed at home in the morning, spending a few hours in the office during the afternoon for meetings and left for home early.
On Thursday I started to feel a bit better and felt OK running with my group around the Littleborough 5K and felt happy that I got a few miles under my feet.

There lies the last miles for the week where I only clocked a total of 5 miles for the week and my health just deteriorated day by day.

As I write my blog.. two days late, I am starting to fight off the chest infection with the aid of penicillin and will not be racing Wednesday evening. It will not be all that bad as I can be at the race in my coach role and help my group achieve their full potential on race night!

This break from running is of course affecting my training for the VLM and I hope my training so far will not be lost on race day and naturally some goal adjustment is to be expected!

I hope to be well enough to jog out on Thursday for a few miles and get back to a level of training befitting a marathon runner.

I hope your week and been better than mine and remember:

Never run through an illness that is below the neck as it will delay the body's ability to recover!

Regards

Mark K

East Hull 20

Well it's been a busy old week again the VLM is my focus now with just 4 weeks remaining. Mondays coaching went well 8 runners were put through their paces with 4 x 800's and just 4 minutes recovery. Last week they did 10 x 400 off 2 minutes recovery so the intention was to to push them a big longer!
My coaching diary was submitted this week and hopefully it is good enough for final assessment in April. It will be a busy month as my sister gets married, I get my cholesterol gets retested, my running coach test and of course the Virgin London Marathon!

At the track training on Tuesday I was practising marathon pace in Mile reps, running at a slower pace is a weird feeling. When on the track the natural instinct for me is to be running "eye-balls" out, but I must master running at my marathon pace. So I will be practising my goal pace of 7:00 minute miles at quite a few of my runs, doing it at the track makes it easier as I don't have to keep stopping for traffic lights and so on.
Although I averaged 7:02 for each mile the pace is not even enough, practice makes perfect!

After each run I download the GPS data from my Garmin forerunner 405, it uploads direct to Garmin Connect... then I import it into sporttracks,export from sporttracks to www.runsaturday.com, finally updating my training plan spreadsheet (rules my life!) Whilst reviewing my total mileage on runsaturday I spotted that the distance I have covered so far this year matches my entire 2009 effort!

Wednesday yet again failed to be a double run to work and back, the new payroll system still needs a helping hand. It always seems to be at 16:30 that a phone call is made and I "run" upstairs! The morning run had not been a great session so the day did not end on a high!

The Thursday group did very well again, this week doing 5 miles exactly at a good pace, next week will be their final training session before the Vera Hirst 5K on the 30th so things are looking very good for them.

A quick hill session on Friday saw the end of training for the week as I wanted a bit of recovery for Sundays 20 mile race. I was awake before the alarm rang out at 6:00am Sunday morning, my kit was all set out and I headed of to pick up Dave on route to Hull a mere 1 hour 40 trip away. We arrived at 9:00am and were just in time for a good parking spot 50 meters from race HQ! The race was limited to 400 and given the parking, toilet facilities and assembly area 400 is just the right number. They closed the road just before the start of the race and we were off, the first mile and half are on the main road but the marshalling was second to non and we were soon on a dis-used railway track on a seemingly flat course.
They bill the race as a great warm-up for London, flat and fast... which for the first 8 miles was certainly true, I chatted to a number of runners around the course and most were training for spring marathon (Notably London). There then appeared a couple of hills which thankfully did not last for long and it was the wind that played a slowing effect for he second half of the race.

Early on in the race a local accent boomed out "guys from Lancashire are here" the runner went on to explain that he was originally from Oldham and had moved to Yorkshire. He chatted for a bit longer and promptly trotted off into the distance. I was following a guy in a blue t-shirt for sometime, mesmerised by his sweat sodden back and the colour getting darker then further down his back the longer the race went on. I lost sight of him at around the same time I turned around to not see Dave!

At 18 miles I caught up with the guy wearing the blue shirt, the colour now retreating upwards! At this point I was overtaking a number of runners and feeling strong, in the distance the runner from Oldham. As I caught up to home my watch bleeped 19 miles and a 7:00 min/mile... my target pace! A brief chat with the Oldham chap and I pushed on, the last mile registering 6:31, the same as my first mile.

As I write this blog... a day late as I was whacked Sunday evening, the results still have not been published so my time unconfirmed is 2:17:45 some 2 minutes faster than target pace but I am happy to have felt good and my longest run since the Edinburgh Marathon last year. At Edinburgh I think my target was 8:12 minute pace and I was just a bit quicker then.

So legs intact and my morale boosted so once again roll on  the VLM and just 4 weeks to go


Have a great running week

Mark K

5 weeks to the VLM

Well the excitement for the Virgin London Marathon (VLM) just keeps building. On Monday the track was a busy old place not only did we have 12 athletes training (had them doing 10 x 400m) but Amanda Thirsk had around 30 of her Run in England group, training using 100m relay.
This meant 'track' being shouted on a routine basis! I stuck to my track4 card training to regiment a safe training environment.

Tuesday mornings run to work was a pleasure, stopping to take a photo of the calm scene featuring a couple of ducks:


At around 5 miles though I had sudden cramping sensation that had me doubled over which thankfully passed after a brief rest.

The run home was nice, the ducks were behaving themselves and just managed to get back on the roads before the light faded! The pace was good up and till 'Stinky Hill' and just plodded back.

Wednesday mornings run to work was a chore, the legs felt heavy, it was cold and windy. Worst of all I could not get the shower at work to be remotely hot. To cap it off I was going to be late out as HR had a new payroll system going live... Which was refusing to work! Thankfully Clare came to pick me up and so the evenings schedule was not lost.

The Running group I lead on a Thursday had a good workout achieving 5.21 miles which is the furthest they have run to date! Next Thursday they will be doing the last recce run of the Littleborough 5k which they are taking part in on the 30th March. They are doing very well and I am confident that they will produce great results on the night.

On Saturday I was due to take part in the Dentdale 14 mile road race which is number 3 in the Royton Road Runners championship. My wife Clare had opted to race direct at Oldham for me so that I could take part, unfortunately she was ill in the night so I reverted to plan A!
Oldham parkrun went well with 30 runners taking part on a dry morning (for a change) the local newspaper, Oldham Chronicle turned up to take a photo so that they can do a feature. So I look forward to seeing the article with much interest! I hope they don't spell my name wrong and put our winner (Mike Mannings) down as a junior... as journalist sometimes make errors!

I have been in the office for most of the day and took the opportunity to get a long run home in and made a route through "Boggart Hole Clough", I missed out on the cross country recently so was keen to see the park for myself. I was also breakng my Adidas Tempo's which I will be wearing at VLM, so far I am not feeling the love for them and after 4 miles my legs were not responding well to them. I stopped for a bit of a stretch and it did the trick and now the trainers are not concerning me so much!
By far the biggest adventure on my way home was exiting boggart and seeing a gang of lads on a bit of land neighbouring the path. Not an unsual event I grant you but the sound of something whizzing past my ear and breaking up in a tree next to me was. I assumed it was ether a stick that they had thrown but the speed and distance it had to travel. Then the thought it was an air rifle sunk in and let me tell you wearing the tempos came in handy and I picked up to 4:40 min/mile pace for the next 200 metres...

Tomorrow I post my coaching diary off for assessment which forms part of my level 2 coaches award, the big day for assessment being some 4 weeks away. I can tell you that the nerves are kicking in with the VLM being 5 weeks away it is adding to my grey locks!!!


Have a great running week

Mark K

Enjoy the sights and sounds of your run

It's been a mixed week, after the fun at the Great North west half, the business of recovery and adaption... Kicks in!
On Monday I took the opportunity to warm up (and down) with the athletes I coach at the track. My niggley hamstring strikes again so 'protect and serve' is in operation.
Tuesday is track night for me and I took my new racing shoes for a try out. Sadly they were not what I hoped and a rethink is required, a word of advise if you don't feel the love when you purchase new running shoes then you should look to take them back to the shop. Fortunately I get mine from Sweatshop and this should not be a problem as they have a super 30 day return policy.

I took to the streets on Wednesday for my now regular feature of a carbon-neutral commute to work. I take largely the same route as I drive ( once spring is in full swing I can switch to the Rochdale Canal) and this week I mused about the ambience of what in effect a dull run.
Firstly in the opening mile there is 'Stinky Hill' which is a steep downhill that is a real test on the way home! Stinky you might ask? There is a sewerage farm along side that reminds you of the effect 10,000 people can have on the local environment!!!
The next smell I come across is the Sarsons factory, they are famous for making vinegar and trust me any sleepiness that was around disappears once that vapour hits your lungs. They have recently painted the fence and the smell of paint on metal fences takes me straight back to my childhood. It must have been when they re-painted the school fences at the end of summer ready for the September term.

Not long after Sarsons I sometimes catch the brewing stage of lager at J.W. Lees. Being a tee-total-er the smell of booze is not a massive favourite, especially when the hops are being used as the smell is like Ovaltine on steroids! The other week nearly knocking me sick :s
From them to work the worst of all is smog from all the cars, buses and trucks... not nice. A recent development is a huge bakery on regenerated land near to my office, now the aroma of baking bread I challenge you to to deny that is one of the greatest smells... ever.

On Thursday I took my running group to do a recce run of the Littleborough 5K route. This will be the first public race for may of them and hopefully now they will be more confident about the Vera Hirst 5K on the 30th March.

Friday was not a good running experience for me, the cold that has been all about my head this week finally travelled to my chest. So I hit plan B for the journey home and my wife graciously picked me up from work

Parkrun
Last week John Mayall of Rochdale Harriers was present at Oldham parkrun, had a great run and has featured our event on his very good website racemaps.org.uk (Link added to my page).
You can see his write up at the following address
http://www.racemaps.org.uk/alexandrapark/oldhamparkrun.htm

Copyright (C)  John Mayall 2011

This week we had 31 runners (5 new runners) and 12 Pb's, I awarded the Sweatshop prize to Vicky Stainthorpe who has shown a great improvement, in fact a PB every time she has run since the end of January now dipping under 29 minutes:

This weeks PB was no doubt helped by the expertly fitted Asics at Sweatshop!

Today (Sunday 6th March) I was due to take part in the Silverstone Half Marathon, alas my hamstring is still a bit sore and On Friday my head cold had traveled to my chest so abandoned the run home from work. Happily I enjoyed a bit of a lie in and my legs felt good and more importantly my chest had cleared significantly. So I headed off on a Long Steady Run, the route... Hilly of course and just under 16 miles, I settled into a comfy pace and up Oldham road into the town centre. As I headed up Ripponden Road (A monster hill) I surprised myself how well my legs responded and I was averaging 8 minute miles, which a year ago would have been my race pace!
I kept this pace pretty much all the round in an effort to practice keeping a steady pace... important when racing of course.
It was the nicest day of the year so far, my only crime was not to take a picture whilst taking a 30 second break at the War Memorial, I took a long swig from my drink instead!
You can see my run at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/71536618

Next week I hope to be taking part in the Dentdale run 14 miles and 379 yards... of hills

- Have a great running week

Mark K