Great Manchester Run

Don't worry blog fans, I'm back! I know you've all been waiting patiently.....(tumbleweed).

Post grad exams have limited the inordinate amount of time I usually have to faff about (not a euphemism) on the Internet.

Anyway, it's done now so let me tell you about the Great Manchester Run.....

New PB and new PW for 10km

I must say that I was impressed with the Great Manchester Run. Probably the best organised race I have attended.

My favourite thing was that it didn't start at stupid o'clock in the early hours of the morning. A lie in on race day? Novel and welcome.

It also had huge numbers of toilets with no queues, vast quantities of parking within a couple of minutes walk of the start-line, painless bib pickup on the day, efficient baggage drop, staggered and enforced start groups that led to virtually no crowding at the start or thereafter, well supported, complimentary energy drinks and food in the pre-run village, water stations with actual water bottles so your drink didn't end up all over your face, and loads of live music. Essentially race organisation provided me no excuses for a poor run. Pity.

But not to worry, I prepared for this eventuality and came with readymade excuses I'd come up with earlier. No taper, pre-race nutrition consisting of beers and curry, tough runs in the desert, and no peanut butter bananas. 

I'm aiming to run sub-40 minutes for a 10km this year, but as this was my first ever 10km race I'd decided this wouldn't be that day. I haven't formally run 5km at 4:00min pace yet so trying to do it for 10km may have resulted in a jaw thrust at 6km.

Instead I'd selected an arbitrary target of 42 minutes. A respectable pace (4:12 per km) that I hadn't yet achieved on any training run. 

I spent a bit of time setting my watch up to let me know if I was running too slowly, which it didn't bother doing (perfect, another excuse) and set off.

The route is fairly dull. Along a dual carriageway to Old Trafford, a loop, and back on ourselves. The crowd were great though, and live music was blasting at each kilometre marker. It's also a bit hilly, certainly outbound.

I set off and felt comfortable, actually running ahead of target pace (around the 4:05 mark). At 4km doubt began to creep in and it felt tough, but I continued putting in the even splits. Past Old Trafford, hydrated enough to spit on it, and around a small loop before heading back the way we'd come.

Noticed on my watch that a sub-41 minute was on, so tried to continue putting in the 4:05's, but beginning to tire.

The crowd really spurred me on the last kilometre or so and over the line in....41:05. Booooo. Where had that bloody five seconds come from? Turns out I'd ran the course long (about 100 metres) and my watch 10km time was 40:48. So a good lesson learnt. If (when!!) I run sub 40 minutes I reckon it'll be tight so it's going to be important to run the course as short as possible. It can clearly make a big difference when margins are small.

So pleased overall. Very pleased. A personal best for 10km, although as it was my first 10km race we could also call it my personal worst, and almost a minute under target. Felt fairly comfortable (subjectively) and this was borne out (objectively) by my Strava suffer score.

It's given me confidence that I can reach my 10km target. My next attempt will be the Sydney Harbour Run, which is pancake flat, in July. Should be a fast one.

Hell

I have experienced hell.

Hell is running in a desert city, in 35c heat at night, failing to find one of the largest man made objects on Earth, and having forgotten your anti-chaffage nipple tape.

The trouble with Dubai is there is so much construction work going on. Had I envisaged the scene, pre-arrival, of being up to my ankles in sand and on the coast I'd have added a Margherita to proceedings. Instead I was up to my ankles in sand and dodging traffic cones.

Still, I maintained a pretty respectable pace of just under 4:30/km for 13+ kilometres. Given that it was my ninth straight day on the road, jet lagged into somewhere next week, and full (to bursting) of butter chicken I was pretty pleased with the effort. And I did manage to find the Jameira Palm finally.

The following morning I was out again, this time full (to bursting) of blue cheese and pita bread. Victoria's favourite trick is ordering way too much food for herself, leaving me, out of feelings of politeness (read; greed), to finish the lot. Bad idea, daytime temperature reached 39c.

This was a much better route. Mislead, just the once, by more construction, I ran around Dubai Marina. Lovely pedestrianised walkways with the odd madman, in something resembling a golf buggy, careering around. Beautiful cityscapes. The Dubai I'd seen in pictures.

The blue cheese and pita bread powered me to another respectable 4:30ish/km pace, but at the expense of some fairly noxious exhaust fumes out my top end.

Sweaty? You better believe it. Left half my circulating volume out there somewhere and more besides in my hat.

So pleased overall with my Dubai running. Had only earmarked one day in my trainers, but managed two. Acceptable pace in trying circumstance. Probably done too much given I'm racing on Sunday, but hey ho, Sunday is not the goal. More a training run in itself.

Roll on Manchester....

Hareth's Wall of Motivation

I am fortunate to have a gentleman called Hareth Bader in my life. He is truly a motivation and he has produced the above whiteboard with a selection of his own inspiring quotes. Whenever I am experiencing mental weakness I think about "Hareth's Wall of Motivation" and push on. I will post some of his slogans from time to time when I'm in the deepest pits of despair and self-doubt.

"Your only limit is you" after all.

Plus he has massive nuts...

Not all treadmills are created equal

Disgusting weather for the last few days so I've been on the treadmill. I would normally have just ran outside, but the wind and rain coincided with my leaving my watch and heart rate monitor at work so I figured the quality sessions would be best suited to the treadmill.

I can only do quality sessions on the treadmill as getting on one just to run at a set pace for 40 minutes bores me to tears. There's something about quality sessions that I find makes the time fly on the treadmill. I think it's the recovery/rest components, they go by very quickly. Funny that.

Monday was interval day. 1km at 3:45min/km pace. Five times. With just under two minute jogging recovery. Felt pretty comfortable, but it's not always been that way...

If it's quiet at work on nights I try to spend some time in the gym. Turns out the treadmill I use at work is callibrated incorrectly, and is slower than the displayed speed. This led to a certain degree of misplaced confidence when I first started using the machine. 3:45 pace? Easy. Was running extra intervals and for longer.

Then I jumped on the machine at home. Shit! What's happened? The same session was killing me. I was having to run it slower and still felt terrible. Five intervals instead of four? No chance.

Was it an off day? Had I over-trained in the run up?

Next time at work I was flying again. Next time at home; destroyed.

Slowly it dawned on me and an important lesson was learnt; not all treadmills are created equal.