Training Log Archive: stampy

10k Race around the Arboretum (or however you spell it!) in Walsall. Ran with Mike B all of the way untill the last 200m where he decided to leave me behind!
It was a nice course, bit of playing field type terrain, bit of road and a bit of footpath running. Lots of twists and turns as well. We decided afterwards that this was why we didn't break the 40min mark! Of course it was nothing to do with us running too slow to beat it, that would be - in the words of Borat - rediculous!

Run from home on to the Chase up the hill to the trig on Sherbrook, mainly using the MTB single track and back down again, mainly using the MTB single track. A bit further than anticipated forgot it took 10mins each way to get to the chase. This in turn meant we were late to a dinner invitation, thankfully no one minded, they have come to expect it!

Training from Mike and Heathers around the streets (and some woodland) of Lichfield. Really nice evening and even managed to get out before it was dark, it was dark when we finished though. Fairly fast pace for the run, there were no slow 'uns with us, this meant there was no doubling back or slowing down either.
Hopefully moore like this to come.

Local event on Satnal Hills - only realised it was on at 10 to 11, registration closed at 11:30. Still made it in time and had a cracking run. Next to no mistakes, and ran fairly well considering the last couple of days.

Warm up and warm down

5k race. Found out about this one late last night whilst buying a few beers from the local shop. Preparation was Corona and Red wine - Happy days.
Finished second which was a surprise, legs felt ok but had nothing to catch the guy in front - guess that was why he was there! Putting the lack of extra pace down to riding last night.

Warm up and warm down

Mountain bike ride with Pete, got to have a play on his new full sus bike - nice. Unfortunately had to ride his old MTB racing bike for most of the way, no rear sus and the front was pretty much non existant. Perhaps an inch of travel at best.
Still I battled on, cursing on the down hills on single track. Although my point of view did change when we decided to ride up Pendle hill. Lightweight racing bikes are better for that, perhaps they do have a purpose on this planet afterall.
Legs tired at the end, but great to be out again.

A run in some nice French hills. Early start for a Sunday though - 8:30. The hills are on the outskirts of Carcassonne and I ran with Dad and his local running club. A great time to be out and the terrain was fantastic. A bit of a longer run than I would usually have done immediately after an injury, but I took it carefully and easy.

London Duathlon - Ran 9km loop on roads, felt heavy legged at the start, felt heavy legged at the end. Saw this biffer of a lady infront after about 4km and thought I would breeze past her, but could't catch her for about 3km, things weren't looking good. Then onto the bike.

Cycling part of the duathlon - got half way around the first loop then got cramp in my calf - ouch! Luckily it was down hill for the next part, but couldn't shake it off. Eventually I managed to find a way to cycle (in an odd position) which stopped me getting cramp every time I put pressure on the peddles. Uphill seemed ok but then it came back with a vengence - I decided to peddle with just one leg for the last 5 km (generally down hill) which worked ok and managed to finish the loop. Got overtaken by the biffer of a lady - gutted. Then the final running loop.

Got off the bike to realise my legs felt no better running - ah well not long to go was my thought. As it turned out it was the longest not long to go I have ever done! Hips were aching after the ride and cramp was slowly going away. Had to stop and strech a bit just before the 1km mark, after that it was just a slow slog wondering why I can't run any faster. Again could see the biffer lady in front and was slowly catching up but just didn't have any extra pace and finished about 30secs after. Biffer Lady 1, Stampy 0. Once at the end all my woe's were forgotten - happy days. Looking forward to the next one.

Not sure whether the distance or time are correct, but it is somewhere in that region!

Tuesday night training which for a change included MTBO - great idea. Felt pretty good and managed to make all but one of the climbs without getting off. Didn't go too fast, except on the down hills. Some nice single tracks and the weather was perfect for them. No notable mistakes either.

Ran the M21L course for the SPLOT regional event on the chase in a couple of weeks. Not to get an advantage on everyone else - that would be blatant cheating, but to test the course - it was nice (I'm on holiday for the event). The man eating heather was out in force along with its good friend man eating bracken. Between the two of them they nearly had me!
Ran fairly hard - wore my new heart monitor for the first time ever - not sure whether it works properly though as it showed I only reached 160 bpm at fastest and my resting pulse to be around 46/47. Still my legs are tired now and looking forward to an easy week (again) before the duathlon on Sunday - should be fun!

Warm up and warm down