Tag: running

It was a tad wet…..

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

Last Sunday, the wettest since records began*, saw the annual Great Eastern Run. A half-marathon set in the picturesque** surroundings of Peterborough city centre.

Now to say the morning was wet and windy would be an understatement: it was frickin' very wet and frickin' very windy***. I'm not a great fan of running in the rain, so my first thought when I drew back the curtains was: f###ing hell. In fact it was probably not even I thought, I may have actually said it out loud, and probably loud enough it wake up most of my neighbours.

But, having said all that, I'd put in quite a few miles in training for the sodding event so I gathered my stuff**** together and set off for the proxy place. Initially I was planning to post a new half-marathon PB, but after arriving at the start I quickly decided today was not a day for PBs….

This race has been a mainstay on my race calendar for the last five or six years, so I knew exactly what to expect. Although I didn't expect to have to clamber over a fence, which a marshall wasn't amazingly impressed with*****, just to get somewhere near the start. I must admit it seemed a particularly disorganised start, although the weather and everyone rushing to the start at the last minute probably didn't help.

Now plodding the streets of Peterborough on a wet and windy Sunday morning isn't everybody's cup of tea, although I did spot some slightly amusing happenings:

  • Before we had even crossed the start line a fella, too busy waving to friends in the crowd, ran through a MASSISVE puddle.
  • Overtook a particularly knackered looking Batfink, his sponge 'wings of steel' probably not helping, they seemed to have soaked up quite a bit of water.
  • I ran most of the way in the vincinity of a bloke called 'Simon'. Not entirely sure who he was, but he was getting a lot of support along the way from the crowds. He must have been some sort of local superstar. 13.1 miles is along way to run wondering if Peterborough has any famous Simons. One did come to mind, Simon Bamford, him of Hellraiser fame, although I quickly dismissed this possibility…have you seen Butterball******?
  • Darren Ferguson, Peterborough FC's manager started the event, it was quite amusing to see how many people were avoiding the high-five.

Well suffice to say, I completed the race in a time of 1.37, a minute or so off a PB, pretty pleased with that. My reward:

* this is a lie

** this is also a lie

*** this is another understatement

**** flippers, snorkel, etc.

***** sorry Marshall, needs must and all that

****** obscure film reference

 

Running and stuff….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

Just an 8-miler this morning, according to my training plan it should have been 13! Doh!

Although I ran 13 miles last Sunday and 12 miles a couple of weeks before so I thought with just two weeks until the Peterborough Half I'd take it easy a bit. It was a lovely morning and didn't really want to spoil it by going hell for leather* chasing a particular pace. I'm confident of completing the race, just need to decide whether or not I'm going to try to beat my PB. I'm going to crack on with the training schedule, throw in a couple of fast 6-milers and see where we're at.

This morning's run did throw up some interesting observations:

  • The amazingly fast walking man – he was walking his dog and going at such a pace I had trouble overtaking him.
  • I nearly killed off an elderly couple – it would seem that didn't hear me approaching and my cheery 'morning' nearly brought on a heart attack.
  • Caused a bit of commotion at the ponds – some fishermen didn't appreciate the dog jumping in the pond and scaring off the fish.

In other news…..

Currently reading 'The Cry' by Helen Fitzgerald, great book about a baby that goes missing in Australia. A dark psychological thriller with a gripping moral dilemma at its heart. Well worth a read!

And finally….

Off to see the fantastic Frank Hamilton in Cambridge tonight….lovely jubbly….

* This is not a phrase I use very often and just wanted to point out that I do actually run in running shoes not some great pair of leather clad boots.

 

Boom!

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

How is the training going for the half-marathon I hear you ask? You still on target to beat your PB?

Well….'sort of' is my reply.

Over the last couple of weeks I've completed a few long runs at a pretty decent pace. Although all slower than my target pace for the half. The furthest I've run at target pace is about six miles and that was a struggle in the last mile or so. So still of plenty of hard work required in the next few weeks.

This morning I attended Peterborough Parkrun and I had decided to run it without a watch. This meant starting off running fast and trying to maintain it. It paid off, new Parkrun PB: 19.37.

Lovely jubbly!

 

Running, indulging the doolally and univocalism….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

This morning my 'lovely' half-marathon training plan exclaimed that I should do a long 'steady' run of 12 miles, yes you read that right, 12 miles! Not quite sure why it wants me to run so far considering I still have five weeks until race day. But not wanting to upset the fecking thing, that is exactly what I did.

12.65 miles in a time of 1:38.38. Average pace 7.48 per mile.

Still slightly slower than target pace (although I had to go through various gates, cross roads and climb hills), but it felt good!

I had planned a slightly different route that enabled me to pop into a shop and get a drink at about halfway so that I didn't have to bother carrying a bottle throughout. Also, I had even created a new playlist to accompany me on the run. Get me!

Yesterday included a trip to Peterborough for a bit of a wander about. Once there we stumbled upon The Peterborough Arts Fest – a celebration of Peterborough and its people. With the rather catchy tagline of 'Indulge the Doolally'. According to the programme, we were promised, “jaw dropping spectaculars”, “internationally acclaimed acts” and an “extraordinary finale”. What we actually experienced was an event that nobody seemed to know about, there were very few people about, and actually very few acts performing. So, as you can imagine, we didn't hang around for the “extraordinary finale”. Although I did manage a picture sitting on a massive deckchair (small things and all that)…..

But also, more excitingly, performing in the Talkative Tent (sponsored by John Clare Cottage) were Dead Poets….

Dead Poets are made up of Mark Grist, him of poetry slam fame….

….and DJ Mixy, the pair formed the collaboration to challenge the preconceptions of poetry and hip-hop. If you get a chance to seem them you should, it's a very entertaining performance. Today was no different, Mark performed a piece of univocal poetry entitled 'The Fens' which was very clever. Univocalism is a poem that uses only one vowel, here is a rather poor attempt….

Jog to Morton

Born to jog,

Sort of hobby,

Good to go.

North from town,

Off to woods,

Lots to look.

Dogs too jolly,

Poop on boot,

Not good look.

Cows in fog,

Not to worry,

Jog on strong.

Boozy horror show,

Bosoms and knobs,

Long story.

Grotty old dog,

Soggy from ponds,

Looks odd.

Horror show,

Jog too slow,

School tomorrow.

In other news, Frank Hamilton has released his first, what he calls, 'serious' video….

 

I move slow and steady…

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Four weeks ago I decided to enter the Peterborough Half Marathon and attempt to beat my PB, currently standing at….

Since then I have been following a training plan, tweaking it in places, running a few races in between, but pretty much sticking to exactly what I am supposed to be doing. It seems to be going ok, except that my target pace of 7.22 min/mile seems REALLY fast. Now I will say at this point that I knew this would be the case; I set my PB a few years ago when I was younger, running more and entering more races. I knew it would be difficult: it is a 'proper' challenge. But recently I'm beginning to think that it might be a bit of a struggle to actually beat the time.

Last weekend I ran the Grimsthorpe 10K, it was a warm morning, it's a tough course, multi terrain: concrete, grass, gravel, track, in fact at one stage, as we approached the lake, I was half expecting to have to run on water. I completed it in 46.12…

But the important stat is the average pace: 7.26 min/mile. Actually slower than the pace I need to run for the half-marathon, and this was only 6ish miles, and I was absolutely knackered at the finish. I have to run double that distance! Now, as I said earlier, it is a tough course, but all the same it's got me thinking. Is this challenge achievable?

So we eventaully get to the part why I called this post 'I move slow and steady'…..

It seems that whenever I go for a run I always seem to be chasing a target time or target pace. Club training sessions are really hard work, even 'steady' paced runs are done with the idea that I should be running pretty close to my target race pace. I haven't really had much chance to 'enjoy' the running. So you can imagine my delight when I looked at the training plan and had a couple of days running at an 'easy' pace. Now I'm not entirely sure what my 'easy' pace should be, I think I read somewhere that I can run them at a minute slower? So what I did was run them at a lovely 9 min/mile pace (probably far too slow) and really enjoyed them. It was great to just run. If I wanted to run fast downhill, I did! If I wanted to drop the pace for an uphill section, I did! If I wanted to jog slowly, I did! If I wanted to pick up the pace for a bit, I did! I just really enjoyed it. So from here on in I'll be running a few more 'easy' runs. I'm not giving up on achieving a PB in the half-marathon, just going to try to do it with a few more 'enjoyable' runs thrown in.

 

The dos and don’ts of the long run…..

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

Sunday, the home of the long run and the staple diet of the road runner. So today I planned to complete a run of at least nine miles. This I did, 10.76 miles in 1 hour 31 mins, a reasonably steady pace that is a long way off what I'm hoping to run the Peterborough Half in, but 10 miles all the same.

After today's run I thought I would impart some words of wisdom to help other runners execute the weekly long run and help avoid this morning's unnecessary complications:

DO take some water with you if you are running for more than an hour.

DON'T strategically hide it in a tree so that you don't have to carry it around only to forget what tree you hid it in and then realise it has fallen down requiring you to fight through brambles to retrieve it.

DO get your run in early.

DON'T stay in bed too long so that when you finally get out for your run the sun is out and it starts to get really hot.

DO have a playlist prepared.

DON'T after hearing Stereophonics on the radio set your iPod to play all their albums, because after 'Word Gets Around' they started to get a bit crap causing you to stop and put on something else to stop your ears bleeding.

DO remember that wherever you run you share the path with other people.

DON'T stress yourself out when you met the fat family and their equally fat dogs who think that it is their right to take up the whole path and refuse to move even an inch to the side.

DO try to eat a sensible breakfast and allow time to digest.

DON'T scoff down four chocolate brioche rolls, guzzle down two cups of tea and run out the door.

Tomorrow: REST DAY

CUSHTY!