Trumpet blowing – Not a Jogger

Confession time: I got some personal bests

Well, this is awkward. It took me a couple of years to write about facing up to a future of no more personal bests. “Personal bests are temporary, running is forever”, I wrote, waxing philosophical.

But… it turns out I could get another personal best. And, um, not just one. In May, three weeks after Boston marathon, I knocked over a minute off my 10k time at Langtoft Road Run. I love this race. Flat country lanes, wisteria clad cottages, and the weather was ideal: cloudy and cool. My legs felt rested and the pace (6:45 minutes a mile) felt just the right side of too hard. Nothing really hurt until the last mile and then there was NO WAY I was slowing down and letting it go. A pb! My first personal best since joining Yaxley Runners in 2016.

New 10k pb: 41:38

10 days after Langtoft, we met at the track on a warm Wednesday evening for the club’s annual Timed Mile. A love/hate affair involving no dinner, pre-race terror and a post-effort cough that lasts all night. It was worth it, as I went sub- 6 minutes for one mile on the track for the first time. Thank god that’s over for another year.

New mile pb: 5:57

Three weeks later in Ferry Meadows, I turned up to the first race of the Peterborough Grand Prix 5km series, interested to see what would happen. It was busy, and I was carried along by faster men and women for a kilometre before actually deciding to go for the sub-20. I’ve been there many, many times before, and failed. This time it felt possible. I had a moment of fear and a flicker of feeling I didn’t want to try. But then, belief! I was going to do it. The struggle in the last kilometre was real, but I forced my legs to keep turning over, kept counting to 60 (my last resort mental trick) and forced myself to sprint for the line.

New 5k pb: 19:54

This old girl, it seems, is on fire. The question is, why?

Is it my Boston marathon training kicking in too late? Is it a bit more hill training? Is it the handful of track sessions I’ve done? Is it consistent mileage? Is it pilates? Is it self-belief? Is it the cooler weather this summer?

I think it’s all of these things combined. My only epiphany during this purple patch is this: you won’t get faster by pushing harder during races if the pace feels hard, you’ll only get faster when that pace feels easier. You’ve got to put in the work to make it feel easy.

How to run a 10k race and actually enjoy it

10k is my nemesis distance. Too long to be short, too short to be long; it’s running kryptonite.

This is one reason why I haven’t attempted a 10k race since September 2011, the others being 2) pregnancy, c) wine.

On Sunday our friend Brian was staying for the weekend and we decided to run one of the Regent’s Park Summer 10k series – you can just turn up 15 minutes before the start, pay your £16, tie on your timing chip and off you go. Spontaneity is not usually my middle name, but in this case I think not booking in advance gave me some psychological advantages: I didn’t obsess about it beforehand, I didn’t really* train for it, and I didn’t have a pace in mind. There were no hopes to be dashed – I was just going to turn up, give it a go and see what happened.

What happened? Some flippin’ excellent things! I paced it sensibly, ran a negative split, and got a new pb of 43:04. Best of all, I didn’t even feel like death at the end so there is room for improvement.

Now that the race is over and I no longer need them, I have come up with some useful tips on how to run a 10k.

1. START SLOWLY

The Regent’s Park 10k is a 3 lap course, which I have previously found to be soul destroying, but this time I used it to my advantage. Rather than starting at maximum pace and trying in vain to get faster each lap, I started at a pace that felt way too slow and really did get faster each lap. Aiming for a 45 minute finish, I actually came in a lot quicker as I felt so good in the second and third laps.

2. STRUGGLING? SLOW DOWN

I wasn’t aiming for a pb so I tried a crazy thing: actually enjoying the race. Every time I started to feel uncomfortable in the lungs, legs or stomach, I slowed down a bit because I didn’t want to feel like that. Then, once I felt better, I found I sped back up to pace without really trying.

3. GET TACTICAL

The Regent’s Park course is billed as “flat”, but really it has a couple of slight inclines and declines which shouldn’t be ignored. If you try to run them all at the same pace, your perception of how hard you’re working gets skewed and you end up ruining yourself. Slow down a bit on every incline, and you will reap the rewards on the downhills.

4. SAVE IT FOR THE END

This is a version of 1. Pick a point at which you are willing to give it everything and save your heroics for then. I picked 8k, but it ended up being 9k, then really just the final straight. Things do even out in the end, though. I used to peg it for one lap, die in the second and end up jogging it in. How much better to end on a sprint finish in front of your husband and child?

Like any tips, these seem really obvious. But, given that I’ve managed 20 years of running without following them, I hope they’re worth sharing.

* Ok, I have done some training, but nothing specifically 10k focused other than two interval sessions during which I nearly threw up. (6 x 800m with 1.5 minute recoveries, pain fans)

Me, daughter and 38 minute 10k-er Brian post-race. Plus plastic cup.

Three days, Two runs, Twenty miles

20 (twenty) whole miles.

I ran home from work on Friday night – 7 miles around Camden, Regent’s Park, etc. It was fine, but so uneventful that I couldn’t think of anything to write about it afterwards. Not a bad run, but always just a warm-up for today.

Early last week I made plans to meet my friend in Richmond on Sunday. In a moment of insanity/inspiration, I decided to run there. Door to door it was 13 miles, a full half-marathon with added traffic, crowds and sun.

It wasn’t the easiest half marathon I’ve ever run. I had to take her a parcel of clean clothes in advance, which she had to cycle home for me. There were no mile markers, no signs showing the way, and no-one to offer me drinks or encouragement along the way. Miles 10-12, always the hardest, began in Earl’s Court, which I have never run through before, and hope never to have to do so again.

It was a great run, apart from those two miles. Running through Belgravia, I glimpsed the Serpentine Gallery, Albert Memorial, and was surprised by the Albert Hall, winding my way past the back entrances of museums. I only went the wrong way once, somewhere east of Baker Street. I would not make a good Sherlock Holmes. Unless he was also able to use an iPhone.

Arriving in Mortlake, my amazing friend greeted me with cold water, a hot shower and a bemused smile. No medal, mind.

100 not out

This is my 100th post. To celebrate I went for a run (of course!), taking in an appropriate Islington street in a slow but steady 8 miles.

This post means that I have now been for more than 100 runs in 2011 (I’ve run more times than I’ve written about running). It’s odd to have a record of that number. I now know that I run every other day. 3.2 times a week. I’m not sure if I’m proud of this, embarrassed to have run so much, or annoyed that I haven’t run more.

Running is a relative concept. I’m not aiming for any ideal mileage. How pleased I am with it depends on how fit I am, how far I ran last week, what I had for lunch, whether I’ve got a hangover, how fast Mr Notajogger is at the moment…

However far I run though, however fast or slow, whatever I’m training for, I’m still running. 100 not out.

The happiness of the long distance runner

I’ve just returned from a hen weekend in Dorset, blessed by the most beautiful weather, flora and fauna England has to offer. Last week was so warm that the waning daffodils stayed a for few days to welcome the cherry blossom, waxing lyrically from hedgerows and gardens along my running route. For run I did, despite the twin temptations of Friday night drinking and Saturday morning lazing about, and I have to say it was about the best 1 hour 23 minutes of my life.

I planned an 11 mile route in advance, from our farmhouse in Puncknowle (highly recommended), along narrow single track roads next to the tiny River Bride. Running steadily for 6 miles alongside streams and cottages, lambs and rabbits, cattle and carthorses, I passed by villages that described themselves (Little Cheney, Long Bredy, Little Bredy), and hills that crept up unannounced. I turned around at Bridehead and ran 5 of the return miles at a faster pace, supposed to be 7min 30 secs but more like 7 minutes. I couldn’t slow myself down – I was practically whooping for joy at how wonderful it all was. I felt good, my legs were strong and I was so very glad to be alive and able to do this.

I saw 3 other people (two runners and one dog walker) and less than 10 cars over the whole route. Assuming the other runners weren’t holidaying Londoners like me, they are very lucky to live in such a beautiful place, but I really can’t complain. Some people live in the most stunning places and never leave their garden gate. I can visit for two days, put on my trainers and see enough to keep me happy for the rest of the year. Long Live Running.

Double-decker

When I’m running to a training schedule, I try to fit the running in to my life, rather than the other way around. This sounds very sensible and non-Madonna-ish, but in reality it means I run at crazy times, carrying bags of stuff, with a hangover or, in today’s case, twice in 12 hours.

Yesterday’s commandment was “OFF, cross-train, or easy run of 30-45 minutes”. Today’s was “Easy run: 30-45 minutes”. I’m going out for drinks tonight so knew I would have to run this morning but, rather than take a fully legal day OFF, I hopped aboard the cross-train and went to the gym last night at 7pm like a loser.

Getting changed afterwards, I heard a woman say to her friend, “I couldn’t come more than twice a week, exercising more than twice a week is too much, it’s not healthy”. At 6.55am this morning, running up Crouch End Hill for the second time with my husband in the biting wind, I thought she might be onto something.

I’m a bit nervous about tomorrow’s run. It’s a “tempo run”, and I still don’t fully understand what they are… I think it’s when you run almost as fast as you can over that time/distance, but not quite. Which, over 4 miles with 1 mile warm up and cool down, at 6.30am with a hangover, is not going to be pretty. Eek!