It's raining it's pouring...

Everyone will relate to the feeling when you look outside and it's pouring with rain, it's dark, and you really don't feel like going for a run, but know you have too! Well this is how I felt tonight. I had to because this is the final BIG week of training before a taper week next week for the Royal Parks Half. 

On Sunday I put in a steady 12 miler off road. On Monday I put in back to back 4.5 milers (one at 6:30 avg mpm pace, the other at a more leisurely 8mpm pace) so 9 miles in total in one lunchtime! Tuesday was a rest day which brings me back to today's club run.

I'd eaten a massive jacket potatoe too just an hour earlier which isn't exactly ideal for a Wednesday LBAC club night which is always a rapid affair. It's often the way however that once you get yourself out there, such runs so often surprise and turn out to be the best. Tonight was no exception!

The rain literally fell out the sky in sheets soaking my supposedly water proof TNF jacket to the skin. Most were wearing just a tshirt, some even vests (Tom the pocket rocket), but us ultra runners are taught to go out prepared!

Anyway I quickly got into a nice stride and set about my business sticking to what felt fast but sustainable. On these type of training runs I try not to look at the garmin as I want to feel the pace I'm running rather than be told. I felt good (apart from the potatoe that was sitting high in my stomach or hadn't even made it that far!) I like running in horrid conditions (sometimes) as it's an extra challenge and most others probably don't prefer it this way so it's always an advantage if you can harness this and set yourself apart from others. I ran and ran.... harder, faster and further than anybody else. Was this really the slow ultra plodded from just a few weeks ago. I smashed out the miles mainly because I wanted to finish the session as quickly as possible. Why prolong such a run when the greatest benefit can be gained from going out hard from the start and sticking to it. 

As you can probably tell from this post I am still pretty pumped up from tonights run. It really is a great feeling to feel that the effort I am putting in is paying back so quickly. This short 4 week training period in the lead up to the Royal Plans is going exactly to plan.

I covered 8.6 miles tonight in 59 minutes 10 seconds. My mile splits were: 7.24, 7.05, 6.47, 6.53, 6.47, 6.39, 6.37, 6.53, 6.41 (last 0.6 miles). Total avg pace 6.52 mpm. This just happens to be exactly the pace I need to run to go sub 1h30m in the Half! So if I can do it on a club night in the pouring rain, dark, dodging cars and puddles then what I wonder beckons on a fine Sunday morning in the Royal Parks of London. It's an exciting prospect and I can't wait.

It might come across that my motivation for this is based on time and splits, and getting a new PB but actually i'm on a high more because I'm just thoroughly enjoying my running right now. Why - well I think mixing it up and going from the ultras to training for a half has a lot to do with it. I'm learning a lot from this shift in training and it can only be a good thing.

what's next? A slower recovery run tomorrow lunchtime... :-)        

Sunday LBAC long run report

Today was the first LBAC Sunday morning training run. Basically quite a few club runners get their weekly long run in on Sunday morning like so many other weekend warriors up and down the country. So therefore individuals from the club have volunteered to lead a run every Sunday morning from a start point of their choosing in and around Leighton Buzzard. Today it was Joe's (Mr Ironman) turn who led a super little route with 3 of us in tow. Tom (the pocket rocket and club captain), Fred (Super Vet), and myself.

The route took us initially along the grand union canal on a surprisingly muggy morning. The flat start was nice especially with the hills to come. We turned off after a few miles to Stockgrove Park, and meandered up and down undulating trails crossing paths with a few other runners and dog walkers on route. The speed was around the 8 mpm pace so not sluggish but more than sustainable.

From Stockgrove there was a quick water stop before we continued into the ajoining Rushmere Woods which with the carpet of pine needles that covered the trails were very easy on the feet. We joked that these would make for great inner cushioning! Very sustainable too!! Held together with hubba bubba we decided :-)

Anyway once out of rushmere having clocked 10 and bit miles we made our way up the road, over the grand union canal and continued through to Linslade Woods which was a very neat short cut back to where we started. Total mileage 12.2 miles in 1hr49min. A good run and my last at that distance before the Royal Parks in 2 weeks time. Between now and then it all shorter speed work.

So to all LBAC runners and anyone else reading this local I can thoroughly recommend joining us on a Sunday morning. See here for full details -http://www.leightonbuzzardac.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=135

Royal Parks Fundraiser - PLEASE HELP

A quick post to ask for your support (and money) for my Royal Parks half marathon in a few weeks time. I'm running on behalf of PACE who help children with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, also enabling them to transform their own lives and that of their families. A very worthy cause and I would like to raise at least £200 for them.

I'm gunning for sub 1:30 and training is going well so its definitely ON. And for every £1 raised I will personally throw in 50p too so if I hit my £200 target, that's £300 raised!

Click on the link below to my Just Giving Fundrasing page. Thanks


STUART BLOFELD is fundraising for The PACE Centre

LBAC Club Run

Wow yesterday’s club run was a real blast. Who would have thought road running could be this much fun! I went out with the intention of doing around four 7 minute mile intervals with quarter mile recoveries in between. It soon became apparent however that whilst I was doing the 7 minute miling I wasn’t going to get the recoveries I planned. This was because I settled into a good stride with fellow LBAC runner Chris at the front of the pack, and Chris' approach to every run he does is flat out all of the time with 100% effort! He chuckled at the suggestion of taking a rest in between. I wasn't going to be beaten or suggest that I need rest! So it was that we maintained the effort mile after mile through the streets and parks of Leighton Buzzard.


We weren’t alone for very long though as the racing snakes in the pack soon caught up and pushed the pace on further. At this point I look down at my Garmin (which was on its best behaviour today) to see 6.10mpm pace. Bloody hell what am I doing I thought... The answer being exactly what i need to be doing! This was speed training at its best... heart pumping, lungs bursting, full out running.

What I was most surprised about from this session is that I'm not as slow as I presumed I would be after the recent ultras. My speed was there. I just need a bit more speed endurance so that I don't die in the latter stages of a race. The session ended up being exactly 9 miles in distance with an average pace of 7.07mpm. Just 4 extra miles at just above this pace would bag me a PB at the Royal Parks in 3 ½ weeks time. A real possibility then, and a huge motivator to keep the training cranked up to the max.

So it’s more of the same over the coming weeks which may look a bit like this:

Sat - Long run (plus hard hill reps session in middle)
Sun - Rest
Mon - Short sharp effort. 4 miles at close to 6mpm as possible
Tues - Rest or slow recovery run with Leighton Fun Runners
Wed - Hard fast LBAC run. 6-9 miles at 7-7:30mpm
Thurs - Rest or v. slow recovery run
Fri - Rest

Speed training begins

I'm writing this on the train on way back from London and wanted to fill the time. So not perhaps the most thrilling of intros or reasons for a post but let's see where it takes us. 

So the brooks green silence running shoes arrived on Saturday and I couldn't wait to try them out having never wore a flat racer before. So Monday lunchtime saw me don them and head out for a quick blast along the very familar 5 mile out and back from work accompanied by my colleague Dave.

My first impressions were how amazingly light they were. Not just a bit lighter than what I'm use to, but like i wasnt even wearing shoes at all. I knew I would be sacraficing cushioning and a certain amount of protection for this but they were extremely comfortable and felt right. 

We had intended in doing a session at 7mpm but the garmin was playing up and wasn't picking up the satellites. So we cruised along at a fair old click. Only when the garmin decided to work did we realise it was sub 6:30 pace. Blimey i didnt know i was still capable of such speeds after a summer of ultras. It felt good though so we didn't adjust the pace. it quickened further and we soon found ourselves running sub 6s (mainly because Dave doesnt know how to run any other way). I hadn't being running at that pace for months!... Was I losing the ultra shuffle!? 

The brooks continued to feel great and so was I. I always find the hard runs mighty satisfying and this one especially so, giving me a glimmer of hope that perhaps sub 1:30 is attainable at the royal parks half in 4 weeks time. Only time will tell but I plan to do plenty more of these sessions between now and then plus some intervals and hill sessions. I guess the trail shoes are staying in the cupboard for now. 

     

Leighton Fun Runners Invitation Run

LBAC runners

I joined the Leighton Fun Runners (LFR) for their invitation run on Tuesday. The LFR are the other running club in town, my club being LBAC (Leighton Buzzard Athletics Club). There is quite a lot of history to both clubs but the main thing is that we have two thriving running clubs in the same town which are growing in numbers all the time. That can only be a good thing.

The annual invitation run invites other local clubs from around the area. There were six of us from LBAC. Many others were running in the Tour of Milton Keynes which was unfortunately the same night meaning that the LBAC turn out here could have been

There were well over 50 runners in total which were split into three different pace groups. A 7mpm group, 8-10mpm group and 10-12mpm pace group. I convinced myself to join the 7mpm group as I needed to shake off the cobwebs and lose the ultra shuffle. The slower groups set off and we stood around for a bit longer eyeing up the chocolate chip muffins which would await us on our return.

Pete Mackrell blasting along

The route took us along the Grand Union canal whilst still light and as darkness began to fall we ventured on road and through the maze of residential streets that make up the north side of Leighton Buzzard. I've lived here for 7 years and still never know where I am most of the time!

The 7mpm pace was just about sustainable mainly because it was nearer 7:30 pace... Phew! The LFR were very welcoming had we had a great run.

As darkness fell in LB...

Whilst they said it would be 6 miles the extra mile making it 7 meant that we had definitely earnt our tea and cakes that awaited us back at the club house. A very nice evening which I plan to repeat by joining the LFR on their Tuesday run more often as nice to mix it up a bit!

LFR club house - award given to their club captain

Ridgeway Results

Whilst the full results still haven't been published a clever forumite has extracted the following from the Hall of Fame (which contains times for all years that the event has taken place). So it appears I finished in 23rd place out of 87 finishers. With over 100 starting the finish rate was quite good with only about 15-20 people dropping.

Well happy with my placing. Reckon I can knock off at least an hour next year :-)

Ridgeway Results 2010
(List of finishers in order, including those on the earlier 10am start) 
NAME YEAR TIME FINISH Posistion
Robert Treadwell 2010 14.48 1
Michael Beard 2010 16.21 2
Karen Hathaway 2010 16.24 3
Steve Reading 2010 17.05 4
Steve Charleston 2010 17.12 5
Linda Huxley 2010 17.45 6
Allan Rumbles 2010 17.56 7
David Larkham 2010 17.58 8
Vaughan Wade 2010 18.03 9
Claire Shelley 2010 18.10 10
Rob Harper 2010 18.15 11
Alwyn Johns 2010 18.24 12
Anne Wade 2010 18.40 13
Dicky Wilkinson 2010 18.40 14
Matthew Taylor 2010 18.44 15
Helen Smith 2010 18.49 16
Anna Finn 2010 18.49 17
Tom Sutton 2010 18.52 18
Adrian Holloway 2010 19.21 19
Sarah Thorne 2010 19.24 20
Julie Ewers 2009 19.29 21
Robert Edwards 2010 19.46 22
Stuart Blofeld 2010 19.37 23
Ian Morris 2010 19.37 24
Colin Fitzjohn 2010 19.43 25
Robby Elson 2010 19.46 26
Nicky Taylor 2010 19.47 27
Glyn Raymen 2010 19.49 28
Neil Pringle 2010 19.55 29
Kevin Mayo 2010 20.07 30
Anthony Hayes 2010 20.07 31
Jennifer Bradley 2010 20.23 32
Jim Binks 2010 20.37 33
Jonathan Venning 2010 20.57 34
Mike Lall 2010 20.41 35
Paul Britt  2010 20.55 36
Tony Nott 2010 20.56 37
David Oliver 2010 21.01 38
Paul Oliver 2010 21.01 39
Catherine Holloway 2010 21.03 40
Joan Clarke 2010 21.04 41
Peter Johnson  2010 21.04 42
Nicholas Sheard 2010 21.05 43
David Telfer 2010 21.07 44
Andy Horsley 2010 21.10 45
Sarah Matthews 2010 21.12 46
David Berger 2010 21.12 47
Rob Jones 2010 21.15 48
David Hegarty 2010 21.15 49
Sean Corney 2010 21.17 50
Fraser Scott 2010 21.20 51
Martin Campbell 2010 21.20 52
Mark Rawlinson 2010 21.37 53
David Bruno 2010 21.40 54
Phillip Stapleton 2010 21.45 55
Raymond Hickman 2010 21.45 56
Dino Ilaria 2010 21.45 57
Nichola Newton 2010 21.52 58
Suzie Niven 2010 22.10 59
Carl Miles 2010 22.10 60
Steve Paterson 2010 22.40 61
Guy Nesbitt 2010 22.44 62
James Radford 2010 22.47 63
Brian Layton 2010 22.50 64
Justin Bowyer 2010 22.50 65
Tom Hallett 2010 23.20 66
Jeremy Smallwood 2010 23.20 67
Mark Ball 2010 23.23 68
Sarah Kibble 2010 23.23 69
Barry Miller 2010 23.23 70
Stuart March 2010 23.23 71
Dave Jones 2010 23.45 72
Henrietta MacKinnon 2010 24.29 73
Vicki Johnson 2010 24.37 74
Mel Corden-Lloyd 2010 24.38 75
Martin Matthews 2010 24.46 76
Ian Blakebrough 2010 24.49 77
Steven Wall 2010 24.49 78
Andrew Ferguson 2010 24.52 79
David Palmer 2010 25.50 80
Elizabeth Tunna 2010 25.54 81
Paul Jefferies 2010 26.00 82
Neil Salmons 2010 26.00 83
Kevin O’Rourke 2010 26.17 84
Kathy Tytler  2010 27.50 85
Luke Attwood 2010 27.45 86
Steve Cairns 2010 27.45 87