Well, winter training is now in full swing, pretty much all of the injuries that plagued me after the World Champs have all cleared up so it is back to training now. A couple of weeks ago I had a chat with my coach and we went through some of the aspects of my training that needed to be addressed and also how to keep me fit over the winter months. The winter has already set in the UK...I am pretty much riding to work and home in the dark now so the lights are on and the bike is covered in dirt from what seems to have been the wettest couple of weeks in a while.
The main areas that I am going to be focusing on over the winter include my running and swimming, and to a much lesser extent, my cycling. In a bid to increase my running strength, I have taken on the x country season which runs all over the winter - the Metropolitan League has races every couple of weekends. So far I have done one Metropolitan league race and yesterday I competed in the North London X Country Championships. The first of these races was one massive shock to the system. I can't really remember the last time that I did a x country race, but I had no idea what to expect for the 5 miles of racing ahead. After lap 1, my legs felt like they were made of lead and my lungs felt like they had taken a right battering...I still had another 2 laps of this agony to get through as well. On the second lap I think I managed to find some sort of rhythm (slow) which seemed to be okay and I managed to get round. However, on the last lap, a club mate started to breathe down my neck and I knew we were in for a race. I tried to drop him on the downhill section, knowing that he had shorter legs than me, but he managed to stay there and eventually outsprint me for the finish - I was gutted. To give you some idea of the level of competition, I finished 147th in this race and there would have been about 300 competitors - this x country lark does not bring out the fun runners in any shape or form. I was also a massive 10 minutes behind the winner! Anyway, the 37 minutes for one race is probably represents the fastest way that you can ruin a pair of new shoes. I started in my shiny new shoes and finished with some brown blobs attached to my feet...and to think, this was not even a really bad day for the mud!
Yesterday's race was a much more civilised affair at a park in North London. The ground was good all the way round and it was a bit easier to maintain a good pace. There was one rather long hill along the back of the park, but all in all it was a lot better. I did get overtaken by an grey haired gent on the last lap and I initially thought he had me, but I had a quick word with myself and subsequently managed to get on his tail. I followed him all the back to the finish and then finally managed to outsprint the chap to the finish..a heartless effort..thanks for the toe through the hard bit mate, but I'll still beat you...racing is racing though and places mean points here :-)
Today I have been back to Regent's Park for one of the 10k races that Mornington Chasers put on, Regent's Park was the first place that I went under 40 minutes way back in February so today I really wanted to do it again. Although I have since been a lot faster than 40 minutes, I had a 15 mile run from Thursday still lurking in my legs and then I had done x country the day before. The aim was to try and get into the 38 minute mark but low and behold it was not to happen. I came home in 39:25 which I don't think is too bad considering that yesterday's offroad effort was close to sub 4min km as well.
I am also gonna be off swimming tonight with a new club. Barnet Copthall are pretty well known in swimming circles so it will be interesting to see what sort of things they do during their sets. Having looked at the schedule for tonight, it looks like it is a 2 hour session in the pool so it could end up being a real long set, possibly into the 5k region depending on what sort of thing we do. If the sets are good though it could be really good for me as they are only just up the road and they swim pretty much every night of the week so I could pick and choose when to go.
9 comments:
Glad to hear things are back on track Rich and you are working hard through the winter.
You mentioned in your last post (comment section) that you want to qualify for the GB squad, and Hamburg. Do these World Championships run every year?
As for the X-country, I can remember one of my first times. I was about 11 and I was more interested in sorting out a snog at that evenings school disco. Lots of time was spent putting the groundwork in during the run, which basically meant running with the girls. I was 11. I ended up snogging the girl. Some years later (long after I'd left the scene I hasten to add) she "came out" and declared herself a lesbian. I was also seeing another girl at Lufbra when she decided to declare her interest in women as well.
I'd completely forgotten about the x-country run and disco snog so thanks for bringing back those memories via your blog.
I love the way you couldn't be beaten by the 'grey haired gent'. Was that because he was old, or because he had more hair than you ;)
Meeeeeoooowww!
Cross country sounds tough. Maybe you should take a leaf out of Jonny's book and run with the 'girls'. Is that Vanessa Raw taking part?
There would have been just too much shame to have been whipped by the old guy, he did not even look that fit. But yes, he did also have more hair than me!
There is no sign of Miss Raw at the XC unfortunately...she lives up in Loughborough I think.
Loughborough...now there's a blast from the past.
Sorry to be so random, but I thought I'd take the opportunity of asking the expert:
I've just started cycling again after having a fat break for my late twenties-early thirties. When cycling uphill, should I keep my body still and just use my legs, or should I throw my whole body into it? Is one way of doing it bad for you or something?
Of course, you've already taught me that cycling into the back of vehicles is bad for me, so thanks for that.
That was a genuine question, by the way. I'm currently throwing everything into getting up the hill, and I'm pretty sure something in my back is going to explode if I carry on doing it.
Thanks.
Mike
Hi Mike,
ThisLink should give you some background as to how best to do it. I don't think you want to moving your body all over the place though, your back needs to stay relatively still I think. I assume you haven't got clipless pedals have you? Not having these certainy makes things harder because you miss out on the whole pull phase on the rear of the stroke.
Keep at it though and I'll see you in Vancouver for the 2008 World Champs...my fat phase was my late teens and 20's. Year of training should see you right!
Thanks for the tips, Rich. Sadly, I did get clipless pedals - I just bought a cheap bike, you see. I never realised that was what the clips were for. I just thought they probably stopped your feet from slipping off the pedals. Shows what I know.
I'll try to keep the old body a little more stable.
Love the technical vocabulary you casually dropped in there - 'the whole pull phase on the rear of the stroke'. Nice.
Thanks
I thought the Worlds in 2008 are in Queensland? If not, then what's the race there that we are going to go and cheer you on at?
Or did you get the year wrong?
Mikey, I didn't think there were that many hills in Singapore?
Queensland is the year after, 2009. It is Hamburg this year, Vancouver next year and then off to Aus (hopefully)
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