Cycle Derby Spring Sportive

Today we head off to the Derby Velodrome (or Arena if you insist) for the second Cycle Derby Sportive and their first spring one. I had packed shorts and short sleeves for this one but as soon as we arrive the wind blows us off our feet. Time for a rethink. On go the arm warmers, the long trousers and the full fingered gloves.

L is not sure she can manage 50 miles so downgrades to the 30 mile route. She’s not the only one, faced with some challenging conditions many don’t fancy it and the 100 mile route seems sparsely attended.

All the way around the roads of South Derbyshire and Leicestershire the swirling wind never seems to be behind us, always either in your face or blowing sideways. Luckily there aren’t many hills, the few that do come seems to be centred around Swithland in Leicestershire. A place I have un-fond memories of from our orienteering days.

The first stop on my 50 mile route (correction 53 mile route) is on the roadside somewhere just outside Barrow upon Soar, we have done 21 miles but the food stocks aren’t great. They only have energy bars and they are running out fast.

My pace is less than I would have liked but I can’t find anyone to pull me along. In fact I often end up with a group behind me using me as a shield to the wind.

After 43 miles we are somewhere near Breedon on the Hill and a much better stop with plenty of sausage rolls and cheesy pastries. Just 10 miles to go but still the wind hasn’t changed direction.

When I roll across the finish line, it isn’t there. In fact the whole event village is nowhere to be seen, having been blown off Pride Park. They have all moved into the Velodrome foyer where they dispense hot soup and medals.

Dambuster Duathlon

Today is the day, the Dambuster Duathlon which takes place amid challenging, windy conditions. I am almost fit for it. I feel that if I’d had another week the Achilles might be fully recovered but as it isn’t it’s all about surviving the initial 10k run. So its head down and go into the wind coming off the reservoir.

This is a qualifier for the ITU World Championships and I think this has cut the numbers a touch. Clearly some are not up for it. So this year we have three waves rather than four and they’ve also closed the start times up. Meaning I now start with the oldies and the women start just five minutes behind me rather than twenty minutes last year. I’m going to get overtaken a lot. The first woman passed me on the bike last year, they’ll pass me on the run this time.

I can't even keep pace with the person in the 'fat lad at the back' t-shirt. I hasten to add that although he is indeed a lad, he is neither at the back nor fat. I'm also very surprised you can get those t-shirts in Extra Small.

I safely negotiate the run without further injury and my 48:20 is only slightly slower than last year when I was also protecting an injury. I follow 'fat lad' in to transition but then don't see him for dust on the bike. The bike nicely takes the weight off the Achilles but it’s far from easy given that the first nine miles are always hilly but today are straight into the wind.

At times I thought I was going to start rolling backwards such was the painfully slow progress on those first nine miles in to a strong headwind. It was windy last year but not like this.

Once those initial nine are out of the way the remaining sixteen are much easier and sometimes even wind assisted. 01:34:49 is slightly slower than last year but that was the winds fault.

The final run is a battle, a painful battle, which I know means I won’t be walking normally for a while but 26:30 means I get the job done in 2:52:37. I think I enjoyed that.

A corking 280th place. I have earned the t-shirt, the pint of alcohol free lager and the massive flapjack thing that you could feed a family of five for a week on.

Alsager 5

Today we head off to do the Alsager 5 mile race. My partner remembers that the last time we did it in 2013, I asked her to check the ditches for me in case I'd collapsed. So I must have been injured that year as well. I think perhaps she best do the same again this time.

We've been posted numbers but we have to collect our timing chips on the day, which seems a bit of a waste of postage but there you go. They also hand out the race t-shirt before we start, which is helpful if you don’t reach the finish because you’re in a ditch.

The race is full and there’s nearly 900 here, an impressive turn out. Conditions are cold and I wrap up warm, with running tights in case I have to crawl out of the aforementioned ditch and walk back.

I recall that in 2013 I had to overtake L because she had started up front with the elites. I think this was because the race set off in the opposite direction to what we were expecting. We don’t make the same mistake today.

 

It starts ok and I do the first mile in 07:52, not blinding by any means but adequate. Then the tight calves kick in and I have to stop every half a mile to stretch them out. Oddly my finishing time of 43:25 is three whole minutes quicker than in 2013. I must have been really badly injured that year.

More worryingly is that I bounced back from that poor time in 2013 and ran 38:02 for five miles only a fortnight later. That’s not going to happen this time.

Not The Roman XI

Can I manage ‘Not The Roman XI’? Are my knees are up to 12k? There’s only one way to find out I suppose. L reassures me that she'll pick me up as she goes past.

We head to Stratford Upon Avon for the 11am start, which is a long walk from the race HQ. I remember it well from when we were here a few years back.

It’s hillier than I remember. Cough cough wheeze wheeze. I walk several sections, partly as a precaution when my knee/calves come under too much strain but also out of necessity when my lungs are ready to burst. How did I become this unfit?

The upshot is that I cover the 12kms in 1:07:11 at a rate of 5:36 per km and finish 468^th. In 2012, I completed it in 53:21 at 4:27 per km and came 148^th. Compare and contrast. How the 'mighty' have fallen.

Furnace Run

Today is the ‘traditional’ Darley Park 5k run from The Furnace Inn. My partner always does it. I always do it when I’m not injured enough to do so. Our older dog has done it many times and been top dog almost every year. Now he’s perhaps not young enough to do the full 5k and so our younger model has taken on the mantle. Somewhat reluctantly perhaps. This year, not only do I give it a go with him but Daughter runs it too. Her début!

Our young dog does indeed prove to be somewhat reluctant and tells me so repeatedly by biting his lead for the first hundred metres or so. Once we finally get focussed and having started in dead last, we ‘storm’ through the field. Well, it’s more of a light breeze than a storm.

Derwent Water 10

A couple of weeks ago L dangled the Derwent Water 10 in front of me. I was tempted, if my leg was up to it. I guess there’s only one way to find out. The rain even stops and the wind drops. It's just me though, L isn’t doing it although she does do her own run beforehand then takes up supporting duties with the dogs.

Starting from Keswick, the runs takes a scenic clockwise lap around around Derwent Water. First off there’s half a mile or so along the pedestrianized centre of Keswick causing many shoppers to dive into shop doorways to get out of the way of the oncoming stampede.

Then we’re out on to the roads where the tourists get even more frustrated as the race causes a massive traffic jam. After a few miles though we’re onto the more minor roads around the lake and the problem moves on from the continuous impatient traffic to the continuous upwards trajectory of miles 6 and 7. Luckily the course does go down as well as up and I suppose it’s all very pretty. If you like that sort of thing.

My legs feel ok aside from a huge blister on my left foot which makes the last two miles agony but in a sadistic sort of way, it was all excellent.

I limp home in 1:22:17, which isn’t great but when compared with my last 10 miler in May at Burton starts to look a bit better. I beat that time by over a minutes... somehow.

It’s a no-frills run but not at a particularly no-frills price. There were no t-shirts/medals/ mementos and I didn’t even get a cup of water at the end. Water supplies at the finish totally ran out and apparently the kitchens at the school where the race started were closed, so they couldn't get any more.

Timing was done by a Parkrun style system with bar codes and seemed to work well enough.

Great Eastern Peterborough Half Marathon

We head down the A1 for a half marathon that I’m barely fit enough to run. Actually scrub the barely but I’m still giving it a go.

First problem is parking, which we had pre-booked but it still ended up being a free for all. Somehow they manage to slot us in a pre-booked section although I’ll be blocking people in if I don’t get a shift on with my run.

Having parked, the start is very close on the nearby Embankment. My next decision is how much compression stuff to wear. I opt for two calf guards on my extremely dodgy right leg and one on my not quite so dodgy left leg. Then compression socks on top.

The start pens are in parallel with each other, which is different. They are also very narrow, which is also different. However despite causing quite a bit of confusion, it seems to work well. The narrow pens mean that it takes longer than usual to cross the start line but meant that everyone was nicely spread out from the off and of course your time is handled by your chip.

The route takes us through the centre of town (Nottingham take note) before, I think, visiting every housing estate in Peterborough. This doesn’t make for the greatest of scenery but that is counteracted by the amazing crowds who only have to step outside their front doors to give us a cheer and they do so in large numbers (again Nottingham take note). Great local support, everywhere.

My multiple layers of calf support largely hold things together although I wouldn’t pretend I was running anywhere near freely. Things only get really grim, as regards calf pain, over the last three miles.

At the end they hand me a slightly dull technical t-shirt and medal for finishing. I finish in 1:49, not bad in the circumstances.

The aim of this run was, originally, as a warm up to Leicester in two weeks’ time. I now have until midnight to enter that event before the price practically doubles.

No offence Leicester... but I don’t think I’ll bother.