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.

Cycle Derby Sportive

Today the inaugural Cycle Derby Sportive from outside the brand new Pride Park Velodrome, which isn’t open yet. Which I’m sure must have been the original intention. So it's a rather large publicity own goal as the Velodrome isn't due to open until January, I’m not sure a January sportive would have been that much fun. 

Both L and I have opted for the 50 mile route and as it’s a mass start, we start effectively hand in hand. We are waved off by the compère who does Ironmans, Derby County’s Rammie who showed up late and my father who has come to document the event.

There are over a thousand cyclists and it’s turned out to be a really sunny day to take on the Derbyshire countryside.

It’s an interesting course and they take us through Derby on coned off roads. It isn’t quite the city centre route that was promised on the map but it’s not bad. The first challenge is a lap around Carsington Water and the climb up to Middleton, albeit from the gentle side.

I reach the first checkpoint just past Middleton, 21 miles done, in 1:20. The feed has the usual energy stuff but no cake, only haribos and bananas. L texts to say she’s lonely and quite possibly the Flame Rouge. I attempt to raise flagging spirits.

There is cake at the second stop at Coxbench, yay, 36 miles down in 2:22. The cake is appreciated as there’s been some interesting climbs around Crich and Heage which made Middleton Top look like a molehill. It’s also a nice touch to have Derby College students filling your drinks bottles for you. Apparently James Corden did the short route (the wimp) but didn’t stop at the feed station much to the students’ dismay.

L texts... shoot me now. I’m sure she’s enjoying it really.

After Coxbench, I finally get down on the aeros and blitz the last bit. Job done, 52 miles in 3:14.

Overall I thought it was a good route and well organised. The only criticism really was that the direction arrows were plentiful but a bit small. Quite a few folk took wrong turns and had to yelled back onto route by the rest of us.

L texts... go home I’ll be hours. Hmmm, bit of chivvying required. I pedal back to Locko Park which is on the route and only 3 miles as the crow flies from the finish. Then I ride the route with L, another 10 miles in all.

Sundowner Middle Distance Triathlon

We are somewhere near York at Allerthorpe for the Sundowner Middle Distance Tri, an event that is in only its second year. The race starts at midday for those planning on taking over six hours and at 1pm for those planning on being a little bit quicker. After recording 5:52 at the Outlaw Half I recklessly place myself in the latter group. The aim is for everyone to be finished by the time the sun goes down. The only problem is somebody forgot to book the sun.

This leisurely lunch time start is pretty unique in the world of sport and makes for a relaxed morning unless your other half has opted to enter the Sprint distance which kicks off at 9.30am.

So first a spot of supporting. L has to do one and half laps of Allerthorpe Lake, which is so shallow in places that when they start some folk walk or run the first section before diving into the water. This is followed by a 20k bike and then a 5k run, all of which takes part in steady miserable rain.

The rain has stopped by my start time although the black clouds overhead are clearly promising that this is only a temporary lull. My own swim involves four laps of the lake and as I’m hopeless at counting lengths in the pool this could pose a bit of a problem. My swim watch, I’m guessing, will be unable to help me here by counting the laps without a definite side touch to set it off.

Already unsettled I mess up lap one by going off way too quickly but somehow I manage to stave off an impressive attempt to drown. After a bit of breast stroking, a touch of embarrassing backstroking and even a spot of walking in the shallow bit I pull myself together but I still emerge from the water in 43:18, five minutes down on my Outlaw time. Maybe I did an extra lap.

The rain that had serenaded L’s event is now back as I set out on the first of two laps of the 45k bike course. Lap one is completed in a satisfying 1:26 and I’m sure I can go faster and break 2:50 but the weather has other ideas. Pretty soon it’s hammering it down and the roads are awash. I finish the bike in 2:55. Still not bad though, ten minutes up on the Outlaw and without the aid of L’s fruit and brandy cake. It was probably more due to the lack of a loo stop and an absence of any attempt to break my thumb this time.

I did almost have a mishap at the end of the first lap when they handed me a drinks bottle with a screw top. How the hell are you supposed to remove that whilst cycling? Eventually I manage to chew it off with my teeth and without crashing.

Then it’s the three lap run, each one involves a loop around the lake before heading out onto the public roads for an out and back section. It is only along a minor B-road but it’s possibly the narrowest and most congested minor road you’ll ever see. Every lap sees everyone dodging their way through a never ending stream of land rovers and tractors. It’s almost as if it’s some deliberate protest against the race.

It’s not helped that the puddles either side of the road are making the strip of tarmac we are running along narrower and narrower. Conditions on the run are no better than on the bike. Bouts of persistent rain are interspersed with more torrential wind assisted offerings.

They had warned us that anyone starting the final lap of the run after 7:00pm would need to carry a head torch and a red rear light. I’m hoping to beat that deadline unless my calves explode.

They don’t and I run every scrap of the distance recording a 1:57 half marathon, which I feel was a triumph for my pacing which I got spot on. Then as I cross the line, the rain stops. Typical.

I did try and up the pace on the final lap to see if I could push myself under 5:40 or even 5:30 but the calves refused to co-operate. My time though was just over 5:40. 12 minutes up on the Outlaw Half. Get in there.

Despite the weather, an excellent event.