Post 165 - Racing thick and fast

After a good performance at the East District cross-country championships before Christmas, there was a bit of a comedown. I peaked fairly well for this race, so there was always going to be a bit of a comedown, but it was worse than I thought. I picked up a chest infection over Christmas which took a while to shift. It’s always the way with me – I don’t often get sick, but when I do I’ll feel “sort-of” sick for a while, then my body will decide it can’t fight it off, then I’ll plunge into the depths of a winter bug, then it’ll take ages to shake it off, and yet further ages to get back to a level of fitness. I’d say a winter bug costs me 6-8 weeks in total. To force myself to try to see the positives, I suppose that an enforced break does me good, allows leg recovery, and you can’t maintain peak fitness all the time, but I’d prefer the break to be on my terms…

So it was damage limitation going into the Scottish Inter-District cross country championships. I didn’t get to train too much, or too well for this. It was the same story for the same competition last year. But it’s not every day you get the chance to run for Scotland East.

I never thought when I started running for Metro Aberdeen that I’d wear the Scotland East vest. That was what the big, seasoned, tough-as-nails runners competed for. The fast runners. I still wouldn’t consider myself one of them. But 16 years later I am a lot older, and somehow decent enough to challenge to be picked at district level, if a long way off being one of the top runners. So it’s an honour to pull on the vest for Scotland East, where my club running started in 2003 and where I am enjoying (or trying to enjoy) it continuing in the modern era…

So I took the black vest down off my wall and headed for Stirling. Yes, the vest is on my wall, along with all the other running vests I’ve worn over the years. I wanted to frame them all, but costs were prohibitive, so they are hanging on coat hangers hanging on nails…

It was a new venue for the inter-districts, comprising the junior and senior inter-district races, and then a series of international races as well. Arriving at the venue, it was fairly uninspiring, compared with the dramatic backdrop of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, the previous location. To me, cross country running is about mud, it’s about countryside, wilds, courses dictated by the natural landscapes. It’s not about running up and down pristine football pitches on a course marked entirely by barriers and tape, nor is it about running up and down golf course fairways. But no matter, it was what it was.

Half the course was like this

Start and finish under Stirling castle

I knew the guys I had placed around in the qualification race. I had no expectation of being anywhere near them on this occasion, as I was still coughing and suffering the after-effects of the chest infection. It turned out I ran OK. I placed between the two guys I placed between in Aberdeen, in the qualifying race. I’d have taken that beforehand. I was lacking a lot of strength on the uphill inclines. They weren’t even steep or long, but I was losing 3-5 positions on each incline. I was so weak on the hills. Everyone that is picked for the inter-districts is a good solid runner, so any weakness will be found out. But I was pulling the places back on the flat. I love flat running where I can open the legs out. The wind meant that on the exposed football pitch section of the course, runners were jostling to be last out of a corner, to get shelter on the subsequent straight from runners ahead.

Close in the races (9 and 12)...

...pals off-course too

It was what it was. I wasn’t a massively memorable run, but nor was it a bad run either. Had I finished 13 seconds faster, the East District team would have won gold, and I’d have been a scoring counter. Had I not had a chest infection, this would probably have happened. What can you do?! Try again next year?!

I had a week before the next race, the final East District league race in Livingston. I plugged away at the training – 14 hill repeats in howling wind and horizontal drizzle (glamourous it ain’t, but hills I need to work on, so out I will go), a tempo turbo in the flat with the doors and windows open, the fan blowing, and it being so cold I had to wear a hat and gloves and a jacket, a mini-fartlek run, and another mini-turbo.

I had good memories of the Livingston course from last year, where I had a strong run to manage to squeak district qualification. The reality was different and the rose-tinted spectacles were obliterated. It was brutally cold, and a lot of the course was on hard, stony forest paths. Not a problem in cushioned trail shoes, but tough on the joints when you’re wearing spikes. It was 3 laps. Just under 10K. The first lap is never memorable as you’re always fresh. On the second lap, on the long double-sectioned uphill, I went backwards. Oh no. If it’s this bad before half-distance, it’s going to be a long and painful second half…

Over the top of the hill and clattering through the stony forest paths and getting onto the open, grassy downhill section, I felt better, and on the third lap I felt better still and made a bit of progress. Coming towards the finish, there’s a narrow downhill twisty section. I was in a group of about 5. There was a tight right-hander coming. There was a backmarker. I needed to be at the front of the group and past the backmarker before the turn. I surged. I was first through the turn. But I was passed out of the turn and got a little bit boxed in by another backmarker. I was screamed encouragement at from the sidelines. I’ve never had such a cheer. Thanks Deirdre. Through the final left hander and onto the downhill finishing straight, I finished second of the group of 5 I had been with, and eleventh overall. Looking at the results, probably a little down overall on where I wanted to be, but not disastrously so.

Not much between me and Darrell in the races

It was quickly on with loads of layers to stay warm and good to warm down with Darrell who I’ve been racing closely with over the last few months over the cross-country season. I enjoyed the slow warm down and chat with Darrell, a bit of a difference from racing at full tilt, with the two of us straining to stay on even terms with each other.

My knees and Achilles were both sore after this race. Wearing spikes with not much cushioning on rough, hard stony forest trails didn’t do my joints any good. I managed a painful, slow 9 miles the next day (my “long” run), in over 80 minutes. Grim running, but in a nice part of the world, out at the John Muir country park near Dunbar in East Lothian with Deirdre – beaches, woods, trails, tides, sea, rivers, views, wind, drizzle, and sore joints.

Tide out, water literally miles away...

...And tide in

Nice running

Monday was my rest day and it was also grim, especially painful walking up and down stairs. It’s about 50 stairs up to my flat on the third floor. By Tuesday I felt recovered enough to go and do a long interval session. 3 laps of the meadows, with 3 minutes of recovery, averaging around 7:15. The first one was OK, the second one was quick, and the third one was horrible, with strength ebbing away. Still, another session in the bank and knees/Achilles coping. And just when you think you've got away with one thing, I tweaked my back taking my shoes off. I say tweaked. It was actually pretty sore. I didn't sleep much - couldn't sleep much, any movement was very sore. Not much for it except to hope for the best. It settled after a few days, but I wish that I wasn't so fragile. I wish I could have unbroken uninjured spells. I'm always fighting something, it seems. It's a pain. Literally.

I did a hard turbo on Wednesday evening, then a hard fartlek run on Thursday, then a swim that turned out to be much harder than it should have been. It was my first time in the water for about 5 weeks. I still had good fitness but had lost some of the specific swimming conditioning, so I came out of the water feeling knackered and despite a long sleep, I woke up feeling knackered, on race day – the East Lothian cross country championships.

I’d love to win a cross-country race. To do that I probably need to get a little bit lucky. I probably should have won this race last year but felt terrible on the day and lost out. Similarly, I felt terrible this year, I was never really at the races, I had had a tough week of training, no taper, a fatiguing swim the day before, and for the 8km I averaged 5:59 per mile (compared to 5:15 – 5:20 at previous races). OK, East Lothian wasn’t a quick course, but still, it was a bit disappointing although entirely explainable. In the first couple of hundred metres I realised I couldn’t keep pace with the winner. I tempo-ran the race, it was all I could do, and I came in second. 

I like taking photos. I usually try to take photos at races and post them online.

I'm a bit limited by my old iPhone4s (old technology now). 

This one came out great - a clubmate winning the East Lothian cross country,

with two young kids watching on - just a shame the kids are a little bit blurry
but that's the fault of the basic iPhone4s camera...!

It was less a good race completed, and more an unremarkable training session completed. Still, a good day out with a few clubmates in a nice part of the world (the John Muir country park again!).

I plodded through 10 miles on Sunday and felt so tired that I am debating taking an entire two days off to rest and recover. The past few weeks have been full-on, three races in a row, me still trying to recover from the chest infection, cold temperatures, hard training. I’ve got two-and-a-half weeks before my next outing, the fast 5K in Armagh, then 9 further days before the Scottish or Ulster cross-country championships. So hopefully a good block of training, and a couple of good performances to follow.

I’m still no further along with decisions on what to do with the year. Ironman? Short course triathlon? Running? I priced up going to the world duathlon championships at the end of April. I genuinely think I could win my age group at this race. Is it worth nearly £1000, and a stressful, solo trip, driving to Liverpool airport at 4am, flying to Porto on Ryanair with my bike packed up, hiring a car, driving to Pontevedra, staying in a cheap hotel by myself, racing, flying back to land at Liverpool at midnight? Could I use £1000 better? Plus I've qualified for the world sprint and standard distance triathlons in Lausanne in Switzerland at the end of August/start of September. They'll be similarly expensive trips... So much money, but doubtful the chances will ever come around again. There's a purity and a lack of expense in running compared with triathlon. Can I justify these trips? Especially if I’m doing an ironman? Am I doing an ironman?! Watch this space, I am interested to find out…

I’ve started getting a bit more serious about things this year, as evidenced by the fact that I am now maintaining a training log again. I’m not going to type it all out here is I have done in previous years, it takes ages to type it out, but a photograph will do the job almost as well. Training done was as follows: