Exploring the gap between boredom and fear

[Jack Hughes]

Not doing much at all at the moment.

The last three swims I've done have caused ear problems. Still deaf in one ear at the moment.
The last proper bike ride was back in June, I think, and I ended up with a knackered achilles. Think it was the shoe being too tight.
So not really biked, or run since. It's gradually getting better.

Made some attempts to get in the gym for rowing and weights and cross training. But mainly been gaining weight.

So, what better than to have a go at a little fell race. This is organised by the Woodentops - where the Brownlee's cut their teeth. They organise a series of fell runs on the moor above Haworth over the Winter. The brownlees still turn up (usually the new year's eve one). So this was organised to end up in the pub to watch the tri. With lots of Brownlee mementoes raffled off.

I've always been too broken to do them. But, this one was only short (2.7km). And I thought should take about 12 mins. All on soft ground etc, so shouldn't be too bad. And as I was on holiday...

Walked round the course the day before (well, most of it - went a bit wrong in places), then ran round most of it to warm up. Nice when it is that short. Course was really a cross country - mainly on trails/footpaths with only a few bits of a more interesting nature. Never seen so many inov-8s. Most common shoe there.

Anyway, the positives, I think outweighed the negatives.

Negatives:
Hit a new race weight maximum - never even done a race at this weight before. Oh well.
There is only one strategy for an XC/Fell race: start at the front of the pack, then sprint as fast as you can before the track narrows. Only the first half a dozen will be able to run the course. As soon as you get to the first bottle neck, people arrive quicker than you can get through, the result is that you are reduced to walking pace... over a short course, the pack never really thins out - just bunches together at each narrow section.

I completely messed the start up. Was on the wrong side (so had a longer line, up hill to the turn on the opposite site).
I was confused by all the kids. Great to see them, but I wasn't sure if I was in the right race - there was a separate under 10s race - and these looked tiny to me.
The field got moved around a bit to be behind the start line, and I lost position in this.
I didn't have it in my to shove anyone lighter than me out of the way (women and children). Which is an essential tactic - it get's pretty physical with lots of elbow action. I think a few people were wearing XC spikes, as I saw one young lad with characteristic bleeding shins from where he had been clobbered. So, I by the time I got to the first bottleneck, I was well down in the field, and from then on it was pretty much a procession, until the last 400m when things began to spread out a bit more. Didn't really feel that I had warmed up and into my running until after the first 2K

My other bit of strategy was to get an HR max - short race, up hill, should be easy?

My poor start made that out of the question - HR was really low all the way round (a better guide than pace, when looking at different terrains).

I did a park run in April: Spent 28% of the time at Threshold or higher (although I probably ought to knock my HRMax down a bit). This fell race, I only managed 2%. So, essentially, it was a tempo run. So, a bit annoyed about that. Ended up averaged 5:08/km and finishing around the same time as people who do a 25 min 5k/53 min 10k.

Oh well. You also feel pretty fat lined up with these fell runner types.

Positives:
I was a nice day out, a reminder of the basics, and the low pace meant that I didn't get injured. And I don't have DOMS, which is a first
Legs feel a bit tender - knees, ankles. Calf is fine etc. Benefits of a tempo run on soft ground. Should do it some more.

[Jack Hughes]

What's happened?

Managed the Ride With Brad Sportive back in August.

With hindsight, this was a great event. Tougher than I expected (especially the last 20 miles). Was about 30 mins slower than I expected. Knee/leg sore, but recovered pretty quickly. Still not got to the root cause (Which I think is something to do with the position, new shoes/pedals probably help).

Another fell run. Still slow.

Managed my longest run ever though, as part of the HM challenge.

Somewhere in between, I really managed to put the achilles back with a fast 5 km run on a treadmill.

Still not been back in the pool since Whenever.

Stats are well down this year. Had expected to do about the same:

Running: 19.5 hours, vs 23 hours (should make this up over the next two months, injuries permitting)
Bike: 75 hours vs 107. Would take a lot of turboing to make that up.... Should probably end up around 85 hours by the end of the year.
Swimming: 19 vs 85. This is shockingly down. Also means my pool membership is going to waste. I might have not logged a couple of hours, but that is all.

At least it makes an easier target to beat next year!

I'm arguably slightly less broken, on average.. but not really that much better...

[jonathon.e]

On the positive, despite training time down, you have been concentrating on form to prevent injury, and doing a looooooong run without breaking, compared to last year, so next year must be race year, tristar 111 at MK a goer then, if they run it. There was a team event.

[sonofsammo]

Haven't run for ages and then knock off a HM?
That's not bad by a loooooooooooooooong way!

[Jack Hughes]

Did another one. A much harder route. Knee definitely not right. So a lot of walking went on. Not sure what it achieved, but certainly a learning exercise. Not planning another one until December 31st.

Had some leave booked to do the 100km bike ride, but had to cancel that. Oh well. Not sure if I have the opportunity to sneak out for 4 hours until Christmas. Managed 2 hours on the MTB though. Which was good. Managed to find a route which was based demanding and not too likely to end in broken bones and hypothermia in the middle of the moors somewhere. Created some strava segments on some of the technical bits to focus on improvements. Managed to knock over 1 minute off one stretch (took about 10 mins) already. Itching to get out again.

Thinking of events for next season:

16/12/12 Woodentops fell run - The Stoop
20/01/13 Woodentops fell run - Stanbury Splash

(Investigate other fell runs as an alternative to running on road)

24/03/13 Epilepsy Action Bradford 10K (Or Cheshire Cat on same date, depending on legs). Keen to shift the weight and have a return to this, having missed the 2012 edition. This will be the key focus for the beginning of the year. But if it all goes wrong...

April is the Ronde van Oost Lancashire - a fun 50m informal sportive.

Triathlonwise, I think I will target sprints - it's enough effort to prepare for these - 14/04/13 Skipton Triathlon


12/05/13 Fred Whitton - will see if I can get in on this when entries open on 1st December.

11/08/13 Wensleydale Triathlon - still tempted by this. But don't think I will be doing the training for it (will lead to injury), so probably not.

22/09/13 Bronte Bike Challenge - this is a local MTB ride. Didn't really find out about it until this year. Quite keen on having a crack at this.

Need to have a go at some TTs. Not too many - will pick "safer" course this year. Fancy the Ilkley CC 25. Need the hand book to see the dates.

I'll try to get some Sprints in - Rother Valley, The firebird series (Allerthorpe).

If I can work out what jon.e is planning, I may try a few head to heads.

Feels good to be setting some goals.

For now, I am trying to return to swimming, via winterswim, build up some running, do some rowing etc.

However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I will end up having to get the other knee done next year.

[Jack Hughes]

OK. The end of the year approaches.

And I am relatively unbroken.

But is that simply because I haven't done enough, and backed off too much?

Swimming is way down on last year.
Cycling is down too.
Running is up though.

More importantly, rather than picking up after the first few months of the year, things actually slowed down.

Now, a lot of that is due to the weather, and also work, which is busier than ever. I normally have quite a few unbooked days in January - but I am fully booked until March already. This means less time for training, and much harder to plan things.

The weight is also up. That's two years in a row it's been trending up. Not good.

But the running is up.

Indeed, I've actually managed to fit a few races in. All of them fell races. Something I've meant to do in the past, but not managed since 2008, when I did some XC - always been too broken.

However, I'm not sure if I have just backed off from trying hard. Maybe not a bad thing, but still a little frustrating.

So it's time to do some analysis of the last two races, and see what I can glean in the way of positives.

The first race of the series was in October.

Finished abouy 60% of the way through the pack - and way behind some of the people that I recognise from previous road races. All a bit depressing.

Last weekends race was another outing in similar. I had managed 4 runs in November, and, thanks to the HM challenge, a fair bit of distance (although the last one, done of the fells, was pretty much junk as the knee was playing up etc), and a further two in December. Not great by many people's standards, but on the up from previous months. Weight had also gone up though.

When I finished and got a peek at the initial results I felt a bit more optimistic.

I conciously hadn't tried as hard (making allowances for some dodgy initial readings on the heart rate monitor), it transpired that the latest race was 6 beats down from the first - 150 bpm versus 156bpm. This is a lot lower than road races (currently at around 160 bpm). And I conciously wasn't pushing as hard, so RPE was lower. Legs still felt like I had done something though, a few hours later.

Looking at my time as a percentage of the winners, things weren't so good:

152.63% in the first outing, and 152.33% in the second. Not really significant.

But, of course, a different winner.

Stats are great, because you can always get them to tell you the story you want.

The guy that won the previous race finished in fifth this time. So how about comparing my time with his?

So, that gives 152.63% in race 1, and 144.31% in the second. That's more like it. A bit of improvement.

An improvement in placings too - 60.73% in race 1, up to 54.07% in race 2. Race 2 was a smaller field - so probably more select. At least that's what I will tell myself.

Interestingly, and probably the thing that please my most, was that my pace was up: from 06:30/km in race 1, to 06:09/km in race 2. Interestingly, my "winner" ran both races at the same pace - 04:15/km in race 1, and 04:16/km in race 2 (which probably means that terrain was similar, so it wasn't a case of just having a flatter, faster course in the second).

Overall, I think there are some signs of hope: HR down, RPE down, speed up, relative speed up.

Just need to get the weight down and stay fit for the next race. I'll be skipping one of them as it was entry in advance - it is over subscribed as it is the one the Brownlees always do. So the next one will be on the 16th. Although I have found another local one (even closer!) to do on the 1st Jan. And an XC on the 6th. We shall see.

Might have a go at a park run either this weekend or the next, just to see if things are coming together.

Got a good idea for a new year's resolution too.

Anyway, all in all, the year has managed to pick up a bit. Looking forward to the next one now.

[Jimba]

Jack, I can see the benefit of comparing times, placings etc in a multisport event or any other event that the performance or requirements are hard to replicate in training, but I have always been of the view that for something like running, training performances are a good indicator of progress, ie conditions are more able to be replicated and you also do not have the added factor of race day adrenaline etc that can skew results.
I tend to compare Rpe, hr and times for a set course to establish whether my fitness is going up or down.
Not being critical, just interested in your rationale, as I have little doubt that you have one!

[Jack Hughes]

These are races I've not done before. On courses I've not done before.

They are also fell runs - so have extreme descents and ascents your HR will be up and down all over the place, as will pace.

RPE cannot be used to gauge fitness, as it it is relative. Flat out is flat out whatever your fitness levels.

So seeing how peers do is the only comparison.