Training Log Archive: Arnold

Usual Richmond Park loop, with Abi. Who proceeded to run away from me and finished 27s quicker.

As my excuse I had felt a bit woozy the last couple days so really struggled on the uphill. Pleased to have finished actually in what is the best time for over a year. So Abi just went bloody fast, good for her (he says through gritted teeth.)

Calf started nagging in first km, but didn’t get any worse. Now a bit tight but will be fine.

London Marathon today and Paul N is on for 2.46.

One day I will have to do a Marathon under 3 hours. I guess the first step would be a 1.25 half..

C • 3 hour marathon 2

To / from start

Not the Kingston City Race.

Re running the KCR course that I missed a couple of weeks ago. This time would have got me about 7th or 8th (Steve / Jev time) which seems ok given that motivation is never as high in a non race situation.

Thought I’d pushed the pace a bit, but Garmin doesn’t agree. I was pretty tired though.

Some nice route choices, but mostly straightforward.

JK Relay, Minley. 6.4/170

Another steady and really clean run. 3rd leg on M120 and we think we finished 4th or 5th, which is good but a shame we didn’t fight for the medals. Strangely enough I didn’t see anyone else out on the course, I guess everyone must have done similar times.

As it was hot again I tried to pace myself as best possible, and managed to keep decent speed all the way through. Terrain was easy and I chose safeish routes so don’t think I lost more than 15s in total. A nice way to end the weekend as I really felt I was getting into the swing of things.

British Champs in 2 weeks!

JK Long, 11.9/325, Cold Ash.

A great run for a change, 6th in M40, 11 mins behind Ant (who passed me in the forest, looking strong) but less than 5 mins behind Duncy D in second and less than 2 behind third.

I didn’t like Cold Ash previously but today felt lovely and runnable most of the way round. Some bits of white forest were just gorgeous, so overall great fun.

After yesterday’s meltdown, I started with a drenched O-top and a wet bandana, plus the aim to take it very easy and conserve energy. This, combined with 2 detours to the only water stop, actually worked and I got round fairly strongly and also cleanly. Hence my best result for a long time. Yay!

JK Middle, 5.6/180, Windmill Hill, 9th but only 4.20 behind the winner (Ant).

Hmm. I finished the race in a big grump because my body felt limp and powerless practically the whole way around - mostly due to the crazy heat (24C), which I’ve never dealt with well, and possibly due to still not sleeping that well. Plus I also had a sore throat yesterday and slightly painful ears now.

So I thought I’d be miles behind.

Turns out I wasn’t, in fact I’ve rarely been this close time wise and even though 9th isn’t amazing I beat Ray, Geoff and Dave. So presumably everybody else also felt the heat, and I did have a very smooth clean run technically, except for 15s at 6 and 30s at 22 where the map was a complete joke (it was great otherwise so really not sure what happened there.)

So good news I suppose. Although I really do feel “if only” today.

Twice the distance tomorrow in the same heat should be fun..

JK Sprint, Aldershot.

Reasonable effort and ended up 6th of 38 (fastest 14.53). Really hot day so felt it even in 15’, but didn’t fade too badly. Although as always started too fast, so need to control that a bit more.

Badly planned course, putting too many controls on an easy-ish area, thereby removing any vaguely interesting route choices. Hence - don’t think I lost more than 10 seconds in total.

Still, ok day out and now looking forward to the forest races.

C • JK, Billygoat, and 10MILA 4

First run back after a week’s skiing (didn’t do any running there and no Garmin either.)

It’s amazing how the first half an hour after a week doing something different feels like you’ve never run before, and today was no different. Thought I wouldn’t make it for a while but then settled into it and got through pretty well.

Nice but cold evening, although by the JK next weekend it should be 20C and sunny. If true, will be nice to run in just an O top..

Calf borderline but held up.

One round with Abi

Not quite as tight with the trains today (and more tired too), but still decent.

More control checking for Street-O. All good.