Tuesday 31 May 2011

Walk Don’t Run!

The long weekend, spent in Wales, was good for taking my mind off the problem of not having a place of our own. However, the prognosis is good, we should be in our own home this weekend. Despite the rain in Wales we had a really good time, still managing a good coastal walk and driving with the roof down during a sunny period. In fact I was so relaxed that I hadn’t thought about any subjects for this week’s blog, even the news items had left me bereft of any inspiration, but a timely facebook comment and link, sent to me from one of my New Zealand friends, Mark Anderson, prompted this subject.
Mark’s link was concerning a certain Quentin Rew, who seems to be taking New Zealand race walking by storm. Mark recalled how I beat Quentin in a sprint finish in the Wellington 3000m Championships in 2002. I remembered it, but not as well as I maybe should, I was touring New Zealand at the time with my wife. I wasn’t intending to race over there but was training hard whilst out there, on the Thursday we were in Lake Taupo, which was a great place to run my 30 x 1 minute reps with 10 seconds recovery. We arrived in Wellington on the Friday, to stay with Mark, and his wife Liz. They were going to a barbecue that night so we joined them. Of course barbecued food and two bottles of wine would not be my usual choice the night before a race but at sometime during the night Mark must’ve mentioned that the Wellington District Champs were taking place the next day. Mark was down to run in, either the 800m or the 1500m, and he suggested I go along and enter on the day, if possible.
So the next day we turned up and the organisers were happy to accommodate me. It was a wet day, probably windy too, knowing what it’s like in Wellington. I was in ordinary trainers, I never took racers on holiday, but I trained on the track in them anyway so I wasn’t too bothered, in fact I wasn’t taking the race too seriously, I just wanted to see where I was at. Jonathon Wyatt, New Zealand’s World Mountain Running Champion, was also in the race and he set off at a cracking pace. Nobody went with him and I settled mid field. After 2k about two or three of the younger members of the race dropped out, I assume there was a 2000m championship going on at the same time. I don’t remember much more except that I must’ve been running with Quentin on the last lap and managed to kick past him in a fabulous last 100m, to finish 2nd to Jonathon Wyatt. Jonathon’s time was an impressive 8:12.35, mine a far more modest 9:03.81, just ahead of Quentin’s 9:03.95
But this blog wasn’t supposed to be about running, it’s supposed to be about walking. Walking can be an appropriate means of fitness, even a stroll around the park is better than sitting in front of the TV and contrary to what I’ve heard said, golf is not a way to ruin a good walk but rather a way to exercise muscles other than your legs. Of course if you want to challenge yourself more, walking up and down hills and mountains really work the leg muscles and can achieve aerobic fitness too, especially when you push on as you’re getting out of breath. I enjoy a good walk up a big hill, mind you I don’t like walking back down them as it puts a lot of pressure on my knee joints.
Now if you can’t get access to a good hill you could always find a set of steps and do repetitions up them. I was in Wales at the weekend and walked a coastal path from Saundersfoot to Tenby, the most difficult part of which was a steep section with steps on it, nice and easy to come down on, as it gave a flat surface, but a killer to climb up in one go. When I reached the top of the climb my heart was pounding I was in a state of slight perspiration and breathing quite heavy, so very good training. When I was staying in Perth, Australia I noticed a bunch of ladies out for a power walking session doing a session up and down the steps up to Kings Park.
Nordic walking can be an effective training method, if done correctly. The use of the poles ensures you get an all over body workout, particularly if you’re in a group session with a qualified instructor. I myself am qualified to instruct in Nordic walking and it can be quite a lot of fun, plus you can use the poles to carry out alternative exercises if the clients get out of breath.
Power walking is very good, essentially it is walking with purpose or fast walking (not race walking). There are some power walkers in Britain, especially in the cities, but it tends to be much more predominant in the USA or Australia, from what I’ve seen. Also, the participants tend to be mostly women. Non of this should put you off trying it, if you’re new to exercise, obviously you need to build up, like any activity.
And finally onto the one that started this blog off, race walking. In this country race walking has found it difficult to attract youngsters into the fold, perhaps not surprising, as middle distance running suffers the same fate to some degree. Race walking isn’t seen as trendy, again not surprising as the majority of competitors tend to be over 30 and quite a few I have come across are wearing kit older than the youngsters they could potentially pull in. Perhaps it’s time to think about making it more interesting, make the races shorter, why shouldn’t race walking feature events from 100-400m, at least that way people may try it, they may even find they like it, or are good at it and then they might well consider the longer distances. In order to really pull people in though, you need a figurehead, a charismatic Olympic champion, the Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button of race walking, so I think we’re a few years away from that as we struggle to even get a team out, perhaps at London 2012 we might have a full complement of committed walkers and that would be a start.
When I was a member of Belgrave there was a walker who wrote an article about how he had been a reasonable runner but once he turned to race walking he became a Surrey Champion. At the time I read the article, I was already a Surrey Champion and it did make me think how much further I might go should I change to walking, but there was something about the style of walking that I didn’t like, I thought it would mess up my body, plus I wanted to achieve more as a runner. Then years later, when my body was going through an injury period, I considered it again, but my wife threatened to divorce me if I ever did. Perhaps I should have taken the hint, as she divorced me only a few years later anyway, maybe she caught sight of me practicing in front of the mirror. So I never did give it a go, and I still feel that I’d rather run than walk, but never say never, at least I no longer have a wife to stop me.

The link, which started off this blog can be read here (
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/2315141/Forward-roll-a-backwards-step).

Thursday 26 May 2011

2011 British Masters Road Relay Championships, a Personal View

It’s been a busy week for me, we’re moving house and it’s not going to plan. We found a house we like, in a place we like, and so set the wheels in motion. On advice, we delayed handing in our notice for the place we’re renting, only giving it when we felt we had an 8 week window, with 3 weeks for minor delays or to get in and tidy it up (paintwork, carpets, repairs, etc.) That 8 week window came and went on 5th May, the 3 weeks contingency came and went on Tuesday this week, we did manage to get an extension until today, but with the new tenants moving in tomorrow our options were limited. So I’ve spent since Sunday, packing, shifting and cleaning. We have employed the help of a removal company and a professional cleaner, but I still feel like I haven’t stopped. Has it affected my training? Are you kidding, I’m a master of improvisation and slotting in sessions when time is tight, runs have been short but I’m ticking over, Kettles have been checked about and you can still do an abs workout while having someone vacuum around you. Haven’t done any weights but then all the box lifting and cleaning have more than compensated for that.
Luckily I now have an internet connection, very poor but working, and my computer set up so I can keep my income and expenditure up to date and naturally write my weekly blog. I’m very grateful that when I moved away from this area, 18 years ago, I didn’t take my family with me and now have the benefit of Alsop family storage services, though my sister no longer carries the name she’s still providing the benefit of space for us, with the proviso that it’s gone before my nephew, Stuart, returns from his teaching duties in South Korea. Anyway I’ve waffled enough now onto the real blog.
If you read last week’s blog you’ll know that I was looking forward to competing in the BMAF Road Relays, which took place in Sutton Park last Saturday. Well because time is short, I thought I’d just write this blog on how it went, from the perspective of a competitor. Naturally others who competed would have completely different views on how the day went, but this is my blog so blog out.
Road Relays are fantastic events to take part in, and for that matter are cross country relays. I first feel in love with the concept in 1989 when I took place in the Reigate Priory cross country relay. I was new to running, new to Belgrave, had new spikes on and knew practically no one. I was on leg two, taking over from Matt Kinane, who I was introduced to about 10 minutes before the start of the race. Matt was obviously better than his team placing, due to him being 2nd claim (not going to explain that all here). I wasn’t expecting him to be in so early (surely the C team man should be the 3rd Belgrave man home), I was standing around at the handover like a lemon and Matt was standing around wondering why I hadn’t gone off. It was me who suffered though as the ticking clock was added to my overall time. Since then I’ve taken part in many relays, I really loved the South of England 6 and 12 stage and as for the National 12 stage, what a fantastic day out that is and I’m lucky enough to have been at the sharp end of that race. Not forgetting my involvement in Edinburgh AC’s Scottish Road Relay win, but I’ll maybe blog about that another day as it makes an interesting story, at least for me.
Back to BMAF, it was my love of road relays that became the deciding factor in my switch from Belgrave to Herne Hill, in 2005. I was becoming old and slow and was struggling to get into Belgrave’s mighty 12 stage team. Non of the other elderly men in Belgrave seemed to be that bothered about taking part in the Masters equivalent, with the exception of Charlie Dickinson, but Herne Hill had some good oldies and one more could make the difference between being a contender and being a winner. So, after discussing the situation with Andy Lee Gerard, and taking a lot of time soul searching (afterall Belgrave had been my only club, I had been captain of the road and cross country team for a few years and club Secretary for two. I’d also played my part in the success story that was Belgrave Harriers in the 90s and 00s.). So I switched to Herne Hill in time for the 2005 event, but as I mentioned in my previous blog, I was one of a number of the team who was injured and we were unable to make the start line.
The five years since we finished 2nd, 2nd, non starter, 1st and 1st. Again last week’s blog gives a more in-depth read on these events. This year we entered again as defending champions but even as we entered we knew it was unlikely we’d have a 3rd victory. Of the 8 men who carried us to victory the previous year, we were missing 5 of them and those that remained were running slower, for one reason or another. However as the rules have changed this allowed us to bring in two of our under 40 stars and we welcomed into the team; Simon Coombes, Basil Wallace and Ben Paviour. So as the team was organised, during the week, I still believed we had a chance of a medal.
Simon Coombes and Ben Paviour are in good shape so made up for the loss of Iain Lockett and Dave Robinson, though if anyone can ever make up for the loss of the icon that is Dave Robinson on last leg I’m not sure. With Basil Wallace, an unknown quantity to me but surely able to take the place of Francis Marsh. Mike Boyle back in the team after years of injury, multi-International medal winner and co-star of a very good video of the 1993 Surrey 10000m championships, surely he could dig out the necessary to replace Keith Newton (Keith the almost ever present in this and the South of England Masters relay champs, I still don’t believe this event escaped your diary). Victor Maughn, the Dorien Gray of Herne Hill (perhaps someone has a photo of an aged 20 year old Vic running an 800m) can always be relied upon to give his best and Kofi Agyei another master at aging gracefully, surely they won’t be much slower than last year. Tony Harran was drafted back into the team, after 2 silver medal performances, maybe not quite in the league of Carl Feri but we could probably afford 2 minutes in the medal hunt. Finally there was me, I’ve missed a large portion of the winter, due to injury and still carry niggles with me, but I’m slowly getting some form back, even so I reckoned I was in 15:55-16:15 shape, that’s 45 seconds lost on the previous year. Could we do it, well we’d give it a good go.
As I relaxed on Friday night I got a text from one of my Salford pals, Paul Simon. Was he joking, or was somebody winding him up, he told me Bristol & West didn’t have a team. No way, in the past 6 years they’d accumulated 4 golds, a silver, a bronze and a course record. Surely they must have a team. Then again we were unable to field a team of 4 at last year’s South of England Masters Relays and we’d won that for the past 7 years. Perhaps we didn’t just have a chance of a medal, perhaps we could actually win again. Ok so I am an optimist but this wasn’t one of my THICK goals, if we all ran our socks off we had a chance. Then half an hour later, the next text told me Tony was out. However, this time we had a further contingency, former HHH President Valdis Pauzers had agreed to run. Now Valdis, or Waldy to his mates is a great bloke, great team man and fantastic companion down the pub but Waldy isn’t in peak fitness and was likely to be about 3 minutes slower than Tony. So the win was off, but medals were surely still an outside chance, if we all pulled each other’s socks up.
Not being one to give up I travelled down to Sutton Park, still believing we had a chance. I’d thought that the win would go to Cambuslang or Salford but I’d received another message from Mike Deegan, telling me he was in their M55 team – which made me question the quality of the Salford M35 team, as Mike was probably one of their best.
I met up with my team mates, and we discussed the team order, or more importantly where to put Waldy. I should point out that I mean no disrespect to Waldy but he was clearly our slowest runner so thought needs to go into where best to hide him. In the end we plumped with leg 3 and put Ben on 4 so that he had plenty of people to chase down. I seem to have been given late legs the previous two years and was hoping I might go early to get dragged around by the competition but I ended up 7th.
The race started and this is about the time I went for my warm up, I like an early warm-up, irrespective of what the text books tell you, it works for me. As I jogged around the course in the opposite direction I could see the field coming up. There seemed to be 2 runners ahead of the main field and, would you believe it 1 of them was Simon. Not only that but he looked comfortable. Further back were Salford with Cambuslang distinctly further back than I’d expected. Simon maintained his form, coming in 2nd.
Mikey Boyle took over with his distinctive style. Now Mikey hasn’t been in the best of form for a while, due to injuries, but was making a serious bid to get back into form. I expected a lot, I always do and Mikey didn’t disappoint, yes he dropped us down 3 places but he is over 50, running against spring chickens.
Now it was Waldy’s turn, he dug deep but clearly lacking fitness meant a net loss of 15 places. Still we only had those places to lose because we had 8 men willing to turn out.
Ben was next, and did just what I thought he would, scything through the opposition running our best time of 15:28 and gaining 10 places in the process. He actually must’ve gained 11 but lost one as Ian Hudspith caught him just before the line, running an incredible 14:08 for Morpeth.
Vic was next, 49 and still going, despite his comments about retiring 4 years ago. Another great time from Vic, not as special as last year but solid nonetheless.
Basil followed and ran a similar time to Vic. By now the gaps were big and it must’ve been hard for Basil to take over in such a position. Between them Vic and Basil had gained 4 places.
This meant I went off in 6th place, but there were big gaps up ahead. I knew 1st and 2nd had gone, Cambuslang were well clear of us but there was hope the other 3 teams had run out of steam. As I set off my legs felt really strange, a feeling that’s hard to describe other than to say they didn’t want to turn over so I had to force the issue. They were still acting up as I reached the top of the initial climb, then all of a sudden they seemed to come out of their trance and I was running normally again. Up the hill I’d spotted the Morpeth runner ahead, but turning the corner I could no longer see him. I pushed harder and as I came into the open I could see him again, he was closer. This and the added incentive of a shout from Ben and Waldy made me dig deep again. As I approached the turn I could see all the guys lined up, not far ahead; Highgate, Wells and Morpeth. I kept digging, I figured they were within my grasp and if I could get into 3rd Kofi could hold it. After the turn, however, they looked a lot further away. Still no point in giving in, every second counts. I kept digging all the way to the finish, my abs were screaming at me to slow down but I wanted that medal. I finished with a net gain of zero, but there were 3 guys much closer for Kofi to chase. My time 16:29, I was horrified, 59 seconds down on last year, that 59 seconds would have gotten us into 3rd place. Now it was down to Kofi.
As normal I got straight out onto the course to cheer on Kofi, but when I saw him it wasn’t good news. Cambuslang were now clear winners despite a last leg from Martin Cox of Salford. Salford were clear second. But 3rd place was between Morpeth and Highgate, two of my contemporaries were battling out for 3rd. Chris Beecham of Highgate, who I’d seen often in races, and Terry Wall, who I believed had left Morpeth but must’ve rejoined. As I write this blog I can see a picture my mum and dad have of me leading the 12 stage in 1994, just behind me is Terry Wall who kicked past me to take Morpeth into the lead that day. Once again it was Terry who got the better to earn bronze for Morpeth. Kofi was a little way back but had brought us through into 5th place.
All in all a good team result and I hope we’ll be back next year to have a go at retaining the trophy. There are those who spoke out against the inclusion of M35s, but in reality, had it been an M40 team, we wouldn’t have had a team. We couldn’t even get a team of 6 for the M45s, which was won by Leicester. You can look at the times and say that Cambuslang were much slower than the course record or even slower than what Herne Hill won with last year, but times are irrelevant, winning is everything and I say well done to Cambuslang (I’m not just saying that because 2 of them are Facebook friends), they had the right attitude and the right blend of team work to make it happen. I look forward to seeing them again next year, where no doubt they’ll run quicker in an attempt to retain their trophy.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

British Masters Road Relay

This weekend it’s the Masters Road Relay Championships, which take place in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. Sutton Park has become the home of National relay championships with the English National 12 and 6 stage for men and the 6 and 4 stages for women. So it’s fitting that British Masters also hold their championships at Sutton Park, though in the past it was passed around the different regions. The event includes both men’s and women’s teams through 10 year age groupings, starting at 35.

The championships are still relatively new, only beginning in 1988. Back then not all age groups appear to have been covered and there have been a number of changes over the years. Perhaps the most controversial change has been with the men’s 8 stage relay, thought of as the blue riband event it has traditionally been for the M40-49 age grouping but this year it changes to M35-44. In 2006 a 4 stage event was added for the M35-39 age group, now it’s been decided that these athletes should be incorporated into the main event. This change means the M50-59 group now becomes M45-54 and so on up the way. By age this moves me into the older, 6 stage, race, however it’s likely I’ll be moved down an age group into the main event, to compete against guys 11 years my junior. Mind you I won’t be alone as my mate, Mike Deegan, who last weekend won the European M55 10KM title, is likely to be in the Salford M35 team, and he’s 55. For the purposes of this blog I’m going to concentrate on the age grouping I’ve been associated with.

Since the start of the championships, M40-49 successful teams have included Aldershot, Swansea and Cambuslang, with 3 wins apiece, but the most successful team has been Bristol & West with 4 wins, gained from 2005-2008 with a 3rd place in 2009 and 2nd in 2010 (note Westbury won in 2000, before amalgamation with Bristol). They also hold the course record. Bristol & West, like my own club, has some great athletes, but we’ve both relied on pretty much the same guys for the last 5 years and as you can imagine that puts the bulk of the team at the older end, or beyond, of the age grouping. So it will be interesting to see how they cope with the influx of youngsters.

I turned 40 in 2005 and in the same year I joined Herne Hill Harriers. My clearance went through in time for me to represent them in this championship, alas it was not to be as the team suffered too many injuries, myself included, and we had to pull out. Bristol & West won it this year, their first time, setting the current course record.

In 2006 we were even more keyed up for the event. We’d travelled down to Newport in October 2005 and snatched the Masters Cross Country Relays from Bristol & West’s grasp with a superb team effort, but we’ll always remember Dave Robinson’s last lap overhaul of Nick Rose as the defining moment. This year we managed to get a full complement of runners to the line. Keith Newton kicked us off, on a rare first leg excursion, running a good 15:33 to bring us home in 7th place. Dave Robinson took us up into 1st place with our fastest leg of 15:06. Team Captain, Geoff Jerwood, put in a brave run, having struggled with injury for some time, to run 17:12 but we were back down to 6th. Tony Harran’s 16:42 dropped us down two further places and by now Bristol & West were in the lead. The next four legs are where the race is generally decided as some teams start to run out of stamina. I was on 5th leg, running 15:28, which took us back into 2nd position. Vic Maughn (16:03), Mike Boyle (15:30) and Francis Marsh (15:40) finished off the team, cementing 2nd place with Bristol & West too strong at more than two and a half minutes ahead of us. Close behind us were a strong Sunderland team.

We approached the 2007 event knowing that we were stronger than the previous year but also that Bristol and West were still the team to beat and Sunderland had been matching us over the other national events. Geoff was no longer able to compete, his injuries had forced him into early retirement, but he still managed the team and without his encouragement and tireless background work we’re all conscious we may not get a team together. In to replace Geoff was Rob Jacobs. Other newly turned M40, Iain Lockett, was also in, but we were missing Dave Robinson. Francis Marsh took the first leg and ran a time similar to Keith’s of the previous year, 15:34, to come home in 13th (now that the M35s had joined us they were included in the results for the first 4 legs). Tony Harran ran a much improved 16:00, overtaking 6 teams to bring us up into 7th. Rob Jacobs ran an almost identical time to Geoff’s of last year, 17:11, but we were back down the field into 15th. Iain Lockett took the race by the scruff of it’s neck, advancing us back to 7th with a very nippy 14:54. Keith Newton continued our advance to 2nd, with a 15:40 leg. Bristol and West were now in 1st position and held a good gap over us. Both Vic Maughn (15:43) and Mike Boyle (15:27) ran faster than the previous year but both the Bristol & West boys were quicker, advancing their lead over us. I was on last leg and Mick O’Doherty was well down the road when I set off. We were well clear of Sunderland so I did the only thing I could and went off hard. Unfortunately it was too hard and I paid for it in the second half, running 17 seconds slower than the previous year, 15:45. Mick on the other hand ran a snappy 15:29 to pull further ahead to make it a hatrick of wins for Bristol & West. We were a lot closer to them, taking a minute off our time of 2006 but still just over a minute behind. Sunderland were again 3rd, but were slower than the previous year.

In 2008 we were hit with injuries again and couldn’t get 8 men to the line as Bristol & West made it 4 wins in a row. Leicester emerged as their nearest challengers but were more than 5 minutes behind them.

2009 We were back and meant business. Having had to sit out last year’s championship we didn’t just want to come back for 2nd again. We’d lost Tony Harran, Mike Boyle and Rob Jacobs but had Dave Robinson back, newcomer Kofi Agyei and, thankfully, Dave Adam making the long trip down from Dundee, despite suffering a hamstring injury. Again it was a solid start with Kofi bringing us home 8th with a good 15:29. Francis March matched Kofi’s time, bringing us through the field into 2nd. Vic Maughn, oldest man in the team, ran slower than the previous year but still managed a sub 16:00 clocking with a 15:59, losing 1 place in the process. Now it was my turn, running the 3rd 15:29 of the team I brought us back up to 2nd. Keith Newton then took is into the lead with a superb 15:22, which Iain Lockett maintained with another great run, 15:00. Now it was crunch time, Bristol & West were missing some of their top runners and they looked like they were out of it but Leicester had 2 great runners to finish off, in Gareth Deacon and Simon Cotton and they were lying in 2nd. It was our riskiest moment, Dave Adam had agreed to run the race but there was a risk his hamstring would go, without Dave we were down to 7 men and it takes 8 to make a team. Understandably we were all nervous but Dave set off on his run, with all the stress of the hunted, doing some damage to his leg but, thankfully, not too much. Seeing Dave gutsing it out down towards the final twisting section was nerve racking, Deacon was catching but Dave was trying his best. Dave made it home in front, a hard run 17:04, and it was over to Dave Robinson, tasked with holding onto the position. Dave wasn’t in his normal great form but ran the leg he had to and brought the trophy to South London. His 15:46 was beaten by Leicester’s Simon Cotton’s 15:20 but it was enough to hold them off by 18 seconds. What an exciting finish to a great race. Bristol & West’s Mick O’Doherty finished their last leg sneaking them into 3rd position, so although they’d lost their trophy they still maintained consistency to medal again.  

2010 As reigning champions we were confident of repeating our 2009 feat. We had the same 7 guys who had run sub 16 minute legs the previous year, with brave Dave Adam being replaced by newcomer Carl Ferri. We knew Bristol & West were looking for revenge but I, for one, wasn’t aware how much they’d strengthened with Haggai Chepkwony joining and Rob Whalley running for the first time. Kofi Agyei led off again, running 15 seconds slower than the previous year he brought us home in 14th. I was originally down to run 2nd leg with Carl Ferri on 7th but, knowing how the pressure builds with each leg, we felt that might be too much pressure to throw a newcomer into so Carl took 2nd leg and ran fantastically, moving us up to 7th position with his 15:34. Francis Marsh took over, restricted by hamstring problems he still managed a sub 16:00 leg to maintain 7th position, running 15:57. Vic Maughn once again showed us how glad we were that he didn’t keep to his plan of retiring at 45, running 15:56 he lost 1 place, but with 4 of those teams finishing as M35s he was actually 4th with only seconds separating the teams around us. A below par Keith Newton produced a 15:50 clocking but still moved us up into the medals, with 3rd. With Salford and Bristol & West ahead of us it was time to unleash our ‘big’ guns. Iain Lockett was next. Iain had run two fantastic legs over the previous two of our attempts but during the winter he’d been suffering with illness. Still, he turned in a typical tough run taking us into the lead. Pressure was on, two legs to go and we held a slender lead over Bristol & West. I’d had a good start to the year, coming 2nd in the BMAF Cross Country Champs and setting a good 32:19 10km time, I’d also run well in the Southern 12 stage, but the week after that event I’d suffered a double groin strain training against the paras. I’d lost some form but, luckily not too much. In these pressure situations it’s not always about times, it’s about holding your nerve. At the turn I could see Phil Parry coming for me but pushed as hard as I could to maintain 1st position. I was disappointed with my time, 15:30, even more disappointed that I didn’t feel I’d given Dave Robinson a big enough gap to hold off Rob Whalley. But Dave is some runner, whatever pressure I felt on leg 7 must’ve been intensified on leg 8. Despite a great run from Rob, 15:09, Dave had enough in hand, with a 15:13, to bring us home as double champions, just 13 seconds ahead of Bristol & West. Two years as champions and two exciting races to be involved in.  

So we come to this year’s event. Can we make it a hatrick? Will Bristol & West hit back after failing to win for two years? What impact will the addition of the M35s have on the 8 stage? I think Bristol & West will be back in force, I also think Salford will be stronger. The other team, I think who could challenge, would be last year’s M35 winners, Cambuslang. They’ve strengthened their team this year and have already won the Scottish Masters Road Relay Championship. What of Herne Hill? We’re missing some important guys, but then we have Mike Boyle back in the mix and a couple of M35s. Our team has been built on consistency, if one guy has a bad run there’s always another one to take his place, so we’ll have to see how things pan out on the day, hopefully it will produce another great race. Even more hopefully it’ll be a bunch of Denis the Menaces walking off with the trophy again.  

One of the things I like about this championship is it’s a friendliness. Naturally everybody wants their team to win but there is a lot of cross team support, we received a lot of support as we tried to end Bristol & West’s dominance, no doubt people will be cheering our opponents this year. I’ve made some good friends from the other teams, particularly a number of the Bristol & West boys, as we’ve been involved in a number of close races over the past 6 years.

To finish, a quick update on my progress as I come back from injury. The knee pain is now all but gone, though not forgotten as it could return during any training run. The shorter runs and the leg strengthening I’ve been doing seem to be paying off. I also feel like I’ve got a bit more pace, which should give me more confidence for the relays. The downside is I’m in the process of trying to get everything sorted out on a house we’re buying. It’s dragging and we’re due to move out of rented on 24th. So there could be a lot of activity around the race weekend, we’ll see how that affects me and then there is the potential of having to move back in with the parents, after 28 years away! I’m sure they’re really looking forward to that. Ray, my Park Run companion, ran the Chester Half Marathon on Sunday, finishing in 1 hour 42 min, well inside his aim of 1 hour 45 min. We’ve been doing some good training sessions together and I’m keen to see how much further he can progress. I spent the morning in Manchester, supporting one of my Edinburgh friends, Jim Buick, who was running the 10k. Unfortunately I missed most of the race as I bumped into a former colleague and we got chatting about stuff. I did however get to see Jim finishing, just behind Chris Thompson. It was great to see Jim running so well at the end and luckily the BBC positioned their cameras well, so that I could see him running in behind Chris Thompson, who was being interviewed in the foreground after his own fantastic run.

And absolutely finally, if anybody is thinking about going along to Sutton Park, to watch the relays, here are the details.        

11.00 am
Women W35+ 4 Stages
Women W45+ 3 Stages
Women W55+ 3 Stages
Men M65+ 3 Stages
Men M75+ 3 Stages

1.00 pm
Men 35+ 8 Stages
Men M45+ 6 Stages
Men M55+ 4 Stages

Monday 9 May 2011

Setting Goals – Aim For The Stars And You Might Catch The Moon!

Whether we’re working for a big organisation or we’re taking part in a sport or fitness regime, we’re constantly being told we should be setting goals, and it’s true, having a purpose helps you to focus your work or your workouts. Often the acronym SMART is used to explain how we can set appropriate goals, appropriate to where we are at that moment in time. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable (or attainable or agreed), Relevant (or realistic), Timely (or time based). A simple SMART goal would be ‘I will lose 5lb of body weight within 6 months’, but who’s to say that this is in fact a SMART goal. For instance, who is the person, are they actually overweight in the first place or could they lose more body weight, is the timeline actually realistic and how will they achieve it. Clearly we need to dig deeper into the goal setting psyche of this person and understand more about their lifestyle and motivation.

Clearly there is a place for SMART goals, but SMART goals are more suited to short term goals, i.e. within that year. I would argue that there is also a place for THICK goals, more long term goals. Theoretically possible, Highly ambitious, Idealistic, Creative, Keep aiming for it. A THICK goal would be, for instance, somebody running their first 10k in 40 minutes setting their goal for a future 10k at 30 minutes. Many people would look at that person and think they were being very creative with their goals, but, whilst highly ambitious and a nice ideal for that person, it is theoretically possible and if they keep trying it may well come off. Having said that, the fact that they are highly ambitious means that there is a possibility the THICK goal will not be achieved, but in aiming high the person in question may well break 35 minutes and be content with that. 

My point is that you should not be too limiting in your goal setting, don’t just think about what you’re capable of now but also think of what you would like to become good enough to achieve in the future. THICK goals should be highly ambitious but still have a probability of achievement. There would be no point in me setting a THICK goal of running the first sub 2 hour for the Marathon, that just isn’t going to happen, but setting a goal of being the first man in my age group might well be achievable, even if I have to wait until I’m 95.

You can still have your SMART goals to keep you ticking along, after all you should revise goals regularly as you achieve them and aim for the next step, but there is no harm in having an extra ambitious THICK goal in the background. I should know I’ve had a few, some I’ve achieved even if it’s taken me many years beyond what most people would have given up on, some I haven’t achieved, but it’s having THICK goals that’s kept me going and along the way I’ve scored a few SMART goals that may not have been SMART if I hadn’t been THICK.

So, you may ask, what were some of my THICK goals? Well here’s three of them:

To win the Surrey Cross Country Championship - I never achieved this as a Senior, my best position being 7th. However, in 2005 I won the Surrey Masters Cross Country Championship.
To win a National Championship - I got close, gaining two silver medals with Belgrave at the National 12 stage. But, as a Master, I’ve achieved this with Herne Hill and as an individual.
To represent my country - lets face it, I was never close as a Senior, though I was good enough to gain Area representation. Finally, at 41, I got to represent my country.

So whilst I didn’t quite achieve the goals I was aiming for, by keeping the desire burning I did achieve an alternative version of those goals, and I’m rightly proud of that, plus there are all the other thing’s I’ve achieved as an athlete that, perhaps I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t had my THICK goals to keep driving me forward.


Enough about goals, time to update you on what I’ve been up to. Last time I updated you I was having a tough time with my knee. I’ve been doing lots of shorter runs since then and it seems to be paying off, I’m getting less pain in the knee and even managed two 45 minute runs either side of a 5k race, without having to stop to stretch out the leg, the foot’s still giving me problems though. However I’m training hard in my bid to make Herne Hill Harriers Masters Road Relay team. This Saturday I ventured to Pennington Flash for another go at the Park Run, I was hoping to post a good result to lift my confidence for Sutton Park, also I figured it was time I got back in the habit of winning races. The good news, I won and equalled my M45 course record. Confidence not yet sky high, but I’ve climbed a few rungs on the ladder, time to think about another THICK goal!  

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Memories of the Surrey 10000m Championship

At the weekend Chris Thompson ran a fantastic 27:27.36 for 10000m at Stanford, California. A time which ranks him 3rd on the UK all time list, behind Jon Brown and Eamonn Martin, though more than a minute off the world best of 26:17.53, held by Kenenisa Bekele, and only ranks as the 363rd fastest 10000m, at this current time (multiple times by athletes taken into account). Coming up this month are the County Championships. While these would appear to be two completely distinct items, I’ve used a spurious link for this week’s blog, to reminisce about my participation in the Surrey 10000m Championships.

The 10000m is a tough race, both mentally and physically, and feels completely different to running a road race over the same distance. You would think that it would be easier as you can pace yourself every 400m as you run round the oval track 25 times. The track has no undulations, though you do tend to notice the wind more, as it hits you at the same place every lap. The 10000m can be hell as you watch people drifting further away from you, particularly when you can see them a clear 200m ahead of you, and it can be heartbreaking when you get lapped, even worse if you’re lapped by the same person more than once. Having said that, when you’re running well and challenging for position it can be a fantastic feeling to drop off your opponents. I’ve seen some great 10000m races in my time and one can easily conjure up memories of any of Haile Gebrselassie’s races, particularly against Paul Tergat. But one that sits most prominently in my mind is the 10000m at Tooting Bec in 1992, where Paul Evans ran an, almost, solo effort to run a qualifying time for the Barcelona Olympics.

My first experience of this race came in 1990 when I decided to enter the Surrey 10000m Championships. They were held at Woking and I was fairly positive going into the race, I was just into my second year running and had come off an improving cross country season. I had no illusions about where I would finish, I was up against guys that were finishing in the top 15 in the Surrey League, whereas I’d just snuck into 78th position in the last race. I just wanted to see what I was capable of and I set myself the target time of 35 minutes. I don’t actually remember that much about the race but I was pretty much in no mans land for the bulk of it, not knowing how to pace myself, but I didn’t struggle as I finished in 7th position in 34:52.1. The race was won by Terry Booth in 32:14.3. Clearly I had a lot in reserve as I ran my next race just over two weeks later in 33:34.7. 

I enjoyed racing, particularly as the distances got longer on the track, so I entered again in 1991. This time the race was held at Norbiton. It was a close race at the front, with my Belgrave team mate, Frank Ward, setting the pace, only to be outkicked over the last lap. Jerry Weightman won the race in 30:59.2, with Terry Booth coming second in 31:02.6 and Frank taking bronze with 31:04.9. I advanced a place to 6th, running 32:31.3, which was a pb and would remain so for two years.

Having missed the 1992 event, because I’d missed half the winter with injury, I next ran the event in 1993. It was held in Wimbledon Park, at the time I was living in Southfields so I was able to saunter down to the track nice and relaxed. I hadn’t originally intended entering, my coach, Arthur Bruce, was now directing my race choices, to some extent, and he had wanted me to get a good win under my belt. So we had focused on the Belgrave club 10000m championships, but for some reason the club had decided to switch the race to a date later in the year. Arthur suggested I enter this race and see if I could get dragged round for a good time. Again I had no particular hang-ups when I saw the other entrants, as I expected to feature around the same place as the previous two attempts, though I had been running well of late. Some of the entrants had a history; Barry Atwell – someone I didn’t know at the time but he’d been pretty useful over the years, Terry Booth – the 1990 winner and 1991 runner up, Jerry Weightman – the 1991 winner and 1992 runner up, Mike Boyle – former international Marathon runner, Dave Robinson, a new name to me at the time but, as I’ve found out since, there were also a few other runners with decent pedigree.

The race set off at a fairly sedate pace of around 80 seconds a lap. I’d let the big boys sort out the front positions and I was tucked in somewhere around mid field. After about 3 laps of this sedate pace Mike Boyle went to the front and set off on his bid for victory. Mike covered all but the last 3 or 4 laps in an average of 74 seconds. The pack went with him and stuck like glue. I’d missed the initial break but ran consistently for a couple of laps to latch onto the back of the leading pack. Gradually, as we continued at this pace for a number of laps, someone in front of me would drop off the pace and I’d move up one position in the lead group. With seven laps gone there was a sudden surge from Barry Atwell, who ran round the field and picked up the pace considerably. I thought it was a brave attempt and Barry must be a great runner to run that fast so early. The pack picked up the pace and tried to bridge the gap, only for Barry to drop out after a further 200m. Clearly, for whatever reason, he’d decided not to continue and wanted to see what he could get to 3000m in. The pace settled down again and soon the lead group was made up of the two Herne Hill Harriers, Mike Boyle and Dave Robinson, Hounslow athlete, Terry Booth, and me, still sitting at the back. I had no idea what the pace was, I didn’t wear a watch in those days and was concentrating on keeping up with the others, I felt good, I also felt I had a chance of a medal.

Dave was the next one to drop off the pace, but every time I tried to go round him he fought me off. As this kept us in the lead pack I didn’t put up too much of a fight, afterall it didn’t matter what position I occupied at this point. A few laps later Dave drifted a bit more and I put in a spurt to go round and keep up with Mike and Terry. Now I was really confident I had a medal in the bag. With about 5 laps to go, I’m afraid I can’t remember the exact lap, Terry unexpectedly pulled up. There was a lot of shouting from the crowd and that made Terry carry on (I spoke to Terry after and he thought he’d pulled his hamstring). So now it was just Mike and myself. I was comfortable sitting behind him but approaching 3 or 4 laps to go (again I can’t remember the exact lap, I always thought it was 3 to go but a report I’ve read states 4) I sensed Mike was either tiring or wanting me to take over, there was a slight slowing down and I found myself level with Mike entering the lap. I looked across at Mike and thought I could see defeat etched in his features, so I went for it. It wasn’t an explosion but I managed to up the pace to 71 sec per lap, Mike couldn’t match me and I pulled away lap by lap. As I crossed the line a big smile came over my face, this was my first proper championship victory and I’d beaten some of the best runners in the county to get it. It was only later that I found out the time 30:33.7, almost 2 minutes off my pb. Mike finished in 30:42.1, with Dave coming in 3rd in 31:00.7. Terry hung in there and finished in 31:10.9. Not bad times for a county championships. In fact 7th place finished in 32:28.7, a time that could win some future championships.

Following the race I had many cut and thrust battles with Dave Robinson, mostly he came out on top. Mike Boyle was always that much better than me, and still is. Now, of course, we’re team mates and enjoy racing together in team events. I have video footage of the event, taken by Ray O’ Donaghue. I used to watch it before a major championship, to get me in the right frame of mind, sadly I no longer have a video and am looking to get it converted to DVD.

I didn’t enter again until 1996, choosing to concentrate on shorter distances. The 1996 Championship was held in Walton. I’d never been to the track so left early to ensure no panics. Unfortunately, for me, they cancelled the train I was due to catch so I had to wait on Wimbledon station for 30 minutes until the next one. It was a hot and sunny day, the temperature was rising all the time and the race was due off early afternoon.

It wasn’t a good turnout for the race and my main rivals were Pete Groves, silver medallist the previous year, and John Towse. I was a different athlete to the surprise winner from three years ago, I’d produced some fast times over 1500m, 3000m and 5000m and was in reasonable shape this year, though I’d only ran 32:22 at the Inter Counties, a few weeks earlier, and I didn’t have any knowledge of John Towse, so, though I was confident of winning, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

Because of the heat I’d walked from the station to the track and did some light stretching whilst the other competitors ran around warming up. We set off and I immediately settled into third place, letting Pete and John take on the pacemaking. Water tables were out and every few laps we took on water. I noticed that Pete and John were drinking theirs from the plastic cups, whereas I didn’t really need a drink but didn’t want to take on the pace either, so I just poured mine down my chin. At half way, I decided to make my move, I made the move over towards the water table prompting Pete and John to do the same, but whilst they took a cup I switched back inside and injected some pace. I made a good gap over the next lap and just maintained pace and by the end of the race I was 32 seconds in front, as Pete and John settled for battling out for 2nd, John got the better of Pete running 32:25.1 to 32:31.9. My time was 31:53.9.

I won again on my next attempt, in 1999. By now the champs had moved to September and were being held at Tooting Bec. I’d not been having a great year, failing to get under 15 minutes for 5k, but I was in reasonable shape and knew I had a chance to win again, depending on who turned up. The main opposition in this race came from my mate and Belgrave colleague, Paul Coughlan. I was confident I could out kick anyone in the race so set off at a sedate pace, but Paul was having none of it. His attitude was that if he was going to lose he might as well go down fighting. So Paul picked up the pace and I just went with him until I felt the time was right to make a break. I ran 31:43.2 and Paul was second in 32:29.3 with Rob Jacobs taking bronze in 33:29.4. It was nice to be cheered on by my old rival, Mike Boyle, particularly as there wasn’t a lot of love lost between Herne Hill and Belgrave. But that just shows the respect that racers have for their rivals.

In 2001 I decided to dispense with my three yearly outings at the Surrey 10000m Champs and entered again. I’d had another non-descript year but felt I had a chance for a 4th title. Again the field was small as people started to avoid county champs. My main rival this year was Karl Corpes. I knew Karl well from years of racing him, he was a tough runner who could have some great races in cross country but he wasn’t anywhere near as good on the track. I pretty much knew I’d won this one from the off so didn’t hang around. As I entered the last lap I’d lapped everyone but Karl so put in a bit of a spurt and sprinted down the last 100m to finish about 10 metres ahead of Karl’s 24th lap. A bit mean, I know, but not often you get a chance to lap the entire field in a championship event. My time was my slowest in the event at 32:34.7, with Karl 2nd in 33:56.8 and Rob Jacobs again taking the bronze in 34:02.1.

2002 was to be my last attempt to win the championship. Having dispensed with the three yearly entry, I guess I got greedy for my 5th title, but it was not to be as Jason Simpson entered the race and won in a time around 30:33.0. This year the Belgrave championships were incorporated into the race and I only came third in that as Mike Trees finished second to Jason in 31:52.3, with Charles Herrington finishing 3rd in 31:55.2. However, as Mike and Charles didn’t qualify for Surrey I took the silver medal as I’d finished 4th in 32:29.1.

I lost interest in the track after this so failed to enter again, when I could, then I moved to Edinburgh in 2005 and now live in Cheshire so I’m unlikely to enter again, but never say never.