What’s The Best Way To Keep Fit?

It’s that time of year, lots of adverts for the latest keep fit gadget, slimming groups and offers to join gyms. But what is the best way to keep fit?

Over the last few months fitness industry magazines have been going on about the latest big craze, HIIT. If you’ve not come across this it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. I’ve read a number of articles pointing out the benefits of HIIT, particularly concentrating on weight loss, including one by a Personal Trainer stating that just 4 minutes of this activity can help you to lose weight. But, HIIT is nothing new, it’s been around for years in the sports world, I’ve certainly been using it for my own training since I started running, back in the last century.

It’s true HIIT is very effective in getting you fit, no matter what sport you play or if you just want to improve your fitness levels, or lose weight. But I’m sceptical about any claims that state you can lose weight by doing just 4 minutes of it. 4 minutes of it during an overall session that lasts more than 20 minutes maybe. The length of and number of intervals will depend on what your goal is. Most trainers would have their clients do intervals of well under a minute, because as a beginner your stamina will be lacking, but as you get fitter you can increase the duration of and number of intervals. Having used it regularly I know it is the cornerstone of my own fitness. In particular it has helped me to quickly regain lost fitness due to injury layoffs. I use it with many of my own clients and it has been effective for them too. But it doesn’t necessarily suit everyone, I work with a number of clients on rehabilitation from injury or illness, HIIT is not suitable for them until they have strengthened any weak areas and built up their fitness levels to a reasonable standard.

For many years it has been believed, within the fitness industry, that cardio vascular training carried out in the fat burning zone (60-75% maximum heart rate, though if you read numerous articles you’ll find that this figure varies from 60-70% to 60-85%). Will help you burn off the most calories, hence the name of the zone. However I’ve never been a strong advocate of that principle, because I’ve always believed that interval training is a better way of burning off fat. However because you need to work out in this zone for at least 20 minutes, preferably an hour, but even more effectively once you dip over the hour, it would be very hard, and ill advised to do HIIT every day. Therefore carrying out a fat burning zone session on alternate days to HIIT would work well.

Many PTs will tell you that resistance training, using heavy weights to build lean muscles is the most effective way to lose weight, because it raises the metabolism, thereby burning more calories. Whilst I agree it will help you to lose weight and will also help you to build strength, it will also change the shape of your body, which may or may not be a good thing for you. I’ve never been totally in agreement that this is the best way to lose weight and from a personal fitness point of view it is not the most effective way to gain cardiovascular fitness. To back this up I recently read an article that stated that endurance training was a more effective way to lose weight than resistance training. Interestingly I prefer to use endurance within my own resistance training and that of my clients. This still builds up strength, without any significant muscle bulking, but because I use exercises that use multiple body parts and also encourage movement around the training area, which gives a cardio boost, I find it very effective in both burning fat and building fitness.

Diet! Can be a contentious subject, there are many of them out there. A lot of people do seem to lose weight during dieting, but many others do not. Some maintain that weight, others do not. My personal opinion on dieting is that your diet should not be restrictive of food types that do you good, it should be balanced and you should eat an appropriate amount to what you require to get through your day. If you exercise more you will no doubt have to eat more. I also believe that eating, like exercise, should be an enjoyable experience so try to pick foods that are both healthy and tasty, and remember a little treat will not hurt, every now and again.

So that’s the pre-amble over, what do I think the best way to keep fit is? Firstly I believe that you are more likely to stick to an exercise regime if you enjoy it. Probably the best way to enjoy it is to do it with friends, but also, for the bulk of us, adding some sense of competition to your regime will really help. On the whole, I firmly believe that a mix of HIIT, steady state endurance training, resistance work and dietary control is the answer. It’s what I do, it works for me, but it may not work for everyone. Mix it up to make your week’s workouts more interesting, but I also believe that you should make your training challenging.

The longer you work out the more calories you will burn, but you need to build up to this, you can’t suddenly go from nothing to a two hour session. My weight is a constant 10 stone 10 to 11 stone at the moment, which for a man of 5’10” is ok, particularly considering my age. The one time I took it below 10 stone, apart from when I was a lanky teenager, was when I trained for the marathon, in 2003. At the time I was doing long interval sessions, long steady runs, no resistance work at all and eating all the time. Further evidence that endurance training will help you to lose weight and get you fit. But of course not everybody can afford the time or has the ability to do two hour plus sessions. So, as I said before, a mix of all types of training for sessions around 1 hour should serve you well. But if you can’t manage an hour in one go, break it up into chunks. This is again something I do; 45 minute interval session followed, later in the day by a 15 minute cardio blast and a 20 minute resistance session.

What I’ve been up to:-

With no more cross country races until the new year I decide to treat myself to a parkrun this Saturday. It was the inaugural parkrun at Congleton, around Astbury Mere. Ray and Sharon came along with me as we tackled this relatively flat but muddy course, 3 laps around the mere. 88 other runners turned up for the event, which is a great number to start with. I’ve finished first in all the parkruns I’ve done this year, even I don’t know how I’ve managed that, but this week I was confident I wouldn’t win. I felt sure a number of good runners would turn out to check out the course, believing it to be fast, and I would surely be fighting to get into the top 10. As it turned out I was completely wrong, I led, unintentionally, from the off. I could hear that I had company, at least two runners, not far behind on the first lap. They, or at least one of them, sounded closer during the 2^nd lap and I thought it was just a case of when, not if, they would take the lead from me. But my strength is my endurance and during the 3^rd lap I sensed I was pulling away. With half a lap to go I gave it one final push and surprised myself by winning yet another parkrun event. Because this was the inaugural event I obviously hold the course record, but I don’t expect that to last more than a week.

Leading the Congleton Parkrun, event 1

This weekend also saw Sports Review of the Year. I haven’t always watched this event, it has been a bit tedious at times, but this year it was irresistible. So many Brits have made some fantastic sporting achievements that I just had to watch it. Even as a runner I’m not surprised, or disappointed, that Bradley Wiggins won. Though I think anyone in the final selection can feel proud of what they have achieved, on other years any one of them could have won. Mind you I was surprised Mo Farah didn't make the first three, but that’s how it goes. I was pretty touched by the award to Martine Wright, I remember London 7/7 well, I was lucky enough to be on a different route to work but still got caught up in all the confusion of it. I can look back at all the things I've achieved since that day, and hopefully more for the future, and they all mean so much more because, had I been on a different route or had the bombers chosen different locations to cause their destruction, non of those achievements would have happened, plus all the new friendships I've made since then wouldn't have occurred.

This will be my last blog of the year. I've a lot on during the next two weeks so won't have time to write one. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all, and if you don't celebrate Xmas or New Year, for whatever reason, just be happy anyway.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Tapering For Races

Tapering is the term used for reducing your mileage or effort level in the run up to an event. Everybody has there own version of a taper, which may differ for different events. The point of a taper is to make you feel fresh on the day of your event, however some people do have a problem easing back, possibly believing that they will lose fitness if they do less in the days before a race. The truth of the matter is that you will lose very little, if any, fitness with a complete week’s rest so your event is more likely to be affected by overtraining than under training, in the final week. Of course if you race weekly your overall fitness will probably suffer if you do a full taper before each one so it is important to distinguish which events are important and either don’t taper for the less important ones or reduce the taper. One must remember that some races are goal driven and others are merely a means to an end.

As an athlete with nearly 24 years experience behind me and one who’s always looking for something, legal, that might move me up the rankings, you can imagine I’ve tried various things for my own taper. I’m still not sure which is best because I’ve been successful with all of them and not significantly more successful with one more than the other. So my ‘important message’ from this blog is find what suits you, to ensure that you are feeling good at the time of your important races, don’t worry too much about the minor races. Be prepared to change the taper for different races and most importantly; should circumstances prevent you from carrying out your planned taper, don’t panic, you can do more damage by doing too much rather than too little.

But what are these tapers, I hear you ask. Well here’s a few examples of what I and people I know have used.

I do know some people who run every day of the year, Ron Hill being a famous example of that. My old mate and former training partner Charlie Dickinson would often go weeks without a rest day, though you could guarantee his run the day before a race would be easier. I have run every day of the week on occasions. Usually it’s down to circumstances, such as this week where I was heading to Edinburgh for the weekend so did a Friday morning run, even though I was planning to run the Edinburgh parkrun on Saturday. I knew the weather forecast wasn’t good and therefore there would be a chance I would not be able to run at the weekend, plus the parkrun was more a social visit than a race.

Through the majority of my life as a runner I have taken the day off the day before a race. I suppose that’s not strictly true because if I had a midweek race I would always run on the previous day and often on the lunchtime of the race. However as most races were weekend races I would generally take Friday off, though I would transfer this to Saturday if it was a Sunday race. This worked well for me as I got to rest the day before a race but even if I wasn’t racing I got a day of rest. Through out my, normal, working life it actually always felt like I was working a 4 day week. Monday to Thursday I trained twice a day and worked a full day’s work. Friday I would just work and Saturday and Sunday I would just train. So although I was doing something that can be adjudged to be hard work on 7 days, I had a reduced workload on 3 of those days, hence a 3 day weekend.

At one stage I started to take Thursday off and run Friday, race on Saturday. I even went through a phase where I would do a short run on the Saturday morning, before a race in the afternoon. They both worked, but I don’t do them anymore. I went through a phase whereby I just ran steady runs, no quality, the week before a race. I’ve taken two days off, completely, before a race. I know of people who like to do a few reps the day before a race, and I’ve tried that too.

When I ran my marathon my pre-race training week looked like this:

Monday – 46 minute run (approx 6 miles)

Tuesday – 3 x 1600m at marathon pace (actual times 5:38 / 5:37 / 5:39)

Wednesday – 30 minute run (approx 4.5 miles)

Thursday – 20 minute run (approx 3 miles)

Friday – rest

Saturday – rest

Sunday – London Marathon – 2:34.

These days I’ve found something that works for most races, I have a different taper for championship races. I don’t taper for parkruns. My current, general taper is.

Monday - Full quality run session plus core session

Tuesday – 6-8 miles steady, plus kettlebells

Wednesday – Reduced quality session, i.e. 16 x 1 min at 85% effort, plus core session

Thursday – 6 miles plus upper body weights (I don’t do legs this close to a race)

Friday – core session

Saturday – Race

This doesn’t take into account any client work I may be doing, so I sometimes have to factor that in and adjust accordingly (or if it’s a major championship that I want to win I will say no to clients towards the end of the week, unless it fits in nicely with what I was planning on doing myself). That probably means little without knowing what I do on non taper weeks, my 2^nd quality session would be longer, my steady runs would be longer and I would include another cardio burst within my gym sessions, I would also include legs in my Thursday gym.

So this week Carole and I ventured up to Edinburgh, my favourite city in the UK. We had a great time and, yes, the weather did affect my running. Though I do have one word of complaint, TRAMS! What on earth is going on? Somebody had the idea of building a tramway where there is already a successful bus service. Ok so that provides an element of competition, but the tram works and all the disruption that goes with it started before I left Edinburgh, over 3 years ago, and it’s still going on. Worst, I haven’t got a clue how much longer it will be going on. It’s made a real mess of the city centre, and it’s inconvenienced a lot of people. No trams in Northwich, though we do have an interesting one way system!

 

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

A Weekend of Two Races

This weekend I did a couple of things a little different to what I normally do on a weekend. Firstly, I raced both Saturday and Sunday. This is something I’ve only done twice before. Mind you it wasn’t the same as racing both races flat out as the 2^nd thing was that I paced a race. I’ve never, officially, paced a race before, though I was once asked if I would like to pace a group of runners in the Edinburgh 10k, I had to turn it down as I was working that day, so this was going to be a unique experience for me.

So as the title suggests, lets separate this blog into two parts and concentrate on Saturday first. On Saturday Salford were taking part in the 3^rd race of the Manchester Area Cross Country League. I’d run the first one, finishing 39^th and 5^th M45, but missed the second one due to my training trip to Spain. This weekend we were racing in Wythenshawe Park, a place I’ve not visited before. Heading off to the venue I was fairly confident that it would be less muddy than the Heaton Park course, but this illusion was quickly dismissed as I checked out the course, skipping through muddy sections followed by sections of waterlogged grass. There was also a stream crossing, I ‘m wary of stream crossings they always offer an opportunity for a catastrophe to occur. Despite the conditions, which were definitely not to my personal preference, I was feeling oddly confident. I’d perked up as the week progressed and was keen to make a more robust effort in this race than at Heaton Park.

Unfortunately, in the preceding Ladies race one of our Ladies had come a cropper at the stream crossing and had broken her wrist. But I didn’t let this get to me, when I’d surveyed the course I’d leapt over the stream like a gazelle and landed sure footedly. I lined up for the race, right on the front line, but there was no countdown, just the noise of the starter. I was caught mid jiggle (if you don’t know what that means, watch the video) and quickly swamped by a mass of athletes as we headed out on the short lap. I got into my stride and started picking my way through the field, I could see Graham MacNeil and Dave Lockett up ahead of me, both rivals for ‘old man of the week’. And then before I knew it there was a pile up as a group of runners went too wide and hit the tape. I’m sure one went a over t and I could see that Dave had been affected slightly. My poor start meant I had time to adjust my line to avoid becoming embroiled in that. Dave was quickly into his running and pulling away from me at a rapid rate. As I watched him vanish into the distance I waved goodbye to any chance of catching him in the Salford veterans standings for this year’s cross country championships. So I switched all my attention on Graham, it was time to win the battle of the ‘redheads going slightly white’.

As we continued on this first lap I seemed to be matching Graham but not making any headway on the distance between him and me. I was finding it tough as I slipped and slid around parts of the course, there was very little of it that was firm, but I kept my focus on Graham all the same. Despite the slipping and sliding I was making my way through the field and managed to pass my team mate Billy MaCartney on the way to the crowd area. Coming round the encircled crowd was a real fillip, hearing all the Salford mob, and even some of the Vale Royal mob, cheer me on is always uplifting and I seemed to find my stride again. As I crossed the start line, for the start of the first of the two larger laps, somebody shouted I was in 40^th position. Not bad I thought and quickly passed team mate Howard Mead to equal my position from the first match. Now I was on a MacNeil mission, can’t have him beating me, he’s over 50. Not only that but there were 3 Wilmslow runners, who all looked like they were masters, lined up ahead of me. They’re a strong masters club so I couldn’t afford to let all 3 finish ahead of me.

This was the lap we encountered the stream for the first time but I picked my spot and landed perfectly and up the other side without a hitch, just as another Wilmslow athlete came past me. I latched onto him and it was a good move as he dragged me round past his team mates and I’d got the better of Graham at last. I felt good but, hang on a minute, wasn’t that Dave up ahead. Still with a gap but it now seemed achievable, especially as I had this Wilmslow youngster helping with my pacing. Back round to the crowd and more cheering, I was still with the Wilmslow guy and Dave was getting closer. A few hundred metres later I’d pushed for it, seeing Dave up close I’d made my move to pass him, uttering some encouragement as I passed, after all he is a team mate. I also seemed to drop the Wilmslow guy but just before the stream crossing he’d gone back past me.

As we came to the stream the Wilmslow guy leapt and was away. My attempt was a little less graceful as I jumped like a buffalo shot mid flight by Bill Cody. I landed with my right foot ankle deep in mud and as I tried to move forward I fell forward smothering my knuckles in mud. By the time I scrambled back up the Wilmslow guy was long gone and I had a group of runners, including Dave, hot on my tail. I got back into my stride and pushed for home. Entering the woods I took a sneak back to see where Dave was and nearly missed the turn, but once out of the woods it was plain sailing, although I did have a fast finishing Tom Bush hunting me down. I finished 29^th, 3^rd M45, and my win over Dave gives me a fighting chance in the Salford champs.

All in all I felt I ran well, the two M45s to finish ahead of me were over a minute clear of me but that doesn’t actually concern me as much as you’d think it would. I know there’s a lot more to come and the cross country is just a stepping stone for me. My victory over Dave was fortunate, I don’t think he was at his best on the day, but it does give me a little hope for the rest of this championship year. As a team we’d done well, but we can do better. Home for a shower, my kit was straight into the washing machine and it took me 20 minutes to get all the mud off my legs.   

It had been a reasonably mild day but overnight the temperatures dropped, far from perfect for an early morning start on Sunday. Sunday was the day I was due to pace Lee Riley to his 6^th world record as he tried to duck under 46:04 in the Wrexham 10k (carrying his 40lb pack). I was to be at Lee’s for 8:30 but as I scraped the ice off my windscreen and stretched my aching legs I wondered if I’d be any use to Lee at all and wouldn’t it be more sensible to go back to a warm bed. Still a commitment is a commitment and I never let anyone down. So I set off through the icy back lanes and arrived at Lee’s in plenty of time. The rest of the team were already there; Jacqui (designated driver, sandwich maker, holder of the scales and Lee’s publicist) and Llorenc Sales Ferre (a young Spanish athlete from Stoke AC who would act as 2^nd pacemaker and cameraman).

Off we headed for Wrexham, but as we drew close the sky turned darker and there were occasional showers. A quick circuit of the course, in the car, showed it was relatively flat, a bit narrow in places but a good surface, however there was one bit still affected by the flood that had occurred the previous week, giving us a big puddle to traverse with muddy patches just after it.

Back to the club house we went through all the admin of setting a world record, weighing, photographing and the witnessing of everything by officials from the club. I have to say the race officials were very helpful and willingly gave up their time during a period that was very busy for them. I’d worked out all the k splits for our attempt, based on beating 43 minutes (Lee’s goal) but also what it would take to beat 46 minutes, which was all we really needed to do, but there were no k markers, only mile markers. Still 7 minute mile pace would give us 43:something so that was all we needed to achieve.

And then it was time to head to the start. A minor issue as we struggled to get Lee’s pack as tight as possible but we got there in the end. The organisers had allowed us some space at the start, which was much appreciated but as the race set off we did find it difficult to settle into position for the first mile as it was quite congested. We didn’t panic and settled into a pace which seemed quite comfortable and yet fast enough. I’ll point out here that I didn’t use a garmin, I like to run how I feel and I’ve worked with Lee for some time now, gaining a good understanding of how he’s running. I knew he’d gone off too quickly during his 5k record, only a few weeks ago, and suffered for it towards the end, but I was feeling confident Lee could handle this pace. Still even I was a bit surprised when we went through the first mile marker in 6:19.

Oh well no point in worrying about that now, I checked how Lee felt, he said he was good. We still had a good way to go but we settled down, I put the faster first mile down to having to accelerate as we passed a number of people who had gone off too fast. I felt the 2^nd mile was slower and more consistently paced, and it was, 6:21. Wow, we were 1 minute 20 ahead of a schedule that would see us smash the official world record, so we had plenty in hand. Still if Lee felt good lets keep it up. At this point Lee was thinking sub 40 but I told him to wait until 4 miles before considering that, I felt if we pushed too hard now we would lose it all in the last two miles.

Lee did feel good but that 3^rd mile was slower at 6:46. Still not complaining it was still faster than our schedule. At all these mile markers Llorenc would sprint forward to the marker and film Lee and myself crossing the line, he’d then get me to shout the time into the video recorder. There was no marker for 5k, which was a bit of a shame, but I’m confident we were close to Lee’s world record time for that distance, and I wasn’t worried we were going too fast. Lee was looking good, sure it was hurting and there were signs of fatigue but I could see that Lee was on for this, he had his race face on.

During the next mile we passed through the puddle and the muddy patches but still Lee forged on and although slowing, slightly, it was still a sub 7 min mile. I can’t recall exactly what the time was for this mile, I was too busy providing motivational pep talks to Lee to let it sink in. However, with just over two miles to go we were around two minutes ahead of schedule.

The 5^th mile proved a tough one, Lee went outside of the schedule, 7:05, but we still had plenty in reserve on our schedule and then a further 2 minutes and more on the official world record, so we could afford this. Lee was looking tired, I could see that he was working hard to maintain pace and I was a little worried that he could run out of steam, but this wasn’t a marathon and, although I don’t know how it must feel to be carrying that weight around, surely we couldn’t drop more than 3 minutes in the next mile and a bit. Even so I wasn’t going to chance it, I gave Lee every bit of motivation I could, all the stuff I know that works for me when times are tough.

Lee rallied, we reached the 6 mile point with a 7:01, surely we couldn’t fail now. I urged him on over those final 346 metres, making sure it was a sustained effort rather than an all out kick too early. As we reached the line Llorence and I drifted to the side, we didn’t want to get in the way of the timekeepers or mess up other runners times and we certainly didn’t want a post 41 minute 10k time attributed to our CV’s (at least not yet), but we heard the officials shout out 41:24 as Lee passed the line. A fantastic New World Record, breaking the previous one by 4 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s Lee’s 6^th different world record distance, I haven’t kept count of how many he’s actually taken, he’s broken his own time on occasions, but of course he still holds all 6 distances at the same time (400m, 1 mile, 5000m, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon).

Apart from the time I paced Lee, in a time trial, to equal the mile world record, which he subsequently broke, this was my first time pacing Lee to a new world record. I have to say it felt good to be a part of it, I’ve been working with Lee on these records for about two years now and we’ve become quite close. It means a lot to me to see Lee achieving each one, though usually I’m away when he does them, so it was particularly good to be a part of this record attempt. We went through all the post race weighing and officialdom, once again thanks to the officials for their assistance and then it was off to consider what next!

The video will be edited and Lee will be posting it on youtube, along with those of Lee’s achievements that are already there. Plus the Wrexham 10k organisers can boast that it had a world record set on their course.     

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Teamwork

This week’s blog follow’s on from last week to further emphasise the benefits of team work. There are people who like to think they don’t need help to achieve their goals, sometimes I think I’m one of them, but the reality is that we all need a helping hand along the way, to a lesser or greater extent. The reality is that with a team around you, you have a greater chance of obtaining goals you wouldn’t even consider as an individual.

That’s not just in sport but something that’s also relevant to your working life. Within sport even the likes of Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe have a team around them to help them obtain their goals. When it comes to using the gym a lot of gym users turn up, do their own thing and leave. But their routines may be more effective and interesting if they work out with a friend, though it can cause disruption if you’re not well matched, plus there may be times when you need a spotter. Actually I am a bit of a loner when I’m doing my gym work, when I turn up at the gym I know exactly what I want to do and why I’m doing it and, as I’m usually short on time I get on with it and get gone.

When it comes to running, although I do most of my training alone, I’ve always been a team man. At first I was rubbish so having a team to aim to break into gave me an incentive to train hard. As I became better the incentive was to break into the top team of my club and then the county, area and national teams. I’ve been reasonably successful as an individual athlete, winning quite a few medals at major championships, but I’ve gained about as many again as a member of a team. But it’s not just about winning things, I really enjoy being part of a team, I find it motivates me to get fit because I want to help that team to achieve success, and if we don’t we can always have a laugh together.

Of course it doesn’t always work out and there are many times in the past when the team I was representing turned up one runner short of a full team, and that can be pretty disheartening. Mind you, in 2008, I turned up for the East District Cross Country Championships as the runner short of a set of spikes, I’d left them in my hallway as I rushed out to pick up various other Edinburgh AC athletes. Luckily the ground was frozen hard and I managed to run ok in my trainers, and, surprisingly, I still managed to help Edinburgh AC win the Masters title.  

There was a time, when I was a member of Belgrave Harriers, when we had some fantastic runners in the club, but they would never all turn out at the same event, so for a number of years we would languish in lowly positions in major championships, instead of challenging for medals. My coach at the time would often talk to me about it, his thinking was that they were good individual runners but not the best in the country, however, if they all turned out together they could make Belgrave the best team in the country and then they would become a National Champion themselves, something they probably would not achieve as an individual. That always stuck in my mind, I’ve been a decent athlete, but never the best, so I have my best chance of becoming a National Champion as part of a team. Admittedly I have actually been a National Champion as an individual but that’s been a bonus. Yes it does mean a great deal to become an individual winner, in fact it’s very satisfying, but it’s also extremely satisfying to be surrounded by your team mates, knowing that each one of you contributed to the team becoming winners. Speaking of which here’s a picture of me with the Salford M45 team who came 2^nd in the National Cross Country Relays, I have to say not only do we look happy but we don’t look bad for our age, particularly Paul Birkett who looks about 26.

Incidentally if anyone has been waiting to read the official Salford write up on the BMAF Cross Country Relays, it’s finished but looks like it will be published on the Salford Harriers website over the next weekend, along with pictures of some old men. That’s www.salfordharriers.co.uk

Moving on to more domestic matters, I’ve been feeling a little lack lustre, some might say indifferent, in my training over the last week. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it’s the Olympic effect, I focussed on the BMAF relays as my event for this stage of the year and now it’s over I find it hard to get going again, maybe it’s the cold I had about 5 weeks ago, which seems to be lingering, or maybe it’s just the rapid approach of my 48^th birthday (remember: running gear or single malt whisky). Whatever the reason it wasn’t a good week of training. I finished the week off with a hill session with another Cheshire athlete, Rob Tudor. He’s been injured and not run as much lately so I promised to go gentle on him. I was still promising that as I followed him up the first hill, and the 2^nd and the 3^rd. By the 6^th I’d realised the hill was too short, naturally Rob, a 1:50 800m runner was going to feel more comfortable up a short hill than me, a 1:59 800m runner (note these times were posted more than 20 years ago but serve as a useful comparison), so I suggested we head across the river and do a longer hill. After following Rob up these longer hills a couple of times we decided to move on to a more steady run through the woodlands and chat instead. I was still feeling a bit lacklustre yesterday, when I started my training session with Lee, but I perked up as we progressed through the session and we finished with a rep at 5 min mile pace. That was a good way to finish Lee’s last really hard session before he attacks the 10k world record with his 40lb pack. This morning I was out at 07:30, running a hill session. It went alright, I felt good and seem to have found my mojo again, or perhaps it was just that I didn’t have Rob Tudor running in front of me.

Speaking of Rob Tudor, he’s an England Master’s representative, National Champion and is someone who has yet to finish behind me in a race, therefore he’s on the list of those athletes I must beat before I retire. It’s a large list and growing all the time.  

Ray was out on Saturday, running his first cross country race, ever, at Sefton Park. I think he found it tough, it was quite a big race with some top runners entered, including a team from my old club, Belgrave Harriers. So he’s had his baptism of fire, and will no doubt be back for more.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a parkrun, now that I have a team to run for I have other races to do and I don’t like to race every week, but I do miss the atmosphere at Pennington Flash. They’re a friendly lot and it’s always a challenging run, which are two good reasons for going along. Hopefully I’ll be along to one soon, but I’m getting calls from other directions so I don’t know when. While we’re talking parkruns, I’m led to believe there will be new ones starting shortly at Delamere Forest and Congleton.

Because I’m a travelling PT, rather than basing myself in one gym, I always carry a book around with me, it gives me something to do if I turn up early for a client. I have my preferences as to type of book, but I’ll pretty much read anything. I’ve just finished ‘Over The Edge’ by Jonathan Kellerman, which is a really enjoyable read, I’ve just started ‘On The Road’ by Jack Kerouac, which has now been made into a movie. I’ve been interested in reading some of the books from American authors, of that era, but couldn’t seem to find them, now thanks to the movie this one is back in print. Another book I’ve always wanted to read is ‘Don Quixote’ and I managed to find that on one of my random searches through my kindle, but boy it’s a tedious read. Well actually there are sections that are tedious and sections that flow along really well. I’m about 77% the way through it and I’ve hit a tedious bit, but I’m desperate to get to the end so I’ll keep plodding along. Whilst on the subject of books, my friend Gabrielle Collison’s book, about British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s, is now on Amazon, might be worth a punt as a Xmas present for a running friend who doesn’t need any more kit, it’s getting some good reviews.  

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Salford Silvers Take Gold

If you’re into your omens then this weekend was looking good for my chances of picking up another British championship medal; the event was a relay and relays bring out the best in me, it was taking place in Derby where I have always run well and every club I’ve been a member of has won a national championship during my time there. But getting back to reality; I have been running well in the lead up to this race, I did some very specific training for this event during my week in Spain and I had a very solid team of Salford Harriers around me, who all seemed to be as keen as me. Looking on the less positive aspects; Leicester seem to have made the M45 category their own so were obviously going to be strong on the day, I was expecting Thames Hare and Hounds to enter and have strong teams too and, as I mentioned last week, I’d injured my lower back and it was inhibiting my ability to run during the week.

We had entered strong teams in all sections; M35, M45, M55 and M65 plus an M35 B team consisting of those who didn’t quite make it from the various other teams. We were keyed up and we meant business. There was even a mini bus bringing the majority of the team down, so team bonding was bound to be a plus on the way to the race.

But lets go back a few days: It was Monday morning when my back went into a spasm. It wasn’t that painful until I went to bed, then the inactivity meant every movement, during the night, was agony. The next morning I looked over my training diaries for the previous two occasions my back had gone into spasm and it wasn’t looking good, one showed I had to take a week off before I could start running again and the other, that I had to take two weeks. I pondered over letting the Manager know but thought I’d leave it a couple of days. The spasm hadn’t felt as bad as either previous occasion so I hedged my bets and got to work on some mobilisation work and kettlebells. By Wednesday I was running again, albeit a very slow 3 mile jog. I’d had to try as I was due to train with Lee Riley on Thursday. I made the training with Lee, we were running mile reps at just under 7 minute mile pace, a lot quicker than the previous day but a lot slower than I’d need on Saturday. Admittedly the last 2 minutes of the last rep was run under 6 minute mile pace but it didn’t give me any real indication of how I would be on Saturday, however I came through it ok, though still in a little pain. Friday was a rest day, apart from continuation of the mobilisation exercises.

Come Saturday I felt a lot better so there was no question of not being able to run so we set off, myself, Carole and my mum and dad, for Derby. I hear so many people, who’s parents died before their children made their mark, saying I wish they’d been around to see my success, so I’ve made a habit of karting my parents around various parts of the country to watch me run in National competitions, whether they wanted to go or not, in the hope that they would see me being successful. And I feel I’ve fulfilled my duty of making my parents proud of me.

Over the years I’ve done many big relay events for Belgrave, Herne Hill, Edinburgh and now Salford. 9 times out of 10 the team announced on Monday becomes a totally different team by the Saturday, this must’ve been number 10 as the team lining up on the day was exactly as announced on Monday; Deegan, Birkett, Crewe, Alsop and Lockett. So I was feeling pretty confident. Leicester were there and had a strong team, but I was disappointed that Thames Hare were a no show.

Before the race I jogged around the course with Mike Deegan, though as always in these situations the jog increases in pace throughout and we were busy chatting about the things that runners chat about so I had to go around again on my own to get a good picture of the course in my head. It was a good course, one to suit me. Mostly flat, just a couple of small rises, mostly firm going, just one bad soggy patch and a few soggy areas, it was well marked and was interesting, featuring the grass area close to the track, on two levels, and a short loop through the woods.

The first race was for ladies and really old men and this was our first chance to get in the medals. We were always in the hunt and led the O65 event briefly before having to settle for silver behind a strong Bingley squad.

Now it was time for the youngsters, a race featuring the M35, M45 and M55 teams. Our first leg runner, in the M45 team, should by rights have been in the M55 team but he’s so good we needed his talent to have any chance of winning and Mike ran an excellent leg, mixing it with the M35s and Mike Hagar. Mike brought the team home in 3^rd place, in the M45s, behind a stong starting Lincoln Wellington and Leicester, but crucially only 28 seconds behind the leaders and 26 behind Leicester. Paul Birkett was next man out and ran a time close to Mike’s, just 2 seconds down. Paul had pulled back the deficit on Lincoln Wellington to 11 seconds, however Leicester’s Gordon Lee had run the day’s fastest time, 10:16, they were now in 1^st place, 1 minute 10 seconds ahead of us.

Derek Crewe, another one who’ll soon be looking for a berth in the M55 team, was next to go. It didn’t take Derek long to take 2^nd place from Lincoln Wellington and his 11:08 pulled back 4 seconds on Leicester. It was on this leg that the Leicester runner took a slightly shorter route through the handover area, on his first lap. Whilst it was a shorter route I didn’t see the incident myself so I’m not sure if there was a gain or, in the confusion, an overall loss for Leicester, but it was a shame that such a mistake was made during a championship event.

66 seconds behind when I took over from Derek, I went off hard but my run was nearly ruined before I’d got going as a first aider walked straight across the racing line just as I reached him. I was so focussed on picking my line that I didn’t even see him until this lime green vision flashed past my peripheral vision, or rather I flashed past him. I didn’t have time to worry about what could have happened I had a Leicester vest to catch. I shot past a couple of V35 teams and just as I reached the sticky patch I heard the encouragement of the Salford supporters, this spurred me on and I shot up the hill and into the woodland. I felt I was going really fast, everything was hurting and my lungs were burning. Mike Deegan was in the woods and he told me I had gained 10 seconds, that was encouraging and it spurred me on even more, but as I left Mike I had a little reflection on what might happen if next time I saw Mike I had actually lost time. Oh well no point worrying about that now, there was a Leicester vest 56 seconds ahead of me. I finished the lap feeling tired but seeing Dave Lockett waiting in the wings for last leg gave me just the incentive I needed to keep pushing. I sped round the corner, no first aider this time, I could hear the encouragement from my family and various Salford supporters and every shout helped push me further through the pain. Next time I saw Mike he told me I had made 20 seconds on Leicester. It was not really enough and I was running out of time, I just had to hope Dave could run a blinder and Leicester ran out of steam. I wasn’t through though, coming out of the woods I put in a long sprint for home finishing gasping for air. Despite that I’d still only made up 20 seconds on Leicester.

Dave did run a blinder, running our fastest M45 leg (10:31) but Leicester didn’t run out of steam and Dave was only able to take a further 11 seconds out of them to finish in silver position, 35 seconds behind.

We’d given it our best shot, we’d shown our intention, and we’d be back for more. It was a consistent showing from the team, only 37 seconds separated the fastest man from the slowest man, but that’s what you’d expect at this level. We’d gained our first medal in this age group, in this event, finishing 4^th overall in the race. On a personal point I’ve finished the year with 1 silver and 2 bronze BMAF medals and further justified my decision to join Salford.

Our M55 team also took silver behind Staffordshire Moorlands, though if Mike Deegan had been in that race they would have won gold, which would have released Stan Curran to the M65 team where they would have won gold too. But that’s not to throw any criticism on team selection, it’s not easy to make those decisions and the teams selected were selected on making the most of our athletes on the day. So that was 3 silver medals.

The pick of the lot were the M35s who won the overall race with another consistent team performance and so were the only Salford silvers to take gold. Not a bad day, 1 gold 3 silvers, and judging by the atmosphere, morale and inter-team support, we’ll be coming back for more. Particularly as someone had the bright idea to replace the usual post race cakes with post race beer.

I will be writing up a full report on Salford’s participation in this event, which you will be able to find at www.salfordharriers.co.uk later this week.

And while we were drinking beer in Derby the other Salford Harriers were racing in the 2^nd SE Lancs league, which they won. Good day all round.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Double Up Training

By double up training I’m referring to doing two quality training sessions back to back on consecutive days. Most athletes tend to follow a hard day of training with an easy day, however, depending on what you have done on your hard day, it is possible for athletes to train hard on consecutive days, particularly if you have a good support system around you. I’ve heard of athletes who train really hard for half a week and then take it easy for the rest of the week, it all depends on how your body copes with hard training and how strong you are physically and mentally.

I was coached on the hard/easy principle and it works well for me, I can, and do, train hard but if it’s been a long and hard session my body, usually, can’t cope with anything more than an easy run the next day. I run to a pattern, quality runs on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, Friday is a day off running and the rest are steady to easy running. Most runners have their hard weekday runs on Tuesday and Thursdays, I’m just different. It’s not because I’m anti-social, I used to do the Tuesday/Thursday thing, but the Monday/Wednesday thing stems from a time when I was working really long hours and could never guarantee I would be able to get a run on certain days, starting on a Monday meant if I couldn’t manage a run that day I still had plenty of time to try to fit in two quality runs and if I could run on Monday it was in the bag already. I’ve stuck to the pattern and it gives me that extra recovery before a Saturday race or, if I fancy, an opportunity to throw in an extra quality session before a Sunday race.

There are, however, times when I have doubled up my quality sessions, but I know my body is only capable of doing this for a short period of time. For this same reason I never run two legs in a relay and rarely run two races on two consecutive days. I know plenty of runners who do but I just can’t, and I accept that. In fact another thing that amazes me is how sprightly some runners jog down after a race, I’m usually so spent I can barely move, though usually this is for races over 5 miles or more.

This first time I tried double up training was in 1995 when I first visited New Zealand. I was being coached by Arthur Bruce at the time and, knowing that I would be travelling a lot when I got to New Zealand, he suggested I did a little bit of fartlek most days to keep me ticking over. It was as simple as that so I just formulated my own training based on what space I could find. I did two, three and even four consecutive days of repetitions in the morning, but these were short duration. I then did another, easy, run in the evening. In between sessions I’d be sightseeing and travelling. After a few days I needed a rest or just went on a long run, it all depended on what I had planned for the day and what the scenery provided in terms of running. I came back to England on 16 March and six weeks later I set my 3000m pb, taking a silver medal in the South of England Champs. So ever since then I’ve utilised this type of training leading up to an important short race.

This last week I’ve been to Spain again, Carole needed a break and with a big short race coming up I thought it would be an ideal chance to use my double up sessions. Knowing the area well I knew exactly what I was going to do before I went, the sessions I did were as follows; on one day (1 min – 30 sec rec – 2 min – 1 min rec – 3 min – 1 min rec x 3), on the next day (20 x 1min – 15 sec recovery) and on the 3^rd day I did a session of 30 second sprints with Carole, at her pace, with 15 seconds recovery. Then I’d repeat this, although 2^nd time round I did 21 x 1 minute reps. The 7^th day would normally be a rest day but as we weren’t flying back until the evening I threw in another session of 1,2,3. To round it all off the first day back I finished off with another 21 x 1 minute. Now I was tired but had planned an easier week this week. I felt that I’d been training really well all week, the road surface had given me back the pace that the soft grass of Tatton Park had dulled and my body didn’t seem so tired as it had been recently, until the end of the week.

Monday I planned an easy 8, only it wasn’t, 3.5 miles in and my back spasmed. It was just a quick spasm but I could feel the tenderness for the rest of the way home. I’d known my body was tired and I guess all the stress on the hamstrings had come back to haunt me. The pain got worse throughout the day and I spent a sleepless night twinging every time I moved. I took Tuesday off but hit the kettlebells, I find it helps my back whenever I get a spasm, and so it appears to have done. It’s now Wednesday, I managed a run this morning, albeit a slow one, followed by another session of kettlebells. I’m hoping I can run properly tomorrow as I’m due to train with Lee Riley as he gears up for his next challenge, the 10k world record, carrying his 40lb pack.

Speaking of Lee, one of the things I missed by going away was his attempt on the 5000m world record, carrying the 40lb pack. But I can report that on Sunday 4 November Lee was successful in breaking the record with his time of 20 min 1.86 sec, agonisingly close to breaking 20 minutes. So another world record goes to Lee Riley, that’s his 5^th, hopefully that figure will soon be up to 6 with the 10k.

Another race I missed was the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country Championships which was held this Saturday in Belfast. This year I didn’t put myself forward, the hamstring injury I suffered in the summer prevented me from feeling confident I would make the team so when Carole requested a November holiday I planned it around this event because I thought that I’d have an easier chance of making the Herne Hill team for the British Masters Cross Country Relay Champs. Of course that was before I decided it was time to move on and join Salford. Still it was good to see many of my friends performing well at the event. I was particularly pleased to see Andy Robinson representing England in the M45s. I first met Andy in the early 90s, when he was running some great races, it was a big boost for me when, in 1993, I finished 2 seconds ahead of him on first leg of the TVH relays, but he remained a challenge to beat for some time. Middle age and children slowed Andy down for a few years but since he turned 40 I’ve noticed an improvement in form and he’s now looking as formidable as I remember. It would be interesting to see how I would fare against him in a race now.  

I also missed the Manchester Cross Country League on Saturday, which means I’m drifting down the Salford championship tables.

  

One other event I couldn’t take part in was the National Cross Country Relays, held at Mansfield on 3 November. It was fantastic to see my old team, Belgrave Harriers, win the event again. Mind you it would be even better to see my current team, Salford Harriers, take that title one day. Interestingly, whilst I’ve been a member of Belgrave Harriers, Herne Hill Harriers and Edinburgh AC, each team became National Champions. So with that in mind I’m hoping to continue with my string of good fortune and see Salford Harriers become national champions again.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Happy Birthday To You

Today it’s my mum’s birthday, she’s …….. well she’s old. In truth I just don’t know. Unlike my Dad’s actual birth date, which I’ve always known, my mum has always been a bit cagey about hers. So cagey that for years I thought her birthday was on 31 Oct and not 29^th. Luckily she was never bothered about receiving her birthday card a couple of days late, although living 200 miles away at the time I can’t be absolutely sure. So later on today I’ll be seeing my mum and dad for dinner and presents and we can chat about all the things they’ve forgotten we chatted about yesterday.

When it comes to my birthday I’m not actually bothered about much of a fuss being made. Naturally this winds Carole up as she’s big into making birthdays special. However I will go along with whatever she plans, even if I sometimes wish I was at a race or out training. I’m the same with presents, there’s not that much that I want and generally if I want it I’ll get it when I need it. However I’m always happy to receive running gear, as long as it fits, or a bottle of good malt whisky. How difficult is that, and they give me a lot of pleasure so please no more jumpers that don’t fit or business wear socks and definitely no ties.

I have had some good presents and days out over the years but I don’t remember them all. What I do remember are those special runs I try do, usually something especially hard. I’m not quite in the league of the members of Hunters Bog Trotters, who seem to go out for a run in miles, equivalent to their age, on their birthdays. That just wouldn’t suit my flimsy, can barely run for an hour, body, and is the main reason I didn’t join them whilst in Edinburgh, particularly as I imagine they probably tried to do the same with drinking pints after the event and I’m only lightweight drinker. In fact there was an interesting tip that Sean Cordell pointed out, that had been told to him by Mike Deegan, one of Salford’s greats, I think it went something along the lines of ‘you’ll only start to improve if you can run more miles than you can drink pints’. Some of those Bog Trotters must be running some big miles because there is some talent, and I’ve seen that talent drinking as well as running.

Enough about the Boggies, back to me. One birthday I thought was really special was January 16 2010. It wasn’t because I’d turned 45 and entered a new masters age category, I’d organised a run group for that day and we were going to do a parlauff run for 34 minutes. As it turned out only 3 people turned up, me Carole and Ben. Ben was a guy I’d met at Fitness First, he’s a para, big and stong, 17 years my junior and he could run some. He was the first person to join me when I was doing the ‘Run with Rog’ sessions and stuck with me, as much as he could, until he was posted to Afghanistan. On this particular day Carole went one way and me and Ben went the other, we pushed each other to our limits as the first one to reach Carole would set her off on her rep, and we weren’t hanging around on our recoveries either. That was the thing about Ben, he bought out the competitiveness in me to just the right level as we were so evenly matched, it was hard work but it was also a lot of fun. Most importantly it started me believing that I could still run competitively at that age. Soon after I ran 5 mile and 10k times that would have me ranked highly in the M45 age group for the whole of the year, and I came 2^nd in the British Masters Cross Country Champs. Sadly I haven’t trained with Ben for a long time, whilst in Afghanistan he was hit by 3 bullets, on new year’s eve. He’s recovered but currently working in Australia. Mind you I think he’s back soon so time to start planning something special for my 48^th.  

Keeping on the military theme, this Saturday Lee Riley will be attempting his world record for running 5k with 40lb on his back. The current record is held by an American Marine, a time of 20:06. Apparently this guy has run 5k, without a pack, in a time similar to my best, so that should give you some idea of what carrying the pack means in handicap terms. As my final preparation with Lee, last week we did a 3.6k time-trial, which we achieved comfortably 24 seconds inside the schedule for breaking the record. So we’re both very confident Lee will do it, adding another world record to his list.

The weekend just gone we decided to go away to Nottingham. Whilst there we saw that The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was on at the Playhouse Theatre. Now I know the word runner is in the title but that’s not why I like it, I’d read the book and seen the film many years ago, it’s a classic, and had recently read about this production whereby they use a treadmill set into the stage. So I was interested to see it and Carole was game too. I though the production was really good and the actors, who include the guy who played Finn Sharkey in Waterloo Road, were very good too. Particularly the main character who manages to keep up a dialogue, without becoming breathless, whilst running on the treadmill and doing press ups. If it comes to a theatre near you, I’d recommend it. Sunday was supposed to be a long walk but Carole’s work beckoned and as we couldn’t get a signal in the countryside we ended up coming home early. It was one of those days and she was on the phone until bedtime, but the good news was, I didn’t have to watch Strictly Come Dancing or the X Factor result shows.

Also at the weekend Ray and Sharon ran the Winsford 10k, both setting faster times than last year, onwards and upwards.    

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Can You Feel It?

Different Coaches use different approaches to training their athletes, though each approach will, no doubt, be based upon a mix of study and experience. You can’t necessarily say that one approach is better than another, though it is sometimes easy to see that one approach might suit one individual better than another. During my time as a runner I’ve used the regular services of three coaches, all with different approaches but all who made a difference to my running. On top of that I’ve run sessions with other qualified coaches. Naturally I’ve picked up a lot of things that work for me but, as I’ve been self coached since 2000, I’ve also developed an approach of my own, that works well for me. This approach is nothing new or special but it’s just something that I use as a part of my training regime. It’s simply to run how you feel, e.g. not to a set pace or set heart rate measurement or any other measured method.

You’re probably reading this now and thinking, ‘what the heck is he talking about’ but let me explain further. I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong with running at a given pace or heart rate measurement, in fact these are handy methods of training and I fully support their use. However sometimes the body is tired and not able to keep to the prescribed pace or your body may be feeling great and is therefore capable of a faster pace. So I suggest that sometimes you should go out and do your run, whether this is a steady run or a repetition run, at the pace you feel like running. Currently my body is feeling tired so today I went out for a 9 mile run in Tatton Park, it’s my recovery run so I suggest it doesn’t matter how fast I run, so I pootled around at a comfortable pace, but it was still a challenging run, on another occasion I might well have run the same distance at a much faster pace, because I felt good. When I’m doing reps I run each one as hard as I feel I can, conditions, the state of my body, may dictate the distance I run in the time given but I’m giving the same % effort each time, and I don’t measure the distance I run each rep, therefore there is no chance of negativity creeping in. I do feel that sometimes I’m struggling in the run, but as long as I know I’ve put the same level of work in then that’s all that counts. I use this method with my clients, generally running alongside them to push them a little harder than they would have themselves. It’s so simple but often overlooked by runners who can be so time and distance obsessed. I’ve also used this in races, if I’m feeling confident I just went off with the leaders no matter what the pace, obviously it has led to a few disasters where I ran out of steam but it brought me to a number of personal bests and race victories that I wouldn’t have achieved had I run to a schedule. So simplistic as it sounds, don’t just dismiss it, it works for me and I’m not that shabby.

After last week’s cross country race I found this week’s training very hard. My legs felt like jelly all week. I still managed to do all the sessions, I had planned, but it was a grind trying to get the best out of my legs. Even on Saturday, when I turned up at Heaton Park for another 10k cross country, my legs felt a bit dull, and that’s a whole week on. That’s not an excuse for my performance in the race because once I started running the legs felt ok, but before the race they felt a little dull.

This week it was the Manchester Area Cross Country League, over roughly the same course as last week, oh boy another 3 times round that, well at least now I knew the way. I knew it would be a lot tougher than the previous week, with stronger teams available, so I was anticipating a fight to make the top 50. Being a nice day I managed to persuade Carole to come along, I thought the Bonnyrigg tones might just help get the best out of me. Last week I’d jogged around the course, before the race, with Simon Bruton, I felt afterwards that perhaps that had been a bit quick, normally I jog slowly before races, so this week I warmed up by taking a walk with Carole, down the first hill and back up again. I’d also changed my race day diet a little, as I felt last week I was lacking a little something when it mattered.   

First the Ladies were off. There were some impressive performances from the Salford Ladies, who set the standard by finishing 2^nd team and 5^th veterans team. In particular Hayley Kuter had a storming run to finish in 2^nd place, just a week before her Frankfurt marathon, good luck with that Hayley, I’m sure you’ll do well, but also Bev Jenkins showed that she’s still a force to be reckoned with, finishing 7^th and 1^st vet.

After that it was up to us guys to show we could match the girls. Getting ready for the off though, I was surprised not to see more of our top guys out, but it appears some of them were running half marathons the following day. And we were off, hurtling down the first hill, though I wasn’t hurtling quite as fast as a load of other people, at the first turn I found myself a long way back from the lead and getting squeezed off the best line. At this point I think I was outside of the top 50 and struggling round, not surprising as I had to take a route through some of the worst mud in order to pass people. It wasn’t until I finished the first lap that I settled down and started looking ahead at the procession of people to catch. Over the next two laps I seemed to find my cross country feet and progressed through the field gradually picking off a number of runners, including three Salford Harriers. It was a strong finish up the hill for me, holding off a crucial attack from a young Trafford runner. My progress had been steady, if a little unspectacular, at the end I was 39^th, some way and a considerable number of minutes behind the winner, Steve Vernon, who featured in my first blog when winning the National Cross Country title in 2010. There was solid scoring in the Salford team as we finished in 3^rd place, Paul Savage once again showing his mastery of tough conditions, must be the ironman in him, to come home as first Salford Harrier for the 2^nd week running. Somehow I’d managed to make the Salford scoring 6, but only 2^nd Salford M45, for the second week running being shown a clean pair of heels by Dave Lockett. I was actually 5^th M45 and 10^th M40, positions I’m not too familiar with as I’ve become accustomed to featuring in the top 3 of M45s in races. However I think this is more an indication of how strongly supported, by old men, this race was, rather than how poor I ran. Incidentally we were 2^nd veterans team.

Am I disappointed with my run? I’d be lying if I didn’t say I am a little. I’m positive I could do a lot better but I’m not despondent. I know there are a number of factors that play their part in these results and, with years of experience of how my body copes with those factors, I know I’ll come good again. As an example, in 1992 I placed 43^rd in the Surrey Cross Country Champs and six months later I ran 30 minutes for 10k, and whilst I don’t predict a 30 minute 10k next April, I’m confident I will be in good form next spring. Mind you I’m glad that’s my last cross country race for a few weeks, my body feels absolutely shattered.

There’s a club cross country championship going on throughout the season, the best 5 scores from 10 races. After two events I’m currently lying in 4^th place, but that is by virtue of having completed both races held so far. So I expect that to change as more people run more races. In the over 40’s category I’m currently lying 2^nd, after two 2^nd places, but if I’m to advance here I need to start beating Dave Lockett, no easy task.

These last couple of weeks I’ve been training with Lee Riley again, helping him in his bid to add two more world records to his growing list of achievements. We’re making good progress with consistent pacing in our training sessions, so I’m fairly confident the first will be achieved very soon.

I’ve been fascinated the series ‘Being Liverpool’ on Channel 5. I should point out that I am not a Liverpool fan, in fact I’m not even that interested in the game of football, but for a fly on the wall documentary I find it an interesting insight to how the club functions. Obviously there’s a lot more that goes on than what we’re being shown but the programme is worth a watch, particularly if you’re interested in football. There’s something about the pride of being involved with Liverpool and the passion shown by the supporters that bears a resemblance to being involved with Salford Harriers, we all want to play our part, no matter how small, in the success of this club.

On another point I was caught out this weekend by one of my Edinburgh friends. I’ve known Cath Ferry for some time and she’s a very talented runner, as well as a fine sports masseur. There was a time when I tried to persuade Cath that cross country would benefit her overall running, but Cath was having non of it. So I was rather surprised to see a facebook comment, from Cath, that she was thinking of running the East District League on Saturday. After having a chuckle at Cath’s wind up of her fellow Edinburgh AC athletes I posted my comment that the day she ran cross country would be the day I propose to Carole. The following day I heard that Cath had been Edinburgh AC’s 3^rd scorer. I suddenly felt quite ill, but not ill enough to deter me from going for a run. Luckily Carole doesn’t use facebook so I think I got away with that, she doesn’t read my blogs either. But, those of you with a romantic outlook on life, don’t despair, it will come, one day, I’m just building up to it. 

And finally I post a photo of last Saturday’s race, courtesy of Sidney Sacks, to once again prove that I only smile when I’m running, even when approaching an uphill finish.



Gotta do something about that hairstyle!



Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Who’s Cheating Who?

The big news this week has been focused on drug abuse within the cycling world, in particular around Lance Armstrong. With this news another star of sport, looked up to by countless people across the world, appears to have been a tyrant all along. Unfortunately, in sport, as in life, there are a number of cheats, there always has been and, no doubt, there always will be. But that doesn’t mean that good honest people need to throw in the towel and start cheating too. You can beat the cheats, whilst maintaining your own integrity.

When I was a kid I was always told that if you cheated you were only cheating yourself, but that’s not true, you’re cheating many people; out of a chance of a place at University, a job, a place in the National squad, a title of note or countless other things. In sport many people have given up, believing they cannot match other athletes who have been cheating all along.

Eventually many of these cheats get caught but it then throws the sport into disarray. Look at the Tour de France as an example. Recent years have seen the Tour being won by riders later proven to have cheated, the title is then passed down to the next guy. In the case of Lance, they have stripped him of his titles but because drug taking seems to have been pretty prevalent during that period it looks like no other rider will be named as the winner, making it a bit of a non event. It’s possible it might switch some people off watching the Tour de France, which is a real shame because it’s a great spectacle, even if it has a tainted history.

As an athlete, having competed at a reasonably high level, I’ve mixed with a lot of International athletes and some of the tales I’ve heard, over the years, have been quite sickening. Athletes that take drugs appear to be known as such, within the elite community, so why aren’t more of them caught. Perhaps the inducements and threats surrounding this practice stop people from speaking out, officially. But we should speak out, if we know people are cheating, remember they cheat us all, including the spectators.

I was a big fan of Ben Johnson and was really pleased when he won the Seoul Olympic 100m, only to have my happiness destroyed by the revelation that he had cheated his way to gold. It’s the same with Lance Armstong, I recently finished reading a book about him, being really impressed with how he achieved his goals, but now I find that it’s all a pack of lies. That’s one book destined for the bin.

But it’s not just drug cheats there are people who openly cut corners in races or deliberately cut across other runners to disturb their stride. Many footballers pretend to be fouled in order to win a penalty or free kick, they’re clearly cheating and often caught on video but not enough is done to make them stop and make football a more honest game. We should all be on the look out for cheats in our own sport and be prepared to speak out against them for the greater good. The good news is, that with more advanced testing and better video analysis, it’s becoming easier to catch the cheats.

On a more positive note this weekend saw Clumber Park hosting the English National Road Relays. Salford had two ladies teams and one mens team competing. All ran well, the ladies ‘A’ placing 9^th and ‘B’ placing 34^th and the men finishing in 14^th position. We did well to get a solid men’s team out and that gives us something to build on, one more man short and I think I was next man in the team, which would have given us an altogether less favourable result.

Having missed the cut for the National Road Relays, I lined up, with a surprisingly large contingent of other Salford Harriers, at Heaton Park. This was the first of the S.E. Lancs cross country league fixtures. A reasonably tough 10k course was ahead of us. Having competed in very few cross country races, over the last three years, I was not at all confident of a good result and because I didn’t know the standard of the league I took a guess that I would find myself in the 20s or 30s, position wise. So I was a bit shocked to find myself with the leading group from the off and even more surprised to find myself, through no fault of my own, leading the race after only half a mile. It didn’t last long, someone made a push and I drifted off the back. I had a good little battle with some runners who were almost young enough to be my grandkids and finished in 9^th position, helping the men to 1^st in the overall league and 1^st in the OAP league. Having analysed my race I’m a bit disappointed with my own run, I feel it was a bit lacklustre. Having said that I must have been trying as my legs still ache and I found today’s quality session particularly hard work. I’m expecting my next race to be a tougher field. I’ll admit I do find cross country races hard, but I love doing them for that sheer challenge and also the camaraderie is fantastic, not just amongst your club mates but also the friendly rivalry with other clubs. Once again, despite many supporters following the team at the Nationals, the Salford support was great and it really does help, even if it didn’t look like it was helping me on Saturday.     

Other news from this weekend; I’ve recently taken on another client who is taking training schedules for the London Marathon. She has found the training hard but enjoyable, well that’s what she tells me. Yesterday she ran her first sub 2 hour half marathon, so that’s a good start, and I’m expecting more improvements between now and the marathon.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk