Xmas Overindulgence

It wasn’t intentional but these things happen around Xmas. With relatives in Scotland and England Xmas was always going to be a long affair, and it’s not over yet, still some chocolates and, would you believe it, left over alcohol to consume.

But, actually, this year my overindulgence has less to do with the food and drink, though there was a bit of that, particularly during the Scottish stage of the grand xmas tour, than it does with the running.

My training consolidation phase has meant I’ve been training pretty hard, both running and doing my PT sessions and this leaves you a little tired at times. That’s fine of course, just like when I was training for the marathon, and it’s why I’m not racing at the moment, were I to race I’d ease back on the training and that would change everything, plenty of time for racing in the near future.

Of course because I don’t view parkruns as races I’d planned to include a couple of them. I wanted to run in Edinburgh, partly in the hope of catching up with some of my running friends, partly because I had a current best there of 19:25 and partly because I didn’t want people to think I always ran in a fairy outfit. Then I wanted to run on Xmas day, because I miss the Paulauff that takes place every Xmas day on Wimbledon Common, so I decided to do Delamere parkrun, the course has changed since I last did it so that made it worth doing. But that was all I had planned, then I wanted to focus on my training for a month.

Well Edinburgh went well, a new course pb of 17:35 and an enjoyable run, despite the strong wind on the return, that never seemed to be behind on the way out. Four days later, on Xmas day, I wasn’t really wanting to get involved in a race so was quite glad when the youngsters all shot off, I just focussed on a solid performance but ended up taking everyone but 1^st place, running a 17:58 in the process. Of course being 4 seconds behind the winner I was a bit annoyed that I didn’t push harder, but I reminded myself that it was really just a means to an end and I hadn’t turned up with the intention to win. Then Carole said she wanted to do a parkrun on the Saturday, I wasn’t keen but in the interests of relationship harmony I decided to go along. My mindset was very much in the not really wanting to be there, in fact I’d done a fast run on the treadmill and a PT session the day before and I was feeling a little tired.

Understandably I never really got into it, yes I still ran a solid run but, at 18:25, it showed my lack of interest. There was a time I’d have been disappointed with that, until my injury I’d never run slower than 18 minutes, at any parkrun, but the 19:25 in Edinburgh put paid to that.

So as we approach 2014 it’s time for me to think about what I want to achieve next year. I can also reflect on a year that, despite being one of my worst for injuries and being unable to run for great chunks of it, actually gave me a lot of satisfactory performances. I even managed to add to my collection of medals with two BMAF Nationals (gold and silver) and a North of England (bronze) finding their way into my trunk, none of which would have been possible without the support from my Salford team mates, I’ll be back aiming for more next year. It was also good to see my clients doing so well, the running ones understandably as I put my 25 years of experience to good use, but also my non running clients, for who I’ve been using an exercise formula called Rogfit, can’t remember who came up with that name. Lastly, it was good to see my mate Rob Tudor enjoying success with Salford. Rob talked to me about joining up earlier in the year and I told him what I enjoyed about being a member. It was enough to seal the deal and Rob, despite suffering his own set of injuries, was able to gain three medals at BMAf National level with the squad, two of which were in the same team as me. I’m hoping we’ll both be making more of an impact for Salford next year, but more especially it would be great to be in the same race, when we’re both fully fit, though at 49 he is getting a bit past it now.

Happy New year all.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Consolidation Phase

I’m going through a phase, in my training, I call consolidation. After the long struggle with injury, followed by the three races in succession, to get fit for and represent my club in a National championship, I’ve decided to concentrate on getting some solid training done before I race seriously again.

I love racing, it’s why I train all the time, to get, and maintain fitness, so I can perform at my best in races. But there is a danger that racing too much can make you stale, which is why I don’t race every week. For the same reason I don’t do parkruns every week, even though I view them more as a paced training run rather than a race. It’s too easy to get caught in a trap, of always doing the same pace in races, that you never seem to advance, which is where putting in some consolidated training can give you opportunities to try different things and refresh your spirit.

I know there are some people who can race week in and week out, often more than once a week, and they thrive on it, but I don’t, I like to recharge my batteries every so often. That’s the way I’ve been ever since I was under the guidance of Arthur Bruce and it’s often led to me producing a performance nobody would expect looking at my previous form, which is why racing form isn’t always a good indicator of potential.

So since the BMAF cross country relays I’ve been focussing on my training, I haven’t even decided when I’ll race next, though I will be slipping in the odd parkrun, only for matrimonial purposes. My training has consisted of longer distances, more reps and PT sessions. This means that my legs are always a little tired but manageable, what you’d expect for any athlete training hard in the winter.

Saturday was one of those parkrun days. Carole wanted to do one and I could see no reason to object. We chose Congleton, because it’s been a while since we last went there, in fact at my last attempt to run it I had to ease off after a quarter of a lap and stop altogether at the end of lap 1, it was far too soon after damaging my achilles.

When the run started I chose to take it steady, not so South Cheshire’s Pete Mallison, who shot off. I tracked him for a while but he kept pulling away gradually. I wasn’t really in the mood for busting a gut, I was happy to just have a hard run, not that that would suggest I could have beaten Pete who finished in a time 6 seconds faster than my best around the course. My own time was 17:36, which I’m quite pleased with, I didn’t push too hard but produced my 2^nd fastest parkrun time of the year. That means I’m on my way back to good form, hopefully it won’t be too long before I produce something a bit more spectacular.

Cue picture of me running something above current form of the time. This is a picture of me on my way to winning the Wimbledon 10k in March 2004 in 31:56, previous 10k’s over the previous year had seen me unable to break 33 minutes but on this day I found myself unexpectedly in the lead from the start and just decided to keep pushing it, running scared!

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk