for a day i would rather for get at bath. to put it bluntly my legs just couldn't do any thing i wanted them to do on sunday and i ended up coming home in a time which frankly i would rather forget about of 18:30. come to think of it my legs are still rather tired now, but i think thats as much induced by the fact that i have been getting back in to my normal routineof 5 oclock in the morning starts. it quiet at work at the minute but that wont last long as the christmas pressure period officially starts on the 10th of december and with all the cuts they've made recently it promises to be one of the toughest of recent times.
tonight its mile reps at aztec west. i'm hoping to beat my pb around there at some point this year of 5:21 but of the two sessions we've done there i've been in less than perfect shape both times due to races done in the previous couple of days before the session. this is a session that i have a particular hatred of as the route that we use is long straight and predominantly featureless, so it leave you with the impression that you are running hard but going nowhere very fast.
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Saturday, 24 November 2007
news from the horses mouth
take it from me i will be racing at bath university, a place that feels like it has been a recurring theme in my life for the past week or so, tomorrow. its a 5k road race, the first in a series of two 5k's and a 10k all around the bath university campus. i will hope to better the 17:54 i ran there in february this year, but i'm not holding out too many hopes for a pb because of the twisty turny nature of the course. it starts quite quick with a couple of laps of the track before you venture out on to the campus. the finish comes upon you quite quickly and you almost don't notice it until you run past and they call out your number and your time! thats what a lot of people did last time round any way. the other two races are after christmas, but theres plenty for me to be going on with and thinking about between now and then including the victory 5 next sunday, the weston prom runs, the bridge inn, but i was advised by mike not to do that one as it would mean doing 2 races in the space of three days, which would affect preparations for portsmouth as it would mean skipping a training session. theres also a weston prom run and the locally famous clevedon boxing day 4 miler (or piss up if you are a clevedon athlete) where everyone who's every one in local athletics turns up to run the hangovers and xmas pudding out of their system.
and of course if you're a postman like i am yes there will be thousands of xmas cards and presents. this year though i have promised my self, that i will be doing absolutely nothing that i don't have to do. i have spent the past two and a half years working over my time for free, doing extra tasks for free to help the office out and it has all just been thrown back in my face and more by a manager who has no idea how to manage and who thinks that all the rounds can be done in about a hour and a half because a few idiots come in early, so they can finish early, break health and safety laws, by running, use their cars on delivery to save themselves a bit of time and generally lick the managers arses to get a few favours to themselves. its funny how these people all non strikers are getting all the favours and over time now isn't it? non discrimination? bollocks.
and of course if you're a postman like i am yes there will be thousands of xmas cards and presents. this year though i have promised my self, that i will be doing absolutely nothing that i don't have to do. i have spent the past two and a half years working over my time for free, doing extra tasks for free to help the office out and it has all just been thrown back in my face and more by a manager who has no idea how to manage and who thinks that all the rounds can be done in about a hour and a half because a few idiots come in early, so they can finish early, break health and safety laws, by running, use their cars on delivery to save themselves a bit of time and generally lick the managers arses to get a few favours to themselves. its funny how these people all non strikers are getting all the favours and over time now isn't it? non discrimination? bollocks.
Friday, 23 November 2007
ready to race
there is apparently a 5k at bath university on sunday and if i can find confirmation of this then i will be doing it, and i will sacrifice doing the bridge inn on tuesday night in return for doing a training session at aztec west. one of the reasons i hate that session is that nearly everybody drops out of the session before the end and i quite often end up having to do the final mile on my jack jones which means that i end up doing it slower and i (obviously) end up getting a worse time which reflects more badly on me. last night there was a very small select group of us at the track at filton college for a session taken ny the university of bristol coach keith who some what annoyingly after telling us it would be a 7:30 on the dot start turned up at 8:00 citing the fact that he got held up at work. there were in fact only 5 people turned up last night due to the fact that the european cross country trials are being held in liverpool on saturday so many people are resting for those in the somewhat unlikely in many cases hope that they will be selected to go to toro on the 9th of december along withthose who have been pre selected ie mo farah and bristols own kate reed.
the session last night was 4x800 and 4x400 with non of the long recoveries that you get used to having on the track in the summer and to be quite honest about that i was glad about it because it was freezing cold and i didn't want to be stood about waiting. after a slow start on the first 800 (i was delibrately cautious because my calf muscle felt tight) 2:42 i was soon doing much faster 2:34 and 35's. the 400's were all done in 72 or 73, so i was pleased to see that i hadn't lost too much of the speed that i gained in the summer, but i had no hope of doing the 67 or 68 second laps that i was doing then. 800 meter races will definintely be ditched from now on it'll be 15's and 3ks on the track from now on (according to the test i did on tuesday my 3k speed is 17.45 kph, which works out just over 10 minutes although i reckon i can beat that next summer, quite comfortably and you add 10% for each distance down and take off 10% for each distance up although this can be some what inaccurate as you get further and further away from the 3k speed. i've yet to sit down and work out what it translates to time wise for each individual distance but i will doo that eventually and then decide i can beat those time probably
the session last night was 4x800 and 4x400 with non of the long recoveries that you get used to having on the track in the summer and to be quite honest about that i was glad about it because it was freezing cold and i didn't want to be stood about waiting. after a slow start on the first 800 (i was delibrately cautious because my calf muscle felt tight) 2:42 i was soon doing much faster 2:34 and 35's. the 400's were all done in 72 or 73, so i was pleased to see that i hadn't lost too much of the speed that i gained in the summer, but i had no hope of doing the 67 or 68 second laps that i was doing then. 800 meter races will definintely be ditched from now on it'll be 15's and 3ks on the track from now on (according to the test i did on tuesday my 3k speed is 17.45 kph, which works out just over 10 minutes although i reckon i can beat that next summer, quite comfortably and you add 10% for each distance down and take off 10% for each distance up although this can be some what inaccurate as you get further and further away from the 3k speed. i've yet to sit down and work out what it translates to time wise for each individual distance but i will doo that eventually and then decide i can beat those time probably
Thursday, 22 November 2007
the treadmill test...
i can see why it was likened to having a tooth amputated without anaesthetic. it wasn't just the equipment but all the breathing apparatus you had to wear. it was very uncomfortable, the main reason for that being that instead of wearing a face mask like they do at some places where they do these tests it was a snorkle device that was attatched to your head via a head brace and attatched to a machine via the usual tubes and electronic paraphernalia. then they put a clip on my nose which was in turn placed on top of a plaster to stop it from slipping off, which at first i was secretly hoping it would, but eventually i learnt to tolerate its presence. its purpose was to make sure that all the oxygen/carbon dioxide that i processed was captured by the machines/computer.
first things first we sorted out all the usual paper work and disclaimers etc and i was allowed a ten minute warm up at low speed on the machine during which a heart rate of about 88 bpm was recorded. before that commenced though a blood sample was taken to record my blood lactate, haematocrit levels and all sorts of other biological data that the non sporting people out there have never even heard of. a heart rate monitor was used, i don't particularly like them very much because they constrict your breathing, but i endured it once just for the purpose of gaining information about myself.
once the warm up was complete, i was allowed to stretch etc just to make sure that i didnt pull any muscles or any thing. that is some thing that you don't want to happen on a treadmill as it can be positively dangerous as it wont stop for you and you'll go flying off the back as happened to robbie bugden once (one of my club mates) when he twinged a muscle and cracked his head open on one of the bars when he fell off!
so dr jonathan robinson and one of his female assistants decided to set me off on the treadmill at 12 kph and it was decided (or rather dictated to me) that we would do 6 3 minute intervals at increasing speeds with a 30 second break on each of them to take a blood sample from my finger. it felt easy at first but it got progressively harder and on the old rate of percieved exertion scale i gradually moved up from about 8 or 9 to more like 17 or 18 (the maximum is 20) so after 6 stages that represented the end of the first section of the test. i then had a timed ten minute break in which to stretch keep loose and replce any lost fluids. now this was the really nice bit. at the end of the test i was back on the treadmill this time at 15 kph, slightly slower than the 17kph i finished the first section of the test on. sounds easy, but for every minute you were on the treadmill they increased the incline by 1%. it feels slightly easier a first but believe me it gets very hard very quickly. when i asked what the average was they said for an elite athlete it was between 6 and ten minutes. i manged to get past the start of the 8th stage by which time my legs were shot to pieces. i had the report today. there was a hell of a lot of data on it and it said that my vo2 max was 57.89 lactate levels at the end were7.46 mmol and my haematocrit (red blood cell)levels were 47%. the most important thing it said was that all the data suggested that i was a long distance runner. when i mentioned this to mike he said that he had always thought that but because of the greater nembers involved in road running he recommended i do track to make a greater impact on my opponents as relatively the number of people running on the track is at an all time low.
first things first we sorted out all the usual paper work and disclaimers etc and i was allowed a ten minute warm up at low speed on the machine during which a heart rate of about 88 bpm was recorded. before that commenced though a blood sample was taken to record my blood lactate, haematocrit levels and all sorts of other biological data that the non sporting people out there have never even heard of. a heart rate monitor was used, i don't particularly like them very much because they constrict your breathing, but i endured it once just for the purpose of gaining information about myself.
once the warm up was complete, i was allowed to stretch etc just to make sure that i didnt pull any muscles or any thing. that is some thing that you don't want to happen on a treadmill as it can be positively dangerous as it wont stop for you and you'll go flying off the back as happened to robbie bugden once (one of my club mates) when he twinged a muscle and cracked his head open on one of the bars when he fell off!
so dr jonathan robinson and one of his female assistants decided to set me off on the treadmill at 12 kph and it was decided (or rather dictated to me) that we would do 6 3 minute intervals at increasing speeds with a 30 second break on each of them to take a blood sample from my finger. it felt easy at first but it got progressively harder and on the old rate of percieved exertion scale i gradually moved up from about 8 or 9 to more like 17 or 18 (the maximum is 20) so after 6 stages that represented the end of the first section of the test. i then had a timed ten minute break in which to stretch keep loose and replce any lost fluids. now this was the really nice bit. at the end of the test i was back on the treadmill this time at 15 kph, slightly slower than the 17kph i finished the first section of the test on. sounds easy, but for every minute you were on the treadmill they increased the incline by 1%. it feels slightly easier a first but believe me it gets very hard very quickly. when i asked what the average was they said for an elite athlete it was between 6 and ten minutes. i manged to get past the start of the 8th stage by which time my legs were shot to pieces. i had the report today. there was a hell of a lot of data on it and it said that my vo2 max was 57.89 lactate levels at the end were7.46 mmol and my haematocrit (red blood cell)levels were 47%. the most important thing it said was that all the data suggested that i was a long distance runner. when i mentioned this to mike he said that he had always thought that but because of the greater nembers involved in road running he recommended i do track to make a greater impact on my opponents as relatively the number of people running on the track is at an all time low.
Monday, 19 November 2007
cometh the day...
well that day is tomorrow, the day that i finally i will do the dreaded v02 max and lactate threshold tests. jo pavey once likened it to having a tooth pulled out without anaesthetic. rob whalley, when i asked him what it was like cmpared to the most painful thing i know in athletics, running on the track doing short repetitions, in typical northern fashion, the answer was short and to the point. "no its much worse". the good thing though is that there are things that i can't go wrong tomorrow. i can't go off too fast. the speed of the treadmill is will dictate how fast i run which is in turn, dictated by a mr jonathan robinson, who is whe guy conducting the test.
the test will be structured as follows. starting at the lowest speed, which will be set according to how your heart rate responds to a short warm up, for 3 mins, with 30 sec recovery to take blood sample. then repeat at the next speed, then the next and so on and so forth until you are utterly exhausted and just can't take any more or until you collapse in a heap. i've been there a few times in training, once when i had to crawl from one side of the track to the other at the end of the session. i'm not going to make any predictions about what times it wil predict i am capable of or how much lactic acid i can tolerate, but i can tell from my race times that my current vo2 max is some where around about 60-65. thats mililitres of oxygen per minute per kilogram of body weight. the best the highest ever recorded by any athlete i think was either lance armstrong or miguel indurain, who had scores around about the low nineties, whereas dave bedford holds the record, (well these are stats from about 15 yrs ago) for distance runners at 88.0. i some how think though that both kenenisa bekele and haile gebreselassie will have higher scores than that though considering that their 10,000 meter times are over a minute quicker than bedfords. someone i know in brighton would probably have a score close to zero. i wont mention who it is because scott roberts knows damn well who he is
going to the more recent past i raced over 5 miles at weston on thursday night and came away with a new pb of 29:17, and came 10th, which is my highest ever position in that race one which i have raced several times over the past 18 months or so. sub 29 minutes has to be the aim and i reckon i have it within me as on thursday, for large parts of the race i didn't feel laboured. working hard yes, but not fatigued. i started off quite sensibly, placing my self behind a group of about 6 blokes. for the first mile or so they pulled away from me and i let them do this but not too far and not to the point thati couldn't catch them later. after the first turn i was surprised at how easily they came back to me and by halfway i had caught them and they were all to a man going out the back door to use cycling parlance. clevedon runner andy heyes tried to go with me for most of the 2nd lap but i was always confident that my far superior speed would take me away from him and in the end i pulled away from him, albeit temporarily as he produced quite an impressive kick in an attempt to catch me but i covered the last 200 yds or so in about 35 secs which would probably of held off every one in that field apart from phil parry who won and the cardiff runner michael johnson, no relation to the american track and field legend. me and phil were the only two bristol runners who bothered to turn out and his partner sian who won the womens race, well thats actually three in total.
since then its all been easy days in readiness for whats to come tomorrow, with no running at all today. it has to be like that because you are operating on your aerobic and anaerobic limit simultaneously, which is just about one of the hardest forms of exercise you can get apart frommay be doing a marathon or ultra marathon, although ask me again about that that tomorrow after the test!
bye bye!
pete
the test will be structured as follows. starting at the lowest speed, which will be set according to how your heart rate responds to a short warm up, for 3 mins, with 30 sec recovery to take blood sample. then repeat at the next speed, then the next and so on and so forth until you are utterly exhausted and just can't take any more or until you collapse in a heap. i've been there a few times in training, once when i had to crawl from one side of the track to the other at the end of the session. i'm not going to make any predictions about what times it wil predict i am capable of or how much lactic acid i can tolerate, but i can tell from my race times that my current vo2 max is some where around about 60-65. thats mililitres of oxygen per minute per kilogram of body weight. the best the highest ever recorded by any athlete i think was either lance armstrong or miguel indurain, who had scores around about the low nineties, whereas dave bedford holds the record, (well these are stats from about 15 yrs ago) for distance runners at 88.0. i some how think though that both kenenisa bekele and haile gebreselassie will have higher scores than that though considering that their 10,000 meter times are over a minute quicker than bedfords. someone i know in brighton would probably have a score close to zero. i wont mention who it is because scott roberts knows damn well who he is
going to the more recent past i raced over 5 miles at weston on thursday night and came away with a new pb of 29:17, and came 10th, which is my highest ever position in that race one which i have raced several times over the past 18 months or so. sub 29 minutes has to be the aim and i reckon i have it within me as on thursday, for large parts of the race i didn't feel laboured. working hard yes, but not fatigued. i started off quite sensibly, placing my self behind a group of about 6 blokes. for the first mile or so they pulled away from me and i let them do this but not too far and not to the point thati couldn't catch them later. after the first turn i was surprised at how easily they came back to me and by halfway i had caught them and they were all to a man going out the back door to use cycling parlance. clevedon runner andy heyes tried to go with me for most of the 2nd lap but i was always confident that my far superior speed would take me away from him and in the end i pulled away from him, albeit temporarily as he produced quite an impressive kick in an attempt to catch me but i covered the last 200 yds or so in about 35 secs which would probably of held off every one in that field apart from phil parry who won and the cardiff runner michael johnson, no relation to the american track and field legend. me and phil were the only two bristol runners who bothered to turn out and his partner sian who won the womens race, well thats actually three in total.
since then its all been easy days in readiness for whats to come tomorrow, with no running at all today. it has to be like that because you are operating on your aerobic and anaerobic limit simultaneously, which is just about one of the hardest forms of exercise you can get apart frommay be doing a marathon or ultra marathon, although ask me again about that that tomorrow after the test!
bye bye!
pete
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
failure is the key word
i took out the frustrations of failing my driving test for the stupidest, harshest most minute of reasons on monday out on my running last night, that was after destroying my mobile phone when i got home, so those of you that have my number please promptly delete it the watch this space for a new one. not that i have much intention of getting one some time soon, but at some point i will have to. the reason why i failed was positioning-being to close to the white line (but never actually crossing it unless there was an obstruction). i have no recollection of doing it but there you go, theres no point in arguing because firstly they wont change their mind and secondly, you might get the same examiner for a subsequent test and henceforth the chances of you failing again instantly multiply.
enough of that. i'l just have to put in for my test again some time soon. in the mean timei have things to look forward to on the running scene, like my vo2 max test in 13 days time, and err not much else because soon after its going to be december and we'll be snowed under with xmas work and the ongoin backlog from the strike action. they're still having to rent out extra warehouses in some parts of the country.
last nights session was at coombe dingle with a session where the initila part wa divided in to 5 sections of 4 minutes, the first being a straight 4 minutes, the 2nd and 3rd being four miuntes with a 30 second increase in pace somewhere in the middle, the 4th two sets of two minutes with a short 30 second recovery, and finally 4 times one minute again with a short recovery. the final part of the session wastwo laps of the field for the middle distance people and three laps for the endurance people, me being officially somewhere in between, until i get some sort of scientifically based indicator ie when i do the vo2 max/lactate threshold test which will give me the best indication yet of what i am capable of.
i was holding my own against some of the faster runners last night quite well and i do some times think that if i trained properly for cross country, rather than running on the road all the time, then i might do quite well at it. but cross country is all about positions in races and times are not really given any respect like they are on the road or the track, which is where my heart lies, much as i enjoy the mud and the wind and rain.
with no club events coming up apart from a long course cross country race on sunday at bath, which i shan't be doing, it is time to flick through the running magazines and see what i can find on the roads as i feel in need of a racing fix, and apart from the usual weston prom 5 milers and the bridge inn 5k's theres not much going on, unless who happen to be able to drive, which i can't because of an incompetent examiner. no, better stop that before i go on one of my rants. unfortunately most races are on a sunday morning in rural communities where there isn't a train station within 15 or 20 miles in some cases, no over exaggeration. so i guess at the moment its just a case of keeping my eyes peeled for some thing just on the off chance, like for instance a cancellation at a driving test centre. or maybe even a race.
enough of that. i'l just have to put in for my test again some time soon. in the mean timei have things to look forward to on the running scene, like my vo2 max test in 13 days time, and err not much else because soon after its going to be december and we'll be snowed under with xmas work and the ongoin backlog from the strike action. they're still having to rent out extra warehouses in some parts of the country.
last nights session was at coombe dingle with a session where the initila part wa divided in to 5 sections of 4 minutes, the first being a straight 4 minutes, the 2nd and 3rd being four miuntes with a 30 second increase in pace somewhere in the middle, the 4th two sets of two minutes with a short 30 second recovery, and finally 4 times one minute again with a short recovery. the final part of the session wastwo laps of the field for the middle distance people and three laps for the endurance people, me being officially somewhere in between, until i get some sort of scientifically based indicator ie when i do the vo2 max/lactate threshold test which will give me the best indication yet of what i am capable of.
i was holding my own against some of the faster runners last night quite well and i do some times think that if i trained properly for cross country, rather than running on the road all the time, then i might do quite well at it. but cross country is all about positions in races and times are not really given any respect like they are on the road or the track, which is where my heart lies, much as i enjoy the mud and the wind and rain.
with no club events coming up apart from a long course cross country race on sunday at bath, which i shan't be doing, it is time to flick through the running magazines and see what i can find on the roads as i feel in need of a racing fix, and apart from the usual weston prom 5 milers and the bridge inn 5k's theres not much going on, unless who happen to be able to drive, which i can't because of an incompetent examiner. no, better stop that before i go on one of my rants. unfortunately most races are on a sunday morning in rural communities where there isn't a train station within 15 or 20 miles in some cases, no over exaggeration. so i guess at the moment its just a case of keeping my eyes peeled for some thing just on the off chance, like for instance a cancellation at a driving test centre. or maybe even a race.
Saturday, 3 November 2007
the road to athletic super stardom
after all those years of trying to get in to the news for all the positive things i have achieved in athletics, i finally get in the newspapers-the swindon start, front page-for a race that i utterly failed miserably in, the swindon half marathon. how did i come to be in posession of one of these newspapers-well a customer recognised me from when i had been running around portishead and passed it on to the office pervert nigel lines, who in turn gave it to me. really i was annoyed about this piece of publicity, because i didn't particularlywant to be reminded of failure, but sometimes that can be a good thing to keep you motivated and to keep your feet on the ground when you think you're invincible. you never are you just think you are when you're really fit, but you only ever stay that fit for a short period before fatigue sets in
Thursday, 1 November 2007
i cant believe its november already!!!!!!
training is in full flow now, races are coming thick and fast, we have the national cross country relays on saturday at mansfield, there will be a few more 10k's and half marathons before christmas time, but its not certain that i will find any that i will be able to get to, but i would like to have a crack at my 10k pb before christmas time, but like i have said before the biggest question is passing my driving test on monday, which will make life a whole lot easier, and give me a lot more choice in terms of the venues i can race at etc.
coombe dingles session on tuesday was a toughie with a six minute rep, 3x3 minutes, followed by 2 minutes short recovery 1 minute three times, three times 1 minute and finally a four minute rep. my legs were still tired from sunday, until about three hours before the session, and i that made me regret the decision not to do the bridge inn race on he same evening, but sods law i suppose, if i had elected to do it i probably wouldn't have recovered in time. so it was probably the right decision to have a confidence boosting cross contry sess, where if i had run badly it would have been harder for me to tell because all of our efforts are measured against the clock rather than in distance.
on a different note we have finally had the proposals for the industrial dispute tabled for us and the cwu has recommended that we vote yes to accept the new proposals and end the dispute. all of this could have been avoided if the royal mail had listenend to what we had to say in the fisrt place rather than obstinately deciding they were going to make sweeping instantanous cuts under the banner of 'modernaisation', which we all know it wasn't really, accross the board, putting people in fear of losing their pensions and their jobs. i still think its very odd how adam crozier and alan leighton could justify saying that we were underworked and over paid, yet they are paid £2.7 million each per annum and only work about two days a week. its also odd how the pension deficit didn't affect their own company pensions. still even with an agreement, theres no way either of them will get a christmas card from me or 190,000 other union members. they might get a piece of dog shit through the post or some thing like that though....on a happier note though they'll be gone in a couple of years probably with a cool couple of million in bonuses and a pat on the back for 'a job well done' and some one else can come in and fuck it up even more
coombe dingles session on tuesday was a toughie with a six minute rep, 3x3 minutes, followed by 2 minutes short recovery 1 minute three times, three times 1 minute and finally a four minute rep. my legs were still tired from sunday, until about three hours before the session, and i that made me regret the decision not to do the bridge inn race on he same evening, but sods law i suppose, if i had elected to do it i probably wouldn't have recovered in time. so it was probably the right decision to have a confidence boosting cross contry sess, where if i had run badly it would have been harder for me to tell because all of our efforts are measured against the clock rather than in distance.
on a different note we have finally had the proposals for the industrial dispute tabled for us and the cwu has recommended that we vote yes to accept the new proposals and end the dispute. all of this could have been avoided if the royal mail had listenend to what we had to say in the fisrt place rather than obstinately deciding they were going to make sweeping instantanous cuts under the banner of 'modernaisation', which we all know it wasn't really, accross the board, putting people in fear of losing their pensions and their jobs. i still think its very odd how adam crozier and alan leighton could justify saying that we were underworked and over paid, yet they are paid £2.7 million each per annum and only work about two days a week. its also odd how the pension deficit didn't affect their own company pensions. still even with an agreement, theres no way either of them will get a christmas card from me or 190,000 other union members. they might get a piece of dog shit through the post or some thing like that though....on a happier note though they'll be gone in a couple of years probably with a cool couple of million in bonuses and a pat on the back for 'a job well done' and some one else can come in and fuck it up even more
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