Rob's Running Blog

Moonraker 10k – Middleton, Manchester – 54:58/55:06

To begin with, I still have no idea why this event is called the Moonraker 10k – and forgot to ask somebody before or after! Certainly, I didn’t see James Bond or see any moon buggies (although was very nearly hallucinating by the end of the race!)

When I got up, it was clear it was going to be a very hot and sunny day, like yesterday – and because the summer hasn’t been that great or hot so far, I have not had much chance to run in such conditions to get used to it, so it was probably a good idea that I had a little run yesterday. As always, when I was getting ready and waiting for my taxi, I questioned why I was doing this at all – dragging myself out of bed, to go out and run 6.2 miles on a blisteringly hot day! Still, the taxi was booked, which made it difficult to back out now! So my driver turned up outside the house, and we set off making small talk about running. As usual, I had allowed far too much time, so I arrived at Bowlee country park in Middelton, north Manchester with plenty of time to spare, but it was nice to be there and find time to relax and soak up the atmosphere – and make sure I stayed in the shade, and found the toilets! I also made sure I covered myself in sun screen, and applied a little extra just before the start.

The start was pretty informal, it seemed to be a lot of people milling about, then suddenly the horn went and we were off! I started off somewhere near the back, which was my plan for this run and it was quite a sedate pace back there and I was overtaking a few people and feeling pretty comfortable, although not getting carried away, and thought everything was great. Certainly I felt much better than I had on yesterday’s preparation run. After 1k I started to find my own pace and was feeling fine as the runners spread out more. The other 2 races I’ve done were so crowded, I was always either overtaking or being overtaken, but after not too long I had my own space in this one, and tried to just settle into a rhythm as we covered some trails through the country park. Then the route left the park and into a Middleton council estate, which involved the main incline of the course, a long climb up a road through the estate. This had been mentioned in a previous race review that I’d read, but I think I underestimated it. I could see this hill stretching up into the distance and could even see people walking further up – in fact, I was overtaking people, several of whom were walking up it – I never saw most of them again, although it was a bit annoying that some people walked up the hill and I passed them, then they came sprinting past me on the downhill bits later! With hindsight maybe they had the right strategy, but I had this attitude that the hill wasn’t going to beat me and I wasn’t going to slow down too much – which was probably my main mistake of the race, as my pace up the hill was kind of what destroyed me as I got further into the race. Rather than try to pick up pace after this hill and take advantage of the downhills, I just had to coast on the downhill bits and try to recover! The hill came at about 2k into the race – it normally takes me 3-4k to settle into a comfortable place and get flowing; I think I ended up with some serious oxygen debt too early, which disrupted me for the rest of the race and led to quite a bit of physical and mental pain

My Garmin was spot on with the Kilometre markers (at the City of Manchester 10k it always seemed to be counting 1100 metres for every kilometre, although more or less levelled out to normal by the end!). In this race, I didn’t feel that I was running an extra 100m every kilometre so at least didn’t have that going on in my head! But the hill, like I said earlier, had done some damage, and I felt like packing in and walking at times, it was just so hot and I was breathing so hard, and every time I saw another incline I almost despaired! But I just kept pushing myself, although I was actually wincing with the pain of it after 6k – a female runner turned round and asked me if I was OK at one point and I really appreciated that, although didn’t have the breath to explain much to her, although I did stay with her pretty much until near the end and we exchanged well done’s at the finish

I felt I was really plodding after 6k, although I did overtake one or two runners who’d started to struggle too, and I was probably going a bit slower to make sure I wouldn’t have to endure the frustration of blowing up. I really struggled mentally between 7-9k, tormenting myself with visions of the oasis of the finish line! Then I got to the 9k and I could see the area where we’d started, and assumed that was the finish too, and I felt I could manage to add just a little extra pace in the knowledge that I would be finishing soon, even though I knew I would not be breaking any personal bests today (at least it seemed unlikely according to my Garmin!) – so I overtook this guy who was in front of me and off I went, and reached the start line area – only to be told by a marshall the finish was another 450 metres, round another big bend! I could have sworn I had run 2k since the 9k marker, not one, and certainly thought I had run more than 500metres – but Garmin and marshall agreed with each other! I was tiring badly now and started swearing at myself! I could see the finish line, but 100 metres was starting to feel like torture – and by the time I staggered to the line with nothing left at all, the guy I had overtaken around 9k came running past me, – well done him, it was all a bit tortoise and hare! Wish I had just paced that last k a little better or had more of an idea where the finish line was going to be! I clocked 54:58 with my Garmin, with official time 55:06 (although I had started at the back of the field so that added the extra 8 seconds from gun time!). As I went through the funnel, a lovely little girl came and handed my my t-shirt, and I went to get some water as I slowly got my breath back and started the road to recovery!

With hindsight, I am pleased with the time, although wasn’t really thrilled at the time and felt pretty exhausted on finishing. In my favour, I had the heat and the inclines to deal with, both of which affected my pace, so the fact I was only 30 seconds off my PB was really good – I reckon in flat, cool conditions I would have smashed my PB. I talked to more experienced runner after the race, and he said it was pretty much the hardest run he had done with the heat and the hills. So I can take some comfort from that, and in all it was good experience – and getting experience of different conditions and race terrains is going to help me a lot in future (assuming I continue with this crazy hobby!). I now know I need to do a bit more hill work, in case any hills crop up in future races, as for the weather, well, I will just have to play that by ear, as it is generally so unpredictable in the UK – at least I have no plans to do Marathons in Arizona or other absurdly hot places!

And now I have done a few races, I will at least have some “course PBs” to aim for next year – so I will be able to do the Moonraker 10k again in 2009, and see if I can smash the time (although who knows, maybe it will be raining for the next one!) – maybe I will even find out why it is called the Moonraker! If you know, do post a comment!

The main thing for me is, I really, really wanted to stop, I felt like I was dying in the latter stages, but I didn’t quit, and faced up to the challenge, gritted my teeth and just kept going – and really, underneath it all, that is what it’s all about for me

City of Manchester 10k Road Race – Cold – 54m 36s PB

The City of Manchester 10k at the Regional Athletics Stadium, Sportcity, East Manchester – only my second race ever, had done well in training so thought I would do really well, so here is the story!

Got up really early, as I had a taxi booked for 8am to get to Sportcity in East Manchester in plenty of time. The weather looked really cold and overcast, so I was wondering if I would get soaked before even starting, as I just turned up already changed for the race.

Got there and things were a bit quiet as I was quite early, but there were a few other runners wandering around. I went into the complex/warm up track behind the stadium and it was warmer in there and I located the toilets – important, as nerves seem to make me want to keep using the loo, so wanted to make sure I didn’t get caught short on the starting line.

I did some stretches and did a lap round the warmup track, but not too much, then after a last nip to the loo made my way out on to the track and walked round a few times, doing some stretches, then entered the starting lineup with a few minutes to go. I was fairly near the front, with hindsight it might have been an idea to go nearer the back.

Anyway, off we went, the race started by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, and raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. I was going to try to pace myself, but got a bit caught up at first, saw someone start walking almost as soon as we’d left the complex (not 100m covered) was surprised by that, but just tried to keep to my own pace, as I was both overtaking and being overtaken. I checked my Garmin, which had clocked 1.09km before the first official KM marker came into sight, and it was this that would play tricks on my mind during the race, as well as the people overtaking me.

I did manage to get into a rhythm, but was never really comfortable throughout the race, and was thankful that I’d stuck it out through a lot of hard training sessions, which gave me the endurance, and more importantly the mental toughness to keep going even when my legs and lungs were telling me they’d had enough! At one point a guy who must have been 30 years older than me (well maybe 25!) drew level with me, and just went past, I tried to keep with him, or at least keep him in sight, but he soon vanished, so I was left to pick off less speedy runners, at one point playing cat and mouse with a female runner, overtaking her, only for her to get her revenge a few minutes later! Well done that lady, but she did help me go a little faster for that stretch!

I was relieved to come round to the last KM marker and start the re-entry into the Regional Athletics Stadium at Sportcity, I tried to inject some extra pace and compete with the people sprinting towards the line but really had nothing left, I crossed the line and was glad to stop and get my breath back, before wandering off to get some water, my chip removed, and my goody bag! Once I had recovered a little I went to the stadium entry to clap in the rest of the runners, it brought a lump to my throat to see the sheer determination on their faces, they deserved a clap and cheer. And then this chap in a skeleton suit ran in, so I shouted “Go skeleton!” and he turned to me and said he was 18 stone when he started the race which gave me a chuckle

My chip time was 54:36, a definite and dramatic improvement from the 58:12 I ran in the BUPA Great Manchester Run on May 18th – but having run a little faster in training I though t the cool race conditions would drag me along to something much faster. So remains to be seen whether racing will actually make me run faster – although on a side note, my Garmin had clocked 10.2k, am not sure if that was inaccuracy, or because my weaving around the course, going wide etc, added that much extra distance – which at my pace is another minute.

I heard some good advice on http://runnersforum.co.uk though, which was not to compare race and training times too much, as the conditions are so different, what with having to overtake people etc.

All in all am pleased to have got a PB and broke 55 minutes – now the hard work begins to break 50, no idea if I can do much better than that, but it’s something to go for now and feel it is something within my abilities! Will just try to do it a minute at a time, and have my eye on a couple of races between now and the Great Yorkshire run in September.

10k Regular Run – Humid – 53m 50s

Thought I’d do a 10k against the clock to see how my pacing is, ready for the City of Manchester 10k race on Sunday. Felt a bit puffy at 3k, and went into a bit of a recovery at 5k, but kept pushing every time I felt I was running too much within myself. Knew I was running faster and for longer than ever before, kept checking the Garmin, thought I might do 53 minutes at one point, did manage to up the pace over the last k and hit the stop button on 53 mins 50 – well inside my last PB in training (by 2.5 minutes) and well inside my target time of 55 minutes.

Now will just have to see how my mind and body handle the race on Sunday – time of day may be a factor, weather, nerves, etc.

May do some weights in meantime but plan to rest on three days before race and let energy build up and muscles recover from the hard training of last few weeks!

10K Regular Run – Windy – 56m 28s

Didn’t think I’d make this 10k – in more ways than one! Thought doing 2 5k’s followed by a 10k on 3 consecutive days might be pushing it, as have not run so intensively before – and then less than 1k into the run was nearly poleaxed by a falling tree, thankfully just got scratched by the twigs instead of clobbered by the heavy bit Struggled a bit running into a very fierce gale force headwind!

At 1k thought, God, another 9 to go, but gritted my teeth, was managing to pace myself, and passed 5k in about 27 mins, then pressed on. Masochist that I am, I had mentally altered my route so that the last kilometre would be uphill all the way – this bit was really tough, although I had managed to conserve energy with a recovery pace on the k before that. It was slow going up this hill, but when I kept going and when it levelled out with 200 metres to go, it was a good feeling – my thinking is, if I can do the last k in training uphill, finishing on the flat should be a doddle and I may even be able to inject a final burst of pace

Finished in 56m 28s – not far off my PB (edit – just noticed it’s in fact only 3 seconds off!), and considering the headwind, near death experience and extended uphill stretch, was probably worth a PB in itself.

Regular Run 10k – Hot and Sunny – 56m 25s

Was feeling quite tired, and a bit dispirited with toughness of last few runs, but set out for 10k regular run. Tried to set off slowly, and this seemed to make breathing easier, although still always tempted to go faster once I start feeling it’s too easy.

Had spells of feeling really flying with periods of feeling really knackered as if I wasn’t even going to be able to cross the 10k line. Was pretty hot and sunny, so took on some water.

Varied route slightly, so by the time I reached the end of the woods I still had some distance to go, so ran up and down Stockport Road, meaning last 500 metres was up a pretty steep hill, which probably added a few seconds on to my time.

Still, managed 56:25 – about 2 minutes off previous best in training, so am getting closer to sub 55 10k, and hopefully sub 25 5k.

Tough 5k runs really seemed to pay off towards the end of the 10k as it gave me the confidence to maintain my pace, and the distance run gave me the confidence I could reach 10k with something left – so mixing up the runs seems to be starting to pay off.

Now I plan to have a long weekend off work – and running – as I always seem to come back fresher after a mini break!

10K Regular Run – Windy – 58m 05s

First time I have run 10k since the Great Manchester run last Sunday. Had run 5k in the week, trying for extra pace, and it took it out of me without actually managing to run any faster over 5k than I did over 10k a few days before.

So today went back to my strategy of starting off quite slowly and building up, intended to run 10k but not kill myself. It was sunny but a little chilly and very blustery. Started to feel a little puffy after 2k but settled into a rhythm, and when I checked my time for 5k I had knocked off 2 minutes of my previous split of 29 mins, just over 27 mins, but still another 5k to go! Started to feel a little tired but kept going, although my pace slowed considerably for a few k’s, and I took a bit of a wrong turning on my usual route so ended up covering some more uphill terrain than usual, and had the usual stiles and grass to jump over and wade through, before I got to my flat finishing stretch in the woods, where I pushed hard over the last 2k, and was happy to press the stop button and slow down to a walk as my Garmin ticked over to 10k completed! Felt like I had been in a race all over again, but enjoyed a warm down walk back to my house, despite it being very windy.

Managed to knock 7 seconds off my race time of the week before, and a couple of minutes off my best training time.

Next part of it for me is to now get into that 5k 27 mins pace and maintain it for 10k, so I can break the 55 minutes for the first time (in training at least!). I will run a 5k in a couple of days (am at cricket for 2-3 days so usual routine is trashed) and work on pacing and speed a little more, but keep to my rule of starting off slow – as I find the quicker I start off, the slower my time ends up being!