It seems that official times were kept for the Stourbridge Stumble, I just hadn't noticed the timekeepers! Stourbridge running club published them a day or so ago, so I now have an official time:
59 minutes 36 seconds, placing 154 out of 203 finishers and 29th out of 39 in my category. This gives me a nice baseline PB to improve on in the coming months and years!
I had already planned to take a 2 week break following the race under instruction from my physiotherapist. This has turned out quite good for two reasons:
1) my left hip is not very well, I suspect because I overdid the finish in the race. It needs a bit of time to heal. My left calf also gave me trouble for a couple of days but has settled now.
2) we've had extremely wet weather over this week, especially in the mornings I would have been running. I don't mind light rain at all, but this has been the sort of rain which turns streets to rivers. It looks like this will run through to next week too.
So, in the meantime, I'm doing my stretches and ankle exercises and plan to hit the roads again on 2nd July, possibly with the start of a half-marathon training plan. After a lay-off, I know I'll need to keep things easy - but I have plenty of time ahead of me.
All the best,
Mr Stumble.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Mr Stumble Stumbles!
This week, I've mainly been taking things reasonably easy so I didn't get a blow-out to prevent me running The Stourbridge Stumble. On Monday, I ran an easy five and Wednesday an easy three and a half. Everything seemed to be ticking over nicely. What's more, I borrowed my wife's iPod shuffle which I have found really helpful. It's like when I run without music, all I can hear is that voice in my head moaning about the time of day, wouldn't it be better if I hadn't started out in the first place and why not make it a shorter run today. That voice gets drowned out with even the fairly low volume on the Shuffle.
Mon: 5 miles, 47:49 minutes 9:33 pace. 16C HRAve:141 HRMax:155
Wed: 3.67 miles, 33:51 minutes 9:14 pace. 14C HRAve:148 HRMax:166
I took the rest of the week off so as not to overdo things before Saturday.
Race day finally arrived! This particular race is run at 6pm, which means a lot of finding things to occupy yourself with through the day. Family life generally means that Saturdays are busy anyway, and this particular one also coincided with my eldest daughter taking a keyboard exam and then heading off for a sleep-over. The logistics of this meant I had no-one to come along to cheer me on or take photos, so apologies for the lack of any footage in this report!
This race is a pretty low tech affair. My number had already arrived in the post last week, so All I had to do was show up at the start line. No chips, nothing to sign in. Nada. The starting point was a big "START" banner strung between a couple of trees in a public park and I spent 15 minutes shooting the breeze with a bloke, talking about a possible 10K in September, at Enville, slightly closer to home. Then, the massed hoards - well about 300 runners - followed the starter up to the trees. There was a fair old mix of club runners from at least 4 local clubs, plus various unaffiliated folk like myself. I knew my target for this was somewhere just under 60 minutes so I lined up at the back.
The course was loosely described to me before we started. A hilly grassy start through the park, then local roads and then into countryside. It's muddy in parts and there are some sections on sand, which would probably be better this year than last due to the enormous amount of rain we've had here since Thursday. I really mean enormous - we've had areas flooded, railway sidings turned into canals, abandoned cars and everything. My own back garden resembled a swimming pool for most of Friday - we've never seen so much standing water out there.
Thankfully, although it had rained on and off through the day, it stopped an hour or so before the race, but surfaces were very wet.
Then we were off. The first section was fast, even though I was telling myself to keep the pace under control, but once you're with a bunch of people surging forward, you can't help keeping that pace. By the time we exited the park, I'd got some better control and was hitting around 9:30 pace. We had already settled into groups and once through some streets and onto an open field, I could see all the leaders streaming away into the distance. However, I was with some club runners, so I couldn't be doing too bad!
As we neared the end of mile 1, I passed some people struggling up a grassy hill before entering a very narrow section, very overgrown with barely any elbow room between the vegetation, and a lot of nettles! This was now trail running and there were gates to negotiate and then a road. Unfortunately, we had to stop for about 30 seconds as the marshals let through several cars who has waited for the leading pack to go past, but then we were off again and into more open countryside. Much of this was uphill work and we followed the trail past a water station and then along the edge of a wheat field. By this time, I'd passed a few more people as they slowed back and kept on the tail of a guy in black top and tights who pulled me up through the field. Once through there I was passed by a couple running and then followed them past the man-in-black. They then slowed their pace within a half mile and I spent the next mile as we headed into muddy trails switching positions with them.
However, the trail became a fair incline and was very slippery with inches deep churned up mud and no dry path. A lot of people in front started walking which allowed me to catch up and pass a few. I was refusing to walk any of this and just plowed on through mile 3 until I hit the pond at 3.8 miles. Here the trail went through a 20ft long puddle the whole width of the trail. All you could do was edge round the side or plow through the unknown depths. I edged, but lost some time doing so. Then another climb and onto a sandy path that steadily rose back up to the central high point of the course. That was just knackering, but again I passed 3 or 4 runners, keeping my stride short and moderating the effort.
Then we were at 5 miles and it was all downhill, returning along the sections we had already run. As we ran through the nettle-alley I joked with the guy in front about it and then the pace started to pick up again as we were back into the open field. There were three of us in this little group now, a guy in a blue top and a tiny lady in a pink top. Pink top had passed me as we exitted nettle alley and had pushed on 20 yards in front. I kept on Blue top's right shoulder and refused to let him get away. We stayed like that for a half mile weaving through some roads. At this point, I'd fully recovered from the hills a mile back and was feeling the best I had through the race.
As Blue and I increased the pace, we closed the distance on pink and then we were back in the park. 300 yards to go and I realised I had a load of gas still in the tank. I put the peddle down and passed blue and pink turning into the last stretch and sprinted for the line like I'd sat on a wasp. I don't think they tried to keep up!
At the line, I tried to read the "official" time which looked like 59:06. My watch made it 59:25, and I started my watch when I crossed the start line, a good 10 seconds after the leaders. Anyway, as my head was a bit fogged up, I'll use my clock time as I don't think I'll get an official time posted from the race.
Once through the shoot, I stopped to speak to the guy in Blue - Mick and shake his hand as really he'd paced me through the last mile. And then it was over.
Splits were (bearing in mind a lot of tree cover and some lost GPS)
Mile 1 9:13
Mile 2 9:57 (including a stop for traffic)
Mile 3 9:29
Mile 4 10:03 (including swimming alligator swamp)
Mile 5 10:29 (sandy hill climb)
Mile 6 8:48 (thanks Mick!)
final 0.2 1:23 (7:29 pace)
All finishers got a commemorative horse brass, and this one is mine.
All in all, I really enjoyed the event and am looking forward to more over the coming months.
Mr Stumble.
Mon: 5 miles, 47:49 minutes 9:33 pace. 16C HRAve:141 HRMax:155
Wed: 3.67 miles, 33:51 minutes 9:14 pace. 14C HRAve:148 HRMax:166
I took the rest of the week off so as not to overdo things before Saturday.
Race day finally arrived! This particular race is run at 6pm, which means a lot of finding things to occupy yourself with through the day. Family life generally means that Saturdays are busy anyway, and this particular one also coincided with my eldest daughter taking a keyboard exam and then heading off for a sleep-over. The logistics of this meant I had no-one to come along to cheer me on or take photos, so apologies for the lack of any footage in this report!
This race is a pretty low tech affair. My number had already arrived in the post last week, so All I had to do was show up at the start line. No chips, nothing to sign in. Nada. The starting point was a big "START" banner strung between a couple of trees in a public park and I spent 15 minutes shooting the breeze with a bloke, talking about a possible 10K in September, at Enville, slightly closer to home. Then, the massed hoards - well about 300 runners - followed the starter up to the trees. There was a fair old mix of club runners from at least 4 local clubs, plus various unaffiliated folk like myself. I knew my target for this was somewhere just under 60 minutes so I lined up at the back.
The course was loosely described to me before we started. A hilly grassy start through the park, then local roads and then into countryside. It's muddy in parts and there are some sections on sand, which would probably be better this year than last due to the enormous amount of rain we've had here since Thursday. I really mean enormous - we've had areas flooded, railway sidings turned into canals, abandoned cars and everything. My own back garden resembled a swimming pool for most of Friday - we've never seen so much standing water out there.
Thankfully, although it had rained on and off through the day, it stopped an hour or so before the race, but surfaces were very wet.
Then we were off. The first section was fast, even though I was telling myself to keep the pace under control, but once you're with a bunch of people surging forward, you can't help keeping that pace. By the time we exited the park, I'd got some better control and was hitting around 9:30 pace. We had already settled into groups and once through some streets and onto an open field, I could see all the leaders streaming away into the distance. However, I was with some club runners, so I couldn't be doing too bad!
As we neared the end of mile 1, I passed some people struggling up a grassy hill before entering a very narrow section, very overgrown with barely any elbow room between the vegetation, and a lot of nettles! This was now trail running and there were gates to negotiate and then a road. Unfortunately, we had to stop for about 30 seconds as the marshals let through several cars who has waited for the leading pack to go past, but then we were off again and into more open countryside. Much of this was uphill work and we followed the trail past a water station and then along the edge of a wheat field. By this time, I'd passed a few more people as they slowed back and kept on the tail of a guy in black top and tights who pulled me up through the field. Once through there I was passed by a couple running and then followed them past the man-in-black. They then slowed their pace within a half mile and I spent the next mile as we headed into muddy trails switching positions with them.
However, the trail became a fair incline and was very slippery with inches deep churned up mud and no dry path. A lot of people in front started walking which allowed me to catch up and pass a few. I was refusing to walk any of this and just plowed on through mile 3 until I hit the pond at 3.8 miles. Here the trail went through a 20ft long puddle the whole width of the trail. All you could do was edge round the side or plow through the unknown depths. I edged, but lost some time doing so. Then another climb and onto a sandy path that steadily rose back up to the central high point of the course. That was just knackering, but again I passed 3 or 4 runners, keeping my stride short and moderating the effort.
Then we were at 5 miles and it was all downhill, returning along the sections we had already run. As we ran through the nettle-alley I joked with the guy in front about it and then the pace started to pick up again as we were back into the open field. There were three of us in this little group now, a guy in a blue top and a tiny lady in a pink top. Pink top had passed me as we exitted nettle alley and had pushed on 20 yards in front. I kept on Blue top's right shoulder and refused to let him get away. We stayed like that for a half mile weaving through some roads. At this point, I'd fully recovered from the hills a mile back and was feeling the best I had through the race.
As Blue and I increased the pace, we closed the distance on pink and then we were back in the park. 300 yards to go and I realised I had a load of gas still in the tank. I put the peddle down and passed blue and pink turning into the last stretch and sprinted for the line like I'd sat on a wasp. I don't think they tried to keep up!
At the line, I tried to read the "official" time which looked like 59:06. My watch made it 59:25, and I started my watch when I crossed the start line, a good 10 seconds after the leaders. Anyway, as my head was a bit fogged up, I'll use my clock time as I don't think I'll get an official time posted from the race.
Once through the shoot, I stopped to speak to the guy in Blue - Mick and shake his hand as really he'd paced me through the last mile. And then it was over.
Splits were (bearing in mind a lot of tree cover and some lost GPS)
Mile 1 9:13
Mile 2 9:57 (including a stop for traffic)
Mile 3 9:29
Mile 4 10:03 (including swimming alligator swamp)
Mile 5 10:29 (sandy hill climb)
Mile 6 8:48 (thanks Mick!)
final 0.2 1:23 (7:29 pace)
All finishers got a commemorative horse brass, and this one is mine.
All in all, I really enjoyed the event and am looking forward to more over the coming months.
Mr Stumble.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Preparation.
Bit of a mixed week for me, this week. I had planned to try out running shorter distances more frequently, with a longer run on Friday in order to start building my base mileage up. Last week was a mileage peak for me as I had two 10K training runs in there, but this Monday, I was feeling the results of running too far and walking too many hills - things were a bit more of an effort.
When Wednesday arrived, I rapidly found a little tightness in my right calf had turned into a nasty knot. This didn't worsen any further, but meant I shortened the run for safety's sake and subsequently cancelled all further running to allow my calf to settle down. I'm more and more grateful for the endless supply of ice from the fridge/freezer we bought last year.
In the meantime, the physio appointment which I got referred to back in January/February finally came through. Actually the letter permitted me to call for an appointment, which is almost an appointment! Being a "mobile worker" and essentially flexible in the way I apply time to my job, it wasn't a problem to take a mid-morning appointment, and I was offered Friday 8th (just gone).
This appointment was for a ligament in my ankle from damage done way back last year, but that didn't stop me from talking about all the aches and pains I'd had since Christmas. With all the history taken, yet again, we settled on the likelihood that I had some residual scarring in the ligament, and so I'm back on a programme of more stretching, frequent ultrasound therapy and a likely short layoff (2 weeks) starting right after the Stourbridge Stumble 10K.
Speaking of which ... I sent off my race entry at the beginning of the week and on Thursday got my bib number and race
instructions. This is all getting pretty exiting now! The course map is a bit hand written so I've not really been able to figure out the route on map-my-run. There are certain sections which I can see and one or two roads and features named (like "golf course") but the rest could be on marked roads or unmarked paths. The description does say "There is a short section of pavement/road but most of the course follows well marked country trails." I guess I'll find out next Saturday.
I'll be running for the benefit of my son's cub-scout group, for which I am a committee member this year.
Training for the week:
Mon:3.52 miles, 32:12 minutes 9:09 pace. 13C HRAve:153 HRMax:158
Wed: 4 miles, 38:00 minutes 9:30 pace. 5C HRAve:138 HRMax:150
Fri: rest up calf.
It looks like Wednesday wasn't much of a workout anyway, with my HR ave at 138. I suppose it is a sign of progress though.
For the coming week, I'm planning a 5 miler tomorrow, then 3.5 on Wednesday, two rest days and then the race on Saturday. I really don't want to break anything between now and then.
All the best,
Mr Stumble.
When Wednesday arrived, I rapidly found a little tightness in my right calf had turned into a nasty knot. This didn't worsen any further, but meant I shortened the run for safety's sake and subsequently cancelled all further running to allow my calf to settle down. I'm more and more grateful for the endless supply of ice from the fridge/freezer we bought last year.
In the meantime, the physio appointment which I got referred to back in January/February finally came through. Actually the letter permitted me to call for an appointment, which is almost an appointment! Being a "mobile worker" and essentially flexible in the way I apply time to my job, it wasn't a problem to take a mid-morning appointment, and I was offered Friday 8th (just gone).
This appointment was for a ligament in my ankle from damage done way back last year, but that didn't stop me from talking about all the aches and pains I'd had since Christmas. With all the history taken, yet again, we settled on the likelihood that I had some residual scarring in the ligament, and so I'm back on a programme of more stretching, frequent ultrasound therapy and a likely short layoff (2 weeks) starting right after the Stourbridge Stumble 10K.
Speaking of which ... I sent off my race entry at the beginning of the week and on Thursday got my bib number and race
instructions. This is all getting pretty exiting now! The course map is a bit hand written so I've not really been able to figure out the route on map-my-run. There are certain sections which I can see and one or two roads and features named (like "golf course") but the rest could be on marked roads or unmarked paths. The description does say "There is a short section of pavement/road but most of the course follows well marked country trails." I guess I'll find out next Saturday.I'll be running for the benefit of my son's cub-scout group, for which I am a committee member this year.
Training for the week:
Mon:3.52 miles, 32:12 minutes 9:09 pace. 13C HRAve:153 HRMax:158
Wed: 4 miles, 38:00 minutes 9:30 pace. 5C HRAve:138 HRMax:150
Fri: rest up calf.
It looks like Wednesday wasn't much of a workout anyway, with my HR ave at 138. I suppose it is a sign of progress though.
For the coming week, I'm planning a 5 miler tomorrow, then 3.5 on Wednesday, two rest days and then the race on Saturday. I really don't want to break anything between now and then.
All the best,
Mr Stumble.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Harvington.
This is our cat, Spats.
As with most cats, Spats is inquisitive. This week, Spats decided that it would be fun to squeeze through a pretty slim drainage hole in the deck only to find she couldn't get out again. Cue deck disassembly. Of course as soon as she was out it was as if nothing had happened. "What, me! Get trapped? Nah. I could have got out any time I liked." Bah.
It's been half-term this week, so kids home from school and I took a couple of days off to herd them around. Not that this meant any holiday lie-ins of course as my youngest tends to get up between 7 and 7:30 so I try to get out running well before that to allow D more Zzzzz time.
On Monday, things were feeling pretty good so I set myself the 10K target I spoke of last week and set off. These longer runs are now starting to involve at least partial double-loops of my regular circuits and I now have a couple of these add-ins which put either a half or full mile on the end of a run, depending upon how well I've managed to estimate to mileage on the rest of my course.
Funny thing is that when I start the second loop, I feel so much better than when I go first time round. It's like, regardless of mileage, the second half always feels better than the first.
Anyway, I managed the 10K in 57 and a bit minutes and was quite pleased with myself, although my hips were feeling a bit sore. On Tuesday, we took the kids off into Wales to go climb a mountain. Well, walk up one anyway. This was Moel Famau, a 554 meter bump in the middle of a country park West of Wrexham, in the North East of Wales. From the top there were fantastic views over the coast and across to Mount Snowdon some 50 or so miles to the East. Snowdon is the highest peak in England and Wales, only Scotland having anything higher.
It was pretty blowy at the top with a couple of rain showers on the way up. However, we all had to alternate between T-shirts and 3 layers with waterproofs as we climbed, the weather being so changeable.
My eldest daughter was off at the Brighton Fringe Festival with her theatre group, so we had to get back for her being dropped off, and then got in a quick celebratory Chinese take-out; her successful show and our making it off the mountain alive. I should have learnt from last time though as my run on Wednesday morning was just rotten, and I struggled home after just 3.5 miles. It's time to cut out the junk!
On Friday, things were better and I got a second 10K in around the same route, although this too was more of a struggle than Monday. I'm considering now trying to run shorter distances more frequently, and having a longer run at the end of the week. Some juggling of schedules needed to achieve this though.
Yesterday, we all headed out into the countryside again, this time closer to home. I've found a website called Walking in Britain and dug out a walk near Harvington Hall, just outside Kidderminster, about half an hour's drive away. It said it was only 5.8 miles, but I think it was more like 8 and the kids (and wife) were all flagging after taking more than 5 hours to hack across some pretty overgrown countryside. Here's a few snaps from various parts of the trek.
Training for the week
Mon:6.21 miles, 58:20 minutes 9:24 pace. 10C HRAve:149 HRMax:155
Wed: 3.55 miles, 33:13 minutes 9:22 pace. 5C HRAve:150 HRMax:156
Fri: 6.21 miles, 59.06 minutes 9:32 pace. 10C HRAve:154 HRMax:158
All the best.
Mr Stumble.
As with most cats, Spats is inquisitive. This week, Spats decided that it would be fun to squeeze through a pretty slim drainage hole in the deck only to find she couldn't get out again. Cue deck disassembly. Of course as soon as she was out it was as if nothing had happened. "What, me! Get trapped? Nah. I could have got out any time I liked." Bah.
It's been half-term this week, so kids home from school and I took a couple of days off to herd them around. Not that this meant any holiday lie-ins of course as my youngest tends to get up between 7 and 7:30 so I try to get out running well before that to allow D more Zzzzz time.
On Monday, things were feeling pretty good so I set myself the 10K target I spoke of last week and set off. These longer runs are now starting to involve at least partial double-loops of my regular circuits and I now have a couple of these add-ins which put either a half or full mile on the end of a run, depending upon how well I've managed to estimate to mileage on the rest of my course.
Funny thing is that when I start the second loop, I feel so much better than when I go first time round. It's like, regardless of mileage, the second half always feels better than the first.
Anyway, I managed the 10K in 57 and a bit minutes and was quite pleased with myself, although my hips were feeling a bit sore. On Tuesday, we took the kids off into Wales to go climb a mountain. Well, walk up one anyway. This was Moel Famau, a 554 meter bump in the middle of a country park West of Wrexham, in the North East of Wales. From the top there were fantastic views over the coast and across to Mount Snowdon some 50 or so miles to the East. Snowdon is the highest peak in England and Wales, only Scotland having anything higher.
It was pretty blowy at the top with a couple of rain showers on the way up. However, we all had to alternate between T-shirts and 3 layers with waterproofs as we climbed, the weather being so changeable.
My eldest daughter was off at the Brighton Fringe Festival with her theatre group, so we had to get back for her being dropped off, and then got in a quick celebratory Chinese take-out; her successful show and our making it off the mountain alive. I should have learnt from last time though as my run on Wednesday morning was just rotten, and I struggled home after just 3.5 miles. It's time to cut out the junk!
On Friday, things were better and I got a second 10K in around the same route, although this too was more of a struggle than Monday. I'm considering now trying to run shorter distances more frequently, and having a longer run at the end of the week. Some juggling of schedules needed to achieve this though.
Yesterday, we all headed out into the countryside again, this time closer to home. I've found a website called Walking in Britain and dug out a walk near Harvington Hall, just outside Kidderminster, about half an hour's drive away. It said it was only 5.8 miles, but I think it was more like 8 and the kids (and wife) were all flagging after taking more than 5 hours to hack across some pretty overgrown countryside. Here's a few snaps from various parts of the trek.
Training for the week
Mon:6.21 miles, 58:20 minutes 9:24 pace. 10C HRAve:149 HRMax:155
Wed: 3.55 miles, 33:13 minutes 9:22 pace. 5C HRAve:150 HRMax:156
Fri: 6.21 miles, 59.06 minutes 9:32 pace. 10C HRAve:154 HRMax:158
All the best.
Mr Stumble.
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