Heartbreaker Marathon 28 February 2016

This event saw me back in one of my favourite parts of the country, the New Forest. I love it there, the open heathland is similar to our own South Pennine Moors but not just quite as bleak.

The weekend started off the Saturday in a very satisfying way, I drove down to see an old friend from my Rugby days who I haven't seen in 30 years. He lives within shouting distance of the Forest so we met up for a few beers and to watch England beat Ireland en route to their 6 Nations Grand Slam. Post match Dave and Hazel fed me up with the perfect carb loading pasta dish before I drove over to Fordingbridge which is only a stones throw from the race HQ at Sandy Balls holiday center.

The stupidly steep start.

The morning dawned and after a full English at the pub I went to register. The weather was clear but very cold and I went down to the start in three layers plus hat and gloves. I use the word down advisedly because the start was comically steep. "Just my little joke!" I was told by the event director, "and it also helps spread the field before you head out on the the roads."

The course is a 5km out to 3 laps of 10km before returning down the 5 km stretch and after the first 2.5k it's all trail running with some quite steep stretches. I had run the half marathon version of the course before as part of a middle distance triathlon and so I was somewhat familiar with it but I think this lead me to underestimate how tough it was going to be.

The road out was quite boring but once we left the tarmac and got on the trails we really got into the New Forest proper There was an aid station at the point where the out and back met the lap section and we were due to pass it 7 times. It was good to be able to dump my jacket and gloves at this point, the T-shirt went on the pile later and completed most of the run in just my base layer.

The first two laps went by and I was really happy with my pace even though the building wind was starting to become quite a significant factor. The course was quite crowded at this point as we had been joined by the half-marathon race but on our last lap the course was quite peaceful with the field now widely spread.

As I got the the aid station halfway through the last lap the old saying that "a marathon is only a 10k challenge you just have to run 32k before you start" came in to my mind as my legs started to hurt badly and 30 k in trail shoes was starting to have an effect on my feet as well.

Any way it was grit your teeth time and I completed the last upwind section of the lap, collected my stuff from the aid station and headed home down some very steep descents that really lit up my quads and hip flexors whilst wondering what enjoyment I actually get from this stupid game.

After the last 2k soen the boring roads I finally crossed the line in 2:18 although it seems from the finisher pic that I crossed in Disney Princess style!

I was really pleased with the time, not my fastest by a long stretch but the winner did it in 2:35 and he is a 2:15 man by all accounts and that shows just how tough the course and conditions were.

I was quite disoriented when I finished - I think I had got myself a little dehydrated and it took me a while to get sorted out and back to the pub for a shower, a pint and the long drive home stopping at just about every Costa between Hampshire and Yorkshire.

In conclusion it was a great event. The course is a good.one in one of the UK's most beautiful areas, the conditions were ok and I would recommend the race to anyone - but I don't think I'll be doing it again.

Garmin Trace
Strava trace
Results

Training/leisure ride to Bolton Abbey

I won't be blogging about training rides in general but as this was my first Century (all be it metric) ride of the year I've succumbed to the temptation.

Panaromic view of Ogden Moor

The plan was for cake in Skipton going vis Ogden Moor, Oxenhope and Keighley. As you can see the weather was beautifully clear but very frosty. The frost on the roads on the tops was a bit scary but it turned out that it wasn't slippery at all.

Stanbury with Top Withens to the left of the village

Warley Moor Resevoir

When I got to Skipton for the compulsory cake stop at the 3 Sheep Cafe I realised that I had done 42km and with a bit of route stretching I could manage 100km so instead of turning straight around I carried on to Bolton Abbey and came back via Addingham. I thought that would be enough but when I got to Crossroads I found that I would need to do Cock Hill and come back up the Calder Valley.

I was tired by this point but I carried on and ihe ride was worth it, my first 100kmer of the year!

Garmin Trace

Parkrun Tourism - Horton Park

Horton Park in Bradford is a 19th Century municipal park to the Southwest of Bradford city centre and last Saturday became first Parkrun Tourism destination since I started my blog. The parkrun is relatively new and was started to take some of the pressure of the main Bradford event at Lister park whose numbers are getting quite strong.

Setting up on the Park's central avenue.

By contrast to the Bradford and Huddersfield editions the run at Horton is very small usually around 50. This leads to a very different atmosphere when running. At Huddersfield there is always someone within a metre or so but here at Horton it can get very stretched out fortunately, though, there was quite a bunch of us that finished within about 15 seconds of each other which meant we didn't back off at the end when we were tired.

The day itself was cold with a brisk and as the race started we got a few flakes of snow which held off for the 3 and half laps of the park. In the small field I found myself very near the front as I went down the hill for the first of four times (Four downs and three ups we were told at the briefing although they forgot to mention how steep it was). A quick count up revealed I was in seventh position and I set my sights on taking the next couple of guys in front of me.

New years day and 50th Parkrun.

A Bit About Parkrun

At the moment I am making Parkrun my weekly tempo session. It works well for keeping your speed up for linger runs, but more than that, Parkrun is a fantastic community project. For those that don't know Parkrun it's a free timed run in a park near you run at 9:00am every Saturday. Everyone is welcome and you get everyone from Olympic medalists (occasionally), elite club runners, people pushing prams and really unfit people who are trying to make a difference and everyone in between. 

What makes it special is the camaraderie. Because the run is weekly you get to know the people finishing around you. The events are entirely staffed by volunteers and you are sort of expected to volunteer every now and again, although like most organisations some people give a lot back and others not so much, pesonally though I get a big kick out of volunteering. 

50 runs done, with Harry, Robert (and Mark)

All you have to do is find an event here http://parkrun.com, register only once for all the runs worldwide, print off your personal bar code and then turn up at the venue on Saturday morning.

Huddersfield Parkrun, New Years Day 2016

Any way, enough rambling, today was my 50th parkrun at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield. It's a really nice, well kept park with a lot of features typical of Victorian Parks. My brother Robert and his son Harry turned up to run and Sam (my son) came along to watch. Sam normally runs and at 5k and 10k is much faster than me but has been injured for a while now.

The route was changed this morning due to the normal route being icy so after the briefing and the shout outs for 50 and 00 runs, we were off.

The run went slowly due to an excess of Saltaire Blonde, Champagne, and Port along with Chili, Meat and Potato pie and Cheesecake. The usual suspects were around cheering me along, so thanks to Dave, John, Martin and all the rest too numerous to mention.

Anyway I plugged my way round in 24 minutes, the Garmin trace is attached as usual as well as a trace from a previous run showing the normal route. As I went round the top corner I passed Harry before finishing and getting my barcode scanned for my time.

It took a while before Harry appeared with his mouth full of cake, he was running without Robert and was losing interest so I ran an extra lap with him so that he finished his first complete Parkrun as I did my 50th, but there are stories like that every week and that's why Parkrunners turn up week in week out in all weathers.

Garmin trace from Christmas Day 

Garmin trace from today

Parkrun UK page