Today's Training

[Marco]

Next weekend.... well the original plan was Llangollen Fell Race on the sunday, which is a long 18 mile slog, but was hoping to attack it and go for a pb. However there's a 50/50 chance i'm going to pulled into the team for the National Road Relay on saturday as well, which may make sunday even tougher.

Obviously it will be a rare honour indeed to run for the first team (and things must be bad if i'm being considered for selection), and unlikely i'll ever get another chance to run in the team at the National 12-stage. I'll just have to see what materialises next weekend and do my best.

About 15 years ago I was running for a club that qualified for the National 12-stage relays. The rules were different then, and it went something along the lines of the top 25 clubs, rather than teams, at the Midland championships qualified. This meant that although Tipton 'B', Birchfield 'B', and probably Coventry Godiva 'B', finished ahead of us we got the last qualifying position. The rule was something of a 'leg-up' for smaller clubs, to prevent talent 'drifting' to the biggest clubs. It wasn't fair, and was changed, so we never qualified again.

At the National's back then it was 4 long legs and 8 short, and as one of the fastest runners in the team I got the last of the long legs - leg 10 I seem to remember. It was a hot and sunny day, and waiting in the start pen I noted that our team was two legs behind the leaders, and one behind most of the other teams, with just four teams on the same leg.

Looking back I would say that was one of the hardest races I ever ran. The sheer pressure of not losing any places, and helping to keep our team from finishing last (success on both counts), meant I had to really flog myself. I recall I had difficulty walking to my car afterwards, I was that exhausted.

Best of luck if you do get called up for the first team, but if you do I think the Llangollen Fell Race PB is out of the question

[Travs]

It's quite similar now Marco.

I believe it is the top 25 "first" teams to finish in the regional champs. Plus any b,c,etc teams who have managed to finish in the top 25 positions on the day.

We were desperately short on the day of the Midlands champs, and i think we finished 18th rather than our "par" position of 5th/6th.

I'd imagine we'll be well outside the top 50 come the National if i'm being needed. I think we were just inside the top 30 at the last National before covid.

I have ran for the first team a few times before (i'm a good "squad" man!).

Once at the Midlands 12 stage when i took over in 6th and managed to keep my place thanks to having about a 3 minute head start over the 7th placed guy.

And once at the Midlands XC Relays when i ran the final leg... taking over narrowly in 2nd place i was certainly feeling the pressure, and couldn't do much as the cream of Midlands running bore down on me, eventually finishing 6th.

Actually i ran the final leg at the National XC Relays this winter just gone, can't remember the position but i lost 10 places i think!

[Travs]

Have been incredibly busy with work this week (finalising a tender for in the region of £15m). So due to long hours in the office i didn't manage to run at all on monday or tuesday.

Got out last night for 9 miles, and hopefully do similar tonight, and perhaps two shorter sessions tomorrow.

Am now running a short leg at the National 12-stage on saturday, in what sounds like an extremely depleted team. A look back through my results and i ran 19:17 a couple of years ago. Given my current form on the flat, and lack of structured build up to the race, i'd be reasonably satisfied keeping it under 20mins. Anything better than that will be a bonus.

Of more concern is how it is going to affect me on sunday for the Llangollen Fell race, which is runnable for its entire 17 miles, and a real slog to run hard. Have real designs on running a strong pb here, but saturday's antics mean i may have to temper my expectations a little.

[Llani Boy]

I went for a short steady run along the Monsal Trail on Tuesday to ease tired legs but got carried away and did 10.1 miles in 1hr 20min.
Yesterday evening I did a steadier off road 5 miles, 650 feet in 49 mins with a pal in loop around Fernilee Reservoir.

Sometimes I think I should stick to some sort of structured plan to get the best results but then again I enjoy just running to how I feel at the time.

Its probably to late to teach an old dog new tricks!

Anyway, rest now until Ras y Moelwyn on Saturday.

[Travs]

Fantastic day at the National 12 Stage today.

For my own part, ran 19:57 for a short leg. About 40secs off my best time, but round about what i expected, having barely done any preparation for it.

I shouldn't be anywhere near the first team for the National, let alone comfortably making the team like i did today, but it seems a lot of teams struggled today.... We were hovering around 25th-35th in the early stages, but as we ran out of faster guys, i expect we will have dropped out of the top 50.

It was a thrilling race at the front end. We were clearly not the only team to have issues.... Hot favourites Leeds were nowhere to be seen in the early stages, but the inevitable charge came on the later legs and they pushed up to finish 5th. Birchfield came from nowhere up to 3rd or 4th, then nosedived to finish around 15th. Guildford looked like pulling off a shock as they were still around 6th at midway, but not even sure if they finished in the top 20.

Highgate and Bedford had been the most consistent teams, occupying 1st and 2nd since the very start... however in a thrilling finish, Tonbridge came from about a minute back towards the end of the penultimate leg, and took the win by about 10 seconds.

Top 6

1. Tonbridge
2. Highgate
3. Bedford
4. Bristol & West
5. Leeds City
6. Hercules Wimbledon

[Travs]

51 miles for the week.

All over the place. I guess i just have to be thankful i have a solid bank of miles to fall back on to get me through weeks (and weekends) like this.

Though i've managed to get the National 12 Stage on my CV, which i thought was something that would never happen.

Next week.... well i'll be amazed if i'm in a fit state to run hard at club night on tuesday. No race next weekend, but do have a track 10000m in 10 days time. Although chances of doing any specific training for that are slim to none. Next weekend i'll be concentrating on getting in a decent long road run, in continued preparation for the Y3P.

[Marco]

51 miles for the week.

All over the place. I guess i just have to be thankful i have a solid bank of miles to fall back on to get me through weeks (and weekends) like this.

Though i've managed to get the National 12 Stage on my CV, which i thought was something that would never happen.

Next week.... well i'll be amazed if i'm in a fit state to run hard at club night on tuesday. No race next weekend, but do have a track 10000m in 10 days time. Although chances of doing any specific training for that are slim to none. Next weekend i'll be concentrating on getting in a decent long road run, in continued preparation for the Y3P.

Having run at the National 12 Stage relays I think you will be well prepared for 10000m on the track. It's the same strategy, really; running as fast as you can maintain without blowing up. The difficult part is working out who you should let go, and who you can hang on to - especially if it splits up early

[Travs]

Having looked at the entry list so far...

Four runners sub 33mins
Myself and one other around 38-39mins
One poor guy at 49mins

I think it may well split up quite early

[Marco]

The difficult part is working out who you should let go, and who you can hang on to - especially if it splits up early

Having looked at the entry list so far...

Four runners sub 33mins
Myself and one other around 38-39mins
One poor guy at 49mins

I think it may well split up quite early

Well that's the difficult part sorted out then, just leaves the easy part of actually running it

Seriously though, it looks like three separate races on the same track, that happen to start at the same time. I don't envy the officials who have to work out who is on which lap towards the end of the race.

[Travs]

Club night last night was 12 x 400mtrs with 1 minute rests.

I was in no state to attempt the full session at full pace, so did alternate reps, leaving me a good 3-4mins between each one in which to do some drills. Started very slowly, and built up to about 80% of full effort for the last few.

A solid start to the week, 25+ miles already. Easy miles causing no problems at all, just learning that sometimes i just have to forego the intense work when tired.

Would have liked to do some hard sessions before next week's 10km track race... but one or two hard sessions aren't going to make that much of a difference, however getting to the start line with fresh legs definitely will!