See you at Cookridge Mr B.
See you at Cookridge Mr B.
I generally run every day on the build-up to a race.... but in terms of hard effort i'd usually want minimum two clear days of easy running prior to a race.... so if the weekend race was a sunday, i'd do a thursday session, but if it was a saturday race then i'd skip the thursday session.Originally Posted by mr brightside
Exception being the inter-counties this weekend where i want to be absolutely fresh... i'll do tonight's session then it will be easy all the way to sunday.
I have been slightly more reckless in the past.... in fact i got a pb by about 15mins at Roaches, less than 24hrs after running an XC fixture... and have also ran the Marsden-Edale Trigger the day after XC.... but in this year's spirit of being more sensible, it just doesn't appeal to me to hit a target race with anything less than 100% fresh legs.
Ya see, i can't get my head around the idea of a parkrun having any sort of impact on your legs; so long as you're running well that is, like you and i normally do, 3/4+ times a week that is. Are you referring to microtearing?
Yes. I'm going for a recce this week, just a slow one i think. There are so many twists and turns in Golden Acre i think i need to know exactly where i'm going and when, and what to expect, i can't get a race plan together otherwise. I'll be starting nice and fast though.
Luke Appleyard (Wharfedale)- quick on the dissent
Perhaps we just have different outlook, and different physiology.... but i'm completely the opposite... i can't see any way that running a hard 5km 24hrs before a target race can have anything but a negative effect.
This isn't a swipe at fellrunners by any means... but i don't know any other group of runners who would consider it remotely sensible... all our guys at the club will be running easy in the build up to a race of any discipline...
I have done it before, and i'm sure at some point i'll do it again (it was only xmas week that i ran two fell races in 24hrs), but in a year when i'm looking for pb's in every fell race, i just don't see the point in turning up on a start line potentially less than 100%.....
I'm not saying it would have a huge effect on me... but for example the Fairfield Horseshoe coming up... if i ran a hard 5km the day before i'd certainly not be enjoying that 45 minute fast descent.
I think in your case you are right Travs.
And it does all depend on what one's individual targets are. I think the notion of a PB in fell running is slightly unsound because conditions vary so much - relative to track or road running - but when I was in my pomp I always tried to remember that 95% of fell runners just want to race for fun, have modest targets, never expect to win anything and probably aren't overly bothered about PBs.
Currently in cycling Demi Vollering is winning road races against the best cyclists in the world every few days and nobody is telling her to take it easy. Wins are wins and may never come again. A cyclist's career can be ended in a heart beat.
But what do I know? I raced a lot - 86 races one year. I once raced 7 times in 12 days. I don't know if that produced any PBs but I know I won my category each time. I think I probably won some socks or a bottle of wine but fortunately no medals.
And I also know the last time I was injured it was during a parkrun which my physio explained was because as a fell runner my legs were not used to running downhill on tarmac at full stretch.
Dangerous things parkruns!
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 03-05-2023 at 10:55 AM.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
We are all different, and that should never be underestimated.
My personal experience was that I struggled to walk, let alone run, 48 hours after a race. My legs felt heavy, sore, and just unable to do much.
Yes, I had a serious bio-mechanical issue that had something to do with it, but I believe a bigger factor was that I gave it everything, and I mean absolutely everything, in races - finishing ahead of people who consistently beat me in training. On at least one occasion I had to be dragged down the finishing funnel by two burly marshals because my buckling legs wouldn't support me.
We are all different and I'm not sure the above was 100 percent sensible, but it did see my results improve right up to (and including) my last race.
In my younger days I sometimes raced twice in a weekend, and it was quite common for me to feel better on the Sunday than the Saturday; maybe I had over-eaten in preparation for the strenuous weekend, and felt rather heavy on the Saturday, but lighter on the Sunday. Having come into fell running from orienteering, where multi-day events are a major feature of the sport, there didn't seem anything unusual about racing on successive days.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Tonight's session was a recce of the Cookridge Community 10k, most parts of it were run, but i had to chop bits out to account for me living 1.5ml or so from the start. There's 350' of climb in the route and, judging by my Bolton Abbey 10k time of 47.31 i reckon every 100' costs me a minute or so. My pre-pandemic 10k PB is 38.38, but post-pandemic i'd be all in at 40. I think a conservative target time for sunday is sub-45, but sub-44 would be a tremendous effort. I've got some beet-it shots in the mail which of course may not turn up in time, and i think i'm going to have to wear shorts and compression socks to save my calves from fatigue. My race plan is to not start too fast, and i think i'll skip parkrun on saturday; there doesn't seem to be any parts of the course where as a fell runner i will have the advantage. A top 10% finish would be ideal.
Luke Appleyard (Wharfedale)- quick on the dissent
Mr B flying this morning! 15th place and first in his age group, I was second in mine, at the Cookridge 10K. Now back to fell running! Well done Luke
Second in my age category as it turned out, MV35-45, some guy I hadn't noticed was a long way ahead.
42.48 for 10k with 350' of climb, I don't know what that equates to for a flat time, it's probably not under 40m. I started in the 3rd row and still set off in 5th place, there was a reluctance amongst the faster guys to step up. I found myself in a group who were too fast for me and they dropped me at 3k, the climb knocked me a bit and I had lost a few places at the top. I faded at 6k and just had to hang on and not get passed too much. I went early in the last km hoping the runners who had passed me would fade on the gruelling uphill drag to the finish or just give in a bit. They were only 10m ahead but I was all in just to maintain that. Couldn't even find a sprint finish, all my eggs had been put in one basket 1km earlier! Finished in 15th place.
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