Progress Report: 4 Weeks Back In Training

Sunday 12th January marks being back in training only 4 weeks. In those 4 weeks I have also ran in 2 races, very steadily. Sometimes near the end of a run I feel I can muster some short spurts or sprints but not far and not for very long. Need to be running steadily anyway whilst my fitness is rebuilt.

My first week of Jantastic doing 3 runs a week went well with the 2nd week just beginning.

Although time is irrelevant to me at the moment it is a good way of measuring my fitness and whether or not it is improving. I ran in the New Years Day 10k and the January 5k Prom Race with the following times and paces:

Race	Time	Pace Per Mile
New Years Day 10K	61.38	9.55
January Prom Race 5k	29.12	9.23

By my calculations that is an improvement of 32 seconds per mile, which isnt a great deal but can only be regarded as a sign of improving fitness. There was only 1 training run of 5 miles done between both these races. For January and early february the plan is to carry on doing steady runs but no speedwork just yet. Wont attack any ‘proper’ cross country training till February when I feel much fitter to tackle the terrain.

Here are reports in my local paper, the Grimsby Telegraph, about the following races: New Years Day 10k, January Prom Race 5k

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year everybody! Today I ran the New Year's Day 10k organised by Cleethorpes Athletics Club, running 6 miles steadily for the 2nd time since my foot injury (photos above) which I got at the Scunthorpe Cross Country on 10th November. I had begun running again on the friday before christmas.
The past few weeks has made me realise that I have lost my speed and some of my fitness in the time I have been out of action, which is just under 6 weeks. It will be steady running for me throughout January while my fitness is rebuilding and I run loads more mileage into my legs. My plans for 2014 will be on another post.
From this point onwards things can only get better

New Years Day 10K 2012 and Some Of Its History

This year was the second year I had taken part in the New Years Day 10K and as usual it was a great event to be part of with hundreds of runners taking part. Before the event it was my understanding that 481 had entered the race but only 421 participated and completed it. My plan this year was just to improve on last year’s time which was 1 hr 4 mins with the aim of completing in an hour or less. Having managed to get to the start line without a hangover having drunk only a bottle of cider and a can of Stella Artois – the lager, not the cider – the night before I was nevertheless still feeling a little tired when the race began. The night before I had gone to Clee AC Chairman Andrew Gristwood’s New Year Eve Party at his house, which was excellent as always. Unlike some runners I know I find it impossible to run with a hangover but thankfully I did not have one.

Uncertain of the weather which turned out to be good running conditions, I actually wore last years New Years Day 10K T-shirt under my Clee AC vest. Over Christmas i had been feeling very under the weather and very “wiped out” so had only ran twice in the week building up till New Year mainly due to having a really bad cold and very bad cough. In the early hours of Christmas Eve I had been sick several times as well. At least in 2011 I did not have a really bad cold to run with on the first day of the year.

The New Years Day 10K 2012 was the beginning of Week 5 of my marathon training. The plan this year was to start at the back behind all the other runners as had been suggested to me by other runners beforehand as I was informed I would have a better race. That was exactly what i did. I may have set off a little too quick it was impossible to tell this time as I had accidentally forgotten my stopwatch which is highly unusual for me as I always run wearing it. After the first few circuits I found I had got myself into a steady pace which I had managed to keep going throughout without stopping. Before exiting Chichester Avenue into Taylor’s Avenue at the 5km mark, I clearly heard the Marshall call my time as 29 mins 56 seconds. It was then I realised I was running close to my steady pace of about 10 mins a mile. After running down Taylor’s Avenue the route turned left and headed towards the Beachcomber past the entrance to the Country Park. Once the Beachcomber was in my sights I started to feel much better as the finish line was only a short distance down Kings Road from that point. Crossing over the small bridge above a small stream there I decided to quicken my pace a little to the finish line and was glad to have finally finished the race. Up to the 5km mark I was unusually tired which I would not normally be after running 3 miles. I thoroughly enjoyed the race. There were plenty of people supporting us runners along the route and at the end as normally happens. My finish time, according to Clee AC, was 1 hr 1 mins 15 seconds. The Results of the 10K race can be downloaded from the Cleethorpes Athletics Club website as a pdf by clicking here. It seems this year was only an improvement on my time by 3 minutes so I look forward to completely trashing any of my times so far in 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are some screenshots of the Grimsby Telegraph article on the New Years Day 10K 2012 on their website. The Article itself can be found here: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Athletics-Brown-wins-Clee-10k-race/story-14305324-detail/story.html

Recently an article had been published in the Grimsby Telegraph detailing the history of the New Years day 10K race. Although I had missed the actual article I read it online on the Grimsby Telegraph website. To my surprise it turns out the race had first been ran on New Years Day 1976, shortly after the Cleethorpes Athletics Club had been formed! I would have been 3 when that first race had been run. Read the article yourself by Colin Wright on the Grimsby Telegraph website here: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/RACING-NEW-YEAR/story-14208571-detail/story.html

To see photos of the New Years Day 10K, please follow these links:

Great 10K Cleethorpes Run – Gallery on the Grimsby Telegraph website by a member of the public
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos from the Wolds Vets Photostream
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos by Adrian Royle
Cleethorpes 10K 2012 photos by Geoff Pinchbeck
Cleethorpes 10K Photos by Paul Mortimer

Before closing this post I thought I would have a little look back on last year’s race:

 

Here is a clipping from the Grimsby Post which republished the details of the New Years Day 10K last year. On this occasion I was wearing a Santa Suit which, feeling in a festive mood, I decided to wear just for fun. Thats me on the bottom left of the clipping. In 2011 I ran the race in 1 hr 4 mins.

 

 

 

 

Here is the entire Article on the New Years Day 10K race in the Grimsby Post. Last year the race was won by Gregan Clarkson.

 

 

 

 

On a entirely different note if there are any of you out there with a running website or running blog just leave a comment on here with your website/blog address and I shall be happy to link back to you.