Update – thoughts on running, training and new club!

It’s been a while since I wrote the Blaydon race report.

I had some great news a few weeks after the race in that I won a prize for second placed unattached male. I honestly didn’t plan to go for a prize as a non club runner.

Indeed the decision to leave Jesmond Joggers was quite a rushed one, kind of spur of the moment. And the fact that over two months had passed without finding a new club since I left Jesmond at the end of April was more due to how busy I’d been at work than anything else.

To be fair my training hasn’t suffered though and I’ve been quietly chipping away at it. I have had a slight niggle since Blaydon that both doesn’t go away and doesn’t worsen either.

I aggravated it during Whitley Bay parkrun on 20th June. Despite the niggle I ran quite strongly and completed the course in 17.24, finishing second. I was a little annoyed to not take first having laid down the gauntlet quite bravely on a course I’d never ran before around the mile marker. I stole a march on a couple of lads but then proceeded to doubt the way to go (and ultimately my own stamina) before finally throwing the towel in with about 600m to go.

Since then I’ve got stuck into training a bit more and focussed on completing the training plan set by Dave Tune in Doncaster. The training mainly consists of high aerobic recovery running and a decent dose of lactate threshold running which for me means running in a heart rate zone of 165-183bpm.

I’ve been doing about 38-45 miles per week and I’ve been consistently getting an 80 minute long run in on a Sunday which I believe is a key to my future improvement. The fact that I’ve never ran further than a half marathon I think holds me back a bit stamina wise.

If I want to really push on next cross country season I probably need to step up to 50+ miles a week and a long run of a half mara. Take the VO2 max improvements and work on lactate threshold.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is I still haven’t nailed the sub 17 and, bringing things up to date, my entry into the Sunderland 5k on Wednesday 15th July has been lampooned by a last minute work trip to Cyprus! I felt 100% confident of breaking 17mins for 5k at that race but now I need a rethink.

Also hot off the press is that I have finally decided on my new club. I’m excited to be joining Elswick Harriers and the membership form has gone in following a training session with the club last week.

I had a baptism of fire with the 23 minute Walbottle Bank loop but I loved every minute. I was made to feel very welcome by Frank Watson and also really enjoyed the structure of the session with Colin (the coach) shouting out times as we completed laps of the loop. I was pleased with my effort, completing 8 laps in just over 24mins. I was shown a clean pair of heels by Lee Bennett but that was good as I want to train with better runners and I know Elswick has a lot of them.

I’m excited to put the vest on. The club has a great history and I hope to continue to improve whilst there.

In all honesty this sub 17 blog has gone on long enough! I have already started thinking beyond sub 17 and the “what next”.

Having proved to myself that I can (almost) achieve what seemed like a big stretch target a few years ago, I am now excited to start blogging about my next running goal but I won’t be doing that until the sub 17 is finally on the Power of 10 (even if it is only a parkrun). I want the blog to be both written and video based. It will have a theme and I’ll be tracking my progress towards it. It’ll hopefully start later this year.

Looking at the diary over July and August I will be spending about 3-4 weeks outside of the UK so I don’t expect to be racing or competing for Elswick in that time. I’ll just be focussing on continuing the training. I might sneak a parkrun effort in there somewhere but other than that I’m already thinking about the cross country season and being in shape for that Sept/Oct.