Rog’s Racing Return

22 September, the date of my last race. I wouldn’t call it a disaster but it was a pretty disappointing display. I couldn’t run at 100% effort because I was in pain, not the good pain that you get from knowing you’re giving everything but the bad pain from the ongoing injury and then the worry that you’re only making it worse. So poor run in the bag I called it a day, as far as racing was concerned.

I was clearly able to run, without too much discomfort, but I couldn’t run flat out, so I decided it was time to tick over and concentrate my efforts on helping my running clients and try to enjoy running rather than flogging the old body.

Following the success of the bioresonance treatment I was keen to see how my body would hold up to racing, but my early attempts were thwarted. I managed to find excuses not to race; taking Carole to the airport, picking Carole up from the airport, taking my mum out for a birthday lunch, but really I was just a bit nervous about over-committing myself so close after recovering from what has been my longest ever sustained period of injury. So I missed the 1^st Manchester Area Cross Country League fixture, I ignored the urge to do a parkrun and I threw away the opportunity to run a fast 5k on the Wirral.

But I had a plan, I was already booked on a trip to Spain, my usual pre championship tune up venue, booked when I thought I’d be back to my best by now, so I’d train hard over there and race the day after I returned, in the 2^nd Manchester Area Cross Country League fixture.

Training went well in Spain, good quality runs interspersed with long runs around the hilly interior, with some relaxing long walks along the beaches of the Costa Calida.

Sunday 10 November, Woodbank Park, the venue of my last cross country race, 9 months to the day previously. Although a little nervous, having completely knackered my achilles on that previous occasion, I was keen to put that behind me and show what I was capable of. I arrived in good time, despite all attempts by my sat nav to send me all over the place, and it was a lovely day with the sun shining. But beneath that wonderful sunshine my nemesis lurked, a waterlogged and muddy cross country course. Oh well, can’t have everything my own way and at least I’d finish better than my last visit, 53^rd, when I could hardly run at all.

At the start line I was surrounded by my Salford team mates, a good turnout for the club and this helped me to feel positive about the race. Then the gun went and I was immediately swamped by a mass of runners. No problem it was a wide enough start and I was sure I’d pick my way through the field. And then the next 40 minutes just seemed to meld into a blur of mud and I finished the race in my lowest ever Manchester League position, 69^th.

In trying to understand what went wrong I have no clear answer but lots of theories.

1.       It was muddy, I’ve never been a class cross country runner but constant mud just doesn’t suit my style of running. True I’ve won cross country championships and was even 2^nd in the British Masters Champs, but all achieved on firm courses.

2.       I’ve missed a lot of training throughout the year and whilst I’ve managed to run reasonably well over the occasional 5k a 10k is a different pair of training shoes, and if you’re lacking fitness cross country will find you out more than a road race.

3.       I’m lacking race practice.

4.       I train on my own or with clients that aren’t as fast as me, perhaps that has made my understanding of how hard I am training a little unreliable.

5.       I’m old and want a beer in front of a log fire while watching the TV, bring me my pipe and slippers.

Whatever the reason I know it’s only a matter of consistent training over time and getting back into the racing mode that will bring me on again to challenge my peers. I don’t give up that easy, the pint can wait. Two positives I can take from last Sunday’s race are; that I ran hard up the hill and, despite my hamstring throbbing on the 3^rd lap, I suffered no post race adverse reaction. I’m now awaiting my next cross country race with relish.

Incidentally Salford won the Men’s and the Men’s Masters races, my contribution was not needed in either team.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

The Scottish Period

It was an all too brief period of my life, but still remembered fondly, the years I resided and raced in, and for Scotland. It wasn’t all positive, but no point in dwelling on the bad aspects, much better to enjoy all the positivity I took from my running north of the border.

I’d been on holiday to Scotland on a few occasions, I loved the scenery and I was partial to the odd dram, but I never thought I would one day live there. I lived in a nice part of London, my job was there, most of my mates still resided in London and most importantly, my running club was just up the road, so why would I want to leave? I had actually visited Edinburgh with the Belgrave British League team, back in the 90’s, running my debut British League race, a 5000m in 1992 – I was 5^th in the B race with 15:32, a year later I was back – improving my time at Meadowbank to 15:12 but only finishing 6^th in the B string (still at least I wasn’t lapped this time).

After that season Edinburgh dropped out of the 1^st Division so the next time I raced in Scotland was 12 years later, in 2005. At this point I was working for RBS and spending a few days at a time in Edinburgh. I would stay at the Holyrood hotel, nicely located close to Holyrood park and I’d do a couple of laps around the park before going to dinner. Sometimes my Scottish pal, Jim Buick, would meet up with me and we’d run around the park together or Jim would take me on one of his scary runs around Edinburgh, not scary because of all the ghost tours but because Jim had a habit of running across roads in front of traffic. Sometimes he’d take me along to one of Martin Hyman’s sessions at the Meadows, they were great sessions and even at 40 I was holding my own against the youngsters from Edinburgh University.

A torn hamstring in the first half of 2005 held me back a little, it was a summer of little racing, but I managed to get to the last of the Self Transcendence 2 mile races at the Meadows. Still not back to fitness I could only manage a 10:24 for 8^th place. And then my life changed, RBS offered me a role based in Edinburgh and I agreed to take it. I moved up in November but the first 4 weeks were spent staying in various hotels, not the best when you’re working nightshifts, so as soon as a friend offered me a flat in Gorgie I took it, and that’s where I stayed, just around the corner from Hearts FC, until my own place was ready in March.

It was a great location for training, I had the canal close by in one direction and in the other I could get on a disused railway, converted into a path, which went all the way into Leith. I was training well, on my own, but because I hadn’t joined a Scottish club I hadn’t raced for a while. My next race in Scotland was on Boxing Day, a 14k handicap race at Beescraig. I was working Xmas day and when I returned home at 19:30 I wasn’t much in the mood for drinking on what had been my loneliest Xmas day ever, so a 14k blast seemed like a good idea. Jim picked me up and took me along to the race, I didn’t know anybody else there so it was a bit of an odd experience, over the years I’d got to know most of my opponents in London races. The race was (if I remember correctly) 3 laps of a country park route featuring a climb up and back down Cockleroy hill. So it was a bit of a trail come hill race, not something I was very experienced in, but it beat spending the day on my own. Jim had told the handicappers that I was a 30 minute 10k runner, based on the fact that I’d run under 31 minutes, once, 12 years earlier. This meant I was last off, a minute after the guy in front of me. So the lonely Xmas continued as I saw pretty much nobody for the entire race. As I descended Cockleroy the final time it was bonus time as I slipped over and managed to punch myself in the mouth (one of those punches that I could never have achieved with such accuracy or power if I’d planned it). Upon finishing, checking my hip and my teeth were still all there I found out I was 2^nd fastest, Mark Johnston – soon to be a team mate at EAC was fastest. With that I was glad to see the back of 2005.

2006 was to start much better. I wasn’t working over the New Year but still new to Scotland I wasn’t exactly on everybody’s party list, so it was an early night, though I was rudely awoken at midnight by somebody setting off fireworks in the Castle. The next morning I headed over to Portobello for the promenade run, a 4 mile race that went out for two miles and back for two miles. I had a good race, the winner, Mark Draper, was always in sight and I was less than a minute behind Darren Gauson. I finished 4^th after a great battle with Ross Arbuckle for 1^st Master prize.

I then went to Japan for a couple of weeks to celebrate my birthday, so my next race was late February. By now I’d been approached by EAC to join them but I was still mulling it over. This race was the KB5 (5 miles around a hilly course at the Braids), where I apparently still hold the M40 course record! It’s a lovely course and since I moved around the corner a month later a route I used fairly often in training, in fact it was the first place I took Carole for a run (which probably wasn’t the best idea). Because my job required that I work every other weekend, races were not so frequent at this stage in my life and my next two were down in England, on duty for my 1^st claim UK club, Herne Hill. My next race in Scotland was the Scottish Road Relays on 1^st April, which I’ve already written a whole blog about http://rogalsop.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/six-men-make-edinburghs-day.html

I followed this up with a run in the Jim Dingwall 10k, I could only managed 21^st in the race and was disappointed with my time of 33:15 (though it took me three years to better that time). The rot was setting in, stressed out by my work and probably over-training, due to loneliness, I got injured.

My comeback was a low key affair, the EAC 5k handicap, where I managed the fastest time, 16:20. Then onto the cross country season. I actually had a good cross country season, the courses suited me, I finished the season as first Master in the East District league and was selected to represent Scottish Masters in the International Cross Country event, where we took the silver medals.

2007 started almost identical to 2006, I ran at Portobello again, coming 4^th again and first master, running just one second slower than the previous year, how’s that for pacing. My next races were indoor, I’d decided I would use up some holiday competing at the European indoor old people’s championships. Because I’d never run indoor before I figured I’d better get some practice in so entered the Scottish Indoor champs and the Scottish Masters indoor champs, which took place at Kelvin Hall. I didn’t do so bad, I was 7^th in the Senior 1500m, 4:18.25, but found that a bit fast considering I hadn’t been near a track for about two years, the next day I was 4^th in the 3000m in 9:05.12 and a month later I took the Scottish Masters crown in the 3000m, 9:05.97.

It was Scotland where I did my first proper hill race, thought I ought to try it so I picked a short one, the Hunters Bog Trot. It was a strange affair, one of the hills was so steep I had to walk, I was feeling annoyed with myself until I looked up and saw the leaders, internationals, walking too. Well that was it, I’m a runner not a walker and I could have taken up race walking if I’d wanted to get a high ranking, I decided not to bother with hill running again. On the more normal hills I was doing great, passing people on every climb, only problem was on the steep descents I was being re-passed by those I’d taken and more. I remember one guy flying past me at the top of the hill but he was going so fast he couldn’t stop at the bottom and ended up diving headfirst into a gorse bush. As I passed him lying there I considered offering to help, but I was in a race. Thankfully he was ok and we enjoyed a few post race drinks together, during which he continued to remove gorse spikes from his forehead.

Over the next few years, despite getting older and slower I did quite well with EAC and represented Scotland every year in the international cross country. But I never quite ran my best, nightshifts put paid to that as I was living with a constant feeling of jet lag. During my last year there, at 44, I did start to regain some of my form as I prepared to leave RBS and nightshift behind, though I was quite shocked to win the Haddington 5 mile road race outright. My last race, living in Scotland was at Cumbernauld, one of my favourite cross country courses, in the Scottish cross country relays. A few weeks later I represented Scotland for the last time, having been told I would no longer be eligible when I moved back to England.

Four years on, May 2013, I ran my first race in Scotland, the Edinburgh parkrun, this being my first race since knackering my achilles was a slow affair and also my first parkrun in a fairy outfit. But despite being my slowest ever 5k it signalled the start of another Rog comeback that has so far resulted in a North of England bronze medal and a National Masters gold medal.

I don’t know when I’ll next be in Scotland, I have a different set of races to do with my Salford team mates, but next time I’m back I hope to coincide with a race.

One of my last races for EAC, East District relays at Prestonpans

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Bioresonance Therapy

What do you know about bioresonance therapy? A few weeks ago I’d never heard of it, but it’s been around for some time. The reason I came to find out about it is due to my ongoing injury issues, that seem to have dragged on throughout this year. Recently I was having a chat with one of my friends at Ronhill, during which I mentioned my frustration at not being able to get clear of injuries, and he suggested I tried this treatment, putting me in touch with therapist Mike Beaver, from Wilmslow.

I’ll tell you more about my treatment later but first a little about the therapy.

What is bioresonance therapy?

It falls into the category of empiric medicine, such as homeopathy, acupuncture and other natural healing methods, and has been used in human medicine for more than 25 years. One of the benefits of this therapy is that it is non invasive, i.e. no needles or drugs are used as part of the therapy, instead it uses frequency patterns, which are passed through the body. It can be used for skin diseases, allergies, intestinal problems, sports injuries, and many others (see the website for further information).

That’s my simple explanation of the therapy, to read about it in more depth visit www.reson8.uk.com which covers it in much greater detail.

Bioresonance in sports medicine

Whilst it’s an interesting subject for all ailments the bit that was most relevant to me was it’s use in sports medicine and Mike gave me the following information: It is being used by 13,000 therapists worldwide, including some top sporting institutions, such as The Moscow Centre of Sport Rehabilitation. Both new and old sports injuries can be treated very effectively with bioresonance therapy and injuries can be reduced in the first place by improving blood circulation, receptor and brain communication, strengthening heart, muscles, joints and ligaments.

A research group was set up in Slovenia, featuring two groups of 12 sportsmen with overstrain syndrome, one group using conventional treatment and one group using bioresonance therapy. The results of this research showed that bioresonance therapy can be used successfully on overstrain syndrome without difficulty or negative side effects and that better results were achieved in less time with fewer sessions than by using conventional therapy.

So you will understand why I decided to use the therapy; firstly it was recommended by somebody I trust, secondly looking at the information on the website it made sense, thirdly I was already receiving other treatment but the long term problems I was having were not clearing up.

My bioresonance experience

The piriformis problems were dragging on and I still wasn’t able to get full range of movement during my running, which meant I still couldn’t run fast, then I had one of those nasty back spasms. This was on Wednesday morning, two weeks ago. After the spasm I was practically incapable of doing anything, in a lot of pain and completely unable to run. I was due at the chiropractor that afternoon so, whilst a little concerned that the spasm’s were, perhaps, coming back to haunt me, I felt sure I would be sorted out. However a couple of days later I was still getting the spasms. It was at this point I was chatting to my friend at Ronhill. I read up a bit about bioresonance and thought it was worth a try so I gave Mike a call, had a discussion about it and booked in an initial session for the following Monday. We discussed costs, as there seemed a lot involved in the treatment, and I was wondering how much each treatment would be. I was pleasantly surprised that the cost to see Mike was no more than most physio sessions, and considerably less than some.

 

By Saturday morning I felt I could try running again, we were heading off to Blackpool later in the morning so it was only a short run, but it was a struggle, 30 minutes of shuffling along like a man in his 80’s. It wasn’t very pleasant, though I suspect when I’m in my 80’s I’ll feel a whole lot better about being able to run that fast. We stayed over in Blackpool, it was very illuminating, and the next morning was so nice, with the sun shining and, with us staying near the sea front, I just had to go for a run. Ok I started off with the intention of going for a run but it soon became evident I was going for a shuffle. At this point I was keen to see Mike but, I wasn’t exactly sure if it was going to help.

Monday dawned and I actually had a running client early on, thankfully she wasn’t one of my quicker clients but I did feel a bit more relaxed in my running. We ran for about 30 minutes and I loosened up so I left her and ran for a further 30 minutes on my own, then I went to see Mike.

Mike started the session by carrying out various tests to check out my internal organs, and to see if I had any viruses or was carrying any parasites, thankfully I was given a clean bill of health. Then it was onto my back and Mike used his machine to treat me. I had been told not to drink any tea, coffee or alcohol before the treatment and now Mike told me to steer clear of these until the next day, and off I trotted back home.

Despite drinking water on the way home I still felt a bit dehydrated when I arrived so continued to drink throughout the day, I also had a slight headache, which was probably due to the caffeine withdrawal, I also felt a little lacklustre and wasn’t really looking forward to the two running clients I had lined up for that evening.

Come the evening I felt more alive, the headache had disappeared and I had replenished my body with water. I did feel a little stiff setting off with my first client but I soon settled down, come my second client I was ready to fly, which was just as well as she was in the mood for a really hard session. Everything about that run felt good, I had no pain in my back and, despite this being the fastest I’d run I wasn’t getting any pulls in my hamstring, just a dull ache in the piriformis area. Surely this was too good to be true, I had thought it would take me some time still to recover but here I was running at a good pace with no pain. Early days yet and although I was running at a reasonable pace it wasn’t my race pace, my first session at my pace would be a better indicator of success.

The next day I was due to meet Ray for a tough hour long session in Tatton Park, but soon after I got out of bed I felt a twinge in my back, ‘oh dear’ I thought, ‘here we go again’. Thankfully it wasn’t a bad twinge and I was able to work with a client in the morning, which helped to loosen things up. Come Ray’s session I was once again running fast, virtually pain free, over the undulating grasslands of Tatton Park, not the best surface for someone with a back problem but I didn’t experience any pain in the back just the same dull ache in the piriformis.

With a further, but less intense, back twinge, the next day I rang Mike and asked for a further treatment on the Thursday, where I wanted him to also take a look at the piriformis. Then I went out for a run on my own and did one of my quality sessions, at my pace, for the first time in ages. I was quick, not as quick as I normally go as I was a little nervous about the hamstring pulling or the back going, but this was faster than the runs of the previous two days. It was a good training session but one I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing before Mike’s treatment. Come Thursday I decided I’d do another tough session before my session with Mike. At times I struggled, not surprising as it was the 4^th day on the trot I’d done some form of quality, plus there was a stiff, cold, wind in my face for the first 20 minutes. Clearly I was tired but the back and leg had come through well, then off to Mike’s for treatment.

Mike treated my back and piriformis and I decided to take Friday as a rest day to give myself a rest.

On Saturday I did another quality run, still not 100% but faster than the one on Wednesday, with no repercussions. Sunday morning was my long run, although I still like to do a long run on a Sunday it has been a while since I’d run for longer than an hour (hardly fits the description of long run really) but this time I felt good, after an initial slow 10 minutes to warm up. Once I hit the Northwich woodlands I was in full flow and running at a good pace. I was enjoying myself again and didn’t really want to stop, but you can’t go on forever. In the end I ran for an hour and 25 minutes, way longer than anything I’ve managed this year. I felt good and I felt positive. The only thing that bothered me was that I was reluctant to really push up hills, not the best attitude with a cross country season just starting.

The following day I decided to do a hill session (see how the paragraphs just glide into each other), just a short one as I had a running client in the evening and that was likely to be a tough session. This gave me some confidence to push up the hill but, because I was extending my leg further, I was getting a slight tug in the hamstring. Nowhere near as much as I had before starting treatments with Mike but it was still a concern. It’s been good progress but even I’m not optimistic enough to believe things will be sorted out in two sessions, so I booked a further session with Mike for this week. However, I do seem to be able to train hard in-between treatments.

It’s now Wednesday, exactly two weeks since the big back spasm and goodness knows how many weeks since I started experiencing the problem with my piriformis. Today is the first morning where I haven’t had any twinges in my back, since that first spasm. I also did another of my hard runs and couldn’t feel any pain in my piriformis or hamstring. I went to see Mike for the 3^rd time and he treated me again, also working on my achilles, which is still a little tender from the injury I received in February. I left Mike feeling good and full of confidence that I will be back racing soon and I can’t wait for my next run.

If you’re interested in finding out more about bioresonance therapy then take a look at the website www.reson8.uk.com or if you’re local to Wilmslow and want to get in touch with Mike, you can call him on 01625 531222.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Tough Times Ahead

After the holiday came the relays. With my hamstring pulling it was always going to be touch and go that I’d be able to run but, as regular readers will know, I love taking part in relays so it looked like being good news as I managed to run well enough to make the start line for them both. I knew I wasn’t 100% but I was getting better each day and I thought the short sharp blast might even help me.

If you’ve read my previous blog you’ll know I struggled at Lancaster. Well the following week I travelled to Blackpool for the North of England Relays, slightly longer at 6.6k, but the pain had continued to recede as the week went on so I was confident I could run better than at Lancaster. It was a good start too, the weather couldn’t have been any more of a contrast to the previous week as the sun beamed down on us and the temperatures soared. Understandably I was a little nervous about my leg but went for a warm up to get everything working and check out the course. The warm up did neither, my leg niggled and my confidence ebbed a little, the course was, at best, confusing and I had a less clear picture of where I was running than if I’d not bothered with a  warm up. The race started and Salford A were always up there, Salford B were fighting their corner aiming for National qualification and Salford C, my team, were right in the mix.

I was 3^rd leg, taking over from the only man I know who can make fast running look slow, Mike Grace. There were girls aplenty for me to chase, it was like being back at school, but 40 metres into the race I felt a twinge in the leg and hobbled a few steps, I was ok but I had to slow it down, so much that it took me an eternity to pass any of the girls that I’d normally have swept past. In the meantime three other teams had passed me. I never really ran slow but I never really found my stride either, pain was with me all the way, which made it a much harder run for me than it should have been, considering it was only 6.6k and relatively flat.

My leg over it was down to the next three runners to make up the places I’d lost. It was another disappointing run for me. I don’t usually get dejected after races, if I get beaten then it’s usually because those that beat me were better, even so I would have given 100% to try to beat them, but these last two races had seen me unable to give 100% and I felt I was getting slower rather than faster. Irrespective of dejection I’m never down for long but it made me think about what I could do about it.

Decision made I’ve decided to put racing on the back burner until I get full resolution for my problem. I’m comfortable running at around 7 minute mile pace, but faster than that causes a problem, which means I can still run, just not fast. In the meantime I’m trying to build a stronger base by doing some intensive sessions that I’ve created for my more advanced clients. And it’s working, I’m still relatively fit but I also feel much stronger, just need to get rid of the pain and I’ll be back where I want to be.

Despite not being able to achieve much myself, lately, I’ve seen the athletes I advise produce some good times in races, so at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I’ve made a difference somewhere.

With the cross country season looming I’m wondering if I’m going to play any part in it. Luckily, for Salford, we have so many great athletes and particularly in my own age group, that I won’t be missed. It’s more a case of me missing them and cross country. Knowing my luck I’ll probably be declared fit to run the day before Boggart Hole Clough!

Just to cheer myself up here’s a picture from the days I used to be able to run fast and pain free, my leading a 1500m, you may notice some good athletes behind me, though I’m not sure it was for long. With thanks to Ray O’Donaghue.

It was a long time ago when I could run fast but I'd forgotten colour photography was yet to be invented.

Confidence

It’s been a few weeks since I last blogged, I went away to the USA for a couple of weeks after the Capenhurst 5k. It was a good time to go, most of my clients were taking holidays too which eased the self employed pain. Before we went we’d been watching the Athletics World Championships and it was an interview with Mo Farah which gave me the inspiration for this blog. In the interview Mo stated how much more confident he was about his running ability, and it captured the moment really well. Confidence is a big weapon in our armoury in anything we do, go into an interview lacking confidence and you’re unlikely to get the job, approach your boss for a raise but show no confidence in your argument for why you deserve it and you’ll walk away with nothing. And so it’s true in running that you’re more likely to produce a good result if you run with confidence.

But how do you get this confidence in the first place? Simple, get to know your body well, know what it’s capable of and believe in yourself. OK sounds simple but how’d you do it. Well here’s an example. I took on a client earlier this year, he’d never broken 18 minutes for 5k, so I geared his training to running reps at sub 17 minute 5k pace, not to far below as that would have put him under too much stress. Week by week his reps got gradually quicker until he started to believe he could break that 17 minute barrier. Alongside this I made some other sessions mentally tough by giving him longer reps than he was used to, so he was used to pushing himself through the tough times which you’ll inevitably get in races, the longer they are. As well as the training I talked him through race scenarios to get him to understand what emotional stresses he would go through in races and how to combat them. It didn’t take long to get that first sub 17 minute 5k and after that sub 17 became the expectation rather than the barrier. We’ve come some way but we’re not stopping there, goals are being revised for next year. The one down side of the help I’ve given him is that he keeps beating me.

I’m a confidence runner myself, the two 5ks I ran recently showed that. Wythenshawe Park was my first proper 5k for some time and I was still getting back to fitness after my injury. During the race I did lack confidence at times, I was running faster than I had all year but I didn’t believe I could beat Dave Alexander of West Cheshire so stuck behind him. The result: I didn’t beat Dave, but I did still produce my fastest 5k since my comeback, though at 17:02, slightly short of my goal of sub 17. A week later and I was back in action at the Capenhurst 5k, this time I was feeling more confident in the run up to the race, having that 17:02 in me I knew I could find that little bit extra to sneak under 17. That was until the day before the race I tweaked my back and lost most of my mobility. On the day of the race I went to my chiropractor and she loosened me up, but I was still 50:50 on doing the race. I went anyway and decided to jog about to see how I felt before deciding for sure. The jog did me some good and, although still a little stiff, I decided to go for it.

I wasn’t as confident as I’d been, I did have hopes of beating my mate Rob Tudor earlier in the week, but I hadn’t lost all my confidence. I know I’m able to turn it on in races and felt that I could still sneak under 17 minutes, even if I didn’t think I could beat Rob. It was a steady start for me, Rob shot off way ahead of me, but I still went through the first k marker in a time quicker than at Wythenshawe Park. I felt ok and a quick mental calculation told me that if I didn’t lose too much time on the next few k’s I would break 17 minutes. But once again Dave Alexander was just ahead of me. For the next two k I put out of my mind any thoughts of beating him as I concentrated on keeping my pace steady. He was obviously going well too as he retained the same gap on me. With 2k to go I had a surge in confidence, I felt good and knew I had more in me than I had been giving so I raised my tempo slightly and focused on taking Dave. Somewhere during that k I eased past Dave and of course, having done the work to get there, there was to be no easing off now if I didn’t want him to come back at me. I kept the pressure on and noticed my old sparring partner Graham MacNeil just up the road. I’ve had some great races against Graham but hadn’t beaten him since my injury, now was my chance and I switched focus to him. It was a great feeling running neck and neck with Graham and I was always confident I’d be able to raise the tempo in the run in to the line. Unfortunately the finish was just around a corner and I’d anticipated it being further away, so I left my finishing burst a little later than I could have. Still I beat Graham, Dave and reduced my years best to 16:46. Rob was still some 21 seconds ahead of me, he’s not going to be an easy nut to crack, but that just makes the game all the more exciting for him as well as for me, he knows me so well he knows he won’t be able to ease up.

A great tussle with Graham MacNeil, Dave Alexander to the right in the blue singlet

Obviously there was a difference in confidence levels between the two races, but my confidence still isn’t as high as it has been. The only way that’s going to come back is by consistent training and gradually increasing the pace I run at. Which is all I can do at the moment, while I still suffer the consequences of my earlier injury. But even when I’m not at my most confident I can still pull off decent performances. My biggest problem comes when I’m over confident, I’ve gone too hard too early in races, believing that I’m invincible. In truth I’ve managed to get away with it some times having imposed myself on the rest of the field enough to kill off any fight back, but I’ve sometimes lost to someone who didn’t give up and hit me back when I’ve hit my weak point. Still it all makes for interesting racing, winning or losing as long as the battle was good, I’m sure Mo Farah would agree with that after his loss to Kenenisa Bekele at the Great North Run.

Our visit to the USA was great, we only covered Massachusetts and Maine but even that required a fair amount of driving. I managed to get some good quality training in during the first week but in the second I pulled my hamstring, I put this down to the driving, I just couldn’t get in a comfy position. So during the second week I had to start with gentle jogging and gradually bring up the pace each day. Even last week I was unable to do any fast workouts but I was still getting faster towards the end of the week. Frantic work with the foam roller was helping.

On Sunday it was the North West Road Relays, which marks a year since I first ran for Salford. On that occasion I was also coming back from a pulled hamstring but ran a great leg and that propelled me into a decent winter. This time it wasn’t so great, it was an easy course that I should have stormed around but the niggle in my hamstring prevented me from turning the pace on. I was struggling to find my rhythm during the first lap but finally got there for a strong finish, albeit a little too late. A 15:09 clocking equates to a 17:21 5k time, which is a little backwards step, though the heavy rain and strong winds might have had something to do with that. Hopefully my continued abuse of the foam roller will help me to recover my form before too long.  

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Tale of the Unexpected Medal

I don’t usually race in the evening, I don’t have a ‘thing’ about it it’s just that I often work into the evening so evening races don’t usually fit in. So I wasn’t originally planning to do the Sale Sizzler last Thursday night. But as things turned out I had some free time and I decided to make the most of it.

Having never done a Sale Sizzler (5k race in Wythenshawe Park) before I didn’t really know what to expect and as the conditions were expected to be wet I took four different pairs of racing shoes. That might sound a bit over the top but each pair has it’s own properties and this was a proper race after all, I usually run parkruns in ordinary trainers. Not only was this race 4, last one, in the series but it also hosted the North of England Championships.

I’m fortunate to have gained many medals from Championships from the South of England and also Scotland, but I’ve never been in a position to win one from the North, however, due to my ongoing achilles issues, I had no pre-conceptions of gaining my first Northern medal at this race. In fact I didn’t even think I’d feature amongst the old people taking part, all my sights were set on an improvement on my season’s best and trying to dip under 17 minutes. Modest targets, I know, but with almost as much time spent not running as running, this year, and still not able to do absolute speed work, there’s no point in being too ambitious, patience is a better virtue.

A few weeks ago my achilles was so painful I would definitely not have entered this race, but a Southern friend recommended I try the McDavid ankle support. I wasn’t sure at first my achilles was improving and the feedback on the support said that it wasn’t necessarily going to assist my particular injury to recover. But after going through a week of increasing pain I decided it was worth a try and promptly ordered one from Amazon. Amazon promised to deliver within a week but the support turned up within two days, very impressive, though, unfortunately, 30 minutes after I’d already run on that day.

The next day I tried it for the first time, no instructions came with the support and though it seemed obvious I could have benefited from some assistance. What happened was I strapped myself up too tight which gave me some trouble. Once I realised, more by error than judgement, that the support needed to be looser, improvement was rapid. I’m now at the point where my achilles is not painful all the time, sure it’s not perfect and it does throb on occasions, but I’m able to work quite hard, though not as hard as I’d like, with it. With the improvement coming I decided to give the race a go and entered online.

I arrived at Wythenshawe Park quite early, it’s something that has served me well in the past, and went for a recce of the course. Unfortunately I lost the course, I’d quickly glanced at the hand drawn map stuck on the wall but my memory failed somewhere along the way, still seeing as I was just making up the numbers it really didn’t seem to matter that much. I’d jogged around without my ankle support and the achilles seemed to be holding up well. I had intended to race wearing it, but I decided not to, on the basis that if I strapped it up too tight it would require me to stop and fix it, the less you have to do or think about in a race the better, so I left it in the car, along with the three pairs of racers I’d decided not to use. 

The race started on the track, I can’t recall starting a road race on a track since I ran a 10k in Battersea Park in 1990, so it was a little strange and, due to the drizzle during the day, very slippery. I slithered around that 1^st 500m and was glad to get onto the trails, now I could start making my way through the field. I didn’t get very far before I caught up with Dave Alexander from West Cheshire. I know Dave quite well and we are of a similar standard normally so I knew I was going fast enough. Somehow I missed the 1k marker but at 2k, covered in 6:50, I knew my pace was about right. It had been a while since I’d run at 17 minute pace so I was finding it tough, but using my rhythm I hung onto Dave, who appeared stronger than when I last raced him.

I also missed the 3k marker and know I slowed in that 2-4k, so when I reached 4k I figured I needed to push to get back onto target. Clearly Dave had the same idea as we both seemed to increase pace at the same time. On the way to the finish we passed a few guys and I was determined to keep my pace up, not wanting to relinquish any of my gained places. Dave was running so strong I knew I’d have to push really hard to beat him and, today, I just didn’t feel I had any more.

I finished in 44^th position, 4^th M45 (but a long way behind 3^rd) in 17:02, a season’s best but nothing to get too excited about. Dave had maintained his gap, finishing 2 seconds ahead. What I hadn’t realised was that I was in danger of being caught by a fast finishing colleague, in the guise of Dave Hudson, who was just two places behind me. This proved crucial as Salford ended up with North of England bronze, Joe Bailey, Rob Hughes and myself making up the team. Of course I was so far down the field I had no idea that was the case until I got home. But that was a great ending to my day, my first medal in a Northern Championship, that’ll be treasured with all the others. At my age I don’t expect to get amongst the medals in ordinary competition anymore so it’s quite special to me. But it’s also served to give me a kick up the backside, to make me realise I can still feature in the Salford team, especially if I can continue to improve. Realistically I’m not expecting to hit my best form until next spring, but if I remind myself of the 17:37 I ran on 23 August 2012, following my torn hamstring, and what a good winter I subsequently had, it’s not inconceivable that I may be back sooner than that. 

One of the things I enjoyed about the night was being in the company of my Salford colleagues, and meeting up with the many athletes I have become friends with over the years. Delamere parkrun is good but, as I’m shy, I don’t really chat much before I get to know people, to me racing isn’t just about racing, it’s about the social side too. Another good thing was that there were two athletes in the field who are advised by me, both set good pbs.

I’ve been watching the World Championships with interest, some fantastic performances. Obviously Mo is the talk of the town here in the UK and I’ve really enjoyed watching him dominate his races, but I was also pleased to see Chris O’Hare, from my old club Edinburgh AC, do well to make the 1500m final. Unfortunately Chris seemed to run out of steam in the final, but a useful experience which should give him good prospects for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

Just to finish off, I mentioned the McDavid ankle support I’ve been using. If you’re having Achilles problems yourself you might want to consider this option.
 

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Running Book Reviews

This week I’m turning my blog over to a couple of book reviews. I always intended on writing a review about Gabrielle’s book but delayed that when Athletics Weekly did one. Last week I was sent a pre-release copy of ‘You Know You Are A Runner’ with a request to review the book so I thought it would be a good idea to write both reviews at the same time. Both books are vastly different, ‘You Know You Are A Runner’ is a light hearted joke/cartoon type book with well drawn illustrations to emphasise those traits that only a runner, or someone who knows a runner well, would understand, whereas ‘British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s’ is a much more serious book, based around a series of interviews with former marathon greats.

Book One – You Know You Are a Runner – Richard McChesney

This is what I would call a comic style book, consisting of 40 cartoons, each one drawn to illustrate a particular amusing trait that distinguishes runners from normal people, and yes I recognised myself in some of the illustrations. This is the first in a series of books to be published, in the ‘You Know You Are A’ series, written by Richard McChesney, himself a runner, who used to compete for the Surrey based club, Stragglers, but is now based in New Zealand where he is the event director for the Lower Hutt Parkrun. Reading through the book made me chuckle, sometimes aloud, as each cartoon revealed something that I and many of my fellow runners will recognise about our own peculiarities, or those of other runners we know. The cartoons themselves are well drawn by Brighty (Steve Bright) and Brock (Robert Brocksmith) who are both UK based professional cartoonists.

The book is available exclusively on the Amazon network in both Kindle format and as a paperback (below is a link for each), and is, in my opinion, priced very reasonably. Further information can be found at 

I enjoyed reading it and I was amused as I paged through it. This is just the sort of book I would buy as a stocking filler for a friend who was either a runner or married to a runner.

Book Two - British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s – Gabrielle Collison

Before I review this book I have to declare an interest, Gabrielle is a friend from the days we both competed for Belgrave. That aside, my review of this book is written with the same honest approach as that of the previous book.

Gabrielle was a very successful runner at Belgrave Harriers, achieving a National Championship medal in the 3000m. During her MSc, in Sports Science, she wrote her dissertation on British Marathon runners, years later she was encouraged to convert this into a book, which is ‘British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s’.

Some of my friends managed to get hold of a copy before me and their comments were very enthusiastic. They found it hard to put the book down as their interest was peaked. So I was really looking forward to getting stuck into the book. However, the nature of my work meant I didn’t have a lot of time to get into the book, at first. The book is a series of interview questions carried out with various runners who were well known and respected within the sport, back in the 80’s. It asks them about how they got involved with running and, in particular, the marathon, how they trained for marathons and various other ancillary questions. The interviewees have been very honest and go into some depth at times, offering up pages of interesting information. The book also has a statistics section comparing achievements of marathon runners in the 80s with those of today. I found I would start to read a chapter, each athlete forms a chapter, but having to put the book down again before I finished that chapter. This was frustrating me so I put the book aside until I went on holiday. Then it came into it’s own, lying in the sunshine relaxed I was able to give the book my full attention and found the time just passed me by, like my friends before me I found it difficult to stop reading the book. To me some chapters were more interesting/revealing than others but this may have been down to how much I knew of the individual before I read his/her chapter, but all in all I found it a fascinating read.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and in fact I have gone back to re-read an occasional chapter, which is easy when you have it on a kindle. However, I know of all of the runners, they were at the level I aspired to be when I was just beginning, somebody just into running may not enjoy the book to the extent that I did, however, if they’re really into their running, the relevance of who the person is will be less important than finding out how they achieved the times they did. 
To get the book from Amazon go to:

British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980s

To find out more about Gabrielle, or the various books she has written, visit www.gabriellecollison.com

The book I am currently reading is a book about Bradley Wiggins, it was a Xmas present from Carole. It’s not a big book but it makes for an interesting read. I’m expecting a Chris Froome book this Xmas, I know how Carole’s mind works.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk