Post Event Analysis

At the end of a race, or other such event, it’s very easy to take a snapshot feeling of how things went, sometimes this means being overly critical of your own performance. On other occasions you may be celebrating a fine personal best before you realise the winner set a new world record and the course was clearly short. That’s why it’s important to gather all relevant information before a serious analysis of your performance. As a runner the first thing I do, after I cross the finish, is stop my watch and check my time, to see how fast I was. This can leave me feeling a little disappointed if my time isn’t as good as I had hoped, or elated if I’ve run faster than I’ve expected, but then I park it until I see the full result. In my best years I didn’t wear a watch in races, I preferred to race the opposition rather than worry about the time so my initial success criteria was based more upon position than time. Now I’m an old geezer it’s more important to see how much I’m slowing down rather than if I finished 36^th or 37^th.

The analysis of a track race is often easy as it’s a regular distance, generally the same surface and flat, but you may need to take into account weather, altitude, temperature and how tactical the race was. For a road race or cross country event, you need to take into account different terrain and also different conditions to similar races. So it’s important that you get a full picture of what everybody else in the race did, before critiquing your performance.

When I’m assessing my performance I’ll look at the winner’s time and see how they did in comparison to my time. Then I’ll look at the runners who normally finish around my finishing position to see how I fared relative to them. Of course non of this is perfect as you don’t know what their personal circumstances were on the day but if there is a large enough group of peers it should give you a decent indication. If I’ve done the race previously I’ll compare my time and position against that, taking into account who else was in the race, my current fitness level and differing race conditions. Lastly I’ll run through the race in my mind to see where I thought I did particularly well or any aspects that I could improve upon.

As a Coach/Personal Trainer I help my clients to evaluate their performance in the same way. If I’ve been there to watch the race I’ll already know some of the areas that need to be worked on, but it’s important to ask the runner what they think of their own performance, before giving my opinion. On some occasions the person may be too wrapped up with what they think they did wrong that they forget to think about the things that went well. Other times it’ll be clear there were areas that need to be worked on so then it’s up to us to identify the best way to do that. If I can, I’ll always try to end on a positive, it’s a much healthier way to live your life.

And onto the latest race in my calendar:

After my run for Salford, last week, I was so inspired by the atmosphere that I pushed myself a little harder in training this week. I hadn’t realised what a difference not competing for my club regularly had on my enthusiasm, now I’m all fired up and want to improve, to play my part in making Salford the best club in the country. On Wednesday I did my usual quality session but, to me, it felt like I was shifting along that little bit quicker than I had previously. It’s a good sign but I’m still only one week into my quality work so need to be patient. On Thursday I decided it was time to push things a little more and ran for 10 miles, about 3 miles longer than anything I’d done for about 8 weeks. It felt good to be out for more than an hour, even though my hamstring was a little sore afterwards, but Friday was a rest day so I wasn’t unduly concerned.

Come Saturday it was another race day, this time the Northern Road Relay Champs, so tougher opposition and I’d been promoted into the C team. Couldn’t afford to have a bad run or it would mean a quick demotion to D. There were a couple of guys in the B team who had been just a little quicker than me at Marbury so I had them in my sights, but I knew this run was all about building up my confidence, I wasn’t going to make a difference to Salford today. My hamstring was a little sore so I was still a little nervous but I was confident enough that I’d get through it.

It came to me that Sean, the team manager, must’ve read my blog from last week, and focused on the bit about my first relay run for Belgrave, as once again I was on 2^nd leg taking over from somebody else I didn’t know. Not only that but I didn’t get a chance to meet him before the start. During the race I was out on the course trying to spot him but couldn’t find number 97 anywhere, I was beginning to think he’d dropped out so wondering if I’d get a run at all. As the runners came into changeover I still hadn’t seen 97 but I decided to get to the start just in case. Then he turned up with a number that was obscured to the point that it didn’t look like a 97, but I was away.

This course was not at all to my liking, it was confusing, a number of runners didn’t really know where they were supposed to be running (though I’d made it my business to make a proper recce of the course so I was fairly confident I knew where I was going), many of the paths were slippery, corners were very tight (one was so tight I had to stop and start again every time I went round it), runners were intermingling from different angles and it was narrow. I also saw a lot of people cutting a particular corner and whilst they might have been well down the race, so not affecting the top positions, it may well have had an affect on some honest runner’s ranking. I also think the marshals cry of ‘where are you going’ wasn’t the most helpful to those people who did go wrong. Still, irrespective of my feelings for the course I gave it a good go and managed to bring our team home 27 places higher than I set off. Nobody overtook me, though there was one guy behind me chasing me down, and I not only managed to run fastest leg for the C team I also beat all the guys in the B team.

You might think that I wasn’t happy being in the C team when hindsight’s view shows I should have been in the B team, but I know how difficult it is to the select teams, I was involved in making the choices for some of Belgrave’s 12 stage medal winning teams and it’s not easy leaving people out of that. To be fair to Sean, guys in the B team had beaten me the week before, I am still coming back from an injury and even I didn’t realise I would run that much better than last week. In fact I was pretty impressed with Sean’s management style, despite being on 1^st leg, himself, he put in a lot of time for other members of the squad, putting their enquiries before his own preparations. I’ve never met anybody so laid back that they can still be putting their racing shoes on and chatting to others after the starting gun has gone, and then he still managed to overtake some of the teams, not only a good manager but he has talent too.   

Credit too for all the Salford runners and supporters, they seemed to crop up everywhere on the course and it really is a big help to have them cheering us on. Many of them were shouting out my name, which is always nice for individual attention, so I have to apologise that I’m still not familiar with all of theirs, but that’ll come. I also had my secret weapon, Carole turned up, despite having to go to work for the night shift. I can make out her Bonnyrigg tones anywhere, unless I’m racing in Scotland, and it always spurs me on. Finally I have to thank Paul Simons for convincing me that I could catch those guys that were 200m ahead with 700m to go, in fact if you could have shouted it louder, Paul, I might have caught those that were 300m ahead.

The final result was that my team finished in 46^th position, the B team were in 34^th but our A team came away with Bronze medals, not too far away from winning the event. Plus we had 6 men’s teams finishing. The ladies had 3 teams, with their top team coming 5^th. Good effort all round and another move forwards in our bid for national glory.

Following on from the main point of this blog, what analysis did I make of my performance. My initial reaction to the time, 20:06, was a slight disappointment, being so close to breaking 19 minutes. However when I saw the results I realised I’d run well against my peers, closing the gap on some who ran faster than me the previous week and beating others. It gives me the impression that I’m about 20-30 seconds off where I was before my injury, which surprises me as I’ve not really trained anywhere near as hard as I was then. That means I’m about a further 20 seconds away from where I want to be, and I actually feel I can get there. I’m sure I could have run faster, I wasn’t quite ready at the start so didn’t really get into my stride until about 100m, I also got baulked on some of the tight corners and had to overtake a lot of people on the slippery grass and I know, although I ran hard all the way, I still wasn’t at 100%. My injury still keeps me from committing that final amount and that means I wasn’t aerobically challenged. I don’t think I’m far off but I need to allow myself the confidence to push more, it’ll come and lets not forget this part of the year is about having fun, though a win or two would be welcome. So onto the next one and lets see what comes of that.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

First Time For Everything

This Saturday I put on my Salford singlet and represented my new club for the first time, in the North West Road Relays at Marbury Country Park. It was a low key debut for me, returning from injury and placed into a mixed team with no county qualifications. Compared to some of the relays I’ve taken part in you could look at this event as a meaningless event for me, but you’d be wrong, it was actually very important for me. But more of that later, first some other first representations for me.

My first race since taking up athletics in 1989 – I’d started training around February/March time, my first run with club members being a bit of a disaster where I was run into oblivion by seasoned club runners. After that I was looked after by Alan Painter and Derek Clack, too experienced but aging 800m runners. Needless to say I worked on 800m training and looked towards the 800m as my event. I got my first opportunity to run an 800m in a Southern League match at Norbiton, on 6 May. It was a double header with two Belgrave teams in action. I was taking part in a non scoring event, with Derek. As well as Derek and myself there were three other competitors, two I don’t remember and Jay Busk, a British League sub 50 second 400m runner. When the gun went Jay shot to the front and with the benefit of total naivety I followed. Still on Jay’s shoulder I went through the lap in 59 seconds. Then Jay started to pull away while I gradually started to fade. With 250m to go I hit a wall. Soon after Derek came past me and opened up a huge gap within seconds. I continued to wade through the treacle that the track had turned into and, somehow, managed to finish 3^rd in 2:15.2. My head was spinning, my face was red and I was totally exhausted. As I walked away my head was throbbing, a most unpleasant experience. It took me two months before I felt ready to tackle another 800m, where I finished 11^th but improved to 2:14.8.

My first cross country relay for Belgrave – Still in 1989 but six months later I was taking part in the Reigate Priory Cross Country Relays. It’s a beautiful setting starting on the playing fields with a long climb into the woods, a narrow path through the back of the woods, another climb to the top of the hill and, after a flattish bit, a steep descent back to the playing fields. I was still fairly fresh at Belgrave and didn’t know too many people but was introduced to the teams before hand. I was on leg 2 of the C team, taking over from Matt Kinane. I’d briefly met Matt before he set off but amongst everybody else I couldn’t remember him. Thankfully he was wearing the Belgrave singlet so he should be easy to spot and we were the C team so he should be the 3^rd Belgrave man crossing the line! Wrong, he was running 2^nd claim and therefore ineligible, hence being in a lowly team. How was I to know if nobody told me, so while Matt came in and stood fuming with nobody to hand over to I was standing a few metres away awaiting the arrival of the 3^rd Belgrave man, until somebody kindly told me, in a non too gentle way, to get my bum in gear.

My first British title – Move forward 16 years and I find myself running for Herne Hill Harriers. I’d ruined my summer season by tearing my hamstring in the spring (sounds familiar) but I’d managed to get myself fit again by September. Things were going well I’d been in the team that won the Surrey Masters Road Relays, we’d then gone on to win the South of England Masters Road Relays and in October I’d become Surrey Masters Cross Country Champion. Then I got the offer of promotion at work, with a corresponding move to Edinburgh. Before taking up this offer I went to Newport for the British Masters Cross Country Relays. The team of Tony Harran, Mike Boyle, Vic Maughn, myself, Keith Newton and Dave Robinson were taking on the might of Bristol, already British Masters Road Relay champions, in their neighbour’s back yard. You’d think they would have the upper hand with a short drive compared to our half day long train journey. However perhaps they were too confident and underestimated us. They did take the lead on leg one but didn’t push to create a gap and at the end of leg two we’d taken it from them. They regained it on leg three and I took over on leg four in 3^rd place. I managed to pull us back up to 2^nd but Bristol had pulled out another 10 seconds. Keith Newton ran a stormer to bring back those 10 seconds but we were still a little behind Bristol when Dave Robinson set off after Nick Rose, on the last leg. It looked like a fascinating battle, you don’t pull back class like Nick Rose easily, even if he was significantly older, but Dave is a determined runner and inched nearer with every minute. Into the woods and Bristol were still in the lead, but coming out of the woods for the final sprint to the line Dave emerged ahead and held on for the win. A fantastic day and what a brilliant train ride back to London, where we celebrated our victory in Clapham Junction.

Probably my favourite first memory is my first run for Edinburgh AC where I unexpectedly became a Scottish champion, but I’ve covered that in a previous blog. So onto my next first, my first run for Salford.

I’d been looking forward to this moment since I started running again, following my hamstring injury in August, but not without trepidation. The injury is still fresh in my mind and I’m still conscious that it’s not at it’s strongest yet, plus I’ve lost a fair amount of fitness so wasn’t at all confident of running anything fast. I’m not one for getting nervous before races but this was an exception, I woke up with only this race on my mind. I was terrified of letting myself and my new club down. The race venue was the other side of Northwich so I drove part way and took Ray, one of my clients, along so that he could experience a road relay. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with very little wind, perfect weather for a road relay. As Ray and I walked towards the race start I felt good as I spotted the Salford tent and a number of red dressed runners hanging around outside of it.

We went over and I introduced myself to a number of the guys, then got ready to race. The race, from a Salford point of view, went well as the A team finished 2^nd but winning the Greater Manchester championship in the process, and there was a C team which came 3^rd in the Lancashire championship. Other teams fared well too. My team came 34^th. I was on 2^nd leg so following my Belgrave experience I made pretty sure I remembered who my 1^st leg runner was. This time there were no cock-ups and I set off, a little tentatively, not wanting to pull anything and it was a pretty solid run by me, I never really felt that I could push it any harder as I was nervous about the leg, though I was never really pushed in the cardio department. I did slow a couple of times when I felt twinges in my leg, but I still managed to pass 12 runners during my leg. The main thing was I didn’t let the team down, it was risky putting me on leg 2 but I’m glad I was there as it gave me people to chase.

So how did this experience measure up to the success criteria I set myself last week:

1. To finish the race without injury – yes, although the hamstring was a little sore the next day.
2. To run sub 19 minutes – well under, 18:17
3. To be within 3 minutes of the fastest man – I believe fastest leg was 16:11 so I was just over 2 minutes slower.
4. To not be the slowest man in my team – I was actually the fastest in the team, this is always going to be one of my criteria but as I get faster this will no doubt get harder as I progress through the teams.
5. To be within sight of super vet Mike Hatton – Mike didn’t do it, he chose to do a race in Gateshead on Sunday, but I did compare favourably with others in my age group peer grouping.
6. To enjoy myself and meet my new club mates – I had a great time, it was nice to be back as part of a team and I love relays, hence one of my reasons for switching to Salford, I couldn’t have done this race otherwise. I met a number of my new club mates and they made me really welcome, again it took me back to the days when I would turn up at Surrey Leagues for a chinwag with my Belgrave or Herne Hill pals, before getting down to serious business. I think I selected well, I can see me slotting right into the Salford setup and hopefully I’ll be making a positive contribution before very long.

After the race I had to dash home as I was meeting friends that I used to live with, back in the 80’s, for a night out in Manchester. Unfortunately I couldn’t find Ray. I looked around, asked around and looked around again, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found (though I might have found him if I’d looked in the obvious place). So I assumed, when he was talking to me just after my leg, that he must’ve told me he’d head home, problem is after a run my head’s buzzing so don’t say anything important to me. I didn’t have my phone with me so I just headed home. When I got home I phoned Ray who was still in Marbury Country Park. Thankfully Ray forgave me, he needed a longer walk anyway, he’s in marathon training mode.  

The night out in Manchester was fantastic, though the karaoke proved the point that Carole keeps telling me, I cannot sing.

Here’s to the next run, another relay event. Distance is a little further this time, which suits me fine, but I’ll probably have to memorise another runner for handover.   

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Seefood Dieting

The old ones are the best, or so my mother-in-law keeps telling me when she returns from her self imposed jaunts to the Caribbean. Ok enough dad jokes, be thankful I’m not dad dancing. For this week’s blog I’m going to open up about one of my weaknesses, the Achilles heel of Roger Alsop, my love of food.

As a Personal Trainer, and having passed exams in Nutrition, it is my job to advise my clients what to eat, how much to eat and what not to eat. Fine, I do that, but I don’t necessarily practice what I preach because I enjoy my food. Not just the taste, and there is very little I don’t enjoy the taste of, but the whole experience of eating, the sights, the smell and the chew. I’m at my happiest when I’m eating or winning, though I can see that the two don’t necessarily go hand in hand. At home it’s not a problem because I am quite disciplined and only buy what I’m going to eat, I write out a list and if it’s not on the list it doesn’t go in the basket. This doesn’t work when Carole, thankfully rarely, does the shopping as she just adds what she likes the look of.  

However, when I’m in a situation that I’m less in control of the food, this is when my failings occur. It’s not so much what I eat, more about how much I eat. It’s well known that runners have a healthy appetite, i.e. they can eat loads of food, but I think mine’s a little extreme in it’s healthy outlook. Put me in front of a buffet of interesting food and there’s no stopping me, I have an ability to pile three plates worth of food onto one plate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I’m rude or greedy, it’s just that I can’t pass a piece of interesting food without trying it, and as I find most food interesting my plate gets more full as I move along the table. It’s not until I leave the table that I realise how much I’ve got and then it’s too late. As a person brought up in the era of having to clean your plate, you can imagine what happens next.

Thankfully I rarely get into situations where I’m faced with a buffet, though, like Jona Lewie, you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties. This last week we’ve been away to Croatia and, unlike most of our holidays, we were staying half board. This meant a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner, I was like a man torn between heaven and hell. So without going into details of exactly what I ate, I ate a bit of everything that was on offer, though I did make a conscious effort to avoid the chips until the last day of the holiday.

So I let myself go, I’m not proud, but now I’m back home I’m back to my more disciplined approach to eating.

I had one saving grace. When we planned the holiday it was meant to be a rest for me. After all the hard work I’d put into my training in search of summer glory and then taking part in the European Masters Champs I had planned to have a break before commencing the winter workload. However being forced to take a three week break just before the championships meant I didn’t need another one. I was keen to train, even if Carole wasn’t quite so keen for me to train. So I trained every day, even twice some days. I’m still building up the strength in my hamstrings so I didn’t attempt any real quality sessions but I did manage to get my overall pace up and felt good at it. I figure I’m in about 17:15 5k shape at the moment, which gives me something to build on when I get back into full training. I didn’t overdo the training, we still had a great holiday and I’d recommend the place to anyone, particularly if you like your food.

Now I’m home it’s time to refocus my training. I ran my first quality session on Sunday, a hill session. I was a bit tired from travelling home the previous day and frankly I ran rubbish, but it’s a start and I can now move forward. My debut for Salford approaches rapidly and I’m really looking forward to it. First race is over 5400m and I’ve set up my success criteria:

1. To finish the race without injury
2. To run sub 19 minutes
3. To be within 3 minutes of the fastest man
4. To not be the slowest man in my team
5. To be within sight of super vet Mike Hatton
6. To enjoy myself and meet my new club mates

We’ll see next week how I fared compared to that!

So what’s the big lesson you can take away from this week’s blog? If you want to beat me, forget about training harder than me, just take me out for dinner. And the minor lesson, don’t worry too much about eating the wrong things occasionally as long as you don’t eat the wrong things all the time.  

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

My European Masters Championships 2012

On 24 August I was at Munich airport, with an eight hour wait for my connection to Manchester. I hate wasting time and would have preferred a better connection, however, when I booked my flight the European Masters (or Veterans as they still call themselves) was an important event for me. Annoyingly there isn’t a great deal to do at Munich, there is however an unlimited amount of coffee. So knowing that I had this excruciating wait I’d loaded my kindle up with new books and taken along a writing pad. I decided I’d start writing my next blog whilst waiting for the plane. 8 hours is a long time and it was a big pad. Having returned home I decided I didn’t want to send everyone to sleep so here’s the abbreviated version.

If you’re up to date on reading my blogs you’ll know that I was going well and looking forward to these championships, even considering myself as an outside chance for a medal. But then I got injured. After resting and suffering two reoccurrences of the injury it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to compete, effectively, at the championships. In the days leading up to the start of them I was in pain, just walking, so I really thought it would be a minimum of two weeks before I could recommence training, and even if I could run sooner than that, I’d missed three weeks training already so had surely lost all of my form.

I tried to cancel my holiday and recoup the costs but the insurance company said I was fit to travel and their policy does not cover lack of enjoyment. So in the end I decided to go ahead with the trip and do some cycling and walking to try to keep fit, I had also worked out a number of strengthening exercises, in conjunction with my physio, I hoped would stop a reoccurrence of the problem, once my hamstring was fixed.

So at 3am on 16 August I set off for Manchester airport. It was going to be a long day, but this way it was only an hour wait between connections. On the flights over I managed to finish Gabby’s book, (for those new readers, thanks to the link provided by the Salford Harriers & AC website, this is a book written by a friend and former runner. It is based upon interviews of some of Britain’s best Marathon runners of the 1980s and some earlier than that. Afraid it doesn’t feature Stan Curran or even Arthur Walsham but it does give a fascinating insight into how these athletes prepared for their marathons. If you want to find out more about the book visit www.gabriellecollison.com) now it was back to Shackleton’s adventures. On arrival at Dresden airport I stood up and saw that Francisco Javier Fontaneda had been sitting behind me since Munich. Francisco won the 10000m and 5000m at the last European Championships, in Hungary, and we have remained friends since. We embraced, chatted and I wished him luck. He was heading to Gorlitz, I was heading to a small village somewhere in deepest Saxony.

The next day I went to Zittau to register, I figured I might as well, even if I wasn’t going to run. I was also meeting an old friend of mine, John Heywood, who had also entered but would not be running. The plan was to head off for some walks and cycle rides together, over the coming week. It took me ages before I found anyone I knew and then they were few and far between. It appeared a number of British athletes had stayed away, or maybe my window of registration was different to theirs. But John was there and we made arrangements to meet up the next day for a cycle ride.

The next day was the 10000m, I had thought about going to watch but I thought it was better to do some exercise, I hadn’t done any cardio for a week, and very little before that, so I was hoping a bike ride might help. I went to John’s place, we organised a couple of bikes and set off towards the Czech border. Not far from the border my foot started to slip around the peddle, I stopped to check it out and found that it had been put on incorrectly and was now working at a funny angle. For a moment I considered carrying on but it was pulling on my knee and the last thing I needed was an additional injury. So we headed back to change the bikes, John’s wasn’t too great either. It was a decision well made as 400m from home the peddle fell off. We picked up two new bikes and decided to head in the other direction, this time with more success. At the end of the day we’d had a good cycle and I’d had no problems with my hamstring, which was a good sign. At the track, Francisco defended his 10000m title. Looking at the result, had I kept up my progress from the British Masters T&F Champs, and had one of my better races, it is possible I could have sneaked another bronze medal, though it’s probably more likely I would have finished between 4^th and 8^th. A top 6 was my real goal so I think it would have been achievable.

On Sunday John and I went for a walk in the forest, I was thinking this was going to be long and reasonably hard as we intended to climb up a hill that hosted a ski jump. John’s thinking was along slightly different lines as he knew there was a beer festival going on in the forest. There we met up with John’s landlord, landlord’s family and landlord’s dog and became embroiled in the festivities. We did make it up to the top of the ski jump, but I think we drank longer than we walked. Mind you while we walked I began to forget about my injury and ran a few paces with the dog, thankfully the leg seemed to be ok.

After my experiences on the bike and the brief run with the dog, and also feeling that my leg felt strong from the exercises I was doing, the following day I decided to chance a run. I kept it simple and slow, running for a total of 10 minutes before breakfast. No repercussions, so I decided I would run again in the evening and stretch it to 15 minutes. During the day I visited Gorlitz, which is quite an attractive city and just over the river from where the distance races were being held. Back home via the track, where I met John and arranged to go cycling the following morning. The evening run was 16 minutes and pain free, I was still running nervously, i.e. waiting for something to twinge but I felt comfortable enough to continue with it the next day.

On the Tuesday I ran for 23 minutes, before breakfast, then I met  John and we took the bikes into the Czech Republic, it was quite hilly in places and we cycled for a good three hours, again I was not suffering any problems in the hamstring. Could I be on my way back. That evening I stretched my run to 31 minutes and I felt good.

Wednesday, the day before the 5000m, my pre-breakfast run was 34 minutes and I was still not getting any problems. I started thinking about possibly running in the 5000m, I would have to enter today if that was the case. Over breakfast I started to weigh up my options. I hadn’t trained properly for about three weeks and I was nervous about running fast so there was no way I was going to be competitive, in fact I was highly likely to run 20+ minutes, come last and get lapped numerous times by the leaders. The time would stand forever on my running CV, for all to see. But I wasn’t embarrassed, I take the rough with the smooth, I’ve had bad runs before, I’ve had slow runs before, I’ve been beaten by people who, perhaps, shouldn’t have beaten me and I’ve been last in races. Looking at it another way I’d come all this way and paid a lot of money, I should at least take part, if I could, I’ve often raced soon after a comeback, it’s a way of feeling like you’re back in the game and who cares if I run 20 minutes today, if I can manage a sub 16 minutes in 5 months time. Besides I’m not easily embarrassed by defeat, I have a saying, ‘defeat is the first step to your next victory’ (ok it’s not a particularly enthralling saying and is hardly going to be quoted in pub quizzes throughout the country but it means I learn from my defeats and focus my training on improving). I prefer my other saying, ‘embrace the hill, make it your friend’ but it doesn’t have any relevance in the context of this blog. So I went along to the track to register for the race, then I went home and ran another 30 minutes. I hadn’t bothered packing my racing flats and only had the trainers I was using to walk in, but that didn’t matter if I was going for a 20 minute run. I wasn’t even going to take my GB kit, but a last minute decision to just put it into the suitcase proved sensible.

Thursday, race day, I met John at the track and we headed off for the race, held in Poland, at Zgorzelec. It was warm, but no where near as hot as it had been when I ran in Hungary. I wasn’t nervous about the heat anyway, I’ve proven I can run well in hot conditions, though I was a little tentative about my leg. I was worried I might get competitive, once the gun went, and end up pulling it again. John was already trying to wind me up by telling me the times he was running, he’s 65, and how funny it would be if I was slower than him. I wasn’t bothered, in his time John has been a good runner and when I’m 65 I’d be happy to run his times. Still I’m a long way off that. I didn’t bother to warm up, why would I my whole race was going to be a warm up and I was possibly the least nervous of all the contenders, as we awaited the start time. We were paraded in front of the crowds and I felt a little embarrassed wearing my GB kit, knowing how slow I was going to run. But the usual warm support from the Brits was a nice acknowledgement. Then we headed to the start and the 16 of us set off. I was cautiously slow, a 42 second 1^st 200m, but I wasn’t last, he was German. I let myself settle down and after a little while I realised I was in touch with some of the other runners. First it was fellow Britain, Alan Roberts, that moved behind me, then another German, then I took 3 in one go. The next chap, a Pole, was about 50 metres ahead of me and going at roughly the same pace as me. I figured he was too slippery to catch so settled into a rhythm, concentrating on how my legs felt, but a few laps later I was in his slipstream. Then I passed him, he sat on me for a couple of laps but I then moved away. At some point I got lapped by the first 5 runners, Francisco had a good lead and as I finished I assumed he’d won again, but he’d been caught in the last lap and had to settle for silver. I finished in 9^th position, in a surprisingly quick (under the circumstances) 17:37.72. If I hadn’t been injured I’d definitely have made the top 7, running the same time as at Derby would have given me 6^th and my M45 best would have netted 5^th. So I didn’t miss any medals, but it would have been nice to have been competitive, after all the hard work I’d put in before. Still I’d come through my return race and I knew where I was, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Now to get back my fitness and look for my next victory, but I need to be patient, better to run slow than not at all.

      

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Recovering From A Setback

Now the Olympics have ended there will be many people reflecting on their performances during the two week period. Some will be retiring at the top, some will be deciding that enough pain is enough, others will be seeing it as a stepping stone to their next championship and a few will be rueing an untimely injury or illness and vowing to come back stronger. If you’ve read my blogs over the last couple of weeks you’ll be aware that I have myself succumbed to an injury, agonisingly close to my own Olympics, the European Masters Champs. I thought it was a pull, rested it and tried again but it’s now clear it is a tear in my hamstring. So my dream of another European medal is over but I too am vowing to come back stronger. It would be so much easier to decide it was an injury too far and surely, at my age, it’s time to do something more sedate, but if I stopped running now I’d have no excuses as to why I couldn’t accompany Carole around the shops every Saturday.

This week I popped in to see a physio operating out of Cottons, Easyfit Physiotherapy, I was lucky to get an appointment to see Stephen Lunt. Stephen carried out some analysis and looking at the pictures it was obvious I have some problems. We then discussed what I could do to work on strengthening my weak areas, he also worked around the problem area to loosen up tense muscles and followed the chain to give me some massage around the neck and face, which was quite a unique experience and not altogether pleasant.

What next for me? Well there are a number of options but I’ve decided to do the following. Whilst I can’t run I’ll focus all my training of the problem areas, once I begin to run again I’ll continue the strengthening work but slot it into a regular training pattern so I can gradually build up my run training. I have decided to forget race planning for the moment, that takes the pressure off me trying to get back to race fitness quickly, meaning I’m less likely to injure something else. This side of xmas I’ll just be racing for fun, getting involved in cross country as a means of getting to know my new club mates and build up my aerobic endurance. In November I’ll make my start on more focussed training with the aim to be in good shape around spring 2013. It’s been a long time since I trained purely for fun, I think I deserve a little of that.

So 2012 is done for me, at least I achieved more than 2011. 2013, I think is going to be a good year. I’m up for it already, despite not being able to run, and I know the one thing I’ve lacked since I left Edinburgh, cross country, is back in my repertoire. Roll on the mud, be patient Salford, you may see me at my worst but I’ll come good in the end.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Don’t Plant a Seed Then Keep Digging It Up To See If It’s Growing!

A useful piece of advice one of my coaches, Arthur Bruce, used to give out. What he meant by this was if you’re injured don’t keep testing it to see if it’s mended otherwise you’ll have to keep starting from scratch again. I often think of this advice when I’m injured, but there are times when I disregard it. It’s not that I’m impatient, though of course I am when it comes to running, it’s just that you sometimes have to take a calculated risk, due to an upcoming event.

But lets start this story at the beginning, Monday 30 July 2012, less than 3 weeks to the biggest race of my year. Things have been going well for weeks, I’ve been getting fitter and faster week by week and along the way I’ve picked up 2 British Masters Championship bronze medals. The knee problem that plagued me in 2011 seems to have taken a long holiday and I’m relatively niggle free. Ok, recently I’ve noticed a couple of twinges but after the championship I plan to ease off. Oh yes I did get a bit of a bigger twinge in the hamstring towards the end of the parkrun I ran on Saturday, but it didn’t last and I took Sunday off to go walking slowly in the Cheshire Peak.

Before my own training run, on this fateful day, I’d been out with my longest standing, and currently eldest, client, and we’d smashed her pb over a 4 mile circuit by 2 minutes. I was feeling great. Then I went for my training run, a set of 5 x 3 minutes flat out with 3 minutes recovery. I was flying, I used the same circuit that I use for when I’m training Ray and the first rep is uphill, but I didn’t care I was smashing it. The next rep started downhill and then went up another hill, I was using the downhill to good effect and then I got a slight twinge in the hamstring, just like at the parkrun. The twinge was gone as quick as it came and I pushed on through, I reached the top of the hill and had less than 30 seconds of the rep to go so I pushed on hard and then it happened, a sharp pain in my hamstring, it felt like someone had gripped it and pulled it sideways. I stopped immediately, despite having 7 seconds of my rep left (runners will understand that). I stretched and pressed and there was a dull ache. I knew I couldn’t continue but I could jog so I jogged back home.

Funnily enough at this point I wasn’t too bothered. It could be a tear, but I thought it more likely a pull and not that serious as I was able to jog. I’d give it a few days rest and see how it was. Actually that wasn’t strictly the case as I had a couple of running clients coming in the evening, but they’re beginners so it shouldn’t be too stressful. The run went well, the two ladies made progress, but my hamstring was sore. It was time to cancel all other running sessions I had planned for the week.

As the days progressed I lightly stretched the hamstring, I stopped myself from using the kettlebells, as I’m quite vigorous with them. Each day I could sense it getting stronger but I was getting more and more frustrated. Come Friday I thought it was strong enough to try it out so I hit the treadmill, that way if there was any problem I wouldn’t have to walk a long way back. I was planning 8k, nice and easy, but I just can’t do treadmills slow and before long I was running sub 6 minute mile pace. I got to 4k and I could feel it starting to pull a little, so I slowed down, then it eased so I continued to 6k. At that point I decided to stop.

That afternoon the leg was a bit tender and I was thinking I should take another break. But the next morning it felt good again so I decided to go out from home. This time I’d make sure I didn’t go too quickly by going with Carole. I managed about 5 minutes with Carole but I couldn’t go slow enough and she was starting to breathe heavily. So in the interest of marital harmony I decided to drop her and push the pace a little. As the run went on I found I was comfortably pain free so managed to increase the pace to quite a reasonable one. In the end I did 6 miles and no problems encountered with the hamstring, I could replant it and let it grow for another day.

The next day was Sunday, I was up early but too early for the marathon so I decided I was going to do a decent length run at a decent pace. Just over an hour later I returned, having covered about 9.5 miles and feeling good. No problems with the hamstring, tomorrow I’d try some reps again, slower than last week with short recoveries, to stop me blasting them.

Monday, after another run with my client, this time slightly slower than last week, I was off to do my own reps. I’d decided on 5 x 3mins with a minute recovery but then realised this wasn’t long enough for a 10k session so I changed my mind to 7 x 3mins. I hit the first rep tentatively but built up the speed as I went on. Everything felt fine, I continued at a slightly faster rep pace, then towards the end of the 5^th rep I felt my hamstring pull again. This time it wasn’t as big a pull as before but I was clearly unable to continue, I even struggled to jog back to the car.

So what do I do now? I need to come up with a strategy of keeping myself fit, whilst laying off the speed work. I’ve done enough quality over the last few weeks to ensure I’m in good condition but I need to be able to complete the race at race pace and it might, therefore, be better to just run at 6 minute mile pace during the interim and hope I have the memory to run quicker in the event. The worst thing I could do is pull the muscle during the race and then miss my first few months as a Salford Harrier (I tore my hamstring just after I joined Herne Hill and it was torturous waiting to make my debut in the Red & Black). Oh well ce la vie, maybe it’s time to take Arthur’s advice, I might even put down some compost.

What else has been happening this weekend; well there was a big event going on fairly local, the Meerbrook 15k, Katy was running in that and, despite the fact that I had to cancel on her for Tuesday’s session, she managed a huge pb by more than 6 minutes, 1:13:36. There was also the usual fun up at Pennington Flash, where my great rival, Jeff Whittington, decided to do what I couldn’t last week, improve the age graded record, putting it even further away from my grasp. Oh and then there was the Olympics, great stuff from Jess, the medal was never in doubt once she’d finished the javelin. Sympathetically hair coloured Greg Rutherford was fantastic in the long jump, in his pre-event interview he sounded confident enough to win and I believed him, honest. Then the one us distance runners had been waiting for, Mo Farah in the 10000m. I was nervous for Mo as I could see the multiple runners from African nations running to spoil it for Mo, as had happened with Cav in the cycling, but Mo ran an extremely mature and confident race and won superbly. Well done Mo, now go do the double.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Goodbye to Herne Hill Harriers

In many aspects of our lives there comes a time when you need to change something, be it a job, house, relationship, habit or whatever. Some decisions may be made on a whim, whilst others take a little more thought and discussion. I’ve had such a decision to make recently. The decision of should I stay or should I leave Herne Hill Harriers.

You might think it would be an easy decision to make, but it’s not for me. When I join an athletics club that club becomes a part of me and hopefully I become a significant part of that club. Despite the fact that I’ve moved houses, jobs and locations on numerous occasions, my athletics club has always been important to me. I stayed at my first club, Belgrave Harriers, for 16 years, and only left because I felt there was no longer a place for me to compete in the team. It was a tough decision to make and took me well over a year before I decided it was time to move on.

Moving to Herne Hill Harriers, local rivals to Belgrave Harriers, was possibly not the best thing for Belgrave, but it was the best thing for me, a local club that was competing in areas I could be competitive and I was already friendly with a number of the team. I was made welcome at Herne Hill and our Masters section has been very successful during my stay. But now it’s time to move on from them.

When I left London for Edinburgh, Herne Hill were no longer my local team but I was able to continue with them, whilst running, in Scotland, for Edinburgh AC. But when I left Scotland for Cheshire, the rules, in England, were different and so I’ve been running a mostly lone race for Herne Hill Harriers, in local races. I haven’t been down to London for three years so my opportunities to run for the team have been limited and being a team man at heart this just isn’t working for me.

I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking through what I should do, I’ve held off because I was never absolutely sure I wouldn’t go back to Edinburgh or London, but my life has started to settle down in Cheshire and it looks like we’re here to stay. So now’s the time to move to a more local team, who I can compete with locally, particularly in the cross country events that I’ve missed so much. So last week, after 7 happy years, I handed in my resignation to Herne Hill. It’s a good time to move on, the club’s ladies have just won promotion in their UK Women’s League and the men are on target to reach the top in their League. So everything is positive at the club and I’m sure I won’t be missed.

Now to find a local team. My requirements are simple, it has to be local, running teams in cross country leagues. They should have a history, with great runners, past and present, to inspire me. Lastly they should have an active Masters section. I pulled together my wish list and looked at all the local clubs and one club stood out, head and shoulders above the rest. It’s an obvious place to go as I’m already friendly with a number of their members. So at the end of last week I sent in my application to join Salford Harriers and AC. Hopefully I’ll be accepted into the club at tonight’s committee meeting.

So I’d like to say goodbye to all my friends at Herne Hill Harriers, and I hope we can all remain friends, even if we’re now on opposing teams. Thank you for letting me be part of such a great club and I wish you lots of future success, unless of course you’re competing against me. And now it’s hello to Salford Harriers and AC, I look forward to running with you and hopefully playing a part in your future success.

This weekend it was exactly a year since I set my Pennington Flash parkrun pb. I’m running much better this year and after last week’s BMAF 5000m I’ve been training hard and with confidence all week. So on Saturday Carole, myself and Carole’s mum set off for Pennington Flash. It was my full intention to have a crack at Jeff Whittington’s age graded record, after all a few week’s ago I ran my 2^nd fastest time around the flash. Incidentally Carole’s mum wasn’t running, she was staying with us for the weekend and I didn’t trust her being left alone in the house as she’d start cleaning everything and putting things away in places I’d never find them again. So we volunteered her to marshal.

Come the race, and after the usual chat from Bill, I set off with intent. I knew instantly nobody had come with me and I focussed solely on the job at hand. I ran hard and I felt good, the rain shower on the first lap dampened my enthusiasm a little but I managed to ignore the stiff breeze. It was a little more slippery than I’d anticipated and I did have to navigate around the worst bits, but I really thought I was running a fast time. Starting on the 3^rd, and final, lap I felt a slight twinge in my hamstring but it didn’t stop me pushing. I took a look at my watch as I came into the final minute area, it had passed 16 minutes, well I must’ve got my checkpoint wrong, I was flying! But obviously I wasn’t, I crossed the line in 17:19, a full minute slower than my run, on the track, the previous week.

The fact that I was so far off the 16:40 I was aiming for could have had a negative effect on me, but I just reflected on how hard it is to run well around Pennington Flash. It was also a time trial, the next person in was over 2 minutes behind, and I’ve always run better in races than in time trials, though I do have quite a good reputation for relay events. So funnily enough it’s made me feel even more confident about my next race.

Also this weekend the Olympics started. I did enjoy most of the opening ceremony, I’ve never watched one before. But I have to say the BBC have really talked the Olympics to death and I do believe there is far too much coverage on BBC1. They should try to cover as much as possible on BBC Two, Three and Four, plus all the digital channels they seem to possess, and then round up all the highlights on BBC One at about 8pm. That would allow other, less sport minded people to get something out of their licence fee. Even I, who loves sport, can’t keep up with all the channel hopping.

And finally for the bad news, I thought the hamstring twinge was just a one off, but this morning, during a hard rep, it pulled painfully. Of course this just happened to occur at the furthest point away from home. Sensibly I stopped running hard straight away and jogged home. It’s tender and I don’t think it’s a significant pull so I’m hopeful a little rest will do it some good. Unfortunately I’m due to run with a number of clients this week, or not as may now be the case.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk