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

The Whittington Legacy

If you run races, whether they are track, road, parkruns or whatever, once you’ve raced a few over the same distance you tend to get some rivals. These are people who finish around the same place as you, either in front or behind. You recognise them before, during and after the race and because they’re there, and around the same ability as you, you want to beat them. That’s what rivalry is all about, and it’s generally friendly, but more importantly it’s one of the things that helps you to improve.

Since I started running, some 23 years ago, I’ve had many of these rivalries, some of which are still going strong. The nice thing for me is that, even though I’ve been determined to beat these guys, whether I beat them or not, many of them have become great friends. To my knowledge none of them have become enemies, at least I don’t harbour any ill feelings.

The first rivalry I can remember was with one of my own Belgrave colleagues, it’s often said that your greatest rivals are your own team mates. This was Don Anderson and I wanted to beat him because he was the man who occupied 10^th place in the Belgrave scoring Surrey League team. When I did beat him it meant so much to me because it meant I’d achieve a scoring position with Belgrave and also I must’ve run well to beat someone I had great respect for.

As I progressed I remember many such rivalries with the likes of Victor Maughn, Mike Boyle, Graham Adams, Martin Lewington, Dave Robinson, Paul Simons, Gary Bishop, Andy Weir and many many more local and national athletes. In Scotland I also had some great racing rivals, the likes of Andy Little, Ian Johnston, Jeff Farquhar, Ian Stewart, Craig McBurney and many of my EAC team mates. Now back in Cheshire there are some local guys I come across regularly and I’m sure they want to beat me as much as I want to beat them.

All these rivalries have been with athletes finishing around the same time as me, but I have one other rival that gives me some purpose every time I turn up at Pennington Flash. This is a man named Jeff Whittington. Jeff is in his 60’s and has four outright wins over the course, so he’s no slouch, but we’re not that close, physically, in races. However when you take into account age grading, we are often as close as a few inches. Jeff holds the current record at 85.65%, with a time of 19:24. My own best time of 16:56 is only good enough for 84.62%. So you see I have some way to go before I can claim the scalp of Jeff Whittington. Obviously we don’t run those times every time we run so there is always a possibility that I might beat Jeff’s age grading for any particular parkrun that we are both doing, that’s what keeps me pushing hard if I’m at the front with a big lead, at that point I’m not bothered about the guy behind me, I’m more concerned about how fast Jeff is running and therefore push for every second. It’s a good motivator and helps me to keep from slipping below the 18 minute mark. Naturally this rivalry with Jeff is of the nicest possible nature and it will be even nicer when I finally get the beating of him…..

I produced my 16:56 around this time last year, the closest I’ve got to it since then has been 17:13 and with times this year of 17:48 and 17:36 I’d pretty much given up on being able to catch Jeff, at least until I turn 50 and my age grading changes, mind you by then so will his. However, consistent hard training has shown a sudden rise in form and with that rise in form it’s given me some added confidence. A win at Princes parkrun in 16:45 had me believing Jeff’s age grading could be beaten. Admittedly that time is only 11 seconds better than my Pennington Flash time, on a much easier course, but confidence is a wonderful thing. And this made me start plotting for an assault on the Jeff record.

I was training with Ray on Wednesday and told him I was planning an assault on Saturday and that I was going to aim for 16:40. Ray was due to race a triathlon in Nantwich on Sunday so he wouldn’t run but he was keen to marshal. So come Saturday morning we drove up to Pennington Flash, I even considered wearing my racing flats but decided not to bother. The forecast was hot, suits me, but windy, um not very good, oh well all you can do is try and I was in the mood whatever the weather.

Normally I treat these parkruns as an indicator of my form, I don’t deliberately ease off and I’m pretty chilled before the race. This time I was a little bit more serious, ok I didn’t ease off on my training and I was wearing training shoes but I was more focussed, I’d thought through what I was going to do and I was psyching myself up a little. We actually arrived a little early, and boy was it hot. There weren’t many people around when we got to the start, but parkruns are notorious for people turning up at the last minute. Being so sunny and hot I kept under the trees and did a bit of shade bathing, checking out people as they started to appear, wondering if there was going to be a sub 17 minute runner I could latch onto, but nobody looked like they were in that shape. Then Jeff’s son, Harvey turned up, and he had in tow his brother Russell. Russell had been once before and won, so he knew the course, he’s also a Scottish international and shares, with Jeff, a world record for running the fastest father and son marathon. So Jeff wasn’t here to give me a race but Russell was, I couldn’t remember what time he’d won it in previously but I believed it wasn’t that much slower than mine so I was expecting a stiff fight. We had a chat, more friendly rivalry about to commence and then it was time to get ready for the off. I was so focussed at the start I wasn’t even listening to what Bill was saying in his pre-event chat, but I’m sure it was interesting, as always.

Then we were off and I’d decided the best way to achieve my goal was to go hard from the start, which I did. Last time I ran at Pennington Flash I won in 17:36 but I felt like I was out of breath from the top of the first hill, not this time, I felt good and pushed on. A quick look at the top of the 2^nd hill to confirm Russell was my nearest rival. He didn’t look too far back so I was thinking that if I’d got the pacing wrong I was going to get beaten. Oh well if he’s going to beat me he’s going to have to work for it. I pushed on and at the top of the hill on the 2^nd lap Russell looked like he was the same distance back as on the previous lap. He was obviously running well so I’d better smash it some more. With one more lap to go, which would take just under 5 minutes and then the finish I was confident I could push harder, so I did, pushing all the way to the finish.

No I didn’t break Jeff’s age grading record, I was a bit off in my time goal, but I did win in my second fastest time around the course, 17:01. I wasn’t unhappy, I still have something to aim at. Then my customary jog back around the course, cheering on the other 99 competitors and thanking the marshals, and off to the hut for a cup of tea and a chat with fellow competitors.

Ray ran his triathlon on Sunday, with a 1:23 finish. That probably doesn’t mean much to you but he finished the final 3 mile run in sub 24 minutes, not bad considering what had gone on before and the weather.

Rich ran in Edinburgh, the marathon, along with a number of my Edinburgh Athletic Club friends. He found it hard in the heat of the day, he was aiming at sub 3 hours, I thought we were close based on his training and half marathon time, which put us between 2:58 and 3:05, on my calculations. He ended up with 3:03, we were close and still a good time.

I should also point out that two week’s ago Lee finally got his official time for 400m, carrying 40lb on his back, down to 59.44. There’s a video of it on Youtube.

Great news for the Crewe fans in my family, in Crewe and loyal supporters around the world. Crewe were playing at Wembley on Sunday, in the Division 2 play-offs, and won. They’ll start next season in Division 1. Good advert for visiting Crewe, even if you’re not a train spotter, Terry Lawton.

Unlike other members of my family, I wasn’t down at Wembley, instead I was in Delamere Forest for an off-road and endurance training day. Now you might wonder what somebody of my experience and knowledge was doing on such a course, but you never stop learning so I was prepared to see what else I could pick up, and I did pick up some good tips, but I also got some great training and met a large number of Cheshire athletes, perhaps I won’t feel so lonely at races in future. Having made my comeback from injury, last year, in the National Cross Country Championships, it was good to chat to and pick up some tips from the winner of that event, Steve Vernon. I also got to try out orienteering, which was much more fun than I’d anticipated. We finished off with a ‘7’ mile run incorporating the forest and the sandstone trail, after which I was completely toasted, it was hot and the hill session with Steve Vernon had taken a bit out of me. Then it was back home to watch the Monaco GP, which after all the excitement of the weekend was a bit of a let down.

This week the torch relay comes through Cheshire, it’s been to Chester today, on Thursday it’s visiting the places I have a number of clients, Crewe, Congleton and Knutsford, but I think I might get away without any disruption to my travel plans.

Knowing that I’m running well and having gained some confidence in my running I’ve taken the plunge and entered my next big competition. I realise that if I’m going to achieve my goal I need to get my legs turning over more quickly, which means going back to doing dreaded track work. But no, my nearest track is at Winsford and, last time I went there it was full of ruts, so I’ve devised a plan using the treadmills at Cottons. I was there this morning doing the first of these sessions. I’m not going to go into details, just yet, don’t want my rivals to get any insight into my very specific training but I was running very hard for long periods of time. I was actually quite nervous, still suffering doms from Sunday, but once I’d done the first rep I felt much better. So I’m on target with my training, just need to fit it all in around my clients and, avoid injury. I’ve a few races lined up before the ‘big’ one, hopefully they’ll bring me on just a little bit more.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk  

While I Was Away

Those who know me quite well, or have been reading my blogs on a regular basis, will know that I have a couple of warm weather training bases that I visit on occasion. Well that’s where I was last week, at the Spanish one. On my return there were a few surprises for me, mostly good ones but one not so good. So as I’ve got a lot to catch up on I’m going to delay my intended blog about supplements and instead I thought I’d just present a blog on what’s happened over the period, events and happenings that have had an impact on me, and probably for some of you.

Firstly let me tell you about Spain. Carole and I regularly visit the village of Ciudad Quesada. It has lots to offer, many restaurants, a golf course, English beer and is close to many good beach resorts, towns and walks. It’s also easy to get to by airport. For me, it also has a fantastic double figure of 8 training area, roads that have been laid out for housing, currently on hold. This is where I do the bulk of my speed endurance work and it works well for me, and it would be a great place to do group training.

When I was a mere youngster of 31 I was never interested in warm weather training, I figured it didn’t matter what the temperature was, if you were of a mind to train hard, you would, whatever the weather. Now I’m a little older I appreciate the difference of getting up at 07:00 in November and heading out for a training run in singlet and shorts, I was positively toasting in Spain but think I would have returned home a little cold in Northwich. I used hot weather training, to great effect, prior to the 2010 European Masters Championships, but this time it was just nice to get back into summer clothing to train in warm temperatures, and then enjoy an al fresco breakfast.

I had originally booked the trip as a tune up for the Masters International, but as I haven’t been selected, completely justifiable by the way, I just treated it as a treat and just enjoyed myself, whilst still training fast. We did also do quite a bit of walking during the afternoons. Being on holiday I was eating and drinking a little more than usual, but thanks to the training I got away with only adding 4lbs to my weight. Now I’m back home I can get back to twice a day training and my nutritional menu plan (see www.rogeralsop.co.uk/nutrition if you’re interested in finding out more about this), which will see me back to my normal weight pretty quickly). So the weather was great, between 22 and 27 degrees C, I was really relaxed and so was Carole. I also managed to get through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I enjoyed and have the other two books to follow, but they’ll have to wait until my next holiday I’m too busy to read novels at the moment.

Whilst in Spain I did catch the local paper which had an article about a Father and Son world record for a combined time at the London Marathon. Of course that featured my Pennington Flash buddy Jeff Whittington and his son, Russell, with a picture of Jeff holding the certificate. Nice one Jeff, not only a star in Wigan but Internationally too.

I’m usually ready to come home but on this occasion we were having such a good time and I was completely relaxed, no internet or phone for me on holidays, I believe in focusing my resources on having a good time. And of course once I arrived home that was the switch for me to get straight back into training hard, unfortunately it didn’t quite have the same effect on Carole who thought I’d be better placed putting curtains up, making more furniture and working on the garden, thank goodness she’s back at work today so I can prioritise my training over all that tedious stuff, I should remind her I’m not the handy man, just the cook, cleaner, butler and of course personal trainer.

Upon landing at Manchester Airport I received some good news. I’d been thinking about it all morning, it was the day Lee Riley was attempting to break the Mile World Record, carrying a 40lb pack (current record, which Lee had equalled a few weeks earlier, was 5:35). After having trained with Lee for the previous two weeks I was aware how he had improved since that attempt and I was a bit miffed not to be pacing Lee on the day, but the training trip was booked before Lee told me about the world record attempt and there was no changing it, unless I wanted to become a single man again. When I switched on my phone, Lee had texted me to say he had run 5:16.9. He’d absolutely smashed the record, which didn’t surprise me as when I finished training with him he was on target for 5:18-5:20 and he still had a taper to come. What a fantastic effort though, I’m really proud of him and chuffed to have played a part in it. Lee rang me later and it was nice of him to say that the training I’d done with him made all the difference. It made me wonder how many more people I could help to achieve their best. When I got home there was footage of Lee’s race on the BBC local news and the following day there was a shorter version of it on the ITV local news. I look forward to hearing what Lee’s next World Record attempt will be. He’s a superstar and just knowing him keeps me driven to train harder myself, I’ll have to if I’m going to be quick enough to keep training with him. Incidentally there should be a video of the attempt, uploaded shortly onto youtube, currently there are just the ones about Lee’s marathon record. Maybe I should add TV celebrity to my list of clients! Send him to the Jungle I say, he’d be more interesting than most of the mob they’ve currently got in Australia.

On my arrival home I switched on my email and had a couple of interesting emails. The first was from Rich, who I’d spent 4 weeks running training with. He thanked me for setting him off on the right track and told me how well he was progressing on his way to next year’s Edinburgh marathon. Hopefully we’ll be catching up for some additional training in the new year. The second was from my long term client, Ray. Ray had told me he’d set another pb at Pennington Flash on 5 November, just missing out on a sub 22 min setting. I don’t remember it but I’d told him some months back that he would break 22 min at Pennington Flash at some point this year, he hadn’t believed me at the time. Then I logged onto the Pennington Flash results page to find that on 12 Nov he’d run 21:55. Well done Ray, but there’s plenty more to come, sub 21 before the end of May next year.

The next bit of great news was that my club, Herne Hill Harriers, had won the Surrey League cross country that afternoon, again by a considerable margin, I don’t think they need me anymore. Finally the sad news, I learnt of the passing of one of my Belgrave colleagues. John Davies, a star of the 1950s and 60s, who had bests of 1:52.8 for 880yards and 4:10.8 for the mile (both achieved on cinder tracks). John was one of the old regulars at Belgrave Hall on a Saturday afternoon and we often chatted as he came around with his collection box for the shower fee, I also spent many a London Marathon afternoon at his and Pam’s flat in Covent Garden, celebrating the achievements of various Belgravians taking part in that day’s event. I was a regular from 1993 until the early noughties, and it was there that we celebrated my Wife’s 2:56 and my own marathon debut in 2003. John was a character and he always had something positive to say to me, in fact it was John’s encouragement that kept me seeking that International vest long after I’d given up believing I had the potential and so it’s thanks to John that I have run for Britain, England, and Scotland, albeit as a geriatric. RIP John, another Belgravian who will be missed by many.

With that I must conclude. I’ve got some ideas what I want to do for the next 6 months, but need to start planning my life around them. I also need to hit my gym for my third session of today, no I’m not obsessed, just committed and it stops me from having to put up more curtains. It’s getting cold in my gym, but I’ve trained in my Edinburgh garage during mid winter and that’s no contest, plus It’ll be pretty warm after 5 minutes on the healthrider.    

Weight Loss

As a Personal Trainer many of the people I talk to, and a lot of my clients in particular, are interested in weight loss. But what are they really talking about? It’s often the case that trimming the body, getting rid of the overhanging belly or toning the bum are associated with weight loss. Numerous times I’ve been accosted by people telling me that they’ve been doing this and that and haven’t lost an ounce of weight. And why is that? Well read on, you may find out.

Firstly, we shouldn’t be talking about weight loss but a reduction in % body fat. It’s inevitable that when you start a new exercise regime your muscles are going to tone and there is going to be some increase in the size of your muscles. Don’t panic, you’re not going to turn into the incredible Hulk, unless of course you want to, but muscles that haven’t been worked before are going to grow in size with exercise (to further allay your fears, take a look at the picture of me in the blog about my gym, I think you’ll agree I look more like the incredible Sulk). As muscle weighs more than fat you could be losing body fat but gaining muscle, leaving you with no overall change in weight.

When starting out on an exercise regime you should look at the big picture, I always measure arms, chest, waist, hips and legs. You should also consider taking a before picture, to remind you what you used to look like whenever you think you’ve plateaued. At regular times you should get re-measured and take another snap. Naturally there is no problem with weighing yourself but take the other things into consideration too. In fact you can also get scales that can calculate a fat % too.

So how do you go about losing fat. Well, different people will swear by different diets, or long and slow exercise regimes or even using big weights to increase your metabolism and burn the calories. All of these methods can help but I prefer a more balanced approach, after all I’m a pretty balanced kind of guy.

The first thing I do when I meet a new client, as I’m measuring them up, is talk to them about their lifestyle. That includes things like, how often they exercise, what type of exercise they do, how often they eat, how much they eat, when they eat, what they eat, the same with respects to what they drink, what their work entails, what they do when they get home from work and how many hours sleep they get. That’s a lot of information to take in and the client may not always know all the answers, because they’ve not given it any thought. This enables me to build a picture of the client’s lifestyle and what needs to change. I discuss their motivation for making the change and what they’re prepared to do to achieve their goal.

From that information I’ll recommend certain changes and begin planning their exercise regime. I’ll motivate the client to achieve their goal but I’m not going to force them against their will, if I push them too far they won’t enjoy working out and it could put them off exercise for life, which isn’t going to achieve anything for anyone.

In my exercise routines I try to combine a number of principles; endurance, speed, strength, encouragement and nutrition. I like to mix my sessions around too, that way the client won’t get bored, though they do have to listen to my stories. I can pack a lot into an hour, as my clients would tell you, I even have one client who has a weekly 90 minute session, so imagine how much more I can pack into that. Obviously what I pack into sessions depends very much on the experience of the client. A number of my clients have been new to exercise so require more coaching and showing and this takes up some of the time of a session, which is probably a good thing as it gives them more rest between exercises. As they become fitter and more familiar with the exercises we can do more and therefore burn more calories. Naturally I’m constantly looking out for new exercises and will still throw in the odd newbie exercise, or combine exercises together to make things a little more interesting. Afterall variety not only keeps the client happy it makes me happy as I’m able to stretch the client’s boundaries. I also give advice about nutrition, which to my mind is not about cutting out food you love, it’s about cutting back on the things that are less healthy and portion size and the timings of when you eat. That’s why I recommend my own meal planning programme, it selects meals that you will like, in correct portion sizes and takes into account how long you have to prepare each meal (to find out more go to www.rogeralsop.co.uk/nutrition).

But when all is said and done there will be clients who are not completely happy with their weight reduction, they hear about the huge weight losses reported on programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing (not surprising as the celebrities are being paid to spend hours in a studio dancing and not eating too much, don’t get me wrong I’d happily spend 8 hours a day with a client, keeping them active and watching their diet and it would work and I’d be healthily paid, but it’s not really practical for my clients) or reading about these fantastic diets that help you to lose weight quickly (inevitably lots of people on those diets tend to put weight on quickly again after they’ve got bored of it). To me it’s about striking a balance between exercise and nutrition, which ultimately needs to fit into your lifestyle, and it will believe me, it does. Why might you fail to achieve your goal? Going completely against the meal plan and eating things that are not good for you, drinking too much alcohol, not exercising enough or effectively enough – but I’d soon know once we discuss your progress.

Now what’s been going on with me this week. Last week I told you I’d been to Edinburgh to pick up my previous life, which consisted of lots of boxes full of mine and Carole’s past as well as a couple of exercise machines and my bike. This week I’ve spent a lot of time moving stuff out of boxes and trying to find somewhere to put it in the house, but ultimately I think it’s time to declutter.

Having my Healthrider and rowing machine in my gym has changed my exercise regime a little and I now incorporate a 20 minute session on those machines. I brought my first Healthrider back in the mid 90’s and loved it for it’s overall muscle toning benefits and cardiovascular exercise, back then I used to do a 40 minute session every night and managed to break two machines within 9 months, for which the company replaced them, this ones much better, it’s still my 3^rd machine and it’s taken a battering off me for about 14 years and it’s still going strong (2 years of inactivity in an Edinburgh garage seem to have done it no harm and I’m already feeling the benefits of using it again). I used them every day Monday to Thursday and felt great afterwards, I felt so good I intended to use them on Friday too but following another session with Rich (in which we increased the quality element somewhat) on Thursday my legs were feeling a little tired on Friday so I just did a 4 mile run.

I was feeling so good I thought I’d look for a race, one that I could test myself against my peers. Ideally I would have like to have headed down to another part of my past and run for Herne Hill Harriers in the Surrey League Cross Country on Wimbledon Common, but I was conscious of trying to clear as many of the boxes as possible before Carole returned from San Francisco so decided against that (thankfully my team mates didn’t need me as they ran fantastically to record a huge winning margin). I looked at the Sandbach 10k taking place this coming weekend, but it was full, and the Congleton Half Marathon on Sunday but that was also full. Then Ray suggested the Parkrun, so that’s what I did.

It had been a wet and windy week and I knew it would be muddy at Pennington Flash but I wasn’t bothered about the time, I wanted to push myself and, to be quite frank, if you want a hard Parkrun I think you’ll be hard pushed to find many harder than Pennington Flash. Hard as it is it’s actually a really nice course and it’s a really friendly crowd who turn up, but I’ve said all that before so no point to keep reiterating it. It was so muddy they adjusted the course slightly, taking us away from the grass, which required a small jump over part of a gate (I haven’t run steeplechase since 1991, and that was a disaster, so that was a daunting prospect). I set off with intent and was soon away from the crowd, it wasn’t as windy or as muddy as I was expecting but I still managed to slip a couple of times and had a bit of bother slowing down for a tight downhill corner, though my jumps were good, all in all I had a good run finishing in 17:31, almost 3 minutes clear of 2^nd place. So I was happy with that, though having recorded my 5^th win at the venue I was starting to feel a bit greedy and thought I ought to give someone else a chance but then there have been 31 races so that makes 26 other chances. In fact Ray, who was watching with his son, Jake, Sharon, his wife, who was running, and I were discussing trying a few different Parkruns in the region, so we may well do that, though we’ve built up a relationship with Pennington Flash and Bill, the Event and Race Director, so we’ll always go back.

On Sunday it was the Chester Marathon, not only was Ray making his marathon debut but another of my Pennington Flash pals, Jeff Whittington, was also running. Ray finished in 3:49:35 (I go off gun times not chip times), a little off his goal of sub 3:30 but you just never know with the marathon. Jeff was also a little down on his best with 3:29:40 and there were others, I know, that were also slower than anticipated. Maybe it was the heat, it’s been a cold week so I went out for my 9 mile run in long sleeves and lycras and was sweating heavily within a couple of minutes, as the temperature had risen about 8 degrees C within a day. There will be other chances, in fact we start Ray’s recovery session and future planning this week.

Complete Nutritional Meal Planning Package

This week I wanted to tell you about a new nutritional meal planning package that Roger Alsop Personal Training is promoting. Now I know blogs aren’t supposed to be about product promotion but I hope you’ll forgive me as I’ve written so many about running I wanted to focus on something else this week. This particular package helps you to plan your meals around your goals and dietary requirements. It’s not about restrictive dieting, but about eating real food and once you’re familiar with the process it should add to your weekly food shop planning exercise.

The tool allows you to set your own preferences, omitting foods you don’t like and even create your own recipes, should you want to. Once you’ve gone through the initial setup and dietary preferences it can create a meal plan for you, which can then be converted into a shopping list. You then track your progress against your goals. It has other resources too, calculating how many calories you burn off during exercises, and it’s growing all the time.

Promotion over, take a look at www.rogeralsop.co.uk/nutrition for more info, and a video. If you’re interested get in touch, I’m in the process of creating paypal for it, so that should be available soon. Oh and I’ve set the price quite low, initially, because it’s a new concept.  

I know there are some regular readers of this blog, so another apology from me, because there wasn’t one last week. I decided it was time for me to treat Carole and myself to a romantic break, so I went away for 10 days. It was a little bit like history repeating itself for me as I revisited places I’d been to before, but they were all new for Carole and they’re really nice places to visit anytime. As you’ll know, I may take holidays from Cheshire but I don’t take holidays from training, however I made the decision to give myself a little break, maybe take a few days off and on the days I trained to just train at ticking over level – but it didn’t all go to plan.

We went to Slovenia, starting in Kranjska Gora, where I had been skiing back in ’92. It’s a lovely little town with very little to do, except walk up big hills, which of course we did. We had a great view of the mountains from our hotel balcony but I’ll admit now that I was a little less impressed with the food at this hotel. We stayed here for 3 days and I did two runs, running up to the Jasna lakes, using minute reps with 30 second recoveries to justify only doing about 35 minutes of running.

After 3 days we moved onto, what I consider to be the most romantic place I’ve been to, Bled. Bled is a real attractive resort with a lake, castle and island. Have a search on the internet for pictures of it, if you don’t believe me (I would put some of ours up but I’ve been too busy setting up the nutrition package to look for the camera). I stayed here in 1997, I’d just started running again after fracturing my foot, and found the 4 mile circuit around the lake pretty good for training. This time however there was a small problem I hadn’t anticipated. The World Rowing Championships were being held on the week we were there. Whilst it was pretty good mixing with so many elite athletes, just like at Pennington Flash, it did mean a portion of the Lake road was sealed off and the diversion took you up a steep hill, adding a further mile onto the run. However, to be honest, it was just what I needed, allowing me to, justifiable stretch out my run a little further and make it more of a workout. After a few days I did get a little problem with my Achilles, but changing my shoes to a lower heel seemed to have cured that, I’d better keep my eye on that though.

I’d really gone to town this time, staying at the Grand Hotel Toplice, last time I was here I was staying lower class but went to the bar, which has huge bowed windows with a spectacular view, for a drink each night. Another plus was the fact we had a balcony on the lake side of the hotel. Carole was impressed, and so was I. The hotel was great and, unlike the previous hotel, the food was pretty damn good too, if a little strange at times. One of the other nice things about this hotel is that it has a pool fed from natural springs, but boy is it cold. I remember last time I couldn’t face getting in but this time I braved the elements and followed up with a sauna. It was in the pool I got chatting to Canadian, Ron Gibson, who’s son, Robbie, was in the Canadian 8. They ended up with bronze, with Germany getting the gold and Great Britain the silver. Ron was leaving before the end of the week and passed on his tickets to me so that we enjoyed a day at the races, on the Friday. I also had a brief conversation with Quin Batten, former rowing gold medallist, who just happened to be having breakfast at the same time as me one day.

Of course, being out of the country meant missing out on a few things, like the rain. We missed most of the World Athletics Champs, we tried our best to catch up with the highlights but Eurosport’s coverage was pretty dire, I was particularly disappointed when they concentrated on field events whilst Mo Farah was trying to win the 10000m. Thankfully we got back home in time to see him win the gold in the 5000m, better coverage from Channel 4 but still not up to the standard we’re used to. Good to see a gold for Dai Greene too, in the 400mh. One other thing I missed was the 6 month anniversary of the Pennington Flash Parkrun, but I understand my age grading rival, Jeff Whittington, won the race, again stretching his lead even more in the age graded tables.

I woke up this morning raring to go, I was wide awake, the sun was shining, my Ronhill test kit was washed, and then I did a stupid thing….I bent over, somehow I must have twisted as I reached for my shorts and my back went into a spasm. After a few exercises it was clear I wouldn’t recommend myself to run, hopefully It’ll be ok for tomorrow when I have a number of clients to service, it doesn’t help that I also ice burned it, despite using a tea towel, and now have a very unpleasant red raised area on my back – still it could have been worse, at least I got out of mowing the lawn.     

Running With Clients

I am a runner. I’m a fully qualified Personal Trainer with lots of fitness and nutritional knowledge and experience. But the truth is my route into Personal Training was through running. Because I’m a runner that doesn’t mean that all I do with my clients is run – I had a hell of a job convincing people of that when I first started in the gym, I guess it didn’t help that I wasn’t built like Mr. Muscles, unlike some of the other trainers – no I have all the capability of training clients, in any way, without them having to run a step, whatever their goals.

That’s not to say that I don’t get my clients to run, sometimes with me and sometimes without, but I don’t go into a new client/trainer relationship with the intention of including running, unless they specifically request it. For starters some clients aren’t able to run, others just don’t want to run (though I am able to talk most of them round, if I think it will be beneficial), but the real reason I limit the running is because my body just wouldn’t cope with running with all my clients plus doing my own training (which often includes running for more than an hour at a time and some of it is quite intense). So I may well run in short bursts with some clients, as part of an overall session but I restrict the number of clients that I do running only sessions with. So far it’s worked well, particularly with Ray who is now running at a level that I can call a good run for me, so I need to cut back on my own running on those days. I’m starting with a new running client soon, a Chef (no not Gordon Ramsay) so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve had to adjust my own regime to cater for him, as I have three clients I run with in succession on a day I would normally do my quality run, but don’t worry I’ll still aim to win races, and one of my strong points is to maximise impact on minimum effort, when required.

Before I started Personal Training I trained to be an athletics coach. In fact it was that experience that threw me into Personal Training, I realised how much fun helping people to achieve their goals was. I cut my teeth with the athletes at Edinburgh AC, being mentored by that Edinburgh stalwart, Alex McEwen. They were good days, I built up a rapport with the group and, I believe, they respected me for what I did. I didn’t run with them at the time as it was a large group of mixed ability and I wanted to maximise the coaching experience for me, in order to do well in my exams. Sometimes I came up with the sessions, which Alex approved, but my main role was keeping time, particularly on recoveries, and to learn from the expert, that was Alex by the way. And yes, I was stringent with those recoveries, if it was a minute, 60 seconds was all they got, and I know the group appreciated that, after all they were athletes and I, as an athlete, wouldn’t want 63 seconds when I was expecting 60. But guys and gals, you’ll be interested to note I’m not so stringent with some of my clients, they’re not trained athletes, like you, and sometimes need that extra time to recover. Oh I’m still no softie, I know when they’re ready but I’m a little more flexible, until they become more Ray like.

Before I qualified as a Personal Trainer I first qualified as a Run Leader, which meant I could coach groups of endurance athletes, or beginners wanting to learn to jog/run. So I organised running groups from Sandbach, Crewe, even a treadmill group in the gym, and Northwich. At most of these I didn’t participate but when the mix was right I was able to take part too, which was great fun for me, particularly when I had members of the paras and ex-marines. It was at these sessions that I met Lee Riley, who I later helped to achieve his marathon world record (but you can read about that in an earlier blog). They were fun sessions and it was nice to have a group to lead, but I decided to stop working weekends to spend more time with the family. Ok so the family is just Carole and myself, but we both work hard so deserve some time to ourselves.

When I’m running with clients I tend not to just run with them, I like to introduce intervals, I feel that it is the best way to get fitter and lose weight. Obviously, as I know from my own painful experience during my early running days, intervals need to be introduced gradually and with relevant recovery, but I do feel it is more beneficial than just steady running, though this has it’s place but the client doesn’t generally need me to be there in order to do that. I use this method with Ray and his fitness has improved no end over the past six months.

When she’s not working, and it fits in around my own training and that of my clients, I run with Carole. Now Carole’s training goes a little differently, we’re both keen to tell each other about how our day has been and I’ve found the perfect way to ensure Iget to tell my story first. I use the first 6 minutes to warm up gently, this allows her to tell me some stuff and gives her the feeling that I’m interested, I then make her hit the first rep hard and bingo, she’s out of breath for the rest of the session and up to 10 minutes after it’s over, by which time I’ve told her all about my day and moved onto making dinner. Harmony in action.

At this point I’d just like to post a picture of an old friend of mine, Paul Coughlan. Paul used to be a great athlete, or so he keeps telling us. Over the past few years he’s had injury issues, that have kept him from competing at the level to which he would like to. Two weekends ago he was in action in a race, back in his beloved New Zealand, and it was interesting to see which running singlet this former Belgrave Harrier was wearing. (For those not used to singlet spotting, it’s a Herne Hill Harriers singlet and it looks good on him, even if he doesn’t look good in it!).

the latest Belgrave Harrier to start wearing a Herne Hill singlet

A little update on what I’ve been up to. As you’ll know, if you’ve been reading these blogs regularly, I’d been upping my training intensity and mileage, laying down some foundations for the winter. Well a couple of weeks ago I started to get aggressive achilles pain and also a little niggle around the left knee again. I thought that if I were to carry on with the same training I’d end up with an injury, so I took a couple of days off, not just running but any activity on the legs, other than standing and walking, and it seems to have done the trick, I’m still a little niggly in the legs but I’m starting to run more freely and with less pain. I’ve also reduced all my quality sessions to 3/5 of the number of reps, which allows me to maintain intensity. It’s a ticking over exercise and hopefully, in a few weeks I’ll be able to pick it up again.

Yesterday I ran the Birchwood 10k, only the 3^rd road race and 2^nd 10k of the year for me. Last year I ran in pain, my left knee, and only managed 33:59 – though still first M45. This year I felt pretty good, I didn’t really know where I was with my fitness but I felt I was coming into form. I set off aiming for 33:20, thinking that if I struggled I should still get a faster time than last year. And I was going pretty well until the last 2k when I started to struggle a little, though I still managed to pull away from some runners who’d been with me for the past 5 miles. I finished, a little disappointed with my 34:14, 13^th overall, 2^nd M45, 1st M45 ran 34:01. But I’d had a great battle with Warrington’s Andy Green, many of you may recall he was a 2:12 marathon man in his day, we chatted afterwards and he’s aiming for the Chester Marathon, so a bit of a feather in the cap, he finished 1 place and 2 seconds behind me. I think times were a little slower than last year, all round, though my mate Louise Blizzard ran around 4 minutes quicker with 37:47. It was also good to catch up with so many friends from the past; as well as Louise I was chatting on the start line with other ex Belgrave colleagues Paul Freary and Mark Miles (Paul took the 1^st M40 prize 23 seconds ahead of me, unfortunately Mark pulled out at around 8k, having been involved with the front runners). I also had a good chat with Herne Hiller John Kettle, who was always just a few paces ahead of me, apart from a stint when the group caught him, he finished in 10^th place, 7 seconds ahead of me. Then there was my old British League rival from the 90’s Paul Simons (who holds the world record for completing a marathon wearing a Santa costume), he was in the same group as me for most of the way but I just managed to gain some ground on him towards the end, he finished 16^th, 8 seconds behind me. I had a good chat with Bill Bradley, who organises the Pennington Flash Parkrun, he informed me that my prediction that Jeff Whittington would raise the bar had come true as he ran another pb to win Saturday’s Parkrun. After the event I had a good chat with a guy introducing Scott running shoes to the market. They looked vaguely similar to the MBT shoes and felt really nice to wear. They also retail at a reasonable rate for running shoes. I was interested and may well invest in some at a later time but if you’d like to find out more visit http://www.scott-sports.com/.

And finally, some news about a new development in my business. I’ve purchased some licences in a meal planning programme that will help my clients with their weight goals, whether that be to lose, gain or maintain weight. I believe it will allow me to offer more to my clients at a very reasonable price. I’ll focus on this more in a future blog, I’m planning to launch it in early September. Alongside this I’ve decide it’s time to get myself a logo and have employed the services of my Australian friends Zoe Gell, she of ‘the girl that runs’ blog. She’s come up with some really good designs and we’re just in the process of refining them before I announce it.

Over the next few weeks I need to select some more races to get some improvement to my times. I think my chances of the England vest, this year, are pretty slim. This will make Carole happy as I was aiming to run in Exmoor, in the BMAF 10k Champs but that falls on her birthday weekend, so now she can be pampered instead of standing around in the cold watching an old man attempt to run fast. But I’m not giving up just yet, until I’m announced as not being in the team I’ll keep training hard and looking for opportunities to race.

Illnesses and injuries - to train or not to train

I’ll dedicate this blog to former Edinburgh AC team mate and sub 4 minute miler, Kris Gauson, who gave me the idea after complaining about hay fever on facebook. Hope you’re no longer suffering Kris, looks like you’re ok judging by the weekend results. This blog covers more than just hay fever and is about how to deal with illness and injury when you’re a regular trainer.

The general advice is that if you are feeling unwell or have an injury you should rest until the illness/injury has passed. It is, however, perfectly feasible to continue to train with minor ailments or minor injuries, though it is advisable to ease back on the effort level somewhat. Don’t take this as my personal recommendation, you should always be careful not to overdo your training, but we probably all know people who will train through injury and illness and on many occasions they carry on without any serious implications. Each individual situation needs to be assessed by yourself, or a healthcare/fitness professional, there is no definitive list of when you should or shouldn’t train and I have done it both successfully and unsuccessfully. Also I’ve been advised to continue exercise whilst having treatment on many occasions, from the healthcare professional I was being treated by. The key is to recognise what has potential to cause serious illness and injury and avoid it. The wise man says, if in pain, don’t train. Of course that is a different sort of pain to that pleasurable pain induced by physical activity.

I’ll start with hay fever. I used to get it a lot in London and there was a period when my life was hell as my nose would run and sneeze all day. It was a particular issue standing on the tube in a full carriage, hanging onto the roof of the tube, with my nose running constantly. It also caused me problems sleeping so for about a month I was really tired and grumpy, for the other 11 months I was just grumpy. I actually found that my nose was much better when I was running, it gave me a relief, I probably should have done marathon training in that month. The other thing that seemed to relieve it was an air conditioned office, my favourite time of the year to work long hours. I did try homeopathic remedies, though I don’t really like putting any drugs into my body, but they never really worked for me so I just tried to ride out the storm. It never stopped me running and, although I worried it might do, I don’t think it had any effect on my form. When I moved up to Edinburgh I suffered a lot less, with hay fever that is, the only time I can actually recall suffering from it was when I went for a walk in the Pentlands and passed a rapeseed field. Back now in England and I am suffering again. So far it’s been the odd sneeze and itchy eyes but a couple of weekends ago I was at a Simple Minds concert in Delamere Forest and about half way through my nose started running and it was constant suffering for the rest of the concert. Thankfully, irritating as it was, it didn’t ruin the concert and I rate that as one of the best I’ve been to. So you can exercise through hay fever, however, because the sneezing comes on without warning, I would suggest you need to be careful if contemplating any exercise involving equipment, particularly any heavy lifting.

One thing we all get is the common cold. Colds can range from a little sniffle to the fully blown up flu like ailment. Flu is much worse and you should not consider training when suffering from it. I have continued to train through the minor cold symptoms, though at a lesser intensity, but I always stop if the cold is bad, my way of looking at it is, if I can exercise then I can work, if I can’t work I can’t exercise. Consequently I have a very low sickness record at work. My worst cold hit me in 1996, I’d had a good start to the year and was running into some good form. I was 2^nd in the Surrey 5000m and won the 10000m, but the rest of the summer turned into a bit of an anti-climax. However, I remained injury free and continued to train hard. As we approached the autumn my form returned and I produced some good road relay results. At the first Surrey Cross Country League I produced my best result to that point, finishing 13^th and went on to my first cross country race win in the South of Thames Junior Championship (more of that in a later blog). I was now in full swing and training hard, my focus was on the Surrey Cross Country Champs, I firmly believed I was a contender to win. Two weeks before the championship the guy who sat next to me at work got a really bad cold, but continued to turn up to work. Eventually it came my way, it had taken a full 8 days to reach me but when it did it knocked me sideways. It was probably the worst cold I can remember. I was desperate, 5 days to race day and I could hardly move. I spent a few days off work and training in the hope it would go away. Come the Saturday I went for a 1 mile jog. I can’t say I felt great but I convinced myself I was fine, big mistake. The race was that afternoon, at Coulsdon, 7.5 miles of cross country. I was still confident when we kicked off and hit the front row straight away, but then at about 1 mile I hit what can only be described as the wall, I suddenly had nothing left and started to fade. I continued to run as hard as I could, dragging my wall with me, but spent the next 6.5 miles watching other runners pass me. Understandably I didn’t win, I probably wouldn’t have anyway as it was won by Gary Staines (European Silver medallist) with John Solly (Commonwealth Gold medallist) in 2^nd, but I think a top 5 position was on the cards that day. 15 more guys got the better of me that day, as I faded to 18^th position. The one consolation is that I made the 6 man Belgrave team which won the team event for the first time in 30 years. No consolation really when you appreciate what damage I’d done. For the next few weeks I struggled with my training and when I came 34^th in the next Surrey League race, in what was quite a weak field, I knew something was wrong, so I went to the doctors for tests. I was lucky, I could so easily have caused serious damage, I’ve heard of Cross Country skiers having heart attacks by training through colds. I had strained my heart, the doctor told me it was just like straining any other muscle, I needed to rest and start back slowly. Ever since then I’ve been more careful about running with colds. Ten years later I got a cold the week I was due to make my debut for Scotland in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country event. I was still unsure if I should run on the day but my heart rate was close to normal so I gave it a go. This time I got away with it but I’m not convinced it was a sensible decision.

Following on from the 1996 cold story, I struggled to regain fitness for the rest of the winter, but only on the relative scale as to where I’d been in November. My heart recovered, I didn’t have any further issues, and still haven’t. So I was still fit but annoyed that I’d been in such great shape and thrown it away over one race. So what did the less sensible version of Roger Alsop do? Yep that’s right I drove myself hard to get back to that level of fitness. I remember I went for a week’s holiday to the Lake District and before I went walking I’d do a really tough hill session or a flat out run over a 5 mile undulating loop, no rest days for me I had races to win. It worked, I got my fitness back, but I was putting my body under too much pressure. I managed a 3^rd place in the Surrey 5000m, irritated that it should have been a victory if only I’d been in shape. Over the next three weeks I noticed a dull ache at the top of my foot, near the toes. It didn’t stop me running so I just kept training. It was getting gradually more painful but I’d had pains before and run through them. Then on 31^st May I ran a 1500m at Tooting Bec. It was a tactical race, with some good runners in it but I wasn’t looking for a win I wanted to reassert myself and run a good time, so I hit the front to push the pace on. Entering the start of the 3^rd lap I was still in the lead, with a bunch right on my shoulder. It was at this point that the biggest long jumper I’ve ever seen, got out of his sandpit and without looking stepped onto the track, right in front of me. We hit hard and I was stopped dead in my tracks, this felt like a thicker wall than the one at Coulsdon. I don’t know how many runners behind me were also affected but nobody fell over. The race continued and I finished a disappointing 5^th in 4:12. I hadn’t felt any pain during the race, but as I walked back to my kit I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my foot. I hobbled home and went to the hospital, nothing showed up on x-ray so I sought help for what I suspected was ligament damage. Two weeks later I was still in pain, another trip to the hospital and the tell tale deposits confirmed that I had actually got a very fine fracture to my metatarsal. 9 weeks off running, unfortunately not 9 weeks off work, but actually that was a godsend as my boss sent a computer home for me to work on and that kept me sane as I sat cooped up in my flat. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom I’ve been running for 22 years now and most times, I recognise when I shouldn’t train and usually seek out expertise when in pain or ill. However, training at my level I always get niggles and it’s sorting out the niggles from the problems. I’ve often run with niggles and they’ve eventually gone. Earlier this year I took two months off to get rid of a persistent knee problem. When I started running again I was ok for a couple of weeks but then my knee started niggling. I identified what caused the pain and adjusted my training accordingly. After a while the pain went and now I’m able to train properly again.

 

Tiredness and stress, whilst not an illness, needs to be managed as it’s very easy to run yourself down. During my first year in Scotland I worked nightshifts for the first time in my life and I was also under a lot of pressure to perform for a job that clearly wasn’t suitable for me. Consequently I was under a lot of stress. I was still training hard and, surprisingly, running quite well. I headed down to England for the BMAF 5k in Horwich and remember being on the start line feeling like I was going to faint. For a moment I was worried I’d have to pull out or drop out. Then the gun went and I was away. I ran 15:44, still my fastest 5k since I turned 40. A few weeks later I didn’t fare so well over the half marathon distance.

That’s all I’m going to say at this point, regarding training with illnesses and injuries. Obviously there is a lot more that could be covered, such as training after recovery from a serious illness or pregnancy but that would make the blog quite long and take away subjects for other weeks. I would say that I have continued to train on many occasions, with minor ailments, and I haven’t suffered any long term issues, usually if there is a real problem it will become apparent early, however I would advise that you take care if you think you may be ill or injured, and get yourself checked out by a professional.

To finish off a quick update on what I’ve been up to. If you’ve been following my blogs, weekly, then you’ll know I’m now getting myself into some good form by gradually increasing the intensity levels of my training and the mileage. I’ve got my Australian client, wwwthegirlthatruns.com following a similar programme, if a little less intense than mine. I’m now able to run for longer than an hour without getting any pains in the knee. I’ve also noticed that I’m running quicker, comfortably, in my steady runs, and I’m loving the grass reps, which are mentally stimulating and right on the cusp between speed and endurance. Last week I did 18 of them and I felt like I was running each one as hard as the others, though there is no scientific fact to base that on as I don’t track the times, that way it doesn’t shatter any illusions, if I feel I’m running fast and hard then there’s no point in trying to dent my confidence. I have to say, though, that as soon as I finished there must’ve been a lactic switch turned on, because I could barely move. It reminded me of a training session I did with Richard Nerurkar, but that’s another story. I’ve used the same grass session for Carole and she loves it too, less reps of course. Tonight it’s Ray’s turn to sample it. Last Saturday I decided to run Pennington Flash again. I didn’t really want to but Carole was keen, so I mentioned it to Ray (getting Ray’s buy-in makes it harder for either of us to change our minds). I woke up feeling tired and still didn’t want to run, but at the end of the day it’s just training and at least it’s out of the way early. It had been raining for a couple of days so I was anticipating the ground to be soggy, in fact it wasn’t too bad but there was a strong wind. As we parked up, who should park next to us, only Jeff Whittington, my rival for age group victory. It was the first time I’d actually spoken to Jeff and it was nice to find out a bit more about the character behind the man. It was a good attendance at the race, 59 completed the course. Once again I was allowed to take the early lead and set my own pace. I knew I wasn’t going to set a blazing time, with my tiredness and the wind but I pushed all the way, reluctant to ruin my average time around the course. I actually thought I was pushing to avoid running in the 17:50s so was amazed when I crossed the line in 17:20, my 2^nd fastest around the course. Ray ran great to improve his pb and, although not setting a pb, Carole was 3^rd lady and 1^st in her age group. We went for coffee in the Ranger’s hut and it was nice to chat to some of the other runners. So that’s 5 runs completed at Pennington Flash, I’m not sure when I’ll next be back, but I will be.