Lee Riley Does It Again

Back in the olden days there was a lot of talk about a runner from Staffordshire club, Cannock and Stafford, who had a pretty good range of times from the marathon to the mile. His name was Paul Davies-Hale and he went on to represent Britain at two Olympics, Los Angeles and Barcelona. Well let me re-introduce you to someone from Cheshire who now holds world records from a range of distances from the marathon to the 400m. His name is Lee Riley, only time will tell what his greatest achievement will be.

For those who haven’t read any of my previous blogs, mentioning Lee, let me recap. I first met Lee almost two years to the day, it was at the Mow Cop Killer Mile in 2010. I’m not actually sure why Lee was there because he wasn’t a runner, perhaps it was the challenge that came along with the name. Lee had heard of me through one of my clients and he introduced himself to me. We chatted, I beat him up Mow Cop, we chatted some more and after that Lee occasionally turned up at some of my Run With Rog and Fun With Rog sessions. It was at one of these sessions that Lee first told me of his plans to run the marathon carrying a 40lb pack, not just to run it but to break the current world record doing so.

Naturally I thought Lee was overly enthusiastically mad and I went home to think nothing more about it. Until Lee called me just over 6 months before the 2011 London Marathon. He told me he’d got a place in the marathon and wanted me to train him for it. I asked him what running he had been up to and he replied, very little. So from a starting point of no base running fitness to breaking a world record for the marathon carrying a 40lb pack, shouldn’t be too difficult.

To cut a long story short, at the London Marathon Lee smashed the World record, having already taken the Half Marathon record during the build up. He was chuffed, I was chuffed, and we went about our business.

Then a few months later Lee rang me up again and said he wanted to break the Mile world record with a 40lb pack and would I help him again. This time I only had about 5 weeks, but I was confident we could do it. After all I knew Lee well now, I knew how he operated and my methods of training seemed to work well with his ideas on training. The other thing in Lee’s favour is that he is prepared to push himself as hard as it takes to reach his goals. Now I’ve trained a few people in my time, some have gone on to achieve some pretty impressive results, there has to be an element of hard training involved, but nobody I know trains as hard as Lee. I’ve pushed him hard, we’ve touched his limits, but he comes back for more and he’s very complementary about my training, usually.

Now there has been some discussion, amongst serious runners, about how valid it is to run slow times carrying a 40lb pack and call it a world record. Well believe me Lee would like to run faster times, but carrying the pack is a challenge in it’s own right. For the sake of argument let’s look at Lee’s marathon, he went into that having only trained seriously for 6 months, hardly any previous proper running and this was his debut marathon. On the same day another runner was also going for the record with a 40lb pack, this chap had been running for years and had previous marathons of well below 3 hours, good club running standard. Lee beat him by about 30 minutes. I’m not going to say anymore on this, apart from we should look at the challenge and be proud of what Lee is achieving, just because we choose not to do it doesn’t make it any less of a performance. Should anyone like to understand what it is like to carry 40lb on your back whilst running, I’m sure Lee would oblige, I’ve walked 200m with it and believe me it’s not easy.

So back to the story, 6 weeks ago I received another phone call from Lee, telling me he had his sights set on the 400m world record, with the pack, this would take place in 5 weeks time. Could I help? I thought about it, I’m an endurance athlete and coach so what do I know about sprinting? Well I had run a 55 second 400m relay leg in my day and all I had to do was implement my principles of training to this event, alongside a little bit of research and pondering. Admittedly Lee had been down at Stoke AC, training with the sprinters for a few weeks, he’s naturally fast and wanted to see what sprinting was all about.

Unfortunately, at the time of the call I was suffering from my knee and then back injury so I could only help Lee by working out schedules. But once I was healed enough I joined Lee down at the track. Boy was that a shock to the system, I hadn’t touched the track since we trained for the mile world record and I’d probably get outsprinted by the 100year old age record holder. We did some sprint type stuff, for which I tried my best to keep up with Lee and we worked on his start. Lee was given a bespoke backpack by Lowe Alpine and we did some extra stuff to get him used to it. Time was ticking away and I wasn’t sure that we were yet there, even though I’d been refining the training on a daily basis. We did a trial run, it was windy, but Lee ran 400m, with the pack, in 60.5.

I knew we needed to get Lee’s legs into some serious lactic inducing training so I came up with a session around Queens Park, it was so hard even I started to feel fit again. But Lee was carrying his pack, it was far harder for him, then we moved onto the grass, this was far harder, by now we’d dispensed with the pack, it was tough enough. I even got told off for by two ladies for mistreating my son, but they were soon converted into the Lee Riley fan club.

Back on the track we did another trial run, this time we tried to get everything like it would be on the day, we weighed the pack, it was a little over 41lb, we even rented a small crowd. The most notable thing was that there was no wind. It was a solo run and Lee looked good at 200m, clocked at 28 seconds, into the final 100m Lee was clearly feeling it and it was touch and go if he would make it. The clock stopped at 59.48, Lee’s goal of sub 60 had been achieved, but it wasn’t official.   

Now we were all set for the official run, during the Stoke AC Open Meeting on 21 April, almost a year since Lee had set the Marathon world record. We tapered accordingly and waited.

I’ve not yet been to see any of Lee’s previous world record attempts, I always seem to be somewhere else, but this time I promised I’d be there to offer support. So Carole and I went to Stoke. It was a pretty grey day, it wasn’t raining, but the wind was blustery, in fact it seemed stronger than the day we’d clocked 60.5. As the race got ready there was a hold up as athletes were making their way to the track, not good at any time but when you’re preparing with 40lb extra weight on your back, quite tough. Now I sound like I’m making excuses, I’m not I’m just preparing the way. Lee ran a good solid race but only managed a time of 60.95. Are we disappointed, yes, both of us feel like Lee has a sub 60 in him and the three clocked times we have show that he is there or there abouts, so it will happen. But whilst Lee’s goal was to break 60 seconds, the fact is, he has set another world record, so that’s 4 now.

While I’ve been training with Lee, and it’s been full on for two weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of short distance flat out reps, well they felt flat out to me even if I still looked like I was jogging. I never could sprint so I’m damned if I’m going to start now. Even so at granddad pace my legs were taking a hammering, though a completely different type of hammering to what they normally get. Because of the lack of longer distance training my intended return to racing was going to be a 1500m in the same open meeting as Lee ran in, unfortunately I missed the closing date. Oh well, all this did was persuade me to run the parkrun at Pennington Flash instead. So that’s where I was last Saturday morning, with Ray and Sharon Tran.

It’s been a while since I raced, due to my trip down under and the various injuries I’ve suffered since I got back, in fact the last time I raced was 5^th Feb. So I was a bit tentative about this race, especially as I’ve built a bit of a reputation for being first or second in this event. I grew even more tentative as I waited for Ray and Sharon to pick me up and it suddenly started to downpour. It’s been so long since I ran this event that I had too much breakfast and my guts were churning a bit as well. As we drove towards Pennington Flash, the skies brightened up and we even got an appearance from the sun. Still knowing how muddy it gets at Pennington Flash I was resigned to having a slow race, perhaps my first one over 18 minutes. I got out of the car and immediately felt a pain pang across my right knee. A little unnerving considering it’s been my left knee that’s been troubling me for the last three years. I could hardly walk let alone run, still I decided to try to jog it out. Thankfully it went by the time I’d made it the half mile to the start. It was great to see so many familiar faces and have chats with the friendly participants and marshalls, also great to see so many new faces, when I started going, a year earlier, we averaged about 40 runners, now it seems to be attracting close to 100. I’m sure this is down to the fabulous views around the course, it’s challenging nature, Bill’s organisation and the friendliness of the people who take part.

   

Feeling a bit nervous about my own form I decided to take an easy start, in fact I think I was 3^rd after 10 metres. But I felt it was a little too slow so I put my foot down a little. I’ve pushed much harder but for some reason I was really out of breath by the top of the first hill, I had a lead so I wasn’t going to slow down. Failing to regain my breath by the top of the 2^nd hill I decided to take a peek to see where my opposition was, Stephen Makin, a 5 times winner of the event, was the closest too me, not far behind but far enough with the hill to take into consideration. It was then I made the decision to do something I‘ve never consciously done at Pennington Flash before, slow down. I felt I could sustain the gap if I just eased back. Still out of breath at the top of the 2^nd hill on the 2^nd lap I’d pulled out a little more of a gap. I decided I needed to push a little harder on the 3^rd lap so I could coast in. At the top of the hill on the 3^rd lap I couldn’t see Stephen so I knew I had another victory, but as I was fairly close to the finish I decided to keep pushing. I took a quick peek at my watch and it told me that if I pushed I should just break 18 minutes, well I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and I gave it everything down that finishing straight, hoping my legs had learnt something from trying to catch Lee. I finished in 17:36, to my own amazement, it was actually 12 seconds quicker than the last time I ran there.

I went for my customary jog back around the course to cheer on the other runners, and thank the marshals, but I didn’t have much voice I was coughing my guts up. I felt like I did the first time I attempted an 800m, if you’ve ever done one flat out you’ll know what I mean by that. The next day I felt a little rough, Ray was worse he was suffering flu type symptoms, unfortunately that’s meant he has had to pull out of the Manchester marathon.

It’s not just been sprint work with Lee, I’ve also been training with Katy, putting the finishing touches to her Marathon training, she is doing the Manchester marathon this weekend. Katy has been going well, she knocked about 2.5 minutes off her Newcastle 7 mile time, two weeks ago, and last week she was 3^rd F35 at the Bolton 10k, running 45:16 over the tough 10k course. Hopefully Katy will have a strong marathon.   

Talking of marathons, last weekend it was the London marathon, I was so busy I couldn’t watch it all but I’ve seen some great results from many of my friends who took part and even an open mic from Richard Meade, who’s enthusiasm for all things running got him into trouble with Lovely Rita Meter Maid.

But to finish off this tale we go back to the beginning, where I first met Lee at the Mow Cop Killer Mile. I didn’t run the event last year as I was travelling up to Edinburgh on the night it took place. This year it was on last night, so I could take part. I was still a bit chesty so I wasn’t sure about going, but I decided I could always start and if I was feeling bad I’d just stop. Just as two years ago it was tipping down with rain, it was cold, wet and the registration and toilets were in a muddy field, just as well I didn’t bring my latest pair of racing flats.

I lined up for the race, I knew quite a few people on the line and it was good humoured banter, and there amongst us was Lee and his 40lb pack. Of we went, last time I went off hard and paid for it on the steep top section, finishing 4^th in 7:54. This time I was more tentative, conscious of my chest but also a little scared of that hill, I have embraced it but we’re not yet friends. I was having trouble keeping pace with the leaders but as we got higher they stopped getting away and I seemed to find the steepest section the easiest bit, I can’t fathom that out so don’t bother trying. The good news was that my chest wasn’t giving me any trouble at all so I really pushed the last flatter climb and even managed to overtake one of the youngsters ahead of me.

I crossed the line in 8 minutes, by my watch, will have to wait for the official time. 6 seconds down on 2 years ago, quite pleasing really considering I was in 32 minute 10k shape at that point. Once again it lived up to it’s name, but I guarantee the majority of people who took part will be back next time. Oh and just for fun I went back down and ran it again filming Lee, this time without his pack. Lee didn’t have a watch on the first time so I can’t tell you his pack time but having run a mile downhill and then straight back up his second time was 9:30ish.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Track Training

This week’s blog is another one inspired by multi-world record breaker Lee Riley. Actually it’s a bit of a tenuous link but the fact is that over the last week I’ve been training with Lee at Cumberland Sports Ground in Crewe. I mentioned in last week’s blog that on Monday I paced Lee to a World Record equalling 5:35 (for running the mile with a 40lb pack, him not me). Following that attempt, for which I’m still awaiting Lee to publish the video so that I can share it with you, Lee asked me to train with him for a couple of week’s to help him crack his next attempt, which takes place on November 12 at Cumberland Sports Ground, at 09:00. The first session was on Thursday and my intention was to crack the 80 second barrier for 400m, so that Lee would find that comfortable on record day. We ran 5 reps, but not over 400m, I decided to try to break the mental challenge of those extra metres at the start of the mile race so we ran 5 x 409m. It was a tough session and Lee was battling all the way but knocked out 5 good ones, all under 80 seconds. My intention was to do 10 but it was clear that it was a tough ask so I switched the session to do a further 5 x 209m, which Lee completed in under 38, finishing with a 34. I should point out here that Lee was wearing his pack for all of these reps.

Despite having broken the world record over the half and full marathon distance, Lee always feels more comfortable at the shorter distances and it was then that he suggested we do a 100m race. Now anyone who knows me as a runner will know that I’m no sprinter, in fact with a best 100m of 13.1 seconds, set some 21 years ago I never was one. Admittedly I used to go on the ‘g’ of the bang instead of the ‘b’, but I’m also a slow twitch man, built for endurance not speed and power, so I wasn’t particularly keen to run a race over such a short distance. But I figured it was the least I could do, if it meant giving Lee a confidence boosting finale to the session and Lee did offer to keep his 40lb pack on. So we went for it. I managed to hold the lead for about 30m but then I had to give in as the formidable 220+lbs of Lee and pack came whooshing past me. Lee finished in 15 seconds, with me lagging behind in 16, not bad I suppose, considering I’m old enough to be his dad.

For today’s session I wanted to concentrate on running further at a slightly slower pace, the aim being to get Lee comfortable at 80-82 second laps. The aim was to run 4 x 809m with the pack, but knowing how difficult it is to run fast with the pack I would have been happy for 2 reps, and then we’d see how things were before we decided what else to do. We started well, Lee felt comfortable on the first rep, which we completed in 2:40. Lee struggled a little towards the last 300m of the next rep, completed in 2:45 (still on target pace) and then really struggled on the 3^rd one and had to sprint hard for a 2:49. All good stuff and I’m sure it’s help enormously on the day but I decided to call it a day for the pack at this point. Next I decided to do 809m without the pack but still try to cover it in 2:40-2:45, but Lee clearly hadn’t recovered and I stopped him at 409m as he ran 87 sec. Next it was a further 3 409m reps. By now Lee was recovering and smashed them out under 80, with the final one in 71 seconds. By now I was trailing behind Lee so we called it a day, coach’s prerogative.

The next session will be 1000m and 1200m with the pack and then we’ll decide if we should do 1400m.

Lee’s learning a lot over these sessions, there are some simple improvements we’ve made that I hope will make the difference on the day, namely to try to keep relaxed, don’t panic, stand tall and, most importantly, to run through the line. Lee’s managed to secure some pacing help, so hopefully that’ll also help. I’m sure the two pacers will feel great being involved in helping Lee to achieve his goal, plus they’ll be on TV. Having taken part in Lee’s record equalling attempt I already feel somewhat special, it’s just unfortunate I can’t actually make it on the day, but then I’d need to get my hair cut for the TV.

This week has been the first time I’ve set foot on a track since early in the summer, when I did a session with VRAC at Winsford. The track at Winsford is of the old style, cinder, and it was pretty rutted, which didn’t do my recovering knee problem any favours. However I decided I was going to continue training there, but I was going to join a younger group of 800/1500m men to try to put some speed back into my legs. As it turned out I suddenly took on regular clients during weekday nights so that put paid to that idea. Before that session it was almost a year since I had set foot on a track, at the European Masters T&F Champs. In fact, since I tore my hamstring at Wimbledon Park, trying a set of 200m reps (now Lee you can see my reluctance to do the 100m), in 2005, I probably haven’t done more than 20 sessions on a track.

It’s possible that not training on the track is detrimental to my speed, in the days when I was running my fastest times I trained on the track once a week and it certainly did my confidence no harm to know I could do some pretty good sessions. In those days I was running 1 mile reps in sub 4:50, 1k reps in sub 2:45 and 400m reps in the low 60s and it was that consistency of pace that gave me the confidence to run fast times in races. However, I’ve also run fast times after a prolonged time away from the track, I managed a 31:04 10k from training on a German forest trail but it was probably the self belief I already had from having run fast times in the past and my endurance fitness that helped.

In my early years I loved the track, I loved racing on the track and I loved training there, but as I’ve become older, and slower, I find it quite tedious. I really don’t like racing on the track anymore, probably because if you’re having a bad one you’re more exposed to the watching public, plus it’s much easier to see the opposition pull away. Training on the track I find it really hard to accept the times I’m running which are a lot slower than I used to run, it makes me feel talentless, which is why I choose to train away from the track. Having said all that I’ve really enjoyed training on the track with Lee, it probably helps that I was aiming at times that he needs to run for his world record attempt rather than the times I used to run.

In my opinion track training is a great confidence booster if you’re running well and it does have the tendency to make you run faster, but when you’re not running so well it can really sap your confidence. As running well is all about confidence (ok you need to be fit too) you should train in ways that continuously boost your confidence. And that’s justification enough for the way I train.

So good luck to Lee on 12 November, here’s to another World Record.

Just to finish off I should just point out that Ray smashed his 5k pb, by 34 seconds, at the parkrun in Norwich, on Saturday, running 21:32 and another of my clients, Matthew, began his Killer Mile training in earnest by covering the course in 16:49 – lots of improvement to come before race day but a good starting point. Incidentally, I would recommend the Killer Mile race to anyone who loves running and loves a challenge. Not only is it a great, tough race over a classic distance but it has the atmosphere of a major championship event.

The Mile

The Mile, a classic British distance for a race, but it’s not just the British that revere the distance, many of those countries that were part of the British Empire also look on the mile as a classic distance. Whilst other Europeans countries were stopping short of a 4^th lap we Brits really took to the Mile race, dominating the early mile record lists. The first recorded Mile World Record, I have come across, was set by Charles Westhall in London on 26 July 1855, with a time of 4:28, and the World Record remained in British hands until Norman Taber, of the USA, set the record at 4:12.6, at Allston, Mass. On 16 July 1915. However, as there was no recognized official sanctioning body until 1912, there are several versions of the mile progression before then, even split between Professionals and Amateurs, So it’s likely that there are innacuracies in them, but that’s life and at least there is something available to look back at.

The first record to be set after an official sanctioning body had been set up was by American John Paul Jones, who ran 4:14.4 at Allston, Mass. On 31 May 1913, notably slower than the ‘unoficial’ world record of 4:12 ¾ set by Britain Walter George in 1886, but then Walter was a professional! Despite Britain’s early domination of the mile records it was to be another 24 years before a Britain was to hold the world record again, when Sydney Wooderson took it to 4:06.4 at Motspur Park.

At that time the big question was whether a sub 4 minute mile would ever be run. It was Gunder Hagg, of Sweden, who ran agonisingly close with his 4:01.4 in Malmo, just before the outbreak of World War II. And there it remained until, another Brit, Roger Bannister, took it below the 4 minute barrier with his 3:59.4 on 6 May 1954. Since Roger’s feat the mile world record has been broken a further 18 times and now sits at 3:43.13, which was run by Hicham El Guerrouj on 7 July 1999, in Rome. Surely, after 12 years it’s time to break the record again. But it’s that 4 minute barrier that still attracts athletes to the mile, and is still a barrier too far for many talented athletes.

I actually have a video, called Supermilers, which tells the story of the mile world record breakers from Bannister to Cram. It’s a bit dated now and leaves you wanting to know more about each athlete, but still inspiring to watch, I sometimes watched it the morning of a race to give me some inspiration, it was better than Saturday kitchen and I always preferred running a good race to cooking an omelette in less than 30 seconds.

Well what of my own record over the classic distance. I’ll admit to being a bit of a novice, only having run 11 mile races in my 22 years as a runner. I really enjoyed running them, as a change from running 1500m, although the 1500m is my favourite race to compete in – because I just loved the tactical aspects, particularly when I was fit enough to truly believe I could win. Despite the 1500m being my favourite race, it was actually the 5000m and 10000m that I have performed best in, so I never really trained for the 1500m and my pb of 3:56.1 was set days after I ran my 5000m pb of 14:35.27, but I’m proud of the time, getting under 4 mins is a big achievement for club runners, it acts as a watered down equivalent achievement to the best guys breaking the real 4 minute barrier – If that makes sense. Of those 11 mile races I’ve taken part in I’ve won 3 of them. 8 of them were on the road, one as part of a cross country relay, which Belgrave won, and 2 were on the track. My pb, 4:24.2, came in 1999 at a Herne Hill Harriers Open Meeting, the race boasted some pretty tasty 800/1500m runners and I was hoping to get dragged around for a good time. Unfortunately the first lap was slow so I just took off, nobody came with me and I stayed in front right to the end. My slowest mile is timed at 7:54 and took place on 29 April 2010 when I attempted to win the Mow Cop Killer Mile, I came 4th. Now that’s a real challenge, but it was so much fun that I wanted to do it again this year, sadly I was on my way up to Edinburgh the night it was on, though I’ll admit to having fun in Edinburgh there’s nothing like a Killer Mile to a runner. I hope to do it again in the future, before I get too old and slow, afterall I’ve got to be capable of running quicker than 7:54.

Well that’s all a bit of preamble to what this blog was supposed to be  about, and, for equality purposes, I’ll cover the ladies world record further on in this blog. The blog was inspired by a session I did with one of my client’s, last week. If you’ve been reading my blogs you’ll have come across mentions of Ray before. Ray is one of my running clients and is conveniently located in Northwich. Ray’s been running well of late, the previous weekend he’d set a big pb on the Pennington Flash Parkrun and on this particular session he was keen to see what he could do for a 1 mile time trial, having never raced anything shorter than 5k. After some debate about location, we finally decided on Neumanns Flash. We used Ray’s gps watch to mark out each 400m, with the last one being 410m (the watch wasn’t calibrated to mark out 9m). I also put a stick down after the first 200m so I could check I’d not set off too fast (sometimes a problem in my races).

We set off at a good pace, it felt ok but I wasn’t sure it was right. I looked for my stick but it wasn’t there. Well it might have been there but I’m either blind or we were too fast as I missed it completely. So the first indication I had of pace was at 400m, which we went through, according to my watch, in 82 seconds. This was a little quicker than I had planned (90 secs). Ok don’t panic, Ray was breathing heavier but I slowed down a little and told him to relax. We reached the second 400m in 3 minutes exactly, right on target but in order to reach that we’d run that second 400m in 97 seconds. Now was the important 3^rd quarter, where you can win or lose time. I pushed the pace a little, trying to encourage Ray, but Ray isn’t used to this type of speed work and he was hurting. Hurt or not Ray’s no softie and he gave it everything he had. A little down at 1200 (4:34) it was now we really had to work, I was encouraging Ray with everything I’d got and Ray was doing his utmost to respond, heavy breathing, a little bit of streamlining as we hit a windy patch, and fighting the desire to stop. 410 metres never felt so long but eventually we saw the finish, I tried to muster a sprint out of Ray but the sprint was on holiday today. Then it was all over, Ray displaying the classic signs of someone running his first middle distance race.

Ray had stopped his watch at 6 minutes 13 seconds. His pre-race aim had been to beat 6:30, mine to get as close to 6 minutes as possible. Both optimistic, mine perhaps a little too optimistic but we weren’t far off. It’s given us a marker that Ray can use to gauge future races. Plus the other thing I feel it will have given Ray is that knowledge of how to really push yourself in that final mile of a race. So expect Pennington Flash to go below 22 minutes before the end of the year.

While I was thinking about the session I started wondering how many sub 4 minute milers I had as friends on Facebook. I thought it might be 5, but it turns out I only have 4, though there are a few more knocking on the door, or they may have knocked on the door and no one answered. Then I had a really geeky thought, why not rank my Facebook friends according to their mile pbs. Well the problem with that is that I don’t know what everybody’s pb is. So I used that great oracle of factual information, the Power of 10 listing. Ah, but then again, I know that’s not accurate for people like me, i.e. older athletes who achieved their best results more than 10 year’s ago, unless you’re a real big name of course. But I soldiered on and many hours later I produced a totally inaccurate listing. Inaccurate because I have many friends who have no registered times and yet I know they’ve run the mile or 1500m (I thought I’d use both distances as not everybody has done a mile but has a 1500m time that can be related to a mile and then there are others, like me who have a far superior 1500m time to their mile time, so it was a way of levelling up). So I’ve listed everyone I could find. If you’re not here it’s because; you’re old and Power of 10 doesn’t have your result, you’re foreign and Power of 10 doesn’t recognise you, you’re both old and foreign, your time wasn’t registered for some other reason, or you never did run these great distances. Also there are many names in the list that I’m sure have run a lot faster than the time published. So here’s an appeal to all my Facebook friends, let me know your genuine pbs and I’ll update it. And for those still young enough to achieve a pb, get out there and climb up the list.

 

So for anyone who wants to see the list, read on, for those who don’t, skip the next section and I’ll write some more. You should note that there are many people without a mile time but I’ve ranked them based on their 1500m time plus 18 seconds for the 109m (wholly inaccurate again, as someone running a 4 min 1500m can cover 109m faster than someone running a 6 min 1500m, but give me a break I couldn’t be bothered with working out a sliding scale), but what I did do was take into account people who have an inferior mile to 1500m time (e.g. my best mile time would equate to around 4:14 with the 18 second rule) and ensure those people without a mile time didn’t appear above somebody with a superior 1500m time. Well it kept me higher up the list anyway! No mile or 1500m time is indicated with ---. Finally I haven’t given a fig whether it’s an outdoor or indoor or if the mile is on a track, cinder, road, or grass. So have a look and see where you feature, or should feature.

John Gladwin                – Mile 3:51.02             – 1500m 3:35.26

Andy Graffin                 – Mile 3:54.7               – 1500m 3:35.53

Andrew Geddes           – Mile 3:59.28              – 1500m 3:41.0

Kris Gauson                 – Mile 3:59.74             – 1500m 3:40.59

Darren Gauson             – Mile 4:01.12             – 1500m 3:42.16

Paul Freary                   – Mile 4:01.51             – 1500m 3:43.3

Phil Mowbray              – Mile 4:01.81             – 1500m 3:41.63

Mark Miles                  – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:42.86

Bashir Hussain             – Mile 4:06.6               – 1500m 3:47.4

Dave Anderson            – Mile 4:07.7              – 1500m 3:46.77

Justin Chaston              – Mile 4:08.3              – 1500m 3:46.58

Mike Quinn                  – Mile 4:10.4             – 1500m 3:49.9

Mark Mitchell              – Mile 4:13.42            – 1500m 3:44.44

Paul Evans                    – Mile ---                   - 1500m 3:45.4

Dave Taylor                 – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:47.9

Nick Goolab                – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:48.34
Jerry Watson                - Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:49.9

Martin Whitehouse       – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:49.97

Andrew Barber            – Mile 4:13.96             – 1500m 3:51.5
Paul Coughlan              - Mile 4:19                  - 1500m 4:00.6
Henryk Piotrowski        - Mile 4:20                 - 1500m 3:54.9
Ossie Arif                     - Mile 4:20                  - 1500m 3:57

Roger Alsop                 – Mile 4:24.2              – 1500m 3:56.1

Kevin Quinn                 – Mile 4:26                  – 1500m 3:53.79

Stevie Cairns                – Mile 4:27                 – 1500m 3:52.9

Dougie Selman             – Mile 4:28                 – 1500m 3:51.15
Iain Lockett                  - Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:54.4

Jonathan Henderson     – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:57.02

Ben Paviour                  – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:57.74

Tim Elsey                     – Mile 4:28.99             – 1500m 4:04.4

Nick Altman                 – Mile 4:31                 - 1500m 3:58.0

Matt Norminton            – Mile ---                    - 1500m 3:58.42

Alaster Stewart             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:00.27

Neil Wilkinson              – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:02.37

Ryan O’Hare                – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:04.53

Robbie James               – Mile 4:33.2              – 1500m 4:35.3
Owain Lewes                - Mile 4:35                 - 1500m 4:10

Chris Peach                  – Mile 4:43                 – 1500m 4:02.38

Iain Lockett                  – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:02.4

James McMullan          – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:03.0

Chris Busaileh              – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:03.77

Matt Bell                      – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:04.25

Simon Coombes           – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:04.9

Francis Marsh              – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:06.24

Jack Brown                  – Mile 4:45.8             – 1500m 4:12.92

Andy Robinson             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:15.63

Tim Field                      – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:17.6
Mark Johnston              - Mile 4:46                  - 1500m 4:17.9  

Sarwar Khan                – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:18.7

Julian Critchlow             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:18.7

Barry Attwell                – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:18.91

Geoff Jerwood             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:19.0

Mark Critchlow            – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:25.8

Gillian Palmer               – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:25.88

Adam Priestley             – Mile 4:47                  – 1500m ---

Tommy Lawrence         – Mile 4:48                 – 1500m ---

Bill Rubie                      – Mile 4:51                 – 1500m ---

James Mittra                 – Mile 4:53                 – 1500m ---
Ian Campbell                - Mile 4:55

Charlie Dickinson          – Mile 4:56.4             – 1500m 4:26.5

Sam Knight                   – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:27.4

Harry Matthews            – Mile 5:04.6             – 1500m 4:45.2
Ann Hood                     - Mile 5:15                 - 1500m 4:54 

Katja Eravisto               – Mile 5:17                 – 1500m 4:28.53

Dave Gough                  – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:35.65

Rob Payne                    – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:39.4
Sharyn Ramage             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:44.04

Mark Thornley              – Mile ---                    - 1500m 4:47.9

Gail Duckworth             – Mile ---                   - 1500m 5:00.12

Jo Thom                       – Mile 5:25                 – 1500m ---
Kevin Graham              – Mile 5:28                 – 1500m ---

Cath Ferry                    – Mile 5:33                 - 1500m 5:08.48

Victoria Bailie               – Mile 5:36                 – 1500m ---
Lorna Rice                   – Mile 5:48                 – 1500m 5:30

Ed Bec                         – Mile ---                    - 1500m 5:32.4

Helen Smethurst            – Mile 5:52                 – 1500m ---

Louise Blizzard             – Mile ---                    - 1500m 5:44.15

Jane Searle                   – Mile 6:04.5             – 1500m 5:52.5

Ray Tran                      – Mile 6:13                 – 1500m ---

As promised here’s a bit about the Ladies progression, it would appear that they haven’t had as many opportunities as us fellas, certainly in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries it was probably a bit of a no no for ladies to race. The first record I came across was the 6:13.2 by Elizabeth Atkinson, another Brit, who set this time in Manchester on 24 June 1921. It stayed in British hands until 1953, when Romanian, Edith Treybal, ran 5:00.2. It was taken below 5 mins 4 times, from 1954-55 by Britain, Diane Leather, who left it at 4:45.0. That time took 7 years to break, by New Zealander, Marise Chamberlain. In 1967 the IAAF began official ratification and the first ‘official’ record went to Anne Rosemary Smith, of Britain, who ran 4:37.0 on 3 June 1967. The record has been broken 12 times since, the current record standing at 4:12.56, by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, which was set on 14 August 1996. Surely we have enough quality women runners to set up a mile race to break that record.

  

My personal feeling is that it’s a shame there are not more mile races out there. I know all the League races have to be standard metric distances but I sometimes think that in open meetings and local friendly leagues we’re missing an opportunity to give athletes a chance to run something different. Also it would be nice to have an opportunity to run a few more road mile races, I love them, even if I do find them a lot harder now than when I was a lot younger. With 2012, and the Olympics coming to Britain there’s an opportunity to bring back the mile, every location of the torch relay could host a 1 mile event. What a great way to involve the kids. Then in 2014, as well as the Glasgow Commonwealth games, it’ll be 60 years since Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute barrier. Surely it would be more fitting to run a load of mile races than to put a stopwatch on a 50p piece. Maybe I should start a campaign.      

Some good news I received last week was that my pal from Edinburgh, Jim Buick, passed his level 3 exams and is now a fully qualified Personal Trainer. So if you’re looking for a Personal Trainer in the Edinburgh area, consider Jim. By the way, if you’re looking for one in Cheshire, I still have slots available. Other good news I’ve been back to the photographer and after an enduring morning I now have some pictures of me smiling, these have been forwarded to the publishers and, hopefully, will feature with the article in September.

This blogs already overblown so you’ll have to wait until next week to find out what else has been happening in Rog’s world.

Nutrition and How I Deal With It

This week I wanted to write about something other than running, though obviously there will be an element of running within the blog because, after all, I am a runner, and of course I’ll end with an update of what I’ve been up to and any other follow up tales. So I decided to write something about nutrition. It is not intentional to blind you with science, or tell you everything there is, but rather to give you a few generalised facts and then to tell you how I interpret that to help me in my fitness. Remember that everyone is different and what works for one person does not necessarily work the same for everyone, in the same way that I use the same basic training principles for all my clients but manipulate them to get the best results from each, your own nutrition should be treated likewise.

I’m not going to go into great detail about what GI certain carbohydrates have or what foods contain different vitamins, etc. I’m going to generalise, otherwise the blog would just go on and on. There is plenty of material available for anybody to do follow up research or, of course, have more in-depth nutritional advice from myself.

There is some really simple advice for people wanting to lose weight, just ensure you eat fewer calories than you burn off. For the non-active reducing carbohydrates and increasing protein intake can be beneficial as it increases the metabolic rate, but don’t even consider cutting out carbohydrates altogether, even if your diet states so, it’s just not healthy to do such a thing. If you are active I wouldn’t cut back on carbs unless you eat a mountain a day, you just need to look at what exercise you are doing, you need to exercise for more than 20 minutes at an intensity of at least 60% max (however you measure this, heart rate, perceived exertion, etc). I strongly believe in a higher intensity workout, carried out over short bursts, with recoveries, coupled, on alternative days, with the 60% workout. Strengthening your muscles also helps to increase the metabolic rate, burning off more calories. That’s not to suggest you should consider becoming a body builder, for many of my clients, particularly the females, I use light weights with endurance which, tones and strengthens the muscles whilst using aerobic exercise to help burn calories at the same time.

If you’re doing quite intense sessions, i.e. for sport, you need more carbohydrate, before, during (if the session goes beyond the hour) and after (particularly within the first hour post exercise as that’s when glycogen replenishment is most successful). Think about glycaemic index (GI), low before exercise, though for more anaerobic exercise some high GI carbs can be beneficial just before exercise. After exercise, depending on intensity, you’ll benefit from a little high GI carb, for quick absorption, but low GI carbs are still good for long term glycogen replenishment. During exercise you shouldn’t need any carbs if your exercise period is less than an hour and you may actually be ok for longer as training your body for glycogen depletion is similar to training your muscles for lifting heavier weights, as an example when I ran the London Marathon in 2003 I ran for 2 hrs 34 min, I didn’t hit the wall, in fact I finished pretty strongly, but all I took on board during the duration of the race was water. I’d been regularly training for 2 hrs 40 min taking only water, so my body was used to it. This is not what I would particularly recommend to clients, it’s just that I didn’t get on with any of the carbohydrate based drinks I’d tried, so I took the risk, the risk being reduced by the training I was doing. My recommendation is to try out these products in training to see how your body reacts to them, it may take some sessions before your body is prepared to accept them.

       

After exercise you need replenishment, which should consist of carbs and protein. Carbs, as I’ve already mentioned, are to help replenish the glycogen, the protein will help repair damage you will have done to your muscles. For those thinking of building bigger muscles, i.e. for show rather than sport, a higher protein intake will help. There is an optimum amount, based upon your activity level and weight, above which you’ll gain no further benefit, any further intake of protein above this amount will just be turned into glycogen or fat, though you’d need to be eating a lot of protein for it to be turned into fat.

Speaking of fat, don’t neglect it, fat is required for the absorption of certain vitamins, there being both water and fat soluble vitamins. Fat is also required for tissue structure and hormonal function. It’s important to remember that very low body fat can cause problems, the minimum recommended percentage of body fat is 5% in men and 10% in women.  Obviously unsaturated fats are better than saturated and trans fats, and omega 3 is very good for oxygen delivery to cells which means improved athletic performance (for those doing aerobic exercise).

Water must not be neglected, you should aim to remain hydrated at all times but it’s particularly important to ensure you are properly hydrated before your event. So excessive alcohol intake the night before a race is not recommended as it acts as a diuretic. The best way to remain hydrated is to sip fluid throughout the day, drinking a large amount of water in one go will just go straight through you whereas sipping enables good absorption. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t consume a good amount after intensive exercise but don’t go overboard or you may dilute your blood, such that the sodium level falls and you end up with hyponatraemia. That’s why sports drinks are useful after exercise, as they will contain sodium and carbs. You could of course make your own sports drink; 1 part fruit juice to 4 parts water and a pinch of salt.

That’s a brief on some aspects of nutrition, there is so much information available and I haven’t gone too specific, if I had you’d have a book rather than a blog. Now the interesting bit, how do I, as an athlete interpret all the above?

For starters, you might consider that a man who trains as often as myself is very particular about how much and when I eat. Well I can tell you that one thing I don’t do is weigh my food or measure my portion sizes. I’ve got a pretty good idea of how much my body needs to eat. At the moment I’m about 5kg heavier than my ideal racing weight, due to reduced exercise whilst injured. I know I will burn that off, with an increased calorific intake, over the next few months, as I intensify my exercise.

Because I train pretty much every day, and usually my running takes place in the morning, I tend to eat the same breakfast. A bowl of porridge, with a banana and honey, made with a drop of milk and water. It’s a big bowl mind you, I’m a daddy bear portion man. I have a small fruit juice before, not diluted with water as I put a lot of water into the porridge, and a large cup of coffee to follow. That’s it, then I wait an hour and a half to 2 hours before I exercise. This gives plenty of time for the stomach to work on it and, even in a hard session, I rarely have any issues. I usually give myself a little longer if I’m racing, if the race is in the afternoon and I’m travelling a fair way, I have two bowls of porridge.

I don’t take anything on board during training, it’s unusual for me to be training for more than an hour in one go and I cope pretty well without water, even in hot climates. After training I’ll have a cup of milk (if I’m away from home I’ll take a milk shake carton). I usually try to follow my run with some other form of exercise, either abs, with or without weights, or kettle bells, during which I’ll eat a handful of peanuts, in the rest between sets. Then off for a shower, swiftly followed by lunch. 

Lunch will usually be sandwiches on wholemeal bread, I’ll either have cheese and tomato, tuna or a spread (houmous or taramasalata). Because I’m still burning calories from my session, I’ll have six sandwiches, followed by a piece of fruit and a coffee, which will keep me going until dinner, although if I do get hungry I snack on peanuts. Occasional cups of tea in the afternoon to keep me hydrated, I will drink water outside of the home but prefer tea at home.

Actually my hydration plan is the one thing that I could do better, I actually don’t like drinking too much and will sometimes not drink much water before a race or training session, as I don’t like the feeling of it sloshing about. Whilst that isn’t something I would recommend for others, it works for me and my body has adapted to it. This further reiterates my initial point about us all being different and how we need to find what works for every individual.

My dinner is something that usually consists of a mix of vegetables, fruit and meat and pretty much depends upon what is in the house at the time. I usually have potatoes, pasta or rice, chicken, various vegetables and tinned tomatoes. I’ll drink water with the meal and have a coffee after the meal. Occasionally I’ll replace the water with wine, sometimes more occasionally than I should, but I’m only human.

So you see my gastronomic life is a little dull. Unfortunately I do enjoy pretty much every type of food and drink, and know that if I wasn’t so regimented I could eat all day and eat four courses regularly, easily. In fact the one thing I really hate is having to eat out at both lunch and dinner time, as I’ll invariably end up eating too much. The same is true about staying in hotels before a race, though in this situation I try to go with fish instead of a cooked breakfast. To add to my bread and water style existence I try to not have crisps, biscuits or beer in the house – because it’s too easy to just eat or drink it! Lord help anyone who shacks up with me.

British Masters Cross Country Championships – Perry Park, Birmingham

For those who’ve been following my blogs, you’ll know that I made a last minute decision to enter these championships. A year ago I was flying high, topping the UK M45 rankings for 5 miles and 10k, and went to Belfast full of confidence. With the course very much to my liking, I ran one of my best cross country races to take Silver, just 15 seconds behind the winner, Brian Rushworth. This year, with very little training behind me and the memory of a very muddy Alton Towers still deeply entrenched in my memory, I was also confident, confident I’d get nowhere near the medals.

And I was right. Despite the course again being to my liking my lack of fitness was telling, though I would say I actually ran a good race for my current fitness level. I came 53^rd in the race, 17^th M45, taking 29:36 for the 8k course. Clearly the fitness is improving as I finished 46 seconds ahead of Alex Rowe, whom you may recall was passed by me just before the finish at Alton Towers. Still a long way to go on the fitness front but I’m now running 24 minutes of quality, on my hard days, instead of the 18 minutes I’ve been doing previously. A few more weeks and I’ll be back up to 30.

I was a good decision to run as I came away with lots of confidence for the future. I feel like I’m on the way back and believe I can be in a position to make a difference to Herne Hill’s chances of gaining further road relay medals. It’s now just down to fitness and confidence to run at a stronger pace. It was also nice to meet up with so

many of my peers and the friends that I’ve made over the 22 years I’ve been running. In particular it was great to catch up with Phil Carstairs and Charlie Dickinson, old training partners from my Belgrave Harriers days, both of whom have suffered long lay-offs due to injury. I was also pretty amazed to hear so many people giving me vocal support around the course, proving what a friendly atmosphere comes with Masters Athletics.

After the race I went for a warm down with Mike Deegan, who works for Ronhill, the company who supply me with some of my kit. Well I should say Mike went for a warm down, I was still running at race pace to keep up. Not bad for a man about to turn 55. An interesting fact I learned about Mike, which ties in nicely with the previous section of this blog, is that he also eats porridge before a race, though I forgot to ask him the size of his bowl.

I haven’t thought about my next race yet, I’m aiming at the masters road relays in May so I may do a few more park runs and then there is the Killer Mile at Mow Cop.

Riley’s at it Again

Lee Riley was back in action this Sunday, this time carrying his 40lb pack around the Stafford 20 miles. Lee ran another fantastic race on his way to the London Marathon, finishing in a time of 2 hrs 40 min 06 sec. That’s exactly 8 min mile pace, if Lee can keep that going for a further 6 miles he can squeeze inside 3 hrs 30 min. It’s the Derby Kilomathon this weekend, Lee’s final pre-London race with his pack. After that he’ll be into his final training phase.

Herne Hill Southern Silvers

I couldn’t finish off without saying well done to my club, Herne Hill Harriers, who took part in the South of England Cross Country Relay Championships, finishing in runner up position. A great achievement, and one that should build further enthusiasm for more of the same.