I’ve Not Lost That Winning Feeling

No blog last week, it’s been a busy time and when I wasn’t working or training I was painting and cleaning. A week of virtually no leisure time which left me drained by the end of the week. I wasn’t even intending doing a parkrun on Saturday but Carole persuaded me as she enjoys getting up early on a Saturday morning and getting physical.

But before we get into the parkrun, some good news. Following my last blog, where I voiced my opinion on the team medal situation at the BMAF 5k, it appears they have now retrospectively added club team medals. This means Salford Harriers have once again won medals in all male categories; gold in the M35-44, M45-54 and M55-64 and bronze in the M65-74. Most importantly, for me, it means I have become a National Champion again, and also means I’ve been part of a National Championship winning team with all my clubs; Salford, Herne Hill and Edinburgh AC, with the exception of Belgrave, where I only picked up National silver. This one’s particularly pleasing as I’d only been back running for a few weeks, after my injury, and I was still having concerns about my achilles when I ran the race. But I’ve come through ok and it’s time to move forward. Mind you it could be a while before I receive my medal.

This Saturday, I could be found lingering around the start area for the Delamere parkrun, this time with my insect repellent covering my legs. I felt buoyant and reasonably confident that I’d get under 18 minutes on the course, despite the tiredness. As we waited for the start I chatted with a couple of Vale Royal athletes, Graham Miles and Steve Caldwell and I could tell that Steve was one to watch out for, he was also intending to break 18 minutes. When we set off I managed to make a faster than normal start but was still unable to give it everything and once again got left in the dust of those able to start faster. That initial 400m is up, down and uneven and always proves painful on my dodgy ankle. Luckily I’ve learnt to cope with the pain but it does slow me down a little. As I watched the lead runners pull away from me I was thinking that I might stay away from Delamere for a while until I build up my ankle. I reached the relative flat of the Mere path in 3^rd place but Steve had already made a determined effort at the front and was pulling away from second place. I settled into my pace and went past second and after Steve. There was nothing between us pace wise and the gap was proving difficult to close. As we got further into the race my strength started to come to the fore and I gradually reeled him in, then went past him to open up a small gap. But the race wasn’t over yet, Steve showed some reserve, he wasn’t going to just roll over and let an old man take his victory, he came back strong to catch me up again. Now it was a battle of minds! Since my comeback I’ve been running to get fit, this was the first time I’d actually been in a situation where I was competing for a win and it felt a bit alien. It would have been so easy to just give in and let Steve take the win, but that’s not what I preach, or practice. The easiest option is always to give in, but take the harder option and it’s a lot more satisfying. With that thought in my mind I focused on getting my first Delamere win. Raising my tempo a little was enough to create another gap but I sensed Steve wasn’t going to give in so I had to keep that tempo going all the way home. It was tough being back at the front and trying to set a pace that would see me stay there to the end, particularly as we went uphill, but I did it, another parkrun win at another venue. But the best thing about that run was that I now feel competitive again. Sure I’m still a little slow and I’d struggle to beat the best in my age group but I’m gradually getting fitter and I’ve got that desire to win again. I realise it’s too late to do much about getting my speed up for the summer so I’ve switched into strength training mode, ready for the cross country, oh dear that means Boggart Hole Clough!

It wasn’t just me in action this weekend, Ray and Sharon were also running, Ray pacing his son round, and Carole ran another consistent time around the course. Onto cycling, nothing to do with the Tour de France, one of my clients was taking part in a time-trial over 52 miles on Sunday. He’d been looking at 2 hours 30 minutes but ended up with 2 hours and 6 minutes. He’s been coming on well for some time but that shows we’ve been focusing on the right things in our sessions.

These past few weeks I’ve been working with a group of lads and lasses from the Round Table. They contacted me to do them a one off session and ideas for activities to help them prepare for their three peaks challenge. The session was successful and they booked me in for a regular once a week session, which recently became twice a week. They’re a great bunch, we have a good laugh and, naturally, I make them work hard. This week they’re off to do their challenge so I wish them luck. Over the weeks I’ve seen them all improve in fitness and strength but it’ll still be a tough challenge for them.

I’ve mentioned previously that I was contacted by a journalist with regards to older people running. The feature he’s written is in this month’s Runners World (UK edition - not sure if it’ll go global). I haven’t seen it yet but friends have told me it’s quite good. The one drawback being that somebody mixed up the pictures and I have the picture of a man in his 60’s attributed to me, whilst he gets to look quite good for his age, having my picture attributed to him. I’m sure it’s no big problem, people may be surprised when they meet me for the first time but mistakes happen and nobody died as a consequence. The magazine have apologised and are even sending me some new trainers to make up for it, so I’m looking forward to them arriving as my step up in mileage is wearing into my current crop of trainers.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

The Nightmare On Boggarts Hole Clough

It was an, almost, unique weekend for me, on the rare occasions where I’ve raced on both days the shorter Saturday race has helped me to a good race on Sunday. However, just because it’s happened on those rare occasions, I don’t go out of my way to seek double race weekends. There has to be a compromise somewhere and I do try to put family first, sometimes. Having said that, my relationship with Carole has blossomed to the point that she no longer gets frustrated when I focus my whole day on a race. And it’s a change I’ve taken complete advantage of by choosing to race just about every weekend this winter. She has developed an understanding of my desire to race and is starting to incorporate herself into my race weekends rather than be opposed to them. She’s even starting to enjoy standing around in mud for 40 minutes whilst I slog my way around a cross country course, now that’s true love. Or is it? I receive a post from one of my Pennington Flash pals, Shelle Bradley, who stated that her husband had run a race alongside another lady but, instead of going through the finish line with the other lady, he had turned round and gone back for Shelle and shared her finishing time. Now if that isn’t true love I don’t know what is, but no matter how much I love Carole, there is no way I’m ever going to share her finishing time.

I hadn’t originally planned to race both days, I had thought the cross country race was on Saturday, luckily one of my Salford team mates reminded me the race was on Sunday. So this prompted the idea to go to the Congleton parkrun, on Saturday, after all it was time Carole ran it. I’d also persuaded one of my clients, Katy, to go along. I’ve always thought that Katy and Ray were about the same standard, now was a chance that I would be proven correct as Ray and Sharon were also planning to go along.

The week prior had been pretty dismal, weather wise, this, combined with the fact I had a busy gym week with clients, led me to do my quality sessions on the treadmill. It was great for getting my legs turning over faster as, despite warm ups, warm downs and recoveries between reps, I was comfortably running 10k in 35 minutes. But the down side is that treadmills make my calf muscles tighten and no matter how much I stretched or rolled them they were still a little tight on the Saturday morning, still it was only a parkrun, not that important, until Malcolm Fowler turned up!

I hadn’t wanted a hard run but there was no way I was going to let Malcolm get the better of me again. But it wasn’t Malcolm I had to worry about today as he damaged his hamstring somewhere around the course, I wasn’t aware at the time I just kept pushing to the finish as I knew Malcolm would pounce if I slowed and offered any sign of weakness. But the run was won by Tom Bush, another local rival. He and his wife, Olivia, just seemed to have a bit more pace than me, on the day, as I finished in 3^rd place.

Carole and Sharon both had good runs but as I jogged around after the finish I saw Ray and Katy coming towards the finish, neck and neck. My theory proved I was intrigued as to who would come in first, and then Katy kicked. With only 2 seconds between them I’m looking forward to lots more inter-client showdowns.

So Sunday and Boggarts Hole Clough was the setting for the Manchester Area Cross Country League. I’ve never been there before but I guessed it would be a tough course. Still it’s all good strengthening work for me. On arrival I started checking out the course but when it got a bit muddy I decided it could wait until the first lap. As I walked back to where all the athletes congregated I bumped into James Jackson, James and I competed against each other on many occasions in the Surrey League, back when we were youngsters, when James moved up North he joined Salford Harrriers, but he hasn’t run for them for some time. Looks like he’s rekindling his competitive spirit and thinking about getting back into the Masters running scene. It’ll be some team with my old rivals from London, James and Paul Simons, plus the current crop of talented oldies and the addition of my mate Rob Tudor. So look out for Salford.

Just before the start of the race I went for a short jog and ended up getting my left leg entangled in a bramble, as the bramble untangled itself it ripped some interesting patterns into my skin, brilliant 4 minutes to the start and I’ve got blood oozing out of my lower leg. This reminded me of my comeback race, three years ago, I was just heading to the start line of the National Cross Country Champs when some idiot ran his spikes down the back of my leg.

Then we were off and I was immediately swamped by a horde of faster starting runners. The first part of the course was winding through boggy grassland and I was caught in a big huddle of runners, having my pace dictated to me. I could see Graham MacNeil up ahead and about to pull a big gap on me, but I figured that three laps would pull me through the field. The 2^nd part of the course was through wooded trails, and this is where I got caught out. The trail was so narrow and twisty and yet covered in thick sticky mud, with tree trunks running through it. I was in danger of having my shoes sucked. This was real hell for me, I really struggled through this patch and it even stopped me dead at one point. Back to the first part of the course and I managed to get into my stride, the field having elongated. I was passing people all the way round here but dreading the muddy patch I now knew was coming. Second time around, although bad, I managed to navigate the tricky muddy part by adapting my style to that more akin to a ballerina (I don’t have the most attractive running style at the best of times but I was grateful Sid Sacks wasn’t here taking photos of me. Then it was onto the 3^rd lap and, although my legs were no feeling tired from all the races, training and ballet practice, I was still picking people off. As I navigated the mud this time round I remember thinking how horrible this was, I may not be a star cross country runner but I do enjoy it, however, frankly, this is one course I could never grow to love. I pushed hard towards the finish but had nothing left to sprint with at the end.

Despite what I thought was a bad run, I finished in my highest position in the league, 27^th and 2^nd M45. This is probably because loads of people didn’t turn up, having raced Boggarts Hole Clough before. I’m currently lying 2^nd overall in the M45 section. No chance of winning that as Rob Downs has won all the fixtures, but I do have a chance to slip down, the scoring is based on your best 3 races so I’m sure the likes of Ian Wetherall, Malcolm Fowler and Dave Lockett will have a say in that, they haven’t finished 3 races yet so the last race is crucial. With Dave missing out today it also gave me maximum points in the Salford Harriers cross country Masters champs. So I do have a chance to win that competition after all, but I’ll have to beat Dave to do so. Although I genuinely hated the course at the time, and probably for a couple of days after that’s actually the sort of thing that will make me turn up again, I can’t have a cross country course be the master of me, I have to master the cross country course. I’m not saying I’m in a hurry to return and I’m not promising I will be back, but don’t rule me out.

This week’s been quite interesting. On Monday I was interviewed by a journalist who is writing an article on older runners, for Runners World. I don’t know when it’s coming out, nor how much of what I said will make the final article. But it was an interesting chat. The other big event of this week is my birthday, today. And what treat did I line myself up with….a double fartlek, Katy in the morning and Ray in the evening. Thanks to everybody who has wished me a happy birthday and don’t let the cold snap get you down.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk