Busy Doing Nothing, It’s A Pain In The Back

I like that song, reminds me of watching those old movies during my childhood, of course they weren’t so old then. For those who don’t know the song here’s the first verse:

WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,

WORKING THE WHOLE DAY THROUGH.

TRYING TO FIND LOTS OF THINGS,

NOT TO DO.

WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,

ISN T IT JUST A CRIME?

WE'D LIKE TO BE UNHAPPY,

BUT WE NEVER DO HAVE THE TIME

Simple but very truthful, I’ve met plenty of people who seem to be busy doing nothing.

Unfortunately it’s also how I feel about myself at the moment, I’m busy doing nothing, or rather I’m busy but unable to train. I’ve had a few issues with my back and hamstrings over the last couple of years and last Tuesday I was taken out of the game again with a back twinge. It seemed innocuous enough when it happened, a short sharp pain in the lower back and I stopped what I was doing, but it seems to be taking a long time to heal. It’s getting better day by day, but I just know by experience that it’s not quite right yet.

What caused it? I’m in absolutely no doubt that it has been caused by love, my love of cross country to be exact. Two weeks ago I was at Boggart Hole Clough slipping and sliding my way around one of the muddiest cross country courses I’ve been on. For four days following that experience I had aches in my lower back. One week ago, ache free, I ventured out to Leigh for another cross country race. This course was much more to my liking but there was a short section, a mini Boggart Hole Clough, that I struggled on and then just as I was making a long dash for the finish I slipped whilst taking a corner and nearly came a cropper, it’s that moment where I managed to keep my footing but clearly put undue pressure on my lower back that I believe is the culprit for my latest lay-off.

I’ve not done anything other than mobilisation and some mild back strengthening work and I had to miss making my debut at the Northern Cross Country Championships this Saturday. That was a bit annoying, but, judging by the reports I’ve heard and the pictures I’ve seen, was probably not a bad thing. Today, Monday, I was hoping I might be able to start jogging again, but the tell tale signs are still there and I need to be more patient. Maybe tomorrow, hopefully as I have two client fartleks booked on Wednesday. At least it’s only my running clients that have been affected, I’ve managed to work through with my gym fitness clients, even if it can be a bit painful at times.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you train, these little incidents can catch you when you’re at a weak point. I’ll admit I have been negligent on my lower back exercises, I will do better. But don’t think that I’m giving up on cross country, my relationship with cross country is a bit like a marriage, we have our glory days, though they seem to be mostly in the past, we have our arguments, but at the end of the day we’ll still be together for better of worse – though I’m not making any promises of returning to Boggart Hole Clough this winter.

Thankfully Salford’s Men’s team didn’t suffer any consequences from my absence as they ploughed through the mud for 5^th place. The Ladies also acquitted themselves well with 7^th. My mate Ray, who had to drive up on his own, as I felt unable to stand around for a long period of time, also had a good run, making the scoring team for Chester Tri, in 528^th place.   

Hopefully next time I write I’ll be back doing what I do best. And to ensure I end on a positive, at least I missed running in some pretty horrible icy conditions. As I’ve often said, if you’re going to have an injury or an illness, at least have it when the weather’s rotten.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Cross Country Leagues

Ah cross country, don’t you just love it. Well even if you don’t, I do. It’s a great way to build your fitness for the road season ahead and the track season beyond that. But what makes it all the more exciting and purposeful for me are the cross country leagues. I’ve said it before, I’m a team player, I love being part of the team, particularly when you make a difference to the score for your team, and it’s these cross country leagues, as well as the county, area and national championships which really underpin the season for me.

I’ve been involved in cross country leagues since I first set foot on a cross country course, back in 1989, and, surprisingly over such a period of time, I’ve scored in about 99% of them. If I remember correctly I think I’ve only failed to make the scoring team on 3 occasions, and 2 of them were in my first season.

Back in the 80’s, 90’s and the first half of the 00’s I was London based and the league I was associated with was the Surrey League. It was a good strong league, every year you would have International standard athletes turning out (Justin Chaston, Gary Staines, John Solly, Richard Nerurkar, Paul Evans, Kassa Tadessa, Dave Taylor, Simon Fairbrother, Ben Whitby, Matt Yates – to name just a few), it was a strong league when I started and, although, like any league, there have been days when the field was weaker than usual, it still remains strong today. It’s had it’s changes, back then Boxhill Racers were dominant, a dominance which lasted well into the 90’s, but then they seemed to fade away. Woking and Hercules Wimbledon were both big teams of the past, they also drifted down into a lower division, though Hercules have now regained their position in Division 1 and are running well again. Hounslow, though Middlesex based, came, joined up with Windsor, Slough and Eton, and drifted back out after a brief spell at the top. Even Aldershot Farnham & District, always up there when I first started, dropped out to concentrate on their Hampshire league. Now Kent AC, from Kent (would you believe) are a part of it. It shows it’s class if clubs from other counties want to be part of it. And all the time stalwarts such as Thames Hare and Hounds, Herne Hill Harriers and Belgrave Harriers have been fighting it out for victory.

When I ran my first Surrey League, 28 October 1989, Richmond Park, I finished in position 126. Clearly not good enough to make the scoring 10 of Belgrave, on this occasion, but Belgrave were going through one of those phases where the top guys weren’t committing themselves to this league. They were languishing mid table so before the end of the season of four matches, despite only making it to 78^th position, I had made the scoring 10 in half of the races, and I would never again not make the scoring 10 whilst a member of Belgrave. Presumably this must have been tough for some of Belgrave’s older members to stomach, particularly those who had been part of the team that won this league every year from 1966-1972. For a few more years we struggled to get our best runners out and by the end of the 92/93 season we were demoted to division 2. This could have been a killer blow for some teams but, with a new manager and a new structured management team, we bounced straight back as champions of division 2. With victory came enthusiasm and a new breed of Belgrave Harriers were emerging. Good management, perseverance and enthusiasm from within started to breed success in other areas of cross country running and eventually, in 99/00, we were crowned champions of division 1, once again. This victory was particularly memorable, for me. I was working in Germany at the time and was flying home for matches, I only got back at about 11pm the night before the last league match. But I was Captain so there was no way I was going to miss this deciding match in the league. It had been a hard fought out league between us and Thames Hare and Hounds. We went into the match 74 points behind and emerged as victors. It was one of those days when almost everybody turned out for us and nobody had a bad run. We dominated the day, beating TH&H by 108 points to snatch the championship. I even led the race, briefly, it was an inspirational moment for me having such great runners, including two Ethiopian internationals, follow me up that first hill. On that day I was 9^th scorer for Belgrave, in 21^st position, a bit different from the times I was 3^rd scorer in about 50^th. We won it again in 2002, this time we went into the last race ahead and just held on to win the league by 6 points as TH&H tried to bridge the deficit. I was 6^th score that day, in 20^th position. Then Belgrave’s fortunes in this league began to slide. As the team I would move to began to challenge TH&H.

My last Surrey League for Belgrave was on 15 January 2005, on Wimbledon Common, I was 31^st. The next day I turned 40 and within a month I had left Belgrave and joined local rivals Herne Hill. I ran two league races for Herne Hill, the following winter, before I moved to Edinburgh. I scored in one but was 11^th HH man home in the other making it the first time I hadn’t scored in a league race, I took part in, in 15 years. I made my final Surrey League appearance in 2007, at Wimbledon Common, where I finished 34^th.

In Scotland my Scottish club, Edinburgh AC, were involved with the East District League. I made my debut on 21 October, at Livingstone, where I was 25^th, but 1^st over 40. That season I followed that up with 16^th (1^st O40) at Kirkaldy, 18^th (1^st O40) at Broxburn. I’d been lucky, managing to get all those days off work (I worked alternate weekends at that time). The following year I wasn’t so lucky with work and missed all matches. The year after that I was still making a mark on the league but no longer king of the O40s as Stevie Cairns matured and took my crown. Then it was down to Cheshire in 2010 and no more cross country leagues for me until this season.

Salford are involved in the South East Lancs League and the Manchester Area League, plus I believe we have some guys who turn out in the Red Rose league. That means it’s a pretty busy cross country season for us with 9 league matches, compared to 4 in the Surrey League, plus County, Area and National champs. This year, having been deprived of cross country league racing for so long, I’ve embraced it fully and turned out whenever I can, and to my surprise I’ve made the scoring 6 every time. As a senior team we’ve just won the South East Lancs League with a match in hand and are leading the Manchester League.

Personally I’m doing ok, not as well as I’d like, but I’m holding my own against some very good runners. In the first SEL race I was 9^th and 2^nd O45 to team mate Dave Lockett. The first MA race I was 39^th and 5^th M45, I missed the 2^nd of both, due to warm weather training and the BMAF cross country relays. In the 3^rd MA race I was 29^th and 3^rd M45. In the 4^th MA race I was 27^th and 2^nd M45 and this weekend, in the 3^rd SEL race I was 11^th and 2^nd M45, this time to another team mate, Paul Simons. As the current league standings lie I’m: In the Manchester League; 19^th overall and 2^nd in the M45 section (these positions could be seriously revised after the last match as it appears to be a best 3 of 5) and in the South East Lancs League; I lie 7^th and joint 1^st in the M45 section (again these are a best 2 of 4 so likely to be revised after the final match). But it gives me something to fight for.

I’ve been asked many times how long I think I’ll carry on running competitively. As you can see I’m still holding my own against younger runners. Yes it gets tougher each year but as long as I’m enthusiastic and have an enthusiastic team around me I’ll keep going, injury and illness permitting. One big benefit of these leagues, for us older gentlemen, is that you can score as a senior but also in your own age group, which is probably why there are so many Masters still competing in it.   

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

Planning 2013

I’m not one for making new year’s resolutions, but the start of a new year is a good opportunity to look back over what has occurred the previous year and to decide what I’d like to achieve for this year. I’ve had some loose plans for a while, but now it’s time to start firming things up.

But first lets take a look back at 2012. This time last year I didn’t have much to look back on, despite winning a 10k, at the end of 2011, and 7 parkruns, 2011 had been my least successful year to date. But instead of letting this get me down I was determined 2012 was going to see me back winning medals. Straight away I was in the mix with a respectable 17^th in my first race of the year, and first cross country race for 10 months, at the Cheshire Cross Country Championships. I placed 2^nd in the M45 age group, which was good considering the depth of Masters talent in Cheshire, but the down sides were that there was only a medal for 1^st and I was about 2 minutes behind Ian Wetherall, who took the medal. Consistent training saw me gradually improve as I took more parkrun victories and then, in full flow of training for the European masters 10000m, I took my first medal in 19 months, a bronze at the Masters 5k championships. Still improving I took another bronze in the 5000m at the Masters track and field championships. All was looking good for the Europeans, but then disaster, I tore my hamstring, which put paid to any ambitions in Germany. However thanks to the physio and my own strengthening work I was back in action earlier than anticipated and, although far from my best, I managed 9^th place in the European Masters 5000m.

It was while I was injured I had time to reflect on my running over the last few years. I’d joined Herne Hill Harriers when I turned 40 because I thrive on team spirit, at the time Belgrave had no interest in Masters athletics but Herne Hill had a solid team of old men. When I joined it tipped the scales and Herne Hill’s Masters started winning national masters events. But less than a year later my work asked me to consider relocating to Edinburgh. It wasn’t a tough decision to make at the time, but it was tough leaving behind the team mates, other running friends and all the races I was familiar with. Whilst I retained membership of Herne Hill, and won a number of national medals with them, I was also able to represent a Scottish club, Edinburgh AC. This helped me to survive some dark times by using my training and racing as a means of keeping strong when other things weren’t going my way. But then came a further move, back to England, and back to my childhood county of Cheshire. Whilst I was still a member of Herne Hill I was unable to count with a more local club, and I didn’t want to leave Herne Hill because they were my mates and besides, with all the recent upheaval, I wasn’t altogether sure how long we’d be in Cheshire. There followed a tough three years of running very few times for Herne Hill and being the only Herne Hill runner in the races I entered. Despite that I didn’t feel too lonely as I soon managed to make friends with a number of runners from various local clubs. But the team spirit was missing from my life and the other thing I felt I needed to help me to improve was regular cross country. So in Germany I decided it was time to move on, to a more local club, but which one? I looked at Vale Royal, Sale, Altrincham, Salford and Wilmslow but it was Salford that stood out to me as the club I was most likely to settle into, even though they were the furthest away. So I left Herne Hill after seven good and successful years and joined Salford. So far it seems to have been a good decision for not only have I enjoyed being a member of Salford but I’ve been made welcome by a fantastic bunch of athletes and supporters and to cap it all won a BMAF silver as part of the cross country relay team. As we look forward, as a club, to 2013, there is the possibility of much more success for Salford and I want to be part of it.

Finishing off 2012 with half a cross country season and, in particular, tasting success at Derby, has left me feeling pretty confident about 2013. I know I’m not the best runner in Britain, in my age group, but I’ll always give my best and when I’m at my fittest I can be up with the best, also when I’m surrounded by team mates giving as much as me that makes us a strong unit.

The last few weeks of December saw a lack of cross country running for me, probably a timely break as too much can wear you down. I was anticipating a training consolidation period but then I ended up doing 3 parkruns. I’ve already mentioned, in a previous blog, that I turned up for the inaugural Congleton parkrun, well that was intended to be my last race of the year. But things don’t always work out and Ray twisted my arm to go along to week 2 at Congleton. I wasn’t really in the mood but a wet, windy, miserable and muddy parkrun was better than the alternative, a wet and windy hill session on my own. So what did I have to lose? The answer: my 2012 100% parkrun record as local M45 rival Malcolm Fowler turned up and took me to the cleaners. Well I’m not bothered about statistics, winning streaks will always come to an end and I certainly wasn’t going to lock myself up in a room for the rest of my life so I was never again beaten, but it was a bit disheartening to be beaten by another M45, even if it was by one of the best M45s around. At least Malcolm didn’t take my course record, though he sits above me on age grading, due to being a year older than me. The following week I turned up again for Congleton’s 3^rd parkrun, again I wasn’t intending to do so but Carole was keen to run one. As it turned out Carole was in bed sick with man flu but as I’d arranged to go with Ray I decided to go anyway. Once again Malcolm was there, which meant I had a challenge on my hands, much better than a lonely hill session. This time both of us got stuffed by a youngster from Stoke, who became the first sub 17 minute runner and took my course record from me. But I ran my fastest time around the course, retaining my M45 record, finishing a few seconds ahead of Malcolm, though Malcolm still retains the top position on the age graded league. Beating Malcolm was a timely boost to my confidence as I saw him as one of my main challenges for the M45 title in the Cheshire Cross Country Championships the following weekend.

On the way back from that parkrun Ray and I were discussing our goals for 2013, which turned out to have a number of similarities. This led to my thinking about what else could I add to our training to make our goals happen. Then it dawned on me, something I loved doing, was very effective, but I’d neglected for a number of years – fartlek. So the next day I purposefully went out and designed my own fartlek course, which starts close to my house and finishes close to Ray’s. 12 repetitions ranging from 40 seconds to just over 3 minutes, featuring 5 hills (in Cheshire!) and varying lengths of recovery, the shortest just 15 metres. I ran it hard that day and have since used it with one client. I ran it hard again today and I love it, can’t wait to try it out on Ray.

So onto my 2013 goals. Well the first one was to have a good run at the Cheshire Cross Country Champs. I felt I had a chance of 1^st M45, but so did others, including Malcolm Fowler, who’s name is listed more times than anyone else I know in the history of medal winning at the Cheshire Champs. The race took place last Saturday, at Reaseheath, a course that was 1/3 suitable for me and 2/3 not very suitable for me. But I wasn’t going to let that get in the way, I’m working on improving my cross country running and little by little I’m improving. I know I’ll never be a Mike Deegan but I can be a better Roger Alsop. Despite making a schoolboy error, thinking the start was 2:30 instead of 2:15 (thanks Ray for the timely reminder) I managed to get to the start line nice and relaxed. As we headed out I was nicely positioned alongside Malcolm, but with James Noakes (another M45) and the possibility of another M45 ahead of me I wasn’t going to focus solely on Malcolm, so when Dave Alexander, an M40 of some repute, went past me I tried to go with him. Into the muddy field and Malcolm came back past me, after that he pulled away to a convincing victory. I struggled to cope with the mud in those fields, during that first lap, and a group of runners containing Graham MacNeill, 1^st m50, James Noakes, Tom Bush and a couple of City of Chester guys (one of whom I think was M45 Duncan Harris), pulled a gap on me. I was on my own as I tried to find the best way through the mud.

It was hard work in those fields but towards the end of the lap we were back on firm ground and I got a little respite. Out of the woods I was still looking at a largish gap to the group in front of me. Malcolm was way ahead so it was a certainty M45 gold had gone, particularly with his cross country reputation. Knowing that last year there was only a medal for the age group winner I could easily have given up at this point but I wasn’t about to, I’m striving to improve in these conditions and the only way that is going to happen is if I work hard in my weak area. So I relaxed and pushed. It seemed to work, I was finding it much easier to plough through the mud, I still had the odd moment of instability but I appeared to be gaining on the group ahead. The gap was getting smaller and, upon reaching the firmer ground again, I got some extra vigour. I sailed past 3 of the guys before entering the woods, passed another couple just after the woods and soon there was only Graham MacNeill up ahead. Graham was going well and it took me a while to reel him in but he came in all the same. I had about half a lap to go, I wasn’t going to let anyone come back to me. No looking back, just forwards and push all the way. I maintained position, finishing 14^th, a disappointing minute behind Malcolm, but I felt like I’d managed to kick off a demon. With a little more work maybe I’ll make a cross country runner of me yet. Once again I was 2^nd M45 so went home without a medal, only to find out, that evening, that someone had decided to hand out other medals and there is a Cheshire M45 silver medal with my metaphorical name on it.

So with my first, almost success, out of the way what are my plans for 2013: I’ve still got a way to go on finding my cross country feet but I’ve some time and a number of races to go before the one that matters, the BMAF Champs. Two years ago I was 2^nd M45, what I’d give to beat that, but it won’t be easy (if it was easy we wouldn’t be doing it, is something I keep telling my clients, at least I practice what I preach). I’ve decided against the European indoors (too much going on at that time) and I’ll probably miss the track completely this year (though I might think differently about that later). I really want to help Salford to some national gold medals this year and I’m thinking about venturing into Europe for the non stadia championships. Other than that I think it’s time I did some 10ks and possibly a 10 mile or half marathon. With BMAF championships very much in mind, both for myself and Salford, I think that’ll keep me pretty busy. I’d also like to gain selection for England again.      

But with the hard training comes the possibility of injury and I’m conscious of a little niggle in my left knee, again. So better get those victories in before it goes again.

I should say well done to my Salford colleagues for all the success they had in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Middlesex championships. Proving we are a great club of great athletes – we just need a few more in Cheshire.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

What’s The Best Way To Keep Fit?

It’s that time of year, lots of adverts for the latest keep fit gadget, slimming groups and offers to join gyms. But what is the best way to keep fit?

Over the last few months fitness industry magazines have been going on about the latest big craze, HIIT. If you’ve not come across this it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. I’ve read a number of articles pointing out the benefits of HIIT, particularly concentrating on weight loss, including one by a Personal Trainer stating that just 4 minutes of this activity can help you to lose weight. But, HIIT is nothing new, it’s been around for years in the sports world, I’ve certainly been using it for my own training since I started running, back in the last century.

It’s true HIIT is very effective in getting you fit, no matter what sport you play or if you just want to improve your fitness levels, or lose weight. But I’m sceptical about any claims that state you can lose weight by doing just 4 minutes of it. 4 minutes of it during an overall session that lasts more than 20 minutes maybe. The length of and number of intervals will depend on what your goal is. Most trainers would have their clients do intervals of well under a minute, because as a beginner your stamina will be lacking, but as you get fitter you can increase the duration of and number of intervals. Having used it regularly I know it is the cornerstone of my own fitness. In particular it has helped me to quickly regain lost fitness due to injury layoffs. I use it with many of my own clients and it has been effective for them too. But it doesn’t necessarily suit everyone, I work with a number of clients on rehabilitation from injury or illness, HIIT is not suitable for them until they have strengthened any weak areas and built up their fitness levels to a reasonable standard.

For many years it has been believed, within the fitness industry, that cardio vascular training carried out in the fat burning zone (60-75% maximum heart rate, though if you read numerous articles you’ll find that this figure varies from 60-70% to 60-85%). Will help you burn off the most calories, hence the name of the zone. However I’ve never been a strong advocate of that principle, because I’ve always believed that interval training is a better way of burning off fat. However because you need to work out in this zone for at least 20 minutes, preferably an hour, but even more effectively once you dip over the hour, it would be very hard, and ill advised to do HIIT every day. Therefore carrying out a fat burning zone session on alternate days to HIIT would work well.

Many PTs will tell you that resistance training, using heavy weights to build lean muscles is the most effective way to lose weight, because it raises the metabolism, thereby burning more calories. Whilst I agree it will help you to lose weight and will also help you to build strength, it will also change the shape of your body, which may or may not be a good thing for you. I’ve never been totally in agreement that this is the best way to lose weight and from a personal fitness point of view it is not the most effective way to gain cardiovascular fitness. To back this up I recently read an article that stated that endurance training was a more effective way to lose weight than resistance training. Interestingly I prefer to use endurance within my own resistance training and that of my clients. This still builds up strength, without any significant muscle bulking, but because I use exercises that use multiple body parts and also encourage movement around the training area, which gives a cardio boost, I find it very effective in both burning fat and building fitness.

Diet! Can be a contentious subject, there are many of them out there. A lot of people do seem to lose weight during dieting, but many others do not. Some maintain that weight, others do not. My personal opinion on dieting is that your diet should not be restrictive of food types that do you good, it should be balanced and you should eat an appropriate amount to what you require to get through your day. If you exercise more you will no doubt have to eat more. I also believe that eating, like exercise, should be an enjoyable experience so try to pick foods that are both healthy and tasty, and remember a little treat will not hurt, every now and again.

So that’s the pre-amble over, what do I think the best way to keep fit is? Firstly I believe that you are more likely to stick to an exercise regime if you enjoy it. Probably the best way to enjoy it is to do it with friends, but also, for the bulk of us, adding some sense of competition to your regime will really help. On the whole, I firmly believe that a mix of HIIT, steady state endurance training, resistance work and dietary control is the answer. It’s what I do, it works for me, but it may not work for everyone. Mix it up to make your week’s workouts more interesting, but I also believe that you should make your training challenging.

The longer you work out the more calories you will burn, but you need to build up to this, you can’t suddenly go from nothing to a two hour session. My weight is a constant 10 stone 10 to 11 stone at the moment, which for a man of 5’10” is ok, particularly considering my age. The one time I took it below 10 stone, apart from when I was a lanky teenager, was when I trained for the marathon, in 2003. At the time I was doing long interval sessions, long steady runs, no resistance work at all and eating all the time. Further evidence that endurance training will help you to lose weight and get you fit. But of course not everybody can afford the time or has the ability to do two hour plus sessions. So, as I said before, a mix of all types of training for sessions around 1 hour should serve you well. But if you can’t manage an hour in one go, break it up into chunks. This is again something I do; 45 minute interval session followed, later in the day by a 15 minute cardio blast and a 20 minute resistance session.

What I’ve been up to:-

With no more cross country races until the new year I decide to treat myself to a parkrun this Saturday. It was the inaugural parkrun at Congleton, around Astbury Mere. Ray and Sharon came along with me as we tackled this relatively flat but muddy course, 3 laps around the mere. 88 other runners turned up for the event, which is a great number to start with. I’ve finished first in all the parkruns I’ve done this year, even I don’t know how I’ve managed that, but this week I was confident I wouldn’t win. I felt sure a number of good runners would turn out to check out the course, believing it to be fast, and I would surely be fighting to get into the top 10. As it turned out I was completely wrong, I led, unintentionally, from the off. I could hear that I had company, at least two runners, not far behind on the first lap. They, or at least one of them, sounded closer during the 2^nd lap and I thought it was just a case of when, not if, they would take the lead from me. But my strength is my endurance and during the 3^rd lap I sensed I was pulling away. With half a lap to go I gave it one final push and surprised myself by winning yet another parkrun event. Because this was the inaugural event I obviously hold the course record, but I don’t expect that to last more than a week.

Leading the Congleton Parkrun, event 1

This weekend also saw Sports Review of the Year. I haven’t always watched this event, it has been a bit tedious at times, but this year it was irresistible. So many Brits have made some fantastic sporting achievements that I just had to watch it. Even as a runner I’m not surprised, or disappointed, that Bradley Wiggins won. Though I think anyone in the final selection can feel proud of what they have achieved, on other years any one of them could have won. Mind you I was surprised Mo Farah didn't make the first three, but that’s how it goes. I was pretty touched by the award to Martine Wright, I remember London 7/7 well, I was lucky enough to be on a different route to work but still got caught up in all the confusion of it. I can look back at all the things I've achieved since that day, and hopefully more for the future, and they all mean so much more because, had I been on a different route or had the bombers chosen different locations to cause their destruction, non of those achievements would have happened, plus all the new friendships I've made since then wouldn't have occurred.

This will be my last blog of the year. I've a lot on during the next two weeks so won't have time to write one. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all, and if you don't celebrate Xmas or New Year, for whatever reason, just be happy anyway.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Tapering For Races

Tapering is the term used for reducing your mileage or effort level in the run up to an event. Everybody has there own version of a taper, which may differ for different events. The point of a taper is to make you feel fresh on the day of your event, however some people do have a problem easing back, possibly believing that they will lose fitness if they do less in the days before a race. The truth of the matter is that you will lose very little, if any, fitness with a complete week’s rest so your event is more likely to be affected by overtraining than under training, in the final week. Of course if you race weekly your overall fitness will probably suffer if you do a full taper before each one so it is important to distinguish which events are important and either don’t taper for the less important ones or reduce the taper. One must remember that some races are goal driven and others are merely a means to an end.

As an athlete with nearly 24 years experience behind me and one who’s always looking for something, legal, that might move me up the rankings, you can imagine I’ve tried various things for my own taper. I’m still not sure which is best because I’ve been successful with all of them and not significantly more successful with one more than the other. So my ‘important message’ from this blog is find what suits you, to ensure that you are feeling good at the time of your important races, don’t worry too much about the minor races. Be prepared to change the taper for different races and most importantly; should circumstances prevent you from carrying out your planned taper, don’t panic, you can do more damage by doing too much rather than too little.

But what are these tapers, I hear you ask. Well here’s a few examples of what I and people I know have used.

I do know some people who run every day of the year, Ron Hill being a famous example of that. My old mate and former training partner Charlie Dickinson would often go weeks without a rest day, though you could guarantee his run the day before a race would be easier. I have run every day of the week on occasions. Usually it’s down to circumstances, such as this week where I was heading to Edinburgh for the weekend so did a Friday morning run, even though I was planning to run the Edinburgh parkrun on Saturday. I knew the weather forecast wasn’t good and therefore there would be a chance I would not be able to run at the weekend, plus the parkrun was more a social visit than a race.

Through the majority of my life as a runner I have taken the day off the day before a race. I suppose that’s not strictly true because if I had a midweek race I would always run on the previous day and often on the lunchtime of the race. However as most races were weekend races I would generally take Friday off, though I would transfer this to Saturday if it was a Sunday race. This worked well for me as I got to rest the day before a race but even if I wasn’t racing I got a day of rest. Through out my, normal, working life it actually always felt like I was working a 4 day week. Monday to Thursday I trained twice a day and worked a full day’s work. Friday I would just work and Saturday and Sunday I would just train. So although I was doing something that can be adjudged to be hard work on 7 days, I had a reduced workload on 3 of those days, hence a 3 day weekend.

At one stage I started to take Thursday off and run Friday, race on Saturday. I even went through a phase where I would do a short run on the Saturday morning, before a race in the afternoon. They both worked, but I don’t do them anymore. I went through a phase whereby I just ran steady runs, no quality, the week before a race. I’ve taken two days off, completely, before a race. I know of people who like to do a few reps the day before a race, and I’ve tried that too.

When I ran my marathon my pre-race training week looked like this:

Monday – 46 minute run (approx 6 miles)

Tuesday – 3 x 1600m at marathon pace (actual times 5:38 / 5:37 / 5:39)

Wednesday – 30 minute run (approx 4.5 miles)

Thursday – 20 minute run (approx 3 miles)

Friday – rest

Saturday – rest

Sunday – London Marathon – 2:34.

These days I’ve found something that works for most races, I have a different taper for championship races. I don’t taper for parkruns. My current, general taper is.

Monday - Full quality run session plus core session

Tuesday – 6-8 miles steady, plus kettlebells

Wednesday – Reduced quality session, i.e. 16 x 1 min at 85% effort, plus core session

Thursday – 6 miles plus upper body weights (I don’t do legs this close to a race)

Friday – core session

Saturday – Race

This doesn’t take into account any client work I may be doing, so I sometimes have to factor that in and adjust accordingly (or if it’s a major championship that I want to win I will say no to clients towards the end of the week, unless it fits in nicely with what I was planning on doing myself). That probably means little without knowing what I do on non taper weeks, my 2^nd quality session would be longer, my steady runs would be longer and I would include another cardio burst within my gym sessions, I would also include legs in my Thursday gym.

So this week Carole and I ventured up to Edinburgh, my favourite city in the UK. We had a great time and, yes, the weather did affect my running. Though I do have one word of complaint, TRAMS! What on earth is going on? Somebody had the idea of building a tramway where there is already a successful bus service. Ok so that provides an element of competition, but the tram works and all the disruption that goes with it started before I left Edinburgh, over 3 years ago, and it’s still going on. Worst, I haven’t got a clue how much longer it will be going on. It’s made a real mess of the city centre, and it’s inconvenienced a lot of people. No trams in Northwich, though we do have an interesting one way system!

 

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

A Weekend of Two Races

This weekend I did a couple of things a little different to what I normally do on a weekend. Firstly, I raced both Saturday and Sunday. This is something I’ve only done twice before. Mind you it wasn’t the same as racing both races flat out as the 2^nd thing was that I paced a race. I’ve never, officially, paced a race before, though I was once asked if I would like to pace a group of runners in the Edinburgh 10k, I had to turn it down as I was working that day, so this was going to be a unique experience for me.

So as the title suggests, lets separate this blog into two parts and concentrate on Saturday first. On Saturday Salford were taking part in the 3^rd race of the Manchester Area Cross Country League. I’d run the first one, finishing 39^th and 5^th M45, but missed the second one due to my training trip to Spain. This weekend we were racing in Wythenshawe Park, a place I’ve not visited before. Heading off to the venue I was fairly confident that it would be less muddy than the Heaton Park course, but this illusion was quickly dismissed as I checked out the course, skipping through muddy sections followed by sections of waterlogged grass. There was also a stream crossing, I ‘m wary of stream crossings they always offer an opportunity for a catastrophe to occur. Despite the conditions, which were definitely not to my personal preference, I was feeling oddly confident. I’d perked up as the week progressed and was keen to make a more robust effort in this race than at Heaton Park.

Unfortunately, in the preceding Ladies race one of our Ladies had come a cropper at the stream crossing and had broken her wrist. But I didn’t let this get to me, when I’d surveyed the course I’d leapt over the stream like a gazelle and landed sure footedly. I lined up for the race, right on the front line, but there was no countdown, just the noise of the starter. I was caught mid jiggle (if you don’t know what that means, watch the video) and quickly swamped by a mass of athletes as we headed out on the short lap. I got into my stride and started picking my way through the field, I could see Graham MacNeil and Dave Lockett up ahead of me, both rivals for ‘old man of the week’. And then before I knew it there was a pile up as a group of runners went too wide and hit the tape. I’m sure one went a over t and I could see that Dave had been affected slightly. My poor start meant I had time to adjust my line to avoid becoming embroiled in that. Dave was quickly into his running and pulling away from me at a rapid rate. As I watched him vanish into the distance I waved goodbye to any chance of catching him in the Salford veterans standings for this year’s cross country championships. So I switched all my attention on Graham, it was time to win the battle of the ‘redheads going slightly white’.

As we continued on this first lap I seemed to be matching Graham but not making any headway on the distance between him and me. I was finding it tough as I slipped and slid around parts of the course, there was very little of it that was firm, but I kept my focus on Graham all the same. Despite the slipping and sliding I was making my way through the field and managed to pass my team mate Billy MaCartney on the way to the crowd area. Coming round the encircled crowd was a real fillip, hearing all the Salford mob, and even some of the Vale Royal mob, cheer me on is always uplifting and I seemed to find my stride again. As I crossed the start line, for the start of the first of the two larger laps, somebody shouted I was in 40^th position. Not bad I thought and quickly passed team mate Howard Mead to equal my position from the first match. Now I was on a MacNeil mission, can’t have him beating me, he’s over 50. Not only that but there were 3 Wilmslow runners, who all looked like they were masters, lined up ahead of me. They’re a strong masters club so I couldn’t afford to let all 3 finish ahead of me.

This was the lap we encountered the stream for the first time but I picked my spot and landed perfectly and up the other side without a hitch, just as another Wilmslow athlete came past me. I latched onto him and it was a good move as he dragged me round past his team mates and I’d got the better of Graham at last. I felt good but, hang on a minute, wasn’t that Dave up ahead. Still with a gap but it now seemed achievable, especially as I had this Wilmslow youngster helping with my pacing. Back round to the crowd and more cheering, I was still with the Wilmslow guy and Dave was getting closer. A few hundred metres later I’d pushed for it, seeing Dave up close I’d made my move to pass him, uttering some encouragement as I passed, after all he is a team mate. I also seemed to drop the Wilmslow guy but just before the stream crossing he’d gone back past me.

As we came to the stream the Wilmslow guy leapt and was away. My attempt was a little less graceful as I jumped like a buffalo shot mid flight by Bill Cody. I landed with my right foot ankle deep in mud and as I tried to move forward I fell forward smothering my knuckles in mud. By the time I scrambled back up the Wilmslow guy was long gone and I had a group of runners, including Dave, hot on my tail. I got back into my stride and pushed for home. Entering the woods I took a sneak back to see where Dave was and nearly missed the turn, but once out of the woods it was plain sailing, although I did have a fast finishing Tom Bush hunting me down. I finished 29^th, 3^rd M45, and my win over Dave gives me a fighting chance in the Salford champs.

All in all I felt I ran well, the two M45s to finish ahead of me were over a minute clear of me but that doesn’t actually concern me as much as you’d think it would. I know there’s a lot more to come and the cross country is just a stepping stone for me. My victory over Dave was fortunate, I don’t think he was at his best on the day, but it does give me a little hope for the rest of this championship year. As a team we’d done well, but we can do better. Home for a shower, my kit was straight into the washing machine and it took me 20 minutes to get all the mud off my legs.   

It had been a reasonably mild day but overnight the temperatures dropped, far from perfect for an early morning start on Sunday. Sunday was the day I was due to pace Lee Riley to his 6^th world record as he tried to duck under 46:04 in the Wrexham 10k (carrying his 40lb pack). I was to be at Lee’s for 8:30 but as I scraped the ice off my windscreen and stretched my aching legs I wondered if I’d be any use to Lee at all and wouldn’t it be more sensible to go back to a warm bed. Still a commitment is a commitment and I never let anyone down. So I set off through the icy back lanes and arrived at Lee’s in plenty of time. The rest of the team were already there; Jacqui (designated driver, sandwich maker, holder of the scales and Lee’s publicist) and Llorenc Sales Ferre (a young Spanish athlete from Stoke AC who would act as 2^nd pacemaker and cameraman).

Off we headed for Wrexham, but as we drew close the sky turned darker and there were occasional showers. A quick circuit of the course, in the car, showed it was relatively flat, a bit narrow in places but a good surface, however there was one bit still affected by the flood that had occurred the previous week, giving us a big puddle to traverse with muddy patches just after it.

Back to the club house we went through all the admin of setting a world record, weighing, photographing and the witnessing of everything by officials from the club. I have to say the race officials were very helpful and willingly gave up their time during a period that was very busy for them. I’d worked out all the k splits for our attempt, based on beating 43 minutes (Lee’s goal) but also what it would take to beat 46 minutes, which was all we really needed to do, but there were no k markers, only mile markers. Still 7 minute mile pace would give us 43:something so that was all we needed to achieve.

And then it was time to head to the start. A minor issue as we struggled to get Lee’s pack as tight as possible but we got there in the end. The organisers had allowed us some space at the start, which was much appreciated but as the race set off we did find it difficult to settle into position for the first mile as it was quite congested. We didn’t panic and settled into a pace which seemed quite comfortable and yet fast enough. I’ll point out here that I didn’t use a garmin, I like to run how I feel and I’ve worked with Lee for some time now, gaining a good understanding of how he’s running. I knew he’d gone off too quickly during his 5k record, only a few weeks ago, and suffered for it towards the end, but I was feeling confident Lee could handle this pace. Still even I was a bit surprised when we went through the first mile marker in 6:19.

Oh well no point in worrying about that now, I checked how Lee felt, he said he was good. We still had a good way to go but we settled down, I put the faster first mile down to having to accelerate as we passed a number of people who had gone off too fast. I felt the 2^nd mile was slower and more consistently paced, and it was, 6:21. Wow, we were 1 minute 20 ahead of a schedule that would see us smash the official world record, so we had plenty in hand. Still if Lee felt good lets keep it up. At this point Lee was thinking sub 40 but I told him to wait until 4 miles before considering that, I felt if we pushed too hard now we would lose it all in the last two miles.

Lee did feel good but that 3^rd mile was slower at 6:46. Still not complaining it was still faster than our schedule. At all these mile markers Llorenc would sprint forward to the marker and film Lee and myself crossing the line, he’d then get me to shout the time into the video recorder. There was no marker for 5k, which was a bit of a shame, but I’m confident we were close to Lee’s world record time for that distance, and I wasn’t worried we were going too fast. Lee was looking good, sure it was hurting and there were signs of fatigue but I could see that Lee was on for this, he had his race face on.

During the next mile we passed through the puddle and the muddy patches but still Lee forged on and although slowing, slightly, it was still a sub 7 min mile. I can’t recall exactly what the time was for this mile, I was too busy providing motivational pep talks to Lee to let it sink in. However, with just over two miles to go we were around two minutes ahead of schedule.

The 5^th mile proved a tough one, Lee went outside of the schedule, 7:05, but we still had plenty in reserve on our schedule and then a further 2 minutes and more on the official world record, so we could afford this. Lee was looking tired, I could see that he was working hard to maintain pace and I was a little worried that he could run out of steam, but this wasn’t a marathon and, although I don’t know how it must feel to be carrying that weight around, surely we couldn’t drop more than 3 minutes in the next mile and a bit. Even so I wasn’t going to chance it, I gave Lee every bit of motivation I could, all the stuff I know that works for me when times are tough.

Lee rallied, we reached the 6 mile point with a 7:01, surely we couldn’t fail now. I urged him on over those final 346 metres, making sure it was a sustained effort rather than an all out kick too early. As we reached the line Llorence and I drifted to the side, we didn’t want to get in the way of the timekeepers or mess up other runners times and we certainly didn’t want a post 41 minute 10k time attributed to our CV’s (at least not yet), but we heard the officials shout out 41:24 as Lee passed the line. A fantastic New World Record, breaking the previous one by 4 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s Lee’s 6^th different world record distance, I haven’t kept count of how many he’s actually taken, he’s broken his own time on occasions, but of course he still holds all 6 distances at the same time (400m, 1 mile, 5000m, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon).

Apart from the time I paced Lee, in a time trial, to equal the mile world record, which he subsequently broke, this was my first time pacing Lee to a new world record. I have to say it felt good to be a part of it, I’ve been working with Lee on these records for about two years now and we’ve become quite close. It means a lot to me to see Lee achieving each one, though usually I’m away when he does them, so it was particularly good to be a part of this record attempt. We went through all the post race weighing and officialdom, once again thanks to the officials for their assistance and then it was off to consider what next!

The video will be edited and Lee will be posting it on youtube, along with those of Lee’s achievements that are already there. Plus the Wrexham 10k organisers can boast that it had a world record set on their course.     

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk