Author: jakeharrismsci

Snuck in a couple of long runs this week, Monday and Thursday. Thursday was particularly challenging as it was very warm and took a hilly route. Tuesday and Wednesday were shorter faster runs and Friday was a rest day as I wanted to be fresh for the Park Run on Saturday.

The Park Run was an alternative route due to an event in Temple Newsam. There was confusion with parking but the run began only five minutes late with 160 in attendance. Weather was hot from the get-go and I had been warned in advance that the route was tough. It was two laps of a route with each lap containing two or three moderate hills.

After the first half-lap I had fallen in with a group who I stuck with for basically the remainder of the race. Learning lessons from the 11k race I did a few weeks ago I wasn’t too competitive in the first half, which paid off when I had fuel left through the second half to fight the group I was in. Annoyingly I hadn’t worn my watch so didn’t know what pave we were doing and also had no concept of where I was In the pack.

On the final straight past the rhododendrons there were 3 runners in front of me so I increased my pace. I knew I could take the nearest two, who were running as a pair, and hoped to catch the third. I overtook the pair easily and engaged with the third but he he was stronger than me and beat me by a couple of seconds (so not even close).

I was happy with the effort that I put in and asked the guy who beat be what time we did, and he said 21:35 which is a good result for me. The results were released later that day and I found I had come 5th overall and 1st in my age group which is by far my best positional performance and the Park Run, and very satisfying. The time was also good but not comparable to other runs due to the alternative route.

Overall a good performance and encouraging that the training is paying off. Based on the other times posted, gaining another few places is very achievable in the coming weeks.

The race was last night, on the evening of the 21st June. It was the longest day of the year, and one of the hottest. The start time was 7pm so things had cooled down a little but it still wasn’t as cool as I would have hoped.

I was feeling good before the race, arrived in plenty of time and had loads of time to warm up. I didn’t know exactly what the course would be but I was naive about two things: I thought the course was only 10k and I didn’t appreciate just how hilly it was going to be.

I started at the front of the pack and probably let them drag me a long too fast. I was too competitive going up the first hill, fighting for positions it didn’t really matter if I kept and using precious energy in the process. 10 mins in the hills were really starting to bite but I kept my head down and fought through the struggle.

The hills were continuous, constantly up and down, but around 20 mins I regained some strength and was feeling good. There were no mile markers so I had no idea what pace I was doing really. Between the 20 and 40 minute period I was roughly holding position with the guys around me but losing strength all the time.

By the 40 minute point I was really struggling but at this point still thought I was only doing 10k and was nearly at the end. As the course kept coming though and it was obvious it was going to be longer than that I was really mentally defeated. The last kilometre was a steep downhill, at the bottom of which you turned around and ran right back up it, and I took it at what was basically a slow training speed.

Eventually finished in just under an hour at 59:38, and in 33rd position out of 160.

I think there are two main takeaways for this for me – I need to train more at longer distances. Although the course was slightly longer than expected, I should have been able to handle that (some more hill training probably would have helped too!). Secondly, a lot of my collapse in this race was mental. I need to work on fighting off the negative thoughts.

When I was done I felt good even though I hadn’t done as well as hoped. The course was very tough and I’ll be better prepared for the next race in the series in 1 month’s time.

The big gap in posts was due to a trip to Barcelona to Primavera Sound festival (which was excellent, by the way). I didn’t run while I was there but according to my phone did more than 25,000 steps per day – festivals can be very active! – so I didn’t feel too bad.

Returned from Barcelona on the 6th of June and took running back up straight away, building up to my longest run of the year on Friday. It was a 10 miler which actually went fine, felt good throughout. Also sneaked in a 10k on Monday night so I’m doing ok for miles.

This is good because my first event of the year is next Wednesday, a 10km race called Tempsey Torture at Temple Newsam. Looking forward to competing again because I haven’t been able to do any park runs for over 2 months.

As an aside, I also fasted for 24 hours on Monday. I have read about the health benefits of fasting for a while (most notably from Tim Ferris) but the real inspiration was one of my students who was participating in Ramadan. To understand her better and as an act of support I decided to fast for just one day (out of her 30!). I actually found it not to be too bad – I felt that my mind was very clear and wasn’t crippled by hunger through the day. I was looking forward to breaking the fast by the end of it though. I would recommend and probably will do it again myself.

Went for a social run with Ste and Lucy, 3 miles to Kippax and back. Very beautiful evening. Finished off with a quick half at Wetherspoon’s!

Tackled my longest run this year today, 9 miles. Actually felt surprisingly fine and managed a faster pace than my 8 mile run last week. The weather was very hot and as it was a long run I didn’t push too hard but was putting in effort all the way around. Felt fatigued after but very satisfied!