Ageas Bowl 10k, 2018

This week has been a bit duff.  A some point on Monday it dawned on me that the strange head and throat feelings I was experiencing were due to... a cold.  Very dispiriting.  I was all st to take my weekly mileage up a few notches, but had to scrap all that for being sensible in the context of a lot of sneezing, nose-blowing and sore-throating.

Yesterday morning I felt as though I was coming out of the woods, and managed a gentle cross-country 10 miler with Poppy.  And this morning, the Lovely Mrs S and I took a long route (avoiding M27 closure) to the Rose Ageas Bowl for the inaugural 10k race.

What made today special was that this was the culmination of 10 weeks of training for our very own Hampshire Hares group.  A few assorted injuries and early-phase colds left Jo, Ali and Rob arriving for their 10k race debut.  There was a respectable number of RRRs as well.  The pre-race organisation was slightly chaotic, but after a bit of shuffling I found myself being urged into the 'elite' zone alongside Matt Brown, Alex Prinsep and 15-20 others.  I was feeling very cautious, slightly snotty and distinctly non-elite.

Over the start line, a quick circuit around the stadium and onto the roads.  I found a steady pace which felt comfortable.  I was in a fairly sparse zone, with Kath Bailey a short way ahead... I was half-wishing that Gerry Robson was there to keep me sharp, but I was also glad to be able to find my own pace and reassure myself that I could still run OK.  Did I mention that my left heel/ankle has been just a bit achy?  But all good today.

The conditions were perfect on this fast course on a calm, cool day.  I felt good and I kept the pressure up.  Approaching the Bowl, I was aware of a runner close behind me, and I tried to lift my game.  I lost a couple of seconds in a poorly-marshalled space, but found my bearings and zoomed onto the turf for a lap of the cricket pitch to the finish.

Busting it to the finish line... you can't see my challenger who finished 5 seconds behind.

I managed to stay ahead of my challenger (Gary Armstrong - but only just - check this out) and finished in a split time of 37:39. This was a fantastic result - my fastest 10k since Eastleigh in 2013!  There were smiles all round as everyone had found this a super-fast race, and the Hampshire Hares were all thrilled with their outings.  Here are my stats.

I've been saying recently that fast flat short races aren't really my thing... but to hell with all that... this was huge fun!

Massive plaudits to Jo, Rob and Ali, the magnificent Hampshire Hares

With Matt and Alex, who are way faster than me

The Romsey gang in bouncy form

Racing again! Hursley 10k

Last week I did three steady runs and yesterday I paced 20 minutes at Southampton parkrun; all part of a planned recovery from an embryonic Achilles' heel.  So far so good.  Today, once more unto the breach, and back to Hursley, whose 10k I've been running almost every year since its beginning in 2006.

From studying the entries yesterday I could see that Alan Graham, Jon Osment and David Blackman were all running.  Fantastic!  Three of my deadliest foes, and all 4 of us contenders for the M50 slot.  We found ourselves together at the start, all slightly over-egging our excuses (injuries, yesterday's running, getting on for 60).  A countdown, a horn, and off we went.

My plan was to keep the Three Amigos ahead of me for a good while.  However, the first km was across grass that disguised all manner of lumps and ruts.  I found myself edging ahead and decided that I was running sensibly enough so keep calm and keep going.

From about 2k to 6k I was on my own.  I was running close to my threshold but felt OK, and it was great to be running hard again.  I then became aware of someone in orange behind me.  Oh no, it's Jon in his Eastleigh strip, he's really out-paced me.  But it wasn't Jon, a younger bloke I didn't know (from the results, Jeremy Wilson).  He edged past, and he remained about 30m ahead.

Kms 6 to 8 were entirely uphill.  I was labouring hard and keeping Jeremy within range, but I couldn't close the gap.  Every couple of minutes I cast nervous rearward glances, but no one was on my immediate tail.  Out of Ampfield wood and into the long avenue to the finish, I felt OK but couldn't quite find the oomph to close the gap, and I finished in 39:05, six seconds behind Jeremy.  I was in 7th place overall, I had beaten my three foes, but I was nevertheless 2nd M50, nearly a minute behind Neil Richmond of Eastleigh.  Here are my stats.

I dug around for the historic results for the H10k...
2010 - 5th in 39:04
2011 - 10th in 40:33
2012 - 4th in 38:30
2013 - 5th in 37:54
2014 - injured
2015 - 8th in 39:08
2016 - racing in Ireland
2017 - 9th in 40:10
Let's see how long I can hold on to the top 10.

Back (still a bit cautiously) on the wagon.  There's now much work to do in preparation for the Beachy Head marathon, six weeks from today.  Let's do this!

Investing in resting

I've not run for nine days now.  I ran to work and back on Wednesday last week and all felt good.  Then I got out of bed the next morning and felt a slight tightness low down in my left ankle, almost at the heel.  I remembered that I had felt something similar after the last two half marathons.  I remembered my long fallow period of Achilles Heel injury in 2014, and realised that I simply couldn't afford to hope this would go away - not with marathon season now underway.

So I went to see my colleague Sean on Friday and he confirmed that, yes, it's early stage Achilles heel.  He told me I'd be mad to race Overton 5 last weekend and said that doing the Crafty Fox half this weekend could be risky.  So I've stopped running altogether for the moment, and tried to do all the recommend things - resting, stretching, icing and strengthening.

It's a funny old injury, this one, because I just can't feel it.  Everything feels fine, and yet I know that not running now is my best chance of getting through the autumn season (particularly the Beachy Head marathon at the end of September) and beyond in good shape.  My consolation is that I have got on to this at an early stage, rather than waiting a month and bitterly regretting not taking it seriously.

Back to the strengthening.  Every injury I've had in recent years has seemed to come back to a single mantra - Strengthen The Glutes.  A lack of stability in the hips can cascade down the legs and cause all sorts of problems.  So I'm now making a concerted effort to build up my gluteus maximus and gluteus medius and try to tackle this at source.  It's buttocks or bust.