Sounds like a plan

For the first time ever, I'm training to a plan.  In the past I've gone as far as generally getting some more miles in because I've got a marathon coming up... but this is quite different.  I'm following a day-by-day actual plan.

This all started at the Salisbury 10 mile race last year, when I missed the 1-hour barrier by just a few seconds.  The lovely Mrs S, who is working towards a UK Athletics level 2 coaching qualification, consequently devised an 8-week training plan for the Wiltshire 10 race on 9 Feb, just 3 weeks from today.  Since Decembre I've been doing a mix of speed, tempo, easy and recovery runs against a daily planner.

I thought I might find this the most terrible bore, but I'm actually really enjoying it.  Part of it is the challenge of being as precise as possible and marking up What I Did against What I Should Have Done, and the other part is the 'freedom from' element... I don't need to worry or deliberate about what do this week as it's all mapped out.

This is a whole new kind of running and it's kind of thrilling.  Thank you, my lovely Mrs S!

It's a plan, Stan

2019 review

2019 was an absolute gem of a year!  Let's review my objectives from this time last year:

• Be 1st M50 in 50% of races - Done!  I did a tally over Christmas but lost the piece of paper.  But I did hit this fairly easily.
• Bag a sub 18-minute Southampton parkrun - Done! I did this twice, on 18 May and 31 August
• Get top 3 M50 in the RR10 league - Done!  (I managed to get 1st M50)

I'm attributing this to:

• Simply building up more and more race experience
• Taking an iron supplement, having been asked not to donate platelets as I was low in haemoglobin
• Doing more targeted training, for which I'm absolutely indebted to the lovely, fabulous Mrs S and her incredible training wisdom and detailed plans. Thank you, my darling lady - what a coach!

The fun and games of the year are nicely summed up in my RunBritain rankings profile, which has moved from 3.0 to 1.2 this year:

So this year, I want to:

1. Finally nail 10 miles in under an hour
2. Qualify for the England Masters marathon team at Milton Keynes
3. Get my RunBritain ranking below 1.0
4. Pace another runner to achieve a significant goal

Roll on 2020!

Stubbington 10k, 2020

I last ran this race absolutely ages ages ago, back in the early 2000s.  I really couldn't remember anything about it, but it's become a key part of the local road race scene with 2000 runners on a fast course.  The lovely Mrs S and I managed to park surprisingly close to race HQ despite the carpark being full, and briefly said hello to several friends before a bit of a scrum to get to the bag drop and then to the start.  It was a bright, cool and breezy morning which called for a bit of binbag chic.

Being in the middle of training for my current big target, the Wiltshire 10 in 4 weeks' time, I had a clear objective - finish this race in under 6-minute mile pace, which in my preferred units meant getting to about 3:40/km and ideally sub-37 minutes.  I was a bit nervous about this because I haven't run this fast since the 1990s - my century best, as far as I can establish, was 37:22 at Corsham last year.

There was no pre-race announcement or countdown, just a horn, a brief shuffle and into the race.  After a few hundred metres the crush eased and I started relaxing into a good pace.  I caught up with Alex Prinsep and we ran together for a while, but I lost him at about 2km as we went downhill into the Meon valley.  There was quite a tough uphill drag on the other side and then we were heading south into the wind.  I caught up with Paul Ashley and Nicole Frith and was feeling OK.

At about 7k I was on the sea front and the wind was now slightly behind, which was a good boost.  At 8k about 5 runners went past me, but I knew I was holding my own in terms of pace, although I was working right on the edge of my threshold.  I gunned it as best as I could in the final approach to be thoroughly trounced by Paul, who was doing better than he expected on his return from injury.

I crossed the line with a chip time of 36:38, 67th overall and 3rd M50.  I was thrilled to go under 37 minutes and to clock an average pace of 3:39/km.  Here are my stats.  Mrs S was also delighted with her time of 48:17 and 9th in category after a few weeks of niggles and injuries.  Then straight home for a roast beef family birthday dinner - perfect!

With Mrs S at the finish line

With OS runners Matt and David

Hampshire XC championships, 2020

It was in 2017 that I last ran this event - the XC championships at Fairthorne Manor.  The lovely Mrs S and I arrived in good time on a cool and calm afternoon as other races were underway - the cross-countries are distinct in having separate races by age and gender, and rather anachronistically, shorter races for the ladies.  Surely, surely, this has to change.

I had a chat with a few friendly faces beforehand, but I was the only representative of Romsey today.  The course maps always look fearsomely complicated, but our race was effectively three-and-a-bit laps of the full circuit.  We were set off by a starting pistol, which I thought was fabulous.  There was a lot of manoeuvring for position in the early stages in a crowded and competitive start, and I tried not to get too caught up in this.  After a km or so we were off the grass and into a narrow trail in the woods with plenty of roots and tight swerves.  Great fun.  The course was a mix of woodland and grass with some tidy little hills and a few boggy patches, but it wasn't nearly as wet and slippery as it would have been a week or two ago.

Keep upright going downhill through the woods

As I progressed through the second and third legs I was gradually catching a few folk and gaining position.  Amongst this, a fantastic tussle emerged between me and Tom Glancy from Aldershot, Farnham and District - we were never more than 10 seconds apart from each other.  I pulled ahead in the final field, he pulled up level and I gunned it like hell for the finish line to finish two seconds ahead.

Terrified that Tom is about to overtake, as Mrs S looks on

Tom (in green) relative to me (in black)

I finished in 50th place and 2nd M50, and I was very happy with that.  Here are the results and here are my stats.  A smashing start to the new year.