Harrock Hill Race Results

 RACE RESULTS
http://www.ukresults.net/2012/harrock2.html
 RACE PHOTOS 
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11th Place At Harrock Hill!

Photo; Rob doing the 'Funky Gibbon' in the back ground or is he surrendering to my awesome power :0]   
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Last month I could only manage 40th place a far cry away from my best!
I was standing nervelessly at the front of the race looking around at all these fit lean looking guys and girls thinking shit did I really have a right to be at the front of the start line and would I get trampled on in the stampede once the gun went off!
Thankfully Steve McLean's short hill sprint session seems to be working for me.
The race starts at the bottom of the quarry road and winds up the gravel path for a mile before reaching the top of Hunters Hill, its a tough climb and a cruel start to any race, your lungs and legs are burning  with pain within 50 m!
My tactic was to push all out from the start then recovery on the steep single track section half way up the hill, its almost impossible to overtake here so its better to just sit on the group then explode all-out once you hit the green bank near the top!
This worked well for me and a passed quite a few runners including teammate Rob Ashworth!
Over the stile where last month a guy slipped and caught his arm in a barbed wire fence, needing  a doctor to cut him free!!!  
On to the downhill and I was flying-Weeeee!!!
Until I reached the farmers gate in the cow field, the guy infront of me got stuck in the foot deep mud and could not make it over the stile!
I gave him a friendly push over and said come on mate lets get moving!
MUD!
Once over the other side my legs felt heavy but really it was my figging shoes, they felt like lead weights due to the mud caked to them!
I pushed as best I could!
I was soon starting the second climb and more mud was on the way, the cows had churned up the field and turned the steep path into a horrendous quagmire of yuck!
TORTURE!
I slipped and slided my way forward at a snails pace, this was grim.
As Neil latter said you had to take your mind out of your body, look down and realize that everyone was going through the same torture!
THE ESCALATOR
Once onto what we call the 'escalator' a farmers green top lane that winds is way up into the distant horizon things started to impove for me.
My feet still felt like lead weights from the clinging mud but I was pushing hard and making reasonable progress!
Paul Boardman caught me and we exchanged places at the front pushing each other ever onwards.
I put in a hard effort to pull away from Paul before the final downhill and managed to hang on to 11th place as I sprinted up the short hill to the finish!
MAN THAT WAS FIGGIN TOUGH BUT A VERY GOOD RESULT!!!
There was a great turnout by the club, unfortunately I don't have a result sheet yet so not able to give team mates results here.

Harrock Hill Race Report Flying High!

The ever popular Harrock hill race series resumed again for the 10^th year.

20 SWAC members turned up in force to take on the challenging and scenic course, starting with a tough mile climb to the top of the disused quarry this race is not for the faint hearted!

Shortly after 7.30 pm we set off up the climb, sprinting away from the start with lungs bursting and quads burning we fought our way up against the unforgiving incline.

Towards the top of the first climb team mate and club chairman Steve Mclean shot past me like an exoset missile, which caught me by surprise, I regained my stride on the downhill and overtook Steve as my Garmin showed sub 5 min mile pace.

Just behind was Steve Lewis followed by Rob Johnson [farther of Ben] and Andy Hudson and Paul Tobin.

Tracey Peters was the first of our girls over the top, with Vicky Harvey followed by Rachel Thomas, Carol Wright and Sue Stewart who was being shown round the course for the first time by an obliging Carol James.

I was now running in the ‘moment’ concentrating hard to take it to the limit one more time.

Out of the farmers field and onto a flat road section hitting 5.20 pace until I turned a sharp corner and headed up the next climb.

I’d now moved up to 8^th place with a big gap to the lead runners.

I shortened my stride and speeded up my cadence, leaning into the hill, a couple of guys got into formation behind me waiting for me to faulter,No Pressure!

Out on to the Parbold hill road for a second before plunging down a dark narrow dirt path with gnarly tree roots under foot to take out the unwary

Over a stream, up the bank then out onto the escalator, a never ending climb that carries on into the distant horizon!

This is where many runners suffered among them was Steve Lewis, Matt Nelson and Neil Silcock all who retelled their stories of woe back at the pub after the race.

Pushing on at last I reached the top road, still in 8^th place and feeling strong, just one more short climb up to the ruins of the ancient windmill.

Next is a very technical section along a rocky path, I feel the breath on my neck of 3 guys on my shoulder lining up for the final sprint.

Down through the last cow field I’m out paced by 2 of the guys only to have the 3^rd guy out sprint me to the line.

This gave me 11^th place out of 179 [a record number of finishers] and my fastest time in many years!

The race was won by John Morrisey of Wigan Phoenix in 32.02.

Out of our club members there were some great performances;

Tracey Peters, Vicky Harvey and Rachel Thomas won the ladies Team prize!

Steve McLean was 21^st, Steve Lewis in only his second race here set a massive P.B. with 37.17 and 23^rd place.

Rob Johnson a very good fell runner over the longer distances had a big smile on his face at the end finishing with 38.01 and 28^th

Next was Andy Hudson 37th Simon [flying Doctor] Tobin on the comeback trail after injury 45^th 39.27

59^th Matt Nelson 40.40, Paul Cain pulled off a new P.b. with 40.55

Tracey Peters was the first lady of our club finishers taking 3^rd lady overall on the night with 41.09 and a new P.B.

Ex club member Ted [big boy]Maguire ran 42.54

Paul Ashby 43.31 out sprinted Neil Silocock 43.32 who enjoyed his first ever run here.

Big Ed Sherstone no stranger to climbing the high peaks finished in 101 place with 44.25

Rob Cosgrove set a shinny new P.B. with 44.48

Vicky Harvey put in a good showing with 46.32

Silver haired old fox Phil Baxendale put on his trainers one more time for 46.49

Clive James was close behind with 46.54

Next lady was Rachel Thomas pleased with her 47.32 but looking to get faster by next month.

Shy retiring Carol Wright 51.46 complained that she wanted a specially designed SWAC T-shirt to cover her hairy chest!

Super Sue Stewart running her first ever race here put in an awesome performance to win the L 60 age group with the help of pacer Carole James 52.46

All in all a great turn out from the club, just missing a few big hitters from the Formby end.

After the race we all enjoyed a few pints at the friendly Farmers Arms and recounted daring tells of epic hill climbing and descending.

Next Race Hutton Roof on Saturday.

HOW DID I IMPROVE

For the last couple of years I've felt I've lost some power on the hills, my answer to this is to increase my explosive power with plyometrics and short sprint work up hill.

My best short distances races were back in 2000 and 2003, is it by any coincidence that I did a lot of plyometric work those two years, I think not!

I'm doing two leg squat jumps, with and without weights, single leg squat jumps and one and two legged bouncing from the ankles.

I've progressed slowly over many months from wearing minimal shoes down to just bare feet now!

This I think has greatly increased the strength and power of my legs and feet.

Also under the advice of super marathon runner Roberto I've started incorporating short hill sprints into my training for the last couple of weeks.

It has been shown that these short hill sprints greatly increase growth hormone in the body by up to 40% after training, this is a massive gift for us older runners as GH is responsible for increasing muscle mass, reducing body fat and speeding up recovery!

HARROCK HILL RACE

I was hoping for a good race, but as soon as I set off up the quarry climb i found I didn't have the legs. I could see runners I would expect to beat pull away from me, once over the top of the first climb I pulled some places back on the downhills but once again as I started the second climb I started to drop back as the legs protested!
I think the long 3 hour runs have taken the edge off my top end!
I finished in 16th place in my 32nd Harrock Hill race feeling a bit disappointed not to be able to perform at my best, but I guess I need to keep focused on my long term aim of next months Langdale Mountain Marathon. I still have a couple more weeks of marathon specific training before my taper leading up to the race on the 25th of Sept.
Conclusions; Diet, One thing I did on my London Marathon build up was take a protein drink straight after hard sessions, which really helped with recovery, must start doing that again!
Think next year after running the London Marathon will concentrate on 5k-10k training and aim at the summer hill races. Want to improve my power and speed next summer and enjoy the shorter distances.
Marius says to run well over the 5-10k distances start with 1/2 marathon training then do the 10k training cycle and then move into 5k training.
Marius says; This cycle will work really well for the 5k and 10 as the half marathon training first will improve your anaerobic threshold and you then bring this into your 10k/5k training later in the training cycle.
UPDATE
Ran 20 x 1 min tonight starting at 5.40 pace and getting faster throughout, finish with 5.18 pace, felt really strong.
think I felt sluggish in race because I didn't follow the Marius plan and run this 20 x 1 min session before the race, Marius talks a lot about muscle stiffness and tuning the muscles through fast sessions etc.
i was hoping the 3 days easy before race would get me sharp for the race but it seemed to have the opposite effect leaving me flat.
But the good news is I've still get good speed :]

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