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GOOD TIME, LONG TIME, RUNNING!

2000 ft of fun! I arranged to meet Eddie for a long hill run at one pm, this meant I could get 4 hours in bed after a hard night shift. The alarm went off at 11.50, I guess I'd just gone into a deep sleep as the alarm brought me around, the thought of just 10 mins more in bed was to good to resist! I woke with a jolt! Shit I'd over slept, I jumped out of bed and rushed to put my contact lens in, Dam it fell to the floor and I had to search for a good 10 mins to find it! I quick call to Eddie,
" sorry going to be a little late!
Eddie's training for an off road marathon so we ran for 2 hours over the hills of Parbold and Ashurst Beacon [ basically two fell race routes in one go]. conditions were idea and it was good fun blasting up and down the hills and running over the dirt paths.
We took the first climb steady up stoney lane, I even had time to look around at the local scenery, once at the top we took a left then followed the road for a bit until we got to the quarry path. A quick detour down a narrow path and we came out above the quarry pool, Wow! what a awesome panoramic view! We scramble and slid down the rocks and then head downhill, running a loop round to the start of Hunters Hill. I really enjoyed going up Hunters hill with the wind on my back, I pulled away from Eddie half way up, working at driving my knees forward and up, I was flying!
Once over the top we head downhill through the fields at high speed. Next stop Ashurst Beacon, I felt good again and half way up push the pace, as we reach the church we turn left and follow the cobbled path up to the beacon, near the top it get really steep but I find driving my Knees forwards and up gives me good progress.
Talking to Eddie at the top he said he was trying to push into the ground but it did not feel right, so I told him to try concentrating on knee drive, it works!
At the top we turn left and go past the starting point for the Ashurst Beacon race, flying downhill I reach 14.6 mph, near the bottom we turn left and follow along the dirt paths until we reach the Leeds Liverpool canal, over the bridge and the climbing starts in earnest once more, up along the side of the old Parbold quarry. the path gets really steep for a bit, but soon I come out onto the top of Parbold Hill and wait for Eddie to catch up!
WE cross the road and follow the Parbold race route for a while,climbing through peaceful fields and dirt tracks, one last plunge downhill through the fields again and we make it back to the car,
We finished the run feeling good about life! A run to remember, for sure! = 2.00

RUNNING IN OUR BRITISH WEATHER

Felt less than sharp as I set out into a gusting headwind to meet the club in the pinewoods for a fartlek session. My intention was to keep the pace easy as I ran over the sand dunes, but as is often the case a easy pace never seems to feel as comfortable as it should do!
There was an impressive turn out of runners waiting in the woods ready to subject themselves to the harsh elements of wind and torrential rain, MAD LOT!
The first effort was straight into the teeth of the storm, I sat at the back taking it easy after my fast session yesterday, after the first 800m effort we turned into the woods and the welcome shelter of the trees, another four fast sections and we wound up the pace for the final time, the heavens seemed to have been waiting for us and dumped the entire contents of the biggest darkest cloud on our heads, as if we weren't wet enough already! We laughed as we took shelter under the trees as the rain belted down and the sun came out at the same time! Ever wondered why we British talk about the weather so much, well its because it changes every 5 BLOODY minutes!
Ran back with Rob on the road and as is often the case when running with Rob the pace gradually picked up until we were hitting 6.30 min miles with the final half mile getting close to 6 min pace, despite shoes and clothing made heavy and sodden with water! I said my goodbyes to Rob and carried on the final 1.6 miles home. I must say I felt pretty strong at the end of the run and finished with 2 hours 18 mins, All that was left was an eight hour night shift involving much heavy lifting of stock! surely a much harder night than running any marathon!

FEELING GOOD!

Rain gave way to sunshine and just a light whisper of wind by early evening as I set off on my run.
Straight away I felt fresh, hitting marathon pace within a few steps and it felt almost effortless ! This was good, very good!
I ran down to the waterloo rd rugby ground and did Arthur Lydiards LEG SPEED SESSION, REACHING A MAX 14.7 MPH, quite an improvement in only a couple of weeks!
On my way back my speed picked up until I was holding 10mph, once again it felt almost effortless!
I think the return to LYDIARD type training is doing me a world of good, hope I feel this good on sunday when I have a 10k race.
6 x 150m, max 14.7mph = 40 mins

PLAN WHAT PLAN !

ANGLESEY MARATHON 2008

My next race is the ANGLESEY MARATHON on the 21st of Sept, which team mate Rob Ashworth won last year!
I now have the tricky task of recovering from summer racing burnout and at the same time getting in shape for the marathon in only one months time!
My plan if you can call it a plan is to follow Arthur Lydiards advise when dealing with staleness , ie cut out intense interval training and just do steady runs with some leg speed sessions.
I don't expect to run my best ever marathon but hopefully I can get to the start line feeling fresh!
HAVE I BITTEN OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW ?
Is this going to be a spectacularly disaster or an amazing triumph over adversity!
Sat 23rd
ARTHUR LYDIARD TIME TRIAL, 14 miles at 6.31 pace
I have never tried this type of session before and was not sure I would be able to run at marathon pace in training, as it happened it went very well, running a two lap course I averaged 6.31 pace, reaching 14 miles in 1.31
QUITE PLEASED THE WAY THINGS WENT AND CAN UNDERSTAND HOW THIS TYPE OF SESSION WILL HELP ME IMPROVE!
14 MILES IN 1.31 + 35 MINS EASY RUNNING

Thurs 21st
ROB's club session with Tracey, Paul and Rob, 2 x 5k round the marine lake at marathon pace 9.3 mph av, felt quite hard running into a strong head wind for the last 2 miles of each loop but pretty much ran within my self holding back a little. =1.10
+ 17 min run with my wife niz
Wed20th
Steady run on the roads of parbold and harrock hill, feeling a bit on the tired side after two days of feeling really good! = 1.43
Tue 19th
enjoyable steady run over the sandhills = 1.02

BACK IN THE GROOVE

It feels good to be building up the miles again, yesterday I ran down over the sandhills to meet up with the club. Brian set us a session of 20x 30secs. I ran the efforts at about 4.30 pace, after the session I ran back with rob and Mike over the sand dunes and then along the coast road, I finished with 2 hours 6 mins, job well done!

DRY RUN!

I decided to get my long run in tonight as I'm watching my wife NIz run in a mini TRI event tomorrow,which should be fun! only problem is am working night shift so might not get any sleep untill tomorrow night! The rain cleared by 5pm to give me a dry run over the sandhills, felt tired after Wednesday's race and yesterdays interval session so kept the pace on the easy side, = 1.45

RUNNING WITH THE LEGENDS by Nobby Hashizume

TIME FOR SPEED

After morning rain the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful warm afternoon, we have waited for this weather for so long,April has been a succession of cold windy drab days. I headed to the park once again taking in the warm sunshine and the sight of the new leaves and blossom on the trees and bushes, bright colours of reds,yellows,purple and every shade of green shimmering in the bright sunlight. I was filled with a sense of new life and hope! once inside vic park i ran a slow mile, 6.13 a fast mile 5.20 [my fastest in over 3 years!] and then finished with a steady 6.04 mile. my work was done!
= 35mins

HITTING FORM AT THE RIGHT TIME.

Ran steady for 10mins before running a 2 mile time trial over the sandhills [ 12.16], I then carried on at a steady effort to meet up in the pinewoods with the club for a interval session, 8x400m, the talk was of ROB ASHWORTHS WIN IN THE OLDHAM HALF MARATHON,Rob's second win in 6 months. rob will be running in the BLACKPOOL MARATHON so it will be interesting to see if he can get a 2nd marathon win ! after the intervals I ran back over the big sandhills. On reaching the road i speeded up to half marathon pace holding around 9.5-9.7mph for a mile, it seemed surprisingly easy ! I then eased back to 9.2 mph for the final stretch home. FELT BETTER AT THE END THAN WHEN I STARTED, THIS CHIRUNNING IS AWESOME ! THANKS DANNY DREYER !
16.50 miles max 13.9 mph = 2.17.38

RUNNING

Sun 16
Easy run with jon over the sandhill loop = 59.46
Sat 15
Run with Tracey over the sandhills, through the pinewoods and out to formby point and back. = 3.07
Fri 14th
AM, Easy run with tess the mad sheep dog, over the sandhills
= 40 mins
Thur 13th
Rob got us to work hard with 15 x 20secs sprints with 20 secs easy, we then had 2 mins rest before sprinting another 10 x 20secs with 20 secs easy, max speed 15.1 mph
= 44 mins
Wed 12th
steady run round parbold and ashurst inc 1800ft of climbing, 15 miles =1.54
Tue 11th
run with Niz over the sandhills easy 38 mins
Mon 10th
ran down over the sandhills to meet up with the club for Brians speed session
10x short hill, ran back home with tracey = 2.10

THE LIZARD RUNS 23.2 MILES WITH EX SCHOOLBOY 1500M CHAMP ROB X

LONG DISTANCE TRAINING RUN
I set off to robs house on a mild sunny winters afternoon. rob came 4th in a marathon in october so i thought he would give me a hard time. the pace soon warmed up when we hit a 4 mile stretch of sandhills,i followed in robs wake and wondered if i could hold on to the finish.at 5 miles we got back onto the tarmac and headed for woodvale traffic lights,we then headed to ainsdale and kept close to the boundary line of southport. robs pace still felt fast to me as we hit 13 miles going past the botanic gardens.onwards we traveled reaching the plough public house,we then started the homeward journey back along the coast road.at about 17miles i started to feel good,or was it that rob was starting to suffer ! this was robs longest run since that marathon and he was starting to pay the price for his fast early pace.i handed him a sweet hoping that it would boost his dropping blood sugar level. i left rob close to his home and added an extra couple of miles.this was my longest run since 2004 and i was pleased with the way it went.next stop the 4 villages 1/2 marathon a week on sunday.thanks for the run rob.
23.20 miles 8.1 mph average = 2.52.51

sun
had a very enjoyable run with brian and tracey round the hills of parbold, we went up the quarry rd then down over the fields to start the climb of parbold ,we then climbed up harrock hill and past the old windmill before running down through the muddy fields.after than we looped round and climbed hunters hill.both brian and tracey's hearts sank when they thought they had reached the summit only to find the road going up again round the next corner ! oh this can be a cruel hill to the unininitiated.
= 1.30

TRAINING FOR THE WEEK
mon club interval session =1.54
tue easy sandhills 1.14
wed hill run = 1.51
thur 10x 150m leg speed =1.10
fri rest
sat long steady run =2.52
sun easy hill run =1.30
total = 10.31