The Beauty Of Marathon Training

Saturday is parkrun and after being 4^th last week at Shipley, The Lad and I are 84^th at much more popular Markeaton Park this week with a remarkably similar time, which is very sobering.

Derby start a late tilt at the Play-Offs by demolishing Rotherham 6-1. After which I pick up L and Daughter from the hospital.

Sunday brings my final warm up race before Manchester next week. Of course, the beauty of training for a spring marathon is that you get to run some fantastically dull events as there is really little else at this time of year. Hot on the heels of the Half Marathon at Prestwold Hall which was organised by RunThrough Events comes the Bedford Autodrome 5k\10k\Half Marathon\ 16 mile\20 mile\Marathon (delete as applicable) also organised by RunThrough. This is basically Prestwold again but with the least dull bits removed.

Whereas Prestwold was only mostly on a car racing circuit Bedford is entirely on one although this is one designed by none other than Jonathan Palmer. Which would be great but seriously Jonathon... I’m not impressed.

The 5k is one lap of the circuit, the 10k is two laps, the Half Marathon is four laps... you get the gist. Pity the poor souls in the marathon, eight laps! That’s not me this week, I have opted for the 16 Mile option which is five laps plus a mini lap to make sure the distance is right.

Not that I’m sure it is right as I run 6:07 for the first mile which is insanely unlikely. Then again it is perhaps just another case of random mile marking and I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt about the overall distance.

The race itself is fine, once you’ve switched yourself off and got down to grounding out the laps. The tarmac is lovely and it’s all quite flat being on a motor racing track although there was a slight slope on one section of it. It was left to the strong wind to make it ‘interesting’, being behind you, then being a crosswind, then being in your face etc etc. Repeat for each lap.

They started the races in reverse order of length, so the marathon first, ending up with all the races on the track at the same time. So you never really knew who you were racing against but that was fine. No one cared who they were racing against, we were all here training for something else.

L ran the 10k and I did wonder if we’d get to run over the line together but it didn’t happen like that.

I think my time of 02:21:08 wasn’t great but having only Naseby to compare it, where I was three minutes quicker, it’s hard to tell and of course the Notts 20 did not give us any mile markers at all. I was also slow through 13 miles today but it’s all about getting some distance in a week out from the big one.

In the evening we do a mini pub tour, taking in the Hockley Rebel and then the Six Barrel Drafthouse, which is the first time we’ve drank there. Then we got to Taste Thai, which was once Thailand Number 1, for a meal.

(Sunday 31st March)

Doubling Up

New Year’s Day is parkrun double day, which we haven’t done before. There are various possible permutations although some would require a very swift running of the first parkrun and then some possibly even swifter driving between the two places.

In the end we settle for what appears to be the most sane option. Markeaton at 9am and then Long Eaton at 10:30am. I do Markeaton with the Lad in a nippy 22:14 and Daughter runs with MD. I can’t remember her time but the two of them seem to get quicker each week.

Neither dog is up to a second run. The Lad is a bit too young and MD a bit too old. So us humans have to run alone and not surprisingly I’m quite a bit slower on the second one but that’s our first double done.

Now for a nap at the match.

(Tuesday 1^st January)

A Night With Rodger

We parkrun at Markeaton this morning as I promised a friend of mine that we’d be there to witness his first even parkrun. He doesn’t show up.

We have a leisurely post-run coffee and bacon roll as L as no pilates today due to it allegedly still being Christmas but it’s not too leisurely as we need to fit in a late lie-in before I head off to the match this afternoon. Which turns out to be a disappointing 0-0 draw.

Then it’s a question of deciding what to do tonight and finding somewhere that doesn’t need a ticket to get in to. In the end we head off to the Horse and Jockey at Stapleford where get to rub shoulders with various Rock stars - Freddie Mercury, Meat Loaf, Axl Rose (at least we think it was him), Madonna (possibly) etc.

The dark beer range is rather impressive with Aurora Big Dark nicely strong at 5.3% and to water that down Burton Bridge XL Mild. Then I spot something nestling discretely at the end of the bar, it’s Marston's Owd Rodger. I add it to my trail although I'm not sure if it technically is a 'dark' ale but as it’s around 25 years since I've seen this in a bar on hand pump I'm including it. It takes me back to my student days when we always used to have two pints of the 7.4% Owd Rodger in the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem before heading off to a gig at Rock City.

At around 11pm we get a bus home, yes Trent Barton are running a few, and get back in time to spend New Year with the boys along with Jools’ Hootenanny of course.

(Saturday 31^st December)

Nothing Leaks And Everything Drains Away

This morning we head over to Markeaton Park to do the parkrun. L recruits two of her friends to run as well but MD and I lead them all home.

Despite our usual dodgy start and one comfort break, MD smashes his PB by almost thirty seconds as we come home in 22:47. A bacon butty well earned I think. The congratulatory email tells me I have achieved an age-graded score of 64.23%... here we go again.

I drop L off at Pilates and head back home to meet the drains man. He unblocks us and I tighten the untightened pipework under the sink to stop the bathroom cupboard filling with water. Then... drum roll... I have a shower and... nothing leaks and everything drains away. Yay.

Then I settle down to listen to Derby’s lunchtime kick off at Wolves. It’s a funny old game. Derby should have scored six in the first half but probably could have conceded six in the second half. Derby win 3-2. Yep, McClaren is back.

(Saturday 5^th November)