One Long Twitten: Steel City Half

[OutAlongTheRiver]

All too soon the next half marathon peeks over the horizon ... a month between runs is fine, I thought.

But it's now nearly the end of March and there's just over two weeks to go until Sheffield HM ... am I tapering or am I building up ... help! 

This is the challenge of repeat HMs each month. And I haven't found the best advice on this yet ...

So I've reverted to week 10 of the 14 week Asics plan prep ... which means back to tempo and sprint runs midweek, and longish 18-19km at weekends

I'll say more about the HM route - but as it says in the title it's effectively one long twitten - starting from City centre with steady climb of around 950 feet to half way and then back.

   

I resumed running after an involuntary week's break post-Moyleman (more due to work pressure than wish not to go out) - and since I was in Glasgow for work conference went for a lovely parkrun around Tollcross Park on the east side of the city.

A picture perfect park, with mature trees, rose gardens, gentle rises and falls, views over the city, a large international swim centre around the corner with parking, cafes etc ... should have been packed.

85 people there. Folks in east end of Glasgow - even in what seem leafy middle class streets - may not be into their exercise quite as much as you'd hope. The ones who were there were keen though - with two people doing their 100th, and running with balloons - which seems to be a thing there.   

Back in Lewes for the Sunday, we enjoyed a Twitten run and then tagged on a flat 13K up and down the Cuckoo trail. In late sunshine and no wind, it was a lovely way to take in a flattish run (there's a gentle 80m of climb on 5km out - enough just to be noticeable) - totally free of any cars or houses and lovely countryside all round.  Only downside is the drive to get there ....

Then this week resumed the tempo runs:  around Regent's Park 3 lots of 1.5km with 60s recovery aiming for faster pace than before (4:40 per km) and while tough it was doable.

I won't be testing out speed on parkrun this weekend since we're celebrating Beast of Bevendean's 100th parkrun - at Seaford Beach Parkrun. We shall run en masse in phalanx formation and cheer the BoB home at his club's new parkrun venue.

The Sunday should be in Sheffield - so will head up for same amount of climb as for the HM going up Porter Valley and back in 18km loop.  That would put another 150km total for the month, meaning in the three months at the start of this year I will have done well over 50% of the 880km total distance I achieved in 2018.  

On, on ...

[The Beast of Bevendean]

It will be a great pleasure. Were you thinking of the classical Macedonian phalanx, as used by Alexander the Great, or the later Roman adaptations of the formation?

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Sheffield HM update ... 3 April

Saturday was great fun - with a gathering of Lewes runners heading down to Seaford Beach Parkrun to accompany Tom Roper (AKA the Beast of Bev) on his 100th parkrun. The weather was perfect - muted sunshine and no wind, so the sea was as calm as a millpond.  Tom set off at a canter of under 6 mins per km - and kept this fine pace all the way there and back, to finish in just over 28 mins, which appears to be his swiftest parkrun for 2 years!

   

We then hightailed it 240 miles to Sheffield, arriving just in time to see Hallam FC (my Sheffield non-league team) trounce Skegness Town 3-0 in a must win game to keep up their push for promotion. Come On You Countrymen! Ahem

Sunday had been a plan to mirror part of the HM course, using off road Porter Brook path to match the same climb as we will find on the HM course (albeit that would have been offroad so tougher than the smooth tarmac of the HM course itself).

However, we ended up staying on the other side of the Porter valley, so we decided to go for a straight 8km out and 8km back to Stanage Edge. For some reason this seemed to impress local family members, since the other way to Stanage is a long drive around the roads into Derbyshire, so running there sounded much more impressive than it seemed to us! It was a lovely run around landscape where Sheffield merges into Derbyshire peak district and you end with sublime views over Hathersage and Mam Tor and beyond. The return being downhill was a comfortable trot but we pushed quite hard for good pace - and so 16km was a quality outing.

   

Still in Sheffield for Tuesday speed run, we headed out to Derwent dam - the site of the Dambusters training runs as they experimented with the very low level flight over water to launch the Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb.  A good tough 4 x (750m@4:30mins/km + 500m@6:00mins/km) with some added km at end.

So now again on taper ... this weekend will be c 13km (we'll actually do 15km) and then twittens on Sunday.

We've already sketched out plans for HM - with race strategy to see if we can get round in sub-2 ....

More anon

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Wednesday 10 April ... update

How quickly these things seem to come round when they are every 4 weeks! The rhythm seems to be a week to get back into running after the HM. Feeling like you can do it again. A long run weekend. And then suddenly it's tapering ... maybe I'll get used to it!

Since last week, successfully completed planned runs (more below) and now on the taper. Which means yesterday was a tiny 3.5km outing. I picked a spot I didn't know a mile from work in central London and ran there and back. Kind of like running tourism! Found a pub a friend had told me about, and some nice hidden squares.

That's the upside of London running. The downside I experienced on Thursday. My aim was to run 3 x 1.5km tempo sets @4.45 per km, with 60s recovery between each. So I decided to loop around the outer path around Russell Square. Nice and green and relatively quiet with a few other runners to add to atmosphere. I quickly found that my apparent speed and my exertion of effort for each 1.5km set were way out of kilter. My watch was showing 5:15 per km or worse, while my body said this was closer to 4:30. Nonetheless I persisted and knackered after 7.5km reached my office again.

Sure enough, uploading the GPS data from Garmin to Runkeeper, the map showed that the tracker had registered me as running much smaller circles inside the grass area, not wider circles around the outer path. Rather than each park loop being scored as the actual 560m I had run around the edge, it was wrongly recorded as closer to 450m! So in practice I'd been exerting too much effort and running way too hard. Not in itself a bad thing, but when you are going for consistent accurate pacing, it's frustrating. The cause seems to be the London buildings which don't allow for such accurate GPS. Same effect as in Lincolns Inn Fields some weeks ago. I thought RS less affected. Still, it did mean I had had a good workout!

Saturday saw a return to Seaford Beach Park run - with the (gentle) 10km run over the downs from Southease down to Bishopstone, and with some mist still lingering the views were again occluded, but hinted at just how beautiful this run will be when the skies are clear.

At Seaford we decided to run at our own pace - and I set out strongly. With a slight fade mid-run and pick up at end, I clocked only my second ever sub-22 park run. This time 21:44. Completing that after a 10km over the hills, even if that had been done gently, felt good! Potential to hit sub-21 seems doable at some point ...

The Sunday was welcome return to Twittens with familiar faces, and excellent flat white.

Just 4 days now until HM date on Sunday. A short tempo run tomorrow, and then a gentle parkrun in Sheffield (the lovely Graves park which goes through a small animal petting zoo ...). And then it's 21k time from centre of Sheffield to my old school cross-country end point and back.

Will blog pre-run post setting out goal times - so can objectively see how it goes in practice!

[Antonio247]

Fantastic, OATR!

Best of luck in Sheffield on Sunday!

Saludos desde Almería.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

OK - so the timing plan to get round in 2 hours if we can is below.

Tricky bit is how to calculate the impact of the long 4% hills ...

Best online advice I can see is here: which suggests adding c 40s per km for 3.5% incline

So if we are aiming for 5:30 pace overall (which would be 1hr56m), then that means say 6:15 on the uphill. That seems not unreasonable given the stats for climb at start of Moyleman which average just under 4% - but across a downland/rocky surface which adds time too

So going for 5:30 on opening flat; 6:15 on climb; 5:15 on downhill; 5:30 on closing flat section

- opening 3km: flat route from centre out to Hunters Bar: by 15m30s
- next 2km:  up hill to bottom of Knowle Lane (90m climb):  by 26m30s
- next 3.5km: long up hill stretch up Ringinglow Road (135m climb): by 48m30s
- next 2km: undulating route to end of Sheephill road: by 59mins
-  next 3km:  to turn in Dore Village: by 1hr 14mins
- next 4km: to bottom of Knowle Lane: by 1hr 34 mins
- final 4km: to finish in Pinstone Street: by 1 hr 59 mins

So I will definitely need to write these down and carry a card (anyone got a laminator?)

We shall see how this goes ...

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Belated run report follows ... due to the annoying fact that there have been holidays this week, I haven't had the normal morning commute time to write up the blog. Ironic.

Sheffield turned out to be amazing in many ways - not least the crowds and support throughout the 13 mile route, from the city centre to the furthest reach out on the edge of Derbyshire, there were folks young and old cheering us on, offering jellybabies and high fives, and applauding the efforts of the more than 6,000 who ran the course.

Saturday had dawned surprisingly bright and clear - we'd been expecting lowering clouds over the weekend, and the temp though 3-4 degrees, felt fresh rather than chilly. We had decided to do our final 5k prep at the parkrun at Graves Park, a large park on the south side of Sheffield with views over to the top end of the half marathon course for inspiration. Turned out that the run was celebrating its 7th anniversary, so running the normal route in reverse and with some fancy dress. Since we hadn't done their normal route, it made little difference and a gentle 27 mins later we completed and headed back for coffee.

We were staying with my super hospitable sister, so she provided a lovely kedgeree & sticky toffee pudding Saturday evening and we opted for a small amount of craft beer before hand and a glass of wine. Relaxation being the aim to settle nerves before the next day's challenge.

We'd worked out the drive to the centre, since the main road in would be closed off due to the run. It turned out we'd opted for the quietest area possible just outside the inner ring road - but  as we walked to the centre we gradually joined a Pied Piper throng heading for the start.

With our target time of 2 hours we were in the second of four starting sections, red numbers, with the faster blues ahead, and yellows and greens behind. Some enthusiastic warm-up tannoy chanting was in progress which absolutely no-one was joining in with, and we made out way to somewhere behind a prominent 1:55 pacer flag.  I figured that if we had that somewhere in sight we would be on target, at least for the opening section.

All too soon the minutes ticked away and 9:30am start kicked off and we shuffled forward to the chip timing mats and the start. The stagger had been well planned since we crossed at a good speed and we were away, running central Sheffield streets that I had driven up and down and caught buses along homewards, but never run along and we took over the main route west along Ecclesall Road South, now a haven of pubs, cafes and restaurants.

We hit Hunters Bar (and very good craft beer place) at just about goal pace, and the climb up to Knowle Lane began. The 1:55 pacer group was still in sight, indeed as the climb continued, we were getting closer. It made me wonder what their pacing strategy was - I assumed not million miles away from ours - to take the climb c45s slower than the target pace and catch up with c30s faster on the downs.

Whatever it was, we were still comfortable and gaining and then passing them - the steady climb on broad well maintained tarmac roads was proving easier than I had thought, and we were just ahead as we turned up (past the back of my old primary school and local library) into Knowle Lane. This section was to prove the toughest section, as we tried to continue our constant effort - with no room to relax on any downhill sections.

Lots of folks were lining this section - almost like a Tour de France crowd with no barriers to hold them in as we were offer water, jelly babies, high-fives - sadly no champagne/brandy cocktails. Although when we passed the Hammer and Pincers (my very first pub experience situated as it is 2 mins from my secondary school) it was tempting to call for a pint.

Then the section which they had specially timed - for the King/Queen of the Mountain - as straight 1500m uphill section to reach the Round House at the top of Ringinglow Road and the edge of the Peak District National Park, which the route skirts the edge of.  Thankfully no-one around us was remotely tempted to speed up, else it might have been a temptation for me ...  but even so we were making good time, and the turn at the Round House at 8km which we had as a 48:30 target we reached in 47 .... this was the highest point of the route

Now I knew that we had done all the climb, the question was would a sustained downhill at 5:15 pace be manageable for c 10km  ... And the answer turned out to be it would, and more so!

We had chatted about downhills the day before, as I was convinced Paula was slightly holding herself back and braking with her running action, to avoid going "too fast". But with the idea of constant effort in mind, and the fact the surface held virtually no trip risks, we pushed on and started clocking sub-5min kms.

Rounding at Dore village - a posh suburb now - we were offered vegan jelly babies, but just as enthusiastic cheers and support. A short uphill and then more long slow descents through Limb Lane and an intersection with the Round Sheffield Run which we had completed 2 years before.

Now we had almost completed the loop back to Knowle Lane - and we hit this at just short of 1:30, some 4 mins ahead of schedule. The road down towards Hunters Bar felt like a joyous hurtle now ... and we found ourselves passing through the runners as we reached the flat final 3km section.  

Still the crowds cheered, and we pushed on for the finish. It was a tough last 2km, the sticky toffee pudding from the night before keeping us going, but we reached Pinstone Street finish with the gun time ticking to 1:55. And a chip time of 1:51:23. 

As we headed for the goodie bag and medals, we were amazed to have come in so far under target. We'd effectively used the downhill section and completed the second 10km in 48 mins ... the training and strategy had worked again.

And we got our reward of roast chicken and more of that sticky toffee pudding

[Antonio247]

Congratulations,OATR and P.!!! Wonderful report and fantastic time done in a tough half marathon. You both are very fit.


Saludos desde Almería.

[marathondan]

Excellent result, well done and a great report. The King/Queen of the Mountains is a nice idea - they had special timing mats in place?

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Excellent result, well done and a great report. The King/Queen of the Mountains is a nice idea - they had special timing mats in place?

Thanks! And yes indeed - mats at c 6.5km and again at c 8km at the start and finish of a straight run with about 80m of gain over the 1.5km stretch. It's the uphill section of what used to be my school cross country (the path alongside road). I used to hate every minute of it ...

[marathondan]

It's the uphill section of what used to be my school cross country (the path alongside road). I used to hate every minute of it ...

Yep, strange how that happens. Now here you are, doing about 6 school cross country runs, for fun. We really knew absolutely bugger all when we were teenagers.