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GLOUCESTER SPORTS BLOGMay Hill Massacre 20122012/02/21 at 16:37PM by SteveGloucester Sports was retailing at the re-arranged May Hill Massacre on Sunday, and as this is one of my favourite races I thought I would enter on the day. It's an 8.5 mile multi-terrain race with two big climbs, the first of which takes you up over the top of May Hill. As we were selling at the event, I don't get to have a great warm-up usually, but I toed the start line with about 200 others. We start off with about 800m of road before we start the climb up to the top of May Hill and the guy who won the Dursley Dozen the week set off like a scared rabbit! I hung back slightly, knowing what was to come but as soon as we started going up on the gravel trails I went past him and into the lead. I carried on working hard up the hill to the 1 mile mark, got a slight breather as the route levelled out before going hard up the road section. Into the wooded area and a left turn up the muddy section towards the top, had a sneaky glnace to see I was now 40-50m clear. I worked really hard up the hill, pumping the arms like fury to establish a strong lead, finally went through the gap in the trees onto the common at the top, a sharp right towards the summit. The legs felt heavy but I knew I could start striding out, touched the trigg point where there was a supportive crowd to cheer us on. The long downhill started and I was now 150-200m clear and feeling good. Back into the forest and making sure I follow the arrows as there are lots of other paths I could take! A hairpin turn at just before 4 miles onto some slightly more solid terrain and a long downhill to the road. I kept looking behind me to see if I could see anyone but it was now just me and the course! Onto the road section which was a new part of the course, up the hill and then back onto a muddy path. Lots of undulating terrain and then onto a soggy, boggy section which had a slight uphill incline. I found this the hardest part of the course as I knew I was getting tired, then over the stile, across the field and back onto the road. I hadn't seen anyone for a couple of miles so it was nice to see a few familiar faces cheering me on before I started the second climb. This climb is muddier but shorter, desperately trying to keep moving in the mud. Slowly made my way towards the top of the final climb and worked furiously up the last bit, knowing it was pretty much all downhill to the finish. Back onto the road for a section, trying to let my legs go with the road, a quick right then left and back onto the trails through the last section of woods. It felt nice to really stride out and I was ticking along quite nicely until I got to the road section and the final 800m. I knew I was clear so I eased off slightly but managed to cross the line in 52.33, which broke my course record by about 2 minutes although the course has changed slightly from previous years. Really happy with how I ran, pleased that I was able to stamp my authority on the race quite early on. Eventually found out that the guys in 2nd and 3rd had taken a wrong turning at about 5 miles so didn't claim their rightful places on the podium. The prizes were generous but certainly unusual, an ornamental axe and a voucher for a pair of Dubarry boots worth £300! A great race, would recommend it to everyone. Shoe of choice was the Mizuno Wave Harrier 3 Cheers, Steve  Early morning runs2012/02/15 at 09:40AM by SteveWas out running at 6.45am this morning, it was nice to be running in almost daylight after the long winter months of starting and finishing in the dark! Venturing out in Adidas Supernova shorts now as it's not so cold, hopefully the running tights can be put away for another year! Felt surprisingly good for the second run on the trot, despite feeling a little run down yesterday, 45 minutes later and I'd clocked up a nice 7.5 miler. Time flies when you are having fun... The Grand Finale2012/02/14 at 15:15PM by SteveCompeted in the final fixture of the Birmingham Cross-Country League Division 2 on Saturday at an icy cold Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton. I've not run this course before so was looking forward to competing somewhere new. Walked the course beforehand so I knew how to plan my race, there were quite a few loops and it looked a fairly technical course, rather than just running round the edge of a few fields. It was quite icy underfoot so I went for 12mm pins in my faithful Adidas XCS 2 spikes, quite glad I did as I saw a few guys in trainers slipping around on the later laps as the course cut up. After a good warm-up, we set off with a small parade lap before 3 big laps, I settled in at the back of a lead pack of about 12-15 runners. Moving out onto the main lap, I slowly made my way forwards and pushed on up the short sharp slope into the top 10. I quite enjoyed the challenge of picking my way around the best racing line. Onto lap 2 and I was up to 9th place but feeling quite good, picked off another couple of chaps including a friend of mine who runs for our local rivals! Up to 6th place for lap 3 but I was having a good battle with one chap who kept overtaking me and then slowing at the turns. Back to 7th as he overtook me with 600m to go, but I got within sight of the finishing field and then took off! Almost caught 5th place but had to be satisfied with 6th. Got to be happy with that after being ill recently and still limited to training only 3 to 4 times per week. The icing on the cake was finding out I'd finished 3rd overall for the season in the individual standings! Team performance was disappointing as we were missing a lot of runners, but we ended up 5th team for the season so not too bad. Had a warm-down lap in my Adidas Supernova Sequence 4's and then head for home. Quite glad the cross-country season is over for me, I can now start putting in a bit more speedwork ready for the road season and then track and field! Happy running - Steve Sickly Stir Fry and Sessions2012/02/10 at 11:25AM by PatWe've all been there, driving to a session with that feeling of "this is not going to go well tonight" buzzing round your head. You know that you are either going to be able to smash through it, or your session will resemble that of my attempt at x-country this year - rubbish.
Unfortunately I was in this exact position last night, driving to training with that slightly queezy feeling that only your friends first attempt at a stir fry can give you. Whether the chicken was at fault or (more likely) he was, I will never know, but after doing my best to cover up the fact that I was struggling to keep up on the warm up I lined up at the start of the famous 2 mile loop of Stroud. We set off and despite being properly dressed for the cold in a Canterbury Baselayer and a Nike Miler T-Shirt, I was shivering uncontrollably, and struggling for breath after a whole 50 metres. I'm a big believer that a lot of running is psychological, so I did my best to block any bad feelings, and im happy to say it worked! Until I got to a hill...
Anyway, I got round 1 of the 2 laps and called it a day as I was over a minute slower than I normally would be, so got back into my lovely warm car and got home pronto. I was aching all over, so to help combat this I put my Canterbury Mercury Compression on ( http://www.gloucestersports.com/shop-description.php?Sh=B&La=E&ID=1312245821 ). Skins currently seems to be the market leader in compression wear, but personally I really rate the Canterbury kit. The fit is spot on and whilst this shouldn't matter, I think they look great too!
Stay safe,
Pat Wrapping up warm!2012/02/08 at 10:06AM by SteveAfter a mild winter so far, the colder weather has finally arrived! We took a shop along to the Gloucestershire XC League at Tewkesbury on Saturday, and I had to admire the 250 committed (slightly insane!) runners who took part. Needless to say, sales of Canterbury baselayers were high! Selling at only £20 in-store and at events
This is the time of year where we need to be putting the miles in to provide a strong endurance platform for the summer, so it's simply a case of wear and extra layer or two and get out there! Happy running |
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