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robinph runs around roads
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
Posted elsewhere, that you guys would never go to, but is still relevant for here:This evening I did a 5km race and there was another guy from one of the other local running clubs who is often finishing about the same times as me in various races, he's beaten me by one place in the last couple, so I figured I'd best make sure I won today. He was right on my shoulder until the last mile where I finally managed to pull away.
Had never really spoken with him before other than nods of recognition before races, but then chatting afterwards and he started the conversation by quizzing me about the pump and if it was better with it. Had me a bit confused initially as I wasn't sure why he would start talking about insulin pumps, post race chats are usually just about the times. I don't hide the pump, but the conversations would usually start with "What the **** is that thing?".
Seems that he already knew I was type 1 and on a pump as he's diabetic himself and one of the other guys in my club had pointed me out to him as being another diabetic runner. So since then he's been on a mission to race me, but without me knowing I was his target. We were then discussing how to go about persuading the GP to refer him to the hospital to try to get a pump as he's not getting any joy out of them so far after over a year of trying.
I knew I wasn't special in being a diabetic and running, I knew there had to be more fast* runners out there who just happened to have a dodgy pancreas. Just difficult to find much information from how they deal with it. Glad that he made himself known ... now I have a target to make sure I beat in the next race.
* I'm not really fast.0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
I knew there had to be more than just me and Steve Redgrave in the elite end of things.
Very happy with the times I'm getting "easily" now. Although the jumps in times have slowed down a bit I still intend to try my best to avoid too much training wherever possible.0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
Is that another London 10k, did one of those a couple of weeks ago on the bank holiday.
I'm not doing the race series this year, but would like to head back over and do them again. As I have got my London 2012 entry form through today I'm now going to have to pull my finger out and pick an autumn marathon...which I still think will be Amsterdam. Maybe the race series and DCM in 2012, but we'll see what else comes up before then.0 -
Is that another London 10k, did one of those a couple of weeks ago on the bank holiday.
I'm not doing the race series this year, but would like to head back over and do them again. As I have got my London 2012 entry form through today I'm now going to have to pull my finger out and pick an autumn marathon...which I still think will be Amsterdam. Maybe the race series and DCM in 2012, but we'll see what else comes up before then.
Yep there's another 25,000 runner race 10k in London that day, thinking about it only i'm afraid of the overcrowding.
Nothing stopping you doing DCM this year, i still can't believe you broke 3 last year!0 -
Join Date:Posts: 23653
This evening was a monthly 5km race I've been doing. Usually there is 80'ish people running the course which is fairly narrow along a cycle path, but enough room for a wide range of speeds to quickly spread out.
Tonight there was an semi-inter county club race where the first 20 of each club count, so there was over 200 people racing instead. Was chatting with someone before hand and he kept on saying it was far too many people for the course and would be dangerous. Thought nothing of it other than it would probably mean the finish chute people would be working overtime trying to keep up with the higher rate of finishers than normal.
Picked my start spot, a bit back from normal but having just spent the last week drinking cider all day every day at Glastonbury I wasn't going to be chasing a time and would just plod along at a handy pace. GunWhistle went for start and off we went.
Normally it thins out at the front within the first tens of meters, but was still pretty packed hundred meters further along. Someone caught my ankle, I went airborne, had a little think about what the best way to land might be and if I'd be able to get back up and start running without getting kicked in the head. Then I landed. Couple of people hurdled me and I managed to roll off the the side in a gap and sat in the verge at the fence for the next 180 odd people to go past. There wasn't enough room to get up again until then.
By the time that had happened a smidgen of common sense had returned and I looked back and saw the start line, looked the other way, looked at my knee and decided to walk back.
Probably my first DNF, but bet there have not been many 150m race reports done in ART before?
Got some nasty big grazes and the insulin pump does not look quite as new as it did before as it has a couple of dents to it's bodywork. I felt awful in the walk back to the start, but kind of happy that I was moving OK. I've had the feeling of having had a rubbish race before, but that is mostly just in your own head. This was different in that other people clearly saw that I'd dropped out and I felt crap walking back that direction with them watching. They wouldn't have seen the fall and it takes a minute or two before the grazes show up bleeding properly.
I'll be a bit stiff in the morning, but it's another excuse for a day or so off running. 0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
I think I may have actually made a profit out of this series of four 5km races. Shiny trophy, bottle of wine in the last race and £25 of vouchers.
Does that mean I'm now a professional? Hope the tax man doesn't come after a share of my winnings.0 -
Join Date:Posts: 23653
Something a bit different today...a race where you have to change your shoes part way round.
I had to get a loan of a bike as the one I'm normally riding is not technically mine and the person who actually bought it happened to be in the country for this one week of the year and so claimed it back for use in this race. Managed to get a loan though this week, but frame was a bit small for me, and not the same number of gears and a few other bits I'm not quite used to.
Was only a small duathlon and we didn't seem to be the only people a bit confused by the setup before the race, like the website saying two different distances for the bike leg, not really a proper sign up page online and no decent description of what the course would actually be. When the organiser was asked about the route by various people he seemed surprised that his explanation of "it's all left turns" wasn't an overly satisfactory response.
Leg 1 - Think there was about 35'ish of us, lined up for the start, me not being quite sure how to size up the look of these lycra clad multi-athlon-etes lined up a bit further back than I would normally. About 200m in though I decided the group I was stuck behind was a bit too slow for me so ran off the trail through some mud and went to catch the lead group up. Some bad signposting at a hairpin turn, combined with chalk lines on the path pointing one way and arrows pointing the other way through a closed gate meant that the lead group went from being 3 people to being 10 people as runners re-appeared from different directions. Few shouts of naughty words to scare some people out for a pleasant walk in the forest and we got on our way again. Let a couple of the lycra clad chaps get away from me, but pulled away from everyone else myself at a decent rate. Then the transition appeared round the corner after 4.5 miles rather than the 6.1 we were expecting and time for a change of shoes.
Leg 2 - Then had two laps of a hilly course on the bike and people were just streaming past me at a high rate of knots. Couldn't get down properly on the smaller frame, and combined with not being much of an expert on the bike was just going backwards. I did manage to overtake a couple of people, one of them had stopped to pop behind a bush and the other one was near the end of the bike leg and we swapped places a couple of times as he must have been close to the limit. A couple of hairy downhills on the route which at least was fun and a bit of a breather, was a bit tricky getting a gel opened on the bike too.
Leg 3 - Then in for the final 2km run around a lake. I passed the last two guys that had passed me on the bike and disappeared out of sight within the first couple of hundred meters of the run, they were in bits and struggling to put one foot infront of the other. Unfortunately the final run wasn't any longer or I may have caught some more people.
Was a bit different thing to do for today, but annoying having people overtake you on the bike and absolutely nothing I could do about it. May have a look for another one now and see if I can do better on the bike leg with a bike that fits me better.0 -
Something a bit different today...a race where you have to change your shoes part way round.
Was only a small duathlon and we didn't seem to be the only people a bit confused by the setup before the race, like the website saying two different distances for the bike leg, not really a proper sign up page online and no decent description of what the course would actually be. When the organiser was asked about the route by various people he seemed surprised that his explanation of "it's all left turns" wasn't an overly satisfactory response.
Was a bit different thing to do for today, but annoying having people overtake you on the bike and absolutely nothing I could do about it. May have a look for another one now and see if I can do better on the bike leg with a bike that fits me better.
Well done. Don't worry about the confusion - I'm still confused about some races - welcome to the multisport world - where distance is not held too importantly. (Not necessarily a good thing!)
And good to see you're going to give another one a lash. We'll have you lycra-clad yet;).0 -
Join Date:Posts: 23653
And good to see you're going to give another one a lash. We'll have you lycra-clad yet;).
:eek:
The times for the splits were put online today, and apart from the first run leg you have to take them with a large block of salt. They have the fastest time for the 2nd run as being done by the second last finisher, and a whole 2 minutes quicker than anyone else managed. I don't think she took a shortcut either as there was a fishing lake in the way and she didn't look like she'd been swimming when she finished.
I have already been pointed in the direction of another short duathlon in November by some other guys from the running club, and as it's around a motor racing circuit shouldn't be any risk of getting lost. Is long enough after Amsterdam marathon that it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
No lycra will be worn though.0 -
Join Date:Posts: 23653
Another week, another race, another prize.
Today it was a 5x5km relay race. Was a bit rubbish weather today with some wind and rain, and for some reason our team was not as good as last year with the faster guys not making an appearance. So only one team and I was the fastest of our bunch, that did mean that I got the choice of the first leg so had some people to actually chase after which often doesn't happen in road relays after the first leg. Couple of speedy guys went and disappeared off infront quite soon after the start and there was then a group of about 5 of us who I recognised as doing similar enough times to me in other races. Decided there was a few too many of us there though so as I was at the back of the group just decided to stick in a burst of speed at around 2 km and managed to get away from them with a tail wind and I started to catch the team in 3rd a bit.
The other legs of our team then managed to hold position in 4th place, one guy lost a place to one clubs vet team but gained a place back from their B team. Next leg also did pretty well considering that he hadn't even arrived by the time that leg 2 started, for some reason he had decided to cycle to the race, took me half an hour down the motorway, not sure how far be biked, he kept position though. We did then loose a couple of places as our 4th leg was actually a vet 65 we had to call on to make up the numbers, but with a 19minute time you can't complain about that.
So we then held onto 6th place overall at the finish.
It then turned out that we actually came 2nd in the county* championships though as other teams were vets or didn't have all qualifying runners.
*The county doesn't actually exist, but is sometimes called CUBA. Counties that Used to Be Avon.0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
Had a couple of races last weekend.
First was a 6 stage relay where I was on our clubs "B Team" this year, unfortunately we just missed out on qualifying for the nationals by 1 position I think it was. Luckily we didn't qualify for the nationals though because none of us are available and we are actually going to struggle to put out an "A Team" due to the date that the nationals are on and half of us are all doing marathons or whatever.
Anyway, the next day I went and ran a half marathon around the Queens back garden in Windsor. Was a bit strange lining up at the start and there was no need to worry about people getting into the wrong zone, presumably because nobody was prepared to do wrong within view of her queeniness so was very civilised. Nobody seemed to want to go in the sub 1:30 section, so whilst there were masses of people lined up behind that sign for sub1:45 there was only about 20 of us milling around in an empty zone just infront and looking at each other as if there was something wrong as we were not expecting to be that close to the front. They eventually told us that we were actually going to have to move up to the start line, so in a race of well over 4000 people I was one row back at the start.
Soon discovered why there were no faster runners, the course was a quite hilly and very exposed to the wind so anyone reasonably fast knew better than to enter it and the rest of the people taking part were charity runners. Was great to run the finish mile down a dead straight road, with the wind behind us and having the road to myself and crowds cheering on either side as I ran towards the castle having nobody really within range infront or behind me. Surprisingly came 25th/ 4300 to make for one of my best finishing positions in a mass participation race.
Today I went one better though and won a national championships silver medal.
OK, so it was a team event, and it was also a masters event so only for "old blokes", and there were a lot of very fast and much older blokes ahead of me, and the team that came first was made up of all V40's rather than the V35's that we were.
But still, national championships, silver medal, happy robinph:
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
Just discovered that I won another bit of "silverware" last week also from coming third in another series of 5km races. I had to make a swift departure after the last race so missed the prizes being handed out. 0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 23653
Today was the emergency stand in marathon to replace my cancelled attempt at Amsterdam...the Rutland Water Marathon. Rutland is such a small county, and most of it is a reservoir, that they have to stick a couple of laps into the middle in order to get the 26 miles in. Despite it being around a reservoir though it is not a flat course. So I wasn't going out to get a new record.
Went out to load up on carbs the night before in some Italian, was lovely food and loads of carbs. But somewhere along the line something went badly wrong with my calculations for how much carbs were in the food, or they were just the wrong "type". This resulted in me having an awful nights sleep due to getting up a couple of times because of having dangerously high blood glucose levels, and this then wasn't corrected as I'd expected at the first time I got up about 1am, so I was up again to do the same thing about 3am (blood test, take more insulin via the pump, have a piss, drink loads of water 'cos I'm dehydrated). Getting dehydrated and pissing a lot is a symptom of having high blood glucose, not ideal the night before a marathon.
Anyway, things seemed to be in order medically by the time I was up and breakfasted and headed off to the start. Was a lovely clear day, very little wind, just very, very cold so waited until the last moment before dropping my kit bag. Wasn't sure of the speed of those lined up around me at the start, but that was soon sorted out within the first mile along about the only totally flat part of the course, 1st and 2nd disappeared into the distance and I then found myself in the group of 3rd-5th. We swapped places between us and were spread out over about 20m until about half way. Due to being a bit concerned about dehydration I decided to walk through every drinks station, was in cups and running on uneven ground so no way you'd get a drink otherwise. So was mostly the likes of that stop start that mixed the 3 of us up a bit every mile or so. But I made up more time than I lost from the short walks so may use that strategy again.
The course was lots and lots of small short hills, cattle grids and a few gates we had to negotiate. Once we got to doing the second lap around one section there was a lot of overtaking people on their first lap of that section. Was all very nice and people cheering you on, I did then loose track of the other guys though as was just too busy to spot them ahead of me, I also lost a couple of places without realising it along that lap.
Finished that busy section about 18 miles and I think until about that point I'd bee taking a gel every 40 minutes. But then my mathamatical abilities faded a touch and I lost track of where I was in my plan a bit, also I didn't want to take a gel too far before the next water station so ended up missing one. One of the guys I'd been running with for the first half then slowly came into view, he was pretty shattered by the constant hills, I was slowing as well but not as much. He made some comment about having been wondering where I'd got to and left me go ahead.
It then got pretty lonely and I couldn't see the next guy ahead, couldn't see the next guy behind and the Garmin virtual partner which I'd set for 3hr pace (just for curiosity ass to seeing how it felt) went from telling me I was a 1:40 ahead, to telling me I was 4 minutes behind pace. Then we had a bitch of a hill to get up and I lot a couple of places to people I'd not seen before on the race.
I was still feeling good though, knew that I'd not be able to do the last 5 miles in the 35 minutes I had until 3hrs. But was perfectly fine with that, it would still get me in with a time better than hoped for on such a course. Then the 24mile marker appeared. Up until that point the markers every 3 miles had been spot on with where my Garmin was expecting them. The 24'th mile suddenly appeared when I was more expecting to see the 25 mile marker. I said @£;&"& and about 30 seconds later I think I heard the same from the guy behind.
I think they had just put it in the wrong place to scare us all as the finish appeared just when expected. Got 3:05:34 so no PB or even sub3, finished in 8th place, a cheap medal, a cheap cotton t-shirt... and I'm bloody delighted.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/126932451
I've proved a point to myself, that last year in Dublin wasn't a fluke. I've proved that I'm confident enough with the use of my insulin pump now to do these daft marathon events. Blood levels were perfect at the finish and I only needed to take three gels on the way round compared with the 9 sickly things I had to down in DCM last year for the same result.
I've probably also proven every one in the pub after DCM '10 right when to my statement "I'll never do another marathon", they knew otherwise.
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Why is David Beckham writing blog updates about you?!Something I hadn't realised, but just spotted on the local running blog entry about me. I've now got a Good for Age time for London that should work until 2014 apparently:
http://runninginbristol.blogspot.com/2011/11/phillips-powers-to-8th-place-in-rutland.html
I'm am going to have to keep going with this marathon running business for longer yet by the looks of it.
All the cool guys are going to London in 2013. Sure we'll have the craic in the GFA pen.
Well done on the marathon. Can't imagine what it must be like trying to negotiate cattle grids and gates while running a 3:05 marathon. A bit of a departure from Amsterdam, I'd expect!0
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