9/20/10

Below is the race report from the Beach to Beacon 10km that I raced a couple of weeks ago. I meant to post it when I got back from the race but we still haven't got internet in our house so when I go somewhere for internet it tends to be just to do some work.

Last weekend Julie and I went to Las Vegas for her birthday surprise weekend. We had a really great time and I did some good running while I was there so that was a bonus. We ate really well the whole time we were there and went to see Lady Gaga in concert.

This weeks training has gone well and i'm looking forward to get a good final 2 weeks of hard training before I return to the UK. I can feel the fitness coming back and my strength also as I have been on a good routine in the gym. We had a good time on Wednesday down in Sedona doing a 10*800m workout with most of them in 2.12 and finishing with a 2.02 (65, 57). That let me know that my speed hasn't disappeared. Next week will be a tough one with a long hill circuit on Monday (which I am always really tired after) and then coming back on Wednesday for a 5 mile tempo run.

Beach to Beacon Report:

This weekend I headed out to Portland, Maine for the Beach to Beacon 10km. The week leading up to it wasn’t great with me feeling tired pretty much everyday for some reason. I guess the body just goes through some phases sometimes so I ended up taking a day off when I was travelling out to the East coast. I actually had no choice in this decision in the end as I had to leave Phoenix on a 6 am flight to Atlanta. I was supposed to be landing into Boston at 4 pm but there were weather delays and we ended up circling the area for an hour. The pilot then came onto the radio to let us know that we would have to make a stop somewhere to refuel. We landed at a small airport and got up in the air again within an hour and I finally landed in Boston at 7 pm. After a little wondering about the airport with the elite coordinator for the race, Larry Barthlow, he ended up sticking me in a stretch limo for the 1 hour 40 minute drive to Cape Elizabeth. I was met at the drop off by my host family, the Milliards and we headed straight back to the house where I passed out pretty quickly as I had been up since 4 am.

The next morning I took a run along the course (our house was at 4.7 miles) and found out that the race wasn’t going to be too easy. The last 2km is up and down the whole way with a steep stinger of a hill with about 600m to go. The finish is at Fort Williams (a WW2 fort) where there is a lighthouse and you can see all around the surrounding areas. I got back and had a quick shower and breakfast before we headed out to the press conference. I met a few runners that I knew and caught up with Lee Troop who had been staying in Flagstaff just a month before. We were all introduced to the press and I quickly realised that there were some very stellar athletes in the field and it would make for a great race. There was Gebre Gebremerrian and Martin Lel for starters and then a plethora of other Africans that I hadn’t heard of but had some great credentials. I managed to get a massage after our photos were taken which help a lot with my tight back and glutes from the previous day’s travelling. I then spent most of the day getting some work done on my computer and going for a short walks on the small beach that was across the road from the house I was staying in. I had a great dinner with all the Milliards at night and headed to bed early as I would have to be getting up early again for the race.

I woke up at 5 am and headed downstairs to make some coffee and have a bagel and banana. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the race and so we all climbed in the car (the Milliard’s son and daughter in law were running the race also) and were dropped off at the start line. Martin Fagan was already there and looking pretty cold as he didn’t bring warm ups with him. I gave him a jacket and we just chatted for a little while as everyone started to arrive at the elite area. I did my usual warm up routine of a short jog before I did some stretching and then heading off for a 15 minute jog.

The race started on a downhill so I was pretty surprised that were didn’t go through the first mile much quicker than we did (4.30). Almost as soon as we passed the clock, the leaders picked up the pace and Martin and I just hung onto the surge as it calmed back down before we hit the hilly sections of the course. The second mile was 4.40 and then the going got tough. The course basically undulates for the rest of the race and it’s really hard to get into a rhythm as you keep having to go up and down. I consider myself a good downhill runner but I wasn’t making any impact on those in front of me as the constant change in grade was killing everything I had in my legs. It was almost a bad thing that I knew what was to come over the last 2km as I think I held a little back so I could try and attack then. I did actually drop Sammy Nderaba (Catherine’s brother) and nearly caught another guy. With about 800m to go, the crowd gets really loud as they are lining the streets about 5 people deep. The course also starts to wind around the fort and the road gets thinner so you can’t see if you are catching anyone or not. I crossed the line in 28.58 for 11th place and just out of the prize money. The most positive note that I could take from the race was that even though I didn’t run particularly well, I was still able to break 29 minutes so that is a big improvement on the last few year where I was stuck at 29.15.

After warming down and watching the presentation, my host family and I walked back to the house where we all crashed for a few hours. I went for another run later on just to get the crap out of my legs and explored another part of town. I got back just in time to get showered and head out to the party that was being held on a private estate by a secluded beach. We were treated to a great Lobster dinner and some good beers so it felt really good to relax and have a good time.

The next morning was no fun at all as I had to get up at 4 am for my flight back to Phoenix. I did however set a personal record of how many naps I took during the day. I had a 2 hour nap on the first flight to Atlanta. I then slept for 30 minutes on my flight to Phoenix. Once I had driven back to Flagstaff I had another 2 hour nap! I then promptly fell asleep while watching a film with Julie later on in the evening. It was a really long weekend but I really loved it and will definitely be back in the future.

My next races will be the Great Yorkshire Run and the Great North Run in September. I am looking forward to going home for a couple of weeks and running well in the half marathon.

Mizuno Link

Here is some work I did with my Sponsor, Mizuno back in April while I was the London Marathon Expo.

http://www.mizuno.eu/eu-eng/news/running/london-marathon/