Reading Half-Marathon 2009
Total		02:03:39
Position = 7626 out of ~17,000?

The day didn't get off to too good a start: 6am on Sunday morning doesn't tend to happen for me, and the DST change was just an extra kick in the teeth, making it feel like 5am. Obstacle the first: the tubes aren't running at that time. Fortunately, I now live in civilisation and could just get a 24-hour bus into town and connect to Paddington fairly easily. Once there, it became clear how popular Reading is with London residents: every incoming tube train seemed to disgorge another wave into the foyer. True to form, the expected 7:57 was delayed coming in, so those who could jumped onto the later one that was actually present. After a while, enough of us had made it onto the train to match a packed 6pm weekday: but the air was tinged with excitement and anticipation rather than the commuters' resignation and despair.

The comparison didn't even quite stop there as we queued up for the shuttle buses for the stadium. Apparently, Reading is the third biggest race in the UK in terms of number of participants: and it's not a big place with lots of transport infrastructure! In fact I didn't realise Reading *had* this many buses!

The start was well organised, in direct contrast to the RTTB in October, although with everyone packed into the long avenue, it took a while for the crowd to thin out enough to feel comfortable. The race passed through Whitley and up the infamous Whitley Wood Road hill- eliciting a collective groan from some runners who thought that the shallow rise up to then had been all they were required to do! The highlight of the race this far was the ice cream van that started loudly playing The Entertainer just as I passed :)

Once up the hill, it was down past Reading University and Kendrick Road towards the centre. A dogleg left to pass under the IDR flyover, with a crowd of manic drummers invoking a rather Ravenholm ambience. Then a trek up through the town centre to the old Abbey site, twisting around to the soulless Friar Street, and off out to Oxford Road.

On reflection, I think it was somewhere around here and as we went uphill again along Tilehurst Road that I fell off the pace a bit- I certainly remember seeing an army guy running along with full pack and heavy boots, that somehow got ahead of me by the time we got to the top of Prospect Park. At this point it should have been a bit quicker on to the finish, since it was all downhill (a bit); but in fact, looking at the graph, I never seemed to take advantage of the downhills at all. In fact, by the time we came down onto Berkeley Avenue, the downhill slope was more of a grind, as my knees and fact were taking the brunt. It's almost definitely long past time I replace those running shoes, though: they will be two years old this June!

So along to Rose Kiln Lane: looking to my left I could see my old kitchen window... the area hadn't changed! and then a not-so-thrilling run down the dual carriageway back to GreenPark and the stadium. We had to do a loop down to the start point and back down the avenue: I saw the 2-hour pace group on their way back as I was going out and realised then that I was too far behind target, with just over a mile to go. Although I had my Forerunner with me, I hadn't been checking my pace all that often: and in this end stretch I realised that when I thought I was going at a disciplined 5:40-or-so pace, I was actually going at more like 6:05... Failure! Woe!

Still, I managed to find enough in the tank for a decent finish: and finishing the race with a half-lap of the stadium works really well. Lots of people cheering who also have somewhere to sit... probably works out for them, too! Then out the other side to be wrapped in Bacofoil and de-chipped.

After the race, the shuttle bus system had its last laugh... the queue for the buses was a good half-mile long. I walked back into town. I think less than ten buses went past me the whole time-- the other side of the dual carriageway was chock-a-block.

All in all, it was a good race: my final time of 2:03:39 was inside my previous time by four minutes or so--- but still outside my target of 2 hours. Well, that just indicates a need to train better for next time! :)

London Triathlon 2008
Swim 1500m		00:46:50
T1		00:05:40
Bike 40Km	00:39:50
	00:40:34
		01:20:23
T2		00:02:59
Run 10Km	00:31:13
	00:29:20
		01:00:33
Total		03:16:25

Phew! Well, it didn't go to plan, certainly not at the start: I had a lot of trouble finding my rhythym for the swim, and my cap kept coming off--- I ended up having to hang onto a guy's canoe while trying to put it back on. And then drifted a long way out of the lane on the return leg of the swim, not helped by having to come back against the wind. I did manage to settle a bit as I was coming back but it still just felt miserable. Then about 10m away my right calf cramped up really badly, and I couldn't stand up on the pontoon! They sat me down and poured Gatorade down me and helped take off the top half of my wetsuit... when I'd recovered a bit I went on but was just really glad that bit was over.

The bike section was OK: I overtook quite a few people on the first lap, got overtaken quite a bit on the second--- evens out, I guess. Did manage to keep up with at least one guy with a nice shiny speciailise tri bike with very shiny sprockets :) Who then turned out to be on his first lap :D

After all that, the run wasn't actually as miserable as I'd thought it would be. I thought I was just jogging easily through it but looking at the split time, I wasn't actually doing too badly.

So, much better performance than the duathlon last year. Of course, not going into the race injured helps! There are pictures too. Considering doing it next year as well, I must be crazy...

Took part in the North Vs South duel in Hyde Park this morning. Good fun, although with so many people it's really packed and you spend a fair amount of time swearing internally about the people around you getting in the way :) Managed 55:45 which wasn't what I was hoping for (not as fast as last year, for instance) but still not bad considering I'm still at a Body Pie Index of 32.

As with last year, it was fun up to the half-way mark, but then dragging back up to the north side and along the top seemed to go on for ever.... I got into a weird zone-- normally I can concentrate on my breathing, and everything flows properly, but I just couldn't get into that this time. Maybe the pressure of the moment put me off? Oh well, need more practice then :)

Not sure what to do next--- hopefully not lay off until next summer like I did last year! Considering the Reading half-marathon next spring which would make a nice challenging goal to aim for.

Split times from stopwatch so not canon.

RunLondon 2006
1Km	05:30.85
2Km	05:13.43	10:44.28
3Km	05:42.03	16:26.31
4Km	05:30.53	21:56.84
5Km	05:25.19	27:22.03
6Km	05:48.98	33:11.01
7Km	06:01.18	39:12.19
8Km	06:03.09	45:15.28
9Km	05:25.39	50:40.67
10Km	05:04.81	55:45.48
Position = ?? out of ~30,000

Headed off to Richmond Park this morning to do the London Duathlon. Started out at about 9.30am, negotiated the tube with the bike and footed it up to Sheen Gate, picking up a stray on the way. Left Sue in Mortlake/Sheen to catch up later due to pervasive presence of second-hand bookshops and charity shops. Rode from Sheen Gate to Roehampton Gate, fell off bike due to having increased the tension in the SPDs (clip-in pedals) to maximum and didn't get feet out in time. Felt like an idiot. Had to ask bloke at bike equipment stall if I could borrow an Allen key. Not a good omen.

Richmond Park is beautiful. No really, it is. Large swathe of mostly grassland with old-fashioned forest covering bits of it, deer roaming around, a few hills, dirt paths around the edge and across the middle, cars limited to 20mph, car parks provided. And a few thousand nutters, today.

First run was OK. There's a hill up to the White Lodge (Royal Ballet School) but not too bad, and then it's downhill and along a bit. Still it was sweltering by the time we got started (1350) so it was pretty knackering. Then changed onto the bike, which came as a great relief for the first half-mile or so: not least because most of my drinks were on the bike (see photo). However the hill on the south side of the park was pretty harsh: I didn't have to get off and push (some did) but I was inching up it in granny gear... so ought to revisit here and get some training in. After that the biking went well: averaging 15.5mph over the whole thing; so not as well as I'd hoped but a bit better than a normal commute into work.

The real killer, though, was the second run. Run-to-bike was fine, almost relaxing. Bike-to-run was ... harsh. It took me ages to get to anything approaching a relaxed pace, and my legs just were not cooperating. Perhaps some of the running muscles had stiffened up while I was on the bike? Managed to drag myself around, although had to resort to walking intervals going up that hill again. Managed to sprint a bit once off the road at the end and the "triumphal arch" was in site. Someone had given the announcer a list of all the entrants by number so I heard "Good finish, Steve Haslam" over the PA while madly gulping in air at the end, which was pretty cool :)

Finally got home after stops to take photos of deer herds on the way back. Got an SMS with my results just as I was getting home:

London Duathlon 2006
Run 1	00:28:10
Bike	00:25:52
Run 2	00:31:14
Total		01:30:16
219th of 286

My legs are going to be unusable tomorrow.

Last night: went to muftak's birthday party: dressing up outrageously badly and behaving like loons, always good. Drank one bottle of WKD and one bottle of ginger wine, not so good. Especially as preparation for a race the next morning. Manager to get one of the last Tube trains home, so got to bed at only (!) 1am. I was sufficiently unfocussed as to set the alarm for 7pm rather than 7am the next day.

Today: went to Hyde Park for the Nike 10K race. Actually coped quite well (Sue fortunately woke up just past 7 anyway) but was definitely stuck in plodder mode. Got 53:24, which is not too bad for a fatty, but a couple of minutes adrift of the Ribble Valley run last Christmas (and that was at about 0°C and had hills), and even last year's RunLondon Nocturnal. Splits as follows:

1Km	5:08.40
2Km	5:07.18	10:15.58
3Km	5:18.28	15:33.86
4Km	5:39.58	21:13.44	I pressed the split button late
5Km	4:56.54	25:59.98
6Km	5:06.97	31:06.95
7Km	6:03.97	37:10.92
8Km	4:21.71	41:32.63	Not sure about this one
9Km	6:35.31	48:07.94
10Km	5:15.98	53:23.92

Either that 8Km marker was out of place, or I hallucinated it. The 4Km split mixup was just doziness.

Had an outrageously expensive sandwich and apple crumble at the Dell cafe afterwards. Met inferis and myriadofsins there, and saw a goose eat an apple core. Sadly they did not seem interested in being recruited for helping out at Christmas dinner.

Walked around for a bit. Gawped at huge flat screen TV in John Lewis for a trifling £13,950 or so. Tried on strange coats: they had this long corduroy (?) jacket thing that made me almost look like a Doctor Who (as in, no coherent dress sense and generally wacky). Got tired. Came home. Had steamed tuna and couscous, mmm.

My legs are still a bit sore from Sunday night, but I'm recovering. It was good fun-- a bit cold at the start (and having to stand around for ages didn't help) but after a few Km, I was able to take the gloves off which felt better. Although all the way round it was pretty congested-- it didn't help that I was the very last person from wave 3 to set off, do to a toilet excursion before the start. Apparently by the time I went past Sue I was most of the way up the wave pack, but it was hard going-- worse than the M25 any day.

Anyway, I managed to finish in 51 minutes 59 seconds (5K: 25'23''), which is a considerable improvement on the previous 64 minutes 48! It would probably have been better with more space... never mind. It *was* fun, my first experience of a mass participation race. The runlondon site has a video clip of me coming across the finish line, although I can't easily view that on Linux. (I can view the mms stream, but I can't persuade MPlayer or Xine to start two hours in, and don't feel like watching two hours of video just to get to the right point-- fast-motion mode doesn't seem to work either).

I took a few photos on my phone but they didn't come out well. Met up in the pub with Sue afterwards (the Liberty Bounds, don't ask me where I thought the other name up from) and just missed getting food there 8| finally got home at 2am. Managed to stagger (almost literally) into work the next day. Feeling much more alive today :}

Whew! Just finished this month's lunchtime 5K run. I persuaded three other folks from work to come along as well, and they seemed to enjoy themselves, which was good. I also managed to knock 2 minutes off my previous best time!

Distance	Split time	Cumulative time
1Km	4:17.97	4:17.97
2Km	4:24.42	8:42.39
3Km	4:42.81	13:25.20
4Km	4:42.38	18:07.58
5Km	4:23.21	22:30.79

Along with that, this morning I managed to clock in a weight just under 100Kg for the first time. This is quite likely just a blip (checking it outside the regular weekly slot is of course Bad And Wrong) but it's heartening all the same :} especially since I've been static at just over 100 for the past two or three months.

So, the weekend starts tomorrow-- our plans for the weekend revolve around going to Bath and Bristol on Sunday; we're visiting Sue's parents briefly and then heading to Bristol to go the the Bierkeller on the Sunday night. We've each wangled Monday off work and got somewhere to stay overnight so hopefully it should be a good time :}

Having done this exercise today, I am now starving. I've had a ham and cheese sandwich but I doubt that will be sufficient!

A few of us at work have joined up to go for run sessions after work around Green Park/Hyde Park. Quite fun, and it can be easier to get out if you're not going on your own, I've found.

Went for the monthly 5K race this lunchtime. Didn't go as fast as last time due to an abominable first Km, but after that it was OK. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Point	Interval time	Cumulative time
1Km	6:02.85	6:02.85
2Km	4:48.47	10:51.32
3Km	4:58.67	15:49.99
4Km	4:51.33	20:41.32
5Km	4:46.59	25:27.91

I invested in a couple of CDs recently-- Permanent (Joy Division) and (best of) New Order. Largely because I knew about one song by each band, and had been told I "ought" to know more :} Some of New Order's songs are soooo cheesy... good, but cheesy.

Hmm, my official 5K time appeared on the Serpentine RC's site and says 26:23, 2 minutes different from the time on my stopwatch.

Update: It was a problem on their end, fixed. My age-graded result was 53.2%! Well, it's an achievement for me, anyway...

Just been off to do another Last Friday 5K in Hyde Park. They've moved the course a bit (to keep us away from the Concrete Surface Drain Memorial) which is acutally more convenient for me because it's on the side of the park nearer work now :} Anyway, the weather was OK-- slight drizzle which probably had a ncie cooling effect, not that it felt like that after 2Km. I annihilated my previous best time (26:29 on 26/03)-- according to my watch I came in at 24:22. With luck this will get me to my first target of 50% age-graded :}

With my new-fangled watch I can actually keep track of my split times for each Km, which is quite funky:

Point	Interval time	Cumulative time
1Km	4:43	4:43
2Km	4:40	9:24
3Km	5:00	14:25
4Km	5:08	19:33
5Km	4:48	24:22

I overdid it part way through trying to catch up to a group ahead of me and ended up having to stop for a few seconds just before 4Km, and got overhauled by the group behind me :( Still, it's a new PB, not to be sneered at. It must be said, though, that recently I've been going to the gym, which may well be great cross-training, but it's not a complete substitute for getting out there and putting the miles in. So I need to get back in the habit of plodding around at home, or actually organise myself for plodding to/from Paddington.

Ouch... I strained my calf towards the end of the race on Sunday and it's complaining. It was ok yesterday, but I tried running from Paddington to work this morning and it cried out again. So I'll have to go easy on that for this week. Plus my right knee's all stiffened up, again, so I'm essentially limping on both legs at the moment...

The race was fun. I managed to get up on Sunday morning (!) and adopted the highly-technical nutrition strategy of scoffing a Nutri-Grain bar and a banana. (Seemed to work though). Cycled to Reading station, on what was probably the quietest I've ever seen George St in daylight, got the train to Twyford and cycled to Wargrave from there. I've actually cycled part of the race course before, an ill-fated trip out that way to see what the cycle route was like. Ill-fated because I didn't take any water/food with me and had to struggle back to Tesco where I raided their snacks shelf for a quick fix. So I knew in advance that I was starting the course off by going uphill... It really wasn't too bad. I think I did OK because I managed to stick at a reasonable pace at the start and then just maintain it, pretty much, all the way through. I seem to do better than quite a few others at just steaming on up reasonable hills once I've got the momentum up. There were apparently 641 people in the race, which is quite a lot more than the 150 or so I've been around Hyde Park with previously.

I think my time was 1:04:48-- that's what I seem to remember the clock saying as I came past. No results posted on the website, but hopefully they will send me an actual results note-- they'd better, that's what the second SAE was for :} Still, according to the webpage, an 82-year-old man managed 1:02:45! I shall have to do better next time.

Edit: I've found the results on the site, it's just their navigation is broken... 01:04:48 is right-- 537th overall, 141st in category (male 18-40?) Age graded at 41.63% == suxx0r

Oof! Did 10K in 1:04:48, or so. Cycled all the way back from Wargrave instead of getting the train. I think I'm gong to have a sandwich and then lie in a darkened bedroom for an hour or so to relax.