North of the Thames Cross Country Champs

Cold day at Kingsbury. Course not as muddy or as wet as it could have been with all the rain we've been having recently. Decent level of competition but not the numbers like the Met League. As ever, 1 small and 2 large laps. I like the course and it's pretty short I reckon. Easily got under 28 mins - my fastest by 2 mins - so running better than previous years and definitely not 5 miles.
Planned on taking it easy, but got sucked in and bombed around the short lap and then hung on basically. The hill and the drag through the woods are always hard - and then it was pretty windy coming into the finish area. Pleased with position and time. Again first for the club - we just haven't seen the younger guys this season at all. Planning on taking a week or so off now pre-Christmas as lots of parties and meetings and drinks to attend to... and feel as though I need a bit of a break.
Results here.

Met League Wormwood Scrubs

Cold day and a lot of rain the week before. However, course was flat and fast - with only serious mud through the wood section at the end of each of the 2 laps. Torry from Serps took a good victory. Look at his and his brothers results from only 2 years ago (Met League and others) to see how far they've come. Again the race set off fast and I found myself lingering in the 100s after first few yards. Got up into the 70s - a bit down on previous results, but still happy. Felt good and fast and was picking people off all the time. First for the club, which is struggling big time this season without some of the younger guys who should be in the top 50. Met League has definitley picked up this year. Looking at times (dubious on XC maybe) and I would've been in top 40 in previous seasons.
Results on Hillingdon website.

London Champs at Parliament Hill

First race at Parly Hill in Hampstead this year. It was suprisingly not muddy and felt relatively short compared to some races I've done there in the past couple of years. Solomon from Heathside - a newcomer on the scene - did really well to win pretty easily. I took it quite easy the first lap (of 4) and then started to move through. I didn't over exert myself and was probably 30secs down on where I could have been. Shambolic results service with much discussion on Eightlane about it.
Overall pretty pleased - still beat most of my usual peers, however I'll need to get closer to some of the top Vets this Saturday. Just done 3 days again this mid-week and pretty busy at work so we'll see how we go.
Only results available are on Power of 10

North London XC Champs & Hyde Park 10K

After an ok week of training - a couple of 7 milers and 500m incline hill work, Alexandra Palace was a new venue for me. Again a bit of pain to get to by public transport. Terrible weather but at least the rain cleared for the race although a blustery wind was a big problem, as was the steep climb to Ally Pally on each of the 3 laps. OK course for me on the whole - not too muddy and long bits of flat or downhill - ran in 15mm spikes.
Hung on for 20th place and just missed the Vets bronze medal by 1 second. If I'd known I could have caught the guy in front. Not as good as last week - struggled on the ascents - but still first for club. Quality of field not as good as Met League but Highgate and Heathside were out in force.
Results here.
On the Sunday the After Adoption charity held a 10K race in Hyde Park. Dad came down for it. Took it relatively steady and got round in 36 mins for 11th - first Vet this time. Dad was 2nd O60.
2 lap course and started at 10am so got very congested with joggers and tourists!
Results here.

Met League Claybury

Long journey out on the Central Line to Woodford, then a fair old walk. Big turnout in sunny pre-winter weather. Spikes needed as course pretty worn by large turnout in previous races. Crazy start downhill, biggest turnout in 40 year history so lots of pushing and lucky to stay on feet. First time on course and suprised how fast it went narrow and how far I was down the field after 400m.
By all accounts it was the highest quality field for a long time so got to be happy with a finish in the 60s mixing it with the leading vets. Good course - pretty flat apart from 1 sharp up and down on each of the 3 laps. Beat usual rivals and peers from club by a decent amount so happy with performance. Still averaging 30 miles per week, and with only 3 runs in midweek, dodgy achilles and bad back I need to see if I can keep it going throughout November.
Ditched the Asics 2140s and sticking with Nike's Airspan and Triax.
Results on Hillingdon AC site.

It's Gone Dark

Training going reasonably well. Still sticking at around 30 miles per week. No really long runs. Just 6-8 milers with usual speed/hill work. Seeing physio for bad back - mainly down to laptop usage he reckons. Also still have my right achilles problem. Doing foot raises on stairs 4X15 each day so we'll see what happens.
Going to need spikes for cross-country race this weekend that's for sure!
Need to get grips a bit more with this site when I have time - links are a bit poor. So many blogs out there related to running.

Met League Ruislip and Leicester Half Marathon

A busy weekend.
Real start to the cross country season with the first round of the Metropolitan League at Ruislip. 350 Runners on the narrow paths through the woods near the Lido. Decided to wear Adidas Swoop studs as this course is quite stoney in places, however I fell on the first lap going over a metal grid on a sharp turn. Got up straight away with no ill-effects. Suffered big time but came out in 58th position and first scorer for the club. A lot better than I'd hoped for (top 70) and much better than previous seasons when top 100 would be good. Standard has gone up if anything so really pleased. ESM only managed 10th position with usual suspects like WG&EL and Shaftsbury being joined by Serpentine as the leading clubs.
On the Saturday night drove up to Leicester as my wife was doing the Marathon and I was doing the Half. She came in at 3:43 so really really good and qualifying time for London next year, which was the aim despite illness the previous week. I took it pretty steady for the Half in 1:24. Legs will be stiff for next few days as longest run for ages.

Met League Results on Hillingdon's Web Site
Leicester Results

Horsenden Relays

A very low key start to the cross country season for North/West London clubs. One of the oldest relays around (something like its 68th year) saw a only handful of mens and womens teams compete in 6 X 2.4 mile relay event.
I was on the second leg for the A team setting off in 8th position. Managed to take over a few runners including Shaftsbury & Barnet, Highgate and Heathside. Got the team up to 4th after a pretty good run. Felt quite easy - struggled a bit up the inclines - so will have to do some hill work over the next few weeks - work and achilles permitting!! Fastest time for the team and beat usual suspects from other clubs. Racing for between 12-20 mins seems to be my forte. Must keep leg speed up but would also like to compete at sharp end over the 5mile/8k cross-countries this season.
Results can be found on the Ealing Web Site

Training this week - Trying out Nike XC Spikes

Ran home a couple of times from work which I hadn't done for ages. Via Hammersmith, Chiswick and Gunnersbury Park. Took it very easy on both occassions, as found it hard after sitting down at desk for much of the day.
Did a quick hill session up High Lane and usual 3 x 1.3M session on Warren Farm Playing Fields in my new Nike XC spikes (old red model) Only cost £20 and only likely to last a season depending on the terrain of the courses this year. Any hard ground tends to bend the spikes if using 12 inches or over - it recommends only using up to 9 inch spikes - but that's not going to do much at a muddy Parliament Hill !
Still got dodgy achilles and now my back is also playing up.
Not aiming for anything in particular at the moment although I'd like to do well in forthcoming Met Leagues - top 70??

First Post - Aldershot SEAA Relays 2009

Set off 12.30 to Aldershot for 6 man SEAA Relays. A bit disappointed that we couldn't muster up a Vets team, but was picked for the Senior team. Found Mike who had me down for the 5th leg as I expected. Team had a shakey start but 3rd and 4th legs started picking up places . I had an ok run in 21:03 (faster than last year). Picked up 3 places for the team. Some class runners on show including Overall, Wickes and Vernon, with Aldershot beating Belgrave, and Ealing in a lowly 50th position. I felt good and legs (especially achilles) felt fine off low mileage - 30 miles this week. Raced in Brooks ST3 - felt good.
Long day out for 20 minutes running - back home at 5.30 to have tea with the family and a few glasses of red wine...and decided to set up this blog. Trying to get to grips with Web Analysis stuff for work and this seems a decent place to start if I can get Google Analytics working and get this site indexed...
Results from 2009 6 man SEAA relays on AFD AC pages.