Other benchmark sessions are 3x1mile, 10x400, 10x600 (on grass) and the hardest of all, my benchmark loop from home. This loop is 3.6 mile on a very undulating road.
I’ve spoke before of the importance of benchmark sessions, they’re a great way of judging how your training is going. Whenever I’ve had a break or injury I come back to training with my standard test 4x800, I get back into sessions again then a few weeks later I repeat the session to see how much I’ve improved.
Other benchmark sessions are 3x1mile, 10x400, 10x600 (on grass) and the hardest of all, my benchmark loop from home. This loop is 3.6 mile on a very undulating road.
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Tribute to Geronimo Jim and the Morpeth lads For those of you who don’t know Clare is a lecturer at New College in Durham, so last week was half term, I was lucky and managed to get cover for the shop and had some time off with her. The week before we saw an on line deal for a short stay at Linden Hall, so we took advantage of it and booked in for two nights. Linden Hall is just outside of Longhorsely which is near Morpeth, I’ve driven past many times but I’ve never stayed, so I was looking forward to taking advantage of the spar, pool, jacquzzi, steam room, sauna oh! And the golf course, perfect for running round. As you all know, I raced at Dewsbury two weeks ago, the race went ok, I ran pretty much as expected even if it wasn’t as fast as I would have liked. However I had to dig really deep to get there. I tend to find that when I’m fit and training hard I can race regularly and recover fast, but it took me a long time to get over Dewsbury. Well at long last the snow has cleared up, but it left me with a bit of a scare! I’m hoping that I’m not tempting fate here, but I had a Plantar Fascia flare up. Plantar Fasciaitis is one of the most common and hard to get rid injuries that a runner can get. This is only the second time that I’ve had a flare up, but fortunately I know the symptoms and as soon as I get that bruised heel feel first thing in the morning I hammer the Fascia with everything I can think of. No sooner were the Durham Cathedral relays over then it started snowing, we’ve had a fair dump of snow in Durham, but I think we’ve got off quiet lightly. The snow looks very pretty and at first the novelty of running in fresh crisp snow is exciting but it doesn’t take long for that novelty to wear off as it starts to interfere with your training. I’m pretty resilient and try my best not to let the weather stop me from my training and this week has been a good example of that. Running on the pavements is almost impossible as they are either icy and lethal or rutted and ankle breaking. However with the snow on all the trails I find it easy to see where I’m going running off roads at night. The Durham Cathedral Relays are one of my favorite races of the year. I love relays, I love the fact that instead of doing your own thing and seeing nothing of the race other than what’s happening around you, you can actually see the race unfold and shout your team mates on. The Durham relays are a great event, it has a great atmosphere, great location and well organized. My Club North Shields Poly have always had a good tradition of taking part in local, regional and National relay events. As we’ve become veterans we’ve traveled all over the country picking up relay and team medals in British Master Championship events. However the Durham Relays always proves some of our toughest races and stiffest competition. This area has some real talent and you have to be in good shape to win. Why the question mark? Well, it’s a funny thing, it’s great to be back running and I’m loving it. I’ve been back running for about 7 weeks now and over the last two weeks I’ve probably done about four sessions where I’ve given everything, all out as hard as I can, no holding back and my injury and operation sight has held up really well, in fact the only thing that restricts me is my current fitness. However I’m starting to realize just how much fitness I’ve lost over the last six months and the road back to where I was looks like it’ll be a long, hard and painful one and I don’t know if I can face it. Well at long last, I’m starting to get back into the swing of training again, it’s been a rocky road but at long last I feel like I’m making progress. My first week back my legs were in shock from all the impact of running, I was in quite a bit of discomfort in the operation sight too, mostly a pulling sensation, but certainly not pleasant. The following week my legs felt better but as I was running a little faster I struggled with my breathing, then the week after my breathing felt easier so I ran a little quicker again, so my legs then hurt from the quicker pace. See a pattern here? It was my day off on Friday, it was a lovely day, I’m back running so I thought I would make the most of it and set off for one of my favourite places to run, Castle Eden Dene. I’m still recovering from my operation, but the rate of my recovery has been rapid and I feel noticeably better every time I go for a run. However up until Friday I have still felt a pulling and stretching in and around the operation scar. I’ve opened my legs and done a few easy strides and gentle efforts. Every time I go a little faster, I stretch a little more, but once I’ve gone through that it feels like another leap forward. Rewind a month, I’m sitting in a rather fetching Hospital gown with my bum exposed to the world and I’m chatting to Kevin Clark about the operation I’m about to have, he tells me that I’d be able to jog in about two weeks post operation and back into full sessions by December. As he’s speaking, I’m doing maths in my head, four weeks to the Leeds Abbey Dash! |
Iain TwaddleIain Twaddle is one of the most popular runners on the North East athletics circuit. He joined his local running club, North Shields Poly, at the age of 9 and reached County level as a teenager. He since gone on to become one of Britain's top veteran distance runners. Archives
March 2013
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