Its been a while since I posted which its fair to say has been a reflection of my motivation for running. Breaking down before London was a huge disappointment. 2010 was probably the best chance I have had to run at an international championship and I was unable to put myself in contention in the trial race. I've always been one of those runners who is motivated to race and make teams rather than run fast times so the last few weeks has involved a lot of 'what now ?' type questions.
Any hope of a quick recovery from the injury and a shot at a May marathon went out of the window as well as the back muscle trouble I was having was incredibly persistent. I've never know anything quite like it but at least I'm now an expert on erector spinae and latisimus dorsus. It really has been a question of two steps forward, one step back but yesterday I finally laced up my racing shoes again and went for it in the Ninesprings 9k race, part of the Go Yeovil ! week, a local initiative designed to get people moving more and being aware of how much they are exercising (or not !).
I was hoping for a nice congtrolled tempo run on the hilly two lap off road course and instead it turned into a real hard race which just goes to show that you can take nothing for granted when you pin a number on your vest. Taunton's Luke Scott put the pressure on after a mad sprint off the startline and by the top of the first hill I was thinking 'crikey, another 8k of this is going to hurt'.
Although I was able to get a small gap on the first lap the nature of the course made it impossible to see the 2nd runner so I had to keep pushing hard. Only at the top of the hill at Aldon House was I able to sneak a look over the hedge top to see I had a winning margin. That last mile or so was a great feeling, running fast and free out in front and then getting the winning feeling as I crossed the line. The poor lady handing out the T-shirts thought I was dying I was so out of breath, a good sign :-)
The whole event was another triumph for the organisers from YTRRC. A 2k race for the kids was well attended and after the main event a one lap 'corporate' race attracted a number of teams including a group of anaesthetists from Yeovil Hospital.
And best of all my back feels fine this morning, no stiffness or soreness so hopefully my lunchtime shakeout will go well and I can start to focus on a return to track racing in the next British League fixture.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Go Yeovil !
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4 comments:
Adrian - am I correct that you did a coaching coarse? Is this something you are looking to get into? Specifically would you be interested in coaching an individuals? Andrew
Hi Andrew, did we meet at Burnham ? Thanks for your question, coaching is a topic I could spout on about for hours !
Currently i'm working with a very small number of individual athletes as i'm still competing and the time required to do a great coaching job is considerable. On top of this I'm always happy to respond to specific questions and will help where I can short of providing detailed training plans/hands on coaching.
I also do some group education sessions such as the flying coach visit to Running Forever in Taunton and the Marathon Masterclass I ran back in January.
Unfortunately the British culture of sport does not seem to value (i.e. significant investment in and payment for) skilled coaching in the way that some of our main competitors do, this is true across sports - compare UEFA qualified coaches per capita with Spain, Netherlands etc, ditto tennis, cricket and athletics...Its no coincidence that the best Dutch soccer coaches are paid to work with the kids !
Hope your running is going well.
cheers
Adrian
Hello Adrian - thank you for getting back to me. Yes we did meet at Burnham. The reason for asking about coaching - I am just looking around for a coach who would help keep my training on the straight and narrow and help me move onto the next level. I am relatively new to running, but what has become clear is that a lot of those runners who's times would qualify them for a championship place at the London marathon(like myself) - are training solo, as very few clubs cater for that group, and there does not appear to be any training events geared towards that group. At the moment I am running twice-a-day 6 days a week, combination of easy runs, intervals, hills, long runs only time I get pushed by other runners is during races.
If you could recommend any good distance coaches I would appreciate your suggestions.
Thank you Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Drop me an email with your phone number and I can give you a call to point you in the right direction.
cheers
Adrian
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