Prize Winner

Wenlock Olympian Triathlon,
July 2012

Mike celebrating a 3rd MV60 place.

Looks like a good day's work!!

The Olympics, Old Father Time, the Rain....

15th July. St. Swithin's Day. If it rains today then it will rain for 40 days and nights. Oh, blimey.
It's also the main day of the Wenlock Olympian Games. The Wenlock Games are acknowledged as the modern forerunners of the Olympic Games. Oh yes they are, stop arguing at the back there..

<--This is William Penny Brookes. No doubt he had us in mind when he thought that "every grade of man should have opportunities to become mentally and physically fit". (snigger)

Much Wenlock was heaving on Sunday with people, cameras, TV cameras and more people when we turned up, ridiculously early - or in good time, depending on your point of view.
Mike was taking on the Wenlock Olympian Triathlon, so we went along to see how a real athlete went about his business. Dave & I decided that, due to our injuries, the 7 Mile Road Race was the extent of our efforts and that was going to be tough enough,  thank you very much.
We cheered Mike on to a stirring effort which at the time of writing we believe to be 3rd V60. The wall of Fame on the right-hand-side will be updated as soon as we know for definite. YAY!
And so to the Road race. My own knee was a bit sore and Dave was complaining, well he was just complaining really, as is his want.
Eventually, at 12.30pm we kicked off, the route having been shortened by some 300m due to the sports field being a bit boggy. Soon we were out on to the road and this was all going swimmingly, even more so as we splashed through a few puddles on the way. The road up to the Wyke took it's toll out of Dave though and I stood on the top while I waited for him, having a little chat to Scott who had ridden out there on his motorbike to come and see us.
We got going again ...but it was clear that the hills were taking their toll on my mate's venerable legs, with some long slow climbs becoming long, slow runs, but eventually we were on the road back down into the town and our speed and spirits picked up. Phew. Because there were so many folks around, it felt like a really special atmosphere running through the town, and I thought Dave might have saved something for the final hill (I was  wrong).
Do you know? they've sorted out the trail to the back of the Gaskill Field now.. no longer mud, it's really rather nice. I waited up here again for Dave and we ran in together to a large crowd, a well-deserved Olympian medal and some jelly babies :0)
Later celebrations/commiserations/post-run analysis continued at HQ over a pint. What a blissful day, and no - it didn't rain............

Telly Excellence

Two items this week:

(1) Comrade Alan's venture back to Newport for the Summer Handicap. This was always going to be a big ask, with rickety knees and a general lack of fitness, but sometimes you have to take advantage of a glorious Summer's evening sunset as, well you just don't get many of those, do you?

The course was as tough as ever. I think it's quite tough. Run up from the Wheatsheaf Pub, turn up the drive to Lilleshall Hall, turn off along Pitchcroft Lane before taking in a loop of fields near Sheriffhales, whcih brings you back onto Pitchcroft Lane, then there is another loop out towards the A518 before picking up the old Church Aston lane back to the old A41 & the Wheatsheaf. Anyhow, the old legs kept going quite well but there was never much under the bonnet and I was always scared the jabbing pain in the leg would return. Not so. Whoopee! It was a painfully slow time but there was a fair bit of water about. It would seem that Sheriffhales now has it's own Lake District. I couldn't catch many other runners, I suffered the indignity of being asked if I was last (I wasn't) but I didn't mind really. A useful step on the long road back. (2) It's the run up to the Olympics (are we going to get prosecuted for using the name?) and so the telly is positively bristling with sporting programmes. I've seen the excellent Michael Johnson presenting one on his theory that Black slave descendants have made the quickest runners due to evolution. Good theory but the programme was I thought a little stodgy and could have been wrapped up in half an hour. The BBC's series Stronger Higher Faster has been excellent and from a running perspective the shows on the 100m and the 1500m were a real treat of archive running. My favourite this week though has been 'Born to Run' about the Kenyan running boom and looked at just what the secret might be. Turns out it's a combination of living at altitude, really hard work, a need to succeed to get away from poverty and some inspirational coaching from Brother Colm O'Connell.

Dave_stomper

Pictured before a recent Tuesday run, Comrade David posing for the camera in the Club kit.
Impressive, eh? Rather inevitably, it was raining, rather inevitably it was humid, rather inevitably David had too many clothes on so this meant a stop and a kit change half way round. Sigh.
However, on a happier note, the beer was good.
As I'm writing these few words, I'm thinking about the physio exercises and the next run. July will be a rehabilitation & training month for me, but I'm hoping to be really back by the Autumn time, suitably fit, well and inspired by the Olympics. Until then I'm working hard on the road, in the gym and with the Theraband and the Tennis Ball :0)

Cooper testing #1

So, Comrade Mike goes out in the Monsoon that is the English Summer and has a crack at this Cooper test thing. After a warm-up, you give it yer all for 12 minutes. Turns out his stats were rather good. 2220m - not bad for a v60. V02 max = 38.1 . Considering it wasn't actually ideal weather, the lad's done good :)

Out

Sports News: I'm out of the Over The Edge Marathon & on the injured step. Visit to Physio soon. Oh well, more time for me to paint the bathroom door and play the ukulele. No, honest.

A testing time

You cheats.
You big bloody cheats.

When I was at school, you promised me no-one would have to work any more, all our domestic chores would be done by robots, our time would be our own, we'd be able to go on holiday to the moon, we'd all have personalised jet-packs and there would be monorails everywhere. I especially liked the monorail thing.
what happened?
I don't know, but as a natural optimist I'm still waiting.



So, anyway, what do you know about the Cooper Test? It's all here and basically you run as hard as you can for 12 minutes. This tells you 2 things as far as I can see: (1) you can work out your VO2 max (2) 12 minutes is a LONG time when you are flat out. Comrade Dave has brought it to my attention as a way of training us up to take on future challenges. If we do, I shall take pictures, but I warn you - they won't be pretty.

Things to do when you're not running

I was looking on the internet for 'weird sports pictures'. Don't ask why. But anyway this one made me laugh.

Injury Corner
I have got a sore knee. In fact, it's been sore since the last big run a few days ago. What really made a bad situation much worse though was cycling to-and-from Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

The tendons at the top of the knee are revolting, the knee itself is behaving like an Austin Allegro having been yanked into a handbrake turn, and if you bend it on to a certain spot, OOOUUUUUCCCCH. I think I need some of the magic mushrooms, maaan. So I'm in a strange netherworld, now. If I was a proper athlete, I would be up at the expensive physios and all activity would be suspended until I can return to peak performance level.
But as I'm just an average bloke who likes running, and because there is an attractive event coming up Next Week, and because I have done some training - not much, but enough to get round, I'm still pondering whether or not I toe the line at the Over the Edge Marathon. Give it till Tuesday and then we shall see. Present odds - 70% chance I won't be there.
The Gym
I decided I needed to work on those other parts of my body, so I joined the local council gym scheme. I was partly seduced by the fact that all the gym equipment is brand new, and after having made a few enquiries it seemed like a good deal. So off I trotted on Thursday to seal the deal, and on Friday I pitched up for my first session. Having gingerly eased my way into the gym I went first of all for the familiar option; the running machine. I fired it up, and set off without understanding the calibration, due to my clunky leg I didn't seem to be going very fast and in fact I wasn't - somewhere around 10kph, plus I could see how badly I was running in a full-length mirror. Oh, dear, that wasn't good at all. After I while I decided I was warmed up, so switched to the bikes. These had the advantage that I could tinker with the TV buttons and so completed 5km while watching Ninja Warrior. After the bike I progressed to an old favourite, the indoor rower, where I knocked out a couple of fairly easy 500m reps. I'm not aerobically unfit, it's just my flipping leg. To the weights!! I tried all the weightstations, kept the weight low as per previous knowledge and managed to get out in one piece BUT two days later the Abductor/Adductor machine seems to have taken it's toll.
In Ercall Stompers news, no plans as yet to get the numbers out for a run. Current plans include the Cat & Fiddle cycle Sportive in October and the Little Stretton - Stiperstones Time trial in November. But there must be more, we can't waste this Summer !!