Training Week 28 June - 4 July

Sun.pm. 6.50m / 45:24 / 7:00 miling
Easy final run in Des Moines, but having worked at team world champs all day didn't have much time to get a long one in.

Mon. Rest - flying Des Moines, IA --> Denver, CO --> Vancouver, BC

Tue.pm. 2.03m WU - 8 x 100m strides - 2.00m WD
Prep before the Yaletown Grand Prix. Ran a few laps of the course, really nice setting.

Wed.pm. 3.22m WU - Yaletown Grand Prix (~4.2k) - 1.90m WD
See the race report for more info, not the best run of my life but pocketed $125. Happy Canada Day!

Thu.pm. 5.44m WU - 5 x 1km (3:07, 3:04, 3:04, 3:05, 3:02) off descending recovery - 3.73m WD
Had a bit of a sniffle following the race but felt like I still had plenty to give so went for the session. Started easily and worked into it. Really smashed the final 300m of the last rep, legs finally moving. Jogged back with Paul and cooled off in the Pacific.
16 miles cycling.

Fri.pm. 5.61m / 38:24 / 6:51 miling
Easy run around the sea wall, felt terrible so picked it up over Burrard Bridge to try and wake the legs up.
16 miles cycling.

Sat.am. 4.08m WU - 5 x 800m (2:22, 2:22, 2:22, 2:20, 2:17) off 400m jog - 3.73m WD
Felt good but just couldn't hit decent times. With Jay on his break I had no one to target so plugged the ipod on and started smashing it out to Hillsong. Gradually worked up some momentum and as Coach John predicted, the times came down as the legs got motoring. Pretty pleased, especially after a hard Wednesday and Thursday.

Run total: 50.00 miles (80.5km) / 5:51:47 / 7:17 miling avg

Comments:
A weird week capped by a strange race where I ran like an idiot and still made $125 (£65). Lots of quality but not too much quantity, but I guess it is the summer.

Not really too much more to add, although I am getting down to race weight so I'm sure my Mum will complain that I'm obviously not eating well enough when I get home for a week in seven days time. Hopefully I can get some hill work in this week in Austria, although the weather forecast might have me on the hotel treadmill.

Am back in the UK from 14-21 July, so if anyone has any race suggestions I'd like to hear them!

Pics from Yaletown Grand Prix

Many thanks to Rick from VFAC for the pics, much appreciated, some really great shots!

Lap one:
Lap two:
Lap three:
Lap four:
Lap five:

Money for Nothing

So today's Yaletown Grand Prix was an interesting affair where I ran like a complete muppet and yet still walked away with $125, which I feel is rather undeserved. Since pressing the 'autofill' button on itunes last week my ipod shuffle has had Dire Strait's Money for Nothing on it. With an amazing guitar riff and lyrics it seems rather pertinent to how I feel.



The whole race set up was pretty incredible, the 900m of closed roads around the district made for some cool racing, although the cyclists made it look better than the runners did. The cat one riders were tanking it! Having all of it just one block away from home was especially fun and it really was just a case of walking out of the front day to get to the start line.

I made a class 'a' error right from the start. I saw a young guy warming up in Asics kit and thought it was probably Ryan McKenzie so when the announcers didn't call him up I thought the race was open and I stood a chance of going for the win. Little did I know that my lack of knowledge of Canadian distance runners would cause me a lot of grief as both Richard Mosley, a sub-30 10k runner and legendary marathoner Steve Osaduik were on the start line. I should have picked up on Steve's name but I was listening for 'Ryan McKenzie' and had turned my brain off to anything else.

Me centre, with Richard in blue on the right and Steve in yellow on the left

I stuck in behind Richard and Steve for the opening of the five laps and felt pretty good, however I knew I was never going to be able to live with them as we headed out on lap two. We got a nice gap on fourth and I dropped off hoping to hold a decent pace to stay ahead of the pack, however the damage had been done and running solo was a real effort, especially with a headwind on the longest stretch of the course.

Lap two was decent but unspectacular as the guys started to disappear and I started to feel I was being caught on lap three. Come lap four I was overtaken by Tom Michie from Kelowna who had paced his effort a lot better than me. He drew alongside heading up the short hill at Davie and I couldn't hold on to the back of him when we got to the flat. By then I was already rocking and rolling so I backed off to ensure I didn't completely blow up and lose fourth. Lap five felt better as I knew I couldn't be caught and I managed a final kick off the last bend, but by then Tom was well up the road.

Getting dropped on lap two by Steve (left) and Richard (right)

Although I pocketed $125 I don't really feel like I've earnt it. I'm more disappointed with the ridiculous naivity which cost me third place. No disresepct to Tom, but I know deep down that I really should have done a lot better, but come the day he ran a much better race, paced the course to perfection and showed me a clean pair of heels, so full credit to him, he delivered and I didn't.

Secondly the prize money seemed too much for what I actually ran. Richard and Steve deserved their $400 and $200 respectively as they're great runners... but $125 for finishing fourth with a poor performance? You've got to be having a laugh. It's the same amount as the guy who finished fifth in the pro bike race, and that was 65 minutes of flat out wheel to wheel racing where the pack had a sprint finish... and he would have been a top cyclist riding for a team. There were even national champions and tour riders in there, crazy!

All in all a great first Canada Day, which incidentally marks my 100th day in Vancouver, and a super event atmosphere, but probably the worst race I've endured since Northampton Birmingham League back in December of last year with this feeling of guilt that I don't deserve a penny.

Metropolitan Racing

So tomorrow is the ZegnaSport Yaletown Grand Prix around the streets just a block away from my apartment. By all accounts it's the first time the Grand Prix have included an 'elite' men's and women's 4.5km race alongisde the usual bike crit racing, so we'll see how the organisation goes.

So far I have to say that I haven't been too impressed. I registered a while ago but have not had any confirmation from the organisers that I have a place on the startline. Any joe jogger could have gone online and entered, so for an 'elite' race you'd at least hope for guys who can break 16:30mins for 5k at the very least. The website has not updated since I registered over a month ago, and if it wasn't for the banner hanging up by Earls saying 'Yaletown Grand Prix 1 July' I'd have my doubts whether it was even going ahead.


That aside I'm looking forward to putting on the racing flats and having a blast. I jogged a total of four laps of the course this evening as my usual pre-race warm up - strides - warm down routine, and found it to be quite entertaining. Once the streets are closed it will make for a great atmosphere, especially through the bar district. My hope is that a load of sub-15min 5k runners don't turn up making me look like a right idiot for even entering. If that happens I know I'll probably pull out after a couple of laps and save myself for something less embarrassing!

Having witnessed some great running over my weekend in Des Moines I am pretty excited to be racing again, just seeing the guys laying it all out is extremely inspiring and it makes me hungry to pour out the pain. So this is my philosophy... early on sit in the pack like Jan Frodeno, then make my presence felt like Brad Kahlefeldt, on the last lap make my move like Lukas Salvisberg and then kick like hell like Simon Whitfield. If it all goes to plan I'll be a happy guy! But as we all know, plans on paper hardly ever work out in real life.