The book is essentially split into 3 main sections: his life as an athlete, his life as a politician and his role in the run up to the 2012 games. It provides an insight into what is required of a full time athlete, his relationship with his father (who was also his coach) and the influences of others within athletics to make the early 80's possibly the most competitive period for middle distance athletics.
Cross country and road runner, triathlete and duathlete. Member of Team Freespeed Triathlon Team and Serpentine Running Club
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Seb Coe book review and another bike crash
The book is essentially split into 3 main sections: his life as an athlete, his life as a politician and his role in the run up to the 2012 games. It provides an insight into what is required of a full time athlete, his relationship with his father (who was also his coach) and the influences of others within athletics to make the early 80's possibly the most competitive period for middle distance athletics.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Duathlon Racing
The previous week Rich and I had gone to recce the bike course. It was a filthy wet Sunday, the road was covered in leaves and, if it was like this the following week, coming off the bike could be quite likely. It was good to get an understanding of the course, where you could push it on the bike, where you needed to hold back and the magnitude of Box Hill.
Roll on a week and we were fortunate to have a stunning November morning. Temperatures were only just above freezing, but it was clear, dry and the organisers had done a good job of clearing the debris from the road. With the race starting at 8am, my alarm had gone off at 4:30am to give sufficient time to arrive on the start line fairly relaxed.
Having to prepare for both 16 miles running and 24 miles cycling meant getting the right clothing was key: too many layers and you'd overheat on the run, too few and the wind chill on the bike could bring your core temperature down and consequently impact performance. I went for a long sleeve t-shirt, arm warmers and a tri-suit.
We set off towards Headley Common on the first of the five 8-mile laps. This was a race that was going to last well over 2.5 hours, so I held back on the fast pace set by the early leaders and sat in at 6-minute miling. After a couple of miles, the pace at the front slowed and Rich and I pushed through and started to put some distance between us and the rest of the field. It was important to capitalise on our running strength given that there are invariably always competitors who are very strong cyclists, and they can easily take minutes out of you whilst on the bike discipline. I was also a little concerned that Rich is both stronger than me on the bike and normally (although not necessarily on this occasion) very efficient in transition, so feeling good, I pushed on the pace going up Box Hill and started to form a reasonable lead.
Transition was fine and I was out on the bike keeping a steady 20mph and working hard to make sure I stayed warm. The bike discipline has always been my weakest when it comes to triathlon and, with my only cycling miles since September having been done commuting the 6 miles to/from work on a 30 year old racer, preparation for the Ballbuster had been limited. The upside of this is that when I switch to my 'proper' racing bike it feels like it weighs nothing.
I thought that as long as no one over took me within the first 1.5 laps of the 3 lap bike course, I'd be able to catch them on the second run. It came as a bit of a blow when Hugh MacKensie overtook me half way up the Box Hill climb on the first lap. This didn't deter me from holding back and I wanted to make sure I lost as little ground as possible on the new leader. The added complexity on the second and third laps was the other cyclists on their first and second laps respectively, and having to yell out that a faster rider was coming through on the right.
After 3 laps, I ditched the bike and got out on the second run. Someone yelled out to me that I was 2 minutes behind the leader; not an unreasonable gap to catch up, but one that would require a big effort. As a novice duathlete, running off the bike is not something I've practiced and it took a couple of miles before my body had adjusted itself between the two disciplines. I couldn't see the leader, nor could I see who was behind me in 3rd, so dug in and simply aimed for a decent second run-split. Some 4 miles into the second run, someone yelled out that I was only 90 seconds behind, so I was catching but not quick enough. However only a few minutes later I took the lead, passing a tired leader. I felt good and was actually looking forward to the final ascent up Box Hill.
I took first place in 2:37.59, with Rich clocking 2:41.15 for 2nd and Alan 4th in 2:44.30.
I still have quite a bit to learn when it comes to duathlon: transition, bike technique, running off the bike and nutrition are some things to work on, but I definitely plan to take part in a couple of events in 2013.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Napoli Cycle Trip
Summary of the Summer
The A-Bot |
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Countdown to London 2012
- Will David Rudisha set a new World Record in the 800m?
- Will Rebecca Adlington win both the women's 400m and 800m freestyle?
Monday, 2 July 2012
Looking back on the Ironman
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Crash!!!!!!
Friday, 25 May 2012
London Marathon Recovery and Regents Park Cycling
Sunday, 29 April 2012
High-5's at the Virgin London Marathon
Mile | Time | Cumulative time |
---|---|---|
1 | 5:15.68 | 5:15.68 |
2 | 5:18.88 | 10:34.56 |
3 | 5:09.49 | 15:44.05 |
4 | 5:27.45 | 21:11.50 |
5 | 5:23.47 | 26:34.97 |
6 | 5:25.69 | 32:00.66 |
7 | 5:25.07 | 37:25.73 |
8 | 5:14.39 | 42:40.12 |
9 | 5:25.44 | 48:05.56 |
10 | 5:18.08 | 53:23.64 |
11 | 5:20.18 | 58:43.82 |
12 | 5:29.34 | 1:04:13.16 |
13 | 5:31.94 | 1:09:45.10 |
14 | 5:18.04 | 1:15:03.14 |
15 | 5:13.70 | 1:20:16.84 |
16 | 5:32.80 | 1:25:49.64 |
17 | 5:29.75 | 1:31:19.39 |
18 | 5:31.58 | 1:36:50.97 |
19 | 5:35.84 | 1:42:26.81 |
20 | 5:36.03 | 1:48:02.84 |
21 | 5:44.75 | 1:53:47.59 |
22 | 5:41.13 | 1:59:28.72 |
23 | 5:43.14 | 2:05:11.86 |
24 | 5:36.77 | 2:10:48.63 |
25 | 5:58.62 | 2:16:47.25 |
26 | 5:52.35 | 2:22:39.60 |
26.24 | 1:12.89 | 2:23.52.49 |
Thursday, 12 April 2012
SWIMBAD!
In my lead up to the London Marathon, I have averaged 70 miles per week, have double run less than 5 times and have not had a day off exercise between 1st January an 6th April. My weekly mileage may seem a little low for your average runner aiming to get a low 2:20’s marathon time, and not having had a day off could be seen as not giving my body sufficient recovery; however there is an element of my training that provides the rational for this: 40% of my time spent training is swimming.
This seems unconventional for a runner, but as someone who finds running first thing in the morning tricky, believes in active recovery and is susceptible to injury when the mileage is ramped up, I feel that swimming provides an equivalent cardio workout without my legs having to suffer on the road or country.
Having learnt to swim when I less than 5, I took a long break from it before taking it up again when I moved to London 6 years ago. Picking up the technique when I was much younger has been extremely beneficial and is something that you never seem to loose, however it has taken several years for my lungs and upper body to adjust gradually and allow me cover about 4km each morning. I always think of the morning swim as equivalent to a steady 5 mile run, but without the pounding on the pavement.
One question I was asked recently was how I avoid bulking out too much on my upper body, given that swimming is so reliant on arm strength. One reason I believe is my approach to the swim session. I never do sets or allow my body to become fatigued with lactic acid; instead I swim non-stop and at a continuous pace for an hour. This way I can burn a significant amount of energy and hence prevent any significant muscle development. It does provide my upper body with strength and conditioning, but without having to lift weights, something that could indeed build excessive muscle mass.
I appreciate this approach to swimming may not get me any faster in the pool, but swimming is not my main interest, and I feel its important that any swim session must not detract from the quality of any other run I may be doing that day. It is simply to allow me to achieve more cardio workouts, adheres to my approach of active recovery through maintaining a good flow of blood to the legs and can allow me to continue to train and maintain a reasonable level of fitness even when I may be carrying a leg injury.
I imagine that post London I’ll hit the pool pretty frequently until my legs fully recover, after which I’ll revert back to my typical training schedule.
I appreciate that swimming may not be for everyone, but if you find your legs are hurting, or you feel you need a little more strength in your upper body, then why not give it a go.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Eastleigh 10k
Friday, 16 March 2012
Some warm weather training in Lanzarote
My personal aim for the week was not to use the additional time to pack in significantly more mileage, but to allow my body to recover completely after each session. This is something that I find difficult to include in London; trying to juggle 70 miles running, 20 kilometres swimming and some long hours, it often means that its the recovery/sleep gets the chop.
Below is the training that I completed in the last 7 days. In particular, the sessions and long Sunday went well, and I feel its given me the confidence to be able to realise my goal for the London Marathon. These have been:
Despite it being a relatively tough week, I am returning to the UK feeling refreshed and in a good mindset, first for the Eastleigh 10k on Sunday, then probably for a marathon paced effort at Reading Half, before hitting the taper into the London Marathon.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Hyde Park Relays - Greenleaf family tradition since 1963....
Ten years ago I ran in my first Hyde Park Relays as a 1st year student for Nottingham University. That year we came 7th overall and the picture on the right shows me handing over to Ed Jackson, who ran the 3rd fastest time that day. Since then, I have tried to compete in the race as frequently as possible as it’s always a great event from the Uni Relay calendar.
My parents often come to watch the race, and my Dad always has had a particular interest in the event as he competed in the winning team in 1963. That year Ron Hill helped lead their Manchester Team to victory and a course record. He writes an interesting perspective about the race in his book “The Long Hard Road - Part One: Nearly To The Top”
I also found the article about the race from the Imperial College internal newspaper: http://felixonline.co.uk/archive/IC_1963/1963_0189_A.pdf
In addition to Ron Hill, the Hyde Park Relays has seen several other famous running names compete over the years, including Herb Elliott, Seb Coe, Richard Nerurkar and John Mayock.
In 2012, I was running in a team for my company, Capco. With about 300 employees in the UK, we have 29 different sports teams, including one for running. These sports teams provide a great way to get to know your colleagues away from the office and allow us take part in events where everyone shares a common interest.
The good weather brought loads of people out into Hyde Park, so there were a fair few dogs and people to dodge on the 3.2 mile loop. I think Cambridge won the race overall, with Glen Watts clocking the fastest time in 15:38. Frustratingly for me, that was just 3 seconds faster than my time, but I had no idea this was the case as I was running leg 1 and he was running leg 5.
High fives to the Alan Hall and his team of Imperial College for putting on a great event!
National Cross Country 2012
I first ran the National as a senior in 2005, where I finished in 218th; I came 78th last year; and I was hoping for some further improvement this year. Given there were almost 1700 competitors in the Senior Men’s race, it was important to make a fast start to prevent being boxed in, as the width of the course narrows significantly after just 400m.
It took most of the first lap before everyone settled down into their position as fast starters faded and slower starters move gradually through the field. After 6km, I found myself in a group of runners including Darren Deed, Dave Norman, Chris Smith and Phil Hinch; all very good club runners whom, until this year, I was nowhere near being able to compete against.
Running within a group means that you constantly feel under pressure to stick with the pace and any lost concentration can see you rapidly fall off the back. While physically very demanding, it’s likely you will maintain your place in the field, or even move to a higher position. I managed to stick with the group until about 10km before the fatigue started to build in my legs and I knew full well that I was struggling to keep up. However, I refused to give in and the gap hardly widened all the way to the finish. There was no respite all the way to the end either, as other runners were packing in close behind and any loss of focus would easily have seen me drop 5 places.
I came 31st overall in a field of 1689. There are great videos of all the races at http://www.athleticos.org/coverage/248314-2012-National-Cross-Country-Championships……certainly some inspiration for racing in 2013.