Harlow Running Club

Bishops Stortford Cross Country - 14th February 2010

Race Length: ~4.78 miles (cross country)

Course Best: 35.30 (7.26 min/mile) in December 2007

Outcome: 36.07 (7.33 min/mile)

Splits: 6:49 7:37 7:12 7:36 (6:19 - for 0.78 miles)

Nemisis Score (I beat - beat me): 1 - 2

Just a shortish blog that I hope will not sound too much like an excuse list!

I went in to todays race having done A LOT of milage this week. Coming off the back of Great Bentley Half, I ran the following:

 Tuesday: to beginners, beginners, speedwork (cruise intervals only), to train station, up hill home.

Wednesday: to track, track session (including 1.6 Km warm up, 4 x 1 Km, 800m warm down)

Thursday: 17.1 miles broken up in to a 6.2 and 10.9 mile sections by ~20 minutes.

I had switched my long run around to allow for the 8 houses Vicky and I were looking at on Saturday. Normally I would have done my 18 mile long run on Saturday (bu at the slow end of my training range), accepting that my performance today would be compromised. However, the Thursday swap meant that I could be rested for today effectively making it a fast tempo run/race (i.e. what Thursday would have been). As it turned out, I was still pretty knackered. I set off OK, but by mile 2 had got a slight stitch. Although it went reasonably quickly, I never really recovered from it and it was a case of hanging on from half way. Come the final muddy incline my legs were shot - thank god I did not have to go for a sprint finish!

I finished 37th in 36.07, slower than 2 years ago. However, it should be noted that that year was cold/crisp so the underfoot conditions were not as muddy. 

I got beaten by some of the runners that I finished infront of at Great Bentley last week, one of whom sailed past me at 2 miles as if I was standing still. I must remember that todays result is not the focus of my current training schedule. This was a good strength/lactate threshold building run that is setting me towards my half and marathon goals for the year.

I will be introducing a new concept in this blog (but one I have always maintained in my head) - the running nemesis.

This concept is well described by an excellent book called "The looniness of a Long Distance Runner." Here the author describes them as:

 "that person you identify in a race that you want to beat at all costs."

Quite often your nemises starts off as a random person in a race that you have never met before. A classic example was the runner in a 10K midweek league last year that I knew I was going to the line with at 4K. Racing him to the line became the whole race focus. (I did beat him BTW!). Such a runner can become a more regular nemisis if you see them at more races. More often than not, your running nemesis is usually a club mate (or a runner from another club) that you race against on a regualr basis. Since you are always end up running along side or finishing close to them etc. these are the people you want to beat. If the nemisis is a woman, then all the better - male pride is of course at stake!

So who are these nemeses you ask? Well the thing is, only I know who they are and they can change. For example, I did have one nemisis who has now got a lot faster than me. As I no longer have a chance of getting near them, they no longer hold this honour.

So, who are my current nemeses? Well, at Great Bentley, there were 5 and I beat 4. The one I did not beat has now been promoted to non nemisis status and it is not DA) Today, there were 3 nemeses participating and I beat only 1.

Answers on a post card...