Change as good as a rest

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October 8, 2012 by shortbloke

All this triathlon activity has given me a taste for out door activity that does not include spinning wheels. That’s really why I am warming to triathlon. The variety is interesting.

So, in a slight change of scene, I took part in a large foot based Sportive this weekend. The Standalone 10K is a well established annual road race that has been winding it’s way around Standalone farm in the rural idyll of Letchworth in North Herts once a year for the last quarter century. Well supported with over 1,100 runners, the event is exceptionally well organised with closed roads, a drink stop at the half way point, multiple marshals at literally every turn, an interesting if slightly lumpy route and something I particularly appreciate, kilometre markers through the entire route.

I bowled up with a specific target in mind. I was going to crack 50 minutes. I’ve been trying to crack 5 minutes kms for ages. I can do it over one or two kms but maintaining that pace consistently has eluded me. With all these serious looking runners around me, I felt this would be a good opportunity to up the pace and finally record a time over 10K that starts with a 4.

Unfortunately I made a critical tactical error in my preparation. Mrs ShortBloke and other spouses came to support me and the team with which I was running (yay!). Standing around idly chatting while waiting for everyone to turn up we sucked down a large cup of hot tea without really thinking about it.

And the relevance of that is what ? Ask a random male over the age of 45. Chances are they will know instantly. Cut a long story short, I spent 49 minutes and 52 seconds actually running and 34 seconds on a short nature break around the 5 km mark, 26 seconds of which pushed me over my target time.

Still, despite the fact I missed my target by a few spurts and a brisk shake, I can be pleased with a new personal best of 50:26 over this distance. Even though it almost made me puke, the full sprint over the last 150 metres was also particularly satisfying. Part of the motivation for that now apparently characteristic strong finish was the hope that Mrs ShortBloke would be able to snap a great action shot for the family album. I had told her to expect me between 50 and 55 mins after the start. Whilst I was pleased to have come in at the sharp end of that prediction, she took the downside and was unfortunately not quite ready with the camera as I rounded the final corner.

“Quick, take the picture!”

So, what did we learn ?

Just like the sight of a £4,000 carbon fibre jewel encrusted mean machine being passed by 1950’s steel framed Rayleigh butcher’s bike is not uncommon at many Sportives around the country, body shape and running style is no way to judge the performance of a runner in one of these amateur running events. In amongst the ranks of tall, lean and smooth paced runners recording times under 40 minutes, there were plenty of runners with body shapes and unconventional looking running styles that, in the absence of first hand evidence, I would not intuitively associate with speed on two feet. We have already established the eternal truth in cycling that spending less on doughnuts is a far better way to improve performance than spending more on super light bike parts. Some truths about running are now also emerging.

• Being tall and lanky or particularly stuffed full of slow twitch muscle fibre is not a prerequisite for achieving moderately good amateur race times over 10K
• books should not be judged by their covers nor runners by their body shape and running style
• I am not a natural distance runner. My times and the photos tell me my running stance is stiff and uncomfortable. There’s work to be done there, perhaps some advice to be taken and clearly room for improvement

Some other observations

Many more women run than ride. It’s hard to say exactly, but on most rides The Blokes do, especially the long rides, female participation rarely exceeds 10% or 15%.  At a rough guess I would say female participation was more like 40% on this run. I do wonder why that is. If anyone can tell me why more women run than ride, I would be interested to hear.

Running is far less time consuming. I can fit a properly hard training run into an hour, including a refreshing shower at the end. A short but useful run might be 30 minutes. I can barely get warm on a bike in that time. An hour’s ride is the absolute minimum that is really useful. Two hours is good, and three hours essential every now and then. In a way, I wish I enjoyed running more and cycling less. I’d have way more time to slouch on the couch with one of the small people’s chocolate cakes.

Running is the best way for me to lose weight. It’s only since I started running that I have managed to slip back down below 12 stone, despite the small people’s frequent baking projects and the odd Cadbury relapse. I think I know why that is. My heart rate today was rarely under 175 and never below 160. That’s an hour of high heart rate. An hour of burning energy at a high rate. My guess is that running at that rate rips through the excess sugars in my bloodstream in no time at all. Once that is gone, the blubber around my waste doesn’t stand a chance.

That kind of extended high heart rate rarely happens on the bike, where down hill stretches and drafting make it easier to ease off for extended periods. Plus, I probably replace more energy than I consume on particularly long rides, what with my tendency to constantly suck down gels and energy bars and stop at every feed station along the way.

As the year progresses focus will inevitably gravitate towards rotational propulsion. The Gau is calling, and I am obliged to answer. However, I’m going to try and mix it up a little this year. That means keeping up the wet pursuits and putting my feet down over some more 10K stretches. If nothing else, it’ll save me a fortune in super light bike parts.