GLOUCESTER SPORTS BLOG

The Grand Finale

2012/02/14 at 15:15PM by Steve

Competed in the final fixture of the Birmingham Cross-Country League Division 2 on Saturday at an icy cold Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton. I've not run this course before so was looking forward to competing somewhere new. Walked the course beforehand so I knew how to plan my race, there were quite a few loops and it looked a fairly technical course, rather than just running round the edge of a few fields.

It was quite icy underfoot so I went for 12mm pins in my faithful Adidas XCS 2 spikes, quite glad I did as I saw a few guys in trainers slipping around on the later laps as the course cut up.

After a good warm-up, we set off with a small parade lap before 3 big laps, I settled in at the back of a lead pack of about 12-15 runners. Moving out onto the main lap, I slowly made my way forwards and pushed on up the short sharp slope into the top 10. I quite enjoyed the challenge of picking my way around the best racing line. Onto lap 2 and I was up to 9th place but feeling quite good, picked off another couple of chaps including a friend of mine who runs for our local rivals! Up to 6th place for lap 3 but I was having a good battle with one chap who kept overtaking me and then slowing at the turns. Back to 7th as he overtook me with 600m to go, but I got within sight of the finishing field and then took off! Almost caught 5th place but had to be satisfied with 6th.

Got to be happy with that after being ill recently and still limited to training only 3 to 4 times per week. The icing on the cake was finding out I'd finished 3rd overall for the season in the individual standings! Team performance was disappointing as we were missing a lot of runners, but we ended up 5th team for the season so not too bad. Had a warm-down lap in my Adidas Supernova Sequence 4's and then head for home.

Quite glad the cross-country season is over for me, I can now start putting in a bit more speedwork ready for the road season and then track and field! Happy running - Steve



Sickly Stir Fry and Sessions

2012/02/10 at 11:25AM by Pat

We've all been there, driving to a session with that feeling of "this is not going to go well tonight" buzzing round your head. You know that you are either going to be able to smash through it, or your session will resemble that of my attempt at x-country this year - rubbish.

 

Unfortunately I was in this exact position last night, driving to training with that slightly queezy feeling that only your friends first attempt at a stir fry can give you. Whether the chicken was at fault or (more likely) he was, I will never know, but after doing my best to cover up the fact that I was struggling to keep up on the warm up I lined up at the start of the famous 2 mile loop of Stroud. We set off and despite being properly dressed for the cold in a Canterbury Baselayer and a Nike Miler T-Shirt, I was shivering uncontrollably, and struggling for breath after a whole 50 metres. I'm a big believer that a lot of running is psychological, so I did my best to block any bad feelings, and im happy to say it worked! Until I got to a hill...

 

Anyway, I got round 1 of the 2 laps and called it a day as I was over a minute slower than I normally would be, so got back into my lovely warm car and got home pronto. I was aching all over, so to help combat this I put my Canterbury Mercury Compression on ( http://www.gloucestersports.com/shop-description.php?Sh=B&La=E&ID=1312245821 ). Skins currently seems to be the market leader in compression wear, but personally I really rate the Canterbury kit. The fit is spot on and whilst this shouldn't matter, I think they look great too! 

 

Stay safe,

 

Pat



Wrapping up warm!

2012/02/08 at 10:06AM by Steve

After a mild winter so far, the colder weather has finally arrived! We took a shop along to the Gloucestershire XC League at Tewkesbury on Saturday, and I had to admire the 250 committed (slightly insane!) runners who took part. Needless to say, sales of Canterbury baselayers were high! Selling at only £20 in-store and at events


This is the time of year where we need to be putting the miles in to provide a strong endurance platform for the summer, so it's simply a case of wear and extra layer or two and get out there! Happy running



Finally an excuse to start colour co-ordinating my kit!

2012/02/04 at 11:48AM by Pat


 

I often begin to wonder halfway through a long run whether I'm going to make it to the finish or not, an unfortunate result of my poor level of endurance fitness. But recently its been for an entirely different reason (even though my endurance is far from good!). With more and more news stories about walkers/dog walkers and runners claiming to of seen the infamous "big cat" that is apparently living in the Gloucester area. I have always dismissed this as nonsense, but every day somebody new has found the remains of this cats dinner - with some being in the woods where I do most of my running! Now i'm no scardy-cat (sorry!), but all of a sudden i'm looking over my shoulder every few minutes, and any dog that I come across terrifies me!

I thought I would wear some bright coloured kit so that the cat would see me coming, which finally gives me a proper excuse to wear my orange Adidas Tempos with my orange Saucony Epic long sleeve top! Smart. Despite looking like i've just been tangoe'd I seem to be running well this week, if i can carry this on for a little while then I think i can run a PB indoors soon, if I could just find some orange middle distance spikes....



Did someone say it was cold?

2012/02/02 at 13:10PM by Pat

It seems that everyone who has a facebook or twitter account (including us!) turns into a weatherman when it gets cold, with constant updates about how cold people are! I shouldn't mock though, as last thursday I was foolish enough to think "its not that cold" and go for a steady run around GLoucester in shorts and a t-shirt - a great idea until it started snowing! After realising I couldnt move my arms anymore I decided enough was enough and ran flat out back to my car (luckily helped by the fact that I was in my Adidas Tempo lightweight shoes and it was mainly downhill!) and sat there with the heaters on to try and thaw out!

The next day at work my wages took a significant hit as I stocked up on cold weather gear, buying some Nike arm warmers, a Canterbury Baselayer, and some Adidas Gloves! Suitably kitted up I decided to give them a proper test the next morning, and i'm happy to say they worked a treat, keeping me toasty warm!

The running seems to be going ok after recovering from my crippling man-flu so i'm going to be looking at upping my mileage again, which gives me the perfect excuse to get some new shoes I think!

Pat



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