I set myself a goal a while back – something to challenge myself with aside from the weekly training schedule. I’m aiming to do the Snowdonia Marathon in October 2009.
I read various articles and reports on this including 9 questions to discover a marathon : Snowdonia Marathon and Runner’s World Readers’ Top 50 Races 2008 and Snowdonia tied in with my timing.
Really looking forward to this one!
I’m sticking well to my schedule so far. The general plan is to make sure i get a run out first thing in the morning and, if i can fit it in, an interval/ speed/ weights session in the evening. The week’s rounded off with a long, slow run on a Sunday – or a race depended on where i am in the schedule.
Last week started well. Monday was my day off so of course i spent that lazing in bed. Well that’s not quite how it happened, I ended up getting a little lost on a long run. The rest of the week was pretty normal – i mixed in a new morning route just to break up the routine a little bit. So last week:
Monday – 14 miles
Tuesday – 4 miles in the morning, weights session in the evening
Wednesday – 7 miles in the morning
Thursday – 7 miles in the morning
Friday – Fartleks for 4 miles in the morning, weights session in the evening
So 36 miles for the week.
Saturday and Sunday were a bit of a wash out but used them up as rest days.
Did my long run this morning – had this one planned for last week but best laid plans and all that. So this run not surprisingly start in Cannon Park car park. There are a couple of reasons for this:
You could start most of these routes from the Memorial Park park and ride car park too.
Back to today… I headed up to the Kenilworth Road via Cannon Hill Road. I followed the Kenilworth Road all the way to Warwick Road past the rail station and towards the town centre.
There is a route along the Coventry ring road that you can take on foot. I believe you can walk the whole way round though parts of it do involve subways. You can avoid the subways with some careful road crossing or slight diversions.
I followed the ring road round to the botton of the Radford Road. Run all the way up the Radford Road. The Radford Road becomes the Tamworth Road near to the Royal Court Hotel follow this along until you see Hollyfast Lane on your left. Hollyfast Lane is a country lane – it was surprisingly quiet this morning – and the views in the sun this morning were wonderful. Still amazed at the green spaces that are around Coventry and loving exploring these on foot.
At the end of Hollyfast Lane turn left onto Wall Hill Road. I got myself a bit lost here. I knew basically where I was but it was t-junction and my bearings had forseaken me. Walked for a bit in either direction but couldn’t convince myself one way or the other. Luckily I had my phone with me, it took about 10 seconds to get on the internet and dowload the google maps to my phone. A quick search and I was heading left!
Take a right on to Hawkes Mill Lane and a left onto Browns Lane. At the bottom of Browns Lane go onto Birmingham Road. This is where this morning got interesting for a second time. I had to take the long route round the Pickford roundabout. I wanted to run up the A45 but couldn’t see a path going up the slip road. I’m sure there is a path further up but didn’t fancy finding out. Anyone know if there is a path? Where it starts and how to get onto it?
So I cut through Allesley Park. Again I got a bit lost here but headed out onto Winsford Avenue that takes you onto Broad Lane. Turn right up Broad Lane and that brings you to the A45. A bit of a detour but I wasn’t in a rush to get back. So along the A45 and through the subway just after Burnsall Road. Down to Sir Henry Parkes Road and back up to Cannon Park.
This route is mainly along footpaths and can be hilly at times. I didn’t see a single other runner but I guess we runners have to work too! Nice long run.
View Kersley in a larger map
I watched the end of the fun run before setting off for the start of this 5k. Great level of enthusiasm from the younger runners that I saw and good support along the finish line.
So a small trek to the start line on Staircase Lane – organisers in Allesley races like their hill starts!
The course was along footpaths once you got on to Coundon Wedge Drive. A hill takes you along Wall Hill Road and this brings you to the top of Browns Lane. Browns Lane dips down towards the final hill of the course – The Windmill Hill. Once you’ve climbed this hill it’s flat/downward run to Birmingham Road and the Finish.
I liked this race. There were about 50 entrants and a friendly vibe throughout. Despite being a relatively small race there were plenty of friendly marshalls along the route and there was sporadic local support too. A medal and plenty of refreshments at the Finish line – what more could you ask for? My thanks to the organisers!
And this is the route for the Allesley festival 5k. Not too sure about the start but it’s close to there:
View Allesley festival 5k in a larger map
If you’re looking to join a running club in Coventry then here’s a list and a map of all those that i’ve been able to find:
Coventry Godiva Harriers
http://www.coventry-godiva-harriers.org.uk
Kenilworth Runners
http://www.kenilworthrunners.co.uk
Massey Ferguson Runners Club
http://www.masseyrunners.co.uk
Northbrook AC, Coventry
http://www.northbrookac.org.uk
Saracens Running Club, Coventry
http://website.lineone.net/~saracensrc/index.htm
Sphinx AC
http://www.sphinx.org.uk
View Running clubs in and around Coventry in a larger map
I’ve been a bit lax with my blog posts. It’s not that I haven’t been doing anything! Last week:
Monday – 4 miles in the morning and then a circuit session in the evening
Tuesday – 4 miles in the morning and then an interval session in the evening
Wednesday – 4 miles in the morning and then circuit and weight session in the evening
Thursday – 4 miles in the morning and then a sports massage in the evening (Fire and Earth UK)
Friday – 4 miles in the morning then a weight session in the gym
Saturday – 4.8 km slow but steady paced run
Sunday – no long run on Sunday i just took a rest day and took it easy in the sun.
So keeping up with the regime and the two workouts for most of my weekdays. So still happy and getting through it all.
Saturday i took a visit to the Coventry Runner store. Excellent service again. They’ve updated a bit since the last time I was there. There’s now video gait analysis available (for a fee which is refunded if you purchase trainers).
Basically a video camera is pointed at your feet as you run on a treadmill. The camera records all the movement of your feet for a period of time. When it’s played back you’re able to see how much pronation (if any) there is as you move and advice is then given as to which type of trainer you should be looking at – so they fetch down a few pairs of trainers and it’s back on the treadmill for a try out of the trainers and another video session to see how those trainers affect your running.
Very interesting to see the video of me running, particularly in slow motion, they’re able to point out how you should be running and you can see the difference that the different trainer styles make to your running.
All in it’s a relaxed evnironment to shop in and the guy who served me (whose name I forgot to ask for) was a runner and knew all about the trainers he was selling (i’d done my research too!). They’re updating the resources on their web site soon so it may be worth checking in there in the near future – or now if you haven’t done so already.
For those interested I pronate a bit so a structured trainer was advised – again you could see the difference on the video. Left the shop with two pairs: Nike Air Structure triax+ and Mizuno Wave Inspire
Oh and they also have details of the local races that are coming up – Massey Runners, Coventry, Corporate 5 Challenge at Uni of Warwick Tues 18 Aug was a new one to me!
© 2010 Running Coventry · Proudly powered by WordPress & Green Park 2 by Cordobo.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS 3
