Archive for August, 2009

Route – Draycote Water park

August 17th, 2009

Got back to my long run yesterday. It was supposed to be around the 18 mile mark but i really didn’t fancy fiddling around sorting out a precise route so plumped for a few laps of Draycote Water instead.

Draycote Water is about 25 minutes from the centre of Coventry. Make sure you pay and display at the machine as you drive through the entrance or you’ll be trekking back to get your ticket.

The route is fairly straight forward. Each lap of the reservoir is approximately 5 miles. Pick your start point and off you go. The paths are well kept and there are facilities (3 portaloos) at intervals along the route as well as those in the main visitor centre. There are many other people out walking, running, cycling the route but there’s plenty of room for everyone (do keep your ears/eyes open on some bends for cyclists/other runners).

The route is flat along two sides of the route and the others are, to me, hilly – a few fairly short, steep climbs up and then back down again. I didn’t think this at the time but this mix of flat/hills are a great route for training on.

I ran 3 laps coming in at a well paced 40 mins for each one. I took 5 minutes break between laps as this was supposed to be a long and slow run. Didn’t feel that I was at a race temp but think I should still be going at a slower pace. I also tried out some energy gels at the end of each lap. I seem to get on better with the

I also took a rucksack with me this contained a hydration pack and my camera so this was a new experience for me running with any sort of weight on my back.

I toyed with the idea of a fourth lap but after a well argued debate between my head and my legs I decided to call it a day. I warmed down and just took in the views for a while before heading back to the car and home.


View Draycote water park in a larger map

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Black Park parkrun – Race 5

August 17th, 2009
I took a trip down to the Black Park parkrun on Saturday. It’s massively out of the way I know but it looked the closest parkrun to the midlands. I was on a bit of a fact finding mission as i’m fairly keen to see one started up in Coventry and wanted to know what was involved. I have to say I was very impressed!
I arrived fairly early and there were a few cars in the car park. I took a bit of a wander to warm up and returned about 15 minutes later to a much fuller car park and a buzz in the air. I made my way up to where the runners were gathering around the enquiry desk (handily located picnic bench) and just soaked up the atmosphere. There was about 80 people taking part in the run. A pleasing mixture of young and not so young, male/female.
Everyone lined up for the start and we were off on a well signposted, simple route on a gravel track around the park. Four lefts, two rights and before I knew it, it’s over! and i’m heading to the finishing line – ushered on by an encouraging cyclist. On the line your time is recorded and then you’re given a position token.
It took a couple of minutes to queue to register my name against my position token on the computer with the run organisers, but nothing off-putting. It gave me a chance to take some much need breath. Once that was done that was it, a well organised process from start to finish.
I stood and watched the rest of the participants finishing off and then headed home again.
Some of the other runners headed to a nearby cafe but I had to start the trek home.
A few hours later I recevied an email detailing my time for the day’s run. A couple more hours later and all the details are up on the site ready for viewing.

I took a trip down to the Black Park parkrun on Saturday. It’s massively out of the way I know but it looked the closest parkrun to the midlands. I was on a bit of a fact finding mission as i’m fairly keen to see one started up in Coventry and wanted to know what was involved. I have to say I was very impressed!

I arrived fairly early and there were a few cars in the car park. I took a bit of a wander to warm up and returned about 15 minutes later to a much fuller car park and a buzz in the air. I made my way up to where the runners were gathering around the enquiry desk (handily located picnic bench) and just soaked up the atmosphere. There was about 80 people taking part in the run. A pleasing mixture of young and not so young, male/female.

Everyone lined up for the start and we were off on a well signposted, simple route on a gravel track around the park. Four lefts, two rights and before I knew it, it’s over! and i’m heading to the finishing line – ushered on by an encouraging cyclist. On the line your time is recorded and then you’re given a position token.

It took a couple of minutes to queue to register my name against my position token on the computer with the run organisers, but nothing off-putting. It gave me a chance to take some much need breath. Once that was done that was it, a well organised process from start to finish.

I stood and watched the rest of the participants finishing off and then headed home again.

Some of the other runners headed to a nearby cafe but I had to start the trek home.

A few hours later I recevied an email detailing my time for the day’s run and then a couple more hours later and all the details are up on the site ready for viewing.

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Photos from a run (12 August 2009)

August 12th, 2009

I took my camera out with me yesterday. I don’t do it as often as i’d like partly because on some of the runs i’d be spending all my time taking photos and partly because I need to carry a rucksack which is just an extra thing for me to be thinking about when i’m running.

Anyway just a couple of pictures from a fairly gloomy morning.

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Running jackets (August 2009)

August 5th, 2009

It’s the start of August and i’m shopping around for a waterproof running jacket. Got caught in the rain this morning and think my old jacket has to be put out to pasture. Hoping not to be using the new jacket much over the rest of the summer though! I’m after a windproof and waterproof jacket that I can also hopefully use over the winter – with a few layers underneath.

I had a scout around the usual stores and some pointers from the running forums to get an overview of what’s currently available.

Over on the runner’s world forum there seems to be a consensus that Montane make a decent jacket or two:

Montane featherlite marathon jacket

The cheapest I could find this was at:

Rooughgear.co.uk – £32
Sportsshoes.com – £25

Montane Lite-Speed H2O Jacket

The cheapest places I found for this jacket were:

Towerridge.co.uk – £59
Outdoorkit.co.uk - £63
Achillesheel.co.uk - £70
Likeys.com – £65

I had a look around at the usual suspect manufacturers:

Adidas: Adistar Goretex Running Jacket 2009

Alexandrasports.com – £46
Achillesheel.co.uk – £60

Nike:

Nike Clima-Fit Hooded Jacket

Sweatshop.co.uk – £45
Sportsshoes.com – £45
John Lewis.com – £44

Nike Mens Gore Windstopper Jacket

Prodirectrunning.com - £100
Prodirectrunning.com – £50
Sportsshoes.com – £60
Amazon.co.uk -  £60

Brooks Nightlife Jacket

Prodirectrunning.com - £60
Alexandrasports.com – £45
Bournesports.com – £45

Ron Hill Vizion Advance Windlite Pro Running Jacket

Sportsshoes.com – £30
Alexandrasports.com – £55
Simplyrun.co.uk – £44

This is a very quick skim round of what’s available at the moment.

If you have any favourites or recommendations (or stuff not to touch with a barge pole) then add a comment below.

Oh and a new store i’d not heard of before: Likeys.com http://www.likeys.com

(Not linked with any of the above stores/brands, prices were what i found today, and comparisons were between jackets that looked the same to me!)

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Race report – Tenbury 10k August 2009

August 2nd, 2009

I drove down to the Tenbury 10k 2009 this morning. The drive took a lot longer than I thought and the planned hour of calm preparation turned into about 25 minutes. There was ample parking and you just needed to follow the signs for the swimming pool to find your way. (I managed to miss this the first time around but followed the trail of runners on my second pass). The race started off on a flat playing field and the 220ish participants flooded out through a gateway turning left on to the first hill of the day.

Not too bad as starts go and as soon as you hit the top you’re heading downhill again. There’s then a further set of inclines on the route that once you get to the top of you’re filled with a bit of relief that all the hard work’s done and it’s all downhill from there. That was a bit of a mistake and at around the half way point there is a further hill. It was a bit of a killer but once you reach the top it’s mainly downhill from there. The route takes you along a shaded path and at the end you come out just behind the start and it’s then the run-in to the finish line.

All in this was a great race. The organisation was quietly efficient and everything went smoothly from arrival to departure. The only oddity I found was the markers which were at mile intervals rather than kilometre but once you get your mind round that it’s not a problem. The marshalling and signposting was excellent and on a warm day the 4/5 waterstations along the route were most welcome. The route was very scenic with a few spectators/locals dotted around – but the finish was well supported. Nice medal, water and mars bar in the goody bag – with an invite to join in the 10 mile Fell Race in the Mortimer Forest December 2009, i’ll have to think about that one.

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