John Travolta and the magic toadstools

Saturday morning and I went with my Mum to walk/run a route a route for her walking group next Saturday. The car park we had planned to start from was blocked off so we went to Saint Hill Manor. As we parked up I was reliably informed that this was the HQ for Scientology and that everyone was welcome - oh good but at least it was free parking. we set off on the circular route and before long my Mum shared with me a recent celebrity based local happening. So it goes, one of John Travolta's peoplel from the Scientolgy HQ called up KFC and tried to reserve a table for him and some friends as he was away on a conference/event and fancied some finger lickin' goodness. Not even dubious that this could be a crank call, the Colonels finest told them that they would have to queue up like everyone else as they don't book tables, whoever they are! so it seems that JT and his crew went to a cafe up the road - it is unclear whether he ordered the chicken. 

The next part of the run was slightly less celebrity based and a bit more magic toadstool like. It seems that all sorts of wild mushrooms and toadstools were popping up all along this lovely, trail based run. The most spectacular finding was a cluster of red toadstools, they almost didn't look real but they most certainly were. Bounding through the woods, toadstools everywhere, when a horse trotted over to us I almost expected it to start talking to me... instead it saw that I had no food for it and made a swift exit!

Faster than a car

So for the second Friday on the trot I replaced my Thursday evening run with a pre-work easy run in the morning. I started on the roads and as I ran up the A20 overtaking traffic I noticed that some drivers were deliberately driving at the pace I was running (I guess there is not much else to do when the traffic keeps backing up). This then made me more wary of my speed as I tried to beat them along

Old Perry Street

towards Chislehurst. I was winning overall I reckon but it was getting a bit silly!

I decided to detour into Scadbury to escape the traffic (before the traffic started to clear too much) and relax my pace a little. Much better, the ground was damp but firm and the trees were golden with their leaves scattered on the ground. Surprisingly I didn't see another soul in the woods, not even a dog walker which surprised me on such a lovely morning. Lovely way to start the day.

Technique application

Tuesday night runs are never the easiest after a race on Sunday, this week was no exception although as we ascended hill after hill I felt fairly strong and was able to maintain a good consistent pace. I tried to put into practise some of the techniques I had learned at the track on Saturday, so I pumped my arms and focussed on breathing out and who knows if it helped or not but I suspect it did especially on those hills. 
It feels rather odd trying to change things about my running and to focus so much and things like my breathing or the movement of my arms but I'm sure soon enough it will become second nature to me if it works.

Swanley XC Race (5 Miles)

With an 11am start and a race so local an early morning was not required (except to be up and eat my porridge 3 hours pre-race). I was collected by John and Hannah and we set off to Swanley ready to run in the latest PWR grand prix event. I was expecting a pretty tough and muddy race today and following the track session yesterday it was anybody's guess as to how my legs might behave themselves. I had sort of given myself the target of 9min/miles for the course knowing that it would be tough and ultimately I wasn't far off (well a minute under). 
The race started after a 2minute silence for Remembrance Sunday and it was immediately tough with a quickly narrowing route and a huge number of runners still clustered together. After the first lap the field had thinned somewhat but this seemed to make little difference as we entered the woods and a single file trail, my pace soon dropped to over 11min/miles as the runners jammed up and no space for overtaking. I took the opportunity to catch my breath and prepare for the next opening when I could step it up. Before long we were out into open ground again and I was able to pick up my pace. Despite the course feeling tough I tried to concentrate on breathing out and pumping my arms as we had been practising yesterday at the track. It started to work and managed to pass a few runners, gradually increasing my speed again. It was great to see support around the course and as there were a few double backs I spotted several other PWRs and tried to shout encouragement as they did to me too. The second lap through the woods the field had thinned sufficiently that I could maintain a decent pace and emerged pretty shot with a little over a mile to go still. breathe out, pump arms, breathe out, pump arms I continued and then I could see the finish, I wasn't sure how close anyone was behind me but they wouldn't pass me now. I dug deep for the sprint finish, made it over the line and promptly started to heave, it was done, and so was I.
I didn't have much time to chat with the other PWRs as I had to shoot off pretty sharpish but glad I went along and great to have so many familiar faces and support around the course and running - feels good to be part of the club. 

Breathing, stride length and pump those arms

Saturday morning was our bi-weekly Petts Wood Runners track training session. This week led by super coach Peter B. With 10 of us turning out we were ready to run, following Peter with some techniques to improve our speed.

The new techniques we practised were in summary: 
1. Work on breathing out.
2. Working on using your arms to drive your legs remember, forwards and back and not across the body.
3. Extending the stride at the end of a race.
Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint something that is improving your speed but as we added these techniques we ran 400m timed laps, I managed to knock 10 seconds off the first lap time when adding the new techniques so I was pretty pleased and will do as advised and start trying to bring them into my other runs during the week. Hopefully in two weeks when we are back at the track I may even know a few seconds off my 1km timed run.
The track sessions are so good, I really feel the benefits and as a few of us discussed many of us hadn't run on a tracks since we were at school. In my case I think that was perhaps a one off at the Don valley Stadium (Sheffield) when it first opened so it still feels a bit special and it makes you want to perform. For £3.50 and improved times I am certainly not complaining!