Striders' cross country season: muddy good fun!

As the cross country season draws to a close, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on what has been a successful and fun six months. From the first to the last race, members have taken part with great determination and team spirit regardless of their speed - proving that cross country really is for everyone. 

Striders ladies at Southerns, Feb 2013

It’s been wonderful to see so many people giving this often over-looked branch of running a go, from our speediest members to some of our Get Started graduates including Caroline Skyrme, Catherine Turney, Jean Webb and Lucy Martin. We’re sure the strength and stamina you’ve all have gained from the muddy courses will lead to many PBs on the roads and track this summer. 

The club’s trophy cabinet is also now bulging as we won Division Two of the Chiltern League, came a close second in the Sunday League and the men’s and women’s teams took gold and bronze respectively at the Herts County Champs – not to mention all the individual prizes won in the leagues. Here’s a quick recap of how it all unfolded… 

OCTOBER

The first fixture of the Chiltern League with St Albans AC teaming up with the Striders for the first time took place in Oxford. Thanks to Linda Powell organising the ‘fun bus’ to take the team to the venue, we had an excellent turnout to face a challenging course. With a metre wide flooded ditch to negotiate, a 1000m long steep hill to ascend and descend and a mile-long stretch of thick, sticky mud to run through, this really was a baptism of fire for our cross country virgins! When Alex McSloy commented after racing that she’d found it ‘harder than the Ironman’ we were worried some may have been put off cross country for good! 

But thankfully the next fixture – the Sunday League at Cheshunt – was a drier affair with the ground much firmer under foot. As a club champs race, points were up for grabs to decide who would walk away with the runner-up spots as Colin Braybrook and Deirdre Heydecker already had the titles in the bag.

NOVEMBER

At the start of the month, Deborah Steer, Gill Jubb, Lucy Waterlow and Linda Powell travelled to the Midlands to fly the flag for St Albans in the National Cross Country Relay and were rewarded with some delicious cupcakes for post-race recovery! The second Chiltern race took place in Shuttleworth where it took Gill Jubb several attempts to explain the not-that-complicated figure of eight course to Lucy Waterlow and Wendy Webster! Twenty-nine men from the club and 16 women took part with everyone battling to the line to make each place count thanks to the downhill into the finishing funnel. 

Later the same day, everyone scrubbed up well, swapping their trainers for dancing shoes to attend the annual dinner and awards - where Doug Bates won the prize for drinking the most shots and DJ Hallam got everyone on the dance floor. The next Sunday League at Grovelands saw Tom Crouch take an easy victory not long after welcoming daughter Kirsten into the world while Pablo Plaza Lastras ran well while sporting an impressive moustache grown for ‘Movember’. 

DECEMBER

The third Chiltern League took place in the shadow of Windsor Castle but one male Strider, (who shall remain nameless!), was a bit too keen for this one, arriving at 10am when his race didn’t start until 2pm. The following week a number of vets took part in the Southern Masters Champs at Claybury where the course had to be altered to avoid a steep hill that was deemed too dangerous to run down thanks to the muddy conditions. Gill Jubb and Wendy Webster also earned their first vests running for Hertfordshire competing in the Southern Inter-counties at the same venue. 

The Sunday League this month was on home turf and a successful event was staged at Verulamium Park thanks to the organisation of Colin Braybrook and Pete Blackaller and the many members who volunteered to marshal. This was the only race in the league Tom Crouch didn’t win this season – but we still had a Strider victor thanks to teen talent James McMurray, coached by Deborah Steer. Striders and AC are agreed that one of the many advantages of our recent link up is that young athletes like James now have a clear path to tread from junior to senior level, while still running for their home city. 

JANUARY

The mince pies and alcohol consumed over Christmas and New Year were burnt off for those taking on the Herts County XC at the start of the month at Haileybury College (or Halle Berry College as some of us came to call it!). It was another difficult and muddy course with steep down and uphill sections but the teams fared well with the men winning gold county medals and the women bronze. 

At the Chiltern League the following week thermal vests were needed (perhaps kitman Gladstone can arrange for us to get some in Strider colours?!) with low temperatures and a strong, cold wind facing the runners in Luton. But the winter weather didn’t deter members and once again we had a strong team performance consolidating the club’s position at the top of division two. The following day, the Sunday League took place over an undulating course in Royston where Tom Crouch achieved another victory and Colin Braybrook put in a heroic effort finishing despite getting a large stone impaled in his shoe! ‘I could feel it digging into my heel in the last mile or so of the race but decided to keep going!’ he said afterwards. 

FEBRUARY 

The last Chiltern League took place on the toughest course yet around extremely muddy farmer’s fields in Wing. Thick, boggy patches throughout sucked many people’s shoes off while some runners got stuck in the mud themselves! Super trooper Andy Maher still managed a smile and a wave every time he passed Strider supporters despite the shin deep mud and catering chief Tina Tremaine went beyond the call of duty to attend, even though she wasn’t racing, to give the finishers some delicious cake. An excellent team performance meant we sealed our place at the top of division two earning promotion to division one next year (where the challenge will be to top the table again against tougher opposition!). 

The Southern Cross Country, rescheduled from January when it was cancelled due to snow, was then held at Parliament Hill with more mud, glorious mud to contend with. Deirdre Heydecker, Gill Jubb, Wendy Webster, Wendy Walsh, Katie Chilton, Amy Tanner, Christine Pout and Liz Walls made up the female team while Gary Warren, Colin Braybrook, Steve Smith, Peter McDermott, Richard Derrick, Kevin Brookman and John Warren completed the 15k long men’s course – a stray dog also joined in for one lap! 

Steve Smith at the National XC 2013

It was then the last Sunday League of the season at Watford where a valiant effort was made to win the team prize – just two points separated us from Trent Park at the top of the table. Cathal Gallagher even took a break from a stag do to take part; Pablo Plaza Lastras towed the start line after only having four hours sleep following a night out in London; while some who had done the Southern XC the day before pulled on their spikes again. Tom Crouch took another victory while Penny Habbick, who has only recently taken up running, continued her excellent Sunday League form as the first female Strider to finish. Unfortunately the last charge wasn’t enough to win the title overall but that didn’t dampen the spirits at the end of season social at the pub that evening. Then at the end of the month, Steve Smith was the club’s lone representative at the National Cross Country tackling a snow-turned-to-mud course in Sunderland. 

So that’s nearly all folks except for the vets Herts Champs on 17 March. From your cross country captains Lucy Waterlow and Ed Blake and club chairman Sheryl Norman, thanks to everyone who has taken part for the club this year whether you were the first or last to finish. Now you can hang up your spikes until the new season begins in October – roll on the track season and Midweek League! 

Lucy Waterlow

PS - If you want to see how the elite fare, the World Cross Country Champs will be on BBC TV on Sunday 24 March. 

Training plan – the early weeks: resolutions and lessons learned

I am booked in to run the Edinburgh Half Marathon in May. There, I said it. As I started training properly, this was 3.1 miles further than I’d ever run before. 

I’m armed with a training plan. It’s a spreadsheet chock-full of detail, impending pain, and a few shivers. Can I really run a half marathon in under 100 minutes? I know I can run a 10k at about that speed, but this is more than twice as far. It’s quite daunting, but targets help, right? 

I suppose I better stick to the plan. First on the list, is a regular yoga session. This is to lengthen my stride as I tend to trot like a pony. I’ve never done yoga before, and it turns out I’m spectacularly rubbish at it. How come everyone else is so bendy? Did the bendy people notice me falling over at the back? Still, it’s the first form of exercise I’ve ever done where I’ve almost immediately felt the benefits. 

For your edification, here are some of the things I’ve learned or noticed so far: 

• Variety is the spice of training. I’m doing longer slow runs, shorter quick ones, hill reps, track sessions, and normal evening runs and track sessions with the Striders, in order to build up speed, strength, stamina and probably other things beginning with ‘S’. It’s been tough but never dull so far. 
• If you have a heavy cold or cough, it’s best not to run too much. It turns out breathing is actually quite important, and coughing while running wasn’t particularly good for my back, said my friendly local osteopath.
• It’s really difficult to swallow smooth peanut butter if you’ve been running for 90 minutes. 
• It’s hard to start running again when you’ve stopped for any reason. 
• I speed up when I spot a runner coming towards me. I need to stop doing that, as it’s knackering me out, and I’m not impressing anybody. 
• If you’re running loads, you can eat whatever you like. This is probably not true but I’m certainly eating shed loads. 
• If you say 'I can run faster than this speed, but I’m doing 4 miles straight afterwards' to people you’re running with at parkrun, they don’t tend to like it.
• If you head out before dawn on Christmas Day to go for a run, your in-laws may well think you’re nuts. They may be right. 

I’m only in my early weeks. I’ve already had two falls, but so far no submissions. I’ve had several occasions when I’ve thought I’ve broken my body, but many more runner’s highs to compensate. And my first rest week coincided with the snow and ice, which was a bonus. 

Plenty of training time to go. Bring it on! 

Richard Sved

‘A big thank you’ - great feedback for Get Started

There have been three Get Started courses at Striders since 2011, and at different points the Blog has heard from those taking part. But when the course comes to an end, what do people find they have got from it? After the last Get Started course participants were asked for their feedback. The results have shown the course’s value and effect: 

• Providing the motivation to keep running - ‘I never thought I’d still be running and would enjoy it so much but do, and this is not only because of the Get Started sessions but due to how welcoming and supportive Striders have been.’
• Demystifying track sessions - ‘To an inexperienced runner they are now less scary and understand that they are structured so that all levels can get something out of the sessions’
• Understanding more about the variety of training options - ‘I had never done hill reps – they were hard but now I know that, and it’s not daunting’ 
• Introducing Striders - ‘It provided me with the discipline to do something active and was the way into the club – without Get Started I wouldn't have joined’ 
• Getting to grips with being a club member - ‘The essentials session at the end of the course was really good and inspired you to keep going’

Everyone who responded said they would carry on running. Ruth, who joined in September 2012, told us more about her Get Started experience and her running plans for 2013: 

‘I really enjoyed the Get Started course, and thought it was a great and non-daunting environment for new starters to be included in the club, and make some acquaintances. 

'I started running 21 months ago to run the London marathon, which I managed in 5:30 in 2012. It was a bit slower than I hoped, because of a three week break with shin splints. 

Ruth, finishing VLM 2012 

'I joined Get Started hoping to help push my speed training. I wanted to join to improve my running technique and get training tips, and encouragement that I couldn't do by myself. I really love the track sessions - they are hard, but push me much harder than I push myself. 

'I liked not having to walk into a big club by myself and not know anyone or anything, a group intro was much better. 

'I’m running the London marathon again this year and I really want to get somewhere near 5 hours this time. I am doing the Silverstone half marathon in February. I did it last year, as well as being a great warm up for London its lots of fun to run on the race track!' 

So, a big 'Thank you' to everyone involved in helping with Get Started and in the Thursday night runs since then. Your support is really appreciated. More info about helping with the Thursday night run rotas can be found on the Facebook page and the Forum. 

The fine art of marshalling

Well, its early January and we are all making running resolutions for the year ahead, but right now, it’s time to highlight the fine art of marshalling. We may all hope that 2013 means a better pace, more miles, and new PBs, but we’ll struggle to get near this without the marshals. Ahead of the Fred Hughes on 20 January, it’s time to take a blog-style look at what can be involved in earning those 20 club champ points....

1. Dress for the occasion - Layer up. It can be cold out there.

Marshals, warming up

2. Assume an air of polite authority - For some this comes naturally, for everyone else there’s the high vis jacket. It's an essential part of marshalling, and without it you blend into the background (be that a hedge, a row of houses, or spectators). With it you acquire authority - people stop you and ask questions, while it may be going too far to say that you may assume Jedi-style powers, remember the force may be with you...

3. Know your left from your right - This is especially useful when directing runners, supporters, cyclists and drivers. Seems obvious while you read this, but in my experience, in the heat of the moment.....

4. Choose your words of encouragement carefully - It can be hard to choose the right words at difficult points in life. There have been times when I am running when I've found 'you're nearly there' to be the worst thing I could possibly hear. So, keep it simple, take your cue from the club vests on show, and try to resist the temptation to remark on how close they are to the end, or how surprised you are to see them so soon. And if words fail you, keep clapping.

5. Be diplomatic - The chances are you'll encounter people who are less enthusiastic about the race than you. They might be driving a car, walking the dog, or running in the other direction. Diplomacy and a smile should see you through. 

More marshals, ready to marshal

6. Enjoy the spectacle - And finally, try to soak up the atmosphere! Personally, there’s something particularly inspiring about watching a race up close, and seeing club mates’ training plans come together. And who knows, it might help with setting some goals for the next 12 months.

See you there! 

Jack's Marathons - October and November 2012

My 298th marathon was on 30 September 2012 leaving me just Preston Marathon to complete on 28 October before heading out to the USA for marathon number 300. This left me an ideal opportunity to squeeze in some races at various different distances. A suitable challenge for October seemed to be to see if I could complete a 10k, a 10 mile race, a half marathon, a marathon and a cross country league race in a month. 

I started with the Standalone 10k on 7 October (40:58) and then ran the Oxford Half Marathon on the 14 pacing a friend round in 2:08:25. Next were the RAF Henlow 10 mile race on 17 October (1:22:30) and the Chiltern League 9k cross country race at Oxford on the 21 (where I was surprised to come 3rd out of 8 in the vet 60 group). 

Preston Guild Marathon: 28 October 2012: Every 20 years Preston holds its Guild Celebrations and for 2012 the city introduced a marathon to coincide with these. This was to be my 299th marathon and, as with most new marathons, I was slightly apprehensive about how well organised the event would be. It turned out that the only thing I should have been worried about was the Lancashire weather. 

Every aspect of the race had been carefully pre-planned with efficient and fast registration and baggage facilities, a warm and commodious race HQ building, ample toilet facilities with very short queues and tremendous drink stations with huge supplies of gels available just at the right locations. It was raining at the start and the downpour continued throughout the race. In addition there was a strong northerly wind and in one spot the leaves being blown from the trees hit us like bullets. Throughout all of this the marshals and drink station volunteers (who must have been frozen) remained cheerful and supportive and it was amazing that so many members of the public braved the weather to support runners along the course. 

The route was undulating, but mainly traffic free and once we left Preston we ran over the River Ribble and through some pretty countryside before returning to the finish outside Preston Guild Hall. I had a good run finishing 361st out of 1132 and 4th out of 20 in the 60-64 age group. I returned to St Albans to news that many flights to the USA were being cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy, which didn’t bode well for my scheduled flight out via Washington DC on the Thursday. 

300 up!

City of Oaks Marathon, Raleigh, North Carolina: 4 November 2012: Thankfully my flight out was not cancelled and Raleigh had not been affected at all by the hurricane. The race organisers had promised to let me have running bib number 300 to celebrate my 300th marathon and I had remembered to pack the convict outfit that I was intending to run in. I’d run this race two years previously and whilst the race director had advised that he had altered the route to cut out some of the worse hills local runners were telling me that there weren’t any flat stretches anywhere (which proved to be true). However, my main concern was that I had not done any practice runs in my outfit and that on the day the trousers seemed quite loose. I had visions of me ending up with them around my ankles. As it turned out the main problem I encountered was being too warm and by half way I found myself wishing that I’d not worn a t-shirt under my costume. 

Once we got going, my anxiety vanished and my attention was diverted early in the race to a model cow half way through the showroom window in the Wells Fargo offices in downtown Raleigh. I then started to notice spectators at regular intervals holding signs proclaiming ‘Run like you stole something’. I was indeed trying although one lady succeeded in apprehending me at around the 24 mile point so that I could be photographed with her kids beside their sign. She thanked me profusely as I assured her that this time she had convincingly apprehended her man. 

Over the weekend we’d had a policeman from NYPD staying with us and at a turnaround point close to the finish I noticed that he was catching me up quite quickly. Consequently we had a real ‘cops and robbers’ style finish to the race. My time was 4:06:52 and I won an award for being 3rd in the 60-64 age group. 

At the end we had a group photograph taken of me with three of my most eccentric friends. These were (1) Matt Jenkins, who runs all his marathons barefoot (2) Peter, the NYPD man who had almost caught me at the finish and (3) Rich Holmes, who had run his 200th marathon at the same marathon in Nashville where I had run mine. 

Jack and friends

I had a great time during the race and the encouragement I got from both spectators and fellow runners was unbelievable. However, the convict outfit is now safely packed away and I have no plans to race in it again.

Richmond Marathon, Virginia: 10 November 2012: After a week of sightseeing around Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown we made our way to Richmond. Richmond Marathon was a well organised, but busy race as they’d increased their permitted numbers by around 1500 to allow entrants from the cancelled New York Marathon to compete. The course was gently undulating, but it did start getting warm quite early on and I made the mistake of setting off with the 3.45 pace group. I stayed with them until 17.5 miles, but then had to let them go as the heat got to me. I struggled over the last few miles and finally crossed the line in 4:01:41. Curiously all 4 of us who were in the previous week’s group photo ran faster times at Richmond than at City of Oaks and Matt, Peter and I crossed the finish line within 2 minutes of each other. 

Jack Brooks