Ian Runs

Ever since running the London 10,000 in May, my focus has been on this race. I have taken part in a couple of smaller local races in that time, which has helped lower my PBs in the 10k distance, but all with a focus on improving my performance at the half marathon distance! Target My current half marathon PB according to Garmin is still the 1:50:54 I set as during the first half of the Brighton Marathon, although the Jack Daniels equivalence calculator suggests I'm in shape to run around 1:45:00, and so going into this race, my A goal was around 1:45, my B goal was sub 1:50:00, while my C goal was just to finish. Training My training throughout this block has mostly gone according to plan, although I have had some minor niggles that have hampered me slightly, particularly limiting my mileage in July, when I was hoping to be averaging 100km+ most weeks, and the heatwaves in August meant I ended up running less than I originally planned. Race pack The Big Half is organise...

After the Brighton Marathon, my attention for my running training has switched to the autumn, and running my first half marathon. Along the way, I want to make efforts to incorporate more speed than I was able to while training for the full marathon, and so I intend to use several 10k races, alongside parkrun to help gauge my progress! My training block for the half marathon will consist of around 16 weeks of training, with the London 10k being the first of those efforts. Target According to Garmin, my current 10k PB is 52:14, which set during Brighton Marathon! Various calculators, such as Jack Danaiels' Equivalent Pace calculator suggest that I could theoretically have run a 46:58 10k a few weeks ago, but I have taken some time to recover after the marathon, and so I am only taking two goals into the race; set a new PB, and/or run sub 50 minutes. Training Unfortunately, training for this run was perhaps less than ideal. My main training so far this year had been gear...

I was ideally in search of an "R" event this week, and as there are a couple of possible events (Roding Valley and Rickmansworth), my choice was largely based on attending the furthest event. Another factor was the size of the event (I would prefer a smaller event with a stronger sense of community given the time of the year) - Roding Valley typically only attracts a small field, while Rickmansworth's field is typically a very large one, so Roding Valley it is! The area Roding Valley parkrun takes place in Roding Valley, near Epping Forest. Epping Forest is a former royal hunting grounds, stretching approximately 20 km north to south, but less than 5 km in width for the majority of the space. Roding Valley is a geological valley to the east of Epping Forest, through which the River Roding flows. Much of the valley is meadows or grasslands, and acts as a floodplain. The area is grazed by cattle during drier weather. The course Runners follow two laps of a ...

Now that I have completed the UK Alphabet, my focus has turned towards the East of England region. As there are so many events to choose from, I'm going to start by working through events in alphabetical order again, with an emphasis on working east to west, which for me, effectively orders events furthest to nearest. During my initial exploration of the challenge, I did make a mistake however, which I only realised after running this event - I didn't realise that Aldenham parkrun was in the region, and so I started this phase of parkrunning by running Ally Pally parkrun instead! The area Ally Pally, or Alexandra Palace, is a purpose built community centre in Haringey, North London. Unlike other palaces in the UK, Ally Pally has no royal connection, and instead has been entirely community oriented since its conception. The palace houses a theatre, concert hall, a convention centre, an ice rink, and has facilitated BBC broadcasts an...

My trip to Pymmes this week comes after an unsuccessful attempt last week! Unfortunately, the team were unable to access their AED before the event started, and so made the correct decision to cancel the event. Unfortunately, I didn't realise until it was too late to get to another event, but second time lucky! With only a "P" and a "W" left in the UK alphabet to complete, and wanting to keep some of the closer "P" events as backups for cancellations in the future, this week it was Pymmes' turn to provide my parkrunning fix. The area Pymmes park is located in Edmonton, in north London. The town of Edmonton was once a rural village, before the railway and tramways provided the impetus for rapid expansion in the 19th century. The area now boasts one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the UK. Pymmes park has existed in various forms of its current state since 1327, when it formed part of the Pymmes Hou...

I am still targeting the less common letters of the alphabet. I couldn't overlook the fact that it was the day after Valentine's day, and I had the opportunity to run at Valentines Park, so the decision around where to run was quite a simple one this week. One factor that I did keep in mind was that Storm Dennis was due to hit most of the UK this weekend, which had already resulted in a number of cancellations, so I did keep a watchful eye on the cancellations page in the run-up to the event. The area Valentines Park is the culmination of the merging of a number of parcels of land in Ilford over a number of years in the early 20th Century. Areas of the park were formerly part of the Valentines Mansion estate, which was built in 1696 and is now accessible to the public 3 days per week, though not on Saturdays. The park itself comprises a mix of landscaped open fields, formal gardens, lakes, and 26 tennis courts. The course Runners start the run in the centre of the p...