As I am aiming for a middle distance triathlon in September, I want to make sure that I can complete it before shelling out the (rather high) entry fee.
my main concern is that my knees cope with the run section which will be 21 Km (a half marathon).
In the past, I have had a bit of trouble with my knees playing up. I thought it was because I had run too much (increased my training too quickly, too many races close together, that sort of thing). So for the last 8 months, I have been trying to acclimatise my knees by running around 5km three times a week
To take stock of how my knees are with running, I decided to enter a 10K race. The race I entered was the Bristol Race For Chocolate 10K. It sounded like a fun race and was on 27th January, which would give me plenty of time to train for my main race in September.
I wanted a 10K as it is just under half the distance of my target middle distance and if my knees cope with that then I have plenty of time to increase the distance up to a half marathon.
so Sunday morning my wife and I (and one of our dogs) set out to get to Oldbury Court Estate in plenty of time to make sure we could get parked.
with registration opening at 09:00 I wanted to get there a little before that and we managed to get there at just after 08:30 and got a nice parking space.
we took the dog for a little walk and let her run for a bit, then went and sat in the car to wait for registration to open, As we were walking back to the car my wife suggested I get my number, but I thought that they hadn't got set up yet (it was a couple of minutes before nine) and so we just went back to the car.
That was a mistake as when I did start looking to go get my number a large queue had formed. I really should have learned by now that my wife's suggestions are nearly always right.
Oh well, I queued up and it took about 20 minutes for me to get my number, but there was still plenty of time before the start time of 10:00, so I went back to the car and attached the number to my t-shirt (I have a set of little magnets to attach my race number and they worked really well without poking holes in my shirt).
we then went to the start line (via the loos of course. never start a race feeling like you may need to go, after running for a while it will feel like a lead weight bouncing up and down inside you).
then we joined all of the other runners standing around waiting for the race briefing which was due at 09:45. I did a few stretches and waited.
and waited.
and waited.
09:50. No race briefing yet, so we waited.
09:55. Still no race briefing, hmmmm. more waiting.
10:05 and everyone moved to the start line. I must have missed the briefing, oh well, it's only a 10K what can go wrong?
Never think that. if you think "what can go wrong?" then everything will.
Everyone started moving forward. I thought that I had missed to the countdown to the start, but I found out later that there was no countdown or start signal, we all just started running. Guess someone up front got bored waiting, and I don't blame them.
we all followed the path and people were jogging along quite happily when there seemed to be a wall of runners coming towards us. Odd. very odd.
turns out there was a left turn about 500 meters from the start marked my an A4 piece of paper with an arrow on it laying on the floor. I didn't see it as I was on the right-hand side with loads of other runners and the arrow was on the left side of the path.
So we all turned around and for once in my life, I was near the front of the race. wow, bet that won't happen again (unless there is another fluff made by people)
Oldbury court park is really nice to run through and the course (now that I knew to look for these little A4 arrows on the floor) was okay. I was following lots of other runners and keeping my speed low. My knees were behaving and it was quite a nice run.
We ran through some open park, through some forest. we also ran along some sections which were quite muddy and slippery and with a large steep drop down one side, which I hoped wouldn't catch anyone out.
At one point there was a marshall (at least we guessed he was a marshall. he was telling us which way to go, 5K runners this way, 10K runners that way. okay, that's good, so I set off on what I thought would be a second loop, the same as the first (although I had only run just over 4Km, so I was a bit concerned about the distance, but the organisers must have the route sorted, so on I ran.
So I followed the other runners and the race arrows and got back to the same marshall at just over 6Km. this time he pointed me on a different route. Ah, so this is how we get that little extra, fine, I'll go this way, and ran on.
At around 7.5Km my left knees started making it's presence felt. I guess you could call it pain, but not the sort of pain that makes you think you need to stop, so I carried on making sure that I kept an eye on how it felt.
The next time I got to the marshall I was at 8.9K. Apparently, it was a loop, but if I did the same loop again I would be doing more than the 10Km I wanted and if I went to the finish now, I would be way short.
I decided to start the loop and work my own way back to the start making sure that I had done 10K, so off I ran keeping a close eye on my watch for the distance I had left.
I ran with some other runners for a while, but as we came out into an open park area, while the other runners followed the course and went straight on I turned left as I thought it was about time to start heading to the finish. So now I was making up a route myself.
I got to the finish having run 10.07Km. pretty close to the 10Km I wanted.
I stopped my watch and walked on towards to get my medal. my wife joined me and asked if I was going to wait for my hot chocolate, but the queue seemed rather long and I just wanted to get home and have a shower.
turns out it was a wise choice as the organisers didn't have enough hot water and most people didn't get a hot chocolate even if they had queued up.
I have never been to a race where I have had to make up the course myself. it kind of makes me think I should have just run a 10K on my normal routes, but then I had never been to that side of Oldbury Court park, and it is really nice, so we'll be taking the dogs back there.
But I won't be signing up for anymore "Run for chocolate" races. I can save myself the entry fee and make up a 10K route myself. it's what I ended up doing anyway.
My knees seem fine for now, which is really good news. I will be keeping a close eye on them for the next couple of weeks to see if they coped okay with the long run, but I'm hopeful.
If they are still okay next week, I'll be entering the Ironman 70.3 Weymouth, so fingers crossed.
my main concern is that my knees cope with the run section which will be 21 Km (a half marathon).
In the past, I have had a bit of trouble with my knees playing up. I thought it was because I had run too much (increased my training too quickly, too many races close together, that sort of thing). So for the last 8 months, I have been trying to acclimatise my knees by running around 5km three times a week
To take stock of how my knees are with running, I decided to enter a 10K race. The race I entered was the Bristol Race For Chocolate 10K. It sounded like a fun race and was on 27th January, which would give me plenty of time to train for my main race in September.
I wanted a 10K as it is just under half the distance of my target middle distance and if my knees cope with that then I have plenty of time to increase the distance up to a half marathon.
so Sunday morning my wife and I (and one of our dogs) set out to get to Oldbury Court Estate in plenty of time to make sure we could get parked.
with registration opening at 09:00 I wanted to get there a little before that and we managed to get there at just after 08:30 and got a nice parking space.
we took the dog for a little walk and let her run for a bit, then went and sat in the car to wait for registration to open, As we were walking back to the car my wife suggested I get my number, but I thought that they hadn't got set up yet (it was a couple of minutes before nine) and so we just went back to the car.
That was a mistake as when I did start looking to go get my number a large queue had formed. I really should have learned by now that my wife's suggestions are nearly always right.
Oh well, I queued up and it took about 20 minutes for me to get my number, but there was still plenty of time before the start time of 10:00, so I went back to the car and attached the number to my t-shirt (I have a set of little magnets to attach my race number and they worked really well without poking holes in my shirt).
we then went to the start line (via the loos of course. never start a race feeling like you may need to go, after running for a while it will feel like a lead weight bouncing up and down inside you).
then we joined all of the other runners standing around waiting for the race briefing which was due at 09:45. I did a few stretches and waited.
and waited.
and waited.
09:50. No race briefing yet, so we waited.
09:55. Still no race briefing, hmmmm. more waiting.
10:05 and everyone moved to the start line. I must have missed the briefing, oh well, it's only a 10K what can go wrong?
Never think that. if you think "what can go wrong?" then everything will.
Everyone started moving forward. I thought that I had missed to the countdown to the start, but I found out later that there was no countdown or start signal, we all just started running. Guess someone up front got bored waiting, and I don't blame them.
we all followed the path and people were jogging along quite happily when there seemed to be a wall of runners coming towards us. Odd. very odd.
turns out there was a left turn about 500 meters from the start marked my an A4 piece of paper with an arrow on it laying on the floor. I didn't see it as I was on the right-hand side with loads of other runners and the arrow was on the left side of the path.
So we all turned around and for once in my life, I was near the front of the race. wow, bet that won't happen again (unless there is another fluff made by people)
Oldbury court park is really nice to run through and the course (now that I knew to look for these little A4 arrows on the floor) was okay. I was following lots of other runners and keeping my speed low. My knees were behaving and it was quite a nice run.
We ran through some open park, through some forest. we also ran along some sections which were quite muddy and slippery and with a large steep drop down one side, which I hoped wouldn't catch anyone out.
At one point there was a marshall (at least we guessed he was a marshall. he was telling us which way to go, 5K runners this way, 10K runners that way. okay, that's good, so I set off on what I thought would be a second loop, the same as the first (although I had only run just over 4Km, so I was a bit concerned about the distance, but the organisers must have the route sorted, so on I ran.
So I followed the other runners and the race arrows and got back to the same marshall at just over 6Km. this time he pointed me on a different route. Ah, so this is how we get that little extra, fine, I'll go this way, and ran on.
At around 7.5Km my left knees started making it's presence felt. I guess you could call it pain, but not the sort of pain that makes you think you need to stop, so I carried on making sure that I kept an eye on how it felt.
The next time I got to the marshall I was at 8.9K. Apparently, it was a loop, but if I did the same loop again I would be doing more than the 10Km I wanted and if I went to the finish now, I would be way short.
I decided to start the loop and work my own way back to the start making sure that I had done 10K, so off I ran keeping a close eye on my watch for the distance I had left.
I ran with some other runners for a while, but as we came out into an open park area, while the other runners followed the course and went straight on I turned left as I thought it was about time to start heading to the finish. So now I was making up a route myself.
I got to the finish having run 10.07Km. pretty close to the 10Km I wanted.
I stopped my watch and walked on towards to get my medal. my wife joined me and asked if I was going to wait for my hot chocolate, but the queue seemed rather long and I just wanted to get home and have a shower.
turns out it was a wise choice as the organisers didn't have enough hot water and most people didn't get a hot chocolate even if they had queued up.
I have never been to a race where I have had to make up the course myself. it kind of makes me think I should have just run a 10K on my normal routes, but then I had never been to that side of Oldbury Court park, and it is really nice, so we'll be taking the dogs back there.
But I won't be signing up for anymore "Run for chocolate" races. I can save myself the entry fee and make up a 10K route myself. it's what I ended up doing anyway.
My knees seem fine for now, which is really good news. I will be keeping a close eye on them for the next couple of weeks to see if they coped okay with the long run, but I'm hopeful.
If they are still okay next week, I'll be entering the Ironman 70.3 Weymouth, so fingers crossed.
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