Hydrodensitometry

So as usual I become lazy when things aren't going according to plan and don't bother to write a blog..... So I thought I better update, as I can't just rely on others to keep Runners Blogs going.

The last 8 weeks have been pretty bad running wise. Although I have managed to do some running it has all been whilst battling injuries and so has been pretty rubbish with no sessions or tempo's, barely a run over an hour, and 2 DNF's in races I shouldn't have even been on the start line for. I dropped out of BUCS, with an issue with my shin. I shouldn't have been on the start line but just really wanted to run for Lufbra in a BUCS competition, especially as it was my first and last BUCS XC. I was also in the A team, which was pretty good, but in the end it was all to no avail as I dropped out and just felt like I had let everyone down.

This really got to me for a good few days, but I managed to get patched up by Mark Buckingham and flew to Ireland to run the Armagh 5k. This is a fantastic event and I spent a great few days over there. I got round and ran a PB of 15.07, not what I wanted by any means but considering the circumstances I have to take it.....

Post Armagh I have struggled with back, hip and IT band issues and so haven't done any proper training. I tried to do the Inter-Counties anyway and again dropped out. It was at this point I realised this couldn't continue, and so I took a week off and got massage on my IT band every day. As you can imagine it was heavily bruised. I have to thank Stephen Bennett for helping to sort me out. I also saw Cat Riley who put my SI joint back in place (again) and loosed off my hip area. Since this I have managed to run every day and see and improvement day on day. Long may this continue. I even jogged round a leg of the Northern 12 stage for Blackburn on Sunday, maintaining our position and bringing home the bacon in 9th place! This was solid enough (about what we expected) and we all had a great day out!

Hopefully training can continue to follow the upwards trend it is currently on, and I can be back in full training in 10 days time when I head off to Portugal.

Finally I just thought I would touch upon my awful day..... I had a hydrodensitometry weighing done today, which is where you are weighed under water. An endurance athlete should come out at about 6-8% body fat but I came out as 16%, so naturally I was devastated!!!!! Seems there's a lot of work to do on that front! Part of me thinks I should adopt the Adam Goucher approach and just not eat lunch..... There’s some food for thought (pun intended).

Pete x

Pre-BUCS Haircut

So I have been very busy since my last update. It took us all a few days to come to terms with the loss of our mate Richard Belton’s death, however a walk around Brock a couple of days after he passed away really helped. On the Saturday we went over to Coventry on the bus to run the 3^rd Birmingham League fixture of the season. Mariani and I had been to town the day before to get a big length of black ribbon, which we cut up, so everyone could pin a cross on their vest. A few words were said before the race, and I am pretty sure I can speak for the whole team, in saying our performances were dedicated to him. The team did pretty well, the best we have done so far in the league this season, with our first 5 men in the top 35. I improved again finishing 17^th (I was 34^th in the last fixture).  I was very pleased with this, even though Shane beat me by a second!! Results here.

For the 2 weeks after the race, I was extremely busy with exams. I won’t dwell on these as they are very boring, but have to be done. Two went well, one was pretty shocking! Training continued to tick along nicely though, and as soon as my last exam was done on Friday, I got out the door to do my final tempo before BUCS. I kind of follow the American system with my training, and so do a tempo on a Friday with Kev Seawood. Even though I was really tired due to a lack of sleep from the exam, I ran my best tempo yet, feeling really relaxed and running the 5 miles in 26.30. I then grabbed a quick shower and Kev dropped me at the station to catch my train home. I spent 5 days at home, as I figured I don’t know when the next chance will be to go home and spend time with my family. I also wanted an appointment with Duncan Mason (my physio) to check everything is in working order before he goes to Kenya with UKA.

Whilst at home I went up to watch my brother run the Northern Championships. He came 33^rd in the U20 race, and still has two years left in the age group. I love watching my brother run and it pleases me that he defies the common misconception that 8 guys can’t run cross country! The senior race was exhibition stuff, with Steve Vernon and Tom Lancashire making the field look like joggers! I was glad I gave it a miss though, as the mud was horrendous. My brother videoed the race, and so I’m going to send it to the guys at athleticos so they can edit it and pop it on their site.

Now on to my pre-BUCS haircut. I know this applies to some athletes, but I’m not sure how many, but I like to get my haircut before a race. I’m not sure whether this is so I am lighter, or whether it’s just a vanity thing, most likely the later. So with BUCS (British University & College Sport) Cross Country Championships coming up this weekend I got my hair cut yesterday before coming back to Loughborough. My hairdresser at home is pretty fit and I would definitely smash it! She did a great job and carved me out an old school mullet! I promised the lads I would rock out a mullet for BUCS, and I have delivered.  Let’s just hope the race goes well now... Training has been good, but being my BUCS debut and running for the Loughborough A team, who knows what could happen?!

Richard Belton

Well, where do I begin? I don’t fully know what to say, but feel writing my thoughts down will help me to understand and accept what has happened. I was going to write about my performance at the Lancs XC Champs last weekend, or about my training, but these kind of things all seem pretty trivial now.

13 months ago, our good friend Pistol Pete Holmes was taken from us in such tragic circumstances. Such a wonderful man, who anyone would be proud to say they were friends with. He was living his dream and had so much to offer the world. This really stopped me, along with so many others in Loughborough and beyond, in our tracks. So just over a year on, and it happens again. Another great young man, taken from us far too young. Richard Belton or just Belton to those who knew him had so much to look forward to. He had just taken up a new role within British Triathlon, leaving British Volleyball to take on this new role. However it was during a volleyball game yesterday evening with his friends that this tragic incident happened.

My memories of Rich were of running with him, especially this year on a Tuesday night ‘tempo’ where he had to stop with stomach cramps but urged me to keep going. I also remember going out riding with him and Vardy and them showing me new cycling routes. My other prominent memory of Belton or Seal as we nicknamed him was at the Loughborough Christmas Ball in my first year, which was undoubtedly my favourite. Spending time with him and his closer friends at the pre-ball jam in his house is something I will never forget.

I am running for Loughborough tomorrow in the Birmingham League, where I shall be wearing a black ribbon on my African Violet vest, with my run being dedicated to him. My thoughts are with his family and close friends.

RIP Belton xx

"Consistency is the key"

So here we are in 2011. It always seems to amaze everyone how fast a year goes by, 365 days, 52 weeks or 12 months. Where does it all go? How much of it do we waste?

Well I did this whole evaluation phase at the beginning of September, as I'm sure a lot of athletes do. I had just got back from a 'lads' holiday in Bulgaria, and was as far from an athlete as you could possibly be (the only way you could tell I was an athlete was the fact I read 'Running with the Buffaloes' whilst I was there). I had come back 1.5 stone overweight, still injured and with a horrendous lifestyle. I also decided that the last year of my life had been quite wasteful, and so I decided it was time for a change. I don't know how much the book I was reading affected my change in attitude, but I'm sure it was a big part of it. I felt all of a sudden as if I had a fresh focus and desire to try and fulfil my potential. 

Now when I say I changed things, I don't just mean I changed the odd thing here and then, I mean whole-scale changes to the way I live my life. The root of the problems was being injured, so I sought out the best physio I could find in order to try and put an end to my 3 year injury nightmare. This man was to be Duncan Mason. A few friends had mentioned him to me in the past, and so I decided it was time to take their advice, get down to Manchester and get myself sorted. Next my sleeping patterns had to change. Going to bed at 5am and not getting up until 1pm is not the lifestyle of someone who wants to get the most out of their athletics. This inevitably meant night’s out had to be severely cut back and in came 11pm bedtimes. Next to change was my diet. Carrying an extra stone and a half, or in real terms 9 bags of sugar is far from ideal!! I can only imagine the stress that was putting on my body, trying to run carrying all that weight and this can’t have helped my injuries. Finally my training needed a drastic upheaval, or more accurately, my approach to it had to change. Coming back from an injury and trying to get yourself fit for a big race 4 weeks later is just not conducive to getting the best out of yourself or establishing any kind of consistency in your training. I feel I am quite clued up on how to train, just through speaking to knowledgeable people and reading Lydiard et al's methods, so why wasn't I putting all this into practice? After all, "consistency is the key".

Within two weeks I felt like I was back on the rails to some degree. I had seen Duncan twice, and he had found the root of my injuries and set about fixing them. Exercises and treatment were the answer and I was soon back doing some easy running. My lifestyle was soon back to what it used to be before I went to Uni, with normal sleeping patterns and a good healthy balance of home cooked food courtesy of mum. And finally I spoke to my good friend Tom Cornthwaite, and we agreed it would be best that he oversaw all of my training again, just like when I had my successes on the Mountains. 

So here we are just over 3 months later and I feel like a different person. Touch wood, I have had no major injury problems during this time, but continue to see Duncan (who has worked wonders with me and I would highly recommend him) in order to keep on top of any niggles and potential injuries. He recommends all his patients do this, such as Andi Jones, Dave and Andy Norman and Michelle Ross-Cope to name but a few. My lifestyle is still pretty good, and I am also working harder at University, which is obviously important, this being my final year. My diet is much better too. I made a pact with Nathan Bibby one night back in October that we would give up chocolate, cake, biscuits, sweets and crisps until Christmas. Although I used ice-cream (Ben & Jerry’s half baked to be precise) as a loop-hole, we both stuck at it, and this has massively helped with my bid to get back towards my best racing weight. I have realised it is much harder to lose weight than to put it on, so I won’t be ‘bingeing’ again in a hurry. So at 10.5 stone I have lost about a stone, and so only have a few pounds to go to be at my optimum weight!

On the training front, with Tom’s help, things are moving in the right direction, and I have even raced 3 times (would have been 4 without all this snow!). But that is another story in itself and shall have to wait for another day (hopefully a bit sooner than the 7 months since my last blog!)

Thanks for reading and I hope you like the new Runners Blogs site,

Pete