Sponsored Team - Race weekend 6th March 2022
Mar 08, 2022
What a weekend of racing by both the ladies and men in our Sponsored Team. here is the round up from the boys, who matched the success of our girls! Lee and Tom were representing the Clinic over in Trafford, whilst Matthew and Dave stayed local at Retford Half. Read on for some inspiration!
First up and Star of the Weekend Lee Milburn
Race report - Trafford 10k
I want to begin my race report by thinking back to Jan 2018 when I first met Dave for a lactate test. A memory that sticks in my head is him writing a 5k/10k target time down which he shared. The 10k time was 30:0# - my response was really??? At the time my best was 33.19. This weekend there was lots races to choose from, I opted for the Trafford 10k hoping for a quality field and fast times. I’ve come off the back of a really solid training block including a week warm weather training in Portugal which consisted of a big mileage week with x3 quality sessions. This week has been an easy week with a small sharp midweek session which has really put me in good shape and full of confidence of a good race performance. Going into the race my sort of target that I thought I might be capable of, was to run 30:30 this would have seen an improvement of 21 seconds on my current pb set at Leeds Abbey Dash in October. Race day started with an early get up, she’s called Ava! Who thought 5am was acceptable! At this point I felt tired and didn’t really want to race and was considering my other Sunday morning run options while showering. I had a word with myself and thought I would be letting a few people down by not racing especially Danielle who supports my training immensely. On arrival at Trafford I was greeted by the sight I wanted to see, there was quality runners everywhere! I knew I was in decent shape so didn’t over complicate my warm up and just did a steady 20 mins followed by the dynamic warm up routine. You could tell, stood on the start line this was going to be a proper race, everybody was vying for a decent position and elbows were out fighting for some space. The first mile went so quickly but despite the frantic start I managed to find a rhythm and settle into a group. The second mile went by at what felt a similar pace and I was feeling good. At this point my only concern was to use the group I was running with and conserve as much energy as possible. The route was fast despite the few ups and downs and tight turns. Going through 5k in a new pb meant my target time was on if I could hang on! With mile 4 ticked off the group had started to whittle down but I was still in there. My thought process was a mile left, then a mile to go. This worked as approaching the 8k marker I was still at the back of the group and with a slight downhill section of the course in front I managed to stay attached to the pace which I knew was ticking along at around 30minute pace. Inside the last mile I could feel the pace gradually increasing meaning I was starting to fall off the back of the group. I thought I was still having a great run and decided to keep moving at my pace. With targets in front we approached the last 400m then 200m when I heard someone shout 29.30 I couldn’t believe it! My instant response was I could break 30 minutes here! To my surprise my legs reacted to my push and I sprinted to the line, it was agonising seeing the clock count towards 30.00 as I crossed the line but I was sure I’d made it on 29.59! I was in complete shock! I couldn’t really process what had just happened but inside I felt really proud of my performance. When the result came through as a time of 29.58 I was buzzing! Meaning a 53 second pb and breaking that magical 30 minute barrier!
Our second athlete is Tom Halloway who like Lee went for it at Trafford.
Going into race week with a reduced Schedule. I was confident after training has been going well and the key sessions ticked of in February. Trafford 10k was part of the marathon build up and on Thursday/Friday began to come down with a mild cold. In hindsight probably shouldn’t of ran but the love for racing I wanted to put on my Blizard vest to showcase how well training had gone.
Jogged over to the start with star performer Lee Milburn and of we went, feeling great for the first 5k. Running through 5k in around 16.15-16.16. It was much better than Telford however the next 5k was very tough. Tired legs began to hit and every time I fought and tried to push on my legs just couldn’t respond.
I dug in to get to the finish line in 33.54, only my 3rd ever sub 34 clocking but shows how far I’ve come when this time was a little disappointing. This race didn’t really show how well training had been going however the bigger picture is Copenhagen Marathon where I’ve managed to secure a Elite entry into the race.
My marathon training block 5 weeks in has gone very well and happy with the progress I’ve made since returning to form. Next up is Boston UK half and hoping to put this performance behind me and look to better my Brass Monkey half performance of 72.27.
Back to the local race, Retford Half Marathon, where we had Matthew Hamer and our very own Dave Tune representing the Clinic.
Going into the day I had set myself 3 targets;
And finally The Boss!
Sunday saw myself along with so many of the Team Blizard athletes line up for the ever popular Retford half marathon race.
This race sits well in the calendar for many athletes who might be preparing for a Spring marathon and also as a marker how an athlete’s Winter may have gone using the slightly longer distance.
For myself I was using the race as my next step in trying to get back to full fitness following an injury after the York marathon last year.
On New Year’s Day I raced a 10k and then followed this up a month later with a 10 mile road race where I was looking for an improved performance and the same target was taken from the 10 mile race into last Sunday’s half marathon.
My recent training has been progressive including a big week out in Portugal but I did not ease down for the event as I have missed enough time training during my downtime post the marathon and Sunday really was just a training run even though I wanted to run as well as my fitness allowed.
The key thing I believe when coming back to full fitness is to ensure that you do not try to outperform what your body has been doing in training recently and with that in mind I have zero nerves lining up as the only person I was about to get competitive was myself!
The Retford course is not flat but I actually think it is a great course to run well/fast on and Sunday saw almost perfect weather conditions to add to the day.
A very large group settled into clipping along at just under 6.00mins/mile pace going out and I resisted the urge to speed up around 5 miles as a couple of people got “itchy feet” and headed off down the road.
The key to running a decent half marathon I believe is still to feel ok at 10 miles as the last 3 miles of this race is undulating and can catch you out if you have set off too fast.
I just dialed into a heart rate which I knew I could sustain and let the pace look after itself feeling in relative control.
Turning into the finish I was therefore delighted to see the race clock at a good bit under the 80mins target I have set myself.
It was great then to see everyone at the finish who had already run their race and witness people coming in as pb after pb was had from so many of you.
Another race sorted in the “comeback” and once recovered I think it is time to step the training up a little and get these old legs trying to move a bit faster!
