I have been really busy these last few weeks. I have a lot of races to report on. Over four weeks since January 21st, I have raced a marathon, three XC's, a 10k road race and being part of a UKA Endurance meet/session. I need a break.
I raced Mumbai marathon for GB/Standard Chartered on Sunday 21st January. The marathon was the easy part. I left the UK on the day of those storms which caused havoc with the transport network.
My train to London went only as far as Newark. I thought I was stuffed, but other's opted to take a taxi down to King Cross. Myself and seven others got there for 8.30pm. I was 5 hours behind schedule. I arrived at Heathrows checking in desk at the exact time my plane was due to take off. Apparently I found out later it was still at the airport at 11pm.
Heathrow couldn't find me a local hotel either. The only option was to go back into London and stay there, which would have cost around 200 quid.
I slummed it there and caught the next place out at 10.40am the next day. I managed to catch up on sleep on the 9 hr flight over.
I arrived there for 1.30am Saturday morning. No one was there to pick us up either. So I had to organise transport to Mumbai's Hilton. Got to sleep for 3am. I had only 30hrs to go before the marathon.
I didn't feel to awake to begin with at the start. Myself and Michael O'Connor representing Ireland ran together for the first few miles. He was going to fast for those conditions. Almost London marathon like pace. Thankfully my lace came undone. I could now run at a sensible pace and take sensible fluid intake on board.
I had to stop again around 7 miles. It wasn't going well. Got the halfway point in better shape. My aim was to overcome the heat and go after the Danish and the Irish runner.
My targets were reached around the 27/28km point. I was feeling good about myself now. The only people in front now, where Africans, Indians and other sub-continent athlete's, and a top Russian athlete.
I was feeling a tingling sensation in my finger tips over the last quarter now. I was always trying to keep the fluid levels up. It was on going battle.
The last few miles were ran solo into the sun on long road around the sea front.
I finished comfortably in 2.31.30 and 1st Oceania entrant in the Nations challenge.
You might be interested to know the was a sub-continent runner called A,SHITOLE. Race bib 83. Check out The Greatest Race on Earth site for the results.
Monday was spent sight seeing, before returning back early Tuesday morning. A great experience indeed.
One week later (Saturday 27th). I took part in the Northern XC at Manchester's Heaton Park. Always a good quality field. My legs felt a little heavy. It was a three lap 12k race. My last lap was slower, cause of the tired legs and a broken spike on my shoe. Finished a pleasing 18th out of 1500 runner's I think. Jamil Parapia my club mate finished 48th. A great run by him. I don't think any other runner in the club since I've been there has finished in the first fifty. A good team turnout aswell. Andrew Robertshaw also had a great run for us. Leeds City won the team.
Less than 24hrs later. I took part in the Winter League XC for my second claim Idle AC, It was over at Baildon and it's moorland. I remember not really wanting race so soon as I lined up at the start. Once I got going, I was alright. I finished first place in this exposed race. Very windy at the tops of the moor's.
[My dad ended up again in the BRI with a suspected stroke. Myself and my brothers were asked to join my mum at hospital. It was quite serious at the time. He's pulled through now, and taking it easy until he gets his pace maker for his irregular heartbeat. At the time, I decided not to do the next race at Dewsbury. Only decided the day before Dewsbury 10k to do it, after I was sure my dad was going to be alright]
One week later (Sunday 4th February). I raced the Yorkshire 10k road championship at Dewsbury. It's a fast out to Birtstall junction and back. There was no sharpness in the legs to begin with, but on the return things did improve. I was in forth position focusing on the third placer who was within reach of catching, but didn't happen. I ended up with 30.49 on my watch with a County 10k title to boot. Not bad two weeks after a marathon. There was some fast lads missing to be fair. But I can't help that.
Following week........No races!. But did a recce of the Esholt Winter League XC race for the following Sunday. St Bedes organised it. A technical route, which I'm glad I recced. Very enjoyable.
[In the coming week I find out that I have a elite selection for London marathon for the third time. I have done it every year since 2000. I did consider giving it a miss, but the selection changed all that]
Since UKA marathon coach and Tim Hutchings from the London Marathon office got us in. I felt I needed to show my appreciation by going to Birmingham's Alexander stadium on Saturday 17th Feb. It was most of the day with a good session in the local parkland. Later we had a talk from a professor on heat acclimatization. It was good to meet up with Bud Baldaro and team who I went to Slovakia with last October.
We also had Mike McLeod (Gateshead) He was one of the country's top athletes from the eighties. He was there to give advice on training and other related stuff. I found him very interesting bloke, who just did the work no messing. Despite his achievements. I was impressed by his down to earth attitude.
My coach Dennis Quinlan took us down. He even had the oppotunity to do a little speech to everyone. We had a good productive day there.
The session was 20 minutes at marathon pace. Then with groups of shorter distance athletes, we did. 6 x 3min at 5km pace with 90 seconds recovery. I felt comfortable with that one.
Then it was another 20 minutes at marathon pace. I slipped and grazed my leg on that one. I bounced back up quickly before someone saw me. I hope.
The next day (Sun18th Feb) was the final Winter League at Esholt. I recced the route the weekend before. But I got there early and ran it again just before the race.
It was a nice sunny day for it, but it was quite cool. Myself and Ben Mounsey from Stainland took the lead. Going up into hill into the woods I began to break away. I could hear Ben working hard at it. I felt a little tired, but I was fine after a mile. I took another tumble again on a down hill stretch, and grazed the same leg again. I wasn't having much luck.
It was well marked with red and white tapee. But it could have done with some extra marshalls for the tricky sections. I faltered on parts which can still happen after a recce. You don't always have time to think when you're in race mode. Even Ben and Chris Loftus made mistakes. They actually cut out sections through no fault of there own. The first three had there gaps, so it didn't really matter about final positions. Did I forget to tell you I finished first.
No..
I finished first.
Next weekend is the Inter-counties XC at Nottingham. Yorkshire have a strong team. I hope everyone turns out for it. I have been eligable for the team since 1998. I think I have only missed two due to holidays.
I raced Mumbai marathon for GB/Standard Chartered on Sunday 21st January. The marathon was the easy part. I left the UK on the day of those storms which caused havoc with the transport network.
My train to London went only as far as Newark. I thought I was stuffed, but other's opted to take a taxi down to King Cross. Myself and seven others got there for 8.30pm. I was 5 hours behind schedule. I arrived at Heathrows checking in desk at the exact time my plane was due to take off. Apparently I found out later it was still at the airport at 11pm.
Heathrow couldn't find me a local hotel either. The only option was to go back into London and stay there, which would have cost around 200 quid.
I slummed it there and caught the next place out at 10.40am the next day. I managed to catch up on sleep on the 9 hr flight over.
I arrived there for 1.30am Saturday morning. No one was there to pick us up either. So I had to organise transport to Mumbai's Hilton. Got to sleep for 3am. I had only 30hrs to go before the marathon.
I didn't feel to awake to begin with at the start. Myself and Michael O'Connor representing Ireland ran together for the first few miles. He was going to fast for those conditions. Almost London marathon like pace. Thankfully my lace came undone. I could now run at a sensible pace and take sensible fluid intake on board.
I had to stop again around 7 miles. It wasn't going well. Got the halfway point in better shape. My aim was to overcome the heat and go after the Danish and the Irish runner.
My targets were reached around the 27/28km point. I was feeling good about myself now. The only people in front now, where Africans, Indians and other sub-continent athlete's, and a top Russian athlete.
I was feeling a tingling sensation in my finger tips over the last quarter now. I was always trying to keep the fluid levels up. It was on going battle.
The last few miles were ran solo into the sun on long road around the sea front.
I finished comfortably in 2.31.30 and 1st Oceania entrant in the Nations challenge.
You might be interested to know the was a sub-continent runner called A,SHITOLE. Race bib 83. Check out The Greatest Race on Earth site for the results.
Monday was spent sight seeing, before returning back early Tuesday morning. A great experience indeed.
One week later (Saturday 27th). I took part in the Northern XC at Manchester's Heaton Park. Always a good quality field. My legs felt a little heavy. It was a three lap 12k race. My last lap was slower, cause of the tired legs and a broken spike on my shoe. Finished a pleasing 18th out of 1500 runner's I think. Jamil Parapia my club mate finished 48th. A great run by him. I don't think any other runner in the club since I've been there has finished in the first fifty. A good team turnout aswell. Andrew Robertshaw also had a great run for us. Leeds City won the team.
Less than 24hrs later. I took part in the Winter League XC for my second claim Idle AC, It was over at Baildon and it's moorland. I remember not really wanting race so soon as I lined up at the start. Once I got going, I was alright. I finished first place in this exposed race. Very windy at the tops of the moor's.
[My dad ended up again in the BRI with a suspected stroke. Myself and my brothers were asked to join my mum at hospital. It was quite serious at the time. He's pulled through now, and taking it easy until he gets his pace maker for his irregular heartbeat. At the time, I decided not to do the next race at Dewsbury. Only decided the day before Dewsbury 10k to do it, after I was sure my dad was going to be alright]
One week later (Sunday 4th February). I raced the Yorkshire 10k road championship at Dewsbury. It's a fast out to Birtstall junction and back. There was no sharpness in the legs to begin with, but on the return things did improve. I was in forth position focusing on the third placer who was within reach of catching, but didn't happen. I ended up with 30.49 on my watch with a County 10k title to boot. Not bad two weeks after a marathon. There was some fast lads missing to be fair. But I can't help that.
Following week........No races!. But did a recce of the Esholt Winter League XC race for the following Sunday. St Bedes organised it. A technical route, which I'm glad I recced. Very enjoyable.
[In the coming week I find out that I have a elite selection for London marathon for the third time. I have done it every year since 2000. I did consider giving it a miss, but the selection changed all that]
Since UKA marathon coach and Tim Hutchings from the London Marathon office got us in. I felt I needed to show my appreciation by going to Birmingham's Alexander stadium on Saturday 17th Feb. It was most of the day with a good session in the local parkland. Later we had a talk from a professor on heat acclimatization. It was good to meet up with Bud Baldaro and team who I went to Slovakia with last October.
We also had Mike McLeod (Gateshead) He was one of the country's top athletes from the eighties. He was there to give advice on training and other related stuff. I found him very interesting bloke, who just did the work no messing. Despite his achievements. I was impressed by his down to earth attitude.
My coach Dennis Quinlan took us down. He even had the oppotunity to do a little speech to everyone. We had a good productive day there.
The session was 20 minutes at marathon pace. Then with groups of shorter distance athletes, we did. 6 x 3min at 5km pace with 90 seconds recovery. I felt comfortable with that one.
Then it was another 20 minutes at marathon pace. I slipped and grazed my leg on that one. I bounced back up quickly before someone saw me. I hope.
The next day (Sun18th Feb) was the final Winter League at Esholt. I recced the route the weekend before. But I got there early and ran it again just before the race.
It was a nice sunny day for it, but it was quite cool. Myself and Ben Mounsey from Stainland took the lead. Going up into hill into the woods I began to break away. I could hear Ben working hard at it. I felt a little tired, but I was fine after a mile. I took another tumble again on a down hill stretch, and grazed the same leg again. I wasn't having much luck.
It was well marked with red and white tapee. But it could have done with some extra marshalls for the tricky sections. I faltered on parts which can still happen after a recce. You don't always have time to think when you're in race mode. Even Ben and Chris Loftus made mistakes. They actually cut out sections through no fault of there own. The first three had there gaps, so it didn't really matter about final positions. Did I forget to tell you I finished first.
No..
I finished first.
Next weekend is the Inter-counties XC at Nottingham. Yorkshire have a strong team. I hope everyone turns out for it. I have been eligable for the team since 1998. I think I have only missed two due to holidays.
posted by Ian Fisher at 3:25 PM
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