Swindon Parkrun - 27.10.12

The Jones family decided to stop off on their way to Devon and took part in the Swindon Parkrun on Saturday. Their times were:

Pete Jones          23.35
Fiona Jones         28.37
Sian Jones           38.09

Well done!

Jill Oliver 10K - 21.10.12

I took part in this event that was organised by Edmonton Running Club and took place in and around Lee Valley Country Park , North London . It started and finished at the very impressive Lee Valley Athletics Stadium. The final 800 meters being on their athletics track.

The event was well organised with plenty supportive marshals but no chip timing.

The course itself was mixed terrain and relatively flat. Unfortunately heavy overnight rain meant that there were a lot of large puddles on the towpaths and the grass sections were pretty soft underfoot.

The course had PB potential but I paid the price for rushing off too quickly at the start. My average time for the first 3km was a fraction under 5min/km whereas the 6, 7 & 8 km averaged 5m 43s/km.

I finished the race in 54m 34s some 17 seconds slower that my PB.

Les

Brueton Parkrun 20.10.12

The Jones family had an outing to the Midlands on Saturday and took part in the Brueton Parkrun in Solihull.

A nice fairly flat course and another new PB for Pete, The Monster.

Times were:

Pete Jones       22.53    
Fiona Jones     30.10
Sian Jones       38.10

Well done all.

MK Sportive 20.10.12

Today I went to Milton Keynes with my friend Andy and took part in the 100K Codebuster event at the Milton Keynes Sportive. When we arrived it was really misty and for the first 30K to 40K keeping the cycling glasses clear enough to see through was a major issue.

The course came round through familiar territory going through Woburn Park, Ridgmont and then through Cranfield. Thankfully by then the mist had cleared and the weather was much brighter.

We set ourselves a target of 4 hours which equates to around 16 mph average. Up to halfway we were ahead of schedule but the organisers had other ideas and made sure the route of the last third of the race included plenty of hills.

In the end we finished in just under 4 hours with an average speed of 15.8mph. That equated to 76th and 77th out of the 162 riders taking part.

Overall an enjoyable and challenging event and I believe next year there will be Spring and Autumn versions. As Arnie (nearly) says "We'll be back".

Chris

Parkrun Bedford 20.12.12

I took part in this event with the intention of taking it reasonably easy in preparation for tomorrows Jill Oliver 10k race at Lee Valley Country Park . However Bedford is a nice, relatively flat course and the conditions, once again, were perfect for running. Hence I achieved a PB clocking in at 26m 29s in 63^rd place.

Unfortunately having forgotten my barcode I will not be credited with this result on the Parkrun website.

 

Les

Blenheim Rotary 10K - 14.10.12

Pete Jones and I took part in this event on Sunday 14^thOctober 2012. The event was organised by the Rotary Club of Woodstock & Kidlinton and was a fund money for their 2012 charity “Special Effects”

The race was well organised and took place in the beautiful parkland around Blenheim Palace in perfect running conditions i.e. 10 degrees Celsius, sunny and no wind. The course itself was mostly on tarmac private roads with the odd stretch or two on gravel / grass and was quite hilly as the following elevation chart shows – so not ideal for PB’s.

Pete clocked a time of 52m 47s and I came in with a time of 55m 34s.

Les

 

 

Parkrun Bedford - 13.10.12

The Wright family decided on an outing to Bedford for Lois and Ellen's first go at a Parkrun. The weather was good but rather cold.

The times have now been sorted by Parkrun and were:

Chris Wright          22.04
Ellen Wright          38.02
Lois Wright            38.03

Well done!

Parkrun MK - 13.10.12

A bright but cold morning in Milton Keynes didn't stop a record 374 parkrunners turning out for the weekly run. Of those 4 were members on FlitwickTri although 2 of those were saving themselves for the Blenheim 10K on Sunday. Despite this Chloe managed another PB.

Congratulations to Pete on his 50th Parkrun!

Times were:

Chloe Potts       31.17 (new PB)
Les Potts           31.18
Jason Murphy     31.51
Pete Jones        45.42 (as tail runner).

Well done all of you.

Alternative training?

An interesting take on a brick session:

Standalone 10K - 07.10.12

Along with 1,400 other runners I took part in this road race organised by the North Herts Road Runners.

Starting and finishing at Standalone Farm in Letchworth Garden City it was a well organised event with lots of supportive marshals as well as many spectators on much of the course. About 9km of the route was on roads that had been closed to vehicles.

I bettered last week’s PB by 71 seconds coming in on 54m 18s and was placed 676^th out of approximately 1,400 runners.

Les

Parkrun MK - 06.10.12

A lovely Autumn moring greeted runners at the MK Parkrun this weekend. 4 runners took part with Chloe getting another PB. Times were as follows:

Fiona Jones     29.42
Chloe Potts     32.04
Sian Jones      38.48
Les Potts        44.45 (as Tail Runner).

Well done all of you.

Tri-crazy Sprint Triathlon 07.09.12

Race day this morning dawned misty and cold and it didn't improve during the race with the bike route very misty in places. 

Pete and I were not racing together but the splits show a ding dong battle taking place against the clock. In the end my bike time gave me just enough margin to make up for the Monster's quicker swim, run and transitions. (I confess to having faffed about putting on socks, longer cycling shorts and a cycling top in T1).

In the end I finished in 243rd in 1.34.02 and Pete finished in 247th in 1.34.31.

Unfortunately due to Penny's knee injury and Jon's recent heavy work commitments they weren't able to take part.

Chris.

Moor Park 10K - 30.09.12

On 30th September I took part in the Moor Park 10k race. A spectacular traffic free course starting in Merchant Taylors’School sports fields before passing through the Moor Park estate (where Jags, Range Rovers & Aston Martins seemed commonplace for most residents) and then over Rickmansworth and Moor Park Golf courses. This race is a fund raiser for the Lynda Jackson MacMillan Centre.

The event was really well organised with lots of supportive marshals.

The course was superb except for a 1km stretch that was a continuous incline raising 64 meters. You can see from my split times that it really slowed me down.

1^st Km 4:53.9

2^nd Km 5:14.7

3 5:22.3

4 5:32.9

5 7:00.0

6 5:19.3

7 5:36.1

8 5:38.1

9 5:34.1

10 5:13.0

Despite the hill I managed a 10k PB of 55m 29s - a 40 seconds improvement against last week’s Bourn 10k PB, and I was placed 389th out of 799 finishers.

Les