Milton Keynes Parkrun - 14.05.16

On Saturday 3 FlitwickTri runners were in action at Milton Keynes Parkrun. There was a huge turnout with 572 runners taking part.

The results were:

Steve Clough                       72nd in 22.40
Pete Jones                          275th in 28.18
Sian Jones                           509th in 37.02

Bedford Parkrun - 14.05.16

It was a pleasant looking morning at Bedford Park but there was a chilly breeze coming in the opposite direction to the prevailing wind. The sun brought out a big field with 393 runners taking part.

Les and I made up FlitwickTri's representation and our times were:

Chris Wright                       43rd in 22.33
Les Potts                            135th in 26.24 

Silverstone 10k - 4th May 2016

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Silverstone 10k 

4th May 2016

Nearly 1200 runners took part in this years Silverstone 10k on Wednesday evening. 

The event saw a return to competitive running from Liam and Sarah who seem to have 

let their careers get in the way of regular running recently. Also running was our 

colleague from Serbia - Dragan.

The weather was perfect with 14 to 16 degrees and a brilliant blue sky, number and chip 

collection was easy, and the marshals were as good as ever.

As usual the start was a little crowded so we started near the back but within 3 or 4k

we had all found our pace.

Our finishing positions / times were:

Dragan 607th 49:40

Les 652nd 50:32

Liam 819th 54:30

Sarah 1119th 68:50

An OK medal and bottle of water was our reward for finishing.

Les 

Bedford Parkrun - 7 May 2016

There was a huge turnout at Bedford Parkrun this morning, no doubt motivated by the glorious sunshine and warm temperatures. I'm not sure if it was a record number but with 387 runners taking part it must have been close.

There were 5 of us from FlitwickTri taking part and the times were:

Chris Wright                    43rd in 23.04
Pete Jones                      167th in 27.50                     
Emily Potts                      341st in 36.48
Les Potts                         343rd in 37.01
Sian Jones                       348th in 37.20.

Well done all.

Ampthill Sportive – 1st May

When I found out that there was a sportive starting in Ampthill, I thought I had to enter. It was organised by the Icknield Cycling Club as part of a family fun day at Redborne School raising money for East Anglia Air Ambulance. Distances on offer ranged from 15 to 100 miles. I went for the 70 miler which headed west through Woburn, Soulbury, Stewkley, Whitchurch, Quanton and then back via the Claydons & Winslow, rejoining the outward route for the hill into Gt Brickhill. Signposting of the route was excellent but other aspects were not so good. I really only found out by accident that it was on and I can find no results on the website. I know it is non competitive but it would be nice to see them and they did have chip timing. I finished in about 4.5hrs.

I passed and was passed by plenty of cyclists around the course but oddly there was no one else at either of the two refreshment stops. Most cyclists seemed to carry on but if there’s free flapjack going then I’m stopping! On the way up the small rise through the Deer Park, a rider ahead of me stopped very suddenly with cramp and then the same thing almost happened to me, deferred effect from the Gt Brickhill climb I think. Anyway, I just about made it back. The weather was good, the only tricky thing was that it was chilly early in the morning so I wore a jacket and then later on wished I didn’t have it.

Steve

Box End trail run – 27th April

This was an evening 10k run using the trail paths around the Box End lakes. I waited until the last minute before deciding to enter as the forecast was very cold and wet and I didn’t fancy that. In the event it was cold but the rain held off and it was very enjoyable. After about 1k I was in the first ten or so runners and thought I’d made a mistake in setting off too quickly. I was surprised however to more or less maintain my pace and position, finishing 13^th out of 60. I was aiming for a sub 50 min time and although I finished in 50.03, the course was in excess of 10.2k so at least I did make the pace I was aiming for. There was no marshalling but the track was very easy to follow , and it was very cheap to enter and the results were online next day. They run a series of evening triathlons over the summer using the lake and trail paths but it seems that the run was a one off which is a shame.

Steve

Flitton Flits Fun Run Monday 2nd May

Pete and I took part in this very local event for the first time and was ably supported by Emily and dog Poppy.

It was all off-road on Forestry Commission land start. The very scenic route took us from Flitton Moors to and around flitwick Moors and then back to the start (finish).

All profits from the event were for the benefit of i) The Friends of Flitwick Moor and ii) Flitton Church Hall.

92 runners took part with Pete clocking in at 27:53 in 60th place and I clocked 25:29 in 45th place.

We rewarded ourselves with a pub lunch in The White Hart.

Les

Bedford Parkrun 30th April 2016

A good turnout from Flitwick Tri this week with 6 runners amongst the 365 runners taking part. 

Once again it was perfect running weather.

Results:

Pete 139th 26:47 - despite coming off worse after encounter with wild dog:(

Les 166th 27:53

Fiona 173rd  28:02

Chloe 175th   28:02

Sian 337th  36:54

Emily 338th   37:11

Bedford Parkrun 9th April 2016

It was left to Sian and me to represent Flitwick Tri at Bedford Parkrun this week with Pete and Fiona running elsewhere.

On a day that was perfect for the 336 runners we can in as follows:

Les 125th 26:02

Sian 314th 37:55

Les

London Marathon - 24th April 2016

Whilst I consider myself fortunate to have got into this event there is more than a little inconvenience involved before you start running. Firstly you or your representative has to register in person at the London Excel in the days prior to the race. This meant half day off work, train to Euston, northern line to London Bridge, jubilee line to Canning Town, and then DLR to Custom House - all just to sign their entry form in front of their representative. Secondly the race start is at Blackheath, again this meant a long journey train to Kings Cross, Piccadilly line to Leicester Square, Northern line to Charing Cross, and then train to Blackheath. This meant getting up at 5.45 and leaving the house at 6.45. 

The race itself and in particular the starting areas were really well managed. There was three starting points that all came together at various points early in the race. Within each starting area there was nine pens for runners depending on your estimated run time. I can't remember what I estimated my time to be but I was allocated pen nine - for the slowest runners.  

My plan when I got accepted was simply to run and enjoy the occasion however as time and training passes I did start thinking about the time I would like to complete the course in. Given that I recently did the Cambridge Half in 1:52 and that training was going OK ish I set myself a target time of 4:20 to 4:30. That was meant to be 2 hours for the first half and 2 hours 20/30 minutes for the second half.

The first half went virtually as planned and I had caught up with the 4:15 pacers as we crossed Tower Bridge. My time at the half way point being 2:04 and I felt reasonably good. In some respects it was good that there was so many runners as it prevented you going off too fast.

Around the 25k mark I took the opportunity to stop for a tinkle (toilets being provided in a long tunnel). I don't know whether stopping was a mistake but at 26k I started to feel the onset of cramp in my thighs. A little later cramp came to my calf's.

The cramp started much earlier that I expected. In my only other marathon it came at mile 20 so "only" had to struggle on for 6 miles, here I still had 10 miles to go so any ideas I'd had of a decent time were dismissed and the only aim I now had was to complete the course.

I did manage to walk (mainly) and run the remainder of the course finishing in 4 hours 50 minutes. The first half in 2:04 and the second in 2:46. In hindsight I maybe should have gone even slower in the first half and hence lasted longer. Because I did have a time in mind ultimately I am disappointed with my result.

Along the entire route the crowds were absolutely amazing, and the noise they generated around Cutty Shark and for the last 3/5k was something I could not have imagined. I must have heard "come on Les" etc hundreds of times:)

My best medal ever and a very decent tee-shirt softened the blow at the end though.

Here are my 5k split time which read great for the first 25k and then, well, disappointing.

Split	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/km	km/h	Place
5K	10:41:45	00:29:29	29:29	05:54	10.18	-
10K	11:11:03	00:58:46	29:17	05:52	10.24	-
15K	11:40:28	01:28:11	29:25	05:54	10.20	-
20K	12:10:14	01:57:57	29:46	05:58	10.08	-
HALF	12:16:57	02:04:41	06:44	06:08	9.80	-
25K	12:43:20	02:31:03	26:22	06:46	8.88	-
30K	13:22:31	03:10:14	39:11	07:51	7.66	-
35K	14:03:32	03:51:15	41:01	08:13	7.32	-
40K	14:43:54	04:31:37	40:22	08:05	7.43	-
FINISH	15:02:57	04:50:40	19:03	08:41	6.91	18574

Les Potts