My final blog of 2016
17th December 2016 The third Gloucester league cross country where I would be representing Cirencester AC. The course was a simple 4 lap of 2.2km around some school fields, it was very muddy and had some small hills. The main problem throughout the race was choosing the right footwear. The grass was really squelchy which meant on every step I was sinking into the boggy ground which had been ran on constantly throughout the day. I felt very good throughout the whole race and set my challenge to beat two runners I knew were slightly better than me. I worked hard and tried to make the most of the nasty conditions with minimal benefit but I finished in 38th position over all and didn’t manage to catch my two targets. I was happy with my performance and I raced well but there were still some improvements to be made with pacing and tactics. The next club cross country will be the county championships on the 7th January where I will be racing for a place in the Gloucester u20 cross country team. How exciting. https://www.athletics4u.co.uk/cross-country/ Sunday 18th December My second follow up endless pool session with Jason Tait at SouthWestSwim. Today we focused on the hand entry and compared it to the previous sessions and I am glad to say there was a lot of improvement. Now we’re really trying to iron out the small issues, especially with the timing on the breathing. We finished off with some threshold training where I had to hold a certain pace, rest, then up the pace and we did this until the pool reached the maximum speed of 1:08 per 100m. I managed to hold this for 1 minute 30 and I hope that soon that will be my race pace!! Once the session was finished I cycled home from Jason house, it was roughly 25km which I took nice and steadily as my legs were pretty shot from the cross country. What I have noticed from having a coach is that I complete a lot more active recovery than I used to. Especially as there are different disciplines, for example if I had a running race, it is likely I would have an easy cycle the next day when originally I wouldn’t have bothered doing anything at all. http://southwestswim.co.uk/ Saturday 24th December Christmas Eve and I was going to Swindon Parkrun! I had been planning all week to attempt a parkrun pb and hopefully get under 17:30. I did a long warmup and lots of exercises to make sure I was ready. This was Swindon Harriers annual trip to parkrun and so I knew a lot of the competition and gave myself some individuals to beat, one of which won Swindon parkrun a few weeks prior. The race started and I got myself in to a good position, there was a lot of wind on the course so I stayed in a strong pack and was in around 6th. Using the other runners as a barrier to the wind I made sure to push the pace and make them work hard. Half way round and I had dropped them and ran alone until I caught up with my target man. He was struggling so I continued to speed up and cut through the wind myself. With roughly 400m left I had put myself in a comfortable position and crossed the line in 4th with a time of 17:40. Not quite the time I wanted but the conditions were far from perfect and now I know that I can run that pace fairly comfortably. Sunday 25th December Christmas day and I was going to Chippenham Parkrun! I had to drive over myself to complete the holy day parkrun, it was one I wanted on my record. I wasn’t aiming to do well or to achieve any particular time but I wanted to have a good run and make it worth it. Sadly Simon Nott arrived (a local running legend) and was dressed in a black Spiderman suit which barely held him back as he flew to a 16:40 finish. After starting off slow I started to up the pace and overtake some other runners and won a final sprint to finish 2nd in 18:28. Two Parkruns completed in two days and I finished in a better position with a slower time?! Boxing Day swim Jason Tait at South West Swim organised a ‘Boxing day Lake Swim’ at Lake 32 in the Cotswolds. The idea was to turn up and swim for as long as you wanted in the theme of budgie smugglers and swim shorts. Dad, Ollie and I swam roughly 50m and it was the worst minute of my life. The pain was similar to being poked with hundreds of pins all over my body. Serious respect to some of the people that swim all year round. Tuesday 27th December The seven sins, 7 miles with 7 (massive) hills. This was a complete trail race famous for the hills, mud and river crossings based in the middle of the forest of Dean. Normally I would enjoy races like this but I was aiming for the sub 60minute shirt which turned it into a real race. The race started and it was hell. The first hill was roughly 500m long and dropped a lot of the people who went off too fast, I used it to gauge my pace and plan who I was going to aim to stick with. I really pushed when going up the hills and then used the downhills to make up some distance on any runners near me. Half way, 3 hills completed and 1 river crossing done and the competitors had started to thin out a bit. Howard Ewan of Cirencester AC is a great endurance and trail runner and he flew past me and didn’t stop. At 30 minutes I was starting to get conscious of the time, just over half way but still 4 hills to go, I thought this was going to be close. It wasn’t. I smashed the second half of the trails, overtook enough people to put me in 5th position and finished in 55:45, well under the hour target. Howard came 3rd and finished over a minute in front of me and Dad finished in 1:06 and ‘loved every second’. This was by far my favourite running race of the year, I really enjoy trail running and (generally) not caring about the speed I’m going. I will be looking to race it next year and go for the podium. This is a race I would recommend to any runner, brilliant organisation of marshals and great hospitality. http://www.trimaxevents.com/ Saturday 31st December Parkrun…again. Time for our annual family (except my sister) visit to Pomphrey hill Parkrun. This was a 3 lap course with the famous ‘Up Pomphrey’ hill that had been resurfaced and is now covered in strong bark which reduced the amount of mud drastically. I was the only person in a vest and I don’t know why, it was really hot. Anyway the race started and I spent the first lap battling for position with another youth that looked to have some new shoes (probably got them for Christmas). After one lap we were over taken by an older runner who continued to run off into the distance looking very comfortable. It became a race for second position. Which didn’t last long as I was then overtaken by a man running with a camelback?! Who also comfortably jogged on past. One lap left and I was very determined to hold my position, I felt good, flew up the hill and finished in 18:07, just under a minutes improvement on last year. The boy with (now muddy) nice shoes came 10th in 19:07. My 14 year old brother came 27th in 21:02, Dad 41st in 21:58 and Mum (her only Parkrun of 2016) 167th in 26:09. Pomphrey is definitely my favourite Parkrun and I really enjoy coming back annually to attempt a Pb. I also finished 3rd last year but I was 1 minute slower, how annoying. Supporters- I am forever grateful to base of supporters who have and will continue to educate and influence me throughout 2016. I can finally confirm that I will be working with the following brands/businesses in 2017: South West Swim Performance Cycles Pedal Potential Katie Synge I can also confirm that I will continue to be a member of: Cirencester Athletics Flying Monk Triathlon Club
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Saturday 26th November I had a long speed session planned involving some 2km tempos but on while I was out on short run on Friday, I could start to feel a problem with my Achilles which was slightly worrying. So I marshalled parkrun (I’m in the process of becoming a race director) and spent the rest of the day resting. The Achilles were not feeling good at all. Sunday 27th November Day 3 of bad Achilles, I knew I had a big cross country race planned on the following Wednesday so I wanted to make sure I didn’t inflame the injury any more than it already was. I joined the flying monks for their morning swim and then went out for an easy cycle hoping I could stretch out my legs a little. It didn’t go well, there was pain and it was becoming very uncomfortable. I returned home after an unsuccessful session and spent a lot of time covering my sore Achilles with frozen peas. Wednesday 30th November I went out for a run the previous evening to check how everything (especially the Achilles) were feeling and it was good! There were no aches or pains anywhere which boosted my confidence before the upcoming race. The event was being held in Lilleshall just north of Birmingham which meant a 2 ½ hour journey on the minibus starting at 7am with temperatures of roughly 6 degrees. I spent the whole drive wiggling my toes to stop them from going numb. Two other students and I would be representing Cirencester College at this race. After parking and walking to the changing rooms it was around 10am, the ground was still frozen solid and my toes and fingers were starting to go numb. We walked a lap of the four lap course and got changed ready for the big race. It was the south west regional champs, all I had to do was run 7.3km of cross country and finish in the top 8 to qualify for the nationals, easy right? The race started a little bit late which meant more time standing around in the cold. There were roughly 30 boys on the start line, most of which in leggings, long sleeve tops and gloves. I however was in shorts and a vest (with calf guards to hold my Achilles together) and I hoped I would warm up quickly. The race started and it was a hectic, by the first kilometre I had overtaken 4 people that had sprinted off in front of me, leaving me in 10 position. I knew it was a long race and there was plenty of time to make up some ground. By the time we had completed one lap I had managed to overtake another competitor, just one more and I would be in a spot for qualification. Now 2 ½ km in and half way up the only incline there was a lad sat on the side of the path shaking, I shouted at him as I ran past and tried to get him to continue but (luckily) he didn’t. Running past the college teacher (and running legend) Dave Bell, he confirmed my position and said there was a clear gap between me and 9th so I didn’t have to push so much. This was reassuring news but I continued on through the now thawed, wet and muddy trail overtaking another runner with two laps to go. By now the gap between me and 9th had reached roughly 30 seconds so I knew that as long as I didn’t stop, I wouldn’t have to worry about forcing the pace. Until my shoe lace came undone, I ignored it and carried on to finish in 7th position, only around 10 seconds behind 6th. The two other runner from Cirencester college came 14th and 15th, good positions respective of their running experience. It was a great race and the conditions were brilliant, it was just the mud that put me off. I completed the 7.3km in 27 minutes and 35 seconds with a 5km split of 18:30. After finishing I also realised that fellow triathlete Reece Ashfield was racing, someone I had raced against in Nottingham back in May and is also going to race at the European sprints next year. Saturday 3rd December Parkrun day. Dad purposefully dropped me off some distance away from the parkrun start so I could complete the necessary warmup set by the coach. It was a little chilly but the ground was dry and very firm. I wasn’t going for a specific position today, just aiming for a low 18minutes finish but on the start line I found myself looking around and ‘sussing out’ any other competition which was shown with one other runner that I hadn’t seen before who looked fairly fast and I had seen completing a vigorous warm up. The hooter went and we were off, I set the pace from the front, nothing too fast, fairly comfortable for me. I was in a pack with two other runners, one being the unknown individual, the other a Chippenham regular that I was confident I could beat. Our first mile clocked in at around 6 minutes, this was easy compared to the 5.15 Otto and I had manged 3 weeks earlier, and I continued to push that pace all the way around. With 1km to go, I decided to start opening up my legs a little and put some pressure on the two other lads, one of which dropped off very quickly. It was now just James and I, I knew what he was capable of but he was going for a PB which is very easy motivation to go faster. I looked at my watch with 400m to go and decided to ‘unleash the beast’ putting in a 78 second 400m (only 25 seconds slower than Mo Farah’s final 400) which finished me in 1st position and a time of 18:09. It was a good race, although now I can feel how tired my legs are after racing twice in 4 days. Also well done to my younger brother achieving a 33 second PB which finished him in 10th position. Pedal Potential http://www.pedalpotential.co.uk/ I have now finalised the deal with Pedal Potential and they will be supporting me throughout the 2017 season but focusing on the European sprint champs in June. I have heard great things about the business from various different athletes (including my coach, Katie Synge) and I am very glad to be working with them. The Pedal Potential logo will join South West Swim and Performance Cycles on my Team GB tri-suit which I am in the process of ordering and should receive not long after Christmas. Thank you for reading, please check out my twitter and Instagram which are both linked below: https://twitter.com/lukecampbell246 www.instagram.com/lukecampbell246/ #bigthingsarecoming |
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