Innovation Sports Half Marathon in Victoria Park

So my second half marathon of the 2015 and my 14th overall but for South London running organisers Innovation Sports their first event in East London and Victoria Park. 

I arrived far too early as I had over estimated the efficiency of Sunday morning public transport. I still arrived to see the finishing touches of the race village coming together. Race number pick up point, registration point, bag drop off tent all the usual things you would expect at a race along with less regular features such as a mobile artisan coffee seller and a pet food stall courtesy of race sponsors Pooch and Mutt.

The events race compare was soon on the mic providing enthusiastic cajoling for the small bunch of runners gathered for the half marathon (later start times saw a 5K, 10K & a children's race). 

It was a very cold wintry morning and one of my biggest running challenges presented itself to me in the guise of trying to attach my timing chip to my trainers laces with my cold and numb fingers. 

It was an arduous and difficult task that was ridiculously painful on my freezing fingers, they don't mention these kind of things when they talk about the joy of running do they?! 

It was soon time to start gathering on the start line so I took my place in a small field of around 100 runners as the race compare encouraged runners to make there way to the start line. I noted quite a happy mixture of both seasoned runners and what looked like fresh faced first timers which made for a happy atmosphere. There seemed to be a few late running stragglers so we duly waited until all the runners were in place.

After a slightly protracted start the race was underway and we embarked on four laps of the park. Having run the RunThrough half marathon in the park only four weeks earlier I was eager to compare the two events and courses. Runthrough had opted for a six lap route running a simple lap of the perimeter of the park with a lap of the running track to finish. Innovation however opted for a more twisty turny four lap route which included a small section over grass on each lap.

I much preferred the Runthrough six lap course however the Innovation Sports way did provide much better views of the park and of the surrounding East London area. The innovation course was far too complicated though and doubled back on itself at points, which made it hard to run a fast time and could also be mentally challenging. 

The other problem was that the course was looooong, I and several others (according to strava) measured the course quite a bit in excess of 13.1 miles. I'm sure the organisers did their best to ensure the route was accurate but all the twists and turns might have added a few extra metres either in actual distance ran or 'virtually' according to the inaccuracies of strava.

The course though was very well marshaled with several marshals positioned in the key spots to direct and cheer on runners. There were one or two girls stood out on the course who were of incredibly cheery disposition despite the bitter cold, hats off to you guys your support was awesome! 

As for my actual run, I really tried to focus on consistent pacing following my recent attendance at the running works seminar. Although I didn't manage to maintain my desired pace I did feel a lot stronger than my run in February and was able to enjoy the run itself a lot more. I over estimated my strong finish though as I kicked for home a bit too soon (at about 18K) thinking I could finish with a few quick kilometres and I soon struggled to maintain a strong finish in the final kilometre. 

Post race a medal, a tshirt, a bottle of water and a cereal bar provided satisfactory race loot. The attendance of a mobile coffee vendor then came into its own as I was able to purchase a nice hot caffeinated drink to warm me up and give me a post race boost. 

Overall an enjoyable mornings running and I am very much starting to love running in Victoria park. As for innovation sports I don't know if I am that likely to run another of their events purely as I don't see myself venturing over to their regular Clapham home anytime soon, but if you happen to be based a bit closer definitely give one of their races a go as they are an enthusiastic bunch aiming at putting on fun and enjoyable races. 

Happy 2016 - Onwards and Upwards

Happy 2016!

Here we are well into the New Year, I don't about you but I am certainly a few pounds heavier from enjoying a bit too much Christmas excess. In fact I sit typing this demolishing some of the last of my Christmas chocolates in the form of some chocolate coins. I am trying to maintain my typing while constantly having to fidget around with getting my next chocolate treat out of its metal casing.

I am not a big fan of Christmas or of New Year festivities but I was glad of  a prolonged period off work and I was looking forward to using my extra time off to get some more running in. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.

Before Christmas I booked myself in for my for my first race of 2016 a runthrough Half Marathon in Victoria park at the end of January. Its an event I am pretty excited about as not only does it have a super cool medal as highlighted below but it also falls on my birthday!

I will be honest, I have been looking forward to my birthday falling on a Sunday so I can do a race on my birthday, what a great way to spend the day!

I have built up the race to be a race of magical proportions, surely a race on my birthday will be the most magical event and the running Gods will bestow nothing but good things on the run and my preparation for it?

Of course not!

My training over Christmas was blighted by a cold/cough that had me under the weather off and on for most of the festive period. I had penciled in the ambitious idea of a half marathon distance run before Christmas, another one between Christmas and New Year and a third between New Year and going back to work. I didn't get any of these runs in just one 14K trundle our feeling the worse for wear after Christmas.

Eager to make up for lost ground I planned to attack this week with great enthusiasm and lots of running.

Monday I got out for a great session which involved using a local motorway crossing for some hill sprints and then some strength and conditioning work on the stairs.

Since then it has gone a bit wrong, my Monday night session had obviously aggravated my calf as I awoke on Tuesday morning with a calf strain. The week hasn't got much better as I have been in agony with an infection in my tooth. After a few sleepless nights full of pain and struggling to eat all week a trip to the dentist has seen me get on the antibiotics and get booked in for some required root canal work.

So not the ideal start to the week but now both my tooth and calf are on the mend so next week will see me attempting to kick start the New Year.

I am not a big fan of New Years resolutions and all these ambitions and declarations of intent that everyone is full of at this time of year.

Other than my recap of 2015 (peak at my medal haul form 2015 below) I haven't written a post about all the great things I am planning for 2016 and all the changes I am going to make to myself, my lifestyle, my running or my blog.

I am simply going to press on with doing what I do.

In terms of running I know what I need to improve in my training and of course I will be aiming for more PBs in 2016 and if I can run consistently without too many injuries I would love to be able to run 2016km this year.

In terms of my lifestyle I know I need to keep trying to eat healthier the same as everyone else, eat a bit cleaner and cut out the carbs and the junk food.

As for the blog, it was always planned to be for me to write what I want to write, I am never going to be famous or earn a living from my blog. So I will continue to write more of the same, if you like it then great thanks for reading, I love interacting with other runners, why not drop me a line? If my blogs not for you then thats cool its not really a crowd pleaser designed for the masses but thanks for dropping by.

So onwards and upwards for 2016, I hope you manage to run off any Christmas excesses and achieve all your ambitions in the year ahead!