BRR Blog – 19 August 2024
Some of the BRR team at Ingatestone
Hello Road Runners!
What a fantastic weekend of running! Some of us were taking part in the Ingatestone 5, race number six in this year’s grand prix competition. Others were pounding it out along the seafront at the Clacton 10k/HM. And some were giving support to the runners, which was very helpful on quite a warm day. At Ingatestone Clodagh and I were congratulated by one of the organisers for a great battle to the finish. Little did they know that we were just trying our hardest to stay ahead of Rob! But it gave us that little extra push we needed to get across the line. More details of the past week’s racing in Greg’s Race Report.
The next blog will be after the Phipps 5k on August Bank Holiday Monday. If you are planning to run, please don’t forget to sign up using the Club discount code (ask me or Jess if you can’t find it). If you are free to volunteer, please let us know; we will have the 5k race and also the under-15s 2k fun run so we need all the help we can get!
Let Battle Commence
The Paris 2024 Olympics may have come to an end but the 2024 track season is far from over. There are still five meetings in this year’s Diamond League competition. The first will be on Thursday 22 August in Lausanne, Switzerland. Surprise Olympic 1,500m champion Cole Hocker and Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen will go head-to-head over the distance.
But the most exciting battle looks like taking place at the Zürich Diamond League on 5 September. The Olympics 1,500m top four of Hocker, Yared Naguse, Josh Kerr and Ingebrigtsen are scheduled to battle it out again, for a Diamond League title and $30,000 in prize money – quite an incentive to concentrate on winning rather than personal rivalries!
There is another – more unusual - battle to look forward to on 4 September, the day before the Zürich Diamond League. Men’s pole vault Olympic champion and World Record holder, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, will be taking part in a head-to-head 100m race against 400m hurdles World Record holder, Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
Karsten v Mondo - who is your money on?
Warholm’s best over 100m is 10.49 seconds, a time he set in 2017. Duplantis clocked 10.57 seconds in his last year of high school, in 2018. Both athletes believe they are faster now than six or seven years ago. Duplantis is realistic about his chances of winning, and said on YouTube “I’m not saying I’m going to kick Karsten’s butt, but I think I will give him a good run for his money.” In the meantime, the pressure is on Warholm because his event involves more sprinting than the pole vault so his reputation is on the line. Let’s hope it is shown on the BBC.
Here are all the remaining Diamond League dates for 2024:
Lausanne, SUI, 22nd August 2024
Silesia, POL, 25th August 2024
Rome, ITA, 30th August 2024
Zurich, SUI, 5th September 2024
Brussels, BEL, 13th – 14th September 2024
Have a Heart
At the track, we will often suggest you run according to your rate of perceived effort, or RPE. This measures your effort on a scale of one to ten, with lower numbers representing an easy effort and higher number representing a harder effort. But training according to your heart rate is another method you could try, if you have a running watch that shows your heart rate.
Our heart rate is a measure of how hard our body is having to work to perform a specific task. It will range from our resting heart rate or RHR (when we’re at rest) up to our maximum heart rate or MHR (when we’re sprinting for a bus). Other daily activities will fall within these two extremes. These different levels of effort can be split up into different zones.
With heart rate training, you ignore the pace you’re running at, and instead focus on the heart rate zone that you are in as you run. Different types of training run will require you to be in a different heart rate zone.
How do I know my heart rate training zones?
To calculate your training zones, you’ll first need to find your MHR. Elite runners will have complicated laboratory tests to find theirs, but the rest of us will have to do some maths to find ours.
The common calculation used to determine MHR is 220 minus your age. So a 60-year-old runner would have a MHR of 160. A more complicated but more accurate calculation is [208 – (0.7 x age)]. For that same 60-year-old runner, this would come out as 166.
Once you have your MHR, you can use it to calculate your heart rate zones as follows:
Zone 1: Recovery runs. Very light, 50% to 60% of MHR.
Zone 2: Easy runs. Light, 60% to 70% of MHR.
Zone 3: Longer, tempo runs. Moderate, 70% to 80% of MHR.
Zone 4: Interval training. Hard, 80% to 90% of MHR.
Zone 5: Very short intervals/sprints. Very hard, 90% to 100% of MHR.
Why bother with heart rate training?
Because heart rate training is based on your own MHR, it is more personal to you and your current level of fitness than an ‘off-the-shelf’ training plan. In theory, this should reduce your risk of injury while allowing you to train at optimum levels.
Does heart rate training work for everybody?
Beginner runners may find it hard to run at the rate suggested by the zones, as their heart rates are usually higher than more experienced runners. On the other hand, more experienced runners may be frustrated at first as heart rate training often means they have to slow down compared with their usual training methods. Experts suggest that it can take around six weeks before the benefits of heart rate training are seen. It should also be borne in mind that your heart rate may be higher at certain times of the month, or if you are poorly, which will impact on how hard or easy it feels to stay within a particular zone.
What does heart rate training look like in practice?
A well-rounded training programme should see runners working in all training zones at different points in their week, but with the majority of their training done in Zone 1 and Zone 2.
Heart rate training plan
Here is an example six-week heart rate training plan for intermediate runners, courtesy of Women’s Running magazine. If followed successfully, you should be able to run faster at the end of week six than in week one while maintaining the same average heart rate.
Week 1
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: easy run, 40 minutes in Zone 2
Run 3: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 4: long run, 60 minutes in Zone 2
Week 2
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: easy run, 45 minutes in Zone 2
Run 3: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 4: long run, 70 minutes in Zone 2
Week 3
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: intervals, 10 mins in Zone 2, 4 x 5 mins in Zone 4 with 3 mins recoveries in Zone 2, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 3: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 4: long run, 75 minutes in Zone 2
Week 4
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: intervals, 10 mins in Zone 2, 5 x 5 mins in Zone 4 with 3 mins recoveries in Zone 2, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 3: tempo run, 10 mins in Zone 2, 10 mins in Zone 3, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 4: long run, 75 minutes in Zone 2
Week 5
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: intervals, 10 mins in Zone 2, 5 x 6 mins in Zone 4 with 3 mins recoveries in Zone 2, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 3: tempo run, 10 mins in Zone 2, 12 mins in Zone 3, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 4: long run, 80 minutes in Zone 2
Week 6
Run 1: easy run, 30 minutes in Zone 2
Run 2: intervals, 10 mins in Zone 2, 3 x 8 mins in Zone 4 with 3 mins recoveries in Zone 2, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 3: tempo run, 10 mins in Zone 2, 15 mins in Zone 3, 10 mins in Zone 1-2
Run 4: long run, 90 minutes in Zone 2
Greg’s Race Report
Rob Courtier and Louise Chappell took part in the Crown-to-Crown multi-terrain race at Westley Heights Country Park, near Laindon, on Wednesday evening. Louise completed the hilly course in 31:06, with Rob not far behind in 34:44.
Rob and Louise at the Crown to Crown
Barking Road Runners had the 6th round of their Grand Prix series this week at the Ingatestone 5-mile race. A regular race in the BRR Grand Prix series it was well attended as usual with 15 members competing.
The BRR runners on the day were Rosie Fforde, Louise Chappell, Alison Fryatt, Clodagh O’Callaghan, Dawn Curtis, Craig Chappell, John George, Sunny Bulchandani, Tom Shorey, John Whan, Mick Davidson, Martin Mason, Dennis Spencer-Perkins, Rob Courtier and Les Jay.
Another team photo from Ingatestone
Sunny at Ingatestone. Sorry, I have erased Chris B's bad leg!
Rosie at Ingatestone
A few BRR members travelled to Clacton to run either the 10k or Half marathon. Isabel Pinedo Borobio and Joyce Golder took on the Half Marathon finishing together in a time of 2:17:14 whilst Ron Vialls did the 10k race finishing in a time of 53:33.
Isabel, Ron and Joyce at Clacton
Barking parkrunners
Barking - Ayoyinka Obisesan 19:51, Adrian Davison 22:25, Rosie Fforde 23:31, Joshua Ezissi 24:10, Mark New 24:14, Jason Li 26:43, Barry Rowell 28:17, Sian Mansley 28:45, Andrew Hiller 29:22, George Hiller 29:22, Tom Shorey 31:40, Clodagh O’callaghan 31:40, Dawn Curtis 35:35, Les Jay 38:04, Micky Ball 47:58 and Alan Murphy 51:31.
Chelmsford Central - Gary Harford 28:24.
Clacton Seafront - Nikki Cranmer 35:20.
Nikki and ex-BRR member Jenni at Clacton parkrun
Finsbury Park - Stuart Mackay 26:02.
Great Notley - Paul Withyman 21:13 and Peter Jackson 21:56.
Harrow Lodge - Rory Burr 25:14.
Malling Rec - Owen Wainhouse 21:23.
Sandringham - Kevin Wotton 27:09.
Valentines - Andrew Gwilliam 37:15.
Wanstead Flats - Mark Odeku 22:31, James Sheridan 25:08 and Stephen Colloff 31:25.
James S, Steve, and Mark at Wanstead Flats parkrun
York - Belinda Riches 25:42.
Highest BRR age gradings this week were Belinda Riches 66:86% for the women and Adrian Davison 72.79% the men.
BRR Diary – August/September
7.00pm, Tuesday 20 August – Speed Development Session. Jim Peter’s Stadium, Mayesbrook Park. This week Greg will be taking the session. It is a simple - but tough - fartlek session (for those of you who don’t know any Swedish, that mean speed play; basically interspersing spells of fast running amongst spells of slower running on a more or less random basis):
Continuous easy run with 15-second bursts of speed every three minutes. Total 33-ish minutes.
7.00pm, Thursday 22 August – Summer Handicap 07. Barking Park. This is definitely the last race of the competition, and the last chance to win the tenner. All the excitement, for just £1!
10.30am, Monday 26 August – the Phipps (August Bank Holiday) 5k and 2k fun run. Barking Park. The Club’s very own ELVIS race. We still need some runners (especially women) to make up our team (remember to use the discount code if you plan to run. You can find it on WhatsApp or ask me), plus plenty of volunteers.
Various times, Sunday 1 September – The Big Half (GP07). Tower Bridge. This event is now closed to new entries.
7.00pm, Wednesday 4 September – Crown to Crown 5k. Westley Heights Country Park, rear of the Miller & Carter (Crown) Public House, Langdon Hills. A mixed terrain route on bridleways and some tarmac. You can enter on the night, or online in advance at https://www.entrycentral.com/Crown-to-Crown
9.30am, Sunday 15 September – Pleshey Half. Pleshey Village Hall, Pleshey, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 1HA. Not a club grand prix this year, but a nice run through the Essex countryside (if a HM can ever be a ‘nice run’!) Entries at https://springfieldstriders.org.uk/pleshey-half/
10.30am, Sunday 22 September – East London Runners Valentines 5K (ELVIS 08). Valentines Park, near the Melbourne Road entrance. The last race in the East London fiVes Interclub Series. We usually go to the Great Spoon of Ilford for post-race brunch afterwards. https://events.kronosports.uk/event/192
Cracker Corner
There is a new series on TV about curtain-twitching neighbours. It is on Netflix.
I’m not very well at the moment. I moved a pawn and it hurt. I moved a bishop and it even hurt more. I think I’m suffering from chess pains.
A warning for campers from insurance companies: if your tent is stolen in the night you won’t be covered.
Boom! Boom!
Quote of the Week
“Of all the sports I’ve tried, some have come and gone, but running has always been there for me.”
Mel C, Spice Girl
And finally…
Karla Del Grande, from Instagram
Canadian runner Karla Del Grande has just set a new 100m world record in the women’s 70-plus category at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, adding to the more than a dozen world age group records she already holds. Her time? An impressive 14.70 seconds. Not sure if that is good? Try running it next time you are at the track...
Happy running!
Alison
Chair, Barking Road Runners
