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Beverley 10k 2011

Posted by GJC

This year’s Beverley 10k was an important race for me: last year at this race I got a PB of 45:28, could I beat this? After a year of transition into minimalist shoes I was running my first race in Vibram FiveFingers; and, most important of all, I was raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support following my 82-year-old mums diagnosis of breast cancer back in January. 

The lead up went well. In March I ran a PB at the Bath Half marathon of 1:39:44. In April I was in East Yorkshire looking after my mum as she under went radiotherapy so I decided this was the month to run only in my Vibrams – speed work, hills, distance – the lot. I also took the opportunity to join the local running group – Fitmums and Friends! My nephew’s wife is a member and I have to admit at first I went along thinking it would just be a group of women up for a gossip but it is actually a great group with wonderful people who welcomed me whole-heartedly – and there were other men.

The truth is I think I overdid it a little bit in the Vibrams. Even after five years of running and following numerous training programmes to the tee I made the mistake of adding extra miles and speed at the same time. The result was a bit of tendinitis in my right ankle. A reminder that running form comes first.

I travelled up north on the Friday before the Sunday race and joined the Fitmums for a circuit session on the playing field – running, squatting with medicine balls, step ups, ladder drills etc. My ankle was ok – no pain, just a tight feeling. On the Saturday I ran a slow three miles and included a mile total barefoot – I was reading the book The Complete Idiots Guide to Barefoot Running on the train travelling up. I’ve run five miles barefoot previously but that was on the sands in Cyprus, not a damp road in Willerby!

Anyway, the ankle was fine but still not completely right. I knew I wouldn’t get a PB so I decided to focus on form during the race and get to a level where I was comfortable but not going full out. My nephew’s wife and her friend were running also so we went together. I did a warm up but didn’t include the usual strides that I normally would for a 10k race warm up. The start was good and I took it stead. The first two and a bit miles was quite a tough gradual uphill but I was remembering last year when I seemed to sail downhill for the last half of the race. This is where I made the mistake because I was thinking that after half way the rest will be easy. But an injury, not matter how minor, takes energy out of you and the last half certainly wasn’t as easy as I anticipated. It was also quite a hot day and I much prefer racing in the cool.

I came in at 48:28 exactly three minutes over my PB. Not too bad since it was my first race in Vibrams but not as good as I would have expected two weeks prior. It was good experience though to run a race not fully on form and it showed me that we still need to be continuously learning and a constantly practicing the skill of running.