Another year, another summary of the years activities (see 2009, 2008, 2007 for previous summaries)…

After finding myself on the injured bench at the end of 2009 I desperately wanted to start 2010 with a parkrun. So, the start of the year began on the 1st January with Bushy parkrun. I finished in 24:24 and logged the following…

“First run since 28 November. Almost stopped after 1k but wasn’t sure if foot pain or just bloody freezing!”

My next run was at Black Park parkrun on the 23rd and then again in mid-February. My left foot was starting to get better but I decided to get back into things but not rush it.

As part of my Ironman training I was getting time in on my bike (and did the brilliant ‘Hell of the Ashdown’ cycle sportive at the end of January in the ice!).

• January mileage - 6.22.
• February mileage - 29.
• March mileage - 86.

So, things were picking up again but I needed to not rush things.

• April mileage - 93.5

In May I was back at the Bognor Regis 10k for my seventh year in succession. All I wanted to do was get under 40 minutes. I’d run a 40 minute 10k on a treadmill a few days before so felt good and with a steady run (although in a strong wind) I finished in 39:53. That’ll do nicely.

At the end of May I was in the pool for my first triathlon of the season (Thames Turbo Race 3) and finished 17th out of 330 finishers.

• May mileage - 147

In May I also started cycle-commuting into London a couple of days a week on my mountain bike. This was a great opportunity to get some extra easy miles in on the bike - especially on ‘recovery’ days when I wanted just an easy session.

I was going to write about the ‘National Family Week 5k’ that was held at Twickenham Stadium at the start of June but the event was such an (expected) shambles that I won’t. You can read about it if you want to…

Mid-June we were in Wales for the Bala Middle Distance triathlon. This is a great event on a tough course and I had a great race. Finishing in 4 hours 48 (nearly 4 minutes faster than in 2009) and 120th out of 629 finishers.

• June mileage - 143

A month later we popped over to Richmond Park to run the Ranelagh Harriers Coad Cup Handicap Race and then jumped straight in the car and headed to Dover to catch an overnight ferry. Five days later I was on the start line at the Challenge Roth Ironman Distance race. What a day! You can read all about it in my race report but my highlights were a 64 minute swim (for 2.4 miles) and a 3 hour 35 marathon!

• July mileage - 110

Post Ironman I seem to have plenty of 5k speed in my legs (no idea how!) so decided to run one of my favourite 5k’s - the annual ‘Wedding Day 7k’. What I hear you ask? Well…. you run it like a 5k race, then hang on for the final 2k. It’s torture, but enjoyable at the same time. So, 12 days after my Ironman and I got a 19 second PB on the course. Nice.

At the end of August I raced hard at the Thames Turbo triathlon and finished 20th out of 357 finishers with a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes 37 seconds - a few seconds faster than earlier in the year. This was the warm-up for the Vitruvian…

• August mileage - 77

The beginning of September saw us at The Vitruvian half-Ironman distance triathlon - and what a race. I had a blinder of a race and finished in 4 hours 28 - just under 33 minutes faster than I was in 2008!

“What I like about this the most is that I have the same wetsuit and same bike… I am just stronger overall - especially on the bike and run. This is great to know, especially when I know that I can do better with more (and more structured) training.”

This marked the end of the ‘triathlon season’ and I’ve not seen my wetsuit since. Now it was time to concentrate on other things…

• September mileage - 122

I’d been asked if I ‘fancied running a marathon before the end of the year’ some time ago and decided it would be a good idea. The next couple of months were concentrating on marathon training and getting those long runs in. I took part in a few races but didn’t run them hard - I ran these more as controlled training runs.

• October mileage - 180
• November mileage - 184

At the start of December when all my training was banked and ready to deposit on the streets of Luton for their marathon the race was cancelled due to snow. Very frustrating but something that can happen with a race held in December. I got my first ever ‘podium’ placing at Bushy parkrun instead!

After missing out on the snow running earlier in the year through injury I got to enjoy what everyone had been raving about many months ago. I also learnt that cross country spikes are awesome for running on ice covered paths.

In between some of the snow I found myself getting a 5k personal best of 17:51 at Bushy parkrun. It was hard work (as 5k always is) but very satisfying considering the cancellation of the marathon.

A few more parkruns (they’ve been going on all year, I’ve just not mentioned them above) and a couple of small mob-match/races completed the year.

• December mileage - 101 (before I go out for a few miles later today!)

My total run mileage for 2010 was around 1285 (1311 in 2009, 1028 in 2008, 1320 in 2007) so I’m ticking over again and have no complaints after a slow start to the year. Here’s my monthly run mileage for the past four years where you can see trends for 2010 such as my mileage increasing for my summer Ironman and then again in my October/November marathon run focus.

Here’s a summary of the running races I took part in (ignoring parkruns) during 2010:

• 20 Feb: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against Blackheath & Bromley
• 27 Mar: Ranelagh Harriers Baker Cup
• 16 May: Bognor Prom 10k - 39:53
• 31 May: Thames Turbo Triathlon - 17th overall
• 13 Jun: Bala Middle Distance Triathlon - 4:48:15
• 13 Jul: Ranelagh Harriers Coad Cup
• 18 Jul: Challenge Roth - 10:10:58
• 30 Jul: Wedding Day 7k - 26:25
• 30 Aug: Thames Turbo Triathlon
• 04 Sep: Vitruvian Triathlon - 4:28:01
• 09 Oct: Surrey League Cross Country
• 17 Oct: Cabbage Patch 10
• 23 Oct: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against SLH
• 20 Nov: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against TH&H
• 12 Dec: Stragglers/26.2 ‘mob match’
• 26 Dec: Stragglers Cabbage Patch 4

So, what’s in store for 2011. The cancellation of the Luton Marathon means that I will be going for my London Marathon ‘Good For Age’ time at Brighton in April and we’ll see what happens then. I’m going to be busy at work for at least the first few months of 2010 so I’m currently not planning another Ironman. I will however continue to swim/bike/run train and will do a couple of Half Ironman races in 2010.

Oh, I also seem to have got myself one of my running club ‘ballot’ places in the London Marathon so right now I plan to run the Brighton Marathon and then seven days later the London Marathon. Could be interesting!

Looking back at what I wrote in my Challenge Roth race report at the end of July - six months later and everything remains the same…

“So, what next…. the trouble with most of these Ironman distance races is that you have to enter them a year in advance and I’m not sure I want to commit to one next summer. What I’m currently thinking is concentrating on getting a better standalone marathon time under my belt and also getting some good cycle training in next year. If I don’t do something like the Outlaw Iron distance race in the UK in August 2011 then my next big race will be in 2012, and it could be any of them…possibly even Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand.”