Athlete of the Week
Alison Hill
(Monday 12th July 2010)
It has been a while since this section has been up-dated...sorry for our absence!
However we are very excited by this week's Athlete!
Exactly one year ago Alison Hill ran her first ever race...she decided to enter the Stevenage Race for Life in memory of her father, who sadly passed away in January 2009. Alison started to sporadically train, doing a few runs each week, gradually building up to running 5km.
Standing on the start line last year Alison knew she would be able to finish the race...but did not really care what time she ran and considering that close to 3000 women were running in the race her position would be irrelevant. During the race she found it pretty tough going however she finished the race in a respecatable time of 27.30 minute and around 30th position! That was it! Alison was bitten by the Running Bug! she decided that day she would return this year and beat her time!
Alison followed a structured training programme designed by her boyfriend Allan, and set herself targets! Sometimes the training was not easy going and sometimes she felt like there was little improvement...but she kept going! she introduced different sessions into her training such as 'pick-ups' and even 'hills'.
On the day of the race I would like to say that Alison was full of confidence...however she wasn't! I wouldn't say she was nervous about the race...but she was not sure if there would be any improvement from the previous year.
Once the gun went and the race got under way, Alison began to relax and soon found herself in the leading group! this was completly unknown territory for the unexperienced racer, however she kept her cool and was able to maintain her pace. By the 4km stage Alison was in 4th place and was closing in on the 3rd placed runner (an experienced club runner). Once Alison hit the final 400m she together with the 5th placed runner was still moving faster then the 3rd placed runner. Alison managed to put in a very strong finishing sprint and finished a very close 5th place in a time just under 23mins (4min30 faster than last year).
I think this provides great inspiration to other women that are considering taking up running...Alison has proved what a difference a year can make.
Øystein Kvaal Østerbø
(Monday 17th May 2010)
Øystein kvaal Østerbø proved his dominance in SPRINT orienteering last week, winning the Norwegian Sprint Championships by over half a minute.
ctive Canaria's first ever customer when he joined us for 1 week in january. Since training camp in Gran Canaria Øystein has had a very successful start to the 2010 season, winning prestigous North Alentejano Orienteering Meeting in Portugal, and coming 3rd in the JK orienteering festival in England.
Allan Bogle
(Monday 10th May 2010)
Without sounding too conceited I have decided that this week’s Athlete of the Week is ME, Allan Bogle.
On Saturday I ran my first ever Ultra Marathon*. For a long time I have wanted to test myself over this type of race, physically I knew I could complete the distance, however I was unsure if mentally I could (especially after the disappointment of the K42 last month).
There was no particular reason why I choose Maraton del Norte (Marathon of the North) to be my first ultra, in fact I only completed my entry 3 days before the race. However it came at a time of the year when I did not have any other target races, and it also would give me the option of running next year’s Trans Gran Canaria (all entrants must have completed a race of 50km+ in the preceding 18months).
The race followed a 60km course through the mountains surrounding Arucas, Terror, Firgas and Valleseco and was a mixture of small trails, paths and roads. At the same time there was a mountain bike race taking place that started 15mins before the foot race and also a 30km race (bike and foot). As there was such a small entry in the 60km running race my goal for the race was not position orientated, I set myself the challenge of running 6hr30 (and I also, a bit arrogantly, decided that I wanted to beat some of the cyclists).
After missing the start of the race by one minute I had a faster than planned opening, but soon was in front of all the 60km and 30km runners. To help make me remember to hydrate properly I set my watch to beep every 15mins (something I will use again), and I also made sure I regular took onboard energy gels and bars.
After about 10km I started to see mountain bikes in the distance in front of me, I didn’t change my speed but I soon started to pick off the trailing cyclists (much to their disappointment). On some of the steep rocky trails mountain bikes find it difficult to find traction and it was easy to run faster than they could cycle.
The first half of the course was lovely, with breathe taking views over Valleseco, and the time flew by. After 1hr15 of running I asked one of the cyclist that I spotted had a Garmin (GPS) how far we had gone and he told me 16km, so I knew I was running faster than planned. However I was feeling good and decided to remain at the same pace. It was amusing when I passed spectators that thought they were watching a only a bike race, I told one old man that I had lost my bike!
The first 50km went by very quickly, and I reached 50km in about 4hours, however this is when my problems started. I came to a road junction and could not see any arrows or tapes marking the route, I started to run down a road that looked liked the obvious route, however after 2 or 3 minutes I realised I must have chosen the wrong road and had to retrace my steps. After remaining so composed up until this point, this mistake, lead to the first cracks. My 15minute reminder beeped from my watched and I ignored it, and carried on without drinking, this turned out to be a big mistake! At about 55km I could feel the signs of cramp in my legs, and still I didn’t drink! When I remembered to drink I didn’t think of adding some of my hydration salts, my cramp got worse and worse! With 2kms to go I started to walk, and the cramp eased off, I lent on a wall and stretched out the backs of my legs, this seems to make the cramps disappear and allowed me to continue for another few minutes before it returned. I was forced to continue this process for the rest of the race (walking, stretching, jogging, CRAMP, walking, stretching, jogging, CRAMP, walking, ...). My sprint finish must have looked very ungainly with my grimace and straight legs, however I did finish! 5hours 22 minutes, over 30 minutes in front of 2nd position. The last 10km had taken me 1hour 20 and were definitely the most painful kilometres I have ever run.
Once I crossed the finish line I hobbled to the physio and collapsed on the floor in severe pain, my muscles were visibly contorting below my skin! And all I could think of was when I could run my next Ultra Marathon.
*Ultra Marathon- any race over 42km, usually 50km and above.
Ruth Mein
(Monday 3rd May 2010)
This week's athlete of the week is Ruth Mein.
Ruth came to Gran Canaria to run the Gran Canaria Marathon 5km race, and to train for the Belfast marathon.
Coming from an active background Ruth has always liked to keep fit, however she had never attempted anything as daunting as a marathon before.
During her build up to the marathon Ruth has ran several shorter races, including the Omagh Half marathon. She has also overcome several minor injuries and set backs, however today she put all these behind her when she completed her first ever marathon while at the same time raising a lot of money for Cancer Research UK.
Well done, Ruth!
Trans Gran Canaria next year?
Comments from Ruth:
"I reached 17miles in 3hours, however my knee gave way and I had to walk much of the last 9miles! But I still enjoyed every minute of it!"
Ruth now plans to run Dublin in October!
SHE CAUGHT THE BUG!!!
Rob Baker
In this new section of the Active Canaria website we will feature an athlete that has done (or is about to do) something special.
This week's athlete is Rob Baker. Rob came to Gran Canaria with his wife Clare in February to train for the London marathon and to prepare for the orienteering season.
His hard work paid off on Sunday when he ran a massive personal best time of 2:26:58 coming in 37th place.
Throughout the race Rob recorded some excellent split times, and actually ran a faster second half:
Congratulations Rob!
Sub 2.20 next year??
Comments from Rob:
"Flattered by your post! Gran Canaria was certainly a great place to start my marathon training!"
