Track Thursday
Tonight we are marathon training at the athletics track in Norman Park in Bromley. This is my hour, the hour when I am at peace in my mind, the hour that flies by without a single unwanted thought or worry. My first ever visit to an athletics track was in 1976 at Erith, the home of Bexley Borough Athletic Club. Peter White was gliding silently and effortlessly over the cinder surface. I say effortlessly, but I soon came to realise he was actually hurting inside. Ever since that day I have had this love/hate relationship with the orange oval - love being there, hate the nerves before a race. Here is a photo of the early days, probably a Kent Colts and Boys League meeting with Blackheath Harriers, Bexley, Medway and Ashford. I’m no 1 on the inside lane, tucking into the pack.
Anyway back to marathon training. Tonight we will have about 40 Petts Wood Runners arriving between 7:30pm and 8pm. There will be much nervous chatter about what the evening session will have in store for them. Many of our group will not have not ventured onto a track since their school days - and, as they walk across the park towards the home straight, their initial thoughts may well be that they don’t want to go near one again. And this is because they will be watching the wonderful Britsh Olympic Finalist Sprinter Dinah Asher-Smith going through her paces under the eagle eye of coach John Blackie. His sprint group is second to none in this country, and boys and girls with very powerful physiques skate down the track.
At 8pm, as the Blackheath and Bromley National Cross Country Champion girls leave the track, we gather together by the finish line. During marathon prep we drop the running form drills and start the session with a 15 min tempo run. This is a run of 15 mins around the track at a pace the athletes find it just about comfortable to talk at. As each lap passes, I will call out either their equivalent 10k time or their marathon time. This is to ensure that every week they get to run at their own marathon pace at least once. A schoolboy/girl error would be to turn up on marathon race day and start off too fast! But no one does that do they?!!!
We have a wide range of abilities, with Parkrun 5k times of 37 mins to 16 mins, so by the end of the 15 mins some will have run 10+ laps while others will be on lap 6. When the 15 min whistle blows to signal the end of the tempo run, the runners all make their way to the finish line to start the session. At this point they should feel very ready to train and not be bending over with their hands on their knees. Tonight’s session is 5x1k (2 1/2 laps of the track) with 90 secs recovery. The slower runners will do 5x800m. As the intervals are 2 1/2 laps long, the runners will stop at either the finish line or just before the last bend and the scene can then become a confusing blur of runners. I will stand and observe the running gait of those who pass me and I will amble around the inside of the track, in the opposite direction of the runners, giving them cues to improve their running efficiency. As the session continues the talking will subside, the faces will become drawn and the coughing and spluttering will become more ugly. The runners’ steps will become heavier - until they near me when, all of a sudden, they lighten again ;-).
As the session comes to a close, the runners will have their hands on their knees or they will be draped over the fences. Within 45 seconds, however, as we begin a collective cool-down stretch and Paul Whelan starts his one-man comedy act, smiles will return and everyone will start discussing the upcoming ‘Sunday long run’. Runners will then make their way back to the car park as the floodlights are switched off.