Records tumble at First Chance 10K, and Trotters travel to the Stoke Stampede

On the first main racing weekend of the New Year, many Trotters took part in the local First Chance 10K, excellently organised by South West Road Runners.  This chip-timed event is ran on a flat and fast course, and is a great New Year opener for runners to see how their training is going.

This is always a popular race for Trotters, and this year there were 33 finishers with many PBs and also an amazing three club records fell.

Jamie Barnett has been training really well and his hard work paid off at this race, which he was targeting.  He went under 34 minutes for the first time with a phenomenal 33:48 for fifth place overall, claiming first Male Under 20 prize in the process.  Also, he is now the quickest runner over the 10K distance that has ever ran for the Trotters, which is a fantastic achievement as that record has stood for 21 years.

A few days before the race, I asked Jamie some questions about his running, and he was kind enough to answer them in quite a lot of detail.  I follow him on Strava and he has been clocking some amazing and consistent mileage, so it really is great to see that his hard work is paying off.  What he has written gives a real insight into what drives him and I hope you enjoy the read, which is at the end of the report.

Other club records were broken by Lucy Payne, who knocked nearly a minute off of her own FV65 record, and also Graeme Baker for the V75 category.

There were also many Trotters who got PBs at this race including Claire Ayling (3 mins), Gavin Forbes (nearly 3 mins), Josh Taylor (42secs), Hannah Jones, Nikki Evans (3 mins), Lucy Evans (3 mins), Kevin Woodard and Graydon Widdicombe (30secs). Also, it was Emma Ray’s first ever race and she wore her Trotter colours with pride.

Finally for this race, there were also prizes for Helen Anthony (second lady and first V35), Josh Taylor (second under 20), Derek Skinner (fourth V55), Paul Sharples (second V60), Lucy Payne (third F60) and Keith Anderson (third V65).

There were 514 finishers and Trotters results are below. Very well done all and I hope I haven’t missed anyone.

Jamie Barnett (5, 33:48), Kevin Woodard (16, 35:49), Adam Johnstone (26, 36:19), Helen Anthony (46, 37:41), Ashley Wood (75, 40:31), Josh Taylor (80, 41:21), Mandy Wheeler (98, 42:28), Graydon Widdicombe (100, 42:37), Gavin Forbes (107, 43:00), Kevin Sampson (109, 43:05), Derek Skinner (123, 43:37), Melanie Dunn (125, 43:45), Paul Sharples (137, 44:34), Hannah Jones (142, 45:02), Neil Pallant (145, 45:10), Keith Anderson (191, 47:26), Gary Caunter (208, 48:44), Lucy Evans (238, 50:22), Kate Williamson (243, 50:36), Kathryn Steemson (251, 50:58), Claire Ayling (259, 51:33), Kirsty Bowman (280, 52:30), Claire Mills (286, 52:40), Graeme Baker (289, 52:51), Emma Ray (291, 53:07), Lucy Payne (311, 54:02), Laura Law (315, 54:13), Beverley Dennis (318, 54:53), Tim Hartley (349, 57:05), Sharon Bowman (367, 57:55), Joanne Sharples (382, 58:46), Nikki Evans (403, 59:54) and Rod Payne (424, 1:01:57).

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There was another 10K that took place on Sunday – the Stoke Stampede, held in Stoke St Gregory near Taunton.  It’s a great race and is part of the club’s championship year (the race usually happens between Christmas and New Year so isn’t eligible, but that was changed for this race).  Results are: Gary Watson (71, 45:41), Sally Ingledew (190, 55:11), Sarah Collman (234, 57:52), Scott Stephens (275, 61:02), Suzie Mills (312, 64:23), Emma Iles (320, 65:54).

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As mentioned above, Jamie (who turns 19 at the end of February) was kind enough to answer a few questions about his training, what motivates him and what his future goals are.  He talks a bit about training paces etc, and the goals he has in mind equate to the following.

• 5K goal pace: 5:09 min/mile,
• 10k goal pace: 5:18 min/mile,
• HM goal pace: 5:34 min/mile,
• and marathon goal pace is 5:55 min/mile

Jamie drafted this before today’s race, so his training is obviously paying off!

What got you into running in the first place?

I started running in 2013 at the age of 15, and there are two reasons why I started.  I was inspired by watching Mo Farah in the London 2012 Olympics, and then I also used to go and watch Dad run races like The Great West Run, and the Torbay Half Marathon.  I remember seeing Kairn Stone win The Great West Run.  It really interested me, and made me want to do the same.

What is your motivation to get those training miles in?

What motivates me in running are my personal goals.  I was 14 years old when I saw Mo Farah win his double gold in the 5000m and 10,000m at London 2012.  At the time I wanted to be a footballer, but watching him in the Olympics changed that.  I decided that I wanted to become an Olympian.  That is my Number 1 goal in running, and is the main thing that keeps me training hard, as there is no way it will happen unless I work for it.  Obviously that is going to take a good few years yet, so I have to set short term goals to gradually work my way there.  I’ve thought hard about my goals for 2017, and I’ve set them as 4:09 for 1500m, 8:59 for 3000m, 15:59 for 5k, 32:59 for 10k, and 1:12:59 for Half Marathon.  These are what I would like to achieve by the end of the year, so I will be training to gradually work my way towards them.

What did your training look like for First Chance 10K?

For the past couple of months, I have been training for my first race of the year, The First Chance 10k.  It will set the starting point for the year, and then I can gradually work my way forwards from there. Based on times I’ve been running in training sessions, my target is 33:59. This is also because it will put me within 1 minute of my goal time for 2017, which will be great at such an early stage of the year. I base my training on the philosophies of Italian coach Renato Canova, who coaches multiple world and Olympic champions, and world record holders.  His philosophy is very detailed, but to keep it fairly simple, there are two main parts to training. The FOUNDATION phase (WINTER), and the SPECIFIC phase (SUMMER).  The winter is where you build strength and endurance, then the summer is for doing more speed training, at race pace and faster. I’m in the foundation phase, and will be continuing with it until April. The training each week is a long run, a medium long run, a tempo run, an interval session, and easy runs. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday are 10-12 miles in the morning at 5k race pace + 2 minutes per mile, then 4-6 miles in the evening at 5k race pace + 2:30-3 minutes per mile.  Sunday is 18-24 miles at no slower than marathon race pace + 1 minute per mile. Wednesday morning is a 10k tempo run at 10k race pace + 10 seconds per mile, then 4-6 miles in the evening.  Saturday morning is an interval session, anywhere from 200m repeats to 1 mile repeats, at a fast pace. Then 4-6 miles in the evening. Thursday morning is 14-16 miles at no slower than marathon race pace + 1 minute per mile.  Then 4-6 miles in the evening. The idea is to run between 100 and 120 miles per week, getting in a good variety of paces, which is key for improvement.

What’s next for you?

Assuming I’m able to run at my best at The First Chance 10k, with good conditions and not having any issues myself, I will then assess my time and decide what I need to do to progress.  I will do another 2 month training block, then race the Age UK Exeter 10k, before starting my summer training in April.  I want to run some fast times on the track, and try to break in to the UK Top 10 for Under 20 athletes in 5k, 10k or Half Marathon.  I also have my eye on placing highly in the Plymouth, Torbay and Great West half marathons.  If all goes to plan, I should run well under 1:15, which will then allow me to get a championship place in The London Marathon 2018, where I will run the distance for the first time!