Hey guys, Ed Bud here and today I'm back with a video documenting my race plans for the first quarter of 2020. Hey viewers, thanks for watching. I've planned out the first half of 2020 in terms of the races that I intend on participating in and I'm going to let you know about the first quarter of this year is about three key races that I'm going to enter and participate in. Perhaps this inspires you to actually take part in some of these races. I hope so. And if so, please comment below as to when and where you may be turning up. It'll be fantastic to meet some of the viewers. There is one race that I was going to attempt this weekend at the Gloucester Half-Marathon. I believe there's also a marathon as well. Unfortunately due to their family commitments, I'm unable to make that one. I was quite looking forward to it. It did look like a fantastic race, actually, very flat course that alas, it's not to be. That does mean I can't meet up with the fantastic YouTube Earth and the Fold Runner, Forest of Dean Runner. If you haven't checked out his channel, please go and check it now or stick a card up in the top right corner. Andy does some superb shoe reviews and also documents all of his training as well. Some really insightful videos. So I can't meet up with you this time, Andy, but there's always next time. So first race up for me in 2020 is the Blackmore Vale Half-Marathon on the 2nd of February. This is one of those races in the course description that says, undulating. There's lots of short ascents, short climbs and then desense along with a really considerable hill smack bang in the middle of the race. It starts and ends on a grass section. I did undertake this course last year. It was cut short a little bit from the Half-Marathon distance due to snow and ice. Hopefully, that won't be the case this time round. The race kicks off in Bishop's Condor and then kind of works its way south on a loop before heading back towards Bishop's Condor for the end of the race. You will notice from the elevation profile of the race on the screen, it's very similar to that kind of yovol leaps that I do if you follow me on Stravae you would have seen that or many times. It takes in about 10 miles of the town right the way around the very edge and it's got a very similar elevation to this course and I think that might help me a little bit. So around about the 6th or 7th mile of the Blackmore Vale course, there's about 100 meter climb I believe, before a really steady descent from the 10th kilometer through to the 15th kilometer. It's then a mixture of small climbs and descents right through to the end of the course. And I think on the last kilometer there's a nice steady climb there as well. It does say that it's got a famous or last mile so I do kind of recall something like that from last year. I very much ran the course last year as I've build up to the Yovol Half-Marathon which is about 6-7 weeks later than this one. I finished in a time of 1 hour 37 and certainly I feel as if I can improve on that this time round. There were points really last year when I was sort of coasting around with a more sustainable sort of effort. As I said last year it was cut short to about 12.2 miles I think. Mainly due to snow and ice it was really quite rough actually some of the conditions. That side I'm in much better health and fitness this year so I really do want to try and shave off a considerable amount of time from that. It will be a good analysis of my training progress on a very testing hilly course. Sunday the 1st of March will see me taking on the Sherbourne 10K road race. Again this 10K is a somewhat challenging event as you'll see from the race profile. I did this one last year. It clocks in a little over actually the 10K distance and there's some significant elevation over miles 3 and 4 of the race. I managed to get in just under 45 minutes last time out. I think it was 44 minutes 39. It was very gusty that day lots and lots of wind lots of rain. Very similar to conditions that we had here in the UK yesterday. In fact I'm quite surprised that my fence posts and fence panels are still standing. At least I hope they are. Think I've no overall average pace last time out of about 7 minutes 6 seconds per mile. So it's kind of round about that half marathon pace for me really. As you can see on the third and fourth mile there's some considerable elevation and I saw people dropping back really badly on those miles. They've gone out way too quick over the first couple of miles. Certainly the hill section will sap the legs but again I'm that bit fitter, that bit stronger this time round. I kept the pace at about 6 minutes 52 per mile for the first couple of miles. Certainly saving back some energy for a mile 3 and 4. So I had a good plan last year but I think I can tweak it a little bit and improve again. Certainly on miles 4 and 5 this considerable descent you're just dropping basically right back down towards Sherbourne Town Centre. I think I hit 639 and then 649 for miles 4 and 5 last time out. I think Rob Gundry was pursuing me actually or we were kind of neck and neck through miles 4 and 5. That was a serious race. So I really enjoyed that actually. Hopefully Rob will be there again and we can continue our battle. On that last section of the course last amount I think I'll raise it up to about 626 which is for aged old Ed Bird is kind of pushing things a little bit. But I'm certainly happy with my efforts back from that day. I can't believe it's almost coming up for a year since then. That just seems ridiculous but it is. But I think I can push a little harder and improve again. I think the improvements will perhaps come from that hill section which I ran in 7 minutes 52 for mile 3 and 745 for mile 4. So I think I can certainly improve those two miles even if I improve by 10-15 seconds. That's going to make a big big difference to the overall time. There were lots and lots of Yovall Town road running club members there last time so I'm really hoping for that again. It was a really cool community spirit there. I think that's round about the time when I properly joined up actually to the club. So it'll be fantastic to see everybody there again. Let's just hope for some better weather this time. That course is pretty much all road. There were some slightly muddy kind of country lane sections to it but there'll be no excuses getting the heavy artillery out for this one. One of these shoes perhaps. Maybe they're Gakusso 4% or even the Adios 4. Very tempted by the Adios 5. It really does look good. Moving on to the third race in March on the 29th it's the Yovall Town half marathon. This is a very popular event put on by Immortal Sport again because it's here in the West country. There's some challenging elevation. I think I say that on every single race. So last time out I finished out 1 hour 35 54. I started out well. I probably started out a little bit too fast actually. I didn't really falter right until the very very end. It was probably the last mile. I think maybe mile 13. It was really starting to hurt. I was in my home territory as well. I knew where I was very close to the town centre but I think I pretty much used up what I had by then. But I was still amazed at the time I managed to get 1 hour 35 54. I was over the moon with that. I was able to get in and say 1 hour 37th, 1 hour 38th something like that. But I was really amazed with the time I managed to achieve. I think it'd be nice if I could try and get that a little closer to 1 30 maybe 1 32 something like that. But again, there's some considerable elevation to consider here. You've got to be realistic about these things. So I think last time out there was about 1,600 runners taking part in this event. It is certainly very popular. Runners of all sorts of abilities. Just fantastic to see so many runners out in one place in Yovall. It takes in a loop of the town centre right at the start before heading out of town towards Montecute House. You then double back along some of the country roads to the town centre and the finish in the main shopping centre. So miles 9 to 11 see you undertake some considerable elevation, about 150 foot I believe before it fires you back down the other end about the same distance. I recall consuming like a Morton gel or something as I was going out that hill last time. People were kind of looking at me like I was crazy. But it seemed like a good time to do it when you kind of enforce yourself to slow down a little bit. It was easier to get the gel in and it gave me a little bit of a boost. Perhaps it was a little too late though considering I faltered a little bit on that last mile. I think as an improvement here I need to stick to a slightly more conservative pace of between 7 minutes per mile and 655 per mile on those first couple of miles. I really need to do that. I went out far too fast last time and didn't have quite enough in the tank when I needed it. I got a good starting position though last time. I didn't feel as if I was being pushed to go too fast. It was mainly just me doing that. But I need to make sure I get a good starting position again near the correct pace at the 2020 event. So looking forward to all those races. Just got to keep myself in tip top condition now over the next few months and surely will reap the rewards. So if you are going to take part in the O's races please comment below and let me know when and where. Otherwise whatever races you are participating in very soon let me know in the comments too. I'm always really keen to encourage and to discuss. Make sure you subscribe, like and share with your friends. Thanks for watching once again. My name is Ed Bird. I'll be seeing you.