INSTGRAM: @joycinho
TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague
SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal
Checkout Richard’s latest cool video of some old RJ Sports TV and Joycinho flashbacks from sporting moments and fitness. FOLLOW MY SPORTS, FITNESS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY:
INSTGRAM: @joycinho TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal
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It's official, we, along with Virtual Runners Group are now World Record Holders. It's a fun run record but one that we can be happy and proud of. What is the record? The record we broke is for the 'Most Remote 10K User Runs within a 24 Hour Period'. So, on the 19th September, me, my cousin Michael and my mate Jonny all met up to run our remote recorded 10K runs in Kirkstall, Leeds and ran up the canal towards town and back again to attempt to break the Guinness World Record with the Virtual Runners Group. It was good fun I have to say, but we had an early start with our run organised for 10:30am using the brilliant Adidas Runtastic App. Me and Michael were slightly late due to our taxis running behind, so unfortunately we left Jonny hanging around for 20 minutes (haha). We had our Guinness World Record T-Shirts to run in and we also received our medals for the attempt. There were 33,000 other participants who also attempted to break the record. However, we found out confirmation that we broke the world record a few weeks later, 25,000 of us completing the challenge and being verified. There were around 35,000 runners in total but many of them either did not run on the day or failed to provide sufficient evidence, which is a shame. It’s amazing to be a ‘World Record Holder’ with Virtual Runners Group. See a photo of me below, sporting my Guinness World Record Attempt medal that we received days later through the post. My personal ambitions to break a Guinness World Record I have to say, it has always been on my radar to eventually break a Guinness World Record but probably not this way. During my late 20's to very early 30's when I was at my running peak, I was very tempted to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the 'Fastest Fastest Marathon Dressed As a Monk'. At the time when I was thinking of attempting this, at the London Marathon, the record was about 3 hour 45, which at the time I was a sub 3-hour 'Good For Age' marathoner. I had much experience running a local 7 mile race dressed as a 'Mad Monk' for my running club Kirkstall Harriers at our very own Kirkstall Abbey 7 race. I ran the main senior race dressed as the monk in the then heavy outfit 5 years. All but my final year I ran in a very good time and even finished inside the top 15 but I never ended up doing it. It was certainly achievable but sadly it never happened and I think that boat sailed past me. You can see an RJ Sports and Kirkstall Harriers iconic photo below of me winning a frantic sprint finish wearing the outfit in 2013. It would have also been a great way to raise even more money for charity too. FOLLOW MY SPORTS, FITNESS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY:
INSTAGRAM: @joycinho TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal Watch a video on RJ Sports TV of some training clips from Richard’s session in at the Clarendon Quarter Gym in Leeds, just four weeks out from running his sixth and last London Marathon on April 22nd. This will be Richard’s fifth London Marathon running on a ‘Good For Age’ place and it will also be Richard’s sixth marathon as a ‘Good For Age’ runner. In total this will be Richard’s eighth marathon and is planned to be his last one, atleast for the foreseeable future. Richard is running for the charity British Heart Foundation and you may sponsor him using the link provided below if you wish, any help will be greatly appreciated.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/britishheartfoundation-richardkennedyjoyce-londonmarathon2018 FOLLOW MY SPORTS, FITNESS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY: INSTGRAM: @joycinho TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal INTRODUCTION: On Sunday 11th March I completed my second race of my 2018 marathon comeback season with a grueling 20 mile loop race around the hilly locations of Spenborough, Roberttown and Liversedge. In my five previous marathon seasons, four of the five of them I used a 20 mile race as my final preparation for the London and Edinburgh Marathons. I usually alternate between the notoriously hilly Spen 20 and the notoriously flat but dull East Hull 20. Both races have their pros and cons depending which way you look at it and I have earned PB’s on both courses so that’s the way I look at it too. The last time I ran the 20 miles distance was two years ago next week, when I ran the East Hull 20 and earned a PB of 2:14:13 and was all set for another sub 3 hour and possible PB at the London Marathon 2016. According to the Run Britain Rankings and my Power of 10 I was inside the top 500 fastest 20 mile runners in the country for most of the year, finishing 515th in the UK by the end of the year. Traditionally I have always ran well on 20 mile races and I had a slightly sneaky hope that despite currently being a minute and a half behind my pacing a couple of years ago, that I may be able to roll back the years somehow at Spen 20. I last ran the Spen 20 in 2015 where I earned a then PB of 2:15:04. My worst time previously for 20 miles was 2:16:41 which was on the Spen 20 course. I decided to run Spen 20 rather than the East Hull 20 because I wanted to test myself fully on a hilly course so that on race day on London where it is flat I will feel like it’s more of a doddle and not to mention I love the challenge of hills. Another factor was that Spen 20 is much easier to get to and I also quite enjoy the start and finish on the athletics track. RACE EXPERIENCE: My quality of outdoor training had been limited over the three weeks since I ran the Liversedge Half Marathon due to the ice and snow that the infamous Beast From The East brought the UK. However I had managed to fit in two games of football (without injury thankfully) and plenty of good gym and fitness sessions including boxing, treadmill running, rowing machine, cross trainers, light weights, Bulgarian Bag workouts and other cardio workouts so I was feeling fit, although I did feel like my fitness was beginning to plato a little after Liversedge so I took five days rest to recover my body. The day before Spen 20 I hit a good quick fire boxing session on the punchbag and some steppers fitness to keep myself ticking over but ensured I didn’t waste any energy before race day. I set up my kit the night before all ready for the race (see above) and got to the race with my sister Melanie about 30 minutes before the start. There were a few of us from Kirkstall Harriers running including the in-form Jonathan Young who is smashing some great times out. So, for the race and with this being my fifth official 20 mile race I am quite experienced over the distance now and know how important the consistent pacing splits are and especially with me being around 15 to 20 minutes slower than a couple of years ago. The even pacing in this race would be more crucial than any other 20 mile I have ran where in some of them I ran off how my body felt. I had to be true to myself and realistic which meant that I made my decision after my 1:35:04 time at Liversedge Half Marathon three weeks earlier to target 3:20:00 marathon pace to give me a 2:32:40 finish at Spen 20. The race started and I sat back in the middle of the pack, some people fly off on the track but as the old saying goes ‘it is a marathon not a sprint’ so I stuck to my thought process of just stay consistent, disciplined and focused for every mile. Adam Moger, from my running club who is amazing at pacing races brilliantly was looking at around 2:30:00ish so I was running with Adam for the first few miles, until I broke a way for a while as Adam had his own tactics for this race. My minute per miles pacing was 7:38 minute miles, a far cry from my previous 6:40-45ish 20 mile pace a couple of years ago but still 7:38 is challenging, particularly after the 14 miles mark. It can sometimes be hard to judge your pacing on a hilly long distance course such as Spen 20 as the hills can slow you down by a minute but the declines can speed you up, so you can both lose ground and make up ground. I feel that I was pacing it very well to be honest and I felt comfortable for the whole 20 miles to be honest, I felt I could have pushed my pace more but this is about London Marathon in six weeks, not here. I had a pacing band for a 3:20:00 marathon and a 3:10:00 marathon and using my Dad’s digital stopwatch (like I have for all my previous marathon’s) I kept a track on my mile by mile pacing ensuring I was consistent every mile. For every single mile until mile 17 I was two minutes ahead of my pacing which meant I was on for 2:30:00. I must admit, miles 17 and 18 were tough, they were grinds and I thank a combination of my good pacing, heart and carb gels for getting me through those two miles. In those two miles my pacing dropped by a minute and a half meaning I was only seconds away from my target time of 2:32:40. I was doing well, especially for the first half of the race and it wasn’t until around mile 12 I think that Adam from Kirkstall and Shami, formerly Kirkstall Harriers overtook me and I knew they were both aiming for sub 2:30:00 so I was running on target, infact just a head as I could see them in the distance for much of the last 20 miles. Once I hit mile 19 I could see the end in sight and my race mentality started to come into play. During mile 17 a runner overtook me and I could see someone behind about 300 metre away. The guy in front of me was a good 10 metres ahead and I decided to tuck in behind him for the last mile and once we get into the track have a race with him, just for fun of course. The explosive speed over a sprint distance and that kick in my legs is something that hasn’t gone yet as Monday night football proves to me most weeks. It was half way through the last mile and the person behind was cutting the distance to around 100 metres, so I said to the runner just ahead, ‘they are catching up from behind’ in the hope that he would up the pace as I wanted to stick with him and we ended up having a bit of a chat. He finished in 2:24:00 a couple of years ago and by the sound of it he just wanted to finish. I could see on my watch it would be a close one to beat my target of 2:32:40 and I had more left in the tank so I zoomed on and he shouted ‘go on lad’. So I upped the pace, always checking my back as I do ensuring he was always arms length away (in reality 50 metres) and just before I was about to hit the Spenborough Athletics Centre a bit of sudden cramp kicked in on my left leg, where the hamstring is, the only twinge of cramp all race, I rode it through got onto the track and finished strong but no need for a race as I was a good 150 metres ahead of the guy behind. RJ SPORTS TV: Me at the start of 20 miles and at the end of 20 miles filmed by my sister Melanie. MY RESULT & MARATHON PLAN: My official and final result was 2:31:16 finishing in 61st position which is a good result for me in regards to my current speed. I beat my target of 2:32:40 and was close to 2:30:00. I am looking at around a 3:20:00 marathon time at London in six weeks and although it won’t be another ‘Good For Age’ qualification it is still a good time and one I will be proud of if I achieve it. I will be running my sixth ‘Good For Age’ place marathon to become a six-time ‘Good For Age’ marathon runner, something I will be very proud of. I will have ran five ‘Good For Age’ races at London and one at the Edinburgh Marathon in 2013, a race I ran with a very painful Achilles tendinopathy injury after playing competitive football a week after London Marathon caused by not allowing my legs to recover. The first time I qualified for ‘Good For Age’ was at the Edinburgh Marathon 2012 where I finished in 3:04:56 with a left calf tear which meant I was running pretty much on my right leg dragging my left leg for the last six miles. I am so gutted looking back, the way I ran that day if it was not for that calf tear I believe I would have a PB of around 2:53-2:55 I really believe that. My splits were so strong, 38 minute 10K and 1:25:00 half marathon, I was cruising until the tear. So, next up London Marathon starting from the ‘Fast Good For Age’ pen for what is going to be my last marathon (atleast for the foreseeable future), who knows maybe I will make a comeback out of marathon retirement when I’m a veteran? CARDIO FITNESS & GYM WORK: Away from my road running outdoors I have been doing some great work in the gym. Since my six weeks training camp regime I planned for myself during September and October last year whilst I had time off between jobs I have been improving my strength, conditioning and overall cardio fitness. I started playing football again last autumn and that along with regular work in the gym I’m feeling really strong again. After a lot of upper body workouts towards the end of 2017 I’m now trying to work more on my legs and cardio which should benefit my running more. Workouts including 6-10 rounds of intensive boxing on the punchbag, explosive squats, jumps and steppers using Bulgarian weighted bags, rowing machine, cross-trainer, light weight training, some bike, my usual core strength workouts and even some good sessions on the treadmill (which I usually find boring). I am feeling great and can not wait for London Marathon now. RJ SPORTS TV: Me testing out my new RDX boxing gloves last week. CHARITY: The British Heart Foundation: As some of you will know from previous blogs, I am running my last London Marathon for the British Heart Foundation. You may sponsor me using the link below if you wish? Any sponsors will be greatly appreciated. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/britishheartfoundation-richardkennedyjoyce-londonmarathon2018 FOLLOW MY SPORTS, FITNESS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY:
INSTGRAM: @joycinho TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal |
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