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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Was a bit quieter than in most years due to the VLM lot mostly not fancying a HM the week after, but still plenty of quality up front. Off bang on time at 10:30am in good running. conditions; bit too much wind to be ideal but no complaints after the recent heatwave.
Set off aiming for 4 min k's which was always going to be an ambitious plan given I have done zero training runs longer than 8 miles and an average of only about 20 miles a week all year. Held on though for about 10k which I hit in 40'30 but the wheels were quickly coming off. Started to be overtaken regularly and despite picking a new target to stick with each k or so, I would lose them all pretty quickly. K's splits held on about 4'17 till the 16k (10m) mark which was reached in about 66 exact but I was struggling now. Calf holding up really well but hip hurting and new pains in the groin area. Tried my new type of gel which was one you are meant to chew (mistake, virtually impossible on the move!) and it did little for me anyway. Now 5k to go and the aim was to consolidate with a 22 min (4'24) pace for an 88 but even that wasn't on. K 20 was uphill and came to in a crappy 4'48 so decided to just run through the pain and redeemed myself a bit with a 4'20 final one to come in 135th in 88'49. Overall not too bad a result given my recent travails but almost 5 mins off my PB. Good enough for 3rd age group prize still, so that's something, even if its at Alton Sports which is a long way to go to spend it!
Oh and of course I did parkrun yesterday too. 10th at Rushmoor in 19'23 which was also pretty nondescript and nearly a min down on my best there. Still onwards and upwards hopefully and a great feeling to be racing again today and actually finish this time
Today I woke up with apparently nothing to bother me at all. A cautious start ended with five miles done and mudded.
What was that about?
Maybe the combination of a cold water dunk, aspirin and a lager or two or three, may have played some part.
SG, I went to a few footy matches as a youngster, but could never grasp the reasons for the fanaticism of fans. I saw more reasons not to be there than anything else. Just thinking about it, puts me off.
Pete, from your report last time out, I didn't expect you to toe the line of that HM let alone run ok in it. Well done.
Obviously I wouldn't have done it myself, but 30 years of running and hundreds of races has kind of knocked off the edge of enthusiasm for such ordeals.
Injuries apart, the reason that races don't play much part of my running these days, is I don't really like the intensity of the racing effort.
🙂
Have a safe trip Matt!
🙂
Safe Trip Matt. Great to see that things are a bit better now Ric. Geat Report Pete - hopefully that will be the start of a better run injury wise.
Wasted my time and money Saturday watching Bmth at Southampton, but stuck to weak fizzy lager, so felt ok yesterday, did 45 mins in the morning and went over to watch the Flitwick 10K as a few I knew were running it. Couple of pints after then a few in the afternoon to bring to a close a boozy couple of weeks, need to get back on it now running wise - Eastern masters 3000m at Stevenage on Weds then the Brum 10k on Sunday.
Congrats on the promotion SG - hope the Chesterfield idiots behaved themselves. Only place I've been 'set on' was up there in 1997. So such a shame they got relegated to the conference. NOT!
Matt H - enjoy NZ
Friday i managed to get a late offer of a race in the Mid cheshire 5k. It was also the england 5k champs as well so was stacked. My only goal was to knock Simon Coombes off the uk 1 ranking for v45 5k.
Race really busy on the line and lots of people wrongly placed. i had a few who clearly weren't going to break 20min alongside or in front. Gun goes and the start is tasty. Manage to slow it down going through the mile in 4.54. think i went through 1k in 2.49....
Into mile 2 and signs of the wheels starting to wobble. My lack of strength and mileage started to surface. cling on as best i can to a 5.11 2nd mile. i was targeting somewhere around 4.59 pace. So now im worried. Such a big drop off and more to come in the 3rd mile i feared.
At one point my ave mile 3 pace was 5.28 i never looked at it after that as there was no good news coming from it. i just gritted ones teeth and tried to keep the pace going. i felt crap and not enjoying this at all. later i found out it was a 5.07 mile. so not quite as bad as i feared.
I feel like im running into the wind, no power and im just clinging on for the 400m to go sign. Where is it?!? this last km is taking forever. then i spot it and try to accelerate. i start to go past a few people but i get that "Bus Wretch" feeling. at the 200m to go sign i give everything and fly past plenty but its definitely NOT fast enough to call it a sprint finish, but was a pick up in pace and i see the finish. (later i saw the last 200m was about 30 sec so not too bad) I hit the timing mat and stop. But its not the finish line, i get shouted at to keep going as the finish is about 15m ahead. i can barely get going again but muster a jog'ette to the correct line.
I crossed the wrong line in a time of 15.40 but it was 15.47 by the time i got to the correct line. a schoolboy error! i was 1st v45, and finished 69th on the gun times. There was another v45 who got the same gun and chip time as me but was placed 71st. So i must have just nicked it on the line.
The time was just good enough to overtake Simon into 1st place in the UK rankings. A point i text him straight away. Simon was at his club award dinner & drinks and had images of him yelling "BASTARD" once he got the text
Next up a track 5000 on sunday then christleton 5k in a couple of weeks.
I was a bit undecided on running today, so in view of the adverse conditions, I settled for some 'in house' training.
Went for the squats again. They were always a good marker of how long I could keep the hammer down in a race. Did 35 minutes worth in one hit! 2500 of them.
Seb Coe used to do a couple of sets of 500 when travelling and unable to get to his usual training. 2 x 500! What a lightweight!
Anyway, all I need to do now is convert that into something called running fast (ish)
Shame if I didn't get something out of the running I've done so far this year. I've run almost as many miles as I managed all last year combined.
🙂
I am also surprised and not surprised by your HM participation, Pete, nice run considering.
Enjoy NZ Matt, love that place.
That's some field there Dean 69th with 15:47!
Yes that was a nice surprise to hear from Dean like that.. Never knew he cared so much LOL. Not sure i'll be smashing that time tbf - any time near it will be nice! It's ok for you lot up there in the NW with all these fast 5k courses - presume it's measured correctly though, you know what you lot are like up there
Seriously though - great run. I'm looking forward to the 3000m on weds night in a weird way. Might go full monty if it's not too windy.
Beat this old guy at parkrun on Saturday, apparently 5 Olympic Gold medals slow him a bit.
Not sure why the timing mat was where it was if it wasn't the actual finish.
I ran an event where the finish time was a couple of seconds more than my watch time. Reason was the starter only said go once he was absolutely sure the clock had started.
Phil, has the gout released you from it's crystalline grip?
Steve Redgrave no less. I bet he'd have had no trouble (once) with what I was doing.
Read a story about him and the other guys when they were training for his last Olympics. They went on a long bike ride and he got a puncture. Did they wait and help out before carrying on? no chance. They just left him to get back by himself.
🙂
London was horrible. I felt for every runner out there, it was hot enough walking to and from the expo 7:30am / 9pm!!
Pete - Great result - Our Farnham shop is another 10 mins from the Fleet race so maybe not too far if you were happy ish to travel to the race
My neighbours wife has just had a baby, called...Lucas. Dad seems happy, though he appears surprised as well.
Less than a year back I kept hearing raised voices from next door which was just noise until a rather strident, "I'm 28 and I want a baby", hit the street.
🙂
So I finished my job yesterday following redundancy and at exactly 5:30pm of my final day and following several months of searching, I got offered a new job! Almost seems too good to be true. I don't start until 1st June either so I have month off. Should have no excuses to get some good training in.
The new job may also be on someones Strava turf
Despite the run I had the other day. Today I couldn't really run at all. Set off and it was discomfort from the moment my feet hit the ground.
Jogged along and hoped warming up would make things easier. It didn't. In the end I walked home.
I'm on the bike. There's no impact, and there's no pain beyond that of effort.
🙂
🙂
Out of practice with posting on here regularly, I do apologise. I will endeavour to do better in future.
Firstly, glad to see Matt L kept to the plan of stopping at halfway at London. I did wonder whether you might consider carrying on, but then I saw the mess the race became for so many people, I can’t imagine that would have been at all tempting.
Personally, I’m delighted. London makes up the majority of the end of year marathon ranking lists, and that weather has meant my end of year rank will be substantially higher than 2:32 would normally get you.
Watching people on the tracker was an eye opener. The only one who didn’t have a meltdown was a clubmate who adjusted his opening pace to the conditions. He actually sped up towards the end, and beat my Brighton time by 7 seconds, which is just unnecessary.
Great race Joe, better write up and even better shorts. By crikey, it’s like the entire 1980s concentrated into one small piece of fabric.
Safe journey to NZ Matt H
Pete, that’s a great race, and there’s no point worrying about where you are vis a vis your PB when you’ve had a good chunk on the sidelines. Particularly in an event where endurance comes into play.
Great stuff by Dean, can’t remember you doing a 5K for yonks! At least since the days when 5Ks were 4.9Ks. Well done on knocking Simon off his V45 perch, intra-thread rivalry is always a good driver. Always seems like the longer the race, the shorter your race report.
Good to see Ric and Scott running as well, hope Ric's recent problem is nothing
2 weeks after Brighton, and the Vets track and field league has started again. Monday night was the first fixture. Stupidly, I put my name down for both the steeplechase and the 1500. I did a steeple when I was 15 off zero barrier training, and enjoyed myself, so what could go wrong? Well, the night before I decided I’d better test this theory by trying to get over some benches in the park – lower than steeple barriers. Well, I couldn’t even get over those, partially due to lack of spring in my legs post-marathon, and partly due to sheer cowardice. I did the sensible thing and withdrew from the steeple.
This left me with the 1500. It is always entertaining to see how little speed I can wring from my legs post-marathon, and Monday was no exception. Managed a 71 first lap, comfortably in second with an Oxford vest about 10 metres ahead, but it slowed down from there. Heart was pounding like crazy even at that pace. Stayed isolated in second until the final lap when I finally realised the Oxford chap was coming back to me. Hold on, I could win this! Pull up on his shoulder with 150 to go and unleash the kick! Unfortunately, in this instance, and even by my standards, the ‘kick’ is more like a ‘gentle poke with my toes’, and he is able to hold it off. So I worked damn hard for a glacial 4:33.3. I do mile reps in 5K training at that pace. Such is the joy of attempting middle distance in marathon recovery.
Ooh That sounded a struggle Dachs! Yes I remember seeing a speedy Reading guy at London too. Cold last night wasn't it! ridiculous, but that's classic track weather.
Our Eastern masters was at Stevenage. Got to start work so i'll be brief. 3000m was a time trial, felt ok so started with a 70 first lap (bit silly, then I think the laps were 2.24,3.38,4.53 then I can't remember the rest apart from 7.51 at the bell. Starting to wobble a bit and only managed a 78 last lap for 9.09..my mate got a 9.42 PB for 2nd which was good, Chris Westcott was 3rd, he narrowly missed out on the 1500m indoor final in Madrid.
Hilariously was in the 4 x 100 too, leg 3. No major cock ups and felt quite sprightly. then decided after to time myself on a 100m, did 14.4..not sure if that's any good or not?
1500m is a funny beast, i think the difference between that time and a mile rep time is your first lap was probably faster than you would do if you were having a 5*1m session. So your legs fill up a bit quicker. but decent time anyway. Who was the oxford chap? Les or julian? Oh! and always wise to ignore the steeple.
And the news about Kiprop! tip of the iceberg.
As for my curios. Had the first blood pressure test for more than a decade and was obviously expecting the usual low. Nope, it was high-ish!
136 over 86
Seems I need to take some exercise, stop being obese, stop smoking and excessive drinking and stop eating tons of salt.
I wasn't aware I was doing any of these. Clearly I need to pay more attention.
🙂
Ric, fingers crossed it's just some weird glitch.
a summer of track racing for you Dachs? Can't be easy from doing them BAC marathon sessions on the track to having to race a 1500! Good effort for an opener.
Ive a running pal who claims he ran a 4.30 mile on his way to the track last week to just test his legs. He's a 17 min parkrunner with no MD background. I know the amount of training the likes of you, SC and Dean put in and it does my crust in when I hear such bollocks being talked.
Nice work on the win SC. any possibility of a SC, Dean and Dachs triple header over 3000 this year?
Dean, a multiple winning medalist mistaking where the finish line is. Just proves you are human. The lad I train with was just a few seconds behind you. Obviously helped with you stopping short of the line mind you.
Enjoy the month off Reg. not jealous at all.
How long you out there for Matt? 38 hours is some trip. That'd ruin my run streak so ;-)
First session on the track for 3 months last night. Where has that time gone? With my pal Ben who's just run 15.5x for 5k and was a 17 min runner this time last year. Just shows where you can get too when putting in the sessions.
Just did 10x400 off a minute as I didn't want to be going overboard on my first one and was happy with a couple of 71s, 4 @70 and 4@ 69.
Can't remember the last time I ran a sub 70 400. Chased Ben round on most of them which was good for me but I nicked his course record at a local parkrun last week so ill have that. :-)
Great race there Dean, despite putting the brakes on too early! Will you be looking to working into the longer distances this summer?
Nice session there Matt, I can't imagine it'll be long before you're back in full swing! Have your niggles cleared up now?
Ric, hope the blood pressure isn't serious.
Reg, enjoy the time off - congrats on securing the other position!
38 hours... So, to be fair, that was the time from leaving Plymouth train station to get to Heathrow 3 hours early, 10 hours to Beijing, 10 hour stopover, 12 hours to Auckland! Matt, you could have kept your run streak by going to the Hilton outside the airport and using their gym facilities
Had a couple of days in Auckland, Wednesday I hiked around and up Rangitito Island, an extinct volcano in Auckland Bay - 8 miles in about 2.5 hours. Followed this up with a planned 10mi run, in which I managed to get hideously lost on my way to the waterfront. Came up short, too.
Thursday I managed to find my way to the waterfront a bit easier! Decided to do a bit of an easy session, 3mi easy out and 3mi steady back - the return was 6:54/mi for ~85%HR. I'll take that for now.
Today I got the bus from Auckland to Taupo, where I'll be based for the next 4 weeks. Had a stunning run down along the lakefront this afternoon. Hoping to do the parkrun in the morning, problem is that it starts at 8am rather than 9am, and my body clock is still out of whack.
Oh that sounds amazing MH - Is this just a holiday then? I'll get to NZ at some point I'm sure. Nothing beats getting lost on a run abroad, done this in many European cities!
Good session ML84 - I suppose I should be happy that I missed a 25 x 400 session last night, but feel weirdly jealous. Wouldn't have a been a good idea with the Brum 10k Sunday and all that. On that note, I've got a joggerish 'I'm running for..' blank number to go on my back. Really tempted to put 'England..Eng-er-land' on it with marker pen. There may be another thread race I suppose, I have been in two recentlyat Watford, first over 3000 with Dachs then 1500 with Dean. Lost both
(Edit - Dachs and I both did 8.55.2..no point squabbling over small detail..)
Good training Matt H, Reg and (nearly added SG there but where is he?).
Ric, your BP doesn't sound that high but maybe get it checked again soon; could be an anomalous reading for some odd reason. Anyway hope you're soon able to resume that 10 mile a day level you had recently.
Decided to move from my longest distance of HM last Sunday to my shortest of 1 mile today with a lunchtime trip to Ealing for their mile race. Quite a big field (24) by their standards today and some decent pace amongst them. Settled in 7th after about 100 metres and never moved a place throughout the whole race, though had to really work hard to hold off a guy 20 years my junior by 1 second in the home straight. Through first k in 3'25 which was promising but last 609 metres took 2'12 to finish in 5'37. Bit disappointed to slow so much towards the end but overall closer to my best form than the HM was, so reasonably happy with the run. Felt very hot out there, even over such a short distance, though not at all used to running at that pace recently!