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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Sounds like the route wasn't exactly fast running material as well?
Mebbe some ultra running action ahead then??
Enjoyable enough report in its own right Reg! Epic event. Made even more real, by two lots of Datchet peeps talking about this for us next year! A "cruising" team, that I'd be doing similar to your approach, and a more worrying "fast boys" team :O
Your 5th guy has got to feel like Jimmy Let down there! Leaving 4 of you for 10hours? That's one hell of a shift, and not many people to look around for volunteers when the next leg is up!
How many categories were there? A 5 strong mixed team seems random when the men can have 8? 8 sounds a lot more reasonable all of a sudden, if you can do a leg, then have about 3 1/2 hours rest.
Saw some of the traces, 4.8or so miles rather than 5? Our old captain regales the tail of sub 30s for 5miles which sounds fine for 1 or perhaps 2, but not all night! 4.8 sounds a bit more reasonable, but if it's got a hill and offroad, still a challenge! phew.
ps Bus...16:56 (now confirmed in the results), best road 5k, but Dulwich I still take as my pb, as that was one of the few certified fast parkruns back then, and 2 weeks later they then banded all manner of sht into a new "parkrun" category mixing the MT, NAD, dodgy courses in with the full length ones.
16.56 was 29th last night, although I think I saw 248 there, so a bigger field tha usual. But 29th! And 1st well under 15. First woman did about 16:34 I think I saw. Belgrave. Which says it all.
Aley - still weighing up which if any Sale might be sensible. Travelodge's 20% off discount came my way today, which has to be a sign!
Broke my usual rule about back to back hards as I fancied the Datchet hill session tonight. As it wouldn't be a pure pace job I went along
6x4mins hill loops off 2mins. Decent session, 3 one way, 3 the other, the latter ones probably the steeper version of the up, but then it's done and you had the rest of the loop to play with
Have to say I don't get the appeal of Endure at all. Whilst I like the camaraderie and spirit of most relay events, this one just looks worst of all worlds. Too much running and much of it at daft times, never know really how you are doing and too little and uncomfortable sleep. There isn't even a real opportunity to drink much as there is always your next shift on the horizon (or if you've finished your last one, probably need drive home or just too knackered!). Lots of my club love it though and return year after year, even some of the good runners, one of whom did 100 miles solo this year. Is it just to say you've done it and to have something like you've just done "on your CV" Reg? That I would get, but would still hate the event (same as running a marathon
We've put an entry in already, I'm sort of going along with it, but let's see how things actually are in a year!
In an 8 it'd be a little less mad, as you're running perhaps 5-6 laps, so less than 25 - less than 30 and spaced over a whole day. Sounds more fun than trying it in one go for a marathon!
General plan is to limit racing to 5k and under for the next couple of months.
I want to see if I can get under that lifetime pb, as well as a potential bit of touring around trying different events. A bit of social with the club scene, and a bit of old style pursuing the fast races with trips!
The mission is how many races, versus actual training sessions. Short stuff should allow more turnouts at least.
In August I plan to do the easing back thing, and then start building for longer stuff in the autumn with a view to having some decent cracks at 10miles and HM, and if need be a 10k.
So for June - mid August, the choices are from the below
(Won't do all 3, but might do 2. As there's always the risk they're not quite 5k it depends if it compromises a "proper" sub 17 smash elsewhere.
So a lot of stuff and 2 1/2months of time. Remembering the need to recover a bit, and the need to actually do sessions too.
If anyone fancies joining or being at any of the above, let me know!
Come the autumn, picking one of each in these distances and having a good build up plan.
right i'm off for a 4miler..knackered looking at that lot!
SG - You want to do the Leighton 10 in September mate - some decent hills to set you up for the winter season! Good little line up there, I've entered the Watford 1500 on 27/6, not run a 1500 yet so far and I need to out a time down when I enter Malaga.
Reg - that your happy face going over the line
Well done though, looks like ultras could be another area of excellence. Some of these events look a nightmare - similarly to what Pete said, my mate did the round Norfolk with MK..ran 15 miles in the dark then had to drive straight back, there's no fun in that. I'm doing the long leg again on the Greensand Ridge relay on Saturday - 9 miles from Woburn to Milbrook. The start is nice as it's across the Woburn house grounds..gets tougher though.
Horses for courses. I can't get up too much for short races, but conversely I'm unsuited to mangling myself for anything beyond 15 miles.
From that position I might consider a leg of the Round Norfolk Relay, despite vowing I'd never do it again. A mid distance in day light will be the limit though.
I drove home after a 20 mile leg, run in the depths of the night with one proviso, to stop and sleep if required. Which I did.
A few hours sleep made all the difference.
🙂
Yeah these things are a good laugh, depends on what scale I suppose. At least the Endure thing has a 'base' you keep coming back to. I'd just have a can of Guinness ready for after each leg - just work through them.
Actually..doubt that would work tbh
I've done some pretty good training off the back of a tin of the dark stuff.
After one race (the Ricky 9) it was noted that the guys who took the podium places, all were drinking draft Guinness afterwards.
Ten miles plus this morning, done and dusted by 8:00am. Had a go at a couple of Strava segments, but judging by the lack of records gained, I suspect the judges aren't awake so early in the morning.
🙂
16 x 400 on the warm and windy track last night, everyone found it tough. Split into 4 sets. 1st set around 70’s, then nudged them to 68’s with a 64 for the last rep.
SG, excellent work at Battersea and good to back up that sub 17 5K with another. Try to get it down to 16:30 with some focussed training maybe? Yes, it's a bit of a charge at the start, but still the quality in these races is very high given the size of field, that's part of their attraction. Looking at the results, Highgate clearly used it as a bit of a burn-up this week, so that explains it too.
Reg, great load of work at Endure, and a top team performance. Our club goes apeshit for Endure, everyone seems to love it and looks forward to it all year. I find the attraction of it utterly baffling, it just sounds like the worst thing possible. I like my running to be short, sharp and then over.
Pete, good to see you hitting your targets in the 5K/10K double-header.
Dean and Simon - have you worked out where you're staying for the World Masters? I have just realised that for some reason the V35 and V40 5000 is in Torremolinos rather than the main stadium. Obviously I have heard of Torremolinos, and it is indelibly associated in my mind with sunburnt Brits furiously rutting round the back of something called 'Paddy's Bar' whilst trying not to spill their chips. As such, I am in no hurry to seek accommodation there, and it would also be nice to be a bit closer to the British team as a whole.
Ridgeway Relay this weekend. As usual our formidable-on-paper team is falling apart at the last minute.
However, i've sort of said yes to next year, on the basis of worrying about it then, with the security we've probably got a gang of 10-12 who've said yes. I had originally been asked by a more "social" team to go along, ie, pals and girlies
It's getting like footy days, offers to join various teams and events coming thick and fast! Nice. Atg one stage i had 4 separate footy teams, even though 2 played on a saturday! Took some managing. Will try and be more measured with running.
Surely Reading can put a decent team together, you do have about 700 members don't you!?
I've done my 5k sesh plan to death now, have ducked in and out of Datchet sessions, and need to manage between races rather than putting in a 4-6week block, but if there's suggestions of stuff to step into, i'm all ears.
I'd like to think there's some sway on that 16.56, simply on a cooler/less humid day, and it should work that the more cracks you have the more you get the "knack" of correct levels to put into various parts of the race.
SG - what works for me without fail is increasing distance of reps at target pace.
Start at 400s then week by week go up to 600s, 800s, 1000s, 1200s and finally up to mile reps at target 5K pace. Total volume of fast work 5-6K. Couple it with a weekly session at something like mile pace around 10 days before the race. Chuck in some tempos at around half mara pace too. Simple and effective. I usually build it up over something like 8 weeks.
Good work on the ten miler Ric and usual impressive speed on the 400s Simon!
Rye parkrun tomorrow for a 50 at 50! Just got to shake off a touch of lergy and make sure I don't drink too much tonight to stop me getting up in time!
I'm going to review everyone's posts and catch up later but was great to meet Reg and get a little run in but fear I've busted my Achilles
I'll do a little report based on what I remember
Endure 24
Had absolutely no idea what we would be upto pace wise or be competitive, Toby Lambert and Al P on our team boosted it massively with potential for some quicker double legs, both doing ultras in July .
I hadnt ran over 5 mile for 18 months nearly I think and I was nervous heading out for my first leg and knowing I'd be running a few at that too. Mixed team of 8. Working with Mizuno and our work
I arrived 7am Friday to set up, didn't go to bed till 2am and then was back up at 6am Saturday working and then didn't stop till I was home Sunday late evening. Tough
Leg 1 for me was around 1:30 pm Saturday. My nerves showed as I blasted round the first bend (I was wearing Box fresh Mizuno shoes) that were like bricks too.
Up the first KM 3:30 yesss golden moment! Eased off and pushed comfortably hard round the rest of the course feeling good and loving being out there, I was well prepared, hydrated and had an outfit for each leg I was doing, that's a magic bit of advice because the evening legs the wet kit would make you sick I'm sure, I have now found to be utterly useless on the hills and was being passed by people with walking poles, I felt terrible, effectively walking up sections of the iconic heartbreak hill each lap but posting a respectable sub 32:50 ish first leg before marginally slowing a few hours later 33:20 ish I think..
I ran at similar times of the day to Reg, but once it hit 2/3am I felt it bad, working in between and no sleep for me whilst others scooted off and two brand reps "didn't want to run in the night" my runs got closer together and I slowed
My 3 and 4th leg I think we're exactly the same time just inside 36 but holding off a bit and finding my foot and Achilles playing up on the 4th leg badly
We worked in the times once everyone else got up about 5:30 am and I saw I'd only be in for one more leg, Toby and Al doubled over around 65 mins each before me and then Al took the last lap around 30 to finish
Positively fucked we had a few mishaps of others over sleeping and being lazy, coupled with the big Mizuno dome bouncy castle thing getting a hole in it trying to patch it up with rock tape at 4 in the morning it was great fun!
We found ourselves however in 3rd place on the last leg and it finished that way, just 2 laps behind the winners. To be fair I think if you evened out around 35 mins for the legs you'd have won, we had a few drop back to 40s and drop outs
25 miles (ish) covered more than my last 6 or so weeks combined. Reg I had 4.88m too
Proper happy I was apart of the run and it would be well worth doing it if you can! Shame it seems my Achilles is busted but I'm always broken!!
Cracking 17 SG it'll only tumble from there! Looking forward to Sunday?! I think they are changing the course to match the summer series route (check our strava club) as they are doing work on the pebbles with fencing round so the course would be much longer if it went round that way
Reg - Heroic effort. I think you will still run fast at Eastleigh, I'd just go with it and could be a while before you find yourself having ran the fast 5KM and in a position to race a 10KM like this.
Dachs - I reckon you'd love it really once into it, or this an old man thing coming up now
Ric - Out more and more as weeks go by it seems which is great
Well done at Endure Reg. even more impressive given you was down to 4 runners. We ran in a mixed team at the Thunder run and the team organiser dropped out after a lap or two and took himself away to his camper for the night.
Good luck at Eastleigh!
SG, get up here for a podium 5k! You'll smash your pb. There's also capenhurst which is a quick course near Chester. Jonny Mellor ran 13.55 there the year I ran it.
Managed to grow some bollocks and ran at last nights Podium 5k. After doing half of the parkrun last week at a decent clip off the back of the tempo I knew I had to get a race in to see where I actually was. I'd had a good run at the fell relay and although id only done 2 track sessions in the last couple of months where I could barely run a 73 400 I'd run a few hidden tempos with running up the local 1000ft hill a few times which takes about 18/19 mins. 10-15 x 1 min on/off is another I've done.
Chris the organiser and he'd put a sub 16.30 race where he was going to turn the clock off once it hit 16.30.99. There was also an A race for sub 20, an open race and 3 junior races. There's usually just 2 races but it was being used as part of the local Grand Prix series which is why he added the 16.30 race.
Got there in good time for the 8pm start and then wished I was sat at home watching the football. Haha. Watched the two previous races with a running pal running 15.59 and another running 16.09. The lad breaking 16 hasn't broke 17 at the local parkrun and other lad took 80 seconds off his pb. He's 38/39 and has been running some years.
Seeing them two run so well added the pressure a bit and I got quite a few comments off runners doing the local Grand Prix as I was actually doing a race. My plan was to just go with it and see if I could get near the lad who I go to the track with. Off we go and I'm tucked in midpack on the first lap. Organiser is stood at the first km and shouts 3.05 as I go through. I'm already a bit heavy breathed as others around me seem to be cruising. After the second lap I realise that its already hard work but it was a 4.58 first mile.
As the course is a cycle track loop its a bit like a racing car track, basically a loop with 4 sweeping bends. If you're on the outside on one bend you're on the inside going into the other and 2-3 times I got cut up and had to check my stride. I had no idea what the second mile was but my legs were feeling it and going into the fourth lap I'd slipped off the back of a group and 4-5 people had passed and I couldn't respond. Tried to do the maths going into the final lap but realised it was a waste of time and I was like bambi. Hit the closing straight and realised a club mate was closing on me so managed something of a sprint to hold him off for 15.55. I was absolutely ruined at the end. My mate who I go the track with ran 15.38 (think he finished a bit behind Dean the other monthat a 5k) and another mate ran 15.30ish. The winner was from Aldershot and solo ran a 14.05.
50th parkrun today, and first "race" as a V50. Didn't even manage to be first V50!!! I was doing OK, and just about averaging 6mM pace, with a reasonable gap to the 2nd V50 when the dreaded retching hit in the last half k. He caught me, I stayed with him, but when he started pulling away with 200m to go, I couldn't respond without puking. Odd first mile, as it felt fast, but was actually only 5:57. Mile 2 (with the steps) was OK at 6:07 and mile 3 was going OK until the retching hit. 18:54 in the end, so better than a couple of weeks ago but still way down on where I should be (went through 5k in around 18mins in Wokey just a couple of months back!). I still have this ongoing bit of a cough, whihc aggravates the throat and makes the retching worse, but still should be able to hit sub 6mM...
Happy 50th! Wowzers!
It's easy to forget how the years stack up, and how long this thread has been running, and how long I knew you before that!
When I look back at some of my previous south coast jaunts, and see they're in 2011-2013 I can't believe so many years have passed!
We both know what you need to do to sort that 5k out - get to Battersea Park for a proper attempt. It's that mix of the fast course, and specifically making the effort to travel that add a little isn't it.
Matt - that is a mad event, fast from you, fast from your pals, and fast from everyone by the look of it!
Love the race director lying about the 16.30 clock cut off - can clearly see they didn't do that from the results - but only a few missed the 1630 by say 6-8 seconds, although one lady had a 1830 or so. Oddly some guys in the low 16s In the second race though? Maybe taking the thinking that it's better to be front line as one of the top runners in a race, then be a couple of rows back amongst the top dogs, in a non chipped race?
Capenhurst looks interesting - midweek in mid August, and a bit lower down the country than the Podium.
Will monitor the entries remaining, while continuing in with my 5k events, and weigh up whether i'm still hungry for another 5k by then, and how it fits in with potentially building up to an autumn of longer stuff.
You finished in 16th place and were the 16th male out of a field of 486 parkrunners and you came 5th in your age category VM50-54.
Scott - one hell of a shift from you. Can well believe that it'd be a big effort when fit to smash so many laps, let alone when you haven't run much, and are working all day too!
Really looking forward to the jaunt tomorrow. It's easy to forget the past struggles and take things for granted, but it's well worth stressing that it wasn't that long ago that I thought any sort of racing was off the cards, let alone this sort of long haul. It's a blessing to be able to not only make such a trip, but know I'm in and around what I've ever done for these shorter distances.
Taking a pal down there tomorrow, so hopefully it is even better than last year's solo trip - which itself was excellent as it was!
Even better if the 5k course is the Gosport series one. Both to help tomorrow, as trudging through pebbles for however much of a km it is, isn't ideal, but also to weigh up whether it's worth getting down there for a standalone 5k later in the summer.
Ta again for the help with the entry
Looking deep ahead, I notice they've scheduled the United v Liverpool home game the same weekend as the Wokingham half. That's a major arse, as you can't really do both, as it'd either be way too much travelling the day before, or a ridiculous rush with tight legs and knackeredness after - best case setting off at 11am for a 4pm game, 180 or so miles away! I once did a 5mile race in Marlow and got to a 4pm Old Trafford game, but obviously way less racing distance, and even that wasn't overly wise!
No need to decide too soon - let's see how the season, and how my hunger to race a half is come Feb!!
Very impressive Podium Matt; sub 16 another world to most people even if it run of the mill amongst a race of that ridiculously high calibre
Decent park running Bus and Phil. Welcome to the v50 cat too Bus! I did almost the same time as you, 18'55 for me at Rushmoor for 8th in a massive field of 523 and a whole second quicker than last week