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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Spent a lot of yesterday sneezing like mad and sniffing, this has happened a few times over a year or 2. I suppose some slight allergy or some dust triggers something, and you think it'll never go. Then sleep it off and barely sneeze the next day.
Having said that I thought I best not push it with a full session, so stripped that back to some strides and an intention to have a go at this seg locally.
Put in about 4 short sections at about 5.35-5.40 pace, then two flat out (after 5miles and in the cold!) efforts. Necessary as this cheeky dastad had taken it down to 4.18 pace.
Nice and flat 300m, but with a couple of speed bumps and bends.
Glad to see I've taken it down 2 seconds and to 4.06 pace.
Always a lotto as the watch takes time to catch up with the pace!
However we'll see if he can take that down. If he can he should be doing better than 20min 5ks and 1hr 45 halves!!
Mud is OK if you are prepared for it and adjust. You need the right footwear so you cannot realistically mix it up, so it is either 100% (or close) offroad in trail shoes or vice versa in road shoes. In the summer you can get away with road shoes offroad but around here at the moment it is just way too slippery to mix it up in road shoes.
I still can't fathom out all the issues with Covid and footpaths. Nobody is being forced to use a narrow footpath in the middle of nowhere, it is not like you have to use it to buy food or pick up medicine. If you are out on a footpath then you know full well that it is possible others will be using it as well. If you think that you need sole use of a path then ffs go buy yourself an estate and walk around it in tweed with a shotgun slung over your arm. I'm getting fed up with the looks I get "What are you doing here? This is my path!" when I run by people.
I probably should have waited there one time as I saw two oldies at the far end. But i'd wrongly remembered there being a couple of bits I could stand out of the way.
Their attitude and lack of thanks when I moved over changed my mind though!
95% + of people you encounter are good natured and will either move over/wait or thank you for doing the same. But every so often there's someone who is awkward about it.
And yes that seg is a bit mad. But I blame the other chap for trying to take me on. Pick your battles wisely young man!
A girl pal at Dashers has found an even shorter seg to be frustrating.
Some random woman who certainly isn't the usual slim build has apparently taken the 0.13m stretch at 4.30 pace!
That's 33.5 for 200m pace which isn't messing about for a woman who seems to run at 8.30 and upwards pace!
The fun was delving into po10 for her and seeing there was a woman with the same name who stopped racing 10 years ago. But who at peak had done a lightening fast 25second 200metres!
However. It's not her. So she's either one of these slowbies who can bust juice in a surprisingly fast way for a very short stretch. Or was some sort of GPS/Phone dodginess.
I'd go for that personally.
It seems like Phil is having a similar internal monologue as me with regards to covid paranoid walkers! It’s worse when you’re doing hill reps as you’re passing the same clowns up to three times.
I’ve had a glute niggle last two days so found myself having a make or break day. I managed to complete the planned half marathon of hill reps with 1,060 metres of ascent which I guess is about 3,500 ft for you old fellas. Pace slowly degenerated into an amble but 24 reps of a 400m hill done 😀 It feels like a one day cricket match, every time I miss a day or lose a wicket the run rate goes up. 8 days missed so far so only 2 wickets remaining and the run rate is up to 460 metre a day.
You're going to need a few more of those aren't you to hit the target? Maybe a marathon job! Just don't shatter yourself doing it.
ps if this fella can produce 4.00 pace or sub 4 something isn't right!
Agree Philip - and the bloody families who are out walking at the moment who seem to have a knack of ambling along and spreading out to block even the widest of paths!!!! Grrrr - shouldn't be allowed
7 yesterday to make up for an unplanned F-off. On the plus side, it was in daylight with a bit of sun!
I was considering the possibilities of a 40miler next year that spanned the breadth of the clubs I'd run for/been involved with. Sandhurst - Datchet - Marlow - Handy Cross.
It'd be just about spot on mileage starting out Sandhurst way and coming back through Windsor to Marlow/Wycombe.
And inviting old pals and runner buddies from the various clubs to run a section.
I remember the Robinsons at Sandhurst did a similar sort of thing for their 30th bdays in the early 2010s.
Probably bloody ludicrously optimistic and maybe a 40km (still just under 25miles!) would be more sensible.
But we'll see what the whole virus and general situation are in 9 months!!
SG, you need to find that footpath that starts at the bottom of the hill that passes Danesfield House on the Marlow to Henley Road and goes along the Thames through Harleyford and meets up with Lower Pound Land to go onto Marlow Sports Centre.
It is the only real path north of the Thames that goes west from Marlow and makes linking up other paths a whole lot easier.
I drove to Marlow and after a mile or so on road to the start of the old Marlow half route I used a nice hidden footpath to climb up the hill and then delved into some previously unexplored sections around it.
Really muddy so in road shoes the downs were quite awkward. At least on the ups there was a bit more purchase, albeit still at trudgey pace.
After that I took every opportunity where I saw a footpath sign and had a good old rampage across fields, trails, woods and footpaths. Some damn steep stuff in place and slowed down even more by some of the downs in mud.
Probably carried on a bit too long in a straight sort of line and ended up a bit too far "Henley direction" as I emerged down a long hill at Medmenham and remembering the time I'd run 5miles on the main road to Marlow
This was 3miles from Marlow this time but luckily there was a side road to explore and a long field section through some sheep and goats on worryingly increasingly sodden turf.
One gate was basically in a river, and I must admit thinking - this would not be a good place to get stuck or fall over
Was glad I always take a "kit" to runs these days, of a plastic covering for my car seat, a change of trainers and warm clothing!
By this time any earlier thoughts of how am I going to spin this out for 13miles had long changed to - will I get back in 13miles
The footpath eventually finished and emerged with Danesfield on the right and back on the main road on the left.
Had a little wander round the site hoping there may be some sort of "back way" out but while some old fort or something was nice...there wasn't.
Therefore back on the slightly fast dangerous main road and slotted in between two cyclists on the brow of a hill. Thought there can't be too long left on this road but luckily there was a turn off on the left.
The first cyclist boosted me saying she was amazed I was running so fast and matching her on a bike. Yep - 8.20 pace is pretty sharp
Glad to see the turn off then- less pleased to see it was another climb - thought I'd done my climbs for the day!
Into the Marlow Common woods and a nice flattish trudge through there.
A few narrow footpaths with randoms out walking but I waited my turn politely and got past.
Glad to see the down and 1.5miles to Marlow sign!
Eventually back in for 14.5miles - over 8min miling average, probably my slowest long run on the thread (maybe?) and possibly my highest elevation on a run, pushing 1600 feet. 2hours out there. Add inthe drive to Marlow and back and the best bit of 2.30hrs - back at 12.30. Am normally done by about 10.30 absolute latest.
That might "only" be around 100 feet a mile before big Philly pipes up, but 100feet in a mile is something we'd all flag in a race as being substantial. So that every mile is definitely a slog!
So erm yes. Thanks for joining "SG witters through nature" hour.
Back to road next week methinks!!
And yes when checking the map after I did note there WAS a little path behind Danesfield.
Instead all I could do was stand wistfully at the top of the fort and look over a river and wonder how I could have been over there
1600ft is my short evening run at the moment
The last three reps were in pitch dark anyway so walking the downs in the woods on trail with almost zero visibility was definitely safer! Daft thing being I had an excellent head torch in the car. Following on from the conversation about path etiquette, I really enjoyed having the path to myself and just screeching birds. Funny how it's quiet until it goes dark and suddenly every living thing appears to want to make a right din like breaktime in a primary school.
So managed to trudge out the daily allocation averaging 11:50 pace
Anything to keep things fresh is a good idea right now.
I keep to a fairly standard template of mileage etc but I've found making my 2nd run a 4miler up through the woods 2-3 times a week revitalises things a bit.
Tends to be a 9+ min first mile that can often see the run be a 30-32min run all in but there's a very definite mental freedom from trudging that first 1/3 or or so out and then a big lift when you emerge from the woods 1.5miles or more in .
Freezing cold morning 6. Just a case of seeing it out though. Get the week up and rolling.
Perfectly expressed the situation regarding some footpath users Phil - loved your advice
Keep at 'em Reg.
The cricketing analogy is one I've been using to get me to my 2020 target of 10 miles/day. It was an idea which I'd floated with TR at the turn of the year as a theoretical but almost certainly unrealistic (for me) goal. Jan was 'only' 240 miles & Feb was '250 so after just 2 months I was over 100 miles adrift but then came lockdown. I clawed a handful of miles back in March & April but once the summer months arrived I smashed out the miles. By the end of July, even with my insane climbing, I was almost 2 days ahead of schedule. My Scottish holiday involved a few non-running days so I used them up & even got to a day up by the end of September however October's marathon taper/recovery & an injury scare saw me fall back to 2 days behind meaning I needed 72M a week. November got off to a rough start with another injury - this one was more serious & I lost several days.
Last week I recouped some of those losses. This weekend I did 5M including Woolacombe Dunes (not)parkrun again Saturday in 23:08 at maybe 90-95% Started steady & wound up the effort. Foot coped really well in spite of the shifting sands so Sunday I did a LR along the SWCP: 24.8M & almost 4,900ft (Strava but Garmin Connect has 6,500!!) from Lee Bridge (above Ilfracombe) to Lynmouth Harbour. The OH dropped me off, met me after 11M with flapjack & water then picked me up at the end. Perfect day for it & the foot coped fine
5M steady at lunch along the canal & no orthotics for only the 2nd time. Foot slightly sore after but nothing worrying
With just 38 days to go I need 466M which is 12.3M/day so a tough ask but still very much a possibility.
10miles a day is a big target all year round.
I'll probably average that for the 6 days a week I run, but I can imagine it can easily become a bit relentless being a slave to every day doing it. I see a few people doing these "streaks" and it inevitably encourages them to run when they shouldn't and eventually blows up.
A lot of it is a mental game, and I love having Saturday off to sleep in and generally doss. With Sunday and often one day midweek being singles as well, it keeps it all on the right side of committed v duty bound.
Footy attendance has been given the green light for mid next week onwards then! Seems a bit mad, but I think that will guarantee that we're back on for the little race turnouts we'd been doing pre lockdown...
Have to decide if I fancy sitting in a freezing cold Wycombe ground alone next Wed now...having been looking forward to clicking a button watching it on the laptop!
Sounds a good adventure you are planning there, SG. Go for it.
Pleasing progress on show last week: a couple of hard bike sessions and five runs totalling 25M. Highlights included the aforementioned light fartlek, a recovery run with spoons and a buggy run around a frosty park with my wife.
Weekly miles have now gone 2, 10, 9, 14, 18, 25. The only dip being virtue of having 4 day then 3 day weeks when running on alternate days only.
HR heading in the right direction as well - at least for the running at recovery pace.
NHS physio rang today to check in. Pleasing to be able to discuss things with her and say only one minor ache so far. Didn’t mention that I ignored her suggested protocol and instead sought out my own 😉.
Back on the threshold tip today then.
Last week was 4x5laps so needed to develop that a bit.
Weighed up 3x10mins but I wanted something a bit more top heavyy with a lot on rep 1 and then reducing down for subsequent reps - a bit like my 15mins -10 -5 two years ago.
In the end it panned out as 14 laps - 2min recovery - 6laps
The 14 laps themselves were like a rep of two halves. Starting with a 1.30 and turning over mostly 1.28/1.29s they suddenly lifted a gear to 1.26/1.27s when I'd properly warmed up.
Averaged out almost dead on 1.28 - at 1.28.01 per lap.
Second lot I had originally thought I'd do 4 laps then 2 but realised I couldn't just do a 2 lap threshold to end so made that a 6 and those averaged a 1.27.20
So 5.54 pace and 5.50 pace felt decent today. Quite a swirling wind.
SQ good progress, I just assume physios know we're going to just do our own thing. I always explain to mine that she's better off giving me one exercise I can do in the shower or when brushing my teeth otherwise it's not going to happen.
I feel it's only a matter of time before SG starts rampaging about in trail shoes up and down hills. A bit like finally breaking on the Strava thing ;-)
Sunday's walk down the hills appeared to help the recovery and I was able to run down yesterday, ticked off the daily quota without too much pain and even picked the pace up for the last few. I am slightly more confident now.
I even actually wear the X-Talon for 2-3 runs a week - albeit 4mile lunchtime doubles - but those have a 200+ feet hill mile 1.
Weighing up whether that route is sensible for a lunchtime double today after the track threshold sesh!
The amazing thing with track sessions is how on the warmup you never fancy it. That's a given.
But often mid session you're thinking - why am I seeing races as a reward when you're working even harder there!
But the second you finish and the memory of the effort has gone you start thinking - I really fancy a race soon
I used to think of them as a bit of a "reward" for the hard work - as it always feels easier in a race -for obvious RDM reasons.
Like you I am starting to think about a race. Hilly one obviously! Had some company today from a fellow TVTer which made for a nice change. Standard otherwise with 485m done, I was about to crack on and get ahead of the run rate when I remembered I had a Zwift race this evening! Today was the first day I felt the benefits of the training were starting to creep ahead of the damage. Even managed sub 9 minute miles with 8:42 per mile average! Speedwork.
Saw Nice work events had put a statement out about awaiting EA's statement post gov announcement.
Presumably they'll allow races in the same manner that we had a couple of weeks ago again.
Also awaiting news of what tier Wycombe will be in to see if we can have 0 fans 2,000 fans or 4,000 fans for next Wednesday's game!
If I were Wycombe I'd probably sack any idea of that one off and aim to get a plan in place for the next one on Sat 12th.
Agree with you on the track sessions SG - I'll get a bit more disciplined next year (perhaps)
10K commute + another 15K at lunch means I've made up for yesterday's recovery & got the daily run rate down a fraction. Need several more of those to really make a difference though & no chance of a day off for the rest of 2020. I was thinking if I did 10 miles/day from now til Dec 30th I could finish the year with a casual 90M day
My target of 2020 in 2020 looks very tame especially as I am 100 miles up on target and just have 98 miles to go so will be done by mid-December.
The whole virus rules thing is starting to wear me down. Yesterday over 600 people died of the thing and yet the whole debate seems to centre around debates such as "do my Mum and her live-in boyfriend count as one household or two?" and parkrun fanatics saying if 4,000 footie fans can be in a stadium then why can't 1,000 parkrunners meet in a park? FFS people, if there was a maniac out there with a rifle and he killed 600 people yesterday and was looking to do the same today I wouldn't even leave the toilet let alone the house. Yes, we have to get on with life so the essentials have to happen and there is no black and white line between essential and non-essential and I'd love to have my 4 kids home for Christmas but this will eventually get under control and normality will resume and I'd prefer to guarantee that than have a few days respite.
The debate on the rules is very tedious but even worse the growing camp of deniers and even worse conspiracy merchants.
Football fans will have to be very carefully managed as they generally love to hang about in massive gangs for safety. So the idea of distancing them into and out of grounds sounds a logistical nightmare. Once they're in the ground you'll have to have a general rule of nobody move until the game is over unless you're really throbbing at the bit.
Parkrun can only work if it's all registered and staggered. Which there won't be the willing or ability to do.
Therefore it's all these profiteer race organiers for a while. Which is ok. Positive is it gives the opportunity to do races and go to places we wouldn't bother with usually.
Although I'm not sure even I can whisk up enthusiasm to have another barren slog round Dorney in the inevitable wind and loneliness!
Whilst I am not a denier that Covid-19 is a potentially fatal disease for the vulnerable and moribund, I think we all have a duty to equip ourselves with the real facts and to question everything we're told, SG the time we're in trouble is when there aren't enough people challenging the narrative!
Excess mortality is the only half-useful metric and that shows we're currently running fairly close to normal. There is a slight signal in the aged at the moment running around 1.1 times normal but there's also quite a high excess in males 15-44 which as we know, is not Covid related. I actually think we should be measuring this in life years not deaths. An 82 year old dies and you've lost zero life years against expectation, sad if it's your granny but who here expects their granny to outlive them?
What concerns me most is the alacrity at which people are willing to cede their freedoms and liberties, I can only assume the value they place on their own liberties is not outweighed by the fear they have for a few people they perceive to be a irresponsible.
So parkrun fanatics are absolutely right to complain and we need to hear more outrage to end this nonsense, get on with life, chuck your masks in the bin get back to work and look forward to the day the vaccine stockpiles pass their sell by date and the headlines read '50 million unused vaccine doses destroyed' as fat cat Pharma bosses are sunning themselves on their private islands
Had a Zwift race last night if you got this far though my diatribe, it was awful, think the hill reps may be having an effect!
Oh yes running! Trying to vary my training as I decided it was the repetitiveness that was boring me. So last few days have seen a couple of 10 milers; one from home to Look Out via Bracknell Forest and one today along the Thames from Weybridge to Hampton. Added the variety I sought and speed ok today just under 4'30 per k (speed on the other one much slower but much hillier route).
Sounds like most of you are going well which is positive; shout outs to Reg for doing so well at such a crazy hard challenge and SQ getting nicely back into it. Jools; averaging 10 miles a day for a whole year is just amazing; hats off for that one. I have been trying to average just over 4 a day (130 p.m) and that is proving tough with no guarantee I will even manage it.
Whilst I except a person of 82 may well have a life expectancy of approaching 90, even an 82 year old has about a 92% survival rate from Covid-19 so healthy old people don't die of Covid on the whole and it's those healthy ones that are going to kick on 8 more years. I'd be willing to bet most of the old people that died were going to be checking-out fairly soon. The median stay in a nursing home is 20 months.
I saw that Lookout run, I think I'll head up there once this climbing nonsense is over.
SG you knock out some very decent tempos. I like the idea of doing them at the track. For some reason, running 1:30 laps sounds a lot more doable in training than 6m/m.
Funny you saw that about the physio, Reg. I still stretch my calves whilst cleaning my teeth six years after a physio recommended it for PF. I’m beginning to get inspired by the exploits now – might have a crack at Everesting in a couple of months.
I wouldn’t put a 90M NYE special past you, Jools! Doubles (even triples) will be the key for your now.
Standard Monday bike thrashing before 5M recovery on Tuesday. 8:50 pace for 128 HR average. I reckon ‘usual’ fitness HR is around 120 for this pace, so getting there. Had a good dance off with another runner when we rounded a corner towards each other. He then took it to another level by grabbing me by the shoulders. I genuinely wish some music had been playing.
Will attempt some P&L style 12s hill sprints then 100m strides later this afternoon.
I have a friend in British Colombia, Canada (SG knows Nic, stupidly fast marathoner) and they publish all the discussions their government have so everyone can see the data they are using and why they made the decisions they did. I'm not saying that is always a good idea but if you are saying "we are following the science" then they should be sharing the science they are looking at and what they are doing and why.