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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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nice philosophising Ric. In 4 years with Moraghan though, except for say 6miles MP, the sessions are continually fresh, and never get dull.
Today for instance was 7x800 at 5k pace off 90sec.
Probably the first time I can remember that the rep total distance is higher than the distance of the rep pace (ie 3 1/2miles ish at 3.1mile pace)
2.37,2.37,2.40,2.36,2.38,2.40,2.38
One of those classic track sessions where it's fairly windy down the back straight, and not at all down the other side. Rep 3 i think was the windiest, which makes sense looking on the reps.
As per Old style sessions I fitted a pit stop in after rep 5!
But generally quite nice.
For stat freaks, 2.38 average, which is 5.18 miling pace, which sneaks into my 5k training zone (5.13-5.18).
Would probably need very still conditions on that track to get that down to the top end of the zone.
Either way, 5.26 for a 16.53 is my quickest actual 5k race, so looks promising.
Northern chaps...all looking good indeed. very promising times ahead for you all.
Dean/Max agree completely about Ric though at times I think you're a little crazy
you speak a lot of sense as well
I'm trying to ease down for Trafford too only 40 miles this week approx and all my little niggles are coming to the fore can definately tell it's race week for the first time in 5 months!!
Let's hope we all run as well as we can
Seb Coe, once wrote "no one likes having their training criticised".
That's why I avoid the 'this is right/wrong' discussion. I suggest things, different things. To help people if they want. Up to them if they listen.
However some people can't be helped. They're set in their ways and cannot change. But we all have our place. I found runners I raced against, who were like this very useful. They wouldn't be any better from one week to the next so very handy to compare the results of my training against.
It takes all sorts. Everywhere there are people/runners who do the same things on the same days with the same people for years and years. Like a constant appointment commitment that's set in stone.
I wonder what the attraction is.
🙂
SG, as you drive to the track, I don't think the extra to Marlow will be much matter to you. For me, a 0.5 mile warm up has become closer to 3.5 miles.
i remember the days a good session would get some positive feedback rather than oldies philosophising and getting critical!
Phil, i'm sure with your maths brain you can work out why the extra drive, on a busy route, at rush hour might become a bit of a problem when i already get in very very tight to my start time (coughs... late) as it is after a track sesh!
Well if you want to take that attitude SG, then hear this.
That session of yours today was right on the money. Relatively short recoveries but faster than race pace, volume greater than rep pace.
Ticks all the boxes.
My own session today was 10 x 300m on grass in 60 seconds off one minute recovery. Ran around a cricket pitch. A bit soft in places with a small gradient included.
🙂
i knew you were a handsome gent deep down Ric. Much better.
what intensity does yours work out at?
Difficult at the moment to pin down where it is. The problem being that at the moment the difference in the speed that 'blows me up' in one minute, is only 5% faster than the speed I can cruise at for a few miles.
So today was at least 800m effort. The recoveries were however too short for it to be an 800m session. I recover fast. In one minute I go from max HR to less than 130 bpm.
In two minutes it drops to 100bpm.
That's weird. I typed in the 'less than' sign and everything after it was removed on posting.
🙂
Do you do freestyled sessions to keep it fresher after years running?
That less than sign can be used for code injection which is often used to steal data. So it is blocked.
Good reps SG & Ric.
Dropped car at garage today then cycled home via a longer undulating route. Recalled why I find HR training difficult. Awaiting phone call from garage with bad news.
Short notice trip to the US on Sun. Boston for 1 week (cold - 10C ish overnight, peaking at ~4C in the day. Snow and ice). Then 1 week in San Fran (~20C).
I imagine I'll be prescribed some treadmill sessions for the first week! Gym bikes seem to be hard to come by in the US; some places have the horrible recumbent gym bikes. I can hire a road bike in San Fran but won't make best use of it
Is it Trafford this w/e?
Triathletes like gadgets. Chlorine inhalation does something to the brain that causes huge expenditure on electronics and tight busy sportswear.
Thanks IC. I suspected a technical explanation after the third loss.
SG, I have to make up the training on the day as one of the problems of age is that its nigh on impossible to devise a optimal training program and execute it.
Impossible on account of issues with recovery.
When young you can hammer yourself and with a bit of rest be ok. Even faster. Not when you're my age. Push it too far and you don't get faster, you just get more tired.
Three days into a plan, you wake up knackered when you're supposed to be fresh.
Masses of runners who just 'ran hard and often' move into the phase of having to really think about what they are doing. Too much for most. They either give up because they get injured doing what they always did. Or because in order to remain injury free they have ease back so much they become relative joggers.
🙂
I tend to be one of those who does pretty much the same thing all the time - partly laziness, partly just being comfortable with the familiar but largely because running has to fit in with the rest of life, and the way my week is structured works for me, the job and my family! That said, I do mix up the terrain, try to run in nice places and am making a conscious effort to make the speed sessions a bit more varied and targeted.
Pain all round with the track moving, however you get there! Still, if you didn't object during the public consultation.....
"Rest" day today, so a bike double with 14 to work and 18 home. My fastest trip to work on the bike to date at 18.7mph. Not that fast in the world of Tri and Cycling, but it's not a flat route by any means, and I'm happy with that!
Sounds cold in Boston Iron!
I assume that's on a mountain bike Bus. I used to do a 50 mile plus ride to the Chilterns and back averaging just under 22mph.
I'd admire anyone who can hold down employment these days.
🙂
Bus, Ric's basically saying your cycling is pretty slow. Especially as he used this bike below
If you can bury yourself on a bike like you do running Bus, then you could be dangerous!
Rob - where did you have your tests done? Katie Brough recently went to Loughborough to have lactate tests done thinking it would come up saying the mara is her best distance but it was the 5K to her disappointment! I use a HM when I'm getting back to fitness if I've been resting or ill. I run from 140 to 155 which is around 7:20 pace when fit.
It's good to see your super confident and hopefully Trafford will bare the fruits of 5 months consistent work. Seeing all those Cheshire vests on FB today had really spurred me on, the senior men's team is less than spectacular at the moment. My days are numbered with our super star kids turning 18/20 now though.
Dean, Matt, I'll see you at Christleton! Will enter in a week or so when I get paid. I swear that course is like Narnia - all down hill!
I was away with my class in for 3 days and ended up with food poisoning yesterday, again, my arse emptied it's self rigorously and I puked up all night. Feelin' alright now but off to bed now as there are pots to be won on Sunday!
good luck on the pot hunting SS!!!
MTB Ric? - No, I can only manage that paltry speed on my 50 grand carbon fibre racing machine. Shame all that cycling speed was in your youth that these days , fast as you pedal, you can't get out of the kitchen
No worries Bus. I was 44 when I did that, and had spent the best (or worst) part of 10 years cycling to and from work.
🙂
Stevie I went to a place in Doncaster I was there for 4 hours on treadmill about 50 mins really enjoyed the experience funnily he said I wouldn't be a great marathon runner as my skeletal muscle % was that of a middle distance guy
always knew there was a reason I didn't want to do a marathon now I have another excuse 
I don't expect a great time from Trafford but I do expect to run well
I plan Christleton as well hope to see you there
Good luck again Dean/Seb racing today and Stevie See pot hunting tomorrow, shame on you
Matt I'll try and say hello tomorrow if you've not gone home before I finish!
Behave RobT! Haha.
I had some testing done a year or two ago while helping someone out with their university degree. Similar to what Scott did. I should've gone back for the second session a couple of months later but I think the girl had a long term illness and I never got to finish the testing or get my results. I'd definitely be interested in having it done.
My eldest daughter has just finished her sports science degree at Exeter where she was lectured by Andrew Jones, @AndyBeetroot on twitter, who did a lot of studies into the effects of beetroot juice on endurance runners. I am trying beetroot juice for Sunday, Finchley 20, so have a 1000ml carton and took 200ml yesterday, will take 3x150ml spread through today and then 350ml tomorrow about 2 hours before the race.
Anyhow, back to treadmill tests.
So if you know my eldest she is a bit of a loud mouth in the nicest sense so within a few weeks of being at uni it was established that whenever a "volunteer" was needed, she was pushed forward. This means she has a very complete set of just about every test conceivable from lactate, proper VO2 with mask etc, fasting, sleep deprived, body composition using the pincers etc.
The funniest was a treadmill test to exhaustion. She looked at the treadmill and asked where the crash masts were. Why crash mats they asked? If I run to exhaustion, I will crash was the reply. Oh, people don;t they said, but agreed to put up crash mats and sure enough, she ran and ran and then eventually she gave way and crashed into a big pile on the mats. That is running to exhaustion.
She, like bus, is also a big thrower so a bucket was always at hand after the first unfortunate incident.
how does running to exhaustion work?
Is it done via reps? At some determined effort level? Or just carries on starting at easy pace until you've covered 37miles and are just holding 12min miling?
And what does Beetroot juice do? Except for give you the squits?
That's impressive mental toughness!!
Ric - fair play then for that speed at 44. I've been cycling to work for 25 years on and off and haven't got near that on an MTB, even back in my early days when I was MTB racing! Used to regularly get close to the hour for the 23M trip on my road bike cycling to work from High Wycombe to Staines, but that was pretty flat.
parkrun for me today at the Rye. The wet route is a fair bit quicker, but still a few tight turns! Worked out OK with the two way traffic as well. Reasonably happy with 2nd and 18:29. probably should have gone under 18:20, but eased up a fair bit in the last k when I realised sub 18 was out, and 3rd place had dropped back quite a lot. Slight twinge in the injury after just to remind me it is still there, but nothing too untoward and it was good to be "racing" again.
Slightly belated good luck to Dean and Seb for today, good luck to Stevie for tomorrow and for Philip and Dachs at Finchley tomorrow. Anyone else racing?
Bus, well done with the parkrun. I thought about doing one myself, not for long mind.
On bikes. Using a one with a steel frame built in 1978 and weighing in at 10.8kg (heavy for a modern road bike) I rode a WLC 25 mile Time Trial at Amersham in 63:01.
I would have broken 63 minutes but for being blocked by traffic on a roundabout at Chalfont St. Peter.
🙂
SG - different protocols based on the aim of test/athletic status/place you get tested but general protocol is 3 min stages, with the speed increasing by 1km at the end of each stage. The test ends when you stop/collapse/give up etc.
The protocol we use is 4 min stages, generally starting between 11 - 13km/h (depends on status of athlete). Athlete runs for 3min 30s and then gets 30s rest (straddles treadmill) where we take a blood sample to look at lactate & glucose. Start again on 4min, with a 1km increase in speed. So for the end of each stage we get average & max HR & lactate, so we can set training zones based on these + pace.
Some places use a 1% gradient increase sometimes too.
Good luck to the racers today
Good luck all.
Those tests sound interesting. Not sure I could do anything that involves needles though.
Running to exhaustion generally is on a treadmill which goes faster and faster and faster until you can't hold it any longer. Definitely not going on and on, but getting harder and harder.
Beet juice: "Pharmacological sodium nitrate supplementation has been reported to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise in humans."
or in other words, you need less oxygen so can go faster for the same oxygen.
http://jap.physiology.org/content/107/4/1144.abstract
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/305/12/R1441
Bus, I see you beat third who is the guy you beat on the steps the other day. He did 1:59 :49 at Reading!
1.29 Philip, runing under somebody else's name. I spoke to him before the parkrun and he said he had a real mare at the end. More a 5k man!top eht htiw kcul doog eivetS