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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Good run Ric. I always wonder if there is such a thing as "easy XC" though - I find that even when I'm on a slow old warm up for an XC session, it's quite tough going on that kind of ground. Depends on the course I suppose.
Andrew - good to see you back running. No, I'm afraid that whilst the new car is a splendid red, it is most definitely not a sports car, rare or otherwise.
Dachs, certainly easy. I simply adopt an effort level that avoids oxygen debt and accept whatever emerges.
Yesterday that was an average of 9 minute miling, today it was 8:30 minute miles. Its mainly mud and hills, but I select the route that at least lessens the worst of the mud.
For what is worth, I could easily crank the pace up into the sevens and sixes. That doesn't make it an easy run, it just means I can do it.
I'm of the opinion that getting too close to race pace and effort has a 'take out' effect that is not readily recovered from. For that reason I choose to jog about and now and again put in some faster than race pace work (maybe no more than a few strides).
Having dropped 10 or 12% in weight, it'll take a little while to calibrate the required paces for more structured speedwork. I probably won't bother until I hit the target weight.
Racing my usual rivals when 15% lighter might mean I don't even have to do that.
🙂
Yes PMJ, the ginger one is the one that parkrun are getting excited about.
Take it easy AG. I can identify with the constant worry about something hurting, and was really glad when I returned after a run and realised I had not thought about the achilles at all during the session.
A good result Simon, all things considered? Always risky to race when feeling shite.
Good mileage one and all.
I'm ensconced in the Liechtenstein alps. Tomorrow is 1hr easy so will see how the pavements are. A little bit of falling snow but so far all is clear and dry albeit well in to the minus temps. Wednesday AM is a track session; possibly the first time it will have been used this year.
Doesn't he prefer white Ferraris anyway?
Glad to hear you're back Andrew!
Always tricky to know what to do in that scenario. My best time at Ridgeway came on the back of a chest infection and some serious anti-biotics. Time was good, but I spent an awful lot of time coughing after!
Ric - you be careful in a strong breeze now won't you
(I'm only jealous as I can't seem to stop eating at the mo, so weight is NOT shifting!)
Oh - Iron - Liechetenstein Alps is it? Pah - you think that's exotic - I'm off to Gawcott on Wednesday!!
Never been there! In the words of my daughter, "WelJel".
Bus, the earliest I've eaten over the past month is 10:30am, after a run of anything up to 12 miles. Sometimes it's as late as mid-day. That's a whole meal gone missing. Impossible if just sitting around doing nothing.
The secret (if any) is to run as if warming up or warming down for a race.
This tactic doesn't involve pushing pace or effort. If I did, it wouldn't be long before I started seeing stars as the low blood sugar kicks in. Has to be a 'fat' burn, so has to be slow and 60 minutes plus.
Scrambled eggs on toast (no butter) and I'm out for a couple of hours walking.
According to the Garmin and my encyclopedic knowledge of food/ calories, by the time of the evening meal, I'm (like now) only 300 - 400 kcal to the good. Even milk in a sugarless cup of tea is 25 kcals. It all adds up. Mind you, I've also had a pint and a half of lager and a gin and tonic (hydration) but I've covered that.
If I resist after a light meal, I can hope to drop around 3oz per day. Its a sod to shift.
For what its worth, 2 to 3lb's extra weight can slow down a 1300lb horse in a race so that it loses by a length. So dropping a few pounds as a runner makes sense.
However not many do this since its just too difficult. It's hard training every waking hour.
🙂
Good to hear you managed a run AG. I know the feeling regarding worrying about a reoccurrence. Every slight twinge feels like its about to give in. I end up overcompensating with my gait usually to make sure I'm getting a sound footing etc.
Fair dos for giving it a crack when you've been feeling like shit Simon. XC when fully fit is a grind, nevermind being under the weather.
Nice mileage Dachs.
After Saturdays 10 threshold I did 14 @ 6.35 pace yesterday. Legs were groaning a bit but felt fine all day today. The first day I've not been well hydrated today before a run and it showed for tonight's threshold. (2cups of hot chocolate in 12 hours) managed to get on the canal so it was nice and flat but managed 5.5 mile @6min dead. Felt twice as hard as Saturdays 10.
Couple of easy days and I'm going to go the track on thurs to see if I can get some zip in my legs as I'm feeling a bit one paced at the min, albeit a lot stronger.
Ric - seems like only last year you were advocating a tuna bagel before, during and after every run
Most of my morning runs are done before breakfast (more out of necessity than anything else). I generally do my summer LSRs before breakfast too, but find that at this time of year I just can't get up so early on a Sunday!
My main problem is I just like food and drink too much! If I thought losing a significant amount of weight would change my times from anything other than mediocre then it might be worth it, but life's too short, and I'm too old, to pay that price! Would still like to shift just a few pounds though
Matt - quality running. I'm not surprised the 5.5M felt hard - proves you are still human after all
Bus, its difficult fighting against our food instincts. Very difficult.
My motivation is getting fed up of being seen off by guys in my age group by what only amounts to, a few seconds per mile; especially when I know I've been a lot lighter in the past.
Losing weight might work. My rivals are all as thin as sticks already, so its an option they don't have.
🙂
Nice cycle AG! I haven't done anywhere near that volume for a long long time.
Simone - 138th is not shabby at all.. There were in form 31 min 10km runners coming 50th ..Deep field
IC - Pleased that you didn't notice the achilles, turned another corner there I hope
Dean - good tempo on the dreadmill
Dachs - thanks, I hope so too!
Weirdly and maybe PMJ could enlighten me. But my 17:44 parkrun on Saturday lists as a better performance that my current 5KM PB of 15:52 and 3rd only behind two other hard hilly courses.. Probably means bugger all
I will find a flat road course to re gauge my fitness in maybe 2 weeks anyway as training paces will be affected..
Took first advice from Dean about recoveries for the planned session but went with 5 x 1KM (2:00) out on the road. A good cumulative 25 minutes worth of WU/WD and I feel ok
3:08 / 3:12 / 3:07 / 3:14 / 3:10
This Sunday hopefully marks a period of normal structured training and starting to introduce "proper" long runs etc
Good intervals there Scott and great training from Matt too. I had a look through the ressies and I was top 100 last time at Brighton, so even though the race wasn't great, the quality was better this time around most said the qauality was Parliament Hill standard - which doesn't always happen when it's moved out of the capital. Our friend Eddie O'G gave me a tap and a word as he sped past..although basically trying to encourage a dead horse!!
Interesting about the results Ric - I'll have a look. Remember there is Sam Coombes knocking about (Dartford) who has already got AW muddled before!
4x10 mins @ threshold for me today.
6:23 pace / 6:22 / 6:28 / 6:23
Slower rep 3 was due to struggling a bit uphill. Definitely harder work than the other 3 reps although rep 1 was also uphill. Total of 10.26 miles including WU / CD at average 7:31 pace. Not bad. I just had the thought to myself as I was finishing the reps that 2 years ago, this was the pace I was running 400m reps. I should now be able to hold that pace for an hour... That's quite satisfying!
Met a friend at lunchtime who did a lap of the world last year on a recumbent: http://laidbackaroundtheworld.blogspot.co.uk. That is a long ride!
OK, so on po10 you can sort by WAVA grading and it says your 17:44 parkrun is worth a paltry 72.74% compared to, say, 81.30% for your 15:52 PB. On runbritain, as you say, the 17:44 is ranked above the 15:52.
A lot of this is due to the handicap system which ages results, so more recent runs count higher than historic results. I think the length of the run also dictates how quickly it fades, so longer runs fade more slowly.
Another factor in this all is that the whole runbritain handicap system is flawed in detail. In general it works, so the theory is that rather than grade using a fixed set of tables such as the WAVA tables, the grading is worked out based on how people run on the course on the day. This supposedly adjusts so if the course is running fast or slow, then the handicap is adjusted accordingly.
If you follow parkrun, you will know that this weekend we hit a record turnout of 98,314 runners so there are a lot of new parkrunners (read slow) out there so the pack average will be down.
So in short, if you run well when there are a load of noobies about, you get a good score.
Had the (mis)fortune of watching the last 12km of the Southerns on Saturday - the front 3 were absolutely motoring!
Great finish down the hill and Jon Pepper did well to hang onto 3rd in the end as well
Yes, the sight of the front runners in major XC races is something to see. It's not just the obvious power that enables them to sprint through mud, its more that they appear to have the power of levitation that lets them do so.
🙂
Lack of noticing achilles was a few months back now, but thanks anyhow. Good reps (and you too CC82).
That is a long bike ride PMJ.
Me and my big mouth. Woke up to 4" of snow so used the hotel dreadmill for an hour easy run. Even with the windows open it was pretty hot and was getting towards HR limit.
Went to check on the track this evening in prep for tomorrow's 10x400 off 60s, and I find it buried under a large white blanket. Back on the treddie tomorrow then.
Bus/Ric I've dusted off the MyFitnessPal app again whilst travelling, to ensure that I don't eat too much crap.
No chance of doing a "rocky 4" then?
PMJ - so I was right, means bugger all
Good running cc82 and earlier I didn't mention but Matt that 14 is good, clearly much much stronger, frightening to think what an introduction of a specific speed work phase will bring..
No worries Scott! Yes, everytime I go outside (not inside) for a run I have a huge grin, because I can.
No chance of running outside at 6am here in the snow and ice. Too risky.
IC,
Basic fact that a 1% weight loss due to fat equates to a 1% increase in speed. That's handy to know.
I've mucked about for nearly 20 years avoiding the weight issue. Reasons were 'I thought I might starve to death', collapse through lack of food, lose all my muscles, run slower due to weakness. Or simply wasting good feeding and drinking time for nothing.
Discovering I could still be healthy at 7 stone 10lb's was a surprise. Even now at 8 stone 8lb's I don't look thin. There's a 'six pack' in there, but it certainly doesn't show. Where the hell does the weight loss come from? visually there's hardly any difference!
🙂
Fast reps Scott, it's all coming back!
Solid running in the XC Simon.
Nice threshold stuff CC82 and Rob. Rob, it's very impressive, but what's with all the threshold runs at the moment?
Mile reps was on the agenda last night, but I was shattered so I didn't bother. Managed a 10 this morning, stuck a couple of fast miles in there (5:15, 5:10), but didn't do any more as I've got a big session tomorrow I didn't want to wreck. Then did 5K in the afternoon with my 8-year old after school. He did really well considering he'd never run more than 2 before.
Christ Rob that's a LOT of threshold sessions. I'm thinking after 40 minutes today (5 days after my last "session") that my legs are going to be feeling it a bit tomorrow...!
So though my paces are strong they are controlled
I'm planning a race on 15th but doubt I'll ease off much for it as first seasons real target is a 10k on 8/3 now that should be interesting !
Scott - good to see that pace coming back!
Dachs - that's some speedy miles just thrown in there!
Rob - you are going to need a week off after all that threshold work!
Iron - I'd still rather be in Lichtenstein than Aylesbury
Ric - remind m where the 1% comes from? I'd find it difficult to believe that, all other factors aside, simply by losing 3lbs before Wokingham I could run it over 1.5 mins faster than the weight I am now. By the same logic, if I lost 8 lbs, I'd be looking at a sub 1:15!
Bus, type something like 'How does weight loss affect running speed' into Google and you'll find all sorts of information on the subject.
The point to remember is the weight loss must be from fat, not water loss. To lose 3lb's of fat you would have to achieve a deficit of around 11,000 Kcals.
I've spent 12 weeks doing this to drop 11lb's. That's an average of 471kcals/day. Its not much but it all adds up.
To make it easier for you, the extra weight you've trained on for years has made you stronger. Its all there, and the fitness. Lose the buried fat and your old pb's will be history.
🙂
I've tried telling this to another lad I know that if he just shifted some weight he'd fly as he's running 15-25 mile fell races at 20+stone. :-/ if he just disappeared off the radar for a bit, ran steadily everyday instead of doing the long stuff and taking 2 weeks to recover, he'd really improve.
20+ stone he's going to cause some real damage to his joints and that's a ridiculous weight to try and race!