The Middle Ground

DT19

Alehouse, looking forward to it, though just had return flight cancelled Monday night and put on one Tuesday morning so been in a panic as had to make various plan changes re hotels etc. With flight cancellation comp though it should end up a profitable outcome. 

I hope to do a report tomorrow.  However on reflection I think it was a successful spring. I was basing my ambition at Boston directly against what I achieved in Berlin and not just the courses but the travel etc make the two completely different beasts. I do think had I not done Boston and just went for London I'd have pb'd but that's not really the only reason for this lifestyle. 

This time last year I'd run 2.50 at mk and was ok with that so a 2.46 and 2.48 really ought to also be ok. 

Good luck with the scan results, hope they are positive. 

mussessein

Alehouse - fingers crossed that things improve soon, and that the results are what you're hoping for. I'm in the UK now, but back in Paris on Sunday.

DT - certainly a successful couple of weeks, you have an impressive set of maras under your belt now. Even if you haven't PBd, you are consistently running extremely well, and I'm sure that experience, and two more good races will help you go up a level.

This week kicked off with 8km easy. 16km progressive on Tuesday, with the last 5km under 21:30, so a bit slower than 5k splits at Kew. Doing a continuous 5km at near HM effort would be a real peaking session for me, and this felt a way off that kind of effort level, so hopefully a reflection that racing a HM brought my fitness up a level.

11km recovery on Wednesday, followed by a massage. This was incredibly uncomfortable, it's been a while since I had one. Both shoulders, and my left glute/lower back were extremely tight and sore. 13.5km yesterday, my left side was lacking power, and was a little tight, but HR nicely under control at 143 average, and still moving pretty well at just over 5:00min kms. I started to have odd spasm/twitches in all those places through the afternoon yesterday - but everything seems to have eased off a bit now. Not sure I'll return to this particular therapist again, they were quite gung ho in their approach!

DT19

Boston/London 2024 combo

The Boston marathon had intrigued me for some time, I think of all the Major courses it is the most unique for a multitude of reasons.

With a very comfortable BQ buffer I persuaded my wife last summer that we should go and promised her in equal portions that we would make it a holiday and I wouldn’t want to spend the days pre-race sat on my bed.

Time seemed to whizz by and following a big training block from November-April which produced a parkrun, 10k and sizeable half pb I went to Boston full of hope and ambition. I’d done my research on the event and the course and trained as specifically as was possible. I was lighter than I had ever been and definitely fitter.

As part of my preparations I had decided to book a place on a private club bus to the start having seen pictures of previous years when the weather hasn’t been great, particularly given how long they have you at the start area.

We arrived in Boston on the Friday afternoon on a plane heavily populated by quite obvious runners. By the time we made our way to our hotel it was 8pm so we dumped our bags, popped to a local restaurant/bar chain and had some dinner and a beer. Of course on our clock it was now 2am so we then went to bed. I found it very difficult to settle into the timezone and probably just about got there on the final day. Each morning I would wake at circa 4am and would struggle to fall back asleep. On the Saturday morning I headed out for a pre-breakfast 4m shakeout. We then embarked on a 12 hour sightseeing session, walking some 13m. The Sunday included similar but incorporated the expo and an afternoon at the baseball.

Neither day in my view facilitated great mara prep, but I had to balance the fact that I was on holiday, somewhere I may well not visit again and we were child free for the first time in 5 years.

Monday morning required a 5.25am alarm in order to get a taxi to my bus pick up for 6.15. The beauty of a private bus was that I could take a carrier bag of food, drink and pre-race bits and pieces, as opposed the small a4 sized bag you could take on the official buses. The bus was around 60% full so plenty of room to relax and stretch out plus it had a toilet. A couple of lads sat by me who looked like thirtysomething fast lads so I assumed they would be in coral 1 ahead of me. They were quite serious runners but were a few corrals down on me as circa 2.58 runners. I seem to suffer at times with a degree of ‘imposter syndrome’. They were relatively local and had run the course a few times so were good company. As the only Brit on the bus quite a few others came to speak to me about various things, just generally interested in having a ‘foreigner’ on board.

The bus arrived in Hopkinton around 7.30 and the benefit of this set up was it stayed until all runners had left so we all just chilled out and chatted. There was a dense fog in Hopkinton and it was a bit drizzly. Around 9am I started getting myself ready and left for the start at 9.20. I was a little surprised as to how far the walk was. What was also surprising was that despite the various toilet queues and the fact that the athletes village was surrounded by heavy woodland, nobody was roughing it which I found unusual given my experience in Berlin where many were tucked into the undergrowth adjacent to the start line.

I eventually made my way to the start, resisting the urge to queue at the toilet as I had been told there was another bank of toilets just before the corrals that was always much quieter, which they were. At the point I joined the toilet queue, circa 9.45, it started to pour down. I then made my way to the coral and a quick blast of the US anthem and we were off.

The plan was to not get drawn into a fast start with the downhill over the first 5m and to then settle and hit halfway in or around 82 minutes. I expected first few miles to be a battle to keep pace down given the profile of the course, however what you never really get told about with Boston is that within the macro level downhill there are just lots of small rolling ups and downs. Granted that each downhill is bigger than the preceding uphill but it just doesn’t come as easy as the elevation charts indicate.

I felt some immediate concern in mile 1 as I wasn’t fighting to slow down, I was chasing the pace. I’ve been here before, no warm up and it can take a few miles just to settle, so be patient and it’ll come. It continued to rain on an off for the duration of the race, which didn’t unduly trouble me, I was more concerned about wind strength. 

The first few miles ticked by and by mile 3 I was having a dark time. I could tell this wasn’t on today I just felt stale and tired and knew that this was not going to be the coast to personal glory I had anticipated. Mile 1-5 went 6.32, 6.15, 6.09, 6.06 and 6.14. I was averaging around 6.17mm on my garmin at this time but could not see how this would be maintained with 21m to go. The next 5m proved to be even more troubling as we meandered through various Boston suburbs and as each mile flashed up on my watch I was continually surprised as it felt like I had lost it. I was feeling like I’d expect to feel at mile 22 on a bad day. At mile 8 I had a really dark period where I felt like I just needed to stop and I think if I hadn’t been on the event of a lifetime and I was in Boston, Lincs (no offence to any Bostonians out there) I’d have just walked off. The next 5m came in 6.12, 6.08, 6.13, 6.08 and 6.10 and my average pace had now dropped to 6.14mm, which was where Lewis told me to aim.

My mood was somewhat random and literally over the period of minutes I would flip from feeling done to feeling good and that I could do it. I was already making deals with myself which was troubling. At mile 10 I set myself the task of getting to the scream tunnel at mile 13 without losing anything and after that, get to the big downhill at mile 16 then enter the hills. I persevered with a 6.13, 6.08 and a 6.11, getting through halfway in 81.45, just ahead of target and a minute under pb if I run an even split, which was a big if given what was coming and how I felt. 

The next few miles were just about sitting steady, get to the downhill and then manage Newton. I couldn’t however see how I would manage Newton successfully as I felt already at my limit and taking water from the little cups was not easy when working at effort. Onwards with a 6.13, 6.13 and 6.03 and here I am, 10m out and on for a low 2.43, despite having felt rubbish for most of the previous 16.

Next up was the Newton Hills and oddly, this period made the next 5m mentally much more achievable, simply because you could address them 1 at a time and between each one there’s pretty much a mile of significant downhill, therefore you aren’t just ploughing out mile on mile thinking of the numbers.

DT19

I trained for these hills and I’d seen in training when running up big hills 17m into a long run, even if I slow significantly, my average pace drops by a second or two and its quickly clawed back on a downhill. I’d also done the math and knew over the next 5m it was about 300ft of gain. I entered Newton averaging 6.12mm I seem to recall. The first hill was very much a warm up hill and was essentially a motorway bridge and that was over quickly, albeit I gave the respect and trotted it slowly. I came off it and hit the downhill and clawed back quickly any average pace loss.

On to the next at mile 17 which was preceded by the first turn of the course at the fire station, which was blasting out sweet caroline as I passed. The next hill was a bit tougher and longer but that was done with nominal damage. Hill 3 I actually found the toughest, perhaps that is because in my head I knew I still had Heartbreak. Then suddenly without really thinking about it 20m was done.

Heartbreak Hill kicks in at around 20.3m and goes on half a mile. It’s not what you want to see in mile 21 for sure and as many have said before, the danger of these hills is that they come at a time in the race when you’ve run a long way and you also still have a long way to run, together with the cumulative climbing of them as opposed to any individually being tough. 

As I proceeded up Heartbreak hill the crowds were crazy and I did slow that bit more however I knew that if I came off this well there was a fast 4-5m to come. I was surprised quite soon to see a huge banner telling us we had completed Heartbreak hill and I had this sudden energy hit. I wasn’t feeling that much worse than I was at 8m and now I only had 4 downhill miles to go. Those 5m came in 6.22, 6.31, 6.11, 6.33 and 6.47. My watch was averaging 6.16mm and the plan was to hit the remaining miles at 6mm pace. I picked things up well with a 6.12 at mile 22 and at this point, somehow I was still on for a pb if I could just run the last 4 at or around 6mm.

I can’t quite put my finger on what then happened but I just crashed. It did at this point start properly hammering down and I’d barely taken on any water at the stations because they were in small cups and the effort I was working at from very early on meant that trying to get any in my mouth was a minor form of waterboarding so I just gave up. I recall also that I did some calculations at mile 22 and worked out I needed to 5.55mm it home to pb and perhaps that just blew the endeavour away as that wasn’t going to happen.

Mile 23 came in at 6.20 and I knew my day was up and I just peddled in the last few miles, determined to enjoy the entry to the city and the famous right and left. Last few miles came in 6.26, 6.27 and 6.37 and a 6.26 paced last bit for 2.46.18. Frankly if I’d been offered that at mile 8 I’d have ripped someone’s hand off!

I met my wife in the park for a quick freshen up and change and then on to Cheers bar, which was a big part of what I wanted for the day. We spent a good few hours in there watching it slowly get busier and busier, drinking 10 dollar pints. We then moved on to a few other bars but found ourselves back in Cheers about 8pm to meet a friend in there from a local club to me. By this time people were quite merry and we had a good night.

Couple more days enjoying Boston (if you’ve never been, it’s a great city and worth a visit!) then a 10pm flight home Wednesday, landing at Heathrow at 9am. Very little sleep on flight, couple of hours at home, pick kids up from school and that was a total lost nights sleep!

Friday fortunately I had a day off but it was my sons birthday so an early start then we promised him a sleepover with 4 friends in the night, which didn’t involve much sleep! Saturday I set off for London and finally arrived at my hotel just after 9pm. Got my bits sorted and went straight to bed.

Alarm went off at 6.30, quick breakfast then off to Blackheath. Arrived at the common about 9am and the walk up the hill from the station my quads were struggling and I knew a tough day was to come. There was no clear plan for London, Lewis said go out at 6.45s and you’ll soon know what’s on, much like in Chester. The queues for the toilet at the yellow start were unreal, I joined at 9.20 and made it in just before 9.55, by which point, it was also pouring down. Jumped into the back of my wave, and being wave 1 and not being that bothered about charging off I was quite happy at the back.

First 3m I had plenty of space and just relaxed and let the pace come with a 6.32, 6.29 and 6.30. Aerobically I felt great, much different to Boston, but my body was tired, particularly the quads. I decided therefore not to push on as aggressively as I did in Chester as ultimately I was there to enjoy the day.

Things became a bit more crowded at the 5k merge point but I didn’t let it unduly stress me. At about 7m I passed a female clubmate and had a chat with her. She asked how I was feeling and I recall telling her my quads were already in bits. This continued to worsen, however I was running much more within myself and went through halfway in 85.08 with miles consistently in the low 6.20s. Tower Bridge for me is always a big part of London, I really enjoy that bit, but it also signifies the time to get the head down.

At halfway I felt like I could probably push on to creep under 2.50 albeit I didn’t know what my quads would do, so I let the pace creep up and started running 6.10s and pretty soon found myself cutting through the field. The 20m mark presented some tough work from there onwards as I knew there was nothing significant in suffering as I wasn’t going to get a pb or an sb (actually I might as Boston doesn’t count on RB for those purposes it appears) or even a course best but the prospect of a sub 2.50 was a sufficient carrot and of course when you are just passing through people it feels much easier, despite the sheer pain from my quads and calfs by now. My 5k splits were also largely even to progressive and finished in 2.48.38 for an 83.30 second half.

Good to grab a beer with OO and Lorenzo afterwards and a brief chat with gdawg. I then popped up the road to meet the Team NLC crew for a few more before making my way home. At the pub I bumped into Nicko who was posting on her a while back. He had run a 2.54 for a 3 min pb. The first NLC lad back was 2.21. He started exercising in Covid as was overweight, unfit, smoker, drinker and junk food eater. Basically mid 30s and been running circa 3 years!

I hold some disappointment as my half in February told me I was in solid pb shape and I can’t help thinking if I had only run London I would have done some damage to it. However I can’t regret running Boston, and I am pleased with how I toughed it out for so long in that race.

Time now for taking it easy and a family holiday late May before I start building again.

alehouse

Great double reporting, DT! Enjoy a few easy weeks! 

DT19

Thanks, Alehouse. Paris was enjoyable, Messi however was slightly disappointing.

I was surprised how fast the flight was (50 mins there) and it has whet my appetite for running the paris mara next April. It was on my short list anyway and it looks like possibly one of the biggest marathons that isn't a major.

6m easy tues, 8 wednesday, spin today. Tomorrow is spin then a short run and strides then saturday I am off to parkrun to run it at HMP.

Just been given a welsh castles leg. I was due to run leg 15 but my daughter then had news of a dance show on the sunday so I had to pull out and all saturday legs were full so I said to put me on the bench. Last night I was offered leg 8, which if i'm honest I would never have volunteered for with 950ft of elevation over 10.5m. However I am happy to get a leg in the circumstances.

Hope you enjoy your trip there, Alehouse.

alehouse

I was going to suggest Paris marathon, DT!
Glad your son and yourself had a good trip, Messi apart!

Just packing and off in the morning!

Training continues to be a plod! But at least I am getting out consistently. 

mussessein

I enjoyed the reports DT! Boston was a great performance, but I find it really astounding that you can feel crap a week later and still run a 2:48!!

Funnily enough, I'm also looking into Paris mara as a back up to London. I've really enjoyed running there, and with closed roads I can imagine it would be a really special event. I've been traveling on Eurostar, which I find much more pleasant than flying - but that's also partly because King's cross is just as easy for me to get to as Gatwick, and nicer once you get there.

Enjoy France Alehouse! And good luck on the relay DT.

DT19

Thanks muss. My explanation is that the 2.46 in Boston wasn't a reflection of my fitness on fast course and minus holiday mode. Therefore a 2.48 in London was possibly 6 mins below ability if I'd just targeted London, making it doable. 

I was surprised how big Paris mara was, similar to London. My wife isn't keen on an Easter trip to paris ( I wasn't really suggesting a family trip!) As it falls in Easter hols but likes the Idea of Milan which I either same day as Paris or Easter Sunday. 

Parkrun today, planned at half effort. Went out too hard with a 5.42 first mile, only 4s off pb pace. 5.44 second mile and I was working harder than feasible in mile 2 of a half. 5.48 last mile for 17.50 and 3rd place. Probably closer to 10kp/effort. Though I've not run under 6mm pace for a month so perception of effort may have played a part as it was a system shock. 

mussessein

Still, plenty would struggle to get around a half at recovery effort one week later, or fall apart in the latter stages. Paris is more manageable as a smash and grab trip. For Milan you'd probably want to spend longer there, although the flight is still quite fast. Good parkrun.

Have somehow ended up with three weeks in the high 70 kms, despite only doing one long run in that time. Feeling knackered fitting that around travel, so time for an easier week. Had an enjoyable run in the Cotswolds on a short trip there - but found myself having to turn around to find a way around private land, which made it a longer and hillier run than expected!

For Autumn, I'm looking into the possibility of Florence or Seville - the downside there being if I get a place in London, I'd have to more or less go straight back into training afterwards. If I do a UK one it's a toss up between Dorney and Abingdon. 

DrDan

Great reports DT! Very successful block of racing! That Welsh hill will be easy. 😉

Hope the harsh massage has subsided – some great mileage, despite all that travelling. I’ll decide on my Autumn marathon after Leeds is done but it will be Chester or York.

Alehouse – how’s the Covid recovery coming along?

A bit to catch up on as my message last week vanished when I went back to edit a typo… couldn’t face restarting it! Since my last post, I’ve now done 3 races.

I had a couple of days of bike commuting after my last 23 mile long run and then did the monthly Wed evening 5K race as race #1. Despite very heavy legs, I was hoping for some improvement over March’s 21:54 and duly delivered a 21:23 (71.74%) with a huge sprint finish to nip a clubmate on the line (I could see he was spent). A couple of days of bike/swim and I then used parkrun as a 3 x 1km interval session. Day off Sunday and then race #2, Tadcaster Sprint Tri. Good swim despite (400m PB, 7:41) lower mileage this year, and a good run (3.9 miles comprising 1 mile of hilly road and then petty flat fields) … however the bike leg got screwed up by a technical issue, so prob lost 2 min there. But it was fun and my fitness was very good. A few days of easy/recovery and then it was race #3, an off-road 10K over very wet trails and some boggy fields (it was very xc-like in places). I went hard at it and came away with 47:50 and 5th in age cat. The time is meaningless, but I did beat the clubmate I’d dipped past at the 5K … he’s clocked sub-44 this year, so that gives me and idea of where I’d be on a flat road 10K in good conditions.

So that’s my reduced mileage/ increased intensity "taper" pretty much done - 5 days until the marathon and just going to try not to fall off my bike. Really looking forward to it.

 

DT19

Muss, Abingdon is very well regarded by the sub 3 crowd. Dorney is ok but it's 8 times up and down the lake. If there's a head wind anywhere you will need to deal with it multiple times. 

Re hour straight back into, I dont think that is necessarily the case as all the endurance you've built in block 1 won't have been spent in Seville. You'll be able to start again mid to late January and be well placed. 

How was Leeds, Dr Dan? I'll be at Chester. 

How was Paris, Alehouse?

Tough effort yesterday at the Bristol half which was a late decision as it was an England masters quslifier.

Plan was to go out at 5.55-6.00mm. However Lewis said to obviously identify those chasing the England masters vvestsin my AG and keep an eye on them. That was easy as one identified me and joined me on my warm up and had done his research on everyone else and pointed them out.

They all went off like lunatics however and I had to grossly abandon plan not to be way off them early on. With a 5.39 and 5.40 opening miles I was still 10-15s off them. I really hadn't planned for this and also knew their recent race performances and felt it was going to hurt them more than me though it was already hurting me.  

By end of mile 3, a much more subdued 5.52, I was in 2nd place of those of relevance but with the sun out I was working a lot harder than I wanted to be. Sat in the 5.50s for all the race bar a Hilly Mile 12 and at around mile 10 the other guy who had stayed a constant 15s ahead of me all race appeared to start coming back to me. This gave me a push of energy and I passed him at mile 11 and stayed ahead of him to the finish. 

Came in 78.29. I knew this wasn't going to be a pb day and that wasn't its purpose. I had to put racing over times and that opening 5k left me a little beaten up. 

34th place overall, 2nd in age group, losing out by 5s but first out of those chasing a masters vest in my age group. So job done all in all. 

Bit sore today and I'm now running a leg in the Cotswold hilly 100 next Sunday, which is 10 x 10m legged relay that's hilly through the cotswolds. My leg is actually one of the lightest for elevation with only 40ft per mile average, many others push 80-100ft a mile. 

alehouse

Nice one, DT! 

Dan? 

My French trip was marred by picking up what may well have been food poisoning; one other affected. Probably a chicken baguette which is the only thing that we ate in common. 

Otherwise I have been ticking along at around 35k a week; hopefully more this week as I rebuild. 

mussessein

Alehouse - 3/4 of my colleagues out here in Paris have had stomach virus symptoms, apparently there is some bug going around. Have you had any results yet?

DT - good racing. How did the relay leg go?

Something I've been meaning to do since I've been in Paris is run from the place that I'm staying to Versaille, and with time here running out, a day off and great weather, today was a great opportunity. The shortest route would be about 18km, but I took some slight detours, as there are beautiful forests on the way. It ended up being 24.5km, with 400m of elevation, including some really savage gradients! I somehow managed to walk more or less exactly the same distance around the grounds of the palace there, to make this a big day. Legs feeling surprisingly good considering.

alehouse

Muss: the shortest distance from Paris to Versailles is 16.2k, starting at the Eiffel Tower as La Grande Classique does! 
https://www.parisversailles.com/site/en/
Next edition is in September. I know several people who have raced it over the years; a great event!

Scan results: lower back some arthritis but no other damage; shoulder shows an impingement plus some more arthritis and may need an op. In the short term am having a guided injection on June 4th. 

Running: gradually building back still and expect to be over 40k this week. Pace slow for the HR. But improving. 

mussessein

Have you got any physio exercises to get on with in the mean time?

Yes, I looked into it! Unfortunately I'm not free to do it this year, but perhaps in the future, September would be a nice time to visit, and it's the kind of race that could be good in the lead up to an October marathon.

7km recovery this morning. Hoping to get to parkrun in Bois de Boulogne this weekend!

alehouse

Muss, all French parkruns are currently suspended unless I am mistaken. Check the website! 

Very easy 40 minutes or so this morning. 

DrDan

Apologies for the non-response since the marathon -something of a grim week to deal with (sister's funeral).

The race went pretty much to plan, given the plan was just to get around. It was harder than I expected but not on the scale of the previous 10 where I've gone for a time. Full race report and pics here:

https://www.fetcheveryone.com/blog/23931/2023/05#467558

mussessein

Sorry to hear that Dan. Glad that you had something to look forward to at a really difficult time. Well done on a good build up and race on a tough course. You look much more comfortable than those around you! Now onto Chester!

Alehouse, you're right. Seems stupid to me!

16km yesterday and today take me to 101km for the last 7 days (Sunday-Saturday), somewhat by accident. It's pretty much all been easy running, just with a few hard uphills, so feeling ok! Having been worried increasing from 5 to 6 days of running, I've ended up running 7/8 consecutive days a few times in the last month's, and it's really not much of a step up. 

I leave Paris tomorrow, sad to be leaving in some ways, but looking forward to being at home again. A couple of the parks, and the river banks here are great, but my routes here tend to gravitate to the same 2/3 areas where it's easy to run uninterrupted, as crossing roads/avoiding pedestrians can be a bit of a chore. 

alehouse

Yes, very sorry to hear about your sister, Dan. And well toughed out in the marathon. Enjoyed the report!

Yes, Muss, the French parkrun situation is bureaucracy gone mad! You need a medical certificate for each and every race/organised run although I do hear that the Olympic Committee are getting involved! Watch this space!

Well done on the step up in distance which seems mainly to have come from the increase in days per week; fine as long as the running is relatively easy. 

parkrun here today for the first time since February. Probably would not have done it today but for one of my friends passing away last Saturday: he had run today's parkrun 245 times out of his 400+ so several of us attended as our own little tribute. In October he was running a similar time to mine today, but then his health took a rapid downturn having been diagnosed with cancer related asbestosis.
I have been struggling to get below 6 minutes per km in training yet managed to average about 5:10 today. Not the quickest of courses as it starts on rutted grass and then there are more grassy or rutted sections later. 5:32/5:16/5:12/4:57/4:55 for a progressive run feeling reasonably within myself: final time 25:46. Happy with that, but not the circumstances!

DT19

Sorry to hear about your sister, Dr Dan. 

Well done on the mara, it looked a pretty savage course. 

Alehouse, I that why parkrun is suspended, due to medical certs? 

Sorry to hear about your friend. Hope you are recovered from food poisoning now. 

I popped along for my 49th parkrun Saturday and ran 18.41 progressing from mp to hmp quite comfortably. 

Hilly 100 Sunday and the sun was out for my 11.30 start. Leg 5 is one of the kinder legs in terms of elevation and with quite a bit of downhill first 4m so reached that point averaging just under 5.50mm. Things slowed a bit then with much of the legs hills all in the last 6m. Finished in 59.40 for 9.75m so within my target of sub 60. Looking on strava I'm confident I ran the fastest leg 5 on  the day. I can see I was faster than 1st and 2nd place team runners overall and we were 4th. 

Just ticking over now as fly to Turkey Friday for 10 days of all inclusively. Really feel like I need some down time from running ready to go again. 

alehouse

Yes, French parkruns are suspended as a medical certificate would be required each and every week.

However BigG from other threads (thanks!) wrote

Potentially good news for French races. And parkruns. A few months ago I did read that the French authorities were considering changing the rules in time for the Olympics to help encourage participation.  

https://www.ouest-france.fr/sante/vous-ne-serez-bientot-plus-obliges-de-demander-un-certificat-medical-pour-faire-du-sport-215146ec-ea7b-11ed-8485-35697159b77b?fbclid=IwAR3vUbUK_fqzaZWE6ee3nTAohqvbCaVXwiuu2QNc4UESbJ930ArZehFsxdk

Enjoy Turkey DT!

DrDan

Medical certs for parkrun ... the French eh!!?!

Sorry to hear about your mate Alehouse. Well done on the parkrun time - nice tribute. 

Have a good holiday DT!

21:53 at WHM parkrun... course best for me and fastest parkrun since 2020 (though have run faster 5K races). Followed with 45 very hilly miles on the bike Sunday and a 5 mile run today. Feeling fit!

DrDan

170 miles on the bike in last 2 weeks as I reverse taper the running. Ran WHM parkrun hard again but wasn't feeling the best after a 25 mile hilly cycle Fri night - 22:07 but good enough for 2nd in age cat. The 3 lap WHM is getting harder and harder to "race" with 600+ runners becoming regular. Abandoned Sunday long run after a few miles, so will need to revisit that mid week. 

DrDan

50 miles bike Mon-Wed then a 14.5 mile run today... first long run post marathon. Felt good.

alehouse

Good that you seem back to it Dan!

I'm going the opposite way for a few days at least: procedure on a shoulder yesterday so have to take it easy. Just 2k streak saver today, although on Monday I did have my longest run since February's COVID. 65 minutes.

DT19

How's the shoulder feeling, Alehouse? 

Definitely some good consistency Dr Dan. 3 loop parkruns are definitely hard work as, as people tire they lose all concept of sticking to one side and end up spread across the path, which in the closing stages of a 5k is tough to have to navigate. 

Holiday presented a good break, particularly as I forgot my running shoes so had to use my day to day trainers. Did 3 x 30 min runs and a 40 min run. 

Straight back into it this week though with 10 x 800m session Wednesday and leg 8 of the Welsh castles relay tomorrow. A 16.25 start in forecast 25c and sunny and 950ft of elevation over 10.5m is going to be messy, particularly off a 2 hour drive to get to what is the bottom edge of the Snowdonia park region.

Just hoping there aren't too many holiday cobwebs remaining. Weight isn't too bad now water retention has come off, just 4lb heavier than when I went and 5lb lighter than when I weighed on return. 

Hoping to get on the road quickly do I can be back gor the champs league final. 

alehouse

Trainers are the first thing in my case when going away, DT! 
As yet I have not tested my shoulder, DT. Just taking it easy for now. Will have a better idea early next week.

Enjoy The Castles! Have you done that leg before?

DT19

Normally mine too, first time I've forgotten them. 

No, only done legs 18-20. I was on 15 but had to pull out due to family commitments so was first reserve for a Saturday leg and leg 8 came first. Definitely not a leg I'd have volunteered for! 

DrDan

Nice long run Alehouse- hope the shoulder heals fast.

Back to work DT! 

I turned 57 on Saturday, so perfect parkrun opportunity to take advantage and score a good AG%. However I went over my ankle at 1 mile and DNFed. Limped around for a while but no swelling. 10 miles easy today ... was prepared to stop if the ankle complained but other yhan stiffness it was ok. 10 mile hilly race on Wednesday, so prob just cycling Mon/Tues.