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The Middle Ground
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Afternoon all. My self-diagnosed chest infection was spot-on, so I'm on the penicillin which hopefully will shift it sooner rather than later. I asked the doc about drinking alcohol with it and I'm quite happy to follow his instructions: "Don't drink so much that you forget to take the tablets!"
Good session Dr Dan, all part of the ebb and flow, rest up and you will be running the same session much quicker next week. .
Great news Phil (that you got some penicillin not that you have a chest infection) hopefully it will kick it out once and for all. As for the advice on drinking, just remember that wheat has excellent hydration properties. Cant be bad….
Just back from a 5.95mile run (see no OCD I could have rounded it up but chose to ignore the voices
) and it felt ok. Not flowing or brilliant, but certainly better than my last two run outs. Suggests the virus/lurgy is on the way out 
.
Aftternoon (well morning here) everyone, back from my final state visit and did zero miles while there! All good though, 4 days off is fine in the long run.
Plenty going on, too much to comment on but I think prf's story should involve his lack of shorts in Budapest and going the wrong way at parkrun.... combined.
I will try and have a thorough readback & comment when I can but I might not get a chance from now until I get back to the UK on Sunday. Until then!
Has Duck suddenly become a world leader while our backs have been turned?
He's doing state visits.......only monarchs and presidents do those!
You are surely thinking of the Duckess of Cornwall....
I agree that a lot of the stuff in the report is information that I could just get off the internet, and that is really just the wrapper around the personal readings that the test produced. Knowing my current LT and LTURN is a baseline not much more. I'm then presented with some scientific recommendations on how to improve that baseline for MOST CASES.
My primary objective is to move the LT and LTURN further to the left, relative to the pace I'm running at, and whilst other training zones, paces and %variations will still get you fit(ter) - the scientists are saying that this way is the most productive to 1. Delay the onset of lactic and 2. manage it when it happens. And as the LT and LTURN points are critical to your performance it makes sense to do what works best to improve them.
Where the personalisation comes in is when I re-test in twelve weeks. How did I react to 'generic' training? And how should I adapt my training to make further gains. I've been asked to take my log back with me to support the next set of results.
Whilst I'll endeavour to stick to the plan, this is only a hobby and something that I do for fun, so I'm not going to die in a ditch if I break the rules once in a while - so I'll still run hard when I feel good, dawdle when I feel shit, go eye balls out when I race and study the stats off my garmin when I'm done! Just adds a different dimension to see something tangible on a scientists graph
along side the improvements on the clock.
PRF - Many a PB been set on damp, windy day - when it clicks, it clicks.
PP - Glad its diagnosed now, 1 step backwards and all that.....
Now on to the race report.
Wednesday night was the 2nd in the Worcestershire mid-week league, and my first race where I was back on the start line with some old running colleagues, in particular one old sparring partner who has a 32:xx 10K PB and a 71:XX HM from back in the early 90's - he doesn't take it seriousley anymore, and has slowed down a fair bit fortunatley! We had a bit of banter before the race 'bloody hell its a ghost' type stuff! I'd seen some of his recent race times and thought if I run well its going to be close - I set him as my target.
120 or so towed the line and headed off on the 2 lap 7.4 mile MT, lots of twisty turns, steep banks and very muddy bridle paths meant it wasn't going to be fast but one for patience. I started out slow with a couple of familiar faces from recent races and sat on the shoulder of my target. We hit the first muddy climb in the first mile and I was glad of the conservative start as it was already apparant that at 6" deep it was going to sap the strength, not too mention dirty the socks! A 7:10 pm pace turned in to an 08:10 first mile! I pushed ahead of my target at the start of mile 2, just to let him know I was there, towards the end of the mile he came flying past me on a down hill stretch and gained around 50yrds, I was unsure of how fit he really was so took this to be 'oh well, maybe I won't beat him then'. After that burst the gap stayed around the same (give or take 10 yds) as we twisted, turned, climbed, dropped, ran on tarmac, ran in mud and ran across potted fileds for the next 4.5 miles and then I felt him coming back - would add that at this point we had both moved up the field by around 20 or so places - and on one tight turn, when I was back to around 25yds, for the first time he looked over his shoulder - I decided to wave, and heard 'bloody hell' come back at me....... I slowly pegged him back at 6.5 miles and sat on him for around 100yds to get a bit of breath and then surged - and basically shit myself for the rest of the race thinking he was going to come back! He didn't and I clocked 59minutes something (forgot to stop watch and haven't had results yet), having one of the toughest and most enjoyable races I've had I think in my running career - basically coming nowhere (probably around 50th) I was covered in mud at the end and absolutley loved it! Proper club running....
Great report Darola. Particularly enjoyed the "potted fileds"! Real club running indeed, and a decent gauge of performance. Is that your 20% faster running for the week? Interesting report that I would like to reflect on a little more before replying!
Hope the alcohol/penicillin combination does the trick, PP!
YD/Phil - Good to see you both on road to recovery.
Darola - Sounds like one of those enjoyable races where you just get stuck in forget times. Nice to have those kind of ones from time to time.
Had planned to run inagural Whitley Bay parkrun this morning but decided yesterday I needed a lie in. So last night was a mile and a bit warm up followed by 10@ MP. 10 miles completed in 67 mins (6.42s) so a bit slow for MP but I was really tired beforehand and it was quite a hilly route so that was ok. Followed up with just shy of 13 this morning.
Anyone been racing today? Spotted a few parkruns on FB.
Where's Curly by the way? Hope all is well?
Always odd when thread originators disappear for a couple of months... (whistles uncomfortably...)
Darola - Nice report. Sounds more like a mid January XC race, and great fun.
Yesterday I eased myself back in to the active life with a good work-out that was light on cardiovascular stress - my first go at indoor climbing. For anyone who knows about that kind of thing I managed to get to grips with climbs up to 5+ grading but it was bloody hard work. Did get a bit of a sweat on, and aching today in forearms, pecs, wings, shoulders and hip flexors - all good though. Great fun. I don't think I'll be bouldering any time soon though. Flippin 'eck.
Feeling a lot better today and the antibiotics appear to be taking effect. The gunk isn't coming off the chest any more but I'm waiting to see if there are signs of it completely clearing before running again, hopefully tomorrow but I won't rush it. Would be nice to get a couple of runs in before attempting a 10k in 7 days' time.
Quiet today. Nice report Darola - glad you loved the race!
I've been quiet on the running front for the last couple of weeks, a couple of cutback weeks due to being constantly knackered. Will try for some speedwork tomorrow, and hopefully pick it up this week, otherwise I fear for Saturday's 5k.
Also got the 4x100m staff relay at sports day tomorrow. Running on a proper track will be good, I'm not sure about the 100m bit though (my requests for a staff 5000m fell on deaf ears!)
Darola - Excellent example of just getting stuck in and thoroughly enjoying the challenge.
Mr V - Some good miles being knocked out over Friday/Saturday but whats this about a lie-in? Lie-ins and Saturdays are mutually exclusive concepts!
Phil - Best leave climbing up walls to Spiderman I reckon.
Hopefully you'll be fully de-gunked by the weekend.......
Chubby - Dont drop the baton!
Been a bit pre-occupied this weekend with a bit of logistical problem solving after unwelcome mechanical shenanigans 250 miles from home.
However, we did still get some running done.
Poole parkrun yesterday and, as expected, it was windy so the attempt on the V45 course record of 17:18 was never going to happen. However, the legs performed well enough to convince me that it had actually been a realistic target.
It was another of those events where looking around at the start there was no expectation of a great finishing position. For starters, amongst the 250 runners were Marigold and Martin Yelling and then there was a host of other fit looking youngsters.
Marigold was nursing a hangover but it would have taken him to actually fall in the lake to be anywhere near our part of the race. He went on to finish 2nd behind his clubmate. At about 1 mile Martin Yelling worked his way through to 5th with his canine companion, being tracked reasonably closely by BR and myself in 6th and 7th. We approached a temporary bridge on the course and suddenly the dog played an absolute blinder as it developed a sudden phobia of bridges and thrust Mr Yelling into the side of the bridge.Whoops.
Without a hint of sympathy we took our chance and surged past to bag 5th and 6th, positions we held to the end.
Po10 informs me that my head to head against Mr Yelling is now 2-0..........so I'm retiring now while the going is good! 
Anyway for the stats, the time was officially 18:01 with splits of something like 5:51, 5:45, 5:42 but, more significantly felt really strong. Marigold reckoned the wind was worth a good 20 secs (for him) compared to a still day so I'll take that as something like a 17:30 effort.
A sunny 15 miler at 8:30/mile then followed this morning around some lovely Somerset villages and countryside.
I wonder where the threads parkrun winner this weekend has got to?
Sounds like you enjoyed that race, Darola. Well done!
Hope you're feeling to top form again soon PP!
Things starting to improve here, but still not 100%. Tiredness comes very quickly after any hard effort and the pace is still down, but the knee has improved allowing me to run properly again, so hopefully whatever is causing my headaches/tiredness will disappear soon. Virus is my guess!
Poole parkrun for me too in 20:24, so not too bad considering it was windy and going by PRF's 30 secs for the wind that would have given me a sub 20.
Sunday a nice 15 miles with BR and PRF then a 6 hour recovery truck trip back home!
Nice racing, Darola. I like that the emphasis was on the race rather than times, and interesting how much more enjoyable it can be that way.
). The personalisation will be much more interesting IMO.
Your lab results could be very useful, but at the moment you've just been given a set of general guidelines - no different from Daniels' or Lydiard's schedules (except that I disagree with them
Glad you're feeling better, Phil. I don't know if I'd race a 10k so soon after a chest infection.
CB, I'm expecting sub-12 for your split.
I've been busy moving house all weekend, but managed to get a couple of short runs in. Not sure how all the takeaways I've eaten over the last few days will affect my race performance tonight, but they were tasty.
Darola - sounded like a great race. I like MT races because you really do forget about pace and just get on with the competing. On the training front, I think knowing your LT and LTURN is great ... I was just confused with the training advice that came from it as it seems to conatin no easy running.
MrV - 10M @ MP is always a good session!
Phil - my kids do a bit of bouldering ... I am useless! Good to hear that the antibiotics are kicking in.
Chubby ... you stamina will come through in the final 10m.
PRF - surely racing with a dog results in an invalid time anyway ... being dragged along is bound to speed you up.
Hilly - good news on the knee recovery .... bad news on the car recovery.
I had a long day out at a very posh school yesterday (Queen Ethelburgha's, between Harrogare and York) - it was the venue of the Harrogate Junior Tri. Pain in the proverbials as registration closed at 10am, whereas my son raced at 14:20!! Not the best way to encourage youngsters to do the sport but seems to be par for the course at most junior tris. I managed to use some of the time to fit in a 12+ mile LSR along the country lanes, which was nice (although pretty windy). Junior enjoyed his race, despite the 4-5 hour wait ... he tried to do an extra 2 lengths in the pool (again) but I shouted so loudly, even he heard me and turned back (the entire audience plus pool marshals all turned and looked at me in unison
) ... then he set off on his cycle stage without his number belt (I rescued it and had to get him to stop to put it on) ... he also had a marshall chasing him up the track to give him a lap band he forgotten to pick up ... however, Captain Chaos eventually managed to get to the finish line. The good news was that he swam, cycled and ran well. Stressful for Dad though.
<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Darola – great running at your mid week race and really enjoyable report. As you say proper club running, love it!
Cracking mileage Mr V
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I have thought this before, but I imagine climbing would be a fantastic core workout Phil. Good news about the gunk reduction.
Enjoy the relay CB, not surprised a staff 5k wasn’t popular with the non runners.
<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">prf, BR and Hilly – sounds like an eventful weekend in Dorset, good effort at the parkrun. prf I have input your time into the BS calculator and have given you a 17:32. Southern wind isn’t worth as much as Northern wind<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Simon – it will interesting to see how MSG improves performance
kidding aside, it reads like a good effort from Junior and well done fitting the 12 miler in.
Dr Dan in pushy dad shocker<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
Seeing as prf outed me as the weekends parkrun winner suppose I had better show my face. It’s not as impressive as it sounds, but I won the Sewerby parkrun (Bridlington) on Sat. I got round in 20:01, probably the fastest I could have run on Sat, so its lucky for me that no one quick turned up.
The run itself was quite eventful, I set off and got into a lead straight away. The run heads out onto the seaside cliff (lovely view of Brid on the way out) and I established a sizable lead here running into a stiff breeze. The first mile ticked by in 5:58 and it felt ok. One the way back into the grounds of Sowerby Hall you run round a cricket pitch and back into the grounds. Unfortunately I didn’t pay enough attention to the briefing and wasn’t sure how to get back in to the grounds after the cricket pitch. I stopped and looked round gesticulating, but fortunately the guy in 2<sup>nd</sup> shouted and pointed me in the right direction. The rest of the run is pretty twisty turny round the grounds of the Hall and through some woods at one point. It’s a very enjoyable run in a lovely setting and Mrs YD and Junior really enjoyed it, especially the zoo and the discount coffee to all parkrunners. Interesting display on Barnes Wallis in the Hall itself as well, not bad for a freebee.
As for my performance, I felt ok running easy, but as soon as I put any effort in, it became very difficult to hold a pace for any length of time with very slow mile 2 and 3 splits. I have developed a bit of a cold and sore throat, nothing that will stop me getting out and running but it means I might just be ticking over without any quality, for this week at least. Similar to Hilly by the sounds of things.
The good news is if I shift the cold I will have loads of opportunity to race myself fit again as I have parkruns planned for the next 3 weekends and a 10k this Sunday. Mrs YD has really bought in the parkrun tourism thing, she is now at the stage where she is suggesting parkruns for me to try now! Just need to get her running one <img src='https://us.v-cdn.net/6027274/uploads/forum/smilies/big_smi
Right! Time for the state monarch to do some reading back
prf - great 10k race, definatly a good end to all the races you've done recently! Tapering is very overrated.
I find it interesting (but not that surprising) you don't do much stretching or cooldowns - although perhaps the former isn't as important for long distance races as you have time to get naturally loosened up in the warmup and the race itself. For the higher intensity races I do I've found stretching to be essential.
How did the free GNR place come about then? They must have looked at you and thought you'd be someone to really focus in on that one race and really dedicate your training towards it.
Good races from BR/Hilly thee same day too.
Ratzer - I think you'll find that mileage is a bit difficult to handle for a while - the FT's will want to work for all they're worth but don't let them! Expect to feel totally out of sorts for a while.
I can see how emphasising one small part of the running action can help, kind of like drills in a way. All useful information! Pylometrics are something I'm planning on doing next year, any recommendations?
Out of interest (and not in any way because I am a competitive bastard) do you know what kind of rep times you're running or any predictions of what you could do in sprints right now?
Darola, interesting analysis of your running, and good to see that MP gets a shoe-in! Agree with SImon that lactic tolerance sessions are very much needed for races where you race above LTP though.
Mr V - good luck with the mile! I'd say really keep an eye on your splits through the first lap as it's far too easy to go off much too fast. I'd aim for about 77-78 for your first lap then reassess from there.
Simon, execllent 800 and I know exactly how you feel re: too fast first lap! Very much like long distance races it's all about learning how you should feel at various points of the race which comes from running them more often. Odd that. But ~2-3s off of your 400 pb.... probably not a smart move
Right, I'm back in the UK now and ready to crack on with training! Starting today with 7M. Base fitness feels as good as ever but i've definitely lost some race sharpness, which isn't a bad place to come into summer from. Going to parkrun at the weekend if I can to see where I am, but the emphasis for the next 2 weeks is getting miles in, longer tempo/progression runs and some parkruns before rebuilding VO2 max & the fun, hard track sessions.
Sorry about the junk in the post above but the edit function has been disabled. Anyway a picture of me at the parkrun on Saturday, can I call that an air shot?
Edit
Its working now!
Good to see you back Duck, I am sure the sharpness will return in no time at all.
Nice Parkrunning PRF and BR. YD a win is a win!
Well done Dr Dan Jr!
Nice to hear that the knee is getting better Hilly.
VO2 max session this morning, 5 x 2:30. Paces were slightly down on the last session 4 weeks ago, but not hugely, so considering I've done nothing fast for nearly 4 weeks (apart from 1 MP run) I'm not too bothered.
Race Report: MHSG Staff Inter-House 4x100.
I got put on the third leg, as our 4th leg runner said he was fast (build more like a sprinter but a 54 min 10k pb!) so I was happy to let him! I was the Green team.
The first leg saw one of my office colleagues put in a massive lead for the Blues, with Yellows in second and Green a tight third (Red team were out of it from the start!). The second leg saw Yellows storm into a commanding lead, but our runner made headway on Blues and by the time the baton got to me, Yellows had the race done and dusted, and I was about ten metres behind the Blue runner. I knew that she did a bit of running, and so was pleased to ease past her about 30m into my run. I ran as fast as I could, but tbh all I could do was open up the gap between us and 3rd. Leighton stormed off for the 4th leg, but Yellows were about 20m from home by the time he got the baton!
So second, and a respectable run. The girls seemed impressed. I've worked out that in a sprint you don't have to be fast to look good, you just have to be faster than those around you!
Exactly why I took up running in the first place - never seems to work for me though
Chubby - Good effort there. Any plans to convert to sprinting?
YD - Good to see a partial recovery from you and a win is always worth having! For info first Chester le Street parkrun is now 14th July I think. Should be a quick one I reckon. Also for info, as I think you said you would do it at some point, I'm tols the Whitley Bay course is quite undulating and twisty, tunry so not the fastest.
Duck - Good to have you back and feeling in good shape.
PRF - Legs look promising for a quick one on the right day.
Sounds like a lot of fun CB, I always enjoyed sprint relays as a kid.
Mr V – I have been posting on the Riverside (Chester le Street) bookface page. They are having a test event this Saturday, all are welcome, but it doesn’t count towards your parkrun total so I will give it a miss until its officially open (see below for reason). I have other parkrun plans on the 14th, I will be Sheffield trying out the Graves Park parkrun with a Sheffield based mate. Speaking of which my mate is a Wednesday fan and he just emailed me the fixtures for the upcoming season, we have you on the 20th Oct at Hillsborough, I have a pass booked in with Mrs YD already and will be going to the match, will you be down? We could make it a parkrun footie double header smackdown!
For those that don’t know I have set myself a challenge of running all the Yorkshire and North East parkruns before the year is out. Its getting tougher because new ones keep on springing up all the time. I have 11 parkruns still to tick off this year, I will be getting 3 ticked off in the next 4 weeks. I just hope no new ones start up this year or I may have to extend my challenge until the new year!
Nice shouting, Dr D. So we can we expect to see you on one of those pushy parent shows soon?
YD, well done on your win. I never listen to instructions either. Keep the easy mileage in while under the weather and I'm sure you'll be fine.
Welcome back, Duck.
Nice sprinting, CB. I expect to see some MD races from you soon
I had cheese and bacon burger and chips for lunch to make sure I'm extra ready for tonight.
YD - Good challenge. Keep me updated on when you are doing the parkruns up here and I'll try and make it as well.
Yeah I think its very likely I'll be going to the Wednesday Leeds game. It was the first fixture I picked out. I'll let you know. It was actually the first game I ever went to back in about 97. I think the mighty David Hirst scored.....
Mr V - Was Hirst still playing in 97? I thought it was Booth, Carbone and Di Canio by that time?
As for North East parkruns I only have the new ones to tick of, I will let you know when I am doing them. Yes I think you are right about Riverside being potentially a fast one. Its 3 laps on paths with a short section on grass at the end. There is a slight undulation to deal with on each lap, I think the course will be similar to Middlesbrough parkrun, ie. York/Hull + 10 seconds.
Good to see you are eating to compete Simon
YD, one should never be sorry about their junk.
Your parkrun challenge sounds good, definatly doable (although I'm sure prf would attempt to do them all before breakfast or something
) and something nice to say you've done. I kind of fancy trying the same up here, then again there's only 7 of them.
Nice sprint cb, enjoy some tight & sore muscles tomorrow. In sprint it's not now fast you go, but how much showboating you do and how many gold chains you wear around your neck.
lol Simon, just call it carb loading (typical runner excuse).
Did my 7M, felt very easy and light as a feather after running just once last week - I doubt I'll feel like that in a month! Pace was 7:49/m but it's downhill on the way back. Still, good to get back on the old routes.
Good luck tonight Simon!
YD well done on the win
and nice photo. Enjoy your challenge.
Duck nice to see you back
What did you mean by this?
Ratzer - I think you'll find that mileage is a bit difficult to handle for a while - the FT's will want to work for all they're worth but don't let them! Expect to feel totally out of sorts for a while.
Very curious as I'm trying something new in training and think an explanation of this might help.