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The Middle Ground
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Been busy of late so not had chance to add my two penneth to proceedings. I'll have a proper read back tomorrow when I'm on the laptop and no doubt have a few more words to add.
Mid week race league 10k for me least night and almost 2 months after my last 10k,on a much tougher undulating course managed to reduce the comeback pb by 65seconds down to 43:45 (on my watch).Talk after was that most were around a minute down on their usual pace do I'll take that for now. Will do a race report also tomorrow.
Well done on the comeback PB Darola sounds like there is plenty more to come.
Ouch PRF - good job you don't live down here or it would have been a very wet walk home! Hope you are okay.
Hilly I am so pleased you are feeling a little better (even if its short lived) because each period of feeling better will hopefully get longer and enable you to get back to what you love properly!
Nice run LS21, awesome schedule
Nothing exciting my end, except that Magpie fixed my bike so yesterdays horrendous cycles (my frame at front was pressing on the tyre and actually wearing the rubber away) was not repeated this morning. Just a short run today as I am meeting friends for a few wines this evening so am going to encorporate my session into parkrun tomorrow which is perfect as I didnt want to run too hard after Tuesdays race anyway.
I think we will do the 10k on 4th in Battersea too so see some of you there
Hilly - good news
BR - your're over-analysing. They ran faster than you. The end.
Running is certainly good therapy LS21 ... good 15 miler.
And another nice long run from YD and PRF. Nice 5M walk too, PRF.
Good race Darola. What's next?
Curly - good news on the bike ... enjoy the vino.
Scales today showed I'm down 8lb in 30 days ... my patented spreadsheet calculator/predictor approach is working nicely
. Cycle commuting for me today and hopefully a gentle 5M run at lunchtime ... gig tonight and a rest day tomorrow and then, finally(!), a proper race on Sunday. We're at a 25th wedding party on Saturday night but I'll be on the shandy
.
Curly, sounds like a good race with plenty of people passed. It does sound like a winter race though
Nice to see both feet off the ground, PRF. And handling the local twats as well as running a fine race. I can imagine so many turns could add a fair bit of distance.
Well done on your race, YP. It does sound rather frustrating in places, but as you say even a bad race is usually a good quality training session.
YD: "I am hopeful that she is improving so I can get out and parkrun at the weekend."
Did you tell her that?
Ratzer, sounds like a tough decision, but I would say that if your longer term plan is distance running, then maybe concentrating on 400/800 is a good intermediary step which will allow you to train both ends.
Great news, Hilly. I find it's after an illness that I am reminded how much I enjoy the simple act of running.
Nice improvement, Darola. A minute up when others were a minute down is not bad at all.
We've started doing speed and agility stuff at the club as part of our warm ups which I'm really happy about. I can tell the end of the track season is approaching at just the right time, because I am getting very excited about all the stuff I can do over the winter.
Good luck with the shandy, Dan and nice weight loss. I was 11 stone exactly this morning. That's the lightest I've been since I was about 16. I still have a touch more to go until ideal race weight, but it's really tough now - I've had to give up all junk and am a bit hungry all the time.
...And it was a good form building session! Also a great session for putting the nippynippers in their place. Don't they have any idea of pacing? I had kids blasting past me on the 350, realising their mistake on the 250 but being competitive anyway, and then having the old men laugh at them on the 150. And then we did it all again. Great fun! Oh, and the form, I've begun to discover that you think you're flagging, but a conscious lift of the knees and hands and suddenly you're in floaty gear and the coach behind you reckons you've accelerated off the bend. It may not feel faster, but it definitely is.
Another step up, Darola. Keep it all coming and the scores will keep coming down(unless you switch to throws and jumps).
LS21, that looks like my first marathon training schedule. Actually, it looks like a FIRST marathon training schedule!
My little dilemma might already be sorted by external influences. Yesterday the pink(
) GFA application form arrived. Next week is probably the last week of sprint training I can attend for a while as I'll be spending the majority of the summer in hotels and you can't follow the program on the dreadmill. There are no meets I can guest at next week, and then I miss all meets until September, season's close. So, after next week I shift focus to 5k for a month - lots of VO2max and an increase in mileage from the 20 odd I'm doing per week at the moment.
Ah yes, I'm trying to get back into this sort of thinking, although the only place to refuel from last night's race was a convenience store in the middle of nowhere, so a sausage roll, bag of crisps and a Twix can be put firmly in the "junk" category I guess...
Darola - Very nice progress. Keep on keeping on, as an old friend would say.
Biggleswade was a little wet and windy when we stepped off the train last night. By the time we stepped on to the track it was a little wetter and a little windier. The next 30-odd minutes were, on the whole, bloody horrible. Thankfully a lot of people had been put off presumably by the conditions (70-odd *likes* on facebook became about 30-odd runners... oh how times have changed!) so the A race standard was reduced from sub-33 pb to sub-34, which meant we could get it over and done with and have time for a pint afterwards.
Club mate Stuart's plan was sub-33 = 79s laps, which I thought was ambitious (mainly for me, and perhaps a tad even for him), especially given conditions, but I thought I'd see how it feels in the early stages anyway. I'd planned on taking splits every km... which evetually went out the window as the head-fog accumulated!
First two laps were easy enough to follow. 79... 2:38... spot-on... a group of 5/6 went along like this for a good few laps; I'd like to say it felt comfortable but doubts were already creeping in. Didn't manage to press the lap button for 1k but clocked 6:33 for 2k, so still bang on target but already thinking I needed to back off, which I did. Me and another guy settled together through 3k/4k but by this time I was feeling almost as shafted as I would do in a 5k... and there were still over 15 laps to go!
Somehow pulled away slightly from the other chap, went through 5k in about 16:40 I think, and I guess I would have been lapped already by the leaders. (The race was won in 30:11 which is obviously bloody quick, but as an indicator of conditions, there was a good handful of sub-30 runners lined up at the start.) So this is where my head started going all over the place, I'd given up trying to work out km splits, I wasn't entirely sure how many laps to knock off the lap board, and it was just a case of slogging away. At some point there may have even been DNF demons jibbering at me, especially when I detected tummy rumbles about 7k. Ugh. Thought better of it, held myself in and carried on. At some point I heard the bell for the first time, but just about had my wits about me to work out that meant I had at least four laps to go, because the lead runner had lapped me three times! Finally the real bell went and I may have managed a small kick to come home in 34:08 (or thereabouts). Shattered.
...So, virtually a minute down on prf's prediction and I had a little think afterwards how that might break down into BS calculations.
I think it's quite simple - ~20s for the conditons, at least 20s I wish I was fitter, what with the past few weeks' training being a bit intermittent due to illness, and another 20s for the mental aspect of keeping going in a 25 lap race (FFS!) when you know you've started off at a pace slightly quicker than you're capable of maintaining and it's a bloody miserable evening. Having said "never again" when I crossed the line, I can't help thinking I've just laid down a marker for the next masochistic outing...
prf, could this be the start of a decathlete? He's got some impressive basic speed.
Unfortunatley there's more and more clubs up here who are shoehorning their athletes into one event they're good at to the detriment of the overall team performance. Fife thankfully is a good exeception but clubs like AAC, Central etc almost have an "right, you do this, you do this, no questions" kind of attitude from what I've seen. Whereas Fife likes it if you do one event you want/are good at then something else to help out whereever. Some people do 3 or more events! It's all fun at the end of the day.
Yes 'only' 2M yesterday and the same today! Given i've got a lot of FT fibres (which need long recovery) the lead-up to sprint races means tapering really does improve your performane by a hell of a lot. I'm hoping for that reason alone pb's are there for the taking.
Great news Hilly! hopefully the start of the comeback.
BR, some kind of twilight-zone 5k?
Well done on the pb Darola!
Curly, I had a story to tell after I saw your blog on that. Last Saturday @ parkrun I saw a guy park his bike on the boulevard & take his seat with him (they tend to get stolen a lot). I came back afterwards to see the bike still there, chained up & missing both wheels. I suppose you just can't win any way up here.
Nice loss Dan. I'm feeling distinctly chunky at 77kg/12st (& a touch under 6ft). Frustratingly I'm far from fat but it's just my physique. I'll take it if it means i can run fast though
Ratzer, sounds like a great session & one for the patient type. It'll be interesting to see how you can improve over long distance now you have a considerable speed reserve.
Nicely done phil. Track racing takes some getting used to! Conditions sounded pretty poor so probably not a race to read much into.
When I was your age I was 11s 7lb (at 6ft 1in) ... at 42, and the peak of my inactivity, I hit 14s 7lb! Was down at 12s 4lb last year, before putting on a stone during my 4 month injury period. Currently at 12s 6lb but would really like to be down below 12 stone by the October marathon ... however, like Simon said, it will get tougher ... I think the next 8lb will be much tougher than the first 8 lb
.
I haven't weighed myself for months. It's not looking too bad on the belly but I suspect I'm the wrong side of 11st and I'd like to get to the other side. There's nothing like lining up with twenty or so 30-32 mins 10k runners to make you feel a little stocky!
No one would steal my wheels Duck - the whole bike cost £22... which is partly why I bought it
She is ancient!
I thought it was a Rayleigh, but actually I think she is a Coventry Eagle or something, the name plate is rather worn...hence the thinking it was something else.
Phil, it sounds like a right old slog, but a really good effort from you. After doing 12 1/2 the other day I really don't ever fancy doing double that for a track 10k.
"20s I wish I was fitter"
That is cheeky even for the BS calculator.
Dan, I beat you. At 6'1" as well I managed 15 stone about 5 years ago which is worth 10 inches of waist.
I've had the most anaerobic week ever. Since last Saturday my training has been:
Sat: Parkrun @ 10k effort
Sun: 3 miles easy
Mon: 1 x800 race + 1 x 5000 race
Tue: A tough lactic tolerance session + circuits and core
Wed: rest
Thu: 1k @ 5kp + basic speed and drills
I think I might just have a day off today. I'm not normally a fan of not running the day before a race, but I just feel that a night of sitting in front of the TV relaxing and having a good hearty meal will be better for me than going out in the rain.
Bleedin' lightweights. 16st 10 in 2002. Stick that in yer cake hole!
You lot all have Whippet builds, at 12 stone and 5ft 10in I have more of a Labrador build. Its coming down though, cant ever see me getting much bellow 11st 7lb though, I don’t have much spare now.
At my fattest I wasn’t quite Phil fat, but I got close to 16st (15st 10lb I think), ask prf he has seen the photos, I don’t think he enjoyed looking at them!
Phil – sounds like a horrid nights work, though well toughed out. Plenty to throw into the BS calculator, but as Simon points out “I wish I was fitter” is pushing it a bit
Simon – your schedule sounds like something LS21 might recommend!
A bit of Friday afternoon nonsense for you all: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328
According to this I should come from Mauritania.
Everyone needs to get the fat photos out. There's one of me somewhere eating a fry up and my face is quite round. I'll try and dig it out. "You have a lower BMI than 97% of males aged 30-44 in your country"YD, Simon - yeah, "20s fitter" perhaps not a BS item as such. More a comment that prf's prediction would have been a good one IMO, if I'd been able to train the way I'd planned over the past month or so. Still feels like I'm playing catch-up.
That World BMI thing is fab! Just goes to show that with the freaky exception of Polynessian Isles' cultural idea of obesity being a good thing, the more money we have, the fatter we get. Looks like life is just too easy for all those Arabs. And it's a shame they don't delineate the 30-44 bracket a bit more. Talk about a classic time period for developing the middle-aged spread.
Knew the BMIs would be back out with that BBC site thing. I'm a Turkmenistani. And I don't have that much money!
My middle-aged spread is peanut butter and nutella, usually on toast. Noshin' that!
BMI 24, "You have a higher BMI than 68% of males aged 15-29 in the world". I would fit in quite well, apparently, in Guatemala. Considering how badly I failed at Spanish in first year I think I'll stay here.
Is it SAL for you tomorrow Simon? I thankfully found out ours is Sunday nor Saturday which could have been embarassing! So I have an extra day to not do much.
Looks like I'll be long jumping Sunday too after there was a call for someone to do jumps. Fun fun fun. It's at midday so plenty of time between that & the 400 at 2:50. I'll have done three long jump competitions in my life and all of them at the same track!
Duck, yes it's SAL being held at Croydon. For once I have a decent break of about three hours between the 800 and a 1500, so I should be able to have a good go in both.
Ratzer, if you are a fan of PB and choc, may I recommend slicing a Mars Bar lengthways and spreading some peanut butter in the middle.
Well I'm Congolese and would have been Samoan 3 years ago - dont fancy either tbh.
Phil - I would say there are loads of positives from that one. If you can run 34 minutes in testing conditions, with over exhuberant starting pace, the inability to count and no experience of the mental torture that 25 laps can deliver........then just think what you will be able to do in perfect conditions, a sensible starting pace and when you're mentally prepared for whats to come.
I have indeed seen the YD photos, but the good news is that my therapy ends soon.
Darola - Another big step back to fitness. Another 12 months and you're going to be posting some pretty tasty times I reckon.
Duck - Yeah, he does seem to be covering all the bases for declathlon. Who'd want to do that though? Imagine all the kit!
Back to the Doncaster 5K races on Wednesday night, it is interesting to see that, despite that the fact that we ran an extra couple of km compared to the schoolboy's race, the number of sub 20 clockings were:
Open Race 65
Vets Race 64
This ageing process doesnt exist in South Yorkshire.
Mind you, it would be nice if they had put me in the results in 16th with 17:56 rather than 17th with 18:00 - their recording of finishers left something to be desired. In fact, lets call it 15th because there is a senior listed just in front of BR who wasnt actually there.
And now for a rant
:
Moving on, this GNR place that I have been given is all well and good but, no, it is not the biggest race of my life and, no, it will not be an emotional journey to last a lifetime and, no, I wouldnt like a training schedule putting together thanks and, no, I wouldnt like a diet plan putting together to ensure that I'm in tip top condition for the day and, no, I wouldnt like to be contacted about advice on running kit and appropriate footwear for the big day and, no, I dont need detailed instructions about how to get to Newcastle and, no, I dont need advice on coping with pre-race nerves and, no, no and no to whatever else it is you're offerring.........in fact, I know you mean well but just leave me alone!
There, thats better!
Evening!
PRF: surely all these people who wish to advise you know what they are talking about. They have your best interests at heart. Of course you must listen to them or you will never improve.
Phil: keeping track of the laps is dead easy! Lap one you think of names beginning with A, lap 2 is B, lap 25 is Y. It works. Was taught this by a long distance swimmer: 26 girls' names, then 26 boys' and then start again. I bet Zatopek used something similar! (I have to use it when doing 10 or 12 reps or lengths of the pool).
Re weight, I am well and truly going the wrong way!
I hope that the commentary at the Olympics is rather better than it is tonight: very slow to spot things, e.g. Jack Green's PB.
PRF -
Phil - good effort there and a very good time too!
Can't compete in this weight league I'm afraid - never really been over 8 stone something although of late I have crept close to 9, but a few week of higher mileage will sort that.
Evening, Mo was looking pretty nifty tonight.... can any body get close when it really matters in a few weeks?????
Seems to be a few of us on 11st, my weight loss has slowed a fair bit of late, tipped the scales @ 11st .08 last week for a new low - Im 5'10. Hoping to hit 10.xx in a few weeks. The wife is however turing in to a feeder over concerns of my loss of cuddliness! Where as I'm just thinking lighter = faster!! Sod cuddly!!
Race report....
Course had an out and back first and last mile with a loop in the middle, set over rolling hills through country lanes, no sharp hills but there were certanly bits that took more out on the way up than they gave back on the way down.
Mile 1: I got close to line at the start, as without chip timming I wasn't about to lose a few seconds queing to get going. Tried to hold back and let the feckless have their glory, and settled in to a nice rythem which I felt very capable of holding - looked at the clock and it was showing 06:45 pace at 0.5 mile, so I had a word with myself and pulled back a bit more 06:55 for the mile, and felt comfortable.
Mile 2: My old sparring partner that I'd recently beaten in the 12k (he of 71minute HM fame) came on to my shoulder and we ran together for the mile moving nicley up the field as those whos ambitions and ability were out of kilter slowed. A couple of gentle climbs were matched with pleasent down hill bits and I was still feeling pretty good. 07:04 for sub 14 @ 2 had me a little worried.
Mile 3: We hit a twist bit which felt like it kept climbing, around half way in I 'felt the burn' as I began to dig deeper to keep it going, at this point my old mate must have been aware that I dropped to 2:2 on the breathing and decided to dig in - enough to pull around 10m's out of me. I was concious I was on the edge so new going with him would be stupid. A tough mile in 07:14. But still grabbed a few more scalps.
Mile 4: It flattened out nicley and after settling I got a second wind, enabling me to push on again - I was getting my first real sense of controlled effort which was a real throw back to old times - not just content on running, but involved with racing. My mate was still pushing ahead and I'd conceded that he'd probably got me in this one. In trying not to let him get too far he sort of pulled me through from a distance and I was able to continue passing folk. Was pleased to tick this one off in 07:04 and I felt really confident I could keep going.
Mile 5: This had two long drags and I had no choice but to throttle back, but still kept working my way through. My mate was gone, a good 50m ahead so I focused on the queue in front and even though I had noticbly slowed due to the terrain I had one section, going up the hill, where I picked off 9 runners!! 07:19 for this one and I was now in to the mental strength zone. Head cocked, add a hint off grunt and off we go in to the last mile (never count the bit over 6miles in a 10k as thats free - like puddings, you can always find room!).
Mile 6: I was in to kitchen sink land now, the hills on the last mile had sapped pretty much most of what I had but I'm starting to get use to this sort of pain now since I introduced the mile reps to my training, they have really shown me how deep I can go. I had a couple of guys for company on the run in and we traded places on a few occasions - right untill I saw the 400m to go sign and due to the long fininsh straight the finish ahead - I was off and was suprised at how I was able to really power to the fininsh, it was like the pain switched off! The mile went by in 07:10 and was chuffed to clock 05:39 pace for the last bit aftger 6, to cross the line in 43:45 - average 07:06 as the Garmin showed it a little under 10k - but I'll put that down to leaning in to the hedges on my Garmin side!
My mate beat me by around 30 seconds in the end so 1 -1.
Chatting with hiim after, Ive had a couple of training runs with him recently, he was of the opinion I was fitter than him, but still had to get confident with my boundaries and re-educate my racing brain. This race has gone a long way to help me with that and I'll have the b**stard next time!
Next stop parkrun on the 21st to have a go at sub 21. I was planning this last week but had a very sore tendon across the top of my foot which made me err on the side of caution. Next 10k is looking like the Stratford-Upon-Avon 10k 9th September, so another 8 weeks and another CPB I hope....
Its getting to the point where you need to do speed work just to keep up on this thread! Blink and your two pages behind.
Hilly - Hope it's all behind you soon and you get back to it without any relapses.
Dr D - some good training of late, at one point I though you might be a thread target, rekon your safe for a bit!
Its no wonder the ribs are getting more prominent.
PRF - some good 5k shenanigans. From parkrunfan to pubfightman!
PP - Your recent virus has to be worth 20 secs on the BS calculator. How are the legs after 50 left hand bends?
LS21 - hello, not spoke before! your mileage gives me confidence that I might actually do more than somebody on this thread! However Ducks recent numbers are equally pleasing!
Ratzer - I'm already been pressured in to B string high jump, so you never know!
Curly - £22! Is it one of those with a massive front wheel and a small back wheel?
Good luck to those racing this weekend. Hope it stays dry, the drunks stop at home, the numpties don't get in your way at half a mile when their wheels come off, the bermuda triangle-esk conditions that make your normal rivals run lots quicker than you don't descend, your wheels don't get nicked, your inbox/mailbox/text alerts don't get filled up with spam, you don't have to walk the last bit and that you hold enough in reserve to out kick the ambitious youths that are excused going off too fast as they don't know better yet!
Think thats covered most scenarios.....
PRF. Don't get nuffink for nuffink!!
Weight thing. 29mill for me
. Wonder how much we'd all add if we didn't run?!
Unbelievable short distance times, (that's 1500m & under). 10 & 5k too. Wish I were there but keep an eye out 2 or 3 months on
)
Spying some decent parkrun results this morning. I stayed in bed!
More pb's on the horizon Simon (800 at least I think), race well.
prf, oh dear! Are you sure you don't want some £95 super-cushioned shoes?
alehouse, that's a pretty good way of keeping track of laps! I'd like to see how many names lap 24 would bring...
Darola, I was just happy he was able to outkick someone from an 80's porn. That moustache....
Nice paced race.
Sounds promising treadmill, you're recovering well I hope?