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The Middle Ground
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Some really interesting thoughts and discussion on marathon training. Slowly starting to get my head round the basic concepts of P & D and appreciating the ‘advanced marathoning’ tag it comes with.
Without seeing your detailed marathon training schedule Mr V and YD, I can certainly appreciate the flexibility aspects you are building into things. Just my opinion here, not one person is the same as another and what works for one may not work so well for someone else. Therefore, building in flexibility into a training programme is surely invaluable – the thing is though, is a training programme tweaked to build on your strengths, or to address any identified weaknesses?! This is where a training log is proving invaluable for me too. When I get round to another marathon I would hope to follow some sort of advanced schedule by then – all dependent on whether I still have the same motivation of course! However, I think building in flexibility in relation to key sessions that have worked for me previously will be invaluable!
One of the best sessions I did in the build up to Brighton looking back was a hard Parkrun followed by 18 miles with miles 13-17 at MP (or what worked out to be MP on the day which was soft compared to my half PB admittedly). This session left me for dead where my form had gone completely in the warm down mile. I am not sure if such a session is recommended by any sort of marathon training schedule but for me it certainly worked with the mental strength more than anything else and would definitely do something similar again! And the following week the 20 barrier was tough not as hard to achieve even at 7:50 pace throughout! I also found the first set of 17-18 milers tougher than the longest runs of my training.
Some great mileage there Mr V - things do seem to be on an upward curve and a great time with your marathon training about to start! What was the specific aim of the sub 40 10k at the end of your sessions previously? Was this at desired MP or was the objective of this more for mental preparation for the last 6 miles?
Minni – interesting to hear your thoughts on how you got to your marathon PB this year. Did you complete fewer warm up races in the lead up to to Brighton compared to previous marathons or keep them at the same number?
Alehouse – reading back, I think you meant Bob rather than me re: next month but good to see the longer running continuing this week!
Enjoy your break in Paris Duck. Hopefully the bad weather doesn’t affect any plans too much. A break may allow the legs to freshen up ready for the next set of PB’s including the mile race! Am taking note of both you and Simon’s comments on VO2 max training what with a mile race coming up at the beginning of June!
YD – indeed so and very proud of her too! She got round at the Marwell 10k in 74 minutes. I set a target time of 1:20 so was pleased to see her smiling coming through with 100 metres left despite the hilly nature of part of the course! She ran the Cardiff Bay 5 the week too and has built up to almost 20 Parkruns now. Sounds like a decent 4 miler yesterday!
Good to see you posting following your trip TOM and great 10k too!
Bob - good action shots and avatar! Definitely need to change my avatar from the lousy one I currently have! However, any action shots ever taken of me really are a sight for sore eyes! I need your speed at the end of races too btw – 5:30 pace is something I can only dream of at the moment even if it’s the last 0.1 km in a Parkrun...
...Tom K – same as you here in that I’d love to give it a go. As stated previously, my club doesn’t do track sessions but in a way it’s nice to be in a club which is friendly rather than more serious about times, etc. It is also appealing to then go out and beat those from other local clubs with similar race times who have access to those facilities! An interval session is just that whether on a track or roadside pavement after all, unless you don’t have a GPS watch handy to measure how far you’ve run? Or are specifically training for a track race? That’s what I like to tell myself anyway!
Was meant to be doing speedwork tonight but may decide to do it tomorrow evening instead…then again if this weekends forecast is anything to go by, it could be good preparation for this weekend’s Netley 10k!
WJH: I have an app on my phone that does interval training and all sorts. I guess that's good enough for what I need it for but it would be really great to get out on the track once in a while. Off on a recovery 5km now. Hopefully can miss the showers that are about. Not in the mood to get caught in the rain!
Sometimes this thread moves really fast!
Interesting marathon discussion, I'm reading with interest though I don't have much to add!
4 gentle miles in the rain and hail tonight.
Just a quick note about track sessions - Scottish Athletics does track sessions for long distance runners around the country, maybe the England Athletics has a similar scheme? Not many people seem to know about the Scottish training sessions (which are free) so the English ones might also have a low profile...
Also reading the marathon discussion with interest, lots to think about.
WJH - completed about the same amount of races, which wasn't many. 1 HM (5 seconds slower than pb but on a harder course), 1 10k ( 2 seconds faster than pb but again on a harder course), and 1 5k (about 15 seconds slower than pb). I had another HM planned but it was snowed off and another I was doing at MP I pulled out at mile 10 a because I felt unwell (running with a virus).
The thing that made the difference this year was simply confidence, I think.
TomK - Ah yes, that wonderful March that was more like a Siberian January - now followed by this wonderful May that is more like an English March. FFS.
Still been playing cricket every week BTW (well, lousy weather permitting anyway!) - just it has been 2nd XI stuff since mid-season 2011, so less intense and I've not been as committed. I didn't cope with the step up to Div A (tier two in the County) after promotion at my last club that well. Was coming up against pros with First Class experience, one bloke who'd made a ton against England A for a Kiwi rep side, and the guy who got my wicket that led to me being dropped had taken the winning wicket in the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match the week before! Sounds like it's going to wazz down this Saturday anyway, so will probably be back in the 2s next week without hitting a ball in anger.
Duck - Swift again...not far off your race pace there!
Interesting point, Si - hadn't thought of it that way.
Alehouse - Small world! Lovely spot up there - so atmospheric. Some great pictures on Google images that folk have captured of it too.
WJH - Thanks. Yes, good to now have a running avatar rather than the ample cricketer I had previously! And I'll swap you my finishing pace for your pace throughout the rest of a race........deal?
Good luck with the weekend's 10k at Netley.
Shin still holding up well, and tonight might be my one window before next Wednesday for a quicker training session, so considering some interval work back on the grass of the local playing field that I'm starting to get rather familiar with...and not a little bored of. Still - it's worth it for a while if it keeps me on my feet.
Anyone done the Humber Bridge 10k before?
WJH – I agree with you with regards to the flexibility. For me once I’ve worked out what the plan is going to be then I’ll just use it as a rough guide. I just want to know at roughly what stage I should be doing what sessions. Basically it’s just so I have a bigger picture and know I’m working on the right area at the right time. Of course if YD recovers and does opt for the mara campaign then I’d follow the plan more closely so we are doing the same thing and can compare. As it will be my first marathon I don’t know what my strengths and weaknesses are in relation to the distance so that isn’t something I have to worry about yet!
With regards the fast finishing long runs, I think I was coming to the end of base training and was prepping for a half marathon (which unfortunately was cancelled in the snow so I never got to race when I was at my fittest.) I was just practising running fast on tired legs for the last 3 miles. The aim was MP although in reality a sub 40 10k is a bit quicker than that for me.
Minni – Just goes to show there is no substitute for experience in the marathon! The P&D schedule has most long runs starting easy and finishing quite quickly (I think starting MP plus 20% and finishing at Plus 10%) so I will be copying you on that front. Do you do your MP miles in training at actual mara race pace then? I normally do MP runs in training at around 6.35 pace but would be aiming for 10-15 secs a mile slower on race day. I suppose as you are experienced at maras and a good convertor the paces probably match up anyway?
It's soggy out there! Currently work avoiding.
7 soggy miles this morning with 12x200m (200m recovery). Again, no looking at paces, but the 200s felt more relaxed and easier than the last couple of times I've done this session.
Music teacher from school is racing Christleton too - I've been practising by looking at the back of his head!
Mr V - I tend to do shorter MP miles, ie blocks of 5 - 8 miles at my training MP, which is also my PMP. However, on longer runs, ie blocks of 4 miles within a 20 or the last 10 miles of a 20m run etc, I tend to run a bit quicker. I know this sounds odd but I just always feel much more comfortable when I'm doing 20 milers!
So my MP this time round was 7:26 and most of my shorter MP was around 7:24, however my longer run MP miles were usually about 7:17. I went out a did 10 @ MP just before the marathon at something like 7:04 and it felt comfortable!
Really I could probably have gone out quicker during my last marathon but I really wanted to nail a good marathon in terms of execution as well as finish time.
So to answer your question, personally I think if you can get MP to feel comfortable at a given pace then drop the pace slightly for the marathon you'll run a pretty even pace.
Guess you'll have nothing to worry about then Bob.
After an easy day yesterday, tried my legs out on a bit of interval training. I'm guessing everyone here has their own way of tracking their workout, probably through a Garmin or whatever, but Endomondo Pro (costs £1.50) is an absolutely awesome app, add doesnt seem to lack anything compared to far more expensive pieces of kit!
Set it up so I could do 5x500m at a high(ish) intensity. One of my aims (apart from the HM) is to run a 5km close to 20mins. I find it harder over short distances, so this is probably quite a way away, but I'm hoping with an interval session a week, increasing the intensity steadily, I should get somewhere near that.
I didn't have my 500m splits after each one so wasn't entirely sure how quick they were. But I ended up with sub 2min for all five of them which was good. I was pretty tired after each one though, especially towards the end, I've never ran at 6:07/km pace before in my life!
Nice one, Tom. That's some good pace you've worked up there. Long recoveries of course, but that's no bad thing at this stage.
I'm also working towards a sub-20 5k, which I hope to crack at some point this summer, possibly late July, and have had my own interval session tonight which has seen a bit more progress from the last time I tackled it. A bit less wind to disrupt the reps than last time, though done on an undulating grass field rather than swift, flat tarmac so the two probably balance off.
4 x 1k reps with 2 minute jogged recoveries between. Aim was around 4:07 for the first 3 reps, and then just whatever I could manage whilst staying in control for the last. Came out at 4:05, 4:05, 4:06 and 4:04 and kept the recoveries at 2 minutes as planned, and kept running/jogging throughout. The wheels came off a bit the last time I did this in the third rep, thanks to some over pacing of the recoveries and a massive headwind. Had to take a short walk recovery and over two and a half minutes in total before the final rep that evening. For comparison, that was 3 weeks ago and 4:07, 4:08, 4:16, and 4:07. 19 second improvement overall, and whilst I harboured hopes of getting that final rep under 4:00 for the first time, felt it better to stay in control than push too hard.
More interesting thoughts on the marathon discussion above - some of it's beginning to make sense to me!
Another nice sesh from CB - good luck with the race - on Friday was it?
WJH, that sounds like a seriously tough session and I can certainly see how it would build confidence. I think occasionally it is good to really push yourself hard in training. For example, I'll probably do 2-3 sessions in June that I call "vomit inducers". I found last year that they really helped push me to my peak.
CB, what's the plan regarding pace on runs? Are you going to run by feel as standard now or is it a temporary thing?
Glad you enjoyed your interval session, Tom K. Decent pace there. But is your 5k PB of 21:24 recent? If so then I think you are running those a little too fast. I've calculated your 8- and 15-minute paces as being:
6:47/mile OR 4:06/km
AND
6:37/mile OR 4:01/km
As a guide, ideally you'd use the slower pace for longer intervals (1000 - 1200) and the faster pace for shorter intervals (400-800). If you do this, then you'll find you can cut the recovery quite a bit. I try to make recovery 50-75% of the rep time for longer intervals, and 30-50% for shorter intervals.
The idea behind shorter recoveries is that you don't give yourself a chance to recover fully, therefore you work up to the key intensity a lot quicker during the next rep and spend more of you time gaining benefits from the session.
As for increasing the intensity - don't unless a recent race suggests you should. If you feel the need to make the session harder (and it's very rare that people running the correct pace and with the correct recoveries don't find them hard enough), then increase the number of reps or reduce the recovery time. You will receive no extra aerobic benefits from running them any harder than you need to.
Nice session from you too, Bob. Do you do any shorter interval sessions at slightly faster pace?
Speaking of intervals, I broke my New Season's Resolution of never giving up on a tough session by giving up on a tough session last night. I couldn't get to the track so tried to do 6 x 1k off 1 minute on the road, but after the fourth I was shot and fed up with the poxy weather so called it a night
Thanks for the good wishes all - and keep the "luckiest b*****d" style comments coming, Duck!
Good training there, TomK. At this point I'd look at that progression as a huge morale booster, and ideally zero in on it being a bit more consistent, even if the average is slower, with a shorter recovery. But for working out where you are and what you can do, that looks great. Same for you, BBB. I hope you have a training log (probably should know that) and that you keep a record of those splits - I think there will come a point, even if it's a year or so away, where you look back and go cor, look at that, I'm well over 30 seconds quicker than I used to be over a k rep.
Sorry to have missed you on Sunday, Simon. Didn't see anyone during the race, really, other than the 3 clubmates running the opposite way to us to give a cheer. Those dogs! They were certainly running alongside, though not in front, at least not of me, albeit looking like they were going to. Credit to the - obviously taken by surprise - owner, she didn't say a word against us, just concentrated on getting the dogs under control. Not particularly well, but I think that's fair enough - I can accept these things don't work perfectly, so long as no one looks to deflect blame etc.
Trained with my local (for now) club last night, 15x200m up a shallow hill. Very tough, hanging off the back, then did a slow exploratory 12m today. Tomorrow's another training session - this club offer 'training' twice a week, and I'm determined to keep at it till I head to Ireland at the end of the month. I've run with two clubs for short periods, not stuck at the training and then watched my pace-peers head on to faster things, so I'd like to keep pace if I can this time!
Thanks TOM, where it was the first one I did, I wasnt entirely sure how I would fare which explains the lack of consistency. Usually, I am pretty good at maintaining a standard pace, but the increase and decrease made it a bit harder for me to judge. I can tweak the settings so I get my split times in my ear so I can be sure I'm maintaining a good pace.
Thanks also for the advice Simon. To be completely honest, I had intended on running each 500m in 2mins, and was surprised to find at the end that I'd gone slightly quicker than that. When I say more intense, I meant keep the pace the same, but reduce the recovery time. Probably should have made myself clearer.
Bob: Glad to hear I'll have someone else to try to get to the 20min 5km with then. Although I found today difficult, I'll be honest that I knew I had a bit too much recovery time because I found almost fully recovered, waiting for the beep to up the intensity again. But I also found that I tired very quickly at the pace that I was running at.
I guess its all about finding a session that works for me and that will come with time. Your session looks much better than mine, and probably slightly more enjoyable (if enjoyable is the word to describe interval training?).
Next week, I'll tweak mine in that I'll decrease the pace of my high intensity intervals, try to maintain a more consistent pace on the low intensity part, and decrease recovery time; in other words, mimic your workout from today!
Edit: Quick question.. Roughly what proportion of runners on this thread are members of a club? Just wondering.
All the marathon talk is making me wonder whether I should be leaving it until Autumn next year for tackling another! Time will tell whether I will be crazy enough to enter another sooner!
Fair one Mr V! Forgot it will be your first marathon so fair points indeed. If you do both end up following a plan together, then it certainly will be interesting to see what you both favour/would like to drop/alter in terms of the planned sessions!
Good interval session Tom K. I am a user of Endomondo as well but not the app (I wouldn't be able to use it on my pre historic phone anyway!
). Looks like Simon has given some good advice on the session!
Same with you as well Bob. Yep I lack that top end speed (I know this from having done speed sessions at my club where I am dropped for dead if it's down to one sprint by club members who arn't as fast over distance!). Good progress on the other week too!
One word sticks out for me Minni with your marathon prep - confidence! It also shows how the years of training and not just the three/four months of marathon specific training are important too in building towards a time you really want to achieve!
Indeed when is your race CB? Good to see you back into things now!
Simon - very much agree and remember Curly noting previously it's a lot of quality to cram into one session! Last time I did this was just after Christmas when back in Wales! Splits back at the end of December (allbeit in conditions with a headwind and wind on your back) were as follows;
6:01, 6:32, 6:11, 6:19, 6:15, 6:34, 6:12, 6:26 (m/m)
Messed up on starting the lap time on the Garmin on tonight's session (fool!
) but am confident they were 6:00 m/m/just under. Conditions were pretty calm for once! The first 3 reps following my stupid error are simply estimates!
(6:00, 6:00, 5:58), 6:09, 5:58, 6:00, 5:56, 5:56 (m/m)
Overall a fairly pleasing session which seemed to fit fairly nicely into the suggested pace zones following the 5 mile race the other weekend. Interesting how you point out the rep recovery period too in that I chose (as with previously) to take 90 second recoveries (felt ready to go of sorts after a minute this time round)...the session over Christmas felt quite a bit tougher by comparison....certainly not vomit inducing or reducing the legs to jelly tonight which was particularly the case with the latter the last time I did this session. MHR was not reached either although not sure how much to read into that since this is only my second ever reading of this (187 BPM which was down on 190 BPM recorded in a 4x1 mile rep session). I also felt that the first 400 metres were at the 'comfortable' end of hard at least for this sort of session with the second 400 for each being tougher to what i'd expect....although in saying that, I wasn't lying down in exhaustion which is often the case at the end of quality speed sessions! So shorter recoveries may be needed perhaps the next time or the time after!
Re: your session last night...exactly the reason for putting things off until this evening! I couldn't even face getting out the door for running in 'that' and opted for the comforts of the treadmill at the gym instead!
Good sessions Tom, TOM, Bob and WJH. Sorry about the binned session Simon, I agree sometimes it's not worth pushing.
Race is tomorrow. I think I'm aiming for sub 7min miling, but will revise after the first mile!
Simon - my plan is to get a result tomorrow night then get some paces to train off. If I'm struggling to hit them and it's causing stress then I'll go back to running by feel!
WJH – Looks a strong session there.
Chubby –What distance is your race?
Simon – Nothing wrong with that. When the body doesn’t want to play ball it’s best to listen to it.
I had a 2 mile relay race last night. A somewhat undulating course but pretty good conditions. I ran 11.01 last year so wanted sub 11. However my plan seemed scuppered when I got the last leg rather than the first as it meant I would be running pretty much on my own. Ended up with a rather pedestrian 11.17. I felt very one paced and although it all felt rather easy intensity wise the legs simply wouldn’t go any faster. Still it’s the first time in while I’ve done back to back 5:xx miles so I suspect it will have done me some good.
Mr V - just a 5k!
sounds like some good sessions going on there guys. I am going to try my first track session tonight. Not quite got an exact plan, will read through some earlier advice and put something together along lines of 2 miles at hm pace-1 mille recovery-2 miles hm pace. Legs are a bit heavy though as had club night intervals tuesday, then did a slow run yesterday with 20 mins hill repeats in middle. Ideally i would do a recovery run or rest tonight, however i am away first thing in the morning for a long weekend so not running again until Tuesday so will recover and adapt over 4 days of rest.
Simon - Hard lines on the binned session. Just to play devil's advocate, would there not be an argument for reducing the intensity a little to complete the session - reduce the pace of the reps, or increase the recovery? Guess you know yourself when it's time to ditch it completely though.
Interesting thoughts on intervals there, and reinforces some of what I've read elsewhere and what I'm trying to achieve with last night's session. I'm basing it in fact on some advice I had from Alehouse a while back where he quoted a research project he was involved in during the 70s for the best sessions for 3 to 6 mile racing. This is getting close now to one of the two sessions he detailed, the other was some shorter distance work, and your question actually preempts one I was going to ask today. This is something that I'm not yet doing, but do now want to begin to introduce into my training - guess this would broadly be termed VO2 max training?
Anyway, these are the two sessions I'm considering based on time rather than distance - the second is obviously considerably more intense - perhaps too intense?
I will probably try both of the above but think I have a preference for interval training by distance rather than time, so would be interested to get some other suggestions based on my 20:57 5k PB. Was thinking perhaps 6 x 400m in 90 seconds initially, and building up to 8 reps? What sort of interval should I be looking at for that sort of session? Equal distance jogged recovery? Any alternative suggestions also welcome - thanks, all.
I'm blathering on as usual, so will continue in a separate post shortly!
Bob - I’d say 6X400 is a bit light for VO2 max work. I’d be more inclined to double the reps and run them at around 3k pace. Maybe start at 8 or 10 if that seems a bit daunting. Start with 90 sec recoveries and progress to 60 second recoveries. So your first session might be 8x400 with 90 secs recoveries. Then building up to a final session pre target race of 12x400 with 60 secs recovery.
Well done at the relay, Mr V. If you were feeling one-paced perhaps some speedy stuff is in order.
Bob, I've completed that session before, it was just a bad day and I sort of knew I was wimping out at the time. If it was a consistent problem I would go about reducing the intensity though.
Your session the other day is what I'd call VO2 max. It's generally agreed that vVO2 max the the pace you can maintain for about 8 minutes, and that training at this pace and paces down to 15-minute pace are what bring about the biggest improvements in VO2 max. Of course, training a touch slower will also provide some stimulus, but the important thing to bear in mind is that training at a faster pace will not bring any extra aerobic benefits - in fact it will bring fewer, since you will not be able to complete as many reps, or will have to take longer recoveries, thereby spending less overall time at the correct intensity. It will also take you longer to recover from the session and impact other training.
That's not to say you shouldn't ever run at faster than 8-minute pace, since there are other types of non-aerobic benefits to be had, but for your stage of development I would recommend against such sessions for the time being. You're still getting massive aerobic gains as is evident in your constant stream of PBs.
Based on your 5k time, I calculated the following 15- and 8- minute paces for you:
6:29/mile | 4:02/km
6:11/mile | 3:51/km
So when I was talking about faster interval sessions for you, I was thinking of something like 6 x 800 in 3:05 with 90" recovery. I.e. 8-minute pace
The two sessions you listed are what I'd call speed endurance. As I mentioned above I wouldn't tackle them yet if I were you, but to answer your question about recoveries for the second, 90sec/lap would be roughly 1500 pace for you, and I've found in the past that 10 x 400 with 1' recovery is a good 1500 predictor. A tough session though.
Simon, Mr V - That's great - thanks. Plenty of food for thought there. I now get the difference between VO2 and vVO2 max as well, Simon. Hadn't quite grasped that before. What you're saying makes sense too regarding the focus on the 8-15 minute paces - think I'll stick with those for now then whilst the PB's continue to tumble. No point risking a major setback, or compromising the other training that's working so well, by pushing too hard at this stage. That 6 x 800 off 90" sounds like a toughie mind - good, I like tough - might have a go at that next week to mix things up a bit.
TOM - Yes, I'm a devourer of stats, so that is something I can do with last night's session. In fact, the first 1k interval session I ever did at the end of February in the lead up to my first 10k race, was only 2 repeats, and they came out at about 4:33/4:34 apiece - so I've nearly cleared the 30 seconds improvement you mention in two and a half months! Having said that, I was suffering from a big session on the beers a couple of days earlier at the time, and the following week I managed 3 x 1k at an average of about 4:20, so that's probably a fairer reflection of where I was at the time, though still obviously with one repeat less than last night. I've also got logs of improvements in stuff like my RB Handicap, and the resulting ranking leaps (Overall, Men, and Men V40) over the last few months. I find that sort of thing very motivating, though I won't bore you all with the details of those!
Sounds like some tough training for you with the club there. I'm still dithering about getting myself hooked up with a club (which feeds into TomK's question), as whilst I've no doubt that there would be lots of benefits and it seems that I'd get weekly access to a running track for about £30/year in total (!), I'm just a little wary of turning myself over to the risks and vagaries of 'group' training whilst still getting rapid gains from being in control of putting my schedule together myself.
TomK - Yes, not sure I'd ever call interval training enjoyable! Enjoyed the feeling of completing it afterwards of course, but not much enjoyment during the second half of a session like that! Or in the warm down for that matter. I always enjoy the warm down jog after a tempo session, but find it utterly hateful after intervals!
WJH - Some good paces from you there as well, despite the Garmin garble! That faster leg turnover will come I'm sure if you can get a few more sessions in like that. A new avatar for you as well I see - definitely an improvement on its random 'stand in front of a big ship' predecessor!
Well done with your relay, Mr V - can understand your impatience for PB shape to return, but given the problems you've had, just 16 seconds down on last year sounds like excellent progress to me!
Good luck at the track, DT - and enjoy your weekend away - where are you off to?
thanks, still pondering on the exact make up of my session and dont want to attack to the extent i dont go back, given i am doing it without the push of others!! Off to Poole, its my sister in laws 30th so an in laws family gathering
On the club point, i think i pay about £48. That gives me access to 3 training sessions a week (and i can choose to go with the track guys, the faster road guys or the more leisurely rd guys), plus free use of the track any other time (otherwise £6 a pop) plus i probably make my £48 back in the discount i get in race entries, and it opens up races that non club runners would not know about, in particular the x country season. There are guys that are members of my club that never train with the club and are left alone and just do it for the above benefits.
Ouch. Commiserations, DT! Mine aren't a bad bunch to be fair, though I did have to cut short a long weekend up in Scotland some years ago (before they moved back south) when it all got a bit too much!
Regarding the clubs - I think it's £17/year membership for the club I'd probably join, and the members get free use of the track facility at another (slightly further afield) local club on a Tuesday night - though they 'invite' you to join that club as a second claim for a further £12. Sounds like they have 2 or 3 other training sessions per week as well, their own Grand Prix series during the summer (which I plan to do either way), a local summer league and winter x-country series you need to be a member of a club to race, as well as a number of club only handicaps and so on. As you say, I'd also be saving myself the £2 unaffiliated surcharge on all the other races I enter too, so it ought to be a no brainer, and I guess I could follow the example of those guys at your club - I just feel that I'd want to make some sort of commitment to being a bit more involved once I do actually take the plunge.
Sounds like a no brainer to me as well. You normally have to also pay a uk athletics levy of about £10. I did a 10k recently and the saving £5 for being a club member so that alone was more than 10% back. I would join, its good to feel part of a 'team', which is why i particularly like the x country season. Also you meet many other like minded people to offer advise and running partners for that long run and it can also inspire you to other things. I never thought i would run beyond 10k before i joined up and a half sounded like madness. Now my preffered race is a hm.
Mine arent too bad and its made easier that my best mate is engaged to my sis in law so at worst we can hide away in a corner together!
Yeah, you're probably right - and being part of a team is something that I've taken a huge amount from over the years with my cricket. It's probably at least as big a part as the actual cricket itself.
Reckon I ought to stop fannying around and get an e-mail fired off, whilst just being upfront about the fact that I'm unsure quite how much I'll commit to club training as I get more of a feel for things.
And yes - having your best mate there ought to help you ease your way through this weekend!
Thanks for the feedback on the club situation everyone. I would like to, but like Bob, I don't know if I'd be willing to commit on a regular basis. Being told what to do and when to do it in terms of workouts might not be my cup of tea. Also, where I'm splitting my time between London and Loughborough, I don't know how worthwhile it would be. When I'm permanently living in Leeds from next month, I will probably give it a go then.
Tempo 5km for me today. Struggled to find any sort of rhythm and found it hard going to sustain a 7:15/mile pace at first. Got a bit easier as it went on though and ended up sustaining the pace for the full run. I've ran 18 miles and walked 14 miles in four days, which is a serious amount for me, which maybe explains why I felt a bit leggy today. Plan is to ease down over next two days, and then do a long run on Sunday