The Middle Ground

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  • A PB after your biggest mileage week tells you hat you are in Great shape!

    20 miles for me - 19 easy and the last at MP. Then 17 easy miles on the bike with wife and youngest.

    Eady week planned... HM next weekend.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    Congrats on the pbs @Dr.Dan and @DT19

    I made it out this morning for my first long run in a while.  12 miles in 1h45m kept it slow and it felt ok, Garmin says it was all zone 3 but I'm never convinced by their zones.
  • Nice long rub JGav.

    My sub 21 was a long way from being a PB... but best since last Nov.
  • WardiWardi ✭✭✭
    Dr Dan.. are you at the VOY half this weekend?  BTW almost snap on the Park Run time - I hadn't broken 21 mins for 15 months and out popped a 20.55 at York last Saturday., still didn't get me 1st V60 mind!  See you at York Marathon if not before, also your good self DT19 - are you looking for circa 3 hours?
  • Hi Wardi! Yes I'll be at VoY - hope we cross paths. What are you aiming for?
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Nice long running jgav and Dr Dan. 

    Hi Wardi, the A goal will be anything under 3. the B goal is anything lower than 3.04.45. Anything beyond that will be disappointment!

    5 miles at 8.27 pace over lunch followed by spin tonight. Hopefully a decent sleep tonight and I'll wake up feeling good to go again. 
  • WardiWardi ✭✭✭
    DT19.. all the best with the sub 3 attempt.  My PB from 10 years ago at age 50 is similar to yours 3:03.43, can't get near that now so anything from 3.30 to 3.45 is likely.

    Dan.. my last two half maras have been circa 1:40 so I would guess similar, sub 1:40 would be a bonus.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    Newbie or oldie @Wardi

    And yes @Dr.Dan I did have a nice long rub  :dizzy:

    Another long run for me this morning, run commute to work, 14 miles in 2 hours.  Why does point to point or run commuting feel so much harder than Sunday morning long loops?
  • I have no idea what to gun for on Sunday ... McMillan predicts 1:37  :(   based on parkrun ...  but I'm hoping that, by clocking 100 miles in my last 5 long runs, my stamina is better than my speed.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    Dr.Dan said:
    I have no idea what to gun for on Sunday ... McMillan predicts 1:37  :(   based on parkrun ...  but I'm hoping that, by clocking 100 miles in my last 5 long runs, my stamina is better than my speed.
    How much wriggle room do you think you have?  Could you start at 1.35 pace and hold on for a 1.37 if it's too hard or push on at half way if you've got more to give? 

    Also, is it an A race? Or build to the mara?  If you're not targeting it, do you really want to shoot for a super fast time and then take out 3-7 days of training recovering?
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭


    Wardi, thanks! At 42 the fact your pb was set at 50 gives me hope that time isn't as against me as I sometimes think.

    Dr Dan, looking on McMillan, my half time from sunday gives a parkrun time a good 30 seconds faster than I am capable of, which is 10 seconds per mile. I think you need to trust the specificity of your training.

    Oddly though, my best wava time is my 5k pb. Id have to run a half another 40 seconds faster to equal my 5k wava.

    I am feeling tired today but need to press on as I want to taper next week and my wife is away Friday to Monday so am having to front load my weeks training to an extent. 10 mile mlr at probably very easy pace over lunchtime.

  • Good to see you on here, Wardi! And you seem to be going particularly well!

    Well done on the parkrun, Dan! I think you are probably right in that stamina is likely to be a current strength.

    Don't be disappointed with any PB, DT, especially after a heavy week's training etc. 

    JGavAD: you both seem to be going well! Any race plans, JGav? And AD, there is no reason why you can't target sub 35 in your 5 miler!

    Not been on here for a while so a long update...

    Not had the best year or so! I was in decent shape last summer, having just about jogged South Manchester parkrun in 21:24 on June 17th. That was my 86th, I think, and the intention was to get to 100 by October half term, plus to run some decent Sale Sizzlers, with aim of being close to 20:30, which would not have been too bad at 63. Disaster in my 87th parkrun when I damaged my Achilles, with 87 being Australian cricketers’ unlucky number!

    Just about got back into running by October but then damaged my neck having a tooth out! Had to see an osteopath. A further 6 weeks or so with no running, but managed to do a little in December but by mid January I was having quite a bit of back pain. Went to the GP on January 31st as I seemed to have yet another chest infection. She sent me straight to hospital as she thought there were pulmonary issues. Had various scans and was told everything heart and chest related was fine. Asked what the scans showed about my back: "I didn't look at the scans on the back as I'm a chest specialist!"
    "Can you have a quick look please?"
     Two minutes later he was telling me that I had a large fracture of my T7 vertebrae. We still don’t know the cause.

    Over the next few months I saw two specialists and had various repeat scans plus bone density tests etc. Lots of physio/hydrotherapy for the back and I was able to return to some gentle running and ran a couple of parkruns in May: on May 12th I did something to a calf and had to walk. Over the next month this developed into a knee problem and got to the stage that I could barely walk for a couple of weeks: ligament damage! At the same time I was still having tests to determine why I had fractured my back; one of the blood tests came back with questionable results and I was referred to the Christie for possible myeloma (blood cancer). After a couple of very long weeks' wait I found out on August 1st that all was ok! Really have never felt so relieved in my life, having been the most anxious ever! And my knee was improving so not having run more than 2k for 2 months I ran at a couple of parkruns with my 100th at Burnage on 18th August. 26:12 or thereabouts so have lost around five minutes in a year...and gained well over a stone in weight. Achilles and calf still need managing unfortunately.

    The good thing out of all this is that I have been given a clean bill of health regarding what's inside my body! Now just need to be sensible about the running and hope that the pounds gradually drop off!

    My target running-wise is to get a little fitter for the new year...when I move to a new age group: 65! Can't believe it!


    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    @DT19 Ok to push on for a little bit but don't dig yourself into a hole.  You're experienced enough to know when you're doing more damage than good.

    Welcome back to running @alehouse sounds like a lot of injuries to get over.  
    I've got the Royal Parks half and St.Neots half as my two upcoming races.  I've actually booked a slot for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month in an attempt to do the race for the first time later in September.  Trying to find a well timed 10k to do a HM pace test but struggling to find one which works.
  • Have done the LFoM a number of times, JGav. Hyde Park is tougher than one might think! Do you get to train in there? May go down for the October or November editions.
    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    alehouse said:
    Have done the LFoM a number of times, JGav. Hyde Park is tougher than one might think! Do you get to train in there? May go down for the October or November editions.
    My extended lunchtime route go from Blackfriars Bridge up to the Serpentine Bridge and back again, 11.5k.  It's deceptively not flat (looks flat ish but isn't).  Also a good recce for the Royal Parks Half which uses many of the same paths.
  • Bloody Hell Alehouse... sounds like you've been through the mill! Glad you're on the road back.

    DT... Good to hear McM does that to your 5K-HM conversion. My best WAVA was actually this very HM last year when I rolled back the years and came with in 18s of my PB.
  • JGav said:
    Dr.Dan said:
    I have no idea what to gun for on Sunday ... McMillan predicts 1:37  :(   based on parkrun ...  but I'm hoping that, by clocking 100 miles in my last 5 long runs, my stamina is better than my speed.
    How much wriggle room do you think you have?  Could you start at 1.35 pace and hold on for a 1.37 if it's too hard or push on at half way if you've got more to give? 

    Also, is it an A race? Or build to the mara?  If you're not targeting it, do you really want to shoot for a super fast time and then take out 3-7 days of training recovering?
    It's not an A race in terms of gunning for a PB (or even a WAVA PB) as I'm not in that kind of shape but it is in our club road race champs and is the only HM I'm doing this year. It's also a key part of telling me where I am 5 weeks out from the marathon and what my MP should be. So I want to get the best time possible. :-)
  • Alehouse - yes, secretly sub35 is my aim, but we'll have to see how I feel on the day. Glad you are back running again!

    DT - if I didn't comment before, then well done for the PB. Plenty more to come when you are tapered for the next one!

    Dan - good luck for Sunday!

    JGav - sounds like you get to run some interesting routes when you are training. My usual routes are starting to bore me, so I need to get on Mapometer and plan some new ones for my winter long runs.

    Well, the cricket season is over for another year! On the down side, this meant a late and boozy Saturday night, so no running on Sunday, but on the plus side it now means I can dedicate myself to training until the end of April!

    Tempo session planned for tonight - increasing the tempo part of the run from 2 miles to 2.5 miles. Will see how that goes. I am also looking at re-introducing a proper long run (in the context of my mileage, clearly not long in the true sense of the word) on Sunday - starting at 6 miles and increasing to 8 miles over the next few weeks.

  • PS - who is going to make the 30,000th comment on the thread and tip us over onto page 1000?! That is a lot of running (and non-running) chat over the years!
  • Morning!
    Funnily enough I was thinking that you should be increasing your long run, AD. I work by time on feet and would hope to see you build up to at least 75 mins.

    Off for my own long run: half an hour on the anti gravitational treadmill at 90% bodyweight.
    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • Thanks Aley - 8 miles at my long run pace comes in at around 72-74 minutes (depending on how I am feeling), so that seems to fit in nicely then. When i am in routine during the winter, I can fit in 4 runs a week, being: Weds night - approx 5/6 miles, including 3/4 at tempo Thurs night - an easy 5 miles Fri night - a further 5 miles including a couple of miles of intervals Sunday - long run, up to 8 miles TOTAl - 20-23 miles
  • Do you have any ambitions beyond 10k, AD

    Decent progressive 30 minute run on the a-g treadmill with 5 miles in total...
    5 mins @ 7:30 mins per mile
    5 mins @ 6:40 mins per mile 
    5 mins @ 6 mins per mile 
    5 mins @ 5:27 mins per mile
    5 mins @ 5 mins per mile
    5 mins @ 6 mins per mile

    Adjusting the bodyweight to 90% must reduce injury risk. Strange warming down at 6 minute miling! Would be good if I could lose the 10% of bodyweight I have put on over the last year or so! 

    JGav: https://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/lfotm5k_course.html
    In case you haven't seen it.

    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • Not for the moment Aley - 10k seems to be a distance that I can do some reasonable training for (I accept that really I would need to be doing double that mileage to properly wring out all I can at 10k) and I just don't have the time or injury resilience it would seem to do more than this. Maybe one day .....
  • AD: a couple of things!
    I've always been a great believer in extra little (usually slow) runs, just 15 or 20 minutes when the opportunity arises. Confidence booster and often loosens the legs. 
    Quite like what you are planning! Is there any chance of once a month/six weeks throwing in a parkrun instead of the Friday session?
    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • Yes, that would certainly fit in with things, and would help to give some variety to the training. I've considered in the past adding in a 5th run to the week, just an extra 3 mile slow run one morning before work, to build the mileage very slightly and will give this some more thought again in a few weeks once my basic mileage is up to 20ish.
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    dum de dum dum
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    deeeerrrrrrrr

    30k posts  :D:D:D:D:D

    edit:  Do I win something?
  • Dr.DanDr.Dan ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    No - first poster on p1000 wins the prize. :p
  • Dr.DanDr.Dan ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
  • Dr.DanDr.Dan ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
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