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Sub 3h15
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Good luck tomorrow DT, hope it all goes to plan.
Gerard - Hope you get out at the weekend. The Tri sounds good! I enjoy watching them and I think I will finally take the plunge and do one next year.
8 easy mile last night and just done 4 followed by 4 x 30s strides. That's me done now until Sunday. Aim is to go out at around 6.20 pace and see what happens
Stevie - Thanks man. I sure will. Good luck for Sunday. Although I don't think you'll need it. Save some for the last 5k, that's always the part for me when it's either make or break in a half. I hope you get a great time.
DT - As above, can't wait to see how you go. Give it your all.
Birch - I think you must give the marathon another go. I recall fondly how you would consistently bang out those LSR's just like shelling peas,
Jools - What's the tergat for Valencia? A friend of mine who just turned V45 this year ran 2:54 in Berlin. She won her age CAT in VLM this year too with a 2:59 in the furnace that was this year's race. She cannot break 19 for 5k and usually scrapes sub 40 for a 10k. She's a high mileage runner like Badbark and said that's what made her go from a 3:1x runner to a 2:5x runner. My weekly average of 30 mpw doesn't quite cut the mustard. Lol.
Stevie - good luck for tomorrow.
22 miles @ 7:44/m this morning. Lovely to finish in daylight for a change!
Hope all goes well in MK today DT and enjoy your 250th parkrun OO.
GM: genuinely undecided on target and I'll take a late decision. My heart wants sub 3 but I suspect that at the moment 3.05 or 3.10 is more realistic. But a lot may change in the next 9 weeks!
Enjoying watching the golf today, very jealous of G-Dawg being there!
OO – Well done on the 250 Parkruns! Great costume
I ran 13 today including a steady Parkrun and 10k race. I ran a PB (36:44) in same 10k last year, so the challenge this year was to keep a lid on it, with a more important HM tomorrow. Thankfully, a friend who is attempting a sub 3 in Dublin next month was in the race. We got talking early on and he was practising MP, so we went around together at 6:50 pace and I finished in 42:32. It was fun chatting the whole way while others puffed and panted beside us.
Good luck to all the racers tomorrow!
Good luck tomorrow Badbark and Stevie.
mk half today with 1pm start. it wasn't summer hot but with blue skies it was warmer than I wanted.
The race was centred at the 'National Bowl'. I had been driving in looking for some arena so was slightly disappointed to discover it was a glorified field.
Plan was mp. There was also a 10k happening at same time with half being 2 laps and some extra. it was a very twisty course all on the Redway paths. There was plenty of company in first half and I was in a nice little group. Similar to Babarks experience the guys around me were working hard and I was whistling. Anyway, we passed the start/finish zone literally everyone one I could see peeled off for 10k finish. I then didn't see another runner for 7 miles! At the end there was an out and back to some cones to make the distance and a runner was coming back but was about 300m ahead of me. As I came back down no one was in sight behind. Anyway finished without incident in 1.28.10 and 6.48mm. my garmin measured 12.98 however my watch lost GPS signal at 11 miles. Others on my Strava flybys seem to have it at 13.1. No idea what position I came but it must have been top 10.
HR was 163 so slightly higher than I'd like but it was pushing 20c at start so that should account for that.
Now time to taper properly.
Badbark - good prep. All the best for today.
DT - looking very strong. Sounds like you were shelling peas.
Stevie - good luck today. Not sure what it's like where you are racing today, but looks like it's going to be perfect here.
5 mile recovery run this morning - might have been a mile or two longer, but a call of nature cut it short! A total of 318 for September, making 2,237 so far for the year.
Good running by you lot. Gul - yes to Manchester mara, see you there. 00 - a mighty landmark. Nice work DT.
Whoops being called to do something - have a good week all.
Nicely controlled efforts, Badbark, DT . .
Gul - another excellent 22 - and GER well placed in your schedule - leaves time for another couple of long ones before tapering . .
Gerard - rest on Fri meant gait passable for 8 with my chums early yesterday, followed by supporting my friend's school at the Primary Schools XC league - I'd forgotten the crazy madness of these events at that age !
but its great to see youngsters just getting out and enjoying sport of any kind (as yours do, Gerard) - my "lad" is doing ok, thanks - he bagged a 10K PB of 33:22 at Trafford 10K the other week
hope Stevie (and any others competing) have good results today
A solid morning's training for me: 16M including 4 x 4km off 4 minutes at around marathon pace effort: 17.38, 17.13, 17.08 and 17.15 was better than I expected, as 4.15/km (so 17 mins for 4kms) is sub 3 pace. Be interesting to see what the next 9 weeks bring!
I was looking forward to this as it would show how much I'd improved since May and with the online coaching. I'd estimated that HMP was around 6.20 at a push so I thought I'd start around that pace and see how I felt.
Did my warm up and a few short strides and lined up at the start, there was a funnel for sub 1.30 and I was quite surprised to be 5 yards from the start with the sub 1.30 Pacers. Just before the start the sub 1.15 funnel filled in in front of me with the club runners.
The gun goes off and predictably everyone shoots off. I try to settle in to goal pace and see if I can find a group to run with. Quickly realise that most peoples pacing is way off! Ask people what they are aiming for and they say 1.28 when they are running 6.25 pace!! First 3 miles came in 6.23, 6.18 and 6.22 so I was happy. Did notice that my Garmin seemed to be over reading from early on but thought this might even out.
Next few miles I just focused on keeping pace and slowly reeling in the bloke in the Welsh vest (it had a dragon and a Welsh word on the back) as he seemed to be going a decent pace. I knew goal time was 19mins every 6 miles and I was 40s down at the 6 mile marker.
Spoke to a few more people who were running way quicker than their goal time and then eventually caught the Welsh guy at around the 7m marker. Spoke to him and he was aiming for sub 1.30!!! We decided to run together though and I set the pace. Another guy joined after the 8m marker so we had a little group.
I'd realised that as I was chatting quite comfortably compared to the other two so I should probably push on. Started moving away from them and hit 9 miles at 57.30 so still 30s down.
From then I just concentrated on passing runners in front of me and didn't really look at the watch. At mile 11 you enter the racecourse and pass the finish (heard the winner come in) you then have to go for a lap around the course which is undulating and there are a couple of soft fibre sections which were tough!
Had my eyes on a group of 5 in front of me for the last mile and eventually caught them at the 13 mile marker. Launched my sprint form here as I didn't want to be outsprinted again! As I came round the corner I could see the clock on 1.22.40 so through everything at the uphill finish to make sure I got there!
Finished the final 5k in 18.41 so probably could have pushed on a bit sooner but im pleased with how I paced it.
Hugely happy with that as my previous PB was set in May so was a good indicator of improvement. Definitely would recommend Cheltenham half, there's a few undulations but no major hills.
Thats a great effort Jools and some impressive long runs round the patch. I settled for 13 and a 65 mile week. Time to taper....
Good session joolska.
A good total for the month, Gul.
Great racing , Stevie. I thought you had sub 83 in there. you seem to be beating all my pbs by 3 or 4 seconds a mile here!!
5 miles at recovery today gives me 218 for month, beating Julys 217 to give me my highest month. Also for first time ever I've done 3 consecutive 200 plus months. Some basic analysis-
Last 3 months- 637
Jan- March-475
july-september 2017- 430
That must put me in a better place for this mara??
Great running again DT and and a very impressive collection of miles. You seem in great shape for the one.
Totally knackered here. had the most amazing time at The Ryder Cup in Paris. had to be up at 05.00am each morning to catch a train and shuttle bus to the course, arriving in the dark each day, then on our feet the whole day. Step counter measured 11 miles of walking each day.
Got back late on Saturday night and then got a 3 miler in just before my birthday pub lunch. then back to the sofa to watch Europe finish the job on TV.
Early nights planned all week and just a couple of slow 4 milers. have had a slight cold for about 10 days, so will hopefully shake it off before Sunday. Looks like it will be another warm one with forecast stating 17 degsC at the start. I was hoping for 11. :-(
Poacher - nice photos. Who's the guy on the horse?
Birch - great photo. Well done to your son, too.
Jools - good session and nicely progressing.
DT - some good stats there.
GD- sounds like a great weekend.
PMJ - moving in the right direction again.
9 miles this morning with 5x600m intervals a tad faster than 5k pace. Finally had to resort to a double layer this morning.
Too much else to catch up on here! Congrats on 250 parkruns 00 .
Bit of a lame week for me, only managed a short fast TM run after leg work last Friday before my golf weekend, then unfortunately got hit with a stomach bug which totally drained me for a while; though managed 7 miles per day walking over the 3 days of golf to at least keep on my feet. 6 miler @ 8mm on Thursday to get back in to it; then tried for a long run on Saturday, another very difficult, very slow 15 miles.
Having both hamstring and achilles issues and lack of motivation at the moment; considering withdrawing from Abindgon as it's going to be a long slow slog and I'd rather not risk aggravating these niggling injuries and just do the 2 half maras more comfortably and get some base back before another spring campaign.
Nicko, in your position I would withdraw. If it were say London or New York or a mara of that nature, I'd go along and enjoy the carnival but I fear Abingdon wont be quite such fun.
Nice session, Gul.
PMJ, perhaps tweak the target for 2018 km instead?
Sounds like you had a good weekend at the golf, g-dawg. I don't personally have interest in golf and equally I don't feel sufficiently European to get excited about a European team. Not sure if that is a combination of the two things or whether I would feel the same if it were footy or rugby.
No running planned today, just a spin class. Aiming for 25-30 miles this week with 3 non running days factored in. Hoping to have a good go at parkrun Saturday morning as is my normal custom the weekend before a mara.
Monthly total was 147 which included 2 x weeks of taper. Average pace was 7.15, which is a surprise. Total for the year thus far is 1460. As long as I hit 100 per month for the rest of the year I'll bag my biggest ever year. Last 3 months have been 197, 202, 147.
Including the race, the Chicago campaign totals 656 miles which is 36 more than I did for the PB in Berlin.
Campaign average pace is 7.26.
Poacher – Great pics, it looks lovely
Birch – Well done to junior with a fantastic 10k PB!
Jools – Great 16 miles with MP. You are looking good with plenty of time for even more improvement
Stevie – Excellent PB HM, with a very fast final 5k. More to come I think!
DT – Congrats on a well-controlled HM. Very good mileage which should help the marathon
PMJ – Good mileage all things considered
Gul – Very good yearly mileage. Nice intervals in the 9 miler
Nicko – Sorry about your injury woes. I hope you recovery soon
GD – Well done on the good mileage and nippy average pace. I hope its cooler for you on Sunday
I ran the Monaghan HM yesterday, which was the last in a HM series. In the series your 4 best times out of 8 possible races counted. Going into race I was in third place M45 just 6 seconds behind second, so needed to beat my rival by 7 seconds.
As it was only 2 weeks since Berlin I wasn’t at 100% but was looking forward to a good battle. My only goal was to beat my rival by 7 seconds and secure a £100 second place prize. First place was a 1:15 HM runner who was already guaranteed £200, with £50 for third.
The course was mixed with about half on twisty hilly forest trails and half on undulating roads. It was definitely not a fast course.
I lined up near the front and we set off into Monaghan town. Within the first few hundred metres my rival went passed, so I was pleased to know exactly where he was. However, he began pulling away and I was aware that I was working harder than I’d have liked early on. I was averaging about 6:20 pace but it felt harder and I began regretting my 13 miles the day before, include a 42 minute 10k.
After about 3 miles we entered the forest park and I was about 20-30 seconds behind. My legs felt heavy and I started to think of excuses to tell my family why I’d lost. Physically and mentally I wasn’t in a good place. However, as we weaved through the hilly park, I noticed I was closing the gap. I wasn’t going faster but my rival was slowing.
I got to a few metres behind and tucked in for a while. I thought about just sitting behind him and pushing late on. I changed my mind and went past at around 5 miles. I’d decided on running my own race. I ran hard for about a mile before reducing the effort to about 90%. I hoped this would be enough to stay ahead, saving some for a fast finish.
At around 8 miles there was a sharp bend where I could look back. I hoped I wouldn’t see my rival but there he was about 20 seconds behind! This was going to close. I knuckled down and gave it everything I had.
I had no idea how close the gap was as we weaved through the park. I just kept up a hard honest effort, making sure to leave it all out on the course. In the last mile there was another sharp bend and I got to look back again. I was relieved to see he was now further behind.
I crossed the line in 1:23:42 having run under 6:10 for the last two miles. I had a quick word with the organiser before looking back to see my rival sprint finish less than a minute behind. Phew! I’d leaped frogged into 2nd – just!
We shook hands congratulating each other but didn’t mention our personal race. His young son and wife soon ran over and hugged him, which made me feel a little guilty! It was a fun race and definitely one I’ll remember. I’ve since found out that my rival just ran a 17:39 Parkrun, so he’s much quicker than me at the shorter distances. My fastest Parkrun in recent years is 18:21. He ran the last mile in 5:53 so was catching.
So all things considered, I'm happy with my performance and £100 prize.
Since Berlin I've already run 2 Parkruns, 2 HM's and a 10k!
My ab niggles is getting better
271 miles in September and about 2,766 for the year.
funny, isn't it (in a good way), we can be so pleased for folks we've never met
great stats, too - what's next?
I'll take this easy ...
I'll just push here a bit harder ...
I'll give it all I've got ...
That is a fast average. I just looked back and my fastest ever monthly average was 7:14 in April 2012 and that included London in 2:50:28 in a total of about 150 miles so clearly a big chunk from that race.