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Auviour Paris: So long and thanks for the cobbles
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SB - I think I'm in a competition because I had to enter to get rid of an annoying message that kept popping up
. I think the overall improvement counts as 2.9 due to my traditional monthly dip where I haven't run other UKA events. I wonder if it would count for August? The race was right at the end of July and it took ages for them to post the results. It would be just my luck that it would be too late for July, but not count at all for August.
This morning I went for an "easy" long run. I didn't wear my new trail shoes because I thought the ground would be more firm than it was during my winter marathon training. Thankfully, I did wear an old pair of running shoes.
At various points it was quite muddy and slippy, but at around 5.5 miles the route became frankly impassable. I stuck fast in ankle deep mud and nearly lost my trainers! The water flooded the shoes and it was an effort to retrace my steps. I felt like a kid splashing about in the mud
. Rather than head straight back, i tried to find another path through the woods. There were some slightly better options, but I didn't really know where I was going. At 6 miles I made my way back out and across the fileds and hills. Once back in town I got a few stares. The mud down my legs looked like I had done something unsavoury 
I had planned to run at 10:00 pace, and by some miracle finished the 12 mile run in 2:00:04. Too slow, I know. Damn those four seconds - ruined the whole run!
Lovely sunny day here in Derbyshire hope all doing well. Inspired by the Brownlees and Mo I went out at lunch in hot sunshine in shorts and vest and tried to hammer down a quick 10k and despite a very busy Monsal Trail busy with kids on little bikes,dogs on very long leads trying to take me out I managed a quick for me 46 09. could have been a minute quicker on the first mile as I warmed up on the first mile with an 8.15 then went for it as I realized I felt okay. Need to get my brother out with me to go quicker. Anyone doing the Marathon Talk Magic Mile challenge?
Sounds like serious running going on with Ten and SB keep at it guys.
Looks like I did slip through the gap in the runbritain competition
I ended last month on a 25+ handicap and started this month on a 22 handicap by magic. On the upside, I've overtaken something like 27000 people in the national ladder 
MCS - That's a great 10k time! LOL at wanting your brother to join you to emulate the Brownlees. I had planned to take part in the magic mile, but after suffering a couple of groin strains during the year I've tempered my speed a bit and am taking time to build up. This is why I'm concentrating on 10k and now 5k for my speed work. I hope to have a crack at a sub-6:30 mile later in the year (on a treadmill).
This morning I did a 10km recovery run on the treadmill.
I've laminated my parkrun barcode, so I'm ready to go on Saturday.
Ten - whoop whoop to ladder climbing (not missing out on the comp - make sure you enter at the start of every month or else you're on bathroom cleaning duties for.... ever
). Also whoop whoop to your parkrun - looking forward to hearing how you get on.
I've sneaked into the top 9000 women (8952) and 1325th V35 now - yippeeee. Wonder if I can get top 1000 by February when I move up to V40 - that'd be a nice start to the year!
Off to visit the running club tonight - it's been a few weeks since it'd fit into my schedule. Must remember not to get carried away and run too fast as my last few weeks easier runs on a Thursday are what have contributed to my faster weekends I reckon.
On a related point - do you remember me saying I had figured how to set my watch to pace vs HR for my easy runs? Well... the end result is that I am now running about 10bpm slower on that setting (9:45 - 10:45mph based on a 9 minute MP) and woweee - feeling so much better for it. I think my recovery threshold is slightly lower than what my HR would suggest. I'm still getting beeped at quite a lot to slow down for the first mile or so of each run but then I seem to be getting the hang of 10 minute miling or thereabouts. If I can breathe through my nose alone, I've learned that I am running pretty much bang on 10 mi/mi. I'm going to use that as my guide for marathon day! (It was an old tip I got from a Mountaineering Instructor friend - when you're going up a munro - if you can't breathe through your nose alone you're going too fast!)
So there - I shall be the dragon-impersonator at the back - wonder if I can grow some wings too and shoot flames out of my nose
Cheers SB. The HRM great motivational tool. I use my HRM slightly differently for my treadmill training. When I can consistently run at a given pace below my recovery ceiling I then up my pace by 0.1mph on my next recovery run. I started the year running 10km at 5.5mph (10:54 pace), and today I ran 10km at 6.4mph (9:23 pace) with the same average heart rate and similar averages mile-on-mile. It's also 20F hotter now, which has an effect. It's just another way of progressing and being motivated to improve that is working well for me this year.
Brilliant - it does make a difference eh! The heat definitely makes a difference. You should really see the difference once it cools down a bit
I prefer to do my tempo runs / speed work based on my HR as it allows for fitness gains. Some days I have to go faster to get my pulse up; others - well - I must be tired, dehydrated, etc etc and I like the reassurance that I'm not overdoing things. And they do say that for easy runs - the easier the better so I'm happy to stick with the pace guide for those for that reason!
Here's my little stat today (again from RW Complete Guide) - if you change nothing else in your training except to increase the length of your LSR, you'll improve your 10k time! I'd have to concur with that after last weekend as that's pretty much all that's changed within my training! Oh and oscarr's brainwashing
Hehe - we have same aims but slightly different approach. I control my recovery pace by heart rate, but ditch the monitor when I push myself on hard runs. Admittedly I started that mainly because the chest strap kept slipping when I ran hard, but now it's so I don't limit my hard run by anything other than how hard it feels to actually complete the session. I figure that I could never run a session too hard
Very easy four miles this morning with a few faster strides in the middle.
I took the family out into the country and drove along some of the country roads where I ran part of my 20 mile runs earlier this year. What a different perspective - it made me realise how much I was taking my life in my hands! It was a good job I was running on them in the early hours at the weekend. I might rethink some of the route for future long runs and try to stay on trails. Though in fairness, visibility is a bit better in winter with less foliage.
First ever parkrun today and it was a PB! Of course, it was a PB because it was my first ever 5km race too
.
I was boxed-in at the start by some slow runners starting way too far up the field. Fortunately, I've been watching the olympics and knew exactly what to do. I elbowed a couple of girls out of the way, shoved an old guy in front of me in his back to make a gap, and tripped a cheeky kid and left him sprawling on the track.
Apart from being boxed-in, I made the rest of that up - I'm not that competitive
I don't know my official time yet, but I think it's around 24:25. It was very enjoyable and I'll definitely be going back. I'm very impressed with the slick organisation of the timing using the barcodes and the handheld ticker at the finish line.
Yippeee - well done Ten! Glad you enjoyed it - yeah you have to watch out at the start - some weeks you get a better start than others but generally you will need to start further forward than you might otherwise. I had a similar start this morning as I was gassing away with two other ladies - ran a similar time too
If you registered your mobile number you'll get a text message around lunchtime giving you your result and they're normally up on the website by lunchtime too. runBritain usually list them by Monday lunch!
The scanners are brilliant eh! That was my job last time I volunteered - they make life soooooooooo easy! Think I'm due to volunteer next time we go - hmmm wonder what job I'll get - it's really good fun volunteering too and the gadgets do it all for you so don't be put off if you've never been involved with timing before.
That's Ben packed off to the airport too (away for 3 weeks) - via the parkrun LOL - he'll have a shower once he's checked his main luggage to waste some time.
He uttered those famous last words last night - "think I might do a marathon next year" - ha ha ha - I knew we'd get to him in the end. He's not too bothered about a big, fast one just now so he's contemplating coming to do Kielder - should be very interesting...
I'm at work on a minibus returning from Olympic Aid, and just read everything from the past ten days or so.
Gosh I am blown away by the Olympics can't even believe some of the races I've seen in person!
Oscarr very well done at Yateley!
SB I would have said 2 weeks out was not the time for a 10K because Liz Yelling advised me thus last year on the pre VLM forum, and I didn't do it, but very well done to you too.
You were very nice about the dog bite!
And Ten, your 10K PB and Park Run really look good together!
More soon am back at base!
RR - what a wonderful experience you must have had. Even among the most optimistic - who could have predicted how well Team GB would perform? Although I did see some pre-Olympic analysis that showed that host nations nearly always perform better than their own average, I didn't think we could repeat (let alone surpass) our performance in Beijing. Shame the Olympics only lasts a fortnight - I've loved every minute.
SB - I think the results were issued sometime around 4:00pm, which is still impressive (considering it took over a week to get my 10k result, which had fewer participants!). I've signed up for the text alert for future races. Hopefully I'll be able to have another go next Saturday.
My recent 10k and 5k times both predict that I am capable of sub-4 hour marathon, which is exactly the kind of progress that I was hoping for over the summer. Hopefully I can maintain the progression in my ten mile and half marathon races before the year is out.
This morning I ran four miles recovery to complete 41 miles for the week.
Hi RR *waves* - nice to have you back - you must be exhausted from all the excitement never mind anything else. Not gonna race the 10k now - just use it as good tempo sesh with a bit of sightseeing thrown in as it's castle based!
Just entered our first race for 2013 - Coniston 14 (as recommended by mcs!!). We had a local race pencilled in but that's moved to April so we were looking at the Coniston race instead and since the entries were available... Anyone else fancy joining us on March 23rd?
17.5 miles today for me - in 2:56:05 (10:05 mi/miles) - 40.81 for the week. Felt the heat today - time for a good thunderstorm to clear the air me hopes!
Ten - that's pretty late by parkrun standards but I agree it's still pretty amazing - maybe they were too busy eating cake! (or had a few glitches/missing barcodes to sort out).
Wonder how oscarr/FH/Luke/AC8 are getting on?
mcs - how long til GNR now - a month-ish? How's the training going?
Anyone else going to Belper next weekend for the 30k? I'm really looking forward to it - not gonna try to go fast and may even walk the last 5 minutes of every hour to keep myself in check!
Ooooh just to complicate discussions - just looked at the original of my training programme (from runBritain) and it's got a 10km race guess when.... yip 2 weeks before! Nonetheless - I think you guys are right and my gut feeling is the same! Sightseeing here I come...
Entries have opened for my next half-marathon and I'm in like Flint. So my next few races are 10k in 3 weeks, 10 mile in 7 weeks and half-marathon in 12 weeks. I'll probably run another half-marathon before the end of the year, ready to start spring marathon training. It's starting to look like a plan
Evening all
I was going to tell you about my Olympic experience yesterday but didn't get back due to a work nightmare.
It was simply unbelievabe to get into the stadium, and actually I am still in awe of the wall of sound and the emotional impact of emerging at the top of the steps and seeing the cauldron and the vastness of the arena [mostly below me!].
Having bid for every session, I had one set of the cheap tickets [fab panoramic view though].
We went on Monday 6th in the morning, and I got to go back the following day after astonishingly winning a ticket in a club athletics volunteers' ballot.
So I saw heats, which featured some of my all time favourite athletes, and spent the afternoon on Monday at the Olympic Park screen watching gymnastics in the sun. The atmosphere was just incredible.
Haven't missed a moment of the tele coverage either, we even got a projector at work and had it on the wall [well I'm doing that Olympic sports camp, and pulled every stunt in the book so that the sessions I was leading weren't clashing unduly!]
Missed all but the last half hour of the marathon this morning though, so have just been watching the recording.
Needless to say I have not done 40.81 or even 41 miles in the past week, although I have run to work twice, just over 10 a time, and the HRM is working well I think.
Oh my RB score improved by 0.1 to 16.6, or maybe somebody else did something even less impressive, hadn't factored that impact into my thinking at all, doh!
After saying I was thinking of 12 weeks of no races, I have failed badly in this mission.
Decided to do the Lingfield Dry Hill 10 on 2 September with a friend who wants to try it, and my brother will be over again for the Paralymoics so will do it too.
And then [mcs!] imagine my surprise when I received an email that appeared to assume I was running GNR.
I thought it was just one of a series I may have signed up for when checking out the Great Yorkshire, but it did sound like the VLM or similar type build-up ones, so emailed them and they said I was in, never received the original confirmation.
So hey ho there's that to do I'm really excited about it, imagine if I'd not spottedt he email and my race pack had landed! The surprise remains a mystery as to provenance as I think Ientered the ballot AND a competition for a place, hope I'm not starting right at the back.
It's massive!!!!!!
Just checked Coniston out and would be well up for it!
Are there good places to stay nearby does anyone know?
Also, SB do I need to enter pronto?
Hi Reiki - we'll be camping somewhere nearby - but only because we have the van to keep us warm at that time of the year! One of the Youth Hostels would probably be your cheapest bet:
http://www.yha.org.uk/search?zoom_query=coniston&zoom_cat=3&zoom_per_page=5&zoom_and=0&zoom_sort=0
Personally I'd go for the Coppermines one - it literally is about a mile from the school where the start is though I'm not sure I'd want to drive up to it - it's a bit of a bumpy track. It's a nice wander though if you're not taking too much kit!
Not sure how quick it fills up but I'd suspect reasonably quickly as there seems to be only 1600 places and it's the 25th anniversary so that might bring some old-timers out of the woodwork. It's your call but would be fab to see you there. It does say strictly no refunds though - you have been warned!
RR - the stadium looks impressive on TV, I can only imagine how it must have felt being part of that experience.
It's about time they started a Veterans Olympics. I might not feel quite so old watching that.
SB - I've got a confession to make. My total mileage last week wasn't quite 41 miles, it was actually 40.80. You took me down with that extra tenth
R-Rabbit well thats a good suprise re-GNR !! I am doing it too, only 5 weeks away now, happy days !
SB, I have been busy training and watching the Olympics at home as I didnt get any tickets, BOO! Training is going well for New York, did 5 sessions last week and a total of 27 miles. Got 4 races this week which is a bit mad, I can explain. Doing a 5k tonight and then pacing my sister in a 10k Wednesday to get her in under an hour and a new PB. On Saturday I am racing the Train in Tywyn, Wales and to top it all I have a club race on Sunday which is the Burnham Beeches Half. Will try for a good time Sunday as I need the points for Male Vet over 40 in the club competition.
MCS, Hows your training going?
FH
LOL @ 4 races in a week. That's more than I've done in an average year.
SB - check out my runbritain chart
I've knocked five off my handicap in the last few weeks, and all without sandbagging (far be it from me to point the finger at anybody in the leaderboard 
).
Ten! I'm shocked - fancy misleading us with your rounding-uppness
. That tenth'll make all the difference you know. 
All eyes on that leaderboard when it updates
FH - sounds like you have a brilliant week ahead - go get em mister!
SB, Will try my hardest on Sunday, got to get my ranking down below 10, my running buddy has been doing a few Park Runs and is at 9.7 so I have some work to do !!!
FH
Five miles today. 1m easy; 1m strides; 5 x 0.25m reps @ 1:48 with 1:35 recovery; 1m easy to finish. Hot work in garage: 76F.
Fun, in a masochistic way.
Hi all - just realised that the Olympics are over and i can leave the house again - what will i do with myself now that i haven't got Gabby to look forward to up to midnight (yes, I watched it all day then watched the highlights again late at night - compulsive viewing though) - the whole thing was absolutley fantastic - very envious of RR getting into the stadium
Have been doing my running as well over the last 2 weeks - up to 37 a week at mo with last three LSRs being 19/16/17 so well on track for Abingdon
20 miler LSR this weekend - SB, is Belper this weekend ???
Good running Oscarr!
We can all go to the stadium for the Grand Prix etc I HOPE! An added bonus is that there was a park entrance away from either of the two main train/tube hubs, and just across the park from my house, so we were in in 4 minutes tops, and that included chats with everyone involved in processing us.
When I bought this Eastenders house in 1997 following a breakup I had no idea what I was doing, loved it but thought it was in the middle of nowhere - must have been psychic, assuming I now have an amazing track and swimming pool right here, and it is the new cetre of the universe.
OK I've entered Coniston, couldn't resist, and have booked accomodation Thurs - Sunday, but now I'm not finding suitable trains to Windermere, maybe there aren't any on Sundays etc Will have another look today. I don't drive so that' s not an option.
Cheers SB for the help.
Ten - now Vets Olympics would be fantastic! I'd watch all of that too [am firmly in the Oscarr camp, and have even taped all the Gabby shows and the review as well plus several overlaps such as open water swims]
FH good luck with all the races, I know yu're targetting the half, although Race the Train has always captivated me as a bit of a classic afetr I read a book about a bloke preparing for his first marathon. I wouldn't beat it from what he said.
Ran to work again yesterday - that's around 10.3 twice a week since we started camp. I'll do it three times from now, it's just that I have track exposure [and have to do 800, 1500, 3000] this Saturday so probably won't do it Friday, otherwise would be ready to step up already. Time has been identical daily but HR hsa gone down.
I am so pleased with how ankle, knee, ITB, and even hip are holding up, getting a tiny bit hopeful now.
Pilates today and will hit the pool for an Aqua Jog, a nice restful day for me after two horrendous days of Olympic Aid where quite a few things went wrong and chaos reigned, all very stressful and out of my control.
Mr Tesco has been round with some essentials so will cook up a storm as well.
Morning all!
Welcome back oscarr! It is indeed Belper this weekend. It's looking a bit cooler too with the odd shower so perfect running weather. Rascal is already packed for her holiday to the local kennels - she's been to meet the lady and there are only 8 dogs at a time so I think she'll have a great time.
Brilliant news Reiki - will look forward to seeing you. I'll possibly have changed clubs by then too or at least that's the plan - to the local triathlon club - though I'm sticking to duathlons (with an autumn marathon thrown in) for the foreseeable decade
All down to Reiki's new training camp! Am glad you're feeling stronger - hope you have a lovely day and destress totally.
Minor disaster ahead for me - was hoping to do Kielder next year but having just put my massage course dates on the diary it looks like I have a clash. Fingers crossed they move the marathon next year to the second weekend and all will be well. Plan B is to try a bit harder in the Cape Wrath one instead and then use the summer to train for the Cyprus 4 day challenge in November. Life's never simple eh!
6 x 2 minute efforts for me (with warm up and recoveries) - feeling a bit tired today so may start off a bit slower and ramp the efforts as I go along. We'll see...
FH - I'll be checking next week
Added to my stalking list