Sub 3

saintjason

Padams - Nicely done in the Ricky Road Run off minimal training (for you).

LMH - Sorry to read you had a rubbish 10k. Was that an interim target off the back of marathon training or just fancied it?

TT - Rebuilding nicely.

Joe - Sounded like a fun wedding. Best of luck with new job direction.

Jooligan - nice team win in the dark relay!

162 at this end for October and a paltry 1509 miles for the year - although that ranks as a good year for me. However, carded a zero today after a steady start to the week. Have come down with the lurgy after a decent 10 miles last night with 30 minutes averaging 6:30 got the legs moving. Probably pushed it a little too soon and it was cold and damp last night. A couple of days off work now with some minor DIY stuff should help recover. Better to get ill now than pre-Abo. 

TippTop

Jooligan/Wardi - cheers for the recommendations. I'd ruled out anything past Exeter as we need to be on the east side of it for 10:30, but I think we'll probably give Teignmouth a miss in favour of Killerton.

TR - sounds like you've gotten back to it well!

Jooligan - likewise.

Recover well sj.

10 x 2' (1' rec) this morning. Mainly off-road and aiming between HM-Mara effort. Averaged 3:36/km. Beautifully cold and frosty.
Total for the month of 478km (297m). Heading in the right direction. Amazingly my tummy issues have meant I haven't lost a single gram in weight!

Little M.iss Happy

Hope you feel better soon sj. I allowed myself to be talked into he 10k by someone who thinks I should be higher up the rankings. As my legs were sprightly when I was running in Florida and I was doing less mileage it seemed as though what was described as a 'flat, fast, tarmac, traffic free' course would be a good opportunity to see if he was correct.

No resolution to your gastric issues yet then TT?

TippTop

I've got an endoscopy next week LMH so the investigations continue. It's not as bad as it was but seems to now be manifesting as the weight not budging one iota despite the increased volume.

OuchOuch

Been reading and not posting as been enjoying the Gran Canaria sunshine far too much but special mention to Jooligans marathon, great desire. 

Joe - Loved your blog on Kona. So positive and good luck with the new role. 
Padams - That's a speedy 10m, great to be posting faster times as we mature. 
TT - Sounds a good mileage month but strange you've not lost any weight what so ever. You'll love Killerton, a beautiful NT house, and home to 3 unique Killerton-only varieties of apple! 
SJ - Your Abo sub3 is all the more impressive given your relatively light training.

225 miles for the month and 2155 for 2018 about 10% behind 2017.  A 10K race this Sunday - the Richard Burton 10K - a rarity as haven't raced 10k since 2007 but fits in with visiting older son in University and taking younger son to his first premiership football match, Cardiff City - not sure he will thank me in years to come.  Would be happy with 39 something as done nothing but slow running since Berlin (nagging left knee) and that will kick off the last 4 weeks training for the Malaga marathon - last stop in my 10 consecutive road marathon sub 3's in 2017/2018 odessy.  

WayToGoYet

173 for the month, and 28 training hours, the hours were half as much again during July / august so need to be doing more on the turbo. 

Mentally tough run to come later on, Ive an hour to kill while younger lad is football training, its right miserable day up here, and will be my first wet / dark / tarmac run in goodness knows.   But at least I'm fit and well / able to so better make the most  of it 

Little M.iss Happy

Good attitude WTGY.

TR

SJ - that was a good run then, with some 6.30s in it. Hope the lurgy soon shifts.

Wtg - the problem with running more (as against swim, bike and run training), is that sometimes you have to run in tbe rain ! I just used to swim and turbo on rainy days.

7m easy.

Jooligan

Bad luck with the lurgy SJ just as the Abo recovery was complete.
48 training hrs in October for me WTGY after 80 in September! 
Nice consistency TR.
5M progressive on the TM first thing peaking with a lap at 16kph before a final cd lap then another 5M along the canal at lunch averaging just over 7:30s. That's day 1 of the 10 mpd average required Marathon recovery seems to be going well

Electric Sheep

JB - I read all your Kona reports - hilarious and inspiring in equal measure! Glad to hear you've got a new job, best of luck with it.

Stats - 208 for October and 2458 for the year to date. It may be a push for me to hit 3000 for the year but I am on target to beat my previous annual record of 2746.

TR

Jools - you've bounced back quickly.

ES - you can atill make 3000, im only about 50m ahead of you. I have jury service (again !) Soon too which will stop my runs to and from work and lunchtime runs, I'll have to squueze in what i can then !

Back on my s and c cct tonight, i only did one set of everything (without plates on the bar), but i bet i still know about it tomorrow. (Squat, lunge, deadlift, stiff leg deadlift, pull up, push up, crunches and back bridge).

WayToGoYet

TBF in the end it was a still evening, and didn't rain, just wasn't a very inspiring route / place to run, however I think I have someone to run with in a few weeks and will head torch offroad 

Jooligan - 12hrs a week average is some going, what were you doing to take that up to nearly 20? Sport commuting? very impressive. 

I'd better done the trainers and do an easy run, before the sun disappears 

Wardi

WTGY.. my most memorable 'do I really have to do this' run from this year was after the Vale of York half.  I had intended to do a few extra miles after the race; as the car park exit was bunged up I decided to do it by running up & down the runways at the Aero club race HQ.  This became 5.5 very tough miles due to a strong wind on the day.  I kept thinking of that one in the latter stages of the York marathon!

Joe.. nice report and congrats again.  My favourite bits were the matching Hawaiian outfits and talk of 37 doughnuts

TR/Jooligan.. good to see you both getting back to it after Abo.  Similarly SJ though bad luck with the lurgy.

LMH.. I used to run 38-40 mins for 10k when I was 40-50 yrs old but since then that particular distance has become my worst relative to all the others!  I now run 10k races as little as possible.

I have managed to run every day this week and the legs feel pretty much back to normal now.  I'm meeting some old chums in the peak district for a walk tomorrow morning (Hathersage) so I'm tempted to have a blast round the Rother Valley Park Run on the way - looks very pretty.

Little M.iss Happy

I've never been one for shorter distances Wardi  Sounds like a nice weekend you have planned - enjoy.

It's good to be able to get out in daylight WTGY - getting increasingly difficult at this time of year. I'm not good with winter, dark mornings, dark early in the afternoon, cold........

TR

OO - can you list up that sequrnce of sub3s?

Wtg - no where near as bad as expected then, most times it works out like that (although Wardi 's grim run sounds like it was worse thsn expected).

5m early doors here today, it was proper cold, -ve temps. Thought it a bit early in the winter to go for longs so sucked up cold legs instead.

Will try to run a bit longer tomorrow and see how it goes, but my legs have been ok at shorter distances.

OuchOuch

TR gladly 

Context
April.16 London.        3.07.24
May 16. Exeter.          3.07.24
Sep 16 Barnstaple     3.19.46
Nov 16 Cornwall        3.13.05
Few hopes of running further sub 3 at this point. 

Jan 17.Gran Canaria 3.00.13. This near hit fuelled the fire. 

April. Manchester. 2.50.44
           London.        2.50.06
May.   Exeter.          2.56.43
Oct.    Munich         2.48.56
Nov.   Valencia.      2.45.16 (PB)
Jan 18. Gran Canaria. 2.54.33
March.  Barcelona  2.49.24
April.     Llanelli.      2.51.13
Sept.     Berlin.         2.49.24

Dec 8th Malaga

TR

OO - great stuff, what a 2017 and 18! Lets hope you complete the sequence in Malaga. Big jump from Nov 2016 too, i guess it took your body time to get used to marathoning again after time out. Gives me hope following my 3.01.

WayToGoYet

TR Yep not as bad as was expected. Carded a zero yesterday in the end, lesson learnt to get them done early or be prepared for zero

Oo not often you see Llanelli and Exeter grouped with those other cities...

sounds terrible wardi - how was the park run? 

Any scope for headtorch offroads LMH? 

20 this morning with company to 14.5, wasn’t sure If I was gunning for it but figured if I was getting up at 6 I should make on. added a diversion to take me away from home, got to top of my street at 19 and so did an extra couple of loops to make 20. Came in at 7:51s mainly off-road. The start was up a modest slope into the breeze - made better by watching a dramatic sunrise! 

Couple of beers later on I reckon 

anybody racing this weekend? 

Theres XC relays isn’t there? (Might Be northern?)) 

Jooligan

Great stats those OO.
Good way to kick off the weekend WTGY, probably benefitted from the rest day.
Hathersage Hilly was my 2nd ever triathlon. Loved the heated outdoor pool. How was your parkrun Wardi?
Chippenham for me en route to XC after a night out in Bristol. Only bloody won the thing Slowest winning time for over 6 months mind  Led after the first 100m & managed to hang on.

Little M.iss Happy

I'm fortunate in that I can get out in daylight WTG, only on day a week that it gets tight for time and I'm hoping to be able to fit in at least six on those mornings. I did consider one of those chest torches (Have tried a head torch and didn't really get on with it) so I could run before walking the dog on that day (she can't go out until it's nearly light as she doesn't see so well these days) but the walk with her is good to get my old joints moving.

TR

Wtg - agreed, i prefer to get it done and dusted early in the day. Good one on the 20, longest run since?

18 here, legs were a bit weary in the last couple of miles. 60 for the week.

TickTock

Amazing stats OO. Just been reading this in Wired about a guy trying to run a quicker marathon over 40. An interesting target is to run quicker than 2hrs plus your age. I suspect a few on the thread have managed. Closest I have been is within 7 minutes.

I have read back to too much tom comment upon apart from well don to the Jools and Stu in Snowdonia. .. and to Jools in a parkrun 1st.

Good miles TR - what is next race? Enjoy the hike in Hathersage, Wardi. Spent xmas there a few years back and was lovely

I took a few days rest after Abo and been back at it this week. Oct totals 135 running and 283 cycling (1847 and 3724 YTD)

Wardi

TR.. good to see you back in the long runs already, nice 18 bagged.

WTGY.. cracking 20 miler in the bank, mind you with a 6am start I hope you can stay awake long enough to slurp those beers. 

OO.. very impressive sequence there, I had forgotten one or two of them so hope the streak continues in Malaga.

Jooligan.. well done son!  You can only beat who turns up so bask in the glory!  Shame they don't do podiums in Park Run.

Rother Valley is one of the prettier Park Run courses out there, one big loop around a long lake.  It was blowing a hooley but the sun was out by way of compensation.  The run came as a bit of a shock to my legs being my first in a month.  Ignored the watch and ran for position, managed 28th/282 so reasonably happy with that. 
Cheers Tick Tock.  Drove to Hathersage afterwards, met up with friends and trekked 3-4 hours in the hills followed by tea & cake which made for a pleasant afternoon.

TR

Tick Tock - you ride a lot of miles ? Is some of that a commute? Gosport 1/2 is next, in 2 weeks (then portsmouth coastal, stubbington 10k, Chichester 10k, worthing 1/2, fleet 1/2, brighton mara, yeovil mara).

Wardi - thats a good days work. I read Mcmillan re "reducing your long run delta", so did 18m today.

Jooligan

Sounds like a cracking day out Wardi. Have you ever done Pontefract PR btw?
Just read that TR: thanks for sharing.
Is that a fairly normal training balance for you TickTock?
Had a decent performance at XC too with 40:11 for 9.8K which meant I scored in both Senior & Vet teams who came 12th & 3rd respectively. Dry conditions but windy, rutted & undulating. 

TickTock

Busy race schedule TR . You'll be racing as much as Jooligan soon!

All my cycling is commuting these days. I have a tedious 18 mile trip across London but it is still preferable than the train and tube alternative. 

Did you go up Stanage Edge Wardi?

Jooligan

Interesting article that TT, thanks for sharing. It’s a shame we’re not likely to get a call from Nike with that kind of assistance.
The Hathersage Hilly trio took us up Stanage Edge for the run. It was lovely up there.

TR

Tick Tock - thats a lot of aerobics a day then once running is added in too.

Jools - i would usually only run one mara a year, and let my long run slip down to around 12m for the rest of the time. Keeping regular 16 to 18 milers in there year round has to help.

8m easy today.

Wardi

Yes the hike was up to Stanage Edge, we didn't hang around up there too long due to the strong wind but the views were impressive.  Saw a few hardy runners in the hills.

Jooligan.. I've not done Pontefract yet.  We are a bit spoilt for choice both locally and within a 40 min drive so plenty to go at.  So far York & Heslington are the quickest and Fountains Abbey & Rother Valley the prettiest.

Just under 11m today, the wind had dropped considerably so quite enjoyed it.

Jooligan

Inspired by the McMillan article + TR & WTGY I decided to do a 20M today. Ouch!! I was going great til 15M (1:56:45) even increasing the pace each quarter but then the pace slowed in mile 16 & after that it became a painfully slow jog with pauses. I refused to walk but I really wanted to. Ended up with 20M in 2:44:10.  I guess my marathon weary body already taxed by 2 hard races yesterday wasn't ready for that distance/pace combo. I couldn't cut it short as I'd chosen to run along the canal so 10M out = 10M back.