Sub 3

TR

TGO - im right on for Brighton ! Im aiming sub3 and I'll be about to turn 52. 

6m slow early this morning, it was minus a few degrees round those lanes, so i wasnt in my happy place as i wasnt going quick enough to get warm. Im not enjoying some of the recovery runs. Forecast is for rainy long run in the morning too. Roll on summer running.

Little M.iss Happy

Amen to that TR - too cold for me.

EE - I aggravated my hamstring racing on Sunday and this cold weather isn't helping but as long as I can cope with being very slow I can run on it and it doesn't seem to be making it any worse.

TGO - age is no excuse!

Jooligan

Hi TGO. I'm also doing Brighton & targetting sub-3 (by a whisker)

Just 5M along the canal at lunch today as a nod to Sunday's 10K

Essex Eagle

I've been keeping an eye on your hamstring travails LMH!

Mine flared up 4 miles into my 16 last Sunday - I stopped and stretched it a bit then carried on. It didn't get any worse so figured wasn't doing any more damage.

I'm finding in the main that, as with you, slow and steady stuff is fine, but when I try and crank up the pace it lets me know about it.

Supposed to be doing a HM a fortnight on Sunday, but don't really want to do it managing an injury. Wouldn't do Brighton if it was tomo - would rather a DNS than a DNF.

Little M.iss Happy

If my experience is anything to go by EE running at race pace will set it back by quite a bit, mine wasn't noticeable at all pre-race. I know I'm currently running with a shorter stride and I'm running much slower than usual but experience tells me that if I keep sucking that up the hamstring will settle again (plus rolling/stretching etc).

Which 10k Jooligan?

The Green One

Thank you for the welcomes, great to see there may be several fellow Brighton runners to pace with on the day   

I'm doing the Fred Hughes 10m on Sunday in a forecast crisp, 0-degree air. I've been finding it hard these last 2 weeks to run at any decent pace when your lungs are sucking that in.

Good luck in that for your 10km @Jooligan!

Jooligan

Speedway 10K LMH. A mate of mine is RO. A no frills, certified 10K course with real PB potential & cash prizes where entry is dependent on speed you can run at rather than how quick you are on the internet. The first one was last summer & only had 93 entries yet 53 were sub 40 & 23 sub 35. This time there are already 216 with OTD entries available. Oh & serious cash prizes too: £1160 (76% of the revenue) was handed out to about 20 people. With more entries the prize pot is bigger & is being spread a bit further, though each winner should still take home a bit more.
Cheers TGO. Good luck in the 10M

Little M.iss Happy

Good luck with that then Jooligan!

I can't run fast when it's cold TGO.

Jooligan

Cheers LMH. I'm under no illusions that I might win a prize given the quality of the field, but a PB would be good. Apparently I'm seeded 126th as that's my race number

CC2 - Speedy Goth

First attempt at an MP run this evening. Just 6 miles in an 11 mile run. I can't see my watch for most of it, only when I'm under a lamp post, so it's a bit of guess work plus lots of slowing down to check it's safe to cross roads etc. So I'm pleased they were all 6.43 - 6.54. The first mile was the slowest, the fastest were slightly downhill hill ones with minimal road crossings.

I actually prefer the cold weather. I am useless in the heat! It was about 2 degrees tonight. Only a problem on the WU and CD. The MP miles were lovely. 

Wardi

CC2.. I only have 2 screens on my Garmin which gives me a decent chance of reading it at my age.  The feature which illuminates the screen when you turn your wrist towards your head also helps in this respect!  Good effort in your session BTW.

Talked myself into my first rest day since Nov 10th yesterday, felt like I needed it.  Up early this morning as Mrs Wardi had a trip to the airport.  As I was up and about I ran a 3.6m warm up before the Park Run.  My chum was pacing 22 mins so I ran round with him, scores on the doors 21.58 so we had a few happy punters at the finish.  After that a couple of laps of the local park which meant 12.2 miles were in the bank before 10:30.  Thankfully the forecast rain/sleet stayed away for the duration after last night's snow.  Bring on summer is my sentiment too! 

Best of luck at the weekend races TGO, Jooligan.

TR

Good going CC, good pace for the 1st session.

Made a better fist of the P and D  20%,10% long run today, with 5 av 8.00, 5 av 7.57, 5 av 7.34, 5 av 7.01, 1 easy for 21 in total. 82 for the week.

Much better control, hammys were moaning by the end but i guess thats the point.

CC2 - Speedy Goth

I should have said I prefer the cold for hard efforts and racing. Not for slow running/recovery etc. Nearly lost my fingers this afternoon running at 8.40 pace for recovery. Brrrrr. 

Wardi

Bravo TR, that's a top notch progressive long run.  I guess you must have been out & about early doors like me

TR

CC - i suffered with that yday, doing a recovery run round the lanes near work with minus temperatures.

Wardi - not too early, i also have to go dogging first before i can run.

Just scoffed a biryani, will rehydrate later with a few beers.

TR

6m real easy earlier.

saintjason

Jools - sorry to read of your friend passing at such a young age. Good to read you are running again.

OO - you will have to get to the bottom of the toe issue at some point. Hope it holds up for your race.

TGO - good luck in Brighton and the BQ. Hope the 10 miler went well today.

LMH - hope the hammy has settled a little with some easier running this week.

EE - ditto on your hammy.

Jooligan - hope your 10k today has gone well. Sounds like an excellent grass roots event being run the right way.

CC2 - top stuff with the MP efforts this week. I too struggle to see my watch under the 'lights' but I think in my case that's a good thing. I usually find the right effort just by assessing breathing and effort levels etc.

Wardi - nice parkruning and miles banked early doors. Speaking of experience, knowing when to take an easy or a rest day is definitely a bonus.

TR - another solid week banked. The MP effort earlier in the week is a good confidence boost and yesterdays long run is again good solid stuff. The mixing bowl is out and the right ingredients going in. I presume you mean walking a dog?!?

After the mlr I felt pretty good so decided I would do a little faster stuff despite saying I would take it easy. Managed 4 miles starting at 6:34 and going down to 6:20 during a 7 miler on Thursday. It was only a short blast but felt good after last Saturday's fall.

Easy run Friday followed by 10 miles yesterday with 10x20secs strides. Decided to do two stride efforts per mile which meant some of the miles were 6:5x.

So this meant today's long run was on reasonably tired legs. Did 21 miles also and stuck to my 5 mile progressive format from a couple of weeks ago. First 5 8:15, 5-10 8:00, 10-15 7:45, last 6 ramping up to finish with 4 @ 6:54-6:39. Felt really good towards the end.

Perhaps this decent end to this week was in part due to effectively having a cut back week last week due to the fall.

Feet up now with the snooker on. Should ensure I get a cheeky nap in

CC2 - Speedy Goth

That's speedy SJ! My 20 @ 7.50s looks rubbish now!

Little M.iss Happy

Nice training sj. My hammy is holding up to short and easy and easing a little but I was sensible this morning and instead of taking advantage of the relatively good weather and doing a LSR I just did 12 easy. It was only during my run that it struck me that a week ago I ran a flat out half so hamstring niggle or not shouldn't really be expecting to be running at my usual pace yet.

Cheerful Dave

Any 20 is good CC2, regardless of pace!  Cracking long one from SJ though.

I got my own long run in too - I entered the Winter Tanners last weekend after finding that for the first time in ages they weren't sold out.  DanA may have heard of it - it's a 30 mile event organised by the Long Distance Walkers Association, so a mixture of runners and hikers.  They only release info on teh course a week before, and it's self-navigated (or follow the people in front, for the first half there's a steady stream of people).  It's timed but you start when you want to, based on the opening times of the checkpoints.

It went OK, almost entirely off-road and with the best part of 4000ft of climbing.  I should have read the route instructions because there were several very steep descents which kill any time gains onteh downhills and kill your quads as well, especially if you've basically entered your first ultra on a whim.  The last 7 or 8 mies were not good on the downhill, but the last (flat) mile was a bit pacier.  It's amazing what you can do when the end is in sight.  Total time including stops at checkpoints was 5 hours 2 minutes, slow by most standards in here but good early season miles.

Edit - turns out I was second quickest on the day, so better than I thought!

TR

Blimey SJ, you should fall over more often, you are in good nick. Thats a very good tempo and long run, im not sure i could do those two.

CC - im with CD, all 20s are good, you did an MP run friday too, so todays pace is fine.

CD - excellent time on feet that will do you good long term.

LMH - can take a week or two to get over a hard 1/2. Ii wouldn't matter if you dont get a long run this week, seeing as you do do many long snd medium runs normally.

Little M.iss Happy

Nice ultra debut CD - pick an easy one why don't you? 

I know TR but I do like to knock out at least one a week.

Wardi

That's a long day out CD & congrats on 2nd.. any prize booty?

SJ.. an impressive few days for you considering the recent damage!  Fab 21 miler today.

CC2.. 20 @sub 8's is fine, I presume you're VLM bound?

LMH.. sensible stuff keeping it to a MLR.  After the hurricane at Brass last week it was of course 3mph winds on my run today, ideal! 

Topped up yesterday's 12m with a similar 11.5m today, nice conditions out there.  The light winds had also brought loads of cyclists out on my route.

TR.. you deserved the easier run today.  I intend to raise your Biryani with a couple of Bhajis and a Jalfrezi later.  Beer is also a possibility.

TR

Wardi - i regretted the biryani choice snd wished i gone jalfrezi or madras. Enjoy yours. Well earned. I had a few ales later of course.

Cheerful Dave

Wardi - no prizes, it's not that sort of event.  There's still some walkers out there still to finish the 30 miles now, at 6:30.  Now that's a long day!

OuchOuch

CD - Pretty intrepid stuff, congrats on the 2nd place.  Sounds a great day out.
SJ - Thats a pretty impressive 20m with some fast final miles.  All fuel to the fire. 
CC2 - Agreed, any 20m is a bonus.  Bet you will be starving tomorrow, I normally a after a long-one. 
Wardi - Good back to back runs/ decent recovery. 
LMH - Not a bad set of Sundays for you, considering the hamstring issue.
Final proper run for me, with my running pal.  Wanted something a bit swiftish so  10.5m,  0-6m c7.10mm, last 4.5 av. 6.35mm.  Followed by a big family dinner, where showed great discipline to have 1 beer/ 1 glass of wine. Toe and left knee still aching but ok and planning a light last week of >15 miles so hopefully all systems go for next Sunday.  Decided to aim for 2.58.30 ideally 1.28 for 1st half to give some leeway for the warmer second.  

CC2 - Speedy Goth

London indeed Wardi, and my run was MP plus 60 seconds, which is spot on what I was going for, it just looks rubbish compared to other people's speediness! 

Jooligan

Blimey SJ that’s some top quality training since the enforced downtime.
LDWA events are great for low key LRs with company & feed stops though quality of directions varies wildly. Sounds like a cracking effort CD.
Sub 8s for 20M is plenty quick enough CC2.
Did just over 20 myself today but in 2 halves. Couldn’t get my HR up above HM effort during this morning’s 10K & pace was similar. Disappointing as conditions were ideal: 4 runners went sub 30. Went back out this afternoon to make up the miles.

saintjason

CC2 - 10 of my miles today were slower than your average. My Abo campaign last summer was built on solid 20 miles run starting out at even at 8:00m/m. I picked up the pace as I got fitter but didn't do any MP miles in  them. I'm trying to run them progressive this time with a decent chunk at MP to hopefully see adaptations take place where running strong at goal pace at the end of the marathon eeeks out a minute or two for a small PB. Horses for courses of course as listening to a pre-xmas marathon talk today Steph Twell mentioned she didn't do any MP stuff in her long runs for Valencia campaign. Alternate view is the 3 Aussies on Inside Running podcast who all do extended sections of MP at the end of Sunday long runs. They along with Steph are all Elite or sub-elite so no comparison to me I suppose. Solid 20 regardless.

LMH - glad to hear you are managing the hammy niggle. It was good weather today wasn't it. I forgot to put my gloves on but was fine.

CD - well done on the race today and second place. Sounded rough on those descents.

TR - hehe, it's been an eventful start to the year with head injury guy and my own tumble. Mrs SJ will burn my running shoes if anything else happens

Wardi - cheers, just glad everything has healed up nicely as I was in some discomfort this time last week. Treading very carefully. Solid mlr today and curry sounded lovely too.

OO - nice 10 and a bit today with the faster miles reminding the legs of what they have to do next week. Good restraint at the meal too. This is such a regular occurrence for you now the last week of taper should be a breeze.

Jooligan - saw the 10k run, maybe not the performance you wanted but faster miles in the bank which will pay dividends in Brighton I'm sure. Well done getting back out there. I would struggle with that I have to say.

Little M.iss Happy

Sorry you didn't get what you wanted from the race Jooligan.

It's your training the same as it's your race on the day CC2 - you know that if you try to run someone else's it's not going to work for you.

Hope the taper sorts your niggles OuchOuch. You really do need some down time to get yourself fully healed soon, you've been carrying various niggles for a long time now, don't want you to have an enforced long time out.

Sorry the curry disappointed TR.

Wardi - the weather yesterday would have made for a very different race I think.

Interesting about Steph sj - sometimes I think I'm the only one that doesn't run MP miles in my long runs (though I expect she does faster elsewhere).

Hammy feels a bit better again this morning but I will try and keep the sensible head on today despite the weather deteriorating from tomorrow. As TR rightly says one week without a LSR shouldn't be an issue.