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And talking of podium positions, congratulations DFC on winning your first XC race in two years, great stuff.
The interesting thing the V50 who went sub 60. All his ranking times have been run this year, and his previous best over 10 miles was 63.45, slower than my 10 mile PB.
Wish I could improve like that. Still I took out everyone in my age group that I should have done.
Dull
Cheers Sue C.
Missed your race performance report Dull when scanning the thread. 64 mins is brill for a mine of your age. Well done.
Sue - Yes fully recovered from my injury woes with the help of physio and podiatrist and just racking up the mileage at present with the aim of doing a similiar sort of mileage to yourself for London. I'm still a long way off the times that I was getting last spring but slowly and surely getting there. I'm hanging out on the sub 3:30 thread as the 3:15 isn't that active although it seems pretty lively on here with people posting amazing times.
I'm doing Percy Pud 10k in 3 weeks then Dewsbury 10k (Feb), Ackworth Half (March), FLM (April), Sheffield Half (April), White Peak Half (May) and possibly Amsterdam in the autumn. If I don't get a sub 3:15 then there is always the possibility of knocking a minute off my HM time and getting a championship place that way. Which races are you planning?
Quick question for all, is everyone in a running club? I'm not, and I quite like being the first non affiliated athlete home on occasion, but I am seriously considering joining one of these clubs. Can't see anything bad about it and you only have to race about 10 times to get your yearly fee back by not paying the extra £2 non affiliated charge... plus you get all the training advice etc. Any comments?
At the moment I live in East London (Isle of Dogs) and work in West London (Paddington) so was thinking Serpentine would be good. Anyone here in that club and what do you think?
I liked being the non affiliated runner but it is nice when people cheer for you because of your club and can give you a boost as you tire at races.
JEJ - I was actually looking at VPH last night but I get the feel that Serpentine is a bit more established and I like the website a bit better (not so sure about the red and yellow colors but then again, red is associated with speed so that may be a good omen). I also thought with a large number of members there would be some decent interclub competition. I guess I want to get some training advice and meet new people so most clubs would suit this I suspect.
Gobi - That' something I like about the clubs is that they cheer each other on so will be better than just the marshalls giving the usual support who always seem to do a fantastic job.
Serpie to me looks a bit like supporting Man Utd
you like football and you choose a team that everyone has heard of BUT you don't know most people because none of them are local.
Have finally crawled out from under my stone.
Arrived New York evening of Thurs 1st.
With a cold.
Was worse on Fri 2nd.
Worse still Sat 3rd.
Told OH that I had yomped the length of East Falkland with a 25 pound gimpy (general purpose machine gun) to get a medal after an 8000 mile boat trip and therefore some piffling wee chest cold wasn't going to stop me collecting my New York Road Runners Medal after a 3000mile plane trip.
That was shiny and bright.
The idea, not the medal (well the medal was quite bright too).
First warning sign was my nose bleeding after the first half mile.
Got progressively less enjoyable thereafter.
Babies were crying and mothers shepherding their children away from me at the end.
Next time I'll try stciking cotton wool up me nose.
Didn't know 3hours 56mins could feel that long.
And I still have the cold.
FLM 2008 - aye right!!!!
hmmm, i don't like football but I get the analogy.
Might take another look at VPH and support east side since I live there. Probably best to go to a couple of training nights at each to get a better feel and then decide. VPH annual fee is £80 which seems steep as no club shirt included and when compared to Serpie at £55 first year (included club shirt) then £25 each year after. I would hope that the "you get what you pay for" saying wouldn't apply here... I guess that the VPH fee includes free access to Mile End track whereas Serpie doesn't? Who knows,not me.
Food for thought...........thanks again.
Yella, what a bast*rd see you in April :¬)
PaulA, time to come out and try some short stuff then.
My first claim club is Trent Park. Too out of the way for you where you live. Also costs £100 a year to be a member. Nice club house though.
Re Serpentine, my mail box is totally full of Emails from members arguing whether the club is really friendly or not. See an example below.
I marshalled the London Marathon this year, on Birdcage Walk. Whilst cheering
on as many people as I could, I made a special effort with Serpies. When
runners exhibited some form of identification such as name, running club,
national flag, charity etc, I used that as part of the greeting eg come on
Wales, not far to go Womble, well done Macmillan, come on Serpentine etc
Only about a quarter of Serpies acknowledged my greeting, compared with about
90% of 'other' runners (with a wave, a smile or a thank you). I found this odd
to say the least. In the pub afterwards, I was discussing this with a few
people, including one other Serpie who had been out supporting. He also found
Serpies to be particularly unresponsive. At this, another member of our group
said that she wasn't surprised at all as Serpentine has a well known reputation
for aloofness!!
Personally I would just join your local Club. Serpentine have over 2000 members and are now just too big.
Dull
Marders: I was considering Serpentine or VPH this year and decided to join the local club (VPH). I've only been along to a few sessions so far, but they seem a very friendly and welcoming bunch, and with a good few runners at about my level (or faster - which is what you want really). It is a bit pricey, but they do have a clubhouse and a nice bar on a Thursday night.
As well as the training sessions, there are a fair few races as well, not that I'm running any xc this winter.
Still running lots of easy miles: a 15 day streak for me (longest so far) and I feel great. 131 miles @ 7:35 pace and counting.
And Yellapunts - sometimes it's about the effort required to finish, not the time. I'd have probably pulled out - but I suspect you're not that sort of person.
You'll have much better days in the future I'm sure.
Cheers, MTR.
At least being Irish, in New York, meant I had heaps of Paddy pubs where I could cry in me beer.
And cry in my beer I did.
Apart from the fecking lergy, I felt I could run the thing all over again the next day, basically cos me legs hadn't worked that hard.
Not sure how the blood loss would have affected things though.
The OH said I said I sounded like an asthmatic goat in Central Park and there were bubbles of blood coming out me nose and mouth.
I always rely on the kinda girl who likes her men rugged.
On a more important note, there is poor Ryan Shay's family to make you keep it all in perspective.
Genuinely feel for them.
I'll be the first to admit it was foolish, Joolska.
I'll also admit that it was only a piffling noncy cold.
Remember the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
Well on a similar note .....
Not only did you dare to race when not 100%, you also finished.
More than I was able to do at Luton last year, when I seem to remember you overtaking me somewhere around the halfway mark. I ducked the third lap in that one.
Good to see you back.
Dull
Yellapunts - you did great in my book, you carried on when it would have been far easier to give up, that show determination and courage. 4 hours doesn't sound like a long time on paper, but time seems go in slow motion when you are having a bad time. Well done, you live to fight another day.
CG - I am doing the Abbey Dash a week on Sunday (which is principally why I have kept some speedwork up) which has pb potential course-wise but may be a tad conjested as it's a 'biggie' event. I am then doing the Brass Monkey half in Jan and Snake Lane 10 in February. I would also really like to do Dewsbury as it's fast and the course suits me but it's a week after the BM and my long runs may have to take priority.
I also need a race in March but haven't quite decided what yet. Ackworth is a possibility though as it's a lovely run if not exactly fast and flat!
Do stick around by the way, there have been a few 'lesser spotteds' emerging recently (me being one!) I think I can safely say we all train as hard as most of the guys and have similar aspirations/determination to get the best out of ourselves.
Yella - very honest of you to come on here and spill the beans. For the record (as those regulars know), my NY record is:-
2003 - 4.15
2005 - 3.43
2006 - 2.58
Two weeks after the race in 2005 I set a 1.21 half PB in Gosport. Just shows that some days you just can't do it for all manner of reasons. If you didn't have to get to the finish to collect your bag, I'd certainly have dropped out. No shame in that for me!
Marders - don't have to be a club member to improve. CRAB and myself have never run for a club. Personally, I prefer to run/train alone and door-to-door, although I don't doubt that running with other better athletes is probably a quicker way to improvement. I often pass my local club members (West 4 Harriers) in the opposite direction, and think I should join up; but never get round to it.
Anyone doing Watford or Wokingham halves in Feb?
Marders, not sure on the offical line, but I use Mile End track most Tuesday and Thursday evenings and, as a VPH member, haven't been asked to pay in over a year. I have on other weekday / weekend nights, but seems to depend on the member of staff.
As I see it, £80 a year (or £7 per month) ain't going to kill me - I'll just drink 2 pints less in the month if I'm really that short of cash (or save it by drinking at the club bar instead). It's hard to put a value on club membership though - sure, you save a few quid entering open races, but what is being able to meet / train with other people of similar standard worth? And how about being able to ask a 62min HM guy or an experienced club coach to comment on your plan? Some may prefer to train alone (I like to do a mix but have company for the harder sessions) and with t'internet etc it's possible to find / train with other runners / get advice from whoever without being in a club. There's probably not a huge amount of other stuff that a club can give you that you can't get / do when unattached (possible a FLM champs start is one), but these are the main reasons why I chose to join and stay with VPH:
Some of that is specific to VPH, other bits could be from any club. Serpentine are also an excellent club. I'd recommend their hill sessions in Greenwich Park (I occasionally attend as a special guest), but I think that some of their sessions involve paying a little extra each time to use facilities. You're probably best checking out both for free and seeing which makes most sense.
I've had a few clubs approach me, but always so no cos I train at 8pm ish , when all the family stuff is done. One offered me a mambership where I just ran in their name and they collected my points as a scorer, and no training fees would be paid. Still said no.
I belong to the same club as CRAB and DanA - unattached harriers, the only thing thats not good is the £2 extra on race entry fees.
Now then, a question for all - you may require your lab coats though...
Given that I managed 6:20s for 6 miles with Blisters and a tailwind on Saturday at between 83% and 85% mhr (apparently), followed by a step up in effort and the next 7 miles at around 87% to 88% mhr, peaking at 91% in the last half mile, what should I do for my marfun in less than two weeks.
Some options:
Decisions decisions
Anyway I had veggie pizza and salad.
Still jealous of your 1h 22m - but I'd have gained one more second in your shoes. How is the knee/calf after that.
My calf was fine walking round the zoo for 6 hrs, 3 weeks ago I couldn't walk without limping. Didn't run up the (10k finish) hill to recreate that photo moment though.
Think I'm going to sniff myself out a race for a months time.
The Victory 5 is in Dec (and that is Chichester std) but its a bit short and fast, and my nipper has 2pm kick off, and its an afternoon race. So it won't be that one.