Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    ps sorry... 2nd and 3rd were 4mins back..not 3/4 ..that wouldn't make sense!

  • Good result and great pace on that type of curse with some interesting sounding obstacles!

    Forgot to mention - some classic bus retching on the line as I was chased down by my name sake from Handy Cross on the line. In the end though, he let me in as his team mate told him I'd twisted my ankle in a hole just before the race and I guess he felt sorry for me! I had, and was hobbling badly before for a bit, but it was only turned and was fine once warmed up properly...

    The retching worked though, as they gave me a spot prize for sympathy - a bluetooth speaker which connects to my tablet. It sounds good and just looked it up and it costs £47 on Amazon - result!image

     

  • Good racing Bus and Stevie G.

    City of Salford 10k for me today.

    Struggling to put my 5k pace into a decent 10k time though crossed the line with a PB in 35:38.  Ran a negative split which tells me I should have done the first 5k in 17:30 rather than 18 mins then just held on for a sub 35..

  •  

    Good day of racing on the thread. Good result Bus. Always fun having a jostle as thats what racings all about! Is Wooburn where we won the team prize once SG?

      Nice Team win again from you SG even if you just had to keep it steady on your leg for the win.   Maidenhead Half for me and actually got to race it this year! No Dachs on the start line but did meet Jock Itch and TT from sub 3 thread. Plan was 5.45 per mile for first 7 miles, turn it up for a few seconds a mile between 7 -10 and then race the final miles, reeling in vests.   

    Agreed with JI who was on same time goal to run together but with first mile of the klaxon he was off. I just tried to keep on pace and after 3 miles the fast starters had died and I was in about 13th, JI one place ahead.   

    5.47, 5.40, 5.49, 5.44, 6.00,     

    I caught him at 10k, we both looked at our watches, looked at each other, looked at our watches and exchanged wonderment at basically matches our 10k PBs - 34.45 ish.  

    5.27, 5.40  

    We ran together until the mile 7 marker and time to put in some threshold I've been training so hard at. Feeling good and had a few vests coming back already to give me reason for stepping up pace. Made up 2 more places to mile 10 - 10th place.  

    5.39, 5.42, 5.40  

    At mile 10 caught the next vest. Legs were getting heavy so a quick word in his ear about if we worked together we could catch the next man and it put in the encouragement I needed. By this point we were running in back markers which slowed us but it was all about racing now.  

    5.47, 5.49  

    By the time 12 miles came, we'd caught 8th place and were running as a 3. I was feeling good, had momentum but my companion from mile 10 kept putting in surges. I guessed he didn't have a fast finish so was trying to finish us early but I stuck to him. I was enjoying this!  

    As we rounded the last corner, it's basically 400m down the pedestrianised high street to the finish. We rounded as a 3 and I basically put my foot down. Didn't look behind me just focused.   A mate of mine was watching on finish line, called my name and as I crossed the line I turned to see who it was, missing the finish clock and forgetting to stop my watch, so no splits for final 1.1  

    So as it stands, I'm not entirely sure of the result but it was definitely 1.14.4x something. Over a minute PB from March this year and 8th overall. And what's more, it was thoroughly enjoyable - all that endurance work has paid massive dividends as shown in the 10k split. Things looking good for Frankfurt.

  • Well done Johnas, a great result AND you actually managed to enjoy it! What more can you ask? Good report too.

    Tim, sounds almost like you are disappointed with a pb. Now thatcan't be rightimage

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    wow, great work, sub 1hr 15, that's one of those huge HM benchmarks isn't it, and smashed through. You've definitely stepped it up a notch now, and left me in your wake image

    I'm refusing to accept it's the marathons doing it though...refusing image

    edit...yep Wooburn was an equally silly booze related prize. Still surely the all time best Marlow striders performance, 5 in the top 13.

  • Johnas..brill HM time there, sub 1:15 is a big deal. 

    Bus...not overly disappointed but I know I should have run faster. 

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    Tim, your 5k is pretty similar to mine I seem to recall,but the longer stuff is a fair chunk off, so just that endurance needs building. How are your tempo runs? I see a lot of speedwork from you, but can't be sure I can recall much tempo stuff?

     

    Sub 1hr 15...i'd love one of those. Unless you have real mad skills or have the ability to train exceptional mileages, it's almost the last attainable round figure HM big goal isn't it.

  • What an exciting day of races! Almost as exciting as last Sunday. Well done to Johnas & Tim on the PBs, and to SG and Bus for the prizes.

    SG - if you don't want the booze I will swap it for the diamond jubilee paperweight I won in the Aston 10k if you like. You may not have any use for alcohol but you will always need to weigh paper down while thinking about the queen.

    Bus - I used to get that retching thing too; strange how it always managed to hit just on (or before) the finish line no matter what the race distance was or how fast I was going. I thought I was going to be sick on some spectating small children once. But luckily it was a false alarm.

  • Lots of good runs there. Tim, nice to see a PB after the disappointment of the last outing. Johnas, good to keep SG in his place, set him a few more targets. bus, is Abo go, no go or go easy?

  • Stevie.. You've hit the nail on the head. I don't do enough threshold work. 

  • Lit - I actually have been sick on some spectating children before now image, also on live TV when they were interviewing Jo Pavey after the GSR! Today's was close but no igar - just as well as the girl handing out the medals was the teenage daughter of one of my wife's friends and I'd have never lived down being sick over her!

  • Sorry Tim - missed your post. Well done and always celebrate a PB. I have beer on ice for my pizza later image I hope you have similar plans

    Results are in - 1.14.45. Thanks for kind words all

  • Ha! I haven't actually been sick on anyone since year 4 of primary school when I vomited on my teacher's suede shoes on a school trip and she had to be nice to me because I was only 8. I secretly hated her so was thrilled. But in races it's usually long enough since I ate that I wouldn't have anything in my stomach. It has stopped since I've given up my race morning cup of coffee.

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Right!

    I'm damned if I'm going to type all that lot again. Bloody site.

    So congratulations to all racers and runners today and over the weekend. 

     On the other hand, I'll add that a run like yours Johnas are the business. You see the numbers appearing on the watch and go from hoping for a good run, to knowing its a good run, to wondering how good its going to be.

    On the subject of relays. The team element can certainly extract a performance that can be difficult to replicate just for oneself.

    🙂

  • Ric - have you ever been mistaken for Nigel Rackham or vice versa? Well, you did today. I've only ever seen photos of you and only ever saw the back of Nigel from a distance today but seriously thought all your mileage had resulted in seriously kicking my arse at Maidenhead!

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Johnas. Yes I have indeed been mistaken for Nigel. But unfortunately its an error that only extends up until the start of the race.

    His powers of recovery are ludicrous. I took the Metropolitan Summer League off him this year because he only ran 40 minutes for 10k in the Regents park round. That was one race of the series I didn't run and assumed he must have been injured. Not quite. He'd actually run a 2:40 marathon the day before!

    He's asked to swop legs of the RNR with me. So I now run 20 miles starting at around 9:00pm, whereas instead he'll be doing slightly less but starting at some time after mid-night.

    Even worse, the forecast indicates he'll be running into a 15mph headwind for the entire distance. 

    No way would I have raced anything this weekend. I wouldn't recover in time.

    🙂

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Johnas wrote (see)

     

    Good day of racing on the thread. Good result Bus. Always fun having a jostle as thats what racings all about! Is Wooburn where we won the team prize once SG?

      Nice Team win again from you SG even if you just had to keep it steady on your leg for the win.   Maidenhead Half for me and actually got to race it this year! No Dachs on the start line but did meet Jock Itch and TT from sub 3 thread. Plan was 5.45 per mile for first 7 miles, turn it up for a few seconds a mile between 7 -10 and then race the final miles, reeling in vests.   

    Agreed with JI who was on same time goal to run together but with first mile of the klaxon he was off. I just tried to keep on pace and after 3 miles the fast starters had died and I was in about 13th, JI one place ahead.   

    5.47, 5.40, 5.49, 5.44, 6.00,     

    I caught him at 10k, we both looked at our watches, looked at each other, looked at our watches and exchanged wonderment at basically matches our 10k PBs - 34.45 ish.  

    5.27, 5.40  

    as shown in the 10k split. Things looking good for Frankfurt.


    Cracking effort upping the pace like that.

    Was there a marker for 10k?

    Although my brain is all post race and slow, those first 6miles come out as  34.27 themselves? Meaning you'd have had to cover 0.2mile in 18secs for that 34.45 for 10k reading to be valid?

    Is there something else going on? Auto/delayed mile recording or something?

    You didn't let Jock Itch do the maths did you? He was running around at the Wycombe 10k saying he'd done a pb, then realised he was a min out image

    Was mile 5 slight down, or did you just feel the urge?

    And how would you rate Maidenhead versus Reading and Wokingham?

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    I only take my 10k split by taking the time at the seven mile mark and using the average pace from that. 

    🙂

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    After the race right Ric? Such a calculation at race pace must be tricky image

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    And tiring. Thinking uses oxygen.

    🙂

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    That was the beauty today, it wasn't so black and white of what was needed per mile. It was just "run" and "hard".

    Much easier.

  • Maidenhead has both km and mile markers although, theyre put on the nearest bit of street furniture so some places bang on, others a good few metres out. All I know is that both JI and I looked at our watches at the 10k sign.

    Again, not sure about that mile 5 and then 6. Havent downloaded to garmin connect as no laptop at home. The only hill of the course is at this point but slight incline best describes it (it's a bridge over railway)

    Maidenhead flatter than other 2 for sure but some people run quicker on lumpy courses. I personally prefer flat

  • That's where I'm going worng then - thinking! I constantly try and work out pace, pace needed for X time etc - trouble is, mental maths when running is just hard!

    Lit - these suede shoes you chucked on, they weren't blue by any chance?

    I think I'll bite the bullet and do Maidenhead next year - seems worth the cost!

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    I do feel a little ashamed that I have basically become a slighty less handsome similar level of anorak version of Phil pointing that out imageimage

    The only important thing is smashing sub 1hr 15 in fairness.

     

    I remember doing an epic Wycombe 10k report once, saying how there were massive tactics going on , me v this marlow chap, splits up and down.

    Looked at it a bit later, and the reason they were so up and down was they were massively different lengths! Not km each at all.

    Interesting on Maidy though, it's changed course right from the first year or 2? Used to have steps or something?

  • The Bus wrote (see)

    Lit - these suede shoes you chucked on, they weren't blue by any chance?

    They weren't, no, as I recall they were really nasty brown court shoes with a slightly pointed square toe. Might not even have been real suede, just that horrible velvety faux-suede. She was only about 25 too. With hindsight I did her a favour. I do have some blue suede shoes myself, though. If any of my students ever vomits on them they will not live to tell the tale on an internet forum.

    Sorry, yeah, also went for a run today. image

  • Important one for me on the Garmin is av lap. As long as that's on target, all is good.

    course has changed yes (no more steps!) but overall, it's just much better organised too since that first year. Although, just found out its no longer UKA so not on PO10! Never noticed that in 2012

    ric - Nigel is a machine. Seriously impressive.

  • ML84ML84 ✭✭✭

    A very satisfying run there Johnas and great result. Hope things keep on target for the marathon. 

    another quality relay from you SG. Not a bad haul this year at all. 

    Im certain that some threshold training will help you Tim. I'm in need of some now as I aim towards the Abbey Dash. Can't complain with a PB though! 

    Solid outing Bus and good to see the racing is back after a quiet month or so on here. 

    Ive had an absolute ball this weekend and managed to tick off a race that I've been waiting 2 years to have a go at. Roughly 10 miles and 4400ft up Ben Nevis then back to the bottom. THE most painful experience and toughest thing I've ever done. 

    Picked up our race numbers after a night in Fort William and received our miniature bottle of Whisky pre race. I should've bloody drank it. Got talking to my clubmates who informed me that they ALL had gels whereas I didn't have any so was informed I best take one up with me. 

    We were then walked around the Fort William FC football pitch following a group playing the bagpipes and then off we go! First mile is on the road that leads up to a path and just decided to go steady at 6.30 min mile pace. Was running alongside former world mountain champion Angela Mudge so not in bad company! 

    then onto the ascent and climbing steadily away with the sole aim to be first runner back from my club as there had been a bit of banter and ribbing between a few of us. Eventually it gets a bit too steep and It becomes a sort of power walk/run/walk strategy to get up the big rock steps and up the path. I'd sort of settled into a group and found myself trying to stick to a runner I knew was decent on the fells and was also just in front of Angela. "20th place" was a shout I got at around half way up the ascent. By this time it's that steep with scree falling away on every step that its just a battle to put one foot in front of the other. 

    We then reach the zig zag path where the race vacates the path and goes straight up the vertical climb. Boulders, falling rocks, scree, and just absolute pain in my legs which were starting to cramp in my calves. doubts started to creep in about even making the top and quite a few times I thought the circling helicopter above would be taking me off at some point! The climb seemed to go on forever over this horrendous surface but it eventually becomes runnable as the gradient drops but its still a climb over rocks. The cramping sort of subsided once I was able to get running again and I reached the top in 1 hour 10 mins and in 23rd place. 

    Hand my token in to the waiting marshals and head back down trying to keep the legs loose, dodging walkers, bumping into runners with their heads down coming up with some spectator shouting at a bloke who had let his dog lead extend so it nearly retook me out while I'm hurtling over the rocks and boulders on a steep descent. it literally is route 1 back down over the worst terrain I've ever run on. It really needs to be seen to be believed at how reckless you need to be to descend well. I went over on my ankle but you just keep carrying on for some reason but a few runners had come past me although I thought I was descending ok. 

    The rocks then stop and you appear at the steepest grass bank I've ever come across which you descend straight down. I'd be amazed if it wasn't steeper than that cheese rolling hill and its a good couple of hundred metres in length. My legs were like absolute jelly and my quads had given up. Every time I planted a leg my quads didn't have the resistance to hold my body weight and they kept collapsing all the time. I then rolled, slid, scrambled my way down the banking and crossed the water and back onto the walkers path. 

    I then had the weakest feeling legs I'd ever experienced and

  • ML84ML84 ✭✭✭

    My legs were literally knocking together. I had to walk 10 meteres or so to try and get some feeling back in my legs. The path back down is still treacherous as you've to negotiate boulders, wet rock and really uneven terrain. Still runners were coming past me and luckily a runner I knew handed me a gel as he could see I was feeling it. went over on the same ankle another two times and let out massive yelps. It totally drains any confidence thou have of committing to the descent from then on and it becomes a job of just getting down in one piece. 

    I eventually hit the road at the bottom where I could feel the cramp so just tried to keep my steps the same throughout which had become a sort of shuffle. A mile on the road and theI onto the football field to do a lap in which is full of spectators clapping and cheering you in. I overtook two runners on the lap and crossed the line in 42nd place out of nearly 500. 1 hour 55 on the toughest terrain, ascent and descent I've ever experienced. 

    pretty pleased as I've managed 3 mile on Tarmac in the last month and 3 runs in the last 2 weeks. My kidneys felt like they wer hitting my shoulder blades all the way down the descent and I was in agony until around 8pm. Plenty of water then plenty of ale at the presentation then around fort William made it a weekend and experience ill never forget. An amazing race where you end up chatting away to the top runners while out on the ale at night. Everyone hobbling from pub to pub and swapping their stories of tackling The Ben. 

    Guess who then woke up in the middle of the night bursting for a pee and bollock naked walks out onto the hotel corridor. Door closes behind me and I'm stood on the Travelodge corridor with about 50 rooms on it. Had to hobble to reception trying to keep my bits covered and ask the lovely receptionist for a new swipe card to get back in. Prob not what she was expecting at 5am.

    ill certainly be back next year but will definitely not be racing it. I'll be an avid spectator cheering them on. The winners prize. ...:...............£50 For running up and down Britains highest mountain on the toughest terrain I've come across in 1 hour 30. 

  • mattl wrote (see)

    Guess who then woke up in the middle of the night bursting for a pee and bollock naked walks out onto the hotel corridor. 

    Nope... can't guess. Who was it?

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