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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Friend from Datchet took them.
Here is a classic form the start, spot the guy who totally misread it and finished 25 minutes behind the winner but is in this photo (and not PC)
Oh well, wife working nights this weekend so I had to make the call whether to run in Thursday to secure childcare. And with aborting Thursdays run and HR showing I hadn't recovered from flu, DNS was only option.
Felt great this morning though and HR back to normal. Typical! Still, 21 miles in the bag instead
Phil, with no uncertainty at all, that had to be the Handy Cross fella. Was most startled to see him ahead a reasonable time in, though maybe it was only half mile-mile
Bit of research shows he's naughtily using someone else's number too.
Johnas, 21 shows you're back again! P&D schedule for London by any chance?
Nice photo Phil. Mine is the gloved arm just below the open car boot.
Nice 21 in the bag Johnas, hopefully you're over the illness.
Cheers for the comments all. I'm certainly starting to think 70 may be realistic one day. Two years? Maybe... I will have a damn good crack at it anyway.
It is an interesting one Pete. I think the longer the distance the more important you have a good volume of training, as Bus says.
In my case I do not have that 50 miles a week, I was more like mid 30's (before injury). I then did 8,1,2,27,23 in the 5 weeks leading up to the race. I suspect a seasoned runner with a PB closer their potential would have canned the race.
I must admit, I have always felt that others are running too slow at XC rather than me running too slow on the roads. I think you just have to be more aggressive in XC, rather than getting into a rhythm and staying there. I guess there's a lot more acceleration and deceleration as the terrain varies. I've played a lot of football and maybe that sort of ballistic background helps with this sort of running.
In that 5 weeks though Andrew, I expect you were doing other sports that "topped" things up.
I suppose you'll have to watch you build up in the right way if your plan is to do 50miles a week running, on top of the other parts.
Right, look forward to a nice long sleep now, as that run the day after a half is always massively "after the Lord Mayor's show" isn't it.
Yes I did plenty of XT, consequently during today's race I couldn't have felt more comfortable aerobically, for most of it. My legs however, that was a different story. They were very heavy.
Hi Johnas - shame you weren't there, but a 21 is a pretty good alternative!
Yes, Mr K - I did try and warn him at the start! To be fair, although far too close to the start, he was expecting closer to 1:23 but suffered cramps in the last 3.
Right, now the stomach churning has finally stopped, it's time for bed!
Funnily enough though, I see both the senior male and female winners at Wokey today were from my old coaching group
Training string throught as normal but Jonhas nice 21 miler and good to see you back training strong!
Well done all I've only had a quick scan as just back from a skiing holiday and I can't keep up with all the posts if I missed anything sorry it's not intended
Ah, saving your run for the TV cameras:
Great results at Wokey! Facebook and Strava gave the game away well before the thread did. Very impressive performances all round and a welcome return to road racing for SG.
16km on the plan yesterday so ran back from Woodley. By the time I had got lost in Dinton pastures, crossed the Lodden river n times and finally got home I had run 20.4km. Was tempted to add on 700m to bag a not-Wokey HM but was glad to be home. No point in distance for distance sake. Biggest run week for some time.
Spent the evening in the local Healthspace (?!) with the boy who is still unwell. Some form of chest infection...
Hope that clears soon Iron.
Welcome back Rob!
3000 runners? What's that all about?!
Feel a bit washed out today and in need of a good fry-up!
OK, Wokingham report.
So bus, SG and me rolled up early and parked close by the start in a residential area to avoid faffing round with baggage drop etc. I don't know why but Wokingham always seems to be a cold race prior to the start: I guess it is one of the earliest half marathons so it probably is simply the fact that it is cold but also many races seem to start in sports centres or scout huts etc so there is the chance to sit inside for a while. Numbers were down on previous years but the event was sold out. When I look at finishers, I see 2,185 finished in 2013 and 1,670 this year, so over 500 fewer. The race was cancelled in 2014 and numbers rolled over and I think the organisers made a mistake by renewing all entries by default: I didn't even have to reply to an email to get my number rolled over and as doing nothing is the easiest option, I am sure that is what most did. I bet a lot of those 500 were non-runners doing a marathon in 2014 as a bucket list event and had no interest at all in running a half in February 2015.
Shuffled off for a nominal warm-up but while I definitely need a warm up for shorter distances, 13 miles is best tackled on fresh legs and a slow first mile is a good substitute for a warm up. It was good anyway as we ran the last half mile of the course to get a reminder of it for when we do it in real 13 miles later.
Bit of messing round hanging outside the gents waiting for someone who was not there and eventually got into place next to the sub 1:25 starting sign. Those nearby were clearly not sub 1:25 and in normal circumstances I would have pushed forward but wanted a controlled run so didn't.
First 10km were fairly straight forward. The plan was to run at 4 minutes per km but rather than hit 4 as an average I was trying to ensure I didn't go as slow as 4, so kept on knocking out 3:5x kms and got to 10km in 39:03. There were a few windy sections but early on there were plenty of bunches to tuck into and avoid it. Needless to say the first few kms were just solid with slower runners completely misjudging pace.
At this point a tall Farnham Runner passed me and I settled down about 20 metres back from him and followed him as he picked off runners one by one. By now, the pace was starting to tell a bit and rather than holding it back to hit 4 I was having to keep an eye on pace and push on a bit to keep it even. Through 16 km (10 miles) in 62:47 which is a good sign for later this spring for the Maidenhead 10 mile.
The nature of the race then changed. From 10 to 16 km, it was just a gradual catching up of runners ahead, but nothing drastic. Two things changed: runners who had got the pace wrong started to come back really fast but also there seemed to be a steady stream of runners coming through very string at the finish: presumably people who were doing it as a structured run. This made it a lot harder to judge pace as holding position was no longer a good guide. 10 to 11 is also a hard part of Wokingham with the motorway bridge and the climb up through the wood which you just don't even notice on the way out but tell on the way back in.
Got to 18km in 71 minutes and knew that if I produced the last 3 km at 4 minute average it would be 1:23.xx so just knuckled down and knocked off 4:01, 4:00 and 4:02 and then a little flourish for the last 97.5m at 5:16 pace.
1:23:27 on the Garmin, 1:23:28 on chip so happy with that. Plan was 1:24:23 so basically I held that minute I had up on plan at 10km all the way to the end. Overall it was nice to get a 83.xx after a few years of posting 84.xx.
nice concise report Phil. It always feels good getting such an early half marathon done and dusted to get the year rolling.
I hope there weren't too many people on the waiting lists frustrated by not being able to get a place. That'd be frustrating when they see the finishing total!
Awkward for organisers though. Not offer the carry over, and people will think twice about risking a winter race. But on the other hand it's not good to in effect have the race sold out before it's even opened.
SG: I got an email form the organisers in September and then without doing anything at all, my number arrived in January. If they had adopted an opt-in rather than opt-out policy I am sure they would have got a better balance.
I'd agree with that. They could probably have offered a few hundred places anyway as it could almost be guaranteed a lot would not turn up.
They probably had their reasons though.
Some fantastic stuff over the weekend - I'm on lunch again so only had the chance to have a skim through - I try and get on the PC in the evenings usually so I don't get left behind!
Dachs - incredible running and more great insights about how we all feel during these races! It's given me more belief to be more aggresive at Reading and try for lower 73 rather than just getting in the 73's. I hope a few on here are doing it - feel a bit left our not doing it
.great weather too yesterday wasn't it!
I had a decent weekend - 22nd in the Surrey League at Richmond and 2nd V40 behoind the machine Greenwood! nice firmish course and only gradual climbs. Sadly got tripped with about 1/2 a mile to go, but felt fast again and looking forward to the Lytchett 10 on Sunday...
Simon, I think it's down to the course sometimes. Wokingham I think you have to go hard out, as there's a the slight down gradient, and you will slow for the last 3miles due to the opposite.
Whereas if you go off hard at Wycombe for instance with the hill you'll be ruined!
Got my car back at last!, Got £40 extra off the bill, which for the sake of a couple of phone calls was well worth it. They wouldn't take another £10 off to round it to £800 though, so i guess i hit the sweet spot of negotiation!
Certainly won't be using £20 of that to buy my Wokingham snaps though. My work mate said I looked ill and pale!
But hey, that was on the finish line! Doubt anyone looks too gorgeous there. (ps Phil, no need to send me any from this race ta old son!)
Ah come on! Photos that bad need sharing. Must admit though the photographers got it wrong with the finish line camera as just about everyone seems to be more interested in pressing stop on the Garmin than smiling for the birdie.
I can't really remember any photographers, let alone doing any posing.
I think looking rough in race photos is a sign you've worked at the right level. Most of my pics last week looked fairly decent
I think I look surprisingly fresh in the finish line ones - should have ignored the blisters and worked harder
. I'm not paying those process for a digital pic though!
Calves are sore now!
Well I am pretty bloody sore today, hamstrings, calves, and sadly achilles are all talking to me. In a way it's a good sign, I obviously wan't conditioned to run that far at that pace. So if, and only if I can fix this achilles, there should be plenty of room for improvement at Reading. I am considering another week off now to see if I can get it healed.
Andrew, I missed a week after a Wokingham once, locked my back out. Normally after a half the aches wear off after a couple of days. That year they hadn't by the end of the week, and then it just locked!
You'll be ok though, a super easy week this week won't be a bad idea.
I think I am going to can the Milton Keynes marathon idea, I really want to do the GFA but reckon the chances of injury are too high.
Is GFA 3.05 for an under 40 male? What's that? Just over 7min miling. Sounds comfy when you word it like that, but 26.2miles if you've not got the miles in your legs can only be a world of pain.
Still, you don't need to decide now do you? At probably your lowest ebb when it's all feeling knackered...let this race get out of your system first
I don't need to decide, but I'd like to structure my training appropriately. I am limited by my fragile body at the moment, so it doesn't really matter right now.
How are we all feeling this morning?
9km easy early doors, nice to get back in daylight now. Slight niggle in my LH foot on the outside under the ankle, as if I had been running solely on the outside, which is entirely possible as I'm still using elastic laces. I'll see how it fares over the day; track tomorrow so hopefully it won't stop me doing that.
hope that eases Iron.
As for me, bit tight in the quads, but that's simply 2 days after a half feeling.
Am definitely ready to crack on tomorrow.
Think those 2 races have re-ignited things nicely. The XC was a loosener, and sunday was spot on what I was looking for.
Have been sniffing through my past results history, and it's very obvious how time can slip away very quickly. Haven't done a 10mile race since October 2012, didn't do any 5ks in the summer series, only 1 xc in that series....easy to fall out of it.