GD - That sounds too far, too close to your target race and, from what PMJ says, too much like hard work! Abbers - nice 1 mile efforts. Good luck with the interviews - closer to home? Birch - good combo session. Leslie - another cracking run. KR - I'm sure they were good reps. Solid MLR too. MsE - in fine form. Easy run to the barbers and back this morning.
Having seen the weather forecast for Bath (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2656173), I'm just hoping that MsE and I can find some windbreaks. There have to be advantages to being small!
SJ - Gul's village or place where he lives must be the opposite to a sleepy village as apparently his local barber is open at ungodly hours.
RFJ - Cheers for posting that article on the ECCA XC.
Does anyone know if visiting clubs from across the water can compete in this? I'd like to do it one day, well, when I say like, I'd probably hate it.
Jools, MsE - Did I ever mention before that I loathe the wind? Good luck to you both and as you say Jools, you may be able to find a wind break, mind you I hope you don't get blown away!
Birch - You are looking good!
KR - Solid miles banked!
GD - Avoid that one like the plague if you ask me. SJ made some valid points as well as others on here.
ssc - Good advice there from VT. Calf issues are not nice. I had two bad spasms the day before I did VLM in 2013 and couldn't walk, let alone run, it was total agony.
Semi - disastrous week of what is supposed to be my "On" week of running as Monday went out and got caught in a bad hail storm, so bad, two of my fellow runners just ran off, one home and the other into a gym! I ended up abandoning it altogther as it was not pleasant at all. Tuesday was better as I had a nice 5 mile lunch beach run in the sun and then did my first ever yoga session, I really enjoyed it and will be going again!
Y'day came down with the lurgy and couldn't stand up never mind run and still feel ropey today! Ah well could be alot worse I guess.
Good to see GE getting back into the swing of things - nice MP run there.
Speedy stuff in tricky conditions from MsE as well.
GM - hope you recover quickly. Sounds as though it's been an up and down week so far.
GD - I'm a bit more relaxed that some other folks on here about the Thames Meander question. As long as you take it very easy, I'd have thought you'd be OK and it's a pleasant route along the banks of the river. I can't vouch for the conditions underfoot at the moment but my recollection is that it's footpath pretty much all the way. My only concern would be whether you'll have given your body enough time to recover from the Surrey half the previous weekend, especially if you've giving it your all that day.
Don't get too excited about the medal though!!
Jools - which orchestra are you part of? My sister in law has just joined one in Bristol.
Gul - please reassure everyone that the barbers wasn't open when you ran there!!
Gritted my teeth yesterday morning and ran my first intervals session in a while - 1600/1200/800/400/200, but only gave myself 5 out of 10 for the performance.
Some decent MLRs being posted by Leslie, Lorenzo (including intervals!) and KR.
Get well soon GM and glad you like yoga. It's an excellent activity to do in conjunction with running!
Jools - the wind forecast for Sunday looks awful. We are doomed. Doomed. Doomed. Doooooooomed... (etc.) ::end of melodramatic response::
Nearly 9 trail miles with some club mates today. Nice and easy but definitely the last arduous session before Sunday now. One of them has run London 19 times! I am definitely taking advice from her .
Stay warm and dry folks. Well, apart from when you need to go running outside.
Gerard - I think it was the yoga that gave you the lurgy! Well done for braving the elements when your mates kopped out.
Good intervals session Lorenzo. Forget the performance. If it is the first one for a while, at least you were out there doing it. It can take a few weeks to get back into that kind of session.
Leslie, will you be going to sleep after your run before your nightshift? Just wondering how it all fits in.
GM - hope you can shake off the lurgy and get well soon. Lorenzo - if they were your first intervals for a while, then they're bound to be tough and it's all good training. Leslie - you've put in a lot of effort through all your shift patterns. Night shifts are not something I'd fancy doing. MsE - I'm sure you're going to have a cracking race. Looking forward to Sunday's 16 miler - should find out for definite whether SSM is a goer. If not, then I'd rather find out accompanying my daughter on her sponsored bike ride instead of trooping down to Warwickshire only to be disappointed. Provisionally targeted 3:23:12 for Marchvelous (7:45m/m), which would be a 7min PB. And just for the record (again!), the barbers shop officially opens at 6:00am, but someone is usually there early. It's only 1.5 miles from my house, so it fits nicely in the middle of a recovery run and I can be home by about 6:20.
16 miles this morning and that is the last long run done before SSM. Don't mind admitting it felt hard but I have done 67 miles in the last 7 days including a 20 at pretend MP, a track session, 2 5k runs at reasonable pace and 2 recovery runs and now 16 today. Just to add some spice to the run, I had a plate of cheese and biscuits and a glass of port for supper and then 16 miles on fresh air this morning: not even a glass of water. 16.37 miles in 2:08 so average pace 7:51.
I see Jantastic has a new rule for the March run, so if you beat your target you now get 100% and do not get penalised for both faster and slower as you did in past years.
MsE - I cannot quite believe it has taken me so long to try yoga but I'm sooo glad I did as it just fits with everything and I love it. Without meaning to heap presurre on you, but have you got a target for Sunday?
Leslie/KR - Haha, one of them is a boxer and the other a triathlete/Ironman and then there's little old me the roadrunner. To be fair it was probably the worst I've run in.
Gul - Hope the 16 goes well on Sunday! 6am is the middle of the night!
PMJ - That sounds like my kind of supper, except swap the port for red wine. I'm not surprised that run felt hard, your legs have been worked hard over the past few months esp the last few weeks.
Lorenzo - That's a hard interval session. Well done for getting it done and another 11 miles banked too!
I think my early night last night helped a bit and although I feel full of cold I decided to go out in the pouring rain and howling wind and run! I quite enjoyed it and although the weather was awful, I felt fine.
Thanks for the comments, Team. Some very wise advice coming out, cheers. They accept late entries so I'll leave it as late as possible to make a decision based on how I feel after the Surrey Half.
Went for a very easy 7 miler yesterday with a mate, 7.40 pace felt very easy. Seemed to free the legs up because...
TODAY I GOT A LIFETIME BEST!
10k PB of 40.50 which is 6.35 pace. First time ever under 41 mins.
Filthy conditions with heavy rain and wind but I had a tempo session planned. Decided to skip the puddles on rough pavements by running to the cinder track one mile away, do 4 miles there and the mile back to the office. On the way back I noticed a sub-41 was on the cards so put the hammer down and bagged me a PB, Oh yeah, baby!
47 miles since last Saturday with another 10 planned for tomorrow night making 57 in 7 days. That's big news for me. It will mean a weekend of rest before a mini-taper for the Surrey next week. Feeling confident.
G-Dawg - great stuff. Sounds like you should be targeting a super fast PB at the Thames Meander now.
Just for the avoidance of any doubt, my intervals session was on the day before today's 11 miler. It just took me 24 hours to recover and bring myself to share it with you!!
G-Dawg - you're hitting form at the right time. Bodes well for your upcoming HM.
Gul - can't believe you have a barber that opens before 6am! That's bonkers. Job-wise, a bit of a mixture. A contract role I interviewed for today, which is a longer commute but I'd put up with that on a short-term basis for the money on offer, and a permanent position closer to home, so I'll have to see if I get offered either of them and make a decision from there. Appreciate the interest!
MsE & Jools - hope the forecast wind for Bath isn't as bad as anticipated.
Lorenzo / Leslie / others - some good miles being put in the bank. Keep it up all.
Rest day for me today to allow for interview, parent - teacher consultations at school, and various other life admin. Back on the roads tomorrow.
My barber is ready when ever I need him.... (because I do my own....)
Good form G-Dawg
Good miles all round too... keep strong all
Still managing the Hamstring tendon, its tight but allows me to run with a lot of warming up and cooling down.... worked from home today so a nice easy 30 mins this morning 3.85m then 10m tonight with 2 x 15 min blocks at MP, followed by a good massage..... Running off 4 days a week at present but all quality for me.. and equates to high 40's in relation to miles, would like it to be higher, but cannot work miricales yet....
G-Dawg great time there considering you were solo too!
You can't beat a bit of quality RFJ.
Had a great 10 mile progressive run tonight, although turned out not to be totally progressive. Splits came out at 7.49, 7.40, 7.39, 7.10, 6.33, 6.41, 6.36, 6.33, 6.26, 6.20. Just managed to dip under 70 minutes which was good (although not intentional)
G-Dawg - well done excellent pace, especially in a training run
mixed week for me MLR yesterday 15 at 8:02, fairly happy as I was on target for sub 8:00 until the last few miles into a strong wind. But seem to have picked up a lot of niggles especially my knee, 6 mile recovery today and everything seemed ok.
I have a LT run tomorrow and 22 miles on Sunday so I will see how it gets on. I had a torn cartilage about 10 years ago that seemed to heal but I still tend to be a bit paranoid about that knee.
Abbers, big tax benefits too on the contract route. I'm in a hotel tonight near Oxford for an interview tomorrow for a contract role. Doubles your take home pay for doing lower level work. Mental. As long as you can handle the insecurity and the travel.
Do what you can RFJ.
PMJ, wine from my "cellar" always tastes better on day 2. Must be buying the wrong stuff.....
Fast brick this morning - felt amazing afterwards. A 9 on the "Lorenzo scale of self flagellation" (LSOSF).
Comments
That's a good bit of running there MsE and especially off road. Good luck for Sunday.
14 miles in 7.56 av pace tonight. Didn't feel up for it but knew I had to get the midweek miles in. Did a new course which added a bit of interest.
GD - That sounds too far, too close to your target race and, from what PMJ says, too much like hard work!
Abbers - nice 1 mile efforts. Good luck with the interviews - closer to home?
Birch - good combo session.
Leslie - another cracking run.
KR - I'm sure they were good reps. Solid MLR too.
MsE - in fine form.
Easy run to the barbers and back this morning.
Excited to see how you get on at Bath Half, MsE. Good luck!
Having seen the weather forecast for Bath (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2656173), I'm just hoping that MsE and I can find some windbreaks. There have to be advantages to being small!
SJ - Gul's village or place where he lives must be the opposite to a sleepy village as apparently his local barber is open at ungodly hours.
RFJ - Cheers for posting that article on the ECCA XC.
Does anyone know if visiting clubs from across the water can compete in this? I'd like to do it one day, well, when I say like, I'd probably hate it.
Jools, MsE - Did I ever mention before that I loathe the wind? Good luck to you both and as you say Jools, you may be able to find a wind break, mind you I hope you don't get blown away!
Birch - You are looking good!
KR - Solid miles banked!
GD - Avoid that one like the plague if you ask me. SJ made some valid points as well as others on here.
ssc - Good advice there from VT. Calf issues are not nice. I had two bad spasms the day before I did VLM in 2013 and couldn't walk, let alone run, it was total agony.
Semi - disastrous week of what is supposed to be my "On" week of running as Monday went out and got caught in a bad hail storm, so bad, two of my fellow runners just ran off, one home and the other into a gym! I ended up abandoning it altogther as it was not pleasant at all. Tuesday was better as I had a nice 5 mile lunch beach run in the sun and then did my first ever yoga session, I really enjoyed it and will be going again!
Y'day came down with the lurgy and couldn't stand up never mind run and still feel ropey today! Ah well could be alot worse I guess.
Good to see GE getting back into the swing of things - nice MP run there.
Speedy stuff in tricky conditions from MsE as well.
GM - hope you recover quickly. Sounds as though it's been an up and down week so far.
GD - I'm a bit more relaxed that some other folks on here about the Thames Meander question. As long as you take it very easy, I'd have thought you'd be OK and it's a pleasant route along the banks of the river. I can't vouch for the conditions underfoot at the moment but my recollection is that it's footpath pretty much all the way. My only concern would be whether you'll have given your body enough time to recover from the Surrey half the previous weekend, especially if you've giving it your all that day.
Don't get too excited about the medal though!!
Jools - which orchestra are you part of? My sister in law has just joined one in Bristol.
Gul - please reassure everyone that the barbers wasn't open when you ran there!!
Gritted my teeth yesterday morning and ran my first intervals session in a while - 1600/1200/800/400/200, but only gave myself 5 out of 10 for the performance.
Decent 11 miles this morning though.
Gerard- those lightweight pals of yours quit too easy when it got tough !
Kr-good mlr
Lorenezo- nice 11 and intervals, I've sacked intervals this week as its wrecking my bad knee
12.5m easy this morn before nightshifts start again
Some decent MLRs being posted by Leslie, Lorenzo (including intervals!) and KR.
Get well soon GM and glad you like yoga. It's an excellent activity to do in conjunction with running!
Jools - the wind forecast for Sunday looks awful. We are doomed. Doomed. Doomed. Doooooooomed... (etc.) ::end of melodramatic response::
Nearly 9 trail miles with some club mates today. Nice and easy but definitely the last arduous session before Sunday now. One of them has run London 19 times! I am definitely taking advice from her .
Stay warm and dry folks. Well, apart from when you need to go running outside.
Gerard - I think it was the yoga that gave you the lurgy! Well done for braving the elements when your mates kopped out.
Good intervals session Lorenzo. Forget the performance. If it is the first one for a while, at least you were out there doing it. It can take a few weeks to get back into that kind of session.
Leslie, will you be going to sleep after your run before your nightshift? Just wondering how it all fits in.
NIce 9 trail miles banked MsE.
Lorenzo: BHCO and NBS.
GM - hope you can shake off the lurgy and get well soon.
Lorenzo - if they were your first intervals for a while, then they're bound to be tough and it's all good training.
Leslie - you've put in a lot of effort through all your shift patterns. Night shifts are not something I'd fancy doing.
MsE - I'm sure you're going to have a cracking race.
Looking forward to Sunday's 16 miler - should find out for definite whether SSM is a goer. If not, then I'd rather find out accompanying my daughter on her sponsored bike ride instead of trooping down to Warwickshire only to be disappointed. Provisionally targeted 3:23:12 for Marchvelous (7:45m/m), which would be a 7min PB.
And just for the record (again!), the barbers shop officially opens at 6:00am, but someone is usually there early. It's only 1.5 miles from my house, so it fits nicely in the middle of a recovery run and I can be home by about 6:20.
16 miles this morning and that is the last long run done before SSM. Don't mind admitting it felt hard but I have done 67 miles in the last 7 days including a 20 at pretend MP, a track session, 2 5k runs at reasonable pace and 2 recovery runs and now 16 today. Just to add some spice to the run, I had a plate of cheese and biscuits and a glass of port for supper and then 16 miles on fresh air this morning: not even a glass of water. 16.37 miles in 2:08 so average pace 7:51.
I see Jantastic has a new rule for the March run, so if you beat your target you now get 100% and do not get penalised for both faster and slower as you did in past years.
MsE - I cannot quite believe it has taken me so long to try yoga but I'm sooo glad I did as it just fits with everything and I love it. Without meaning to heap presurre on you, but have you got a target for Sunday?
Leslie/KR - Haha, one of them is a boxer and the other a triathlete/Ironman and then there's little old me the roadrunner. To be fair it was probably the worst I've run in.
Gul - Hope the 16 goes well on Sunday! 6am is the middle of the night!
PMJ - That sounds like my kind of supper, except swap the port for red wine. I'm not surprised that run felt hard, your legs have been worked hard over the past few months esp the last few weeks.
Lorenzo - That's a hard interval session. Well done for getting it done and another 11 miles banked too!
I think my early night last night helped a bit and although I feel full of cold I decided to go out in the pouring rain and howling wind and run! I quite enjoyed it and although the weather was awful, I felt fine.
Quality fuelling PMJ. How's the gout? Very solid campaign successfully negotiated, hope the taper runs smoothly.
Good luck to the weekend racers and may the weather be more kind than currently predicted.
Get well soon GM.
The port was Cockburn's which is not as painful as it sounds. Port keeps for a week (or so I am told) but wine goes off after a few hours.
SJ, gout is fine this time round, killed VLM last year for me. The big difference is 10 weeks up to 55 miles as opposed to 18 weeks on 55-70 miles.
PMJ - I've had Cockburn's a few times and I agree it's ok. Yes, my wine certainly "goes" well within a few hours.
SJ - Thanks man. You're funny!
MsE - Good target! Would that be a pb??
Thanks for the comments, Team. Some very wise advice coming out, cheers. They accept late entries so I'll leave it as late as possible to make a decision based on how I feel after the Surrey Half.
Went for a very easy 7 miler yesterday with a mate, 7.40 pace felt very easy. Seemed to free the legs up because...
TODAY I GOT A LIFETIME BEST!
10k PB of 40.50 which is 6.35 pace. First time ever under 41 mins.
Filthy conditions with heavy rain and wind but I had a tempo session planned. Decided to skip the puddles on rough pavements by running to the cinder track one mile away, do 4 miles there and the mile back to the office. On the way back I noticed a sub-41 was on the cards so put the hammer down and bagged me a PB, Oh yeah, baby!
47 miles since last Saturday with another 10 planned for tomorrow night making 57 in 7 days. That's big news for me. It will mean a weekend of rest before a mini-taper for the Surrey next week. Feeling confident.
GD
Kr-I find if I don't get a 3hr kip before the first night things just go on a downward spiral to exhaustion
Gul- I thought you were on permanent nights the time you get up
PMJ-liking the pretend mara pace Easy on the port though !
MSE- sure you can do it
G-gawg-pavement pb's excellent get in a race soon.
Pavement PBs, haven't seen that for a while (Samir).
G-Dawg - great stuff. Sounds like you should be targeting a super fast PB at the Thames Meander now.
Just for the avoidance of any doubt, my intervals session was on the day before today's 11 miler. It just took me 24 hours to recover and bring myself to share it with you!!
G-Dawg - you're hitting form at the right time. Bodes well for your upcoming HM.
Gul - can't believe you have a barber that opens before 6am! That's bonkers. Job-wise, a bit of a mixture. A contract role I interviewed for today, which is a longer commute but I'd put up with that on a short-term basis for the money on offer, and a permanent position closer to home, so I'll have to see if I get offered either of them and make a decision from there. Appreciate the interest!
MsE & Jools - hope the forecast wind for Bath isn't as bad as anticipated.
Lorenzo / Leslie / others - some good miles being put in the bank. Keep it up all.
Rest day for me today to allow for interview, parent - teacher consultations at school, and various other life admin. Back on the roads tomorrow.
My barber is ready when ever I need him.... (because I do my own....)
Good form G-Dawg
Good miles all round too... keep strong all
Still managing the Hamstring tendon, its tight but allows me to run with a lot of warming up and cooling down.... worked from home today so a nice easy 30 mins this morning 3.85m then 10m tonight with 2 x 15 min blocks at MP, followed by a good massage..... Running off 4 days a week at present but all quality for me.. and equates to high 40's in relation to miles, would like it to be higher, but cannot work miricales yet....
G-Dawg great time there considering you were solo too!
You can't beat a bit of quality RFJ.
Had a great 10 mile progressive run tonight, although turned out not to be totally progressive. Splits came out at 7.49, 7.40, 7.39, 7.10, 6.33, 6.41, 6.36, 6.33, 6.26, 6.20. Just managed to dip under 70 minutes which was good (although not intentional)
G-Dawg - well done excellent pace, especially in a training run
mixed week for me MLR yesterday 15 at 8:02, fairly happy as I was on target for sub 8:00 until the last few miles into a strong wind. But seem to have picked up a lot of niggles especially my knee, 6 mile recovery today and everything seemed ok.
I have a LT run tomorrow and 22 miles on Sunday so I will see how it gets on. I had a torn cartilage about 10 years ago that seemed to heal but I still tend to be a bit paranoid about that knee.
Abbers, big tax benefits too on the contract route. I'm in a hotel tonight near Oxford for an interview tomorrow for a contract role. Doubles your take home pay for doing lower level work. Mental. As long as you can handle the insecurity and the travel.
Do what you can RFJ.
PMJ, wine from my "cellar" always tastes better on day 2. Must be buying the wrong stuff.....
Fast brick this morning - felt amazing afterwards. A 9 on the "Lorenzo scale of self flagellation" (LSOSF).
SlokeyJoe - as long as you are IR35 compliant
Take care JF2. Niggle plus those hard sessions in quick succession sounds a bit risky.