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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Bracknell parkrun for me. But that is not a race (not for me anyhow). MrsCat5 is on the 40km elite drinks station.
Good luck all.
Bus - it's 4th May so week on Monday!
You'll be fine then - just need to use the force on that day!
Same day as Shinfield 10km. Anyone else doing Shinfield?
Possiblement, but there is also the Chalgrove Festival 10k, or Pednor 5 in the evening!
Given the start times, it is possible to do all three, or as Simon Sikora did last year, run the MK marathon in the morning, then do the Pednor 5 in the evening, just for a laugh
AG - it'll be an interesting experiment in case anyone else is curious.
7.03 average to break 3.05. In a race that will most likely feel super slow, but then would you still need to have at least sampled what 18-22miles feels yourself first?
Any idea when you need to have lodged a GFA time to qualify for London?
I'm sure for championship start it stretches at least until November, as I've seen plenty use Gosport and even Marlow (!) to try to get the sub 1hr 15!
One last question, before I get too drawn into all this nonsense distance stuff, if you qualify in the ballot (which I believe only opens for about a week), when do you actually hear if you're in? And do you quote what time you'll "probably" race it in, or do they just stash you amongst the pack?
I once turned up with this possibility.
Forgive me laying out some background to explain why it wasn't the craziest decision for me at the time.
Old Marlow championship worked like this
One road race, I turned up with a fever. I didn't want to waste the year's road racing efforts and automatically come outside the top 3 by missing a race, so vowed to start, and worst case (if my mate overtook me!!) drop out, and get the 11 points at least.
in the end I somehow managed to get round and not too far off normal anyway. Although "Normal" at the time was actually what I was doing MT hilly 10ks in! And this was a flat road race, so probably more obviously off pace then I realised at the time.
The points system was retweaked after that season, so that it started the other way round. 1st home got "top points" as in 30 or 40 ( I forget now), and then it filtered down by 1. That way you weren't punished for doing the lesser well attended races.
** I retweaked the system even more before I left, to stop runners having to do every race to win a category. So instead of needing say 5 from 5, it became say 4 from 6. Much fairer, and not over rewarding turn up over speed.
I did look back in dismay the following year to see they were doing nonsense like santa 5ks, parkruns and races with 3 different distances, but had to let it go.
What's all this Star Wars talk?
Rob - I am only running it to get the GFA, if I look like missing out then there's no logic in carrying on. Whether I could stop is another question. I don't have a DNF to my name in any race yet.
The deadline is a date in July, can't remember exactly.
SG - I did do one long run a few weeks ago 21 miles @ 7.47 the first 17 miles were XC you'd have loved it
Last 4 miles were at M on the pavement.
It takes ages before they tell you you didn't get in via the ballot. I think you quote a time not sure if they order you via time.
July? For April the next year? My word. Got to plan this stuff out.
Get to 20 and then take it from there. At 16 you should feel easy, but by 20 it can be totally different. If I was shooting at 3:05 with half an eye on sub-3 I'd try and get to halfway in about 1:31. 90 seconds faster than even at halfway gives you the chance to do the second half 3 minutes slower and hit your target, or stay on pace and get close to 3 dead by pushing the last 6 miles.
May the force (May the 4th) be with you.
July is late. I planned for VLM 2016 by running spring 2015 and training late 2014.
Welcome back Philip - what time is it for you???
Andrew - I'd agree with Philip that 20 should be the target for a final decision on the day and the logic for the second half. I'd personally want a bigger buffer than that at halfway though, as the wheels can really come off after 20, even if you have banked a few 20+training runs. What that buffer should be is the really tricky question for you though as too much early on and it may all fall apart completely, but too little and the inevitable tail off could take you past your target. It is really difficult to know how your long bike endurance will transfer on the day! My gut feeling would be first half in slightly sub 1:30, aim for a 3 and have the 5 mins to fall back on.
Parkrun this morning in 16:28. Not where I want to be yet, but vaguely on the right track. Thought I'd see how long I could hold 5:10s. The answer was not much more than a mile. Last mile I maybe didn't force the pace super hard. Think if I had started a little more measured it might have been a smidgen quicker.
Dachs, this is all due to your own time field. My Garmin time was 19:22 and parkrun give me 19:22 as well but I run at a normal speed. Time slows down as you move faster, so on your watch it is 16:28 but to the static observer it is 16:30. All consistent, just google Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction.
Time also slows down the old codgers taking the finish times.
Because they know this as a fact, they start their watches before the starter says 'go' and only stop them when someone else reminds them to.
To counter this anomaly, at last years Southern Road Relay, I started my own watch when the incoming runner was no closer than 20 metres away and only stopped the watch after the handover, a short walk and sit down. They added 5 seconds. So not good enough.
However, at Battersea Park last week they surpassed themselves by adding a full 30 seconds to a 30:00 (by my watch) 5 mile race.
I guess the mix of threes and zero's got them confused. No wonder 'chip' timing came into being.
🙂
After track Tuesday, I did 10.5 miles at 7:27, then Thursday did 9 miles at 7:04 average. Friday was a rest day and a sports massage. Really sorted my back out.
So today I did my first 10 miler in 4 years (old PB 61:41) so a PB was guaranteed. Was very windy early doors, 16MPH with gusts but stayed open minded. It was a two lap course so you can spot the two miles each lap into a headwind (all over 6mins).
5:50
6:06
6:13 (I'd written a good time off here)
5:54
5:57
5:55
6:12
6:21
Got to 8 miles in 48:22 so knew I need to get going, mile 9 in 5:51 and then finished with a 5:45 to give me 59:54. First sub 60 and very unexpected! Came 5th overall.
Good luck to all the London boys tomorrow. Best of luck, and try to enjoy the experience.
Nice one Stevie! Sub hour for 10 is always a good feeling! Very strong finish and a good position to boot!
Welcome back Ric! Nice 5 miler ....
Good luck tomorrow Johnas and anyone else doing London!
Well done Ss, you are now considered to be a decent club runner in the most traditional sense.
Cheers Bus. I was 3rd V50 by some margin.
🙂
Assumed course always measures 5.1x km for me, so plenty of modification needed.
Well done SS.
Ran Bracknell parkrun this morning. It seems it is entirely uphill and designed by Escher himself. Apart from the bit that looks like an uphill, but is in-fact downhill. A whole new course to learn how to run. Nice springing woodchip path section through the woods with the pines smelling nice.
Ran there and back too, so just shy of 10mi in the bank. Plan said run steady (~HM pace) so was hoping for somewhere between 4:15 and 4:30/km, and after the week I'd had it came out at 4:23/km. Happy.
Iron, I also did Bracknell pr (must look you up next time and say hello). Its certainly an interesting and varied course, feels almost like a mini xc. 19'28 for me which got me 4th. Slowest time for a while but I think that must be one of the hardest courses so happy enough.
Nice Parkrunning to Phil, Pete and Iron too.
Welcome back Ric, nothing worse than seeing 1 second on, nevermind 30! Still pisses me off that I've got a 54.00 10 mile PB and not 53.59. Stern faced cow gave a regular face at her races a 59.59 as he'd never broken the hour. Made a big song and dance about him at the presentation too.
I'm not bitter though.
Well done SS! Them big weeks seem to be paying off, coupled with the speed work.
What's Abingdon Marathon like? I'm on the waiting list at the minute. I really want to do an Autumn marathon before doing Manchester next year. I think the training will benefit me in the long run at the shorter distances. Chester and York clash with holidays but Frankfurt is also at the end of October I think.
Got out early this morning for a planned 10 mile threshold. Hoping to keep building on them in the lead up to Edinburgh and also make sure I get a track session in each week. Came out at 57.50 but although my HR was in my threshold zone, my legs weren't. Probably due to being on course to hitting 80+ miles for the last 3 weeks.
Also went to watch the Yorkshire 3 peaks race today. An unbelievable race that I'd love to do again. So many races but they all bloody clash!
Great work with the threshold Matt. Shame you can't do Chester, I'm getting more excited about popping my cherry.
Great Park running from everyone - Pete, Dachs, Iron (anyone else I've forgotten)
Welcome back to the fold Ric. Yes, like you say, I've passed the old benchmark for a club runner the esteemed 60 min. Seems to mean sod all these days to most as 10 miles is a more traditional distance and rarely raced.
Matt - Abingdon can't be bad, Matt B from Southampton ran 2:27 in 2013... Nice 10miler as noted allready!
Nice parkrunning IC and Pete
Dachs - A few seconds oh well, don't let it add to your concerns with the session you did other day, low 16s anyway when your legs aren't in full swing is a great effort, imagine when things come together!
SS- Nice 10mile PB
Race day tomorrow, shitting it!
SS, great work on the 10 miler, and the hour must be one of the most satisfying barriers to break. I like the way you got back on it when the paces started to slip early on.
Good parkrunning Iron and Pete.
Matt, Abingdon is a very good course, and is my PB. It's low key, which I like, but don't expect much support. Pretty much flat, 2 laps of the middle bit, not scenic, but if you're worried about scenery then you're running too slow.
The parkrun course is a fairly middling one, not one of the slowest ones, but too many twists for it to be fast. Generally I struggle to hit 10k pace on it, unless really in top 5k shape. I ran 16:05 on it once, the week before my 15:42 5k last year, but that was a full on burn up with some of the fast boys from the local AC.
Yep, good luck Scott, you must have a load of pent up racing frustration to take out tomorrow. Hit it hard.
I'd agree with Dachs about Abingdon Matt (nice parkrunning by the way Dachs, and you too Iron - sounds an interesting one!). It's a pretty fast course, with a nice stadium start and finish and good facilities, though you may be short of company at your end of the field. Just don't park in the official car park - it's close at the start, but somehow they move it a thousand mile walk away after the finish
A sub 58 training 10M at the end of an 80M week is most impressive!!
Go for it Scott!!
Been busy on here the last 2 days, good PR from Dachs, Pete and Iron great 10 mile PB from SS among the highlights, we all seem to be getting there as such. Read through all the pages so apologies for missing out anyone!
So as expected at Bedford for the 1500 it was really windy down the back straight which was a pain. Doing a non scoring I was wondering if there was much point tbh, but why not I suppose. First 400 was a disappointing 69/70 so pushed up a bit into 3rd and hit 800 in about 2.17, a bit better. Got to the bell in about 3.06 and ended up with 4.17.6. Pretty pleased as wanted sub 4.15- the missus was chatting to Paula's coach Alec and he reckoned 1 sec per lap for the wind, so I'll factor that in (having that)
Suppose the most pleasing thing was my legs felt quite strong and unlacticy. The rest of the afternoon was spent checking the footie. Can't believe my little underachieving AFCB team are 1 win away from the Prem. Utter madness.