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The Middle Ground
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Andrew: Yes me too seems it could so easy be a disaster with London next week.
I had a good race as in it went to plan I started slow and just enjoyed the run the sun was shining it is very scenic not flat and a lot of fun I did not have a bad mile and I am back uninjured and a high week 50 miles and run 7 days on the trot.It was my slowest but time was not an issue for me today
I enjoyed the banter and helping a runner over the last 3 miles as he kicked far too early and was paying for it we then picked up a few more girls struggling and we all the line together sort of.
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
Well done WP.
Good race for me ... target was sub70 based on last 10K race and managed 69:29 with a big negative split. Fastest 2 miles were the last 2 ... fastest mile was the last one. No one came past me in the 2nd half.
7:03 ? bpm
7:00 ? bpm
7:01 147/155 bpm
6:59 147/152 bpm
7:03 150/154 bpm
6:47 151/155 bpm
7:09 148/152 bpm
7:02 153/156 bpm
6:44 155/157 bpm
6:41 154/160 bpm
And sensibly enjoyed, WP!
Some great well paced running everyone!
Parkrun Saturday was my best for a while. Had no idea what was possible but knew I could run at 6:3x's on tired legs so just went for it. Managed 6:32, 6:45 (turnaround), 6:34, 6:19 for the odd bit to finish in a course best of 20:57. Can't wait to try a road 5k, this crappy gravel footpath is horrible to run on! Must be a good 30 seconds to have there.
75 miles out on the road bike today, nice and sunny but pretty windy
Excellent Dr Dan...you must be very happy with that progress!
Good to see you racing WP. Is the course there largely flat btw? And does it cover part of the Llanelli half route?
Great consistency streak Alehouse. Find it tough even with steady / easy running where I live as there are not many flat bit's and find it breaks any rhythm even with those runs. It's the lumpy nature of the undulations here more than anything. There is one road here called Sleepers Hill which is particularly nasty!
Decent parkrun and bike ride iower.
Andrew, I didnt this weekend but did a Parkrun at effort last year the week before Manchester marathon which wasn't great (although not as bad as my effort last weekend) but found that it had no impact on the marathon itself. As for worrying about injuries in taper, perhaps I'm complacent as haven't had any nasty ones for a few years now.
Feeling in much better shape here and about to go out for 10 as the final longer run. Managed a few at desired maration pace yesterday and it felt good.
Weather still looking unusually cold for late April next weekend. Brrr!
Dan: Great work well done.
WJH:It is mostly flat some big lumpy bits, at around 8 miles not on llanelli half route but the rest was you do the first 8 toward BurryPort and back to Llanelli festival fields then on to Llanelli half route and turn back. The winner of the half ran it in 1.16 and the full marathon 2.42 which is 2 laps.Parking is free and a 2 min walk to start lots of toilets drink stations and plenty of support.Also a lovely medal the half is the map of wales and the full got a dragon and a beany hat to keep you warm
Recover run all done 4 miles and no issues the hip settled down Yay 9 weeks for my next half that I want to do well in
Good luck for last long run but is 10 not too long? I would have thought around 7-8 miles.
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
Sounds like a decent route WP. Not looking to do another marathon soon but always looking at options for Welsh races as noted previously. Will hopefully enter some races over the coming weeks once London is out of the way and sorted out whether to stay with my current club or not as looking to move pretty soon and may never be able to make club nights - plus the annual membership is expensive at that if not likely to be there long. Something I need to make a final decision on once London is done!
As for the 10...I did this last year on the final weekend / Monday and year previous but certainly take that point. Will be taking it very easy apart from a few MP effort and strides and hopefully that will be no detriment to Sunday. Planing on three 5 milers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but if anyone thinks I should do different then it would be helpful to have some advice with that.
Well done Dan! Sub 70 is excellent and to pick up the pace in the last couple of miles shows really good fitness. You've obviously reaped the rewards of a good solid training block.
Ran a sort of progressive 6.5 miles last night. Started very slowly with my fiance (2 miles at 11min pace) then ran 4 miles at between 7:00 and 7:5x pace.
Still finding that easy pace hard to hit! I need to be at 8 min miles I think.
It's that time of year again, the one where a pub called The Red Lion beckons
How many MGers are lined up this year?
I can confirm that Dr Dan is looking every bit the lean mean racing machine that the recent improvement in times suggest. On Sunday at Vale of York he was calm as a cucumber before, during and after ......... looking firward to that autumn marathon Dan.
One of these days I must pop into the Red Lion at this time of year, PRF! Not that I will have run 42k or so beforehand! Say hi to HO: she seems to be going pretty well! Enjoy the preamble to the alehouse on Sunday! Look forward to hearing the report(s)!
You must do that Alehouse, the last couple of years in the Red Lion have lasted long into the evening. The VLM thing is a very minor part of the day
HO is indeed doing reasonable, British 50k Champion amongst other stuff
Well run Dr Dan, I was about half a mile behind you (73.37). I put this down to A: being old, and B: pesky chest infection for the last month blocking the airways. No matter, I put a vest & number on so your victory is truly valid! Congrats on the sub 70.
By the look of the forecast we might have to wrap up warm for the Red Lion PRF. I thought it was just the north that gets chilly!
Good to see you popping in, Wardi! The Sam Smith's was in particularly good form this evening post run, although £3.60 is a bit excessive. Good job it is for two pints!
First "foot on the pedal" session tonight: basically a fartlek that included 1k and 0.5k hard. Not used to running that fast, and it wasn't as fast as I wanted to run. Nevertheless it showed me a few areas of weakness...hamstrings, stomach, breathing, arms, for example. Lots to do before I get much older...but at least the session showed me the weaknesses.
Wardi - The weather looks near perfect for running but, as you say, possibly a little chilly for the main event afterwards. You'll be alright down in the basement though
Alehouse - Just realised you're looking at me from the mug that I'm currently drinking my coffee from. Immortalised as a mug
How's Ron?
Did anyone else get an email from VMLM saying that they had been moved to another start, possibly Green? A few of us seem to have received them but, from all the info received in writing, it appears that we are still where we always are at the FGFA on the red start. It will all be cleared up at the expo but the email seemed misleading to say the least.
Conditions look perfect for running.....at the minute.
DT - Hopefully you'll make it, the beers are on Wardi
As far as the weather is concerned anything that resembles resonably stable conditions will be welcome. We ran a marathon in Spain last week that started at 5c and had reached 25c by the end. Two fatalities in a field of just over 400!!!!
All right folks! I had a few logistical difficulties last year and never made it to the Red Lion, but I'll make a proper effort this year. Mine's a London Pride.
Good luck to all. Grease up the chaffy bits and keep going!
Good to see some older regulars. Good luck to everyone else too whether racing or pacing duties Phil. Good tip too as have had many an experience of that - DT you only need to ask Vincent (Andy Yu's pal) how he always seems to remember me!
PRF - I won't be able to unfortunately as have too many logistics to worry about with wider family and a 10 month old. Hope it's a good one!
Just a case of carb loading from tomorrow and a few easy runs left. Feeling much fitter and relatively leaner compared to any point over the last year but have to translate that to a decent run now.
Good luck to all you VLM-ers, the weather looks perfect, should be a cracking day for it!
6 mile hilly forest trail run last night, stuck some hill reps on the end for good measure. Was running with a very good local runner (33:00 for 10k etc) and was blowing a bit at what was probably his recovery pace! Still, he can't be too picky with his training partners as there won't be many around here that can keep up with him!
PRF: the mug always amuses me! Have lost over a stone since that photo was taken! Not spoken to Ron for a couple of weeks. Will try to phone him in the next few days.
Which marathon in Spain?
Back on it tonight with a 6 miler - 2 warm up, 2 tempo and 2 warm down. Felt soooo much fresher than this time last week when 1.5 miles at tempo was a real struggle. Whole run was 49:00 which was bang on target (4 miles at 8:30 and 2 miles at 7:30) so pretty pleased with that.
Good luck to all the boys for Sunday you have done the training believe and achieve
WJH:May the running Gods be kind to you on Sunday I
I am already looking forward to the race reports
Andrew: sounds to me like you nailed that session well done
I have run 4 miles Monday,6 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday today is lake day and all my runs have been a wee bit faster so that is pleasing to see.
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
At first reading I thought Phil was actually offering to grease up people's chaffey bits before the start. I can just see him sauntering to the start, pacer flag in one arm, giant 20kg tub of vaseline in the othe.
WJH - Go easy on the carb loading. Having made the mistake several times of overdoing it and paying the price with stomach issues it is strictly a case of eating normal volumes of food these days.
Alehouse - It was the Vias Verdes Ojos Negros Marathon near Valencia on 10th April. it turned out to be my fastest marathon at 2:46:33 with 'er indoors winning in 2:50. It was net downhill, which was worth a bit of time but working against us was the altitude (about 7% less oxygen apparently) and the huge increase in temp during the race. Cracking event.
Good to see some of the old timers here
. PRF has a particular old-timer milestone coming up, at which point I get 3 weeks to hurl old codger comments at him
. Mind you, based on racing times(2:46
), he's a spring chicken.
Wardi - good to hear you were behind me at Vale of York for a change
! And don't buy PRF a beer at the Red Lion ... traditionally he has about 50 free beer tokens hidden in his shorts.
I was working away in Leicester Mon & Tues but did manage a 5K recovery on Tuesday morning. Yesterday was 22 miles on the bike and today will be another 11 miles. Hopefully the auld legs should be ready for a tempo session tomorrow.
I'm a bit confused by the wording of our pacing instructions: "Pacers must come within sub 1 min 30 secs of their flag time. No earlier, no later." I'm taking this to mean any time between 2:58:30 and 2:59:59 is acceptable?? Whatever, I think I'm pretty safe with my own target of 2:59:00, which gives people a little bit of leeway in the very late stages if their wheels start falling off. It also allows potential for a palindromic 2:58:52, which I'd be very happy with if I get a spring in my step along Birdcage Walk.
Phil - I'd read "sub 1min30" as meaning less than 1min30 either side of 3 hours, thus allowing you any time between 2:58:31 and 3:01:29??
Dr Dan - Shhh, the beer tokens are a secret. The tactical expo visit on Saturday evening is being lined up again - a pint of Guinness at The Fox followed by a 16:55 entrance to the expo.............
Phil - If you miss 2:58:52 you could still do a bit of loitering and bring it home in 2:59:52. Don't you just love palindromic back up plans
Yes, from a semantic point of view I reckon that's accurate. But who's gonna be happy with me pacing them to a 3:01?? I'll stick with the 90 second window I think. Actually, I'm aiming for a narrower window ideally; we're pacing according to our chip times, but I'd also like to get under 3:00:00 on gun time cos it looks like a proper sub-3 all round then. But this might depend how quick I can get over the line. Blue start pacer last year had 2:59:28 chip/2:59:55 gun (good man!), 27 secs to get over the line, compared to my 2:59:20/2:59:33 off Green.
I'd just go for 2:59 chip time, that's the one that matters. One day i'll be able to jovially plan a sub-3!
At the moment it's 8m/m club runs haha