Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Moraghan Training - Stevie G
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Matt - tidy as always from you. Sometimes you fast guys effort deserve more than the "nice one" we give, but it's so consistent, and so casual seemingly
Definitely need to put a block in for something soon, you're right, i've done a lot of "I fancy this race, i'll just turn up" that has broken the training a bit.
And we josh with Phil. It was the least "this might go off" confrontation ever. Phil flanked by such physical powerhouses as ...myself in his posse, the guy having his...mum in his!
Good to see you back on here Bus. I thought the other day, where is the big man Ric? Must have been back from NZ by months by now!? Where are you son?
Did some (light) weights on Sunday. Tight as heck in my arms and shoulders 2 days on - am so stacked in one way fitness wise it's embarrassing!
Sort of feels fine to run, but hopefully not one for the "excuse locker" for tonight's race
17.28 Wargrave (4th - nice finish beat a clubmate), 17.38 Burnham (5th - lost to another clubmate). Both road with little hills in the last km.
Tonight is half grass, half path, and flat. We will see how this goes.
If anyone wants a bit of fun guessing time and position, we'll see who nails it.
It's the first time since I left Marlow Striders that I've managed to get back there. Injury, illness, double bookings, all sorts have ruled me out for 7-8 years for this one race! Madness.
Fairly relaxed, but if it goes well i'll look at a south coast or Sale Sizzler expedition. If it's average, I may look at putting in a 4week block and staying local.
Haven't raced two days before this time, and hopefully the weights doesn't affect things.
Wise words as always Dean. I am feeling a bit less morose about it now.
Some solid racing there from Simon, you continue to be remarkably consistent given how much you race.
Reasonable parkrunning Pete and Bus and fat-shaming PMJ.
Matt, this pairs relay malarkey I find to be a fairly baffling event, but fair play to you for being better than last time out despite now apparently being 'fat'. Maybe PMJ can get hold of a picture of your current corpulence.
Bit of racing from me.
Sunday was the British Masters 10,000 Champs at Oxford. I only really entered this when I thought it might be an opportunity to have a stab at a sub 32. Well, off the London 10K and seeing the blazing mid-afternoon sun, any thoughts of that went out the window, and it was more about racing for the medals. I had marginally the fastest time on paper in the race, but I was a little worried about the Warrington chap having finished 13 seconds ahead of Dean at Christleton, as clearly he's in shape and I'm not.
He hits the front from the off, and I just try to hang behind him. Soon, it's down to only 3 of us, and I know one is a V35, so don't worry about him. But after a couple of miles, the leader starts to open up a gap, and I'm already feeling like shit, and there is no chance of going with him. So me and the V35 just keep running as a 2 through the rest of the race. There's a water table, which I hugely appreciate given that it's 25 unshaded mid-afternoon laps. Start lapping much of the field. Eventually, the race ends, to my great relief. Have a half-hearted go at outsprinting the V35, but I don't care enough to make it stick, and am third in the race but V40 silver in 33:30. Time-wise not really any better than last week to be honest, but everyone was suffering out there. Anyway, national medal is a reasonable days work.
Then, like a glutton for punishment, last night was the Southern vets league at Bracknell. I most certainly didn't feel like a 5000, but it's low pressure, and thought I'd cruise round at whatever pace I could manage with the 10000 in my legs.
The 5000 in this league is usually a really high standard given that it's just a local vets competition, and there are often 2 or 3 under 16. Most of the usual faces are here, but they all seem to be off their best for a variety of reasons. For the first lap, I just sit in, but it feels mighty slow, so one lap in I jettison my pre-race strategy of sitting in the pack for a few laps, and ease to the front. Someone says "he's off already", and no-one goes with me, which surprises me as I don't feel I've started pushing yet.
Well, once you've got a gap, you look like a right tit if you let it slip, so now I'm committed. So I just keep cranking out reasonable laps without going to the well, and my gap keeps growing. It's only in the last three laps that it starts to feel uncomfortable, and take the win in around 16:10. I was really pleased with that on tired legs and in current form, and definitely felt like there was a bit more there if I needed it.
Uncharacteristically enthused, I then agreed to take on the 800m leg of the medley relay, only 15 minutes later. Medley relays are an odd beast - 200, 200, 400, 800. As we are a road running club competing against ACs, we usually lose the relays by miles, so I am envisaging a low pressure jog around. However, when the 400 leg runner comes in, we are in 4th (of 6) with 2nd and 3rd around 70m ahead. Start making inroads immediately, and I am into third quickly, and into second by early in lap 2. Oxford are way ahead, but want to make sure I don't undo my hard work and push hard for the last 200m to keep us second, heady heights for us in a relay.
All in all, last night was the tonic I needed after a bit of a disappointing stretch.
I wanted to bring something worth while to the table and I think this might suffice.
I've been running crap for ages, sometimes I get a good patch, but over the past decade or so it's mainly been a struggle.
Due to an unusual high blood pressure reading, I had a read about and discovered something which might help all of us on the thread.
Look up 'Effects of Magnesium Deficiency in Distance Runners'.
Odds on it's what I have been suffering from for a very long time.
A month into the magnesium supplements and the difference is noticeable.
🙂
Reg Wand said: It's been a while since we had a PMJ photo shaming! I was more aiming at photographer shaming. I know it is a volunteer role but 699 runners, 2 laps, press the button once per lap per runner and with today's digital technology you can store and upload 1,400 photos to flickr and let everyone select their favourite of two. Not a single photo of me, either as the focal point or even in frame: seems to be 2 with fast males on their own and the rest the happy smiling public. Just because I don't wave as I pass doesn't mean don't take a photo.
Oddly named event, as it actually happens at Hurley but there you are. For me, this is one of the events I try and do as it is a fairly fast course split into chunks that make it easier to manage mentally. It starts right down on the water meadows by the Thames so a fast start downstream towards the lock across what is quite rutted grass and a track but then turns right and right again onto the tarmac service road that runs alongside the caravan park. At the end of the road left and left again onto SHepherds lane that runs parallel back into Hurley Village, left and left again and the second run down the service road before a couple of rights and a tight gate to bring you back into the meadows to finish along grass.
The race is the 4th in 4 weeks for the series but I missed the first but it was still the 3rd 5k in 3 weeks but the first where I felt I was in some sort of form. I've got in 4 weeks of 40 miles since my gout calmed down and 2 weeks since the first faster runs so long enough for their training benefit to start to show. Aim was sub 20 which is about 6:26 pace. I held back a bit at the start of the others but chose a spot a bit further forwards so maybe 3rd row. The couple behind me discussing estimated finish times "23 or 24 minutes". FFS use some common sense, 100+ will be sub-23 so 10 rows back, not row 4.
Off we go, first bit on grass, then an odd dogleg through rows of cars to avoid the puddles on the track before eventually joining the track. I'd parked a mile away (to make me do a cool down) so my warmup was probably a bit too long in advance and I felt the early pace but told myself the breathless feeling will go. Get onto the service road and smooth tarmac and settled in. Towards the end of the first mile, a couple of runners I knew (Andy Irvin followed by Satnam Singh) came from behind and passed so they must have suffered poor starts. First mile 6:10 and the sub 20 looks to be on. Couple of corners and we are on Shepherds Lane and there are runners lined up ahead and they are coming back towards me so I have a steady set of targets to pass. A lot of these are Maidenhead AC youngsters who I was behind in earlier races in the series so good signs. Oddly they have their names on the back of their vests so I recognised them by names from behind.
Two more left turns and the watch beeps at 2 miles, 6:28, (autolap on and set for miles) so a mile and change to go. Back on the service road and it is a case of consolidation. One or two runners pass but things are pretty stable and then it is two last turns and onto the grass to finish. Funnel appears in sight and a last push to ensure nobody passes in the finishing stages. 19:29 on the Garmin but I expect official will show 19:30 and GPS says short but the trace also cuts all the corners. Lots of PBs so probably was short.
So, sub-20 done. The 3 races have come out as 21:42, 20:57 and 19:29 so that is the easy part done. The hard part is looking at a way to chip away at those last 29 seconds for an 18.xx.
After an underwhelming one last week, following a "decent" but could have been faster one before that I wasn't sure how this one would come out.
It was good to get back to my old club's host race, having managed to miss the 7-8 years since I left the Striders through various excuses. I looked forward to knowing a lot of the marshals and people, so that relaxed things a little. No sting in the tail hill helped as well, as I was a little put out by my slow last km last week, which was over 6min miling pace, slower than Feb's half!
Load of hellos to people, then a dreadful warmup, 1.5miles just about, feeling rotten, ie just how you always feel!!
To the start, I'm surprised the direction is the opposite of what I'm expecting, but in fairness it's been years since i marshalled here!
Ben Livesey is marshalling today, so that's unsettled the front guys. There's no guy cruising a low 16 with a cigar on as a "do not match this guy" threat, so it's up for grabs.
The first stretch is on rutty type of grass. We set off fairly pedestrian, it feels. We hit the road, and I'm joint 1st, not really wanting to be leading this.
3.22 first km, that's solid, not the standard too fast start, and it's feeling comfortable. It's taken a little longer to get past Dom "leads insanely for 400metres" than usual.
There's a pack of 6 or so of us. Two Maidenhead chaps, me, Wargrave pal Alistair, a Datchet clubmate (but not the one from the last race unfortunately, as i wanted a re-match), and a white vest guest.
We're going decently. I always like to see Alistair at these races, as I know he brings out a good performance and he's pretty consistent. Usual drill is i monster off, he catches up midway, and i drop him near the end. Different offroad and long distance, but 5k i tend to have it.
Today though it's a pack. I try some mind games by having a little convo with a Polish lady from my old club marshalling, and we're coming up to 2k.
3.27 job That's still a tidy offering, and we're starting to ramp a little now.
It sounds like there's a horse behind us, clickety clappity on the road. I look round 5 or 6 times. It's actually a Maidenhead vet. Absolutely what the bloody hell? What's with the noise. He comes past with a very strange shuffly style, and only seems to lift his feet about 1mm off the floor, and must be wearing some sort of clogs or studs
One of the other Maidy chaps has eased off a bit, my clubmate has dropped a little, and i'm dead level with Alistair. We're a little behind the front 3, and competing for 4th.
3rd km comes up a swift 3.18. There's some fast running on this course. While i'm taking the splits, I'm not even thinking about what time this'll all add up to, but it feels a lot better than last week. Perhaps not as humid, and i've got fresh racers on, literally second run in them. Feels good.
K4, on this loop of 8 course, i can start feeling i'm putting the boot in on Alistair a bit, and can forget about my clubmate. It feels a decisive move, and as we hit an even more mad 3.15 on this fast stretch, i'm building to a nice finish.
The 4km marker has a little grassy stretch to take you to this strange sort of caravan park, and i put a little extra in to whisk through this 5metre little bit to get out of sight of those behind.
I'm definitely keeping 4th I think, and am making up a bit of a gap on the front 3. The run in is a grassy drag, that takes ages, and in fairness i probably could have gassed myself a little more to make up what I'm sure will be a tiny difference in the official results!
One last look over the shoulder, safe in 4th, and I try it on a bit to see if i can take 3rd. I can't, he eases it out for what i expect is a ridiculous 1 second or so. I'd imagine the winner might have been 3-5secs ahead only!
3.27 final km, and I think, a quite different race to my classic style of fast first and last kms, and underpar in the middle.
One look at the watch, and what the absolute heck...it's
16:51
Now, my all time pb is 16.53, at Dulwich in 2013, and i've done a 16.59 (with a rib issue!), and 17.03 last year. So first thoughts, on clocking a 3.05mile distance, were was this course a little cheeky in distance...
There were plenty of other good results too, but when you think it's a flat course, conditions were perfect, there was a good little gang to work off, and perhaps 0.05miles is an acceptable 5k swing on a GPS, maybe i'm thinking more that I can accept this time.
A stats hound in our club checked the trace and found it cut some corners off what we ran, but a Marlow guy said it "may" have been 30-40metres short. It's impossible to tell to be honest. Burnham came out 3.05miles, and that was a 17.38 underwhelming job!
Therefore, i'll probably claim as a pb, and as Reggie said to me, do my best to beat it soon!
It was just what I needed though after last week, and I'm now confident to have a crack at some fast courses in quality fields.
Fancy a Battersea Park 5k. I see the first one is next Monday, that might work - anyone fancy it? 7pm.
The winner, Jon Regan, seems to have no running history on po10 until late 2016 and then a string of decent v40 runs so I assume he is ex some other sport.
https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=882055
I got 19:29 for 40th overall and 2nd V50. 3rd MV50 was KenB sometimes of this parish and we are pretty evenly rated so whichever of us is running better tends to win.
I would be astounded if that's not an error, as i chatted to him, and he's got to be mid to late 20s at youngest
The guest, under Marlow? White "Runners retreat" vest?
Usual standards at the track then Dean and Simon; as SG said the other day; you guys are just so consistently strong we all get a bit blase about it but brilliant results nevertheless.
PMJ; good to see you improving at a rate of knots. Give my trajectory in recent months we must be about the same level again now so will be interesting when we next meet.
SG: That is a fabulous run, but one I thought you had in you from all your recent races and sessions and the fact it was more targeted this time. I wouldn't quibble if it is 3.05m or whatever on the Garmin; in my experience they vary quite a bit against the quoted distance even on non-parkrun courses (though admittedly mostly coming out longer!). As you say though, BP is a faster course and that is definitely an exact 5k so just go and get the same time or better there next week. I planned to do Monday's, but a friend wants me to do Wargrave 10k on Sunday with him, so will probably do that instead if I can. Even in my heyday 3 races in 3 days (counting parkrun) would be a bit much and certainly is at the moment. I'll maybe do a BP on 18th or 25th though if you fancy another then? Any interest from Dachs, Bus, PMJ, Reg or other fairly locals?
Ric; good to hear from you again. Had a quick google and says you get plenty of magnesium from dark chocolate. That sounds like a win win
As for me I'm still trying to get more confident running without constantly thinking about injuries. I have managed a 10 and a 9 miler this week which is the first time in about 6 months I've done 2 long runs in the same week so hopefully a good sign. Pace on both only about 7'20m average so nothing special but that wasn't really the point. Next step is to try a club reps session; maybe next week if I get through this weekend ok.
Excellent work in the 5K SG! I would give yourself the benefit of the doubt and count it. It's not as if you slashed 45 seconds off, and Battersea Park should see you under that. I can't do a trip into London on a Monday night until all the kids' activities ease off in the school holidays.
PMJ, good work getting back under 20. If you were making a more general point with the photos, you should have blurred out the faces like on the news when they have an item on the obesity crisis.
Good to see you back Ric. Hope taking loads of magnesium either resolves your issues, or grants you some kind of fantastic superpower.
Great reports and runs SG and PMJ! Definitely take that as a PB - plenty of races in the years gone by have gone ahead and folk have taken their times as their PB's, god knows how many of these were short? Unless they officially say anything then it's fine - I think people still have the short Silverstone 10k as their PB, it's not notified as short on their PO10 like the Manchester marathon is.
Good to hear from you again Ric, so if dark chocolate is good for Magnesium that suits me as I have couple of squares with my evening cuppa.
So the 'idiot racing schedule' bandwagon rolls onto Bedford tonight for the Eastern masters, another 800. Hopefully a bit better than yesterdays effort. Then training tomorrow night
to end the nice stretch of 5 races in 10 days..
I'm only four weeks in on a condition that may have taken years to develop. It's something the medics should have been aware of.
For 17 years I've been prescribed calcium and vitamin D in ever increasing amounts due to the blood test results indicating low levels of each. No one ever mentioned that magnesium is a vital part of the deal.
If I wasn't feeling so good right now, I reckon I'd have a case for compensation. Instead I'll attempt to educate the consultants at our next meeting. They've clearly been focusing so much on the fine details, they've missed the obvious.
🙂
Nice bunch of races Dachs, you said yourself you generally hit form quite a few weeks after a marathon and perhaps this marathon had you dig that bit deeper and lengthen that recovery period.
Good to see some great runs in the Marlow 4.9k too
Maybe you should join me at Eastleigh and have a crack at that old 10k PB of yours.
SG, my only comment about potentially getting stuck in a rut with your races times is to more carefully plan your races - and separate those that you know won't be race effort, but instead tempo (and being strict with yourself that it does turn out that way!) I'd look to properly target a race a month, even though there are attractive races each week, and get some good specific build-up.
Just my two-pence!
My time here in NZ is nearly up - flying out later this evening. Not gonna lie, I am actually looking forward to coming back to the UK!
The other weekend I mentioned about my throat feeling like a hacksaw, so I've had a cold since then - now approaching two weeks of feeling generally groggy and phlegmy. I tried to carry on running through it last week, and got the mileage, but feel I may have prolonged it. Damn.
As I'm travelling this week, and attending a wedding at the weekend, I'm not able to get too much running in this week, so it's gonna be a cut-back, and hope I'm feeling fresher next week.
Good to hear you're getting sorted Ric.
Reggie, there's a chap at Datchet who continually slates the summer "4.9km" series
But then he slates the XC, slates the training sessions, doesn't approve of most of the champ races, so you start to think, effs sake son, what do you like?
If i'd come away with say a low 17 yesterday with no doubts on course, i'd have taken that, so i'll take it as a good sharpener, a great confidence boost, and sort of just glaze over the whole pb or not thing (haven't updated the spreadsheet tab with the pbs
).
No promises at Battersea Park, but i'll turn up, put the same effort in, and we'll see how a flat course with no pissing about on grass serves us. Have arranged to take a Dasher pal, which will serve to lock it in as a booked race.
Pete, if you do turn up, it'll be good to see you. The 18th depends on how well this one goes, and whether I favour another go, over the Maidenhead 5k the next day. (Now Maidenhead, back in about 2010 I did a 17.10, took about 3-4 years to beat that!! That was deffo short that day! But I can admit it now I've bettered it
)
Long summer ahead still. Will have a fair few more cracks. At least a couple of these Battersea Park ones, but ideally a Gosport and Sale Sizzler (Aley, did you say you could get a tight bastard pal of yours a freebie
)
I want to come through the summer, and whatever time I've put down, know I've given it the best shot I had, unlike last summer where there was a 17.03 that was never built upon. (the other 2 goes being summer series non fast ones)
Eastleigh is a cracker, but i'd prefer that in its usual time of year, and also with a proper buildup. Good luck to you. Well down the 34s I reckon. Won't actually be a million miles away Geography wise all being well...planning the Gosport double the same day.
Good luck tonight Simon, in race 73 of your year
18&25 are a day before summer series races and i remember now obvo one is the day after my gosport ones!
Ps matt you are along the right lines on proper build up. Peaking and then 2 or 3 a races over 4-5 weeks worked for me in the mid thread days.
I think you can do more 5ks and downs, especially when some are like our summer series ones, grassy or undulating so not full smashes.
You are quite the traveller! That's a skill, to travel and not be ruined.phil does it quite well.
Eastleigh is my last real stab before I need to start focusing on triathlon stuff. I've kind of neglected it a bit so far this year. Not done a lot of cycling or swimming, compared to last year anyway.
After a 60 minute bike this morning at 6am, where I squeezed in 20 miles I just got out for a late run at 9pm. Only the 14 hours between sessions then on the same day.
Sort of planned a few strides with Endure in mind but I started off at 6:30 pace and then kind of stayed ahead of that. Put in a burst to reclaim a segment and ended up doing 10k in 38:28. That's the sort of ill discipline that gets me injured.
Did a mile cool down after at 8 minute pace, which got me thinking about the Endure. Anyone got any thoughts on what pace to run this at. With Eastleigh a week after, I am very much in damage limitation mode. I was thinking about 8s for each 5 mile leg but maybe I should go slower than that?
If it's all for giggles start 8s and enjoy! It must get awkward when you have to keep getting going again after a couple of hours cold.
Datchet lot did it competitively once with a star team, with Miller and sam amend in too. 6min miling they told me, which i slightly struggle to believe for 5 or 6 5milers each in very monsoon mudslide conditions.
Unless they meant 6xx miling rather than 6.00!
Good run there Reg - Eastleigh will be interesting time wise.
So quick 800 report from last night on the actual race - Lined up against Chris W from Fairlands Valley Spartans who is more of a 400/800 guy, we've got similar recent 800 times - He did 8 & 15 in Madrid indoors, his mate Richard knows Dean from there too.
So me and Chris went off, 63 first lap with him right behind me - felt better than I did on Monday 2nd lap, but I could sense Chris getting closer and closer, until he finally came past on the final bend and beat me by about a second or so. Not sure about the time, probably 2.07. So another defeat, but I can't bang out consistently fast (for me) 800's, as compared to the longer distances. the 2.05 was after a decent rest period, just find it easier to do 1500's and 3000's multiples over a short period of time.
Sounds an ideal scenario if you really want to do this event then Reg. If there was a competitive pressure it could easily ruck Eastleigh up for you. Nice run and day's training by the way!
Sounds fast to me Simon! But what I find even more incredible, is a guy from my club a year or 2 back did a 2.07 as a 52/53 year old! I think he's inches from the world record for that age group. He must have an exceptional short distance bias, as he hadn't laid down anything even remotely parallel in 5k and up. Back in the day a 30min 10k man though.
Right, following last week's 4x200m at 1500, 4m TMP, 4x200m session, I checked the old training back to see what followed it shortly after, as Moz was an absolute genius for flowing and building up to a peak.
The twice I did it years back, the following sessions were
I noticed about a week after the former, I did my 16.53 5k pb.
Hopefully that's some sort of omen, so i'll do the 4x800 I think. Perhaps start at 5.20 though, take 2min recoveries, then see how far we can chisel down.
What do we think? Or should we go longer as a recovery, or start slower?
ps Phil...forgot to say, the chap who won on Tuesday won the Burnham 10km the day I won the 5k. Pretty much the same pace for double the distance.
Not that it was "that" strong a time, but more showing how smashed I was in the 5k to come out mid 19s, when i'm a consistent 17xx 5k-er. A bit of a headscratcher, as while there are some ups and downs as mostly woodland, it seems to absolutely destroy me as a course.