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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Good use of Windsor HM as a training run btw Reg; still a time better than 98% of the field I guess
Nice PB there SWh, very nice indeed. Long may you continue to take such chunks off.
Pete - that 19:xx at Homewood is a super run. I think the course there is a bit short but it's more than (way more!) made up by the nature of the course. In fact my hatred of XC means that I'm unlikely to go there again!
Good effort Wool - feel free to post as you like though not that old son. You're in peak form this last year - so we're not having the "old" bit.
It's a funny thing what some consider "Hard core" and others don't isn't it.
Some of the Dashers will smash a couple of halfs back to back, do hilly halfs fast but bawk at running over 30miles a week.
Whereas I wouldn't dream of doing tough or long courses back to back and have to half convince myself I fancy it long in advance!
ps obvs being based in the town the club is based in, I can see that it's a thrill for the year event. Along the lines of the likes of me and Bus treating the old Wycombe half as a "Must do". Although I quickly weasled it down to the 10k when that started!
Which makes it even stranger the powers that be (and not interlopers from miles away like me) decided to put a different half as the club champ on the same day!
BTW you are seriously under-selling your own Windsor efforts there; It might not be major hills but it is nearly all undulating and just over 1'22 there must be worth a sub 1'20 on a fast course. Get another half in quick and you'll probably smash your pb. Oh and ask SG for a lesson in race report writing; brevity doesn't enthral us and you didn't even mention the parking
I remember someone saying the Wycombe half was "2 mins slower" than Wokingham.
Best difference I ever managed? About 5 1/2mins i think! But others did it within the 2mins.
The old Marlow half course was tough, but I'm pretty sure myself and Phil did it as a training run around 7min miling (standard flat easy pace) a few years back.
A lot of it has got to be mental. You enter a race with the "this won't be fast" mentality, and you've already lost something.
Good racing all and parkrunning - Got an image of ML84 sliding down the mountain like one o those dogs trying to clean their arse
good going at the relays though. Reg - should have kicked the Reading fan for me as you went past.
Quiet weekend - went with the other 2 to parkrun, but just did 10 x 70 secs hills, with Saturday and a Sutton Pk suffer fest in mind. Sunday run was good run out, felt good and the first 7 miles was almost a tempo until I got a stitch. So the next couple of miles were a jog and then the last 2 were fast again, felt like 6.30's. But being a tech dinosaur...god knows. This morning's long commute 7 miles felt good too, promising signs.
Wow, this thread moves along quickly doesn't it (like many of its participants) - too much to comment on since I last posted but well done to the usual suspects for recent races, reports etc etc. I still find the mileage and paces that you guys manage to achieve mindblowing, when you consider that you all have to juggle that with other commitments.
I did a 5 mile race yesterday. The Saffron Striders Fast 5 - on an airfield in the Essex countryside. Did a decent pb, knocking off 2min 27secs from my previous best at this distance - although for some reason I haven't raced a 5 miler in over 3 years, so this is not really a fair comparison - and the time lines up quite well with my 10k pb from April, which I am hoping to beat in a race in November.
I won't post the report, as the pace is about the same as SG's 'standard flat easy pace' referred to above (!), but it is on the Middle Ground thread if anyone is bored.
I will say though, it was a decent flat course (although a bit exposed, so could be tough on a windy day) and, most importantly SG, the parking situation was a breeze!!
I can just imagine Ric shaking his head reading about Bus' knee popping!
PMJ posting a photo without fat-shaming
Can I just say though that the only tough park job ever was that Ealing mile job. Still brings me out in a cold sweat that one.
Even turning up on 5mins before the start of that Welsh race didn't cause anywhere near the same parking issues!
Reg - PM doesn't do that now he's edging up the veteran scales as he's realising it aint as easy as when he was a slip of a lad
Reg - you can run (nearly) all of the course for free any weekend of course, you don't have to wait a year!
Massive PB there AD, well done :-)
Thanks Pete, I've been doing more hilly training runs than normal in the run up to Snowdonia and yesterday the hills just didn't seem too bad. Funny that! It was also a perfect day for running. I might have taken a bit off on a fully flat course but I don't think I've really got a chance now for the rest of the year. Will have a look around though and see. My mind isn't made up on what to focus on in the spring, I have deferred entries to London and Manchester but I might decide to change the training focus a bit and target a HM or 2 instead. Let's see.
82:07 for the record. My 3rd fastest HM (81:46, 82:04), a SB and best as a V45. I won't be buying the photos though. I might buy another pair of Vaporflys but the Nike website is currently in meltdown...
Wow, some huge PBs there from Andrew D and Steve Wh. Reminds me of years ago when we were just taking big old chunks off and not mullering ourselves for seconds here and there (or 0.38 seconds in my case this year). Excellent work, and I will watch the progress with interest.
Pete, good work on your time trial. I am assuming your reference to pulling out of a 10K race with a groin strain only to do a flat out 10K time trial instead was a generous effort to take some of the heat off Bus when Ric next comes to respond. Very kind.
AG, nice casual half.
SG, good racing at the parkrun. Yes, it's a race really, isn't it?
All kinds of stuff going on with Matt there. Great performance at the relays. 68th in the national fell running championships still seems pretty good to me. Maybe old blokes are better descenders as they have less years of life left to worry about should they fall to their doom?
Mental training there Joe.
Thanks to all who have responded to my dilemma. I think there are one or two responses there I might have predicted, but by no means all. I weighed it up, but I am sticking with Chester. Doesn't look like we will be remotely competitive in the relays, with so many others doing autumn marathons that weekend or being otherwise unavailable, and, at the end of the day, I knew from the start that I wouldn't be in proper marathon shape so nothing really has changed. A bit of last minute nerves I guess. What swung it the most though, was a bit more prosaic - I have paid £330 for accommodation which I now cannot get even partially refunded. So we will go up to Chester and if I feel crap in the days before I won't race and we'll just have a nice weekend. Simon's point about seeing him and Dean at the relays was good, but I have decided that the value of that does not equate to £330.
I take it you're not staying in a Stevie G -living the lifestyle, booked very early, with a discount code Travelodge job then
£330? Been quoted less than that before, so can't complain. Although its only £165 I suppose - presuming Dean and I are valued equally.
Additionally you've seen me virtually every weekend recently..lets not spoil it
Full 10k TT rather than race hopefully not as daft as it sounds; no stress the night before, no early start or travel and no big deal if injury flares as could just walk home or ring for a lift. Method in the madness you know.
Pete - you need that pre race stress/adrenaline to lift the performance.
I'd have thought you should be able to put a minute or so better output in a proper race than just dancing round the streets with a few clubmates!?
But then you are an unusual racer, as the constant doubles show!
Unless you meant quoted MORE?
These 1 run days are tough to deal with
Simon - enjoy sutton park.
some superb racing this weekend. parkruns from pete, SG and a casual matt.
Just as casual sliding around on his harris was Matt again over the fells. i dread to think where i would have placed in a british fell champs. it would be deeeeeep in the 3 digits though.
though i doubt the fell course was nearly as technical or hilly as handy cross XC. that video look brutal. you lot are brave in the south to take that on
Half marathon success across the board with PBs and tidy time trials. congrats StevieWh, wool and Reg.
And another PB ion the shape of 5m for the thread from Andrew D. nice work all.
we had the first of our xc league this weekend. and it was like running on a golf course. The ground was hard so only 9mm spikes in. im not fit yet...think i have only done 3 LSRs in 2018 so my endurance is lacking. our best man flew out the traps and we never saw him again...winning by well over a minute. in fact he crossed the line then did 4*800 reps on the adjacent track in very low 2mins such was the lack of competition for him. my plan was to potter the first 2 laps then wind up on the 3rd to look glorious. but the main group were just in front of me so i just dug in and hung of the back. started to struggle in the 2nd lap as my left calf flared up so i eased off and lost contact and about 6 places. our supporters geeing me on to go faster and more points i waited for the 3rd lap then wound it up overtaking all but 1 of those that overtook me. the chap i couldnt get is England xc stalwart Big Stu Doyle (im sure SC knows of him) did a big finish for the gallery and ended with ave pace of 5.32 and 9th place and 5th counter for the team. we had 6 in 13. Happy with that as no right to have any endurance but will build it up soon.
SG, just to clarify, the £330 is a cottage for two nights with my wife and two children, making a weekend of it. So not a single chap staying in a sordid Travelodge for a night.
EDIT - sorry, that came out a bit more snarky than I intended!
Sordid. Seems fairly respectable little places. From my incredible experience of the finest hotels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpGxABEH08g
A half marathon voted 5th hardest in the country a few years ago.
You wouldn't know it in the slighest from from this clip, you'd think it was a gentle little stroll out, taking in some nice scenery.
That Handy Cross vid is a bit like this.
In fact, even that 680 feet climb up that Welsh hill video doesn't really give much idea. Quite hard to with videos I think.
ps nice turnout.
Your "top man" sounds ever so slightly like a tiny bit of a poser.
Surprised he didn't do what a controversial character in our series once did, wander across the line (in 2nd, not even winning it), then aggravated everyone online by writing arrogant hashtags like #onlydotheminimumefforttosucceed
or something
Obvs heck of a runner to be doing 800s as reps like that after a race!
Erm - the opposite Saturday!
Looks like I helped the chap, as 17.39 was a 13sec pb for him, and 35sec course pb!
But, he's just about got under 30mins for 5miles this year, and did a 1hr 22 half earlier this month on a fast course.
Looks to be on a sharp improvement curve though.
i remember marlow being voted hilly in runnersworld though it looked like a middle age outing at a parkrun in that video.
Must be amazing to have that talent rather than just stumbling into a sport like a lot of us.
Yep exactly. These videos probably don't want to show them to be too tough as itd put people off.
Handy cross is one of the few races ive ever had to walk a bit on (obvs not trying to pretend im some kind of hard core measurement).
And the lesser version of the half last year - the 7 is one of the few races I've undercooked and walked away thinking, yeah i didn't work hard enough there.
At least both are in the winter. Either in humidity would be dreadful
Must be amazing to have that talent rather than just stumbling into a sport like a lot of us.
Yep exactly. These videos probably don't want to show them to be too tough as itd put people off.
Handy cross is one of the few races ive ever had to walk a bit on (obvs not trying to pretend im some kind of hard core measurement).
And the lesser version of the half last year - the 7 is one of the few races I've undercooked and walked away thinking, yeah i didn't work hard enough there.
At least both are in the winter. Either in humidity would be dreadful
Bigggest tempo ive ever attempted coming up tomorrow.
Basically the 15-10-5min session from a few weeks ago with a 20min lumped in at the start!
Then off to old trafford.
Hard to tell what will be the harder work!
See 8:25 in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2bp6-SI3gA
I still rate my 1:21:x on that course as my best half performance (he said, sounding like a proper old geezer
Knee is fine today, so not sure what that was. Lergy is also nearly gone. Shame I can't say the same about my back, which is really giving me gyp today! Hey ho, it would be boring if I didn't have something to whinge about!
Cracking new PB there AD
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/athleteresultshistory/?athleteNumber=5000000
Runny MCRUNFACE (0 parkruns)
XC is my idea of hell, give me road races or parkruns on paths or dry grass any day! Fair play to those who do partake though ....