Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • Nicely done on the 10km today SW! Very close to your PB too, so definitely puts you in a good place to smash that one!

    Nice long'uns today Bus and SG.


    Swapped the long to yesterday due to problems with fitting a 2hr run today (I don't like waking up early on the weekend!) So, 56mi done for the week.

    Had to out my hand in my pocket and get some new shoes during the week. Pair of Brooks Launch 5 that have got ~500mi on them, and Saucony Triumph ISO 4 that have just over 300mi. The Triumphs were brand new for NZ, but I noticed the outsole wearing really quickly after 100mi, and barely anything in the centre of the forefoot now. Not that fussed as they were a £40 clearance jobby.
    Decided to buy a pair of Saucony Ride ISO - I'd had the 10s previously, and got nearly 600mi out of them before the upper went. Initial thoughts are - not as responsive as the Launch, but much less clumpy than the Triumph. Looks to be good for a daily runner.

    I've got the monthly 5km local to my family on Saturday - wondering what to do in terms of sessions/mileage for this week. Perhaps an extra off day, in which tomorrow makes most sense. The following Saturday is the next fixture of the GP, a 5miler, and so might do a little taper to see what I can get.
  • Laods to read through last few days properly but I'm always keep a close eye hehe 

    Great running and yes the vouchers from Yateley are cash value as they contribute to them so they have no terms. 

    Not many races cough up money for prizes and if they do they would rather give the actual cash or perhaps argos voucher or similar 

    Alot of the shitty ones we give out for free are simply because of that reason, the amount we give away just cannot warrant us to do cash value. I think we supported something like 90 events last year and designed those vouchers to get some money back in the till..we would be broke if we covered every age group 1st to 3rd cash at that volume of races

    As for margins it works in several ways. Can share some numbers but to even stock Nike for example we are buying in tens of thousands per year.

    Waver rider cost to us is around 70 with vat. Surprised!?!?!

    Not many retailers can, but buying in serious bulk, forward orders and multiple colours, deep size runs improves that cost resulting in getting x amount of free pairs etc but the margins are to be honest tough. As you see the likes of real buzz allready go under and also runners need the next to be in serious trouble

    If anyone does want something more direct I will always give the best possible reasonable price 

    Scott.edgington@altonsports.co.uk 

    I am at endure this week. Dreading it more than last year, have not been running really and still hovering close to 90kgs. 


    Pain is weakness leaving the body
  • Simon Coombes 2Simon Coombes 2 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2019

    Cheers Scotty - good insight on the cut throat world of shoes!

    Good PB SW and good running Bus and SG - I presume the roads are those near the county XC course, if it's the one I thinking about SG then they are a bit dangerous. MH - We have to shell out eventually - I'm still looking for my Hyperspeed replacements.

    session Saturday at Wrest pk was 8 x 800 in an alternative (one way round a almost square, more like an electronic 'C', then back the other way) - naturally it's quite open and one way was about 2.35's and the other way 10 seconds slower. Bit of a slog, but useful nonetheless.

    Nothing yesterday as have masters tonight at Hillingdon, which is always crappy weather wise..so no surprise today. 800 and 3000 double. Going to be a looooong day.

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Scotty - great insight - please feel free to PM me a good price for 4-6 pairs of Wave riders ;)
    Hope to see you at Endure - are you just in a standard team, or are you part of Alton, and have a stall to manage in between? 

    SW - arghhh so close to the pb! Did you have that sinking feeling as the clock ticked down? Still, you'll pump it when you get a more favourable course. 

    Bus - that's one monumental run there. If Ric was still with us, he'd have eaten you up for that! Or alternatively said that's the way forward, depending on his current vibe ;)

    Matt - get those long runs at the weekend done earlier son - they're worth double ;) Good mileage again.


    Bus/SC - no, the roads aren't particularly dangerous at all. Speaking from a 8/8.30ish on a sunday viewpoint! 
    Hammersley lane has a lot of paths, and the bits that don't have do give you areas to leap onto if needs be. You also have quite a range to see, so not like blind bends.

    The most stupid road I ever ran on was the road back into Marlow from the bottom of Rotten Row. That's a once in life job, narrow roads, 60 zone, very foolish. Never again.
    @ runs on here" :D


    ps that 300m climb yesterday, was part of a 1.1mile segment on strava I noticed after. And trawling up it put me 2nd fastest. Only 45 different people have attempted it on the watch, which I find amazing in all these years of strava.
    I'd need to find about 18secs to match first, but I don't think I'll bother!
  • WoolWool ✭✭✭


    thanks for that insight Scott - that example with the Mizuno is barely believable - although I fully believe you, if you know what I mean! I'm going to have a look around for some estimates on what it costs to produce the manufacturer to produce these things. I can only think that their margin is astronomical.

    that's tough there SW. Bad luck. Right course and you'll PB for sure. I'm sure that we've all had plenty of near PB stories over the years but for me the 'best' was when I was still trying to crack 38 mins for 10k. In the space of 10 days I ran 38:02 and then 38:00. Best piece of timekeeping came when I ran 17:59 for 5k though. Gosh, that 1s made some serious difference to my happiness levels :-)

    I see the weather is contributing to make Endure an absolute treat. Mudbath. hehe!!

  • Oh Endure is going to be muddy? Well if people do endurance events then it's good that the weather keeps it real for everyone ;)

    Was reading about the race to the Stones. What an absolute load of bollocks that is. Expensive bollocks too!

  • WoolWool ✭✭✭

    Simon - that made me chuckle (RTTS comment). Seems to me like there's a growing divide between the ultra community and the rest of the running community. Frankly, you're pathetic only being able to run for such short periods of time :D

    Great to see TR hit his target over at Yeovil. Just great!

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Yeah Simon - anyone can peddle 2-3 laps out and call it a race  :*

    Endure is where it's at.

    And before anyone says it, of course training for and racing 5ks is the perfect way in  o:)
    Luckily, 6 of our 8 are marathoners. So they can cover for me when I'm exhausted beans 1 lap in.

    well done Trevor Roffey  (ok that's probbo not your real name, but well done TR!)
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    edited June 2019
  • The BusThe Bus ✭✭✭
    Tarquin Ritterdale? Nicely done either way :smiley:

    SG - 300m? Presumably feet :smiley: 

    I've not run today (work getting in the way) but my legs feel oddly spritely after yesterday! Tomorrow's double will reveal how they really are I guess :smile:

    Talking of ultras, did anyone see Sam Amend's Comrade's result on FB?  You've gotta be impressed, even if you think ultra runners are weird saddo's who only run stupid distances cos they are slow :smile:


  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Ahem yes.
    I did bus, and in between the obligatory disclaimers i presume an excellent result.
  • I am actually a big fan of the Comrades Marathon because they have the balls to (1) impose reasonable qualification criteria and (2) impose cut-off times. In an age where we all have to embrace mediocrity in the name on inclusivity, it is nice to have a running event where people have to run 

    It is hard to say if Sam's was an excellent result or not as the women's race was dominated by Gerda Steyn who had a massive lead over second place and set a new course record (with the caveats that it is a female uphill record). Sam herself was targeting sub-7 hours so I'd say it was a promising result rather than excellent. My feeling is that Sam needs to concentrate on target races: she is clearly a cut above the average runner and so can rock up and win a prize pretty much anywhere she goes but if you are targeting Comrades at the start of June then surely running 37:37 at the Vitality London 10,000 at the end of May is somewhat of a pointless exercise. 
  • 'Talking of ultras, did anyone see Sam Amend's Comrade's result on FB?  You've gotta be impressed, even if you think ultra runners are weird saddo's who only run stupid distances cos they are slow smile '

    Mainly yes. Look, we all know there are some brilliant runners who can lay down a 2.30 odd marathon within these endurance events - plus those who can't, but can run great distances without stopping. And the comrades is a proper race. But there's a load of folk who frankly do a couple of races, decide that they aren't fast enough and move to Ultras - to try and get some kudos somewhere else from their friends and work colleagues. I mean we're not that arsed about receiving praise, we just get enough from each other on here :)

    Ultra wise, I get the 50k and 100k -after that you can have a sleep, have a meal during them. You might as well have a pub crawl in the country..it's not a race. The RTTS - well that's the ultimate middle class race isn't it? How expensive?

    Anyway - epic night last night. For mainly the wrong reasons. Took ages to get to Hillingdon (Uxbridge tube) on the snail like Met line. got there 6.50 and my 800 was supposed to be 7.15. Luckily it was a bit late, but no chance to have a proper warm up. Set off in 2nd behind the Polish Serpies guy, with RR 2nd claimer Ben P behind me. First lap 66 I think. Tried to move up a bit 2nd lap, but couldn't get to the Serpies guy and then Ben P pipped me on the line - time about 2.11 I think. Pretty average.

    40 mins until the 3,000. Rain getting progressively harder as we set off. Got into the lead and it was a solo effort, tried to stick to 75's. No major dramas, was a little down on 5 laps but rallied to get it back to 9.22. Rain like a monsoon now, so had a wet sprint back to the tube to go to Harrow on the Hill, then a 1.3 mile run via Tesco to Harrow & Wealdstone to get the train. Still raining. Then still raining when I got home at 11.15 after a 15 minute walk/jog

    Not going training tonight. Staying at home ;)

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2019
    Ultras have to be her way forward now, she'd probably be near the top of the UK pile straight away, although having just turned 40 it must be tempting to hoover up a string of trophies for that.

    Let's see what tonight's weather holds then - last night was pretty wet and overcast.
    Feel a little throaty, but hopefully fine to turnout decently tonight, then take it very easy to the weekend!

    EDIT - hardcore as always Simon. But i suppose it is easier to be hardcore in shorter stuff than longer. Imagine being out in ferocious rain for 8-9 hours on one of these ultras :)

    You know an ultra is a "proper" one, when it has qualification from another ultra, or you need points. Badwater in Amercia, Marathon des Sables etc. Truly insane stuff.

    I wonder if ultra runners get the same nerves we do for shorter stuff?
  • PhilipMJonesPhilipMJones ✭✭✭
    edited June 2019

    Ultra wise, I get the 50k and 100k -after that you can have a sleep, have a meal during them. You might as well have a pub crawl in the country..it's not a race. The RTTS - well that's the ultimate middle class race isn't it? How expensive?

    In my opinion, 50k is not an ultra. A marathon is 42 km, how can 50km (not even 20% longer) be an ultra? If you want to run more than a marathon then I'll allow 50 miles (so almost twice as far) and above. 50k, 30 miles etc are just stepping stones.

    Stevie G said:
    You know an ultra is a "proper" one, when it has qualification from another ultra, or you need points. Badwater in Amercia, Marathon des Sables etc. Truly insane stuff.
    You are mixing your ultras up. Marathon de Sables is just a pay your money job, UTMB is the qualifying one. As Simon says, the money is a factor and allows middle class "elite" athletes some sense of uniqueness. To be fair, though, a lot of the events do exploit that by allowing free places if you volunteer so some runners end up volunteering and then running the next event for free.

    Got a bad rash from wet grass and nettles on Sunday so did an SG and ran on the flat paths up and down the Wye Valley from Wycombe out towards Woburn Green. Boring as hell but predictable. Midweek 5k tonight, just hope the water logging subsides.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2019
    You could always have tried going up to Hazlemere Phil.
    Not sure it's "exciting" as such, but deffo not flat.

    Surprised that the Sables race doesn't have a qualification job. A guy at work has done it, but I certainly didn't want to get too interested in it, as it's pure nutcase material.

    Endure I dare say will be enough of a long haul, even split in a lot of portions.

    Trying to remember how much of the Wycombe 5k is actually on grass these days. Just a small amount of the first km perhaps, depending on whether it goes on the paths or not -can't remember.
    And then a very small part at the end, couple of hundred metres job?

    If we need the disclaimer about puddles though, we'll utilise them!
  • Stevie G said:
    Trying to remember how much of the Wycombe 5k is actually on grass these days. Just a small amount of the first km perhaps, depending on whether it goes on the paths or not -can't remember.
    And then a very small part at the end, couple of hundred metres job?

    If we need the disclaimer about puddles though, we'll utilise them!
    Agree, not a lot of the published route is on grass but the start is officially down the path but the path is 3 wide at best so a lot of that is on grass, then the Dyke down the Lido is grass and the finish is grass and depends which finish they use as that has varied over the years.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2019
    It certainly has changed.

    Last two years the start and....5k have been the same, but then last year they inexplicably made the finish the same as the parkrun, adding a couple of hundred or so unwelcome metres :D

    In a way, if it did start pishing down it'd be quite a novelty. I can't even remember an overcast one in my 30 or so races in this series
  • 'Imagine being out in ferocious rain for 8-9 hours on one of these ultras '

    Yes, but then you'd be rather silly, no? ;)

    PMJ - Yes perhaps the 50k shouldn't be an ultra, but like the 100k it's a proper race, suppose that was the point I was trying to make. It's some of these like the Thames ring 250 miles or something, just ridiculous.

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Didn't one of the thread's founder members, Harry / Ultra Gregory do a 50kor two? And just to make it even sillier, it was round a 5k loop or something mad?

    I still remember him saying he got through the mental torture by barking "that's my boy" at some random marshal each loop!
  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    Sri Chinmoy, the people who do the Battersea 5k's, also put on an annual 24 hour track 'race' at Tooting Bec. You just run round and round the same track as many times as you can for 24 hours; the record is over 600 laps! Now doing that is madness.  
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Certainly is Pdog.

    I think you have to be "accepted" in though, you certainly can't just turn up.
  • We do things different at Tooting ;) Also have the hour race too. Craaaaazy.
  • Whilst on the topic of ultras - I generally agree with the problem is that rather than people putting in effort to go faster, they find the praise from others in going longer. Surely they find some satisfaction in people being aghast at the distances involved.

    However, when it comes to competitive ultras - that's when it's interesting. Comrades, UTMB, even the sharp end of the canal races.
    There's a chap local to me who won the South Downs Way 100 at the weekend - in a sub-15hr clocking. He also ran 2:37 at London this year, and has a sub-17 5km in his repertoire too. Also clocked nearly 250km at the Tooting 24hr last year! 
    Can't say that's not impressive, especially considering he runs very well over the shorter distances too!

    Unlikely I'll do a marathon any time soon, so that rules out an ultra too :D 
  • I used to do an hour track race each year in September. I quite enjoyed them: it was often a warm evening with no wind and the sun just about setting so you could get into a good rhythm and just go round and round and you always had a few people ahead to chase down and lap and always had a few people chasing down and lapping you. My best was just over 17k in the hour (so 42.5 laps). The extra 9 metres a mile do start to add up so after 40 laps you have most of the first bend before you hit 10 miles. 

    Yes, 50k is a proper race distance and we should really have 5k, 10k, 25k and 50k as the standard distances and get rid of the artificial half and full marathons.  Then ultra would start at 100k.
  • JooliganJooligan ✭✭✭
    PMJ surely Imperial British distances 5M, 10M, 15M, 20M, 25M, 30M & 60M for the ultra rather than your Eurometric nonsense :p
    btw I live in the Forest of Dean where our track (highest in Britain) is 440yd redgra :D
  • The BusThe Bus ✭✭✭
    Makes me laugh how riled up you lot get when the word "ultra" is mentioned :wink:

    For a 100m runner, a 5k is an ultra distance, and a sub 16 5k'er is just someone who can't sprint properly :smile:

    Mr J - disappointed! Of course a 50k is, by definition, an ultra distance. The word "ultramarathon" LITERALLY means anything longer than a marathon (according to my GPS then, I ran an ultra at Abingdon :wink:).  Anyway, we all know a marathon is just a 20M warm up with a crap 10k at the end, so a 50k ultra is a 20M warm-up, with a crappy 10k, then an even crappier 5M at the end - covers all metric and imperial basis then :-)

    Anway, who switched off summer and sent us straight to mid November, but with added wet foliage? I could understand the rain today, but it was also bloody cold!!!



  • Jooligan said:
    PMJ surely Imperial British distances 5M, 10M, 15M, 20M, 25M, 30M & 60M for the ultra rather than your Eurometric nonsense :p
    btw I live in the Forest of Dean where our track (highest in Britain) is 440yd redgra :D
    Ah, those new-fangled tracks. I have trained on the track at Regents Park: http://www.runtrackdir.com/details.asp?track=london-rp

    This is a quaint 423y (approx. 386.8m) 1896 Olympics style cinder track with very long straights and extremely tight bends. It was in existence by 1933 when it was reportedly 421y (385m) in length and the shape of it is due to the space available at the time.
    The Bus said:
    Mr J - disappointed! Of course a 50k is, by definition, an ultra distance. The word "ultramarathon" LITERALLY means anything longer than a marathon

    Of course, an ultra is anything more than a marathon. For e.g. London the shortest route is marked by the blue line so anyone who deviates has run more than a marathon and is thus an ultra-marathoner. For practical purposes, however, it is useful to have sensible categories so I'd suggest it has to be somewhere towards double marathon distance and also run as a single continuous effort (allowing for brief bio pauses to take on or drop off). Thus I'd say the Marathon des Sables is not an ultra marathon but a multi-day event though individual stages of the event may themselves be an ultramarathon.
  • Bus - Twitter Ultra stuff is probably the reason for my annoyance ;) plus the continual distance over speed thing that MH commented on. As I said there's many top runners at the Ultra sharp end - a guy in our training group called Mark is a 2.30 marathoner and he did the 100m thing at the weekend too.

    Agree with PMJ - A race should have one continual effort. I think it's here where Joe public swagger into work with their medal boasting about what they did at the weekend - where one of their colleagues could have done a 30 mile hike with a pub lunch, but not got a medal for it!

    Anyway if folk want to waste £200 on that stuff, then crack on :) You could but some trainers for that much...

  • StevieWhStevieWh ✭✭✭

    Great insight into shoe retail Scott. You might be able to give me a recommendation actually, I'm looking for a new recovery/easy run shoe. I used to run in Ultraboosts but find them a bit clunky now my form has improved to mid/forefoot striking. My race shoes are the On Cloud X and I run mileage in the Pegasus 35 but find them slightly firm underfoot when I'm on tired legs. Any recommendations? Open to suggestions from everyone!

    Interesting Ultra talk, I'm another one who doesn't get the obsession/hype. The only one I'd consider is Comrades!

    Great track racing as usual Simon.

    Little report from the weekend

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