Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    All the usual good training seems to be going on but a dirth of races (time of year I suppose). To make up how about something you haven't had from me for ages, but many of you will be missing, a weekend race double report ;) ?

    Hadn't raced since Maidenhead Half so over 2 moths as my calf gave up again the 1st parkrun after and since then just a haphazard attempt to comeback over several weeks of painful running and regular physio. That spell included the 1st TVXC at Metros where I DNF'd, then another period on the sidelines. Did a 20'20 parkrun at Bushy 2 weeks ago and then over 21 mins at Hanworth last week (excuse was starting a min late as only found out Crane was cancelled when at the start there at 8.50am so a mad dash to Hanworth :)

    Decided after those 2 parkruns Woodley flatlands would be my next port of call, as if I couldn't get a decent time there I'd have to accept I was not likely to anywhere soon. Went pretty well though and 12th in 19'26 was very pleasing; still over a min down on my best, and even my 2019 best, but a lot better than the rest of the crap I have been running since early summer.

    Onto Datchet XC at Eton today; glorious late autumn morning meant I decided to cycle the 11 miles to Eton for it (just to give myself an extra excuse ;) ). Ride went well and just as quick as driving given the long walk from nearest available free parking. Massive field of almost 600, a TVXC record, and after the traditional and well observed 2 min silence we were off at 11.02m. 

    Start was a bit manic and hard to find any room, but soon into a rhythm and the first few k's sped by at just over 4 mins a k, the just over bit directly related to the mud level in that k. At the first major turn away from the Thames path managed my first fall of the xc season, but luckily not a bad one, just grazed knee and up and running again in a few seconds. Lost about 5 places though which I don't think I ever recovered. The standard seemed very high and loads in front of me, but told myself I was on a comeback trail and anyway the numbers running were much higher than usual. Out into some boring but sticky mud filled fields now and started to get hard; a couple of k's crept up to the 4'20 type marker but not many were going by me (even though I was passing nobody!).

    Soon after that we hit the Thames path again and start trying to fathom out a) how long is this race (couldn't recall if it was nearer 9k or 10k) and do we have to run round that sodding field again before we finish? Thankfully answers were 9.4k and 'no' so, looking over my shoulder many times, was able to relatively coast in for 72nd in 39'16. About 25 places down on my usual performance there, but those were in much smaller fields so not too bad. Failed by some margin to score for WV though, but again we seemed to have recruited many new speedsters from somewhere (including the 1st lady in the race who was well ahead of me). 

    Overall quite pleased how the calf stood up to a testing weekend and to actually finish a proper race. Hopefully can get some momentum again now, but still very wary of more setbacks. 

    Good to see PMJ there supporting (why not running PMJ?) but don't think any other forumites were actually running it. Don't know the results yet, but imagine the powerhouses of Reading, Bracknell, WV and Datchet were dominant as usual (WV prob won the ladies' side but guess the other 3 were ahead on the men's). 
  • Swiftly back into it then SG. That's a much swifter comeback than I've managed.
    Decent form from you too Pete. I'm still minutes away from hitting form at parkrun/XC.
    Big w/e for me. Raced event 7 of a new parkrun course in S Wales: Brynaman. I was 5th but it was a small field & the time was disappointingly slow. Fatigue & freezing rain meant my HR was actually below average for a change. My clubmate was 1st in 17:40 smashing the course record by 16s. We then carried on to Pembrey Park nr Llanelli for 6M of XC. Fortunately the rain held off apart from a brief shower during the final K. I've raced this course 4 times now & unsurprisingly this was my slowest time by some considerable margin but it was an improvement on Cardiff last month finishing 46 places higher so headed in the right direction.
    Then had a late night out in Bristol & a long lie-in followed by a fry-up so would have been all too easy to card a zero today but I used the final daylight to run a HM along the Bristol & bath Railway Path at bang on 8 min/mile pace. The Garmin robbed me of some distance going through Staple Hill Tunnel so I ended up running an extra 0.3M to be sure. Brings me to 48M for the week: biggest since the end of June  B)
  • Good work Jools - looked like a helluva weekend on Strava :smile:

    SG - as Jools says,you are getting back on it at a rate of knots now!  Interesting about Marlow half too.

    Pete - that is a very impressive double, made even more so as its only a few weeks back you were writing yourself off! Very relieved to see that was not the case!

    14 miles of mud for me today, just to get up to 50 for the week. Happy enough with that, as it seemed the lergy was making a comeback yesterday, so pleased it wasn't :smile:
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭


    Blooming heck Pete, and to think you were talking retirement a few weeks ago! Racing a double decently! But do take it sensibly! Great to see you back though, you'd be a big loss from the thread.

    Nice weekend Jools, tidy mileage, and couple of turnouts!


    Bus you nutter - ridiculous elevation as usual - just for the 50!


    Expectations are a big issue in running aren't they. Like salary I suppose. You get used to the "Norm" and a step down feels wrong.

    Hopefully well on plan to get to the "full" schedule by the end of 2019. I'm a couple of notches off top mileage, but still am to add the faster work again. Recreating that little spell of steady/MP would be my first block.

    I'd probably start with a 2-3mile steady block in an easy run, but probably for the week after this one. Might throw a track session of 200s in just to shake things up too.

  • Great stuff PeteM - and nice little weekend there Jools too. SG - Week a long time in football! hate the game again!! Good run Bus.

    So, Surrey league on Wimbledon Common Saturday. As usual started raining about 2pm and had a bit of a haphazard build up as I couldn't find the others and couldn't warm up as I had hoped. Classic start, 279 nutters standing in the rain in the woods. Start was chaotic as usual, and settled into the first lap of this new course...although this is the 4th different course I have done here, so you always get bit you recognise. Bit of everything, firmer flinty paths, muddy hills, and some slippy hills (I will post a photo later of someone stacking).

    Felt OK most of the way round, struggled a bit on some of the hills, lacking a bit of sharpness. Had a good battle with a couple of team mates and I ended up 10th scorer, and HHH finished 6th overall, but i's pretty tight still. I ended up 72nd..Honestly that would have got me top 40 a couple of years ago. You can see from the results below there are a few 2nd claimers, and so many new runners. Happy though I was 1st V45 (Greenwood wasn't running ;))

    https://surreyleague.org/slm/race/239/#indiv

    Stupidly thought I'd do the 17.5 mile hilly loop yesterday. Had to basically walk the last mile - fitness ok, left hip flexor in bits...

  • PeteM said:
    Good to see PMJ there supporting (why not running PMJ?) but don't think any other forumites were actually running it. Don't know the results yet, but imagine the powerhouses of Reading, Bracknell, WV and Datchet were dominant as usual (WV prob won the ladies' side but guess the other 3 were ahead on the men's). 
    I saw mee meep but his profile says no activity since Jan 2017. He has changed clubs from Wargrave to Marlow so just one more moved to Datchet and enlightenment!

    I was marshalling and what with home race and all it is better to do that. Whatever is said, the scoring system used for cross-country does not mean everyone counts. Sure, had I run then on current form I would have been somewhere round about 120th so maybe 12th finisher for Datchet men so clearly not making the team and I would have maybe sneaked into the teams of Marlow or HX but they were 9th and 10th male and so I could maybe have added a point or so to their totals but not influenced the top 8. 

    Results are up: Datchet 2nd in both but 1st overall, Windle ladies 1st but men 4th for 2nd overall and Bracknell 1st men but ladies 5th for 3rd overall. 
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Not a bad result bearing in mind the star man isn't doing any of the races this year - the massive gamechanger of being  V40 who would be top 3 every race!

    Throw in messrs Bradfield and Foster, again 2 high quality vets and it shows the depth of the team, without even mentioning chumps like me who might slide in as 6th finisher if fit :)

    Phil, you contradict yourself a bit there. Course you count, but obvs you're not going to affect the top of table results, as the big competitive teams will of course have 6 counters in before you.
    Is what it is really.

    I still don't like the women counting for 50% element for only 40% of the scoring numbers.
    Maybe the fairest way of all would be to make a person's scoring genderless, BUT say a team has to have 10 people - which must include 4 women, and 2 Vet men.
    That would take out any "advantage" teams with 4 women have, whilst still giving women the same chance to contribute. And doesn't give smaller clubs any further disadvantage that they would have if they had to find extra counters of either gender.
  • Simon Coombes 2Simon Coombes 2 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    Link? Sorry I'm lazy like that..

    Had a look at the results, first guy real quality, a new V45 on the block in 3rd I see. Love it when the time drops massively in the Abbey Dash.

  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    He's my club's fastest Simon but no idea how he is improving so much at 45. Only this April was beaten into 4th by Reg of this forum (3rd) in Reading 10k and both did about 34'30 I think. Now he has done the 32'xx you referred to at Leeds Abbey as well as a very low 16 parkrun at Bushy. Not at all shy about letting the whole club know all about his successes either!
  • Ah I see! We talking clown shoes for the Abbey Dash? Usual with that drop in times in a fast race like that. Good field helps too though. 
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    A 90sec to 2min drop in times is in no way a "usual" drop off simon you joker 😜😜😜
    That's a phenomenal improvement at that level.
  • I mean for this years Abbey Dash. Good weather, faster course, clown shoes everywhere....equals PB city. 
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Has anyone ever done a check on the disto of that course? Wasn't it a year or 2 back they found every race ever run in the North west was massively short?   :D
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Apart from the Podium 5k of course  o:)<3
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    Good to see SG easing it back up.

    PM - good to see you getting some in too, maybe xc and softer parkrun courses is the path for you at the mo.

    I like the discussion about not being able to run slowly, always makes me smile as its a lack of discipline. Doing the right things makes folks better, the best runners do the right things.

    I saw a few comments re Abbey Dash after no sub 29s for a few years there was 9 or 10 this time, put down to the shoes.
  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    Stevie G said:
    Has anyone ever done a check on the disto of that course? Wasn't it a year or 2 back they found every race ever run in the North west was massively short?   :D
    Think the good folk of Leeds might have something to say about being called North West!
  • And the good folk of the North West might have something to say about having Leeds foisted upon them.
    Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
  • TR said:
    Good to see SG easing it back up.

    PM - good to see you getting some in too, maybe xc and softer parkrun courses is the path for you at the mo.

    I like the discussion about not being able to run slowly, always makes me smile as its a lack of discipline. Doing the right things makes folks better, the best runners do the right things.

    I saw a few comments re Abbey Dash after no sub 29s for a few years there was 9 or 10 this time, put down to the shoes.
    Yeah it’s the shoes really, I trust the course is right. It’s just rather than 20-30 seconds PB’s people are taking massive chunks off. It was a new faster course too apparently. 

    Pete, I’ll give PY the benefit of the doubt. Always reserve judgement until I meet people in the flesh. Perhaps that’s why Bus keeps avoiding me ;)

  • Me trying to stifle a laugh as Mr Kent stacks it!
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    TR said:
    Good to see SG easing it back up.

    PM - good to see you getting some in too, maybe xc and softer parkrun courses is the path for you at the mo.

    I like the discussion about not being able to run slowly, always makes me smile as its a lack of discipline. Doing the right things makes folks better, the best runners do the right things.

    I saw a few comments re Abbey Dash after no sub 29s for a few years there was 9 or 10 this time, put down to the shoes.
    Yeah it’s the shoes really, I trust the course is right. It’s just rather than 20-30 seconds PB’s people are taking massive chunks off. It was a new faster course too apparently. 

    Pete, I’ll give PY the benefit of the doubt. Always reserve judgement until I meet people in the flesh. Perhaps that’s why Bus keeps avoiding me ;)


    Spot on, although there's always the odd colossal douche in running...i'd name you a couple straight off on messenger ;)

    But generally, unlike football, the vast majority of runners are solid.


    ps Leeds is up there somewhere, close enough ;)

  • They say you should never meet your heroes Simon :smile:

    That's a cracking photo by the way!

  • The Bus said:
    They say you should never meet your heroes Simon :smile:

    That's a cracking photo by the way!


    I know mate - I'll wait. I'm sure you'll be brilliant ;)
  • Simon - I can go one better than you here. I have a video of that exact moment on my phone - I was there doing some opportunist filming (I'd chickened out of running citing my 30th birthday as an excuse). Let me see if I can upload it one sec..
  • I can't upload videos on here, so I've stuck it on youtube. Katie's favourite thing about this video as my glee in the background at having captured the moment..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE0EUG7Ikak&feature=youtu.be

    As mentioned, turned 30 on Sunday, got very drunk on saturday night, and dragged my feet around 19 miles on sunday morning. 3 weeks until Valencia. 
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Happy bday! Not sure you read it on fb amongst your sea of well wishers, but I'll always remember Moz saying "enjoy your early 30s, as your late 30s are a nightmare " :D 

    In fairness, his distances were all the super fast and ferocious stuff that I can imagine do become a world of pain on the body!


    Tasty little spill on that vid. Can't remember doing similar in a race. Lots of skids in xc, and once going into a "puddle" up to my shoulders to the hilarity of a guy behind me, but no actual eating the deck.

    Did almost stumble on a run the other day though, on super smooth road. Goodness knows what happened there.
  • Pfft late 30s are a walk in the bloody park. In your late 40s you start seeing urologists (not in a romantic or hallucinogenic sense).

    Good to see you back at it Pete !

    Nice long run Joe - that video just highlights to me the madness of cross country. Fortunately I don't do any regular league stuff - I'd love to know the attrition rate of the cross country season. I do most of my running off road fwiw and quite like a muddy, hilly training race but cross country with its multitude of races over the course of a day on the same route generates some pretty treacherous conditions.

    55 miles or so last week, similar to Stevie G (good stuff!), with a mere 4.5m of marathon effort my quality running - a fairly standard post race scenario.

    Interesting about the Abbey Dash. I doubt it's the shoes - they were widely available last year.
  • Agreed Muddy - the course was new and even faster, so that definitely had something to do with it, although the shoes have 'exploded' to a degree over the last 6 months, theyre a 'must have' to a lot of runners now - plus 'pack running', perfect storm really.

    Get on the XC- must admit though, rain with no cover is a pain in the arse!

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    It's marathons that seem to ruin people.
    I don't know many who have done them, and then not got injured, or suffered a massive lull in motivation etc after.

    I suppose if XCs started getting to 15-20milers they might go the same way!

    Looks like our Endure mission is now OFF. Simply can't get the numbers. A shame, but after experiencing the "Thrill" of competing last year I don't know if we go back the next year as a piss about gang.
  • Marathons are very 'boom and bust' with a few runners. I think quite a few people get carried away with the whole event feeling - love the build up, the race, the post race stuff, then feel down afterwards.

    Often then the smaller races aren't seem as 'exciting'. I think that's more your 'leisure runners' type thing though.

  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Good points re Abbey Dash, i guess the really fast folks don't get competitive races very often.

    Marathons take a lot of recovering from, some folks dont want to wait long enough before they get back to faster training and racing again.

    Im at Gosport 1/2 sunday which will be 4 weeks since Abo, and ive only run one session and one temp run since Abo, both in the last week.
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