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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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I certainly don't especially look forward to the longun but like to get it done pretty early sun morn.
Only tweaked for special circumstances.
Was messing about a bit too late last night so woke up knackered at 6am. Ate. Then loiterered in bed and it was suddenly 6.55 and 20mins to force waking up properly.
Did a mix of out and backs today.
Mile to town and back. 5m or so up to Beaconsfield which has the progressive hills. Mile further into Beaconsfield. Mile back. Quarter mile another direction. And back.
5m back to Wyc. Then made another mile up. Long way 15miles 😜.
Pace sort of just climbed midway and before i knew it 15 at 6.59 again.
So will be able to usual flow until wed. Then will have to work it all out
I used to do my Sunday runs much earlier, and do like a Saturday LSR for the same reason TR. I just can't seem to get up early enough these days! Next two weeks I'm aiming for Saturday LSRs though, to fit in around other things.
Another 5k, 10k double weekend for me. Little to say about the parkrun other than it was an exact repeat of last weeks apart from being 1 second quicker at 19'27
Today was the 1st of the monthly club 10k TT's I've made since last May, but wanted more speed-work along with trying to increase endurance; low turnout as half the club seemed to be running Farnborough HM, but at least there was 1 runner setting off on a 'target' of 40 mins like me and knew he would be a good yardstick as he's been coming comfortably top 50 in all the xc's (in fact just checked and he was 3 times in the 30's positions and only 1 place and 12 secs behind our own SG at Woodley!).
We ran together for the mostly downhill 1st 5k which we reached in 18'50; thought the hills on the way back would catch me out more than him but surprisingly he struggled more than me and I finished in 38'44 compared to his 39'18 (I did have the cheat shoes on though
All our top runners at Farnborough seem to have had great runs; Course must have been pancake flat and the weather perfect for running. Our top lady, who has been setting the xc alight, ran a big pb in 1'21'15; two v55 guys (both now 2nd claim) ran 1'21'xx and 1'23'xx (the 2nd of these only 7th v55 so how far off England qualification would I have been if I'd tried
Well done all - good short stuff SG and decent long runs in there too. PM a couple of girls I used to know from Bmth now live in Hook and they did Farnborough and will be doing Fleet too. I'll probably go down with my mate who has qualified for the masters to watch Fleet and have a jog about the course.
So - Southerns at Parly Hill. Warming up felt OK ish - and at the start had a chat with Joe. First hill though - I knew it was going to be a struggle, that horrid empty achy feeling in the quads, felt well down the pack. The mud this year was really sticky and really tough, firat lap wasa nightmare, fell over for the first time there in the muddy ditch.
2nd lap felt a little better, having a running battle with Mike Boucher (our parkrun friend!) of AFD who is getting better and was trying to keep ahead of me - which he was doing well. It was still a nightmare though, sliding all over the place.
Onto the third lap and felt the best I had been but still very tired. I must have gone up that first hill (that you do three times) the slowest I have ever gone up it. Anyway still trying to get closer to MB and Pete, my mate from LBAC. Handily Pete's spike had exploded so he slowed up and I finally got past him in the best bit of the course- nearing the finish. Ended up a second behind MB - and just got past a guy I know from Bedford who gave me a nice 'I f**king hate you Coombes!!' as I came past..what it's all about eh
Some photos on facebook and I will try to post them on here later.
As usual the mud skewed the results - I was 163rd - a guy I was 20 secs behind in the last Surrey league was 58th and the guy I pipped on the line in the SL was 124th. Horse for courses.
the 12 miles yesterday was surprisingly OK and then did some lengths with the kid at the pool- but feel a bit crappy today, hope I'm not coming down with anything....
Good double there Pete, that 10k time looks promising and don't forget I tipped you to get back to your best so keep it going
Also shows that when you're not "at it", you can lose to all sorts!
Someone who is always at it, though, is SC!
Luckily, we don't split our league into 73 races like the saturday leagues, to churn it up even more.
Aside from that one, it's more spells of mud, in woods rather than consolidated slogs. The fact i've never raced in spikes, probably says it all.
Good long runs from most, and good to see Iower back in the mix.
Simon - good to see you briefly at the start. Knew that'd probably be the only time I saw you over the course of the afternoon. Agree with you - the mud was absolutely sapping and I was crawling around the bottom and up that first hill - max effort just to keep moving forwards! Is it PH for the national next year, or the one after?
So yeah, Parliament Hill for me also on Saturday, my standard 'one and done' cross country of the year, after having intentions to go to multiple fixtures and finding a number of 'triathlon' excuses not to attend. For some reason I always pick the hardest one.
We didn't have much of a team out, so I was aware I'd be in the mix to score for once (not that it matters too much in a standard of field like this). Feeling very sluggish in the warm up and aware I'd done zero appropriate training for any kind of running racing, let alone 15km 'lumpy' cross country.
Standard charge up the first hill, trying to keep it in my pants as the world and his wife swarm past me, while I feel like I'm running through treacle. Knew it was going to be an absolute slog so try not to go mad during the first lap - spent most of the time trying to concentrate on finding the best lines and avoiding the deepest mud (which was virtually impossible).
Despite being knackered starting lap 2, actually feel like I'm starting to come into some rhythm, and I'm sure from here I passed more than passed me. Multiple occasions when I'm nearly on the deck but I just about avoid that embarrassment. Small celebration when I realise I've made it without being lapped.
Onto lap 3, using the shreds of comfort that come with the thought 'last time up this hill' etc, even though it feels like I'm basically walking in the thicker mud. Still passing dribs and drabs, and I've got 2 club mates in sight, which really drags me forward as I try and close the (approx 20m) gap.
I get them both with about 800m to go and we start barrelling down the hill towards the finish, but I know I'm on struggle street in the sprint, as I don't own one. They both barrel past on the home straight, we all finish within 3 seconds of each other, and I'm 5th home from the club.
397th out of the 1,100 odd. Previous editions I've been 331st and 321st (2016 and 2017), so slightly down on that, but effort level was high and satisfied I gave it some welly. I guess if I want to be back to those 2017 levels when I was running 70 miles a week, I need to do more running! Currently only around 30 MPW as I faff with swimming and biking.
Followed it up with 2:30 on the bike Sunday along with a short swim (after multiple beers on the sat night, obviously..)
There was one guy on the right hand side of the picture who went off like an absolute look, with about a 10metre lead, over what is clearly a stacked field.
I can't believe he didn't come a cropper late doors.
Sounds a good placing, in a very rare "everyone is a decent runner" type of field, rather than the huge tail races we normally do and see us get well into the top 5% if not a lot higher.
Simon - that standard is outrageous if you were 163rd. The beer up sounded good.
A tough day at the office that is Parliament Hill by the sound of it Simon and Joe! Definitely one to experience if you can I guess!
TR - I've never quite got round to joining a club either
Pete - top 3 at Chichester,,3rd m50 last yr was 34.3X. Whereas MK mara is a selection race a week after vlm. Looks like id have qualified at Bournemouth 1/2 too. Got to pick yr battles i guess.
TR - Fleet also? That's good, someone else to look out for! As regards Saturday - I did feel like I wasn't quite 100%, with my kid being ill and I feel rough now - so taking the silly mud into account I should have really been about 120th..but there you go
Agree with Pete about the England masters thing - I did the Brum 10k in 2018, after qualifying from the Chichester 10k. I mean we did run against other countries (well a Celtic team) - but all in all the race and the vest were about £30 each, plus overnight hotel - wasn't cheap. Ticked it off and probably won't bother again.
Will definitely try for the Home countries xc again. Least that's a proper selection..and you get a free hoody and vest! (I know that's quite incredible compared to the funding the masters get in other countries..)
Reminds me of Moz representing GB once, and very humbly describing it as "wearing an England kit abroad".
Some people are humble, and some..aren't, in life
40min tempo for me then. Developing last week's 3min - 3mins HM-Steady, to 5mins HM 3mins easy. Rough aim of sub 6 for HM.
The easy tended to come out slower than last week's easy, but probably natural with longer HM chunks.
The HM totally dependent on wind factor!
Fastest, at 5.49 on the only rep without wind, on the lovely smooth straight, a 6.10 into a real windfest rep 4
Paces of 5.57 - 6.01 - 5.49 - 6.10 - 5.53
Covering between 0.81m and 0.86m per rep. Averaging 5.58, which will do with the wind element and continuous recovery.
Chucked when my watch brought up "new record" with 10k in 40:00 dead! Thought of Bus with his 39.59
This sort of tempo feels an interesting diversion on both the continuous pace tempos, and just straight forward reps / stopped recovery.
Clearly not as tough as the sessions Moz used to give that used 15secs slower than HMP as the recovery (!), but harder than just doing a 5min rep and recovering for 2mins stopped (a session I did with Dashers 2 years ago)
Definitely couldn't do the HMP-MP type tempo at Dorney - the wind would be a ruiner.
Whilst I'd love to get the opportunity, there seems to be something not quite right about having to pay for your own England vest.
Double today, with nothing of note except the run home. It didn't feel particularly slow, but it came out as such - the second slowest of well over 200 times on the route! I think after this week a cut-back week maybe in order to try and consolidate some of the gains it feels like I've started to make recently.
Tidy performances are the XC all things considered and decent sesh SG
First attempt at the track for a long while yesterday and it was cold and windy here too. 6x800 off about a minute or so rest. Wanted sub 6 pace for all as it would be the fastest I’ve run for a bit and they ended up 5:54 average so happy with that. Just felt like I couldn’t push any harder but guess that’s top end fitness lacking after weeks off and following weeks of easy stuff?
A few easy run/bike days then fingers crossed I make it round the local 10 on Sunday!
Busy 3 days of late nights back to back for me.
Last night a Wycombe home game that had a medical emergency and unfortunately a passing away of the fan in question later on
Delayed the start of the game over an hour, which in the circumstances you can't be upset about in the bigger scheme of things.
But that made an 11 sleep a midnight.
Luckily a half day today 2-6 but even with a 9am wakeup, a 10miler didn't feel glorious motivational. However, a fairly low 7s average, that done.
Tonight is the next club committe meet -rock n roll son!
Grab an 8miler tomorrow morn pre work, then a half day, and drive up to Alton Towers for a big work sales extravaganza late night job there, with similarly long drive back in the morn.
It was a long drive from Wycombe back in the day, so the Slough bit on top only adds extra, but can rest it all off, and of course I don't do have any of the hangover issues a lot will!
Binned the idea of a tempo today, given the state of the legs yesterday, but the easy option didn't actually feel that easy! Just want to get through this week then reduce miles with one decent tempo next week. It's made slightly more complicated by having to run Saturdays the next two weeks and no chance to run this Friday. At least I haven't got to drive to Alton Towers