Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • I had a bit of a sore calf after a short run last week, left it a week and ran last night and it flared up right at the end of a 6 miler. Not sure if I'll be running Wokingham on Sunday.

    I see they sent an email out whining about wind and parts of the course being under water and possible course changes. I don't see any risk of it being flooded as I cycle large parts of the course everyday and it is fine. There is one part that's liable to flooding that I can't see but I'll check it out tomorrow. There's not much rain forecast.
  • bad news about the calf Reg. I think the weather issue for Wokingham is around the race village and the parking for event staff. Likely to be quite breezy on Sunday. 
  • Its always breezy Bus. That's the default for this bloody country.

    Anyway - not much doing. Long Sunday run, was off Mon-Weds so did 2 x 5 milers around a trip to London with the other two on Monday, the 30 x 200 session Tuesday (the 10 with 10, 10 with 20 and 10 with 30 one) and then about 10 yesterday.

    Nothing now until the National on Saturday.

  • Reg WandReg Wand ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Even SG could park on a windy day without much drama, Bus. I'll probably come out to watch if I don't run it, get a bit of cycling in Joe style.
  • Come and give me a push up that bloody motorway bridge at 10 miles Reg :smiley:

    4 miles in heavy rain and a howling gale at lunchtime, with some overly fast strides thrown in (bit over enthusiastic!). Stopped raining when I finished!
  • Stopped raining when I finished.....

    That's just the rules - how long have you been running for ;)

  • I checked out the flooded bit of the course last night and whilst there is a small bit of flooding and the ditches are full, it's not covering the middle part of the road. Not much rain expected locally so I very much doubt there'll be an issue, unless there's an unexpected downpour.
  • There's flooding on the National xc course. Sadly we re expected to run though it...
  • I’ve retreated to lurking - bit stretched to report on all fronts but had time to read most posts - just wanted to wish everyone good luck with Wokingham. The wind looks to be dying away just in time.

    I missed out on the Village Bakery half along with Jooligan last weekend due to the stormy weather. The organisers have offered to transfer to some of the other races they put on as they can’t reschedule. Jooligan - any knowledge of the alternative races ? Helena Tipping 10k seems interesting but it’ll be at the height of summer. The one in September looks interesting ...

    Marathon training is going averagely - I’d been feeling knackered for a while which was probably a lingering bug and was running in lead boots it seemed. I’ve built up my long run to 19.25 miles last weekend, and going to do about the same this weekend but with a bit more marathon effort in it.
  • Which weather forecast you looking at Muddy? I prefer yours :wink:  BBC is saying 20mph winds at race time in Wokingham. Nothing compared to the last two Sundays of course, but not exactly conducive to a fast race!   I'd rather get soggy feet! Sounds like the miles are coming together well post bug
  • Just saw the one at the end of the news Bus ... but yeah 20 mph isn't great but hopefully there'll be some shelter and it won't be all the way round 
  • I'd save something for the last three miles Bus, going to be a headwind going up over the motorway bridge. First five miles should be quick though.
  • The BusThe Bus ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Might save something for a different 13.1 miles entirely now Reg - forecast is now saying 40mph+ for Wokingham! Not much point in that scenario - I'm doing it to get a half decent time rather than as a challenge!
  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    So are we all going to give Wokingham a go? Reg, Bus are you doing it? SG? Any other takers? Forecast is awful; rain and strong winds so at least we all have ready made excuses! I've been struggling for most of the last 2 week's with a crappy cold and only really got back running middle of this week, so last 2 long prep runs aborted too. Will just see how it goes and not worry too much if it is not a going day. 

    Last 3 weeks have been parkruns only for me in terms of fast pace work.

    1st was when visiting friends in Bury St Edmunds; hilly muddy off road course so happy to squeeze a 19'5x out.

    Next was Crane leading my daughter doing Cani X. The nightmare we've discussed on here happened 20 metres after the start when the dog veered left and my daughter went flying onto a rubbish bin at the side. Amazingly she got up and carried on with lots of cuts and grazes to her shoulder and arm though. Tough cookie that she is, she got up, carried on and still got round in just over 22 mins (despite spending almost 1 min on the deck!). Very scary episode for me too as I was right behind her when it happened. Caused a bit of a pile up but all other prakunners very sympathetic and helpful and none complained or moaned. The dog was a nutter that day; running all sorts of random crazy paces, some of which I couldn't keep up with. 

    Unsurprisingly my daughter didn't fancy parkrun today (but pretty sure she'll be back soon), so back to Crane as at least you can guarantee good conditions there. Tried fully as not too fussed about tomorrow given the likely weather will ruin any hope of a decent time. Despite that 19'34 was the best I could come home with. Maybe down to wind a bit, but think that is about my level now, unless I wear cheat shoes and find a tarmac course😏.
  • Your daughter is a tough one  Pete! Well done her!   You'll be flying again on a decent course with no wind too!

    Yes, I am going to go tomorrow - my in-laws are staying so bugger all else to do :smile:  

    Not expecting it to be anything other than unpleasant, so we'll see! Also been feeling pretty lergified today, so either going down with something or just got a touch of pre-race hypochondria! 

    Hopefully see you tomorrow....
  • Good luck at Wokey chaps.
    Been on hols all week so lots of LSRs: 14 & 10 hilly miles round the FoD to kick off the week then in Cornwall since Tuesday evening so 14 & 17 along the SW coast path Wednesday/Thursday all into a ferocious headwind. Day off running Friday but an 11 mile hike across a boggy Bodmin Moor including climbing Garrow Tor & Brown Willy didn’t exactly make for fresh legs so reasonably happy with 20:02 at Eden Project parkrun this morning. More rain & gales for tomorrow’s LSR: oh joy🤣
  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Well I'll get in there first with the Wokingham Half reports as mine will be about 20 times shorter than at least one person on here ;). Though the rain held off, a variable, and at times very gusty, south westerly often made it feel like running in treacle. 

    First 5k and in fact most of the first 10k had a tail-wind, but still never felt that good. 1st k very congested and overcooked the 2nd trying to recover time. From there steady at 4 mins a k till 10k and then 4'05 to 16k which was reached in about 64'30. Then it gets really tough :o  Wind in your face, running on empty and 2 motorway bridge hills to negotiate. 1'25 pacer went by me and soon pulled away and realised my k's were slipping to a rubbish 4'35 type level. Recovered a bit in the last 2k to get them back to about 4'20 but still took almost 22'30 for the last 3.1 miles and finished in 1'26'57.

    Almost identical time to my Maidenhead Half so not too disappointed. Few excuses with the weather, being ill most of the last two weeks and running a hard parkrun yesterday (my own fault that one of course ;) ). Good to see Wool at the end; didn't spot SG or Bus though saw them just now in the results, so we can await their reports no doubt. 

  • Good work on the long runs and solid parkrun after them Jools!

    Pete - perfectly respectable time given the lead-in you've had!   MIne was a similar story to yours really.  Felt fine for the first 5 miles, having to really hold back for the first three, then started getting a bit erratic and found the blustery head winds hard work. Wheels started to come off properly around 8 miles  and by that horrible ten mile marker on the bridge climb I knew 1:25 was going to be almost impossible barring a miracle, and I was already suffering badly!  At 11.2M the 1:25 pacer came by, and something told me to chase. Big mistake! Within 100m I was stationary, by the side of the road vomiting violently and wondering if I would get going again!

    Somehow I did, and actually felt a bit better for the next 3/4M, but then the headwinds hit again and it was just all too much - I was seriously wondering if I was going to even make the finish!  The last mile was tortuous, but I held on to cross the line in a very disappointing 1:26:12. C target was 1:25 (to get my entry refunded and free entry next year!), but I thought sub 1:24 was on the cards and even had hopes of a sub 1:22!  Hey ho - it was a decent road trip out with SG, but a shame not to bump into Pete at any point (did look around for you at the start).

    A lovely afternoon feeling the after effects  of pushing too hard and puking - nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhea! Almost time for a medicinal beer.....

  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Sounds like we had almost identical runs Bus with you about 40 secs ahead all the time. 1'25 guy passed me at about 9.5 miles but just let him go  BTW I'm on the medicinal beers already! 
  • WoolWool ✭✭✭

    nice to see you too Pete, sorry to drag you to your feet!! It seems we finished with identical chip times although I didn’t see you at all on the course. I’ve been injured and done next to nothing since running a good 10k race (for me) on NYD. Ran round pretty steadily with the hope of picking up the last few miles. All I did was pick up the effort for no obvious gain in pace. Not a fun experience, racing when not fit isn’t easy.

    Those last few miles were tough Bus. Sorry that you’re feeling the after-effects so badly. 1st mile looks quite sharp on your Strava. Maybe run the sub 6 as your last mile next time?! Missed you when you were in the bogs pre-race. SG, sorry no banter, was in a bit of a hurry!!

    I’ve always thought that Wokey was ‘tightly measured’ and so was interested to read in the race pack blurb that it’d been re-measured to ensure accuracy. The result? Well, a new teeny-tiny out-and-back added in and hey presto the course came up very, very slightly long. I’m sure everyone will he wiping off any PBs on the old course (I note that my own PB course is the Surrey HM that is constantly maligned by SG 😂).


  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    Well toughed out chaps, sounds like 3 tough days for differing reasons. 13m is a big step on the recovery path (pete and wool).

    Big weekend here with 22m yday and 18m today.
  • Hehe - that's my excuse sorted out for my slowest over Wokingham then Wool :smile:  The first mile was definitely too quick, but as usual, felt very easy! It wasn't helped by me focussing on the GPS average pace and missing the first 2 mile markers!  Good work by the way as , like Pete, that's a good time off a very much less than ideal build up!

    Nice long-un TR.
  • As TR said, well toughed out at Wokingham guys, it's less than ideal racing weather! Enjoy the medicinal beers, and I hope that you're soon settled Bus.

    Nicely done on the miles TR. I seem to recall that you also run in Saucony Ride ISOs, have you noticed that the outsole seems to wear quickly? I'm almost 250mi into my second pair and finding some premature wear along the edge, which is obviously due to my gait, but I'd have though it would hold up a bit better. The same happened with my first pair.


    Training is ticking along nicely here, 90min long run tying up the week at 44mi. Tuesday was a 20min, 15min, 10min, 5min progression, going 6:45s/6:30s/6:15s/5:40s - basically just trying to push the legs on the last lot, definitely fighting fatigue at that point. Yesterday was a great confident booster, with a 20min tempo - I definitely over-egged a bit as it was more than tempo effort towards the end, but definitely not race effort. Managed to progress it as I went and finished averaging 5:56s, and feeling like I could probably hold that pace for another 10mins.
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Thats sharp Matt.....i currently have a pair of isos going a bit dead now but they are getting towards 600m, another around 400m. Probably wont get more than 700 out of them.....i wear all my shoes on the rear edge of my right shoe, i keep the ahoes evened up with a dab of shoe goo. I think the different colour isos wear differently too ? They are still around £50 at the mo......i recently bought a pair of kinvara for similar money, will bring them out sometime when im on lower mileage, but they are more of a race shoe. Not sure if id be able to weat them for vlm or stick with the rides.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    Certainly a difficult set of conditions today! Glad you came along Bus after the doubt, as the road trip wouldn't be the same.

    Pete, sorry not to see you at all. You both had difficult days to tough out, but like I've said to you, the wind was bad enough, but once you mentally feel you're slipping off, you subconsciously let go. It happens. And it won't be that windy that often!

    Wool - top dibs for turning up despite your recent return from injury!

    Not so much for the gentle cheek about the prevo distance :D Always came up on song for me. I see Twomers got today as 3.07! But a weird little section, but I expect there was a slight difference elsewhere, or this was unnecessary!


    Best pump a report out quickly (ish)

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020

    I can't tell you how little I was looking forward to this weekend!

    Learning a new job was keeping me busy this week, but I was slightly dreading leaving work on Friday.

    A wedding in Derby, driving the parents as well (!), which turned out to be a 5 hour round trip, followed by my first road race in what is a ridiculous 6months! Not the combo the stuff of dreams is made of!

    I was pretty nervous. Formal social stuff isn't my cup of tea at the best of times, but one of my oldest pals, from young teen years is one of the few people I'd make such a trip for. Sods law being as it is, it obviously clashed with both the only Wycombe home game for a month and dropped the day before a long distance race. You couldn't make this stuff up!

    Luckily another guy was there to be best man, which meant a natural leaving point (having been on the road at 8.45am) was after the speeches which ended at about 6.30pm.  2hours 25 or so back, and getting in just before 9pm, ravenous for my usual stock grub, and the next hour was smashing loads back. Bed by 10pm!

    (ED - get on with the bloody running, this ain't weddingworld.co.uk! )

    Erm, anyway, obligatory adrenaline filled sleep, being semi awake way too early, cursing the hour being afoot already.

    Glad to get no text from Bus, which meant the weather wasn't getting worse, so he was on board, after previously having doubts. :) Excellent, it's our finest tradition, the Wokingham road trip. Previously at times with Phil in the gang too, but missed this year.
    (Mate getting married yesterday had been on one of the rare "non-Bus" trips - back when he was well into his running).

    8am leave, and there very early, and nicely parked by around 8.40 in the usual "close" space. Excellent.

    Formalities done, and wheeled the Vaporflys on. At 45.5miles of use, they should be fairly crisp still. I can't pretend they felt especially bouncy, but was looking forward to using them. Less looking forward to the wind, feeling it plenty just in the area near the bogs (and no, not for any extreme bad diets from people!)

    Watch refused to find the bite on the warm up, so i'll manual that as a 1mile later!

    About 73 goes at squeezing the last drop of fluid out, and suddenly it's 5mins to the start! Heck!!

    I leave a wide berth to Chunt and Ferguson. Both will start fast, and both have been smashing 18-20milers out, so the last thing I want is to monster myself early knockings.

    A steady but good run out is my aim, and see how it sits, especially with the wind later on, which by sod's law would definitely kick in for the last 5k, which has a couple of climbs.

    I took a glance to my right, and it's Jock Itch, Sam Amend and Bus. Between the 4 of us, we've racked up a few Wokinghams I can tell you! Would have made a great photo for well known local faces!

    The grid is packed, and it's pretty darn hard to get a decent run out even if you wanted to. Never known it so tight, and I was probably only about 5-6 rows back. Behind Mad Dom, obviously! That goes without saying, and that was for a good mile today.

    Not that far under 6 for the first mile, and I'm basically with Chris, and we stay together for the first 5miles. Bit too much chat, but I was expecting him to gently ease ahead at some stage, which I was comfy with. He'd have been thinking about the club champs, but since Marlow days I've never been interested in being told what races I have to do! If the two sync up, then great, but I'm not doing 8 races as that's a big part of a running year!

    Anyway, the first 5miles decent, though not especially quick.  the phone strava suggests the first 5 had a couple sub 6, but the other 3 about 6.06 average, yet I thought at the time I was nicely staying on 6 pace. Hard to judge though as the watch would typically show .94 of a mile to the marker! A clumsy mix of manual and auto splits was playing havoc and the most ridiculous part of the day was when I took a manual split just as it had recorded an auto one, meaning I looked to see a 0.00 :D

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    Fergo has a bit of the Dom about his starts, but has a bit more power to sustain it, so I knew early doors he was gone. For v50 he's going very nicely, but marathon training seems to agree very nicely with him. Plus the personal flex to be able to do 20milers when all of us are slaving away at our demanding jobs ;)

    From 5miles, there were patches of wind mixed in with hugely windy parts. Interspersed in between there were decent runnable still parts, but between these elements It ruined any semblance of momentum, a key aspect to a good race.

    Personally I certainly didn't have the confidence to push hard at any point, as we all knew there was a beast of a windy finish to the race. And when we say finish, we're talking 5k :)

    Therefore, comfortably hard was the order of the day, and to be honest a lot of the time It felt pretty comfy, but then in halves you're generally not threatening that end of things - it's more mental, and things slowly tightening up!

    At 7miles I did some lovely maths to split the course into 2x3m! Just get to 10miles and then it's "Only" 3miles and a bit in :)

    There were a couple of runs past open fields that were a right old bastad, and you were delighted when the route changed direction.

    The watch at times was playing me up, even with Chris when we going nicely it was at one stage telling me 7.00 pace. Sod off, watch!

    You get to 9miles, and put a half mile shift in, then turn onto "The" climb of the race, back up the motorway bridge you gleefully scamper down earlier

    (anyone else get frustrated by the way this site pauses you ever few lines, just me? Ok, we proceed)….

    The 10mile marker is at the bottom of the "Hill", and usually I get a nice boost by getting in nicely under an hour. But obviously not today. I did think that Ive only raced 2x10s at 5930 in a year, so to get under an hour for 10 in a half might not sound realistically... but then they were in less than ideal weather themselves!


  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2020


    Anyway, crawling up the "Hill" with a mix of wind and it being a climb, I actually felt alright, but fancied it finishing quite soon :D

    Changing positions with a few randoms, but generally by this stage it doesn't matter who is near!

    I had no idea if Wool or any others I knew were building a head of steam up behind! No idea.

    By 11.5miles, a guy in black cruised past and got a bit of applause. I got a little bit of a shock to see it was the 1.20 pacer, as I presumed, even not having any real idea how the pace was panning out that I'd be under that. Either the 2nd or 3rd lady came past too, but no worries.

    He was creeping further away, and I therefore thought I might well end up well over 1.20, presuming he's on pace!

    Mile 12 came up, with a nice bit of support, always welcome, albeit lacking the datchet posse 2018 so brilliantly had.

    Painstakingly high level of wind for the last 3/4mile run in, past what i'm still amazed has been put up housing wise since I'd last been here! Overdeveloped.com!

    Up, and very gradually at that, but up it still was, and there's the 13mile marker yes!

    Round the bend, bit of dasher support, and hang on, the clock is on 1.19.41 and I can still get under it. Turn a bit of beans on and chip time panned out as

    1.19.51

    The pacer was watching me and the clock, and despite me never aiming for sub 1.20, or ever using him in any real way, I gave him a thumbs up anyway :D

    A strange one for the guy. He'd done his job, but one, he'd taken 30secs off the time, and two, to go sub 1.20 today, you'd probably have to be running sub 1.19 effort at the very least!

    Over the line, congratulated a bunch of dasher pals, and the story was pretty much the same for most people - under what they'd have liked, and a bit of a slog.

    A few people did pb, but they must simply be on the up and have even better to come.


    For me, it worked out pretty well, I got the solid half in, my first race in 2020, and first race over 5miles or so since April!!! (obvs ignoring Endure, which is 30miles cut into sections around tempo effort)

    Chris was about 15secs ahead I think, and Ferguson about 40. Small margins in a half I guess, but not too important. Glad to have a similarly paced pal along for the first half really.

    Just have to decide if I want to put myself in for another half, maybe seek out a 10 on soon, or what have we.

    No rush on that!


  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭


    One odd organisational aspect, that only came to light afterwards, was that for some reason they'd allocated bib numbers on times!

    The obvious problem with this (though clearly not to the organisers!) was that everyone coming in to get their bag was therefore waiting in one massive queue, rather than distributed between 5 or 6 :D


    Just after telling Dom I wasn't sure of the Vapors extra pace still, but was sure they're better for recovery, I realised my right calf has utterly turned to stone, as I limped off for a half mile dreadful cool down!

    And later, despite 2 waters and a banana, still peed red later a bit. As usual, quickly back to normal with fluid, but I guess it was a little more humid than I realised at the time, so lost too much fluid, not helped by the 73 pee breaks early doors

  • JooliganJooligan ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Good racing chaps. Conditions certainly not conducive to it mentally or physically. Sounds like I’d’ve had some good thread company if I’d been there this year rather than opting for Wrexham.
    Wondered if you’d be doing Looe 10 MH. Would’ve entered myself if I’d planned ahead. Only spotted it was on Wednesday when I ran from Looe to Polruan but when I tried to enter found it had sold out a month ago.
    I got another hilly 11M in this afternoon. Stuck to the lanes for a change which was a lot easier & pace reflected that. 73M for the week I think which beats last week’s score.

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