Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • I ran 400m my first time at Reading Road Runners about 10 years ago. We were a group of about 8 new runners on their first club session. At the end of the session we were asked to do a 400m time trial to help seed us in groups the following week. I started a bit timidly running with the group round the first bend before bolting and doing 61.

    I was a bit miffed when I came back the following week to be put with some middling group along with another new guy I'd beaten by about 10 seconds. I thought either 61 is shite or they have some pretty quick runners here!

    As for now, well I think I'd be scared to try for fear of tearing something! I still feel like there's a bit of sprint speed in there, it's only when I am racing my daughters and they ask me to do 'full super speed' as they call it that I try, I leave them both for dust to be fair so what more evidence do we need  :D
  • Hilarious tales of hitting stupid paces in training runs just to race a random🤣
    As for raw speed I’ve never run below 70s for a lap &, as I appear to be significantly slower these days, I’d probably struggle to go below 80 now!
  • I used to feel the same Reg, but this winter have succumbed to both wellies and slippers! 

    Slippers, just because a year of working at home in increasingly cold temperatures has made me appreciate that they actually do keep your feet warm and wellies, because just to get outside of ten minutes fresh air through my back garden means 6" deep mud to traipse through and I can't be asked to put proper boots on just for that!

    Philip - not sure about that path thing. there's a long standing debate about the relative merits of dispersed erosion versus encouraging welly wearers et al to stick to the worst bit of the path.  Sections of Hughenden Park now have paths that are 30 feet wide now, and that's more likely to be a result of people avoiding mud - with or without wellies...
  • Reg WandReg Wand ✭✭✭
    edited February 2021
    I hear you Bus, I could feel the dark calling of wellies on a few family walks recently but I must remain strong.

    As for slippers, they are unnecessary in my house as it's quite new and has underfloor heating. For short trips outside, old running shoes and triathlon laces are amazingly efficient!
  • Nothing much to report this end - quiet running mid week bar a few intervals and an effort to get on a segment leaderboard Thursday and then to London for my Covid jab Friday.

    Had a nice 5m walk to the Thames after, along the south bank and back up to Euston. Kept passing closed up post race pubs which was annoying!

    Slowish run to and from the country park Saturday and 16.5 miles yesterday. Was planning to go across the A5 and up to Toddington and back...but absent mindedly took a wrong turn without realising and had to go up to Dunstable and back. Never done that before :)

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    This WFH thing will certainly make office life feel hard.
    Just on what you wear.

    I haven't worn socks "at work" for months now, and it's been shorts whatever weather.
    I do have a "zoom call top" and a "normal use top" though :)

    Committee meeting on zoom tonight...whose idea was joining this thing!
    Totally forgot/was no rush to sign up my membership- and hopefully they won't mention it on the call, as that's a red face :)
    Numbers are funnily enough massively down. It's almost like nothing happening for 6months, and nothing likely to for months aren't the most encouraging sign up tools.
  • I have both wellies and slippers and don't mind the items of footwear themselves: it is inappropriate use by the wearers with which I take offence. The NT are advising people to 
    • Stick to the original path. Straying off pathways can disturb wildlife and erode soil across heathland habitats 
    • Walk in single file or step off and back on the path in the same place when passing others

    so let them churn it up but once they have done that, stay where they have churned it up. 

    I checked some old training records and SG is right: that sub-60 lap was the first thing to go with age: I certainly was running those in the early 90's but have no record in this millennium though I do have a sub-30 200m. Next was the sub-hour 10 mile. 
  • Think you might want to update your Po10 profile PMJ ;) 
    I rejoined my club but didn’t bother renewing my UKA affiliation SG as we have that as an optional extra for those who race a lot. Those who participate in T&F or XC leagues have to be affiliated but I figured we’d be in this unfortunate position so saved myself £15(?) & I’m the XC captain 🤣 Worth floating as an idea?
    Ran the same route as yesterday but ‘twas a completely different experience. Although still cold the wind wasn’t as strong & the rain held off. My legs haven’t been recovering properly in spite of the relatively lower mileage & climbing of the last 4 days so I figured it might be because April’s Boston 8s have gone somewhat ‘flat’ after 1995 miles 😆 so I broke out the fresh Bostons - only 33 miles on them from my IoW trip in October. They were a bouncy joy so I upped the effort after a decent K we. I’d worn 2 tops after suffering near hypothermia 🥶 yesterday but without the rain & a significantly faster pace I was actually 🥵🤣 Pushed hard all the way to average 7:17 for 9.5M & 840’. Feels good to have had a good hit out. Hopefully the legs will thank me tomorrow too for switching shoes.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    I signed up in the end and avoided the penalty late fee. Should hope so really being in the inner circle!

    At least these meets are normally quicker online than in the flesh.
    The in the flesh ones seemed to go past 2hours, and when you'd been up at 6am, with 2 runs, a day of work, hanging about the area for over 2hours after and eventually finishes about 9.45pm and you have a 40min drive home, that's a bit of a stretch of a day in anyone's book.

    Bouncy shoes Jools? I've forgotten that feeling, currently just in 1 pair of wave riders to see out the winter up to about 640miles, holey, muddy, clattered, and probs over 500 in the Adios 5 too.

    Have 2 pairs of both to crank out, but probably best waiting for March to be honest.

    Right, 7.30 meet...fingers crossed less than an hour?
  • Jooligan said:
    Think you might want to update your Po10 profile PMJ ;) 
    Yes, a bit old now

    "I have never taken over an hour for a 10 mile race."
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021
    That was a proud record, but it would have been sad if you'd stopped racing just because you couldn't hit it anymore.

    Reminds me of Ron Hill being asked about how he deals with coming mid pack in races he used to boss. His answer was along the lines of you either take your ball home and stop, or you carry on enjoying things with revised goals.
  • 1995 miles Jools??? Bloody hell - never mid how come there was no bounce left,  how on Earth are the uppers still in one piece?!
  • Sure you were amazed when I last switched shoes back in April from my old Boston 6s to the pair of 8s I’m now phasing out. Here’s a couple of snaps to show just how OK they still are. Certainly haven’t lasted so well because of the hours of washing I lavished on them 😆

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Not too battered by comparison with my two pairs of 600mile shoes Jools.
    My big toes always make a massive hole in the mesh by a couple of hundred miles in.


    Progression run today. Loosely 4miles to Wycombe's ground, then work from steady down from there.

    Looking at the splits it's a near perfect progression, apart from a 3rd mile being a  bit slower than the 2nd, but with more elevation.
    The "back" is a net down, but nothing too major per mile, and the last half mile pretty much flat.

    6.40 down to 6.08 for the 4.5mile main bit. Thought the last half mile at 6.08 was a little tastier when doing it, but on the roads it's always a bit more of a lotto, and you're always a bit subject to waiting for it to catch up/sort itself out.
    For eg, I was going decently through a flat park, and it had me 6.55/7.00 ish, and I couldn't believe it, then it jumped to 6.30, just after i'd gone through a 10metre muddy part a bit slower.
    Classic!

    Decent run. Don't especially "get up" for these, like you would a straight tempo.
    But once I'd woken up after 3-4miles it came on quite nicely, albeit certainly didn't feel easy late on.
  • I don't think I'd do the gardening in those Jools  :D
  • You might have got to 2000M in them Jools, if only you'd washed them!  The uppers look like a pair of Inov-8s after 90M.....(not Mudclaws though :smile:

    Nice prog run SG.

    Early roads for me too this morning. It's good that its light enough not to need a headtorch on unlit roads by about 7 now, so at least one corner turned for the year!  8.2M at just under 7:30 pace, feeling reasonably comfortable, which I'm happy enough with on a hilly route. 




  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    You certainly notice the ease of road running after muddy slogs!
  • Here’s our most recent club challenge SG: 'Winter Warmer 5K'. Simple this week - Just want your best 5K times. However, as the weather is quite treacherous at the moment, I feel I have a duty of care to insist on a minimum kit requirement..
    For your run, you will need to wear at least 3 long sleeved top layers, a 'warm' coat (not lightweight running jacket), gloves, thermal hat (buffs / baseball hats don't count) and at least 3 long (under knee length) trousers!
    You will get bonus points for each additional top or bottom 'full length' layer (max 10 bonus points). You also get 2 bonus points if the run is at least 90% off road. Please keep your net descent no more than say about 25M / 80ft - So a bit of descent ok, but don't take the 'p'!
    So, for your results, please let me have your time, number of extra layers and if 'off road' - and obviously lots of photos to see how ridiculous you look.. Have fun, wrap up and stay warm!

  • I love that Jools, Joey off Friends comes to mind.
  • I suggested the “5K Snowy Streak” but this was vetoed as the social media photos would apparently “violate community standards” 😆
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021
    Committee meet last night was hard work.
    1. Knackered already
    2. Laptop issues saw me turn up 15mins late
    3. Didn't say 1 word
    4. Listened to 40mins of ferocious chat about membership fees etc
    5. Totally lost the plot by the time one user whose mic didn't work had sent a 73rd pop up (that everyone ignored)
    6. Finally clicked "leave" at 9pm after 1hr 30, and i presume they're not still going now.

    Still...they have a new idea for the club.

    5k time trial. Virtual.

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Your club sound wacky Jools.
    I did suggest your idea about the 5k with any elevation (seek out crazy hills etc for the giggles), and also your 5mile predictor type/constant pace thing, but I think it all got lost in the emails.

    When someone raised the idea of "run bingo", like spotting bridges and ducks on your run, and taking a selfie, I realised I'm probably not target fare for these sort of things.
  • Impressed (although not surprised) with some of the 400m times on here. Don’t reckon I could break 80 at the moment. 

    SC my dad got his first vaccine recently. In his words: “It was the first chemical high of my life. I can’t wait for the second shot.” 😆 

    Thought I did well to regularly get trainers to 700M, but that is another level, Jools. SG - do you really wear the same pair for all your running at the mo? Oh dear, the committee meeting sounds the absolute worst. 

    Love that Ron Hill quite, Jools. 

    Nice to do a progressive tempo for something a bit different, SG. I don’t think I’ve ever nailed a longer one, say ten miles. Always something (externally or probably me 😆) that screws one of the later miles up. Nice challenge though.


    Good run this morning: 10 buggy miles with 12 x 30s accelerations. 7:13 average. Felt strong.

    Crazy busy next couple of days so will stick to max 30 min jogs before a 5k hit out on Friday. 

  • Think I may have seen some of you club members round these parts then Jools 😅

    SG - your committee meeting sounds like 90% of my day!!!

    It's weird moving from mud to road. It doesn't feel easier so much, quite the opposite in some ways, you just get more miles for the time on your feet or less time for the miles on your log :smiley:

    Either way though, the level of saturation off-road has reached the point where I just can't face it for every run and a few road miles, by way of a change, is a blessed relief!  It does mean the climbing also goes down, though I've never quite worked out why!

    One thing that has changed my road running, and touched on in your FB posts SG, is using a clip on flashing back light, and even a lightweight head torch at times. It means I can run on the road rather than the scabby pavements round here in relative safety and don't need to stick to places with streetlights. Who'd have thought :wink:
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Sorequads said:

    Impressed (although not surprised) with some of the 400m times on here. Don’t reckon I could break 80 at the moment. 

    SC my dad got his first vaccine recently. In his words: “It was the first chemical high of my life. I can’t wait for the second shot.” 😆 

    Thought I did well to regularly get trainers to 700M, but that is another level, Jools. SG - do you really wear the same pair for all your running at the mo? Oh dear, the committee meeting sounds the absolute worst. 

    Love that Ron Hill quite, Jools. 

    Nice to do a progressive tempo for something a bit different, SG. I don’t think I’ve ever nailed a longer one, say ten miles. Always something (externally or probably me 😆) that screws one of the later miles up. Nice challenge though.


    Good run this morning: 10 buggy miles with 12 x 30s accelerations. 7:13 average. Felt strong.

    Crazy busy next couple of days so will stick to max 30 min jogs before a 5k hit out on Friday. 

    I keep thinking in my mind when I do one of these sort of progressions that my 6milers at 6.10-6.15 are a much harder beneficial run, yet these don't feel exactly easy.

    But different time of year, different phase I suppose.

    Feels a tired sort of time at the moment. Dull early year fare, cold, nothing to particularly aim for, unlike usually when you have spring goals.

    In usual times I'd rotate 2 pairs of Wave Riders, XC for wood stuff, and Adios 5.

    It's just there's no XC doubles at the moment, and for once I'm just on 1 pair of WR as I had 3 pairs, and decided I'd just have a "winter" pair to get clattered in the crap, muddy/wet months. I'll rotate the 2 other pairs when I've put another 100 or so miles through these.

    I'd love to see the reaction of people when you do your buggy efforts :D  
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Bus, I'll admit I've run on some stupid roads before, the run back from Rotten Row on a fast road with np pavement the dopiest.

    But these runners in all black must be nincompoops.

    Most scared I ever was, was coming back from Slough on country lanes, and turning a bend at a sensible speed and some utter fool was dressed in dark gear about a couple of cm from the verge. Death wish material!

    Facing the traffic I suppose in the main, but at that bit it  was round a bend, so not great. Although I suppose they probably realised crossing would be even more awkward!
  • Stevie G said:

    I'd love to see the reaction of people when you do your buggy efforts :D  
    Very quiet country lanes for 80% of the standard buggy route. So the only company is a friendly farmer who always pulls over his tractor, the group of hounds who get taken for walks or an angry man who drives a van to a glass business. 

    The hounds caused a scare at first. 50-100 of them suddenly swarming around the buggy and me. But just one quick shout from one of the three chaps on bikes and they obediently pulled to the side of the road. 
  • Just to sort things out, I ran a route to cover the part SG has been trying for a while, so from the pub in Little Marlow and up the hill past Hard to find Farm to Heath End Road.

    All on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4726843750. I did a zig and zag that SG won't need as I need to get a bit west to get a tick in a GPS game I play.

    SG: the key to this is shown below. You run through the farm shop and up the track and then when you get up  towards the woods where you have followed the hedgerow to the right you need to turn left. That takes you down and to the left and through a gate on a footpath rather than staying on a permissive path. You can see where I overshot and had to double back but that is the thing you want to do. Once you are through the gate you run through a field and then get onto a track in the woods and that track goes all the way through: you just need to follow the white arrows painted on the trees and the public footpath signs. 


  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021
    Are there 2 gates or just one? I saw a gate, and followed it once, and it seemed to take you to a bank with a view of Winchbottom to your left.

    Will have to try it again, but perhaps in reverse and it'll probably be easier.

    As once you're in those woods, even following the arrows doesn't seem to lead me to where I'd expect. It either takes you to a massive field, that eventually leads to the Crooked Billet, or takes you down to the Winchy route I'd avoided to start with.
  • Stevie G said:
    Are there 2 gates or just one? I saw a gate, and followed it once, and it seemed to take you to a bank with a view of Winchbottom to your left.

    Will have to try it again, but perhaps in reverse and it'll probably be easier.

    As once you're in those woods, even following the arrows doesn't seem to lead me to where I'd expect. It either takes you to a massive field, that eventually leads to the Crooked Billet, or takes you down to the Winchy route I'd avoided to start with.
    That is right, you follow the bank round to the right. My GPS track is slightly out of line with the satellite image so you do a few hundred metres along the top of a  grassy bank that slopes down to a track that comes up from Winchbottom. Once you are in the woods, the path slopes down gently to meet the track coming up and then you follow that track pretty much straight on. 
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