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G-Dawg - Impressive form from yourself too. Good idea to head to the trails every now and then too.
Jools - I bet it feels good to be back in the long run game. I was never a fan of doing long runs if I am being honest but there was always something satisfying about being in the shape to bang out a 20 miler during a marathon campaign.
OO - That's a decent week and I note you have been at the cake again.
TR - Not a question you'll get asked everyday but I'm curious to know what's your favourite type of frothy? I love a really nice cold beer or three.
Gul - Hope you're feeling less sore today.
I managed to run a massive 30 miles last week for my 2nd biggest weekly total this year (37 is the most). Yesterday I was in the mood to run in several different places that are spread across the island. Run No.2 was a short 2k run on the cliff paths with some steep up and downs. This was combined with a leisurely hike too. About an hour's exercise for both. I then hopped in my car and drove to a reservoir which has a beautiful trail path loop and it's approx 2 miles. I then hopped in the car again and drove to a valley that is nearby where I live in the hope of seeing a very large bird. There is a lovely grey heron that can be seen there from time to time. The 1st time I saw it I was so surprised. It's massive and looks like a pterodactyl when in flight. The wing span must be about 2 metres. It flew over my head quite low down as there are arching high trees on the road in the valley. It was quite surreal. Unfortunately Harry Heron wasn't there yesterday but I did see quite a large rodent in the road that was injured (we can all relate), looked like it had been attacked by something as it had a nasty gash. I picked it up with a pair of sticks and put it in a bush away from the road and potential predators. I didn't look like a rat but if it was a mouse it must have been on the roids or something, hmm. Anyway it was an eventful day out.
gdawg- hope the vaccine goes well. I've seen on running fb pages some folk reacting and suggesting you have 3 easy days, being the day before, day of and day after just to limit the extent of any reaction. I was surprised to see at the end of last week he local surgeries here calling out for all those in group 9 to book appointments from last Saturday onwards. Not sure how long it takes to get through a group, but being 45 i'll be up next. I am hoping it's not the week of Dorney mara as I'll be delaying a few days if so.
Gul, shame about the injury. Hopefully it'll settle in a few days.
Gerard, yes no doubt the weight loss is a big contributor. I'm 2lb off being a stone lighter than my mara pb weight. Good to see some decent miles from you.
On the beer front, just before the lockdown in November I ordered myself a beerwolf sub machine. I realised in the last lockdown that I missed going to the pub and having a proper fresh pint. I m not that fond of bottled or can beer but now I have this machine I can have a pub quality pint at home, not that I am getting through a great deal right now as I either have a session the next day or I've done a session and I am too tired to want beers. Though my final 20 miler is on Friday and of course Saturday for us Welsh is Grandslam day so I shall be indulging from mid afternoon onwards.
5M recovery over lunch at 8.12mm.
Gerard - where do i start......i like IPAs and golden beers, darker ales, premium lagers and a few grazing lagers to follow up the tastier stuff.......friday was a ghost ship, a sharps atlantic and then a couple of grazers. Saturday i had a couple of 1664s and then a couple of grazers, sunday is a couple of darker ales.....sometimes i buy a box of classic or golden ales, sometimes some beer direct from local brewery........if i had to give up beer or running, itd be a tough choice, but i suppose in time i could break the habit and give up running......
Agree that you can ignore the comments Speedy, especially when you know you are stronger than ever.
A 20 miler without a marathon in the calendar shows some dedication Jools. I think you are sensible to inure the body to the time on feet though. I know it takes me a couple of marathon cycles to feel I am stronger enough to race one. May follow your example this summer.
DT - it is all coming together nicely!
GD - may have to coordinate a meet up for a run to slow you down if you aren't careful. No need to keep proving yourself on training runs when it is plain for all to see you have the pace in your legs.
Gul - sensible pays off. Also have been playing it safe with a niggle after three weeks and tried a run today. Will see how I feel tomorrow before venturing out again.
Gerard - so pleased to see you reporting in and to be able to vicariously enjoy your running scenery. Sounds absolutely beautiful where you are.
Because it was Mother's Day on Sunday I had a glorious long ride on Zwift cycling something called the Four Horsemen which took me just under 3 hours. I have been wary of running on a niggle but decided to throw caution to the wind and tried an easy hour today. Tomorrow will tell whether it was a good idea or not!
That cycling forum is still proving to have some really prickly characters but I refuse to disappear until I have got all the know-how I need before my bike comes. Some are being very helpful. The shop has booked me in for a collection on 10 April! Very excited about that.
Had my Covid jab yesterday. So mild headaches and sore arm today. Hoping for and easy run later if my head clears.
Had to drive an hour to a place called Saltburn for an early jab appointment. We took the the opportunity for a seaside walk and outdoor lunch. It felt really odd doing this- we haven't ventured that far in ages. And yes Gerard, there was cake 😉
MsE, I haven't done that route yet but I did Uber Pretzel the other week, which finished on a climb of Alpe de Zwift. Very tough! If you're interesting in ticking off different routes, there are often "badge hunter" group rides, which passes the time more quickly. When I did the Uber Pretzel there were around a couple of thousand of us doing the same course at the same time.
Big G, It does trouble me a bit in that has all the hard work of the last 5 months been for little to nothing and if I put some back on will I get slower!!
OO, A very 2020/21 big day out there!! Hope the headache subsides. It seems on local levels many places are way ahead of the cat 6 stage that the Government says we are at.
TR, if over 45s can book from next week, for the following week I think i'll leave it until after Dorney. I don't want something like that 3 days before it and I've managed to avoid it for over a year now so hopefully another week beyond when my first chance of having it is won't be an issue.
I note that Boston have announced a 20k field size for October which is basically two thirds of normal.
I genuinely think that by end of April, whilst new case numbers will be up as a result of opening things up, deaths will be consistently below 10 per day and will stay there this time around.
Ian, interesting. I'll keep an eye on my gp's fb page.
I just had the most spectacular of sessions to the extent I've no idea where it came from. Following a wu it started off with 3m at normal tempo pace. They came in at 6.09, 6.13 and 6.14. I thought that was a bit sharp but effort was fine. Then 3 min easy followed y 5 x 1m at HMP off 45s slow jog or walk. They came in 5.49, 5.46, 5.46, 5.46 and 5.53. It was bizarre as the gps was essentially giving me paces that were too fast but I just felt that a race horse, full of power and HR was fine. Overall 8.80m at an average pace of 6.06mm.
Strava tells me somewhere in there I ran a 37.37 10k (3s short of my actual pb) and 18.17 5k, 3s faster than my pb. I wore my new Soar running shorts and wondered if it was down to those, but that seems improbable on its own. That's the biggest Tuesday session I've ever done and of course the biggest of the block as I taper soon.
I am a little concerned by the rules announced for Scotland where people are legally required to stay within their local authority area until 26th April. I am hoping England doesn't announce similar!
DT - more top bombing good stuff......agreed re what Scotland announced, isnt the stay local thing what the minimise travel is in the EA roadmap is for ? ......we still need the govt to say (next week) if we are on target for 29th March, and then EA to say what minimise travel means........even if race organisers think they can go ahead.
I had my first run a day after my vaccination. It was awful, sky high HR and stiff joints 🤢
Had the vaccine tonight, exactly a year to the day I had Covid, a nice little bookend. The organisation was all very efficient, I didn’t even cry! #BraveLittleSoldier
I didn’t want to tire myself out too much just in case I was one of those that had the rougher end of the side effects, so changed my run to just an even paced 10 miler.
Definitely hitting some flow now, didn’t check the watch and it came out at 6.55 pace with a HR of 152.
The Garmin gave me a new prediction too, reckons I can do a 2.56 marathon, lowest I’ve seen on this device. I guess I can stop now, right!?
Will see how I feel tomorrow and decide on running. Whatever, I’ll be having an easy week.
Hope you’re feeling better, OO.
Dawg - nice, so was that even paced ? Could you have done a few more if someone had a gun to your head?
DT - EA have put out a return to competition roadmap which maps out the track season........before May 23rd (?) it shows local club competition and county champs, still mentions the minimise travel.
Nice session, gdawg. Hope you don't feel too bad post vaccine. Anecdotally I've heard lots of stories that those who have had covid tend to react worse, which in essence is also why the 2nd jab gives more reaction.
Oo, hope you are feeling a better now.
TR- Yes seen the slightly amended guidance. In the faq it states that athletes can travel however to the county they would normally travel to for county competition. I'm still very much 50/50. As you've said it doesn't matter that the British Triathlon and RB are ready to issue race licences, if DCMS come back and say minimise travel means that people should stay within their region or county then that's the end of it. I do feel a bit for race organisers, as such a restriction would probably in essence render most races unviable unless very local fun run type events.
I note that 16th May is the Worcester mara, which starts about 10m from home and is a largely 'local' event. They put an announcement out 08th March stating that they believe they will happen. Now it's not a great course it's two laps and pretty hilly. I have done the half before, which is one loop and I imagine the 2nd loop would be pretty lonely. But, it presents a viable last chance saloon with minimal messing about re logistics and for me would satisfy the 'minimise travel' point.
Your reaction seems better than mine GD hopefully today will be better
Cheers, TR. Yep, great to feel I could have carried on for a couple of miles at that pace yesterday if I had to. It was originally planned as a 12 mile interval session (2m at 6.4x off 1m easy rec (x4)) but with the jab booked and 3 out of 4 days run over the previous days I thought I'd better go easier.
I've pretty much been doing campaign volumes (for me) and sessions since Jan 1st and would usually have just done the Surrey HM at this time of year.
Looking at my stats from my last Surrey, I ran 1.25 and my current training paces are around the same, if not better in some sessions on the same routes.
I like what you said previously about having an easier week pace wise and going on from there, so I'll nick that idea (thank you) and use this enforced break to recover and revitalise. Mixing it in with comments from MsE and some of DT's quicker sessions will keep the motivation, interest and body maintenance up over the next phase.
Hope those races happen for you chaps...
Rest day here (although just done a strength & conditioning session, so I've not been a total slouch). It took me a while to get to sleep last night, and then Mr. Jools' phone went in the middle of the night (he's on call this week), and then the boy-cat demanded breakfast before the alarm went off. Knackered!
DT - yet another amazing session and Worcester sounds a decent backup plan.
MsE - nice zwifting. Hope that course is nothing to do with the Apocalypse! Did your test run go okay?
OO - which vaccination did you have? I had the Pfizer one and just had a bit of a soreness where the jab went in. Hope you are 100% by Saturday.
GD - great 10 miler.
Jools - you needed that rest after all the interruptions.
I decided to stop messing around and have a proper rest, so no running these last few days. Having said that, I have more decorating and furniture moving lined up
11 for me this morning. I was running with a nippier clubmate, so 7.41s for a lumpy route. I can go back to plodding tomorrow!
DT - Seriously good running there. You have gone up a few levels in the past year or so.
MsE - Yes it's really beautiful. OO has visited and I think he enjoyed running around Jersey. If you ever visit I'll show you the lovely spots.
OO - Hope you can give it a good old blast on Saturday.
GD - I've heard of quite a few folk that have felt ropey after it.
Jools - That sounded like a nightmare. Hope you feel more rested now.
GD - You sound very busy.
The Vaccine is being rolled out nicely here and the >50's are currently being dealt with. I'd say I am due to get mine in a few weeks. Restrictions have lifted here and we are now down to 5 cases in the whole island. Looking forward to a nice Spring and maybe a few races later in the year. Had a good run yesterday. Hilly 4 miler and managed to beat my previous on that route by 1 min 46 secs, although I can't say I was in particularly great shape when I ran my previous quicker time back in Jan and I'm not either now but it just felt good. Hope to get out for an easy run later this afternoon.
12 miles here. Not sure when my vaccine will be as I'm in my 40s, so might be affected by the shortage.