New Mature Runners Thread

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  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    JB - glad you enjoyed the return of parkrun, albeit with a few covid-related changes. And a good time to boot - even better. One advantage of being retired - we hardly ever travel anywhere on weekends to avoid the worst of the traffic (not possible every time).

    Margaret and I realised this morning its not that long until the decorating ladies will be here. They'll be doing the living room, utility room and study this time. The utility room is easy - hardly anything to do apart from clearing the worktops. The living room will need emptying but as the recently decorated dining room is next door, should not be too bad to do apart from the bookshelves. The main problem area ie lots of work will be the study. There's lots of furniture and a bookcase to empty. The spare bedroom, which I currently use as 'my' study will be where everything will have to go, so in preparation, I'll need to make room in the back bedroom for my computer. I can feel a long hit-list coming on as we try and work out the order to do everything is. But my No. 1 priority is to de-clutter the back bedroom and work out where everything is going to go.

    *waves* to HS and Aquarius ..
  • Good evening everyone,

    WtnMel, sounded like a good game of golf, with a very impressive long drive! A post pint after the game sounds perfect to me🍻

    Sounds like you will be very busy, getting everything ready before the decorating ladies arrive!


    JB, the New Forest does get busy with traffic, and the car parks soon fill up. Thankfully the parts of the forest where we run, are "off the beaten track," so not really a problem.

    Good to hear that you ran at your parkrun, and with an excellent time and WAVA!


    Sarah and I ran the 70th and last not a parkrun yesterday, in the forest in 27.27.We didn't push as hard as we intended, as we both have 10k's at the weekend. Sarah is running the Eastleigh 10k on Sunday, and I'm doing the solo Club 10k road challenge on Saturday. The good news from yesterdays 5k is that my Vo2 max has increased from 49 to 51, the top 1% in the age category and gender!

    It rained this morning, which made a nice change, and I ran a steady 7.67 miles in the forest.
  • Mel - ah the joys and trials of de-cluttering! Make sure you don't dispose of any of those family heirlooms!

    HS - My firend (well, rival actually) is doing the Eastleigh 10K. I'm told it's a very fast course. I've done the Parkrun there a couple of times, one of which was when I tried to do the Southampton one, got lost and went to Eastleigh instead!
    That a very impressive Vo2 max and I hope it translates into a decent time for your 10K. Talking of which.............

    I tried a 10k this morning in perfect conditions. I was very optimistic of a sub 49 which should be well within my compass, given my 5k times. But it was the old story of fading badly on the last 2.5km. I was still on course for 49.30 but my knee complained at 9.5k so I pulled the plug.

    Am enjoying the Olympics although the BBC coverage is very thin in comparison with previous years. The timings aren't great either and I missed the men's triathlon. Apparently the timings are largely driven by USA TV companies. But still some really good events to see and the lack of crowds don't really bother me - although I think we'll notice it when the athletics start.

    A friend did the Endure 24 event over the weekend. You just run as many 5 mile laps as you can over 24 hours. He was in a 'mixed team 3-5' category (3 women/2 men) and they did really well, covering 135 miles between them. I was congratulating him and then he told me that the winner of the men's solo category covered more miles in less time!!

      
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, yes the Eastleigh 10k is definitely a PB course, but I didn't get mine there. I've run it several times, but it is very boring. A mainly flat road race with little scenery. It's not the sort of race that one would want to run too often. That's why I'm not doing on Sunday. I seem to remember you mentioning getting lost on the way to Southampton, and ending up in Eastleigh.

    Sorry to hear that your knee was complaining during your intended 10k, but you were right to pull the plug.

    They showed the highlights of the men's triathlon this afternoon. 

    The Endure 24 and Conquer, are popular with our club members, but I've no intention of sleeping in a tent, and waking up for yet another 5 mile lap. 


    We are now into the 6th week of marathon training and ran 11.5 miles this morning on a very hilly road course. We were rather taken by surprise as to how hot and humid it was. We had expected it to be cooler than previous days.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    HS -  I've started on de-cluttering stuff in the back bedroom and begun moving stuff from the desk (aka. posh trestle table for outside) into the small desk in the back bedroom. Just psyching myself up to move the laptop & monitor (always a faff) so thought I'd pop on here beforehand ;) I presume by 'off the beaten track' you mean, more than a half-mile from the nearest car park? (knowing how lazy some tourists are). Good to hear your VO2 max increased - impressive stuff!

    JB - no heirlooms round here .. maybe they got chucked during the last phase of de-cluttering. Seriously though, it's more a case of 'stuff' sitting around that something should have been done with it or should have been chucked out. Well done re your 10K but shame about the knee. I gather the Discovery Channel bought up the broadcasting rights to the Olympics and the BBC are having to 'sub-contract' their coverage .. and under the terms of the Discovery agreement, the BBC are only allowed to broadcast two live-streams at a time. I recorded the men's triathlon last night but since there was no mention of it on the breakfast news, I'm assuming for now our lads didn't feature in the medals. Given that, I'm also recording the daily highlights programme and I expect the triathlon will feature in that. At breakfast time I did see the finish of the men's mountain bike race (won't post any spoilers).
  • HS, I'd forgotten about your marathon training. Is everything going according to plan? (It never did with any of my marathon training, but TBH the plans weren't up to much!)

     My friend at the Endure event was VERY lucky with the weather. It was torrential here over the week and in London - but in Henley (30 or 40 miles from the capital?) he was dry as a bone. He thought it was a very well organised event with a really good atmosphere. I was a tiny bit envious and have been dropping hints to that effect. (I haven't slept in a tent since 1971 on the Isle of Wight, and I've just realised that it was 50 years ago almost to the day!)

    Mel, do you ever toy with the idea of downsizing? I frequently do as we've got more space than we need here (4 bedrooms) and I quite like the idea of somewhere cosy. It would require Mrs JB to offload her piles of wool and, as she reminds me I'd have to do the same with my books. The other thing is that we like the neighbours and the area and a move is a move into the unknown to some extent. Plus the whole exercise is stressful and costly. There: I've taken it off the agenda!

    The BBC coverage is indeed very thin. However, I'm finding some gems - the men's rugby 7s was brill this morning. But roll on the athletics, eh?
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, it seems that our posts crossed again!

    You are right that off the beaten track means about half a mile. Forest visitors seem to be reluctant to walk too far away from their precious polluting cars!

    I was pleased that my Vo2 max had improved, which hopefully means that I am getting fitter.

    The BBC coverage of the Olympics is rather disappointing, but by jumping from channel to channel and the red button, have seen highlights, but nothing in full. I'm hoping the athletics will be better, as just seeing the final few seconds isn't very satisfactory.


    JB, the marathon training plan is working well at present, so hopefully will continue.

    Your friend was indeed very lucky running the Endure in the dry! It would have been dreadful if it had rained all night.


    Today is a rest day, but tomorrow evening I'm running in the second RR10 race in Broadlands in Romsey with Sarah F. These are a series of 10 off road races of between 4.5 and 5 miles, and hosted by the various running clubs. We are not permitted to run in our clubs race, as we have to marshall. I'm looking forward to it as it will be my first competitive run since the commencement of the pandemic. I'm also rather apprehensive though, as I'm still hesitant mixing with strangers, despite having had both jabs!
  • HS, good luck for your Romsey race. How good to be back in a competitive event. I wonder if there will be many (any?) other 75+ runners? If there're are, I'm sure you'll know all about them. It could well be windy, but you are well inland. Looking forward very much to hearing how you get/got on..............

    As I said: windy! And on the prom: very windy!

    I've had a challenge for Saturday's PR. Not first across the line, but a head-to-head with a young lad of 61 - so an age grade challenge. In simple terms he has to beat me by a minute. As he's coming off the back of some good 1500 track races, he will be marginal favourite.

    So I decided to give myself a hard run before resting for 2 days and ventured onto the prom. I would run downwind pretty much at top pace and then run back into the wind with anything I had left.

    It sort of worked: 10.33 downwind and just over 13 minutes back. If the goal was to push myself then it was achieved. Meanwhile, Mrs JB ran steadily and was within 1 second of a PB - in those conditions! She always says that windy conditions don't bother her but that was remarkable. Now I know why I married her, back in 1977.
  • JB, thanks, the run went really well, and there were two over 75's from my club, we haven't got the overall results yet. They both finished ahead of me. One is International Standard, and the other is similar standard to me. Previously I have got the better of him most times, but yesterday he was determined to beat me. Every time I overtook him, he put in extra effort to get back in front.
    The distance was 4.56 miles and the course was twice round overgrown fields, with hidden potholes. This made maintaining a steady pace almost impossible, so I was very pleased with my finishing time of 41.32.

    Good luck for Saturdays challenge, I imagine it will be a close thing on an age grade basis.

    That challenge with Mrs JB was a good idea for preparation for Saturday, with 2 recovery days.


    Today was a very slow road recovery run of 4.98 miles. I found it very hard work, so must have taken more out of myself yesterday than I thought. Tomorrow will be a very welcome rest day from running, and Saturday is a solo road 10k challenge.
  • AquariusAquarius ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    I’m getting very bad at keeping up with your posts, and this is before I’m on full grandma duties (which will be the week after next for a couple of weeks). Despite that I still seem to be chasing my tail to keep up with everything. This week I’ve had quite bit of hassle chasing a refund for a damaged roasting tin I ordered from Amazon (the problem was with the seller, not Amazon who sorted it all out for me in the end), then we noticed monthly payments for Amazon Prime coming out of our bank account and had a lot of to and fro-ing with Barclays and Amazon over that (which resulted in us getting the money back and 17 letters from Barclays!).  More phone calls later in the week to sort out a problem with invoices for private healthcare tests being sent to the wrong insurer, plus various other problems too boring to mention here, but all rather time consuming nevertheless. 

    Right - a quick scan of your posts and apologies for my brief replies - 

    JB: Traffic jams are bad news, and immensely frustrating. Good to hear you enjoyed parkrun, and in a very good time too. I checked our local ones and found they’d all been really busy, which rather puts me off going at the moment. I see you did a 10k yesterday with no mention of your knee, so I’m assuming it’s not giving you any problems now? Good luck for Saturday.

    HS:  Excellent VO2 max :) you must be really encouraged by that. Fingers crossed for a good 10k time for you on Saturday. I see you had your first competitive race yesterday, that must have felt a bit strange after all this time. Well done for achieving 41.32 over 4.56 miles on a difficult course. Glad to see the marathon training is still going well.

    WtnMel: Decorating - nice when it’s finished, but a hassle getting prepared for it. From what I can remember you’ve had these ladies before and were impressed with their work. I hope things go just as well this time. More golfing success I see (using the stableford strong system, which is the only one that counts :p ) plus you showed Alan the way to play the 15th, so all in all I’d call that a successful day. I bet that beer tasted good!

    It’s been a quiet week, running wise, for me. After the physiotherapy session last Thursday my knee was too stiff for the next few days to chance running on it. It was feeling ok on Tuesday, despite a Pilates session, some knee rehab exercises and some strength work, so I checked Garmin and rescheduled this week’s “easiest” run for the following day. That turned out to be hill repeats, consisting of one mile warm up, then 8x (400m uphill, 400m downhill, plus 1 minute recovery) finishing with 1 mile warm down. For some reason Garmin only wants hill repeats done on a 1-2% gradient, which conveniently means I can use a part of the Derwent Walk which is about 200m from my house (and also meant if my knee played up I wouldn’t have far to go to get home). I’d decided to see how many repeats I could manage before I noticed any knee twinges, but in the event I managed all of them. I did notice a slight ache during the last repeat, and strangely a sudden tightness and ache in my right glute medius, but I think this was due to the various exercises I’d done on the previous day. No aches or pains today luckily so tomorrow we’ll go over to the reservoir and I’ll do my “supersets” 8.5 mile session. I think this is my least favourite session because of all the changes of pace. After the initial one mile warm up, it’s 3x (200m flat out, 600m slightly less intense, 1 mile race pace, 1 mile recovery pace). If there are any lingering problems with my knee this is the session that will highlight them.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    JB - being a cheapskate, when I went to the IOW festival in 1971, I didn't even have my own tent and relied on meeting up my friends - which amazingly, I did manage, despite the thousands of people there. But I slept on the hillside on the first night in my sleeping bag. We did downsize when we moved here - we still have 4 bedrooms but it's on a smaller scale than Margaret's previous house. But we're not quite ready to downsize any further just yet. Well done re that run in the windy conditions (and well done to Mrs JB as well).

    HS - I'm afraid we did cross-post. Re the Olympics, sounds like you need to scour the Radio Times listings like I do and record the overnight action. Which I do - but then make judicious use of the fast-forward button to skip past the 'chat' between the action - or to skip the things I have no interest in. I see your RR10 Romsey race went well but you're still waiting for the results - not surprised to hear today's recovery run was hard work after your exertions.

    I went to see my son on Tue and took our pressure washer so we could clean the patio (my son really enjoyed wielding the pressure washer!). While I was there, we also fixed an Ikea sofa bed. Between us we had managed to lose the bag of nuts & bolts but we checked the online info, visited the local diy shop and got the relevant size/length bolts and put it back together.

    Good news to report on the golf front - I played Alan yesterday and beat him by 9 strokes and on the 18th (400 yds) I hit three good shots to near the edge of the green, chipped onto the green and sank a 15' putt .. a great way for me to finish.

    No walking to speak of here (apart from round the golf course) as I was at a U3A coffee & chat meeting on Mon morning, then Tue and Wed were taken up with seeing my son and playing golf. I attended a U3A Zoom seminar this morning about "Research and Shared Learning" so didn't have time to go out beforehand. I'd better set my alarm for the morning! :)
  • Mel, I wondered if when I wrote 'IOW 1971' whether anyone would think I meant the festival. I'm dead envious that you went to that. My own IOW experience was a dodgy campsite in Shanklin rather than watching Dylan, Hendrix and the rest showcase their talents! Well done on the golf. Either Alan is getting worse or you are getting better. Maybe a bit of both?

    HS, your club is blessed with a lot of 75+ talent! It's good that 2 of you are so well matched as it becomes a race within a race.

    Aquarius, my knee is kind of OK right now and might be rather better than yours has been. We have been on grandkids duty today. Totally shattered - and Mrs JB does about 80%! I was saying to her this morning, I wonder how many other grandparents up and down the country are waking up with the thought ' what are we going to do with them today?'.

    Well today I took the plunge, pretty much of a whim, of getting some new 'decent' trainers. I've always been a bi of an Alf Tupper and prided myself on have cheap kit but still doing decent times. But my son - who is convinced that I never spend any money on myself- egged me on to buy a pair of Saucony Endorphin Speed (silly name) trainers. These are the new generation of sports shoes which elite athletes are using to break records. I'd just be happy to knock 30 seconds off my 5k time.......

    They might even arrive tomorrow - in time for my Saturday challenge.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    JB - a quick Google reminded me it was 1970 (when I was 18) that I hitch-hiked to the IOW Festival and slept on Afton Down the first night before miraculously bumping into my friends (miraculous considering there were over half a million people there). Alan played a bit worse than usual - but as he often beats me because I play badly, I'm not using that as a reason for my victory. I was more consistent - he wasn't. On a good day it would have been a tighter match. Margaret and I are just relieved we don't have the grandkids on a regular basis as they wear us out ;) Unlike you, when I first tried running 'Alf Tupper' style and my feet hurt afterwards, I decided (and have always done so since) to buy 'proper' running shoes.

    Aquarius - looks like we cross-posted. Thought your non-appearance was probably down to being on Grandma duties. Well done for persevering with the hassle of getting refunds. You're right - these are the same ladies we had before who did a very efficient job decorating the kitchen, conservatory and dining room. Hope your knee is now okay - have to admit, hill repeats isn't my idea of an easy run. Hope that 'supersets 8ml run goes off okay.

    I didn't get up early to walk this morning - stayed up too late catching up with recordings of the Olympics so put the alarm on snooze and turned over!

    I mentioned I've started on getting ready to empty the study by gradually moving stuff out of there into the front (spare) bedroom. Not found too much I'll definitely discard yet - but have found plenty of things I'd forgotten about. I really ought to be more ruthless.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, thanks, yes it did feel rather strange, running with so many others after such a long time, but it was enjoyable, despite being tough. I suppose we are all race rusty, but it was nice to be back! I don't think that tomorrows solo 10k road challenge will be particularly quick, as I woke  up in the night with cramp in my right calf. It seems ok now, but I'll be a bit cautious. 
    I'll post some photos on my next post from the race.

    It's good to hear that your knee seems to be behaving. I hope your supersets session went ok today, and that your knee held up!


    WtnMel, it must have been amazing at the 1971 IoW Festival. Surely the best line up ever.

    That's great news re beating Alan at golf, your lessons must be paying off!


    JB, our running club has a lot of elderly runners, some having been there 20 years or more. I joined in January 2012, and many have left, and been replaced by younger runners. It is important to have "new blood," with new ideas etc.

    I hope your new "magic shoes" arrive in time for Saturdays challenge. If you do knock 30 seconds off your 5k times, then it will have been money well spent.


    Nothing much to report today, except having to have a new car battery fitted.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    HS - I see we've just cross-posted. Ouch to being woken up with cramp in your calf - thankfully my cramp a couple of weeks ago was just a one-off. It was interesting to read the Wikipedia article about the 1970 IOW festival and reading the names of al the groups we saw and heard who I'd completely forgotten about.

    One thing I forgot to mention earlier. You know the way you can easily distract yourself from the task at hand? One thing I found when starting to clear the study was a shoebox of cd's that used to belong to my brother . They needed putting in the loft but I've had it in my mind for a while to get the cd's out of the loft which have gone 'missing' from my iTunes library on my new laptop - so it was a case of one box up and two down. And as I'm sorting through things in the study, I'm 'burning' the missing cd's into iTunes. 
  • Fantastic performance by our boys and girls in the relay triathlon. I stayed awake to watch it and it was one of the most enjoyable Olympic events I can remember.

    Mel, funnily enough you must have inspired me to reorganised my book cases yesterday. I've got loads of military history books but they were scattered across various bookcases. So I decided to consolidate them in one room.  I'll look up that Wikipedia page on the festival. It was the British version of Woodstock, I guess.

    HS, the magic shoes didn't arrive! I spent all day waiting for a van to turn up. Finally, in a state of great frustration I checked our bank account. No sign of anything having gone through: we must have filled in the order incorrectly!

    However, today's Parkrun still delivered me a 21.17 time. I really don't know where this came from as it was  a WAVA of 79.56% which is I think my 2nd best of all time. Conditions were perfect but I think the main cause was that I was chasing my mate in our little head-to-head challenge. He beat me across the line but I quite easily won the WAVA challenge. He'll be back though!


  • Afternoon all, I'll post later, but thought you might to see some pics of Sarah and me at Wednesdays race.

  • Afternoon everyone, sorry about the poor quality of the photos. As you can see, I photo'd them from my screen.

    WtnMel, I seem to have lost all the CD's that I had burned on my previous laptop to I Tunes, on my new one. I'm not too bothered as I no longer use the i pod shuffle. I've got a boom box which I play my CD's on.


    JB, the mixed triathlon was very good, and a brilliant performance by GB. The mixed track relays are also very good and the swimming. We have 3 women in the 800 metres final.

    A shame that the magic shoes hadn't arrived, but still a brilliant 5k and WAVA! Well done beating your mate, age related!


    This mornings club 10k challenge went really well, much better than expected. I ran a negative split, 55.21, the first 5k was 28.35. The 10k WAVA was 71.25%, nowhere near as impressive as yours, but so soon after Wednesdays race, was a bonus. Sarah F is doing the Eastleigh 10k race tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see whether she betters my time in a competitive race.

    Tomorrow will be a rest day, as Monday is scheduled for a 12 miler.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    JB - I saw the result of the mixed relay triathlon on the breakfast news. A re-think from me re the Olympics coverage. I'd put my recorder on 'series record' and yesterday evening found it had recorded every single programme yesterday, not just the series of the particular one I wanted. So I've now set my recorder to record the daily round-up programme each night. Glad to hear I've inspired you to reorganise your own books. Meanwhile, the de-cluttering carries on apace here and I've been throwing away/consolidating some of my own folders in the study (some done; plenty more to do). Oh dear re the new shoes not being delivered due to a mix-up when you thought you'd ordered them - hope you manage to sort it out. Well done re your Parkrun time and wava percentage.

    HS - thanks for posting the photos .. nice to put a face to the name so we know who you mean when you mention Sarah (although I seem to remember there's more than one Sarah you run with - was this Sarah F?). I'm ripping the music from the 'missing' cd's in iTunes as I go along whenever I'm on the computer. Glad to hear the 10K challenge went well.

    A minor disaster this morning. We have a large plastic crate for the weekend papers - saves them being forced through the letterbox and getting wet in the rain if they're left sticking out. Unfortunately this morning, when I shook the crate to get rid of the excess water from the rain, the lid came away and the paper dropped into a puddle by the front door. I draped the pages of the paper over every available bit of space in the conservatory and as it's warm in there, they've already dried out now, albeit the edges of the pages are looking a bit 'ruffled' :)

    And I've remembered to start charging the battery of my trolley ready for tomorrow's return golf match. We don't normally play on a Monday but the club we're playing at (Naunton Downs GC) does a cheaper deal on a Monday which made the cost palatable. Judging by the photos on the website and seeing all the bunkers lying in wait, it could be 'interesting' to say the least.

    I popped onto RW before I headed into the kitchen to cook Margaret's Sunday roast. We have a rib-eye steak which I need to 'sear' on the hob before roasting in the oven so slightly different from my usual 'whack it in the oven until it's ready' approach I normally use. In fact, I see it's time to get started so had better end here ..
  • HS, well done for your 10k time plus the WAVA. Some good 'action' photos there. I too am keenly awaiting the Eastleigh results to soo how my friend did. Good conditions, fast and flat course - so should be some PBs maybe.

    Mel, the shoes should now come this afternoon. I've never owned a decent pair of trainers. I've found some duplicate copies of books in my de-cluttering plus many others that will be en route to the charity shop (where most of them came from in the first place!) very soon. 
    Did you follow the Olympic golf? Something like an 8 player play-off for bronze which must be some sort of record. I won't say any more as it might be a spoiler for your highlights package.

    No run for me today. (How you do it HS on so few rest days is remarkable!) Went to watch Lily come last again in the JPR - but only 2nd from last in age grade! Went by bike and came home via my local hill where I chased another cyclist and overtook him. 
  • Good afternoon everyone, 

    WtnMel,  yes that's Sarah F, she's running the actual London Marathon, and Sarah H the virtual. 
    I hate damp newspapers. Sometimes when walking back from the supermarket in the rain, the rain gets into the bags, and consequently onto the papers. 
    Hope you enjoyed today's Sunday roast!

    JB, thanks, I was pleased how Wednesday's 10k went. 

    The Eastleigh 10k is fast and flat and one of our runners got a massive pb, it was 33 something  which is amazing. 
    Good hear that Lily is still running. 
    Well done overtaking another cyclist. 

    We have a 12 mile road run in our Marathon training schedule for tomorrow, but it depends how Sarah feels after today's race. There was no way that I could have raced after Wednesday's 10k, as I could only jog on the Thursday. She will probably recover quicker than I did though, as she is 22 years younger. 
  • I meant to say Sarah ran 56.59 and was 14 out of 64 in her age category, so she was pleased with that. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    JB - glad to hear you sorted out the shoe-buying .. hope you'll be happy with them and I expect to read what fast times you've been managing with them. No, I've not taken any interest in the Olympic golf .. it doesn't feel quite "right" having highly-paid golfers trying to win medals. Well done for chasing and catching that other cyclist on your way home from the JPR.

    HS - thanks for the clarification re which Sarah. The Sunday roast was very nice - I always enjoy rib-eye steak and it shrank during cooking so no left-overs for Margaret. A good result for Sarah I see.

    The Sunday paper dried out okay - but I could have done with a butler on hand to iron it flat again ;)
  • HS, that's a really good run by Sarah. My friend (rival!) ran a 47.40 and that was about right for him (he's 68 and came 7th in the 65-69 category - so there must have been some very good runners out there). I couldn't have equalled that.

    Mel, I know what you mean about the golf and I think that the tennis and football fall into the same category. Talking of football, I've mentioned before my neighbour got into the England squad. He didn't play, but it's not done his career any harm as he's just been transferred to Arsenal..........on £100,000 PER WEEK! Crazy. He's 23.

    Yes - I've christened the trainers! did an interval session that include a couple of medium paced kms and 2 'fast' ones - the first was 3.50, the 2nd 3.53. The shoes (and a slight following wind) really helped: I've not dipped below 4 mins per k for a few years. The technology behind them must be something to behold as when you run in them you feel as if they are propelling you. I ran past Mrs JB at one point and she just looked a bit astonished (but I then slowed down a bit).

    Now that the track cycling has started in the Olympics I'm a happy bunny. The events are so technical and the competitors so fit that standards just keep getting higher eg a world record smashed in the heats.
  • Good afternoon everyone, 

    WtnMel, glad you enjoyed your Sunday roast. 
    Sarah was pleased with her race time, as she had intended to "take it easy."
    A Butler would be handy to iron out the creases in damp newspapers. 


    JB, standards were high in all age categories and the winner was a 16 year old boy. I'll have to check his time, but I think it was around 30 minutes. Our first male was 74 on race day and his time was around 44 minutes, I'll check that too.

    Those new trainers of yours sound amazing. I'm not surprised so many records are being broken these days. 

    I enjoy the track cycling too, and we always seem to do well. 


    Today was the start of the 8th week of our marathon training and we ran a hilly 12.58 miles (20k) on roads. It was the Club's Half Marathon course, minus the field at the start and finish. Sarah ran well, especially considering she raced in Eastleigh 10k yesterday. 
  • The 16 year old was Ben Brown from Southampton Athletic Club in 30.45, and our 74 year old ran 46.54, WAVA 82.69%.
  • HS, Fantastic performances - at both ends of the age spectrum! Well done to Sarah for two sterling efforts in 2 days.
    Enjoying the Olympics but GB's athletics has fallen off a cliff!
  • Sneaked out last night for an 'extra' run as my friend offered me a lift to the prom where he was doing his club's intervals session. I did my own thing which was going to be a 10k. I was really just playing with my new toys (the trainers). To cut a long and boring story short, I only did 7.5k, but had I completed the full 10k (even with a conservative final 2.5k) I reckon I would have knocked something like 3 minutes off my current 10k time.
    This is remarkable.

    Two things I came across on my run:

    1. There was filming along the prom. Not sure what for (maybe an advert?) but this is not unusual - our pier is quite traditional in appearance and often crops up in various places in the media.

    2. I met an ex-student of mine. A fellow runner and now in his 50s(!). He had recently done his first ultra (100k) in the north east (Bamborough Castle - Aquarius territory?) and talked me through the physical challenges that resulted in him literally crawling across the finish line! It wasn't a great advert for ultra - but (of course!) he's already signed up for another one.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, that's amazing the difference the new trainers have made. It's not surprising that so many records have been broken lately.

    I've been told that ultra running is compulsive. We have several in our club, they are always injured, but soon up the mileage again. 


    This morning I "resurrected" a training session that I hadn't done for several years. After a warm up, it was 9 minutes continuously running; 20 metres flat out and 20 metres return hard. This was followed with a warm down. It was just Sara F and me, and she liked the session. It should only be done every third week, as it is tough.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Hi everyone. Popped in (via my phone) to say I'm over at my house in Wootton Bassett staying with my son as my other son is down from Leeds for a few nights. I don't have access to my laptop so will catch up properly at the weekend. 
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