Moraghan Training - Stevie G

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  • Wow - not sure how £137 can be "very cheap" SQ :smiley:

    So glad I'm not PB chasing anymore, or might have to sell a kidney to get some new shoes!!!

    Not sure what is going on with the hamstring this time - ran 5M Monday, then tried Tuesday = half mile then abandoned, and then after 3 days rest, managed half mile again yesterday before abandoning!  Previously, when it flared up a day or two rest was sufficient. Hey ho - bloody shame to be missing out on the last few nice evenings that its still light enough to get a post-work run in!
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Need to get you to the physio I just had Bus, she'll sort you out with a bit of pool stuff!

    Luckily had fuelled up after the Manchester trip, as the fuel mania we're seeing now is incredible. Just roads clogged up for 100s of metres around all service stations.
    I feel sorry for anyone who has a critical need and can't get any, like our running club chairman who needs to be with a relation up north and can't be.

    Anyway, off to Marlow for 2 reasons, 1 for a nice route run, and 2 to see if a warning message came up again on the car (it didn't!).

    Marlow out past Bisham Abbey (hadn't intended this bit in fairness, but missed the path to the Thames (!) ), to Hurley, then out to the fringe of where the Endure 24 event was. 3 miles to Hurley, then turned around at about 6.5m.

    Same back, for a 13miler at about 7.22 pace.
    58 mile week.

    Weighing up race entry, as I've spotted our club are doing a 4min efforts session in a couple of weeks that might be interesting, which would rule out a turnout this weekend.
    Also have one eye on me doing 2 evenings up north midweek, which probably isn't a top bed fellow with a weekend race.
    So all a bit TBC.

    But i'm sure I'll turnout the weekend of the 10th at least.
  • Finding time to get to a physio is the thing currently SG - if its still like this once I've moved, then probably will.

    Nice route for a day like today SG.

    30M bike for me this morning, chucking in a wee bit of very bumpy bridleway and some gravel stuff just to kill the average speed! 

    5M brisk walk this evening too,  just trying to make the most of what could well be the last summer evening of 2021.
  • JooliganJooligan ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    Back to normality with a standard Sunday LR then SG.
    Bad luck Bus. Hopefully you’ll get moved & sorted ASAP.
    I had a busy weekend. Drove up to Llangollen Friday night & kipped in Palais  Passat before heading on up to Prestatyn for the parkrun. Easy 2K warm-up to loosen the groin off. Set off along the concrete prom at a sensible pace & wound it up till we left the concrete 1200m in. Overtook one chap on the little climb even though I’d backed off to protect the adductor. The next 1200m ruin a perfectly good course by taking you along a narrow sandy path then across a rabbit-hole infested grassy stretch, zig-zag through a wooden barrier through a couple hundred metres of soft sand then back onto the concrete prom & the run home. Slightest headwind made it mildly challenging as did the humidity & temperature (about 20 degrees) Finished 8th in 21:15 without damaging myself. Decided a walking cool down would be wiser than a hilly run so did 4M through town along Offa’s Dyke, round some woods & back. 
    I then walked another 12.7M later in the day to bag 3 trigs so a lot of hill walking. 
    Another night of luxury then off to Farndon this morning for the 10K.
    It was a great race: free hassle-free parking, mass start with self-seeding pens, closed roads & chip-chip timing, water station at halfway, medal, flapjack & water at the finish. Not pancake flat but nothing brutal: only 225’ of climb over the whole course.
    3.5M progressive warm-up got the groin nicely loosened.
    Stuck myself towards the front of the 40-50 minute pen as I figured sub 7s would be acceptable.
    I set off conservatively & was happy with 6:50 for the 1st mile. Mile 2 climbed gradually for the 1st 1200m then dropped down gradually. I worked a tiny bit harder & was pleased with 6:46 still feeling comfortable. Mile 3 was undulating so 6:51 was reasonable & I went through 5K in 21:15 again. We were dropping throughout Mile 4 so the same effort was rewarded with a 6:33. The next 0.5M climbed 65’ which took it’s toll on the pace in spite of dropping half that to finish Mile 5 so another 6:50 (split 3:35/3:14) I tried to hold that quicker pace & Mile 6 was 6:30 then the final 400m was 6:21 pace for 42:00 so a 20:45 2nd 5K. 
    Finished 60th on Gun & 61st on Chip (of 682) so positioning & pacing was spot on as I was overtaken by a couple of dozen in the first K but was passing people from 3K onwards. I was also 6th MV50 (of 63)
    Really happy to have managed it so well & although the groin stiffened up after there was no pain during the race but I was careful not to go all out. 
    Enjoyed the race & some post-race chat over coffee with some proper old timers, 84 & 79, who’d come in at 63 & 64 minutes respectively. 
    Happy days.
  • No doubt there's a lack of takers on those Vaporfly due to the looks Reggie! Came today, so run up and down the road, bit weird but see why they are popular. Will see if they help at the LFOTM.

    Jools - race sounded fun!!

    Mental weekend running wise.

    Saturday - leave house 0800 to get to Linford wood parkrun, near MK track. help marshall too as well as watching the other two run. Then back in the car to the track to the Eastern Masters final.

    11.40 - 1500m. Me and my mate from my running club were 50m ahead early, he cane past on about 500, and won by a few metres, I was 2nd in 4.19
    12.30 - 800m - went out quite hard, went through bell in 63, two came past on 600m, ended up 3rd in 2.09.
    14.40 - 3000m. tried to stick to 75's with my mate Pete M just behind me. Won that in 9.26, paced PM to a PB.
    15.30 - 400M in relay - we were 5/6.

    Today...

    Left house 9.15 to get to Southern road relays (MK again)

    Ollie was running at 11.15, so volunteered to marshal the kids races, was there until about 1pm! The relays were set up quickly so we needed lots of help from volunteers.

    I was 3rd leg in the HHH team, course was just over 5k. Obviously a bit tired and staggered around in 17.21..last couple of k were a bit easier and last K was downhill (in 3.16).

    Good weekend though....


  • Class weekend that SC2. Not surprised the legs weren’t fresh for the road relays 😂
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    That's one heck of a race mad weekend SC! Helps the stats along a treat, and probably equals my year's racing in 2 days!

    Makes your weekend look low of turnouts in comparison Jools ;)
    Good work on a couple of efforts, and better still seem to be handling the niggle.

    From my rehab a few weeks ago, when I did a 2hour walk, I know for sure how long it takes to rack up any mileage with walking. So a 12.7mile walk in hills must have been one hell of a long outing!


    Looks like we've properly arrived in Autumn, as I was greeted by wet and windiness.


    I have a little route out into one of Wycombe's maligned but not too bad areas, especially as seemingly no-one at all is about at 715-8 ish fare.

    Monday can often feel a little hazy of senses and motivation, but this is a nice one to loosen up, slight climb to this little bit behind a set of houses, where it's a bit like a track, 0.2miles or so loop, slight undulation. A few laps of that,then the back is always quicker once warmed up, and with the slight down hill.

    Quick call to the garage to confirm that the info message that came up on the car isn't anything to worry much about and just about have enough fuel.

    So full day today, then half day tomorrow, and then up North for 2 nights of footy games.
    Then back to work just for Friday. Seems a decent work, so hopefully my teams don't ruin it!
  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    Manically busy weekend there Simon; you'll be making Jools jealous, but I suppose he still wins by a long way based on distance covered ;) Great efforts both of you.

    Impressive brick times Reg; still can't believe the cycle paces you average in just casual rides.

    Good to see you cycling and doing a bit of running amongst the mayhem Bus, but hope that hammy issue clears quickly as you certainly don't need that to content with too. 

    All seems good for you in the run up to VLM SQ and great to see normal SG service resumed.

    Did Ealing Sunset Mile Friday night which is their annual evening race as a precursor to their Ealing HM weekend. Almost 100 runners, which is way above the Mile norm, and too many for their little park. A new course layout with a start and finish on grass was tricky with dog walkers and kids on bikes dotted around the course. Ended 9th in 5'37 which is a bit down on my last effort there (5'33) but OK I suppose given the above. They have their normal monthly event Friday lunchtime so could give that a go if I can be bothered with another trip.

    parkrun on Saturday was in California. No not a special exemption form Joe Biden to run a race over there; the country park of that name near Wokingham. Its an off-road course and a lot of it is twisty and in deep woods. Was quite pleased with 19'03 for 5th till I saw RB had rated the course mega easy at 0.6 on their SSS scale, and hence my run quite substandard. Still don't properly follow how they come up with their ratings and they seem full of anomalies (e.g. that parkrun course rated easier than Battersea Park 5k course :*).

    The two race efforts, albeit both short distances, seemed to have really knackered me and felt very tired doing a 10 miler from home to Bracknell Look Out and back yesterday. Need a bit of time off now. 
  • Cheers All - Yes it was good fun all in all, great marshalling the kids races too, especially making sure your own goes the right way! 

    SG - Hope you didn't get caught in that 5 minute squall line? I managed to stay relatively dry ish on the school run and thought i'd chance it to go round the corner and pick up a jacket that we had bought. Bad idea....

    Pete - Also a busy one...all good for the training eh?
  • Great turnouts Pete - I'd be very happy with either of those times at the moment.
    The walk was in 2 parts SG: 1.5M then 11.2. The longer one I was against the clock due to the lack of light so 1st 5K in 49:30, next 5K in 46:45 then the other 5M took 1hr36 due to the terrain & climbing involved.
    Groin barely noticeable on my lunchtime 7K :)
  • Cheers Pete, nice work on the mile & Cali Country Park double. Impressive feast of running from SC and Jools.

    I didn't do much over the weekend, my youngest does gymnastics about a 5 minute run from Woodley Parkrun but both start at 9 so I jogged over there to join in and as I entered the park the throngs were coming past about 400m into things, I guess i joined about 40th to 50th place and worked my way up to the 17th place chap and more importantly just ahead of the first lady and then swerved the finish chute before continuing back to the gymnastics place. I reckon on a good day with a delayed start (they started 9:05) I could make it for the start but it might take a few minutes at tempo to get there on time. Will be fun trying. Another recovery run on Sunday gave me 32 miles for the week, the most since I chucked in a random 21 miler into the mix in March.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Jooligan said:
    Great turnouts Pete - I'd be very happy with either of those times at the moment.
    The walk was in 2 parts SG: 1.5M then 11.2. The longer one I was against the clock due to the lack of light so 1st 5K in 49:30, next 5K in 46:45 then the other 5M took 1hr36 due to the terrain & climbing involved.
    Groin barely noticeable on my lunchtime 7K :)
    Must have been cold ;)

    But on a more serious note good news. We like the niggles that ruck off early doors.

    You'd be the one person glad at the pre start wittering then Reg!
  • If I remember rightly Pete, the SSS score uses a weird algorithm based on a whole heap of things that makes parkruns have a lower score than a proper race with a faster field (Philip will know!).

    Either way, a very solid time on an off-road course! 

    And blimey Simon!!!!

    And Jools - I often find my groin is barely noticeable too on a cold walk :wink:

    3M tonight - bit meh and no conclusions. Moving house in a couple of days - if the Man and Van has any diesel that is!!!
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    I thought you could hype up your Rb by racing parkruns as plenty there don't? So you cash in on the handicap score?

    But as said many times I very rarely pay attention to RB. I have my own disclaimer system about conditions and suchlike,  don't need theirs :)
  • Cracking weekend from Jools - back to the legendary status! Similarly from SC. Must be strange (although not for you), to have a break between races and then go so fast again. 

    Fitting it around kids' activities is my kind of running, Reg. Great effort. 

    Good to see SG putting the whole running package back together, and a very solid parkrun from PM. 

    Nice explore on the Grand Union Canal on Sunday. 9M of pleasant trails. 3M easy yesterday before a shakeout session later on this morn. 

    Pegasus 37s have finally given up the ghost - after 990M! Weirdly, I didn't like them for the 400M.

    Non-running related - but electric car, ordered six months ago, due to arrive on Tuesday. Er, could kind of do with it now  :D
  • Lol - kind of ironic that range anxiety now exists for petrol and diesel cars!!!
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    As I'm about to set off on a 2 dayer to Shrewsbury and Manchester I'm so glad I still have 55% of a tank over from getting back from last week's trip! Would have had to be one of those hapless saps stuck in queues for hours otherwise!

    9mile single today then, sort of fusing a mixture of the usual midweek medium long, and some Tuesday efforts.

    12x2mins effort off 2mins.;
    Had no idea what sort of pace mixer we'd be looking at, as it's on road, it was continuous, as opposed to the traditional hard rep, total stop mixer, and some of the course is up a steep grassy bank, with a couple of fields and a small section through a wood after!

    However, I think the pace finds itself to the right level most times, and a couple came out 6.04 pace, most at 6.15, and naturally the one up the bank, and scuffling through the offroad much slower.

    As said previously, these short road sections can be very nip and tuck pace wise, depending on whether the garmin picks you up just under or just over a distance. So 0.32m or 0.33m covered in a 2min section makes a 11second difference in average pace etc.

    However, it is what it is, and running done, half day at work, and will take the gear and see if a run is doable in Shrewsbury/Telford tomorrow.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    SQ, that's one of those sort of routes you could imagine may be decent to do an ultra or something on, a relaxed, social type scenic job.

    Missed the last line on your previous post Bus, hope to hear you're nicely moved and content by the time I'm back down in Wycombe by the end of the week.
  • PhilipMJonesPhilipMJones ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    The Bus said:
    If I remember rightly Pete, the SSS score uses a weird algorithm based on a whole heap of things that makes parkruns have a lower score than a proper race with a faster field (Philip will know!).
    The SSS score is based on incomplete data. As an example, I'll pick Dachs

    He was first finished at Woodley parkrun 200, mid July, in a time of 16:19 and 2 weeks later he did the same in 16.20. The second runner was the same on both occasions with identical times of 16:24. The SSS scores were 1.1 and 1.6. All the evidence says the course was pretty identical those two days but the SSS scores differ. 

    The algorithm will look at athletes and see how fast they run compared to expectations. If an athlete takes it easy, he will perform worse than expected so the SSS goes up. You see this in parkruns when people jog on a Saturday and race on a Sunday.  


  • PeteMPeteM ✭✭✭
    Philip, I think RB have changed their approach now and ignore times where an athlete is way down on their norm as its deemed they were obviously not trying. There was an explanation of sorts on RB website from Tim Grose, referring to a revised parkrun algorithm to weed out 'non triers', but he did not go into detail.

    I agree with Tim's logic to some extent but think they have gone too far in this.I have certainly noticed parkrun SSS scores getting generally lower and some to ridiculous levels. Cali Country Park, a fully off road course through rutted woodland trails, was SSS 0.4 last week (ref Battersea super fast 5k on tarmac typically c0.5!). I suspect what has happened is they are ignoring the below pars but not the above pars. Therefore if someone has not run much for ages, then does outstandingly well, that is overly reflected. Cali had a student breaking the course record in 15'xx and I suspect that was behind the 0.4 rating!
  • I do like a MLR/efforts combo, SG. Definitely get a run in - lovely part of the world. I haven't, but have you tried the strava route finder feature?

    So, final mini session 7.8M at 7:36 average. Included 2M at MP effort then 3 x strides with the wind behind me. Frustratingly, the racecourse was being used for er, horseracing, so couldn't do my nicely measured 2M loop. But in the right ball park. 
  • Knock knock. My exec summary of the last few months - Ironman (9 hrs 25 - PB), waves of depression, constant struggle with hamstring injury and then some pr*ck drove me off the road about 4 weeks ago leaving me unable to sleep without pain for at least 2 weeks. Nothing broken thankfully. Lots of muscle damage and not able to weight bear for 2 weeks. 

    I'm doing London on Sunday cos I'm a stubborn b*stard and don't want to miss out after the misery that has been COVID. So I'll try and run, and if I can't, I'll walk round and get an inside scoop of these people getting sprayed with cleaning fluid at the back. Maybe I'll join in.

    Without reading back at all, I'll tell you what everyone's been doing whilst I've been away;

    SG - Entertaining everyone with car parking stories, posting 3 times about different sessions without any response, encouraging lurkers (ideally females) to post more.

    Bus - Battling with his own injury problems, but still soldiering on run around in the hills, and has been to the Lake District 5 times.

    Pete - Racing three times a week, defying old(er) age, and still trying to con us in telling us he's slow.

    Simon - Doing that weird running around the track, usually with very short gaps between races, seemingly beating most people apart from the usual elite-vet that turns up to steal the glory. 

    Reg - Doing hardly any training, but still seeming to run faster than everyone and has a motor in his bike.

    Jools - Pete on steroids, 5 races a weekend, plus a lap of the entire British Isles to finish himself off. He's probably been drinking cider as well, and still hasn't had a hair cut.

    Phil - Still on hand to advise on Berkshire route choices and the best local hills to run up. 

    SQ - Preparing for a guinness world record for fastest marathon run with a buggy.

    How close am I?

  • Just read back and seen Reg has been having dreams about me. Business as usual then. 
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Yes, the least said about what kind of dreams the better  :)

    And spot on about the rest of us. Though Pete has developed a new niche in being hard done by with RB workings ;)
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    Ps good to hear from you. 
    I swear it gets lively when I disappear, there's probably a learning there and i should bugger off for a bit and let you cool kids do your thing for a bit :D


    Ps SQ, there's a very easy route into the big park behind this premier Inn in Telford which is good news. Was hard to tell from the aerial.
    Will get something pootled out tomorrow.  But for now I best get over to Shrewsbury before we have a silly parking related story!
  • Still got the ability to make us laugh JB so thanks for that. Sorry to hear depression has been haunting you despite your best efforts to ex(e/o)rcise it away. Epic NC500 trip & excellent IM PB. Shame about the reckless driver who's left you a wreck & didn't even have the decency to stop IIRC. Best of luck on Sunday - I'm sure you'll beat the broom wagon & entertain those around you.
    Back on the track today for a decent little session. Usual 1M wu on the grass first then 1K@5K pace followed by 5x600m at 3K-Mile pace all off 200m walk into jog (85-80") 4:00 for the 1K & 2:22/2:21/2:19/2:17/2:17 for the 600s.
    For SG:
    Strava recorded the last 2 reps as 2:17/0.37M/6:08 pace & 2:17/0.37M/6:01 pace
    Garmin had them as 2:17.4/0.37M/6:09 pace & 2:17.5/0.38M/6:03 pace
    Seems they must take account of fractions of a mile in their pace calculations - GPS just isn't accurate enough over shorter distances
  • About right JB! Good to see you battling on against what the best of life can throw at us. I'll be there Sunday

    Good little session there SQ and likewise Jools

    10 x 800 off 80 on the windy field for me this avo. About 2.46's I think, so not too bad. 
  • JooliganJooligan ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    Yay: I’ve had faster 800m times (racing) on the track than your windy reps on grass Simon 🤣
    Was very windy today. Headwind on the back straight so all my reps had more effort against it than with it. Not the greatest planning 😆

  • Nice to hear from you JB, I think my sub conscious had you in that dream due to your propensity to appear all over the media, why not appear at the football too!  :D 

    Hopefully the mishaps and injury are behind you, it sounds like you've been breaking the same mirrors I did. Reasonable summary, I think we can take SG for granted to keep the pages ticking over so perhaps those rare absences leads to a sharing of the burden.

    SQ - I have used the route finder once, we were staying in a hotel just outside Newbury, it gave me a really nice route and saved a lot of researching. A good way to test it might be to use it in areas you know to see what it offers.

    Easy run for me yesterday and another this morning sandwiching the first Zwift Racing league fixture of the season. Team Time Trial and a real lung burner at the end. It will take a couple of weeks to get used to that sort of effort on the bike again. 

    My 8 year old surprised me last night, telling me she's signed up for the school Cross Country so we went up the field and did a few laps around the football pitch, she did quite well holding about 6:30 pace each lap for just under a minute at a time. Made me think it's probably not that long until we can go for a half decent run together if she's willing.


     
  • PeteM said:
    Philip, I think RB have changed their approach now and ignore times where an athlete is way down on their norm as its deemed they were obviously not trying. There was an explanation of sorts on RB website from Tim Grose, referring to a revised parkrun algorithm to weed out 'non triers', but he did not go into detail.

    I agree with Tim's logic to some extent but think they have gone too far in this.I have certainly noticed parkrun SSS scores getting generally lower and some to ridiculous levels. Cali Country Park, a fully off road course through rutted woodland trails, was SSS 0.4 last week (ref Battersea super fast 5k on tarmac typically c0.5!). I suspect what has happened is they are ignoring the below pars but not the above pars. Therefore if someone has not run much for ages, then does outstandingly well, that is overly reflected. Cali had a student breaking the course record in 15'xx and I suspect that was behind the 0.4 rating!
    The recent changes have just extended the data he is drawing from, so it used to key off athletes who had enough data at certified distances to be representative. That meant that for big races there was good data and the SS was OKish. For a parkrun with 100 athletes you may only get a handful of such so it was a bit iffy. The changes added regular parkrunners into the mix.

    It is still trying to do the impossible, so the course is just one factor in the time and it is hard to tell if someone is slow because they are not trying or if the course is harder. 


    Without reading back at all, I'll tell you what everyone's been doing whilst I've been away;

    Phil - Still on hand to advise on Berkshire route choices and the best local hills to run up. 

    How close am I?

    Buckinghamshire my young lad: Berkshire is where Slough   is  :s
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