New Mature Runners Thread

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  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    Aquarius - not sure what's going on re Strava. Logged on to download my walk having read you'd accepted JB's request to follow you, thinking I'd send JB a request. But when I looked at your profile, your only followers are me and Steve? (confused!). Yes - it was Charlotte Purdue who wanted to post a good time in the VLM - her 3rd fastest woman ever result was to make a point to the selectors. I don't blame you for giving that 5k a miss if the conditions were so bad. Well done for getting out for that goal pace repeat session - and lucky you noticed that fallen (falling?) tree. You'll definitely have to find that chest torch and leave it somewhere handy so you can see what you're doing. Bit of a so and so to have to run though water on the track .. sounds a bit like one of HS's forest runs. Sounds like it may be time to RTFM (read the flipping manual) if you were getting a bit confused with all the beeps from the watch to try and work out what was going on?

    As mentioned above, I walked again this morning. Managed a pre-breakfast 4ml walk and thanks to the route I chose, no problems today with traffic so the pace looked better (no enforced stops at junctions). I shall walk again tomorrow morning but as we're planning to dig up a shrub tomorrow morning (bacause it's garden waste day on Fri), probably not as far. Then I have a u3a Science & Technology meeting in the afternoon. 

    On Friday I'm playing golf with Alan. This time we're playing at Shipton so no bunkers to worry about but there is always the lake to drive over on the 2nd hole and the ever-present ditches around the course. In readiness for Fri, I've been to the driving range today and there were only a few 'duffers' amongst the 110 balls I struck. 

    No news yet btw on when my two broken clubs will be repaired - but I was warned it might take a couple of weeks. 

    Also, I'll mention I've signed up for a player development day on Sat 23rd. It's a 5hr group event (10am to 3pm - max. 8 people) with time on the driving range to spot and correct any problems, a playing lesson on the course, an informal competition and lunch as well. Depending on how that goes, I may sign up for some more 1-to-1 lessons.
  • Mel/Aquarius, I'm pretty hopeless on anything IT related and have a history of getting lost on web-sites, losing passwords, getting flustered and giving up! So I'd mark down my (relative) success in following Aquarius - and thanks for accepting me - as a towering achievement to rank alongside various Nobel Prize winning efforts. I'll never be a heavy user and will just pop in occasionally to check out rivals. But, Mel, thanks for your guidance on this.

    Mel, you've been bitten by the golf bug. Great to have a hobby that can lead to more social contacts. I tend to stereotype golf club members and I'm sure this is not fair. Maybe it dates back to being 'shooed' off a course when we were kids. Were I a player, I'm sure I'd bring the same obsessional qualities to the game that - a Aquarius notes - I currently do to my running and I would be a golf bore par excellence. (And don't end up in that lake!)

    Aquarius, that sounds like a pretty full-on session - and that's without your encounter with the tree. 5 x 1k is a classic routine but one that I don't think I've ever had the discipline to do (I think I got to 4 once!). Sploshing through that water must help you with the upcoming XC race. As for my times in training, it's always to be remembered that I train in optimal conditions (apart from the wind) so my times are always flattering. 
    You are right: I will redouble my effort to knock the newbie off the top of the Age Graded table but I have to admit that he is a class act.

    HS, you are right. My idea of a rest day is simply to beast myself with cross-training.  Yesterday, no run so 8x 1 minute flat out on the rower with one minute between intervals. By a remarkable coincidence the speed per interval is just under 4 mins per k - which is just about what I run over the same interval (250 metres). So I'm hoping that there's some running benefit to be had.
    Did you check out you marathon WAVA. whatever it is, I can guarantee it'll be better than 

    a) any of mine and
    b) anything I could be capable of in the future!

    Might have a gentle* run today.

    *relative term
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    JB - I'm not sure whether this group coaching session will lead to gaining new social golfing contacts .. but that may be a useful side-effect. I've already mentioned I'm considering joining the 'seniors' section at Sherdons and meeting and playing with other players. This coaching session may be the spur to signing up as I'm sure part of the day (possibly over lunch) will be a 'selling opportunity' by Richard, the club professional and owner. The only thing stopping me has been trying to find out how the seniors section operates and trying to make sure its a welcoming environment rather than a cliquey group of mates who play each other regularly and don't welcome outsiders. I've not been bitten by the golf bug btw - just trying to improve to avoid the frustration of fluffing shots and allowing Alan to beat me when I've been in a winning position. I can safely say I'm never going to become a golf 'bore' who needlessly change their golf clubs for the latest, 'better' version or spend thousands belonging to an elitist club. I'm quite happy playing on the 'pay and play' courses with occasional forays - what Alan and I have called our 'Summer Tour' - to clubs that will allow the occasional visitors who don't have a low handicap. If, like Aquarius, you probably won't be logging on that often to Strava, I'll stop worrying about how to find you on there and follow you. 

    Decided I couldn't be arsed to get up at 6:30am today to go for a walk, so turned over and went back to sleep for 90 mins. But will be heading out into the garden as soon as I've posted this to do some x-training and cut down and dig up a shrub that Margaret has deemed is surplus to requirements.
  • Afternoon all,
    WtnMel: Hmm, I’ll have to log on to Strava again because that does sound confusing. Well done on Wednesday’s walk, but don’t blame you for Thursday’s lie in, your body probably needed it as you seem to have been quite busy lately. How did the U3A Science and Technology meeting go yesterday? I hope you didn’t fall asleep after your cross training workout digging up that shrub.
    I know what you mean about some established groups being a bit cliquey, I hope that seniors section at Sherdons doesn’t turn out like that if you do decide to join. Maybe someone at the player development day will have some inside information? I hope today’s golf match went well and no one ended up in the lake.

    JB: I imagine you are getting geared up for tomorrow’s parkrun, will it be local or further afield this week?  How did yesterday’s “gentle” run go (btw you are not fooling anyone). Steve is much the same as you where IT matters are concerned, and I’m not much better. I think Mel is definitely the tech champion in this group, I’ve no doubt we are a sad disappointment to him.

    This morning I had a slow 40 minute run incorporating some hills. I’d done some strength work yesterday (abs, arms, glutes, hamstrings and quads) so perhaps unsurprisingly my legs were complaining all through my run and I had to cut short the hill reps I’d planned. I hope tomorrow’s rest day puts them right again, ready for Saturday’s cross country at Druridge Bay.

    Nearly forgot - the dashcams and app are best friends now and working well together (I hope I'm not tempting fate) although this afternoon on our trip home from the podiatrist (Steve was getting new orthotics fitted in his running shoes for his achilles problem) the chatty lady on the dashcam suddenly announced that we needed to look at the SD card. Steve is currently doing so on his computer upstairs and I haven't heard any swearing so far so hopefully all is well.

  • Spoke too soon about the dashcam 😒
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Aquarius - the u3a S&T meeting was good and was a talk about recent developments in space flight (mainly Messrs. Musk & Bezos but also what Nasa is up to). The talk was marred by sound problems at the start but they eventually worked out it was due to a bad connection. Fingers crossed someone at the development day will know about the senior's section. Today's golf went well - I scored 49 (my best ever is 43) with 5 bogies and 1 par. Unfortunately Alan wasn't there to witness it or play against as he had to cry off due to a bad back. Well done re today's 40min run and good luck with the x-country race at Druridge. Shame about the dashcam ..
  • Aquarius - best of luck for the upcoming X-country. Looking forward to hearing how you got on.

    Mel, do you think Alan's bad back was merely a ruse to avoid competing with a man in form? I like your attitude to your golf, especially the 'summer tour' idea.
    What's the 'best' (most enjoyable) course you've ever played on? I've only played on 2 but one of them was in Canada where they filmed the movie 'Happy Gilmour' (not that I've watched it - but the course was stunning).

    So, today was the first of my 2 runs this weekend. I was advised to 'take it easy', given that tomorrow's is a 10k. I'm afraid I didn't. The conditions were perfect, I'm in a bit of good form so I gambled that a PB was a possibility and worth getting even if it wrecked my 10k. 
    So a 'PB' was achieved - 20.41 and, the PB bit, a 81.87% WAVA.  his was the 2nd best in the field. However, the quality was impacted by tomorrow's 10k and the Brighton HM: my time would usually get me around 30th; today I was 16th.
    My younger training partner was delighted with his best ever place: 3rd.



  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Popped back to say .. back in the old routine this morning and got out for a 4ml pre-breakfast walk (first walk since Wed if you don't count golf yesterday). 

    JB - joking apart, it's unlikely the bad back was a ruse by Alan. Apart from walking around golf courses, he doesn't do any other form of exercise. So I can imagine he's not very supple (says the man who himself, has not been doing his stretching exercises often enough lately).  I think the 'best', most enjoyable but also most challenging course we played on our summer tour was Naunton Downs - lots of variety and a couple of "You ARE joking!" moments when seeing what we faced on some holes. No surprise to hear you didn't take it easy, despite the upcoming 10k - well done re the PB.

    Margaret has been to the grocers and said there was laughter in there, the first time she's heard any. It can't be coincidence that the 'scary' old lady who used to run it (and had done for many years), passed away recently - that was unfortunate, but it appears the atmosphere in the shop has changed as a result.

    A strange techie thing yesterday with my phone. After getting a Whatsapp message about the u3a coffee & chat, I realised it was showing a mobile number rather than someone's name. Some further investigations showed the majority of my phone contacts had gone. The phone gets its contact information from MS Outlook, which I use on my laptop and which is where they are all stored. I fixed the problem on the phone by going into the contacts, removing the link to Outlook, then re-adding it .. lo and behold, they're all back again. Wibble ...

    Yesterday we went to the garden centre and got some grease bands to put around the trunks of our fruit trees along with a small tub of grease. Apparently, this will deter the winter moths which climb up into the tree before errr, winter :) The tub of grease is to fill up the gaps that will occur with the band due to the gnarly nature of the bark.

    Lots of dedications on Twitter yesterday from Tory ministers including Boris Johnson, bemoaning the death of James Brokenshire and saying what a clever, intelligent, good-natured, guy he was who could explain issues clearly and concisely and get things done. I'm afraid I couldn't resist so replied to Boris's tweet asking how come James wasn't leader of the party and PM in that case and why did we end up with a vacuous clown like him in charge.
  • Afternoon all,

    Sorry for the lack of posts. I just don't seem to have the time these days. Must try harder. I've read back but there is too much to comment on.

    Things seem to be going well for you all. I ran with Sarah this morning and congratulated her on her marathon interview and time. She had her flu and booster jabs this morning. She said that the flu jab stung as it went in. I've got my two jabs booked for Thursday morning. Thankfully they are at the local Leisure Centre where I had my first two. 

    I had my first post marathon run on Wednesday 6k, Thursday 8k, and 6.5 miles this morning.

    I'm going out to dinner later this evening to an Italian Restaurant in the village. It's a belated birthday meal with one of out Coaches for her 70th birthday. It had to be postponed because of Covid.
  • Mel, I've now got this image of you greasing all these trees.

    HS, enjoy your meal. 

    The 10k went much better than expected: 43.47 and a 2nd place in my category. Perfect conditions and cool so with the flat course it was PBs for a lot of runners. Had some on-course support from my grandchildren. 
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    HS - still no sign of any jabs for me and Margaret yet (still waiting for the text from the surgery). Well done re your recent runs and hope you enjoy your much-delayed meal.

    JB - I put the sticky tape on the trees yesterday and also 'painted' a band of grease just above the tape .. the wingless female winter moths this is designed to catch won't be around just yet but I noticed before I had finished I'd already caught some victims (over-inquisitive flies and spiders). Well done re your 10k.

    I see we have a spammer in our midst - I've flagged it as spam .. over to you lot to finish the job.

    Had a nasty surprise this morning. My bathroom scales needed new batteries fitting and when I weighed myself I was 7lbs heavier than the day before. I think the readings over the last few months may have been completely awry due to the low-powered batteries and had lulled me into thinking I've been losing weight! :( 
  • Good afternoon every one,

    I've flagged the spammer, that's two, and I think it takes 4 or 5 to get rid of the pests.

    JB and WtnMel, thanks the meal was very good. There were the two Sarah's and three others. We went to a pub first before entering the restaurant. We sat outside of the pub, as the tables and chairs were under cover, with overhead heaters. Nobody wore masks, and it was the same in the restaurant. The sooner I get my flu and booster jabs, the better. 

    JB, well done for that amazing 10k time. It's many years since I ran sub 50 minutes. Having spectator support certainly helps, especially if they are family or friends. I've just remembered that I told you I would tell you my marathon WAVA. It's a rather disappointing 54.66% calculated on the running time of 5.35. Sarah's WAVA for her London Marathon is 56.55%, calculated on her running time of 4.52. She was disappointed with that too.

    WtnMel, I hope you soon hear from your surgery when you will be able to get your jabs.
    I see you are collecting spiders and flies now, I think there is a name for that😄
    I had to laugh at the thought of you gaining 7lbs in a day🤣 I'd never thought that that could happen, and I was wondering whether aging batteries in our Garmins might also be a factor in unusual readings. My scales don't have batteries so I don't have that problem. 

    I ran a solo 12k in the forest this morning wearing my trail shoes, the first time for ages. My average pace was 10.30 minute miling. My fastest mile was the 6th at 9.52 minute miling.
  • Good morning everyone,

    I flagged the spammer last night, but didn’t have time to post anything else. 

    HS: You don’t let the grass grow under your feet do you? You must have run well over 20 miles last week, not bad going after a marathon at the weekend. I hope your jabs go well on Thursday. We’ve both had our flu jabs but were told we’d have to wait until the 6 months was up from the last Covid jab before we could have our boosters, so that will be sometime this month for Steve and next month for me. Your night out for an Italian meal sounded nice, but I know what you mean about hardly anyone wearing masks these days. I’m very uncomfortable with that, particularly as the rates of infection are still very high. You and Sarah shouldn’t be disheartened about your marathon WAVAs, I imagine most people would score lower for that distance than the shorter courses. It’s a real achievement just to have finished a marathon, the time taken (in my opinion) is much less important.

    WtnMel: That u3a meeting sounded very interesting, you’re lucky that you get such a good variety of topics at these meetings. Well done on your best ever golf score, pity Alan couldn’t make it. Hopefully you’ll still be in good form for your next match with him. What an odd thing to happen with your phone contacts, but well done for working out how to fix it (what’s wibble?) I’d never heard of grease bands for trees, but it sounds a nice eco friendly way to deal with the little blighters that climb up your fruit trees, you’ll have to keep us updated regarding how effective it is. I liked your tweet in reply to Boris, it amazes me how he is still popular with so many voters, despite constantly staggering from one disaster to another. That 7lb gain must have been a bit of a shocker, why don’t you just replace the new batteries with the old ones, you’ll feel a lot better if you do. ;)

    JB: Great WAVA for your parkrun, well done. You must be delighted with such a good time and, what’s even better,  it obviously didn’t impact too much on your 10k the following day. All in all a great weekend’s running. How nice that your grandchildren (and their parents no doubt) were there to cheer you on. What races do you have lined up next?

    Yesterday’s XC wasn’t too bad in that my average pace was exactly the same as it was for the same course 5 years ago (10.14) my finishing time was 42.06 for 4.11 miles. Not really speedy, but for XC it was good enough for me. We had a rather long hold at the beginning (20 minutes) as the earlier races were running a bit late and the cumulative effect from the under 11s races onwards through the age groups to the start of our senior ladies resulted in the long wait. It was rather chilly too which made the wait seem a lot longer, but once we got going we soon warmed up. The 2 lap course was a lot drier than usual, with just one muddy section, but it more than made up for the relative easy going by taking us across cattle pasture for the first third of a mile. This was badly rutted and quite dangerous for running on as the ruts had formed (presumably) during the recent heavy rain but were now rock hard. We all staggered along in an ungainly fashion until we reached better ground and were able to get going properly. When I reached this point again on the second lap I turned my ankles a few times, particularly my left one. It was so painful at the time I didn’t think I could continue but managed to run (hobble) it off. Unfortunately the finishing area was also over this rutted ground so no sprint finish for me this time! When I got home I iced my ankle as it had stiffened up during the 45 minute trip home and was very painful by then. It’s still sore today making me limp a bit. I’m hoping it will be ok for tomorrow so I can get out for a run.
  • I’m on the front row right, with my eyes closed 🙄 and in the process of kneeling down. 
  • Spammer flagged - using my alternative 'rwspamkiller1' id :) Mel
  • That's a great photo Aquarius! I haven't read your post yet, but when the photo popped up, I had to respond. 

    Well done Mel, I had forgotten that you were also a spamkiller😁
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Afternoon all,

    HS - Margaret has received a text inviting her to the surgery for her covid booster and flu jabs .. still no text for me though. Glad to hear you enjoyed your meal. I wouldn't be too disappointed with your marathon WAVA as it was off-road and with not exactly ideal conditions underfoot wasn't it? Well done re that trail run.

    Aquarius - it wasn't my best-ever golf score but not that far away from it (for a change!). Wibble is just a nonsense word I heard somewhere - equivalent to shrugging my shoulders and wondering what on earth was going on to cause that. Grease bands are fairly new to me too - I hadn't ever realised that the bugs that attack the apples in the Spring and Summer, crawl up the trunks of the trees the previous Autumn. Well done for being able to match your XC pace from 5 years ago - there's not that many (apart from HS maybe?) who could say that. Sorry to hear about the rutted ground and you turning your ankle - hope that doesn't cause any longer-term issues. Lovely photo from your clubmate Gemma - and so nice to finally be able to put a face to the lady known as Aquarius that we chat to. Btw, that lady next to you is the spitting image of Grace Dent (I expect that's been remarked on before). 

    I see the spammer's post is still there despite our good friend rwspamkiller1 making an appearance :) Maybe it takes a day or two ..

    Good news re the surprising 7lbs weight gain. After putting in new batteries, I investigated further and turned the scales over and realised one of the connections between the foot plate and the mechanism looked out of line. There was a 'click' as I pressed it back into place and when I weighed myself again, the 7lbs gain had disappeared. 

    I swam 32 lengths at yesterday evening's swim and although my legs were a little achey this morning, I walked 3mls before breakfast.

    Been to coffee and chat at Pittville Park this morning and they've erected a temporary (but fairly permanent looking) cafe at the side of the Pump Rooms. Overhead heaters inside so very cosy .. I'd been thinking we might have to make it a 'brisk walk, coffee and chat' group to keep warm in the Winter. They're obviously hoping to keep hold of the custom they've built up over the summer. 

    Also, I've had a call from the guy at the golf club and it sounds like he'll be able to fit new shafts to my two broken clubs this week .. and said it should cost around £40 per club.

    Right - better get off the laptop and try and finish the book for the meeting tomorrow afternoon - I have 100 pages left but my friend Chris said she's only read 100 pages so she'll have to skim through quite a lot to get to the end.

  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Aquarius, thanks! Sarah didn't really have any after effects from her double jabs, and ran today with no problems. It will only be 2 days short of 6 months on Thursday when I have both jabs.
    I still wear a face covering in the supermarket, but very few others, including the staff do. 
    Regarding marathon WAVA's, when I ran my PB in 1993, it was 70.57%. That wasn't on such a tough multi terrain course though.

    Well done for yesterdays cross country race. 10.14 minute miling is a very respectable time for an off road race, especially one that is rutted. Sorry to hear that you turned your ankles several times, but well done for finishing. Hope the icing has worked, and that you will be able to run tomorrow.


    WtnMel, well done for your swim, 32 lengths, .5 mile, very impressive!
    I'm afraid the spammer is still there. I thought it took 5 to do the trick.


    A nice steady forest 7 miles this morning with the Sarah's. It was a lovely morning, sunny, but not too warm. 
  • WtnMel, our posts crossed yet again. I'll reply to yours tomorrow.
  • Well, we seem to all have been quite busy of late......

    Mel, thanks for zapping the nasty. Your 'scales' anecdote made me laugh. If only losing 7lbs could be that easy! Golf still going well and the swimming is admirable.

    Aquarius, good run. To be at the same pace as 5 years ago is something to be proud of: the WAVA would be better! That photo must be of the under 40 squad, yes? I love it when you see clubs' members meet up before/after an event for a photo call. People take a genuine delight in their shared experiences and achievements. You don't (often) see this at Parkruns, but it's one of the things that make 'proper' races special. I really should do more of them as I really like the atmosphere and the 'spectator' support. It also seems to bring out the best of me performance-wise.
    I tend to stay local and looked at the listings for Sussex races over the next few months. It's very thin! There's been a flurry of then over the last few weeks but then they fall away. Mind you, as I avoid X-country, that doesn't help.
    But there's always the Parkruns to fall back on.........

    HS, re WAVAs, and as has become obvious, I get a bit obsessed on this one. I thought I'd relax after I hit the 80% benchmark but of course it just makes you hungry for better ones. This is not a bad thing but I've noticed that I'm beginning to think (only!) about which courses lend themselves to fast times,  which is a bit silly and self-limiting. I'm also trying to climb up the rankings for VM65 and, again, this inclines me to flat courses. 

    Talking of which there's only 2 West Sussex guys who above me in this year's UK 10K rankings and one in the 5K  ones. (East Sussex is another story - and another county.) When I spotted the latter at the 10k race, I thought that he'd beat me easily and indeed during the race he came back past me before the 5k turn. But when I checked the results he'd somehow lost about 5 minutes. However, I don't recall overtaking him and he's far too experienced to 'blow up' after a too-fast first half. So I'm wondering if he was kidnapped by aliens for that 5 minutes.................

    (HS. am I right in thinking that back in the day, hardly anyone seemed to bother too much about WAVA?)
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Morning all,

    HS - I almost stopped after 16 lengths on Sunday, then again at 24 but as I had time, kept going until I'd done 32. And then struggled slightly getting out as I was a bit worn out! :) I still wear a mask in busy shops - not so often in cafes when ventilation is good and not when outside. Well done re the 7ml forest run with the Sarah's.

    JB - as mentioned below, the spammer is no more and has ceased to be .. he's an ex-spammer. Good luck in your pursuit of ever-better WAVA scores and those rankings. I wonder if that guy was going so fast he took a wrong turn .. or needed a 'hedge stop'?

    As mentioned to JB, we have a new friend on the block - rwspamkiller2 - who has just reported that spammer and the post now appears to have gone.

    I like Fetch's sense of humour - after today's walk I was awarded some virtual badges obviously designed for cyclists. I don't walk that fast so I clicked on a link to hand the badges back - and was awarded the 'Honesty' badge ;)

    I finished my book yesterday evening so won't feel a fraud at the book group discussion this afternoon having not completed it. 
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    WtnMel, I note from our crossed posts that Margaret has received her invitation for the 2 jabs, but you are still waiting for yours.
    Well done for completing your swim.
    I'm still wearing my mask in the supermarket, or when car sharing, but didn't wear one in the pub or restaurant on Saturday.

    I didn't know that fetch had an honesty badge. I've never queried any that I have been awarded, and just accept them.
    Well done finishing your book in time for this afternoons book club discussions. I've only got about 10 pages left in the book I'm reading. It's Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It's a good read, but very complicated. 


    JB, back in the day, I didn't know there was such a thing as WAVA's. However, all the races over the years since I've been on fetch and logged them, have the WAVA's. I never used to take any notice of them, but have started looking back, especially, at the faster times. My early races were in the 80% and then in the 70's until my injury in 2017.  I'm now in the sixties (with the exception of the virtual marathon) with the occasional 70% in the not a parkruns that we had been doing. 

    That's strange, that runner losing 5 minutes on you when you didn't think that you had overtaken him. He might have been assimilated by The Borg.😲

    No running today, but I have a new challenge now. Sarah F wants to run a sub 2 hour half marathon. This will be a real challenge for both of us. It's several years since I have run sub 2 hours. We will have to work on a new training schedule.
  • Mel, I m impressed with your award of an Honesty badge. Is it by any chance the one discarded by our very own Prime Minister at the age of around 5?

    HS, interesting reflection on the WAVA. I'm not sure I'd even heard of it  until around 10 years ago. But then you are a more experienced runner than me, so perhaps it's not that surprising. A sub-2 hour HM would be something to be treasured - I wonder what your
    WAVA would be for that?

    I've not run in the dark for ages. I've never particularly like doing so and as I've got older there's the increasing fear of a nasty fall. Plus, being retired there is no shortage of daylight hours in which to train. But yesterday I went out - on a well-lit prom - and had a go. I was amazed not only by the number of runners but by the fact that there were 5 organised separate groups of runners. And this was in the space of 1 hour on one evening. Many were wearing head torches. I had no idea there was such nocturnal (well, early evening) running activity.

    Anyway, I did a 10k at what should have been an easy paced 49 minutes - but it certainly didn't feel like it as I've still got the weekend's efforts in my legs.
  • Good afternoon everyone,

    JB, by coincidence, I received 3 badges on fetch this morning. "Cogs are whirring," "Pschle -path," "Brains trust." These are all for cycling which I haven't done, so I returned them, as did Mel, and got an honesty badge! I imagine Doris would get a "liar of the year" badge😆

    I will check out what the WAVA would be for a 2 hour half marathon at age 75, and post it next time.

    I don't run in the dark these days, but our club members during the darker evenings do the training sessions on roads wearing hi Viz tops and head torches. The sessions are held in the forest during the summer when it stays light at night for much longer. My little gang do our training in the daytime, mainly in the forest, through out the year.

    Well done for your 49 minutes 10k on tired legs.


    We did our first structured training session since the marathon, in the forest this morning. It comprised 4 sets of 4 x 40 secs hill reps with jog down recoveries. 2 minutes recoveries between sets.
  • Afternoon all,

    WtnMel: I thought Wibble must have been an acronym and have been puzzling over it for ages. Thanks for your comments on the XC photo, I’m afraid I had no idea who Grace Dent was, and had to google her. Not sure I can see the resemblance myself, but then I may have been looking at an old photo. I had a good laugh at your remarkable weight gain/loss experience, you’ll have to write to WeightWatchers about it. As someone who can’t even swim one length I’m full of admiration for anyone who can string together a few, never mind 32! I’m not surprised your legs were a little achey the following day so well done for getting up and getting another 3 mile walk done. Well done too for getting that book finished in time for your book club meeting - did you enjoy it? Good (if a little pricey) news about your golf clubs. I wonder how often rwspamkiller2 will need to help us out again? I wonder how many people have been awarded the Fetch “Honesty” badge, not many I’d imagine. Well done you. 

    HS: I’m pleased you liked the photo, I thought I should post it considering how many you post for us. There was a total of 428 women in the senior women’s race (representing 46 clubs), and I believe there were even more in the senior mens race, then of course there’s all the age groups from under 11s up. XC is gaining in popularity each year in the North East, although I’m not sure if this is the same for the other regions.
    I hope your flu jab and Covid booster go well tomorrow. How exciting - a new challenge - and a sub 2 hour HM is certainly quite a challenge, but knowing how hard you and Sarah train (and how meticulous you are in your training progression) I’m sure it’s within your abilities to crack it. Keep us updated on progress please. (I've just seen that you too have been awarded Honesty badges on Fetch - well done :))

    JB: I’m mortified - the under 40 squad? Under 30 if you don’t mind! (Well, I can but dream…) Actually as it’s some time since I’ve attended training sessions at the club there were a number of faces I didn’t recognise, and it was good to see (in the results) that some of these team mates were in their 50s and 60s, although I was the oldest at 67. Altogether I think there were another 3 ladies from other teams who were in the 65 age category and finished ahead of me, as well as one 70 yr old. I’ve obviously got some improving to do. I agree with what you say about the atmosphere and support at “proper” races, this is especially so at XC. Not only do you get encouragement from all the spectators (irrespective of which team they are associated with) but fellow runners often give words of encouragement when they pass you, so I try to do the same on the odd occasion I pass anyone. The support from spectators is particularly nice because these good people are standing around for hours in chilly conditions just to cheer us folk on. The running community really is nice.
    If you don’t like XC, and other races are a bit thin on the ground, why not give trail running a go? There’s usually quite a few of these over the winter, and they aren’t all as daunting as they sound, some are just off road without being too hardcore. Go on, I know you like a challenge…….
    Regarding that West Sussex guy who “lost” five minutes - he hasn’t got a twin by any chance?
    As the nights draw in most clubs have to train in the dark with hi-viz and head torches, I expect the groups you came across were probably club runners on a training run as a lot of clubs have training on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

    I did my Pilates class yesterday, and followed it up with strength work. This morning my legs were a bit heavy but I decided to do my scheduled training session (Goal Pace Repeats) to see how my ankle fared. I have to say it was a bit of a struggle and I did consider cutting it short, but in the event I managed to finish it. The session was the same as last week - 5 x 1000m @ 10 min pace with 200m recovery walk/jogs, then 3 x 200m @ 8.30 pace with 200m recovery walk/jogs, plus the usual 10 minute warm up and cool down runs. Altogether it came to 6.2 miles. My overall time was slightly slower than last week because I had to walk some of the recoveries to give my ankle a rest, but the actual speed intervals were within the goal pace and faster than last week, so that was encouraging. I’m undecided whether to run again on Friday, or just rest now until Sunday’s 10k. I think I’ll see how I feel on Friday then decide.
  • WtnMelWtnMel ✭✭✭
    Evening all,

    HS - still no text for me regarding the covid/flu jabs but I don't imagine it will be much longer. I gave one of the other book group a lift yesterday and we agreed to do without masks (because we know each other and are aware we've been playing safe) but as a concession to being in the car, we did have both front windows open. I don't usually question the badges I'm given but getting cycling-themed ones seemed a bit daft, considering I'd only walked. I get other notifications about new zones I've visited which I think is Conquercise - but I thought I'd left that game so I should check sometime. As I've mentioned before when we were discussing WAVA scores, I don't think I ever managed to get much beyond the low 60's. I'll wish you good luck with your quest to manage a sub-2hr HM - I think that would equate to around 9:10mm pace!? The badges you mentioned were the ones I got - something tells me there is a bug somewhere in the Fetch-iverse.

    JB - I was going to say the badge came from 'Deacon Blue' rather than our PM - then I remembered that's the Dignity badge (nerdy pop music related joke). Tripping over things in the dark was the reason I got my head torch. I've found mine for the early-morning walks - just need to charge the batteries now! Well done re the 49 min 10K.

    Aquarius - I'm only aware of Grace Dent through the Sunday paper magazine where she used to do the occasional column. See below re the book club meeting. As I said before, having to fork out £80 to re-shaft my two clubs serves me right for my moment of madness. I think we've been lucky lately so hopefully it will be a while before rwspamkiller 1 & 2 have to pay a call. I would guess the extra encouragement you get at XC races must be because the running itself is that much harder then road racing. Well done for managing to complete your goal pace repeat session considering you turned your ankle a few days ago. If it was me, I would just run a very easy 'leg-stretcher' on Fri and save your energy for Sunday's 10k.

    We had a good book group discussion yesterday where we reviewed "The Vanishing Half". Some of the group only finished it an hour or so before our get-together. Everyone enjoyed the book to differing degrees but there was no-one who didn't like it. With it's theme of racism and lack of life chances depending on your colour, it provoked a lively and wide-ranging discussion. Our next book is "V2" by Robert Harris (a fictional story but wrapped around the real-life events of Hitler's V2 rocket programme. In December, we're reading "Song Of Songs" - it's a favourite of one group member who wants to see what the rest of us think of it (I gather it's a story of a titled lady and her experiences etc. set around the first world war). Song Of Songs is 777 pages long (the Kindle version anyway) so the others had better not leave it to the last minute. Then in January, for a change, we're going to read a biography. There were several suggestions but the clear favourite at the moment seems to be the Victoria Wood one - "Let's Do It" - so I think that's what we'll be going for. 

    The wonders of technology! I spent an hour or so earlier playing a game online with my son. It's called 'Portal 2' and you have to collaborate to solve logic puzzles and are able to point things out to each other and chat in-game as well. You are two robots - Peabody and Atlas - who seem to have been inspired by C3PO and R2D2.

    Almost forgot to add - I managed to get out for another pre-breakfast walk today - at this rate, this could become habit-forming :)
  • Mel, I can thoroughly recommend the V2 novel. It seems to b very well researched and the narrative certainly holds one's attention. I think I polished it off it 2 days which is unusual for me but does indicative a certain addictive quality (of the book, not me...........oh hang on, maybe both!). As for the 700 plus one - I simply couldn't manage it. As with running I tend to avoid longer challenge and go for the quick wins.

    HS, interesting reflections on the dreaded WAVA issue. Good to hear that you are back in the saddle. When are you planning the sub 2 half marathon attempt? You are coming off some heavy marathon training, so perhaps the sooner the better?

    Aquarius, sorry about the cheap 'under 40s' jibe. Of course I really meant under 30s and you know that. As for the trail advice I'll take it on board although it's probably a case of 'once a flat track bully, always a flat track bully'. I actually don't mind running up hills and I'm not bad at it. But I am utterly hopeless at running down them. (I'm the same on a bike where I engage the brakes far too early.)
    Best of luck for the 10k. You should be glowing red hot after your racing and training so maybe the extra rest day is a good idea? (Writes the man who never takes a rest day.)

    I had a bit of a surprise the other day. I met up with a fellow runner. He's more of a badminton player who runs but he would be a really good runner if he trained more. For example he rocked up to the 10k last week and ran a 41 minute time on the basis of very little training - and he 52 or so. He asked me my weight and - rather proud as I've lost a couple of pounds - I answered that I was just below 10stone. It turns out that he is about a stone lighter than me, an inch taller than me and looks a lot better than me (not hard - please see next related piece of evidence.)
    My son - who beat me by a mere 30 seconds in the 10k - was chatting to Mrs B. He was of the opinion that 'dad doesn't look like a runner'. He was comparing me with fellow old git (68) competitor (who I beat) and who is a bit of a physical specimen who has the older (and some younger) ladies drooling when he lines-up. 
    All of this is a long-winded preamble to me admitting that I am probably carrying a bit too much weight and that shedding about half a stone might make a bit of an impact. Problem: zero willpower.
    Solution: Mel - can you lend me those scales?
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