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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Surely you ditch the bike messing and become big time on the running scene instead though
SG - my aerobic shape has come on quickly alright, but the musculoskeletal side is lagging after years of inconsistency/low mileage, but I guess that's the extra 10%. I've never really trained consistently, even at my best, so I'm quite hopeful of improving if I can sort that out. I've never run Cabbage Patch; how does it compare to GSR?
TT, that's one hell of a comeback for you too. 2'35'xx maras are the stuff of dreams for most runners.
Disappointed to see my RB h/c get even worse despite my parkrun from Sat just squeezing into my top 5 (all it did was replace the previous week's and a similar vSSS). Up to 4.9, the highest (so worst standard) I've been in many years. The RB h/c seems really hard to maintain these days; as well as ageing I guess it is because general running standards seem to be on the rise (is that true PMJ or anyone?).
TT - I did Cabbage Patch and GSR on back to back weekends in 2012 and was on course to slightly beat CP before the strong wind in mile 9 of the GSR put me off.
So I'd say the courses are pretty similar, so depends if you like a more clubby "local" ish type race of CP, or the huge grand race setting of the GSR.
Probably a bit of a Wokingham versus Reading type debate.
I like both races, and at this current point, having clocked the price of hotels even 20miles away for the GSR i'm probably siding with the CP at the moment, having not done it since aforementioned 2012 - and having done GSR once since, 3 or 4 years back.
Would ideally have liked to do both though, but so little time!
I'm trying to get a nice mix of covering the quality fast field races, doing more club related stuff, doing a few local races, and also old favourites. While also leaving space for new stuff!
Made a good start to the year with Chichester/Wokingham/Eastleigh in the first box and the Black park parkrun and 12 stage relays (at oppositional sides of the quality spectrum!) in the second one.
The trouble with duathlons is they always seem to be during half marathon season. I may have a look at one of the world championship qualifiers, there's one in just under three weeks and one in October, the latter is probably better. To your point Pete, the age-group World Champion for 45-49 has a 10k PB of 33:21 and HM of 71:13. They are from 2014 but he also has a recent 2:36 marathon. So I guess I am not a million miles away, although I have no experience in duathlon.
On the Wokingham/Reading debate I have changed my mind now, I think Wokingham is still a bit faster despite the extra hill.
Your low 19-minute parkruns as a V60 which get an awesome 84% WAVA only give an open senior a WAVA of 68% which is really quite mundane.
PeteM - So pleased that your legs seem to be holding up ok now with the training and racing.
TT - Casual 2.35 there then! Must be good having such a solid marathon base that you can put that in whist not really training properly.
Reggie - Superb stuff, can't really say any more than after the last race! Another great performance and never in doubt, although your report sounded like it was going south at a couple of points! I remember that surprising hill at the start, nearly as annoying as that one later on. I suppose it's just because they were banging on about how flat it was. Give Cardiff a bash at some point - thats a great course.
So - Came out ontop Saturday morning in the Luton parkrun, 17.13 and the V45 course record from my mate, who was running too
Yesterday went up to Peterborough to do a 1500m in an open meeting. Thought i'd use my £40 old style Puma spikes rather than the Nike Dragonfly. Took quite a bit of warming up to get my legs going beforehand.
So the young 5 or 6 kids shoot off leaving me basically having a V45 battle with a fellow Simon. He was close through 400 in 69, but by the time I had gone through 800 in about 2.20 he was drifting off a bit. Through the bell in 3.19 and battled through the annoying stiff breeze to end up with 4.30.
So some work to be done, but the earliest I have done a 1500 with virtually no track training this season. A marker I suppose.
9 miles this morning. Very cold and wet.
But on the latter it surely won't have this year with Wokingham having the masters qualification, and potentially the Reading v Manchester clash too.
That's a heck of a trip for 4mins and 30 of racing Simon
So as you're the ultimate guru, what is the best strategy if someone simply wanted to boost their handicap?
I thought it was doing bootleg races/parkruns fast at one point, but I've just taken my 2.1 down to 1.9 at the obviously high standard 12 stage relays. (Seemingly 1.8, though see later point...)
Have I simply benefitted as I've done close to my top end current form, whereas some of the faster runners have perhaps been a notch below?
On another note my graph shows me at 1.8 as of last week, yet my page shows me at 1.9.
Have I lost 0.1 in a week without racing?
Pete Great time on a tough course.
I was 2nd at a small parkrun in Wales in 21:26 but RB rated the course difficulty as 2.0 in spite of the course having almost 300' of climb. It's an old railway line & plummets for just over 2K, round a cone & then 2 little lollipops out to the side on the way back up - both of which have very tight turns & nasty little climbs back up onto the railway path!
Only 34 finishers of which only 7 are registered with RB/Po10 & the winner was exactly 5 minutes ahead & 86 seconds inside the course record. It was also a massive personal PB for him knocking 96s off his previous PB.
3:14:43 at Manchester Sunday. Good conditions, 1:35/1:39 split, 2nd half included a portaloo visit to shed some weight so not too bad a fade.
You beat one of my club mates who has been doing some decent mileage for months, albeit with a few injury niggles. He did a 9min pb which you can't knock, but he went off at 6.40 pace, which seems like going for 2.55, and had a cruel looking 2nd half demise to come in 3.15 or so.
I wonder if he'd gone out at say 6.50-55 would he have had a more pleasurable second half and perhaps banked 3.05-8?
Loved the report, TT. Nothing like a confident and bold move 💪. Reading your splits is just another world to me. And wow, second V45 in a total field of 24000 is incredible.
Great race, Reg. Really pleased for you to get the champs time, especially after your 2:45:xx at Abingdon several years ago. Another great report as well. I’m also very impressed with your maths skills at that kind of effort level. Nail biting finish to your report and what a last quarter!
Not a bad marker at all, SC. Like the sounds of the Takumi as well.
SG - to answer your last question, undoubtedly. But as well all know, it can sometimes be too hard to resist the early pull.
Manchester Marathon race report:
A good build leading from a 10M race at the end of January. Managed several 70M weeks. No killer sessions, but lots of consistency, which is the recipe for long term enjoyment of the sport (in my book), even if not rapid results. A solid 10k at the end of February, before some untimely covid and various family illnesses in the three weeks before Manchester curtailed mileage, a final long run and any serious sharpening sessions.
Nonetheless, did my usual 10 day ‘sports motivation’ course on Headspace and got myself calmly excited for the big day.
Had a night in an Airbnb with my oldest mate, laughing at how aged we have become. Sofa, slippers and bed by nine. 25 year old me would have been appalled 😆.
Tram into Old Trafford before an easy bag drop off. With the weather at 3C at this point, remained in loads of clothes to discard/donate to charity. Conditions ahead seemed perfect and certainly panned out that way: little to no wind until right at the end. 5-8C. Mixture of sun, clouds and a brief bit of rain.
The cunning plan had been to go with the second sub 3 pacer from the Red B wave. This involved me dropping down a wave, but meant I could start with Ben, follow the pacer and then perhaps try to bridge up to the first pacer (Red A) after a few miles. Infuriatingly, however, both pacers started right by each other in Red A. Having done lots of marathons I had the confidence to just tell Ben that we would barge our way over a roadside little hill and join Red A. Madness really, why would you want two pacers adjacent with a massive group around them.
Started about 45s after the pacers and stayed with my mate for the first two miles, going through in 6:55 and then 6:35 or so. We split off then and I gradually reeled in the pacers by the time we were in the city centre. This was a new bit of the course to me and it had a good atmosphere.
Saw a lady who presents the Single Malt Marathoners podcast go past in a group and I knew she was targeting 2:55, so jumped in with the ladies. Followed this train until about 16M with some pretty metronomic 6:39-6:43 pacing.
Through half way in 1:28:02. If I am honest, I was finding it a little too challenging for this stage, and probably had been since about mile 6 😆, but I seemed locked into the pace so went with it anyway.
Did my usual: systems check every fifth mile from 5M and a gel at 6, 11, 16, 2. The two caffeine gels seemed to add a boost. Absolutely nailed the in-race blood sugars which was good - although my Freestyle Libre (inserted blood sugar meter) got ripped off at a drinks station, not ideal.
Short but sharp hill around 16M in Altrincham. Managed this mile in 6:50, and carried on around the 6:45-50 mark. Had plans of pushing on with a parkrun to go, but it was starting to bite. Never in a cardiovascular sense, but hamstrings in particular seemed to be tiring. I haven’t been in the gym with any regularity in the last two years, so will aim to get back to deadlifts next term.
From 22M it was clear that sub 3 wasn’t actually in the bag. Mile splits were coming in over the seven minute mark. Tried to focus on form when it got hard and jump onto the back of those who were flooding past - at least for a few seconds. Pretty keen for the finish line at this point.
Mustered just enough for 7m/m for the last half mile or so, but my goodness is it a long finishing straight back towards Old Trafford.
Crossed the finish line in 2:58:30 and knackered! Hung around for a couple of minutes in case Ben had broken three hours (he came in 3:05 for a 12 min PB), then began the painful trudge back to the baggage.
Got fully naked behind some bins for a shivering wet wipe shower. Shall we say that I probably wasn’t looking my most impressive at this point 😆.
An enjoyable meal next to the finishing straight with some friends before beginning the journey home. I was looking out for Jools, and other RWers, but unfortunately didn’t bump into you guys.
Manchester doesn’t quite have the visual landmarks (other than the stadiums) of other big city marathons, but good support nonetheless. Well worth it if you want a London replacement on a fast course.
Feeling surprisingly ok and pleasantly motivated today. Buggy walk and 30 mins on an indoor cycle should help loosen the legs.
It is amazing how runners regard their own performances in comparison to others. You have run a sub-3 with a 1:28/1:31split which is a bit of a tail-off but that is all: 6:44 average and your slowest mile was 7:05 and you are a bit down on yourself but only have admiration for your friend. Some days we need to be kinder to ourselves and indulge in a little self-congratulation.
https://www.runbritain.com/blogs/runbritain-rankings-frequently-asked-questions
But based on the magical figure of the last 5 races seemingly, so unless you turn out consistently it can happen.
SQ Great turnout, any need to get little SQ out behind some bins though? Surely a towel off would be enough?
More humble efforts for me today, but decent lick none the less.
Developed Friday's 4x1m sesh into a 4x2km. Same 90secs, and as usual across a town loop.
Wildly different splits this time, accounting for wind I suppose mostly. A few slight ups and downs but nothing major, but reps 2 and 3 have better routes for the flow to be honest.
Anyway
7.22, 7.07, 7.11, 7.20
Slowest was still 5.56 pace and quickest a monsterful 5.43. Average 5.50
With a 10mile race up soon, averaging 5.50 for 5miles of efforts feels a decent place to be.
I don't take much notice of the runbritain rankings but I will have a look once Reading comes up to see if I can get into negative territory as this will be the closest I get to being a scratch golfer!
My hamstring is a bit torn after Sunday, not badly but I'll have to take it easy for a while.
SC - I have done Cardiff before and I remember the hill near the end costing me a PB!
btw Can't believe you inability to recall the basics of the RB handicap system SG given what a running geek you are
My hotel would hold my luggage but not allow me a quick shower in the gym/pool area afterwards (as I was no longer a customer!!) so I ended up using the cricket ground bathroom (under the concourse) to strip down and have a wash. Got a few funny looks!
SG - I guess wind is always a potential problem with a coastal race. Nice 2km reps.
SC - nice weekend's work between the parkrun v45 record and a good marker for this early in the season.
PMJ - re: RB, if it bases it on your best 5 races do you know what the +1 to +5 on the end of my most recent 5 races relates to as I cannot see anything there explaining that?
TT; those +1 to +5 numbers are just your top 5 performances in order, the only ones that count in relation to calculating your RB h/c. I expect M'cr will replace one of those when the results get to RB!
Take this best 5 races thing.
4 of them, no contest, Wokey, Eastleigh, 12 stage, Hatfield - all beautiful turn outs.
But what gets Chichester 10k in over say Marlow 7 in a still recent ish November?
Marlow I was -0.3 for vSSS, versus -0.1 for Chichester 10k.
Thus a better performance.
What constitutes a "good" performance? Is it simply something with a minus?
Or does something erode after 6months?
I had a look at my "worst" performances according to the vSSS scale, and the Murder Mile all 3 years are top by miles.
Between 18.0 and 20.1!
I'd get it if that comparison was against my best, as I was rocking sub 5 on the flat, and 9.28 - 10.02, but vSSS is against the rest of the runners, so can only assume most of them have only done this massively hilly mile, and no others?
Instead a 20 or so looks to be one of the worst performances in history, yet those were top 4-6, and under their benchmark of what is a "good" time on that course (sub 10 - bar that cruel 10.02
(Disclaimer - I'm not too bothered, just musing on a lunchtime, pre second run - either way I sleep easy!)
Enjoyed it though, preferred the course to Reading.
Your murder miles are so out of kilter as the max SSS used to be 10 (maybe still is?). Remember that is roughly based on a 10k so a 10 rating compared to a standard flat 1 rating would be 9 mins per 10k slower, or only about 1.5 mins per mile. Clearly the reality is Murder mile is way more than 1.5 mins per mile slower than say a BP mile (or even an Ealing one
I suppose like WAVA it's a bit of fun, and the more added stuff like that you have the better.
Luton last night, small group due to post marathon achiness, Watford 3000m tonight and other stuff. 8 x 800 and very hard again - 2.37 down to 2.33 for the last one, so a few seconds off where I should be.
Legs going before they should do etc, but that's another session 2 days after a race. Also, not been doing so much core stuff either for a couple of reasons, so need to get back on that. Little bit of timber to shift too.