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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Classic double of Parkrun/Fell race for me on Saturday. Very disappointing 20:02 at Aberbeeg, my slowest there in 10 showings. I was trying hard but getting nowhere. 7.4M done with wu & cd then drove 40 mins to the Llanbedr for the Black Mountains race: 17.6M & 5,300’
Last raced this in 2017 when I was in great shape. It’s a proper cell race: no course markings just 6 checkpoints, to be visited in the correct order, with free route choice between. Slightly longer route this year as they’d moved checkpoint 4 from Bal Mawr further down the ridge to Bal Bach to prevent us running straight across an SSSI to enter Mynydd Du Forest.
The race starts with a 1715 foot climb to the top of Pen Cerrig-Calch (CP1) over 2.25M! Slight breather as you drop 200’ over the next half mile before regaining that height over a mile. Then the ‘route’ drops 1000’ over 2.5M, much of it across open ground, to a river. Over that & up Pen-y-Gadair Fawr (CP2): 1300’ in 1.1M. Catch your breath as you plummet 1200’ over the next 1.3M to river crossing number 2 before heading up again: 750’ in less than a mile. CP3 is Chwarel-y-Fan at 9.6M & the ladies there had kindly brought a cup, water & jelly babies. I was alright for food but was thankful for the water as my bottle was almost empty. From there it’s a lovely ridge run down to Bal Mawr & thence Bal Bach before the nav nightmare that is Mynydd du Forest. They’d cleared an area since I last ran the route in 2018 so I overshot the turn & ended up crashing through the pine trees before picking up the path. Picked it up again & made it down to the road crossing & the penultimate CP where we were offered small bottles of water which I’d been banking on. Only 4.5M to go & one more big climb to the summit of Crug Mawr: 930’ in 2 miles. Legs were trashed by the time we came off there & the 3 I’d been battling to stay ahead of on the climb breezed past. However they took a poor line to the road & I got there just before them. Over the stile into a field down to another stile which is hidden in a dip & into the twisty woods down to the river & the push for home. It’s a cruel finish: 100’ climb over 250m. Most of the climb is on loose stone over 150m before hitting flatter tarmac, rounding the corner & running up to the church gate.
3:25 which was 6 minutes quicker than 2017 but 19 places lower in 37th place. This year it was the final counter in the British Championships so the field was stacked with Northerners. The first MV50 did 2:38, 1st lady (an FV50) was 2:59 & winner, U23 from Snowdonia, did 2:30. I was just ahead of the 2nd lady but only 8th MV50!
And in fairness it's not the gate opening technique itself but more the disruption to your rhythm and then picking the pace up again that is the key.
Insane fell race that one Jools. 17miles for a race is one thing, massive elevation another, but navigation as well...blooming heck!
Fantastic result, SG. And really enjoyed the write up. You kept the faith well whilst still approaching things sportingly at the wrong turning. Enjoy the mug - that is my kind of memento - something genuinely practical.
Frustrating not to dip under 16, SC. But a solid outing nonetheless.
What a race, Jools. And clearly worth 22-24M in terms of Abo mileage. A beautiful part of the world and sounds like it started exceptionally close to our school outdoor centre (the Old Chapel). I will have to book a night there with the family next year if you fancy it again. Stunning route, I bet. But I would find the navigation side of things very stressful mid race. Great result anyway. Well done.
Just a three mile very slow grass recovery on Friday. Going big with the banded lower leg/ankle work which I think is helping. Back of my mind is the stress fracture of a couple of years ago (the biggest single risk factor in having another), but don’t think it feels like that.
parkbuggyrun on Saturday then a further ten easy miles along the canal a couple of hours later. Saturday really is a day of fitting things into and around kids’ activities.
5M trail recovery yesterday to round off a 70M week - feeling pretty tired so happy to stop at that.
With the extra bank hol this morning, got out for another 3h long run at easy pace. 24M at 7:37 pace with 600ft ascent. Very dark for longer than I was expecting so utilised the torch mode on my watch to at least be seen. Pleased to have got this in with just under five weeks to go; fear the long run adaptations might have otherwise waned. Felt pretty good, although inevitably tired for the last 30 mins or so.
Great report SG, like SQ said always best to tell someone where they are going wrong, karma and all that stuff. Sounded a nightmare with the gates.
Good run Jools. Had a look at the results, obviously a serious fell race as didn't recognise the V50 or the woman winner.
Saturday - Did Great Denham Parkrun, one lap warm up and felt surprisingly sprightly after Battersea. V50 record to beat was 16.54. Started with a 3.16, then we had a nice pack of 5 along the back straight for a K, but went through in 3.26 for the 2nd K and a 3.23 for the 3rd K - by then there was just 2 of us. So knowing 3.22's was 16.50, I decided to put the foot down for the last 2k, getting rid of the other guy for a 3.17 4th K and a 3.15 final K, leaving me with 16.45. Happy to get the record and that my legs were ok.
Did a 5k warmdown, the went to Wrest Pk - where I had intended to drop in and out of the session. Sadly I was the only one there at the start, so had to do the 8 x 600's off 60! Tired at first, but got the 2.00 down to 1.50 for the last one.
Nice 15k Saturday...
Sunday - 13 miles over MK with the training group
Today - 9.5 miles with Steve from St Albans. He lives near us and 2nd claim LBAC and had just one the quite hilly Stevenage 10k in 33.00. Bedding the Carbon X in, feels a decent buy for £75.
SC - congrats on the v50 record(s)! That's pretty rapid at any age! Generally impressive training too!
SG - I can get that with the whole racing/end of career vet footballer analogy. A long time ago I had a knee that was so messed up I thought running was off the cards, never mind racing, so I've got more of an appreciation of it now. Well done on the MT 10k win.
SQ - your training continues to look very impressive!
Reg - impressive bike handling to avoid coming a cropper! Could that incident have been linked to the subsequent tear? Either way I hope you're back at it asap.
TR - as always, good training.
PMJ - congrats on the parkrun. Improving nicely!
I've had some sciatica issues over the last few weeks. Apparently potentially linked to a slightly bulging disc, and probably triggered by all my travelling to/from/around Ireland at the start of August (3 flights in 2 days, plus a 3hr bus ride and 2 x 2hr+ drives, with another bus ride and flight a few days later). Throw in some CNBA (emotions have been up and down over the last while) and I've just tried to keep getting myself out the door as no matter how I feel beforehand I feel better when I've run.
Biggest issue with the sciatica has been the lack of power/drive (kinda used to ignoring the pain due to plenty of practice with fibro), which was very noticeable on Sunday, where, like SG, I toed the line for a local MT 10k (ish - most of us got it about 200m long).
Bit breezy with a mix of towpath/loose gravel as well as tarmac, and it being my first race since my Dad passed meant it was a bit of an emotional race. Thankfully nobody quick showed up and I was able to take the lead at 5km and ease away over the 2nd half for the win without extending myself. Time was nothing special at 36:21, but it wasn't a day where time was important. Nice surprise to turn into the finish to see Mrs TT holding the finish line tape too. As it started and finished at a local brewery I was able to remind myself that no breakfast and day drinking are not a good mix!
Good way to raise a pint for your dad. I love that early drinking 2-3 pint buzz. Done some of the most stupid things I've ever done in that state
A clubmate came 4th, the cruellest position for someone under 40, and his second 4th in a row
SQ - well done on squeezing in another long long run, great that your leg is ok too.
TT - the beer tale was funny, you're too tiny for drinking on empty.
More easy stuff only here as still not 100%, coughed up some nasty stuff during pre run dog walkies today, so deferred the mp run again. Nothing above easy pace since last weds, good job its 10 days til the B of the bang. I'd be worried if it was tgis Sunday.
SQ - You're putting in some good long runs, looks promising, what you aiming for at Abo?
Jools - Epic efforts as usual.
SC - Quality 5k double there, I definitely need to get myself a parkrun age record at some point!
TT - Hope the pain resolves soon, it's always easy to write off a win as nobody fast turning up, take it! My hammy tear was nothing to do with a bit of riding on the grass as I had torn it only a few weeks before so it was more to do with a hard run on uneven grass after a swim and hard bike!
Fortunately I was able to do my first run on Monday. I have been away in Corsica so my hamstring test run was over some rocky, hilly trail in the heat! Not ideal. Came through it unscathed but I will be running easy now for at least a month as I start a strengthening programme for the hamstring. It's time to start rebuilding the fitness.
Nah, you need to do what I did and get yourself out to a new parkrun country / continent and set the all-time record there. For about 3 months in 2012, I held the record for the fastest parkrun in North America.
https://www.parkrun.us/livonia/results/eventhistory/
Talking of parkruns, I ran Conkers on Saturday and scraped another 10 seconds of my season's best and also moved up to a new WAVA age (it was my 57th birthday on Saturday) so my WAVA moved up by over a percentage point to 73.57%.
That is nothing exceptional on this thread where most people are in the 80s but moving in the right direction for me.
You're on the up, just needed to shift that premature descent into fun running, and you're back on track to be a local vet face again.
ps happy birthday.
In terms of odd parkrun records, I wonder if anyone can beat this one...
I'm 13th on the all time list at South Oxhey parkrun, and they're up over 300 runs now.
But the day I went, I only came 3rd!
That's a fairly mad combination that is.
SC - 2-3 pints would have been ok. This might have been a little more than that
SG - ouch to the consecutive 4ths.
TR - my brain still thinks I'm chunky! Lol. Fingers crossed you clear up quickly.
Reg - great news on the hamstring test. Sounds like a good rebuilding plan, especially with sub-2:30 London aspirations.
PMJ - I had a similar, but more short-lived record a few years back - I got the first ever sub-18 on the North Milan course, but it was smashed shortly after (and significantly since). Congrats on the sb.
Having a decent week post-race which probably indicates that there was a reasonable bit left in the tank. Monday was a 4 jog /9 double (last 3 averaged 6:3x), yesterday was a 5 jog/8 very easy double, and today I'm looking for a double workout with track tonight (ran 10.6 earlier with 20mins tempo-ish, a 4min jog, and then 2 x 3 @ 5m-10k effort and 2min honest recoveries after each).
TR - Marders strutting his stuff again is he? He holds the Great Denham PR record, although only just faster than one of the Bedford kids.
8 x 800 round the paths of Luton yesterday, with about 90-110 secs recovery. Not much warm up but they weren't too bad, averaged 2.35 with the last 2.30. Cheated using the Vapourfly though as my Rebels are too old now. Need to buy some decent non Carbon shoes for repping.
Thought I dare say I can imagine it.
That Hannah is the other half of an ex RW poster called parkrunfan. Now in NZ, but the more interesting part of her po10 is the year spent in Holland, alright, the Netherlands, but I dare say most of us grew up wrongly calling the country "Holland" as a whole.
Certainly commitment to getting some proper flat races in!
Nice sleep and probably just need to rest it off a bit more and be golden.
Got an 8 in today.
Usual Slough double tomorrow, then might do something like 5x1mile at 10mile intensity sort of job on Friday.
PRF and Hannah ran lots of miles, most of them slow, some quick, and lots of races or parkruns. This recipe saw her improve massively from 23 minutes to 17:xx. Plus a 2:44 marathon.
PRF is on over 600 parkruns; she is only on 444!
And good wins from SG and TT.
I may visit LFoM at the end of November, if there are any trains!
Glad you're going well enough to be considering 200m trips to races as well.
And it's a good point isn't it, until you're doing a decent amount of miles you don't know what you're capable of.
And what that "decent" amount is that you can handle, is half the battle to discover.
They have run a lot of head-to-head races with him being about 250 to 125 up on wins.
https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/headtohead.aspx?athleteids=513727|103461
Good sleuthing PMJ. I couldn't remember if it was 1 or 2 weeks (and couldn't be bothered to look it up; lol).
Hey Alehouse. I hope you're keeping well!
Double workout day accomplished yesterday. Track session of 2km (6:49), 2 x 5 x 300 (58, 57, 57, 57, 58) + (57, 55, 57, 56, 53) + 1km (3:17). Mainly kept a lid on it, but starting to feel a little bit stronger. Today will be very relaxed.
With the morning workout that gave me a total of ~8.2m @ an average of 5:33, so happy with that.
I haven't met HO directly, so not going to start slagging anyone off. Probably a bit selfish I suppose but I was really good mates with PRF and we had a good scene here. Hey ho, nothing stays the same for ever.
How did you and prf ever hook up? Thought he was based in Yorkshire, and toured assorted parkruns every week. How did your paths cross?
The former 2 now operate exclusively on facebook, and I know Curly had to spend a bit of time out of running, but is back now, which is good news.
Met all 4 of them at one Cabbage Patch 10 one year, and Curly a couple of times at other events.
I know BR and prf were big on disproving the "rules" many of us live by. Huge amounts of mileage in their shoes, relentless high mileage etc. I dare say that wouldn't work for everyone, including Keir by the look of it!
Oddly, I was asked to mentor someone on one of those marathon threads too.
I turned it down, having not run a marathon and that
Although, obvs did coach Lit to a 2:52 mixing Moz and P&D training. That wasn't bad!