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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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Aw, this is my favourite bit.
Well done Stevie!
God bless chip timing indeed Stevie
. Sub 17 is just superb - I bet you are still grinning from ear to ear! Good luck tomorrow too - fingers crossed for the sub 1:20.
Matt - topsy turvy week! When's Dublin?
Having had few days off and then no race I went to the track today to do a session. Was windy, as seems to be standard at the moment, so did 12*300 off 60 secs. target was 49s. They came out 45,47,46,46,47,46,47,47,48,48,49,47. Lifted my mood some.
Stevie - that's big, and looks unexpected from your very recent 10k? Makes me jealous like heck that you have a good fast race available for 5k. I'm keen to emulate you soon...it's been so long since my single sub 17 that I honestly had to look up the exact time!
Dean - bad races, underpar, they happen, but at least you've had the race. Sitting there watching the time clock down is very annoying. Not like you'll lose any fitness though before the nextun. Looks like you took it out on the track instead.
This weekend I could have been part of the club's Green belt relay. Didn't overly fancy the 2 day nature, high distance legs though, when our club don't have anywhere near a competitive team bearing in mind you need about 14 runners or something. Also, may have had commitments (although didn't in the end!)
Therefore, went for a 13miler progression jobby. 4m easy, 4m steady, 4m MP, 1mile "Hard" and mile cool down after.
Went pretty ideal really, and even saw couple of my clubmates on route...didn't quite take in how close the route goes to home. (as well as obviously miles and miles away!)
7.10,7.12,7.12,6.55
6.50,6.39,6.39,6.23
6.00,5.54,5.50,5.58
5.42
pretty much bang on really. Very pleased how nicely the MP was coming off, out on the road, which often sneaks into mid zone (ie 6.05), yet today, even 8miles in, all 4 miles 6 dead and under.
Last mile felt nice too, even with the last quarter of it rampaging across a windy field
Not quite as breathy as I've been, so hopefully this costochrondritis nonsense is wearing off a bit, as I want to be cracking the race barrel out soon.
Feeling fit. Just need to actually prove that, as I probably can't just write "was quite fit" in the results book for spring 2015.
Cheers, Bus, SG, Lit, Iron, Matt.
And yes Bus, did a 5K jog (a bit slower today!!) and was smiling like a loon
Nice progression SG, with a sharp last mile, without being silly. We also have the 'Podium 5K' graded race series up here too. A bike track 1K loop with literally no incline at all. Think they run it every month or bimonthly.
Dean, a cracking session to show the recent races have not reflected your form, Trafford on Tuesday? It's my birthday so it might be rude not to turn up and race something!
Very nice 300s Dean. Not surprised they perked you up! Excellent progression run there SG, boades very well. What you got booked in to take advantage? As for 5k, get yourself over to Battersea for one of the Monday night jobs on the first of the month. You will easy crack a sub 17!
Brilliant stuff Dean and Stevie S.
I did Upton Court today and 2nd in 18'54. The interesting part though was the winner, (sorry first home!) who did a cool 15'39 on a windy course nearly all on grass! Didn't see him after the first k but that was mighty impressive and doubt there have been many bigger parkrun gaps between 1st and 2nd home!
JD taking it to them live now http://www.runjumpthrow.com/videos/14016
Just back from Staines 10k. A nice morning out with Philip, but a disappointing performance, though a big chunk of this was down to the wind.
My original aim when I entered just after Wokingham, was serious crack at sub 36, but recent form meant this wasn't realistic, so the revised target was to beat my last time on the course of 36:30.
Started fine, with a nice controlled 3:35, but quickly ended up running on my own as usual. 2 and 3rd k were uneventful, but then the 4th was into the wind. Not a huge problem early on, as you just increase the effort to maintain the pace - but the payback might well come later, and it did! Ric came past at around 6k, and I was already starting to slow slightly, but still on target for well under 37. Thought I would try and stay with him as it would be good to have some company (though he's not much of a wind break!), but a little spurt to keep up sent me into retching mode, so I had no choice but to let him go, but held on confident of at least a sub 37.
However, in the 9th and 10th k things got messy! The wind felt like treacle and there was nothing in the tank to overcome it - last 2ks were 3:50 and 3:52. In the final straight, the finish line looked way beyond 37, so I eased up to stop a puke on the line - only to cross the line in 37:05, and realising I could have had a 36:xx if I hadn't eased up. And I still puked!!!
Hey ho, thanks to Ben Martin-Dye taking overall win, I was shunted forward to 2nd V40 and picked up a £40 Apex voucher by way of consolation so at least covered my costs!
Respect to Ric, who will end up with a very good WAVA!
Dachs - you should have done it. Yours for the taking today!
So the haiku
better run today
sub forty is not shabby
ric F is a star
Numbers are 39:57 on the Garmin and official showed sub 40 as well but can't recall the exact seconds. Felt much better today than last week but still not 100%. Gave it a go from the start and did OK to about 3 or 4 km when it started to tell. had almost 30 seconds in the bag to beat 40 minutes so paced it back from there in the low 4:0x and all was well up to 8km when the head wind made a 4:14. Push for the line got me a 4:01 so sub 40 happened.
8km came up in 31:42 which would have had me 45th last week at Marlow instead of 85th: still not good enough but needs to be put in perspective and a lot of people can't go sub 40 when 100%. Also a lot of people went sub 30 at Highgate yesterday and are still bit part players in the real world of competitive athletics.
Got a surprise at the start when ricF gave me the V40 trophy from last year. Prize giving this year was just as much a lottery with a man declining second prize in the vet ladies v55 category. I've smuggled it into the display and will see how long it takes to get noticed. Being over 33cm tall and next to the light switch I reckon never.
Race report from me.
Met up with The Bus and Phil briefly before the start; which gave me an opportunity to right a type of wrong from last year’s race.
Yes, I did beat Phil last year to walk away with the trophy, but the trophy was only expected to be for the first V40, and on that occasion, this V50 was dragged along for most of the race only to nip off at the last minute like some opportunist git and pinch the prize. Not good, noo!
So, in my opinion, it’s Phil’s trophy.
The race then.
Slight concern beforehand involving a left knee shin that lost an argument with a car’s tow bar last week, but that’s about all in that department, forgot about it once warmed up.
Madame Mayor sent us on our way and I was immediately swamped by those with ambitions. All I was doing at this moment was concentrating on establishing a sustainable tempo and sorting out a regular relaxed breathing pattern. I didn’t want to push the pace into an oxygen debt.
All rather congested before getting out onto the open road, where I passed Phil and the first V60. Bus was moving away at this time and remembering he’d recently started a 5 miler with a brace of 5:40’s, didn’t chase. I just trusted my pace and sure enough first mile 5:47. Felt almost easy.
Having not raced much I was reluctant to push the pace; not sure if I could anyway, so decided to leave things as they were and gather up any runners ‘coming back’. Second mile 5:55.
Annoying how once at this weight and effort I’d have been 30 seconds mile faster, that’s age for you.
Bus was still moving away when my third mile bleeped up as a 5:53 and 5k at just under 18:15.
At around 6k things began to change up ahead. A runner who’d had just gone past Bus must have pulled him into the red and he started coming back. Whether or not he felt a bit stuffed, I wasn't sure, but it was here I started to struggle myself.
I went past around 7k but was feeling less than great with the effort made. I was obviously going as fast as I could already, so it had become an exercise in efficiency as much as force. 4th and 5th mile, 5:54 & 5:53.
Around the corner just after 8k and it became survival. Very quickly, the head wind took its toll. It felt like I was running on the spot. I suddenly felt more than just tired, I felt ill. It was almost as though my system had started to pack up. I had to ease right up, and for a while even that didn't work. Eventually I started to recover but had the impression my pace had dropped into the mid sixes. 6th mile 6:08.
Coming into the final stage, my watch showed 35 minutes something, but once again felt so bad, I wondered if I wouldn’t have to stop.
I got over the line in 9th place in just under 37 minutes; which was hoped for. The official time was 36:51, even better.
First V50, and a £45 Apex voucher. I got rid of this outside the hall to the man from Apex Sports. That saved a journey.
As for age graded performances. The official results had me as second highest with 84% plus. It’s a shame that these grades have been changed again, under the 2010 figures I would have been on 86%.
What ever. If had been 8 or 9 seconds faster, then the race would have constituted my best ever for my age. I’m sure I can find that, as long as the wind doesn't blow.
🙂
Definitely Ric. Impossible to say how much that wind was worth of course, but I reckon at least 20 secs over the last 2k, but not sure how to factor in the wind in the 4th k, as that didn't affect pace so much, but will have eaten up energy for later in the race...
Good to see Bus hitting the hurt locker with a customary retch and spew. Nobody can ever question your effort levels when racing that's for sure.
Still a solid run Phil and there's no worse weather to run in that wind for me.
Well done Pete on the10 miler. I wish there was more 10 milers about as it's a distance I enjoy. If your WAVA is up past 80% then you're doing something right!
Calderdale way relay for me today and I was on leg 1. As a club we fancied making a potential upset and hoped to be able to nick it of Calder Valley who are a club packed with top class fell runners. Ranging from internationals to county runners. We thought we had a chance as they were weakened this year by all accounts and there 2 runners on leg 1 had raced the fell inter counties race yesterday in Wales and finished in the top 10 I believe.
They're known for going off hard and it's there local turf so our plan was to keep them in sight and hope the tired legs would play into our hands. From what I remember the first 2-3 mile is uphill through a wood and then on open moorland and we were sat in second at the 3 mile mark but 30 secs down.
My partner was about 30m behind me but had told me to press on and I'd noticed that whenever we hit a steeper section of climb that one of the leading pair dropped off his partner. I felt pretty comfortable and knew that if my partner had the legs then I'm positive we could've got them back. A sharp descent into a place called ripponden and I got an almighty bowl licking off a Marshall for running without my partner. I told him he was only 30 or so metres back but he wasn't having it. I then had to stand there like a naughty school kid until he arrived and we could press on up the next climb. We were about 30 seconds orao off the lead pair at this point but we was now in a group of 3 pairs. One being my old club who I was he'll bent on not getting beat off
Kept trying to shout encouragement to beckon my partner on but he was struggling and eventually asked me to run next to him to see if it made a difference. I was effing and hedging under my breath as I'd fancied going out hard after the lead pair but I now had to spend the next 6 miles jogging, preying and hoping that he'd have enough in the tank to hold my old club off. We hit the long last climb and that ended up with me stopping and starting to drag him up the hill before we hit a flat section before a long 1.5 mile run downhill for home. I told him he had to empty the tank here to stay clear which thankfully we managed by about 10 seconds. We ended up 4 minutes behind the lead pair which has pissed me right off.
My partner has a quicker 10k and 5000 than me and just ran 2.34 at Manchester the other week but I don't think he's fully recovered from that. I don't know why but I've been paired with him in 3 relays as we are well matched but everytime we do a relay I've ended up turning him inside out and it's like I've not had a gruelling run.
10.5 miles and 1727ft of ascent.
Yes Bus, that wind. yurk!
Well done Pete M.
I noticed that race in the PO10 results, could be an alternative to Staines on the same weekend.
Matt. Great report of yours. Actually all the reports are worth a read. I used to do a race rehash with guys in my club a few hours later, in the pub, so this is a suitable alternative; second glass of wine on the way.
Your partner just lacked a bit today. I once buried a guy who the previous week had run 70 minutes for a HM, all it took was a few hard runs, or a marathon.
I confess, he didn't notice me walking behind him as he tried to run up a steep hill.
🙂
PeteM, forgot to say, shout out if you come over our way for parkrun one day. I'm generally at Wycombe but do Black Park first Saturday of the month as a pacer. End of June I'm doing Fulham which is supposedly a fast one.
big pimping race fellas.
See-man especially, glad to finally see you smacking that half time.
Matt, looks like that bug/tiredness has shifted. The fact you're outgunning a 2:34 man is very promising but then again, you are a secret (not so secret) mountain goat. Those team events are not for me, we have 'Tough Team' near here which is a trial race but its the first 3 over the line.
Bus, devastated that the puke didn't get a sub 37. But when the wind is like that it sets you back pace wise but also defeats you mentally to add to it all. But a good workout all the same.
After a quick 5K I decided to brave the Chester Half today. Foam rolled my quad, which this morning was black and blue, but nothing to worry about.
The course isn't rapid but what a hardened club runner would term 'honest.' I'd heard horror stories about the last mile. I had no target but knew a sub 80 was on the cards. First half is up hill, from 6 it goes down until a nasty 12th.
Miles: 5:38, 5:49, 6:11, 6:06, 6:12, 6:06, 6:01, 5:59, 5:58, 6:01, 6:03, 5:57, 6:14.
The last mile was grim but worked hard. The rest was pretty easy, just looked after each mile. 10 miles in 1:00:3, official results also said I went through 10K in 36:33, which I'm dubious about, maybe 6 miles.
The finish is in Chester city centre, massive crowds, last 200m was class. Typical big arms aloft (Dean style) going over the line. Then a very Bus like dry barff! Good times. Cheshire track champs on Saturday!
SG, next Saturday, Wycombe Rye parkrun, Light & Dark Blue Day, 23rd May. Has to be an omen: surely you need to run in your Wycombe top and come home first finisher.
Afraid the schedule is already set this week Phil. Sounds a nice idea though.
However, the SG race entry system is on full throttle. Entering 3 races today alone.
So that sentence needs some punctuation: do I read it that you are entering 3 races on your own or that the 3 races you enter today is just part of a bigger plan?
After my altercation with the tow bar last week (It got sawed off as punishment) I wouldn't have been too surprised to have been forced to take a day or three off post race. Seems I was lucky. So a very easy (9 minute pace) 9 miles in the rain this morning.
I could be just over concerned about injuries and niggles these days, I mean, with Ss revealing a black and blue quad; congrats on the HM Ss btw, I can only come up with a bruise the size of a finger nail. Still concerns me.
As for the Staines 10k. A look at some past results shows I was only 76 seconds down on 12 years ago. That would indicate a decline of one second, per year, per mile. Average decline by the scientific book it seems.
🙂
you can read it how you like big fella, but what you can't do is criticise punctuation,when you're starting a sentence with the word so!
I think starting a sentence with 'so' is a stylistic choice, but that subject-verb agreement error is pretty shocking, Phil.
Race reports, yay!
Firstly, what a few days for SS - having struggled for PBs the last few years, to get two in a few days is great stuff indeed, showing the benefit of patience. Great 5k in particular, squeezing under that 17 barrier impressively. That's some first mile in your half marathon as well, were you still subconsciously running the 5K?
Nice racing at Staines Bus, PMJ and Ric. Excellent age grading score Ric, and nice Zatopek-style redistribution of trophies. Solid run Bus, even if not what you wanted, and the puke at least shows you did all you could do on the day. Good job PMJ scraping under 40.
Bus, I won't be disrespectful to Ben and claim I could have hovered up the win there. He's running really well at the moment.
Matt, I hope your partner doesn't browse this forum! Nice running anyway, but can't say I can see the point of 2 people running together, unless it's just to make sure than no-one dies out on the fells. Still, at least you don't have too much recovery to do for next time.
800 tonight. This wind can f*** right off.
So it isn't necessarily wrong to start a sentence with a conjunction, or is it?
the 3 races is ... or the 3 races are ...
Have to admit 3 races are is a more natural syntax but if the 3 races are a collective then the singular is allowable, but also apparently more common in American than British English so I stand corrected. Neighbour, colour, centre, dialogue, faeces. Sorry, official spelling in our company is American English and I need to use the British varaints from time to time.
Thanks Chaps. As per FB SS - fantastic result and well deserved. Dachs - just as well I said it, not you then
. He is running very well though....
This is one of my pet hates, alongside people increasingly saying "cover off" when they mean "cover" (unless we are talking about Wimbledon and the cessation of rain of course!). However, it is increasingly popular with scientists, especially when explaining complex ideas to normals. As Philip is a proper scientist we will, unfortunately, have to let him get away with it.
6M xc to the station this morning at a fairly easy pace. Not too bad for the day after the race before, if a little bloody wet and cold!
Hmm - clutching at straws, but a small positive from yesterday's race. According to the Strava splits, I went through 5 miles in 29:28, which is 16 secs better than the Marlow 5 the week before.
My antiquated operating system won't let me upload Garmin data anymore, so I'll have to wait until Wednesday when my lad can do the job.
Bus, I can't remember if I could still hear you (feet hitting the ground) at that point but my Garmin suggests for me a 5 mile split of 29:23. Incidentally, I did hear the products of your exertions a few seconds after I had passed you further back down the course.
.
Still, it's nice that we are; in this race at least, something of an elite. You were the last runner (from nearly 600) to average sub 6 minute miling. And Phil was the last runner to break 40 minutes.
Aren't we brilliant?
.
.
🙂