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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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simon, i think i cheered in your late goal as much as Zlatans the night before
SG, i was at the game as well, my brother had VIP tickets so it was a 3 course sit down job, meet and greet with Phil neville etc... shame the game was bad.
6miles today at 7mm pace, ankle is fine, so im going to start ramping training up soon. hope Reg injuries pass a quick.
Bus, nice work on the fell race. I would have nightmares running on that sort of terrain and hills so i doff my cap to you.
P Nev is an impressive legend. I've been there with Paddy McCrerand, David Sadler (who i only realised later was a 68 Euro team member), and Norman Whiteside. All big names of course, but not in my generation to be too excited about.
You'd think the more recent, perhaps last 15-20 years lot would be too rich to bother with this sort of thing, but the Legends thing is huge with United, so you never know!
Bus, only you! It's when you log a time for 2.5miles or so that i'm hoping to be near to for over double the distance on Saturday where it stands out as savage!
Shirt off run at lunch, summer is here!
May be tempted to pootle a second run out tomorrow if it's similar. Probably shouldn't though.
Did you see the link from Tommy re relays? If not it is here: http://leftspikefanzine.com/relaytradition/
Unfortunately I can't be there on Saturday. Enjoy the day!
SG - all the best at the relay at the weekend, hope you're feeling rested.
Dean, Reg - I hope the injuries/aches subside quickly so that you both can get back to regular running!
Mon, Tue and Wed were easy runs for me - 7.6mi, 6.7mi and 10.7mi - before a session today. Thoroughly feeling the race in the legs, one calf slightly achey today, but stretching and rolling sorted that.
Opted for a split steady/tempo run today, original plan was 30mins but the going was tough with the heat and legs being tired - settled for 2mi steady and 2mi tempo.
First 2mi came out as 12:12 for 83.3%HR, and second 2mi came out as 11:46 for 91.4%HR - HR was climbing into mid 90s (~200bpm) towards the end, just to show how hard I was finding it! Genuinely thought I was going to chunder come then end.
Was hoping for a slight better performance than that, given my 5 x 6min last week, but shouldn't be too put out given the race at the weekend and this being my second session back to it.
Matt that sounds a tough little session there.
We have very different definitions for steady
Mine would be the zone just above easy, but yours probably looks somewhere In the Half Marathon to MP zone?
Always had a period working my tempos up. Would start from the "steady" of say 6.30 miling, then the MP stuff would start, plenty of 6-7milers of it, then it'd step up to mixing with HMP, then outright HMP and then either some tempo stuff (zone above HMP for me), or the aggressive long run ending with 6miles between MP and HMP
Having just read that back, roll on just a 5.4miler at the weekend, made "easier" by that race feel
Have 2 potential May races on the go, just need to STOP getting carried away with the hungry eyes of race entering and get through Saturday first.
Had a quick look at Christelton for instance versus some Travelodge "deal". Almost worked. But because the final Premier fixtures are the Sunday, it'd be a 2night stay, not to mention racing the day of the drive, and not quite worth it with so much local stuff going on.
After so long of not a lot, there's no need to force anything, plenty of races out there.
I normally define steady as ~80-85% MaxHR, so that encompasses HM effort really.
Probably would have been better getting a bit more volume in, a bit slower, but you know sometimes you just want to give it beans??
Which relays is it this weekend?
I'm just as guilty at looking up races - although my budget for travel is incredibly tight, living off the remnants of my final student loan
Speaking of races, I'm considering another 10km two weeks before GSR as a tune-up. What are the thoughts on that?
I didn't run today as thought it would be counterproductive after today's walk, which was very enjoyable, but very tough, around 11M and 3500ft of boulders!
I've not been able to find a way for us all to stay tomorrow, so looks like I won't be doing the Coledale Horseshoe on Saturday, so will squeeze in one last fell run in't morning before heading back down t't (relative) flatlands down sarf...boo hoo.....
all the b n bs or fancier full up Bus?!
Matt, national stage of the12 stage road relays (and women's 6 stage). We had the regionals 2 weeks ago, so 25 teams per region qualified, and then I believe Scottish and Welsh teams come in on top of that. 14 years after my first race I'm finding out how high profile this event is on the calendar.
Hopefully the higher numbers the better, although Matt and Dean off this thread had teams that qualified, but won't turn up, so that's bound to extend a little way across the board.
Looking at last year's results, there were 64 complete men's teams and 42 complete women's teams, so a potential to have 100 out on the course at once, the more the merrier!
The ladies race starts at 12.20pm, and the winners took 2hours 08 last time. I'm due to set off around 2.30pm, so looks like i'll have a good mix of a front row view of the victors racing in but still with plenty of teams setting off for their 5th/6th legs (long legs are only 1 & 4) and providing extra numbers on some of the barren stretches.
ps Matt, when Moz was coaching me (as per thread title), we kept the races low, to aim to peak twice a year. However, one year I did do 2x10mile road races on consecutive weeks and smashed both. So I dare say you'll be fine doing a 10k 2 weeks before.
Should be ok, as long as no last min amends change the order! There's late rumblings already!
Shame you aren't on leg1 as you are a national virgin!
Get a better time generally and have that feeling like at the inter counties when you go off hard, but realise there ain't that many folk behind you
ha! you got it right Simon the nationals can be brutal, i remember flying round and thinking im going great then wave after wave of people just flew past me like i was a casual jogger. wouldnt have minded but i was doing very low 5mm pace.
It's bad enough down the order, as the adrenaline can take over, especially if you have a few people in sight as you tend to forget you have miles to overtake, and don't have to do it in 200metres.
Just looking forward to it not being laps this time, fresh ground. Fingers crossed for a still day, makes so much difference!
Results up on PO10 already show 2 guys sub 5 and another on 5'00 (looking at PO10 the winner has a sub 2 800m to his name) . Think that knocks you off your perch SG in the mile rankings but my time was good enough to go top in my age cat.
And that's before you get into how accurate your watches 1km marker was? I bet the distance didn't come out at the full mile being an oval/8 type course?
good to see you back though, nit picking aside
Small field! The sort of field that makes you wonder if it will go the way of the Boston Manor race in time.
Wondered why you weren't available for tomorrow Phil. That explains it!
Will probably arrive at the venue tomorrow before 11, so just the cheeky 3 1/2hours pre my leg. Will take as close to the usual brekkie as poss, however odd it looks getting the cereal out, and top up with Lucozade and jelly babies, like im sure all the Olympians do
SG my Garmin is set to record k's and beep the time of each one as that's what I work off whatever distance I'm running. Thought most people did that? BTW the Garmin reckoned 1.6k which is pretty damn close to the mile!
No local B&B's with room for 4 SG. Easter hols is the busiest in the in the Lakes. Cheapest I could get for all 4 of us was £180!
So just back, with a much better journey than the one there! Longish run over Causey Pike early doors and some organised packing and we were on the road by 10, home by 3! Great week with really good weather, as we always seem to get at Easter! Only rained twice - when we were unpacking the shopping and after dark on the way back from the pub! Only downside weather-wise was it picked yesterday to be cloudy above 2500ft - when my son and I were on top of Scafell Pike! Certainly better than you had Philip!
The photo is from this morning's run, with the Scafells in cloud in the distance. Excellent visibility and the clouds had lifted off them completely by the time I could see them from the M6!
Some stats to bore you with: only 39M of running for the week, but that included 13,500ft of climbing and was 7 hours of running, plus 26M and 8,500 ft of hill-walking. Not surprisingly my quads are feeling a little tender, but everything else seems to have held up OK.
Good luck in the Nationals tomorrow all!
Solid return to racing there Pete post mammoth injuries! I've always worked to miles though ;-)
sensible recovery there Dean and just in time for the track season.
Matt, two weeks should be plenty of time for recovery before the GSR. Should also give you an indicator for the run I'd suspect.
Good luck to all those at the national. Think it's just SG and SC?
Some very easy miles all this week. Managed to get out for a run everyday although kept it very easy.
It seems to have got into a pattern with the lakes - nearly always Braithwaite for Easter thanks to the in-laws being members of a time-share thing that has a property there - we've been going for about 25 years on and off! Quite often we'll find something last minute for October half-term, which could be anywhere in the Lakes with the occasional Feb half-term or summer camping trip thrown in. Braithwaite is my favourite though, as I know the local fells pretty well now so don't even need to bother with route planning, maps or navigating anymore for a quick run out of a morning or evening. Once the kids leave home it's where I intend to move to, buy a B&B and run up Barrow or Causey Pike every day!!!
My clubmate who ran 2.34 last week has just finished renovating a property he has bought to let out in Keswick. First check of his phone after running the marathon and it was a message to say there was a gas leak. No time to enjoy his pb. Ha.
My quads were heavy earlier in the week but seem ok now.
Glad to see Dean, your ankle is good again. There's a possibility that the enforced rest has served as an enhanced recovery period. The results of that will show soon enough. I predict that your sessions will surpass previous levels.
Shirt off running! No. For me there's factors involved concerning more than just exhibitionist inclinations. Hell, if you want to go down that route, why not strip off the whole way and cut a dash while...
Wear a club race vest at the very least - you have to in a race, so get used to it. The other is the danger of UV - and it is. No such thing as a healthy tan.
I mean, I work out doors and its sun block on, and the shirt stays on.
Another thigh breaking holiday on the fells from Bus.
Running a B&B as a retirement option, ok so long as you don't have to.
As for my bit of running. Today I had what was possibly the best run I've had in a decade.
Set off with the intention of playing by ear a familiar 12 mile plus route. Barely breathing without a hint of leg fatigue I started with first mile of 7:30, naturally went faster but with no great effort involved; only the steepest hill made me aware of having to take an extra breath or two.
Without stopping even once, I finished the run without feeling tired at all, but averaging 7:15 miling.
My previous fastest pace was 7:20's but that was with a mass of effort and 15 minutes worth of resting involved. That was just three months ago.
🙂
Nice one Ric, get the shirt off though, the elderly clients will love it!
One of our bosses at work talked about running a B&B when retiring. I don't get it at all. It sounds like it could include the worst parts of property buying/letting out, as well as basically having to be at the beck and call of randoms.
Right, grab a chair, get a coffee on, let's get a National relays report out shall we?
It'll probably be long. Like my leg.
Right, national relays, Sutton Coldfield job, having qualified 2 weeks back. Setting off at 9am, already slightly concerned how warm it's become from nowhere, and not due to run until past 2pm, this'd call for some different to normal eating plans.
I was due for the 5.4mile long leg, and everyone who mentioned it, at best stressed it's not an easy course, and at worst, laughed!
Add in that 5ks aside, I'd raced one very flat 5miler in autumn, and the 4mile southern leg 2 weeks back, this felt like a necessary small step along the way in fully getting going again.
Arrived at 11, a good hour before it even started, and an even sillier 3hr 20 or so before my due time. A wealth of multi coloured tents and vests jumped out, with the Gateshead type clubs surely the furthest travelers.
We had a team little jog around, and had a little look at this fabled hill in the first mile. Which is made harder by the little dog loop down and back to where we were standing.
Over a relay like this, it's very interesting how your respective teammates approach things. The super nervous, can't keep still types like me, compared to the super chilled guys you have to shout at to get the heck to the start!
There's also that envy factor! When your early leg runners finish, you wish you were them
Especially when they start tucking into drinks and food, that you're feeling light on with still 2hours to go.
Proper breakfast done at 7am, but a "Mo Farah" style nutrition plan top up of 2 dry Weetabix, 4 jelly babies, a bottle of Lucozade, a Ric style bottle of water on head and in mouth, plus a Dean style sip on a Lucozade still felt enough, on what I can certainly point out was quickly becoming a very hot day!
Our fastest from the southerns set off 1st, and I believe he came in around 48th, so we were on target for our target of top 50. Apparently 67 teams set off.
At this stage, you think you'll never be running, with 6 legs before me, and over 2hours to kill. Tried to take Aley's advice to quit the yibber yabber and sit the heck down. Certainly got both wrong at the regionals. That and getting bloody cold, getting into the gear ludicrously early.
Along the line Curly and Tommy from the Overdone it thread, and Simon, erm from this thread shared some pre race chats.
Time rocked on, and it was time for me to get a bit of a "already warm obviously, but have a little jog around" up, knowing the quickest time leg 6 could come home.
This meant I was in the pen for about 4 separate waves of runners, sharing some pre effort banter with former Datchet Alex. He did look slightly sheepish when unknown to him, I re-emerged as he was saying something along the lines of how he'd left Rotherham and joined Man United
I laughed and said to the other guy, because he left I got roped in, and all good. Good lad, and a cracking runner, but very much supporting cast to the incredible quality on the Belgrave roster! On the short leg too.
I'm finally up, cripes, whose idea was this again? I could be enjoying a day lying around at home.
I'm off. Don't go off too fast rings in my ears. You know what's coming!
Therefore, for once, it felt like I had gone off conservatively. Albeit it past a lady, and closing in on a fairly old looking chap.
Down, settles, little rise, then you have a steeper down, that is then matched with the equivalent rise, and THEN you know you're almost at "The" hill. A few hundred metres deceptively hard. I use the older guy. Feel at the right pace, even though mile 1 shows 6.11!!
Today isn't about heroics, it's about a sound effort, getting round doing a decent job for the team, and getting my first over 5mile race on file in 18months!
Top of the hill, love it. Enjoy the flat to the 2mile marker. A few ladies are in the mixer. One is breathing exceptionally heavily, definitely on the short leg, so bring her in, and ease ahead. Replace her with a similar lady, But then lose her as she ducks off for the short leg. Jealous.
The next mile is a straight, but plenty of undulations to disrupt flow. The old guy is still in my grill, and i'm quite amazed to see that this road has a dead end, and a little gate that you have to come to a near dead stop to turn around, next to a grinning marshall. Surely they could have a better option than that!
Back the other direction, pass a guy! Yes! We start to reign in another club's guy too. I start realising the old guy is going to get away today though.
Mental side is starting to improve a lot, as we head in on the end of the 4th mile where it meets the short leg turn offers. I see Mr Miller now a bit down the road, so good news I didn't get overtaken, and we race past a couple of women.
A lovely down stretch here, and we'd checked out the last 1/2mile so knew what was coming.
Feels like the effort isn't full beans, but feels enough in the conditions, and a big Dashers cheer with 3/4miles to go.
Old guy is out of sight, fairly close to the other guy. Barnet maybe?
Past the lake, Barnet guy has obviously been reading this thread about how I like to monster people in the last straight, so doesn't give me the opportunity.
Past our tent, probably the most ridiculous wide take of the final bend anyone has ever seen, and one lady is about 10metres ahead. Nah my head thinks, just see it home. Legs refused to do that and insisted on a last overtake, and over the finish line and lovely.
Nice crouch and sit down, probably not as needed as the regionals. Simon comes into shot for some chat.
And I reflect on a 31:06 5.4mile job. That's "only" 5.55 pace, when I can do track 6milers as a MP effort around that, but warmth and hills is plenty of context.
Our top guy was 29.19, and I was 4th of out 6 long leggers. 3rd at the southerns with the same lineup, but our potential star is working his way back, so was 4th then, 3rd today, and has the potential to soon be our standout guy.
Team came 40th! I think that's a terrific result for surely one of the smallest clubs in the whole of both this event, and the 3 regional setups.
67 teams started leg 1 I believe, and only 54 put 12 runners round, so that's a heck of a drop off. That's more your regional drop off usually with B and C incomplete teams, so will be interesting to drill down why later.
But 40th, we'll take that! And we maximised, as were 2.5mins off the team above, so weren't making that up however our 12 had run.
Great day of banter and racing. Knackered now, just down to the length of the day and 3hours in a car!
4 races in 5 weeks now, with 3 in the last 4. That's more like it.
Other stats
Joint 283rd fastest long leg out of 380.
Set off in 50th, came back in 49th.
That'll do me.
Couple of teams could only put 11 out. Bit of a shame! Birchfield Harriers being one.
One standout was Cardiff. Absolutely burnt the field over the first 2-3 legs, miles clear. Still 1st at the end of leg 5. Still 4th at the end of leg 9.
Then they put a 19:07 short leg guy in and dropped like a stone to 10th where they held on for the last 2.
Harsh!
I did Aley. Definitely been a great decision joining the Dashers. I think this is the sort of set up I thought Sandhurst would offer years back, but didn't quite.
5 weeks in, and 2 major relays, tonnes of buzz around the place, good depth with loads of runners in and around my level, and always plenty of chat on their FB group about up coming races and entries etc.
I did forget to mention the legendary older geezer on the motorbike tearing round, bibbing anyone foolish enough to be in the way.
Shame he wasn't tearing round when this stupid woman with 3 massive dogs literally stood in the middle of the path at one stage, with a poor runner guy having to take major action to avoid a massive collision