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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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last post for today, as soon on a half day, and off to the "League 2 classico" tonight...
A guy at work saying Bracknell half in May was quicker than Wokingham.
I'm convinced he's comparing his times from the year both were in May, with Wokingham being on a scorcher of a day. For starters I've heard Bracknell has a hill lasting a couple of miles. Doesn't sound the stuff of fast times!
I've done about 40 but don't record them anywhere so not sure. Bit of a mix between trying new ones and old favourites. I've definitely done Wokingham, Bracknell, Wycombe, and Fleet between 4 and 6 times each and Gosport 3 times.
how is Fleet?
I see it always sells out early. But then i'm not sure if any spring halves locally don't.
I missed Cardiff HM in 2012 after twisting my ankle doing grass reps. That was on my first upswing!
I'd check the elevation profile for Bracknell. There is a long upflat-drag in between the flat sections. There must be a sharp downhill somewhere too.
Fleet used to be the place to go of a Friday night way back when. That probably doesn't help though.
3x1km/120s RI at lunch today. 5km pace +5-10s, so 3:52.80 to 3:57.80:
400m #1 400m #2 200m Total
01:36.58 01:33.13 00:46.77 03:56.48
01:32.28 01:34.29 00:44.24 03:50.81
01:36.30 01:32.58 00:44.00 03:52.88
Wind was blowing up the 200m leg as usual, so 2nd 1km was more downwind. Much easier than last week's 800s, happy with that. A slightly lighter session this week as racing this Sunday.
Good stuff Ironcat - hoping to get the legs going again at 5 ish with an interval sesson. Glad to see the papers havent got hold of my cheating at Reading yet
Halfs -
Done Portsmouth (flat - obviously) in about 1999,
Bedford (good if cold and clear, bugger if windy.
Burnham Beeches - lovely course and swimming pool after, but lumpy
Reading - I was suprised of the steepness of the hills, especially the one at 8 miles! I was a bit 'eh??' after hearing how flat it was supposed to be.
Summer wise. Like Dachs, planning to do a 5k at Eltham, possibly June (their opens are better than Watford but keep it quiet!!) and the Kent champs again in September. 2 x 10,000m at the Beds/Herts in July (Biggleswade) and Surrey champs in August (Tooting Bec).
Plus all the southern league and Eastern Vets stuff, should be enought track to keep me going..
Posted in the MG thread but thought i'd post in here too after reading tumbleweed comments!
After a bit of a comeback from injury and illness late last year i'm finally starting to produce results close to my previous best - 10 mile cycling tt course pb (by a minute) on wednesday followed by 41:26 at eastleigh on sunday (15 seconds away from my pb).
I'm planning to take advantage of a flat fast temporary course at parkrun on Saturday to see if I can get near my very old 5k pb (19:09 - achieved nearly two years ago now!)
Gosport is the fastest half i've done (agree on a still day), though the others have been hilly and/or off road so can't really compare. Running the ABP southampton half next month with the OH though so i'll let you all know what I think of it. Looks fairly quick apart from the out and back section up and over the Itchen bridge.
After my 'A' race in May (Mallorca half ironman!
) i'll be knuckling down with high volume easy mileage as I missed out on it this winter and need to work on aerobic fitness, and target the Gosport half specifically. I have a time in mind but it would be foolish to spout it yet I fear - put it this way i'm hoping for a BIG improvement, in line with improvements made over the last few years (not including last year unfortunately, I ran it steady with a cold) 2:03 in 2011, 1:39 in 2012 and 1:31 in 2013
nice one Iower, definitely remember you from a long while back now. Good to hear an update.
Ric, old son, if you're hovering around, tell me about the Norfolk relay. Just had an email from the club. Normally I have zero interest in these stupidly long distance, huge amount of legs, zero chance of winning or being anywhere near competitive events, but this one has tickled me a bit...
Fleet is pretty fast though some small inclines especially near the end. No way Bracknell is as fast as Wokingham. Apart from the 2 mile steady climb up Harvest Ride at about mile 6 you also have loads of underpasses to negotiate with sharp twists and turns and they all slow you down. Only thing in its favour is a 9 am start so its usually a good temperature.
SG - I am very familiar with hamstring tears. This is a smallish one but worse than Wokingham. It is very hard to tell when it went but I suspect it was on the downhill stretch around 11 miles. I spotted a team mate and was confident I would catch him but I started to lose speed without feeling fatigued. I definitely lost some running economy at this point, I would have lost range and started favouring the other leg without even knowing it. If this was right then I reckon it only cost me about 20-30 seconds max being so far into the race.
I knew where the hills were at Reading and how steep they were, in fact I walked from the top of the first one down to the race start to avoid parking. As a result I found them fine. If you'd read the BS about faster flatter course and believed it I can see why it would be surprising and would make it seem tougher.
I think I have done 12 and I would put them in this order.
1. Wokingham (3)
2. Great North Run (1)
3. Reading (6)
4. Marlow (1)
5. Basingstoke (1)
SG, you can't separate out the course and the contestants. A good race needs a flat course and people to carry you along as well.
I do think that we are getting to a place where we may start to see more differentiation between the three types of races/ racers:
1) elite guys doing really fast times so e.g. for a half as slow as 66/67 minutes
2) club runners who start off in the high 60s and go out as far as 1:30 / 1:40
3) charity /bucket list runners who go out as far a 3 or 4 hours
I don't see any way that guys such as PeteM can run 40 or 50 halfs if Reading costs £35 to enter (so say £1,750 in total). There has to be a market for guys who want the experience and there has to be a market for frequent runners who don;t even care for a medal nor t-shirt.
Almost like a bigger club run event.
You'd only get 3-4 Ironman races for that total
Hendon brook is billed as a half although it's 13.5 miles. Just over 2000ft of ascent in it. Bus would like that one!
Woke up on Monday with a sore foot/dull ache on the outside of my left foot. Ran 2 x 3 milers yesterday. Strange one. Google says it's a stress fracture but I'm hoping otherwise. Resting is shit!
Where on the outside Matt?
Andrew, I wouldn't say I was especially "Caught out". I'd read plenty about how the peaks of the course were still the same from people like Dachs. It's just easy to forget a hill is a bit steeper than you remembered it.
2nd fastest half I've done, so if I'd really been caught out, that'd be promising ahead
I presume adrenaline and compensation got you through the last 2miles then? And you're now looking at a 2-3week complete rest? And are walking with difficulty?
Why can't I? Having a higher quality field doesn't per se make it a quicker course. Wokingham v Reading shows that.
And as for saying no one can do 40 halves at the top end price. I wonder how many races are even that expensive anyway..
SG, if you are a team man; which I know you are, this event has to be the ultimate team deal.
It's as low or high key as you want it to be.
From the staggered starts to the need for support crews, this evolves into a mass social, based on 'we came, we ran ,we conquered'.
I like the way the opening legs are in daytime and relatively short but as night falls, the legs become much longer which is where the club tough guys and heros come out to play. They run 20 miles at 3:00am so that the rest don't have to.
In the latter stages there's the situation where all the staggers unwind and it looks like an army is on the move as a line of flashing safety and headlamp lit runners line the road.
Then dawn breaks and the finish.
If you ran this event you would need a week to write up the report.
Go for it.
🙂
I really should think about doing Wokingham. Of course, some of the more expensive races, e.g. Bath, will let you in for free if you're either (a) very fast, or (b) quite fast, and a little bit old.
Interesting how the quality of field is something I look at when deciding on pb potential for a race, and yet for both my current HM and 10k pb's, after the first mile melange, I've spent most of the race either leading a group or running on my tod. I don't think it really bothers me.
And... non-flat HMs: Midsummer Munro, over Box Hill way. I came 7th when I did it, in a rip-roaring time of 1hr 51mins. Oof!
I agree cost becomes a factor when you do lots of races but it is only one of many reasons I avoid the very biggest events by numbers like Reading and Royal Parks. The sort of halves I enter usually cost about £20 so 5 of them a year works out about £2 a week. Hardly a strain on the finances!
Interestingly on price I was considering doing Cardiff 2016, this is wrapped up with the IAAF World Champs. They have inflated the price to £49! Now that is scandalous.
Matt - it won't be a stress fracture for sure if Google says it is!!! Fingers crossed..
Andrew - doesn't sound good, but sounds like you know what to do with it anyway! You get a few tears?
I've done 33 halves - but mainly Marlow and Wycombe! Not sure I fancy one with 200ft and an extra 0.3M though Matt - not on road!
My fastest courses, in order are;
Paddock Wood - fairly flat, with just one slight incline and a very strong field. Some little railway bridges in the last few miles that bloody hurt though! Can't remember how many there were, but it seemed about a hundred at the time!!
Wokingham
Maidenhead. Shame about the final subway, or this would be quicker than Wokingham. Oh, and it's not on Po10!
Wycombe
Marlow
Milton Keynes (quick course, but a very bad day!)
Berkhamstead (big hill like Wycombe, but a long time ago!)
Bus - Yes I get a lot of small tears.
Matt, sounds like what I think I had, Peroneal Tendonitis. Where one of the tendons on the outside of the foot gets squashed. It went after a week.
Here is our protagonist at the weekend.
One day I'll work out how to use photo software to get a small but usable picture.
SG would run faster if he wasn't always sporting big old baggy shorts like the footballer he is at heart.
Random story about the pelican crossing behind SG. At least 2 groups of people pressed the cross button and waited for the man to go green before crossing. Even though the runners were still tightly packed.
The guy cycling up the road got a shock too.
My only half has been the Isle of Wight HM
IC, they had that problem at the Green Park Challenge too, as the people who watched the start had to cross the route to get to the finish. I managed to get there quickly enough to cross in an actual gap, but a ridiculous amount of people were just walking straight in front of the runners, including with pushchairs and stuff. I was amazed no-one got taken out.