Is this a mad way to start?

Good luck with it all, it's stressful. I've got one I'm probably going for but have put off applying, gotta get my arse in gear.

Had a lovely 10 mile run with Cole this evening, he pulled a lorry driver who slowed up, wound down his window and said "You've got a super smart dog there". What preceded that was him meeting us in a very tight lane. Basically as we only run the lanes generally I've taught Cole to put himself right into the hedge when a car comes in the tight bits, and he drops like a stone which is really cute.

Oh and I've just made plum, date and apple crumble and am trying to decide what to do with a frigging HUGE bowl of runner beans which D brought back from his parents. So big that I spent nearly a whole film with Jessie this afternoon stringing and chopping them. Wtf do I do with so many beans? Invent runner bean and chili soup me thinks.

Oh and the film was 'We Bought a Zoo'. Didn't get to the end of it as J lost interest and I couldn't cope with the whole mother had died bit.

This makes me raise a slightly amused eyebrow... Hydration and nutrition, it's funny that as soon as you swim/cycle/run however slowly, you don't eat and drink any more.

I'm waiting for that kind of classification to reach the south end, we don't shit and piss, we...

(answers on a postcard, but not literally)

Too much going on here at the moment, I made D take me out for a fat boys breakfast this morning (police speak for a huge full English) and then he went to get the kids from Cornwall, whilst I wrote the quickest long haul job application. I'd missed the deadline but talked them into letting me submit it. My comissioning book editor friend proof read it for me and laughed her way through it.

I'm not sure that's a good sign, but there are no spelling or sentence construction mistakes now.

After that splurge of creativity I felt the need to run, so I took the Coleman for 11.5 hilly miles. I was pissed off that one of the farm dogs that isn't normally out from a farm about 5 miles away, really challenged us, hackles up and gums showing as the teeth were so bared; all aggressive body language. Luckily Cole just stuck by my heel and I had to do all my 'confident' how to talk a dog down with body language stuff that D has taught me from being in many situations at work where he encounters it.

It's been one of the very few occasions where I felt that the dog was going to go at me or Cole. I actually mentally prepared myself to get bitten and how to get the dog off him or me, which would have taken as much violence as I could muster. Luckily it didn't come to that. It pissed me off because if say, a young mum and baby in a buggy had been passing, how would they have felt?

Apart from that, lovely run.

Ok, I wrote that knowing that a young mum and baby would no way be walking up that hill in, the middle of nowhere unless they were in an episode of Dr. Who...

But the principle still exists.

I put that comma after 'in' because said friend above told me my sentences were too long (in my job application) and came across too much as a stream of consciousness; but looking at it, that comma is misplaced.

Ok, it needs to be after hill...

'In... the middle of nowhere' would work if I was writing a crappy horror movie script; with creepy music building up to a crescendo...

Ok I get her point now about a stream of consciousness; but then people pick their noses in cars because they think that as soon as you're behind a wheel you're invisible.

My work is done, the girls are in the bath, I need to wash their hare (new pet).

The comma needs to be after "nowhere" (not in the middle of nowhere)

It would be lost if it was in the middle of nowhere.

After nowhere I guess it would be somewhere!

Well that was quick, I just got an email inviting me to an interview tomorrow...

Not tomorrow, Friday. I've been a day ahead of myself all week this week.

And so... This has been the last day of the school holiday for my girls, neither of us have been in work today so it's been really nice. We did 'stuff' this morning, returning DVDs to Blockbusters, posting the kids passport applications etc. And then as we were in town we did one of our favourite walks along the quay with ice cream and coffee. Who knew either had legs?

Ok, gotta go, just a quick walk to get eggs from next door farm...

No eggs, the girls need to get their arses into gear (literally), I will have a word.

Boy's first day at school today. I'm away in Austria Hope yours enjoy their first day back.

On another note I see you've been upsetting everyone again. This is mainly irrelevant, other than you mentioned Run Less, Run Faster. This is my current book du jour since I've retired Fink. What are your thoughts? I was going to use it to warm up for Cardiff (late starter) then work hard towards my A half-mara in Feb.

Note to all. Watch for rabbit holes when doing 400m intervals on grass. I may not run again this month Up to this point I didn't think the Interval pace was that hard, though it was the 3rd one when I hurt my ankle.

Thanks Cat, just sent mine off with D, bit of a fraught time trying to find a PE kit this morning, not that we leave everything to the 11th hour you understand

What do I think? From meeting you and what I know of you this far I think it's a good idea. It's specificity in training and also focus in the quality of training as opposed to the mantra that more is better. I do believe and always have that consistant training is the golden ticket as opposed to just throwing out distance, usually at slow speeds.

A very good friend of mine and athletics coach (coached the winner of one of the big USA marathons in days gone by) chats to me regularly about all this as I'm constantly tapping him for really kk specific ways to pb. One of his big things is mixing up the speed and always finishing training runs fast.

I'm training a lot less than I was in 2009 when I got all my pb times, but my last significant race saw me do 11.2 miles @ 6.36mm which is proof that for me, less training hasn't had a detrimental effect at that distance (note I know it's very distance specific)

Bottom line I think is that for anyone who wants to compete competitively you have to pick your distance and build a training program that focuses very specifically on you. What are your strengths and weakenesses? I've noticed as all my training runs are hilly, that people who don't train on hills can't run down them very well, there's a lot of free speed to be had if you get the technique right.

Also how you run a race mentally as well as tactically all needs looking at.

I'm going to be honest (and this might upset people but it's not meant to, it's an observation), I read people's training on here sometimes and it's hugely voluminous yet they never improve their times. They are doing 'something' wrong; unless of course they don't look to improve which is fine too.

kittenkat wrote (see)

What do I think? From meeting you and what I know of you this far I think it's a good idea. It's specificity in training and also focus in the quality of training as opposed to the mantra that more is better. I do believe and always have that consistant training is the golden ticket as opposed to just throwing out distance, usually at slow speeds.

There's a place for distance at slow speeds but it's the 20+ mile runs for marathon training, not for a half.  Quality always trumps quantity in my book.  Not that I've written it yet, but when I do, that's what it'll say.  That, and don't run intervals on uneven grass unless you want a wrecked ankle.

Yeah Dave I agree, for the long stuff the foundations need to be built before the speed. I still personally see more value in say (to hop over to cycling for a min) 2x60 mile bike rides on consequitive days than pushing out 100 on one.

I'm also more and more becoming a fan of good quality rest and recovery. There are times when you should push through fatigue and little niggles and times when you really shouldn't yet a lot of people do.

You'll note that I can be pretty bad at following my own advice! I am a lot better now though after I broke myself in 2010.

Cheerful Dave wrote (see)

kittenkat wrote (see)

What do I think? From meeting you and what I know of you this far I think it's a good idea. It's specificity in training and also focus in the quality of training as opposed to the mantra that more is better. I do believe and always have that consistant training is the golden ticket as opposed to just throwing out distance, usually at slow speeds.

There's a place for distance at slow speeds but it's the 20+ mile runs for marathon training, not for a half.  Quality always trumps quantity in my book.  Not that I've written it yet, but when I do, that's what it'll say.  That, and don't run intervals on uneven grass unless you want a wrecked ankle.

I think there is sense in what you have both said. We often talk about specificity in training (you want to be good a running, then run, don't canoe), and putting the benefits of cycling aside for a moment. I guess if you want to run fast, you need to train fast.

A few weekends of Parkruns have shown me that I need to focus more on speed rather than on the base that's in the bag. Last week would have been another PB bar the loose shoelace (I'm having a great week ). Pre planning prevents... etc.

kittenkat wrote (see)

I'm also more and more becoming a fan of good quality rest and recovery. There are times when you should push through fatigue and little niggles and times when you really shouldn't yet a lot of people do.

I think this is the downside of our HTFU attitude here. Despite hobbling around all day, I was wondering if I could run this off tonight! IM perhaps teaches you to be mentally tough, so the physical toughness falls to one side. It's good to take a step back and reflect.

A saying we have elsewhere is "where there is doubt, there is no doubt". i.e. if you're unsure, don't do it.