Grant & Stone Marlow 5

No thread for this one bizarrely.

I did this one 5 years in a row from 2002 to 2006, but then injury curtailed my streak, and haven't done it since!

All flat, all reasonably fast who else is in?

As you know, not this year Stevie G but definitely hopefully next year as I haven't done it since 2005 and to use a topical General Election term it's a key marginal for me to beat my best time being  3 and 1/2 minutes slower than pb.

I'll be there! 

Nice race this, but for some reason I've pushed too hard and had to stop and vomit between miles 3 and 4 after the business park for the past 3 years!!

Lol bus boy! Ridiculous behaviour!  I'm not sure my body has a setting to push too hard.

I did this one 4 years in a row from 2003-2006, (actually thought it was 5 in a row..but no just 4 on checking!)

Haven't done it since...so expecting the Marlow pb of 30:59 to go! Passed through 5m at the Shinfield 10k in under my 29:38 pb..so hoping under that will be nice.

Bus Boy what are you after time wise?

Ahh, that'd be telling!

TBH though difficult to be precise - clocked 5M at Maidenhead in 29.08, but not sure how accurate the marker was?  My legs won't be as fresh tomorrow as for Maidenhead either mind (get my excuses in early!)

Nice one Bus Boy...paced me along for a couple of miles, before I had to pull my infamous trick of burning off for the last half mile!

Did Shinfield 10k on Monday and went through 5miles quicke than my previous pb of 29:38 so knew I should be able to take it down today.

Splits have come out as 5:29, 5:43, 5:57, 5:54 and 5:40

so that should equate to 28:43 to 28:45, but we both know results often come out differently!

The clock was definitely in the 40s when I got close, but can't remember the exact time.

Kept my number for the momento, but I'm sure the times were recorded over the line, and also by the guy waving the bat over us at the finish, so the giving the number in was only for recycling reasons, rather than actually gettign a race time...or I hope it was!

in fact results are out... 28:54 on the chip. (1 sec slower official time)

 So obviously my splits are 10seconds out some how...but still happy with that!

I'm kicking myself  a bit though Stevie G! When you started to pull away (around 3.5M?) I was starting to suffer a bit. As I knew I wasn't going to catch you, and I thought (wrongly as it turned out!) that there was a big enough gap behind not to lose another place, I mentally took my eye of the ball a tad and missed the sub 29 by seconds!  Never mind, still a new 5M pb by some way.....

i realise now how the 10sec difference came out. I had my garmin on 1mile autolapping, but was manually clicking the miles, so 1 autolap came out 10seconds before i manually clicked it...meaning I have 6 splits ...5 1miles (well one 0.98) and one for 147 yards!

 So no Wokingham style outrage !

Was interesting to hear the announcer moan about some lady who ran over the start about 30secs before the start...maybe that can screw clocks! least they re-set it though.

 I know what you mean about the gap...I sat with you for about 3miles, and couldn't hear anything behind, and caught a sight of an empty road behind us, so was surprised to see someone outstrip you near the end.

I must admit I was looking over my shoulder at you so much I almost forgot to roast someone at the end to gain 1 position! He was obviously shot as I just turned the gears up and comortably did him.

Not sure I race these flat out yet...but it feels a good pace while we're racing so that's good enough for me at the moment.

Have found a 2.5mile warm up with 5 strides of 75m certainly takes the pain out of the opening miles. Shamefully I've only done this warm up twice in 98 races!!

 What's your 10k pb sitting on? I did a 36:44 at Shinfield on Monday, and that was stalled by say 20-30 seconds by a ridiculous offroad mile and ultra windy field at 8k...so hopefull I have a low 36 in my locker soon.

Today was my 5m pb by 44 secs...again would like to have a go at that too...

With your 10m and 1/2m times you could be looking mid 28 for 5k I would have thought? Unless you're just good at keeping your pace as you go up the distances.

 I sprinted harder than I've ever done at the and of a race to try and beat that bloke who came out of nowhere! He did beat me on the line, but the result shows the same time! 

My longer runs have always indicated a faster 10k time than my current down of 37.11. Given Maidenhead and Marlow it should be nearer 36 something so I'll need to sort that out this year! You doing Thame?

I probably should be a bit more scientific about my warm up too - I spend more time faffing with my laces rather than warming up properly!!

Yeah 37:11 should definitely go. My half suggested a 35:40, so although I was pleased with the 36:44 felt and know it can go a fair bit lower.

Not sure to Thame yet, havea  stack of 5ks, and am keen to do a good chunk of proper training, circa 65mile weeking with 2 track sessions and 14-15mile LSR.

 I've done 98 races now, and only on the last 2 races have I done a 2.5mile warm up at say 8:30 to 9min a mile pace. Today I added 5  75m strides, I think I was doing one when I saw you pre race. Made sure I had about 10mins before the race to attend to my previous well rehearsed warm up strategy..ie finding a bush! Makes a big difference to not feeling the strain in the opening of the race. And means you're already at a higher temperature so you get stronger rather than fade midway.

 Just on laces...I must be the only fool who has to tie his laces about 10 times so they don't come undone. Everyone else seems to just do 1 or 2 knots!

Dear all

I should like to clear up how the timing system works.

Just in front of the start line there is a wire over which you all run under and again on the way back.  This wire creates a field which reads the transponder on the back of the race number.  As you cross the line you would hear a beep which is the system registering you.  At the start this beep is almost continuous as there are so many people crossing together but as you finish you should hear an individual beep.

The bats that are waved over the number after you cross the line are a secondary backup in the unlikely event that the finish line field has missed you for some reason.  Examples being when people wear their numbers on their back or fold them up.  These bats are miniture versions of the primary field and vibrate in the users hand to show that they have read the number.  If they don't vibrate it means that the chip has gone dead and then the number can be entered manually.  This could be if someone has put their safety pin through the wire.  The system will discount all readings from these bats if the runner is picked up on the primary finish, if however somebody is not recorded it will put them in the results from these back up bats between the runners recorded either side

 In respect of the start the system is set up and running for quite a while whilst the field is checked etc.  It doesn't matter if anyones runs through prior to the race starting as the whole thing is reset about 2 seconds before the guns goes off.

I hope the above helps and is of some interest 

 Peter

Nice one Peter.

 So Bus Boy...that means that Wokingham's rubbish excuse as why the half marathon times were all bodged up by at least 7 seconds doesn't wash!

 The truth is out ...3months on!

Cheers Peter - my son asked me after "why are they waving table tennis bats at their tummies?" . Now I can tell him the exact answer!!

I started and stopped my watch under the wires - spot on to chip time