'Mature' runners.

JJ - It will cost me some money, with no guarantee of a return.

I understand the sense of ownership of the hedges. Middle Son took a year out between school and uni, and worked for a local builder, - and I don't know about him, but as I drive past some of the houses he worked on I often think "Dom built those".

6.95 miles X-C with the running club this evening. Besides the accustomed features of squelchy fields, mud, and a stream to be splashed through at ankle depth, as a special treat we had a heavy rainstorm (having started out in bright sunshine) while we were out on the exposed hillside, which soaked us through and reduced my vision to nearly nothing with raindrops on my glasses, and then the glasses steaming up.

Somehow I still managed to enjoy it.

Columba, at this time of the year i find running in the rain quite refreshing.

Redhead, i'm still taking the pills but feel at lot better. I 've been able to play footie tonight but towrds the end the stamina had run out.

JJ, when talking hedges may i ask, whats flail cutting ?

Morning all,

Just a gentle ploddy leg stretcher for me today with perhaps a few strides thrown in for good measure 

JJ, I'm impressed that you have completed a hedge laying course!   One of our internal hedges is no longer a hedge in places, as some have been allowed to grow into trees, but you can see the branches that were layed (sp?) in times gone by as they look like horizontal tree trunks.  The hedges along the lane have been layed in the past too and are good and thick at the base.

OT, glad the pills are helping (they just give me leg cramps!).  I'll let JJ answer the flail cutting question - I can see one across the fields now as I type..........(which is naughty actually as farmers aren't supposed to cut hedges yet!!!)

Columba, nice running and glad you enjoyed it too.  Have you thought about charity work in any shape or form?  It's very rewarding and, as JJ would say, it exercises the grey matter.

Well my pace was all over the place!  I'm very gunky today following Mary's proddings (she's been working on unsticking my diaphragm and it seems to have done something!).  I thought I was just plodding but did the first mile in 9 mins, slowed down for the next mile and got it down to 9.5 then the tougher hills kicked in and I averaged out at 11min miling thank goodness.

Right, off to do stuff.

OT - flail cutting - glad you asked!

JJ I had forgotten all about the H Samuel Ever Right.

Columba, sounds like a great run, a typical winter cross country course.

Red, hope Mary's proddings have done the trick in time for your marathon.

Last nights session was slightly different than planned. We firstly did a 2 mile warm up on roads and then a  few stretches, strides, lunges, skips etc. The main session was 3 sets of 3 sessions of 60 metres at race pace and 40 metres flat out sprint, with jog backs to the start. We then did our customary relay races comprising 2 legs of 100 metres. We finished, as usual, with a core session.

This morning I did a good pace 7 miler in the forest in horrendous conditions. I had run for about a mile, when the heavens opened and the wind became frighteningly strong. The rain became increasingly heavy and was battering me. I turned back at 3.5 miles with the wind seemingly blowing in all directions. The hollows in the ground very quickly filled up, and where the grass had been firm, was now sodden.

The Leisure Centre, where our Club meet up, is to begin bleep test sessions to measure max VO2. I last did these in 1993, when we did them once a week. My highest level was 13, but we had no way of converting to VO2. I am tempted to have a go, which is £5 per session, although I'm rather apprehensive as to how far my level will have dropped.

Hedge flails come in various guises but the principle is some blades on the end of an hydraulic arm attached to a tractor.Tthe tractor drives alongside the hedge and the flail whirls round breaking off the twigs .and branches along the side then repeats the process along the top with the flail moving to the right angle.. Any sharpness on the flail is soon lost so it becomes a matter of force to snap the branches leaving them very damaged.

Redhead
Will that do?

TE
In my early 60s my bleep test level was 11. Don't think they prove a great deal but worth a go just for the experience.

Columba
If the authority doesn't have too many competent practioners in your field I would be inclined to point this out and set some terms under which you will continue. There's clearly not much to lose by trying.

Watching the parade of the athletes at the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. Don't think I've got too much to complain about really.
JJ

TE, full credit for persevering in the attrocious weather. I am also impressed with your bleep test rating of 13 albeit when you were younger, thats some rating. I last did the test 20 years ago when i was forty and smoked, and i managed something like 8.3. Today, having given up smoking in 1994 and taken up running i would guess at a rating of about 7, it would be interesting to find out.

Ah JJ, flail cutting, they do that round here, in the past i've ended up with punctures on my bicycle with the thorns and debris thrown into the road.

No running today, legs very weary after the last two days.

Morning all,

Good luck to all our amazing paralympians 

No plod today, just light cross training.  

TE, you've earned a gold star for endurance!  The bleep test sounds interesting.

Excellent description JJ.  I will add though that the modern cutters are much better with an action more like the blades on a hedge trimmer and they don't leave all the ripped branches or huge chunks on the road.  Our cutter bought his new kit last year and there was no mess on the lane or in the fields (this has been a problem in the past as we have lots of blackthorn which can go right through a horses hoof).

I'm starting to get focussed for the Kent Coastal this weekend.  All I remember about last time was that it was over 30 degrees, there were tourists to avoid on the beach section and there were lots of pavements to jump up onto!  Oh yes and we ran past Bleak House.  Please let the weather stay cooler for Sunday

The paralympians are amazing. They all looked so happy during the parade and made me feel very humble and ashamed at the times I have felt sorry for myself for minor injuries etc.

Red, the bleep test is running backwards and forwards between two lines, at increasingly faster speeds. Level 1 is just jogging, and each level, introduced by a bleep and a voice stating the level, gives less time to get between the lines. When I last did the test, the distance between markers was 20 metres. The current sessions are 15 metres apart. I don't know whether that will make any difference to the end result. It won't really be comparing like with like. All I know is that my level will be considerably lower than before.

OT I was 47 when I last did the test, but was near to my peak of fitness, so that was reflected in my rating. Your rating was very good, considering you were a smoker at the time.

JJ your level of 11 in your early sixties is very impressive and I doubt whether I could match that now. As a matter of interest, was your test conducted over 20 metres?

Redhead
Watch out for up to a dozen deckchairs at the marathon.

TE
It was more like 15m paced out on a tennis court . I don't think the distance makes much difference because the bleep machine could be programmed accordingly i.e. shorter rests.
JJ

Red - Bleak House, - is that Charles Dickens's Bleak House? (I haven't read that particular one, though it is on the bookshelf).

11, 7, 13 - what are the units? I mean, 11 whats per what? (I know it's a measure of oxygen uptake, but I don't know in what terms).

Went swimming. And finally got the last of the wallpaper stripped off my bedroom walls. Thoroughly tired of living in chaos, but beginning to feel there is light at the endof the tunnel. Tomorrow will get polyfilla, paint roller and paint tray.

Columba - you almost make me want to get started on my hallway, but common sense prevails! Need to wait until our new pup is grown up otherwise it may be a waste of time.

Morning all,

So far the weather forecast fro Sunday is favourable for me - 19 degrees and a bit overcast.  Please let it stay at that or maybe add a bit of drizzle; that would be nice 

JJ, the deckchairs will streak away I'm sure.  Have you got any super speedy ones running it?

TE, thanks for explaining the bleep test.

Columba, yes indeed it is.  It was his summer residence and where he wrote David Copperfield.  http://www.bleakhousebroadstairs.co.uk/ It was sold last year.  When we were renovating our current property we lived in a virtual building site for 4 years so I feel your pain!

Today will be short plod delivering Neighbourhood Watch news so will be about 3.5 miles.

Columba, the units are the level that you have attained before failing to reach a line before the beep. Each level is an increase in pace, so level one is at jogging pace, level 2 a bit quicker and so on. Each level is started by a bleep and a voice stating the level. I achieved 5 repeats at level 13, but have no idea how the levels convert to VO2 max.

Red, hope the weather is kind to you on Sunday.

Last night, as I was leaving to go to the club session, the rain started to lash down. I went back indoors and put on my hi viz and beanie hat. It is only a 5 minute jog to the Leisure Centre, and I set off getting soaked in seconds. As I arrived, the rain stopped and held off for the rest of the evening.

We ran 2.25 miles warm up and did some warm up drills, and then onto the main session. This comprised 4 sets of 4 x 45 sec. hill reps with jog downs and a short recovery between sets. This was up a gravel trail and the sting in the tail was when we thought we were at the top, there was a right hand bend and the hill was even steeper. We didn't do any core drills afterr the session as it was starting to get dark, and we had the 2.25 mile return to run.

On the return and at the top of a steep hill, we admired the lovely view of the sun setting on the horizon, and the full moon shining brightly. We said how lucky we were to have such a lovely forest to run it. It is such a shame that in 2 or 3 weeks time, we will be back to running on roads in the dark. There will, however, always be a few of us who will run in the forest at weekends in the daytime. I do believe that there are one or two who do run in the dark in the forest with head lamps, although I am not too keen on that myself.

Today was my first reasonable run for nearly 6 months. Just 3.8 miles off road miles but walked the top of a long steep hill. There was much graunching and grinding from muscles and gristly bits for a bit over a mile then things settled down for another mile then I felt tired. Much work to be done.

We are doing loads of house renovations. First major update for about 20 years.

Redhead
Can't see any deckchairs getting under 3 hours.
Hope you have a great run.

TE
We have occasional evening runs with head torches but for me they're not too successful because of the frequent stops for regrouping. You can't leave people behind in the dark and off road. It's a lovely experience to try just once when it's been snowing.
JJ

JJ, good to hear that you are now beginning to get back into your running again. You have probably been maintaining your fitness doing your renovations.

I intend doing a 13 mile run tomorrow morning in the forest which will give me 50 miles for the week, the furthest for many years. This should stand me in good stead for the New Forest Half Marathon, which is in 3 weeks. I have also entered the Solent Half Marathon, which is organised by my club, and is 3 weeks after the NF Half.

I must make enquiries within the club to see if anyone is doing night runs in the forest and if so, give it a try.

JJ - congratulations on "first reasonable run for 6 months" despite the graunching and grinding, - don't you always get graunching and grinding in the first mile or so? Or at least puffing and gasping? On and up.

Red - hope all goes well at the Kent Coastal. It sounds as though the views should be wonderful.

Morning all,

Thanks for the good wishes and I shall try my hardest.  I'm nervous today and will have to do something energetic in the garden this afternoon to take my mind off tomorrow.

JJ, well done that man!  House renovations count as cross-training too 

TE, nice mileage and will defo stand you in good stead for your up-coming 1/2s.

Columba, how's the tapir?