A bit like sub-4 (but 15 minutes quicker)

Beetroot!! It's the future...I've seen it...I've tasted it!!

SB

Too much makes your wee pink !!

I could eat a jar of the stuff..

I found that out today. Can't wait to have another glass full, weeing has never been such fun! Had more beetroot with my salad lunch too. Improves stamina/endurance apparently.

As of today, I have a 16 year old son...he's taller than me, and I'm 6'1". What happened to that cute little toddler that used to eat normally and not consume the entire fridge while just standing in front of it as the light shines in his face?

I have a 20 miler first thing tomorrow to contemplate such things...

SB

Is it your first 20 of this campaign ? I got 19 to do sunday ?

I know what you mean about kids growing , it the shoe sizes that amaze me nowdays, when my sons mates leave their shoes by the back door it looks like a boatyard !!

Happy birthday to your son 

Yep, first 20 miler since 2009. Can't wait to get it out of the way. The route takes me through some roads you've run on before around Weybridge (Seven Hills Rd etc...)
Running it with a mate at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning. We're aiming to go a lot slower than last week, hopefully around 7.55 pace.

Good luck with the 19. Will it be 20 next week?

SB

Yes 20 next week.

The last time I ran along that 7 Hills road was just a few weeks ago before Christmas, I do love running up around there, it so much easier to get an even pace going,

20 miler done at a far more sensible 7.57 pace. Felt good to hit the 20 mile marker again. Just got a couple of injury niggles to nurse but I finally feel like I'm in marathon mode after two runs of significant distance. Long way still to go though.

Did the run at 7.00am and then had to run a 2 hour football training session. I feel some sofa time coming up and a plan to replensih lost energy with BEER! 

SB

Enjoy the replen SB. Good pace with your long uns and probably sensible this week to reign it in a bit from last weeks pace for now.

I hear good things about beetroot juice and know several competitive ultrarunners who swear by it. Maybe I'll try ths year, I was using chia seeds late last year, which have similar superfood qualities. Couldn't say I had noticable improvment from using, but at the time I was training a lot and running 50-60 mile ultras monthly on variable surfaces which make performances hard to compare. One thing I can probably say is as part of a quality diet generally it kept me unijured during my best and highest mileage running year yet - 2290 miles.

Good looking pace also there LS. Missed the GRJ program, but looking forward to some tourism up that way in the future, the rugged landscape up there is my favourite kind of backdrop and would be a new area forme to explore. Oh and enjoy "Getting yourself out there..."in 2013

Not many miles here as busy with youngun, But increased run frequency this week over last from 2 to 3 and will do some kind of short long run tomorrow hopefully. With less time there has been more emphasis on flatter and road surfaces so far, managing sub-8 pace regularly, faster than usual, but know I'm only about 75%, which is weird

No road marathon planned for me (again), half consideing the new "Yorkshire Marathon" this October, but all 5000 places have filled less than 5 days! A guy I know from ultras and sometimes run with organises the Hardmoors trail ultra series and this year is also organising a 5 race series of trail mara/half/10k - starting Feb and then running about every 2 months through year, visiting lots of pretty and scenic areas of North York Moors and surrounding area. Also considering a hillier challenge in Lakes in June (will see how Isaac settles before I commit to training for that).

18.5 in 2.53 i  I thought I was down for 19 today but I only had to to do 18 so split the difference nice and easy bit hilly round here so didnt push the pace to much.

Nice run SB .

Euph how old is the little Isaac now ? not too many sleepless nights I hope. my youngest grandson is also a Christmas baby..1 year now

Hi NN, he's 21 days today all's well. Not had a sleepless night for a few weeks, but plenty of early hours wake up calls  Christmas babies probably don't thank parents for their timing, but I'll be defending it by saying you'll always get you birthday off school (and maybe work)

Anybody else here had some snow yesterday today? Just enough here to make for a fun 35mins running around the meadow out back - its only about quater-mile by quarter mile, but with the snow down is all the more fun and hard work in the long grassy bits and over the previously sodden ground.

No snow here  but very cold. Did a 4 mile recovery last night and then a 7 mile tempo at lunchtime today. Clocked 6.48 pace for the tempo which I'm very pleased with considering the 20 miler on Saturday. Strange that my legs feel better this week than they did after last week's 18 miler. I guess that's the training process working?

Don't worry Nursey, he'll soon start having more sleepless nights, at least I hope so. Don't get me wrong Euphster but I'm not happy unless everyone else suffers like I did.  

SB

Euph...ahhhh 3 weeks bless how cuuuuuute !! you must so proud, I love baby boys..good job really..with 2 sons and 3 grandsons, as for sleepless nights , well I didnt get a decent night till my eldest was 3,,,but the youngest slept right through from day 1 !! no one believes me...but he did ... a little sod once he could walk though...always slept but my god he was hard wake when he was awake !!

Good pace there SB

No snow here, blimmin cold though...9 miles for me today with middle 4 @ tempo..7.40...7.35...7.34..7.37..

mid week medium long run 14 miles tomorrow..

If I forgot to say it, happy new year folks.

I'm definitely the slow coach out of the 4 on here currently. Slower even than Nursey ?!?!?! The snow hasnt been too bad up here. Maybe 3 inches. Which is 2 inches more than my 'old man' was when I got back from tonights run... Went out in the shorts at 5.15. Ended up doin 8.5 miles. Way out in the wilds, I got the rumbletums, and pictured that poor Danish fella who had his photo taken at a race where he had a very wet fart. This one wasnt gonna be held in! So I found myself squatting down behind a hay bale, 200 yards from the 'hospital for people with mental health issues', in the dark, with a blizzard blowing around me as I popped out a cow pat, then tidied up with snowballs... I'm sure the rush hour traffic wondered why anyone would run in shorts on a Friday night in the worst weather of the year. Enjoyed my bath, as the blood came back to my extremities.
No races booked yet. I will do soon. My wife has lost over a stone and looks great but still finds me totally resistable. She IS a huge fan of the comedienne Ellen Degeneres and the music of kd Lang....
Lance Armstrong. What a c@%k.
People try to soften it with a nod to his fundraising, but Jimmy Savile raised a few pennies too. Armstrong ruined lives and reputations, and I hope he is taken to the cleaners.

My Armstrong feelings are exactly the same. We've all been duped and he's a scumbag. I feel for the clean riders that lost because he cheated and they still have mortgages whereas he is still in the lap of luxury.

Another great poo story from our man in the north. You must be some sort of expert on the subject?

I did another 20 miler today. Completed it in trail shoes along canals, rivers and slushy roads. The extra grip was great but there was no bounce so we lost energy return from the soft mud/snowy/icy surfaces Every step seemed an effort as my pal and I battled the elements. It was probably the hardest my legs have worked outside of an actual marathon, proper sore now. Averaged 8.11pace but the time is irrelevant as conditions were a shocker. The main thing is that the leg strength had a proper going over which shpuld stand us in good stead.

I have a few days off the beer before a long run, which means I can tuck every Saturday night. Let battle commence!

SB

Interesting post SB, as a trail afficionado the lesser bounced return from surfaces becomes less noticable after awhile and I tend to notice more the hammering my legs get from too much tarmac. But 8.11 pace in these conditions on towpaths and the like is tough effort, whats sore? calves?

I've been enjoying the snow on the ground, making the roads that bit softer (or slippier) and giving me an extra 10% workload on a road run. With a pair of semi-trail shoes on though I tend to find you don't slip on anything bar ice! In fact love it when your running along almost effortlessly, smiling and pass the a grimacing and heavily wrapped-up pedestrians, struggling just to move  Time has been against me so far, but hoping to get some off-road time in this week while snow is around. With the white stuff on top of the normal churned up winter mud of an east yorkshire agricultural field-edge path (much harder running than the semi-off-road-ness of a towpath) I'll be struggling to hit 6mph and calves ripped to shreds 

Agreed on LA by the way, shown his true colours the last few months.

LS, showing some north of the border toughness running in shorts in that stuff. Though I'll chip in to buy you some legs to tag onto the shorts if you'd like? Nobody has to know

You could have played a harp solo on my hamstrings today! Calf muscles needed a good stretch too. Still mananged to get out and do a 7 miler at 7.04 pace which involved me jumping on and off icy pavements to search for solid road tarmac to run on.

Also did a 4 mile recovery at 7.55 pace yesterday. I now know that these little runs really do work as my legs felt slightly better today than on previous occasions when I've gone straight from an LSR into a speed session 2 days later.

Euph, I'm with on the pleasure of running along in these conditions while pedestrians look at you as if you're mad. In fact, good on those that cheered me on along the canals at the weekend, really nice comments despite them thinking I was certifiable! 

A rest day tomorrow then intervals on Wednesday before prep begins for another 20 on Saturday. That will be three 20s in a row, from then on I alternate between 20 and 15 milers before the taper. maybe it's experience creeping in but I'm really enjoying this campaign. Could do without the injjury niggles though.

Semi-trail shoes? Do I need a pair? (any excuse to buy new kit )

SB

I was gonna say that I noticed my overall pacei was markedly slower due to the cross country nature of running in snow, where the rebound is far less than you get off tarmac, with the minor slippage in every stride.
Euph, I would know!
I had forgotten though just how cold the thighs n my long term unemployed 'old man' got in raw conditions. Did Nursey ever get around to knitting me that willie warmer, or did she run out of wool...?
Had the 3 kids down with me the weekend. The girls revealed that their Mum is very likely to be getting her first tattoo. I hope I dont offend anyone here, but I think they are horrendous. I dont want my kids in any decision in life to ever be sheep, yet there's the missus following the stereotypical route of newfound 'independence' n rebellion against her soon to be ex n his overbearing opinions. She isnt even sure what she's gonna get! Its like buying the only style of trousers you are ever allowed to wear for the rest of your life n wondering whether drainpipe brown corduroys will always be in fashion n look cool. THEY WON'T !!!!!
Last night I googled worst tatoos n it confirmed every thought I have on the subject. There isnt a tatoo anywhere on the planet that has improved what was there before.
Maybe I should get the title of this thread written in mandarin down my magnificent white thighs? My p.b's in roman numerals over my bloodied nipples?
Climbs down off soapbox......

If you are all tatooed, please pretend you are not, then I'll feel less of an opinionated n bitter old git!

Stoker

And I won't mention my Celtic band around bicep ("what bicep?"), "I {heart} random x-girlfiend" on other arm and other stereotype, unimaginative tattoos I have then I'm kind of with you on this, I don't like to follow the crowds so think getting aforementioned type tatoos is just reactive, impulsive at worst stupid. But I wouldn't be averse to getting something more individual and meaningful, maybe based on an achievement. I know a guy who completed an Ironman who had the symbol put on his calve, but even thats a bit common I hear. I know another runner who had the symbol for the Runfurther Ultra series put on this leg following his second completion of the grand slam (all events completed in a year, no small feat as the short ones are up to 35miles, mid ones upto 44 and long ones upto 61m and run on some run on really tough and mountainous off-road) - which I think is sensible individualism and he didn't seem like the type to get one so I reckon thought it through. I'm probably unlikely to ever get one, but if it was it would probably be a map of some ridiculous long run I've done or something.

SB - I'd agree recovery runs definately work better than a rest. And more often than not after any long/fast event after two days I do a recovery run (occasionally day after), don't leave it longer unless really banged up or injured as it just delays recovery another day as muscles stay stiff. Were all experianced enough on here to know what works specifically for us, but recovery runs are very useful for all I'd say. 

I agree with the achievement tattoos. The best tattoos I've seen are the ones proudly displayed by Olympic athletes. If you're lucky enough to compete at that level, then why night celebrate that achievement?

I ran with a pal yesterday and he had the weekend off running, hadn't run since last Wednesday. he's almost the same pace as me but fell way behind yesterday. We said that he may have benefitted from a small recovery run the day before, just to loosen up.

Got my medical certificate for the Paris marathon from the doc today. He tested for blood pressure, heart size (?) and valve noises. All 'perfect' he said and it only cost me £20. Happy to have all the Paris admin sorted now.

SB