Auviour Paris: So long and thanks for the cobbles

SB - if you want a flat HM with a bit of travel then I can thoroughly recomend  the Route Du Vin in Luxembourg (usually last wk in Sept). I have run it in the last 3 years and it is pan flat, out and back along the Moselle river - stunning scenery at that time of the year winding along the river amongst the vineyards.

Travel is easy and you can fly direct from Gatwick (easyjet) for £60. The event itself is Euros 30-35 and you get 10 of that back when you hand in your chip at the end. Small race fewer than 2,000 runners but Kenyans dominate the sharp end and course record is 59:xx (not that that will trouble me too much!).

There is a City HM in May, run in the evening for a change........

Choisty - when is CG run 2013?

I have heard of it and even had to step off my mountain bike as the runners went past me one year....it would be a good training run if it works (backwards) from Boston taper - race 15th April '13.

Mike, the Gibbet is on 7-Apr-13 so a bit too close, here is the link just in case (I ran 14 the week before Paris but Steve is mean like that!)  http://www.overtonharriers.org.uk/club-races/combe-gibbet/

SB, fast HM round my way are Gosport 18-Nov (this year), Wokingham (v v fast) and of course Reading.

You could of course try the Felix Baumgartner approach!

FH what an amazing report.  I applaud your style and your calm. 

Funny old day today - did just over 8 miles in 75 mins on the Alter G, a few drills later with the kids we work with, gave up on wall to wall lunges as I was getting dizzy.  Liking the running backwards though. 

Looks like I may have entered too many races in the marathon build up, I may have to revise my list. 

Morning all - thanks for the suggestions guys - I will look into them all except for the dropping out of space one (terrifying thought ). It's just finding one that'll fit in with our trip to Cyprus next year and me being on my course and what my friend can do too.

FH - I think it was towards the end of the following week that we got the email saying we'd been selected for bootcamp.  They must need a bit of time to look through the applications once the comp has closed.

reiki - can you run them as training runs or as part of a longer one?  I found using events as group training runs really good fun and not half as hard as I thought I would in terms of not actually racing myself.  I'm quite hooked on just taking part when it's not a target race!  It is a bit odd though to get your head round your time at the end at first.

Next xc for me this weekend - back to our local league and 5k ish for the ladies.  Think this one is meant to be the hilliest one as it's in the Lincolnshire wolds.  I'm really looking forward to it as we considered that as somewhere to live until we found out the commute would be a bit silly everyday for Ben. Talking of whom - that's him on a plane to Holland for a services xc - will tell you more when I hear...

Question of the day - anyone here taking vitamin D this winter?  According to Outdoor Fitness mag this month we should be taking 25ug of D3 (apparently its better than D2) daily between now and February to combat the lack of sunshine aided production in our own bodies.  Just checked - my liquid supplement doesn't contain D so I think I'll get some - either that or I'll hop in oscarr's suitcase for a quick jaunt to Cyprus!

Three miles home in pitch black last night as my rechargeable batteries are obviously no good!!! Annoyed.......just bought them. Might go back to good old Duracells.
Did four and abit mile of interval miles this morning....managed to set off a bit quick and did a 7.37-7.18-7.54 and 7.56 knackered when I got to work!!!  Time for a coffee me thinks........
Got a schedule which I printed off from the smart coach for a marathon dated March 9th. If I treat the GG 21 mile race as a marathon should be nicely fit by then!!  I put in my recent times for the GNR and it came back with a schedule which is pretty heavy on the long runs but doable. So starting that on Monday of next week. What routines are you guys in? Last week was in the 30s for my mileage.

FH, congrats and good luck I hope you enjoy yourselves...was it commited to sport or need to be commited because of looney sporting behaviour?

MCS - I'm at about 50mpw at the mo after the half at the weekend it will gradually rise as base training for London should be at 70ish come xmas, based on 3 fast pace sessions (1 tempo, 2 reps), two long runs and 3 easy runs per week.  Round your way every run must have hill reps in!

FH you will get an email this week by Friday........

Choisty too true !!

MCS, thanks, just hope 1 of us gets lucky.

Nice an easy 7 and bit @ 8.55 pace for me today.

FH

Hi folks, how's tricks?

Not been about for a while, sorry. Got a new job and it's all new job stressie. Not been able to get on the forums properly at work and not had the time at home (oh the lame excuses)...

Oh, and I'm not back so I can apply for the 26.2 things again

Yer right we will see the vote BoDuke thread soon enough!

Choisty: promise...

It's about time you turned up BoD!   Good to see you're still around.

As I recall... you wouldn't be the first one to claim "first timer" status accidentally in error.  After all, marathons don't count unless their sub-4 

Are you still in for Brighton?  

Ten, dude!!!

I think they might just (maybe) recall that one...  

I'm very much still on for Brighton, had to double check with the Travellodge that they have a room still. Training for another half in December and then will attempt to build up to start of training plan. Might follow the Asics crews' programme to see how that works. May have to consider aims then. What you up to?

Oh, knocked out 8 miles this morning in 1:06:25, loved it.

Nice one... will be seeing you at the Travelodge.  I've got a London place too (through the ballot), but I'll defer that to 2014 unless something goes wrong with Brighton.

I'm still considering whether to run the Bedford Half in December (I recently ran Stevenage in a shade under 1:55).  I considered using the P&D schedules, but the midweek mileage is too much for me at my pace .  I'll probably mix ideas from P&D with the RW/Asics plan.  I want to knock a serious chunk off my marathon time if my dodgy knee will allow me to train consistently.

It seems incredible that it's almost time to start marathon training again!

I'm hoping for better weather next year.... though my track record hasn't been good this year 

I ran it last year too FH.  There's about 400m of incline right at the end.  No doubt you were on your third pint by the time I got anywhere near finishing .  

Ten: I'm doing Bedford!!!! Good work on Stevenage, I came in 1.46 at GER and was really disappointed (got my pacing wrong between mile 3 and 6) then blew up at 7ish. That and needed to use a random blokes loo...

FH, thanks mate you too.