Auviour Paris: So long and thanks for the cobbles

Home and safe - lovely plod in the snow for me too with the added bonus of a bit of strength training when I came across a chap who'd skidded onto the verge and needed an extra pair of hands to push him back onto the road...

And bonus too - body fat is down another couple of %, lost my christmas kilo and my hip:waist ratio has dropped too.  ( = Another one from Slow Burn which is meant to indicate your body's preference for burning fat vs sugar.  You measure your waist (across your tummy button) and then measure your hips (at their widest point).  Divide waist by hip.  Ideally ladies should be 0.8 or less and chaps 0.9 or less if you are effective at burning fat).

Seems random that this time next week I will (hopefully) be running in shorts when today I had 2 pairs of tights on LOLOLOL

Ten - whoop whoop - mcs will be sulking - you got number 3000

Lucky you were there SB!

Oh dear I did that ratio calculation and it thinks I'm a bloke!

As planned, it was a Park Run replica for me this morning, such hard work in the gym, managed 10K with a fastish 5 in the middle 24:30, not a lot of fun.  Then I went to the extra [3rd this week!] Pilates class, and on to Tui Na, which is always fabulous. 

So cold now, and contemplating a very long slow treaddie experience in the morning unless it has snowed loads.  Will be up mega early just in case. 

reiki - do it again in 3 months - it's the trend that's important   It's one of those things that's not really worth doing too often as the changes in a shorter time period can be imperceptible/demoralizing. Mine dropped from 0.8 to 0.79. And I measured 3 times just to be sure I wasn't tricking myself LOL 

Day off for me tomorrow as I've already done my 10% increase for the week...

Hope you all get to go out to play tomorrow if you so wish.

Sleepy Bear wrote (see)

Ten - whoop whoop - mcs will be sulking - you got number 3000

Oh man.... I haven't even prepared a speech!

I was planning to listen to MT podcasts on the soul destroying quest for 150 minutes easy this morning, but my phone doesn't go loud enough to combat the general acket of tunes and machines so legendary levels of mental toughness were required for a progressionish 25K.

Was on that treadie at 8:15 just as the snow started.

Don't worry SB I won't be measuring for a while. 

My LSR was compromised by the snow today so settled on a 14m slog west along the K&A canal to Kintbury, then a mile north to the A4 and return to Newbury along the footpath.

Towpath was interesting mainly hard pack with powder snow on top so my trail shoes gripped except for a about a mile and half through what can best be described as creme brule - crunchy on top, then straight through to reddish brown mud that sucked at my shoes, step after step. It was exhausting and disheartening in equal measure - so much effort for so little pace.

For two miles the A4 footpath was fine and I was able to hit my pacing for miles 9&10 but then the snow deepened again and I had to sit back and count down the old stone milestones - I went past 5 in that stretch straight into a persistent snow fall and cold wind which chilled me because I simply could not get my pace high enough.

As I was seriously cold, I decided no more heroics and headed through town straight to the car and sanctuary. My run was about 4 miles short of plan, but I had no chance of hitting MP for any consistent miles and the effort was certainly there.

I will have to mark that down to experience and be pleased to have 40+ miles in the log for this cold week.

One more week like this in UK, then we have a week in S Spain so really looking fwd to that as last year I was running in shorts and T shirt down there in the equivalent week.

Sounds divine Mike, the Spain part that is! 

I just worked out I ran 42.74 miles this week!  Need to get a grip quite literally.

Deep stuff here so didnt get the long run done at the weekend lots of sledging and snowboard jumping so some exercise. Ran or should I say waded almost down to work everywhere looks lovely and the birds are busy on the window bird feeders outside the office window.  Not good all schools shut, roads shut and still snowing here. No one else turned up today so time for another coffee I reckon....stay safe all.

Congrats to you folk who made it out you seem to have done some good running this weekend well done. Spain sounds nice have a good holiday Mike.

Loving the snow stories!

So jelous of Mike, I want a holiday in Spain too!!!

Can't believe that this thread has over 3000 posts! The prize goes to Ten...

10m Lactate-Threshold session on the treadmill this evening.  My calf is still tight from the weekends snow run, but I'm stretching and rollering.  It doesn't feel bad once I get running.

The three miles warm-up, and two miles cool-down were all run at 10:31 pace. My stats for the middle threshold miles were:

Pace: 8:13 / 8:13 / 8:13 / 8:34 / 8:34 (target: 8:16)

HR avg: 162 / 165 / 168 / 167 / 167 (target: 158 – 174 bpm)

HRR: 80% / 82% / 84% / 83% / 83% (target: 77% - 88%)

The central governor gave me a spanking and I slowed down in the final two threshold miles.  I wish I hadn't, but that's easy to say now it's over   Overall I was only 14 seconds slower than on my previous outdoor session, but my heart rate averaged between 5bpm and 10bpm higher per mile.

My next LT session is next week and includes six miles at threshold . Outdoors, I hope!

Ten 

A nice hot bath for your calf?

What is the name or link for that book on the Central Govenor that the Sky Cycling Team make a big deal about, the chimp inside your head and all that. RR you posted it a few pages back but struggling to find it. Wanted to read that.
A nice five mile with daughter this am, in quite thick snow on the trail, no thaw here yet. Boy my ankles ached with all this snow running......

mcs - central governor theory was Tim Noakes - Lore of Running.  I haven't read it, only heard the interview on marathon talk.

RR - baths make me itch! I've never understood why.  Hence, I always shower.  My calf feels a lot better today, so I guess the combination of running/stretching/rolling has helped.  Glad I've got the foam roller now.  Thank you for convincing me to get one.  Well done with the 10K and great mileage.

BoD - hope your recovery is going well.

Mike - it'll be a (nice) shock when you change from this weather to Spain!

SB - I divide my hip by my waist so that I get better readings   I'm now making an effort to lose bodyfat and make a dent in my waist.  I'm not dieting as such, but I'm substituting some foods more often.  For example porridge or wheetabix, rather than sugary cereals.  Oatcakes for when I feel a hunger pang.  Hopefully, combined with higher mileage and tougher speed sessions, I'll gracefully drop a few pounds of fat.  Otherwise I'll have to be more strict with my food and drink.

Is Oscarr away at the moment?  Seems a while since I've seen an update, though sometimes I don't get update notices from RW so I might have missed it.

Ten - thanks for asking - yes, i've been on my travels and just got back last night.  Considering the weather i did really well to make it without any trouble.  Itinerary was (all in the car) ;

Monday - Reading to Sunderland

Wednesday - Sunderland to Reading

Thursday - Reading to Southampton then onto Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire

Sunday - Haverfordwest to Sunderland

Monday - Sunderland to Reading

Tempted to throw the car keys away now !!

Have kept up an hours run every other day throughout and in some challenging weather - yesterday ran into a sleet blizzard which hurt the eyes.  Treadmill today.

Sleepy - just done my BOB (Belly Over Bum) test and i'm 96 over 100.  To be honest this says more about my shape than fat content as i've never had a completely flat belly even as a kid.

Belly over Bum test sounds painful!!! Not nice weather for driving.......prefer the trainers this weather!! Left the car by the house for the last week, partly due to the snowboard ramp we had built out of snow about three foot high behind the car on the drive down to the main road. It was a sheet of ice well more like a ski run actually......

And he's back....

Here you go the explanation from the book: (p229-231 reiki)

"Monitoring your waist-to-hip ratio is a great way to assess whether your nutritional strategies are moving you toward or away from a dependency on carbohydrates. The waist-to-hip ratio is derived by measuring the circumference of the waist just above the navel and dividing that number by the measurement of the widest region around the hips.  High waist-to-hip ratios above 0.8 for women and 0.9 for men are associated with higher rates of hyperinsulemia, high trygliceride levels, high blood pressure and insulin-resistant (type II) diabetes. These symptoms develop as a result of sugar-burning, fat-storing eating habits. Carbohydrate-intolerant, insulin-resistant individuals tend to deposit fat in the waist area.....If your measurements are right around or below 0.8 for women and 0.9 for men, you are probably not depending on sugar as an energy source and are fairly good at burning fat. If your waist-to-hip ratio is above these values, you might want to decrease the amount of sugar and sugar-based foods in your diet."

But I think body shape may also be a consideration...

Here you go mcs: chimp link  Ben's reading it at the moment and is trying to apply some of the logic.  He says it's fascinating - he's never read a psychology book before... He's whizzing through it that's for sure (and that's most unlike him!)  Once he's done - I'll be allowed to get my paws on it!

45 minuter on the treadmill for me today - sluch central here now - not liking it anymore though it does mean I can get to the airport on Thursday with less hassle whoop whoop

Sleepy - where are you flying to?

Arrecife from East Mids... off to Club La Santa (except Santa won't be there this week - though I guess he has to go somewhere when he's not working LOLOLOL! Old joke but still makes me chuckle!)