Auviour Paris: So long and thanks for the cobbles

Posty just delivered my new HR toy - will bring it to Coniston

oscarr - Whoop whoop - if you wear it in the race (I rarely do in races - it's the only time the chest strap seems to chafe!) don't look at it too often - big numbers are scary! Check you out on twitter - more up to date than I am LOL

Bit of a drama - but it's adding a sense of occasion to the whole weekend n'est pas?

Hope everyone else is planning something as exciting in their own world...  Ten - did you say you had a race lined up?  Or did I make that up?

SB - I'm running in the Oakley 20 on Sunday.  "Running through" as us experts say to explain why we're crawling along   

I can't quite believe that, when I cross the finish line, I will be officially tapering! 

I've just ordered P&D's road running book from Amamzon.com (I had $12 gift voucher to spend).  It should arrive just after I've run the marathon, so I'll have a look at their schedules for 10k races.

I received my Brighton race number and my VLM number today!   If all goes well, I will be deferring the latter and will have a year to plan for the 2014 marathon 

The way you're going I'm sure you'll have a blast!  Hope it goes well for you - will look forward to hearing all about it...

I might drop myself off at oscarr's B&B and let the dogs run - to be fair it's hard to tell the difference in average speed once they've stopped for a few sniffs along the way

Sleepy Bear wrote (see)

Because most training is within a 20 beat range I've decided that a 'general' max figure is good enough for mere mortals.  

Have to disagree with you on that.  If, for example, your calculated max was 10bpm too high, then you could be training with your heart rate up to 7bpm (70%) too high on all of your "recovery" runs, meaning that they wouldn't be recovery runs at all and you would eventually burn out in training.  Conversely, if you were training at 9bpm (90%) too low during intevals, then you wouldn't be getting the full benefit of your training potential.

I've just checked and they are also predicting Snow at the time of Sunday's race, as well as on Saturday.  Hopefully it isn't cancelled.

A few flurries of the white stuff here tonight as I went for a quick blast brrrrr its freezing hard to imagine that last year it was about 18 to 20 at this time of the year......then it just rained all year. Happy Friday for tomorrow.  Crazy work very busy which is good, doing anything and everthing at Peppermint Press, we have a website, beer for any referrals!!!

          Cheers SB will have a read up. 

Boooo - Coniston postponed until October:

Regretfully the race has been postponed Conditions do not allow safe running Will be rescheduled at a date in October.  Refunds will be offered to people not wanting to run in October. Please email from web site if this is required. New date soon

Abort abort Boooo - poor reiki - she's already there - hope you have a lovely weekend regardless - extra cake for you!

Ten - HR wise - I go as low in the zone as poss for recovery and high as poss for intervals - I'm standing my ground on this - I concede that the more accurate you can be the better but as long as you're training at different intensities you'll get the all round benefits

Off to Pilates people....gving it 25 minutes to walk round the corner! 

OMG I feel gutted for you all, particularly Reikki   They are being generous with the refunds, though.  All of my cancelled races have taken the money and run.  Apart from light flurries, the bulk of the snow hasn't yet arrived here.

SB - I have been erring on the side of caution for recovery runs too   I guess it's more the threshold run that could be "wrong" if you have calculated the threshold level from an incorrect max (because it's either at threshold intensity, or it isn't).  How much of a problem it is, I'm not sure.  Maybe one day I'll "treat" myself to a test like Mike had (I'm not sure "treat" is the right word).

Shame about the cancellation especially for those already there.....was out at 6:30am myself in the cold wind for 10m, but now it is sunny!

Eastleigh 10k on Sunday, forecast is dry, windy and 2 degrees.....

Ten - I know what you mean - I'm tempted to "treat" myself too - just not sure how much I want to .  Ben has a lactate testing kit but I think I'd give in early on the grounds of familiarity so I think an outside tester would be more accurate.

Fingers crossed for not too many cancellations - poor organisers - it's always such a shame when they've done the bulk of the hard work getting it all lined up!

So - the racing batons are firmly in the hands of Ten and Mike then - go get em boys!

We're currently investigating other options for Ben - I'm happy to wrap up warm and do my runs locally.  Reckon we must be due a good summer this year

Bit of gardening to do before the rain comes - oh the fun things to do!!

Sleet and rain forecast for tomorrow here so will try and get out early for a 12 miler.  Sunday's 3.5 hr run will be a challenge in minus one degrees but at least its forecast dry.

Happy days.

Just remembered, i have to download the Polar HRM guide and work out my max heart rate - Sleepy, what would you calculate it for a man aged 60?

Gardening!  LOL - It's sleeting here!  Just did some intervals on the field with the dogs just to keep warm!

I'm gonna put my guestimate in at 165 - 167 for you based on the knowledge of mine being about 6 beats higher than the 220 - age thingy (plus that particular formula was originally based on swedish swimmers so not completely accurate as they're non-weight bearing! allegedly)

When you come up here for the April walk thingy we could get Ben to do your lactate if you want so you get a more accurate picture.  I might even let you have a go on Tommy (the treadmill) instead of making you run up and down the lane!

You'll soon get a feel for if your max is higher - just keep an eye on it at the end of races/fast efforts. But don't be tempted to change it just cos you feel the bands are too slow!

12 miler???? What happened to the other 1.8 you were willing to do

Thanks.  I may have to cancel the April Walk as i may be in Wales - will let you know later.

12 miler - i went back to our plan which has 2 hrs Sat and 3.5 hrs Sun - so 2 hrs is about 12 miles  , unless you want me to go quicker than 10mpm to get 14 miles done .

Corner...

No worries - these things happen!

Oscarr - re max HR.

Your biological age may have nothing to do with your "running age" as you are no doubt considerably fitter than your "standard" 60 yr old!

That said, the pundits all seem to agree that the only thing you can do with a max HR is watch it decline as you age!

FWIW my fitness test (on the treddie back in Jan 13) was stopped after 24 mins when I was running at a pace of 6:02 min/m in other words flat out.

My HR at that time during the test was 160 so if that was 95% effort then max is 168; if 90% effort then max is 178. I happen to think my max is 182 after a series of hill tests (and I was tired going into the treadmill test).

Conclusion: for you.....168/180 would be a fair spread if I was a betting man, and could be a fraction higher as you are younger than me.