Sub 3

Evening all. I'm back from holiday and seriously unfit. I have two XC races again this weekend. It will be, erm, interesting. 

The rest of you seem to be going strong and I'm somewhat jealous!

All very best to PP and CD

Al_P well done on the 10

Njord thanks for the Rotterdam info and recommendation. It's on the short shortlist now!

LD - thanks for the Frankfurt info. Sounds like a quick one too. It's probably going to come down to timing. March is the aim at the moment though will see!

Ran to work from north London for the first time yesterday. Took in Finsbury, Regents and Hyde Parks. Only about 7 miles or so which I did as progressive. Felt good to combining running with the commute. Will probably run back this evening.

top work there Al_P - looking good for Gosport. That BAC M50 is a bit of a thread hero, he's the fella that has never pulled a DNF in all those years (inc training).

SL - top bombing from you too.

I did 2hrs looking at the garage door, in a 10min w/u, 10x(8min/2min), 10min w/d stylie. Was holding ~80% on the 8mins, first few were no probs, but it got a bit tougher by the end. Backside knows all about it as I have a new saddle which will take some getting used to. Old one split which made the kids laugh as they say I'm a fat old mess already.

Good luck to any other racers this weekend (PP/CD). That's some discipline to do that TR, fair play. I'm guessing you listen to music??

Weather is nice and bright up here and wind seems to have dropped a fair bit. Feel like I'm in a bit of a lull at the moment, generally quite tired but it'll be good to race with a Harriers shirt for the first time and its a short jogg from the flat to the race where the park run goes from.

Main event is Toon v West Ham tomorrow, looking forward to that.

Very impressive reps, SL!

Did my longish run today rather than tomorrow as I want to start tapering for yet another half next week, and preferred to run in the rain and save sunshine tomorrow for family time. Did 6x{1M hard, 1M easy} in the middle of 17M total @ 7:05/M avg; but instead of those alternating miles being 6:00 and 7:00, as I've manged in this session previously, they were 6:20 and 7:30, as my calves quickly let me know that I wasn't unaffected by last Sunday's race after all, and anyway I didn't want to kill myself instead of tapering. I resisted the urge to run a few extra miles for the same reason. That'll do though -- I'll do another series of increasingly short taper runs for the rest of the week.

Good luck to the racers, indeed...

Yeah SL, those are some quick reps.....

RS - I had the radio on today, but sometimes I cant even remember what I've listened to.

CW - you do make me smile at times.

Good luck all racers this weekend.

As always good training being done by everyone, quality sessions from AL_P, SL and TR and nice long run CW.

Second half of the week has been good after a dodgy start to the week, took an easy day yesterday (I think you were all right, just needed to step off the gas for a bit), and got 12 very easy miles done today. Skipped the XC today as thought it may be better not to flog myself before my 25 miler tomorrow given how I felt earlier in the week!

Nice repping, SL: good to see you returning to form.

Sounds like a tough psychological workout, TR, and pretty good aerobically, too.

You are racing a lot of HMs at the moment, CW - aiming for another podium finish?

Gwent League for me today; 21st so a few places down on the last one, but the general consensus was that a few more faster runners turned up at the front, so not reading too much into that.  Hopefully we packed well as a team (17th, 18th, 20th, 21st and 31st) - maybe even enough to take the match.

Joolska - a decent day out then.

AW - so how is doing 12M today and 25M tomorrow stepping off the gas, given you were off it earlier in the week ? When was your last A race, and when is the next ?

Like Jools I had an XC race today - North Mids League for me. Since I'm not in form (at all!) I decided to set out  slowly and try to pick it up later on. This lead to a much more enjoyable race than the last North Mids (where I got a stitch after the first lap) but did mean I finished lower down the field in 20th, compared to 16th last time. It was the most boring course known to runner - 3 fields x 2. No real hills, no ditches, no water. Just a bit of soggy ground. Unlike Jools my team did not pack well. In fact I was the only one to turn out for the ladies. Pathetic. Proper XC tomorrow at the East Mids league. 

A.W your idea of easing off soooo does not correlate with mine! 

Well XC-d Jools & CC2 (and hope tomorrow's goes well).

TR -- you made me read back a bit -- that was a big session in your garage.

A.W. -- I've lost track of what you're training for -- the 25 suggests a marathon in a few weeks (or even something longer)?

Jools -- I probably won't be in the top 3 next week. It's a bigger race this time, the St Neots half marathon. I just scurried off to their website and they have ~1200 entries; I did come 4th a couple of years back there, but that was probably a bit of a fluke. (V40 prize wasn't a trophy I could remember the event by, nor cash or vouchers to spend, but a travel alarm clock which I didn't really need, a bit odd as a race prize... came in handy for an uncle-in-law's Xmas prezzy though). [Edit: just checked the entry list filtered by club, and there is a more recent V40 from my club who'll leave me for dead!]

Good luck, LD.  And happy birthday!

Happy Birthday and Happy Marathon to Lord Dids!

Good luck LD and as above: happy birthday.

Good long runs to all. Gorgeous day here in London. Made for a long run!