Sub 3

Good one Wardi.
Nice to see the familiar faces still around.
I'm not in this league at the moment, but have got a vendetta race entered on 20th January.
I'll keep a stalking eye on procedings.

Morning Gobi!! 

Flippin 'eck.  Where's Dull?

Hello Gobi, how's things?  Cycling ok?  Bit of running?

Good luck to weekend racers including CW, Al P and Dan I think down at Gosport.

XC for me tomorrow and then something on sunday, around 10-12 I reckon depending on how the legs and/or hangover are. Looks like next wkd I'm doing a recce of the 11 mile fell race planned for 9th December in Northumberland. One of the blokes from Heaton is heading up there with a few others so will be good to try out my inov8s on the terrain up there. Enjoying the variety of running at the moment.

Just a leisurely 30 mins just now to loosen the legs up.

that was a decent weekday run Wardi

nice to see Gobi

I think the stretches etc are working, I bagged 6M with a few strides in it today with no real issues. Should be ok for the Hayling 10 soon although I havnt run much recently. I have limited time this weekend which is why I coculdnt do Gosport but hopefully I can bag a bit of turbo or run time early doors.

Morning all.  Been a bit of a busy week at work so sorry for not replying to everyone's posts (although nice to see Gobi other than on FB)!  Ran to parkrun, parkran and ran into work to bring up 10M with a short tempo section this morning.  21.10 for the hilly Ashton Court course, with the usual wonky splits:7.39, 7.10, 5.49, 32s.  I was running blind (only distance showing on the Garmin) and forced myself to not even look at the mile splits as they were recorded.

That's a good morning's work Jools.  Congrats on a decent up & down Parkrun too.

Another Parkrun here though York is as flat as a snooker table.  Felt a bit rusty from my recent holiday so happy enough with 20:05 for 15th on a wet & grey morning.  I must confess to being thoroughly chicked, as a girl about 15/16 wearing an England top finished 4th.  Club 5m XC tomorrow morning which should be muddy & fun - might give my XC spikes their first run out.

Good to see Gobi popping in. 

Rung the changes for this morning's LSR: caught the train to Bath and then ran 16M back to Bristol along the old railway path.  It was a beautiful day for it: bright blue skies and lots of sparkling frost.  Started with a rather pedestrian 8.57m/m (but I was feeling pretty cold and stiff!) and finished at a more sprightly 7.30m/m for the last 5M, to average 8.04m/m. 

Nice parkrun, Wardi; and it sounds like you were chicked by a pretty classy lass!

Jools - that sounds like a top run

Wardi - nice park running

XC NEHL yesterday. Went off in the slower pack 1st (there's still some handy runners mind) as a new runner and came in in the top 20 I think, think I heard some woman counting the runners and counted me in 16th on the last lap. Results not up yet so haven't checked. Not massively muddy or terribly hilly but proper leg workout with the twists and turns and inclines. Went off too quick but held on for a decent run. Format is 1st wave then mid pack 2.5 mins later then about 20 runners in the fast pack go off last. As I finished in the top 30 I'll run from middle pack next time.

20 miles this morning on an amazing morning up here. Was aiming for 2hrs, but felt great and decided I'd do 2.30 running. Wasn't wearing garmin but it was probs 20-20.5 at a guess, not sure/bothered. Endurance feels solid.

amazingly still day here today, the Gosport 1/2 should have seem some fast times.

RS - nice one on doing the 20 esp out of marathon season too. Must be a nice feeling to know that you can pop one out no probs.

Busy life this weekend (which is why I sacked Gosport) meant an early start for a 2hr turbo y'day but I wasnt going to run at silly o'clock today, so I bagged a zero. Best time of year to be taking em, I've had a few weekend zero's lately, just as long as I dont make it a habit after Christmas. However the U12s won 3-0 and my youngest scored a hat trick so I was in the right place..

TR: well done, TR Junior.  I bet he was really chuffed you were there for his moment(s!) of glory.

Joolska and RS78 - Nice long runs bagged. 

TR - Congrats to the young un!

Wardi - Nice parkrun

Preston 10 for me today. Previous PB was 61:0x so, confident of beating that, I aimed for 58:00 hoping to squeeze under. It was a 2 lap affair and I managed to move up from 8th to 6th on the 1st lap and went through halfway in 28:45. Started to slow on the 2nd lap, but got into 5th (and the prizes!) at 8m. The last 2m were very quick as I tried to drop a guy who'd come through the field to catch me up, but despite a 5:30 last mile and switching places a few times I got beat in the final sprint. Finished 6th in 57:37 (unofficial) so very pleased with the time and good fun to have a proper race.

Congrats on the pb, Andy.  Sounds like you had fun and it's very promising that you were able to muster a 5.30 last mile.

A cracking day for running today!

Good Parkruns Joolska (sounds like a lovely long run too) and Wardi.

Nice XC and long run too RS78.

Nice PB Andy D.

15 done for me today, 10 with the club and a loop added on at the end. Top day for running.

Well parkran Wardi and Jools, and well progressed on that path today Jools (I remember it from holidays once).

RS -- good long one after the XC there, likewise A.W.

Massive PB there AndyD! Nice.

Glad to hear you're getting back to it with that half Dan.

I thought of you because I had a calf scare today -- it was a bit stiff in one patch when I woke up, maybe from an under-warmed-up last taper dash yesterday morning (TR told me so). I tried massaging it quite hard and deep to get rid of it but that just made it much worse, and I thought of canning the St Neots HM altogether. But I had some medals to pass on to team-mates (turns out we got bronze UK HM champs medals from the GER) and hoped it would loosen up again. Still unsure, I decided to start the race and play it by ear. In the event the calf was OK though I was a bit schizophrenic, sometimes backing off to reduce risk and putting on a spurt in other places when it seemed to be going well. Scores on the doors: 76:16 for 7th place (won by my V40 clubmate in 71:xx!). Respectable but not scintillating on an undulating course in perfect weather. Calf is sore to the touch now but fine when used -- bit odd really -- but I have hopefully got away with it. I'll rest for a few days now.

Excellent PB there Andy D

pretty decent run there DanA - the results show that NtS ran 74:XX, did you see him ?

CW - hope you have come out of it unscathed.

Jools - I should send the little lad out to buy a lottery ticket today, he took two early wickets in his indoor cricket game this evening that made sure we won comfortably and puts him equal top on the wicket taker rankings.

Jools, sounds a lovely run, no wonder you had a spring in your step.

RS - nice XC/long run combo.

Fantastic PB smashing from Andy D

Good stuff from CW - oh to be at the stage where 1:16:19 is merely 'respectable'.

Good to hear that Dan A exceeded his expectations at Gosport.  I did likewise.

So, I was another doing Gosport this morning.  Good to meet Al_P at the start, but he hared off and I idn't see him again for a few miles.  Given the recent lay-off, I was broadly aiming for a slight PB, having ditched any thoughts of a 1:15 bid, but decided to set off on feel.  Consequence was a fast start, with a 5:38 first mile, and reaching the 5-mile point in 28:33.  From there, it was a case of a gradual slow-down as my lack of recent longer tempo work started to catch up with me, but it was a managed slow-down rather than a collapse.

At about 8 miles, I could see Al_P in front of me again, so decided to try to gradually haul him in.  Took a couple of miles to get close behind him, but he seemed to crank the pace up and gradually moved away again.  One subliminal consequence of this is that I realised that I had 'You Can Call Me Al' going round and round my head for the last few miles.  Not sure if this helped or hindered to be honest, but there you go.  10 miles was hit in 58:15, and kept it reasonably together to finish in 1:16:36 for 36th place.  Despite not being what I'd hoped for when I entered, I'm in the circumstances very happy indeed to reduce the PB by 47 seconds. 

However, it does mean that I won't be able to join ZaTTu in a RRR team from the VLM Champs start next year. 2014 maybe...