Sub 3

LD - In fairness pretty much everybody in that picture has bad hair

OS - That sounds like a great setup.  I've experimented with my gym but the trainers haven't a clue.

Mr B - Got any races planned?  If so I may turn up at one with your jacket.  If not it might be a little past time that I took a trip out your way!  On the training front my current theory says that I would ditch the V02 max stuff from their plan and focus more on paces closer to race pace.  One of these days I'll get fit enough to actually test out a theory myself!

Wardi - On re-reading my message I sounded a bit accusatory when I was just curious - I know that you're generally unflappable but just in case.

TR - Finger crossed for you

DanA - Happy Birthday!

Zattu - Sounds like you're going well all things considered.  What stage of  your plan are you at right now?

Al_P - Nice 10 miler

LS21 - Quality!

I've managed to pick up the cold that my eldest has been spreading around - straight to my chest so I'm backing off.  Still doing the 1 mile per day minimum but there may be a few more of those days than I like

Clearly: I'll try and test it for you if I get that far. If you do get down this way you could give it to Simon or Steve; they only live around the corner from me.

Dachs inadvertently raises an interesting question re you Jools -- is there any basis in fact, performance wise, that puts women's veteran group boundaries 5 years earlier than men's? I remember seeing a curve of world-class male performance that did show an inflection towards decrepitude at ~40, but I don't remember seeing an equivalent graph for women...

LS21 has me in one! Not sure if you meant I take the knife to the soles of my shoes or my feet, but in truth it's been both...

Answering you TR, a little weight at the end of your foot (which you have to repeatedly lift, accelerate, and decelerate) is equivalent in terms of increased effort to a much greater weight carried on your body: e.g. maybe 100g on your shoes would be like carrying another 1kg on your belly. I tried to do some estimate of that effect once but it needed too many hand-waving assumptions.

5th commuting double is on the cards for me today. If I do at least 5M on the way in, it will be a 60M week with no proper speed training. Will that give me a "big junk miles" reputation after all these years? Err, maybe not.

Top marks to Wardi for the punnage.

LS21 - good memory, I am a Saucony man (and not just because I get them half price through the tri club). Haven't done a marathon in A5s, but am now doing most of my training in them (partly because all my other shoes wore out and the tri club haven't put an order in recently), so would definitely give it a go. Might even use them in the IM.

CW - I've never understood why women's vets start at 35 but men's at 40. In my experience, women in their late 30s are closer in speed to younger women than men in their late 30s are to younger men.

10M last night, mainly on snow, including a 30min paarlauf in the park with the running club. Didn't push it too hard after a couple of fairly hard days (and still less than 2 weeks since the ultra).

DanA - hope birthday mate, hope you had a good one.

Glad to see TR off the bench hope the knee continues to improve, likewise with TT and his ankle

nice speed work from the BAC boys and CRAB.

AL_P - That is a decent work out.

Andy D  -Sounds like your legs are a little tired from the miles, as long as the effort was there then I wouldn;t worry about it.

Jools - hope the tightness clears up.

Trainers - Bostons, adios, mana and fastwitch, not necessarily in that order.

Track last night, went surprisingly well 

4K in 12.48, 3mins rest
2K in 6.18, 2mins rest
1K in 3.03, 1min rest then 6x200m in 31 with 200m jog.

Clearly - hope you shake the lurgy off quick.

CW - a few grams saved off your shoes might help someone as lean as you, but its irrelevant for me as my legs have quite a few extra kgs already. If I was a proper racer then I'd invest in race shoes I guess, but only once I was all lean and mean.

SL - nice one

Going to try another 6M at lunch today (swimming has taken a back seat the last few days). Bagged a 90min turbo today (before the bike commute) so that I can chase a long run instead of a longer turbo/ride tomorrow too. I guess that long run will prove wether I'm properly off the bench or not. On the plus side, this little set back has fuelled a bit of desire to bag another sub3.

TR - at least you've got the multi-sporter's x-training options to be getting on with to keep up aerobic fitness.  Hope you can start getting some decent miles on it though.

SL - very tasty!

I'm pretty sure I didn't make LS's rather excellent shoe list because I haven't run a marathon for over 3 years.  For the record the last two were in Nike Zoom Elite, which are now my everyday training shoes (and the first one in a pair of bricks). I've been a fan of Fastwitch for shorter road races but they made my arches complain a bit in my last HM, so I'll most likely be using my new favourite road racing shoes, Brooks Green Silence, which have the attractive qualities of being slightly lighter than the Fastwitch and yet feel more cushioned.  They've only gone up to 10 miles so far but I'll use them for everything leading up to VLM and report back.

LJ's prediction for my tempo run came true; after two loops of 3.33 miles each I was indeed right back where I'd started, having covered the first lap @ 5:42/m and the second @ 5:26/m. Pretty chuffed with that, given that I managed to keep HR down to a max of 166 (82% max) for the first lap and the second was basically running harder without killing myself.  Looking good for Chichester.

Phil - no you were left out of the shoe list, but you'll be the star feature of the shorts list for those high-cut orange numbers. I think I've seen some of those in the 'gay interest' section of e-bay.

Not that I've ever looked at such stuff of course.

Anyway, the training stats are a bit dull. What we all want to know is what did you have for your tea? (or 'dinner' if you're a bit posh like)

Pork chop, and a basmati brown rice stir-fry with black bean sauce, hot pepper sauce, spring onion, garlic, ginger, sugar snap peas, red pepper, green beans and kale.  Followed by a "custard style" banana yoghurt and a strong coffee.

Speaking of shorts, this is probably the biggest VLM decision still to be made.  The Brooks Green Silence are in this natty little colour combo:

 ...which go nicely with my high-cut red numbers, but I've also been offered the loan of some Union Jack shorts (2:39 at VLM last year!).  Hmmm...

PP - running in another man's borrowed shorts?  You must know the answer to that one...

Thanks for the shoe recommendations everyone, especially LS's beautifully direct summary.  Thanks also to CRAB for the more general advice - however, had I written them down, I would have promptly lost the piece of paper, I expect.  I put this disorganisation and forgetfulness down to being one of those blue sky thinkers with little appetite for the minuteae of life, but it reality I may just be an idiot.

Tripel Karmeliet from the Bosteels brewery (the same people that make Kwak).

Brooks Green Silence.

Pocket full of kryptonite.

The blazer and tie combo on the lad in the front row trying not to shit himself is majestic.

PP - I'm sure you could get a union jack flag to match.

I also notice Jimmy Savile trying to slip in in disguise towards the back.

PP - you'll smoke it at Chichester, its a stacked race even though it clashes with Hants Road Race league. Its a bit more sheltered than the seafront races round here too. An envelope came last week which I assume contains my number, if it was this weekend I'd defo be a DNS, with another week I'm probably 80% DNS, I'lll try a few strides a few days before it and see.

5M bagged, didnt have much time today, have to be at the Rose Bowl at 6pm for the next 10 Fridays for (hopefully) some quite high level coaching for my youngest.

Is that a young Fred West in the comedy blazer with a bowel condition (the lad not the blazer)?

Dids - not sure loveable is the image I was cultivating but I'll take it.  My first thought was 'We aim to please' but then I realised there aren't many things (outside LA's confession) further from the truth.

PP - soooo last year. BTW Still got a fetchng picture of you chasing that nutter around Picadilly at silly o'clock on top of my TV.  I think your goodself and SL both take the current 'Fck me they're on fire' award.  Off the hook.

ADVICE : next time you're in the middle of a tough session and the elastic is about to snap - just remember this.  It could always be worse...a lot worse.  There's a lift with an intermittent fault somewhere in the world and there is the possibility of a breakdown with three occupants - the bad news for you is the other two are Charlie Boy and Al_P.  Crikey those boys know how to rock a party ;o)

I'll pop back just to see what happens with Mr B's jacket.  Enthralling stuff.

As you were.
 

PP - Glad you got back.  So starting at MP would make it about 5.42 pace at the moment, you'll have to order a new t-shirt from Dan...

SL - rapid reps.

Al_P - cracking run, you're in good shape at the moment.

Charlie - good mileage, hopefully you'll notice the difference when you're running quickly again.

If we're talking about trainers I got my new New Balance MT110s yesterday and did 15M in them in the snow and ice and they were much better than my Sauconys (and only cost £30 at the moment).  Speaking of doubles, I put off doing them for ages as I thought it would be too much but have been pleased with how it's gone since I started.  The 15 last night was actually a double, as to fit it in I had to do 8M, go home and cook Mrs LJ's tea then nip out for another 7M an hour after I'd finished the first.  6M slow this morning.

How's the weight loss coming along MtR?

LD - my biggest issue on the club front is at some stage somebody invariably has a go at me for not taking part in team events. In fact it has been quite a while since I've had to listen to it now, so I'm sure somebody will oblige soon. That picture is just too funny!

Clearly - I don't really have a plan as such. I had a vague idea of what and when, but I always invariably end up going with what I feel I need at a given moment in time. Having said that, the ideal is that I will generally be doing more HM/10k pace reps, with some more specific long runs/sessions closer to M-day.

SL and PP - what CRAB said. You're both really ripping it up at the moment. I suspect I'll be trying to keep both of ye in sight coming down the Mall at this rate of going.

Good luck for the longer run tomorrow TR. I done similar today, but was never really on the bench - more just being cautious as I've learned what I can run through, and what's best to give a bit of rest to at this stage. I'm also becoming a bit of a master at coming at marathons from a long way back. Undecided if it's a good thing or not. There are definite pros to it, especially if it's the only race you're interested in. Good luck to junior for the coaching.

PP - I'm also a fan of the Brooks Green Silence, but won't be wearing that colour combo for obvious reasons

Trainers: at the moment I've got Brooks Green Silence, Asics Hyperspeed, and Brooks t7. The first are my 'heavy' pair which get used for the majority of my slower running, the Hyperspeed I wear when I want a softer ride than the t7 for various reasons. The t7 are my racing pair, so I have an older pair that I do some/most of my quicker running in.

Car trouble this morning meant I had to wait for Mr AA to come fix it, and also resulted in me having to work from home, so took advantage of the situation and bagged 24m at lunchtime in a 5m easy, 10m steady (6:38), 5m @ '1/2' effort* (6:18), 4m easy style. Felt good and fluid despite the icy wind.

* basically current MP + 20-30s.

Stacked fields for London then! http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/news-and-media/news-and-media/press-release-25-01-13-best-ever-field-assembled-2/

Will be interesting to see what Tirunesh Dibaba does on her debut. Helen Clitheroe also to debut.