Sub 3h15

Some great stuff over the weekend - especially OO. Fantastic time - especially for this time of year.

On the subject of age, we had some friends over at the weekend. Mates and my wife are all 43/44 apart from one younger wife of 35 who was surprised that I was 49 coming April. They'd been asking about running and that's why it came up. She told me I was the oldest person she knows! Then to make matters worse she asks what my plans are for my 50th. I told her I was intending to run VLM and she exclaimed 'No! You'll die!'.

Brought a raucous laugh from everyone else (not least my wife!). I then pointed to the results of people on here, recently. I think that shut her up!!!

Gave me another reason to keep on keeping on!!!

Keep on keeping on DS2!

Gul Darr wrote (see)

Hi PMJ, how's the cycling going?

Cycling is going well with a few niggles. You discover how badly the male form is designed to sit on a saddle and the downside of having wheels which spin and fling while passing though a patch of ankle deep swan shit: at least with running you fling at others and not yourself.. Did a long one today, about 23 miles in 1:47 so knocking off the first half maarthon in under an hour. You have to understand my bike is about 10 years old and was £100 from Halfords so not quite a  butcher's bike but almost: still it makes me work hard so that keeps the cardio up. I have a pair of cleated shoes from spinning days but I can't find the motivation to pay £50 for a set of cleated pedals on the £100 bike.

PMJ - Good to see you are keeping active but be careful you don't become a cycling convert. it's an easy path to follow! Before you know it you'll be surfing through pages and pages of cycling websites and once you have the pedals to go with your cleats you'll need to find a bike to match the pedals..... and on and on it goes!

Just take a look at your mates on the Sub 3 thread! (Have found myself there myself in recent times and you know what boys and toys are like!).

Good luck with your recovery, though. I'm sure you'll be back running very soon!

DS2 - that's a funny after dinner story!  I always find it funny when people ask about my latest marathon time and when I tell them they look thoughtful and say, 'you know, I don't think I could do that'!  I feel like saying, 'no you bloody couldn't'!!  They just have no idea.

Freemers - I hope Norwich isn't as windy as it was last year.

OO - will you be at Newcastle for the Norman Woodcock on Saturday?

Anyone want to join a sweapstake on how long it will be before PMJ considers whether to wax or shave? 

DS2 wrote (see)

PMJ - Good to see you are keeping active but be careful you don't become a cycling convert. it's an easy path to follow! Before you know it you'll be surfing through pages and pages of cycling websites and once you have the pedals to go with your cleats you'll need to find a bike to match the pedals..... and on and on it goes!

Just take a look at your mates on the Sub 3 thread! (Have found myself there myself in recent times and you know what boys and toys are like!).

Good luck with your recovery, though. I'm sure you'll be back running very soon!

Seriously stupid numbers for cycling bits and bobs: list price on this pair of pedals is £600: you get 10% off at wiggle so I'll have two pairs at £540 each The cleats are £35 a pair and don't come included.

For the same £540 I can go to Tecos and get 675 cans of bitter. Much better toys for boys.

Conversations with non runners usually end in confusion or disbelief. If it's somebody trying to get into running though I usually try to help.

I work Saturdays Minni and have a very tough boss (Mrs OO)! I'll probably do the parkrun instead.

Yes PMJ I missed out a couple of months ago by 8 seconds at the Tynedale 10. That was a much tougher course and a better performance. Fortunately I broke the hour last year as a Vet, so I'm not too devastated.  

PMJ - stick with the flat pedals on the MTB, I commute on one on flat pedals. You're only doing it to keep the engine ticking over after all. Folks spend zillions on bike bits but it doesnt make their bike go any faster, its their fat that slows them down.

I think you'll find that Fanuary is the next growing event after Movember.

Hello everyone, some good running going on I see

After a week off running and 3 weeks of slow/very slow running I am planning to start getting back into training properly after the marathon. It's been 7 weeks since I was in full flow - 3 week taper, though the first two of that were still quite busy.

My speed vs Hr pace seems to have eroded massively, have I

a) lost a lot of fitness in the month since marathon

b) got used to running slowly and not swithched back to normal yet

c) not fully recovered?

Regardless of which it is how long does it normally take to get back to speed post marathon?

Hope you're all doing well

PMJ - you can probably get some cheap pedals on ebay? I'd be interested to see the profiles of those who buy the £600 ones.

OO - that's a great time regardless of the seconds

JD3 wrote (see)

PMJ - you can probably get some cheap pedals on ebay? I'd be interested to see the profiles of those who buy the £600 ones.

They are aimed at 2 types of purchaser:

1. 25yr old elite racer - No (or extremely understanding) girlfriend / no mates / low paid job / rides thousands of miles on his bike / massive thighs. (I know this type very well) 

2. 50yr old fat bloke on a bike - No (or shop-a-holic) wife / high paid job / spends thousands of pounds on his bike / massive belly (and wallet).

JD3 - That is a really 'it depends question'. Some people seem to knock out HM and 10k pbs 3 weeks after a marathon, others, myself included, struggle to get round any race within 6 weeks. Sometimes after a marathon you can feel rubbish but in a race situation can be surprised that you can dig deep to find a turn of speed. But I have found when this has happened to me, I have paid dearly for the effort over the next 2 weeks. Best let the recovery take its time.

edit: TR. Are you being rude? 

Still drooling over PMJs fantasy pedals. £540... hum....

keir - no, its a pucker hair growing/styling event. Google Fanuary.

evening all

20 miles biked through "ankle deep swanshit", just for fun tonight. I looked at the weather and thought I'm not running in that.
Swam twice yesterday, as well as a bit on Saturday. Also biked 52 miles Saturday, leading the Group 2 riders up hill and down dale. I wanted to go off in a different direction. Only did 5 miles of running. Norty boy.

With all this crap weather, I'm actually enjoying going swimming.

Still not sure whether TR is being serious or not!!

PMJ - I bought myself a pair of very similar pair of pedals and cleats to those from my local bike shop and it came to about £100. And they fitted them on my shoes and set everything up. I'm a bit of a fair weather cyclist though so haven't been out for a few months now. Intending to do a couple of long sportifs next summer.

Belated congrats to OO - I can only dream of 60.0x!!

Rest day for me today as a. it's my birthday and b. I played volleyball (and lost again!) yesterday. Back out tomorrow morning for a brisk hilly one.

Its really an event !

Happy birthday Lorenzo.