Sub 3h15

I forgot to set my alarm clock, woke up at 6.45am and decided I'd do my run (11M) at lunchtime instead because I'm not in court today.

My youth orchestra conductor ended up with 5 kids when the last to arrive turned out to be triplets.  And my dad is one of 4, last 2 were twins: there's 26 months between the eldest and the youngest so my grandmother was clearly made of stern stuff.  4 kids under 2.5!

I thought it was hard enough with 3 kids - can't really imagine trying to get 7 of them out of the door in the morning.

I only get up early for running at the weekend. Weekdays I do my running in lunchtimes so lie in every day to 6:15

Calf has cleared up so running today - that will make it 3 runs for the year and I'll get into double mileage figures

Physio yesterday identified a 'tight left Sacro-Illiac joint' which is causing a bit of asymetry.  Otherwise very good and he sees no major problems, which is a big boost.  So I got poked very hard and shown some excercises involving lying or sitting on a tennis ball to strech my psoas and piriformas.  Suddenly last night I can put my palms flat on the ground when streching 'touching the toes' so what he's done has already had a bit effect.

Hello all,

Been lurking a bit, but nothing of any note going on here, seem to have settled into quite a good pattern M:10k easy, T: Ints, W:10k easy, T Tempo, F 10k easy, S off, S 13-15m. I need to mix up my easys a bit, but how long can an easy get before it stops being easy?- I should change the route a bit, but I've been enjoying seeing the same route take less time and get easier. Should really get some hills and mud on the easys I thinnk.

Can't really add anything for the early birds, if you're out the door by 530 what time do you go to sleep? Very impressive commitment, makes me realise I could fit more into my days.

And finally I feel a special mention ought to go to AR, pushing flexible training to it's natural limit, and dropping in an early morning, unplanned 20 miler/!

All this talk of multiple births! I'm one of four and have a twin sister. My parents had two daughters and thought they would try again for a boy and ended up with one of each!!! I, also, have twins. We put a stop to it at that point when the consultant told us that having one set made the risks of another multiple birth much greater! having read some of the stories on here I feel lucky we only had one set of twins!

Bike it - that sounds much better. I haven't been able to touch my toes properly since a slipped disc 5 years ago despite all sorts of treatment.

JD3 - that sounds like a great place to be at this stage.

9 aerobic miles for me at 8:20mm at 7:30am. This is at the top end of my aerobic range but didn't really have the time to run slower.

Keir - I think my wife would kill me if I got up at that time for a run. Count me out!

YP Best to be sensible. A few days missed now is a lot better than a couple of weeks later on.

AR Very nice unplanned 20 miles. I thought going from 18 to 20 was impressive, nothing compared to your good self.

BikeIt Good news indeed.

I woke at 4:45, realised it was much too early. Woke at 6:50, out the door at 7:10 minus HRM (as too dark I could not find it). 11 miles in 8:16 pace and in the bath for 9:00am. all very nice indeed. Off to sort out a new mortgage, wish me luck.

Scooby - lightweight! You should have gone out at 4.45am. Nice solid session though!

Respect due AR. 20m with soggy feet for the final 10! Are you off work today or sleeping at your desk?

Good luck on the mortgage Scooby. Have you found / sold a house yet?

DS2 - My wife says she now hasn't a clue what time it is that I get up in the morning. I guess before a certain hour it is just 'nighttime' rather than 2, 3, 4 or 5am.

JD3 - There is a difference between 'easy' and recovery. Recovery should be 'really' slow and around 5miles max. They are good to do the day after a longer or hard run. Easy runs are at your LSR pace - but up to 10miles. You could mix them up by running them fartlek or with a few strides.

 Bike it - sounds like your physio is good value for money. 

Week day run without the head torch Jools. That's a bit of a treat.

A work colleague asked me to run 8m easy after work with them. After the 12 this morning I thought it might be a bit much. However after reading ARs post, I'm now inspired! 

Keir - I'm out running before 5 am a few times every week with the earliest being 4:32 am.

Keir, I am very much nodding off at my desk. It was almost a brick session after a late night 12k row, followed by a sleep and then a run. Not sure if sleep counts as a session. This morning was the first time my trainers were sucked off in a bog

JD3 - good to hear from you. Can't remember if you are doing a spring marathon this spring. Any events booked?

I’m looking for some opinions on running doubles.

I’m able to shower at work and have a great parking place 5.5 miles away. I’ve been running the 11 miles total to and from work on some of my easy days.

I woke up very early yesterday so decided to add a bit of distance to the morning run. So I ran 11.5 miles in the morning including 2 x 2 miles @tempo pace and then 5.5 miles easy back to my car after work.  Due to other commitments I have more time to run in the mornings than after work.

How do you think a 17 mile total double like this would compare to running a 14 or 15 mile single MLR? For me to fit in a 15 mi MLR I have to take holiday hours and leave work early. So ideally I’d like to run these doubles instead but don’t want to compromise my training.

Any advice appreciated 

Badbark - Cant help im afraid - am struggling to do singles at the mo.

Massive level of commitment on here and am flabergasted with the juggling some of you do and still hit massive mileage. A tremendous effort. I have two girls who and am entering the 'redundant Dad' stage but still struggle to run more. That said I might get above 50 miles for the first time since march last year this week.

Mile intervals last night with 60 s rests with club and they were all over the place , 6.16, 5.59, 6.12 and 5.44 with a couple of wu and wd with no ill feelings today.  I run the last one hard on purpose but dont know where the 5.59 came from as I was aiming for hmp.

Badbark - I've been a bit concerned about my MLR.  I can manage 12 (by starting at 4:45am) but would struggle to run further than this on some days due to time restraints - I don't like to be out running every night so the idea of the early morning is so that I can be at home with the family in the evening.  Not sure they appreciate this!   So, there will be some weeks when I have to split it into AM and PM runs.  I'm not too concerned about this if I'm doing a 20 at the weekend and keeping up my weekly mileage.   I've had the go ahead from Moz to do this.

Something weirdly appealing about the 3:15am club....  Can we do it in the summer though. 

Welcome JD3

TR/Minni - You have excellent time management skills and (TR) you are lucky to be able to run/cycle your commute.  Living 40 motorway miles away from my office doesn't help me in that respect.

Couple of speedy miles there KR and impressive nine days stretch.  Just managing two weekly runs and then two more at weekend.  Hope to do more soon but neogiating with a local gym to let me in just to shower for a reduced price is proving tough.

Gul - You really need to put your run above Keir & Lorenzo (good early hill reps) on the nutter of the year (so far) award.

Good luck at the weekend Poacher.  Fingers crossed for a cold still day for you.

Well done on the 20 miler AR.

Good news on the calf Bike-it.  I haven't been able to touch my toes since I was a kid.

Can't help with the doubles Badbark as only ever done short ones very slowly to gain mileage after injury.  Don't think it would really compromise your chances though as you might be able to get more MP miles into them.

I'll be in for the 3.15am club if....it can be done in the summer on a Sunday.

Keir - I used to aim to run my 'easy' runs to 70% HRR or less, (recovery from P+D), but now don't look at the Garmin more than a couple of times on the run, and they always seem to come in at the same sort of HR, within +/-2bpm. As for the speed that translates to, it's generally MP+ 50 to 90s ish. (the 'easy' runs are generally flat and on the road.

I do play it by feel, if I've got aches or am tired then I might go offroad/shorter- do you reckon I could get away with a bit more pace on them then? Will look at some Fartlek or strides too. Thanks.

Hi AR, no spring marathon for me, want to try and get my HM a bit more streamlined instead, I might have a look at doing an Autumn marathon again. I don't really want to do another one until I feel that I can take a good chunk of time off, I think I prefer the achivement than the process.

Mennania, that's some fast miles.

Hello Martin H

11M (ish) for me in beautiful sunshine at lunch.  Garmin had a mad 5 minutes, clocking the first mile at 7.11 and one of the miles through the Staple Hill tunnel (out and back on the bike path today) at 6.24, neither of which was accurate.  So I added on 0.25 and decided that was probably about right!

I have run at 2.45am (Real Relay leg).  It was quite nice, but I wouldn't recommend Croydon town centre at 2.45am and I doubt it had improved significantly by 3.15am.

Also-ran wrote (see)

Woke up early, looked at clock, and wierdly Gul came into my thoughts. I'm worried.

Set off at 5.13am (unverified Gul, but I will take it) for a 14miler.  At 10 miles ran into a flooded field, so as its the year of flexibility, turned around and made it a 20m.

You're worried? So am i! Crazy but excellent running.
Bike It - good news on the calf.
JD3 - hi; your schedule is similar to mine, but I only do 2 x 3 mile recovery runs. Maybe you could do your tempo run on a Fri and a longer easy run on a Thu?
DS2 - 'didn't really have the time to run slower' - I think we've all been there!
SD - hope the mortgage goes as well as the run.

Also-ran wrote (see)

Woke up early, looked at clock, and wierdly Gul came into my thoughts. I'm worried.

Set off at 5.13am (unverified Gul, but I will take it) for a 14miler.  At 10 miles ran into a flooded field, so as its the year of flexibility, turned around and made it a 20m.

Badbark wrote (see)

Keir - I'm out running before 5 am a few times every week with the earliest being 4:32 am.

Go to the top of the class! Your double sounds like a good plan.
Mennania - super speedy mile reps!
Keir/Minni/Martin - Early morning runs in the summer are my favourites. I think any day will count! 15th March is a Friday, I think.
Martin - 4:30 is just a target! I was a bit of a slacker today - 5:45ish.

x-post Not much sunshine around these parts, Jools

If we are going for the 3:15 start, can we do it when I am abroad, so I can get an hour extra in bed.

Cheers for the best wishes in relation to the mortgage. I am just looking to switch to another lender on a lower rate, so no house or financial problems. The issues I have are purely of frustration, dealing with people who (understandably) have no idea how to deal with my particularly unusual financial circumstances. Hence, after an hour and a half in the building society my details will now be passed on to someone else up the chain. Hopefully find out mid of next week. Then maybe we can actually talk about mortgage types.

Scoobs - I have details of a good independant broker if you want to try someone else. I will PM their details if you want to try them.

Off for a nice 5m recovery now

3.15 club - is this turning into a real event??

It's Keir who will get the raw deal, as he will be turning up for the 2:50 club