Sub 3h15

Decided to do my second tempo/steady state run of the week last night.

Ended up doing 10mi @6.49 m/m, going to try and ramp up my mileage this month to a solid 50mpw as i have been on 44/45 for the last 3 weeks.

Good fun this running lark

Internet has been playing up here, so not been on line for three days. Plus I also have this pesky thing called work getting in the way.

Just had a read back, thankfully Gul has summed it all up, as he always does.

Gul Very nice pacey tempo run.

Moof I assume from the 21 miles the bite was not too bad.

Cl Very pacey (sub 3 there I say) tempo run. Great fun when it all comes together.

22.6 for me in 3:02:30. Av pace 8:03mm. Giving me my longest ever week 71.6.

It is funny how the mind works. I have been stressing about the major hills in my long runs. I just couldn't get my speed/HR up for the early part of the run (saving myself for the long assents). However, after approx 7 miles, just as I started the long descent, I decided to turn around and do some undulating loops rather than face the hills. What had been a struggle, mentally, suddenly became a lot easier and the pace naturally increased.

The first 5km are relatively flat and are the same as the last 5km;
First    Av km 5:08     HR 69%
Last    Av km 4:43     HR 74%

Howdy Gang,

What Gul said (again)!

I dont want to talk about the rugby being Welsh.

Good tempo from Carbloader. I always struggle with them. Nice lsr moof. 21 for me yesterday at a nudge under 8mm. 1st of campaign and  not too bad to be fair. Going to up the mileage over the next few weeks.

KR - I am running Wrexham - you racing it? I plan to but havent settled on a target yet.

I don't want to talk about the rugby either, but because I don 't really like it, sorry.

Well done Mennania on getting those miles in. Same goes for Moof, too. Moof, maybe you could have done 7 miles and then gone to watch some 21-year-olds playing?

Scooby - My jaw actually physically dropped when I read those miles you've got in, both in your LSR and your weekly total. Careful not to overdo things: it's easily done.

Carbloader - Very handy tempo run/mileage.

Well, I bagged my first 20-miler of the year. It was pi**ing it down when I was getting dressed, so I wore a rain jacket and a woolly hat. Needless to say, ten minutes into the run, the sun came out.

 Also, just as I was about to start (at about 8:15 a.m.), two boys staggering back from their night out saw me, and one of them starting chanting "You're a c***! You're a c***!" In perfect English. So I said, "Oh, that's nice. Charming." this shocked them, and one replied "Oh, sorry, you're not a c**** really, we're just a bit drunk." From Reading, he was.

As for the run itself, it was no fun for the first 8 miles (not helped by this week's episode of MT, which was, sadly, more than a bit boring), then I passed by my building again, shoved the hat through my letter-box, relaxed and started to enjoy myself, bizzarrely.

Anyway, 20.12 miles @ 7:48mm, av 130bpm, for a 56.1-mile week.

Bought new shoes yesterday - New Balance 780v2.  I got them at Sports Direct and tried them out by spirinting 10m in the shop.  My own fault for being so tight if they injure me.  Ant - I know what you mean about being able to tell when the shoes are worn out.  For me its normally my feet that tell me.

16 miles this morning at 9:16m/m pace from 5am.  I triped in a pothole after a mile and thought I would have to turn for home, but the pain eased off and I could carry on. Very icy in parts of the country back roads so had to run in dirt in the centre which was frozen enough to provide some grip.  First 50 mile week of this campaign.  I'm actually feeling very good as everything has been run slow.

Yes Joolska, P&D are wicked for giving you a tempo run when you're already tired. I've found some of them very hard, but they seem to do the trick.

Nice work Gul on your tempo run - clearly Sunday's are not just for LSRs

Great week there Scooby.

Lovely bike session Blisters - I cycled and hour with my boy this morning - the pace was rather sedate as he is 3.

Good running all, some cracking weeks being put together

Well, just reading some of this weekend's exploits, I'm rather jealous of the pace and distance that several of you are managing to put together.

50 mile weeks
20 miles at 7:48 m/m
21 miles at 7:59 m/m
22 miles at 8:02 m/m
20 miles with pace increasing to 8 m/m
21 miles at 8:01 m/m
18 miles at 7:01 m/m

Obviously I’ve missed out the real grunt work that all goes to build up to these, but there is no doubt that these are real markers in the dirt. It appears that there is no substitute for hard work. Just remind me which thread I’m reading here.

Great running from Gul, Scooby, Mennania, and Ant

I was a sleeping runner today....Ryde 10m on the IOW - This was never going to be pretty.... didn't get in from work till 6am and had to be up at 7:25.... for a lift... slept in the car so a little more sleep, then stuff my face with percy pigs and a snickers bar to get some energy in.... no pressure to finish... just 4 in the team and 4 to count.... Best finish then...

This was after I found out that I had left my wallet in work (now safe with a mate) plus forget my lunch and shake for afters.... what more could go wrong....

Anyway, Ryde 10 is a beautiful little course with 3 big hills in it, quite easy to spot in the splits... Ideally wanted anything under 67:30, but wanted more like 65....

That was never going to happen when I got a stich at mile 2 and took ages to get rid of it, finaly really getting in to my stride from 5m onwards, hence nearlly a minute negative split.....

Splits were as follows, 6:35, 7:10, 6:33, 6:47, 6:52, 6:49, 6:28, 6:32, 7:21, 6:04 (the last mile is all down hill..... finished in 54th in 1:07:11, so not too bad with a stich and only 2 hours kip....

Good to catch up with several friends. Now to stay awake till  bedtime..... to get back in cink....

I did at least beat Jnr.... but then he was under orders not to race his 1st 10m race.... he did it in 75:05.

just under 53m for the week inc the warm up and cool down from today....

Just dropping in while I can steal mum's computer. It's all a bit hit and miss for me lately. I knew I'd have to move Friday's tempo to Saturday as I'd be spending all day driving up North/hospital visiting etc. Saturday morning came and I was up and ready to leave in time to run to parkrun and back. Out the door and made it about 10 paces before having to turn back. The streets were sheet ice. I didn't have any other option but to go to the gym (thank God I signed up to Pure Gym earlier this week). Couldn't figure out the treadmill at such short notice so had to do three separate runs - 4.83km warm up, 6.44km at 14.8kph (which I think is 6.32min miling), 6.44km cool down. That was a sweaty experience.

Then today was meant to be 20 miles but we got a bit lost a few times and it ended up being nearly 23, leaving me precious little time to shower and eat before it was time to leave for the hospital again. 

Speedy - good to hear from you. It is very timeconsuming when a parent is in hospital and you have your 'normal' life to lead as well as fit in the running. Well done on your weekends efforts - but not so well done on the navigation front!

Some seriously inspirational eforts out there at the moment. Too many to mention but I think Gul, as usual, summed things up pretty well, as did Blisters and RFJ.

And on that note - great effort RFJ racing after a couple of hours kip and a nightshift. I doth my proverbial cap....

As usual at this end, weekends are the hardest time for me to find time to train and report on here! I was due to do a 5 RR yesterday but after running eldest daughter to hockey and being out for dinner in the evening I had next to know time. Still, not the worst run to miss and finally found tme to get out the afternoon for my planned 18 miler at average of 8:03mm. It was on a very hilly course and pretty windy so pretty pleased but probably a bit too fast!!!

Finished week on 57 miles. New highest week since 1994!

Inspirational stuff from Speedy and RFJ - getting great runs in when it would have been much, much easier to sack it.

Good miles from DS2, well squeezed into a hectic lifestyle.

Slokey, now you know what your a*se is for.

Good (and interesting) long running and racing going on this weekend.

18 miles at ave 7.10 m/m for me this morning.  First 8 miles at 7.30 pace (listening to Poacher's interview on MT - very interesting) with next 8 miles at 6.42 pace.  Very happy with those times and overall felt strangely easy, although I think that may be bue to lack of mileage.  Just 33 for the week (work is seriously messing with my training).

Nice LR from Speedy, Ant, Martin, DS and Martin

Nice race and report, especially on no sleep RFJ

Ant I am following the P&D upto 70. This week was meant to be 21 LSR with a total of 68, so slightly longer run and a few hundred metres on the other runs, but hopefully nothing to tiring. 

Nice LSRs going on; particular kudos to Speedy given everything else you have to juggle at present and MartinH for simply being fast!

18M for me this evening after my rehearsal; relieved that the pace (7.49m/m) was much better than last week's 21 miler (8.21m/m!) and that perhaps yesterday's sluggish tempo run was a bit of a blip.

Frazerelli - I am a lunatic Thats why I run...

Well done all in getting the long runs in, nice hilly effort Frazerelli.

Good effort Speedy with managing your training.

RFJ- 2 hours kip, mad!

I've just entered the Abingdon Marathon, one minute I'm just having a quick look at the website and in a haze my credit card is on the table and I'm being congratulated on my entry. I think I'll leave it a few days before breaking the news to Mrs Moof.

72 miles for me this week and all is good.

Wow, fab end to the week, Minni - that's a hardcore weekend's running!

Blisters - you can add me to the list of long runs.

I did my first 20 today, and completed my 6 runs this week for Jantastic*. My other 5 runs were all between 5 and 7M though. January was 158M which is a big drop form last years ~250 but I did stop for 9 consecutive days. My knee is still an issue, but seems to like it better if I run a bit quicker, however I'm not fit enough to run long runs fast and I dont want to burn matches that way either. But I'm still in the game and still have plenty of time to keep the sub3 streak alive.

Minni - what training plan do you follow ? 1400m reps on a Friday (or Sunday) ?

* I step away from this now though, which was always the plan, I dont want to count miles or chase pace which seems to be the aim in February and March.