Sub 3h15

That is a superb effort AR- mighty impressed with that time.

The Buttermere round today gave me the thorough examination I was expecting. In lovely conditions we set off from Keswick and had a nice 7 miles along the Lake at Derwentwater. It was a very small field (maybe 50 runners) but we stuck together in groups. I ran at MP more or less and went through 10k in 42 mins. Then at 7 miles I got the frying pan in the face which is the Honister pass. No introduction just monster climb from the off. The 2 miles up honister were 10 mins and 8:30, so I lost about 4:5 minutes on the climb. 2nd 10k was 47 minutes. Then a long down hill section towards Buttermere Lake, back down below MP. I remember several miles flashing up around 6:35. Then the climb up Newlands, gentler than Honister but muck longer- I was nearly on my knees and walked in places and one of the miles was 11 minutes- 3rd 10k in 47 mins. The last 7 miles back to Keswick were mainly down hill. At first I was doing miles in 6:40 pace but this gradually slowed to 7:20. I overtook a runner on the second climb but saw nobody after that. The last 2 miles were hell on earth 7:38, 7:45. It reminded me jusy how awful a marathon feels and why I'm not much good at them. But I hung in and crawled to the finish in a creditable 6th place. And best of all with a massive course PB of wait for it....1 second over last years time. I must be the the Sergie Bubka of running- with wafer thin improvements! All in all a good result.

Sorry not been round much lately, last night was a really bad experience wher Jnr and I were threatened to be glassed and had to contend with atirade of verbal abuse... good job we can both run... we were chased for a while but once we stopped then went again they gave up.... then it all started off with Jnr as he went in to shock when we got home, so had the paramedics and police round. Hence cancelled my race today at Bramley as Jnr wanted me to go to Church with him (followed by a McDonalds... good heathly food)!!!! the up shot of that all was, I have had to fit my runing around available time during the day.... so 6.5m early doors, then 16.6 this afternoon for 23.1m in the day, not the usual way, or the planned way.... but it will have to do..... (its also amazing how when angry and pent up your pacing goes to rat..... 7:58 for the 6.5m thats OK... but then 7:50 for the 16.6 oops a tad fastish.....

RFJ - How terrible! What a horrible thing to happen. Hope you're both all right now.

RJF - that's awful.  I hopt the boy is ok.  Sounds like you both got a big fright.

OO - great improvement on last year!

Selfish me me me post here, but well done all on some cracking runs. 

18M for me round and round Finsbury Park. I was a little the worse for wear after one too many cuba libres last night, so didn't want to stray too far from home in case of total body shutdown, but hung on for what is my longest ever run. Came in at about 7:50 mm, faded a bit towards the end, with various bits of my legs starting to complain quite vociferously. Probably should've gone a bit easier, especially as there was over 1000 ft of ascent in there. Will be interesting to see what happens on my 10 mile tempo on Tuesday...

Moof - I wish I knew.... it would appear that we looked at them the wrong way.....

OO well done 1 sec is 1 sec....

good 18m Lumbu

Good time AR

well done anyone else I have missed, take care all

RFJ - that's horrible, glad you are both over it! Saw the famous club shirt of yours at Bramley (it obviously wasn't  you) and wondered where you were....

Also-ran wrote (see)

ran all 20 at 6:25 min/m to finish in 2:08:29. This was pretty consistent with last weekends HM so gives me a good stake in the ground on my fitness.

Also-ran wrote (see)

2:55 - 3:00 would be great.

I did 20 last year on 2:08:11 and did 2:50:28 so you should be up there.

RFJ - Sounds bloody awful. I do fear for kids who are faced with this. Glad it is ok now.

Ar - quick!

Ant and Scooby - Still great efforts in my book

Moof, Jools and Speedy - All good.

Wrexham half for me in 1.23.41, which is a +1min pb. Buggered it up royally at the start by pep talking both my sisters right at the back of the pack as the whistle went off so my clock time will show 1.24.10. All nice and relaxed and straight forward to 7 in 6.28mm which was 4 secs a mile slower than target race pace but feeling good and picked up the 28 secs by accelerating over the next 2 in 6.18 and 6.08 respectively and still feeling ok. Consolidated witha 6.19 and contemplating an assault on sub 1.23 as feeling slightly fatigued but hey, less than 20 mins to chase down. Turned a corner just after the start of mile 10 and straight into a stiff headwind pace went from 6.12 to 6.36 in 200 yards and had to work really hard for the next two miles to keep it to 6.26mm. Finished with a 6.19 and a 5.05 sprinty bit to put a lid on the day. Curse that headwind!

Blimey, RFJ; I'm not surprised you had better things to do today than Bramley after that stress!

Nice running on what sounds like a horribly tough course, OO: there's nowt wrong with Bubka pbs.  I'm rather fond of them myself

Minni: yes, I did meet AA.  Glad to hear her second half went well, especially if she ran Wokingham flat out last week.  She's clearly in excellent shape and should be over on this thread!

Nice LSR, Lumbu, although if the elevation stats come from a Garmin I wouldn't trust them 100%; I'm pretty sure people have had some interesting elevation stats from track workouts with Garmins!

Excellent PB there Mennania.

Sounds like hard work OO - at least the weather was kind.

Close escape there RFJ ...

You need to give yourself time to recover from today's fine performance AR - but Sub 2:50 has to be a realitic aim.

Good pacing runs from Jools and Speedy at Bramley.

Well toughed out Ant - as you say, not bad for an MP run.

12 at MP outside of a race is tough Scooby - I'd take the time as a positive.

21 miles for me today in glorious sunshine.  Pedestrian-like pace of 7:55 m/m compared to most on here today but a pleasing gel-free run.  Only my second 20+ run of this campaign so far so good to have that one under the belt,  Also gives me 74 miles for the week - just need a few more of these before London

Good thing about starting at the back (and I mean right at the back) is that I overtook over 450 people and no bugger got passed me!

X-post: fab pb, Mennania and in far from perfect conditions.  Sub 3 there for the taking off that form!

some great racing , paced races, and training runs - well done all, gold star for Menna

RFJ - shocking episode - glad you escaped unscathed - I hope junior is OK now  . . .

Jools Yes, I am a bit skeptical about elevation data, but this was about right I think. A circuit of Finsbury Park is about 80 ft up and 80 ft down. 10 laps plus a hill on the way and on the way back comes in at about 1000 ft.

Never quite sure what adjustment to make for hills - I always feel like I don't want to drop the pace too much, but I think that means I push too hard sometimes. Time-wise I read you should take off 3%-ish for every 100 ft up + 100 ft down, which means my time adjusted pace was 5:35 mm  . Clearly what I read was wrong.