Talkback: ASICS Target 26.2 Team: Colin

Nice Secret Santa present KR.  They know you well!!!!   Very jealous of the Garmin 610.  Looks very good for techie/geeks  but way out of sensible price range at the moment.

Enjoy the next few days easy running before the serious stuff starts.

He actually drinks from it Speedy!!!!

Thanks for the link Speedy, just tried a few reps of the two way hops, will build that into my routine. I've heard about the pickle juice phenomenon before, a lot of American football teams swear by it.

8 miles tonight @ av 7.43 pace. Went to the townhall square to see the Xmas lights. Ironically some of the houses that I passed on the ring road on the way there were 10 x better! Was tempted to wear my new secret santa head band, but opted for a hat instead - didn't think I was going to sweat too much!

Used my new Garmin 610 last night on my run. Still getting to grips with it, but I was impressed with the feature where it buzzes & vibrates everytime you do a mile. For me this can only be a good thing, so i can concentrate on running and not looking at my wrist  every so often to see what the last mile split was. And being a deaf old man I won't miss it with the vibrations!

Is anyone doing a Parkrun on Xmas Eve - was toying with the idea if I can get a pass out of the house on Xmas Eve .

First 2 weeks of schedule here - will put second 2 weeks up in morning.

Week one: 38M

Mon: December 26: 4M easy in approx 35 mins

Tues: December 27: 5M slow in 40 mins with some gentle strides

Wed: December 28: 6M easy in 50 mins

Thurs December 29: 6M with middle middle 4 miles at marathon pace (7:30)

Fri: December 30: Rest

Sat: December 31: 5M easyin 40 mins or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 1: 12 miles slow in 100 mins

Week two: 43M

Mon: January 2: 4M easy in approx 35 mins

Tues: January 3: 9M of 1.5M jog and strides, then 3 x 2M (or 13 mins) fast, with 400m (3-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog

Wed: January 4: 7M slow in 58 mins

Thurs January 5: 1M, then 3M at 1/2M pace, 1M

Fri: January 6: Rest

Sat: January 7: 5M easyin 40 mins or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 8: 13M slow in 108 mins

Thanks for posting the schedule Steve, seems quite steady for the first week .
If I was to do the Parkruns on the Saturdays, what pace would they be run at?

Gul, as Parkruns start at 9.00am, what constitutes an early run for you then?

What's your fancy dress on Saturday Speedy, Christmas or Goth theme?

6  miles for me tonight in a progressive stylee. Starting off @ 7.56 pace and ending up with mile 5 @ 6.20 pace. Then the last mile was a warm down, but still came out @ 7.30 pace. It's always interesting that perceived effort always comes out different and what felt realatively slow would have been MP!

Here's an update of first 4 weeks with a little more pace information - In these early weeks don't see why the parkruns can't be hard - you could set off at marathon pace for first kilometre and then build the pace up to full 5k pace.

Yes first week is relatively easy

Colin Schedule

Week one: 38M

Mon: December 26: 4M easy in approx 35 mins (approx 8:45 miling)

Tues: December 27: 5M slow in 40 mins (approx 8:00) with some gentle strides

Wed: December 28: 6M easy in 51 mins (approx 8:30)

Thurs December 29: 6M with middle middle 4 miles at marathon pace (7:30)

Fri: December 30: Rest

Sat: December 31: 5M slow in 40 mins (8:00) or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 1: 12 miles slow in 100 mins (approx 8:20)

Week two: 43M

Mon: January 2: 4M easy in approx 35 mins (8:45)

Tues: January 3: 9M of 1.5M jog and strides, then 3 x 2M (at 10k- 1/2M pace – ie 13 to 13:30) fast, with 400m (3-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog

Wed: January 4: 7M slow in 58 mins (approx 8:20)

Thurs January 5: 1M, then 3M at 1/2M pace (7:00 pace), 1M

Fri: January 6: Rest

Sat: January 7: 5M easyin 40 mins or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 8: 13M slow in 108 mins (approx 8:20)

Week three: 47M

Mon: Mon: January 9: 4M easy in approx 35 mins (8:45)

Tues: January 10: 9M of 1M jog, then 4 x 1M (at 10k pace – sub 6:30) fast, with 400m (2-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog

Wed: January 11: 8M slow in 65 mins (approx 8:10)

Thurs January 12: 6M steady in 45 mins (7:30)

Fri: January 13: Rest

Sat: January 14: 5M easy in 40 mins or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 15: 15M slow in 2:05 (approx 8:20)

Week four: 49M

Mon: January 16: 4M easy in approx 35 mins (8:45)

Tues: January 17: 9M of 1M jog, then 7 x 800m (at 5k pace   ie approx 3:10) fast, with 200m (1-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog

Wed: January 18: 9M slow in 72 mins (8:00)

Thurs January 19: 1M jog, then 4M (26-27 mins at 10M pace – 6:30-6:45 pace) brisk, then 1M jog

Fri: January 20: Rest

Sat: January 21: 5M easy in 40 mins or parkrun (5M with warm up etc)

Sun: January 22: 16M  - first 8 easy at 8-8:30 pace, second 8M at close to marathon pace (ie 7:30)