Moraghan Training - Stevie G

well played SG, fingers crossed for light winds next Sunday then, doesnt happen often down here. I wouldnt pin your hopes on PB conditions, if the wind is howling in your face the last 2M can be a lot slower than you'd like it to be. Its a lot more exposed than Gosport.

Cheers TR. Hoping for some good conditions mostly for Bus really. After he couldn't do today (happy birthday Bus son by the way), next sunday becomes his big race. Hopefully we both have the chance to lay a good one down.

Will be good to do a huge race again. Did Reading half a couple of years ago, and did Silverstone half 4 times between 04 and 08, but this is bigger and more high profile than both!

Thanks go to DT2 for sorting it out! Startling show at Amsterdam today. Makes his London time look like he had a cigar on

ps found a great way to de-stress pre race.

The darn boot wouldn't shut, causing me to weigh up the risk of leaving it down but not either shut or locked....can't tell you the relief when 10mins of furious jostling with the mechanism and key fixed it! Phew!

Cheers SG - long day today for the son's b'day - started at 1 am . Funnnily enough, my run today was 2 secs quicker than your - but then it was also 2.8 miles shorter!! (though what it lacked in distance it made up for in mud!!)

Ric - can't really complain about an 86% WAVA! I'm sure by tomorrow you'll be feeling a lot more pleased with yourself! To be fair, I didn't appreciate that incline on Richmond bridge much last year myself!

Seb - very well raced. A great time to build on, especally after injury and a very strong finish in the last couple of miles shows there's definitely more to come at this distance...

SG - you HAVE to find a flat 10k given your current form. A 1:16 half has also got to be well on the cards - just add 3.1 miles at a relatively easy 6 mm pace and your there! Just finding the course is the issue....

Seb, Ric, great runs there. I can see that I will have to get some solid training in if my head to head vs Ric isn't going to take a pounding after I got it going in the right direction for a few races.

The Bus wrote (see)

A 1:16 half has also got to be well on the cards

Got to aim at 75 and then get a champs entry for a marathon

SG - perhaps try oop north for fast HMs. Sure its a bit of mileage but if it results in a guaranteed fast flat course like Wilmslow in March its got to be worth the drive.  Helsby in jan is supposed to by PB material also

Hi Seb, The time was ok, but I'm not used to feeling so grim. I can still feel the after effects just sitting here. I was aware in the latter stages of being over taken by one or two runners or was it three or four?  One of those must have been you. From early on in the event I was wondering why I even started, but in cases such as this, it seems churlish not to give it a shot. And having just read the second part of Ron Hills autobiography 'The Long hard Road'. The idea of dropping out is quickly dismissed. Mind you, packing in racing appeals. By the way, was it you who overshot the turning for the bridge at 8 miles?, Marshall's appeared to be dozing. For what its worth, Chris Dettmar who was 1st V40 didn't feel he had a good run being nearly 2 minutes down on last year; he had a bug like I did a few weeks back. And Nigel Rackham (winner V50, top of UK rankings) wasn't overly pleased either, regarding his run with as 'about as good as he could do in the circumstances'. Bloody hell! I'm generally pleased just to get around in one piece. Mike Hager was happy enough though, I'd spoken to him at the start, giving him an idea of what to expect on the course. At the finish Chris and me were chatting to him and speculating whether or not Mike had done a 100% age grade job, close, 98%. I had to keep looking cheerful, I was wondering for my health.

Just a quick one to say a big well done to Ric, Seb and, with the performance of the day, SG.  SG - really pleased to see that after all the injury troubles over 2012, you're now getting some big returns on the work you've put in.  That's a fantastic time, certainly one I'd have been pleased with, and it must be heartening to see that you're well back in PB form.  I think fast times are a-coming over 10K and other distances very soon.  Are you sure you want to use up the current form on XC racing?

Seb - that was quicker than expected wasn't it?  Good to see you can crank out fast times despite limited training.

Ric - we all have days like that, so it sounds like you hung in really well.

Really sorry to miss out on this one.

Have looked up DT2, and noticed UG as well, at Amsterdam.  Interesting stuff...

ahh I'd wondered where you'd got to SG, free sports massage, cant be bad.

I'll travel a fair distance for an 'A' race, which cabbage patch was.  It was 95miles each way but mostly motorway so travel time wasnt too bad. It appears that Telford 10k in December is one of the midlands fast 10k's, might be worth travelling up for a sub 35 min 10k . Thats my next target race.

Ric-  it was the chap 10meters  in front of me who missed the turning at 8miles, It allowed me to catch him, the marshalls definately napping, I had just gone past you then.

Dachs - yep it was quicker than expected, At the best I was hoping for sub 59, with the main target just being to finish and be under 60mins. It was a step into the unknown since I've not raced more than 7.5miles before, so I was cautious in the middle miles and that paid off in the last few miles.

I thought SG might appear ahead of me last few miles but clearly he was way down the road!

Couldnt see UG on the amsterdam results, but looks like DT2 did well.

Seb, so you were the man in pale blue, I think. You weren't in front of me for long enough for that fact to register properly. Its staggering how much info goes by the by when you're really stuffed. Did you remember those two young lads who went piling by soon after we crossed the last bridge. If they were in the race, they must have been using it as a training run. As they shot past I thought 'DT2'.

Had to get out of bed on my side this morning, strained abdominal muscle. I didn't notice it during the race but any adverse effects were hidden among all the excitement. My lad insists physio is required, and he's the guy for the job. "Where does it hurt most?", "I want to know the best place to stick my elbow".

yep mostly pale blue with some dark blue thrown in, the young lads are friends of mine at st marys uni nearby and just joined in half way round, I didnt know they'd be there so was rather suprised when they ran past. one of them has ran a sub 32 10k and a sub 15 5000m this year.

Legs feeling ok, may go out for a 6m easy this evening.

Hi Dachs, thanks for the support. When a chap in green went by at around 8 miles I thought very briefly it might be you, too old though, probably too slow also.

Noticed that the guy who finished two seconds ahead of me yesterday finished just one second ahead of me last year. What are the chances of that?

Seb - given how far ahead of me you were at Lad's Leap I wasn't at all surprised with your time yesterday!

Dachs, ta fella, hope your current foot thing proves to just be a minor thing. How's it feeling? .Swelling?Bruising? Pain?

Seb, in hindsight I should have taken you to the massage place too, or at least said I'd re-meet up with you in the Cabbage Patch pub after! I think I temporary lost track of how long stuff takes!

Telford looks a mixture of a bit too far, and bad time of year in fairness, mid December. Right in the middle of our XC season too. What sort of time are you looking to lay down? Comfortably under 36 I'd have thought as a minimum? Possibly lower than my current pb 35:20?

Dachs/Dean/Bus, definitely worth a consideration of what races to fit in. This one feels like it's been a sudden explosion of a break through, after the 2 pbs this year being 9 and 6 seconds jobs.

Will take a bit of thought, as sunday's race takes us to the end of October, and then there's about 3 or 4 xcs, and I pencilled Gosport half in on 18th November, if the 10milers went well. The weather needs to be good to drive that far for a half. I remember in 2010 I got very lucky, as the week before was a snow week...

I'm gonna have a scroll through the RW and power of 10 listings for  relatively local (within 50miles) 10ks, and see what we have on offer. I'm sure there's a couple of Oxfordshire races that are both good standard and fast. I might be wrong though, and I'm sure they'll clash with a xc if they are there. Just a case of weighing it up really.

At the back of my mind is knowing I need to sort the 5k time too at some stage...

this is probably the best time of running though isn't it...when you've had a breakthrough at one distance, and need to re-align the rest

ps RW doesn't seem to allow edits at the moment..

I just meant to add...Deano, appreciate the HM tips. We're decently covered that time of year tho. Wokingham Feb and Reading late March (i think) are good uns.

I had a quick look at the Great Manchester 10k though. Doesn't work with a United home game unfortunately, but might be worth a look. Anyone fancying it at all? Southern based boys?

pps (!) 10ks I was thinking of, are Eynsham, and Andy Reading in Oxfordshire.

Problem is that they both clash with must do XCs, Sandhurst and Handy Cross...

Jan, Feb see those "Maxi" Dorney Lake 5 and 10ks, but expensive and low quality fields are the risks

I can do Wokingham next year as its not in half term - hooray!!

Andy Reading and Eynsham are similar speed courses I reckon. Both are obviously weather dependent (wind) and I sufferedv from wind on both last year (phnarr, phnarr!) but Andy reading is particuarly exposed, and being later in the year can be a bit icy underfoot in places. Although Eynsham does have a very slight incline, a couple of twisty turns and a very short section on a verge, followed by a narrow path, but is still a fast course and there's plenty of company at the sharp end.

Personally, if I'd just done a 57 min 10M, I'd be doing both of these to make sure of a 34:xx 10k, and judge the day before if the wind is going to be a big problem andhave the xc as a standby.

Cripes, that Battersea 10k Phil mentioned is an 8am start

I hear your points Bus. I suppose it's just the XC club series thing. The Sandhurst xc is a great race, (you should certainly come along for that one, either as myself or Phil's guest, little difference), but then Handy Cross is very local, and a great race too, really hilly and muddy (you'd like it)

Those 2 and Tadley pretty much make the series for me. Any of the other races I'd probably sack off for a go at the 10k. I'll think it though, see how sunday goes first.

Trciky choice, espceciallya s its a series...

The Bradenham one is definitely one i'd like to do - cam't remeber what it clashed with last year.

Hi guys, Phil, our head to heads haven't been troubled since the Chiltern League at Wing last year. Another of those races where I thought I might do well but soon knew I wouldn't. The start at Wing requires wings, mad descent into a corner. I spent most of the race sneaking up on you until the very last section when you promptly scarpered. Definitely one for you.