Moraghan Training - Stevie G

you'd be ok Bus, as there would be numerous stewards within stumbling distance, who could put you up in their car/give you warm clothes, and ring for St John's Ambulance assistance, as they have 3 or so stations throughout the course.

Do it on a training run out in the wilds though, and that's a different story...I might start running with a tenner in my pocket going forward...would sort transport/food/drink out.

Races like Marlow are generally sorted, but I was thinking more of a training run relaly. When I'm in the real wilds, I always take windproofs, thermal, hat and gloves, but running in the woods around here it can be sub zero and I'll have nothing but a t-shirt and a buff, and as my Mrs never answers her mobile, the phone can't be relied on either - though we're never far from people around here! Trouble is, hypothermia is quite insipid, and by the time you might recognise it's a problem, you could be beyond making reasonable judgements! Not that its happened mind, but....we're all doomed I tell ya!!

 Hypothermia guys. That's me at the Coombe Gibbet. I was reduced to 10 minute miling. Note the cotton t shirt. Big big mistake. In the fells there's a saying, 'cotton kills', I can believe it.

Oh I forgot. I entered Marlow because I fancied some sort of race. With the Epsom 10 on the 18th being a hilly course I wanted some kind of trial over a longer distance. 

I suppose it was intended as a kind of training run. But that doesn't mean I was taking things easy. But it did mean I was dressed up a little more than usual.

The kit differences were just a long sleeve Helly. The lycra shorts were to prevent chafing in wet conditions. I've had blistered thighs myself. They really hurt.

Stevie G . wrote (see)

I think Bus would see a mere sub 1hr 20 as the minimum acheivement at a pb course. I think we're talking more 1:18:30 or under territory....maybe we'll see soon

For a half, 1:18:39 is the magic 6 minutes a mile point.

she never answers her phone? that needs work!

Ric, are you wearing speedoes?!

 Unlucky to the guy behind you in those!

Yeah, I was thinking never mind the cotton t-shirt, what about the y-fronts?

ric - you appear to have forgotten to put your shorts on

The Bus wrote (see)

Trouble is, hypothermia is quite insipid, and by the time you might recognise it's a problem, you could be beyond making reasonable judgements! Not that its happened mind, but....we're all doomed I tell ya!!

I got it once and you just don't notice. Took a lot of hot, sweet tea to get back to somewhere like normal and if somebody had not told me I had it, I would not have known and it could have got a lot worse.

Some kind of high split side style in vogue at the time. Once soaking wet they had a habit of folding back to next to nothing. 

Actually I do wear speedos instead of tolerating some sub standard inner brief or worse, the aforementioned cotton.

The picture is rubbish so you can't see my blue lips. With no marshall or medical support on a point to point course on the North Downs, I had a choice. Keep going or die of exposure. 

You only make a mistake like that once. The next occasion I did that race I was dressed up like I was at Marlow.

Phil, you mentioned the sub 6 minute half marathon.

Soon after I'd shaded the hour for 10 miles, the half was my next target for sub 6's.

In my next half, even having hit the 10 mile split in 57:58 I still thought I'd miss the target.

When you're looking for 78:39 as satisfying an ambition, to go through the line with 76:36 on the clock! pleased or what?

Those are classic shorts Ric! They remind me of when you see these guys at races wearing the same shorts and vest combo (often with headband!) that they must have bought in the 80's - despite being a stone heavier!

I wish I'd worn lycra shorts or even used a bit of vaseline at Marlow - I'm still suffering with chafing, not helped by cycling to work

Blue lips are always a sign that your core temp has dropped. At Coledale earlier this year I was running in wind driven snow and was starting to feel VERY cold in my vest. I had a windproof in my bum bag, but was too stupid/pigheaded to put it on - luckily I didn't suffer any serious consequences, as we dropped down to a more sheltered section soon after and I started to warm up again on a steep climb. The other aspect is food on something like that point to point course, which can make all the difference on a cold day if you are burning reserves just to try and stay warm.

Philip, I'm hoping I can get away with the magic number for a half being rounded to 1 decimal place as my 1:18:46 works out at just over half a second per mile over 6 mm pace or 6.01 in decimal!

Bus, I wouldn't been seen dead in shorts like that now, even though then I nearly was. With a fat arse like mine I have to be careful.

Harking back to the Marlow ordeal. A question for, Dean, here's the scenario. I'm with Bus coming up to 12 miles and there's Sam Amend down the road. I look at the distance and think; maybe even said it, she's too far away, forget it.

However the road is downhill at 2% and Sam's margin at the end was 46 seconds. Bus and me did 5:52 from mile 12 to 13.

Now if you had been running the whole way with me you would be a tad fresher. So, if you had a mind to have a go with just over a mile remaining, what would be the likely outcome.  

Should put this one to the vote. I think I know what the result would be.

Almost forgot, 10 miles off road this morning, just sub 8 pace av.

Ric, it depends if it was one of those races where the mentality had changed to "i don't care who beats me,  I just want to finish".

We;ve all had plenty of those I'm sure.

or even, it depends if it was one of those races where just beating one certain person BECOMES the race.

I made this mistake at the wycombe 10k in the summer. Having put a good margin over the chap i was needing to beat, I foolishly didn't put max effort into beating a guy for 3rd. Cost me £10 prize. At least i still had the team prize to come i thought.

silly me, got ratted out by the club sneak as being 2nd claim

The, "I don't care who beats me, I just want to finish" races are called Marathons.

RicF wrote (see)

The, "I don't care who beats me, I just want to finish" races are called Marathons.

Or swimming.

I have a short pair or racing shorts, but nothing as criminal as those above!

Tempo run tonight. 3km @ 4:14/km, 1.5km easy then another 3km at 4:14/km. I don't think I warmed up enough, and I had some garmin confusion (previous lap pace vs current lap pace), plus it was windy. Pick an excuse! I do need to work on the pacing, and review my garmin screens.

4:23, 4:25, 4:08
4:20, 4:19, 4:09

Both my shoelaces came undone in the second rep. In the final km I overtook a jogger type - thick rustly jacket, hat and gloves. He sped up to keep up with me, then overtook me when I dropped down to my cooldown. I saw him start to walk about 50yds up the road.

Really looking forward to XC this Sunday. I had planned that the XC races would be my LSR for the week, though I think I should use them for my tempo runs.

or Borrowdale!

My best last mile at Marlow have been 5:39 (2009),  5:41 (2010) and 5:38  last year (when I did beat Sam, but she'd done a marathon just the week before I believe!). In 2009 she took me on that last mile and left me for dead so she must have done 5:20. If, hypothetically, I'd been at 12 miles with TOTALLY fresh legs (maybe by starting at that point after a good warm up!) I reckon I could have done that last mile in 5:20, or maybe 5;15 on a REALLY good day, given its downhill for the whole mile. That still wouldn't have closed the gap to Richard Watkinson, or Sam 4 seconds in front of him. Even without getting a place higher it would have left my quads shredded for a week - only worth that effort for a PB I reckon . Dean, however, with fresh legs at that point might have made up the 46 secs! No doubt Ric and Phil could in their hay day, and SG also might now, but not me, not  now nor ever!

I can't believe you have a fat arse Ric!  Maybe at our next race you can give me a chance to find out  (that is, if I can ever run again the way my left calf feels!)

An interesting, if slightly ambiguous proposition for Ric from Bus there.  Nice. In hindsight, you may have wanted to re-word that...

A return to the track sessions tonight, was looking forward to getting stuck back into it.  10 sets of 600 fast, 200 jog, 200 faster, 200 jog.  600s were 1:57, 1:57, 1:56, 1:58, 1:58, 1:58, 2:00, 2:00, 1:58, 1:58 and the 200s were virtually all 37s with a 38 and 36 thrown in.  So it seems like the pace hasn't fallen off as much as I had feared at all - maybe a second or two a lap, but hopefully that will come back quickly.  Really pleased with that.  My right knee is protesting a bit about the last few days, but it always seems to moan a bit when I increase my running - I usually just keeps going til it shuts up.

Ironcat; the picture is over 20 years old so probably comes under some sort of 'statute of limitations'. The shorts were of such a 'brief' nature I would call them rhetorical; which judging from the comments just about sums them up.

Not quite as rhetorical as DT2 shorts were. Those would have comments. To the law.

Bus, I know what you mean about shredded quads. I've finished a couple of events at speed on descents and haven't been able to run for days afterwards.

In fact, halfway around my last run, my quads complained, so some DOMS after all.

As for the last mile at Marlow. All in all, considering the situation, not too bad.

Dean, I imagine,  would have taken one look and said 'see you guys', avoiding getting 'chicked' with a sub 5. 

IronCat5 in the Hat wrote (see)

 In the final km I overtook a jogger type - thick rustly jacket, hat and gloves.

 Love it! By your definition half the runners on Sunday would have been jogger types!

Bus, to take the heat off you slightly after yoru dodgy bit about wanting to check Ric's ass out, I did analyse a lot of runners on Sunday. No one near the front of the field seems to have an ass of any description. It seems running utterly kills it. Hasn't worked with me yet though, maybe shrinking the ass would shrink the glute type aches

Dachs, you had to gazump my 2min 600s from the other day didn't you, both in reps and times, AND with an extra 200 thrash on top.

Any further Gosport playing down of potential times will be treated with the rancour it deserves

ps Ric, 3.57am posting. Sort it out son.

SG - to be fair, you always seem to be able to shift up a couple of gears for a race, whereas I can raise my game a bit, but not to that extent.  But yeah, looks like it might be closer than I thought.