Moraghan Training - Stevie G

3.5 easy one for me today. Few strides, legs feel fine but then they should it's been an easy week with 2 rest days.

Seb, what a crazy session that 5 miles @ 5k? The splits tell the tale of what a successful session it was. Take it easy though fella, too many of them and you can burn out.

Best of luck to everybody racing tomorrow, SG, Ric, anyone else? Bus you must be getting withdrawal symptoms?

Early night tonight, need a good 9 hours before my 6am alarm goes off. Oh, by the way, the results are live so feel free to check in to see how I ran. Going to be brave tomorrow.

Seb - very impressive reps there. I've not tried mile intervals before but those seem like some really good times.

Great 1km session too Dachs. I need to zip up the mansuit and do that session to get myself back towards marathon shape. I'm sure you are going to smash Gosport tomorrow. Good luck to both you and SG. Hopefully the wind stays away.

Ric - good luck at Epsom 10. Looks like it will be good conditions for racing in Surrey. Cool morning, no wind. I'll be out at about 5:30 doing my easy 20 miles.

Stevie see - good luck to you at Abbey Dash.

So maybe I should have signed up for Gosport after all. Headed out for a few miles warmup then hit my 8km (just short of 5 miles, I work in kms) tempo. Time came out at 27:23 for the 8km and finished with a fair bit in reserve.

Yeah Stevie, I am - especially as I had a choice of 3 races for tomorrow, 2 of which are lovely XC races and just down the road! Hey ho, it probably wouldn't have worked anyway after the lergy, and it means I can let my hair down a bit at a 40th party tonight (not too much though - still a long run to do tomorrow!). You and me both Warren re Gosport!

Best of luck tomorrow, and to Stevie G, Dachs and Ric. Looks like a nice day for racing - cold, sunny and hardly any wind. I'll expect some good race reports

Good luck for tomorrow everyone!

cheers guys, t'was a good session. yeah Stevie, was 5mile @ 5km pace. 79 sec laps is about my 5k pace. i.e 16:27. Vo2 Max should really be a fraction quicker than that, closer to 4km pace for most poeple apparently, so 5km pace is erring on the cautious side believe it or not. It was a bit of a one off session, as Im trying not to 'burn out' and have been taking the hard sessions relatively easy whilst I adapt to the higher mileage I've been covering of late. Had F OFF and Also racing not so often as that caused me to burn out in the late summer. Another thing Stevie is that I always complete a session, never fade off during intervals, if you do it just means you started too fast/ had too fast a target time and that is one of my pet hates, see it at the track every week with the youngsters, they never learn.

Warren is that really your tempo pace? 5:29/mile? Nice. You deserve to be that rapid if your committed enough to get up at 5:30 to do 20miles! I have the girlfriend chasing me round on a pushbike on my long runs, so it'll be more like 10AM and 13miles.

8 easy but very muddy miles this afternoon with afew hills along the way 7:07avg pace, bedding in some Inov8 mudclaw 272's I've had hiding under the bed for 4 months, grip is amazing, superior to the Salomon speedcross 3 for sure, heel a fraction tall maybe. a good shoe if you dislike XC spikes.

XC race for me today, 11th place and ave 6.11 pace.  Hard course, half was nice and fast the other half very muddy and long stretches with mud up to the knee!  the muddy part of the course  was more like an assault course. Much harder than last weeks course, which was hard enough!  got involved in a real battle all way round the course was overtaken by the same 2 runners on each lap before fighting back each time. It ended with me overtaking them in the last 800m and got into a sprint finish but my kick won out. Beat a fair few people who over the last few races have beaten me comfortably. So happy enough.

Seb - tasty session that...looks very promising for telford

Good luck to all racing tomorrow.

Not sure what to make of today's session. I train using my HRM almost all the time so I can compare this to my usual tempo runs. The average HR came out pretty much the same as what it always comes out for a 5/6 mile tempo and never went over 188 (my max is 203). This week something seems to have just clicked a bit. I've checked all my runs by mapping them on gmaps to check that my Garmin hasn't been stuffing around. I seem to be just about back to where I was back in March pre injury chaos but my mileage hasn't been anywhere near where it was. It could be something to do with the core work I have been doing for the past 6 weeks, as I've never done that before.

That all said I'll probably come down to earth with a thud with a struggle on tomorrow's long run. 

WK78, 180 bpm plus on a tempo. I remember it well.

Nowdays my max is barely 180 bpm. Mind you, convention states it should only be 168 bpm.

I've a race on today, and if I settle down ok, my HR will only be in the low/mid 170's. But that should keep me close to 6 min ml pace.

Bad news for me, Gosport DNS

Have felt the left hip and right hamstring for a while now. A sports massage trip undid some tightness and also gave me some new stretches to do.

However, I'm not sure if I've overdone the hamstring stretch, or whether things have reached their peak of tightness, but on yesterday's run, both areas were very tight, and then my back became tight and twingey in the afternoon.

A mixture of those 3 niggles, and a 90mile drive means it would be a crazy decision to race such a long distance. A half marathon is pretty hard work when you're fully fit!

Therefore, the racing magic will have to come from Stevie See, Dachs and Ric today, while I sit about feeling sorry for myself

ps Warren, very fast pal.
pps Seb, since when did 16.30ish become your 5k pace

Warren - that post injury click into place is a nice feeling. Almost makes the injury worthwhile!

Sounds like some good racing there Dean, and always good to overtake people in a sprint finish - certainly not my strong point! Very good pace for the conditions by the sound of it too.

SG - not good at all mate. On the plus side, you'll live to fight another day and you certainly don't want to risk your back with such a long journey back after a half.

Late night for me last night, with a couple too many beers involved (where does your will go after a few pints?) - it's been quite a while since I've been out at all! Pretty fuzzy headed this morning, so will have to see what 14 hilly, mud strewn miles in the cold before lunch will do to me - kill or cure??

Good XC Dean, Was it really much harder than last weekends course, ouch!   Guess I'll find out come January as the Midlands XC are held there.

Not really looking forward to Telford, sure a PB is looking probable, but realistically most of my road races this year have been poor, not hit my 5mile or 10k targets so I wouldn't be suprised if I dont live up to expectations.  Concentration just goes to pot in the middle of road races.

Unlucky SG, I'm the same in that my niggles/twinges sometimes border on excessive, and at some point they need addressing/training needs to be scaled back/races missed.  Sounds a wise decision not to aggravate anything further by racing. Is training going to be affected or has it not quite come to that yet? My 5k Pace is approximated, ran 16:43 over 6 months/1000miles ago, I'm sure I could nail 16:30 now. If not that means the training pace is even more appropriate as its been at the correct pace and not a fraction slow. So win, win either way.

I believe the race magic has been spinkled up north today

just off out for my long run, its still rather cold though!

Undoubtedly the right decision SG. Nice result Dean.

Thursday's aborted hill session was still in my legs yesterday, so when I met for the long ride I felt tired. By the end of it I was completely shot. Should have stayed in or gone out on my own. Climbing stairs was painful. Will go out later to see how things are. Have foam rolled the adductor and it feels so much better. Brought a tear to my eye whilst doing so though.

Cracking pace Seb.

Deano, I heard it was a mud bath, last time I raced that course it was like a golf course! Good to see you're still making progress over XC terrain, it will pay dividends come the spring trust me.

SG - gutted for you about the HM, but like you say madness to race. If your hamstring pops you're done for ages. So good to see a runner use his nous! You can still be happy considering the last 2 races.

Leeds Abbey Dash today, nice and cool, sunny with no wind. Could not ask for more perfect conditions. Had a bit of an issue with falling asleep in the car whilst parked up which worried me a little (been a big week at work and has taken it's toll).The plan was to hit 1K in 3:26 and do the rest in 3:36ish.

Race started 1K in 3:26, then a 3:37 and a 3:37. Now by this point I was working very hard and wondering if I should even carry on. Hit 5k in around 17:55, although on track I was clearly slowing and only 1KM had been on target so thought the game was up. However, I watched the elites come past and saw they were looking just as grim as me so knuckled down.

The remaining splits from 5K were 3:33, 3:33, 3:34, 3:36, 3:33. So came over in 35:51 chip time... a negitive split for the first time! Mad sprint finish to hit the line, felt like running in mud I was so done for. Que lots of shouting , fist pumping and ape like chest banging. Which amused a group of hotties no end. No dry barfing though!

Really pleased, never thought I'd be able to run this quick. Taught me a lot about myself and racing in general too. I think that 8 x 1KM off 1min was the perfect acid test that gave me the confidence to have a real go. Right... back to bed!

Stevie, if it was just the hammie I'd have probably risked it! Was the back that really made it a no go.

Terrific time for you though my son. And sounds an incredible second half performance! No reason you can't take that time lower down the 35s. A better runner than me locally once told me once you go sub 36 you can really start taking time off. Sounded odd, but very encouraging!!

ps Seb, maybe you're a short distance specialist then. Unless you're thinking I could do a 16.15 off our repective CP times

SG, as with Ss on the Gosport DNS. I was a bit shocked to tell the truth. Even worse that the conditions for racing today were ideal.

I've had a twinging lower back myself lately. It must be connected to an abductor problem since before the back started mucking about, I too had what appeared to be restrictions in the hip regions. Sorted that out and then...

So, on account of having a rather stiff lower back, I dispensed with a warm down. Its on the mend but suspect I've tweaked a bit of scar tissue left over from the Woking 10 mile race, 1990!. 

Epsom 10. Just right for pot hunting. Or so I thought.

What a race. And that's just the changing rooms. The same rooms as the jockeys use. Took the opportunity of having a weigh in on the jockeys scales. 9st 5lb's fully clothed including coat.

Thought about hat and gloves but decided to 'man up' this time.

Assuming the start was near the finish, gave me cause to incorporate a 600m last minute interval. At least it opened up the system.

The course has changed slightly since my last visit but once again the first mile was nearly all downhill.

Two things that caught my attention on this descent. One was the knowledge that at some point we would all have to climb back up. The other was seeing a grey haired, semi-baldy guy from Dulwich Runners up ahead and moving away.

Pot hunting then. If that's who I think it is, then I'm probably going home empty handed.

Ric, and to think you thought I was immersed in some adrenaline soaked isolation chamber these last few days!

You left the time off your report!! Did half of the report not post or something?!

I'm a little surprised myself Ric. For a couple of weeks I've noticed a bit of tightness hip and hamstring, but I've got through even the hardest paced sessions. I thought booking a mid week massage would ease things out, and was buoyed by being advised on "better" stretches for the hamstring too.

Not sure if it was doing too much stretching on the hamstring when cold, or whether yesterday's run simply brought the mini breakdown, but the tightness was high from midway through the 6 onwards,and finally finished off with the back tweaking a bit.

Nowhere near as after Wokingham in 2010. That kept me off work for a week, let alone running, but certainly no way racing a half marathon could be done.

Bit annoying to say the least. I'd like to think I'd have been somewhere in the mixer of Dachs' kind of time today (well done pal by the way!), but more worrying is now not knowing if it's hamstring, hip or back related!

Will get back on the NHS physio merry-go-round as soon as i can. I expect the back to wear off a bit over the next couple of days, so should allow some jogs until we can get a strengthening!

Walked a couple of miles today, along witha  20min on a stationary cycle, but hey it's nowhere near close to doing a job!

Epsom 10, part two.

First mile in 5:19 and due to the leaders being in view I counted back to 10th. I was soon 9th.

Next two miles uphill and both in 6:00 or rather 5:59...and bits.

Caught and passed another runner at 3 miles and ran by myself for the next six.

Much hillier than I remember, miles 4 & 5 were 6:34 & 6:00. Halfway 29:53.

Mr baldy was still only around 20 seconds ahead but wasn't coming back. If it was who I suspected I shouldn't be too put out. He was one full minute faster than me at Aldershot. That was only 6k.

Mile six, 6:00. What! that's nuts. 4 individual mile splits within 10th's of each other.

Its more downhill now but I'm flagging and my back is complaining. Miles 7,8 & 9, 5:50, 5:56 & 5:55.

Last mile. Starts with a steep climb and I'm caught by another; though much much younger runner. The other guy from Dulwich has really put the boot in and has easily doubled the distance between us from the mile before. You can see the finish area about 4 minutes before you get there. It looks a long way.

Final stretch and I realise that with extra applied pain I can still beat the hour.

Done, 59:43. Or close to that.

Had a word with the V50 suspect.

Confirmed, I'll be going home empty handed.

Ten years ago I did 58:50. So not much of a drop off.

Recovery now. Wolverton 5 mile next Saturday.

SG, fear of losing a very long post made me break it in two.

Shame about Gosport, I had visions of you in the region 75/76 mins. 

Whoopsl, sorry Ric, kind of got in the way of your 2 halves there!

Not a bad time for a hilly sounding course, and less than a min drop off in 10 years into your 50s is pretty good indeed!

SG, hilly course, but relative to Marlow almost flat.

Winner was only 4 minutes up the road on this one. Spoke to the guy who was second, said his name was Darren and unless I heard wrong, said he did 2:29 in Berlin. 

I assume he meant a marathon. 

exactly....if I'd done Gosport today I'd have probably been looking at 2.29 with this tweak