Over 60s training.

I can now settle and enjoy the rest of the day.

9.16 miles ran very steadily and slowly in 1hr 26 mins, av pace 9.26 mm, av HR 120, MHR 135. It was a hilly multi-terrain run with pretty equal ups and downs. Job done.

Another good day for medals. Think I'm turning into a couch potato but I did a long doodle walk this morning with some easy running.

Ceal
You mean good job done.

Off to watch tonight's athletics
JJ

Good Morning,

Hurray for more medals. Yesterday watching Ben Ainsley achieving his sailing Gold was SO stressful. Having seen Percy disappointed after only achieving Silver when his match plan backfired I was becoming convinced that Ben could possible do the same, and he very nearly did, if it wasn't for his NZ friend Dan, it could have. But he took a very calculated risk and it paid off. All credit to his nerve.

I thought that the race was shown with excellent presentation (specially with the graphics)  One slight criticism is that sometimes the close shots are too close and the wide ones are too wide, so you can't tell where the competitors are in relation to each other. The graphics help but there have been a number of occasions this week when the camera just needed to pull back slightly to put the boat they are focusing on in context with the closest competitors. I found the commentators on the water rather annoying though. I am not talking about Shirley here.   

Did anybody notice the running style of the Silver medallist (Jeptoo) in the Ladies Marathon? It was a very gangly running style and I would have thought that she was heading at some stage for an injury. But so far she seems just fine. The shots of London town were amazing, showing even more proof that it is a beautiful city.

I was so very pleased for Murray for so very conclusively winning his Gold medal

More stress on the menu today.

Good morning

4.13M; 50:57.7; 12:20/M; 15°C

Funny ol' morning, got  up late, went out anyway, cut run to 4 miles to save some time, stopped G at end as usual but it didn't stop properly and went on recording the time while I went indoors and sat down to take off my shoes - 5min in all before I noticed, so I then had to recalculate the last bit so it wasn't completely out of kilter. Shucks

Ceal - I thought the right arm action of both the first two in the women's marathon looked very awkward.

al

good morning

I am getting very tired watching all the Olympic programmes  -it's a long day - and night!!

Agree with Ceal about the sailing commentators!!

I find some commentators immensley irritating - the pillocks in the rowing races are just appalling with some of the things they say - "your life will be defined by the next six minutes" being the classic crass one so far in relation to Cath Grainger -utter garbage given her achievments already both inside and outside of rowing.
In contrast Eddie Butler, who I normally have no time for as a rugby commentator, did a very moving and revealing piece about the same athlete.

Mark Cavendish has blossomed over the course of the cycling events, overcoming his initial shyness on camera, thanks to the good natured ribbing of Jake Humphreys, another excellent all round presenter. One can almost feel the palpable desire Cav has to be on the track - and maybe 2016 may see him back there.

Thorpe was excellent on the swiming, politely putting the dreadful Balding in her place about her direct accusations about possible doping. The sooner she is retired to horse events the better!!!

The athletics commentators have been very good - very insightful about pressure and performance - and Jackson's pieces about individual events must be quite revealing to the non-follower and even those with a bit more knowledge.

Gymnastics commentators have been very good. Ditto tennis apart from not giving Robson enough credit for carrying Murray in the semi and final 

Loved watching the marathon - it's like a novel (well War and Peace!!!) being turned over page by page on the screen. some very strange running actions on view but they get the job done!!

Talking of marathons I see Ceal is taking her training up to a new level and aws is trying to include sitting down in his training programme 

a short run yesterday was enough to persuade me that was not something I will repeat in a hurry 
Started to get the detraining calf spasms in bed this morning - now that really did hurt!!

oh - one more thing about the Olympics and team GB. I have been impressed by the mental attitude of most of the performers (apart from swimmers!!).
Even those who have failed have been furious with themselves for not taking the opportunity presented by the Games being here but with the medal haul where it is there have been enough doing the job properly!!

Bah, just lost a post.   Try again.....
Watching the Olympics is almost as exhausting as going for a run !  But wasn't Saturday night a brilliant one, with those 3 golds.  Team GB on the whole have done fantastically well already and could soon surpass the 2008 gold haul of 19.  We in Sheffield are especially proud of Jessie Ennis with her heptathlon gold, it ought to be diamond with those 7 disciplines.  A post box near the City Hall has been painted in gold and the council are pondering what to make as Jessie's lasting legacy in Sheffield.  On a previous post I mistakenly printed pentathlon   And how excellent was Mo and also Andy Murray walloping Roger after losing the Wimbledon.

Mick6,
Pity your 5k race was put off, maybe due to the excessive heat as main reason?
Macca was on just too long at end and Marg said she thought he looked like a woman

Ceal, TS, JJ, et al,
Enjoyed reading your posts with all the Olympics comments

Had  a better run this afternoon and managed to even do a sub 10 for first time in 6weeks.  Got to say though it's pretty hard trying to make up for lost time at this age !

Mile laps:-
12.30 xc trail
10.52 trail towards lake.
10.46 lake perimeter
   9.55     "
 10.11    "
 10.33 fartlek on external trail

Wonderful day at the Olympic Park and it's everything we're told about it is true. One of the high points of my life.
If anyone has tickets and wants some hints about travel from the south east and the Park facilities please mail me.

Didn't see any finals but the advantage of seeing the heats is that I've seen every competitor in the 100m hurdles, 800m, women's 1500m, men's discus and women's shot.

Back to the TV.
JJ

Good Morning,

JJ
A great post from you above, I would consider you to be a harsh judge and you have given the Olympic Park a glowing report and I am getting, now, as a result, even more excited about Saturday. I have emailed you.

TS
Sorry to hear that  your little outing was not a success at all. The calf spasms you describe are enough to remind me to keep running, 'cause like you when I have a couple of days off running then they hit me at night too. But there is plenty going on  to keep you occupied for another few days yet so that more healing can take place.  I can assure my training will NOT be reaching the new heights of a marathon. Or cross country unless you can guarantee that there will be  no mud! I heard that Jessica E didn't like mud when she did cross country at school! I have the opposite opinion to yourself about Claire Balding, I think she is an ACE commentator. I thought her question put to Ian T, about the Chinese swimmer, was a way for him to explain about younger swimmers. IMO she was ony expressing what a number of swimming coaches had been questioning. Anyway, we obviously differ in opinion on that one, but it is horses for courses!!

Impey/TS
I think Yorkshire is going to be littered with gold post boxes

Impey
Your running is coming on a treat. I agree with Marge that Macca looked like a woman, his hair looks ridiculous in my opinion. I wish he would grow old gracefully, I also thought it was unnecessary for him to keep fondling his new wife in public quite so often.  

good morning

JJ
glad you enjoyed the day - (he says through clenched teeth as someone who has  been trying to get ticket returns every evening )
It is so good to se  the stadium packed for all the schedules

Impey
you are doing really well to be running so far so soon
Brownlee brothers today - hopefully more gold post boxes in Yorkshire. If the county was an independent kingdom it would be tenth in the medal table!!!!
The organisers have threatened them with disqualification if they attempt to cross the line together - how carp is that???!!!
Pity V Pendleton did not come from round here then she could be queen with my complete blessing

Ceal
calves are now locked solid after another bout last night - the pool beckons!!

Naw C Balding was just being an ass - Thorpe was really sharp in his initial response and then reined it in a bit.
Anyway she was where she should be yesterday - looking at horses - and even they got gold. Well the riders did, what do the horses get - carats???
Nice end to the story for an old guy with a broken neck and replacement hip

Re Macca - reminds me of the old saying - a man thinks he is as old as the woman he feels

Right work to do and then clear the decks.............................................

I have just lost a very very very long detailed post. I am not going to repeat it. I am annoyed too.
It started
TS
 to all the calves.

Then was a long post about my run this morning written at the same time as watching the Tri.

So now in brief and feeling very annoyed with RW.

I ran a session this morning which should have been at 5k pace, but it was faster. I have not done any speed sessions for over 4 weeks now, but didn't really want to lose my medium fast twitch fibres. 

It consisted of 1 mile, 2 x 800, 2 x 400, 3 x 200, 4 x 100. Some jog recoveries and some walking recoveries. All done on my not flat grass football pitch.

The mile pace was 7.14 mins, and everything else faster. best 100 time was 19 sec. best 200 time 43 sec, 400's were both 1.40 mins, and the 800's were 3.30 mins. Highest HR was 157.  

The hardest bit was the mile run back up hill afterwards. The totla mileage for the session was 6.93 miles.

Back to the Tri, much more interesting.

Ceal
wow - that was almost as impressive as the Brownlees !!! Excellent pace through out the various distances - the 100m one look particularly impressive in such a mix.
I did do a full routine of exercises this morning plus achilles and calf workouts so I am quite knackered as well !!
Awful for Goldie in the javelin, appropriate for Phillips in the triple jump, medals in the sailing and then the tri - just an awesome display by both

TS
Thanks, the 100's are easy compared with the rest. I was inspired by the Olympics. More medals to come in the sailing, hopefully, and of course from  the Velodrome, Plus maybe a Dressage one too. I took a peep at the last Brit on his beautiful horse and found it just as stressful to watch as all the other sport.

Yet another day of sporting excellence. It's been a joy to watch.

TS
I had your problem re tickets for the Olympics  but junior daughter was in her office when she heard some young males shouting about some tickets being available for 6th August. She immediately logged on to the ticketing website and grabbed two tickets which she passed on to me. She gets 10/10 for that one.

Ceal
Now that was a very good speed session. Clearly you haven't lost anything. Remember that no-one got slower by doing extra miles!

Columba
I bet the visit is bringing back memories. I guess the old skills are still there!
JJ

Columba,
I liked the "play with me" rather than play with her. 11.8 miles is an impressive distance, no wonder you started falling to sleep, well done.

ceal,
What a great workout.

I have decided to take the week off from running and give my calves a chance to settle down, so lots of biking this week. Yesterday 34k with MrsMick6  and another 30k today, to and from the gym with lots of stretching and rolling when there.
My route to the gym is along a trail that used to be a railway line. As I reached the head of the trail I was feeling a bit down at not being able to run when I noticed a young woman coming down the trail. She looked fit and strong, but she was in a wheelchair. Talk about inspiring, thank you young lady.

Good morning

5.10M; 1:05:06; 12:45.9/M; 15°C

This was going to be a good run, I could tell. However I can't prove it as the G went on the blink after mile 3 and stuck showing a message I couldn't read while running and without my glasses. (That's the trouble with cataract surgery they give you excellent fixed focus vision from arm's length to infinity but closer than that you need reading glasses.)  I got the rough overall time by counting seconds from my finishing point until getting in and checking with the kitchen clock which is radio controlled so is in sync with the G when that runs. When I downloaded the G there was only one mile recorded and I still don't know what went wrong.

al

Good Morning,

I see we have new icons in the area where bold/underline/regular was shown. I have not given them a try yet. But obviously they (RW) were doing that when my long post disappeared yesterday.

I am now totally spent after the late afternoon which was in the Velodrome. I experienced all emotions, from sadness to absolutely overwhelming excitement. That Laura girl is totally mad. What a Gal. I also watched quite a bit of the Dressage and thought it to be charming and graceful and very stressful. Horse and rider seemed to be in the Ring for so long. I kept hoping their time would be over when a British Rider was there, before they made any awful mistakes. Which of course they idn't.

JJ
I managed to text JohnB and give them your travelling advice shilst they were still on the train and they took your suggestion and found it to be great, even getting a seat on the tube.  They thoroughly enjoyed their experience too.

Columba
I have been there, done it, got several  T-shirts, so I KNOW that you are having a wonderful time with Alice. Good mileage run from you, I have run myself around that area and can relate to it. I enjoy running in S London. But haven't done the Thames Path.  

MIck6
Inspiring story. I am sure cycling must be easier on the body than running in your rather extreme temps. I hope the weeks rest does the trick. When do you have more treatment?    

We had maggots in our black wheelie bin, Yuck, yuck. The council collect this bin every two weeks, it is the food waste bin. I think they were a bit partial to the remains of a large Cornish Crab we had exactly 2 weeks ago. Shudder, shudder