Over 60s training.

Walking into some buildings, it can feel colder inside than out. Bird hides in winter always seem to be like that.

Rain, and more rain to come. Don't you just get fed up with it? Only saving grace is that it could be falling as snow and causing even more grief. All you seem to hear about these days are flood warnings - so worrying for those at risk, poor things.

Am doing the Saltwell 10K on Saturday for the first time. Reputably the oldest road race in Britain. Wouldn't be surprised if TS had done it.

Graham
I hope all will be well for your pending 10k race.

I hope Diana is ok, Hampshire has been badly hit by the floods this  time around.

When will the rain stop falling.   

ceal
Big hug to Betsey.

Ceal - thanks for the link to Correct toes.

Poor Betsy, grommets, tonsils and adenoids all at once: that sounds like a lot for such a little girl to be landed with, - but at that age they do seem to bounce back quickly. Hope you've bounced back from your cold evening.

Busbar - friendly rivalry doesn't get me very far with this club, because all the Tuesday evening regulars are faster than me. But it does make me run faster, just trying to keep up, - or at least, not drop too far behind since they do pause and wait for me every now and then and I don't like to keep them waiting. They're very nice about it, and often somebody will turn and run back to run with me for a while.

Impey - "baby steps" - Julian Goater is in favour of quick light steps; "patter along", he says. It's one of the things I remind myself of if I notice that I'm shambling.

Tracey - not another cold?! - Whisky, honey and hot lemon.

JJ - I don't expect to look as though I'm about to go out to dinner when running, - but I would like to look as though I'm not about to expire!

Aws - I'm not laughing. Somebody in the RC hierachy (Archbishop Nicholls, maybe) was asked: "When you pray for something and it happens, how do you know it's not just a coincidence? He answered "Well all I know is, the more I pray, the more coincidences there are."

I set out running in light rain today, - didn't wear my peaked cap to keep the rain off, as it wasn't heavy enough to justify it and I don't like wearing things on my head - and of course after the first mile and a half it was pelting down. Three times I had to stop and wipe my glasses as I couldn't see a thing. Soaked to the skin by the time I got home.  4.8 miles done, - just ticking over for the rest of 2012, trying to reach the 700 miles, - only 11 to go now.

Been hissing down all day.
Saw a white egret this morning on a local lake. Not a rarity but a bit different.
 
Ceal
Great spot with the date. I will keep my fingers crossed for Betsy.

aws
The Lord moves in mysterious ways   

Columba
That's one mile a day if you want a streak.
JJ

Good morning

4.12M; 54:29.7; 13:13/M; 7°C

JJ - Egret eh? I don't think I've ever seen one in this country. Saw them regularly when we were in France though.

Mick6 - I don't think it's the HDD as all but one of the USB devices were non- functional for a few days and they all came back to rights at the same time. The HDD is a new one I bought recently to substitute for the previous one that seemed a bit iffy at the time but is still working OK and was the only item not affected by the USB outage.

al

Good Morning,
a dry day for a change.

Mick6
I hope your weather has changed for the better so that you can travel in comfort and safety.

Columba
I am just ticking along too, I am finding there is too much to do to really enjoy my runs and relax.

Thanks for good wishes for Betsy. I have no news as yet. I received a text earlier saying that there was not a bed free on the High Dependency Unit and therefore she may not be operated on today. But this was followed shortly later by a text which said that a bed had been found. I have heard nothing since.  

As said above I can't concentrate properly for more than 5 miles at a time at the moment.

I ran down my trail and put a bit of zip into the first 6k, 3.73 miles in 29.36 mins,  
Av pace 7.56 mm, av HR 133, MHR 140

Splits
5.09 mins, 8.19 mm, HR 122
5.02 mins, 8.07 mm, HR 130
4.49 mins, 7.46 mm, HR 134
4.57 mins, 7.59 mm, HR 144
4.52 mins, 7.51 mm, HR 146
4.43 mins, 7.37 mm, HR 151

Then took a 2 min breather and ran easy for the 13.28 mins back home,  1.51 miles, av pace 8.57 mm, av HR 133

Total miles for the session 5.24 miles,

JJ - I'm certainly not thinking of doing a 1-mile-a-day streak, - I have to run for about a mile and a half before I feel I've got into it!

Good Morning,
Major dump of snow with a strong wind, not good. I already have a tree down in my back garden, looks like a chainsaw day when I return. The snow is already a foot deep and I have been out shovelling so the dogs can do their business.

ceal,
Another quality run from you. You are so consistent.

aws,
If you just lot some of your usb ports then it is likely to be a software issue. I find Windows has always been problematic when it comes to dealing with serial ports. I have written code using the OS utilities for driving serial ports and found them flakey in that the resource gets 'lost' and appears hung up to the application. 

Graham,
Good luck with your 10k. Will you be wearing a HRM as I would be very interested in seeing your profile.

A treadmill day for me and at home, way too much snow to go the gym.

Mick

ceal, very good news about Betsy. Must be a relief to you all that it's behind you.

Looks like very wet and windy conditions for my 10K tomorrow. What a surprise. Wouldn't be surprised to find course alterations.

Mick, sorry, I don't use a HR monitor. It's an undulating course so rates would probably vary quite a lot. 

Graham,
Lets hope the rain gets held up before you do the 10k tomorrow,  but it's looking likely that most of us are in for it yet again !   Hence, I am not attempting 5k parkrun and thats why I trained today instead.

Ceal,
That is good news about Betsy.

Columba,
I find, like you,  that I just got to have a longish warmup before getting into the nitty gritty so to speak. When I was in my 60s I can't remember it being that way then, at least I did run faster in the initial miles.
You mention Julian Goater which prompts me to read his book again. There are several salient points worth checking through.  I feel I have lost the way with my running somehow !

A nicer day, no rain and slightly milder, so no need to wear concurve, gloves etc.
Changed the route a little as trails well and truly flooded.  Even the lake gets bigger in size every time I went round there this week.

Total miles ran was 5.3  comprising mile times  11.42, 10.45, 10.18, 10.27, 10.34 and 11.23 pace  for the third of a mile w/down back to car.

Still snowing and the power has been out most of the day so back to basics, propane stove and fire and a log fire. Also back up battery supply for kindles laptops etc. 
Unable to run as no power for treadmill.

ceal,
Good news with your granddaughter and just in time for Christmas.

My 5k race performance this season has been poor, mainly due to my lack of speed work and poor form. I have been comparing the best of my 8 races and one of the worst and would be very interested in your thoughts.

 The scales on the charts are not too important, more the profiles.
First, as you can see in the top chart, my cadence drops in both the best and worst. The best is the yellow one.

The bottom chart is pace and you can see in the best race I started out much faster which accounted for a lot of the time difference.

It is the second chart that I find disturbing. As I try and pick up the pace for the last k, which I do in both cases, my cadence continues to drop but my stride increases.

I am overstriding to get the pace increases.

This is occuring despite me being very aware of my cadence. 

I know if I cam maintain cadence I will run faster. I clearly have the fitness to step up my pace over the last k but I do it by increasing my stride!!!

Any thoughts?

Mick, sorry, can't comment about your graphs but remind me not to complain about our weather again! I hope the situation over there eases soon for you.

Hello

I'm still alive but thought i'd pop in and say so. Afraid not much running has been done. Ok no running has been done. Been busy with work and the later hours always affects my sleep and even on my off days theres been stuff to be done no time for myself.. But know pretty soon i can get back to it. Its not the end of the world is it. .

Though this morning in the rain i cycled home and did my 1000th mile which i was pretty pleased about. Saying i only did about 600 last year i happily take a 40% increase

Be back soon probably before the big day last day tomorrow

Pammie, hi there. As you say, not running for a while is no big deal and maybe a good thing now and again. 1000 miles this year is more than respectable.

I did a very cold and wet Saltwell 10K this morning. Three laps of an undulating course, mostly on paths in Saltwell Park, Gateshead. Feet and everything else absolutely soaked within minutes. Just managed to beat 46 minutes on my watch, but probably just over by gun time. It was tough so pleased enough with that. It felt more like cross-country. At the end they gave out goody bags with a minature whisky and accompanying glass. A bit different at least.

Mick - your weather conditions sound really grim. Are you going to be able to get away?

Seems ironic that the treadmill needs power. All the energy you expend on it, should be able to charge a battery to power it next time. I was at a wildlife centre a couple of years ago, which takes school groups for visits, and they had a hair-dryer powered by an exercise bicycle. One teenager pedalling the bike, the other drying her hair. Then they swap over. 

Ceal - good that Betsy's recovering fast. Did she have "glue ear"?

Hello Pammie, congratulations on the 1,000 miles. I hope your job will allow you a bit of rest after Christmas, or will you then be straight into stock-taking?

4.8 miles early this afternoon, in rain that was not heavy but persistent, so came home wet again. Just over 5 miles to go, to reach the 700. Will do that in London, - off there tomorrow afternoon.

Graham - well done on completing your race. Were there any course alterations in view of the weather? - That was certainly a goodie-bag worth having!

Graham,
Well done on what sounds like a tough race.

Columba,
the weather here has deteriorated further with the wind coming up.  We have 34 cms of new snow and the storm is heading for where we were going so we had to cancel our trip. A bit disappointing as MrsMick6 was looking forward to being with her family.
It was the right decision as we had have just been out to stock up on food and buy ourselves a turkey and we managed to spin out even though we are driving a large 4x4. All the cars here are fitted with snow tyres but it doesn't help in the ice.
At least the power is back and stable.
Enjoy your trip to London, are you going by boat?

I have decided to take a few days off from all forms of exercise apart from snow shovelling, to give my heels some rest. Right now, just walking around, I have no pain at all. After Ceal's toes link I have been trying to engage my toes when I walk and run as much as possible and it does feel different and more importantly it feels right and stronger.

Merry Christmas All
Mick