Sunday 10th February

Morning

What Wokingham half
Why Assessment race
Lyrics Harmful elements in the air
Symbols clashing everywhere

Have had a bit of an "on, off!" relationship with his race. Race aims are still up in the air so won't be decided until a couple of miles in.

Xinnian hao

(Hope this is right)

Morning.

Hope you get what you want from it postie. I know it's Chinese New Year but have no idea whether your Chinese is correct or not!

Hope anyone else racing today has a good one.

Blisters - it was definitely time in the saddle.

It's raining heavily here and forecast to do the same all day so I think I'm going to retreat to the gym.

What:               maybe a swim/treadie combination
Why:                being a wuss with the weather.
Last hard:        last year
Last rest:         4/2

Lyrics - no.

Morning from wettest Wales and HCNY to all
Lyrics:Yes
What TKD competition (Officiating) and then teaching
Why: Because I have to
Last hard: Week past Thursday
Last rest: Friday

 forgot - yesterdays lyrics were Stormy Weather by Billie Holiday.

Kung hei fat choi!

Lyrics: I know the band, but can't think of the title.

What: watching at cross country league this pm
Why: opportunity to run, and see friends

Wet and cold here: icy rain.

The what turned into 7 miles on the treadie with 1 mile warm up followed by 4 x 1 mile at 13.5kph off 800m recoveries at 11.5kph. Surprised and pleased with that. Quick change and shower and into the pool for a mile - which was faster than I swam it on Tuesday after a rest day - I think I must need a lot of warming up!

Nice bright sunny morning here although still only 3°C and a cool 25mph SE wind (sounds better than most places reading above)

What: "Tesco 5k" (actually 3.5 mile fun run)
Why: it was local
Last hard: Tuesday
Last rest: all this week since Tuesday

Probably the most disorganised race I have participated in. Although there was a final date for entry a week ago, no one would have known if you'd just turned up on the day. No numbers, no times, no visible marshalls. Route as anticipated was longer than 5k. Some of the more elite local runners, runners along with walkers and  motorised wheelchairs. Apparently 67 had entered - I came in 7th, I think (just ahead of a powered wheelchair!) @ 29:19 which is about par for the course for me. After the first few I think there was no one official at finishing line. Still got me out and running after my cold.

AH Enjoy the run and company

PP hope it's an "on" day at Wokingham Half

LM.H sounds as if it's coming together albeit under covers

Good placing there OH - some of those powered chairs can go quite fast

Still good to get out for a run OH, I had the opposite with probably one of the best orgainsed races, especially made by the marshalls today in quite awful conditions...

WET, WET, WET, Meon Valley Plod (21.11m), quite possibly the worst conditions that I have ran in, freezing cold winds, freezing cold rain, freezing cold puddles, freezing cold streams that had overtaken the footpaths, and mud that was over a foot deep in places..... but I loved it.... the splits tell the story - 10:09, 7:57, 7:15, 11:17, 7:53, 9:29, 7:58, 10:26, 8:29, 9:15, 8:45, 13:12, 9:29, 9:51, 9:54, 11:09, 9:48, 12:06, 6:58, 8:32, 8:05, .55, spot the hills rivers and mud against the road sections / down hills..... 12 mins fast than 2 years ago and its now 1m longer too, bonus.... hardest I have had to plod for a medal, the marshalls were truely outstanding today.. it was bad enough running in it.... Great race, cant wait till next year already... racing is not everything, this despite all the elements was still a spectacular race.... thanks to all at PJC and again to all the marshalls..... oh did i mention the hills.... 2, 323 feet of elevation...

Time to warm up now...

When will you find out Tinebeest? Sounds slightly more social than the Kazakhstan position.

Have to agree RFJ - the marshalls make or break a race much of the time.

RFJ sounds like you had a good time with a few stories to tell. You will have well earned a hot bath +- sit by the fireside now

Should add that the Tesco 5k was primarily a fund raiser for Cancer Research UK

evening all, 
RFJ, brace effort - heard similar stories from our club lunatics that did the race today..
what - 8 miles on roads although they were mostly ankle deep in the wet stuff
why - all I had time for: Eldests 15th birthday, so shopping , shopping and shopping. Yeah I know, living the dream...
last rest - friday
lst hard - last week
lyric - yes indeed, great song 

Well the weather happily alternated between terrible and down right mean. Made the decision to leave my bag in my freinds car and walk to the start with a space blanket acquired at London. Had done this before when it worked but not today! Fortunately due to the heavy traffic and full car parks I only had to hang around for half an hour and the field containing the baggage tent resembled the Somme.

As for the race the plan was to hang on to the heels of my freind for as long as possible. This was working well until around mile 9 when I managed to over take him and put a couple of other runners between us. Maintained a reasonable fluctuating pace and passed the odd person on the way. By mile 12 I got into an epic battle with this guy. Every time I tried to take him he sped up a bit. I knew that I had to pass before the final corner which I did so was able to take a decent racing line to the finish. With a sprint finish I think I clipped him by a couple of seconds.

Splits 6:07, 6:16, 6:05, 6:12,6:14, 6:14, 6:09, 6:17, 6:17, 6:21, 6:31, 6:21, 6:05, 0.1 in31.5" (5:44 mpm)

1:21:39 chip time new pb

Oh congrats RFJ sounds like a lot of hard work with a well deserved medal.

Great work, Postie! A lot more to come off that I would hope in better conditions!
And an interesting race RFJ!
Nice position OH.

Whilst I went to the cross country I largely walked: seem to have acquired a niggle in my left foot. Not sure that the foot placement is quite right yet post Achilles.

Well done Tom great new PB

Dustin, I was never more than 20 meters from 2 of your guys, till 18m then they stopped at the CP for food, I just wanted to finish...

Wow, heroic racing there RFJ. I bet that it felt like an awful lot further than 21 miles.

Postie, that new PB is somewhat impressive. On reading the pace notes I have to ask: how far into the race were you before you actually warmed up, all the way down to the finger ends?

Ale, take it steady.

Today, for me, I was relieved to be finding excuses for hiding inside. Eventually it was time to go swimming, and the session was all about focussing on the catch and pull. After the practice drills we were given lots of sets of 100m with 10s rests. Just enough to catch breath. I reckoned that I should just give it a proper go, and pushed hard, managing to almost keep up with the other person in lane 4. Yes I was working at a harder level, but that was manageable (just). Right at the very end one of the coaches had some tips and pointers for me, and that was the only time I got overtaken. A first! Mind you, I do feel like I've had a hard workout.

One other thing I discovered was that the cycle goup had a pile up yesterday. There were several people sporting road rash at swimming. One of the guys had even been unconscious for a few minutes, and the Paramedics had attended. My solo ride in the cold grizzle was a blessing in disguise, because I would definitely have been at the back of the group, and therefore another casualty.

Amazing PB postie, jealous, actively jealous. RFJ's race sounds awesome; I think I might enter more fell/distance things where time is less the 'point' in future.

40.53 at Blackburn Winter Warmer 10k. Hoped today would be the day to crack 40.00, but came off a relatively poor parkrun at Bolton on Saturday (20.15) and was low on confidence. Hilly: rated 2.0 on RunBritain. Got to halfway in 22.01, so I managed to run 18.52 for the final 5k, but it was mostly downhill. Never got into it to be honest and am just looking to put it behind me.