The Middle Ground

Enjoy your last day before xmas Curly! Shame you didn't get the job you were looking at, it looks quite interesting! 

Your comment about the mental side of running is interesting. I do think mental staleness can lead to not getting enough out of the sessions or races that matter, and if, physically, you feel in a bit of a rut then that follows on from it as well. 

I think refilling of mental strength does come through enjoyment although as well often via those races that just come out well which you weren't expecting. I'm really looking forward to my duathlon as a means of trying something new with little pressure on, haven't been able to race much recently in the lead up to christmas, what with work being very busy, which had lead to sometimes slacking off elsewhere. 

tg - not a subscriber but I do like RT & the articles they produce. They posted up a good 70mpw marathon plan a while back - now that would be good to have a thread following  

Ratzer, on the surface it looks like a pretty good year to me, if you can do that with somewhat inconsistant training and not improving as you would like then things must be ok really 

Mr V, given how much you've spent you had best break the WR! 

Did 7M this morning at a pretty decent clip - i.e. probably a bit too fast  but felt much better (and much quicker) than the 9 on Thursday so I think I may be recovering from a bit of a dip in form. I have January 2nd off which is the traditional 'Detox' 10k (if anyone remembers I ran pretty much my best ever 10k performance there last year), having said that 10k is probably beyond me right now (even racing 5k is a struggle) so will probably tempo it or pace someone instead. So looks like there will be 4 races in the next 2 weeks at this rate (3 parkruns & proms 3k). This is the last big block of endurance training before I get more specific. 

Merry Christmas, Middle Ground!

I'll see you before next year...

Yes Merry Christmas all, hope you have a lovely day tomorrow and for many are able to get a run done!  I'm doing Hull parkrun, then will indulge in Christmas food.

No running for me tomorrow I am afraid, I have picked up a niggle at the top of my calf/back of the knee. I don’t think (hope!!!) its anything serious, the muscle just gets achey then stiff after a few miles. I binned a mile repeat session on Friday, had Saturday off then did a test 30 min jog yesterday. It was fine for 20 or so minutes then started to tire/ache a bit. So I have decided to have two full rest days and I will have a test run on boxing day. Hope it’s ok, I have a 10k on Sunday, but will miss that if need be, bigger picture and all that.

Welcome to tommygun, our times and targets are pretty similar some should prove interesting to compare progress.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Merry Christmas all!

I confess I am already eyeing up some running bargains in sales and spotted this on wiggle: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/skechers-gorun-shoes-aw12/

Anyone know how they fit?  I am 9.5 in Wave riders and in Adizero Adios 2s

Happy Christmas!

Nice Christmas present to yourself today, Duck:  well done! And well done today, Hilly, too. And anyone else who raced or trained today. Managed to get some walking in when watching South Manchester parkrun. Can't wait to be running, though!

Josh, you know those shoes that fat lasses wear expecting them to tone up their backsides? Well they look like them. No idea if they are any good or how they fit. I always thought you were an Adidas man? Brooks Green silence are available for ??30 from spoetshoes. They are good trainers, especially at that price.

Happy Christmas to you Alehouse. You seem to be walking plenty these days, any plans on your first run?

YD: aim to have a little run on the 1st, if not before. Don't tell the phys though! In fact may up last week's 4 x 60 metres slooow tomorrow to something like 5 x 75 metres, within a 3k or so walk.

Your secret is safe with me Alehouse

Morning everyone and happy Christmas all round 

Josh, no idea about Sketchers at all. Adidas's Adizero range is decent if you run in the brand already.

YD, hope the niggle is nothing more than those random aches and pains runners get every so often. 

Yeah don't worry Alehouse, we'll keep the secret safe  

Christmas was rather good  on Christmas eve last year I nabbed my first ever second place in a parkrun, and a year and a day later I went one better and took my first win  

18'33, k splits 3'40/3'45/3'45/3'46/3'35 (9'19/9'14 split) to win by 4 seconds. Felt good all way round and was still talking with 600m to go (albeit in short sentences). It was essentially a 4.5k run, then a 500m race into the finish (which I was never going to lose). Really promising that I can run within 25s of my pb that comfortably. 

I got "Essentials of Exercise Physiology" so hopefully I can hold a discussion with Ratzer now  

Hi tommygunn. I've had alook at Running Times in the past. It is certainly a lot more respectable than RW, whose articles are usually a bit of a joke.

Ratzer, the summary makes it look good because it was a good year. I doubt very many runners get in the training they plan to. That's why we have the BS calculator.

Duck, well done on your first parkrun win. Excellent stuff. A decent time too. Who were you talking to with 600 to go? I hope it was fighting talk.

YD, hope it's nothing too serious. Have you tried stretching? Didn't you say you never stretch. I definitely notice niggles occur more frequently when I don't.

Josh, why on earth do those shoes have a giant rocker in the middle? They look like another stupid gimmick to me. I'd steer well clear until you see all the elites wearing them.

Alehouse, I may spill the beans depending on how much booze I need to get me through visiting the in-laws today. I look forward to hearing running reports in the near future.

Took the missus for her first parkrun at Bushy yesterday. Her goal was sub-35 and all was going really well - in fact she was getting progressively faster and taking people out up until just over 3k then a dreaded stitch struck and we had to walk/jog the rest, but a very brave finish from her in agony. I suspect our warm up wasn't sufficient (my fault) and thinking about it she has never really run in the morning before. Anybody have any tips for stitch avoidance? We're going to have another bash on Saturday.

My rib seems to have gotten worse and worse. I can't do any core work now and running above about 8:30m/m gives me grief. I blame Wardi for mentioning ribs in the first place. Thanks, Wardi. How's yours?

I managed to put on 5 pounds overnight. Anybody beat that?

No idea why Adidas has a link in my last post... I didn't put it there! Edit: and this one! I had better get some commision :P

Simon, 5lbs is impressive overnight! Nice going at Bushy for Mrs Simon, for stitch avoidance I just make sure I don't take anything onboard with less than an hour or so before I run and I'm ok. Depends on the person though I suppose.

Your rib sounds a nightmare! How long do they normally take to heal?

I ran with Michael Barker (17.44 pb, you met him when we went to the mens mara). It was fighting talk! Basically trying to disguise how hard we were working!

nice win Duck, sounds a big finish, a proper race there!

Simon, Unless i only remember your lowlights, you seem to have had a right bag of bad luck and ailments this last 6months, here's to a better 2013 old pal!

Had a little 5k myself today. Non park run 5ks seem pretty rare my way, and I first did the Aylesbury 5k in 2008 for 25th in 17.57.

It's taken me 4 years to get back there, and today was a 17.29 for 6th effort.

Nice course, but way too undulating and surprisingly windy in places for any kind of pb effort. Sometimes you have to be satisfied with purely knowing you've worked as hard as you could on the day.

2013 really needs to see a 5k pb though...2010 and 17.10 are my record. Might have to get desperate and drive to my beloved south coast for one of their magical fast courses

Nice parkrun win Duck and well done on the 5k Stevie.

alehouse - good walking and nice to hear you're thinking of a run soon. 

Simon - I'm no expert on stitches,  but did she have breakfast beforehand?  I find eating too close to an effort will produce a stitch, also if it's windy then sometimes gulping in too much air otherwise it could just be down to breathing a bit harder than normal during a run when not used to it.

Hope your rib feels better soon!

I did Hull parkrun yesterday and was a bit disappointed not the break 20 minutes.  I felt I was running at the effort required, but it turned out the be slower than the last couple I have done.  I guess doing a parkrun on the Saturday, 18 miles on the Sunday and another 11 miles on Monday wasn't really going to allow me to hit sub 20 on Tuesday, but I gave it a go  I was still first female over the line on Christmas Day though 10 miles this morning with PRF and BR at a speedy 9:38 min/miling is moving the training along nicely.  Still a way to go to be back to normal mileage, but 2 weeks of 50 miles now is a good start.

YD - How's the niggle? It looks like just about everyone who was looking to do Ribble Valley on Sunday have dropped out for one reason or another. So, considering that I havent entered yet I may switch to the more local EOD Ward Green 6 instead.

Alehouse - The 1st should be interesting. Hope it isnt too ouchey .....

Duck - How are you going to top that next xmas now?

Simon - well done on the new parkrun convert. In terms of stitches, I think they are just one of those things that come about for new runners through undergoing an alien new activity. Certainly the incidences of stitches being brought up in conversation as people get a bit more mileage under their belt dwindle away.

What better way to defeat the stitch problem than more parkruns!

Stevie - Nice strong Boxing Day effort there. Plenty bullshit factor seconds to come off that time by the sounds!

 

As Hilly mentioned it was 10.0 miles @ 9:36/mile this morning, a perfect boxing day relaxed outing in great running weather.

I have no idea how we ran exactly the same course, starting and finishing shoulder to shoulder, both measuring 10.01 miles, and yet I ran 2 secs/mile quicker than Hilly. That sounds like the start of one of those O-Level maths questions.......

parkrunfan wrote (see)

Stevie - Nice strong Boxing Day effort there. Plenty bullshit factor seconds to come off that time by the sounds!

A classic for them  Couldn't believe i could also use my recent race favourite of wind either

Merry Christmas everyone albeit a belated one from me. Some great training going on as usual and good results.

Nice enjoyable long run by the sounds of it Hilly and PRF.

Good park running Stevie G and Duck....good win for you too!

Hope the niggle has cleared YD.

I was in London on the weekend and like you Simon, went along to support my partner in running Bushy Park. My partner has almost identical aims time wise to yours with her PB being 35:03 achieved in Cardiff a few months ago. It was great to go along as a supporter and see things from the other side like that. Conditions were dire and looking at the results, just over half the normal turnout was in attendance on the Saturday. Her final time in was about 37 minutes but it was a good effort for her in that it was the first time she got round without stopping so I am proud at her for that!

I managed a total of 26 miles last week, 7 of of these were round Bushy Park and surrounding area on the Sunday at a relaxed pace of just over 8 m/m with a further 5 back in Gosport that evening. I decided to experiment with the last mile by going as hard as I could and managed an effort of 6:14 m/m. The aim of this was to see the sort of pace I could run at when feeling a bit fatigued...so I was very satisfied with this effort. No running since then what with Christmas, the travelling from Gosport, Winchester and to Cardiff and many other priorities taking hold but hoping to get out tomorrow. Was hoping I'd get out today with my mates local running club for an easy jog but realised I'd forgotten to take my trainers back to Wales with me...so a trip down to Sports Direct it was earlier to buy a stop gap pair which will serve as casual footwear once I am back down on the south coast next week. Desperate measures for sure but this was meant to be a decent mileage week what with time off work. In saying that, I guess a break for mind as well as body over the last few days is something which can be easily overlooked. However, I also have a fair few pounds to shift after the last week or so.....

Evening!

So what counts as a "run"? Today saw 3k or so walk including 5 x80metres slooow with 20 metre walk breaks. Personally would never count it as a run: when I "streaked" for a long time the minimum run was a mile. So that wasn't a run, just another step in the right direction. And weight is a bigger issue here: having not run since last January 5th I have put on rather more than Simon's 5lbs. More like 15 to shift to get back to where I was last new year.

StevieG: looking forward to the sub 17 next year. The more parkruns you do the better chance of breaking it, apparently. (Would be good to be able  to run 5k )

Thanks WJH and Aley, but today wasn't a park run  But yes, might have to sample a few...

For all our little moans and stuff with races, we often forget just being able to run is the main thing...hoping for a swift return to full capacity for you old son.

Thanks, SG,  it is only lately that I have had the perspective of "We often forget just being able to run is the main thing".
I'm not sure that the return to full capacity will be wither swift or full, though! (And less of the "old son", thank you! Mind you it does help with the WAVA tables. And I think it is around 372 days to the next age group!)

Was also just commenting on parkruns (rather than today's effort) as they coincide with your target distance. There seem to be rather a lot of them now!