The Middle Ground

YD- S Seb was a bit of a last minute decision. I was supposed to run in NY but it got cancelled so found San Sebastian which was 3 weeks after NY. I absolutely loved it. Very small and strong field. The cut off is 4h30 and out of 3000 runners 600 got under 3h... Not too many women doing it so I got a lot of support from the sidelines.  Very flat and fast course, 3 laps which  is not to everyone's liking but it didn't bother me too much and like you say- amazing food and wine to sample for afters.

Curly45 wrote (see)

Its 6km for girlies, 7.5M for men. Luckily as Lloyd Park is a beast 

 

Phew! I can live with 6km. I think I ran there before but can't remember- isn't it relatively flat?

The parkrun there is pretty hilly, no idea if the course is the same. I think its possibly worse than Reigate was...

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/lloyd/course/

Thanks for that Curly. Sounds fun.

Sounds brill Brolish, I went to S Seb for my 30th birthday / 3rd wedding anniversary and we lived it up big time. Food is such an important part of the culture there, we didn’t have a morsel of bad food the whole time. I can imagine running round the place would be nice as well, it is very pretty. Did you run round the harbour?
Its one to add to the races to try list!

Y D wrote (see)

oyuu

Really?  I'm intrigued.

Oh, definitely not running more miles than I want to!  That would go against the resolution.  Nice 18, by the way.  I like the idea of gently progressing from easy to easy.

Curly, you are sounding fit this season.

Gym.  Must do more and fit it in with everything else.  Why?  I've looked back over what's made running fun and the times when I've been motivated versus demotivated and come up with a number of things to test out.  The primary one which stuck in my mind was going to the gym.  I went quite a bit in the last successful marathon campaign, and managed to enjoy plenty of miles.  So I figure that whether it is purely because of an enjoyment factor, or whether it is because there is something in gym training which combats the depressant, stressful effects that high mileage has on me (and that's high by my standards, not by many of yours), it is definitely worth fitting into my schedule.  I know that I'm not going to return to my gymbody days of younger years, as that doesn't happen whilst you're marathon training.  But maybe the type of exercise still does a bit to combat the purely catabolic effect of long miles.  So not for strength, but for relaxation!

Add to that the fact that at the gym I do tend to work on decent runners' exercises, including plyometrics, work the bits that I don't tend to otherwise such as the abs and back, and spend a decent amount of time stretching, for me I figure it's worth dropping a few miles here and there.

It's just a matter of fitting it all in.  Just as it always is.

The other possibilities to try out I'm going to keep in reserve for now.  I'll see how the gym goes first.

Indeed Curly - Saturday was quite a tough session! My run last night was easy paced and giving the legs a rest today before possibly doing the Netley park run tomorrow. That was actually the first structured speed session I have ever done on my own (with my club we do mile reps occasionally and other speed work but it's not structured in terms of ditances or time taken). It was all largely experimental for me and I was aiming to run at 5k pace. However, with a 10k race at Stubbington coming up on 20th January I may do some mile rep sessions in a weeks time (4x1 mile possibly) and treat the park run tomorrow/or Saturday as a high tempo effort. 

It would be good for some advice actually from anyone what with the races I have coming up and what sort of specific speed and threshold work I should be looking to do. Target races after the 20th (which is more of a B target race) include Chichester 10k (3rd Feb) and the Eastleigh 10k (24th March). All this with the backdrop of the Llanelli Half (3rd March) which I am intending to enter and the Brighton Marathon in April. I guess the marathon could influence the speed sessions a little bit (e.g. longer distances with the reps as it the marathon gets closer?). However, I really want to ensure good PBs particularly at Eastleigh with the priority for Brighton to get round without injury first and foremost after previous experiences, so any advice on specific speed work plans would be great.  

Phil, I'm sure everybody assumed you were running away from some crime.

Curly, I'll probably join you tomorrow. I've never done Kingston and it'll be nice to get a new one in. It does all depend on the hangover though.

Ratzer, careful with those ab machines, they can break a man's ribs.

YD, what's the first day of marathon training going to entail?

WJH, there are better qualified people than me to advise you on marathon training, but personally I think for longer distance events getting in the VO2 max work early is a better strategy. I'm sure you'll run a decent 10k off the back of marathon-specific training, I'd just be wary of focussing too much on the shorter at the expense of the longer. I think I'd rather be under prepared for a 10k than a marathon.

My 2012
30 races
41 parkruns
20 PBs
4 wins on the track
1 parkrun win
Surrey V35 800m Champion
Surrey V35 1500m Silver Medalist

Main regret
Getting beaten by Duck

Happy New Year Everyone

Simon Edward wrote (see)

Main regret
Getting beaten by Duck

Lol

Simon - session today will be, 45 mins of 5 min MP alternating with 5 min HMP, a long warm up and cool down should bring the volume of the whole run up towards MLR length.

WJH – I agree with Simon, and of course it depends on what the main focus is. I wouldn’t taper for the B races and would train through treating the races as a session that week.
General 10k – HM training advice would be to do some longish MP tempos, some Tempos that work your LT, so threshold pace and HMP and do some repeats at 3k, 5k and 10k pace. Just cycle through each of those paces for a while and you will get fitter. You could combine the paces by doing progressive sessions, so progressive tempo starting at MP finishing at 10k pace. Multi paces rep sessions and so on. Do not forget to maintain a long run especially as you are running a Marathon and run some decent slow mileage around this.
However, I would worry about running a Marathon off non-specific training, others may not worry about this, but that’s just me as a novice to the longer stuff.

Simon Edward wrote (see)

My 2012
30 races
41 parkruns
20 PBs

Wow, 20 pbs! How many distances do you race?

Presumably you're not counting the parkruns in the pbs or any first time efforts at a distance? If not that's an even more amazing total!

ps 2013....a fresh year of good racing for you all I hope.

Happy New Year!

parkrun report here, not that I did it! RAN 1k whilst watching but it was a struggle: not with the Achilles but the fact that I am the  most unfit I have ever, ever, ever been. Hopefully there will be no repercussions from the Achilles/calf etc, other than a good telling off from the physio tomorrow.

Future plan is NOT to run so much as to train via run/walk. No rush, but on the otherhand I have only got 366 days to get fit!

SG:  not that I will ever run another PB, but I would count a parkrun as a PB...subject to it having a certified course. If powerof10 says its a PB then that would do for me (ie not 5kMT or 5kNAD).

New Year's resolutions:
- lose at least 12 lbs (i.e. a lb a month)
- be able to run free of injury
- race at least once (a parkrun will do! And I mean race as opposed to run round.)
- enjoy the success of others.
(And, of course, to recover well from the prostate radiotherapy in February.)

-

Aley, yes agreed, parkruns if certifed would definitely be a 5k pb...i was just checking with Simon as he'd split parkruns out separately to races...

I'm off and rolling this year, a 14miler with an hour alternating in 10min chunks between HMP and Steady. Funny how steady, which is 6.30+ pace felt like strolling in comparison!

Happy New Year everyone. I have read back but commenting is a bit beyond me at the moment!

First run since Christmas Eve today - a gentle 6 miler to start the year off.

Happy New Year

Saw loads of the crew today as it turned out which was awesome! Also ran 12 miles:

3m wu @ 8:30 during Bushy parkrun, strides, 1m steady (7:56), 1m HMP (7:05), 1m steady (8:14), Kingston parkrun including: 1m HMP (7:08), 1m steady (7:54), 1m HMP (7:09), cd

Phew! Good way to get a session in and see loads of clubmates as well as MGers though

Stevie I dont see why you cant count first time at a distance as a pb?

Alehouse good news - hope no reaction from your 1k run!

CB first run since Xmas eve tutt

Happy new year everyone. Thanks for the advice Simon and YD. Will defnitely take this on board...I certainly like the idea of progressive runs...tempo type runs are arguably my most enjoyable sessions as it is. 

Ran Netley this morning after over indulging last night...my time was 20:36 but as noted previously this course is possibly up to a minute slower than a fast flat course (an extra incline was added today too with the course running adjacent to the shoreline again). A good workout for New Years Day but faded over the last few kilometres to finish in 19th. That said, one or two local runners who finished just ahead have got sub-40 10ks so hoping i'm on track for this year. I need to shift a few pounds though and I am sure that will help too. PS - PRF did you double up on Southampton and Netley? 

Good double run this morning by the looks of things Curly! And well done on the 1k today Alehouse and some good new year resolutions as well. Good way to start the new year with a run on New Years day too CB and Stevie G! 

You must have seen BR, Hilly and PRF then WJH! Good running in tough conditions - sounds like the course has changed since I did it and it quite complex with lots of passing now. The trio reckoned it was quite a slow course today.

I'd agree with the advice given so far - train for the marathon - run the rest. You'll probably pb anyway from the increased endurance

Alehouse - good effort and commitment from you.

Duck - what is it like being a coach?  I would love to coach someone but I am not sure I have enough experience or knowledge yet.  Probably could help someone get down to under 1:30 for the HM though

I was aware of them being there from reading this thread! Hope they enjoyed it....for me, it's just a good workout with a bit of everything thrown into it...allbeit on a very scenic course! I have seen a couple of Barnsley Harriers on the results. It could just be that BR overtook me on the 1st incline of the 2nd lap with me passing again later on? Not so sure and probably making assumptions there (this was also my best effort on the day too). Would have obviously said hi but can't put names to faces. Hopefully you are right Curly...feeling positive about the next few months. 

Alehouse – good work on the 1k, and good luck with the 2013 aims

Similar session to me today Stevie, see bellow

Curly – nice mix of paces across two parkruns, did you run between there gaps? Agree though, an excellent way to get quality training in while being sociable.
How come you saw Dr Dan, was he at parkrun Mecca?

Hope you haven’t been ill CB, good that you are running again.

WJH – Curly is right, general mileage increase will get you PBs, though progressive tempos are great. Experiment a bit and work out what works for you.

13.30miles for me this afternoon.  Session breakdown: 5.04m warm up – 45 minutes of alternating 5mins@MP with 5mins@HMP – 1.12m cool down.

45 min effort section came out at: 6:25/m, 6:11, 6:22, 6:08, 6:28, 6:06, 6:28, 6:06, 6:31.
Hard work that lot, started the MP bits too fast and got slower with the other way round for the HMP bits. Should help with Brass Monkey though.

YD, i know that little session well, a real doozy. .

Using MP in effect as a recovery certainly makes it a challenge

heck of a long warm up though. I thought my 3.5 was enough.