The Middle Ground

That must be a very useful skill for the end of playtime at school BR. 

Good effort on the track Hilly, 100m gap is a lot to catch up!

10m today & bashed out 12 x 400m in the middle to give my improving ribs a workout.  No ill effects so back to normal service methinks.  Haven't been able to do a Park Run since early December but I think I will make my return at York this week - it's their 1st anniversary apparently. 

Jeez, Phil - your 11 miles was at a quicker pace than my 3000m last night. You're on fire.... 2:34:56 here we come

I would describe BR's wrist action last night as excitedly vigorous - the man was in his element

Just had a look at that Yorkshire Marathon website.  It has a course map (which it says at the bottom is subject to change) and I've read on other threads that to say it is flatter than Berlin or London is stretching the truth a little.  Perhaps Wardi or YD can shed light on this?

Also, there is no information confirming road closures, and no information about the frequency and nature of drinks stations.  Nor is there any information about sweep buses or on-course support.  None of these are minor details.  Very nicely designed website but at the moment tending more towards show than substance.

Morning all. Good MP run Phil. Regards VLM being earlier - given that a lot of participants don't start running until January, is there a link between how early the marathon is and the number of DNF's?

Binned run this morning. Managed 200m in the sleet but had a twinge in my thigh that didn't feel as if it was going to run itself off. So I snuggled up in my down jacket and waited for someone to unlock the school gates.

Morning all!

Top race winning to Hilly with some solid tactics. How did you feel as you got up to pace in the later laps? Like there was more to come lurking under the surface?

PRF so how did your race go?

Phil ouch to the niggle (I have that at the moment too - it gets worse when I cycle too hard too much - I'm sure the set-up on my bke needs looking at).

Great mp run though - wow for this stage in the game you are flying!

Sorry about the abandoned run CB

10.5m for me yesterday @ 8:44, about to go out in a short while for 7 with some strides before tomorrow's very chilly XC. Simon are you still coming too?

Wardi good to hear your rib is progressing nicely

Any news from Alehouse this week about how recovery goes?

Phil – that’s some impressive tempoing! I think reigning those horses in might be the order of the day, or finding a Feb Marathon! (am I starting to sound like TR with his Matches?)
No seriously, that’s a great pace to be churning out at this time, a sub 6 min mile Marathon is a serious milestone, pipe dream stuff for most runners.

Tactical races are great fun Hilly.

I now understand the campanology comment on facebook BR!
As for the Yorkshire Marathon, I am sure someone somewhere mentioned there is an elevation profile for the route, maybe on map-my-run. Anyway, the comment was that the route had a little bit of gentle undulation around Stamford Bridge and then back into York. That sounds about right from my memory of the area (its wrong side of York for me to be sure though, same for  Wardi I think)

Enjoy the anniversary Wardi!

Hope its nothing serious CB

Good mileage Curly

Sounds like prf is knuckling down to some graft now

14.06miles for me last night. Me and a buddy ran in the country with headtorches on, undulating route, pretty cold and wet (two pairs of gloves and my fingers still went Yellow!!) run on tired legs. Run didn’t feel smooth or all that easy, but the HR data is good, 132bpm / 67% average for 7:50/m, even better when the after a first two miles and high HR readings (poor contact maybe) the bulk of the run was done under 130bpm.

The down side is, I had a crappy nights sleep last night and I have woken up this morning with a snotty nose and a dry throat. Its ok to run on I reckon, I hope it doesn’t get any worse though, feel like I am running into some nice form for Brass Monkey and Dewsbury!

cb - Hope it's just a twinge!  In all seriousness, if I had the choice I'd prefer VLM to be late March/early April, just because there would be less chance of it falling on the first hot day of the year.  I'm sure we'll be fine though!

Curly - 7 miles the day before XC is keen .  Must be marathon training.    I may be trying out a new glove strategy tomorrow, lobster mitts for the warm-up, then merino wool thermal liners for the race so that the lobster mitts are still dry for the cool-down.  Sorted.

YD - Hot lemon and whisky for you!  I've had a very satisfying training week, a few more like this and I'll be confident about not burning out.  On the other hand I'll be protecting it with a break from LRs this weekend, a long bike ride planned for the day after XC.

Curly - Good luck with the XC, it is looking like a chilly one this weekend so gloves all round I reckon.

Since you asked my 3,000m was a solid run in 11:03, compared to 10:05 in Sept. I'm actually pleased enough with that and was able to wind the pace up towards the end to end at about 5:20 pace.

Oh, and I'm now ranked No.1 in the UK

As is Hilly

I'm going for a No.1 ranking over 2 miles in a couple of weeks time now.

YD - How cold was it up there? I must have been out at roughly the same and it was positively mild. It sounds like the stuff under your bonnet is ticking along nicely even if there are some strange fluids coming out of your outlets.

I take it you're referring to my 20 miles in 2:50:43 last night as 'graft'? It was actually one of my easier recent runs so really enjoyed it.

prf – I ran a point to point route in a North East direction, so we were facing the North Yorkshire Moors with all the nice weather coming off it pretty much the whole run. I think the temp was close to 0 + rain + wind chill factor = not pleasant conditions.

Phil, I am drinking Green Tea, stuffing my face with grapes and the hot toddy is on order!

Just gave away a pair of running gloves to a big issue seller. I figured her need was greater than mine.

Thigh seems to be loosening up a bit now. MIght try a gentle run tomorrow morning.

Well done on the rankings PRF and Hilly

Phil – Cracking pace. Exciting stuff!

YD – Hope it’s a brief illness, don’t want you off form for BM and Dewsbury. With regards Yorkshire marathon I’m told its definitely not as flat as billed, though I don’t think anything too bad.

Curly – Good luck with the XC.

BR – All good points. I suppose the website has only just gone up and they’ve got the best part of 10 months to go though. So they have plenty of time to make that information known.

Wardi – Glad the hip is sorted. Hopefully will see you at BM then!

 I did an easy 10k last night. Leg felt relatively ok if not quite right. Pace was 7.35s – amazing how a couple of days off takes 30 seconds off easy pace. Randomly decided to take my heart rate today. Came out at 46. It’s usually 54 (though a while since I last took it) Any ideas why that might be?

Interesting to hear of the popularity and hype of the first York Marathon. I can't remember or not whether it was from this thread or being told by a friend that there was going to be a marathon initially in Newport, but this was cancelled due to difficulties in organisation, etc. Don't know too much details about that though. Some of the replies on this have got me realising all the logistics that are required for a marathon to be safe for all runners as well as a success.

Sounds like a fun run last night YD what with headlamps and all...

Well done on the rankings PRF and Hilly.

Great marathon preparation PP.

Good to see things are improving with the ribs and training has resumed Wardi.

Hope the thigh is just a minor complaint CB and that you can resume training. Same with your niggle too YP.

More decent training from you there Curly too and good luck with the XC tomorrow.

Hoping for another Parkrun blast this weekend - probably at Southampton again, this time I will be hoping to improve my pacing on previously.  

This week has been faily good. I like to mix things up with some treadmill sessions and did a 4 mile 10k paced effort with warm up and warm down on Tuesday, a medium long run of 12.63 miles on Wednesday (10th and 11th miles at MP) and a steady 4/5 mile run last night which averaged out at 7:35 m/m. This felt very comfortable, breathing in particular despite having rather heavy legs. At the moment, I am hoping my form will lead me to a 40 minute 10k at Stubbington Sunday week as previously noted - sub 40 at this stage might be overly optimistic particularly due to the undulating parts of the course.

Hey, all this hype works ...  I've entered the Chester marathon. I think York is full (for now).

PRF ....number 1!

Get well soon YD.

Looking forward to seeing some of the crew at BM next week.

I've just run a 5M handicapped race on the canal (organised by Brian.) in 34:50, bringing up 61 miles for the first 7 days of 2013's training. HR suggested it was HMP effort ... but I couldn't have managed another 8.1M!!!

prf (great points, hadn't considered many of them before), BR.... if the Aberdeen marathon plans ever come to fruition can you come up here and organise it? You could call it the "Oil City Marathon" or somesuch.

Nice racing by you and Hilly at the 3k last night. And bell ringer BR of course.

Hope your niggles get better YP & Mr V!

I spy some good training from YD & Wardi as well - nice going guys. YD your pace:HR is pretty impressive! 

Had another good track session today - 2*4*400, 60s rec between reps & 4 mins between sets. Now how's this for pacing:

72.9, 72.8, 72.0, 71.6, 70.9, 70.4, 69.8, 69.0

Felt good, more like a decent 3k/5k session in feel than a mile paced one but I'm confident off this session I can run a low 4'5x mile right now as I was really recovering well in just 60 seconds. 

Bit of news: due to snow concerns my duathlon has been postponed to a date I'm not sure I can do anymore  I'll probably do a hardish tempo in its place, but I was quite looking forward to it (honestly). 

Also, for YD & Mr V, I've decided I'm going to be in London the weekend of the 26th, so I'll have to come sample your parkruns another time (which I do fully intend to do). Looks like I'll do Crane Park the Saturday morning before watching the XC in the afternoon, before flying home the next morning to run our rescheduled Fetch Mile at 2pm. Phew 

WJH - That's a solid combination of training there.

MrV - No idea on HR.  You're not just getting fitter are you?  I've not taken my RHR for ages but I'm sure it can vary by a few beats according to conditions. (8 beats is quite a difference though.)

Duck - Very nice session, excellent pacing.  Shame about the duathlon, but good to hear you're coming to see some of us southerners suffering muddy torture. I haven't done it since Ronnie O'Sullivan beat me five years ago!

Phil – Hopefully yes! Although I do wonder if its connected to giving up gluten. If I was effectively poisoning myself all the time (that sounds somewhat over the top doesn’t it!) then I guess it could correlate to a higher heart rate than I should have had?

Duck – Frustrating for you  Good session today though

Dan – Sounds promising. I reckon 2013 will be your year!  

MrV - yes lower HR indicates increased fitness due to consistent training / cutting out the irritant.

Curly, and Curly's thread:  recovery update...the last week has seen progress, although not without some downsides! Last Saturday walked for aroun 2 hours at parkrun then county xc. Probably too much as the legs ached a little on Sunday, but not the Achilles. Tuesday was 5 x 400 very slowly (was doing the recovery jog when some of the club were doing 5 x 1200...couldn't keep with them, although didn't try to): shins and ankle joints were very sore. Last night 2 x 800, again with sore shins and ankles. Tonight: 6k walk, and then shin on my good leg niggled. Overall moving in the right direction: need to loosen up the ankles though.

Some good training going on, but be very careful those who have calf niggles: that is exactly how my Achilles problem started.

I booked a room at one of the York Travelodges for the evening before the Yorkshire marathon: £27. Should have booked ALL the rooms and made a killing: they are now £94 to £113!

Anyone doing / keeping up with this lot? http://app.strava.com/challenges/run-base-mile-blast-2013 Some nutter miles. Mate Ben has clocked up almost 200m in Jan; how long is that sustainabe? 40 hilly miles in Tenerife last week now sees me at the physio, with evil thumbs being applied to plantar fascia and calves, so languising around 450th with a measily 60m