The Middle Ground

Phil, oh yeah, expect me to deliberately be taking photos at your worst moment on the course!  

Good news on rehab alehouse - slow and steady for now. 

parkrun was very windy this morning so any sub-25 attempts were cancelled and I ran it as a tempo instead, with 5M before and a bit after to make it up to a decent 65 minutes overall. Ran 19'43, effort roughly what I'd run the first half of a 10k in. Judging on those I finished around + the wind, probably worth around 19-flat on a calm day, so happy with the effort I put in a day after a decent day's training the day before. 

CB - what a kind thing to do!  Glad the niggle was just that!

Duck - shame about the duathlon, but good training and parkrun effort.

YD - seems like you're really getting into smack down form for BM and Dewsbury.  I've managed to sell my BM number, just don't feel in shape enough to give it what I think I should.  Will still do Dewsbury though even though I don't think I'll do very well.

Curly - good training and hope you enjoyed the xc  When I got up to gear I could have gone further at that pace and had another gear if I was challenged in the final 100m It was a solid training run really, much like doing a parkrun, but a bit shorter and on the track.  I have a 2 miles one on the track in 2 weeks time, so might give that a bit more effort.  Again though sometimes it depends on the day I've had at work as they are run midweek!  I then have a 5k and 10k on the track, which will be an experience as I've done neither before!

BR at the lovely Bradford parkrun.  It really is a lovely park and as I decided not to do it this morning after a dodgy tummy, I decided to take some pictures instead

Alehouse - Good news on the continued progress.

Duck - Solid session. I hate trying to do anything fast in the wind.

Kelly - I tend to largely stay off the gluten free replacement stuff partly because of cost and partly becuase they tend to have loads of dodgy looking ingredients and I don't think they are all that healthy. I do eat the bread though (can't give up bread!) and occasionally the pasta or something sweet that I can't normally have. Being a veggie I'm used to doing lots of veg based meals so it hasn't been as much of a change as it might have been. I definitely have to think about it a bit more than before though. But that probably means I'm actually eating healthier than before.

13.2 miles this morning, with the last 10k done in just under 40 minutes. Leg felt uncomfortable to start with but fine after 2 or 3 miles. Enjoyable run despite the wind and sleet!

The Duckinator wrote (see)

so happy with the effort I put in a day after a decent day's training the day before. 

One too many days in here! 

Mr V - forgot you were vegetarian. How do you find it getting all the carbs, protein etc you need? I eat vegetarian a few times per week and haven't found it bad so far (I eat quite a lot of beans, mushrooms etc). 

Good effort this morning, strong pace given the conditions.

Hilly - Bradford looks great. Reminds me of St Andrews parkrun's quite a bit. When I first went to have a look at the course I thought "this is what a parkrun should look like!". 

Duck - to me the best parkruns are not necessarily the fastest but the 'proper' parks that arose in Victorian/Edwardian era!  I just love those parks and it's great to see them brought back to life with parkruns!

Mr Viper.. a sub 40 10k without a number on is good going at the end of a longer run!  What's the target at BM?

Alehouse.. good to see you running again despite the sore bits!

Hilly.. sorry to hear you have binned the BM, though I do feel a bit like that myself at the moment - the recent setback has cost me a lot of form (see below).  Good to see the Barnsley crew enjoying the Park Run tourism.  Bradford does look pretty and I remember the pictures at Sewerby looked charming.  I can't join in sadly as I have to be at work by 10am on Saturdays.  I just have time to run the York course, have a breather then jump in the car and off to work!  BTW congrats to you & PRF on the numero uno rankings!

Duck.. I was talking to a couple of guys from Aberdeen at the York Park Run start yesterday.  One of them surveyed the racecourse loop and declared.. 'I thought Aberdeen was flat but this takes the biscuit'!  Good effort yesterday BTW, even if you do need 8 days a week to train! 

Quite enjoyed the Parkrun (cold & dry) though my recent layoff has clearly taken a bit of a toll on my sharpness.  I felt like I was running well but a modest 21:13 told me otherwise!  Typical old codger's problem - it takes you longer to recover from an injury/setback; and longer to get back to where you were!  Oh well, once again onwards & slowly upwards 

1st Anniversary for York pulled in 213 runners which was good to see.

Hilly - Good snaps. Agree its great to see these kind of places being put to good use through parkrun.

Duck - Not too bad. Penty of beans, lentils, eggs and dairy for protein and brown rice, potatoes etc for carbs. I also have a protein drink after hard sessions to aid recovery (hemp or vegetable protein).

Wardi - Target is sub 1.22 if conditions are ok. I often find after a layoff that the first couple of faster sessions are a shock to the system but after that things pick up. Maybe you just needed the parkrun to blow away the cobwebs.

Wardi - after a lay-off I always find that it takes a while to clear the cob-webs out

Viper - nice long run.  How often do you add some kind of variation/ progression to your long runs and when is your target race?

31.6 miles this week from me.  Did a 9 miler at sub 8min/mile pace, which I was really happy with today - I thought it was pretty good considering today is 3 months from my stroke.

Hello all! I'm a long time lurker, often inspired by your training and race reports. I ran a cross country race yesterday and realised, as someone said "well done Simon", that I was next to none other than Simon Edward, so having jumped on him to say hello there it's about time I said hello here. I've also had the pleasure of training with (for which read "some way behind") Philpub, met Curly45, and been to as many different parkruns as prf.

A slow, and slowing, 14 miles for me today, but the day after parkrun and cross country, I'll take that.

Another run binned here after 10 miles of heavy-legged plodding.

MrV - remind me, did your GP diagnose the Gluten issue or was that by some other means?

Welcome TOM!  We're  neally all parkrun fans on here, apart from maybe one or two

20 very hilly miles today and it felt tough!  One or two felt like mountains!  But done and dusted and the miles banked.

just spent a frustrating half day with my net connection down....missed the footy games I'd rushed away from my race to go and see...grrr!

However, the XC race went pretty superbly. 3rd place, a massive surge up the last progressive ploughed field hill with a mile to go taking 3 runners, and just missing out by 2 secs to the guy who normally wins the races by a couple of mins!

One of those breakthrough races I hope!

will catch up with the last few pages soon..sorry to be rude and not reference anyone!

Josh - Good to see you progressing again. Do you have the all clear to slowly build up to your previous levels of mileage? Target race is Brass Monkey half marathon next weekend. Then Dewsbury 10k two weeks later. Usually I'll try and get 2 or 3 fast finishing long runs in during the build up to a half marathon. Alternatively I'll sometimes add one in if I've only managed 1 quality session during the week for whatever reason.

BR -Yes diagnosed by my GP but only after I raised it as a possiblity. It was only after my mum mentioned food intolerances in the family that I did some reserach and guessed that was what it was. Very frustrating for you. Are you convinced its a virus?

Welcome to the other man.

YP - Sounds sensible. Its often tempting to push things but usually wise not to. Hope it heals quickly.

SG - sounds like a good one from you. Is XC usually a strength of yours?

Phil, you're starting to make butchers' dogs look like couch potatoes now.

Duck, 69-72 really felt like 3k/5k pace? That must be good news. Do you reckon you could have kept up 72/lap without the 4' break between sets? If so, I'd agree with the low 4:50 estimate.  I'll join you at Crane Park on the 26th.

Speaking of parkruns, I'm in Sheffield to watch the indoor athletics on the 9th of Feb and am thinking about slipping in either Sheffield or Graves. Any recommendations?

Mr V, a 40 minute 10k in itself must be a pretty decent training run. What pace did you do the rest at?

Wardi, as long as you're moving in the right direction. How is the rib now? Mine was almost healed then I did some 400 pace work on Thursday and it started moaning again

You seem to be coming back well, Josh.

I had XC yesterday which was good fun. It was nice to get out and race for the first time since September and I got a few points for the club. TOM, good to say hello yesterday and well done on beating me Nice to see you de-lurked. Is there anybody that hasn't met Curly? Curly, we were at Cranford yesterday. Hope your XC went well.

Well done on your result, SG.

I did my longest ever run today: 20 miles at 8:05/mile, and I didn't actually find it all that taxing. time to move on to Base Phase II I think.

some good parkrunning (acceptable format and word?) as per usual. Duck and especially Wardi, Hilly et al, I really hope I'm still loving my running like you do your amount of years in.

Josh, misread your weekly mileage as a single run today. I think I'm still thinking about Pantman's run today...a 37miler?! Amazing/bonkers in equal measure! Sensible return for you. After such a healthscare you certainly don't want to invite anything else in through overtraining.

Cracking long one from Simon too, I know that I don't find 16s a doss, so 20s up is hats off fare!

Real couple of good days of running for me. Yesterday I had one of those euphoria moments, just running down some random hill on an easy run, I just thought, this is great, I love it!

And today's race even more so. Mr V, 10 1/2 years after my first race, I still couldn't tell you what my distance or terrain strength is. MacMillan would tell you 10miles, but then I think that has an over optimistic rate to calculate shorter stuff.

I might have some nimble style that suits XC, I'm not entirely sure, but I think the constant changes in paces help me a bit.