The Middle Ground

Hmmmm, a snowy BM might be interesting. It's the predicted wind that is most worrying.

Cold cold cold this morning but the pavements were mostly clear of ice, so 5.3M commute from kids's school to work. Today will be the 3rd double commute of the week ... I'll try for a 4th tomorrow to bring up 41 miles in 4 days ... and then rest Fri and Sat.

Nice progress Alehouse

If you're chatting at 10k pace Curly then you need a race to reevaluate paces!

Some tough hill sessions going on.

Double yesterday with some promising speedwork in the morning (helped by sliding along some of the reps!)

3 miles this morning with some drills. I'm trying to make the skipping look less camp!

Curly - yes we have a book the size of a telephone directory, a centenary history of Holmfirth Harriers.  In the future I'd like to record the history of Barnsley Running. 

`Barnsley Running by a Barnsley Runner' has a nice ring to it.

To that end, the females in our midst might be interested to know that the Barnsley 6 was the first major road race in the UK to allow women to compete, back in 1975.  The Barnsley Road Runners fought to get the rules changes to allow this.  Always at the cutting edge of progress and enlightenment this end.

Calf not too bad.  Just a constant drain of energy, like post-viral fatigue.  Hey-ho,

Hang in there BR.  Good work on the running history; we have an official club archivist on our committee. 

I had another of what will be my regular mid-week pre-duathlon exercise bike tempo sessions at lunchtime, 60 mins incl. 2 x 20mins efforts. I've started comparing HR stats and it looks promising, max HR for the two sections both 4 beats lower than for the same settings (level 10, 100rpm, ~240 watts) about five weeks ago (which was actually 2 x 15 mins, so even better).  Still amazed at the discrepancy between HR/PE compared to running; max HR for the whole session was 149 (73% max) but felt like I was working pretty hard.  Resistance up a notch next time I think.  7 miles easy this evening.

As Phil says weather down here is fine at the moment...however, things not looking too good for Dulwich parkrun on Sat...

Hope it gets better for the BMers!

Not sure about PE, PP, but you use less of your body on the bike, and apart from heading uphill you carry less weight, so HR is usually about 10bpm lower than running for equvalent effort.  Still, equivalent effort should feel like equivalent effort!  Starting to get a bit jealous of your logs, but I haven't been able to find the lectrobit of my HR band, and it hasn't really become a craving.

Weather, urgh, be careful BMers.  Glad I wasn't on a bike today.  Had to shuffle down some parts of the road where the sun couldn't get to, where usually I'd be opening up a bit.  Even the track last night was spikes or watch your footing!  Good, quick session, 2x350, 2x250, 2x150 with a lot of lactate built up in the last two.  That meant today's miles were on tired legs, which was the aim.  15 and some midweek miles, at a strangely brisk pace that felt right, slightly sub 8m/m.

Sounds like a good run Ratzer and the midweek long is looking pretty chunky nd pacey already

12.4 at just sub 9 min/miles for me this evening. Blimey my ears were cold... still nearly took my gloves off though

Wardi, theres a half at Isle of Axholme in September I think. I did Swinton 10M last year (think that was September too). There are also halves at Macclesfield and Fleetwood (late Aug?).

Loving lurking btw.

Curly – Good distance there. I know what you mean about the ears!

Ratzer – Well done on the fast session. I bet you needed a fairly aggressive warm up to get the muscles in a state to hit those quick reps!

Not liking this cold weather at all! Could not get warmed up on last night’s run at all. Anyway managed to find a ¼ mile stretch of road that was ice free and not too many cars on it. Used it to do 5 x half mile reps and 7 miles in total. Didn’t hit the pace too hard but happy just to keep ticking over.  

Brrr! - It's not often I wear a fleece and a jacket in the morning but at least I was wrapped up enough to brave the walk/bike commute and not chicken out with the DLR option.  Well done me! 

I'm planning on another decent MP session this evening while the pavements are still dry.  Really feel like I'm ahead of the game at the moment, so won't be too worried if there's a little disruption to the schedule.  Then there's always the treadmill, and with the new machines in the gym I'm no longer limited to 16.0kph...

Brian. ... come out of hiding.

Nice pipe-cleaning MrV ... you should be firing on Sunday!

Well done Phil. We Northerners are used to cold weather. I ran in just my shorts this morning.

Ratzer ... you are quietly getting very fit again!

My 4th consecutive double commute day is half done ... work schedule means I will have to cut back to 3 per week from next week, but hopefully with 2 lunchtime runs on Tues & Thurs. So, hopefully I'll have 120 miles in my legs for the 2 weeks leading up to BM ... 115 of them have been slow. After BM recovery, I'm hoping to use Tues and/or Thurs lunchtime sessions for some subLT work in the build up to Snake Lane 10.

Notice re. the Brass Monkey on the Knavesmire Harriers site..

The weather forecast over recent days has continued to fluctuate and today appears to record a slight improvement, but more snow is expected over the next 48 hours. YKH are closely monitoring the situation and taking appropriate actions, which subject to acceptable weather conditions, will allow the race to take place but only under safe running optimum conditions; BUT at this time (Thursday 6.00pm) there is No guarantee.

On Saturday (early pm) we plan to have a discussion with the BBC (Leeds) weather forecasters who will produce a detailed forecast for York on Sunday am. This will allow us to take a “fact based” decision which will then be posted on our website.

So there we are.  If the predicted snow arrives Friday PM and through Saturday it is a matter of how safe and navigable the course is.  Around here if there is a lot of snow the main roads get cleared at the expense of the country lanes as a rule.  Not to optimistic meself but fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the race suggestions, I guess some of the dates haven't been decided yet hence the races not appearing on the fixture lists.  I must admit I had never heard of the Isle Of Axholme so thanks for that.  I really must get out more!

10m today inc. 4 x 1k @ 5k pace, 1m @ 5k pace & 1m @ HMP.

Good to see folks still getting out in the cold stuff, keep up the good work.

Brian.. which autumn Marathon are you aiming for

Meant to offer Dan a 'true Yorkshire grit' award for wearing shorts!

Wardi – saw that on the Knavesmire bookface page, I reckon it will be called off if the forecasted weather actually arrives.

As for autumn races, my training buddy ran the Isle of Axholme this year and had a good run and PB’d, he recommends the race. He says it’s mostly flat with one hill towards the end of the race. I might be giving it a bash myself this year.
I can also recommend the Redcar Half, 30th Sept last year. Fast course, as fast as the Brass Monkey course IMO, with the caveat that it’s on the coast and wind is very likely, so times sometimes take a hit. Well organised, decent facilities and decent support over the last mile when you head back into town, I will do it again, that’s for sure.  

Dr Dan – sounds like a good base to kick on from.

Forecast!

Agreed Kelly, GER is also on my to race list! It’s bloody long list!

Glad someone is enjoying the cold,btw.

Wardi, sampling the delights of Amsterdam in October I think. Did it in 2010, great run and fantastic social afterwards. It was JW's debut (guy I was with in london when you forced us to drink in the hotel till 5am). What have you got planned this year?

Wardi wrote (see)

Meant to offer Dan a 'true Yorkshire grit' award for wearing shorts!

I said was wearing JUST shorts ... and I was lying!