The Middle Ground

Morning all, been a bit absent from here this week.

Good luck today Alehouse!

WHJ – I started out trying to lose weight as a new years resolution in 2010, so a bit of running along with some cycling. Started to take the running more seriously summer 2010.
Looks like you are getting plenty of good training in yourself, things are looking up after your little wobble a few weeks back

Get well soon Duck

Bob –good work on the progression run the other night, I like those sessions and they help get you fit but slow down your easy mileage man!!
parkrun and 7.5mile combo sounds like a good weekends training for you, I expect to see some rapid progress from you over the next few weeks, no pressure

Phil – two good sessions noted from you this week with some super speedy k reps and a HR record for the tempo. Aerobic monster, looking forward to seeing how you perform at Brighton.

YP – some good training from you has been noted. Are you doing Brighton Half as well?

Good luck on the injury progress Mr V, looking good so far.

Kelly – the weather has been mental recently, snow, wind then 10 degrees, cant make its mind up. Though conditions are decent today. Training looks to be going well for you though, other than Thirsk 10, what races are you thinking of doing?

Wardi – I was going to be doing York parkrun on Sat, but have changed plans, Mrs YD is getting a lie in. We are taking Junior to the Railway Museum later on though. He is train mad and they have a toy train exhibition on the go. Good luck at parkrun, I will be along soon, I have ran York parkrun twice now and both times it’s been compromised through illness so I am due a proper blast at a time there.

A good weeks training for me last week followed through to this week, with an 8 day 93 mile streak coming to an end with a needed rest day on Wed. Then yesterday my run windows just shut as I was busy, so no run.
4.5mile this morning, legs felt sluggish, though they always do after a couple of days off. Meeting a buddy for a 13 -14 mile steady run tonight followed by Curry
Thinking of going longer on Sunday, my longest run ever is 22 miles, thinking I might stretch that to 23 miles.

Morning all!

Good luck with the treatment Alehouse and good news about the running too. Hopefully the healing will happen quickly so you can start again.

Kelly definitely enter some races - I think you need a post to work from - do you have any further xc for club available? I've found that quite a good way of racing without the usual pressures recently.

Marathon is 14th April so two months yet. Basically I'm half way through the plan, but i'll be happy to take the fitness I have now into it and sprinkle in a bit a race sharpness and see what comes out!

Wardi good to see you back out there following the ribs! Hopefully sub 20 will come soon. Its still pretty windy down here, but lovely sunshine so i dont mind too much.

Phil thats the other Richmond HM which should be pretty good by all accounts, although clashes weekend wise with Maidenhead 10 (good friday) so they may suffer a little there with numbers. Personally, I wouldnt race a HM that close to a full, in my current fitness but I may think about it if I do a spring full next year so let us know how it goes.

BBB hope the niggle clears up for parkrun tomorrow!

YD nice idea to combo the curry with a good run beforehand to earn it, but surely you didnt mean you worked too hard to run yesterday and actually you were too busy taking Mrs YD out for dinner

10.5M for me today, including 2M @ MP (7:31), and 8* 200m @ 6:45 avg with 200m recoveries. Feeling much better, which is good as got 21 to do tomorrow and a double shift at work this afternoon/evening!

YD - I'd say the 93 mile streak had as much to do with the sluggishness as the rest day.  Good work fella!  I tried planting the curry idea myself but it appears as though we'll be finishing off our beer session this evening with a Nando's.  Quality rest day fuelling!

Curly - Nice combo there.  Should have pleasant weather for a long one tomorrow.

I'm very much looking forward to Sunday's race after another mini-taper, even if it is looking a little "Brighton breezy" on the forecast.    Still, as ever it'll be the same conditions for all the other old codgers turning up!

Curly – busy at work meaning my planned lunchtime run slot disappeared. I never considered running last night, though Mrs YD was treated to my culinary skills.
Rack of lamb (cooked pink of course), Boulangère potatoes, green beans (dripping in butter  ) and a red wine reduction. All washed down with a lovely bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Nice session btw.

Phil – Nando’s isnt that bad, but not sure if it’s any good after a beer session! Get yourself one of those little egg custard tarts they sell. They have a silly name at Nandos, but the real Potugese name for them is Pastel de Nata, we became addicted to them on our trip to Portugal last year. The Nandos version are pretty good IMO.

speaking of food! Just poked my head into the Shady_ady thread  and had to leave sharpish. FFS they are making him carb load (and then some) for a half marathon

WTF is wrong with these people, not his fault but what an earth are they going to make him eat come the night before the marathon!!

Curly45 wrote (see)

Just poked my head into the Shady_ady thread  and had to leave sharpish. FFS they are making him carb load (and then some) for a half marathon

 

  Crikey!!  I'll be surprised if I eat that much the Friday before the marathon!

YD - Stop it, you're getting me hungry again!  Nando's will slip down a treat after a few strong Belgian's (and/or IPAs), and my penchant for a bit of spice will be satisfied with a combination of extra hot peri peri sauce and the garlic flavour sauce on my half chicken and chips.  I could well be tempted by an egg custard tart, depending on how strong my chocolate craving is taking me at the time. 

...for the record, my preferred carb-load period is Friday lunchtime (immediately following a final easy run) through to Saturday lunchtime. I think besides the usual diet, a reasonably substantial but not silly amount of Soreen maltloaf, a few jaffa cakes and a couple of extra portions of cereal, and bread and jam should do the trick.  I'm sure we'll be discussing such matters in intricate detail in a couple of months' time though.

Y D - Ha, no pressure but plenty of expectation, eh? Not least of which from myself! Enjoy the run and the curry, myself and Mrs BBB were out for the latter last night. Mmmm...curry. Jealous of the lamb and C-du-Pape mind - another two of my favourites. Some mammoth training mileage there, fella! 

Good luck with the race on Sunday, Phil and the 21 miles + double shift, Curly! 

Ah, Phil - Belgians - a man after my own heart. What's your preferred tipples? I'm particularly partial to the richer, darker stuff myself - Chimay Blue, St Bernardus 12, Rochefort 10, that sort of thing. Got a boxful of the stuff at home that I dip into from time to time. 

Cheers YD - yes the last few weeks have been pretty good....I have definitely noticed an improvement with my aerobic fitness with my 17 miles on Monday PM, generally feeling much more comfortable in comparison to my 16 miles a few weeks ago. Next long run is planned for Monday evening (all planned around the inline hockey where I have matches this Sunday). That's a large volume of good training but good to give the legs a little break before the next large batch!

Good luck today Alehouse hope the treatment goes well.

BBB - I may also be parkrunning tomorrow (Netley Abbey possibly) - good luck tomorrow.

Food is one subject I won't get into....I need to sort my diet out (a lot of good things eaten and to my surprise recently discovered I like sushi - however, the good is mixed with a fair bit of bad). However, the pounds are slowly dropping off (currently about 12 and a half stone and 5 ft 9 so plenty of room for running improvements on that alone)...

Sounds sensible YP with the longer term marathon goal in mind. I obviously have my Brighton marathon goal but at this stage am aiming for chipping at PB's across all distances....just getting round Brighton for me without injury will be an achievement so adding in speed work occasionally doesn't seem to be harming things...

31.15 miles for this week so far...high for my standards. Speed work session on Tuesday with my club - this being road sprints and 9.3 last night with miles 6-8 at HMP (6:44, 6:53 and 6:37 m/m - some slightly underlating ground in places) and rest at desired MP (just under 8m/m). The HMP effort felt comfortably hard. Generally feeling good presently and seem to be coping ok with the higher mileage at the moment.

Good afternoon all ....... Ive done FA for the past 2 days ........ so down to the gym tonight. That is all. Have a great day!

WJH - Netley Abbey - had to Google that one...looks idyllic! Good luck yourself.

BBB - Oh yes!  I've definitely veered towards the dark stuff in recent times, but anything strong and made by monks, really.  Leffe Blonde has been my everyday tipple for quite a while.  (Seemed exotic a few years ago, now it's ubiquitous.)  And my dad normally presents me with a Duvel as soon as I turn up for a Sunday roast!  But Chimay Bleu, Rochefort 10, and Maredsous 10, all favourites. 

Current stand-out favourites right now, which I've only ever come across once or twice are Gulden Draak (10.5%), which I've only ever seen in a bar in Vancouver, and one in Notting Hill, and Troubadour Magma (9%) which I had for the first time over Christmas (at The Dove, Hackney) on recommendation because they'd run out of Kwak. It's got the sweetness of Kwak with the oomph of a Rochefort.  Bloody amazing stuff! 

Stop it stop it stop it! Yummy beer! Mmmm, beer.

I have done some running this week, but not a lot - just managing a knee problem or two, but a lovely physio is helping me out and I think it is coming together. Certainly hope so. She was a little appalled by my weekend - cross country on Saturday, where we confirmed promotion from division 4, and then Wokingham half on Sunday where my 1:24:04 was...okay. Comically, I was so busy chatting at the start that I was facing the wrong way, started my watch when they said go, then realised the queue for the start was long, but I forgot to check the time when I crossed, so had no idea what my real time was during the race. A little disappointing, but it was foul weather and the knee was probably holding me back.

So, a week of strengthening and fairly gentle running. Most importantly, good luck in rough seas, Josh and Alehouse, keep us updated and I look forward to the day when you can report on a lovely run with the sentiment "cor, remember when I would have been pleased to run a 10k in under an hour?!" or similar.

Evening! Thanks for the kind thoughts re my treatment. Everything seemed to go to plan and after being admitted at 7.30 was back from theatre by 11, and home for 4.30. It will be months, or even years, before we know how successful things have been. Back in 6 weeks or thereabouts for first check up which I believe will include a scan. Feeling a bit bruised this evening, and I guess it will be worse in the morning. Only to be expected! Will be taking it very easy for a few days although have been told not to rest too much, but be active. Tempting, tempting!!

alehouse wrote (see)

Evening! Thanks for the kind thoughts re my treatment. Everything seemed to go to plan and after being admitted at 7.30 was back from theatre by 11, and home for 4.30. It will be months, or even years, before we know how successful things have been. Back in 6 weeks or thereabouts for first check up which I believe will include a scan. Feeling a bit bruised this evening, and I guess it will be worse in the morning. Only to be expected! Will be taking it very easy for a few days although have been told not to rest too much, but be active. Tempting, tempting!!

They mean a bit of walking around, not exercise! Doctors tell people that on the assumption everyone is lazy so they dont sit on the sofa for two weeks and end up with a blood clot.

Be kind to yourself and hopefully the scan will go well in 6 weeks

No ale for me - but YD  Chat de Pape - nice! If you are feeling flush next time check out Cote-Rotie which is the Northern Rhone region that also allows blends for the reds.

Morning Curly! Actually not tempted in the slightest by running: feeling rather bruised this morning, which is part of the plan, I suspect. A gentle walk round the block is the sum of today's training! And quite a few days, I suspect!
Enjoy your weekend!

Alehouse hope you enjoy the walk!

20 miles for me shortly. Urgh...