The Middle Ground

YD – Cheers, it has taken a while hasn’t it! I still feel I’m 6-8 weeks away from previous peak fitness so I’m hoping there are some more easy gains to come before I’ve got to rely on genuine improvement to keep the times coming down. Good to see you back anyway. Hope Saturday shows you’ve retained most of your fitness. I’ll be interested to hear what Darlo parkrun course is like. Thanks for the Humber info. From what I’ve read it seems an ok course but tends to be very windy over the bridge. I’m committed to doing it now anyway. From previous results it looks like a top finish 5 could be doable if the standard is the same as previous years.

WJH – Sounds like a couple of good races there even if they weren’t quite PBs. A series of consistent runs usually leads to a breakthrough sooner or later. My previous PB was 37.52 although that was set in Nov 2011 and was well overdue an ammendment.

Duck – Glad you had a good holiday. Hopefully you are nice and refreshed for an assault on your PBs.

Dan – Well done to mini Dan. He seems to be improving at a rate of knots. Hope the test run goes ok.

Pittsy – Hope you have a good one on Monday.

Hmmm, new Leeds 10K route seems quite familiar... most of it is teh Abbey Dash route: http://www.forallevents.co.uk/uploads/Files/RouteMaps/Leeds10k.jpg

Should be much faster than the old route ... but £25 ... and 8-10,000 charity runners.

I would have thought it would be ok for the boy to run the 3000m race Dr Dan. The Magic Mile last year (where the banner picture came from) had a few juniors involved if memory serves.
As for the Leeds 10k,  that’s a bit naughty nabbing a big part of the Abbey Dash route like that. Though you lose the benefit of the downhill start and yet still have the ramp at the end to deal with. I am on holiday so cannot do it, not sure I would fancy it anyway.

WHJ – I agree with Mr V, a few strong runs at a level just around or a tad slower than PB often occurs before a breakthrough. Keep at it.

Mr V –  the consensus is that Darlo parkrun is quick, but not super quick, 10-15 seconds or so slower than a really fast course.
Another 10k to consider is the Ray Harrison Memorial 10k in Billingham. It's mostly flat with quite a big bridge to cross twice. It’s the weekend after the Darlo 10k, so if you want to line two 10ks up for PB attempts down the line they could be a good pairing. Depending on how things progress, I might just do that.

Welcome back YD, and good luck at the Parkrun in the morning.

Good racing and reports WJH. Good consolidation of recent rapid progress and as others have said I'm sure another breakthrough won't be far away with the hard yards you've been putting in.

Dan- thats great paces for a 14 year old.

Wjh- couple of good races there.

Duck- Thats pretty speedy for a holiday run. I assume you must know area well to be able to knock out a tempo like that?

I had planned a tempo run tonight on track, however when i went to get changed i had forgotten my running shoes. Ended up getting home for them and by that time i went to gym and did it on treadmill. 2 mile warm up followed by 20 mins at 6.26 m/m then 1.5 mile cool down.

Whilst bashing through it, to pass time, i was contemplating whether a treadmill tempo counts and brings the same benefits as on track. Surely your threshold system does not know the difference and simply recognises hard work? On a treadmill its also easier to maintain a consistent pace simply because you set it at level 15 and you have to stick at that pace all the way unless you hit the buttons to slow. On a track, its easier to have some pace lapses.

Am i completely wrong with that view?

Well done Dan Jr.

A couple of good races there WJH, and a philosophical reflection on the (still very good) times!

Sounds like Duck and YD had good holidays. Jealousy here - we teachers have long holidays but the cost of going away during them...

Hope the parkrunners have fun. No parkrun for me today - Mother in law in Canada and Father in law has life getting in the way so I have baby girl. Not that I mind too much - a walk in the country park with chocolate pancakes is on the cards!

Dunham Massey 5k last week. It was very windy (though the wind died toward the start of the race) and on the warm up I clocked that the course seemed more undulating than I remember, with a net uphill (only slight!) So I'm very happy with 21:29 which is 17 second faster than last Friday's race and on a slower course. Things are moving in the right direction...

Will try to get out for 6 miles later.

Well done, CB: had originally hoped to make it, but had an early appointment in the alehouse (meeting teachers who had just broken up). Hope to be at one or two of the others in the series. And yes it was ridiculously windy yesterday...and cold: for a couple of minutes mid afternoon it was actually snowing! Must read back at some point!

Running report: am "training" 4 to 5 days a week, generally 20 to 30 minutes. Never more. And never anything but ridiculously slow, even though it doesn't feel it.

Thanks Alehouse. Consistent consistency - with all that your body's been through I'm impressed with what you are managing!

Chocolate pnacakes in the park and some interval training for little miss CB - she ran to me, got thrown in the air, waited for me to walk another 20 yards, repeat!

CB: funnily enough ended up doing a short run in Dunham Massey this evening, after driving to and from Leicestershire. BBB: Old John looked very inviting from the car window as I drove past two sides of it on the way to and from lunch in Cropston.

And thanks for the kind words, CB...I should be counting my blessings! There are a couple of reasons why I shouldn't be running at all! Tomorrow is a rest day: Key Stage 2 marker training from 8.30 to 5.30 on Bank Holiday Sunday when I should be helping at the BUPA Manchester Run. And its my eldest's birthday.

Good cross training by the way!