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That wind really is quite something today, not sure if it is entirely sprout related? It was gusting about 60 - 80mph up here. I was going a little stir crazy in the house and couldn't get to the gym because the bridge has been closed all day. The police were even advising 'everyone to stay indoors all day' which is the kind of thing you used to hear on Tom & Jerry cartoons when there was a crazy axe-murderer on the loose.

So obviously I decided to go out for a run. Heading into the wind for 3miles felt like I was working really hard without moving much. Managed to dodge a few falling branches, sliding wheely bins and the occassional air-borne pet. At points there was the comical sight of me moving my arms and legs wildly in a swinging motion whilst virtually standing still. Then on the turnaround it was like being repeatedly thrown out of a nightclub by a bouncer and I was striding like a triple-jumper. An interesting experience and as is often the case not actually that bad once you get out the front door.

It made me wonder though, given that you are a pretty hardy bunch, what are worst conditions you have ever run in and are there any situations in which you wouldn't even consider venturing out?

Sorry can't add an awful lot to the obstetric discussion! Looks like a few of us have used P&D over the years with various adaptations to suit our strengths / weaknesses / priorities etc. I think I wil be trying this out for the first time in the next few weeks myself. For my first marathon earlier this year I went for a low mileage / high intensity approach as I was a little cautious about upping my mileage too quickly and over-comitting on time etc. I think my heaviest week was about 40 miles and most were around 30 - 35. The result was consistent training and good speed but perhaps a little under-trained in terms of endurance.

So the plan this time is to move up slightly to 40 - 50 miles with the P&D approach (i.e. a bit more aerobic running and marathon paced efforts). Hopefuly the cumulative effect of building on a second marathon cycle wil itself count for something along with a slight increase in mileage. I wonder if any of you have any comments about which bits of P&D you have adapted yourself over the years? There seems to be a bit of consensus for adding in a few more 20m ish efforts? Anything else worked for you?

btw Matt your training and times look very promising indeed - sure you will have a great race!

simonx98 wrote (see)

apologies for not reading back but frustrating reading how far and fast people are running when limited to hobbling around!

Just had a giving blood reminder - I feel a bit gulity because I haven't given blood since deciding to run VLM on Jan 1st. I'm guessing giving blood during marathon training is not a good idea (from a selfish perspective of course). Does anyone have any thoughts on giving blood at other times? 

For example even though my runs are limited at present I am worried that if I give blood at the moment it will hamper the recovery of my injuries.

Hi Simon, I'm just catching up as usual. There was an interesting discussion about this on marathon talk recently which also covered the issue of iron intake (which might affect some of us more than others). http://www.marathontalk.com/archive/training_talk/chris_jones_iron_levels_and_donating_blood.php

I don't know if anyone has had a look at their new site recently but it looks like you will soon be able to search for previous interviews / topics which would be quite a handy resource.

RJ good luck for the next few days. I remember asking my wife if she would mind if I brought my running shoes with me to the labour ward in case it was all going slowly. Didn't go down well....

Hello all, just catching up on another busy weekends posts. For what it's worth I have added myself to the list below. I wonder if somone fed this into a spreadsheet could we distill some kind of thread essence? Or the secret formula for running sub 3h15? My guess it would turn out to be beetroot juice.....

It was a first race in a month or so for me yesterday. It's been pretty stop start since the marathon last month and I think I've lost a wee bit of speed and endurance in that time with a drop off in mileage. I also found it a little hard to motivate myself without a particular time or goal in mind so there was a lot of 'internal dialoguing' going on en route. It was a local 10 miler and is the only race I have done with an out and back course that seems to go up and up all the way. A bit like one of these Escher paintings. I managed a steady 69mins despite the 700 odd ft of climbing and really enjoyed letting my mind wander a bit on a beautiful day. It did remind me though how hard it can be to push yourself with out a bigger long term goal in mind....

Really inspired by the mileage some of you are putting in particularly as the nights draw in and the streets (up here anyway) are showing their first signs of ice...

Poacher M49 3.02 (26+7)* 84 Crystal Palace
Birch M57 - S Yorks 2:46 (23) 75 Sheffield Wednesday
RFJ M43 - Hants 3:13 (15)86 runclub xtrain stretch Fulham
Lorenzo M43 Surrey 3:13 (12) 88 runclub xtrain Maidstone Utd
Ant M46 Spain 2:59 (11) 82 stretch core weights West Ham
Race Jase M31 Kent 2:33 (9) 73 runclub Bradford City
Badbark M42 Down 3:09 (7) 86 veg core stretch weights Chelsea
Barry B M45 Wilts 3:16 (6) 87 runclub core stretch xtrain
FraserW M43 Lothian 2.59 (6) 80 core Leeds Utd
SalF F31 Sheffield 3.12 (5) 87 runclub core PY xtrain roller
MartinH M38 Leics. 2:58 (5), 82mins, runclub, core, weights, cycling. Leicester City/Tigers
SlokeyJoe, M40, Cumbria, 3:19 (5), 90, vegfish runclub stretch xtrain xtrain Man City
Matchstick Man M38 Warks 3:12 (5) 84 runclub weights xtrain Team Sky
Keir M37 Kent 2.54 (4) 83 vegfish triclub core bike Team Sky
BikeIt M43 Hants 3:21(4) 93 core stretch xtrain
SBD M48 Bucks 2:58 (3) 82 runclub stretch Princes Risborough Juniors
Knight rider M42 3.22 (3) 85 runclub Crewe Alexandra
MsE F38 London 3:15 (2) 90 core xtrain Golden Eagles
Simonx98 M46 Kent 3:14 (1) 88 veg stretch xtrain roller Charlton Athletic
PMJ M46 Bucks 2:57 (1) 82 runclub Wasps
Moof M44- Berks 3.10(1) 84 xtrain core weights West Ham
B&B M39 Mersey 3.22(1) 93 runclub xtrain Nottm Forest
Gul Darr M45 Norfolk 6:20(1) 92 core stretch xtrain Kings Lynn Town
Keith M36 Fife 3.16 (1) 87 veg runclub xtrain Celtic