really needs to be seen against your normal figure

I’d guess that this is my normal figure – I feel fine and have no symptoms.

So all it means is that I have to work harder to breathe out?

Peak flow though should be used to show if Asthma is under control

This is the bit I get – it’s about providing a baseline from which deviations become meaningful.

What I don’t get is what it actually means in terms of an impact on daily life.

Surfer (^ up there) can blow it off the scale. I can’t. Does it mean that his lungs help him ride faster or is it just that he can blow into a tube better?

Suspect your GP sees that result as very good given the “ill” people he sees

Hadn’t thought of that. Good point.

I should have bigged up the fitness thing, though he got a hint after I turned up looking like a drowned rat, having ridden there through an epic downpour.

‘Good’ is a bit subjective!

Are you male? Are you fat? Do you do other exercise? Is it hilly? Is it in a swamp? Do you smoke?

I know someone who was chuffed to break 30mins for 5k. I know someone else who’s thinks he’s rubbish as he didn’t break 18mins in his first 5k. Swings and roundabouts innit.

I have a 500′ climb at one end and the delights of central Leeds at the other end of my 23 mile ride. The rest is flat and fast.

My best is 20.6mph average. My usual is about 18mph.

Only do it a couple of times a week and I’m starting to chuck in some intervals too.

Where in Sheff are you?

I’ve done A57, Strines, Midhopestones, Langsett, Flouch and then either Hade Edge or Holme Moss a few times.

Strines is great, then the Holme Moss descent is hilarious.

This is all really interesting – thanks.

I’d love to know more about it but its provenance went with my Granddad – he cleared out all his war stuff before he died.

This link sent shivers down my spine:

ihaveabike – Member
http://www.wwiidaggers.com/SSPOL.htm

It looks very very similar to lots of these, though it isn’t in perfect condition.

I’ll get some pics and do a bit of ‘fishing’

emsz – Member
I do lots of speed work during the week anyway, so How about if I carry on doing that, plus just hanging onto 7.5 mins/mile on my longer runs for as long as I can, then 8mins/mile for the marathon should be about right.

Does that sound ok?

I’m not an expert but I’d say that you need to remember the purpose of each session – running your longer runs faster than race pace with slower bits thrown in is going to break you!

Your intervals look after your speed, intensity and power. Your long runs are about building endurance.

If you want to simulate a race, go off slower than race pace and build to race pace for a chunk of the run (or >1 shorter periods at race pace).

If you want to go a bit faster than race pace, wait til the end of your run. This simulates having tired legs without causing you to need a few days’ recovery after your training run – remember that you’ve got the next set of intervals to do in a couple of days and you need to be fresh to do them properly!

I’d suggest starting at 8:30, then 8:15, then 8, then maybe a bit at 7:45, then slow to warm down.

Thanks Klunk – that’s handy.

a_a – I know that ‘stiff upper lip’ well. Must have been so traumatic.

surfer – Member
Also Canova posted a lot on the US site “letsrun” I recall he went into great detail over a long period of time sharing training information.

I think the doc in my link was written by someone on letsrun as a summary of his posts. Could be wrong though.

schrickvr6 – Member
Can I be the first second to say killing spree.

Nice try!

Before we had kids it was stored in a box under the bed. It would scare the crap out of a burglar!

Anyone need a bike thief deterrent?

Anyone got Lemmy’s number?!

He told me that he wanted some good to come to the family from ‘this horrible thing’ and he wanted me to sell it. I think it was the key to some dark memories for him.

I asked a couple of museums about donations but they said it wasnt their ‘kind of thing’ and were completely unhelpful.

To be honest, I’m struggling to see why anyone would want it if they didn’t buy into the ideology a bit.

What are you aiming for?

Renato Canova trains lots of the Kenyan marathon big boys. He says that the best way to approach a race is to build it up from the ground.

You shouldn’t be going out at a pace and hoping to hang on – the most important runs during the week are those which simulate your race, and the point of all the other training you do is to get you fit enough to run the simulations.

If you want to run a marathon at 7:10min/ mile, run weekly or fortnightly long runs including big chunks at that pace. All the other runs should be faster for shorter periods or recovering slower.

I’m running Leeds Half next weekend. On Sat I did 3miles@7:30m/m, 4miles@6:10m/m (target race pace), 1mile@7:30, 2miles@5:50, 2mile@7:30. I’m not as fit as I wanted to be after 3 weeks of being ill so it stung a bit at the end, but it was fun.

More here: http://tinyurl.com/4x6obmj

2 laps of Winter Hill fell race would be amazing.

The final ascent to the mast is a killer. Doing it twice would be hilarious!

http://www.racemaps.org.uk/winterhill.htm

Make sure your nav’s good though – it’s a bit exposed and gets very foggy!

I’m trying to eke out a bottle of Highland Park until my birthday.

The only problem is that my birthday is in 4 months 🙁

Mr Woppit – Member
Perhaps if parliament didn’t consist entirely of stupid careerists, thick no-marks, borderline basket cases and self-regarding, talentless egomaniacs all looking to ensure their 5-year cycle survival, more of us would feel bothered to put crosses on bits of paper… (There’s no emoticon for a sneer).

I take it you’ll be standing as an Independent then? If you can do better, get elected and start to change it. Democracy etc.

TB’s book is a bit hard to read (he jumps all over the place) but it gives a very different and persuasive side to the story. And he did bloody well in Ireland.

The wars were catastrophic on all levels and he clung on too long but Brown/ Balls undermining him throughout was appalling and I’ll never vote Labour while Balls has any kind of role.

headfirst – Member
strategy strategy strategy strategy strategy strategy strategy……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You’re fired!

In fairness though, he was right.

And she’s an idiot.

Cambridge is ace and is only an hour on the train from KX. Get a punt and a picnic.

lister11 – Member
Can’t imagine anyone with a flattering time from yesterday!

It does sound a bit hellish! A bit of PR needed by the organisers, or there could be a mass boycott of their future events by the sounds of the reports.

Andi Jones entered the day before and came 2nd in 2:20-something after 2:16 the week before in London. Dave Norman was well clear.

Been training for a half-marathon for a while now

^this means you won’t miss one run. Make sure you’re healthy on the start line.

I’d go for a gentle off-road run for an hour or so.

Good luck! Might see you there…

Thanks for the interest!

I didn’t get there and am bloody annoyed about it.

I did the big training run but limited it to 20 miles. The run itself actually felt ok (though the legs took a couple of days to loosen off) and I had every confidence that I’d be sub-3, never mind 3.10…

…then my 2-year old infected me with a horrible chesty cough which, 2 weeks later, is showing no signs of buggering off. As a consolation prize I’ve entered the Leeds Half but I haven’t run in over 2 weeks.

The other possible maras are Edinburgh and Windermere (but these clash with camping in France) or a couple in Kent and Cheltenham (way too far to go to ponce round the roads).

So it’s a more conventional longer-term project of Leeds Half, then Abbey Dash 10k (target 34:30), then Brass Monkey Half (target 1:17), then London (via ballot) or Windermere/ Edinburgh.

By the way – the 2013 ballot opened today. If you haven’t got an entry in , be quick!

I heard a really good piece on this on R4 after the recent research (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17443454)

They interviewed the lead academic and a CRUK person. The final question was ‘do you take aspirin daily?’

The scientist (in his 50s) said that he’s taken one daily for about 3 years. The CRUK girl didn’t take one as she was in her early 30s and the research suggests that the benefits only outweigh the risks from late-30s onwards.

I’d maybe try a slightly different approach if you want to get faster:

Target a 10k and do 8 weeks or so specific training for it – lots of short, fast stuff and a bit of race pace/ duration stuff.

Then target a half and do the same

Then target a 20m/ marathon and do the same.

Some great efforts here.

I’ve never done a 5k but did 17:41 to the halfway marker in a 10k. I was trying for negative split but faded a bit for a 17:49 second half.

Problem for who?! My Mrs is similar so I incorporate 80% of my running training into my morning commutes. Being time-poor is how I stumbled across intervals.

Now I’ve shown her that it works, 1) she’s starting to try it herself and has lost half a stone in 2 weeks with no effort, and 2) she’s more open to the idea of longer runs for some proper mara training next year. She’s setting me a 2:45 target though…

D28boy – Member
It’s just my opinion fwiw

It’s a valid opinion though – you’ve been there and done it.

stever – Member
More 3h+ runs needed

When I run a marathon properly this is what I’ll do. This race is just a one-off (no others fit with cutoff dates for GFA).

My problem is that I want to both prove that I can run for 3 hours and prove that I can run the required pace. But: For this run I don’t want to run for 3 hours as this will be full race distance. And I don’t want to do lots of race-pace miles as this won’t be much time on my feet.

The plan above is a bit of a best-of-both-worlds – some slow running for time on my feet and some race pace running when tired to simulate the later stages of the race. 22 miles is a bit further than I would like though and I may shave it to 20. Or even 18.

Thanks for your thoughts

D28boy – Member
Sorry but I think you just left your best on the track!

You might be right but I don’t have the money or time to spend £50 and most of a Sunday on running a race based on a punt. I want the confidence that I can do it.

(Maybe I’ll round it down a bit!)

Right, it’s on.

This weekend’s plan is to go find some flattish roads in Wharfedale and run:
30min at 7:45
30min at 7:25
60min at 7:05
30min at 6:55
10min staggering to warm down

22 miles in 2h40 and a lot of pain.

Yasso 800s sound interesting. Is it a bizarre coincidence or does it really work? I guess it’s a useful benchmark either way.

And yes, I’m not looking forward to the last 6 miles! My wife says I must enjoy the pain or I wouldn’t bother. I’ll use Jens Voigt as inspiration!

Molgrips – Absolutely. His Mrs is also a very quick track/ xc runner. Lots of training is done early/ late.

djglover – there’s nowhere to hide in the 3Ps. It’s one of those races that you need some dedicated training for. I tried it once and the cramp at the top of Whernside was one of the most painful things I’ve ever felt! I have unfinished business with that race.

Thanks Angus – I’d glossed over it but that’s good advice – I can’t quite get my head past the idea that 7:10 per mile feels incredibly slow and I’ll be wanting to push on, so I’d be using the 3:10 target to try to slow myself down early on.

If I do a long run at the weekend I’m sure that’ll put paid to that idea though…

Emsz – he combines 100+ miles per week with a full-time teaching job and a young family. That’s proper dedication.

Your 40 miles a week is good going. I don’t have time to fit in more training, but I seem to be moving in the right direction. One day I’ll do it properly!

At just over 3 hours you are still an hour behind the winners. Sobering isn’t it.

Frightening (and why i said ‘reasonable’)!

I vaguely know Andi Jones who’s aiming for 2:12 at London and his training is astonishing. http://www.runnerslife.co.uk/andi-jones/profile

Thanks for the encouragement! The McMillan 2:46 assumes equivalent training, which is where I have the problem…

I’m thinking about a negative split 20-22 at the weekend, and I’m not reading anything which says I’m being an idiot so far. I think I might give it a bash.

thanks.

More encouragement/ stories of horrific injuries are welcome.

Good stuff!

Am amazed that they came round a day after it was reported.

Can you ask them to come pick up the broken oven that has been awaiting collection in my front garden for 6 weeks? “We’ll collect it in the next 5 working days, Sir…”

Isn’t this about finding clever ways of making money from an activity which otherwise would be simple and free?!

How to spot bad science and fads- Determining whether an idea is worthwhile:

“iDave – Member

The whole issue is quite complex…

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2012/behind-scenes-contador-cas-hearing-michael-ashenden “

That link is astonishing. Thanks.

Lombok is brilliant.

We never go anywhere withour looking here…

http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/ankle-achilles-shin-pain/shin-splints

Get a recommendation and go see a physio!

This is my favourite website at the mooment:

http://www.leaney.org/lake_district_walks_by_area.php?area=southeastern

DIY!

rossi46 – Member
Marmite and baked bean sandwich courtesy of my Breville Toasty maker

That sounds amazing. I want one!

I find that if I start eating a little bit of junk/ high gi stuff I crave more throughout the rest of the day.

I’ve been having a few blanched almonds each day this week and they seem to do the trick.