Today's Training

[Travs]

A stunted week due to illness.... and a relative currently very ill in hospital.

Missed XC yesterday, very hectic at work at the moment so i worked the weekend... and probably won't do Dash To The Pole on tuesday.... Need to concentrate on preparing for Brampton to Carlisle next sunday which has been my priority for the 2nd half of the year.

Next year shaping up though in terms of target races....

April: Euro Trials Skiddaw Uphill (6km)
June: Snowdon Uphill (8km)
July: Swirral Grind Uphill (6km)
September: World Masters Uphill (6km)

Quite a recurring theme in there!!

[Mike T]

A stunted week due to illness.... and a relative currently very ill in hospital.

Missed XC yesterday, very hectic at work at the moment so i worked the weekend... and probably won't do Dash To The Pole on tuesday.... Need to concentrate on preparing for Brampton to Carlisle next sunday which has been my priority for the 2nd half of the year.

Next year shaping up though in terms of target races....

April: Euro Trials Skiddaw Uphill (6km)
June: Snowdon Uphill (8km)
July: Swirral Grind Uphill (6km)
September: World Masters Uphill (6km)

Quite a recurring theme in there!!

Wishing prompt recoveries for both you and your hospitalised relative Travs. Fingers crossed.

[Travs]

Thanks MikeT.... although i'm personally fine now... just feel training this week will be a better option than trying to squeeze another race in.

[Travs]

There was a bit of despondency around some of the senior members and coaches of the club last night, following our piss-poor showing at the first XC League last weekend..... in fact, had i not been ill/working and missed it myself, i'd probably have been our 4th counter.... for a "club of our stature" its unthinkable that i should be anywhere near troubling the scoring six. However for whatever reason the only fast lads who turned up were the guys from my group.

The gloom was further compounded when those fast lads all missed training last night due to illness (possibly the same thing that laid me low last week).

This meant i headed the group last night..... 2 x 2 miles on the roads outside the perimeter of the main park in Coventry.

Despite being told to "not go mad" after being off last week, i set a hard pace on the first rep, and managed 12.16...... my pb being 12:15 and my first rep when we did this session last month being 12:34... so clearly recovering well.

Due to being quite far ahead of the chasing pack i got an extended rest period to prepare for the 2nd rep.... fearing the worst after my lightning start, i nevertheless got down to work, and with an agonising final mile, managed to keep it respectable with 12:22

Only a couple of seconds off being a pb session... and with the rep being about 100metres over 2 miles, and by no means flat, sneaking under 6min/mile pace was very pleasing.

10.5 miles in total.

Thursday is 10 x 350mtr hills.... with my impending duel with Brampton-Carlisle on sunday, i'll only be doing 5 reps with an extended recovery period.

[Travs]

5 x 350mtr hills by the side of the A45 to the south of Coventry last night.

Final (part) session before the big one on sunday. Felt strong, and headed the group despite running fairly relaxed.

9 miles, plus 3 very easy miles AM.

My coach says i might surprise myself on sunday. I'm not sure if he's just pushing my confidence or he means it.... i certainly feel like i know were my limit is, and i'd be hugely surprised to go quicker than that on sunday.

[anthonykay]

Buck Hill and Beacon Hill, rather slowly - which meant that I got a larger dose of Vitamin D, although it was only my head, hands and about half my legs that were exposed to the glorious sunshine.

Walshes were the right choice for the muddy conditions on many parts of this route. But on the stretch of road between the bottom of Beacon Hill Country Park and the entrance to the Outwoods, where they built a tarmac footway earlier this year, I crossed over to use the rough grass verge on the other side of the road, to avoid the discomfort of running on tarmac in Walshes. Incidentally, the road was closed to all traffic (but not pedestrians) for about 6 weeks while they were building that footway; so the long closure of the A59 at Kex Gill is not an isolated example.

[Marco]

Buck Hill and Beacon Hill, rather slowly - which meant that I got a larger dose of Vitamin D, although it was only my head, hands and about half my legs that were exposed to the glorious sunshine.

Er, not necessarily. Exposure to sunlight only results in the production of Vitamin D in the body when the sun is above a certain angle. At this time of year in Leicestershire that only occurs for a few minutes either side of midday, and by midwinter this will drop to zero.

[mr brightside]

Er, not necessarily. Exposure to sunlight only results in the production of Vitamin D in the body when the sun is above a certain angle. At this time of year in Leicestershire that only occurs for a few minutes either side of midday, and by midwinter this will drop to zero.

Back when I used to work in the Whiteley Paper Mill, Pool in wharfedale, where the bogs were full of 'literature' (those were the days), I recall many copies of 'Bizarre' magazine stuffed behind cisterns and adorning windowsills. In one edition, between pictures of rubber clad women and genitals wrapped in cling film and rubber bands, were a load of kids in a darkened room all gathered round a filtered high power light of some sort. It was Siberian children fending off the effects of vitamin D deficiency by getting it artificially during the winter. I don't know If Bizarre magazine is still going, but it remains to this day one of the best reads I've ever had, second only to Roger's Profannisaurus.

[mr brightside]

I'm not sure if he's just pushing my confidence or he means it....

Would it matter?

Negative thinking and attaching to something that is a lie for you weakens you physically. Kinesiologic muscle testing gets virtually no exposure any longer due to pressure from fans of the Cartesian duality, but it's totally verified and irrefutable. Now and again a bunch of sceptical degree students run a dynamometer trial and replicate the findings, but last time it made a piece 2x3" in size in the guardian.

Trust your coach, he will know what you need to hear as well as what you need to do.

[Travs]

75.5 miles last week.

Ticked over the 3000 mile mark for the year in midweek. Although it'll be a stretch to make 3500 for the year.

This week is supposed to be a "hard" week, with mile reps tomorrow, hills on thursday, and Parkrun with hills on saturday.

However due to my exertions yesterday, a session tomorrow will be out of the question. Maybe thursday for resumption of hard work.