Long runs - fast?

[andy k]

Mandovark,
Whether what you believe is supported by what you have said is not relevent.

Here is how it works.
CL is an educated and knowledgeable man of science. Being a man of science he deals in evidence and facts.
He does not deal in beliefs.
Belief is used by unscientific people, people who will accept something as true without the need for any evidence. For example religion relies on unscientific belief. It appears that CL holds "believers" such as relgious types in contempt; witness the how he derides the post on Lydiard as " the apostle according to Lydiard".

So, by attributing a belief to you he seeks to portray you as unscientific and thereby to undermine any point you make.
You are further undermined when CL assigns to you a belief that is clearly non-sensical such as aerobic capacity being unlimited. "You are a believer, and believers believe any thing, even rubbish like this"

Add to this a some of condescension:
"You had a good think about your answer there; you didn't jump straight in." (well done little person, you're almost managing to be as wise and thoughtful as me)

with a chunk of ego:
"what a shame" (all those people, they tried so hard, but so misguided. If only they had had me there to put them right).

And the point should be clear.
"Crawl back under your rock and stop embarassing yourself."
as, for the avoidance of doubt, should I.

[Alexandra]

If people want to use their energy brawling rather than training, that's their choice. I just wish they'd go away and do it by pm.

[MP1]

When ever I log into the FRA website, the first sub section of the forum that I look at tends to be the training section.
For me it's the one that tends to give the most help, advice and interesting information.
Due to the information debated regarding training advice it is also the most 'scientific.'
As a 'scietific' area it will also cause debating.
One person will have an opinion, another a differing thought and belief.
You would also expect that some people would be able to offer advice without the need for being other peoples thoughts to be belittled.

Perhaps Quote "You had a good think about your answer there; you didn't jump straight in."

Would be a wise motto for yourself Mr. Leigh?
People are allowed to think, have a choice and believe.
The information you give is generally sound and accurate.
Being sarcastic and condescending is unnecessary.
Of course if that wasn't your intention I do apologise.
A little more thought needed when posting???

[Roy Scott]

Alexandra. This is the simple answer to your original post. Think of yourself as a tube of toothpaste (stay with it). As a runner in your late 60's aiming to run 3 hours for a half, the level of toothpaste (or performance potential) is massive. Now if you push up the volume and or intensity of your training you are going to get results, or using my analogy, you will squeeze some of the toothpaste out regardless of where you squeeze from. Now if you were at a higher more serious level and looking at improving to something like 1.40 for someone of your age, you would have to think about a training approach that would maximise training potential and thus maximise the amount of toothpaste you can get from the tube (i.e by rolling from the bottom of the tube).

In other words by raising volume or intensity or both you will get better. You really just need to consider avoiding injury and making sure you are used to time on your feet pre event.

[Rob Furness]

Alexandra. This is the simple answer to your original post. Think of yourself as a tube of toothpaste (stay with it). As a runner in your late 60's aiming to run 3 hours for a half, the level of toothpaste (or performance potential) is massive. Now if you push up the volume and or intensity of your training you are going to get results, or using my analogy, you will squeeze some of the toothpaste out regardless of where you squeeze from. Now if you were at a higher more serious level and looking at improving to something like 1.40 for someone of your age, you would have to think about a training approach that would maximise training potential and thus maximise the amount of toothpaste you can get from the tube (i.e by rolling from the bottom of the tube).

In other words by raising volume or intensity or both you will get better. You really just need to consider avoiding injury and making sure you are used to time on your feet pre event.

I like it! You clearly did have a good think before you posted as well

[Alexandra]

Alexandra. This is the simple answer to your original post.
...... ... In other words by raising volume or intensity or both you will get better. You really just need to consider avoiding injury and making sure you are used to time on your feet pre event.

Thanks very much, Roy, for your valuable encouragement. Actually, although I allowed plenty of time to prepare for the event, I hadn't really done enough volume of basic training beforehand, and I think a lot of my difficulty stems from that. However, judging from posts on these forums, I am hardly the first runner to jump into a challenging event without quite being properly ready! If, as you say, I can avoid injury and keep training steadily-ish over the next year, maybe I'll be able to approach the 2012 BBW with more confidence. Meanwhile I'm hoping rather against hope to scramble through this year's race without embarrassing myself too much. I wouldn't mind at all being last, but I'd hate to keep the volunteers out after all the runners have gone home.

One thing I've certainly gained from all this is discovering the enormous pleasure of the long run. Jeff Galloway says you have to do a minimum of 3 runs per week to improve, otherwise I'd be tempted just to do 2 long runs with 2 rest days in between and leave it at that!

[MP1]

CL - As with most of your posts, I agree with you. The advice given to Alexandra; increase intensity and volume for a 68 year old lady wont make much difference to her running ability and may actually cause injury.
But ... There are ways of telling people.

[Alexandra]

If anyone is interested in a rather better tempered thread concerning training in later life, have a look at THIS.

[Rob Furness]

Bored of this now, sorry Alexandra but it seems we're going round in circles

[Alexandra]

I think this thread is done. Alexandra says she has got some useful information out of it and im sure many others have too, but in the words of reeves and mortimer, let it lie

I agree.