Running

That's strong. Well done

We can probably get you there (early start driving) but not home as got family meal & time after planned... stay in touch about it tho.

Set out for a trot, decided after 50 yards or so to have a go at a full bore 10k. 41 minutes in howling wind and rain which seemed to be constantly in my face. Can't be upset with that on current form.

(Although Garmin Connect is playing silly buggers so obviously, it didn't happen.)

Had a nice (slow) run today where I was jumped on by one dog (bad) and had another dog thrust at me by a woman chasing her other dog (good). Too many dogs has addled my brain as I just entered a marathon in May. 13 weeks. What am I doing. FFS.

(Another) longest run so far. 19.5 miles on Saturday and even after 6 it felt like a chore. Few weeks back I felt great after 15. Bit weary but fine at 17m a fortnight ago. Yesterday just wasn't feeling it.
Still, despite feeling like I was plodding along it wasn't overly slow (for me) at 8:20/mile and 138 HR - I have a lazy heart though, snoozes at 40BPM and barely ekes above 170 on a 5K.
I guess I should be pleased that what felt like a crap run wasn't massively crap.

On Saturday morning I ran to a parkrun and ran my fastest time on that course and only 1 second off my 5k PB, despite the howling winds and very muddy fields. Somehow I finished 12th. I'm always too nice at the start and don't like to push to the front so get held up a bit over the first k but this made me think maybe I should get myself to the front at the start and see what I can do! Or maybe I should enter a 5k race as opposed to "fun, friendly, not serious run" sometime?

Sunday was a lot slower, much colder, muddier, wetter, longer, slippyer (fell over twice in the mud). A flooded path made me re-route so I decided to head up onto an old hill fort for a lap around the top before heading across town to the park run course, getting a bit lost, very cold, taking a short cut that ended up being longer, before getting home after about 15 miles. My longest ever run(!) and I wasn't destroyed at the end of it.

The training feels like it's working.

Nice one Andy. Longest run yesterday for me too at 16.5mi @ about 8:20min/mi.

Not sure what distance to stop training to...What do most plans work up to? 23mi?

I'm using Hal Higdon 3, which goes to 20mi.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51151/Marathon-Marathon-3-Training-Program

I'm going to do 22 I think.

I started my plan early, which I think also goes to 20mi, so I'll probably do the same: 22-23mi

I'm also following a HH plan (intermediate 1) which tops out at 20 miles. Heres hoping fresh legs and cheering crowds can drag me along another 6!

I don't know what plan I'm doing yet but most likely won't do more than 20 miles. I'd kind of like to do further to give me fewer things to worry about on the day but my legs won't like me for it.

Bupa Intermediate plan has a 20-22mi long run 3 weeks from race day.

I plan on doing 3 laps of RP (closer to 22mi then) using my bike as a base for water and food. The ride there and back will provide a useful warm up and cool down too.

@Arducius go off the front its only 20 minutes effort. smash it

^ @_Leon How was yer Sunday race?

Just follow the inevitable 17 year old who sprints off at the start to either a) run a sub 16 time or b) blow up after 1km and finish in about 25 minutes...

A few weeks ago, the last 17 year old I witnessed sprint off ahead of me in a parkrun ended up firmly in the (a) camp. Alex Yee, member of my club, set the all-time parkrun U20 record at Dulwich Park with a time of 14:38, one week before winning the Edinburgh Cross-Country International U20 race. Mental! Nice chap as well.

Does anyone here use the RunBritain rankings at all? Quite good fun to look at...

I'll give it a go next time. Be nice to go sub 20. I guess I think of the front being for the proper/fast/whatever runners and I still don't really think of myself as a proper/fast/whatever runner.

If there is enough room for 12 people to toe the line, and you came 12th, you've earned your place on the front row of the grid! (Second row if you're being modest or it's a narrow path.)

14:38. Holy crap.

Don't worry, if you're not proper/fast/whatever then you'll find out fairly soon. But you'll at least be further ahead than you were before.

It sounds like I'm a similar pace to you, and I do the same - sit somewhere in the middle and jog off politely, then pass people gradually while watching the front runners disappear into the distance. I could probably do with being more aggressive/assertive/bettererer too.

My local parkrun starts on a narrow path and we have to keep to the left as the park is quite busy and there's also a bench on the right after about 100 metres (impossible to see through the throng of people) - there's probably space for 2, possibly 3 abreast. There are 400 runners. It's a total free for all and loads of genuinely slow (as in, I pass them cos they're so slow) people always stand near the front and the first few minutes are spent trying to dodge round people. It's really putting me off that particular parkrun, actually, which is a shame as it's really close to home :(
Also I will never forgive the organisers for packing up the finishing chute while my mum was still running :(
GRIPE OVER.

14:38. Holy crap.

Easy...

...and then I start the second lap.

When I ran a parkrun with MiniGB (5 years old, she'd absolutely insisted on doing one and we can't make Junior parkruns, she managed ~30% of it jogging and the rest walking) I was very impressed by the leading 5 runners (all sub-17) as they lapped us each of them ran past giving her some encouragement ("well done", "keep going", etc).

I always start parkrun too far back, not because of space (we've got ~300m or so before the path thins to 3 or 4 people wide), but mentally I prefer to just slowly pick people off over the course of the run.

I have a little glance at the RunBritain rankings every now and again. If only to confirm that according to them I haven't improved for about a year.

failed to get my long run in yesterday due to a combination of headcold and hangover. need to make up for it this week to make sure Wokingham half goes ok.

re. parkrun, if you are sub 20 you should be along the front row at the majority of them.

My running went to sh*t after Snowdon marathon, just about lost the 10lbs I put on over Christmas but still feeling fat. I've had two 55 mile weeks so I'm hoping I'll have something in the legs for Tregaron 1/2 marathon this Sunday but I'm not holding my breath.