Training Log Archive: rcro

First time in a few weeks. Not recovered from the OMM yet.

Easy jog, as never going well after core work and sounds like there is demand for intervals tomorrow.

Put in enough effort to regain a KOM.

Some very impressive decorations for Halloween. Saw death for the second time this week.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1938173798

Forest Halloween Relay around Lap 2 of the Parkrun course. Ended up in an adhoc team with Jacob and Ollie - and as I didn't want to be hanging around waiting opted for leg 1.

Had to treat it basically as a 3k time trial so went for the full scalded cat start - with Dan Sandford right behind me at the first corner. Some pressure to really keep pushing - it's now the second time in as many weeks that I've found myself leading... Dan dropped back a few seconds by the "3k" marker, but with the technical underfoot section near the end couldn't let him close any sooner.

Fortunately, I could remember most of the tree roots and the best line through them so wasn't hindered too much - so still had 5-6s lead into the final straight and maintained to the end. Seems the general consensus was that Dan was going to come back first, and that I caused some surprise.

Definitely pushing this hard - pace slowed more by the cold (car said -1), and having to look much harder for ankle hazards, rather than from the OMM.

Team finished 3rd, and my leg time was fastest overall (but only by 2s)

GPS: https://www.strava.com/activities/1936353793
Results: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=158133&fbcli...

After a bad run in late part of September, races this month seem to have gone fairly well.

Stopped to take my number off and then got moving again to keep warm and get some meaningful distance in. Took quite a while to recovery from the hard lap but once on lap 3 was able to pick up the pace again and going pretty well towards the end.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1936355337

Overall, a nice fun informal race.

Short easy run from home. Seemed to be going quite well given the weekend so steadily picked the pace up. Still going well uphill so put in more effort up the steep part of Glasllwch and then onto the top of the Ridgeway. Probably one of my best Newport street run performances. Only concern being the unlit path off the ridgeway having two sets of steps and having to feel for them and progress gingerly.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1934532049

Photos from the weekend are now up - and they are quite good. However, they are charging £7.95 each... I might have paid £30 for the full set, but if I buy any now my budget is likely to be fixed at £15.90. Given their costs don't change whether I buy or not - all they've done with their greedy pricing is throw away an extra £14 profit...

C • Whaaat! 2

As per conditions - terrible night's sleep. On the plus side, breakfast was filling, and we timed packing up the tent and visiting the toilets (thanks to everyone who let us queue jump!) just in time to get to the start with a minute to spare. Very pleased to be in the chasing start at the beginning rather than having to sit around an extra 2 hours for our allocated start!

CP1 was the top of Lord Hereford's Knob so just put the map away and ran there around the paths. Ben a bit more keen to run than me so found the pace hard work - it's a lot of climb! Caught Matthew and James at the Gospel Path (3 mins of the 10 we needed to overtake), but at the same time was caught by 4th place (having closed half of the 6 mins they needed - and going strong).

After Gospel Pass was the first of the brackeny/gorsey sections with no clear path, and would have tracked up well for later runners. We went with Matthew/James along a lower line and the other team made a bit of a mess of going high - we got to the checkpoint the other side all together, seeing Paul's team (6 mins ahead of us starting) going up the hill in front - us all having caught time on them.

Climb out from 2 was really hard for me. About 4 miles in and had done a lot of running, but no eating, so energy must have run down. Difficult slog and once up the top was in tussock so a struggle for ankle. The other teams got away a bit, but we reclosed by the checkpoint to be <30s behind.

Then first disaster of the day as the main zip on Ben's rucksack broke so became unable to do up. This wasn't repearable in the field so we had to tie bits of elastic together (with definite success) to hold it together so we could continue but the time loss was massive - 11 minutes! Two more teams passed through in this time; one conveniently being consecutively numbered to ours [262 v 261], and caught 6 mins on us, other was first female. The stoppage also gave me time to drink and eat a lot and regain some strength.

Once going again (it was rough!), quickly overhauled the ladies and stopped in the right place to find 4. Not an easy site to find from the map so can imagine a lot of time losses here. Our splits include the hold up so are placed 125th - but suspect we were top 3 in practice.

Came up too early on 5 - tussocky and unpleasant so probably a good thing. Not nice from path to checkpoint. Then back on the path down to trig and in for 6, team 262 following and catching. 6 being a really evil control site - about 200m from the ridge path, about 200m change in height... tough descending. Matthew/James coming out as we were half way down, and the team that overtook us at 2 a minute of so ahead - so somehow we'd gained back 6 mins or so. Game on... Fortunately, we climbed quite well (as did 262) and able to get a move on to 7, overlooking Llanthony Priory and by then right on Matthew's tail again.

Next disaster came quickly, with some "after market" elastic on my bag snapping in the wind and stuff going flying. 3.5 mins spent catching, repacking, and re-tieing before we could go again. 3rd place unreachable now. Still, on a mission to at least catch Matthew again and did so at CP8 (just before Longtown turning), and all together going up to Hatterall cairn, 262 now following 200 yards behind). Alas - the one navigation mistake of the weekend! Ben stopped in the right place but it didn't "feel" right and we all carried on 250 yards before changing our minds, letting 262 catch up as we went back. Cairn much smaller than we expected!

Lastly the fun section down the really steep slope in unspoiled head deep bracken - all 3 teams going in procession at the same pace, forging a way through. Must have been a lovely motorway the end as none of the quick times came from the leaders! Little bit of confusion as to where path went and if the field was in or out of bounds, so we took the path around (with Matthew/James behind) and lost a bit of time on 262. All bunched together at 11 as none of us were really looking at the map closely and expected it to turn up much sooner! Then nice downhill run into the finish :-)

5th today, 4th overall. Take out the 14 mins of stoppage for kit problems and it would have been 2nd and 2nd! But you never know... if the teams we were with at 3 messed up 4, they'd have found it more quickly with us, if I didn't take advantage of the long stop for fuelling I could have been slower, if we and Matthew/James (and 262) weren't encouraging each other to keep pushing we may have all slowed a lot in the final phase. 4th isn't bad for a first time MM?

Big thanks to Ben for sorting out all of the logistics, and camping, and keeping me going for the two days - definitely glad to have done it and enjoyed most of the running parts. Overall, very well organised and most impressed with the amount of toilets and how they were being continually cleaned and re-stocked. Lots of other races should take note!

Only disappointment was the lack of real navigation required (yes, some people managed to get lost, and we know the area very well). Can't say I would ever want to do a longer class though!

Route https://www.strava.com/activities/1931933162
Splits http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2018/OMM/stage...

Really nice to have a clear run down the lane and be home by 12.20. But, sitting here now keep thinking it must be 10.30-11 by now - yet it's only 6.30... (bit like last night actually!) - may be glad of the day off work tomorrow!!

C • Chasing start? 3

Event: The OMM
 

OMM Course B with Ben - first mountain marathon for either of us. Pretty cold - wearing 4 layers (including waterproof) from start to end. Hat and mittens on for most of the time too.

Once knew the route to start, knew campsite would be further up the same valley so the route wasn't a huge surprise. Had been expecting a few longer legs to require some route choice or navigation but it was all straight forward.

Easy start, overtaking, and got a load more up the hill to Bal Mawr - probably going a bit too fast. Navigating to 3 was trivial as it was just where 10,000 people were standing. Then we opted to head down and take the path around to 4 rather than through the bracken - and splits suggest we were quite slow (it did involve stopping for shoe laces).

5 was next to the top of PYGF so just took the reverse of the race route. Steep descent to the bottom was not fun - seems people were going faster on the other side of the fence. But as we knew the way up, crossed the stream in a different place and overtook a load. Most people then followed the forest edge to the top - which was pretty steep, we were faster going up the trod and around. Descent the other side was steep and uncomfortable - but again so many people milling around it was easy to find.

Going was good around Twyn Du forest - but was overtaken by Paul Horsfall - the only team we saw of the day going faster than us. Climb out from the stream up towards the Col was a lot lot longer than I expected - but managed some jogging along the track. It's about here that the snow started, and by the Col was a complete white out blizzard. Feel for the marshal here - he had a clipboard but didn't see any tent.

Went straight 7-8 rather than contour around, which wasn't hugely fun but was the fastest route for us. Had to stop for Ben to add layers. Descent was really horrid with no grip in the snow, lots of rocks, and incredibly steep. The way out the other side wasn't much fun either! (165m in very short distance).

9 was another not very fun control - down another ridiculously steep re-entrant to just turn around and head back up again. Very hard work getting out and ankle didn't like contouring or going in. 10 pretty much straight forward, as was 11 - where we went straight, found an overtook Emma, and got 2nd fastest time on the leg!

Just routine to get to campsite from here - went around but still ended up wrong side of a steep stream. Managed a reasonably strong finish.

It wasn't an outstanding run by any stretch - so both amazed to be 3rd on the results. But the shine was rubbed off a bit when we saw the other team to beat us also had NGOC representation (as well as MDC) too.

Route https://www.strava.com/activities/1931921275
Splits http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2018/OMM/stage...

Camp site was quite nice - but very cold and windy. Added an extra two layers to what I ran in (one being a down jacket). Despite this and in the sleeping bag, wind went right through me and was pretty cold - most of the warmth coming from Ben. Had to get an emergency mars bar out in the night for energy (this in addition to my actual "emergency" food). It was a very long and unpleasant night.

11 hrs at work... Probably only about 1 hr's work done and 10 hrs of waiting for macros.

After about an hour's trying have managed to pack bag such that it's all soft things against my back. Surprisingly how sharp food packets are.

Now just to keep legs stretched so that I'm ok to run.

Had a few too many mental "wobbles" again this week so this afternoon and evening has seen me jumping between miserable, and worse than miserable :-( - and that's despite having a big weekend to plan and look forward to.

But after a couple of hours lay in bed did manage to force myself to do stretching and rolling, and after that legs felt like they might actually be able to run without pain, so easy run with the rucksack.

It's not very comfortable, possibly a bit too wide for my body, but it does at least fit my kit in. Next to no padding on the back so was quickly apparent that the stove would dig in, but a lot of the time wasn't noticing it so much. Will still have to find a better way to pack it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1925161800

Note that watch didn't record GPS co-ordinates (but did elevation, pace, temperature etc.) for a couple of minutes near the start. Was quite suspicious something was up as it took 3 minutes to locate itself instead of usual 10s, and I then waited a further 30s before starting in expectation it would have found a good fix by then.

C • Back padding 3

Back late and uncomfortable trip home on the little train with not enough leg room to put my feet flat on the ground :-( Will do a little core work and stretching but dropping the planned full session.

Packed the new bag with most of the kit (just some more food for on the run to go in) - and confirm it will definitely fit, but much tighter than I expected. Will repack again in a couple of days just to make sure I have got everything.

C • run with the new sack 1

Frustrating day of IT problems at work. The crap laptop has basically stopped working now and won't turn off. It also won't save documents when you press, err, save - and doesn't tell you it hasn't done anything. So, all Friday afternoon's work was lost - and the same for all that I re-did this morning. I seem to be struggling to grip said laptop when carrying now... Productivity shot up once I abandoned it for "my" new "super" computer and now check the date modified in Windows Explorer every time I press save...

Then an expensive trip to shops to buy most of the last bits of kit for the weekend. Cost all adds up - but these are all things I should have invested in a while ago and worth getting.

Lastly, road run with Matt to show him some bits of Newport he's not been to (and to be honest, places I really don't know). Since he had a torch, went for Caerleon after Beechwood and came along the busy lane to Malpas.

Quite a bit further than I really wanted, so will only run once, may twice, more during the week. Good to get a longer easy run in of around 10m distance though, just maybe not the day after a 3 hr run!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1921269663

Wanted to get a long hilly run in before the OMM and wasn't able to join Ben last week due to Mark's birthday (which itself was nice!).

Without too much difficulty persuaded Tom Cochrane out to run along the Malverns and he was keen. Had a feeling I would break him with the hills and distance but he managed 10 miles ok.

Out mostly following the ridge lines until 11k - which was at the base of North Hill. Stopped there for food and drink and texting and then headed back. Stuck to the tarmac down from Worcester Beacon to Wyche Cutting, but ridged onto British Camp. As Tom was struggling skipped British Camp and never intended going back up over Midsummer Hill at the end.

Generally going ok - pace was easy, but I didn't want hard. Ran in trainers but still feeling the impact for the last 4k. Suppose there was a lot of impact yesterday too so could be a good idea to keep it easy this week.

Pretty warm - really not like it's only one week until the clocks go back. And the hills were teaming with dodgy brummie accents (if you thought Birmingham's was bad, try Bromsgrove...). Glad I took fluids with me.

Following run went over to meet Ben to play with tent, kit, pack bags, and swap notes on Patrick Jones. My bag was a struggle (it claims to be 20L but I've never believed that, and fitting my kit took over an hour of fighting, and there's still little bits to go... ordered a larger rucksack to come during the week).

A little surprised to be hitting the M4 at rush hour, and to find Mark and Alice in the queue as I sailed past in the left hand lane. For reference, Coldra to High Cross took me just 6 minutes despite the traffic - timing from songs. Was expecting the worst when I saw all the lorries queuing on the bridge!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1918608582

PS. The midweek evening race at Hollybed Common in January has been causing some problems since it was announced at the same time as NGOC announced an evening street-o (running with said co-ordinator today, the NGOC has been rescheduled ;-) ). Really don't get why Harlequins like to use their better night-o venues for the mid-week and leave the crap (Frith Wood/British Camp/Wyche Ridge/Worcester Beacon) for the WNLs. Suppose they did use Old Hills for a mid-week a couple of years ago...

PPS. Something I've never understood - I can always find the Downs/Brockhampton/home straight away when on the top of the Herefordshire Beacon, but 4 miles closer on the Worcester Beacon never takes less than a minute, lining up off one of the golf balls... And couldn't see Clee Hill for mist today!

Needed to do some stretches as legs weren't ready for a hard run. Skipped the briefing and went straight to start again - start was 10 mins late so lots more stretching by the big sign.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1915622235

Second go at this - but was never intending on coming here or having a hard run today. Was in the slip road at the Coldra when I thought conditions might be good for a sub-19, and I had trainers with me...

I really can't complain about how the run went today. Pacing was good, no pains or niggles. Was even leading for over 2k (in a road race!) - just it wasn't the 2k I would have preferred it to be. I'm still not totally over from this latest illness - but don't think it hindered me significantly.

Quite nice in the mist as couldn't see how far still to go.

Sub 18 5k should definitely be achievable at some point. But based on my current form, on this course, 18:08 is as good as it'll get for now. Speed is pretty impressive, but acceleration isn't - hence why I was behind out the start and lost the lead at the hairpin. Easily the fastest on the uphill gradients though, and if the finish was up where the half goes would have been much closer to the winner.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1915622893

Matt Whipple has been approached to join Lliswerry so I've been talking through the sorts of training. Whilst they are a good club, whilst a member my 5k PB dropped just 17s in 3 years; in the 9 weeks I've been in FoDAC it's dropped 50...

Needed a bit of distance so loop around the slip roads. To be honest, legs feeling nowhere near as bad as they did after last time - helped by the different shoes and not having blisters.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1915623389

Second week of pushing Thursday training - just a relatively swift social run from Parkend to Ellwood giving some good surfaces and a couple of hills.

Just Harry out tonight but some good chat about various gripes and other aims for FoDAC. Seems like a lot of the ideas I had for NGOC may get a better reception here!

Won't be out next Thursday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1912958230

Easy paced run from home to get the legs going as feeling last night quite a bit.

Might have done the street-o if I'd known it was on - not in my work calendar and appears I'd missed any mention of it elsewhere. But should be back out in the forest tomorrow so maybe not.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1910880228

FoDAC track session. Long pyramids - 2/4/8/4/2 with 3 mins rest between. 2s and 4s supposed to be fast (3k pace), 8 slower (10k pace).

Generally going well, and keeping up with Cory (also claiming to be going well) and not that far down on Pete. The 8 started at 10k pace, but after the turn everyone else went fast, so second half was same pace as all the others. Quick at the end too - may have been a bit of a race. Seems that I've got a decent amount of speed now.

Watch agrees. After telling me everything I'm doing is "unproductive" (including the XC), all of a sudden training is good and VO2 max estimate has shot up 3 to 60...

Pace
2: 3:24/km (0.57km)
4: 3:25/km (1.17km)
8: 3:37/km (2.23km)
4: 3:20/km (1.21km)
2: 3:03/km (0.66km)

Sounds like a bit more interest in a Forest Thursday this week - with possibility of an actual coached session.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1908896546

By my calcs now done 40s more core work than last year.

Easy recovery in the rain. Variation of the 7k loop. Remembered that a new segment came up on VeloViewer so went for a half hearted effort up it. Got KOM by 5s. Should be able to knock another 10s or more off if I was trying fully so not really well deserved. Moving reasonably well.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1904018183

Not feeling great due to lack of fully functioning toilets, it being really hot, and legs not wanting to run.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1902268009

Very hard work. Started too fast and was fighting with traffic jams. Kept the pace up as couldn't see Cory in front and didn't want to fall too far behind too soon. Very boxed in on the inside, but cut to the left early so in good space to gain a lot of places on the hill, on the descent, and around the hairpin into the next hill. Just behind James Blore and Ake by this point...

From here onwards (5 miles) was just a struggle to get home - but that's what I came here for. A bit annoying to lose places to people I've never seen before but naturally assume are worse runners, but equally I was gaining places at a similar rate, and some of these I did know.

First good scalp was Tom Mollekin towards the end of 2nd lap - having not seen him ahead much after the start. He must have gone too fast too, and doesn't look like he's got the strength or weight to fight the wind (which was strong adverse for 2nd half of lap, with the out being sheltered by trees). I didn't either, but managed to get past easier and drop. Next was Paul Dodd on the boggy bit at start of lap 3.

Tiring quickly and was resigned to losing my FoDAC lead about half way round but kept plodding and looking at the turnbacks to see who I knew behind me, and I wanted to keep behind. No threats. Tried pretty hard to fight the wind into the finish but think I lost a couple of places.

Overall a good run from having not been feeling too good. The run might not have been fantastic but the result is about as good as I can hope for based on current form - with Cory, Dan Sandford, Tom Mollekin, Jools, Paul Dodd etc. etc. all behind me.

Much more of a road runners XC course as was surprisingly dry and flat (unlike the tarmac parkrun course the other side of the river...). I think I find undulating courses easier for recovery on the downs, and easing off a little going up. Really good training on flat against a headwind just to get used to max effort for 10k or so without changes of gradient to break it up.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1902290028

C • Good effort 1

Warm down with Jools, Scott, Cory and Ollie - Jools and Scott going faster than us.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/387384

Trying to make Thursdays a more regular thing - but none of the group (me included) wanted to do a proper session.

However, pretty fed up with work - so went out anyway for an easy off-road run and Ben decided to join me.

Trying to mix and match bits of night races but things went wrong as the o map I was using had some path errors. Still, found some nice bits to run through and were able to work out where we were eventually.

Nice sociable run. Ground pretty hard, air warm and dry. Surprisingly found only the one boar, and only as many owls as are in the garden at the moment.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1898785766

Note - 25 mins to get through Chepstow, so only marginally less time to get here than Llanwonno. For future reference for rush hour drives, Norchard Road/Whitecroft is about the point where it becomes quicker to go via Goodrich.

Had a bad headache all day and eyes been very sensitive to beight light. Pretty certain linked to overheating last night from being overdressed. Think I would regret trying to do anything this evening.

First time we've been back here since my 2nd or 3rd Tuesday run.

Out to Tylorstown Volcano, then up the straight to the trig. Bit rocky for ankle but survived. Apart from a pretty manky descent in the trees, most of the rest was on good tracks. Putting in quite a bit of effort for long sections and feeling it. Reasonable pace on the hills and quick for me down.

Nice food at the pub after.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1894808938

Won't be coming to that many more MDC runs this year as the plan is to do more speedwork, and doing which is easiest to get to. Leaving at 5pm today - took 27 minutes to get onto M4 westbound, and with Coryton being fairly quiet, was onto the A470 at 43 minutes and Pontypridd at 55. Normally heading the other way I'm at Goodrich within 40 mins and Coleford by 55 - driving slowly. Much, much less frustrating traffic!

C • driving Next year 2

Day off today as car in garage and didn’t want to work from home. Done lots of walking though - and came across Andy Stott and Pete Ribbans whilst out.

Legs feeling pretty wrecked from yesterday plus all this walking. Had to do a lot of stretching

Various bit of warming up with Ben as a bit cold for standing around. Took him down to see the cave.

First time I've run this race (new last year). Legs feeling Corn Du this morning and still suffering with stomach cramps - but other than that things generally went well.

Went out too fast so that I wouldn't lose too many places. With a big downhill meant the leaders were well ahead very quickly. First ascent went well and broke away from the people that caught me going down.

Nice trails along the top but getting caught by Ian Smith (FoDAC) and as we got to the descent tried going fast but had to slow on the really rough bits and lost places to Ian, Dan Sandford and Andrew Dickens. Once on the flat was able to shift and dropped Andy and was closing on Dan and Ian by the bridge... but then it went uphill and had nothing in the legs - not paced well. Lost two places on this short sharp climb.

Once not climbing, going fairly well again and held onto the group in front. Main climb, "Demon Hill", didn't go as well as I wanted, but was better than everyone else around me and up just behind Ian at the top (3 places gained). Predictably lost again on descent but pushed the final fun loop to regain places to finish 9th, and only a few seconds from 7th.

Appears there have been some major difficulties in recording the results - so currently they say I came 7th. To be fair, the two finishers either side of me should both be disqualified for having earphones on, but the results problems are a bit deeper!

Overall, not a fantastic run and I should be able to do better - but by some margin the best race result I've had in the last few weeks. Would like the hills to be going better - but segments suggest I was holding out pretty well on the flat and the up most of the time. Really nice route - so a race to come back to.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1889841859

Saw lots of kids with very basic orienteering maps (i.e. grass = green) around Biblins campsite.

Several people saying think I've improved a lot recently - and that joining FoDAC seems to be working out well (not just FoDAC people saying this...). Definitely helping for motivation - and they seem to like me.

Owlie is back in the garden tonight. Seems to come every October - was wondering where it had got to last week.

Despite the rain, opted for this over the fell race as easier to not try. Went at steady 4:40/k pace and was bang on schedule at each of the first 4 km marker posts - but 12s off at the finish. Seemed a bit weird.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1886950286

Went over to Fan Fawr anyway as was first chance to catch up with Duncan in quite a long time. Went for a bit of a jog ahead of the race so was able to cheer him on half way up, and as he ran into the finish.

Not going *too* hard at the start but was climbing quite well. Helped a lot by the wind being behind. After the bog the path turned and was against the wind and became a lot harder! Went higher than I thought I would - to the big rock near the bottom of the last steep climb. Returned with a short loop to the south where we've orienteered before. Meant was against the wind back and had to rush as Duncan and co were coming back fast.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1887606248

Another short jog along a track alongside Duncan's warm down.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1887607971

Added more layers. Fairly brisk walk up Corn Du and Pen y Fan with bits of jogging. Much more leisurely down. Sun out for quite a lot but wind was strong. Good views.

Less frustrating day at work - finally been given a new "superfast" laptop so can run macros on that and carry on with my normal computer. And spent half the morning explaining about work I did 6 years ago as the people in York charged with taking it on have realised nobody else in the company has any idea... If I'm that important, may be time to ask for a pay rise??

Just one cyclist on the pavement today, and the train into work being unable to stop at Patchway due to "signal problems" - meaning 10 coaches for the <30 people travelling from South Wales to Swindon and London at 6am in the morning, leaving me and the other 200 to cram onto the 3 car train behind that had no trouble at all... And the train home was short formed again (2 coaches) - but seems everyone's given up with public transport now as there was still shoulder space. Fingers crossed everything's running again when I go back on Tuesday!

Another easy jog as legs knackered. Very tired in work and not helped by sitting around waiting for 2 hour macros to run - and then find the spreadsheet's corrupted and have to start again.

Easy short run to just get out.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1884045578

Easy run from home. Legs pretty tired and was noticing any uphill or adverse wind (the breeze seemed against me most of the time). Happy to not put much effort in, and watch has decided that the easy run today was good enough to bring VO2 max back up to 59 again.

Wondering if some of this tiredness and poor running is down to walking an extra 2.5-3 miles per day commuting, lots of standing at Patchway as it's passenger facilities are somewhat "basic", and lots of standing on little trains (that said, despite Gary being on board, today's was fairly empty). Hopefully Parkway will reopen next week and things will be back to normal.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1882119478

Seems the guy I took the KOM off last week wanted it back as he's taken 20s off my time (which was 4:28 - and 30s faster than his previous), and another KOM I didn't know I had as it was tied. It's not a particularly fun one and affected a lot by cars and pedestrians so can't be bothered to fight for it, for now - but pleased he's had to put in a descent effort for the KOM rather than the old, somewhat undeserved one.

Just 3 pavement cyclists this morning - and the only one that came within an inch of running me over was a 4th in the road, going down the wrong side of the to the right of a “keep left” sign post as I crossed to the central island... Three of the 4 were wearing headphones. Sympathies to whoever (pedestrian, cyclist or motorist) they crash into.

Track pyramids - 3/4/5/4/3 with 2 mins rest between each. Despite being on a looping track, turned around at half way to regroup by finish and that affected flow somewhat.

As per recent training sessions, this went quite well. Paces (including turning around):
3: 3:27/km, 4: 3:25/km, 5: 3:28/km, 4: 3:29/km, 3: 3:27/km

Is a really nice group at the "faster" end, and gives me some motivation to turn up and try. Good for chat too. Says a lot that I'm prepared to drive miles to do intervals on a "rustic" track but stopped going to Lliswerry when they cut back on road for tarmac track... At the moment very pleased to have switched non-fell clubs.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1880018998

May need to be clever with slotting in intervals next week as planning on coming to MDC :-)

included a lot of stretching. Legs ok on the move but tight when sat down