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[ETC]

Ice Bath.... That sounds very unpleasant

[charlesr]

Wiked cool. Sounds like you are really improving. Sub 9 mins for half marathon - nice one.

Discovered a parkrun 30 mins drive away - might give it a shot.

[Taka]

Ice baths aren't as bad as they sound and I've found a way to make the initial shock more bearable. What I did today was sit in the tub with luke warm water and then slowly add cold water along with a couple of bags of ice I had stored away. Managed to sit it out for 20 minutes including the 5 minutes it took to fill up.

I reckon I could even do 8:30 minute miles with a proper taper and carbo loading etc.

Defo give the Parkrun a go, Charles. I no longer miss having Saturday lie-ins because of it!

[charlesr]

Did a 3 mile fartlek today. Not sure if I'm doing it right, but I think that's the whole point - you just muck about at different speeds. It was great fun and my Adios2s felt wiked fast. My thighs are going to hurt tomorrow.

They are meant to last 45 mins or so, but I wanted to test my ankle injury so only did 22min.

[Taka]

I love fartlek, using my local park as a training ground for it with no real structure as such. It does look somewhat schizophrenic when I look at my GPS map data afterwards!

Legs feel generally fine today, maybe a little stiff in my right hip but otherwise right as rain. Got my last speedwork session planned for Wednesday and then just a 3 or 4 steady miles on Friday to stay loose. Really can't wait until Sunday's race!

[charlesr]

11 miles before breaky this morning, and what a perfect morning it was. Glad I had my sunnies on.
Took it well slow (8:30min/mi) - I reckon I was doing all my long runs far too quickly last time at only 20s slower than race pace, so I'm aiming for a whole minute slower per mile during the long runs this time.

Also went to the hospital this morning to get my broken shoulder blade checked. Doc said bone is almost healed but it would be anouther 4 weeks before all the muscular pain has gone. He was rather surprised when I said I had been for an 11 mile run this morning and that I have no pain and can do press ups etc. He got me to do all sorts of moves with my arms while he prodded me, trying to find somewhere it hurts, but nothing. That'll be the ARGI+ supplement I'm taking (decreases recovery time). If anyone wants any (why wouldn't you?) let me know - it's part of my product range.

[charlesr]

Let the pain commence

Wednesday is my long run day (before breakfast) to leave the weekend free for family and stuff, so today was 4x800m (170bpm) intervals with 400m (down to 130bpm) recoveries. It's gotta hurt tomorrow.

[Taka]

Scored a new 10K PB this morning at the Cardiff 10K!

Adopted a negative split strategy of 8 min miles for the first 5k, though felt very strong at 3k so upped it to 7:50 min miles. Passed the halfway point and opened up the throttle to 7:30 and then did the final 2 miles at 7:10 to bring myself back in at 46:40, over 2 minutes ahead of schedule and beating my training 10k PB by over 5 minutes!

Thirst was not a major issue at the water point and poured more of it over me to cool down. Had a quick chat with a guy running barefoot, wishing him well. Great atmosphere and course, though the starting groups were a mess with me overtaking plenty and not being overtaken once.

Did a Mo-bot crossing the finish!

[charlesr]

Congrats dude. 5 minutes is huge! You shouldn't need any water in a 10k really, so on the right track.

I'm feeling a bit battered from my daft downhill mountain biking yesterday. Shoulders and chest are aching from trying not to smash my face into the bars and my glutes from standing up the whole way down. My brake finger is really sore too, so I either bashed it on a tree without noticing or it has swollen up from the effort of trying to stop me. One of the best DH days ever.

[Taka]

Had I have started closer to the front, I reckon I could have finished with a 45ish minute finish. The course had a few pinch points (taking corners wide etc) during the first 5k but this cleared up nicely by the second half. Nike+ is also telling me that I cracked a new 5k PB as well of 22:11 so I now need to try and achieve this at a Parkrun!

Sounds like you need a recovery day, Charles!

[charlesr]

Hah yeah. Today is my recovery day. Yesterday was a 30 min tempo run. Check out my speed profile. Nice and easy all the way up to 6:30min/mi pace for 3 mins and back down again. Aim was to feel fresh at the end.

[Taka]

This is where we differ, Charles. 6:30 minute miles would be suicidal for me!

Hamstrings are a little stiff today, so plenty of stretching in the office. Decided to ride this runner's high out and I've booked myself in for the Bath Half Marathon for next March. Expensive this running malarky: entry is ?41, hotel is ?80, train ticket is ?84 for me and the Mrs working out at ?15.65 per mile!

I'm also waiting to see if I get a London ballot place so have to budget for that too...

[charlesr]

Cool. I love Bath. It's a fantastic city. See if you can book into Demuth's restaurant while you are there. It's cheap and vegetarian - top grub.

[charlesr]

Heheheh. Very good

[charlesr]

Did my first barefoot run today. 1 mile on my road. The road is pretty smooth, but it was still pretty painful towards the end on the ball of my feet - like a blister / rubbing type pain (not impact pain). Still it's a start. There's no way I could run down the main road or pavement with my "princess and the pea" feet.

I only managed it in 8:45, so it was pretty slow, due to trying to look after my feet. Better safe than sorry though.

Also I got a couple of things in the post.

1) Adidas Adizero Climaproof Top



It's amazing. Almost non-existently light. It protected me from the wind very well this morning when it was really blowing hard. I haven't tested it in extended rain, but I splashed a handful of water on myself and it repelled it all staying completely dry. Only downside is no reflective bits that I can see, but I wear a headtorch with flashing rear LED at night anyway.

2) BodyGlide



I expect my winter training long runs to be in the rain sometimes, so will need this on my pits, thighs and nipples. Blood trails on the front of your running top is not cool. I'm also getting some blisters on my feet, so hopefully this will get rid of them.

With