Racing and Training 2019

we did 6 * 800 metre reps on the SDR bridge. That is from round the back of the Blaina Wharf to where the slip road near Morrison's straightens out.

pm First session back after illness... Sore throat & head cold As it was a very cold night we changed the scheduled hill session to an interval session at the river front. I tail ran with group 6. Which most mostly Maria Atkin. Julia Groombridge was there for a while. Laura Richards, Steve Crowther, Julie Bates, Richard Talbot, Alison Carter, Liz Crook, Liz Kenward, plus the guy with Cerebral Palsy (Craig?).  

pm I did an interval session with Group 5. Reps from close to the Newport Clock to close to the Llanwern Bull. 6 reps... each rep was approximately 400 metres and was taking about 2 minute with 2 minutes recovery. New people tonight included ... Tall Paul (Russell) , small Theresa, Rachel and Eve. Morgana Daniel was there too (I last saw her 8 days previously on the Greyhound Run). Others were... Kate Parry-Jones, Rachel Avon, Gaynor Lugg, Shappers, Julia Davies, Gareth Yeomans, Colin Tebby etc...

pm On a cold night I did the High Cross Horror as tail runner for group 6. After a number of consecutive days of running it was good to be able to use this as a recovery run.

pm I did the NEWT track session. 3 * 1200 off 12:30 i.e. each rep / recovery lasts 12:30 i total. S & C exercises and warm up with Paul before the main session was good

I did the Braunton 10 mile road race. I didn't specifically warm up. So my first mile or so was my warm up. My early miles were close to 8 minute miling. The first big hill is a tough climb - it starts at about 3 miles into the race and is a  90 metres ascent over three quarters of a mile. There is some downhill (obviously) and the next big climb starts at about 5.5 miles and lasts for just over half a mile.The last 4 miles are down hill even though it seems that there is some uphill included. My time was faster than my 2008 time!. I lost about 3.5 minutes on the first hill and a couple of minutes on the second hill. So I reckon this equates to maybe a 78 minutes to 80 minutes 10 miles on easier terrain. My note to Keith... Yes, it was good to get some racing experience. I didn’t warm up for the race so the first couple of miles was my warm up. It is a road race with two big hills twixt the undulations. The first big hill is a tough climb - it starts at about 3 miles into ...

am I ran to the Riverfront, I did the parkrun, I jog walked home. I wasn't feeling so good today. I had a bit of a sleepless night.... Maisie had diarrhoea. My parkrun time was 28:15 I ran home a slightly different way today just for the hell of it. It was miserable weather. Quite drizzly - a very fine misty drizzle. My glasses were drizzled up rather than steamed up on the final kilometer of the park run.

I did Six @ Six...the Newport 10K Route with... Roni & Steve C, Julie, Maria, Ann Oakley, Richard Talbot, Chris Stevens, Chris Davies, and Sam Skelton

pm I did a 2 mile warm up before the Club Championship track mile. I was in the group 3 & 4 race. I went off a bit quick and at current fitness levels was not able to hole the pace. I finished with approx 6:51 (TBC). A reasonable gauge of my fitness level while I am marathon training rather than doing speed work.

pm The Greyhound Run. Tail running for group 5 & 6. Group 5 picked up the pace on the return journey leaving a small but select group 6. There were a couple of new (to me) faces, which was nice. Craig, Morganna & Maria, were the mainstays of my little group. Steve Crowther ran back and forth like a whippet between the two groups.

pm NEWT track session. 5 * ( 1000, 200) with 2m & 1m recovery.

am I did 15.1 miles with the 8 am crew. We did the Llanwern. Bishton, sea wall, goldcliff loop. Some cut it short.. John Hill and Scottish Dave did 10 (via The Queens Way). Matthew Potter did 12 (via Broadstreet Common). That left Me, Chris Davies, Huw Evans, Sarah Kembrey and Jon Kendall to do the 15.

We did Six @ Six... The Newport 10K route. There were 15 of us... Lorraine (?), Sue Urbano, Liz Dimond, Steve Crowther, Me, Chris Davies, Alison Carter, Maria David, Sian Nicholls, Richard Talbot, Sam Skelton, Matthew Potter, Leanne, Julie Bates, Mike Titley

pm S & C at the Velodrome with Ruth King (PT)

pm Did a track session with group 5. We did 5 * 800 with 200 slow walk recoveries. I'm starting to feel good. Maybe I should move up to group 4 on Wednesdays.

pm We did the 3 zebras run (formerly "The Stockbroker Belt"). I was tail runner. I forgot to start Garmin until I was 800 metres up the hill. Ran well with Group 6 with Julia Groombridge and Maria David at the tail. Steve Crowther was helping out too. Met Julie Bates a new girl who was finding the hills towards the end just a bit challenging. Maria wanted to take a short cut on her own. I wouldn't allow that I made sure she had company. Gareth Brunnock had a bit of a turn after the session but he was with Steph Rhodes ... which was lucky.

Feeling a bit weary today after yesterday's Newport County v Leicester City FA Cup fixture during which time I had 6 pints of beer and lots of carby junk food. The track session was 3 * 4 * 400 (1:15 standing recovery, 1 lap between sets) I was doing the 400s in approx 2 minutes.

am We did a Caerleon loop (12 miles) and added a 2 mile NISV loop with Elinor and Matthew Potter to make 14 altogether. Mel Shipton turned back at 4 miles - somewehere on the cycle path - as she was feeling a twinge/teak. The rest of us continued to Caerleon, long way round the village, short side of the river... just about came to 12 miles. The lead group of 10 mm were strong... Matthew Potter, Andy Cockeram, Andy Barry, behind them in a strong centre grouping were Jon Kendall, Elinor Phillips, Maria English, Chris Stevens, ... at the tail was Naomi Hibberd who struggled with a bad tummy towards the end of the run. Chris Watkins tailed off a bit too. The two mile loop was Traston Road, Corpa Road, SDR, & Langland way plus halfway round the car park.

am I ran to the Riverfront, I did the parkrun, I jog walked home. It was cold this morning, not much above freezing... it was definitely beanie hat weather. I cruised the run, I felt reasonably good jog walking home.

pm Thirteen of us plus one dog did a Six @ Six unofficial route. We were: Me, Steve Crowther, Chris Davies, Lisa Nicholls (plus dog), Richard Talbot, Sian (?), Lorraine (new), Sue (new-ish), Julie Davies, Chelsea, Chris Stevens, Jo Stevens (new), Sam Skelton. We started with the Waterloo Sunset course but diverted along Cardiff Road to run to Bassaleg Road via Gaer Estate. We then followed Bassaleg Road to the Handpost and followed the normal route via Llanthewy road. We still needed to run towards Castle Bingo to complete the distance. I accidentally pressed my Garmin pause button so my distance measure was not accurate.

pm We did 3 sets of 3 half bridge reps at the SDR bridge. Effort up the hill jog recovery back, turn and go immediately.

am I did a double parkrun with bits added on to make the run longer than a half marathon. I drove to Eton Road and parked the car. I then ran over the footbridge and then on to Tredegar House via Cardiid road, Mendalgieff Road, Docks Way and then Cycle path 4. After running TH parkrun I ran back to town with Andrew and Gareth Yeoman and Kat Collins. I then did the Riverfront parkrun. That took me over half marathon distance. here's my post on Facebook .... Dave Proffitt  shared a  link . 3 hrs I was one of the many who doubled up on parkrun this morning. Quite a few of us ran between the two out and back to clock more than 13 miles. A nice way to get a long run in. 08:09 on Tuesday, 1 January 2019 Double parkrun plus extra bits https://www.strava.com/activities/2047974973 ... and this on Garmin https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3262906896