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Apr 2018
6:31pm, 18 Apr 2018
38,134 posts
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Velociraptor
My work life balance is set to improve, at least for May and June, provided the locum who's starting doesn't create more work than he saves, and from the couple of days he's already worked with us my impression is that he's a good worker and a pleasant human being.
It helped in 2010 that I was a locum and had managed to secure a long term arrangement that gave me a three-hour gap in the afternoons on weekdays so I could run 7-10 miles five times a week plus whatever weekends permitted.
And I was only 46. No age at all, if only I'd realised.
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Apr 2018
7:39pm, 18 Apr 2018
1,879 posts
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Canute
Vrap, with fairly consistent WAVAs in the 68-70% range for 1 mile, 5K and 10 miles within the past month, you appear to have a moderate base for your proposed half marathons. The state of your legs after the 10 miler indicates the need for a bit more conditioning of your legs muscles but the fact that you ran a creditable 1mile less than a week later indicates fairly good overall recovery. So the prospect for a reasonable HM in May and a good HM by late summer is not too bad provided you can step up the training a bit. I hope that the appointment of the locum allows that.
This evening I had a lovely spring time run in the local woods. The celandines are at their peak. After an afternoon of sunshine, they were sparkling exuberantly on the southwest facing slope of Clifton Woods. The bluebells are late this year and still a few weeks short of their peak, but nonetheless were a lovely complement to the celandines.
There were also thousands of Himalayan balsam seedlings. Although I had waged a fairly vigorous campaign against the brambles and nettles last autumn, I had been too tolerant of the balsam. I will have to mount a campaign against this year’s young upstarts later in the year, as they are a voracious pest. It is actually an offence against the Wildlife and Countryside Act to cause these plants to grow in the countryside. But today they were so fresh and green, it would have felt like planning wanton infanticide to even think about that campaign today – and it would have fitted-ill with the celebration of spring.
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Apr 2018
8:08pm, 18 Apr 2018
22,206 posts
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LazyDaisy
The wood anemones are out good and proper here, but the bluebells are only just starting to show some colour. FB showed me my photos from this day in 2014 this morning - a glorious club run (it was actually Good Friday in 2014) through local woods and fabulous carpets of bluebells at their peak.
The phone camera didn't really do them justice but you get the idea:
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Apr 2018
8:51pm, 18 Apr 2018
1,110 posts
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Flatlander
Where I used to work there was a SSSI woods next to the hospital. The woods was SSSI because of the huge swathes of English bluebells, much like in LD's photo, and the scent was delightful :-).
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Apr 2018
9:12pm, 18 Apr 2018
38,136 posts
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Velociraptor
Thanks, Canute. I don't intend to do the half marathon that's in my portfolio in May. It's only a week before the Fred Whitton Challenge, I daren't risk being underrecovered for that, and I haven't done the training that would allow me to bounce back after a half marathon. I'd rather build up my mileage, ride my bike, chip away at shorter race distances, and set an ambitious but evidence-based target for the Carlisle half marathon in September.
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Apr 2018
9:29pm, 18 Apr 2018
1,880 posts
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Canute
Vrap, that sounds like a good plan.
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Apr 2018
10:07pm, 18 Apr 2018
15,378 posts
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Columba
There's nothing like a bluebell wooud at the right time of year.
Himalayan Balsam is pretty when in flower, but I appreciate it's a complete pain and crowds everything else out. Not as bad as Japanese Knotweed, though.
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Apr 2018
6:51am, 19 Apr 2018
1,581 posts
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struthious
I have been recording my Spanchnic shunts thinking they might, at least, be useful in eliminating the need for a MHR test every now and then. But nope. They vary a lot in intensity and duration. Possibly I should have just asked this forum.
When I first started marathon training (2016, did two, the second of which included 1700 mtrs of ascent) I was running 5 days a week and after 2 days rest I would be painfully stiff and sore during the following warm-up. Coincidentallly this year starting my mara training I discovered the Run-the-Sum game. So. Just been awarded a 50 day streak badge for my 69th birthday, no more painful warm-ups, and (not to suggest it would suit everyone), following on from Canute's erudite post, active recovery (running easy 8min/km) really works well for me. (Won the March Run-the Sum, April looks to be a shoo-in 
For those missing their past youthful speed and vigour here's the platitude of the day. 'The past is a rock. You cannot run with any kind of grace carrying a rock.'
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Apr 2018
7:16am, 19 Apr 2018
22,209 posts
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LazyDaisy
I've not looked at Run the Sum - sounds interesting!
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Apr 2018
8:43am, 19 Apr 2018
1,361 posts
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runnyeyes
That’s a lovely photo Daisy. Early beech leaves and bluebells are a perfect combo.
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