Good morning you great folk here at RA. Wow, interesting here lately to say the least. 8 easy miles last night in H&M conditions, but got it done in 1:09 - 8:38 pace (and I felt horrible with stomach issues from something I ate at lunch... "bad" French onion dip I suspect that I was eating with pretzels) Speaking of pace, since Ribs has me on a training plan that has two "big" workouts a week, and with all speed work Incorporated within a long run - and mid week long run, my "easy" pace has dropped by over 1 minute per mile on average. Like last Sat's 17 miler, normally my pace for such a long run would have been around 9:15 to 9:45, but last Sat's run I had overall average pace of 8:20 , which is a huge difference. Not telling anyone to change your training program, but expressing my own progress, which Ribs is graciously helping me with.....hint hint Larry Speaking of btb Bob, he is definitely back 100% running wise.....http://runningahead.com/logs/3412da5dac5b4d779defefb48f09e92a And is missed here deeply. Hope Joey reconsiders posting here, as he would be deeply missed also. Update on "10 cat chick" that I had a date with. She Emailed me and said she had a good time....and blah blah blah. But then said she is looking for someone bigger and more buff, and she has a problem with the no hair thing. Hey, I didn't have to run from her like many expressed here, but she took care of it herself I will have to admit I had many dates when I was fat and weighed 250 pounds and a slug. But now skinny and fit I am finding most women don't find that attractive Oh well, would rather be single, than to be the way I used to be Hope all have a wonderful day Tim

Update on "10 cat chick" that I had a date with. She Emailed me and said she had a good time....and blah blah blah. But then said she is looking for someone bigger and more buff, and she has a problem with the no hair thing.

How unbelievably shallow! What would she do if her mate went bald? Call a lawyer???? No running for me yet today -- getting the two kiddos ready for Day 1 of Swim Lessons! Should be interesting...

Tim, that's funny. No wonder she is currently "available". I have had similar responses by the way. I have always been slim (skinny most would say) and women typically looked past me very quickly. I have noticed though that as I am now 56 and still slim/skinny, many older women look at me a bit more - no doubt comparing me to their probably heavier and out-of-shape significant others. Several weeks ago I ran some 1/2 mile Repeats and got a bunch of advice on how I should be doing them. Spareribs suggested I run them at 3:45 (7:30 min/mile pace) with 200 meters of rest between. Labduck, over on KR, asked why I ws taking such a short rest break between (2 minutes then). He had always heard you should rest/jog for the same amount of time as the time taken to run the Repeats. So getting conflicting suggestions, I tried this session this morning: 9 miles total with 7x1/2 mile repeats and 3 minutes jog between each. I ran them fairly hard and got the following (all by feel): 3:54 (7:48 min/mile pace) 3:48 (7:37) 3:44 (7:29) 3:42 (7:24) 3:45 (7:31) 3:45 (7:31) 3:40 (7:22) I must admit I walked a little before and right after the last Repeat. 76 degrees and 89% humidity. Avg HR 149, max HR 170. Bill

Bill, that's incredible pacing ....by feel. I just can't get "the feel" on faster paces yet, but am working on it. Tim

Good morning all, It's a litte muggy here today but still a nice morning for running. I was up late last night reinstalling my computers' OS & applications....finally got done about midnight. Everying is running fast now. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get up at 5:30AM but I did... 10.14 miles of hills@ 9:14 pace, I walked about a mile to cool down and jumped into the pool after that. Good runs to all today.

Bill! Don't forget that I read everything, so I have a comment about that interval discussion you saw on Kick. Before I comment, let me say that 7:30's are probably just right for you, and that a 200 jog recovery is what you are looking for, but having said that, with the H and H I can sure see why allowed yourself a bit more and that last one was an effort. Great job on that workout. Notice that these slightly off-pace sessions are so much more valuable to you than all-out, speedy 800's as you can do far more volume at a prolonged increased HR and feel fresher the next day. How can training get any better? Also, doing this by feel is a great way to teach yourself pace. Nice job. Now back to Labduck. As you recall he posted doing 800's at something like 6 minutes a mile and he took quite a long recovery after each. In fact, as I remember it, it seemed like full recovery. So in doing the math, I figure Labduck at top condition runs the fiveK at 19:45, so he is doing those sessions at VO2 max, certainly faster than fiveK pace. Speed like this on the track is actually useful toward the tail end of a training program (with full recovery after each repeat, so they are not technically called intervals but repeats) but not in the early stages, so if I were to jump in there I would have suggested he hold off on that kind of workout until the last 4-6 weeks of his program, as that is all you require for top anaerobic development. I am sure you also noted that Daave commented to Lab about that workout and suggested that he slow the pace down which would enable him to do more 800's. I might have made the same comment as Daave but would have also commented on where this workout fits into his training and on the recovery time/distance. Since we are discussing this and I don't like to mention his name here, I will ask him to read our posts and comment. Well I talked the cardiologist into seeing me today, not for the stress/echo which is on the 18th, but just so he can give me some guidance and calm me down. I have printed out a bunch of questions to ask him. I did not run this morning figuring that it is just one day and I can always go out this afternoon. Tim, don't be discouraged over this one episode. There are many wonderful women out there looking for the right guy. Keep at it. And what in the hell are you doing eating French onion dip and pretzels? Spareribs

DickyG, the new plan Ribs has me on has made the real difference, compared to my "winging" it approach I was using before. I am running a few more miles a week, but not that many more and ALL speed work is done during my long run and mid week long run days...the rest is easy or recovery running. Example last week: Mon - 10.5 easy miles - 1:32 - 8:46 pace Tues - 4 recovery miles Weds - Mid week long - 12.7 miles 1:43 - 8:09 overall ave pace - with 6 1000's at 7:15 pace Thurs - 4 recovery miles Friday - 7 easy miles Sat - 17 miles - 2:22 - 8:20 ave pace - with 3 @ M pace and 3 @1/2 M pace Sun - 7 easy miles Total - 62.2 miles - A little tired, but good week And with this plan, it's not that hard to run 7 days per week vs having 3 or 4 hard workouts a week. Ribs, just having a little snack...hey, pretzels aren't that bad, the dip not so good I know. Tim

..dickyG//......that is Hilarious...... .................I did look like 2nd Place in a Hog Throwing Contest....... ============== ....30min easy run......... .............good running to the rest of ya..........