DPR crazy gang

DPR crazy gang, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

At the post-marathon drink up in the Fire Station Dulwich Park Runners celbrated in styleee. Eric at 3.24, Katia at 4.02, Tom at 3.09, Abs at 3.08 and Chrissie on the end in 2.59. Poor Tom had a 'mare travelling back after the volcano and wasn't in shape to go for the 2.50 he craved but he will come back better and stronger.

For me not having run the blue ribband of UK races for 2 years enough is enough and I am going to go for this next year. Long is my goal this year. Speed is my goal in 2011 (I think).

With LONG on the mind we have been concocting a charity event which is a run from Dulwich Park to Paris....the best we can come up with is Tower to Tower (as in Crystal Palace..just a mile away to Eiffel) Each lap of the park is 1.1 miles. If we get most of the club to have a couple of laps then we can do this for charity. Eric and myself are planning to run the whole 12 hours. I wonder if Jerry and Immune are up for this? This of the tea and cake and champagne in Dulwich!!

On other matters I have dropped mileage this week to focus on recovery for the Neolithic. Having said that I have been sharing a new-found turn of speed after 6 months of plodding round for hours at 8.30s plus. It is hard cycle to get out of and I was fairly crap at the fast group run a couple of weeks ago but have been pleased with my gradual increase in lactate threshold. I have had a few sessions of 7.45s, and now 7.30s. Last night's club run I was late and legged it over Forest Hill. Following the lovely run in the evening (first run in daylight this year!) we were flying along at 7.20s and the last 2 really cranked it up and ran at 6.40s. This is unheard of for me but my recovery run today demonstrated no niggles or pains. Fantastic! I hope this keeps up.

LonDone

Eric and Tom L pose 3, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

Big shouts out to all of the DPR crew who raced well in the VLM. Here's Tom and Eric at mile 7; Deptford Creek. Eric PB'd at 3.24 and Tom at 3.15. Fantastic day.....I'll be there next year aiming for a 3.15

Ron Hill-ing it

after a lovely 90km last week, I have been on the streets in various garments for this changeable weather and am running a bit everyday. A longer than planned easy day was a tale of 4 runs in one on saturday, followed by a nice long sauna in the gym. Sunday was an impromptu run to Euston, as I knew I could get a lift back from Susie dropping off at the station, so I donned my gear and had a run through the City and over Southwark Bridge and up through the deserted streets of our fair capital for a 10 mile tempo session. Great. A 7 mile hill-rep hard workout with George last night has continued the vein of return to form so I look forward to our club run tonight!

Feeling it

back to running 50 miles in a week (well I will have exceeded that with my saturday morning club run) so am feeling good, if not overweight after a week of meat and cheese and no fruit or veg in Bulgaria last week. Have just returned from a good if not tiring 14 miles with Eric and Jason, both of whom were using this as their VLM taper mid-long run. After going for a leisurely 8.15 pace we suddenly found that crossing roads and the high st of Beckenham had slowed us down and we decided to follow the little man on Jason's Garmin who was a bit ahead of us, well that was at the bottom of Crystal Palace Hill so a hard job to run at 8s uphill for 1.2 miles for a challenge and then sprint down the hill to Dulwich.

In running these long slow runs I am feeling it every time we drop to 7s to run. This time last year I was 10lbs lighter and most of my training runs were at 7-7.30s! I need to make a mental note to get and do some speedwork and one tempo run a week as I am losing all V02max capabilities and it is annoying when the people I have normally felt very comfortable with are running off! Injury free though so can't complain.

Black Dog Marathon seems unlikely this weekend as I have such a lot of work to be catching up with and a 250 mile round trip with a road marathon in the middle of it might seriously knock me out for work on monday. But, as they say, never say never.

Great Uncle Bulgaria

After a week in the hills and mountains of Bulgaria I am shaking off that post-holiday lack of running (except for a 13km run, 600m up a big hill and then back down again) and getting into the twice daily run routine of the second part of my easter hols. Having eaten and drank far too much, it is now a concerted effort to shed some pounds to alleviate my knees for a summer of longer runs. Mr Immune has requested the classic quarter in June, which I am thinking positively about. I am pondering the Black Dog or SDM but am feeling that this is too close to the Neolithic and am conscious of only being weeks from my annoying injury and still on the mend.

A pleasant 7.1m at 7s yesterday was a good blast before my last day of cider for a while. I felt this in my morning run with George as we did just under 6 in 8s. Off to the club to present the medals for the club champs half marathon at Paddock Wood on sunday. Cunningly a suprise BD party was organised for me this weekend (I don't normally celebrate it as it is on FLM/VLM weekend) and I was plied will all sorts of alcoholic beverages and promptly gave George my number as there was no chance of being even fit to drive to PW. 11 out of 30 from the club PB'd and so I missed out there. We've got a new website up which looks so much better than the last one. www.dulwichparkrunners.com

Hopefully a 10-12 easy pace tonight to build towards a 50 mile week.

UltraBobban at the Finish of the BTM

UltraBobban at the Finish of the BTM, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

checking the finish time and position. A creditable 28th after a long slog and perhaps on form, might have managed much higher. No sweat though as I just enjoyed the day immensely, perhaps except for the hill at 22 where we ran-walked and Beacon's Hill Bastard at the finish whcih was the steepest climb possible without putting our hands on the floor to scramble up. Nice to get a handshake and the complimentary t-shirt and shot glass at the finish

after the finish

after the finish, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

I always seem to pull stupid poses at the end of a race. There was even more on the cutting room floor

Brighton Trail Ultra Marathon finish

Brighton Trail Ultra Marathon finish, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

just picked up my camera back and downloaded the pics from BTM. Here is me and Martin coming into the finish which looks uneventful but we both had to exorcise some demons in the last 3 miles, Martin at Beacons Hill and me at about 26 miles in when my diaphragm went into spasm for about a minute. Having said that we clocked a 7.40 last mile so not bad after 3500ft of climbs

Back in the groove

Enjoying the Easter lie in, good blue mountain jamaican coffee, a small fry-up and off for a 15km run round the parks of South london at a nice comfortable pace. 75km run this week including the BTM and I have done my best to take it easy with plenty of stretching and using the foam roller to massage the quads and the top of the knee. It is really painful to use and does feel a bit odd rolling around on the bedroom floor on 2 foot white sausage! Running gear is in the wash in preparation for a week in Bulgaria. Garmin is on charge and looking forward to the village scene in Dobramerca.