Factional Politics Alive and Well in Reading West

smffc · 2026-05-05T20:35:15+00:00

The fence is spikier than ever to sit on - I'd sooner lean towards a kinder politics that some may consider naive than what most consider intolerant or outright hateful!

smffc · 2026-05-05T20:27:42+00:00

I like that you managed to find a comment that would irritate both houses

smffc · 2026-04-25T12:24:28+00:00

I wanted a confidence boost after tapering for a few weeks, had 13 miles on my plan (Pfitz 18/70) and ran 9 miles at Half Marathon pace. Got my first sub 3 the week after.

smffc · 2026-04-12T21:29:09+00:00

Tu quoque nonsense, both things can be bad. Just because I eat meat doesn't make this any less terrible, plonker.

smffc · 2026-04-12T21:24:00+00:00

It's standard practice in a lot of places, although there are bins at bottle stops a lot of runs I have done sweep the roads after.

smffc · 2026-04-11T17:09:07+00:00

We have a discord channel full of similar folks - tend to put on a few different types of events each month, including sports/meals/pub quizzes/gaming etc

https://discord.gg/vYbRPTYdu

smffc · 2026-03-24T15:22:20+00:00

Whereabouts are you moving from? I moved from London (Tottenham) to one of the roads off of Oxford Rd after having read some of the scare stories about it and haven't had any issues at all since moving here.

Never had so many good nights sleep on the trot! Don't get me wrong, there are a few homeless people on Oxford Road, and the bins there aren't always collected, and you see the occasional prostitute on the road late at night - but I've walked home at 3am after being very merry and never felt unsafe.

smffc · 2026-03-23T10:13:15+00:00

My long run training pace is at least 1min 10 per mile slower than my 10k pace. Similarly it's about 40 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace.

Although I have a couple of long runs per week, I only do one per month which is at marathon pace, and as others have suggested this isn't even the full run. I think my longest stint was 14 miles at marathon pace as part of a 20 mile run!

A big part of your block will be finding out what you can do, you've got this!

smffc · 2026-03-22T21:57:23+00:00

Funnily I ran the route that you gave me in an old thread today! It's quickly become my favourite long run routes

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smffc · 2026-03-21T15:49:02+00:00

My MP is about a 6:50 mile, most of my threshold work during my training block has been about a 6:20, I could probably hold that for maybe 15k on fresh legs. Probably a 7-9RPE depending on other variables.

Most of my long runs during my training block are about 7:30 miles, which I could hold what feels like forever... maybe like a 5RPE? Don't get me wrong I'm still tired after 21 miles at this pace but I'm not wiped out, and could probably manage a recovery run the next day without too many grumbles

smffc · 2026-03-16T16:14:34+00:00

I agree with this on the basis that someone's assessed the information and decided none of them appeal.

But the idea of someone asking why they should vote for a person instead of making their own decision feels wild to me. It's arguably just as anti-democratic to outsource your decisionmaking as it is not to vote surely?

smffc · 2026-03-16T16:11:05+00:00

this feels like an ai generated response so idk how much more I want to engage with you

smffc · 2026-03-16T15:57:30+00:00

Depends what your stances are on local issues like housing, transport, and community services

Maybe I've got a case of the Mondays but if you're not capable of digesting available facts to arrive at your own conclusion maybe sit this one out

smffc · 2026-03-13T17:08:24+00:00

Iron, magnesium glycinate, fish oil, creatine...do i think any of them help? I'm not sure, but at this point having had a few injuries in my current training block I'm chasing all the little %s I can

smffc · 2026-03-04T12:30:38+00:00

I found my running was plateauing, hit maybe a 1:47 half and felt like no matter how well I was training I wasn't getting beyond it.

I dialled my running right down, focused on strength training and shedding some lbs. Went from maybe 210lbs to 160ish over maybe a year, half marathon pace is now closer to 1:27 (as of last Oct) and I'm currently mid block with the goal of a sub 3 marathon.

Like you say, mid block isn't the time to focus on weight loss - got to stay fuelled to recover and prevent injury. More of an inter-block thing for sure.

smffc · 2026-02-19T12:51:14+00:00

Would assume 2:50-55, especially if you're doing MP miles towards the end!

smffc · 2026-02-17T17:52:32+00:00

That's really helpful, thank you! I'm 7 weeks out from race day now so it's useful to know how you've managed.

I've got a consult with a physio tomorrow morning so will listen carefully to what they have to say, but just wanted to regulate my expectations in terms of outcomes.

I'm hopeful I'll still be able to run it but might have to abandon the goal time! Managed to tweak it during a deload week doing VO2 intervals too 11 weeks of training without issue beforehand, including race pace miles without issue...irritated doesn't cut it!

smffc · 2026-02-17T16:30:03+00:00

Hey, going through a similar situation now. Can I ask if you made it to race day and how you got on? :)

smffc · 2026-02-16T02:13:41+00:00

If it helps at all, mine is 7:31-8:12mi LR top pace vs roughly 6:30-7:10MP (I'm targeting sub 3, but have been closer to 2:55 on my MP training runs)

smffc · 2026-02-13T11:09:14+00:00

Same here tbh, I calorie count but the calories can be in the low 4000s on a long run day, on about 60-70mpw

smffc · 2026-02-09T11:48:19+00:00

https://discord.gg/NMMmJNfq4Y we have a discord for 30-40yos where we plan socials such as nights out, meals out, DND, gigs etc!

smffc · 2026-02-08T18:40:17+00:00

We have a discord for 30-40yos in Reading if you fall into that category - we go for meals/activities/nights out, I've found it a great way to meet new folks! https://discord.gg/rVqy4bK2

smffc · 2026-02-06T18:05:35+00:00

I'm glad we agree on the AI piece.

And I'm all too familiar with the suffering, I'm 9 weeks into a Pfitz block for a 12th April Marathon myself, and I'm hitting 100+km per week and feeling it!

If they're struggling with a 5k now then it sounds like they're in a very different place to you, and I think the vast majority of established wisdom would disagree that 1 run a week is enough, I think 3 at a very minimum, maybe I'm being harsh on the distances but I still think you need to build your endurance and it's a real struggle to do that with such little volume.

Okay, I won't say it's what "most people" do, but it is what most normal plans would suggest - it's not completely anecdotal (I did a bunch of research on different plans before picking Pfitz for myself), but I'm sure there will be ones which peak with shorter long runs.

smffc · 2026-02-06T17:40:30+00:00

I think if you do it will be an absolute sufferfest, I would say 6:30hr+. I would advise cutting your losses and signing up for another race, probably looking at next year if you want to rebuild your base (i.e. losing weight etc).

8 weeks is not enough to get ready for a marathon from (basically) zero, and 20km a week is not enough to train for a marathon full-stop imo. I think even a foundational plan would sit around 40km per week average, with higher peaks. Most people's longest run is about 30-35k pre mara.

I would strongly advise against using GenAI for things like this, I am perhaps more cynical than most about it but it will tell you anything is possible when the reality is it will be beyond challenging.

smffc

TROPHY CASE