All 8 entries tagged Coventry

Stupid Stupid Stupid

Follow-up to Lady Godiva Half–marathon route to take in Campus from No I said DublIN marathon

OK, that’s pretty harsh, but why does the Lady Godiva route go round the lakes , not between the two new Rootes blocks? Having run through there this week it is already pretty muddy down there and I’m sure 2000-odd runners aren’t going to help that. Plus it’s really narrow!

Rant over.
Phew!

: 13 Oct 2006 16:23 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Route Running Training |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I lied…

Follow-up to Someone must read my blog… from No I said DublIN marathon

...clearly no other bugger reads my blog ...

: 09 Oct 2006 22:27 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Straight Outta Cov'try

Writing about web page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWd6Xd7uJzM&mode=related&search=%20

Rap, from Coventry. No “Peace to the Unis” though…

: 05 Oct 2006 20:16 |  Tags: Coventry Music |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Kaleidoslop's Price Hike

Writing about web page http://www.coventry.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset?asset_id=14740054

Well it’s the start of a new Acedmic Year and Hostility have gone for the double-whammy of hiking the prices in Kaleidoslop, and giving you less for your buck.

For example they’ve done away with the popular “Bigger Breakfast” (2x sausages, 2x egg, 2x hash-brown, 1x bacon, beans/tomato) replacing it with the 7-Item Breakfast. This not only gives you 1 less item, but is 7% more expensive to boot. An identical breakfast is now over 30% more expensive.

That’s not as bad as the hike on confectionary, where a chocolate bar is nearly 40% more expensive than it was last week. They’ve also done away with the All-Day Baguetee Saver, which at £2.50 for a coffee and bacon/sausage baguette was pretty good value. I asked one of the members of staff and they said that they’d withdrawn the offer, and that they didn’t know any more either.

How can the University justify a 40% increase in the cost of items? Why change the meals at all? I can only assume that this is to homogenise with Rootes Restaurant. In which case surely we should be given proper plates and cutlery? Now don;t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Kaleidy’s cheap-and-chearful cutlery and crockery, but surely it’s in fact got to be cheaper in the long-run to do the washing up instead of producing vast quantities of waste plastic. Perhaps the University with it’s purported Green Drive should look at actually doing something about this new-fangled Recycling thing and put recycling bins in for the vast quanitites of plastic and cans thrown out each day.

Perhaps the price-hike is in fact to cover the work they are going to have to do should do to improve their standards if Coventry City Council’s recent inspection is anything to go by. Rootes Restaurant scored one star out of a possible three in the “Hygeine & Safety” category which indicates that there are “Some major non-compliances, [and an] improvement in standards [is] required.”

: 29 Sep 2006 16:01 |  Tags: Coventry Hygiene Kaleidoslop Price Hike |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Job done

Follow-up to Someone must read my blog… from No I said DublIN marathon

Well that wasn’t so bad after all…

Sunday was the Experian Robin Hood Half-marathon in Nottingham and Nick Seagrave and I took part as part of Mixed Hockey’s fund-rasing for Ovarian Cancer Action (phew, that’s a lot of links). My task was to haul Nick’s scrawny arse around the course in under 1hr 45mins (Chip Time, not Gun Time) – 8 minute miling. Considering Nick was originally aiming for sub-2.00 this was going to be a tough-ish ask, but he’d cruised around the Godiva Harriers Autumn 5 in a little over 38mins (7min 38sec miling) the week before so eights were on the cards.

We lined up slap bang in the middle of the 1hr 40-50 block and set off at a reasonable pace, perhaps a little fast, but the hills at 2M and 4M made sure we weren’t too far ahead of the game and miles 6-10 were bang on the money. Nick was finding miles 11 and 12 a little tough going and I was a little alarmed when I heard my watch beep 10 seconds before we’d hit the mile marker. We kicked for home as I was concerned we’d have to pick up the pace about 30s/M and little goals of catching people seemed to spur him on as we overtook over 100 people in the last mile. As we hit the finishing straight (why do they insist on finishing road races on grass?) I put the foot down and squeezed through a closing gap between two runners to leave him for dead (which he later “thanked” me for) and we both got in before the clock got to the 1hr 45 mark – 1hr 43mins 7s and 9s respectively by Chip Time.

Considering I’ve done bugger all distance work recently (more speed stuff) I was quite pleased, but I suspect I’m going to have to get some “hard miles” under my belt if I want to get sub 1hr 25 for the Lady Godiva.

: 14 Sep 2006 12:21 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Someone must read my blog…

Follow-up to Lady Godiva Half–marathon route to take in Campus from No I said DublIN marathon

... cause the University have nicked my post title.

Not looking forward to Nottingham , although it will be my largest race to date with over 12000 entrants (including the full marathon. Not sure I’ve got the distance in my legs, but I guess there’s only one way to find out…

: 07 Sep 2006 18:41 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Autumn Five (1) – Dave (0)

Writing about web page http://www.coventry-godiva-harriers.org.uk

Urgh – This evening I have mostly been sick in the Memorial Park!!!

I ran in the Godiva Harriers’ Autumn Five in and around the Memorial Park with Seagrave along with about 200 other Club runners, “Fun” runners and Walkers. I was aiming for 30 mins, i.e. 6 minute miling (30/5=6) which was always going to be non-trivial, but I had done it on a flat treadmill in the past*.

Having done my usual trick of missing the first mile marker I hit 2 miles in 11:20, a full 20 s/lap under target. Figuring I was going to pay for this later I slowed down and hit Mile 3 bang on 6 mins later. By now I was blowing hard and desperately in need of a dump, and had to almost stop, to prevent myself “doing a Hurrell.” Mile 4 was not a lot of fun and by this point the blind runner and his mate that I had overtaken at Mile 2.5 or so overtook me again. This spurred me on and I kicked on for home. As I apporached the turn for the home-straight I began to gag like a trooper. Made the turn and got to about 100 yds from the finish before blowing chunks all over the path, and then jogging it in to the end in 30:34…

• This is not an accurate reflection of running in the real world and a 2% incline is a bit nearer the truth.

: 01 Sep 2006 21:52 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Running Training |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Lady Godiva Half–marathon route to take in Campus

Writing about web page http://www.ladygodiva-halfmarathon.co.uk/images/New%20Route%20Map.pdf

Once again I've not blogged for what seems like an age. In fact my last entry was way back in June, and was just to say that I was broken after a very unsuccessful Edinburgh Marathon. However I'm back in the running game and am looking forward to running the second Lady Godiva Half-marathon on October 22nd. As preparation for this and as I'm a bit soft in the head I'm running the Experian Robin Hood Half-marathon in Nottingham as a birthday present to myself on September 10th. I'm also running in the Godiva Harriers' Autumn 5 in the Memorial Park this Friday.

I'm not the only one that's a bit soft in the head and a large–ish group of Mixed Hockey members will be running the Coventry 1/2M in aid of Ovarian Cancer Action – please support us as we look to raise over £1000 for this charity which funds research into the disease, provides support to sufferers, and attempts to raise the disease's profile to ensure earlier diagnosis.

I'm particularly looking forward to the race this year as it takes in a large part of Coventry that I'm familiar with, and in particular, that I'm used to running. The route was recently published and is much changed from last year's a) dull, b) less than enjoyable and c) traffic–chaos–inducing jaunt around the Ring Road and up the Radford Road and back. Starting off by the Police Station, the route travels past the Butts Arena, up the Allesley Old Road, past the end of my road to the A45, through Eastern Green and up to Tile Hill, then in to Canley and down Charter Ave, to Westwood. Through Westwood, down past Vandelinde Uni House, past the Sports Centre, down Health Centre Road, up Gibbet Hill, and then down the Kenilworth Road to the Memorial park and the finish back by the Police Station. Running through campus is a great idea to me, as the roads are relatively quiet, particularly on a Sunday morning, and there's a captive audience so hopefully there'll be more support on the route. There are a couple of less than friendly hills this year – the most notable being Gibbet Hill, but also the Allesley Old Road is less than flat and there's a bit of a hill as you come of of Eastern Green – however I'm not convinced that they are any worse than last year, where you seemed to be running uphill both ways along the Radford Road and the finish is relatively flat, with a downhill final mile.

: 29 Aug 2006 11:49 |  Tags: Coventry Half-Marathon Lady Godiva Nottingham Robin Hood Running Training |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem