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The Middle Ground
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Gran Canaria for a work trip sounds good at this time of year, Muss!
Still under the weather here so just ticking along; having said that this week will probably be the highest week of the year as I desperately try to hit 100 miles for the month for the twelfth month this year! Will be touch and go as I had too many short days when the ice was around.
Not sure whether I should report the owners for having an out of control dog. In two minds as the owners were very concerned and sat with me on a bench whilst I recovered enough to walk back. We exchanged numbers and I have had a text apologising and asking how I am, which I have to say makes a change compared with the usual dog owners!
Had hope to leave just a couple of kms at most to make the 100 miles; 3.7k to go, which I obviously intend to complete tomorrow!
On that front, after years of asking by kids, we've picked up a sproodle puppy today.
3 x 4k at 6.10s off 1k at 7.10s today. The entirety of of the first 4k were straight into a headwind and that was tough plus having raced Tuesday and then gone out for drinks Wednesday night, yesterday and today I've felt really unwell. Really congested nose and chest and knackered.
Boston training proper starts next week though I guess this week also is as I'll run 58m eith a race and session.
That's very unfortunate Alehouse, I hope you have no whiplash type injuries. Sounds like the dog was trying to play rather being aggressive? Obviously the owners still lost control of the dog which is dangerous in itself, but they clearly felt bad, and will probably learn from the incident. I love dogs, but am often cautious of them when I come across them while running!
Very exciting, DT! Sounds like you're in a very good place to start this block.
I managed 2,758km last year. I'd hoped to get to 3000, but had a few periods where motivation dropped off and I struggled to get out. Most of those missed days were probably because I'd drunk too much the day before. Not necessarily being hungover, but just poor sleep leading to being too tired. Having no races in the diary probably didn't help either - I was feeling in great shape around hackney half, but was hit pretty badly by COVID soon after, and then was quite busy. Although I've had glimpses of reasonable form since, I've struggled to string good weeks and months together.
For this year, it would be great to reach 3000km. I've got some races lined up: Kew Half marathon in April, Richmond Mara in September, and I'm also thinking about doing an ultra in the South downs six weeks after that. I reckon it will be easy enough to downgrade to the half or full if I need to, and I'm fine with the idea of walking from mile 20 if needs be. All of that means I should be much closer to 3000 km this year.
Will also be cutting down on the booze - and hopefully that will help me lose the two or three extra kgs I'm carrying now!
The dog incident has still shaken me a little and I have bad bruising and tenderness on one side of my chest. Hasn't stopped me running but is affecting my stretches and strengthening.
Reasonable start to the new year with 2 x 6k plus 69 minutes today; each year I run my age in minutes in early January in recognition of my new age: moved into my 70th year yesterday!
Hope everyone has a great 2023!
That's a great 10K DT!!
Alehouse - sounds grim!!
My year ended with getting Covid-19 on Xmas Day ... still testing +ve. Had expected to get to 350 hours training but fell short as a result. Happy with massive swim record and 2nd best bike mileage but no so good running.
Things will change in 2023 - watch this space.
Alehouse - likewise, hope you're healing well.
I have been running 70-75km and I think that level is pretty sustainable for me, and I'd like to bring that up to 80-85 by the spring. But averaging that across a whole year with cutback weeks, tapers, rest periods and unforeseen life issues is another thing!
75km last week. Just about feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things.
The plan for last week's session was 6km continuous, alternating Kms between 4:25 and 4:15, with 5km warm up and 4km cool down. It came out as 4:30s and 4:05s. The strange thing is, the 4:05 Kms felt easier than the 4:30s, which felt as hard as they have ever done doing this session, and also came out the slowest.
25km in strong winds yesterday morning. The route I chose was a loop, and it seemed to be a headwind all sides of the loop!
I'm going to try out 6 days of running a week, and kicked that off with 5km very slow this morning. Will keep it slow and short for a few months, and can also alternate between 5 and 6 day running weeks if necessary.
Dr Dan, bit of bad luck there with the covid, though these days it's probably no worse than other winter bugs everyone seems to be catching. I'm on antibiotics now due to sinus infection.
Muss, running sessions has been pretty tough going this last 10 days with all the wind about.
When I see people talking on the sub 3 page about miles and first thing I ask is whether the advice to run 60mpw is a 52 week average or a 16xweek block. The most I've averaged over 12 months is 48m. By the time you factor intapers, marathon recovery, holidays, illness, injury and life, you need to be hitting some pretty big weeks, be pretty lucky with illness etc and run through holidays at full mileage, to start averaging 60mpw.
I see guys (middle aged with kuds and careers) on the sub 3 page averaging 70mpw with 100m weeks and getting out at 6am everyday on holiday to run a minute or so faster than me over a mara. Miles are important but there's more than 1 way to skin a cat. I always direct people to the composition of their weeks, the cycling of their training, diet, sleep, recovery etc.
I take great joy in advising them that I averaged 41mpw last year and was within 5s per mile of their marathon time.
That said....last week was first 60m week in ages off 58 the week before and this week will be three also.
My son (24) got Covid-19 at same time as me and just a mild cold but I have struggled to throw off the chesty congestion and cough. A couple of bike commutes last week convinced me I wasn't ready to run and needed to rest over weekend. Have certainly improved last couple of days and was planning first test run today off the bike commute. Alas had a gear cable snap en route to work so wasted the window sorting that. It's now 17 days post first symptoms and 3 weeks since last run, so a lot of valuable time down the pan.
The one positive is that I have been eating well, not drinking, and losing weight.
My av mileage for last 7 weeks before Chester 2011 (exc last week) was 52.3 mpw (plus 3 days hiking in the lakes too).
Result 3:32.
For Chester 2017, the same 7-week average was 32.8 mpw ... but with 30-40 mi/week on the bike.
Result 3:22.
Much more important that you recover fully before training. You'll get some form together relatively quickly, but if you start training too soon, you could set yourself back further.
DT - I take your point, but I think I could up my mileage a without giving up too much. I can do three weeks in a row at 75km, and most of the time I'll take a recovery week because I know it's a good idea, rather than particularly feeling I need it, so I'd like to try getting to 85/90km in the build up to this half in April. With an extra day of running, I don't feel that time commitment would be too crazy.
My week so far:
5km on Monday very slow and easy
16km on Tuesday, still feeling Sunday's long run in my legs, didn't enjoy this run!
10km yesterday slow and hilly, with 500m strides after
Looking forward to a day off tomorrow!
Meantime I ran after 3 weeks off. Only 2 miles but it's a start. I hate the first run back... lungs were OK, legs less so.
Hope you are building back up well now?
Alehouse, how's things?
Muss, hope the second half of the week went OK?
I've had a solid week with 66m. Session Wednesday and a meaty one Friday of 6 min at 5.50s off 2 min float at 6.50, average 6.08mm for just under 8m. Struggled again in wind and was on day 5 of antibiotics.
Last day of antibiotics today and the wind by looks, rounded off with a really comfortable hilly 18 this morning averaged 7.36mm.
Taper/recovery week next week, well timed after 3 pretty big weeks from boxing day. 10k next Sunday at mallory race circuit. Each lap is just under 1m so about 6.5 laps. At least if a headwind anywhere it'll be short lived. I need to get my desire in right place as I think last 2, 10k races my desire hasn't been there and as soon as it hurts I've let it go. I found really wanting it made a big difference in December at parkrun, when I decided I really wanted a sub 17.30, made a big difference.
18 mile tempo turbo Friday, 4 mile run Sat, and 41 miles ride Sunday. 9 hours training- mostly bike (100 miles) but at least restarted running.
Today I ran 3 miles straight off the bike commute. Would like to repeat tomorrow if not too icey.
Interesting how psychology is different for everyone. Personally, my best results/sessions seem to come when I take the pressure off myself a bit. Reminding myself that I run race because I enjoy it, trying to get excited about races, and realising that it's no disaster if things don't work out all seem to help me achieve better than focusing too much on a goal. Obviously involved in that is a fair amount of positive visualisation and being ready to suffer.
The times when I've been really determined to achieve a particular result have mainly gone badly, possibly partly because of external factors, but mainly I think over-trying meant that I got my pacing wrong. In my best races, I definitely had an "A" time goal to pursue, but I think I achieved it because it came second to enjoyment. I've found the same kind of things to be true in my professional life and other things that I'm very enthusiastic about, like cooking.
Saturday 10km
25km yesterday, great weather, and pushed on Kms 18-24, the last two of which came out 4:20 and 4:07, feeling relatively comfortable, and HR not going above 170bpm.
5km in 29 mins this morning felt much better than doing the same recovery run last week. In fact, my legs barely felt tired after that run yesterday.
The confusing thing at the moment is that steady running is feeling great, but easy paces are as slow as I remember them being in a long time.
Much better now, DT, but it took from the middle of November to the middle of last week before I was feeling close to par. Didn't miss a day but obviously everything was short and easy.
Muss, going well! I wouldn't worry about the pace of your easy runs. In fact I would probably hide my watch! The LSR, MLR and sessions are the key things and those are showing progress so why worry!
Cracking pace at the end of thay long run Muss.
12 mi turbo and 2 mile run of the bike yesterday.
4 mile run today and swim squad later.
8 lb down since 1st Jan too ... but a way still to go.
I do in fact have a different activity profile on my Garmin for easy runs - it just shows heart rate and the actual time. I do have distance on a separate screen, but I tend not to look at it until I'm almost home so I can finish on a round number!
Having a think about what session to do tomorrow - I'll probably do something like 3x3km tomorrow, progressing through each block in a similar way to last week, but more in the threshold kind of zone. The idea is that I'll take a recovery week next week, and then introduce some harder threshold work, before adding in some VO2 max type stuff in March.
Decent amount of weight shifted Dan. I've done afternoon/evening swims after morning runs a fair amount, and I'm always surprised how much harder it is than swimming on a running rest day, even though it mainly uses completely different muscles. You're a much better swimmer than I am, though.
The swim yesterday was pretty grim, mostly due to not swimming for 7 weeks but not helped by the run and low carb diet.
68 min turbo yesterday with some hard work... and 5 mile run planned today.
Yep the brain is vital I suffering. I find over shorter distances I need everything on board to suffer. Marathons I've ground the same as you.
Muss, my easy runs are generally at same pace now as they were when I ran a 3.18 Mara. I dont pay much attention to that element.
What session did you do?
Alehouse, glad you're feeling better. Hope you managed to stay upright this week?
Slightly frustrating this morning, thought I was crushing it but course measured 6.35m, some had as much as 6.4. Now I get gps inaccuracy but we were running big open laps. No twists and turns or cut backs.
Anyway I managed annoyingly 36.00 for a 14s pb. Average pace on watch was 5.40mm with splits of 5.40, 5.42, 5.37, 5.39, 5.38, 5.40 and 5.46 pace for finish and 5th. I guess I let it go in the last 0.35m. Garmin has 10k at 35.11.
Tommy Hughes was there, ran 37.xx.
Big 5 weeks coming up now to Wokingham half.
I've also shifted a load of weight. I had two people comment on Friday night how even by my standards I look skinny! Lost about 6lb since start of January and effectively at marathon race weight 13 weeks early.
Struggled this week...not down to me but the conditions. Last four runs were compromised by black ice etc, so only about 37k this week. Hopefully tomorrow things will be better for my long run.
I could do with your weight loss, DrD/DT, but not happening yet. Anyway, train heavy, race light!
I did 3x3km at HM effort on Thurs, came out at 4:12, 4:10, 4:11min/km average pace across the blocks. Heart rate stayed below 170, I think that's the first time I have been able to keep this session genuinely sub threshold.
The last three weeks have been 75, 82, 81km. Time for a bit of a recovery week.
Muss, yes it's too much of an anomaly to be gps error. When I did a half at Kempston race course it was 4 laps and loads of zigzagging and switch backs and that measured 13.26. To have the same lumped on a 10k on a big 1m open loop is too much.
At least I bagged a pb, I'd have been infuriated to run 5.40 pace and get nothing.
Definitely a good time for cut back. It's nice when those sessions come in sub threshold. Means it's time to up paces.
Pretty big week for me next week.
Good mileage and session Mus - time for a break.
Hope the long run took plce Alehouse.
Decent week here... worked at home Tues-Fri to avoid cycling on icey roads and actually got some running done alongside some virtual cycling.
Solid week there, working from home does make life much easier in this regards!
A rather bit week for me, particularly coming off a race with 70m and 2 spin classes.
Big session on Tuesday of 5 x 8 min at 5.50s off 2 min st 6.50s. Covered 8.3m at 6.02mm average. 12m easy Wednesday then 15m Friday with 10k easy, 6 x 1k at 6.10s off 1k at 7s, 2k easy and then hilly 16 today.
Also popped along to parkrun yesterday for a social jog. Ran progressively to finish 3rd in 18.44. Was probably just in top 20 after 0.5m so just spent 15 min cruising through the field.
Another solid week to come then reduced week as rugby weekend in Edinburgh. 4 weeks to Wokingham half.
Thought about parkrun but decided on sleep in then do a 2 mile recovery run instead. Sunday was a 48 mile club ride out for pub lunch. The club paid for food, so great turnout as expected. After 21 days without a break, I needed the expected social easy day... however bad sleep, faster than expected pace, and a nasty headwind on the return, meant it turned into a tough ride. Made it in one piece but decided to work at home today and avoid any exercise.