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The Middle Ground
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Dan: Great work on the 10k especially in those conditions!
Andrew:Great consistant training well done on building up and enjoy recovery week.
7 miles yesterday for me on the treadmill as conditions outside was awful and I think the longest on treadmill for me......
Miles makes smiles.
Progression
I used to quite enjoy treadmill work and would probably do about 40% of my running on it. Now it is nominal.
Dr Dan, good effort at Bradford. Just need some slightly better conditions which should come soon. Both my races have been hilly and windy this year. I am due some perfect conditions and flat courses soon. The good thing is, the times I put in on those races were pleasing times (particularly sundays) even if they were on fast courses on good weather days.
I have invested in a couple of anti blister measures I have found on the net so will trial them over the coming weeks.
Recovery week started with an interesting 5 miles last night. Interesting in the sense that the first 2 miles felt rubbish, but the last 3 felt very easy and I was having to try and slow myself down! Must have just taken time to warm up!
Although it is a cutback week, I do still want to get some race pace miles in, so am doing 2 miles at race pace (7.30m/m) as part of my 5 miles this afternoon. For some reason I find the tempo/10k pace band difficult to tune into, so want some more practice at this before the race next Sunday. I find easy pace and 5k pace easy to tune into, so not sure why I find the middle ground pace more difficult?
Race pace run completed fairly well. First half a mile of the race pace section was a bit all over the place (pace swinging wildly from 7m/m to 8m/m) but settled down and the last 1.5 miles were all at the right pace basically. Felt comfortable effort wise too, even when straight off the back of a brisk 2 mile warm up. Stuck a warm down mile in too, to bring the whole session to 5 miles.
Currently sitting here not being able to turn my head to the right though, after doing something to it whilst getting showered this morning! Truth be told, my neck has been bad for a few days due to sleeping on rubbish pillows for the last week (long story) but it seems I finally ricked it this morning. Hopefully the painkillers and ibuprofen rub will do the trick and it will ease off enough to allow me to get out for my planned 5 miler this evening.
Any racers/parkrunners this weekend?
well done, Andrew. Sound positive re the run.
My neck has gone once or twice over the last couple of years. Uncomfortable for a few days but eases quite quickly.
I am tempted by parkrun tomorrow. Conditions look as perfect as they can be and it's pacer week, albeit they don't currently have a sub 19 pacer for me to chase. I am not sure my legs will quite have that degree of zip at the moment anyway.
15 miles easy yesterday. Last 6 were unpleasant as legs were tired from Sunday but I was running directly north east in a straight line home, which was akin to a wind tunnel. Feel ok today though.
It was quite gusty yesterday, luckily I only got it for short sections though.
Did you decide only to do one more 20 miler then?
Seven sounds like a good amount (possibly more than in most plans?) so I think so long as you can then hit the start line fresh and injury-free then I have high hopes for you!
Neck just wouldn't allow me to run yesterday as planned, so deferred my 5 miles until this morning. Felt very stiff first mile or two (ooh err!), but it loosened up nicely by the end.
Just spent some time in the garden dismantling an old gazebo, without any pain.
15 for the week then. Race week coming up now!
what race is it?
Looks like Dr Dan is going to come on soon and win the weekend from what I've seen on fb......
Decent parkrun there then, as you definitely can't be in any way rested/tapered, so just imagine what you can do once marathon training is done.
Dan's was a 10 mile race wasn't it?
haha ... no it was parkrun ... but 19:56, so a good parkrun. Felt terrible in warm-up and decided to just do marathon pace... but once it started I felt OK, so just went with it. I had done some carb-loading Fri night which helped me hit the higher gears.
Hope the neck is OK Andrew ... I get that and it's not nice.
Good parkrun DT! 19:11 is not to be sniffed at.
I'm not complaining as such but 19.11 is so out of context for me. Put that into mcmillan and it gives an lt pace slower than what I recently ran a really hilly and windy half in together with a 10 mile time about 3 minutes slower than what I ran in December. Today one of the dads from school was there. He came in 10 seconds behind but was telling me he's hoping to run a 1.28 half soon and a sub 40, 10k. I just don't get why my 5k is so far out of line.
DT... maybe you just need to do some 5K-specific training once the marathon is over.
The trophy was for 2nd place in our club's 1st division road race champs ... best 7 races in a list of 10, although I only managed to get to 6. I missed the awards ceremony, so was given it at parkrun. But I'm now in the premiership next year, so no more prizes for me as it's not age-graded.
just an easy 5 miles today. Big 10 days coming up before taper.
Well done with the sub20 Dan. I remembered you mentioned the Vale of York 10 mile but couldn't remember when it was! Well done on the award too!
Neck is getting better each day (and have invested in some new pillows which should help) but still a little stiff. Still, Monday is always a day off for me, so I have another day's rest at least.
DT - I think all runners find that either their shorter race times or longer race times are out of kilter with the other. I've always struggled to get my 10k time to match up with my 5k time (at the time of 5k pb of 20.42 I should have been running a 43.xx 10k but only managed a 45.07 for example) and that is not even too much of a difference in distance. So I'm not surprised that your 5k time and marathon time don't necessarily line up. As Dan says, some race specific training over the spring/summer might help though.
Hi everyone. It's been a slow month for me: 6/9/14/13 mile weeks, which I'm a bit disappointed about. I've just been feeling a bit tired, and haven't been able to find as much time as I'd like to for running - I think I've had also a species of slow-burning cold. Ugh.
Enjoyed reading everyone's reports. Sounds like a lot of good training's going on. I'm consistently impressed by how much volume you all seem to fit in. I've found that 25 mile weeks really start to tire me out.
DT: good work on the 20 miler. It all sounds like good prep for London.
DrDan: congratulations on the sub-20!
I ran the local Parkrun at the weekend. It was a glorious day and I couldn't resist. Do seem to find it hard to wake up on Saturday mornings, but managed to get to the starting line feeling pretty decent. I consciously decided to go a bit slower over the first half a mile or so to see if I would feel any better for the second (uphill) lap of the park - it always feels like a killer - but if anything I probably felt worse. Felt like I was crawling at one point, and even nearly dropped out.
That said, in the end I actually ended up PB'ing, with a fairly strong finish - 18:07 on the watch. Totally unexpected, and really makes me wonder whether with a more positive attitude I could have gone a fair bit faster.
DT: I must admit, I do find your Parkrun PB a bit strange. You're leagues ahead of me at the longer distances, and I'm genuinely not sure I could train at the speeds you do and not be completely knackered in a couple of weeks.
I think I've got a bit of natural speed which maybe helps, but 5K is a funny distance I think. I always feel like shit around two thirds in, and then I get to the final 400 metres or so and discover that I've got it in me to push a little harder. Need to find the willpower to start pushing that little bit earlier, and I reckon I'll get sub 18.
Will try and post more consistently this month! Certainly feel more energised at the moment, so will aim to get back to 25 mile weeks. Got some fell races coming up in April.
DT - given that you use the FIRST approach, which does have a decent degree of intensity, it is a bit surprising you can't convert your HM times to 5K.
4th and final 17 mile ("2 hours + 5K") treddie session today ... pretty gruelling as the legs were still feeling shocking. But it's done and hopefully it has done me some good.
Yes that's good going Myox.
I just had a quick glance at my RB results. My first two parkruns were on 08/06 and 03/08 2013 in 19.34 and 19.23. At the same time I was running mid 41s for 10k and mid 1.28s- 1.30 for a half. Since then ive knocked about 2.5 minutes off 10k and nearly 4 off a half, yet right now I am only 12 seconds quicker over 5k.
I recall how painful those parkruns used to be, throwing myself to the floor as I crossed the line, the overwhelming desire to pull out at the end of lap 1 etc. I am not near that now and I think I have reduced my pain threshold meaning that there is very little between 5k and 10k pace.
Just finished a block of training that started on Jan 9th: will see where I am fitness-wise after Friday's 5k. Suspect I am lacking in sharpness. Most of the plan has gone well but illness and the weather have put paid to a few of the quicker sessions. Will be a good base for the next plan, if nothing else!
Likewise I am at the end of a training block that started in mid Jan. Race week is scheduled as 4 easy tonight (just finished), a little race pace session on Thursday then some easy recovery miles on Friday and the rest up until Sunday morning.
Whilst my schedule started first week of December, the pre schedule, schedule really started in October so I'll be quite happy to survive the next 10 days and get to taper in one piece.
I think a recovery week was well needed last week as I've felt really refreshed this week. Spin on Monday night was the first time I've been able to hit top effort in ages then yesterday I did a very pleasant 22 miles. Felt really comfortable through 20 then last two miles were a bit of hard work as I was bored but not terrible, then 5 mile recovery today. 10 at mp Friday so rest day tomorrow.
Back off soon, DT!
How are you feeling now, Alehouse? Are you racing? Quite blustery around here.
Just did 12 miles with 10 at mp over lunchtime. 5 x 2 mile loops of the race course so a mental battle in the middle stages. A fair x wind that was a constant nuisance as well. I am struggling to hit the paces I want for mp at minute, coming out at 7.01 mm. I suppose I can put that down to the accumulation of training and 22 on Tuesday.
I have remaining 2 big mp runs, a 5 mile tempo run, a 10k race and a parkrun, so very nearly over the line.
I have run 171 miles this month, which is my second highest month since I began recording in January 2015 (highest being 174 in March 2015) and nearly 40 miles more than last March
Sounds like a pretty stacked couple of weeks DT - take it easy!
I was just saying this morning on the other thread I post on (1000 mile thread), my mileage this month, assuming I complete this afternoon's run, will be 87 which will be my highest since Feb 2016. Hopefully this will continue and will also reflect in some improved race times.