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OO - you seem to be having a typo issue at the moment - I'm sure you said your parkrun PB pace was 6:45, when you surely meant 5:45!
Good luck to all the racers this weekend - great to see so many of you. Go smash it!
Woke up a bit earlier this morning and did 10 miles. 2 w/u and 8 @ 7:50. Avg bpm 149.
0054 6:45's it is for the 20 !
MSE glad to be out again no doubt.
Been mad busy this week when I should have been taking it easy for tomorrow but have ran every day ,just 3 easy today . Forecast looks like me and Badbark will need out raincoats tomorrow for Larne Half mara,Are you running a 20m warmup lol ?
Not sure how I will fare tomorrow after a huge week last week and a hard 20m last sunday and still feeling it a bit ! That's my excuses in early ... At least my weight is now low at 68 kg ( 5"6 ) ,lost 2kg in last 2 weeks so less timber to carry about, I used to be 95kg !
Goodluck to all the racers ...
He probably is Leslie. I hope BB can make it to the post VLM pub reunion this year just so I can be sure he's not a mythical creature
. Good luck to you both.
Yes more typos coming with age- my apologies. I'll be going for 6:45s at my 20 mile race but will vary up or down depending how I feel. This would get me to a 60+ week so no backing off the training.
Good to see you up early and fresh Gul.
Leslie - that is an astonishing weight loss! You must have been as wide as you were tall?
Good luck this weekend in your 20 miler, OO. And to BB and Leslie in your HM. As Delia famously said, "let's be having you!"
Yoga, pilates and little 5K run today. Ankle good.
Good luck to all the racers this w/end. Fingers crossed the weather is better than the current forecasts.
Gul - Building back up nicely.
Leslie - I bet you feel great at that weight now.
My running week is over today as my son's mother is off island again but I've had a good week. 6 runs in total. Mon-Fri consisting of 5 x 5k's and an 8k with one 5k race. So, converted to imperial that is barely over 20 miles but seems like I've run loads. Average pace 7:02mm. I've got my boy all next week too, so next week will be a bit similar.
OO - good target. All the best.
MsE - very diligent.
GM - quality not quantity! Speedy average.
Slow 10 mile today (9:03) and avg bpm down to 138.
Managed to get a 20 miler done this morning. Legs were still tired from the race and track recently but the ankle held up really well. With care and continued rehab I reckon I can get it to 100% come race day.
The glute and hammy really didn't like the race and track last week and had a good old moan this morning. They settled down in the middle miles and I was able to keep a consistent pace. Got them on ice now, as soon as I stopped they really stiffened up. With no more racing planned and a decision made of no more intervals, I should be able to get them in good shape for the race with a very easy taper.
The 20 miles came out at 7.39 pace. Worked on a few hills to keep the pace under 8.00m/m to add some quality training but apart from injury pain I felt OK.
I've decided I'm going to give 7.00 pace a go in Boston if the weather is favorable and injuries are in good shape. That's based on last week's 6.37 paced HM and how good 7.06 felt in London and Berlin. A sore hammy in London and heat in Berlin (had to stop at water stations due to cups, not bottles) slowed me down a touch, but if you guys think I'm being too ambitious, please shout!.
I'm in better shape now, so might as well go for it and see what happens. Not supposed to be a PB course some say, so will just enjoy it anyway.
I had last week off work so peaked mileage (110, all just plodding, plus 3.5 hours XT). Unsurprisingly, I'm just getting slower and around this time of year I always wonder if/how the taper will work its magic - especially seeing the excellent times others are doing. Guess it has in the past...
Hope everyone has a good weekend
MSE I was a bit round in the middle alright although still agile and quite active ,shiftwork and stopping weight training in a 20's but not the eating I went up 1 or 2 kg a year most years for a decade ! Glad the ankle is behaving.
Gerard most of your runs are at race pace so its going to take it tool.and yes feel a lot better now ,was probably going to have a heart attack before 50 my blood pressure was silly !
GUL Nice sedate 10.
Gdawg nice speedy 20 mile.
SSC cups are rubbish , I just carry a small bottle and have 1 sip a mile after drinking too many drinks up my nose..
LvSD stonking mileage and all credits in the run bank !
Larne half mara :
I was worried about this after a big week last week plus a hard 20m on sunday .
Scores on the doors 1:25:14 (Pb by over 2 mins and a full 10 mins faster than my last half in september 2016 ) but there should be a few secs to come off as I started my watch before I got to the line. slightly overlong course as my watch usually reads under and gave 13.14 at 6:29 average . hr average 182 max 190 bpm . please enough with that lol.
Larne HM in 1:21:34 today. I’m very happy with a 3 minute improvement in 5 weeks despite disrupted training due to lurgy x 3. I have to rush off and eat as I’ve a 6 hour ultra-marathon tomorrow.
Well done Leslie!
Badbark - A great time there, well done and good luck for tomorrow.
LvSD - Good to see you popping in. That's a huge week!
G-Dawg - You're in good form so why not put down a challenging target. I hope the weather plays ball at Boston.
ssc - I've never raced where they hand out cups. I tend to only sip a bit of water when running a marathon. Will you have any support on the course, maybe someone that can bring some bottles for you?
Gul - Nice double digit run.
I had totally forgot that I had volunteered to run on the treadmill for a charity event today. A friend is doing London and raising funds so I did a 30 min stint. It was my first ever proper run a treadmill ( I've only ever tried it twice before and that was only for a few minutes ) . It took me a few minutes to get used to it and gradually cranked the pace up to about 16kph, it seemed fast a first but did got used to it and did 7.5km in the 30 mins. It was a strange experience, so so hot even though there was a fan and it was near the entrance to a local supermarket. I felt a bit dizzy when I stepped off and my legs felt weird. I was fine after about 2 minutes or so but was sweating buckets for a while. Not sure I'd like to do that again in a hurry though.
LvSD - that's a lot of miles!
Leslie - congrats on the PB - that's brilliant! How were the conditions? Sounds like sub 85 is on the horizon.
Badbark - excellent HM - good improvement. And a 6 hour ultra today?!!
GM - well done on the treadmill charity run.
6 mile recovery run d&d this morning.
Gerard - nice positivity re your running and circs ; and splendid effort on the treaddie !
Gul - good weekend with the easy/steady 16 total
G-Dawg - great 20 miler - looking good for Boston - Your plan is feasible, just take care early on, as easy to go too quick in the first miles there . . .
Leslie - 2 mins PB is excellent - good one !
Badbark - similarly - good gains in 5 weeks there - looking forward to ultra report . . .
still trying to get fit(ish) for the Road League - 1st race 10 days away now. parkrun yesterday as a "benchmark" - 22:38 , which was a bit better than I feared (thought I might be in the 23's) . 72% WAVA & 1st VoGit. it did feel hard, but I think I needed it. 40 miles this week, with maybe 4 or 5 to come later today.
I had been wanting to do it for several years but injury and another more local half 2 weeks later made it tricky and the 75mile drive too didn't appeal much ! The course is out and back round a big hill in the middle with about a mile of climb.
It was cold early on and the rain was starting too but it cleared up and I got my race number quickly ,luckily I was early as 20 mins later there was about 1000 people queued out the door ! Start was delayed 15mins due to this and still 1/2 a mile into the race there were people running to the start line against the flow .
Bit of a jam at the start and I started a little too far back so a lot of weaving to get up to speed, 6:31 first mile. I saw a small group of about 8 ahead so did my best to catch them as it must be the 85 min group .I was working a bit too hard to catch them but once I caught up and out of the wind thinks felt better. Noticed the guy on the left of me had a squeaky shoe and the guy on the right was hitting the ground on every step with what seemed like huge force making a lot of noise .
The miles clicked on and every mile a couple dropped of till one guy made a break to catch the next group and as the pace was dropping I decided to follow ,we joined a new group and not long after what looked like a little old lady crouched over with a slightly awkward gait flew past us and started to pull a decent lead and no one could do anything about it .
We headed for the hill at 6.3m and it was very gentle at first and I thought is this it ?..it wasn't lol mile 6 in 6:40 a bit of down hill then a tougher climb that lasted till 7.7m pace 7:05 Id lost a lot of time (6:50 for the mile) but now it was about 0.8m all down hill so I dropped the hammer as hard as I could I had to go for it ..garmin said 5.50 but it felt ok(ish) even if above my 1 mile pb so on i went 6:07 for the mile and I kept the effort all the way back in 6:21, 6:23,6:24 passing a couple of runners every mile some I had to stay alongside for a while till I got a burst of speed.Mile 13 was very tough effort level now 11 and breathing heavy and a guy I had passed with a huge beard passed me back and pulled away nothing I could do we dropped down onto the promenade and held 6:29 all the way till I saw the clock 1:24:49 was the time but i wasn't there yet and a sprint to 6:15 pace for the last 0.1m .Once over I was like a drunk man and could barely move forward medal collected ..top 200 ! Over for a free sandwich and tea in the centre job done .
Chip time 1:25:08 and 66th place out of 2000.
Gerard you need plenty of speed for 5k's alright ,don't fancy 6m/mile on the hamster wheel one bit though .
Gul conditions were good a noticeable headwind on the way out with it being right on the seafront which must have been behind on the way back though I didn't notice and the rain stayed away.
Birch nice parkrun and decent wava !
went out for 10 mile this morn a bit squeaky at the start .. 9m/mile to 7:06m/m progression was the result average 7:44 m/mile to give me 55m for the week.
Glad you enjoyed the treadmill session GM - I don't think I've ever managed 30 mins on one before as I tend to lose concentration after about 10 mins and start drifting all over the place.
So, Fleet Half Marathon for me this morning. Firstly, this is an excellently organised event (the classic "by runners for runners" type event) that's been going a number of years. Slightly rolling course but inclines rather than hills and enthusiastic support from the townsfolk on the stretches down the high street and into the finish area. Strongly recommended for anyone looking for a Spring half in the South East.
Having lost a couple of weeks worth of speed work through my knee problem, I knew that 1:25 wasn't going to happen but was planning to go off at 7 min / mile pace and then pick it up a bit for the second half with the goal of going sub-1:30. Needless to say, I didn't activate that plan at all!
I started with the 1:30 pacers and thought that I may as well head off at 6:52 pace and see what happened. I only had a stopwatch on as I didn't want the distraction of the Garmin so only took note of the pace at the mile markers. A quickish first mile (6:47) but I felt good and moved ahead of the pacer to get to the 3 mile mark in exactly 20 mins.
I was feeling pretty comfortable at that pace and must have been thinking about other things as I missed the 4 mile marker but manage to do the second chunk of 3 miles in 20:06 so pretty consistent. So far so good.
Miles 10 and 11 were around 6:55 but I knew I had something for the last couple and picked up the pace to record a 6:38 for mile 12 and an aggregate of 20:33 for the three miles from 9 to 12. As expected it was now starting to feel quite tough but I put my head down and tried to pick people off one-by-one with a 6:34 for mile 13, followed by the usual loose change for the final 0.1 mile.
Unofficially, I reckon I finished around 1:28:26; around 2 mins down on my PB but well inside my best expectations for the day so pretty pleased, especially as the pace was (reasonably) consistent and two of the three fastest miles were miles 12 and 13. Assuming the result is accurate, the WAVA of 75.07% is actually better than when I ran my PB.
Being realistic, sub-3 at London isn't on the cards so I'll now be aiming for sub-3:05 which would still be a PB at the tender age of 49!
The training has been mixed. The aim was sub 90 (6:52 pace) and I have been doing parkruns at 6:1x pace and did a 5:4x standalone mile race so the pace was there and Sunday has been a couple of hours on the hills so endurance was there, but no long tempos. Would that find me out?
The race supplied pacers starting at 1:25 and slowing by 5 minutes to 2:30, so the vague plan was to start alongside the 1:30 pacer but most likely run ahead of him and then if he comes by at the end, just hang onto his coattails. For ages I could see 1:25 and 1:35 but no sign of 1:30, then a few minutes before the gun I saw him, so moved back in the pen to be alongside him. Big, solid guy: if I needed a windbreak up the last dual carriageway he had the ideal build.
Gun went and we were off. Garmin said the pace was a bit slow but it built up as runner started to spread out and 6:48 for the first mile. Next faster, then a slower one with the hill up to the university, tour of the university's assorted carparks and then the long, fast drop down to the town centre. 6 miles in 40:00 so 6:40 average: a minute ahead of plan.
Miles 7 and 8 weave through the town centre so the normal Garmin issues with a 7:27 showing for a while (WTF!) but it all seemed to sort itself out. Seems that my move back through the pen at the start put me behind a lot of slower runners so I was constantly seeing groups ahead, closing in on them and passing them which made for easy progress: not really having to worry about much. Mile 9 was uphill and my first over 7 minutes (7:02) so 10 seconds slower than average but I reckon I have 80 seconds in the bag and 4 miles to go, so 7:12 miling is all that is needed. Had a quick assessment and all seemed quite positive. I am running easily, and actually moving forward past groups, so maybe the wheels will stay on after all. Mile 10 was good (6:37) and I seem to be joined by someone doing much the same as me, so we run as a pair and 11 was better (6:30) and I am now about 2 minutes up on schedule.
We turn right and onto the A33: 2 miles of dual carriageway, into the wind, with a slight but perceptible uphill pull. Start to cuss myself for passing the last group as I am now on my own and the group ahead just isn't getting any closer. Dig in and work hard and a 6:44 rolls over, just the last mile and change to do, but it is getting harder and for the first time a few people start to come past including a few in the last group I had passed. Start to count down in 1/4 mile laps: 12.25 miles, 12.50 miles, 12.75 and then the stadium is face on. Just round to the gate and in, but my back hurts and my legs feel heavy and the gate seems to be an eternity away. In the gate, onto the matting over the pitch and the finish is immediately ahead, try a sprint to keep a few places but lose out to two youngsters.
Gamin says 1:28:12, text says 1:28:15. I ran 88:25 in 2010 so I'll take that. Happy with the day.
GD - forgive me for saying (and I am going to anyway!) but one thing to consider is whether the hill work is contributing to your glute and hamstring issue. By working the hills I think you mean uphills? I know you are after the training effect but the demands on the glutes and hammies is considerably more than when on the flat. Bearing in mind Boston is about running the downhills well, focusing on eccentric contraction in lower legs/quads in training may give your glutes/hammies a rest and help fine tune you for the demands of the course. I don't think 7:00 min/mi is off the mark but I do think now is the time to practice pacing according to the nature of the course. Find a route which has downhills similar to Boston and practise them especially when in the latter stages of a MLR or LR to see how you fare.
Excellent non-marathon training miles there, Birch. Your description of your 30 mins spent popping your TM cherry made me laugh, Gerard! And LvSD, all I have to say about your mileage is <thud!>
More yoga, pilates and short runs (nothing above 7 miles). I think I will keep runs to around the hour mark for now so as not to aggravate the injuries. The weekend has been spent with lots of celebrating MsEtte1's 12th birthday. Shopping, sleepover, lunch with godparents. Tonight we are off to watch Beauty and the Beast. Happy days.
GM – Congrats on losing your dreadmill virginity. Your 3rd and 2nd last sentences could be about losing a different virginity but certainly not you last sentence.
Birch – Glad to read you did better than you had anticipated in the parkrun. Solid WAVA and weekly mileage
Leslie – Great report, and well done again on your PB
Scc – Excellent HM running and a strong finish
Lorenzo – Great report and HM performance
PMJ – Another great report and HM performance. Good WAVA too
MSE – Sensible training due to your injuries. Happy birthday to junior!
I’m was in a 6 hr ultra-marathon today but only ran 27.2 miles and then stopped. It was more than enough after yesterday 1:21:34 HM. The conditions were awful and I had stomach cramps that meant a 5 minute loo visit at about 10 miles. I just ran at 7:50 m/m pace throughout so finished the 27 odd miles in 3:34. It ticks all the boxes to count towards another marathon, in my long term goal of completing 100 marathons. That’s 39 marathons now, so London will be 40!
I’m planning on my 50th being Berlin and 100th Boston. Despite the poor weather and cramps I still really enjoyed the day and had to hold myself back from running further. That’s a 96 mile week completed and a well-earned rest day tomorrow.
Today’s St Patrick day weekend bling was great!
Leslie: great run there and a 2 minute PB is certainly cashing on on the fitness you have at the moment, Well done. I see official chip time is 1:25:08 so there is an obvious target for the next outing.
Madbark, solid run at Larne but I can't understand why anyone would want to go out and attempt a 6-hour ultra the following day. One or both of the events have to be compromised. Can you explain how 27.2 miles run as an (incomplete) 6-hour ultra counts as a marathon? Say it was a 12 hour and you ran 27 miles in one stint and then 27 in another, does that count as two marathons?
OO54, cracking 20 miler there. That was the laps of the park race wasn't it?
Lorenzo, well paced (non-Garmin) run at Fleet. These mid-campaign halfs can be hard to judge: do you taper or not, how do you pace it? Do you do a few extra miles before and or afterwards? Last few miles sound string which is encouraging.