Sub 3h15

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  • BirchBirch ✭✭✭
    edited January 2019
    there are no hills at that parkrun, Lorenzo - gentle "up" gradient to the top of the park, out onto a gentle "down" gradient back down the footpath into the park, then same again.  I was about to refer to "Southern softies" ;)   but mention of Comrades put paid to that notion  . . .   hope to see you ; btw, I often do a few miles before, with pals - nowt planned yet, but could change - if you fancy some very slow (for you) miles, let me know.  Hope all goes well at Mrs L's graduation . . .    

    8 miles today - as it happens, jog to the park , 2 x parkrun route, jog back (although the mile or so back is uphill . . 
     
    Gul - last I heard, my pal still intends the 26.2, but training is almost non-existent, so I have my doubts (but haven't expressed these to him  . . .  
  • DT - that massager looks great, pricey but as you say saves money on massages; I'll stick with the gym vibratey thing for now though - that's what I pay my exhorbitant fees for!

    OO - dont push yourself too hard, I'm sure you'll listen to your body though.

    9 for me tonight, 4 warmup, drills then 5 x 1k club session by the harbour, 2 mile cool down. Reps came in 3:35ish for 4 then the last faded to 3:41. All kind of on target though.

    Legs super heavy, probably due to the 3x3minute progressive inclines in my blaze/hiit class thing this morning. Oops.

    Good luck to the parkrunners this weekend.
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Never done Boston but hopefully 2020. If you say it’s hard Poacher it must bloody awful ;)
    Another decent run at the club tonight. I should be good for Brass Monkey Marathon pace for a 1:30 if all goes well.
  • G-DawgG-Dawg ✭✭✭
    Track session tonight. 6 x 1km that had to be done in 3.45. Worst was the first at 3.48, best was 3.42 with the final one bang on the money. 

    Good session and a nice start to the campaign.

    The Wednesday weigh-in went well with scales telling me I was bang on 13st (182lbs) which is 4lbs lighter than Christmas week. Only 7lbs to go.
  • Lorenzo - Hope the graduation goes well, enjoy parkrun in the morning.

    Gul - I hope the audit went well! You are consistently knocking the miles out

    Nicko - They are some speedy reps! 4 at sub 18 pace is some going.

    G-Dawg - Seems to be the week for k reps! Good work on the weight as well

    Calf is feeling loads better now, no more then a niggle. I'll see what coach says but I may just do an hour on the turbo this afternoon and maybe some drills to give it an extra healing day. Off to London tomorrow to take my parents to see the Lion King so no chance to run anyway. Can get back to it Sunday

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    OO, mp may require a little more effort!!

    Good reps Nicko and G-Dawg. Not sure I could  run k reps that fast, Nicko.

    Good news on the calf, Stevie. Enjoy Lion King. I saw that in London about 19 years ago now.

    Good luck with tomorrows parkrun, Lorenzo.

  • Poacher - steady on; you don't want to be over-training.
    Birch - your friend must have taken on Poacher's old schedule.
    nicko - good set of reps.
    OO - that's a quick recovery - good stuff.
    GD - 1k reps must be this week's session. Good work.
    Stevie - good news on the calf. We passed the audit with a few minor things to sort out before the next one, thanks.
    DT - at least the temperature and chance of rain look pretty good! The course isn't purely in one direction (i.e. same as the wind) by any chance?
    Woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep this morning, so took the opportunity to plod out a 20 miler @ 8:39/m.
  • JoolskaJoolska ✭✭✭
    Hi thread!  I've done a few days' lurking as penance for not posting for so long.  Unfortunately I had another bike accident whilst in Valencia and hit my gammy knee again, so sulked for the 3 weeks during which I couldn't run and avoided the forums as a result.  I am now back running, albeit only 6 or 7 miles at a time just now.  Commiserations to my fellow benchees, congratulations to those flying along, and best of luck to this weekend's racers (hold onto your hats in York, by the looks of things!!).
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I am told by my friend who is also running that the wind will work as follows-

    Have people to shield you on your right on the outleg, people in front of you on the southern most stretch and people on your left on the return.

    To me that says it's mostly cross wind.

    Excellent unplanned 20!!

  • Best get in that front group then DT! ;)

    Gul - That is incredible, I cant imagine going to work after doing 20miles in the morning!

    Jools - Sorry to hear your knee is bad again, glad you are back running though!

  • Wow, that looks breezy for York, like running in a wind tunnel! Good luck, hopefully the shielding plan works for you.

    Great news on the calf Stevie - Hakuna Matata, enjoy the Lion King.

    Good reps G-Dawg, I couldn't manage to push to the 6x!

    For the Bostonites, Hal Higdon has some good info on his site about training plans specific for that race which include downhills to get you used to the pounding that they give your legs.

    Jools - welcome back, sorry to hear about the bike crash, good to hear you are back on your feet though. Look forward to seeing you at a B&W club session sometime when you are in full strength.

    Gul - 20 miles early morning is ridiculous! Nice work.

    Current big decision - I am supposed to be doing the world's biggest cross country ski race on the 1st March - Vasaloppet 90km in Sweden. I'm a good skier but have never done cross country. To drop out or to just give it a go? Will be a good endurance challenge, but could be a nightmare!


  • JoolskaJoolska ✭✭✭
    nicko: thanks, it'll be a fair few weeks before I'm contemplating any speedwork! 

    In terms of skiing, I've only done cross-country (Nordic track), and only for the one week, so I'm no expert, but these are my limited-knowledge based thoughts: it's pretty different from running in terms of muscle groups used. If you are going to try it, you will need to strengthen your calves (the push off/toe off is pretty explosive), upper quads (you won't be nearly as low as a downhill skiing 'crouch', so you'll need the top of your quads rather than the bit near your knees), your core (particularly for 'double-pole' on the flat or downhill) and (to a more limited extent) your arms.  I found it knackering.  If it is Nordic track, the main challenge is jumping in and out of the pre-cut tracks (when it is a very steep slope you jump out of the tracks for the ascent or descent, and it's hard to do at speed.  It's pretty hard to do it slowly, too, but I'm not well co-ordinated).  If it's skating or back country (i.e. cross country but not in tracks) you at least won't have that problem!  Please tell me you're doing at least a few days of lessons out there before the race??  
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Joolska, sorry to hear of your further injury.

    Nicko, for me If I am training for a marathon in April, February and March are the big months where it all happens. I can't see this being anything but detrimental to your prospects of you running your best marathon. You should do the event if you want to do it but just need to accept it will impact Manchester one way or another.

  • nicko1981 said:
    Current big decision - I am supposed to be doing the world's biggest cross country ski race on the 1st March - Vasaloppet 90km in Sweden. I'm a good skier but have never done cross country. To drop out or to just give it a go? Will be a good endurance challenge, but could be a nightmare!


    If you have never done cross country skiing then 90km is a hell of a starter. Cross country is nothing like downhill at all, may as well be different sports. The winners take about 4 hours and there is a rolling cut-off so the last finishers are out for about 12 hours (last cutoff is 10 hours at 81km). Regular skiers will take maybe 8 hours (so double the winners, pretty much the same as a marathon).
  • Nicko as others have said I guess it depends how much you want Manchester Marathon. I've never been skiing but I imagine 90k cross country is going to take some recovery! I'd guess you'd still be feeling the effects come marathon day
  • G-DawgG-Dawg ✭✭✭
    Nicko, if it's a one-off, then do it and risk the Manchester recovery. There are plenty of marathons but if this is a rare event and you're in it, get stuck in!

    Glad you're on the mend, Jools.

    Good luck with that wind, DT. In the 2017 Abingdon Marathon we had the tail end of Storm Brian. At one point it literally blew me from onside of the road to the other and then back again as the wind bounced off the industrial estate buildings. Give me rain to run in any day over wind or heat.

    Easy 15 on the trails planned for tomorrow. This campaign will have a bigger focus on running slower so i can maximise the faster sessions.
  • Thanks for the advice all, thinking it over and I really want to get this 3 hour barrier broken; I can always do the ski thing another year when I've actually trained for it, or at least got the technique down. I signed up in March last year when I thought I might have already got the sub 3. It's obviously not that important to me if I was even doubtful about doing it.

    Should be able to sell my place, just got to let the others who are doing it down now...
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Yes just like old times, Jools and Speedy were 2 of the fastest marathon runners on the thread. 
    I don’t really mind a bit of wind DT. I wasn’t going for a time anyway and I think strong winds can favour the stronger/experienced runner. I guess it could cost you a PB though.
  • Welcome back Jools. Sorry to hear about the injury but hopefully the road to recovery won't be too long. 

    Nicko - sounds like a tough choice and I guess depends on what sort of shape you're feeling in ref the sub-3 at the moment. If you think it's on at Manchester then go for it, but the XC skiing also sounds good fun.

    Birch - looks forward to seeing you in the morning. Great day today being a very proud husband, and having fallen in love with Sheffield, have spent most of the evening enjoying a pie and a couple of pints while working out a plan to move up here.

    Crazy early start there Gul - how was the rest of the day? 

    Have had two days break from running for the first time in ages so may have to follow up tomorrow's parkrun with a 20 miler back down south on Sunday morning.

    Good luck to the Brass Monkey runners tomorrow. 
  • Great to catch up with Birch at the parkrun this morning - hope to be able to do this run again some time in the future if we ever up sticks and move up to Yorkshire! 

    OO - was your daughter also doing the Sheffield Hallam parkrun this morning? If not there's someone with the same name and (I guess) age as her.

    I think the pie and pints from last night might not have had the boosting effect that I was hoping for as I finished in just over 20 mins although the sheer weight of numbers at the start meant that I was negotiating a lot of traffic for the first half mile or so and this may have had an impact.

    Long off road one planned for early doors tomorrow. 
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Hi Lorenzo yes that’s her local parkrun at Uni, but only until summer as she graduates this year. 
    Not a bad day effort on that course ;)
  • Doesn't sound like a bad result to me Lorenzo after a few pints and a busy start, nice work. Hope the graduation was enjoyable.

    XC ski thing has been canned, best to concentrate on the run for now and do it another year. Will just head out to support maybe.

    15 today, very slow 12 trying to keep the heart rate low, 2 at sub-7 pace then 1 cooldown. Even though the first 12 were @ 9 mins+ HR just wouldn't stay below about 160, must just be the way I tick. Pacey 2 felt good after running so slow.

     
  • BirchBirch ✭✭✭
    yes, really pleased to see and chat with Lorenzo & Mrs L - not so pleased when the results came through !!  Last time I ran hard the whole way at parkrun was Rother Valley for 23:25, which I had thought was a low benchmark, but 25:00 here - I can't pretend I took it easy, either, as I started further up than usual, and gave it a "good go". Record field of 868 did lead to plenty of congestion, but even so - have to admit I was quite demoralised at my time.  Still, every cloud etc - I'd done 5 beforehand, and as I looped back , I bumped into a pal who was out on a longish one, so ran with him and ended up with 17.2 for the morning - the furthest I've gone for a while. I'm just hoping that the parkrun was a "blip", and that it is a reminder to keep up some intensity in training (as we , ahem, older runners are advised to do), as well as just plodding out the miles, which is what I've done since the final XC League fixture a month ago.  I thought the big drop off since London 2015 had bottomed out, I'm not ready for another plunge !!   
     
    hope the long 'un gone well, Lorenzo, and nice work with yours, Nicko . . .    
  • 19.4 miles up to the top of Leith Hill and back - pretty much all off road with a total of 2,300 ft of elevation as it included a few other uphill parts. Good to get it in the bag, although felt rather exhausted and managed to fall asleep for a while when I got back.

    Good pacey blast in the middle of a long run there Nicko.
  • G-DawgG-Dawg ✭✭✭
    Nice going, Lorenzo. You must have been well out of puff after all that!

    Good impromptu distance there, Birch. A few speed sessions will soon have you hitting the markers you want.

    Decent speed miles at the end of a solid session, Nicko.

    Did 15 on the trails yesterday at LSR pace. Definitely a bit down on fitness right now but it is only week one. Run was at 8.29 pace.

    Recovery 5 miles today with a few strides thrown in to try and wake my non-firing glutes. Avg pace was 7.22.
    The first 2 weeks of a campaign are always the hardest for me, just need to stay focussed.
  • 4.5 mile warm up, parkrun and 4.5 cool down yesterday for 12. Hilly 14 today to complete 26 over the weekend. Running legs are coming back to me.

    The only worry now is the curse of the nines: I have just doen 9 solid weeks but I did 9 starting April and then injury, then another 9 starting September and then injury, just hope for a solid dozen before I start to reap the benefit of the base.




  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Well DT and I had a thorough examination at York today in the wind. I stuck to plan running the first 7 at Mara pace. As we turned for home at the halfway mark with a slightly more favourable wind I cranked it up by 5 secs each mile reaching 6:30s for the last 4 miles. It wasn’t until after the race that I saw DT and discovered I’d passed him in the last half mile- sorry buddy!
    In truth neither of us had a good race. For me the hip was sore but didn’t really hinder me. Considering I couldn’t walk last week I’m glad I got round and had the chance to mix it with many of my slower club pals I don’t usually mix it with. And good to see DT of course- even though I introduced myself to a lady who was not in fact his wife ( faux pas of the day).

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Good to see you too, OO.

    A horrible day on an exposed course. I knew a pb wasnt going to happen so plan was to run first 3 miles at 6.30s then try and pick it up as race progressed and finish stong. I did just that for first 3 miles but knew any real pickup was unlikely.  Mile 5 was ridiculous and by 10k i was averaging 6.35 running straight into a headwind with no real hope of anything but more of the same. I just couldnt persuade my body to keep at it to run a time that was neither here nor there so i just capitulated. Oo passed me at about 12 miles or just after. I had no incentive to even speed up for the finish line and plodded over the line in 88.43. 

    Disappointing to go through all the hassle and cost of travelling etc for what was essentially just a very good training run. 
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