Sub 3h15

DT19

Thanks both. I did a bit research yesterday as work was unusually quiet. I've reserved a room at the Congress plaza Hotel which is about 300m from Grant Park and the finish, so assume also close to the start. Was £660 for 4 nights but nothing to pay until Oct 10th 2024 so seemed worth bagging. Reviews suggest it's a but dated but location is great. I'm only there to sleep in the hotel so it doesn't need to be amazing. 

I'm not sure im overly keen on the idea of a 7.30 start mind, will need to stay on uk time! Flights I'll sort next year when I have the cash to pay.

Ian5

DT-If I went again I'd look to book here.
https://www.congressplazahotel.com/
I know some who stayed here last and this year,think it was reasonable when it opened reservations.

Big_G

That’s the exact one I’ve booked and got a room for!  

DT19

Hi both, yes see above, that's the hotel I've booked. Seems a great location for the race and generally getting around. It was £660 for 4 nights, so akin to a city centre premier inn but this one has the huge advantage of being right by the finish. 

I assume the start is also reasonably close? 

Edit, just looked it up and can see it starts and finishes there so perfect really. 

DT19

Decent session today of 3m wu then 3 x 2k (90s) 1k off 3 min between sets. Felt pretty strong and fit for first time in a while during a session and garmin v02 went up to 66 which is my highest ever. Reps were

7.07 and 3.28
7.09 and 3.26
7.07 and 3.28

Easy 10m tomorrow.  

OO54

Good to hear from you Big G. And good to hear you're Chicago bound 👍

Joolska

DT19: if you ever need your birth certificate you can get a duplicate pretty easily from the registrary office where your birth was registered.

TR

Good session there DT, sounds quick paces. Your garmin rates you much better than mine rates me. Mine is currently predicting 3.01 and 1.25, with a VO2 of 60. But it doesn't like my hilly commutes and the optical HRM isnt accurate.

9 weeks til Goodwood so back on the long runs today, coped pretty well with 20m in a howling gale......couldn't face starting work early, in order to leave early, to catch a train to Brighton, race on the seafront in howling winds and then get the train back for 10.30pm on Wed, so i sacked it. Shame as I'd liked to have run s decent 10k, but waste of time in these current winds.

DT19

Thanks, jools, I assumed there'd be some way of getting it so good to know.

Tr, yes it doesn't factor in heat, wind or hills. It also seems to very much like the shorter, sharper sessions I've been doing of late, which I suppose isn't a surprise as I've been doing more vo2 max work or closer to it than I have before. 

No point hammering yourself for a disappointing 10k. 

50m last week, tapering off over weekend towards Wednesdays 10k. Conditions are forecast to be very good and it's county champs so it gives me an incentive beyond a time. I've looked at entry list and there's two v40s who will beat me and 1 who might if he has a good day and I don't at least have an above average day. 

OO54

Good luck at the 10k DT hope the weather suits 👍 
After a poor parkrun at the weekend I was hoping my track races would go better on Monday. The mile race was up first and I could only manage 5:12, 5 secs down on my best. The 800m was better at 2:24, a seasons best. Annoyingly the manual timekeepers screwed up and gave me 2:26. Protest is in but it's futile. So my only good time doesn't count 🙄.
I've got a 5k road race on Thursday- with tough competition from junior OO, who is on good form. It's a fast course so sub 18 is the target.

20 miles in the wind is a lonely place TR.

DT19

Thanks, oo.

Well it still wasn't fantastic with 36.42 but my 3 key objectives were met, being;

1. Less rubbish than last 10k;
2 . Beat last year's time of 36.48 which I just managed;
3. Get a county medal, which I did with silver.

I was going ok until 4.8m, I was very low 36 pace then I suddenly started heaving and had to stop for about 30s, losing one place in process. Managed to get going again but cautiously and following a 6.22 mile 5, posted a 6.02 mile 6. Finished feeling sick then 10 mins later spent a few minutes throwing up. Felt OK then and managed a cool down. Little frustrating as a sub 36.30 I'd have been pleased. 

Onwards and upwards I guess. I think I'm having a phase where I'm training better than I'm racing. The way I view it is that 36.48 exactly a year ago today and I still got a sub 2.45 in September. This year I've 2 weeks more training as Chester is 8th October.  

That's a shame re the 800, oo. Good luck tonight. 

TR

OO - racing well from 800m to the mara is a tough ask

DT - quicker than last yr is an improvement, but obviously not where you want to be. But minimal mental investment, and as we said before it wasn't long ago that you were running in your pub shoes......if you really want to ace 10k then you'd need to have a focussed month or two, maybe next May and June after the spring Mara?

DT19

Tr, yes your response is a very brief version of what Lewis told me. 

Spin this morning then 8m over lunch. 

DT19

Just the 43m last week with a decent long run session yesterday of 5m easy then 2 x 3m at mp off 1m and 1m cd. The first block was a real trudge and I couldn't seem to run faster than 6.20s within the right effort. Second set were complete opposite and came in mid 6.10s and felt much better. It was pretty humid despite not being overly hot, I was drenched afterwards. 

This week will be a pretty big one. 6m over lunch and spin later. 

TR

Sounds like you're on the build again then DT.

I had a solid week ending with 20m saturday, not much quality in there except a couple of blocks of steady, but 2nd 84m week in a row.

OO54

36:42 for a 10k with a 30 seconds stop- that sounds pretty good to me DT but it's what you think that counts. Is the puking something new or has it happened before? Don't think that has ever happened to me, though I've seen it once or twice at the end of a race - very unfortunate. As TR says, good pace in a mara campaign and you are clearly building nicely.

My 5k race went well too. It's  a fast net downhill course and I got my PB there 3 years ago with a 17:20. It was 17:41 this time and good enough for the 1st V60. I also pipped junior OO for the 1st time in ages. She was 6th lady in 17:46. She might get her own back though as we're in the same 1500m track race this Wednesday. 
I also did an 18:26 parkrun on Saturday 2 days after the 5k race, at my local course which is far from easy. I was shooting for the V60 record and got it comfortably after a near miss last week. I paid the price on Sunday though and crashed and burned on my 20 miler, and had to quit at 16 miles. Still 50 miles for the week which is OK and my legs felt fresh today so not a disaster.
Very impressive miles TR. Is your body coping well with high mileage?

TR

Top 5k pace OO, nicely done. I don't know how you manage to get the urge up to smash a parkrun so soon too........it's all miles in commutes, so easy stuff. But i need to try to keep up all the good stuff (mobility, s and c, strides etc) at the same time......I've a few weeks off soon, so no more commutes, but  i will hopefully get a bit more structure and pace variety in there.

DT19

Top work on the 5k, oo. Good time, beat the offspring pretender and took v60 win. Add in the parkrun record and all looks very good.

Hope you've had a solid week, TR, nice work on the 20.

Had a decent session Tuesday of 10 x 1k off 1 min. All reps were 3.30 or below except 1. Probably my best go at that session. 12m mlr Wednesday then 6 yesterday and spin. 

Fairly big session lunchtime today of 3 x 4k at 5.50s off 1k float at steady. I found this very tough as it was about 22c but very humid. The first 4k averaged about 5.55 but I was drenched and quite depleted after it. First float came in 6.59 then next two blocks just dipped under 6mm average, however the 1k float was scaled back to 8mm. 8.7m at 6.11mm average all in. 

I'm popping into Birmingham tomorrow to meet a friend at a small parkrun so will just get around at low 6s I'd guess. 

Just wondering if anyone managed a place in Tokyo ballot? I'm looking at six star completion and this is the one race I have no control over entering at all. 

OO54

Damm I forgot all about Tokyo 😳
Junior got her own back in a 1500m track race I entered at the last minute on Wednesday- absolutely destroyed me with a time of 4:41. 

Good luck at parkrun DT and upcoming holidays TR 

Big_G

I don’t think the Tokyo general ballot has happened yet though, has it?  14th Aug it opens, I thought?  If you want a bit more control, you can go for a charity option but it’s very different to other majors, and for 2024’s race it’s already happened. But for future years, you choose a charity from a list, submit a bid, and the charity chooses their runners, not necessarily just based on the highest bids. You then pay the charity money upfront, and then later also pay the entry fee. 

DT19

Big g, I assumed ballot was announced as I'd seen charity entries had closed. I may go down charity route as just paying the money is likely to come cheaper than paying a premium to book a sports tours package. 

Oo, I guess the shorter the distance the more it'll play into the hands of youth. 

Parkrun was OK. Humid and windy on an exposed course made it a harder effort  than pace ought to give tigether with yesterdays session in the legs. Just sat at 6mm coming in around 18.45. 

17m planned tomorrow which will give me a 68m week, biggest since early April. 

Big_G

DT, it is confusing compared to other majors, but it’s different timelines for charity and ballot. There is also the opportunity to get an entry as they have a number (I’m going to say 8, but could be wrong) of virtual events each year at about £10 each, where each one has 50 places up for grabs. Not great odds though, at roughly 3% each, dependent on how many do that virtual. Again, that’s all done and dusted for 2024’s race. 

DT19

Big g, my interest lies in 2026. I decided in 2020 I wanted to run all majors by 50. Having places for Berlin and NY that year made it feasible, then suddenly it all went to pot. At that time tokyo had a 2.45 gfa as well. 

I'll do NY in November and Chicago next autumn  so plenty of time to get sorted for tokyo 2026. I'll have an additional chance as I'll have 5 stars building up to it so there's the extra abbots drawing. So plenty of time to get in on whetever virtual race chances there are. I'm 50 in January 2026 so won't make it by 50, more at 50 I hope. 

Big_G

DT, plenty of time to line things up for 2026 then My 6th will hopefully be NYC next year, if everything goes to plan and I can keep niggles away. 

OO54

That's good Intel Big G. My pal bought a charity place last year and paid as little as 4-500£ if I recall correctly. So for the virtual you do a virtual mara then get into a ballot for the real event?

I was 18 minute pacer at Blyth parkrun yesterday and brought it home in 18:05. It was pleasing, my best for a while but felt like a real effort. Then 14 easy today to bring up 50 for the week.
A 3000m track race tomorrow and a mile road race on Friday. 6 weeks to go until GNR- are any of you doing it this year?

TR

DT - thsts another strong week. 4k reps sound tough esp with a float rest.

OO - great mix of race distances there. 6 weeks til GNR already.

Its pretty lumpy in west Wales, couldn't find a long enough flat section for ydays 10m inc moose fartlek, so 
i made the longer reps slight downhill with the wind and the shorter reps up hill and up wind. Followed by a few hours of walking from Aberaeron on the coast path. No long run as I'm away, so  only 6m easy today, although its not easy with all the hills. 7 weeks til the b of the bang.

Big_G

OO, the 8 or so virtuals have a range of distances. One was 100k over a week, one was a marathon distance, I think there were a couple of halfs. But for each virtual, people who completed that specific event had a chance of a place on the real event. It appears the ‘100k over a week’ had the fewest finishers (and hence the better odds).  The good thing is if you get in that way, you know within a couple of weeks or so of the virtual event, so can start planning very early. I think I did 3 but had no joy, so I went the charity route, same charity as Ian5 when he did it, and neither of us bid much over the minimum.  

Big_G

More info here for a place in 2025s event via the virtual events. One has already happened, and the schedule for the others is there. 

https://www.marathon.tokyo/en/news/detail/news_003068.html

OO54

Thanks BigG that's helpful. I guess all we need now is for Abbotts to recognise the virtual marathon as Majors qualifier, then we won't need to go to Tokyo at all 🤭
Enjoy the hills TR and hope you are not getting too wet.

DT19

Big g, yes I can imagine 100k in a week is quite a big ask for many, especially if it's some months out from the event. 

Frankly, if the cost of a charity place is about £500, bearing in mind what I've spent by that point on the other 5, I'd have no issue paying that if it guarantees entry.

Hope you're having a good break, TR. 

GNR is on my bucket list, oo. Will have to pencil it in soon. Hope the 3k went well. 

17m on Sunday gave me 68m for week. Started this week off with 8 yesterday. Off out for a session shortly. Weather doesn't like great after today. Be glad to get to lanzarote in 2 weeks.