Sub 3h15

TR

DT - I agree, you're doing enough to.msintain fitness, but are probably getting gains from the heat.

I felt ok after Sunday and did 10m Monday, Tuesday and today, so can have dug deep. Looked back and Sundays Av HR was 5bpm lower than last yr, not sure how much of the 10sec per mile difference that equates to, but 5bpm is a fair easing off.

DT19

Tr, yes defo the case, particularly given how poor the weather here has been. 

Based on my stats, 5bpm is the difference between mara pace and hmp.

Got back about 1.39 this morning. Off camping gor weekend tomorrow morning (not my decision making!) So out mid afternoon for 18m with 4 x 5k at mara pace off 1k steady float. The overall pace was 6.43mm gor the 18 with mara pace blocks all coming in 6.15-6.20 and floats inn6.50s. It was surprisingly warm and I had a few holiday cobwebs to blow out. 

Out first thing for 8m to give me 50 for week then back to normal routine Monday for last 6 weeks. 

TR

Blimey DT that's a strong run after the flight and late night.........cheers re HR info, does tie up with my av HR from Goodwood 2.57 in December. 

5 havnt run as many long runs as normal but got 21m in today as 5.5m easy, 10m tempo, 5.5m easy. The 10m came out av 6.36, but was progressive (first 2m is toughest) with 5 approx 6.45, 5 av approx 6.27. HR was decent, so shaping up for the b of the bang in 3 wks.

OO54

Pleasing news GDawg, let's hope it goes well from here 👍
Nice work TR and that 20 miler and 21 miler look promising for the big day in 3 weeks. What kind of HR are we talking?
DT I'm never gonna complain about warm weather again 😉 Seriously in need of a good holiday and yours doesn't seem to have affected your upward march to good form.

When do you expect to get back to running Jools?

A fast parkrun for me then a slow 22 today for a 60 mile week. Things are going on in my personal life with Mrs OOs health so everything up in the air at the mo. I contacted EA to check if I could still run for England at Chester marathon in October, in case I have to cancel Chicago. The man from Del Monte said yes so I'll have to make a call soon. These things certainly put running into perspective 😟

DT19

Oo, hope Mrs oo is not overly serious. Whilst I hope not to see you there,  it'd also be excellent to see you in Chester. Last year the v60 winner, who I was sat with in the England room pre race ran a British record of circa 2.39. 


Tr, the more of these cycles I do the less important I feel running 5 plus 20 milers is. I'm sure you'll be good. 

8m first thing Saturday. Camping is as horrific as I ever thought it would be. Just need to get through tonight then I can go home! 

TR

OO - worrying times  then, best wishes to your wife. Hope things come good.......good news re Chester if you need that option........av HR for 1/2 was 145, av HR for the 10m tempo was 136. The 10m tempo was about as good as it gets for pace vs effort on that route......readings are lowish due to being wrist based but as long as I always use the same gadget im comparing apples with apples.

Joolska

Sorry to hear about Mrs OO, OO.  Fingers crossed for you.

OO54

Thanks all. I also hate camping with a vengeance DT 🤭

DT19

Home to normality now!

8m yesterday then session today of 5 x 8 min off 3 min steady float. Essentially came out 5.50s and 6.50s for 9m averaging 6.05mm. 

Pleased with that and not far off what I was hitting in March and ahead of last September, so it's beginning to come together. 13m in total. 

Easy 12 tomorrow.  

TR

That's a good session DT, 5.50s is nicely sub mara pace, so 40min of hard effort with steady floats.

Standard session of 10m inc 12x3min for me today. Av pace for the efforts was decent but i was running on the flat rather than commuting.

DT19

Yes was a decent session for sure. 

Are you not working this week, tr? 

12m easy today. Heart rate stats v pace have come really good since hols and rhr is dropping quite a bit now. Starting to fall into place. 

TR

DT - good that you can see the numbers improving. I went back to work today so 12m (3m easy, 9m steady(av 7.10)) and 5m commute double.

OO54

Back to work TR how was that? I used to hate going back after summer holidays.
 Getting back to it well DT, the holiday has done you a lot of good.
I've backed off a bit this week with a few easy runs and a 10k run asxa progression.

TR

OO - was a necessary thing, only a 2 day week. Next week will be tough.

Thurs was 12 (inc 9m steady) and 5m, 8m and 5m yday, and then 20m as 5.5 easy, 10m steady effort (av 7.01), 4.5m easy for a big few days......time to ease off 2 weeks to the b of the bang.

DT19

How come you backed off last week, oo? 

Enjoy the taper, tr. You'll avoid hard training in this sudden smash of summer!

75m last week for my joint highest ever week. Tough session on Friday, just the standard 10m tempo. Didn't get out until late pm and hadn't eaten as was planning to get out normal time but things kept cropping up. By the time I got out the sun also had. Ended up doing what I vould just to get session over the line. Came in 6.25mm so a good 10s per mile off normal. 

Hilly 22m yesterday, got out at 8am and by 10am it was pretty warm. This week looks like it'll be testing! 

TR

Good one on the 22m DT, you put in a big session tues so that might have affected Fri, still money in the bank.......is hot for sure, I ran at 10am saturday so it was a warm 20m, 4m easy yday afternoon on very tired legs. 5 and 5 today, it was apparantly 28 deg when i ran home just now.

OO54

Fantastic long run DT. 
Incredible heat in London also TR, so I did 15 miles on Sunday and didn't leave Greenwich Park and the shade of the trees. Hope the return to work is going OK.

I backed off last week for 2 reasons. The news on my wife's health took away my mojo for a few days. Then realising that both Pescara (Euro champs) and Chicago are not going to happen as planned, added to the sense that training/running was not no 1 priority right now. This dread only lasted a few days though so I'm refocusing now. GNR this weekend.

DT19

Oo, I hope the fact that the dread has diminished means your wife's situation is better than initially thought?

So will you be in Chester or is Chicago back on? 

Tr, yes that eould have been pretty warm on Saturday. It's all good training effect though if the temperatures suddenly drop in 2nd half September.  

I've got 5 x 1 mile today and couldn't get out earlier as wife I office and kids here until midday so it'll be a rather warm affair over lunchtime.  

TR

OO - hope your wife gets better news soon. 

DT - would have been hot for a session today. I've a tempo tomorrow but its early in the day, as you say there's heat gains to be had. My wife's friend is running her first mara Sunday at Richmond runfest and it might be real warm.

DT19

Tr, yes I saw someone else running that Sunday and debating whether they stick to plan to chase a pb. It's London 2018 temps,  plus a few c. I think if I was down for that I'd be binning off and finding something in the weeks after it. 

Session was tough. The 5 x 1m reps all came in 5.50s so not too far off normal pace. Then there were 5 x 400m to round off and they came tough. 

Easy 12m in the morning then a 90 min sports massage after lunch. 

OO54

Good going guys I'm pleased you are both going well for the upcoming races albeit in rather warm conditions. For me Chicago is definitely off. My wife will need an Op in 4-6 weeks so clearly a no-go for us both to travel far. However I can get to Chester, there and back and back over a couple of days and the distraction would be welcome, so will most likely enter on that basis and decide last minute. The Euro Champs are in a couple of weeks, so ahead of the Op date, but I will need to decide if I can face going away- probably not with all of this going on. In the meantime I'm ticking over. Forgetting about track training and just doing runs suitable for mara training. I've also got GNR on Sunday and a 10k the following weekend, both booked a while back. 

TR

DT - good work on that session, hope you cooled down after the 12m in time for the message.

OO - best wishes with the op and recovery for your wife then. Wise re the training as you can run a mara off easy stuff. Your energy may be elsewhere.

10m inc 7m tempo today, always a horrible run 10ndays out, done on my lumpy commute route. Was as tough as ever, this sometimes gets reduced to steady pace, or even sacked off, but it came out ok. Rounding towards similar shape as Oct 21, when i did 2.54 at vlm. Less long and medium runs so will see how this pans out. Bit of a range finder for Abingdon anyway.

DT19

Oo, did you have the info booklet from EA yesterday re Chester? Fixture v Wales makes it more interesting than just England runners. 

Also note it is the BMAF mara champs. 

Tr, sounds positive, snd you should get a solid fitness boost from goodwood, leading to Abo.

Was out for 9 for the 12m. First 8 were in lanes and I found quire a bit of shade and it was a reasonable temp. Last 4 were exposed and generally upwards, but all in all a low effort in total. 

Massage was pretty savage, but not been since July so needed it. 

Just spin this morning. Big mixed pace 20 tomorrow, could be low on fun! 

TR

That's going to be a big week DT, with 20 on a Friday. Hope it's not too brutal in the heat.

DT19

Tr, not quite as it seems, it's my long run for the week as Saturday and Sunday would have had me going out mid to late morning. Tomorrow I can get out by 9 so it made sense to move it. 

TR

DT - sounds good, it'll still be warm but get as much done as posdible early, I tend to find then that when you finish you dont realise how hot it has actually got. Might be worth having a bottle to drink from and one to douse yourself with.

DT19

Yeah I may take one out with me as huge parts of the run will be done in my 2k tempo loop and I'll reach that about 4m in so can just throw the bottle down somewhere on the loop and grab some regularly.  

DT19

Run went OK, out at 9 and took a big bottle on water.  3k wu then 7,6,5,4,3k at 6.20s off 1k easy. After each block of worked I stopped for a few mins to drink and tip over head and take a gel. 

Half way into 2nd block I passed where I left my bottle and it was gone. Found some walkers 300m down the road (who had run passed once) who thought it was litter and put it in a bin. Managed to retrieve it and hide it after that. I dont think I'd have completed session without it.

So 20.3m at 6.48mm, though I did stop watch on water breaks so that was moving time. Legs feel ridiculously good this evening so planning a social parkrun in morning for my 6m. 

TR

DT - well played, defo worth a brief stop and douse in order to get that session done. Race day will be much cooler. I stash a bottle in the hedgerow, but its well hidden.

Goodwood goes off 8.45 next week, only 80ish runners but i put a few names in p of 10 and there's a nice chunk of sub3 runners to chase. 13m inc 6m mp tomorrow.

TR

I felt a bit ropey this morning and had some things to do first, so was in no rush to get out until i felt a bit brighter. Trouble is i went out at 11am and it's about 28 degrees. Plan was 5m, 6m, 2m but wanted to get rolling so did 3m wu, 6m tempo, 3m wd. Coped ok and tried to target 6.40ish without running 6m as hard as possible. Came in as av 6.39, a few av HR beats higher than the av 6.47 when i lasted it at the  end of November, and it wasn't 28 deg then......Only some short runs to go now.