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A marathon in 4:15 (or maybe less)
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I ran some of it solb
The lack of hill training showed after the half marathon point and I got to the 20 mile cut off with just a couple of minutes to spare. My legs weren't sore but my lower thighs felt very tired and I knew that realistically I wouldn't make the marathon distance cut off so I bowed out while still able to walk!
I will be going back though as I've never known a run where the miles tick by so nicely
Either 2012 or 2013 depending on the outcome of the VLM ballot for next year
I've put in for vlm ballot, even though I decided I wasn't gonna do a marathon next year!
Hi B! Nice to see you!
Just had the all-clear from the BF to enter my next marathon... friendly Dublin in October. Should beat the Parisians murmering BOF every time someone runs past!
Now I haven't time to skip back through 16 pages of chat yet, and am super impatient to know if you've done your next marathon yet. Am very impressed by your weekend run too. I'm a massive scaredy cat when it comes to races containing hills.
Man vs. horse looks amazing too - must do it next year. I reckon I could get my mum over to the UK for a visit to see that.
Hi Alex. I ran the Halstead marathon in early May but ended up treating it as a long training run.
It is looking as if my next attack on 26.2 miles will be at Abingdon in October (or Leicester if things don't work out for Abingdon). I'm about to start on the training again
I'm going to do the 4:00 hour schedule again but with the pace toned down of course. I will also be taking rest days some Saturdays if it doesn't fit with family stuff (as the 4.30 schedule has 3 rest daysI think that should be ok)
At the start of this week it was 17 weeks to Leicester and 18 to Abingdon so as I needed to factor in a 2 week holiday in August I have started straight in on Week 2 this week (if it is Abingdon then I have a week in hand so will probably do the week before the holiday again when we get back).
Did 12 x 200m intervals on Tuesday and it wasn't as bad (or as slow as I expected). I've learnt now to start off at the slower end and speed up rather than try to hit one pace throughout and I think that really helped.
Last night was 4 miles steady (the guide says steady = MP) and I averaged 9.37 mm
Because I'm trying not to use the car without good reason I shall be doing more of my speedwork round here than before so that will mean routes that have unflat bits! Obviously I'd hope to gain on the downs what I lose on the ups but basically the plan is to try to keep the effort at the same level and see what the pace comes out like. I'm a total convert to the use of average pace on my Garmin now.
So last night the programme said 1 mile jog, 3 miles at HMP and 1 mile jog. I decided that 9.15 would be a good pace to aim for (my PB pace is 9.12). When I ran this session locally in the run up to Paris I had used a fairly flat route (rolling at worst) but as I'd used some of that for Tuesday's intervals I decided to use a route that is rather more undulating.
Warm up mile: 10.57
Mile1: 9.09 (quite a long stretch downhill followed by some flat and then a gentle up)
Mile 2: 9.37 (a rather tougher up for 0.4 miles followed by down through the village)
Mile 3: 9.14 (pretty level really with a mild rise towards the end)
Cool down mile: 10.36
After that I had to do another 0.72 miles to get home which I ended up running at 10.02 pace because my legs just wanted to go faster
I'm pleased with those times. That uphill was hard and I couldn't manage to make it all up on the down but at least I have a target for future sessions now.
Skipped the parkrun/fartlek for yesterday. I had to wait in for a plumber who was due to some at 10 but arrived after 12.30 in the end
We needed to go out to pay the balance on our holiday in the afternoon so I decided to leave the running to one side.
Today was 11 miles which RW suggests to be 11.11 mm.
11.38
11.27
11.26
11.02
10.39
10.48
10.55
10.24
10.30
10.22
10.48
11.01 miles in 2.00.02. Averaged 10.54
I kept coming across kids doing DofE expeditions. Some were in trainers and they were all over the road! I found myself hoping that my daughter's group who were off in Oxfordshire were rather more disciplined in traffic. (They did all have boots though
)
Rest day tomorrow
I was wondering about continuing to post on here but the view count has gone up so clearly there is someone having a sneaky peek occasionally
Tonight's 3 x 1 mile interval session was to be fitted in between getting in after taking A to the dentist and going to the Target Member award night at Slimming World (well over 4 years of never straying more than 3lb away from my target weight now!). Then British Gas intervened and I ended up rushing out of the door not knowing quite how much would get done. I was going to aim to start at 9.30 and then see what happened.
Nice uphill mile for the warm up so definitely done slowly but my legs did not feel happy. Still got passed the mile mark, crossed the road and pushed lap button to start the session. First mile took 9.23. I realised the plan I had wasn't going to fit in all the miles neatly plus time was ticking by so after the recovery of 400m I turned round and headed back the way I came but then decided to go back a slightly different way that involved off road (no, I wasn't looking for excuses for being slow, honest). Anyway as the off road bit went downhill mile 2 took 9.19.
Decided now to simply head towards home but then after the recovery I decided to see what would happen if I tried to speed up. First half of this mile was on grass/mud/earth and after the brief climb away from the river the Garmin showed average pace of 9.49 mm. Slow down or go for it? Oh, why not!
Managed to reduce it to 9.30
Then did a bit of the last recovery until I got home. 7 pm exactly!
A bit disappointed today as it felt harder than last weeks tempo run when 2 of the 3 miles were faster than this and I didn't get the joggy bits in between.
I don't know about anyone else but I find it almost impossible to go out for a run without having made a decision about the route I am going to do. I suppose that living in a small market town doesn't help as there aren't a lot of options close together once you have run much more than a mile and a half. A winter 7 miler involves me doing a circuit with visits to most of the peripheral estates plus the centre of town.
Today's run called for 5 miles and that is one of the most tricky distances for me as most loops come out either short or closer to 6. That means out and back routes. Today I had a shiny new pair of shoes to try out so despite them blinding the passers by I didn't want to do anything that might involve a bit of mud! So I went much the same way outwards as yesterday and then turned round and came back again.
It was supposed to be an easy pace and did end up averaging closer to that pace than Sunday's run but it felt hard work. Being a third down on staff today (2 of us instead of 3) plus an absent student and 3 c hildren needing a lot of support/supervision meant I was pretty knackered before I went out. The space that running provides was good though
5.21 miles in the end (came back through the park) in 57:34. Average pace 11.03.
I realised today as I was prevaricating about going out for my run that I seem to be lacking confidence in my running this week. I think it is down to the fact that the work needed to do the sessions to my satisfaction has been harder than last week. Each run I am doing the warmup/first mile slowly and wondering whether I'll be able to get faster or not and even when I do pick up it feels harder than a hard thing. Could be down to the fact that work is busy, busy and lunch has been whenever but I do have a snack between getting in and going running.
Today was supposed to be 1 mile warm up, 4 miles at HMP and 1 mile cool down. I decided that after Tuesday's intervals I would shift the pace to MP instead as I thought that would be more achievable. With the undulations I decided that a target of 39 min for the 4 miles was better than 9.45 for each one.
Warm up: 11.46 (legs feeling heavy and tired)
Mile 1: 10.00 (hmm, will need to pick this up a bit)
Mile 2: 09.35 (that's most of it got back)
Mile 3: 09.48 (less good)
Mile 4: 09.40 (only to be expected with a nice long downdulation but I did do the last quarter mile on the old railway to compensate)
Cool down: 11.08 (much easier and the Garmin trace was more settled than for mile 1)
The middle bit adds up to 39.03 so pretty much spot on
The number swap for Abingdon is being processed so October 16th it is!
Rest day tomorrow
I have no races on the calendar, just having fun running
Hi Suze
I find I'm happiest with a plan to follow but that's probably my OCD showing!
I think I may have worked out what has been dragging me down a bit all week - pollen! As I start my antihistamines way back in early March and take them through the summer I tend not to take much notice of the pollen forecasts. Yesterday I had a headache all day (despite meds), a scratchy eye and my sinuses got a bit sore by the evening too. Then someone mentioned the pollen count being particularly high. Doh!
When I woke up with half my nose blocked this morning I decided it was definitely the pollen. Hopefully some added decongestant over the next couple of days will sort me out again.
I've been suffering too - especially with scratchy eyes. Even with all the rain, I've found the pollen high this year. Hope you get it back under control.
I had an email for the Tonbridge Half Marathon in September, so now thinking about entering that.
I know it was foolish to ignore the weather forecast and have a lie in today but with visitors next weekend my next opportunity to do that wouldn't have been for a fortnight. It did mean that today's 11 miles were not as enjoyable as last week's.
Actually it was10.55 miles as I simply couldn't bring myself to circle the park to make up the numbers
The route was a bit hillier too but I wanted to nab a couple of 'zones' for a game that we play over on Fetch. Lots of cyclists out and about but only one other runner and she was in the town itself. Clearly everyone had more sense than me.
11.56
11.29
11.32
11.17
11.15
11.20
11.33
11.33
11.41
11.46
6.25 (which is 11.43 pace)
10.55 miles in 2:01:47. Average pace 11.33
I got through twice as much fluid as last week and took Zero instead of plain water. I still weighed well over 1Kg less than when I got up though!
It might have been an idea to have a second lot of jelly babies but I sort of forgot about them!
Well done to get out in that weather and run at all. There is no way I could have run today far too hot for me. I had looked at the weather yesterday and did 10 however although I had perfect weather I had a horror....
Good luck with your marathon plans I think if you can do the training in the heat then a nice autumn race will suit you and you will do well.
*waves to Flo*
As I won't be doing any running this weekend I decided that i'd do Saturday's easy 3 mile tonight as a recovery from yesterday. What a difference a couple of degrees and a bit of cloud cover make!
Did a loop that included the old railway line, not too humid despite it still being muddy from the rain.
3.2 miles in 35.07. Average pace 11.05 (splits 11.23, 11.09 and 10.46)
It turned out to have been a very good decision to run as just before I rang the doorbell I looked across at my car and spotted a semi-flat tyre
With a little help from E to loosen the wheel nuts I put the spare on and the original is now in the boot waiting for a trip to KwikFit after work tomorrow. The culprit is a small piece of metal sticking into the tyre at 90 degrees. I am crossing my fingers that it can be repaired.
I've been lurking and adding to your views
Thanks solb
Tonight the schedule was 5 x 1km intervals with 200m recoveries (1 mile warm up and cool down as usual). Trouble was that I needed to get to a scout committee meeting for 7.30 plus I had to wait while my tyre was mended (saved a bit of money there). So I decided to run to the meeting doing the intervals as I went despite this meaning a certain lack of flatness in the terrain.
5.36
6.17
5.36
5.58
5.24
I did have a bit of extra recovery after the 4th rep as I walked up the rest of the hill and waited to cross the busy A road. Overall it felt more enjoyable than the last couple of weeks interval sessions
Tonight's run was fuelled by ........................... chips (ssshhhh).
This was of course forced on me by economics. In other words 1 portion of chips is not enough to split between the offspring but 2 portions is way too much. A large portion is less than 2 ordinary ones and feeds both of them with a bit left over
Anyway as I ran tonight I remembered how back in the spring it was the midweek longish runs that I found hardest to get used to. I'm sure tonight it was down to the 'intervals' last night and I reminded myself that it does get better.
The run was supposed to be 6 easy miles and it did feel easy (at times). The terrain was a bit less 'mixed' than it has been. Last time I went that way some speed bumps had been removed from the rough road, this time it had been tarmaced and a cattle grid planted at one end. I'm not sure if that is intended to slow the cars down (it didn't) or if they plan to have livestock there at some point.
Anyway 6.35 miles, 1:11:06, average pace 11.12.
Did feel hungry by the end so clearly bagels are better than chips
I think that maybe I was expecting too much of myself.
Came home from work via MK in order to do the shopping we would normally do together on Friday evening. The reason for this was visitors arriving tomorrow evening and that also slowed down the shopping as I tried to decide solo on foodstuffs to get.
I had decided to both make a cake and get the ironing out of the way as well as running but I suddenly found myself lacking in both energy and will.
The cake got made, I sorted out the washing and the lovely Mr USB both ironed and fixed a curtain (we can highly recommend the use of sewing glue).
I did think that I would be unable to manage a run until Monday but it looks like I might manage to fit one in on Sunday evening after all. We shall see.
It is allowed occasionally you know.....the rest will do you no harm.
Doing a half on Saturday comlpetely undertrained but looking forward to it as no pressure to do a good time....
I think my brother is doing that one.
Canals are nice to run along with boats and wildlife. I find sometimes if I go up and back I'll see the same boats twice - once when I overtake them and then again on the way back