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A marathon in 4:15 (or maybe less)
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Better not be hot! *Goes off to find the man-suit*
I am much less bunged up today so although I'm coughing a bit I shall try a run close to home
Sorry to butt in here Bridget.........ASICS voting time please would you vote for me in the "On a plateau" group of four and I am Mark by the way!!!
Thanks so much please tell all your contacts and I am buying the drinks if I get through!!!!
Keep up the great running blog.
Glad I ran last night as I was coughing like a good un by this morning. At the moment it is still upper respiratory tract so I'm hoping it doesn't shift downwards. Will take it day by day for deciding about running at the moment
*waves to Minni*
Well the cough has mostly abated and my nose only runs if I go out in the cold but I've had a stonking headache with clogged ears the last couple of days. I think stuffy atmosphere at work doesn't help as felt better for getting out in the fresh air this morning however a brisk walk to the post office made me quite tired so obviously still not quite 100%.
I seem to be fully recovered (*crosses fingers*) and ran a slow 7 miles last night. Thankfully the rain held off until about 5 miles. It started just as I was thinking that I was really quite warm and hadn't needed the extra layer - I soon changed my mind about that!
Very wet and windy here at the moment but I am likely to run tonight anyway. Work is horrendously busy as I am sort of 3 of my 5 staff so I need the space that a run gives me.
Sorry to hear that Mark. How about trying for the Forum 6 instead?
Work today was better than expected due to a cancellation after the last minute so despite being on my own I left for home feeling on top of things.
Tonight's run was very nearly abandoned after 5 minutes
Temperature of 2 degrees plus wind chill and then it started to rain as I left the house. I was wearing long tights, 2 long sleeved tops, gloves and hat but my face was really starting to hurt. Thankfully the rain eased and I turned a corner so that the wind wasn't in my face and things began to feel a bit better. So much so that for the last couple of miles I actually took my gloves off!
Second run of the week and did 6 miles so things are improving. Tomorrow night we have the club Jingle Bells run when all the groups do about 4 miles together touring some of the local Christmas lights and entertaining the locals with our santa hats. I'm planning to borrow a couple of bands with bells on from work to put round my wrists
Hello all. It seems to have all gone a bit quiet on here. Maybe everyone is at Christmas parties?
My best marathon time is 4:28 but I'm hoping for improvement on that at the Paris Marathon in April.
I have a half mara PB in Amsterdam of 1:46 3 years ago and I also did 1:48 there a year ago off not a great deal of training. So in theory that should make me sub 4. Reality is though I've done 3 London's and 4:28 is the best so I'm thinking this 4:15 target is maybe the one I should go for this time.
So I'm glad to be on board. Training properly begins this week after a couple of weeks lull in things due to xmas festivities.
Any suggestions how to better build on my half mara times to achieve potential over the full marathon distance?
Now there's a question! Earlier in the year I followed the RW schedule and was on target to do the 4:15 but was ill on the day. Haven't quite decided how I am going to play it for the MK one in April.
How did you train for the previous marathons? What sort of pace did you do the long runs at? Lots of people run them too fast! This thread is a useful source of advice
Thursday I did about 4 miles with the club inspecting the Christmas lights. Stepped off a kerb in the dark and my ankle buckled but no lasting damamge seems to have been done.
Rest day on Friday if you can call it that with a kids party at work and then the department Bring and Share lunch to organise.
This morning was 3 hours supervising Scouts bag packing in Waitrose and this evening we have been out with Santa on his trailer doing more fundraising. I did actually Garmin it as I wanted to be able to tell the Scouts how far they had walked. 6.1 miles but it took 3:30 as I forgot about using the aoutopause on the Garmin!
Phew! That walk last night took more out of my legs than I thought. I did 7.13 miles this morning but it was very slow (average 11:33 mm). Partly due to needing to be careful due to ice but also because my legs were really sluggish. I even walked up a steep bit of hill at one point!
Glad I did it in the morning though as it was bright sunshine and I even took my hat off afte a while, Now it is dull and trying to rain - just in time for us to hit the shops.
It was lashing down with icy rain here for much of the day and I did start to wonder if my legs would like a rest. By the time I got home it had stopped though and so I set off to do about 5 miles. Much, much better than yesterday
5.7 miles in 62 minutes which is an average of 10:53 mm
Splits were: 11:16, 10:56, 11:29 (the main hill), 10:46, 10:16 and then the last bit at 10:20 pace.
Very pleased with that
Phew! Is it Friday already?
I ran on both Tuesday and Wednesday to make 4 days on the trot (5.39 miles and 6.28 miles) but then took a rest day yesterday as I knew I wanted to get out this morning and do my first double figure mileage since pulling up at Abingdon.
Early start to the day as I took Mr USB to the station so that I could pick him up later and both of us could attack Sainsburys. Out running just before 9 am wearing short sleeves because the weather was just perfect. Did a total of 10.67 miles averaging 11:03mm which was quicker than both Tuesday and Wednesday's runs!
Splits of:
11:05
11:20
11:09
11:22
10:59
10:43
10:53
11:09
11:14
10:38
Last 0.67 at 11:08 pace.
Felt comfortable all the way and checking my watch at 10 miles showed a time a minute faster than my first ever attempt at racing 10 miles in 2003
Tomorrow I am in charge at parkrun and then we have to go in search of a Christmas tree. That's right - on Christmas Eve. We had forgotten until we got the decorations out this evening that we'd decided in Janaury it was time for a new one
We didn't go treeless! Mr USB dropped me off at parkrun and reappeared within the hour with one from Homebase. Not the best looking tree in close up but fine from a distance and only £3
After spending yesterday vegetating in the sitting room I headed out for a run this morning before we went to collect the mother-in-law from her hotel. Couldn't quite believe I was wearing shorts and t-shirt on Boxing Day when last year I was running down the middle of snowy lanes. This weather is weird.
5.21 miles done in 55:46 which averages 10:42 mim miling.
Splits of:
11:25
10:32
10:23
10:59 (last section up hill but made myself get under 11)
10:18
Last 0.21 miles at 10:12 pace
I'm going to aim to run at some point tomorrow which will take me over 1400 miles for the year.
Woke up at 7.15 after one of my better night's of sleep so opted to get on and run before brunch and taking the MiL home. Slightly cooler than yesterday but no drizzle and I was fine in capris and t-shirt. Shorts would probably have been fine too but the capris came out of the drawer first.
6.48 miles run averaging 10:28 min miling and my yearly total now stands at 1404 miles.
Splits:
10:37
10:35
10:38
10:24
10:17
10:22
Last 0.48 miles at 10:20 pace
There was a point recently when I began to wonder if I would manage to get my pace up again. Although I was deliberately running slowly there were days when even a slow mile felt like hard work. The last couple of days have reassured me although I wonder what will happen when I have to go back to running in the dark again.
I had a few targets for the year. 100 miles a month went out of the window in October and although i am close to my mileage of the last 2 years (1428 and 1434) there is no way I am going to equal those as I only have 2 more opportunities to run this year.
I do however have just 8 miles to go to beat my best ever December mileage so I shall aim for a short run tomorrow before we head off for the drive to Devon with the remainder to be run when we get back on New Years Eve (there I've said it now so will have to do it).
Not sure if our hotel has WiFi so may not get to post again till the weekend.
I'm sure I typed a quick post on Wednesday morning! Wonder where that went to.
Wednesday I did 5.34 miles at an average pace of 10:38 before hitting the road for the South West. Another good just about daylight run with splits of 11:05, 10:40, 10:37, 10:41, 10:09 and the last bit at 10:24 pace
I then took a couple of days off and after realising my Garmin needed to be charged when we got back I headed off in the dark to do at least the 3 miles needed to get that December mileage target. I think I proved that it wasn't running in daylight that made me go faster, I appear to have got my legs back
5.25 miles at an average pace of 10:05 mm.
Splits of:
10:20
10:22
10:06
09:52
09:48
Last quarter mile at 09:42 pace!
Yearly mileage of 1415
9 months over 100 miles
4 more miles in December than last year
I was a bit muzzy headed this morning. Not due to over celebrating I hasten to add, rather I think the accumulated tiredness of spending every day for a week dealing with relatives at some point or another.
Woken by the phone at 8 am as my daughter's alarm had failed to go off for her paper round and I had forgotten to set the backup alarm on my phone. I was feeling generous so I gave her a lift to the shop and then 'helped' her with the round too. Nice chance for a bit of time with her and she actually said 'thank you'. Not willing to give me a kiss or a hug but for a 14 year old blowing me a kiss will do nicely.
Went back to bed for a while after that and eventually headed out for a run at lunchtime having decided to do about 5 miles today and then do my long run tomorrow.
Found myself running under 10 min miling right at the start so made myself slow down a bit but challenged myself not to let the miles with hills in be too much slower than the flatter ones and to average under 10:30 min miling. Did a bit of off road along the old railway path too. It ended up being 6.7 miles in exactly 70 minutes which is an average pace of 10:27 so that was one target hit.
Splits:
10:28
10:22
10:40 (muddy footpath)
10:25
10:20
10:26
0.7 miles at 10:23 pace
I think that means the other target was achieved too
That's last week's long run done and dusted. I was glad I'd delayed it as I had gorgeous sunshine which made up for the chilly wind and single figure temperatures that had me back in a long sleeved top.
The first 3 miles felt pretty hard if I'm honest but after that things seemed to loosen up with the only really, really slow mile after that being one that involved a steep uphill followed by another more gradual but quite long one.
12 miles done so my longest run since October. Took me 2:16:00 which is an average pace of 11:17.
Splits were:
11:53 (hills)
11:18
11:34 (just plain slow)
10:55
11:00
11:07
11:21 (bit of a hill)
11:06
11:39 (last of the hills)
11:13
11:06
11:22 (getting tired and feeling the lack of eating any jelly babies en route)
At the moment I am dithering about whether to go to the speedwork session at my club tomorrow or not. I've haven't done any speedwork since October and have run 24 miles over the last 3 days. The alternatives are to do a gentle run by myself or to even have a day off. Trouble is that I am enjoying running so much at the moment that I'm not sure how an evening off will feel.
Happy New Year USB.
I'm still reading your entries with interest but must confess to zero mileage in December and January heading the same way too. No marathon running for me this year, we moved house at the start of December so all my time has been taken up sorting that out.
Wishing you all the best for your MK marathon.