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A marathon in 4:15 (or maybe less)
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I'm doing the Mick & Phil Half at Draycote Water which is 11th March. Doubt I'll get over to MK this weekend even as a specator as MiL has had a stroke and was on the floor for an unknown period of time between Saturday night and Monday afternoon. We will be taking our carpet cleaner up there, visiting hospital with kids, doing whatever else needs doing etc etc
The thing that surprised me last year at MK was the rise back to the centre and Xscape in the last mile or so, not nice. Take it steady.
Didn't run yesterday for fairly obvious reasons but did discover how lovely the A&E staff at Warwick are
What a shocker for your family- regards, best wishes and get well soons where needed. Shame she's not at NGH I could have put a good word in but I' m glad to hear the NHS is treating you all well.
H
Thanks H. Warwick is her local hospital and once we have checked with her that it is ok I think there will be a steady stream of visitors from church. She had to spend last night in A&E but they got a proper bed and were trying to get an air mattress too.
Phew, thank goodness you bounced this up the list as my bookmarks aren't working.
Mr USB was up there during the day on Tues and Wed so I didn't go visiting and managed to do a couple of runs despite feeling really tired after work. The runs made me feel better though. Tuesday was 7.27 miles at 10:57 mm and Wed was 6.26 miles at 10:51 mm. These runs also squeaked me to my target of at least 100 miles each month thanks to the Leap Day.
Thursday was visiting and then as I couldn't get back to sleep on Friday I went out for a short run before work - 3.63 miles in the fog at 11:14 pace (some of it was off road).
Yesterday I really didn't feel in the mood for a long run so thought I might do a short one when we got back from Warwick. However as Mr USB had been in his mother's flat for most of the day watching the paint dry on the new front door we opted to visit the hospital and then do our supermarket shop up there too. As a consequence I really wasn't in the mood for anything when we got home.
This morning I got myself sorted out, agreed with Mr USB what time the roast would be ready and set off into the rain. As it was 6 degrees I didn't bother taking gloves which was a huge mistake. My hands went numb several times and by the time I got home the rain had changed to sleety snow and the temperature was 3 degrees
My sleeves were so wet that I wasn't looking at the Garmin much at all. Managed to go nice and slowly though until 9 miles had gone by when for some reason I sped up.
11:30
11:43
11:55 (on the verge of the bypass for some of this)
11:33
11:44
11:15
11:44
11:12
11:13
10:37
10:08
10:11
10:04
Those last 3 miles were faster than my marathon PB pace from 2009!
I didn't forget my water this week but actually only had one drink today just before 7 miles when I stopped at the public toilets and could get into my backpack in the dry. Had 3 Shotbloks then but that was it for fuel too. Felt alright on it.
Mother-in-law has been confused on and off although it can be hard to decide this as her speech is not clear unless she cuts down on the number of words and slows down. She isn't keen to do this so we have to try hard to work out what she is on about. We've decided to visit Tues, Thurs and weekend so that we are not totally knackered and have made sure that has been noted on her record. Have filled out a form for the Speech Therapists so they know a bit more about her background, family, interests etc. She's on pureed diet and thickened drinks.
Brilliant run USB- it's amazing how you can push on at the end when you are cold and wet. I got up that final hill at MK driven by the thought of the cold if I slowed down any more and that the rain was becoming more like sleet and snow.
I guess your MiL is running her own marathon in getting better at the moment. It's amazing how much of a strain it can be for the whole family. Lots of cyber support to you and Mr USB. I'm glad you got the door fixed- sometime we have to delay our discharges cos insurance companies are so slow getting doors fixed if they have been broken down to rescue people.
Take it easy, you sound like you are juggling a lot and a new hospital's germs will be another challenge for your body.
Happy healthy running
H
Hadn't thought about the germs apart from the fact that the stroke unit was closed until Wednesday due to Norovirus! We are gelling like mad
The door was sorted quickly due to the fact that she is a council tenant although we only found that out after we'd got someone via AgeUK out. He made the original lock usable until the council came which cost £75 but with a £50 excess on her insurance it doesn't seem worth the hassle of us trying to claim on her behalf (no PoA in place).
How did you do at MK?
Apart from the rain/ snow it all went to plan. It shows what a dry spell we have had cos running in the rain felt very odd.
I paced myself carefully so as not to blow up at 10 miles or need to walk up the footpath to the bridge (i'm sure you remember that bit). I got my PB and a negative split so am v pleased, but I was just a bit quicker than my marchvellous target so I've lost my 100%.
I think towards the end I just wanted to get dry and warm so I was able to push on and it really helped knowing the end of the course from doing the 10k last year. Also, having got in some good long runs already, doing the distance wasn't a worry at all, it was just a matter of getting the pace to be consistent. Hope it bodes well for the marathon, and I hope the rain isn't that bad on the 29th april- however rain would be nicer than hot sun.
Now I need to find time to do some long runs in the next few busy weeks/ weekends. No hope of any annual leave or time off in lieu at this time of the year. One of my team has just found he has 72 hours of leave to use up before he loses it on 31st March
.
Now i've realised how time consuming this all is and I only work mornings!
Well done H
That footpath is such a sting in the tail!
I have similar issues over the annual leave as it has left me almost consultantless that week .................. so as we can't work to capacity I am having 3 days off too
In my defence I would point out that 2 of them were supposed to be at half term and didn't happen due to other people being off sick.
I got 5.87 miles done on Monday night averaging a pace of 10.46 mm. Once again I produced a negative split training run, if only I could be more disciplined in races.
Intended a run tonight but had to do the single car thing again as mine needed to have its MOT by today! Dead tired by the end of the trip back from the station tonight so decided not to run. I need to be with it tomorrow for interviewing.
Will have to decide what to do tomorrow/Friday as I need 2 more runs before Sunday to hit that bit of Marchvellous. I know that Mr USB would go up to see his mother without me but then I feel guilty. If is anything like yesterday we'll only be there 15 min before she falls asleep so could run afterwards. Or see if I wake up early. Or ............................ ? Don't worry I'll work it out somehow.
So yesterday I actually ran after we got back from the hospital. Only 3.21 miles but it was a nice head clearer and produced my first sub 10mm average for ages.
Splits were:
10:21
9:50
9:34
Last bit was 9:11 pace
Average 9:52 mm
Then tonight I settled my stomach with a couple of hot cross buns and a mug of tea before heading out for a decent length run. 6.74 miles averaging 10:58 mm. I had various aches as I went along but I put that down to my body unknotting itself aftrer spending a fair amount of time in a play tent with two 4 year olds this morning
Plan for tomorrow is rest prior to half marathon on Sunday
I had 2 HCBs for breakfast this morning
So, the Mick & Phil Half at Draycote Water. We actually drove there via Silverstone as my son was working on the car parks for the Silverstone Half. I was glad to be going somewhere a bit quieter!
I finished in 2:05:43 so almost 5 min away from my PB and a bit more away from the sub 2 that i'd hoped for from this year. You also have to allow for the fact that I did turn my watch off while in a Portaloo somewhere after halfway as I didn't want to include that in my Jantastic time
With the last few weeks disruption I am quite happy with that time. Managed to keep a steady pace for the first 5 miles:
9:22
9:23
9:22
9:25
9:24
After that things began to go a bit to pot (I wonder whether gels at 5 and 9 miles were a bit late given the pace for the following mile each time):
9:47
9:33
9:34
9:33
9:38
9:53
9:34
During the last fulll mile my legs were really feeling it and I ran it chatting with another lady. I think I probably could have run it faster if I had really dug in as I did feel she was working harder than me.
9:52
I did manage a little burst of speed at the end though and did the last 0.16 miles (according to Garmin) at 8:46 pace.
Overall I averaged 9:33 so faster than my marathon pace and although this was only half the distance I did feel that had I gone slower initially I would have kept a steadier pace overall.
I need to decide now if it is too late to put any speedwork back into my week and if so when it should be.
I expected to ache yesterday but didn't so went out for a slow 5.37 miles in the dark. Felt fine and kept the average down to 11:22mm.
Rest day today (well hospital visiting really) but running again tomorrow as I need to hit my 4 runs a week for the Jantastic competition
you have become worryingly quiet
Hope you are managing to get the runs in especially after your cracking half last sunday. Great mile splits and if you were able to chat during the last mile maybe there was a bit more in there
.
I am not looking forward to trying to squeeze in my runs next week which include my first ever 20 miles and the kids want to do a sports relief run too, and my washing machine has broken...least I am forced not to do laundry on mother's day.
hope all is well
H
I finished work slightly early on Wednesday in order to use up annual leave and found myself to be in surprisingly bouncy mode, even managing to get a chili into the slow cooker for the first time in 3 weeks. I then went out for a run and for the first half mile was considering a post that started 'Tonight my legs were deader than a dead thing' but then they suddenly felt ok! I did 6.73 miles and averaged a pace of 10:47. The only other bit of the run that felt hard was solved by slowing down when I looked at my Garmin
Up to Warwick nice and early on Thursday (unlike Tues when we didn't even get there till ten to eight!) so that we could be back for the final of Masterchef. Very easy visit as she was asleep when we got there, opened her eyes as we started to put the chairs away but was asleep again inside 5 minutes.
Decided on another rest day on Friday but then did 4.85 miles yesterday when we got back from the hospital. She is talking much better but having lots of word finding difficulties. When she is not tired she is aware and keeps trying but as she tires she stops noticing.
This morning I got up when A went for her paper round and did 18 miles. Pace was a bit variable but that was mostly down to terrain and certainly wasn't pushing it at all.
11:29
11:04
11:27
11:11
11:19
10:52
11:16
11:15
11:16
10:57
11:04
11:12
11:24
10:52
11:21
10:37
11:03
10:59
Total of 18.15 miles averaging 11:09
We have since been up to the hospital with cards and an artificial flower in a vase that took some time for me to find. She seemed to like the children's card best, managed to pull a piece off the flower and pulled a face at it too
She is also showing that she is still her usual self by complaining that the staff do not look after them well. Nothing specific to complain about so what this translates to is that the staff are not mind readers. We have pointed out that she needs to ask/tell them if she needs something. If she does this and then says nothing happens then we would address it but most of the care we see is fine.
Bad luck about the washing machine H, I have mine on yet again washing nighties plus a bed jacket that she was miffed they'd put for washing. She didn't agree that it was too dirty to wear but obviously hadn't spotted the tea stain down the front!
Phew! Busy week but good too as I have been able to get on with what I am actually paid to do. have picked up some extra responsibilities though due to changes in the structure above me.
Monday night was 4.78 slooooooooooooooow miles as a recovery run. I was very tempted not to go out at all but knew that would put pressure on the rest of the week with my Marathon Talk target of 4 runs.
Wednesday I did 6.14 miles despite falling on my bum at 2.5 miles. I was on a dark section of pavement and got dazzled by cars coming towards me. I'd just decided to wait till they'd gone when one foot slipped off the kerb. I realised I was going to fall into the road which wasn't a good idea so made myself fall backwards instead which resulted in me literally bouncing off the bit just above my bum and landing in a heap! Turned the Garmin off and then picked myself up
Luckily I was on my feet when the cars went by so no embarassing moments of people stopping because of the body on the pavement. I decided to carry on and see how I went and did end up doing all of my planned route. What was very strange was that I got faster after the fall. Perhaps my subconscious thought I should get home before I stiffened up!
First 3 miles = 32:20
Next 3 miles = 31:21
Things are trundling along with MiL and we are adjusting to our new routine. She is now top of the list for a female rehab bed.
Ooops, where have the days gone!
After my tumble on Wednesday I found walking quite painful so took both Thursday and Friday off before doing a short test run when we got home on Saturday evening. That was only 2.87 miles but run at a pace of 10:34mm without pain.
That meant that Sunday's long run of 20 miles was on
Alarm was set for 6.30 so I had plenty of time to get back in time for lunch before heading in the hospital direction again. Not quite as quick overall as last week but i feel that there was more consistency in the splits. Sights en route included a flute quartet and a horse drawn carriage as the National Trust had a special event at Stowe.
11:33
11:30
11:32
11:29
11:34
11:30
11:25
11:13
11:24
11:27
11:35
11:34
11:15
11:06
11:17
11:27
11:03
11:17
11:27
11:19
All in all 20.02 miles in 3:48:06 which is 11:24 mm
Got back to find that the hospital had rung to say that MiL was off to the Rehab Unit in the afternoon so we delayed visiting till the evening and I had a leisurely bath
Tiredness kicked in on Monday so I took the night off and then I decided on Tuesday that I would rather do a decent run on Wednesday rather than a very short one when we got in.
Yesterday I spent most of the day in Kenilworth as I needed to be at MiL's flat from noon for the council to do electrical work. As I also needed to get day clothes to the hospital and collect my daughter from her school after her extra IT class I ditched the idea of a morning run and sorted out the clothes first (the nurses had said I could come out of visiting hours). After I got home I went out and did 6.09 hilly miles in 1:05:47, average pace of 10:48. My butt was sore after the downhills though
Splits were:
10:47
11:15
11:06
10:56
10:45
10:08 (Got overtaken by 2 younger ladies and just had to keep them in sight)
Today I went over to MK to get what MiL calls 'Granny slippers' but which will keep the physios happy. As Mr USB is at a leaving do and will need picking up from the station at some point I went and visited this afternoon. Not quite a sour lemon face at the sight of the footwear but grudgingly agreed for me to leave them there!
Not running this evening though as I've decided to save myself for my long run which I shall do tomorrow instead of the weekend (I am using up my annual leave). That means I can do 22 miles without it being too disruptive of the family.
4 day week next week
*attempts to dance onto the thread*
I have just done my longest ever training run. 22.26 miles in 4:15:01
The plan was to do 22 miles but I wasn't home by then and didn't really want to start walking. So I decided to compromise and do something I was advised to do a while ago and ran for my target time. Last time I did this (September 2009) I ran for 4:20 and covered 21.39 miles along the canal. Today's route was definitely not flat so I am very pleased with myself.
Downside to the run was lots of gut problems for some reason
Anyway the splits were:
12:03
11:54
11:25
11:21
11:20
11:32
11:37
11:07
11:29
11:12
11:29
10:45
11:35
11:23
11:52
11:17
11:45
11:08
11:39
11:42
11:15
11:22
Last bit at 11:08 pace.
The pace very much varied with the terrain but I am delighted with the bit after 20 miles
Had a good start to April on Sunday with a 6 mile run at a nice easy pace and was looking forward to fitting in an extra weekday run as we had decided to only visit on Wednesday instead of Tues and Thurs.
All the best plans .................
Got home from work on Monday feeling very dizzy and sleepy so went to bed for a while. Was in bed at 10 pm too. Then I felt crap again by the end of the day onf Tuesday too so I read the package insert for the new hayfever tablets (my usual one has been taken off sale) and found these to be known occasional side effects. So I had another sleep and another earlyish night before not taking a tablet in the morning. I did feel better last evening and stayed awake in the car on the way to Leamington so decided to try taking them in the evening instead. Theory being that I could sleep the side effects off. As I forgot to take it last night I have just taken it now although as I once again felt crap driving home I am now wondering if the antihistamine was a red herring. Might try some iron just to see although I have never been anaemic even in pregnancy.
So no running so far this week
However having taken advice I now have a plan for my long run to take me through to April 29th. Anybody new to marathon running should take note at this point that this plan is based on the fact that I have a certain amount of experience of running the distance (20 marathons and one ultra since Sept 2007).
Tomorrow I will be running another 22 miles but some of it will be at marathon pace. I was thinking hard about routes as I wanted to get clear of the hillier bits and then I remembered the Good Friday Enigma marathon in Milton Keynes which is organised by a friend. Only 60 runners so plenty of room for me to do one less lap of the lake than the rest of them :-}
Next week will be 18 and then an 'aggressive' taper with only 8 miles the last weekend before the race!
Right! Today's run has achieved its purpose of sorting out what I am going to aim for at MK in just over 3 weeks time.
The plan was to do the first 8 miles easy but then increase to 4:15 marathon pace for the next 10 before slowing down again.
The pace for those first 8 miles averaged 11:17 so that was fine.
The splits for the next 10 miles were:
9:49
9:38
9:33
9:42
9:46
9:44
9:52
9:49
9:50
9:40
That gave an average pace of 9:44 which is exactly the right pace but ................................
.............. and it is a big but ................................. I was having to really dig in over the last couple of miles to get the pace up and although I was feeling fine till then the couple before that weren't that great either.
What was worse was the way my legs simply gave up on me once the Garmin had beeped for the end of mile 18. I got back to the finish area at 21 miles and opted not to do that one last mile to make 22. The pace averaged 12:21
I haven't been great nutritionally over the last couple of days but I've felt better than this in marathons when running slower. Having taken advice and agreeing that 4:15 pace is simply not there at the moment I have decided to start with the 4:30 pacing group on April 29th. This will enable me to avoid blowing up by going too quickly but if all goes well I can get myself a negative split at least.
I was reluctant to make this decision and am feeling a bit low about it this evening however I also know that what I need is to at least finish a marathon close to my PB feeling in good shape. My only completed marathon in 2011 took me just over 5 hours and was 35 min outside my PB time.
Flo - thank you so much for that comment. I'm finding that the faster people I chat to elsewhere are tending to say not to worry and I'll be fine. When I was getting advice about yesterday's run I was told 'You have the knowledge to know how you run so the 22 will tell you everything.' and that is just what it did do.
I am finding the stairs a little challenging this morning which is a feeling I've not had for a long time!
This is only my second marathon and in the first only did 2x20 and the same this time .So 21/22 is a good effort. Last week finished my 20 feeling great like I could have carried on. Today did a 15 and it was hard. That's the thing you never can tell on the day just exactly how you're going to feel.
If we are going to have a tough one better now than on the day...My last one 2010 was 4.57 and I did go out slow and do the first half in 2.23 then faded over the last half. I am hoping to go out at the same pace and try to keep it going and hopefully get nearer the 4.45. I may try to stay with the 11mm pacemaker.
Flo Po - wrote
That's the thing you never can tell on the day just exactly how you're going to feel.
Yes Flo po - thats totaly true - no matter how expereinced one is
Hi Sis
you ok , Hows MIL ?
4:15 is a nice time, nice pace -
we hold ours at 4:03 - even with that, that day panic , nerves and excitement set in in last 10k, and cost us minutes
I'm ok apart from a touch of hayfever that escaped the antihistamines.
MiL has had 2 weeks of rehab and is now talking in terms of not being able to go back to her flat which is a big step forward for her. We've got a meeting with the whole team Monday week so will see where we go from there.
After a day of finding the stairs to be a touch 'challenging' yesterday I took my legs out for a shortish recovery run today.
Not too many aches at all and did 5.13 miles in 58:31. Back just in nice time to make the gravy too
Today was harder than yesterday
Legs didn't ache but they just felt soooo tired. I think I'll take this as a second recovery run.
6.15 miles in 1:10:55
Will see how I feel tomorrow evening as if I don't run then I may not run till Thursday.
I'd sort of decided not to run yesterday because of how my legs felt on Monday and because I'd slept really badly. When I got home from work I didn't feel too bad at all so I put a load in the washing machine (having to do extra now in order to keep MiL in clean stuff) and went out for a while. Kept my fingers crossed that the hail we'd had earlier on was past and that seemed to work as although it clouded over a couple of times it was generally a pleasant evening.
I told myself that if I got to a mile and it felt awful I would just go to the end of the park and back. To start with I did feel pretty naff but it gradually licked up and I finished that first mile in 11:26. So I kept going and the second mile took 11:05
Up the big hill and mile 3 bleeped at 11:15. Blimey, this is better!
After that it was 10:43, 10:20 and 10:49. The last 0.27 miles were run at 10:53 pace.
6.27 miles at an average pace of 10:56. Sooooo much better than Monday
Definitely having a rest today though