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Abingdon Marathon
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SR - You have done all the hard work just, important thing is now making it to the start line fit. At that pace we may be seeing each other on race day.
Martin - Good long one bagged and well done for toughing it out, if it was easy we would n't do it.
Very happy with my run this afternoon, 1 WU 4 quick , 6:32,6:42,6:32, 6:20 1 WD which was cut short helping a lady who had fallen and cut her head. Got home and the expected post was waiting for me, I had been seeing posts about London places , but opened it and I have a ballot place.
Looking back at my pre London runs and my 22 was four minutes slower so maybe it's just the slower finish that made me think things were bad, about time I stopped whinging and cheered up a bit lol. All I've done since I got back from holiday is moan sorry guys
No London place for me - 5 years in a row, but unlike you lot I wasn't in for a GFA!
SR - don't quite know if your target is a big step up for you, or your normal expectation - but 5 X 20+ good runs is approximately 5 more than I've done this time. With that much in the bank I reckon a week off, and certainly stretching and maybe a massage would do you more good than trying to run another 20 - Like anyone else though, I know how hard it s to take more than a couple of days off without feeling like you're losing form/getting fat, etc.
MG - yeah, stop bloody moaning
Thanks everyone. I was beginning to think about withdrawing - you're right! Let's see how I go today...
Chillies - No GFA place for me, not managed sub 3:15 yet, got close. Must be lucky second year of applying for ballot and got a place. Any VLM vets recommend any hotels, want to travel down friday with OH and youngest, travel home sunday.
4 miles recovery this morning.
Hope everyone's niggles and injuries are on the mend.
Received race no this morning but no course map. Seen the one on the website but do they produce one with mile markers?
Martin - good effort. You done most of the hard work, you are quicker than 6 mouths ago, you have it all to look forward to now. Most of us would change places.
Barry - you are getting quicker at the right time. Confidence must be growing.
Did not enter London again this year, will be looking to do another Spring marathon (may be 2, with one as a training run).
Club track session last night. Pyramid session 2 x 400m (82 & 85sec), 600m (128sec), 800m (178sec), 600m (131sec), 2 x 400m (85 & 82sec) with 2min recovery between each. Told off
by club coach as this was not on my schedule, should have been doing 4 mile tempo at 10K pace. However as no one was doing this (as the other club Abo runners were not there, or had done it earlier in the day), but others (non Abo runners) were doing the Pyramid session, it was not a difficult decision.
Cant believe you are all thinking of a spring marathon before this ones even finished
nutters. One every couple of years will do me just fine. Congrats on the Ballot places for London though!
See Barry B is getting faster every day almost, looking good for 3 weeks time.
Martin your training has gone really well, last long run done now time to RELAX
Hope things clear up for you quickly Shadowed Runner, three weeks doing the right things and you will be toeing the start line with us I'm sure.
AC, i would have opted for the pyramid session as well, 4m at 10k pace would see me having a sleepless night before it.
Also the last 20 odd tomorrow for me, plan is 7 easy 7 steady 7 marathon pace, cd. See how it pans out as i really haven't a clue what pace to start off with in 3 weeks
Mee meep the way things are with these races you have to get in early when did abo open? Thinking back was it feb or march!! Seems a long time ago but in other ways its gone too fast!!
Hope all those doing their final long runs this weekend have good ones and well done to those who have done them
Off out to see if back is ok... I think I know the answer ("NO!"), but you know how it is...
So, I'll either be back in 20 mins, or 3 hours... anyone want to take any bets?!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! 20 mins it was! I am really pxxxed off !!!!
There. Off my chest now. Thanks SlokeyJoe. It's really frustrating; I'm technically in the shape of my life, have been doing some solid consistent ileage since March, and since June consistently 62-65mpw with some peak weeks over 70mpw including 5 x 20-22 mile runs in the main 18 week run-up. Then last week decided to push throug the pain (I know, I know ... i DID say STUPIDLY!) to finish short on the planned 20 on 18 miles.
I rested completely until Wed a.m. when I was able to run 9 miles easy pace. I attempted to run in the evening but within 200m I had to stop and so rested until this morning.
L/H Glute is the problem, just to the left of the spine, but it rares up and progressively gets worse on resuming running. I'm worried now I won't be able to recover enough for race. Anyone else had a similar injury, or had an injury this close to a marathon, and if so, what did you do? Any advice on what you did in prep for race day greatly appreciated by all who have suffered!!! In my head, I've blown it. Not used to marathon training, usually prefer to race the smaller distances, so I'm a complete novice at this game! Was hoping for between 3.15 to 3.30, half times recently were sub 1.29 on undulating course. Thanks all in advance for guidance... off to sulk with a discount coupon and credit card at a nationwide running store...
Try and concentrate on all those decent sessions you've done get your back sorted and only run easy and short until its done. Good luck with whatever you choose.
Got up pre breakfast for a 12 up and over a lump for the first six then my MP route on the way back with the wind on my back. I was considering running at MP on the way back but decided to just run steady and enjoy it, I've been putting too much pressure on myself recently so stuck at around 7:00 m/m.
Got my trail race tomorrow and as said previously I'm just going to enjoy it, it's a toughie and weather isn't looking good nut hey ho it can rain and wind for the next 21 days so long as its ok on the 21st
SR - I had problems with my piriformus a while ago, was n't very painful but was effecting the way I ran, there are lots of small muscles in that area, I did a lot of stretching on it and used one of those laundry balls to massage it, if you have n't got one use a tennis ball, just sit on it and move around till you feel a tight spot. Go and see a physio for some professional advice, Oh and check your mattress out(avice from my physio), I had a old mattress that had a dip in the middle got a new memory foam one and whether coincidence or not the problem went away.
thanks Martin and Barry. we have a new memory mattress, and I've recently bought a similar pillow.
You're right about the sessions Martin - been a long, slow build to this. I'm nowhere near your standard, but for me, I've seen marvellous improvements over distance appearing in mylong runs over the last month. It's time to give time, time! GRRR! (I'll be over it tomorrow!)
SR - You over it?
Last long run before Abo for me this morning, plan was 20 with 3 slow, 3 steady(MP?), and repeat 2 more times, was n't the best of starts nearly puked in the first mile, you know when you stop yourself being sick but you get that acid taste in the throat
. Anyway ended up at just over 20 miles at 7:39 avg, steady varied between 7:05 and 7:21 so very happy indeed.
Looking good for race day Barry, do you have an idea of what time you are going to go for?
Also did final long run yesterday with 7m @8.03 7m @7.17 7m @6.57 1m cd for 22m total, pretty tired in the last mile but fairly comfortable overall. So need to work out a pace to set off at, final time to shoot for as have no idea
Final long one for me this morning as well. Struggled more than I have on any of my previous long ones and knees have been screaming all week, probably from many weeks of longer than ususal mileage - so probably time to start to taper ! 22M out and back along windy coast road at average of ~7.10/mile so fairly pleased, but was harder work than it should have been. Was wearing more clothes than I should have done and didn't drink at all. That along with a large consumption of chocolate on the way round left me feeling like Barry's first mile for my last few miles
.
RW schedule has an 18 miler next weekend, but am beginning to doubt the wisdom of that - what do others think about running this far only two weeks out from race day?
SR - a couple of days rest and some professional attention will probably work wonders and you'll benefit from the rest - you've certainly had a strong and solid preparation - all is not lost by any means
Barry - great session - looking good for race day !
Me Meep - you must be encouraged with today's session - set your sights high !
Martin - surprised that you've opted to start at 6:40 given the quality of your sessions - thought you were going for 6:30s?
SR3 – well done on the 21 miles. Once rested and tapered, you will find you will have that extra energy to push on in the marathon.
Shadowed – sorry to hear the bad news, we have all been there. As Martin suggests, go and see a pyhsio as soon as possible. You still have 3 weeks, which is bags of time.
Martin – good call not to run at MP. As you say don’t be too hard on yourself. Hope the 10K trail went well.
Barry – well done on the speedy 20 miler, especially given how the first mile went. Another good confidence booster before Abo.
Meep - pretty impressive run.
DM – very good run in the conditions. Personally I am doing 15 miles slow next week, so I do not think 18 miles is a problem, although I certainly would not do it faster than MP+10%.
Completed my longest run of the campaign. The programme suggested it should be 60secs slower than MP so that is what did. 21.6 miles in 3hours 7mins (av8.40). Now taper time
Today I had a planned 10k trail race but I decided to upgrade to the half, weather was brutal high winds and driving rain and there was a long section across a beach with soft sand but I promised myself I was out to enjoy it and I did in a perverse kind of way. Finished 6th overall in a time of 1:30:28 which is about 12 minutes slower than usual but time doesn't come into these kind of races.
I also have a 10k planned for the Sunday before abo which I'll be nicely tapered down for so that is going to give me a massive indication of where I am.
Really looking forward to this taper I'm going to enjoy stepping the mileage down a bit I've hit over 90 this week but feel a bit overtrained but that was a necessity having the two weeks out 80% next week 50% the week after and not a great deal final week.
AC - thanks. Excellent run from you today as well, just the right time to get a good longest run under your belt to boost confdence
Martin - I would imagine a lot of how you are feeling and the slowing of your long runs is down to your impressive high mileage, which you've done consistently during the last few months (apart from the hols break). You'll probably feel the benefit of your taper even more than the rest of us and be raring to konck out the 6:30s in 3 weeks time
Just looked at the race web site and there's an update :
Unfortunately there has been a problem with the first batches of race packs sent out this week. It seems that the envelopes are thicker than allowed for second class postage (due to the different timing chips we are using this year) and as a result the packs have been stopped by the Royal Mail.
Royal Mail has been contacted today and payment of the excess postage has been made. The packs should be released early next week. This affects entrants numbers 1 to 600. Hopefully this won’t be the case but it is possible inevitable that some people may be asked to pay excess postage and even a £1.00 admin fee by the post office. If this happens please email the Entries Secretary via the contact form and you will be reimbursed.
So we should be getting our packs in the next few days ! Getting excited now !
A bunch of excellent last long runs going on today
17.5 @ average mp+40s for me. The only way I could force myself to do this today was to get Mrs C to drop me off at Effingham with no phone, money or credit card and run my way back to Ascot. I did not find a single mile of it easy. Probably because it was the end of my highest mileage week (52)run straight after the 75 mile bike ride last Saturday.
Resting now, but taper includes Windsor and Henley Halfs - it's a tried and trusted regime which seems to suit me
Shadowed Runner - I would echo the advice to get yourself to a physio if you get the chance. A few years ago I picked up a foot injury during my last long run and basically was hobbling for a few days and in serious doubt about the impending marathon. I manage to get to physio and was sorted out in and back running within a couple of days.
Sounds like most other were enjoying get their last last long run done, special mention for Barry B for nearly puking but pushing on.
I was no exception and did 21 miles with 3 at MP. My legs felt a bit heavy as I did a 5k parkrun the day before - managed to PB by 14s so happy with result. I think the weekly total was 67 miles so looking forward to cutting back a bit now. After the run I spent the afternoon watching a recording of the Berlin marathon - bit of a weird sprint finish!
Dart-More - I will doing 16 miles next week, probably with 2x2miles at MP. The rest of miles will be failry easy. I will do a 10 miler this week with 5 at MP and most of the rest of the week will be failry pretty gentle I think.
Meep - Good long run from you, still undecided about race pace, up to about 3 weeks ago it was 7:40's but running has been going well since change of plan, always wanted sub 3:15 not sure if i'm in that shape but nothing ventured.
Dart - Good pace on your long one, is chocolate your normal choice of refueling? I'm running/racing a HM next weekend.
AC - Nice time on feet run, have you decided on 7:40 as your planned pace?
Tick Tock - Congrats on the PB what time did you get? I watched Berlin live and it looked good for an exciting finish but it was like the second place guy did n't want to go for it.
Chillies - I like the tactic for the long run. Re the HM's whatever works for you is the best plan.
Martin - Well raced and impressive weekly mileage, just don't over do it.
Thanks everyone for advice. I'm unable to get a physio (£), but I do see a sports massage therapist so I'll ask on Weds when I see for a professional opinion. I'm resting, but Goodness it's frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sure it'll heal in time, but I need to reorganise race plans I think to accommodate slight liss of fitness. Well done everyone on last long runs yesterday. (I am jealous!))
Did my half (Bristol) in the run up to Abo and felt pretty good taking it easy (7.15 approx) until 9 miles and then gradually ratcheting up the pace (under 7.10 pace) for the last 4 miles and felt comfortable, but just outside my goal (1:35) with 1:35:52 (but race the last mile hard at 6.50 pace to get under 1:36 - which felt good)
Martin - I echo the similar comments on here. Once you drop down from your 90 mile weeks, I am sure you will regain your full speed, and you will be wondering why you were doubting yourself.
TT - well done on the 5K PB.
Barry - yes, decided on my Abo pace. Going on the side of caution, it will certainly be av7.40 for the first half. Hopefully this should feel comfortable and leave something in the tank for the second half. I am certainly not in sub 3.15 shape this time round, so it is best to be realistic.
Stevan - sounds a well controlled race. Must have been pleasing passing people in the last 4 miles. What is your target for Abo?
Would love to push under 3.20 for Abo but trying to set a realistic pace rather than working back from the time I want to set the pace.
Good running folks, looking forward to the day.
SJ - my planned pace is 7.45 for first half and then grit teeth and hope for the best! If I do Windsor in anything under 1:38 I'll feel a bit more confident.
Life is getting in the way. I am posting so late because Mrs C has just got home from 4 hours in A & E at Epsom Hospital waiting for her mum to be admitted. They discharged her on Saturday, for some reason, despite the fact that she is bonkers, can't stand up, has dangerously low sodium levels, and lives alone. Anyway, best try to get 5 hours kip!