Overdone it?

alehouse

Great report, Skinny! And well done in lots of respects! No foot issues I note and barely a mention of the knee in the end! I hope that you have done enough to get into London!

I think you are quite right in trying to become more resilient to injury: I'm 70 next and over the last few years I have done at least one, but more often two or three, Pilates sessions a week. Wish I had started a decade or more ago!

Will be interesting to see how you go!

And well done in Boston, DT: look forward to the report! See you on the Middle Ground thread (and everyone, not least you Skinny, is more than welcome to join the four or five of us who are left!

muddyfunster

I'm just about still here and still running, but not especially competitively and not with any exciting training to report upon either. Great result in Boston DT and great running in Manchester and elsewhere Skinny - with those times you're an immensely competitive v50 ! Stick at it. Like you I'd decided I might be able to get my act together by the time I turn 55, but there are still surprises and victories to be had (see below).
 
I hadn't posted much as my running got derailed again by injury [frozen shoulder],  work stuff and covid (again). Averaged about 14 miles a week from mid September last year as my sleep has been  absolutely ruined by the frozen shoulder pain. Energy levels were destroyed and the last thing I felt like doing after a long commute was a run in the dark with a dodgy shoulder. So just scraps of running over that period. 

Nevertheless I was out for a meal one Friday night in November and buoyed by half a bottle of wine I entered a 10k on the following Sunday. On Saturday morning tinged with regret and hangxiety I tried to consider what I could reasonably expect of myself under race conditions so popped to the local parkrun and stuck on the 20 min pacer vest to see what that felt like over 5k. I finished in 20.04 and the last mile felt far tougher than I’d have liked, so I set myself a goal of 42 mins for the 10k. Next day I was all bouncy and just about hangover free and surprised myself by cruising through the halfway mark in 20 mins but knew the course was downhill to halfway and uphill to the finish, so started to progress my effort from halfway and trying to keep an eye on my watch to ensure I was on target. Of course hadn't accounted for GPS error so managed to dribble across the line in just a few seconds over 40 mins.


I had a bit better time of it through the last couple of months as the shoulder repaired itself and sleep improved. Managed around 20-25 miles per week typically (mostly just jogging and a handful of parkruns) and did a similar impromptu 10k over a very similar course to the previous one. Only this time the wind was really blowing (and so, readers, was I, with a sub 40 goal in mind). Horrendous race really, not even the first 5k was easy, and then the final 5k uphill into the wind had me questioning life choices and racing without proper training. But people ahead of me were coming towards me so I knew I wasn't the only one suffering despite a significant 30s per mile slow down. Crossed the line to finish in 38.54 and first v50, for which I received a positively princely £30 running shop voucher.

So, time for some new racing shorts as my inner elastic has gone on the old ones. Metaphor intended.

 

DT19

Skinny, this is great and a touch emotional. It reminds me if the last episode of only fools snd horses in that respect.  I suspected you'd gone away to go about your business and get across the line at Manchester. I'd expect you to get a gfa from that. 

As muddy says though, this doesn't need to be the end. You've survived a mara cycle and the race with normal aches and pains.

And if I can draw you in further, go to the England athletics masters site and look at the 2024 selection races, particularly the current participants list for the Manchester mara in 4.5 weeks. Don't see that changing significantly in next 4 weeks, and you've got a free hit currently.  

2.46.18 for me here. I won't say too much now as I'll do a full report however I could tell in Mile 1 and how my body felt that it wasn't going to be the ride I wanted. I was fighting to hit pace as opposed fighting to rein it in. Went to some dark places particularly in first half, but then the way the 2nd half is broken down it seemed more manageable. Somehow got to 22m on plan, I just couldn't execute from there. Didnt help that coming off Newton all the way in it poured down as it did 10 mins before start and incrementally throughout. 

I take comfort from fact kipchoge was 8 mins off his Berlin time whilst I was 100s. I doubt he's sat at home now questioning his fitness.