I try to do core 3 times a week, but often rushed and think with the high mileage ahead will need to make sure is kept up with. Reckon your friend is right although i know a lot of the marathoners from back in the day never did any.
Have you got a target for BM? Am aiming for sub 1.30 by March (need to find another hm to enter) but thinking in 1.32/3 shape at the moment.
I did my medium long run tonight, 5 miles by myself (with a stylish headtorch for the dark bits) and the rest with my club. Had misremembered the book and was aiming for 13 rather than 14 miles, and ended up with 13.25 miles. Some of the club run was a bit faster than I'd have planned to train (closer to marathon pace) but I did the first five sensibly slowly and have my recovery run tomorrow, so I don't think it matters too much. For some reason all the blokes in the club seem to think they should run as fast as they can all the time...
Oh, and re. core work I do about 20 minutes every morning when I get up before anything else (she said, smugly). Have to say I wouldn't if I had to get up at 5.30 though!
Literatin you are probably young .malted/chocolate/milky evening drinks are for the over 50s only
Great run well done , thats exactly the reason I stayed away from club tonight, I ran with my club on Saturday which was meant to be 9mm we ended up doing 12 @8.20s my marathon pace marathon pace is ok sometimes but not too often !!
NN - yeah it was a full IM I did it in Austria it was brilliant, the only downside to it was racing in the middle of summer, it was absolutely boiling, it took me just under 12 hrs overall.
ill probably go back to triathlon training again after London because I feel like i can go quicker next time.
I bet your son will end up doing the same thing eventually if he's moving up to middle distance this year!
Mark - I'm hoping to break 1.25 at York, it's a pretty fast course if its not too windy. I was thinking of another around March time so you'll have to let me know if you find anything in the North East.
Bit late to the party here but have qualified for VLM by running sub 3:15 (3:13:38) @ last year's innagural Milton Keynes marathon (I'm 48) After some post race discussion on another thread on the forum I was recommended the P/D book which I subsequently bought and am now following the 55/70mpw schedule in an attempt to break (or at least get closer to) 3 hrs. Have followed the plan to date (14M ML run yesterday @ 7:40 pace which felt comfortably easy) so am hopeful that I'll reap the rewards come 21st April!
Good luck to all who are following the plan, I'll try & contribute regularly now I'm 'in the loop' so to speak!
You sound like me but one marathon behind. I also got around the 3.13 mark (and got a GFA place for VLM) last spring in Mancester. I then started following the 55-70 schedule and got a sub 3 in the autumn. The schedule is very good - although tiring. I seem to remember really struggling to stay awake after 9pm most evenings last summer! I was very disciplined though and did not miss a session - this is key to getting the most out of it.
Thanks for the post - yes, you sound as if you were exactly where I am now. On reflection I was not too dissapointed with my MK time TBH as, to put it mildly, the weather that day was simply horrendous the whole way round (gale force winds & driving rain) so had a significant impact on finishing times (I actually finished 108th out of over 2900 finishers and only 24 people broke 3 hrs on the day)
Like you I have followed the schedule to the letter so far (including all the pace times for the various sessions) and plan to going forwards (now coming to the end of Week 4)
Dave I agree 100% with 15west, also the key is to do the sessions in the correct order, on paper this week looked tough but everyone here seems have managed to hit required paces so it does work. Well done on the GFA
Mark1 that IM sounds double tough in that heat. I really have respect for those who train for tri of any distance, so much to think about , much more time consuming than just running !!
Nice easy day folks...5 mile recovery later for me
Pottermiss - I feel under pressure now! Hope the program works for us both. If nothing else, I'm finding it the most enjoyable marathon program I've followed - which I'm actually quite surprised about. I was very dubious about whether I would take to higher midweek mileage, but it hasn't been quite the culture shock I was expecting. How are you finding the structure of the plan?
I decided that this morning's thick fog would add some unnecessary risks to my trail and country road running in the dark, so instead ran my 10m GA on the treadmill. I started at 5:30am to be finished before breakfast.
NN - I have a treadmill in the garage. I bought it when my local gym went bust and closed suddenly. At the time, I wasn't keen on running outside, and other gyms had strict policies on treadmill running (maximum 15 minutes in one!) and/or opened too late. I've run nearly 4000 miles on it
Late check in and wow there's a lot to read. Lieu day off work for me today so had cup of tea in bed before heading out for a 10 miler GA, didn't really look at the Garmin on the way round but almost all of the miles were at about 8.15, my MP, just felt easy!
Hi to Markf and Dave P. So evening drinks, NN I should be on the chocolate as well like you and NP, but had a cider, much healthier than Literatin's wine 15w good core work, marathons and trainers are addictive it seems! NP I think we are both old and wise enough to know how to keep an OH happy, and that we are only there to provide shopping funds! Surrey that was a quick 14 miler, but sometimes it just feels good. 10 that is a good treadmill session. I have a treadmill in my garage as well but do find it hard on the mind to go more than an hour, mind you most episodes of The Wire are only 56 minutes so that governs my treadmill strategy at the moment!
Good to see some more thoughts on the P&D schedule from people that have followed it previously and it reaffirms that it works if you stick to it as close as you can.
I have also done my 10 miles GA this morning before work, only 8 hours after my 5 miles recovery . However, it felt very comfortable and I was happily in the desired HR range. Trouble is ..... I'm now starving.
Markf where outside Hull you live? I was born and grew up in Hull but spent most of my life living and working in Northern Ireland onlt 6 months and I retire from the Fire Service.
Dave well done on the GFA are you on the Red Start? and welcome good luck with the Sub 3 P&D will get you there or there abouts.
Ten well done on the 10 miles on the dreadmill I have done a few 20+ mile runs on the one at work when I have been on duty over a weekend not easy....
I started the 18week 55mi plan on Xmas day (for Manchester Marathon) so I'm a week behind you VLMers. Regarding the runs at a specific pace (marathon or half mara pace) do you stick the paced miles at the end of the run or in the middle?
Hello AgentGinger - For the long runs with part at MP I tend to have the MP paced runs in second half of run - but usually leave about a mile to jog and cool down a bit. For the tempo runs you want 3 or 4 miles slow running, then the tempo bit, then a few miles after.
AG, for the paced runs I've been doing the 'middle' portion of the run @ the prescribed pace with an appropriate warm up & cool down eother side of it (I think it in the book somewhere)
ie for the last MP pace run (17M with 8M @ MP), I ran a 5M 'warm up' (7:30ish), then the 8M in 54mins (6:45 pace) followed by the last 4M @ 7:45ish. Similary for last weeks LT session (9M with 4M @ LT pace) I ran a 3M WU followed by 4M in 24:50 then a 2M cool down (my target is a Sub 3 marathon)
I do MRP miles at end then cool down for half a mile. I am shattered today, kids been playing hell with my sleeping. So, enforced day of rest, am missing recovery run so not too bad. Throat feels bit sore too. Did 12 miles with big couple hills in middle (900ft of climb in 4 miles) last night with couple of people from club. Kept it easy 9:35m/m with steady climb up hills and didn't push pace at all going downhill, just so heart rate was recovering as an easy run it was meant to be! I will find it very hard to stick to plan to the letter, I was not expecting to anyway. Will do as much as I can though.
AgentGinger I am doing Manchester too. I started plan early as was going to do Brighton, so I did 3 weeks of P&D, then have jumped back to week 16, so, we are probably on same week of plan?
cheers guys. I remembered that the book suggests tacking it onto the end of the run, i.e. building up to the MP or HMP gradually, as Tenjiso points out, but I've been leaving a mile or so for a cool down at the end, back at a comfortable pace, rather than stopping dead. Was just curious about how you chaps were handling it.
HeOw, yep, we should be on the same week. Are you doing the "up to 55mpw" plan too, or a higher mileage plan?
This week i've done 10mi GA, 4mi recovery (actually 5mi recovery as that's the distance from home to work), and tonight is 8mi with 4mi @ half mara pace.
Bloody hell, 15West, just watched that video and there is no way I'd be doing more than about 5 of those V-sits without over-balancing and toppling over! How did you do?
Just did 13 miles with 8 at Target MP. (in the second week of the sub 55 plan, MK is on may 6). Again, like some of you above, I have a cool down at the end rather than sticking to the letter of P+D. But boy, miles 7 and 8 of MP were hard. How tough do you people find this? I could do the workout, but not with much margin. Is it perhaps a sign I'm aiming too high, or should it be quite tough?
Does anyone think it makes a big difference whether you do the MP section in the middle rather than at the end of the total distance?
The reason for asking is that my normal route for 10m+ runs has a fairly lumpy first two miles from my house - more downhill on the way out, but uphill on the way home. After those two miles, is pretty flat - so the 16m with 10m @ MP on Sunday, I intended to do 3 miles warm up & cool down with the marathon segment in the middle. I hadn't twigged that the advice was to put the MP section at the end (need to re-read the book!)
Comments
Hi Mark, x-post.
I try to do core 3 times a week, but often rushed and think with the high mileage ahead will need to make sure is kept up with. Reckon your friend is right although i know a lot of the marathoners from back in the day never did any.
Have you got a target for BM? Am aiming for sub 1.30 by March (need to find another hm to enter) but thinking in 1.32/3 shape at the moment.
Oops, I'm having wine. Must be doing it wrong.
I did my medium long run tonight, 5 miles by myself (with a stylish headtorch for the dark bits) and the rest with my club. Had misremembered the book and was aiming for 13 rather than 14 miles, and ended up with 13.25 miles. Some of the club run was a bit faster than I'd have planned to train (closer to marathon pace) but I did the first five sensibly slowly and have my recovery run tomorrow, so I don't think it matters too much. For some reason all the blokes in the club seem to think they should run as fast as they can all the time...
Oh, and re. core work I do about 20 minutes every morning when I get up before anything else (she said, smugly). Have to say I wouldn't if I had to get up at 5.30 though!
I eat a lot though.
Literatin you are probably young .malted/chocolate/milky evening drinks are for the over 50s only
Great run well done , thats exactly the reason I stayed away from club tonight, I ran with my club on Saturday which was meant to be 9mm we ended up doing 12 @8.20s my marathon pace marathon pace is ok sometimes but not too often !!
ill probably go back to triathlon training again after London because I feel like i can go quicker next time.
I bet your son will end up doing the same thing eventually if he's moving up to middle distance this year!
Mark - I'm hoping to break 1.25 at York, it's a pretty fast course if its not too windy. I was thinking of another around March time so you'll have to let me know if you find anything in the North East.
Morning all - got up a little earlier to do some core work!
Going to attempt to follow this...
http://vimeo.com/9807775
Hi All
Bit late to the party here but have qualified for VLM by running sub 3:15 (3:13:38) @ last year's innagural Milton Keynes marathon (I'm 48) After some post race discussion on another thread on the forum I was recommended the P/D book which I subsequently bought and am now following the 55/70mpw schedule in an attempt to break (or at least get closer to) 3 hrs. Have followed the plan to date (14M ML run yesterday @ 7:40 pace which felt comfortably easy) so am hopeful that I'll reap the rewards come 21st April!
Good luck to all who are following the plan, I'll try & contribute regularly now I'm 'in the loop' so to speak!
Cheers
Dave
Hello Dave,
You sound like me but one marathon behind. I also got around the 3.13 mark (and got a GFA place for VLM) last spring in Mancester. I then started following the 55-70 schedule and got a sub 3 in the autumn. The schedule is very good - although tiring. I seem to remember really struggling to stay awake after 9pm most evenings last summer! I was very disciplined though and did not miss a session - this is key to getting the most out of it.
Hi 15West
Thanks for the post - yes, you sound as if you were exactly where I am now. On reflection I was not too dissapointed with my MK time TBH as, to put it mildly, the weather that day was simply horrendous the whole way round (gale force winds & driving rain) so had a significant impact on finishing times (I actually finished 108th out of over 2900 finishers and only 24 people broke 3 hrs on the day)
Like you I have followed the schedule to the letter so far (including all the pace times for the various sessions) and plan to going forwards (now coming to the end of Week 4)
Dave I agree 100% with 15west, also the key is to do the sessions in the correct order, on paper this week looked tough but everyone here seems have managed to hit required paces so it does work. Well done on the GFA
Mark1 that IM sounds double tough in that heat. I really have respect for those who train for tri of any distance, so much to think about , much more time consuming than just running !!
Nice easy day folks...5 mile recovery later for me
Pottermiss - I feel under pressure now! Hope the program works for us both. If nothing else, I'm finding it the most enjoyable marathon program I've followed - which I'm actually quite surprised about. I was very dubious about whether I would take to higher midweek mileage, but it hasn't been quite the culture shock I was expecting. How are you finding the structure of the plan?
I decided that this morning's thick fog would add some unnecessary risks to my trail and country road running in the dark, so instead ran my 10m GA on the treadmill. I started at 5:30am to be finished before breakfast.
Ten thats amazing 10 miles on the dreadmill !! and at that time of the day I guess you have your own ? not any gyms are open that early .
NN - I have a treadmill in the garage. I bought it when my local gym went bust and closed suddenly. At the time, I wasn't keen on running outside, and other gyms had strict policies on treadmill running (maximum 15 minutes in one!) and/or opened too late. I've run nearly 4000 miles on it
Late check in and wow there's a lot to read. Lieu day off work for me today so had cup of tea in bed before heading out for a 10 miler GA, didn't really look at the Garmin on the way round but almost all of the miles were at about 8.15, my MP, just felt easy!
Hi to Markf and Dave P. So evening drinks, NN I should be on the chocolate as well like you and NP, but had a cider, much healthier than Literatin's wine 15w good core work, marathons and trainers are addictive it seems! NP I think we are both old and wise enough to know how to keep an OH happy, and that we are only there to provide shopping funds! Surrey that was a quick 14 miler, but sometimes it just feels good. 10 that is a good treadmill session. I have a treadmill in my garage as well but do find it hard on the mind to go more than an hour, mind you most episodes of The Wire are only 56 minutes so that governs my treadmill strategy at the moment!
Good to see some more thoughts on the P&D schedule from people that have followed it previously and it reaffirms that it works if you stick to it as close as you can.
Afternoon
I have also done my 10 miles GA this morning before work, only 8 hours after my 5 miles recovery . However, it felt very comfortable and I was happily in the desired HR range. Trouble is ..... I'm now starving.
Hello to all the new joiners too.
"Cor!" is an apt description! I'm going to follow it too
I won't both doing the exercises though.
Can't keep up with the forums at the moment lol.
Markf where outside Hull you live? I was born and grew up in Hull but spent most of my life living and working in Northern Ireland onlt 6 months and I retire from the Fire Service.
Dave well done on the GFA are you on the Red Start? and welcome good luck with the Sub 3 P&D will get you there or there abouts.
Ten well done on the 10 miles on the dreadmill I have done a few 20+ mile runs on the one at work when I have been on duty over a weekend not easy....
Fiona J well done on your run.
First of two 7 mile runs done this morning.
I started the 18week 55mi plan on Xmas day (for Manchester Marathon) so I'm a week behind you VLMers. Regarding the runs at a specific pace (marathon or half mara pace) do you stick the paced miles at the end of the run or in the middle?
Hello AgentGinger - For the long runs with part at MP I tend to have the MP paced runs in second half of run - but usually leave about a mile to jog and cool down a bit. For the tempo runs you want 3 or 4 miles slow running, then the tempo bit, then a few miles after.
Thanks to all for the welcome - nice to be here!
AG, for the paced runs I've been doing the 'middle' portion of the run @ the prescribed pace with an appropriate warm up & cool down eother side of it (I think it in the book somewhere)
ie for the last MP pace run (17M with 8M @ MP), I ran a 5M 'warm up' (7:30ish), then the 8M in 54mins (6:45 pace) followed by the last 4M @ 7:45ish. Similary for last weeks LT session (9M with 4M @ LT pace) I ran a 3M WU followed by 4M in 24:50 then a 2M cool down (my target is a Sub 3 marathon)
Hope this helps
AgentGinger - see page 140 of Advanced marathoning 2nd Ed.
"If the schedule calls for 16m with 12m @ MP, gradually pick up pace during first 4m and then run the last 12m at marathon goal pace"
I do MRP miles at end then cool down for half a mile. I am shattered today, kids been playing hell with my sleeping. So, enforced day of rest, am missing recovery run so not too bad. Throat feels bit sore too. Did 12 miles with big couple hills in middle (900ft of climb in 4 miles) last night with couple of people from club. Kept it easy 9:35m/m with steady climb up hills and didn't push pace at all going downhill, just so heart rate was recovering as an easy run it was meant to be! I will find it very hard to stick to plan to the letter, I was not expecting to anyway. Will do as much as I can though.
AgentGinger I am doing Manchester too. I started plan early as was going to do Brighton, so I did 3 weeks of P&D, then have jumped back to week 16, so, we are probably on same week of plan?
cheers guys. I remembered that the book suggests tacking it onto the end of the run, i.e. building up to the MP or HMP gradually, as Tenjiso points out, but I've been leaving a mile or so for a cool down at the end, back at a comfortable pace, rather than stopping dead. Was just curious about how you chaps were handling it.
HeOw, yep, we should be on the same week. Are you doing the "up to 55mpw" plan too, or a higher mileage plan?
This week i've done 10mi GA, 4mi recovery (actually 5mi recovery as that's the distance from home to work), and tonight is 8mi with 4mi @ half mara pace.
Bloody hell, 15West, just watched that video and there is no way I'd be doing more than about 5 of those V-sits without over-balancing and toppling over! How did you do?
Just did 13 miles with 8 at Target MP. (in the second week of the sub 55 plan, MK is on may 6). Again, like some of you above, I have a cool down at the end rather than sticking to the letter of P+D. But boy, miles 7 and 8 of MP were hard. How tough do you people find this? I could do the workout, but not with much margin. Is it perhaps a sign I'm aiming too high, or should it be quite tough?
Does anyone think it makes a big difference whether you do the MP section in the middle rather than at the end of the total distance?
The reason for asking is that my normal route for 10m+ runs has a fairly lumpy first two miles from my house - more downhill on the way out, but uphill on the way home. After those two miles, is pretty flat - so the 16m with 10m @ MP on Sunday, I intended to do 3 miles warm up & cool down with the marathon segment in the middle. I hadn't twigged that the advice was to put the MP section at the end (need to re-read the book!)
PS Great to see some new joiners to the thread, this seems to be one of the most popular ones on the forum at the moment