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Fat to Fit - Time for change? Me, too!
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Had a recovery run last night - 6.8m nice and easy. Back not too bad.
I think I have worked out the source of the pain - Fixing a fence panel with my step dad. We had to lift the panel up over the posts and slide it in the gulleys. Of course, it needed to fit snugly - well it fit a little too snugly and we had to throw straps over the top and pull down on it, the panel moving an inch at a time per side, for about 5 feet. Obviously strained some muscles I've never used before!
Another 5 easy miles tonight. Hopefully everything will be fine for a good crack at the Fleet half this weekend!
Lol gaz sounds you're having fun & why the heck not!!
matty glad the back is better & good luck for the half at the weekend!
wk6d2 done this am, not too bad still struggling a bit on my 2nd hill but the time was down a minute so chuffed & I can't believe I've made it this far!
Still running with mum too & I did 25mins in the town myself on Sunday which wasn't easy but easier than my route. Also I've signed up for Race For Life 10k in June, nuts!!!! I plan to do some park runs before then once I can run the full 5k
Well done Pegasus, the hills will get easier eventually! Congrats on signing up for RFL too, the parkruns will be a good warmup for it
Another run at easy pace yesterday, almost 6 miles.
I've lost a bit of motivation for the training. Probably due to the fleet half being on sunday. So I'm treating this week like a mini taper. Meant to be doing a Steady paced run tonight but am going to do it as Easy pace instead, save myself for Sunday.
Long time no post! Where is everyone? Hope everyone has been busy training
I ditched thursdays run. My legs weren't up for it. But it was the best move I ever made. They felt fantastic after a 2 day rest!
1lb weight loss logged on friday
Saturday paced Mrs Matty to a sub 32 parkrun PB which stretched the legs nicely.
Then came sunday. Fleet half. Was intended to be the middle part of a 20m long run. I arrived in Fleet, did a 2 mile warm up run then headed to the runners village. Here follows my review of the event.
What a wonderful day. The weather was glorious, though a couple of degrees lower would have made it a bit more bearable.
The runners village was well set up, with refreshments, stalls, and most importantly an amazingly well organised bag drop and collection!
Goody bag was excellent too. Sports drink, raisins, chocolate biscuit, cereal bar, sweets - all the things you need after a race. The medal though was a bit disappointing. It was really small. Nicely crafted and good weight/quality and the design is good but would benefit from being bigger.
The course is fabulous. Mildly undulating, there are a few "slopes", mainly to go over roads and railways. Nothing too taxing though. The course is designed to run through the town centre 3 times and the support there was MAGNIFICENT. The town came out in full force it seemed.
When out of the town centre it was more sparsely populated, but thats to be expected, though there were still people all over the place and plenty of kids on jelly baby duty.
There were some great spectator hotspots (Pubs!) which looked to have opened early and also had a great presence at key parts of the course. However, the slope at about 12.5m was horrible!! But thats personal as I was shattered
One of the best events I've ever done. I smashed my PB by 11 minutes (Set in Cardiff in October). Difficult to work out how much of that is attributed to the course though as I trained much harder for this (In prep for the Paris marathon) and have lost a lot of weight, but definitely quick enough.
Highly recommend this race.
Yep - an 11 minute PB! 1h48m35s and I was delighted!
Hi everyone! Oh wow matty that's a huge chunk off your time, well done on the run & the PB
Had a great run on Saturday managed to run up both hills without walking just slowed the pace right down & ran further than ever so was chuffed! Starting week7 tomorrow, lost 1lb this week & I stopped smoking!!! Not expecting to lose this week but that's ok as its better to have quit the fags......chuffed
Well done Pegasus, improvement on multiple fronts!
Excellent job Matty, a well deserved result! Fleet is one of my favourites too, ran it in 2007 and 2011.
My training has been going well (apart from six days with no running whilst on a romantic break with Mrs. SB last week) and I've got my first half for three years on Sunday. It's The Water of Life Half in Marlow and then I've entered The Paddock Wood Half a week later! Could be a busy fortnight ahead!
Happy running everyone.
Pegasus - Many congrats! I've been off the fags for just over 2 years now, best decision I ever made!
Stevie - Back to back halves, I quite fancy doing that myself! I assume only one of them will be "raced" or are you going for consecutively quicker times?
I think "raced" could be pushing it slighty! Sunday will be a real "suck it and see" run, no particular time target, just to finish and see how it feels. I'm running with a mate of mine so going to treat it like a sociable long training run. I'll then take a view on Paddock Wood and decide on if I want to set any particular targets. I've actually got another three halves booked in for 2014 so I suppose I would love to get near (sub!) 2 hours before the end of the year. We'll see how it goes!
You are a runner entering a race! You are a running racer
Well I'm tapering now, so I've been ramping down the milage while training to maintain some intensity.
Tue: 5.3m @ 11.20m/m - Ran with the missus who is just starting out and was just the right pace for my legs to recover after fleet
Wed: 6.3m @ 8.41m/m - Steady state run to get the legs moving a bit - I was quite pleased to maintain the pace I did given sundays exertions. Made me feel really confident for Paris.
Thu: 6.07m @ 9.58m/m - This was a series of hill repeats with a mile or so either side of 6 reps of the biggest steepest local hills. Again, pleased to have come out unscathed
Fri: 5.7m @ 10.11m/m - This was meant to be on Saturday morning, but we have a family wedding in Basingstoke this weekend. So I moved it to today which meant a 6am start! (Not my best time of the day) but was another nice recovery run.
10 mile LSR scheduled for Sunday, then next week gets even easier. Hopefully my legs will be fully charged for the 6th April!
Well, following a weekend of overindulgence, I skipped the 10m LSR on sunday. I had a hangover and a horrible headcold so I elected to do it yesterday, still with a bit of a headcold, but better (And a bit better yet today). I have to say I found it much easier than I expected to! About 10m/m which was quite pleasing.
This second taper week sees my distance slowly drop until next week my plan looks positively barren!
Tonight: 40mins intervals (5 x 2m30 @ 7m/m, with 2m30 recoveries)
Tomorrow: 40mins easy
Thursday: 30mins Tempo
Saturday: 20mins Easy
Sunday 13.1m Easy - Yeovil Half Marathon, though I am not racing it, just completing it at slower than long run pace.
Tuesday: 30mins Easy
Wednesday: 30mins Easy
Friday: 20mins Easy
Then its the marathon! I'm only 8 runs away from a marathon! Eeek!
Bang on with my intervals last night. Right in the right pace zone (A couple were a bit quicker!) recoveries felt good. Just the right distance for a taper session I think.
Looking forward to the recovery run with the missus tonight
Way to go Matty! Can't believe your marathon is nearly here, what date is it??
Stevie, how did the half go?
put on 2lbs last week & kinda lost my mojo a bit but two weeks off the fags now, chuffed
Back running this week with renewed enthusiasm & just done wk7d2 so nearly at the end of c25k. I'm not going to manage the 30min 5k in another week but I don't care so long as I can run the whole way!
Next thing is training for the 10k, any good plans out there to progress to??
Sunday 5th April
Tremendous Pegasus! 2 weeks fag free is excellent! 30 minutes for 5k is quite ambitious anyway for a beginner I think. It's a guide more than anything and a couple of minutes over is still a huge achievement! The key is the distance is getting nailed
Look for "Bridge to 10k" - These programs are designed specifically for "Graduates" of C25K. Though it might be worth spending a couple of weeks just consolidating what you already have! 2 weeks of 5k running without walk breaks will do your confidence WONDERS for the next stage and make it it that bit easier. Get down to parkrun and set yourself a time to beat!
Oh wow just over a week then, are you excited or bricking it?! I think you'll do great & I take my hat off to you, shall look forward to the report on it
Thanks for that, really sound advice & I shall get a few weeks of doing 5k under my belt & if I'm brave enough try a park run! Will def get a kick out of just running without the app in my lughole lol! Then progress to the 10k plan, off to google it now
I am actually excited now! I'm excited to get it over with at least, its dominated my life for 4 months so it will be nice to have some free time back. Planning the next few months to run much shorter distances, but quicker to try and build some speed and work up to another targetted half in the autumn, probably Bristol to try and shoot for Sub 1h40.
Because I'm doing shorter distances I can do them at lunch times which means when I get home I can spend time with the missus who I think has been feeling like a marathon widow!!
Brilliant it will be a huge achievement for you, it must be really hard committing to the training for a marathon for sure! I bet it'll be lovely to chill for a bit afterwards & spend time with your other half. I'm lucky that I work from home so run during the day when kids at school & hubby working, except a weekend when stuff is planned taking my run into account lol!
If you are planning your weekend around your runs you can consider yourself a fully fledged runner in my view!!
I'll take your word for it Matty!
3lbs off this week so that's a relief, the 2 off that I put on plus 1, 1stone 1lb since started running yay! Running tomorrow & looking forward to it, I'm just going to head out & see how far I get
Cracking weight loss result Pegasus! And I bet it feels good to look forward to running! And I like the "See how far I get" aproach. Running just for the sake of running is awesome!
I hadn't weighed in for 2 weeks. Its been a busy couple of weeks socially, so I was a bit scared. I wasn't going to weigh myself today, and do it next week instead as I thought I'd put on a bit. But changed my mind and I lost 1lb, which i am delighted with!
I'm now at my equal lowest recorded weight.
Things have plateaued a bit recently but I'm hoping a final push can get me at least 2 more pounds off before the marathon. And now I have some renewed motivation.
Next big target after the marathon is the Bupa London 10k in 8 weeks. My mission is to be at goal by then!
Running wise, I did a 30minute tempo run last night, and exceeded all my expectations. Averaged 7m36 a mile! Delighted! Mainly downhill admittedly but a great confidence booster for my post marathon "10k Season" (I've signed up to 5 so far over the summer!) and looking to set myself some solid PBs at 5k and 10k.
Some great work going on here guys! I did the Water of Life Half last weekend with my mate and jogged round in an easy 2:19 but did the Paddock Wood Half on my own today and baggaged myself a PB of 1:53, very chuffed!
Well done Stevie, thats a blinding time! Well done.
My weekend runs were an easy 30 minutes on saturday morning and then the Yeovil Half yesterday. Much like Stevie I just jogged round with a couple of mates who were in rabbit onesies. And it was a hot day, bless them. But I got them through it. I crossed the line in 2h22m00s ahead of them to capture the finish line snaps of them.
3 x 30 minute jogs left between me and the marathon.
Great runs everyone!! aaaaargh I'd be biting my nails by now Matty lol!
Weekend went off piste for one thing or another but I did my first 5k run today!! In 36.53mins, on my hilly route & had to double up some of it to get the distance in. Not an astounding time but really chuffed & I know I can knock time off that esp on a flatter route. So I'll be running 5k now on different routes aiming to improve times for a few weeks & then look to upping the distance
Can I call myself a runner now Lol?!!
I'm surprisingly calm at the moment. Just going through the packing process, making sure everything is printed and in order, making sure I have everything i actually may want or need. I'm feeling quite confident today. But then tomorrow I'll probably feel like I won't acheive my goal! This is the Taper Madness they often refer to!
Brilliant work on hitting that 5k milestone and thats a fantastic first time! You definitely earn yourself the title "Real Runner"
Best of luck with the "big one!" Just incase you are not on again until after the event, I'm positive you'll do brilliantly after all the training........enjoy & let us know asap how it goes
Did another 5k today, slightly different route & a 33.05min time, chuffed with that! Think it's time to go do a Parkrun very soon
Thanks pegasus! My last little run before the big day is these evening, and easy 30 minute jog. Then thats it. Finito. Done.
Will put one last post up tomorrow I should think and lay out my goals and aspirations. Flying over on saturday morning. So excited!
parkrun this saturday, you won't regret it!!
I bet you are & I expect you can't believe its on Sunday either!!!
Off on a weeks hols on Saturday but taking running gear as I know there's good routes & there's also a Parkrun
..........yes I'm now officially a running nut!!
Good plan pegasus!
Right this is my last post. My next reply here will be as a marathoner! Have a good weekend running everyone
Have a brilliant time & enjoy your first marathon, looking forward to hearing all about it
I've not posted in 10 days - where have you all been? No slacking in my absence I hope!
I had the most amazing time. Not only did I beat my 4 hour target, which I was ECSTATIC with, but I proposed to my girlfriend at Disneyland. And she said yes
The first 18 miles I have to say I massively enjoyed! So much support it was unreal! Wearing a GB vest with my name on got me so much support throughout the course I couldn't believe it. I managed to largely stick to game plan. Around 9m/m and even had the audacity to catch up and slow down when I missed a split. I played a blinder those first 18. Garmin started going a bit screwy after the first 18 though and had to revert to pace band. There was a disco tunnel which was fantastic! And I have to say, the entertainment en route was just fabulous. I really enjoyed every pace of that first 18 miles. The missus was at every 6 miles giving me something to look forward to and these were perfect for me. Shame I didn't have her at 24 - more on that in a bit!
18 to 22 were obviously tougher but I managed to keep my pace there or thereabouts. Slowed up a bit. Water stops became tougher as people were falling by the wayside. It became tougher as I spent so much time weaving around people. Latched onto a fellow Brit for a few miles here too and we kept each other honest. Toward the 22 mile mark I started flagging. Mentally I was saying 'just one more mile at this pace and I'll let you finish with 9.30s...' And it seemed to work.
22-24 was utter carnage. Runners were falling by the wayside left right and centre. The last water stop was a standstill. I had to hydrate and fight through them and managed to clear through it OK, just.
24-finish was just a blur. I'd been responding to every cheer of 'Matty' for the whole race, but from this point I could barely raise a hand. Looking at my watch my pace had dropped. With half to go it was touch and go if I'd hit my target. When I passé the last sign I just gave it everything I had left. I crossed the finish line rocking the mobot and then stopped the watch. An unconfirmed sub 4 by about 40 seconds. It was enough I had decided that the chip time would be near enough to class it as 'goal achieved'.
Then I laughed. Then I cried. Then a mixture of both for the next 10 minutes as I made my way through the finish chute. I saw the missus who had been tracking me, along with my dad in the UK, with the app.
Final time of 3h59m12s. In the process I passed over 9000 people. I can't describe the elation I felt, it was like nothing I have ever experienced!
My marathon can be summed up in the video I made. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154032920210634
Had a week of no running, eating Junk and drinking booze. This is called "Marathon Recovery!". Back to the grindstone from today though. Have a stag do this weekend but other than that its getting my head down to hit my next weight target. Half a stone to take my sub 15 would be nice!
How is everyone? How have you gotten on?