Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Paris Marathon 2014
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Ace Simon!
Oh heck.......targets are being set.......
Well done Perks - you may have 10 minutes in your shed.
Perks, I targeted 3.25 in Paris2013 off a 1.33 half, and came in 3.23. The pb is well on (and some) if you execute properly on the day
great work today Peeps!
charlie4, welcome to the thread.
You are, absolutely, not new to all of this.
*I still crack up when people ask me how long my first mara' took.The answer is..nearly 52 years. It took me more than 47 years to get off the couch.*
So, you're on the right thread. There are whippets,sloggers and everyone in between...What's you dream/goal?
All I can say about today's 20 mile LSR is ouch! Glad to have that one over and done with. The chances of me moving from the couch the rest of today are minimal.
Charlie - I agree with Scott. If you want to introduce some speedwork include the sort of short bursts of speed that ne suggested.
Simon - Sell done on the PB.
Eggy with that 5k pb in the can and the good mileage you have been racking up in recent times, confidence must be returning ya?
Jimbob - I'll be good to get around, but I don't feel in the same condition I was in back in 2012 when I ran my PB. I was nursing the groin through the last four miles today. If anything that's when I start to feel it now, on long runs when I start to get a bit fatigued.
I've removed any time goals for Paris. My plan is to get in the best condition I can and run the best I can on the day. What time that'll be in anyone's guess, although the fact I've had a shedload of 4:0x times in my marathon running would say the betting odds are in that area.
That PB was a big confidence boost though. It's good to know that battling through the wind and rain this winter has been worth it.
1:48 for a hilly hm round here, like running in a wind tunnel at times! Pleased with that, all things considered. Pacing was all over the shop though, not ideal. Sights set on 2x 20 milers now, next Sunday and the week after.....
Welcome Charlie, 'on yer for getting up and going for it!
Hey Charlie! Great to see you back! (I've had a name change since we last saw you - I was Marathon Maus in a former life...). I hope all the stuff you were experiencing has calmed down.
For my first longer distance races - HM and Mara - I just focussed on getting around. I know how you feel about not wanting to be last. But I promise you won't be. I don't know about you, but I was really overwhelmed by the different types of training runs and it took a long time to understand why I needed to do them (who am I kidding? I still don't understand!). So my advice is - go easy on yourself, enjoy the achievement, enjoy the atmosphere of the race and then see where it takes you.
A full weekend of training for me - 25km LSR yesterday and 40km bike ride with TD today. Feeling a lot more confident on the bicycle and even enjoyed parts of it.
Some great efforts going on out there to day and well done all those who suffered with the windy runs.
Charlie - welcome back! As m'learned friends have suggested, the next stage in your plan should be to introduce some speedwork, ideally midway between your longest runs. You can either do some short fast bursts (as Scott suggests, fartlek), some faster intervals, (say a minute fast, a minute to recover), or a short run going out at a faster pace than you would normally do, but one which you can sustain. This will all make you more efficient in your longer runs. Which race are you doing when you're over here?
Rach - if you're interested in meeting up for a run when you're in London, let us know. I can often be found hoofing round Hyde Park on a Saturday morning.
20 miles into a headwind for me today - in more or less the same time as I did the same route last year, which seems like a good sign for sub 4 in Barcelona. And we saw daffodils, which is definitely a good sign.
Hi Charlie - welcome back again. Hope everything in Spain was satisfactorily settled.
Eggy was spot on to tell you that Fartlek (Swedish for 'speed play') is a good way of starting to introduce pacier runs into your programme. The Hal Higdon starter programme is conservative and simply aims to help to get fit and find some stamina. But after a while, it doesn't really add anything to your fitness.
The reason for this is that fitness training should always present a certain amount of stress to the body. If your training becomes easy and there is no element of physiological stress, quite simply, your body no longer needs to adapt (i.e. get fitter!).
A good balanced training programme that is designed to help you do races beyond 10K should look to give you stamina, the ability to sustain harder work without burning all your energy supply off too quickly (efficiency) and of course, giving you some outright speed. Running at different heart rate levels (intensities) develops these different benefits.
The faster you run towards the maximum of your heart's ability to pump blood (contain sugar and oxygen to power your muscles), the shorter the period of time you can sustain the effort. So let's say there are 4 basic speeds of running (I am over simplifying a bit), from slowest to fastest:
1) Recovery runs - under 70% of maximum HR (MHR) - just to help blood circulate better and speed healing before another harder run in an intense running programme. Usually not worth doing this for more than 40 mins
2) Slow runs - 70-80%MHR - designed to build stamina, strengthen muscles and tendons (80% of weekly running should be below 80% HR to avoid over-stress injuries). You can do these for hours.
3) Tempo (or Lactate Threshold) runs - 80-90% MHR - these are designed to make the body become better at producing speed while burning up energy less quickly. This is the key effort for marathon runners on top of long slow runs. A well trained runner can do this for about 40 mins or so.
4) Intervals or Repeats - 90%+ MHR - these are the fastest runs and are unsustainable. You can normally only keep them up for a maximum of 5-6 mins and often they are shorter (just a couple of mins). Basically, run as hard as you can, have a breather, then repeat this cycle for 4-6 times.
All running programmes are basically variations on those 4 ingredients. Speed play is a good way to get started and feels fun and revitalising. But if you have a specific goal in mind, you may want to have a running programme which is more structured to help you achieve what you want.
For anyone interested more in the theory of running training, I highly recommend this book:
Hope this helps Charlie - happy to answer any questions people might have.
Looked at my splits for the half today.
Just before the turn, with the wind at my back, I ran the km in 5:02 (that's very fast, for me). The next km split having turned the corner was 5:45.
But I'm happy (clap along....) because my final full km split was 5:03 - and the wind had dropped (ok, a bit).
Official time was 1:55:55.
I think I've seen Jo's time (for some reason she registered under an assumed name, no UisgeJo to be found) and it looks like she stormed it. I'll let her confirm or deny
That's a great time in difficult conditions
Well last Sun I did my longest distance to date, 21 miles, which is further than I was ever planning to go in training. Yesterday I thought stuff it, I'm going to do 22 miles .... I managed 4.5! I just totally and utterly couldn't be ar*ed, I knew if about 500 meters in!
So this morning I thought I better get out there and try again. My brother-in-law, who will also be doing his first Mara in Paris (but who runs like a whippet over shorter distances) came out with me, he gave up his pace for the fact that only I knew the route!! My husband laid down drinks along the route and we just went for it. It was flipping hilly, but having the escort took a whopping 18 minutes off my time at 21 miles, and I actually ended it at 24 miles. Can't believe it!!
I'm not planning on doing any more runs over 18 miles now, mostly due to lack of enthusiasm and I run so slow it takes up too much time.
As a newbie to running any kind of distance, I'm really interested to know your plans for the next couple of weeks?
40 miles on the bike today. Worn out! The wind!! 19 miles fine then I went around a loop and returned the way I came. Oh dear! so tiring, nearly blown off several times and in my very easiest gear on the smallest chain ring on the flat and couldn't manage more than seven miles an hour. A shocker but I feel like I did a good thing in going out.
calf still feeling good!
tried a new flavour gel on the ride. Mojito flavour anyone?! Bizarre!
well done to all who battled the wind today.
Good going Orbutt!
photo upload didn't work - bah
Hi Charlie, I hesitate to post as you've already received a lot more wise advice than this, but as a beginner HMer-to-be I've been following the runnersworld smartcoach programme - http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/runners-world-smartcoach/3057.html. I'll find out next week if it's been any good (gulp) but it's definitely kept me focused over the past few weeks. It varies easy runs, tempo, speedwork and LSRs, and tells you how far to go at what speed.
Good work everyone, and welcome Charlie!
My longest run of both my training plan and my life today! 22.6 miles it clocked in at. Though when I got home it took a good couple of hours before I started feeling human again. Man it was tough. Just 16, 22, 20 LSRs to go then I can taper!
Hi again Charlie
Well done on the runs all.
Kaz - sounds like a workable plan. Remember hearing somewhere that between the first and second runs, you should avoid eating carbs, so you're doing the second one with no carbs in the tank. And the weather might improve enough to get a long run in.
Heroine - my mileage is all over the shop.
Right then all this talk of HR Training has got me thinking, so dug out the HRM and set up the garmin.
But - where do you start ? I know my resting heart rate which is nice and low for my age but how do I correctly work out my max heart rate ? Not using 220 less age !
Thanks in advance
Hatter - the only real way to find your maximum heart rate is to hit it. Tricky posted the best way a few pages back.
basically, if you can, set your watch to measure your heart rate continuously (this records a lot more data, which is why it's normally set to less).
Then find yourself a good hill, do a good warm up and run up the hill as fast as you can. Return to the bottom of the hill, slowly and run it again - flat out. Do this for a third time. You may puke or feel like you are going to die - but you should have measured your MHR. Then go and lie down.
Orbutt - Well done, good time in tough conditions.
Matty - Good run, that's a bit further than I ever go in training.
Heroine - I tend to find the LSR's tough mentally even though I should be used to them by now. Much like the marathon the best thing once you start is not to think I'm running 20/21/22 miles, but break it down into smaller chunks and just think about getting to that next section. I find that helps take away the pressure of running for so long and so far.
My remaining long runs before the taper are 20, 18, 22. I'll be glad to see those all done and dusted.
Hello! I can confirm three things from today, it was very very windy, Orbutt and Mrs O are lovely and I managed a pb of 1h43'15 which I am delighted with!
Had a motivational low at the turn back point at about mile 6, but seeing the Liverstool flag flapping in the wind perked me right up again!
Well done Orbutt, Simon and all the others running today.
Matty - well done. I have 2 x 26 mile and one 31 mile LSR's before London, but in all honesty they are really in preparation for Comrades. But it will be interesting to see if it impacts London positively or negatively.
Yes Weedy, I remember that from somewhere too But my carb intake(except fruit an veg) is minimal anyway so not going to worry too much. The morning run will be followed with post round, and second run will be directly after I finish work....I think I will be on my feet for the equivalent of 2 marathons Or longer!
Thats a heck of a lot of mileage before London Danniir, be interesting to see how the longer runs impacts, I imagine it will all be positive.
Well done UsiJo. Brilliant PB.
Brilliant running Uisge Jo. Considering you were aiming for 1:45 and the weather was really against you, just imagine what time you could have done
I love that you already know the stool!
Well done on some cracking PBs everyone!