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2017 Marathon Training Thread
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NP nice double run yesterday, well done after the race. Good swim and nice long trail run today, too.
OH well done for getting the 6m done in the wind
Stuart and Fiona - it was a 4 pint bottle, in the rucksack and uphill (but only for half a mile home). Stuart well done for slogging out the 10 miler. Fiona my Ironman mates use a 3:1 ratio to convert bike miles to run miles - so 2016 was a big mileage year! Well done on the intervals and club turbo.
Stewart well done for getting the tempo session in - tough in January !
Cal nice going on the 6m today, hope you enjoyed the yoga
Dr Dan and Hazelnut welcome back !
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Just short of 4m for me at lunchtime as a recovery run. Annoyingly I got back too late this evening for the club run...
NP - That's a solid days training! Well done
Tek - Well done on the 4, shame about missing the club run though!
Hazelnut - Yeah, that looks a bit of a tough race!
Fiona - A couple of tough session yesterday! Good totals for the year too
Stewart - Well done on toughing out the tempo!
I've been lucky in that I've done all of mine with the club since I've been injured. Don't think I could face a solo effort right now!
Cal - Must have been feeling good if you dragged this mornings effort a bit longer!
Dr Dan - Good training over the festive period and sounds like you have a good plan in place!
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8 miles for me this afternoon. Felt a bit tougher than I'd have liked, but that's me ran 54 miles in the last 7 days I think. Back to work tomorrow (for 1 day, then it's the weekend...), so I think I'll have a complete rest day.
Enjoy your rest day, Stuart - you've earned it.
Dr Dan, how do you find the LCHF diet affects your energy? I've done variations on it (keto, Paleo, various others) and I just can't get on with it. I feel very low on energy and motivation (and that's motivation to do anything at all, not just exercise) when I low carb, and never seem to adjust to it. Doesn't help that all the foods I enjoy are carbs, either, so I just don't find it sustainable.
Welcome, Hazelnut - don't I know you from somewhere?
NP, good job on the swimming and trails. I'm rubbish at front crawl - that's why I'll never make a triathlete. (Well, that and I can't ride a bike - true story).
Tek, glad you got out for 4. Sorry you missed your club run. Your with Serps, right?
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Another 6 miles logged today, but as it was cold, I did it a lot quicker: 2 miles at MP (basically a warm-up), 3 miles slightly slower than HMP, then one mile slowing down at somewhere between the two.
I'm currently juggling two watches - my trusty Forerunner 10 and a TomTom Runner I was given for Christmas, unexpectedly. I love the Garmin - the only problem with it is the short battery life (it ran out as I was in sight of the finish at Manchester last year). The TomTom supposedly lasts a bit longer but is quite fiddly by comparison. I decided to use the TomTom for its pacer function but it turned out to be less accurate than the Garmin so not sure what to make of it yet.
Cal, trust me 20 minutes was more than enough! well done with the two 6 mile runs, I would have thought your Garmin would get you to the end of a marathon, what is the expected battery life?
Dr Dan, Happy New Year, I think it is ok to over indulge at Christmas, after all we will all be training hard over the next few months getting ready for various races, good luck with the plan.
Hazel, Welcome back and good luck in the Alps
NP, looks like a great race an very scenic, well done with the 11 mile trail run and swim
Tek, shame you missed out on the club run, well done with the recovery 4
SM, solo tempos are tough and I have just found out the tri club session is on this evening, I'll see how I feel later, but I probably miss out this week, well done with the 8 mile run and enjoy the rest day, you have earn't it.
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7 mile run last night, the legs did feel a bit jaded after the LT run the night before, I am sure a swim later will sort them out
8 miles over 2 treadmill runs on Wednesday + 2km on rowing machine.
Today was a total of 12 miles over 2 treadmill runs + 2 km on rowing machine.
Rest day tomorrow. Park Run on Saturday will make it 30 miles for the week.
Stewart - it's 5 hours. I did the marathon in 4:44:37 - problem was there was quite a bit of waiting around at the start with the watch ready to go, so I think that drained it. It would probably be OK for a smaller marathon where they didn't have to send people in waves and whatnot (or, well, at least not 7000 people...). Or I get a lot faster.
You may "feel" low on energy but that's just in the mind... blood sugar levels are remarkably resilient to being on LCHF (yes, I measure mine). I also skip breakfast, so effectively do a "8/16" variant. I found it easy to adapt in "everyday life" (I like the food too ... and the fact that I don't worry about calories) but the running took a few weeks to get sorted as I was definitely a carb-burner. Now I can cycle 45 miles per week and run 35 miles per week (including aerobic intervals, parkrun, etc) and it has no noticeable effect on running performance (cycling is harder ... but not sure if that's diet or because I only bike-commute). Benefits include no more indigestion and my lowest weight since I was a student in the late 1980s.
Stewart well done on the LT run, that's a tough one, not surprised that the legs were feeling the after affect!
Nice quality run today Cal. That's a great present to get! I've never had any issue with my Garmin battery life - think it is around 7-8 hours. Ironically this morning it was totally dead for the first time as I hadn't switched it off from my intervals on Tuesday but it doesn't take long to charge. I'm the same as you if I cut back on carbs - can hardly even think, feel dizzy and can barely walk to the fridge for a protein shake
so I just eat anything.
Well done on the training Sub17, reminds me I should do some cross training (as well as the cycling).
Stuart I hope you're enjoying the rest day
and that's a great weekly total for this time of year.
Blimey Teknik a 4 pint bottle is hideous to carry! I've cycled up the hill with one of them and a bag of spuds (a mile hill that varies from 6-10%) - never again!! A shame about missing the club run but good that you got a few miles done.
That's a nice long trail run NP
do you ever do your intervals on the trails or do you do them on tarmac/flat surface?
A great mix of training DrDan
interesting about the diet but think I'll give that one a miss 
......although chocolate is high in fat (& carbs!) so I'm half way there 
.
Welcome Hazelnut.
Switched around and took my rest day yesterday as was feeling pretty rubbish. think I was just tired. Back to it today with some threshold intervals - 5 x 6 minutes off 90 sec recovery. Did a few off road which I've never done before. Not sure if I should stay on the road to go faster or stay on trails as long as effort level is the same. Just trying to save the ankle which doesn't like going fast on the road. Probably did them too fast for threshold, pace varied from 6:39mm - 6:46mm but happy with the effort level
F
Fiona - Great threshold session. I that's probably my 10k pace right now! I think as long as the effort is the same it doesn't really matter. My tempo session on Saturday was an out an back job where the 'out' section was 45s/mile slower than the back!
Cal - Only 5 hours battery life? That's a pretty poor battery, my first garmin was probably about 7 or 8hrs, current one maybe 15-20. Well done on the quicker run today
Stewart - Good 7 miles on tired legs, building well
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Change of plan, out work earlier than expected and my plans tonight have been canned so I'll go to the gym in a bit.
Watched Laura Muirs cracking run last night, what I didn't realise is one of my clubmates broke the W55 Indoor 3000 WR at that meet
As far as I know (she doesn't train with my group any more) her goal for the year is the 10000m WR, to add to her F50 10000 WR.
Stuart nice 8 miler yesterday - and congrats to your club-mate, great going
Cal yes I'm with Serpentine RC - well done on the 6 miles - it was very cold yesterday
Stewart nice going with the 7 miles, enjoy the swim
Sub17 nice treadie running - hope the parkrun goes well
Dr Dan that's an impressive amount of weight loss - I'm a good 2 stone heavier than I was as a student !
Fiona well done for getting the LT intervals done - good session
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5m easy for me today including some short strides
Cal, 5 hours battery life is not so good, although the silver lining is your are getting faster and will be a lot closer to 4 hours next time out
S17, well done with the treadie running, is there a reason why you don't train out on the road/trails
Fiona, nice LT intervals, it is all about the effort pace doesn't matter especially on hills and out on the trails
SM, I hope the gym session went well, congrats to your club mate very impressive times, I saw a clip on sky sports about Laura Muir's race she was flying
Tek, well done with the 5 miles plus strides
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A swim to loosen me up this afternoon as I decided to do the club session after all, 6 x 1k(approx) reps 3 clockwise 3 anti-clockwise, pretty tough session I recon I'm about 30 secs a mile slower than last year, so lots to work on!
Rest day tomorrow, I'll probably go for a swim before body balance.
7.6 miles done tonight
Zero day tomorrow.
i'm hoping to get a stone lighter tomorrow
so far so good for 2017 Tek
sounds like a spent battery in Garmin, Cal but probably not worthwhile having it replaced in a 110
Good luck with stone thingy tomorrow, OH.
Just a quick pre- holiday tready 7k run for me today, packing to fly to the slopes. Not warm enough to run where I'm heading (- 23dec C forecast!).
Will try to get in a few tready sesions, plus the skiing should keep me vaguely fit.
"See" you all in a couple of weeks
Tek - do you know Sue? She's an older lady and I encountered her at Harry Hawkes and again at Cabbage Patch. I had a chat to her after the latter - she's pretty awesome and I hope I'm running as well as she does at her age.
So, some news. After my clubmates failed to find a group accomodation for Brighton, I had a look at hotels and there just aren't any left that I can afford. So I've deferred and have entered Manchester again. It's a week earlier but that's fine - it also means my 5 days in Dubai will sit right in my taper rather than just before it.
Stewart well done on the reps yesterday
OH hope the treatment went well, well done on the 7.6m
tricia nice treadie run, enjoy the slopes!
Cal unfortunately no, I don't - it's a huge club and I'm terrible at names/faces anyway !
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5m easy again for me, including some strides
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Upcoming Races
07/01/2017 Edinburgh Winter Run (5k) Stuart Martin
Good luck Stuart !
Teknik thats a solid start to 2017 and miles in the bank, nice to see the strides included for leg turn over.
SM6 Nice 8 and gym work Laura Muirs had a fantastic run and your club mate must be special to run a WR.
Cal Warm up at MP nice and a good 6 miles banked in the cold, good news on the taper
SC Well done for the 7 miles on heavy legs also a nice swim and club interval session, running on tired legs is hard but thats when the adaptations will start to take place. Hope you enjoyed your rest day.
Sub 17 hope the park run goes to plans nice 30 miles on the treadmill and rowing machine.
Dr Dan sounds like you like the LCHF diet, I just eat well and try and cut out the sweet tooth treats the pounds drop off when the miles go up.
Fiona thats a great threshold interval session I don't think it matters so long as the effort level is the same. One of the top runners in Northern Ireland will run all his on grass. I like to do the main interval session with club mates as I think you work harder with others, its easy to take the foot of the pedal when you are on your own.
OH Will you be joining Dr Dan on the diet? nice run in the cold yesterday.
Two runs yesterday 6 miles on the trails nice and steady and 6 miles along the sea front fartlek last night, got to the pool early this morning for 70x25m front crawl. Will do the park run tomorrow. Should be 60+ miles this week after the long run on Sunday
SM Good luck tomorrow.
NP - That's good mileage for the week, especially with the swimming on top!
I know what you mean about the sweets, I reckon if I can cut that group out I should drop towards 71kg fairly quickly. And that's as good as my weight will get!
Tek - Well done on the easy 5 miles
Cal - That holiday sounds the ideal time. However you've know one less training week
Tricia - -23? Might need 2 pairs of gloves for running in that!
Enjoy the holiday!
OH - Hope the kidney stone is resolved. Good run yesterday
Stewart - Nice speed session last night, any achilles reaction from that? Oddly enough, we had a 6x1k session led by a triathlete last night too! Not that I was at it
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Gym, and 40 minutes on elliptical last night. 6 miles and weights today. Legs feel pretty tired, but that's likely because I've bumped the miles up quite quickly. I think tomorrows 5k will be a struggle (and the course won't help!) but it'll be a marker of some sort I guess! If I'm not too cold and rushed for time I'll hopefully get to stick around and watch the XC
Well done on the gym work and run Stuart. Good luck in Edinburgh!
I'm sure it'll be a great day out if you can stick around. Amazing run by Laura Muir and your clubmate.
NP yes I agree that club sessions are good. Going to try to step up my paces this time round for all speed sessions. Great mileage for the week and your doubles seem to be going well
Good luck with the park run.
Well done on the run with strides Teknik.
Cal that's a shame about Brighton but no point paying a crazy amount for a hotel. Sounds like its worked out well with taper week!
Hope you have a great holiday Tricia
OH fingers crossed that the kidney stone is gone!
Stewart great 1k session yesterday - was that with the Tri club?
Ollie hope all is well with you
Easy turbo for me last night after the intervals. Hill session today which I ended up doing in the woods so basically sliding and tripping up and down a muddy hill 12 times. Railway repair men were parked on my usual hill so I just kept on running past! Then cycled to the gym to do some weights so a reasonable day's training
F
Today I ran 17:34 in my Park Run and third place. Next week I will run around 20 miles on treadmill and I hope to bounce back in my next Park Run.
Fiona - yeah, especially as I am not working and my income is quite limited. Lot of bills this time of year, too. Well done on the hills. Worth noting that the last time I sprained my ankle was doing hill repeats on a wooded common. I actually sprained it jogging slowly back down to the bottom when I put my foot on a root. Bloody roots. So don't do that eh?
Stuart - hope the adrenaline helps with those tired legs.
NP - some good, solid session there.
Parkrun was a bit of a mess today - very high turnout (I think it'll be a record) which meant the first lap was congested and I couldn't even run all the way to the finish due to the queue for tokens! I'll be interested to find out what they record my actual time as (it was 26:44 when I stopped, so faster than last week but nowhere near a PB). Average pace was 8:43 so it's a decent warm-up for my upcoming 10K.
My club's marathon group starts training tomorrow, but as the session is for 2 hours, and I've already done a 2 hour MP session this week, (although, granted, that was a postponed Sunday run, which I did Monday) I am going to do my own thing tomorrow as I am aiming for 18 miles. I'll join with the club the week after. There seem to be a lot of people in the club in the 1a (sub 2:45) group, whereas I'm in group 5 (4 hours plus). They may add a sixth group, so I could end up in that one. I guess we'll see.
Cal, well done with parkrun as you said a decent workout before your 10k race enjoy your log run tomorrow
S17, another great time at parkrun today,
Fiona, yes it was with the Tri club, sounds like a very busy training day well done with the slippery hill reps and gym work
SM, The Achilles was a bit niggly yesterday but has settled down today, four days on the trot and two sessions probably wasn't wise, good luck with the 5k race in Edinburgh I am sure you'll do yourself proud
NP, you are piling on the miles well done with the double run and swimming, the rest day was most welcomed
Tek, well done with the easy 5 plus strides.
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A swim and body balance last night, first few 100m reps were tough, but settled into a rhythm for a solid 800m set, BB helped stretch out those tight bits, not sure what I'll do today as it is my Daughters' birthday so it will be either an easy run or I'll have a spin on the turbo.
Stewart, I'm betting you're the only guy in the BodyBalance class, eh?
I did one when I still had my gym membership but I much prefer Bikram yoga. Still, it's all helpful for us runners, no?
NP nice double 6 on Thursday; good pool session and hope the parkrun went well this morning.
Stuart nice gym session, and well done on the 6m and weights yesterday
Fiona well done on slipping up and down the hill, and good going on the extra gym session
Sub17 that's a fast time to come only third!
Cal well done at the parkrun and good luck for the LSR tomorrow
Stewart nice going on the swim and gym yesterday
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Another easy 5.3m plus 0.3m strides today.
SM6 with the gym and elliptical, 6 miles then weights no wonder your legs are heavy, hope the 5k went well and you managed to see the cross country, I watched it on the BBC fantastic running.
Fiona thats a great days training on the hills and bike, bet the railway guys thought you where superwomen
Sub 17 well done at the park run, still a nice time.
Cal well done on the park run enjoy your 18 miles tomorrow but would the time not pass faster running with others
SC hope todays training went well after the daughters birthday
Teknik well done on the 5.3 miles and strides,
is there any park runs near you?
Warm up, park run and cool down today and same time as Sub 17, 17-34
First long run tomorrow
NP - I intend to do the club run next weekend.
I think I was right to do my own thing today, as I went pretty slowly. However, I did manage an extra mile so I did 19, averaging 10:59. My splits were pretty consistent throughout. My fastest mile was 10:31 (all downhill) followed by my slowest (11:36, all uphill) but I stayed within 10 seconds, plus or minus, of 11 minute miles for almost all of it.
I briefly flirted with the idea of trying for 20 but after I went through 18 miles I was starting to hurt and I was also pretty hungry, so I carried on until 19 then walked down the hill to my house.
I'm pretty happy with the run - the time is very similar to the 19 miler I did last year, but I didn't get that done until the last day of February (granted, I was injured from mid December to mid January, so that was quite the achievement in itself). If I can continue to build on that, I'll be in a much better place going into Manchester this year.
Cal well done on the 19 miles and consistent splits like you said you should be in a better place for Manchester this year.
Well 15 miles banked, so happy with that average 7:18 pace. For some reason my neck is sore.......
Cal, I'm not the only male in the class but we are outnumbered!, a cracking long run today and a real confidence booster.
Tek well done with the 5 plus strides
NP, looks like you're back on form a great run at parkrun followed up with a strong long run today, sorry to hear you have a pain in your neck hope it is nothing to worry about.
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8 miles today, I think I need to build up these longer runs slowly the legs were starting to feel fatigued after a hour of running,
31 miles for the week, a decent start to the new year.
Well done on the 15, NP (did you sleep on it funny, perhaps?) and the 8, Stewart.
Forgot to say I broke my weekly mileage record by logging 46 miles this week. That's only by dint of having done last weekend's long run on Bank Holiday Monday due to NYD parkrun, but still. Even without Monday's run it'd still be 34 miles - around 10 miles more than I was doing during the Summer.
NP great parkrun time and well done on the 15m - good pace, too. Hope the neck is nothing too serious. Most of the parkruns are a bit of trek by tube, but these days I'm never up early enough on a Saturday anyway...
Cal 19m is a great long run this early - well done on the even splits. Great weekly total too!
Stewart well done on the 8m today and nice total for the week.
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MLR of 10m for me this afternoon - longest run since the end of August, and it was hard work. 39m for the week, still building.