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P&D Autumn Marathon 2017
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I was thinking the same Spoons, unless you're running in the Olympic final it's all about who turns up but you've got to be a decent runner to regularly pickup these little trinkets. Where would you have finished two years ago? I tend to compare myself to those that are faster than me, you never really think about all the people you are beating easily. Well done.
Epic stuff Macca, 64 miles and you were never more than 5 miles from home?
Welcome back Tom, running more on your tick over than I've run in any week this year.
You weren't exactly in bad form last March /April HA, were you so that's no bad place to be. It;'s a tough target you've set and any PB is going to be a great step towards London.
Swim at lunch and might sneak a run in off the bike home if I can get in and out the house without my wife knowing I am home.
Macca - 64 miles is an easy, short run for you these days right? Seriously though, very impressive, not sure I'd have the mental game to keep cracking out these longer efforts. I do like the long, lapped events though. Katie keeps bugging me to do one with her as a pairs team, might take her up on it soon.
John - nice backing up the race with a 20, fitness is obviously there. I think Katie will be joining the posse of sub-3 chasers in the not too distant future, but lets not get ahead of ourselves as her current PB is 3.58. Think that may well change in Amsterdam though..
Good to have you back HA and looks like it was a decent tempo run this morning. She ran a 1.52 half (hard as she could go) in the build up to London this year, so it's been quite a turnaround.. I don't think Reg dreaming about me is a new thing.
Welcome back Tom! Holiday sounds amazing, very jealous. I'm sure you're being modest about your running as always and you'll be straight back into things.
Spoons - excellent result with the 2nd place, congratulations. You'd definitely have had that sub-30 in more favourable conditions. Next weekend sounds fun, great that your nephew is getting involved in running, I'm sure you've inspired him for sure. Will you taper at all for Sunday?
I'm in to race week, and a dreaded rest day for me today, although for once I'm actually not minding it too much, been feeling tired for so long. Heading to Tenby on Thursday morning. The current forecast is atrocious, with heavy winds forecast which could make the swim awful and the bike even worse. Same for everyone though, I'll just have to be tougher!
I honestly wasn't sandbagging, although I will take any 'champ' title I can get!
HA have you got time for another decent build block before Chester?
Nice to be back to proper running weather-light rain, breezy and on the cool side-perfect! Took my long run nice and easy and happy to get 22 done at 6:45s feeling decent enough.
Well done on the podium finish Spoons and a sub 30 would have been a certainty in better conditions and if you had worn some decent Adidas shoes!
You must be in very good shape HA if after a week of no running you are right back at that level. Podium finishes at your upcoming half and then at Abo still very much on the cards.
Big Triathlons on the horizon for Joe and Reg which will have me amazed and confused in equal measure but training seems to have been going very well for you both. Hope the forecast improves for Tenby this weekend Joe and congrats to yourself for that sub 17 parkrun.
Macca-epic stuff as ever-got no idea how you do it!
SQ-you seem to be going very well at the moment and easy 70 mile cut back weeks seem to be suiting you nicely.
Jools-back from holiday to run 4/5/6 races (I lost count!)over a weekend-good to see some things never change.
Millsy won an extremely long marathon-fantastic stuff!
Sorry for those I may have missed-difficult trying to read so much with a seven year old to look after-oh well back to school tomorrow!
More impressive ultra running Macca.
Just thought I'd remind NE, Spoons, SQ & anyone else localish that Tuesday 12th is the Autumn edition of our track Mile races. Only £2 for UKA affiliated athletes or £4 for u/a. Adult seeded races from 7pm. Details here: http://fodac.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=1330 Another local club has included it in their champs so should be a cracking night
Glad to see you've not really lost any fitness Tom. Good luck at work - I started back Friday.
Cracking podium Spoons - much more important than 7s.
More impressive ultra running Macca.
Joe - Good luck with the taper this week. I'm sure you'll manage whatever the weather throws at you but hoping the forecast improves.
Phil - I'm running Abingdon (not Chester) in 7 weeks now so am planning another solid block of training with potential for some more improvement if all goes well. You're not properly a part of the thread until you've been accused of sandbagging.
Tom - Cracking long run as usual. Nice and easy 22 miles at 6:45, bloody hell.
SQ - I find I don't feel the need to run so much when I'm doing other things I enjoy so can really switch off. That's a tough BAC session coming up.
Cheap race Jooligan, good to see.
Just an easy run with strides planned for today.
Like that type of price Jooligan-if only more races were such good value. You went back early this year-inset?
SQ-looks like a belter that one coming up!
HA-Do you put on much weight with no running and presumably lots of lovely holiday indulgences?
Love the first day of the academic year-so much hope and positivity around school-this usually lasts until about lunchtime when you start wondering if you really did have 6 weeks holiday!
A very soggy nine miles with a few strides this morning and it was dark at 5:30!!!
Cheers guys. Reg you’re right - two years ago 6 min/mi was my mile PB, now I can (nearly) run five of those back to back. Easy to forget when I’m always looking ahead to the next goal how far I’ve come. I suppose I still find it a bit odd being considered in any sense competitive, I was always the last to be picked in PE at school lol.
Joe - yes I will be tapering, I’m keen to take advantage of the reasonably flat course and the fact I live 400m from the start line. If I was building to a marathon I’d be more wary about tapering too much but I’m not so worried about missing out on the mileage so will taper quite aggressively. Just to be clear though, it’s a week on Sunday, so a big 100 mile week this week again then cutting back. Hope the weather improves for Tenby, looking forward to seeing how you get on.
Great long run Tom. Yes with my shoes I do feel like I’m cheating a little bit…
Definitely up for a head-to-head SQ. Good luck for that mighty session.
Jooligan I’m definitely tempted by that race, although it’s 5 days before the Worcester 10K. What do people think, would a mile race hurt me in a 10K so soon afterwards?
I had a very wet 11 miles along the canal this morning, happy with 7:16/mi despite it being breezy at times. Nice to bump in to SQ too.
Normal service has resumed with Tom's earl morning runs. Almost time to discuss lumens.
I did a progression run this morning. I spoke of doing a race, it was potentially just a parkrun but I decided against it so this was the replacement. Started out at 6:39 and ended at 6:02 for 7 miles @ 6:23 and it felt pretty good. The 6:1x stuff especially felt comfortable and makes me think at that sort of level for Abo.
I've also been absent for ages with my mum visiting from Aus and a tonne of work to get out of the way before that. I enjoyed the catch up reading - 'only' 60 miles a week on holiday Tom, excellent. Joe stealing back Katie's bike, you're a hero to all bike owners. Solid work from all - I'll be here all day if I go through everyone, sorry.
My training for Abingdon is coming along nicely. I ran another benchmarking parkrun on the weekend and have knocked almost a minute off my time from 5 weeks ago, then ran a comfortable 22 miles on Sunday. I think we can say normal service has now resumed. I'm feeling just as good as I did before Manchester, if all goes well I might just start targeting a PB.
But first congrats to RSR on the Little Aston race. I know a few of the people you beat and they are pretty decent club runners including a 2.45 marathoner in there too. So reflect well on where you're at - it's a very good standard.
Impressed with Jooligan for hitting the ground running straight from the airport it seems.
Amazed at Macca nipping out for a pint of milk and running 60 odd miles in the process. Also Tom cruising a 22 miler like it's nothing.
Brilliant quick halves from Phillip and Joe's Katy too.
The thread astounds. Apologies if I missed anyone.
Nice to see Tom and HA having breaks. I had a bit of a break myself and it seems that it was just what the doctor ordered. I'm in HA's camp of not getting neurotic about running when on a break. Nice to reset the body every now and again. I had no obvious loss of fitness from a week off despite lots of hotdogs and icecreams, plenty of swimming, and poor sleep due to the heat.
So a fortnight ago I ran a 10k and it was roasting hot on the day. I decided a session would suit me more than a race, given tiredness, so ran it at threshold hr for 7th place in 37.43 (6.07 min/mile). I was a bit disappointed as I had been managing sub 6 min miling for threshold sessions before that but heat, mixed terrain course, fatigue etc.
Fast forward through a week of sunning myself and resting up. I had a few jogs out prior to my half on Sunday, managing around 14 miles across the Friday and Saturday. Race day conditions were cool, damp and breezy. Lovely British weather, with a nice cup of tea to get me started too. My thoughts were that the preceding day's efforts and niggly soleus (too much swimming probably) mitigated against an all out effort on an undulating course, but I felt like a return to that staple of P&D mara training, the 14 miles @mp. Well, 13.1 as I like to round up idiosyncratically.
I allowed myself to run free (faster) on the first and last mile, settling at something approaching marathon effort in between. Not a lot happened during the race. I went off quick, people came past me, the rain came down, the breeze blew and the hills went up and down, as the country lanes wound their way back to the finish. Some raised effort ensued for the last mile but there was only one competitor within reach at that point and he was grunting incredibly loudly with the effort. I was so glad I wasn't trying really hard the whole way round as he reminded me of that painful feeling at the end of a half when your limbs turn to concrete. Finished in 1.21.01 for av.hr 153.
That was a bit of a result and compares very well with my last attempt at this session pre-London, where it was 1.23.20 for av. hr 151. Glancing through similar runs over the years, that sees me performing as well as I ever have for that effort. I think I just need to keep at the threshold and marathon effort runs, to be approaching really top fitness in 6 weeks time (Birmingham half), and maintain moderate mileage to keep myself relatively fresh. I'll be doing another (flat) half in 3 weeks, just to keep the faster paced endurance work in play. I'll add myself into the thread schedule at some point, if I can find it again.
So why not the marathon any more, to answer John Oz's question from ages back. My marathons in the past were a means to an end - motivation to get the base training in, and an experiment with higher mileage. Having done all that I've concluded that I'm more suited to lower mileage (not much lower, by around 10-15 mpw) and it definitely fits better with my life. I simply have more energy, more time and I feel fitter with it at the moment. Coming back from injury I think I have to double down on the S&C work and I know if I was going for volume that stuff would be the first thing to slip and I'd likely end up injured again.
Nice report Muddy, sounds promising, same for you JCG.
Coop - sounds like Abingdon prep is going well. Great to see.
Tom - I didn't put on much weight on the week off fortunately. While I stuffed myself some evenings I didn't eat too much during the day as we were always quite busy out and about.
Certainly feel refreshed and keen after the break, got plenty of sleep and don't think I've lost too much. I had overtrained in the 4 weeks beforehand knowing I was going to do minimal running.
Talking of lumens, I just picked up a cheap headlamp from decathlon. Will prob need it for the evening session tomorrow. Managed to do some barefoot sprints today at the end of an 8ish miler despite it being a bit wet. A bit of mud between the toes is fine, just being careful to avoid anything more noxious.
Nice progress JCG & welcome back (again).
Took the club track session this evening 6x1K with 400m jog recovery. Managed to stay pretty consistent at 4:0x for each effort. The efforts were all slightly long as our track is 440yd & I was running in lane 2 throughout so that's around 40min 10K pace which is what I was aiming at.
Nice progression run Reg.
Sounds like training is going well JCG.
Thanks Muddy. Yes the results are up on RunBritain now, and I beat several guys with much faster PBs and much better handicaps. Perhaps slow field was the wrong term to use, small is perhaps more appropriate. RunBritain gave it a "1.8" difficulty rating which I quite high, so the more I think about it the happier I am with the performance.
Sounds like you are in great shape, good luck for Birmingham!
Solid session Jooligan.
You're brave running around barefoot HA.
I had a really good tempo session this morning. Warm-up, 4 mins faster than LT, 4 mins slightly slower than LT, 6 x 2 mins faster, 4 mins slightly slower, and warm-down. Averaged 5:58/mi for the faster bits, and 6:27/mi for the slower bits. The faster bits were right on target, the slower bits a little slower than I'd have liked - I tended to back of a bit too much initially, still getting the hang on these variable pace sessions! However it's about 15 seconds per mile faster for each section than a similar session 3 weeks ago, so still decent.
Overall it was 7 miles non-stop at an average of 6:16/mi, which is way faster than I was managing for a 20 min LT section a month ago, which shows definite progress. In total I did 13.5 at an average of 6:46/mi, so a sub-90 half marathon to boot. Very happy with that.
Cracking sessions Jools and Spoons (wearing your Adios presumably ;-)).
Not sure I'd be brave enough to run barefoot even on grass HA. Does it help you with your form?
So it was my first run at silly o'clock of the new term this morning and it was a bit of a shock to the system. Out the door by 4:30, knuckle lights on off I went into the pitch black countryside! Took a while to get into it but once I was in a rhythm the miles ticked over steadily. Did 15 @ 6:28m/m pretty comfortably. Then it was shower, porridge and coffee and straight to work. Feels like I've never been away!
Good stuff from you again Spoons, things are building nicely. More turdling from HA I see, it's only a matter of time before you find another one with your name on it.
I had a very slight achilles twinge from my run yesterday and post sports massage I am sporting some Rocktape (KT tape stuff) snake oil or not, what do we think?
Anyway I'll probably take a rest from running for a couple of days even thought it only seems minor.
I'm a tape convert Reg. I used it on my bicep earlier in the year to clear up bicep tendonitis and I've been strapping a slightly uncomfortable knee on and off this campaign. The support seems to stop any niggles getting worse.
Brave shoeless running HA, I definitely couldn't trust the grass in my local parks.
Tom - straight back in with a 22 miler at a decent pace, very impressive. And then another 15 at silly o'clock this morning. It sounds like the old Tom is well and truly back.
Reg - progression run sounds very promising, all signs pointing towards a very good day in Italy. Rest from running for the next couple of days sounds like a sensible idea.
Coop - excellent to see you back, and really good to hear that training is going so well.
Muddy - sounds like you've been busy! Interesting to hear your thoughts on the marathon, a very sensible decision I think, you should always do what you enjoy and what fits in with life - really looking forward to seeing how Birmingham goes.
HA - glad to hear you're feeling refreshed. It's a sad thought thinking the headtorches are going to be needed soon. And only Aussie's would run round in bare feet, buy some more trainers mate.
Nice session Jools.
Spoons - another great run, sounds like a fun session that one.
Just been ticking over, 5 miles yesterday, a swim this morning. All terribly boring/frustrating. Heading down to Tenby tomorrow morning but just going to be relaxing so I'll be posting on here I'm sure, you can't get rid of me that easily!
Spoon - Great session and impressive improvements recently. Seems like the HM training is working wonders. I wonder if you'd have seen the same improvements doing another cycle of P&D?
Tom the machine is back. Like clockwork mate. Great stuff.
Reg - I'm generally pretty sceptical of things but in my physio days I've seen tape have a good effect enough times to be convinced it's not all snake oil. Depends on the condition and if applied correctly too I suppose. Good plan to rest up a bit after the solid training you've put in.
Coop - I'd love to be able to have a post run morning nap. Sounds like my perfect morning.
I don't do a lot of barefoot running, usually just one or two sets of strides/sprints each week. I started doing it thinking it might strengthen my feet and help with my ongoing achilles problems. I think it's helped but I'm not sure really. I actually quite enjoy it though.
Did 10ish miles with a Mona fartlek session. Didn't push too hard as I'll try to get along to the club track session tonight. The session was a bit slower as expected but the warm up and warm down were unintentionally faster than usual, probably due to the lack of running last week.
Good run Spoons, when I first started doing early morning sessions (about 6ish) fasted I really struggled. A year later I am far more comfortable with them have can now run longer (up to 12 miles) and often do progressive or sub threshold sessions. It does take longer to recover from than when I have eaten and gone out later. I think it's good though to teach yourself to run without being fuelled up.
5 miles this morning with 4 at 6m/m then a planned 8 tonight, hopefully at 6 - 6.15 pace.