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P&D Spring Marathon 2018
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Great work getting it done Ramjet, must have been mind numbing
The long run would have been a good substitute for the cancelled half NE
Delaying my easy 30 today until this evening as the roads/pavements look pretty trecherous with ice
700m laps Ramjet let yourself off lightly
19.2M plod to work this morning in 3:04. Legs had nothing, tried to pick the pace up a couple of times as I realised I was going to be late but couldn't - just got slower. It's weird I seem to be unable to run at a 7:xx pace these days. Training at 8:xx - 9:xx allows me to race at 6:xx though.
Not looking forward to the return journey.
All servers down at work so not easy to read back and comment on my phone - will do so later.
A strong wind and cold temperatures on Saturday meant I abandoned parkrun early. My daughter was not loving it, although she did refuse gloves. I thought I probably wouldn’t win any dad of the year awards if I carried on regardless to the end. Shortly after parkrun I received an email to say the Forest of Dean Half was off. Disappointing, but this did then give me he opportunity of a much needed long run. Jooligan kindly offered a group 90 min pace run in the FoD, but the thought of driving over in the snow was too much.
Sunday saw a 5am get up for the usual pre hydration, toilet, glute activation exercises, but in a nod to the heavy snow, cold temperatures and biting wind outside, a rare pre run hot drink of coffee. That along with four caffeine gels during the run was probably a bit much but I felt I needed all the help I could get. 24M at 7:30 average, consisting of 2M WU, 10 x alternating miles at MP effort and easy, 2WD. MP never even close, but it was ridiculous weather. I thought it better to get it done whilst the snow was falling rather than when it iced up later. 3 hours on my feet is definitely useful marathon training, but I seriously need a long run with some actual MP in there! No chance next weekend as I have Cleevewold 14 1 a very tough, extremely hill and off road affair. Great fun though. So I guess that leave 1st April as the last real option. It’ll do.
Enjoyable recovery with spoons this morning in relatively nice conditions. Will try to squeeze another half an hour in later, but very much work dependent.
Great big week and long mp run, John. Loving those temperatures!
Admit it, Joe, you were stuck naked? Trip looks amazing and storm photo is crazy.
Nice racing Hazel and impressive pace for a non race half, Reg.
Bad luck, Tom. Remember how many amazing miles you have in the bag. Nothing lost yet.
Incredible long treadmill runs from spoons and AWC. Genuinely great heat acclimation - unless of course Westy’s winter continues.
Amazing couple of big weeks, Ramjet. 35 laps?!
Amazing pre work commute, Jooligan. Are you really considering the return?
16 miles for me on Saturday (out the house at 6:30am!!), my hands were so cold they were painful when I got in the house!! Brought myself some Montaine gloves on Saturday afternoon and used those on Sunday's run in feels like -13c!! worked well, which was a result, so another 11 miles done. Ran both nice and easy and HR was in the right area.
I would take a couple of days off to shift that cold Tom.
Good luck for the taper spoons those are very impressive stats.
Good runs as well by Reg, Jools, Scott, ramjet, NE, ramjet, stevemac.
Take care running on snow and ice for those going out in it.
I hope Jools makes it back home again in one piece this evening.
Just short of 17 miles yesterday afternoon for me. Legs were tired and a bit niggly from the race the day before so I kept the effort down to MP + 20% ish on average including two walking breaks for gulping down a gel. Finished feeling fresher than when I set out. Rest day today.
Sneaky 4M second recovery this afternoon at 8:30s on grass. Snow now gone - was it all a dream?
Likewise despite a lack of mp miles SQ thats a solid time on feet run
Good early miles Steve
Considering the race the day before and the fact you felt fresher at the end Hazel I'd say you were in some good shape
The ice cleared pretty quickly so went out for the 30mins at lunch, only problem was the bitterly cold wind
Good endurance w/e Steve.
Scott: last year I was training much faster but racing slightly slower. Think I'm pretty fatigued tbh 900 miles since Jan 1st!
You'll be pleased to know I made it home in one piece. Much easier homeward bound: change of shoes to roadies, tailwind, (after battling its nasty brother, headwind, for the first 3M) & almost no snow/ice to contend with. Still I'd already checked the bus timetable at lunch & knew there was one an hour + where it was supposed to be when. Although I was feeling OK I really didn't fancy burying myself again & after 10M there is a lot of pavementless main road to contend with + 3 massive climbs so when I reached a bus stop 10K in just 3 minutes before the bus was due I decided to go for it. Whilst waiting I chanced my luck thumbing a lift. After 15 minutes still no bus but a guy stopped & gave me a lift to the bottom of the final climb: 4% average for 2K. Total mileage for the day = 27.6
Just 7 miles recovery for me into the biting wind. Still got the cold but felt loads better after the run.
Errm - so how do you get to and from work today?
Really nice weather along the canal today. 10M easy>steady starting at 8m/m and finishing at 7s.
Looks bloody cold again tomorrow morning, but with low wind. Sure the legs will be fatigued, but will give a good session a go.
Hazel - If you felt fresh after the long run, then training is going well.
Real easy 6 miles this morning, no ice around, but kept it to a low HR.
Hazel: I have the car back & a new thermostat so the heater works properly
What a difference a day makes. Still plenty of snow up where I am but nothing in Gloucester. Usual Tuesday commute: drive 12M/run 8.6M - each way. No ice underfoot & just a zephyr. Legs surprisingly OK though they were tiring by about 10K in.
Hazel: nice 17 miler there on a Monday - sounds good that you are feeling fresher
6x1,000 intervals tonight - should be fun. Going to try and put together a couple fo 70+ weeks now as last week was a write off with a mini taper for a half which didn't happen.
Reading gave us a £40 voucher for Sports Direct which is better than a kick in the teeth.
Easy 6 mile run into work this morning for me. Legs felt OK. Cold still present. Plantar Fasciitis playing up. Feeling grumpy!
Oh well. Tomorrow is the last day of winter. So I will accept an early run in -1 degrees but it had better be the last!
Club AGM tonight so a highly efficient use of my lunch hour and more encouragement with a VO2 session 5x1km. I targeted an ambitious 20 minute 5k pace (i.e. 4 mins per rep) with 2 minute intervals. I achieved 4:00 3:56 3:55 3:57 3:56... so 19:44 total if you allow me to ignore the 8 minutes I was standing still
Jools - Monday marathon commute is bonkers but not surprising coming from you!
Ramjet - hope the PF goes away, just 2 more big weeks to get through...
Hazel - you seem to be in great shape, keep up the mileage.
SQ - nicely back into it with an impressive LR. How is the knee?
Spoons - really impressive block and consistency, couldn’t ask for anything more to prep you for Manchester (except maybe less snow but even that doesn’t seem to have affected you!)
Good running from everyone else, it’s an achievement just to get it done in this weather.
Meanwhile it goes from hot AF to windy AF here. 5x600m yesterday (actually a 650m loop) and 14 miles today straight into a headwind. Legs still tired from the MP tempo at the weekend but at least I’ve ticked them off without any injuries.
Ran 18mi in the end yesterday.
We're moving office today. It's a downgrade (cheaper), and further away, bummer.
We're due more cold, snowy weather for Easter...so expect more races to be cancelled!
I had to look up zephyr – I like it!
Really sorry to hear about the PF, Ramjet. Have you had it before? Calf stretching did the trick for me a couple of years ago, but I know everyone is different.
Superb vO2 session, NE. Definitely coming together at the right time. And nice intervals from John as well. Wind is the enemy.
Blimey, Westy, nice unexpected 18M. Is it really going to snow again?!
I was stalking spoons this morning around the racecourse. I won’t spoil his tale, but some highly impressive speeds on show. For me it was a tempo sandwich of 25 mins MP effort (I never look at pace during, just HR), 5 x 4 mins hard, 25 mins MP. Total of 16M at 7 m/m, with the MP sections at 6:29 (ideal!) and 6:34 (bit slow) and the ‘faster’ sections at 6:18. Whilst I seem unable to actually run fast (say 10k pace) during these sessions, it was undoubtedly a great marathon training effort. Stunning morning: -3C warming to 1C, lots of sun and very little wind.
Impressive multi-lap long run Ramjet. Sorry to hear about the PF hope it’s nothing serious.
Great long run too NE, MP+10% in snow can’t be easy. Speedy reps too.
Good to see a crazy training day from you Jools, you’ve been far too sensible lately
Great training from you SQ, in spite of the knee lay off, and the dreadful weather on Sunday.
Well done getting out in the cold Steve.
Solid long run Hazel, impressive to feel fresh after that.
AWC have you had your voucher yet? Agree better than nothing, although I’m still down on the parking are prepaid for
Great reps and MLR John.
Good long run Westy. What forecast are you looking at? Easter looks ok around here from what I can see. I really hope Sunday is the last I’ve seen of a treadmill for a while!
The disappearance of the snow was very rapid here, on Monday morning some bits were looking quite compacted and I thought it might hang around for a while, but by the afternoon you’d never have known it had snowed. As SQ says, we spent this morning chasing each other around the racecourse in pretty perfect conditions - sunny, still and chilly, but thankfully ice free. I was doing the last big BAC session, 30 mins @ MP, 4x5 mins @ LT, then another 30 @ MP to finish you off. This week has been less stressful at work and I was feeling much more up for it. I made an extra effort to prepare everything the night before and get an early night, and I also made sure I amped myself up for the session, as I wanted to end on a high.
This all worked well, with the first 30@MP averaging 6:16/mi and the legs were feeling great, despite the fact I still have over 100 miles in my legs over the last 7 days. I was unsure how the 4x5 would go but they were pleasingly consistent at between 5:48/mi and 5:53/mi, which is probably a touch below LT, although given the lack of buildup races it’s hard to say. I tried to be strict with the recoveries on these, and kept them to the prescribed 2 minutes.
My legs were feeling pretty tired after those reps so I was worried I’d have another poor second MP section, as happened with a similar session two weeks ago. However I dug in and managed an average of 6:20/mi for the second 30 minutes, which given everything that had come before I was happy with. Overall it came out as 18 miles at 6:32/mi average, bit of a monster session! Very satisfying to complete this last big session well, especially after last week. Now the taper really can begin!
It was a gorgeous morning for 5 x 600m (except with the Apple Watch I had to keep taking a glove off to double tap the screen to mark the end of a lap
Splits were between 2:05 and 2:15. I sensed that the remnant of my cold was limiting my top end slightly so I'm happy with that.
Spoons / SQ - Nice sessions from you.
Another easy 6 miles today 9:26 average for 122 bpm HR.
Westy: good job on the 18 miler on a Tuesday
SQ: nice MP session from you as well - as you say it was a fantastic morning to be out.
15 mile MLR this morning - not surprising it was a bit of a struggle after doing 6x1km reps last night. Just one more of those left next week thanks goodness
Last night's reps were 3.55/3.48/3.49/3.52/3.50/3.53 - pretty happy with that given I'm still not 100% recovered from this cold - seems to be hanging about for ages
Glad it's getting warmer, although the forecasters have suggested Easter weekend could bring some cold/snow for some of us
Strong reps last night NE
Bad news on the office news Westy
SQ and Spoons must do more laps around that racecourse than the horses. 2 big sessions though and put you both in a good place ready for the taper
Hope you shift the cold fully Ramjet, still decent reps!
After those two runs AWC I'm not surprised you were knackered
It looked a fantastic couple of days Joe, lovely! Not sure I could stand the heat for any runs though
Felt knackered yesterday afternoon so binned any run. 40 mins steady today at a tidy 6:53 pace
Good intervals from John, AWC & Ramjet too. 14M into a headwind too John - ouch.
Ramjet: I had such bad PF 2 years ago I couldn't push my heel off the floor. Managed to shift it by regularly rolling a 500ml frozen 7Up bottle under it for 20 minutes at a time.
Mind blowing session from Spoons which rather eclipsed SQ's impressive BAC session.
Too far to commute then Westy? Nice work on a Tuesday 18.
Even though the weather was relatively good out Wednesday is my pro TM session. Wanted over 15M to round the week to 60M in 3 days. After 300m at 8s to get into gear (me & the TM) I did 4M at each of 7:43, 7:26, 7:09 & finishing on 6:54 before a final lap of decreasing pace to warm down. Scores on the doors 16.28M in 1:59:15 so a sub 2hr marathon
Not bad: 104M in the last 7 days culminating in 4M@(almost) MP.
Huge 7 days from you, Jooligan. How is the knee? Sure I can't tempt you with the marvellous Cleevewold this Sunday. Everyone gets a beer at the end!
Tidy pace indeed, Scott. Things are starting to look good.
So Ramjet, are you, overall, a fan of the apple watch? I'm still vaguely considering one. Some strong reps from you and AWC.
The jungle trek photos looked brilliant, Joe. I think after all this cold weather, 14C sunny in London could feel similar.
Much needed off road recovery this morning. 5M a 8:35s. An amazing morning - back to the shorts. Lovely sunrise too. Will be taking it very easy after yesterday's big session, in advance of said Cleevewold race on Sunday. Don't forget the clocks go forward!