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P&D Autumn Marathon 2018
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Great work John, shame about the wind as you could have gone even quicker
Solid days training Jools, certainly would have worked up an appetite with that lot
75min long run this morning averaging 6:37. Pretty tired after yesterday an getting up to watch the GGG v Canelo fight.
Also 2:01:39!!!! Kipchoge you legend. 34.5s 200m x 211......WOW.
And John, good work running it and getting that time.
Just sat on the Piccadilly Line heading home with my wife and our mates. The reality of life firmly kicking back in. Got the nursery drop tomorrow morning... I managed 2:45:31 today and I’m really pleased. I’ll return to write some more...
I love Berlin and its marathon so much. And Kipchoge.
Love the report Chick & great PMA after your hammy scare this week.
I had every confidence that PB was going to get smashed Hazel after your consistently quality training & recent race results. 26.2@MP is always a tough session but you gauged it perfectly by the sounds of it.
Looking forward to the full reports later in the week.
The Black Mountains were Welsh: Wet & Windy with rubbish visibility. Got round OK though so 17.6M with 4,700ft of ascent in the bag brings an end to the week: 88M & almost 9,000ft
Hazel - brilliant running, I'm so happy for you. You really deserved that, and that's a fantastic time.
dct - cracking run, is that a PB?
Chick - sounds like you had a brilliant day out, and to go 20 mins faster 10 years later is super impressive. Your description of the race makes me want to do it again soon, I remember how awesome it was.
Solid weekend as ever Jools.
So I managed to win the Brighton triathlon. Not quite sure how. Thought I might have overcooked it at parkrun the day before getting slightly carried away running 18:30. Conditions on race morning were pretty bad, with some big swells and lots of nervous faces.
The swim was a real fight to stay afloat, plenty of people being pulled out. I was glad to be away onto the bike and only a couple of minutes off the lead. Caught the leader at halfway (20km/40km) and asked him if we were in 1st and 2nd which he confirmed. Ended up coming into transition with a 30 second advantage.
Very surreal heading out to the run course and immediately being joined by a lead bicycle who introduced himself as Steve and told me he'd look after me. I let him know I hoped to be with him for the duration but couldn't promise anything.
The run was 4 laps of an out and back course so I could use my watch to get a time gap to those behind. The lead began to grow and coming into the last lap I knew barring disaster I had the win and started to enjoy myself a bit more. Was nice to run a controlled 10km off the bike (37:58) and not have to charge out onto the run like a mad man.
Just under 4 weeks to go until Kona, last few weeks of training now.
Hope the marathon recoveries go well!
Speedy grass session Scott.
Nice work on the parkrun course PB Jools, and a quiet weekend as usual!
Congrats John on the sub-3, great stuff. I said to SQ this morning I couldn’t imagine signing up to a marathon with such short notice, but it certainly worked for you!
More congrats to Hazel, DCT and chicksta on the PBs, look forward to the reports.
And even more congrats to Joe on the win! Amazing. What a weekend for the forum.
Kipchoge’s result in Berlin was amazing. His consistency is incredible, 9 marathon wins on the trot, which could easily have been 10 if he hadn't done the Breaking2 project. And I just love watching him run, or hear him speak about running. I feel bad saying it, but god I hope he is clean!
Worcester 10K for me yesterday, which I finished in 42:52, my slowest 10K since 2015! Very mixed feelings. I can’t help but feel a bit dejected that my pace for 10K is now slower than I was knocking out long runs at back in March. And the negative, illogical side of my brain wonders how I’ll ever get back to where I was.
On the other hand, I got around pain free, and the feet feel better today than they have done for ages, which I’d take over a faster time any day. Given some of the horror stories I’ve heard about PF, I know I’m lucky to be running again so soon (even if it felt like a very long time off!). And logically I know that I can get back to where I was (and hopefully go further!), I just need to stay sensible, be patient, and keep slowly building back in to things.
AWC I really enjoyed the P&L half plan. Felt it got some great speed in my legs.
Scott – looks like the planned Berlin pacing was spot on! Although the highlights seem to show them falling off early, and at times not even blocking the wind for Kipchoge. Super long run from you. Looks like your endurance and your speed are in fine fettle.
Very impressive weekend, Joooligan. What is the race you were recceing?
Great stuff, John. Immense thread skills to smash a sub 3 on one week’s entry notice.
Well done, Hazel, I am so pleased for you. Love it when a plan comes together! Well done also dct – rapid time there. And chicksta, that is fantastic! A great approach and mental strength when things got tough. A lot (me included) could learn from this. Hope the hangovers are all suitably errr present.
Awesome stuff, Joe. Great win. HA - where is the yellow card?!
Brilliant fun at the Worcester 10k yesterday. Not the PB (sub 36:10) I was kind of hoping for, but a solid hit out instead. I hadn’t quite realised the scale of the event, with a very impressive 3500 across the 10k and half. Although a bit twisty for my liking, it is a super route and it is great fun blasting down the closed high street and really gunning it round the river. I managed some impressive splits: every mile getting slower, but can’t complain with 36:59 and 29/2250. I started off at some nice 5:45s, but was disappointed the final leg along the river, with the wind behind, didn’t see me clock a sub 6 minute mile. Ultimately, all roads lead to Abingdon, and I did run 19M in total on Wednesday, so can’t complain. And I managed to finish ahead of two or three or I would usually consider faster. Great to see spoons back in action, and he was even still in one piece for a recovery this morn.
With Cheltenham Half two weeks away, I am planning on a big one this week. Unfortunately this clashes with a very busy time at work, but I’ll do my best to sneak in some doubles to bump up the mileage. Quite a nice feeling for the legs not to be ruined this morning after a long hard run. Even wearing the racing flats yesterday doesn’t seem to have battered the calves too much.
Great 10k time, SQ.
And a careful 10k, spoons. Your speed will come back, don't worry. It's more important to overcome the injury and strengthen your body so that it doesn't reoccur.
Thanks guys. It's easier to reassess if you have a DNF to get over, trust me. Back then I was running 25k with a broken foot before I couldn't hobble another step
Annoyingly, my legs feel almost normal today, apart from the pain at the insertion point of the biceps femoris. Seeing the physio on Friday. If it weren't for this isolated spot of pain I'd have done a little recovery run today. Maybe it's time again to brave the pool instead. My swimming has fallen by the wayside.
Quite pleased to see I came 51st in my age group yesterday. Would have rather been 49th but that can't be helped now
Also pleased to see yesterday was my highest ever marathon wava: 74.56. My 6 year old PB was only 72.94.
I got in with a ballot spot again, registering mostly out of intrigue to see what back-to-back marathons could produce with London earlier this year. I've not been able to find the rhythm in the training that I did using P&D in 2016. That is likely to do with home-life and a lack of sleep. So throughout the training, the Wednesday MLR – which I've previously loved – came hard most weeks after a tough Tuesday session. I firmly believe that these two sessions are key to marathon success when following the plans. There's something about back-to-back double-digit runs. Anyway, you all know this…
You all also know that the 55-70 doesn't have enough 20-plus long runs, so I ended up doing a couple of 22s (one with 12MP), and a couple of 20s (one with 10MP), plus some 18s and whatever it is in the early stages of the 12-week block. A 10k tune-up two weeks out (as the plan suggests) produced a 36:38 – which was me at what felt like my absolute limit. This was also the first time I'd raced a 10k. I really liked it and will probably do a few more.
I went into Thursday evening's opening to the carb load at my lightest weight since I was maybe 17 and playing a lot of football (I'm 33). I tried three days high fat, low carb last week, then from Thursday evening went carb heavy until Saturday when it was still carbs but just not silly. This is the first time I've taken any notice of nutrition with marathoning. Maybe it helped yesterday? We also don't eat meat at home so it's been a year since I've had any of that. Plus I don't really have any dairy either. Don't know what that means, just pointing out a change from marathon training a couple of years ago.
Woke up Sunday morning and had a plain bagel, a peanut butter Clif bar (more food chat) and half a bottle of the chosen energy drink and stared at nothing for a while. Eventually headed to the bag drop. Sat near my bag drop area, stared at nothing some more, got changed, headed to the start, downing the second half of the energy drink half an hour before the race (as it instructs), did a mile warm-up, got in block B and stared at my Garmin (a lot of staring going on) wondering if it would ever get signal. It did and as the gun went off and we moved towards the start it lost signal. I stepped to the side, got some laughs, clicked back in and off we went.
For the past week or so I'd been thinking around 6:20 a mile would do it for a while and if it felt too much I'd back off. So it went: 6:19 – felt fine; 6:14 – oof a bit quick but I feel ok and that is a few seconds to play with at some point down the road; 6:12 – erm; 6:16; 6:10; 6:13; 5:59 – oh dear, actually slow down now.
I was taking a gel every 25 minutes and only taking cups of water at stations. Again, I'd only ever randomly taken on two or three gels during a marathon, plus a few gulps on a sports drink that was being handed out around the course. This time, I had three gels with me and my mate was popping up with one three times throughout, so yeah, I took six gels yesterday.
Got to 10 miles in 62:13. Got to half in 82:17 – my fastest half time on record (I don't race HMs much) – so I was averaging 6:17/mile, and knew for sure there was no way I could repeat that in the second half to dip in under 2:45 (this had never been my goal until I crossed the start line), so agreed with myself to settle down a bit. Mile 14 was 6:09…
I still lack any kind of discipline with running…
Miles 17-21 were probably the toughest, but this is my fourth marathon now and I'm familiar with this feeling, aware that it doesn't last forever. And that it's about to take from me everything I have to offer, and this is why I run marathons. During this period of a race you learn a lot about yourself. I can see the appeal of even longer distances, or more challenging endurance events. But I think the marathon presents me with about as much of myself as I can face.
The 25-min gels were a nice distraction, glancing down at my watch and telling myself, "Oh, I have a gel to take in seven minutes, that'll make it better."
Mile 21 was a 6:12 and from then it was a couple of 6:21s, a 27, 22, and mile 26 was a 6:33. I was completely spent. A 'sprint' through Brandenburg Gate and down to the finish line at 5:51 pace and a nice 3 minute and change personal best.
For a moment last night there was a lingering thought of, 'If I'd done this or that, I could have gone under 2:45.' But it quickly passed because I realised that it undermines the hard work I've put in the past few months and also undermines the honesty of those 2 hours, 45 minutes and 31 seconds yesterday morning.
Gotta love WAVA Chicksta 😃
Decent 10K SQ but understand why you’d be disappointed not to be closer to a PB given the phenomenal training you’ve been putting in. Maybe you need an easier week?
Don’t despair Spoons. Looking at your splits it appears speed endurance had gone as you faded after a decent enough 4M. Best thing is you’re back on it today.
In York for a couple of days on a CPD course so found a park with a nice flat MT mile loop & jogged round that first thing. Loosened up after a creaky first K to bag 6.5M. Hopefully get out for the same again later.
And well done Joe. Being out in front on your own, very impressive. Must have been a great feeling.
Another 6.8M this evening: wu, hard 5K (20:39) round the Heslington Parkrun course, cd. Effort was a bit faster than MP for 2M then ramped it up: final K in 3:52
Great long run with LT, AWC.
Watch out for that hamstring, chicksta. Good you're getting it seen too. There are times when mine still nags me many months on.
Excellent report, dct. And always good to analyse differences in approaches. Seems like you were flying from the off. I love the (very rare) feeling of trying to hold back, being unable to, and not actually crumbling to pieces! Great racing.
Good bit of tempo there, Jooligan. Continuing the parkrun tourism even mid week. You're right about an easier week, although I am definitely prioritising Abingdon. Will cut back a little in advance of Cheltenham Half - but again, certainly not an A race.
3M recovery yesterday afternoon, to give 11 for the day, all at 8:45s. 10M easy this morning on the canal with my friend the crane. 7:45s. Legs probably felt a bit stiffer than yesterday.
Well done Hazel, Chiksta, DCT & John; seems like everyone hit their targets.
Solid 10k SQ and good to see you back at it Spoons, fitness will come back in time.
Joe - Well done on the tri win at a canter too!
I will have a longer read back to see what the rest have been up to but looks like Scott is still in good form and HA is back at it. I look forward to maybe crossing paths at the XC soon.
My lack of posting is generally due to the achilles injury and the lack of running. However I do seem to be over the worst of it.
I did the club 5k last weekend winning that against a very average field, I just cruised round in 19:xx and carried on to do 10 miles, first double digit run in ages. Also did a triathlon relay at Dorney a couple of weeks back, all three team members do all three bits. Anyway we won by 8 minutes so that was fun although it would have been nice if it was more competitive. Week before did the Reading triathlon finished 5th there. Also planning to do the Windsor half in 2 weeks as a training run for the Ibiza middle distance triathlon at the end of October.
Also huge congrats to Joe on the win, if anything you seem in even better shape building up for Kona. Love the targets you’ve set as well, no sandbagging this time.
Good to read about the solid racing from SQ, spoons, jools and reg.
AWC - congrats on the new arrival, enjoy the family life and ramping up the running.
Race report coming up.
I am relieved to read that your hamstring held out Chicksta. Interesting to read all the things you noticed - I was PB hunting and trying not to barge into people most of the time and missed a lot of it somehow - especially the music. I did notice:
The Welsh Black Mountains sound about right - thats a big week mileage and climbing wise Jools.
Congratulations on your tri win Joe. A first for you if I recall? Did you get a nice prize?
The Worcester 10k result does sound like progress Spoons even if you are disappointed with the time. You've summed it up well in the "On the other hand" bit of your post.
And a good result for you too SQ in the same race. I hope work lets you get in some good running this week.
Good progressive running at 5:30 AWC. I hope Archie is thriving.
Well done on your 5k and tri wins Reg.
Can recommend Berlin JohnOz - my first time at such a big race and I surprisingly loved it despite the masses. I got in via the ballot first try.
Thanks for the congratulations for my Berlin result. I am very pleased - everything went well on race day. One exception - I also had troubles with my GPS not finding a signal at the start and it froze after just over 2 miles. Fortunately the clock function kept ticking so I could at least keep an eye on my pacing. It is a bit annoying not to have the track but I know I ran the thing and the results confirm it.
Legs are not too bad today - were in surprisingly good shape immediately post race and during yesterday - just a bit sore today following yesterday's 10 hour train journey home.
Right - need to get stuck into writing a decent report.
I see you've been for a run, Hazel. Tough as nails! Good point about GPS - all that really matters in a big race, with accurate and regular markers, is the timer function.
I forgot to mention the dude in the pinstripe morph suit and fedora hat. He impressed me so much I tapped him on the shoulder and said "you're sexy and you know it"
John: What Hazel said. I got into Berlin via the ballot too. Guy from work was lucky too. It seems you get in a lot easier than London. Fab pic, great pacing and enjoyable report. Fingers crossed for Tokyo
Did a lunchtime gym session today and everyone at work said "but you just ran a marathon on Sunday, you're nuts. You should rest" problem is I've not stopped eating since Sunday and if I don't start training again soon I'll get fat.
Jools: Nice 5k run and fast finish.
Cross post: Awesome casual marathon and report John. Great photo under the bridge. I think you've found what works for you now, which is half the battle. Good luck in choosing next year's battle !
I was also impressed with Joe's triathlon walkover ! A future star, folks, and we all know him !! Remember us when you're famous Joe.
Of course lots of excellent training from everyone else too...unlike me. That feeling of being knackered I mentioned last week presaged being ill. I had been planning to do the vo2max session from the P&D taper schedule but didn't feel up to it. Then thought I would do it within parkrun but ended up sleeping a lot instead. Finally got out for an easy 12m on Sunday but that felt rough as can be. I tried a mile close to marathon effort at the end of it and the pace was a far cry from my recent runs. I'm going to do the rehearsal mp run tonight and then eat and sleep as much as possible for the rest of the week.
Choose the wrong Italian to eat the spag Bol the night before! Tiny portion in comparison to the usual carb load meal!
Morning of the race... I realised my watch had not charged overnight faulty USB 😱 and my friend was in a separate pen (my usual pace setter)! Therefore I had to run the first half of the course with no idea what my time was as I didn’t register what time I set off!
Then mile 1 I lost two gels out my belt.. panic 😭! Then gel one happened to run right through me enforcing 2 unscheduled toilet stops (didn’t happen in training) throw in the stifling heat my dreams of a PB went up in smoke,!
I was hoping for a 3:50 to 3:55 but realistically I know my speed in my runs just hasn’t been there this training period but thought or hoped it would be there on the day!
I came over in 4:07... I knew it wasn’t great with 2 miles to go when the inevitable fading starts to happen.. I left myself too much to do.. I was running scared
Scared of the heat, scared I was going to get cramp early scared I was running too quick! I ran within myself!
Kick in the teeth but massive lessons learned.. one positive is I did not get cramp at all (used the magnesium / salt tablets every 5k) and I ran without stopping (not counting the toilet) for 24 miles!! I know I am capable of 3:45 in time I just need to get more consistent now and carry on instead of having an enforced break early this year! New York in 6 weeks to try and restore some pride if I have anything left in me...
Then the Conwy half (10 year anniversary) to finish off race season!
3 majors down London, New York and Berlin done 3 to go.. added bonus of doing NYC again..
Next year hoping Chicago but with the new arrival expected in spring 👶🏼 Might have to delay that idea.. I’m 33 I want all 6 by 40 so plenty of time!
Chicksta - love the attitude and the result, and the placing and the wava, well done. If there was an enter Berlin 2019 button at the end of your post I would have hit it straightaway. Maybe one day, meanwhile I've got the Doobie brothers in my head, on repeat
Hazel - fantastic result and richly deserved. Look forward to reading more about it but a 10hr train journey home ?
DCT - a 3 min PB for a 2:45, brilliant. As you say those midweek MLRs can be difficult to squeeze in amongst real life so well done. I always try to remember its not just the day but the training block before that we should all take pride in, hope your proud of yours.
John - great report and race. Sounds like one of those dream days. You've been posting some quality stuff on Strava so I had every confidence in you.
Joe - congrats on the win in Brighton. Bodes well to take the win with a controlled run. Less than 4 weeks to Kona, thats come round quick.
SQ and Spoons, well done in the Worcester 10k - I had it in my head it was Telford last weekend, I hope nobody turned up there on my account.
Jooligan - very jealous of that elevation in the recce run (or vert as the cool kids say), not so jealous of the wet and wind though.
Good to read the achillies is improving Reg, you'll need it for all the clubbing out there, the tri is just a front right ?
Fingers crossed you can shake it off Muddy, rotten timing.
Sterobbo - you need to get yourself on the P&D plan (if not already), and welcome.
I'm trying to maintain a decent mileage here, racked up 101 last week, all a bit one paced but not overly tiring which is hopefully a good sign.