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P&D Autumn Marathon 2018
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No Target Jools - Just entered it really to get my base back up for spring marathon training as my GFA has changed to sub 3:10. If I can get round in about 3:30 I will be happy.
3x20 milers is a minimum for me really.. normally like to make sure my 5 longest runs are 100 miles
3000 miles a year is insane. that's averaging almost 58 miles per week! I doubt I have even done 1000 miles this year.
I hit 3000 miles for the year sometime Sat afternoon. No doubt you’ll do it Jools.
I was feeling quite smug Sat evening with how I had looked after my quads. That changed Sunday when I had to walk up some stairs. Time to see if a small hobble loosens them up.
Spoons - good to see you getting back to some good fitness. Decent speed in that longer run on Sunday; you'll be back to where you were before you know it.
HA - I'm working near Queens Park now which I don't think is too far away; potential to resurrect lunchtime/morning runs?
Busy few days as I started a new job yesterday, so trying to get settled and work out how to tailor training around that - you guys know how it is.
Had the London XC champs on Saturday at Parliament Hill. 10km (actually measured 10.6km), conditions were pretty good, but a month of lounging around and binging hasn't done my fitness much good! I was soundly beaten by many I'm usually ahead of. Suppose I better start doing some actual training at some point.
Followed that up with a 16 miler on Sunday with Katie, nice social pace. That evening we had our annual club awards/party. Managed to take triathlete of the year, which I genuinely wasn't expecting because there's loads of great people at the club. Had a few too many which made the first day in the new job slightly more challenging that it should've been.
Should probably start tapering for Valencia next week. But I'm pretty sure you have to do training for a taper to be effective
Steve - Very impressed with your motivation and sensible comeback from injury. Certainly no need to even think about speedwork at the moment. Hopefully the improvement continues.
Macca - Not surprised you're already over 3000 miles for the year. Smashing it.
Jools - That's a solid commute. Great way to build those base miles. I really wish I could do a run commute but it'd be pretty much a full marathon so not realistic as a regular thing.
Got back up to the track this morning in full winter kit for 4x100, 6x300, 6x200 with equal slow jog recovery. A bit better than last time, managing 51-53s for the 300s and 34-35s for the 200s. Nice to think that my all out, gut busting 200s were at Kipchoge's marathon pace.
Really struggling for motivation at the moment. Keep putting off swimming as I just really CBA, so I've only been like twice in the last 5 weeks! Think the ultra is actually just only catching up with me now. 7 miles this morning after 2 days off but it wasn't enjoyable.
I see someone else’s name from the thread on the lottery list...
HA - that puts it into perspective, decent pre work work out though.
Joe - I can imagine the swim being the first thing to go when motivation dips. Some recent big efforts and a new job (good luck btw) are bound to take their toll.
some more recovery miles for me today. It feels like I’ve got a new pair of legs compared to yesterday. I can now lower myself onto the toilet seat without completely dropping that last 3 or 4 inches. Simple pleasures.
HA – I only just picked up on the fact that a half PB would be an assault on a 25 year record. That is huge! Anyone else come close to being in shape to target times from a good length of time ago? Very impressive. Brilliant you’re back at track and yes, it’s incredible to think about Kipchoge’s MP. In fact, I gave an assembly about him this morning. Not sure anyone had a clue who he was.
Building well, FBT.
Good to catch up on Monday, spoons. Looked like some more tasty reps from you today and a great long run at the weekend. I’ve got no doubt that come the Linda Franks 5M in January, running hierarchy will be restored – I’ll be hanging onto your coattails again. Forgot to say how funny the Adam Buxton video was, brilliant.
The Elan Valley looks a lovely race, Jooligan. I enjoyed the tapering article (or at least the abstract). Just a thought – as they were all elite runners with presumably massive mileage, does that affect the nature or the required taper vs us mere mortals? Obviously not including your heroic efforts in that bracket.
Super running at the WW50, Macca. Really consistent pacing. Lol at your description of dropping from a few inches above the toilet. The mind boggles. After my first marathon I had such bad DOMS the evening after, I fell over in the fridge aisle of Tesco. A pensioner had to help me up and I nearly crushed her buns.
Rapid parkrun, muddy. Genuine question: had you not realised you had forgotten the barcode until after the run, do you think you’d have gone faster?
AWC – you’re still loving the loops. Have you made a full loop a strava segment yet?
Hazel – the weather gods hear your pleas! A brief hint of snow in the Cotswolds today – although nowhere near like Europe.
Talking of which, anyone see the day of and day after photos of Queenstown Marathon that Joe did a few years ago? Bearing in mind it is summer there, the snow the day after was incredible. Would love to head back there for some races/trail running one day. I wouldn’t worry about motivation for swimming being low, Joe. You can’t sustain it year round. I’m just impressed you get on the bike in filthy weather – that would definitely be the first to go for me.
You’re building back really nicely, Steve. Keep up the great work.
I should crack 3000 miles for the year by the end of November. But am conscious of getting a little obsessed with mileage. 15 hilly miles at easy effort on Sunday, exploring the marvellously named hamlet of Stanley Pontlarge. Tuesday morning saw a random session of 4 x 2 minute hill reps then a few miles of MP. Tomorrow morning looks cold: -2C! Planning a third Mona Fartlek.
Plenty of quality running from yourself, Spoons & HA.
Led a track session at lunch for the kids 6x300m off 100m jog recovery then 2x400m off 400m but only really pushed on the 400s as I'd hoped to get another Workout Wednesday TM session in but marking & then report writing took so long I got kicked out of work before I could even begin it. Did 10M round the Spring HM course in the moonlight which was lovely. Almost ran over a family of boar then met some more about 4M later who were definitely more alarmed than me. I ran some hard miles at the start to get warm then a couple of 800m intervals right before the massive climb then trotted round the 2nd half which is gradually uphill in the main.
Sorry guys, been a bit AWOL. Now just spending what feels like absolute ages catching up. Serves me right.
That's Switzerland for you. I wouldn't touch a builder's loo with a bargepole over here ...
Joe: Looks like triple congrats are in order: 1. the Gower, 2. new job and 3. club award. Nice work on all 3 occasions. Hope you settle in quickly and find that work/train balance
Jools/SQ: Nothing wrong with a bit of Prodigy. Their lyrics are tame compared to most rap shit that's played on air these days. And the beat really gets you going.
And an impressive 10 mile / parkrun combo the other day. Echo what others said. I'm shattered just reading about those exploits. You seem to be quite bullet-proof.
Sounds like Spoons is back. Yay! That's your patience coming good. Brilliant.
Casually dropping in another ultra. Brilliant!
Sensible plan Steve. I'm really enjoying P&L training but deffo better to establish that aerobic base first. Mileage plus tough sessions equals injury.
I'll never get this ultra/lottery/points stuff. Being 1 of 20k tickets would sound to me like you have a spot in the race but it seems that's not the case. But good on ya (and Macca).
Have probably missed one person or the other but my brain is a bit fuzzy what with all the catching up.
I'm in week 5 on the P&L half marathon plan which is a recovery week. So no sessions other than a 9 miler with a bunch of strides which I did in cold wind and sleet today. The joys of winter training. In fact I wimped out twice this week and hit the gym. Managed my longest ever treadmill run (10 miles) yesterday. Usually dropping dead with boredom after 7 but ground it out. Sweat fest!
Good work with P&L, chicksta. Doing that programme really got me into strides.
Average Mona Fartlek for me yesterday. Short recovery this morn, then hope to have a crack at parkrun tomorrow. If it’s still the summer course it’ll be muddy and slippy. If it’s switched to winter it’ll be crowded and long! Should be a rare buggy-free run though so will give it some welly.
Good luck with the parkruns this weekend chaps.
I'm quite fortunate with the new job (or maybe I was savvy), in that the owner of the business is a mad-keen triathlete and qualifies and races Kona nearly every year. She's pretty incredible actually. Took up running in her mid-40's, coming from a background of smoking 20 a day. Trained for 4 months and ran sub 3 at the London Marathon. Think of the potential that had always been there!
After talking about lack of motivation, I've actually been swimming twice in two days. Running legs have gone amiss though - I think it's a delayed reaction with the ultra catching up on me - only ran twice this week.
Good timing with Valencia just around the corner!
Call it extreme tapering for Valencia. Is it next weekend?
Jools: Monster mileage! Crikey. Good luck at parkrun.
11 miles endurance run. Outside, I hasten to add. Not sure I want to repeat another long TM session soon. Legs felt surprisingly bouncy.
Joe: sounds like you’ve landed on your feet. Glad you’ve got sorted work wise. Gotta pay those Kona fees somehow!!
Chick - sounds like P&L is going well and treadmill is certainly character building! The ultra lottery is like a normal lottery where they pick 500 numbers from the 20,000 tickets in the pot. The difference is 1st year entrants have 1 ticket, whereas 2nd year you get 2, 3rd year 4 etc so you have a better chance.
SQ: can’t smash a Mona every week. Hope parkrun goes well tomorrow.
I’ve had a couple of days of good running. My legs are feeling really good. A good Mona Fartlek yesterday and 8mi today where I just ran at MP from the start and kept going feeling like I was runnning well within myself.
Saw the physio today as well for a rub down which is always good to loosen up all the niggles I’ve picked up.
Everyone's doing the Mona Fartlek now. Great stuff AWC and SQ. I might have to start bringing it back soon. Great that you're feeling good again AWC, it only takes a couple of good runs to feel like you're back in the game.
There are so many good session out there to do and I'm always reading about different things I'd like to try. I really struggle to fit them all in. I did read of 2 other people/groups doing that tempo / hill reps / tempo sandwich that I thought I'd invented last year. Nothing new under the sun.
Jools - Great mileage. You might even feel better for a light weekend race wise.
Good work on the P&L chicksta. Cold is ok, cold/windy not so good, cold/windy/rain is bad but cold/windy/sleet must be the worst.
Got out for my first Wednesday double in a while the other evening following the morning track session. A pretty lame one - just 7.5 miles with a few uphill surges but it's a start. Got out for a decent long run before work this morning, mostly in the dark and offroad. Didn't push hard but felt pretty worn out by the end. At about 60 miles for the week now. Might get a run in on the weekend but not too concerned if I don't. I feel like if I can consistently sit around that 100km/week I'll be going well by April. I might try to do a bit more if time allows but that seems to be around the limit of what I can regularly fit into a week and I feel like it's enough to get me in good shape.
7M sounds about perfect for commuting distance, Joe. Hope the new job works our well.
Sorry HA, I seem to be ripping off your training left right and centre. First the Mona, then the hills and tempo. Great week for you, and I agree that sitting around 60-65M/week will have you in great shape for the spring.
2:55 for the first 800m then settled at 6:06 pace but I had a dodgy 800m after Spoons came past me on the second lap which put paid to my sub 19 aspirations. He finished strongly to dip under 19 again.
We then had a nice warm down along the river route which ended up considerably longer than planned as we had to track down my gloves & water bottle. Found the team token sorting in the cafe & discovered they'd been stashed for next week so got the key jogged back then tried opening all the doors to the pavilion except the right one, jogged back, found out which door it was, jogged back, retrieved them, returned the key then headed back to the car. All the toing & froing probably added 2M!
Enjoyable but below avergae parkrun for me. 18:51 for ninth. Slippery but seem to lose concentration and motivation a bit on the second lap. 10M total with a warm down.
Just an easy 5ish miles with some short hill sprints tonight. I do wonder what my life has come to when I jog past all the people heading out for a big Saturday night on the turps.
Rounded the week off with a steady but progressive 20M in 2:41 along the Monmouth & Brecon canal today to bring my weekly mileage up to 95. Another big week coming up before a slight taper to give myself a decent shot at a PB at Telford.
Huge week, Jooligan. And very solid 20M. You’re longer term powers of recovery are very impressive. I’m definitely not fully there post marathon, although lack of sleeping is compounding that.
Classic 10M route yesterday on a bit of a hangover. Bringing up 60M for the week. Currently sitting in the world’s worst traffic jam. Genuinely could hav run quicker.
Bad long run for me this weekend after a couple of satisfactory 20 milers, this weekends 18 miles was really hard, meant to do 20 miles but cut it sort, might have been too many hills. pace was dropping heavily towards the end.
So was building well SQ... 18:51 would get you in top 3 every week at my park run SQ!
Beautiful place to run Jools - do you run through Llangattock?
Jools - another big weekend/week! Great to see you and Spoons catching up. I think it's great that loads of us have actually met face to face now. Wokingham should be great fun. I know a load of the Stevie G thread are going as well.
SQ - nice nudge at parkrun, hard to get up for it at this time of year.
FBT - don't worry about the bad one, we all have them. Still 18 miles in the bank - top work.
So I had a bit of a sulk after parkrun on Saturday. We had a mob match against another club so big turn out. Decided I'd give it a bit of 'a go' with Valencia in mind - more intrigued than anything. No offence to anyone else (it's all relative I guess), but 19:00 was a disaster. It wasn't the quickest course (very slippy underfoot, bit of an ice rink at times), but I was beaten by plenty of club mates that historically I've been miles ahead of.
It reminded me that you can't take anything for granted in this sport - although I've probably tried to do too much post Kona instead of have a proper break. Sulk was short lived when I thought of people like Spoons who have had to suffer through injury etc - and I know things will change.
Had to restore confidence somehow so went out and ran 20 miles on Sunday at 7.30mm and actually, to be fair, that felt pretty good. All thoughts of pacing a friend to 2.45 in Valencia now seem absolutely laughable. I'm instead dropping back and will try and run with another mate who's going for sub 3. Should be a fun trip whatever happens.
I was on track to break 4000 miles this year before things fell apart. Should still manage 3000 though I think.
Kipchoge’s pace is mind boggling isn’t it HA, really puts it in to perspective.
Think you’ve earned some down time Joe, and I’m sure the motivation will return soon enough! As I keep having to remind myself, you can’t be at peak performance all the time so I wouldn’t worry too much about that parkrun. Great you’ve found another job, and the boss sounds perfect.
That really made me laugh Macca, how easy it is to get up/down from the toilet is always a strong measure of marathon recovery for me
Decent week last week overall. 800m reps on Wednesday were a touch faster than last week, and I managed to dip under 19 minutes at parkrun again. It was great to catch up with Jooligan even if our warm-down ended up being a bit longer than anticipated! Funny how many of us all seemed to be around the same time this weekend.
I said to Jooligan I was amazed by his ability to go out drinking and then get out for a decent run, and to back that up I failed to get out yesterday after a late night (for me anyway). Still managed over 50 miles for the week though, and given that I developed a head cold over the course of yesterday maybe it was for the best I didn’t drain myself with a long run. Hopefully it’ll shift soon.