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P&D Spring Marathon 2019
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Got plenty of running presents this year. The highlights were Kilian Jornet’s Summits of My Life projects book. Looks awesome.
A pair of La Sportiva Rapid mountain shorts. Wore them this morning and they’re unreal comfort - no more chafing ever again with these I hope during ultra races.
12 mile trail run today felt great. Got very wet and muddy, nearly fell a few times but just loved being out there again. Felt so good I ran a Strava hill segment near home and set a new best time by a minute. One of those runs where you feel like you could run forever - felt like a 5 yes old again splashing in muddy puddles!
Really looking forward to Country to Capital race in a few weeks now.
Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all had a good one.
Congrats to your sisters on the C25K Steve.
Great long runs SQ, HA, Jools and Macca.
Nice intervals Hazel.
Really sorry to hear about the tendinitis Tom, that’s incredibly frustrating. Hope it heals quickly.
Good work sticking to the plan Reg, sure the results will start to come soon.
I see on Strava the Christmas marathon went well Joe, top work.
Love runs like that AWC.
I had a decent long run on Sunday, pace wasn’t as improved as I hoped it might given my better easy runs, but it was my first run over 20 since London (and arguably that doesn’t count given how much I walked!
) and the legs felt strong. Feet felt great afterwards too.
I’ve kept things ticking over this week with a couple of easy tens. Looking back I put in a 100 mile week over Christmas last year, not sure how I managed to fit that in!?
I made it up to the track this morning, and decided to do exactly the same session as I did on the 27th last year - 3200m, 5x600m, 3200m. I was really pleased to manage 12:01 on the first rep, just 2 seconds slower than last year.
I then did 2:09, 2:09, 2:09, 2:07, 2:04. I think I was a little over cautious on the first ones, as I was wary of over cooking it, but it was pleasing to speed up on the last ones. On average that was 1.6s slower than last year, but I think I could have pushed a little harder on those first three.
I slowed a little for the second 3200m, managing 12:12 which was actually a second faster than last year. Overall I was really happy, as I didn’t think I’d manage to be as close to my previous paces. I think the conditions were better today, and last year it was part of a bigger mileage week, but still - definite progress. It also gives me a good idea of where to pitch workouts going forwards.
On the subject of repeating last year, I think I will probably run the Gloucester 10 miler on Sunday as a roughly MP effort, with a decent warm-up beforehand. The course is lumpier than I’d prefer, but it will be good to put in a longer tempo effort and I don’t fancy doing one solo.
A return to P&6 week 2 on Monday.
Solid 20M run early this morning. 7:05 average pace, with gradual progression as per P&D. Enjoyed trying a couple of new areas of cheltenham, courtesy of the new watch mapping. One area nice, one area I injected some tempo...
Back to plan tomorrow, although the rare opportunity to race XC on Saturday means a bit of schedule tinkering.
Looks like spoons’ 10M was a slickly organised affair. Look forward to the details.
Spoons: glad to see your top end speed is returning. Puts you in a great place to start 2019
Chicksta: well done on the progression run. Great way to finish the year.
Just to say thanks for all all the support and words of encouragement from you guys on here. And the inspiration I get from the amazing training and race performances in here.
Did a final 5 miler tonight to bring up c2450 miles for the year. Target had been 2500 but a year ago we were 2 weeks away from finding out we were pregnant which has had an impact on mileage!
Not sure what 2019 holds with a young baby in tow but I’m feeling fitter and stronger than I’ve ever been so I’m hoping for a great year.
Hope you guys all have a great time celebrating the new year
Chicksta I did the P&L 60-80 this time last year. Really enjoyed the sharper sessions.
Very impressive post baby mileage, AWC. No doubt it’ll set you up brilliantly for this year.
Cracking racing, Hazel. Nice sub 7 m/m.
6M recovery yesterday and then 8 with strides this morning. Schedule juggling means I’ll probably do the 17 with 8 at MP tomorrow. Quite fearful of this one so soon!
3265M for 2018, averaging 62 a week. Keen not to be too caught up in the numbers, but helpfully it’ll set me up for 2019 nicely.
I had a bit of a laboured couple of weeks of low mileage and reduced efforts with a cold bubbling under and over. A few days off and rest around Christmas sorted it out. Like Hazel (well done!) I saw the year out with a race 'Cursa Dels Nassos 10km' in Barcelona. Starts at dusk and the sun sets as you race. The gorgeous conditions and a lightning fast field and flat course with just one dead turn in it invites you give it some welly. And so I did, on slightly tired legs, finishing 207th (!) in 34.53. Course best for me by a few seconds (I've done this race every year from 2014), so pleased with that.
Morning people.
No PC access for me over Christmas / new year, so radio silence for me.
Got the Portsmouth marathon knocked on the head which was nice. Horrid weather the day before with torrential rain and wind and during the morning. I almost bailed out, but not being a quitter, just got on with it and luckily the rain subsided as the race started.
But wow, it was a boggy slippery mess everywhere, with 60 - 70% off road and sometimes ankle deep in mud and water. Happy to have run the whole race though and finished in 3:35, so quite happy under the circumstances. Not done an off road marathon before and its quite a different experience.
Shoes and socks were straight in the bin at the end of the race as they looked more like lumps of mud then running shoes. But a well organised race overall.
Thanks for all the support and well wishes, onwards now for the serious training for Brighton and Southampton .
Quick Race report:
Morning of 23rd Dec, was nasty torrential rain and wind, making me wonder if I should bail on this race, but a friend was giving me a lift so ended up gritting my teeth and going for it.
Started at the back of the start line, due to being slightly late and spent the first few miles on road zig zagging past people. About mile 5 was the first beach section, with a climb down some rocks onto quicksand (apart from it was not very quick), a few hundred meters of horrid ankle deep sand and back on a firmer path but narrow and single file for large sections. Pace was all over the place sometimes sub 7 min miles and sometimes as slow as 9 min miles, depending on terrain and holdups.
Very hard to pace this sort of race and really had no idea, so just tried to pick people off each mile. Im really not very good at the slippery muddy stuff and found it hard to keep up with other runners, almost slipping into the river a couple of times. But on better ground managed to overtake runners. miles 10-16 were either water logged or slippery mud, and half way past at 1:42, so I knew it was going to be a slow one and even conceded this by stopping for a couple of mince pies on the way back.
20 miles point came and went and was feeling ok, but with limited long runs training knew my pace was going to suffer, but was very pleased to run the whole way to the finish line (albeit 27 miles instead of 26.2) with only a slight drop in pace to finish in 3:36.
I was then in for a very long wait for my mate to get a lift back, as he took 45 minutes longer than normal, luckily there was free beer at the finish line.
Overall considering the conditions, it was actually quite an enjoyable marathon, and unlike my normal big city marathons, made a change, but a very different experience.
I think only 5 people went sub 3 in this marathon, so hopefully in a good place for sub 3:10 at Brighton (my new GFA London time).
While it is quiet on here I am hoping to sneak back into the thread. Great to see so many familiar names still posting.
I am in the second week of P&D 55 -70 18 week plan for VLM. 12 MLR in a few hours.
Happy 2019 everyone!
Happy New Year everyone.
Great work at 7Sins SQ. Such a big PB shows what superb shape you’re in heading in to marathon training. Bodes well!
Wise to build in a buffer chicksta. Great start to your plan, good luck surviving the weather.
2450 miles with a new one to deal with is impressive AWC.
Congrats on the 5th place and PB Hazel. That feeling of legs feeling fine but cardio struggling has been a familiar one to me lately!
Nice work on the parkrun double Jooligan. Wish the two Worcester ones would do that, they’re a perfect distance apart for a 9am/10am double. Especially if they started at the woods, so it's a downhill to the next one!
Well done on the course best muddy, very speedy. I love the idea of racing as the sun sets, must look beautiful.
Great work at Portsmouth FBT, sounds like very tough conditions but good you enjoyed it.
Welcome back Ramjet, good to hear from you.
So, since that positive track session I unfortunately came down with a bit of a cough and cold. Nothing too bad, but enough to disrupt training a little. I wanted to get out on Friday, but to avoid any pressure with pace I dug out my trail shoes and headed up the river. Impressively, in the three years I’ve owned the shoes, I’ve put 30 miles in them, 10 of which was this run
It was a peaceful and enjoyable run as the sun set.
I felt a bit tired the next day, and the cough was a little worse, so I took a rest day. I was in two minds about running the Gloucester 10 due to this, but woke up feeling ok so decided to drive down and see how the warm-up went. I ran the planned 6 mile warm-up (as this was basically a long run with the race as the MP section) and felt fine so figured I would go for it. As SQ alluded to, the start was a bit of a shitshow. There was basically no pre-race announcements, just a quick note to “listen to the marshals” which soon turned out to be a bit of a problem.
The course starts with a small loop around the industrial park where it starts, and after the first loop you’re supposed to branch off about half way along. However, on our second loop we were directed back on to the loop again. I had a vague memory from last year that this didn’t seem right, but figured the marshals knew what they were doing. It was only 500m down the road when the lead runners came charging back from a turn-off they shouldn’t have taken that it became clear something was wrong.
The marshal at this point of the course didn’t know where we were supposed to be going, but thankfully someone near me knew the course from the 10k that also happens here, so we headed back and finally took the correct branch off, albeit now with an extra 1km or so ran! At this point I was pretty frustrated and my motivation seriously dipped as I weaved around slower runners who hadn’t been misdirected. I seriously considered dropping out, but figured if nothing else I was ticking off my long run.
In the end I finished with an average for 6:36/mi, 16s/mi slower than last year but not terrible given the earlier issues, my cold, and the fact I know I’m not quite in the shape I was last year. Effort felt about right for MP although the HR was measuring high. Regardless, with warm-up and warm-down it was over 17 miles at sub-7 average, so decent training. Cough was fine for the race, but did come back up in the afternoon.
I took another rest day Monday in the hopes of shifting the cough, and then yesterday did an easy 10 incorporating the NYD parkrun. It was slightly odd running at easy pace with a lot of people, but I enjoyed the atmosphere.
Today I woke up with the cough feeling largely gone, so headed up for the track for another session. The plan was 3x2mi @ LT, but I felt tired and flat so aborted the first one half way through and switched to mile reps. These gradually declined (6:06, 6:10, 6:14) so I called it a day after 3. Early days still, and no point burying myself.
Thanks chickster - Im like you re the LT runs - like to get them over and done with!
Shift that Cold Spoons and take it easy.
my first run since Portsmouth -7.5 miles so Im back in the saddle
Well done on the parkrun double Jools.
Well done on your Barcelona 10k muddy. Bit more exotic than my location for sure.
Great mara result FBT in tough conditions, hope you are recovering well. Shame about the shoes.
Welcome back Ramjet.
Good you are more or less over the cough / cold spoons. Shame about the mess up in Gloucester.
Nice LTing chicksta. I find the P&L split LT intervalls harder than the get-it-done-in-one-go P&D type LT run, but maybe that is also because I've upped the LT pace (a little bit).
Out for my first run for 2019 earlier. 14k/8.7 miles of what should have been GA effort but probably overdid it a bit due to the undulating nature of the route I used. Will regret that tomorrow - Vo2 max intervalls beckon...
Excellent performance at 7Sins SQ. The Strava flyby feature identifies the shortcut taken by those who sneaked ahead of you on that final climb. Unfortunately not the first time a TriMax event has been compromised in that way, though they are a lot better than they used to be especially this one.
Sorry to that Beyond Limitations let you (& many others) down Spoons, but I'm not surprised tbh. Good job you were only after a training session. Hope the cold clears off too.
Lots of great training going on over Xmas from many but not me. Far too much cheese & booze consumed to be making any progress but hopefully I've kept the detraining to a minimum. After ending the year with 2 days off: 30th was a hangover, then drove all day on the 31st; & starting 2019 with some woefully inadequate parkrunning I was determined to do something significant today so pleased to manage 20M with 2,000ft of ascent on Dartmoor before driving home after a week of festive hedonism. Dry January has been postponed another day at least though as went into autopilot & cracked a cider with dinner
Ramjet - Welcome back mate, great to see you posting again.
FBT - kudos for a great run in Portsmouth. Sounds like really tough conditions & terrain. Sets you up nicely for a GFA crack
Muddy - Awesome performance for the 10km. That standard seems pretty insane. That's seriously fast running. Nice work.
Don't think I've posted since before Christmas. I'll be a thread part-timer before you know it. Managed to knock out the 3rd annual Christmas Day marathon, covering the distance in around 3.25 with parkrun at the end. Always one of my favourite runs of the year, getting the Christmas songs on and running around the empty streets. I've also got my non-running Mum into running, and she broke 30 minutes for the first time at parkrun, which was awesome.
Returned to the New Years Day triathlon in Edinburgh for the 3rd year in a row. In the 24 hours beforehand, I really couldn't be bothered, and so very nearly binned it off. Decided I'd just go and enjoy it, and not worry about going fast, which inevitably turns into trying to go flat out regardless. Surprised myself with a 3rd place finish, which means I've been 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in the last 3 years. Going backwards...
Need to make a firm decision on what I'm going to focus on this year quite soon. I've got Challenge Roth, which is an ironman triathlon, in July, but at the moment all I want to do is run. But my personality is such that, I don't want to do Roth at 75%, because I'll just regret the closer the event gets. 1st world problems.
Away from running, I've out of work again. Got a few interviews in the next week so fingers crossed I'll be sorted shortly.
Disappointing organisation Spoons, there are far too many questionable race organisers popping up in recent years. I hope they all give up and leave it to running clubs and people who know what they're doing soon.
Good luck with dry January the 3rd Jooligan
Tom sorry about your injuries and family troubles, I hope 2019 will be a better year for you once all has settled.
Great work in Pompey FBT, I hope they weren't your best shoes.
Congrats on the new little one AWC!
I'm back into training now I'm back at work - unsurprisingly I haven't been especially active over the past 5 months+ due to the twins. I'm aiming for London in April, with Reading in March to test my training. I'm starting from the beginning with a DIY plan, 3 then 4 runs a week, slowly building up mileage. The goal is to successfully fit training around work and new babies and survive the race. I'll worry about times later.
Brighton 14/4
Jooligan 15weeks P&D based 55-70mpw 2:59
London 28/4
HA77 - DIY plan ~ 100km/week - 2:30
RunSpoonRun - P&D/NAZ/BAC hybrid - sub-2:45
Reg P&L 31-47mpw to Wokey followed with custom marathon plan sub 2:45
Muddy - P&D 12 week inspired but without the hard stuff - up to 60 mpw - sub 2.50
Sorequads - P&D 18 weeks 70-85M, sub 2:50 (fifth attempt!)
Just Coop Going - DIY plan - survive.
Southampton 5/5
AWC 12weeks P&D based 55-70mpw 3:15
Thanks people for kind words on Portsmouth.
Jools - I think starting at the back may have helped as I had to run the first few miles a bit slower, rather than my crash and burn approach!
Coop - no luckily they were a pair of crappy clod hoppers, so no worries throwing them! Sounds like you have a busy training schedule for London in April with Twins as well!
Joe, Christmas day 26.2 miles.... I thought the 23rd was bad enough! Kudos to you!
H Nut - luckily on this marathon there was no adverse effects next day which was nice, I guess running a bit slower saves the legs from DOMS etc. You onto the VO2 max intervals already?
AWC, Yes I'm in for Southampton this year as the Bloody VLM GFA Stazi changed the GFA times again and I need sub 3:10 now. As the horse in animal farm said "I must work harder" Also have Brighton marathon.
AWC: I had a slipped disc in 2013 and used a standing desk for a while. Since I took up Yoga in 2016 my posture and core strength has really improved and I found I no longer needed it so I'm back to a standard desk now. For some strange reason I find it harder to concentrate when I'm standing. I do follow my Garmin's "move" advice though. So I get up every hour and walk around a bit and usually take a few flights of stairs too.
Annoying thing about those VLM GFA times, FBT. Talking of horses: I very nearly hit the deck this morning tripping over a pile of frozen horse shit. Comedy moment of the day. Just about managed to stay upright
SQ: I was quite ready to take a breather after the first 16 minutes but having done a few of those split sessions taught me that it's bloody hard to get going again for the 2nd lot so I just tried to hang on for dear life. At this stage it's quite OK to run just by effort and I bet you're right about the 20 miler taking too much out of you. You didn't exactly hang around for that one either if I remember! I think your long run pace is my LT pace
Joe: Amazing tenacity there re. xmas day marathon. Did Katie run with you or was this a solo effort? Nice podium place at the NYD tri. Fingers crossed your interviews go well.
Hi Coops
Just a 10 mile GA run for me today. It was quite cold (-5) and I lost all feeling in my hands despite gloves. Took quite a while for them to warm up as I got back. The joys of winter running. On the other hand it was a calm morning with a beautiful moon and lots and lots of stars.
Nice podium JB. Hope you find some suitable work soon. As for your triathlon dilemma - I'd say go for it with the running. Try some fun stuff while you're able.
Welcome back Coops. Glad to hear that running is making a return to your life. What's the record for Bananaman pushing a buggy?
Easy 10K for me today with surprisingly bouncy legs, then my first swim in a fortnight.
Dry January has finally begun