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P&D Spring Marathon 2019
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SPO made me laugh
I bet TR! You should be able to cash some of that hard work in tomorrow.
Nice parkrunning Chicksta especially after a 9M wu, though sounds like getting warm wasn’t likely in that weather!
I’m enjoying the rarity of a race free weekend for once. Went back to Aberbeeg for another crack at this relatively new course as I wasn’t happy with my 20:00 there 6 weeks ago. Parked just beyond the turnaround and jogged down to the start just as I did last time. Straight away I knew it was going to go better than last time as sub 8 warm-up felt easy & strides were close to mile pace. Arrived at the start about 3 minutes before the start so dropped off jacket, gloves, buff & water bottle then we were off. The course climbs (135ft) steadily then round a cone & drop back to the start. I was out of the blocks pretty sharpish but still found myself back in about 10th however I stuck to my pace even when another couple of guys came past me after 400m or so. Got to the cone in 9:4x then hammered the descent immediately dropping the guy on my shoulder & passing 2 others in the final K to finish 10th in 18:55. Super chuffed with my first sub 19 since before VLM particularly as I ran a decent 11 miler yesterday evening. Ran the whole course again & the outward climb to get back to the car which made it 10 for the day. Since then it’s been feet up, pizza & cups of tea 😃
Really great result at parkrun Jools - great shape already coming into the spring campaign.
TR - like you said, decent training run in sub-optimal conditions. When you’re training through a race it can always go one of two ways. It all counts on the road to Brighton.
Shot out of the blocks as always in the mad scramble at the start. 3 laps with a total distance of just over 5 miles. Lost a couple of places later on in the race but was right on the limit with HR telling me I was at 10km race effort.
Ended up 49th but only 13th (!) from my club as we won the fixture again and wrapped up promotion. 5.1 miles @ 6:10mm which was decent considering the terrain and few hills.
Backed it up with an easy 20 today in Richmond Park. Starting to feel a bit more normal.
Jooligan - 101 races just seems nuts to me,but I'm on the other end of the scale. I did 2 triathlons and slowly jogged a park run with a friend.
George - when I saw your 18 miler last Sunday I had to go back and check your target time. I think 3:10 might be a bit soft
Joe - Congrats on the new job and good luck for your first day. Good running on the weekend as well.
Macca - Congrats on UTMB. I was in Chamonix over Summer for a stag and got out for a few runs. I wasn't a fan of the ascent, although that's probably not helped by all my training being done on pretty flat routes around London.
This week was a cut back week in the plan, 69 miles completed. I had a much needed delivery of some new running shoes, as the last pair had about 700 miles in them. I feel faster in the new ones and the legs feel better post run. It may be in my head, but I'll take whatever I can get.
A couple of racing questions for everyone. Firstly, I want to run an all out parkrun this Saturday to see where my fitness is at. Would people keep the plan as is and add this, shorten the 5 miles at LT on Tuesday to 2 miles or add a couple of miles at LT on Saturday after parkrun and lose the LT run all together?
Secondly, some half marathon advice please. I'm going to race Watford half on the 3rd of Feb, which corresponds with the 12 at marathon pace. I want to race 1 other half during the plan, with a flatter course profile. I'm going to keep the 14 at marathon pace as a proper training run, as I found this really useful last time round. Wokingham is the week before this, so I could drop the tune-up race for it. Sound like a sensible plan?
Agreed with the comments regarding a fast-moving thread. Good to see, but lots to catch up on.
Very solid week from you, HA. Keep at that level and you’ll go great guns in London. I agree with you about the benefits of driving to work early for a long run – excellent to miss all the traffic.
Some fantastic ultra-racing from AWC and Macca. Can’t get my head round the enormity of it. And great to see Macca backing up with 10M or recovery yesterday! Fantastic news on the UTMB, Macca. Just to shows your quality and consistency. It looks an epic location to race. I pray the weather is kind to you.
Whoops – yes, Reg. I did indeed mean Wokingham. You were miles (well about one mile) down the road at Abingdon.
Nice double commute and racing, TR. All good marathon prep as you say.
Interesting point about more MLRs and fewer doubles, Jooligan. I think my plan has something similar compared to my previous couple of campaigns. Got to be something said for continuous time on feet. Super work at the parkrun, sounds like you really smashed it. I’m sure it wasn’t the case, but do you think knowing you didn’t have an afternoon race spur to push harder than last time? Thanks for the Speedway heads up, but I’m racing the Linda Franks 5.
Spoons you are becoming quite the trail runner! Huge week for you and super long run. Pleased the feet are holding up so well.
Chicksta that is an impressive LT parkrun in poor conditions, after a 9M warm up. You’re in good shape. Hope the hamstring ok.
6:10m/m on a tough XC course is not to be sniffed at, Joe. Backed up with another long run, you’re in a good place this far out from London, I’d say.
Nothing worse than heavy shoes, Ramjet, especially when they get clogged up with mud as well. Time for some spikes!
Things are going well when 70M is a cut back week, HPR. In answer to your first question, I am racing 5M on Sunday. For me, this will replace the following Tuesday’s LT session. parkrun is obviously shorter, so perhaps you could carry on for a couple of miles after (or before) rather than mess around with trying to do an additional session.
A week of MLRs for me last week, with 10, 12, 14 and 17 completed, and a first 70M week since pre Abingdon. Staying at my parents in Wells on Saturday night gave me the opportunity to explore on Sunday’s supposed 16M. I planned a route, but didn’t check the nature of the ‘roads’ carefully enough. It was great fun running to Glastonbury Tor (hell of a climb once there), and there were some stunning views. Coming back was a complete slog though. What I though would be an awesome and flat straight road along the Levels, with the wind behind me, was in fact an absolute mud fest. Lost the will to carry on for the first time in I don’t know how long. Then seemingly every turn was into another field, sty, bog etc. Eventually made it back. All part of the adventure and good to refresh the running soul a bit.
Schedule juggling again this week. I plan to run long on Wednesday, MLR on Friday and then ‘race’ the Linda Franks 5M thoroughly un-tapered. This will replace next Tuesday’s 5 at LT.
HPR - 69 miles on a cut back week is great going, well done. I would just drop the LT altogether and do a GA or strides instead. If it's a proper all out effort at parkrun I wouldn't do an extra 2 miles on the end either, maybe just a long cool down if you wanted some extra miles. Alternatively you could do parkrun as a hard but controlled effort and include some extra LT on the end. No need to get worried if you don't do every run exactly as per the plan. I wouldn't race Wokingham hard, then do a LR with 14 miles MP the following week either. They're both pretty taxing and if you want to properly race Wokingham I would put at least another week between that and the 14 at MP. Just my opinion though.
Steve - Building nicely. Well done on the the other duties too.
SQ - A good varied week by the sound of it. That Sunday run sounds like one of my efforts. I always get a bit nervous when I come through a field up to a farmhouse, not knowing if I'm still on a right of way or not.
Ramjet - Well done on the XC with extra weight training.
Nice parkrunning Jools and chick
TR - Still not too shabby for the 10k. Just sounds like your legs weren't fresh, which is to be expected. It's usually a 5am wake up for the pre-work Friday long run.
Joe - Great weekend of running for you and great week overall. Back on track by the sounds of it. Hope the new job is good. I thought I was making a funny comment on that photo from your XC on strava but after no one else made any comments I figured that (a) I'm not that funny and (b) I'm just a dodgy old bloke. Oh well, I'll just go and hang out with Reg, although he is quite bit funnier but probably more dodgy.
Went out for an offroad tempo this morning but legs felt heavy and when I got a mild but sharpish hip pain about a mile into it, I decided to bin in and just jog around until I could get into the office. I don't think it's anything to worry about but probably last week's long run and the Wednesday double combined were a bit too much. I'll probably just take it easy for the second Wednesday run this week and maybe cut back the long run depending how I feel on Friday.
I spent Nov and Dec doing faster sessions to try to get my 5k time down but only managed to equal my PB on what should have been a faster course. Just got back from 2 weeks in Japan skiing so the running has been inconsistent but managed a couple of satisfying sessions: 3x3k and 2x5k (in 19:14 & 19:04) to prep for a 10k at the end of the month. Most noticeable thing about running in Tokyo is the pace of the average runner - they don’t hold back!
Target race is Sydney HM in May so lot of time to fill until then, will still follow everyone’s journey to VLM/Manchester/etc.
Country to Capital
Briefly, 43 miles from Wendover Bucks to Little Venice nr Paddington, the first half being largely trails and country lanes, a few undulations but net downhill, joining the Grand Union Canal for the second half of pan flat canal tow path. With a few dry weeks leading up and cold but dry conditions on the day, the course was in ideal condition. I ran 6hrs 36m last year averaging just over 9min miling but I felt in much better condition this year so had in mind to aim for a 8mm average but it did look ambitious on paper.
The first half went to plan. Although a few downhill stretches came in substantially below 8mm I was feeling good, enjoying myself, so I went with it. A few uphill miles came in above 8mm but not by much and I only spent a few secs at the aid stations to fill a bottle and grab some food.
Shortly after crossing the M25 I caught up with a guy who looked the spit of AWC, he was having none it however and insisted he was an Ali not an Alan. ( long standing threadsters will recall we've been here before). Anyway, the field had now thinned out on the canal. For the next 10 miles only the "AWC look-a-like" overtook me and I passed maybe 2 or 3 people. 7:XXmm were still popping up my watch and the turn where the canal splits soon arrived marking 13m to go. Effort was gradually increasing to maintain sub 8mm but the miles were ticking off. One lad passed me as I stopped to relieve myself (not in the canal I add) and I maybe passed a couple of others. Some kendal mint cake at the 10k to go aid station went down well and it was only the last 4 miles that slipped above 8mm but still under 8:30. A couple of other runners passed to which I couldn't respond but the finish soon appeared and on reflection to only slow marginally in the last 4 miles of a 43 mile race was a good result. I was made up with the time 5:46:07 which was just about bang on 8mm and 18th place in what was quite a strong field this year. The real AWC then turned up shortly after, although in the post race haze I wasn't entirely convinced it was him - great debut race on that course though AWC. I think the difficulty is saving enough for the second half as its almost a crime not to have enough in the tank to do the flat canal paths justice.
Legs felt reasonably good next day, well enough for a recovery 10 and the focus is now firmly on the marathon.
Sounds like a bargain FBT.
No parkrun plans until March Jooligan, they just don’t fit with my marathon schedule. And I need my Saturday lie-in! Thanks for the heads up about the 10K but like SQ I’m running the Linda Franks 5.
Great long run and mileage HA. Hope the hip is ok.
Hope the hamstring isn’t anything serious chicksta. Nice work at parkrun.
Well done on the sub-19 Jools.
Solid enough training 10K TR, eyes on the main prize as you say.
That’s pretty good going on an XC course Joe, seems like you’re getting back in to things nicely.
Well done on the 400m PB Ramjet, and for toughing out the long run.
Hydeparkrunner, like HA I would just replace the 5@LT with the parkrun. IMO a full parkrun effort is easily worth as much as 5@LT, and an easier week leading up to it will let you give it a proper go. I also agree 14@MP the week after an all-out HM might be too much, give it another week, it doesn’t hurt to jig around the plan a bit - Pfitzinger himself says they’re just examples.
Continuing to build well Steve.
Good to hear from you John. Loved the photos on Strava from your Tokyo long run. Some nice sessions there.
Superb work both AWC and Macca at C2C. Sounds like great performances from you both. Over an hour under your goal is good going AWC. And Macca, your 10 mile “recovery” the next day is most impressive/crazy!
I had a decent weekend. Saturday I felt like mixing things up again so headed up the river along the trail again. I was quite surprised to average 7:35/mi with the HR inside easy effort, as I usually find this route slower than my usual canal run as it’s mostly fields vs tarmac and compacted gravel. This was backed up with 22 miles yesterday, I felt strong and despite the breezy conditions averaged 7:06/mi. Looking on Strava I realised I did exactly the same route exactly a year ago at 7:01/mi, so allowing for the wind maybe I’m not as far away as I fear.
It’s pleasing to be upping the mileage and also still finding the pace coming back to me. And most importantly the PF is still behaving. I’ll now have a bit of a recovery week ahead of the Linda Franks 5. No real idea where I’ll be for that, but keen to give it a good blast. It’s then heads down for four big weeks ahead of Wokingham.
HA77: Hope you caught that hip niggle just in time. Good call to bin the session.
Spoons - huge week from you. Incredible scenes.
HA - apologies, realised I never replied to your comment on strava, don't worry it was funny, you're not that creepy..
Recovery day today. 1 hour turbo spin and 1 hour run commute home from my new job super easy. (The run, not the job, probably). Based in Covent Garden now, 7 miles each way, which I think is going to be the ideal distance.
SQ - excelkent week there with 4 double digit runs, marathon training gold with the mlrs in there.
HA77 - well done on those Friday big days, hope you get a decent return on investment from them.
AWC - very strong run, what a great confidence booster prior to a spring mara.
Blimey Macca, you are in good nick and strong !
Spoons - thats another quick 22m, good confidence boost that it compares well with a year ago even after you had some down time.
Back on the mileage munching with 16m mlr home tonight.
Easy with the calf, Reg.
Steve, your early mornings really are early.
Hi Madbee. They'll keep you honest here...
Easy 10 with a few strides today. Not really feeling it, but got it done. Annoyingly, my jacket sleeve kept brushing my watch and pausing it. Will have to change the position of the pause button to help stop this. And of course, stop being a jacket-wearing wimp.
Have been keeping on eye on strava and have seen some great running going on there.
Welcome back to any rejoiners and welcome to any fresh joiners.
Far too much to comment on (some 5 pages to read back through). Just a few things I picked out:
Good luck with the new job Joe. Hope it works out well. I enjoyed reading the latest blog entries.
Congratulations on the twins JCG.
Spoons it is great to see your high-mileage training after the PF issues.
Uggh to the PF for Katie and FBT. Hope it can be solved quickly.
Congratulations to SteveMac on the engagement.
Well done for getting into UTMB macca.
Great ultra races by macca and AWC.
I've made it through P&L to the highest mileage week (57 miles) without any big problems. Still working on decent pacing - slowing down the longer stuff, speeding up the fast stuff. Couple of shorter races to sign up and look forward to - will be good to have a couple of goals.
Nice to see you taking a recovery day after the 10K TR
Macca / AWC maintaining 8 - 8:30mm miles for 43 miles is impressive stuff..
congrats Joe on new job in covent garden (great place to work)
So much reading to catch up on from last couple of days.
First run back for me - 7 miles in 49 mis at moderate / strong effort, so plenty of training needed for me. only mild discomfort walking afterwards. Will see what its like in the morning.
Love the new watch with fancy graphs and heart rates etc. No idea what it means but looks good!