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P&D Autumn Marathon 2019
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Had a work seminar yesterday close to my next race in Goring so took the opportunity to Recce part of leg 3 which will be night time on the Ridgeway. Got an absolute soaking and beasted by wind up there. Nice to see the course though.
Recovery today and then final long run of about 24mi tomorrow then it’s a 2 week taper.
Been tracking the British Spartathlon team who seem to have gone well with a couple of top 10 finishers in the men’s so far
A slow 23m in 3.06 on some very tied legs. Back loaded the week with 60m between weds evening and saturday lunchtime. 90 for the week.
18 (inc solent 1/2), 6, 6, 15, 12, 10 (inc 6 tempo), 23.
Taper time.
Great effort this week TR. To get to 90 with 2 sixes (sensibly post half) is some going.
AWC - I’ve never seen that part of the course in the daylight ! I’ve had an eye on Sparta too, one of four ballots I’m going for next year, unlikely, but hopefully I don’t get into all 4.
16 this morning, meant to be 20 but a few beers at a beer festival led to a lie in which reduced my window of opportunity, might have another go tomorrow.
Hamo - congrats on another PB, good to see you’re keeping the races coming. When you’re in form everything feels effortless.
Jools - impressive performance in those conditions and good to see you backing it up with the 5K.
Steve - building back up nicely, those Next% will no doubt get you a siny new 10k PB!
SQ - good luck with no.2! Everything is much easier the second time around, not least because you get less strict, although hope he/she is a good sleeper
TR - enjoy tapering, all those miles in your legs have set you up for the perfext lead in.
Macca - I wouldn’t be surprised to see your MP improve further nearer race day given your history (still amazed at your back to back 2:45/2:44 marathons this year).
AWC - glad to see your endurance is still there. And good weather training thrown in as well.
HA - good idea to do a reset for the year, XC will be great strength building. Reminds me that with the World XC coming to Bathurst in 2021, any plans to come back to see it? Looks like it has potential to be a great course like this year.
A week of easy runs to get back into it, included a few more hilly routes to start getting used to it. Then did 3x4k today working down to MP, felt comfortable until I tried to hit MP and that finished me off. On holiday next week so going to be tricky getting much more than easy running in.
John - easy running will be fine so soon after a mara.
5m easy here, no more double digit easy run days.
Spoons...Sounds like lovely shake out and exploration runs.
AWC...Nice recce, even if the weather was a bit crap.
Macca...Nice 16, and more importantly festival fun
John...sensible keeping it to easy miles.
NI & Ulster 10k Champs went well on Saturday, came 18th in fast field for a new pb of 33.40. You run along the seafront for the last mile of it, and every year there is a strong headwind to battle before a sharp 400-600m hill to climb before the finish, which is always fun on legs/lungs that have been straddling the limit for the past 8/9k
3 mile warm up, and cool down on Saturday, and a 14 mile MLR yesterday brought my weekly total to 53.
6 and 4 mile recoveries today.
John - Keep it easy for now and enjoy your holiday.
TR - Nice mileage!
Hamo - Great PB and position!!
11 miles for me Saturday then 3 miles on Sunday. All easy pace. Then did 20 minutes on the bike and some strength work for the OH's PT course!!
Another fantastic result hamo. Sounds a tough finish to the race – makes the time even more rapid.
Taper well, TR.
Berlin marathon looked epic, cannot believe Bekele’s performance. Look forward to hearing all about it from spoons. I’ve also enjoyed the world champs on tv – most I’ve watched in years. Disappointing though at the empty stadiums. And as well as the heat for the marathon, the route could not have looked more boring on TV. The mixed relay was a great idea though. Interesting the Poles went for different tactics than everyone else, with both their men running first. Worth a watch on iPlayer if you’ve not yet seen it.
Somehow ended up with a big mileage week of 84M. Ran for time on Friday – 10 min warm up, 40 min build to tempo effort, 10 min warm down. Really enjoyed just running for time, and it felt like a productive session. 40 mins at about 6:20 average. parkbuggyrun on Saturday, 5M easy. Bribery for the win.
Yesterday morning was the Cheltenham Half. I hadn’t entered (felt that it being two days after my wife’s due date would be taking the piss a bit), but as there is not yet any sign of baby I headed out early to run the course. 15M at 7:20 pace. Great fun running on the closed roads (before the race) and enjoyed a police escort for a while as they scoped things out. It’s now 4 weekends until Stroud half, so I will keep plugging away until baby comes, and then see the reduced mileage as a well time taper.
AwC - nice one, rough day yday for 24m.
SQ - exciting times. Best wishes to you all. Dont go far from your mobile phone.
I copped the forecast dunking on my mlr commute home today. 334m for Sept, goes nicely with the 339 for july and 334 for August. Very consistent, but i had a rest day in August and there's only 30 days in Sept.
Anyone watch the 5000 at the world champs? Finally a good atmosphere in the stadium courtesy of the Ethiopian supporters. Then a really exciting race. Great tactics and a thrilling last few laps. Recommended watching if you’ve not yet seen it.
TR - those consistent 300+ months should pay dividends shortly.
SQ - goes without saying, all the best. The only bits of The champs I’ve seen are clips of the empty seats, I’ll try and seek the 5000 out.
AWC - spot on with the ballots. If I’ve no luck at all I might be tempted to look at an autumn track 24hr.
Steve - a couple of runs, a bike and some strength work sounds like solid weekend.
John - I’ll never tire of being reminded about those, thanks😀 Have a good holiday.
I just sneaked 90 miles last week although strictly speaking, Sunday’s 20m finished in the early hrs of Monday, paid for it today😴
SQ - All the best. I'll see if I can catch the 5k.
TR - Super consistent months for you. That'll pay dividends at Abo!
Even though I'm racing a 10k, I stuck with the usual HM workout, so 8 miles with 2 at HM pace and some strides. Miles came out at 6:06/6:21, first one was too fast, but second was in the right ballpark for HM/LT pace.
SQ - didn't watch Berlin, but did catch the highlights. Must be gutting to miss it by 2 seconds! I've been watching most of the worlds though, the whole thing is a bit of a disgrace, it riles me up that they awarded it to Qatar, they knew exactly what it was going to be like.
The sport has been good though, like you enjoyed the relay and the 5km was decent last night. All the best with the upcoming arrival, very exciting times for you and the family.
Brilliant consistency TR, the pay back will be rewarding I'm sure.
Trying to get back to regular training, and there are some days now where I'm not feeling completely out of sorts. Any kind of effort just feels awful, but just trying to keep plugging away. Logged 18 miles on Sunday in the rain in Amsterdam, which was tough but the wheels weren't completely falling off.
Frankfurt in 3.5 weeks now, just trying to get into decent enough shape to be able to run with Katie.
TR - Great consistency, should be really firing for Abingdon.
AWC - Skipping a 5 mile recovery because of lashing rain sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Won't change a thing.
Joe - You're good mates with Kenny Bekele aren't you, after catching up post London 2017? It's one thing to be beaten by Katie on grading but surely the threat of being beaten outright by your missus will boost the motivation.
SQ - Good luck with No. 2. Hope all's well with Mrs SQ too.
With respect to the WCs I'm like Joe, it makes me a bit angry that it's in Qatar at all. I see those huge air con vents all around the empty stadium and think what a ridiculous waste. I agree with Michael Johnson's description of Seb Coe when he didn't know the microphone was still on - "He's full of shit". A tough time for Seb at the moment with his good friend, and fellow Nike Rep, Alberto out of the sport for a while now.
I liked the mixed 4x400 too. I think the Polish had the right idea as it gave them a clear run on the change-overs. The thing I'm not sure about is having a separate 4x400 for men and women as well. I heard some of the top runners skipped the mixed race as they don't want to risk their chances in the individual 400m. 5000 was good though.
John - I did know about the XC WC being in Bathurst but I'm almost certain I won't be there to see it. Do you think you'll get out there? Should be a great course on Mt Panorama but a bit out of the way.
Nothing much happening here running wise, just some lunch time runs. I meant to get up early to run this morning but slept in. XC on Sunday might be a rude surprise.
AWC...Good 24, and your just right about the cba'd in the rain, itll have made no difference.
AWC/Macca...It's been the 1st time (since running for the school, which was a while ago
SQ...That is a big week. I've been enjoying the world champs too, the 5000 was excellent and the mixed relays very interesting. Nice 15 and tempo. All the very best for you and the family with the new addition, exciting times.
TR...Excellent consistency and big mileage months, that will pay dividends shortly i'm sure of it.
Macca...Big week you've put in there, fair play to you. Not sure i'd like to copy you on the late night Long runs though
Joe...Nice 18, worst places to do a long run than Amsterdam i'm sure. All the very best with the comeback.
10 mile easy this morning, which I'll follow up with a club session tonight for the 1st time since May/June, really need to show my face again
I'll have a good read back later (I won't really) but well done to everyone on their running stuff. Quick 10k that Hamo.
On the Athletics, I thought the relay was a bit of a miss. Nobody wants to see men rampaging past some Polish woman more than once and it makes it harder to understand where everyone is in the race. The Americans getting disqualified is the only thing that generally improves the relay.
To be fair to Seb Coe it was awarded to Qatar under the old regime and for all his faults he's a lot better than the crooks running it beforehand. World Cup football is going to be fun, just wait until the tree huggers see air conditioning in lots of stadiums, stadiums that will subsequently get pulled down burying all the dead immigrant workers under the rubble.
Not much running for me after falling off my bike in May but starting to a bit here and there.
More importantly - are you runnning TVXC on Sunday?
Cautiously sticking my head in the door and say hello everyone.
Rain was rather epic. As was the chaos at the Expo. Not sure what went wrong this time. Went there on the Saturday last year and it was less crowded than the Friday this year, despite the warnings to avoid the Saturday. You can't win!
Sorry I went missing but my training for Berlin didn't go to plan and I got rather disillusioned over the summer. I kept plugging away and got most of the sessions in but they did nothing for my fitness. Paces were simply not coming together which was super frustrating. Probably time to admit defeat to the onset of old age.
There are too many brilliant achievements on here to mention. I haven't read everything (too many posts!) , but Macca's UTMB result was just too unbelievable to miss (and I read the whole report).
Also wanted to send Joe virtual hugs - I had no idea you suffered from depression. It's a serious illness and hope you are being treated properly for it. Fingers crossed for both of you in Frankfurt.
Hope Spoons did OK in Berlin and found some fins and a snorkel to complete the race
Went into the race with zero expectations and decided to run in fancy dress (hula outfit). I wore this on the Saturday breakfast run and the attention I got blew me away. Lots of random people wanting to have their pic taken with me
To cut a long story short: Never looked at my watch until 40k in and was surprised to be almost on last year's pace. With all the high fiving, dancing and messing about it sure felt way slower. In the end I was 18 secs down on last year crossing the line in 3:36 flat for my best marathon in terms of WAVA (75.49%). My fastest 5k splits were from 30-35 and from 35-40k - guess I must have subconsciously had enough of the rain by then.
Going to post some pics later for a few laughs.
I had no idea there was an XC so soon HA, might turn up if I can but there's also a bootleg local 5k with a month membership to a golf club and gym I could have a crack at. Not sure I want to do an XC and ruin my record of never finishing higher than 10th!
Joe - will katie be in sub3 shape, she must be getting there.
Chick - excellent run, shows how well folks can run if the listen to their body and run to feel.
6m tempo again today, waa tired and the 3m wu was slow, but managed to wind the legs up and the 6m was only a few seconds slower than last weeks recent best, and all of that was lost in mile 1, so not a bad run.
Abo number came today, im no 22, so i was either quick off the mark to enter, or they fancy my chances, as its not been done alphabetically.
Joe - Hope you are OK. Good luck to you both in Frankfurt, Katie will be flying.
Chick - Excellent running at Berlin. Shows you were in PB shape given no fancy dress and better weather!
AWC - You have the miles banked now, another 5 won't help or harm your race.
Easy 6 miles this morning.....was absolutely freezing though! About 4c I think! Winter has come!
Chick...Excellent Berlin marathon. especially considering the build up, fancy dress, and poor weather. Brilliant, well done.
TR...Good tempo. Must be getting real now the taper has started and the number has came?
Steve...Nice easy miles.
13M MLR this morning on tired legs after last nights club session for me.
Bad luck on the soakings AWC. Good luck with the germ avoidance!
Another big, consistent week TR. Great work.
Glad to hear it’s not all work and no play Macca! Although plenty of work with a 90 mile week.
Good work getting back in to things John.
Another amazing performance Hamo, superb.
Great week SQ.
Nice HM workout Steve.
Good to hear things are on the up Joe. Just remember how quickly your fitness turned around ahead of London this year.
Good luck for XC HA.
Sorry to hear about your accident Reg, good to hear from you.
Well done at Berlin chicksta. Superb result especially given training didn’t go to plan. I only had rain for the last 10K or so, so it wasn’t too bad. Have you seen the forecast for this Sunday? Perfect marathon weather, typical
But at least we weren't running in the wind that came on Monday I guess. The expo was a bit chaotic wasn’t it!
My plan to jump in to the “breakfast run” at the end so I could run in the Olympic Stadium, but avoid the crowded run (and risk of tripping), worked perfectly. As I walked out of the station I could hear the run approaching, so I just waited and blended in to the front. Really enjoyed running around the stadium, amazing to think of the history that has happened there. Sadly missed chicksta's hula outfit though
As for the marathon itself, things didn’t quite pan out as I’d hoped. I started ok and was on 2:45 pace through 10K, but I was aware the effort was probably just a touch too high. It wasn't super warm, but I was feeling quite hot and sweaty already. I knew sub-2:45 needed a perfect day, and it was already clear this wasn't it, so I eased back a touch. I remained on for around a 2:46-47 finish up to 30K, although the pace was gradually slowing as we battled the south-west breeze.
The legs were still feeling good, but I then had a couple of episodes where my breathing felt short and tight, and I walked to get it back under control. Not totally sure what was going on, the heart rate was ok, bit odd. I had woken up with a slightly stiff left shoulder (the pillows at my AirBnB were rubbish!), so I'm not sure if that could have affected things. After the second time that happened I resolved to just take things “easy”, and without really paying attention to my pace I settled in to my usual long run speed.
Although the day hadn’t gone as planned, I really enjoyed the final few kilometres in the pouring rain, taking in the sights and enjoying the crowds. I finished in 2:53:35, so a long way off my goal, but still my second fastest marathon time. The fact I can run a time like that when the day doesn’t go well shows how far I’ve come, and given my injury issues over the last year it was nice to just complete a marathon injury free! I thought I might be more disappointed, but I feel surprisingly content about the result, and motivated to use it as a stepping stone on to London.
My legs feel the best they ever have post-marathon, which I think shows I had a lot more in me on Sunday if things had gone differently. They're obviously tired, but the quads feel totally fine, I've not had any cramp, and I'm not fearing stairs like I normally would. I will still take this week off to give them a chance to rest and recover, and then gradually ease back in to things next week.