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P&D Spring Marathon 2020
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Great long runs there.
Monster mileage weekend there TR
Did my first 20M in a long time today in 2:31:22 though I stopped a couple of times to ingest some Haribo & a passing cyclist rescued my run with 5K to go by sharing his drink. Nice progressive run along the canal so flat but not always the best surface & some dodging of bikes & ducking under low bridges. Picked the pace up every 5M. Started with 5M in 40:50 & finished with 5M in 35:40.
My legs are definitely feeling it after 78M in 6 days & a fair bit speedier than usual too. Recovery 8M tomorrow.
Jools - good preogression bodes well first time out.
SQ - defo agree that you need to be careful re fuelling, stick with what you do, it works. I was just saying what i do. Hope the physio sorts you out. Races on the horizon tend to make the niggles more of a worry. Defo the right thing to seek advice.
Im off work this week so wanted to move my usual monday 15m fwd to free tomorrow up, felt ok so did 18m to make it a 40m 2 days. At 15m i was declaring it a breeze and that i could go 20m no trouble, there was a long downhill (over 0.5m) at 16ish and after that my quads were ruined.
TR: nice extended LR
SQ: that sounds painful. Hope the physio manages to sort things out
Jools: good job on the LR and nice of the cyclist to pull you along! 78 mile week is big mileage too
Cal: well done on the 5km
Down Royal Half on Saturday - well organised race and felt great to be back racing again. I knew a couple of miles in that I wasn’t getting close to PB pace (1:27) but I thought sun 1:30 should be possible. But soon found out I couldn’t hold that pace either for long! There was a strong breeze down the back straight and I was working too hard to keep it up so just tucked in after a couple of laps and ran more steady. I didn’t want to blow up and waste the run by jogging it home. Finished in 1:33:xx - I definitely felt below par. Legs were heavy and couldn’t get going. And weird that my last 2 fast runs 7miLT/12miMP were at 6:45/mi and 7:05/mi pace over the past few weeks. Couldn’t even hold that MP pace for the 13 miles.
Sunday I headed for the Glens Of Antrim and ran 17mi summiting a mountain called Slieveanorra twice on an out and back. Felt much better running on Sunday morning
I think partly the week of 80mi the week before might have meant my legs were a bit overcooked for the half.
7m easy peasy pace today, tired quads today.
Steve...Yea, good idea, and i reckon you'll be hitting 6.50's no bother in the next block.
Cal...I've been looking at a theragun for while now, my mate has one and swears by it. Nice of your clubmate to help you out like that, and run a speedy 5k with you too. You backed that up nicely with a scenic long run on tired legs too, which is good training, well done.
Jools...Lovely neg split runs, esp the long run, that is a cracking 20 miler, they are all good training. Good work on the fast (not) parkrun too, you are in very good nick for IoW.
TR...No wonder you where strong at Abo last year, that was some build up into it. Thats a few big days you've put in there, no wonder you felt a bit sluggish, class running. Good recovery running today, sensible.
SQ...Excellent long run session, sounds like hard work but one that will keep you interested and not overwhelm you. Sorry to hear about that calf though, hopefully the physio can work their magic and fix it quickly for you and its nothing serious.
AWC...Was lovely to meet you in person at the weekend, and really well done again. That wind on the back straight has a lot to answer for with the pace "struggles" i reckon. The more people i have spoke to who raced on Saturday (from 5k right up) have said the headwind really knocked them off their stride and felt like they had lost time because of it. So i wouldn't be too disheartened or read too much into it, it was a class run from you. Sunday looked like a lovely long run going by the pics on strava.
Saturday was my first "road" race since January, a half marathon around the ambulance track on the inside of Down Royal horse racing course (7x 1.75 mile, plus a bit laps). Met up with AWC for a 2 mile warm up before the race which was lovely, before a quick jog to a very low key start line. It was a very well organised day (with a 5k before, and a 10k after our race) and all very "Covid secure", or as much as it could be while still treating us like adults. I was hoping to run 5.25 min miles, and set off with a first mile of 5.26, so all going well until we turned the corner onto the back straight and the headwind hit me up the face, my 2nd mile falling to 5.34. So i knew early on it would be a case of head down and work hard with alternating faster, slower miles due to the wind,rather than a perfect race. I was running with a fella for the first couple of miles but he dropped back as we were running down the back straight on the first lap and i never saw him again, so i was on my own for the vast majority of the race, and although i was lapping/passing people it made it mentally harder running into the wind on my own. With 2 laps left i overheard the announcer say that i had a good lead over 2nd place, so subconsciously i took the foot off the gas a bit, as i knew my goal time was long gone, and just concentrated on not dropping any time and giving 2nd any encouragement. In the end i finished 1st in 1.13.06, exactly 2 mins ahead of 2nd place, so while it wasn't the time i was after i was delighted with the win (my first for North Belfast Harriers) and it was class to be back "road" racing, a good day all round.
Im back again at Down Royal in 2 weeks for a 10k, so hopefully the wind behaves a little better then and i can put a good marker down for Wrexham.
An 8 mile "Sunday Long run"
Double 6 recoveries today.
AWC - Good training effect even if not the pace you wanted. You have run big weeks recently.
TR - Yes, got Manchester in 2021 deferred from this year.
SQ - Nice long run session.
Jools - Nice parkrun sub 20 and long run. Good pace at MAF HR.
8 miles on Friday (instead of Sunday) and 16 miles on Saturday for a 52 mile week over 5 consecutive days.
Steve - nice, i look fwd to seeing how you go.
TR - great back to back long runs, fuelled with beer too. I over estimated my beer consumption a couple of weeks ago, I thought I was working with an over-sized glass and was filling it to the mark. Turns out the mark was just a pattern about 3/4 of a pint. Glad I got that off my chest.
That’s a great progressive LR Jools, I guess the lack of summer festivals has left you in good shape 😀
SQ - sorry to hear of the injury. Hopefully you can get some physio and recover quickly.
AWC - that was a great long run Sunday. Sorry the half didn’t produce what the training was pointing towards. Holidays (eating/drinking/relaxing) and peak performance don’t combine well for me, chuck in a bit of wind too....
Hamo - fantastic result. Sounds like a solo effort in less than ideal conditions, a day where position is a better measure than time perhaps.
Steve - hopefully I’ll be Manchester in 2021 too, this is the first year in a while without a marathon,
I had a local 10k race yesterday. If I’m honest the pre race nerves were definitely higher than a 10k warranted. In the event it was really well done (same guys that are doing Dorney). Entrants were spilt sub 50mins at 9am and 50+ at 10.15. Within a cricket field, racers were then further split into maybe 5 or 6 large coloured pens by estimated time. Each pen was led to the starting line in groups of 10 by race number and a F1 style grid system was employed with maybe 10s gaps between each start. So basically no jockeying for position or mismatched speeds. In some respects, better than a standard start. Anyways, I was 3rd on the grid and didn’t want to run in someone’s shedding slipstream so overtook 2 guys with the previous start about 10s up ahead, I reeled in maybe 4 or 5 of the previous group, each time on reaching someone, thinking I must get ahead when normally I might have been happy to tuck in. Two lads passed me towards the end but otherwise it felt a well paced race. Coming into the finish field a PB was touch and go but just short of the line my watch said it had gone so I eased up, maybe I had nothing else to give anyway. As it turned out official time equalled my PB of 36:52, I must have started my watch early on the new style start 🤣. A jog home rounded the day up to 20m. Although different to “normal” it felt sensible and still retained an element of racing. A good day all round.
A solid enough HM time but definitely slower than I expected AWC. It's only a few weeks ago you were running an LT session at that pace though so I guess it shouldn't be too much of a shock. Add in the headwind & a big week it's no wonder you weren't able to give a true account of yourself. I think Sunday's run shows where your strengths lie at the moment: strength & endurance. Sounds like you've had a good holiday & at least you've managed a race post CoViD.
Cracking (almost) solo race Hamo. As you said: no point in burying yourself once the target time was gone & the win was safe. 2 minutes is some lead. Glad to see you having a couple of easy days to allow the body to recover.
That's an outstanding result Macca. Especially given you'd done a fair few miles already in the week including double MLRs on Friday!!
Legs & body were happy I stuck to an 8M recovery as planned today.
Hamo - congrats on the win, as others have said that's a huge margin of victory. Hope you were able to enjoy finish with the pressure off.
AWC - well done on toughing it out, still a good session to bank and get race sharp. Last week was a big one so you're probably right that it left you with tired legs.
SQ - fingers crossed for your treatment and a swift recovery. We've all been there with niggles that we run through and sometimes it just disappears, other times it becomes a bigger issue. Hopefully you've managed to catch it in time.
Macca - sounds like you're in great shape and it was a well organised run. I imagine that could be the future for races and seems to work nicely for fast times. That 1 second though!
TR - impressive string of LRs last year, are you planning a similar run in for Goodwood?
Steve - great consistency, Manchester is a long way off though, are you tempted to find something sooner to test your fitness?
Cal - good to see you're back to decent length running so quickly. I've heard amazing things about the Theraguns but I guess the sounds would definitely concern your neighbours if they aren't runners!
Decent week for me, with a couple of sessions although both were a bit slower than I expected. 6x800m was on a grass oval and came out around 3:00 average, and then 4x3km at marathon effort but got carried away when the times were slowing, ended up a bit quicker than sub 3 pace. Another glorious LR though exploring more of the beaches and felt great just seeing new places. Ended up with an easy 24 miles, with this being my favourite pic:
Hamo, contrats on the win - amazing stuff!
Good work TR. Jools and Steve.
Macca - guess that was St Albans? Well done in the equal PB - did that myself at Farnborough half in January (also the same race organisers, as it turns out). Be interesting to see how it works at Dorney.
John - yeah, I just hope they don't think I'm having fun with a vibrator. I do groan a bit sometimes.
Rest day yesterday, which I needed - just had a little walk. All the sitting around made for a slow run today, though, as I think my hips were tight. Forced myself out into the rain for a recovery run with strides (7.3 miles total) - it was one of those were legs didn't feel too bad and I didn't think I was going that slowly but I was only doing around 11/min mi pace. Rainy and breezy (we're getting stronger winds later today) but mild enough still for vest and shorts. I find weather often looks and sounds worse when you're indoors and isn't so awful when you get yourself out there.
Pace picked up a little on the penultimate mile (regular easy pace) so injected some strides into the final mile and enjoyed doing them.
Physio later - foot's fine but could do with Toby's magic elbow anyway. I'll ask him what he thinks about my hand, too - it still hurts quite a bit (not all the time, but the bone is sore).
John - you are sounding fit, a goid mix of sessions. That beach looks fab. No chance of me recreating that Abo build up, as Goodwood is in 4 weeks. I regret looking bavk now, but it is what it is, ive done the 20%/10% stuff and dome lomg mp runs, which will hopefilly replace the 1/2 maras. I back myself to go sub3 given no bad luck or bad weather.
Well done today Cal, it was wild out.
10 wet, windy and hilly miles.
Got my eye on another mp 1/2 mara, the 20 x 3mins and a couple of long runs. The easier weeks have eased my stomach/groin issue, but i need to pick my battles. Might try to get on the flat (rather than undulations) for 1/2 mara sometime, but want to do a strong and long run this weekend.
Macca - Superb race, so close to a PB though, but I guess that can wait until next time.
Cal - Well done for getting out!
TR - Nice miles.
10 miles today with 6*800m reps were 2:59/3:06/2:57/3:02/3:03/2:58. Windy and absolutely soaked through by the time I got home.
Pretty slow run today - gusty winds were a bit unnerving and made me very cautious on the downs (more so after stacking it two weeks on the trot - I really can't afford to do it again as I'm still hurting from the last one). Tried to power up the hills although not sprinting - this was supposed to be a more leisurely affair but I got a couple of Strava segment PBs.
The best bit was finding a new hill, Hill Path, and it's a real bastard. More like Psycho Path. It's long and windy so just when you think you're near the top, it goes around a bend and there's more. This happens about three times. Steep in the middle, too (up to 15%) I hated it so much the first time I went round and did it again.
Wasn't going to go onto Streatham Common but spotted a funfair my mate would like, so went to check out which rides were there for him.
Took a couple of wrong turns, too, but that's part of the fun of exploring the back streets.
Also made a foray up a little road behind Tooting Common called Steep Hill, purely so I could name the segment "No it's not." (It's really just a slope - 5% max).
11 miles total.
Well done Cal, no mentuon of niggles, are things improving still?
13m inc the big daddy 20 x 3mins (30 sec jog), tailed off a bit in 2nd 10nas the wind abused me more and more. Mile jog home after was horrible. Ticked off, onwards and upwards.
Niggles are all there but a bit quieter today (probably down to Toby's magic elbow yesterday).
Nice reps in the MLR Steve. Is that your wedding then?
Good running Cal.
That's a big session TR.
13M for me today too 3M wu, 3x2M off 1M, 2M cd Paces were very varied due to terrain & undulations but effort was definitely there. 12:52/13:11/13:14 for the 3 efforts. 7:50 average & almost 1100 ft of climb too so a good session.
TR - Big session, must give you a lot of confidence as that's a big amount of work.
Jools - Top effort as always. Yeah my wedding. We are still going ahead (holding a date for next year just in case), but with reduced numbers.
10 miles today with 3 at MP/tempo, those came out to 6:36/39/34.
Jools...Nice sensible recovery 8, followed by class 2 mile reps. Sounds a good, tough session with that amount of climbing mixed with the efforts.
John...Good 800's and 3k reps, that is 2 quality sessions in a week. Lovely long run too, that picture looks beautiful, must be a real joy to run there.
Cal...Nice strides. Well done on the hilly strava pbs too, good work. Hate hills that trick your mind, with a sneaky bend in the middle which makes you think your done only to get round it and discover how wrong you where
Steve...The wedding is coming round fast now, exciting times. Lovely 800's and MP miles, you are in good nick.
TR...I'd say most on here are on strava, I am anyway,and follow quite a few. The amount of, and quality of all your 20/10 Long and mid long runs will more than make up for a 1/2 or two, and you are right, i'd back/I'm backing you 100% to smash sub 3 with the training you have put in. Excellent 3 min intervals, 20 is a lot too, so no wonder you were feeling it towards the end in less than ideal conditions. I hate the cool down jog home after a session, but i think if its that much of a struggle, then you've done the session right and worked hard,so good signs.
My biggest two started back to school Tuesday and Wednesday, so i had a few days off work and got a bit of a lie in before my runs. Tuesday was 10 miles with 8x100 in the middle of storm Francis, so that wasn't overly pleasant. Quick disclaimer that all my strides where wind assisted, no way i could stride into 50/60 MPH headwinds
Back to work, and 6 and 5 recoveries for me today.
Jools - good going, that is a mara specific sessuon gor sure.
Steve - well done on the mp. Yes good to tick off the 20 reps and remind myself i must be in ok shape, its a goid sign of readiness.
Hamo - good for your nippers to be back at school, as much as parents have got to see more of their nippers, they need their friends and education. Are you back at work (based at work too ?). Good one on the wading section of the mlr.
6m easy today, letting yday soak in.
What makes you think Dorney won't happen?
Took a rest yesterday - didn't feel too enthused about running when I got up so I took that as a sign.
Today was OK (if rather drizzly). I did 3.5 miles to warm-up then did a 4 mile LT pace run around my favourite road triangle, then another 1.5 miles to cool-down ( had a couple of short breathers between the WU, tempo and CD rather than do it as a continuous run.
I was fairly happy with the LT - I usually shoot for around 8:30ish but wasn't sure what sort of shape I was in, but I managed 8:35/8:31/8:22/8:18. Felt I could have done another mile too but the balls of my feet were getting battered, which seems to happen more when I'm running faster (I guess I'm more on the balls of my feet at pace). Cadence was a solid 190.
SQ...No, not quite unfortunately, it wasn't a championship race, just a race series organised by a timing company "ChampionChip Ireland" hence the confusing name. Must check Po10 though as there have been very few halfs ran in Northern Ireland this year, so i could have sneaked up the rankings alright
Cal...Well done listening to your body and taking a rest day, something we could all learn from probably. Excellent LT session, the fact you got quicker over it, and felt like you had more in you at the end is a very positive sign, class work.
I had my last LT session of the plan this morning, a repeat of the 7@LT pace within a 12 miler. I wanted to do it on the tow path again to compare to the same session 2 weeks ago, but it is still under water (as it hasn't stopped raining here from Wednesday) so had to ditch that idea, and drove to the 3 mile loop around the balancing lakes that our local parkrun is held on instead. It was windy (30 MPH gusts apparently, not sure about that though, certainly didn't feel that bad) and wet, with quite a few large puddles, but in all honesty, it was not too bad really and not really warranting the s**t show that followed from me if i'm honest. 2 mile warm up and into the "HMP" miles, which came out at 5.28, 5.29, 5.33, 5.35, 5.43, 5.46 and 5.42 with an average of 5.36 min miles, which are slower and harder work than the actual Half marathon pace i ran on Saturday. The 3 mile cool down was grim, just demoralised, tired legs and soaking. But, on reflection in a nice warm shower
I wouldn't beat yourself up for that session - as you say, you ran the HM faster a few days ago. Likely you still have some fatigue in the legs. My much shorter effort today was HMP (or a little faster for the last two) but it felt like 10K pace - I still don't quite understand how it seems so much easier during an actual race. But it does, eh?
Hamo - Agreed with the others, likely fatigue from the HM and the big miles you have run recently. It's a session banked though, so all good training stimulus.
Nipped out at lunch for an easy 8 miler, 15 miles planned for tomorrow, then rest day on Sunday. Should be 50 miles for the week.
Hamo - good for your kids and your work routine then, thats all good for your household. Good attitude today, bank it and move on. You are in the fortunate position of knowing exactly what yr current hmp is anyway.
AWC - hope you feel better soon, but this week is the ideal week to miss running (post yr 1/2).
I had a bit more time today so ended up doing 15m, legs were pretty tired by the end, so tomorrows long run might be tough.