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P&D Spring Marathon 2021
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I sounded out my phys to see if they open apr 12th and they are already open, so im going in for a hammy mot next week. So itll be easier if Dorney happens after all, a bit of research seems to indicate that minimise travel is a stay local thing to discourage long journeys. So i expect a 3 wk delay.
Felt a bit less smoked, so 10m tonight.
TR - hope your fizz can work some magic too.
A few days off work coincides nicely with the (quietly) dropped guidance of once per day. With another virtual 50k this weekend a postponement of Dorney might not be a bad thing but If it’s on I’ll have to try and reign things in.
SQ...Big week is right, esp with the sessions. That is a good pace with the buggy too.
TR...Good to see the legs being a bit less smoked. Not ideal if they do postpone for 3 weeks, but better than cancelling i suppose...someone in EA/government/wherever needs to make a definite decision/announcement soon so every knows where they stand though, I wouldn't like to be a race organiser at the minute. Hopefully your physio can loosen your hamstrings up for you.
Cal...Good news, glad you can get an appointment, hopefully the physio can help...you've done everything else right that you can to aide recovery on your own.
I had a vo2 session yesterday afternoon, 10 miles with 6x 800 (off 80). I drove to the flatness of the tow path straight after work, rather than drive home and run the hills to and from the tow path. Very pleased with it, felt decent and the reps came out 2:29, 30, 31, 38 (under the trees where the gps doesnt like at all, so who knows what the actual pace was, I'd guess at 31/32
I followed that up with a 15 mile MLR this morning at +10 pace with, if i am honest, a few faster efforts to nab a a couple of strava segments off a couple of fellas i went to school with, one of which they stole on me
Today was my recent weekly 10 inc 6m lumpy tempo commute, talked myself into it the last few weeks with a give it a mile and see approach, i was off the pace a little after that mile today but way off it after 2m so sacked it off and cruised in......rare for me but ive been really smoked so no surprise, we move on. No point falling over the cliff edge.
TR/Jools, I am 10% tempted by the Shepperdine Marathon. Probably not wise given a max long run of 15M since August though.
Get some serious recover in after that huge double effort, hamo. Rapid as ever!
Interesting about the double day rules, Macca. I must confess I have taken a pretty liberal approach to this, whilst knowing I won't meet anyone on my running/walking routes.
Got out on Monday afternoon for this week’s VO2 session. P&L called for 8 x 3 minutes uphill at 3k to 5k effort, with jog down recoveries. I plumped for 8 x 2.5 minutes, as that is how long it takes to run up the hill, and 8 x 3 seemed a bit savage. Not especially fast, but a tough workout. Something sadistically satisfying about hill reps.
Had time for 8-10M easy yesterday morning, but my legs were having none of it. Absolutely knackered. Not too surprising, really. 5M plod at 8:50 pace, then squeezed in a further four after school at 9 m/m. Headed along the river trail. In fantastic condition - although I haven’t returned yet after today’s rain.
10M easy today along the canal, 7:46 pace. Great to be back on this favourite of a route. Lots of wildlife, very peaceful and lovely views once you are a mile or two away from town.
Wind looks monstrous tomorrow. Planned progression style run, so will do loops to stop being battered for too long at any one point. Either 0.75M around the industrial park by the river (more scenic than it sounds), or 2M around the racecourse/river.
Saw my physio yesterday who spent most of the session grinding his elbow into my SI joints. Felt a bit better after but I didn't fancy trying a run in the wind today so I'll try tomorrow.
I think it's unlikely I'll be able to do MK - if I wanted to do well there I'd need to be banging out 20s this month and that's not going to happen. I may defer although that doesn't mean I get my money back, just money off next year's race.
I had a 3 mile walk a bit later this afternoon (after the wind had calmed down a bit - it's still a little gusty) and was pleased to see a pair of mandarin ducks on the pond. They're not regulars but apparently they have visited before.
Cal - the physio work has got tp help.
Hamo - i note the registering of the Cheshire elite mara, just in case wales say no. Good effort by the race organisers.
10m home tonight, bit of a weather beating. Saw the owl again, he gave me a much closer fly past.
SQ...Love how you are tempted by a marathon
Cal...Hope the physio has done the trick, sensible to leave the run until the wind dies down. Had to google Mandarin Duck, but they are a lovely looking Duck.
Double recoveries yesterday where followed by 10 miles with 10 x 100 strides this morning. Was a tough enough old slog this morning, with very half arsed strides as the legs where knackered, but the sun was shining so can't complain too much. Hoping the strides will have wakened the legs up a bit as they normally do.
Just checked my Garmin there, 118 miles for the rolling week...no wonder my legs are feeling it
Blowing a hooley, decided to replace the lost temp with 10m inc 12x3min/30 sec, was barely moving fwd at times into the wind. I much prefer reps for time instead of distance, its much more enjoyable having no pace worries or aspirations.......must remember that.
Bloody hell, hamo, 118M!
Agreed with the time based efforts, TR.
Hope the hamstrings are healing en masse.
With yesterday’s filthily strong wind, I wend for the 2M loops of the racecourse. Figured this would give variation from the wind and not be as monotonous as 0.75M loops.
3M warm up round the river, then 4 x 2M loops of the racecourse: 14:44, 13:50, 13:05, 12:55, 1M warm down. All in, just shy of 12M at 7m/m.
Really pleasing session. Haven’t run a progression for ages. I like the lack of pressure of hitting splits throughout and it feels good to finish strong. Will definitely be having another crack at this at some point. Feeling in quite good nick. Come on races!
SQ - good hill reps, I always feel they give a little more bang for your buck. That’s a very tidy progression. If you could approach the marathon as long training run it might be an idea but I’m not sure I would trust myself with that.
Cal - sorry to read this. Did the fizz give you a set of exercises ? Maybe drop everything apart from his prescribed exercises ? This talk of ducks and owls reminds me to go visit the local kingfisher.
Hamo - with the reps/Strava crown chasing and big week (after a big week last week iirc) not surprised the legs are feeling it, great work though.
I managed to get my 6x1200m reps in on Weds just before the wind picked up. I chose a sheltered path but with the tiniest of inclines, almost imperceptible....down reps were about 10-15s quicker than up reps, on paper the pacing looked terrible🤣 Last of the 15m MLRs now in the bag so race or no, I’m ready for a few lighter weeks.
Cal - sorry to hear that you're still struggling. Agreed let everything settle for a while.
Macca - nice session, diffucult to get some shelter ftom the current wind levels. Dorney sound hopeful, but its still a bit of an unknown, no mention of the minimise travel point, but its still on at the mo........a lighter week wont hurt esp after 50km ! I felt i needed an easier week this week and didnt run longer than 10m, but have now done it 5 days in a row, so its still a solid week. Will review where we are next weekend.......i have a Goidwood entry too, so can run either or both.
Wishing you all the best with the recovery & rehab Cal.
Good sessions SQ, Macca & Hamo.
Nothing special this week. Legs have been struggling to cope with the daily doubles. I’ve been running 5 at lunch with the kids every day except today when I did a dozen on the bike instead. Done another hilly run each evening apart from Monday: 50M & 6,000’ so far this week.
SQ, hope that goes ahead, good luck.
Jools, not surprised you're struggling...don't overdo it eh? Even beasts need a rest sometimes (or they end up like me).
Probably a good thing for me to take it easy...I'm giving blood for the first time on Monday and getting my Covid shot Wednesday. I thought I'd be waiting until April or May for that - they're not wasting any time eh?
Cal - good for you, they are always short of blood donations.
Westy - still possible to go sub3 at 50+, I'll be 54 soon, but agreed there's a certain amount of niggles to go with it.
22 easy miles in an easy paced 2:55 today, 2 gels, 1 luco, no mp or +10%,, just a time on feet run. Which i thought would probably be a good run wether im 3 weeks out or 6 weeks out......strange week in the end i was trying to take it easier with no mlr and ended up with 6,10,10,10,10,10 and 22.
wow - impressive...you can be my inspiration to stop doubting myself TR. Good stuff.
Very nice TR.
I did a time on feet run today: 3:05 for 18.8M of Herefordshire footpaths & 1700' of climbing.
Entered Shepperdine marathon when I got back
25th of April so 6 weeks to go
Jools - excellent news, youve been putting plenty of work in and seem to be nice and strong.
6m easy today, legs were a bit tired.
Shepperdine won’t be a PB attempt but it should give me something to work on for Brighton in September.
16.8 miles of multi-terrain today. The first 6.5 were basically flat along the cycle track I used for last April’s solo marathon so I used that as a 6M progression which came out as 8:33/7:40/7:24/7:09/6:53/6:32. 1st mile climbs 55’ over the last third & legs were still waking up but the payoff at the start of the 2nd got the legs turning over nicely so built from there. I then had an easy 6 minute recovery run before hitting the big climb: 770’ in 1.6 miles! From there the only way is down so I recovered on the descent before a short sharp climb which had to be walked. The footpath was hard to discern amongst all the DH MTB trails but managed to get on it then it was a mix of good fire trails, muddy paths & a rocky technical descent. Went wrong at a fork & added 1.7 miles to the planned 15. At least the last 3 miles were downhill & on tarmac so I was able to finish at a steady pace. 2hrs25 all in.
Looking forward to an easy 6 tomorrow 😂
Super long run, TR.
Welcome back Westy. Hope the comeback goes well. Plenty of inspiration on here.
Outrageously windy for yesterday’s long run. 16.3 buggy miles, with 175m ascent, at 7:49 pace. The wind was in a different direction to usual - so a headwind during the slight declines, and tailwind for the slight ascents. I suppose this is the better way round, but it did mean zero easy sections! Genuinely knackering.
Strangely, the savage wind (well certainly savage with a buggy) seemed to result in much high mental effort and muscular fatigue, but not greatly different HR. Nonetheless, another longest run post stress fracture and longest ever buggy. Feels a little like following a marathon training plan for the first time again with the ‘firsts’.
65M for the week. And as Jools says, six weeks to the race! Recovery week on the cards.
SQ - you are going well too, strong long buggy run. Given the buggy running, recent mileage and sessions, and your recent 5k work, you could be nicely placed to run a strong 1/2 in April. Good stuff.
Its good to see folks getting ready for some racing, its a bit of an unknown as to exactly when we will be cleared for take off, but lots of races are popping up for the end of April, which as folks say is only 6 weeks away.
Westy - welcome back, hopefully you’ll get a decent injury free spell and you can get back to somewhere near where you were (if you want to) circa 2:40 iirc ?
TR - decent LR yesterday, no harm from time on feet, I find the fast finish / mp+10% can be a bit draining so still a beneficial run especially after a big week,
Cal - rehab/ recovery is your race for now all the best with it.
50k for me today. I wanted to do something different so headed for the edge of the Chilterms. A lovely run but quite undulating (for around here),4hrs 19mins so hopefully not too much 3 weeks out from Dorney.
SQ...Lovely session, great progression down through the 2 mile reps, strong running, esp in the wind. You definitely are in good nick, so it is good news that you have entered a race to put it all to use...which distance is the most likely you'll do at the minute? Nice long run in awful conditions, enjoy your recovery week.
Cal...Really sorry to hear that, stick with the rehab and keep the head up (easier said than done i know). Good news on your vaccination too, they really are steaming ahead with them which is great to see.
Macca...good news about Dorney, fair play to them pushing on with it. You know you are close when the 15 milers stop
Jools...Agreed, doubles can hammer the legs rightly. Lovely hilly long run. Great to see you enter a marathon, you are in top shape and deserve the chance to show it, pb attempt or not. You deserve a recovery day today alright after that effort, 700' in a mile and a half is mental
Westy...welcome back, looking forward to hearing more from you.
Saturday was meant to be a tune up half marathon race, but as there is a lack of racing available i decided to do 13.1 miles at MP in the middle of a 17 miler (to include the planned warm up and cool down miles if i was racing). It was very windy, and i was at the end of an 118 mile rolling week, so the legs weren't feeling tip top at the start. But they woke up when i got going and i averaged 5.49 min miling for a 1.16 half marathon at MP, so i am more than pleased at that, esp with how "in control" i felt.
I followed that up with a hilly (for me, not Jools
My double 6 recoveries today are very welcomed i must say