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P&D Spring Marathon 2021
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Really pleased to hear you're up & running again too Cal. A bit of faster stuff obviously did you some good.
After an enjoyable fortnight of shorter runs post SWT I drove to the Lakes Friday to take part in my annual Triathlon: the Half X.
Wasn't expecting great things having only swum once a week for the last 2 months (after 22 months off) & barely doing any biking either.
Arrived at registration with 15 minutes to spare having taken almost 6 hours to get up there. Fortunately race HQ, T1 & T2 are all in Waterhead car park so having dealt with the formalities we parked up on the flat bit, got the Kelly Kettle out for a cuppa, sorted the back of the Passat out ready to sleep in it, adorned the bike & helmet with their latest set of stickers & chatted to a few other competitors.
Headed into the water a few minutes before 8am
Came out after 40:47 in about 40th place after swimming across Windermere to Brathay & back from Waterhead, so not great but not a disaster.
Did my usual faffing in T1 so didn't leave til 45:24 but hadn't lost any places as most others were equally relaxed about this part of the event.
The OH was supporting again & she greeted me with hot coffee in T1 then headed up to the summit of Wrynose Pass which I'd pass twice on the bike at 23M & again at 47M. This was her view
As you can imagine she was a tonic to all of us with her enthusiastic whoops, cheers, sustenance & hot drinks.
I stopped for a couple of minutes each time.
Going out:
Coming back with Jelly Legs having done Hardknott both ways!
As you can see the roads were a little damp
Back to T2 after 4:45:02 for the 22nd fastest split of the day. I'd survived without coming off (unlike several others) or snapping anything on the bike.
The last K or so of the bike overlaps with the 1st K of the run & I spotted several competitors who'd recently begun their final leg so knew I'd have some targets to aim at. Still spent an inordinately long time in T2 but no-one else arrived before I left.
I then started hunting folk down. The first 2.3M of the run is almost flat but then it kicks up viciously with 1800' over 2M before a flattish mile then another 1000' in 1.3M to the summit of Fairfield. You then turn & retrace your steps back to Transition.
After 1.5M the lead man passed me heading back for a stunning 6:01 finish!
I caught & passed my first on the steep steps up to Nab Scar and then another at Heron Pike & again at Great Rigg. By now we were in thick clag so I had no idea how far the summit was or whether I was closing on anybody. Approaching the summit half a dozen runners came down encouraging me by telling me it was less than 400m away.
I got to the top, posed for this pic & then caught all bar 2 of them on the descent then held them off on the flat to finish in 17th overall & 12th fastest run time.
Enjoyed a nice sit down at the finish line cheering everyone in afterwards
Had a great day but I would love to do this race in the dry again. I had said I was done with Tri but I'm sure I've got a sub 8 in me with the right training & better weather so I may well be back next year
Bizarre this end, as i feel super fresh, with no smoked feeling which id usually expect the day after a 1/2. Ran 5m home, could have done more. Guess im too much of a diesel at the mo to be able to run quickly.
Todays govt announcement might mean autumn maras are good to go? With the loosening of restrictions, but not the end of isolation for the double jabbed, i can see myself having to isolate again the way infection rates are going.
A long time no post. Too much screen time already, and prioritising the running! I will enjoy an epic catch up, but thought it better to jump back in rather than delaying forever and then boring everyone recapping a month’s worth of running - although no doubt it has been epic and I have really enjoyed the photos.
Frampton-upon-Severn 10k last Monday evening. Pretty good evening for it - 19C, very low winds, overcast. My goal was to start sensibly and aim to pick it up. I guess I kind of did this, with a steady 6:07 opening mile. Ended up more or less this maintaining this pace, albeit with a slight negative split. A solid 38:22, but certainly nothing spectacular. 2.5 mins off a PB 😞.
Nice to post a first post-stress fracture 10k. For some reason, I am really struggling to truly push myself. Don’t seem to have it in my to ‘bury’ myself like in certain races. In reality, I am just probably a chunk heavier than in PB days and this is the biggest factor. Only really writing this here to try to keep myself accountable 😆.
Got pinged on the NHS app and had to isolate Thursday - Saturday. Not a massive surprise given my proximity to Sixth Form - especially as we have sent them all home due to numerous cases. That said, a definite ball ache given a double-vaccine.
Definitely didn’t do a solo Moose Fartlek on Thursday whilst working form home.
Anyway, 65M for the week, so a solid base continuing to be built. One more week until the 12-week countdown to London.
As a birthday gift, my wife has entered me into the Bourton One Mile this Saturday evening. I reckon it is the only PB I could possibly scrape - wind dependent! Although despite run Britain accepting the cashola, there seem worryingly few details available.
TR - excellent result at the half and fully justifies the switch. Agreed in a TT it’s difficult to reach into the back of the hurt locker. First in age cat, congrats indeed 3rd vet overall.
Cal - well done on the training half, shows you haven’t lost everything with the lay off. Sometimes no rhyme or reason to feeling great or not.
SQ - well done on the 10k. I ran a similar time a few weeks ago and had similar feelings of not being able to rinse myself, I guess I’m carrying a bit of extra baggage too. Hope you can get to the end of term without further pinging, it’s getting a bit silly round here in the schools.
AWC - I’m happy to bore anyone silly with LL talk. Back in 2018, Centurion 100 finishes in 20/21 hrs translated to a 36hr, totally unprepared for the elevation and trashed feet, it wasn’t pretty. 2019 - 19 hr Cent finish translated to 33hrs , better prepared & forewarned but feet still trashed, ugly last 30 miles.
I'm stubbornly pursuing my goal of RED2021. My minimum run is 4M although I made an exception the day after my SWT and relaxed that to 5K as a one-off.
So 4.3M yesterday at lunch & again today.
Tossing up whether to go swimming or join some other runners for a further dozen this evening
AWC - blimey, you put yourself through it in that one, cracking result esp controlling the nausea. A race where ice creams and chips are involved seems crackers, but it obviously works. Well done. Hope you and macca both go well in that LL100, it sounds gruesome.
What a ball ache, SQ - at least double jabbers won't have to isolate soon, but not soon enough for you unfortunately.
AWC, huge well done to you for achieving your target despite everything. Having run precisely zero ultras, I'm ill-placed to offer advice, but with the heat it sounds like your electrolytes could have been off from all the sweating. On another note, one of my other hobbies is riding rollercoasters and visiting fairs and if I do a few too many in a row and exceed my ride tolerance, I always find salty chips (with vinegar if possible) really helps settle my stomach.
As with the last two weeks, I did back to back XT days...30 mins elliptical plus lower body rehabby stuff on Monday and then 35 elliptical/10 cycle ergometer plus upper body weights yesterday. I was intending to run yesterday but the weather was crap so decided against it.
The benefit of that was that I was fresh today and got out nice and early for a MLR. This was another explorer run, going out to Pollards Hill (somewhere between Mitcham and Norbury). Thing with places named Hill is that you never know whether there's going to be an actual hill or if it's more of a gradient. When I got there, I figured it was the latter, as it started with a rec that had a fairly gentle upward slope. But then I turned a corner and there was a big, steep grass hill which (when I checked on Strava afterwards) is 18% in the middle. I started off attempting to run it with short little steps, but ended up walking at the top. I am so unused to hills at the moment that I admit I was struggling, but given that I shouldn't really be running hills like that at the moment, I'll give myself a pass. The view from the top was really good, anyway, so I stopped to admire it for a moment before carrying on.
I then passed through Norbury Hall Park, which I've not run through before - it's rather small and mostly taken up by tennis courts, but there are a lot of nice trees.
From there I found a footpath which then turned into a railway bridge which I also walked (I usually walk any stairs I encounter on a run, partly to save my knees and partly because I'm convinced I'll catch my toe and fall chin-first into the steps above) but it came out into Norbury Park so I cut through there. Streatham Common was on my way back but decided against that as I figured running more hills wouldn't be in my best interest at this point.
By the time I got back I'd run 10 miles, mostly at a reasonable pace (aside from the warm-up mile, the one with the hill and the one with the railway bridge, I was averaging around 10:20). My HR is also returning to pre-injury levels (it did get up to 170s on the steep hill but was mostly 150s for the rest, which is normal for me). So I definitely seem to be getting back somewhere to where I should be.
Sounds a lovely run, Cal.
Careful with the RED, Jools. Remember your wise words on Ron Hill. Although if anyone can do it, it’s certainly you.
Great write up, AWC. What a day! Seriously touched out.
Treated myself to a 5am Three Hills of Cleeve. 1500ft over nine or so miles. Decided on this as it is always a great challenge, but also for the mental training it would require. The final hill is so steep, that the only concern is not to slow to a walk. Hope this will toughen me up a bit for future races! Well rewarded with some stunning views at the top.
Passed an older runner twice towards the end of the segment, whilst in the middle of nowhere. Slightly concerning that, despite being in usual running kit, he was carrying a metal claw hammer.
Nice MLR Cal.
Jools, that's also rather worrying.
An unremarkable 5 mile recovery plod this morning...I don't much enjoy these sorts of runs really...I either like runs with speedy bits, or longer runs where I can explore. But can't do those every day eh? The good thing today was my HR was in the 130s which is the lowest it's been on a run in a long time.
Good session jools, sounds a bit mad the RED plan esp the days after any long races.
10 yday, 10 today.
SQ well done on the hill work. I can imagine some being upset by coming across that if on their own.
Jools - well done on the RED2021 especially through the SWT and tri.
TR - straight back on the car bonnet.
Wendover Woods 100 tomorrow - I’d better start packing. Hopefully finished by the game on Sun ( actually before lunch sat would be a good result).
That Billat stuff is certainly working wonders for you AWC. I expect it's the change in training stimulus provoking different adaptations.
Good luck Macca, that's going to be brutal. I'm sure you'll love it.
I've had a week of crap sleep (no problem getting to sleep...just can't stay asleep) so decided against running yesterday and did a gym sesh instead.
Today I did similar to last Saturday - 2 miles warm-up followed by a harder 5K effort. I did a different route (mostly around the outskirts of Wandsworth Common) and it was early enough that I could get across all the roads without stopping. First mile 9:10 - not great, but the warm-up miles were just under 11 so I was still finding my pace. I squeaked under 9 for the next one and then managed 8:37, which is around HMP, for the last one (the .11 was a little slower but I ran down an alley and had to do a couple of tight turns). This gave me 27:53 for the 5K which is just under a minute faster than last week, with no deterioration on the last mile. HMP feels like a sprint, but I'm getting there.
I'm feeling a bit annoyed that, while I've been running a bit more and have cleaned up my diet quite a bit, I've managed to gain two pounds instead of losing them. I was hoping to get closer to my racing weight for next month but my body seems to have other ideas.
AWC - interesting, i can see the pace changes in training will provide a new stmulus, im not sure i agree with her idea of race day pacing.
Cal - well done, good improvement in a week.
Well done macca, you're a tough nut.
Did an easy paced time on feet 20m today in the rain, 77m for the week aftera hm bizarrely. Defo think i underperformed last Sumday.
I opted to have a crack at the route I'd planned last week up to Wimbledon Common and around the Wimbledon Trail Series route. It was a complete fail (navigationally speaking).
It didn't look that hard when I checked the map from when I ran it in 2019...how wrong I was. A comedy of errors including:
1) Overshooting the first turn and then, realising my error, still taking the wrong path and ending up on the A3.
2) Getting so disorientated that I mistook the Kingsmere lake for the Queensmere.
3) Missing the Queensmere altogther and therefore the Rifle Butts hill.
4) Turning off the path onto what I thought was the Rifle Butts only to find myself trying to scale a slippery slope that got so steep I had to resort to all fours. It was not a path.
5) Running into the playing fields instead of around them and somehow managing to do a loop the loop.
6) Thinking I knew where the Toast Rack (path) turn was because I'd found it on my own once before. I did not.
7) Stacked it on a tree root trying to find the aforementioned Toast Rack it so I had to go home with dirt all up one side of me (fortunately the ground was soft so I wasn't hurt, aside from my pride).
On the plus side, I got some practise running around the common again (which is a lovely place to run - saw quite a few bunnies today as well as a heron), and I covered 15 miles which is the furthest since January. Pace was terrible on the common due to the terrain, trying to figure out where I was going and stopping to (firstly) check a map board and (secondly) asking for directions, not to mention picking myself up after falling over. It was decent on the way home until I got to the last couple of miles. The penultimate mile goes uphill...not that steep but a grind when you're tired as it's quite long...so I slowed a lot there and then didn't have much energy left for the last mile. I did consider stopping at 14 and walking it in but told myself to man up and I'd be home quicker if I ran. Pretty much the same self talk I use during marathons.
I've just signed up to the Lucerne marathon at the end of October and will be doing P&D up to 55 miles with a bit stuck on here and there (also been doing RED since Mar 2020). Mini mara history: 4 road maras so far (PB 3:26 in 2018), plus 2 alpine ones. I took 2019 off to get my HM time down (1:34:xx PB) then the pandemic stopped any chances of getting back to maras so far.
I started in on week 3 of the 18 week plan this week and managed a good 4 mile tempo run on Thursday so a decent start.
Macca: incredible stuff - well done on your high placing.
Have a good Sunday and I hope the footie goes well for anyone interested this evening.
Nice one on committing for Lucerne Hazel, if i remember you are in Switzerland or Germany?
Going to stick with the Sunday turbo for a while, as i think im in ok shape at the mo. So 75min done today, 10min, 12x4min/1min, 5min. Hopefully me legs wont be too ruined to run on tomorrow.
Welcome, Kate 😊.
Nice 20M today, TR.
blimey, Cal. Quite the run!
Great to have you back, Hazel!
AWC - I have heard a couple of Billat interviews. Have to focus to hear what she is saying, but good stuff nonetheless.
12 weeks to London 😱.
A second ever mile race last night: the Bourton One Mile Challenge. Ran 5:21 there two years ago - I thought that was slow back then, so a painfully slow 5:39 this time. Have run a 5M at that speed!
Nonetheless, a fun evening. 1830 start, rolling waves job. A one mile charge into the town centre - which is essentially the tourist capital of the Cotswolds so very picturesque and lots of atmosphere.
15ft elevation - so nothing really, although the consistent ascent on Strava looks hard!
Good to do something well outside my comfort zone - both physically and mentally. Would like to try a track mile sometime.
15M buggy today. 7:50 pace. At least I am half decent at this niche activity 😆
Saw this - a friend or someone in the running club. Running Everesting in a day. All on the middle hill of my three hills route. Bloody hell!