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Monday 1st November 2021 What would you do if I sang out of tune?
Morning!
Lyrics: What would you do if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
What: a run of some description later
Why: not feeling great and the weather needs to improve
Lyrics: What would you do if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
What: a run of some description later
Why: not feeling great and the weather needs to improve
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
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Comments
What - 6 easy
Why - recovery
last rest - 14/10
last hard - Saturday
lyric - Yes
Hope Hazel is feeling a bit more positive today.
Marathons are never easy
Job going for you, Wabo! Sure you could do better than the last couple of managers.
Too wet to run yet...and M76 says he won't run until tomorrow... when I am working. Just hoping the rain eases off in a couple of hours.
Wondering how OH is getting on.
Bank holiday for me today and was looking forward to a long sleep and a day on the sofa with DOMS. As it is I fell out of bed at 6am and am restless with very little DOMS. Sore bits are unsurprisingly still store so will recover conservatively for now i.e. a few days off running. Apple cake in the oven so will get started on the report in a minute...
October 287k, 1 race with a PW. Also broke my RED streak and run of 200 mile+ months (20 altogether), Feb 2020 - Sep 2021.
What: recovery walk - bit over an hour in the rain - woods were lovely though as the leaves are finally starting to come down
Why: see above
Last rest: 1st Nov.
Last hard: yesterday
Lyrics: very familiar.
Alehouse I have submitted my CV 🤣
Yesterday's lyrics that's what friends are for, Stevie wonder
Today's lyrics yes indeed
Have a good day all
I mostly followed the P&D up to 55 miles 18 week plan. I started with week 2 however and did quite a few of my tempo runs and longer MP runs as races running mostly to the appropriate paces. Streaking meant a higher mileage and I also got stuck into longer MLR runs from the outset as I was doing those distances pre-plan anyway and didn't see any point in dropping down the distance.
Training went ok until October holidays, I had a spare week in my schedule so used this during my holiday week – primarily planning on doing fairly short flat runs and then returning to do the taper for racing on 31st. October. I picked up a hiking injury during the holiday but was lucky that that healed quickly – I only missed one final long run of 16 miles.
I felt pretty laid back going into the race only really preparing the day before for such things as the journey to Lucerne – a combination of car to a convenient P&R and then train into the city but I have enough race experience to know what I need.
It was an early start on race day with getting up at 4:30 am but with the clocks going back that felt more like 5:30 am so not quite as bad as it might sound. Quick tea and coffee and food for the kitties and out of the door – breakfast being consumed in the car on the way with OH doing excellent chauffeuring.
The journey went fine – I arrived in plenty of time for a nose around the event HQ. With several thousand participants (10k, HM, mara) you needed a covid certificate to take part (tested, vaxxed or had it already) and had a time slot to turn up and do a check in, bag drop and start. With so many people expected I was a bit worried about big queues but everything went smoothly.
Conditions were quite cool still (next to the lake) but sunnier than expected and it was difficult to decide what to wear – I overdressed a bit with armsleeves and a t-shirt under my vest but due to my speed (or lack of) in the second half of the race it didn't matter.
Start was a queue with 4 lanes of runners starting every 2 seconds which worked well enough with the queue moving forward quickly. The HM started soon after the marathon and I was overtaken by the faster runners. With people running according to a chosen start slot rather than an expected finish time there was quite a mix of paces on the route but enough space for everyone I felt. I was initially overtaking myself but later being overtaken a lot and didn't feel overly stressed in either situation. I noticed quite a few runners in those fancy carbon plate shoes run quite loudly, slapping the tarmac so you can hear them arriving from behind..
The course is near to but mostly not right next to the lake – sometimes scenic, sometimes just a typical city marathon. One set of undulations and an incline on each lap, a run through the local football club's stadium and the foyer of the big concert hall and starting and finishing at the national transport museum a couple of miles outside of the city.
Only water and a sports drink were offered so I carried my own gels. Plan was to take one to fit the water stations at 8k, 15k, 21.1k, 29k and 35k. First two gels went down as planned but I somehow didn't work out that the 21.1.k would be behind the finish and didn't get to water to wash down number three until 25k but I was already slowing so no stress for the stomach / digestion. I took a fourth gel at around 30 k as I knew I would be out on the course for another hour at least and was feeling a bit hungry but didn't bother with a fifth.
Spectator turnout was decent – Lucerne attracts quite a few tourists anyway and it was a pleasant Sunday. I haven't been around so many people in around 18 mths so it was a bit of a shock and I got a bit fed up of the regular screeching of "hopp-hopp". I thought you go and "hopp-hopp" around a mara yourself a few times. There were a few music groups, I did like the drumming group and the alp horns.
I don't know really what to write about the actual running to be honest- I set off on the course a few minutes earlier than my alloted time having reached the head of the queue. First 1k was a bit fast 4:39. I slowed a bit and then promptly found that I was actually struggling to find my usual stride pattern and even more to hit a pace that I would normally have no issues with and certainly not at the beginning of a race. I hadn't done much of a warm-up so thought hmm – keep going and it will improve. It didn't and realistically I should have backed off the pace earlier instead of struggling to the HM point and would likely have had an easier 2nd lap and run more As it was I had noticeably sore quads / hips from km 4 already in both legs. Both lifting my legs and pushing off of my back foot hurt. It wasn't the sort of fatigue pain you might expect at some point in a long race, and certainly not that early. The level of discomfort was manageable on most of the first lap but definitely grew considerably worse from about 2k into the second. I saw my OH at around this point (dumping some bits of clothing at his feet) and said that I felt pretty crap. At this point I was already behind all of my potential targets but I kept going nonetheless as I wanted to try to finish having waited some 18mths to do another marathon and after all those weeks of of training. There was soon no point in stopping and walking back as the loop took us far enough away that doing so would have been just as far as keeping going and would have involved going over the hill the course went around. I started regular walking breaks as of km 25, in particular through the water stations. Most of 17K like that is a long way but my energy levels were fine it was more of a struggle to get my head around it. I did at least manage to slow jog the last 2 or so km to the finish without a walk. Over the line trying to think as little as possible and through to OH for a hug and a few wimpy tears. Bag collection was done quickly and after a snack we started the journey home.
Immediate recovery now will be about getting rid of this leg issue whatever it is. I have no idea at the moment what caused it. I didn't run an all-out marathon yesterday that I will need several weeks to recover from otherwise but the racing season is as good as over here until late February so I might as well follow a marathon recovery plan for now. With Corona definitely not over it is hard to predict what might happen anyway.
5k splits from GPS (distance measured 42.56)
24:35, 24:30, 24:38, 24:07, 25:53, 29:28, 32:59, 32:16, 14:58 (remaining 2 and a bit), overall watch time 3:53:21. Doesn't look dramatic but it hurt – quite a lot – for quite a long time which wasn't what I thought I should expect at all.
Difficult report to write, Hazel. Felt your disappointment! Recover well and get to the bottom of the quad issue. I presume that you wore your usual racing shoes.
What: short run at noon.
Why: got fed up of waiting for the rain to stop. Has done now and hope it stays that way. Off to Old Trafford later for a cricket dinner.