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P&D Spring Marathon 2022
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It was a pretty slow start with the first six miles in the 11 minute ballpark, but I made an effort to increase the cadence a bit and brought the pace up a little before making a push for home. Nothing too fast but just wanted to see how I coped and the answer was, pretty well. I guess that's not surprising as I'd run faster than that for 13 miles last weekend, but races and training runs are different beasts.
Anyway, pretty content with that...hamstring didn't even grumble too loudly.
I had a crap day and tailed off to 1.24 on a windy day at Gosport, some of the underperformance was me being crap (although ive had a bit of a cold), some was the wind. My mood was then further improved by my wife telling me that the friend she was with Friday has tested positive, so as a household we have to run the cv gauntlet again, we are 1 wk away from booster jabs too.
TR - not what you are capable of but throw in the wind, post VLM etc, and maybe it’s not so crap, understand why it feels that way though. Fingers crossed you’ve dodged it, I’ve my booster this Fri and contemplated the irony whilst I was stood in a queue for coffee indoors on Sat.
Moyx - speeds there, just need to add endurance.
TT - good sign if MP + 30-60 felt enjoyable.
Hope OO had a good run / beers.
Out for a very cold run, ice on many roads which led to some interesting turns. Spin class as a warm up!
8.17 in total including WU and WD which is a good start to the week for me.
TT - yep, certainly wintery early and late today. Bike warm up useful in this conditions.
Look forward to the report, Macca.
I’ve given up worrying in such circumstances, TR, but obviously hope you guys avoid it (again). Hard luck on the race. Still, London was amazing so keep riding that!
Reckon you are building again, Cal.
Very impressive parkrun speed on a blustery day, Myox.
Squeezed in a few small doubles in the week, before a 14.5M long buggy run on Saturday, 8:30 average. On the cold side, but little wind. Loved it.
Headed to the Forest yesterday for a few fun family activities. Took the lad for a buggy nap along some of the family trail. Worried it wouldn’t be great underfoot/wheel, but it was pretty good really. Beautiful environment and really good to run somewhere else with the buggy. 3M out, with a consistent 320ft climb. Took it easy so about 10m/m, before returning and enjoying a bit of free speed on the return. Maybe 9:15 average so a good recovery.
64M for the week. Not able to hit the length of each run in the plan, but squeezing in the miles where possible.
Racecourse tempo tomorrow before finishing at a surgery for my booster jab.
Out for spin class then a short run, was not even warm by the time I had finished both! But the sunrise was rather incredible and well worth being up for.
Gran Canaria Maspalomas Marathon - 21st November - 2.52.55 / 36th place
I've run the GC marathon held in Las Palmas 3 times and we head to Maspalomas post-race for the beach / the craic. So the idea of a Maspalomas marathon in winter with mid 20's C temps was irresistible.
The flight arrived at 5.45 pm and an hour later had our race numbers thanks to speedy passport/ CV19 checks/ taxi driver. A walk to the hotel, risotto for light carbo loading, a few very cold beers and a decent 6 hours sleep. Race-day was warm and dry, and @ 8 am were with 1,000+ marathon runners. The race hosted the Spanish masters marathon champs so hopefully company for the race. Not too many Brits but had a nice chat with 2 fast-looking race snakes guys from Scotland aiming for 2.45 ish. The sun was up and c22C.
Tres, dos, uno and we were off. The plan was to run, as I did at the Newport marathon, an easy 1st mile then 6.30 ish pace and expect to slower in the 2nd lap as the temps rose, so 1.26/1.29 split and 2.55 would be great. Took 4 gels to take on 60/90/120 and 150 minutes.
Mile 1 came in @ 6.40 and I tagged onto a pack until mile 4 @ 6.20 but felt should let them go as plenty fast enough and a long way to go and carried on @ 6.30 (best decision of the race!). The course was largely urban on the wider resort roads, a good number of switchbacks, with some crowd and very enthuastic water stations (generally manned by running clubs) who were fantastic.
From Mile 4 ran solo which was fine but would have preferred running in a pack. Just focussed on pacing and keeping cool so ran in any shade under the palm trees, doused myself at the water stations, took in the sights and thought of all the family holidays we have had here - positive thinking.
13 miles / half way came in @ 1.25 and felt good. Some runners ahead of me were drifting back now and started overtaking and some just dropped out including the 2 Scots lads who found it far too hot for them. The temps were now 25C but there was a slight breeze and pace dropped to 6.35 but I felt good and started overtaking the odd runner. Out of 1,000+ starters, there was a 40% DNF - the temps.
20 miles came up in 2.09 so mental maths said this pace would squeek a 2.52 so this was the focus and just aimed at being in the moment and overtaking the runner in front, which really worked as from mile 15 overtook c20 runners and no-one overtook me. At mile 20 saw the 3 hour pacer who had c15 guys with him at mile 13 now with 1 companion. From mile 20-25 overtook a few more runners, counting down the miles (we are British and can't cope with this km stuff) with mile 25 coming as a massive relief.
From here you run to the finish, along the dry river bed at Maspalomas and sped up as the crowds thickened into the 300 metre or so funnel to the finishing line on the beach. Felt really good towards the finish and started waving to the receptive crowd (we all love an audience)- and this my best bit of the race was shown by Canarian TV who covered the race (and recorded by my wife).
So 2.52.55 and Strava tells me the course was 26.49 miles so though my Newport time was quicker, my pace @ 6.31 mm the same. So that's 15 consecutive sub 3's now which started with the race after Gran Canaria in Jan 2017 (3:00:13) with Madeira in January next.
Then a wonderful swim in the warm sea, a cold beer, to the marathon-post race area for paella and some good chats with other finishers, hotel for a snooze and then out into the colourful world of Maspalomas for more beers and supper. Got back to the UK late last night and easy through passport and CV control.
Good work on that buggy run SQ, i saw Jools photos of it on the SG thread.....agreed re vlm, my best 1/2 mara of the year was there.
Didnt train for, or nentally invest in Sunday, just did a couple of easy days and showed up. So probably got the result i deserved. Ive moved on, Brighton is the next big one to invest in.
5m yday, 5m today, legs were a bit creaky from the shock of racing.
TR, Brighton half or mara?
Been feeling a bit spaced out and hyper aware of every damn heart beat, so not sure if I am actually having symptoms or if it's psychological (because these seem to flare up every time I get a letter from the doctor. Hmm). So just a very gentle 4 mile recovery yesterday, but today I decided I wasn't going live in fear so I did 9 miles. Still not very fast but I feel a lot better for it.
TR Brighton is when?
Cal I can relate to the white coat syndrome!
Went out, in the cold, not wanting to run, WU then started at 9mm and did a prog run to 8mm. Maybe there is something in the run to feel method???
Cal: glad the run went well. Hope health-wise things continue to get better.
TR: well done in the HM. Not sure what your level is, but 1:24 seems pretty quick for a disappointing day!
Cal/TT - brighton mara, april 10th. Training will begin in the new year.
Myox - try to run regularly, say 4, 5 or 6 runs per week, as you gradually increase the distances the mileage will build anyway.
8m easy today. Doms from the 1/2 is easing, do i topped it up with some S and C last night.
TR - Bad luck on the half result. Always going to have some off days. It was quite soon after London too. I recover pretty slowly and wouldn't consider a HM race that soon afterwards. You seem to be the king of consistency in training though.
Myox - agree that consistency is most important at the mo. Worst thing would be to build up too quickly and get injured. TR is right, run regularly and the mileage will build without even trying.
Just keeping it around 50 miles a week for me. Certainly starting to feel some fitness building, which is nice.
Myox - just adding my voice to the consistency is king mantra.
Cal - your fitness seems to be returning. Any idea on a timeframe of getting some more answers ?
SQ - forest run sounds good and like HA, a decent weekly total.
TT - well done on the progression run, it did feel cold yesterday (Weds I think).
TR - good assessment, onwards and upwards.
Got my GFA application accepted (was a bit worried about course certification), hopefully hear next week on result.
A 25% voucher took me to the Nike app today, whilst the alphas looked like a decent reduction, 2 pairs of daily’s made more sense as current pair at 1,800 miles can’t be long for this world.
Macca - good news re Dorney, would have been poor if it wasnt recognised for gfa. I tried to buy two pairs of Pegs for £55 this morning, but got the same error code at checkout that i got when i tried to buy 2 cheap pairs back in the summer, funnily enough no error code when i bought my Next% back in May at full price.....I bought a pair of 1080 instead.
8m this morning inc 10x3min which was slow on sore quads but not as tragic as last week . 5m home again tonight, to ensure my bike is at the right end to be able to run in tomorrow.
Macca, that's impressive - I've over 1000 miles on my old pair of Epics (which, sadly, they don't make any more) and they're still alright.
TR, it takes me quite a while to get my speed back after a marathon so I wouldn't sweat it.
Did 5 miles yesterday with strides in the last mile. I did 0.1 fast followed by 0.05 recovery for each. Didn't feel faint or on the verge of death so guess I'm OK for parkrun.
My wifes friend was rough for a few days this week with CV, its a week since they met up, so im hoping my wife will avoid it, esp as we have booster jabs sunday. After Sunday she'll have had 3 jabs and a dose of the real thing so all of that will hopefully keep her safe......if she can stay safe until sunday.
Got a reminder of my rolled over Goodwood place for next sunday, not that interested after last sundays effort, but ive switched to the 1/2 already, so will probably do it as a training booster if the conditions arnt too grim.
6m easy today.
50M a week will get you fit, HA.
Great running, OO. Talk about maximising a weekend. Superb!
1800M, Macca. Very impressive! I’ve so far resisted, despite the temptations.
1080 a great shoe, TR.
Not much recovery for strides, Cal. Should be able to build from there.
TT I’ve enjoyed doubles in the past. But am only really doing them due to life constraints at the mo. Seem to be able to fit in two shorter runs than a longer one. Not as good for longer races but got to go with what is sustainable I guess.
Worked from home today as had an online conference. Nice presentations, but also a useful opportunity to bosh the house cleaning and serve a cheeky track session for lunch.
12 x 150 fast, 250 slow. 30s down to 27 for the final. Nice to do some different and the track is always good for a bit of accountability.
Not brave enough to wear the Adios again, having done so on Tuesday. But NB1080 are a very good all rounder for such circumstances.
10M total at 7:35s.
Enjoying running on some trails. Think it’s probably slightly easier on my legs as I increase the mileage.
HA77 do you run six days a week to do 50 miles?
Macca my shoes 'die' at 350-400! Very impressed with 1800, very good news on the GFA.
TR my bike is firmly attached to the turbo and will be for quite a while.
Weather awful! Yesterday I did the TM run at the gym, this morning in the garage. Yesterday was a very long WU then six miles at MP with the last mile accelerating to 10km pace.
This morning MP plus 30-90 seconds. Put an Abba record on the phone and changed the speed at every song! Trees down all over the place.
Good run today TT
Copped a weather beating today but bagged the planned 16m.
I felt like I was running quite quickly but my time was a disappointing 27:45 (just under two minutes slower than my previous time there). While I wasn't expecting to beat the previous time, I did rather hope to be sub-27, so I wasn't too pleased.
On the plus side, I didn't drop dead, so there's that.
Turbo intervals and a booster jab for me today.
Myox - good work pushing up hills.
TT - well done on the treadmill, picking up to 10k pace after MP is a good sign.
Cal - conditions on Sat were such I think that anytime was a good effort, I was happy to marshal.
TR - well on a LR on Sat in that weather. Hope the jab went well.
Hatfield 5 mile race for me on Sunday. I’d mentioned previously it was one of my softer PBs but the last few weeks I’ve felt so tired and sluggish that it didn’t look so soft (31:50 ish). Anyway, perfect conditions, 10 mins drive away and an advertised “flat Pb course”, let’s see what happens. Vague plan of post as many sub 6s as possible. Oops 5:42 1st mile (fractionally downhill), 5:46 2nd, wasn’t expecting that, as expected effort ramps up, 3rd mile of 5:57, 2 guys pass me but no one else. A PB is in the bag and eyes turn to club age record. A pair of sub 6s should do the trick. 4th mile of 5:59 and I try not to look at my watch, concentrating on holding whatever speed is left. Being an out and back course I try to remember where the finish turn is and I see a guy the other side of a hedge (no one immediately in front) so I turn onto a road before the hedge, “no”shouts the guy behind, sh**. A body swerve and I’m back on course but concentration has gone and I cough a couple of places as I chastise myself. Anyway the other end of the hedge appears revealing the finish line and a 29:17 finish is 14s under the club age record and the quickest I’ve felt for about 6 months. Nice to finish a race on the same day it started for a change.
It was freezing on Sunday so 12 miles felt like plenty far enough. Not fast either...I don't seem to be able to get my legs to move at the moment.
Today was a 5 mile recovery (and gym). I'd ordered a Coospo HRM off Amazon and it arrived yesterday so decided to try it out. While I had no problem getting it to talk to my Garmin, I was somewhat disappointed that the readings were pretty much the same. I'd always thought my HR read quite high because of the inaccuracies of optical HRMs, but it seems that I just have a crap heart. Averaged around 160 at recovery pace.
At least it provided a lot more accurate readings in the gym when I went to lift weights before lunch.
Thanks Cal , not many 5 milers about. Lol and I thought my heart was rubbish with a max of 164ish. ( there’s a difference of 40-50bpm for me chest hrm v wrist).
Good to see you running again Cal.
That's a bugger HA - hope that doesn't scupper your motivation.
Welcome aboard TT & MyOx.
Impressive parkrun time MO, shows you've certainly got the potential for a sub 3.
Beware of too much fast (MP or greater) running TT.
Not into marathon training yet, just enjoying some lower mileage weeks with a few track sessions, XC & weekly parkruns.
Saturday was 19:50 at Aberbeeg again. It was a solo effort for 4th with 3rd a minute ahead & 5th 30s back. I then headed over to Abergavenny for Blorenge Fell Race - usually 1M & 1500' up then 1.2 down but this year the RO had added a flatter section up top to take us to the summit trig. Ideal with a dusting of ice & snow, 60mph winds, temps of -9 & blinding sunshine on the out & back section
3.5M in 42 minutes which was good enough for 20th & 3rd MV50.
Easy 6M Sunday & 4.5M yesterday then Tuesday track today: 16x200m off 100m walk/jog. Been doing weekly 200s since mid-September & this was the best session yet.
That seems high to me cal. Time will tell.
Jools - i went there in the summer, defo wouldn't want to run up or down it. Fair play to you.
HA - oops.
Zero yday as i felt a bit off the boil after my Booster Sunday. 7m today.