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Shades Marathon Training
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Well done on your 20 miler, what a difference a week makes in the weather.
Big G - when you get home soak the vest in salt water overnight (for any blood) then wash at higher temperature 60 degrees (for the Vaseline) and it should survive.
You gave it your best shot and it was a very good try and you held that pace to 20 miles, 3rd best time is a good result. But you've done enough recent PB's now to know that sometimes it's just not going to be that day. Annoying about the Garmin, mine over measures and I expect 26.4 in a marathon so when I'm calculating the final time in my head I have to add on that bit, it's a bit demoralising at times.
The runners struggling with the stairs at the subway reminded me of my first marathon at London. After the race I had to get the Tube and when I got to the top of the down escalator the queue had stopped and a runner just couldn't get his legs to work to step onto the escalator. We watched for a while then two other runners swiftly picked him up by the elbows and deposited him on the escalator so we could all get moving.
Ian - that might be a bit slower than your PB but 2nd fastest time is a very good result. Any reaction today from your achilles?
A friend did the half and said the course was a bit harder than she'd expected.
No running for me today but I'm going to try a little run tomorrow. Ankle feels good and no pain, I'm still strapping it during the day. I've cancelled Yogalates as we do some stuff that might be too much for my ankle, will do Pilates tomorrow though. Will finish the decorating today too
Shades-It's a bit tender today,not much worse than a normal morning so I'm hoping there's no side effects.
As for the course I'd agree with your friend,it looked steady downhill 1st half then climb back,but it was a lot more up and down than I thought,didn't help as I struggled on the hills esp down.
Both of those times are currently out of my reach!
Shades I hope you get back out running today.
Pleased to report that my bruised foot didn't hinder me yesterday. Got a lovely 21.6 mile loop done yesterday.
I kept a good pace (for me) at avg 9:30 min/mile, this was despite having to slow for the one big hill in my area.
Feel really fortunate to have such a great place to train. I get to run along the coast for huge sections of the loop and ran up to the top of Portsdown hill which over looks the whole of Portsmouth. Quite a humbling moment when you see how far you've run, but also daunting knowing you've got a long way to get home. The hill features almost exactly at the halfway point. Weather held off as well, we were forecast heavy showers and thunderstorms but it didn't materialise. It was just very windy in sections, which I guess makes up for the relevantly flat course
Tempted to take a go pro with me next time to capture some of the sites, but i'm not 100% sure if this is something I want to do.
Ian- well done on the Wrexham half.
Shades- hopefully you were able to get out a run today.
4 miles today to get the legs loosened up. Really looking forward to the Alloa half this Sunday was thinking of running it at m/p which hopefully will show me where my training is at for the Stirling marathon a month later.
- It is a big event with 20000 runners, but I had plenty of space to run, which I like, so I didn't feel crowded (apart from when the busy pacer bus over took me!). London, by comparison, feels quite crowded.
- Lots of spectators around the main sights.
- A good single-lap route, which was quite flat and took in some of the city's sights.
- Really well organised.
- Plenty of well stocked aid stations.
- It's not too badly priced.
- Closed roads (unlike Malta).
- In terms of logistics, the fact that the race started and ended at the same place made it easier in some ways. Also the Expo was by the start line too.
- They were strict on pace pens, turning people away if needed. Of course, when they enter people can be overly optimistic in their hoped for time, but in the main I was running with people at my kind of pace, so that helped with the crowds too.
- Plenty of flights for under £100 return.
- Lots of accommodation, although I did stay a bit of a distance from the start line (30-mins by Metro) to get an economical price; we ended up paying about £35 each per night, for an AirBNB. However, the Metro station is right by the start/finish area, and Expo, so it wasn't really a problem.
It's easy to get around the city. You can get a travel ticket called a T-10, which is valid on all modes of public transport (bus, metro, train). It cost €10.25 and has 10 trips on it, and you can share the ticket between people if you want. It doesn't cover all ways of getting in from the airport, but there is a bus that is €5.90 each way.
In terms of places to eat/drink, it's the usual advice about not really eating on the main squares/streets as they tend to be highly priced and maybe not the best quality. But there are loads of places just off the main streets/squares that are affordable and really good. For example, just off Las Ramblas, we found a really decent place that had a 3 course lunch with a drink for €12.50. My friends were drinking large glasses of wine last night for €1.60, in a bar with a load of locals in an area called Barconeletta. I was on soft drinks, and we all had tapas there which was a great way to the end the break away.
I suppose a couple of gripes were that there were no way near enough loos, but then there rarely are at these big events - the loos were also running out of toilet roll, but I've long since learned to take my own anyway! Also, there was a bit of a mad scramble when people were trying to drop their bags off before the race, but in fairness to the organisers they only let people in a few hundred at a time, so it worked quite well really. It was just that people were initially panicking when the organisers temporarily stopped letting people in to the building.
I would definitely do it again - I suppose the only thing that may stop me is that I have quite a long list of European marathons I'd like to do as well!
I hope that's some help but let me know if you want more info.
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As for me, I flew back today and everything was on time. I've taken the step-dog for a walk, and had a late lunch of fish and chips, and it's committee meeting tonight. I need to get back to a more healthy diet, pronto! But I didn't touch a drop of alcohol all weekend, so I'm pleased with myself about that.
I haven't had time for a recovery run, but legs feel okay. I hope to get out tomorrow if I can.
Today was a rest day but I may need more time off. The hip is not quite right and my right calf has tightened up again (although it's not as bad as it was when I had to take a week and a half off). I'm hoping I can run tomorrow or at least, Wednesday, as I'm off for my mini-break on Thursday. Just hoping it's just tight stuff and not an actual injury.
OTB - that's a great long run and you obviously so enjoyed it too. What a difference from your last long run when you had a miserable time
Jelly - shame about you missing Granite Way but they're good to do refunds to runners that can't do the alternative date.
It will be hard to 'race' a half marathon in training but I'm sure you'll give it your best shot.
steven - depending on how you recover from races, why don't you race Alloa rather than use it as a training run?
Big G - nice write up of Barcelona marathon. Seems the only negatives are those for most big races, which are probably unavoidable when you get a lot of runners together, would any race ever have enough portaloos?
Cal - hope that's just a bit of post long run soreness, nothing more.
I have been for a run, so good to be out again.
On my out run I saw a beautiful Samoyed with a flashing light on it's collar looked really lovely like a Xmas toy with it's fluffy white coat. On my run back the owner was shouting for his dog and it appeared having been in the mud up to it's chest.
My dad used to keep Samoyeds, lovely dogs.
I know when I went to Venice I stayed in quite a famous place on The Lido; absolutely lovely hotel, great breakfast, nice rooms, a bit of history about the place - but the beds were rock hard!
Shades, yes these big marathons can't really cater for it adequately. I'm fairly sure I didn't miss an area of loos on the map, but I counted 40 loos....for 20000 people. I just went once and then joined the back of the queue again, just in case. I only mentioned it really because if people are rushing around and not expecting the queues, it could be an issue, but I'd given myself plenty of time so it was fine. Good to hear you're back out running again. I just had to google that dog - I bet its owner wasn't happy with the mud!
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I'm looking ahead to the next few weekends. I have Tavy 13 next weekend (hope to see you there Shades - I'll bring those books) which I will try and do my best on if the legs are up for it, but then the next two marathons in March will not be quick at all. Definitely the Devon Dumpling I will not be concerned about time at all (I imagine it may well be 5hrs-ish), and then the one after that I may go over the marathon distance so I'll just take it steady. It's a 6hr race, so I may run for that, but I am not sure yet as it's only a couple of days after Devon Dumpling - if the weather is poor, I probably won't as it's a trail event. However, if I can run for longer, it will give me a chance to practice with fuel for the DD - I'm currently thinking of taking ham/cheese sarnies, as that is sometimes what I seem to crave in a marathon! Then the BH weekend I have two 10Ks and so far just a couple of marathons planned in April (although only one of them is entered so far).
I was thinking yesterday that I've had to pull out of 3 this year already (2 due to illness at the start of the year, and 1 due to the weather) so not too sure about hitting my hoped for 24 this year. There's still plenty of time though
I did a delayed recovery run this morning in nice running weather. Just 4 miles and it did feel like a bit of a slog, but it was nice to be out.
Shades-Still unsure about Manchester,must have changed my mind 3 times yesterday alone.I know I'm not in shape to get a good time as I've had no long runs at all,so could use it as a practise run to test things or could just miss it and have a long run instead and do a race a couple of weeks later.
Shades- I have thought about trying to race it rather than a training run as I seem to recover quite well after hard sessions and I start 2 weeks holiday from Friday so plenty of time to recover. My only negative thinking is last year for about 4 miles at the bottom of the local hills was all into a strong headwind then about mile 11 there's is a tough big hill and that's why I was thinking of running at m/p.
Missing/losing planned events is frustrating but just something we have to accept happens in our sport. I've walked to and from Pilates and my ankle is pain free so I was 100% confident about doing Tavy 13 but I've just looked at the forecast after someone told me that we're in for more cold weather. I could manage a half in cold conditions but my fear is that there may be ice and there's no way I'm running those downhills if there's any chance of ice.
https://www.forecast.co.uk/tavistock.html
Hopefully the forecast will change before then
Ian - maybe better to leave your decision about Manchester to just a few days before and not trouble yourself pondering about it now.
Shades - Good to hear you are back running.
Ian - Nice HM time!
Cal - Good 20 miler for you there.
For me, did 6 miles on Thursday but HR was high, should have realised something was up, but we ignore these things don't we (well I do!). Decided I was going to race parkrun on Saturday, so just over 2 miles to get there as a warm up. Started well with a 5:52 mile and held pace for about 1.5 miles. Stopped after 1.6 miles as my stomach wasn't feeling great, rested for about a minute and then ran on, but at HM pace instead and finished the next 2 miles in 6:35 and 6:20 which felt comfortable, actual time 20:29...way off my PB. Tagged on another 8 miles as a long cool down. Ran another 8 miles on Sunday to hit 42 miles for the week.
Stomach now feels better and knocked out a 6 miler this morning at 9:30s with an average HR of 125 (much better). Can still feel the post tib after the faster running at parkrun, so going to run REALLY slow for the next few weeks. If I need to stay away from speedwork while training for this ultra then that is fine.
8 miles for me today set of a little to quick for the run however felt very good so just kept to that pace for the rest of the run ended up being about m/p pace at 8.03 p/m not what I set out to do. Will need to make sure my run tomorrow is at a slower pace.
Would a bit of strapping, Kinesio tape, help your post tib?
steven - well after that run I can't see you on the start line of your race thinking that you'll run it as a training run
6 miles for me today, 3 miles flat and 3 miles undulating, I wanted to test my ankle on a hill and I can feel it when I run downhill but only 1/10 and when back on the flat any discomfort goes. Hill was nothing like what I have in this weekend's planned race but at the moment I will be DNS due to the weather. I was hoping the forecast will improve, there's still time, but for now it's worsened to 1 degree, feels like -8, light snow and 20mph ENE winds.
So I've just had to take two rest days as that hip isn't right. It actually seems to be something in the groin, which I discovered when I did yoga yesterday.
I did get out for a 4 miler (lovely out there today, actually) and it was OK but the calf got a bit tight during the final mile. I'd hoped to do 6 miles but decided not to risk it - getting to the start line of my marathon is more important than logging training miles at this point.
I must admit I've been cursing the timing of this trip, falling as it does into what ought to be peak week, but now I'm quite glad of the break it'll give me, not just from running but also from sitting in front of the computer, which I doubt does my hip and groin much good.
I may try to fit in a run tomorrow if I can but I have to leave at 10 so we'll see.
Not sure on the tape, will maybe pick some up and give it a try. The post tib is fine if I run easy, so that's what I'm doing at the moment.
Interesting listen to the Talk Ultra podcast with Ian Corless and Carl Meltzer, Ian asked Carl, who has run loads of 100 milers, what he classes as a long run. Carl replied anything over 15 miles, but mentioned he wouldn't go over 20 miles in training which I found interesting, you would have assumed he would be going to around 50k at least for that distance, but I guess he just runs a high weekly mileage instead with lots of back to back runs.
Shades, looking at the forecast, I'm wondering whether to DNS as well, but I'll decide nearer the time. It's a club champs race, and I would like to race another hilly race as some kind of training for DD. Also, I'd like to compare it with Humdinger Half in terms of my race time. Good news your injury seems a lot better.
Shades, RK was getting a bit of light hearted stick on Facebook yesterday. He made some announcement that he was coming off facebook in the run up to his 100th marathon (he's done 90 now), but that didn't last very long, which me and a couple of others picked up on
I'm feeling really tired today, and generally a bit stiff and heavy-legged, so I'm more than likely going to take an unplanned rest day today. I was going to go club tonight, but I definitely won't be doing that. I slept okay last night, but I think Barca is catching up with me. I am, however, looking at foreign marathons for Autumn/Winter, but nothing booked yet. Valencia or Lisbon are current faves, but the flights for Valencia aren't out yet so I can't book anything anyway. I haven't been to either of those places, so it would be good to visit and do a marathon at the same time, depending on overall costs.
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You guys probably are aware that I tend to analyse a lot of things, and this is about my not-drinking. This isn't a criticism of my friends, as I usually would be exactly the same, but something was re-emphasised to me when I was in Barca with them. They were fine up until about 3 or 4pm - I.E., going out, seeing the sights, maybe only have one or two drinks with a lunch. But after that, all they were concerned with was the bars. Even walking to the bars, they weren't really looking up and seeing stuff - they literally had a map on their phones with the bars they were interested in, and were walking from bar to bar, and I did get the feeling that we could have done that at home. Like I say, I am usually the same, but looking at them I realised they (and previously me) were missing out on a lot as they weren't even looking up and around them. Their focus was the drink, and it made me wonder what I may have missed out on in other trips when the bars have been my focus in the past.
I think I am pretty sure I am going to be able to do the whole year now, after Barca. I can't say I didn't fancy a drink in Barca, especially in a couple of the bars that had a wide range of beers on tap - that's usually right up my street. But I wasn't really tempted to drink in that I was never going to order one, so that's good. Hopefully over the rest of the year I'll be able to keep it up.
One thing I was kind of hoping would be a side-benefit of not drinking was that I may lose some weight, but that's not happened at all. If I'm not careful my weight does still creep up a bit, and I think I would like to lose a bit more to help with my running, especially if I really want to go for a GFA again at some point. It's not that I'm overweight but a few pounds off would still be healthy for me, and would obviously help with running - but I've said this many times before! I am tall and I can stay around 13st relatively happily, but even 12st10 would help (13st may sound heavy but it's fine for my height). I do find it hard to get down to 12st10, and stick at that - I suppose I just like food too much!
Steve - I think Lidl's are selling running stuff from tomorrow including their bargain pack of Kinesio tape.
https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Non-Food-Offers.htm?articleId=11369&ar=6
You might pick up some kit too, looks nice stuff.
When I had a soleus injury a couple of years ago I just felt that it supported my calf on hills and when racing, how much was psychological I don't know, but it did help.
Interesting about the ultra training, I guess it's finding the training that suits the runner is what is going to work for that runner.
Big G - it must be bad if you're considering a DNS as well, I know I'm a wuss but you're not
I dropped out of Draycote 35 one year at 16 miles as I was so cold, I had layers and layers of clothes on but it was the cold wind I couldn't stand. I went and sat in my friends truck until I warmed up. Later that week a runner I know went to the docs as his ears were sore and he had frostbite
Re RK, when you get to the 90's there is a bit of stress/pressure and it's not an easy time as you so don't want anything to go wrong in the last few races so I can understand him saying he was going to stay off FB. I guess he's entered one of Travis's 100 mile events.
Valencia comes highly recommended. I looked at Lisbon but harder to get flights that time of year as it is with Florence. My budget is all used up for 2018 now anyway.
Re the drinking, I agree, a pub crawl is a pub crawl and doesn't really matter where you are as it's the beer and the company that matters.
Re the weight, you might not have lost any but if you'd been on the beer along with the pizza and tiramisu you might have put on weight, you look very slim to me now and you seem to keep a fairly stable weight.
I'm doing an ultra in Wales on Easter Saturday, I've booked a room at a farm with use of a kitchen, no breakfast offered and it was cheap £35 a night, staying for 2 nights. I've just had this email from the proprietor
Hope all is well. You have a booking with me at Bronllys Farm from March 30th. I’m just confirming that you are still planning to come? When you booked last year the space was an ensuite but we have since converted it to a self catering unit so it is quite an upgrade. There will be no extra costs to honour your original booking. Looking forward to meeting you. Please let me know nearer the time your expected arrival time. All the best, Vic
I have free cancellation which expires tomorrow and I get the impression he'd like me to cancel but I shan't, I'll give him a good review. I booked through Booking.com so that's why he's honouring the booking price.
That looks a great place for your Wales ultra. I'm this morning looking into Great Welsh marathon. I have the race place (I see it's sold out now) but just sorting out accommodation. I have a room booked for one night but thinking I may want to stay an extra night or two now to maybe do a bit of a walking/sight seeing near by, but the place I did have can't accommodate the extra night. If I can't make it work, no problem, and I'll just stick with what I have.
Shades, just a quick one - the date against my name for Devon Dumpling should also say 25-Mar
The place I'm staying at Easter, Bronllys Farm is about 4 miles from Llanelli, you might want to try there. As you're not drinking now there's less need to be within walking distance for food etc
After I graduated, I stuck around another year temping as my boyfriend at the time was in the year below me. On the couple of occassions I ventured on to campus and met up with some of the friends I had in my boyfriend's year, all they talked about were smoking pot and buying pot. It was so dull. By that point I'd got into fitness a lot more and had stopped smoking (I'd also smoked cigarettes) so it came as a bit of a shock to find out that I'd had nothing in common with them beyond that. Ah well.
Steve - I find tape gives me a bit of security when I use it, but I like the calf sleeves better. Not that I don't use both from time to time.
Big G - it's such a shame the Trotters behave like that, don't they realise how pathetic they are, they're too old to take even their tops off.
6 miles done, did a couple of faster miles to test my ankle and I can feel it when I run faster so still not fully healed but it's fine for training. Nice and mild this morning and just light rain, we had a lot of rain last night and there's flooding again.