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Shades Marathon Training
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As for today’s race, it’s one to forget. Hideous, would be a good description!
Big G - great splits from yesterday. I think it would take a machine to run the 2nd uphill part at the same pace as the first.
Congrats on a difficult double. When I was running today I was so grateful that I'd not signed up for the double. I guessed you weren't having a great time judging by the look on your face the last time I saw you, at about 22 miles for you, I think, and I was a few miles behind that. Just as well you had your jacket if you were starting to feel cold.
Well I got my sub 5, a course best and a season's best for me, finished in 4:54 but I had to dig deep for that. My legs started to feel tired at 17/18 miles, from my increased mileage training I think, but I didn't allow myself any run/walk sections until I was on the last uphill stretch. At that point I knew I was on for a sub 5, although it wasn't easy to work out as my Garmin cut out each time we went in the tunnel, so 4 times, I knew then that the course would appear short on my Garmin and I pushed on to make sure I did get that sub 5.
I ran in vest and arm warmers and I was fine with the temperature, it was humid but as it was cool it didn't feel too bad. Wet and windy in places but not too bad and by halfway I'd dried out completely only for a few very heavy squally showers in my 2nd half and I ended up completely soaked, my shoes and socks too but no blisters or sore spots so that was good. I started feeling cold when I finished.
Great to catch up with Keith at the start, I was thinking about his roast dinner.
Shades-Brilliant to get a CB,you had a tough start to the year but looks like a good autumn campaign ahead.
Cal-Thats another good run from you,how many 20+ miles now for you in this cycle?
No running today as I worked late but should be ok for some miles this week.
Your training is going well Cal. Fingers crossed for favourable conditions for Maidenhead.
Well done for making the lunch Keith
Ian, hopefully you can get some runs in. Do you have any shorter races planned before your marathon?
I thought I was going to feel pretty bad on the recovery run this morning when I forced myself out the door. I didn't want to do it but I know it does help, so I managed 3-miles and apart from the 1st mile it wasn't too bad. I had actually forgotten it was BH weekend (a draw back - or advantage depending on how you look at it - is that BH Mondays are like any other Monday, plus OH is working today) and only realised when I figured out why the roads were so quiet this morning. Bin men were still out though, and a few runners and kayakers too.
Are you down in October to do the Plym Trail races again?
I left home early on Sunday so I could get parked as close as possible to the finish line which I was, but that was so if I needed a jacket at halfway I could get it easily.
Cal - it's unlikely you'd start suffering from runner's trots now after all your years of running. So just one of those one off things, I'm sure.
Ian - in fairness, I'd only run this race once before but I was pleased with a season's best as it's not the easiest of courses.
Forgot to say we saw the steam train yesterday and I did my Jenny Agutter bit and waved to the driver and the passengers
6 mile recovery run done. Right quad and hip flexor a little tight, I think from the long stretches of downhill yesterday and on the 2nd lap I tried to push on a bit on that section.
I wondered when I was out for my run whether you'd be out too for a recovery run, glad it's helped, you can rest up now for the day.
Bin men not working here on BH
Day 1: 49:34, 51:59, 49:34, 59:43
Day 2: 52:37, 59:33, 1:02:12, 1:18:58. In fairness, the 1:02:12 did involve standing around eating at the aid station, but still!
I took a big handful of peanuts at 20 miles, then had to walk/run to eat them, hard to run eating peanuts without choking myself.
I didn't do splits as you did as I'd forgotten the tunnel would cut off GPS for a while. According to my Garmin I only slowed by 3 minutes in the 2nd half but in reality I think I was 6 minutes slower in the 2nd half which I'm OK with.
I've signed up for Plym Trail again on the 20th October and am marshalling the following day. I'll be doing one of the drink stations.
Shades, yeah, that's true. I obviously needed the food etc as I don't usually stand around stuffing my face - apart from at LDWA events
Just caught up on Day 1 and Day 2 of the Vuelta. I've let my Eurosport package lapse so I'll just watch the highlights of it on ITV. David Millar, the ITV commentator, seems pretty excited about the race and thinks it's wide open. Should be good. Millar's got a bit of a reputation in relation to drugs from when he was in the peloton and wrote a book about it also, but in fairness he is a good commentator I think.
Cal you keep on churning out good parkrun performances hopefully an indication of some decent race performances to come! Some decent long runs bagged and don;t worry too much about going beyond 20 miles, not that much to gain going further but plenty to lose, fatigue, injury etc. How many 18-20 have you got planned before valencia?
Keith good decision to drop to the half for the 2nd day and good going getting back and in the pub in such speed! Much prefer a race without a big drive to the pub.
Big G well done on day 1 and well done for seeing day 2 through, job done you got the extra one in.
Shades well done in those beautiful conditions, after reading your race reports unless I find myself chasing numbers for marathons dont think you'll catch me at plym. Well done on not choking on the peanuts, never seemed to appeal to me when I'm running.
Busy few days celebrating, Thursday was Elle's birthday up London for a meal few drinks and took in a couple of shows mumma mia and school of rock, was impressed with the 1st but the latter didnt deliver to my expectations as I'd have liked, could be was a bit tired by then but also felt sorry for anyone in the front row as they got a shower of sweat from the lead actor!.
Friday got out and did a 7 mile (last mile cool down) progression run starting at 9.15 pace finish at 7.15 before back out for a another days drinking in Hertford/ Ware including a riverboat cruise where it pissed down.
Saturday was a duvet day
Sunday was my nephews 1st birthday but decided not to run
Monday (today) managed an easy 15 miles, took in half the course of my hm in a couple of weeks and remembered what a horrible course it can be, on poorly maintained pavements and trail. Also took in my local parkrun on the course too.
Weight seemed to have gone up by a couple of lbs but will work those off i'm sure!
Shades-A CB is a CB,nice to be getting a seasons best also.
Big G-I'm down for Wirral half on the 9th,undecided whether to rest a little before it and try and get a PB or try for high mileage to help for Chester.
Rob-Sounds like you and Elle had a nice weekend,nice 15 today.
8.5 miles after an early dart from work today,felt good despite a few hills.
Big G - I've never had Eurosport so always used ITV4 for the cycling. David Millar wasn't that good when he started the commentating but over the years he's really learnt the job and now I think he's brilliant. He also has all those useful little titbits of knowledge about strategy etc. I haven't started watching the Vuelta yet, will probably do so today.
Re Sunday, maybe you didn't have enough fuel with you for the day, hence the wanting to scoff all the cheese muffins
Robert - you could always do the half at Plym Trail, it really is a beautiful course through the woods, very peaceful and scenic.
I like something salty in the latter stages of a race, fed up of sweet stuff by then. At North Dorset marathon they have saucisson on the last 2 drink stations.
Sounds like you had a busy weekend, hope Elle enjoyed all the celebrations, I'm not surprised there's a small weight gain after all that.
Ian - maybe just take a rest day before Wirral Half as only consideration of a taper, you'll still do a great time.
6.5 miles today, legs are fine, only slight tiredness in right quad and hip flexor. Nice morning, good for running.
I haven't thought as far ahead as Valencia. The aim is to sandwich a couple of long runs in between the two races but I won't really know how well I recover from Chester until I do it. I don't want another episode of shingles like I got after Manchester, or another injury.
6 miles easy today. Very grey and uninviting so it was 7am by the time I got myself out. Wore a T-shirt, thinking it was cooler, but it turned out to be very muggy and I wished I'd worn a vest. Quads and hams are in good shape - achilles/calf a bit testy but not terrible. I do feel a little fatigued, though, overall, which is no surprise after the miles I've been logging. The easier week should help.
Cal, those Peanut Caramel Crips sounds nice! I'd better avoid Sainsbury's
Robert, I was disappointed with School of Rock when I saw it too. I haven't seen Mamma Mia though. Well done for getting some running in and as you say the extra couple of pounds will come off soon. I wasn't trying to put people off with Plym Trail - it is a nice route. I think, for me, the double was just too much on this occasion though but I did enjoy day 1. Plenty did the double though and did reasonable times, it just wasn't my day for whatever reason.
Shades, yeah, Millar is very good at the commentating. He seems to have a lot of insider knowledge as I think he still knows a lot of the peloton. As a casual observer, just watching the footage I don't think I'd know what was going on in terms of tactics, but he does explain it very well. I certainly wouldn't recognise many of the peloton (I recognise Froome, Cav and I obviously could recognise G in his yellow jersey, and I can sometimes pick out Sagan) but often it's hard to know who is who, so the commentary is great for that too.
The Plym Trail results are out. I thought Chair had done about 3:40 but he actually went under 3:30 so he did well. He's organising a club camping trip to go and do a marathon. Sounds great, doesn't it!? Except, it's in Wales in November, and it's a tough trail race - Brecon Beacons Marathon. I am actually free that weekend, but it's not for me. He's okay as he has a motorhome these days, but I'd be under canvas. I suppose I could look for a B&B somewhere, but I don't really like the trails so it's a definite "no" for me.
Did you see the Adrian Chiles documentary last night? I don't want to give anything away in case you haven't seen it yet, but any thoughts on it?
I'm going to take a rest day today as I'm still quite tired. I ideally want to feel fresh for Saturday's event as if it stays good conditions, I want to give it a crack. When I say "give it a crack", I'd be very happy with sub-5 and genuinely over the moon with anything close to 4:30. It was one of my favourite events last year. I quite like this pic of me with the RD at the finish - I was soaked! It was - and still is - one of the toughest races I've done and I was spent at the end (5:28 it took me, and I wasn't messing about), but at the same time it was one of the first events on my list for this year. I loved it! This year, I did waver over the "Ultra" entry button (34 miles) but went for the marathon and I'm fine with that.
There's something about a point-to-point course, isn't there? For this, the organisers bus you out from the finish to the start, and then you run back along the coast path. There's something about that, which I think adds to the event in some way.
When I got up today it was dark and I thought it was cooler too, but after a lengthy leaning out the window I realised it was actually quite warm so was glad I'd opted for vest.
Big G - I'm amazed how easily the commentators recognise the cyclists, I can only recognise a few. I think Millar is still good friends with a lot of the riders and that's where he has the advantage when commentating.
Fancy Chair progressing to a campervan,
I've recorded the Adrian Chiles programme, I'll watch it later.
I think the forecast for this weekend is OK and you should get a comfortable sub 5 on that course. I agree a point to point course is special, some of my favourite races are of that nature such as Connemara and Loch Ness.
Big G-Just the name of that race is enough to put me off,say Brecon beacons and I just picture SAS training so defo not for me.
Shades-I'll just take it a little easier in the week leading up to the half,I think the weather will be the biggest factor in my time.I ran 10 Today and 5 was along the course and it made me remember about 11 of it is along the front so if it's a windy day it could have a big effect on the race.
Shades/Ian, yeah, the Brecon race is not for me although I'm sure those that go will have a great time. I have been to the Brecons for walking and it's very nice there, but I would absolutely hate the marathon if it was bad weather (in terms of the footing, as well as the cold/rain), and the thought of camping doesn't appeal in that time of year.
I meant to say that I've been having "overnight oat pots" for breakfast on occasion. Variations of this, but I've been using normal milk and not really bothering with the toppings, and sometimes without peanut butter but having banana instead. Quite nice.
Keith - I guess 7 hours with 2 food stops isn't too bad for this time of year. Good to know you're eating well
Big G - you never know, when you're lined up in the middle of nowhere in the Scottish countryside on that start line you might just be ready for a PB attempt. Air quality is better up there too.
I have a running friend that was stretchered off an event on the Brecon Beacons this year, ultra I think, with a badly injured knee. The year before he had a bad fall in the same event, smashed his face up and broke his glasses, but went on to finish.
mmm not sure about the overnight oats, doesn't appeal to me.
I usually have a cooked breakfast of eggs and toast and some fruit. I occasionally have a bowl of porridge but I'm starving 2 hours after eating porridge and I don't use the over processed stuff in the pots but make it from scratch. Last week I made twice the size of my normal portion but I was still hungry 2 hours later and had to have some toast to get me through to lunchtime.
5 miles for me today, easing up on the mileage now as have race on Saturday.
Some interesting snippets of info came out, like that Brits only admit to drinking half of the alcohol sold in this country...so who is drinking the rest?
Watched the first 2 of the Vuelta highlights, Tour of Britain starting on Sunday, I'll record the highlights for that too, no wonder I don't get that much done at home
I also agree it'd be good to see a follow on. I know the program had no agenda and I think it was just an accurate reflection of what he was thinking at that time, but I feel he was at the point where he was hoping to still be able to moderate, and I found it interesting when at the end he said he was hoping to reduce to "only" 25 units a week. I think if he does try to moderate, it's possible his intake will creep back up again, at which point I suppose he then may try to abstain. That's exactly the pattern that I went though (and have since found out that many others go through) for a long time until I decided I needed to knock it on the head. From that point of view I feel the program missed a large part of this type of type of "journey" as the whole reasoning around going tea-total wasn't included.
I was very disappointed with Frank Skinner though. Saying something like "Adrian, you're the type of drinker I aspired to be" just wasn't helpful in my opinion. You could see Chiles was struggling with all the thoughts about what to do drink, what not to drink, how much, whether to moderate, whether to abstain etc were taking up a lot of this time, so I don't think Frank helped at all. I know for me the biggest change has been that rather than asking all those questions of myself like "Oh, it's his birthday - shall I drink?", "I've got a race tomorrow - surely one or two won't hurt?", "I've opened the bottle of wine, shall I finish it off?" etc, the simple decision of "I'm not drinking" makes life a lot easier, and I found it quite jarring seeing Chiles going through all those types of questions, as I recognised it in myself. He sometimes looked anguished talking about it, furrowed brow, wringing hands etc. I think even if he said "I'll moderate my drinking to only drink at football and at weekends", he'd still be way over 14 units and it'd creep up again, and he'd still have all those thoughts at other events. That's what people mean when they say they're ""free" - those thoughts aren't there any more.
As it happens, I know the group featured at the end - Club Soda. They're really good!
I agree Frank Skinner wasn't of any help but I don't know what Skinner has been through with his addiction to drink. If he'd been to hell and back I can understand that he would look at Adrian and not see any problem with his drinking. A bit like a skinny person asking a friend who had lost 10 stone in weight how they could lose 5 pounds.
Chiles did say he's suffered from anxiety and depression for years and I wonder if this is why he's now looking at his alcohol intake. One of the 'experts' he spoke to did say that lots of folk drink to relieve anxiety and depression and it doesn't work, so I guess they drink a bit more etc. etc.
Shades, not a big fan of sweet stuff either when running, with the off road stuff and ultras I enjoy consuming a lot of savoury food, sausages and scotch eggs my fav, love a cheese and pickle sandwich too.
Cal- WGC half probably isn't as bad as I made it out to be, just wonder why I chose to run it again after having a poor race 18 months ago. Hope the cut back week helps.
Ian- sounds sensible to cut back the week of the race, when a half is in my marathon cycle I usually do the same, even have a hard session 2-3 days before.
Big G- the doc is on record, wont get to watch it till the weekend probably. Haven't done many point to point races but the handful I have done there is something special and satisfying about them, loved doing Atlantic Coast Challenge last year from Padstow to Lands End, think running to the most western point was good. I like looking at the distance on a map looks more impressive.
Rest day yesterday, then got to work and forgot I'd put myself down for overtime today and Friday, not leaving much time for a run and also got a slightly earlier start tomorrow which will cut into running time. Managed to get out for a dry but miserable 6 miles, will aim longer tomorrow.