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Shades Marathon Training
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I also don't know exactly what caused Frank to be sober. He may well have reached "rock bottom", which is a difference with me. My realisation just crept up on me - I remember thinking that it was taking more than it was giving - so wasn't from a feeling of being rock bottom.
Regarding Chiles, that was another point when he mentioned his depression that resonated with me. I wasn't clinically depressed but I also used alcohol after what happened to Claire. I didn't know it at the time, but looking back I was self medicating.
Went for a marathon effort run after work,felt little tough but generally it was fine.Then again 6.2 miles is different to 26.2
Big G - I guess Skinner still wants to be a drinker and for that reason maybe isn't interested in improving his social life, he still wants to be in a bar every night. I would guess that he did hit rock bottom at some time.
Not unlike dieters that stick to the diet but all the time think about when they can go back to eating the crap they were before, they say they won't put the weight back on but most of them do.
You wanted to give up alcohol and were receptive to the differences it made to your life, fresh head, spending less money etc.
Ian - I know it's strange about the porridge, it really fills me at the time but doesn't last. I need more protein to stop me feeling hungry later.
Not easy doing race pace in training.
Rest day for me today, am taking 2 days rest before Saturday's race. I've done 3 weeks high mileage, averaging 75mpw.
I haven't ran since Monday's recovery run, which is unlike me. I hope to go for a run today, but I'll see how I am a bit later. I think the double has taken quite a lot out of me on this occasion for whatever reason, and also I'm still quite achey generally. I have been for a couple of walks but I know that isn't the same but I'm sure I'll bounce back before Saturday.
I'm not surprised you're tired, you had a tough run on Sunday and the tougher ones take longer to recover from. You'll be fine by Saturday.
I don't know if you've seen the Long Course Weekend programme was on telly, C4 I think, last weekend. It's worth watching on catch up as it recreates the great atmosphere in Tenby for the LCW weekend. Or you could just watch the latter stages which shows a lot of the lovely marathon course, I know the marathon is on your 'to do' list.
Rest day yesterday (and well, it was pissing with rain) although I did a hot pilates class. Nice and fresh and sunny today, though, so I did six miles with three at HMP. My feet and ankles are quite niggly at the moment, but I suppose they have had a battering. I do have a weird pain in one of my big toes - it's like a burning pain and presents at the start of the run but goes away quickly. No idea what that's about.
Cal, just a quick one about those over night oat pots is that they aren't sloppy - you can stand your spoon up in it
I'm fully embracing the "one pot"-meal thing today. I've just put some spinach, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes and two eggs in a dish, to bake in the oven
Big G-Hopefully you'll shake that feeling soon and be ready for the weekend.
Shades-When I said tough yesterday it was the first mile or so,once I got going it felt comfortable.Another nice run after work tonight brings this month to 158,less than I wanted but I had a tough start with work and didn't want to just do more miles for the sake of trying to catch up.
I bought a bag of chia seeds very cheaply, I think it was Home Bargains, but I don't buy them any more, don't like small seeds that get in your teeth, like poppy seeds. Home Bargains sometimes have really good prices on seeds and dried fruit.
Big G - I love 'one pot' meals, saves on the washing up too.
Ian - it would be hard for you with your demanding job to up your mileage too much, but you do good quality training and still have to manage that pesky achilles. When I was working I could only do my highest training weeks when I was on holiday, as I'm a slow runner I need more time to run those extra miles. I engineered the 3 weeks quite carefully, including 2 marathons and a 30 mile race which I'm doing tomorrow.
Another rest day today. Had to pop out early this morning and it was only 7.5 degrees according to my car, felt quite chilly
I'm considering risking the Zoom Flys for Maidenhead. They beat up my feet when I wore them at the Big Half in March, but I've since worn them at Harry Hawkes (10 miles) and I think my feet will be tougher now. They are my fastest shoe, and the shoe that puts the least stress on my achilles.
Incidentally, rather excited to find out Nike is releasing a flyknit version next month. My one complaint about the Flys is they take so frickin' long to put on compared to my flyknit shoes, and flyknits are deffo more comfortable.
I was reading the very comprehensive race instructions and I'd forgotten a massive perk of this race - all competitors are entitled to fish and chips at a very good fish and chip shop close to the finish
I was looking at my splits from last year - there are two check points, one at about 14 and one at about 20. Most of the first 20 miles is very runnable in good weather conditions but last year I got there in about 3:25 (so it took me over 2hrs to do the last 10k). I reckon if I don't mess about too much at the check points (i.e, if I don't eat too much!) a reasonable target is to get to 20 miles closer to 3hrs and then just do my best from there. We'll see
Big G - forecast is good for tomorrow, but will be more humid. Wind minimal so I think you'll easily be a lot faster than your target time. I was waiting for you to mention the fish and chips.
I have already sourced my chip shop for tonight in Llanelli for my fish and chips. We have a pre race social tonight, the Expo as it's been referred to but in reality just a meet up runners and organiser in a food pub which is nice, but I will eat before as prefer chip shop fish and chips.
I'm heading for Wales in the next hour or so, good luck all racing this weekend.
Fish and chips - nice!
Yes, last year even the "easy" bits were pretty tough due to the ferocious head wind. I remember running along there and I heard a runner come up to pass me and say "keep going Big G" and I just muttered something back at him along the lines of "yeah, you're doing well mate...keep going", but didn't actually look up at him. He said "keep going" again and slowed to my pace forcing me to look across to him and it was only then that I realised it was a club mate. I was in a world of my own, with my head down, just trying to get through it. We've laughed about it a few times since then as it really was horrendous along there, and for the rest of the race last year we kept overtaking each other. I was ahead of him by a few minutes at the end, but that's mainly because he slipped over in the last half a mile, and took a while to get going again.
Cal, I'm also not sure what to wear for tomorrow. Road shoes are definitely okay if it stays dry as like I say 20-miles of the route is very runnable, and then it's just run/walk as best as you can for the last 6 miles up through the coast path. But I'm not sure if I should wear my usual, fairly light marathon shoes or my training shoes that have a bit more padding/protection. I wore my normal light marathon shoes at the recent Forest of Dean marathon which was a trail race and they were okay on that, although I did pick up a niggle after that race, but I don't know if that was related to the shoes (I don't think it was). I also wore a pair on the DD and again they were fine. I'm currently thinking a fairly new pair of the lighter shoes (which have a lot of grip) if it doesn't rain, but I expect I'll decide tomorrow
After my run last night I popped along to a new event our club organised in Birkenhead Park,4x1 mile mixed sex relays,they're trying to turn it into a big event and had some good prizes off Ron Hill and Polar,All split into u17,u23,senior and masters
It was a really good event with a decent turnout for the first one.Fastest was our u23's with a time of 18:22,crazy fast with 2 girls and lads on the team.Fastest male was 4:18 and female 4:22.Not an event I've ever raced or likely to but looked good fun.
It's been a few weeks since I last posted but I have been lurking in the background.
Been a manic few weeks since outlaw with school holidays and joining a new club as a second claim club which is alot more in line with how I want my running to be and I'll probably switch it to first claim once vlm is over .
Last Sunday I entered an event spur of the moment which was one of a 10 in 10. 8 laps for a marathon. I ran the first half in 1:33 and then I had stomach issues which took the wind out of my sails and the second half was done in 2:50 so I ran a small extra bit too make it a small ultra in 4:33, found out when I got home that it was my 25th marathon overall so a minor milestone..
Today I've gone a bit bonkers and I'm running 2 events one at 9:30 and the other at 5pm with 100miles traveling time between them so timing will be tough. I plan to run 100k over the 2 events so hopefully all goes to plan and I'm not too broken..
Happy running folks.
Shades- In regards Berlin I'm not running it this year had to cancel so I'm off to Tenerife in 2 weeks time for a holiday instead. As I cancelled Berlin that's why I entered Loch Rannoch marathon in October instead.
Not done any running at all the past 2 weeks as I was on my driving course for work
. Every night when I got home I was so mentally fatigued and then had to study I just did ot have any energy to do anything else. As my course has now finished went out for 5.5 miles this morning. Wore my new Saucony Guide 10's for the first time both the shoes and run felt very good just so good to finally get out running again.
18 this morning,All good apart from the last couple of miles were tough,the route I took has a bit hill about 15 in so always takes it out of me being so late on,All good in the long term though I suppose.
Surprisingly though I got a PR on that climb according to the Strava segment.
Ian, well done on your 18 miler. Good training as you say.
Steven, hopefully you'll be able to get out running again a bit more consistently now your driving course is finished.
I did City to Sea this morning (I opted for the light weight road shoes in the end...), which was quite an early start as I had to be on the coach before 6:30am to get to the start line, where the race started at 8am. This is advertised as 26.5 miles and my watch showed 26.6.
There was a small mandatory kit list (water carrier, mobile phone and a rain jacket, although we were told at the race start that the rain jacket wasn't needed so I left that in my baggage), so running with the Camelbak is never easy, but I got to Half marathon feeling quite good. I did begin to struggle a bit between Half and 20-miles though, so walked any hills and tried to just relax on the flatter bits, and got to 20-miles in around 3:02, so a bit slower than I had ideally wanted. This race gets very tough on the terrain from about 20.5-miles and I was hoping to crack on with this section this year, bearing in mind it was dry and I did go quite a bit quicker, but it's still un-runnable for large sections. I think I had somehow forgotten this and was hoping that I'd make up 30 mins or so on this section alone, which just didn't happen! Also, because I had struggled a bit between 13 and 20, walking the steps was very hard work at times - legs were screaming.
Anyway, I did my best, although I did take a small fall but there was no harm done. I was walking down some steep steps and slipped (I think I'd have slipped regardless of the shoes), but as the steps were so steep I kind of just sat down fairly hard on the step behind, so I was fine.
I got towards the finish and you can more or less see the finish area, but the organisers put a final sting in the tail, and you have to go down a steep, narrow section of trail, before coming back up some more steps, and then there's about 400m to the finish. As you know, I said I'd be happy with sub-5 and I got around in about 4:56 (watch time) and I am happy with that. But I do feel I should have done better as the conditions were good, so I suppose I am a bit disappointed. I think sub-4:30 wasn't on for me, but realistically 4:45 should have been possible, but I did struggle a fair bit between 13 and 20, which is a bit frustrating. Just achey legs, I couldn't get any consistency in my pace and the camelbak was annoying me!
It's a great event, well organised, very friendly marshals, check points to rival LDWA events (water melon, oranges, different soft drinks, tea, coffee, lots of savoury options and lots of different cakes) so I expect it'll be one of the first back on the list for next year. A good day out though, and I enjoyed the fish and chips at the end
Shades looks like a similar cup to mine too, again not tested mine out on hot drinks, love fish and chips a great pre race meal! Enjoy wales!
Big G sounds like a great event, it's pencilled into the list next year and nice bling too, hope the fish and chips were good!
Ian well done for not piling on the miles just to make the numbers up, quality over quantity all the time unless you're going further than a marathon.
Cal believe in yourself, you;re running well at the moment so hope you get the result you deserve at maidenhead.
Iain good luck with that challenge, I'm a shit driver the driving would be the hard part!
Steven, unfortunately life will keep on getting in the way of running, I used saucony guide 9s at the moment, how do the 10s compare?
Made it to parkrun this morning, put my name down to hand out finish tokens after I finished too. Forgot my barcode so knew my time wouldn't count but wanted to see if I could improve on my time 2 weeks prior. Before the start the RD mentioned no bar code no time then singled me out so knew there was no chance of a time. Start off in 1st place for about 500m, felt weird but i knew there were faster runners, mile splits
6.39 (net downhill)
7.17 (net downhill)
7.45 (net uphill slog)
in the final mile I tried but didnt want to kill myself due to time not being recorded and finished in 7th place 21.43 just 1 second of my course PB! Then got told as I'd volunteered she'd pop my time in. Grrr would have put a bit more effort in the final mile.
Good luck to those racing tomorrow!
Robert - my OH comes along to support me on all my runs so she tends to do all the driving which allowed me to grab an hours sleep between events yesterday...
what at can I say about yesterday? Well it’s was probably the single hardest thing I have done. Didn’t quite go to plan with 50k each event but I did marathon both.
The first one (Phoenix “once apon a run”) was along the canals in West Byfleet SW London. 8 out and back laps past some of the most amazing houses. I wasn’t completely feeling it when I started, but ran the best I could. Spent a couple of laps running with a small group Which helped ease the mundanity of lapped races. After 4 laps I broke away with an amazing runner and we chatted and ran for a while until I stopped at the aid station to refill my bottle. I ran the last lap alone but I was almost home so it wasn’t too bad.. I finished in 5th place overall in 3:57:04. I found the showers and had a very quick very cold shower and headed to the car to get to the second event which was 100miles away..
Got to the second event (SVN “Black Hugin Challenge”) with about an hour to spare so I tried to stretch as much as I could before getting ready but was already stiff. We had the usual briefing and then we were underway. Again it was an out and back lapped event but each lap took us past an old Viking ship which was pretty cool. First lap was pretty fast and I stuck with the lead group but decided that lap 2 would be much slower cause my legs felt heavy. 2 and 3 were done at my own pace and then I decided to walk the next lap which was made easier by walking with a friend.
By lap 5 the light was beginning to fade so head touches became necessary. Lap 6 was almost completely dark and some of the course was through unlit paths so not only was I having to run on a very sore body, I had to try avoid all the suicidal snails that had come out, but the view of the night sky was incredible. So many stars. Got to lap 7 thinking “well it’s only 10k to go” so I slowly ran the last 2 to finish in 5:06:36.
I had never been so happy to finish an event as I was last night but I was glad I had run 52.4 miles in a cumulative time of 9hrs 3 min. Next event for me is the FOD half marathon at the end of September and then Remembrance Day marathon on 11/11/18. That might change as time goes but I’m going to try take some time off before training for VLM starts mid December
Iain, "well done" seems a bit of a tame thing to say, but well done anyway! Two marathons in a day in decent times, with the traveling, the head torch requirements etc is great going.
Robert, annoying about the parkrun time, but still a good effort by you. Regarding my drinking, I didn't get drunk too often, but when I did I sometimes made a fool of myself - I vaguely remember making a fool of myself at an xmas party a couple of years ago. I also realised that part of my drinking as out of a habit - I went through a phase of coming home in the evening and almost on auto-pilot going to the fridge to crack open a beer, which usually then led to 2 or 3. I did stop this habit before this year anyway, as I realised I didn't even want the beer - it just became a habit of walking in, going to the fridge, and cracking one open.
Yes, it is a cracking event. I got to the end last year just knowing I had to do it again, and as I've said I don't especially love trail races. As it happens, I don't usually go for overly-blingy medals but it is a nice design. They do think about these things as the marathon medal is coordinated with the marathon race number (light blue, not that I keep mine) and I believe the ultra medal is coordinated with the ultra race number (dark blue). I suppose one complaint is that there weren't enough toilets at race HQ (the HQ was different this year, and there weren't enough last year either) but I just queue up, use the loo, and then queue up again. I made it to the start line with only 2-mins to spare though due to this. It's all for charity too, and the finish area was quite big with a PA, music, different stalls selling stuff (nice cake, coffee, bags, beer). Last year none of that really happened as it was such a wash out, which is shame for the charity. I didn't enjoy it as much this year as I am not sure if I'd got a sub-4 on a flat course today. Getting through 20-miles in 3:02 when I was struggling probably means I wouldn't have got a sub-4. But that's my own issue - it is a fantastic event!
Bearing in mind that double-weekend I did was a small event (less than 30 finishers both days), I saw two others who did both days who were also at City to Sea. One was a lady who did an average of under 8hrs at Plym Trail and the chap did something like 3:25 and 3:45. He's quite a young chap and got his sub-3 in Paris this year which he's delighted with and did the Ultra yesterday. He does a lot of local races, and he did something like 5:45 for the Ultra which is fantastic, and me and the lady were overtaking each other for large parts of the race - as I got to the last set of steps before her I was first over the line out of us two and we had a bit of a laugh about it. Speaking of which, I haven't seen the finish times, but the winner of the Ultra did it quicker than I did the marathon yesterday. That's always very sobering!
Ian - that is some fast running in those relays
A hill in the latter stages of your long run is a good test and good training as they often happen in marathons so at least you are preparing for that.
steven - thanks, I've removed Berlin from the list.
Good to hear the Guides seem to suit you so far. I bet you're glad your course has finished.
Iain - you're completely bonkers!!! But well done for taking on such a challenge. Feet up today, I think you deserve a rest.
Big G - that's a great run to get sub 5 and a big chunk off last year's time. And you know next time when you're feeling a bit fresher you can knock a little bit more off.
Robert - I was laughing at the mental image of you with your drunken party antics.
Well done on the parkrun time.
I had a good race yesterday, will do a little race report this morning
3 mile recovery run done this morning and I felt okay, with no real niggles to speak of. I've got a couple of weeks now until my next marathon and I am looking forward to a bit of a break, as I've then got quite a batch of marathons lined up so it will be nice to go into that feeling fresher.
Rambling report to follow
Random Act of Kindness 30 mile Ultra – 1st September 2018
The car is all packed and with plenty time in hand I set off for the drive to Llanelli. I was expecting some delays on the motorways as it’s the end of the school holidays but I wasn’t prepared for the nightmare journey that was ahead of me. The plan was to drive for one hour to Sedgemoor services and stop there for lunch, it took 2 hours to get there, I was so hungry I really enjoyed my lunch. Came out of the services, no traffic queues and into 5th gear and comfortably cruising along for a mile or so and then ahead stationary traffic. In the next hour we managed to travel TWO MILES, I was losing the will to live, couldn’t turn off the engine as it 25 degrees and needed the air con on to keep me cool, mentally and physically. Eventually we started to move, apart from volume of traffic a caravan had overturned and blocked all 3 lanes. I got to Bristol, a journey that normally takes 90 minutes in 4 hours and 30 minutes and then hit the rush hour on the M4 westward but at least we were moving. Finally arrived at Llanelli after well over 6 hours driving.
I decided not to go to the pre-race social as I was so late and I still wanted to stick to my plan of having fish and chips for my dinner. Walked to the chippie and was supplied with a huge portion of very good fish and chips, back to hotel to put my feet up.
Up early after a good night’s sleep, breakfast in my room and then a short drive to the race venue. This is the 2nd of the WRB events that I have done and they are friendly well organised events and you can always be sure of a warm welcome. Collected my number, had a cup of coffee and a chat to other runners, all very relaxed.
41 runners lined up at the start, nice speech and race briefing from the race organiser and we’re off. Weather was good, warm but overcast but it was very humid. There’s a small amount of off road in the first few miles but flat and easy running, beautiful sea views and as with most ultras the relaxed atmosphere does stop the temptation to set off too quickly.
This race was the first ‘plastic free’ race they’d held but we had been informed so we were all prepared, my new collapsible cup was attached to my waistband and I could easily remove it to use when required. The drink stations were roughly every 5 miles which is fine for me usually but as it was so humid I needed to drink 2 cups of water at each station, this meant that I had to spend longer at each drink station than usual, but I didn’t mind. I had a target of doing a sub 6 and thought I’d still be OK even with the extra time at the drink stops.
The course is 3 out and back sections around the Millennium Coastal Path, most of it tarmac surface and nice easy running and there are lots of opportunities to see and speak to the other runners.
At about 8 miles we’re on one of the widest sections of the path and I hear a gentle ‘whoosh’ and then a team of cyclists pass me doing a last minute warm up for the Tour of Britain which is starting in Pembroke the following day. I don’t know what team it was but to see them cycling so close together in military formation all in their team kit, all the cyclists looking very lean and fit, it was a majestic sight.
Second drink station at 9+ miles, I stop again for 2 drinks and a brief natter then head back to complete that section of out and back. At 13 miles, the next drink station, stop, chat, drink and off I go again. I’m running comfortably at a little slower than marathon pace but feeling good. This race has a total climb of 725 feet, which over 30 miles is negligible except on this course all the climb is in one 5 mile section from 13 to 18 miles.
As we head inland at this point we also lose the cooling sea breeze and it feels a lot hotter. The climb is steady, it’s certainly not steep but it’s relentless. At 15 miles I pass a runner, he says he just can’t run up such a long hill. At 16.5 miles I pass another runner struggling on the hill and looking very hot. Finally I get to the top and the food station, less humid up here. 2 cups of water and I spent 5 minutes at this drink station eating Pringles, they did taste good. Then back down the hill and once my legs get used to the gentle downhill my pace increases and I’m feeling good. But once back into Llanelli the humidity hits me really hard and the temperature has increased a bit and it starts to feel tough.
I’m now at 23 miles and back on the flat, another mile and I turn left towards the sea front and into a strong breeze which is cooling and I start to feel better. Just ahead of me I can see a couple of runners so this gives me a target to aim for, I grit my teeth and within half a mile I’ve passed both of them easily, nothing like a bit of competition to focus the mind. At 25 miles the last drink station, I only stop for one drink this time as I don’t need so much when I know the finish isn’t too far away. I pass another runner who looks to be in some discomfort but he says he’s OK. I get to marathon distance in about 5:07 which considering the amount of time I’d stopped to drink and eat was better than I’d hoped. In the final mile I can see another runner ahead, I’m gaining on him but I can’t catch him before the finish but he helped keep me focused as I often find the last mile of an event difficult.
Onto the footbridge and I know the finish is just around the corner and I run as fast as I can to the finish, a very warm welcome from everyone there. I finished in 26th place with a time of 5:51:22 which was far better than I’d hoped for.
A generous goody bag and a shirt, no medal at these events but we each receive a personalised picture with our name and race number ready to put on the wall, much better than a medal.
Lots of food, chat and tea at the finish. I wait until everyone has finished, then drive home, a swift 3 hour drive including coffee stop.