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Shades Marathon Training
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Cal, you'll be fine by the end of your taper and ready to take on Chester.
Big G, I've had the easyJet email too but not booking anything until I've worked out my budget for next year.
Well done for not having a drink at such an emotional time.
Robert, 10k laps are fine but off road can be very tiring during the night.
That's a relief the assignment is finished. Good news on the weight loss too, hope your OH is doing well too.
Well I'm here in Listowel and settled into the cottage which is amazing. Very homely and so well equipped. But it hasn't stopped raining since I arrived. My satnav let me down badly and took me off in the wrong direction and then I got stuck in roadworks so that added an hour to my journey, I nearly threw the bloody thing in a skip. But once I was on the right road the journey was quick. Forecast for Saturday is not good, 10 mm of rain.
Shades, Elle's doing well too she has lost 13 lbs too and has rejoined the gym, it was only a £1 joining fee and can cancel whenever with a months notice which you've paid up front. She enjoys the classes so will do a few to build fitness and aide the weight loss. I'm not a fan of night running but know it's something I need to try if I am to do a 24/100km/100mile race, the good news with the summer races is there's more daylight! Hope the forecast is drastically wrong for the weekend.
Good news for the OH she got an appointment for her scan for her feet in a weeks time, unsure how long it'll take to get results but all going in the right direction.
Made it for my 1st track session yesterday, wasn't sure if I'd complete with whatever is going on in my hip but did 2.5 mile warm up and wasn't painful, then did 4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4, minutes around 5k pace with recoveries half the amount of time you'd just ran. half way through my hip was grumbling but nothing too bad.
Robert, yeah, I am lucky to live in this area. The sea on one side, and Dartmoor on the other - it is very nice here. Funnily enough, I got back yesterday and had something in my mind that I couldn't shake, and started researching the South West Coast Path a bit more. You're probably aware that Martin Yelling from MT attempted to do the whole thing over 2 or 3 weeks, which I wouldn't do in one go, but there is 630 miles of coast path here (Minehead around to Poole), the vast majority of which I haven't explored. I got to thinking that maybe one year I may do a week's walking/running holiday, and base myself somewhere near part of the coast that I haven't done before, and do a few miles over a week or so. That would be a good holiday, but if I did it I'd go out of season so as not to be too busy - maybe either late September/early October, or early Spring, which of course is prime marathon time, so I'm not sure. But even with that the logistics aren't straight forward as obviously if you drive to A and walk to B, you've still got to get back to A, and often public transport isn't great in these areas. I suppose I can just call a cab if busses aren't an option. Food for thought though. There is a South West Coast Path book that I ordered yesterday, which may stoke the imagination some more. It is split up into 52 sections so 630/52 = approx 12 mile days average. I expect some of the sections will be shorter than this (if it's very hilly terrain) and some longer days if it's easier going, but the book says that the sections individually are suitable for "most people", by which I think they probably mean people who are of reasonable fitness and can do some walking already.
That's a tough session, finishing on the 4-min effort too! That's 20-mins effort at presumably around 20-min 5k pace. Oooooph...makes me feel queasy just thinking about it!
I was going to run today, but my left hip is a bit sore again, so I'm taking a rest day and stretching it and attacking the area with a tennis ball. There'll be no running tomorrow for me with the flight etc. I'm not sure what to do about Loch Ness in terms of target time. Part of me thinks go out at 3:30-pace and see what happens, but I'm basing that on nothing in particular, as I haven't ran anywhere near that for a long time so it could end up being a disaster! I'll have a think about it, and I expect I'll change my mind a lot and then decide more or less on the start line what I'm doing
Left knee was a bit dodgy too - it actually had a whinge when I was at my desk early this morning and then got up to get coffee. I suspect this is down to having very tight, sore quads after some horrible exercise we did in pilates on Wednesday. It didn't seem to affect my running, at any rate.
It's lovely here now - a bit of a breeze, but bright and sunny, and not too hot. Nice running conditions, but I'm going to stick to my guns and not run today.
Cal, this is the longest I have felt any discomfort before, it's new to me! I have a massage booked in a couple of weeks pre Peterborough half, I am considering a physio apt before then just for an opinion.
Big G, I'm hoping to go for a few runs along parts of the coast when I go to cornwall subject to weather, want to run/ walk/ climb the b*st*rd bit from St Ives to Zennor again and hopefully faster than some 25 min miles! Also hope to a bit Penzance to Marizon as well as familiar ground round hayle to gwithian will probably look at some out and backs to coincide with trains as you also mentioned public transports not great.
Just checked out my garmin on yesterday run my moving time on the 5k sections was 19.30 and ran a total of 2.85 miles equates to 21.12 5k, which is about right at in couple of weeks aiming to break 21 mins.
tad over 4 miles this morning, legs were tired which is understandable, hip wasn't great so spent a bit of time stretching after the run, will see how I am tomorrow if I decide to do a fast parkrun or not.
Rob-Thats great news for Elle,she's done great on the loss.
Shades-glad you got there ok,hope the weather eases,it still seems a little unsettled as to when and where it will all hit so I'm hoping we miss the worst of it.
Good luck to all Shadies who have any events this weekend.
For me I am totally loving running in the warm weather here in Tenerife. Have got out for a 11,5 and 6 miles over the past couple of days. It’s unbelievable the amount of runners that are out running every morning so good to see.
Hip niggle sounds like a tweaked muscle.
Big G. Have you been doing any new exercises or wearing any different shoes to annoy the achilles?
Good luck at Loch Ness and enjoy the weekend. I think there's a couple of Mavericks doing it too.
Ian. Good luck to you too and hope that wind doesn't slow you down.
This cottage is full of stuff, not the usual basic stuff in a self catering let. I found a rain poncho, plastic, when I was looking at the books. Gave me an idea for the race so I managed to buy a child's rain poncho which is a better size and should help if we get that torrential rain. I've walked the course today, it's not flat, long gentle uphill and long gentle downhill, surface very smooth tarmac. Went into one shop when looking for the poncho and got talking about the race. Shopkeeper gave me a free coffee and then I wanted to buy some Kimberly biscuits and he insisted I have them FOC too. When I was finally leaving he went into the back and gave me a huge slice of cake too.
Will attempt photo from new phone. Food is all bagged, might leave clothes and extra kit in the car as checkpoint is close to car park. Am deciding what to wear in the morning after final weather check. Macaroni cheese made, tastes good.
Can't work out pasting photo yet.
No, I haven't changed my shoes or anything. One pair is slightly at the higher end of their mileage so I suppose it could be related to that, but I'm not sure if it is that really.
Steven, great that you're enjoying your running. It's brilliant running in different locations.
I've just been rereading all the stuff for Loch Ness, and I'm really looking forward to it now. I think I'm going to go out at around 8s (i.e., 3:30 pace), and if I blow up, so be it. If I don't try, I won't know. Even sticking my Torbay Half time from June (which wasn't a PB or anything) into McMillan shows 3:30 for a marathon, so it's not totally outlandish to try for it
My bag is all packed, I have my caramel waffles in there, I've brought some pastries to eat at the airport, and the B&B is expecting me at around 10am. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight, and then I'll be off, aiming to leave the house before 4am, all being well.
I think you're looking forward to the pre race eating. 😋
I've skipped my pre race fish and chips I'm not really hungry enough and I can't find a chip shop. I will be having 2 breakfasts tomorrow though as midday start.
Big G sounds sensible to go for the sub 3.30 it's not a target out of this world.
Shades I was surprised at elle's appointment as she was told end of November! Cake looks good and making me hungry, sweets & chocs dotted all over the office at the moment got 90 mins before home time... staying strong!
The hip seems to be okay to walk on, but running is a tad uncomfy at times. Just going to take it easy and ice when I can. Good luck hope the undulations help mix it up on race day!
Ian hope you don't get too much of a headwind!
steven, I enjoyed running on holiday, just had to do it early as was too warm after 8am, was a good feeling running when the sun was out and great to see others doing it too.
Big G-Have a good flight and enjoy inverness,3:30 seems reasonable for you, you should convert well with the miles and races you do.
Steven-great running in nicer weather.
Rob-Hope the hip eases or at least stops causing you issues,danger of it altering you when you're running is it causes other niggles as you over-compensate.
We run across and back the humber so as long as the wind isn't severe it should be ok,currently showing about 10mph,the rain still can't decide,latest map shows it going a little above hull so we will get it but if it stops a little south we may miss the worst.
Big G. Hope you're tucking into those pastries at the airport.
I've packed all my stuff for the race. I have 3 jackets, 3 hats, 3 pairs of gloves, 3 spare tops, 2 spare pairs of tights, spare shoes - only one pair. Loads of food plus first aid stuff etc.
Morning TV is crap here so no update on weather except on internet and that does show an improvement in the forecast, only about 18 hours of rain now still some heavy rain going into early hours Sunday but light rain the rest of the time.
I'm not taking my phone to the race, it's new and I don't want it to get wet. So will update sometime tomorrow.
Similar for mine now,was looking horrific earlier in the week but looks good now,bit of light rain after halfway which is ideal.
My naughty achilles was tight yesterday after my run and really stiff this morning but I gave it a good roll out and taped it up as I had plans to visit Barking parkrun today (I'm just three parkruns away from the 20 I need to join the parkrun tourists Facebook group and qualify for the cow cowl... Although really, I just like visiting different ones as it's nice to run somewhere new and it's like a weekly adventure).
Barking is a bit of a schlep from me - just under an hour on the tube, with one change, but acutally a straightforward journey. I was attracted to it as it's one of the smaller ones (around 100 people or so...today was 110) and also flat and fast, so a good opportunity for a good fast time and a placing.
The park itself is very pleasant, with a long, thin lake which you run alongside. (Saw a heron on my second past...it's a two lapper).
I chatted to some of the local peeps first including a guy in a Sikhs in the City shirt who asked me if I enjoyed Richmond (I was wearing the shirt) as he'd been pacing the marathons. He mentioned he'd paced a lot of marathons and halves. I only realised when I checked the results this afternoon that I'd been blithely chatting away with none other than Harmander Singh!
Anyway, I set a brisk pace and did 8:04 for the first two miles. I was keeping pace with a couple of guys in front but I guess they must have slowed a bit as I noticed my pace had dropped when I checked my Garmin and my third mile was 8:22. I picked it up a bit for the last .1 but once again, the sub-25 eludes me. My time was 25:10 which is my second fastest parkrun - definitely not to be sneezed at. And the achilles didn't grumble either. It doesn't seem to mind short and fast, apparently.
I didn't win my age group as the 1st lady was a VW50, but I was 6th lady and got my best parkrun position -36th. But, as I said, small field.
I was rather impressed by a muslim lady who was running in a hijab and a robe over her running tights and finished only a minute behind me. She must have been very hot.
Big G-Glad you got there ok and all settled.
Got to hull ok this afternoon,trains on strike again here but luckily mine were both on time,picked my number up and found the b and b with no issues,just popped out for tea and I have to agree with Rob it's a grim city,maybe I'm in a rough part but it makes birkenhead look great.
Fabulous event and the runners are so well looked after. Lovely course but the gentle uphill becomes quite challenging after a while.
They did everything to try and not let me stop, even saying I could go back for a bath and sleep and come back on the morning but I know that my stomach needs longer to recover.
I was disappointed at the time but now I'm OK about it as I've laid that ghost to rest and know that I can't do long ultras anymore. But I can still do short ultras sub 50 milers.
Legs feel fine today, my foot is a bit achey but I expected that.
Weather was a bit cool but the heavy rain never happened at all.
Good luck Ian and Big G today.
Shades 39 although some way off what you hoped is a good effort, if it lays the 24hr racing to bed, it's not a wasted exercise, hope you have a safe trip back.
Big G I stayed in slough when visiting Windsor, wouldn't give Slough too higher rating on trip advisor either. Hope the weather is being kind for your race.
Cal, I've only done 5 different parkruns, will hopefully do one in cornwall in 4 weeks! Well done on another good time.
With my hip one thing that was playing on my mind and Ian mentioned it was the strain on my other muscles when injured, I was considering thrashing myself round a parkrun yesterday purely just chasing the fact that I've not done a parkrun PB for 3 years and want one. Just like chasing 2018 miles in 2018 it doesn't really matter, it's made up stuff in my head.
I have rested today as well, hip is feeling better but will test tomorrow with 6-7 miles and will do my long run Tuesday if better, wednesday got dentist (rest day) so works out well if I can run.
I have my club champs 5k on 3rd Oct which coincidentally it the 3rd anniversary of my Parkrun/5k time (21.32) which if fit I'm confident on breaking. If injury free am still planning on targeting 7.14 miles from the start.
I was planning on doing 16-18 miles today but it was lashing with rain when I woke up and my achilles was stiff and sore so I went to yoga instead. I won't be running tomorrow either as my morning is already given over to pilates and a massage. I guess I'm well in the maranoia zone now... nervous I haven't done enough miles the last two weeks and nervous about the achilles, but I'll be fine on the day.
Cal-Dont worry about the miles,you've done loads over the last couple of months and are well set.
Rob-Good idea not to go out.For your 5k did you mean 7.14 per mile as that would be around 22 mins?
Hull today-Been undecided about time all week and this morning settled on 3:15 but would play it by ear as I went along.Very easy bag drop and organisation so a good start,went off about right pace,maybe a few seconds quick,the miles ticked over quite nicely,until I got to about 15 and seen I'd been slowing a bit,and knew I had the tougher 2nd half to come,starting with a long climb up to the humber bridge,worked out I could afford 8 m/m to get 3:20 so decided on that as I didn't want to push to hard for 3:15 and maybe blow up at the end as I really wanted a good PB today.Even though it didn't feel too windy as soon we hit the top of the bridge it did as it is wide open,just dug in the 3 miles out and back and seen I was still ok and the 2 big hills were done.No issues then until 24 miles and my watch froze and stopped recording distance,luckily the timing still ticked over so I could see where I was,last sprint around the pitch and finish in 3:19:24 so a 12 min PB.It was probably the most comfortable I've felt in a full,which surprised me with my mileage.Definitely some more to attack at chester,as long as I recover ok.
There was some areas with decent support and the marshals were amazing,I've never seen as many in a race,even in obvious turning places and all very encouraging.Overall I'd recommend the event.
Cal. Yes the eating in ultras might be a problem for you too especially as eating before a race is also a challenge.
I heard it was raining heavily in London. The 24 hour race is on at Tooting and they had a miserable time in the rain.
No need to worry about any more long runs, your training is done, try and enjoy the taper.
Ian . Brilliant PB, that is a big PB for a marathon, great running. Sounds like you ran a perfectly executed race.
I just scrolled back and that's 4 seconds faster than Big G's PB at Malta!
Just waiting for him to report in now. A girl from my club has done a PB at Loch Ness today.
Forgot to add this is the first marathon I didn't suffer from cramp,little bit at mile 23 but altered my stride and didn't need to stop.
Didn't realise but I may have just sneaked a Boston QT for 2020,I'm 5:36 inside,not considered doing it but nice to know.
Great news on only one brief cramp, are you still doing your exercises?
Exercises have been limited,opportunity for improvement we could say.
Well your legs are obviously getting stronger with all those miles. Hope the achilles is OK.