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Shades Marathon Training
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Cal, excellent by Nicky Spinks again!
Ian/Robert/Shades, any food suits me
Been over for lunch with a mate so walked about 8-miles total today and hoping to do another shortrun tomorrow. I was hoping I’d go the whole day without meds today, but I’ve needed to take one just to take the edge off as I had a mild discomfort after food shopping. I’m 100% going Helsinki but I’ll need to be careful and I’ll take my meds with me.
Big G-Is that before the big climb?
Rob-If you do make it what time is your train due in?think I'm 4ish from what I can remember.
I think I'd rather have thick insoles in my shoes than have bum fat injected into my feet.
Big G - yes, it was Windermere and yes, same course every day. I love the course and even on day 10 when I hurt so much I was sad to be doing it for the last time. I have been back a few times since to run it but you're right it's a hell of a drive. If you're looking for a double that weekend, White Peak is the day before, I believe off road but a fast course, very good trail, used to fill quickly.
So, you'll probably be at the cattle grid at the bottom of the hill, to watch us all do our first walk of the race.
Found out the sentencing for the guys I did jury service - one got 21 years, the other 16 years and the other 2 got 15 years each.
First up was a return to Brigham 10k on Easter sunday which was interesting as i had a cold and was on flu pills pre race. Still managed a 3 min PB which will do for this years. A week and a half later was Lowca 10k which notched me up a 50% WAVA by a second in 57:12. Not the flattest of routes so in practice i can go a bit faster somewhere later in the year.
So onto Windermere on sunday. Well er it was three times as far as my longest run of the year so that should be a nice starter for how it went
Once over the long climb up from the bottom end i was beginning to suffer and come 20 odd miles was struggling more. Thankfully there was a unofficial feed station where some mars bar and swiss roll perked me up for a few more miles. Still dead later on though until the last mile or so which albeit was mostly walked was better.
Finished in 5:24:48 which was better than i expected when i was feeling crap and withing my pre race aims of between 5 and 5.5 hours. The usual pain in the butt leaving queueing for 15-20 mins to get down onto the road.
Post race aches minimal other than achy knee yesterday but not bothered going for run yet as a few blisters on toes. DId walk to and from work last two days though.
Next fun thing is a 50k and marathon in 4 weeks time which i will do better at with some more training albeit hindered by granny sitting for a week from friday.
6 mile multi-terrain tonight and it was a hard race.Half mile on road towards the beach then tons of rocks where I done my best bambi impression and everyone flew past me,then 2 miles on the beach,tide hadn't long gone out so pretty wet made it tough going,then up into a mile or so of single track trail inc steps,then 2 miles or so along wirral way to the finish,260ft of hill which is ok for 6 miles but nearly all of it was in 1.5m after we came off the beach,nice to do but wont be rushing back for the series in September.
Ian, your race reminds me of the trail race I did on Wimbledon Common. Unfortunatetly I already signed up for all three of 'em!
6 miles with 2 at MP today. Getting close now.
Hope your longer run goes well and your foot gives you no pain during and after. However my sensible head worries that the downhills at DD will really set back your recovery and even leave you in a much worse state.
Keith - well done at Windermere, that's a good result for you without any/much marathon training. The last bit up the drive at Brathay I always find tough, even when I did a sub 5 there I've never had the energy to run up the drive.
The traffic leaving Brathay is awful, last time Scott gave me a pass for the car park at the bottom of the drive and I could leave quickly but still heavy traffic through Ambleside and sticky on the M6 so was still a late night
I take it your next 50k and marathon are at Foxy's? Details please
Ian - that sounds like a tough race, hope your achilles is OK after that.
Another lovely morning here, nice easy run for me.
Woke up this morning, had a sensible moment (don't have many of these). I was putting pressure on myself to run distances that weren't comfortable and could set me back. I have very little to gain running DD other than the possibility of it being extremely painful. Perhaps if I had stayed fit and kept weight off during my layoff I would have felt differently.
Unsure if i'll make DD in 2020 as waiting to hear of NDW50 date, it maybe that I'll be putting my name on the waitlist.
Only twice have I ever seen a man cry when taking part in an event, one was a runner doing his 9th of 10 marathons at Windermere and he was injured and strapped up, I was supporting on the day and had stopped my car at the traffic lights and in my rear view mirror I could see him crying as he was trying to run/shuffle through the pain. The 2nd time was in DD I passed a Trotter, don't know him well, about mid twenties I think, doing his first DD and he was crying, he wasn't injured but I don't think he ever expected it to be so tough.
I hope you can make it to DD in 2020 or thereafter, but it's usually the first Saturday in June when you are sorting your race diary
Well done for getting it done Keith. It's definitely on the "to do list".
Ian, your "Bambi" comment is exactly how I am on those types of races. I don't do many, but when I do, I do quite enjoy them although people fly past me on the downhills. I know there's an older runner in my club - I think he's approaching 80 now - who was quick as a younger runner, and until very recently was still GFA etc (not sure if he still is or not). He swears that the off road stuff is what has made him a stronger and more resilient runner. I just worry about twisting an ankle, or worse though. But I do generally enjoy them when I do those types of events, and just do my best.
Cal, how are you feeling about the weekend?
I went and did a 4.5 miler this morning. Really hard work, and also the shoulder was a bit worse than on Monday's run. I think for the rest of this week I'm only going to do parkrun on Saturday, as I'll be walking a fair bit whilst in Helsinki anyway. I'm only going to pack one pair of shorts and my parkrun T-Shirt so I don't get any funny ideas of doing more when over there!
When the shoulder is fully cleared up, I feel I need some kind of plan to get me back into shape. But I suppose a plan is hard to follow, as really it's listening to my body, and slowly up the mileage at a rate that is manageable, and keep it easy pace, walking if I have to? And lose some weight!! It feels at the moment that I've hardly ever ran before! 3 miles at 10s was okay on Saturday, but the fourth mile these last two runs have been hard work at average of over 10s for the whole run. With the exception of when I had achilles issues, this is the longest I've been out of action.
A bit disappointed with the physio as the soonest they can book me in for my follow on appointment is 11th June. I think I'm going to ask her to call me back to see if there are extra exercises I can do from next week. I do also have a stronger band from last time I did my shoulder in, so maybe she'll suggest that I use that. I don't feel that I want to wait until 12th June as I feel I make a step forward in improvement soon after seeing her and doing the new exercises, but I don't want to do anything without her saying I can.
Big G - I think you have to be patient re recovery, you will probably get to the stage where you can run and race again as often as you like but be prepared for some niggle/discomfort for quite a while, enough to get you out of manual labour/decorating anyway.
Yes, I know Dunnerunner. I think he always struggled with longer distances, shorter races were/are always his preference and I think DD just wasn't for him. I don't know what year that was that he DNF'd, I'm sure we never had snow, in 2009 the temperature dropped to 5 degrees very cold rain too and several dropped out, including AH. I had run Cork on the Monday in 26 degrees, 5 days later down to 5 degrees at DD. Caught a lot of runners out as it wasn't that cold at the start.
I'm feeling OK about Liverpool.
On the plus side, this is the best I've felt going into it. In 2017 I'd just completed my goal of running without stopping in Manchester (when I came in at just under 4:30) but had then gone down with high hamstring tendinopathy and hadn't run further than 13 miles between the two races. I wasn't even sure I'd make it round (I did, but with walk breaks towards the end).
Last year I'd set a PB in Manchester but then got shingles, so again, I hadn't got the long runs in between the two and wasn't sure how I'd feel (better than expected, as it turned out).
This year I've only had the achilles to deal with and managed a 20 miler three weeks out so I am in better shape. The negative is that I didn't PB in Vienna so I feel a bit more pressure to get a decent time here. I know that Liverpool doesn't have great PB potential due to the elevation and warmer weather, but I still feel I ought to be able to do better than Chester (though I thought that in Vienna too!)
DD is amazing and beautiful, would be no fun if it was 'easy'
I just went back to reread my DD report on here. Great memories. Also, this time last year I was in the Dolomites for that wedding I went to. What a fantastic break that was - I was struggling for running mojo at the time, but that trip reignited it.
Cal-Sounds like you're good to go on Sunday.
Rob-Pity about DD but you need to think of the long term.
Cal nice to see you're positive about Liverpool! Going into the race in the right frame of mind means so much.
Big G good thinking taking just the one set of running clothes with you. Glad your recovery is continuing you know that the fitness will take a bit of time. I have the same anything longer than a few miles and I feel like I'm the most upfit person in the world.
Shades I've now collected the train tickets and binned them, no chance/ temptation getting to DD there now!
8 miles this morning and kept a steady 8.43pace, now to look ahead to my next 'big' race 7 weeks on Saturday a flat 4x8 mile loop race.
Cal - good to hear you're feeling good about Liverpool and the run up has been good.
Big G - Recovery sounds like it is progressing still which is great news. Just take it slow, you don't want any setbacks now it seems to be on the mend.
Speed session for me today. 2 mile warm up then 6 x 800m at my 5k pace with 3 minute recoveries. 1.5 mile cool down at the end for 8 miles total. There's a grass track only a mile from my house which is well maintained during the spring/summer so that's really useful for these types of runs.
Physio called me back as I was wondering if I should be doing something different from next week (next appointment available isn’t until 11th June). She said that if I want I can increase the number of reps, but under no circumstances increase the resistance at this point. She’s given me yellow physio bands, and I have a grey one at home which is stronger but she told me to definitely not use that one as it’s too strong for me at the moment. Also, there are no further exercises to do, but keep doing the ones I’m doing. Glad I phoned and pleased she phoned me back!
Big G-Sounds like you have a good physio there.
5.5m after work today,calves slightly sore but nothing too bad,London trip on Saturday for football so not much running over the weekend likely.
Regarding aid stations,what is supplied apart from what you put down yourself,daft question but is your bottle passed to you or do you have to find it amongst all the bottles?
Lastly,for now,are the litter bins at the aid station or past it so you dont have to drink it all in 1 go?
In my report where I said fellow Trotters went off too quickly they were 3:50-4:00 runners and I was way ahead of them at the finish, although they were ahead of me at Half Marathon.
Regarding the aid stations, they have spotters where they try and get your drinks ready for you and hand it to you. Last year it worked well for me. But if you’re worried, maybe try and make your bottle/food stand out to you in some way, just in case (I had mine in distinctive takeaway bags!). At race registration they have boxes with the aid station number on so have a think in advance where you want stuff to be left. Last year I basically refuelled when I was walking on the hills.
Do you know what - I can’t remember what else they had at the stations. I think it was just water and bananas, but maybe Shades will know for sure!
They have the bins a bit down the road from the station. But if you miss the bin as you want to carry the bottle a bit further, there will be a marshal not far away and you can leave the bottle with them. Just throw it somewhere near them - they won’t mind at all. You won’t get the bottle back so I just used small water bottles (they got recycled last year and I’m pretty sure they’re doing the same this year).
I saw that the few that boycotted London ballot didn't make that much of an impact! It set another record for the amount entered, at 457,861 applicants!
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/news/a27540524/half-a-million-runners-enter-2020-london-marathon-ballot/
Lovely day here today and shoulder does feel quite good, but I'm sticking to my guns and not running. I've booked airport parking at Gatwick so need to drive there today, for an early-ish flight tomorrow AM. My next run will definitely only be a jog around parkrun!