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Shades Marathon Training
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Well done Keith 😊
Well doen Shades, looking forward to the report.
Club mate of mine did 2:59.....63 at Manchester..... 14min PB and he said he just couldn't finish it off to get the sub-3. He will knock those 4secs off I am sure.
I had Chicago on but I was dozing throughout as I am really tired. I don't know who they were but the commentary was pretty bad (it was Eurosport commentators and not US commentators). They were getting basic facts wrong (like if the runners were on for certain records) and then saying 'oh sorry, I misread it'. It seemed to be that one of them was just giving shout outs to his mates who had texted in and also a lot of the camera footage was all over the place. Coverage of London far, far better.
I am feeling okay, apart from being very tired! Hopefully that will subside over the coming days.
Well done shades, been a busy few weeks!
OH had a better race today,only a little faster but a much happier experience despite her tooth.I managed to see her at 1,6,14,18 and the end so a good day travelling along the tram line.It was interesting to see the different stages marathoners go through,from excited to starting to hurt to struggling and being on the other side.
That was a shame about Chicago marathon commentary hope Boston is better. That really spoils the viewing. Cram and Co do a good marathon commentary, would be a shame to lose them.
Keith - looking forward to the race report.
Robert - it might seem unlikely but fish and chips is a popular pre marathon meal.
Yuk to that race route you did yesterday.
That's class running from your clubmate at Royal Parks.
Talking of Royal Parks I see Rcouture hasn't reported in so I sneaked a look at his time....
Ian - congrats to OH on her PB, despite the tooth problems she still nailed it. Bodes well for future marathons
Cal - how did you get on at the physio?
5 mile recovery run done, legs are fine. Race report later.
I am not sure if it counts for much but I have been doing a little experiment and doing LFTs and today's was -ve, whereas the rest have been +ve up until now. I slept very well last night but I am still tired so I will just take it easy today (errrrm, like I have been the last week!). Awaiting results for antibody test, which will be interesting.
Of course I have got Newport still. Way too early to tell yet if I can do it or not, but it is just....there. This tiredness is a problem I feel, but if I can get out for a couple of gentle walks and/or runs in the few days after my isolation and just see how I get on, I will know more then. I definitely will not push it at all. Although I continue to feel I have been fortunate so far in that I haven't been particularly unwell, it is one of those where I haven't missed running/Zwifting as I just haven't felt like going out, so the isolation hasn't been a problem for me personally. I have watched a lot of TV though - highlight for me was Squid Game, which really was very good.
Tigg is climbing the walls, but we have had different friends coming around to walk him once a day, which is nice of them to give up their time. Thursday I will go to the beach and let him run for as long as he wants. We do have a garden which is he doing zoomies around, but you can just tell he has a lot of energy to burn!
Big G - I don't know either about the LFT's but surely that can only be good news and you're only a couple of days away from the end of your isolation.
Poor Tigg, he must be so confused as to why you don't take him out so you'll both enjoy that. You'll just have to take each day as it comes re the tiredness and just make sure you don't overdo your rehab.
Race report coming up...
Top Gear
Drove up the day before and stayed at a very good Premier Inn at Ebbw Vale, don’t think I’ve ever seen such a clean room and bathroom. Walked into Ebbw Vale for my favourite pre-race meal of fish and chips and I’ve found Wales is never short of good chip shops. Huge portion, even I couldn’t finish quite finish it all.
The following morning it was only a short drive to the race venue at Parc Bryn Bach, a beautiful public park with a huge lake. Registered and picked up chip which was a band you could wear on wrist or ankle. This is the second event I’ve done organised by Infinity Running and every need for the runner is catered for with a very friendly atmosphere. Met up with a running friend of mine that I haven’t seen for a long time due to pandemic and we had a good catch up.
The marathon was 16 laps, each 1.64 miles which was a lap of the lake with a little out and back to make up the distance. As a 7 hour challenge event runners could choose to run any distance they chose from 5k to ultra. The route is lovely, all good tarmac surface and flat with very gentle undulations on the far side of the lake, we were warned that there was a little hill on the out and back section, there was and by the time we’d done a few laps the hill felt steeper and harder, my Garmin recorded a total climb of 800 feet.
Conditions were perfect, cool and not windy and after an hour the sun came out and it gently warmed up throughout the race to a perfect 17 degrees with low humidity. The park is a very popular place for all sorts of visitors, when we started it was quiet. There were a few fishermen who looked like they’d been there all weekend with serious amounts of kit and most dressed in khaki, I thought they might be a bit annoyed with us running around but they were very friendly.
We had to pass through the drink station each lap but I decided that a drink every other lap would be sufficient and after two laps I had some water and surveyed the table of goodies and decided that I would have a Tunnocks Milk Chocolate Teacake as my chosen fuel, never eaten one before during a race as they are impossible to carry but they are perfect as easy to eat. I then proceeded to stick to that routine and ended up eating a total 6 teacakes only taking some Doritos as a savoury alternative after lap 10. I didn’t eat any of my sweets that I was carrying.
I found the laps easier to deal with mentally than the out and back course of the previous week’s race but it didn’t make me run any faster. The other runners were so friendly and we could have little chats as we went around, the route is scenic with lovely views too. As the weather was so good it was no surprise that the park got busier as time went on, lots of families, children, dogs etc but there was no hostility from anyone about us running around, nor did anyone get in the way, everyone seemed in a good mood and we were all enjoying the day. Once I’d got past halfway mentally I found it easier to tick of the laps, but knew my Garmin was exaggerating the distance with the two 180 degree turns on each lap I thought I would be near 5:30 today so was very pleased to finish in 5:13.
Another gorgeous medal, this is me and Vicki, another marathon junkie, after the finish.
Note the social distancing sign.
Ian - Congrats to OH on her PB
Shades - Great run and report. Sounds an idyllic place. I know Wales pretty well as OH is from there but actually never been to Ebbw Vale.
Royal parks half yesterday. Had low expectations with this injury lay-off followed by a bug but woke up feeling ok and I figured I essentially got an unplanned taper for the race so might as well give it a really good go. Got there and the whole thing was a bit of a faff without a bag drop and limited toilets but it was great to be in a busy, fairly normal race setting. They had pacers which I’ve never used before so figured i might as well try them so got in with one of the two 1:30 groups. 1:34:50 is my PB but the next pacer group was 1:40. Anyway I basically didn’t look at my watch for about 12k or so and just enjoyed the atmosphere as there was lots of support since it’s in the middle of London and there were 10k runners. At 15k I felt good and myself and a few others in our group decided to push on, especially as it was odd that the other 1:30 group were quite a bit ahead of us. It was difficult to track exact timings with the GPS but with sub 90 in sight I didn’t want to take any chances. Good thing I did as I crossed the line in 1:29:36 and my old pace group was quite a ways behind me. Super chuffed with the time and feels like fitness has pushed on lately as if you’d told me a couple of months back that I’d do <90 this year, I’d have thought you were mad. Just need to get mileage back up now ahead of Florence. Only downside is that my HRM didn’t like my club vest and kept dropping down my chest so got garbage HR data to nerd out on.
Rcouture-Brilliant racing,good idea to step up the pace if you're feeling good,1:25 next
Annoying about the HRM, can you resolve that issue next time?
How are the legs today?
Ian - yes, I did have a good day. Lovely event.
Hope you can sort the HRM out, just for post race stats info.
Lostness will be covered when i am awake enough to do the report as it's part of it. Having a i'm knackered spell right now but hopefully lunch will solve that as i've just reached a give me ALL the food point too oddly.
D&D is dungeons and dragons
6 miles this eve. Legs feel ok bar sore quads from sharpish descents yesterday.
Keith good luck with the interview, look forward to the report.
Rcouture think Oscar is only 23ish but he does look like a kid, congrats on the pb and the sub 90 milestone that's an epic chuck off your pb.
Big G hopefully the tests are good news and on your way to a full recovery.
I've booked my flights and accommodation for Poland next August, need to sort out my passport which expired last year.
Any recommendations for travel insurance?
Shades-I was looking at G2E and seen they have took over the liver bird new year double,that's been going a long time,hope they keep the charity element.
A couple of my running friends were talking about the Liverbird double, they've done it several times but they're not going to do it again partly due to the course but mainly the awful weather that they usually get for the event. It's popular with the marathon number chasers.
Keith - there's no rush for your report, when you're ready. Tesco's own blister plasters are very good. Good luck at the job interview, don't forget to mention what you did at the weekend... they'll know then you're a man of steel.
Robert - if you look in the photo, there's plenty of geese there. They are huge compared to the Canada geese that we have here. There are a lot of them in the park, on the paths and lawn but they are so used to people that they just move politely out the way when we were running.
Brilliant news you've got your trip to Poland booked. For the last few years I had my travel insurance with Holidaysafe but this year they stopped accepting any new policies when we came out of lockdown, they were/are Which recommended. I like them as they didn't increase my premium every year by more than a pound or so. I used a comparison site and now with Multitrip, £34 for a year's European cover. That's a good price especially at my advancing age, but I have no medical history or conditions, covers marathon running.
5 mile this morning, chilly 5 degrees, but no wind. Legs feeling good today.
Pilates later.
Shades-Weather is always going to be rough over new year coming off the Irish Sea, its a novelty for lots to do it consecutively and add 1 for each year,doubt I'll do it but the new organisers have added a HM and 10k to push numbers.
Ian, I too was looking at G2E, even looking at accommodation on a couple of sites. I am not sure though. I know it is only another 6, but maybe Manchester-Liverpool for a first one would be better at just the 50....but it is is sold out for April. I am going to think about it some more.
I watched Boston yesterday and enjoyed it. In the men's wheelchair, Romanchuk and Hug I think are probably the biggest current stars. They were 1st and 2nd at Chicago the day before, and then they swapped positions at Boston. Hug missed out on breaking his own course record by a few seconds (costing him $50K), because the lead car went straight ahead at the final corner, which Hug followed when he was supposed to turn right. He said it was his own fault, but how annoying! In the men's, an American 50K record holder (Albertson) went off the front and went through Half at his PB pace and then of course slowed massively, losing his 2-min lead. He still finished 10th though, which was amazing really as he was clearly struggling, nearly 2mins behind the winner. The women's race was the highlight with the lead changing hands, and then Edna Kiplaget (age 41 now) finishing 2nd, coming from 3rd or 4th. There was some talk that she had ran out of road to reel in 1st, but I am not so sure - I think the 1st place lady knew what she was doing and did enough to win and I am not convinced she was holding on or slowing. I have to say, it got the juices going and Boston is now on 'the list' - whether I will ever get there or not is open to question as it is a long list, but it is now on there too whereas it wasn't really before.
I saw Shalane Flanagan did Chicago in 2:46 and then Boston in 2:40. She did Berlin in 2:38 and London in 2:35 and is doing NYC and the virtual Tokyo.
Ian - looking after your feet in an ultra can often be a challenge. We haven't had Keith's report yet but I wouldn't be surprised if with the rain the runners ended up with wet feet which increases the chance of foot problems tenfold.
You could always just do one of the Liverbird marathon races, I think it's the consecutive days in tough conditions that grinds down the runners.
Big G - I would judge by the running surface and the nature of the course rather than the extra 6 miles in distance. I would have quite liked to do G2E as not much off road, but I can't do towpath, would drive me crazy running along a towpath for more than a couple of miles.
No harm in adding another race to the list, Boston.
Yes, Flanagan did really well with her double at the weekend.
Pilates nearly killed me, I didn't know our regular instructor was on holiday and the replacement forgets that we are mere mortals. I put my sick note in (2 days post marathon) when I saw she was taking the class but still it was so tough. I will be grateful when I recover, I think.