Shades Marathon Training

Big_G

RCouture, I think the place we went was a place name too. 

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mwnt/features/discover-mwnt

I made it to Dolgellau parkrun, which was a flat course, on compacted gravel paths, and was 2xout-and-backs. Hills all around and a very, very nice coffee & cake shop in town, where a few parkrunners were afterwards. A small event but a lovely one and I was 9/46. 

SHADES

Robert - oh dear, you are in the doghouse now having revealed your plans.   You've had the trip to Poland booked for quite a while, you kept that quiet from Elle, or she forgot 

Yes, out early, I like the quiet roads plus I was booked into the gym earlier than usual today.

Lovely pic of you and Cal.   A good days training for you.

Rcouture - nothing really replicates a race so a good chance to try them out before the marathon.

Your neighbours must think you've got loads of pairs of running shoes  . I expect they're right.

Big G - if you go to Llanberis Pete's Eats was always the place to go.

Rcouture

Big G - Sorry yeah that’s what I meant that the place is named after the word mount i think. We went there a couple of years back, it’s lovely. 

Shades - I’ve only got the 9 different pairs on the go at the minute 😬. I’m addicted but could be worse things I guess…

Ian5

Rob-Good running and good yo7 got to meet up with Cal.
I was hoping for a bargain with the train but no chance so I'll be driving.
Big G-Lools like you're having a great week,the weather landed brilliantly for you,which makes such a difference.
Northern Road relays tomorrow,I'm only on the B team so will tie it on with a long run as we won't qualify for the nationals anyway.Our A team has a decent chance,hoping our U17 boys go well as I think they could go very well.

Cal Jones

Yeah, today was fun (well, apart from the train. As we'd decided to run the 2.5 miles from the station, I took my hydration vest rather than my backpack, which meant I had no room for reading material. And god that's a slow train from London to North Hertford...stops at every pile of rubble along the way. Back was even worse as I also had a 20 minute wait with nothing to do...at least it was warm and sunny!)

Course is definitely cross country-ish...a mix of trail and grass (stony/gravelly trail too, you'd have hated it, Shades!). Couple of hills but nothing too steep. Was reasonably happy to manage 28:04 though just missed out on a bingo number again. Grrr.
Still, that's now my 98th venue...closing in on the 100.
I'll be doing 99 in Manchester next weekend but will stick to my home run the week after as my legs will be knackered.
I've not yet decided where 100 will be, but hopefully I can persuade a person or two to come with.

Big_G

Cal, which Manchester one are you doing?  I’m hoping to do Peel parkrun. I know we mentioned this a few months ago but I can’t remember which one you’ve done already. 

Ian, yes, the weather has been superb. Very lucky indeed. 

Cal Jones

Alexandra as a) it's closest to Colin's flat and b) I've not done it. I've done Peel - it's nice, you'll enjoy it.

10 miles this morning...last double figures run. My right knee was little sod, though. I felt it going downstairs to the loo last night and it was awful when I started my run in spite of my pre-run exercises. Not the first time it's done this so I wasn't overly worried and it did warm up after a while. I might've jammed it a little on Panshanger's downhill stretch, but I suspect it's more likely because I spend too much time sitting in front of the computer. Need to makes sure I get on top of my stretching and walk around more over the next week.
Not much to do now...couple of short runs.

Ian, good luck for today.

SHADES

Rcouture - I don't see 9 pairs as an addiction...a good start though 

Hope the race has gone well today.


Ian - hope you've enjoyed the relays, that's a tough part of a long run. 


Cal - re the lack of reading matter, that's the one advantage of a smart phone. 🤓

Hope the knee niggle clears up this week.   Anyway, that's your Manchester training done and dusted.  


16 miles for me today.   Chilly start and then was expecting it to warm up quite soon but 6 miles into my run it actually turned colder and the area I was running through had frost and a little ice, my legs were starting to complain and not function well.   But by mile 8 the sun started to warm things up and like magic my legs responded well and I actually did a negative split.   Knee was niggly though, after a gentle downhill at 9 miles it was sore then and stayed at 1-2/10 for the rest of my run.

57 miles for the week.  

alehouse

Cal, I'm expecting to be at Alex Park next Saturday. 
Big_G, if you want a lift give me a shout!

Sounds like a good long run, Shades!

Rcouture

Shades - Nice long run and mileage. Do you think it’s the ITB with your knee and the sensitivity to downhills?

Kingston 20 miler this morning. Start was at 8 so had to be up at 6 which in old money was 5am. Coupled with stepping on a sharp bit of one of the girl’s toys and the drizzly weather, I almost considered sacking the whole thing off. Pleased I didn’t as it was good fun and most importantly my knee seems to have held up. Will see tomorrow but usually it’s not shy to let me know it’s upset pretty sharpish. Aim was around 7:15min/mi and ended on 7:19 which I’m happy with as had to swerve a lot of the field at the start due to loo queues and then having a chinwag with a very nice chap around 15 miles which meant I lost focus. HR also looked great at avg 156 and peak of 164 vs Florence where I rarely went below 170 despite being 20s slower per mile. My HR stats do really seem difficult to interpret race to race. Training runs it’s straightforward but the minute I up the pace a little and it seems all over the place. Difficult to know if I could have carried on at that pace for another 6 miles but then again I have 7 weeks till Copenhagen and I wasn’t tapered. 56 miles for the week. 

Cal Jones

alehouse - I'll likely be the woman in the loudest leggings so come and say hello. 
Rcouture - wasn't a Lego was it?  Well done though...that race always gets good reviews and I'd like to have a go at one of the distances next year but since I've always done Manchester (or Vienna which is on the same weekend) it's just not the right time. I'll have to do a later marathon next year.

Rcouture

Cal - It was some sort of unicorn actually 😩. They have an 8 miler as well which looked quite fun (perhaps it’s a new distance?) so today you could have added a couple of miles from home to get to your 10

SHADES

alehouse said:

Sounds like a good long run, Shades!

It was once I'd warmed up.   I should do more of them really.😉

Hope all is well with you and your running.



Rcouture - that's a great race, another good PB from you.  

What was your finishing time?

Re HR stats, it takes a long time to build up some meaningful stats especially when it comes to races.   Maybe less nerves/adrenaline today as this was not your target race unlike Florence which was.   
Good news on the knee being OK.

My knee niggle is definitely not ITB, it feels under the kneecap and dead centre.

Rcouture

Shades - Official times don’t seem to be up yet but garmin telling me 2:27:03. Yes I guess nerves play into it especially with Florence there was the knee pain too. 

Ian5

Rcouture-I thought your run today was really impressive, very consistent miles and your heart rate was steady.Think you're looking really good.
Changed my day off to tomorrow so I can run long then instead so can have a good run today,it's only about 4k so may hurt a bit,I'm due around 3 depending on how we go.Some crazy fast runners here,first legs were 8k and people finishing in 24 mins.

SHADES

Rcouture - that's a great time, and with a good steady HR.   Bodes well for your marathon.  

How did you get on with the shoes?

Ian - that's a practical change of plan.   Scarily fast runners in your club.  😲

Ian5

Shades-That's not my club,just the leaders from the North,just seen Jess Judd,looked like she didn't like our last hill.

Rcouture

Ian - Good luck later

Shades - Shoes were great and will use them for Copenhagen. Clunkier than the vaporflys but seem more protective and bouncy in latter stages of fatigue. No achilles/calf issues despite the drop but I can tell there would be if they were overused. 

SHADES

Ian - I'm sure your club is well up there.
Jess Judd has been running really well lately since she came off the track, obviously not mastered the hills yet.

Rcouture - that's a great debut for the shoes especially as heel drop not an issue.

Ian5

Our A team qualified for the nationals so they done well.
Phil Sessemon was in the winning side and he got the quickest long leg,22.26 for just under 8k.
Happy enough with my race,2.4 mile in 14.48,I was think 20min 5k pace was about right,but that's actually 19.15 if I could hold it for another 0.7mile.
As usual our kids sides done amazing,they raced 5k and the U15 and U17 boys both won,U15 girls came 2nd and U17 girls came 4th I think it was.
Our Ladies side came 7th so also qualified and they had the fastest woman.

SHADES

Ian - a great performance by you and your club and your speedwork done for this week.


8 miles this morning, better weather, not so cold, birds singing their heads off.   Undulating route today and knee only a 1/10 on the downhills, which were not steep.

Big_G

alehouse, thanks for the kind offer, but I’m staying around 1mile or so from the parkrun so I’ll just make my own way there I think.

Ian, well done on your time. You’re coming back into some decent shape, which is great. 

Rcouture, well done on your race too. Did you enjoy the race/distance?  I know what you mean about wondering if you could hold the pace for another 6 miles as I had that thought after my one and only 20 miler. You’ve still a few weeks to keep training and you’re looking in great form from that race, but if that was an MP effort I’d say that is very encouraging. 

Cal, no problem. I’m sure we’ll catch up at event at some point

Shades, good news your foot was very manageable this morning. 

Robert, how are you studies going?  Are you almost done now?

We had about a 5hr drive back yesterday but we stopped off at a couple of places on the way. There is a National Trust place near the M4 in Wales called Tredegar House, which was very nice. It was very busy, but Tigg had a good run around, whilst OH and I had a coffee and cake. They have a campsite there and a parkrun and I’d booked in there for Newport marathon last year, but wasn’t able to make it. Got back around 6ish in the end, emptied the van etc, and then just relaxed the rest of the evening.  

There is a potential fly in the ointment for Manchester. As well as the niggles, my Dad was admitted to hospital whilst I was away, for a procedure. I was going to cut the Wales trip short and come back but everyone said there was nothing I could do anyway, which was true (hospital only allowing the same single visitor for the duration of a stay, which was Dad’s partner). However, if he is due to be discharged over the coming weekend, I may have to reconsider my travel plans for Manchester. I’ll see what the hospital says over the coming 3 days, and have a chat with his partner about it all. If he is discharged Wednesday or Thursday there is no problem anyway. 

Ian5

Rcouture-I think we all wonder how we are going to do the extra 6,the most encouraging thing for me was your heart rate,even from 16-20 there was no noticeable rise which says you were still well in control so you'll be good going further.

SHADES

Big G - how are your niggles now?   Without the possible complication re your Dad coming out of hospital, are you confident you're OK to run?

Hope your Dad is OK.

Big_G

Shades, I’m not 100% confident that I’ll be able to run it all, but I’m hopeful I could get around it.  Foot seems okay, but the hip and particularly the left knee is a concern. It’s got this kind of burning or rubbing sensation when I run, and can hurt a bit when I prod it. I’m not sure what to do really as I obviously have plans, but the niggles are still there. Manchester is a long way to travel to shuffle around when I could do that at a local one here if I had to. 

SHADES

Big G - sounds like the knee niggle and hip niggle are connected, I'm assuming it's the same leg/side.  You've been doing a lot of driving, that might have made matters a bit worse, perhaps.

It's tricky, as you say a long way to go if you're not going to run well.

I've been so tempted to enter Taunton.  My initial plan was to run Tavy 13, and if I had a strong run I'd enter Taunton.   I need to be running well to do Taunton as it's a 4:30 time limit, which I can't do, but as long as I run a reasonable sub 5 then there's no problem.  Anyway, no Tavy and closing date for Taunton was the following day, so that was that.   Then closing date was extended to today, I had a reasonable run yesterday and decided to enter Taunton.   But then I checked the weather forecast and I can't run a marathon in the conditions forecast, way too cold for me, so that's done me a favour really.

Rcouture

Big G - I enjoyed the distance. Not as intense as a half and not far enough to get too much of that nasty gyclogen depleted feeling. 

Shades - Sounds like progress on the knee

rest day today. Legs seem ok

I found this quite funny:
https://youtu.be/oU36Nq5gKmg

SHADES

Rcouture - that's such a great video.  Any one of us could have written the script. 😊

Ian5

Shades-Good news the pain is 1/10 now.
Rcouture-That's another great video from him,they are all so simple but true.
Decided to do my long run today,3.5 miles to the park,then 6 laps(14m) then home,came to 20.3 altogether so happy to get it done,all felt good until I left the park and I have a big hill out,over 100ft in the mile and struggled to get the heart rate down after that for a bit,so the last 2 miles felt a little tough but all done.

SHADES

Ian - that's a good long run, I think the last couple of miles of a long run always feel hard.


8  miles flat today, knee just a bit niggly for a few minutes, no reason why     Lovely mild morning, dark though, had to wait for daylight.