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Shades Marathon Training
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Shades even if people realise there are other marathons, they will still ask if they are as long as london.
Big G my spin classes at Stevenage were cut post covid, my local gym is undergoing huge development so hopefully see more classes in the future.
TR - that's most likely to be just a box ticking legality. Unless their terms and conditions means there will be a race permit and insurance and the course will be of the correct distance
Robert - yes, and they will probably ask London Marathon that question
I'll have a look at Halstead entry later today, I don't like that website, I battled with it last week entering another race.
My 8 mile hilly town route today. I didn't think it was possible to have more challenging conditions than I had last week for this run but weather was worse today. Rain was torrential when I went out and obviously had been for a while as roads and pavements were all awash, water pouring down every hill, pavements flooded etc. But it was nice and mild
It’s a tarmac track for about 2.7 miles but the grass in the middle was waterlogged and water running off into the track. The out and back trail section at the finish was totally water logged and ankle deep so feet got drenched but I did enjoy it a lot, although I basically just walked through that bit. On the way home the rain stopped so that was good too. There were probably about 150 there which is a decent number given the conditions, and nearby Teignmouth was cancelled but that’s understandable as it’s right on the sea front.
Robert - entry done for Halstead. See you there
Entered Halstead this morning, 10.5 miles in tough conditions, found my new gtx trail shoes keep water out well but also very good at keeping water in! Tempted to buy another pair of saucony peregrines, £63 with discount will Chuck in some black compressions socks as last Sundays and NYE not seen the light of day or washing machine yet 🤢
Rob, great news on Halstead.
I felt OK this morning so decided to do parkrun, but opted to stay at my home run (Tooting), which afforded me a lie-in (I woke as I usually do around 5, but then went back to sleep until almost 7, which is unheard of...I guess I needed it). I did a mile jog to warm-up and then the parkrun. I didn't push the pace but even if I'd wanted to, the fact that much of the back path was under water slowed everyone down anyway, not to mention a headwind on what is normally the fastest part of the course. I finished with very wet feet in 30:29, but at least I didn't have far to go home for a nice warm shower.
I've been having a look at the Ultra London course and, rather worryingly, it goes across one of my bogey crossings - the very wide road at the bottom of Streatham Common. I am going to have to find a way to deal with it but I've got 5 months to get my head straight. I guess the more pressing issue is Hampton Court next month which crosses the Thames twice - never an issue in the past but given my recent bridge anxiety, I'm not sure what will happen. Ugh. I really hate that this is happening to me as it's come out of nowhere (and me, the person who rides rollercoasters and has been up in a stunt plane and all sorts. Ridiculous.)
Ian, hope that does the trick although watch your achilles don't get pissy!
Well done Big G.
I actually felt more anxious during the first part of the run but settled down once I reached Crystal Palace. The park was muddier than usual (part of it is gravelly trail) but everywhere seems to be rather wet at the moment. The Lightopia stuff was still there, unlit of course - quite nice to see especially the fantastical beasts...not sure about the giant wasps though.
At this point I tried to emulate the ultra route. I didn't quite get the dinosaur section right, but was perfect up until Norwood Grove where I went slightly out of the way again (though it was rather muddy through there and hard to see any alternative than the path I actually took).
I also made it across the scary crossing without any issues, though traffic was light enough for me to go straight across - the anxiety I experienced previously was due to being on the traffic island in the middle while traffic was moving around me. That is something I may experience during the ultra as it'll be late morning/midday on a Saturday rather than early on a Sunday, but I'll try to get used to it as much as I can.
I also took a different path across Tooting Common instead of the the one on the route, given that is the one that was submerged and three times through that yesterday during parkrun was quite enough!
I decided to stop once I got to my road as I'd done a half marathon and was aching quite a bit, so no point pushing on to do a little bit extra.
One thing that is clear is that the route is rather hilly - I'll have run 12-13 miles before I get to the steep hills in Crystal Palace, and then I'll have more hills on the run up to Wimbledon Common. I am definitely going to have to work hard to strengthen up my niggling hamstring if I want to avoid trouble.
Ian - please be careful, that's a very risky experiment. Changing shoes/avoiding hills/shortening stride/slowing down are all OK but by changing the way you run you could end up with another injury or at worst another flare up of the achilles.
If your injury is still troubling you it might be better to think about whether to race or not next weekend.
Big G - are you back to running every other day for now?
Over 10 miles for me, another 50 mile week. Bloody awful weather today, would have preferred yesterday's weather. Much colder, with the floods I headed for the country lanes. Once I'd gone up the first big hill I have Dartmoor ahead of me with a bitterly cold wind coming off the moors and some cold showery rain. I took a turning onto a more sheltered road but after a mile had to turn back as where the road dipped there was a deep flood and with no verge, no chance of getting though without getting very wet and cold feet. Back onto the road into the headwind again, then had to suffer a really heavy shower, like sleet, the rain went through my shoes so wet feet again. Turned off onto another road as soon as I could, small flood here but managed to tiptoe through without getting any wetter. Unfortunately, on the way back the water was deeper and cold very wet feet for the rest of my run home. 10.62 miles 764 ft, was glad to get home.
But, I did see a beautiful buzzard, quite close. Daffodils are coming up and I saw a huge swathe of snowdrops, they're on what used to be a driveway up to an old mansion type house.
During the ultra you should have marshalls/police at any busy road crossings so hopefully you shouldn't have any time waiting on traffic islands.
I was thinking you might be better off resting. I guess what you really need is that diagnosis.
Shades - Well done on the mileage in tough conditions. Speaking of birds, forgot to mention I got dive bombed by one in the common yesterday. He/she just lightly clipped my (short) hair for some odd reason and flew off. Couldn’t tell what it was but it was light brown. Didn’t draw blood thankfully.
Felt ok this morning with a head cold/sore throat but decent RHR/energy especially as the girls didn’t want the pikelets I made them so I ate about 12 😬. Went out for first tempo of the block around battersea park. Only 20 minutes and usually I do these to perceived effort of ‘comfortably hard’ but this time decided to run to HR to be more conservative given I’ve been feeling off. It was unpleasant but paces were passable especially given the wind. With longish warmup and cool-down it made for 13 miles. 44 miles this week which isn’t great for this point in a block but I’ll take it given life etc…
Shades, one of my clubmates did CTS Cornwall and said it was the hardest marathon she'd ever done. Aside from the 3000 foot of ascent, technical downhills and mud, she had to contend with really scary winds. It's been a bit gusty here but nothing like that bad, which I'm very grateful for.