Shades Marathon Training

Rcouture

 Cal - Nice run. My favourite runs are the ones where I don’t feel like I’ve done anything afterwards. Think I’m just a lazy git.

8 miles this morning. Much nicer run in the AM light and after rest day yesterday. Not much ice on the Thames path luckily. 

SHADES

Big G - how's the foot now that you're a week on since your last treatment?

I'm sure you did a good job selling the Championships club role so you can get rid of it easily.  


Rcouture - certainly not a lazy git.  A good base training run is one at desired HR and when finishing the run feeling you could do the whole thing again.


Ian - have a lovely time in balmy Madeira   


No run for me this morning, as expected black ice everywhere.  🥶  It's not supposed to rain, sleet or snow today so hoping it dries up during the day.

Big_G

Shades, yes, I managed to successfully sell it and she’s put her name on the list and it’s been seconded. Hopefully I’ll pick up the new role otherwise I’m off committee! 

Foot felt really good yesterday on the run. There was a bit of discomfort later in the evening but it’s okay today, and although I feel I could run I’m sticking to rest day from running today. Plan is still to run Friday (7ish) and Saturday (8-10ish).  No speedwork or anything like that. 

Zwift TTT later and I’ve got what I asked for and I’ve been put into a faster team. My previous team is great but had the ‘start together, finish together’ ethos - I’ve no problem with this but it has meant I’ve not been pushed as much lately, as I’ve been improving. The new team knows that it is the fastest 4 in the team of 8 to count for the league, so if I get dropped they won’t wait. But that’s what I want. I’m expecting to get dropped but I’ll try hard not to. 

SHADES

Big G - good news on the new Championships secretary.   I'm sure you'll get your new chosen role.

That's promising about the foot too.  You can keep your speedwork on Zwift for now and base training for the running.


Just heard Manchester airport has snow and affecting flights, hope it clears soon Ian.



Traffic seems to be moving OK here, pedestrians walking cautiously but not as bad as yesterday's conditions

1SteveMac

Shades - Yes, still using optical HR, it normally works OK, but I do get the few runs where it thinks I'm running at HM pace or faster for 15 miles 
Cal - Yeah I think it must be the cold.

Anyway 10 miles today, still cold but no snow here. Pavements just frosty. Yesterday was the usual double so 5m AM / 5m PM.

Big_G

Shades, yeah, that’s what I’m hoping regarding the speed work on the bike. I have to say, I’m feeling pretty fit, but my HR stats and running speed are dire.  But that’s okay at the moment. Main aim/priority from a running point of view is to get to the start line (and finish) of Boston. I was toying with the idea of entering Paphos in March, but it’s not a priority so I today deleted all the alerts from hotels.com and skyscanner. I hope to do one or two marathons before Boston, but if I do those, they’ll be local and I’ve not entered them yet as it’s too soon to tell if it’s possible/sensible.  Hopefully if in a couple of weeks I’ve done say a 15 miler I may enter a RED event as a training run, but we shall see. 

Big_G

I see Bekele has entered a 50K. I saw some recent pics though and he doesn’t look all that fit in terms of his body shape, but you can never be quite sure with Bekele. 

https://www.algoafm.co.za/sport/world-s-best-ultra-marathoners-to-race-in-gqeberha

(This article mentions someone called Nick Bester, but a quick Google confirms it’s a different Nick Bester to the youtuber). 

Ian5

Big G-Strange they don't have hime at the top of the article,the WR has to be in doubt if he's even close to fitness.

As for Boston,with the runners there,this must be the first time they have had a stronger field than London.

Shades-Lots of delays,divertions and cancellation going on,we are due at 12 so waiting to see,our inward flight is due at 11.35 so will have a better idea then.

Ian5

Got very lucky,looks like we are only going to be half hour or so delayed.

Big_G

Nice one Ian. You’re reminding me of my worries getting to Seville last year!

Zwift TTT this morning and I actually did quite well and finished in the front group. I was pleased with that. 

SHADES

Steve - you've been lucky to escape the snow in the Midlands. 

Big G- you have 3 months before Boston, plenty time to do a productive spell of MAF training. 

It's often been difficult to judge what shape Bekele is in, and he doesn't seem to be in sync with his manager making all the announcements either.

Ian- good to hear you've not been badly affected by the weather, hopefully you're on the plane now. 

Cal Jones

The "other" Nick Bester lives near me. He was in HHH but has his own club now. He's South African so perhaps it's a common name there, or maybe they're related.

Ian, good luck and have fun!

After a decent run yesterday, I struggled today. I went out late again (11am) but found a lot more of the slippery stuff - the pavements around where I live were mostly fine but there was more frost and ice up towards Streatham, possibly because it's more uphill, or perhaps because the council there uses different, less frost-repelling paving. I don't know. I had intended to do something a bit more speed focussed but what with the conditions and the fact my groin was unhappy (given it wasn't bothered after yesterday's run, perhaps it was some of the hip stuff I did in my warm-up routine, I don't know) I ended up doing a very slow 5 indeed. Tomorrow will be a gym day at any rate.

Big_G

Cal, I have been following a bit of an online bust up between Nick Bester and Matt Fox (Sweat Elite). A few months ago they made a bit of a thing of starting to work together, but in the last month or so, Fox has left and started his own coaching company.  He hasn't gone quietly though! 

Big_G

RCouture, you've got a Garmin 6x Pro, right?  When you're in the States, do you use maps on your watch?  Having not looked at this before, my Garmin has worldwide base maps and topological maps for Europe, but not the topological maps for USA.  Did you purchase those for yours, or did you not bother?  I expect I will plot out some routes in advance, and was wondering if it was worth the money for the topo USA maps?  When I am in Europe, I use the topo maps quite a lot as I like the navigational turn-by-turn aspects, but probably I could do without that feature, although it is a nice to have!  

Rcouture

Big G - Interesting, what’s the bust-up about? I like the sweat elite channel a lot especially the lack of obnoxious music in their vids. 
Re the maps I do use them whenever I go running abroad yes. Never downloaded anything though, it just defaults to the same map view as at home. Isn’t a topological map more basic than a normal map? 

Cal - Much icier near me too today

Ian - Have a cracking time out there

Shades - Yes I was joking, I know feeling better after the run than when you started is key. It keeps me sane much of the time in fact 😀

Wfh today so went out for 7 cold but sunny miles at lunch through the common. So much nicer to be back running out there and my HR is markedly lower there too I’ve noticed. I know I can’t complain too much as work commute is along the river but it’s amazing what a bit of nature does. I think the lack of people helps a lot too with the HR actually. 

Big_G

Rcouture, have a read in the comments of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlYq1W4vjyk (see question from "Tony Nørbæk Army"). He has also been turning up elsewhere commenting on various things. Read all the comments as there is a long rebuttal from one of Bester’s athletes. 

I think the Topo maps provide the turn by turn features. When I pan over and zoom in on the USA on my watch I don’t see any roads or trails, but I do for UK and Europe.  Did you have turn by turn when in US?

Rcouture

The turn by turn did indeed work for me. 

Ian5

We ended up sitting on the plane for 90 mins so left 2 hours late,still happy with that as it could have been a lot worse.

The hotel we were staying in 1 hotel,but it's having renovation done so they've moved us to another,it's very nice,better than what we booked so all good.

SHADES

Rcouture - hope you can plan a few more WFH days.   My HR is higher if I'm running in heavy traffic, even if I'm safely on the pavement, so guess it's the same for more people around.   Raised awareness I suppose.

Heavy frost and very cold again.   Roads hadn't dried out as much as I'd hoped but looked OK, although traffic seemed to be driving very cautiously.  Once I was out I had to do numerous retracing of my route as there was still a lot of ice around.   Could only run safely in the middle of the road and a few short stretches of pavement.  Very frustrating and as traffic started to get busier it became more difficult and I had to make numerous stops.   So only managed just over a measly 3 miles but better than nothing.

SHADES

xpost Ian - Glad you got there OK and upgraded to a better hotel too.

I hate that sitting on the plane as you never quite know what's going to happen.

Ian5

Shades-I was feeling OK when we got sat on the plane,as most of the cancellations were from planes that got diverted so there wasn't a plane to take them out.

We've just been for a nice easy 4.5m run along the race route,little hillier than I remembered, but for Madeira it's very flat,lots of runners out.It's also the Euro Masters marathon race so lots of faster oldies around.

SHADES

Ian - definitely not much flat land in Madeira. 

Being the European Masters will make the marathon more interesting. 

I assume you're still going to run the half. 

Big_G

I went out a bit later today, after it had warmed up a bit, and did 7 miles. It was actually quite warm in the sun, but still cold in the shade.

Rcouture

Ian - Good stuff with the hotel upgrade 

Big G - Nice run. Presumably the foot is quiet at the minute?

7 miles into the office this morning. Quiet Friday in the City so had a nice run in in the freezing cold. Only dodgy bit was on a footbridge on the Thames path where someone has had a nightmare designing it as it always gets icy and dangerous. Planning first 20 miler with MP of the block on Sunday so hoping everything clears by then. 

Big_G

RCouture, foot is not perfect, but it’s manageable at the moment, and podiatrist did say this would be the case. By the way, I turned off the topo maps on my watch and did my regular route on the watch, and it was ok - it just followed a breadcrumb route, but it did have turn by turn instructions. It had no landmarks, roads, trails, parks etc, but it should be fine for the small number of runs I may do in the US. 

Ian5

Shades-Yes still running,been to get our numbers today.

To make the marathon record eligible they have had to move the start,its now a beast of an uphill to start,then get going.

Big G-Where are you staying in NYC?

SHADES

Big G - just a couple more days and conditions should improve. I went out yesterday about lunchtime and although it was sunny there was still a fair amount of ice.

Rcouture - it looks like the quieter/wfh on Fridays is here to stay, which IMHO is a good thing. 

We have a couple of metal footbridges and they're lethal as they ice up easily and never seem to thaw out. 

Ian - does the change in start affect your half too?

From my memories of Funchal I can imagine the start will be more like a ski slope😭

Big_G

Ian, we are staying in Manhattan, not far from Central Park. 

Ian5

Big G-You will be lucky to run anywhere there,unless you go to the park itself, lights every few steps.

Shades-It doesn't affect us luckily,you're right,the start does resemble a ski slope,just hope they don't start at the bottom for them.

We went for a toboggan ride today,we got a cable car up then its 2km of being not strapped in to a wicker basket and ran down the hill by 2 men,speeds of 30mph,good fun.

SHADES

Big G - when I did NYC marathon we stayed a few miles outside the city centre, easy bus ride into town.   Was fortunate as when I needed to do my post marathon recovery run we had a large and very nice housing estate close by and all the houses were dressed up for Halloween, very OTT but entertaining for me running by.   My friend wouldn't go for a run with me as she thought it was too dangerous to run in NY, not much of a friend!    But no way would I get on a plane for a long flight without doing a recovery run.


Ian - bit of good luck that your race start isn't changed then.

Toboggan ride sounds great fun, must keep the guys that do the rides fit too.   

I expect the weather is lovely there too.


No early morning run for me.   We have a heavier frost than yesterday with a 'feels like' of -6.   But I think I can walk carefully down to the gym so I'll do that this morning.