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Jools - agreed, very simialr to P and D, long runs on tired legs, and I have put more miles into the rest of the week, inc double doubles etc as a change of approach. 18 on tired legs has to be better than 20 on fresh legs imo. I'm aware of how well its worked for you
CW - if you can equate effort levels then its a decent comparison I guess. I dont see that you are less fit, you have put more miles into the commutes this time.........No idea on how to race the VLM and Swash combo, up unitil now I've just concentrated on getting the training done. they will both end up compromised I guess. I'd take a comfy (ha ha !) 2:54 and a strong Swash if I could though. I aim to enter a few days after VLM (I have made conatct with the organisers) if my legs arnt too ruined.
Selbs - I would have done a 20 too y'day, but my legs were tired during the MP sections, and I was cold which made my hammys tighten due to the wind and rain on my extra baggy training shorts for long runs this year. A few less long rusn this year, but that was the aim with a few easier weekends running wise. At the end of the day you have to be haoppy with where you are and I would rather be in my VLM shoes than anyone elses............my mentee did well, a 20min PB, he had a tight calf from early on too. He crashed and burned badly at the end of his 1st mara, did an injury riddled 3:48 last autmun and did 3:28 today with a 90sec -ve split (i knew he'd run autiuously as he is a big rugby player and was fearing the heat). Today was about controlling the process and letting the result take care of itself. Happy days !
TR great last long run effort and top training all round this campaign I reckon you're well set. congrats on your mentoring role must be very satisfying
jools top weird distance pb in the wind and great last long one...happy days
ES nice last long run hope the 10k went well today on tired legs
tick hope the stress settles down. house and new job not ideal marathon prep
cw that is some last long run with an incredible amount of long training runs. cannot believe the amount of full distance runs. amazing you stay so injury free. gotta be taper time now.....
toro you look well set; sure VLM will be a massive pb for you
selbs nice 20 + pit stops. before this campaign i'd never had one of these but had about 6 in last few weeks. think i'm a proper runner now
steve6 great long run in top time, hope groin clears swiftly
cl sensible running and good quality 16 ticked off
cc2 glad your running again and nice leg completion!
Well mentored TR!
Good last long-uns, Steve6, Selbs, Toro, Jools and CW.
Cambridge Cambourne 10K for me today. I wasn't expecting much given I did 17M yesterday, so decided to enjoy it as best as I could. I ended up coming home in 38:18. Officially that's a PB since my 37:xx effort a couple of weeks back was not on a measured course, and indeed was short. I started conservatively, aiming for 3:48 per km. I went through 5K a bit behind schedule. Then I faded in km 7, gusty wind and an incline just a bit much for me. Came back strongly at the end though and still managed a slight negative split (OK, 3s
), overtaking people right up to the last 500m. Not sure on the finishing position yet, results not been posted up.
Does anbody know where I can buy a bale of cotton wool?
Quick update on today's 10K. Official result 38:15 for 17th place and 2nd V40. First V40 was 90s ahead so silverware was always out of reach!
ES Well done on the PB and 2nd V40
TR - it must have been good to see your mentee ran well.
DrD - I am sure my stress is nothing compared to your being a busy quack with young-uns.
Well done to all those who ran today (sorry too many to list and comment upon). I did a bog standard 16 miler. Proper cut back next week
Some strong running this weekend. I'm impressed (though slightly disappointed) that we're collectively avoiding too much taper fever just yet... Nobody's even looked up the long range forecast yet - or at least nobody's admitted to doing so
It struck me today that it's monumentally silly of the organisers to have done that given the later start date. If you take into account that average finishing time's generally upwards of 4 hours they may well have carnage on their hands...
CW, mental stats overall. I am also amazed you're not more injured (and very envious obviously!).
A strong run in that 10k ES - looking good provided you find that bale of cotton wool.
TR, I'm made up for your mentee - great result and fantastic job from you to get that from him. Very excited to see how you go in 2 weeks.
Jools - good run yesterday and nice 17 miler today. Wind wasn't friendly. It does sound like you've been consistent throughout this campaign though and are definitely in shape to bash the Frankfurt time.
Selbs - very good job gutting that one out (literally?). I think you'll turn it around nicely in a couple of weeks.
Steve6 - as one of the thread's most consistently injured members over the last 5 months, you have my sympathy for the niggles. Sounds like a great final LR though - and even better that you're enjoying things. Running pressure-free in 2 weeks you might well surprise yourself (I'm hoping for something similar!).
Toro - nice stuff.
CL - a nice last effort and sounds like you made the right choice.
Likewise CD - looking very good for London.
Have faith AlanB - the hard work is done. Tapering's always like that.
Al_P and DrDave - I see from Strava you both posted nice runs in what sounded like tough conditions today. Really excited to see how it goes.
Sorry for anyone I've missed and hope others have had good weekends. In particular, Padams, how's the chest? SL and I will be relying on you for a bit of a train in a fortnight!
Overlong me post as usual... (sorry!)
So, after the positive BAC session on Wed I realised how beneficial taking 3 fully exercise-free days off had been, but didn't want to overcook things. Deathly dull double swim/pool run sessions on Thu and then a 6 x c1m threshold off 80" jog session on Fri before seeing the physio. Was quite muggy out (that was the Day of High Pollution) but was pleased with how it went - started off too quickly and so the last 2 faded a bit as my legs wouldn't really move/it felt pretty tough and definitely high end threshold but paces came out probably around 5:10-5:14, which is quicker than I've ever really run before. Physio session was encouraging - apparently "sympathy" problems in the other peroneal are quite common when one peroneal problem heals.
Yesterday was another super dull 90' split elliptical/swim. Then I joined the 17 mile crowd for my final "long run" today. Aim was to get prob around 11-13m MP in there but was really quite windy out and cut it short a bit at c9.7m - slightly quicker than MP (tho no idea what that is, really) and effort a good deal higher working quite hard and with stomach issues, so slowed a bit but prob only to 5:37s or so by the end of the tempo chunk. Best thing was that it's the first totally peroneally pain-free run I've had for well over a month! Still, don't want to get ahead of myself and though I might run 4 times instead of 3 this week, we're definitely on the home straight. Prob one harder 15m progression run left at the end of the week and some sharpening stuff.
Anyway, all this has made me realise I now just need to commit - any energy worrying about what's going to happen to my body after 20m is wasted. Looking back I've actually done 8 runs of 20m or more since the end of Jan, plus plenty around the 18m mark as well as three "LR" sessions of 2.5hours+ cross training. And quite a lot of my LRs have had decent quality in there, especially recently. So although I've only averaged 45-50m/week in the last 6 weeks (albeit with quite a bit of XT topping that up), I know I'm in strong PB shape. And given the weird build/5 months of more XT than running, I really have nothing to lose and don't feel too angsty or pressured...
Bring on Blackheath!
DrD - so was todays race done at MP ? looks like Al_P played it cool.
ES - good for you.
Lev - The hard running you have done in the miles that you have run should see you ok. resolve to be the best you can be on the day and the pressure is lifted, and no one can ask any more of you.
Lev - thanks for asking, not sure about joining your train, will come onto that below! Good news on the MP in the long run (wind would have slowed you a bit - I hope, see below!), and the lack of any niggles.
ES - well done on the PB, more to come in good conditions I suspect.
Well done to everyone getting their last long runs done, CW's in particular had some good pace in it.
10M race for me did not go to plan. I did 4M warm-up at a decent pace to make it up to a proper MLR, and it was really windy. From the gun one guy went off the front and disappeared, and I was left on my own in 2nd. 5:42 first mile into the wind, then 6:00 for the 2nd mile up a big hill. Not to worry I thought, they should be the hardest two miles. But I just never got going, was running on my own, well ahead of 3rd place and mile splits were coming in way slower than hope (5:30-5:45 generally). After the big hill the next 6M were at the top of a plateau, very exposed and I basically gave up - wasn't wearing a HRM but I expect (hope!) it wouldn't have been much above mara HR.
Ended up 2nd in 57:1x, not really out of breath and wondering why I didn't just run faster. One thing holding me back was slightly sore calves, and I was thinking back to the 5M race in November when they went quite badly.
Anyway, I'm slightly concerned about the rubbish time, but there are a few reasons for it. However, I now have no idea what shape I'm in. Plan was for a bit of marathon pace at some point next week, so will see how that goes.
Good news was I didn't really have much coughing afterwards. Calves were sore but feel a bit better after a round of golf this afternoon (I beat my two mates by holing out from long range on the 18th, so that improved my day slightly!).
Well done es for great official pb in the conditions and on tired legs
padams glad you're feeling better and still great 2nd place especially for limited effort
obviously as mentioned I did do the bournemouth bay half marathon today. it was the funniest running festival in the world. went wrong at 1 mile as lead car went up a hill when we were supposed to go straight on (no marshall or sign) then as a road bent left at about mile 3 we went left and were supposed to go straight on (no marshall or sign) add in lots of weaving across fairly main roads as no idea what side we were supposed to be on, it was not a well organised race for something costing nearly 30 quid. all detours probably only cost a little over a minute (300-400m) but slightly frustrating. however loved it; felt so nice having no time/race pressure, I've never done a race knowing you're not going to put everything in.
The incredible thing is the 10k (the festival had half, 10k, 5k and fun run) people took a wrong turn at 3k the lead 200 people did over 13k! The best thing was reading todays Bournemouth Echo where there was an article with people fuming...the race directors response...'well it only affected about 200 of the runners and the important thing is that lots of people had fun and raised some money' clearly not organised by people remotely interested in running!
changed course this year meant some severe hills and very blowy, last 4 miles into vicious headwind (20+mph). The plan was just to feel comfortable and it did that. Felt great the whole way through, slowly worked way back up the field after detour and by mile 5 was in 3rd but 2nd/3rd long way ahead often not visible unless very long straight road. was happy just to sit there but 2nd faded badly in last 3 miles. so nice 2nd place (only 20sec behind first in the end 1.16.58 official time) prob bit faster than MP but given the hard bac session and intervals on Friday legs felt fine throughout (certainly no worse than a normal 20 mile run) and hopefully no damage done for London (time will tell!). Really a lovely confidence boost, nice to get some silverware and was the most fun I've had in a race just smiling and waving/dancing to crowd throughout. bring on vlm
lev you're going to absolutely smash it in 2 weeks
DrD - great race report. Sounds like you made the right decision running the half. Amazing to cruise to a 2nd place like that. I would have definitely gone for the win!
Padams - don't worry about the 10M. Sounds like you did pretty well all things considered. Glad the cough/cold is well and truly behind you.
Lev - looks like everything is coming together very nicely. Well done on the cross training, good to see the spark is back.
Ticktock - nothing wrong with a bog standard 16 at this stage - exactly what I went for today.
ES - congrats on the 10K official PB and the -ive split!
CW - awesome last long run (and impressive number of long and ultra-distance training runs in the campaign)
Well done everyone else on their last long runs.
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16M today with first 15 @ avg. 7:00. Brings up 55m for the week.
Long runs this campaign (since Jan 1st): 6 x 20M + 6 x 16M. (last year was 8x20m + 6 x 16-20m)
nice 16 luke hope the taper goes to plan
checked race on strava, can see the second wrong turn just after 3 miles, was 59 seconds off course so I'm claiming a 1.15.59
probably a bit hot pace 2 weeks out but legs good today so hopefully all good
DrD - excellent run to come 2nd at a moderate effort and with all those organisational issues! I've done a couple of the Bournemouth races before and they were fine, but I think they've massively expanded it since then and maybe the event is too big now.
LS - thanks, if I add up all the reasons it was slow, maybe it wasn't too bad! Just realised I did 72M last week as well, which after two weeks of virtually nothing was maybe a bit much. Two weeks to recover and get a bit sharper!
DrD - No one else could put such a positive personal spin on such a shambles. Gla you enjoyed it! Also, some very nifty 800s the other day. Very nice.
Jools - Well run Saturday. I'm thinking of growing a ponytail now so I can show people how windy it always is on race day.
CC2 - I did recognise you but my 2 secs reaction time was only good enough to wave at your back. One of my club mates commented on how easy you were running whilst waving over to me, so I suspected you might be running within yourself. Great to see you out there running though.
CL - Cake well and truly baked. You're looking good at the moment. Shames I didn't see your earlier post, could've invited you to Dulwich Park yesterday (that was me Steve6, hiya!) for some "MP" work, but you might have been beaten by a girl.
CW - 7 marathons already this year. Utter. Nutter! x
TR - Congrats Team TR! You've obviously put a lot into that, hats off to ya.
ES - Congrats on the pb and V40 bling.
Lev - Can I look forward to you "slowing to 5:37" in two weeks' time? I think you're peaking nicely, really looking forward to seeing your result.
Padams - Tough day at the office, but you'll only get quicker with taper setting in, and getting further away from your recent lurgy.
If I've not mentioned anyone by name, you're probably been quietly getting on with textbook final sessions/tapering. Good job!
Padams - It's any consolation your race went far better than my running, a big fat zero on Saturday and a bailed run on Sunday (5 miles at 8m/m and getting slower)Not sure what's wrong but I'm constantly tired although I' sleeping brilliantly and eating well. I presume an underlying virus of some sort.
DrD - Sounds like an absolute shambles, good run though.
LS - Nice 16.
TR - Seems a like a good run on tired legs.
ES - Congrats on the PB.
CW - Reading your list of long runs tires me out, not sure how you do it.
Jools - Good weekend of training.
Quick race report from the National 12 Stage then. Having been promoted to the A team I was keen to validate my place, and I think things went pretty well. We started solidly and were in 10th place out of 64 teams by the end of leg 4. I was warming up by this time, getting ready to take over from Paul Pollock who was on leg 5, and just as I settled into a few final strides I heard the tannoy commentary: "...and Kent AC moving into bronze medal position." Blimey! Not surprisingly Paul had a stormer, running the second fastest long leg of the day. No pressure then!
The course was tough, a new extension being a bit up and down with a horrible surface, before hitting the main drag of a hill. By the end of the hill (1st mile split 5:44) I still hadn't been overtaken by anyone, and thought I could look forward to getting into better rhythm on the flat, but this merely involved turning into a stiff head wind, so speed still felt hard to come by. Somewhere along this stretch I could finally hear shouts out for an approaching runner, but he took a long time to catch up and to drift away from me, so this may have helped my pace (second mile pretty flat but all into wind, 5:29), then it was some respite with a downhill section before a final niggly up-and-down back to the start (third mile 5:04!) and a final sprint just managing to maintain fourth place in front of a closing Belgrave runner.
One of our key runners had a nightmare of a fall in a recent fell race and ran round on Saturday with a suspected broken rib. Absolute trooper. All in all we had our strongest ever team but slightly compromised, and were very happy to finish 6th overall, our best finish by five places. I hit one of my targets of not being the slowest A team runner, but no one had a bad one, all finishing top 100 out of 380 short/long legs respectively. I was 85th short leg, 5k almost exactly, 16:39 = 5:23/m, pretty much same pace as the Maidenhead 10! (I was hypothetical first woman on short leg, 4 seconds ahead of Laura Weightman.
)
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Yesterday, "Team Pub" did a final quality (mid)LR with MP thrown in. 15.7M w/ 10.5M @ 6:13. Mile splits all 6:11 - 6:15, and I wasn't even the one wearing the Garmin. Tidy.
Update on pacing stuff. New number through, Green start confirmed, and we are getting some free shoes from Adidas again. Yay! The rather snazzy new Ultra Boost, although they may not get an airing for the race itself cos I won't be picking them up till Expo. So blame the sponsors, but I might be racing in Brooks!
SL - hope it’s just a blip and you’re feeling strong again very soon
3 miles downhill @ 9m/m was a struggle this morning - did someone say taper?
selbs -- I wouldn't worry about pit stops in training, I nearly always need one. It's different on race day when I've been off fruit and fibre for a couple of days, the start is hours later, morning race nerves err "help" AND I have the Imodium. I think it's good that your few long runs have been bunched recently (including yesterday).
CL -- ha, I'll not be doing the multi-storey stairs again myself until July (pre-Lakes)! Good record of long runs for you.
TR -- I don't have the stats to hand but my total and weekly mileages are probably only a little higher this year, but (DrD/Lev) I'm certainly mighty glad to have got this far without injury (the fact that a lot of miles were slow trudging, with only a poor showing of speed work, helps on that score I'm sure). Your additional big commutes could well have a big effect, will be interesting to see. I know you've ruled out a 2:4x but could still be a low-2:5x PB?
ES -- very decent result in my home 10K there given the wind and tough previous day.
Lev_ -- most encouraging, sounds like you're gettting it all back together in the nick of time.
Padams -- bit of a time trial for you there. Running harder wouldn't have improved your position, and it was too windy for a fast time, so playing it cool is logical. It's so easy to pick up a calf strain so you did the right thing if they were already complaining a bit. (I won't do any training faster than HMP from now on because of the risk of calf twinges.)
DrD -- what a fiasco! Glad you got everything you wanted out of it, anyway -- congrats on 2nd when you weren't even giving it full beans.
PP -- great performance there, that's rather quick for a V40 in horrible winds!
Rest day for me today, or at least just a basic 6+6M bike commute. I'm not sure how I'll play this taper week as it is most convenient to run a commuting double, but that commits me to a minimum 12M for the day. I certainly won't be doing any of those next week, and might even avoid the cycle commute on the carbo load pre-race Friday.
1k swim and a couple miles there and back today - feeling ready for the sub 3 just hope the temperature is kind on race day
Ms pp is in good nick. Looks good for around 2:45.
Cw - id need 2:50:66 ( yes 66) for a pb and im not planning on running 6:30s so it shouldnt happen. Im going to try not to melt more than try to run faster.
6m inc 30sec reps.
PP, well done at the Nationals. All I can say is that any 'A' team in which you are described as "not the slowest runner" must be a bloody good team!
DrD, Bournemouth sounds like it was a shambles, which is a pity. There would be no shortage of material for a new TV show entitled "When Running Races Go Wrong" based on some of the stories I've heard on here and elsewhere over the years. Ironically, I was especially pleased with the setup at the Cambourne 10K. Marshals at every key point and the distance markers were unerringly accurate, if GPS is to be believed. Plus, the PA announcer name-checked me as I was in the final 200m so lots of waving and cheering!
CW - thanks, as per above I did enjoy your local race. Oh and while I remember, it seems fred "favourite" CJ De Mooi (from Eggheads) has taken a leaf out of your book. He ran an over-distance 26.6mi in 3:21 last week.
ES - that's interesting, I didn't realise CJ was a serious runner (guess he is aiming for sub-3 with that training run).
PP - sounds like a good run at the Nationals and must be fun to be mixing it with the top teams.
SL - our train seems to be becoming derailed. Hope you recover soon - if not, I'll bring you a spare bungee cord to go with mine, which is being attached to Lev.
Was at work from 7:20am-9:20pm yesterday so no running, although a rest day was probably not a bad idea anyway. Mile reps tonight - will probably start them at 90% and see whether I feel like upping the pace.
hopefully this is just beginning of sandbagging and/or taper madness time for the likes of SL and Padams... really hope you guys both come right and are good to go on the big day anyway and can keep likes of Lev and Al_P company - or better.
Padams, when i was training with a cold/virus, i would tell myself that the fact i was having to work harder than i liked would give me nice training adaptions once the virus/cold had left me! prob load of bllcks but it helped me at the time anyway (and i am telling myself the same thing again now, as below)!
DrD what a total shambles - even my wife showed me a report about that race. Well done on a fine run anyway sounds like you will have a great day come VLM.
Banksy7 - nice pacing job.
PP - sounds like another good run form you, and you other half has a great shot at sub 245 still.
not much to report here other than v busy at work and suffering from another cold and neck/bulging disc issue still not resolving so not getting a lot of sleep. At least the cold should be right by VLM day, as long as i don't catch another one (our little boy sliterally sneezing into my mouth i am blaming for this latest one). tomorrow's MLR in 25C heat should be a nice "heat adaption" run, and an interestesting 2nd last test to see where i am, albeit the heat is going to clearly have some impact.
very quiet ! no one weighing their shoes, wondering which mode their gadget needs to be in, woorying about pacing strategies, weather forecasts etc
injury worry here - the Bosch has copped one in the toaster, the pressure is on, if its not fixed in a few days the SPO will have my guts for garters ! Hopefully the spare part will be here tomorrow and it solves the issue.
At least nobody admitting to worrying about those items!
Speaking of one of the listed items, TR, I assume you are on the Fast GFA start? If so, might there be a seat for me on the diesel express? I'm thinking 6:40 or thereabouts is a realistic goal pace for me.
Back to the Tuesday doubles today. Lovely easy run at lunchtime, and 12M this evening including 2M @ ~HMP (5:29/m) followed by 6 x 1k (200 recovery), all 3:11/3:12. Felt like a proper Summer session in this weather, sleeveless, water bottle and everything.
PP - nice double and great race report from the Nationals.
TR/ES - I look forward to seeing the photo of the twins holding hands down the Mall
selbs - hope the cold and bulge(?) subside.
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On a bit of a high right now - ran our club 5k tonight and managed to win it in a time of 16.24!
That's a 20 second PB and equalled the Vet 40 course record!!
Not quite sure where that came from but hope it bodes well for next Sunday
, although I've got no idea what time to aim for now!?