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Mile 2 = 6.35 (13.29)
Mile 3 = 6.39 (20.08)
Mile 4 = 6.31 (26.39)
Mile 5 = 6.38 (33.17) 1st 5 mile in 33.17
Mile 6 = 6.32 (39.54)
Mile 7 = 6.37 (46.31)
Mile 8 = 6.35 (53.06)
Mile 9 = 6.38 (59.44)
Mile 10 = 6.41 (1:06:25) 2nd 5 mile in 33.08 (10 mile in 1:06:18)
Mile 11 = 6.41 (1:13.06)
Mile 12 = 6.38 (1.19.44)
Mile 13 = 6.42 (1:26.26)
Mile 14 = 6.37 (1.33.03)
Mile 15 = 6.32 (1:39.35) 3rd 5 mile in 33.10
Mile 16 = 6.40 (1:46.15)
Mile 17 = 6.38 (1.52.53)
Mile 18 = 6.33 (1.59.26)
Mile 19 = 6.43 (2:06.09)
Mile 20 = 6.58 (2:13.07) 4th 5 mile in 33.42 (10 mile in 1:06:52) Hip Flexor problem now...
Mile 21 = 8.18 (2:21.25) Stopped to stretch...
Mile 22 = 8.06 (2:29.31) Easing off...
Mile 23 = 7.24 (2:36.55) Tried to start clawing time back...
Mile 24 = 7.15 (2.44.10)
Mile 25 = 7.03 (2.51.13) 5th 5 mile in 38.06...
Mile 26 = 7.10 (2.58.23)
Mile 0.22 = 1.29 (2.59.52)
Went through 26.22 Miles on Garmin with time: 2:59:52 @6.52 avg pace.
Official time was 3.01.24 and distance 26.42 miles recorded on Garmin still at 6.52m/m pace...
After standing around for an hour in corral A have to admit was bloody freezing cold (car said 5c)... and well weird kicking off a marathon at 5.30am in pitch darkness hahaha... and even more odd running throigh the Magic kingdom and all the resorts in the dark... at around 7 mile... didnt feel great... breathing was perfect but legs felt heavy and didn't feel "right" at all... little did I know... a cold was on the way and calf was tight... that buggered off though at 10 mile so mustve just been the cold.
Was running very easy nice and relaxed and found a lovely rhythm then coasting through half way in around the right time I wanted. At around 16 mile was aware of left hip flexor just tightening bit once again I thought id probably run it off and was due to running in such cold conditions... it didnt and gradually got worse... not to a point of making me stop or think of pulling out... but enough to slow me right down.
Went through 20 mile in perfect time and pacing... then wallop... double whammy flexor starting to seize up and plus legs just started to wobble... which was weird... so slowed it right down and then felt bloody awful. My head went for first time in a marathon and have to admit i kinda gave up... and you can tell with the times for them two miles. Little would I know just the impact theyd have on overall time in the end.
Picked pace back up to as quick as I dared to run knowing now that judging by the garmin was going to go to the wire. Then beeps at 26 mile and couldnt see marker... as I went through the official marker realised i'd blown it as I still had 400m to go. No point sprinting although legs were shot anyway near the end.
The funny thing was... I was mentioned by the commentator..."all the way from uk is Mark Dodd... followed by another Brit... John Stone" hahaha... so it was nice to see my club mate right behind me (even though the nutter has ran the Disney 5/10k and half) before this marathon.
Am I happy? Have to say im a bit dissapointed as officially didnt go under 3 hours which was the plan for the past 7 months. I've put alot into this race... but on the day... legs didnt feel right from the beginning... bit of a cold as well and hip flexor problems at mile 20 did not help and running at 5.30am... really isnt my bag... however i really did think I was in sub 3 shape... I GAVE IT EVERYTHING 110% I AND CAME UP SHORT which I have to take and be positive about. No point whining as couldn't have ran any harder, just didnt have it in me on the day and I can handle that :-) Had a stinking cold from the night of the marathon so that could explain why i just didnt feel good during race.
Officially looks like I was 50th position not bad out 20,050 people and 7th V40 and possibly first UK runner home.
As for the race... nice enough but lots of boring roads and around where they're doing work... not a quick course either due to lots of turns in the kingdoms... not a race Id reccomend people to do unless massive Disney fans... however it 100% has THE BEST EVER MARATHON MEDAL EVER. ITS AMAZING and I dont normally care about them too much but this one is a little special.
2018 TARGETS:
25lbs in weight to lose before 8th April 2018. This would take me to what I think my perfect race weight would be 11st 2lbs. Run 2:4x in Rotterdam Marathon in April 2018. Run Chicago Marathon in October 2018 and takr whatever that gives me as I think by the end of this year is going to be as fast aa I'll ever get...
BRING 2018 ON!!!
TR - haven't run since the mile I shouldn't have on NYD.
I love the change of plan on the start-line - that's just the way you roll eh
Tight left ankle (are they contagious?) so ibuprofen and taking it easy. Flared up as I speed walked to catch the tram yesterday. Will judge if tonight's planned 9 is on later.
MV48 today for me. Just a little taper tune-up round the park running-wise in advance of the half on Sunday, and the "cakes" I brought in to work are really carb load materials, as if one needs them for a half.
Whatever happened Pug that is great progress in a 'former bloater returns to racing snake' kind of way. Well done fella.
TT.. the start at Barca is quite a spine tingling experience so I wouldn't blame you for thinking 'what the hell' and going for it anyway
Steady 5m + 4m double today, looking forward to Sunday now.
Belated HNY everyone! I've been busy (not training), so not been on for a couple of weeks.
Sorry to hear there are a few people benched right now, hope you can all get sorted soon.
Coro - good to see you on Sunday. Really sorry to hear about the osteoporosis and I hope you can get back to running, even if it's a bit slower than it used to be.
Pug - that is an amazing result considering where you were a few months ago. You really should not be disappointed to have just missed out on breaking 3 hours.
Just managing about 30mpw myself. County XC champs on Sunday went OK - 7th place and around about the usual people I'm competing with, so probably in about 33:30 shape at the moment. But I'll need to start picking up the mileage soon if I want to have a decent shot at London.
Jools - hopefully some cross trainer next week then?
LMH- so 10 days missed. I guess if you can only miss another week or so then build up over a couple of weeks, you' have a decent block of time. But I guess you are itching to run.
Charlie - happy birthday, have a beerio later.
6m more today. Still only missed one day since gosport.
Odd one, ankle not been too bad so ran. Ended up being 10 and all was well.. slow just as a precaution again.
Feels a bit sore now but can't be anything too untoward if I can bimble along for 10 miles.
Rest day tomorrow.
Careful with the ankle SJ.
TR - Are you due a restday?
CW - Happy birthday and good luck to you and Wardi for BM.
LMH - Sorry to hear you are still off the road. Massively frustrating.
9 days to go to the Gran Canaria mara and first look at forecast temp says 20C on the day, 16C at the start......this seems to be the constant temp for Jan, so I will take that. In the what I can control box, nearly at race weight (10 6) and last key sess over he weekend. Still mulling over specific target. I will race it just a question of how hard as have Barcelona on the horizon to.
OO - don' forget I only run 6m on weekdays, but will review where I am after Sundays 10k. I have done no specific 10k training but have done 8 weeks averaging just over 50m since gosport and only ran 300m in the 12 weeks before gosport, so hopefully some improvement will be evident. Finding more miles on weekdays is the next step I guess. Running every day (except Christmas day) was s way of getting my motivation up. I would be happy for 20 degrees and some sunshine to run in, roll on springtime.
OO - nice temps those. Also looking forward to some slightly higher temps.
Pug - agree that's impressive bling. It would go well with my medals in the old ASICS box in the loft.
Ankle seems to have settled down. Some gentle stretching etc. Always my left side that grumbles when I get back into it. I've never tried to root out the issue.
6 miles this morning on the tow path in relatively mild conditions. Threw in a couple of quicker miles to get the legs moving. 6:50s at 175 bpm avg HR which converts to a very high 90% HRmax.
Lots of room for improvement. Always stuns me how crap it feels to run that pace early doors and yet hopefully the aim is to string 26 of those together in a little over 12 weeks time. Hmm.
Padams - 33:30 shape off of 30mpw! I'm as impressed as always as to what you can do off of such little running. Being able to maintain decent shape should hopefully mean a few bigger weeks will see you ready to rock London!
TR - best of luck for tomorrow!
Pug - quality medal!
sj - good to hear the ankle has settled down!
First 20 of the campaign earlier. Been averaging only 39mpw since Valencia so figured this week should be about rebuilding mileage as it marked 9 weeks to Barca/13 to Paris. I had Monday off (was still feeling ropey), but have now notched up 77 in the last 5 days with a 10/6 double due tomorrow.
Long run itself was tough (leg weights last night and the jump in mileage), but I included surges of 1min, 1, 10, 2, 3, 3, with 5mins easy between. Range of paces (5:10 - 5:47), but averaged 5:35 for the surges, 7:12 for the recoveries, and 6:48 pace for the 20 overall.
Returned to running today, resting doesn't seem to have done much good so decided to try beating my body into submission. Pulled muscle seems to be improving, peak flow is still low, cough is intermittent. Can still either talk or run - this has been going on since well before xmas - and despite my legs being fresh pace is appalling for the effort. I think I shall keep running next week and see if things either get worse or improve with the hope that it's the latter and I can then begin to actually do some training.
You do seem to make great comebacks in short periods of time TT.
Stubbington 10k today, an undulating but not slow course and I had 36:30 from 2015 as a marker (and 35:59 from 2014). Was hoping for around 37:00 but came in somewhere around 37:4X, not sure how that compares to gosports 1:25, hopefully its a improvement, but the main benchmark will be Worthing 1/2 in 4 weeks. I was hoping to be down near 1:20 there, but today shows that might be wishful thinking. Whilst 6:05 ish was a shock today it was probably less of a shock than 6:30s were 8 weeks ago, so it's not all bad. 10k racing is a young persons game anyway.
Off to Southampton now for county u17 training.
LMH: damn. That's pretty gutting.
45 min swim for me. Cankle is smaller, bruising reduced and pain much less, so hope to start short, easy bike/cross trainer sessions midweek. I never thought I'd miss the gym this much, but it's just less faff than the pool!
Hope the Brass Monkey lot did well.
Jools.. nice to see you can resume exercise again, I know what you mean about swimming pools!
TR.. that is definite progress, my clubmate has a 37:30/1:23 pairing from last summer.
Brass Monkey went ok for me, 1:40 was a minute quicker than last year & 7th in the senior gents. Topped that up with 2 laps of the nearby racecourse to give me 17m for the day. I guess that means the VLM campaign has begun
Had a quick natter with Charlie before the off and agreed to meet him in the cafe/prize awards post race. Suffice to say he ran better than expected so roll out the red carpet for him, I'm sure a happy race report will follow. Quite a stacked field at this race looking at the pointy end results.
Glad to hear you're able to do something Joolska. I worked out yesterday that the swimming I've been doing has been aggravating my pulled muscle so that's going to be off the menu for a little while and I'm just going to have to see which bits of my gym programme I can do without making anything worse. I'd like to try some of the classes (like Hot Fitness Pilates) but don't think that's a good idea until the muscle has resolved if nothing else.
Nice long running there Wardi and it's got to feel good to be a minute faster than last year. From the way his work colleagues have been when they've caught this bug (or something similar) Mark has a theory that it's hitting fitter people harder and for longer - no idea if that's true or why it would be so though. Unfortunately I'm not known for my patience - especially when I'm unable to run!