Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
LMH.. have your knee problems responded to lower mileage?
Charlie.. good to see you are still knocking out the long runs in a 'Charlie lite' program of sorts. Are your kids still studying at York?
I have decided to bench myself for a while. A niggle in the glute/upper hamstring has been a minor annoyance for a month now and it flared up after Sunday's run so obviously isn't going to go away on it's own. My first injury in 4 years so shouldn't complain. Also considering the lack of up & coming races, marathons etc it's not a bad time to take a break. In spirit with OO I should be ok on the bike so hopefully that will help to keep the weight off and fitness ticking over. I am just trying to pretend I'm on holiday at home which isn't too difficult at the moment.
Paris Marathon 14th April 2019 Time: 2.48.17 / 416th Wava 86.2
I’ve long coveted the Paris marathon. Training had gone well with my first 350m+ month in March and the hope was for a sub 250 time.
We arrived late on Saturday - thanks Gillets Jaunes!! Pretty frantic as we dashed across Paris for my younger sons Paris marathon fun run around the Eiffel Tower which was great, got to the expo, had a good walk around central Paris and then had to find my older son who got lost on his way to his hotel! A nice bistro a few glasses of wine and in bed at 11.30 to be awoken at 3.42 am! A few weird hours in the hotel lobby to then join 50,000 others on a very chilly Champs Elysee with the Arc de Triomphe behind us for the start at 8.27. I felt very lucky to be here.
BANG, the elites and c800 other / corporate runners disappeared up the road from their wave start to leave an empty Champs de Elysee. BANG, my wave were off and couldn’t resist an empty inviting Champs Elysee, so I and a few others led the wave through the historic centre with mile 1 coming up in 5.41 - opps! My most memorable ever marathon mile.
It steadied into 6.15 minute miles and from mile 2 started passing runners from the earlier wave, spending the first half of the race running around groups of slower runners and off the race-line but in time thankfully this wave thinned. Crowd support was good (not a patch on London), there was plenty of music bands on the course and conditions were good, a gentle breeze, dry and sunny but key it was cool/ cold. Found a good rhythm, just knocking off the 5 k markers - decided my race would be 8*5 km chunks – in a surprisingly consistent 19.26, 19.30, 19.55, 19.40 and half way in 1.22.48.
As it was cold, I took 4 SIS gels as thought my body would burn up more energy trying to stay warm, taking them at 10m, 15m, 20m and 23m.
I felt really comfortable and loved running this course and through the city. The next 10 k passed the Bastille along the Seine, seeing Notre Dam (2 days before the fire!), the Eiffel Tower on the opposite bank with there being a few underpasses – which were pleasantly warming as I was getting cold.
(25k, 19.43 30K, 20.21 35K 20.34 40K 20.20)
I like to lock-in time, as when you do hit a bad patch or the breathing gets a bit tight, you can ease off and recover, so took the section from 30-40 K a bit easier as knew a 2.48 or 2.49 time was on if I kept focused and positive so kept a decent pace and running down target runners ahead. What was odd was in places you shared the course with Sunday runners, scooter riders, cyclists and some cyclists filming their sons running the race – quite surprised to see this on such a major city marathon. Also surprised at this point to see two sets of identical twins, who featured in the pre-race publicity, both walking to the finish at around the 32 and 35 k mark.
40K came @ 2.39.20 in the Bois de Boulogne Park which I found to a really calming end to a marathon without thousands of over-excited screaming spectators, a slight hinderance being plenty of cobbles to run over. I felt good so sped up a touch. The finishing line came into view with the Arc behind it, an amazing and welcome sight, and crossed in 2.48.17.
OuchOuch: that's a lovely memory to have. Cracker of a race! Once the anniversary of VLM 2017 passes later this month it'll be 3 years since I did a marathon. Fingers crossed Valencia survives in December (I can't do the new VLM date in October).
9 miles with 6 X 1km. Still just outside 4 min per km, but a good workout. And then 30 min of ankle/calf/proprioception work with my sports masseur over Zoom. The calves are definitely tired now!
OO - greats days, didnt expect to read a race report for a while. This sunday coming would have been Brighton, 13 degrees and light breeze forecast.
Jools - dont think any of us will be making the Oct vlm date, next vlm is most likely to be 54 weeks time.
11m after work today.
OO - Nice to read a report of someone enjoying Paris.
CD - Enjoying your morning escapades - try Bruce Springsteens ' A long way home'.
Jools - Nice session
TR - consistent as usdual
8 with 3 x 1.5m at HMP. Either im broken or my watch is.
11m more today.
Still some great work going on out there. We should all be thankful exercise has been preserved somewhat in the current situation.
Having a week off this week and so if nothing else i'm making sure I do my full strength routine. The other half has suggested I use my hour's exercise for a half an hour walk with her straight into a half an hour run. Sounds like a good plan to me so I'll hopefully start to see some consistency.
10m this end today, we're still allowed out to run which is good news.
26m on the bike today, made the most of it as tomorrow looks a bit windy and Saturday wet.
10m.
Wardi - you aint going to start banging on about watt outputs n that are you?
A couple of harder days for me - 9 hilly steady miles on Thursday and my weekly 5 hilly with 5 fast finish which this week was MP running (not that i know what pace that is at the mo). Done in 5.50s but felt more like a tempo. A few twinges today to remind me I am an oldy.
5 easy and then strength and conditioning. The rain had putvthe fairweather exercisers off and it was nice and quiet out. Now being a cat cushion.
17m here today, gives me 71 off my 6 running days for the week. Going to bring a bit more quality in next week.
Begrudgingly I agree TR. I agreed to a little challenge with a few old colleagues to see who could improve their 5k time by the most in lockdown but clearly body can't hack that.
Knee can't handle hard or long so pootle like 5 miles is where I need to be.
TR.. full of admiration for the miles you are clocking not knowing when you can put it to use. Lets hope we can get back to a race or two late summer/autumn.
Jools.. yes a bit of adverse weather does tend to deter the weaker willed part timers, thankfully no rain here so I did have a dry if chilly ride.
R/Joe.. very frustrating for you. ITB problems are usually due to tightness of the tendon but it can be caused by other muscle imbalances. Just a matter of finding out where/why.
I reckon the last 6 days of no running are working as I'm about 90% ok now. I won't run again until I'm certain the problem has gone - one of my favourite mantras is 'never put a time limit on an injury'.
RJR - Just keep that knee active with some runs, and manage a slow recovery. I am running with a painful knee - and often do this - but its getting less painful as time goes by and though I know ideally I should stop and let it completely recover, that's not going to happen really.
45m for the week, highlights being 8m with 6@6.30 yesterday which felt easyish and bumping into my running mate by chance this morning on the local trail and enjoying a few miles together. A few cycle rides too so a good week.
OO - 6.30s is tasty, no tempos here for ages, will get one in this week.
SPO has a knee issue at mo, so i was excused walking with he today and bagged a bonus 10m run.
Best of luck with the knee OO, always difficult to know what to do when you're not totally crocked!
Another 20m on the bike today, a bit breezy on the outward section but at least it was a few degrees warmer than yesterday. I might try a short run in the next few days to see if the niggle has calmed down.
I've been lurking rather than posting but enjoyed reading along.
I've got myself into reasonable shape running 10+ v hilly miles a day for the last 9 weeks including some segment fartleks & a freedom parkrun every Saturday so . . .
As you may remember I was meant to be racing Brighton Marathon today so decided to solo a double out & back route along the Wye Valley. It’s relatively flat & almost 50% tarmac with the rest a gravelly cycle track. I ran it once as a HM on Wednesday in 1:43 which had felt ok but I was aware that the effort level was probably unsustainable for a full repeat without at least a token taper hence ‘only’ doing 7, 7 & 6.5 the last 3 days. Albeit that included well over 2,000’ of climb & my fastest 5K in a month
My lovely OH, Sash, set me off, organised the household to provide water, gel & support stations along the route & gathered everyone together for a proper finish. 🥰
The skies were overcast & I had a following wind. I got to the 1st turnaround in 50 minutes. Halfway back to the start the sun was shining brightly & the support crew had arrived so I was able to dump my gloves & buff, take on much needed fluid & a gel. Got to halfway in 1:39:30, 10s drink/feed/kiss stop & I was flying back downstream with the wind at my back again. Reached the final turnaround in 2:29:07, 8s for drink/gel/kiss & I was off on the final leg. Held pace til a slight fade in the final 5K after a tiny uphill. It was getting warm by now & the headwind wasn’t helping. I was also struggling with the gravelly, flood damaged cycle track by this point. Clock was on 3:21:1x when I completed the Marathon according to GPS but as Brighton always comes out at 26.4 I’d factored that in when deciding on the turnaround point. Finished back on the bridge to cheers, bubbles & congratulations in 3:22:44.
Happy to run a decent marathon for the first time since Autumn 2018 after some disappointing results last year. A goal was to dip under 3:20, B was 3:29, C was 3:36 & run the whole way.
Decent end to an 83M week with 4,500ft of climb & a 3 day ‘taper’
Menn - flying along nicely.
Hope those with niggles (including Mrs TR) see some improvements. Frustrating but the best time to get them, if there is a best time, with not much on.
I took delivery of my treadie at the weekend. Built it successfully and have done a couple of 10k runs on it. Seems fit for purpose. Needs a wifi connection as it's all integral to the iFit ecosystem. I wont be subscribing so its limited in features but I can adjust speed and incline so that's good enough. Mrs SJ and mini SJ have done a couple of runs too so hopefully it gets decent usage.
I think I almost reached 50 miles last week which is biggest week since marathon training stopped mid january. Going to try and be consistent if nothing else over next month or two.
How windy is it?? Being blown all over the place which meant I cheated and stayed in doors yesterday haha
Anyone else been tested for covid? That's not a pleasant experience! Myself and Mrs SJ negative so some peace of mind. Just got to not go anywhere or speak with anyone !
Good news on the dreadmill, SJ.
8 miles with 10 X 2 min on, 1min off this morning. Quads were very heavy so a bit of a trudge.
Berlin has gone, so who knows if VLM will really happen in October. It's starting to seem unlikely without a vaccine and mass vaccination having occurred.
Jools - similar here, 10x 3min (10m totall.
Vlm has very little chance of going ahead, Brighton too i guess. Germany have said no GT 5000 participant events until late Oct, we'll see if we adopt the same.
Was a bit tired on ydays 11, but a quick count up gave me 81m in the previous 7 days, todays 10 was a slightly livlier legs.