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Wardi - how did you go ?
Plan was to push the envelope a bit with 17 or 18 today, but in the end i gave it more of a whack than a push and did 20m as 5.5 easy, 10 steady, 4.5 easy. After a bit climb at around 17m, the last 2m are all downhill or flat, so i only had to get to 18m and I knew I'd get home. Legs weren't happy though. 70something for the week. 6 wks to go.
I definitely felt sluggish today, possibly the jab? I've never raced the day after a covid injection before. Enjoyed the Parkrun despite it all, a few seconds slower than last week. Lovely sunny morning here. Made it up to 10m with w/u and extras after.
In other news I finally got the results from my neck biopsy today (nearly 9 weeks later!). A viral wart diagnosed, no sign of any cancer so I live to fight another day. 😏
Wonderful news, Wardi. I'd no idea biopsy results took that long, but the NHS is creaking at the moment.
Just back from a week's holiday in Norfolk. Flat but windy: did a few shortish runs and a couple of decent cycle rides, although the hire bikes were pretty chunky, which made the slightest incline hard work...
Good to get a decent looking 20m run in TR, nice work, deserving of a few cold ones.
TT - Good call, to allow the ankle niggle time to heal. Onwards and faster indeed.
That sounds an active enough week Joolska.
12m @ 7.30 mm today with 6 club mates (3 much faster and targeting Valencia marathon, 3 slightly slower) so made sure the slower ones set the pace. Followed up a 10k TT @ 6.51 on Friday, just couldn't generate any proper speed, but got it it banked which is the good thing.
Watched the Abo results come in, looks like LS should be pleased with himself
Standard sunday turbo day here.
Jools.. always nice to do a few runs during the hols. I always find hire bikes akin to driving a tank compared to what I have at home! You were unlucky to find hills in Norfolk.
Re. the biopsy. They said results 3-6 weeks, I phoned to chase it up after 7 wks. It's still taken another 2wks+ but I guess late good news is better than early bad news.
As I felt a bit out of sorts yesterday I opted for a steady 4.5m this afternoon. It was raining pretty heavily this morning. 55m for the week.
Just had the London 2023 confirmation email so thought i may re-emerge here as a sub 3 hopeful. Really not got any high expectations in marathons any more - my battles tend to be in shorter distances against the annoying number of johnny-cum-lately vets, some of whom seem to be coming off the back of covid with some astonishing times. An age group win for me is a rarity rather than the norm. I've even taken to wearing cheat shoes to try to combat the speedy old bastards.
This year the Red Lion was as close as i got to running London - and good to see a lot of familiar faces - though a lot were missing.
I've entered Telford 10k, Brass Monkey Half (Wardi and LS21 in it too i think?) and Wilmslow 10k, and will try to recapture the unusually good run of form i had last autumn. I think it was largely due to doing lots of hill training in the summer...... and on that note, think i'll head off for my first hill session of this autumn without further delay!
Weather was delightful(!) , but there was a long enough break in the rain to get a few laps of the Tillsey Park track as a warm up. It was very wet on the course, with some parts early on looking more like an XC race. It was a pleasure to briefly say hi to LS just before the start, didn't see him finish but his time fitted his better expectations
In short I think i suffered from the lack of longer run/race conditioning over the last few years, my heart rate was fine throughout, but it started to feel hard by around 14 miles (dispite HR being within normal limits). I kept on sub 2:40 pace until about 19M, but was suffering from a right side stitch which I could relieve but not quieten completely. My pace dropped off and for a couple of miles I contemplated stopping, but hung on to the end and even made up a few places passing those who had called a halt. Finishing time of 2:42 wasn't what I'd hoping for, but actually happy with it given the circumstances and nice to be officially back in the sub-3 club.
Got my eye on Manchester now for next April (unless the London champs time magically goes back to 2:45!)
Al - nice to see you, noted you were on the Abo start list, havnt seen you since pre CV. The same chest infection scuppered me racing Abo yday too. Shame you missed the 240, but as you say your body hasn't been racing much in recent years.
Day off today, but had plenty of run time available, so headed out for a decent length not and ended up with 20m. Happy with that after 20m saturday and turbo yday.
Dids.. will be good to see the Accrington Stanley scarf and go faster shoes at the Brass Monkey. If this is your first time the course is like a billiard table apart from a small bridge (1m & 11m) and a flyover just after 12m.
OO. yes I got the confirmation email today, my club have 2 Champs runners and at least 6 in via GFA so it should be a good weekend away. Will be good to see a few familiar faces at the Red Lion too.
TR.. that's a big run for a Monday, sensible use of a free day.😏
5.4m this morning, feel a bit more energised now the jab has worn off.
TT - Yes being back in the office felt odd. First day at school. It soon passed and after only 3 days back in feels quite normal. My employer is being very good tbf. Paying for travel and providing lunch as incentives/helping with increased living costs. Can't complain at all. Good to read the ankle has been well managed and you're back training. Well done.
TR - That's a fine week banked and a solid long run. Back into the groove and legs grumbling is a good sign for you! Also good to see the return of the standard recovery of frothies and curry. Oh and another 20 miler on a Monday! Nice.
OO - Sounded a nice group to run with and ticking along at a slightly slower pace for you will have done you good. A lot to be said for ticking along nicely at a slower pace as we all know by now I think. The 10k TT looks good to me for where you are at (between races). Your body will have taken what it needed from the session despite what the numbers said afterwards.
Joolska - Sounded a decent training vacation. Just a well Norfolk isn't renouned for its hills with heavy bikes.
Al_P - Good to see you and a more than decent result at Abo under the circumstances. See you in Manchester in April assuming London don't change the qualifying times.
A couple of 'no run' days were intersperesed with a steady hour on friday which felt good. Then no parkrun because of a Tough Mudder event so I opted for a solo 5k effort on a raod loop which was a smidge over 19 mins. 14 miles yesterday in typical 'soaked-to-the-skin' Manchester rain to end the week just under 40 miles total.
Wardi - good news on the biopsy.
LD - good to see you back on here.
Al_P - sounds like a tough run at Abingdon, but you held it together pretty well all things considered. Races are a definite for me before race day. It makes marathon pace feel easier if nothing else. I'll second support for Manchester as a back-up.
sj - sounds like your employer beats mine hands down. We're currently voting on industrial action over pay reviews. Good solo 5km.
I ended up taking 2 more days off over the weekend. Treated it as an end of season blow-out (including a messy wedding afters) before a mental reset - 6 months to London (assuming they don't drop their champs time further). Started yesterday with a 4/10 double. 10 was 3 at a solid pace either side of 4 at close to current MP - I'm planning on using lots of the Canova stuff (obviously with my own tweaks) for this one, so want to get used to carrying on at a decent pace after a MP block, early on.
TT - nice one on the blowout.
Minimal 5m commute tonight, felt a bit tired after a bigger training last week.
TR. a well deserved easier day.
SJ.. there is an occasionally useful Parkrun cancellations page which is frequently updated. Pity about the soggy 14 miler. ☔️
TT.. sounds like a good weekend! Decent mileage to kick off with.
4.3m + 7.6m double, great conditions today. Ran with a faster group at the club tonight so was running close to MP.
Just found out today that my club won the male team prize at the Chester marathon with 2.38, 2.39, 2.55 & 2.56. The winning cumulative time was a rather pretty looking 11hrs.11mins 11secs. 🤔
Al_P - I'm expecting that the champs standards are more likely to be tightened than relaxed. People not getting places despite hitting the originally published GFA times, plus less club places, etc, all point to more charity places.
TR - I'm not surprised you're tired after a couple of 20s close together.
12m moderate yesterday. 11+ today with 4 x {6' fast, 1' jog, 1' fast, 1' jog}. Will pop out for a few easy miles later too, time allowing. That was hard work today between the high winds, being off-road, and feeling slightly sub-optimal after my flu jab (yesterday was worse), but it was really just about getting my legs turning over a little quicker (the 6' fast were probably cMP or slower).
Not sure you need that 2nd run today
Midweek session day, given im building back up in trying just to do a longish section of steady effort (~+10%), and I think anything quicker would be too hard at the mo anyway. Last weds was 10 inc 7m approx 10%, today was 11 inc 9, which was tough enough by the end.
If they did tighten up Champs times it would in theory leave quite a few runners high & dry now GFA is closed.
TR.. nice MLR with a long sustained effort in there and off the back of 2 recent long runs.
10m today, quite breezy but running in a t-shirt and shorts & no gloves is a bonus for me at this time of year.🙄
Wardi - lol. At least I haven't reacted as bad to this jab as I did to previous ones, so that's something. Breezy here again today, but surprisingly warm and muggy so t-shirt and shorts here today too.
7m inc a few strides today, trying to make the training a bit more black or white this week, although i dont like the short easy run days.
TR.. good planning with the jab timing, I never really thought of injections affecting runners.
Easier day of 5.5m, nice afternoon after a wet morning.
As far as I see, there are only 3 active marathon-focused threads on this forum. Sub-3, Sub 3-15 and P&D. Frankly, P&D programmes aren't discussed in earnest nowadays on the P&D threads - and my sense is that all three threads are essentially groups of people who have just got to know each other and come together to chat running. And I would say that the numbers of posts per week in each of those threads have fallen greatly in recent years (and a few posters are posting on two or all three of them).
In my opinion, with the current numbers of marathoners posting on this forum, I would suggest it would be better to concentrate all marathon chat on a single thread - so that there are enough people posting each day to make it feel properly alive.
I do think it nice not to have TOO many people posting on a thread... it's nice to feel that you're able to keep up with everyone's news... so maybe we could have two threads, I don't know. But my suggestion would be to start off with just one and see how it goes.
I would also suggest that a brand new thread is started for the purpose, called "Marathon Training" - or "Combined Marathon Training Thread"... or something like that. I know that there might be a sentimental attachment to the threads with hundreds of thousands of posts, going back years, but those thread don't get shut down... they would still be there for posterity - and could easily be reactivated if this idea turns out to be crap!
I'm putting the same message on all three threads. Forgive my intrusion... but please say what you think about this.
Cheers
NE
As a non club runner that is self coached i like to have a place to discuss my marathon story and have others in the same boat, with a smidge of accountability......but that could be on an amalgamated spring r autumn marathon thread.......it makes it hard for the less regular posters like yourself to keep up though NE, but that's up to you.
12m today, which was a bit long for a Friday with a long run and CV booster planned for tomorrow. Could be a weary saturday evening and Sunday.
TR - good luck with the long run/booster combo.
NE - good idea in theory, but in practice....... I go through periods where I can get very busy so catching up on lots of missed posts could be time consuming.
First 'long' run yesterday. 10min jog, 12m, 10min jog. I'd planned the 12 as being at a brisk effort (cMP + ~60s), but it was more brisk to steady (averaged 6:42) feeling good. Happy with that as a starter.
Hope the jab went OK, TR, and you've not had too many side-effects.
Well done on the longer run, TT. Quite a tasty brisk section!
Ouch Jools, hope he stopped to help you up. Sounds nasty, hope you heal up quick.
22m as 5.5 easy, 12 steady and 4.5 easy. Just had my jab, hopefully a curry and a few frothies will put paid to any side effects, although they'll probably kick in tomorrow.
12m steady was tough by the end, not sure where an extra 30 to 40 seconds per mile is coming from in 5 weeks time. But it's been a 77mile week with 12m yday and 3 20somethings in the last 8 days, so hopefully there willbe some ROI.