RW Forum Six – Sub 3.30

1242527293076

Comments

  • Hey Puffy was just wondering how you was getting on. Excellent progression run yesterday, very speedy last few miles.



    Hi Minni, Im glad its not just me who does that. Everythings always worse when you cant do anything about it!



    My 20 is tomorrow, im really looking forward to it. I decided to walk on my visits today, about 1.5 miles...the weather was gorgeous, hoping and praying that its the same tomorrow.



    Is your race on sat or sun?



    Hi Sarah, how are you getting on? have those antibiotics worked their magic yet? Willl you be ok for the weekend? I bought two pairs of nike air peguses last august so its my second pair which im planning on wearing for london. Only problem is that I found my old ones more comfy...guess they just need bedding in.
  • Training Diary for Forum 6 sub 3:30 (VLM)



    Week 8 (day 59) Aim; Rest day



    Actual; I walked 1.5 miles at lunch time to do my visits as the weather was so nice with the sun shinning...it would have been rude not to.



    From work I got this over whelming urge to do my resistance training so I popped to the gym to do my usual circuit with stretches between reps.



    I wasnt planning on running with doing 20 miles (all being well) in the morning but I thought I had better do a little after the weights...I cant remember why but ive always been told to do this for some reason. I decided to just do a steady 2 miles @ 8:34 min/mls



    Its really strange as I feel like I have had another low milage week (so far) and im feeling guilty about not doing more with VLM fast approaching. I know I will be making up for it tomorrow and sunday, so hopefully my guilt will be short lived.
  • Hey Sarah! Good luck in your 20 miler today! I'm away for the weekend so took nxt Monday off to fit in 15, which is now 17 thanks to urs and Steve marathon coach's advice.

    Happy to say that I treated myself to new shoes yesterday- the Adidas boost marketing got me good!

    Used them for my 4 mile recovery run yesterday- as expected, the lower leg was quite stiff for the first couple of miles, but all eased up by the end, and my 'easy' pace ended up at 10:10 rather than 10:40- not sure it that's because I've had a few days rest or because the shoes are so springy!



    3 peaks challenge in June, you're bound to be completing it in pouring rain if our last few summers are anything to go by!



    Marathon's coming up quick- with the time ur aiming for do u think you'll go and do Boston marathon? I'm quite tempted by Tokyo.
  • Hi Angela. Thankyou for the good luck...it certainly worked, had a very enjoable and successful run this morning.

    Its so frustrating when you have to take time of work just to run, but you know if you dont you will just end up in a panic and stressing about getting the miles in. Are you going anywhere nice this weekend?

    With all the training and hard work youve been putting in, I think you deserve some new shoes! I feel like im spending less money at the moment as my days off are taken up with running instead of spending, so a treat every now and then is acceptable. image

    I felt like that in my new trainers on Wednesday. Normally when I put a new pair on they feel great but on wed I wasnt too sure. Im sure its because ive just  got use to my old ones (which ive been wearing since august). Because I wear othotics and their the same brand of shoe they shouldnt really be a problem.  I was just trying to work out when I was going to get to bed them in as I dont want to wear them for my race on sunday, on a long run until ive wore them a bit more and certainly not during speed work until their more bedded in....but im running out of weeks before VLM to actually bed them in!

    I cant believe how quickly the weeks are passing, its quite scary. I would love to do new york and chicargo and ive even thought about tokyo, but some how I havent been drawn into Boston. It may just because I dont have a qualifying time at the moment so its still not an option for now. When would you do Tokyo?

    Cant beat the British summer time, lol!

  • Training Diary for Forum 6 sub 3:30 (VLM)


    Week 8 (day 60) Aim; LSR 20 miles

    I did my usual route around York today but changed the second half slightly as I didnt have a good finish three weeks ago.

    I was getting worried about doing the same route a few times, worried that I would get bored but due to having a break from it for the last two weekends it was actually quite nice to run round familiar areas.

    My mum use to love running. She said as a runner you are completley aware of the seasons, the changes in the weather, flowers, trees etc this is something ive certainly picked up on. When I did my second 18 miler on the same route there was snow and ice everywhere, you couldnt see the grass and half of the pavements were unusuable. Trees were bear, there were no plants and there wasnt as many people outdoors and those that were, were not as happy as they were today.

    Today trees had leaves, gardens had spring flowers in them, people were cutting their lawns, dog walkers and other people out look much happier and were more likely to greet me.....what a difference the sun and the warmer weather makes!

    Today I did my usual route but when I got to the race course I decided to do two laps (roughly 4 miles), this is because it was away from the traffic, there were sections I could run on the grass to save my knees from the pavements, it was much greener and sceenic than the housing estates I finished on last time and there were alot of people around walking their dogs. On my last 20 miler I continued up by the side of the river where it was much more lonely and I didnt feel as safe, this together with it only coming out as 18 miles so I had to loop back round and run around housing estates to make up my miles made me not want to do this again.

    The new route was much better, I dont tend to like doing laps or out and back runs as I find them quite dull but I actually enjoyed doing the two laps of the race course and the miles added up perfectly so by the time I was at the bottom of my road I had done the full 20 miles.

    I added another 0.5 mile (loop around my estate) as a cool down at the end

     

  • My miles reps;

    1;  8:28          

    2;  8:36

    3;  8:21

    4;  8:36

    5;  8:41

    6;  8:39

    7;  8:41

    8;  8:43

    9;  8:35

    10; 8:39

    11; 8:30

    12; 8:37

    13; 8:35

    14; 8:33

    15; 8:30

    16; 8:29

    17; 8:21

    18; 8:31

    19; 8:28

    20; 8:21

    Average 8:33 ( + 0.5 mile c/d @ 9:45 min/ml)

  • I felt suprisingly good and really enjoyed today. My plan was to run between 8:30-8:45 min/mls, with the first half being slower than the second. It would have been nice to have attempted some marathon paced miles due to the marathon getting nearer but due to the 9 mile race im doing on sunday Minni rightly thought I would be best taking today steadier so hopefully I will make a quicker recovery ready for sunday...something which I completley agreed with.

    By mile 18 on my last 20 miler I had had enough. My legs were fed up and I wanted the training run to end...I still think some of this was due to me having to run round the housing estate in circles just to make my miles up (i.e psychological). My last few miles 3 weeks ago were alittle slower reflecting on how I felt.

    Today however I felt stronger towards the end and managed to speed up towards the end rather than slow down which im really happy with. My legs were starting to feel slightly tired but not half as much as last time...I think I could have continued on today if necessary....at least for another 3 miles...if not another 6.2!

    I decided to try my shot blocks out today so that I get use to running on them. I was going to have one at 5 miles, 10 miles and 15, but I got to mile 5 and was still full from breakfast. I still didnt even want anything by mile 10 but then at mile 13 I decided to go for it, I had one block then and then another at 16.5 miles. I didnt have any problems with them (although I didnt have many)...so another positive taken away from today

  • Hey hey!

    Looks like you had a fab run today, though I'm confused you're talking about sunshine, as its cloudy down here! Yeah, day off to run was a must- I had a few to take from last year anyway, so no big deal, but I've already missed 2 long runs and I'm in week 8. One through illness and the other because I had a leadership in running fitness course on the Sunday- it was a step back week, so I figured the shorter race pace run on the Saturday would be more beneficial than running a slow 9 when I was already up to 12.

    I always wanted to do NYC but after last years debacle I have zero interest to return, and actually it's what has made me look for more local races this year and I think become more a part of the running community. I was attracted by Chicago because u can just buy a place but did u see they had an issue with this years entry process and now the last places are going by lottery.

    My cousin and her friend did the Marine Corps marathon in Washington DC and said it was really good! I might consider that one too as a lot of my family in the states live in or around DC...

    If I'm doing Tokyo would probably be 2015- or way beyond that, as id want to go to japan for at least 10 days. getting married in may 2014, so all my money and holiday allowance will be for that next year...
  • MinniMinni ✭✭✭

    image  Fabulous Sarah.  Great run, great pacing and great positive feelings.  Definitely the right choice to get a steady 20 done and end feeling strong, rather than adding in MP miles and finish feeling knackered.  9 mile race on Sunday then we'll put some MP miles in to the long run next week.  image

  • Hi Angela, it was quite sunny in York yesterday morning but then turned cloudy by that afternoon. I went out in long sleeve top and jacket and two pairs of gloves...ended up pretty warm! Its been lovely again in York today, its been more like a summers day.



    What was the training course like? I didnt hear about that with chicargo...fingers crossed if I do decide to do it the application process will be far simpler than this year. Washington sounds great...plenty of sight seeing to do and you have the added bonus of visiting relatives out there. I would be really tempted.



    Getting married is so expensive....but it will all be worth it. Have you got your dress and everything sorted? Where are you having your honeymoon? Your wedding and Tokyo in 2015 will give you plenty to look forward to.



    Thankyou Minni, I really enjoyed myself yesterday and my legs have felt fine today....I wore my compression tights yesterday and compression socks today...think they have done the trick, their like magic.



    I hope your legs been better today and youve enjoyed the carbo loading for tomorrow. Good luck. Cant wait to hear how you get on.
  • Training Diary for Forum 6 sub 3:30 (VLM)





    Week 8 (day 61) Aim; Rest day





    Actual;

    I didnt sleep too well last night, despite feeling tired at 9:30 pm, I was then struggling to fall asleep at 1am when I decided to go to bed after watching Hunger Games, which wasnt the best of films. I ended up tossing and turning for a while and then I woke up before my alarm was due to go off...think this was down to me getting quite excited about breakfast....porridge, banana, blueberries and the new addition....Nutella...mmm it was fantastic.



    My morning was spent at work, I then went to see a friend doing a zumbathon....luckily I managed to get out of the 3 hour zumba session due to needing to save my legs ready for tomorrow.



    I was looking forward to a walk into town but chris was too tired after going to the gym so we ended up driving in to the hospital and walking from there. I managed about 30 mins of walking altogether, this together with cleaning the house and car was my exercise for today.



    Tomorrow its a 9 mile hilly road race!!
  • Training Diary for Forum 6 sub 3:30 (VLM)
    Week 8 (day 62) Aim; 9 mile race

    Woke up and my legs felt ok so I decided to race as planned. I was hoping to start of at about 7:10m/m and then speed up over the race, however I ended up setting of at 6:55m/m instead. I was worried that I had set of too fast when my legs started to feel alittle heavy by the 3rd mile but then by the end of the 4th mile they seemed to have a new leace of life. I was over taken by a few people (about 4-5) between mile 2 and 4 but then after that I did all the over taking and passed a surprising number of people. The course was undulating but there were two steep hills just after the 5 mile mark and at 7.5 miles. Im not sure why but I do appear to be quite good on hills as this is where I did most of my over taking. Running in York and doing alot of training on a treadmil, I always find this quite surprising...I think I put it down to the resistance training that I do.

    I felt really strong towards the end of the race despite my initial worries that I had gone of to fast. I saw a lady infront at the start of the last mile...I decided to see if I could catch her and possibly over take her. She was quite in the distance so I though I had no chance but it made the last mile quite exciting and pass quite quickly. I actually did catch her up in the last 100 yards but as I reached her shoulder she accelerated, and due to the amount of effort I had put in to just catch up with her I couldnt keep up with her so she beat me by a couple of seconds.

    My splits;

    1. 6:55

    2. 6:53

    3. 6:59

    4: 7:01

    5. 6:59

    6. 7:09 (steepest hill during this mile)

    7. 6:55

    8. 6:59 (second steepest hill but somehow I managed to keep my pace up)

    9. 6:25

    Average pace 6:55

    This race has definatley given me some confidence. I thought that I wouldnt be able to run at

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭
    Wow. That's a fantastic performance! You have such potential. I'd love to see what another year will give you. You still have 7 weeks to go. Absolutely brilliant Sarah
  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭
    I think you are good on hills because you are so light with clearly good power. Your power to weight ratio is key in hill climbing. It is so good for confidence when overtaking on hills.
  • Thankyou DS2. A fabulous race for you two today I see, congratulations. image

     Do you have any more races before your marathon?

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭
    Yeah-it pretty well went to plan. Feeling more confident now.



    I have the Paddock Wood Half which is fast and flat and close to home. I'd like to break 90 mins. I have good endurance. Now I just need to concentrate on speed.
  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Crikey! image

    I did another 20 today, harder than last week but I haven't eaten well tbh this week. Recovered well though and looking forward to entering Monster Month!

     

  • MinniMinni ✭✭✭

    Sarah - you are so strong! I think I need you to mentor me next time around.  Nice race at the finish and that must have left you feeling good.  It doesn't matter who crosses the line first in that scenario its knowing you have the mind and legs to put the work in. 

    We'll be seeing you in Rio if you can hold that baby off for another few years! image

  • Hi Sarah,

    Wow, what an awesome race! Sub 7 minute miles! Amazing! I stole one of your training sessions image spent the weekend in Nottingham so on Saturday afternoon I went to do my 6 miles. Given I've had so much rest this week, I couldn't stay at easy pace and thought I may as well test my legs with some speed. First I decided n fartlek, but then before the last 2 miles your alterenate half marathon/marathon paced mile. It has a great feeling, I think after I've done the races I planned this month that that will become part of my regular speed training. The whole run actually ended up averaging at my marathon pace. LSR tomorrow, though I know I'm underefuelled- trying to make up for it now...



    Leadership in running course was great. Looking forward to see if I can successfully set up a beginners running club where I live- try and make us all healthier image



    Wedding wise, we're at that point where there's really nothing to do. Church and reception venue found, dress ordered, save the dates have been sent. Too early to book the honey moon, but we're thinking st lucia, and I think I'll have to give up running in favour of a week or two of golf. I think real planning will begin once I've done the Bournemouth marathon in October...
  • DS2, I honestly think you will smash 90 mins on your next half the way your training is going. I will certainly be routing for you.



    Hi Puffy, another 20 in the bag : ). What was your average pace? Do you have any races coming up? Monster month makes it sound so scary!!!



    Hahaha, thanks Minni...Rio...I wish. Its all down to you that im doing so well, so thankyou. I did finish the race with a huge smile, like you said I wasnt too bothered that she managed to pull away from me as I had made so much ground to catch her up in the first place. She was a vet aswell so it didnt change where I came in my group - 4th female in my category, 6th lady overall.



    Hi Angela...you've tried the minni special...its a great little (well actually big) session isnt it? I found it fun but challenging and hugely satisfying. To do all your run at, on average your MP is great and brilliant for your confidence. Hope your enjoying carbo loading this afternoon and that you have an enjoyable LSR tomorrow. Let us know how you get on.



    Setting up a beginners club would be so rewarding but also challenging. My parents set up a running club in sheffield about 20 years ago and its still going strong now. Good luck.



    Glad youve everything (that you can sort) sorted for your wedding, least you can kick back and relax and concentrate on your running for now. St Lucia looks gorgeous.....wish I could have another honeymoon!
  • So my plans for week 10 (eek I really cant believe that were on week 10 already...its quite scary)



    Monday; Netball training



    Tuesday;3m w/u, 0.5m easy/0.5m steady/0.5m HMP x 3. 1m c/d (roughly 9m).

    Minni and myself thought it would be best not to have an intense speed

    training session this week due to the race today



    Wednesday; Netball match



    Thursday; Resistance training + 3 mile steady run



    Friday; 18miles with some MP miles included

    4m @ steady, 4m @ MP, 4m steady, 4m @ MP, 2m steady



    Saturday; Rest day



    Sunday; 10-12 miles easy-steady with the running club



    Weekly miles; 40-42
  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Hi all,

     

    I headed down to Bath at the weekend for the Half Marathon. As I have mentioned before, my aim was not to push myself too hard but to try to get close to my PB of 1:38:28 and certainly under 1:40, so the intention was to keep to about 7:30/mile pace to start with and then see how I felt after a few miles. That plan went out of the window pretty soon as I went off quickly, partly because it was slightly downhill at the start and partly because I always do, and although I settled into comfortable pace after the mile or so I still found myself knocking out miles at a steady 6:55 - 7:10 pace without feeling I was pushing myself.

     

    My splits were as follows -

     

    1 - 6:40
    2 - 7:04
    3 - 6:55
    4 - 6:57
    5 - 7:04
    6 - 7:09
    7 - 7:01
    8 - 7:09
    9 - 7:01
    10 - 7:10
    11 - 7:04
    12 - 7:10
    13- 6:58
    0.22m - 1:20 

    (according to my Garmin the race was slightly long)

     

    Total time: 1:32:42 @ 7:01/mile

     

    So I'm obviously really pleased with that, especially as I managed to keep up a steady pace for the whole race and I still felt fairly strong at the end. I think I can confidently say my 3:30 target for the VLM is realistic.

    Sarah - that was a great 9 miler, especially on a hilly course and coming just a couple of days after a good 20 miles.

     

    Angela - I was interested to see your comments on US marathons as I'm looking at doing one to mark my 50th birthday in a couple of years. My preference would be New York as I love the city but we would want to combine it with a family holiday so it has to fit in with the school holidays. San Francisco is currently favourite as it's usually at the end of July and the West Coast of the US is somewhere we are keen to go anyway. I guess that wouldn't work so well for you if your family is on the Eastern side of the country.

  • Hi AndyA

    I have a cousin- her husband and son all live in San fran, so I've visited once.  I would love to go there for a race, but I think its very hilly city for a marathon...  But when I went to San Fran, it was a great holiday!  It was during one of my summer vacations when I was at university, and whereas I'd been to the east coast of America, and thought everything was, well, very American, I loved that San Francisco felt that much more European.  The people are definitely more about the healthy lifestyle, but then you also have the wine country nearby.  We did a drive in Sonoma valley and had some wonderful wines, but Napa valley nearby is the more famous one.  I think SF would be a great base for a running holiday, if you couldn't fit it with a race they had.  I personally have been considering the Bay to Breakers- I don't think its a standard race distance, but from what I've read its very San Fran... with people showing up au natural to run it image  But I was really considering that as a trip to see my family and show my fiance San fran.  I'll ask some of my running connections over there-  My cousin and her friend just did Dallas as a replacement for NYC that we were all supposed to do together.

    Hi Sarah, I did 17 miles this morning, and I feel GREAT image

    I made it a more functional run, as I had a Dr. appt at 9, so ran 2 miles there, and had the appointment- she was rather annoyed that i'd run there as she needed to take my blood pressure, which was obviously high from fuelling my method of transportation!  2 miles back, to go to toilet and retrieve sunglasses, as the sun had popped out, and then out again for 13 miles, along my usual Wivenhoe trail route, which is beautiful when its sunny. though I thought I was going off road, but these trails are pretty hard when its dry (clay), so I was scared I would feel it, but seem to be a ok image.  I planned to do the whole run slow and put in a few MP miles toward the end if I felt I could, but also didn't want to push it, as this was upping the distance and the recent niggles I've had.  What ended up happening was more of a progressive run.  I think partly because what I consider my easy pace is now too easy- I've certainly found on the shorter runs that I can't stay that slow any more (10.40).  Here are the splits.

    1:  9:44 (was a bit late leaving to get to Dr on time)

    2: 10:22

    3: 10:21

    4: 10:28

    5: 10:46

    6: 10:32

    7: 10:32

    8: 10:33

    9: 10:16

    10: 10:08

    11: 10:18

    12: 10:14

    13: 9:54

    14: 9:46

    15: 9:35

    16: 9:41

    17: 10:29

    I put chia seeds in my drink, I think this gave me wings....  Overall average pace was about 10:15, though due to going home between my garmin recorded a 4 mile run and a 13 mile run, as it autodownloaded the data when i got near my computer.

    Where did you have your honeymoon?  I must say being able to go a bit crazy on that is the only thing stopping me from completely hating how much we're spending on the wedding day.  Our holidays this year are much more frugal. I'm very lucky that I have family all over the place!  We're managing South of France, the lake district and somewhere in Surrey without paying for accomodationimage

     

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Hi Angela,

    Running AND wine - you are really selling SF to me image

     

  • Hehe, Do it AndyA!  I think it will end up being cheaper than NYC too...  I visit because of friends, but it always ends up crippling my bank account!  I'll ask my friends what they think of the marathon- if they know people who've done it.

  • A huge congratulations Andy, thats a fabulous time and an amazing amount to knock of your old PB, you must be ecstatic. Its always abit worrying when you think that you have set off to quickly, but looking at your paces you soon settled in to a steady pace...much quicker than what you had set out to do. All that training must be paying off.  image

    It does make you think are we holding ourselves back sometimes when we are worried about going off to fast and blowing up before the end of the race...although having done the latter I do think I would prefer to take the risk and start steady and enjoy the race. Congratulations again, im so happy for you....think a sub 3:30 is more than likley image

  • Hi Angela....San Fran...I would love to go there...out of everywhere in America I think that is the place I would most like to visit, although having seen pictures of the roads there I dont think I fancy doing a race there. image

    Congratulations on your first 17 miler, feeling great and enjoying it image. Its always nice when the sun comes out on a training run.image. Your paces look great, you have certainly speeded up and to keep picking up the pace throughout shows that you managed the run fantastically and didnt go off too quickly.

    Did you do the last mile as a slight cool down? I never know what to do with my long run...whether to do the last mile slower or add an extra bit on to cool down...having my sensible head on I would say do the last mile slow...think weve done enough miles by that point. However when im running and have my daft hat on, then I sometimes add a bit on...feels a bit stupid doing that now!

    We got married in Crete two and a half years ago and then went on a delayed honeymoon the year after. We went travelling around italy for a month (serronto, rome, venice, florence and lake garda) then last year we went to Kenya. Like you we are having quieter holidays this year (barcelona two weeks ago for the weekend, france in a couple of weeks again for a weekend, isle of skye for a week and then sicily to visit relatives and run in palermo)

  • Angela Isherwood 2 wrote (see)

    Hehe, Do it AndyA!  I think it will end up being cheaper than NYC too...  I visit because of friends, but it always ends up crippling my bank account!  I'll ask my friends what they think of the marathon- if they know people who've done it.

    Im quite excited to see what they think of it too....maybe next years holiday!!!image

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Thanks Sarah, yes I still can't quite believe I did that time and I'm certainly very happy image

    Although I tend to have a target pace in mind for a race I think it nearly always comes down to what feels right on the day. I do always try to get a good start so that I'm feeling good I can try to keep it up or if it's a bit quick then I can ease off and at least I've got a bit of spare time under my belt - I prefer to do that than try to make up time because I've gone slower than needed at the start. I think once you have a few races under your belt you get a feel for what works for you personally. Mind you, I'll certainly be more cautious in the marathon - I've no intention of any heroics, I'm not changing my target and I'll still be really happy with 3:29:59.9  

     

    And as you say, it's nice to feel the marathon training is really paying off - it's put me in a really positive frame of mind again for the hard weeks coming up. Mind you, as you said earlier I can't believe we are nine weeks in now. Just five more to go until we start tapering  image

     Angela - thanks, I'd be interested in people's views of the SF Marathon.

  • Hi Sarah, yes, the last mile was kinda meant to be a cool down- the last section of this run involves crossing several busy roads and an uphill section, so I can never take it particularly fast, and, yes, I wanted a cool down. Tbh, though the run went well, I was pretty tired- I think it was psychological, not having run so far in over a year etc...feeling really good. Last year, my training was a complete shambles- kept getting injured, so I'm really happy I've had a good enough run to get me to this kind of fitness. Feeling very confident for my half marathon in 2 weeks image



    Will let u know what I hear about SF



    Crete sounds wonderful, and ur trip to Italy... The amalfi coast is my favourite place in the world image
Sign In or Register to comment.