Halstead marathon

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  • Morning all and welcome Kandinsky to our little world. I woke up this morning to the sound of wind and sleet and thousands of training plans being ripped to shreds!!!

    I am taking the theory with my LSR today that it is never as bad as you think it'll be and just going to get out there and do it........ once I find the courage to get out from under the duvet.

    Angela - If you are not confident, don't go would be my advice, you'll be so stressed by the trip and worrying about getting home that you won't enjoy it or perform well anyway.

    Kandinsky - good luck with it all tomorrow, I'm not sure conditions are ripe for a really good time but whatever happens it'll be memorable 

  • I did it, the hilliest muddiest most insane race I've ever done! Didn't have very much in my legs from the half marathon last weekend, but I'm hoping a tough hilly run on tired legs will result in improved road speed!



    What are our training plans this weekend people?
  • Good work Angela, just found out that Brentwood has been given the thumbs up image but in these conditions I'm not sure a decent time is going to be on the cards (although there is quite an incentive to finish as quickly as possible)!

  • Hi Kands, glad the Brentwood half is still on. Around here at least, nothing has settled on the roads, so if its like that for you, I'd advise a decent warm up before the start to give u the best chance of th time ur aiming for. I didn't warm up last week, and i think that certainly affected the start of my race...
  • Well done Angela you nutter! atleast its one of those races you can look back on and say you did it in mental weather image

    Good luck for 2moro Kandinsky your going to need it in this freezing weather!!

    my training is none/void this weekend im afraid to say, im totaly exhausted at the moment as got so much on my plate as it is!

    two weeks untill the big day imageimageimage

    its not even worth trying a run as im just going to burn out and crash (with an injury no doubt)

    i think im just going to tick over in the next week until i can manage a long one in the near future! 

    its a shame but atleast i know im fit and healthy and will attempt a run sometime soon image

  • Thanks for the advice Angela and the good wishes oirisheyes and Jason.

    All things considered conditions weren't too bad this morning, a bit chilly but the roads were clear and the wind had dropped.

    Ended up smashing my pb by almost 9 mins coming home with a 1:42:45, so I'm one VERY happy bunny image

    Hope everyone else is having a good weekend.

     

  • Wow! Massive congratulations Kandinsky! That's awesome! image



    Quick I must find some slower runners for this thread so that it's not me...
  • Hi all,

    Well done Kandinsky that is a massive chunk to take off a PB, you have got to be very, very pleased with that. How did it feel?

    Jason - You have been training like a nutter for a while now image listen to your body and take a rest and regroup and refresh. you have got plenty of credit in the bank.

    I did 17 miles all told yesterday. It was horrible. I somehow managed to find the energy to do the last 6 at 8:30 pace, mainly because I just wanted to get home I think!!!! I was tired and sleepy all afternoon and attended a 5 year olds birthday party so had to sit there as the little darlings gorged on chocolate cakes, crisps, sweets and junk food......... that was worse than the running. 

  • Hi everyone,

    first off well done kandinsky on that cracking result image

    Oirish sounds like you had 'one of those runs', atleast you got some good mileage under your belt and plus the last few m/m were good image

    Oirish i know what you mean about the training image ive been going at everthing and anything flat out. so i suppose one day it was going to bite me! im slowly losing confidence about the marathon image.

    i know really i can do it but every day that goes by with no training just adds to the misery!

    another late one tonight at work, long 12 hour day yesterday, its making me shattered!! 

    dont even get me started on my diet over the last few days! anything and everything was mostly the motto image

  • Jason - Think of it s checks and balances. You went at your training full steam ahead so you have reaped great rewards but tired yourself mentally and physically. This is why LSRs should be slow, it is the only way to get the mileage and endurance without burning out.

    Now you have had a rest, pigged out a bit released the pressure valve and recharged the batteries, that is a good thing so stop fretting. Now you have both the good training and rest under your belt, you've gone around the houses to acheive it but you've kind of got to the point where you need to be at this moment in time.

    Get back at it but discipline yourself on the sessions where you should be running slower, if it's good enough for the elite athletes it has to be good enough for the likes of us once you aren't slogging it out in every single session the whole thing won't seem so exhausting.

    Always take the positives mate, you tried something it didn't completely work but at least you learnt something and it could of been much, much worse, imagine if you had blown up just before your race? this way there has been no harm done and you are still on course to tame Halstead.

    On a wider note why does everyone I meet roll their eyes and exhale when I mention the marathon I'm doing? I think we've picked a toughie, if I go sub 4 on this course I'll be happy.

    Looks like my fast time will have to wait until autumn image

  •  

    oirisheyes wrote (see)

    Well done Kandinsky that is a massive chunk to take off a PB, you have got to be very, very pleased with that. How did it feel?

     

    Sore!

    Less flippantly, I really couldn't be happier, aside from the result I'm really chuffed with the way my pacing strategy worked

    Apart from the first KM (getting through the crowd) and the next couple (downhill and an opportunity to claw back the first km) my splits were pretty consistent before steadily picking up over the last 5km to leave me with a decent negative split of almost a minute.

    Overall it felt like I was pushing myself all the way but at no point did it feel like I was over extending and by the time I'd crossed the line I was happy that I pretty much left it all out there!

    If I can figure out why the linky thing isn't working I'll post a link to Garmin Connect image 

  • Given up trying to figure out the proper linky thing:

    http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288329912

     Jason, about a month ago I hit a similar point in my training, I'd been going at it pretty hard for a couple of months and all my races felt like they were a long way away.

    We then went on holiday to Devon and despite remembering the charger, HR strap and Ant stick I somehow managed to leave my Garmin at home so spent a week reminding myself how to run for fun!

    I still did some good workouts (I think image) and had a couple of adventures and looking back that seems to have been a threshold moment because a week or two after coming home everything started to click again.

    Keep up the good work everyone, my plan is telling my I've a 30 min loosener lined up for tonight but I think my legs are telling me they are going to make me cry image

  • Hi all,



    Kandinsky I tried a 5 mile easy run last night and my legs hurt the whole way around despite my incredibly slow pace- hopefully tonight's run will have a bit more bounce. I'm doing east London half in 3 weeks and want to use it as another opportunity to shave time off my pb- it's 4 weeks before the marathon, so I think plenty of time to recover.

    I think we all need to have an extra focus on recovery these next few high mileage weeks- how are our plans ramping up? I now alternate between 13 and 20 miles lon runs until the taper image
  • I felt quite leggy yesterday still so I decided to take a rest day and double up today so this morning I did a 5 mile run @ 7:56 avg, taking the first and last mile easy and ramping it up in the middle and this afternoon a steady 9 miles marathon pace @ avg 8:31.

    My calf definitely appreciated the extra days rest and  I am still on track with this weeks training schedule. I have decided not to do any further half marathons until after Halstead as I found it just cocked up my following week and I have a few halves booked during the coming months to work on my time.

    My LSRs are 18, 20, 21, 20, 18, 12 for the final weeks

  • I've got to confess I've bottled out on my evening runs this week through a combination of achy legs, tiredness and just generally busy!

    On the plus side my green Xempo top was waiting for me when I got home yesterday and there's nothing like shiney new kit to get you out the door!

    My long runs from here are 15, 21, 21, 15, 12, 9 which means that I'm probably going to be short on the 20+ runs image but after last weekend it looks like my original target pace should feel relatively comfortable so I'm hoping I won't suffer too much in the latter stages!

  • Wow, for both of ya, many high mileage long runs in a row- I've really struggled with 18+ in the past so I'm quite glad my plan has a recovery week between each 20...

    I'm not doing my Thursday run- decided to run tomorrow instead of rest, since its a day off. Legs are starting to feel like legs again, which is good image
  • So I went for a cross training bike ride today... Cycled to a friends parents for lunch- hadn't seen her for a few months and her parents for years! They're both into running so it was good chat, however, was quite disappointed that they were only 3 miles away, so not much of a ride. We took a different route home, which involved a cycle down north hill- top speed 25 mph. Even if a silly 4x4 driver cut me up after making such a point of over revving at the top of the hill to overtake us. It bothers me when drivers are that silly- don't they know that bike brakes aren't as strong as car brakes and even so, a car going into Another car is a lot less dangerous than a cyclist going into a car... I yelled abuse at him and shook my hand... With only the half a mile climb to go before we got home we were stopped at a traffic light and the road was uphill. I tried to stay in my toe clips, as its such a faff getting them on, especially uphil... Yippee the light turned green, I could peddle, so i did, but my front wheel was turned such that I couldn't peddle any further..... BANG, I fell onto the road! Very hard.... Grazed knee, grazed elbow, and totally bruised hand... Now sitting here with ice on everything hoping it doesn't affect my running this week!

    But, it was quite funny! Both times I've fallen off my bike have been from completely stationary! How dense am I?!?
  • Ouch!

    I was given a bike to ride the other week when marshalling at the parkrun and I honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd ridden one! 

    Definitely found the first few seconds each time I set off the trickiest though and that's without trying to kepp/place my feet into toe clips image

    Finally prised myself out for a run on Thursday after the nice sports massage man had made his monthly call into the office and restored some life back into my legs.

    Managed to beat my parkrun PB on Saturday too, dipping under 23 mins for the first time, so much for my good intentions for taking it easy and setting myself up for Sunday's LSR!

    Completed just under 15 miles, around, up and over Danbury hill, definitely still feeling the effects from Brentwood (or was that the over enthusiastic parkrun image) but about as comfortable as you can expect (hope) and apart from some ice patches making some of the inclines.......interesting, it was an absolute belter of a morning to run.

    Rest day yesterday which was dilligently spent trying to convince the lady at the cake stall at Hedingham Castle of the merits supporting a one day loyalty scheme!

    We also stopped off on the way home to conduct some vital reconnassaince for the post marathon refreshments and nutrition available in Halstead and are of the belief that the Roast potatoes available in the White Hart could be just the ticket!

    I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekends and are well set for good stong running in the week ahead image

  • Well done on your parkrun pb!
  • I'm a bit late joining this thread, but just to say, i have booked my place on the Halstead today and can't wait for it now. this will be my second time, last year was excellent, lets hope the weather is the same for it this year as it was last year.

    Suffered with an IT issue before Christmas, so just starting to get back into long runs again now, done a few 18, 19 and 20 mile runs, rather slow though, so not to hopefull about beating last years time.

    Anyone now yet how many people have booked for the Halstead marathon yet?

  • Yippeeeeee! A new person on the thread image welcome.
  • Greetings Super Gibo, does that mean I'm no longer the new boy image

    I had a look at the weekend and I think there was close to 450 entries.

     

  • Such a lovely welcome, thanks Angela image.

    I'm happy and proud to take the title of "New Boy" Kandinsky image

    Where do you see on the site the list of entrants? i couldn't find

  • Hi Super Gibo good to have you onboard.

    Follow this link for the entries list http://www.chiptiminguk.co.uk/ps/event/2013HaEM/PreEntries

    I'll be sorting my entry out next week, I have put it off as this is my first marathon since a major foot injury so I have been shy about tempting fate but so far so good and I'm really looking forward to it now.

    Angela - What are your duties on Saturday at Parkrun? I am on stand by so I'm going to be running it and I'm gunning for a new PB which considering I've never timed a 5k before should be quite attainable. image

  • Hehe, I fell off my bike on Monday, and yesterday, I face planted in my run in London... for full write up see: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/

    Yes, the first Colchester Park run is this Saturday - all welcome to come along and have a run!!!

    Oirish, I'm very jealous you get to run, as I know I have a 5k pb in my legs- my last was 24.01 and I'm sure I can take 2 seconds off that! Even with the hilly castlepark course.  I'm 'Registration' which as far as I can tell is the biggest responsibility- basically, if I mess up people don't get their times!

    The next time I have free to run the park run is the week before halstead- is that too close to go for a fast 5k???

     

  • Tiny tiny request - if you are doing Haltead on the 12th May would you please consider participating in my study which you can find on this thread as MSc Research Project requires marathon runners - no electrodes!

    It's about using a positively focused self-talk technique to increase your resilience and positive affect (that's the strong positive moods that you can control).

    It is straightforward and might just provide an additional tool to conquer the mental aspects of tackling  a marathon.

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭

    Hi all,

    Sorry been manic with work and family but still running most days. I have Paddock Wood Half this weekedn and hoping to get close to Sub 90 minutes. Weather may impact!

    Hi newbies - great to see you on here!

    Angela - are you ok after the fall?

    GTC - I will email you today about taking part. I have some interest in this are and my daughter is looking at pursuing a career in Sports Psychology so it will good to be involved for her, as well. Good luck with your research!

  • Hello DS2,

    yes, i bought a packet of frozen peas at tesco before i got on the train home... i think people thought i was odd when i sat there the whole journey with it pressed to my knee, but it seems the fall from running was much less severe than the fall of my bike.  I think i'l be fine to do my 20 on Sunday.

    I told my boss about it, and he said these things come in threes, so I hope the next one is even less severe :-S

    Good luck in your race!

  • Angela - The third will be me throttling you if you cock up my stunning PB!! image

    GTC - I'll definitely give this a look as I am very interested in the psychological aspect of running.

    DS2 - I was out in this weather earlier for a 10 miler and it is not PB weather is it? I've no idea what the forecast is but fingers crossed for you.

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭

    Runour has it, Oirish that the weather is about to improve and the winds from Siberia are going to change to westerley winds and only 8mph so might be ok.

    Just had a call from Mrs DS2 who is at our caravan in St Osyths and she says she has plenty of snow. I've had enough of training in this!

    Due to do a 6 mile recovery run tonight so should be horrible! I shall look forward to a couple of glasses of red as a reward!

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