RW Forum Six - Sub 3:30

1124312441246124812491327

Comments

  • good luck for Abo guys!! glad I'm not running, been on the NZ Sauv all afty image

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭

    AA,Cooks,Barry....what Kiwi said...nail it! 

  • Best of luck guys and gals image don't be shit image



    Soz for going AWOL - had a week off and we spent it in the Bavarian Alps with little to no internet. Not much running but a lot of rather steep hiking image had a lovely time.



    Nell, congrats on a stunning performance. Wow. That is a seriously fast marathon time!! Hanson worked perfectly for you.



    Hope the Abo posse have better conditions than us today. It's 21 degrees ans really really windy image
  • Hope it is going well!! Windy here but rain early on so hopefully cool enough for the gang!

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭
    Should see some finishers soon. Hoping all has gone well . It's warm here

    Chick -a change is as good as a rest. Sounds like a great break .

    Watching the Sunday runners here is getting my legs twitching .
  • just back from a slow 9 miles, definitely warm out there, spring mara conditions! looking forward to hearing the results imageimage

  • 3.19.55 on the watch and v happy. image Report to follow.

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭
    Brilliant Barry. Time to celebrate.
  • whoop, whoop, well done Barry! Enjoy the celebratory beers, all that crosstraining has paid you in good stead image

  • Hi Barry, Great news on the time. As kiwi said the cross training seems to have worked image

    Hi kiwi, Bet that was a windy 9 today? it is pretty windy up in Edinburgh...

    Hi 2old, Yes felt a bit twitchy today, but resisted the urge and stuck to my week rest....mind you I was out at a party last night and had a bit of a head this morning image

    Hi Chick, The Bavarian Alps, very nice indeed ! Yes the Hansons plan seemed to have done the trick image

     

     

     

  • Was so lovely to see Baz and pink today and catch up with cooks and spoons. I had an absolute horror second half!!! ran the first mile with bazza and cooks. THen bazza ran off and me and cooks ran at 7:30s for @9 miles (I think!) then cooks edged away and left me to die a slow 16 mile painful death!!! Saw pink at @15 miles and said I don't want to do the second lap!! The wind was harsh in places, and in parts it felt very very warm. Got a nice tan line.image I managed to just about put one foot in front of the other to the end. Tripped up at 25 miles on battered legs. Spoons went whizzing past me and didn't even have the etiquette to finish with me!!! He was flying on a negative split! Grr!! Anyway I think it was 3:34. Didn't even manage to stop my watch!! Onwards and upward. French Riviera in 3 weeks. If I recover. I can't actually walk right now!!!

  • Very happy to have completed 50 miles on Saturday, broken rib notwithstanding. 

    Congratulations to all the Abo finishers and Carrot in Amsterdam.

    My feet are trashed - report to follow after wine!!!!!! I was so dehydrated after the run I didn't dare drink anything stronger the diet coke, lucozade sport and water last night image

  • Hi AA, well done on pushing through for that 3:34 that sounds a hard one. Nice to hear you have got a base tan in for the Riviera marathon image

    Hi O4S, enjoy the wine, you deserve it ! image

  • So my 13th marathon and 5th time at Abingdon.  Pink and youngest came along to support(youngest took some great photos).  Great to meet up with AA again and Cooks for the first time. Race pacing was discussed and my plan was set off at 7:40's and push on if I felt OK, turned out to be an accurate prediction. Wind was the main concern, was n't too strong at the start but picked up as the race progessed.  Splits as follows: 7:40(impressive pacing)image, ,7:19,7:34,7:13,7:16,7:23,7:36,7:25,7:25,7:30,7:22, 7:29,7:22,7:32,7:25,7:49, 7:28,7:42,7:44,7:47,8:10,8:05,8:12,8:24,8:36,7:50, 5:57(for last 0.2 I will go under 3:20image)

    Ran with AA and Cooks for the first mile then got into a steady pace, Abingdon consists of a 5 mile leg then 2  x 8 mileish loops then 4 back to the finish. It was warm already and started to feel the sweat at 3 miles.  Saw the support crew in the town centre(4.5miles), I think I was a bit earlier than expected.  At about 6 miles I tagged onto a group of 5 runners, this was good as the next 3 miles were into the headwind.  No dramas up to halfway but right achilles was a bit achy.  Through halfway in 1:36.xx.,unfortunately the group I was with slowed so I made the decision to carry on at my pace.  Saw support crew at 14 miles which was start of second loop, Any delusions of a PB quickly went through miles 15 to 18 as I was now running alone and the headwind was getting stronger.  Started to struggle from mile18 but made a promise not to stop and try and get best time possible. Miles 22 to 25 were a bit of survival mode and shoulders are aching today from poor form. Saw Cooks a couple of times in the last few miles, mutual words of encouragement given.  Looking at watch at 25 I knew sub 3:20 was possible but would have to press on.  Coming back into the stadium it was touch and go so shouted some obscenity at myself and kicked, think I went a bit too early/hard as I felt a bit dizzy with 300 to go, slowed down for 10 metres then kicked again.  Great photo of me "sprinting" the last 100 metres.  Was v happy to stop my watch on 3:19:55.  That's my quickest time for 2 years. So an avg of 7:40.  Met up with support crewAA and Cooks afterwards will try and post photo. I took gels on at 6,10,14,18 and half at 22 and took on water at every stn(3 miles ish)

    Conclusion, could n't have hoped for better given training/injury issues and conditions on the day, the swimming/cycling definately helped keep my fitness up,  so very happy and will stick with my mixed tri training for VLM and hopefully not miss 5 weeks of running in the build up.

     

  • Great to see AA again and to meet Spoons, Bazza & Pink (great cheering btw).  AA - lovely running & chatting with you for the first 10, certainly made the miles go quicker.  Spoons - good sandbagging - 4 hours (cough, cough!) image  Barry - awesome resolve over the last few miles, very strong & well deserved to duck under 3.20.  I think that you took a minute out of me in the last mile!  I really liked Abo - really good feel to the event & pretty damn flat.  Only realy gripe is that the race director arranged for the wind to increase substantially in the second half - the headwinds early in the 'second lap'.  I'm pretty happy my pacing - only really fell off in last 2-3 miles and came in 3.20 something - off to see the exact time!

  • Congrats to the Abo crew - AA, Barry, Cooks, Spoons - great results in a tough wind.



    17 miles on a hangover yesterday - it wasn't pretty!
  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭

    Barry-very good pacing yesterday -those last 6 were always going to be tough in view of your lay off , the heat and wind,tri training notwisthstanding.Your time also shows the benefits of mixing running with swimming and cycling.Another couple of 16-20 milers and who knows what you might have done. Great for your confidence and sets you up nicely for London. It makes me wonder what I might have done ...though it wouldnt have been pretty.

    AA-excellent performance yesterday.A nice warm up for the next 26.2. Why you would want to dop another so soon only you will know.image

    Cooks-another fine race and after a lnog drive too. Are you in London next year?

    Nell -you're entitled to have a sore head now and again

    Free-you are building up those LRs very efficiently-a nice base for Spring marathons

    O4S-congrats on grinding out 50 miles on Saturday-very brave and inspiring.

     

  • Great day for running yesterday image

    Well done folks for bagging another 26.2 image (AA, Cooks, Barry and Spoons) and a 50 image(O4S) image

  • So yet again I am sitting on Monday pulling off toenails, draining blisters for the  fourth  time and wondering if perhaps it might be time to take up crochet as a hobby.  Round Rotherham 50 is a relatively easy off road 50 mile event given that you have to navigate round the  route yourself using strip maps - but BA has a bit of a reputation for getting hopelessly lost on it.  He is not the only one, a runner was found by the police at 2.00am Sunday last year [event finish 10pm Sat] way off route in a different townimage

    Anyway I now always do the event with BA as it means a slower time, but not having to wait for hours at the end.  With my broken rib we reckoned we might be more evenly matched this year and decided to take the 6.00am start in case I had to walk most of it.  Unusually over 200 of the 500 odd runners took the early start, usually it is just a handful, so we had plenty of company.  It was obvious from the start that BA was struggling and I kept having to stop and wait for him.  By the second checkpoint [17 miles] we were already over 30 minutes down on last year, in better conditions.  He decided to pull out as he was worried that if I stayed with him I might get timed out myself and he didn't want to continue on his own. 

    I must admit that I just legged it out of the checkpoint and left him eating cake, waiting for a lift.  Although I couldn't run as fast as previous years on anything even slightly slippery [or uphill] I found the rib felt OK at a slow, steady jog with walk breaks on the steepest, most slippery sections.  My only real problem was getting over some of the rickety stiles, where I could feel the tugging on my  side.  Got to half way nearly 40 minutes down on last year, but then surprised myself on the second half by going faster than last year.  Negative splits aren't really likely on this route as the second half is about an hour slower than the first half, with more fields, stiles and mud - but I was pleased to keep going and in the end made it back with plenty of daylight to spare and only 25 minutes slower than last year.

    It was really hot and humid, but luckily there were some sections with a good breeze later on which made it just about bearable.  At the very end there is a short section across the college car park to the finish and I suddenly realised that 2 guys who had been lurking about 100 yards behind me for some distance, allowing me to do all the navigation, were about to try and outsprint me to the finish.  They probably started an hour after me, but there was a principle at stake and I suddenly found myself winding up the pace across the car park getting a little faster every time I heard footsteps closing and being cheered to the rafters by the [mainly female] supporters at the finish line.  I collapsed across the line ahead to the two and then thought 'WTF was that all about??'. image

    Anyway I survived but the lack of running any sort of distance over the summer took its toll on my feet.  Stupidly wore new shoes, which although exactly the same as pairs I have worn for years, obviously could have done with a bit more breaking in.  I only realised how dehydrated I was when I stopped, despite drinking three or fours cups of water at every checkpoint.  I couldn't face alcohol at all that night and ended up getting full value for the £2.25 endless refills on soft drinks at the restaurant - although I was getting a few funny looks by the end of the evening image

    BA is pretty fed-up, but is being stoic - hopefully it was just a bug he picked up.  Next weekend is the British Masters X country relay on

  • great race reports, well done everyone image

  • O4S - hardcore!! Glad you managed to outsprint those boys image. Hope BA is on the mend...


    6 wet and windy miles for me. First run since hols. Felt tough. I need to retrieve my mojo and at some point also my speed ... image 

  • As promised photo of the Abingdon 3.

    /members/images/412354/Gallery/Image_3_-_Copy.png

     

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭

    Barry -great team pic-I recognised you by your new black trainersimage

    Chick -this stormy weather isnt great to run in so good stuff getting out there

    Continuing my taking it easy policy...did swim 2k yesterday and today though to tick over

  • Wow O4S Impressive!

    2Old nice swim

    Congratulations to the Abbo group - lovely photo image

    Had a brilliant  morning in Abingdon supporting Barry, AA & Cooks. Managed to see them 4 times & didn't get lost once - although having a 15 year old daughter with good navigation skills helped. Great to meet AA & Cooks too.

    Had early morning swim training yesterday- 8 x 300's plus speed training with fins. Hard work after the excitement of the previous day. No running to report yet.

  • Hi Freemer, 17 miles on a hangover doesn't sound pleasant, well done!

    Nice report and picture Barry, enjoy the rest.

    Hi Cooks, very well done...

    Hi O4s, Great report, sounds like a quick turnaround for the x country?

    Hi Chick, Well done on the wet and windy 6 miles, it seemed rough out there this morning!

    Hi 2old, nice swimming, bet you are itching to get out on a run?

    Hi Pink, Good swimming session

    Hi AA, What is the plan in between the marathons?

    Did plan on trying a short easy run this morning, but forgot I had to take the car to the garage and missed my chance. Might try and get out tomorrow morning. Glutes ached a bit today, not sure whether it was the S&C from yesterday or the elbows in the glutes from the massage!

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭

    Pink- glad you enjoyed Abo. Must have got you twitching to join in. Tough swim session. It's odd posting non running on a running forum image

    Nell- no harm fully recovering. Continue basking in the glory of that great race.I'm not just itching ,I'm scratching like mad too. Wonder what the consultant will say tomorrow. Hope he doesn't want lots of scans and tests.

  • 2old - good luck tomorrow. 

    O4S - great report. Hope BA is feeling better. 

    Freemers - nice hangover 17!!

    ive been draining blisters tonight in the event if saving toenails! Legs still tired but itching to get running again. Will see how I feel in the morning and might try 3 easy. Next marathon is 18 days away. Hopefully will be ok to get a 12/13 miler done by the end of next week...

  • O4S - Congrats on the 50 miler, I cannot comprehend running another 24 after a marathon.

    AA - Recover well, think I'm going to lose at least one toenail.

    2old - Hope today goes well.

    Freemers -  Well done on the long run especially with a sore head.

    Visited the physio on Monday for a massage and all OK apart from right achilles which had gone a bit sore and fat again. he recommended no running for a couple of weeks to let it recover.  So planning to hit the pool as much as possible, started yesterday with a continuous 400m swim after warm up, was planning the same this morning but felt OK and kept going for 800m, furthest I've ever swam so very happy, not quick but definate progress. 

    I was looking back over my quickest marathon times, see below for the  best 8 out of 13 ,and I have a nice pattern  from 3:15 to 3:21:

    Abingdon 2012   3:15:09
    Abingdon 2009   3:16:21
    Gloucester 2011 3:17:22
    Florence 2012    3:18:18
    Abingdon 2014   3:19:56
    Stratford 2009    3:20:27
    Abingdon 2010   3:21:10
    Barcelona 2014  3:21:50
    Interestingly I've only gone 5 mins quicker than my first(stratford) and it''s about time I got a grip and went under 3:15. image

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭

    Thanks for the good wishes.Fingers crossed.

    Barry-I think Abo will be the turning point for you-sub 3.15 next!-an excellent time despite the effect of the achilles injury and no calf niggles.Am I correct that you have a London place? Whats your thinking for that one? A mix of cycling swimming and runs looks good or are you doing the Furman method like Nell.Interestingly London doesnt fit into that list...Its not really one to PB at .

    Re the achilles-Im convinced mine was caused by tight glutes,calf and hamstring and the achilles being weaker than the rest became the fall guy. Massage seems to have done the trick for me.

    Looking at my 9 marathons my first was in 2006 ,London 3.26 and my best was Liverpool 2012, 3.09 so the gap for me is17mins.Im not sure I will get  another PB and my goals for London next year are 1. starting the race 2. Finishing 3.GFA-3.19.59. so I can do it again.

    AA-when I read your post I was worried you were going to show us a pic of those blisters.You should be fully recovered for the next marathon ....not sure I would be mentally up to 2 so soon

    Nell-I know you did a variation of Furman for York....what shedule did you use for your Spring Marathon-any chance you could share it with us/me.Thanks

    Did a cheeky 10k on the TM earlier-felt fine apart from the trapped nerve in my neck caused by the whiplash effect when my head hit the wooden floor.

     

  • My first marathon was 1985 - Wolverhampton in 3.39 (we didn't measure seconds then)

    My fastest was 1995 - London 3.30.54

    At least one marathon every year in the other years and apart from London 2013, when I ran with the stitches still in from my cancer op, none over 3.59!

    i suppose consistency is one thing, but I wish that I had trained the way I do now 20 years or more ago.....image  Who knows what time I might have done when I was doing sub 24 hours for 100 off road miles.

Sign In or Register to comment.