Sub 4 Amy: #asics262

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  • All the best with the first session tomorrow Amy. Sounds like a good 'un. Enjoy them hills! I bet you can't wait to get started.

  • Amy, the Grizzly is twentyish muddy, hilly, boggy, beachy miles of the multiest-terrain running experience you will find this side of the end of time. Check out YouTube when you have a few minutes, there’s plenty of videos on there. A bit different to Tough Mudder, a bit different to anything I’ve ever done really. My wife and I enjoy running together as often as possible and have both joined a local club this year as well as registering for parkrun. She is desperate to beat me soon so I better keep running over Christmas!

    Thanks Steve, hopefully I’ll survive the Grizzly and take that fitness into my marathon training.

    If anyone on here isn’t registered for Parkrun…..Do it!

    Good luck with your training peeps, most of you, if not all, will have run your marathon while I’m half way through my training so quite looking forward to seeing how your sessions go in advance of actually doing them myself.

  • How did the hills go Amy? Steve gave me hill too - tough but rewarding! No doubt you shot up them like a gazelleimage

  • Just Run - I did the Grizzly way back in '97 it's a great event and normally a pretty tough and VERY hilly course.

  • So, the hills were this morning, and yes indeed Tom, tough but rewarding. Love the idea of being a gazelle! It was 1.7m out to the hill, then 0.15m of a hill back down and repeat x10, then run home again. Overall the run was 5.5m. I ran the first couple of hills in 1min 15s, the middle ones dropping to about 1min 25s, then picked back up to 1min 15s again for runs 9 and 10. Overall run time of 44.48. Don't know how good or bad this is exactly but it felt tough. Went out meaning business though as had been saving all my new kit for the official start of the training to help me focus, probably silly but I think it worked.



    Just Run, I like the sound of the Grizzly, will def check it out when poss. Good luck with beating your wife, can't beat a bit of inter family competition! And I will also work on a pic when I get a free min Angela cause you are right I need to sort that.



    Thanks Bramster. I'll check out Superman's tread again over the next few days and see what you mean, appreciate the suggestion.



    Stewart C I love that you are helping your eldest daughter to train. How old is she? My Dad attempts some running bless him, but it was my Mum that got me into running. I wish your daughter the best of luck. Which HM is it that she is doing in March?
  • Amy shouldn't you be in bed after a hard training session today!!!

  • Sean, I think i'd forgotten all about the Stairway To Heaven when I entered again for next year! 

    Hopefully our family rivalry will spur us both on Amy although I think it means a lot more to Mrs JR to beat me than the other way round. Running hills myself today. I usually do 0.25m x 6 so maybe i'll do the 0.15 x 10 today instead. 

     

  • Far too late to be posting Amy!

    Session sounds good though - probably next time aim slightly slower start - say 1:18 so you can hold the pace though you did finish strongly and a great start to the training and hopefully the kit made you quicker!

    Strangely my last hill rep many miles away was a 1:15 but most were 1:23-1:25.

  • Amy, a good session on the hills I need to do more of them.  My eldest is 24 and will be running the Inverness Global HM this will be her first and hopefully not her last.  I will probably run it as well at marathon pace.

    A 12 mile MLR this morning, I'm glad it is over! 

  • PocketRocket good work on the hills. You'd probably like to be a bit more consistent on each effort when you do that session next time... though 5.5M in 44:48 sounds pretty quick, esp with hills.

    Um.. more importantly.. how are your sleep sessions ?!? My splits are usually in multiples of 90 minutes - I like the 7hr 30min session best.

    Just Run I trust your are NOT beating your wife! .... Here! here! to the parkrun thing.. and ALL please do volunteer once in every while too.. it makes a huge difference to the event organising teams image

    Nice work StewartC 12M in the bag! Feels good

    My session today was yesterday's Yasso800s session due to being on a callout from work.. so 4x800 @ 3:34 .. on the treadmill @ 1% following SupermanRuns guidance. Felt ok so look forward to consolidating that session on a track in week 10.. A 8x800 session!

     

    Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you made Santa's good list!

     

  • Good work StewartC, double figure runs make you feel very good (afterwards).

     Well done on getting the session done bramster

    Not sure I made Santa's good list but did get a hill session i this afternoon. 1.4m warm up to my hill of choice. 10 x 0.15 miles between 7:57 and 8:20 pace. Warm down to finish. 

    Merry Christmas to you all

  • Congratulations on making the final five!

    A big hello to all the regulars on this thread. I will be very interested to read what marathon (s) you have all signed up to this year!

    For those that are new, my name is Ruth and I am the ASICS PRO TEAM Dietitian. I will become a regular feature on your thread from the 5th January (when eating and usual routines have returned to normal!!). My main focus is to optimise training & recovery with the most up to date advice in sport nutrition and of course help plan race day fuelling.

    Have a great Christmas & New Year.

    Ruth  

  • Hi. I'm going to say hello and join in if that's ok. On paper I should be capable of sub 4:00. Last year I ran reading in 1:48. Died on The London at Tower Bridge. Ran Stevenage very conservatively in 4:23 to get my confidence back and more importantly sorted a decent breakfast and Gel strategy.



    Hoping for sub 4:00 in Paris.
  • Good work on your hill session yesterday Amy! I'm following the generic sub4 Asics262 plan so yesterday was Yasso 800's for me. I really enjoyed them actually, my splits were 3:50 3:57 3:54 and 4:05. I was pleased with these as the last one was into the wind and my garmin was playing 'silly beggers' and not giving me accurate information about current pace so I had to rely on my internal pacer. Plus as I don't have a track nearby to run on I did half a mile reps, near enough 800m I hope? 

    Totally agree with others on here, FAR too late to be posting Amy! You need adequate sleep to be able to train to your potential! Get to bed earlier...

    Ruth McKean 2, welcome to the tread! I'll be following your advice and guidance very closely as I'm sure there are many improvements to my diet and nutrition I could make. I'll be going for my sub4 at VMLM in April so any advice will be gratefully received. 

    (Welcome also to Tim R2-T2! Come on in, the water's lovely!!!)

  • Good session Brb and welcome Tim R2 - won't be surprised to see Amy post today's run a few hours into xmas day!

  • Haha well not to disappoint Steve here I am a few hours into Christmas Day so Festive wishes All! I am not usually this nocturnal honest, I very much enjoy my sleep. It's December that changes me. One January hits I'll be back into the usual 10pm bed time. Had to change my plan a wee bit so have taken today as my rest day and will run on Friday instead. I am looking forward to my paw changing session today, I found this hard last week so a good challenge to work up an appetite for Christmas dinner will be great. Thanks for the advice about the hills, I will take on board and pace mysef more.

    Good luck to your eldest Stewart C. Bet you are proud. I love to see activity being kept within the family. I get my running from my Mum. Unfortunately my sisters are not so keen, although one did ask for some wrist weights and gym leggings, which took me by surprise, but I was more than happy to help Santa oblige image

    Good session Just Run, sounds like you did a grand job of them. Will you be running Christmas Day too? What about others?

    Hello to Ruth and Tim R2. Nice to hear that you will be running Paris and aiming for sub 4 too Tim. How did you manage to sort your breakfast and gel strategy? And Ruth I look forward to meeting you in person and benefiting from your expertise.

    Well in the words of Shakin' Stevens, Merry Christmas Everyone! Good night.
  • Thanks everyone.



    Good luck Amy.



    I'm sure Ruth will help with your nutrition. I just finally found some Gels that work for me and worked out when to take them during the race.
  • I hope everyone has had a merry Christmas image have you all been good? Are we all still able to walk after Christmas dinner?! Maybe they should invent some Christmas dinner flavoured gels Tim R2?! Oh my days that would make me gip!



    Pace session this morning, hard to tell exactly what pace I was running at however, I'm sure my watch fibbing to me. The plan was for 2mile easy, 3mile at 7.45-8.00, 1 mile easy. My watch said I was running as quick as 7.30 at parts of the faster 3mile, and 8.00 at the slower miles, but it def didn't feel that fast so think something went wrong there. I wasn't out of breath enough to have been running that quickly, felt more like 8.30-8.45 on the slower and 8.00 on the faster. Great to get out on Christmas Day. And what a day it was. So sunny and inviting. The weather really makes such a difference, very uplifting. Who else was out festive running? Was ready for my dinner when I got back mmmmm.
  • Hi Amy just caught up with your thread over breakfast, glad we're down to the training now!



    I did 4:16 in my first marathon, VLM 09, and found the adaptation between first and second colossal - doing exactly the same sessions I ran 3:59:45 @ VLM 10, albeit with a hospital sprint 800m PB to clinch it!



    I'm now down to 3;54 and looking to improve this year by quite a bit, having been plagued by freak injuries this past couple of years.



    What strikes me about your plan are the training paces for the speed/hill etc sessions. 8mm is more like my 5K than HM pace for example, and to my knowledge I could only do 1 x 7:30 mile. I do have immense endurance, always plough through many hundreds of peoplei n the final 10K.



    If I could emuate your training I'd have a humongous PB by definition I reckon.



    You are so going to smash this!
  • Run sounds good Amy - much better to be surprised how quick it is and feels slower than my Christmas day parkrun where I was surprised how slow it was and it felt much quicker!

    Hi Reikirabbit

    Amy's 5k speed is faster than the average sub-4 aspirant - and at the moment the training speeds reflect the 5k speed but may need to be adjusted further into the programme if the endurance doesn't quite match the speed

  • No Christmas Day run from me Amy, well done you for getting out! Mrs JR is out running now so I’ll have to see if I get time in between family arriving or I’ll go later.  Parkrun tomorrow, haven’t been for ages due to kids football so really looking forward to a muddy run at Killerton.

    Hope you’re all having a great Christmas break.

    Happy running

  • Hello Reikirabbit. Thanks for the belief. Your sprint finish sounds very exciting! No wonder you termed it 'hospital sprint' I would hve certainly been hospitalised if if had to sprint at the end of Edinbrugh! Are you planning to emulate the plan then? I have no idea if the speed sessions are fast or not, I have complete faith in Steve and am just following the guidance as best I can. I have enjoyed the shorter faster sessions though, this is not something that I have done much of before. I am pleased to hear Steve that you will adapt the plan as necessary if the endurance doesn't match up, but hopefully I can match it, we will see. I have done my 11mile session this morning, aiming for 1hr 39mins -1hr 45mins as per plan and achieved 1hr 41mins for 11.30miles. I hve done the long run today rather than Sunday as we are at the Grandparents on Saturday night and they live in a little village surrounded by national speed limit roads so I didn't fancy running 11miles on national roads, so I hope that is ok Steve. The pace did vary slightly as living in Sheffield I was up and down hills. I tried to keep to the 9-9.30 pace as best poss as did finish in the suggested time so can't have done too badly. The pace felt fine overall and I just enjoyed the run. On the hills it was harder to keep the pace admittedly and I think it dropped to 10.15ish at one point. But then keeping pace on the down hill was equally as hard as it crept up to 8.30 also.

    Let us know how your park run goes Just Run. Think I will park run it again tomorrow too.

    Left overs sandwich now mmmmmm image
  • A good speed  session Amy, and it must be encouraging that those paces felt easier than you expected, I did a similar session last week along the canal I couldn't hit 7:45 pace but the effort was there, well done with the 11 today, hills do tend to mess up the even pacing. No running today I did my 4 mile recovery run yesterday, I may do my 16 with 8 @ MP tomorrow 

    JR, I hope you manage to get out for a run

    RR, good too see you here, Have you got a target in mind

     

  • Thanks for explaining, Steve Marathon Coach, makes total sense, and I also know that I don't like to be out of my comfort zone so only pull out pace when I really have to on the road.



    I met Steve Way & Scott O last weekend and the discussion was around coming at the marathon from opposite ends of the spectrum.



    Amy I was just up in Sheffield visiting family, will be back in Feb for the indoors. It's a great place to train - I found a fab route up beyond the EIS / Attercliffe last year - the famed Pennine Way no less, had a nice out & back there not too hilly, although at one point my right calf was in the mouth of a large dog long enough for me to get a photo.



    Hi StewartC - I always have a range of targets depending on what has struck or not - bronze is usually sub 4. I will be out at least a couple of weeks following surgery next week, so am banking lots of quality training now, and actually have never been out for less than 2 weeks in any campaign, so let's say silver will be 3:50 this time. Margins are a bit tight when you're 57 and wanting a PB every time.



    Not that easy to do better out of Pen 5 at London due to lack of space to move, & the need to overtake gadzillions of 3:56 pacers.
  • Well done everyone on your christmas running! I loved my christmas day run; it was supposed to be 4 miles easy (10min/mile) but I think I was slightly overexcited by the thought of getting back to open my pressies, so ended up doing my 4 miles in 36:56 (splits 9:13, 9:23, 9:12 and 9:03).  I really need to try harder to stick to the paces as I do know they're set for a reason.  My school report would say 'must try harder'!

    Today was supposed to be a rest day, but due to travelling home for a late shift tomorrow (1-9pm), I have done tomorrows hill session today.  The schedule said 3M including hill session or circuit so I did a run with a long hill at the end (being away from home at the moment I'm doing my best not to get lost so sticking to roads I know!).  The first two miles were mainly flat (splits 8:36 and 9:00) then the hill was 1.56 miles long with 530ft elevation and took me 17:49.  I have to say that I rather enjoy hill running, especially as I've had a lot of practice over the summer with fell races and off road marathon training. So a rest day for me tomorrow, then 8 miles easy on Sunday; I will definitely try to stick to 10min/mile on Sunday, promise!

    Well done Amy on your pace session on Christmas day, you're right, the weather made it such a great day for running.  Well done too on your long run today; you're definitely doing far better than me at pacing your long runs as instructed. Living in a very hilly area of the country (The Peak District), I too find even pacing difficult.  However, I try to look at my average pace across the whole run and focus on even effort across the run, not even pace. Whether this is sensible or not I don't know?

    RR; welcome to the tread, good to have you here.  Your paces sound very much like mine, 8min/mile is about my 10K pace and not my HM pace.  I'm just not quick enough to follow Amy's training, but as I'm also aiming for sub4 at VMLM 2015, I'm following the generic Asics262 plan. Huge congratulations on your sprint finish to get sub4 in 2010, I'm hoping that won't be necessary for me in London as like Amy, I'd definitely need to be hospitalised!

    Enjoy your muddy parkrun tomorrow JR!

  • Bethlehem running bunny equal effort sounds good to me across variable terrain.



    Thanks for the welcome.
  • Excellent run today Amy - no problem this time of year doing a little manoevuering of sessions around but also make sure you don't run two hard/long sessions on successive days.

    and then it's best to have an extra easy day in or move other sessions back a day too.

    Also on hilly runs, don't be afraid to add 30 seconds a mile or more to the overall run and don't force a pace you can run on the flat on a long hill - just try and do the same effort as on the flat and if that's 30 seconds a mile or minute a mile slower, so be it.

     

  • Well done on the long run Amy. Parkrun didn’t happen this morning. The kids were completely out of it and as it was blowing a gale and Mrs JR and I would never agree on who was going to get to run we all stayed home. I did, however, get out for 7 miles in 1:02 later in the morning. Was aiming for 9mm so bang on. I like Steve’s advice about keeping to effort rather than pace on the hills. It’s something I’ve been doing for a while, you generally have to come back down anyway so the average pace won’t suffer on a loop.

    Good luck with your 16 tomorrow StewartC

    Reikirabbit, I like to have 3 times for each event, whatever the distance. My dream time, silver medal and get round. I think it helps that all is not lost half way round if you only concentrate on one time.

    Bethlehem running bunny I think presents are a good enough excuse for running faster. I love off road and trail running. Mrs JR and I have joined a running club nearby and they run off road a lot, especially up hills! It males such a difference when you transfer to a flat road or trail. No muddy parkrun but I did manage to bring home a lot of mud from the canal towpath today.

  • BRB, nice running and there is nothing wrong with running a little faster especially when there are presents waiting to be opened

    RR, I usual have a gold silver and bronze target to aim for, I'll dial those times in once I've race a HM in Feb/Mar

    JR, It is good that you got a run in today.

    Steve great advice on hilly runs, I've got a few hilly routes around here. 

    ----------------

    16 with 8 @ MP, the underfoot conditions were not great I slipped a few times and had to make adjustments to the route, I was pleasantly surprised to see 8:25 in the last two miles, bloody tough though!

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