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RW Forum Six - Sub 3:30
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Don't think I'd do any of these things anytime soon
Bro did amazingly well at Comrades
Horrid 20 miler d&d this morning. Completely underfuelled death march. Bah. But hey, more miles in the bank
Wonder how Nell got on?
Hi2old, Well done with the 10k on a hangover. Very impressive (if not silly ;0 )
Hi o4s. Great report, as ever I am in awe of your drive and ability....putting us to shame yet again.
Hi Chick, I think you know by now just to put that run behind you
Hi Minni, Sorry, missed your post
How did Brol get on?
Well Edinburgh Marathon today. I must admit I wasn't really sure how this one was going to go. I have felt lately that my body is still in recovery mode from London. I really pushed hard at London and have felt it over the last few weeks.
I met up with my running buddy at 9:30. The forecast rain on the BBC was not about and thankfully didn't show itself all through the run and now it is sunny. Unfortunately what did make an appearance was the wind and boy did it come out to play. I'll get on to that later.
So we started off from London Road and things seemed to go ok, heading off and covering the first 13 miles roughly at an average 6:45mm. Mrs N and the kids were at the 6 mile stage at Portobello, so gave them a high 5 and carried on. I had told them to just head to Musselburgh at the finish as it gets a bit difficult getting about on the Edinburgh marathon if you are a spectator. Actually witnessed a good prang by two motorists today, whom I guess will blame us! At 10 miles I was just not feeling that today would be a fast day, I actually felt at 6 miles that I didn't feel as comfortable as I usually do. I told Duncan to just head off if I dropped off and on we went. Made it to the half marathon mark in 1:28 and then on that mile after one of the water stops I let Duncan go and relaxed back into a slower pace. As soon as I relaxed I felt better and started chatting to a guy who had been running behind us who had also ran London. He had PB'd with a 3:05 so we had a chat and ran together for a while. When we got to Gosford House and was running through the grounds he announced that he needed to walk, he was either tired or was fed up with me nattering his head off. That was about mile 18 and we had probably averaged those 5 miles at about 7:30mm. So I headed off on my own and felt pretty ok, came out of Gosford House and witnessed a guy slumped up one of the gates with a Red Cross guy covering him with a warming sheet, he looked completely frazzled.. Then I turned back to head towards Musselburgh and got hit by the wind. I knew this was coming as I could feel it at times on my back on the way out. The wind was pretty much all the way back to Musselburgh was brutal. It never let up and all that went through my head was that I was glad London was my A race! From mile 18 - 20 the wind wasn't too bad and I maintained 7:30-40 pace quite easily, enjoying the crowd in places. Then from mile 21-26 the wind just got brutal, actually near stopping you in your steps in places. I just kept going on and enjoying the crowd giving a high 5 and a thumbs up and kept what I could a decent pace. This pace was getting battered and my miles on the last part suffered. I guess also I was getting tired legs, but the wind really did kick the arse out of you. On the last few miles I did experience a lot of runners walking, more than I have seen before. I am not sure whether they were injured or just pissed off. My last splits were: 8:15, 8:23, 8:51, 8:53, 8:16. This shows how the wind was crucifying people. I came into Musselburgh and the crowds were building up. Usually at this stage I am in the zone definitely. This year I enjoyed the crowds and was smiling with thumbs up and high 5's Came into the last home stretch and gave everyone a wave and came in on 3:11:53. Which was a course PB (last year 3:12:24) but this year I felt a lot better ;0) Met up with Duncan at the T-shirt hand out bit. He had come in on 3:03 and had suffered badly. So in all, I was glad I took the foot of the gas halfway as I think that could have been one hell of a miserable marathon chasing a time. Now time for a rest. Will I do two consecutive marathons like that again? Not sure...
The kick in the nuts is that the marathon T-Shirt looks the same as the 5k,10k,HM, there is nothing on there to say a marathon?? Bloody cheek!
Cold bath taken and a
cont....
And a glass of wine tonight methinks
Nell: or two or three!! Congratulations on a sensible marathon in a time I could only ever dream of - sure I can't tempt you to 4 PoF them back to back?????
Forgot to mention in my report that on the section with all the hideous high stiles I heard a voice behind me as I struggled to lift my leg up to the step on the stile 'lets just hope the rest of the seven dwarves aren't also waiting to get across'
turned out to be a good friend so I contented myself with a universal gesture and plodded on........
Sorry, not following with 4 PoF, am I being a bit slow?
The curse of predictive text! Should have been 'can I tempt you to 4 of them (ie marathons) back to back'. You could join me and 'my boys' as they are always referred to
O4S -amazing work in the hills not so far from me. I wouldn't have dreamt of attempting that. Excellent report which brings home how technical such an event can be and how experience can make a huge difference.You seem to know most of the participants too. I won't be doing anything like that anytime soon and will leave it to crazy super athletes.
Chick- well done knocking out that 20. If it was like here the conditions were very unpleasant
Nell- congrats on your course pb. I was running here about the same time and ran into the wind and saw my split drop by 45seconds. I thought about what you may have been fighting through for a lot more miles and was relieved I wasn't doing it.At least the rain held off. To knock out a quality sub 3.15 marathon so soon after London takes some doing. Lots of mental strength at the end too. You deserve to celebrate tonight and have a good rest.
Saw Bro's impressive Comrades medal on Twitter. Can't wait to hear all about it.
Got up early for my LR but when I saw the heavy rain and the wind the CNBA fairy held me back and my window of opportunity was lost leaving me limited to a MLR of 11miles and so only 43 for the week plus 5 miles swimming.
Had an absolute blast on Sunday. Managed to sneak under 9h with 8:54:06. Ran the last 30k with the sub 9h bus and it was the most fun experience ever. Very very pleased with Bill Rowan and will be back for the down for sure. Would recommend the race to anyone- the atmosphere and organisation were outstanding.
The legs are shot but recovering quickly. Off to stay with the in laws tomorrow and back in the UK on 14th June.
O4S - real hard core stuff
Nell - great result, particularly with that wind.
Barry - frustrating with the running.
2old - I don't blame you for cutting it short in that weather!
Chick - another 20 bagged is great
My calf feels more or less OK - I've done a couple of short slow runs and will pick it up very gradually from here. To be honest as long as I keep the pace down it won't matter if I do 5 miles or 20 as I'm pretty sure I'm not doing any more damage. Still in 2 minds about the 10k I have a week on Sunday - if I can get a couple of faster sessions in next week I'll do it but probably not with a PB in mind, which is a shame.
Bro-congrats on that outstanding result...wonder what you can do in a common and garden marathon now?
Free-glad the calf is ok, normal service will resume..Are you doing an Autumn marathon?
Very tired yesterday so only went to my swim club for some fast (for me) intervals in a 2.175k session.Thought my heart was going to explode at times.Longer swim today and probably a run. If I do the R&R Marathon instead of the half on 14th I suppose I should be tapering now.
Hi o4s, 4 Back to Back Marathons....no thanks! Maybe Brol will be interested in that offer.
Hi 2old, Fully understand cutting the run short on Sunday.
What is it to be then HM or full?
Hi Brol, Congratulations on the Comrades result. Very well done, you deserve it after all the training you put in
Hi Freemers, Good news on the calf, fingers crossed that is it getting back to normal..
Nothing much to report from me, Just having a lazy week. Not really had a good night sleep yet. I was a bit achy Sunday night and then woke up with the munchies last night, which I always do the night after a LR or marathon. legs are actually feeling not too bad, so I obviously didn't push hard enough!
Nell-you don't seem to have any negative after effects from Sunday. You have earnt your rest. Any thoughts about doing that double? Did you feel you'd lost fitness? Did you need more runs? What sort ? Do you think you had recovered sufficiently from London ? I'm wondering if I've done too much or too little or the wrong training .I will decide on HM or full on the Saturday before when I see how much the 2mile swim the day before took out of me. I want to do the full .
3.5k swim lunchtime ,8 mile run 7.18mm this evening.
Hi 2old, Nice mix this evening.
I ran London hard and I suffered after with the aching foot after which I had to give nearly two weeks before running on it again. This may have put me back a bit.
I didn't feel I had recovered fully from London to run Edinburgh to my fullest. When I got to the 6 and 10 mile stages of the marathon on Sunday, I knew I wasn't going to run at that pace for the duration, as I didn't feel like I usually do at that stage. I suppose feeling the wind on my back, I knew that headwind was going to be strong.
I was not in the same condition as I was for London. maybe that was physically and mentally. I knew I had achieved what I wanted to (and more) in London so I suppose the desire also wasn't there.
Saying that, I did enjoy Edinburgh. There was no pressure. I ran a sub 1:30 first half and after that I pretty much enjoyed the run and the crowd. The wind actually made me laugh in places it was so ridiculous. If Edinburgh was my only spring marathon, I no doubt would have been mightily pee'd off
I suppose the photos and the video clips tell the story (select the Before Fish video clip from dropdown).
https://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?template=MPX2&new_search=1&event=Sports%2FCPUK%2F2015%2FEdinburgh%20Marathon%20Festival&match=883
Nell- interesting,I guess the heart and mind matters as much on the second one as fitness.You looked very happy in the video.
An afternoons corporate golf in the sun yesterday followed by 2.5k OW swim time trial in the evening.Two and half mins slower than a month ago...frustrating after all the recent hard work but I guess 4.5 hours wandering around a hilly golf course can be energy sapping. It was a bit of a scrum too with me hitting as many people as hit meso Im feeling bruised.
Marathon training program that was published in Runners World Magazine approx 8 - 9 years ago, it had various training programs ranging from sub 3 to sub 5 hour pace, does anyone have a copy of this.
Anyone racing this weekend? Have a good one .
Slow yknw today-21.13. I'm blaming the wind though it's really down to me not having run anything fast for a while. 16 on Thursday in the sun.
4 days of fever, severe bronchitis (never fun with asthma), antibiotics which I turned out to be allergic against, hospital, cortisone injections, but now back home and hopefully on the mend.
My dad's surgery went ahead while I was comatose in some corner, but it went well and he's back home.
Seems the whole family was struck down by the same bug. I came off worst of the lot. In hindsight I should have culled that 20 miler when I realised it wasn't coming together. When the inhaler doesn't do the trick something is definitely wrong. Ok, lesson learned.
Signed off work for two weeks and off running for god-knows-how-long.
Back to square one then for the umpteenth time. A place I know only too well and I'm getting a bit bored now
Nell: congrats 're. Edinburgh. A more than respectable time so soon after going sub 3 at VLM
2old: if you're tired you should probably rest. I didn't and see where that got me.
Really looking forward to Bro's report when she's back
Chick-oh no that's terrible. I suppose your immune system must have been vulnerable anyway . I'm sure youll make a quick recovery but don't push yourself too much too soon. I'm definately feeling tired and know I need a rest ...trouble is my rest days are busy usually involving trips to London ,golf etc ..just one more week.
nell - Well done on completing Edinburgh, like I said after VLM you had nothing to prove, that's a nightmare getting a headwind in the last miles, still a good time, I'd take it any day.
O4S - awesome madness, loved the report.
Chick - Bad time for you, speedy recovery to you and your dad.
2old - busy and training well as always.
Still no running for me, determined to go pain free before trying again, physio on Monday see what he has to say. Lots of swimming and cycling, core and strength. Swam 2.5k continuous in the pool yesterday in just over the hour, so v happy as this time last year could n't even string 2 lengths together.
Hi 2old, If the wind down your way is as bad as here, that time is pretty good. 16 on Thursday also, you seem to be back in the saddle...
Hi Chick, That is not good news, I feel for you! Hopefully things will settle down and it will not be too much of a setback (fingers crossed)...
Hi Barry, Very wise and sensible approach, I think you have enough to keeping you going with the other activities at the moment and hopefully the cross training is being beneficial to the injury..
Thanks for the good wishes guys...Nothing really much from me this week. No running at all, only exercise was cutting the grass today and preparing sections for re-turfing, think I would have rather been running. Had to be done though. I have felt a lot better this week and felt recovered by Tuesday really, but I have stayed off the running this week. To be honest the weather this weekend does not give me a huge incentive to go out. Sunny, but windy as hell. I suppose the quick recovery will be due to me not tanning the arse out of things this time..
Massage planned for Monday and then might start easing back into things slowly again next week, might get in a bit of S&C first...
Barry- impressive swimming progress and you're cycling won't be half bad either. Hopefully the Physio will have good news and you'll be able to knick out some fast tris and races
Nell- don't blame you having a rest. You probably need to earn some brownie points at home after the months of trainng too. I have a massage booked for tomorrow too.
Despite my YKW being slow it appears I was fastest old git and I came 15th. Still not impressed. 12.5 miles today ..first 4 were 8xx miles and horrible but things got better when I speeded up so 7.54mm av overall.
Right, that's my 2 weeks rest after the 100 over (2 weeks rest from running that is). Managed around 200 miles on the bike last week including one 74 mile ride with my new club - the Bristol Thursday Old Time Cyclists. As the name suggests nearly all are retired but boy do they move
25mph into a headwind on the Cotswold Edge was just a warm up for the pub lunch. I was the 'token totty', but luckily was able to take most of them out on the hills and just about keep up on the flats. Being a careful descender I kept well back and dodged round the potholes.
Back to the running club tonight
Off to the gym now for the regular Monday mayhem at spin - this month it is hill sprints 
O4S - that doesn't sound much of a recovery few weeks!!
chick - oh no. Hope you feel better soon. And your dad recovers ok.
2old - come on.....what you decided on?? Full or half???
nell - keep resting it will take longer than normal believe me.
Barry - how frustrating for you. But at least you're smashing the swimming and the bike.
continous training for me at the moment, 14 days on the trot in a post Dublin body rebellion! Couple of pond swims tIcked off, managed a 16.25 long run last week, a few trendy 5s, 13 mile "first session" on the road bike. Got the blessed 7x800s to tick off this morning!!
Survived the spin and leading a 5 mile off-road run last night, so having an easier day today. Seeing the Doc tomorrow about my referral to a Cardiologist, so trying not to do anything too fast until I see what the situation is. Have also picked up a chest infection, having survived all winter without so much as a cold
AA: are you planning to do a tri this summer or just keeping the swimming and biking going for variety?
2Old: I am assuming you will do the full marathon - hardly worth getting up for a half
Barry: you must be pretty fed up by now. We were up past Cotswold Water Park on our bikes on Sunday - is that where you swim?
Nell: bet your rest doesn't go any better than mine!
AA - I definitely can't face doing intervals at the moment so well done for the 800s!
Barry - continued frustration
O4S - I think summer colds can be worse than winter ones sometimes. Hope the doc visit goes well and you get some answers.
I had my second YKW victory in as many attempts on Saturday. I'm definitely glad I've moved on from Norwich even though the times are slower. This one was Thetford - great course on grass and tracks, lots of fun lapping places as there were some multiple loops of different sections. I was intending to race it but felt very comfortable sitting around 7.05-7.10 pace and saw a couple of ladies ahead of me so targeted them in the last mile which was a 6.51, and ended up 1st lady in 21.31. Another one I'll definitely do again - really friendly group.
Sunday was 17.5 miles LSR, and then 3 miles recovery Monday and 5 miles tempo this morning. Diss 10k on Sunday - I'm hopeful I can PB, which is a relatively soft target of 43.30 set about 7 or 8 years ago I think (it's not even on Po10 it's that long ago). Last year I did 44.17 on the back of my heel problems and I should be quicker than that as long as I don't go off too quick and blow to pieces which is always a possibility....
That said, I am still a bit cautious with my calf - it needs a good warm up before it loosens up. And my left glute and hamstring is giving me a bit of grief as well. But not slowing me down yet
O4S-what is it about hills that attracts cyclists?Are you all masochists...think we know the answer to that for you though
I suppose that is another way to rest from running.Good stuff.Hopefully the cardiologist will tell you that you have a heart of a 21 year old like mine did 
Free- your ykw time was not far off mine and I pushed mine a bit so you are looking good for that 10k-even pace is best. Are you doing Abbo? Maybe you havent fully recovered from VLM so far as the calf is concerned...Im thinking the same about myself and my niggles.A massage yesterday helped.
AA-some good structured mixed training by you.Was that the longest run since your double marathon?
Still undecided on my choice for Sunday assuming I can still upgrade on Friday/Saturday when I collect my number. If I decide on the full one I think I will give The Great North Swim on Friday a miss.Feeling very tired at the moment and my knees are throbbing a bit...hope its just taper blues.Curtailed swim club early last night after about 70 lengths which is a first.
.
Freemers - go smash that 10k! Are you autumn marathon running? Hope your calf is ok.
O4S - nope no tris planned this year, just a bit of summer training! Good luck with the quack tomorrow.
2old - yes my longest. Still averaging 8:47 for every long run regardless of how far!! Managed 7x800s this morning : 2@15.2, 3@15.4 and 2@15.6. Foot a bit nigfly now
O4S - that doesn't sound much of a recovery few weeks!!
chick - oh no. Hope you feel better soon. And your dad recovers ok.
2old - come on.....what you decided on?? Full or half???
nell - keep resting it will take longer than normal believe me.
Barry - how frustrating for you. But at least you're smashing the swimming and the bike.
continous training for me at the moment, 14 days on the trot in a post Dublin body rebellion! Couple of pond swims tIcked off, managed a 16.25 long run last week, a few trendy 5s, 13 mile "first session" on the road bike. Got the blessed 7x800s to tick off this morning!!
AA-patience patience...
Building up nicely there.
Felt extreme tiredness and aches and soreness last few days so apart from golf Tuesday done nothing at all.May do 7 with 2 at MP later .
So my choice is 2 mile Great North Swim Friday with Liverpool HM Sunday or Liverpool Marathon Sunday.... will decide tomorrow.