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LD - indeed, and nobody has yet determined the optimum cadence either....
Welcome back.
TT - that's a very random selection of activities over a few days at the end of last week! Why don't you stick to 70-80mpw for a while and then move on from there rather than trying to get up towards 100mpw? I expect the additional benefits from the extra miles are small anyway.
LD - I think I saw your name in some results recently (maybe my local parkrun) and wondered what you were up to!
5M with the dog this morning - really cold (for the south), even needed to wear a hat.
Morning All, bit more activity on the thread again, must be closing in on spring marathon training.
Great training and racing as always from Padams, PP, TT, RB & SL.
TT - 91 miles is a 'modest week'. That's some high standards you're setting there. I'm sure you'll get back to it soon.
Welcome back Lev and LD.
Impressive PB ES, good start to the spring build up!
As RB said, our race was cancelled on Saturday. Peculiarly I also opted for a 10 mile steady run instead. Saying that, the pace was in the steady zone but the effort and HR was more like a tempo. Had planned to do an easy 15 on Sunday but was feeling completely wiped out and cut it to 12. Felt steadily worse as Sunday went on and Monday was just as bad so took the day off. Felt better yesterday, tried a run and managed an easy 10k without issue so not sure what was going on. Still feeling very tired and a bit of a sore throat, will proceed with caution.
Sunday marked 4 weeks since the marathon. Been doing very little in that time, will be just under 140 miles for the month. Mostly plodding with one cross country race and one 10 mile steady effort. I’ve got the District Cross Country Champs on Sunday which will mark the end of the break and the start of the build up to London. Still deciding but at the moment it looks like I will try and follow a P&D plan for this marathon.
Laura Muir is back training at the park at the bottom of my street on Saturday mornings. We spent most of last winter doing similar sessions at the same time, I kept wanting to go over and see if she was up for some company but I fear she would look at my offer as purely fan-boy intentions.. which would be entirely true.
Thanks for the welcome backs! PP those days of the orange-vested thread duo making their way around Berlin seem like an age ago, but yes, I did put my name down for London - not sure I"m really up for it but wanted to give myself the option and not going to turn another thought to it for a couple of months at least.
TT, sounds like we're in similar positions...
Padams, I didn't clock the 5m result - great stuff.
My body's felt more than usually battered the last couple of days so I'm taking today and maybe also tomorrow off. Hips not moving freely and a bit of a swollen ankle for the last week or so. But I suppose that's what going from 13 miles in September to 100 miles in October to around 380 in November (easily the highest I've ever done, albeit all easy) will do...
(Oddly - and I'm writing this mainly as it's the sort of thing Charlie will doubtless have theories on - I've noticed that my cadence on runs is now up about 10 strides/minute higher than it's ever been (generally 178-182, which is kind of 5-10k race cadence - my usual easy run cadence has tended to be around 170 tops). Clearly, the is because I have no stride length and am not moving freely at all through the hips - but is strange as I've never managed to keep high cadence going before even when trying it on recovery runs. Might be a good thing longer term I don't know.)
RB - Solid running. Can you take this cold weather back up north please? x
TT - 91 miles! That's a bit more than I've managed since about August last year.
My Raynaud's got properly caught out last night at the track, despite preparing with double-glove strategy. With little warm-up and frost already appearing in the back straight (which doesn't get much sun during the day) I foolishly went with just glove-liners for the 2M @ MP so that I could operate the Garmin for splits. Ugh! Apart from painful fingers, the other effect of the cold was to numb my feet and I'm pretty sure this affected my pace judgement as I literally couldn't feel how I was running. Metronome broken! First lap nearly 5 seconds too slow, net result was overcompensation for overall "MP" mile splits of 5:44/5:34, followed immediately by a quick jog to the changing room to get some life back into my hands (painfully). I donned the lobster mitts over the glove-liners for 16 x 400, which meant not taking splits but also worked a treat. Going by other people's splits these averaged 75/76. Not lightning but at least my fingers didn't fall off.
LD - good to hear from you. What's the target?
Padams - coincidentally 4 out of the next 5 weeks are down as ~80m as it happens, so we're thinking along similar lines. The dog is ok then?
AlanB - modest by previous standards. A flipping lot by current!!
PP - our track tends to get more icy as the session goes on for some reason (I'd have thought the impact of a lot of people running would prevent it freezing over as much), so I suspect I'll be in a similar situation to you, tonight. Good session in the circumstances!
And the problem with the 91 (aside from it being too much for now) is that I have little to no consistency, so the 3 weeks before the 81/91 totalled 106! As we know, consistency generally trumps random high weeks.
SL -- good luck! Do you need an official calibration certificate for your treadmill to qualify for the record?
RB -- I just bought yet another Alpkit Gamma headtorch for £17 or something. It has a minor design problem with the battery compartment lid but I know to avoid that. The thing that sets it apart for me is having a rear red light (which I have flashing) so I don't get mown down from behind by cyclists in the dark on the busway path I commute along -- same applies to cars on lanes of course. And I use rechargeables in it (though a slip of paper included says that invalidates the warranty, don't see why).
Lev -- your new cadence does sound closer to what I've seen elites do on the telly (180ish), so it might well be a good thing. Mine still gets a bit high sometimes, but not over 200 like it used to be.
PP -- stats impressive. My hands got so cold cycling to work this morning that I felt a bit peculiar and had to sit down for a bit when chatting to people, maybe just from pain as they warmed up.
Did a tempo tune-up yesterday (but so bundled up it came out very slow for HR) and an easy run home, rest today, smaller tune-ups due for the rest of the week, then the Bedford half on Sunday. After that I might have a bit of a running chill-out for a week or two before the Brass Monkey/Cambridge Half/VLM training begins.
Padams - yup, I did the St Albans parkrun prior to the big match at Luton Town (Luton v Accrington Stanley). Enjoyed the run.
TT - I remembered to enter London this year, so there's that but I think I may concentrate efforts at the Brescia Marathon instead. Long standing leg injury has gone and I'm back to 80 mpw. At the moment I'm just getting some miles in, doing a parkrun on a saturday and not really arsed about anything else.
TT - yes, she's fine. I expect she just trod on something when haring around the garden.
CW - I decided to drive to work today rather than cycle due to the cold. Unfortunately that meant that it took twice as long to get here and will probably be similar going home!
LD - thought so. It stuck in my memory as your parkrun name is actually "Lord Didsbury", which stood out when I looked at the results!
PP - interesting, that your metronome seems to depend on your brain knowing how often your feet hit the ground. Great session anyway!
I tried a test run on the ankle today. It was OK at first but after a few miles I got pain in what I think are the peroneal tendons. I guess they are compensating for the ligaments being a bit weaker after rolling my ankle. I cut the run short anyway. Back on the bench for a bit I think.
In other news, I got my place for Berlin confirmed today. So that's two targets for next year - Boston and Berlin!
ES - Actually, looking at the Garmin stats afterwards I now think it was also due to not having warmed up properly. (I rode my bike to track rather than the usual 3 mile jog, got there bit later than planned so only a lap warm-up before MP.) For both miles, cadence was identical at 185, so it obviously felt right but it took a while for my stride to get going. I find cadence correlates very strongly with pace, with easy pace being in the 170s, MP mid 180s, 5k about 188.
Congrats on Berlin! Cracking race, that.
HH
PP - no thanks, you can keep it, you're very welcome
LD - welcome back matey. WE just need njord, Gold Rush, Crab, Gobi and Dull to come back. Amongst others.
CW - I had one of those, but it's not bright enough for the night-time trail running I will (hopefully) be doing. Same with a Silva Trail Runner. This new one looks the dogs, but due to arrive tomorrow.
TT - what others say - NICE mileage!
ES - good targets, enjoy!
CW - I'm unsure on the need for a certificate, but I do need to provide evidence it's been correctly calibrated, I have asked if this evidence needs to be video, photographic or written. The official guidelines leave it open to interpretation. How do you "measure" whether these heat tempo sessions are a success or not?
TT - how are you feeling with the step up in mileage?
ES - Very jealous of you running Boston, it's on my bucket list.
AlanB - go for it, she might like the company.
PP - Looks like a good session (apart from the freezing hands)
12.5K @3.33/K, legs feel good but the family is ill, time to crack out the beetroot (just for you LD), vitamin C, turmeric shot, Deer spunk and whatever else is flavour of the month!!!
SL - Poor old Rudolph!
Good luck avoiding the lurgy. (And get well, SL clan!)
Oh jeez, it's December!
(...where are the festive emoticons? I want a hat.)
Monthly stats for November:
Running miles: 305 (yay!)
Cycling miles: 120
Exercise time: 44 hours
Races: 1 x road, 2 x XC
Winnings: £50, a bag and a beanie.
Great news on the leg injury LD. Decent gap between Brescia and London so you could knock out a strong run in both.
RB - mileage is not too shabby but there's definitely a (re) learning curve to it all - ability doesn't match expectations at the moment. It'll come.
SL - it has been a bit of a struggle tbh. I'm getting stronger, definitely, but my body is not up to anything near the mileage of old yet. The tendons in my feet no longer hurt when I run so I'm obviously getting used to it again.
I'm planning on trying to consolidate around 80 for 4 of the next 5 weeks (I don't have the kids Christmas Day so that week will probably be bigger) rather than aim higher, and then push on from there. Good luck avoiding the lurgy!
PP - nice training volume!!!
November stats:
Mileage: 284
Pace: 7:22
Days off: 7
Only 1 weights session - aim for December is to rebuild core and weights stuff back in properly, and aim for consistency all around.
Had a solid track session last night which makes 2 in a row. Session was 1600m, 3 x 2km, all off of 1 lap jogs. I've revised my training paces* so was aiming for 87s per lap (5:50 per mile) which is estimated current HM pace (so 5:48 & 7:15 as the aim).
Most of it in lane 2 (or 3) due to the inside lane being a bit slippery, but 5:48 for the 1600, then the 2km in 7:13, 7:08 and 6:55. Happy with that for now.
* not sure I necessarily have the endurance to race at those paces yet, but for training purposes they feel about right, if the difference makes sense?
PP.. as a fellow Rynauds sufferer I feel your pain! Best gloves I've found are EDZ merino wool.,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edz-Merino-Wool-Liner-Gloves/dp/B01JMQ5KWK
In most conditions one pair is sufficient, I sometimes put 2 pairs on when the temp dips near freezing or when wind chill is a factor. Superior to any of the chunkier padded gloves I've tried. Thin enough to allow operation of Garmins, head torches etc.
Good to see Dids back to join me in the senior codger ranks. We probably need one or two from Dull, Running Bear, Tom to return to enable a Saga styled thread day out.
November stats:
Miles: 130 (more than half with the dog)
Average pace: around 7:15 m/m
Cycling miles: 80
Total hours: 20
Nothing much to write home about, but a decent 5M time last weekend and won an XC race.
4M this morning with the dog - needed hat and gloves but still in shorts! Should make it out for 6M at lunchtime.
SL -- I can't tell if the overheated sessions have helped me. Race Jase is continuing to do them (on the treadmill which makes them possible in winter!), let's see if it works wonders for him. I had a couple of surprisingly good 10Ks this summer after VLM training which had both some big miles weeks and heat acclimatisation, but I can't disentangle what effects different training components had.
On PP's cadence vs pace, I've noticed my Garmin does a surprisingly good job of estimating distance in "indoor" mode, when it must just be counting strides (but taking account of cadence too I guess), so maybe it learns that relationship for an individual when the GPS is in use.
RB -- maybe my Gamma head torch is brighter than it's supposed to be because I'm using guarantee-voiding NiMH batteries in it, which have lower internal resistance, so more current can go through the LED if it's not properly regulated... they do seem to vary a bit though, in beam pattern too.
A little taper tune-up this morning, disappointingly slow but there were a couple of icy corners to teeter round, and a dead 180 turn. Couldn't use my usual park lap because they're upgrading some of the rought bits of it -- can't complain about that! Two pairs of gloves for my bike to work today, which worked well -- my hands hurt like hell yesterday after riding in.
SL - First Defence, echinacea, face mask, surgical gloves, gel handwash......
Being slow in the taper is fine Charlie.
TT - nice track session, and the progression in the 2k rep times is very encouraging.
SL - best of luck avoiding the lurgy. Just to say that although Boston is on your bucket list, breaking a treadmill world record isn't on mine
.
Yay - stats day!
November stats:
Running: 178 miles (21h31)
Pace: 7:15 min/mi
Races: 3
PB's: 1 (5M)
Bling: none.
More XT today as I'm resting the ankle. 45 mins on the elliptical.
HH
Only interesting stat I have is that this morning's commute run took me to EXACTLY 3000miles for the year. And I mean, EXACTLY. Wasn't even planned.
Chapeau, RB. I've never made it to 3000 for a year.
Lev - hopefully an approach of easy running will help injury proof you a bit, ven when you reduced the run frequency you were still doing hard sessions on the "on" days. That crazy build back up won't have done you a lot of good though.
hope SL gets in the record books
some big totals coming in there.
Sept running miles = 0
Oct running miles = 0
Nov running miles = 0
Dec running miles = 5 !!!!
I hadnt been having any groin/abdomen issues lately, had a day off work y'day and a bit of spare time so I brought the test run forward from Jan 1st. No PF issues (the way to get rid of PF is to stop for a few months - but I always knew thats what it would take) and the stomach issue isnt gone but its much improved, it was sore by the end of 5 Miles, but was ok after and is ok now, so if I keep up the strength work, and it keeps improving, I might be able to introduce 2 or 3 short runs a week and see how it goes.
Sounds like good news TR.
OuchOuch, Warm weather running in January, sounds good to me!
TR, glad to hear the test run was OK.
I ran the Olympic Park 10K again yesterday (they do one every month). Goodness knows why I thought I'd get a PB, it's far from being a PB course. After last week's 5M PB though I thought I might have a shot. But it was not to be, despite putting in the effort, I finished 20s slower than I did at my first attempt round the park. 38:09. Still, I am enjoying getting in a few races before knuckling down to Boston training in two weeks. Just the MK Half next week and then I'm done, except perhaps a Christmassy fun run or parkrun over the holidays.
15M today.
TR - Good luck getting back to it. A few weeks of consistent consistency should get some potatoes back in your toothpaste tube.
OO - Welcome back! Get some dune running done in GC.
ES - Solid time, and a PB waiting for a quick course.
More XC fun at the weekend. Sort of mini-tapered with a 4M tempo run on Thursday, then Saturday was the Kent Vets' champs around a mainly flat field in Dartford, just the odd sharp slope to break up the rhythm, but a fast, firm course. Main aim was to challenge for a medal, i.e. at least one place better than last year. Our best guy was a likely contender despite being far from fully fit due to recent injury, and there was a new just-turned-40 whippersnapper who beat me for victory in a 5k last year.
For the first half mile or so there was a lead group of at least 6 well packed, but as things thinned out, these two guys ran together at the front, I kept them in my sights and steadily built a bit of a gap to 4th/5th behind me (including a former national XC silver medalist.) I managed to stay in touch most of the way round and the gap was only about 5 seconds well into the second half of the race, but on the final lap of four they wound things up a bit, and I resigned myself to staying strong enough to hold on to third place. My club mate was pipped on the line by the other guy who had spent 90% of the race sitting on his shoulder, I ended up 23 seconds clear of fourth, and we defended our team title (four to score). 5:34/m for 5.5 miles, one of my faster XC paces. Very pleased with the race, and looking forward to the Southern Vets' XC next week, although the competition will be a bit stiffer. A very pleasant 15 miles yesterday through the woods.
PP - very nice run, and you can say you beat a 13:54 5000m runner!
TR - good news! I bet you'll find the running comes back quite quickly as I expect you're still fit from everything else.
RB - 3,000M in a year is good going. Think I managed it once or twice and it was my benchmark for getting in very good shape.
OO - welcome back! Which marathon(s) are you aiming for, and what sort of shape are you in at the moment?
Chiltern League XC for me on Saturday. Was feeling a bit sore from our work Xmas footie on Friday evening, but once warmed up I felt fine. Got a bit stuck at the start and was back in about 40th place during the first mile but gradually moved forward, sheltering in a few groups before moving up to the next one. It was 5.5M consisting of 4M very flat and fast on grass fields, then a big downhill and then the hardest hill I've ever run in a race. It started with about 20 steps, and after those I was well into the red. Then it leveled off a bit (still probably about 10% gradient) before kicking up again for about 100m which must have been around 20%-25%. I was actually very close to being sick and felt a bit light-headed and one guy re-passed me. But I managed to take him again about 200m after the top and hung on to finish in 11th place, which is decent for me in that league (runners around me have been running 31:30-32:20 for 10k recently).
The winner was the guy who finished 1st off the Championship start at London. 2nd was my clubmate who won the 5M race last weekend in 24:5x. I was 59s behind him, so good to get within a minute of him.
Forgot to say, I also did a Santa run yesterday with the family and some friends (all dressed in Santa costumes). I did a lap (2.5k) on my own then caught Mrs Padams and mini-Padams on my second lap and did a lap and a bit with them. Good fun!
HH
OO!! Welcome back.
Super stuff TR, glad to see the miles coming back. Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey though.
Good racing PP and ES.
A weekend on the lash with he of the short legs and multi-coloured Mohawk and Caz. Many pints and German sausages were consumed. Possibly too many. So not too many miles, although a late night test run with the new headtorch - really superb lighting/beam, but needs a wee bit of adjustments to make it more stable. Battery may be an issue, but for an hour in the pitch black along the canal/unlit cycle path/trail/etc, £10.49 is a very fair price.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Powerful-LED-Headlight-Torch-6000LM-3x-XM-L-Waterproof-Rechargeable-T6-Headlamp/182211837407?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3D73f0870413834083a0276ea8d21e1a43%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D29%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D262285273021