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P&D spring marathon 2017
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I think a long race like that deserves a long report Macca! Amazing performance well done. Can’t even begin to imagine what 100 miles in a single day feels like. Other than horrendous?!
Congrats on the PB Steve. That’s a big chunk to take off, especially with no specific training. Nice work.
I managed to find the grass track SQ mentioned, which made my intervals session this morning a lot easier, so thanks for the tip. It was nice to be back to running ovals, and not having to worry about dodging dogs or obstinate pedestrians. Just did 3 x (200m, 200m, 400m) with equal distance recoveries. The legs responded well to going fast, but it felt like bloody hard work! Averaged 38s for the 200s, and 1:22 for the 400s, which isn’t too far from what I was doing on an all-weather track last summer, so not a bad start I suppose. Not sure how much faster an all-weather track is compared to grass? Might try wearing my spikes next time.
Ive had a week off from posting and running (almost) did a couple of short runs but came down with "flu-like" symptoms on Thursday. Felt good enough for a couple of short runs on Sunday and Monday but my body is still not showing signs of getting back into it.
Spent a lot of last week working out what cost me those 90 seconds at VLM. Was it congestion at the start, an unwillingness to really bury myself in the second half or too much racing in the build up. Probably a combination of all three but I really enjoyed all the build up races and that helped to keep a focus on training and keep it interesting. I did think about going for another PB attempt at Abingdon but have decided to put a marathon PB on the back burner for a while. I've got half a dozen local trail marathons and ultras planned for the rest of the year so will concentrate on them, loosely following the P&D mulitiple marathon schedules.
Ill definitely take up my GFA place for next year but will decide nearer the time if it will be my spring A race
am now due a read back of all the race reports and medal controversies.
Macca - incredible! And a cheeky surprise for the forum as well.
Steve - that's a solid PB and shows the marathon fitness paying off.
Spoons - good you found the track. It's definitely not as quick as a proper track, but as you say it pedestrian and traffic free. The groundsmen are experienced - so I can only hope it's accurately measured! I think grass would also have the added bonus of being a little easier to recover from.
Enjoy all the trail marathons and ultras, Millsy. I want to make a concerted effort to run on trails more this summer. Lighter mornings certainly help, and so an easy 6M on the river trail to the south of Worcester this morning. Beautiful weather.
Scott - great parkrunning, looks like you're quickly getting back into the swing of things.
OuchOuch - thanks very much, and of course you're welcome in here anytime. Just watch out for HA. He swings a massive sandbag around his head trying to knock people out.
Tom - just give it some time mate, it can take a while. Just run when you feel like it for a couple of weeks and try and get some other stuff in you didn't have a chance to do during training. I'm sure you'll be flying again before you know it.
Tommo - very funny. I've got a spare pair of trunks you can borrow?
Spoons - that'll be you next year mate, we're on the same progress chart.
Macca - you're a sly one. Incredible stuff - can't wait to hear about it.
SteveMac - awesome PB and congrats on the first sub 40. Great negative split as well.
Millsy - don't beat yourself up mate, sometimes it doesn't quite come together on the day, but that won't always be the case. still a fantastic run. sounds like you've got plenty to look forward to moving forwards!
Thanks for all the kind words re; the blog. Really enjoyed writing it and still think I missed a load of stuff but I did take a bloody long time. Haha.
Can't believe how good my recovery has been. Ran 40 miles last week and after a night of boozing saturday decided to just go and run sunday morning and see what happened. Ignored the pace for the entire run, just making sure it was more than comfortable and that was 16 miles @ 7.10mm. 50 miles on the bike yesterday (got soaked). Motivation levels have never been higher. If only I could swim.
Get well soon Millsy.
Thanks for the welcome. With world record holders, runners just knocking out 100 mile runs and a number of SBCs seems I found a dangerous forum of mad men and women - could be a good home alongside the sub 3 one.
Macca - I would say unbelievable but you've just gone and done it.
You really did keep the Thames Path quiet Macca, legs must be battered now
Big PB over 10km Steve, nice one
Nice speed work RSR. Our training group does a mixture of grass/track sessions over the year and obviously the grass is much easier on the legs. But always good to get on the track for the proper short stuff like you did
You do seem to have recovered quickly Joe but don't be too keen to jump back on everything too quickly. The legs will appreciate some downtime before a big summer of racing
Sound's like you have enough races planned Millsy without needing to target another marathon
30mins easy today, achey legs so lots rolling and stretching tonight
Millsy - It's tough to know what would've made the difference in the race. I definitely agree that the racing keeps you motivated in the build up. What races do you have planned?
Spoon - I love a grass track session. More than anything else it reminds me of running I used to do as a kid on the school oval. Given the option, I'd do all track sessions on grass.
Great PB Steve.
7 miles easy yesterday and legs felt great, ticking over at a decent pace. I started thinking of a fastish finish or doing a bit more distance but about 3 miles in, a little bit of tightness in my calves let me know I'm not quite right yet. Will probably do something similar today.
Great 10k PB Steve. 90 secs is a decent chunk to take off!
Welcome Ouch Ouch, sounds like you will fit in here just fine.
HA, my race calendar for the summer is mainly local, hilly trail stuff. Giants Head Marathon (end of June) Dorset Invader Marathon (end of July) Salisbury 50k (August). Hoping for a high finish in all 3 but sometimes it depends who turns up on the day. I may get unlucky and Steve Way, Jez Bragg and a couple of the GB 100k team may make an appearance.
Have also got a 50 miler pencilled in for September.
Had to take the time to give Joe's blog a visit though, what a great read and it's clear how much you enjoyed the day. You must be absolutely brimming with confidence after a performance like that. Good luck with the triathlon season.
Also gave your review a read HA77, as you're running the times I'm aspiring to. To be honest, I'm not sure there's a lot I can take away from it. I don't think I would be able to get away with your Mon/Tues/Wed hard training block, I suspect it would be a sure fire injury in the making for me. I'm also confident I couldn't achieve a time like that on such low mileage, that coupled with the fact you were knocking out 72 min half marathons at 17 tells me you're rather naturally talented. Very impressive sessions and the Wednesday Canova style doubles blow me away.
Well done on the 100 miler Macca, look forward to the report.
Alan - It is funny how everyone responds differently to training. I look at your mileage and think there's no way I could keep that up without falling to bits. I think I also enjoy the tempo type runs so end up doing more of them. Any improvement on the injury front? Really hope you get over it soon and you're back running as fast as ever.
Just and easy 6 miles for me today.
13 miles for me tonight. Legs feeling much better.
Happy Star Wars day everyone.
You’re absolutely spot on HA77, it’s just about finding what works for you. I’m still trying to figure that out for myself, it’s clear the big mileage makes a massive difference. I know how good shape I was in there before I got injured, I just didn’t get the chance to prove it unfortunately. Planning to come back a little lighter on the mileage this time and hopefully convince myself to concentrate a bit more on strengthening the legs and core (I say this after every injury).
Injury is improving thankfully. It was my achilles, never had a problem there before but suspect it was from doing my grass runs in spikes. The week I got injured was really windy so suspect I was just a little over-tired and running on spikes on very tired legs led to too much strain on the tendon. I gave it nearly 3 weeks of no running which seems to have done the trick. Lots of eccentric exercises the last few days and plan to continue them for a while. I tried a run on Tuesday and it went pretty well, no pain but the achilles just felt quite weak. Everything felt ok yesterday so tried a run again, a bit longer this time but with the same results. So back running but just being cautious for the time being.
Jooligan - nice racing. As Reg says, I think you're being slightly modest about 'your triathlon'. Heard it's mean to be absolutely brutal..
OuchOuch - great to hear the motivation is coming back so quickly, I reckon with a few weeks decent training you'll go really well in Exeter.
Race 1 of 3 in the Wimbledon trail series last night. Made the decision to just train through them, so no specific resting up in the days before/I did a 25 mile cycle in the morning. 5 miles, pretty undulating, some nasty little hills and lots of twisty, turny narrow trail. Nice to forget about pace and just race, had a right ding-dong with a chap in the last mile and managed to pull away with 500m to go but I was absolutely done at the end - 5th place and 5 miles @ 5.50mm.
Going for a drink with HA tonight. Will cram in some revision today ready for the test on his marathon notes. I'll counter with boring triathlon chat.
Also well done on the massive PB SteveMac and well done Jooligan for getting out racing again so soon after London.
Joe - your recovery is very impressive, even with the boozing. Mmmmm, booze. Good racing and always great to get off the road and forget mile splits. Just smash yourself up
Nice race plan, Millsy. And an impressive 13M. I'm considering getting on the hilly trails for 10 or so miles this Sunday morning. Might even limit the OCD to not finishing on precisely 10.0.
Back into the swing of multiple races, Jooligan. Hope you're beginning to feel recovered.
Hope the Achilles recovers soon, Alan.
On the Wattbike yesterday morning for an hour with a few efforts, but nothing overly zealous. Then 7M easy this morning round Cheltenham Racecourse. Love the light early mornings. Although the opening few minutes of Marathon Talk had me blubbing.
So... when does the autumn thread start? Only joking, really trying to just enjoy running for its own sake at the moment and not look too far ahead.
Reg had the honour of starting this one. Maybe it should be HA for the autumn..
Jooligan - Straight back in. I wouldn't expect any different. Great stuff.
SQ - I'm heavily into planning for summer / autumn. I can't wait. Trying to work out what to do over summer. Maybe find a HM and try to get my sub 72, or try to get out to a trail marathon like Millsy, or both.
10 miles with a few strides today. Felt good. I think I will hold back a bit next week again but back doing some hard runs the following week.
Is there a point to setting up a new thread each season? I guess it may induce more contributors?
Macca - astounded at your powers of recovery and endurance, that's a fantastic time for anyone to do 100m, let alone when you've done 2 fast marathons as a warm up/taper!
Great to get that sub40 SteveMac. Great racing already from Jooligan.
I've got a 10k tomorrow, maybe one of the fastest in Australia as last year over 250 runners went sub 40. Hoping to get sub 38 but will have to see if I have recovered enough aerobically from Boston, I haven't felt it on my runs this week but it may be the only chance I get this year to have a proper crack.
Anyone watching the Breaking2 attempt this weekend? Apparently starts at 4.45am UK time on Sat (although a much more reasonable 1:45pm for me)
I thinking breaking 2 might be a bit early even for me. Might get up at 6.30 and watch the last 15 minutes. I think they'll run 2:01:36. Any other predictions?
Romantic meal for two down by the Thames with HA last night. We managed to talk about non-running matters for all of about 7 minutes. Was actually loads of fun.
Had an FTP test on the bike this morning. Won't bore the non-triathletes with the details, but I am the same as January but much lighter, so that means I'm better. Good news.
Impressive how quickly you’ve recovered Joe! Look forward to seeing what else you can achieve this year.
HA - yeah it reminded me a little of school PE lessons too, although my memories aren’t quite as fond lol! SQ - I don’t mind if it’s a bit slower, or even if it’s not 100% accurate, the main thing it’s repeatable. I also just love running laps for some strange reason.
Glad your injury seems to be heading in the right direction Alan.
Good luck for the 10K John.
I am curious to see how Breaking2 will unfold... not sure if I'm curious enough to get up at 4:45am though! I predict 2:01:4x assuming they don’t DNF. Can’t see sub-2 happening unless those shoes really are something incredible.
My heart rate finally seems to be settling down, although it’s still higher than “normal”. Heading in the right direction at least! I have the Bristol 10K on Sunday, no idea where I am for it. I think I might head out at 39:59 pace, and see what happens. Assuming I don’t spend all Saturday drinking in the sun like last year lol…