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P&D spring marathon 2017
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Working in IT, I’ve been treated to some lovely office views. I think the best was my first job, where I worked in a windowless basement surrounded by 10 rather noisy servers.
Hope the foot is ok Joe, and the calf Scott. Talking of dropping computers on feet, my mangled big toe nail from that saga still hasn't dropped off, although it's now barely attached to the toe. I really thought the marathon might shift it, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon.
Great report Macca and an epic achievement. Sounds like such a tough challenge, both physically and mentally! Can you see yourself doing one again?
Macca – brilliant report. 8mm sounds punchy but you really pulled it off. Great idea to take a small bag and walk the mile following aid stations. Meat pasta, crisps, jelly babies, soup and coke sounds quite the rolling buffet. A yarn bombed bridge took some working out – bet it was a bit freaky with 71M in the legs. Bastard tree roots – I can imagine the smallest thing might piss you off after 18 hours. The dawn chorus must be truly uplifting. Seriously well done. I
am tempted to go for such a race, but don’t know how I would go about training for one. Other than the fact that you had previously raced 64M, did you do any specific training beyond P&D marathon training?
I've been unusually slow to get back in to the running. Only done 40M since VLM & nothing more than 8M. Knee feels worse if anything so not run since Saturday. On the plus side my bike legs are returning with a 20mph average return commute yesterday & the same in this morning.
Thanks for the comments guys, appreciated.
To answer a few questions, the recovery was ok. I took a couple of days off but by day 3 wanted to go for a run so I did. I made sure it was slow and short. My knees felt stiff and delicate to begin with but by the end of the run (4 to 5 miles) I felt much better. I've continued to cycle to and from work ( only 3m each way) which I think helps. For me, it didn't feel the same battering the body gets from a marathon, more of a complete draining, missing a complete night's sleep probably doesn't help that feeling. Thinking about it a bit more, I did feel irritable last week e.g. words with someone at the local petrol station (quite unlike me), getting stressed about going camping, thus defeating the object. I've raced or been away from home (sometimes both) for 4 of the last 5 weekends and it feels like either life has sped up or I've slowed down. I'm looking forward to a few weekends off although I've now got a home office to build in the garden starting tomorrow.
The next one is early June, the South Downs Way 100. Hopefully I'll be better prepared for the low/dip this time. This is the one I really wanted to do so I'm really looking forward to the scenery.
I seemed out of sync with most people around me, ie, I would pass people then have a walk break, they would pass me, then repeat. Everybody was friendly enough but there didn't seem to be anybody at my pace, run/walk strategy. I did speak to a top guy on the train to Richmond who had run the UTMB and qualified for Kona, needless to say, I didn't see him out on the course.
To anyone contemplating it, I would say go for it, although for these guys you need to run a 50miler to qualify to enter a 100miler. I've done 2 of their races and based on my experience would recommend them, they do 4x50m and 4x100m per year all in the south east.
I followed the P&D up to 70mpw to the letter for 9th April then ticked over to 29thApril. London aside, the longest run in those 3 weeks was 13m. IMHO, although not specific, the P&D up to 70 is enough to get round. I'm sure a specific plan would yield better results but I just couldn't find the time for a 30 mile training run at the weekend, bolted onto a 10-15 miler the day before/after.
Reading back, the end sounds a little flat. I have to say though that I'm chuffed to bits to finish in the top 30 out of 209 finishers and almost 300 starters.
if I was ever going to do one I think the South Downs 100 would be my first choice.
Had a bit of a mixed week here, our dog's heart issues had been getting a lot worse since Easter so he got bumped up the list for the experimental, life saving, surgery but he didn't survive the operation so the mood has been quite low in the Mills household since Monday.
Going to Cornwall for my Dads 70th birthday at the weekend and found out that a couple of my mates from school are doing the local clubs race. There are entries available on the day so I'll probably sign up for the marathon. It's supposed to be hilly.
Should be fun as will be untapered and on a stomach full of rich food. At least my mate who did 2:40 at London has to work so he can't beat me again.
Good to see you back to running Tom.
3rd week of not training for me. Gluteal tendinopathy says the physio and who am I to argue ?Gentle strengthening work is being undertaken with care not to aggravate the tendons.
* metres
Joe - hope the foot is better, good excuse to up the swimming.
Muddy - metres
The only 100milers I'd be keen to do would be really spectacular ones like UTMB or Lavaredo. Unfortunately you need to do a few 100ks first, which isn't going to happen for me!
Hope that glut problem settles soon Muddy so you can start training for the 100 and 200.
I really do need to just book in an Ultra at some point. That way I have to do it.
No running for me today. I have been roped into being the quizmaster for the school quiz tonight. Couple of marathon questions in there.
Sorry to hear about the dog Millsy-very sad for all of you. Hope you have a good weekend in Cornwall.
Hope all those niggles get sorted soon Scott, Muddy, Joe etc.
Have fun tonight HA or should I say "Quizmaster". I always avoid quiz nights (and other social events) at work....too many parents who just want to talk about their little darlings.
All this talk of Ultra's, 50 milers, 100 milers etc. has done nothing to change my opinion that they should be well and truly avoided. I have nothing but admiration for those who do them but they are definitely not for me and never will be.
A progressive 10 miler for me this morning. Legs are certainly lacking any zip and felt rather heavy so quite pleased that I managed 6:10 m/m avg (MP).
Enjoy your Friday!!
Have done a mini-ultra (34m) over Dartmoor which was great, could be tempted by a 50m slow scenic one next year.
I've never had a pet, well my dad got me a cat once. Turns out he had mice in his house and once the mice had gone, the cat mysteriously followed.....
6 miles this morning, the overnight rain seems to have weighed down all the tree branches and I spent a lot of the time ducking under tree stuff.
Tom - well and truly back then, is it the 10km next weekend? (don't think it's this..?)
HA - that'll be a load of questions about kangaroo's and boomerangs then
Work ramping up here as we've got the race tomorrow, so got out at not quite a Tom early 5.30am for a progressive 17 miler - it's much lumpier round here than I thought it'd be! Another beautiful run, love running through the F1 tunnel - albeit at a slightly slower pace. Foot still hurts slightly but getting better so choosing to ignore.
Tommo -
Muddy - you had me going there for a few moments.
Well done on the runs Tom, Reg and Joe.
Joe - will you be on TV tomorrow ? One of the "grid boys" ?
No running today for me, just wheelbarrowing 2 tonne of stones. Disappointed theres not an activity on Strava to capture it.
Anyone racing this weekend (for Jooligan, maybe are you not racing?)
Sorry to hear about your dog, Millsy. Very sad.
I like it when someone knows where they stand - good determination to never do an ultra. I did a 32M baby ultra a couple of years ago. Grossly underestimated it, undertrained, went to fast and grossly overheated. A very painful experience. Vowed to never repeat it... but am slowly getting the itch to put things right. I think doing it in an environment you think is beautiful is important - might as well enjoy yourself as much as possible.
Enjoying the Strava photos, Joe. Hope foot ok.
parkrun with the buggy followed by a dip in the lido to look forward to this morning. Then Tewkesbury Half tomorrow. Plan to run it semi 'naked'. I'll start my watch but then put it in a zipped pocket so I can't look at it during the race. Take off the self imposed pressure, but still get some Strava wanker analysis after.
Took delivery of the new racing flats. Jeez there's not much to them. Definitely haven't got the balls to wear them for a half without testing them out. I'll save them for a track session or parkrun.
Macca: brilliant report as ever and really inspiring for me especially with my first ultra next month
Tom: glad to see you are really back in the swing of things and no major after effects from London
Ultra training is in full swing with 27 miles (4:21) this morning on the South Downs Way from Queen Elizabeth Country Park to Winchester. Longest run I've ever done and lots of hills on trails. Still felt ok at the end of it which is a good thing if I'm going to run 53 miles at the end of June!
What I noticed that was different to marathon running was that towards the end my legs were painful in a different way. So at the end of a marathon your legs are full of lactate and heart rate is high and everything is sreaming at you. But today my heart rate was low and my legs didn't have that lactate burning feeling screaming at me apart from the hills. It was more of a dull ache each time I landed whuch made me want to stop running. Goodness knows how I will do 53 miles of that. Main thing is I loved every minute of it.
I personally feel that Joe needs to organise a P+D trip to Monaco, sure there's a yacht somewhere we could commandeer
Great report Macca, such a fantastic time! Can't imagine being on your feet for that long
Enjoy the weekend in Cornwall and the marathon Millsy. Sorry to hear about the dog
Hope the strengthening helps Muddy and you can get back to it as soon as possible
Saw that run on Strava AWC and it certainly had alot of hills. Look's like the ultra training is going well
Which 10km are you running tomorrow Tom?
Last few days for me has been spent at the gym on the spin bike and rowing machine. Today was 15min row and 50 minutes on the spin bike. Will have a chat with coach tonight and possibly see about seeing him tomorrow, it may be the calf or could be the achilles don't really know
Quizmastering went well last night. Plenty of aussie questions and a reminder of England not getting out of pool stages in rugby world cup went down well. Lots of teams got the question about swansea harriers in london marathon. Only a few knew significance of 261 at boston.
In comparison 5x1000m today left me a sweaty, stinking mess.
Today was my first tri of the season. Swim (800m in 13:50, 12th) & bike (32.2M & 2,800ft in 2hrs, 29th) were pretty much the same as last year but the run was slow (9M & 1,600ft in 1:28, 24th). I finished 22nd overall of 71 finishers (+1DNF) in 3:49
Millsy - How did you find the Imerys marathon? I live 10 miles away and it was pretty warm and then downpouring here?
Exeter marathon week for me - so just awaiting for the organisers to finalise the course and the start time! If wasn't feeling pretty relaxed about the whole thing could be cue for anxiety dreams on getting lost and missing the start (and forgetting your shorts!) 40m last week, with around 7m (at 10k/hm pace) and aiming for >2.55 and a first ever negative split.
Joe, nice pics up on Strava, a very cool place to get some training in.
SQ, nice shoes! Very minimal. Probably sensible not to try them out in the half? How did Tewksbury go? I think one of our club runners came first.
Jools, well done on the age category win.
AWC- which ultra are you training for?
I had quite a busy weekend travelling and running. Did my 50th parkrun on Saturday at Trelissick. Though I'd give it a proper go and ended up in 4th and happy to go sub 20 on a hilly course.
Hills were very much the theme of the weekend as I also got an on the day entry for the Imerys Marathon. Haven't gone into a long race untapered for a few years so knew it would be interesting as also just 3 weeks after London. Depending on who turned up I was hoping to finish somewhere between 5th and 10th. It was a very hilly, off-road route over the clay trails. Garmin came out at about 3,000 ft of climbing. Was in 6th for the first 10 or so miles but deep down I knew that I was probably being too ambitious with my pace. Hardly saw anyone between 10 and 17 miles where I got overtaken by a group but then managed to go past a few strugglers between 20 and 23 miles where it seemed to be either uphill or into a gale of wind. With a mile to go (all downhill) a marshal said I was in 10th so I hoped I could just hold onto this and dip under 3:30. A final sprint finish and no one went past and clocked 3:29:55 so very happy with that. Then went to the pub to see some mates that had done the half. Have just had a text from another mate who runs for the club who organises the race to say I won an age category award. Not quite sure how but I'll collect it off him next weekend when we are back down in Cornwall again.
Main lessons learnt from the weekend are to manage expectations when going into a race without ideal preparation and also you can lose the ability to succeed on the hills of you have spent all spring training on flat roads.
Good luck at the weekend ouchouch, how can it be so last minute though?
great to see tom back on it knocking out easy runs at my MP.
Congrats Jooligan on some strong racing in multiple disciplines.
Nice place for Joe's running, did you bump into an ex-F1 drivers doing a few intervals?
Macca, I really enjoyed your report and it made me really want to do an ultra.
Great running to all, I haven't been about for awhile and just skimmed back - very impressed by what I've read.
I have a slight confession.. if you remember back to me moaning about not recovering well from Manchester in time for London, and having a very tough race on the day, I can now tell you I knew perfectly well why that was.. I'm pregnant, due early December. I found out a week before Manchester. We've just had a scan and Banana Baby is doing well so I'm now allowed to tell people. So there won't be a lot to report from me running wise for the next little while, but I'll be lurking about living vicariously through you so please keep up the good work!
Casual 17M there, Tom. Impressive! 5 x 1k sounds filthy, Tommo. Would definitely need a group to get me up for that.
Jooligan that sounds really exciting. Despite being only two miles from home, that hadn’t crossed my radar. I would have watched otherwise. Are there any other 5000 or 10000 races there soon? I could be keen. Well done on the tri. Not surprised run was slow after a full gas 5k the day before. Sore calves?
Well done on the 50th, Millsy. A good hit out. And a great sounding marathon. Perfection really with sub 3:30 with seconds to spare, top ten overall and age group prize winner. Certainly know what you mean about hills having trained for a flat road spring marathon. I am trying to do at least one hilly session each week for the next month in advance of the Bourton Hilly Half.
JCG - congratulations! Great news. And how many world records holders can say they were pregnant at the time?!
Saturday morning saw a standard parkrun – me with the buggy and this week the wife planning to run easy alongside us. Despite starting to the right of the main field on the tarmac path, I managed to trio (get tripped?) very early as the masses converged. I went down to my right, but distressingly the buggy, with daughter strapped in, went left and ended up face down, with hundreds of runners converging on us. Other runners, especially frequent volunteers were brilliant, diverting people around us. Daughter (and me) fortunate to escape with only minor grazes, but a scare, especially for my wife. We sacked it off there and then. The run director, who we know well, was brilliant, and did say that with the now regular big numbers (550+) they were looking at alternative starts. It is difficult to know what to do as starting at the back is ridiculously slow, and then requires loads of overtaking – not easy with a buggy. But I guess I’ll go for this in the future and just truly relax on an easy run, with a spot of walking at the beginning.
Sunday saw the Tewkesbury Half. Opted to wear the NB Fresh Foam Zante 3s (marathon trainers) rather than the new feather light racers. The weather was warm, but with a strong headwind for the second half – not ideal. So, not wanting any self-imposed pressure, I started my watch then stuck it in the back pocket. Enough to enable data geekery post race, but not to get annoyed at when I realised how slowly I was running.
The route was partly dull and uninspiring, but then also glorious quiet Cotswold roads. I ran side by side with a Cleevedon runner until mile 10, when he pulled away on a long uphill. So a solo final 5k, which was not easy into the stiff wind. Slightly surprised to run 1:23:28, given I ran 1:22 on a hillier forest half earlier in the spring. But still – an enjoyable day out. I came 11/1000 so can’t complain. And whilst a little tired, the legs felt ok this morning. Millsy – the winner was miles ahead in 1:10 – he was off the front immediately and must have run the entire thing alone, albeit with a pace car to follow. I wonder if he felt like Kipchoge.
Targeting a specific time next weekend Tom?
Great work Jooligan, seems you are overcoming the injury. The fitness will return with some consistency!
Sub 3:30 for what was a very hilly offroad marathon sounds good going Millsy, how are the legs?
Blimey Rob, rather you than me doing a marathon round and round a track. Fantastic effort though and pleased you got the time you wanted
Congratulations JCG
Decent work at the half SQ!
30 miles on the bike yesterday, coach thinks I need to load the calf but is going to take a look at it when he can this week