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P&D Autumn Marathon 2017
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Strong and steady 8M JCG.
John hope the niggle stays away.
Great news Macca there'll be a parkrun so close. Mine is 2.5M away (lucky really), but I have cut it very close and even missed the start a couple of times. Mind you, with yours being only half a mile away I'd be tended to leave even later.
20M along the Chester canal this morning. A crane buddied up with me for 8M, repeatedly flying 50m ahead, having a sit down and then taking off again when I approached. At one with nature.
A very surprising 70M run week with a cheeky bike ride thrown in too.
Anyone else race this morn?
Yes, was a bit of a mental challenge. Managed the first 13 miles in 1:35 as conditions were still relatively good underfoot. The second half seemed like the same effort level but about a minute a mile slower as sliding all over the place.
Joe - That's a real bugger of a day. So unlucky. The post crash feeling of just wanting to lie down for a bit in a hedge sums it up I guess. With a good run, at least you know your body is up to the task, it's just your equipment that gave you problems. I'm sure it'll be a different story for Wales.
Millsy - Well done in tough conditions.
SQ - I enjoyed following your overseas exploits on Strava. Well done on the big week.
Anyway, back to the grindstone, work and running wise.
Millsy: great racing in difficult conditions
Macca: hope the shin is ok and it was just down to new shoes. Don't need scares like that!
SQ: nice 70 mile week
P&D 12 week plan starts for me today for Abingdon marathon. Going to be interesting doing 12w instead of 18w. Have got 8mi with 4@LT planned for later. Havent done one of those sessions since March so its going to be messy I think!
SQ - Are you sure you weren't hallucinating the crane? Sounds lovely either way.
10miles for me yesterday, I've finally broken through - it was the first run to feel comfortable. Strange given it is the longest yet, but I'll take it. Count me in as a solid yes for Abingdon.
First week of taper for me, 13.1 miles on Saturday (7:50 average pace) and then Sunday morning/afternoon was spent visiting checkpoints with the GF to work out where parking is etc so she can see me during the ultra and bring extra supplies if needed! Got home Sunday evening to do another 8 miles, sort of turned into a progression run after 3 miles, so decided to keep increasing the pace, however at 7 miles I'd hit a planned MP and didn't want to go faster, so had a mile cool down. Splits were 8:18/8:06/7:48/7:33/7:24/7:03/6:48/7:59. That finished off a big July for me, with 268 miles, 50 miles more than I have ever run in a month before!
Fort William Marathon for me yesterday. My intention was to go out and run for pleasure and that I certainly did. Loved the course - first time I've done a largely off-road race and the scenery was beautiful!
Having spent Saturday stressing about the amount of torrential rain that was falling, I woke to find it fine on Sunday. Set out slowly as the first few miles were gradually uphill on decent trails, but quite congested even in a small field. Chatted to other runners and this saw me through quite a bit.
Came to a halt around mile 6 as there was a big puddle across the path that saw a queue to get up and around it. Retrospectively I should have just gone through it as the leap of faith onto something green just turned out to be a boggy wet mush which soaked my feet anyway!
More undulations, some single track trails, a wee bit of a single track road, along the canal path for 6 miles (some folks find it boring but I loved it). This was the halfway point and where I started to pick up the pace, steadily passing people all the way to the finish. It's also where the rain started and I finished soaked through.
Having started conservatively I loved the last few uphill miles to the finish as I felt so strong! Everyone around me was slowing and I just kept pushing. Around this point I realised that sub 4 was happening if I kept running.
Delighted (overwhelmed) when I came up to the Nevis Range car park and realised I had a PB in the bag! Still can't quite believe it!
Overall finish time: 3:42:38
(8th marathon and toughest course I've done)
Splits: 9:55, 8:56, 8:50, 9:24, 8:34, 8:33, 9:29, 8:35, 8:52, 9:03, 9:18, 8:19, 7:46, 8:36, 7:59, 8:05, 8:01, 8:09, 8:01, 8:00, 7:57, 7:48, 7:56, 8:09, 8:14, 8:31, 1:39
Clag, that sounds like a race that would be right up my street. Well done on the strong finish and well under 4.
Good to see some of the Abingdon P+D training starting this week. That first week LT session is always a killer.
Enjoy the taper SteveMac. And cracking monthly mileage.
Nice 10m JCG.
Good call all on the easy week, HA. And nice to see straight back into it on your return. Sorry for the endless strava photos, it was just really fun to run in new locations. The novelty and enjoyment definitely took precedence over pace and effort.
Tired after a post BBQ dodgy stomach so binned yesterday's recovery early. Plan to do session with 18 mins at MP, 4 x 4 mins threshold, 18 MP at some point today.
Well done Millsy on the "not flat out" Dorset Invader.
SQ -.ironic you come home and get a dodgy stomache, hope it settles.
Welcome back HA.
Well done on the mileage Stevemac, nail that taper now !
Easy week here ahead of the NDW.
Macca: Good luck for the NDW. 100 milers are old hat for you now Macca!!
Has anyone hear about NE's ultra - I think it was last weekend? Sorry if I've missed the post!
First P&D session last night of the 12 week plan. 8 miles with 4@LT pace. Averaged just under 7min/mile which isn't bad after not doing anything like this for a while. Recovery 4 miles this morning. Good to be off and running and back on plan again. I like the structure.
I might write a detailed race report for myself and post it in case anyone remains interested in such detail in a couple of weeks time... but I'm on holiday with limited WiFi options... and so I'll just give an abridged version to tell you that I had a largely great day but in the end it was a DNF. However, I know what I've got to do to improve. As a newbie, there were a few bits of preparation I didn't do well enough. Not physical... I'm sure I would have completed the tough 75 mile course... but an ultra is about more than running. I had thought about my navigation and my technology (watch and phone)... but had not done this quite well enough.
I ultimately got to about the 68/69 mile point (although, I ran quite a lot more than that to get to that point!). With the first 60 miles following the coastal path around the peninsular, I was always pretty confident that if I could get to that 60 mile checkpoint before the cut off time of 00:30, then I'd surely manage the remaining 15m in the remaining 4.5hrs, as it was net downhill and 13m were on road.... with the last 2 miles down the beach........ Wrong.
Without going into detail... the bottom line is that after over 22 hours on the run, at 03:10am, I was on a dark country lane, on my own, and unable to place where I was on the map. I convinced myself I was lost. It turns out that I was actually on the right road. If I'd have kept going for another mile and a half, I'd have reached a junction that I was looking for (and would have recognised) and would surely have made the final check point at 70.5 miles with some time to spare. I was really exhausted but I hope I'd have dug out some energy to do the last 4.5 in the remaining approx 80 minutes, but it was by no means a sure thing, and anyway, I'll never know.
So a bit gutting to get so close. But right now, my overall feeling is one of pride... and shear enjoyment. 72 had started the event. 42 finished. I think I was one of only two DNFs who reached the 65m checkpoint... and as I'd got there first, I'll claim the "honour" of being best non-finisher! Not a bad effort for a first ultra.
Great race. Fantastic scenery. Wonderful people. Lovely to hear Welsh spoken everywhere as a first language (even though I understand barely a word). I won't be hasty with my decision... but there's a fair chance I'll be back for the Pen Llyn ultra next year.
No time to read back on what you've all been doing... will do after the hol.
Not much to report here. Been up in Cumbria for almost a week working at a festival so hardly ran at all. When I did I was rubbish - still. I revisited Penrith parkrun & struggled to finish inside 21 minutes whereas last year I came in in 19:02. Slight course change in the interim, slightly long but certainly not that significant. Had a great day on the bike Sunday though tackling Kirkstone & Honister the other way round to TriX + managed a massive PB up Whinlatter.
Clag - Congrats on the PB on a tough course.
Macca - Good luck at NDW!
NE - 70 miles for your first ultra is an amazing effort. You were unlucky with the navigation, and I think the 42 finishers out of 72 starters shows how tough the course was!! You'll be back to get revenge I'm sure!
4 mile recovery for me today. Planning to attempt a Parkrun PB on Saturday, reason being I want to see where I am pace wise and because a week out won't really affect my ultra anyway, but due to tapering my legs should be fresh...well that's the plan!
Good effort on the PB Clag.
Welcome back HA, your stupid fartlek session hurt my hamstring
AWC - Well done for getting us back on topic, it's been a while since I saw talk of a proper P&D session!
Well done on your comeback Coop, sounds like you're slowly getting back into it.
Wednesday calls for a 'Lactate threshold 10mi w/ 5mi @ 15K to HM pace'.
My question is this: my understanding of lactate threshold is that it's approximately your 10K pace, so is this calling for 5 miles at 10K pace followed by 5 at 15K to HM pace, or am I misunderstanding it?
My tempo run training pace is almost bang on 5m/Km, i.e. just over 8 minutes per mile. Is that the same thing as my lactate threshold pace, or is it just that they tend to correlate?
Just wanted to check I have understood tomorrow's training properly. My paces are calculated using my HM PB (rounded down to the next lowest minute). Thanks.
jtced - my understanding is that LT is between HM and 10M pace. So certainly slower than 10k. So for that session I would do 5M easy then 5M at HM pace. I find HM pace during training is absolutely balls out and bloody hard to get close to.
Did the planned session at lunchtime. Perhaps a little dehydrated and hungry (getting the excuses in early). 2M warm up - nailed it. 18min MP - 6:30s so optimistically spot on. 4 x 4 mins hard with 2 mins rest - 6:37. Slower than MP, oh dear. 18 mins MP - 7:03s. Oh dear oh dear. Gross miss pacing. Never mind, a session in the bank albeit at the wrong paces.
jtced - iirc in theory LT pace is what you can just about manage for an hour. So the 10 w 5@LT will be a good warm up, maybe 2 or 3 miles, 5 "quick" then a warm down to make 10m in total. I tend to aim for a pace I think I can hold for the 5 miles, I would struggle to reach HM pace in training.
Reg - hope the hamstring is OK, it's a deceptively tough session!
My shin is a bit of a puzzle. Recovery on Mon was fine but then started to feel a bit of dull pain in the evening so decided to take Tues off. This morning it felt fine and managed one of the best 15 miles in a long time. Now there is a little niggle there again but less than before. Maybe it's the shoes or maybe I should just rest until it feels normal.
Thanks Reg. Yes pace is faster than where I started the last training plan, and indeed about as fast as I ever got before Brighton for a LT run. Medium-long pace is also nice and speedy, so hopefully I’m starting from a good place and have plenty more to come. Nice work on the Mona fartlek, all the varying paces do indeed sound tough.
Welcome back Sorequads. Your travels looked amazing from the photos, although 31 teenagers with salmonella sounds like less fun!? Interested to see how you get on with the Steve Way sessions - some of them are monsters, but clearly they work based on what Steve achieved.
Great LT run SteveMac, and nice month of mileage.
JCG good to see you’re getting back in to things. Always nice after a break when you get over the hump and things “click”.
Hope the shin is nothing serious JohnOz.
Nice long run Macca.
That ultra (
) sounded tough Millsy, congrats on the 6th place.
Congrats on the PB on a tough course Clag, very impressive.
Epic effort NE, cannot even begin to imagine how tough it must have been thinking you were lost after 22 hours of running. You’re right to be proud, great attitude to have.
I had a great time on the Isle of Wight but a lack of sleep and a surplus of alcohol meant I missed my long run (I did attempt it on Saturday morning after a not quite as heavy night, but was feeling a bit light headed so binned it). I’m not too worried though as I still did two 13 milers and 70 miles total for the week.
Did another LT session this morning, 22 minutes, 4 minutes recovery, then 18 minutes. Managed a similar pace to last week, around ~6:30/mi, in similar miserable weather. Happy enough with these paces at the moment, especially during high mileage. Glad to read everyone else struggles to hit HM pace during training!
Nice LT Spoon. Glad to see you're well and truly back in the swing.
jcted - I agree with Macca on the LTs. I used to really try to hit HM pace but now I just go on when feels like HM effort.
I really like the look of those BAC sessions SQ. They look tough. I don't think I'll try to do them weekly but will try to work some into my Abingdon prep.
Did 8x400m with 200m float at lunch and was planning on doing the club track session tonight but the legs feel a bit toast. I might bin the track session and just try a few MP miles on my own. If I get into I might try a proper session.
It is the same hamstring issue as before, in fact I have had it off and on for a few years! It seems to be pretty small and hard to stretch. I should do some strengthening and find a stretch to get at it. Still I did a short run this morning to test and it tightened up a lot less than on Sunday. For some reason my stupid brain told me to do a few laps of the field taking in the obstacle course, the hurdles were set nice and low though
Maybe I only have myself to blame!
I got out last night, skipped the track and went up to the racecourse for my own session. After seeing SQs BAC session (18min MP, 4x4min LT, 18min MP) I was keen to try it out but thought I'd just see how I felt on the first MP section. As usual there was a pretty strong headwind on the uphill section which made paces a bit variable. Felt OK after the first MP section so carried on with the rest. Went pretty well really, I struggled on the ups, with the wind increasing through the session up to about 20mph I think, but managed to settle back into a good pace on the flats and downhills. Paces came out at 5:49, 5:41, 5:23, 5:44, 6:02 (tough one up the hill), 6:10. Happy with that at this stage. I feel like the hill sections are disproportionately harder when my legs are tired, which make it much easier to do these second sessions on the track. Only very easy stuff for the next few days.
Cracking LT session, Spoons. In total, that's a long time in the red zone.
Hope the hammy is holding up Reg. Solid comeback via an obstacle course!
Nice session HA. Impressive given the very hilly route. Really good to see there are a few Abingdoners - 11.5 weeks to go? Loads of time.
10M easy in the drizzle yesterday. Felt a bit rubbish - definitely feeling lingering effects of big last week and a few hard sessions in a short space. Will take it easy today and tomorrow before parkrun. The course has changed and there were a lot of PBs last week. Might have a crack, or instead seek a few MP miles in Sunday's long run.