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Shades Marathon Training
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Unlikely I would do DMV as I'd rather heal my hip flexor so I can run the Cornish. Have you made a decision yet on DMV?
Late lunch now, all that looking for bloody hotels
I expect I will do DMV. I did a 4-mile recovery run this morning and it was okay, but a very slight niggle in right ankle area. I'll run tomorrow and/or Wednesday and see how it is but if okay, I expect I'll enter DMV. I won't be worrying about a time though, and I'll walk that hill (twice)! RD has asked me to let him know either way by Thursday.
Shades - sorry you might have to DNS at Dublin, that’s annoying. But good that you have other options.
Hello to Cal! Good to hear from you! and glad things seem to be improving.
Big G/Shades - interesting comparison of Abingdon and VLM results. I think much of this is due to the 5 hour cut off for Abingdon which doesn’t exist for VLM, so proportionately Abingdon will of course have more faster runners. But I don’t think you can call VLM ‘slow’ versus Abingdon! The top 10 in VLM where all under 2:12, whereas the leader at Abingdon was only 2:29. So if you were a sub 2:30 runner, you’d have a lot more company at VLM where even the top 10 women were all faster than 2:29! In contrast, Abingdon seems to have only 2 sub-3 women (is that really correct?!) So although VLM does have loads of slow runners, it also attracts more fast runners than any other marathon in the UK!
I have to say I was quite surprised about Abingdon's lead runner being "only" 2:29. I checked results from previous years and that winning time wasn't particularly unusual. For VLM, were those top 10 non-elites do you know? I counted three sub-3 ladies at Abingdon, but again I was expecting more than that; not sure why that number/percentage is relatively low. I suppose in one way London is slow (because the average finish time is slow, even compared to something like Leiden), and certainly %s of sub-3s is low compared to Abingdon, but you're right that some of the the actual top end finish times are far quicker in London. If I get time I may have a better look at Chester and compare it to Abingdon/London, just out of curiosity. Do you have a sense of how many from your club take up their GFAs, just as a matter of interest, with it begin a London-based club?
SK - London has a lot of prize money, that's why there are so many faster runners at the top end. The lesser know elite such as some of the Kenyans will be able to live for a couple of years on what they'd win if they get a top ten finish at London, they get their expenses paid too, hotels and flights. I don't know if Abingdon pay out any prize money, I doubt it. London pays about $55k to the winner so the Kenyans are always desperate to try and get an invitation to run.
Nick - I stayed at the same hotel last year and they asked me to book direct for a better price, which they gave me. Of course I've probably paid the price for that as I would be the first to have a cancellation as if I'd booked through booking.com, which I normally do, they wouldn't have wanted the complaint. But it's the marathon, 20,000 runners and it's bank holiday weekend in Dublin, so the city hotels are always at a premium for this weekend. Funny I was looking at my hotel yesterday just to familiarise myself with check in times etc and I noticed they weren't taking any bookings on booking.com at the moment although they are still on the website. From what I can gather they were hoping to have the flooring re-laid after the flooding but have been told the floors need some time to dry out first.
Anyway I've been trawling the internet and I haven't cancelled anything yet. Did find a nice posh B & B in Dublin, same price as my original hotel but it's just too far out of the city and that would ruin my weekend. But although I'm sure my airport parking was non refundable I've just looked on the website and it's offered me a full refund. So I think I will transfer my flight to next April and go and do Connemara Ultra 22nd April which is great DD training and an amazing race, I was planning to do that in 2019 but am only too happy to bring that forward, it's a very special race.
I've resisted the temptation of obtaining a late entry to DMV
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First club run tonight and I really enjoyed it,it was a 2 mile warm up,then 6 loops of a local hill,and recovery on the way down,nothing too steep,33ft in 300mtrs so a nice run.Really happy that all 6 hill sprints were within 4 secs of each other,and didn't feel too bad.I'm going to go along on Wednesday for the track session and see how that goes.
Great mix of runners there tonight,one was a 2:35 marathon guy
Just as we were finishing the kids were starting their sessions,they were stupid fast,some speedy ones there.
Re lack of sub 3 women at Abingdon, I expect most went to Berlin or other more scenic marathons, but there aren't that many sub 3 women in the UK anyway.
Ian - it's a 4* guest house, I don't think you realise how full Dublin is this weekend. They haven't bumped me, the owner has offered to phone around all her contacts looking for a room for me and she did get a neighbouring hotel to hold their last room for me but they wanted €159 a night. I've stayed there before and know the owners, they asked me to book direct with them for this year and gave me a cheaper rate than last year so it wasn't like I'd grabbed a deal on a website, they set the price. I've tried several of the hotels own websites and most have no availability others are starting from €150 a night, room only.
Well done on your first club session, I laughed when I saw it was hill reps, just as well you love those hills now
Steven - join, it's great to be in a running club even if you can't make all the training sessions. I don't train with my club and haven't for years but I'll always run for a club. Of course I think your club membership is a lot more expensive in Scotland than most of our clubs down here.
Very mild, but windy here. Should have chosen short sleeved top was a bit warm, weird weather. Slight ache in hip flexor, back to Pilates today.
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Big G - my club don’t have a big number of GFA/champs runners but I’d say most of them who are eligible run London as it’s cheap and easy to get to and you always get lots of people you know supporting. Plus the club organise one of the fuel stations. I think it’s an obvious one to do in the UK if you are going for a really fast time as it’s fairly flat and you can be sure that you’ll have enough company to run with.
Fitness class last night was hard! But I seem to ache less the next day now, so I suppose that’s good.
Shades-Didnt realise how busy or dear it was race weekend.
You're spot on about the hills,but I was really controlled last night,I'm actually more worried about next Monday as it's fast downhill then recovery up.
Shades, I've got a place in Cornish, so I'll be there. I was 3rd on the reserve list, I thought I was likely to get a place. Have you mind up about Dublin yet?
Louey - Sorry to hear about your DNS, get well soon.
SK - Speedy parkrun!! Yes, I have a 10m PB from earlier in the year at Hook (1:06:57), on a hot day in May.
Anyway, not the best preparation for GSR as I was off work on Friday due to stomach issues!! Anyway, decided I was going to have a go on Sunday, so set off at my HM PB pace, as knew that would get me around in 1:05 so would be a PB. Didn't notice the wind for the first couple of miles and went through 5k in 20:16. Felt OK, so continued on and past 10k in 40:49 (5k split 20:33). My pace had started to drop off a bit after this point, but just by 5/10 seconds a mile compared to the opening few miles. However once I got back onto the seafront around 8 miles, I could definately feel the wind and it almost stopped me, my pace dropped significantly and I didn't have it in my legs to hold the pace. Went through 15k in 1:02:02 (5k split 21:33) and got over the finish line in 1:07:16.
Not a great time for me, but considering it was a week after a marathon I'm not to disapointed.
£26 is quite dear for a club membership but for a London club I expect that's very reasonable, fees are often dependent on facilities available.
At the moment my club has no annual fee, pay £30 when you join, that includes your club vest and then when there are any annual expenses such as affiliation they have a whip round, I think last year the members paid a couple of quid each. I think it's a lovely ethos to have, but we are Mavericks after all
Ian - downhills will be a tough session for you, but that's what you need to help build your leg strength. Downhill running is much harder to master than uphill running, don't run too hard just enough to test yourself but within your comfort range . A few months of these session and you'll never get leg cramps again in a marathon
Steve - that was very close to your PB and I'm sure if you hadn't been ill on Friday you would have nailed it, just as well it wasn't your marathon that weekend. Hope your GF had a good race. I watched it on telly and that last 2 miles does seem tough with the headwind.
Big G - great news you got a place in the Cornish, important DD preparation, I'll add it to the list tomorrow. I take it DMV is on the agenda too? Don't blame me if you have a bad run
I haven't cancelled Dublin yet but will, there's no decision to make, I'm not prepared to pay out another £200 for what would be inferior accommodation, so Connemara here I come
Tough Pilates class, our instructor is back from her holiday, I did tell her about my hip flexor so I was let off lightly but could still feel my hip flexor in quite a few of the exercises but in a good way, working it rather than pain.
Shades-Ive never really done fast downhill so that will be interesting to see how my legs react,if I can get rid of the cramps I'll be more confident of going out faster as it's always in the back of my mind.
8 miles this morning in blustery weather but glad to get out again,few weeks of building up again now.
Steve - there aren't enough good 10 miles races, you've been unlucky so far. On the telly at GSR they did say that it was very cold at the start and in the wind and of course the bigger the race the more standing around. Sorry to hear your GF had such a rough time. At Loch Ness it was very cold and windy at the start, one girl was wearing a fluffy dressing gown to keep warm, she did look rather ridiculous and got a lot of odd looks, but after a while we were looking at her in envy
Ian - you have to be very careful running downhill so take note of any coaching technique advice, very easy to injure yourself running too fast downhill, but practising gentle downhill will strengthen the quads which will in turn protect the knees.
Right, parking cancelled, full refund. Flight change done £80 + 16 pence for fare difference. I was hoping to go for 3 nights but the flights don't work out so will be 2 nights now, so have treated myself to 4 star hotel, with large double bed, large room with a spacious bathroom with a bath. Bath is important to me after a tough ultra
SteveMac - good race there in the circumstances. Sorry to hear about your GF though.
Shades, the Trotters is £24, but our membership includes access to The Rec, which I think the club subsidises a bit as well. It's extra on top for EA membership. As I say, I don't really use the coaching part of it, but I get a lot out of the club in other ways. It's funny as a couple of years ago I used to really enjoy the Wednesday sessions in particular, but this year I've done very few. I do keep my eyes open and if there's a 1K or 1M rep session around Brunel I try and make it, as I absolutely love that session. Really hard work, but a great workout and by far my favourite. That, and hill reps up Pitt Hill - it makes me breathless just thinking about it
Shades - shame about having to miss Dublin
A run with my Tuesday buddy today. We're building up slowly (we had got to the stage where we were doing much, much more walking and talking than running