Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Shades Marathon Training
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Cal - annoying Garmin failure, but well done on your best time since returning from injury
steven - I suppose Loch Ness is out then as it's the week after Berlin. If you don't want to cross the border I believe there is one at Strathearn in June, I haven't done that one. Or Fort William in July which is trail, not sure if that is midge season then.
I've had a small bowl of porridge and just waiting for daylight to go out for my run
Lovely conditions here too for running, still a bit chilly but very good. Had a most enjoyable run and on the way back I saw 2 bullfinches, haven't seen a bullfinch for about 15 years. Then a few yards further on I saw my kingfisher, sitting on a branch, so beautiful
On Friday I was feeling good and hardly felt the achilles all day but yesterday it was there most of the day.When I got my exercises they did say it may get worse as I'm stretching before it gets better so I'm hoping that's what it is.
Conditions here cold and grey - cold enough that I didn't want to take my gloves off, but not so cold that I needed a hat. My eyes and nose ran a lot, though. Bleh.
That aside, I had a great run. I had a rough idea that I wanted to run 12 miles, but couldn't decide whether I wanted to stick to laps of Tooting Common (safest option given that it's not too far to limp home if I need to cut the run short due to injury) or head up to Brockwell Park, where I did most of my marathon training runs last winter.
After two very cautious opening miles I decided I felt fine and headed for Brockwell. The route I take there (via Tooting Common) is quite indirect so it's well over 6 miles before I reach the park itself. Junior parkrun was happening when I got to the park and the lucky tots were coming down the hill I had to slog up. I just did one and a third laps this time (the third because I always exit via a different gate to the one I enter) before heading back the way I came. I actually felt pretty strong towards the end, so I decided to make it a half marathon.
In terms of speed, it's a hilly route so the uphill miles were slower than the downhills, but I got quicker overall towards the end. Slowest miles were 1 (11:23), 2 (11:00) and 5 (10:59 - the mile with the most climb) whereas fastest were 13 (10:01), 11 (10:11 - all downhill) and 12 (10:18 - fairly flat).
So, happy with that. And now I'm off to Yin yoga.
Cal - I've heard that blackbirds can have white patches, but haven't seen one. Definitely no parakeets down here, I remember seeing them in Richmond Park though, chattering away.
Run was OK, still feels more laboured than it should though.
Cal - sounds like a lovely route for your run. You’re getting fit again just in time for marathon training.
14 miles for me this morning not that cold however it was quite windy. Still trying to get used to my new Garmon 230 watch which in turn means my pacing is still a little to quick for my easy runs.
Glad you like your shoes. The colour is quite eye-shattering (but I like bright shoes too!)
Talking of which, my Nike Free Motions now have more than 600 miles on them. Given conventional wisdom says shoes should be changed after 500, I'm wondering if there's quite such a need with more minimal shoes like mine. It's not like there's a lot of structure or cushioning to wear down. I will likely change them before my second half (March) as they're looking a bit mucky, but other than that they seem fine, really.
Just finished a 6 miler, quite cold but nice conditions, hardly any wind, tomorrow is meant to be pretty wild and blustery.
Hope it's just a bit of tiredness and you're not coming down with something.
steven - the Fort William race gets good reviews. You need to slow down a bit and stop blaming the watch
Cal - alternate your shoes, so you don't run in the same shoes on consecutive days, you'll soon notice any difference if you think your shoes are past it. Or just keep them for your shorter runs and use the newer pairs for the longer distances.
Jugula - glad you managed to get out for your run.
Wet and windy here but temperature has shot up to 10 degrees
So nothing really to report I'm afraid. NYC marathon ballot opens today though - anyone interested?
Big G - good idea to ditch leading the club run if you're still not 100%.
I take it you're going to have a go at the NYC ballot then?;) How much is the entry fee? I know it's very pricey now. What are the chances of getting a ballot place?
Certainly a marathon to put on your 'to do' list, I went through a sports tour company and it wasn't cheap but it was brilliant and so well organised that it was worth every penny.
Funnily enough, I was looking at the odds. The site says this, so odds not great if I'm reading it correctly:
"After completing the Drawings for the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon, 16,211 runners were added to the field from a total of 98,247 applications. Approximately 17% of NYC-Metro Area Drawing applicants were selected (5,145 runners); approximately 17% of National Drawing applicants were selected (6,748 runners); and approximately 17% of International Drawing applicants were selected (4,318). Thus, the pool of runners accepted through the Drawings was made up of 31.7% NYC-Metro, 41.6% national and 26.6% international applicants".
I read somewhere that you need to budget about $1500-$2000 to make a decent weekend of it, if doing it on your own. More if via a company. The race itself is $358 so very expensive, but it is on my bucket list. However, this year, I will give the ballot a miss. I haven't got that in my running/holiday budget this year - maybe I need to avoid other foreign trips or ones that involve flights/hotels one year, and put it all into that one race and do it via a tour company. I've heard very good things about the companies. The thing is, you can do a lot with $2000 - I spent in that region for a whole month in Vietnam, including flights, tours, excursions, sights, travel in the country, hotels, food and drink! But NYC is definitely on the list, along with Berlin as the marathon majors.
When you consider London is about £50, it's a total bargain. They could charge a lot, lot more and still sell out - I'm glad they don't thought!
But I've been asked so many times if I've done or are planning to do Comrades but I wouldn't want to spend that amount of money on one race, it's not a race I've ever really wanted to do, would rather do Two Oceans if I was going to SA.
16 mile progression run on Saturday. First 8 miles averaged 8:25's then next 5 averaged 7:40's and last 3 (at around LT pace) were 6:39's. Last 3 I found really tough. Easy 4 mile recovery on Sunday for a 50 mile week. I actually found that progression run harder than a standard 20 mile long run!
Steve - it's worth not having to sort out race day logistics too and you can just enjoy the whole trip. Make sure you allow yourself as long as possible for the expo. When we went to the expo we spent a long time there and when we finally came out we were offered either a limo ride to a running store, or a minibus ride to another running store with a free lunch. We opted for the free lunch and when we got to the store there was a huge buffet set up and we could just stuff our faces, which we did. After that they politely ask you to look around the store, exchange rate was very favourable to us at the time so we bought some great gear.
That was a tough run, especially fasted.
Shades, sounds like you were well looked after!
Cal - well done getting back into parkruns over xmas
steven - sorry that your run got snowed off
SK - maybe your PBs in late 2017 were due to the base from marathon training in the early part of the year? Frozen fingers for an hour doesn't sound fun at all! It's something I suffer from a bit, normally ok once I get going if I have gloves on though.
MF/keith - sounds like you've both been in the wars again - MF terrible lucky you've had recently! Recover soon both of you!
Ian - don't worry I had to look up tartan track too - it's just "track" as far as I'm concerned!
Lots of 100MC chat - don't think I'm likely to get close to that many, I can sort of see some of the differing viewpoints and it is a difficult problem of inclusivity vs cheapening the achievement. On a smaller scale at our club you get an award each year for doing a race in 8 different distances. From memory there was a dispute last year as someone was told that doing the distance in a walking event didn't count, so he walked a running event instead (same event, different start time). Which is obviously not really in the spirit of things but you can't really have a rule to deal with it easily.
On medals - I've kept all the medals from all the races I've done, but the only ones I really like are the two marathon ones - London 2016 and Manchester 2017. I think they look really good. Some of the others are ok but many are just cheap tat. I don't like to throw them out though haha.
Right I'm going to give up trying to catch up before I post lol. Brief update on my running - not done loads only about once a week. Had a nice xmas, we were away the whole time until new years day. I forgot to take my watch charger so had to use my phone for the two runs I did, used the Strava app but it kept losing the GPS so don't have splits annoyingly. I did a 10 mile run on 28th Dec (my phone tracked it as 7.2 as it cut off a corner massively when it lost signal!) at a steady pace, kind of upper end of easy effort but maybe working a bit harder the last mile or two. Undulating road route with a big hill (approx 200 ft gain in a mile) near the middle. Came out about 7:50/mile average so very pleased with that. Then did 5 miles with the buggy on the 30th, easy pace which I've found is about 10 min miling with the buggy.
Since new year I've done a 5k lunch run at work in the first week back, then nothing till a 10k buggy run yesterday. Played squash a couple of times and been doing my normal cycling though, so probably in decent shape still. Hopefully get 2-3 runs in this week and try to get 3 a week in more consistently. If I don't manage it then I'll likely sack off my spring marathon plans.
I've looked at Chicago, expensive but a good one for a PB attempt whereas NY is a tougher course.
Welcome back Nick and Happy New Year to you too. Catching up on the thread must have taken some time!
Annoying your phone was cutting out for your runs. If you're up to 10 miles now that's a good start for your 2018 marathon plans.
Showers and a bit windy in places today, had a good run though. Colder weather coming in over the next couple of days, I do hope we escape the ice
Yes I was really pleased with how the 10 miler went although I did feel a bit stiff from it the next day. Am planning to start extending my club runs on Wednesdays to make that my long run starting this week. We normally do about 8 miles (although this week is I think the short route which is about 7) and then I'll run home after which is another 4 miles if I take the most direct route.
Nick - Good to see you back, 10 miles is a good base to start from. What spring marathon are you looking to do?
Shades - Good choice on the free lunch!!
8 miles with strides this morning, legs felt good and HR in the right place. I have 3 weeks until my first race of the year...that seems to have come around quickly!!
I got a call from the mattress company this morning, saying they would deliver this afternoon, which meant I could go for a run. Lovely blue skies, but a bit of an icy wind again. (I really shouldn't be surprised that the wind is icy in the middle of frickin' January, should I?) I ran the first mile nice and easy but sped up a bit after that, rather unintentionally. I tend to do that when it's cold. I averaged 10:27 but it was more like 10:20 if you discount the slower first mile. Legs were fine other than a bit of initial tightness in the right calf and left hip flexor.
I've been making a point of stretching a bit after each run, including two minutes in downward dog. It's a good all-purpose move for back, hams and calves.
Steve - I've just checked Chicago GFA times and I have an eligible time too
What is your race in 3 weeks?
Big G - how are you, OK for Saturday's marathon? I've seen the forecast and looks to be very cold on Saturday.
Jelly - did you find out if you'll be recovered from your blood donation for your half marathon?
Great news on the mattress delivery for later today
Cal - a couple of my cousins did the Disney marathon (in Paris I think) last year, they really enjoyed it. Good job on the stretching, I've neglected that a bit recently, must remember to do it. I find when I stop stretching for a spell then I start to get niggles.
On Saturday you'll be back at the start/finish at halfway so you can always drop any kit you don't need then and collect it when you finish. The forecast I saw didn't show any sign of it warming up, a feels like temperature of 2 degrees is the highest temperature all day. The course is sheltered though.