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P&D Spring Marathon 2018
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Well done on the MP run AWC.
Anyone else loving watching all those bonkers sports in the winter Olympics?
I happy with my decision to not race today although I think in hindsight I could of ran a PB. In terms of marathon preperation I probably did the right thing. 20 miles with the first 10 at 6 m/m followed by 10 at 5.40 pace gave me 20 miles in 1h56 something. All the niggles just about held at bay enough for me to finish, although the groin is pretty sore now.
Hopefully some self massage and compression can help with a couple of very easy days.
Good to hear you slowly getting back into things FBT
Pleasing to hear about both the legs and watch Ramjet!
Good work refuelling after that long run John
Big long run's Westy, Phil and Andy
Strong MP session Ramjet, especially when the legs aren't rested
Did the physio give you any stretches/strengthening to hep Reg?
Brilliant form AWC, running your 2nd fastest half in training sure ain't bad
For me: rest Friday and yesterday was 3 x 6mins (2mins) on a muddy grass loop. Paces were 6:17, 6:16 and 6:23. Around 7.5 miles in all with warm up/cool down. 60 minutes today at 6:56 pace
Whilst RD’ing parkrun yesterday I had a feeling that I was in good shape and the weather today seemed almost perfect so I had to give this one a go. Had a decent warm up with the legs feeling ok but the minute I put the racing flags on there was a bit of a spring in the step.
Ran past Joe while doing my final strides. Apologies for not recognising you sooner but the shorts looked too long to be you.
Had my yearly chat with a bloke I went to school with in the start pen and also met up with the clubmate I had a smack down with at Stubbington 10k last month. A great incentive for both of us to push hard. Jools also went past but didn’t immediately twig as was missing the beard and headband. The aim was to go out at 6:20 ish and see what happens.
Ticked through 4 miles on pace, feeling good, in a small group. In the 5th mile some of the group started pulling away at 6:10, the head said it was too fast but the lungs and legs were feeling good. Went through 10k and then halfway well under PB pace. Just had to hold on. Overtook a few on the way to the 10mile mark with 1:02 something on the watch so knew a sub 20parkrun would get me home. Was worried about fading but still felt good and pushed as hard as possible.
Noticed a familiar red vest and had a brief chat with reg. Got through the last incline between 10.5 -11.5 miles overtaking a few on the way. Knowing the last bit is all downhill I aimed to get a sub 6 mile in to the finish. Crossed the line in 1:21:24 (a PB by 1:59). My clubmate crossed a minute behind with a large PB also. Had a proper chat with reg and then Jools while collecting medals / water.
Had a warm-down 3 miles and legs still feel ok. Back to the mileage next week.
Mine was a very different experience. Amongst injuries and illness this was a case of turn up see a few faces and get round so I don't feel like I am missing out.
I like Wokingham as at it's farthest point out it's only 1 mile or so from my house and there's always lots of support from friends and club mates. Hence that's the reason I turned up when I shouldn't have.
When asked what I was going for the strategy that came to mind was just start running and see what happens. Straightaway I was going too hard and my HR was 10 beats up from where it should be. It had been the same on the bike yesterday.
Anyway it didn't stop me going off hard and I went through 10k in 36:36, actually on PB pace which was just plain stupid. From about 7 miles I eased off to save some energy to actually get back to Wokingham. Pace dropped quite quickly then. A stream of runners started coming past at about 8 miles. This included a couple of forumites going very well.
At 10 miles I heard Millsy's name being shouted, we had a short exchange and he was going well. I trudged up to 12 miles and then put a bit of effort in for the last mile finding a 6:15 from somewhere.
finished in 1:22 which was at least inside MP but actually 2 minutes slower than I went through halfway at Abingdon, although that was also a bit daft. I have a few weeks to try and find some fitness and good health for Reading but I don't think I will be running London.
In brief:
great road race on a near perfect day helped me to nail that PB.
Full version:
Preamble: After mammoth race effort last w/e I knew I was in good shape but also concerned I might have burnt a few too many matches for a good performance today however as it was half-term it would've been a shame not to get some MLRs in at least so after Monday's 4M RR I did 13.3, 13.3 & 14.3 then just 5M again Fri with 5x90s efforts (inspired by SQ). In the interests of giving myself a realistic shot at nailing my 1:25:xx target I'd decided to restrict Saturday's effort to a quick parkrun & forgo my 1st league XC meet in 6 seasons, having fulfilled my captain's duties by ensuring we had both a Senior & Master's team.
Friday night I was visiting a friend in Bath, ended up having too much cider & consequently had a very poor night's sleep. Saturday morning I just made it to my 80th different parkrun, Southwick Country Park: a 2.7 lap mildly undulating course on hard trails. I'd vowed to avoid a 100% effort so when I saw the first 0.5M lap at 2:59 I relaxed & let the lead group of 7 go. As I completed the first lap I moved in to 6th then just held position to finish in 19:27. It felt harder than I'd have liked but I put that down to the hangover & sleep deprivation. A lap to cool down then jog back to the car brought up just over 5M for the day. I then dove down to my sister's as she lives 20M from Wokingham. They fed me well & I got a decent night's kip.
Sunday morning: I was a bit disheartened by the rain as I loaded the car but by the time I'd had breakfast & coffee it had cleared off & the sun was starting to break through. A straightforward drive, well signposted car parks & route to the start meant I arrived at about 9:20 feeling nice & relaxed. After dropping my bag in the baggage tent, doing a few glute activation exercises & some sun salutations I went for a jog around the outside of the park which turned out to be the final mile so at least I was prepared for the little hill to the 13M mark when it came to the race.
I spotted JB's cap up ahead in the start pens so went over to say hello to him & Tom. We wished each other luck then I headed back to the 1:25-1:20 area passing Millsy en route, but not realising it til halfway round the course
Race: It's 3.5M out, a 6.1M loop then 3.5M back the way we'd gone out all on closed roads.
We started promptly at 10:00 & it was nice to have a very short jog to the starting mat before putting the hammer down. That final incline was in our favour on the way out so enabled me to stretch the legs out without having to put much effort in. I kept a close watch on the pace to ensure I wasn't going out too fast but equally couldn't afford to relax too much. All my training has been 8-9 m/m or 6-6:15 m/m 5Ks so it would've been easy to get things badly wrong at this stage. I was very pleased to find that target pace of 6:30s felt comfortable. The laps ticked by with most of the 0.5M splits pleasingly inside target so I knew the A goal was achievable if I could hold the pace. I was only looking at pace/HR & lap splits then mentally calculating how much I was inside target rather than looking at elapsed time. The mile markers were the most accurately placed compared to my Garmin of any race I've done which was nice. I was slightly concerned that we seemed to be heading downhill a lot but maybe I'm just not used to running on the flat
Mile Splits: 6:29/6:28/6:22/6:30/6:21/6:26/6:19/6:22/6:32/6:31/6:41/6:29/6:24/5:37(0.1M) Even better chip & watch agreed on 1:24:27
All in all a race I would thoroughly recommend.
Very decent paced LR Westy - take it the calf isn't too grumbly then if you managed those efforts with your daughter, nice one.
Really getting back in to the swing of things now Scott. Great news.
Encouraging MP sessions from Rammers, John & especially AWC. I really felt all the recent glute work helped me in the latter stages today AWC so keep up the run camp.
Congratulations again Millsy.
Well done Reg - hopefully you've not done yourself any further damage.
Massive congrats to Millay and Jools on the big PBs.
Sounds like a really gutsy run Reg given your hampered build up. Really impressive that you put it on the line in the early miles. Hope you recover well.
20 mile run on Friday was followed by clubbing until 2am. Not my scene these days, it was a one off for reunion with friends. Got exactly what I deserved as can feel myself coming down with a cold. 5 easy miles just now seems to have helped.
WOW! Huge PB that Millsy, bodes well for the marathon
Okay, this is getting ridiculous, even bigger PB from Jools, well paced splits too
Nice long run/clubbing combo Andy. Funnily enough I was out last saturday night too and after sundays hungover run I picked up a cold/sore throat that has only really just shifted
You do seem to be able to run decent times after illness/injury time outs Reg
Great MP runs John, Rammers and AWC.
Fantastic long run Phil. Shame you didn't make Wokey-you would have smashed it there!
Nice long run/clubbing combo Andy.
Great to see lots of you yesterday in what was a fantastic day for the thread! Massive congratulations to Millsy and Jools for the massive PBs-brilliant stuff! There are other great performances which will be reported on later no doubt.
Not completely surprised to see Reg go so well considering the build up he had but it does amaze me how he does it! That was a super 10k all things considered.
I had a decent race. Wasn't sure what to expect when setting off as I have done hardly any speedwork in recent months. Decided just to run to feel for the first mile and then see how it panned out. Not attempting a PB, I would have been delighted with 1:14:59 and quite pleased with 1:15:xx. First mile was the usual (for me) of drifting back a bit during the first half mile and then overtaking many in the second half as I got going. 5:35 felt OK but it is a quick first mile so wanted to settle in a group and find a nice rythm. This worked well as I buried myself in a group of about 8 and stayed put ticking along nicely. Next 7 miles all 5:40-5:45 pace very consistent and feeling pretty good/comfortable. I then made a decision to get to the front of the group and to push on. This broke the group up and only 2 others came with me. By 11 miles I was starting to feel it a bit but there was no fade as the effort level increased and was able to kick on again in the final mile to finish in 1:14:29-my second quickest HM. Really enjoyed the day and it is a fantastic event which i would thoroughly recommend.
Legs certainly feel like they had a hard race this morning on my 6 mile recovery plod! I now have a decision to make about Bath in 2 weeks. I will see how this recovery goes and then make a call. If conditions are as favourable as they were yesterday I may well give it my all in an attempt at a PB.
Half-Term this week and we are off to Cornwall. Lots of easy paced hill running awaits.
Going to attempt a LT run sometime today, hope the leg holds together.
Beast from the east arrives end of the week.
Millsy - fantastic run, and good to say hello briefly beforehand. Didn't go for the shortest shorts yesterday - maybe that was the difference between a PB..
Reg - ridiculous time considering your recent bad luck with injury and illness. I knew you weren't going to pull the plug when close to home.
Jools - as mentioned afterwards, a completely deserved result and a brilliantly executed race. All the hard work paying off and I fully expect the times to continue to drop with your commitment and dedication.
Tom - Sounds like a really controlled, well-executed run. I think with a bit of rest and a good taper you've got every chance of a PB in Bath. What have you got to lose? Great to catch up with you beforehand.
And finally HA - wherever you are, you were missed yesterday mate. Hope all is well.
My brief rundown of Wokingham (will no doubt have a blog out in the next few days):
Arrived early to get in a steady 3 mile warm-up, and managed to bump in to most of the thread before the race; it's ace to be part of a great little community. I really didn't know what to expect having only averaged just over 30 miles a week since the start of Jan and my longest run only having been 13.1 miles. Had decided beforehand I was just going to go out at a pace that felt a bit too hard and see what happened.
Realised with 4 minutes to go to the start that I needed the loo. Luckily, Wokingham is really well organised, with so many toilets, and I PB'd, being in and out in less than 2 mins; crisis averted. Went out hard (too hard) and shared an opening 5:35 mile with Tom. Settled in from there, but struggled to find a group and found myself running the majority of the race in 1's or 2's.
Ticked off miles 2-9 consistently (all within 5:45-52), for a large part running with the leading female before pulling away from her in the closing stages. Every single person would say 'well done, first lady'. I found myself wondering if this would annoy me after a while - she must have had it said to her over 100 times.
Through 10km in 35:50 (10 seconds slower than my 10km PB, so probably should sort that out soon) and through 10 miles in 58:30, but really starting to struggle now. As Jooligan said, mile markers were placed perfectly and my watch beeped pretty much every mile bang on the marker.
Went in wanting to make myself suffer, and certainly achieved that, and was hurting like hell in the closing stages. Mile 11 was where I came a cropper, clocking a 6:14 mm (all others were under 6 minutes), and those 14 seconds would come back to haunt me.
Went all in with 1.5 miles to go, thankfully having others around me to try and race to the end. Gave it everything up the final little incline but turning the corner saw I was just going to miss a PB. Finished in 1:17:07 - 14 seconds slower than Edinburgh last May. Still; really chuffed with that at this stage of the season with my big goal 5 months away. Hung around at the finish and was brilliant to celebrate with SQ at the end (I won't ruin the story though).
Apparently we won the team prize (my two much speedier club mates ran 1:12 and 1:14) but I'd already cleared off by that point. Great day out and as others have mentioned Wokingham is a cracking race - fully recommended.
Millsy - congrats, that is a massive PB, sounds like you had a really strong race and still had more to give. Another tick for the slow training and fast hard racing approach.
Jools - likewise a great performance and well done on a huge PB. Your splits say it all, and must have felt fantastic to overtake so many. Love the detailed report!
Reg - kudos for taking it out hard, we all know how you hate being overtaken so well done on still finishing rapidly (I’d be more than happy with a 1:22). 8 weeks is still a long time to rebuild if you can sort out your body.
Tom - back in the game! Great time and confidence booster. It seems a lot of runners are teachers, or is it vice versa? I know at least 6 who are.
Andy - impressive LR, few more of those and you’ll be right back on track. Extra thumbs up for the clubbing, can’t manage it these days, in bed shortly after the kids!
westy - she sounds like an ideal partner for your speed sessions. What more motivation do you need than not being beaten by your daughter
Scott - good to see you hitting the speed sessions, and speedy ones at that.
Loking forward to to a few more reports rolling in...
Great time Joe - well done.
Well done on the long runs Westy and Andy. Calf ok now Westy?
Great MP sessions Ramjet, JohnOz and AWC.
Epic long run from you Phil!
Nice running Scott.
Congrats on the massive PBs Millsy and Jools. Very impressive!
Impressive performance given the circumstances Reg.
Great time from you too Tom. Fingers crossed for Bath!
Frustrating to be so close to a PB Joe, but as you say a great sign this early on, and without much running lately.
Long run for me yesterday, and the first time using gels for several years as the ASICS dietician is keen for me to try them again. Did 24.1 miles averaging 6:48/mi, which I was very happy with given the HM then a jump straight back in to a big mileage week. Thankfully the gels went down no issue.
It did occur to me towards the end that another loop of the racecourse could yield a sub-3 training marathon, but I thought better of it. I have to admit though, a full distance long run is tempting given how I usually recover well from long runs. I know a few on here have done it. Any thoughts?
Calf is okish. Still doesn't feel right, but ignoring it for now.
My legs feel much better this morning compared to other Wokingham efforts so thinking I could have pushed a little harder in parts although it’s hard to know what pace is appropriate when I’ve done very little HMP miles in the comeback from injury.
Spoons, I occasionally do the odd 26 mile training run but it’s usually in prep for an ultra. If you run them easy enough you should be fine. Especially with the miles your doing it shouldn’t be too taxing on the legs. I would be prepared to bail out a bit early if you think it’s not going well.
Tidy reports from Millsy, JB & Tom. Just 2 more to come . . .
My legs feel OK but I know there was very little I could've squeezed out yesterday. Maintaining pace up the small climbs from 10M sent my HR in to the red each time but was able to recover on the downs apart from the final one where I continued to push & the legs almost turned to jelly as we rounded the penultimate corner for the climb to 13M.
Glute circuit this morning & a 4 or 5M recovery for me later.