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Dan - I'd like to do the full thing at some stage, but not this year. That's incredible training!
CW - tough break on the 10k target, but congrats on the podium. Do you do any 5km/10km paced work?
Padams - safe travels and good luck!
SL - I'm doing the Snowdonia Trail Marathon - going down with Ms TT and a mass of clubmates. I'm undecided whether to just enjoy the experience or chuck myself around the course as quick as I can. I'll probably opt for the former so I can just carry on training with Berlin/Abingdon in mind.
Joe - impressive volume of reps!
Jools - good to hear from you. Valencia is a quick course and you've got plenty of time to get fit for it so I'm sure you'll fly around it.
I aborted my Monday run after a mile as my left shin/ankle (turned it on the recce and early on in the race) and both feet were sore (a pair of flimsy racing shoes are not ideal for off-road racing). Took yesterday off too. Still a little tender today, but better after a jog than I was before it so that'll do for now.
A day of minor disappointments, 4th out of 6 in the school Dads race in doing so picked up a shoulder injury/ dodgy AC joint followed by my excitement at seeing Tom Evans, British ultra running star on the entrants list for the MdMB coloured as someone has been mucking about on the list changing some forenames to 'To fart' including my own.
Apart from that an easy 5m with the pooch to be followed later by some hill reps.
just quickly popping in to say big commiserations to TR, and congratulations to CRAB and LMH for latest marathon's. Maybe Abingdon this year TR it will all come together if you decide to do it, as you've put a lot of work in to get back in decent shape I'm sure when fully fit you'll be back to sub 3 again. I've signed up for that one too.
SL/TT - I'm doing the Snowdonia Trail marathon, so will look out for you both. Heading there with a few mates (some doing the half, one other the full). Wanted something different to keep myself training a bit this year as I've just lost fitness every summer for last few years. Not sure if it's working, but I've got out for some very slow long runs last few weekends at least. I'm a bit scared of the race tbh having never done anything close in terms of elevation or time on feet (suspect it will take me around 4.5 hours) and I really struggle going up hills. I need to learn how to take on some proper fuel I guess as I am bonking big time after about 2 hours 15 at present (longest run I have done is only 3 hours as well).
Lot's of great training and racing going on from all the usual suspects.
selbs - how do you fuel currently? I find an early high carb dinner followed by a big breakfast is best and will then only need a couple of gels for a marathon (though as TR kept reminding me at Yeovil I'll burn a lot less fuel than he will). Time to start training with something calorie dense to see what you can tolerate - maybe something like some Nakd/Trek/Cliff bars as a supplement to a few gels? They would also give you a good excuse to power walk some of the inclines.
Joolska - good news on the Valencia entry.
Jools - sounds like a military selection process not a race.
SElbs - yes abo is still on the menu for a sub3, I have run roo many miles in the last 8 or 9 months to give up now. Not sure what to do 're New Forest mara as it's only 10 ish weeks away, and I'm taking it easy until July at least. Maybe I'll swap to the 1/2 or do it as a training run. I entered it when I expected to finish the mara campaign in April rather than June.
6m easy each day since Monday, that's the plan for the next few weeks, as I want a break from the bigger miles.
Hope padams goes well.
Selbs - Consider energy drink. I take a 500 ml can of Monster or equivalent 20 minutes before the off. Maybe experiment with a 250ml can in training to see if you get on with it.
Unsure of tapering for a mountain marathon a speedy run is always good so a 4m progressive run last night on a slightly undulating grassy hill (6.40 to 6.20) felt OK. Currently reading on the effect of altitude & lower oxygen on running and more fully appreciate what fantastic efforts SL and Dan's previous runs in Chamonix where. A herb Rhodiola rosea seems to benefit oxygen uptake - anyone use(d) this? Any other quack for quick solutions gratefully received.
OO - I've never heard of Rhodiola Rosea before. How did you come across that? I met Tom Evans in Kenya a few years back. Nice chap and incredibly talented. I came back from track one day very pleased to be hitting sea level paces at altitude to find he had been running 1km reps in the 2:5x range. He comes from an 800m/1500m background if I remember rightly.
selbs - will be good to see you there. I think as a frame of reference, the front runners tend to be about 1.5 times their regular marathon times. I've done 1 x 20m since Valencia, but hopefully I'll be a bit fitter in a few weeks. I should probably get around to buying some appropriate gear I guess as I'm not sure I'll get away with a pair of racing flats for this one.
TR - I'd use New Forest as a long solid training run for Abo. Maybe 30-40s per mile slower than Abo target pace.
TT - Having read your post I checked the mandatory kit and it's a bit much, we need fully waterproof trousers!! I was planning on a vest and shorts
Selbs - See you there.
TT - good plan, thanks. That means I don't actually have to train for New Forest, but can use it as abo training. I like it.
TT - Good old Google. https://drbubbs.com/blog/2017/2/rhodiola-athletic-performance-the-complete-guide. I've not taken the plunge yet and tried it. Tom Evans is the interviewee on this weeks Marathon Talk, massively talented, focused and bloody young.
LMH - Back to Peter again on the running list, otherwise a confusingly large number of people named 'To Fart' running, could have caused some local merriment. Good luck with the next marathon, with your mileage/ training, your body will adapt well to the challenge, good chance you will go quicker than Yeovil with decent conditions.
SL - Big f-off mountain, love it, a great description. Yes, some lunges (to be honest started when I saw your comment). Pondering whether it is worth running with poles? never have, can't be that hard (can they?), bit of a pain in the arse but will help my quads.
SL/TR - Marathon finishing lines always look great, but that one looks epic. Downside is you can see it for a couple of kms as you run up to the ski station where it is. Good to see you back into it TR.
Padams - hope Boston was ace, and you had some tea there?
4m y'day and 6.5m today with the last of my hill res...10st 6 this morning (pretty light for me) task now is eat and sleep well, lose a pound, race haircut and hope my currently floating AC shoulder joint injury (ski injury brought on by over active arm moment in the school Dads sprint (muppet)) calms down a bit.
LMH - a change of plan?
6m Mon to Friday and 10m yday. Day off today. I'll do a couple of weeks similar to that and then build up again.
That looks like good base building to me Joolska.
hope to see u at Abingdon then TR if we can get in good shape for it. Nice work Joolska back at it.
OO you seem to be in fine fettle.
SL - amazing pic of that finish line, i will get into that stuff i hope as my boy gets older if time allows and the body doesn't break! might not be making my first attempts till + 50, but OO seems to be doing OK.
TT - you should race Snowdonia surely, keep SL honest and seems you are in better shape than maybe you thought, plus you always seem to have good endurance. Snowdonia is a bit of a mates jolly away from the kids for me and friends - i'll do my best but (but feel massively underprepared) main focus is getting back in time to be recovered enough to enjoy the world cup final! Then hope to have easy week or two and crack on for Abo (or couple of half marathons if change mind on focus). Stuff changing at work at the mo so never quite know!
Jools - Nice to see you getting back into it.
Decent weeks training capped off with a win at the Cheddar Gorge marathon, 4Kft of ascent and very technical so I was pretty happy with 3.25.
SL - very understated marathon win! That pic in the Alps is awesome.
Good to hear a few benchees are getting back into it including TR and Jools.
Had a great time in Boston - I thought it might be a relaxing few days but not so much. I flew out on Tuesday evening, woke up very early Wednesday morning so went for a walk/jog around Boston Common and along the river at about 5:30am - it was gorgeous at that time. Then our team went for an easy run at 7:30am before the registration breakfast, presentation about the race etc. Did a bit of work during the day and then there were welcome drinks/food in the evening - took it fairly easy with about 4 pints and a reasonably early night. Got beaten by some Americans at "Cornhole".
Didn't do too much on Thursday, a bit of work, nice lunch with the team and watched a bit of football. The race was at 7:15pm by which time it was a decent temperature (around 22C vs. about 28C in the middle of the day). The main Boston race (c10,000 runners) was starting 5 minutes after the Championship race, but we had our own tent, food, drinks, toilets etc. all laid on so very nicely done.
The South African team looked very fast, but I had heard one of their runners hadn't come so they were out. But I'd heard that the Germans (Bavaria State Police) would be strong, and we'd had dinner with a Brit now working for Google in San Francisco (sub-14 5k runner, he won the race) so knew they would be handy too.
As expected it went out fairly fast with 6 runners breaking away quickly (Google guy, 3 South Africans. one German and one other). I put in a bit of a surge to tag onto the second group with two of my teammates. First mile was around 5:03 which was roughly what I was expecting - felt quite quick but I was OK sitting in the pack. One of my teammates broke away and was going too quick for me to go with him so I sat in until the turn around (it was essentially a flat out-and-back). One of my other teammates pushed on just before 2M (10:08) and I went with him along with a couple of Germans and another guy. By that point two of the South Africans had come back to us. Unfortunately our 4th runner had missed quite a bit of training through injury and at the turn I could see he was 20-30s behind, but I didn't know where the 4th German was.
I hung onto my teammate and we were closing on my other teammate. At some point the two Germans with us pushed on and I couldn't go with them. 5k was around 15:45. The last half mile was pretty painful - I was unsuccessfully trying to stay with the Germans and dropped my teammate, caught my other teammate with about 400m to go, but got pipped on the line by someone else. So I came 8th overall in 17:57 for just over 3.5M, our team got 8th, 9th, 11th and 27th. The Germans won comfortably with 2nd, 5th, 6th and about 18th I think, and unfortunately a PwC team beat us into 2nd by 20 seconds. But got on the podium which was our aim.
The tent had a free bar and canapes, so was drinking a beer within a couple of minutes, and then basically the rest of the night was in a bar nearby, all paid for by JPMorgan. I think I made it to bed around 3am, having finished the evening in the hotel lobby sharing a huge pizza delivery with about 20 others.
Friday morning I'd planned a long run - I woke up at 8am and headed straight out carrying a small bottle of water. I felt OK but just very lethargic - went out along the river for about 9M, crossed over and back along the other side. It was slow (about 7:20s) and hot, and just felt very dehydrated (not surprisingly), but luckily found a water fountain outside a boathouse at around mile 10. Anyway, got 18M done, then spent the day not doing much and flew back overnight. Weirdly my legs felt OK Saturday, but was just very tired from the night flight (and combination with Thursday night!) so didn't run, and then my legs felt terrible yesterday so didn't run then either. Feeling OK now though so will do a lunchtime run unless something comes up at work.
Selbs - Thanks and like you my longest time on feet in past 10 years is 3.20, keeping hydrated and taking on easily accessible calories will be key, we will be burning up far more calories compared to a road marathon.
TR - My annual 121 this week, so will resort to spinning.
LMH - Just got to get on with it now, and prepare for the tough bits. Autumn marathon if not Preston?
Jools - 50+ toughish miles is excellent.
7m&4m double y'day so 44 for the week, highest taper week 2 mileage. Ticking over with a few faster miles this week and then off to Chamonix on Friday.
Sounds like a great work's jolly Padams!
My autumn options are limited by our holiday unfortunately OuchOuch - I think it's either Lancaster or Hull.
Padams -- great speed in the race, great endurance drinking afterwards! It all sounds a lot more major than I had realised.
I did another 28M steady out and back along our glorious guided busway path yesterday; I intended to extend it to 50km (31.1M), but was getting a bit hot and dry and felt a bit peculiar by the time I got back into Cambridge, so I called it a day. I'm doing commute doubles today and tomorrow, then resting Weds (when we have some kind of corporate team-building jolly which may be wonderful or hideous, who knows), then a couple of taper tune-ups before my next race (a local half on Sunday).
Padams - sounds like a great trip.
Stu - nice one on another win
CW - you seem to have reached the predicted position of every long run being full distance (or more) now. Do you have a summer marathon or ultra coming up?
Was a warm run at lunch today, but much better fun than when I was dodging ice and snow in lunchtime running.
Rest day yesterday, but planning on about 10 today.
CW - What pace do you run those 28m 'training' runs - I think your onto something. That could be one epic FKT for the SdC. A master of understatement with the 'little' adventure.
It warming-up in the Alps!! My 7 am start @12C before zooming @28-29C at c12.30 ish finish. DanA will be kicking off 4am on Friday, toasty. Now just fussing, a few fast km's today, a sea swim and a test run of a waist running pouch. Really looking forward to visiting Chamonix again and the race, hoping EJ don't delay my flight to Geneva again - when they did it earlier this month they stumped up £1200+ compensation for £300 worth of flights!
padams - loved the report and the write up of the trip. sounds like great fun. decent podium as well, standard was very high.
CW - like the idea of that long run, sounds like my idea of a perfect holiday. Assume you won't drag the family along with you though? Haha.
OO - sounds like it might be a bit warm! When do you and Dan start/expect to finish?
Logging some big hours in prep for Bolton in 2.5 weeks time. 23 hours last week, including a hard 18 mile long run in Bushy Park. Just a few more sessions to put the icing on top of the cake.