Sub 3h15

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  • GM - good 20 miler and total for the week.
    Birch - good work at parkrun.
    Badbark - very impressive, but make sure you get your recovery too - it's supposed to be taper time!
    OO - yes, I can imagine it wouldn't be too easy to pace it evenly. Sounds like you're looking forward to the XC season ;)
    6 mile recovery run this morning (avg pace 8:47/m).
  • OO – Glad you enjoyed Parkrun pacing. I hope you had a good 14 miler today. 

    Gul – Good recovery running.

    I managed 5 miles recovery this morning at 8:42 pace, with a bit of a hangover. I don’t expect to ever write this again, but I’ve just completed 80 miles in my first taper week! It might seem like a lot but is 37 miles less than last week. :)


  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Mixed feelings with today's race. it wasn't an easy course as lost of twists and turns and then bulk of climbing at miles 10 and 12. The climb at 10 crushed me. Anyway hung on for 10th place and 1.23.35 which is a nominal 4 second pb and 50 seconds faster than same race last year. 

    It was a pretty lonely run as well from mile 7. 11th place was 70 seconds behind. I lost 9th place in last 200 to someone I hadn't seen since 7 miles and next person ahead of him was 30 seconds faster. After that it jumped to 1.21. 

    I'm slightly disappointed by margin of pb though having run 62 miles this week, which is my highest ever mileage I suppose I can't complain!
  • Hi folks - back after a couple of months of radio silence, principally because I didn't feel I deserved a place on a running forum with the rather feeble mileage I'd been doing. I really don't enjoy running in the heat so the swapped onto the bike for a few rides and tried to get a few sessions in, but nothing really of note.

    I've been following life on the thread over the summer so have been in awe at Madbark's continued podium performances (and MT shout outs), Gul's impressive mileage and even more impressive starts (4am FFS?!) and some speedy running and racing from DT, OO, GM, Stevie, G-Dawg and young Birch.

    Well done on everyone who got a GFA place - I'm hoping to hear positive news from my ballot application otherwise I'll be spectating next April.

    OO - are you still thinking of doing Boston in 2019? Registration opens next week and I'm very seriously looking it. Anyone else fancy it?

    G-Dawg - hope you have/had a great time in Bruges. Have you seen the film of the same name? A very enjoyable black comedy. Sounds like Woking have had a better start to the season than the Stones - the manager left "by mutual consent" last week and unless things pick up soon, we could be passing each other in the relegation / promotion swap at the end of the season.

    Madbark - sounds like you're taking a very sensible (i.e. completely out of character) approach to Berlin. I'm sure that the training will pay off with a performance that you're happy with.

    As for my running, I only managed 95 miles in July (26.2 of which were on 1 July!) and 128 in August - not ideal with Abingdon only 7 weeks away but having got back from hols late last night I did manage to get a 16 mile loop of Box Hill in this morning to get September off to a reasonable start. I'm adopting a new strategy for Abo, which involves not following a plan at all and seeing where it gets me.

    At least some of the summer mileage did involve new and interesting routes - I was in northern Portugal (mostly in the Peneda-Geres National Park on the border with Spain) at the end of July so sneaked a few hilly runs in there, both on my own and some very pleasant trips out with Mrs L.

    Followed that up with 10 days in Georgia (Caucasus, not USA) at the end of August and again took advantage of the fact that everywhere we stayed seemed to involved very hilly terrain and beautiful scenery, so perfect for running up hills in the early morning.



    Following OO and Poacher's exploits of running in ex-Soviet cities, I went for a run in Tbilisi on the final morning and like them wasn't knocked down by a stampede of other runners although I did see one person who looked as though they were thinking of running!

    Enjoy the September running all!

  • Leslie HLeslie H ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Badbark At the level you are at now each minute is a big jump ,maybe some p&d style mara paced runs are the next step up ! I didn't realise you got up a crazy o clock like Gul 
    Gerard cracking fast finish 20 miler you are in good shape .
    Dt sounds like you did great on a hard course in a big week which is always gong to cost time ,what's not to like about a pb ?
    Lorenzo welcome back sounds like you had a fine time on your holidays.

    Waterside half today 1:43 was my time ,went out with the 1:45 pacer stuck with them for 7 miles then fell of the back after a long climb and lost sight of them until about 10 miles as I was going through a tough patch  struggling to keep going but regained pace in the last 3 miles and even had a 100m sprint with another club runner to the line at max attack (about 5m/mile pace) weaving though the crowd like madmen ,a highlight in anotherwise slightly dissappointing day out . I looked back and no long runs in July and 1x 12m in August could be the issue lol Went for a kip after as my knee was quite sore !

  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Not a bad effort all things considered Leslie-was it s hot one?
    DT19 looks like  decent time to me & a PB :) and it is rather hot today.
    Great to hear from you Lorenzo. As I have 4 maras on the schedule up to VLM19 I've deferred my Boston ambitions for another year.
    15 here for a 61 mile week.
  • Lorenzo!!!! I wondered where you had got to. Nice to see you back on here and your travels sound great and that's a great photo. 

    Badbark - Ah yes, you're another who gets out in the middle of the night. Shame you and Gul don't live close by as you'd make great training buddies. :wink: I struggle to get out before 7am! 

    DT - Well done, that's a time I can only dream of. Been a long time since I pb'd in a half. But to be fair I hardly ever race them. 

    OO - Great weekly total and similar to mine. I've paced parkrun quite a few times and it can be tricky especially if you are pacing one runner. 

    Leslie -  Well toughed out. That finish sounded like a blast. I hope your knee is alright? 

    I rounded off my week with a recovery 5 yesterday and an ad-hoc kinda session tonight. As I don't follow a plan I decided to do something a bit different and ran 1 mile warm up, then 4 miles with 1 @ MP, 1 @HMP, 1 @ 10K pace and finally one @ 5k pace. Then 1 mile cool down, The numbers weren't great but it was getting dark and I was struggling to see what the splits were and it doesn't make it easier that my laps are metric but they were 7:10, 6:39, 6:14 and 6:04. It was mostly run to feel and it's a much harder session than it looks on paper but it was fun. That took me up to 62 for the week and that will be my biggest week of the campaign, next week will be much lower as I'm off to Dublin on Friday for a long weekend for my brother's baby naming ceremony. I'll try and sneak in one last long run before I go as I've only done 3 20's (inc 1 22). As usual I don't think I'll have nearly enough endurance to try sustain a decent pace for the Jsy mara, it's a very tough course too but I am trying my best to get fit enough to stay with OO's easy pace! :smiley:
  • Badbark - nice miles for a taper week!
    DT19 - great effort and result on a less than ideal course and day. Congrats on the PB.
    Lorenzo - good to hear from you - sounds like you've had a great summer. Interesting to see how you do at Abo.
    Leslie - good effort and like the sprint finish!
    OO - good weekly total.
    GM - seems like a pretty well executed session to me. Enjoy your trip to Dublin.
    Forgot to say, 6 on Sunday gave me a total of 80 for the week. Did 9 miles with 8 x 200m "hill" sprints this morning. Garmin said average HR was 129 and high of 146. Either it's lying or I am suffering a lot more than I realised with this virus.

  • Hey everyone - been a while since I last checked in here, a busy summer working away at events and festivals was not conductive to running at all - since Hackney half until August I could probably count the number of miles I ran on one hand - evident by an impressive weight gain!

    Reality struck of just how much fitness I had lost after I was asked to lead a social campsite 5K at Bestival in August and was close to vomiting at the end despite a leisurely 24 minute time (maybe the hangover was a factor).

    Heading off to Marathon du Medoc on Thursday and hope to hobble round that enjoying the experience and the wine with my only aim to be having fun and finishing before the cutoff. A few very slow long runs and 1 track session last week will hopefully be enough to get me through.

    Abingdon is still on, though it's not going to be a PB attempt anymore, just a race to give me a reason to run.

    Also doing the Royal Parks Half Marathon the weekend before Abingdon, with the "honour" of running in a large squirrel costume as the official Royal Parks Mascot (heading up to London later today for a first training run in the suit).

    Other than that, waiting to see if I get the London Ballot and entering the Endurancelife CTS Gower half marathon in November - a new route this year should be a great run.

    Will try and catch up on the many pages I've missed over the summer and see what eveyone's been up to; and will try and post a Medoc report after the weekend if I can remember any of it!



  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Hi Nicko sounds like you need to get back to the thread and back in shape- the photo shows just how far you've let yourself go fella ;)
    Massive miles Gul, very impressed.
    Gerard the issue for me is that I haven't gone over 18 miles yet in mara training and all my long runs are very slow (8:14 pace yesterday). Once GNR is out of the way next week I'll have to focus on a couple of 20+ training runs and try to train at a decent pace on the long ones. Starting to get a bit excited about Jersey & New York :)
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Good to hear from you Nicko and Lorenzo, sounds like you have had good summers.

    Gerard, enjoy Dublin. That session sounds tough enough to me!!

    Gul, decent weeks mileage and good start to this week. Is the HR quite high for you?

    Leslie, well done on your half. I also enjoyed a quite ridiculous sprint finish. My garmin clocked it at 4.45 pace for the last 0.1 miles.

    oo- solid week there.

    Looking back on my strava records, last year for this race and the subsequent Worcester half 2 weeks later I tapered properly and treated them as target races only running about 40 miles those weeks including race day. I think I am going to target another big week this week, pushing 60 and that should leave me due a cut back next week anyway which will allow a mini taper.

  • BirchBirch ✭✭✭
    well done, DT - I think you should give yourself a bit more credit - a PB is a PB, after all, and at the end of a big (your biggest) training week, and given that you were isolated for much of the race, is noteworthy :)  (i'd have put one of those "thumbs up" images here, but don't know how . . .     
     
    brave racing from Leslie, too - never fun, or pretty, racing off minimal training
     
    good week, Gerard - and that's a tough session - similar to my old 3-2-1 . . . . . . .
    when my mara pace was 6:20, I'd do 3 miles at that, 2 miles at 6:10, 1 mile at 6:00.    
     
    another solid week, OO -  and yes, time to bag a 20 miler or two  :)  
     
    splendid 80, Gul . . .    
     
    welcome back Nicko & Lorenzo - though Lorenzo's pic is far less alarming than Nicko's
  • A lot to catch up on here!

    GM - Great 20 and weekly total, looking good for the marathon! Enjoy Dublin

    Huge mileage totals and ridiculously early starts from Gul & Badbark. Very impressive!

    Leslie - I wouldn't be disappointed with a 1.43 off minimal training, sounds like you paced it fairly well as well.

    DT - Congrats on the PB! Excellent performance, especially in your highest mileage week. When is your next race?

    Welcome back Nicko & Lorenzo - looking forward to hopefully seeing you both at Abingdon (If Nicko survives Marathon du Medoc!)

    My 16 mile with 5 at HMP didn't go quite to plan yesterday. Average of 6.37 for the 5 miles when I was aiming for 6.20-6.25, just didn't have the speed in my legs no matter how hard I pushed. In hindsight I hadn't eaten anything since Saturday afternoon and forgot to take my energy gel, so not too disappointed. It was a lovely run in the sunshine around London, got my route slightly wrong so it ended up being 17 miles. Longest run since VLM!

  • 0054  Although forecast was only 18c the sun was quite strong when out and the top of my shoulders and neck got a bit burned ,certainly felt hot when the wind died down.A good few of my clubmates posted slower times than expected but the heat wasn't the main factor for me rather lack of miles !

    Gul 129 sounds quite low ,maybe I'm out of touch with what a hr should be these days as my watch is old and relies on a hr strap which I rarely wear ! I remember the days of you posting 200 + bpm with your old watch .
    Nicko sounds like you have a few races planned and you will be glad its now cooler in autumn wearing that costume 
    Dt cracking pace ! ,thing was I had no intention of a sprint till this guy came tearing past and my competitive edge took over .,getting the miles up won't do any harm at all.
    Birch 2:46 the stuff of dreams eh ...
    Stevie looking at my splits it was more the pacers sped up for a few mile than I slowed down it seems ,can't complain its where I'm at ,I can put in 5 decent miles in training but I've cashed in all endurance I had last year and I'm now overdrawn lol ,That's a tough run and if its the longest in a while you were always going to struggle.
    3m walked and knee calmed down to a sensible level again .



  • Birch - I like your 3-2-1 sesh and those numbers are very impressive. 

    Gul - 80 is a big weekly total. I guess you have adapted to the big weeks now. I tried something like that last year, think I managed a few 70 plus weeks and then my body fell apart. Hence I am being more cautious this time. Interestingly my best marathon was run off very little mara training at all and I was about 6kg heavier than last year and now. Weird huh? 

    Nicko - Welcome back and enjoy Medoc, I did it in 2015 and loved it. 

    OO - Now that you are a man of leisure I'd imagine you will have the time to get at least a few 20's in. I think you'll be grand though as it won't be at your max but NYC will be and you can build for that. 33 days and counting. :smile: Are you looking forward to the GNR? Is it this weekend? 

    DT - Sounds like a good plan. 

    Stevie - That's a very good run. 

    Glorious here today but I had to be sensible and took a rest day. Legs feel ok but I'm not risking anything at this stage. 
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Yes Gerard GNR this weekend- it will be all over your TV ;) It’s a cut back week for me also, as you say not worth risking anything in the hope of a decent run. Around  1:22:XX hopefully.
  • OO - I love watching that race but I'll be in Dublin. I'll set a reminder to record it. Are any of your family members doing it? I'd say if the conditions are good and with a cut back week you'll have a cracking race. What's your half pb? 
  • Gul DarrGul Darr ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Nick - good to hear from you again. Hopefully you'll soon regain any lost fitness. I'd love to visit the Gower peninsula - should be a very scenic HM.
    OO - looking forward to seeing how you do at GNR this weekend.
    DT19  - no, very low given the session - avg pace of 7:17/m and 8 x 200m "hill" sprints - I would have expected an avg of 16X bpm and a max of 18X.
    Stevie - that's still a pretty good pace and session.
    Leslie - yes, you're right about my old chest strap HRM giving some hair raising spikes - pleased to see those have gone. The max reading I've had from my new watch is 187, I think. I hope your knee continues to settle down.
    GM - yes, very counter-intuitive. Hope you enjoyed the rest day.
    15 miles this morning and turned out to be a progressive run (except for the last 1/2 mile warm-down). Avg pace was 7:17/m and penultimate mile was 6:36. I've now entered the Great Eastern Run (Peterborough HM) on Oct 14th, which means I'll be doing twice as many races this year as I did last year ;)
  • Cracking long weekend in Bruges. Loads of beer and chocolate and my legs feel a lot fresher for it. We all did over 12k steps per day, so we at least burned some caloroies. I had seen the film 'In Bruges' earlier this year, so it was good to see some of the locations used in the production.

    Some good stuff going on in here. I see a few of us hit a 60+ week, Badbark continues his craziness and it's a warm welcome back to Lorenzo and Nicko. Loving the squirrel look! 

    My chums did well in completing the UTMB CCC. I'm with you GM, it holds no appeal for me just yet as it's a different type of sport but massive kudos to those that took it on, amazing feat mental strength.

    The husband of a work colleague took on the 100 mile version but was withdrawn after 36 hours. Not sure what happened but that must be tough to handle after going through all that. Poor bloke.

    Back it it tonight with a 12 miler easy/steady pace.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Stevie, I am following your coached training with a degree of interest.....however with a target marathon 7 weeks away and the weekends 17 miler being the longest run in 4 months i'd be wanting some decent explanations as to when i'll be getting the 20s in. What's the plan in that regard? Bearing in mind I think you are attacking a 10k this weekend and then the Cheltenham half at the end of September.

    G-dawg, sounds like a decent break.

    Gul, have you run the GER before? I did it in 2016. Undoubtedly the flattest half I have ever come across. The downfall was it measured 13.29 (which I may have mentioned before)which is a lot of extra time tagged on.

    00- good luck on sunday. I should think 1.22 is well within range based on 10k performances.

    Birch, thanks for the 'thumbs up'. I am more comfortable with the outcome now and it gives me a good target to chase down in Worcester that isn't unachievable. I am still waiting to see what runbritain make of it.

    Planning 10 over lunch. Still a  bit tired from sunday but my wife is away Friday to Monday in Sweden so not only do I need to train through this week before I taper next week, I also need to front load it. I have a sports massage tomorrow night though which I could do with.

  • GD - welcome back. Have a good steady run tonight.
    DT19 - yes, I've run it 3 times before, including 2016 with a PB of 1:26:24. Interesting to hear you made it 13.29 miles. I think the course changed last year. Good luck front-loading the week.
    Badbark - yes, I think I remember you doing that race in the past - a suitably bonkers event.
  • DT - I have been thinking that however I have a 20 next weekend with MP sections, 20 the following week and then a 22 2 weeks before the marathon. The half could also be made into a 20 with an extended cool down. This will be the same amount of 20s that I did for London but I will have ran almost 50% more total mileage, so I am fairly happy with that. I guess the proof will be how I fare in the latter stages of the marathon!
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Always good to get some races in the calendar Gul!
    I've been under 80 mins for the half Gerard but a long time ago. I have 2 daughters doing GNR also, junior is on the elite ladies start but not in good shape after injury.
    Stevie we all love those latter stages of the Mara ;)
  • OO - thats the bit that makes all the training worthwhile!

    16x1 min tonight w/45s recovery. First 10 at 10k effort (average 5.56m/m) last 6 at 5k effort (average 5.40) Legs felt good so I'm excited and looking forward to Sundays 10k. 
  • OO - I thought you would have been under 1:20 at some stage and if I recall you ran 1:21 not too long ago? Great that your daughters are doing it too. It will be a good test of fitness for Junior and I'd imagine she will still run well if she paces it sensibly. Oh god, I do dread the latter stages of a marathon, I've never managed to close one well. Maybe this year will be different. :wink:

    G-Dawg - I was watching some of the clips of the various UTMB races and most folk seem to be walking a fair bit and with those poles too. I'll leave them to it but it must be stunning scenery. Hope your 12 went according to plan. 

    DT - Sounds like a good week to make the most of your free time. Speaking of sports massages, I could do with one. Hope the 10 was good?

    Gul  - I remember your GER run well. I think that pb is under big threat. :smile:

    Stevie - That's a monster sesh! You are in fine shape and expecting a very fast 10k on Sunday. Will you ease off the gas now for a bit? There's no way my body could take a pounding like that so close to a race but you're a lot younger so I guess your recovery will be quicker. 

    Another zero today as work was a bit mad but I was so tired I think my body needed it. Will be back on it tomorrow. 


  • Nice one Stevie. Smash it!!

    12 miles tonight at 7.20 pace. Consistent splits but should have felt easier than it did after 3 days off, albeit with loads of walking in that time.
    They can't all be good.
  • Gul DarrGul Darr ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Stevie - excellent intervals - bodes well for Sunday.
    GM - yes, I'm sure the rest will have done you good. I was disappointed not to get 1:25:xx, but I just faded a bit in the last 3 miles and only scraped a PB.
    GD - still a decent session - nothing to sweat about.
    7 mile recovery run this morning, avg. pace 8:24/m. Pleased to see my average resting heart rate has started to drop back down.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Gul, I ran 85.03 in 2016. It was ridiculous with the extra distance. My average pace should have got me sub 84. I know gps watches aren't 100% but i'd raced two other halfs and a 10k in September 16 which all measured by my watch bang on. Nice easy 7.

    Decent 12 there G-Dawg.

    Stevie, yes it'll be interesting to see if the accumulation of miles satisfies the need to run the recommended 5 long runs. I'd also be hesitant to run 22 miles 2 weeks out, so again this will be interesting to get your feedback. Great session, now ease off to give it your best Sunday. Conditions look decent.

    Gerard, rest days is something i've not done too well at this year generally. However, when I do have them I genuinely feel worse than if I had run a very low end 3-5 miler.

    My last 2 London's i've managed to get to 24 miles before it has become horrible, which isn't too hard to cope with. It's when it becomes horrible before the 20 marker you have problems!

    The 10 went well. Came in 7.52mm for a leisurely 140bpm. Identical mlr this time last year came in 8.05 for a slightly higher hr. 5 at mp planned over lunchtime. It looks like i've picked the warmest and sunniest day of the week to get that in. At least I can then 'look forward' to sports massage this evening.

    Staring to make an effort to get my weight down after holiday. I was 11,7 on return, down to 11,4 this morning so half way to race weight.

  • Nice 12 G-Dawg especially coming off a break.

    Glad to hear the HR is coming down Gul, will be interested to see how you get on in the half.

    DT - Good 10 as usual. Also thanks for the tip on the HR strap, wore it last night with no chafing issues, will try it again tonight to get a read on my HR for easy pace.

    All easy miles for me until Sunday now. An easy 8 tonight and then 4 with strides on Friday. Conditions are looking good at the moment and any wind should be a slight tailwind for the second half

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