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P&D Autumn Marathon 2018
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Sounds like everyone had a great race in Berlin. chicksta, hazel and dct - great running all round. I imagine you're all feeling chuffed with yourself.
John - Great to see you go under 3 hours again. I like how tight the pack is in the photo. A sure sign it was windy. I think it says something that you did your own thing, then entered a race last minute and had a great run. It's easy to get caught up in hitting every session in a program and getting everything perfect leading up to a race, when the only really important things are consistent good running and having fun.
Joe - Just cruising to a win. Awesome stuff.
Muddy - you've got to try the patented HA77 gel holder - a rubber band on each hand with the gels tucked in.
I was hiking in the highlands over the weekend. 2 solid days of walking over mountains, with a big pack has left my quads pretty sore. It was a brilliant weekend though, the best in a while. Just an easy few miles yesterday was all I felt my legs could handle, then back into it with a fartlek this morning, approx 2min on / 1 min float x10.
Macca I’d definitely echo your thoughts on being proud of the training block not just race day. Massive week for you – and a sneaky triple I see.
HA looked like you were deep in the Highlands. A brilliant way to get away from it all. Welcome to sorequads!
Penultimate tempo sandwich this morning. There are fewer of them on the BAC pdf I’m following this year, as opposed to Steve Way’s training. 17M total at 7m/m including WU and WD. 25 minutes at MP effort (6:23s), 5 x 4 minutes threshold (about 6:15s average), 25 minutes MP effort (6:35s). A very poor night’s sleep after cleaning up lots of sick, not mine. This combined with a fairly windy day meant I was fairly pleased with the session, even though the ‘fast’ bits weren’t fast, and the second MP section was slower than I’d like.
Hope you’re recovering well, muddy. The MP miles looked like they went ok this morning. Good luck for the weekend.
Very impressive annual mileage to date, JohnOz.
. If anyone is bored, feel free to browse. Number is 34655, DoB 11.05.1968
Muddy: Fingers crossed you get well in time.
Macca: Massive week for you. Well done. And you're right. All of us should be really proud about the training we put in. I find summer training a lot easier. There's the longer days and you're less likely to be thrown back by colds and sniffles.
Stunning scenery, HA. I love Scotland.
SQ: It's the effort that counts. Sometimes the pace is there, sometimes it isn't. Poor sleep is certainly detrimental to speed but as long as the effort is right you banked a solid training session.
Right, über-cheesy Berlin pics are up
https://www.sportograf.com/de/shop/search/4960
I did 7 with 3 marathon pace last night. But although pace looked alright (6.2x min/mile) it was pretty much downhill
HA - that looks spectacular. I may well go with the derivative tuck them into a couple of poppy appeal rubber wristbands. I have some other shorts with pockets that served me reasonably well last time (one gel did fall out at 5 miles) so not totally stressing about gel carriage right now.
Good to hear you’re managing some decent running despite the newborn AWC.
Impressive WAVA chicksta, shows what a great performance it was.
Great report dct, and congrats again. Interesting about the nutrition. My last marathon was the first one I really paid attention to it, and the first using gels after several without. It’s hard to know how much impact that had vs the training and other factors, but it was by far my most consistent race.
Jools, I think my speed, endurance, and speed endurance have gone
Sorry you’re still struggling with the achilles Reg. Congrats on the team win and good luck for Ibiza!
Great report John, impressive pack formation in that photo - better than the pros. Oh, and go for 2:55, you know you want to!
Sterobbo, your race reads like a pre-marathon anxiety dream! Bad luck, but congrats nonetheless.
Get well soon muddy.
Nice work on the ton Macca.
Amazing views HA! Beautiful.
Great session SQ, must have been tough in that wind (although at least you got it done then, it’s even worse now!) All good training, and great mental practice too running tired.
Today was my fourth day running in a row now, and my feet continue to feel better every day. I’ll see how things go, but I'm hopeful I might even manage a classic canal 10 miler at the weekend.
SQ - nice running in Worcester, a really good hit out, and with that tempo session in the wind, things looking very positive for Abo.
DCT - congrats on an awesome performance, and some interesting musings in your report. I've got the feeling there is plenty more to come from you if you were interested in pushing on from here.
Reg - glad to hear the injury seems to be clearing up, seems like you haven't lost much form. Ibiza should be cracking fun, you got any goals in mind?
John - great report, really enjoyed it. Perfectly executed race. I think you've definitely got a 2:55 in you, at a minimum. Excited to see how you progress forward over the next few months.
Hazel - 10 hour train home sounds like a nightmare! Look forward to your report when it comes in.
Muddy - don't worry too much how the next few sessions go. The last week or so always messes with your mind. Just get to the start fresh and raring to go. Look forward to hearing about it.
sterobbo - sounds like an eventful one!
HA - Looks/sounds like great fun mate. Was the whole family involved?
Chick - love those photos, if you're not having a good time then what's the point! Great work.
https://spragginsblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/brighton-triathlon-16-09-2018/
Just had a few easy days of swimming and light running/cycling since the race. Last few weeks before heading out to Chicago before Kona.
Your biking is looking very strong at the moment, I always felt from your reports that you under-biked a little and ran too strongly but it seems, from a distance anyway, that you're a bit braver pushing the power now, allied to the extra bike work.
Muddy - the shorts I was wearing have three small pouches inside the waste band at the back so I carried three gels and my mate handed me three as he was riding the U bahn around the course to spot me. Who really knows what difference it makes? But there’s been a bit of buzz around the brand of the gel the past year or so and I just thought I’d give them a shot, plus the high-carb drink mix it produces, too.
Thanks Joe for the report. Sounds a great race. I’m a terrible swimmer so it’s all very foreign to me, but the idea of other people’s arms and legs hitting me, along with the waves, sounds very much like a few nightmares I’ve had. A lot of admiration to the tri crowd around these parts. Congrats again on the win. Re more to come from me, one day I should embrace running as a more permanent fixture, rather than my blowing hot and cold with it.
How’s the big week going SQ? Interested to hear how the half marathon goes next week.
In attempt to maintain some momentum and to fight my usual down tools for a month approach to post-race exercise, I signed up for a cheeky half in a fortnight, just to see if there was a decent time in the legs. I went for a 5 this morning and the legs felt alright, but as I was arriving home a pedestrian came out of nowhere and as I tried to step off the curb I completely rolled my right ankle. Fortunately right next to home and not in the office today so have been doing RICE and on the ibu all day. I felt physically sick and it hurts. Probably won’t be running a half in a fortnight then...
Great mileage Macca. Good luck with your mileage SQ - incredible session yesterday on Strava.
Chicksta, it almost seems like you were waving the whole way round !
3m recovery yesterday was back at more sensible heart rates albeit in high winds with branches and debris coming down as I jogged round the woods.
Hull is looking interesting, weather wise on Sunday ...
Jools: Sensible. Streaks lead to injuries. Listen to the body and all that.
Joe: Fantastic report! I'm really looking forward to see how you're getting on at Kona. And please, no more crashes with tractors or random cars on the bike course, ok?
I'm with dct on being scared shitless of a mass swim. I can just about manage a mile or so in the pool but open water freaks me out.
dct: Tough luck re. ankle. Hope it heals quickly. Twisted ankles hurt like fck. Definitely much worse than a break. I've been there ...
Out of curiosity: What is that magic gel brand called? I decided to pay more attention to nutrition going forward so gels could be a start.
5k on the TM for me today. Legs absolutely fine. Left hammie still dodgy but no worse. And no better. I'm tempted to ignore it for a while. If it survived 26.2 miles without getting worse it can't be a serious thing, can it?
Sheez Muddy, that looks tough. Like Jools says, hopefully you'll be done by the time the worst of it sets in.
dct - Bad luck on the ankle, hope it recovers quickly. I think there's more risk that it's worth to race a half 2 weeks after a marathon. You'll gain more by letting yourself recover properly with some easy running and you won't really lose any fitness, even though it feels like you do. Actually, I think the recover plans in P&D are really good in terms of balancing recovery with maintaining fitness.
Steadily coming along Spoon. Fingers crossed it continues.
Deserved rest Jools. I don't think anyone is going to accuse you of being soft.
Great you're legs are feeling good already chicksta. Hope that hammy turns out to be nothing.
Mine legs aren't so great. Thought about doing a 12-14 mile tempo today but a few miles in I knew my legs weren't up to it. Still not recovered from the weekend's walking. They were a bit sore but mainly just felt heavy and was working too hard to maintain a good pace. Managed 7 miles at an easier pace. I'm glad I didn't push for any more as my back is sore now, a sure sign I was fatigued and losing my core.
Very nice improptu sub 3 in Sydney John, especially in windy conditions. Love the pic of you leading out the large pack, shame you didn't realise there were so many behind. I would have been 'encouraging' a few more to take a turn at the front
Impressive BAC session SQ, confidence must be building nicely.
Spoons, I'm missing your runs filling up most of my Strava feed these days, good to see progress and hope you can get back to full training soon.
Jools, good to see your mad training filling up my Strava feed again. Building nicely for Abingdon.
Good luck for Sunday Muddy, hopefully the weather doesn't have too much of an effect on the race. Your training sounds to have gone pretty well, lots of positive races.
Well done on the Brighton win Joe.
Loving all the pictures at the moment, nice wee addition to forum fun. That's a cracker of a photo HA77, makes me realise how little of the country I have actually covered.
HA77 - stunning hiking scenery, good workout for the quads.
Joe - great report as always, just shows how good form you are in.
Good luck on Sunday muddy, I feel you’re going to have a great marathon this time based off your training.
Spoons - firmly on the road back, great that you’re stringing the runs together.
SQ - very impressive sessions, you seem to be nailing them all really well.
AlanB - cheers, yes strange that no one came past me at all, definitely a day for staying hidden in a pack!
Great report Joe. Congrats again. I agree with dct and Chicksta, the idea of that swim terrifies me.
dct are those the Tracksmith split shorts? I love mine, the three gel pockets in the back are brilliant, I don’t understand why more manufacturers do something similar as they’re perfect - easy to access, but basically unnoticeable when running. Hope the ankle is ok.
Good luck for Hull Muddy, at least it’s not an afternoon race!?
Sounds like you earned a break Jooligan. Sure you’ll make up for it at the weekend!
I’m missing it too Alan! Sorry to instead be filling the timeline with yoga…
Six days running in a row now. I’m taking it one day at a time, I’ll have a rest day if I feel I need, it but so far so good. Starting to see a slight improvement in my sky-high HR too which is reassuring. Although the cooler weather the past few days has no doubt helped.
HA: great pic - love that part of the country. We really are blessed with some lovely areas.
Chick: nice 5km tready
Muddy: good luck for Hull tomorrow. Hope the weather holds off enough for a decent race
Did a progressive half marathon training run this morning finishing with 2 miles at Threshold pace. Went pretty well considering how tough those LT miles are at the end - 6:50/mi which isn’t quite LT but close enough for a run at 5.30am!
If I can keep putting a few weeks like this together I should be able to do a half in November.
Not getting much sleep but enough to keep me going.
Great HM training run first thing AWC.
Best of luck Muddy.
Made up for my zero Weds with 7.5M+10M & 3.3M+6.3M doubles Thursday/Friday. Determined not to let the weather get the better of me I headed off to a parkrun this morning planning to run it hard then carry on to bag my first 20M since the Spring campaign. Ran half the course as a wu then a 2 minute pause before hitting it hard. Fastest since 1st week in Feb (19:10) & 3rd place on my 333rd outing was tidy, though I lost focus from 3K to 4K which cost me the vital seconds to feel truly happy with the time. Mind you I was on my own 1st place was busy setting a course record in 15:48 & 2nd was knocking 30s off his PB to finish in 17:48 whilst 4th & 5th were slogging it out 20s behind me. Picked up my finish token & ran the 1 lap course again. Brief chat with a friend then a short drive up the road to the canal where I did another HM in the pissing rain so 21M for the day & 75M in 6 days including the zero.
Bad luck that your race didn't go well for you sterobbo. Well done for getting round.
Great mileage last week macca.
HA - I thought about your gel holder for Berlin but I finally found a very lightweight net belt which did the job nicely. Where were you in the Highlands if I may ask - looks very nice!
Nice tempo sandwich SQ.
Thanks for the Brighton blog Joe.
Hope the ankle is better in the meantime dct.
At least it wont be hot in Hull muddy. The wind does sound nasty though. Good luck!
Nice mini-streak spoons.
Tough run for the time of day AWC.
Sounds like you are recovering well chicksta.
Good mileage in the last few days Jools. Nice parkrun / long run combo.
I've been out for three short recovery runs in the last few days. 6 days post mara, legs are still a bit tired but no real niggles. Will keep it gentle for a while yet. Had a cold in the last few days but all above the neck so gentle runs no problem.
Good mileage there Jooligan. I don’t think I could have managed so many post park run miles, I tried to get as many in pre park run as possible.
I thought I’d try an mp session on Friday, only 6m @MP, but I was pleasantly surprised it came out at ermmmmm, MP pace, something to build on for spring.
Some statistics to start with:
1st HM: 1:43:19 / 2nd HM: 1:43:38, Overall chip time 3:26:56. A PB improvement of 7 mins, 4 seconds.
100th in age category F40, 597 overall F
Fastest 5km – 24:21 (25 – 30), Slowest 5km – 24:55 (35 – 40).
Pics: Startnr: 68453, DoB: 14.02.1974 https://www.sportograf.com/en/shop/event/4960
Pre-race training had gone well - I had more or less stuck to the 12 week P&D up to 55 miles plan. This seemed to suit me well - no real niggles, no overtiredness and was left fresh to run by race day with a nice 10k PB a couple of weeks beforehand to give me some confidence.
I travelled up to Berlin with OH on Thursday already - a long train journey - and dealt with the Expo crowds on Friday. Didn't spend too much time there - just picked up my start number, a pair of socks and one of the reusable cups being promoted but otherwise didn't look at the stands. Did a leg loosener on Friday evening along the river Spree with OH dodging the pub goers.
On Saturday I tried to conserve some energy and not do too much touristy stuff - a trip on a boat along the river Spree was nice in the morning then spent the afternoon getting ready and relaxing before a decent evening meal and a reasonably early night. I also watched a bit of the skating marathon from my hotel window - they were fast!
Was awake before the 5:45 alarm on race day. Took in a small breakfast of which the cup of tea was the most important then out at 7am to travel the couple of stops to the start. I had decided to use the poncho option rather than drop off a bag to save the hassle of that as I a) didn't have far to get back to the hotel and b) was accompanied by OH who had some spare stuff for me. I was glad of the couple of layers of old clothing I took to dump at the start - it was quite cool.
Wandered around a bit with OH to take in the scene and watch the wheelchair and handbikes warming up and then off into the runners-only area, a very short warm-up and more or less immediately to the start pens. It was still quite some time before the start but we could watch the start of the handbike, rollchair and elite races on big screens. The start itself was smoother than I expected: I had visions of doing more walking than running on the first km or so of the race but we were already jogging about 50m before the line and I was almost immediately able to accelerate to a decent pace.
I had turned on my GPS watch to locate a signal fairly early and then turned it off again. At the start line it took forever to relocate the signal and the entire GPS based functions froze at 3.71 km leaving only the clock running. I could have tried turning the watch on and off but at the time I was too busy watching my step in the crowds and as the clock was still running so that I could check my pace there was no reason to panic. It is a shame that I don’t have a full trace of the race though.
The first 6 miles were pretty congested - I had to concentrate all the time and use the gaps as I could to overtake people but without barging and not overcooking the pace. This I otherwise found unusually easy to hit and maintain in particular after the crowds started to thin out a bit and I could get settled down. I was slightly concerned at starting to feel a bit tired at the halfway point as I was a bit ahead of schedule for 3:30 but it was the sort of tiredness which got worse only slowly. It was only as of around 4 miles from the finish that that little whinging voice started up asking if I really didn't fancy a little walk? No hitting the wall like in Frankfurt last year though. I dealt with it well by concentrating on catching and overtaking people in front, some were struggling and walking at this point. I was very relieved when running around the final corner to see the Brandenburger Tor ahead – the 200m after it seemed to take forever! Saw OH 3 times around the course. Unfortunately I didn’t really take in much of the scenery – I was mostly occupied with running with so many people.
I carried my own gels as I hadn’t tested the ones offered – sticking to my plan of one gel every 5 miles. As often it took quite some time to take in each one. I mixed hydro with normal gels. Initially I drank approximately every 5km – just a couple of gulps but I did get thirsty towards the end and had to drink more. I always walked the few steps necessary for drinking so as not to shoot the water up my nose. I did use the reusable cup twice but found it quite difficult to locate the stations for refilling. Might have simply missed a couple of banners hung across the road. A piece of old buff wrapped around my (non-watch) wrist did good service as a sponge – had carried this as well but it was easier not to have to fiddle around with it. A couple of showers on the course also helped with keeping cool.
Thanks to the poncho option I was able to move through the finish area fairly smoothly to meet up with OH, we shared the free beer and got moving back to the hotel fairly soon. It would have been a lovely day to hang around but I didn’t know how long I would be able to keep walking around for.
Recovery in the last few days has been okay – slightly sore calves initially but stairs no real problem. Have been out for 3 short recovery runs in the meantime.
I was a bit skeptical on signing up for Berlin as to whether I would enjoy such a huge event – I’m not someone who likes crowds – but I coped with it well. In the race itself everyone is at least headed in the same direction. Getting to the start and into the start pens reasonably early was a good idea. I was very pleased with the organization.
Fantastic PB too. More to come I suspect too if you want it. I took 7 minutes off in both 2015 & 2016 to reach my 3:02. Struggled to get close since then, mind.
Ouch dct. How is the ankle now?
I’d be careful with that hammy, chicksta. If ever there was a time to rest it... Although I’m fully aware that I would probably be doing the same as you if I were in your position. Nonetheless, pleased there’s been progress.
Sounds sensible, HA. How is the back now? I didn’t see your photo first time around - school filters. Genuinely stunning scenery.
Great to see some consistency, spoons. You must be loving getting back into it.
Super run, AWC. Hope all going well with the little one.
Cracking Saturday morning there, Jooligan. And I enjoyed the 3 x 333. Snowdonia training going very well.
Hope the cold clears up soon, Hazel. You have my sympathy, and empathy. Great report. That is a massive PB! A really ell executed race and training plan. Super.
Having got off to a flyer this week, hitting a total of 20M and a weights session on Wednesday, things predictably came crashing down. Tuesday’s lack of sleep and the next day’s exertions caught up with me and I succumbed to the inevitable back to school cold. To be fair, very, very rare for me. Did 4M recovery on Thursday, but on Friday morning didn’t bother - even though my kit was laid out. Did test out a little recovery at lunch time and felt fine during that, but sniffling a reasonable amount. Felt a lot better on Saturday morning so got out for an easy 15M. Stayed close to home so could bin it if wanted. 6M recovery today means I have scraped to 70M for the week, which I’ll take with a cold thrown in.
In the context of the above, I have a question: shall I race Cheltenham Half next Sunday all out? Or do something like 10M easy, then 13.1 at marathon pace (or a touch slower)? I could even be the 90min pacer again, which was great fun last year. I am leaning towards the latter. If I wanted to get anywhere near a PB, I would need a very light week leading into the race. And as Abingdon is my absolute A goal (4 week today), I think a big week’s training is of greater performance than a half marathon smack down. In an ideal world, I would have done a proper long run this weekend. Anyone care to chime in?
70 miles in spite of the cold is impressive btw
So the weather turned out to be splendid, slight nip in the air, and a bit of a breeze. I still had the head cold symptoms so took a fairly pragmatic approach, survival foremost in my mind, and ran 2.50.43, for a 15 second pb
Full disclosure tomorrow and proper thread catch up, but initially my thoughts are SQ don’t do it. A hard half on a body fighting a bug is risky. Let the cold run its course and drop a little from the taper as you’ve done a bit of rest in the run up to it.