My Last Run

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  • From reading a bit I think it's a spot of good old-fashioned runner's knee, Hazel. Ice and a compression bandage seem to be doing the trick. Going to rest it and only do slow stuff for a while. I think it started after the strains of Ipswich and so is probably a case of a bit too much crammed in to 2 weeks. Hopefully it'll bugger off sharpish :)
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Bombing down hills can upset your knees, so if you had any hills in your races, Will, it might be that. Lots of rolling and stretch your quads.

    6 miles today with 4 at MP. Went pretty well - after my physio visit yesterday my achilles wasn't too bad.
  • Hello all I hope you don't mind me joining this thread, am doing Bournemouth marathon this Sunday and it will be my 3rd this year, having previously done Manchester and then Stratford upon Avon in May, Manchester was my first ever marathon, managed to do it in 3 hours 41mins, crashed and burned at Stratford (long story!) so hoping Bournemouth will be good to me, anyone else doing Bournemouth this Sunday?  My last run was the Ipswich half last month, my home town, beat my PB by 8 mins so was very happy with that, 1hour 39mins. 
  • Hi Rob and welcome! Good to have another Tractor Boy on board. I crashed and burned at Ipswich - that hill did me in completely! My first marathon is going to be Manchester 2019. Resting my knee for a few days at the moment as it has been feeling the strain of Ipswich + Bristol Halfs back to back. I want to run but know the rest is needed - tough.
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Welcome Rob, I'm sure you'll be ok at Bournemouth although I haven't done the course myself.

    Thanks Cal, not quite on holiday just yet-holed up in a Heathrow hotel for an early start tomorrow. No serious running until October 21st for me and the Great South but I went out for a ten miler yesterday which turned into a half! It was certainly in my top three runs of the year and I just squeezed in a ten mile pb by around thirty seconds but then went on to take a massive three minutes off my half pb which has stood for over three years-a truly fantastic run. It made me look back a few months to a time when I was in the middle of my second medium to long term injury in around twelve months which put me into a very negative frame of mind and convinced me I would never get back to the fitness levels I enjoyed in 2015. I've had to be patient and work hard to get to the level that I achieved yesterday but its so worth it! Of course the down side is that I risk getting ahead of myself and going for that sub four hour marathon-and with a half pb of 1.48 it's certainly there for the taking but I just have to remember to rest as hard as I train, which is another good reason for taking it easy until the Great South!
  • Cal JonesCal Jones ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    Hi Rob, I'm doing Chester this Sunday. You'll have to let me know what Bournemouth is like. I did Manchester too (for the third time) and got a PB, but I'm considerably slower than you. I also did Liverpool this year, but wasn't quite as quick as Manchester (but then it was a lot warmer, hillier and I'd managed to get shingles between the two, so overall I was pleased with it).
    Matt, sounds like a great run!
    Will, sorry to hear that, but I know how it is having done the same at Maidenhead. Every race is a learning experience.
    A 4 mile leg stretcher today. Achilles got sore during the last mile, which worried me - I think I will have to go for my Zoom Flys in Chester as, while they are more likely to give me sore feet than my Epics, they're also easier on my calves.

  • Welcome to Rob.  All welcome here from those starting on c25k to seasoned ultra runners.  Ahh - maybe not the spammers!

    That is a big improvement on your HM PB well done.  Good luck for Bournemouth!  Do you have a goal time in mind?  Please drop back in and let us know how you get on. 

    Hope you are back to running again soon Will. 

    Your HM PB must be up for a big improvement in a race Matt if you can take 3 mins off it in training.  Such a run must be a great boost for your confidence after the long come back months. 

    Good luck for Chester Cal.  Have a good journey up. 

    The standard 6 miler for me on Tuesday evening with my group - a good turnout of 8.  Initially the pace was easy but after around 2 and a half miles it picked up quite quickly leading to us splitting into 2 groups, the slower one taking a shortcut.  Annoyingly I dropped my watch on the hall tiles before setting out and smashed the glass.  It still works but I guess I need to go shopping.  Will need to umm and ahh over all the different makes and models.
  • Thanks Will & Matt, that hill in Ipswich is a bit of a killer but very nice coming down!  I did enjoy the scenic route going along the river, will be doing it again next year.  My first marathon was Manchester this year and really enjoyed it, great first marathon and the people are fantastic, considering doing it again next year but would like to focus on doing different marathons, have got the bug now, and of course it all depends on the wife!  

    Cal - I remember you from the spring marathon forum leading up to Manchester this year, was a great marathon wasn't it!  Shingles doesn't sound too good and especially leading up to a marathon, bet your pleased you completed it though, good luck for Chester this weekend, what distance is it?  Need to book in some more races, have just got a 10k (Rendlesham) this month and the stowmarket scenic 7 (mile)


  • Hi Hazel!  Sorry I didn't see your post there, sorry to hear about your watch.  Have not been feeling that great the past week so really not expecting a PB but would like to do it in under 4 hours if I can, but just going to go with it and see what happens, main thing is just to enjoy it and soak up the atmosphere.  
  • Good attitude Rob.  You might surprise yourself and do better than you expect. 

    RobFrost said:
    main thing is just to enjoy it and soak up the atmosphere.  

      A tip:  When things start to get tough try doing this actively - I find it helps!  High5 some kids, interact with the crowd etc.

    5 flat miles for me yesterday afternoon on grumbling legs due to ups and downs of the previous day's hike.  Nonetheless a bit too quick for a real recovery run - need to work on that pace again. 
  • Rob, I'm doing the marathon. About to head off up north (staying with a friend and two other friends are coming up as well). I'm hoping my achilles isn't too painful.
    Good luck in Bournemouth!
    Hazel, I may be shopping for a new watch soon too. Mine works but keeps having issues interfacing with my PC - I had to reboot the watch again yesterday. Hopefully I won't lose my Chester data - that would piss me off.
  • Good luck in Chester, Cal! Enjoy the occasion and I hope it all goes well.
    After a 5 day rest I tested the knee out today. A jog to Parkrun and then a 27 min effort with my Dad. A tad stiff and just slightly sore but feels fine now. So hopefully I'll be OK for a very slow 10/11 miler tomorrow. Next Half in 2 weeks so will be happy to rest during the week and just do my weekend Parkruns and longies from now. Happy running all!
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Cal seems to be running well in Chester....  There isn't a Rob Frost in Bournemouth so I can't stalk his progress... :D

    Good to hear the knee has improved Will. Nice parkrun.   Hope the longy (??) goes well today.  Hmm I would add a short recovery (or 2) during the week just to move the blood around a bit rather than 2 days running and 5 days not at all.

    For me:  a 5 miler on Friday with 6 x strides and a 10 miler today with 2 miles WU down the hill, 6 miles progressive along the flat valley bottom and 2 miles back up the hill - doesn't really feel like a CD therefore.  The progressive section was a couple of seconds faster than MP at the end - no faster as I haven't done any speedwork in the last 3 weeks whilst recovering from Berlin.  Felt good to be moving faster than recovery to steady pace pace.   Nice morning for it: cool, partly sunny with a light layer of mist in the valley initially - the tops of the trees were poking out of the top as I ran down the hill.  Saw 4 hot air balloons.  Also 2 birdwatchers with big scopes, a nordic walker, a couple of dog walkers and one guy on a horse.  Pretty quiet for Sunday morning.  
  • Thanks Hazelnut, I don't have any HM races booked until February and that isn't a pb course anyway so who knows when I'll be able to get a race pb!

    I finally became a parkrun tourist yesterday although it wasn't too different from being at home in Southsea with a nice flat, straight coastal run at Singapore East Coast Parkrun! Took it easy to start with as it was less than 24 hours after getting off the long haul flight and also because it was around 28c with ridiculously high humidity. With that in mind it turned out to be a progressive run 13.58 outward and 13.13 on the way back. The 0730 start was a bit tough though! I'll hopefully get a couple more 5k runs in over the next week and then one decent run back in the UK before the GSR.
  • That's a proper bit of Parkrun tourism, Matt! Good time in those conditions too - humidity like that is a killer. Enjoy your holiday.

    Some good spots on your run, Hazelnut, especially the hot air balloons. I'm enjoying the cool conditions too. Not looking forward to the forecast 25C here on Wednesday. Would much rather stick to Autumn.

    A double bonus for me this afternoon as I managed to get out of a kids' party and do my long run in one fell swoop. A lovely afternoon and I got back down to the uni lake for a few trail laps. The hardest part today was not stopping to pick up all the shiny conkers - I'd normally have grabbed them all! Thankfully my knee held up well. I can still feel it a bit but it doesn't affect my expert form or cadence! I did 11 miles at 10:01 mi/min, bang on my target LSR pace, although the splits showed it was up and down at different stages. I put some of my stats into an online thing to show my ideal LSR pace, with a view to my longer marathon mileage. It came out with 10:32 mi/min. I think I'd find it hard to stick to that slow a pace. Thoughts? Good advice on keeping my knee circulation going during the week, Hazelnut   I hadn't thought of it like that, but will do a short run or two during this week. I'll keep icing and stretching it too. 

    I can't wait to start my marathon training in November and have lots of thoughts and questions going through my mind. No doubt I'll be looking for plenty more advice from the MLR marathon legends :)

    Hope it all went well for Cal!
    I run, therefore I am.
  • Thanks guys, I had a great race! I stayed with the 4:15 pacer initially but then felt he was going too slow so I ran on my own for the rest of it. The only place I slowed much was the big hill near the end, but I kept a pretty even pace for the whole thing. My new PB is 4:10:42 which is almost 8 minutes quicker than Manchester.
    I'd definitely recommend Chester - great race, well organised and nice scenery.
  • That's fantastic,  Cal! Congratulations. A huge PB :)
    I run, therefore I am.
  • After getting into running 3 months ago, I ran my first half marathon over the weekend! (Tonbridge half marathon) Despite it being a bit of a hilly course I still managed to run a 1:30:38. Really chuffed with that and am looking into some flat/fast half maras for a solid PB (any suggestions?)

    Am signed up for Brighton in April and my ultimate (if unrealistic) goal is to run sub 3 hours. Reckon this is achievable if I keep up my training or will I plateau completely?
  • That's a great time, well done! When are you planning to run your next one? River Thames is at the end of the month and that's flat, although some of it is tow path so there's some potential for mud if it rains a lot. And next year there's Hampton Court (the Quicksilver one) and Wokingham in February, both of which are fast and flat.
    I can't comment on the marathon - a lot depends on things like weather (Brighton has been hot a couple of times) and if it's your first one, I would expect it would be more like 2 x HM pace plus 20 minutes.
  • That's a brilliant mara PB Cal well done.  I kept an eye on the tracker and when you had reached 30km I thought now dig in and do it!  And you did :-)  Lovely even pacing.  Hope you are recovering well.

    Nice parkrun tourism Matt.  I would have hated the conditions.

    Good to read your long run went well Will.  I still like conkers as well.  Do kids play with them at all these days? 
    Regarding the lsr pace.  Better a bit slow than too fast, initially as the long runs build up I would try for an even pace during the entire workout. Hard long run workouts are doing the second half quicker than the first.  (first half MP + 20 % and second half MP + 10 % - no faster) or adding in a number of MP miles.
    Could you remind me of your HM PB?  Do you have a mara goal time in mind? 

    Congratulations to boothgm also for an excellent HM debut on not too much running.  Would agree with Cal regarding the sub 3 goal for a first marathon.
  • Thanks Hazelnut - I have a very tight left calf so I've not done much bar a little walk today (the sore achilles is on the right, so possibly I was compensating, or it was down to camber, not sure. Nothing serious though. The achilles isn't bad). I was super-happy with my pacing - this is the first marathon I've felt strong towards the end and haven't faded. I guess I better start thinking a bit more seriously about how I'm going to tackle that sub-4 (gulp).

  • Blimey, Boothgm, you're looking fast 3 months in to your running career! Ace HM time.

    Well done again, Cal. You must feel great, with it all coming together as it did. Brilliant running.

    My sore knee seems to have all but cleared up (touch wood) so I went out for 4 miles in 38 mins tonight. I felt like getting a sweat on so varied my pace, including a good 800m at what I presume they call threshold (I couldn't go much faster!) Really enjoyed that run so focusing on a few more good ones before my trail Half on 20th. Wood smoke was nice to smell again, in the cool air, and I even showed a cat to safety as it looked to be heading into the path of a car. We are getting a kitten on Saturday,  which my kids have innocently named Titsy. Can't wait to call her in at night! 

    As for my marathon pacing, Hazelnut,  my Half PB is 1:58:20 (whoop). I've done a few at just over 2:00 hrs. Generally , my LSR pace is 10:00 min/mi and, not being a speedy type, I enjoy plodding along. I'm just wondering if I should slow that down a bit for my marathon longies? My aim for Manchester (marathon debut) is to finish, preferably without walking and in under 4:30 hrs. Ideally somewhere around 4:20 would be good. I've designed a 20 week training plan, but really don't know what I'm on about half the time! All advice gratefully received :)


    I run, therefore I am.
  • Yeah that's quite fast, Will. For a sub-4:30 your MP is around 10:15 so you'd want to do your long runs slower than that. When I did mine, my long runs were typically 10:45-10:30 pace (faster miles towards the end of the run). As I've got faster, my training paces have come down a little so my long runs for Chester were 10:30 - 10:00. The slower you are, the closer to MP you can run, but don't try to do your long runs at MP or you'll wear yourself out. You can do faster paces on your shorter runs.
  • Congrats on the PB Cal, that's a great improvement!  I didn't get a PB in Bournemouth but very happy with my time which was 3:46:10, that was the hardest marathon I have done (having only done 3!) Killer hills at mile 13 and 17, last 4 miles was soul destroying Lol  Manchester seemed much easier although it was very flat and I had put more training in.  Looking to fit in a half marathon this year if anyone has any suggestions?
  • Hazelnut - My name was under Robert Frost but thought you would only need the surname?  Didn't think you can track progress?  Good to know though if you can!
  • That's a decent result under the circumstances, Rob. How did you find the organisation? I've heard mixed reports.
    Still resting at the moment. Interestingly, I got a commiserations magazine in the post today. First time I've had one of those - normally it's just an email (I got an email too).
  • Cal -  Found the organisation fine, no problems whatsoever although I was staying at my sisters so she dropped me off at the start, no bag drop needed, plenty of water stations and gels were given out the second half of the race, great atmosphere too, perfect weather conditions, the day before was windy and raining most of the day so very lucky! What do you mean by the commiserations magazine?  London?  I got an email last year, will keep trying every year though, not too bothered about London as there are plenty of other marathons to do, would love to do Manchester again in April.


  • Have two 10k's lined up this year (trying very hard to get sub 40) but would love to fit in another half, think I can push myself harder for the half as I did Bournemouth in 1 hour 42 half way point, and my half marathon PB is 1 hour 39???!
  • JT141JT141 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    Hello. It's been an interesting time. Some brilliant marathon runs from Hazel, Cal and Rob. 12.4miles today. Went through a swarm of Harlequin Ladybirds on the wing. They've all got STDs apparently. I got a few in my mouth. I'm getting my excuses in early.
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