It's catching ... yesterday I forgot my run kit was'nt already at work... by fluke I'd left a very old pair of trainers on top of my locker a few years back, so went in my cycling gear with those on.
Last day of exercise today until Sunday's 26.2 ... cycle commuting and my now standard last run of 3.35 miles with 4 x 400m, followed immediately by hi-carb refuelling. I's rather not have commuted on the bike today but had 500 students to teach at 9am and I cannot rely on the buses/traffic in Leeds.
I hope so.....weather looks solid and day 1 carb load completed reasonably well. I always find day 2 hardest as im pretty sick of carbs already but a lot to get through.
I don't care about some showers so much. I just wanted cool and cloudy conditions with nominal wind. Of course I would also prefer it not to pour down. To be fair, earlier in the week it was too warm and today and Saturday look crap. For once, I've lucked in with weather!!!
The Sunday weather seems to be changing slightly every few hours! My pet hate is wind so as long as it stays around 10-12mph that will do. Actually met office seem to think little chance of rain and 9mph winds so I'll take that one! I coped with the London heat reasonably ok, I found the biggest peril were other runners and a lot of discarded water bottles in the middle of the road at every station. In the end pleased to have stayed on my feet!
3m easy in the morning because I always do. Good luck chaps, see you on the other side.
Looks like nipple-taping-up weather... and extra Vaseline elsewhere. 🤔
Nipples were taped, heavy rain before my race started but then eased off and only started again once I'd finished.
@dt19 the magic happened. I did 1.32.42 so blew past my 1.35 target. Felt strong at the start and only started suffering at mile 8. Last 3 miles were tough but I kept my pace and even managed a faster last k. Really pleased with a 6 minute pb especially seeing as I was feeling ill yesterday.
A 3 week block and then a taper before my next half. No idea what to aim for there. Is 1.30 possible? Seems like a bit of a stretch right now but hr was about 7 bpm less than my threshold so maybe some extra pace is possible.
great work jgav. I often do halfs in pairs. the first is to set a marker and decide whether I could have pushed a lot harder. I almost always run the second one 1-2 minutes faster. less so now but when I was at circa 1.30 level i would.
Well, it was a miserable day in York. Fortunately I clung on for dear life and ran the last 0.2 miles at 5.08mm pace to come in 2.59.54. Absolutely buzzing as well as quite emotional.
didn't see Dr Dan or Wardi but saw duckinator twice on the switch backs and we shared a high 5.
Well done DT! Couldn't have been much closer! Had you on the tracker and thought you might not make it! Tracker lists the distance as 26.1 miles; I do hope it was the correct length! Anyway, onwards and upwards...or should I say downwards now that you have the sub 3 off your back. Will be interested in your view of the course, organisation etc. Weather unfortunately can be anything at this time of year. Yesterday it was 22 when helping at cross country; today it was heavy rain and around 8 or 9 degrees so binned going to watch the Manchester half.
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
Alehouse, it was horrible yesterday. very windy and humid as well. I genuinely didn't think I had it. it was only when I got over the hill and could see the clock , knowing I had some grace on that, that if I put the hammer down I'd get there.
my Strava had 26.2. not sure why tracker says that. Strava flybys show 26.2 almost exclusively. my average pace was 6.52 so 2.59.54 tallys.
Well done JGav. Sub 1:30 is quite a stretch for your next one, I would normally recommend chipping off 30-60 sec at a time.
DT19.. I just love 'close & a cigar' results. Massive kudos for joining the sub 3 club, great effort in the sogginess today!
Not too shabby at York for me today, fastest for 3 years in 3.32.25, 5th place in the old gits. The rain never relented today, I ended up standing under a tree to get sorted before the race. Post race I was quite cold & got changed under an open sided bike shelter Pleased to get home to dry clothes and a curry!
Alehouse, I think the problem maybe that the system was thrown by placement of the half way mat. It was at the 13 mile marker and not at half way.
Well done, Wardi. I took cover in the David Lloyd gym before and after the race. It was a pretty painful and cold walk back up there after the race mind with just some foil covering me.
2.57.58 for sub 3 pacer. Had I trusted his pacing I think i'd be telling a very different story today.
4k recovery today. Slow but felt ok, calves are a little worn out but hope to be back into normal training by Wednesday. I remember last year when I could barely walk for 3 days after my first HM, so this is an improvement.
Well done on the HM JGav and on the great marathon performances DT & Wardi! You cut it damned close DT!!!
Much less successful here. Last year's PB was at 7:45/mi pace ... knew I was way off that and I was originally going to go out at 8:10/mi ... but recent fitness improvements suggested that 8:00/mi might be feasible. I wasn't sure what to go with at the start, but once I got going decided to just go for the more ambitious pace (if it felt too hard after I started, I could back off). Actually it felt very comfortable. I was still averaging 8 min/mile at18 miles and actually quite enjoying the conditions despite the continual rain and the wet feet ... but then after the switch-back just after 18 miles my knees started hurting like hell (both of them, on both sides of the knee cap). This is the same pain I'd had following the 1 mile track race this year (and at Tadcaster 2 years ago). I tolerated the pain for another few miles but was slowing ... but then decided to just jack it in and walk, However, I then got very cold, so tried some run/fast_walking to the end. I was shivering for the best part of two hours afterwards and had numb fingers. Utterly miserable experience and the worst marathon BY FAR of the last 9 I've done (the first was even worse!). But it's enough to almost put me off wanting to do another one. Almost.
Apart from the one-off issue at the Tadcaster 10 in 2016 (which I put down to being caused by the 1 mile race the day before), I have not had any knee issues since I ditched using chunky/supportive trainers in 2009/2010. This year I went back to them as a way of looking after my feet, so I'm suspicious that this underlies the problem. Need to have a good think about what to do.
Sorry to hear about your last 8 miles, Dan! Followed you on the tracker and everything seemed to be going well! Didn't realise you had gone back to chunkier shoes; hard to know if this is the reason of course. Doubt if the weather helped! Do you do any work on your feet with, say, a spiky ball? My physio is an advocate as she feels that using the ball opens out the ankle, knees and hips as well as being beneficial to the foot. No rush to make a decision about your future plans...and don't forget there are other distances besides a marathon! Just off to find my spiky ball!
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
Comments
I've done that and just worn my work socks folded under then not worn socks in the afternoon.
May just swim/bike tomorrow and let my feet heal.
5 easy paced miles for me today
DT on the other hand will smash it. 👊
I hope so.....weather looks solid and day 1 carb load completed reasonably well. I always find day 2 hardest as im pretty sick of carbs already but a lot to get through.
Good luck, Dr Dan. Hopefully see you there.
Working from home today, so no temptation to ride my bike.
best of luck!!!
4.5 miles for me today, keeping things ticking over on a rest week so far.
@dt19 the magic happened. I did 1.32.42 so blew past my 1.35 target. Felt strong at the start and only started suffering at mile 8. Last 3 miles were tough but I kept my pace and even managed a faster last k. Really pleased with a 6 minute pb especially seeing as I was feeling ill yesterday.
A 3 week block and then a taper before my next half. No idea what to aim for there. Is 1.30 possible? Seems like a bit of a stretch right now but hr was about 7 bpm less than my threshold so maybe some extra pace is possible.
Looking forward to the York reports! Have been tracking DT, Dan and Wardi, amongst others! Mixed emotions I think! And hope it wasn't short!
Well, it was a miserable day in York. Fortunately I clung on for dear life and ran the last 0.2 miles at 5.08mm pace to come in 2.59.54. Absolutely buzzing as well as quite emotional.
didn't see Dr Dan or Wardi but saw duckinator twice on the switch backs and we shared a high 5.
I'll do a report in the week.
my Strava had 26.2. not sure why tracker says that. Strava flybys show 26.2 almost exclusively. my average pace was 6.52 so 2.59.54 tallys.
I'll do a full report in the week.
17 miles for me last week, on a cutback week. Got 3 weeks full training planned, then a parkrun and then 2 more weeks before the 10k target race.
Alehouse, I think the problem maybe that the system was thrown by placement of the half way mat. It was at the 13 mile marker and not at half way.
Well done, Wardi. I took cover in the David Lloyd gym before and after the race. It was a pretty painful and cold walk back up there after the race mind with just some foil covering me.
2.57.58 for sub 3 pacer. Had I trusted his pacing I think i'd be telling a very different story today.
Much less successful here. Last year's PB was at 7:45/mi pace ... knew I was way off that and I was originally going to go out at 8:10/mi ... but recent fitness improvements suggested that 8:00/mi might be feasible. I wasn't sure what to go with at the start, but once I got going decided to just go for the more ambitious pace (if it felt too hard after I started, I could back off). Actually it felt very comfortable. I was still averaging 8 min/mile at18 miles and actually quite enjoying the conditions despite the continual rain and the wet feet ... but then after the switch-back just after 18 miles my knees started hurting like hell (both of them, on both sides of the knee cap). This is the same pain I'd had following the 1 mile track race this year (and at Tadcaster 2 years ago). I tolerated the pain for another few miles but was slowing ... but then decided to just jack it in and walk, However, I then got very cold, so tried some run/fast_walking to the end. I was shivering for the best part of two hours afterwards and had numb fingers. Utterly miserable experience and the worst marathon BY FAR of the last 9 I've done (the first was even worse!). But it's enough to almost put me off wanting to do another one. Almost.
Apart from the one-off issue at the Tadcaster 10 in 2016 (which I put down to being caused by the 1 mile race the day before), I have not had any knee issues since I ditched using chunky/supportive trainers in 2009/2010. This year I went back to them as a way of looking after my feet, so I'm suspicious that this underlies the problem. Need to have a good think about what to do.
Perhaps the chunky trainers encouraged a return to a heavier heel strike/over stride. That could definitely create knee problems