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Overdone it?
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I am a little confused as to what those paces should be. I will look at some of the earlier posts in here and see if I can pull something together.
Cheers
Why on earth did he do that? a complete waste of an entire training block and a weekend.
David I did 3 miles today at 9.04mm pace. Don't be too proud to run properly slow. Your body will often tell you what is easy on a particular day. Some days easy will come out 7.45mm other days 8.45mm. if we take that as my range of easy paces there is very little fitness gain for me running at 7.45 compared to 8.30mm but if I did all my easy running at 7.45 id end up compromising my sessions much more so than doing it all at circa 8.15-8.30mm.
there are calculators such as mcmillan that will give you an easy pace range based on your recent 5k.
I wouldn't worry about going again in the evening.
David, 7:15 for HMP and ~7:45 for MP sounds about right to me. Good idea to take a look at some of the sessions which Stevie set for Skinny, you'll see he recommends about 3 miles of warm up which is good if you have the time. However, I find that a mile or two warm up is fine for leading in to a MP session (in fact sometimes I go straight into an MP session if I'm running with others but the first mile always feels absolutely appalling).
I don't really pay attention to my pace when I'm doing easy running, I've just had a look at the last few weeks of training and my easy paced runs generally range from 8:00-9:00min/mile, however, a recent 9 miler along a particularly hilly and gnarly footpath by a lake was in excess of 10 min/mile. I've done a handful of marathon paced efforts in that time (approx 7 min/mile) and I've raced the bonkers 5K three times. As per the above, my time for the 5K has come down by about 30 seconds without really doing much in the way of quality (although it is easier to get back to a previous level than it was to get to the that level initially).
Nothing to do with the race but I was confused by this bit (possibly because I've never been in a DL gym).
'I arrived at my hotel mid-afternoon and was disappointed to find there was no bath in my room. A return trip by taxi to David Lloyd (DL) served that purpose, but also allowed me to check out the route and proximity for the following morning.'
Do you mean you got a taxi to a David Lloyd gym to have a bath?
there are no baths there but there is a Jacuzzi which is the next best thing.
That little detour puzzled me too Skinny. I’m glad now that I didn’t enquire.
David - Echo everyone else’s sentiments about easy paces. I run at whatever feels like a really easy effort, which sometimes involves attempting to sing along to whatever I’m listening to.
Now, I do 90% of my running at 8:30 or slower. There are, of course, some faster bits In the easy runs. But mainly it’s one quality session a week at MP pace and perhaps a Parkrun, plus a longer run. I can still do a 1:41 half on no specific HM training and it doesn’t leave me exhausted. On the back of this approach, ive had 6 or 7 days off in 2 months.
Listen to your body and don’t fret over missed days. As for a 1:35
in a few months, you appear to have a good attitude and structure.
Good luck.
Then, today incorporated a 5k into my 10 mile long run. That went well, finishing 10th and think I was first old guy by one second, in 16.24 on chip, but sadly beaten by several characters from Super Mario Karts. They obviously used power ups.
Before anyone gets excited, the course was short by about 0.1m, so I won't be claiming that as pb. Strava says it was my fastest pace over that (undulating) route so I'll take that as a very encouraging sign.
My weekend was less eventful, I E-scootered (https://www.li.me/electric-scooter) my way to parkrun on Saturday morning. After 4 miles of scootering my legs felt a bit weird when I ran from the edge of the park to the start line. My initial plan was for a steady parkrun, for whatever reason I don't seem able to hit 5k pace at 8am, plus the courses are generally undulating and twisty on a variety of dodgy surfaces. However, after the first half mile or so I was feeling reasonable so decided to push on a bit. The middle mile is an out and back, firstly down a pretty big hill and then straight back up it, I overtook quite a few people coming back up the hill which encouraged me to push on a bit more. The last mile is pretty twisty and has a gradual climb up to the finish, I caught a few coming up the hill and managed to hold off a teenager in a bit of a sprint finish. Finishing time was a fairly unremarkable 20:28 but I was more pleased that I'd finally had a decentish run on this course at my third attempt.
First real session in a fair while yesterday; 6*800m with 90 secs recovery. All came in about current 5K pace which will do for now, ideally I would have liked them to have been a bit quicker but given that they were done on an undulating path in a park and having to dodge people and cricket balls etc I guess that can account for a bit of the slowness. What was quite handy was that the some anorak has been with a measuring wheel and marked out 100m marks on the path all the way round the loop which helps with pacing a fair bit.
Might do Auckland half marathon at the weekend, which could be interesting given I've not ran further than 10 miles for months. I am being more than slightly put off by the price though; £70
Tommy, good efgort. that does sound pretty steep for a half.
Not much happening here. I am very much in that post successful training and racing block cnba stage. Done a few runs but still feel a bit beaten up. on holiday next week so hopefully I'll return more up for it.
muddy - going well
Tommy - nice session, i haven't done any sort of session for about 3 years
Just back from 2 weeks all inclusive holidaying abroad during which i managed just 3 runs for 18 miles and some pretty poor mileage for a few weeks before that too. So i desperately need to get going over the next 8 weeks.
Feeling a bit like a weeble at the moment
Hi Mace! Good luck in getting back to it...….though it'll be Christmas soon!!
Starting to get back into it though motivation is low to be bothered getting out. 18 miles all at easy so far this week.
Hi Fatty - you and McFlooze will be able to wobble along at the back together.
After four days in Verona for a honeymoon and plenty of walking, drinking and eating I wasn't feeling particularly prepared for this race. I did however manage to go out yesterday for 5M with strides to loosen things up.
My legs felt very heavy on the slow run up to the park and I ended up getting there with about 15 minutes to spare. Went through the various stretches and little stride efforts as normal and then it was time for the race. With the sun out and a tiny bit of wind we set off and up the hill to complete two laps of the circuit but this time in a clockwise fashion.
I knew from my time at the August 5k that I could stick to around 6:45m/m and this would be fairly comfortable. I'd done the training (though not necessarily for this event) and used this time as a ceiling. If I went quicker then I'd just bank the seconds and hold on if necessary.
For the first mile my legs felt incredibly heavy and I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it was the lack of running whilst away. It was definitely a case of just trying to forget how they felt and hoping they loosened up as the race went on. The 1st mile was 6:29. Into the second mile and I felt much better. The legs felt looser and now it was just my breathing to concentrate on as I tried to get into a rhythm. I stuck to the same pace as the previous mile as it felt pretty comfortable. The second mile was also done in 6:29.
With the last of the inclines out of the way the last mile was a good one. I coasted up to a chap who kept looking over his shoulder. He sped up to match my pace and we completed the majority of the final mile together whilst talking about the change in route. He left me at the end and whilst I tried to keep up I didn't have anything in the tank. I did do enough to make sure nobody else came past me on the final straight though. The last mile clocked in at 6:20 with 5:29 pace for the last little bit.
Final time according to my watch was 20:04. An improvement of 50 seconds over my August time so I'm quite happy especially considering the break beforehand.
I always enjoy this race because the field is varied in terms of ability and there are some great runners out there. A great way to finish off the month.
Cheers
Yeah DT, it was Buds Run.
Nice improvement there David - not sure I could talk much in the last mile of a 5k though !
I've ran up another easy week with no sessions to speak of. I've been exercising caution after a wooden locker door fell off its hinges and landed on my ankle at the gym on Tuesday lunchtime. I took a tumble down the stairs the next day, bruised my back and banged my head against a wooden door in the process. Both great excuses, should I decide to race a 10 mile road race this weekend.
Sorry to hear about your fall muddy. Hope all is OK. Good luck at the 10 mile if you do decide to race.
Nicely done, David! Sub 20 for sure next time out. I reckon you should think about adjusting your goal time for the HM next year...
In the end I decided that, despite the hefty entrance fee and the ungodly start time, I figured I probably wouldn't have another opportunity to run the event again so to duly entered the Auckland Half Marathon.
Report coming up, however, a couple of excuses to get in first...1) the profile is not conducive to running a PB with plenty of undulations in the first half and then a steep climb to get over the harbour bridge (the catchphrase on most of the merchandise is #conquerthebridge) and 2) I hadn't ran further than 10 miles for months so endurance was probably not there.
My alarm went off at 4:45 - 'Strewth, what on earth's happening here?' - hit cancel and fall back to sleep. Fortunately I had foreseen this happening and set a couple more additional alarms. Dragged myself out of bed and forced a cup of tea and some cereal down whilst continually questioning what the hell I was doing. 5:45 comes round and I go to leave the flat and I can't find the key, 5 minutes (which feels like about 25 minutes) of mad panic and it eventually turns up under my wallet. Get outside and it's raining and blowing a hoolie, more questioning of what the point in all this was. Get down to the ferry port and there's a massive queue, although fortunately it's sheltered. Get in the queue and it moves very quickly and before I know it I'm on a ferry heading across the Hauraki Gulf with a load of like minded bleary eyed souls. Arrive at Auckland's North Shore and it's still raining and it's still very windy and the internal questions are there. I hung about in the ferry building with plenty of other people and the smell of embrocation filled the air.
10 minutes before the start, I headed to the baggage truck and dumped my stuff before jogging up towards the start line, 'this will do as a warm up' I convinced myself. Getting to the right starting pen was a bit of a mission as they'd fenced the race area off with no way of getting through, so anyone looking 1:30ish or quicker had to force their way through the 5,000 odd other people. Anyway with that challenge completed I got to where the 1:30 sign was and was surprised by how few people were ahead of this marker. Anyway, I had an approximate plan to head out with the 90 minute pacers and see how things went up until the bridge and then try and push on for the last 4 miles or so (if there was anything in the tank). Shortly before the off, I realised it had stopped raining although it was still a bit bloody windy.
The course side clock counted down to start time (6:50am) but somewhat bizarrely there was no spoken countdown just a hooter that went off which seemed to take most people by surprise. We headed along the coast road for a couple of hundred metres before turning inland up the first hill, it was about this point that I thought I probably should have had a pee before we started. I can't really remember the first part of the race, it just seemed to be either going up or going down (felt like more up than down and looking at Strava afterwards that does seem to be the case. However, what I do remember is the 90 minute pacer bus going past me after a mile or so, I stuck with them for a bit and their pace was sitting around 6:30 which was a bit aggressive for that early on and particularly with the regular inclines, so I decided to let them go and run my own race. The course wound its way northward through residential streets with fleeting views of the volcanic island of Rangitoto which was a nice temporary distraction.
I was keeping an eye on the two 90 minute pacers who were getting further and further away from me whilst also keeping an eye on my average pace which was sitting at around 6:45 min/mile so I've no idea what they were doing. I was feeling relatively comfortable and the effort level felt about right and going up and down the hills wasn't causing me too much grief so resolved to see how long I could hold the pace for. I found myself running alongside a girl who had a bit of an idiosyncratic running style, which made it look like she had a slight limp but it didn't seem to cause her any bother.
Before long the course turned in a southerly direction and the city skyline came into view. This coincided with a lovely gentle downhill which seemed to go on for miles. We crossed the 10K mat and subsequently the halfway timing mat, a quick check of my watch which showed 41:36 and 43:45 respectively, well inside sub 90 pace. However, my watch was a little bit out from the on course markers, which unhelpfully were in kilometres meaning some mental arithmetic whilst on the move. I exchanged a few words with some people around me and they were getting a similar distance to me and were equally as confused by how far behind the 90 minute pacers we were.
The harbour bridge has gradually been getting closer, the initial climb is fairly gradual but gets noticeably steeper a bit further up. I make a point of not looking at my watch and just getting to the crest as quickly as possible but without going going into the red too much. I pass quite a lot of people on the bridge a few who I recognise from the 90 minute pacing bus along with quite a few from the full marathon who started 50 minutes before us, there's some people who look in a bad way, with still well over half a marathon to go. On top of the bridge, I remember to take a look around and take in the view of the city and the gulf and get blasted by the wind. As I start the descent, I'm caught by the run-limp girl, we express similar feelings of hatred towards the harbour bridge as we hit the decent and the pace quickens. Check the average pace and it's moved to 6:46; still good enough for sub 90...
We come off the bridge and are almost immediately we are faced with another short sharp hill, which is most unwelcome. However, it's over and done with fairly quickly and followed by a short descent and I know from this point it's flat to the finish although by the water so completely at the mercy of the wind gods. As an added bonus, the girl has arranged for her brother and his mate to pace her for the last 5k. My lack of endurance is starting to tell now and I'm having to work quite hard to stick with the unofficial pacers, I resolve to stick with them until 12 miles and then a bit of determination should see me through the last mile and barring a complete collapse I can get a time I'm happy with. Out group is moving pretty well and we're overtaking plenty of people and then out of nowhere we suddenly catch a forlorn looking group; it's the official sub 90 group and they appear to be crawling along, we pass them with ease.