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Think I’m still recovering from the other weekend when I stayed up til almost 6am: drank the best part of a bottle of whiskey + beer n ciders!
Legs have felt leaden and stiff all week even though I’ve only run once a day and all at a very easy pace apart from tonight when I chucked half a dozen strides into my 7 miler. Doesn’t bode well for Telford on Sunday.😞
Have a good run in Malaga OO.
If you get a LR in tomorrow TR you’ll be ahead of me in the 3K chase again.
sj - if you are doing ok without regular massage sessions then save your money - you're not as old or crocked as me!
running eye - I think a midweek MLR far more important than two speed sessions.
That's some drinking Jooligan.
I was woken by the rain against the window at 0400hrs TR but as I'm off today I shall try to wait it out. Hope you get a good weather window for your run, a shame to waste the opportunity to get a longer one in.
Hope you're not too hungover after the xmas parties.
LMH - i had the same wind and rain wake up call.
The aim was an 8m loop, with 3 x 4m inner loops over the back of the hill hopefully avoiding the worse of the wind and rain. But i was wet through within a couple of miles, so i thought id review it after each inner loop. After about 5m the rain was like a hose and i got cold, but the key point was convincing myself to do the 2nd inner loop, and therefore i did the 3rd too, and tagged on 1m at the end. 21 splashy miles in 2.49, with 4 big climbs. Wetter than an Otters pocket !
LMH - sorry to hear you've still got a few tweaks, hope it's nothing too serious.
Top work all those swerving christmas parties. I'll go, plan not to drink, then inevitably have far too much.
Wrote up Valencia in a bit more detail if anyone is at a bit of a loose end on Friday afternoon;
https://spragginsblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/valencia-marathon-02-12-18/
I can run with the niggles currently Joe so nothing too bad. I shall go and have a read of your blog. How's the new job going?
belting wet 21 miles TR
i did my run yesterday felt really nervous prior. Calf felt a little tight so did up and down for a mile and then 3 laps of the woods near me to get to the 4 miles that I wanted. Probably wouldn’t have noticed anything in the calf toward the end if I wasn’t focussed so intently on it!
unsure what to do today and next few days
10m more here, stubbed my foot and took a tumble, hopefully the foot is ok to run on tomorrow. 73m for the week, 94 for December (160ish still required).
WTGY - I'd go with TR's suggestion, keep the runs easy and so that you can stop and walk home if you do feel anything and build very gradually for a few days.
10m more here.
What was the course / event like?
Gutsy 21M & great mileage already for December TR.
Calf testing sounds positive WTGY. Recovery seems to have come round fairly swiftly.
Telford 10K for me today: not as good as I was hoping for when I entered or even a couple of weeks ago but not the disaster I was beginning to fear either. After a week of 7M easy runs once a day I was hoping to remind the legs how to turnover in a race so banged parkrun in the middle of yesterday's 7. It was blowing a gale across Pontefract racecourse but even so I was bitterly disappointed & decidedly worried when I couldn't even come close to breaking 20 minutes.
The wind continued to howl unabated all night with lots of rain thrown in too which added to my feelings of despondency. I was one of the first to arrive at the car park. After some foam rolling to ease the stiffness & glute activation exercises I went & reccied the course. 4 easy miles later I was a tiny bit happier as the wind, which had eased slightly, didn't seem too bad on the course but I was worried the wet leaves might make traction tricky at race pace & a flooded section on the out & back looked like it could prove hazardous however I went back & rolled some more before heading off to see the Elite race power past at 5.5K. Saw a couple of folk I know & cheered them on before heading to the finish to see the winners come in. It was an exciting finale with the winner overtaking the leader just a couple of metres before the line.
I then jogged back up to the start. Started too far back & my usual relatively sluggish start meant I couldn't take full advantage of the downhill as it was too crowded for me to open up my long stride properly. Still the quickest half mile of the race mind. Ran OK but lost focus a bit on Mile 5 which cost me my sub 39. Finished in 39:03 just 4s quicker than I managed at Poole last year. 4M cooldown made it up to 15 for the day & 55 for the week.
Wardi - good self physoing, what device do you have? I was a bit bruised in places and have a bit of road rash, but was able to run.
Nicely done OO, another very solid time.
That ultrasound device sounds intriguing: miraculous/essential possibly.
Might do Poole again TR as I enjoyed it last year. Doing Speedway 10K on the 20th of Jan too which is an interesting new one. You apply to join a waiting list. Then 4 weeks before the race entries are allocated according to PB in the last 4 years until the race is full. https://sites.google.com/view/speedway10k/home/concept
Current fixtures are:-
Stubby 10k
Chichester 10k
Worthing 1/2
Fleet 1/2
Brighton Mara
Yeovil Mara
Will add NF10 , IoW 1/2, NF 1/2 (entered - free place for AG win), and Abo.
3 decent mara courses so if weather etc compromises a mara i have contingency ( inc Southampton in May).
Good racing Jooligan - sounds like the quickest you could have (safely) managed in the conditions; would have been worth sub-39 easily in the dry.
Well done OO - look forward to a more detailed report.
5m for me Sat, 10m yesterday and 5/6 planned for lunch today.
Well run at Telford, Jooligan.
I did more cautious ploddy miles over the weekend incuding 14M yesterday. I still have a slight niggle which I put down to pififormis woes initially; I'm a bit torn between ramping up miles to get my fitness back, or resting it. Couple of days off because of Xmas events after today, anyway.
CW - sounds like your niggle is easing then, if you did 14m.
Just 6m easy for me today, to give the legs an easier time today.
Malaga Marathon 2018, Sunday 9th December
Result: 2.50.47 89th out of 2500 or so finishers.
This was my 10th sub 3 marathon since April 2017 and though not my fastest – it was my 6th fastest – it was one of my best and up there with Valencia/ Barcelona as very good Spanish marathon experiences but one with fewer runners which give it a more relaxed and less intense feel. Like all Spanish marathons it was colourful, noisy and running in the sun with blue skies certainly raises the mood.
The race:
It starts and finishes along an attractive and wide orange-tree lined boulevard which divides Malaga’s promenade area from its commercial and historic centre. For 2018, a half marathon was added with the same route run by both for the first 13 miles. Mostly this was out towards the airport before an out and back along the seafront road going back through the city centre/ start area to the races half marathon finish. The marathon runners then continue along the seafront road, then returning clockwise to the finish with some interesting quirks such as running around an athletics rack, with its last 2 k down its main retail streets and past historic sights. The course was generally flat, organisation really good with plenty of refreshment stations. Support was very good in parts with bands/music, dancers. Conditions were ideal, 10C at the start, 16C at the finish and whilst sunny there was plenty of shade.
My race:
I reckoned I was in around 2.51 shape +/- 2 minutes, light @ 67 kg though worried about my left knee and hip, so no running on the Thursday-Saturday prior and a 2.59 would have been absolutely fine. This really helped as normally I can overthink it and add pressure to myself but not this time. I was relaxed and thanks to a few red wines had my best-ever pre-marathon nights sleep - over 7 hours. A 15 minute walk to the start, a 5 minute warm-up, in my pen, and we (marathon and half-marathon runners combined) were off. I decided to try and run 1.24 for the first half & 1.26 for the second, and checks at 5/10/15/20 k showed I was on target, finding running 5-10 seconds per mile slower than usual at this stage in marathons so much easier. This made the second half at 1.26.30 feel easier too, at long last I have nearly discovered even-paced marathon running – this was my 13th fastest first half but 2nd fastest second half – and post 15 miles just thought about staying calm, keeping to an even pace and not push it. There were groups to run with generally until around 30k when things got stretched and running on my own with a few runners strung out a few 100 metres ahead of you which tends to slow you down. At 38K I sped up a bit to try and get under 2.50 but my left knee was not having any of it and made a complaint, and this with a few now walking wounded and running limpers, I decided to take it down a notch, enjoy it, be happy with what I got and run in without worrying about losing 10 seconds here or there. The last km came with the last 500m running along the wide spectator lined boulevard to the finish and finished with that sense of relief you get with a marathon finish and just so pleased to have ticked off my 10 sub 3 marathon target.
What I also liked was the thoughtful touches which made you realise you were part of a far bigger Malaga community event, such as the wheelchair marathon/ half-marathon races for local disabled children being pushed by their parents/ families and the finishers medals handed out by children with Downes syndrome, who clearly enjoyed their roles and what they were doing. Organsers marks taken away for what I thought was post-race goody bag chocolate milk which turned out t be chicken soup (what/ why?)
Apres/ Malaga
The race finished next to where Malaga was also hosting its Christmas fair, full of Christmas music, artisan food and drink stalls and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the sun consuming cheese, serrano hams, olives, nuts, craft beers, wines exchanging running tales with lots of other runners in that wonderful post-race atmosphere/ glow you get. Malaga itself (first time visitor) was a pleasant city, lots of character, narrow streets, historic sites, wonderful cafes, bars, marina, friendly people, beaches with some of the best Christmas lights I’ve seen.
I would consider running Malaga next year, possibly over Valencia as it’s as good a race but what swings it is it’s in December/ Christmas, my wife and other family who went had a great time and want to go again, its inexpensive and easy to get to.
I have been very lucky avoiding injuries the past 2 years but have been struggling since before the Berlin marathon with an ITB/ left knee problem and I think the ligament has finally had enough as could barely walk yesterday/ today so will see how it develops but will take some proper downtime. I am off to Gran Canaria at the end of January to run, and though entered for its marathon think I will look to run its half instead and take it down a gear for a few months.
Just 5M recovery along the canal at lunch today.
Malaga marathon update:- adjusted time 2.50.27 and 81st not 89th place. This is a clip of the finish as the 2nd placed runner tumbles and crawls over the line, being overtaken by 2 others - ouch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8GNvsTHzE
LMH - Yes, I think your right.