Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Shades Marathon Training
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Yes, they had their marathon last week. I think it was a bit cooler last week - it feels very hot today and apparently it’s rarely this hot over here. We saw the royal family as it’s a holiday here, but I didn’t recognise any of them.
Shoulder has actually felt marginally worse today. He did say it would. The injection was done under a local anaesthetic that he said helps with the pain almost immediately but after that’s worn off he said it would feel worse for 2 or 3 days before seeing the improvements. He told me to still take the meds if I need to as well. I’ve brought my physio exercise bands over with me, as I did for Helsinki too, to try and keep the exercises up whilst here.
So good when the pain from the DOMS eases.
I'm keeping my race history spreadsheet up to date now as it took me so long to compile it, on 479 races now. Not that many really considering the number of years I've been running, but for quite a few years I never did any shorter races. But have always kept my marathon/ultra list up to date, when I started doing marathons I didn't have a spreadsheet but kept a little black book.
Big G - I wouldn't recognise any members of the royal family from any other country.
Stockholm marathon is supposed to be good, but occasionally they do have a hot one, I think it rained for this years.
I suppose the injection is quite deep for a shoulder so not surprising it's a bit sore for a couple of days.
Jelly - Good, I'll see you at the Cornish, I think entries open at the end of June, it is a lovely race. Quite similar to DD, but not quite so hard. Templar 10 was my very first race when I started running, I think I had just found out that I had a ballot place in London.
Taking an extra rest day today in the vain hope to build some energy for Yeovil on Sunday!
Jelly, Just looked at The Crossing, it happens to be when I have a week off. We just bought a tent and considering camping in cornwall, this could be ideal little stop off, may drop it into a conversation over the weekend.
Ian I don't count parkrun as I don't race that many, think I'm on about 70 races in total, I may have a count up and run a few stats like number of PBs.
Shades think I'm going to start up a list of my races, have the spreadsheet for the marathons from 100 mc website.
6 miles this morning before work got the best of the weather nice and sunny, finished and the rain came down. 42 miles in a week and foot is feeling a lot better. Few more weeks steady running and hopefully the fitness side of things wont be so much of a drag.
I wouldn't like to be on Dartmoor today, we have torrential rain here, flooding too.
Yes, start your race list now, otherwise it's a pig of a job to do later on. I did it as I couldn't remember what some of my PB's were at shorter distances. Parkrun not included in my list, but then I've never done one, they're not races so if I did one they wouldn't be included anyway.
That's great mileage for the week, it must feel so good, you'll soon get back to your previous level of fitness.
Working late for a few days now,so trying to run earlier,luckily my achilles feels fine at the minute so another 5.5 today,can still feel a little Doms deep in the muscle but overall a really nice run,will step up the miles as it keeps improving.
Shades, I think The Crossing will be one of my easier 'drop into conversations' the only issue is it's Elle's birthday the day before, I know St Ives have a 10k on the beach and dunes that week so may just settle for that but we'll see. Glad DD was last week for you, there's me moaning about a bit of drizzle!!!!
I know the fitness will come, the weight loss will follow. Although my main goal is to break my marathon PB I have no plans to have a crack at it for at least a year.
Shades, yes it was quite a deep injection. He actually put the needle in the back of the shoulder whereas the issue mainly is on the front and side. I did quickly ask him about that before he did it, and he did say it was the best way of getting the drug where it needed to be.
I’ve had a good day out as I took a boat on the Stockholm Archipelago. It wasn’t on my radar at all but the locals love it and throughly recommended it, and I can see why. There are varying estimates of how many islands there are ranging from 14000 to 100000 (general consensus appears to be that there are 24000 islands) but I chose a specific island (Sandhamn) and took the 2hr ferry to that one as locals said to avoid the tours. Had about 3hrs on the island which was plenty of time for a seafood lunch and a walk around. Great day out, and will be back in plenty of time for coffee and cake
Amazing that your achilles is OK after those hills, what about your niggly calf?
Robert- if you do run the Dartmoor Crossing you'll have to make sure you're not hungover after the birthday celebrations, any event over the Moors will be tough.
Cal - I'm not surprised you're cross with your neighbour, I take it he was drunk/locked out again.
Your foot would be even sorer if you'd given him the kicking he deserved.
Hope the foot recovers quickly and you sleep well tonight.
Big G - lovely photos. Sounds like a lovely place to visit.
Good to hear the diet is going well
I was speaking to the Airbnb host and it turns out she is a very keen runner! Does lots of ultras and prefers the off-road stuff, and has a 100k one planned this year with 6000 metres (not feet!) of ascent. Gulp. There’s a parkrun just over a mile from the apartment, but she’s never heard of it before so they’re definitely not taking off that well here - I think we’d struggle to find a runner in the U.K. who hasn’t heard of parkrun. Looks like it tends to get around 100 runners so more than Helsinki anyway, and this week is its 131st event. Sounds like she’s got a cool job as she’s some kind of marketing person for Under Armour - she came back from a run, donned in the stuff.
Funny that about parkrun just not being that popular there either. Do you think maybe the harsh winters have something to do with it? Don't they XC ski in the winter or run inside on treadmill, so don't get into the routine of running outdoors.
I am a huge Under Armour fan, my favourite brand for running kit.
Shades-The calf is ok at the minute,I'm surprised at the Achilles but will probably start again in a few days.
Big G-Great place to be by looks of it.
Been telling people in work about DD,all think I'm crazy,then say "take it you're never doing it again" but as I've been telling people I've been thinking I might well do it again
Ian - it's amazing that a course such as DD has had no effect on the achilles or the calf.
Yes!! I was too frightened to ask.
Cal - as you're not a great sleeper the last thing you want is a neighbour like that.
is the foot/toe OK today?
Rest day for me today.
Quite looking forward to the parkrun. It’s about a mile away so I’ll walk up, do the event and the run/walk back most likely. I saw a review that there are a couple of hills but I’m not bothered about that as if I have to walk, it’s no issue.
Jelly - I never doubted for a moment that you wouldn't make the cut offs. I know you're a strong runner and also mentally very determined and that would get you through.
DD is a very difficult race to train for anyway. You could even run over the course, or parts of it, several times in training but if on race day the weather was like it was yesterday morning, that training would have made little difference. And running over the course never replicates what it's like to then run it with tired legs on race day.
I went to Orpington parkrun today - it's a bit of a trek but needed to get it done on my quest to Lon-Done and the lady I often travel with had already done it. It's a mostly grass course around some fields with rugby pitches in them and while it's not hilly, it's also not flat with a couple of inclines. It seemed a good option for today as I knew I wasn't on for a particularly good time but also didn't want to tackle a hilly course. I gave it a good shot anyway but the combination of tired legs, some longish grass and gusty winds wore me down so each mile got progressively slower. I finished in 27:01 which annoyed me a bit as it was one second away from a parkrun challenges bingo number (parkrun challenges is a browser extention that includes various challenges such as alphabet - run a parkrun starting with each letter - compass, which is do a parkrun with a north, south, east and west in the name, and so forth. The bingo is getting a finish time ending in every number from 00 to 59).
Anyway, it's done. Achilles didn't like it but foot was better than yesterday - I wore my old non-flyknit zoom flys which are a bit more rigid than my flyknit shoes and therefore kept it more stable.
On the plus side, it was a small field so I was 7th lady. Didn't win my age group but I wouldn't expect to with that time.
There were a lot of people there from the UK today and in fact some hardcore parkrun tourists got an extra official event in on Thursday as it was the National Day here. I was chatting to the chap who set this one up, and he happens to be British but as lived in Sweden for 15 years. He just said it’s a word of mouth thing that it’s not taken off very quickly here. Similar to Helsinki though, it was a really friendly event and well organised etc. Glad I was able to do it.
Big G, looks lovely there, I started running in 2009 and hadn't heard of parkrun until about 2013, wasn't until 2014 till I did my 1st so seems to take time to get people interested. With the injection what does it do? does it help heal/ reduce inflammation?
Cal, I know what it's like to have knobhead neighbours, shame it seems to have reared its ugly head again, thankfully our neighbour we had issues with has calmed down over the last couple of years, had another daughter and the only problems we have with a yappy dog she just bought.
Was undecided on parkrun, had an early night so was up early, decided to give it a miss as felt tired. Went for a run up and down the river 14 miles so the longest I have ran this year but really really struggled in the final few miles, after a bath I crashed asleep for 15 mins no energy whatsoever.
Rest day tomorrow may go for a walk dependant on weather
Rob-No room for negotiation by sounds of it,you might thank her later.
Just remembered comrades was today,looks like Steve Way dropped out after 30k as that's where his tracker ends.Winner has just finished in 5:31,that's 6:08 pace for over 50 miles,basically my 10k pace
Big G - Lovely photo, both feet off the ground, you look fit and fast there. Distinct lack of other runners around though.
Robert - well done on the 14 miles, that's a decent long run, hope the foot isn't grumbling today.
Oh dear, looks like the Crossing isn't even open for discussion. You'd better get cracking on the birthday plans for OH instead.
Ian - shame about Steve Way dropping out. I'd have to be in my car in a slow traffic jam to clock a 6:08 mile.
Yeovil - 4th time of running this race, it's a lovely course, friendly event with good organisation as you would expect from the Royal Navy. Race HQ is at the Yeovilton base so good facilities, parking etc. But I've never had a good run here and as I parked up this morning I almost wished I'd stayed at home but I just decided to make the best of it. Bit of socialising pre race as per usual. Weather was perfect for me, probably about 15 at the start and warmed up gently to about 17 or 18, humidity low and a light breeze in places. I decided to run to heart rate, and as the course is flat with very gentle undulations that was quite easy to do. Change in course this year due to roadworks so we were doing a figure of 8 course twice with the midsection of each lap with half marathon and faster marathon runners coming the other way which was nice and made it quite social, I like to see how the lead runners are doing. AH who has won this the last couple of years had a small lead at halfway but he finished 3rd, he told me at the start that his hips were trashed after doing Man V Horse yesterday. Quite a few speedy marathon runners and I would guess looking for GFA times and I think most were successful today due to the good conditions.
The wheels normally fall off at about halfway in this race, I always blame DD the week before, but I was running steadily until I got to mile 21 and then both my glutes started to complain and at 23 miles my quads were getting really sore especially down the outside. I was well into the 2nd lap and puzzling how the miles were going to work out when I was comparing 2nd lap signage to the half marathon signs. All became clear when at 22.5 miles the marshal turned me down a right hand lane and said there was a loop to do, which was about a mile and half, we were given a red elastic band to put on so that when we returned to the same marshal he would point us to the finish. Finally into the last mile I turned into the base and then nightmare a marshal directed me onto the grass with instructions to follow the flags all around the outside then into the centre of the field and back to the outside, it was like a nightmare sports day at school, finally then directed onto the track for 3/4 of the track to the finish. Time 4:53, course best by 14 minutes and very happy as I felt I had a really good strong run. I even got to see the Yeovilton Military Wives Choir, they've usually gone home by the time I finish. T-shirt and small goody bag, but 3 bags of crisps, the only time I eat crisps is after a marathon.
Blingy medal, they're always designed by local school children.
During the race, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw what I think was a Spitfire plane, then a couple more doing loops etc, I think it might have been a D Day commemoration, anyway took our mind off tired legs at 18 miles.
I guess the course will return to usual next year so no need for the loop and running round the field.
Well done on your win today, another cracking run
The Weald Challenge is located somewhere in Sussex (not far, as it turns out, from Lewes, where my parents lived when I was born. I consider myself a Londoner as we moved to the Smoke when I was 18 months, but technically, I'm from Sussex). My clubmate Lorna picked me up from Sutton station, where she lives (it's a 20 minute train journey from me) and then drove us there, which is just as well as it's a small village I'd have struggled to get to under my own steam.
But then, after mile 3, we started running through farmland, down very narrow, rutted tracks between crops of something or other, and I had to slow right down. Occassionally we would pass through copses which were invariably full of tree roots, nettles and god knows what (so glad I wore calf sleeves). I decided it was pointless trying to chase a time so I decided I was just going to enjoy. That was a bit tricky as my achilles, unamused by the terrain, started playing merry hell and I ended up walking one uphill stretch - something I did a few times later in the run, especially if the track was narrow or tricky.
I stopped there to drink and refill my bottles and also ate some watermelon and a little bit of flapjack (since I wasn't going to break any records, why not experiment to see what my stomach would tolerate?)
My tum seemed to deal with these just fine - after all, I wasn't going very fast! I think I spent two minutes at the aid station so that mile was over 15 minutes.
After that point I was mostly 11 minute miling (there was one 12, but I guess I walked a little bit of that).
Then we hit a nice bit of downhill tarmac road so I decided to let my legs loose. Disaster! After passing a few runners I caught my foot on an uneven bit at the side of the road and stacked it. I landed hard on my side. I grazed my knee and elbow and burst some blood vessels in my palm but it was my right hip that took the brunt of it and it's still very sore now. But the runners around me helped me up and I continued without losing too much pace. I was more embarrassed than anything, having survived all the lumps and bumps and roots only to fall on a road.
I continued to pass a few people as we turned back onto track and then off them again as we headed back towards the village. 13.1 miles came and went with no sight of the finish so I started to wonder if I'd gone wrong but as it turned out, it was a bit longer than a half - my watch made it 13.66.
Came into the finish and got a big cheer (as did everyone who finished after me). Got my medal and mug (it's a nice rustic pottery mug, not your mass produced kind), found Lorna, who was about 10 minutes in front of me, and another runner from my club who was 4th overall, and then went and availed ourselves of coffee and cake. There was a lot of cake and, luckily for me, the lady who bakes them is coeliac so there were plenty of gluten free ones as well as vegan cakes (there were quite a lot of Vegan Runners there).
Also took a trip to the first aider who cleaned my grazes before getting in the car to go home.
There was a 50K ultra running alongside us (they went off a bit earlier) and while I'd be up for another trail race, I don't think I'd fancy 50K on that terrain. It wasn't too hilly but it was very challenging with the unevent terrain. Aside from the growly achilles, my left foot is a bit grumpy now so I think with that and the lumps and bruises, I'll take a few days off from running.