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
Trail is impossible to measure accurately and they often seem to be over distance.
Great idea trying the different foods.
I hope it's only bruising and grazes and nothing injured, a few days off is a good idea.
Cal-Great effort and report,unlucky on the fall,really not my type of race but sounds like you enjoyed it.
Ian - another 10 minutes and I'd have missed seeing the choir this year too.
5 mile recovery done, legs are fine, just a bit tired especially glutes and quads. Lovely morning but chilly again.
My race calendar is blank now for ages, next is a 50km in August. I do have 4 short races though, a 10k, 6 miler and two half marathons before then. So time to settle down for another period of training. Back to classes tomorrow too.
Cal - Nice job getting to the finish after a stumble. Sounds like you did well to keep your head in the game and not lose you rhythm .
I completed my final big push of training this weekend. Managed 17 mile Saturday and Sunday. Foot is still playing up, it was worse for the final few miles on Sunday but I managed it to the end but it wasn't enjoyable. My head was telling me to call it a day and get my wife to pick me up, but I was stubborn and wanted to see it through and complete back to back 17 milers. Feel's muscular/tendon so going to spend the next two weeks with plenty of recovery ready for the challenge.
Mentally however, I feel ready
Cal, sounds like you kind of enjoyed the race, but fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!
Robert, bad news/good news [delete as appropriate] about the race entry response....
Shades, that's a great run at Yeovil. To finish feeling strong at an event that you say yourself you don't usually perform brilliantly in must be a good feeling.
--
As for me, it was a long day yesterday as flight wasn't until 9:20pm (it was actually delayed so didn't take off until nearly 10pm), resulting in me getting back home at around 2am. The flight out arrived at 10am (so we left home at around 3am that morning) so quite tired although it did mean I had pretty much 4 full days there, for the 3 nights stays. OH is still over there as she has friends in a different part of the country so she's going to stay with them, and flying back on Saturday. I was invited but we've the house and animals to think about - we did have a house-sitter friend looking after everything, but 9-days would have felt a bit much to leave her here so I came back yesterday.
Really enjoyed it there though. Had a really great time and I'm now also intrigued about Copenhagen and Oslo. I can't remember if I've said before but I have a friend who dismisses Europe as he says all the countries/cities are the same....I've never understood that, as both my my recent trips have been different to anywhere else I've been in Europe. The people, food, cultures etc are all different, as well as the buildings etc.
I can't say Stockholm is a bargain as it's not, but actually it's not as bad as I feared. Beers were expensive at around £8-£10 but very decent coffee and AF beers in the main areas were about £3.50 to £4, so although expensive, not totally criminal really. Slightly cheaper a bit further out. Museums were about £12-£18 - we only went in one though which was the Nobel Prize Museum, which was very good. Return transport in and out of the airport on the 45-min bus was about £17, or you could pay a bit more to get a 20-min train in. You could get a very decent lunch with a drink for around £15. So not really toooo bad. There are far cheaper places in Europe, but if you're careful (which we were) it's doable I feel.
Apart from the city centre itself which is fantastic, three highlights for me were 1) the archipelago. Seeing all the islands from the boat was a great experience, and the food on the island we went to was really good. It wasn't even on my list of things to do when I went, but the locals were raving about it 2) Just the really long days due to the sun - I think the sun rose at about 3:30am and set at around 10:00pm, but even overnight it was never truly dark (black out curtains were a must for me!). Great to get stuff done in the summer, but not so good in the winter I'd imagine! 3) On the Saturday night, we were heading back to the apartment and went past a massive food and drink market. It was huge, and there was live music etc, and a great atmosphere in there.
I haven't lost any weight since I've been there, but on the positive I've not put any on either
Steve, sounds like you're in a great position to start the Half training. I presume you feel you're totally recovered from the last one.
OTB, it's can be hard to know when to stop on a run or keep going. Fingers crossed the niggle clears up before the race.
OTB - so good to hear you're feeling mentally strong. In an ultra that is what will get you through.
Yes, rest that foot, your training is done now. Focus on the logistics and sorting all your kit etc. Did you get some elastic laces?
Big G - strange to think of Steve Way wishing that he wasn't going to a race, but obviously whatever the niggle/problem was came back on race day. If you have a hamstring problem, Comrades is a killer as the long uphills and the long downhills.
Yes, pleased about Yeovil. One of the marshals said to me on the first lap 'I thought you'd have had enough of this race' and I responded saying I hadn't yet got this race quite right. On the 2nd lap I said I was on for a decent course best.
You must be exhausted that's late getting home after a long journey. Good news on the shoulder and that you feel you can run a bit more this week.
I can't agree with your friend about European cities, I'm not well travelled but every one I've been to has been very different. You could look at every town and city in this country and the high street might look the same with the same shops but away from the high street they are all so different.
Oslo is very high up my marathon to do list, recommended to me by an Irish marathon running friend, so you might want to look at that. I started looking this year and BA flights were about £100 from Heathrow which I thought was good as I could get the coach to the airport for about £40+. Copenhagen is a very popular marathon, I think if you look back on RW forum quite a few runners from here went.
Dartmoor Discovery 6th June 2020
Shades-Hopefully you can get some solid training in over the next couple of months.
OTB-17 miles straight after each other is a top effort.
6 miles before work today,feels good again so all over last week now.
June 6th you say?think I'm washing my hair that weekend.
One of my clubmates got a cracking picture of me from the Wimbledon race on Wednesday - most photos I'm either smiling at the photographer or looking like death, but he managed to get a nice action shot.
https://www.gronalund.com/en/
Great pic there!
ha, ha
Cal - that's a great pic.
Hope you're not too battered and bruised from your race on Sunday
Back to winter kit this morning, heavy rain, windy and lots of surface water after yesterday's storm. Had a good run though my quads and hip flexors are sore, I nearly cancelled Pilates but I have to get back there so hope it's not too tough today.
The storm we had yesterday was impressive, thunder, lightening and torrential rain, I felt so sorry for the pedestrians walking home from work, no fun to drive in either. Then we had hail and lots of it, the street was completely white, I live on a gentle hill but the cars were struggling to get up the hill just as they do when we have snow and ice. The poor pedestrians couldn't walk on the pavement as it was so slippery with the hail. This morning when I went out for my run, I saw a patch of what I thought was dirty white foam in the garden where the guttering drains. But on closer inspection it's patches of frozen hail, still frozen 12 + hours later. There must be a lot of damage and flooding around.
We had storms here too - it rained from the early hours until I went to sleep and there was thunder in the evening. I will go for a walk in a while and see what the common is like. Hopefully one day of rain won't have created too much mud.
Big G - yes, went there in 2007. They've added more rides since then. Nice park though - they have a lot of traditional older rides like the Fun House (well, that's not a ride, but you get what I mean) and some of the dark rides. Good place to visit.
Cal, we didn't go in that park but everyone seemed to be enjoying it when we got off the ferry! We visited that island though as they had an attraction called Skanson, which is basically a large open air museum. Apparently it's the world's largest and it would be possible to stay all day there, but we just went for about 3 hours. All the traditional Swedish way of life and buildings were there, plus a zoo with animals from that part of the world (bears, moose, bison, reindeer, wolf, wolverine etc).
Regarding the long days, I have a friend who lives in Alaska. He's been over there for years now (about 15 years) and he said when the sun doesn't really set at one part of the year, but also doesn't really rise in another part of the year, it can really mess with your head. So in one part of the year there is only 3 hours of "darkness" (not proper darkness though I don't think, as the sun doesn't fully set for 82 days or something like that) and then another part of the year there is only 3 hours of daylight. I think people can go bit crazy in that kind of environment, if they're not used to it anyway. And that's not even considering the temperatures which can go down to -40C, or worse sometimes. Sod that!
Physio at midday, so I'll see what comes of that. Although I am much improved, I'm hoping she doesn't sign me off today as I'm still not right.
- I logged onto SkyScanner. Searched for flights from Bristol to "Anywhere".
- Then I looked for the cheapest flight destinations. Ireland, Italy and Poland were the top of the list.
- I Googled said destinations to see if they have at least a marathon, with a parkrun as a very nice optional extra.
- Did a quick search to see if it's cheap to stay there, and if there's stuff to do in and around the areas.
Two Polish candidates came up. Poznan (October) and Wroclaw (September) got added to "the list".
Poznan looks good and is the same day as York. I have refundable accommodation booked for York (have't entered the race yet) but I'm just wondering if it could actually end up being cheaper to go to Poznan overall! Flights and parking for Poznan is about the same price as the train to York, and accommodation is a lot cheaper per night in Poznan, although I'd need more nights due to the flights.
Anyway, I've put my credit card away. I'm not booking anything else yet until the shoulder is cleared up! I have a fair bit planned around that time of year as it is, but definitely destinations to consider for another year I think.
Big G-Good luck with the physio,sure she wont sign you off if you're not right.Good idea to look at different races,helps to keep you motivated.
Not great for me,went to go for a run and when I pressed on my leg I felt a deep soreness in the calf,tried to run 3 times but each time it was too sore to put pressure on so gave it up,was hoping to have a few higher mileage weeks so pretty annoying.
Big G - it's not that bad out once you're out there as it's not really cold. Down to light drizzle here but the pile of hail in our garden is still there, just thawing slowly.
Hope the physio goes well. You must be getting better if you're starting to look at races. Re Irish races, 100MC show the main ones on their main event page but if you go to the Irish list they've copied the list from Marathon Club Ireland and that has a lot more.
I've never hear of Poznan, but Polish marathons have been recommended to me.
Ian - is that the same calf you had the niggle in pre DD?
Well I survived Pilates, but only just. So hard getting back to classes after taking time off.
Shades, well done on the pilates. It's often depressing going back to these things after a break
Physio went okay, but she said that there was no real change in the range of motion since last time I went which was about 3 weeks ago. But she said the strength was returning. She has given me one different exercise to do to help build the strength further, and also given me a stronger band to do the other exercise I'm already doing. She seemed fairly happy with things.
I still can't get this calcification out of my mind though. The consultant at the hospital really put my mind at ease and he seemed really hopeful that the injection would help a lot, but it hasn't really helped that much really. If I hold my arm out to my side and twist my hand so the thumb is pointing upwards, that can give me a stabbing pain, although it does subside quite quickly.
Shades, great race at Yeovil, sounds like a good solid organised road race. Love the idea getting kids involved with designing the medal, plants seeds at an early age about the marathon.
Cal, knew a few who did the 50km at Weald, it's another that's making its way on the list of events I want to do, the mugs look fab! Well done and glad you enjoyed the trail.
Steve what half you running?
OTB hope the niggle doesn't turn anything serious, be cautious with it.
Big G I wonder if Tom William's dad fell behind the pace of the 12 hr bus at comrades if he'd push on himself for the finish.
Ian, few days off running with the rubbish weather not the worst thing, hope you get over the niggles.
Foot is recovering from Saturdays longer run, bit sore but not painful. Went for 5 easy miles today and no issue with the foot. Will keep it light whilst a bit uncomfortable. Not too upset with oh saying no to the crossing as was only a brief idea, she is getting a bit concerned now I'm getting back running I keep on dropping dates and names of races
Do it, Rob...lovely event, super friendly, lots of cake.
Looking online I would say everything points to Extensor Tendonitis, basically an inflamed tendon on the top of my foot. I ticked all the boxes under causes and symptoms.
I'm not too worried because in general I feel I needed a rest, but I am missing doing a few miles afterwork. Thankfully the weather also isn't great down here on the south coast, very windy with heavy down pours out of nowhere. So I am not missing too much.
Plan to rest again this evening, ibuprofen and ice. Might cycle to work in the morning and then a short run Friday evening. On the positive though, the pain and swelling has eased each day.
Work has also eased off a little, hence finding some time to catch up on here. It's been a very hectic 6 months for me, tough balancing work, life and training.
Shades - no joy on the elastic laces yet. I did try the 'no tie' style last year. But I didn't quite get on with them. Found the actual laces rather bulky and I struggled finding a good tightness, I was regularly stopping to adjust. My new Saucony guide iso 2's come with a standard looking flat lace, but it is slightly elastic. This is the ideal lace I am looking for to put on my trail shoes. In fact as I type this, I may just transfer them over for the time being.
Rob - Sounds like you are on the mend which is good news.
Ian5 - Time for a sports/deep tissue massage. Get yourself some TLC and a full days rest afterwards.
Cal - That really is a cracking pic, properly in the zone for that one.
Big-G - Fingers crossed the new physio exercises help. Must be very frustrating for you. I would of missed the previous posts, but do you know what caused it?
1SteveMac - 40 mile weeks, how long have you been doing those? My last two weeks were both 40 milers and it was tough for me. Very time consuming at my pace, don't think I could keep it up for too long.
Robert, it was quite interesting listening to the MT episode last week - have you heard it? Tom Williams was obviously on there as a host, but he was talking about his Dad. Whether it was all a load of crap or not I don't know, but he seemed not too bothered if they finished or not. Well, I suppose "not bothered" isn't totally accurate as they were going to try their absolute best and not doing anything stupid from a pace point of view, but as you probably know he's all about the journey rather than the destination, and he just said that getting his Dad on the start line knowing he's fit enough to complete it was an important thing for them - the outcome wasn't the main thing. He said that if they were in a situation where they had to sprint to get a certain medal, they wouldn't do that as they would want to savour the whole thing, even if it then meant they got a lesser medal. Also they had certain rules like no pain killers etc. So I think Tom W would have stayed with his Dad if they'd fallen behind the sweeper, and he'd want to experience it all with him. Plus, Tom has done it before anyway. What do you think though?
I also always find it interesting with both Tom and Martin - obviously, when they were younger they were both very good runners etc (well, Martin still is I suppose - I think he's still close to 80% WAVA for a 5K), but now they're older they're arguably not as good as they once were, so I find it interesting how their perspective may have changed. For example, when Tom W was doing Ironman he was very much a gel/carbs person, training very hard, had certain performance goals - it seems that now he's a bit older and at a different time of life that "performance" mindset has changed massively, and now he has the "it's all about the journey" approach. I often wonder if they were doing Marathon Talk when they were still performing very well if the show would be a bit different to what it is now. Do you know what I mean? It's still a great show regardless.
It's also interesting the insights Martin has about Liz Yelling. Very occasionally you'll hear something and it almost sounds like when she decided to give up professional running, she just made the decision and that was that. It sounds like it was no problem for her at all.
Interesting that Poznan offer free accommodation, I'm sure a lot of the 100MC would be interested in that, as long as there's a bar nearby a lot of them aren't too fussed about where they stay.
MrM2 - you are very welcome to post on here, pull up a chair.
Ian - might be an idea to strap that calf for a few days with some Kinesio tape, if you have any. Not unusual with a calf to have that niggle in there that feels like it could become an injury at some time. Hope it's OK for your 10k on Sunday.
Robert - re the medal at Yeovil, I didn't realise at the time but the little girl that presented me with the medal was also the one that had designed it. She must have stood on that finish line for hours handing out medals, not sure how old she was, about 8 or 9 maybe.
Good to hear the foot wasn't too bad after your 14 miles.
I hope OH soon gets used to you being back running and racing again. Is she still suffering with her PF?
OTB - yes, it could be tendonitis which will take a while to heal but you should be able to manage it. When you've decided on what laces to use there are ways to thread the laces to avoid putting pressure on the top of the foot, so might be worth researching that.
Good timing that you can ease up a bit generally too, will help you get a bit of extra rest during the taper period before your ultra.
Back at circuits class this morning and it was really tough, I enjoyed it though but I'm aching already. After class I went for a coffee before going shopping and felt I really needed a hefty dose of caffeine. Picked up another veg box, such a bargain at £1.50. I'm going to be so healthy with all this fruit and veg.