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Shades Marathon Training
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I'd get out there early for your long run, a lot fresher today, really nice for running.
It is fresher today - sunny too, and lovely for running. However, I exercised great restraint and just did 4 miles since I have my race tomorrow (I may go out for a couple of miles in the morning, though, to prime my legs).
I've exercised less retraint with races, however, since I entered two while I ate my breakfast. The first is a 10 miler the weekend after next. I'd been eyeing it for a while and thought it might be a bit soon but after the decent parkrun and yesterday's 10 mile MP run, I thought why the hell not. It's a good replacement for the Harry Hawkes 10 I had to miss.
The other is Kingston half in October. I'd ummed and ahed about this as it's two weeks before Yorkshire, but I did Gatwick two weeks before Liverpool with had a good race at the latter (at least until I hit the windy bit). I've not done this one before but it's the same organisers as Harry Hawkes and the Hampton Court half so it'll likely cover much of the same ground (and it'll be fast and flat).
Good luck finding a suitable ultra, you'll probably have to go for an off road unless you think you'd be OK with a 6 or 7 hour event multiple laps, which mentally can be very tough.
Our Pilates classes are going through a quiet spell, so only about 10 of us today so as instructor commented that there were no novices we'd have a full on intermediate class...which reads for tough and challenging.
Have finally heard from my IM friend. She lost a couple of minutes on the swim as she had a mild panic attack on the swim, she just held onto the kayak until she was OK, then carried on. She's a good strong swimmer but doesn't do much open water swimming (don't read this Iain). On the bike she was timed out missed the cut off at 75 miles by 3 minutes, but she says she had a good day. Reading between the lines I think she hadn't trained enough this year, but she's happy with her day and she's OK which is the main thing. She did say a lot of DNF's on the day, about 500!
Shades-Glad your friend is ok,how many does these events if 500 dropped out?
Steve-That sounds like the perfect excuse to spend an afternoon on the sofa.
7 miles today after a short day in work.felt nice and easy despite it being pretty warm,looking ahead to Sunday it's showing as 16-19 with light rain,hopefully the rain will have a cooling effect.
I got the 8:35am train from Newton Abbot to Par in Cornwall and everything was on time so I started my run at 10:20. It was roughly a mile from the train station to the path, and almost immediately I was on a sandy path but there were stunning views all the way.
I got to Fowey but hadn’t realised I had to get a short (3min) ferry to the other side, as the official coast path doesn’t go inland into the estuary. No problem - there was time to grab a coffee so I did that, boarded the ferry, got off and then carried on with the run. This bit towards Polperro was really tough though. Paths were almost too narrow to run safely on, but again stunning views. The steep bits were really steep and they were totally un-runnable. Really hard work and I was gasping at the top.
Got to Polperro and I was out of water so I filled up at a cafe in exchange for a coffee I purchased and I was on my way again. Honestly, I was very tempted to just get the bus to l Liskeard but I carried on the approx 4 miles over to Looe, for a total of 21 miles, 3300ft of ascent. I was ‘moving’ for about 5hrs10mins but the whole activity was about 6hrs30. Really tough, but glad I did it.
To get home I need to get a train from Looe to Liskeard (conductor let me use my return ticket, which was nice of him!), get on train to Plymouth, then change onto a train to Newton. Then I need to drive home so expect I’ll be home around 8pm. Great day out though. One of those where everywhere you look there’s an awesome view!
Some thought provoking memories though. Claire and I holidayed down that way a lot when we were in out late teens/early 20s.
Ian - I just looked at the Bolton IM results and there were 1340 finishers, time limit is 17 hours. Then there's about 600 which are a mixture of DNF and DNS. It's considered to be one of the tougher IM courses.
I think my friend was disappointed and quite down afterwards but I've just had a text from her saying she's going to enter again next year. She is taking early retirement in January so should have more time to train.
That's about as good a forecast you'll get for a marathon at this time of year, a drop of rain will be good too.
Lovely pictures.
Shades-Thats a lot higher drop rate than I thought it would be.
Quite happy if it rains a bit on sunday,couple of degrees lower would be nice but it was a fair bit warmer in GC and I ran well there.
Ian, that Manchester canal ultra you're looking at would be perfect for me were it not right before Manchester Marathon. But I'm sure I'll find something suitable. There are a lot of trail and ultra peeps in my club who will no doubt have good advice (and it's nice to do a race where people I know are also racing).
4 easy miles this morning - very nice out. It'll be much warmer this evening for my race. I got a PB there last year, which surprised the hell out of me, but I don't expect one today.
There are many things that can go wrong in a marathon but in an Ironman that must be tenfold. There are time limits on the swim and bike and the final finish time, plus all the other stuff, bike crashes/mechanical failure etc.
Cal - ideally fairly soon after Manchester marathon would suit you, as if you're doing a short ultra then marathon training is sufficient. But if you're looking at a 50 miler, you'll need some ultra training too.
Have a good race tonight.
Circuits today for me this morning, worked really hard and enjoyed it.
Cal, good luck with you race tonight.
Shades, yes it was really tiring. I think I am suffering a bit with the heat and general humidity too. I ate loads yesterday (6 sandwiches plus a whole large 170g bar of mint cake, plus the usual breakfast and dinner) and I still lost quite a lot of weight through loss of fluids. I have taken some electrolytes today and yesterday, and also had some in my Camelbak yesterday whilst running, so I'm doing what I can in that regard. I really struggled on a 6-mile run this morning. Sweat was pouring out of me again even though I was at a very easy pace so I cut the planned 10-miles to 6 this morning. In hindsight, possibly a total rest day would have been a good idea today. Having said all that, I really enjoyed yesterday so I'm looking at other sections of the SWCP I can do from here.
Have you done Sidmouth area yet?
There's not going to be a Women Can marathon next year but if you fancy running on some of the route the routes are still on the website for downloading onto your Garmin
https://womencan.co.uk/route-photos-map
as far as I know it's all on public footpaths and the SWCP
Another section that I'm thinking of is Looe to Plymouth, via Cremyll ferry but that's probably up around 23-24 miles so a long day out. But again with the Devon and Cornwall rail card it's very affordable. I'd probably get a return to Looe, run to Plymouth and then get on the return train back from Plymouth. I think yesterday's ticket cost me about £10.50, plus it was £2.60 for the ferry crossing. If doing it on my own, I couldn't drive and park for that, plus I'd still need some way of getting back to wherever I parked the car.
There's probably something I can do from Kingswear, ferry across to Dartmouth and then run from there, but I haven't looked into that yet.
Thanks, I'll have a look at that route.
Incidentally, the Devon bus website is top notch. It's interactive so you can zoom in/out to see all the routes easily, and then click on the relevant bus number and it takes you straight to the time table. Piecing it together for Cornwall doesn't seem quite so easy at first glance.
http://www.cartogold.co.uk/Devon/map.html#devon
They have another ultra in November,not sure if that's sooner than you'd like
https://cannonballevents.co.uk/rother-valley/
Big G-You're lucky to have such great running options by you,make the most of them.
Rest day today,glad it was as it was hammering down after work.
Eh, well. I am not grumpy about it because I've had a lot of issues to deal with so I knew it wasn't going to be like last year. I've other races to look forward to so I'll chalk this one up to lack of speed endurance which, hopefully, I can build back up fairly quickly.
Ian - I like the look of that 50k, wasn't that the race you were thinking about doing the marathon there last year?
Cal - sorry to hear your race was disappointing, don't think I'd be happy with 4 laps for a 10k run and then a finish like Brighton Beach, that would be like running in glue.
But at least you were fit enough to race and well done for the age group win too.
6 miles this morning, we finally had a tiny amount of rain during the night, not much but enough to get rid of that dry and dusty feeling. Very humid when running and I was hoping it would rain but it didn't. Still forecast for heavy rain with thunder at lightning for our race tomorrow evening,
Shades-Yes that's the one,possibly considering it as a possible for after NY but will decide close to the time.
Shades, I think part of is that I ideally don't want to do out-and-back routes on the SWCP. It'll take years but I have an idea of covering all the path over time, so if I do 20-miles I want it to be the full 20 miles, and not a 10-mile section twice. But the logistics for it aren't easy.
It's hard to explain as I feel I am running well in some ways - I'm pleased with the last 3 or 4 weeks mileage anyway. But the speed I'm looking for just isn't there at the moment. I put my recent 5K parkrun time into a calculator and it says sub-1:40 for a Half, but I'm really not sure if I can do that at the moment! I'm finding it hard to believe that last November I did that twice for a marathon. But, I think I'm going to go out at sub-1:40 pace at this weekened's Half and if I blow up I'm not too bothered. I feel I want a good effort just to see where I am, and if I do it great, and if I don't, well it just means I have more work to do. Getting excuses in nice and early but if it's hot or humid that will impact me a lot. But I'm enjoying my running in the main, which is the important thing having not been able to run much for 10 weeks!
I'm taking a rest day today. The one I should have probably taken yesterday
Ian - I did even look up to see how long it would take to drive to that November event. I'm very limited with road ultra events in this country so it's a possibility for the 50km for me.
Big G - If I was doing the SWCP I would want to do out and back, partly because of the camber but mainly because of the prevailing wind. I also like out and backs as good to get a chance to run down any hills I've had to run up and vice versa.
I think with the amount of off road you're doing in your training it's difficult to judge how your training is actually going, Sunday will be a good test. It's not forecast to be hot or humid and that's no excuse for you as you've done plenty warm weather training over the last few weeks.
Good challenging Pilates class again
I'm resting now until Chudleigh tomorrow night, I'm really aching after circuits, I know I worked hard yesterday and this morning it hurts when I wash my hands, upper arms and chest muscles. My hamstring nearly cramped in Pilates and both quads and calves are sore. Nice hilly run tomorrow night should sort me out!
Sounds a tough session. I may do a 3-miler tomorrow morning just to loosen up a bit but if I don't feel like it, I won't bother. Looking forward to Chudleigh although it's a tough race. I'll try and stick with JW - she beat me by a few seconds at Sandygate Loop, but I was a few seconds quicker than her at the Erme Valley Relays, so we're similar pace at the moment.
Cal glad you're fit to run and the shingles seem to have gone, race organisers always seem to surprise people with stupid finishes, Edinburgh marathon finishes on plastic mats, ok when dry but when wet becomes a bit slipperly.
Big G DD going to online entries??? means I got a cheque book for no reason, actually meant I got a chq book to pay money for a race I didnt run lol. I think it will make entries fly out alot quicker. I noticed there weren't many senior men or women on the entry list and that could be the age of people owning a chq book possibly. Looks like a lovely adventure along the SWCP, am due to pop down to cornwall in August but not sure if I'll be able to yet, even if I do I'll not be allowed on the coastal path.
Shades sorry to year of your friends DNF at IM, a wj club member finished last place in hamburg a few weeks ago, it was quite warm and had about 40% drop rate.
Good luck to Ian and Keith this weekend.
Recovery still slow but progress being made, it looks a lot less gross than it did. The surgeon seemed happier yesterday and is happy to see me every 2 weeks rather than 1. At some point it will start to scab and heal.
Cricket World cup now finished has left a void, Off paracetamol now and feeling more normal too so able to concentrate and do a bit of reading.
Shades-I'll leave deciding on that until very close as its 2 weeks after NY,which is 1 after Frankfurt and I've never raced that close together before.
No-Good to hear from you,sounds more positive than last time,crazy what a fall at parkrun can cause.
Nice easy 5 today,felt like I'm race ready so legs are ready to go,just have to see if the endurance holds out.
Ian, best of luck!
I googled the elevation for Chudleigh, distance is about 5.51 miles and elevation about 300ft, that doesn't sound too hilly but I suspect most of that is in one killer hill, does that agree with your stats? Thankfully just rain forecast for tonight without the thunder and lightening.
I would imagine JW runs a very evenly paced race so perfect for you to stalk follow her.
Robert - it's useful to have a cheque book just in case, although I haven't used mine except for DD entries for the last couple of years. When TSB had their online banking debacle my friend was able to pay all her bills on time with cheques.
I'm sure DD will fill quickly with online entries as it's so easy to enter a race at the click of a button and sitting at a PC. I can't think it would make any difference re the age of the runner though, unless the younger ones haven't got the initiative to get a postal order/bankers draft/cheque and a postage stamp. I think most that don't have a cheque book just ask a friend/family member to let them have a cheque and pay them the cash.
Most ultra runners are vets, as are marathon runners
Re Hamburg, congrats to your fellow club member for making the cut off, must have been quite a bit of pressure though. 40% is a hell of a DNF even if that includes the DNS's.
So good to hear that you're starting to feel more 'normal' now. Hopefully now you will heal speedily. Are you more mobile now?
Now you'll have to put up with the netball and golf! There's some athletics and triathlon this weekend too.
Ian - I don't think you'll have any problem running Frankfurt and NY so close together, it's more likely to be the travelling and possible jetlag after NY that may tire you
Great that you're hungry for Sunday's race, that's always a good way to feel pre-race.
What's your thoughts on running today,feel fresh but dont want to push it.