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P&D Autumn Marathon 2019
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SQ - nice turnout Wednesday night, Nice to see you being sensible and listening to your body, always the best strategy. Hope Sunday is fun, I love a good low key marathon.
Macca - very excited for you and more than a tad jealous. Should be a brilliant weekend, can't wait to track.
Things not going well here. Weight piling on, all motivation lost, still got fatigue that I've not shaken properly since London. Think I might have some form of overtraining syndrome - haven't felt like myself in months.
I'm trying to rest as much as I can, but mentally I find this really tough. There's times recently that I've thought of just packing it all in and giving up, but then I tell myself to stop being so ridiculous.
Good to hear from you NE.
Talking of Jooligan, has anyone heard from him lately? I note he’s been silent on here and Strava. Hope all’s ok.
AWC yes I think split LTs are likely, and in his Marathon Talk interview he talked about adding more strides and hill work. Will report once my copy finally gets here. Congrats on the wedding anniversary.
Great week TR.
Solid final longer run SQ. Any goals for Sunday, or just aiming to enjoy it?
Sorry to hear you’re still struggling Joe. I had similar thoughts at times when I was injured and coming back. Take it easy, and I’m sure the mojo will return eventually.
So, Newark Half yesterday was a bit of a shocker. Started off well, went through the first two miles in 5:57 and 5:59, and was feeling pretty good. However, I then got a bit gapped, and started to feel the full brunt off the wind (up to 30mph gusts). I took a few sips of water at the first station, and started to feel the beginnings of a stitch which I battled for much of the rest of the race.
Pace slowed to 6:13, 6:21, 6:29 as we negotiated a few rises, in to the wind, and I tried to stop the stitch developing, but I was hopeful I’d make it up when we came back down, and had the wind behind us. However, once we got there my legs just had nothing to give. I sped up, but only to 6:12 and 6:10, and the effort felt much greater. It was becoming more and more of a slog, and I gradually slowed. By mile 12 I was only managing 6:47/mi, which I’ve been knocking out in long runs feeling comfortable. I was seriously contemplating walking, or even just pulling out.
I crossed the line in 1:23:48, so didn’t even average what I hope will be marathon pace in Berlin! Pretty gutted as I know I’m in much better shape than that. All my recent workouts have been as good or better than prior to Worthing last year when I ran 1:18:53, in just as bad, if not worse, wind. Although Worthing is pancake flat.
I think there are a few reasons. Weather obviously didn’t help, and I probably spent too much energy fighting the wind in the first half. And while the temperatures weren’t crazy, it was 20º by the end and I was getting very sweaty. It may also have just been a bit of an off day. I suspect the main reason though is not being recovered from the big long run workout on Monday, and that big week in general. Last year an injury scare ensured I had a very easy week prior to Worthing, this year I probably should have been a bit more cautious and cut back further, especially as the long run was a day later.
Anyway, bit of a knock to my confidence. Just trying to remind myself that bad races happen, and this doesn’t undo all the good training I’ve done. As HPR pointed out on Strava, get the bad race out of the way now, before Berlin!? Legs felt fine this morning on my recovery, except a bit of tightness across the top of my left foot, which I think is from the Next%s being tied too tight - the plasticy upper material doesn’t stretch much, so they probably need to be tied a bit looser.
I do feel a bit tired generally, so out of caution I already cut this mornings run from 7.5 to 5 miles, and will take the next few days as I feel to ensure I’m hopefully back to normal and ready to crack on. Onwards and upwards...
Macca - Looking forward to your UTMB debut - I did the Mont Blanc Marathon in 2018 which was amazing and a mere 6 hours or so and have eyes on the OCC for 2020 - your long distance pedigree is something to dream of.
Joe - Just take it down a notch. It must be mentally / physically so stressful to place such demands on yourself seemingly for years now. Be like us mere mortals for a few months.
Spoons - well done for toughing it out. You have been caning the training, so maybe its to be expected. Ive sucked up plenty of below par results in the last 2 yrs on my comeback trail so i feel you "underperformed" pain. Tapered for Berlin this result will bebin the distant past.
Joe - be kind to yourself, you were smashing it prior to Berlin, just tick over for a while and the urge will return.
Just 6m today in order to break the double digit streak. Easy week this week leading to IoW 1/2 sunday, where i had a right stinker last yr.
SQ - sounds like more of an experience race then, you might be at the pointy end so raving for position rather than time will keep you amused.
I did an approx 8m round Herstmonceux this morning (of all place), inc a tour of the castle grounds.
Joe - I feel I'm much in the same boat.
Weight up about 14lb from race weight in April (much to the SPOs approval). Running most days but generally just doing lunch time runs of not much more than 30 min. Haven't felt motivated enough to sacrifice any sleep to get up early for a run. A few niggly pains in my ankles and achilles but I've trained through worse in the past. Generally I feel alright and a lot less tired than when training, just not really enjoying running. Even though my pace isn't too bad for some runs, it just feels like hard work all the time.
I probably just need to pull my finger out, crack on and hope the motivation kicks in.
Great training from others going on.
Great effort again AWC, enjoyed that report, that's a big improvement on last year, especially considering the quick turnaround from SDW. Agree that you definitely look too fresh in the photos.
Macca - like others, looking forward to UTMB. Should be awesome.
Sounds a a tough race, TR. Hope you go well and enjoy.
Good of to hear from you, HA. I’ve got no doubt an extra stone still sees you looking lithe and lean. Sounds like you been listening to the body very sensibly - no doubt it’ll help long term motivation. Presumably there is still lore than enough time to get in half decent nick for Chester. Based on previous results, could you challenge for a podium? I was very surprised to be running with the top two women when I ran 2:53 there.
5.5M explore this morning, taking in various bridlepaths and a golf course. 5 x 90s approx MP. Quite like these as a little sharpener, but not feeling taxing in anyway.
I’ve entered Stroud Half on 27th Oct - it has always looked a good race and it will help with club champ points. It is however a month post No2 arriving - so I will just fit in whatever elements of the P&L plan seems suitable.
New P&D has arrived! At first glance the schedules don’t look too different to the 2nd edition. LT workouts remain straight runs, no splits. Some minor adjustments to the VO2 intervals. And a few hill sprints in the first mesocycle - which is now just called a training block.
Nice long run Steve. Good fox spotting. The ones I used to see in London were super-tame, although often looked exactly like the Crack Fox from The Mighty Boosh
The ones here scare more easily, but look a lot healthier!
Good luck for the IoW half TR, I imagine it’ll be a hilly one?
Sensible approach to Sunday SQ. Good luck, hope you have a good one. Enjoy the spa break, perfect pre-race relaxation!
Good to hear from you HA, sorry you’re struggling with motivation. As you say, sometimes you just have to get on with it, and the motivation returns once things begin to click.
Thanks all for the reassurance over Sunday’s result. I was feeling a bit down about it on Monday, it’s funny how confidence that builds up over weeks can be destroyed by one bad run! I skipped my afternoon recovery as I felt tired and figured it was best to try and reset. Thankfully, a good nights sleep and a decent easy run along the canal on Tuesday morning helped put things in perspective.
As I felt good yesterday, I decided to crack on and do my planned session today - 4x15 mins @ MP - with the proviso that if I was struggling to hit the paces I’d bale. Happily it went well - 6:18, 6:19, 6:17 and 6:18 per mile averages for the four efforts. A touch slower than the 10x1@MP efforts, but this was in Adios not VaporFlys, and it was a bit breezy at times (and also rather wet!) So happy with that, and reassurance that Sunday was just a blip...
SQ - sounds like you are sharpening up nicely.
Spoons - sounds like you werent fresh enough to do yourself justice sunday. I remember having a tough day at fleet in 1.25.4X this year 4 weeks out from Brighton, i was about 90 secs quicker at worthing on a winday day, and thought id do 1.21 or 2 at fleet. It does give you a slight mental blip at the time, so i feel yr pain. Your training has been going well so focus on that........yes, plenty of hills at IOW, plus an 11.30 start (to allow for travel, so it can get quite hot), plus a few miles of trail. But its measurable agsinst last yr and is my overseas race for the year (they give you 1/2 price travel, which is helpful).
8m easy here today, copped a dunking.
6m easy, tired legs from walking the 7 sisters yday.
SQ - Given up on running a good time in Chester. Will just see how it goes and try to run well.
Made it to the club track session for my first proper session in a while last night. 8x 1km with 2 min rest. Pretty uninspiring but not too bad, with reps 3:30 - 3:20. Was breathing fairly easily through the session but my legs didn't have much in them. Sore back today - I think the 5km jog home was too far when my body was shot.
Special comments to AWC, excellent report and race, SQ good luck with the marathon, Spoons, everyone can have bad days, your training has been class and will pay dividends and Joe, sorry to hear that, hope you can get yourself sorted soon.
I done a bit of running when i was away, nothing organised or major, but enough to keep ticking over and explore bits of the island. Menorca has a trail running round the whole coast, which was well signposted, so was nice to run on. I've been having a bit of bother with a niggly Achilles lately, but the quieter week seems to have helped that as well which is good, even if it came at a not ideal time in the plan (but a week away with the wife and kids, beats a Half mara time any day of the week).
Back at it today with a Vo2 session, 12 mile with 2x1 mile, and 4x0.75 mile (off 3 min and 2.20 mins). Was, as expected, hard work after a week or more of excess, and not helped by a howling headwind for a good part of it. The 'on' efforts came out at a average of 5.21 m/ms so happy with that.
Will try to follow the plan for the next week and a bit, adding on 'missed' recovery runs etc to boost the mileage a bit without going crazy, followed by a 2 week taper for the GNR.
Hamo - good life juggling, ive been doing the same this week.
AWC - enjoy Pembrokeshire. Pay Barafundle Bay a visit, its a great little beach.
6m easy today, my legs were very tired after lots of wslking in Sussex this week.
I remember last yrs IoW 1/2 as trails, puddles, hills and wind and it being bloody tough. I remembered correctly as it was more of the same today, only today was windier. Legs were still tired from all last weeks yomping but i think that made me go slow at times early on which came in handy in the last few miles of windy trails and hills. 1.27 so 3 min quicker than last yr. Not sure what it converts to though. 17m in total. Onwards to Abo. No doubt ill go back again next yr too.
Joe/HA sorry to read you're both not feeling it, hopefully you can turn the corner/get to the bottom of it.
Looking forward to how you get on at GNR Hammo. Speedy post holiday run.
RSR - you've posted so many impressive sessions these last few weeks hopefully last weeks half has been consigned to a distant memory (until I dragged it back up - apologies).
Blue Horseshoe - what Steve said. If you are into the Vo2 sessions you must be nearing the end of the plan, got a target race ?
OO - thanks. Having never run in the Alps before I should maybe have cut my teeth on the OCC or CCC perhaps but in for a penny.....
AWC - Pembrokeshire looks awesome from the photos, enjoy the break.
Steve - thats a decent result at PR, IIRC correctly, the weather at Edinburgh wasnt great, although that seems to have been the case for quite a few races this year.
I managed to squeeze in a hilly midweek LR last week as a last big effort. It left me wiped out for a few days but with 4,000ft of climbing over 20 miles its still about 30% flatter than that which I'll shortly be facing. I bought a saharan cap in case the hot weather manditory kit is activated, I look like Laurel & Hardy in Sons of The Desert - guess I ought to train in it though, nothing new on race day 😂
Can’t believe you’ve never done a parkrun TR! Nice work on the IoW, sounds like a great performance on a tough course.
Nice session HA.
Welcome back Hamo. Glad the holiday has helped the achilles, hope it’s ok. As others say, I wouldn’t worry too much about adding stuff in to play catchup on the mileage.
Sensible move AWC. Some beautiful photos of the coast path on Strava already I see. Enjoy.
Interesting about the adios SQ, as from photos they look basically the same? Glad the hospital visit wasn’t serious. Great work at Bath, look forward to hearing about it.
9 seconds off a PB doesn’t sound too bad to me Steve! Great work.
Distant memory indeed Macca, although also a reminder that I can put in all the great sessions I want, getting the taper right is important too! Impressive elevation on the long run, nice work. I just looked, and the elevation gain for UTMB is roughly the same as what I’ve managed for the whole of 2019 so far
My MLR on Friday went well, legs felt decent and averaged 6:51/mi despite it being a bit breezy. Just finished in time before the rain hit as well. No such luck the next day though, got drenched out along the canal.
Yesterday I did a nutrition rehearsal, something that was recommended to me by the dietician I worked with last year on that magazine thing. It’s good to get some practice in, particularly as I never fuel during normal runs. I got up super early and ate my usual pre-race breakfast, bagels and jam, and then used gels throughout the run with the same frequency as I plan to for the marathon.
I tried out the new Maurten gels, which I really like. They’re unflavoured, which I prefer as I find I can get sick of a particular flavour. And they’re quite thick, almost like a runny jelly, which makes them easier to consume when running as you can take some, hold it in the side of your mouth to breath, then swallow, without any spillage. I took a gel every 20-25 minutes, and that felt fine with my stomach settled throughout.
Averaged 6:48/mi which I was happy with as again it was a bit breezy at times. Funnily enough I averaged the exact same pace for the nutrition rehearsal before Manchester, although it was a far stiller morning back then if the Dark Sky historic forecast is to be believed. Regardless, solid end to the week, Newark is now just a blip in the rear-view mirror.
SQ...glad the hospital visit went ok, that's the main thing.
TR...Good 1/2 result. You cant be bad to a 3 minute improvement on last year. Funny how we always go back to the tough ones though
Steve...nice parkrun, speedy time, well done. 9 secs off a pb bang in the middle of a big training block with all those miles in your legs and no taper, certainly bodes well.
Macca...Absolutely loving the 'in for a penny' attitude, best way to be and approach it
13m MLR on Saturday felt good, and I followed that up with a 20m LR (first 20 mile plus run since the Belfast marathon, but felt grand) on Sunday to bring my weekly total up to 62.5 miles, not bad for carding 0 on 2 of the days, and holiday 'meh' running for the first half of the week. Plan to hit 90 odds this week, by adding a mile or 2 onto 1 or 2 'planned runs', but being mindful that i'm racing a 10k on Sunday (front loading the week in all probability). Then it'll be onto the 'taper' for the last 2 weeks. Do you really taper taper for a 1/2 though
Macca - impressive midweek 20. Im sure the hat will be a wise investment.
Spoons - cracking run. A couple more miles and youd have run an untapered sub 3. Good bounce back after the 1/2.
Hamo - top work, you're going to smoke the 1/2.
Back to it with 10m easy today.