Shades Marathon Training

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  • Yeah, a guy from one of the FB groups I'm in didn't like the uppers so he got the custom version with flyknit instead. How do you find the Vaporweave?
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2019
    Steve - great running, how long until your 10k now?

    Ian - sorry to hear that pesky achilles is giving you some grief, hope it's improving now.

    Busy day sorting out your travel re TC crash, good that you're not out of pocket having to rebook.

    Big G - hope your achilles is improving too and your knee niggle.  This knee thing hasn't bothered you running has it?   If you're hearing noises from it that means nothing, just ignore them ;)

    Often these things feel so much worse and troubling pre what is hoped to be an important race.


    We had torrential rain during the night, it actually woke me up it was so loud.   Same when I got up but I knew it was warm so I put my thinnest jacket on as I could see it was a bit breezy too.  But half a mile down the road I had to stop and take the jacket off as it was so warm at 17 degrees and very humid, rain was only light now.  6 miles done.

    Pilates later and then gym :)   My weight is now back to what it was before my attempt at carbo loading so all good.   Not going to carbo load for anymore of my races as I didn't enjoy it and am well settled into my new diet so will stick with that.  Will be interesting to see if I have any energy dips during my races.
    I went back to what is my normal eating yesterday and woke up hungry so needed to eat before my run, so two breakfasts this morning :)
  • Shades - 2 weeks till 10k, first weekend in October.
    Cal - I found it OK, but only did 3 miles in them. I'll have to see how they are for longer distances, but I can't see it being an issue. I think they might be better in the wet than the 4%.
    7 miles with strides this morning. Wet with some thunder and lightning!
  • I think that's the idea, Steve - the flyknit soaks up rain and becomes heavier, apparently. Not really noticed as all my shoes bar my old trail shoes and my old Zoom Flys (the Chester pair) are flyknits.

    Talking of rain...woke up to a torrential downpour. I was also feeling a bit run down - not exactly ill, but not exactly well. I was tempted to take a second rest day but decided to wait until after rush hour and see how it was then.  In fact, it was still raining, but told myself to put my big girl pants on and get out there, and that I would feel better (I usually do feel better after exercise if I am feeling run down) and by the time I'd done my warm-up, it had all but stopped.
    Did a 6 mile recovery run (it was actually a bit faster than my normal recovery runs, around 10:30 pace, which I put down to being more warmed up and therefore having a slightly longer stride...cadence was quite low for me and it certainly felt like a slow jog). I would have made it 8 miles but, despite being serviced twice this morning, my colon decided it was ready for round three and that is not a fight I want to lose.
    Timed it well, anyway, as the heavens opened again not long after I got back.
    I was going to do Wimbledon Common parkrun this weekend, but may have to rethink that. Not keen for a mud bath.
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    Shades, I didn't feel the knee that much on Saturday's parkrun.  I started off feeling very creaky/stiff generally and took it very easy for the first bit, but then did speed up during the parkrun and felt okay generally at the end (splits were 8:55, 8:00, 7:14).  Last week I could feel the knee walking up stairs (I'm talking 1 out of 10 in terms of pain), but that feeling has gone now.  With than in mind, I did a 5-miler at an easy effort earlier.  

    When I get the issue, although it's not too painful, what happens is that I start dragging that leg a bit, which I want to avoid.  This morning's run felt okay though, although achilles a bit sore.

    I really don't know how the race is doing to go, but I'm getting excited about Berlin now.  Just sorting out logistics.  We fly in on Thursday and due to land at 4pm.  All being well, I'll get to the Expo (which is on the way to our hotel) on Thursday, which closes at 8pm.  Then it means I won't have to go over that direction again, although the parkrun is fairly close by.  OH has arranged some "behind the scenes" tour at Berlin zoo, so we're doing that first thing Friday.  Other than that, I've no major plans of what I want to see as I just want to get a feel for the place really, having never been before.

    I've booked a meal for the Saturday night at an Italian, and for the Sunday night I've booked a very popular German Wirthaus for sausages and (0%) beer ;)  The other nights we'll just go wherever we fancy.  Speaking of 0% beer, the post-race drink is the Erdinger 0% stuff, which I do drink at home and do quite like.

    Having a bit of a lull in my running at the moment, I may have booked a foreign marathon for January :)  Marrakesh.  The race itself is quite expensive (€75) but the fights were £75 return, and 4 nights for two people including breakfast in a decent place was....€122!!!  Bargain!  Only issue that isn't ideal is that it's from Gatwick, but it's not too bad if traffic is good.  I've heard mixed reports about the race itself, but it's kind of been on my radar for a couple of years.  Having not been before, both OH and myself wanted to go, so combining with a marathon suits me.  Average temperatures are 20deg at that time of year, so it should feel quite pleasant hopefully.
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Big G-I'm going friday PM so cant get to the expo until Saturday,hence I'm going first thing,hopefully everyone else is at the breakfast run,then got a bit of sightseeing to do but not too much.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Steve - soon then for your race  :)

    Cal - glad you made it home promptly from your run today  :open_mouth:

    Looks like we're all getting a fair amount of rain this week, maybe a tarmac route for you this coming weekend.

    Big G - when my knee is niggling it's very sore climbing stairs, I live in a flat so the pain is always a shock to me, such as at the leisure centre, can be a 8 out of 10.  But doesn't bother me when I run, which is bizarre but good.

    Sounds great your plans for Berlin, especially the zoo.

    When we finished the marathon we had sausages at the finish, lots of stalls selling them, perfect post marathon grub.  I'm not so keen on the beer as a bit gassy for me.

    The Expo is good, big and busy.  The breakfast run sounds good, finishing in the Olympic stadium I think, better than a parkrun I would have thought.

    I really liked Berlin when we went not as expensive as I thought it would be and great food.

    A warm weather marathon in January sounds perfect.  I do like it when you say 'I may have booked'  :D

    I finished watching the Vuelta, was very good this year.  I saw the interview with Froome, I'm so impressed with his dedication and calm attitude.

    Ian - Expo will be busy but organised well so you can collect your number with relative ease despite the crowds.  

    Had a great Pilates class some serious stretching, good for me post marathon doing hamstring stretches on the barre, ouch. :'(    Followed by gym session.
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    Shades, I was tempted with the breakfast run, but if I do manage a run, I expect it'll be parkrun.  I think there will be a lot of Brits/marathoners there.  I just checked last year's results and the week of the marathon there were 517 runners (by far its biggest week in its 91 weeks, with a lot of British sounding club names), whereas the week before there were 77 and the week after 94.  It seems to be growing though as last week there were 136 finishers.

    Regarding the zoo, I'm not sure if we'll get to see the new baby pandas or not.  I think they're off show at the moment, so probably unlikely.  OH comes all that way for me to do a bit of running so as she loves zoos so much, I really don't mind walking around the zoo for the morning.  When we were in Newquay the other day for her vet checks of animals, we did get some access to animals that were off show.  They have Civets down there, and one has just had a baby which I have to say was extremely cute.  That's off show at the moment, but the head keeper took us in behind to see it.  Also, at Paignton when OH's friends were over last week, we went to see the Kiwi (nocturnal, so not really on show in opening times), plus I got climbed over by a lot of ring-tailed lemurs, and got to feed the rhinos, which are very noisy eaters!  Possibly surprisingly, the rhinos seemed very nervous - I think their eye sight isn't great, and some accidental noise like a scrub of a shoe on the floor and they do an abrupt about-turn and go scarpering off.  Anyway, at Berlin, the vets are showing us around, and we get free entry etc.  OH speaks fluent German, whereas I most certainly do not, so I'm hoping they converse in English.  I expect they will as the emails they've exchanged have been in English.

    I really enjoyed the Vuelta this year.  Dubious tactics of Movistar on that stage though, where they took advantage of the red jersey going down.  It didn't seem to bother him though - he just seemed to keep out of the discussions/arguments and got on with what he was doing.  Great that even if he hadn't won the time trial he'd still have won overall, made even more impressive with what happened on stage 1 where most of his team went down.
  • Big G - Berlin planning sounds good..  I too had a laugh at your "may have" booked Marrakech - well have you or haven't you booked it?!

    Ian - Hope that Achilles is ok.. thank goodness you seem to have come through the Thomas Cook nightmare unscathed.

    Steve - Fab Parkrun podium.. well done you. Completely irrelevant whether it was a small field or not. A result is a result!

    Rob/Cal - Lovely photos of you all there (Cal with those tights on it looks like you should have been in Edinburgh with Big G!)

    Shades - Well done on your Margam marathon. That is just down the road from where I'm from, lovely park. That's interesting that your carb loading didn't seem to make much difference, other than making you feel a bit sluggish. I would have thought after being deprived of carbs (or at least reduced carbs) beforehand and then carb loading before your race they would have had an even more positive effect. Will be interesting to see how you get on next time just sticking to your high protein diet. What's the biggest change to your eating habits now.. more fish? No toast?

    Good couple of days for me. Starting to build my long runs up a bit. Still drastically undertrained for where I normally am regarding an autumn marathon but can't do much about that now. Went up over the wind farm today as it was windy and I just wanted to see what it would be like. All I can say is there is definitely a reason why they chose that spot to place their turbines. Nearly bloody took off. 
    24k planned for early tomorrow morning. I'm typing this to make sure I end up doing it!


  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    MF, flights and hotel is booked. I’ve not booked the event itself yet, but that’s only because I want to see how much I’ve got left after Berlin.  I use a charge card for paying in euros (no transaction or conversion fees) so will load it up if needed to pay for Marrakech which is in euros, or just use any left over Berlin money to pay for it. 
  • Ha thanks mamafox - Those are one of several pairs of Foxy Poms (a small company run by a mental health nurse - she donates part of the proceeds to mental health charities). She does a number of designs but I have two tartan ones - the others are red. (Looking at that photo, which was in March, I can see some of the weight I've lost has come off my thighs...always a good thing!)





    Big G, exciting! I think 20 degrees is a bit warm for me but as you're used to doing marathons at all times of year, I daresay you'll cope.

    Shades, barre sounds interesting!

    Not done much since my run (I'm working on this week's results round-up for my club and still waiting on a few results to drop). Still don't feel all that great so I'm hammering the Vit C and echinacea. Could end up being a four week taper rather than three if I still don't feel that well tomorrow. I'm not snotty at least.
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    Cal, yeah, if it's 20 I'll be okay, although for a faster time I much prefer cooler conditions.  If it's closer to 30 it'll just be a "get it done" job.  I was wondering if it may have been a very early race start - it's a 8:30am start, so not too bad hopefully.

    I did a 7-miler this morning and niggles were under control, but I did find it quite hard.  Not sure if it was particularly humid, but I came back drenched and it felt a bit of a slog this morning.  I was trying to remind myself that I did a decent Half only 3.5 weeks ago!
  • Big G - Sounds like you'll have a great time in Berlin, with parkrun and the zoo planned! Fingers crossed for the weather for you.
    MF - Ha ha, if the wind was with you, you would have got a PB over that road!! 24k is a good distance!
    Cal - The extra week taper might do you good, after all they do say better to get to the start line ready rather than overtrained.
    10 miles with 2*1200, 2*1000 and 1*800 this morning, in the rain again!! Reps were 4:23/4:26/3:41/3:52/3:03, off pace for the last 2 reps, but got it done.
  • Steve, yes, definitely.
    Definitely a little bit poorly. I'm fighting something. It hasn't turned into a full-blown cold but I feel a bit yucky and have a slightly scratchy throat. So day off to nip it in the bud. Best I get sick now rather than later.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2019
    Big G - seeing the baby pandas would be something special.  Must be great to see behind the scenes at a zoo.  
    Years ago when I worked for Unigate our head office was at Cribbs Causeway next to the sick and maternity section of Bristol Zoo.  So if I was up there for a meeting I would go to one of the upstairs offices and have a birds eye view into the cages/pens next door, was lovely.

    I think the winner of the Vuelta was very well deserved and so calm throughout the drama.  Slovenian's are definitely producing all the new talent including that young UAE rider.

    Must be tricky at the moment knowing when to put the Euros on your card ;)   

    It is humid today, was like a sauna but raining and windy when I drove to Circuits this morning.

    Cal - I just flicked back to the previous page and you can see you've definitely lost weight, including on your thighs.  Nice tights. 

    It was 21 degrees last year at Berlin, didn't stop Kipchoge plus a lot of others getting PB's, I expect the humidity was low and that makes such a difference.

    There are some classes, (not at the place that I go), that use the barre, I'd be quite interested in having a go at that.

    Steve - that's a real session for an early morning run.  Do you do all your speed sessions fasted too?

    mamafox - Margam park is lovely.   Although it was a bit too much off road really I still liked the venue so I may go back, she doesn't always use the same route around the park.

    Re the carbo loading, I think my palette is changing with this new diet which seems to suit me well and the usual higher carb stuff has lost it's appeal.   I did eat some of the goody bag contents on the way home but I think that was because I was tired and didn't have anything else to eat that I fancied with me.   But the Marathon bar is in the cupboard, untouched o:)   I couldn't wait to get back onto eating my high protein diet on the Monday morning.  My energy levels are constant on this diet and when I am hungry it's not that low blood sugar kind of hunger/tiredness more a raving hunger from an increased metabolism such as when I've ramped up the mileage.   I'm not hungry in between meals nor do I want to snack in the evening but I do wake up hungry in the morning.   I've been told to snack more just to increase the protein as I'm still not quite reaching the desired level, I'm getting closer.  So today I have been out and bought some nuts as now 3 weeks in I think I can trust myself with them ;) 
    I do generally eat a fairly healthy diet, the main difference is that I've had to increase the protein, probably at least double the portions I would have had before.  And if I'm having a meal that's a bit light on protein I add more in, such as extra chicken or cheese.   After the gym I try and eat a protein snack so say a small tin of tuna or some cottage cheese, or now I will eat nuts too.
    I still eat my toast, I do love my toast so that's probably where most of my carbs come from.

    I'm so pleased your training is going well, you still have plenty time to get those long runs in.


    Circuits for me this morning, followed by gym, no running it's a rest day today.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    I'll put up the October marathons next week.


  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Cal - hope you're starting to feel better today.

    6 miles for me today, very warm and humid again, although windy and light rain still 17 degrees, but didn't overdress this time.

    Just got a couple of minutes down the road and could hear this irritating noise, like a motocross bike and when I came over the bridge discovered it was a chainsaw making that racket.   Big old tree, looks like it fell on the road and traffic lights during the night and they're clearing up the mess.   Nice policeman saw me safely negotiate the hazard and any oncoming traffic.

    Had a good run but couldn't keep HR down today, probably a combination of the humidity and running into a strong headwind.   I upped the weights on my leg session at the gym yesterday and I could really feel it this morning.  


  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    I found it humid again this morning too, Shades.  Just 3-miles today and pretty creaky as I basically climbed out of bed and went straight out for a run.  It was an easy pace, although I tried to do a quicker section and struggled a bit!  Hoping the "race magic" will do its thing on the morning of the race :)  

    Will be driving back up to Bristol airport this morning, and will be leaving shortly.  Hoping everything is on time so I can get to the expo.
  • Thanks Shades - yes, not 100% but less crappy overall. I went out for a recovery-pace 10 miles, just nice and easy. There were a few tight bits and niggles which I put down to being stationary much of yesterday. Achilles was actually well-behaved. I felt tempted to do another 2 miles but reminded myself I was getting over a virus and not to make the grumpy bits any more grumpy. So, 10 it was.
    Weather here was much like where you are, minus the wind (a slight breeze is all). Didn't mind the rain.

    Good luck Big G!
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Big G-Have a good flight.
    As for me still no running  :'( starting to get nervous now,leg felt great yesterday so tried a little jog and stopped after half a mile,it seems to be a pain at the side of the foot,may have been able to run through it but couldn't take the chance.
  • Ian - Hope it clears up for Sunday.
    Big G - Good luck in Berlin.
    Shades - Yes those ones are run fasted, makes it tough but at least I don't have to get up even earlier to let my food digest!
    Easy 5 miles today.
  • Ian, is it towards the outside of the foot? I often get an ache there when my achilles is particularly gnarly.
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Cal-Yeah it is,towards the lower,but definitely on the outside,makes sense if its linked with the Achilles problem.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Big G - have a good trip, I'm sure you'll enjoy Berlin and that marathon magic will be back in your legs on Sunday morning.

    Cal  - good that you're recovering quickly, you should be raring to go next weekend for Kingston.

    Ian - so sorry to hear that your foot is really sore.   Would it be any help to have it strapped up for the next couple of days to give it some support.   

    Injuries really are the worse thing about our sport, and all the worry and angst that come with them. 

    Steve - I thought you did them fasted.   I can eat something just a few minutes before any easy run but even I would need a lot longer if I was doing any sort of speed session.

    Pilates done and gym done.   Took a high protein snack, nuts and biltong, with me to eat as soon as I'd finished in the gym but I forgot to eat it and only remembered when I was in the library and you're not allowed to eat in there.  
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Shades-Yes OH got me 1 from work this morning so hoping it helps.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Ian - good, it should give it some support and maybe aid a speedy healing. 
  • H0NKH0NK ✭✭✭
    I'm Looking forward to Sunday, say hello, if you spot me Shades.

    Even though my Daughter informs me it clashes horribly I shall be wearing my local club shirt (Leighton Fun Runners) with union jack shorts. (Did my marathon pb in these in 2004)

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Honk - I should be able to find you in that kit !!   Your lucky shorts then.  ;)

    Forecast isn't great for us, some rain but quite windy which I've been told will affect that course. 
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    Ian, not great news mate, but hopefully you’ll be ok on the day.  Injuries are horrid!

    Honk, nice shorts :)

    As for, tiring/long day, but got to the hotel. Everything was on time so managed to get to Expo, which was huge and also lots of walking. Was tempted with a jacket but decided against it, so I just picked up the finishers shirt that I’d ordered.

    We’re both tired so just going to take it easy this evening and find somewhere close by to eat. Fairly early start tomorrow too as have to be at the zoo for 9am, but all being well I’ll sleep well.

    Need to figure out breakfast for Sunday. They start at 7am which is really about 30-60mins late for me. Receptionist did say I can probably go down a bit early and some stuff will be ready then but I may get a porridge pot as well. I’ll figure that out over the weekend.

    Shades, they don’t know me, but DS and LS from the Mavs were on the same plane as me, and also ended up getting on the same train to the expo. 
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Big G-What was the jacket like,thinking about treating myself.
    My hotel has laid on breakfast from 5 so happy with that,think it was because it was an official hotel.
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