P&D Spring Marathon 2020

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  • It’s been a while....HA’s and SQ’s wardrobe malfunctions gave me a welcome chuckle.

    Mum passed away last week after a tough battle with cancer.  I can’t describe how hard it is to hear someone say they are ready to depart and I can’t begin to imagine what suffering someone has been through to get to that position.  Going for a run aside, most things feel a bit pointless at the moment.  

    Run well tomorrow TR, and anyone else racing.
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    Thats sad Macca, sorry to hear that. Those situations are difficult and sad for all. Best wishes to you and your family. Life is tough at times.
  • Very, very sorry to hear this, Macca. Thoughts are with you and the family 
  • hamo44gfchamo44gfc ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    That’s awful news Macca. Really sorry to hear that, thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this terrible time. 
  • JohnOzJohnOz ✭✭✭
    Macca - really sad to hear about your mum. Condolences to you and your family at this difficult time. 
  • That's the one, TR. If it had been the QE Olympic Park it would have been a hell of a lot easier.
  • HA77HA77 ✭✭✭
    Macca - Really sorry to hear that. Hope you and the rest of your family are managing. An unimaginably tough few months for you. I was annoyed I only had an hour to run this morning, rather than the 2 hours I'd originally thought. Really puts things in perspective. Some things just don't matter.
  • So sorry to hear that Macca. Cancer is a cunt. Thoughts are with you and your family. 
  • Macca, very sorry to hear about your mum. I lost both my parents four months apart a few years ago due to general decline following strokes and it is really tough watching the person who has always been there for you become a shadow of their former selves. Take the time you need and be kind to yourself. It will start to feel a bit more manageable in time.

    HA - indeed, I was feeling annoyed as well - I was planning to do my last 20 today, but I woke up feeling rough. I just can't seem to shake this run-down feeling. If I feel better tomorrow I'll try to get it done then (although I don't really like to do long runs on a weekday due to the increased traffic) but I think it's best I just rest up until I feel more energetic.
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    As i said yday its a sad time for Macca and my thoughts are with him, im sure he would be fine with me posting my race update.

    Chichester 10k, the wind was there but i didnt notice it as much when we were racing (i did 3 extra laps of the motor cct and it felt like it was howling then). 3m, 10k, 8m for me. 36.31 for the 10k, thought it might be a bit more of an improvement over stubbingtons 37.04 as i wore the 4% rather than the stubbington flynits (maybe theres not much in it over 10k), maybe the wind levelled it out......anyway a good blow out, just about stopped myself blowing out (chunks) in the finish shute. 5.52 miling means the sub 80 is coming. Surprisingly 4th M50 for me in a masters qualifier.
  • That’s how to do a XC puddle with style. Ballsy!
  • Great effort at Chi10, TR. Superb time on a windy day. 

    Get well soon, Cal. 

    Recovery 4M yesterday. Then junior parkrun this morn, my daughter’s second. She was really up for it and ran almost all the way round, mostly holding her friend’s hand. I almost got annoyed with getting a time emailed - definitely not ready for stats! Great fun. Then ran home 5M with a few strides. Hoping to do a longish one early tomorrow morn. 
  • Folks, thanks for all the messages, they are much appreciated.

    TR - I’ve only one issue with your race report......,you’ve smashed my 10k PB.  Seriously, nothing less than you deserve.

    A tough week ahead but to leave on a positive running note, LT and MP training paces are up on last year and I’ve a place in the Snowdonia marathon in the autumn (got to get through Manchester & London 1st though).
  • Great job, TR. I've come close to puking a few times at races and parkruns, though at very much less impressive paces than yours.

    Macca, that's great news on the paces and Snowdonia. I watched the BBC video of that - looks tough but rather awesome (I did have a chuckle at the people coming to grief on the muddy downhill in their Next%).

    SQ, ha yes, saw that on Facebook. I bet it shocked the hell out of the guys around him. I do wonder if he did it for a dare or simple joie de vivre.

    I did absolutely nothing yesterday - I couldn't summon the energy to do my physio exercises, let alone a 20 mile run - but after an early night I felt a bit less shit this morning. I decided to compromise and do 16-18, and it ended up being 18. Very slow (mostly 11s) until it got light but picked up a bit after that - it was pretty windy early on too. Saw numerous cats, two foxes and spotted the cute corgi puppy again, which made up for the fact it was a very boring route involving a lot of zig-zagging to create mileage so I didn't have to cross any big roads (when I do my Sunday long runs, I have to cross the South Circular on most of my routes, which is doable early on a Sunday but not so much on Monday when people are going to work).



    I did decide to try and do this one completely fasted - I usually take 3 gels on a 20 miler - and while I took a couple with me for insurance, I didn't use them. I did feel quite tired after 16 miles but I was fine, really.
    Don't feel too bad now, so fingers crossed I'll be OK going forward.
  • Great news on the Snowdonia front, Macca. With your experience of hilly ultras and pacy marathons, you'll be all over it. Great long run with MP from you as well. Very strong.

    Much like HA, a two hour run slot this morning was shortened. Up from 1 until 5 in the night. Opted for a challenging run nonetheless - 75 minutes with the final 30 at MP effort. Came out at something like 6:45s pace, although perhaps was higher than MP effort. Still good to do some solid, hard running. Total of 10.5M at 7:40 pace. Absolutely knackered now. 
  • Well done on salvaging a long run, Cal. Recover well now. 
  • AWCAWC ✭✭✭
    Macca: so sorry to hear about your mum - condolences to you and your family. Really puts the rest of life into perspective. Hope you are holding up ok.
    I've not posted much recently - overdid the birthday celebrations a bit and spent about a week recovering.
    Then I did the Portland Coastal Marathon yesterday which was particularly brutal - stormy, rocky, hilly, and muddy. Only fell properly once and finished 14th in 4:21 - that's as hard a race I've done terrain wise, particularly with the mud. At times we had to hang on to a fence to get through the mud it was so deep and slippy after it was churned up by hundreds of runners. Great training for Lakeland 100 :)
  • Cal...Good work at a tough parkrun. Glad your feeling a bit better, that is a good long run you've forced out of yourself, which will stand by you well late into Tokyo.

    SQ...Nice progression run. Glad your Daughter enjoyed the junior parkrun and went back again. I agree the stats can be a bit off putting when they are 4, but it wont take them long to start looking pbs each week, trust me. As you know, my middle one got me to pace her to a new pb at our junior parkrun yesterday, as the baby wasn't feeling well so didn't run. Got the job done, but my pacing leaves a lot to be desired, aimed for 12.58 (13.00 dead was her pb), came in at 12.24 :flushed: (its amazing what a promise of sweets at the end can pull out of them when they are getting it tight :lol:) Well run for the MP effort too, always feels harder in training.

    TR...Brilliant run at Chichester, especially on a windy day with big miles in your legs, class work. Sub 80 is tumbling. What did you make on the 4%s?

    Macca...Good news about Snowdonia, looks a class race, and as SQ says with your pedigree i think you'll do very well at it. Get through the week as best you can.

    AWC...Brilliant work with the birthday celebrations :lol:  Class running at the Portland Marathon, it looked a brutal course, well done.


    Saturday was an 8 mile GA, followed by a 16 mile long run and the aforementioned 2k junior parkrun on Sunday for me, bringing my weekly total to 83 for my cut back week.

    The first 3 to 4 miles of my 16 miler came out progressive every mile without overly thinking about it, so i decided that i'd try and keep that trend going and see if i could get quicker each mile. Perfect progression run was let down by miles 7 + 8 (they'll haunt me for a long time :lol:) which i got the wrong way round, but still very pleased with a 7.08 min mile 1st mile down to 5.45 m/ms for the last mile. In hindsight i maybe shouldn't have pushed the long run on a recovery week, but couldn't help myself.

    6 and 5 recovery miles is the plan for today.


  • Hamo - Nice progression long run.
    SQ - Nice MP effort.
    Cal - Good to get the 18 done.
    AWC - Brilliant running.
    TR - Superb 10k time!
    Macca - So sorry to hear this, thoughts are with you and your family.

    16 miler with 12 at MP on Saturday, MP averaged around 7 min/miles, happy with that, but did feel tough, but fasted and solo I guess MP will feel tough! Recovery 6 on Sunday for another 63 mile week!
  • Macca - so sorry to hear mate. Thinking of you and your family bud. 
  • Also if anyone wants a good read, I'm currently reading Inside a Marathon by Ben Rosario and Scott Fauble, really interesting!
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    SQ - good for your daughter. 6.45 is decent pace for a monday morning.

    Macca - cheers. I have recently entered a couple of summer 10ks so i can chase my own PB. I usually stop 10king for the year after chichester.

    Well done Cal, good effort.

    Awc - sounds grim, well toughed out

    Hamo - i guess you had recovered enough to feel good, sounds like you were listening to your body......4% were strange, really noticeable under the arch (uncomfortably so) but id never used them before. Will probably take some getting used to. Most noticable thjng was going back to my trainers gor 8m after and the feeling like plimsolls.

    Nice Stevie, how does 7.00 compare with target mp?
  • Condolences Macca. I've a place for Snowdonia too so hopefully see you at the start. You're certainly running strongly just now.
    Good work Cal. Did QE PR a few years ago & I concur: it's a tough 'un. The worst bit was the slippery chalk. That's a decent LSR too. You're quite right not to fret about paces when you've recently had 2 quality race times over 10K & the HM. Coming together nicely for Tokyo.
    Great MP run there Steve. A decent stint at MP is certainly meant to feel hard which is why P&D only have them once every few weeks.
    Just the usual then Hamo :D - 83M cut back week with a LR finishing at 5:45 pace :o
    Cracking run AWC. I was in Portland just before Xmas. I ran a fair bit of the coastal path & walked some more so know just how tough it is.
    Been AWOL myself lately - lurking but not posting as I came down with a nasty virus just over a week ago, which stopped me in my tracks. Frustrating after getting off to a decent start in January. Mostly OK now, though still coughing up sticky green phlegm from time to time :s 
    Started back with an easy 5M (which wasn't) followed by 9 on Saturday including a brutally hilly parkrun: Coed Cefn-pwll-du (22:11) & a hilly LSR on Sunday - which was only 13.1M but took 2hrs. Also walked for 2+hrs both days over the w/e: hilly & with heavy hiking boots on. Stuck to the bike for my commute today to give the legs a chance to recover.
  • JohnOzJohnOz ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Missed out on a lot so sorry if I miss anyone.

    TR - great 10k, you look like you're already in sub 80 and sub 2:55 shape. The vaporflys really come into their own for halfs and marathons when your legs start to tire in the last few miles, so you probably have more gains to come.

    Hamo - really smashing all your runs right now, any races coming up to take advantage?

    Steve - strong and consistent running, if you have a half coming up I wouldn't be surprised to see you get a PB.

    Macca - you're hitting some amazing paces and mileage, look forward to seeing what you'll be able to do at VLM.

    Cal - building up nicely for Tokyo, all the races you're doing are great workouts. How long will you be in Tokyo? I highly recommend a couple of shakeouts around Yoyogi Park and the Imperial Palace if you have time.

    SQ - sounds like you've had a rough week so great work to get in the running. Doesn't look like you've lost any of your speed and you're fitting in the LRs. (BTW in answer to your question about my TM run, no TV for the MP part only the warm up  :# )

    HA77 - enjoy the weekend break, should be some nice running around there if you can get a pass. If you do get to GC HM, you'll have a great chance to PB - flat, cool and lots of packs to run with.

    Spoons - hope the mystery niggle has been sorted.

    Jools - I know what you've been going through in terms of lack of running. Good to see you're building back up.

    I've had an up and down couple of weeks, the hammy/quad strain is getting better but still there. Some slow TM running and a few days off seems to have worked so I jumped into a local 10K at the weekend (had already entered a while back). Planned to do it as a workout and the first bit of speed in 2 weeks. Was aiming for 40 mins, managed 19:30 for the first 5k before the humidity, hills and lack of endurance hit home hard. Got dropped by the pacers and jogged in to finish around 41:20, I'm pretty sure that's a PW! Anyway at least I finished and didn't feel any worse after. With the WU and CD I managed 25k for the day so I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Got chatting to a guy at the end who also ran NYC last year, he's got 4 marathons coming up in Mar/Apr and aiming to hit 100 by Sydney marathon in Sep.
  • AWC, sounds like my idea of hell - well done on the 14th place.

    Great running, Steve! I've entered Westminster Mile for the first time and I'm hoping to do it in 7 minutes, so I'm impressed it's your MP pace (and yes I know there are faster peeps here too). That's an all out effort for me, thanks to my ludicrously short stride.

    John - there for a week - I'm hoping to get to the parkrun on the Saturday to flush the 12.5 hour flight out of my legs. After that I'll be visiting the local theme parks (another hobby of mine) so I'll be recovering by walking. I likely won't do any running until I get home as I have Manchester 5 weeks later and need to give my immune system time to bounce back. I often get sick after a marathon - it was a cold after Yorkshire but I've had shingles two years on the trot following spring marathons.
    Well done for getting through your 10K when you didn't feel on top form. Time's largely irrelevant in those cases - the main thing is you're feeling OK.

    Glad you are starting to feel a bit better, Jooligan. I've heard that parkrun is a bit of a beast, so that's a good time considering it was also part of a longer run.

    6 miles recovery run for me today - my pace was stupidly slow (averaged 11:37) although legs didn't feel bad considering I ran for over three hours yesterday. Did manage to roll my right ankle early on but that ankle's had multiple sprains so it's almost impossible to do anything to it now - the ligaments are like an old lady's knicker elastic.
    Off to the gym once my breakfast goes down a bit.
  • Steve...Brilliant MP effort, they always feel tough in training as Jools says. I'll give that book a read, cheers.

    TR...Yea they are quite narrow under the arch, unlike any other shoes i have, but i didn't find that too bad. I do agree with other shoes feeling like plimsolls when you put them on straight after though.

    Jools...sorry to heard you weren't feeling great, glad your feeling better now. Standard 'easing back in' weekend from you there, fast hilly parkrun, hilly long run and 2+ hours of walking a day on top of that :lol: Good work.

    John...I have 2 10ks and a half booked in for March, as tune up races, so I will be training right through them rather than tapering. Glad your hamstring/quad is improving, hope it continues to do so. Good 10k in the circumstances, it'll not take you long to get back to where you where.

    LT this morning for me; 10 with 5 miles at LT pace. Bad start, within 30 secs of leaving the house i went over on my ankle, falling off a kerb (why do i hate my ankles ffs :flushed::lol:), thought that was it, but gave it a few mins of a gentle walk/jog and it wasn't as bad as i first thought, so decided to chance my arm, more in frustration than sense to be honest. 2 mile warm up, then down onto the tow path for the 5 HMP miles, which came out in a range of 5.27-5.34, and an average of 5.31 over the effort. Pleased with that, as its slightly faster than last time doing the same session, even though today was windier, plus i felt stronger and less balls to the walls-ey than i did. Either that, or running pissed off is the way to go :lol: . The ankle wasn't sore, but noticeable throughout the run, more in my head than anything though i think/hope, and isn't too bad now (not too stiff), so i'm hoping I've got away with it. I've a 5 mile recovery run planned for this afternoon, so I'll see how it is on that i suppose.
  • Cal...Must have missed your post, sorry, though it seems like I'm copying you with beating our ankles up :lol: Hope yours isn't too bad, and nice recovery running.
  • JohnOzJohnOz ✭✭✭
    Steve - I’ve got the book but haven’t got round to reading it yet, you’ve reminded me to make time! I got a signed copy by both Ben and Scott from NYC, he admitted that if Scott qualifies for Tokyo they will write a follow up... you heard it here first!
  • LOL hamo, let's hope we haven't started an epidemic! I have a tiny sore spot on the inside ankle bone but I know from experience this is nothing to worry about and will go in a day or two. I've done this a few times...well more than a few. Stupid ankles!
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