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P&D Spring Marathon 2020
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Jools - blimey Jools thats a lot of climbing in 9m.
SQ - mark allen used to talk about quieting the mind so you can crack on with the job in hand. Speedy reps and a multitasking buggy run, top work.
14m easy tonight.
Wise to go easier on today's MLR TR. With a decent LT banked and the imminent MP run that's plenty of quality for 1 week.
The run yesterday was a recce of a hill for an inter-club elevation relay coming up Sunday the 12th. I did 27 minutes top to bottom with a HR of 140 on the up. I did a 2nd very slightly slower at 139 bpm. I'm looking to get the most elevation possible in 1 hr. I reckon if I put a decent effort in I can do 3 full climbs (& 2 descents) which will give me 2280' over 10K.
A long slow hilly run again today 17.7M with 2,600'. Lots of off road stuff too. Legs are pretty shaky now
SQ, I think my HR would be around 170 if I did that! Good job on the reps.
hamo, I worked in the computer games industry in the 90s (on magazines) and it was one big party back then, before it got corporate. My lifestyle back then wasn't too healthy, I have to admit.
TR, I can relate to the shut up and run thing, too. Well done on the LT.
SQ...Singing lullabies is one way to get the miles in
TR...Sensible keeping the powder dry for the weekends MP. Nice easy MLR.
Cal...That sounds like a class way to spend the 90's to be fair
I just ran a 6 mile recovery yesterday morning having moved the evenings recovery to Tuesday as it was my middle Daughters birthday, so i had the most restful of rest days I've had in a while (in a running sense anyway
Cal - at our age im sure we'll have to manage niggles in order to be able to run regularly.
Hamo - nice one. You are a week ahead of me so have the luxury of a 16m long run sunday.
AWC- good stuff, adapting well.
Minimum 6m super easy this morning. Looks like the wind and rain are showing up again for tomorrows mp run. But at least i have the new mantra ready.
Happy birthday to your daughter, hamo. Nice running. Always postive when you can finish strong.
AWC, if working from home is an option in the future, then it's definitely something to take advantage of. I think a lot of people will struggle to go back to an office after working from home for most of this year...and you gain so much time from not having to commute (plus saving the cost of petrol or train/bus fares). Strong week there.
I was pretty niggly this morning, so almost didn't run but I spent half an hour doing foam rolling, stretching and mobility work (rather than the usual 10-15 minutes) and when I got outside I was actually less niggly than yesterday. There's a moral in there somewhere.
6 miles again. I want to go longer tomorrow but will see how I feel. I won't push it too much at this point.
Plan was for 7m easy, 10 or 11mp, and then a cd. Expecting anywhere between 6.30 and 6.50 depending upon wind and elevation. 1st effort mile of 6.58 rang the alarm bells (in what should have been a quickish mile), no amount of shut up and run is going to see a speeding up by 30sec mile, so changed tack to an mp +10% (~7.09av) and rarher than 10m i managed to do the remainimg 13m av 7.08, but in reality it was 11 av 7.02 and a 7.33 and a 7.45 on the two most wind and hill affected miles. The mp run can keep for another day.
Onwards and upwards, solid week with 2 x mlr, 5m LT and a toughish 20, all adding up to 80m.
Today’s mission was to find Wimbledon’s Dairy Walk footpath, which a clubmate had found and recommended on Strava. It proved a bit harder than expected. I got myself to Church Road, where I knew there was an entrance, but it wasn’t where I expected it to be (turns out I was looking on the wrong side of the junction). After failing twice, I ran up and alongside the common to see if I could locate from the other end, but as I’d planned to hit it from Church Road, I couldn’t remember exactly where the other end was.
As it turns out I blundered onto Marryat Road which cuts through the footpath, so I decided to try the left section of path first before circling back to Marryat and doing the right part.
It turned out to be barely a path, but a narrow, dirt track which sandwiched me between a wooden fence and a lot of brambles and nettles. There was also a lovely big puddle before the path veered steeply upward and back onto Burghley Road. I was not impressed. (In fact, I was thinking “WTF, Dez?” - Dez being the club member in question) but I decided I would at least check out the other half, which is accessed from a cul-de-sac on Marryat Road.
This half was actually delightful (aside from the fact it was a pretty steep hill) – paved and bordered on either side by all sorts of colourful flowers. So I’m happy I found that part.
I wasn’t supposed to be doing any hills just yet but seem to have managed to run up and down a few today. Groin was fine but left high hammy and right achilles were having a contest to see who could scream the loudest. Hammy won. You’d never guess they’d just had a nice holiday, ungrateful buggers.
12 miles also seemed a long way today. It feels like I’ve lost all my endurance during the 10 day break, which I know is nonsense, so not quite sure what happened there (I probably shouldn’t have pushed over the railway bridge on the way back in search of a segment PR, but some things are hard to resist).
Anyway, TL;DR – found it. Eventually.
6m easy here. Im going to take this weeks recovery week starting with a couple of very easy short days. Reckon it'll do me good as ive put in some good work recently.
Nice niggly dozen Cal.
Good stuff AWC. You do seem to adapt & respond to training stimulus relatively quickly, certainly better than me!
Makes sense Hamo. You may not be a sprinter but your a class runner from Mile to Marathon which is an enviable range. Out of interest do you know which of your times gives you the highest ranking? That 5K you pulled out the hat was pretty exceptional imo.
So with hills the focus this month my 8M “recovery” Friday left my legs distinctly frazzled: 3 laps of the village for 1200ft! Consequently I almost abandoned my weekly (not)Parkrun blast however I woke refreshed yesterday morning, had some breakfast & headed over to the course. I’ve done 19:54, 19:45, 19:45 there in the last 4 weeks (with a 20:17 at FoD a fortnight ago). Warmed up with the lunge matrix, leg swings & 4.3K including 3x100m strides. Pace for easy HR was encouraging & the zip in the legs on the strides even more so. The wind was less so but 2/3 of those previous sub 20s were in similar conditions so I wasn’t phased. Psyched myself for 19:xx minutes of suffering before gunning it: 3:51, 3:51, 3:53 for the first 3K was very promising. Just need to do <4:00/K twice & I’ve a nailed on lockdown PB. This was where my recent 2K sessions helped as I was able to visualise just one of those to go. 3:56 for the 4th. Hang in there & push hard in the final 250m = 3:53. Stopped the watch on 19:26.50 for 5.01K (& beyond the official finish funnel). A course PB & my fastest 5K since Feb19. 😎 2K cool down & a day off hills.
22K today with 3 flat out hill efforts brings up just shy of 78M for the week & over 8,000ft. 😀
I had a good week off doing zero running and spent last week just getting back into things. I did try 3 miles at MP on Thursday and getting under 7 m/m nearly killed me. The running club also did a beep test on the track on Saturday to get a measure of post-lockdown fitness. I manages level 12-2 which id excellent for my age and I ranked where expected if you were to go on peoples 5k potential.
I will be starting a slightly modified 12 week plan, taking the sessions from the 70-85 miles a week schedule but fitting in mileage where possible so will be more like 65-75. I think I need the harder sessions to build on the aerobic work I`ve been doing since the VLM postponement.
Quick check in, catch up.
Of the highlights since I last posted, well done on the marathon John, a decent hilly half from SQ, speedy LTs and MPs from Hamo, Mays 10k ft climbing per week from Jools ! More S London exploring from Cal. Those beep tests are painful Millsy, apologies to those I've not mentioned.
Well done on giving the MP runs a go TR and AWC, I took one look out the window at the swaying trees Sunday morning and postponed mine to sometime this week, that aside, looking forward to a recovery week too.
Ticked over 2,000 miles this year so far at the weekend. I'm optimistic I'll be able to apply it somewhere in the Autumn, I just don't know which race atm which adds to the excitement in a strange way.
TR - good call and still a solid LR. You’ll still be well ahead in the fitness vs P&D schedule based on your recent sessions.
Jools - well done on the rapid 5k, quite a big chunk off recent times. The big weeks are really paying off.
TR...Very good run, just right switching tact and keeping the MP for another day. No point flogging yourself to death chasing it in the wind. Sensible on the cut back week too, you've put in some excellent work, so good idea in easing off for a week and letting the adaptions take place.
Cal...More nice exploring. 12 Mile is a long way to run so soon back, no wonder you felt it a bit.
Jools...Thank you, i'd guess that "officially" my 10k time would give me the highest ranking, or maybe my parkrun time, but i wouldn't be sure about the unofficial TT's i rattled off at the start of lockdown. 1200 feet over 8 miles for a recovery run is madness, class work
Millsy...Glad you had a nice down week. Good work on the bleep test, those things are brutal.
Macca...Glad to hear from you. Nice yearly total so far, hope, and quietly confident, that you'll get the chance to use it in a race this Autumn.
I had an interesting (not sure of the right word) weekend running wise. An 8 mile GA on Saturday, and a 16 mile 'long run', which i ran in a MP+15 to +20 range, so a steady run rather than an easy one, finished my cut back week on 83.5 miles. But the main thing that happened was I got a phone call from one of the coaches at a Belfast running club (the big city
John - not so good news, hopefully they can suppress any spread - back to TM marathons possibly?
Cracking week from you - especially given you're not mara training.
10.8M with 1916 ft today & 3 segment efforts early doors CR, 2nd, CR so very happy with that
AWC - agreed im up for a week of not thinking about LT or mp running. Although the wind is finally about to bugger off, so I'll probably do the missing mp run saturday.
Good to see you millsy, i look fwd to another smackdown one day.
Macca - 2000 up here today too. Dont think the wind derailed my mp run too much, it just wasnt going to happen, probably ruined myself on the LT run on Wednesday, and being too old for all that monkey business and then an mp run. I put in a solid alternative so no probs.
Thats a ahame john, no doubt we will have blips and spikes too.
Hamo - congrats, happy days. You'll come on in leaps and bounds in that environment. Do they set all your training ? Your present club will be pleasrd for you and understand, ive seen it with the youngsters cricket, sometimes you out grow your club and need a better level. You will be fondly remembered by your club.
Cracking week and long run SQ.
6m easy here, feels a bit taper-ish. But will no doubt do me good.
I saw paris has been put back to November, a november vlm would no doubt be a nice cool day.
SQ, nice to run with Spoons - good 70 mile week, too.
hamo, tough decision but it does look like the bigger club can offer you what you need. Very flattering, too!
Jools, you certainly do some hilly runs. I've been scouting out South London's nastiest hills (there are actually more than you'd think) and am keen to work them all into a long run at some point but need to let the hammy calm down a bit...it was super grumpy after a couple of hills on Sunday, and those are smaller than the ones I've got my eye on.
Did a 6 mile walk yesterday and not much else. Made the mistake of having an afternoon nap and woke up very groggy so had some coffee (mistake number 2) so had real trouble getting to sleep last night. Tried around 10:30 but after tossing and turning for ages I put the light on and read for a while. Then what I assume was a police helicopter was hovering overhead for ages, making a racket, so I don't think I slept until around 12:30. Of course, I was awake well before 5 as usual.
Body was pretty grumpy - I spent 40 minutes trying to foam roll and mobilise all the tight spots. It wasn't as angry as it could have been for the run but still quite niggly - I did most of the run at recovery pace before busting out some strides in the last mile. The strides were a calculated risk given the sore high hammy but it was the best I felt all run - felt better after, too. My body definitely seems to prefer going fast. 6.25 miles total (the last quarter was a cool-down).
It's the EA virtual relays this weekend so wondering if I can get myself straight for that. I can skip it but it'd be nice to give it a shot. I've not done a 5K since my masters relay PB on my birthday.
Jools... Thank you, cant see a vest if i'm honest (there is a lot better than me), but it'll be good to join a group of some excellent runners. Class return on the CR's in a 10 miler.
Macca... Thank you.
SQ...Thank you. As has been said, 70 is a big week when your not in full mara training. Nice group running, both on Saturday and yesterday. Must have been nice to get a run and catch up with Spoons. Speaking of which, hope you pop in again soon Spoons.
TR...Thank you. In fairness they understood and are happy for me. Not sure what way it'll work yet, i'll be talking to their mara coach today so will get a better idea, but i plan on finishing the p&d plan for London (fingers crossed) while dropping in and out of the odd session/joining in on group long runs. Nice easy running, 6 is bound to feel like a taper with all the miles you've been doing.
Cal...Thank you, yea very flattering and unexpected. I like you plan of working all the hills into one long run, Jools is rubbing off on you
Genuinely appreciate the well wishes, so thank you. This morning was a LT run, so 10 with 5@HMP pace. Got going, felt good, so decided mid run to push it on to 6 miles of effort, which came out as 5.06 (too fast a start), 5.13, 5.12, 5.14, 5.14 and 5.07 (pushed a bit on the last couple of laps of the street). Happy with the consistency, an average of 5.11 min miles over the 6, so a good morning all round, even if i did get soaked
Buggy tempo light this morning, a repeat of last week: 2 x 20 mins with a 5 min jog. Paces similar to last week, about 7M/m and 7:30. Tough going on the hill. Good fun.
Hamo - its good that youll get some group sessions, you will benefit massively from mixing with other high level runners. That LT run was outrageous, thats around 32min 10k pace. Cracking.
Good going SQ, i like that sort of session.
AWC - top place to run, did you go up the east side to the fort area at the top ? Thats pretty steep.
12m easy pace here.
Sounds great fun AWC & doubtless the hills will build your fitness quickly too.
4.6M & 980ft before work up May Hill - local landmark visible & easily identified from miles around due to the ring of pines on top.
8.3M & 1847ft after work just over the border in Wales. Up & Down Kymin along Offa's Dyke twice - dipped my hand in the Wye either side
AWC...Thank you. Sounds like a lovely run on the trails, and you enjoyed it which makes it better. Top work.
TR...Nice MLR.
Jools...Nice 12 miles to fit in
15 mile MLR this morning on tired legs for me, which i suppose is perfect marathon training. I'm very tempted to try my hand at a track race at the end of the month. The NI open 10,000 metres is on and all signs are good that it'll stay on. I've never raced on the track before, so **might** do it for the novelty factor if nothing else. Though as it'll be one of the first races to happen up here the field is already looking pretty stacked.
Keep up the hard work and the sky is the limit!