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Shades Marathon Training
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Cal: good result from you. What's so good about these flapjacks?
BigG: sorry to hear about your Achilles :-( I think you were right to back off.
I did my 20k (should have been 21k) race this morning. The trail was a mix of sand, forest, woodland. I had an old pair of brooks trail shoes which were the right choice but I soon realised why they were "old". They were too small. My feet complained a lot but there was nothing I could do. The organisation was great. We had our temperature taken before being allowed into the start area, needed to use hand sanitiser and social distancing was mandatory.
The start area was all socially distanced and you needed to go through a pen and stand apart. It was very well done.
Everyone was Very respectful but Some men were a bit annoying because they wanted to pass but were a bit aggressive.
I did the first 10k pretty quickly, managed to be get lost in the process and had to jump some barb wire. After that, I just tried to keep an even pace on some uneven trail.
Coming into the finish area and last 2-3km, it flattened out and I could actually run (albeit on sand)
Here's some pics:
Lovely medal, like the woman pictured first and the man behind looking a little peeved.
Emmy, great job - the trail looks lovely from the photos. Time to bin those shoes though.
These look good, say they have stability feature. You'll need to do a bit of research.
https://www.startfitness.co.uk/womens/footwear/off-road-trail/brooks-cascadia-14-womens-trail-running-shoes-blue-120304-1b413.html
Big G - That’s an unfortunate DNF but sensible of you not to carry on. Hope this thing sorts itself out.
Emmy - Great race and lovely medal. The barb wire jump sounds a bit hairy!
7 miles easy at midday. Scorcher. 15 miles planned with some race pace at the end tomorrow which should be interesting.
Had a rest day today,except for a 5 mile hilly walk.
Hope they're saving some cake for you.
Have decided to take a rest day today, a full rest day, no gym either. Ankle feels OK but just want to ease up on it a bit as marathon next weekend.
I have reluctantly cancelled my hotel booking in Guernsey, no chance of the borders being open in 5 weeks time.
Just getting myself sorted and ready. Am going to try a recovery run and see how the blisters do.
Hope the blisters aren't too sore, sometimes in different shoes they might be OK. Those shoes must have been very tight to give you blisters in that distance a race, your poor toes I guess.
I think my ankle is fine, I just don't want to run 10 miles on it today.
The blisters were fine thank goodness and the dogs dragged me along faster than I'd like as they wanted to hunt in the forest.
Yes, we're already planning 2 different Christmases this year depending on what happens
Big G - that's fabulous news, at least you can resume training and with no significant loss of fitness is a real bonus. Will you keep up with the cycling for a while too? Might be a good idea to mix the two for a while
I think you answered your own question 'what happens after MAF?' Injury if you go back to traditional speedwork/fast running.
Big G, glad you managed a run without the achilles screaming.
Emmy, I may end up spending Christmas alone - I normally go to Manchester to spend it with my friend, Colin, but no idea whether we'll be able to do that this year. (I've had a solo Christmas before...quite enjoyed it. I spent most of it in front of the TV eating).
Today's run was a real trudge. I opted for a route that started hilly (up to Streatham then on the Dulwich, Hell Hill, then Sydenham and the infamous Canonbie Road, but instead of circling back to Crystal Palace, I crossed over the road to a long thin park I'd not done before, then to my Peckham Rye, where I often went as a kid, along to Goose Green, up Dog Kennel Hill which I used to run up when I was 16 and felt like a mountain, through Dulwich to Brockwell Park and from there to home). I was aiming for 16 miles but only managed 14.
First mile was in the dark and was painfully slow (11:42) due to a combination of stiffness, fatigue from yesterday and my brain's anti-trip governor kicking in. Although it got a bit lighter over the next mile, it was still very slow, and continued to be slow even on the downhill mile 3. I only got under 11 on mile 4 towards Dulwich, but then on mile 5 I hit Hell Hill and that came in at 12:00! Even though Hell Hill is a beast, there's no excuse for that. I was still well over 11 on the next two and only ran a semi-OK 10:35 through Peckham Rye, mile 8.
After that I stayed under 11 but I was feeling tired and, despite the perfect weather (cool, sunny, very pleasant) I couldn't get much out of my legs at all.
I got to mile 14 not too far away from home, thought I might manage one more but after another .2 I just went "nah" and stopped. Walked it in from there.
I am obviously very fatigued but what concerns me now is how short my stride has got since June - I've lost 5-10cm off it (depending on pace) which is not good at all. No idea why - I was in great form in May and June when there were no races, but now there are races I feel like garbage. I really hope the taper will help - I only have two weeks until Dorney. I suspect a sub-4 may not happen.
Emmy, I forgot to say, but well done on your race. That's a nice medal too. Glad this morning's run went well.
Shades, yes, the plan is to continue with some cycling. I haven't yet figured it out as I'll have to play it by ear but if I do want to do doubles, maybe say a 6-miler in the morning and then a ride in the afternoon could work, or vice versa. Or if that ends up being too much and consecutive days of running is also too much, just alternate between cycling and running each day. But yes, certainly whilst it's still decent weather, I'll be making use of the bike. When the weather turns, if I can be flexible and there's a window in the day when the weather is okay, I know I can get a slot on the track more or less at at any time. They have 1hr slots of 50 people but I think apart from when Torbay Tri are there, at most I've seen 6 people on there; usually it's just 2 or 3 people on there. Also, although technically it's one 1hr slots, there's no issue staying over that slot as the track is so quiet. I've seen people down there for 3hrs and on occasion I've been down there nearly 2hrs, and the staff are fine with it.
The New Balance are doing well for the achilles, but I have to say there is already some wear on the outer edge of the sole. I hope that will end up being okay and I get decent mileage out of them. I can't send them back as although I've been careful they are a bit dirty when I ran through some sand on the seafront the other day, but I do need to keep an eye on that.
Cal: it definitely sounds fatigue related. Have you got any rest days planned?
In my eternal wisdom, I thought going swimming would be a good idea this afternoon. Pray for me.
Good luck with the swimming. Forgot to reply about the flapjacks - not sure why they're so good but they just are - crumbly and a little bit moist. A lot of flapjacks can be too dry but these are perfect.
I think you need to have a gentle taper, plenty of rest. Training is done now for Dorney Lake so please don't worry about things like stride length or the such. Not every race will be a PB but doing your best on the day is all we can ask for and enjoy the occasion. This year has been extraordinary in many ways and one of the most difficult for us as runners is getting race preparation right and timely. So we need to appreciate that we can now race.
Goodwood marathon is a RunThrough event, so hope we get a flapjack too.
Big G - I think alternate days of running and cycling would be a good start back. Don't think you should consider doubles for a few weeks.
Don't worry about outsole showing wear, you might be scuffing your feet, outsole wear has no reflection on the life of a shoe, it's the cushioning you pay for.
Emmy - good luck with the swimming, the children will love it.
15 miles today including 5k at race pace so 7:30-7:40 per mile. Found it quite brutal with the midday sun and 24 degrees but got it done and legs feel not horrific. Have a yoga session tomorrow which should hopefully stretch everything back into shape. Route was nice from Hackbridge which is about 10k south of me where we were visiting a friend, up through Mitcham Common which is like the Bermuda Triangle so I of course got lost, then all the way back along the Wandle trail. Was quite sad that this is probably the last sunny hot day for a while but will be interesting to see what paces are like under MAF in cooler weather.
Big G sensible choice to dnf, must have been hard but you know there would be nothing to gain finishing just for the medal and not recording a dnf. Good news you managed a run today.
Emmy myself and the other half use asics fujitrabco trail shoes, I have used them for road/ towpath running in the past. Closest trail shoes's Ive had to running shoes.
rcouture well done on the 15 miler
Woke up saturday, breakfast a bit of housework then went out for a run. set out to run 16 miles and decided on 3 laps of 5.4 miles which used for my club's race. Used my house as aid station (couple of gels and drinks) ran the middle lap in reverse which helped mix it up. Finished 16.2 miles in 2:38 (9:45ish pace) but the best bit was when I was running I was feeling more comfortable at the end than I had done on my other long runs.
\was my longest run for more than 2 years, it was around this time 2 years ago when I got injured with the hip which led to pf.
Robert - you must be very pleased with that long run, getting some lap practice in too. But most importantly you felt comfortable. I hope now you can look forward to a decent and enjoyable run at Dorney Lake.
In my long and distant past when I did off road I had a pair of Asics Trabuco, they were good shoes on and off road.
6 miles this morning, don't have time to do 8 as early Pilates class on a Monday. Ankle was fine, only one twinge when on a very uneven section of pavement. Lovely morning, and so quiet before the morning rush hour.
Good run from you there too, Rcouture.
Shades, fingers crossed the shoes will be okay and I get decent mileage.
Cal - Sorry the 10k didn't go to plan, but still a good race effort.
Big G - Sorry to hear about the DNF.
Rcouture - I'd say depends what pace you are doing your tempos at? If around MP/a few seconds faster, I'd use 720/5k time to work out tempo minutes, eg 20 minute 5 k = 720/20 = 36 minutes at tempo.
Ian - Sounds like a tough hill.
8 miles on Friday, then 16 miles on Saturday for about 55 miles for the week.
20-miles on the bike again today, mainly on the track. On a bit of a whim I decided to do 7x1-lap on/1-lap off and enjoyed it and although the first effort was the quickest they were quite consistent (2:43, 2:50, 2:47, 2:49, 2:51, 2:49, 2:49). The numbers don't really mean that much I suppose, but I was happy with the consistency anyway. Lovely day out there today, with not a lot of wind on the track, so an enjoyable 20-miler. I'm seeing a friend for lunch today - I haven't seen her since before lockdown so it'll be nice to catch up.