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P&D Spring Marathon 2020
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That book looks interesting - I've just ordered it. Given my dreadful shuffling style, it sounds like it could be useful.
hamo, had to resort to arm sleeves today. I figured I called always roll them down if I got too warm, but I was glad of them - that wind was nippy.
John - windy here too! Well done on your workout.
TR - I'm really hoping it's not windy next Sunday, I doubt there's much shelter there.
Almost didn't run again today. I woke up early again and was determined to get out by six (if I'm not out within two hours of waking, I find it increasingly hard to motivate myself...the problem becomes that if I leave it too long, I then get hungry, and if I eat, I then have to wait a minimum of another three hours due to my glacially slow digestion). But then I heard heavy rain so I resigned myself to going out later.
Although I had to deal with my willpower, it did work out better that way as it was quite sunny when I did go, although there was a chilly wind. I ran 8 miles averaging 10:30ish pace (or what I like to term "standard easy pace" as opposed to the slower pace I tend to do if it's very early and I'm stiff or if it's dark). The second to last mile was a bit slower but it was uphill and I think I was starting to tire a bit.
There's still some sluggishness in the legs despite doing absolutely nothing yesterday, and QL and achilles are still niggling away. Hopefully another week of tapering will rejuvenate me a bit.
If eveyones time turns out to be 10mins slower then I'll gladly miss it, trouble is if its only a few minutes slower and i dont show, i miss the chance of a sub 3. I know from living on the coast you can easily lose a minute per mile on a windy day, but you get some of it back if the wind is then behind.......impossible to calculate beforehand.......im going to do the decent thing and have a few frothies later and forget about it and see what the forecast brings tomorrow.
Wrexham is off so Hamo made the right choice.
SQ - sorry to hear about the injury, I guessed it was fairly serious. Hopefully you are at the point of looking forward to some form of exercise. As you say, especially in these “unprecedented “ times, just getting outside can’t be underestimated. I’ve a spare manual resistance smart turbo if you could use ? (Tacx Satori)
The Dorney 4th Oct folks have added a full and half mara on 22nd Nov. That's got my name on it.
John Sharp reps. I'm running Isle of Wight next Sunday (fingers crossed). Very lumpy course so I won't be chasing a PB but be nice to get a GFA time for VLM21 so 3:10 is the target.
Just a 20M bike in the sunshine & then an easy 10K trot from my new place this evening. Decent loop on the roads, couple of dodgy sections of pavementless main road but I took a torch & the few cars gave me a decently wide berth. Over 500' of climb but all gradual inclines.
I’ll catch up with everyone else’s running and post a proper reply shortly.
I was going to do a hard 5K today as I usually do parkrun a week before a marathon, but it was cold and windy and I decided I'd rather have a rest instead.
Good going on yr own John, you'd be loads quicker in a race.
Good attitude AWC, ill look out for you. 2866. Dark blue T shirt, white cap (might have to get a chinstrap for it).
I’ll be in my Lordshill RR white vest
It was definitely windy and I had to run into for a bit along the Thames, though it was no way near as strong or relentless as the headwind I had to deal with at the end of Liverpool Marathon last year. Which was a blessing.
I slowly increased my pace from easy to what I term steady, and did miles 9 and 10 at 9:50 pace, then 9:59 for the last mile (which included a hill, then a stretch into the wind on Balham High Road).
Fairly happy with it - legs feel a bit better now but I still have niggles and QL was noticeably worse after I finished the run. It doesn't seem to like the running, even when I'm paying more attention to my form, which I was today.
Anyway, that's me done - will do two or three shorter runs during the week and then it's showtime.
Id made my peace with myself that 2:55 was off the cards, id turn up and try to hover under 3hr pace and drop out at the end of whichever of the 11 laps i was behind the pace.
Let the dog out first thing and nearly sacked it off there and then when i felt the wind speed, oh well just do a few laps and take an early bath.
4 runners went every 10 secs, my other 3 all shot off as i did a few easy miles, and i was soon on around 2.57/8 pace. Strange thing about today was that at no time was i running the pace that the effort level should give. The windy section was brutal, and got tougher as the wind picked up.
I must have given an eastern european guy a tow into the wind as he then proceeded to share some of the windy sections with me (i defo spent more than 15 min too close to him). The laps ticked by and i was still on for sub3 but knew id probably slow each lap into the wind. With 3 or 4 laps to go i decided id finish anyway as i wasnt going to be too much over 3hrs.
My hammys were twinging as usual and i usually get slowed in the last mile or so by it, but normally have enough of a buffer.
At 2 laps to do i pushed on and left my helper behind, sub3 was very borderline. The windy section (best part of a mile) was getting tougher. With 1 lap to go it was very borderline, but id made a new friend and we ran together. In the last mile the hammy twinges slowed me twice but i got going again, sub 3 had gone, i had a way to get yet and my watch was already showing 2.58. I gave it some welly in the last bit and ended up with a chip time of 3:00:00 which is amusing me.
A bit less wiggling through traffic late on, a bit less cramp or starting the desperation dash for the line a bit earlier......but it doesnt really matter if i was 10secs quicker or not, theres life in the old dog yet.
Feel ok without the persistant miles at a tough pace, my pace graph looks like a sawtooth waveform.
Lap system was fine, could have done without all the other distances on the course esp all the 5 and 10k fun runners.
Sorry about your DNF, AWC...time to rest up and recuperate eh?
Front of my left leg also felt very stiff and sore so I took myself out for a 2.5 mile walk at 6.15am and the stiffness moved around to my left glute. So think it's just stiff, nothing serious.
I've cancelled the gym, though - better to rest at this point. Will do some rolling and stretching later instead.
Jools...It's nice when cars give you room, doesn't always happen, as i'm sure your more aware than me when you're on the bike. Best of luck with Sunday.
Cal...Nice longish run, good training and signs when you can increase the pace at the end of runs like that. Enjoy race week, and hopefully the throat and leg are just bits of taper madness and nothing too serious. Rest up this week.
AWC...As is said on strava, very sensible decision, especially when you have another marathon coming up in a week, no point in flogging yourself when you are obviously unwell. Fair play to you though, that would have taken some courage to make that decision all the same. Fingers crossed you feel loads better this week and can smash your marathon at the weekend. Plenty of rest this week is the order of the day i reckon.
TR...Fair play to you shaking the bad feelings off and toeing the line for a start, i'm really glad you did. 3.00 dead is mighty, not many can say they've ran that, you couldn't do it if you tried
AWC/TR...How are we feeling today?
Saturday was 8 miles with 8x100 strides for me, and followed up with a 13 miler on Sunday. I felt decent on Sunday, so while i ran it sensibly i couldn't help myself and finished with a +10 last mile to just spin the legs.
6 mile recovery this morning, shocked i'm actually in a marathon race week this year, and that people raced marathons yesterday
Hamo - feel ok, the lack of a constant effort means i dont feel like i burned as many matches as normal. Pretty achy though (sides, back, hammies) from all the leaning into the wind.
Im sure i could have found another few seconds if i had known, but no big deal, i thought it was gone. One for the collection as John says. I normally have more of a time buffer for the late mile cramps.
Im in for Dorney Nov 22nd. No 5k or 10k runners to dodge late on. Few days off first though, and a few frothies.
More sense than me AWC - I'd have dragged myself through it & wiped myself out for weeks/months whilst digging myself deeper into the hole
Enjoy the taper & find something to distract you from all the maranoia Cal.
As the Strava members will have noticed my own 1st 'taper' week was anything but
Disappointed as I was by the late cancellation of another 2 races this week I was also pleased that I'd now have the opportunity to support a couple of fell-running buddies who were running the 75+ mile South Wales Traverse (https://www.gofar.org.uk/south-wales-traverse) Saturday. Helen was attempting the women's FKT which previously stood at 19:53 & Dan was sticking with her as far as he could manage.
They were setting off in the dark at 4:30am but I decided I'd join them at 10am for 10 or 20 miles. Drove up to Storey Arms in good time as they were already ahead of 18hr pace by 7am. Parked met another couple of fellow fell-runners who were budying each of them for a stint & persuaded Helen's support van to pick my bike up from my car & bring it to her next rest break in Llangynidr: 33K away across the central Beacons! Ran the whole thing with no water & only a tiny handful of jelly beans. Dan had stopped with his family for a break after 17K so I waited for him to come in whilst refuelling/hydrating myself & waved Helen off with her new pacers. Dan arrived shortly thereafter however he was in a bad place. Fortunately some food, drink & the enthusiastic support crew persuaded him to go another 4M to where his next 2 pacers were joining him for the final marathon! I then cycled the 30K back to the car.
By this point I was enjoying the day so much I went to the next rendezvous/informal aid station around the 60 mile point. Found it - in spite of having the wrong OS map, no SatNav & it being a car park 5 miles up a dead end I'd never visited before which I only had the name of
I hung on for Dan who arrived, with Scott & Dan, relatively chipper an hour after Helen had left. I borrowed a head torch & joined them for a moonlit run to the finish. I couldn't believe how good my legs felt. We powered on to the end gaining 15-20 minutes on Helen. She knocked 65 minutes from the FKT & Dan finished in 19:32. It was 2am by the time I'd picked my car up again & driven home. Not textbook prep for Sunday but as I'm half-expecting it to get pulled I figured I'd seize the moment.
Needless to my legs didn't feel much like running yesterday however it was so beautiful I took the bike out for an easy(ish) 40K round the Forest.
Minimal cycle commute: 6M each way & a steady 5M along the canal at lunch today. Similar tomorrow then ease right back when the weather turns on Wednesday.
Sounds like quite the adventure, Jools.
Took a lot of vitamin C and had a 2 hour nap yesterday (it wasn't meant to be that long but instead of dozing for half an hour, I properly fell asleep...guess I needed it!) and woke up feeling fine this morning.
Went out in the dark and the first few miles were painfully slow - I guess I need to get used to running in the dark again because I'm really bad at it, even though I stuck to well lit main roads initially. It was drizzling so the lights reflecting off the pavements messed with my head a bit.
It was a bit lighter after two miles so headed for Tooting Common - still rather slow, so I injected some strides into my final mile (it was a 5 mile run) to open my stride up a bit as it's very short at the moment.
Achilles not bad at all...QL still noticeable but it's been worse.
AWC - Sorry about the DNF - recover well.
TR - Well done for grinding it out. Like others have said, you would have been 2:5x without the wind, your training had shown us that.
Cal - Nice long run.
John - Nice 2k reps and 5k TT, 19 mins is a solid time solo.
16 miles on Saturday to finish off a 55 mile week. 12 miles today including the same 2*3m from last week. Splits of 19:51 (6:38/36/37) and 19:59 (6:44/46/29), was surprised by the last mile split, my watch was telling me I was running low 6:40 pace for most of that rep, so just tried to hold the effort, so no idea how it went sub 6:30!! Anyway much better pacing than last weeks 19:50/20:21!
Jools...Noticed the "taper" on strava
Cal...You must have needed that sleep, glad you are feeling better for it. Nice run and strides, i agree it's hard to run in the dark.
AWC...Glad you are feeling a bit better, shows you made the right decision and didn't bury yourself.
Steve...Class 3 mile reps, even better that you can automatically see the progression in them from last week, and a super quick final mile.
Last double day of the plan for me, 6 recovery miles this morning, 4 this afternoon.
Cal - hopefully its coming together.
AWC - hope you feel better by Sunday. I felt like the wind got stronger later on, but it depends f you cop many of the stronger gusts i suppose.
Steve - much better pacing indeed.
Hamo - the stomach/pubic issue needs managing, but im defo enjoying the chance to not have to wonder how much it'll let me do a d how much discomfort there'll be. Hopefully a few weeks of easy running will help.
Whilst i get hammy cramp twinges at the end of all my maras, i had tight hammies from around 16m Sunday and they are pretty sore now, which must be due to the leaning into the wind.
Definitely feeling the weekend today. Just the short bike commutes & 3.5K at lunch with the Y7 lads. Had planned to go up the track for the club session but thought better of it. This was about 40 miles in for Helen (on the right)
Jools...Class Picture, beautiful scenery. Sensible to skip the club session, i am sure you are feeling the weekends exertions.
Classic final race week MP for me in the lashing rain and wind this morning (fingers crossed it's not a sign for race day
TR - Easier week will ease the hammys.
7 miles easy today, my last 50 mile week then a couple of weeks "off".