Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
So I'm now back up to 40 miles per week, which is still well below what I used to consider a cut-back, but still... Starting to feel like a runner again. My training diary for 2021 starts today and, assuming it goes ahead I have a 12 week build up to the Coventry Half (I'm not actually assuming it will go ahead to be fair, but you never know!). I have forgotten how to train for anything shorter than a marathon, so I have engaged the services of a coach. I know the chap and he coaches a friend of mine. So far he seems to be listening to me and not scheduling the type of session I hate (eg for time rather than distance - just can't wrap my head around those and always run too slowly), and is allowing me, once my base is rebuilt, to do my club interval sessions rather than insisting I do something on my own. Although tier 4/lockdown must surely be coming and I'll have no choice but to bash out solo sessions I suppose. Grrr.
Glorious blue skies yesterday after Saturday's night's battering from Bella. The wind was freezing and noisy when it was in our faces, but imperceptible when at our backs and the beautiful sunshine made us too warm. One of those gloves on, gloves off, gloves on, gloves off kind of runs!
Solid mileage, jools/oo. I ran 15 Sunday at a fairly sprightly (for me) 7.41mm to give me my first first 50m week since March. All easy miles given it was Xmas week.
Despite running my highest ever Oct, November and December totals and having pretty high January and February I'm well down on the year a March to August were derisory!
Speedy, good call on the coach. Good he has taken on board your likes and dislikes, though he'll probably reserve the right to set sessions you might not like.
I agree, i have a sense of pending doom as to what we are about to be hit with on 30th.
5m easy this morning and the rarity of snow so dug out the yaktraks and trail shoes for first time in 3 years.
DT - still no snow here.
Just went out for a run, but glute and hamstring not very happy at all so turned round and came home after half a mile. Might finish the year on a whimper.
Speedy good luck with the coach. Half M is a distance I've lost the knack to run. Ok at marathons and the short stuff but the half has me baffled, I'm 3-4 mins off the pace I used to run. So good luck with that and the rebuilding.
Good luck with being coached, Speedy. I'd need pointers to peak for a half, too.
8 miles with 8 sets of strides and 6 sets of hill sprints this morning. Slight frost and a very few icy patches to dodge but generally a lovely start to the day.
Jools - nice session. A bit icy underfoot here too.
Speedy - not a great day, but well done facing the dreadmill.
Felt okay after stopping running yesterday, so ventured out this morning, albeit a little tentatively. Did 10 very slow miles before needing a comfort break and then couldn't be bothered to go back out and do any more.
Hi Dom, good to hear from you. Looking at current posters there's a few points of commonality-
1. We all started with a time slower than 3.15.
2. We are all over 40 years old.
3. We have all eventually beaten sub 3.15 and some sub 3.
I maybe be corrected on some of the above.
So some info would be useful. How old, where was the 3.20, where was the 1.28? That half suggests 3.15 is doable. My first sub 3.15 was 3.08 and just before I ran a 1.25 half.
Nice little 7m progressive yesterday, startat 8.30 and finished at 6.30. Then I guessed we would hit tier 2 today so went for an off schedule spin class then a pleasant hilly 8m in the countryside late pm.
DT - nice work. Hope the tempo goes well.
15 miler with 37x400m tempo intervals (very relaxed ones!) to finish the year. Will report back with more stats later but I think that's 2,700 for the year
2973 for me in 2020, but sadly I'm talking Kms not miles! Tempted to try and get that to 3000 today, but that would seem a bit of an arbitrary exercise.
I'm 44 and have run 19 marathons. The 3:20 was in Paris, the last time it was run, which is getting on for 20 months ago
Am currently entered for Edinburgh (still on for May, as I type), Paris (pushed to Oct), NY (Nov), Chicago (am deferring to 2022) and in the ballot for London (as ever...)
I ran a marathon today, worked out that 26 miles would get me up to 2600 for the year. Unfortunately it was very icy so I ran to the track and then ran 88 laps before running home. I averaged a pace of 8:07 and ran out a a 3:32. Not bad off no specific training and it felt very comfortable. A good way to give 2020 a sound kick up the arse and move on....
Interested to learn about people's strategies for achieving increased mileage. I've passed the point in my career in which double run days is a possibility, I think! I've also found that I do need 1 rest day in 7 to avoid injury.
A 3:32 solo marathon in today's conditions is seriously impressive by the way
So, I bailed out of 2020 with 1650 miles, my second biggest ever. That will do nicely considering I had 3 injuries and COVID 19, so reckon I lost 6 to 8 weeks of running in total.
Welcome, Dom. We do similar distance by the look of it. I’m on 20 marathons and 53 years old. Set my PB of 3.01 in London last year, so you can defo smash 3.15. Stay tuned to the good folk on here and discover their secrets. Works for me!
Thanks everybody for your continued inspiration, motivation and entertainment. Here’s to a better 2021 and not another shitshow.
@Dom if you look at Pfitzinger and Douglas's Advanced Marathon book, their up to 70 mpw schedules (which took me from 3.19 to 2.49 over a number of years) are generally 6 single runs per week. I'm a big fan of a weekly rest day!
That gives me 1543 for the year. Whilst October, November and December were my highest ever mileages for those particular months, I only ran 230m March to July which of course had a big impact.
However, whilst garmin doesn't give me any time or distance stats for indoor cycling the consistent multiple I have is calories. This year o have burnt 79,000, which is more than 2018 and 2019 together, when I'd still say I was getting a good 2-3 spin classes a week in.
Oo, great effort to end the year there!
Dom, how many maras a year are you running? In my view, you can only really properly train for, recover from, then train again for two really good cracks at a mara each year. After that, unless a 3rd one is at much reduced effort, you are compromising something. Others will have a different take.
Also in 2017 I ran 3.04 off a total annual mileage of 1500 and 2018 was 3.04 and 2.59 off 2000. Whilst we are all different in what we respond to i think 2000 ish miles a year is plenty to get you under 3.15, as per gdawgs comment above so a modest increase would do the job I'm sure.
I'm 44 also and take inspiration from many others on this thread and others still getting better into their 50s.
The best strategy in my view is the 80/20 principle of hard versus easy but easy being 8.00-8.30mm generally. Also many of us find benefits in x training. Oo, credits his swimming with gains and I swear by 2-3 high intensity spin sessions a week.
Ultimately consistent consistency is the key and in turn injury avoidance.
Gdawg, good to hear from you. Makes sense to cash in for this year early and start again next week.
Happy New Year all!
2021 still suffers from a fixture pile-up from this year. Vaccinations willing, it'll be: Edinburgh (May, raced), Paris (Oct, run with my wife at her pace), NY (Nov, raced). This assumes failing to get into London, which is normally a dead cert.
And an equally impressive last run for you Gul.
Given the miles, your recent HM was very impressive DT and you should be nicely set up for next year.
Hope the rest sorts out the hip G-D.
Welcome Dom - I'm a P&D fan as well.
A bit of a poor end of the year for me - 136 miles from 16 runs in December but that included 9 runs in the last 9 days! A year of two halves, with the mileage and enthusiasm going over the cliff edge after July. That still gives me 3,268 miles for the year which is not far off the 2019 total. Need to get the enthusiasm back in 2021 and get back in to marathon shape for Berlin.
Happy New Year everyone and stay safe.
Welcome to Dom. Just for the record, running 88 laps of a track is not normal behaviour on here.
I'm not sure what my mileage total is for this year, other than probably my lowest ever. I lost 22 weeks to the broken ankle, a chest infection and Covid 19 and a day or two reduced/binned when dad died and around the funeral. I think my highest mileage week of 2020 was roughly half of my highest week in 2019. Theoretically 2021 can't be much worse.
It's basically Narnia where I live (on top of a hill) so I drove down to the river for a fartlek session today. It was crazy busy because it was a lovely day, even if there was ice on the ground, and people have nothing else to do as we're in Tier 4 here. My last 'effort' was supposed to be around 7.30 pace but with the wind behind me and fewer people to dodge on that particular stretch it came out at 7.16. Ridiculous to think I ran an entire marathon in 6.44s and now I'm doing 'efforts' at 7.16 pace. Only half a mile as well. It was very controlled, but still.... I wonder how long it will take to get my speed back.
Still amazing miles SBD way beyond me.
Some great stories and it's been a decent year on the thread given the lack of racing. Great to see some old timers back posting, and some new faces. See you all for more in 2021 🥂
Happy New Year, thread.
Felt fat on the run and this was backed up by what the bathroom scales told me today. Always the same after Christmas, usually put on a few pounds, the mission to lose them begins.
Trails and mud tomorrow.
Dom - you might also try focussing on shorter distances for a while and have a break from mara training.
OO - bonkers way to end the year. Well done 👍
DT - will be interesting to see how you fare in 2021.
SBD - that's still some monster miles
Speedy - a few months and I'm sure you'll be flying again.
GD - nice start to the year.
Rest day yesterday and 10 steady miles today. Happy new year everyone.