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
TT - sounds like you're in good shape
Wardi - thats a quick recovery, nice.
8m easy commute home
Wardi - the first man home was about 25:30 for the 8.662km so very high quality! Glad to read you're improving!
A jog double yesterday with 20 x 60m/50m windsprints (sprint/float) in one. 6/8 jog double today.
5m and 4m double, the 5m was my slowest ever commute but my cold is back so probably explains the slow pace today.
TT - hope the car issues have been resolved and more importantly your best friend has recovered. Well run at the relays. I'm sure you will maximise potential in Sunday. You can only be the best you can be on the day.
TR - hope the cold buggers off. Better to get it now than in a couple of weeks time I suppose.
Rest day yesterday and a ploddy 10k tonight. Felt pretty ordinary tbh. Maybe lack of sleep.
TR.. nice short double. Bad luck on the cold, thankfully plenty of time to shift it before the big day.
Still feeling pretty normal here, just a slight head fuzziness. 6.3m this afternoon in a pleasant 11 degrees. Don't think it's going to get above 3 degrees tomorrow which will be a shock!
sj - she's slowly getting there. Our back-up plan is I travel solo and my wife will stay behind, but we'll see how she is tomorrow after more treatment before deciding. If I don't have a sub-par run at some stage in race week I get worried. Better a midweek ploddy 10km than a ploddy race!
Wardi - sounds like you're doing ok. Be careful (obviously).
TT - Too right about the below-par runs in race week. Fingers crossed for your dog.
For the cold start on race day, going to wear some rather fetching old long socks as arm warmers/ gloves - will look odd but at least on this occasion (used them in Paris 2019) they will match.
2.5m with the dog this morning and probably few miles later, probably a few faster kms too. Bought my can of Monster drink, more gels so getting equipped. Looks like c160 will be running the Taunton marathon with 500 or so for the half so some company for the warm-up.
I typically eould do 2m easy, 7 or 8m mp today but felt crap before i started and ended up sacking it off and wombling the rest after 3m of the effort as i was miles off it, i hate sacking off runs but theres no point trying to polish a turd. Folks are still falling like flies with CV, sickness and other lurgies around me. Might do a lft later im im trying to make the few i have left last a while. Got fizz Friday to try to ease the hammy/glutes out a bit ready to rumble.
TR.. as you say no point in pushing a session if you're not 100%. Can't get any LFT's here either postal or local pharmacies.
TT.. hope you can still make Manchester given that the forecast looks good.
2 x 4m today. First run in the rain this morning and second on the treadie. It's been a pretty wet and grey day up here, trying to snow now!
OO - you're sounding in great shape.
Wardi - I'll be there. Decision tomorrow will be whether it's just me or not.
Last effort ahead of Sunday tonight. 2km TT. I gave Jr a taper session ahead of his 3km race on Sunday that worked with mine - he ran 2 x 600m (0-600m and 1km-1600m of my 2km, and he jogged whilst I done the interim lap).
6:30 (3:15/3:15) for me, and Jr's 600s had a mere 0.5s difference.
Wardi - Soooooo cold over this side today. Easterly wind was biting at 6.30pm when I went out in shorts. I had the foresight to wear a sweatshirt at least and a hat. Could have done with gloves too tbh. Sensible second run I reckon indoors.
OO - nice to see some rituals being initiated ahead of the b of the bang. A much smaller event at Taunton but logistics will be so much more relaxed. I think I prefer the smaller races if I'm honest. I used to go up to Fort William for the Lochaber marathon.
TR - you have plenty in the bank so the odd session curtailed won't harm you too much. Might even be a blessing in disguise if you are not feeling 100%. Hope the fizz can iron you out and get you moving better for the last couple of weeks before Brighton.
I had a glance at the weather for Sunday today too Wardi. Looks decent if a touch colder than I like it. Better than too warm of course.
Having studied the course I note it has some changes since I last ran it. A shorter city centre section due to ongoing works and some changes to the back end of the course.
In light of this I'll revise my assertion that it's a mostly sheltered course as some of the changes do now run on wider carriageway's. Hopefully the prediction of light wind gusts is true.
11km tonight with 3km at MP. I don't know what that is so did 4:30/km pace. Seemed ok and felt marginally better than last nights run. I suspect my mind was preoccupied with just how flippin cold it was. It did actually snow for a few minutes.
5M along the canal first thing with 2 sets of 4x0.1M strides off 0.2M easy just to keep the legs ticking over.
Tomorrow is a total rest day unlike Monday when I cycled (slowly) 7M to work & back + walked 5M in the evening.
I think I'm going to go out aiming to run progressively for a sub 3.20 time. I think that's about par for where I am. Having said that, cramping has been an issue in the past which I have overcome in my last few marathons by upping the volume and banking 8-10 20m+ runs during a 16 week build-up.
Without those in the bank I'm risking cramping issues big time, hence starting off super cautious.
Hopefully we get to run together for a short while at least not long into the race.
Jooligan - Nice and evenly paced now.
TT - A pretty decent last effort, not too shabby from Jr either.
TR - Not a bad time to pick-up a cold, though hope its not you know what.
Taunton will be a 10.30 am start with 800 starting mostly HM so should be fine until the 2nd half but have run lots of 2nd half of marathons more or less solo. Looks like it will be a cold clear and sunny day like Manchester but with hardly any breeze.
Another 4m to do later, probably with a few faster kms.
OO - shame you won't be in Manchester. Hopefully I'll still prove your good luck charm from afar. I do like the smaller affairs too though. You're sounding ready.
I'm in singles only mode now. 6m jog coming up later, 4m jog tomorrow, and then 4m jog with strides on Saturday. Had my traditional pre-marathon weigh-in this morning. I've lost 7.3kg across the 3 months of being back training properly. Still heavier than my pb by a bit, but comparable to my last outing so I'll take that.
There'll be an additional interesting aspect to Sunday for me; I don't take on fuel during marathons anyway, but this will be the first one without carb-loading (I've found that a lower carb diet reduces my fibro symptoms).
I'd expect the reduced mileage over the next few days to mean I'll be fully stocked anyway so I don't foresee any issues. If the worst comes to the worst I'll grab a SiS gel on course (they were the only ones I ever came close to getting along with).
SJ.. after swanning around in t-shirt & shorts last week this cold snap has come as a bit of a shock. Snow & hailstones here today.
OO.. sounds like decent marathon weather at Taunton too, one thing less to worry about.
8.2m today, still ticking over and feeling better by the day. LFT test tomorrow to see if I'm out of the woods yet.
TT - might be wise to carry a gel.or 2, so you have it if needed.
Wardi - hope you're negative soon, the LFT website was tskung orders this morning.
Got a proper sneezy, snotty cold now, LFT was negative tonight, so will carry on as planned.
4m easy today.
Wardi - A medical certificate for Rome, he is taking part in the competitive race then?. Be interested to see how he finds it, on my long list for next March.
4m tonight, so that's probably it now though might go for a cycle tomorrow. Pre race lift and post race pub sorted (which I past twice on the race) so just the thing to do now. Will go out looking for sub 250 so aiming for 1.24 half way but hopefully in 2.49-2.53 range though I'd be happy with anything under 3.
Ode reminded me to throw some pink grapefruit at the lurgy today.
4m easy minimal commute to give the lurgy a chance.
The LFT this morning was still positive but a very faint pink line. According to a fellow sufferer in the family he was negative the day after a similar reading so fingers crossed. All the symptoms have gone which is a good sign.
5.4m today, nice out there this afternoon.
TR - bar once in 2014 I haven't used anything other than water in a marathon for over 10 years now. Plus I'm such a clutz that if I carried gels I'd probably get them all over my beard and have to deal with the stickiness for the rest of the race!
OO - sounds like a good plan. Looking forward to reading how you get on.
I had a bit of a crazy day yesterday. 3hr+ round trip to get rid of my car that broke down at the relays last weekend, plus another 1hr+ driving my wife and dog to work (she's a veterinary nurse so managed to get the dog in for quicker checks), before I even left for the trip to Manchester. Delayed flight meant I got to the apartment at 9pm last night, so knocked up a quick stir fry and chilled before crashing out. Unfortunately I'm travelling solo as my wife stayed home to take care of our dog. It looks like a potential dislocation - she had a lot of health issues when we rescued her, and though we helped her through most of them we can't do much about her hip dysplasia which has already meant a knee op on the other side.
I was a bit stiff and achy on my jog this morning, but the strides helped align me a little. The plus side was I'm feeling really light on my feet, my top-end pace is returning (top speed on relaxed strides was 3:40/mile pace), and I'm feeling good about tomorrow. I'm enjoying being back on a Lydiard approach again and really looking forward to seeing what I can do in the GSR in October training like this. Tomorrow will be a case of run to effort and see what it brings me. Minimum target is that sub-2:40 champs time, but I'm hoping for a bit quicker than that. I'm not so bothered about the lack of long runs as I only had 1 x 20m before Valencia and that worked out ok. As the family motto says, Que Sera Sera.
TT - yep i get covered in luco and gel. I think those back to back 18s should give you confidence despite the lack of long runs.
5m easy, 6m mp, 3 easy. Managed approx mp so much better than Wednesday's sorry affair. Very similar run to a week before vlm in terms of pace and HR. Hammy was a bit tight but i was abused by the fizz yday evening.
TT - Planes, trains and automobiles. Sorry to hear about your dogs issues. Glad your there and the very best of luck for tomorrow. If we had a family motto I would like it to be Set your goals low enough so any fool can get over them.
Wardi - Great to see your well down the road to full recovery.
TR - Excellent, that's the run you want a week out.
SJ - Best of luck tomorrow.
Speedy - Hope you convert those really strong recent races to a really good one tomorrow.
Taken it very easy yesterday and today and looking forward- in a low key kinda way - to tomorrow.
Good luck racers. Ideal weather for marathon running up here in the NW 😎
TT.. I do hope you are now an oasis of calm after all that drama & travelling. Thanks for the streaming link.👍
I feel ok ticking over with shortish runs so I will keep doing that for a while.
5m + 4m today. Glorious sun this morning, managed top dodge a few hailstones this evening.
Just checking in to wish others well today too. Go well all. You've all put in great training so be the best you can be today.
TT - pain with the flight delays adding to the stress but glad you stretched out once settled.
OO - excellent tergat and glad to read the pre and post race logistics are in place.
TR - nice final mlr with some MP. I mistakenly thought Brigton was 2 weeks away. You should feel better once the fizz work has had a chance to settle.
Jooligan - as Wardi mentioned, we do seem to get cool and benign conditions for a spring marathon day. The half in October is usually a wet affair so I avoid.
Hopefully spot some of you at some point although the race has grown significantly since I last run it.
Hopefully I don't cramp just after the finish line live on the stream like in 2019 Wardi ha!
Great news on the negative result btw.
Wardi - excellent news on the negative test. I was calm but ridiculously stiff and achy, which probably bit me on the ar$e a bit today.
So, Manchester Marathon..... the preamble is longer than the race report, lol.
All my usual indicators were pointing to a bit outside that magic 5:43/sub-2:30 pace. Probably a 5:47-5:50 (with more pointing at 5:50). Though I respect the marathon I don't fear it, so I'd told my wife I was going to have a crack and see how long I could hold a sub-2:30 pace, but warned her the wheels would most likely come off so not to be surprised when the tracking slowed.
As a post-race confession, a few weeks ago (10km TT in the wind on the track on the 16th of March), I tweaked an old football injury and have been taping my ankle and left shin up since - it is the kind of thing that, from experience takes at least a full week of rest to recover from so I opted to try manage it through seen as the race was so close. On Thursday's jog my left calf began to cramp towards the end, so there was a compensation niggle coming on.
It was bitter this morning and I was shivering so badly from the cold (despite taking extra layers - I even remembered the bin bag and bottle to pee in this time; lol) that some of the marshals were a bit concerned about me. As I got into the start area and surrounded myself with other runners I began to feel a bit warmer, but definitely still feeling the cold.
The race started and aerobically it's ridiculously easy, but mechanically nothing feels comfortable. I reckon it was a mix of the 3hrs round trip to sort my car out on Friday combined with the biting cold this morning.
I figured if I was going to feel uncomfortable at any pace I might as well stick to plan. At Wokingham HM 5 weeks ago I got to 10m on a sub-2:30 pace, so that was the target to beat. All paces are based on the markers, not GPS, just fyi - I figure the course markers are going to be more accurate.
10km came up in 35:20 - 1 second outside my surprise 10km TT last Wednesday week.
10m came up in 57:07 - 1 second outside what I went through Wokingham in.
I'd sat in a group at 8m that looked like they were being led by somebody trying for a sub-2:30 by the skin of his teeth, so halfway came up in 74:54 (25 seconds quicker than Wokingham).
Just after 14m I got a warning twinge in my calf, and as I approached 15m I got a second, much stronger warning (the kind that makes you inadvertently jump but isn't enough for a full on cramp).
I went through 15m in 85:45 which is bang on sub-2:30 pace, but at that stage it was clear that some sensibility was required and I needed to back off and try to manage it to the finish line.
Up to about mile 22 I was averaging about 6:04 per mile, but at this stage the calf was definitely borderline, and my hip flexors* which had been grumbling were getting a little more vocal, so I had to ease off a little more.
It was frustrating to see people pass me late on, particularly when breathing wise I felt like I was jogging, but eventually the finish line came up in 2:35:06, which was enough for me to be 2nd v45 apparently.
Overall there are more positives than negatives here. I could have run a safe 5:50 pace and come in just under 2:33 but that wouldn't have given me what I wanted.
In the end, after 4.5 years since my last marathon, and with just 3 months of semi-proper training under my belt (6-8 months before that averaged a hapazard ~25mpw), and I even got to 15m at a sub-2:30 pace.
I knew coming in that my body wasn't up to the rigours of a marathon (which is why I've set the GSR as my autumn target rather than a marathon), but that will change as time goes on.
I've now got a guaranteed London time so that will be my next one and I'd like to think I can threaten my pb before it gets to 10 years old!
* with the help of my wife I've been focusing on improving my core whilst running, but the flipside of that is that it has awoken the muscles and tendons that I've always been told were completely inactive. Understandably those are weak and need to continue to be worked to get strong, but I'm looking longer term here and knew I'd be taking a hit over the marathon distance which I was ok with.