Shades, yeah, it’s not ideal. But to be honest I’m a bit worried about the Boston-London double (let alone just one on its own), so I’d like to do one or two if I can. I was also looking at the Winding Paths as a potential 2 in 2 weekends with a RED one, but again nothing at all confirmed as it is dependent on the foot. I know I’ve done 2 in 2 weekends numerous times before, but coming from so little mileage is a bit of a concern. Of course I don’t want to overdo it and get injured again either so I’ll have to see how things progress.
Big G - of course you must have concerns about your comeback, it's always an uncertain and worrying period resuming running after an injury.
But IMHO practising 2 in 2 weeks isn't a good idea, save that for the actual events. Many years ago, before I was a runner, I had a boyfriend who was training for his first marathon and he was worried that he wouldn't get round so he went out the week before and ran the whole course. He ran that successfully and then failed to finish the actual race the following week.
You could be at risk of being injured for Boston by doing too much beforehand. Unless you're thinking of cancelling your Boston trip if 2 in 2 weeks as your trial doesn't go well.
I would suggest you train for Boston and deal with London when you get back to the UK.
Makes sense, Shades. I’ll get the double out of my head then.
I did about 90mins on Zwift and then went to the podiatrist for the 3rd shockwave therapy session, which went well. It felt easier again this week.
He said I could (and in fact should) restart running, and take it steady. He reckoned I’d know what was too much/too little. I did ask for a kind of plan but he couldn’t give one as it depends on the individual, which of course is fair enough. I said I thought I’d start with about an hour and he basically said fine, if that’s what I felt I would be ok with. I’ll give it a few days to calm down after this 3rd treatment and then the plan is to go along to parkrun and just take it really steady.
Ah sod it done my daily blog on Fetch (another go a blogging daily albeit last year it was around now i missed one)
My long stuff for the year are Enigma Quadzilla 2nd Feb Enigma Quadzilla 3rd Feb Enigma Quadzilla 4th Feb Enigma Quadzilla 5th Feb Granny's Bay Challenge 6 hour event sorta 12th March Brockholes Bimble Marathon 12th May Cottam Canter 13th May was a 6 hour on a 1 mile loop cycle track loop UCLAN but had to revert to 5k out and backs so i'm aining for 50k then stopping prob depending on time albeit i have no 50k time so prob would stop that point. Windermere Marathon 20th May not entered yet so not definite London Ultra 55k 24th June Solway Coast Marathon 2nd July to enter as almost certainly going to do it. Glasgow to Edinburgh 7th Oct
That would take me from 81 to 92 marathons or longer.
Shades, yeah, I saw the forecast for tomorrow. Looks miserable! I’ll be Zwifting, and hopefully getting to the gym. Zwift will involve a Team Time Trial, which I’ve not done for 3 weeks due to Xmas and then a dental appointment last week.
Good to hear from you, Keith. Do you reckon you’ll venture back this way for a Plym Trail event, or similar?
Came over to club this evening as I need to stick my name on a piece of paper in time for the AGM at end of Feb. I’m going for a different role this time - no guarantee I’ll get it of course but I fancy a change and a role that has interested me came up. Everyone is out on their session, and then I’ll head back afterwards as I’ll have a meal with who ever is staying.
Big G - That’s encouraging that you could and should run. How many sessions do you have left?
Just under 9 miles home from the office this eve. Question. I’m pretty knackered from work during weekdays and going to get worse into next month so ok to run easy/MAF but can’t imagine adding my usual weekly tempos for the last 7-8 weeks of the block into Barcelona. Following up from last convo about too many long runs, could I alternate Sunday long runs with Sunday tempo sessions? The latter can get pretty lengthy anyway as tend to have long warmup/cool-downs. I’m probably just being pedantic and should get on with it but thought worth checking.
Keith - you're very well organised this year, that's a good list, nice variation of events. I haven't heard of the first 3 of your May events. I'm looking at doing Solway Coast this year too.
Big G - are you giving up looking after the Club Championships to take on the new role?
Rcouture - No, you're quite right to look to tailor your training to fit in with the rest of your life to try and get the balance right so you're not exhausted and life is still enjoyable. You won't get the rewards from the training if your schedule makes you tired and stressed. I am a big fan of doing the longer runs on alternate weekends, so that's a good idea. You've already got a few long runs banked and most marathon runners would look to do a minimum of five 20 mile runs in their marathon training. So that will still be easily achievable for you. I would suggest that you try taking the Saturday as a rest day, family stuff, restore your glycogen stores and get a bit of sleep. Then Sunday will be your training 'work' day, either a long run or your tempo run with long warm up and long cool down. This way you should be fresh for whichever session you're doing on a Sunday, just as you would be for a race. It's not good to run long or hard when tired and/or glycogen depleted. Then Monday will be an easy run at MAF pace.
8 miles this morning, wet and windy again. But mild and the wind today was more gusts than relentless headwind. Rain very light for first half but then was quite heavy, managed to keep my feet more or less dry, better drainage on this route and less puddles. Garmin is syncing fine now but my watch annoying sent me a message halfway through my run. I couldn't read it without my glasses, so no idea what that was about. Will have to turn off the notifications which I thought were already turned off on my watch.
Rcouture, it was 3 sessions, and that was the 3rd one. He has recommended me carrying on with life for 6-8 weeks or so, and if I feel I need 3 more sessions then go back. Although the session felt easier yesterday the foot was actually quite tender last night but I’ve stretched it out this morning and it feels a bit better again.
Shades, yes, I’m hoping to get rid of the club champs role as I’ve done it a few years and I do fancy a change, whilst still being involved with the club. No guarantee I’ll get the new role as if someone else goes for it there’ll be a vote of course.
Keith, I am likely to enter London Ultra myself (my first ultra) so I might see you there!
Still suffering from scratchy throat and general grottiness (including aches and pains) so I've just walked yesterday and today. Hoping I can fight it off by the weekend.
Shades - That’s very helpful. The only issue with taking Saturday off is that I like running 6 days a week and I tend to need a weekday of rest so as to shuttle my bag of clothes back from the office (complicated and boring logistics). I can probably work sth out though. Also the idea of recovery runs the day after 20 milers is very unpleasant 😬.
Ive woken up with scratchy throat/cough and high RHR/low HRV so probably helps explain why I’ve been knackered too.
Rcouture - that's OK, if it doesn't work for you then take your rest day when it does suit you. You must get over this horror of doing recovery runs though, trust me they work.
What I didn't say in my post above is take a rest day when you feel you need it. We all have targets re mileage etc but if you're poorly or tired then rest is the best option.
Hope you're feeling better soon. Rest.
Interesting email from R4W today, these are the organisers of the Newport Marathon as well as other races in Wales.
Shades, I saw that from R4W too. Interesting as you say, and it makes me wonder if they’ve got any others in the their sights.
I did the Zwift Team Time Trial today and had a good ride. I feel I’m definitely making improvements in that area as today I was pulling on the front for quite a lot, whereas often I need to draft in the wheels to recover after taking my turn on the front. It’s either me getting fitter or my team mates losing fitness so I’ll go with the former The race was about 40mins and then with warmup and cool-down it was about 90mins in total.
Looking forward to running on Saturday…..although the weather does look terrible again. I haven’t ran a step since Xmas Day, although I did 40 miles Xmas week. I didn’t run Boxing Day and then we were travelling that evening and 27th, and then my first treatment session was 28th so no running since then. But since 28th Dec and being back I’ve done about 28hrs of Zwifting, the vast majority of which has been in Z2. Not the same as running I know, but I’m happy with what I’ve done in the circumstances. I’m not “racing weight” but I feel okay with my weight, and I’ve dropped a pound or so since I’ve returned as well. If I do manage to restart running and slowly build up some mileage, I know the weight will take care of itself in some ways.
Big G - I've no objection to LM buying up other races, will preserve road marathons that might not survive otherwise. I don't like London marathon event, too overcrowded, but their race organisation is excellent.
I think you've done what you can to work on your training whilst not being able to run. As you say weight will take care of itself once you're back in full training.
Weather is usually awful this time of year, I see another cold spell next week, just hope not cold enough for ice as I've just got my mileage up to my base level of 50mpw.
Took advice on here and an unplanned rest day. 10-12 hour days at work, this mini bug and tightness in calf all point to being sensible or it’ll end in tears.
Rcouture if you have any doubts rest days are probably more useful than draining yourself
Shades good news the list won’t look so bare now!
Keith if all goes to plan have you got any ideas for your 100th? I’m tempted by London Ultra too but probably have all my races booked already.
Cal hope you feeling well soon! What have you got at the weekend?
Big G sounds promising following shockwave treatment.
Hope the m&a strategy works for London Marathon Events works for them, it certainly makes sense as they have a large audience to market to. I’m sure we’ll see some series medals soon.
Another rest day yesterday, ankle seized up and was a tad sore. Seemed better this evening and ran 6 miles.
My gym at Stevenage lost their contract (had for 25 years) good news everyone active won it, they are the gym in Hertford so hoping from April I’ll be able to use the gym half mile from work and less than a mile from home
Shades - https://www.pfwrunning.com/ thats who do those random ones in May/April. New as in last year for them to do races and it's cos he is in 100 MC and we lack many races up North West so he solved it by hosting them. Same people who did the lancashire day half i did in November.
Rob - Er no not yet but it is on my radar and it was mentioned in one of my daily fetch blogs that the time was coming.
BG - Er i intend to yes well maybe not Plym trail but one of the Exmouth is it ones RED do.
Rcouture - sounds exhausting, hope you can get some rest and recover this weekend. Lots of colds/viruses going around.
Robert - the list is looking quite healthy, took me ages putting Keith's races on there. The list is almost as long as the whole of 2022 and haven't had Big G's races yet except for the two that I know of.
re London marathon's acquisition, it might be just what we need to get the race numbers up for marathons again. Surely those that don't get a place in London will be actively encouraged to choose another marathon, particularly Brighton or Newport, might even stop some folk thinking that London is the only marathon to do
Hope the ankle is OK.
That's good news re the local gym, more convenient the better.
Keith - that website looks good, reasonable prices too. I particularly like the look of the Granny's Bay Challenge.
I am now reconsidering Solway Coast as it's 370 miles each way from here 😲
Not quite 8 miles this morning. Decided to wait until dawn so I could run in daylight, but just after a mile I took the path through the woods only to find that it was flooded, quite deep, would have been above my knees I think. Turned back and took a sort of unofficial path through woods to get to the back road, decided to run through the village which had no flooding, then I joined the cycle path to head home, path looked clear but strangely no dog walkers or cyclists that I would usually see. I soon discovered why, just at the end of the path it was flooded, didn't want to turn back so managed to walk on the muddy bank and kept my feet dry.
Rob, just hoping to do parkrun, that's all. My cold refuses to develop past the scratchy throat stage - I might still have some immunity from the November cold. I decided I'd just do another walk today, though. The London Ultra seems to be a mix of parks and pavements so really just like a run I'd do on my own, but longer. Which makes it quite easy to prepare for, at least.
If for whatever reason I don’t do Boston next year, I’d like to do Brighton given new ownership. That was my planned first ever marathon as really like the city and have friends there.
Shades - Your area seems very prone to flooding
Felt better this morning and RHR/HRV reflected that so ran into the office for 8 miles. Nice and quiet in the city on Fridays with everyone wfh.
Re your ultra, that's a good mix of terrain and shouldn't be muddy in the summer.
Rcouture - you've recovered quickly
If I'd run down towards Torquay today there would have been no floods to negotiate but I ran that way yesterday. This is quite a hilly area and when it rains heavily the water runs down to what flatter parts we have and then floods. The area flooded today has a river which flows into the estuary so when tides are high that makes flooding more likely.
Many years ago a group of us decided to celebrate New Year's Day by running the Templer Way, which is the historic route that granite was brought down from Dartmoor to Teignmouth Docks. We were just doing the section from Haytor to Newton Abbot, the first 13 miles of the route. We met at Tesco and left our cars there and were given lifts to Haytor on Dartmoor. The route is some road, some footpaths and a couple of sections through the woods. There was about 6 of us and one dog. Weather was good but raining. We got within the final mile which was through the woods I ran this morning and it was flooded. We didn't want to turn back so decided to go through the floods. We had to cross a rickety footbridge that was submerged in the water. I was 2nd to go across, I watched the girl in front go through, the water was mid thigh for her. But when I crossed, the water was hip height, as I was a lot shorter than the first girl and a couple behind me were even shorter and water was up to their waists. It was good fun, the little dog we had with us was terrified, had to be carried, but we had a great laugh. Anyway we made it back to Tesco, had to put plastic bags on the seats to drive home.
Shortly after we'd gone through a family weren't as daft as us and had to be rescued by the fire brigade.
And oh god I've just looked at the route. It's not flat...but that's not the issue. It runs from Woolwich to Richmond and it goes across Tooting Common and within a couple of hundred yards of my house, so I might have to recruit a clubmate or two to run that bit with me and make sure I don't throw in the towel and go home.
Keith-They were the ones I was looking to do my first 6hour race with,wouldn't be as keen now they've changed the course,shades-Most of theirs looked like trail.
Cal-When I did my first ultra at about 30m I was about 150m from home and dying, was very tempting but I ran the last 5.
I haven’t done it, but there’s a tough trail race (31 miles) on the South West Coast Path that goes about 1 mile from my house. The thing is, it is in March and if it’s terrible weather it would be very, very easy to call it a day and just go home. At the point it goes near where I live there is still about 13 miles to go, and about half of that is very hilly, and potentially muddy.
Comments
Enigma Quadzilla 2nd Feb
Enigma Quadzilla 3rd Feb
Enigma Quadzilla 4th Feb
Enigma Quadzilla 5th Feb
Granny's Bay Challenge 6 hour event sorta 12th March
Brockholes Bimble Marathon 12th May
Cottam Canter 13th May was a 6 hour on a 1 mile loop cycle track loop UCLAN but had to revert to 5k out and backs so i'm aining for 50k then stopping prob depending on time albeit i have no 50k time so prob would stop that point.
Windermere Marathon 20th May not entered yet so not definite
London Ultra 55k 24th June
Solway Coast Marathon 2nd July to enter as almost certainly going to do it.
Glasgow to Edinburgh 7th Oct
Just under 9 miles home from the office this eve. Question. I’m pretty knackered from work during weekdays and going to get worse into next month so ok to run easy/MAF but can’t imagine adding my usual weekly tempos for the last 7-8 weeks of the block into Barcelona. Following up from last convo about too many long runs, could I alternate Sunday long runs with Sunday tempo sessions? The latter can get pretty lengthy anyway as tend to have long warmup/cool-downs. I’m probably just being pedantic and should get on with it but thought worth checking.
Big G - are you giving up looking after the Club Championships to take on the new role?
Rcouture - No, you're quite right to look to tailor your training to fit in with the rest of your life to try and get the balance right so you're not exhausted and life is still enjoyable. You won't get the rewards from the training if your schedule makes you tired and stressed.
I am a big fan of doing the longer runs on alternate weekends, so that's a good idea. You've already got a few long runs banked and most marathon runners would look to do a minimum of five 20 mile runs in their marathon training. So that will still be easily achievable for you.
I would suggest that you try taking the Saturday as a rest day, family stuff, restore your glycogen stores and get a bit of sleep. Then Sunday will be your training 'work' day, either a long run or your tempo run with long warm up and long cool down. This way you should be fresh for whichever session you're doing on a Sunday, just as you would be for a race. It's not good to run long or hard when tired and/or glycogen depleted. Then Monday will be an easy run at MAF pace.
8 miles this morning, wet and windy again. But mild and the wind today was more gusts than relentless headwind. Rain very light for first half but then was quite heavy, managed to keep my feet more or less dry, better drainage on this route and less puddles.
Garmin is syncing fine now but my watch annoying sent me a message halfway through my run. I couldn't read it without my glasses, so no idea what that was about. Will have to turn off the notifications which I thought were already turned off on my watch.
Still suffering from scratchy throat and general grottiness (including aches and pains) so I've just walked yesterday and today. Hoping I can fight it off by the weekend.
Cal - hope that grottiness doesn't develop into anything more.
What's the terrain for the London Ultra, mixture of tarmac and trail?
Ive woken up with scratchy throat/cough and high RHR/low HRV so probably helps explain why I’ve been knackered too.
What I didn't say in my post above is take a rest day when you feel you need it. We all have targets re mileage etc but if you're poorly or tired then rest is the best option.
Hope you're feeling better soon. Rest.
Interesting email from R4W today, these are the organisers of the Newport Marathon as well as other races in Wales.
Run 4 Wales and London Marathon Events go into partnership | ABP Newport Wales Marathon & 10K
Looks like London are buying up troubled race organisers, this one is a 50% share.
Shades good news the list won’t look so bare now!
Cal hope you feeling well soon! What have you got at the weekend?
Hope the m&a strategy works for London Marathon Events works for them, it certainly makes sense as they have a large audience to market to. I’m sure we’ll see some series medals soon.
Another rest day yesterday, ankle seized up and was a tad sore. Seemed better this evening and ran 6 miles.
My gym at Stevenage lost their contract (had for 25 years) good news everyone active won it, they are the gym in Hertford so hoping from April I’ll be able to use the gym half mile from work and less than a mile from home
Robert - the list is looking quite healthy, took me ages putting Keith's races on there. The list is almost as long as the whole of 2022 and haven't had Big G's races yet except for the two that I know of.
re London marathon's acquisition, it might be just what we need to get the race numbers up for marathons again. Surely those that don't get a place in London will be actively encouraged to choose another marathon, particularly Brighton or Newport, might even stop some folk thinking that London is the only marathon to do
Hope the ankle is OK.
That's good news re the local gym, more convenient the better.
Keith - that website looks good, reasonable prices too. I particularly like the look of the Granny's Bay Challenge.
I am now reconsidering Solway Coast as it's 370 miles each way from here 😲
Not quite 8 miles this morning. Decided to wait until dawn so I could run in daylight, but just after a mile I took the path through the woods only to find that it was flooded, quite deep, would have been above my knees I think. Turned back and took a sort of unofficial path through woods to get to the back road, decided to run through the village which had no flooding, then I joined the cycle path to head home, path looked clear but strangely no dog walkers or cyclists that I would usually see. I soon discovered why, just at the end of the path it was flooded, didn't want to turn back so managed to walk on the muddy bank and kept my feet dry.
My cold refuses to develop past the scratchy throat stage - I might still have some immunity from the November cold. I decided I'd just do another walk today, though.
The London Ultra seems to be a mix of parks and pavements so really just like a run I'd do on my own, but longer. Which makes it quite easy to prepare for, at least.
Felt better this morning and RHR/HRV reflected that so ran into the office for 8 miles. Nice and quiet in the city on Fridays with everyone wfh.
Re your ultra, that's a good mix of terrain and shouldn't be muddy in the summer.
Rcouture - you've recovered quickly
If I'd run down towards Torquay today there would have been no floods to negotiate but I ran that way yesterday. This is quite a hilly area and when it rains heavily the water runs down to what flatter parts we have and then floods. The area flooded today has a river which flows into the estuary so when tides are high that makes flooding more likely.
Many years ago a group of us decided to celebrate New Year's Day by running the Templer Way, which is the historic route that granite was brought down from Dartmoor to Teignmouth Docks. We were just doing the section from Haytor to Newton Abbot, the first 13 miles of the route. We met at Tesco and left our cars there and were given lifts to Haytor on Dartmoor. The route is some road, some footpaths and a couple of sections through the woods. There was about 6 of us and one dog. Weather was good but raining. We got within the final mile which was through the woods I ran this morning and it was flooded. We didn't want to turn back so decided to go through the floods. We had to cross a rickety footbridge that was submerged in the water. I was 2nd to go across, I watched the girl in front go through, the water was mid thigh for her. But when I crossed, the water was hip height, as I was a lot shorter than the first girl and a couple behind me were even shorter and water was up to their waists. It was good fun, the little dog we had with us was terrified, had to be carried, but we had a great laugh.
Anyway we made it back to Tesco, had to put plastic bags on the seats to drive home.
Shortly after we'd gone through a family weren't as daft as us and had to be rescued by the fire brigade.
I've entered the ultra.