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Wardi - good idea re 2nd opinion, well done to Mrs W, great stuff.
OO - 8m av 6.20 bodes well, sub 250 stuff...........agreed strength trumps speed (as per Macca, his block of daily 15s did him good), would be good if i had a few more hard runs or races but not essential.......at least my last mara as 4 months ago, before GW it was 14 months
Minimal 4m today, legs were a bit achey after yday, so glad I wasn't doing another sunday 15m.
TR - Not surprised you were aching. That recent marathon will contribute and benefit the Brighton run. As a runner you seem to race well as compared to others who train well with good times but cant seem to do it on the day. Sub 250 would be nice, and in 2022 of my 4 road marathons, 3 were sub 250, but as long as its under 255 I will be happy.
No run in the sun,; it was grey and drizzley! Another slightly hilly 20m d&d in 2.52 so 8.37 pace, just pottled along running on a trail, a few beaches and some climbs to bring-up my 8th 20m+ run since Christmas Day, getting slightly sick of them!
TR - totally agree on the shoes. I've currently got 2 different models of NB and 2 different models of Nike as my daily go-tos. Great mileage. Looks like you're pulling things back ahead of Brighton! I rarely run MP during training so wouldn't worry too much about having less than usual in this block - as OO said you know what the effort feels like.
OO - looking good.
Jools - I hope your foot/ankle has continued to improve and that you managed some fresh air.
Had a decent week last week, if effort light. I was supposed to do a track 5km at club Friday night (they put on an occasional timed effort/race) but after getting home from work I was completely wiped out so settled for just 2 x 4m on that day and dropped Jr off to run it. I'm very pleased to say he ran another pb (17:37).
I did run 1.25m @ 5km effort on the roads as part of a 10m on Saturday (7:09) which confirms I'm in about the shape I thought I was, but that means my total efforts for the week were solely 6 x 640m hills on Monday, the single mile on track on Wednesday, and that 1.25m. I did bag 91m for the week though, so silver linings I guess.
Back on the healthy wagon this week. Got 20m in yesterday as 10 @ 7:53, 5 @ 7:27, 4 @ 7:16, 1 @ 6:59 (didn't feel great beforehand due to cessation of unhealthy habits and lack of sleep, so probably about 10-15s per mile down on expected pace for effort).
I've now got 2 x 20m, and an easy 18+ in 2.5 hours to my name for this 'campaign' so that's going in the right direction at least.
TT - good that you're on the up again.
5m home yday, real achey 8 and 4 today then I remembered I took a tumble on ydays run, rolled out of it and ended on my back. Hopefully feel a bit easier tomorrow.
TR - Its because I've been on the marathon-go for 3 years or so now, so a good rest from marathon training post LM awaits. No marathons in the calendar then until Gran Canaria marathon in November. Apart from the tumble, that's very decent for taper time. Agree 100% with what SJ said and the points on MP runs.
SJ - Thanks,their frequency and the weather has made the recent ones a grind - just 1 more to do now. How are things with you?
2 decent days 11m yesterday with 5 @ 6.20mm and t oday 10m to Padstow and back, @ 7.30 mm. Hoping for a 70m this week and then race week next week Las Galletas HM.
With Jr, in the beginning he was thrashing himself in training trying to keep up with me (how the tables have turned; lol!) and we had a chat - he's doing A-level PE with the possibility of going on to study sports science at uni, so we talked through the physiological side of training and came up with a plan so he now runs 4 days a week, but within himself (he's up to 10m for a long run, 8m for a medium, a 6m with 2m steady-MP, and then a track session where he has very quickly learned to run within himself), and is coming on leaps and bounds. It'll be interesting to see how far he can go.
sj - I understand Mara done a lot of steady running (MP+5-10%), which TR also has in common with her. How are you feeling now?
TR - hopefully no ill effects from that tumble.
10/6 easy double yesterday. 6m earlier with 1m of diagonals, and a brisk last mile thrown in. Going to attempt to join in the group session tonight at track and see if I can manage to not throw my toys out of the pram this week.
Has anybody seen about Zane Robertson (one of the twins who went to live in Kenya at 17), who holds a lot of the Kiwi national records, getting busted for EPO and receiving an 8 year ban? I saw them briefly in a bar out there when I was there (almost 9 years ago now!!!) and they came across as quite abrasive, and from comments made after they left, didn't appear to be well liked.
He has gone straight in with the likes of Dennis Mitchell ("it was the wife's birthday so I figured she deserved a treat") as having one of the most daft excuses for doping ever - he produced (falsified) records stating that he went in for a COVID jab and that they thought he wanted to be treated for covid and gave him EPO.........
OO - I hear you, the long runs become a chore. Good going on those 6.20s.
10 of 7m steady today, that's me more or less all done now apart from Saturday's 13 or 14. Body is achey after the saturday run and some drills yday (plus the tumble). I'm confident i can give it a good go, it's in the hands of the weather gods now.......promised park and ride info (by today) still hasn't come out.......they say to make race day plans early too, and then say the park and ride info will be coming, but will be limited......there's not many other options so lots are after a place.
Foot/ankle still a bit niggly. Ran on Tuesday and it was great for 1.5/2 miles and then really sore. Ran this morning and it was ok until 2.5 miles, so I'll take that as encouraging.
Re: ZR they got it spot on in my book. His excuse definitely deserves its place in the pantheon of batshit crazy defences. My other favourites are Dennis Mitchell's (“five bottles of beer and sex with his wife at least four times…it was her birthday, the lady deserved a treat.”), LaShawn Merritt's "over the counter male enhancement product" (ironically that one takes balls!) and Shawn Barber's cocaine failure due to hiring a prostitute who had cocaine in her system (he actually got away with that one!!!).
TR - I'm glad to see you're getting there and are good to go. Hopefully the park and ride works out for you.
Done track last night. It was scheduled as 3km @ 5km pace, 2km @ 5km pace + 4 x 200m. I targeted current 10km pace (which turned out about 5m effort on tired legs) for the long reps. Figured 88s a lap, so 10:56 + 7:18 was a solid workout just inside target. Strode out the 200s, rather than hard, in 37, 37, 37, 36. Got a reality check as 2 of the guys in the group I had been in before my run of sickness, etc, started back in late November, lapped me before the end of their 2km rep.
On the plus side I hacked up more of the self-induced gunk of my chest, so hopefully that's almost completely clear now.
6m easy with a backpack this morning. Tired, but starting to feel much stronger which I'll take for now. It'll be interesting to see how much pace I can regain in 1 month.
TT - sounds like you are getting moving again.
SJ - how many weeks out is that 1/2 ? 3wks ? I'm usually way too smoked 3 wks out to run a fast 1/2.
Race pack arrived, managed to bag a park and ride place (thankfully). It's over to the weather gods, but that's an uncontrollable so not worth worrying about until this time next week.
5m run home, bit of a wind and rain battering.
Really sorry I've not been around for a fair while. I think my last post was a 'well done' to TR after Goodwood! I'll spare you the full story, but it's not been the best few months really. Family bereavement and then a quite serious illness in my immediate family. The Lakes is a fabulous place to live, but it's not a great place to be ill. Initially at Whitehaven hospital, then transferred to Carlisle (an hour's drive either way), and then again to Newcastle (2 hours 30 each way). All this while trying to single-handedly run a business, AND home-educate my autistic daughter - so not the easiest few months. Still, things have calmed down a bit now.
I also got injured. I did the Brass Monkey half in early Jan and my hammy went bang at 11.5 miles (going down off the small railway bridge, wardi - you must have ran past me!) Took me about 1 hour 20 to hobble the last 1.5 miles back.
Anyway, back running a bit now. Still not right, but I can at least run. Don't feel I can properly 'train' though if that makes sense? I daren't try anything fast at all.
Glad to see the regulars are still here. Sorry to hear about various people's woes. Hopefully better things ahead all round.
Keep at it anyway, and hopefully I'll be a bit more regular on here from now on!
Cheers
sj - in the months before Valencia in 2017 I'd switched clubs (bit of a story to that, which also explains why I didn't stay there long), and was doing less mileage, but quite often I'd have days of 2 x 4m with both of them being in that MP+5-10% as the coach in question was a fan of MY. I found it reasonably effective, though not particularly enjoyable as I felt I had to be at least semi 'on' for every run, plus there was never enough continuous volume at that effort for my liking.
What's your usual pace difference from HM-M?
TR - good news on the pack/park and ride. That's one less thing to worry about. Yes, definitely getting back in the swing of things. Made some slight changes late last week and am really enjoying what I'm doing now.
8m easy home in the rain last night, and 7m back in this morning which was mainly into a headwind after a sheltered first 2m. Planning on probably some surges in my run home later, so if the wind is still around at least I'll have that behind me.
After the horrible 3 months+ of multiple illnesses, achilles/back problems, then covid, and then losing our dog, I finally seem to be getting a rhythm going. I'm way behind any kind of reasonable fitness, but after 78m, 77m, 37m, and then 91m last week, I'm already on 73m this week (and more importantly have kicked the ciggies), and am starting to feel fresh and strong, and have actually settled on 3 targets for London - the first is achievable if I just keep on as I am (and lose several kg in the process), the second is a sizeable stretch, and the final one is a little outlandish for where I've started, but I'm just going to aim to keep the process going, keep enjoying it, and see where I end up.
SJ: it sounds like your training has been pretty consistent, even if you haven't been able to test things as much as you would like in racing. Time for a bit of Charlie Spedding-style inner caterpillar psychology: trust in your training, and believe!
No run this morning, as I had to have to some routine bloods done and the only slot was 8.10am. It's such a gorgeous sunny day that I took the long route home from the GP surgery to make the most of the vitamin D!
TT - still makes me smile that an 80mpw runner would be having a ciggie. Good progress.
SJ - id be way to smoked 3 weeks out to run a quick 1/2, an mp run sounds ideal.
7m this morning, 13 or 14 tomorrow and then it eases right off. Glad it's not this weekend as the winds howling at the mo.
SJ.. good luck at Wilmslow, I usually add a few miles to a half too. BTW my treadie room has now been decorated so I've got to put it all back together now including the TV & audio systems I have in there.
Back home now, enjoyed the break in the sun. I'm not really any further forward re. injury. Sitting down on a plane, in a car, restaurant etc for anything over 30 minutes is uncomfortable. Powerful anti inflammatories have no effect whatsoever so I will ask the clinic if they have any options.
SJ - Be the machine at Wimslow. Love a HM 3 weeks out, always take the view the harder you race it, the easier a good pace at the marathon will feel. Good luck.
TT - I did enjoy those anecdotes, thanks. Be fascinating to see how TT Jr develops going forwards. Great to see you in the realms of big mileage and a decent number of long runs. What's the time aim for London?
TR - A relief the details for Brighton have been sorted, what's your number for tracking? Fingers crossed for decent weather now, your due one.
Wardi - Sorry to hear there's been no progress yet.
A few days of easy running for me. 11 yesterday & 10 windy ones today. HM type run on Sunday, possibly breaking in my new Nike VF to get them warmed up for London and hope they don't cause heel blisters like my current ones did.
Wardi - sorry to read you're still struggling. I had those issues when my sciatica was at its worst - we pulled into pretty much every service station on one trip as I couldn't drive for long like that. Is it possible that your issues might be due to sciatica too? Certainly what you've described would match. The only comfort I could get was to lie on the floor to stretch my back out, plus taking a blow-up cushion any time I had to drive anywhere.
OO - good point on the VF. I've only done 8m on mine, though I guess I can just wear them in on next weekend's HM (and the following Friday's 10m race). London targets... The initial one is to get a champs time for next year. The stretch one is to beat last year's Manchester time (2:35:06), and the outlandish one is a London pb (2:33:23 - I've only run it twice).
Got absolutely weather battered today. Had planned a session on the way home, but after 3m copping a soaking and a wind battering, when I tried to start my pickups (1min and 2mins) I just felt tight and stiff and didn't want to risk a pull chasing pace, so sacked it off and sucked up another 8m brisk (cMP + 50-60s) to give me a 12miler.
OO - good stuff, I'd have thought VF can be worn new ? If you already have previous pairs. Ver3 is out now. But I've still got an unused pair of ver2 we bought for £100 back in November, I'll crack them open later in the year.
TT - that's a big day, wind was wild today. Struggled to ride home......SPO tells me its due to be windy for the foreseeable, probably until next Monday.......if race day was forecast to be as bad as today I wont even bother going, I'll save my matches for another day.
wardi - I'd echo what TT said re sciatica. I think this was at the root of what happened for me. In hindsight I actually think the drive to York possibly flared it up and then my hammy went during the race. For a number of weeks after I was in a terrible state when driving. Like TT I had to stop frequently on anything over about 40 mins. Even now I sit on 2 cushions when I drive, and I've got a hockey ball in the centre console which I slip under my glute at very regular intervals! Looks a bit odd but it definitely helps. And linked to that....
TR - yes I ended up at Barca. It was supposed to be my A race, mostly because my best mate ended up not getting a GFA for London (just circumstances, cos he's a 2'40-2'50 man). So at my suggestion we did Barca. We'd entered before all the health stuff kicked off, but luckily we could all go (Mrs LS and LS Jr also went). It was a fabulous trip, we had a fantastic time!
But back on the sciatic thing linked to that. My hammy went mid-Jan. I missed about 6 weeks after that. Zero running really. So I only started back about 4 weeks before the Mara. I managed 2 weeks of nothing more than 8 miles at a very sedate pace, and my leg was in a terrible state. So the Mara was off. I'd hardly done anything in double figures since Abo in Oct, and I couldn't run for more than 30 mins without having to stop and stretch.
Then at someone's suggestion I went to see a new physio in Keswick. He's a good fell runner. Within 15 seconds of me laying on the couch he proclaimed 'your pelvis is way out of line'. One extremely painful hour later I walked out of there feeling pretty upbeat. This was 10 days pre-Marathon (the Wed). I did a steady hour on Thu (ok), and then it snowed pretty bad. So Fri was 4ish at about 8'30s. But my leg felt ok. So on the Sat (Mara -8 days) I did 14. It hurt at 5 but never got any worse. So progress. On a complete whim I then decided to do Trimpell 20 the next day as a day entry. Going from hardly anything to 34 miles in 2 days wasn't textbook, but I thought if I could get round Trimpell then I might get round Barca. And if it wasn't to be then I know the Trimpell course well, and there are a few places where you can cut back to the finish.
Anyway, Trimpell went ok(ish) (I didn't 'race' it) so it was game on. I saw the physio again Mon eve and it was getting better every day. So I gave Barca a roll. I really wasn't confident of getting round, so I had 2 x gels and a metro ticket in my shorts pocket! I'd not found the phrase 'excuse me marshal, my hamstring has exploded and I need to get the Metro' in my Spanish phrasebook - I just wanted to make sure I could get back, so the Metro ticket seemed a good idea!
As it turned out I was ok. I just had HR showing and ran to that - a couple of beats lower than I'd normally race a Mara. I was clipping along quite nicely at circa 7'00s - hitting thr 5k markers at about 22 mins. Halfway in 1'35, then I had a real bad spell at 15/16ish. Got through that still on pace and then started to fade a wee bit from 20 onwards. Not terrible, I prob slowed by about 20 secs a mile. The last 2 prob another 10 secs a mile. Despite the slowing down I actually overtook over 100 people in the last 12k (it gave you your position at each 5k split), and I ended up running 3'13'30(ish) - don't even know my exact time! It was 3'13 anyway, which I was delighted with. I was just chuffed to get round! Rich (my mate) ran 2'47, so we had a belter of a day!
So on that - SJ - I think it's fair to say 'trust the training'. I know the psychological aspect is important (tbh that's why I did Trimpell - to give me confidence I *might be able to do Barca) - but our aerobic engines are so much bigger/better than I think we realise. So just have faith fella.
Oh and final aside - Alphafly absolutely rip my heels to bits. I'm a big fan of the Adios Pro 2 - just got another pair for £80. I really couldn't justify paying 3 times that for the Pro 3, especially when all the reviews I've read/watched seem to think the 2 is prob a better shoe!
I'm with you on the Alphaflys - they caused me several ankle niggles before I registered them as the cause.
Wardi - good luck!
TR - hopefully it calms down before tomorrow week. I'll be running Reading HM at the same time as you're bombing around Brighton. I entered it, and a 10m on Good Friday to get some longer harder running in, but I'm going to train through both, so no idea what the outcome will be.
Got a session of sorts in this morning. 11m with 3m 'fast' (6:14), 3min recovery, 6 x 60s uphill (90s float recovery), 1m 'fast' (6:11). Added on a very easy 6m at lunchtime to 'ton-up' for the first time in years.
Lots of easy running with minimal workouts for the next few weeks won't get me my quickest possible time (for where I currently am) at London, but they will get me strong enough to eventually be able to train properly again.
'Fast' is basically cMP + 0-10s.
TT - 100! That fully deserves a well done. Decent pacy session.
TR - The VF Next% caused heel blisters only on right foot in the first 2 marathons I run in them, after 12 and 18 miles. I had run a 10k in them previously.
5 & 6m double earlier, got soaked by cloudbursts on both runs.
TT - training through those races should be ok, I've done a few 1/2s like that with miles before and after, the lack of taper prevents you going too deep on race day, so the recovery is quicker. I've even turned the Chichester 10k into a 20m with extra laps of the motor cct.
OO - which ver do you this time ? Ver 2? Did you get the same issue with 4%, which are a lot looser fitting?
I usually do 13n inc 6m mp today, which means flat miles by the sea as i dont want to run out into the lanes which would be hilly and longer. Legs were real achey and the wind was howling so mp was pointless, came in as a steadyish effort although i tried to keep it mostly crosswind, as wind behind or against would have been ridiculous. 56 for the week.........need my hammies to ease off now, the recent jamming in of miles and the mp run last week has annoyed the crap out of them. Whatever happens next week the training is in the bank. Will have a few frothies later for relaxation purposes.
I turned 55 in February but this seemed to coincide with long term hamstring tendonopathy and calf issues calming down. So aim for Barcelona was to get my London GFA time back. I managed a well pace 3:08:00 - apart the undignified attempt at a sprint over last few metres to get a 3:07 for no reason. Really enjoyed Barcelona but think Valencia is still my fav
Hope those doing marathons get the times they want and have good races and I am looking forward to a few beers post London 2024!