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20m with the middle 10 steady (5 av 7.24, 5 av 7.01 - last mile was 6.48). So solid weeks work.
Nice work on the 20, good to get banked.
15m today with 2m wu then 3 at mara pace, 2 easy then 1m at half pace, then another 2 easy then 3m alternating 90s between threshold and steady float and the 3 average 6.10mm, as did the 3 at mp, so 7mm dead for just over 15m.
Gives me 64m for week with some good quality work as well with the bonus addition of parkrun yesterday.
Spoke to matt re a shorter race. Did look at the England 10k races on 3 March in Leicester for this years team and chester following weekend for next year's team. Chester appealed as currently no one in my AG registered but it's mother's day and it seems a hard course and I'd need to pb just to get the minimum standard so seemed a bit of a shot in the dark.
Think I've settled on Chippenham 10m on 3 March. It's 10am start and 90 min drive, plus my 10m pb is one for the taking compared to half mara.
Very sad news re kiptum. He was odds on to be first runner to break 2 hours.
I had a minor bump in the road recently. I started having a cough back in November. And it just kept getting worse and my body would not clear it. Went to the Dr over the holiday (no pneumonia, lungs clear). Then about a month ago I developed incredibly painful ribs from the coughing. In retrospect, I think I may have had pertussis (which somehow translates roughly into "12 week cough" per my Pulmonary Doc friencs). And all the coughing caused problems with the cartilage where the ribs attach to the sternum (a condition called costochondritis). This fun condition takes months to resolve. For about a month it hurt to breath, felt like the world stopped when I sneezed, and sleeping was filled with dreams of blades being stabbed into my chest (I would wake up in pain because I had rolled onto the painful side). Jeez, I must be atoning for something bad I did (maybe in a previous life?!). But happy to report that the pain has reduced significantly. And through it all, I only had to take 1 week off of running (and any exercise). Was able to do a short MP effort and a strides session this week without flare ups. And beyond that lots of easy miles. Feeling pretty strong coming of a 65m and 60M week the past 2. Anyway, if you cough, don't cough too long and hard! That pain has only been secondary to kidney stones.
Few reasonable days for me. 12m over lunch today and a solid session yesterday of various paces. Definitely feel like I've had a fitness boost, paces in the hmp/threshold parts of the session are coming in a good bit faster than January and not leaving me so ruined.
The previous 2 weeks were 50 miles plus each, had lots of speedwork and a couple of heavy weights sessions, so I'm putting down to a mixture of training fatigue and my head being all over the place. Work has been super stressy and a good mate passed away recently, his funeral was on Monday.
So, having a lighter week to recover physically and mentally.
Recently got a good deal on New Balance Fuelcell Rebel shoes. Very impressed. Good for road speed sessions and the track, too.
Great news about fitness boost, DT19. (I always used to call that 'pace lift': suddenly you're about 10-15s/mile better for the same effort.)
GD: sorry to hear about your loss. Never underestimate the impact of stress on running performance. A cutback week sounds ideal. Maybe some easy running where you don't have pace showing whilst you run?
Nothing exciting here: still ticking over, and still going to a barre class each week as strength work. It seems to be helping and it's more enjoyable than the gym.
DT, that is an awesome feeling. Congrats and Enjoy. There is probably more coming soon
14M today on a calm and sunny day (balmy 9 degrees F). W/out the wind, it felt really nice. So far this week it's all easy running (9, rest, 10, 14).
And for those of you who have battled plantar fasciitis, I am experimenting withen weaning off ther superfeet inserts I had to start wearing in all my shoes since 2021. I've gotten to the point where for the last 6-12 months, I don't really feel my PF flare up. I wear hoka cliftons for everyday walking around (including an indoor pair). Started new pairs of each 3 weeks ago without an insert. And no issues (this would have killed me a couple of years ago). Then did 1 run last week (6M) w/out an insert. No issues. This week I tried 10M w/out insert and was a bit too much. Could feel my feet fatigue and had some soreness later in the day and next moring (but it left quickly as I began the day walking and hasn't come back). So I need to figure out an acclimation plan. I'm thinking I'll start doing 6-7M w/out an insert maybe 2 days per week. If that doesn't cause problems, I can add more time in. Would be great to be free of them (they are $$ and really limit my shoe choices, particularly supershoes for race day).
Jools, yes pace lift is a good turn of phrase for it.
Vt, never had plantar thankfully. It's been pretty warm here also. In fact yesterday afternoon I went out in short sleeves for my run.
Spin yesterday morning then 7m easy late afternoon. Something slightly different in today's session. 20 min at mara pace then 15 mins Kenyan hills, followed by 12 min at threshold.
Not really done any bespoke hill work before but Matt thinks it's important and it's slowly been creeping into sessions. Didn't help the uphill part was into a headwind but 2.5m at 6mm dead on for that. The subsequent 12 mins was really hard work, legs were dead. It was a bit like getting straight off a bike and trying to run.
Rest day tomorrow having run 13 consecutive days then first 20 on Sunday.
I guess I'll find out in 2 weeks if my training data is correct and I am fitter.
Also had a great north run ballot rejection this week. May look later in year to see if any charities have places left that they are desperate to off load.
8M easy in the fresh and falling snow today. Was beautiful and quite.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
Dawg - sorry to hear that. Life stress still affects running........is that your first 20m in a while? I thought you were training towards a HM?
DT - that 10m race will be a good test. You are building into decent shape. Is the 20m a bit earlier than Lewis would set?
Easy 21m today (av 8.08), 71m for the week, but 15m Sunday and 21m today, so pretty unbalanced. I have a while home alone yet, so this week will have reduced weekday mileage again. Will have to crack on the following week.
Seems to snow a lot where you are. We've had one very light dusting this winter.
Tr, looking back it's come at same point as previous campaigns, 10 weeks out.
Still a decent tally, given your limitations with losing the run commute.
I was out at just after 8 this morning. 20m was reasonably comfortable at 7.42mm, giving 66m for the week. Had a pretty lazy day home alone so got some decent recovery in.
G Dawg that is a familiar story, I'm sure your body will adapt to the mileage pick up soon enough after a restful week.
Nice work Jools glad you are enjoying it and trying new things. Never tried barre.
Good steady miles TR. Not sure why you are home alone but I'm sure you'll catch it back.
Things seem to be going smoothly as ever DT with an effortless 20 miler 👍
Not much to report here. No serious races going on but down in Leicester for the 10k qualifier in 2 weeks.
Good luck in Leicester. I'd have loved to qualified from that as the race is brum 10k so home fixture for me. Are you running chester 10k following weekend for next year's team?
I've been the model of inconsistency - a couple of bad weeks but got control back in the last ten days to get back on track before it got too bad. Ran a 20 mile race in Cardiff today. Not bad (for me). I had loosely intended to do the first ten at 9 min miles then eight miles at 7:40 but I actually ran a little quicker to half way - and when I came to step up the pace, there was nothing there. On the plus side, I was able to maintain consistent pace to the end. Avg moving pace 8:36 (different from my actual result which included a 2 minute break.)
DT I'm not doing Chester. Will hopefully find something closer to home. I'm also after Charity place for gnr so will let you know. Usually some bargains pop up later.
Funny thing is I don't recall injuring the back so it's a mystery. I'm seeing a physio in a couple of weeks but praying it will ease before then.
Let me know re GNR, I'll hold on to my premier inn booking for a while just in case.
5.5m recovery lunchtime with another very low pace v hr. Spin tonight.
NE - consistency can be hard to achieve, but its the answer.
DT, that hill workout sounds downright punitive. Not for the faint of heart. Hope your back niggle works itself out. Nice LRs to you and TR.
OO, yes, agreed that when it hurts lying down, not good for sleep. And everything goes downhill w/out the sleep. Enjoy your down week (rare!). BTW, I also (add it to my list) had bad muscle spasm in my lower back about 2 years ago (bathing the new puppy, I was bent over holding him while washing him and when I tried to stand up it just went BOOM). Randomly it has struck again 2 times since then. Each time take about 6 weeks to go from acute to gone again. Pain in the A$$ getting older…
NE, a 20M race is nothing to scoff at. Well played and good hay in the barn for what’s to come.
12M today with 7 at subLT effort. Not very sparkly in terms of pace, but kept HR/effort consistent. Feeling pretty blown out at the moment, more than normal (but it’s that nice wasted feeling, the one that’s full of little buzzy endorphins zooming through the body). It’s days like this when I look back on a recent marathon campaign and appreciate just how much goes into being ready to race (not run!) 26.2.
Snuck out for 8M steady this morning in the only time window that was open. Legs felt good and good energy, but lungs felt wheezy (sore throat and light cough started last night and built all day). Tonight fever and chills and icky skin, etc. Maybe a day of rest at home will heal me. But I think this explains why I felt so depleted after the subLT yesterday.
So today I think counts as a sneaky run...
Got 10 miles done on the track last night, 3 miles warm-up and then continual loops of 4 mins effort and 2 mins steady. Not particularly quick in windy conditions but good continual work. I think it had an effect on today's lunchtime 8, again, blooming windy and no pace on show despite putting an effort in.
I have no real pace at the moment, no matter what the session. I always seem to be running with some sort of bug, stress, bad weather, or combination of all three. Just keeping the sessions going and hoping it will click into place eventually.
Gym sessions may also be taking effect as I do give the legs a hammering. I do zero upper body work, it's all based on the glutes, hamstrings and core.
I was in bed for 15 h straight. High fever, dizzy, flulike stuff in full. Managed to get up and eat something, but am very weak. It's not covid, but it has steamrolled me. Uff da.
Birch!!!! Great to hear from you. Some mileage. Fair play! I saw a chap named Birch in a parkrun in Jersey and he was quick and wondered if it was your boy? Iirc he was running a top level when you last mentioned him. Good genes!
GD - Sometimes all we can do is keep on keeping on. Running basically free therapy. Please try not to put too much emphasis on performance atm as that may add to your stress levels. Consistent training will eventually yield good results.
VTr - sounds rough. Take it easy dude. I had a bout of illness that almost ruined the whole of December. Get well soon.
DT - No worries, I love a bit winter sun in the Canaries, although I've never been to Lanzarote. You're in great shape atm, I'm in awe of some of the sessions you're knocking out.
Jools - I recall you saying that you were up to double digits now. That's a decent run.
OO54 - Are you doing London again this year?
NorthEnder - that was a decent 20 miler. On the up!
TR - Still knocking out 70 mile weeks. Not sure why you run less when you're home alone. It would be the opposite for me.
Thanks all for my 25*2 birthday wishes. We had a brilliant trip. We flew to Glasgow from Jersey (where I'm based) and drove from there to a tiny place on the north easy coast of Scotland called Nigg, near Tain. It's about 40 miles from Inverness. We stayed in a cabin perched on a cliff overlooking the firth of Moray. It had a hot tub on the decking which was epic. We spent most evenings quaffing bubbles in that and in the morning with coffees too. We had 3 nights there and were blessed with dry sunshine and it was about 12c! Had some lovely coastal walks, one in particular was quite stunning was Portmahomack fishing town near Tain. It was an 8 mile coastal walk out & back with a beautiful lighthouse on a heritage sight. It was a super relaxing 3 days there. We travelled most of the day on my actual birthday with a 4.5 hour drive back to Glasgow and then a flight to Reykjavik. We arrived at our serviced apartments to find out our access code for our place didn't work, so we couldn't get into our apartment . It took a few hours to sort as there was no one on site and it was a snow storm outside. Luckily we could wait in the lobby but it was a pisser to say the least and we were both knackered as a result. We had 3 more full days in Iceland and two of those were awful snow storms. I loathe the cold, so it wasn't much fun weather wise. Two of our trips to see the northern lights were cancelled, which was a shame. Reykjavik is a lovely place but very expensive. We did some cool stuff whilst we were there. We went on a tour to the Thingvellir national park (1 hour drive from Reykjavik) where the tectonic plates meet and we snorkelled in the Silfra fissure, which is a massive rift valley about 150ft deep and filled with glacial crystal clear water. The water is a constant of about 2c -3c. We wore dry suits and it was a crazy experience. I didn't enjoy the faff involved with getting prepped for it as it was freezing and snowing heavily, I would recommend it but not in full on winter. The drive back in the snow storm was quite scary. Iceland is like another planet, never mind another country. We went to a lava show, that was super interesting, had a brilliant spa experience in the sky lagoon, went to the Perlan natural history museum, that was absolutely brilliant. I would like to go back and see the more of the country but in the summer when the weather is less hostile. We also found this amazing bar which was a library/bookstore that played live music every night, a session band of musicians who play alternate nights, and they were very good. That was great craic. It was a memorable trip and I'm lucky to have such a kind fiancée, she well and truly spoiled.
My lovely fiancée Tracey enjoying the hot tub in Nigg.
Yours truly in the Silfra fissure
Hope you're feeling better now. Those things can linger and affect running for a few weeks so take it easy.
Gdawg, hopefully things will settle down for you as we move out of winter and you'll have a nice sudden boost of pace.
NE, sounds a sensible way to run a 20m race. Too many burn their matches on these. I've a 20m race 4 weeks tomorrow. Debating how I tackle it. The one thing in my favour is that I fly to lanzarote 48 hours later for a week so will have an enhanced recovery period.
Gerard, looks like a fantastic trip and a great memory of your 50th. I only recently gained an appreciation of how geographically alone Iceland is. I always had it in my mind that it was north east of Scotland nestled in close to Scandinavia, but it isn't at all.
I didn't realise you were engaged, when did that happen?
Running looks to be going well, despite the weather we are all having!
I've been cracking on this week. Decent session Tuesday, 2m threshold, 5min total recovery then 3 x 7 min at varying paces off 2 min float. In setting up the session on my watch I somehow added in an extra mile after the 5 min gap, but I didn't look at my watch until half way into it to realise I wasn't running 7 mins so ended up with an extra mile at threshold.
12m mlr Wednesday then spin and 8m yesterday. Off out lunchtime for my long run instead on Sunday as wanted to free up time as have family here. 16m mixed pace long pending.
Had a chat with Matt yesterday to agree a few key things to slot in. Am doing a 5k race on evening of 10th April. Its a local flat and fast event, part of a 3 race series. Only ever run a 5k race once, in 2013 I think. Be interesting to see if time of day and the knowledge I'm more invested in it than a parkrun, will drag me to a better time.
Gerard - sounds like a great treat. Happy days. Life is a rollercoaster, good to see yours on the up again.........I had to keep travelling home in the day for the doggy, and couldn't keep going out again around that......back to.normal next week.
DT - going nicely. You'll defo go quicker in a race rather than a parkrun.
Should be back to normal next week, I've been on reduced running for a while now, for knee protection and then the home alone weeks. Hopefully I can put some more marathon specific prep in on some week days for a few weeks now. Got a long run planned for tomorrow.
The morning here was pretty still but the wind seemed to pick up late morning.
16m went well Friday, then just 40 mins s and c yesterday. Today was a continuous 9m tempo, which is the first of those under the new coaching. It looked tough on paper with 4m at mp, 3m at hmp then 2m at threshold.
It turned out being quite tough in reality as well especially with the headwind at various points. 9m (12 with wu and cd) at 6.01mm average and 161 bpm average. 64m for the week.
A nominal cut back next week going into Chippenham 10m. My 10m pb is 59.14 so feeling good for taking that down.