Paris marathon 2013 here we go! A.W's Sub 3 attempt!

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  • Big week Choisty, nice one. Have you been running many 100+ weeks in your build up? Were you running those sort of miles last year?

    Do you use Monday as a rest day or easy day too Steve?

  • I was a little apprehensive before today's 400's, the last time I did them was when we had lots of snow and following the session I started having my tendinitis problems in my foot. So was hoping this kind of fast session wouldn't set it off again.

    It was a good session, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of reaction from my foot. Hopefully that's all behind me now, and it will keep improving as it has been.

    I felt really good today, and feel I'm having a good spell of training. My legs had plenty of go in them and I managed quicker reps than I did the last time I did 400's and recovered quicker also.

    Total of 9 miles today in 1.06.15 with 16 x 400's starting every 2 minutes.

    Splits from today - 1.14, 1.16, 1.12, 1.16, 1.13, 1.08, 1.15, 1.14, 1.17, 1.13, 1.13, 1.16, 1.14, 1.19, 1.13, 1.16.

    Maybe not the most consistent reps, but I'm happy with them.

  • very good  reps - apart from the pacing! presume not on track though which are probably better to monitor speed and ensure consistency.

     

    Yes I Usually have an easy Monday though normally run more than a mile but more needed after 24 Sunday

  • Yep your right Steve, not on a track so difficult to get consistency in distance. I think my effort was pretty consistent though, and still an improvement in pace on the last lot of 400's.

  • AW good reps 400s are hard for marathon runners and a 68 is v impressive, I always dread that session.



    I built up to the long week with a 96 & 92 and last year my max was 97 by mistake should been 82 but I just ran extra without thinking!



    I like Mondays for tempo but I do my long run on Saturday with rest Sunday



    Today was 10 easy in 1:08 feeling fresh
  • Very good mileage Choisty. I don't intend going over 80 a week this campaign.

    I also did the 16 x 400s but a lot, lot slower than AW though on the track though last one was 10 seconds quicker than the first 15.

     

  • Great session AW and very consistantly fast!

    Nice track session Steve.

    That's a big weekly mileage Choisty - don;t know howyou cram it in. But I know where ther is a will there is always a way.

    10 miles tonight with 5 x 1 mile reps round the local park in 6.12, 6.08, 6.05, 6.04 & 6.00. The park is very open and the cross wind seemed to be in my face for most of it.

  • I think that 68 was probably short Choisty, I'm not sure I could have pulled one that quick out the bag in the middle of the session!? Big few weeks for you.

    Nice session too Steve, the biggest factor in me not getting to the track more often is work (I work a lot of evenings) and I find I train better in the morning. I also know the later I leave it in the day to train, the more obstacles there are and the less likely I am to get my training done.

    Good reps KR, the one element I really dont like is wind! Its funny how whichever way you run it seems to blow in your face!!!!

  • Just a quick post of todays run. Been a monster of a day, soooo busy! Had to combine my run with nipping home to give my dogs a walk. So ran a loop home, walked/ran my dogs then ran the 3 miles back to work!

    12 miles total at 7.11 a mile, so just over 1.26 for the run. A good run, legs took a couple of miles to wake up, but comfortable enough.

  • AW - Yes good to get them out of the way if it suits but an occasional track session could help for monitoring pace as agree the 68 must have been short unless you are in 32 10k shape!

    Interesting how Garmin's not great on bends on track though as the average distance on each of my reps was 412m and I rarely had to stray into lane two.

    Solid mile reps KR - my 400s were not good at all apart from the last one and I was generally 3-4 seconds down on the group I would consider to be similar 5k/10k ability. However of late my Tuesday sessions due to mixture of the long runs and Monday and Tuesday being my busiest work days and short of sleep have meant they have been very poor and my Thursday morning group sessions have been better.

  • solid 12 AW - good pace there - I don't think I could run that quick unless I was racing. 

    - I did a very sluggish off-road 13 averaging around 8:40 but harder first four averaged about 9:40 - at one stage turned ankle badly on a big stone and fell in a heap in mud and was worried but was able to jog after a few minutes and then was ok.  

  • 400m reps, eek! My session last night was 3 x 1.75 miles, which I feel much more at home with. It's my favourite of the rep sessions we do. They came out at 10.54, 10.38, 10.38. I desperately wanted the last one to be the fastest, but it wasn't to be. At least, not on the coach's stopwatch. On my Garmin the pace was 1 second per mile fasterimage

  • CC2 If garmin says it was quicker, it was! - you did a good endurance session and held pace well on second two reps and it's obviously more relevant for distance running than 400s but like to feel 400s (and even occasional 200s) sharpens the legs up to help 5K speed and there is a knock on effect through 10K and half-marathon and eventually that even gives a small benefit to the marathon. 

  • Good session CC2, I agree with Steve, go with Garmin!!!

    Hope the ankle is ok Steve.

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭

    Hi all,

    Sorry been a bit AWOL this past few weeks but have been lurking and delighted with your progress Alex. I have struggled a bit with family/work but managed most of the key sessions. Then this week went down with a cold but ran this morning and felt good and even set a 45 second PB for my 4.5 mile loop which I've been running for 9 years!

    I'm at the Surrey Spitfire 20 on Sunday. Are you still doing this AW?

  • Hey DS2, its hard to fit 'normal life' in sometimes when marathon training, especially at this sort of time when the sessions are heavy and the mileage high! It sounds like your running well and getting quicker so the hard works paying off!



    I'm not going to be at Spitfire now. Having missed Wokingham after being ill, Steve thinks I'll benefit more from a fast HM. So I was going to do Lydd, but completely forgot about another commitment, so that only left this weekend. Meaning Spitfire had to go and I'm travelling to Berkamstead for a half!
  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭

    Oh, that's a shame but sounds sensible. Good luck at Berkhamstead!

    I have been going pretty well and I'm beginning to feel like a proper runner again. I still have more than 10 weeks until my marathon so just about to start improving the LT (hopefully). I feel good about my endurance base so, hopefully, I can improve the speed a bit and 3:15 should be possible as long as I keep progressing.

    I've really enjoyed following your progress and have to be careful not to get frustrated to be so much slower than you, but I think it's fair to say you are very well placed for well inside sub 3 and that's not where I am, currently.

  • DS2 - It seems like you too are in a good place to get 3.15, with 10 weeks still there's loads of time to push on and get some more speed. But it sounds like your getting quick as it is, setting a course PB and all!?

    Had a reasonable run today, felt really good at the start but as the pace intensified I started to feel yesterdays effort in my legs towards the end. I tried to be vigilant and really control my pace as the last few build up runs I've over cooked too early.

    As normal I took the last 2 miles as a cool down.

    Splits - 7.54, 7.39, 7.18, 6.50, 6.40, 6.23, 6.05 and cool down - 6.55, 7.05

    Day off tomorrow, then training day 2 up in Birmingham Saturday which I'm looking forward to catching up with the other guys and all the experts. Hoping nothing too difficult is in store for us given the HM the day after!?

  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭

    Another good session there AW. I especially liked the cool down miles!image

    Enjoy Saturday but most of all run well Sunday. Are you looking at a PB?

    It was nice to set that course PB this morning - always nice to see some improvement and it certainly wasn't flat out.

  • I will have a chat with Steve on Saturday and decide how to play the HM then. The plan for Wokingham was a steady first few, progress the pace until 10 miles then blast the last 3 hard. If that went to plan it worked out sub 1.22 which would be a PB.

    But its not as fast a course, so will wait and see!

  • AndyVAndyV ✭✭✭

    Hi All

    Just checking in. Interesting to read Steve's comments on Garmins and bends. I'm racing Silverstone half this weekend which is quite a twisty series of loops around the main track. In my last two attempts I've found it comes in noticeably longer than 13.1m on the Garmin.  Hammy allowing (much better) I'm hoping to dip under 90 (pb87) which I suspect will require a c6.42mm pace on the Garmin instead of the official 6.52mm pace for 13.1m.

  • Great 12 miler yesterday AW - a good overall pace. And another good progressive run tonight. Funny how the cool down miles after a bit of pace both feels easy and a lot slower, bit in reality still reasonably quick.
    Good to hear from you again DS2, 10 weeks sounds a long time!
    Good luck at Silverstone Andy.
    I don't trust gamins around tracks for the pace, but more for actual time. You can work out pace from that.
    Had a good run tonight. 8 miles mixed up with different paces. Easy, MP, HMP, MP, 10k, easy, MP, easy and splits came out at 7.54, 7.10, 6.26, 7.08, 6.15, 7.20, 7.10, 7.43.

  • Excellent runs AW and KR but AW note those cool down miles should be nearer 8 than 7!

    Saturday session has been softened so shouldn't affect Sunday HM too much

    sure you will break 90 if hamstring ok Andy

  • The latest instalment today in my quest for a medical certificate for the Paris marathon! After having my ECG and blood test 3 weeks ago, I finally got a call to say the ECG results had come back but the doctor needed to see me about it!?

    As you could imagine this got me a little worried, I had fears of them telling me some awful news meaning more tests and no certificate!

    They originally wanted to give me an appointment next week, but I managed to persuade them to squeeze me in today as it was important that I had the results sooner rather than later!

    As it turns out the cardiologist flagged my results because my heart rate was so slow, after seeing and speaking to me the doctor realised the slow heart rate (it was 36 bpm at the ECG!) was a result of my fitness and not a problem!

    I'm now breathing a huge sigh of relief and now have my medical certificate signed!

  • AW

    A doctor once asked a group of students what might be wrong with me as i had a resting heart rate of 35 (when I was a fit runner!) and all sorts of medical guesses where made including, I think, a heart pacer but they never guessed it could be do with fitness. It perhaps goes to show now rare they see fit people!

    I won't be there tomorrow but best of luck on Sunday.

    Ruth

  • Hi Alex,

    I know I am a bit late to join the thread but I have been following with interest as I too am going for a sub 3 hour. My planned marathon is not until the first weekend in June so I am only on week 3 in my build-up. The advice from Steve and Ruth has been invaluable so far, as have the comments from the other runners.

    Good luck with the rest of your training. I don't know how you find the time to put in all those miles!!

  • RUTH MCKEAN wrote (see)

    AW

    A doctor once asked a group of students what might be wrong with me as i had a resting heart rate of 35 (when I was a fit runner!) and all sorts of medical guesses where made including, I think, a heart pacer but they never guessed it could be do with fitness. It perhaps goes to show now rare they see fit people!

    I won't be there tomorrow but best of luck on Sunday.

    Ruth

    I think doctors are used to seeing unhealthy, ill people. Realistically, if you were fit and healthy why would you go to the doctors? They aren't used to fit peeps!

    Good luck for your training day tomorrow AW and also for your half on Sunday. Know you will give it a good blast!

  • Hi Ruth, shame you couldn't make training day 2 today. Looking forward to seeing the menu choices for Paris!! I am busy trailing carbo load take 2 as last time I was ill and couldn't run my half! Hopefully I will get to start tomorrows race!



    Hi R.H, all the experts advice has been priceless. Its been great to have their support and input. Good luck with your training too!



    Thanks KR, training day 2 was really good. I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow, I was so disappointed to miss the last half in Wokingham.
  • I'm just on the train home from training day 2! As always its been a really good day and great to meet up with the whole Asics Target 26.2 team again.



    Today's session was a real test of pacing and it was interesting meeting with Victor the sports psychologist and as always Sarah the physio and her healing hands! We had lots of photos and video done with the guys from Runnersworld, all in all a great day.



    Steve and Sam went a bit easy on us today with the running as me, Ady and Sarah all have races tomorrow, so we got out of the 5k time trial which was planned for the second half of the session. The first part of the session remained the same and was a test of our ability to pace ourselves well.



    We went down to the canal where Steve and Sam had measured out a one mile stretch. The first goal was to run a mile out and a mile back at marathon pace we could use our GPS for this. We then had to take our GPS off and pace the two miles ourselves by feel. This could have gone very wrong, but thankfully I didn't do too bad a job. The first two miles I ran 6.50 average pace, the second time without GPS I ran 6.30 average pace! I was meant to be at 7.00 m/m first time (kind of going easy as I have the HM tomorrow) and 6.40 second time, so was about 10 seconds quick both times which I guess isn't too bad.



    For the second part of the session we went over to the track, the goal here was one mile running the straights at HM pace the bends at MP. I didn't use my GPS at all during this and I ran way to quick, it felt pretty easy though so thought I must be about right on pace. I finished the mile in 5.49, it didn't feel anywhere near as fast as that!?



    Anyway, another good session done and really looking forward to Berkhamstead Half tomorrow. Back to carb loading practice!
  • Stumbled across the thread here today as been confined to a day indoors with a bad cold.

    very interesting reading as I am also trying to get round in less than 3 hours. I have only run one marathon before (12 years ago in 3:22) and after that unpleasant experience I swore id never to run a marathon again but this autumn I was searching for a challenge to try and help get me back in shape over winter and signed up for the Paris Marathon.

     

    Massively impressed with your training and dedication AW, very consistent and quick would have thought you must be on for a time quite a bit less than the 3 hour mark.

    I did have a question if anyone has any advice regarding the priority slots at Paris. I did the half marathon at Dorney Lake a couple of weeks back in 1:21:15 and saw some reference to sub 1:22 being able to get in the priority pen... I couldnt find any reference on the website so how can I go about getting in there?

    I was thinking it would be an advantage to get a clear run at the feed stations along the route. Anyone got any experiences of being in it or will I be able to find some space after a few miles regardless of where I start?

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