RW Forum Six – Sub 3.30

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  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    Well you sound chipper Angela, look forward to reading about it later.



    I agree about the eye Sarah, but we had a real laugh tell ing Mrs P it was going to go upside down at the top. She is SO scared of heights, after umpteen trips to Paris we finally went to the top of he Eiffel Tower last year and she was just gibberingimage



    Then we went to st Paul's in the summer and climbed to the top up really skeletal spiral staircases, she hates me for it but I can't help it image



    Actually st Paul's might not be a bad idea? You don't have to go up to the whispering gallery, there is plenty to see without overworking your legs and you're in the right end of London. Did you say where your hotel is. I can't remember?
  • Hi Malcs, how was the foot today and how was minni rugby (and what does that involve)?



    I did a similar distance to you today but much, much slower...but that wasnt planned so dont worry.



    I think your idea of the natural history and science museums and going around the greenwich area sound more up my street than Mrs Malcs suggestion, but I know friends who would prefer your wife's suggestions. I loved Tower of London. I went there about 2 years ago with my mum and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were there for hours. My dad and chris have never been so it would be nice to show them the place. I also have a thing for bridges, so going to the exhibition in tower bridge might be a good idea. Im worried that the natural history and science museum may involve too much time on my feet and my mum didnt seem to like the idea of pushing me around in a wheel chair!
  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    Sorry Sarah x-post.



    Run went well, very very windy, but I felt quite comfortable. My knee was hurting so I shortened it to 11 and a bit, average pace was 8.27



    I think I need to pin the belt to my shorts on raceday, with six gels it was riding down my hips and driving me mad, but it is comfortable and because the gels are behind me my arms don't catch the tops of the gels as they do on my old one.



    I will mostly be having the lasagne I think, there is a discount code on their website for 3 courses@12.95 so that will be me I think. Our elder son and his girlfriend are coming he will be necking Peroni no doubt.



    There is a hotel round the corner form ours with a rooftop bar with amazing views of the city skyline all round, I will take them all there and buy them something sophisticated while I sip my mineral water image
  • Hi Puffy...Poor Mrs P. I dont think I would have gone on it if I had been told it went up side down. I love roller coasters and things that go upside down (half due to the adrenaline that you get from it), but the london eye goes so slow I really dont think I would have felt safe.



    Eiffel tower is quite scary at the top although im glad that I went up it. The thing I hated the most was the lift...I kept my eyes closed all the way up. Im sure the tower was swaying abit aswell. The duomo in Florence is the scariest thing ive gone up...felt so unsafe, all the metal barriers were rusty and looked like they would disintigrate if you touched them! I did a sky dive 2 years ago to try to get over my fear of heights...it didnt work!



    Ive never been in St. Paul's....I will look into it, thankyou
  • You will be laughing in the morning though Mr P when they all have a thick head from the peroni and you will be as fresh as anything!! Were staying at Hilton on edgware road so not too far from places.



    Sounds like you had a good run despite the knee. Do you think it will be ok? On our run we were ok for the first hour but after that it got quite windy.



    I have a small bum bag for next week, its strange as the first time I tried to wear it it was very uncomfortable and kept riding up, however ever since its been great, touch wood
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Sarah - foot was pretty much fine thanks. My boots don't have any support in them to so to have virtually no issues in crap footwear is a good sign.

    The mini rugby is not for me. The mini refers to the clientele ie. mini people - more commonly refered to as children image  I help with the coaching for the under 11's. Best weather we've had all season but I have to say I hope it's nothing like this in Wales next week.

    sarah osborne wrote (see)
    I did a similar distance to you today but much, much slower...but that wasnt planned so dont worry.

    You pre-empted my panic well thereimage  How come it was so slow?

    I tried to go slow but couldn't get slower than 8:40 pace. Felt ok. Don't think I over exerted myself.

    I guess any tourist thing you do will involve time on your feet. If you pick one where there are more cafes, restaurants and the like then at least you can have some long rests.

    Maybe your mum could get a giant baby carrier and wear you on her front? I'm sure that wouldn't look too odd.image

    Angela - sorry to hear that the race wasn't as you hoped but then any training race where you learn alot surely has to be a good thing? You don't want to do all your learning on your proper race day.

  • Training Diary for Forum 6 sub 3:30 (VLM)



    Week 15 (day 104) aim; 8-10 miles easy



    The running club came through to my mums today, so whilst my parents took the walkers on a 2 hour walk, I was given the job of taking the runners on a steady run.



    Minni had said to take it easy and to be honest thats what I did. I dont think I broke a sweat and I had a good old natter with everyone without feeling short of breath.



    I took them on a course which could be cut short at several points just incase anyone was suffering. This was lucky as at 5 miles one person had had enough so I took them back and then at 8 miles the others were tiring so I finished the run at 9.15 miles.



    I was quite surprised by everyone as we had been running slow and I didnt think the course was particular hard, however afterwards I was told that there were a few tough hills (which I hadnt thought were actually that bad), so I am now feeling quite positive about my fitness.



    I only looked at the paces for the first two miles, these were 9:00 min/mls and then 8:30 min/mls, the rest were much slower.



    My average pace was 10 min/mls overall which was very slow and steady. I almost feel like I havent even run. A week before VLM though I see this as a positive...bring on the marathon..im ready!!
  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    That's a proper hotel! I have been there for a conference/seminar thingy a few years ago, I love the big pull in off the road, very Dallas.



    Our French teacher at school told us the Tower does indeed sway, and I think it grows when its hot too.



    So what is everyone doing this week? I think a few miles on Tuesday and Thursday for me.
  • just have to nip to meadowhall...will be back in an hour or so to reply Malcs
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Mr P - what belt have you gone for? I use a High5 and it has been great but it's elasticated (is yours?) and so too much weight can make it can slide down a bit. A tighten usually solves that.

    I just bought a new one to try. I don't think I'll use it for the marathon but it looks promising for the future. I wanted to have a pouch so that I could put the handed out water bottles somewhere. I want to drop nuun tabs in so I can't just throw the bottle away. Not too keen on holding stuff while I run either.

    The belt system is called Run & Move and it's a configurable one. So you can add and remove pockets, gel clips, bottle holders etc. Got it from Wiggle. It's alot more substancial than my current belt so it's more bulky. I think it needs to be though so it can handle all the kit. It's only partially elasticated so it sits better when you have more weight on it. Haven't run with it yet but I'll try it on one of my midweek jogs.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭
    I've got a hi five one but all the "slots " are on one side, so I got a SIS one with four each side of a little pouch. It,is elasticated but it wont go tight enough. I have a Nathan water bottle belt too, but I won't use that in the race, I really could do with an all in one solution!
  • Apologies for rambling.... But here's my write up of the race:





    So today was always going to be tough. The anniversary of my father's death, and the night before I spent the night with him in the hospital. So. Of course I had a fairly sleepless night. Didn't help that the hotel was full of what seemed to be teenagers running up and down the corridors.



    I figured one bad night wouldn't hurt the race and I really wanted to try for a pb, even though the sensible people on the forum had suggested marathon pace.



    When I got to the park, there was an almighty queue. I couldn't believe this! This was for baggage drop. Having done VLM I didn't think bag drop was supposed to be a hard thing. Took half an hour to drop mine off. The guys behind me were doing the 10k that started 10 minutes earlier. They were still queuing when the gun went off!



    I managed to just about drop my bag off before the start- 8:40, the same pronounced time of death for dad. I needed the loo, but there was a great big q at the portapotties too- often when I need to pee befor a race it's nerves and goes away, so thought I'd chance it, but I had consumed about a litre of fluid in the 90 mins before, so probably would be wise to go.



    The race started late! According to my garmin 8:54 is when I crossed the line.



    So, by the time I crossed the line I was already grumpy that I'd queued and got cold to drop my bag, I didn't go to the loo, the race started late, meaning I would be late to meet my family for lunch, and didn't have a chance for a warm up.



    I started off at what u thought was a conservative pace, but when I looked down it was in the low 8s... I slowed through the course of the first mile, but was still significantly faster than marathon pace, so I thought why not take this at half marathon pace and see if I can get a good time, after all its a pretty flat course. Mile 2 and I was even faster... Mile 3 and the clouds went away, wow, I was getting hot, but luckily there was a water station. Well there were tables with packs of water bottles piled up behind and no marshals to be seen 'you've gotta be f***ing kidding!, I decided to help the other runners by lifting a case onto the table so at least they didn't ALL have to crouch down. This was the last straw in my mental resolve to go at half marathon pace, as I lost a bit of time again, so I decided I would drop down to mara pace. Miles 4-5 and I was feeling liquid sloshing around- I had to stop to pee- got to the second set of portaloos on the course and stopped to wait- thought it odd with a relatively small field that there would be a queue. A girl standing there said she hadn't seen anyone come out of them- someone else was asking the marshal and we quickly deduced they were all LOCKED! Seriously, could anything else go wrong with this race?



    I decided that I would hold it in a bit longer and hopefully I would be able to go when I passed on the way back. Luckily I could, and well, there was a lot of liquid, so glad I did go, and I don't think it lost me too much time.



    Aft this I got a new wind and thought I would do another 3 miles at half pace, but it got so hot I just couldn't cope at that speed, and to add insult to injury, or to add injury to a crappy mental state, I started to get chaffing between my legs. I thought I'd seen St. John's ambulance, my next focus was to find Vaseline.... Clearly I had been spoilt by London marathon again, expecting this... Alas it was nowhere to be seen. The pain of the chafe brought me to a walk several times- important lesson, no matter how warm it is I always need Lycra on my upper legs- this has happened to a lesser extent before, and I wouldn't want this to happen at all during the marathon.



    As time went on, the pain seemed to ease, and by about 18km I thought I can deal with this
  • I get it now, Malcs...for a minute there I thought you were playing on mini pitches and using mini balls....(no common sense sometimes).



    I took the club running and they are much slower than me. I didnt use to notice it so much last year, but this year I certainly have, although I guess it depends on who attends the runs.



    I dont mind carrying water around with me, its like a security blanket for me, I would much prefer to carry a bottle of water knowing im not going to suffer from dehydration that not and panic all the way around a run. In fact I have a bottle of water with me no matter what im doing.



    hehe, that would be a sight....my mums smaller than me!
  • As time went on, the pain seemed to ease, and by about 18km I thought I can deal with this to the end and ought to speed up a bit, I did want to go at marathon pace but I didn't want my second slowest half marathon time because of it! Should speed up here. I decided I would set myself some medal challenges, given we had a brief glimpse of the Olympic park. Bronze was to pass 10 runners, silver to pass 20 and gold to pass 30. Rules: people who stopped to walk didn't count, and if someone overtook me that didn't mean a negative. This seemed to work as I didn't stop to walk again and gave me a focus aside from the chaffing.



    I managed to pass 30 With still half a mile to go. I don't remember if I managed to pass anyone else.



    Crossed the finish in 2:05:33 according to the results. Got my medal and a mini bottle of water and a banana, and YAY another 30 minute queue for my bag! Nightmare!



    Anyway here are the splits:



    Mile 1: 9:08

    Mile 2: 8:45

    Mile 3: 8:55

    Mile 4: 9:15

    Mile 5: 9:17

    Mile 6: 11:08 (maybe this was toilet break)

    Mile 7: 9:16

    Mile 8: 9:18

    Mile 9: 9:56

    Mile 10: 10:17 (ow chaffing hurts)

    Mile 11: 10:04

    Mile 12: 8:58

    Mile 13: 8:58

    Mile 13.2 well not a mile but pace: 8:54



    Average pace 9:29mm



    As you can see my pacing was really erratic. Secretly happy that I managed that many sub 9mm a week after my 20 mile run, but I don't think I used this race the right way, though I guess I did test myself in the heat.
  • Haha, we stayed there last year as well Mr P.....its torture not being able to eat the full cooked breakfast on race day...and this year I cant have it on the saturday morning either if I follow Ruth's advice!



    I think im going to do my weights and a 3 mile run in the morning with some strides and then a 5 mile race on wed, which I will be running 3 x miles at MP with a slower w/u / c/d mile either side ....just need to confirm this with Minni first though.



    How many miles are you doing?
  • The organisation of your race sounded horrendous angela...I think I would be emailing them about it tonight. Thats rubbish and not a good way to start a race and to have locked toilets and water bottles not being handed out on course is just torture. Was it an expensive race?



    I think you did brilliantly to keep the paces that you did considering all the hurdles that you had to make. If you hadnt stopped for a toilet break aswell (which turned out to be a standing around break due to poor management), your overall time and pace would have been much better.



    As I said above, even though it wasnt the best half you have done, im sure you have learnt alot from it so it wont happen again, especially on marathon day.



    How has the rest of your day gone? I hope you have been ok and you've managed to spend some quality time with your family to help remember your father.
  • Hey Sarah..........that's torture not being able to take advantage of the cooked breakfast! It was the same for me last week as well with my buffet breakfast.....so much good food, but so little I could actually eat!

    I did a 5 miler in the week leading up to my marathon with the middle 3 at MP, like you're planning on doing, but I think I did mine on the Tuesday. 

    When are you heading to the VLM Expo? I'm going to make a quick hop across to the Expo on Friday as I'd like to ask a few questions at the Comrades stand.

    I hope you have a nice easy last week!

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Crikey Angela! I looked at the website earlier, and tbh it was barely literate. I think you'll be stronger for the experience, and I bet your dad would have been proud of you.

    Sarah, I will do prob 2 fives, our club nights are Monday, which is rest now after today's efforts, and Thursday's route is a quite hard seven miles so I will skip that too.

    But I would be quite happy not to run at all now, I feel ready to go image

     

  • Hiya Sarah,



    Hmm, I don't have the energy to complain- just wont do it again. It was clearly organised and marshalled by people who don't run, unfortunately. Can't remember the cost I think around ??25. I was expecting a lot for that money- Colchester half was cheaper- no bag drop, but I still left my bag in the stadium- I guess they need to be more concerned with security in east london than Colchester, but still it's not like I had diamonds and rubies in my bag!



    I think I was asking too much of myself to even consider an Angela half marathon worthy time, what's good is other than the chaffing my legs just feel like they do after a long run, not after a race.. I can still do stairs for example! I have part of my hamstring threatening to cramp though, which I'm actually quite happy about as for a long time I was barely using them whilst running. My quads are completely fine image



    Rest of the day ws nice. We had a lamb roast dinner, dad's favourite meal, and a ginger cake I made for dessert, his favourite too. We all shared memories of him. One of mine was after I did VLM in 2011- dad was in between phases of chemo, but of course I could barely walk- legs had seized up having lunch in KFCimage . As we were walking back to my sisters flat I was holding my dads arm whilst I walked. He made the comment to all the family that it made him feel quite young! image. It was really nice that he came to watch and could still manage a day walking around London then. image
  • Hi Ady....its going to hurt more seeing my dad and chris eating it aswell in front of me!!



    We are going to the expo as soon as we get down to london on the friday, probably at around 3-4 o'clock...I will look out for you just incase. Do you know what time you will be there at?



    Hows your legs this week? Have you done any running at all?
  • Im glad that you feel ready too Mr P....that makes at least 2 of us....bring on the big one!



    I feel happy about the 5 on wednesday now knowing that you and Ady did the same.
  • It sounds like you have still managed to have a nice day remembering your father which is lovely. Thats such a happy memory to keep hold of and I feel honoured that you shared it with us, thankyou.



    Are you planning on doing much running this week, especially with your legs feeling better that expected?



    When do you go away, must be soon now?
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭
    sarah osborne wrote (see)
    I took the club running and they are much slower than me. I didnt use to notice it so much last year, but this year I certainly have, although I guess it depends on who attends the runs.

    I dont mind carrying water around with me, its like a security blanket for me, I would much prefer to carry a bottle of water knowing im not going to suffer from dehydration that not and panic all the way around a run. In fact I have a bottle of water with me no matter what im doing.

    Sorry - I think we may have x-posted before. I saw from your write up why you were slower image

    I agree with you on the water and if it'd between carrying it and not I would always carry. I just prefer to go hands free if I can.

    Ady - If I had more time I'd pop over for a nosey myself. Would have been great to meet up again but sadly time is going to be too tight. 

    Angela - glad to hear that you managed to see the day out in such a nice way. 

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Mr P - I know what you mean. I have an Adidas water flask belt but sometimes I only want to take one flask or just a pouch which is why this bolt on system sounded quite good. I'll let you know how I get on with this belt then.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    I was just looking at it on Wiggle, certainly appears to be a very flexible system.  a bit pricey if you had all the attachments but one thing I've noticed with running stuff is it lasts for ever, so if it works I'm happy to invest.

     

  • Hi Mr P- mad isnt it! Tbh I hadn't heard of tessa Sanderson, but figured if an Olympian was putting her name on the event it had to be good. I've been spoiled with well organised local races recently.



    Malcs, I've never manage to find the right 'carriage' for marathon fuel and drink. I wasn't going to use a camelback for my marathon but after today I think I might just...



    Sarah, plan for this week is stick to the plan- a 20 miler on Sunday and shorrter runs midweek. After this week, I taper! - we go away on Thursday image
  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    I know a bloke who used to go out with Tessa sanderson but she chucked himimage

     

  • MinniMinni ✭✭✭

    Angela - boy that race does sound so disorganised!  Its shocking - they're quick enough to take our money but then treat the runners like that.  Your splits are a bit all over the place but that is understandable. I reckon on a different day (in a diferent race) it would have ended in a nice pb.

    Sarah - perfect run today and nice to have a natter.  How are you feeling about this week?  I will be doing 4 x 1m @ MP on Wednesday with short recoveries.

    I'll be at the expo on Friday afternoon too.  Text me when you're there and we could say hi.

    Yes I had another fall yesterday and landed on my already damaged shin.  image  However, the bottle of white wine and half a bottle of port last night made me forget about it! image

     

  • No worries Malcs....im sat here feeling all excited about VLM now...I cant wait!
  • Hi Angela...sounds like you have a nice holiday run planned...you will certainly get to do some exploring running 20 miles at your temporary holiday home! Are you looking forward to the taper?
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