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Good to get those miles in Leslie - they all add up.
Careful G-D - you'll be talking about transition zones before you know it ...
That's really bad news Poacher - but hopefully not as bad as you think and something that will go away quickly. Silly question but are you still able to run/cycle?
Good early miles Birch.
A dangerous venture in to the northern territories PM-J - glad you made it back safely!
Excellent turn of speed at Blaydon OO and fine result.
Gerard - how come my 7:44 m/m 16 mile LSR was too fast whilst you manage a hungover 16.4 miles at 7:41 m/m pace?
Another poor week for me, with work a bit manic post office move. Didn't make it to the mid-week race (a hilly 5 miler) and ended up with two non-running days. So today was just about getting the miles in. Sadly the legs had other ideas and the 16 miles came out at 7:33 m/m. Clearly MP must be c. 6:33!
Need to get back on the training next week. Banbury 5 miles on Tuesday but currently feeling unfit and overweight! I'm sure a couple of beers should help ...
Poacher - gutted for you. Doesn't sound great at all, but I'm obviously expecting a full recovery - don't forget Chandos, Boston 2019, 100th anniversary of Comrades etc etc. I managed to catch the live coverage yesterday just as they were coming up to the 12 hour cutoff - such an incredible event.
Madbark - don't know how you do it, but chapeau sir.
PMJ - good bit of nettle machete-ing there. I had a similar experience on Saturday, but only because I'd missed a turn and had to brave the stingers to get back onto the path.
Good long running from both SBD and GM there, and a blend of cycling and running from G-Dawg.
After a rather odd Mon-Fri (100 mile on the bike and about 4 running due to having a couple of rest days for a variety of reasons), I was out on the hills on Saturday taking in Holmbury Hill and Leith Hill on a rather lumpy 22.5 miler and then followed that up with cycling down to the bike shop to have the brakes looked at and then running the 9.5 miles back while they sorted them. So, about 36 for the week for me.
Commuting run today, followed by Vets League in the evening - think I've put myself down for the 800m and 200m.
Birch - you'll be doing the whole marathon by proxy soon!
GM - nice way to round off the weekend and some good miles there.
GD - good cross training.
Leslie - must be good to see your daughter following in your footsteps.
SBD - that's a speedy 16 miler.
Lorenzo - nice mixture of training. Good luck at the Vets League.
11 miles with 3 x 2M off 1/2M recoveries this morning. Intervals came out at 12:42, 12:34, 12:40. Then 20 mins of core strength work at the office.
Morning all, work and the weekend were very busy so only had time to read as opposed write.
Poacher- Fingers crossed the injury isn't as bad as you seem to think. Did you dragon ride?
Badbark, some excellent exploits again and to pop- up for a 3rd place 10k in the process!!
OO- that is some excellent racing at Blaydon. You are on some proper post marathon form!
Nice long running Gerard.
Good luck tonight, Lorenzo.
Good to get some higher mileage in, PMJ.
Nice long run with your daughter, Birch.
Hopefully you can start building back up now, Stevie.
Not heard from Nicko in a bit?
Gul, good on-going consistency as always.
G-DAWG, great you can just crack out a pretty decent bike distance off no training.
Welsh castles for me yesterday. My race had a 13.50 start and of course it was a warm day (will there ever be ideal racing conditions again??). I had to drive 2 hours to get there, however fortunately my leg was starting from a leisure centre so I actually had some facilities, which is a rare thing in this event.
As soon as I arrived I bumped into a friend of a friend who had gone sub 3 in Manchester for first time. I then saw a guy I recognised who was 2 years above me in school. I sort of knew he ran and was probably a bit better than me, never the less a decent target. My main target was a top 10 finish for first time in this event. Got a 2 mile warm up in then positioned myself in second row.
A group of 5 or 6 went flying off and I debated going with them but with the heat as well, it would have been crazy. After about 400m I was in about 14th place and wasn't feeling great. Not much later a little dog came sprinting passed me and another guy and joined up at with a runner just ahead and stayed with him. I just assumed he was slightly quirky and had brought his dog with him!
Anyway things settled down and I picked a few places back off and the field thinned out. Mile 1 came in at 6.02, which was a little worrying as it was a 7.2 mile race and it was hot. It was slightly downhill though so I let it go. I bashed on but was largely in no mans land now. There were 2 guys and a dog about 100m ahead but that gap seemed insurmountable. There was no one else in sight.
Mile 2 came in at 6.14 followed by a 6.06 mile 3. Suddenly the gap to the guys ahead was closing and this gave me a boost. By mile 4 I had passed 1 and was just behind dog man (6.11). I was basically running at 10k pb pace. Miles 5 and 6 were tough as they were completely open and exposed to the sun and largely climbing. I passed dogman during mile 5 and at the same time some marshalls and he started shouting at them to get rid of the dog. I explained that I thought it was his! Apparently not!
As I passed dogman it seemed the dog preferred my pace and just came with me. Now I had become dogman!!! Mile 5 was 6.39. Now I had this bloody dog racing with me. The nature of the castles relay is that teams follow it along the route and pull over at various points. It was these points whilst I was dogman that were conducive to stopping. Everyone I ran passed were all cheering the man with his dog!!! I went to great efforts to explain it wasn't and that I was concerned it was now 6 miles from home.
Ahead of me from about the start of mile 5 were 2 other runners. I was conscious I was on or around 10th place. One runner was about 100m ahead and the other 150m. The first runner was going backwards and I caught him by 5.5 miles. I thought the dog might stick with him, but no, he stuck with me! Ahead was the guy I went to school with and the gap was closing. Mile 6 was 6.28. The gap seemed too big and I felt like I needed there to be 2 miles left. But I plugged away and picked up my pace. By 6.5 miles I was on his shoulder and then went passed him quite easily. I put a good 10 m between us and then came a massive downhill to the finish area, which arguably gave him a chance, more so than if it had remained flat. I thought I had left him for dust and put in some effort on the downhill with mile 7 coming in at 5.54, just at the bottom of the hill I eased up for some reason and out of nowhere he sprinted passed me. By the time I could respond the finish line was upon us and he beat me by 3 seconds. Pace for that last 0.2 was 5.24mm.
I felt quite happy with my performance with an average pace of 6.13mm. I went through 10k in 38.45 which is my 2nd fastest time on a hot sunny day. More pleasingly I finished in 7th place and ran 30 seconds per mile faster than a very similar leg in 2017. I was only 1 minute off third place so some slight improvements and I could do well in this next year. I was also positionally the third best placed from my club over the 20 legs.
I am not sure what happened to the dog, the marshals got it off the course just before the finish line but someone said it ran away. I hope it is microchipped and someone has the sense to take it to be scanned.
I have the potential of a 5 mile race Wednesday night. My pb for that is 31.10 so slower than yesterdays average pace. I will see how I feel tomorrow morning but it would be good to chalk off a pb for the year.
trust no disqualification for unorthodox pacer .. . although it seems you were pacing the hound, rather than the opposite . . . fingers x'd you carry the form into Wednesday . .
DT - Great report and congratulations on the top 10, especially in the heat! My theory is all this hot running is going to make the autumn marathons a breeze!
Had a really interesting chat with Lewis Moses (Ex UK Indoor 1500m champion) yesterday about coaching. Was a free consultation call and he spent 45 minutes going through what I have been doing and some recommendations. Seemed a really good bloke and our training theories were quite similar. Although I don't think I am going to take up the monthly coaching at the moment its definitely something I might consider in the future.
Hilarious DT- thought you were going to say the dog sprinted past you on the line!
I will have some time free soon Stevie but not sure I'd make a good coach.
Those sociable runs are great Gerard- time and pace skips along much faster.
Good luck at the track Vets League Lorenzo- same here I'm supposed to be doing a 3K but will decide later if I go or rest.
Gul good miles. Nice work GM, GD.
OO - still flying. You are on for a good one at the Coastal.
PMJ that’s horrible. You should also avoid the Round Ripon 35, which features dense fields of maize at least 8ft tall. Agent Orange might be an option.
Thanks for all the good thoughts. Running is out for now. But I did the 95m sportive yesterday - very hot, ridiculously hilly, and far too little in the legs after last week's brutal mara. I almost cracked when the timed hairpin hilly climb (which came after 53m) got up to 22% gradient. Ended in 8hr10 for an 18 minute course PW. Cycling doesn't seem to exacerbate the problem - at least a foot with no feeling can't hurt. Waiting to see the doc again in a few days.
Stevie, yes whilst it is a nuisance, I do think there are some good training adaptions to come out of summer training as you move into cooler conditions.
I've tried virtual/distance coaching before. Did it for 8 weeks but ended up injured. I think there needs to be an element of face to face time.
DT - Great racing and excellent pace too. I'm sorry, but dogs off their leashes do my head in, they are hazards and sometimes just completely uncontrollable.
Poacher - 22% wtf! Incredible effort.
Lorenzo - Nice LR again and good luck with that track double!
Gul - Great early session and core exercises in the office afterwards too! Beast mode!
SBD - Excellent 16! Tbh I was just running to feel and it was mostly very comfy pace except for the last two miles when I started to feel tired. I climbed 1,000 ft too on that run so it must have just been a good day. I lack natural endurance and usually start to get a bad feeling around 15 miles into a longer run. I'll be building up to quite a few long ones this campaign though to address that weakness. And, I will mostly run them to feel with some MP sections later on in the campaign.
Rest day here. Unbelievable performance by Steve Way in the Comrades yesterday. 5:35 and 3rd position. Amazing!
Sorry to read you are benched but can you clarify what you mean by keeping ahead of me in the ‘lunatic stakes’? LOL
I suspect you are trying to reach 100 marathons before me? Sorry, but I’m not in the least bit interested in this race!
I’m enjoying the journey and I’m not trying to get
to 100 quickly. Although, if it makes it easier for you to calculate, I would love to run my
100th marathon in Boston 2020. However, I’ll only start cramming
them in to reach that target if it looks possible 6 months before it.
Poacher - I remember that climb, absolutely brutal. Felt like I wasn't going anywhere for most of it, I think I hit a max HR of 195!
5m tempo tonight at 6.59, quite hard work in the wind and heat but pleased to get it done.
maybe you should concentrate on the track & see just how much quicker you can get
Stevie - sounds a good option, even if not just now. Nice tempo run.
Poacher - great effort at the sportive. Hope that foot is improving.
GM - hadn't heard about Steve Way at Comrades - fantastic!
OO - congrats on the PB - sounds very impressive to me - I make that 5:22m/m!
7 easy miles @ 8:28 first thing and 6 steady miles @ 7:33 to work.
There is a lot of fuss on social media about his even pace but that is a bit about people misreading the data. The results show average speed in two ways, so overall and per split. His overall pace (blue) is between 3:42 and 3:44 per km but the average speed over the splits (green) is a bit more varied. Still, a great run and incredibly well paced to hold it all together and start to wind in the others over the later stages (21st at 44km, then 11th by 57km and 3rd at the end) and he was 2nd fastest overall on the last two splits.
Stevie nice fast tempo
0054 So close to a sub 10 ,practice makes perfect
DT 10k in 38 is great running ,good k9 assisted pacing.
GUL nice fast finish mlr.
Great run from Steve way, haven't heard much about him for a while now , cracking effort for an oldie !
Badbark Id imagine 100 won't be the end of your mara running !
Club session 4x 0.9m laps with 90 secs static recovery ,pace about 6:40 and very consistent.All the fasties racing tonight again so nobody to chase before nightshift starts (3rd)
10 miler booked for 2 weeks thursday but its in middle of nightshifts so I could be sh*te.
Leslie - good consistent reps. You might surprise yourself in the 10 miler.
9 miles with 12 x 300m (4 sets of 3x300m off 100m recoveries with 400m in between) this morning. Mrs GD was off early to Norwich today, so had to pop home at 7 miles for a wake-up call and then did a couple of extra miles warm-down. Then took Miss GD the younger to school (she's also off to Norwich!) and just did 20 mins of core strength work in the office.
Poacher – Glad to read you are not racing to 100 marathons - get well soon
Stevie- Nice tempo session
OO – You are a speed machine! You can run 3k at a faster pace than my 1 mile PB.
Leslie – Great session. Good luck in the Round the Bridges 10 miler!
Gul – Another great session
I ran 9 miles including 5 x 1 mile efforts this morning. I’m happy to have managed my fastest average of 6:06 m/m pace for the year. Especially considering the 33 miler banked on Saturday. I’m peaking nicely before the 24 hr in 10 days.
I’ve discovered a new motivational hero – David Goggins – Check him out in Youtube
Plenty of elevation and loads of nettles on the narrow path to distract me from the continual inclines. Plenty of road either side of the hills too which helped get the average pace to 7.20.
Will get out tonight for another 5 but then working in Dublin for the next two days, so no running, just Guinness.
Only running 20 miles this week before campaign commencement in Monday.
G-Dawg - I'm not at all envious of your 2 dayer in Baile Átha Cliath!
Leslie - Building nicely. Good luck for your 10 miler. Paced right it could be good.
Badbark - Looking sharp!
Getting some runs in here but not feeling too sharp but I guess that's to do with the big increase in mileage. 5k on lunch yesterday @ 6:44mm, felt hard. 4.4 miles today on lunch with a pal at a steadier rate of 7:22mm, it was so warm out there, lovely day for running. Then 4 miles tonight on my local hilly route in 6:30mm pushing the pace on the way back and only managing to hot 5:4x for the last mile which is considerably slower than about a month ago but it's all good training. Hoping for a 10 miler easy tomorrow evening.
Got just over 5 miles in on the trails tonight, flat course but uneven unferfoot. Felt good and registered 6.44 pace.
Now, off to Dublin 'cos GM is making me drink black fuel for him. #TeamPlayer
I agree on Steve Way, amazing for a guy of his age! I heard him on Marathon Talk and was amazed how low his HR was at 6mim/mile pace. He is a machine
Don't overdo the black stuff G-D. Speedy miles on the trails.
Good mileage building Gerard - remind me why you're increasing the mileage?
Good return to form PMJ - you'll be knocking out 6 minute miles before you know it.
Good speedwork Badbark - what's the upcoming 24 hour race?
I'm beginning to hear Comrades calling my name ...
Good interval sessions from Gul and Leslie.
Banbury 5 miles Tuesday evening, Race 5 of the East Midlands Grand Prix. Another undulating course with a testing hill at mile 2.5. The age category for last week's race, which I missed, was won by a speedy Dutchman with Bedford Man (who beat me at Silverstone) a distant second. Speedy Dutchman is in a class of his own but my aim was to at least beat Bedford Man, assuming he made an appearance, With five minutes to go, he strolled past me at the start line, clearly checking me out but at the same time feigning indifference! I returned the favour by lining up behind him and keeping him in my sights as everyone sprinted off up the initial climb. My plan was to keep him in my sights for the initial couple of miles and then make a move on the long hill.
I went past him just after 1 mile, he then caught and passed me just after 2 miles, I made a move towards the top of the steep hill at 3 miles but then he managed to claw his way back and sprint away on the next downhill to retain a small lead at the top of the final climb with just over a mile to go. I had run out of matches at this point and was just trying not to let the gap between us increase, The pace picked up towards the finish but despite the frequent backward checks from Bedford Man I couldn't rally a sprint finish that would close the gap, Crossed the line 7 seconds behind Bedford Man, 60th place overall and 2nd in age group
A good workout, but disappointing to have let Bedford man beat me. Three races left in the series and we both have two victories to our names. I need to work on my speed before the next race, a hilly 10K, which is in 2 weeks time.
Thought about doing an interval session yesterday but the legs still a bit tight after Tuesday so just did a 11 mile easy run on the treadmill.
I’m in Swiss at a loose end before my flight home later. Stupidly left my trainers at the office yesterday otherwise could have sneaked a run.
Yesterday was the first of several retirement meals- I’ll have to watch my waistline
Keep eating, OO. You'll have plenty if time to run it off in retirement.