My Turn ... Running Down A Dream
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@Bones said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
@voodoo said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
@Bones what are you doing in a marathon thread bro? 😬
The same thing you do in rugby threads 😬
That's just mean
Really mean
It's even worse when you can probably extend the sentiment to politics, cooking, cricket, and actually anything relating to exercise.
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@voodoo said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
@Bones said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
@voodoo said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
@Bones what are you doing in a marathon thread bro? 😬
The same thing you do in rugby threads 😬
That's just mean
Really mean
It's even worse when you can probably extend the sentiment to politics, cooking, cricket, and actually anything
relating to exercise.That's me.
But hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You're like the "go-to-guy" for anything Palmy related! Or is that @Nepia ?
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And it’s off.
Can apply to defer to October 21, April 22 or April 23. I’ll be 45 by the last one so who knows. There is a virtual one but I’ll see how I go after a spate of recent injuries. Might be nice to train up and push for a slow 4:40 one or something. I’m a very long way behind where I need to be for a good time.
I must say, even after I saw this coming a mile away and also had some good oil on it ... I’m completely gutted. We had a lot of cool stuff going on this year and I’ve been ok with losing that. I’ve honestly thought I’m better off (Covid-wise) than many and kept spirits up. But this has killed all of that.
What A fluffybunny of a year. Fuck you.
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Saw update on the other running thread so I thought I'd put an update here ...
I decided to sign up for the Virtual London Marathon. Even though I ran it on the original date, I need to do it on the 4th October to get all the finishers stuff. So there we go I'm doing it.
Problem. I lost 5 weeks of training (weeks 5-10) of the 16 week plan due to my calf. It resolved itself in two weeks, but then flared up again a week later, so I had to rest for two weeks. Subsequently, I'm in a pretty shitty shape to try and do it. Especially when you also add that I had a decent summer of bbs and boozing, so I'm a few kg above my running weight. Longest run I've done in training is just over a half. Which is a fair way down on the 35k I did in the original lead up. One small plus is that I'm back up to a level of running a 10k with ease with so I'm not completely out of it.
Upshot is that my aim for this one is pretty lame. A massive 5 hours. A whole hour above my original target (which I missed by between 5-10 mins depending on how much you trust the Garmin). That's 7 minutes km's which is a long way above my usual training pace. I think I can run 30k before I will start getting into trouble at my usual pace of 5:25-5:35 p/km pace. So I'm planning on reducing that pace down to 6 min/km. Aim to get to 30k in 3 hours then see how it goes. Will definitely be some walking, and maybe even need a few stretch / breathing stops. Aim is to run 42.2km, not put myself in hospital.
On another note, the Garmin is now somewhere between fucking useless and broken. I ran 20k a couple of weeks back. Ran out 10, then turned around and ran back, exact same route. Total distance when home? 19.4k. 6% error! Looking at the map, at one section, the route out is identical to the route in, and the km back is easily 10% longer. Fucking useless.
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@MajorRage Good luck hope it goes well for you!
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Slow and steady wins the race .... 5:03. Terrible time in essence, but actually one I'm pretty proud of.
UK had some serious shitty weather over the weekend, which meant by the time Sunday came about, the local canals had in places overflowed the paths beside them .... which put paid to all the running routes I had been planning and knew so well and had to improvise and run along roads instead. So I figured out a route and toddled off in the wet. By 10 minutes in I was completely soaked, however I had been extremely liberal with the Vaseline so managed to avoid any serious chaffing etc. Did a 21k loop then swung by home to put on a fresh shirt / over layer which was magnificent. Keeping warm had proved to the main obstacle ( on top of slippery footpaths, poor visibility and having to continually run in the middle of the road to avoid huge puddles), so the change was brilliant. I got through the first half in about 2:10 so I was feeling pretty comfortable for a 4:40 ish. Anyway, next 8-9k was pretty solid, just keeping my pace and soaking it all in - was a good atmosphere amongst my fellow runners.
So toddling along and then at 32k, I hit the runners wall. I had suspected that losing 6 weeks training and inability to keep all the weight off was going to hurt me above 32k and I was spot on right. I've hit many a runners wall before, but not like this. I flat out couldn't run - was completely toast. So I did what I'd been reading to do ... take in water, drop a running gel, walk at a fast pace for a few mins then ease back into it. Remember I mentioned the cold earlier? 10 mins of walking just fucked me completely. Muscles had cooled off and were starting to tighten. I was now about 1k from home, so I swung by home, put on a fresh jacket and succumbed myself to mainly walking the now last 7k. I did manage to jog some of it (including the last 500m) but the energy was gone. Crossed over at 5:03 and took immense satisfaction in completing it. Although I still don't think I can say that I RAN the London Marathon. But I certainly completed it.
Was a funny old day, the atmosphere on the roads was great. Cars tooting you, saw at least a couple of hundred fellow runners. People were in really good spirits, which was fantastic. Given the current UK state and the weather being what it was, it was really uplifting.
Really glad I did it, and it only took me 5 minutes to get down the stairs this morning. Raised around 2k for my charity, UK Guide Dogs as well.
The best part ... they've agreed to defer my place to one of the upcoming ones too ... so I get to do it all again!
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@MajorRage Awesome effort mate, a marathon is a marathon at the end of the day
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Talk about having everything against you and every excuse not to go ahead. Much respect!
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So, set myself a target of 150km through UK lockdown 2 and completed 153.5km so happy with that.
My target of 2,000 km for the year though was dealt a terminal blow with the 5 week injury lay off and then 2 weeks recovery from each marathon. With those 9 weeks off, it meant I needed to average 46k per week. Not a freaking chance of that! So anyway, I sit here with 28 days of the month left on 1445 for the year. So the new target is 1,000 miles or 1609km. Without injury this should be possible.
On the scales today for first time in a month, disappointing to see nothing being shedded through lockdown. Didn't think I was that bad, but does prove how had it is to shift fat at my age, especially with no commute.
Marathon news. I'm in for the 2021, October 4th. Vaccine looks like being in play, so this should definitely happen. So I'll be back on the 4 hour target. I think I'm 10kg too heavy at current weight, and with 10 months to go .... 1kg per month. A long as I can run, this should be possible. December will be tricky, but with limited xmas parties should be easier than other years. So here we go again.
@mooshld said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
My only comment is that your warmup seems quite short. I can't say I would have broken much of a sweat after 800m. I normally go for 20 to 30 minutes before upping the pace. But sounds like you are in amongst it and have a plan. So stick with it and good luck.
I think of this comment a lot when running. I was confused when it was written but I get it now. Especially with winter upon us, it's at least 15 minutes to get proper warmth / fluidity in my run. Yesterday was a classic example. Went out for an hour, and at 15 minutes I was proper struggling. Old injuries hurting, breathing tough and a real desire to walk. Yet, come 20 minutes I was off. Really nice smooth rhythmical motion and was comfortable upping the pace. 30 minute runs seem pointless now, as i'm essentially stopping just after I start feeling good!
@mooshld said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:
Its running when it sucks, when it hurts, and when you don't want to. You will need that mental strength during the marathon because the wall is fucking real.
Exactly. And yes. Yes it fucking is.
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Boom. Got through my 1000 miles target for the year. Had to do 180k in December to achieve that and it ended up being no problems.
2021 targets
- 2000k for the year
- Sub 4 hour London marathon
Going to go hard early, as I expect another 4 months of lockdowns (at least). Easy enough to find the hours to exercise without the commute to London. Following the program I did last year for it but tacking on an extra k or 2 on the runs. This was 754 km in total last time, so should be punching to be north of 800k this time by end of April. Will then look at 40k weeks through May before the program starts again mid June for October 4 marathon. So hopefully will be well north of 1000k come end of June already & then 1700k or so come October 2nd. Leaving 3 nice easy 100k months for October.
Injury / health / sickness are going to be the main blockers in this achievement for sure. Motivation still seems to be strong, but that will go through peaks and troughs as always.
Wish me luck!
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Interesting few months. Gave up the marathon program pretty early doors as I was finding it far too easy. Also gave up getting on the scales as weight was proving very hard to shift.
So put together my own program of what I wanted to achieve and so far, so good. I'm still having a bit of trouble with my achilles area the morning after runs, but it's much better than it was. Consistent stretching has been good and I've now got a much better roller too which helps out.
My Q1 program reaches it's peak on Friday morning with a 20 mile run. The weather here now is absolutely superb for running. Been relatively clear mornings with some sunshine and around 8-10 degrees. Perfect. At 520k year to date now, am tracking well ahead of where I should be for a 2000k year. Ran a half marathon every Saturday in Feb & my overall fitness seems to be not far off where I was this time last year (training for non-existent end April sub 4 marathon). My weight I think a bit up though, so I expect I'll struggle a bit on Friday. Have been keeping my pace a bit slower in order to reduce injury likelihood. So at this time last year Id' been doing a lot of trainings at sub 5 min pace & also the half at 1:48, whereas now I've been much more steady training at between 5:20-5:35 pace.
Undoubtedly peak run this year was a Friday evening half-marathon. Was supposed to be on Saturday, but after getting kids from school, daughter doing ballet, son busy & wife zoom-boozing I had a 2 hour window so just threw on the trainers and out I went. Run at 1:57. Not an amazing run, but amazing that it's not that long ago I trained for 3 months to run a 1:59 and then was out for the count for 2 days after. To be able to run that on a whim now, is incredibly satisfying.
Injuries still the fear (and hopefully this mail won't ge the injury jinx I fear) but outside that, all seems to be tracking nicely.
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Changed it up in the last 3 weeks with some pretty good results.
Doing a fair bit of interval training, with looking to increase my overall pace and man is it working. My favourite interval is 20 mins warm up at about 5:30 pace than 0.5km fast, 0.5 km slow x6 ... then 20 mins jog home. I Have been doing that fast at between 4:20-4:50 pace and then the slow at 5:45 ish ... so a huge differential and the results have been phenomenal. First time I did it, HR was 50% in top zone, last two times it was 15% ish.
But the last two runs show the true gains. Ran a half on Friday in 1:52 which is 5 mins faster than m previous in Feb. But then yesterday, after quite lot of booze on Saturday, went out for 10k which I did in 55 mins .. nothing amazing, but with an average HR of 145. Thats my lowest ever for that distance. I genuinely found it really easy too.
I do wonder what sort of results I'd have if went to a zero-booze, perfect diet for a month. And as much as I'm tempted, the pubs open today for the first time in 4 months .....
Onwards!
EDIT. 678km year to date . So roughly 20 days ahead of schedule.
