London 2010

dermCu

Tue 19th Jan : 6.2 @ 7:36 m/m

Purposely kept this one shorter than recent recovery runs as I'd like to be fresh for a quality session on Thursday.

dermCu

Wed Jan 20th 13 @ 6:57

dermCu

Thur 21st Jan 10 avg 7:02 m/m - This included 4 x 1 mile repeats. The plan was to ease myself back into the faster stuff, not too fast with a nice long recovery of 2 min 30 sec.

1.5 mile warm up

1. 5:46
2. 5:42
3. 5:58(this mile ends with the last .3 miles uphill. Effort wise it felt like a 5:4*
4. 5:53

3.5 mile cool down

Didn't feel too bad at the end of the 4th, I thought about doing a 5th but decided to stick to the original plan.

Fri 22nd Jan: 8.7 @ 7:30 m/m Nice easy recovery.

dermCu

Sat 23rd Jan - 0: My plan was to run a nice steady 9 in the morning but on Fri evening my right knee felt tender and was fairly swollen just at the bottom of my quad. It felt much better on Sat morning but I didn’t see any point in risking it on a nothing run. I've no idea what caused that??? Fridays run felt very easy and I don’t remember aggravating it at any point.

Sun 24th Jan: 22.65 @ 6:44 m/m
First 17.65 @ 6:50 m/m
Last 5 @ 6:25 m/m

Was paranoid about my knee for the first couple of miles but soon forgot about it. It didn’t give me any pain or discomfort.
I was a bit tired when I hit mile 17 so I was very surprised when I was able to drop to MP without too much extra effort. That was a good solid workout; I think a days rest before a long run works well for me.

village runner

dermCu wrote: »

Sat 23rd Jan - 0: My plan was to run a nice steady 9 in the morning but on Fri evening my right knee felt tender and was fairly swollen just at the bottom of my quad. It felt much better on Sat morning but I didn’t see any point in risking it on a nothing run. I've no idea what caused that??? Fridays run felt very easy and I don’t remember aggravating it at any point.

Sun 24th Jan: 22.65 @ 6:44 m/m
First 17.65 @ 6:50 m/m
Last 5 @ 6:25 m/m

Was paranoid about my knee for the first couple of miles but soon forgot about it. It didn’t give me any pain or discomfort.
I was a bit tired when I hit mile 17 so I was very surprised when I was able to drop to MP without too much extra effort. That was a good solid workout; I think a days rest before a long run works well for me.

Savage run. Unreal. why so quick with so many weeks to go ??? Is 6.25 pace what oyu plan to run at ?? Was looking at similar goal myself.
Did you run it on your own ???

dermCu

village runner wrote: »

Savage run. Unreal. why so quick with so many weeks to go ??? Is 6.25 pace what oyu plan to run at ?? Was looking at similar goal myself.
Did you run it on your own ???

Thanks VR. There's no great masterplan but I am a fan of being specific in training. In the past I didnt spend enough time at MP and I paid for it. I dont want to make that mistake again.

6:25 would be great but I'll take anything at or under 6:30. I think I'll leave exact pace plans closer to race day.

I run all my long runs on my own, I might look at joining a club after this marathon.

heffsarmy

Nice run Demot, looks like the rest did you plenty off good.

dermCu

Mon 25th Jan:

5.4 @ 7:30 m/m. Nice recovery run at lunch. Ran with one of the guys from work. Good to have company for a change.

5.1 @ 7:23 m/m pm run. Felt pretty comfortable.

dermCu

Tue 26th Jan: 10 @ 6:42 m/m

This included 2 x 10 mins at around tempo pace.
First one came in at 6:04 m/m, 4 mins @ 7:10 m/m recovery and second at 6:07 m/m. I could easily have pushed on and did a third but I'd rather ease back into these sessions. Felt pretty good for the remainder.

village runner

Enjoying your log and the way you train. Its simple why your are improving. Good quality sessions. simple. Well done and keep it. You will still be looking at my A** in london.

dermCu

Wed 27th Jan: 14.14 @ 6:54 m/m
Legs felt a bit heavy tonight. I think I'm just feeling the effects of 2 weeks of good training. I'll try to see out the rest of the week and then race a 10k on the 6th/7th Feb. So I might try to kill two birds with the one stone next week by using it as a step back week and also to taper down for the race.

village runner wrote: »

Enjoying your log and the way you train. Its simple why your are improving. Good quality sessions. simple. Well done and keep it. You will still be looking at my A** in london.

Thanks VR, I've enjoyed keeping this log so far. You've hit the nail on the head, its all about sustained hard work. There's no magic formula or training plan that will do it for you.

You might finish in front of me in London but lets be clear about one thing: I wont be looking at your A** - unless that is, you turn out to be Nell Mcandrew......

dermCu

28th Jan 10 @ avg 6:53 m/m

This included 5 x 1 mile intervals. I've felt like crap since last nights run, I was wandering around the office all day today feeling like I'd been hit by a bus and it showed in the intervals tonight:

5:42
5:43
5:56
6:00
6:12

All with 2:30 rec.

3 and 5 have a significant amount of uphill but even so I struggled on them.
Its not all bad, I'm happy I completed the session when I felt bad going into it. I've also learned that 3 workouts in a week is too much for me at the moment. I'll go back to 2 for the next few weeks and then re-evaluate.

dermCu

Fri 29th Jan 6.26 @ 7:19 m/m - Recovery. I'm a bit surprised. It felt a lot slower than 7:19m/m. For the first time in about 2 months I ran without my running cap. Of course today was the day I ran into the mother of all hail showers. With your typical runners blade 1 haircut I don't have much protection on my baldy head for such events. That stung.

dermCu

Sat 30th Jan: 22.2 @ 6:53 m/m
Given that I've had a hard enough week and because I've pushed my last 2 long runs I decided not to go crazy on this one. Having said that it wasnt exactly easy. More like a steady effort.

TheRoadRunner

dermCu wrote: »

Sat 30th Jan: 22.2 @ 6:53 m/m
Given that I've had a hard enough week and because I've pushed my last 2 long runs I decided not to go crazy on this one. Having said that it wasnt exactly easy. More like a steady effort.

That's strong running at this stage. Do you mind me asking do you have a target time ? Also are your long runs on grass or roads.
Thanks

dermCu

Aaron2010 wrote: »

That's strong running at this stage. Do you mind me asking do you have a target time ? Also are your long runs on grass or roads.
Thanks

Thanks Aaron. I'm aiming for sub 2:50. Pretty much all my running is on the roads. If I could I'd run much more on grass but I dont have the oppertunity to do so at the moment.

TheRoadRunner

dermCu wrote: »

I'm aiming for sub 2:50.

Good stuff, based on today's running and some of your other workouts you have logged sub 2.50 won't be an issue. Best of luck

dermCu

Sun 31st Jan:

Lunchtime run: 6 @ 7:09 m/m
PM run: 5.1 @ 7:11 m/m

TheRoadRunner

dermCu wrote: »

Sun 31st Jan:

Lunchtime run: 6 @ 7:09 m/m
PM run: 5.1 @ 7:11 m/m

Hi again. Another question if you don't mind. A lot of people seem to be doing doubles like you did today. How do you find them yourself. Compared to doing 12 miles in one run, does splitting help with recovery etc. It's something I'm going to try out myself soon. Years ago I was told by a coach it was better to do 1 session but I don't think his reasons were very scientific. Thanks

dermCu

Aaron2010 wrote: »

Hi again. Another question if you don't mind. A lot of people seem to be doing doubles like you did today. How do you find them yourself. Compared to doing 12 miles in one run, does splitting help with recovery etc. It's something I'm going to try out myself soon. Years ago I was told by a coach it was better to do 1 session but I don't think his reasons were very scientific. Thanks

As long as I'm hitting 60 or 70 miles a week I don't have any problems with doubles. For weekly mileage below that you are better off sticking to singles(unless of course doubles just suit your lifestyle better).

Having said that I don't run a huge amount of doubles. I usually run them for one of two reasons:

1. As you said above, on a recovery day when you want to keep the momentum going at an easier pace I think its easier to split a 10 into 5 and 5. It takes me a mile or so to warm up so splitting this run in two keeps me in check.

2. On a workout day I sometimes find it beneficial to do an easy 4/5/6 in the morning and then in the evening you can just focus on your workout and forget about mileage. Just do the hard work you have to do and no more.

I guess a lot of people just use doubles to jack up their weekly mileage. That's fine as well as long as your body can handle it. Trial and error is the best way to go to figure out what suits you best as different people have very different reactions to doubles.

What kind of mileage or targets have you set?

TheRoadRunner

dermCu wrote: »

What kind of mileage or targets have you set?

Thanks for the reply.

Training for a low 2.40 marathon myself. Have no real mileage targets but usually training peaks at 70 miles, any more than that and I usually "break down". Hitting 60 a week at the moment and that includes 1 day running free rest. Going to build on the miles in the month of February.

I'm thinking of trying a couple of doubles as I get closer to 70 miles per week and see if it helps with injuries etc.

heffsarmy

How is the training going Demo?

dermCu

Things were going so well and then disaster strikes...

Mon 1st Feb: My right knee felt a little tight on Sunday night then when I try to run on Monday I have a sharp pain straight down the front of my knee. Almost from the first step. I ran less than half a mile then turned back.

Tue 2nd Feb: Called the doctor first thing in the morning, got an appointment at lunch, got referred to a physio straight away and got an appointment with them first thing the next morning. Private health care is a hell of a benefit; you only realize it when you have to use it. One phone call and I'm covered for 10 visits.

Went out for a run to see how things were: 8.7 @ 7:17 No sharp pain but it did feel restricted.

Wed 3rd Feb: Saw physio. It’s looking like patella femoral syndrome. Brilliant. On the bright side the physio says that it’s treatable with stretching and increased flexibility. As long as there is no swelling or acute pain I can continue running for now at a reduced pace and distance.

3 miles at 7:20 - No sharp pain but it felt very tight. Kept it short as I didn’t want to do any damage. I also felt like my good leg had to do extra work to make up for the bad knee.

Thur 4th Feb: Rest

Fri 5th Feb: 8.7 @ 7:15 no sharp pain but still restricted movement.

Sat 6th Feb: 10 @ 7:05 same as previous night, starting to get really pi**ed off with this. Not getting better, not getting worse.

Sun 7th Feb: Didn’t want to risk the pounding of a long run. Headed off with a friend to a national trust park called Box Hill and did some long slow hill repeats. As long as I protected my knee on the down hill there was no problem. Total session 2h 30 min, over 1000m ascent/descent. Felt like as good a workout as I could have done in the circumstances.

40 miles for the week. Going to take it easy for the start of next week and see how things go.

theboyblunder

sorry to read about your trouble. Hope it clears up soon, of course there is still plenty of time left and at least you can run on it.

dermCu

Mon 8th Feb: 6 @ 7:16 My knee felt a bit better. I still had some stiffness and restricted movement in it but an improvement all the same.

Tue 9th Feb 10 @ 6:39 m/m Got a bit carried away and ran 5 under 6:30 m/m. Felt great, knee didn't give me any real problems. It was a very slight bit stiff but nothing that slowed me. Maybe I shouldn't have done that but the combination of feeling good and the frustration of the last week got the better of me. I just hope it doesn't cause another flare up.

Wed 10th: I'll rest today. Saw the physio this morning. She is happy enough with progress so far. She agreed to let me go to 75% of 'normal' mileage for this week as long as I don't run anything faster than easy pace. I'm glad I didn't tell her about last nights 5 @ PMP, I would have got an earful. Even better, I have the all clear to go up as far as 20 on a long run at the weekend as long as things continue to improve.

heffsarmy

Good to hear your back in business, only 11 weeks now till marathon. Have you got any races lined up in the next few weeks?

dermCu

Thanks Heff, 11 weeks, where did the time go? 9 weeks for you.

I was supposed to run a 10k last Sunday until this injury cropped up. I'm registered for a half on the 14th March. Hopefully I'll have a good crack at that.

You in for any races?

heffsarmy

The marathon will be over before we know it...I have'nt booked any races yet but will be keeping me eye out for a 10km or 10miler

Peckham

Just catching up with your log DermCu, and was very disappointed to read about your injury. I'm suffering a little as well with a strained calf which is giving me a bad week this week....must be something about this stage in training for both of us!

Am sure if we're sensible, we'll both make that startline on 25 April.

dermCu

Peckham wrote: »

Just catching up with your log DermCu, and was very disappointed to read about your injury. I'm suffering a little as well with a strained calf which is giving me a bad week this week....must be something about this stage in training for both of us!

Am sure if we're sensible, we'll both make that startline on 25 April.

Thanks Peckham, sounds like a frustrating week for both of us. You are right, its far enough away that we don't need to panic just yet. I though I hadn't seen any updates from you in while. I hope the injury is not too bad.

11th Feb 13 @ 6:51 : Felt ok, was running well within myself. I didn't have any pain but did feel that my good leg was taking some extra strain so I must be protecting it. Getting a bit sick of the K word but as long as it continues to improve I cant really complain.