Berlin 2016: Back to Basics

TheRoadRunner

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Two recovery days on the cards now and then a time trial on Wednesday. Will have an idea of target pace for London after that.

Boo ya

Monday: am 6.5 miles @ 7.15 pace, pm 4 miles recovery. Legs feeling very good, was hard to keep pace down. Was surprised as thought legs would be shot to bits after last week

Tuesday: 10 miles @ 7.14 pace. Plan was for a double similar to Monday but was enjoying the sun and working on my tan so stayed out longer than planned. Really enjoyable

Wednesday: 15 miles, 12 @ 5.58. Dreaded time trial. Last week 3*2 miles @ 5.55 pace literally tore the stomach out of me so I wasn't looking forward to this one bit. Had a friend running with me for all of this so this helped big time, he is running London also. We headed out early in the morning to avoid the heat but it was still a minor issue, seemed to be running in the sun all the time. This was pretty controlled, my quads were the only think I could say were tired, they felt a bit dead after 2 miles. Was hanging on a little at the end so sent my friend off on his own and I ran the last mile in the opposite direction to what he was running. I wanted to try and control the pace myself and wanted to see if I could maintain it on my own. I was.

Target pace is now 2.42 and if there is a sniff of anything faster on the day I'll be over it. I'd rather be conservative and finish this race with a smile on my face. I'm really pushing my luck with training but I have to say I haven't felt this good biomechanicly wise in ages. No lower legs issues. Hammer is fine. Have a rub down tonight so looking forward to that.

If anybody is around for a 20 mile run @ 6.30-7 minute pace Sunday morning give me a shout. I put it on the main page but will probably get lost.

Krusty_Clown

Bastird. You run 20 easy miles since January, then run 12 miles @5:58, and decide you're going to run 2:42 or better. Some people just have it too easy.
Well done. That's a savage time-trial.

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Bastird. You run 20 easy miles since January, then run 12 miles @5:58, and decide you're going to run 2:42 or better. Some people just have it too easy.
Well done. That's a savage time-trial.

ha thanks. most of the work was put in last year though. 2.42 isn't guaranteed anyway. lack of 20+ mile runs could still catch me out

Abhainn

12 @ 5:58 - and feeling great. You must be singing in the shower these days. 2:42 is just 6:10 pace. But you are a wise individual.

Love to tag along on Sunday but I have to bring forward my last 22 miler from Sunday to early am tomorrow as the Godfather Abhainn is visiting at the weekend and he has some social Gunnos on his mind:(
Who ever heard of a 22 miler on a Thurs?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

12miles at 5.58, great stuff TRR. No doubt a great confidence booster.

TheRoadRunner

Abhainn wrote: »

12 @ 5:58 - and feeling great. You must be singing in the shower these days. 2:42 is just 6:10 pace. But you are a wise individual.

Maybe wasn't as easy as I made it sound in my initial post Will see how things go on the day. I've shaken the sub 2.40 monkey off my back so I'm a bit indifferent whether I run 2.39 or 2.43. Obviously the faster the better but I'm just delighted to have the opportunity to toe the line of this race in pretty good nick.

Abhainn wrote: »

Love to tag along on Sunday but I have to bring forward my last 22 miler from Sunday to early am tomorrow as the Godfather Abhainn is visiting at the weekend and he has some social Gunnos on his mind:(
Who ever heard of a 22 miler on a Thurs?

Ah that's a pity, would love to have some company. Would have also given me the opportunity to knee cap see how your training is going.

TheRoadRunner

21 days to London and I can't wait

Thursday: 10 miles @ 7.15 pace with a friend in Corkagh park. Legs felt great and would have loved to do more but put the brakes on before I did any stupid damage.

Friday: Plan was to run 10-15 miles. Jnr and the mrs had a vomiting bug the last couple of days and I picked it up Friday. Tried to kid myself and told myself the queasyness I was feeling was due to a late lunch. 3 miles into run and fireworks erupted. Struggled home with a couple of pitstops along the way. 5 miles of unpleasantness.

Saturday: bug gone but felt wrecked all day and spent the majority in bed. Felt great later in the evening but didn't run.

Sunday: 20 miles @ 6.59 pace. 15 on grass, 5 on road. Was a bit worried abut this one and really should have done this Monday or Tuesday but there was no way I'd find the time next week so I ran to local park and said would play it by ear. Met Ecoli and the miles zipped by. Thankfully he had driven down and had water or I would have been fecked. The last 5 miles I was in a little trouble. Could feel a bit of weakness from the bug and could only take one gel so by mile 17 I well and truly hit the wall. Legs were cramping and tummy was not the best. Was all over the shop but managed to get home in one piece. Even better I managed to maintain my pace. One of the few training runs were I've hit the wall and hopefully the nasty feeling will remind me not to go off too hard in 3 weeks time. I have to say I actually enjoyed the last few miles, pure strength of mind to get through it. When I finished and realied I'd maintained the pace I let out a roar, that and the conversations I was having withmelf over the last 20 minutes of the run could be enough to get me institutionalised

Another good week 70+ miles. Had hoped to get close to 90 but all things considered I can have no complaints. Will get another biggish (~80 mile) week in next week then will start a 2 week taper of sorts. I'm 2lbs away from my Berlin racing weight. I've last 7 lbs since the end of January. I'd be delighted to even loose 1 more in the next few weeks. However going forward and thinking about a sub 2.30 attempt I'll be having a serious look at my diet as I reckon I could easily drop another 6 lbs from my Berlin weight. But that's for another day. I'm off for a grill of sausages, eggs, and beans now

TheRoadRunner

Monday: am 6.5 recovery miles pm 4.5 recovery miles. Legs feeling very good on both runs

Tuesday: 10 miles @ 7.05 pace on the road. Was so cold, didn't enjoy this one bit. I had a case of brain freeze, my hands nearly fell off. Have added hat, gloves, jacket and legings to my bag for tomorrow. Legs felt a little tight when I finished. Weird sensation, don't know if it was the cold or a bit of tiredness. I hate the fecking cold. Bring back the sun.

Have to do my long run on Friday :mad: Not ideal in one sense as will only be 5 days since last long run however does give me an extra 2 days recovery before the big day.

TheRoadRunner

Wednesday: 14 miles @ 6.50 pace. Ran home from work, I prefer running into work as it's all downhill, home is obviously all up hill. Luckily enough wind was behind me most of the way. I was very well wrapped up (leggings, long sleeve top, running jacket, hat & gloves, all matching as well I looked the part) but was still cold. I'm fecking wrecked. I hate the cold. Have to do last long run on Friday. Not in the form for this need a couple more days R&R. Grumble, grumble, grumble :mad:

liamo123

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Wednesday: 14 miles @ 6.50 pace. Ran home from work, I prefer running into work as it's all downhill, home is obviously all up hill. Luckily enough wind was behind me most of the way. I was very well wrapped up (leggings, long sleeve top, running jacket, hat & gloves, all matching as well I looked the part) but was still cold. I'm fecking wrecked. I hate the cold. Have to do last long run on Friday. Not in the form for this need a couple more days R&R. Grumble, grumble, grumble :mad:

HTFU u pussy the Boston crew will b licking their lips reading this........

TheRoadRunner

liamo123 wrote: »

HTFU u pussy

You're dead right

liamo123 wrote: »

the Boston crew will b licking their lips reading this........

Will take more than a moment of weakness for those girls to get the better of me

TheRoadRunner

Thursday: 5 miles recovery in the morning. Plan was the same for the evening but there was no point. Was told I looked like a crack addict. Did look a bit drained all right. This is what happens when you don't take recovery weeks :rolleyes: Not ideal but rest was needed. Had a nice bath in anticipation of final 20 mile run.

Friday: 20 @ 6.45. Have day off so didn't have usual running companions. Was very worried about this run as legs were in a jock on Thursday, no zip or spring at all. drquirky agreed to meet up with me in the park and run 10 miles with me. I got 4 in on my own first and the legs felt great thankfully. Ran a comfortable 10 with drquirky, was delighted with the company as the miles zipped by. After a quick drink stop I headed off and upped the pace with a few tasty marathon pace miles around the S-bends and up the Khyber, character building I tell ya. The park was jammers with the run with ray 5k, looked a good set up but you could tell the majority of runners were newbies (which I guess is the idea) as they were all queuing for the portaloos. Experienced pikeys runners like myself would just have gone au natural Between the race and a pilgrimage to the papal cross I was in a rush to get back to the car (parked at papal cross) and just got out of the carpark in time.

TheRoadRunner

Saturday: 9 mile progression run. Average pace 6.29. 2 mile warm up, second mile was 6.45 after that I wanted to run each mile roughly 10 seconds faster than the last. I purposely didn't look at the watch and paced off perceived effort. Increased pace every time I heard the lap split counter. Miles went 6.30, 6.19, 6.05, 5.55, 5.50 then did a mile cool down. Was very happy with how this went. Was in control of the pace and could have pushed on again if necessary. The idea of this session was to simulate the last 10k of the marathon. Thought my legs would be very tired after Friday's long run but they felt surprisingly good so it didn't feel as hard as I hoped it would. Still you can't complain when the legs feel better than you think they should.

Sunday: 14 miles @ 6.40 pace. Legs felt super again and was zipping along at 6.30s. Thankfully bumped into a friend and the pace slowed a little. I need to bottle the way my legs are feeling.

Overall a good last week of serious training before starting a 2 week taper. Got 80+ miles in the bag. In January if you told me that I would be in my current shape at this time in the lead up to London I would have been satisfied. If you had told me I would be in this shape 6-7 weeks ago I would have taken your arm off. No complaints from me, time to get the legs fresh and have a crack at sub 2.40 again.

Peckham

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

have a crack at sub 2.40 again.

You're taking this London V Boston thing far too seriously! :rolleyes:

TheRoadRunner

Monday: rest day, had planned on doing an easy 5 but was physically very tired all day. Slept for 3 hours in the afternoon and felt a little better but had a feeling 5 miles would not be easy so took the day off.

Tuesday: 6.5 miles easy on the royal canal. Nice run although legs felt sluggish after day off, this is a common complaint after a day off from running.

Wednesday: 10 miles @ 7.08 pace. Nice grass run around Corkagh with Ecoli. Legs still a little sluggish but just part of the taper madness feeling I reckon.

Thursday: 8 miles with 3 X 1 mile reps. Was supposed to do 4 but figured this could do more harm than benefit so said I'd see how I felt. I wanted to give the cardio system a good blow out without tiring the legs. Was very consistent did 5.10, 5.11 & 5.10 off 3 minutes recovery. I could feel the lactic starting to build on the third one so dropped the fourth. Actually delighted with this session. As well as giving me a good blow out I wanted to see where I was at fitness wise as I've my eyes on a few shorter races during the summer. Haven't ran at this pace in months and it's nice to be able to pull it out of the bag with no major difficulty.

TheRoadRunner

Friday: 6 miles easy on grass. Felt a little sluggish and wasn't in the form for running but enjoyable after a couple of miles.

Saturday: 7 miles easy on the road. Legs feeling great. Had to constantly put brakes on as was ticking off 6.30s without any effort.

Sunday: 13 miles with 10 at 6.15 pace. After a mile warm up did a 10 mile progression from 6.30 pace down to 20 seconds faster than marathon pace. Last 4 were at or below MP. This was a trial for next week so had my racing gear on. Felt very easy and was the final Shake out I was hoping for.

Will do sweet fa for the rest of the week. A few 4-6 mile runs but that's it apart from a couple of mp miles on Wednesday. Target time is 2.39, my training doesn't deserve a time that fast but I'm in good nick physically so it's realistic. When I ran Berlin I was 90% confident I go sub 2.40 with a 20% chance of having to really hurt. This time things have turned around, I've a 30-40% chance of running the time and it is 100% certain im going to really hurt. Strangely I'm looking forward to the challenge.

ultraman1

[QUOTE=TheRoadRunner;78153068 it is 100% certain im going to really hurt. Strangely I'm looking forward to the challenge.[/QUOTE]


http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614360801902216.....;)

TheRoadRunner

ultraman1 wrote: »

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614360801902216.....;)

Self flagellation

TheRoadRunner

Monday: 25 minutes very easy with the madra

Tuesday: 40 minutes easy at lunch time

Wednesday: 7 miles with 3 @ MP. Well 10 seconds faster than MP. Ran these with a friend in work who is running the weekend also. His MP pace is 15-20 seconds quicker than mine so we split the difference.

Still feeling good. Will take tomorrow off all together and do 20 minutes Friday. Some minor sniffles at home but have so far managed to avoid them so fingers crossed that will continue. Really looking forward to the weekend

T runner

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

........This time things have turned around, I've a 30-40% chance of running the time and it is 100% certain im going to really hurt. Strangely I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Great attitude. This marathon will be a great day in its own right....but I also see huge positives to be garnered from this particular challenge to the longer term sub 2:30 goal and im not surprised youre relishing it. Best of luck on Sunday!

Lock

Who do you think will in the elite race? Tadese at 100/1 is tempting me to bet on distance running for the first time in my life. Good luck with the race!

myflipflops

Lock wrote: »

Who do you think will in the elite race? Tadese at 100/1 is tempting me to bet on distance running for the first time in my life. Good luck with the race!

I'm on it.

TRR - any chance you can have a word with him on the start line for me please? Nothing major, just that I will break his legs if he does not finish top 3.

TheRoadRunner

myflipflops wrote: »

I'm on it.

TRR - any chance you can have a word with him on the start line for me please? Nothing major, just that I will break his legs if he does not finish top 3.

Will do. Even better ill take a couple of the other lads out of it with a couple if sly digs. I tried to put a few quid on last night but betting on him has been suspended did you bet with ladbrokes? Those odds were ridiculous!

myflipflops

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Will do. Even better ill take a couple of the other lads out of it with a couple if sly digs. I tried to put a few quid on last night but betting on him has been suspended did you bet with ladbrokes? Those odds were ridiculous!

I'm paying 10 pints for every sub 2.06 kenyan you take out of the race.

It was with Ladbrokes.

TheRoadRunner

myflipflops wrote: »

I'm paying 10 pints for every sub 2.06 kenyan you take out of the race.

Deal. The one advantage I have over those little flyers is my physical bulk. A couple of slaps should have them sorted, that's assuming they stay stationary. I'll be honest if they run I don't think I'll catch them

BeepBeep67

Enjoy the day - keep an eye on Mr C for me!

Kurt Godel

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Deal. The one advantage I have over those little flyers is my physical bulk. A couple of slaps should have them sorted, that's assuming they stay stationary. I'll be honest if they run I don't think I'll catch them

A tesco bag full of shiny cans of Tennants (the ones with the nudie chicks on the side) is stashed at the elite pen. The game is you smack each one of Tedese's opponents with the bag, skull the cans on your way round, I'll be waiting for you at the finish in my 100/1 private helicopter.

Best of luck with your race.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I will get my good luck in now as heading away. Have a great race, it's some marathon!!

TheRoadRunner

Thanks lads, if I get my hands on any East Africans bar Tadese they are dead men.

Thursday: rest
Friday: 20 minute leg loosener. Legs feeling good although I'm physically knackered from work. Good night sleep should do the trick.

Race strategy

miles 0-5 sub 31 mins
miles 5-10 30.30
miles 10-15 30 mins
miles 15-20 30 mins
last 10k as hard as I can for as long as I can.

If I blow up I blow up. If very early on it doesn't feel sustainable I'll revert to plan B which is basically anything faster than 2.47 (London marathon PB ) Nothing to lose everything to gain.

Viva LaRoadRunner

BobMac104

Fair play i hope everything works out on the day for you. Best of luck.