Faster

tailgunner

Tuesday, 19th July 2016

4 miles
37:58
9:29/mi

32 degrees. I've never run in temperatures anywhere near that, but in enormously predictable fashion, I completely underestimated how hard it would be. If it's like that in Berlin, I'm going to hop in an air-conditioned taxi to take me around the course, because I certainly won't be getting around it on my legs.

tailgunner

Thursday, 21st July 2016

9.3 miles
1:25:15
9:10/mi

A slight variation on recent MP sessions - 2 x 3 miles at marathon pace, with a 3 minute jog in between. That sounded handy enough, and given that the week so far had consisted of easy running and a couple of rest days, I had effectively set up a mini-taper for the session. So I was expecting it to go well, and for a change, it did.

My legs were a little stiff for the first couple of MP miles, but they soon loosened out, and the effort felt fine. I could feel the pace picking up towards the end, and decided to go with it as I was feeling good.

MP splits:

8:44
8:50
8:40
8:47
8:38
8:30

Friday, 22nd July 2016

3 miles
30:37
10:12/mi

First time running before work in a while. I have a longer commute since changing jobs last month, which means a very early start if I want to run beforehand. But I wanted to have the evening free, and figured it might be a good idea to get a full 24 hours rest before tomorrow's long run, so I set the alarm early.

Kept it very easy, but the effort still felt a lot higher than usual recovery runs. I was expecting this though, as I really struggle with my breathing first thing in the morning.

18 miles tomorrow. A year ago, I'd have been happy enough to hit that sort of mileage in a week!

tailgunner

Satuday, 23rd July 2016

18 miles
2:56:39
9:49/mi

I wrote a monster post and then lost it when Boards timed out. ****ed if I'm writing it all out again.

The gist: 18 miles is long. It was warm. I was thirsty. A fly went into my eye. The end.

Also Strava says I only did 17.9 miles. Raging.

tang1

If the worst that happened was a fly going into your eye it was a good run.

tailgunner

Ha! Ah it was just an awful slog - very warm, and I didn't have enough to drink with me. Lessons learned anyway!

tang1

tailgunner wrote: »

Ha! Ah it was just an awful slog - very warm, and I didn't have enough to drink with me. Lessons learned anyway!

We've all made that mistake, lessons learned as you said. You won't make the same error again.

Maximus Alexander

tailgunner wrote: »

Ha! Ah it was just an awful slog - very warm, and I didn't have enough to drink with me. Lessons learned anyway!

Bring a tenner. It's amazing.

Also well done, the thoughts of 18 miles breaks my heart.

tailgunner

Yeah I brought money, but I only bought a couple of Capri-Suns. Why didn't I buy more, you ask? Because I am but a fool.

The Muppet

Well done TG .


Did you get the fly out yet?

tailgunner

I think so, but it was a panicky few minutes!

tailgunner

Monday, 25th July 2016

6.5 miles
1:00:30
9:19/mi

I had some soreness in my right hip/groin area on Sunday - presumably the after-effects of Saturday's long run, though I hadn't noticed any problems during or after the run. Things got worse as the day progressed, and I was walking with a slight limp by the evening. I actually wasn't overly worried because I had the same problem back in February, and from reading back through my log, saw that it cleared up by itself after a couple of days of easy running. I knew the usual tedious detail of my logging would eventually prove useful!

As it turned out, things were much improved after a good sleep, and the soreness was more or less gone by Monday evening. I decided I was fine to run, but figured I'd do an extra easy warm-up before making a call on whether to do the planned session (6 x 1/2 miles at half marathon pace, off 60 second recoveries). Managed two very slow miles without any problems, and figured I was good to go.

I felt a bit sluggish and stiff starting into the first rep, and having struggled with this session a couple of weeks ago, I thought I was in for a miserable run again. But I felt better with each rep, and finished strong.

Not a peep from the hip either. Do I imagine these things or what?

Splits:

3:59 (7:58/mi)
3:59 (7:59/mi)
4:00 (7:59/mi)
3:59 (7:58/mi)
3:57 (7:55/mi)
3:54 (7:47/mi)

Bluesquare

Glad to see the niggle went away . Happens to me all the time - the difference being I panic and give a physio 50 bucks , then the niggle disappears!

Have you got a half marathon planned?

tailgunner

I'm signed up for one on the 14th August, but a friend's stag has been organised that weekend so it's looking like I'll have to skip it now. I seem to be making a habit of signing up for races and then not turning up to them...

There are a few alternatives the following weekend, but I'm thinking of leaving it off entirely now. There are no races in my plan, and I was already stressing about how I was going to manage tapering and recovery.

Bluesquare

tailgunner wrote: »

I'm signed up for one on the 14th August, but a friend's stag has been organised that weekend so it's looking like I'll have to skip it now. I seem to be making a habit of signing up for races and then not turning up to them...

There are a few alternatives the following weekend, but I'm thinking of leaving it off entirely now. There are no races in my plan, and I was already stressing about how I was going to manage tapering and recovery.

Just go to the stag and don't drink ...... I did it my first ever half well it was a hen . Now I'd go and drink then run lol!

Seriously though how you happy with your pMP or are you going to adjust?

tailgunner

Tuesday, 26th July 2016

5 miles
49:56
9:59/mi

Probably should have kept this a bit shorter, as I was pretty tired by the end, but no harm done.

Bluesquare wrote: »

Just go to the stag and don't drink ...... I did it my first ever half well it was a hen . Now I'd go and drink then run lol!

Seriously though how you happy with your pMP or are you going to adjust?

Yeah that's an option too, but I'd just be stressing about the race all night and wouldn't enjoy it!

I'm happy with my PMP yeah. I'll be sticking to 9 minute miles on the day, but training about 10-15 seconds ahead of that to be safe.

Firedance

Well done on the 18 miler TG, strava always shortens runs a bit I find (so I always run a .1 or .2 more ) as long as the watch says 18 your fine!!!

Bluesquare

tailgunner wrote: »

Tuesday, 26th July 2016

5 miles
49:56
9:59/mi

Probably should have kept this a bit shorter, as I was pretty tired by the end, but no harm done.



Yeah that's an option too, but I'd just be stressing about the race all night and wouldn't enjoy it!

I'm happy with my PMP yeah. I'll be sticking to 9 minute miles on the day, but training about 10-15 seconds ahead of that to be safe.

Should be no problem to ya!

tailgunner

Thursday, 28th July 2016

9 miles
1:22:51
9:12/mi

The plan was for 6 miles at marathon pace, but motivation wasn't the best. I was going to do the session anyway, so there was little point in complaining about it, but complain I did. Mostly to myself, though my girlfriend must surely be plotting my assassination at this stage.

As I've come to expect after a rest day, my calves were quite tight during the warm-up. Decided to stop and stretch for a minute before hitting the MP miles, and that seemed to help. The effort felt a little more uncomfortable than usual, and I got a pretty bad stitch that took nearly a mile to run off, but my legs felt pretty good throughout.

I had planned on doing an extra cool-down mile to bring the run up to 10 miles, but called it a day after 9. The MP sessions will be going up 10 miles quite soon anyway, whether I like it or not!

MP splits:

8:52
8:48
8:34
8:43
8:47
8:41

tailgunner

Friday, 29th July 2016

3.11 miles
32:33
10:29/mi

Legs felt fine after the MP session, but I made a deliberate effort to slow this right down, as the average pace has been creeping up on these recovery runs lately. A good 30 seconds per mile slower than Tuesday's run, so pretty happy with that.

Saturday, 30th July 2016

14.01 miles
2:22:12
10:09/mi

A slight step-back in mileage for the long run this week, so seeing as I "only" had 14 miles to do, I went out for a few pints on Friday. Just in case I got any notions of wimping out of doing the long run on Saturday, I drove and left my car about 10 miles away and got the bus back, so I'd have no choice but to run down to get it.

I wasn't feeling great the next morning, and the 10:42 split for the first (downhill!) mile spoke for itself. Things gradually improved though, and I was feeling good by the halfway mark. It was nice not to have to turn around and come back the way I'd come like I usually do, and the area I had left my car is generally flatter than my usual route, so the last few miles were very comfortable. Picked up the pace for the last mile and finished close to MP with a 9:05 split.

All things considered, it was definitely one of my better long runs, though I think I got lucky with the conditions - cool and overcast with a light breeze for the couple of hours I was out, so pretty ideal.

37 miles or so for the week to cap off a month of big mileage for me. Things are going really well - more of the same for the next 8 weeks and I'll be very happy.

Month|2015|2016
Jan|7.86|103.61
Feb|14.7|116.6
Mar|23.53|127.35
Apr|32.91|73.11
May|45.88|119.75
Jun|42.65|135.17
Jul|23.26|177.09
Aug|84.29
Sep|106.61
Oct|56.17
Nov|81.45
Dec|55.33
Total|574.64|852.68

tailgunner

Monday, 1st August 2016

6.5 miles
1:02:01
9:33/mi

The plan called for 10 x 400 reps at 10k pace, off 60 second recoveries. I haven't raced in ages, so "10k pace" is pretty much guesswork at this stage. I went with 7:30/mi last time, and found it pretty tough going with only 8 reps, so decided I'd give myself a bit of leeway this time and aim for 7:40/mi, or roughly 1:55 per rep. For reference, the average pace for my 10k PB was 7:47/mi, so I'm not completely slacking!

I usually do intervals in a nearby industrial estate, as there's a nice, flat stretch about half a kilometre long, but I wasn't in the mood for dodging pedestrians and crazed drivers at rush hour. So I elected to do this on my usual out and back route instead. I knew this wouldn't make for very accurate splits, but I wasn't too bothered about that. I'm training for a marathon here, not a sprint.

Anyway, it went well. It was lashing rain, which was actually quite pleasant in itself, and it also meant I had the route to myself. The pace was all over the place for a lot of it, mainly due to tree cover and various twists and turns, but I kept the effort consistent and ended up running the second half of the session much quicker than the first. Emptied the tank on the last rep too. Felt strange to be running fast after several months of mostly plodding.

Splits:

1:56
1:56
1:55
1:53
1:56
1:53
1:51
1:50
1:53
1:48

tailgunner

Tuesday, 2nd August 2016

5 miles
52:46
10:33/mi

Forgot to mention that I went for a walk in some nice country hills on Sunday, and my girlfriend challenged me to a few hill sprints for the laugh. I won (barely!) but my legs have been feeling quite tender since, particularly the hips and upper quads. It's not a problem when running (though Monday's session probably didn't help matters...) but you'd swear I'd already done the marathon with the way I'm hobbling around the office for the last couple of days.

Anyway, the point is that my legs needed recovery. There's a thread on the main page which has some interesting posts about the difference between running easy and running slow. I think I've got much better at keeping the pace down for recovery runs recently, but sometimes I worry if I'm going too slow. So the aim here was to keep things very, very easy, but at a pace that still felt like I was running comfortably, rather than awkwardly jogging.

I concentrated on keeping good form, and being as relaxed as possible, and was surprised to find that I ended up running slower than I have in months. I think the point to take is that I got the pace right, and could probably run even slower than that again, but it might not necessarily be more beneficial. It was an interesting experiment anyway, and my legs are in much better shape today. Should be back to normal after a rest day, and I'll be declining any further sprinting challenges till after the marathon.

Bluesquare

tailgunner wrote: »

Tuesday, 2nd August 2016

5 miles
52:46
10:33/mi

Forgot to mention that I went for a walk in some nice country hills on Sunday, and my girlfriend challenged me to a few hill sprints for the laugh. I won (barely!) but my legs have been feeling quite tender since, particularly the hips and upper quads. It's not a problem when running (though Monday's session probably didn't help matters...) but you'd swear I'd already done the marathon with the way I'm hobbling around the office for the last couple of days.

Anyway, the point is that my legs needed recovery. There's a thread on the main page which has some interesting posts about the difference between running easy and running slow. I think I've got much better at keeping the pace down for recovery runs recently, but sometimes I worry if I'm going too slow. So the aim here was to keep things very, very easy, but at a pace that still felt like I was running comfortably, rather than awkwardly jogging.

I concentrated on keeping good form, and being as relaxed as possible, and was surprised to find that I ended up running slower than I have in months. I think the point to take is that I got the pace right, and could probably run even slower than that again, but it might not necessarily be more beneficial. It was an interesting experiment anyway, and my legs are in much better shape today. Should be back to normal after a rest day, and I'll be declining any further sprinting challenges till after the marathon.

Good going on the recovery run - I'm still trying to get it right ! My legs are not in a good way ! Any chance you have a link to the thread handy?

tailgunner

It's this one here!

Bluesquare

tailgunner wrote: »

It's this one here!

Thanks - a good read. I'll practice again later!

tailgunner

Thursday, 4th August 2016

10.28 miles
1:36:59
9:26/mi

One of these days, I'm going to finish an MP session and think "That wasn't so bad!". Yep, any day now...

For this one (2 x 3 miles at marathon pace, with a 3 minute jog in between), the effort didn't feel so bad during the run, and my legs seemed to hold up okay, but I was absolutely wrecked after it. But while these sessions aren't getting any easier, over the last few weeks the average pace for the MP miles has been slowly increasing for the same effort, so that has to be a good sign.

MP splits:

8:52
8:44
8:42
8:41
8:44
8:36

tailgunner

Friday, 5th August 2016

3.11 miles
32:14
10:22/mi

Nice and easy. Legs felt tired, but no major problems. All set for 18 miles tomorrow.

tailgunner

Saturday, 6th August 2016

20 miles
3:16:14
9:49/mi

Well the plan was for 16-18 miles at aerobic pace, but I had secretly been planning an assault on 20 if I was feeling good.

Got out early to beat the heat - it was only around 12 degrees at 6:45am, but the forecast suggested that conditions would get warmer throughout the morning, so I wanted to take advantage while it was still cool.

The plan was to run 9 miles and then turn around. Then if I felt okay after 17 miles or so, I'd tack on another couple of miles.

To be honest, the first half of this wasn't great. My stomach felt a bit off for some reason, so I wasn't feeling overly optimistic. Stopped at a shop and bought a bottle of Lucozade Sport, and then started getting a lot of feedback from my right hip when I got running again. It got to the point where I was considering calling it a day, but it was okay after another couple of miles.

The stomach issues finally went away when I turned for home, and I was feeling really good by about 12 miles, and growing very confident of managing the full 20.

Was finding it tough as I approached decision time at 17 and a half miles though. I had the option of carrying on home or turning to run another mile and back. Figured the worst case scenario was that I'd have to stop at 18 and walk home, and that didn't seem so bad, so off I went. Adrenalin must have kicked in here as I felt fine after that, and finished strong.

Delighted to have that in the bag, as it means I'll get three 20 mile runs before the marathon, and that'll be a nice confidence boost on the day.

I'm very conscious that this is a bit of a jump in mileage though - nearly 45 for the week - so will keep an eye on the body this week and make sure to dial things back if I need it.

Kennyg71

Nice LR, what is you aerobic pace at moment, just as matter of interest.

tailgunner

I aim for 9:40-9:50 per mile, which is about 20 or 30 seconds per mile faster than easy pace for me. It's only every other long run that's meant to be this pace though, next week's 14 miles will be easy.

tailgunner

Monday, 8th August 2016

6.5 miles
1:00:40
9:20/mi

6 x 1/2 miles at half marathon pace, off 60 second recoveries. I spent the weekend traipsing around London, and my legs were feeling very tired and heavy for this. Felt a bit off in general during the warm-up, so wasn't planning on hitting the reps too hard. Still, most of the splits were on pace.

The last few were fairly tough, as I was running into the wind, and my legs were really feeling it by the end. It was a very slow jog home, and I still felt off all evening. Not sure what was wrong really, if anything. Hope I'm not coming down with something.

Saturday's 20 miles took their toll of course, so I'll probably cut tonight's recovery run a little short.

That all sounds very doomy and gloomy, but all things considered, I'm in pretty good shape. No niggles, which is great, and tomorrow's a rest day so I should be feeling a lot fresher in a couple of days.

Splits:

4:02 (8:04/mi)
3:58 (7:56/mi)
4:08 (8:17/mi) - Not sure what was going on here...
3:58 (7:57/mi)
3:58 (7:56/mi)
3:56 (7:52/mi)