24 mile long run - welcome to The Wall

Took the opportunity whilst the family were at the school Christmas Fair this afternoon for my long run. Not used to running during the afternoon, but I enjoyed some bright sunshine and beautiful blue skies.

I have been focussed on this long run all week, so had a few easy days since Wednesday's long track session. I've also started to work on race-eve and race-day prep, so tried eating and drinking in preparation during the previous 24 hours.

As I'd set off at about 1.30, I skipped lunch, so started off a little hungry, although I ate well last night and had a high-carb breakfast at about 9am.

So I felt good on the way out, and in fact was struggling to keep my pace down. Whenever I looked at my watch I was doing close to 7min/mile rather than the 7:20 I was aiming for.

I took the flat route down through Burley, Otley, Pool and on towards Arthington. I was feeling good and chose to press on past the "Arthington" sign where I got to last time. I went a further 1.25 miles, and turned as my watch said 12 miles by the parish church in Arthington.

It's interesting to run through this part of Wharfedale - it seems such a long way away from Ilkley! I felt like I was a stones-throw from Armscliffe cragg, and got a great view of the Viaduct.

And then the return to Ilkley.

I felt tired but ok on the return to Pool, but then started to tire on the trek back to Otley. I needed to stop in Otley for a call of nature, and I thought this would help but probably made me feel worse (although it had to be done).

By Burley (about 20 miles) I was getting tired, and then the slog back home was getting harder and harder step by step.

I was slowing terribly, as I hit the symptoms of what cyclists call "bonking" and I'd known several times before on long rides. But on a bike you can ease off the effort level, choose an easier gear and reduce your speed. This gives a chance to eat and refuel.

When running the effort level of even keeping yourself upright is enormous, let alone trying to keep moving forwards.

I carried with me 750ml of Lucozade Sport. Some additional calories but not nearly enough. I think after today that I may have to carry some gels as well - both on long training runs but perhaps for the race itself. I'll find out where/when the feed stations are on race-day and try and work out what I need.

So all in all very happy. 24 miles in about 3hrs 4mins. The first half was about 1hr25, with the second therefore about 15 mins slower. HR was low throughout at about 150 (Garmin Details).

My legs were very sore when I got back, and I felt really empty. Feel a lot better now though.

A few easy days planned.

Tough on the Track

Tough session at the track again tonight - more to do with the wet, windy conditions as much as anything else.

We didn't do the 2000m efforts Pete had planned, but because of the awful conditions did:
5x400m with 100m jog recoveries
5x600m with 200m
5x400m with 200m
5x600m with 400m

That's 10km of efforts! In fact my Garmin output (here) shows I ran almost 10 miles including the recoveries and warm-ups and cool-downs.

A few people were easing off for the Thirsk 10m on Sunday, so by the end of the session it was just me plus young B left to finish the full set. I dropped pace a little tonight as I wanted to ease off as I'm still feeling a little weary. (I also wanted to collect some HR stats at a slightly easier speed).

It felt like a session that had to be finished, though.

5 months to go!

My countdown timer is telling me that I have just on 5 months to go before the big day in April.

A quick synopsis on some of my current "metrics":

- Speed/fitness - looking ok with two PBs in last fortnight
- Long runs - Ok - up to 21.5 m / and 2hr53min
- Training Regime - so far managing to get enough sessions in. I'd like to do some more cross-training, so could do with getting my bike sorted or getting into a gym once a week
- Illness/injury - Generally ok - just got over a minor cold. Sprained ankle from Lamplugh fully ok. Groin stabilised and getting no worse and not affecting running, just need to be careful at daughter's football training/matches!
- Attitude - Still really keen and enthused. No signs of getting fed up - always up to get out running whenever I can

Today I got off the train at Menston and ran home at a fair pace with a following wind. Not been down "Menston Old Lane" in the dark before so slightly surprised when I realised there was no lighting and I was in pitch darkness. Doh! I like running in the dark though - adds an extra edge to the session although obviously a high risk of tripping and being injured.

Looking forward to getting back on the track tomorrow.

Abbey Dash Post Mortem

Woke up feeling fine today, no signs of yesterday's race in my legs, although the remnants of my headcold still with me.

Did an easy 6-7 mile run along the canal with R, dodging the large puddles and discussing yesterday's Abbey Dash.

Still can't quite decide why I was that 1 minute slower than I thought I should be?

Possible reasons:
- leftovers from my cold
- too many too-hard sessions over the last few weeks that I hadn't recovered from
- the wrong taper (I did nothing for the three previous days)
- Not enough pre-race food (just a lighter breakfast than normal)
- not enough warm-up (I just did a few 300m jogs and some strides)
- head not in the game (I think it was though with so many IH vests around me)

None of these reasons feel right.

I also realised that my 10k split in the Lancaster HM a fortnight ago was not much slower than my Abbey Dash time, so I'm sure something wasn't quite right. My ave HR was also lower than my HM rates - I just couldn't maintain my early speed through the back third of the race.

I am keen to try an understand why, as I don't want to have another "bad day" on April 25th.

I feel at one level that I now need to go and run some more 10k races, but I know I need to keep my eyes on the prize (VLM). This Saturday is a planned long run and this should be my focus rather than the Wesham 10k or the Thirsk 10m.

Abbey Dash - PB

Abbey Dash today in blustery but dry condition in Leeds.

Ran 37:43 which is a PB, but maybe 40-60 secs slower than what I hoped for after Lancaster, and also a minute slower than my Lancaster HM time forecasted, so a little disappointed.

Ran the first half in 18:28 (ave 5:57 min/mile, ave HR 178), and second (downhill?) in 19:14 (6:09, ave HR 184).

I was hoping to sustain the pace achieved for the first half throughout but just really struggled over last two miles. Maybe a consequence of feeling under the weather or of too much taper. Or perhaps this is only as fast as I can go?

Garmin Connect Details for Abbey Dash

Still it was a great day for the Harriers with a stream of Red and Green through the field and 10 Harriers finishing under 38 minutes. Also Geoff Howard was 1st V65 and broke a Harriers' club record for that age group.

I've got a few XCs and fell runs over the next few weeks, plus a couple of key long runs planned. At Christmas I hope to have a look and a think about my key training period in Jan/Feb/March.

Abbey Dash Eve

I've had a few more easy days. Did a semi-easy track session on Wednesday (2x400m,2x600m,1x800,2x600m,2x400m at around 88s per 400).

Woke up Thursday feeling on the verge of a cold, so had a little 1 mile run to the station to see how it felt. Chose not to run at lunch and had Friday and today off too.

I feel slightly better this evening but in any case will run - will be interesting to stare at my HR output when I'm under the weather. It's only a 10k so shouldn't get any worse which is the main thing.

And I want to come away with a PB as well! Don't think I'll get that close to 36 but would be good to break 37, with my PB at 38:16. It's quite amazing that a year ago I thought I would never get under 40 mins for a 10k and now I feel like I could run that in training for fun.

It should be a good day for Ilkley Harriers as it looks like we will have loads of people out so plenty of "red and green" to wave to on the out and back course.

Also heard that I've got a place in the Calderdale Relay team - leg 6. Looks quite a long one but only one climb to contend with, so should suit my recent training.

Target Marathon Time

Came across an interesting running training site today: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com

Some interesting advice, but I was drawn to the advice on how to calculate a target marathon time.

His run calculator, based on my Lancaster HM time, suggested a target time of 2:52:48, which is an ave pace of 6:36. (it also suggests a 10k time of 36:49 which I expect to better slightly on Sunday)

This is way ahead of my target of 3 hours!

In fact, if I get my Brass Monkey HM time down to about 1:20 which I hope to, it suggests I will get under 2:50 for the marathon.

So why is it that I've seen lots of good runners fail to break 3 hours?

What am I missing here? If I follow my programme of quality runs consisting of:

- 1 long run every fortnight building up to 24m at 7:20 pace (I'm doing 21.5m at near this pace already)
- 1 shorter race (road/XC/fell) in between for speed, tempo and variety
- quality coached midweek track sessions
- some good recovery runs/rides
- the odd tempo midweek 13 miler when I'm feeling strong

Then when I get to the start line of the London Marathon I just need to open the tap and my sub-3 hr marathon will come out?

Do I need belief in this plan or some more trepidation?

An easy long run

Yesterday I joined Richard for some 1/2m intervals - doing 5 in about 3:05 which were very comfortable.

Today I took a late afternoon run down to the Cavendish Memorial near Bolton Abbey, along the undulating Nesfield Road. A steady 12.5 m at about 7.40 min/mile pace, but with a low ave HR of 150.


Garmin details for Cav Memorial Run

Tonight we have some babysitters so we're off to see local band "Clear" who have a few Harriers who play for them.

Power of 10

I was chatting with Steve W last night about how fast all this speed work could make us perform in races.

We were both reminded about how a fellow Ilkley Harrier had set everyone the target a year or so ago to try and register a time on athletics.com.

This data is now posted on thepowerof10.info website, and there are quite challenging targets for us to get a time registered.

For V40 they are:
5km - 17:00
10km - 36:00
10m - 59:00
HM - 1:20:00
20m - 2:05:00
Marathon - 3:00:00

It made me think that if I'm aiming for sub-3 for the marathon, then why shouldn't I (and in fact Steve W and the other 3 or 4 fast MV40s who have formed a great training group on the track) go for these targets as well along the way?

So Abbey Dash (10k), Brass Monkey (HM), and Trimpell 20, are perhaps all possibilities?

It is a shame that the person mentioned earlier who inspired us to go for these targets and always pushed for the club to be competetive on the road is no longer in our club. He'd now find a good group of like-minded folk.

Broken Bike

After yesterday's hard session on the track, today I took a steady run out to a local bike shop to collect my bike after it had been in for some attention. As so often happens for me, the amount of work required soon mounted up once they'd had a good look at it, and the mechanic had decided that it was not worth fixing.

The cost of the repairs would be comparable to the price I paid for the bike when I bought it new from the very same shop 3 years ago.

Can't say I'm impressed with a bike just lasting 3 years!

At least it defers payment for a while, and perhaps a message I should stay focussed on my running over the winter?

Wednesday Track - Fast Twitch Hell

After the delights of Sunday's Half, I'd had a few days off running. Not least as I needed to recover. As well as the Half Marathon, it was my littlest's birthday party, and I only just got back in time!

In the evening it was a "earlybird" planning meeting (the cycling group I ride with). We are planning a trip to the Alps next year, but the evening ended up as a beer-fest.

So Monday and Tuesday were well and truly recovery days, although I must admit that my legs felt better than they do after a 21 mile run.

But today was back to it with a bang - back on the track with a tough Pete Shields' session.

It was about speed and fast-twitch training. In my case my fast-twitch muscle fibre has not been used in a long time so wasn't too keen in springing into action.

We did:
5 x 300m, with 100m jog recovery
3 x 500m, with 100m jog recovery
2 x 700m, with 100m jog recovery
4 mins sit down recovery
2 x 300m, with 100m jog recovery
2 x 500m, with 100m jog recovery
1 x 700m.

We were aiming for 50 secs for each 300. For me this was more or less flat out.

Especially after Sunday my legs just didn't have it. But it was a great chance to put some agression into the intervals unlike the weeks of careful pace control.

For the last 150m of each interval we would have Pete driving us on to give it all we had.

By the end of the session we were all absolutely whacked, but everyone finished.

A contingent of the Otley guys are joining us now which is a great bonus as they have some fast people for us to chase and aspire to.

Garmin details:http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18523534

Lancaster Half - PB !

PB today and broke 1:22.

Finished in 1:21.56, 32nd out of 666 finishers.

We'd gone (Richard, Ade B and I) to this Half thinking it was a fast, flat route and a great chance for a PB.

Although the route was fairly flat, the recent heavy rain had waterlogged large sections of the route.

At best, the cycle track we were on was covered in soggy leaves. At worst there were lots of deep puddles. For one section we were diverted onto a muddy single width path to escape some deep puddles. But for one section on the way back in we had to wade through 6 inch deep water for about 200 metres.

On top of that there was a road section between 6 and 8 miles which was steadily uphill.

So all in all, not a great fast course. But nevertheless, I put in a strong run to finish in 1:21:56 which I was delighted with.

My pace suffered after the hill, and also the 200m paddling pool slowed me down and really chilled my feet.

So there was some drifting of pace, but perhaps not too much. I also managed to keep my HR at a good constant pace. For the first half mile it was up at around 190 bpm (95%max)but I eased down to around 180bpm and then kept it nailed on this for the whole race.

So all in all a great result and I'm very pleased.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Lancster Half

Easy Days before Sunday

Just a gentle 5 miler Thursday and 1km fast Friday.

Boy, this has been an easy week! And how do I feel? Well rather sluggish to be honest.

Let's see if this taper works.

Planning for a restful day Saturday but got ferrying/watching for the 3 kids:
- 1 schools x-country
- 1 ballet lesson
- 3 birthday parties to attend
- 1 sleepover to pick up from (equals one tired child)
- parents-in-law visiting
- 1 trip to the park for little un
- prep for little un's birthday party on Sunday

A restful Saturday?

Also realised that to register at thepowerof10 website I need to get a sub 1:20 time. Sunday? Unlikely, but maybe one day.

Wednesday Track

Amother tough session tonight, after a few easier days (easy 5m both MOnday and Tuesday).

6 x 1000m with 200m jog recovery.

Ave pace (mins/mile) for the 6 were:

5:38
5:39
5:32
5:34
5:37
5:30

So pretty consistent and getting faster week on week.

Garmin Connect - Splits for Wednesday Track

A weekend off

Haven't run either yesterday or today. The first time with no weekend run for as long as I can remember.

Yesterday was a beautiful Autumnal day, and we had some friends staying for the weekend so we went for a walk round Malham Cove and Gordale Scar. Carrying our 3 wheel buggy up the steps at the side of Malham Cove was quite an effort!

I felt slightly odd seeing climbers tackling the limestone overhangs of the cove. Harder than anything I ever did but did make me want to climb again. One day I'll get back on the rock.

The evening saw lots of food and drink, and lots of Halloween fun with the children, even going for a "midnight" walk under a lovely full moon.



Today, the weather was quite the opposite - heavy rain and gails. My daughter's football match was even cancelled, so it was a quiet day in watching TV and enjoying a big Sunday roast with both families huddled round the table.

Not sure what I'll be doing this week yet for my taper for the Lancasetr HM, but the main thing will be to stop drinking!

I want to make this HM a good one, so will taper well for it. My PB was earlier in the year in Leeds - 1:24:00.

I'm expecting to go faster than this - I'm running better and it is a flatter course.

Another Harrier (Andy W) is running too - he is a little faster than me, but I will try and keep him in sight and have him drag me along. I suspect I will run between 1:22 and 1:23, but would love to go under 1:22.

It would also be great to come home ahead of Andy, and the further target is the 1:21:15 that is the fastest HM time posted by a Harrier this year. We'll see.

Paula Radcliffe failed in her bid to win the NY marathon today. I watched some of the race on-line. She seemed to be suffering from about half-way.