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?