Cross Training: Running

[Greenbank]

Legs go bang at 28km again (and 20m slower to that point than last year, probably something to do with being 6kg heavier than last year). Shortcut the last RP lap to walk the last 4km back to the bike.

Oh well, probably still good enough to get me round Brighton in 5h-5h30.

No more specific event goals until I get my weight down. It's so much easier to run when lighter.

[TheRedEyeJedi]

I am doing our work 5k this Friday and did a warmup last week - managed 27.30 which is 2minutes quicker than my previous best.   First time I have tried a proper 5k effort - had a pretty horrible stitch after 1,5 miles which slowed down the middle mile.   Hoping to get the same or better this Friday.

I really do struggle with a right hand stitch when I try and run up to over my threshold.   Luckily they never happen on a slower run so it isn't a problem at marathon pace.   Hopefully its just part of getting faster and fitter and they will stop at some point.

Ive tried most suggestions to prevent them and have an effective technique to get rid of them once it happens .... luckily I have no plans to ever run short distance competitively!

[αdαmsκι]

34km run this morning along the towpaths and through the parks of east London.  It's always surprising how it's possible to devise such traffic few routes in such a big city.

The London marathon is 4 weeks ago so time enough to get another 2 or 3 30+ km runs in before then, which I need if I'm to match my performance from 2015.

[Greenbank]

Well, nowhere to hide now. Rapidly trying to work out a plan for Brighton on Sunday. I'm 4kg heavier than last year and haven't done as much training, but with slightly better pacing I can knock those annoying 7 minutes off my time and sneak in under 5h.

I'll be starting near the back of the Pink (4:30 to 4:59) corral and aiming for just under 5h.

With this in mind I think I'm going to aim for a 2:20:00 first half (~6m40/km) and a 2:39:59 second half when I have to start doing walk/run at about 30km (after the right turn onto the Kingsway and heading out to Shoreham).

30km in about 3h30 (7min/km) gives me 1h30 for the last 12.2km (7m22/km).

Last time I walked a large portion of the power station bit before I moved to a "walk 100m run 900m" strategy. If I adopt that from 30km then I should be able to keep to that target.

I don't think trying to do a constant 7m05/km (5h pace) would be a good idea with my lack of running stamina, my legs would still complain somewhere a way before the finish and then I'd be pushing to try and keep up.

(I hope to be 15kg lighter in 2018 and aim for sub-4h with a negative split!)

Daughter has her excuses in for her mini-mile race as she slightly twisted her ankle yesterday, but she's confident she'll give it a go on Saturday. I haven't passed down any speed genes to her...

[mattc]

All the walk/run "experts" are insistent that you should walk early. No different to running the whole way - work out your optimum pace and use it from mile 1 to 26.2.

[I suspect this is still a young science, but that strategy makes sense to me. Of course I'm not attempting any marathons this year, so feel free to ignore!]

[αdαmsκι]

@Greenbank: How did you get on?

[Greenbank]

First half good ok, second half not so good.

Was feeling ok at half way, a bit behind schedule (~2h31) but that was mostly caused by the absolute chaos at the water stations in the first half (which, little did I know, was just a prelude to the latter stages).

After that the heat got to me and I realised that I'd be running myself into trouble if I chased 4:59:59 so I run-walked (7:40/km pace) for another 6-7k before the ICBA valve blew and I walked almost all of the last third (3h25 for the second half, so 5:56:47 in total, so almost 50 mins slower than last year).

Too hot a day for me at ~92kg compounded by them completely running out of water and/or cups at a load of water stations including 3 consecutive water stations out by Shoreham. They will get a lot of stick for several aspects of the organisation. I'm glad I was already walking by this point.

I've entered again for next year but will only run if I get my weight down to sub 80kg. This should set me up for 4:00 to 4:15 which means I'm less likely to get caught up in the drinks problems, and I might get more of a choice of finishing top sizes (they only had XS or XL by the time I finished).

Would have been interesting to see what my HR was doing given the heat, but I'd left my HR strap in my bag at the hotel and only realised when I was 10 minutes from starting.

Bonus spot and shout out to Dave Hudson who was spectating in his Audax UK hat out by Roedean school. I didn't recognise him first time round but his name popped into my head whilst doing the bit out to Ovingdean and so I was able to shout to him on the way back.

[αdαmsκι]

Having landed back at Gatwick on Sunday from St. Anton I was surprised at the heat and would't have wanted to be running a marathon in those conditions. The lack of water is a major issue. (If Dave Hudson was in charge of catering all would have been great!)  Hopefully next year goes better for you.

[Legs]

My brother was running Brighton too, and the heat completely got to him.  He was targeting 3:15 (having run 3:36 at Abingdon last year, his first marathon), went through half distance in 1:37, then the doors fell off and he finished in 4:28...

My clubmate Ian ran 2:54, some 15 minutes slower than his London time last year, so it seems like a tough day at the office all round.

[Greenbank]

Goals for next 12 months (after two week rest/recovery from marathon):-

* Get back in to a regular routine (swimming, cycling three times a week, 5-a-side twice a week, 11.5km run commute once a week - HM run commute once a month, intervals once a week, parkrun, long slow run on sundays)
* Weight down to under 80kg by Christmas (~36 weeks and ~11kg to lose) and to ~76kg by April 2018 (Brighton Marathon again - sub 4:15, possibly sub 4h)
* A few HM races over the next year, just to keep the long runs interesting and hopefully see some proper race progression
* Parkrun PB sometime around August hopefully (24:24 currently) as the weight comes off. 21:59 as a longer term goal, maybe lower if speed improves lots with weight coming off
* 50 parkruns by April next year (currently on 21) including a few volunteering!
* Run all of the paths/tracks on Putney Heath, and when that's done, Wimbledon Common (introduces some nice variation to the long runs, I can get right down to the Southern end at Barham Road in about 6km from home, so should be easy to pick off un-run bits)

[EDIT] Just plotted a (far from optimal) route that covers all of the paths on Putney Heath (well, the ones that google maps knows about) and it's only 16km, was expecting much more than that, that's just a long run or two. Guess I'll be moving on to covering Wimbledon Common quite quickly!

[αdαmsκι]

I managed my fastest ParkRun for two years this morning. Now it's time to start tampering for next Sunday. I doubt I'll match my 2015 marathon time but hey ho.

[αdαmsκι]

Here we go:

[zigzag]

adamski is storming along, half-marathon in 1:21:13!

[Sergeant Pluck]

Go Adamski!

[Pippa]

I saw him at 16.5 miles and he managed a grimacy smile.

I managed to hand him a gel.

I also got a clap from the crowd for managing to hobble down there with all my broken bits

Should be less than 20 mins to go for him now

[zigzag]

my friend just took 20th place with 2:23:24

[zigzag]

I saw him at 16.5 miles and he managed a grimacy smile.

I managed to hand him a gel.

I also got a clap from the crowd for managing to hobble down there with all my broken bits

Should be less than 20 mins to go for him now

2:44:36 - impressive time! congratulations!!

[Jurek]

2:44:36

Very good!

[αdαmsκι]

2:44:36

Target was sub 2:45 so very happy with that. I had to dig deep.

Right, time to get fit for LEL.  Where's my bike?

Oranj had a great run & looked good when i saw him at the finish.

[mattc]

2:44:36

Very good!

Apart from that lacklustre 2nd half ...   

I saw him at 16.5 miles and he managed a grimacy smile.

I managed to hand him a gel.

I also got a clap from the crowd for managing to hobble down there with all my broken bits

Nice!

Sounds like you both had a brilliant day

(Did Adam get his medal from royalty? Or were they only handing them out later on? )

[αdαmsκι]

(Did Adam get his medal from royalty? Or were they only handing them out later on? )

No. I clearly ran too quickly.

[αdαmsκι]

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1693817600

[Blazer]

Good run Adamski. 

I opted for the fuller value approach but still missed the royals.

Slowest of my 4 marathons (4:29:05) but I only had to walk for 100m in the 25th mile, and no huge drop off in pace until i walked.

Enjoyed the day and am very pleased with my efforts despite it being my slowest time.

Funny old game.

Hoping to be free for the Isle of Wight randonnee next weekend.

[αdαmsκι]

Spot people you know finishing London Marathon here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p050lp8z/london-marathon-2017-london-marathon-finish-line

I appear at ~13:40 in the top right

[αdαmsκι]

The Good for Age times (ie run below this time & you don't need to enter via the public ballot) for London Marathon 2018 have been confirmed: https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/how-to-enter/good-age-entry/  So males under 40 need to have a sub 3:05 marathon, or sub 3:45 for females, in order to guarantee an entry to London 2018.