Abingdon Marathon

BB - glad your got your 15 miler done, and at a good pace too.

Martin - hope the 16 miler went well. Your right to start putting in a speed session, however your certainly not lacking in that department at the moment with that 5K time.

Meep - good leg strengthening 20 miler there.

AGF - another one on 60+ miles a week already.. now I am getting worried what everyone will be running a week, come September.

CFB - 66 combined miles in a week sounds pretty good training to me.

Decided to ditch my long run on Sunday, due to a calve niggle which was starting to bother me at the end of my run on Saturday. Plenty of stretching and calve raises over the weekend. Will give it a run out tomorrow morning to see how it feels.  

Bet you feel a lot better now that 15 has been dealt with Barry!

AGF, nice run there completing a high mileage week.

Hope the niggle clears up quickly AC, definitely did the wise thing and rested it.

Martin, feeling comfortable on a 20 at 7min/mile, looks a pretty good place to be in at the moment, im jealous .

Good run this morning in the rain 3m easy to steady, 2m @mp +10secs, 3m @mp, 2m @mp -10secs. mile cd. very easy 3 tonight.  14 easy in the morning then rest day Wednesday.

MG - very good 20 miler. Hope the physio sorts out the groin, as I am sure sub 2.50 is very possible if 20 miles in 2:20 is comfortable this early in your training.

Meep -  sounds like a good progression run, which is my favourite type of run, they certainly build endurance. Hope the 14 miles this morning went well.

Had a nice easy 40 min run in the sunshine this morning, no twinges from the calve, so fingers crossed I can gradually ease myself back into things. Although I having doubts about my 10 mile race on Sunday, where was going to do 5 steady miles beforehand, do the race at MP, with 1 mile cool down.

Hi AllI'm new to the forums and have picked this one up by pure accident. I'm doing Abingdon this year and have found that there's an awful lot of useful info on here already. Big thanks to Fido especially for the detailed course description. I've made a mental note to check it out again nearer to the time. 

Interesting to seee MG's recent posts as we have very similar targets - I ran 2:54 at Taunton in spring of 2011 and would dearly love to go under 2:50 before father time finally catches up with me. I'll be following your posts with interest MG. I'm following the RW sub-3 hr schedule which worked very well for me at Taunton. Only difference this time round is that I'm upping all the distances by 10% (which makes for some very interesting training distances - 8.8 miles tomorrow morning) and trying to run them 10 secs per mile faster. Seems to make sense, but would value the views of others.

Welcome DM!  Your Taunton time is what I'd love to crack at Abo this year.  Did 2:59 last year, and my fastest from the 3 maras I've done so far. When I'm into the full mara training schedule shortly, I'll be aiming at 70 mile weeks, including an lsr of 24 miles[done quite slow-circa 3:30}, and 1 & possibly 2 track speed sessions. Nearer the race I'll also fit in a few 7-10 milers @ mp.

You mention wanting to go go under 2:50 'before father time finally catches up with me', I'm 46, how young are you?

Hi LuvsaPB,  Interesting to see your plans, you certainly seem to have  the right ingredients !  I only got over a 60 mile week once before Taunton, but lots of weeks just under 60. this time round with my 10% uplift I'll be doing lots of weeks at about 63 miles max. My lsr runs gradually build up during the period and before Taunton the furthest that I ran was 22 miles a couple of times, but at a quicker pace than you're planning - about 2:40, which I think equates to about 3:15 pace.

Sems like you still have time on your side - I turned 50 a month ago 

Welcome aboard DM. Even-though I am not in your class, what you suggest seems very sensible. If following the RW sub 3 schedule has worked for you in the past, then do not materially change it. Best of luck with the 2:50 target, don't worry about being 50  I have known a few runners running PBs well into their 50s.

MG - glad everything sounds better. Hope you did not get too wet this morning. It was nice and dry here this morning for my easy 6 1/2 miles 

SR3 - sorry to hear about your sickness bug. I am going to have the same problem this week, missing most of my key sessions due to a sore calve last Saturday.

In my experience, although I know there are more knowledgeable people here than myself,  if you miss sessions or weeks, then they are missed, and best to resume your plan as if you had done week 5.  However as your week 6 is a drop back week, which you have effectively done this week, you could argue you could build in a few extra miles into week 6. This I would think should only be considered you were now 100%. However you will probably would have heard before, that you should never try and play catch up, and cram in the sessions that you missed earlier. I will resume my own training plan when I know I am more or less 100%, and will certainly be following the plan as if I had done the week(s) I have missed.

Hope you are feeling better and you do not get any more enforced layoffs

Glad to hear the calves are on the mend AC, be careful on that big looking session/race at the weekend!

Sounds like you could well be on the way to 100% then Martin, was that with physio or sports massage?

Hi DM, another good looking target time!

SR3, i would also resume as if yoyu did week 5, this will also make sure you come back properly refreshed and ready to crack on seeing as next week is a cutback.

Hey Luvsa, how did the midweek series of 10ks go?

Dart More wrote (see)

 

Sems like you still have time on your side - I turned 50 a month ago 

If you get a spare 5 mins, take a wander over to the Power of 10 website & have a look at some of the fastest mara times this year/last year per vet groups, ie 50-54 etc.  I've seen some PBs below 3hrs set by guys over 50, & who appear to have been running only a few years.

If you're like me & started running after 40, we obviously don't have the advantage 20+ years of conditioning, that some of our similar aged competitors have, but we are fresher.  Haven't got 100,000 miles on the clock so to speak & won't have suffered as many injuries.  You've still got time too!

mee meep wrote (see)

Glad to hear the calves are on the mend AC, be careful on that big looking session/race at the weekend!

Sounds like you could well be on the way to 100% then Martin, was that with physio or sports massage?

Hi DM, another good looking target time!

SR3, i would also resume as if yoyu did week 5, this will also make sure you come back properly refreshed and ready to crack on seeing as next week is a cutback.

Hey Luvsa, how did the midweek series of 10ks go?

Hi Meep!  I'm afraid I've yet to run a decent time this year in any of the races I've done in 2012. Haven't run sub 39 mins for 10k since last year.  It's all a bit frustrating, but you have to carry on

Glad to see you're getting stuck into your mara prep.  You begin to realise what a time commitment it is & how it affects your ability to do as many shorter races as before?  But I'm sure it'll all be worth it when you get the time you want, and then you might just get a bit addicted.

Hi chaps/chappesses. Thought I'd jump back in here again having had a bit a break after Edinburgh (which I managed to balls up by letting the evil bad fairy mess with my mind and tell me I couldn't run properly in the heat !)

Looks like there's a bit a cohort gathering momentum and a few with similar targets to me. For those that haven't done it before it really is a cracking race with just the right blend of space to run but a decent atmosphere and a lightning fast course.You'll find there's plenty of company around the sub3 mark and lots of runners to work with. Perhaps some trains from here can form as the day gets closer. I'm another who took up the running age 40 - now 44 and hoping I can squeeze some improvement in endurance out over the next few years

I've only done Abo once before (last year) and had a very injury prone build up so hopefully can stay in one piece this time !

Just cranking things up a bit now and starting to creep up to 60ish weekly mileage - this being week 3 of my 16 week campaign

SR3 - I agree with AC. Just jump into week 6 and move on. Good luck !

Thanks for all of your supportive comments - feels like I'm part of a community already!

Aching Calves - Hope the calf continues to recover from last weekend. Thanks for the comments, will persevere with the +10%/-10 sec plan for as long as it seems sensible/practical - no adverse comments from anybody on the forum so far !. Not too sure about what it does to my two longest lsr though- might be too much me thinks. 

SR3 - absolutely agree with the previous responses to your question. Step right back in as if you'd done the missing week, especially if that means you're doing a lower mileage week as an intro back in after being unwell

LuvsaPB - Thanks - interesting stats on Power of 10 - leading V50 time so far this year is 2:33 !!!

Fraser  - what is your target time?  Also interested that you mention trains - a couple of earlier posts do as well. I'm not fmailiar with how they work. Are they essentially a pacing group ?

Martin - Not sure whether the schedule is the MG one or not - it's just the standard sub 3-hrs one I think. My subscription has expired so I don't have access to check any more. Taunton is actually quite flat - 2 laps with only one fairly serious hill at about 11/24 miles. Worked like a dream for me although I find it difficult to find any flat roads to train on where I live, so didn't know how I would cope with no hills to work on. Good to hear that the injury is on the mend - best get it out of the way now rather than the week before the event !

Dart More wrote (see)

 

 

LuvsaPB - Thanks - interesting stats on Power of 10 - leading V50 time so far this year is 2:33 !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Can't promise you'll get that quick, but you never know!

5x1 mile reps down at the track tonight for club training.  Came out 5:38, 5:48, 6:12!, 6:03 & 6:02.  All off 2 min recoveries.  Trying to get the speed training more structured, rather than taking the easy option of just doing longer slow runs.

SR3 -  Agree with other comments, don't try and play catch up just carry on with week 6. The only time you would probably have to do a run you have  missed would be one if you'd missed one of the 20's. Stick around, don't worry about the speedsters,  The number of runners going sub 3 will only be a small percentage of the runners who finish. 

Dart - Welcome, sounds like a middle aged thread. I'm 46 in August having taken up running "seriously" 4 years ago.

Martin/AC -  Good news on your niggles.

Lusva - Very impressive reps.

5 miles for me early this morning, plan said mid tempo pace(10k pace plus 15secs), which I reckon at the moment is  around 7's.  Ended up with an avg of 6:54 so happy with that.

BB - Middle Aged Thread - great punning there! And yep, it is - I'm 50 now - took up runnig properly exactly 4 years ago. As a 50 year old (since December) I have managed a half marathon PB by about 10s, and I've equalled my 10K PB. Don't think I'll be attacking last year's marathon PB though. I'm doing a 10K at Yateley in 2 weeks, so I'll have an idea if I've got any pace whatsoever