Paris marathon 2013 here we go! A.W's Sub 3 attempt!

Hi all

1.33:13 for me at Dorney HM today. Pretty pleased as all miles were around planned mara pace (c7.07mm) (give or take a few seconds) and my HR max'ed at 163 at mile 10 (did a few strides then) before falling back to a 158 average. Percieved effort around 6 or 7 out of 10 so pretty positive I can maintain this for a full mara. Have to admit the conditions were perfect today and was nearly tempted to go all out for a PB (sub1.27). 

Had a massage afterwards and annoyingly post this I've now got stiff tendons (or whatever they are) between my right calf and hamstring. Still a couple of days rest and i'll  be back on the road.   

PS Saw the Asics 26.2 crew there looking resplendent in their matching team gear!

Nice run AndyV. Sounds like you paced it well. Hope the tightness eases up, I'm sure a day or two rest and it'll be fine.

Great session today AW.  Don't know why I'm reading this thread as your running and mine are chalk and cheese!  Well done Andy today.  Sounds a good confidence booster today.

I was in a lot of pain last night and this morning and starting to wonder if i ever wanted to run again but fortunately today has been quite positive and the pain in my hip/ glute has eased considerably.  Think I've worked out the problem is the piriformis muscle that is aggrevating the sciatic nerve.  Walked down the stairs this morning and something clicked in my glute and I immediately felt a bit better!  Have subsequently done some piriformis stretches and realised this is tight and painful.  Seeing the physio on Monday but now thinking I may be able to run again... perhaps in the not too distant future!

Hope its on the mend golfer, won't do any harm to still see the physio though??

Nice day for running today, pretty perfect conditions.

So, have done my longest run so far this year! 22 miles done in 2.48.20, a fairly comfortable 7.39 m/m pace. The last mile was a bit of hard work, but on the whole a pretty decent run. Again my route was pretty undulating with a few hills involved so kept it interesting and made me work a bit in places.

Dropped a few miles in at around 7 m/m in the second half, close to MP to keep the feeling of running that kind of pace on tired legs.

A good week in the end after the disappointment of being ill and not starting Wokingham HM. Got all my key sessions in and finished the week on 67 miles - my biggest week so far.

Trialed the GO gels today, and finally seems like I've found a winner and something that will work for me. No problems on the run, took a gel at 6, 11 and 16 as I plan to in Paris and seems to work fine. I think I will stick to GO gels and ditch any plans to take caffeine gels, think that's safer.

Great run Alex. Hopefully the disappointment of Wokingham is well and truly in the past now. Excellent weekly mileage too.

Great run Choisty.

some good running today AW, Choisty, Rennie and yesterday for Andy and good that Golfer improving.

well done on the 22 AW - good solid pace. I quite like the caffeine ones and don't think it would be a bad idea to give one a try in your next long run as it could give you a bigger boost. 

I saw you were 2nd M40 Choisty but saw a very fast 1:56 for first M50!

I did Southern cross at very muddy parliament Hill and was quite an average run with hamstring very tight and despite double tieing laces, one came undone and it took me just under a minute to undo the knot and do up again. With rushing around watching other races - high placings from group in under 13 race and women's race ended up running 6 miles before my race, and my race 15km.

Therefore thought wasn't good idea doing as far as 20 so settled for quite hilly and muddy in places off-road 15 - lovely conditions and was great route but only averaged 8:20. made up for the lack of distance by then doing three plus hours of cycling.

Great run Choisty - you are looking good for London!

Great end to the week AW and a solid 22 miler under the belt to finish it off.

All miles in the bank Steve and I guess the muddy conditions add a bit of strength?

Wrexham half today in 1.26.34. I was close to PB time and went through 10 miles in 65.15, but wind and fatigue/lactate acid knocked a PB on the head this time. Was looking for around 1.26 - 1.27 so relatively pleased with the outcome.

AW

Great that gels are sorted and agree stick to what you feel "safe" with.

A.W wrote (see)

Carb Loading!

So here is my days carb loading! Feeling quite full!

7.30am - Mini Weetabix with chocolate bits (60g) with 200ml skimmed milk. Glass of apple juice, mug of coffee with skimmed milk. Peach.

11am - Natural Valley granola bar. Pint of orange juice mixed with water.

1.30pm - 1 large wholemeal roll with prawns (145g) and extra light mayo. 1 large wholemeal roll with peanut butter and strawberry jam. 

3.30pm - 2 slices of Malt Loaf. Pint of orange squash.

6.30pm - Half a 12' anchovy and olive pizza. Spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce. 2 glasses of slimline tonic water. (we ate out in Wokingham)

9.30pm - Half a tin of low fat rice pudding. Cup of decaf coffee. (eating this now!)

Actual carb loading plan:

Breakfast:  60g of   cereal with 200-250ml of skimmed milk (60 grams of carbs) & 200ml glass   of fruit juice (18g) with large banana (25-30g). Hot drink as usual.   Breakfast total: 105g

Mid-morning: 700ml   of high juice/cordial or fruit juice between breakfast & lunch (60-70g)   & Cereal bar (25g): total 90-95g

Lunch: Sandwiches (4 slices of thick bread/two large   rolls= 60g) with one meat/fish filled sandwich and one banana sandwich (25g).   120g pot of yoghurt (low fat 16g)

Total:100g

Mid-afternoon: Between lunch and dinner a further 1 litre   of high juice or fruit juice (100g) & 5 jaffa cakes (40g) or or two   slices of pre-sliced malt loaf (40g). Total: 140g

Evening meal: 100g   dried weight of rice or   pasta with tomato based sauce & 200g low fat yoghurt or rice pudding.   Total: 100g  Or if you wished to have your usual home made pizza a mini pizza   base (~weighting 70g would provide 40g of carbs so if top with lots of  lots of tomato sauce etc will be around 50g   carb mark for this mini pizza). So you could either double the size to allow   100g of carbs form pizza or add 300ml fruit juice (27g) and a low fat fruit   yoghurt 16g if wish smaller portion of pizza. The night before Paris if you   have a pizza out you will easily have 100g of carbs in this and you should   choose to reduce cheese etc

Supper: 40g bowl of cereal (40g) & 2 slices of   thick toast with jam or honey (50g): Total 90g

Overall estimated   total: 630grams of carbohydrates.

AW

Comments from carb loading now that you are back and 100% fit again:

• Your choice of mid- morning snack: pint of OJ mixed with water will be fewer carbs than 700ml of straight OJ or cordial (mixed as per instructions on bottle) 
• Lunch – again fewer carbs than plan – no yogurt & jam over banana will be less carbs than a full banana.
• Mid-afternoon – 500ml short of carb drink means fewer carbs
• Supper – will have about half carbs than suggested meal plan

HOWEVER

I feel you will be using sufficient gels in race and if want to eat slightly less carbs before Paris then suggest you "load" with slightly less carbs for 2 whole days before marathon but two nights prior to that add a medium bowl of cereal before bed. For example Friday & Saturday carb load with slightly less carbs  but on Wednesday & Thursday eat a little extra at supper?

At the end of the day you are the one that needs to be comfortable with the plan so I am happy if you only eat 2 days before (and slightly less carbs than the plan) as this is more carbs than normal for you and you will be on a proper planned taper. What are your thoughts?

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for the pointers above.

To be honest I felt stuffed after lunch as my rolls were really big, so really didn't feel like anything else.

I cut down the supper because I thought I'd probably eaten more than I should have for my Evening meal - half a pizza and a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, so thought that would make up for it?

Point taken about the juice, will try and up this next time, more in the afternoon and just pure juice in the morning.

Will try and make it better next time, its a pity I was ill the day after as I really have no idea how I would have felt running after the days carb load. I will trial it again in two weeks before my 20 mile race.

Does that sound ok?

Steve, just seen that results...damn V50's they're trouble I tell you

AW stick to the nutrition plan where you can it helped me no end, I still try to stick to the same rules, although lats nights curry and beer probably wasn't on the orginal sheet!

Good running on the 22 miler AW, that's an impressive pace so soon after being ill.

Question for Steve/Ruth, if you're using gels with caffeine during the marathon is it worth laying off tea in the days leading up to the race to get an extra boost from the caffeine? I've been using the High5 IsoGels without any problems.

I managed to knock a few seconds off my parkrun pb on Saturday, down to 18.36 now and hoping that translates into a half marathon pb in Llanelli in a couple of weeks

AW - actually sounds like your time off has done you the world of good - your 800s last week were amazingly strong and a really good long run from this weekend - your confidence must be sky high

What's this week's programme got in store?

Tim, I stopped Caffine on Ruth's advice last year for a week, until the morning of the Marathon then had a couple of coffees before the start and a caffinated gel at 23, all of which seemed to work well.