RW Forum Six - Sub 3:30

Minni -  How far do you live from work, when we had snow last year I ran in and ran home but its only 3.5 miles.

sarah osborne 4 wrote (see)

Haha....I'm happy to do drinks after the race but I haven't yet mastered (or dared to master) drinks the night before. Any tips?x

Practice.....

I struggle with drinks the night before nowadays but many years ago I worked for the sponsors of the Great North Run and so got a free place and the night before we stayed in the same hotel as the elites.

We met them in the bar - they were on orange juice and ...well...we weren't. Drinks were all on the company and we were about 23 so not a clever situation

Got to bed absolutely slaughtered at 4am and had to be on the bus to get to the start at 6!

Managed a 1:27. In the VIP tent afterwards the winner of the race Rob De Castella (google him if you've never heard of him) came over to congratulate us for finishing. he couldn't believe that we even made the bus when he saw us getting  on in the morning. Even more so when he heard our times.

Oh the benefit of youth

Sadly, now I can't run at all after a night on the beer

I'll confess to doing a few LSRs on a hangover, but never raced with one (yet).  We were very good before the Town Moor - one beer  . Can't say how many afterwards

Becs - congratulations on your news

I think I got away with the lack of a shower yesterday - no one commented, or maybe they were just being polite? Anyway I can say that the showers are OK today so will be going out for a little jaunt later.

I just don't understand the logic of 2.20 man entering this competition. He must be coached, so his current coach isn't going to want the RW coaches overuling him surely? Anyway, no sign of a thread from him yet, and if he doesn't engage with people he'll never get the votes.

Becs congrats on the impending.

Beers and races - one beer the night before seems to be good - dunno about more than that!

Am modifying my marathon plan and thinking about only doing 3 x 20 but putting a whole stack of long runs incorporating PMP. Decisions decisions - seems like a big call, but the weight of evidence does seem to be turning.

Blimey, that female runner's tale is rather disconcerting. I have a taser, maybe I should reactivate it and carry it with me, just in case

Lots of snow here too. I will leave work early and get my run in the snow in. Looking forward to that. Had a bad night: mum ended up in hospital after collapsing in the sauna. She bumped her head and needed stitching. She's fine now but hell, that gave me a fright!

Becs: many congrats on your engagement

AntP: MP is all important. Try and get as much in as you can. I'm sure it helped me to crack 3:30 much more than speedwork or tempo runs.

Oompa: wow, your new clubmate sounds well scary. Glad your run was pain-free.

I've had a few rough races and runs after a night on the lash but never before an A race . Generally the hangover improves after running. It may sometimes involve throwing up into the bushes though

Chick - She IS scary! A bit of cyber-staking revealed she finished 15th in her age group at IM world champs!!!

HHO I would love to be that good!

When I did the coastal run this year a friend of mine had drank far too much wine the night before. She couldnt stomach breakfast and looked dreadful around the course....its kind of put me off having a load before a race but Ive found one bottle of fruit cidar the night before helps...had one before my 10k and 1/2 PB's! Ive been drunk the night before a training run, was ok for the first half but then suffered mid way and ended up laid out in the woods...that was over a year ago now though...learnt from that little mistake!

DS2 you was hard core!

barry - 20 miles but a section of that is on the A1 so wouldn't fancy running it in the snow.  I have run it several other times though.

I'm on the wagon for now.

off to buy some fruit cider ....  I have a 10k on Sunday

Just filled in the blanks on Jantastic and starting to plan my Spring races and this has thrown up a question...

I normally run the Tunbridge Wells half (hilly - good training) in Feb and then a few weeks later do the Paddock Wood half (dead flat - new pb potential), which normally happens just before the taper for VLM. However, this year PW half is on 7th April... Only two weeks before VLM.

Should i risk it, or is it too close for comfort???

Oompa- I wouldn't race a half two weeks before VLM, I think it's a bit close. 

Lots of LSRs and recovery runs done with a hangover but haven't yet attempted racing on one. But hey- it's all carbs after all... DS2- very impressed with your exploits.

Sarah and DS2- when do you find out if you've been chosen?

Simon Santa Claus wrote (see)

Bro/Gazelle - Where abouts are you skiing, or boarding? Hopefully you'll be too knackered to go running, cus you'll have 2foot of fresh powder every night. If you've got time for running, the snows crap!

Simon- I will be trying not to break any ribs in Whistler. I have never attempted running while on a skiing holiday but I will have to find a way.

Simon- I'm skiing in Peisey France, hope to do a few days cross country as there are 158km of ski trails. I was thinking of running on the spot for 10 minutes each night to emulate a 1 mile run for Jantastic, would that be ok or cheating? I'm worried about this now!

DD- Good luck in your race tomorrow

Spoons. wrote (see)

Minni - tried your test. Weird.

I didn't run last night I got drunk instead It was cold, wet and snowing so I tucked up warm with the CNBA fairy and the OH A threesome perhaps?

Spoons- There no excuses not to run! Zip up your mansuit and get out there.

Minni- Good luck on getting home tonight, can you send the snow this way please.

Ant- Have you kept to the same schedule for your marathons? If so and your times are almost the same I would say yes for changing it. Although I love running marathons I find the long runs in training hard, more of a mental block, I like the idea of what you may try.

Chick- Hope your Mum is ok, did they find out why she collapsed in the first place?

Oompa, A bit close? A hilly 20-25 miler I did last year is on the 7th too rather than 1st and thinking the same thing, last 20+ long run end of March 30th/31st.

and those pesky IM Tri people are just irritating, was running with one at the club and his time in the marathon section was sub 3:30. so unfair!

Ant, unlike Chic, I didn't do loads of marathon pace in my long runs. in fact hardly any apart from one event. Lots on 8-12 mile tempo runs, and often faster than PMP. Different strokes.. 5 x 20m also.. as per Jedi Master Shaggy instructions.

Chick, Gazelle & FRC - re PMP and schedules. I have done different schedules each year, so I'm always trying something new. I have taken 10+ mins off each time, so I suppose something is working. I plan on doing more speed work this time and on top of the PMP will also do LT and interval work.

I plan my own schedule  and the thing about the 20 milers is that that they really dominate your schedule if you put 5 of them in and you can't fit as much PMP in there  if you want to stay on the conservative side of avoiding injury anyway.

Currently it includes 3 20 milers - with one of them a 20 mile race including 10+ miles of PMP. In addition I am including a load of slightly shorter LRs including segments of PMP building up to that 10 mile PMP and back down again. My understanding is that it is total weekly mileage not the number of 20 milers that give you the best endurance training - well, we'll see! 

Oompa - agree with the others, I would not do a HM so close to the marathon. I won't even do a 20 in the last month this time round...

Ant - its both but don''t underestimate the value of the 20 milers.  I think its not until you have a very, very good endurance base that you can then look at doing fewer 20 miles, but even then perhaps just for one training period.   When not marathon training my long run each week is 16 miles and this has really improved my endurance base.

Look at the splits of your last marathons.  If you keep an even pace throughout then that would show your endurance is quite good, if however, you start to slow in the last 6 then you need to continue with those 20 milers I'm afraid.  

My schedule also changes with each marathon - its the only way to improve.