RW Forum Six - Sub 3:30

Morning folks,

Yet more great running happening over the weekend. AA - there is just no stopping you! Great 20 mile time, I really think you're going to have a storming VLM this year

O4S - nicely done from you too - especially on the back of the lurgy you're been suffering with all week.

Ant / Chick / 2old - great LSRs from you all.

Minni - scary with the car going like that...glad no real harm done.  And I agree with everyone else on Jantastic...it's only a bit of fun and not like any of us really need the motivation as we all have our own goals anyway.

SS - great to be up to 15 miles already. As kfc said you've ramped up the miles pretty quick and it's no wonder it feels hard. It will come back.

Becs - it's great you are able to run without pain, even if it's only a mile or two

I did my 15 yesterday - average 8.10 pace. Nice day for it - foggy and cold at first but the sun came out and it was lovely by the end. No wind either which makes a change!

Oompa- HADD is explained here. I'm no expert and never used it but I understand that it involves doing a lot of very slow miles and controlling your effort with a heart rate monitor. There is a separate thread for those who follow it. I don't think you can change your long runs on jantastic at this stage..

DD- totally agree with your points on coaching but at this point in time it very much works for me. I don't think I'm experienced enough to know what I'm doing half of the time and also need to be held back every now and then, otherwise would run myself to the ground!

Carrot- well done on the relays, sounds like you enjoyed yourself!

Weeble- thanks for the pm. I agree it's a bit strange for Mo to do half of the VLM. Why not just race a normal half? Not sure what it will tell him in terms of preparation for next year.

Minni/ Carl- I agree that there's no point worrying about jantastic. It's there to motivate you but not to make you run when you're injured.

Chick- great 22m yesterday!

AA- great racing yesterday.... got a bit carried away??? Lol!

O4S- great racing from you as well especially when not feeling100%.

SS- I think you're doing very well considering how much mileage you've ramped up in the last few weeks. Don't obsess about the pace at this stage, there really is no point especially if you're running in 28-29 degrees.  You're getting there!

2Old- happy skiing!

Free- speedy 15 miler!

Good weekend of running here. 6m @ 7:43 on Saturday. It was supposed to be easy but MrB joined me and as usual it ended up being faster than planned. Still really enjoyed it. 3h15min LSR on Sunday ended up being 22.5m @ 8:39. Perfect day for it, sunny and crisp. All in all clocked up 75m last week so the biggest week of this campaign.

Morning

AA: Stonking

O4S: Take a break you deserve it

SS: You wil get there

Chick / Ant / Bro good long runs

2K swim set done, club run tonight. No Cycling today

Morning All,

Skimming back through the thread, there has been some great running this weekend.

AA - Fab 20. You must be confident of a sub 3.15 VLM after that.

O4S - Well done on even finishing with the remnants of that cold/cough/whatever it is? I'd give the ultra, two weeks before VLM a miss, but i'm beginning to see a recurring theme on this thread that we don't seem to do the sensible thing too often! 

Becs & SS - Slowly, slowly to catch a monkey! 

Bro - Thanks for the HADD info. 75 mile week... WOW

Minni - Disgraceful example set by our team leader in Jandoesitreallymattertastic! 

I managed to resolve my faux pas with regards to putting the wrong lsr mileages in on Febohbuggeri'mgettingboredofthisulous by running 2 mile w/u, then 4 @ 8.13, followed by 12 miles at 7.26 with another 2 mile c/d... Phew!

Rest day today but i'm gonna hit the gym for some core work, so that i get ripped like Spoons... If you've never seen an orange six-pack, you haven't lived!

Oompa:  the ultra two weeks before VLM is not ideal - but then neither is the 100 mile event two weeks after VLM!!

Another gorgeous day and I am tempted to go for a recovery run, but my legs are not so sure..........................

Kiwi:  be careful what you wish for - I developed quads of steel in 2008 when I couldn't run and focused on cycling, including 4,000 miles across the USA.  None of my trousers would go on, 6 inches too big at the waist and quads bursting out of the legs - not a good look

Well done all on the long runs - if only we could have this temperature and weather for our marathons

Hi gang! 2.5km swim this morning in 53 minutes. Will run 35 minutes after work. Then go to the gym for an hour.

What a beautiful day.  Makes you almost forget all those long hard miles in the snow and ice.  1.5 mile intervals bagged along with a run along the river with the dog as a warm up.

That's a bit speedy Oompa  and nice miles from you Brolish.  Nice to see you coming back Spoons.

Enjoy the sun folks.

Minni -  As others have said don't overly worry about febulous, there's others slacking more than you.

Freemers/Oompa/Brol -  Good running from you all.

Night shift for me this week so as calf felt OK yesterday decided to run to  and from work.  3.5 miles in last night slow and it felt OK just a bit tight but the run home this morning was awful with same pain returning with avengance. That was 5 days rest spent icing and stretching since my last run.  Got a physio appt this friday, going to try the eliptical x trainer at the gym tomorrow so see if I can train on that. So this mornings effort might be my only run this week.

(((Barry))) back right off.  Take the week off. There's still loads of time and you really need to get this calf better.  I found I could cycle and the x training might be ok too.  I remember sal f on the 3:15 missing virtually the whole of the marathon build up due to injury and she just cross training and ran a pb in 3:09 (I think!).    I know its hard - I used to go to bed early hoping that when I woke it would be better - but you will get there, just give it a bit more time.

Barry - As Minni said, back right off. It took me two solid weeks of no running (just swimming & x-training) before it healed. Also, i wore compression calf guards to bed most nights (much to OH's delight)... Dunno if they helped or it may have been placebo, but worth a try?

I did rest, if you can count 4 hours gardening and a brisk 3 mile walk as a rest day.  Skipped the tempo run at the club.  Looks like a 20 mile race is the way to go if you want to shake off a cold - feeling loads better.

35 minute run done, off road with head torch. Plus 30 mins elyptical and 30 mins weights/core. 

AA -  Yeah, i've got some history with my right calf, my comfort blanket KT Tape did n't work this time.

Minni/Oompa -   Currently sat with my calf guard on.  Had a similar problem with my right calf in the Abingdon build up in 2009.  8 weeks very good training then similar calf problem meant 8 weeks of not a lot of running but plenty of x training which led to 3:16 at Abo, feeling great up until 20miles then last 6 were very hard work(lack of long runs), so I know all is not lost, as Wokingham showed  am at a decent point regarding fitness,  but pee'd off as I never seem to be able to manage a full campaign of (running)training.

Barry, how frustrating for you. Hope the physio can sort you out.

AA, well done on the fast 20 miler at the weekend. Also to O4S for getting through it with a cold. Glad you're feeling a lot better.

Bro, uber-mileage week, well done.

Mo was interviewed about VLM at the athletics and there seemed to be two reasons he was doing it. One was just so that he knows the set up of the race and can work out his pre-race routine, presumably for running the full distance in another year. The second seemed to be to support a UK event and give something back that way.

AA, wow!!!  Don't know what to say that others haven't already, but you were flying  That is awesome to see, great running!

Kiwi, get in there with your spin sessions!  It is amazing how quickly you can get addicted to horrific torture 

2old, happy skiing!  You attacking the Jagermeister yet???  And I'm laughing, patience was never my strong point!!  I am trying, honest 

O4S, you batter that cold into submission!!  That is seriously impressive given how you felt, well done.

Ant, that sounds like a fabulous long run!!  I'm so happy it's all coming together for you.  Now, if you could just send me a little of that my way..... 

KFC, thank you so much for your thoughts, you are absolutely spot on.  This is totally uncharted territory for me as any other time I've come back from an injury, I've had ages before an A-race so have had the luxury of time to build up endurance slowly.  I'm not happy that you're finding it hard, but it does make me feel a lot better to know that it's not just me struggling here!!  We will get to that start line, come what may   You're also right, I must remember I'm playing the long game too and that VLM is just a stepping stone to Dubai next Jan where I will hopefully be back in the 3:30 game.  Thank you for the reality check.

Free, thank you   And a nice 15.  Weather sounds like it was beautiful!

Brolish, I have no idea if I could ever fit in 75m a week!!  I love your mileage, it's brilliant!  And pretty speedy work from you and Mr B too 

Barry, oh no   What is it with this thread and calf issues??  Let's hope the physio can give you some hope.  Have you tried running in the pool?  It's horrific as you have to work really hard so every time you get in the pool it's a very intense session, but as a temporary measure, I'd recommend it.  I've got a training schedule I can PM you written by one of the P+D authors, I think it's P.

Spoons, yay!!

No running for me yesterday, I took a rest day.  We've got visitors over so there was a fair bit of drinking going on, but I'm feeling pretty good today.  Gonna step up the tempo session, will try for 2x20@8m/m, but if I'm feeling in the zone, I may just do 4 miles in one block.  It depends how I feel.  Nothing like making it up as you go along 

SS - ah, you've discovered the best schedule of all - MIUAYGA - never fails  I do it all the time, particularly with tempo sessions! I have similar today, in the end I expect I'll do a solid 4-5 mile block rather than cut it into two.

Barry - must be very frustrating for you...hopefully the calf guards and a little backing off will do the trick.

Re. Mo - OK, so he wants to 'give something back', which he can well afford to do given the amount he's being paid for what will basically be a 13 mile tempo run....if he runs with the leaders he'll still be below his HM pace and I can't see him going ahead of them. I'd like to see him help out some of the other British runners and maybe act as a pacemaker for them, like Scott Overall did last year. But he won't. Still, I can't really blame him - he is hot property and should make the most of it.

I've been thinking about my pacing strategy for my two 20 mile races. A few on the sub-3 thread did the same 20 as AA and seemed to use a progressive pacing strategy, with four blocks of 5 miles. So I'm thinking 8.20 / 8.00 / 7.40 / 7.20. It'll hopefully mean I should be overtaking people constantly after the first 5 miles which is always a good feeling.  I'm going to try it for the first race and then see how I feel about the second one - if I recover OK I could do something similar, but if not I can just use it as an LSR and have a nice gentle run.

OK, so I know it's only February but the running dreams have started. Night before last I dreamt I was at the elite start at VLM (yeah, right ). Then last night I dreamt I somehow decided to enter (on the day) a 50 mile ultra. All was going well until the course went into a house and I got stuck in a cupboard . What's that all about?