RW Forum SIx – 3.30 – 4.00

Must go to work - I'm late.....

Spoons - I have Liversedge half on Sunday 10/02. Is it necessary for me to taper for this ? When I ran my HM in November I tapered from about 10 days before the race but I didnt do anything on the 2 days prior to the race itself. I do tend to feel good if I have 2 days off so think I will follow this plan for Liversedge. What are your thoughts on what I should do for the week before ?

Spoons. wrote (see)

Let's work it backwards from race day. I would put some MP into your long runs and also chuck some into other sessions and MLRs.

0 - 26.2 race

1 - 8 miles with 2 @ MP

2 - 12 miles with 5 @ MP

3 - 22 miles SLOW

4 - 20 miles with 12 miles @ MP broken up into 3 blocks of 4 with 2 slow blocks of 4 between

5 - 20 miles SLOW

6 - 14 miles with 4 @ MP

7 - 20 miles with 8 @ MP broken up into 2 blocks of 4 (make sure the last 4 miles are at MP)

8 - 20 miles SLOW

9 - 20 miles with the last 5 miles @ MP

Spoons - thanks for this. Very helpful and just the type of guidance I was looking for.

I can either run the Berkhamstead HM on 3rd March which would replace the 20 SLOW at Week 5 above or the Eton Dorney 20k on the same day.

Other other alternative seems to be the Baldock HM on 24th February (Week 6 above) as it is my wife's birthday w/e 9th March and I am already going to a footie match.

The only issue with Berkhamstead is that it is a hilly course and this might not give me the best guide to my true marathon pace (sounds like an excuse doesn't it).

There are 2 steepish climbs on the course. The first is at 3.5km and lasts for just over 2km climbing 64m (3% gradient) and the second is after 10.5km lasting again for just over 2km and climbs 45m (2.1% gradients). The course has an overall gain of 155m.

This would seem to be the best week to do the HM as I have 2 LSR's of 2om and 22m left after this to refine my MP.

Any thoughts ?

Evening Carter - So far I have not done hill work as a specific session. I have concentrated on tempo runs on relatively flat circuit with the intervals at a track. My MSR's and LSR's do incorporate hills (probably mere inclines compared to the mountains you seem to have been running on) but not as a hill rep session.

I am guessing that if I was to do a hill session that I would swap an interval session for it rather than a tempo session.

My guess is that Berkhamsted fits my schedule the best so unless Spoons says otherwise I will be making the commitment tonight / tomorrow.

And thanks for the vote of confidence.

I would go for Baldock if that's a bit flatter and it would replace your 14 miler anyway.

With a half in marathon training I would train as normal up until the Tuesday session. On the Wednesday MLR I would reduce that by around 25%. Thursday I would do a "light" session focusing on HMP, e.g. 3 x 1km reps @ HMP. Friday and Saturday I would do either nothing or no more than 3 miles easy. 

Hills are great for building strength. Rather than sprinting up a hill, collapsing, walking down and the repeating, I prefer a rolling hill session. Just run up and down a hill, or a hilly course, working hard on the ups and recovering on the downs whilst aiming to keep the pace about the same throughout. I do things like 2 x 20 minute efforts with 2 minutes rest in the middle. This could either replace a tempo run or a Speedwork session. Good to get a few of these in. 

Have had a quick look. Baldock is not flat but has had good reviews on the RW website. This will be its second year. I think I will go with this as it does sit neatly in the schedule. That protects the 20 milers which are probably the key to getting the endurance right for a push at my target marathon time.

Good stuff. And you've got plenty in there so if you need a rest week you can always afford to drop one.

carterusm wrote (see)

Spoons - I have Liversedge half on Sunday 10/02. Is it necessary for me to taper for this ? When I ran my HM in November I tapered from about 10 days before the race but I didnt do anything on the 2 days prior to the race itself. I do tend to feel good if I have 2 days off so think I will follow this plan for Liversedge. What are your thoughts on what I should do for the week before ?

Spoons. wrote (see)

Hills are great for building strength. Rather than sprinting up a hill, collapsing, walking down and the repeating, I prefer a rolling hill session. Just run up and down a hill, or a hilly course, working hard on the ups and recovering on the downs whilst aiming to keep the pace about the same throughout. I do things like 2 x 20 minute efforts with 2 minutes rest in the middle. This could either replace a tempo run or a Speedwork session. Good to get a few of these in. 

Seems sensible. Will try and do one of these each week and alternately swap it for either an interval session or tempo session. This way I will have a bit more variety,

Carter - re Liversedge Half:

Spoons. wrote (see)

With a half in marathon training I would train as normal up until the Tuesday session. On the Wednesday MLR I would reduce that by around 25%. Thursday I would do a "light" session focusing on HMP, e.g. 3 x 1km reps @ HMP. Friday and Saturday I would do either nothing or no more than 3 miles easy. 

Exactly the same as Carl's Half!

Carl D wrote (see)

Spoons. wrote (see)

Hills are great for building strength. Rather than sprinting up a hill, collapsing, walking down and the repeating, I prefer a rolling hill session. Just run up and down a hill, or a hilly course, working hard on the ups and recovering on the downs whilst aiming to keep the pace about the same throughout. I do things like 2 x 20 minute efforts with 2 minutes rest in the middle. This could either replace a tempo run or a Speedwork session. Good to get a few of these in. 

Seems sensible. Will try and do one of these each week and alternately swap it for either an interval session or tempo session. This way I will have a bit more variety,

And - I sometimes do a bit of both. Some hills, then a couple of 800s, some more hills, then a couple more 800s. I like variety - it keeps things interesting!

I would run if I it was just a headcold. Sore throat, or aches, then definitely don't run!

Ricky - I would run too. If it is as blustery for you as i is here then make sure you cover the ears to prevent it getting any worse.

Just in from work after a long day. Am about to head out for a tempo run. Have been feeling a little sluggish all afternoon so hopefully it is nothing much and that I can knock it out of me over the first 1-2 miles. My two little girls have been suffering with a virus since last Friday so better not be picking it up from them.

Tempo run this evening at the track. It was really windy and persisting it down with rain. Still, better than the ice and snow. I felt a bit sluggish today as I didnt sleep too well last night and have been busy at work today. However, looking at my stats for this evening they are remarkably good, a lot better than I was expecting. So.....

Warm up - 1.5 miles starting off at 10:00 and get progressively quicker each of ther 6 laps. It averaged out @ 8:25 for the warm up

Tempo run - 30 minutes but I had to walk a couple of times for about 30 seconds each. 4 miles @ 7:28

I thought I would then run 1 mile at target marathon pace (8:45) but this turned out @ 8:14 for the mile

Cool down was 0.62 miles @9:39

Overall, it was 7:35 miles @ 7:58 so very pleased with that