RW Forum Six – Sub 4 Running Rachel with Cheerful Dave

Jess! Amazing news! That works perfectly! I should be running 13 miles that weekend anyway!!! I'm off to enter!!

12 miles done in 1:52:42 (average pace 9.24 min mile) I made a real effort to run a bit slower, but I find it so hard, not to always be wanting to push for a faster time. Anyway, today WAS slower. I had one gel at 6 miles (and a banana before going out of the house) and until the last mile was fine. I definitely felt like I was flagging then,but wonder how much is pycological, since I picked up the pace in the last half mile. Anyway, tis done

Wooohoo; well done! And SO exxcited RE Liverpool half too! Enjoy the rest of your day after running 12 miles!

Carter - Running at that pace felt very slow. Running the 8.30ish miles really help with your threshold type pace dont they and then anything over about 9.40 feels really nice and easy. Im guessing its just making sure it gradually becomes easy over 18/19+ miles, rather than the current long runs im doing of 8/9 miles.

Dave - Good luck at Wokingham, what kind of time are you going for?

Rachel - Great 12 miler there and good luck at Liverpool (you too Jess)

I have looked at getting compression shorts but they seem sooo expensive and dont really know whether they are worth the money.

Well done Nykie! That's amazing!! I'd go with your garmin for sure! I'm threatening my kids with a "family parkrun session" one day soon! I think my older ones are scared they'll be beaten! ha ha!! 

Nykie - We once had a similar issue at Hudds. The tokens were probably not in order when they were being handed out is my guess. Great running though, if its on a measured course (which all parkruns are) then its a PB of 25.55 in my book!

Trust me Carter, last time I took my older boys out I had comments such as "I can't breathe..." "run on without me..." as a responsible parent, I waited for them, only for them to sprint home at the end and claim victory! So wrong!!

My entry is in for the Liverpool half now...a  nice "mini goal" to aim for. My question is whether you go for a PB in a half 6 weeks before the marathon? Or is this counter productive? My half PB in March last year was 1:51, but it was a blisteringly hot day which I blame for robbing me of my sub 1:50...

I would say that a half 6 nweeks before the marathon is the perfect time to race it and get a PB as long as no niggles.............it replaces a long run so should be aboiut the same effort in total.......

Wow, a lot going on today.  Nice long run Rachel.  You might need to think about what to eat before you go out.  Lots of people do go running after a minimal breakfast but you don't want to be underfuelled.  It's quite an individual thing - what are you planning on doing on race day before the start?

I'd see no problem in giving the half a proper go, as seren says 6 weeks is plenty of time to recover properly and it's good to get some proper race miles in.

Nice pb Nykie.  Sometimes they do get problems at parkruns - there are so many now it'd be a miracle if they didn't now & again.  Perfect excuse to go & nail an official pb next time!

James, I put 1:15 on my entry but I'm not sure I'm in that kind of shape, maybe a minute or two slower than that.

Parkrun for me too today, CD junior has been badgering me to take him to Bushy as he's heard that it's a quicker course than our local one, so we ran that.  Then I had a cross country league race this afternoon.  Not my favourite racing but this course wasn't too bad - not too muddy for a change.

Hi Nykie - congratulations on your parkrun PB. 

Hi  Dd - nice run today. We all seem to struggle to run slowly !

Hi Rachel - excellent run today, well done. Put your feet up and relax tonight  

Wow - very busy on here now with a lot of running being done.

Rachel - well done for today. Good running. Interesting that we are all beginning to experiment with food during these longer runs. All I can say is that I am taking on less whilst running further this year.

Nykie - well done for your PB. Hopefully you can repeat it again soon and get them to record it.

Dd - we are all having the 'run too fast' during slow run problem at the moment. I was aiming for 9:20 - 9:30 mm during my LSR today and ended up at 9:11 mm but I did push it a little during the last 4 miles.

Cheerful Dave - a minute or two slower than 1:15 you say. I think that is well within the allowable margin of error. Waty too fast for me.

James  - I do have a pair of compression shorts. They were a tad expensive and when I wear them (currently during my speed sessions), they are like a comfort blanket. They may not do anything for me but I think they are protecting me and it allows me push just that little bit more.

Recovery run for me in the morning. If it is cold I will probably do it indoors and also go for a swim.

Hi Will and welcome! Which marathon are you doing? That's an impressive 17 miler!!

Carl, I agree about the fuelling talk...I think I've been overdoing it in the past!! I could potentially shave off minutes by saving myself the weight of carrying all those gels! And a speedy long run for you! 

For the Liverpool marathon I had a large bowl of porridge before hand, but I don;t think I could do that on a Saturday morning. I have to just get up and go before I've had too long to think about it!

I need to do a 3 mile recovery run today..will try to go befire it gets too dark and cold! I hope we don't get the forecast snow this week, or else I'll have to find the treadmill amongst the clutter- I haven't used it for a while!!