Sub 3

I started to get issues with my ITB on picking up my speed before the Sunderland Marathon last year. Although the foam roller helped. I reallised that I had been extending my stride and heel striking more as I tried to speed up.

Some of the running podcasts I listened to, mentioned taking a shorter stride and increased cadence (which made sense with my time spent mountain biking). I am not proposing vibrams just a shorter stride and landing more on the forefront.

Oh and I am finally running again

selbs -- crikey, you've had plenty to deal with. Good luck with it all and enjoy NZ.

LD -- I'm with you on combining massage and telly. When a niggle has really needed a painful massage, I've found that's best done with a beer or two (muscle relaxant and anaesthetic) for the 90 min duration of some suitable film, with feet up on the sofa.

Having said that the piriformis responded well to the tennis ball treatment, just for a few mins moving from spot to spot, no beer or telly required (just a lot of wincing and groaning).

I was going to give my dicky ankle bone a whole week off, but it's had 4 days now and I really couldn't tell there was anything wrong with it, so I might jog to work tomorrow and see what happens.

TB -- I got faster by lengthening my stride but also landing still on the ball of my foot -- though it took my calves a while to adjust. But before that, I had an oddly high cadence (200+ footfalls/min).

Hi all

I've been lurking for a few weeks and really enjoying the advice and updates.  I hope you dont mind me joining in. I'm an "in between" for these threads - I finally made it through the 3.15 barrier in 2012 but am clearly still a long way off 3.00.  Will be hoping to work towards it over the next couple of years. 

A bit about me - I'm from the UK but moved to Wellington, New Zealand in 2006 and love living over here. Because of that you'll often find me posting at odd times of the night!  I run for Wellington Scottish, which is one of the country's biggest running clubs.  I live with my partner and his 3 kids, he is a really good marathon runner (no good for me to run with - too quick!) We both love travelling and racing, so I've been lucky enough to do Amsterdam and New York marathons in recent years.  This year our plan is to come over for Dublin.

Currently I'm getting back to full training - I took a couple of months off (just running maybe 2-3 times a week) after running 2 marathons in October. I'm back up to about 50-60 miles a week now and will probably hold at this level for a while.

TB.. good to see you're pounding the tarmac again.

Dids.. when I feel a cold coming on (haven't had one for over 2 years though!) I put an extra layer on, go for a run and try & sweat it out.  Not what a Doctor would advise I'm sure but it has often worked for me.

Clearly.. best of luck with the running streak, nice idea when you've missed out for so long.

DanA.. nice 16 there but a bummer about the car.   I'll look out for a dented vehicle at York then!

Good session Toro.

Selbs.. all the best fella and best wishes for the health of Mrs Selbs & junior.  I'm sure you will enjoy a return to NZ!

M.. welcome aboard, I think I remember you from the forum back in the 'old' days. 

10m today with 12 x 400m @ 6mm pace in the middle.  Only the faintest protest from the cranky rib so I will declare myself off the bench.  Think I'll blast round the Park Run on Saturday to keep the legs turning over.  Looks like a good thread day out at York BM, like Y D I'm hoping the wind stays away.

M - welcome, I recgnise you from being on the daily (lyric) thread a while ago. When is your next marathon ? What time did you do in 2012 ?

CW - 20M tomorrow then ?

wardi - looks like you are fit again then !

Hi Wardi - yes I used to post on here from when I took up running in 2002, until a couple of years ago.  

Hi TR - yes I'm also back on the daily thread as of a few days ago. I ran 3.13 last year. My only definite marathon this year is Dublin in October, but I have in the back of my mind that if all goes well in the first half of the year I may also do Christchurch in June (otherwise I'll just do the half there).

M - nice. Plenty of time to train up to knock a few more minutes off at Dublin then (or Christchurch).

M - surely if your partner is doing an easy run you can run with him as a tempo run? My wife is not quite fast enough for us to do this, but I'm hoping she'll improve. I still run with her occasionally anyway - she says it's good for her!

Easy 6M last night - no more running now until the race tomorrow. Luckily the forecast is for the snow to just miss us, although sounds like there will be a headwind the whole way. I'm actually looking forward to it for some reason - partly just curiosity to see what happens towards the end I think.

Hi Padams - yes we have done this occasionally.  But it does worry me that its really too slow for him, even as an easy run.  Good luck with your race.

Easy 60mins round the bays today. 

Brian. - I'm not on the wagon (Dan A - deffo up for a beer or three after BM!), but I've started having one alcohol-free night per week and have cut down on my curry consumption.  Weight unsurprisingly is down: currently 10st10, the lightest I have been since I was about 14 years old, and I'm reaping the benefits running wise.  Not so much in race performances yet, but the legs are recovering more quickly from hard efforts (as last weekend's double showed).  Have you been tempted by the Yorkshire Marathon in October?

M. - welcome!

selbs - best wishes mate

Padams - best of luck for tomorrow.  Don't forget to turn left at Bull's Bridge!

Ran some 400m reps on the treddie last night to remind my legs how to run fast in preparation for Sunday's Border League race (~5.5 miles), and my toes are more battered and bruised than ever.  Need a smoother running style at pace and/or tie my shoes differently.

M. - hello!

Njord - one alcohol-free night per week??!  You aflete, you!  Jeez, that's the sort of thing I was coming out with when trying to break the magic 16 stone barrier! 

...edit... Padams - I forgot you've got your mad long one.  Enjoy it if you can, otherwise enjoy the shower/tea/food/bragging rights afterwards!

Being a sensible chap and with it being only January I'm running my MP runs by effort at the moment, but I'm pleased to see a nippy bit of pace resulting.  Target is to keep a lid on HR at 165 (race HR for both road marathons 168). Last night was AHR 164 for MP section, max 168 for the whole run, 13.3M w/ 11M @ 5:51.  Felt pretty comfortable. Think my PB might be in for a bit of a beating.

PP - Thats mightly impressive, what's you current PB?

Padams - Good luck at the weekend.

Wardi - that's a solid sessions, seems liek your almost fully recovered.

Selbs- All the best for you and the family sound slike it's been a busy and stressful time.

13.5 last night with 10 sharp hills thrown in for good measure.

Good old Strava - they have a challenge to run the most miles in January. Currently I am in 12th place out of 6,700. That's off only 128 miles. Really wishing I wasn't so wasted on New Year's Day when I got a zero.

So come on lads and lasses get signed up and . The leader has about 210 , which may be beyond any of you though!

Cold update - just sitting there, pissing about in my nose and throat but letting me run OK.

Padams - all the best, hope the rain doesnt spoil it (or the course).

SL - good miles

PP - nice, so is 5:51 ~ planned MP then. Only thing that worries me (on your behalf) is that the big day is still about 13 or 14 weeks away !

Dids - I thought that all the proper runners log their miles on Fetch, there's also this Jantastic logging going on too.

7M bagged so far for the day

Njord, I'm not surprised your feet are sore. But your base building is obviously working. I think the risks of entering a first-time marathon are well documented, Hull in particular. So I think I would probably only have contemplated it as a back-up. Seems we may be going back to Amsterdam anyways, which is on the same day. You and Caz doing VLM? Hope to see you at BM. We are stopping over in York so hopefully get together for a beer.

Wardi, Sounds like you are in good shape, despite the injury. Hope to catch-up with you in York.

Dids, good mileage my man. Hope the sniffles disappear.

Phil, just about timimg/judging your peak now....

SL - PB is 2:44 from Paris 2008.

TR - Don't panic, I'm only 172nd on the fetcheveryone league for January.   Provisional finger-in-air target is around 2:35 = 5:55/m (but there are still 13 weeks to go...)  The good thing about this week's training is that I've got three decent sessions done (20M LR, 10x800, 11M MP) and they've all felt reasonably comfortable.  So with the key MP sessions a couple of weeks apart and hard long runs liberally spread out as well, I'm confident I'll avoid peaking too soon.  Just loving the training at the moment!

16 for me this morning, Nowhere near MP so unlike PP I'm in no danger of peaking early .

Have a good one padams.

Cheers everyone. Njord - that is about the only turn I have in my mind not to miss! I'm going to try to just follow people for the first 10M+ (and I will try to assess whether they know what they're doing or not!). Can you remember any particular sections which cause problems navigation-wise?

PP - that's an awesome MP run. I don't think I ever managed 11M in training at what turned out to be MP, so the tergat may end up a bit quicker than 5:51 m/m.

PP - looking good mate.  V impressive.

Padams - I know the towpath very well.  You have to cross from RHS to LHS just after Uxbridge; just follow the signs - it's pretty obvious.  Remember that you need to cross the Bulls Bridge before turning left (so that you are on the RHS of the canal). Easy stroll to the finish from there.  Well about 12 miles anyway.

Any idea if there will be any fast lads there?  Think you should be amongst the favourites.  Could be the first thread victory of the year???

Good luck Padams -- but I'm a bit worried that your navigational prep hasn't been as thorough as your fitness prep! It's only a small field, so if you're depending on others to find your way you're probably going to end up stuck with someone slower than you'd like until you know where you're going. The big left turn on the canal-only section is about the only place I got it distinctly wrong despite my anal pre-plotting for the Garmin; I would have been all over the place in the early stages without that pre-plotting though. If it's not too late I'd quickly try and rough out a Garmin route and get it on your watch to follow (www.bikehike.co.uk). The tracks on my page (scroll down to race log and find 16Jan2010) may be wrong for this year's route but could be a useful backup otherwise. It is a hell of a lot slower and more error-prone trying to follow the map, especially if it rains and you haven't put it in something waterproof (as I didn't).

Njord -- I've never been a "chubber", but I gradually got about a stone lighter without trying, a big part of which I'm sure was gradually ramping up to 4 alcohol-free nights/week (i.e. Fri-Sun on, rest off, and not a huge amount even at the weekends at my age). In fact realising how light I'd got prompted the resumption of my running career. Conversely I get distinctly heavier over the holidays when that regime breaks down. So you might be scarily quick if more "AFs" make you lighter...

TR :- ) actually I really was thinking I might do a long run, just round the park on grass, if all is still well by Sunday... the easy 3M commute was fine this morning.