Sub 3

Good luck to everyone racing or on their long runs. I'm keeping an eye out on The Hague HM where at least one of our freds is racing. He's just messaged to say it's horribly cold and windy, with the latter in the wrong direction so it could be a tough outing. 

 Sweedo good news on the trainers Seriously though, welcome and good luck with it all.

2 hr long run for me down to Regent's Park for a mix. That brought up 57 miles for the week which is my highest since May 2011. It's taken me 14 careful base-building months since the hip scare to build my mileage back to that level and to start racing again. I think CRAB would approve.

Nice run HR.

20m for me this morning. Had some stomach issues so it was fortunate I was running loops close to home otherwise I may have CRABed myself. Averaged 6:56's for 18m which wasn't too bad considering the wind. Felt my shin twinge just after 18, so jogged the last 2.

18M early doors for me (well, by my standards: left at 7.20) and then a 2 hour string sextet rehearsal.  Bit cold and windy out there and if anything it's worse now than it was when I was running, so maybe that early alarm call wasn't such a bad idea as it felt at the time!  Legs took a while to get going (could definitely tell I'd run a XC race yesterday!) but managed to get average pace down to 8m/m in the end.

Nice raining Jools and AndyD (I nearly always need to stop for a CRAB in long runs, but it's never been a problem in a race).

Scared myself by massaging my calves a bit last night, finding a slightly tender spot, and then made it much worse by trying to sort it out. Which I did before my last HM in the same place. Resolved to let sleeping dogs lie and maybe not give it full beans in the taper runs (which I use as a confidence prop/fitness test I guess).

Anyway, happily I still kicked it and was not sh!t. Unofficially I clocked 74:52 and came roughly 10th, and pleasingly took quite a few places in the second half. It was all pretty comfortable until the last 2M too, which were only at average pace though they felt much harder. After a bit of banter with some other finishers and family, I then ran a perfectly normal 4M @ 7:25/M to top up -- London being the next big thing now -- whereas after the Great East. Run (19 sec quicker but faster course and conditions) my legs were totalled. So that's encouraging too. So TR, maybe these extra miles are doing me good, I grant you. Maybe I can knock a minute or two off VLM after all... though if that goes horribly wrong, at least I'll now have a 2013-earned champs qualifier that will do me for 2014 & 15.

Splits were pretty even given that it was a bit breezy (less so than expected though, thank goodness) and there were various city twists and turns:

1 05:43
2 05:37 (tailwind)
3 05:40
4 05:44
5 05:44
6 05:57 (shouldn't have stayed with that guy so long...)
7 05:47
8 05:38 (still had some beans and trying to make up time)
9 05:33 (tailwind, happily observed at this point by clubmates :- )
10 05:43
11/12 05:43 (missed a marker)
13 05:43 (getting tough 12-13M)
13.11 05:18 (final heroic sprint)

Nice work, Charlie.  Looks very well paced and it's encouraging your legs felt good afterwards.  Nice 'final heroic sprint' as well.  See you on the Champs start in 2014

Race day for me today too - the Milton Keynes Half. I managed a PB by just over a minute, so that's good. That's based on an unoffical time of 1:26:46 on the Garmin, pending the official results being posted. I'll update later with official time and placing etc.

Freezing cold day, but the course is relatively flat and quite sheltered in parts so it wasn't too bad. I ran the first 11 miles very consistently, but then the wheels came off for the last 2, which I'm disappointed about, because it cost me about a minute I reckon. It looks like I need to improve speed endurance. Any advice on how to specifically train on that? More LT work, or would longer runs between MP and HMP be more useful?

Unoffical 10M PB during the race as well, although that's mainly because my other 10M performances have been shambolic.

So I don't think I'm in sub-3 shape, but that's OK, it was always an ambitious target for a debut marathon based on 4 months training and a previous HM PB of 1:27:xx. I shall revise my target to 3:10 and aim for a GFA entry for VLM 2014!

Great racing Charlie and CRAB.

Nice champs qualifer CW and PB for ES

Mad March 20 report and my weekly summary now up.

http://www.steveway.co.uk/?p=941

Short story is I beat CRAB by 20min but he already spolit that bit.

........just hope I haven't burnt too many matches TR - we shall see!

23.36 miles for me today, at 8.01 pace despite trying to slow myself down. To be fair it was too cold to run slowly - snowing and blowing a gale to boot. Legs now feel like they've actually done some work. 

CW - great pacing there! 

Off to read Marigold's blog now...

Great running CW, well done.

25 miles today at 6:48/m trying more than one gel for the first time training and made a big difference.  Good to know the sub 3 is on at the moment.  Best chocolate frijj I've ever had after too.

Off to the pub now to replace some calories

CW - I knew you hadnt tapered properly, you were running far too far in the taper (for you), so was expecting you to run well. I'm pleased to see that you're happy with the race, fragile confidence pecker will be for a couple of days, just the 27M next Sunday to keep it there then ?

ES - speed endurance has nothing to do with it, left after right often will do you nicely.

CRAB - fair effort son given the taper, but I guess the warm weather acclimatisation and recent altitude training helped. After a year off it's about time you beat me home again !

Marigold - you're on a different planet to me, so I have no idea how well stocked your match box is. Pretty well stocked I'm sure.

PP - race report ? there were a few rock stars in your AG at the weekend.

No matches burned here happy to say, it was supervising the SPOs mothers day breakfast in bed and an early k.o for the U12s. Unlike CRAB my youngest did trouble the scorers (3rd game on the trot).

Nicely done sub 75 Charlie, & good to hear the legs were up for a few more miles afterwards. 

ES.. congrats on your half, I reckon sub 3:10 is a decent target for you.

Some cracking long runs today; Jools, Andy D, CC2 (good stuff after the XC downer) & Sweedo (congrats on the 5k PB too!).

Clearly.. sorry to hear you're not back in the groove yet.

A good day's exercise yesterday CD, hope the beer tasted good!

Hats off to CRAB & Marigold at the 20 miler 1:47 = top banana!).  However what I really wanted to know Marigold, did Steve Cram ask you for your autograph?? 

5+10m today with a few snow flurries this afternoon, 60m for the week. 

Speedy: nice LSR.  You were actually only about 40s behind me yesterday, so if that was cruising you're in fantastic shape - I was definitely working!

Nice 20s from CRaB and Marigold.  

Congratulations on the pb, ES: it shows you that your training is working.

Marigold -- cracking win, and this leaves me slack-jawed: "140.33 miles (6:37m/m)"

CRAB -- 18 miles is a lot of matches burnt. Will the sphincter have any strength left for 21st April?

ES -- many congrats on the PB. Long runs always help with the endurance, but given you were hitting PB times along the way, maybe it's just a question of starting off at the right pace. Can't have been all that wrong given the PB though!

Good long runs there CC2 & Sweedo, and your double Wardi. SL -- wow (again) on your "lid-on" run that for me would be ~PB stuff.

TR -- I probably *will* do a 27M or something next weekend, having ticked the speed box today. You're just leading me astray on the mileage front...

Although very happy with today, I'm a bit miffed that I wasted some time on mile 6 and then ended up 4 sec behind the only V40 ahead of me, who would normally beat me, but was blowing up at the end today -- another 200m and I'd have had him and been 1st V40. Fair play though, he finished first. Have had a very chilled out mothers' day evening including beer, sherry (!), nibbles, pie, sticky toffee pudding, wine, and The Bourne Identity (now the kids are old enough). A very satisfactory day all round.