Sub 3h15

I’m very much in the run early camp too. I’m currently getting up at about 4:45am and out the door by 5am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for a 40- 45 minute run of either intervals, tempo or easy. The run puts me in great mood for the rest of the day and its nice coming home from work knowing I can put my feet up for the night.

I can't do mornings and can't do evenings so I'm experimenting with lunchtimes at the moment

Keir - If the HM is your focus I wouldn't push the mileage too high -  focus on getting the tempo and interval sessions done instead.

9 miles for me at lunchtime.  Despite being a nice day I went for the treadmill option - my excuse was a slightly niggly inside knee.  It was meant to be P&D aerobic (I'm following week 1 as preparation for week 1!) but I reigned back the speed a little to just over 8:00 m/m pace.

Sports massage afterwards to sort out the niggly knee.  Hopefully caught it in the bud

A.C wrote (see)

Moraghan -

We had a debate recently on the value of splitting a long run over two sessions - what's your view on this? And could you count 2*7m the same as the mid-week long run which P+D prescribe?

And is there a lower limit of miles for doubles below which it is just not worth putting the trainers on?

I would try and keep the MLR and LR as single continuous runs (fat utilisation and fibre recruitment), but see nothing wrong in theory, with a short second run on the MLR day.

2nd question - every run has a purpose and including the determination of general duration / intensity.  So I'd make sure you achieve the core purpose of each primary run and then think about adding in more runs or more mileage to existing runs. Not sure if that makes sense.....

E.g.  If I feel the following is necessary:

12m w / 8m @MP

20m long

14m Medium long

10m w / 10 * 1k @ 10k pace.

Then I can slot in runs around that wherever I feel like - doubles, longer cd / wu etc with the goal of maximising mileage whilst recovering adequately.

If you feel the following is necessary

6m w / 3m @ MP etc.... then you'd be considering second runs at a much lower mileage with it still being a valid strategy.

Just managed to borrow a treadmill from a friend at work. Bought with best laid plans, yet probably not seen more than 5 miles of useage over 2 years.

Managed to get it out of her house and into my car, after removing the back seats, but couldn't get it through our front door and have a tight back passage to our cottage. After using allen keys, adjustable spanner and old knackered cycling spanner I finally was able to take the thing apart just enough for my wife and I to carry it through to the cold conservatory. Then dropped it on my foot and now have bruising

But it means I can run on snowy days. Also looking forward to using it for specific target speed sessions.

Welcome Jane - hmm, "serious" is not a word bandied around here too often

Keir - sounds like the one when Stan & Ollie are removal men and have to take that piano downstairs, with  truly hilarious consequences.   

Scammed a good one today - found a flyer from a local "health club" on the doormat offering a free intro day. So spent  a few relaxed hours in the state of the art gym (8m on the treadie ) then a fab sauna. And all for free! It is apparently priced at  £54 a month, did they set that figure on April 1st? The pathetic thing was that the bloke on the adjoining treadmill was doing a paltry 11kpm so I childishly ramped mine up to 20kph for a short and painful blast. Really shallow.  But  it had to be done. 

Running indoors is a bit odd though.

Hello Jane  - you see that wasn't so hard was it ! Glad you've taken the plunge and chosen to dive in. If you can bear some stats can you remind us what you're up to mileage and paces -wise in training these days ??

Keir - nasty incident there with an outsize piece of equipment in your tight back passage necessitating the extra large spanner. Glad your more modern tool came to the rescue though - beat you to it Windy

Poacher - of course you have to take a sly peek at your neighbour's treadie speed then ramp yours up 5% above his/hers. It's gym law. Knowing you you'll soon be proposing some nutter treadmill ultra event though to compete with that fella who ran for 7 days in a shopping centre for charidee

Poacher - I did a similar thing when I went to a spinning class run by the local tri club (you'll know the one).  I almost died!

I see Keir and others are gearing up for treadmill training in light of the current weather.  I've dusted mine down and downloaded an audio book in preparation.