Sub 3h15

Stunning Ant.

10m @ 8.13m/m for me today.

I've got a 20m race on Sunday BM86. But I'm using it as training.

Great running Keir. Where is your race? I was half tempted to go out in just the t-shirt tonight after today's weather. Alas, it was bloody freezing when I stepped outside! 

'OO'50 wrote (see)

AR you are just plain wierd.

knight rider wrote (see)

Are you still using that treadmill when there is no snow AR?

Keir wrote (see)

'OO'50 wrote (see)

AR you are just plain wierd.

+1

SlokeyJoe wrote (see)

+2
Treadmills make my feet hot

 I do need a holiday, but yes I become aggitated if I don't do a treadmill interval session at least once a week.  KR - I do blame it on the snow - never really used one before the white stuff came along, and previously hated intervals.

Some good ideas supplied by Keir, and a fantastic picture supplied by Ant to take with me next time so I have something to look at other than Gym Bunnies.

Nice hometown Ant.

I'm racing this weekend.  Half marathon.

10k for me on Sunday. 

Moof - are we going to be mileage nemeses? I ran 15 this evening but haven't uploaded yet as the ANT stick thingie is elsewhere. Hope you're keeping up!

Racing is good Minni

Whilst a love of the treadmill is plainly wrong AR

And a very nice picture Ant - makes you want to head off in to the hills ...

Intervals for me today - first time in 2 years.  I thought I used to enjoy them but the first couple were not very pleasant.  6 sets of 800m in c. 3:10.  I'm sure they must have done me some good ...

Speedy- Dam, that will mean you're gonna move way ahead of me, I'll have to put in an extra recovery run to work tomorrow morning.

There's an overuse injury waiting for me just around the corner if I try to keep up with you.

Ant Very impressive running and picture

SBD I certainly hope intervals do good.

6 miles this morning in 9:07 pace, d&d.

277.5 miles for me this month, new highest beating my previous best from January 2013.

SD - excellent MLR.
OO - I'm sure you'll be picking us off one by one.
PMJ - How come High Wycombe is on the list of "Cities" on the MT website?!
AR - Smackdown? We'll all know parkrun is not a race, don't we
Moof - looking good.
Poacher - thanks for the tactical tip.
Ant - nice steady run.
BM - that will be two very tough sessions - take care now.
Keir - have you recovered from the ultra yet?
Minni - are you planning to do the HM flat out or MP?
Speedy - good luck for Sunday.
SBD - intervals had better do some good or I want my money back!
SD - cracking mileage.
7 slow miles for me this morning, including some strides. Might help keep up with Cadence Jones.

I've more or less decided against the XC at Alnwick Minni. I'll just do the parkrun instead and add a few miles.

I am feeling on the up Gul, just need to manage the dodgy hip. 

Fingers - clocking up some good mileage there.
OO - should be a good weekend for parkrunning.
I forgot to say that the King's Lynn parkrun course is free of water at the moment, so should be good for the proper course on Saturday.
In unrelated news, I spotted a dozen waxwings in a tree at the end of my road yesterday. Hoping that's a good omen, but probably just means they're getting ready to fly back to Scandinavia for some warmer weather

Bluemoon86 wrote (see)

Hoping to run the two 20 mile races at MP. I'm training for these races and am hoping for good times which in turn, should give me confidence and stand me in good stead for Lake Annecy Marathon. 

That is going to be hard. The 20@MP is always a point of debate: some people like them and they are a confidence boost and others think the damage is too great for the benefit. Many people will agree on some rules so the majority here will nod at things such as those below for a sub 3:15

1) 5xruns 20 miles or more
2) 6 runs a week
3) Long run with some sections at MP
4) Progressive 10 miler

but with 20@MP you will not get consensus. Where you will get consensus is that 2 races of 20@MP is maybe one too many. If you can run 20@MP once then what does the second run give you that the first does not? I can guess that a 20 mile run within a race is easier than a solo 20 as you have other runners round you and water stations etc so if you mean to enter two races but only really race one then that is understandable: but two races?

I do my bird spotting by proxy: in Hyde Park recently I saw many bearded people with big camera lenses so I knew a twitch was afoot and apparently it was bearded tits.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262635/Birdwatchers-flutter-flock-Bearded-Tits-spotted-inner-London-reed-beds-Hyde-Park.html

I'm glad you added that picture PMJ. I am not sure what might come up if I googled bearded tits.

Great advice on the recipe for sub 3.15. 

BM86 - The hardest run I would recommend in the build up would be a 20m LSR with 10m @  PMP +30sec and 10m @ PMP. If you finish this strongly you should be confident of achieving your marathon goal. Anything harder and you are risking burn out.

BM86 - lots of good advice on the 20milers. I have come to the conclusion that if I want to run at a controlled pace, below race distance pace, then I should not be sticking 4 safety pins in my running vest.  That's just me - I need the sort of control that Jools, Speedy, PMJ, Keir and others have, which comes with experience. For now I am not to be trusted.

Up at Gul O'clock this morning for a progressive 20m , powered by a jam sandwich. Lovely.

Bearded tits on this thread, Thrush on another. It's all going on.

Good advice as ever PMJ. I'm doing a 20 mile race this weekend and hoping to run it progressively. First day back this morning after an enforced 3 day illness break. Still not 100% but forced myself out this morning and ran a 45 second PB for my 4.5 mile loop from home. By the second mile I felt pretty good. I had new shoes which helped motivate me out the door but the mini taper obviously helped as well.

Looking forward to the big Parkrun showdown on Saturday!!!!

Keir - how is the recovery champ?

Definely sign up for those general rules PMJ. Personally I like 20 mile races and I'm doing 2 this year. In my case I'm indisciplined and inconsistent with my 20 training runs and their pace and I need a race to push myself harder. As long as I leave 6 weeks before race day, the benefits outweigh the risks. 

Excellent mileage there AR and a great day for it.    

BM86 - As well as seconding PMJ's excellent advice, I would say that the only time you need to prove you can do 20 @ MP is in the marathon itself, otherwise you risk peaking too early (at best) and/or not being able to recover properly (at worst). have confidence in your progression and your training - continual "tests" are, in my humble experience, counter-productive. Think: I'll be ready on the day, and not before.

SBD - Those reps will definitely have done you a lot of good. Nice going.

Scooby - Great mileage. How are your legs holding up? Any niggles?

Cold, but sunny today - actually got the sunglasses out. A 5-mile recovery job makes it  224 miles for February.

BM86: I ran 2.20 for 20M untapered in 2010.  It left my legs pretty knackered, and I ended up running VLM all of 1s/mile faster; still a pb, but not the sub-3 I was capable of.  Having learnt my lesson the hard way, I did the same race 5 minutes slower this year, but as a progressive run: 7 easy, 7 steady, 6 @ MP.  I agree with Ant about not too many 'tests'; it's like growing potatoes: if you pull them up too often they never grow as well.  And life is like a box of chocolates

And the stats are in:

218 miles in 30hr18 min off 22 runs at 08:20 pace average with 9.94 miles per run average.  So everything is going in the right direction after a poor January.

Personally, I'm quite slow to recover from the big efforts and wouldn't consider a 20 mile at MP before a marathon and find it best saved for marathon day itself.  In my last build up following P&D I ran 13 with 8 at MP, 16 with 10 at MP and 15 with 12 at MP with 2-3 week separation and found this to be sufficient and recoverable for me.