Talkback: ASICS Target 26.2 Team: Emma

I agree mcs - love all cheeses!

Did the run - was meant to be 4 easy (10-10:30 min miles) and then 3 at marathon pace (9:44 ish). However, I ran with a different running chum who is faster, it was cold so wanted warm up and just got a bit giddy!

So splits were - 9:45, 9:42, 10:07, 9:47, 9:39, 9:26, 9:55. So not really a discernable change of pace which wasn't ideal.. despite trying to slow down pace at start.

Average pace 9:46 and average HR was 149 bpm. It shot up for first 5 mins then settled and gradually dropped over the course of the run. I have no idea what this means!?

Either way - totally useless on my pacing but miles clocked. Shall make sure I am spot on with the 1000m pace session!

Hi

 Just wanted to say "Hello" I've just started following your thread, I've been reading all the pages for a couple of days now and feel up to "Speed"..

 I'll be running the VLM 2012 & I'm chasing a 4.30 so my plan is similar to yours, so all the advice and your "diary" entries are really helpful.  I ran the VLM 2010 and followed a 4.30 plan but sadly my time was 5.03

(I blame it on the Q for the portaloo and that bloody human caterpillar aka Princess Beatrice who I could never quite get past) So fingers crossed for this time.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the journey  

Lozza and SOLB - portaloo just before Mudchute second year in (2011) adds a few mins for me. The horrendous cramping for 10 miles also slowed me down!

I was catching up the caterpilla along the westminster stretch - the crowds were shouting so loud. I thought it was for me and was quite overwhelmed until I realised it was the shckled toffs that were generating the erruptions from the crowd. Quite disheartened after that!

In 2010 I didn't queue for loo (did a huge wee bhind a white van about mile 9 Deptford area though) yet ran slower than 2011.

Fingers (and legs?) crossed for 2012!

I hope Sam can offer you advice and youcan share my trials and tribulations to some benefit... I seem to have branched out in to kit reviews and recepie ideas!

Ha ha - I am slightly obsessed with bananas as a source of fuel at the moment! I nicked one of Mum and Dad on Monday and two off a colleague yesterday!

If I come up with any more recepies I shall pass them on - Don't think Rosie will make them though! Maybe I should bake some yummy goods and send them up to her?

Most displeased about only 400 calories for a 7 mile run - surely the Garmin is wrong or is it because my heart rate was low? Going to practice with my Garmin for the speed session later in the week.

IS anyone else doing the same runs as me as prescibed by Sam?

Hi Emma, Sorry about lack of posts yesterday... was still up in Edinburgh and travelling back but laptop battery died and couldn't remember my password to log in on my phone! Grrr

Everyone, if you've asked me a question in last 48 hours and I haven't answered, please re-post as I've got a bit behind from missing Mon evening/all day Tuesday

So the sandwich run became 7 miiles at MP, eh? Well, I guess it might have instilled confidence if nothing else  But yes, it is better if you can stick to the prescribed paces.

We're just planning the training day sessions at the moment - there's a chance that we might do the long run that day, rather than a speedier session. Just trying to work out the logistics of everyone's different paces. Will let you know asap, as we may need to juggle a few things that week.

I'm not sure how the Garmin calculates calorie expenditure - is it just on mileage, or does it consider pace too? You're right that the average expenditure is about 100 cals per mile on the flat. The formula below offers a more technical way of estimating calorie expenditure 'spent' on running per week. To get a daily figure you divide the answer by seven. This equation is most useful if you're struggling with energy/fatigue and want to see whether you need to up calorie intake.

Body weight in kg x average weekly distance in km x 1.036 [Ans]/7 (in order to get a daily amount).

Eg. 60kg x 40km x 1.036 =2486 calories per week (355kcal per day)

Hi Sam - Welcome back to Sussex! Much milder today so a good day to return - 'Jack Frost hasn't been this morning' as my 4 year old would tell me... 'who is Jack Frost Mummy?'.

Sorry about the 7 mile run - there was one lap at over 10... I did feel tired but was quite comfortable.

It would be fab if we could do the long run on the Saturday as it would really help with my child care! I guess I would be looking to do 2hours 20 for 14 miles?

I'll definately be sticking to prescribed paces in future - sorry! I'm going to do pace session on a treadmill so my paces will be exact.

Tight calf this morning so glad of rest day today- will do my strength work and some stretches this evening. I have also been trying so hard to eat better - I've even invented a healthy vegetable oven bake (only because the veg was going to go off). Don't think my fatigue is lack of food - more likely my children keeping me up at night!

Interesting formula thanks Sam.............so to maintain weight I need to keep eating loads,great news

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

keep running Emma.............!!! My youngest woke me up at 4am yesterday due to feeling cold and climbed in to then keep me awake so I know what its like. She didn't sleep through till she went to school!!!

oh well - an extra mince pie for me then! Shame!! 92 kcal per mile - boo! Think I'll put some weight on and apply Tenjiso's theory!

Maybe your Garmin is like my Polar - it's a bit temperamental in extreme cold/wet and comes out with some nonsense!

If it makes you feel any better Rascal decided to have a dream last night at about 4am and was 'running' in her sleep whilst still laying on her side so I got "pawed" for a bit. (Ssssh don't tell Ben she was sleeping on the bed in the first place). Had to push her over on to his side of the bed - she made the funniest little mewling sound but didn't wake up! HR on waking was 4 beats higher than normal - so I reckon disrupted sleep does make a difference.  Still, just been out for a lovely 7½ miles with my friend and I felt ok once I got going! isn't that always the way?

Am glad it's not just me that "invents" things in the kitchen!  Chicken enchilada surprise is my fave way to use up all sorts!

Happy rest day! 

EmmaC wrote (see)

I did have a naughty dinner last night - steak burgers, homemade chips, stuffed mushrooms and salad! But I had been so good all day and knew I was running 12 miles in the morning! Saturday- I had to avoid fruit before I ran so had small bowl of special k and 2 slices of toasted rye bread with peanut butter(thin) and coffee- no sugar! Lunch - choked grapes and apple with low fat yog and fruit and nut sprinkles and 3 slices of malt loaf( wad end of packet) Snak- low fat biscuits - garibaldis Dinner- roast chicken and veg (only 3 mini potatoes) low fat strawberry yog. Think things have been much better on the food front!

1. Tenjiso - I really think that taking carbs on board during a long race/training run makes a difference and there is a lot of research to back it up. There's quite a lot of talk about something called the 'train low, race high' strategy at the moment which refers to training without taking carbs on board, to force your body to burn fat, but then using carbs come race day to maximise performance. Quite an interesting idea but I haven't yet experimented with it in my long runs. What I have done over the last couple of months though is to reduce my use of sports drinks and only use them for long runs (100 mins plus) instead of relying on them more widely.
   Ruth will correct me if I'm wrong, but I would have thought 200ml of sports drink wasn't really enough to have much impact on blood glucose. It's reckoned you need 30-60g of carbs per hour and you'd need 500ml to provide 30g. Apols if I've got this slightly wrong - am away from home so can't check my files. Think I'm right though!

This train low in carbs but race high has def. got some good research behind it. Basically by training in a glycogen depleted state  it forces our bodies physiology to adapt  in a postive way (alters gene expression). When you start training for a marathon there are a lot of changes that occur in your body to make you run more efficiently and hence fittness gains. Elite endurance athletes will often do some training sessions in a glycogen depleted  but often will do  this naturally  due to the nature of  high mileage and intensity  but they will make sure they are carb load before  events such as the marathon . Middle distance runners may have to plan to deplete their stores as they do less total volume than marathon runners. To the general club runner I would say that if you can do some long morning runs before breakfast then do so but you are likely to take longer to recovery/feel more tired for the rest of the day (so if got other committments consider this) and I also think it can increase the risk of immunity issues if done too often in those prone to picking up colds/infections etc . The research has not yet confirmed how it is best  to approach the  "train low, compete high" but elites are using this but  probably do phases of their training in a low state and other phases of training with sufficient carbs.

I agree with sam any runs longer than 90minutes (certainly 2 hours) you need to be taking on 25-50g of carbs per hour and drink as and when you feel. Some will use sports drink (although the volume of sports drink you may need to drink to get sufficient carbs will be too much for some and hence some use gels or a mixture of both). 200ml of sports drink will only provide 12-14g of carbs although for some they may get away with this in the first hour but most people would need to increase this as race progress but for most 25-50g of carbs should be the aim until they know they can increase or decrease this.

Hi Ruth - That was a particularly naughty day! This week I've been really trying...and feeling a bit hungry too! So unlike Rosie - If I'm not eating I'm thinking about food!

I'm still not having sugar in tea or coffe or on cereal!

Monday - Breakfast - grapes, apple, low fat yog, fruit and nut sprinkles and cup of tea (no sugar)

Lunch - malt loaf, 2 slices of rye bread with peanut butter, bananas x 2

Dinner - Jacket potato veggie bake in a tomato sauce with grated cheese! Low fat strawberry yog.

Had similar food all week. On Saturday my tummy was fine so I was really pleased (first time I've done a long run without tummy cramps for ages!). I'll look back at what I had for dinner and lunch previous day... maybe the steak burgers were ok afterall!?

I've struggled towards the end of my shorter evening runs this week - with sore tummy and having to visit the smallest room as soon as I got back home. Not sure why there is this difference? Possibly the additional fruit - even though it was in the morning?

Think that the food I've been eating is generally lower GI so my energy levels and my moods have been much more positive and steady - hope I can keep this up! Hopefully I'll loose a little weight too!