The Road to Paris - On a Plateau - Asics Target 26.2 Training

Another week gone by. It's amazing how quickly training is passing. Thanks again for all your comments along the way so far.

Barry.........thanks very much. I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon now and again with the diet, but as long as I manage at least 5 days a week of good eating, then this should definitely help. I still can't see how something as small as the chia seeds could have such an effect on stamina, but all the literature can't be wrong. 

I'll definitely be treating myself to the odd drink, but only when I feel I deserve it. At the moment, going only 6 days off the pop I don't think is enough to have a tipple. How much quicker did you do the back 7 than the front 7 on your long run this morning? Do you do your long runs over differing courses, or do you keep roughly to the same one?

Hi Brolish........I was just going on what my Garmin said for the run, which was 1836 calories. It does seem slightly on the high side I must admit. Looking at a calorie calculator on Runnersworld (http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/weight-loss/how-many-calories-do-you-burn/259.html), going by my weight (I'm still a little on the chubby side!) and the pace I was running, I made it around 1625 calories. It doesn't say whether this would be over a flat course or includes any undulation.

Normally I'll only be drinking chocolate milk after my long runs. On this occasion I was running low on this magical drink, so finished the bottle off, and used a free sachet I'd received from a marathon race last year. The calories were less than 200 for the SIS Rego so thought it wouldn't be too bad. I do agree that drinking both normally after a run is too much..........and I've definitely been a culprit in the past of under-estimating calories eaten (snacks don't count towards a calories count right?!). Not this time around though!

Xyloid........I'm a little different to Barry when it comes to chocolate milk (mainly because I run at lunch and can't buy chocolate milk at work).......I just have chocolate milk after my long slow runs at the weekend, and then probably no more than 330ml or so.

Barnsley Runner.........maybe I should be considering chocolate milk after my midweek hard sessions as well. I'll look into the Slimfast version as well. If it does the same job, then this can only be a positive. Some people I know drink Lucozade or similar drink after a workout. Do you think this has any benefit at all?

Mel.......I hope you have managed to stay mud free on your most recent runs! I have never, ever considered Curly Kale to make crisps before, but have now looked at some recipes for this online. They do look really nice actually. What recipe do you use for these? Do you cover in oil or parmesan at all? I'll try this next weekend and see how I get on (I'm sure they'd turn out far more edible if Mrs. Shady Ady cooked them!)  Good luck with week 4.

Jumping in as not posted on here.... I drink nuun after training calorie free and gives you all the benefits of a sports drink! or Aldi do a raspberry sports drink... just the same as lucozade at only £1.25 for 4 its only a fraction of the price!

maybe forward it onto Mrs Shady.....

1bag Curly Kale

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup cashew nuts

3 tbsp tamari sauce -( or soya sauce)

splash of agarve ( not really necessary) 

Wack it all together, grind your nuts...( or mrs shady could grind yours) any flavouring, eg salt, pepper, cayane pepper.

Bake in a really low oven ( the lowest it will go) for a couple of hours or untill crisp....! they are yummy......!!! let me know how you get on!!.....

Have a good week!!!!!.....

I'd stick to chocolate mile (or strawberry nesquick powder in my case) just after long runs and tough sessions like intervals. Not every run. And Tigger, Nuun is good for replacing electrolytes but it doesn't have any carbs in it - so it can be a good alternative, but not if part of your post-run recovery goal is to replenish your depleted glycogen stores.

A good week's training, Ady.  Your weekly summaries (as well as the daily ones) are really useful. Star pupil!  
So next week, will you be able to find somewhere to do the 5 miles hilly (or hill reps?) on a weekday? If not let me know and I can rejig it to make that session on the Sunday. I'm also tweaking the mileage a little. We'll stick to the current paces until Parkrun and a full 4 weeks of training is in the bag and then we will re-assess.

Day 21 - Asics Target 26.2 Paris Marathon Training (06/01/13)

Target: 3 mile jog @ 9:30-10:15m/m

Actual: 3.16 miles in 29:42 @ 9:23

Splits: 1st: 9:18m/m. 2nd: 9:28m/m. 3rd: 9:27m/m

A short recovery run to end the week. It's actually a nice feeling waking up on a Sunday morning knowing that your long run for the week is already completed and you can sneak an extra few hours under the sheets.

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but on today's run, I had a twinge in a place I've never had any problems before - my knee. My left knee to precise, on the inside towards the top. It wasn't really a pain, but just felt slightly sore when bending it afterwards while stretching. It could be because I woke up in a strange position this morning (insert your own joke here!) and I could have possibly stretched in a way I haven't before.

I also have also changed from using trainers for over-pronation to neutral running trainers for this training plan. But as I haven't had any issues whatsoever during this training, or before, I don't think this is associated with my footwear.

Once the run was over, I haven't really had any trouble from the knee since. Tomorrow is my scheduled rest day, so it'll be interesting to see if I have any problems come Tuesday.

Short, sweet and slow today. All in all, a good end to the week. 

Here's my run from today:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/258920839

Hi Sam.........You'll make me blush with praise like that. I think I'll only be a star pupil if I make it to my final goal. Until then I'm still a work in process!

Around where I work, there aren't many hills at all. The only one of any note only requires 20 seconds of work, and then it's over. When I did this in Week 2, I found it very easy to keep to 8m/m pace, even on the uphill sections.

Sunday would be better, as I have a nice section of my normal route I run close to where I live. This has both a long, slowly elevating uphill section, then a much steeper hill as well. This would be much better for hill-training, as I can run backwards and forwards along this (it's about a mile in length in total). The only possible problem is that it starts 2 miles from where I live, so I could always work in a slow paced 2 mile w/up and c/down into the run if it helps?

Is it this coming week (week 4) you are tweaking my mileage? If it is, I'll hold back on re-posting/ re-tweeting my mileage.

No problem about re-assessing my current paces until after week 4 has finished. I thought this would happen after my Parkrun anyway, so it has been a good goal to be working towards in the week's training so far. 

Hey Sarah.....Thanks for your words. I'm happy from reading what you wrote that it's tough adding in MR towards the end of a LSR. I suppose it would be even more difficult for you to do this as you're 2 weeks behind where I am.

I agree with you regarding running the day before a long run. I don't know if it's a mental thing. I did 2 miles on the Sunday before I ran the Boston Marathon on the Monday, as I'd read this was a good way of getting the nervous energy out of your system. But even though I ran my PB afterwards, I kept thinking during the race if I could maintain a faster pace if I hadn't ran the day before.

Haha....hippo's aren't the smallest of creatures are they! Which Sanctuary did you go to? Was it Haller Park in Mombassa while you were there? They make the ground shake as well, and have such a weird cry as well. If it wasn't for the alcohol, I wouldn't have slept at all when we camping next to the lake where they lived.

Don't worry, I didn't feel like you told me off about the diet coke! But I do think 4 pints of it were slightly over the top. I'm impressed with both you and your OH's lack of drinking. I think I'll just have one or two drinks on a Saturday after my LSR if I fancy one and feel it's deserved. During the week though I want to keep off it completely. I think it's easier to still have one or two than none at all.

Good luck on your next week of training.

Tigger......Thanks for the head's up that Aldi do cheaper sports drinks. Anything that saves money, and you will get my attention immediately! I also use something similar to Nuun, but by Hi5. I just add the tablet to my water when I'm running. I think this is the same as what Sam mentioned though, as it's only for caffeine and electrolytes.

Mel.......thanks very much for the recipe. That's much healthier than the recipe I found. Much less oil, and added cashew nuts as well. Mrs. Shady Ady has already offered to cook this, so I'll let you know how it turns out (much better than if I was to do it, that's for certain!). As for grinding my nuts as well , I've been lucky enough that she's agreed to cook the recipe....I don't want to push my luck and try and get two things accepted in one night. I'll save this 'ask' for another night! 

Week 3 Asics Target 26.2 Paris Marathon Training Round-up (W/ Ending 06/01/13):

Monday:

Target: 3x1 miles at 7:20-7:30 pace with 2.5 minute recovery plus 1 mile w-up/c-down (5 miles)

Actual: 7.41mi @ 8:27m/m including 2 mile w-up (@ 8:32m/m)/c-down (@ 8:51m/m) & 2.5 minute recovery between 3x1 mile reps.

Splits of 3x1 mile reps as follows: 1st mile: 7:06m/m. 2nd mile: 7:12m/m. 3rd mile: 7:04m/m

Tuesday:

Target: Rest Day. Actual: Rest Day

Wednesday:

Target: 5 miles comfortable @ 8:30-9:20m/m

Actual: 5.11 miles @ 8:21m/m

Mile Splits: 1st mile: 8:26m/m. 2nd mile: 8:26m/m. 3rd mile: 8:19m/m. 4th mile: 8:21m/m. 5th mile: 8:26m/m

Thursday:

Target: 1.5 MILE COMFORTABLE then 3 x acceleration strides then 8 x 400m (or 90 seconds) at 6.20-6.40 pace with 2 min jogs in between each. 1.5 MILE COMFORTABLE (4 MILES)

Actual: 1.5 MILE COMFORTABLE w/up (@ 8:24m/m), 3 x acceleration strides then 8 x 400m (shunned the metric system and did 1/4 miles instead!) @ 6:08-6:21m/m pace with 2 min jogs in between each. 1.5 MILE COMFORTABLE c/down (@ 8:20m/m)

Total mileage in today's run: 6.56mi

1/4 Mile Splits: 1st: 6:08m/m. 2nd: 6:11m/m. 3rd: 6:21m/m. 4th: 6:20m/m. 5th: 6:20m/m. 6th: 6:18m/m. 7th: 6:18m/m. 8th: 6:21m/m

Friday:

Target: Rest Day or Cross-Training.

Actual: Cross-Training - 13.5 miles on Exercise Bike on Hill Repeats in 45 mins

Saturday:

Target: 14 miles - 10 comfortable @ 8:30-9:20m/m, 4 steady @ 8:00-8:30m/m

Actual: 14.02 miles in 1:56:23 - 10 comfortable @ 8:26m/m, 4 steady @ 7:59m/m

Mile Splits: 1st: 8:23. 2nd: 8:27. 3rd: 8:20. 4th: 8:27. 5th: 8:23. 6th: 8:29. 7th: 8:25. 8th: 8:30. 9th: 8:26. 10th: 8:30. 11th: 7:58. 12th: 7:53. 13th: 8:07. 14th: 7:58

Sunday:

Target: 3 mile jog @ 9:30-10:15m/m

Actual: 3.16 miles in 29:42 @ 9:23

Splits: 1st: 9:18m/m. 2nd: 9:28m/m. 3rd: 9:27m/m

MILEAGE: Target: 31mi Actual: 36.26mi

Another confident week of training finished and another week I feel happy with the targets I've met.

It might seem like I've ignored my training plan and ran extra miles. I think this might have been a genuine error with total target miles on Thursday's session as when broken down by activity, this adds up to more than what the total mileage is. Also as agreed with Sam earlier on this thread, I will be doing 2 miles w/up and c/down instead of 1 mile, which immediately adds extra to my weekly total.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the variety this week and the speed sessions. Although I accomplished my weekly target's, I found Saturday's long run the most difficult run so far. I think tired legs from other training sessions this week finally caught up with me, along with a late (alcohol free I might add! ) night beforehand.

The only issue that I currently have is a sore knee (on the inside of my left knee). I've never had knee pain before, so I'm hoping this is nothing. I only felt it on today's recovery run and didn't feel anything wrong during my LSR the day before, or afterwards.

Bring on Week 4, and hopefully a new 5km PB! 

Ady -  I have a few routes for my long runs and vary them according to what length I am doing. The out 7 were about MP plus 40 seconds and the in 7 round about MP.

Calorie Watch 2013! Food & Drink Diary - Sunday 6th January 2013

Lunch out in London town today. The hardest part of this journey was passing through Waterloo station and ignoring the intoxicating smells of pasties and baguettes next to the platform.

9:00am: Cup of tea and water

10:30am: 3.16 mile recovery run

11:10am: Breakfast - Fruit and Fibre cereal w/ s/skimmed milk. Water.

1:30pm: Lunch - Tiger prawn salad at Fire and Stone restaurant. Small diet coke, water

4:00pm: Skinny Chai Latte at Costa

6:00pm:  Dinner - Steak, egg, beans, mushroom, tomato. Water

8:00pm. Cup of tea, water, a couple of leftover cheese crackers (minus the cheese!) and a handful of dried apricots.

10:00pm Cup of Jasmine tea while wondering where the weekend went and why does Monday have to come around so quickly!

Shady_Ady wrote (see)

 The only one of any note only requires 20 seconds of work, and then it's over. 

We are still talking about the hill here, right? 

Week 3 Weight Loss Watch!

Starting Weight: 162.8lbs (Target Weight: 148lbs)

Weight After Week 1: 162.2lbs (-0.6lbs)

Weight After Week 2: 161.9lbs (-0.3lbs)

Weight After Week 3: 160.7lbs (-1.2lbs)

Total Loss: 2.1lbs

I feel like I'm on a roll now with the weight loss plans now that Christmas and New Year are in the past. If it wasn't for eating my own body weight in cocktail sausage rolls on New Year's Eve, I think this week's weight loss would have been even higher.

Hopefully if I can continue to cut down on processed foods, deserts and limit my alcohol intake, I will do even better next week.

It's not just the weight loss I've noticed. There's less to grab where my love handles once drooped and my pecs are finally looking more male than female!  My core feels stronger and my legs more muscly. Maybe there is a chance of pulling off the lycra look come Paris!

Barry........that seems a good effort considering Spring marathon training is still young. Although I might have struggled doing the last 7 miles at MP during my long run on Saturday, I can definitely see the benefit of increasing your speed later on in your run and going slower to start with.

Xyloid wrote (see)

Shady_Ady wrote (see)

 The only one of any note only requires 20 seconds of work, and then it's over. 

We are still talking about the hill here, right? 

Xyloid.......Definitely talking about hills.......if we were talking about anything else, seconds would be in single digits!

Thanks for the info, Ady. Great work on the long run. As discussed, I've rejigged week 4 as follows:

Week 4 w/c 7th January
Monday REST
Tuesday 5 x 1 mile at 7.20-7.30 pace with 2.5 minute recovery plus 2 mile w-up/plus short c-down (8 miles)
Wednesday 4 MILE JOG + 3 x acceleration strides
Thursday 5 MILES COMFORTABLE
Friday REST OR LOW IMPACT CROSS TRAINING
Saturday PARKRUN (PLUS W-UP/C-DOWN) (6)
Sunday 7 MILE STEADY ON HILLY ROUTE (includes 2 mile w-up run to hill then 3 miles worth of steady effort on the 1-mile long hilly strip, and 2 miles home)
APPROX MILEAGE 30 

If your knee is still feeling a bit ginger on Tuesday, then you could delay the session until Weds or Thurs and swap the easier sessions to Tuesday. (Of course, if it's really sore, then don't run on it at all. I would try 10 mins of ice every couple of hours, or as often as you can if not able to do as much as that.) We'll leave paces until the next 4 week block.

Barry B wrote (see)

Ady -  I'm following the RW plan with some tweaks, 6 runs a week and with my tweaks peaks at about 60 miles a week.  Speedwork on a Tuesday and a tempo run on Thursday most weeks.  I think the idea behind doing a Parkrun/ easy 5 miler on a Saturday is to run the long on Sunday on tired legs. Check with Sam re her thoughts on Parkruns before LSR's.

Ruth -  Re training low in carbs, would you recommend doing most LSR's unfuelled or use them to practice race day fuelling strategies.

Hi Barry B

I think you need a balance on this as you need to use your longer runs to practise eating/fluid intake for race day as this can make or break your race. If you have robust immunity and your runs do not suffer too much in a low carb state then yes it may be useful to do some longer runs in a low state of carbs and this means doing the runs or and least the first 90minutes with no full as well. I think this is easy to state and I agree it  may be useful for good training adapations but the application is not always so easy. There is many ways to deplete in carbs for example not eating for two hours post hard run (not even protein) or long run then little carbs for rest of day then traing next day low but this is not the only way.

Hope this helps a little.

Ruth

Shady_Ady wrote (see)

Hi Ruth,

You could just be my knight in shining armour. If I was ever in need of nutritional information, it's probably now.

I do think my cramps I experienced during my Parkrun were a result of the intensity I was running at (well, an intensity higher than what my body has been accustomed to!). I hope that by doing more sessions at these speeds, these symptoms will start to disappear.

When you talk about training low in carbs, what sessions would you recommend trying this in? Is there a mileage or time limit you would recommend in trying this under. For example, I ran 'on empty' on my long run in week 1, and would like to try it again on another long run. Do you think trying it on a 14 or 15 mile run is too much?

I'm not sure you have dealt with an 'athlete' who has a diet like me before! Up until the start of this training, I would run so I could eat whatever I wanted to. Running was a means to over-indulge in things I shouldn't and not have the normal feelings of guilt. Saying this though, in recent months, my muffin-top has expanded to just shy of disgraceful proportions. This was really brought home to me during the photo shoot at the Asics store where I tried on lycra for the first time. Honestly, if I had to where lycra every day, I'd still be a virgin and still waiting to hold a girl's hand!

Since training has started though, I have cut out all processed food (apart from the odd pork pie had around Xmas and the 12 cocktail sausage rolls devoured on New Year's Eve - that's what happens when you choose to sit next to the buffet table!). I have cut out crisps and other unhealthy snacks. I am also planning on cutting almost completely down on alcohol consumption as well. I will still enjoy the odd drink here or there, but much more rarely compared to recent weeks.

Alongside this, I am also cutting down on my bread consumption and desserts (which formed the basis of every lunch and the ending of every dinner) and trying to increase the amount of times I eat during the day, while cutting down on the quantity as well.

Today I'm hoping will be the average day of eating for the duration of my training. Please feel free to offer brutally honest advice if you see any problems or issues that can be improved!

Here it is............................

Shady_Ady wrote (see)

Hi Ruth,

You could just be my knight in shining armour. If I was ever in need of nutritional information, it's probably now.

I do think my cramps I experienced during my Parkrun were a result of the intensity I was running at (well, an intensity higher than what my body has been accustomed to!). I hope that by doing more sessions at these speeds, these symptoms will start to disappear.

When you talk about training low in carbs, what sessions would you recommend trying this in? Is there a mileage or time limit you would recommend in trying this under. For example, I ran 'on empty' on my long run in week 1, and would like to try it again on another long run. Do you think trying it on a 14 or 15 mile run is too much?

I'm not sure you have dealt with an 'athlete' who has a diet like me before! Up until the start of this training, I would run so I could eat whatever I wanted to. Running was a means to over-indulge in things I shouldn't and not have the normal feelings

Thanks for the extra mileage Sam this coming week. 

I'll continue icing my knee. It's very strange, as I've never had a single problem before and never felt a twinge or pain during or after my long run on Saturday. I haven't felt any problems today either. To be on the safe side though I've followed my schedule today and had a proper rest day. If I have no problems tomorrow then I plan on working some pilates or yoga into my evenings as well as the running.

I think out of all the runs this week, it's the hilly run I'm most looking forward to, as it should be more of a challenge this time around compared to week 2. Parkrun should hopefully see me go closer to my 21:45 PB and tomorrow's 1 mile reps should be a good confidence booster to how well I can do!

Ruth.....thanks for your feedback. I can see the importance of not running low on carbs on every long run. I enjoy using some runs as practice race days, as then I can test out nutrition and hydration techniques. During the Athens Marathon I used 6 gels. I know Lance Armstrong used 1 a mile when he ran the New York marathon, but is there an optimum number to use? I only start using them after an hour of running. Can I go longer without using them, or should I start earlier, say after 10k of running?

Although I'm sure you thoroughly enjoyed my last message to you, I'm not entirely sure you meant to re-quote it twice without adding any of your own words? Should there have been something else to your last message you wrote?