Overdone it?

Your capable of doing it,so just go out and smash it lad.

Good luck and remember the race report

Skinny lad.......has some very exciting news....bearing in mind his target was sub 1hr 35

over to you when you're recovered old son

Cmon Skinny you may have sore legs but am sure you fingers will be fine for typing.

sub 1.30????? or close too it

Okay - been out to cinema this afternoon - wasn't keeping you in suspense deliberately.

1:29.15 ish - may have been slightly less - forgot to stop watch again!! So excited I had hit sub 1:30!!!

Race report

First split times

7.01, 6.52, 6.44 (pacing suicide surely), 6.54 (eased off and uphill), 6.44, 6.45, 6.38 (what!!), 6.36, 6.46, 6.35 (???) - at this point I had done 10 miles but watch was showing 10.04 so had missed the split but time was still only just over 68 mins - at this point I did some maths and realised sub 1:30 was on. Final 3 miles 6.47, 6.46, 6.52 plus the bits whatever they were. Unbelievable - basically ran my 10k for a HM - is that supposed to happen?

Some more details.

Got myself much closer to front at start but did first half mile in 3:40 so then panicked a bit as didn't want a 7:20 first mile - hit 7.01 so must have pushed hard last 0.5. Knee first hurt just befroe two miles but never really got any worse throughout run fortunately - just kept reminding me I was there.

With starting further forward I jsut found myself running amongst faster runners so I just sat alongside the mand took my turns at leading the pace.

Only really started struggling at about 12.5 miles and I just locked on to a woman's back in front of me and dragged myself home.

Can't believe it - that gives me a Power of 10 rating I think - WOOHOO!!

Thanks for your help coach - the future runnings for talking about tomorrow - tonight is party time!!

YC - thanks for your interest and well wishes. Got to go and make tea as a penance for being out all morning.

Cheers, Skinny

Shockingly good performance Skinny.

I can honestly say you made my day, and that's on a day I had a nice little trip to the seaside for a race, and when my boys United beat Newcastle 3-0 away!

Pro rata, you smashed that 42:13 10k performance out of the water with todays. However, that shows why we pick  A big race, and have smaller races along the way.

Enjoy tonight mate, and tomorrow we'll go through a few things

• Getting your physio appointment dealt with
• New pace zones based on today's result...that's right, you'll be working to faster zones now me laddo
• Picking some target races and working to them

Until tomorrow!

ps, clearly an easy recovery week coming up.....

Monday   3mile very slow
Tuesday  DAY OFF.

Happy to stay on if you are. I'm certain with a mixture of my experience, and adapting the excellent coaching I receive to your position, that you'll go on to further glory.

Don't get too fast though, or you'll be having to upgrade me

I'll be interested to see what your targets are. I presume the dodgy outpost location you live in will be a factor though. Depends what kind of fast races you have anywhere close.

We'll look at the whole scenario tomorrow

Just want to say congratulations Skinny, I've been following this thread with interest (lurking?) for the past few weeks and trying to pick up a few tips to help me.

You absolutely smashed it - nice one!

any other lurkers want to congratulate Skinny for his quite amazing display today? Now is your time...

You took that by the scruff off the neck today Skinny and tore it to shreds mate.

An absolute stormer of a result for you and very well deserved it is too.

In the words of footy pundit Andy Gray "take a bow son,take a bow"

Enjoy your easy week pal and al look forward to reading of your next progression with the help of Stevie G

Nice one skinny...sub 1:30 is freaking fast

Skinny....although they haven't actually added today's result to your power of 10 profile yet, you've done it again.

You've understated your time!

You actually came out 1:29:08 on the chip!!

I notice that McMillan's race calculator predicts a 39:59 10k off that half time

Having a quick dabble with paces and suchlike.

Very interesting that you hit 6:48 per mile average today, the exact same pace for your 10k the other week.

Therefore, it's clear you need new pace zones drawn up immediately, and I work them out like this.

10k                6.30-6.35
Tempo           6.40
HMP              6.45
MP                 7.05-7.10
Steady           7.20-7.50
Easy               8.05-9.00

At 6:33 pace for a 10k , you'll come out as 40:40, so I think a sub 40 10k ought to definitely be on your list of objectives.

Like I wrote above, 1:29:08 calculates to 39:59, BUT, i think MacMillan tends to set too sharp shorter distance targets off longer. However, with the right lead up and a few months, it could be on the agenda.

Rest of family have settled down to watch Yawnton Abbey so thought I'd post about future plans tonight rather than tomorrow as got bit of a busy day.

Nice surprise to find a few words of praise on here - thanks - no real need as the time itself was enough!! - but thanks anyway. And then the bigger surprise of finding out my new improved time from my Stalker Coach! Haven't checked if you're right yet but I presume you worked out my name from my Dumfries time?

Running wise I would like to have a rest for nearly the next two weeks (after recovery tomorrow). Firstly I would like to get a diagnosis on my knee and that is Friday before pounding it some more and then I'm off to Saudi Arabia for 5 days, Get back 18th by which time hopefully my knee and rest of my body will not only have recovered but also taken the gains from today's effort. Remember I'm a lot older than you!! Would plan to do a lot of stretching and core work in time when I would have been running.

The next session all presumes my physio doesn't tell me my running 'career' is over.

Future targets -  this is what they looked like before todays shock result - November 17th - 10 mile race go sub 70mins (Move this down now to sub 67 now?)

Then I want to go back to shorter distances to try and build up my basic speed and move on back up through to another HM next year - same time. If I was younger I would go a year at 5k, year at 10k then year at HM but I'm not younger and I'm not built for those shorter distances. However to get really quick I need to increase my basic speed - when I run fast like today and in the 10k it is my thighs that feel sore afterwards - I'm built for long distance so logically to get better at it I need to work at the area that doesn't come naturally - speed.

The nearest Park Run to me is about 60 miles away however starting end of November and for 4 months (which allows for a few weeks off if have a niggle) I want to train and aim for a 5k race but on 35 - 40 miles a week still. My target was sub 20 mins - not sure what it should be now?

Then next 3 months train and aim for a 10k race - again still on 35 - 40 miles. Target was sub 40 mins - still ok?

Finally start HM training for final 3 - 4 months building up to  45 - 50 miles and aim for same race again - my targets were sub 1:30 with a stretch target of sub 1:28 to beat a friends time - I suppose this might need to be closer to 1:25 now? However today could just have been a good day?

Then I would run the 10 mile race again just as an easy follow on.

Within 10k training would expect to run a couple of 5ks and similarly in HM training might slot in a couple of 10ks - these will be harder races to find round here.

What do you think? I'm off to try and find out if you've got my result right! [EDIT - YAY - YOU HAVE!!

Cheers, Skinny  

This post crossed with yours.

Course I've got your time right son, I'm an experienced runner, checking people's times is second nature

Reading your aims, I think a decent plan would be along these lines

• This week, 3miler tomorrow, then complete rest from Tuesday through to Friday, and see how the physio appointment goes.
• Next week, all being well, gentle week 2-3 easy paced short runs (if possible in a country like Saudi)
• Oct 22 to Nov 17, 4 week build up to 10mile race, sub 67 definitely the target (requires a 6.42 pace, I have your tempo pace 6.40)

After that, I'd like to see you do a 2-3month base building period. This is a time you strengthen up, build mileage, and any speedwork is light. The bigger the base, the better the results.

After that the faster work would kick in progressively.

Then March-May  you should be ready for cracks at the 5k and 10k pbs. I wouldn't even want to put figures on it at the moment, as I'd feel that might limit things. However, sub 40, and probably sub 19:30 should be doable..

Hi Coach - well I can still walk and actually apart from some stiffness in my thighs feel okay.

Training plan - right I think we need to discuss this so I understand how your plan works for me.

My plan was to go back to short distance training and then build up with idea of taking that faster speed into longer distances.

Your plan based on achieving same times is to stop any speed work at all for a few months and then hit the speedwork after some easy quality months?

I suppose in my head I felt I had built a base over the last few months but perhaps my thinking is too short termist (based on 20 years of fast and easy race training for moderate race day performances) - now I am a rated Power of 10 athlete  I suppose my approach needs to be more long term!

Nevertheless just for my own education I would like to understand some of the thinking behind the plan.

Finally some info you probably won't like - I do not think I can commit to more than 4 days a week training for now - this is mainly due to having a job where I sometimes work long hours, am often away from home and have a wonderful wife who looks afer the family and supports me in everything I want to do but there is always a point where I need to recognise that I am taking advantage - so i'm drawing the line at 4 training runs per week - I think this will stop me reaching my full potential (and I may change my mind in a year or so once the 4 runs is ingrained into family life) but still plenty of scope for improvement I think?  Might even reduce my injuries - your guys on your thread all seem to be crocked half the time!

Cheers, Skinny

PS Have I just entered pre school or got my 11+??

The long and short of it, is that we're a bit constrained by the mileage. You were probably averaging about 32miles a week, which in the scheme of things is barely training.

In an ideal world, we'd have you doing one long run, one tempo and personalised speedwork and as much easy running as possible.

 However, the  3 key runs alone would eat your mileage allowance up, therefore, what I've needed to do has been to prioritise the long run, as that's the key for half marathons, and then alternate between tempo and speedwork.

Therefore, you haven't really done a real base period, and it's harder to set you training for a peak, without the ability to have both tempo and speedwork.

However, at this stage, this training has been very effective, hence you smashing your pb so wildly.

There's certainly scope to bring the pbs down fairly comfortably over the next 6months, even with this limiting approach.

The idea, was to lay down a base after the 10mile race, putting in a solid 2months or so of higher mileage, regular 40+, with reduced intensity over the winter when races are less frequent and weather is dodgier. You would get used to the higher mileage, without the intensity to injure you...key rule is never increase intensity and mileage together.

The intensity would then steadily build up, with the mileage dropping a bit, and as the sessions get harder, you get fitter, and then hey presto by race day you peak!

ps as for injuries....you generally have 2 options in running, stay at the same level comfortably, or try and reach the next level which means work harder, and thus more hance of injury I'm afraid