P + D training for VLM 2013

HeoW yes I am aiming for sub 3.40 ,(which is my pb) I think deep down if I had the confidence I could get nearer 3.30 but I anything under 3.39.59 and I will be over the moon, I do tend to be a little cautious and run the first half VERRRY slow , when I got my 3.40 I had a 4 min neg split !! 1.52 first half then 1.48 for the second, with a 7.30 26th mile  I felt so strong ..that was off a P&D schedule, so I know a better time is in the old legs but I dread starting too fast and ending up like some of the sorry states you see in the last few miles of a marathon.

You will smash that half PB in 3 weeks time you tempo paces are also bang on what I run, just don't get too carried away in the first couple of miles I also got my half ,and  10 mile pb 1.39 and 1.14 while doing P&D, that was without even tapering ! I remember doing a 15 miler on the Thurs before the 10 mile race.This schedule will make you so strong.

I am doing a bit more juggling with the plan today and bringing tomorrows 9 forward, I have my eldest son and grandson visiting tommorrow and of course they come before my running.

Things should settle down nicely after next week without the sessions being moved around too much for the rest of the plan.

Thanks NightNurse, wow, you have grandchildren?  You are brilliant doing times like these.  I hope I do smash my PB but will aim to truly do that in Feb/March when I have had a couple of months of P&D under my hat!   Love your negative splits, would you not set off at your MRP though? 

I am following the basis of the 55-70 but to lessen the miles, dropping one of the recovery runs as I am not ready for that high mileage yet.  Will take it week by week and see how I feel.  I have cut out drinking alcohol as much as I was, only having 1 or 2 glasses of wine a week from now on as I have definitely found I feel less tired since I have stopped drinking in the house (i.e. a few beers on a Friday night or half a bottle of wine Saturday). 

HeOw wrote (see)

Thanks NightNurse, wow, you have grandchildren?  You are brilliant doing times like these.  

Yes I am a very ancient 50 

Yes you are right setting off at marathon pace is sensible I was only aiming for 3.45 and knew I could do that if I took it easy..I tend to lack confidence a bit thinking I am getting older and all that and play safe but I wanted to enjoy it and took great pleasure in striding past everyone in the final few miles feeling comfortable I would rather that than blow it and feel like pooh ...have you done a marathon before HeOw ?

And yes cutting down on the booze will make hell of a difference, todays run felt so much better and HR was much lower and steadier than yesterdays, I dont drink often but when I do it really really shows the next day (maybe I need more practice)

Back from 9.2 in 1 hour 25 , with a few strides thrown in blowing a hooley and chucking it down with rain...what fun  

NN I think we are looking at similar times as well, aiming for the 3.45 mark for me. I haven't run a marathon since 2008, did 3.33 for London, but know I have lost some pace so just aiming for a realistic time.

I also have grandchildren and I can still beat them at the moment.

Are you on the upto 55 plan or next one up.  I ran a 10 miler yesterday and it was good out there for running, I'm at work today and can see it is tipping it down out there.  I have kept to plan so far but guess it will get more serious when the mileage increases from about week 6 onwards.  It would be very easy to run some of those recovery runs too quick.

Great running Heow.  You lot make me feel so slow.  I'm 51 and will be very lucky to make it to Grandad stage   Not helped by the fact that I'm not going to allow any guy near my daughter until she's at least 35.

I quit booze 6+ years ago and it was a great decision.  I could never "moderate", so quitting was a far easier option for me.

This morning I ran 8m with 4m Tempo.  My plan was warmup/cooldown at 10:30 pace and tempo @ 8:15 (approx 15k pace).  This was an outdoor run, so it was interesting to compare to the previous treadmill effort.  My splits were:

Splits 10:33/10:29/8:13/8:19/8:10/8:20/10:20/10:22 avg. 9:21

HR 127/131/154/158/165/164/152/141bpm avg. 147bpm [plan range: 158-174bpm]  These were remarkably similar to my treadmill readings - slightly higher due to a long incline in the final tempo mile.

Pretty happy with that.  It started raining as I started the tempo, and stopped just before I slowed down again - just like I planned it 

I'm really enjoying the P&D plan so far (though it looks a bit scarey later).

Night Nurse - if you are a "very ancient 50" - what does that make me at 57?.

If you go on the UKA runBritain rankings for mv55 marathons you will see that even at that venerable age it is still possible to stumble round the marathon distance.

If I rermember correctly all the "Top10" were under 3 hours.

I only started running at 49 and did my first marathon at 50 - you still have your best years ahead of you.

Good luck with your marathon campaign!

Morning all

A lot of good running going on here this week.  I managed the 8 miles with strides on Christmas day and I'm looking forward to 10 miles GA this evening.  With any luck the rain may have gone off a bit by then.

12 mile mlr this evening.  Back in training after two days break.

Nice and gentle 10 Mile GA run for me tonight with an avg hr of 75% of max.

The only drama was caused by losing a contact lens and then nearly running into a fence.

Some nice post Christmas runs being posted.

5 miles recovery today, felt a lot easier than yesterday.

Four mile recovery run this morning.  It was my first ever trail run in the dark, so it was quite an adventure for me.  Along one part of the trail it felt like I was running on a treadmill.  The trail was moving beneath my feet, but the peripheral scenerey didn't appear to be moving.  It was a surreal experience.

It was very windy and raining as well as pitch black, so I now feel like I can cope with  most things that can be thrown at me.  I was back home by 6:30am.

Five mile recovery run for me this morning, a gentle start to the day.  NP not sure how much extra pace I can find, age does seem to pinched little bits of it and I ain't going to get any younger.  Maintaining what I have got seems a good goal now.

Some excellent Xmas running going on here. Must say I noticed a dent in my HR performance directly proportional to my intake of chocolate, cheese and port.

10M GA for me last night at a nice average 70% HRR. Plantar Fascia just about holding on, still praying for some kind of miracle active recovery...

Strangely the light died on my Garmin 610 during last night's run, which was most upsetting but it seems to have started working again. Weird.

I got given vouchers for Hot Power Yoga for Christmas so going along to a beginners' class tonight. Never tried any form of yoga before but I've heard it's good for runners. Any yogis on here?

Well I managed the 10 miles MLR last night, but for the first 5 or so miles my legs were objecting.  However, after that I settled into a nice rhythm and it was fine.  Day off today and then recovery run tomorrow of 5 miles.

Al - I've done a bit of yoga, but not seriously.  It is good for stretching all those muscles, but beware you may have bad DOMS for the next few days.

Fiona - stretching sounds good but DOMS bad, especially when I'm doing my 13M w 8 at mara pace on Sunday. 

No Pain - I've been icing, rolling, stretching, night-splinting, resting, not resting, wearing orthotics but it's getting worse. I've heard it's a 'self-limiting' condition, i.e. it will go away of its own accord one day but in its own time. Very frustrating, just hope it holds out til April 21st without getting too painful.

Al - that is the problem.  The last time i went to yoga after a few months off, I had stiff hammies for a week. I'm also doing 13miles with 8 mp at the weekend.

And those long runs with mp are tough workouts - I did one as a practice a few weeks ago. I think maybe I'll scale down what I'm calling marathon pace i.e. the pace that I could sustain for a whole marathon right now (probably around 7 min/mile), as opposed to the pace that I want to run for the VLM (around 6.45 per mile).