P + D training for VLM 2013

I have a half next week where i'll be having a very easy week and then racing it 100%

The halfs I'm doing in March will just fit into plan and be ran on tired legs

Lots of reading back which means peeps have been doing lots of training.

HeOw Well done on getting out but you should have given it another day or so lets hope you where out of the woods with the cold and feeling better today.

Ziggy nice run and great splits for your MLR looking good.

Go Caz well done on your MLR your going well.

15 West no half marathons here but I will be doing a trail 10k on the Saturday and 20 on the Sunday.

JF50 Well done on your 15 miles on Saturday.

Swim this morning 54x25m front crawl will get out later for an easy 6 miles.

NN, no not a member of BAAC (although I've thought about it a few times) and have also run the 10 miler (always tough due to headwinds as you say) & the 10K in May

Like you I need to pull my finger out & enter the 1/2 (you can do it online now) so will be doing that in the next day or two 

Ten - agree about the mini taper. This weeks schedule does kind've put in a mini taper and recovery as there is a tough session for next sunday - the 18 with 10@MP. So, there is one tempo session on tuesday, then no more speedy stuff till sunday - just miles. And next week is a recovery week anyway. So, I am sticking with the schedule and am going to go for it on sunday I think - going to try stick to 6.30 min/mi.

I have also signed up for wilmslow half on 24th March which is week14 - I'll sort what I'm doing for that when get closer, but again will probably not change schedule apart from the tune up race the day before.

some impressive training being got through - should bode well come the day.

16 progressive for me on saturday finishing at MP of 6.50. All seemed ok but was tired . Nice recovery yesterday and VO2 max test this evening.

Re Half - So many different views on this - I have one Mid Feb and plan to Mini taper (rejig the schedule and push the midweek MLR earlier into the week) and race it- but with a couple warm up and down and maybe a little recovery run around tea time hope to make it an 18m day. Will rejig the schedule for a couple of days after to account for the effort as required. I feel the mental benefits and ability to have a strong marker regarding pacing outway the 4-5 days training which is potentially compromised. I will start at a slightly slower than THMP and look to make it a progressive run - but will bin it if I feel anything isnt right and turn it into a MP MLR.

week2 of the 18week55miles plan completed.

I actually covered 42 miles rather than the planned 40, but i don't think the extra couple of slow miles really bothered me. I was able to knock out a 5k PB on Saturday (24:21) with a warm and then a 14mi "medium long" run on Sunday at around 10min/mile pace, which is bang on target on target between 10% and 20% slower than marathon goal pace. More importantly I felt comfortable and in control throughout, and didn't feel like i was fading towards the end, which is good because that's the further I've run since 2010 before my Brighton marathon where I blew up because of serious undertraining.

Also my highest ever weekly mileage, and I feel good

Hope everything is going smoothly for all of you, keep up the good work

Thanks for your thoughts 15West/Mennania.  I'll have another look at what I can do.

Exactly 3 months from today to the Brighton Marathon 

I Have an xl spreadsheet of the PnD which I use yo juggle my sessions around - it is a pretty decent peice of spreadsheetery. PM me with your email if you want a copy.

The P&D schedule's main difference from most of the plans around in the UK do differ in not including a HM at some point so good to get some views on how people will juggle the plans, attack a race etc.  As Mennania says it is a confidence booster to have a good half marathon performance somewhere within the run up to a marathon

Its impressive seeing all this training, especially with the worsening weather.

I think I got off lightly this weekend, I ran my 5m recovery along the seafront on Saturday with high winds and freezing, horizontal rain, and avoiding the occassional spray of sea water over the break wall.  On Sunday I did the 16m with 10m @ MP run and the sun was shining and the seafront was like a picture-postcard (except for the temperature!).

The 16m with 10 @ MP was a run I was dreading but it went really well, started a little slow due to a gradual climb for the first couple of miles (7:35 rather than target of 7:20) but I was boosted by reaching level ground and averaged about 7:20 for the full ten miles (dipping down to 7:05 in the middle).  Definitely the hardest run of the schedule so far, I was floating for a few hours afterwards on the endorphins released!

Ten, do you have a low(ish) Max HR?  During the MP section my HR averaged in the 160s which is about right for me based on the P&D figures (168 is 85% of HR range) for marathon pace.  So I was surprised to see yours was in the 140s for a similar run?   

Dave I have just entered before I forget or it fills up..not that ,that is likely really.

I am also running Plymouth Hoe 10 mile in Feb. So I will have to juggle some sessions around and do a couple of mini tapers and recovery weeks...but not too hung up on it

AG  for the 5k pb

Mennania  I will mail you for copy  thanks.

NN, I'm not planning any other races other than the Bideford 1/2 in my preperation - I'm just gonna stick to the 18 week plan & see if it works for me - fingers crossed! (btw my Profile Pic is from last year's Bideford 1/2 about 100 yards from the finish!)

Mark wouldnt you be better swapping the wed and thurs ? ie doing the MLR on the wed ? 

Stutyr brilliant pace for the 16....and running in this weather is character building

Dave Bideford AAC and North Devon have some very good runners dont they ?

JF50,

I am doning Wokingham half on Feb 10.  Aim to just replace the long run with the half and front load the hard efforts that week so have two easy and rest day as taper while having minimal impact on the overall plan.  Only lose seven miles from that weeks milage but given that I will be running flat out at the half probably OK.

Think doing the half will be of overall benefit as very long LT run.

SR I have booked the Colchester Half on 17th March which I think for me should be a 18mile with 12 at MP that day.  I know once you get into a race it's hard not to race it so will look to tweak schedule leading up to and for a few days after. It's the only one I have booked.

Night Nurse wrote (see)

Mark wouldnt you be better swapping the wed and thurs ? ie doing the MLR on the wed ? 

Stutyr brilliant pace for the 16....and running in this weather is character building

Dave Bideford AAC and North Devon have some very good runners dont they ?

Im working 12 hr day shifts Mon-Wed then off after that so the MLR will work better for me on Thurs, ill probably run it at the slower end of the range just to be careful.

Weve got quite heavy snow here in Middlesbrough today, so that might force me onto to the treadmill.

Mennania - I put my runs and schedule into spreadsheets too   It's very motivating to compare benchmark runs over time.

Stutyr - I'm not sure what would be considered a low max heart rate, but here's how I've worked it out:

My max is 191bpm and resting heart rate 49bpm.  So, translating my MP miles (the final ten miles) to %HRR:

average HR per mile:  148/152/149/153/156/154/154/159/162/160bpm

HRR percentage:   70%  70%  73%  75%  74%  74%  77%  80%  78%

The MP range for HRR given by P&D is 73% to 84%  so I'm happy with those rates.  My heart rate peaked at 167bpm, which is 83%.

Hope that all makes sense.

JF50, are you thinking of combining the race and the 18m with 12m @MP?  i.e. using the HM as the 12m @MP, then padding this out with an additional miles to take it upto 18m total?  

Just curious as I have a half marathon on the 3rd March that coincides with a recovery week's 14m MLR.  However, the week before ends with a 16m inc 12M MP - so I was toying with the idea of flipping these weeks and racing the 12m MP segment