To Hell In A Handcart

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66

Total Miles
168.12

MKDTH

Unofficial half marathon time of 2:04:59

I've not had a good performance in England in comparison to Ireland. Maybe pollution or pollun, a lack of lucozade. I don't get it!

MKDTH

Week 9

22/02

Rest Day

23/02

Knee and hip exercises

50 Mine Easy covering 4.41 Miles @ 11.21

24/02

65 Mins Steady covering 6.58 Miles @ 9.47
Late night runs are never fun

25/02

50 mins easy covering 4.43 miles @ 11.18

26/02

Rest Day
Knee / Hip exercises

27/02

No bike ride managed due to work so another Rest Day

28/02

80 mins steady covering 7.88 miles @ 10.13
A week ahead of the half marathon, I copied what worked 12 months before rather than doing a lsr.

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3

Total Miles
191.42

Monthly Miles

Jan 81.54
Feb 105.47

MKDTH

Week 10

29/02

Rest day
Car trouble meant no hip or knee exercises. I was in two minds as to if I should do them so close to the race anyway.

01/03

53 mins easy covering 4.76 miles @11.04

02/03

43 mins easy covering 3.78 miles @11.22

03/03
Rest Day
Locked out for four hours in the morning meant the last run before the race was a no go. I've never been locked out before and don't want to sit outside again in such a way, not good for stress levels ahead of Sunday.

04/03
Rest Day
I left home at 7.30am and did not return until 11pm thanks to a very long day at work meaning no chance to get a run in or do exercises.

05/03
21 mins easy covering 1.84 miles @ 11.34
A run at 6pm the night before the race to get my legs moving again, maybe to late?
I had noticed a niggle when walking earlier that day on my left side, above my ankle and slightly left of my calf. It felt okay during the run so all good.

06/03

Warm up 7 mins covering 0.67 miles @ 11.01, plus just before the start a two mins jog to the start.

Race on my watch 125 mins covering 13.11 miles @ 9.32
Full race report to follow, although given my lack of readers, I would say that would be more important for me to look back on in future rather than any of my handful of readers to look at though.

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3
Week 10 24.31

Total Miles
215.73

MKDTH

Month 2014 2015 2016

January 0 90.00 81.54
February 0 85.89 105.47
March 0 79.14 ?
April 0 113.08 ?
May 25 27.98 ?
June 55.62 27.36 ?
July 78.1 45.77 ?
August 63.43 18.37 ?
September 50.79 25.91 ?
October 68.34 48.50 ?
November 0 54.64 ?
December 9.53 48.83 ?

Totals 350.83 665.47 ?

MKDTH

Milton Keynes Half Marathon Sunday March the 6th

Build up

I had had a good solid block of training ahead of this and managed another 19 miles in Feb in comparison to 2015 which boded well. I had however missed most cross training bike rides in Feb which was a worry as my cadence always feels brilliant after being on the bike.
My week leading up to the race was also very hectic and stressful (read week 10 above).

Morning of the race

With the Race not starting until 10.45, it gave me a chance to stay in bed later than in normal races, not rising until 7.30. I had my usual porridge, banana and honey breakfast.

I parked up and had the perfect amount of time to jog up to the start, use the toilet and put my number on.

The race festival was quite unique in that it was hosting a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and 20 mile race with the Half Marathon being the last to start.
When signing up I filled in my estimated time of 1:59:00 as the main group went out first and anyone going over 2 hours would go 5 mins later. I figured that I would be best going with the first group given my 2:00:20 Bohermeen effort was close enough, and that it would mean less kris crossing at the start and should it be windy, I may of been out on my own earlier in the race, getting battered by the wind in the second group.
The sub 2 pacers were also with the first group.

The Race

I started off at the rear of the group on the right hand side due to an early left hand turn and possible bunching that may happen, as normal, I walked until I was right under the start banner to conserve energy and must of been the last of the main group to set off. This also meant that I had about twenty seconds in hand on the sub 2 pacers!

Mile 1 8:59

A downhill start with me chucking my hat off after about 3 mins as I had already started to warm up. I set my watch for 9 mins per mile to allow a bit of extra mileage should I take a longer week. I was caught out 12 months earlier when aiming to go out at 9.05 pace which meant I missed out on sub 2 hours by just twenty seconds!

Mile 2 9:01

A long, straight duel carriageway until turning downhill onto a narrow pathway. I tend to make up time due to my weight going downhill so used the grass verge to pretty much catch the pacers and overtake about 50 who were slowing due to the bottleneck the narrow path caused.

Mile 3 9:06

I had caught up with the 2 hour group and was content to follow even if it was a few seconds slower than I wanted. We had run on a closed road for much of this but then narrowed onto a redway path again and also had the added few 20 mile runners who's lap joined ours. I felt that this must of been very frustrating for these 20 mile guys who started earlier and were going quicker than 9 mins a mile, but were met with a wall of people meaning that they had to fight there way through via a grass verge!
We then were back on a road and met by a few keen locals with clappers and instruments, cheering us on which was nice.

Mile 4 9:06

Still with the pacers, so kept at this pace happily enough, I took my first gel at the start of this mile and also picked up a bottle of water from the first water station. No energy drinks though, but A bottle was much more to my liking than the cups a failed to drink while running in Trim. We then entered Willen Lake, a huge Lake where the Milton Keynes Park Run takes place. This had a quiet but large group of people clapping and supporting the runners.

Mile 5 9:06

Yet again 9:06, but to my surprise my breathing was becoming heavier, much more than it was 12 months ago which was worrying. I nearly clipped a girls heels here as I was on her shoulder and the path split with her taking the narrowest line leaving me knowhere to go meaning I had to back off before overtaking her and rejoining the group. I'm wondering if the pace was taking its toll or was it the gel and water mixing as I felt I was about to throw up or get a a stitch, neither happened.

Mile 6 9:06

Same pace for the 4th mile running - to the second! Still with the pacers and another water station passed although I gave this a miss as I only just chucked my last bottle having carried and sipped on it for a few miles as I tend to do.
The halfway sign passed and I was on for bang on 1:57 which got me excited although I knew I would not be doing a negative split as I was struggling considering I was only halfway.

Mile 7 9:09

We made a turn into where my family live and with it came a slow down and another bottle neck. I lost my rag for a few seconds as a girl cut out without paying attention to who was behind her meaning that I nearly clipped her heels and lost momentum for a few seconds. I knew the paths well and was counting the strides until I was back on smooth redway paths rather than gravel paths which I always seem to get overtaken on. The pace group had edged maybe 10 seconds ahead at this stage which was fine.

Mile 8 9:20

I grabbed a water from the next station and did my usual of pouring it over the back of my head and shoulders before holding onto it for about half a mile which was strange for me as I would normally hold onto it, but I could do without the extra weight. My parents were supposed to be out somewhere along this point, but I assumed they had got the times mixed up and missed me but eventually appeared shouting encouragement, with me still only about 20 seconds behind the pacers. Again though, I had lost time due to taking my second and last gel, plus taking on water.

Mile 9 9:37

Everyone around me were struggling now as the terrain got a tiny bit lumpy as the redway path weaved its way up and down, under the main duel carriageways. Towards the end of the mile we joined up at the point where the 20 mile race joined up with us earlier. It meant I knew the route but was noticing slight hills that I had already been over and hadn't noticed on the first time past here.

Mile 10 9:52

Really fading now and my mind was wandering and I wasn't concentrating. We past the village again with everyone outside a pub cheering us on along with the guys with clappers still about. I caught glimpse of the sub 2 pacers a good quarter of a mile ahead here and it did cross my mind to really push and get it back to 9 min miles and even try and catch them but the negative part of my head told me I was fooked and just to keep plodding along.

Mile 11 10:03

I really wanted to stay under 10 mins per mile but felt beat at this stage, I wasted time again taking on water again but was telling myself it probably won't help at this stage and I'm not sure it did. Going into the lake part, I was overtaken by quite a few in this mile who I think may of started 5 mins behind so felt even more annoying.

Mile 12 10:40

I knew once we left the lake we would turn left towards the finish and left the original route to start climbing up towards the finish, this was like something out of DCM14 with so many walking and like me, doing a bad shuffling impression of running! I was overtaking a few here and atleast responded to my watch saying I was averaging over 11 for this mile which really angered me thinking that I was in a race doing easy pace ffs, this was also helped by a flat last 600 meters!

Mile 13 11:08

Up we went into a park called Campbell park which I knew would be up hill. It was similar to mile 12 although steeper and had a few cobble sections which hurt like hell. On the horizon I noticed people running almost above my eyeline which pushed my morale to an all time low. When I got to it everyone was walking up it, so I decided that I deserved to hurt having already seen my watch pass 2 hours and had no excuse as I do a lot of training in hilly terrain around my house so pushed and pushed and must of overtaken about twenty in the 50 meters stretch with a few jogging. I then faced a slightly downhill section but could not even open up my stride to take advantage of this.

Mile 0.1 average 7.02

About ten wizzed past me at this stage, but having run this last section in my warm up, I knew a uphill slop remained so kept something back before digging in and taking a tow of a lad who just overtook me, determined to get him back before we got into a home straight of about 40 meters, we over took loads here.
The guy on the microfone shouted out what sounded like my name Martyn Baines! It just summed up my race and my week really, my name is Martyn Barnes, not Baines!
I stopped my watch and was gutted to see it was 2:05:00. It took me ages to get around the corner to get my medal where as others seemed to walk around fresh as a daisy! I was disgusted to find that besides the medal, we only got water! No sweets, no fruit, I needed something bad as I was a mess. I asked around but no others runners had anything either.


Official Times

Gun Time 2:06:11
Chip Time 2:04:53

I then grabbed my bag and glugged down a lucozade sport and got an extra layer on before making the freezing walk back to my car as I could not find the energy to do a cool down run.

Trim taught me a good lesson though as I had running gloves on for this race and after sweating in them for a few miles, was freezing in them by the finish.

My right knee was very sore afterwards which is a worry as it felt like patellar tendonitis again although has settled down after putting some voltarol on it last night and this morning.
My other niggle from Saturday between my ankle and calf on my left side is also painful today although was fine in the race.

Reasons for failure or crackpot theories?

My best races imo have been in Ireland Enniscorthy 10k 54:27, and Bohermeen half of 2:00:20.

Maybe pollution and pollen are affecting me more in England than Ireland?

I had done an extra 20 miles in training, had much less niggles and yet was the best part of 4:40 slower than twelve months ago!

Could my lack of recent Cycling / cross training had an adverse effect on my cadence?

Have I done enough pace work? Maybe not enough stuff has been done at 9 min pace.

My weight could be less and is surely another thing holding me back. My job dos'nt help, doing 1pm till 10pm, and then 8am till 5pm could also be playing its part.

Maybe the plan does not have enough miles as it is build on mins on your feet rather than miles.

I was also doing 4 days a week last year and am now doing 5 days a week.

I also had a very stressful and hectic build up to the race.

Going forward

I need to get this race out of my system and will be looking to fit in a 5k in two weeks time when Calvin Johnson is over in the UK. I hope to not lose any training session between now and the Marathon. This will put strain on my body but this result is a huge wake up call.
My plan only has 4 runs a week so every one needs to be done as per plan and not slightly different like a steady session rather than pace because its late at night and I'm bloated from dinner three hours earlier!

I need to stop stuffing my face with crap and hope to lose at least half a stone before the race (maybe I was lighter this time last year?)

I will stick with my current plan and then finally start some heartrate stuff in May.

Pacing Mule

Ok M - Some honest opinions for you - you might not like them but doesn't mean you don't need a virtual kick up the arse.


Reasons for failure or crackpot theories?

My best races imo have been in Ireland Enniscorthy 10k 54:27, and Bohermeen half of 2:00:20.

Maybe pollution and pollen are affecting me more in England than Ireland?
:D:D Sorry but LOL - stick that in the crackpot pile for now.

I had done an extra 20 miles in training, had much less niggles and yet was the best part of 4:40 slower than twelve months ago!

Extra 20 miles the month before a race is a bit late to be counting on them having any effect. Your mileage in January was down on last year. What was December and November like ??

Could my lack of recent Cycling / cross training had an adverse effect on my cadence?

Stick that in the crackpot pile too mate.

Have I done enough pace work? Maybe not enough stuff has been done at 9 min pace.

IMO You haven't done enough miles in general to build endurance up. You fell apart late in the race - likewise your Trim 10 miler was tough going. Both times for Trim and your half just raced are broadly in line with each other. So the pollution in the air sh!te can be parked unless of course Trim is more polluted than Bohermeen.

My weight could be less and is surely another thing holding me back. My job dos'nt help, doing 1pm till 10pm, and then 8am till 5pm could also be playing its part.

Weight 1000% plays a part. The heavier you are the harder it is to run. What is your weight like now versus this time last year ? Working times are no reason or excuse unless you're doing massive amounts of extra hours. You still have x time of to run within.

Maybe the plan does not have enough miles as it is build on mins on your feet rather than miles.

I think the plan if followed by miles has enough to get around in. Not sure how mileage worked out once converted to minutes but the crux of it which I will come back to is you needed a plan building in minutes for a reason.

I was also doing 4 days a week last year and am now doing 5 days a week.

Could only help.

I also had a very stressful and hectic build up to the race.

Possible for outside circumstances to effect things but your race performances have been broadly in line / as expected so don't think so. And unless I've missed something car trouble and locked out of a house are not that stressful enough to effect a performance.

Going forward

I need to get this race out of my system and will be looking to fit in a 5k in two weeks time when Calvin Johnson is over in the UK. I hope to not lose any training session between now and the Marathon. This will put strain on my body but this result is a huge wake up call.
My plan only has 4 runs a week so every one needs to be done as per plan and not slightly different like a steady session rather than pace because its late at night and I'm bloated from dinner three hours earlier!

I need to start stuffing my face with crap and hope to lose at least half a stone before the race (maybe I was lighter this time last year?)

I will stick with my current plan and then finally start some heartrate stuff in May.

I think you have some sort of mad runners version of a death wish constantly taking on marathons from an injured and or under prepared base. (I am of course incredibly hypocritical to speak like this - fully acknowledge that :pac: but perhaps I have gained wisdom from my own mistakes) I honestly think you'd be better off taking a year off of the marathon attempts and build yourself up a bit more gradually. You have a history of racing long distance from an injured base, first sign of recovery and you're off to sign up for a marathon again. Get injured training, recover and repeat. You're struggling at 10 mile and half marathon distances with endurance so the marathon seems like madness. That said I understand you're running the marathon and why you want to so that's a mute point at this stage.

Yes absolutely stick to the plan you have been given but you need to treat the marathon with the utmost respect now. I see now that I've gotten this far that you are speculating at the weight level. You really should know what weight you are now and what you weighed last year. Can't believe you don't tbvh.:eek: With the greatest of respect and again speaking from absolute personal experience the biggest and quickest improvement you can make from an overweight runner is to lose weight. You could run far less miles and still see great improvements if you lost the weight and got back down to a healthy weight range. Conversely 100 miles a month is worth feck all if you're eating unhealthy and gaining weight. It's wiping out any fitness gains you make.

IMHO you simply need to start taking it more seriously. Sorry if that comes across harsh but it's for your own benefit.

MKDTH

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Ok M - Some honest opinions for you - you might not like them but doesn't mean you don't need a virtual kick up the arse.

Thanks for the feedback PM although I obviously don't agree with some of it

I had done an extra 20 miles in training, had much less niggles and yet was the best part of 4:40 slower than twelve months ago!

Extra 20 miles the month before a race is a bit late to be counting on them having any effect. Your mileage in January was down on last year. What was December and November like ??

I did about 40 miles in comparison to 0 the year before due to coming back from my knee operation so again should of had a better base imo

Could my lack of recent Cycling / cross training had an adverse effect on my cadence?

Stick that in the crackpot pile too mate.

Maybe its in my head but I honestly feel that my stride is quicker if I have recently been cycling.

Have I done enough pace work? Maybe not enough stuff has been done at 9 min pace.

IMO You haven't done enough miles in general to build endurance up. You fell apart late in the race - likewise your Trim 10 miler was tough going. Both times for Trim and your half just raced are broadly in line with each other. So the pollution in the air sh!te can be parked unless of course Trim is more polluted than Bohermeen.

I was ill the day before Trim so I don't feel that this was a true performance, but maybe it is!

My weight could be less and is surely another thing holding me back. My job dos'nt help, doing 1pm till 10pm, and then 8am till 5pm could also be playing its part.

Weight 1000% plays a part. The heavier you are the harder it is to run. What is your weight like now versus this time last year ? Working times are no reason or excuse unless you're doing massive amounts of extra hours. You still have x time of to run within.

Working times mean one day I will eat my dinner at 4pm, the next day 7pm. This also has knock on effects with sleep patterns.
I have always wanted to run so that I could enjoy more food and more importantly bad food! This as I said, may need to change.

Maybe the plan does not have enough miles as it is build on mins on your feet rather than miles.

I think the plan if followed by miles has enough to get around in. Not sure how mileage worked out once converted to minutes but the crux of it which I will come back to is you needed a plan building in minutes for a reason.

I was also doing 4 days a week last year and am now doing 5 days a week.

Could only help.

I also had a very stressful and hectic build up to the race.

Possible for outside circumstances to effect things but your race performances have been broadly in line / as expected so don't think so. And unless I've missed something car trouble and locked out of a house are not that stressful enough to effect a performance.

Going forward

I need to get this race out of my system and will be looking to fit in a 5k in two weeks time when Calvin Johnson is over in the UK. I hope to not lose any training session between now and the Marathon. This will put strain on my body but this result is a huge wake up call.
My plan only has 4 runs a week so every one needs to be done as per plan and not slightly different like a steady session rather than pace because its late at night and I'm bloated from dinner three hours earlier!

I need to start stuffing my face with crap and hope to lose at least half a stone before the race (maybe I was lighter this time last year?)

I will stick with my current plan and then finally start some heartrate stuff in May.

I think you have some sort of mad runners version of a death wish :pconstantly taking on marathons from an injured and or under prepared base. (I am of course incredibly hypocritical to speak like this - fully acknowledge that :pac: but perhaps I have gained wisdom from my own mistakes) I honestly think you'd be better off taking a year off of the marathon attempts and build yourself up a bit more gradually. You have a history of racing long distance from an injured base, first sign of recovery and you're off to sign up for a marathon again. Get injured training, recover and repeat. You're struggling at 10 mile and half marathon distances with endurance so the marathon seems like madness. That said I understand you're running the marathon and why you want to so that's a mute point at this stage.

Yes absolutely stick to the plan you have been given but you need to treat the marathon with the utmost respect now. I see now that I've gotten this far that you are speculating at the weight level. You really should know what weight you are now and what you weighed last year. Can't believe you don't tbvh.:eek: With the greatest of respect and again speaking from absolute personal experience the biggest and quickest improvement you can make from an overweight runner is to lose weight. You could run far less miles and still see great improvements if you lost the weight and got back down to a healthy weight range. Conversely 100 miles a month is worth feck all if you're eating unhealthy and gaining weight. It's wiping out any fitness gains you make.

IMHO you simply need to start taking it more seriously. Sorry if that comes across harsh but it's for your own benefit.

I think the weight is within half a stone of last years weight.

Pacing Mule

MKDTH wrote: »

I think the weight is within half a stone of last years weight.

Roughly speaking every 1lb is worth 29/30 seconds per half marathon.

So 7lbs up on last year would put you 3.5 minutes down all things being equal training wise.

Take that half stone and swing the other way and you've a 7 minute difference taking you well under the 2 hours and towards a PB.

MKDTH

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Roughly speaking every 1lb is worth 29/30 seconds per half marathon.

So 7lbs up on last year would put you 3.5 minutes down all things being equal training wise.

Take that half stone and swing the other way and you've a 7 minute difference taking you well under the 2 hours and towards a PB.

That's food for thought!

MKDTH

Week 11

08/03

41 Mins Recovery covering 3.32 Miles @ 12:25
A standard run after a race really, nice and slow to get the legs moving again. Thankfully no knee pain after it flared up after the race.

09/03

73 mins easy covering 6.45 Miles @ 11:18
Felt good

10/03

55 Mins easy covering 4.86 Miles @ 11:26
No issues when running although still a niggling pain which I had had since one day before the half marathon in the area of my ankle/calve.

11/03

Rest Day
Much needed knee and hip exercises.

12/03

Cross training
60 Mins on the exercise bike late on Saturday evening after work

13/03

164 Mins LSR covering 13.81 Miles @ 11:53
I messed this one up, early on Sunday morning before work, still dehydrated after the late night exercises the night before. I forgot to bring a drink with me and paid the price after about an hour. I had the radio on so ran by feel and a little to quick for the first hour. I finally got back home to put much needed fluids in me for the last twenty five mins.

Weekly Miles 28.44

MKDTH

Week 12

An eight day week due to Cheltenham

14/03

Rest Day
No time for exercises with the Cheltenham Festival the next day and work until 6pm.

15/03

60 Mins Easy covering 5.39 Miles @ 11:15

Up at 5am to get this in before the madness of Cheltenham began.

16th, 17th, 18th /03 no running or exercises due to a 6 day week of 66 hours at work including travel due to Cheltenham. I made a decent amount of cash so not all bad.

19/03

Knee and hip exercises fitted in before a 11 hour day at work. I see these exercises as important as getting the miles in so was not going to neglect these as my knee's in recent weeks have been creaking.

20/03

Cross training.
An hour on the exercise bike after a 13 hour shift at work.

21/03

Progression run of......
40 mins easy covering 3.43 Miles @ 11:40
40 Mins in between covering 3.76 Miles @ 10:39
40 Mins Marathon Pace covering 3.93 Miles @ 10:10

Overall 120 Miles covering 11.11 miles @ 10:48

After 6 days with no running, I was back going again with the days off hopefully helping the niggle between my ankle and calve.

Weekly Miles just 16.5 Miles.

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3
Week 10 24.31
Week 11 28.44
Week 12 16.5

Total Miles
260.67

MKDTH

Week 13

22/03

Knee and hip exercises

23/03

60 Mins Easy covering 5.15 Miles @ 11:40

24/03

52 Mins Marathon Pace covering 5.25 Miles @ 9:54
Happy enough with this although was hoping the plan would have this doing an extra mile or two at this stage.
My knee was hurting for a few hours after this. It feels like Patellar Tendinitis.

25/03

60 Mins easy covering 5.27 Miles @ 11:25
Loved the sun being out making me sweat, rocking a short sleeve top for the first time in about six months. No knee pain or other niggles .

MKDTH

Week 13 continued

26/03

Rest day
Knee and hip exercises

27/03

Cross training - 60 mins on the exercise bike at 11pm.
A tough 13 hour shift on my own at work with no official break before this.

28/03

180 mins LSR covering 14.63 miles @ 12:18

A very tough run in 30 mph winds and also on a very hilly route.
I drank loads of water and had a bottle of lucozade with me for this so assumed that I would feel much better than two weeks ago but found this very hard.
I normally run first thing in the morning without eating but decided to wait a few hours until the rain cleared. This allowed me to have porridge beforehand which should of been a positive but did not help. Maybe having it 3 hours 30 beforehand was too early but I normally don't eat from three hours before a race so should of been fine.

So a negative experience to go with two weeks ago and the half marathon which is leading me to think that I have no chance of running 26.2 miles without stopping despite tapering.

This plan has the longest run being 3 hours long which I did today. This leaves me 11 miles short of 26.2 which is not anywhere near enough to leave me feeling confident of running the whole marathon.

o I am debating finding a 20 mile race in May in England or Ireland, or a race of lesser mileage.
I am also debating finally starting to run with a heart rate monitor which I was due to start in May anyway.

I've been thinking about aborting this marathon attempt ever since the half marathon with even easy runs feeling like a bit of a struggle.

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3
Week 10 24.31
Week 11 28.44
Week 12 16.5
Week 13 30.3

Total Miles
290.97

hillsiderunner

MKDTH wrote: »

So a negative experience to go with two weeks ago and the half marathon which is leading me to think that I have no chance of running 26.2 miles without stopping despite tapering.

....

o I am debating finding a 20 mile race in May in England or Ireland, or a race of lesser mileage.

.....

I've been thinking about aborting this marathon attempt ever since the half marathon with even easy runs feeling like a bit of a struggle.

So, is the goal marathon in May/June, then? I saw the debate with PM where he thought you should delay the marathon, and I assumed it was DCM you were aiming for and that's what the debate was about.

If the marathon is in early summer I agree it would be better to find an alternative - maybe try to find a HM instead and try to make some progress on that. To be honest I think it's not a good idea to aim for a full-marathon unless you have 3-4 months of consistent 25+ miles a week before the plan starts (and yes I know that many people do still try it without having that base ). But especially if you have injury history, I think it's important to have miles under your belt.
Marathon will be out for myself for 2016 for this same reason ...

MKDTH

hillsiderunner wrote: »

So, is the goal marathon in May/June, then? I saw the debate with PM where he thought you should delay the marathon, and I assumed it was DCM you were aiming for and that's what the debate was about.

If the marathon is in early summer I agree it would be better to find an alternative - maybe try to find a HM instead and try to make some progress on that. To be honest I think it's not a good idea to aim for a full-marathon unless you have 3-4 months of consistent 25+ miles a week before the plan starts (and yes I know that many people do still try it without having that base ). But especially if you have injury history, I think it's important to have miles under your belt.
Marathon will be out for myself for 2016 for this same reason ...

Cheers for your comments 'hilly'. The marathon was indeed in in early May. The better option looks like a Half marathon on the same day, which takes in part of the full marathon course.

MKDTH

Week 14 of this running cycle, although a new plan now that I have changed to the Half Marathon on May the 2nd rather than the full Marathon.
I have opted for Hal Higdon's Intermediate Half Marathon plan. I'm hoping that I have a good base and just need the help of the pace sessions to improve on my woeful Half Marathon of 2:04:53 and maybe challenge last year's 2:00:20.

30/03

4.5 Miles @ 11:31 taking 51:57
This was meant to be a 45 min run but I pushed it out as I was some way away from home after 45.

31/03

35 Mins tempo run covering 3.65 Miles @ 9:40
This was meant to be 40 mins but I wanted to not push too much to start with on these pace sessions.

01/04

AM 30 Mins easy @11:28 covering 2.63 Miles
The Thursday session will change each week between a run a cross training of an hour cycling.

PM Knee/ Hip Exercises

02/04

Rest Day
Anything but a rest day due to all day drinking in London watching Fulham v MK Dons

03/04

0.5 w/u, 4 Miles Pace, 0.5 c/d @9.30 taking 47:35
An enjoyable run despite being slightly hungover before going into work for a eight hour shift.

04/04

8.74 Miles @11:39 taking 1:41:56
This was meant to be ten miles, but I decided to do a little less as I try and ease myself into this plan due to not being used to doing a long run the day after a pace one.

MKDTH

Month 2014 2015 2016

January 0 90.00 81.54
February 0 85.89 105.47
March 0 79.14 107.72
April 0 113.08 ?
May 25 27.98 ?
June 55.62 27.36 ?
July 78.1 45.77 ?
August 63.43 18.37 ?
September 50.79 25.91 ?
October 68.34 48.50 ?
November 0 54.64 ?
December 9.53 48.83 ?

Totals 350.83 665.47 294.73

MKDTH

Week 15

05/04

Knee/hip exercises

06/04

5.39 miles @ 10:51 taking 58:24
Legs felt good.

07/04

0.53 miles w/u
8 x 400 meters @5k pace, (7 x 400 meters recovery),
Average pace each 400 were 6:45, 7:46, 7:49, 8:30, 7:50, 8:02, 8:24, 7:17.
0.58 miles c/d
Totaling 4.85 Miles @ 9:56 taking 48:09

08/04

Meant to be 3m but decided on a Rest Day ahead of a race.
I assumed a blocked nose and sneezing was down to hayfever.

09/04

Milton Keynes Park Run 27:23

This was meant to come after a two days rest rather than one. I decided to take a very different approach to this race in comparison to the norm so I had a nice lay in until 7:30 rather than getting up and having breakfast three hours before a race as I wanted to see how I would perform without food on the morning of the race.
I also never got a chance to double check what my PB was but figured it was just over 27.
Running has become a little bit pressured due to not finding recent improvement that I had expected, so I wanted to get back to enjoying the race and running for fun as after I will never earn money from it so why take it so seriously?

W/u 1.13 miles @11:18 taking 12:48.
Then I milled around at the start and figured I had enough time for a further jog so did
W/u 0.27 miles @10:03 taking 2:45.

A cold start, but I was warm enough to tuck my gloves in my pocket.

My enjoyment lasted about ten strides of the race once I realised I was blocked by slow jogging girls who were blocking the whole path, chatting away happily for what must of been a quarter of a mile before I finally found a way past. I then went a little quick and was breathing heavily by the time I had gone up the hilly zigzags and passed the mile in about 9:10! The zigzags are a nightmare as you are going uphill, changing direction about five times every 30 meters with each corner normally blocked by tired people who are walking!
I pretty much then decided to just settle in and get into a a decent stride finally. I then averaged 8:49-8:51 for the rest of the run, sweating quite a bit as I still had a water proof jacket on.
I had no idea how near are far I was to my Pb and could of easily upped the pace to beat if I needed to in the last half a mile, but missed out on a PB by six seconds.
Race 3.12 Miles @8:49 27:23
0.66 miles cool down.

10/04

Hip/knee exercises
All of my muscles and bones were aching as I realised that my sneezing and blocked nose were the first signs of flu and not hayfever.

11/04

Rest Day
Felt like crap with an awful day at work

12/04

Rest Day
Flu was finally clearing but I wanted to make sure I was better before running.

MKDTH

Week 16

13/04

5 Miles easy @11:31 taking 57:42
It was nice to be out in the sun running again, feeling 100% at last again.
I was using my new pair of Mizuno runners for only the second time which added an extra bounce to proceedings. I am still not 100% happy with them as my gait analysis was done in a sports direct store by me standing on a machine rather than me having to walk or run. The last thing I need is a new injury thanks to the wrong running shoe.

I finally signed up to the half marathon meaning its full steam ahead.

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3
Week 10 24.31
Week 11 28.44
Week 12 16.5
Week 13 30.3
Week 14 24.53
Week 15 15.42

Total Miles
330.92

MKDTH

14/04

4.32 miles (45 min tempo run)

15/04

Rest day

16/04

3 miles easy
I used the new runners for the third time in as many weeks, again feeling some awkwardness on underneath both feet on the outer part.

17/04

0.50 warm up, 4.5 miles half marathon pace (around 9 mins a mile), 0.50 cool down.

18/04

3.7 miles easy
This was meant to be a crucial long run of 11 miles but my old foe petellar tendonitis reared its ugly head.
It hurt from the first stride, so I gave it a go but was in to much pain so called it quits.

Having missed the previous weeks long run due to illness I have had no option to defer my race entree to 12 months time. The race aim had already changed from a full marathon to a half marathon three weeks ago. Despite the gains that I have made with pace work, I need to be very careful with this knee injury and manage it in order to come back stronger from this.

Voltarol and knee and hip exercises after the run.

19/04

Knee exercises

Half marathon officially deferred to 2017, although that would clash with the London Marathon.

Mizuno runners taken back with the karrimor machine taking the blame for this injury. I will then go to a proper running shop next month and get my gait properly checked rather than just standing on a crappy machine in sports direct!

The good news is that my knee is healing very quickly and may be okay to run in the morning! I'm thinking of getting the knee and hip exercises in at least 5 of the 7 days this week though before starting to run again if my knee is okay, and then onto heart rate monitor stuff to hopefully push myself harder.

MKDTH

Weekly miles

Week 1 3.57
Week 2 19.52
Week 3 18.88
Week 4 23.47
Week 5 20.52
Week 6 24.41
Week 7 26.09
Week 8 31.66
Week 9 23.3
Week 10 24.31
Week 11 28.44
Week 12 16.5
Week 13 30.3
Week 14 24.53
Week 15 15.42
Week 16 21.52

Total Miles
352.44

MKDTH

20th-24th/04

No sign of the knee pain although I have continued Knee and hip exercises for 4 of the 6 days since my last run, plus I have started the 30 day challenge with the 25th being day 4 of it.

Looking forward to going for a run for the first time in a week later, I am feeling so fresh and rested for it which will be about four miles. I can't wait to get running again and am very confident that the pain will not return.

I've spent a lot of time lurking on the boards and runners world forums in the last week doing my homework on heart rate stuff.
I bought a HRM about a year ago but decided to wait until the rehab last year followed by the current cycle was out of the way.

I am hoping to do a park run on Saturday with the intention of finding out my maximum heart rate. I will also prepare properly for this one, unlike the one I did a month ago when just trying to relax.
The Marathon and Half Marathon take place two days after the Park run, so I am hoping for a depleted field so that I don't get boxed in which has been a real issue doing this course.

Further ahead I am looking to do HADD and see if I can keep myself disciplined enough to run at 75% or lower maximum heart rate. If I find that I am going over this, I can instead run at Park run pace + 3 mins as an average pace per mile.
The one struggle I have had with all of this heart rate stuff is to find a specific plan to follow. So far, I have google has taken me to a 25 page document on a marathon runner that aims to go sub 2:25 with extracts of his daily runs only partially available.

So I am looking to follow a intermediate or advanced Marathon plan and take out any pace work whilst my legs adjust. As I read it, I can then add one run per week with a little intensity, maybe pushing to 80% of the hrm.
I aim to push the mileage up from 20-30 mpw to 30-40 mpw.
Despite pulling out of the Half marathon this week, I think that I have a pretty good base of 350 miles ran already this year which should have me ready for heavier weekly mileage if I keep to the exercises. I will be dropping any cross training cycling sessions.

Diet wise, I am looking to cut out as much sugar as possible after something I recently read between Pacing Mule and Clearier on the Graduates thread from a few years ago struck home that running helps keep yourself fit and not lose much weight, whilst diet is the key to losing weight!

I am at the stage now where I really want to see how far I can progress if I give this a good go with the aim being to beat the following PB'S.....


5K 27:17 (8:47) 2015
5m 43:53 (8:47) 2015
10k 54:27 (8:46) 2015
10m 1:33:19 (9:20) (ill) 2016
1/2 2:00:20 (9:11) 2015
Mar 5:45:28 (13:11) 2014

If a runner managed to train at their optimum, Hadd says they should be capable at running each major race roughly 15 seconds per mile slower than than the distance below. So taking into account my best race- Bohermeen half marathon of 2:00:20, these are the race times I would be aiming at......

5k 25:38 (8:15) -1:39
5m 42:30 (8:30) -1:23
10k 54:20 (8:45) -0:07
10m 1:30:00 (9:00) -3:19
1/2 2:00:20 (9:15) Done
Mar 4:07:15 (9:26) -1:38:13

So the benchmark is my half marathon which I still think I can train on past. So these are the real times I should be looking to beat rather than my actual PB's.

Pacing Mule

MKDTH wrote: »

20th-24th/04

No sign of the knee pain although I have continued Knee and hip exercises for 4 of the 6 days since my last run, plus I have started the 30 day challenge with the 25th being day 4 of it.

Looking forward to going for a run for the first time in a week later, I am feeling so fresh and rested for it which will be about four miles. I can't wait to get running again and am very confident that the pain will not return.

I've spent a lot of time lurking on the boards and runners world forums in the last week doing my homework on heart rate stuff.
I bought a HRM about a year ago but decided to wait until the rehab last year followed by the current cycle was out of the way.

I am hoping to do a park run on Saturday with the intention of finding out my maximum heart rate. I will also prepare properly for this one, unlike the one I did a month ago when just trying to relax.
The Marathon and Half Marathon take place two days after the Park run, so I am hoping for a depleted field so that I don't get boxed in which has been a real issue doing this course.

Further ahead I am looking to do HADD and see if I can keep myself disciplined enough to run at 75% or lower maximum heart rate. If I find that I am going over this, I can instead run at Park run pace + 3 mins as an average pace per mile.
The one struggle I have had with all of this heart rate stuff is to find a specific plan to follow. So far, I have google has taken me to a 25 page document on a marathon runner that aims to go sub 2:25 with extracts of his daily runs only partially available.

So I am looking to follow a intermediate or advanced Marathon plan and take out any pace work whilst my legs adjust. As I read it, I can then add one run per week with a little intensity, maybe pushing to 80% of the hrm.
I aim to push the mileage up from 20-30 mpw to 30-40 mpw.
Despite pulling out of the Half marathon this week, I think that I have a pretty good base of 350 miles ran already this year which should have me ready for heavier weekly mileage if I keep to the exercises. I will be dropping any cross training cycling sessions.

Diet wise, I am looking to cut out as much sugar as possible after something I recently read between Pacing Mule and Clearier on the Graduates thread from a few years ago struck home that running helps keep yourself fit and not lose much weight, whilst diet is the key to losing weight!

I am at the stage now where I really want to see how far I can progress if I give this a good go with the aim being to beat the following PB'S.....


5K 27:17 (8:47) 2015
5m 43:53 (8:47) 2015
10k 54:27 (8:46) 2015
10m 1:33:19 (9:20) (ill) 2016
1/2 2:00:20 (9:11) 2015
Mar 5:45:28 (13:11) 2014

If a runner managed to train at their optimum, Hadd says they should be capable at running each major race roughly 15 seconds per mile slower than than the distance below. So taking into account my best race- Bohermeen half marathon of 2:00:20, these are the race times I would be aiming at......

5k 25:38 (8:15) -1:39
5m 42:30 (8:30) -1:23
10k 54:20 (8:45) -0:07
10m 1:30:00 (9:00) -3:19
1/2 2:00:20 (9:15) Done
Mar 4:07:15 (9:26) -1:38:13

So the benchmark is my half marathon which I still think I can train on past. So these are the real times I should be looking to beat rather than my actual PB's.

Hi M

I'm intrigued by the reference to 15 seconds per mile slower per major race. What races are defined as major or are they ? I'm just looking there at your list and I'd be questioning the 5 mile to 10k. They're very close and IMO shouldn't be gapped as such by 15 seconds per mile.

El Caballo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Hi M

I'm intrigued by the reference to 15 seconds per mile slower per major race. What races are defined as major or are they ? I'm just looking there at your list and I'd be questioning the 5 mile to 10k. They're very close and IMO shouldn't be gapped as such by 15 seconds per mile.

Yeah, agree with that(same with the half-10M)When HADD talks about major race distances, he means these:

Marathon
Half Marathon
10k
5k

Utdfan20titles

This is very intresting. Does the same rule apply upwards and downwards in race distances MKDTH? Like, if I ran 100 meters in 15 seconds would it be 30 seconds for 200 meters 45 seconds for 400 meters 60 seconds for 800 meters then 75 seconds for the 1500m and so on? Food for taught as you'd say yourself.