Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

It does look hilly, with some short steep and longer gentler. Some of my long runs I get up to 1400ft of climbing which is hard to believe but long gentle climbs and the odd shorter slope all add up. Over 20 miles it doesn't seem to matter much but over 13miles and going fast in a race things will be quite tough at times. I remember in my august half there was a 200ft hill at mile 11 that almost everyone struggled up, some broke down to a walk. I charged up because I paced too slow over the first 9 miles.

It sounds like a technical course so I would set realistic expectations, doesn't look like a course for personal records.


I'm glad the marathon I will do is mostly flat relative to my long training runs, should help keep the pace a little higher.
 
D.P. said:
Nice report.

I'm liekly to use the same kind fo method to estimate my pace but I have found that I have increased a lot of fitness since my initial half marathon in august so that data is useless now. Then there is the issue that being my first marathon I should really aim for soemthign slightly more conservative.

I've done 13.1 miles in 1H:36 last week as a kind of time-trail, but by no means an optimal test. I've done a few ~13 mile runs at 1H:40M, so a sub 3:30 is possible but I want to be more conservative. Trying to decide between 3:30, 3:34 or 3:38 kind of times. I'm pretty sure I can run under 3:30 but I absolutely do not want to explode on my first race so it is more of question of how safe I want to play it, learn from experience, get psyched by a strong finish and then resume training for a spring marathon with tighter goals.
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Yeh Judging from your HM times I think you are well capable of going sub3:30. I think the best approach is to go out conservatively, maybe keep the 3:30 pacers(if your race has pacers?) within sight through out until about mile 18 or so and reel them in. Then at the 20/21/22 mile marker if your feeling ok increase the pace and the thoughts of the finish line should help you home. Best of luck.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Congrats Scipio!

I fear I've made a booboo in training in not including much/any hill work as I had not quite realised the elevation change in the 1/2 I am doing this Sunday. Elevation

Mostly in the first half so hopefully I can catch some time back in the 2nd half and will still try and push for the 7:30-7:40 miles I'm planning on.
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Thanks:) Good luck with your training.
 
Scipio_127 said:
Yeh Judging from your HM times I think you are well capable of going sub3:30. I think the best approach is to go out conservatively, maybe keep the 3:30 pacers(if your race has pacers?) within sight through out until about mile 18 or so and reel them in. Then at the 20/21/22 mile marker if your feeling ok increase the pace and the thoughts of the finish line should help you home. Best of luck.
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That is roughly my plan. It does somewhat scare me to think I will be 26 miles at around the 8 minute a mile mark because a few months ago that was like race pace, but then i look at some recent runs and many are around the 8-8:15 mark when not trying to be fast, or running the first half slow and second fast etc. My key LR also indicates 8min a mile should be safe, i did 10 miles slow at 8:40-8:50 a mile before doing 11 miles at 7:40 a mile on hills and then a 1.3 mile slow down giving an average pace of about 8:11. If I ran straight 8s there should be no reason I would bonk really when looking at that training run.

Today it was raining cats and dogs but did some maintenance intervals, 5 laps instead of 7 and a somewhat slower pace than last week and no tempo like run. 10.25 miles in 1:20:54 so 7:54 a mile but the pace ranged form nearly 7:00 a mile on the 'intervals' to 9:40 wading through flooded forest trails.
 
Out for another short run to test out the hamstring and see how it's coming along. Ran the same route as last week Thursday but in reverse. Feels more comfortable than last week and felt good at pace again, can still tell my hamstring isn't perfect and still heeling but considering I ran yesterday and this is the first time in around 3-4 weeks since I've ran two days in a row I'm happy.

Splits today were 6.44/6.40/6.43 for the first 3 miles and then a little easier at 7.00mins per mile for the last part to cool down. Managed 3.57 miles in 24.00 minutes.

Last week was 7.14/7.05/7.09 for the first 3 miles and 7.18 for the last part and covered 3.34 miles in 24.00 minutes.

Depending on how my legs feel tomorrow will either be slightly longer but slower run, swimming or possibly a complete rest.
 
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I am in pretty much the worst possible form i could be in going into this HM on Sunday. My training has been all over the place and interrupted by illness and injury, i haven't run at all since last Thursday. Oh well, at least i should get a good baseline. Only way is up ;)
 
Well that's me done on pre-race runs, decided to do the easy 20-30 min run today instead so I can get a full rest day tomorrow as I'd been finding my Saturday runs following a Friday off had been really good.

I've semi-tried to carb load but just can't get the numbers in they suggest for my weight. Any increase I figure will help and will make sure tomorrow evening not to over stuff.
 
Itchytrigg said:
Well that's me done on pre-race runs, decided to do the easy 20-30 min run today instead so I can get a full rest day tomorrow as I'd been finding my Saturday runs following a Friday off had been really good.

I've semi-tried to carb load but just can't get the numbers in they suggest for my weight. Any increase I figure will help and will make sure tomorrow evening not to over stuff.
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Go eat doughnuts and drink fruit juice:D You want to eat easily digestible high-GI foods in carb-loading, heaven.

But for a half I dont think it makes a huge difference, as long as you are not on a carb-restricted diet you shouldn't deplete glycogen stores.

Good luck!
 
Itchytrigg said:
Mmmmmm dougnuts!

I know it shouldn't make much difference, I just know when I've not eaten right what it feels like on a long run so this is just me making sure I'm as set as I can be.
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Makes sense and i do the same before anything HM and above.
Pasta, rice, bread and jam, gummy bears, soda, pacakes and ample syrop, all works a treat.

I love my Long run days because I end up eating a load of pasta or risotto the night before and have some sweet carb-heavy breakfast, fruit juice and run out the door with a pocket full of Haribo as well as the gel packs. I then get home and protein load, this morning was eggs and bacon and I'm looking forward to a big steak tonight.
Marathon Taper is especially, lots of protein this week and next, then the final week complex carbs and then simply cars for 2-3 days. A pig-out after the marathon, plenty of protein in the following days, but then I have to cut-back and make sure I don;t gain weight while I reverse taper.
 
First official HM this morning. Think i managed 1h53, although the results aren't up yet. Had a lot of fun, went by a lot quicker than just doing one on your own. Pretty much on par with my previous PB though, so at least i haven't lost much fitness with everything that's been going on.

Shin didn't give me much trouble during the run, but it did start to hurt once i got home. Time to start looking for a physio i guess...
 
Well done permabanned, hope your shin's ok.

Had a really good day at the office for my first 1/2, waiting on offical time's but it should be around the 1hr37 mark which I'm totally chuffed with. Race was tough, so much climbing near the start and thankfully the first 2 real climbs at about 2.5 and 3.5 were not very long. At 7 miles was a real test, 250ft climb in under a mile, some sharper than the rest but thankfully it was mostly flat and down hill after that.

Started increasing my pace in that section as felt pretty good and then hit the hill of regret at mile 10. 125ft climb in 1/4 mile, it nearly broke me, I felt terrible at the top but I knew I had only down hill and 3 miles to go. Despite feeling like I was really flagging managed to pick up the pace again and gave as good a finish as I could muster.

Strava link if anyone's interested.

Whilst a hard race, I will most likely run again next year. Next race I'm aiming for something much much flatter!
 
2nd XC of the season today

lovely weather - before race was very foggy -but lifted and blue skies :)

fairly flat - with 2 awkward hills - lots of field edges, only came 102th man (not great for me) - but averaged 7'15 pace which I'll take

forgot how uncomfortable my spikes are though :( no padding on heels
 
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