The Running Thread

[E38Ross]

cookie118 said:

First Gwent League of the year, and it was ok with a 67th (nearly an equals my best gwent position). For a change I actually managed to get my pacing right, easy at the start and then working through. I wasn't quite fit enough to continually make progress through the field but it made a change passing and racing people rather than disappearing backwards through the field after going off far too fast.

well done cookie. that's a tough league that one, similar to the hampshire league what i now do. i did a couple of gwent league races last year (though usually under another name, i'll admit).

[Cybertronian]

Another year over, another Birmingham half marathon/Great Birmingham Run completed. Managed to come back home with a time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 22 seconds! That's smashed my former half marathon PB by 21 minutes and my former course PB by a whopping 35 minutes!

Started the run with a friend of mine who was just aiming for a sub 2 hour finish and at mile 2, we shook hands and said we'd meet at the finish. By mile 4, we were still running together and just agreed to keep going as long as the pace was still good for both of us, with checks every 5 minutes or so. Really helped having somebody run alongside me, keeping me from going too fast and vice versa. We kept bumping into peope we knew, either from my school days or from Parkrun. When we reached the end of the hills at mile 11, we were knackered but were running faster than any mile split previous so kept up the pace. A 1:45 finish was slipping away quickly at this stage and we changed our target to a 1:48/1:49 finish. We bumped into another friend with about a mile to go who was looking bad and needed support, so we told him to stick with us and use us as pacemakers. We get back to the home stretch and we all just go full pelt, finishing with a 6:30 mile final mile split!

Sadly, somebody died after finishing the course today which really upset my friends and I. The other half has asked me to go and get a checkup at the docs to make sure I don't keel over!

Race calculators are saying I could do a marathon in 3:41 with the right training. I think aiming for a 3:45 finish should make for a good target to work towards for the London Marathon next April. Everybody said I still looked fresh at the end of the race today and reckoned I could have gone further or faster, so there's hope yet! Looking for a 1:40ish finish at the Bath Half in March now.

[matts4]

Did the East coast Great Yarmouth 10k today. First proper competitive race, crappy weather but enjoyed it none the less. There were 400 others doing it, no idea where I placed, but did a time of 51.05
Having only ran twice in the past 2 weeks due to a stty cold, I was pleased to beat my PB by 8 secs.

[E38Ross]

anyone here doing great south run?

[a boardman]

My first marathon is next Sunday, just need to sort out a diet plan for carb loading for the last 3 days,

[over_the_hill]

Cybertronian said:

Another year over, another Birmingham half marathon/Great Birmingham Run completed. Managed to come back home with a time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 22 seconds! That's smashed my former half marathon PB by 21 minutes and my former course PB by a whopping 35 minutes!

Well done.

How did that compare to any of you pacing predictions/schedules you were thinking of.

[V-spec]

fandango_c said:

Did my first marathon today.

Currently feeling good, but am a bit worried about how I'm going to feel tomorrow.

so, how do you feel? Have you tried to go down any stairs yet?

I did the Amsterdam HM yesterday.

I've done full maras, 10ks, 5ks etc but never actually done the HM distance before and was a bit unsure about how fast I could push the pace without crashing and burning in the second 10k. Training has gone really well this year and I've destroyed all my old PBs by significant margins, which made things hard to predict.

I was planning 4.15/ km in order to get just below 1.30, but I ended up at 4.02 and 1.25 From 17km it was tough, but looking at my splits I was actually running at my fastest then, with the last 4km all below 4 minutes. I never thought I would be able to sustain a 4.00 pace for such a distance but it felt controlled and comfortable, and really fast - I really enjoyed the sensation of speed.

Finished in the top 200 overall, out of 12,700 runners.

Next target: sub 3 mara, Paris next year

[Cybertronian]

over_the_hill said:

Well done.

How did that compare to any of you pacing predictions/schedules you were thinking of.

Cheers! Absolutely over the moon still, if a little stiff though I have a sports massage booked for this evening to look forward to.

Surprisingly, the pacing worked out incredibly close to Plan B where the first half was pretty much steady 8:17 per mile and then the second half which was 7:49 per mile, with a crazy 6:30 mile down the Hagley Road and Broad Street. There was definitely something left in the tank so I reckon if I'd have pushed a tiny bit more, a 1:42 to 1:44 finish should have been achievable, though with a lot more discomfort.

[anonymous-user]

E38Ross said:

cookie118 said:

First Gwent League of the year, and it was ok with a 67th (nearly an equals my best gwent position). For a change I actually managed to get my pacing right, easy at the start and then working through. I wasn't quite fit enough to continually make progress through the field but it made a change passing and racing people rather than disappearing backwards through the field after going off far too fast.

well done cookie. that's a tough league that one, similar to the hampshire league what i now do. i did a couple of gwent league races last year (though usually under another name, i'll admit).

Thanks, my best position is 64th so hopefully should best that this year, and I'm hoping to maybe break the top 50 at one of the fixtures. I was finding that I'd make up a lot of places then hit a bad patch, maybe lose a few places then pick it up again so hopefully next time I'll be able to keep consistent pressure through the race.
One interesting thing I noticed was that I had always assumed that everyone else sped up towards the end of the race (as well as me getting slower) but my Garmin showed that I was actually getting slightly slower through the race even though I was making up a lot of places.
Did you race Ewen?

[944fan]

Having to take a break from training for a couple of days. One of the kids has bought a lovely winter vomiting bug home from school.

Running with projectile vomiting and Montezuma's revenge is not that easy. Plus I feel like I have done 15 rounds and can barely walk.

[esuuv]

Did the Birmingham half yesterday - 1.33.27 which I was really pleased with, my previous PB was 1.36.04 - I just wanted to go under 1.35..........basically perfect conditions to run, cold, dry and pretty still.

[excel monkey]

Did the Cabbage Patch 10 mile (Twickenham) yesterday. Did anyone else on here do it? Pleased with my time of 1h23 - not bad for a fat man whose last race was the Nike 10k eight years ago.

[E38Ross]

Can't believe no-one here doing great south run or Gosport half?!

I did 4.4 miles this morning and didn't feel too bad after the long run yesterday. Sure, they're a bit sore but felt comfortable running a smidge over 7min/mile.

[fandango_c]

V-spec said:

fandango_c said:

Did my first marathon today.

Currently feeling good, but am a bit worried about how I'm going to feel tomorrow.

so, how do you feel? Have you tried to go down any stairs yet?

I did the Amsterdam HM yesterday.

I've done full maras, 10ks, 5ks etc but never actually done the HM distance before and was a bit unsure about how fast I could push the pace without crashing and burning in the second 10k. Training has gone really well this year and I've destroyed all my old PBs by significant margins, which made things hard to predict.

I was planning 4.15/ km in order to get just below 1.30, but I ended up at 4.02 and 1.25 From 17km it was tough, but looking at my splits I was actually running at my fastest then, with the last 4km all below 4 minutes. I never thought I would be able to sustain a 4.00 pace for such a distance but it felt controlled and comfortable, and really fast - I really enjoyed the sensation of speed.

Finished in the top 200 overall, out of 12,700 runners.

Next target: sub 3 mara, Paris next year

I feel better than I thought I would. My feet and knees are sore and I'm feeling tired, but stairs are ok

Impressive result, how long have you been running? My next target is a 1:40 HM.

[Tycho]

E38Ross said:

Can't believe no-one here doing great south run or Gosport half?!

I did 4.4 miles this morning and didn't feel too bad after the long run yesterday. Sure, they're a bit sore but felt comfortable running a smidge over 7min/mile.

I'm doing the Great South. Looking forward to it even though my training has been shocking. Would love to be around 1:30ish but just looking to finish based on my training...

[Cybertronian]

esuuv said:

Did the Birmingham half yesterday - 1.33.27 which I was really pleased with, my previous PB was 1.36.04 - I just wanted to go under 1.35..........basically perfect conditions to run, cold, dry and pretty still.

Superb finishing time. Which colour wave were you in - orange I assume? Did you have much congestion from overtaking folks who were clearly in the wrong colour wave? I was forever overtaking people in the white wave, even after the halfway point and well up until the end.

[E38Ross]

Cybertronian said:

esuuv said:

Did the Birmingham half yesterday - 1.33.27 which I was really pleased with, my previous PB was 1.36.04 - I just wanted to go under 1.35..........basically perfect conditions to run, cold, dry and pretty still.

Superb finishing time. Which colour wave were you in - orange I assume? Did you have much congestion from overtaking folks who were clearly in the wrong colour wave? I was forever overtaking people in the white wave, even after the halfway point and well up until the end.

i've never done a "waved" race....most of the races i've done are relatively small. luckily with the great south run i'm setting off right at the front just behind the elite runners, i'm with the "fast paced club runners" setting off 10+mins before the main event thing i believe. i wouldn't run it otherwise as i'd just get pissed off forever trying to get round people.

[Cybertronian]

I don't mind the wave system if the race is clearly too big for its own good. I remember doing the Cardiff half last year and they sent all 12,000 of us off at the same time and it was a bloody mess with people in the wrong place or bloody groups of women dressed as fairies all holding hands, 4 people wide.

Secretly, I think I actually quite enjoy overtaking people as a morale and motivation booster.

[V-spec]

fandango_c said:

I feel better than I thought I would. My feet and knees are sore and I'm feeling tired, but stairs are ok

Impressive result, how long have you been running? My next target is a 1:40 HM.

I astarted when my first daughter was born and I couldn't get to the gym any more, so I guess it's been about 4 years. Hadn't realised that actually.

This year has been a bit different, I started running with a colleague who is really fast (2.50 marathon) but who was recovering from a meniscus operation. As he recovered, I managed to stick with him (was always worried I was slowing him down), and I'm now running at paces I could only dream of 12 months ago

[E38Ross]

8.35 miles before work this morning. Was hard dragging myself out of bed at 5:50am. Averaged 7:05/mile. Legs not too bad but STILL some mild DOMS from either the hills on Friday or Sundays long run. I've got a hard ish session tomorrow then a few very easy days before great south.