martins money saving marathon running mavericks!! dfw runclub part 5 :)

cw18

Managed to stick my name into the VLM ballot before I left for work this morning...... was still feeling pretty shell-shocked that I'd actually gone and done it when I left the house at 6:45am

LittleMissHappy_2

cw18 wrote: »

Managed to stick my name into the VLM ballot before I left for work this morning...... was still feeling pretty shell-shocked that I'd actually gone and done it when I left the house at 6:45am

I've entered too :eek: ...... I'm going to have to start running outside now!

cw18

Same route as last Friday - but my GPS unit managed to clock it as being 0.2 miles further today

Still, all I can do is use the figures it gives me - which means......

3.4 miles in 32:57 (av pace 9:41/mile). Max HR 186, av 160.
Av pace last Friday was 9:57/mile, so definitely a slight improvement

It felt marginally easier this time, but I think that was mostly due to there being a bit of a breeze meaning it didn't feel quite as hot



Had a play on a website that has all kinds of running calculators after I got back from my run, and based on my official time for my last completed race (10km in January) it says I could expect to do a half-marathon in 2:10:47 - and a full marathon in 4:33:56

Found the latter very interesting, as when registering for the VLM ballot I was asked what time I expected to complete the run in. Didn't really have much of an idea, so entered a best guess (finger in the air kind of thing) of 4:30 - so it appears that in theory I wasn't far out in my guesstimation of a possible time

cw18

Bit of a funny run today.....

Went out on a Challenge66 run (with no intention of doing the whole 31 miles!), but found it hard work as the chap who's doing it can't hammer out mile after mile at what I'd consider a 'normal' pace due to the nature of the challenge. So lots of walking breaks, and even stops to take a breather/grab a drink (I was the only runner who carried water) or use the facilities at two points on the route. When it became clear these breaks weren't a quick 'breath and go' and were going to happen on a regular basis I decided to pause my stop-watch at them.

Managed 12.79 miles in 2hrs 16:57 of 'movement time' - giving me an average pace of 10:42.5 (which is only 20secs/mile slower than the 8.89 mile run I did on my own last Sunday - so actually impressed given the walking that was done during it).

I then sat out to have lunch/watch those that were still running (only one person - someone I know from another forum - did the entire run with Andy, but a couple of chaps did the first 21 miles and a couple of his team joined in just before they pulled out)..... but couldn't resist joining back in for the final section, so less than 3 hours after completing the main run I did a further 1.91 mile at an average pace of 10:41.7/mile

Off to the next Challenge66 run tomorrow, but not making any decision on how much (if any) of it I'll try and run until I see what my legs are like in the morning

Then I've another of these to do on 20th May, which is the final one (and for which I've booked a day off work, arranged with elder DS to ave the dog, and booked myself into a hotel for 2 nights - that's my 2011 holiday sorted out :rotfl:)

cw18

Andy brought Challenge66 to Salford today, and the venue was actually closer to home for me than yesterday's Manchester event - despite me having a Manchester address!

By the end of yesterday I was already over my 'last week + 10%' for mileage, so went over to support them - and have a slow 'pootle about' if I felt in the mood.... thankfully the leg muscle that was a tad iffy last night had eased up by the time my alarm went, but I didn't want to risk causing any damage to it.

Andy was joined by 3 people from the running club he's a member of (2 female, 1 male) and a fella from another club they have a good connection with. One of the females from his club and the fella from the other one planned - and managed :T - to do the entire 31 mile Ultra with him.

The circuit for today was only a small one, so I decided to try the first loop and then think about whether to do any more or not. We got in from the first one to be told the route we'd taken was supposed to have been the last - and the main loops weren't quite as long. So I went back out for the second loop to get to know the official route (meaning I could then go out at my own pace if I wanted to).

Completed 5 loops with Andy and the others, which came in at 8.67 miles as best I can tell (my P0lar wouldn't pick up a GPS signal at all today, and between 4 G@rmins we were getting 3 different figures - so that's the middle of the range!). Took 1hr 46:31, so equates to a very slow 12:17.1/mile - though that suited me for what was officially a 'recovery' run after yesterday's long distance one.

I then went out for one more loop (about 1.7 miles) towards the end. Was only mildly debating doing so, but a young chap (he's 10) wanted to have a bash at it despite having struggled with the pace (and distance) on the last full lap yesterday. I figured if I went out as well I could stick with him if he fell behind, but knew the route to ensure he got back safely. His Mum said we only got back about a minute or so after Andy and the others, but we'd lost sight of them in the trees at around the 1 mile mark. That loop took 21:51.5, so about 12:51.5/mile.

Thoroughly enjoyed today (and yesterday), and can't wait for the finale in York on 20th May. At best guess they're currently expecting around 200 runners to turn up - including all those that were there today :j

Firewalker

Ha! After walking for an hour everyday the strength is coming back. Today I ran and it was wonderful - time to line some races up. When is the next 10K in or around Manchester? Excluding the Manchester 10K that is (may do this one for fun but I need real races as well).

Firewalker

cw18

Race for Life at Heaton Park on 9th July is the next one I'm doing of that distance, but doubt I'll be trying to beat my PB as I have a 5km race the following day (organised by my club to raise funds for a local Breast Cancer Unit, who cared for a club member who lost her life to it - so I can't not run that one!)

There's one in Oldham on Wednesday 25th May, or one in Wigan on Sunday 26th June

cw18

After all the mileage I did at the weekend, I headed out for a recovery run this morning.

Went on a route I can cut short at a couple of places (in case my legs started to ache or turn to jelly), but managed the full 4.51 miles
It was another run without checking my monitor for heart rate or pace, but I was convinced I'd pulled the pace right back (not out of breath, heart not noticeably pounding, and legs feeling good) - so I was astounded on getting home and checking the record, as I managed an average pace of 9:15.2/mile. Still not sure how I feel about that as I was aiming for/thought I was doing around 10:30/mile !!!

And on getting home I discovered that the efforts session with the club tonight was partially the one I'd done as my first outing with them (they'd added extra on to the end this time, which I could leave without doing), so I went back out after work and ran another 3.04 miles (1.22 miles of the route to get there, 0.8 miles up - at speed - and down -at a slow job - a hill eight times, and 1.02 miles of the route home.... I opted to walk the uphill stretches there and back ) Eleven months since I last did this, and I managed to get further up the hill on each repeat (they'd dropped the first marker this time, due to there not being any novices there) and certainly did the uphills faster than I did last time

Think I'm going to try and build that specific hill work into my personal training sometimes, as I have a few routes get me close to (and even up) the hill in question - and with it being on trails it's a lot safer than on roads as I don't need to watch for cars (there being one similar road one I could use as it's on another of my routes)

Firewalker

run for 35 min at lunch time. starting to feel better and booked for raining session next week.

fw

LittleMissHappy_2

I haven't been out for a run for a couple of weeks as I am feeling really run down......I'm hoping I can shake it off soon as it's one of those where you don't feel ill enough to stay in bed, but don't feel well enough to go about your daily routine iyswim?!

I still haven't been for a run outside or booked myself in for a 10k so really need to get my butt in gear

Anyway just wanted to pop by and see how you are all getting along...cw18 you sound like you are doing really well on all those training runs!
Firewalker - good news about your strength returning...have you booked for a 10k yet?