Training Log Archive: WhitesheepIn the 7 days ending Apr 28, 2013:
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Sunday Apr 28, 2013 #
3 PM
Cycling (turbo) 1:05:00
Picked up a half price, bog standard turbo trainer in a sale and gave it a go for the first time. Basically it's great. No fancy features but means I can get a bit of exercise in front of the telly when it's minging out or do long intervals on a bike without worrying about traffic.
Mixed the pace up a bit on this one but nothing crazy. Still hard work as it's unusual to do a relentless 1 hour on a bike with no traffic lights or downhill to give a break.
Mixed the pace up a bit on this one but nothing crazy. Still hard work as it's unusual to do a relentless 1 hour on a bike with no traffic lights or downhill to give a break.
Saturday Apr 27, 2013 #
2 PM
Swimming 30:00 [2] 1.0 km (30:00 / km)
Easy 20 lengths at crystal palace. 200m normal, 600m w pull buoy, 200m normal, good idea to go easy on the legs still I think, although they are starting to feel normal again.
Got a talking to from two lifeguards for trying to wear paddles. Apparently with two hand sized pieces of plastic on my hands I'd be transformed into some kind of killing machine. The good people of crystal palace are lucky to have such heroes protecting them. Imagine the carnage that could have ensued if I'd been allowed to unleash those lethal weapons on unsuspecting swimmers.
Got a talking to from two lifeguards for trying to wear paddles. Apparently with two hand sized pieces of plastic on my hands I'd be transformed into some kind of killing machine. The good people of crystal palace are lucky to have such heroes protecting them. Imagine the carnage that could have ensued if I'd been allowed to unleash those lethal weapons on unsuspecting swimmers.
Thursday Apr 25, 2013 #
7 PM
Cycling 24:30 [1] 9.2 km (22.5 kph)
easy, easy ride around my little new beckenham loop. then I went home and ate an entire bag of so-called 'sharing' crisps.
quads much better for a little light exercise, might have been better to do this earlier in the week. ah well, easy come easy go.
quads much better for a little light exercise, might have been better to do this earlier in the week. ah well, easy come easy go.
Tuesday Apr 23, 2013 #
Note
So have had a chance to collect my thoughts now. I really think you learn a lot from each new marathon - and that was especially true here given my approach was so different from last time.
What were my goals?
1. Enjoy the day. With family and friends down for my 30th I didn't want to spoil it by being too serious. Also em has seen enough of that! Having said that I had no desire to cruise round and wanted to give it a real effort.
2. Give myself a chance of a fast time by training (slightly) more for pace than stamina and not erring on the side of caution on the day
3. Leave myself fresh and motivated to pick up training after the race and build on the fitness I get from training hard
How did I do?
1. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day - maybe a bit too much with a lot of weaving around for high 5s and working the crowds! But without a doubt I combined the enjoyment with pushing myself all the way. I backed off 2:55 pace quite early, but not by too much, and in the end i had to slow down as my quads had given out completely. The last 2-3 miles were an epic effort and I was effectively going all-out just to hold 4:xx/km pace. I took 30 minutes to walk half the length of St James' Park to meet family, and 2 days on my quads are still cramping up. I'm more wrecked physically than after Abingdon. So overall, I don't think I left anything out on the course.
2. In training, the volume was significantly lower than for Abingdon but I did more pacey running. It's difficult to make a direct comparison but I would guess my 5k time is quicker. On the day, I definitely gave it a go and in the end could not have got a faster time just by going out harder. No regrets.
3. Although I'm more than a little fed up with slogging out long runs through the winter I have a good appetite for some faster stuff, triathlons, O, etc. I don't think my training will drop off a cliff for 6 months as it did after Abingdon.
What have I learned?
Overall it was a completely different experience to Abingdon but with a similar result. So it's great to know I can achieve more or less the same result - with more realistic pacing I'm sure I was in something around 2:57-2:59 shape - off a much less intense training schedule. Bearing that in mind I'm not sure there's ever a need for me to go as seriously as I did then.
Pacing: all the old cliches seem true. I was no more than 30s or a minute too fast at 35k, and it cost me two or three minutes in the end. Once the decline sets in it is almost impossible to hold it back. Having said that I'm pleased with my mental toughness - overall a 3-4 min +ve split is not disastrous, and although I dropped 144 places in the last 7km I also passed 68.
Nutrition: I seem to be quite lucky in that I can take on enough without causing problems. Given how much energy I had for the rest of the day, and how long it took me before I ate (about 6-7pm) I didn't hit the wall or even come close. Neither did I struggle with gels on the day. So 1 just before + 5 during (i.e. every half hour) is plenty.
Strength & conditioning: this is so easy to neglect, and is the one thing I seemed to be lacking on the day. My guess is that I got a great deal of extra leg strength from Abingdon training just through the extra volume. My last 2 months I did 33 hours of running, compared with 27-16-29 for the last 3 months in the build-up to London. This seemed to tell in the fact that my quads didn't last the course. It would be interesting to know whether I could have solved this with some weights work or cycling, or whether running is the only way. My guess is the former.
Pace vs. stamina: I was basically in the same shape as for Abingdon but in a different way. There is no way my stamina was up to the same level (see what happened to my quads) but on the day I had more changes of pace and in the coming weeks and months this fitness should be more useful to me. It is interesting how substitutable they are.
Crowd: it sounds obvious but there is definitely a trade-off between enjoyment and success. I really made the most of the crowds throughout. Early on it was easy to believe there was little or no cost. However, overall the signs were there that it was gradually taking its toll, e.g. erratic mile splits and Garmin measuring miles slightly long (suggesting weaving). Then the clearest evidence came towards the end, at around 19/20 miles. I got a bit of room to myself and really worked up the crowd - but then almost immediately felt tired and lost my form. Each high 5 or gesture to the crowd costs a tiny bit of energy - and it is only when you're already on the edge that this is really noticeable.
Weather: at 14(?) degrees with bright sunlight it was just slightly too hot. I wonder if I should have done more to take on electrolytes etc. to compensate? Or adjusted pace given it was clearly not PB conditions?
What were my goals?
1. Enjoy the day. With family and friends down for my 30th I didn't want to spoil it by being too serious. Also em has seen enough of that! Having said that I had no desire to cruise round and wanted to give it a real effort.
2. Give myself a chance of a fast time by training (slightly) more for pace than stamina and not erring on the side of caution on the day
3. Leave myself fresh and motivated to pick up training after the race and build on the fitness I get from training hard
How did I do?
1. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day - maybe a bit too much with a lot of weaving around for high 5s and working the crowds! But without a doubt I combined the enjoyment with pushing myself all the way. I backed off 2:55 pace quite early, but not by too much, and in the end i had to slow down as my quads had given out completely. The last 2-3 miles were an epic effort and I was effectively going all-out just to hold 4:xx/km pace. I took 30 minutes to walk half the length of St James' Park to meet family, and 2 days on my quads are still cramping up. I'm more wrecked physically than after Abingdon. So overall, I don't think I left anything out on the course.
2. In training, the volume was significantly lower than for Abingdon but I did more pacey running. It's difficult to make a direct comparison but I would guess my 5k time is quicker. On the day, I definitely gave it a go and in the end could not have got a faster time just by going out harder. No regrets.
3. Although I'm more than a little fed up with slogging out long runs through the winter I have a good appetite for some faster stuff, triathlons, O, etc. I don't think my training will drop off a cliff for 6 months as it did after Abingdon.
What have I learned?
Overall it was a completely different experience to Abingdon but with a similar result. So it's great to know I can achieve more or less the same result - with more realistic pacing I'm sure I was in something around 2:57-2:59 shape - off a much less intense training schedule. Bearing that in mind I'm not sure there's ever a need for me to go as seriously as I did then.
Pacing: all the old cliches seem true. I was no more than 30s or a minute too fast at 35k, and it cost me two or three minutes in the end. Once the decline sets in it is almost impossible to hold it back. Having said that I'm pleased with my mental toughness - overall a 3-4 min +ve split is not disastrous, and although I dropped 144 places in the last 7km I also passed 68.
Nutrition: I seem to be quite lucky in that I can take on enough without causing problems. Given how much energy I had for the rest of the day, and how long it took me before I ate (about 6-7pm) I didn't hit the wall or even come close. Neither did I struggle with gels on the day. So 1 just before + 5 during (i.e. every half hour) is plenty.
Strength & conditioning: this is so easy to neglect, and is the one thing I seemed to be lacking on the day. My guess is that I got a great deal of extra leg strength from Abingdon training just through the extra volume. My last 2 months I did 33 hours of running, compared with 27-16-29 for the last 3 months in the build-up to London. This seemed to tell in the fact that my quads didn't last the course. It would be interesting to know whether I could have solved this with some weights work or cycling, or whether running is the only way. My guess is the former.
Pace vs. stamina: I was basically in the same shape as for Abingdon but in a different way. There is no way my stamina was up to the same level (see what happened to my quads) but on the day I had more changes of pace and in the coming weeks and months this fitness should be more useful to me. It is interesting how substitutable they are.
Crowd: it sounds obvious but there is definitely a trade-off between enjoyment and success. I really made the most of the crowds throughout. Early on it was easy to believe there was little or no cost. However, overall the signs were there that it was gradually taking its toll, e.g. erratic mile splits and Garmin measuring miles slightly long (suggesting weaving). Then the clearest evidence came towards the end, at around 19/20 miles. I got a bit of room to myself and really worked up the crowd - but then almost immediately felt tired and lost my form. Each high 5 or gesture to the crowd costs a tiny bit of energy - and it is only when you're already on the edge that this is really noticeable.
Weather: at 14(?) degrees with bright sunlight it was just slightly too hot. I wonder if I should have done more to take on electrolytes etc. to compensate? Or adjusted pace given it was clearly not PB conditions?