Running

Just entered the Surrey Half on the 13th March. Plan to follow the 1:50 pacer than do him on the line.

Good work. 21.7km is still my longest so far. Feb 14th is my first scheduled one over that at 23km and a venture into the unknown.

There's nothing too hilly around here. The de facto running training route is the pan-flat towpath and Putney Bridge to Kingston Bridge is almost bang on HM distance, so you can use an out and back route to cover anything up to the full 42.2km. Pretty nice scenery to look at during that time too.

I like to vary it a bit too so most of the runs I'm plotting now are towpath for the first chunk and then head home through Richmond Park or Wimbledon Common to push the legs near the end.

For the 35k run I may have to do 3 laps of Richmond Park as I can cycle there and stash water/gels in an old pannier so I don't have to carry anything during the run.

Just entered the Surrey Half on the 13th March. Plan to follow the 1:50 pacer than do him on the line.

sweep the leg.

Longest (ever) run so far on Sat, 15.4 miles.

Felt surprisingly doable. Probably because I left at 11am rather than my other long runs that have been 7am starts on the way into work. And also brought water. And drank it. Still feel my knee the following day but a bit of rolling seems to help that ease more quickly than it did.

Fear does not exist in this forum!

I also need to plot some routes - just moved house and my nice 10k and 15k routes in the countryside are no more. Last night I ran along the south circular!

I've been keeping my weekend runs to the tow path but got a bit bored of just doing an out-and-back so last weekend plotted loops that took me through quiet roads and footpaths but returned to the canal for the final leg home. It's nice to have the easy part at the end of the run and unfamiliar territory and route finding keeps me from switching off until most of the run is done. I also liked the canal for speed work as there are no hills so it's easier to keep a more constant effort.

Got up to 11.5 miles on Sunday which rounded off my first week of over 30 miles. Kept a fairly steady pace throughout but did walk a couple of times towards the end to work out some niggles.

I have been doing a lot of running along that river path recently, I frequently go into Richmond park just after Richmond as you can then get a bit more variety.

@Sainsburys_Ed there's a big group of us from our club doing Wokingham as well, including @PhilPub i think.

We had our third surrey league x country of the season on Mitcham Common, a good day out as we managed to win the fixture. There were no really short red shorts in front of me this time, partly because they weren't being worn but also because i managed to get my nose in front of @PhilPub

Good run Saturday! Yep, I'm up for Wokingham. That's assuming my foot plays ball. Left heel was feeling a little bruised before Saturday's XC and a little bit more bruised yesterday when I decided to cut a 16 mile run short to 6. Bah! I'm hoping a week of indoor rowing and cycling will sort it out, but it would be nice to be sorted again before the mudfest which is the Southern XC champs at Parly Hill in a couple of weeks.

I have precisely no chance of hitting 220km this month. I have no idea how 200km in December was so easy.

I ran with him a few times a couple years ago at an old club he's a really nice bloke. Wish him all the best he seems to be doing pretty well.

If you go on club runs, rep sessions or any stupid thing like that you often get social after with beer

What about a long bike ride the day after a long run (whilst mid marathon training plan)? My legs felt very heavy after Sunday's 15k run but cycling seems unnervingly easy with legs heavy from running.

Have a 24km run sheduled for a Sunday in Feb (will be the longest run so far) but I'm signed up for a 100km Audax (with a 75km cycle to start of it, 25km to get home) that day. I like the ride and I've done it 4 or 5 times.

Do I:

a) Sack off the long run (maybe trying to move the distance to other runs earlier that week, I could make my Thursday morning commute a HM or even that 24km) and do the cycle on Sunday after maybe a parkrun on Saturday?
b) Move the long run to the day before (Saturday), HTFU and do the long cycle on the Sunday?

Monday is my rest day, and I can take it easy Tuesday too (will just have a 40 minute 5-a-side game in the evening if I get the train to/from work rather than cycling).

Quite separate is the fact that I've only really been doing ~30km of riding each week (commuting and utility cycling) but I've got through this early year long ride on that fine in previous lazy years. The Sunday ride also requires a 5am departure and I hate mornings.

cycling seems unnervingly easy with legs heavy from running.

more weight through the pedals init.

its a hobby innit - do what you enjoy...

Just try to forget the bike ride on the Saturday and don't cut corners on the run...

I've routinely cycled the day after long runs, since my first marathon, and found it good for active recovery. Slightly different story with a long run/long ride combo, but the only real risk is being zonked out for a few days afterwards, which may affect your marathon training for the following week. But I'd be inclined to do the run on Saturday, make sure you keep the pace easy, and refuel loads. Maybe early bed/early start Friday/Saturday to give yourself a chance of decent sleep before Sunday's ride as well. Rather than skipping the ride, which you obviously want to do, the only compromise I'd consider would be cutting the Saturday run down to mid-length (18 -20k?) which would still help top up your endurance.

Sounds good, thanks @Sainsburys_Ed and @PhilPub. Saturday run and Sunday bike ride it is. The run is more important to me than the ride but I want to do both. I'll have Monday/Tuesday off exercise afterwards so the legs should have a chance to recover for the next week (Wednesday's 10x800m intervals should be interesting, but the next long run the Sunday after is actually 10k at "race pace" which will hurt in its own way).

Looking at routes, towpath to Richmond, up Richmond Hill and through Richmond Park and between Pen Ponds, back up past the ballet school and over to Roehampton Gate and then home gets me bang on 24k.

Speaking of intervals, have 6 x 1km at 5:34/km to do. Hoping my HR will be down on last time I did them a month ago but I've not done a huge amount since then.

sounds good, one thing I suffered from last year having done all my long run training on trails was that after about 2.5 hours my feet begin to really hurt, no blisters or anything, just really sore from the constant pounding, so for marathons now I'd make sure I did the majority of long runs on road to avoid this problem...

Interesting, something I'll bear in mind (2h20 happens to be my longest so far). I have a mixture in my runs. My usual 10k is pavement for 3k, metalled trail (Richmond Park) for 2k, boggy quagmire (Wimbledon Common) for 2k, metalled trail for another 1k (Putney Heath), and then 2k of pavement/road (Tibbets Corner to home).

The Towpath is a similar mixture. Pavement for the first part to opposite Craven Cottage, metalled trail with patchy bogs to Barnes, "lovely brown concrete" and then flagstones almost to Mortlake with patches of bog, and then mostly pavement to Richmond.

My commute in is all pavement though, as is the intervals I should be doing right now. Thud, thud, thud.

good to keep a mix to reduce stress on joints etc, so looks like a sensible plan.

wrong thread I know but I remember reading something about people shutting down and collapsing towards the end of an ironman, not because of a lack of aerobic fitness or nutrition but because their nervous system has just been so stressed all day by low grade damage that it forces the body to stop, there's an amazing video of a guy in Kona collapsed on the road and eventually waking up and just carrying on (after a bit of a wobble) that this article pointed to as evidence of the phenomenon. no idea if its just tri science or actual fact..

Can well believe it, I came a hairs width from collapse myself on the last 2 stages of the Spine, after nearly 30 hrs on the go with only 3 short rest stops. Nearly a week on I'm eating 3 x normal, yesterdays mid afternoon snack had me devouring 10 donuts in one sitting, I'm struggling to stay awake too- falling asleep in meetings. Amazing adventure though!

I'm tired after a (fast) 5k today at lunch, how do you even go about training for something like the Spine race!? The distance alone is mental, then you've got the elevation, then the weather, the mountains etc etc.

I'd love to be able do it though.

Small steps- I started running a year and a half ago, 2 mile run every lunchtime then built from there-with a marathon, 100 km ultra then 130 mile ultra (dnf) on the way. Audaxing helped with core fitness - 200km minimum every other weekend- I was qualifying for PBP.
Ramped up running miles in the last 4 months by taking long way in and back from work, circa 15 miles a day, then 20+ over weekend. The key to cracking Spine is not ultimate fitness but good navigation and a good reccy of the route beforehand, you need to be confident enough to navigate using a GPS in a total white out.

@Arducius you have to be mental. Not give a fuck about prizes or goodie bag rubbish. Not care about selfies in the mud with your mates. And not stop going despite the conditions .

Those kinds of comments aren't helpful (I jest). I recognise I'm a Type 2 Fun type of person (and don't even mind a bit of Type 3 Fun) with an endurance (lack of) brain. I love Audax for example, but somehow I don't find it gruelling enough.

Luckily my current BMI of 28 precludes me from most insanity.