Hanging in OK here. Two decent weeks of running since the above-mentioned fail. I've restricted myself to just two runs a week, to protect the heel, and I think it's not getting any worse. Early morning is the only way to beat the heat, so 13 and 15 milers have been completed early on Sunday mornings. Midweek tempo session is up to 7 miles - including a laboured but ultimately worthwhile session at 5.45am today.
As the mileage has been low, I had been thinking about going 3 weeks without a step back, but I do feel that the legs have taken a pounding, so will cut back to 10 miles this weekend. Always a delight to be at the stage of 10 miles feeling like a rest. I wonder if the legs feel proportionately worse because I haven't been putting in the extra miles.
Less than two months to go now, so probably next week I will make a final decision on whether I am good to go. And if so, contact the charity to pick up the costume, start making fundraising plans, etc.
All in all I'm not quite feeling the buzz this year. Due, I guess, to a combination of lack of training time, and anxiety over the heel. I don't remember being in a proper touch-and-go buildup like this before. I probably won't be truly relaxed till the 20 miler is in the bag.
Just back from another ragged tempo session, 8 miles this time. Running on empty after 4 miles. But a thought occurred to me. I am skipping my interval sessions at the moment, to protect the problem heel. Interval sessions are what drive the longer, slightly slower tempo sessions. And the tempo sessions drive the long slow runs. So it's no wonder that I'm struggling with the mid-range efforts. Hopefully this means that stamina will be there or thereabouts, and it's just speed that will suffer.
Charity have told me that they no longer have the costume. Frustrating, seeing as they promised it to me several months ago. So I'm a bit in limbo, waiting to hear back from them.
Just back from 16 miles in merciful steady rain, a delightful respite from the UK's hottest summer on record. On the audio, marathontalk continues to do its required job of keeping me company for a good 90 minutes or so. Episode 456 has a really nice interview with a Brit just back from the Hard Rock 100 ultra, and another excellent piece from (professional actor) Tony Audenshaw.
Can I claim to have finished strongly? I wouldn't say there was a spring my step as the Garmin wound over to exactly 16:00 as I reached the front drive -- I knew I'd run 16 miles, but I could have gone further for sure. 2h37 for that little lot, which equates to 4h17 marathon pace, bang on what I finished in last year. And there were a good few minutes of jelly baby and audio fiddling stops today. Gotta be happy with that.
The heel seems to be in steady state on two runs a week, so I will stick with that for the duration now. Really ought to do some other aerobic work in the week I suppose...
The Beast has arrived. It's a cracking piece of kit, a proper professional fabric costume. Inside are hoops of tubing held together by John Guest Speedfit connectors. I know that they're John Guest Speedfit connectors, because I had to find a Youtube video to learn how to undo them. Rather touchingly, one of them had a London Marathon 5 hour pace band looped around it.
But by heck, it's heavy. Heavier than anything I've run in before, at least. Maybe not quite as bad as one of those rhinos, but getting on that way. Must be a couple of stone, I think. So this is going to be no gentle plod like last year. Even at 11 minute miling, I'm going to be under some serious strain. Tony Audenshaw says that sometimes, when you're in pain, you just have to BLEEP your legs. Where BLEEP is a word beginning with F, that rhymes with a species of waterfowl.
So I think I need to throw caution to the wind and step up the training intensity. I'm going to need every bit of strength that I can muster to complete that race within the 5 hour cutoff. Proper steel in the legs. So I will reinstate the interval sessions from tomorrow. The heel will have to survive as best it can. I need to feel some serious fitness and strength.
(31-07-2018, 09:35 PM)marathondan Wrote: The Beast has arrived. It's a cracking piece of kit, a proper professional fabric costume. Inside are hoops of tubing held together by John Guest Speedfit connectors. I know that they're John Guest Speedfit connectors, because I had to find a Youtube video to learn how to undo them. Rather touchingly, one of them had a London Marathon 5 hour pace band looped around it.
But by heck, it's heavy. Heavier than anything I've run in before, at least. Maybe not quite as bad as one of those rhinos, but getting on that way. Must be a couple of stone, I think. So this is going to be no gentle plod like last year. Even at 11 minute miling, I'm going to be under some serious strain. Tony Audenshaw says that sometimes, when you're in pain, you just have to BLEEP your legs. Where BLEEP is a word beginning with F, that rhymes with a species of waterfowl.
So I think I need to throw caution to the wind and step up the training intensity. I'm going to need every bit of strength that I can muster to complete that race within the 5 hour cutoff. Proper steel in the legs. So I will reinstate the interval sessions from tomorrow. The heel will have to survive as best it can. I need to feel some serious fitness and strength.
(31-07-2018, 09:35 PM)marathondan Wrote: The Beast has arrived. It's a cracking piece of kit, a proper professional fabric costume. Inside are hoops of tubing held together by John Guest Speedfit connectors. I know that they're John Guest Speedfit connectors, because I had to find a Youtube video to learn how to undo them. Rather touchingly, one of them had a London Marathon 5 hour pace band looped around it.
But by heck, it's heavy. Heavier than anything I've run in before, at least. Maybe not quite as bad as one of those rhinos, but getting on that way. Must be a couple of stone, I think. So this is going to be no gentle plod like last year. Even at 11 minute miling, I'm going to be under some serious strain. Tony Audenshaw says that sometimes, when you're in pain, you just have to BLEEP your legs. Where BLEEP is a word beginning with F, that rhymes with a species of waterfowl.
So I think I need to throw caution to the wind and step up the training intensity. I'm going to need every bit of strength that I can muster to complete that race within the 5 hour cutoff. Proper steel in the legs. So I will reinstate the interval sessions from tomorrow. The heel will have to survive as best it can. I need to feel some serious fitness and strength.
It was that familiar session this morning, that we've all done some time or another: 1.5 mile warmup, rest, 1.5 mile dressed as Mr Tickle, rest, 14 miles easy.
I had managed both tempo and interval sessions earlier in the week, so I was glad of the warmup. I drove to the field rather than have to wrangle the costume on my own front drive, so I had the added luxury that the warmup was on grass. 10 years ago -- possibly only 5 -- I would bound off into a long run, logging the first mile way too fast. These days, that initial foray is now a tentative systems check, as knees, heel, soles, and any other body part that may be feeling left out remind me of their existence via little creaks and groans. Invariably they settle down after half a mile or so, but I always get the unnerving feeling that I may finally on the downward path to not being able to run ever again.
Anyway, I had a good week behind me, so I was running on tired legs – again, a good thing. Warmup completed, I returned to the car, paused the Garmin, took a few sips of water, and set about strapping myself into Mr Tickle.
Earlier in the week I had emptied out his carrying bag onto the floor and found a whole extra set of fittings that I’d hitherto missed. There’s a set of straps, somewhere between a weightlifting belt and a bondage harness (so I’m told), that clip to his insides to hopefully keep him stable. It was this device that I first donned, before sticking my head up his arse, not stopping till my face poked out of his hat.
I took a few steps at walking pace, started the Garmin, and then there I was, running around a field where normal people walk their dogs, impersonating Roger Hargreaves’ finest. Initially, it was horrible. A few hundred metres in, and I was composing my reluctant Facebook post of resignation, and realising I would have to courier the thing back to the charity. Then I took a look at the Garmin. I was going WAY too fast. Target pace will probably be 11 min miling, a target finish of about 4:47, a small but significant safety margin inside the 5 hour cutoff. I was clocking in the low 10s. I backed off and started to feel a bit better.
There are definitely a few issues to sort out. Drinking is very difficult. It’s too far to reach my mouth the outside way, and there is very little space in the face area inside. I may have to rig up a straw system to a bottle inside. A camelbak seems too much faff to refill at water stations. Then there’s the harness, which is meant to keep the costume centred around me. It rides up at the back, the whole thing tips forward, and I end up taking quite a lot of force to the back of the head. One solution is to hold the costume stable from inside, but I liked being able to swing my arms. And there’s reading the Garmin -- which will be essential, as I will have to keep a very close eye on pace. There isn’t space to being my wrist up to my face, and at arm’s length it’s too dark to read. So I hung it inside on the uppermost support ring, but even that required a good deal of effort to focus on.
One thing that wasn’t a problem – on this terrain at least – was keeping my footing. I couldn’t see my feet, so I had to look about 3 metres ahead and let proprioception do the rest. This, for now, was effortless. However, I seem to remember a few steps and kerbs on the course. At least I’ll bounce if I fall over.
While I was checking through all these issues, the Garmin clicked over the first mile, in about 10:40. Seems I needed to slow it down even further. Oh well, not going to argue with that. I was already starting to feel comfortable, but I dropped to an even easier shuffle. A minute or so later I looked down again to recalibrate.
12:40? How the heck did I slow down so much? I couldn’t believe it. Suddenly it dawned on me. The Garmin is set for average mile pace. And I didn’t reset the lap between the end of the warmup and the start of the Tickle session. As a result, my 10:40 was actually a weighted average of my warmup pace (about 9:40) and my costume pace. Meaning I was actually now moving at a woeful crawl, or DNF Pace as I soon realised it would be.
However, I felt I could do this. I had truthfully been starting to feel comfortable. I had a good sweat on, but the breeze through the face hole was keeping me cool. I had a good rhythm going and if I could just forget about being smacked in the back of the head with every step, I was sure I could get the pace down to the right ballpark. And so it proved. By the time I returned to the car, I clocked off at 10:50, without over-exerting myself.
Yes, there are some significant issues to sort out, but the game is very much on. I was drenched in sweat after just 1.5 miles – at 8 in the morning – so finding a reliable way to replace that lost fluid is a must, or I will be collapsing with dehydration around mile 15. It is a heavy beast, heavier than anything I’ve run in before, and I do feel there’s a significant chance that I won’t make the 5 hours. But if that happens, so be it – I’ll carry a map of the second half of the course, and rock up at the finish as they’re taking down the marquees.
A quick run-down on the few passers-by I encountered. Seems I was out before most of the Sunday dog-walkers. One car beeped as I skirted the A308. One lively runner gave me a big smile and a small round of applause. One bemused woman eyed me suspiciously from afar, and as I passed said something odd like “you look impressive”. Finally, at the end, a man got out of his car just as I slipped the costume off over my head. He bade me a completely straight “good morning” without missing a beat.
Then I had to knock out another 14 miles. The miles were tough, the legs were heavy, which I hope is down to the increased speedwork and not the brief foray as a Mr Man. And the fact that it’s the furthest I’ve run this year.
Looking forward to a couple of rest days now, and a step-back next weekend. Plus some fettling of the outfit.
Another 3 miles on the Tickle clock this morning as part of a 14 mile long run. Managed to get into a good rhythm - starting to get that synchronicity between man and... er, Mr Man. I ditched the internal harness, which does mean he bounces around a bit, but it does mean I can go shirtless inside the costume, which is a big improvement temperature-wise. The whack in the back of the head issue has been solved by stitching a bit of towelling to the offending hard bit. Although I notice that my stitching is already coming undone - might need to employ the services of an expert there. Hydration is now provided by a length of homebrew syphon tube sourced from eBay, pushed into a water bottle which I can refill at water stations. A DIY Camelbak, in effect.
Each of the miles came in a little under 11:15, a bit slower than I was hoping, but there's a limit to what I can do about that. 11:15 would bring me in at 4:55 - perfect - but I reckon I will spend about 10 minutes at water stations, and let's face it, I'm not going to sustain that pace all the way through. However, I must remain determined to finish as close to 5 hours as I can, so the goal, tough as it is, will still be to crank out each mile in 11 mins.
The biggest worry was that the remaining 10 miles of my step-back long run felt really hard. By the end I was fist-pumping along to my long-run feel-good soundtrack for all that I was worth, in an attempt to channel the latter stages of previous marathons. This should not be happening after 14 miles. So the concern is that a mere 3 miles in costume had really taken it out of me. But again, there's not much I can do there, except make sure I don't skimp on the remaining training, and push myself hard in the speed sessions. I may also look into a better way of taking on in-race calories than the tried and tested jelly babies. At such a slow pace, stomach churn won't be much of an issue, so perhaps a couple of rounds of peanut butter sandwiches in race might give me a boost...
A tidy week. Took the Garmin along for my 9 mile tempo run to keep me honest. Managed 6 miles below 8:30 pace before the legs couldn't take any more. In the old days my tempo target pace was 8:00. Still, a great workout.
A comfortable 19 mile long run on Sunday. No costume in sight this time. There were aches and pains of course, but it was all very controlled. So much so that I tried to push the pace for the last couple of miles, hoping to get down somewhere near 9 minute miling. What happened was that it took all my effort to keep the pace around 10. An idea has formed in the back of my mind, that after this year's shenanigans, I'll have two years left to try and get under 4 hours as a VM40 (after missing out by 2 sec in 2012). This performance suggests that may not be possible. Finish time equated to about a 4:30 marathon. Still, in this year's context, gotta be happy with that.
Last night I dreamed that I was preparing for a 52 mile ultra, and only discovered at the last minute that it was a single marathon. No doubt borne out of my fear that by half way in the costume, I'll already feel like I've run a full marathon.
20 miler this morning. Woefully slow - 4:40 marathon pace, which must be the slowest I've ever run a long run. Arguably that doesn't matter too much, but when you consider the huge step up in effort level I will face on race day, it doesn't bode well. Still, 20 miles is 20 miles, the job is now done. Two weeks of taper and a bit of fettling of the costume. Here we go.
(29-08-2018, 06:57 PM)marathondan Wrote: Week 15 of 18
20 miler this morning. Woefully slow - 4:40 marathon pace, which must be the slowest I've ever run a long run. Arguably that doesn't matter too much, but when you consider the huge step up in effort level I will face on race day, it doesn't bode well. Still, 20 miles is 20 miles, the job is now done. Two weeks of taper and a bit of fettling of the costume. Here we go.
20 miles. 4:40 marathon pace. Good grief. We did 10 miles on Monday morning and it really wasn't pretty. And it certainly wasn't a 4:40 marathon pace.
(30-08-2018, 09:39 PM)Antonio247 Wrote: Well done, Dan! You seem to be quite fit for Richmond marathon.
Yeah, fit and worthy of our maximum respect for even considering this 26 mile stunt!
Anyway, the big question is this.. Will Mr Tickle be using his unfeasibly long arms to tickle other runners on the way around? That really would be the icing on the cake!
Yes I think I'm at my normal level of marathon fitness. As I was saying to friends today, I've done what I normally do, and so I should be able to run a fairly normal marathon at an OK pace for me. What I don't know is whether that will be enough to carry Mr Tickle for 26.2 miles. One could argue that I should have done a solid 6 months in the gym to help me with the extra load. But I don't have the time for that. So as usual, I will have to rely on determination and desperation.
To answer BB - no, fortunately for me his arms are fixed to his sides - see pic https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/resourc...3cc7b.jpeg (note the lady in yellow getting barged out of the way as Tickle driver has no lateral visibility)
The Road To Richmond - 2018
