ohhhh look at you all intelligent and wise beyond your years - you are right

thankyou so much

i never realised that

you are right

if i complete the marathon less than a year after starting running , aged 40 with a leg that was broken less than 18 months ago and only half a heart working and a dodgy thigh thats preventing me from running it still wont be good enough for me

i'll still be beating myself up that i did it in a rubbish time and i walked 3 strides of it

yet if it was anyone else that had done it i'd be well impressed

ahhh thank you richard - you have given me loads to think about

thank you you have really helped me there- bless you xx

No problem Hayley... so all you need to do is remind yourself of what you've achieved (not what you haven't achieved) and be proud of yourself!!

I notice Stu had a cracking long run today (well done Stu!) Will you (Stu) be aiming to do a longer (21mi?) marathon paced effort before race day?

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk
'The minimum requirement to achieve something is to believe that it's possible'

Hi Rich,

I've got a 20mile race in a couple of weeks that I hope to do at below marathon pace ideally as close to 2hrs as possible), although I'm not entirely sure what marathon pace is any more, 6.18, 6.10, 6.06? I'll also be able to squeeze in at least two more long run which I hope to be at least 22miles, the pace of these will be entirely dependent on how I feel on the day.

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

Gotta be 6:06 now surely eh? I think that's what I'll be aiming for. Based on your training runs I know you'll be fine - hopefully I can keep up in the final 10k!

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk
'The minimum requirement to achieve something is to believe that it's possible'

Finally!!!! You've accepted that all this training is for a sub 2:40 not some poxy sub 2:45 , which I think both you and Stu could jog at the moment! Glad to see you're no longer playing Mr "oh I'll be delighted with a sub 2:45 and that is and always has been my target"

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Running Goals for 2010
1. Sub 5 minute mile(Done in 04:53)
2. Sub 17 5k (Done in 16:57)
4. Sub 1:20 half marathon
4. Sub 36 10k

I can't speak for Rich but I always have two targets for each race, a "comfortable" one and a "ambitious" one, I never really share the ambitious one

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

This will be the first marathon where i know I can be strong in the final 6miles so if I'm slightly behind 6.06 pace at 20miles then I wont panic. I'm determined to not go into the race with the mindset that running slightly slower than target pace is "losing" time.

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

Im really looking forward to this and wish you both well.
Rich and his clinical/scientific/high % of easy running approach vs Stu and his higher intensity training. ( thats how I see it anyway) Its going to be a cracking day and I hope both of you reap the rewards of your hard work and dedication. Its inspired me to try and get down to london to watch.

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Steve goes off topic more often than he runs......

Wow, fantastic running guys; really impressive!

When reading training plans and schedules as detailed and fine-tuned as these for peak performances and personal bests, they make me wonder when I should start treating my own running with more structure and planning.

Right now, I'm not at the same standard as either of you, but one day hope to be achieving similar times and covering similar distances in 3 or 4 years time if I keep pushing myself and work harder. (I have time on my hands to do fortunately!)

I'm not sure if you mind me asking Richard and Stu, but at what point did you start to take your running to the next level? One year? Two?

I generally have 3 targets for a race:
- a main/base target, which is the most important one to reach - if I don't manage this one I'll be disappointed. This rarely moves from day1 of training
- a realistic target, which is what I hope to achieve on race day based on how training has gone. This moves depending on how training progresses. (Initially it was 2:44, a month or so ago I felt 2:42 was possible, and now I'm looking at 2:40).
- a 'dream' target... one that I don't expect to achieve at all, but it would be a dream if I made it; this is usually derived from the other two (i.e. where I started from and where I've got to). This year's dream target is sub 2:40.

As you can tell, I've no qualms sharing my targets/goals... even if I do end up with egg on my face perhaps if I were an elite and competing for prizes etc I'd become a little more secretive

I'm inclined to agree - thinking back to last years training, every run I did over 20mi was easy paced - just completing 22mi was a big achievement - now I'm completing the same distances but including miles at tempo/threshold pace and marathon pace etc. I suspect I'll be much better prepared for those final miles this year (though no doubt they'll hurt just as much )

Hope to see you there Ray I think your analogy of our varying training approaches is about right.

For me it's just been a steady progression since day 1. I've been running ~4.25 years now (Christ... has it really been that long?), but a year and a half ago I was probably running 30mi weeks. My approach has always been to work towards specific races/targets, assess the result, and plan to progress training based on current running weaknesses. For me this year has been endurance/base fitness (hence why I'm now running high mileage) once VLM is out the way I'll focus on maintaining a reasonably high mileage, but add a lot more speedwork & VO2MAX sessions, and also try to shift some excess weight in the process (though I've been saying that for 3years now ). Best of luck with the training though Tom, will be good to see how you progress

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk
'The minimum requirement to achieve something is to believe that it's possible'

I was a half decent junior/youth then other activities became a little more interesting, girls booze, e.t.c. I've had various periods where I have trained for an event but then let it slip again.

I've only really stated running and training at a decent level again since I joined this forum maybe sept 08 time. The thing that gave me a kick up the backside was applying for the FLM2009

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

out of interest sturunner, what sort of times do you think you'd be running if you had consistently trained and not slipped over the last decade say?i seem to remember you saying your ran your 4:12 mile that's on the PB page as a 17 year old and that's incredibly quick.

all the best to both of you

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Upcoming Races:
Men's Health Forum 10k - 20/06/10. Challenge by basd: sub 44 - 43:58
Jogscotland 5k - 23/06/10. Personal Challenge: sub 20 - 19:56
Great Scottish Run 10k - 05/09/10. Challenge by basd: sub 42

I haven't a clue Matt, and I'll be honest I don't really like to think about it, it leaves me feeling frustrated and annoyed with myself.

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

Rich,

Another good week for you, what are your plans for the next 3 or 4 long runs? I'm somewhat torn on what i should do.

Stu

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2011 Sturunner - <1:12:00 13.1 (Fulmar)
2010 Sturunner- sub 2:45 VLM (RichardSimkiss) DONE

*Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.*

I think you should put your feet up and rest now uyntil race day - otherwise I won't be able to keep up!

Not sure what to make of my training over the last week - good mileage, but nothing particularly testing. Okay I ran 24mi, but I didn't feel like I'd really pushed myself and that the session was very easy compared to most of the long hard runs I've done on other weeks - It seems that I'm happy working to my plan, but then each week I see your training and kick myself for not pushing myself harder and further

I have 3 remaining long runs before easing off, which are currently in my schedule as:
22mi - 2mi Easy, 4mi @ 5:45/mi, 10mi Easy, 4mi @ 5:45/mi, 2mi Easy
24mi - 24mi Easy Pace
22mi - 6mi Easy, 2x(6mi @ 6:03/mi, 1mi @ 5:45/mi).

I'm tempted to change the 24mi easy pace run, either by increasing distance, or perhaps trying 20-21mi @ 6:06/mi (which will be target marathon pace). I understand the benefits of long slow runs, but I can't stop pondering whether running the same distance at a faster pace is going to be better for me come race day...

So far I've only done 3 long slow runs, and two of those were in my 'base building' phase, on 2nd & 10th January (the third being Sunday's 24miler), and whilst last year just covering the distance at any pace was an achievement, this year I have the nervousness that I'm just not pushing myself hard enough.

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www.richardsimkiss.co.uk
'The minimum requirement to achieve something is to believe that it's possible'