Marathon

[Stuttgart88]

Well done Peadar and good luck Harpsbear. Keep us updated.

I did Windsor tri a few weeks ago but I can't benchmark my time against the prediction / goal I set above because the Thames swim was cancelled due to the weather. A short run was introduced in its place. It was really windy which made the bike leg tough but I still did the 41k in 1:13 (a course PB for me - this was my 6th time doing this race I think) but I think going hard in the blustery conditions took a bit too much out of me because I did a slow run, doing the 10k in 46:15, a good 2 mins slower than I was hoping for. I think a day on the lash in Gdansk 3 days earlier might also have been a factor!

In general a good season though. I'm taking it easy now but next challenge is to try for a 40 min 10k this autumn and I'm also going to start doing some serious bike miles on Sunday mornings with my triathlon club. I've never cycled particularly seriously before so I'm hoping to make a step improvement in this dept over the autumn / winter.

Up to you guys now...

[culloty82]

Tralee's holding its first marathon on the 16th of March, so signed up for the novice training programme, starting in August. I'm of more-or-less average fitness (5' 2", 9 stone), so hopefully once I stick to the routine, I should finish - will have to read back through the thread for all the advice.

[bennocelt]

Thought ye guys might be interested in this - if you haven't seen it already, was a great watch - with Eamonn Coq and the irish priests in kenya
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01ktdr7/Born_to_Run_The_Secrets_of_Kenyan_Athletics/

[Mad Moose]

I had Munich in mind and lined up but a last minute change of heart and booked my place for Lucerne Marathon 2012. Going to incorporate it into a trip around Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Unlike my first marathon heat shouldn't be a factor but it should be quite scenic.

[Supreme feet]

Doing a half-marathon for the first time on Sunday week. Training has gone well enough, did a hilly 20km last Sunday in 1:48, which I was happy enough with. Aim from the start was to do it in under two hours, so I'm well on track. Any suggestions on the type of training I should be doing for the ten days or so pre-race? I'm assuming I shouldn't be doing any more 'race-distance' runs.

[Mad Moose]

Doing a half-marathon for the first time on Sunday week. Training has gone well enough, did a hilly 20km last Sunday in 1:48, which I was happy enough with. Aim from the start was to do it in under two hours, so I'm well on track. Any suggestions on the type of training I should be doing for the ten days or so pre-race? I'm assuming I shouldn't be doing any more 'race-distance' runs.

Well done. Not sure when you posted this but if you still have time to go its the day or two before you want to ease up and relax and feel good and ready to go for the race. Doing a hilly 20km is a great test. Your time at that is quiet good. I haven't gotten a sub 1.50 for a half yet and I've done 3 of them.

Just ease out from a comfortable starting position and pass people rather than the other way round. That way you grow with conficence as opposed to set yourself up to making it harder on yourself.

[Mad Moose]

Just want to promote my next Marathon event. Again I'm doing it for charity. The choice of charity relates to a friend who suffers from excruciating pain all the time. She is permanently on morphine and it really doesn't touvh her. I have seen this confident, intelligent and wonderful young lady destroyed and reduced to contemplating ending it all. So I cannot help but note the irony in the fact I'm doing something Sarah could ever contemplate. Hopefully I can raise some money and give her some hope. Please read my blog here and don't be afraid to share it with anybody you know.

http://mylifebeyondrunning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lift-required-to-lucerne.html

[Stuttgart88]

Doing a half-marathon for the first time on Sunday week. Training has gone well enough, did a hilly 20km last Sunday in 1:48, which I was happy enough with. Aim from the start was to do it in under two hours, so I'm well on track. Any suggestions on the type of training I should be doing for the ten days or so pre-race? I'm assuming I shouldn't be doing any more 'race-distance' runs.Sorry, missed this while I was away. How'd it go?

wrt your taper, common sense ought to be your guide. You're not going to get any fitter in the last ten days but you need a few shorter sharper sessions to keep your body from starting to regress. For a half-marathon I might run a slowish 10k 4 or 5 days before the race and then a moderate paced 3 miles 2 days beforehand and then that's it. Some people like a short run the day before but I don't bother usually.

[Mad Moose]

Well I'm 6 days off my second marathon in Lucerne. I'm banking on a relatively flat run despite been in the Alps and haven't checked it because I'd rather not think about the prospect it may be so tough I can't complete. I'm in the best shape I've been with a lot more long distance training runs under my belt and so I've done two 22 mile runs which was Stone where I live to Uttoxeter and back on two sundays. Did a light 11.5 miles yesterday and I'll do light stuff for the next coming days and have a couple of days rest in Berlin before I travel to Lucerne.

A nice personal achievement to be able to hold but more importantly I'm doing it for charity. http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BrendanGrufferty .
http://mylifebeyondrunning.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lift-required-to-lucerne.html.

I suppose on completing two I'll decide I need to do a third one. I always said one would be enough.

[Mad Moose]

Well in the most difficult of conditions of driving snow I took on Luzern and the Alps and eased home in 3:52:51. A bit disappointed that I didn't put a little more in as I didn't really struggle and went on sprint finish. I don't use a pacemeaker and go as I feel but a very encouraging run not to stop and not to feel I needed to stop. The race took its toll on my face and completely stripped my skin and I'm just recovering from a very painful few days.

I took a couple of pictures at the start and in the second race lap so I'll upload them to give some perspective on the conditions.

[Stuttgart88]

Good work, well done.

[KK77]

Looking through the thread and some great tips. Thanks lads and lassies!

Ran my first ever half marathon in 2011 in 2:13:49. Not great but was happy to get it out of the way. Doing the same one in Liverpool again in March so going to try and run a better time. Started training last night for the aware 10k next month. Anyone know if you can listen to the ipod when running in these races? Apologies if it’s a stupid question.

Please and thanks.

[peadar1987]

Looking through the thread and some great tips. Thanks lads and lassies!

Ran my first ever half marathon in 2011 in 2:13:49. Not great but was happy to get it out of the way. Doing the same one in Liverpool again in March so going to try and run a better time. Started training last night for the aware 10k next month. Anyone know if you can listen to the ipod when running in these races? Apologies if it’s a stupid question.

Please and thanks.

It depends on the event. When I did Edinburgh they were officially banned, but it didn't seem to be in any way enforced, especially towards the back.

[pineapple stu]

Why would they be banned?

[Schumi]

Why would they be banned?

People loudly singing along to Justin Bieber?

[pineapple stu]

I'll re-phrase so. :)

Why should they be banned for marathons specifically? Obviously, that sort of behaviour should be banned at all times.

Edit - sod the lot of ye; ye can be replaced by google. iPods were banned by the USATF in 2007 "to ensure safety and to prevent runners from having a competitive edge (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/sports/othersports/01marathon.html)." The fear is that those with earphones may not hear important race safety announcements (though you'd have to be away off in your own world not to see other people reacting and realise something was up surely). The rule was repealed in 2009, though people have been disqualified since on occasion (http://www.cultofmac.com/95927/ipod-marathoner-disqualified-wins-on-appeal/).

All sounds a bit daft to me.

[peadar1987]

I believe it was because of the danger of people doing Gangnam Style for 26 miles.

[pineapple stu]

Again, anything that exposes these people and leads to their arrest should be encouraged, not banned.

[passinginterest]

Don't know if I'll get to marathon distance but really getting the running bug now. Running the Great Ireland Run 10k on the 14th April and I've done three IMRA mountain runs this year. Set my 5k PB in the Marlay Park parkrun this morning, 21.17. Have broken 50 minutes for 10k in training so hoping to run around 48-49 in the Great Ireland run. Very tempted to enter the race series building up to the marathon and at least going as far as the half marathon this year. Furthest I've run to date was 11k and felt pretty good. As long as I don't start too fast and get my heart rate too high I'm generally OK, made that mistake last week in the Marlay run and barely broke 23 minutes. Probably enjoying running more than playing football at the moment and I didn't think that would ever happen.

[Stuttgart88]

You're obviously getting old. That's what happens. A 21 min 5k is very decent, you should be smashing 48 mins.

Look up the Macmillan running calculator online to convert, for example, your current 5k time into the 10k time you should be able to achieve.

[Mad Moose]

Having read the last post in this forum I realise I never uploaded pic's of my last marathon effort in October. I had a great race but remember more the pain of the following week as my face stripped and peeled from the cold.

The start

http://imageshack.us/a/img827/5287/wp002949.jpg


Leaving Lucerne and out around the lake for the first time

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/8932/wp002972.jpg


http://imageshack.us/a/img834/8484/wp002996.jpg

[Mad Moose]

Back into Lucerne and through the Transport Museum

http://imageshack.us/a/img195/7583/wp003037.jpg


Back into Lucerne for the second and final time

http://imageshack.us/a/img10/4562/wp003043.jpg

[thischarmingman]

They're great pics, although I feel cold looking at them. I just struggle in the cold, it doesn't mix well with asthma.

I just signed up for my second marathon, Sydney in September. Looking forward to 5 months of ups and downs.

[Mad Moose]

They're great pics, although I feel cold looking at them. I just struggle in the cold, it doesn't mix well with asthma.

I just signed up for my second marathon, Sydney in September. Looking forward to 5 months of ups and downs.

Thank you TCM. To be honest (and it's the story of my life I arrived from arrived from a relatively sultry warmth in Berln to the first snows and equipped with shorts and tee with under armour long sleeve) and I suffered. My face froze and basically I had a face peel but of course it only happened after the run.

You can achieve anything, and I mean anything, if you put your mind to it. I get you on the cold. I get claustrophobia and so while I run with a snood I sometimes struggle to breathe and I panic. So I can understand the asthma side of it. With such a respiratory condition your attempt is more admirable so well done you.

Good luck in your preparation.

[passinginterest]

You're obviously getting old. That's what happens. A 21 min 5k is very decent, you should be smashing 48 mins.

Look up the Macmillan running calculator online to convert, for example, your current 5k time into the 10k time you should be able to achieve.

Finished in 45:57 for 857th place in very windy conditions. Got my pacing pretty much dead on, started nice and steady and near the back of my wave so I spent the entire race overtaking people and not getting passed. The hill running really paid off on the climbs in the Phoenix Park where a lot of runners seemed to be in serious difficulty. Thoroughly enjoyed the run and there might have been another couple of minutes in me but I was very wary of over doing in when running the distance in a race environment for the first time.

Hopefully keep up the running now and continue to improve. The marathon is becoming an ever more alluring goal!

[Spudulika]

Any news on what's happening at the Boston marathon, news channels here are dreadful. They'll stick a camera on the Falls Road for weeks on end, but ask them to react....and Euronews is equally dreadful. Worried as I have at least 3 people I know running the race and one of them is my brother's best friend doing it for Blanch Hospital (I think, I sponsored him so I should know).

[Spudulika]

All 3 ok, bro's friend finished half an hour earlier and was sitting in a changing zone recovering. Wild estimates on numbers. RT say 10 dead, CNN announce 2.

[peadar1987]

Most news outlets seem to be reporting 2 dead, and 20-odd injured.

[Spudulika]

Woke earlier this morning and saw updates on local tv. I have an awful feeling that this is a pretext for something major, like attacking somewhere or some sort of clampdown. I know I appear to be a conspiracy nut, however this is just too weird. Is it to bolster the Obama campaign for tighter gun control?

[strangeirish]

Woke earlier this morning and saw updates on local tv. I have an awful feeling that this is a pretext for something major, like attacking somewhere or some sort of clampdown. I know I appear to be a conspiracy nut, however this is just too weird. Is it to bolster the Obama campaign for tighter gun control?
I'm of the opinion that it's more like an anti tax/government type of deal. April 15th is when taxes are due in the US, took place in Boston(Tea Party and all that).

[Spudulika]

SI, could well be. Right now nothing is making sense. Seems more homegrown, but then again....

[Spudulika]

Looks like the Yanks have got their latest foreign boogey man (or an old foe back). Russians being blamed for the bombings and this is just getting messy. On a side note, all this week Moscow has been in a veritable shut down - armed OMON officers on all points of entry and exit from the MKAD. Haven't seen this since, well, since the last metro bombings..

[strangeirish]

Allegedly, two brothers from or near Chechnya. This is a strange one.

[Spudulika]

Exactly. 2 brothers, living since 2011 in the US, on scholarships (one in Brown which is interesting as I know a Russian girl from Voronezh who has been studying there since 2011 and the head person for recruiting Brown students - offering scholarships - is a German guy whom I last met a week ago to watch Celtic-Barcelona). This week Tom Donilon came to Moscow and gave VVP a "letter" from Obama - I wonder what it said?

[Crosby87]

It was nothing just Obama saying he thought they were taking positive steps toward the "security pact" he is seeking with Russia.

These 2 Muslims had their uncle on the TV calling them losers, aying they should die for bringing shame to the family, while an aunt in toronto says they didnt do it and they were framed.
Let the circus begin....

[Spudulika]

Crosby, I don't believe the "letter" was just a love note, and besides, it was all for show. Something is going on that will unfold shortly and where these boys were born and partially raised (Kyrgyzstan) is a hotbed of Saudi funded fanaticism.

[Crosby87]

I get your point spuds but its not 1939. He wouldn't send him a letter about this. There are other ways they communicate. The letter was just an official way of getting his thoughts about the pact on the record. Any other conversations they have about this are not written to say the least.

[thischarmingman]

So how is everyone's running going? I'm headed toward a 16-week training plan for the Sydney Marathon, starting at the start of June. Just trying to get a few miles under my belt and get used to running for 80/90 minutes. I've been gradually increasing my weekly mileage so hopefully will be raring to go by the time the programme starts. Really, really looking forward to the actual thing itself, and hoping I can put in enough work to get the time I want.

[bennocelt]

I did my first ever road race a week or so back - 10K in about 50 minutes. Was ok, made a few silly mistakes, went off too fast at start (not mad start but could be more relaxed), had to stop to tie my laces twice (silly mistake), and had a water stop I could have done without.
Was going to do the UB marathon in two weeks, but the soles of one of my feet is sore (bad runners), and i dont want to be a straggler when there might be less than a 100 doing it! So will do it in europe sometime in the future!! Will try the 10k again or maybe if I feel ok the 25 K

[peadar1987]

I've not been out running in weeks, not looking forward to seeing my next 5k time! On the other hand, I have bought new running shoes, which I am looking forward to trying out. Simple pleasures!! :)

[BonnieShels]

I'm back out tonight for my first push in over a year. Cannot wait.

[passinginterest]

Fecked up my ankle in a match four weeks ago so haven't done anything. Really wanted to run the Terenure 5 mile yesterday. Ankle is still not 100% but played 15 minutes Saturday and another game tonight. If it holds up hopefully get out for a run Wednesday. Will probably enter the Dublin Runner series and see how it goes. Really frustrating to pick up an injury when I was so happy with the progress I was making.

[Mad Moose]

Hope all your running is going well. I had in mind to do the Artic Circle Marathon as I wan't to push this adventure on. Looks like financial impediment has gotten in the way so not this year. I'm doing 12-13 miles every Saturday/Sunday just by way of maintenance. I do gym work through the week. One of the difficult things with the running game is taking a break and trying to get back to the stamina and endurance and I haven't taken a break in over 3 years now. Through 2 marathons and didn't break afterward and I've just 'maintained' really.

Compromising Norway then and having a marathon in me this year I could consider Dublin. It would be good if there were a few of us up for it.

Speaking of up for it have a gawk at this lot...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2013/may/22/spectacular-mountain-running-in-pictures

[passinginterest]

Good pics. That and mention of article circle marathon reminded me of this;
http://i44.tinypic.com/2u71sg9.jpg

[Mad Moose]

Good pics. That and mention of article circle marathon reminded me of this;
http://i44.tinypic.com/2u71sg9.jpg

Looks like a Passing Interest gaining on you. :) Where is that sir?

[passinginterest]

Hellfire Club near Tallaght. That was Paddy's day.

[thischarmingman]

Just signed up to the HM course on this event as part of my Sydney marathon training:

http://www.huntervalleymarathon.net/

It's a slightly hilly course through the vineyards here so should be good preparation for the undulating marathon course.

[Mad Moose]

How is the training going then TCM?

I've decided I may take on my 3rd marathon. I'm having an ageing crisis and having just turned 34 and gone 'Where the fook has my life gone' I'm releasing it all on a next Marathon attempt. So thinking Vaxjo in Sweden in October and as I've pretty much kept myself around the half marathon running distance I'll add on a few more miles in training and go for my 3rd event. Not the worst ever use I've made of my lunch time.

[peadar1987]

Went for my first 10k in ages this morning, after neglecting running completely because of the heat (yes I know I could have run in the early mornings, but that's almost worse!). My time is up to 52:40, from 47:15 back in April when I was still running regularly (although I was happy to find that when I plugged it into mapmyrun, the route I did this time was actually 10.4k, so I'm counting it as a 50:50 in my progress chart).

I then got back home to find the shower had decided to break down, and had to put my sweaty running gear back on for the 15 minute walk to the gym.

Goal for the moment is to get back below 50 minutes, and long term, to run a half marathon in under two hours (in Edinburgh last year, I did the first half in 2:04-ish).

[BonnieShels]

Howya!

I'm having awful trouble getting back into the swing of things. I think it's a combo of eating and drinking atc and not getting my energy at the right time of the day. I hate eating too soon before a run but the latest I can lunch is 2PM. Anyone any ideas to counteract this issue say idf I wanted to run at about 6PM?