Marathon

:Well, not much gone on in here for a while. I did my first half marathon on Sunday- London's Run to the Beat. I was targeting 2 hours and managed 1:58. I'm fairly content but also a little disappointed as the first half was the fastest I'd run the distance (54min 10K time as opposed to the standalone 1:02 I posted above way back in June), and I just started to get really hungry and light-headed. I thought I'd eaten properly beforehand but maybe not. I had to walk about a quarter of a mile around mile 11 and then managed to continue to the end. My legs and all were fine, it was just entirely my stomach.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the day. I know some runners prefer the smaller events and regard these kind of events as overpriced lures to charity runners, and I saw some of the bad reviews from the race last year but they whole experience was just brilliant for me. The event has been taken over by Nike in the past year and they seem to be running it better than any of the previous organisers, going by some of the comments online. There were supporters along most of the route cheering you on, and they really did make a difference, especially the guy who convinced me to start running again at mile 11. It helped that the weather was perfect, and the whole thing had a kind of carnival atmosphere with music and DJs and all the rest. Well pleased with it. Incidentally, my friend who ran with me did a rather impressive 1:37.

Anyway, I have 8 weeks to go until the full marathon so back training (lightly) again this evening. I'm following this RW programme. It's going to be tough, but at least it's only 8 weeks of sustained effort. Anyone can keep at something for 8 weeks, right?

Good luck with that, sounds tough - but does that mean I wont see u in a footballing capacity again(and all that that brings -ie lager and pies)? LOL

Stuttgart and TCM loved reading back over those posts.
Stutts in particular, you've posted loads of great tips. Will be getting back into running as soon as I buy my nice shiny new runners on Thurs, so there's loads there to work on.

On that, can anyone recommend a pair of shoes? Not going to buy the cheapest on the shelf for the sake of being a skinflint, but don't want to go mad either.

Have only ever had Asics or Adidas runner shoes and neither were top range. If something was very worthwhile and durable, I'd be prepared to spend a bit more.

No shoe is "durable" in the sense that they all lose a bit of life or bounce after about 6 months. The shoe will last ages, but not as a well performing shoe. Price is neither here nor there really - a shoe less than £70 probably ain't great, and the max you'd ever spend is £120. I tend to buy around the £85 mark. So £20 or £30 quid over what you feel comfortable spending is worth it because yiou spread the cost out and I think £30 over 6 months isn't a biggy.

I use Brooks Adrenaline and have done for 2 or 3 years now. As a mild over-pronator I like the moderate stability they offer, and just like them. They fit me well and perform well.

Good effort at going sub-2, TCM.

The RW plan looks good but make sure you stick to it. They 18 mile and 20 milers will be key. Do them all. Think of easing off any boozing for a month too. A couple of kilos lighter will make it much easier.

Dont know if this is any good
http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/f...stance-running

I have a quick question about long runs. I'm running the marathon on Nov 27th which means I have 4 more 'long run' Sundays to go before it. I did 18 miles for the first time last week, and 20 yesterday. For the next 4 weeks I'm thinking of doing 22, 24, 12, 8. Does this sound about right, or should I be doing more or tapering better?

Not sure to be honest! I'd say it looks about right, but if anything the 24 mile run looks a little long to me. 21 or 22 is probably enough.

It sounds like you've come on a lot. If you can do 18 and 20 miles you can do a marathon already I reckon. The next few weeks will adapt your body even more so you're well placed.

The big danger now is catching a cold that sets you back by ten days. Although fitness boosts immunity, being run down reduces it. So make sure you recover well after your long runs, get good sleep and eat & hydrate well.

Cool, thanks for your speedy reply. I just feel that the 20 miles were quite tough yesterday and I feel I might not be fully prepared for doing another 6 on top of that. Running the long distances gives me confidence as well for the actual race. I'd like to do 22 at least. Maybe I should aim for something like 22, 20, 12, 8 instead. I've read conflicting advice.

I lost the week before last to a chest infection so hoping that that's it as far as illness goes for a while!

Going through a real purple patch at the moment, at just the right time. Did 23.1 miles (my longest distance by 3.1 miles) on Sunday in 3:30 and then ran a 50 minute 10K this evening (the one I did in July was 1:02). Feeling really happy with my running, and only worry that my present enthusiasm might see me burn myself out a little before the marathon, which is Sunday two weeks.

Hoping to do long run of 15 or so this Sunday before dramatically reducing my mileage next week. I'll prob just do 5/6 miles the Sunday before the race itself. Just can't wait for it at this stage.

Sounds like you're on the pig's back. Good man.

5 days to go...

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Good luck. My colleague is flying out this morning.

Well, how did it go?

My colleague did 3:08. He said all the Italians were cheating, cutting corners etc.!

Sweet lord, 3:08 is a brilliant time, I hope he's suitably chuffed with himself!

I ran it in 4:02. I'm relatively happy with this but slightly disappointed as I was running 3:55 right up to mile 23. Fell apart badly in the last 5km.

I don't think I hit 'the wall' or anything- more that my legs and feet were just so sore I could barely lift them. At the water stop 5km from the end I stopped to have a drink and starting again was like trying to run through thick treacle. I remember thinking at the same mark, "Right, 5km, that's the same distance as your standard run around the block- you know how easy that is to do." Literally 30 seconds later I just remember feeling utter despair at the thought of another 3+ miles and feeling almost close to tears at how much I didn't want to do it.

Anyway I somehow managed to stumble around, losing quite a lot of time and seeing the 4-hour pacers pass me for the first time in the whole race with around 4 km to go. About half an hour after I finished I felt a bit stupid at how I'd felt at 5km and wanted to go back in time and tell myself to stop being so silly and get running but I genuinely did feel horrendous for those last 7/8km- c'est la vie!

Ran it with a friend and we both stuck together until 18 miles when he went on ahead (he finished in 3.50). We stayed a couple of mins ahead of the 4 hour pacers, who had started a couple of mins ahead of us at the start and that enabled us to keep our timing for most of it. It's maybe the case that I pushed too hard though in those first 18 miles (my HM time, at 1:54, was 4 mins faster than the time I actually ran Run to the Beat HM two months ago), though I was targeting 4 hours so it didn't feel wrong at the time.

I also didn't use any energy gels when training, just eating chocolate on the way around- I didn't want to change anything in the weeks leading up to the marathon. Do you think they would have had an effect on my legs? Maybe I should look to start incorporating them into my training for next time?

Thanks everyone, for all the tips and advice- in particular Stuttgart88 for the time you've taken in your responses- it's been both inspirational and immensely informative reading this thread over the past few months and I appreciate it.

Anyway, we're already talking about doing another next Spring- I feel I have unfinished business- so the whole experience of our first marathon just made us more enthusiastic about the whole thing. Florence was lovely, weather was perfect, just had a really enjoyable (for the most part) weekend and I'd recommend the course to anyone. Didn't notice any cheating Italians but to be fair I didn't notice much after the 20km mark. One thing I did find was that a lot of the runners were pretty brusque about pushing past you- I wasn't going particularly slowly but I lost count of the number of (mostly male) runners who bumped me hard as they ran past and didn't have the courtesy to acknowledge it!

Anyway, before April, although I was reasonably fit, I'd never even contemplated running 5km- I hadn't spent a second, let along my life, dreaming of running a marathon- and since then I've managed a 10km, a HM, a 5km, and a marathon- I'm happy to regroup over Christmas and come back fitter, leaner and better prepared next Spring.

Great effort. Serious respect. You've come so far so quickly.

I've been running for years, though only in the last 3 or 4 years have I stopped thinking that anything longer than a HM is too extreme (I think age naturally steers you towards distance - fast twitch v slow twitch etc.).

Your experience wasn't far off mine. I found the first 20 miles grand. I was on target though I'd definitely liked to have stopped. "Sure I only have 6 miles to go - that's what I do when I haven't got time to go running properly. No distance." That's what the brain said anyway. The legs just told me to feck right off. They were the boss. The brain can only think, the legs are the ones who do the work. They wanted to go on strike. I don't think it was the wall either, just not enough training beyond my comfort zone & boredom threshold which is about 18 miles. I do triathlons (I even represented Ireland at a World Champs in 2008 - get that!) and am well used to pushing myself through the pain barrier. Not then though.

In reality I think you can train to get ready for a marathon and do OK, but I think your body needs hardening over more than a few months. I reckon you need a few under your belt to actually achieve what you're capable of achieving.

I doubt not taking gels while training was detrimental. In fact there's a doctrine "train low, race high" meaning that training without energy supplements trains your body to be economical with fuel, so on race day a good dose of sugar actually works rather than just delivering what your body expects. I have a slightly different take on this: train hungover, race clean. I love running on a Sunday morning but I'll be ****ed if I'm going to nopt drink on a Saturday unless it's race day.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing Edinburgh in May.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

In reality I think you can train to get ready for a marathon and do OK, but I think your body needs hardening over more than a few months. I reckon you need a few under your belt to actually achieve what you're capable of achieving.

I doubt not taking gels while training was detrimental. In fact there's a doctrine "train low, race high" meaning that training without energy supplements trains your body to be economical with fuel, so on race day a good dose of sugar actually works rather than just delivering what your body expects. I have a slightly different take on this: train hungover, race clean. I love running on a Sunday morning but I'll be ****ed if I'm going to nopt drink on a Saturday unless it's race day.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing Edinburgh in May.

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Cheers, that was kind of my thought on it. We both only signed up on the basis that neither of us would have to stop drinking to train- we feared becoming the sort of people who can only talk about running and running gear and running times and running this and that when out with a group of friends. Apart from the last couple of weeks I don't think either of us would have put training ahead of drinking, which isn't to say we didn't do plenty of training and were well prepared! It might be nice to be a 'serious' runner when I'm a bit older but I want the best of both worlds now!

Anyway, we're looking at Spring marathons now. Milan or Prague look like they fit the bill - easy to get to, beautiful courses etc. If anyone#s ever done one of them I'd be interested in how you fared?

Just entered Edinburgh. 27th May.

TCM, got any training tips? :)

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Just entered Edinburgh. 27th May.

TCM, got any training tips? :)

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I just came on to ask everyone what their plans for 2012 were :)

There's a couple if guys from work running Copenhagen on May 20th but another friend (the guy I ran Florence with) can't make it due to work so not sure what I'm going to do. The thought of 4 of us heading to Denmark, and staying a couple of days afterwards to sample the local nightlife is almost irresistible. I'd certainly think about Edinburgh, not least as it's easy to get to and a nice place to visit.

Also, I got a Forerunner 205 for Xmas and have done a couple of runs with it (it's gale force conditions up here in Derry or I would have done more!) but the data it gives you and the ease of use is brilliant. Training for Florence I only really did distance work and little or no speedwork as it's very difficult to do interval training when you're only using an app on a phone attached to your upper arm and can't work out distances easily. I'm hopeful speedwork will make a big difference come whatever Spring marathon I do. It's a super cool wee gadget though!

For a change I'm going to focus on just the one marathon this year. Plan is to build up to Dublin in autumn.

Looks like I'll be doing Vienna on April 15th. Depending on how the money situation is, I might be able to do Copenhagen on May 20th with a few guys from work but Vienna is the big one I'm setting my sights on. Anyone ever done Vienna before? It sounds pretty good, and it will be nice to visit somewhere I've never been. http://www.vienna-marathon.com

Targeting 3:45. Can't wait, looking forward to getting back into the training after a lazy December.