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Great Cumbrian Run Half-Marathon
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Yes, Tony - as Barry says, it is chip timed this year.
Morning Jen - it started hurting at exactly 1.53 km (you see, I was paying careful attention) - I stopped straight away. Very disappointed, but trying to find some encouragement in the fact that there has been no further reaction this morning. So hopefully I'm going in the right direction - just far more slowly than I would have liked. All of a sudden, two half marathons on consecutive weekends sounds like a ridiculous idea
Hello shipmates.
I'm still recovering from the Glasgow Half on Sunday there. I had a new pair of Asics on,which I thought I had broken in but I've got a cracking blister which is hurting big time. Training wasn't going too well and I was hoping for anything under 1:40 but I stormed home in 1:33 and felt great. It was one of those days where I kept a very constant pace throughout, which was 7.10 min/mile. It's a great feeling passing a lot of tired runners from mile 5 onwards who have gone off too quick and struggling. I know what it's like, I've done it loads of times.
Next race is this one although I'm waiting to hear from a friend who might drop out of the GNR and I'm to get his place if he does. For Carlisle I'm hoping to do the same as last year which was 1:36. I've now run my last ten halfs between 1:31 and 1:37 but the 1:30 still eludes me. Some day perhaps!
All the best shipmates, I'm looking forward to this one. It was fantastic last year.
Just registered for this race today and am looking forward to it, Cumbria's a great part of the world, though I dont know Carlisle too well; I just sometimes pass through on the train and have time for my hoi-sin duck wrap form marks and sparks.
Im not a competetive runner but I do like to run. Only done one race this year (as usual) and that was at the weekend, the Glasgow Half. was quite pleased with my performance so it's all good i guess. If anyone's going to travel down from Glasgow on the train give us a poke.
Cheers, hope to engage in the banter further.... !
Hi guys.
Hi there Rob - can't believe you have been injuring yourself - nightmare! Take it easy for a while otherwise you will really hurt yourself. There's still five weeks till the race remember. Look after yourself!
Hi James - how did you do in the Glasgow half? The Carlisle one is my first half and I'm rather nervous but really looking forward to it!
What 10k have you got this weekend Jen? Is it the Yorkshire one in Sheffield?
Hope everyone's training is going well. I actually joined a running club at Virgin Active in Leeds last night - I went out with the fastest group and really stepped out of my comfort zone. It hurt!!!! It was really good though - I never run that fast when I'm trotting along by myself. Think I'm going to keep going so that I push myself at least once a week.Take care all and good luck with the old training!
You might still be OK then Camel, if you take it easy and don't do too much too soon. Hope so
Welcome James!
I'd forgotten about the chip for this year - that'll be the first time I've been chipped for a half marathon, so I'm pleased (I start near the back so my times are always different)
Went for a run with my club tonight. Had had a whole day having meetings in an airless room and felt like lying on the sofa when I got home, but made myself go and felt so much better afterwards. Only a gentle chatting 3 miles but then felt I hadn't done enough so did an extra mile on my own, quite a bit faster! Lovely.
Evening all!
Not been on here for a while and was having serious misgivings about entering but recent injuries appear to be sorted, so here's hoping.
Had to post when I read James' earlier offering. If you don't know Carlisle James, but pass through on the train, then you probably didn't realise that the train actually goes past The Sheepmount stadium where this race begins and ends. As you slow down on the approach to Carlisle station, the Sheepmount is on the left. Sadly you can't get off the train at the stadium but it's only a ten minute walk!
morning all,
what a nightmare that so many folk have got injuries at the mo. I wish you all speedy recoveries! There is still plenty of time until this race, so fingers crossed Rob and the Camel will be fine on the day. Ooh don't you think Rob and the Camel sounds like a band or something....a dodgy band, but a band nonetheless!!!
Welcome to the forum James! This is my first half and i'm looking forward to it. Folk on here are all very friendly and a wealth of info when it comes to tips and the like, so you're in good hands!
I went for a bike ride last ngiht rather than a run, just for a change, and it was really good, but sitting is somewhat of a painful experience today. I'm off to buy some lovely padded cycling shorts today, and i'll be sticking mainly to running for the next few weeks...at least I can sit in a painfree manner afterwards
Have a great day everyone. Toodle-pip the noo
Pauline- yeah the glasgow half went well. missed my PB by about 15secs hahaha. Oh well at least im consistent! er, got chipped at just under 1:50. A lot better than the previous time i entered. My advice to anyone in a pulse-started race is be cautious about which pulse your entered into. The year before my estimated time put me in with the first group and without realising i was moving at a pace i wasn't used to. In the latter stages it hit me completely and i ended up finishing with a much poorer time than i wanted. So this year i made sure I started in the second pulse, and it was fine, i even managed a particularly fast paced last few miles. Much better for the mind to be overtaking than overtaken on those stages!
Anyways i have a day off work today so i know what i could be doing. Although im quite confused- there seems to be black cloud all over yet the sun is shining bright. Probably going to be another session where i wear my sunglasses in the gloom and everyone thinks 'idiot'. hahaha.
Afternoon all,
It's been a wee while since my last posting to the thread. I was mega busy at work for two weeks after my last post, then I managed to get a last minute booking for a week away in the last week of the school summer hols - and boy, did i need the break? We spent a lovely week away in a 400 year old stone cottage a mile outside Hebden Bridge in West Yorks and I did nothing more energetic than drive to some of our favourite places and chase Boycs Jr around endless playgrounds!!
Back at work this week and this is about the first chance I've had to draw breath! I think I'll begin by picking up from where I left off.
Well done to lcw for a 10k pb. A 5 min improvement is pretty good going, especially when it sounds as if you were running in far from ideal conditions. Slow and steady sounds good to me and better still if you can run it all the way!
Very sorry to hear that Fiona has had to withdraw because of injury and that XL man and Rob are battling against various problems. Really hope you guys are able to recover in time to partake at Carlisle! Sorry to hear that Millsy sounds as if he's been in the wars too but hope you're back to fitness now matey.
BTW - it was interesting to note the postings from XL Man and Dezza re: their respective finish times from 2005 as I was probably just behind you both. I think XL man and I have had similar showings over the past 2 years in that I did 2
4 in '05 but slipped to 2
8 in '06. Given my woeful preparation so far for this years race, I would say I'd be odds on for a further regression in my finishing time!
Pauline - you say you feel a bit nervous about GCR with it being your 1st half - what was it you did recently - was it a 10 mile run at 9 min mile pace or am I mistaken? If so, you needn't worry at all - you'll be a long way ahead of me at that rate!!
Because of my busyness and our week away, I hadn't run for about 4 weeks until last night when I took part with a team from work who were participating in the Liverpool Corporate Cup. (A 5k race for teams of runners from various local businesses). As we were lined up at the start and the familiar smell of Ralgex or similar filled the air, it dawned on me that this was the first race I had done since the Santa Dash in Dec '06 - how bad is that??
I'm really glad that I did it though, partly because it has kick started me again but also because it was a good benchmark for me and I know that as a result of last night I've got some very serious training to do over the next 4 weeks if I am to get around the GCR course, let alone worry about my time!!
Event Director update !!!
Thought it was about time I gave you an update on the expected numbers for this years 25th anniversary event. Currently we have 1135 registered runners including 200 Robbie Dee runners who have registered via CFM.
If you are local to Carlisle you will have heard that our local breakfast show DJ Robbie Dee is running the race and he has given the event maximum exposure over the past 2 months and I have even been live on the show a couple of times!!
The numbers are 150 up on this time last year and I am quietly confident that we will get close to my 2,000 entrant target figure. This will be wonderful for the anniversary year.
I have arranged through Border TV to do a week long Great Cumbrian Run history story within the lookaround news programme from 8th October - 12th October. This will include archive footage from 1982 when the great local runner Dave Cannon won the event.
I also need runners help in the final planning stages to ensure I do not forget anything this year. I have a plan in place for the route that will see runners run in front of the castle and along castle way. This will be a fantastic scenic moment for all runners. I am also using the upper changing area just for bag storage only with security guards manning this area. The start banner will be displayed prominently above all runners heads so no one can miss the start like last year and hopefully touch wood the leaders will not overlap the back markers again.
I will keep posting on a regular basis over the next 5 weeks but if you would like to contact me directly please do so on mikej@carlisle.gov.uk and also make sure you check out our superb website. www.greatcumbrianrun.co.uk
Regards
Mike James
Event Director
Hi folks,
thanks for that update, Mike. It all looks like it's coming together nicely for you.
Wish I could say the same for my own preparation. I went out for a run this morning, first in two weeks. Managed three miles relatively well, but my foot has started to complain. Serious misgivings about October 14th. I'm determined to be there, I'll be running with my partner again and I'll bust a gut to get round in two hours with her, but I don't like my chances for Amsterdam the following week. And it was all going so well this year.
I pulled my hamstring 2 months ago and have just started running again. I am going to do the race sometime during the week before the 14th. I hope to do 2 hours also.
9 minute miles, surely i can do that!! or can I
I hope so!!
I hope so too, Mike - good luck to you.
2 months must have been frustrating. I've gone just two weeks, and I'm hating it. I was looking really good for 2h in Carlisle then beating my best of 1:49 in Amsterdam the following week. I think that's out of the window now, but there's always next year.
How did you cope with 2 months off?
How nice to hear from you Mike - I remember that you posted a lot on last year's thread and it was all helpful stuff for a first-timer, as I then was.
Sorry to hear you're still struggling Camel - but three miles is better than the one you managed earlier in the week?
I've got a 10k race as part of my preparation tomorrow - I hate 10ks, I think they're an evil distance, but I'll do my best!
Good luck with everyone else's training, various injuries etc. Not long to go now
How do you prefer to run your half marathons, jen?
even pace, positive split or negative?
Why don't you aim to complete the 10k in your target time for the halfway point of GCR ?
Make it a purposeful test of your preparations for GCR and it may be more enoyable for you than looking at it as a race that you hate.
Good point, well made Camel. I always aim to go as fast as possible in 10ks, which is why I hate them (I only got under 60 minutes this year, after five years of trying).
A 2 hour half marathon is a big step up for me (best time so far 2.18). But then again I've only done three. I think I'd find it quite hard to run slower tomorrow, knowing that I was going to finish over the hour, but I'll give it some thought!
The best time I did (above) was a positive split but I was knackered at the end!
I would settle for the brilliant achievement of having cracked 60 minutes after striving for five years. That is terrific, and if you go for, and fail to achieve a PB, the inevitible disappointment will take the gloss off your long awaited sub-60.
Many congratulations on that by the way.
If you're a positive split runner, then 1: 05 to halfway then 1: 10 would give you a three minute PB in Carlisle. Settle for 1 hour plus tomorrow, aim at finishing comfortably in 1: 10 or slightly tired at 1: 05 and you'll have reason to be more than satisfied with your run, and you won't hate it.
That's very true. I've broken 60 minutes twice now but there's no telling I'll do it again tomorrow - haven't been running as much as I was when I did them earlier this year - was marathon training then!
Would definitely take the heat off to aim to do 1:05 - I'll have to see if I can get my head round it! (Don't know why its so hard!)
Thanks
Twice? After five years of trying, you must have been thrilled.
I guess it's hard to deliberatley slow down, because that's not what we train for. If it's a rcae, we want to do the best we can. Your marathon training would have had quite a bearing on your 10k speed. So, I can understand why it feels 'wrong', if you can 'let go' of that 60 minute barier though, who knows what it might lead to in October.
Is your race marked in miles or kilometeres tomorrow?
Kilometers. Its the Trafford 10k which is run twice a year - it was at the spring one that I first broke 60 minutes - eek, even more pressure to run fast!
I know you're right though...
so, how good are you at pacing yourself?
6:30 / km = 65 minutes, if you start at that pace and keep it steady, then job done
6:45 / km = 1: 07: 30 which is still a great time, if you've run it comfortably, in terms of your half marathon goal.
Settle for those as times with which you would be pleased and the pressure is off. It may be, that running relaxed and without pressure on yourself that you get to 3 or 4 km in 26 or 27 minutes and feel fresh and relaxed and can pick things up steadily and go close to one hour anyway, always remembering, that if you don't it doesn't matter.
I hope you don't mind me throwing these thoughts at you - it looks like I'm trying to tell you what to do.
No, that's OK - its really good to have some tips. I read books about running but they nearly always seem to assume that people can go fast (I guess they're aimed at people beginning to run at a younger age than me) so its good to have some realistic advice.
Thanks again
By the way, what would you say was a realistic goal for the half, given what you know about my times etc? (i.e. best 5k just under 28 minutes, 10k 59.12, half marathon 2.18) and given that I'm doing some longer runs now as per your schedule (the 9 miler last Sunday went really well by the way!) I'm trying to do a few faster shortish runs now too, although haven't yet managed any actual speed sessions.
when did you set the 10k bests and your 2:18?
at first glance I would suggest you should be confident of a PB in Carlisle.
2:15 is probably very realistic, and anything less than that is into 'over the moon' territory. I would hesitate to suggest anything too quick, not because you're not ready to go that quick, but because it starts to put pressue on. Also there are so many variables, how you feel on the day, other runners, weather etc ...
be confident, run relaxed and see what you get, two sub-60 10ks and a half marathon PB is great going. I'm assuming GCR will be your last event of '07 - or do you have others lined up?
getting faster indeed
I wouldn't worry about speed sessions now. Something to think about for next year and an assault on beating 2h 10 The faster short runs will help enough at this stage.
I'm doing a couple more 10ks (I know, I know, for someone who doesn't like them I do a lot of 'em) in late November/early December. They're both in picturesque places (Lakes) and are for Christmas puddings and things.. more fun than anything else. Don't mind about times cos they're hilly.
2:15 would be lovely! My 2:18 was actually 2:14 something by my own timing at Wilmslow but it wasn't chipped so 2:18 was my official time. Carlisle is chipped this year isn't it, so maybe I could do that again
I lost a bit of confidence this summer hols because I went to Greece and lolled around for 2 weeks doing no exercise at all, let alone any running. It was so hard to get back into it!