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Rotary Shakespeare Marathon 2010
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Hi all,
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Ran a half this weekend at an ok pace 7:14 m/m, although I'm determined to get that down to 7 m/m before this years marathon training is through.
Was hoping to run a 21 miler next weekend, but the wife is now away Fri evening thru Sun evening leaving me to a lads weekend with my three boys (Unfortunately they are not of an age where I can leave them on their own). I think my only options are either to do my LSR midweek one evening or take Friday off and go out during the day. I suppose at least that would give me the weekend off . . .
Speak in the week
Dave.
P.S. - I too am very unimpressed with energy drink set-up - Shame on you Shakespeare Marathon organisers! And a very poor response (IMHO).
Howey - If you are following the sub 3:30 training plan your run was spot on, and as you have probably heard before Stratford is a bit hilly in places, so hilly training runs are perfect prep.
Stilldreaming - This is only my third marathon, after doing Stratford and Abingdon last year, so I'll start coming to you for advice
Let us all know where your folks will be gymfreak so we can form an orderly queue for our energy drinks too
Howey seems to be taking this very seriously. Keep up the good work fella, sounds like you're well on course for hitting your target
Is there likely to be a RW fanpoint, or a Fetchpoint along the route? Would they be able to hand out some energy drinks if we could find a way of getting them to the point?
Afternoon all - hope you are all well
Hi all, hope the trainings going well. Some speed work for me on Tuesday, followed by 8 miles slow yesterday and about to go out for a steady 10 miles. My left thigh feels a bit tight so I'll see how it feels on the run.
Completely worn out this week after the Meon Valley Plod on Sunday. But still feeling good about getting a hilly, very wet and extremely muddy 21 miler under the belt.
On the drinks front, I drank water (there was a lot of it about!) from every drink station and used energy gels. I also tucked into jelly babies for the first time, which were surprisingly easy to take on the run. Most of the drinks stations were also stocked with cake, which I managed to resist until the finish.
Energy drinks in bottles would be much preferred at the Shakespeare, but I will just make sure I get as much as possible from the cups. There are plenty of other things to worry about! I needed a pee 2 miles into Sunday's run, quite easy in the Meon Valley countryside, not so sure about Stratford-Upon-Avon high street!!!
2 hills
one hill with a long drag
both on each lap
greenway ( old railway line ) long and boring , FM greenway longer still on second lap
I'm going to drive up and try out some of the marathon route this weekend on my 20 miler and see what all the fuss is about with this Greenway. Anyone else about in Stratford on Sunday morning fancy a blast? Yep, Pete, I'll be checking out toilet venues too! Jelly babies are great, I'll be carrying a bundle (nursery?)
I ended up taking the day off today, to fit in my long run of 20 miles - went well, a lovely sunny day here in Suffolk and I bagged myself a PB!
On the down side I forgot the vaseline . . . ouch! Welcome to Chaff City!
Chill out for the rest of the weekend for me.
Hope everyones training goes well this weekend.
Dave.
P.S. I agree, Jelly Babies are great to take on long runs.
Jelly babies are great for long runs, got to keep them dry, I used to put them in the zip pocket in the back of my shorts or tights and the sweat makes them soggy and horrible. I'm going to call in to tescos on the way home now. ready for my 20 on Sunday. Sports Beans aren't bad either and they last longer in the fridge than Jelly Babies.
I've also had some orange coated rice crispy cakes from Lucozade, they really work for me before a run.
I've been offline since January due to a house move (and a certain satelite TV / media company taking an extraordinary time to get my broadband up and running) and it seems there's been a lot of good training going on here.
January was the best month of training I have ever had. Totally on plan. Then I moved house and it all fell apart. I decided to "self move" and lifting lots of heavy furniture into a 3 storey house was not a good addition to marathon training (....duh!). Furthermore, my new house has monster hills in all directions, so the new profile has taken some getting used to. On one 18 miler I ground to a halt utterly exhausted at 14 miles and had to jog / walk home and had to order a few days rest to recover.
But its all turned a corner recently. All those extra hills have had an effect; I knocked 2 minutes of my 10 mile PB last weekend, and was so fresh at the end, it should have been much more.
Finally, I will add my name to the list of protest at the energy drinks provision (or lack of). Whatever they say, 200ml of sports drink at 19 miles is somewhat at odds with the accepted modern theory on marathon fueling requirements and I think they are going to get a well deserved blasting on the feedback for this inexplicable decision.
I caught a cold which stuffed up my training plan for a week. My timings were on-target up until that point, but now they are down. I did a painfully slow 19 mile run last weekend, which took me as long as 20 miles took me at this time last year. Nonetheless, I'm still hopeful that I can get back on track in time to get a PB on race day
.
I'm in the Milton Keynes HM this coming weekend. Damned if I know what pace I should run at. I'm hoping for a sub 4:30 marathon (4:15 to 4:30 depending on how much I can improve) - anyone suggest a good target pace for the HM? Should I be running ten-minute miles, or faster, to be in with a decent shout of the full marathon target?
It looks like the weather should be pretty good on Sunday for the half. Cold, but dry and sunny.
Evening all,
Good 10 miler for me yesterday, steady pace, taking 71 mins, left thigh still a bit stiff but better for today's rest. Doing my long run early tomorrow so off to bed soon.
Graham - they reckon double your half time and add ten mins for your marathon time, so I guess you 're looking at 2hours 5 mins for the half to get your expected marathon time. So set off at that pace and if you're feeling strong push on for the last few miles.
D2D - that sounds like a massive Oh no! moment, I take it you have now entered Abingdon.
Artie - welcome back, sounds like you have had a busy few weeks, what time you aiming for at stratford?
D2D - Didn't Abingdon sell out rather early last year too? I seem to remember it sold out shortly after FLM. If I don't run Stratford well, Abingdon is plan B.
Barry - my official target is sub 3:15. I did a 10 mile MP run this week and managed it comfortably at 7:04/mile. Speed is definately there, but endurance is more of an issue. Due to the problems I have had this last month, my weekly mileage hasn't quite been what it should have been. I'll see how my March mileage / LSRs / upcoming Half goes and make a pace decision then. I'd prefer to be conservative with my target and hit it.
Artie - might see you on the course then, I ran 3:20 last year at Stratford followed by 3:16 at Abingdon, so Sub 3:15 is the target.
Today was a nice, pleasant day to be running a half-marathon! It makes all the effort feel worth it.
I stuck to plan (thanks again, Barry) and finished in approximately 2:04 (awaiting official chip time). The RW marathon calculator predicts a full marathon time of under 4:19, so I would appear to be in line with my targets. Milton Keynes HM is a sight flatter than the Stratford FM, though, so I certainly can't be complacent. But for now I'm happy
.
Two weeks to the Ashby 20 for another preparatory race.
Well done Graham.
Did an 18 mile training run today, very chilly in the West Midlands at 7am and got round in 2hrs 39mins for my longest run to date. About 4 mins over the suggested RW programme time and I put that down to struggling to get the pace right in the first half of the run. Felt strong for most of the 2nd half, but trying to claw back a min or 2 at the end was too much. Still happy with the time and it's better to start conservatively than burn out later on.
Barry, with your proven track record, I dearly hope to see you in the closing stages at Stratford!
Graham - you appear to be running all the events I went to last year. Ashby was waaaay better than Milton Keynes, though I heard MK had a rethink after last year's shambles. Hope they turned things round.
20 miles for me today, seemed encouraging. I've never felt that good after running 20 miles. I know it'll sound stupid, but I always run well when the sun is shining. Only 7 weeks to go now. Is it too early to start thinking about the long range weather forcast?
Colin - It's been beautiful today in the WM! Sunshine and everything!
I was out on a 19 miler and although it was a little heavy going thanks to a late night in Wolverhampton (fate worse than death!LOL!) still knocked a little 2 mins off time.
Artie - you were obviously solar powered as I was!
I see that Milton Keynes is being described as a shambles again by some. I had no problems personally, and preferred the new start in the centre of MK. It seems that they just can't get bag storage right. I left mine in the car, fortunately.
Evening all
Did my LSR yesterday morning just over 20 miles in a little over 3 hrs. (9.05m/m) which is about MP + 60secs. The course was very undualitng with 5 short steep hills and one long drawn out steady climb the last mile was very easy though a very steep downhill but terrible on the knees. Felt really good on the run which is my 4th above 18 miles this year. One more twenty (At Ashby) and a 22 mile planned just before the start of the taper.
Graham - well done on your Half today and glad everything is on track.
Jules - was also in Wolvo Sat are you stalking me?
Take care all
Looking at my runs on garmin connect, it looks like i am slightly quicker now than i was at the same stage last year so feel that a sub 3 finish is a definite possibility. Anyway, good luck all. I am sure March will fly by so keep working hard !!!
Great to hear everyone's reports of the weekends run and that everyone's doing well.
The sun definitely made a difference this weekend.
Have a good weeks training all!
Dave.