Marathon Race-Week Q+A: Liz Yelling

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  • Hm, James, do you think if you tried it it would make YOU famous as an ATHLETE?  Don't think so...

    Thanks for the answers Liz!  10-15 years and I might actually be able to keep up with you in fancy dress!  Maybe... (my aim is a GFA by 90).  Sorry to be saying thanks late... had to take the cats to the vet for vaccinations.  It was the only time I could work around work this week unfortunately!

  • Firstly apologies if anyone found my, what was suppose to be light hearted, question, in any way offensive or out of order. It was not my intention to offend anyone.

    My underlying point was more to do with the profile of marathon running and the athletes. In that if we ask most people to name marathon runners, they can only name one. Worse still they can only name them because of an unfortunate incident, rather than the fact they hold the world record. (Case in point the Smithy Comic Relief sketch).

    In answer to Rowan's question. No I don't think if I did the same thing it would make me a famous athlete. However, it probably would get a large amount of media coverage. You only have to look at the coverage the poor guy got when he had an unfortunate incident during a race and kept running. (700,000+ hits on YouTube and no mention of his name or time)

    In my opinion, it is a pretty poor state of affairs when our best athletes are only remembered by what they would rather forget than their achievements.

  • James.

    You've explained yourself very well, and I'm sure we'd all agree with you.  Take Liz for example. She does a fantastic amount for UK runners and even though it probably means she has a very good manager, so what, she's doing a great job whilst we rarely hear of Paula Radcliffe at present.

    I know that Liz and Paula and close friends, grew up together etc, and I'm sure that Liz wouldn't hear anything bad against Paula, but it disappoints me that after all the support she had from UK public Paula has not run the London Marathon for several years yet continues to run New York, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of her supporting UK running at present.  Maybe I'm wrong.

    So ignoring unfortunate events when running (and we all have them; 2 weeks ago I fell on the tow path of the river Medway and went over the edge; thankfully the brambles saved me a few inches above the water and there were no cameras around!), at present I'd say that Liz is doing far more for UK runners than her arguably more famous friend and colleague. So well done and thank you Liz.

    If that is the point you're making I'm with you 100%; just not in the way you first put it.

    Good luck on 25th!

    Ray

  • Grandadnohair - Paula's pregnant, which is possibly why she's taking a backseat from racing at the moment, although I bet she's still running!
  • True carovet, but she's only run competitively in the UK 4 times in the last 7 years: the Great North Run in 2007, the London Marathon in 2005, and the London Marathon and Great North Run in 2003. Whereas she's run 5 times in New York over the same time.

    My main point, however, is about supporting UK runners and the fantastic job Liz does by comparison - and she's recently had a baby too.

    But when all is said and done they're both heroins in my book.  I'd be happy with a 2 hour half marathon and a 4.5 hour marathon!  Liz finished the Wokingham Half 50 mins faster than me, and as far as I was concerned I was going flat out!!  (But then she's 35 and been running all her life and I'm 58 and been running for 2 years. I suppose that makes a difference!!)

  • You could also argue that someone is more likely to get injured when they are pushing themselves hard.  They are more likely to push hard when preparing for a race they care more about.  Therefore if Paula has missed UK races it's because she possibly cares more about them than New York...

    Of course this is all just speculation.  Paula's seemed a lovely person when I've seen her in public (and I've been around enough celebrities, mostly minor, to have a fair chance of spotting a fake).  She seems to have a lovely best mate too.  I think I'll trust that they are basically decent people and leave decisions on when they should and shouldn't run to them.  I'm sure they have good reasons.

  •  Liz - I met you at the Twickenham Lucozade training day, you were a great inspiration. My question is this: I will be running the Edingburgh marathon exaclty a month after London and I have been following RW's under 4hr schedule up to now, when and what training do I get back into for Edingburgh.

     Gareth

  • Hi Liz,

    Hope your well, when I saw you last, you were coming back from injury just before the Bristol half in October 2005 we sat near you and Martin at Breakfast just before the race.

    Just wanted to ask your advice, I have a niggling lower abductor injury,  but still am able to run even with just a little discomfort. Is it wise to run London with pain killers just so I can get beyond the discomfort in the first few miles?

    It's an injury that with the discomfort affects my form a little , but having been doing my 20's without too much trouble I should be able to get round. Don't think I'll get my target time (3:14), but do hope to still do a sub 3:30.

     Thanks

    Ian (Bishop's Stortford Running Club) 

  • Um guys, the Q&A was last Friday...
  • Hi Liz,

    I run my first marathon in Paris this year finishing in 3.48. I was very happy with myself and really enjoyed the race.

    I saw you for the first time during the Eton half-marathon in March and your advise helped me a lot. During the whole marathon I was reminding myself about your recommendations: do not run too fast to begin with, be strong in difficult moments and patient when "easier" moments arrive!

    I am preparing at the moment for the marathon in Amsterdam and I would like to prepare myself harder and to aim a better time: 3.30 - 3.35.

    How realistic do you think this is? I am planning to do 4 runs a week - two 3 to 6 miles run, 1 session of intervals and 1 long run. I would also like to add more fartleks in my training in order to increase my pace. Is that a good thing to do? What else could you advise?

    Thanks for your help,

    Sonja

  • I just can't bring myself to say it...
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