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Sub 3.30 2011
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O4S you're miles ahead of me in terms of age grading though
Heavy dose of ibuprofen on Sunday morning?
Good to hear others are feeling the same re: doubts! I'm also pretty tired this week, I'm usually tired and just put it down to all the miles but when it's Thursday and I've only run 12 miles so far this week I should surely be a bit more energetic?!
I've packed the laptop and dongle so will likely have another post-Expo update tomorrow, but in case my bag disappears off the train on the way to London - GOOD LUCK to everyone and remember: TRUST THE TRAINING!!!
Good Luck everyone!! I'm getting the train at 10.00am tomorrow and won't have internet access until I get home on Monday pm, when I'll let you know how it goes and if I managed to wreck Daren's shoes!!
I want to hear about lots of sub 3.30's even if I have had to revise my target to sub 3.45. Weather forecast is geting worse if anything as regards the heat, but I'm just looking forward to the pub on Sunday pm!!
I'll look out for you on green carrot and O4S. I'm 30134, black shorts, reddish top with ANNE in white letters on the front. Gel belt with about a gazillion gels (I always overdo them!). Hair brown and short.
I'm another with doubts creeping in....feeling a bit sick with nerves today. I think it's because this year my training has gone so well and I've set PBs all over the place, so there really is no excuse not to go sub 3.30. But so many things could go wrong!
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!
Morning all! Popping back to wish everyone GOOD LUCK. Hope everyone enjoys the day and smash their targets.
I hoping that being nervous is a good sign as I am just simmering at the moment - right, back to eating....
Did my last run last night. 3 miles. Feeling fine. Fortunately very busy teaching this week so no time to think about Sunday. Nervous about missing the 3 trains I need to get to London tonight though. Had mild panic when I realised I had no idea where Expo was - found it now though on the net.
For all of you on Sunday:
May the rain fall gently from the skies, may the wind be always on your back and may the road rise to meet you.
Apologies to an abused Irish proverb
Hi. Just want to wish everyone on this forum the very best of luck for Sunday. I posted my earlier training runs on here, but then started to follow a slightly faster target of 3:15 and jumped between threads. It's my first marathon and I know it'll be tough, so I'll just be happy to finish.
I'm on the red route, pen 3. My number is 40707; I'll be wearing an orange I CAN vest. Come and say hi.
Best of luck to you all. Rob
Oh, and remember happiness is ... straw coloured urine!
Arrived in London in one piece, Expo done and an early icecream consumed in anticipation of Sunday!
Go for it Freemers, you know you have it in you it's just a case of putting it all into practice on Sunday (and not going off too fast!)
Good luck to both JR and Rob, pleased to hear you're both gunning for a faster time.
HH you should get here fine what with all the travelling you're used to doing!
Off to see Phantom of the Opera tonight, plus some dinner out. Maybe a little glass of wine! Saw so many folks enjoying drinks in Covent Garden this afternoon, I was only a little bit envious....
Might see you ladies at Green on Sunday, I'm in pen 4 (must have said 3:30 rather than 3:29!)
Good luck everyone!!! I'll be popping the ibuprofen and keeping my fingers crossed but it'll be a 'see what happens' race for me. Expo sorted too. Not impressed with the addidas tech T this year- the VLM2011 logo is blatantly coming off in the first wash. Ahh well.
Worst preparation for a marathon ever for me. Even last night too,staying with a friend and met after work. Have to admit having 2 pints of Youngs bitter. I've been good all training- no alcohol and then I blow it. I don't know if that's my race destroyed in 2 drinks. I sure hope not. It's taper madness. If it's not an injury, something is bound to try to mess with my head!
Enjoy and see you on the other side!!!
Gooooood Luck To ALL - Boing Boing
First of all, that was bl**dy hot.
Second of all I am so chuffed with 3.24.42 chip time...I didn't quite run the race I planned and it may not have been the smartest tactic to run the first half in 1.38.xx but I just decided to go for it and see how long I could hang on...
Split times:
1. 7.57
2. 7.20
3. 7.21
4. 7.29
5. 7.19
6. 8.06 (I think that mile might have been a bit long...)
7. 7.06 (and that one felt short!)
8. 7.18
9. 7.30
10. 7.31
11. 7.34
12. 7.35
13. 7.35
14. 7.05
15. 7.45 (OK so feeling alright but it was heating up quickly)
16. 7.55
17. 7.54
18. 7.40
19. 8.04 (starting to slow but keeping the legs working)
20. 8.06
21. 8.11
22. 8.29 (starting to get really painful)
23. 8.25
24. 8.39
25. 8.09 (sped up when I passed my family!)
26. 8.56 (that really hurt!)
26.2 1.34
Official time 3.24.42
I hope everyone else had a good race...look forward to reading your reports later.
Im also on a train. Back to Aviemore. Glass of wine in hand...
Er yes. Tad hot and humid and no breeze. Watch time 3:40. Knew I wouldn't make 3:30 when the cloud burned off so slowed down. At least didn't walk any. Amazing race for the incredible crowds.
Very glad of the water every mile and mighty impressed with every aspect of the race organisation.
There's some unfinished business though so hoping Edinburgh is not so hot?
Interested to hear how others faired. It's been a privilege to be on this forum.
Well done Freemers and HH, great stuff especially considering the conditions! Isn't it cruel that we train all winter in nice cool weather and then it's 20 degrees on the day.
Oh well, as you may have guessed my race didn't exactly go to plan. Was still feeling not quite 100pc after being ill and even on Saturday I was having doubts about whether it was wise to compete. Glad I did though, despite finishing way off target in 4:06:38.
Started fine and kept on pace nicely for the first half, although found the congestion a bit difficult at times - went through halfway in about 1:51, but within a few miles of that it started going wrong. Started getting shivers with the heat (found out eventually that I needed to pour a whole bottle of water over me every mile to keep them at bay!) and slowing quite dramatically. By about mile 15 I'd well and truly hit the wall and the remaining 11 miles were just a battle to keep going. I managed to though, didn't walk a step, and in the end, despite not even getting close to my revised 3:40 target, I still feel proud that I battled on on a difficult day.
On one hand it's frustrating because on my last long run I did 22 miles in 3:06 and felt great at the end - yesterday I went through 22 miles in 3:18 and felt awful, but on the other hand at least I feel I did the best I could on the day and I'm happy with that.
It was a great experience in hindsight, but at the moment I'm definitely saying never again! The last 11 miles were hell!
How did the rest of you get on?
Well done Freemers and HH.
I've been dreading this post! I got round in a personal worst - 4.24, a few seconds slower than 2007 FLM. I'm bitterly disappointed. The story of my race was similar to yours Daren, but replace illness with injury. I got to halfway in 1.56 (I too was running in a large crowd and wanted to avoid weaving). I was a bit disappointed with that, but by half way I was struggling.
I couldn't believe it. Whilst I hadn't run for 4 weeks, I got the long runs in up to 22miles and never tired at 13 mile point. Yesterday though was a different story. This led to my demise, I was hurting when I saw my charity at 15 and then my mental state worsened.
To cut a long story short, I walked about 3 miles after Docklands to mile 23 with only intermittent running. I can't believe my race led to that.
I've restrained my calf (now back to how it was when I first did it) so clearly my body was trying to compensate.
Perhaps a question for a different forum, but the phsyio was critical of my glutes/hips and towards the end of the race I noticed how I was completely dependent on tired legs. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can improve these muscles? This is the reason for the injury and I fear that it is preventing me from a sub 4 marathon. Three to my name now and (although all have been in bright April sunshine) haven't met my target. Can I fix this or am I just more suited to shorter distances?
Daren - I think you've had a great battle and came out on top. The heat takes off a lot of time and considering your illness, you did well to keep going. You wouldn't have wanted to end up passing out like Sophie Raworth (while on the subject, I had a chat with her on route, she's lovely!). To not stop too is a great plus.
My body just wasn't up to it yesterday. My focus now is sort out my hip strength and look at running marathons in cooler conditions - Amsterdam 2011 is looking good.
Likewise TT - your injury definitely didn't help. I'd say more core exercises (esp planks) as well as glutes. For glutes try squats and lunges - but squeeze your glutes as you push up so you use them for the power rather than quads. Your race mirrored mine in 2000 - pretty much the same times at half way and the finish. Like you I fell apart at mile 15 that year - carrying an injury. I cried the last 10 miles and must have walked more than I ran. Horrible experience....but it leaves the memory eventually, and you'll have a much better run next time if you can sort out the injuries and get more all round strength.
And another tale of woe - although mine has a slightly happier ending as I managed to come in 5th in the W60 category
I knew I was in trouble as soon as the sun came out, but I kept a steady pace until half way, on target for 3.40. Then in Docklands a combination of heat and being constantly blocked on the narrow road after turning right at around 14 miles, led to a sudden and depressing loss of form and I just couldn't seem to get going again. Was pouring water all over me at every drink station and managing to drink a little, although it was starting to make me feel queasy. Kept running at a lsow but steady pace and finished in 3.52.55, one minute faster than last year. Mr O4S finished in 3.57.22 so has his GFA for next year. The crowds as always were amazing, but the heat was just too much for me. To improve my time I need a cooler, less crowded event - but it was reassuring to see that nobody in the W60 broke 3.30. Perhaps it is time to grow old gracefully.......................................
Best bit for me was meeting Minni and a couple of the girls from the other RW 3.30 forum and then seeing Mr O4S coming in only 5 minutes behind me. Sorry I missed your shoes Daren and well done on just getting round on the day. Onward and upward guys!
Well Done Freemers, great effort to crack the 3:30. Great effort everyone else too in the conditions.
I started in the red start and when I got to pen 5 where I was supposed to me there was no-one there because everyone was just going forward, not sure if people had been called forward or whether it was just a free for all! Basically it was impossible to do 8 min miles anyway due to the congestion so I guess I decided to aim for 3:45. 10km-15km was worst part for the congestion looking at my splits and I got through half way at 01:49:21 which was probably a few min slower than I'd have liked.
Anyway around 14-15miles the congestion had eased but I was already slowing by then.By 25km I was really tying up like last year but not quite as bad. I finished in 03:56:33 which was 11 minutes better than last year. I'm pretty pleased with that the last 5 or 6 miles was tough as I could see that 4 hours might even slip away again.
Looking at the general times for last year I think the hot weather probably accounts for around an extra 5 minutes for runners around 4 hours. I came 8400 and last year I'd have had to run it about 5 minutes quicker for that sort of place. Not very scientific I know!
Really don't know what I could do differently to stop tailing off so bad in the second half.I did the free advanced programme on here, so you'd think I'd have done enough miles! Only mistakes I made were giving blood about 6 weeks ago and the weather being hot yesterday. Still room for improvement I think so I'll be back for another
Just got back.
A fantastic run for me.3.19.30.I hugged the lady who gave me the medal,the one stood behind her and another one just further on the road.I only stopped when i got the photo stands.
My splits are as follows 8.05,7.39,7.06,7.07,7.20,7.26,7.20,7.22,7.28,7.15,7.32,7.19,7.25,7.19,7.47,7.18 from here it goes hay wire with8.29,8.32then6.01,6.17I presume it's a blip with the garmin.Then it went back to 7.40,7.39,7.53,8.06 and 7.39 for the last mile.I felt great and passed loads.I got to 8 miles on the hour.16 miles bang on 2hrs and slowed slightly getting to 24 miles in 2 mins over 3 hrs.I went through the half way mark in1.38 bang on the money.My only bad point was at 10 miles where ihad a shortspell of thinking i'd gone off too quick.i planned on taking on a gel at 10,15 and 20 miles.In hindsight i should have taken one at 9 miles.They obviously worked though as i felt strong pretty soon after taking them.I had another one at 23 miles too although i couldn't face the lucozade sports drink and slung it straight away.I needed the water far more.
When we turned towards the finish at parliament i looked at my garmin and knew i could do sub 3.20 and really kicked on.I got my head down,never saw Buck house and only looked up when i turned into the finish straight.I was absolutely buzzing along that bit.The highlights for me where the drummers under the fly over and a lady in the crowd who shouted my name and gave me such a boost by her encouragement that i almost stopped to hug her.All the way round i thought the crowd was brilliant.It has to be the greatest sporting event in the country.It brings the best of of people and makes you realise that the country is full of wonderful people.I loved it all.As you probably can tell.
This years training has been faultless.I've had neither injury or illness and that's made the difference.I want sub 3.15 next time.
Well done Daren.I can understand your frustration but you've ran a marathon while not 100% that's quite an achievement.On another day you'll achieve your goals.
I'm gutted for you TT.It's obviously disapointing when you've trained all those weeks.The trouble is you can only prepare yourself for the day but injury and illness is out of your control.It's a sickener but i'm sure you'll have a good run next time out,touch wood.
First of all - a huge WELL DONE to everyone for finishing yesterday. It was a warm one! I saw a fair few folks getting medical attention around the course and more at the finish. We all have our medals, many of us have raised stacks of cash for very worthy charities, and, lets be honest, our non-running family and friends don't really know the difference between a 2:59 and a 5:15 marathon!
Bloody marvellous performance from Freemers, a bad marathonexperience in the past must have made that time seem all the more sweeter. Congratulations, you should be very proud of yourself
Go O4S!! 5th is excellent, really well done. You're an inspiration to me, I love hearing your stories of offical and unofficial ultras, your poor disappearing husband and how well you do in something you seem to enjoy so much.
TT - you did well to start after the last few weeks. I hope your mood starts to lift over the next few days, you should be proud to have another marathon under you belt. Definitely get back to physio, take it easy for a few months, I'd definitely recommend Amsterdam (and autumn marathons are good in that you're used to heat having spent summer training) BUT don't feel as if you have to do it just to run the time you're capable of. If you're not 100% fixed I wouldn't be going back into marathon training.
Stay with us HH! Like O4S, I love hearing your tales of training. 3:40 is a marvellous time, especially in the heat yesterday. Fingers crossed for you that Edinburgh isn't what it has been the last two years, surely can't be hot again?!
My race report to follow...
Brilliant Howey, a really exciting read!
I did 3:33:04, not quite a pb but 3 minutes quicker than last year, so not gutted but not over the moon either.
Tom, I do know how you feel, I had an awful run in 2008, and I was miserable afterwards. Took a while but I got over it and you will too.
wanted to post and say well done to:
Freemers, a stonking run - brilliant!!
HH - cracking effort too, the heat was shocking!
Daren - don't beat yourself up, you were not feeling great beforehand and this would have had an affect!
Howey - Brilliant run from you too. Reckon there's plenty more to come under some cooler conditions?
Carrot - What was your time? I'm being impatient, too lazy to go back a page or have missed it.....
Mr P - Nice run indeed, great result to run in faster than last year, in tougher conditions.
TT - hard luck but not the best buildup, so a cracking effort none the less in the heat.
I had a great day, managed 3:13:40 for my first crack at a marathon. Really suffered afterwards, had cramp everywhere even in places I didn't think I even had muscles!!!
Congrats again to everyone
I started my post then paused for tea and a couple had nipped in .Great going O4S.5th in your age group is tremendous.
GOG.Don't beat yourself up over your time.I do believe it's how you feel on the day that has a massive bearing on your performance.If you've followed a program you can do no more.It's in the lap of the gods after that.Under 4hrs is very good and as you say it also makes you more determined next time.
Hard lines Mr P.I understand your frustration.Those 3 minutes are a fraction of your race yet they can spoil it also.
Come on Carrot we need a report.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...
Saturday I was a little bit apprehensive, we spent too much time on our feet sightseeing and not enough time drinking H20 and sitting down! Did Westminster Abbey followed by Westminster where the cruel guide told us that we were strictly not allowed to sit down or drink anything for the 75 minute tour. By the time we'd done both my feet were aching and I wanted a seat somewhere. Got back to the hotel about 4:30pm, had a little lie down before going out for the standard spaghetti bolognese dinner, with glass of wine and pint of water.
Woke up feeling good, got vaselined and factor 50-ed up, dressed and took my bagel to the dining room downstairs and asked one of the waiters to toast it for me in the kitched (you can never be too careful with hotel breakfasts!) Checked my bag one last time and headed for the tube to Charing Cross. Got the train heading towards Maze Hill, even a seat on the train! Then stopped at Blackheath and everyone had to get off the train, so a little diversion to the start but still the same distance to walk and no big hill to climb from Maze Hill Station.
Portaloo stop outside of the Green start area, said goodbye to my boyfriend who then headed off towards our arranged spot at 25 miles. More vaseline and suncream, gels stuffed in my pockets, cheked I had everything, dumped my bag at the baggage truck and joined the massive queue for another stop at the portaloo. By the time I got to the front it was 9:30am, so then made my way to my pen. Chatted to a girl probably only a few years older than me with a 100 marathon Club vest on! She'd done 52 last year... and then we were off! The usual chirping of watches being set away, and off we all went.
I ran 7:55 pace as planned for 10 miles then gave up and jogged round. Finished in 3:59:49. The heat was too much for me. I was dehydrated despite drinking about 10 bottles of water and taking on 5 gels + 4 orange segments. I got sunburn and heatstroke. I still had a temperature that night. I enjoyed the day and the experience. I was right to slow down. Otherwise I would have been one of the many I saw being stretchered off into ambulances!