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Paris Marathon 2013
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Bronze - 4:30
Silver -4:15
Gold 3:59
My LSR have either been too slow ,with no fluids ,
Too fast for marathon pace , because I have something to do
Or just to tired to enjoy it
Gold - 3:59
Silver - 4:10
Bronze - Finish
There are three important compnents to the taper.
First, steady, reduced mileage. Over about 3 weeks as Eggy pointed out. Keeping moderate long runs is important.
Secondly, the frequency of your runs should be as normal (ie 4 or 5 a week or whatever is normal for you. Possible exception is the week before the marathon might want to drop one run)
Thirdly, and very importantly, the pace/speed of your runs should NOT decrease - you need to keep it up.
Gold - sub 4hr30
Silver - sub 4hr45
Bronze - finish
Not what I'd hoped for initially!
KS - Couple of random thoughts. Blowing up in the latter stages either means you're undertrained in pure endurance (which I don't think you are), are under fuelled or have gone off too fast and suffer for it later on. Do you have mile splits for Sunday or London?
The other thing is that the latter stages are tough - your whole body is screaming at you to stop. Having a pace plan from 1-26.2 (and a contingency) really helps. Would probably mean reining yourself in in the first 10 miles and pushing yourself hard in the last 6-8 but you'd know you were running at a pace you can achieve and that makes it far, far easier mentally.
Other thing is don't worry about your legs forgetting what to do. During the taper you'll tell yourself you're ill, that you're injured, fat...basically anything negative. BUT you'll be fine. Name of the game in the last 3 weeks is to do just enough to maintain 99% of your fitness gains while resting up.
Try and run the day before. The official breakfast run is only about a 5k jog on the Saturday morning. It'll relax you, keep you loose and the finish is the same as it'll be on the Sunday so you'll get to see what the last 300m are like and that's a big psychological help.
Thanks DLR, I think Sunday was a combination of not enough sleep, the wrong food for Saturday night (I ate a fair amount of rich stuff like salami and cheese, which I don't normally do) and going off too fast. My mile splits show the first 5 miles at 8:45 ish, which is probably a good 30 seconds too fast for the first 5.
I need to work on slowing myself down, I just don't want to get into a trudge pace, if that makes sense!
Thank you, it's really good to get advice and reassurances from people who know what they're doing and have done it all before!
Wow, I've spent ages going back through your pages - speedy lot, well done.
I managed my Half Marathon yesterday and I knocked a WHOLE TEN minutes of the last one, Sept. Romped home in 2.02. I was dead chuffed I can tell you. Wasn't even last - by a long way!
it was -5 at the start and the first loop was in a hoody, but that was ditched at 11k. Very sunny too.
Just been out for a 5k jog, feel good. Long may it continue. Still got over a week till my longest run - not looking forward to it.
Keep running...
KeyserSuze. Don't worry about a specific performance when running up fatigue in training. Think about the quality of your programme. That's what gets you round a mara. A one-off ideal race is a poor indicator of marathon potential, just as a one-off bad run is not very meaningful.
Last year I lined up for Rome Mara in March. My training had been perfect. Highest volume of miles, speedwork was complete, I was light and lean (around 8% body fat) and setting out for a new PB, targetting sub 2h50. I was psyched. I had been doing lots of running at 4:00m/km race pace and imagining running at that same speed around the Colliseum to the finish line.
Sat at the start line, I was quietly focused, race face on, determined to do well. The sun was direct but not yet hot. I was in the top 200 runners after an hours running - 15kms on the nail. But something didn't feel right. It was too hard work. I was using too much energy to try and hold the pace. I eased back a bit and by 23kms I decided to quit the race so I would have a chance of running fast in Paris, rather than killing myself to get round.
It turned out I had been running up to 99% of Maximum Heart Rate (which is insane). Generally in a mara I would run between 88-90% MHR tops). I had a low-level virus that lasted a couple of weeks before my heart rate returned to normal. I was 45seconds off normal pace going by HR.
Moral of the story: my race performance (first ever DNF) was not an evaluation of my potential. I was just ill. I sort of regrouped, had a 7 week taper and ran 2h54 in Paris. No one should focus on short term upsets. It's the quality of your whole programme that matters (and the racing gods looking upon you favourably on race day!). So pick yourself up, check yourself out and KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GOAL!!
Point to Iain for channelling his inner chimp and getting King Kong.
I haven't put any of my runs down. I'm trying to create an air of enigma and mystery. Is it working? Probably not. I'll def be there. Decided to do 13 on Saturday, then Ponteland on Sunday.
Suze - we all have bad days. You've done the right thing getting yours out of the way before Paris. Plus it's good you can put your finger on what went wrong so you can avoid making the same mistakes again. Altho I heard that it doesn't make a great deal of difference if you don't get a decent night's sleep the night before, it's the two or three before that are the crucial ones. Allegedly.
DV - good to hear everyone's ok. Know what it's like
Onetit - great running there. No wonder you're chuffed.
Thanks Tricky Dicky - wise words to focus on the long term goal!
Weedy - that's what I thought, that I'm a bit glad it wasn't to plan because I still finished the darn thing, and only 5mins behind the original plan. I heard that too about the sleep the night before - I think I just need to concentrate on getting a good amount of rest in the lead up.
Ondwards and upwards - efforts tomorrow!
Some great info on here as always. I never thought much about my taper before. I just ran a bit less and reduced my long run so that's really interesting. I hope that by tapering properly this time, and by eating and drinking right in the days before I'll notice a difference.
LOL - love it
Well done Onetit, great stuff!
DV - echo what Weedy said.
Never heard of in-car cameras before. I guess they're like the ones you see alot of cyclists wearing these days. My brother could have done with one of these when some idiot reversed into him on a main road and then claimed my brother went into the back of him!
List fairy - can you take my name off the (now cancelled) Paris tri, but add me to In the Long Run with TD.
I bought myself some flat shoes for work, thinking they would be kinder to the calves and hamstrings. Sadly, they are incredibly uncomfortable - back to the knee-high stiletto-heeled boots tomorrow. Sigh.
Re tapers - in a funny kind of way, although I still have a 17 miler, a 20 miler and a 10k race ahead, I sort of feel like I'm tapering already, because my total weekly mileage is reducing from now on. The intensity isn't though, so I need to stay focused.
RR - In The Long Run with TD (and IM2)!
DV - Horrible, but glad everyone concerned is 'ok'
Onetit - Well done and Congrats!
Wish I was in the 'Long Run' with you guys but sadly no summer hols.
9.35 miles tonight @9.20 average on absolutely shattered legs after yesterdays 15 and deliveries today.......but its more mileage in the bag!
Day off tomorrow and another 10-12 easy miles planned
Dannirr: 3h44-3h45-3h55
Dark Vader: Beat someone - Post on forum - Get an Eye Full
Dave the Ex Spartan: Pub-Pub-Pub
Eggyh73: 4h30-finish-stay alive
Emmy H: 4h29-4h45-4h55
Iain Moore 2: 4h30-4h45-Finish
James B 73: 3h58-4h05-4h15
Kaz1: Find daughters-Finish-Start
KeyserSuze: 4h12-4h30-Finish
Marathon Maus: 4h55-5h00-5h10
Orbutt: 4h05-4h10-4h15
PC91: 3h55-4h00-5h00
Peter Burke 5: 3h59-4h05-4h10
Running Rodent:
In-car cameras are ordered... will be here tomorrow... the other car was a Jag XK RR convertible... apparently the woman had borrowed it from her husband while her own car was having an MOT... I have to say, Mrs DV's Hyundai i30 estate came off better than the Jag...! I dread to think how much the Jag is going to cost to repair... or what the woman will tell her husband over dinner tonight.....
I'm going to buy Mrs DV a helmet-cam for her bike too.... she is biking about 150 miles per week at the moment and you just never know thesedays how safe the roads really are....
Scott the Walker: 3h59-4h15-4h30
Simon?? MacDoughnut: 3h30-3h35-3h45
SP13: 3h59-4h10-Finish
Sporty Badger: 3h15-3h20-3h25
The JimBob: 3h30-3h40-3h50
Tommy Mac 2: 3h50-4h00-4h25
Trevor Olver: 3h30-3h45-4h00
Tricky Dicky: 3h55-4h00-4h10
Yer_Maj: 4h10-4h15-4h20
BOO!
There's no way I can catch-up on the past few weeks!! Summary, anyone? From this page I can surmise that we're all on to medal targets...hmm...for me:
Bronze = start
Silver = finish
Gold = make it to the pub under my own steam
I managed 24kms yesterday but the last 7ish were proper end of marathon PAIN! Where pace drops by 30 secs per min, any change in surface was horror and just wanted to STOP. Legs today are shot too. oh the memories
PC61 - cheers for bronze/silver/golds dude.
well...first there was Tokyo with a lovely run around the palace, then lots of back and forth on Bowen road (only flat road with some non-traffic parts) in Hong kong, then there was courchevel in the three valleys. It's been a tough few weeks.
RS - Wecome back.
I got another 9 miles in tonight at 8:40 m/m average pace. Very happy with that, as the legs still felt a bit heavy after the 20 at the weekend.
Hi all! It's been a busy week or so for me so I've not had the chance to read back through the thread (especially at the pace it's been going!) but I hope everyone's training is still going well. Not long until the taper now, which is crazy!
Ran Silverstone yesterday- sorry The Jimbob I didn't get the chance to meet you, I think there must have been a rush of people finishing around the same time as me and the queue for the bag pick up took forever, so I didn't get to my phone until it was too late. My previous half PB was 2:17 (May last year), and I finished in 1:56!! I can't believe it! Only a week or so before I'd been saying to myself 'well, I'll try and shoot for 2:05 and I'll save sub-2:00 for Autumn' but after my successful 20 miler last week I thought I'd give it a go, and I can't believe it!
I don't really know now what my plan will be for Paris. I started this training cycle thinking I just wanted to beat last years time (5:03) and maybe try sub-5:00. And now I don't know what to think!
(apologies for the overuse of exclamation marks)