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Greater Manchester Marathon - UK's Flattest Marathon 2014
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That's a fabulous report Graham! The cramp sniper. Love it.
Graham - that was a great report
Decided last night on my 2 mile bimble (good news legs still work) that i'm so over the time i did. My numbers up on the freezer (1st for 2014) and i'm just happy now i did it. The horrible bits are pretty much faded and i'm remembering the good bits. So it's onwards to the next challenge Chester 1/2 in 5/ weeks.
Thanks for all your support and advice over the last few months everyone this has been a really good thread. Who knows maybe i'll be joining you again
Love Chrissi x
Graham - I originally read your post up to "for anyone interested I wrote up my Manchester experience 2014. I missed last years event after suffering the hiccups" and thought that must have been some really bad hiccups!!
Great report, very funny and you managed to encapsulate many of the experiences marathoners endure during the race. It's this that separates it from 5 and 10k races. Even ultra runners have been known to say that the marathon is more brutal than many ultra distances because it's not long enough to go at a steady pace throughout but not short enough that you can avoid the ravages that distances takes on you. It's a weird addiction, in many ways. Well done on your race and getting through it
Passed him with a few miles to go. Looked absolutely surreal, never seen anything like it but he was soldiering on. he must have been on for a sub 3 finish as well, before all that shit kicked off.
Well done on him for finishing. I hope he was okay afterwards.
I saw a video once that was the end of an Ironman and two women were battling it out for the finish and they were like newborn giraffes. If anyone can find that, it's quite a watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1UvxxYIv3U#aid=P7Q_vdkCXZA
Believe this is it. Says marathon but apparently Ironman. Amazing, that bloke in the blue vest was exactly like the second lass to appear in this.
First post Manchester run at lunch time. I did 3 miles all at a very sedate pace. No niggles, no pains and everything appears to be in reasonable order. Will probably go for another run at the weekend.
What is everyone else doing regarding running this week ?
Carter - Im amazed your running. My legs are still in bits. Quads and hammies have really taken a battering. Today is the first day i feel "ok" walking, but stairs are still best avoided. I couldnt even think about donning my trainers again. I wasnt planning on doing anything until next week but i may go out for a v slow 3-4k this weekend, maybe even parkrun if my legs feel up to it.
John
I am taking off the full 3 days as is recommended in an article I read on this website. then doing a taper next week. I did my own thing for years only to never improve and to end up injured. I now search this website for articles wrote by the experts to help guide me along.
This week I'm doing b*gger all just because I'm lazy. Better halfs got london sunday so I'll support instead.
Hal Higdons guides for all levels recommend a week a full rest following a marathon. then the week after slowly reintroduce a couple of 3 mile runs with an hour on the Sunday of the second week. Liz yellng also takes a full week off complete rest after a marathon and thats good enough for me.
Carter, your powers of recovery are amazing. I did a 4 miler today but it hurt! Very, very slow indeed and everything felt tense and tight. It's helped though as it's not so bad walking around the house as a result but I can still feel the pain on the stairs. I have another rest day tomorrow, then 5 on Friday and the full weekend off. I promised the Mrs that one thing I will do after the marathon is take a full weekend off. Beer time!
4 recovery runs next week and i'm hoping to knock off a couple of Park runs in the last two weeks of the month before my holiday in early May.
SB - I really don't understand it. I was expecting to be hobbling around like an old man for days yet here I am feeling relatively OK !! I think it must be my post race recovery of kebab and Magners
Yes, that's the one.
I did a swimming session last night. Having coaching so couldn't miss it. The session before Manchester, I got told I kick too hard as I have 'heavy legs'. The heavy legs were totally true last night!
Off to the gym tonight and then trying to persuade my other half to take a 30 mile detour on the way to Ambleside to do Keswick parkrun on Saturday.
Well, I did 20 mins on Monday however my left toe nail is damaged, it is now too sore and hugely inflamed so have been forced to do nothing at all yesterday and today. I have been icing it and taking Ibuprofen to reduce the swelling, it is going to need further ice and rest though so looks like no running tomorrow either and then maybe friday 20 mins before some steady running at the weekend.
At this present time though my legs are still in bits, quads and calfs are the main problem. Still I shall look on the bright side, at least it means that I have almost zero chance of being ready to go back to the club on sunday so I can watch Mo on the box attempt to win London!!
Come on Mo!
Absolutely top notch write-up thanks for sharing - encapsulates both the spirit of marathons and the culture of Manchester...
I did 3 today and felt, heavy legged but not sore. Managed 28 miles on the push bike yesterday and was very surprised how little I felt the marathon in my legs while peddling, must be completely different leg muscles.
Tishtosh- I will pass the message on. I can't believe how long it took to recover- nightmare! I have never seen water pouches at races, and they don't seem to be the best idea from what you and others have said.
Happy recovery everyone and I hope to actually do the race and join the thread properly next year!
I hope they stick with the water pouch idea but work on how easy they are to use. I think the tripping hazard/waste side of things are all excellent, but ultimately if you cant use them on the run then they are useless and potentially dangerous with runners not taking on enough water.
On a completely separate note I just put my 1/2 PB into the mcmillan calc and i ran 10 seconds faster than my predicted marathon time. Not a bad estimate
Rob W, I sympathize, my right little toe nail is hanging off. Had a massive blood blister next to it on Sunday. I burst the blister and put a Compeed plaster over it on Tuesday to cope with wearing work boots. When I pulled the plaster off, the nail almost came off too and is a bit too sore to run on right now. Managed 2 miles on a cross trainer though, so I'm logging it!
I re-read the article it is actually one week rest and is based on tests.
for those interested, here you go:
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/post-marathon-the-key-to-recovery/2811-4.html
At the moment I feel like I need one month rest.
Came up from Plymouth with The Tamar Trotters running club for this one, my 3rd time but had a mare. Was hoping for a sub 3hrs 5 to get into London, did great for the first 13 then hit a wall... My legs were on fire and felt very warm whilst running, my split times make interesting reading, 1 hr 33 for the first 13 then 1 hr 53 for the next 13...ouch but had a great weekend as usual and be back again one day.. Still feeling very tired though but legs slowly come back to life.
AM, those McMillian conversion times are pretty stiff as well. You did well to get what you did.
Hmm, yes I just did that McMillan conversion with my HM PB of 1.37:50 (set two weeks before the marathon) and it says I should have got 3.25 something - 8 minutes quicker than I actually did on Sunday. I think the clear message is stick to the halfs. They're far more enjoyable after all (if ultimately less rewarding).
And yet I keep finding myself looking up future marathons, some of them not even that far away...
Pete- I was running behind a guy with a Tamar Trotters t shirt on for a lot of the first half - I was going to say hello thinking it was you however he had the name Smiffy on the back so I figured it was someone different
. Lost sight of him about halfway down Brooklands road (first leg).
Thank you kicked-it.... that is a fantastic report!
What an enjoyable read and really sums up the whole experience.
That's where i'm going wrong!
Nearly back to normal now, nothing but a very slight ache going downstairs but barely noticeable. Have the post marathon blues set in yet? There is a slightly odd empty feeling a few days after, once the fatigue goes. All that prep and anticipation and then it's suddenly all gone from your life, just like Christmas but without the sprouts.
There's a small part of me that wants to book another one for the autumn and then a larger part of me that tells it to pipe down and concentrate on (hopefully) London next year. I do need to get a race booked though, i've got nothing in the diary right now and I don't think a Park Run will fully scratch the itch.
On McMillan, if I enter my half PB, I was supposed to run it in 3:06:51 but actually ran 3.02.57. I can only deduce from that that my half time is ropey and needs some serious attention!