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Milton Keynes 2014
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Sounds like everyone's training is ramping up now we're getting closer to race day, and also sounds like a few injuries/niggles are creeping up too. Don't forget to listen to your body and rest if you have to. There's no point in risking anything and regretting it later on!
Milton Keynes half marathon on Sunday for me and the weather is looking perfect for it. Makes a change considering the weather over the past 2 years for the half.
I'm stunned with the weather forecast for Sunday. Got the Cambridge Half (it's racing season) and that's going to be a good benchmark for training.
Echo Jamie's thoughts - keep it sensible - I did a recovery run over an intervals session on Tuesday and just trying to keep the legs ticking over.
Good luck to all for the weekend!
While training for this I'm running the Sandy 10 at the end of the month, so while I'm ramping up distance I've also been trying to work a bit of extra speed training into my schedule.
Almost broke my 5k Garmin best in the dark last night. Hadn't got anywhere near it in my last few Parkruns, so good to see a bit of progress there.
Heels are suffering a bit today, mind.
Hope that everyone had a good running weekend - it was a bit hotter than we've all been used to!
I managed a PB at the Cambridge Half (1:34) despite the wheels falling off around mile 11 - think I'd missed out on a couple of water stops and could have done with a gel.
8 weeks today...
One of my knees splaying up so taking a week off, but should still be on schedule for first sub 4:30
if my knee is up to it, then hoping to do a half in a couple of weeks.
so far so good for me. I did the Mk half yesterday and knocked almost 2 minutes off my last pb. 1.50.17. Also hopefully experienced a little bit of the route. Not quite convinced that I will get a sub 4 hour marathon time with that.
Last week I got up to 17 miles in my long run. worked out as 9.33 permile so who knows.
Knee playing up so had 4 days off then did the Salisbury 10 mile race on Sunday, ran it in 75mins 27secs. Legs very achey now but hoping to do a gentle run tomorrow.
Congratulations on the PB's Neil and Kelvin.
Hope the week off helps the knee BT!
Kelvin: trust in the great McMillan calculator
that estimates you need a 1:53 half to be able to get a sub 4h marathon, if I was you I'd be over the moon with your 1:50. That's really encouraging.
Scott: thanks
first run will be Wednesday 
First 15 miler for me today. Bad experience due to having an upset tummy which was aggravated during the last 3 miles
. Also struggled a lot mentally with being out for that length of time (2 1/2 hrs) despite my other half meeting me on his bike half way around for support. Not particularly looking forward to next weeks 18 miles now....
Thanks book. I think If keep to my training plan and have no slip ups I should be good. Definitiely try to keep a even pace for the race.
Don't know if anyone is following the MK marathon on Facebook but they are still to confirm the energy gel provider - their previous supplier dropped out. Looks like they will have something in place, but might be worth training by carrying your own, just in case!
What a weekend for running, did a 15 miler yesterday and just a recovery today- next weeks 18 miler will be unknown territory.
Emjay: you got the 15 miles done thats what is important
Neil: had a look at the Facebook page, lets just hope they get something sorted
My knee is really playing up so hardly any running but 21km walk along pennine way yesterday inc 640m of elevation and 8km walking today is better than nothing.
I crashed and burned horribly with my attempted 15 mile run last Sunday (ran out of puff just short of 12), but after taking it slower, I thankfully managed it today.
Thanks Scott. Managed to pick myself up a little last week and managed to complete my first 18 miler this afternoon! It was a tough ride from about 12 miles but stayed positive and allowed myself a couple of walking breaks towards the end to keep the morale up lol. Legs were struggling when I got home though but nothing a bit of foam rolling couldn't relieve!
It it seems we're all having our ups and downs now that we're hitting that crucial period! Well done Ivor & book I'm sure your walk will have been a welcome relief mentally as well as giving the knee a break
. I skipped a shorter run last Friday for a spin class which gave me a boost not having to face that same stretch of road yet again lol.
I'm definitely starting to get "same stretch of scenery" fatigue.
Main problem is that options are limited beyond 5 miles for safe running, and I'm desperately trying to avoid doing laps of the same route over and over as my distances pick up.
The local cycle path (Route 51, fact fans) is perfect for running, and gives me a really good 7.5 mile route to the next town over, at which I can loop back round a great park and boating lake, which then brings me to 15 miles and leaves a few minutes walk back to my front door.
If I'm honest I'm pretty lucky to have this locally, but I'm starting to see an awful lot of this bloody path.
7.5 miles today, jog on Thursday, another 7.5 miles on Sunday, and then I've got a couple of easy runs ahead of a mid-plan hurtle - the Sandy 10, a week on Sunday.
Hope the walk helped the knee Booktrunk, fingers crossed you will be back to running soon.
Well done on getting through your first 18 miler Emjay- I've got that to come this Saturday.
Should nudge just over 50 miles this week, which will be my highest weekly mileage yet, so will be interesting to see how the legs will be feeling come next week, did a steady 11.6 miles this morning.
Wow 50 miles! My schedule doesn't take me over 45 at peak but I couldn't manage much more than that anyway!
Legs are't feeling too bad today at all, woke up with a stinking headache at 6am probably through dehydration from yesterday, as I sipped water from a small handheld bottle so I could avoid toilet breaks lol.
This week I've got 6 miles intervals at 5k pace tomorrow, 10 miles easy on Thursday, then I'll have another rest day on Friday as Saturday morning will be my first opportunity to do my local parkrun which has been cancelled pretty much since it started due to the park being flooded! Easy 3 or 4 miles Sunday then my next 18 miler on the Monday, some of which needs to be at my marathon pace!
The 26.2 is starting to feel so much more achievable now that I know I can manage 18!
Ivor your route sounds lovely! My runs are usually at rush hour/dusk after dark which means I habitually run variations of the same route around town to stay safe and avoid getting run over. I'm right on the outskirts of town though and in the opposite direction there are miles and miles of country roads easily reachable. I'm hoping I can make use of these more once the clocks go forward to break the monotony!
Key times now - looks like people are starting to up the mileage quite nicely
I'm not going over 40 miles on my training plan - life does let me do more than 4 runs per week but I've done 2 20 milers already and it's a massive psychological boost when you start getting the long runs in. I struggled on the first 20 but the mental strength you get from having done it is brilliant - the second was easier as I knew my fuelling and hydration strategies a little more.
Good luck to everyone for the long runs this weekend.
I've got to do some rejigging to my schedule to accommodate the 10 mile race I'm doing a week on Sunday, and I'm in two minds whether to do a scheduled 17.5 mile run the weekend before, or the weekend after the race.
It's not ideal either way, and if I do it after it will mean I'm doing 48 miles in 8 days, as I have a 20 miler scheduled the Sunday after that. That is my inclination at the minute though.
It really is all getting a bit real now.
Sounds like theirs some big weeks of training left for all of us now, starting to get closer to the actual run now.
Just a quick question for the longer longs how much do you typically drink and how much do you eat?
Scott - I tried no gels for over an hour, and then one every 30 minutes or so in my first 20 miler. Crashed in miles 13-15 because I hadn't loaded enough in. Did a bit of a survey of other people around the same pace (3:30-3:45) and the general consensus was a gel every 4 miles or 40 minutes. I tried 40 mins and it was fine over my last 20 miler. So I'll aim for 0:40, 1:20, 2:00, 2:40, 3:10.
I'll probably take on water at each stop but a mixture of over the head (betting it'll be warm!) and sipping.
everyone is different scott.
I did a 20.5m the other week and only had 1l of water, and it's the first time i've drunk all my water i had with me and wanted more.
Food wise, I know what gels i get on with. So I don't eat on runs I always wear my salomon pack in training and it's got a couple of long life flapjacks and a gel in it, just in case i ever crash and really need to eat something, but I just don't eat on a normal training run, but they are there just in case i faint or feel dizzy or something
But before my first couple i had loads of jelly babies on long training runs or gels so i could see which ones i got on with. I like the high5 isogels can suck them in without needing water and don't make me poo or have any other side effects 
Marathons are going to be a breeze compared to the training runs, as i'm ODing on Gels in the race. every half hour or so, as I really think it makes sense to try to keep your levels up and waiting until you've burn all your energy off before starting to replenish it doesn't make much sense.
I've got a bottle belt which holds two 240ml bottles. I only took one out on my 15 miler last Sunday, and I only drank maybe 40ml out of it, which really surprised me.
I had one gel while out too. There were two little bags of Haribo on standby in my back pocket, but they weren't needed.
I generally take more than I ever need, but I'm starting to try and rein this in a little. I reckon if I took the same again for 17.5 mile and 20 mile runs, I'd be fine.
During my aborted first attempt at 15 miles, I ate and drank far too much, and I'm sure that's a lot of what did me in.
I've been having shoulder pain in recent longer runs, so I'm trying to get out of the appalling habit of keeping constant tabs on my watch, as I'm sure it isn't helping.
And bloody hell. I postponed a 7.5 mile run from yesterday until this afternoon, paid scant attention to my speed, judging it purely on how I felt, and along the way I've beasted my Garmin 10k best by almost 3 minutes.
A reasonable amount of the run was gradual uphill and into the wind as well.
I've got a couple of blisters for my trouble, but I've taken more than 4 minutes off my best in the last few weeks. Up until then it was 56 minutes dead, and now I'm under 52 minutes.
I've got a couple of 10k races coming up in June as well, so I'll be very interested to see how I get on with those.
For my 18 miles I had SiS gels at mile 7 and mile 12. Sipped water from my bottle which holds 350ml but could have done with more. In future I'll plan a route which passes a shop after half way so I can buy more to top up or a sports drink. My other half met me at 12 miles and kindly brought a banana but I was worried it would sit on the stomach so didn't eat it. Had horrendous hunger pains after 14 miles so was kicking myself about that. Next week I'm going to try taking a flapjack, jelly babies or a Nakd bar with me if I can fit it in my hip bag to see how I get on with taking on food.
Had to post phone today's interval run due to yet another tummy upset though, Grrr! Will make up for it over the next few days but will have to drop Sundays easy 3 miler and will run to and from the parkrun on Saturday which will boost that up to 5 miles.
Also I've just bought High 5 ISO gels to try as they're currently on sale on wiggle if anyone's interested.....thats what they'll be providing us with on race day.
If you get on with the High 5 stuff, look for the Marathon Packs - loads of gels, drink tablets, and othet assorted grim-sounding powders in there ("whey isolate" - yum). Wiggle have it for £11.99, and they were instore in TK Maxx for under a tenner recently.
They're not my favourite, but seeing as though I have about 20 of the things knocking about the place at the minute, I'm persevering with them.
That's a great spot Emjay - I use the orange ones rather religiously at the moment! (although I hate the sugary feeling afterwards so am going through toothpaste quickly too
).
Sounds like you're wise in upping the food. I was a bit stubborn about it ("oh, I won't need that much") but I think I was just naïve and foolish - makes a huge difference.
ivor - that sounds like you are in great form! I can get into a bit of a watch looking habit (I have a half marathon where all of the photos have me either looking awful and/or looking at my watch!). I would love to run without it but still have the stats! One guy I know puts sellotape over the screen...
It was £15.49 for a box of 25.... The same box is around £23 on Amazon. Also it's BOGOF for a box of the standard gels if anyone prefers them to isotonic.