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MBNA Chester Marathon 2014
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10mile tomorrow morning with the training run from total fitness pacing the fun bus - say hello to pacers if you're there
Anyone started to check the weather forecast??
Looks pretty good at the moment,cloudy 15 deg,9mph wind
Not sure how accurate a week away though
Morning all just back from 8 miler, lovely morning wasn't expecting it to be quite so warm ! Lord Boz good news on the knee, wise move on 6.5 not much to gain on going any further all the work is done now, glad it's on the mend
This time next week eh!
Weather forecast looks good to me. I hope it stays that way.
Lord Boz, glad to hear your knee is behaving! Well done for resting and not being tempted to push things too much.
I'm noticing more aches and pains as the big day approaches but I think a lot is in my head too! I'm very nervous about the distance and just hope I'll make it. I looked at the course via mapmyrun and it looks lovely. Very rural but a village every mile or 2 which will provide a nice bit of opportunity for nosing into people's front gardens and seeing how the other half live!
Sounds good to me Liz
!! Now wondering which pace group to follow was hoping for a 4.30 super plod finish but based on training run of 23 miles finishing on 4:03 prob be around 4:35 Not sure to go with 4:30 group anyway and hope I can make up time a bit under race conditions or play safe with 4.45 
Heather have you done a marathon before? You are more likely to be quicker on the actual event that your training runs. You should be fine with 4:30 and the crowd and support of the pacer and other runners will keep you going.
Hi Liz , no this is my first, just don't want to over stretch myself on pace and struggle later on. Think I may just take a chance and try for 4.30 pace but will go at back of group then hopefully won't get in the way ! Come on Lord Boz nothing ventured an all that
Know where your coming from ! I will prob change my mind several times over the week ....I have 3 times in mind ....not that I'm indecisive !!!
Did 12 miles today in 1hr46. Had to go through city centre as my normal route blocked by 17,000 runners doing 10K Cursa de la Merc??.
Spin tomorrow, not pushing it, kettlebells Tues AM. Then just 4.5m to work Thursday and maybe 2-3 miles dead slow Sat AM? Not sure whether I should just do nothing this week though?
Hello,
running this for the second time and now getting v nervous. Was in chester today for school rowing event and walked the last mile with butterflies...
must remember that last stretch leading to the race course is longer than I think!!!!!
12 yesterday and 5 tomorow. I just hope my stress fracture (from last year's marathon ironicallh enough) does not raise it's ugly head.
Hope everyone else is just as terrrified../excited for the feeling of achievement once it is done.
bring on the rain and clouds for next weekend
the 22 degrees today was far too reminiscent of last year.
Thanks for advice Saintbarca.
Guess just a matter of ticking over this week I've got a 40 min run on Tuesday and short interval /strides session on Thursday. Will do usual yoga class and couple of gym sessions with weights but just upper bod and core. sports massage fri but not usual deep tissue.
Runningbagel ....yes terrified/exited just about sums it up !
Hope the stress fracture doesnt cause any probs.
Good luck to all. Hope everyones last biggish training run went well today! Just a few small runs to steer clear of last minute injuries and enjoy the anticipation that only marathon week brings.
Just back off a week's holiday and managed to run 58 miles (highest ever) in that week without any niggles or problems.
Hoping to set out at 7:30 miles and hang onto it for as long as possible which would give me a nice PB
Good luck everyone
Hi, did 10 miles yesterday which was fine although I must admit that I did feel tired. I seem to include a big hill in every run without intending to!
Just going to do two 3 milers and 1 hill session this week. I won't push hard in the hill session. Got an exercise class to teach on Wednesday and a sports massage booked for Sat morning.
Heather, I think Saintbarca is right. Closed roads and Sunday being the main event will make a huge difference. But if this is your first marathon you will get a PB regardless
Going to plan my meals and snacks for the latter half of the week. Staying off the booze now - had my last stella yeaterday!
Heather & LordB - as others have said race pace is usually a bit better than training so follow the pace group of your goal IF you've run some at that pace, chat with the pace group and pacers for support and for planning the 2nd half. First half is largely flatter than 2nd, so we'll all need a bit of thought re 2nd half. As pacers we discussed yesterday that we may bag a few seconds only in first half to allow fothose slowing on Farndon hill, and sandy lane- but otherwise we'll be keeping to pace.
Having run all the marathons run on this route - I do think it's a great test in 2nd half
Yes Heather having 3 times in mind is normal. When I'm running for myself I have several goals- finish, finish in pb , finish not in a personal worst. Following every race, like life itself,there's many points to analyse what went well and whatcould have been better. In Paris this year I set off with the 4hr pace group - a bit foolhardy I thought as pb is 4:17, but persuaded by my daughter- I managed to stay with the grouptell into second half. Last 2-3miles tough ( hey it's a marathon) but with some good banter with a SAfrican &Irish in last 2 miles delighted with a 4:18. Of course disappointed with the lost minute .
Happy tapering , don't do anything rash, enjoy the excitement building.
Thanks for the info Wrexhamrob. Am trying to run 8m40s/mile for as long as possible so as to bank a few minutes for the tougher second half and still get under 4 hours.
Looking forward to carb-loading later in the week. Vegetarian, so takes a little planning as does everything.
OMG I'm dreading this now. Is it very hilly in the second half Wrexhamrob?
On the positive side - what goes up must come down.
Thanks Wrexhambob much appreciated
Sorry spelling mistake !!!!!
I missed my 10 miler yesterday and my plan was to postpone it until tonight. I'm still not feeling too great so it looks like I'll have to scrap the 10 miles altogether now and just stick to my original midweek plan of 4 tomorrow, 3 Weds, 2 thurs and 2 sat.
I'm worrying that missing my planned 10 miler is a bad move, but at the same time thinking it probably wont have made much difference whether I did it or not being this close to Race Day.
Hilly 88 would be more inclined to rest up and build strength up than push your body when it's trying to recover as will only make recovery longer. The hard work is already in the bag. .....really feel for you at this stage, difficult when the head is telling you to do something else. Hope you feel better soon.
Nothing is going to deter me from completing 26.2 miles, even if I end up crawling over the finish line.