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Loch Ness marathon 2014
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Andy, as BT says, where did you get your paces from? if you can run 5k in sub 22 mins then if you train properly mcmillan suggests 3:34 for the marathon!!
I can't really comment on the content of your plan as this is just my third attempt and seem to run out of stamina hence the inclusion of a MLR midweek
Tell us about this 2.1 loosener pre race - I have just gone out on the Saturday for an easy 2 miler.
Regarding the barefoot quest, I started out 10th April (up to 1 mile yesterday) so just finding me feet right now (see what I did there lol).
Regarding the Vibrams etc, I started out in them and made it to 7.5 miles before thinking about barefoot and have since read that it is actually better to transition to barefoot before trying minimalist shoes - apparently the risk of injury is greater as you have little protection as in barefoot but without the 'feel' of the ground and you may learn with poor forrm/gait. I'm just starting a little blog but it's a bit uninteresting at the moment.
Going barefoot on my single track roads wakes up most of the drivers round here
My 3:45 based on my hope of breaking 1:45 half on Monday! which according to McMillan will give me 3:40, so 5 mins extra for the hills
3:59 is based on my most recent half marathon time of 1:51 (March).
I cycle to work each day and hate the car so don't really want to change that if I can help it. Really my plan was based on 3 main runs a week Tuesday/Thursday/ Sunday, loosely based it around what I have been doing for the half marathon just added a lot more miles in Thursday/ Sunday and intervals/ hills on the Tuesday.
I would think most weeks my legs wouldn't let me go all out at the parkruns
can maybe look at doing a easier parkrun with a couple of miles after at easy pace to get me used to running when tiered?
Good luck for Monday Andy!
As BT mentions, make the plan work for you rather than fitting into a rigid plan, if the doublers work for you then imo you should stick with them
As for the hill training, do you live in a particularly flat area or do your normal runs incorporate hills as well? Running up hills is most peoples idea of hill training but remember LN is a negative incline run so you need to train for running down hills as well (about 3,000ft decline and 2,000ft incline if I remember correctly.
Hills are probably my weakness, not that hilly around here. Although I live at the top of on incline, so count every run as a hilly run
According to my Garmin stats over the last 30 days I've averaged a 48m decline and 55m incline (total 626 loss/715m gain) so if we're looking at 900/600m elevation change I really need to step up and find some hills or add a lot more than 5 mins to my predicted time to cover them!
Thanks for the advice.
Looking forward to testing my recovery tomorrow at the Milton Keynes marathon. Hopefully will get somewhere close to 4 hours. Glad I've signed up for Loch Ness as it will keep my motivation going over the summer.
Andy, probably best to find some hills (or do repeats) rather than just add time? The downhill section will really get your knees too!
Sheesh, it's never too early to start
I begin my 18 week plan tomorrow so with 21 weeks to go I have 3 weeks for injury/illness/lazyitus built in. Whilst I'm sure the Fartleks will help I doubt they would so soon (I think 'they' say 6 weeks for improvements to be seen).
Alastair, good luck for tomorrow!
Alastair: How did MK go?
I had a bit of a pants run, various excuses, but still didn't get the time I wanted. But onwards and upwards, or rather downwards as far as time is concerned I hope!
Hi Booktrunk and Andi. I had a terrible Milton Keynes Marathon. I was going along nicely at 11miles when my foot started hurting got through half way on 8:50/mile pace but by 17 miles the pain was getting worse so I adopted the hobble/run/walk training technique. I finished on 4:14 (my second slowest). I've also got sunburn on my shoulders! I must say the support was fantastic. Maybe they could see I was struggling and had plenty of time to read my name!
I think if this was my first marathon, it would have been my last. But I know it doesn't always feel that bad. So we'll chalk it off as a bad day and move onto the next one.
hi gang ,, signed up for the loch ness marathon ,, first time doing it ,, heard some good things about it and some bad things ,,, a bit like all marathons
20 weeks ,, better get a plan in place
See you there Scott
Hi - I've just signed up for this too. It'll be my 2nd marathon, so still new to this. Just mulling over the race profile; looks a bit bumpy in places but lots of gentle downhill in the first 9 miles. How do people plan to run this; presumably all that negative/even split stuff is not appropriate here? I can imaging going out too fast and mashing my quads to bits though. Also the slow hill at 17-20 miles looks menacing
. Can any veterans of this tell what its really like?
Alastair, sorry about MK, seems lots of people suffered - one of the first hot days might be to blame?
Welcome Scott
what bad things have you heard?
Hi benignmurmurring, LN will be my 3rd Marathon (it was also my first). Imho you need to include downhill training as well as uphill to get you past mile 9 then it undulates until Dores and the nasty 2 mile hill that awaits - it's not that steep but just goes on and on with a few 'false' peeks (I run it on my treadmill and a couple of sections peek at 11% so there are some harder bits). Also there are a couple of short steep hills in the first 8 miles.
By halfway last time my knees where shot so struggled home in 4:55 but it was a PB being my first and yup, think I went out too fast. That said I think it wise to get a good few minutes in front by halfway then the big hill won't lose too much time. from memory there were very few that I saw running all the way up the hill.
It's not like a big city Marathon with supporters everywhere but those that come out help push you along and it gets better the nearer the end you get
andi - thanks for that. Its hilly where I live so no problem finding suitable training runs. I'm now going to try to make it a point of honor to run every step of that hill now
. I'm sure I'll regret saying that.
Good luck with the hill then benignmurmurring
(your name is harder to spell than bananana so will have to shorten it lol).
What time are you going for? Booktrunk and I are racing each other and probs going for 4:15-30.
Oh, I'm slow. Got injured before 1st Mara and only did 3/5s of the training. Ran 4:40 (which was my goal) but that was flat. I'll aim for 4:30 at Loch Ness, all being well on the injury front.
Welcome benignmurmuring, I did this last year and it's just as you describe mostly downhill to start and it will wreck your quads so be very careful. The hill at Dores can drag on. I did 3:51 last year but got my pacing all wrong, so this time I'm going to go very gently for the first 10. It has a lovely feel about it. Something different.
Hi folks, I'm in!
It will be my 6th marathon - Berlin; Lochaber; Amsterdam; Paris x2. Really looking forward to it as it will be a real contrast to the big city marathons. And it's only 40 miles away, so it won't break the bank! I'll be aiming for 3:30 but not too concerned about time. Plenty of hills round here to practise on.
Me and husband are booked in. It's my 2nd marathon and his 1st. I don't like hills but I got used to doing them whilst training for my 1st marathon (Paris 2014), I've located a 2 mile hill (not that difficult to find one round here after all!) and we intend to incorporate it into our training as much as possible, but I am already dreading it!!
The downhill first section ,, I'm sure there's other stuff I've forgotten about
Why am I doing it you may well ask ! I have some very nice friends doing it snd wouldn't miss the meet up for the world ,,oh snd the views are amazing if the weathers good , PB potential high ,,and I'm Scottish so it's one of the few I can do in my own country
Macperky - the plan gathers pace !
Scott - I have bever been able to follow a plan....
I'm going to adapt the P&D 'easiest' plan and throw in lots of hills. And then probably largely ignore it and make it up as I go along!
And the weather is always lovely in Inverness.
I need to get my ass in gear for this...I'm just doing 10K's at the moment, I need to find time for some longer runs...
...and I need to book accomodation...or is it too late for that?
I've also signed up for this one. Marathon number 13 for me, but my first time running at Loch Ness.
No training plan for me this time. I'm doing this one in tourist mode, no time goal just a get around and enjoy it for me. I will try and do as much of my running over the summer in the hills as I'm dreadful at running uphill. There are plenty of hilly routes near me so training on them won't be a problem.
You're all scaring me with your talk of hills especially Andi and his mention of 11% inclines
wondering what I've signed up for now, was meant to be a pleasant run along the banks of the Loch with a hope of seeing Nessy, now I'm just worried how my knees will make it to the end, or even through training if I have to train on loads of hills!!! I went scouting for hills around here the other day and went up a 12% incline in the car, the car struggled up it so no idea how I'll cope when I get to the hill training part of my plan...
Did just over 26 miles this week, now just to get all that into 1 run.
Pete I'd make booking a hotel a priority if I was you, especially if you want anything remotely close to the finish line. My wife booked us into a place just over a mile away and that was the closet she could find. But then knowing her she was only looking and the higher range of hotels for there might still be some options out there.
For us 1st timers I found this on mapmyrun (http://www.mapmyrun.com/gb/conon-bridge-sct/loch-ness-marathon-route-22058436) I particularly like the 3d video view gives you a feel of just how remote but beautiful it's gong to be.
Andyruns - Thank you for that. But I don't get it
Is the total ascent of all the hilly bits we climb only 126.26 meters? (=415ft) That just doesn't sound half as hilly as I'm expecting..
I wouldn't trust it for elevation, found routes on that site ranging from 2m to 288m total ascent. I'm going by the people on hear who have run it before and say it's very hilly! Just thought it was nice to pre-see the route a bit. I'm still scared about the hills
Since I'm so busy at work today I did also google street view parts of the route and the hill at 6km looked worse, in steepness anyway. Did notice a 14% down hill section that should be fun
I've never ran this event, but I have driven the road you run along. From memory it's pretty much constantly undulating with the odd sharp incline/decline. Apart from one big hill which I assume is the the one you often see referenced as being around mile 18.
I don't think it's worth getting too bothered about the hills. Unless you live in The Netherlands you should be able to include a few climbs on your training runs. I'd guess the harder aspect would be for those aiming for a specific time to try and judge their pacing and keeping that relatively even.
This thread seems to have picked up pace
I've just run it the once and from memory the long hill out of Dores is the one that will wear you down after 18 miles, the 11% bit I mentioned is only very short and don't actually remember it last year (the 11% came from google maps on the treadmill).
I reckon the steepest bit is the short hill at 6 miles - I shot up there last time, took a comfort break and joined the same crowd as I was with at the bottom
Scott - an impressive list
as LN was my first I soaked all those things up with the atmosphere 
For me the least favourite bit was the pasta party on Saturday - £10 for a smallish meal (at 4pm for me). On race day quite a few B&B's had 'Vacancy' signs out and within spitting distance of the start (but doesn't mean you should leave it till the last minute).
As mentioned above the incline/decline varies quite a bit (even between my watch, garmin training centre and connect.garmin). Safest bet imho is to think of 3,000ft decline and (just) 2,000ft incline