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Good luck to all in the ballot.
We'll see! I'd love to do that again - it was EPIC this year!
JUST HAD CONFIRMATION OF MY 5 HOUR (WELL 4:58 ACTUALLY) PACER PLACE FOR VLM 2018. I HAD BETTER START TRAINING STRAIGHT AWAY - BUT TODAY WAS ALSO TWO OTHER LANDMARKS FOR ME SEE BELOW.
'Er Indoors reminded me that it was our anniversary this morning - I told her I was going to run away - she laughed and said that she noticed that I have been trying to do that for years but always come back - so I did 8.87 miles (in 1:27:07). This means I have passed the 1000 mile mark since 1st January for which the statistics read:
YTD = 1001.34 miles in 181 hours 14 minutes 19 seconds
Average pace = 10 minutes 51 seconds/mile
1000 miles in 180 hours 59 minutes 17 seconds
in a total of 95 runs (73 training and 22 races including Parkruns) over 125 days
Average run was 10.54 miles or 8.01 miles/day
I am not showing off but just alerting all first timers to start your training now - even if it is a few miles at a time.
I suggest if first timers try to make their long runs equal the month, you will be finding doing ten miles by October regularly as a brilliant base to build on when your entry is confirmed.
Feel free to ask any questions about the VLM and I will try to answer or signpost you .
For those who do not know me, I am Fauja Singh's coach and VLM 2018 will be my 34th consecutive London Marathon - I the club President of Sikhs In The City running club and also a member of the 100 Marathon Club
Good luck everyone.
Am now going to do less but faster mileage until mid October
I am a bit flat after my very first marathon... I did put my name in the ballot again. But now... what to do... ?
faster mileage... I suppose, but in the same time I do not want to completely loose the ability for long runs...
I enjoyed doing a half every week end during the training. Any advice?
At the moment anyway, I am taking an excuse... for not going out and run.... that is not good.
Am I the only one? :)
Am pleased I helped without even realising it.
Well done on your time.
As you are no longer a first timer then my earlier suggestion does not apply but I would do a combination of the following:
Start pacing at Parkruns and knock of 15 seconds every fortnight - this will help you build base speed that you take to the odd 10km and even a half marathon once a month where you try to improve your PBs.
Enter other marathons every 3-4 months too.
When you get the result of the ballot you will have a good base to aspire to new targets in the following six months.
Also consider combining strength with running by doing hills as part of your LSRs.
Just for the record, I have run over 200km since the VLM
I've just about covered 22km since VLM and am struggling to find my mental mojo. I know this is perfectly normal and has happened after every one of my 5 marathons. This time however, the combination of jetlag, post-target blues AND it having been London (which was always my #1 passionate goal) has hit me hard. You're right that the way to get back is to focus on some other smaller goals before thinking about another marathon.
My plan to get back my motivation is to target a new Half Marathon PB in 7 weeks time at the Gold Coast. I'll have about 50 team mates around on race day and conditions for the half are likely to be perfect (its a pancake flat course and it starts early enough to be cool for the whole race). I'm thinking its time to take down a sub 95 minute target! After I've finished the half I'll get to cheer a bunch of friends coming in doing the full marathon so it should be a good day.
Thanks, am helping clubmates who missed out on VLM and another who is scheduled to do a 12 hour, 24 hour and a 100 miler in the coming months. Did 22km this morning with her
A record total number of 386,050 applicants from the UK and overseas registered for a ballot place in the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon when the application system closed on Friday 5 May. This is the highest number of applicants for any marathon in the world.
327,516 of those applicants were from the UK. This is 73,586 up from the previous UK applicant record of 253,930 for the 2017 event - an increase of nearly 29 per cent. A total of 58,534 people applied in the overseas ballot.
what makes me laugh is that they publish this like it's something to celebrate!
I do agree with it being a ballot - and I'm even happy with the wait until October for the results to be released - but I do think leaving it open for 5 days is unnecessary. It used to be open until 120,000 had entered - the odds have worsened by over a 100% in just a couple of years.
One of my (non-running) friends can't get his head around there being a ballot. I've had the same conversation with him about 3 times re London, he can't understand what's stopping someone from just joining in and running on the day if they want to.
I think their aims are about making London 'bigger and better' with no real concern for the runner experience?
The charity credentials are already great. It's all about getting the number of runners up now. There are record numbers of ballot applications - no doubt the number of charity bond places is up too and even more runners will be accepted this year so that the number of finishers finally ticks over the 40,000 mark.
I do think an upper limit on the number of ballot entries makes sense - otherwise the odds are so bad that it makes very little sense having a ballot at all.
There may be lots of room at the front and the back of the pack but as you say - the middle is very congested. For a race without a staggered start, it's already too big in my opinion - numbers have been creeping up for years and the course has reached bursting point.
In the early years I used to do it in fancy dress including one in full cricket gear carrying a bat and wearing pads - it was the longest single I guess so time did not really matter
As a pacer I have found it enjoyable as I am helping others break their chosen threshold but have found it a little more challenging to stick to the pace because of the constant weaving in and out past those who begin to struggle - particularly when for some reason they choose to run (walk actually) alongside each other - it is good that they are still determined to keep moving but for me, while pacing every second really counts - just look at my splits (bib number 14503) and you will see I was 22 seconds slower over the second 20 km compared with the first - so I agree the latter stages may well be more congested than when the numbers participating was smaller.
Having said that, the Great North Run is 55,000 runners and only half the distance so the latter stages can really be congested - I was 18 seconds slower than planned last year because of that.
Basically I am running within myself and this is due to my weekly roadmiles. It is easier to be able to slow down to a pace than speed up to it.
The best GPS watch in the world is not going to do the running for anyone