Comrades 2018

1owrez

Yup - Name Dropper

Mc Hilly

Just make a parkrun part of your long run, eg run there and back, or do a parkrun and then just keep running.... Or what I tend to do is parkrun on Saturday, long run on Sunday ( although at moment parkrun and long run are the same thing :-) )

1owrez

I think my problem is I'm a bit of a loner, apart form bulletin boards, it seems quite a contrivance to fit a 5k anchored to a place you wouldn't normally frequent into an activity you usually run elsewhere? Is it the communal thing that makes them attractive?

Southern Snail

Well done terry and Becca and Marty for the bramley 20

mr ss on a good for age at London so presumably green for him too. Aren't the good for ages behind the elites?

1owrez

Its UK Championship places behind the elites SS. Don't know if they change it each year but in 2016 the elites were on blue and GFA red:-

1owrez

Ha ha - my evil plan has come to fruition - 3 star general now with full editing rights! Gotta dash to work though - more enhanced formatting later!

Becca7

Fast Good for Age is on Red. Otherwise  Good for Age is on Green, behind the celebs. 

Southern Snail

Lowrez - congratulations 3stars and a forum upgrade

never do parkruns myself as that's my day off. Did 2 in South Africa last year though!!

I'd forgotten there was more than one start. So mr ss behind the celebs

Debra Bourne

Lowrez, people do parkruns for all sorts of reasons. The social aspect is a large one, but there's also the fact that it is a known distance and you can check your progress against it, for example. For me, given that I spend most of the time on long slow runs, it's what I use for speedwork, like the cross-country. It's a timed run, not a race, but obviously people do race each other - and the clock. You get your time, age-grade percentage etc. sent to you. Run 50 and you get a free technical T-shirt....

One use is to push yourself at parkrun on Saturday then run your long run on tired legs on the Sunday, without needing to spend the time on two long runs, one each Sat & Sun.

And sympathies for the confusing distance markers - that does make things more difficult.

Dannirr

@lowrez - sorry about Tasmania.  If you fancy another trip to the USA, there are several marathons that are downhill all the way - people use them as Boston qualifiers.  Little hard on the legs, but good Comrades prep anyway!

justanothrrnr

So I see my hotmail inbox is awash with Forum updates so I thought I'd better check in .....Welcome back Lowrez (hearty congrats on the 3 stars)  - I'm running London too so perhaps you'll have time for a quick beer after the race

By way of an update,  I'm feeling like my lungs are improving, struggling slightly with a sore calf but as its not tendon related for once I'm just enjoying the variety.   Haven't run past 13 miles yet...not panicking!

Keep healthy and stay on your feet everyone!

1owrez

@Dannirr I should adopt that app you suggested for dead reckoning, but I am too lazy. Downhill sounds like fun, is there one towards the end of the qualification window; May 2nd I can target as a contingency?

Have you qualified yet Dannirr? Where? What time?

1owrez

JAR! Good to hear from you - are you going for qualification at London? A beer, along with RR's apple+, sounds like a splendid conclusion, although I need to be at Euston for 6pm, otherwise my clothes will turn back into rags and my entourage into mice etc, and worse than that; I will miss the train home. 

jkissane

@Becca7, @Debra thanks for the good wishes. 

Happy to report my 50k went ok last Sat, it's 10 x 5k laps of a forest trail & was a bit of a mud pit cause of lots of rain over the previous few days. Bit slower than the last few years but went into it just wanting to finish and maybe sneak under 4:30 if that became possible. Spent the first ~20k with the 4:30 pace group and then got separated a small bit so spent the next 5 laps running by hr (keeping it lowish) and expecting the group to come past me at some stage. Much to my surprise that didn't happen so on the last lap & feeling ok was able to speed up a little & ran that one the fastest of the day. Maybe there's something to this hr pacing thing as normally I'd be like an extra from the Walking Dead at that stage

Feeling a bit better about Comrades now, two marathons & another ultra to go. 

1owrez

Hotels
Belaire Suites: Terry48, Bike It, Debra Bourne, Dannir, Carmen23, Southern Snail
City Lodge: Becca7
Hilton: lowrez

Comrades 2018 Qualification
24Sep Berlin (M) marty74-Q3:14-PenB, jkissane-Q3:09-PenB
24Sep Loch Ness (M) seren nos-Q4:51-PenH
08Oct Yorkshire (M) Southern Snail-Q4:43-PenG>CC
15Oct Leicester (M) Becca7-Q3:49-PenD, Max Mladenovic 2-Q3:23pb-PenC
21Oct Betteshanger Marathon (M) Debra Bourne-Q3:55-PenD
17Dec Portsmouth (M) Peter R-Q4:01-PenF
17Feb Moonlight Challenge (L) Debra Bourne
25Feb Tokyo (M) Slow Duck
25Feb Seville (M) Becca7
01Mar Grim Four by Four (M) 1owrez
10Mar Viking 100 Endurance Run (L) Debra Bourne
17Mar Eco Trail de Paris (U) Becca7
31Mar Born to Run (U) Becca7
22Apr London (M) Becca7, Terry48, Mr Southern Snail, 1owrez, justanothrrnr
02May Qualification and Race4Charity (PenCC) Closes
10Jun Comrades

Course Tour
Friday 7:30 - Mc Hilly
Friday 8:45 - Southern Snail
Saturday 7:30 – lowrez

1owrez

@jkissane good running! Tell us about your events and we'll put them in the list, will we see you at London?

justanothrrnr

Lowrez, I promise a beer won't delay you in London....the trains rarely run on time.  

I hope to use the Thames Meander on March 10th as my qualifier rather than London and 3 Forts on 6 May to put some hillwork in my legs. 

Haven't chosen an ultra to run yet but been spending lots of time on youtube recently watching Western States, Leadville etc race footage and my curiousity of running 100 miles has been piqued (for a post-Comrades challenge).   Would love to run something in the US too.

1owrez

JAR there are two laws of the railway:-
1. The train you arrived early to catch will always be delayed
2. The train you are late for is the only one that day that left on time
However, there is an interfering law that states:-
3. Beer enables the imbiber to travel through time
So I feel relaxed in arranging a rendezvous

I recall someone meandering last year to a qualification; was it Marty?

Should I let on that I plan to run long too post Comrades this year? Are you looking at trail or road? I was surprised after my first Comrades to discover hardly any other ultras on proper road worldwide.

1owrez

Hotels
Belaire Suites: Terry48, Bike It, Debra Bourne, Dannir, Carmen23, Southern Snail
City Lodge: Becca7
Hilton: lowrez

Comrades 2018 Qualification
24Sep Berlin (M) marty74-Q3:14-PenB, jkissane-Q3:09-PenB
24Sep Loch Ness (M) seren nos-Q4:51-PenH
08Oct Yorkshire (M) Southern Snail-Q4:43-PenG>CC
15Oct Leicester (M) Becca7-Q3:49-PenD, Max Mladenovic 2-Q3:23pb-PenC
21Oct Betteshanger Marathon (M) Debra Bourne-Q3:55-PenD
17Dec Portsmouth (M) Peter R-Q4:01-PenF
17Feb Moonlight Challenge (L) Debra Bourne
25Feb Tokyo (M) Slow Duck
25Feb Seville (M) Becca7
01Mar Grim Four by Four (M) 1owrez
10Mar Viking 100 Endurance Run (L) Debra Bourne
10Mar Thames Meander (M) justanothrrnr
17Mar Eco Trail de Paris (U) Becca7
31Mar Born to Run (U) Becca7
22Apr London (M) Becca7, Terry48, Mr Southern Snail, 1owrez, justanothrrnr
02May Qualification and Race4Charity (PenCC) Closes
10Jun Comrades

Course Tour
Friday 7:30 - Mc Hilly
Friday 8:45 - Southern Snail
Saturday 7:30 – lowrez

1owrez

So I am 2 weekends out from my next sub5 attempt, normally I would alternate between 20m and 13m runs weekend about, this last weekend I ran 13m, having run 20 the week before; oh dear, I am out of sync for the usual taper which should go 20, 13, 8, marathon, I am actually on 13, x, y, marathon - what should x become? I am nervous about it being a 20 and impacting the big day, so should it be a 13, or something intermediate, or am I being a wimp and I should go 20?  

justanothrrnr

I much prefer trail races but road races are more accessible and they save me time avoiding long drives away from home - I have no designs on ever running a 100mile race on the road though.   
What have you got planned post-Comrades?  

Run 18-20 this weekend then taper sharply, its what Bruce Fordyce would do.

jkissane

1owrez said:

@jkissane good running! Tell us about your events and we'll put them in the list, will we see you at London?

All the events are in Ireland as have to save the cents for the trip to SA. This is the current list although might add one more marathon if a friend wants some moral support:

Mar 18th - Tralee marathon
Apr 22nd - Connemara Ultra
May 6th - Limerick marathon

Have three 10m races & a bunch of shorter stuff in there as well before the big day. Been using my local parkrun to see how things are going & have managed to eke out ~2.5 mins improvement since my month long break for Dec.

Btw staying in Umhlanga for Comrades as find it more relaxed than Durban.

Good luck for your qualifier!

Terry48

Wow, I've been left far behind with all the recent posts.  Glad you got your 3rd star Lowrez!

It was good to see Becca at the Stamford Striders 30k yesterday - she's too modest and did really well on a Comrades prep type course.  In my case, a very tardy 3:50 for 30k. (first 21.1k in 2:33, then had to walk a lot after that).  Not too unhappy due to recent issues and very slack mileage.

Looks like I'll also start in Green at London, as a good for age 70? Will keep an eye on posts closer to London in the hope of meeting some of you after (except,  you'll probably all have gone home by the time I finish!).

1owrez

Hotels
Belaire Suites: Terry48, Bike It, Debra Bourne, Dannir, Carmen23, Southern Snail
City Lodge: Becca7
Hilton: lowrez
Umhlanga: jkissane

Comrades 2018 Qualification
24Sep Berlin (M) marty74-Q3:14-PenB, jkissane-Q3:09-PenB
24Sep Loch Ness (M) seren nos-Q4:51-PenH
08Oct Yorkshire (M) Southern Snail-Q4:43-PenG>CC
15Oct Leicester (M) Becca7-Q3:49-PenD, Max Mladenovic 2-Q3:23pb-PenC
21Oct Betteshanger Marathon (M) Debra Bourne-Q3:55-PenD
17Dec Portsmouth (M) Peter R-Q4:01-PenF
17Feb Moonlight Challenge (L) Debra Bourne
25Feb Tokyo (M) Slow Duck
25Feb Seville (M) Becca7
01Mar Grim Four by Four (M) 1owrez
10Mar Viking 100 Endurance Run (L) Debra Bourne
10Mar Thames Meander (M) justanothrrnr
17Mar Eco Trail de Paris (U) Becca7
18Mar Tralee (M) jkissane
31Mar Born to Run (U) Becca7
22Apr London (M) Becca7, Terry48, Mr Southern Snail, 1owrez, justanothrrnr
22Apr Connemara (U) jkissane
02May Qualification and Race4Charity (PenCC) Closes
10Jun Comrades

Course Tour
Friday 7:30 - Mc Hilly
Friday 8:45 - Southern Snail
Saturday 7:30 - 1owrez

marty74

Nice to have the king of formatting back

And yes, i did use the Thames Meander, although Nov version as qualifying for last year. Its a good course, although be aware of other pedestrians but it is nice and flat. You will go well.

My races are

17th Feb - Railway Ultra
24th Mar - Betteshanger Challenge
28th Apr - Spring Ranscombe
20th May - Worcester

Staying in the City Lodge and have a friday 7.30am course tour.

Its feels all rather close now.....

Becca7

I'm not at the City Lodge this year, have switched to Belaire on recommendations of several on this thread.

1owrez

Thanks @jkissane there are usually a few people staying at Umhlanga - will you do the parkrun there? Great speed work! We don't tend to record events post the qualification date in the list, or sub marathon stuff.

JAR my worry on really long is I'm only getting in 3 runs per week and the long ones, even the halves, are quite taxing. Trying to do something about having more time, but its not going to happen soon. I think you are right though, if I don't keep taking my bones up to that distance I am not going to get used to it or improve. I'm taking a shot at C2C, which does sound daft off my current 3 runs per week, but, I want to say in my old(er) age "when I ran non-stop across Britain...", 38 hour limit...

1owrez

Must go get one of those 3 runs in now... will list up Marty and Becca when I get back

Becca7

Blimey lowrez, you don't do things by halves when it comes to longer distances.

Mc Hilly

My motivation for parkrunning is a mix of things, partially social, partially the bacon buttie that I always feel I deserve afterwards, I find it much easier to push myself and try and run fast than if I just go out on my own, and always think this little bit of "speed work" helps...... But mainly I always feel inspired by seeing the other runners, the fast ones at the front who make it look effortless, those who have only just started running and never thought they'd be able to do a 5k, the people with dogs or buggies, my favourite is probably seeing the little kids doing so well, typically they are chatting to their parants as they overtake me, and the volunteers who turn up in all weathers to help. I love knowing that wherever I am on a Saurday morning I can find one of these!
im also at the Belaire..... I've got a couple of CTS trail marathons entered over the next few months..... which will do if Achilles behaves, won't add them to the list until I'm confident I'll do them!