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Shades Marathon Training
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Cal/Ian, thanks. Yeah, I'm pleased with it really. I was on for a PB, but the walking breaks made sure that didn't happen, but I was pleased to get under 4hrs. I know I have got a better time in me, but for whatever reason it doesn't all come together on the day. In Leiden I was on for a PB too, but that day I had "chafeage" issues. It'll come I'm sure.
Having said that all that, the official results currently show me as 4:00:59 for the chip time, which I don't think can be correct so hopefully they're still processing the results. My Garmin is usually pretty accurate, and I think the difference will account for how long it took me to cross the start line. They did seem to be having some sort of problem with times, as they had a gantry up for the finish line and when I crossed it was showing about 21-mins. For a horrid moment, in a marathon-addled state, I thought I'd accidentally done a 5K
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Cal, I saw that 10K too, and I don't want to put a downer on things, but I'm not sure if I can trust those types of performances. I hate to say it really, as I want to believe them, but she annihilated the world record at the Olympics, and the record she broke was known to be held by a drugs cheat. There's no evidence as far as I know that she is dirty, and if she's clean it's a shame that there are doubts, but when you have Gatlin winning the 100m and at this Champs, runners being handed medals they should have won years ago but they're only getting them now because other athletes have since been done for drugs, I'm afraid I can't help but be dubious. Even Mo - now I'm not saying he's dirty, but he trains with a coach who has serious questions to answer around his training "methods". I think Mo should have left that regime, but he chose to stay. I love Mo, but if I was him I'd have left them, but maybe there's contracts/money involved. I don't know.
I agree that was a brilliant women's 10k, she is a wonderful runner to watch, I wish Mo would run his races like that instead of all his gesturing and prancing around.
Big G - well done, another sub 4 under your belt
I thought this year would bring more organisational issues, introducing a half marathon usually does that. Hopefully the water was just a one off and they'll sort that.
Baggage, I'm sure they said in the race info that it was a tent, but maybe as they weren't expecting rain they didn't use a tent. Not too unusual to have baggage left in the open although they should say that. Dublin's baggage area is in the open and they provide a good waterproof bag for that reason and it's in the race info. I hadn't intended to use the baggage facilities at Glos, wouldn't bother for a summer race if my car was no more than 15 mins away.
Re the off road bit, you're right I wouldn't have liked that but it did say in the info about a sloping ramp. There are many road races with short off road parts, I think the rule is no more than 10% of the total distance. North Dorset has that long off road stretch to the finish, Halstead (a very good marathon) has a long stretch over fields/paths and the old New Forest race, which I loved, had a couple of miles off road.
Re the price, remember you entered late so an inflated price. Early bird entry which was open for several months was £30. I hope they've adjusted your time, unless results are supposed to be on gun time at the start?
mowzer - I was more or less glued to the telly yesterday too. Men's marathon on BBC RB was unwatchable as no commentary, what muppet thought that was a good idea so had to make to with the clips between stadium stuff. But full coverage of the women's was really good, I enjoyed that as it turned into a really good race at the end. Those Nike 4% certainly didn't work for Aly Dixon, she didn't even get a PB. Brilliant running from Callum Hawkins, he really is a star.
John - another good weekend training run for you. It's a good idea to experiment with different sweets etc and if you take a selection with you on race day that can make for a more palatable choice.
Cold is a lot better today, must have been the blackberry crumble and custard
Regarding Gloucester, they've taken the results down, and put a message on Facebook saying they're working on them still and they should be out later today. Obviously whatever the results end up saying will be my official time, but regardless of that I'll still be pleased as I generally felt like I had a good race and ran pretty well.
Regarding baggage, there was no bag from the organisers to put clothes in. Probably I wouldn't use the baggage area if I did it again.
I forgot to say yesterday. I was in the queue for the loo and started talking to this chap who was doing the Half. We were running really late due to the queues, and he asked what time I was hoping for, so I said "Around 4hrs if things go well". I asked him, and he said "Urrrrm, about 68mins. I'm a bit worried though, as I haven't had time to do a warm up"! I saw a couple of photos and he was right at the front in them. I don't know if he won it or not, but I'll check the results later as the pics have his race number on them. He said he does a lot of his running on trials and hills around where he lives (Cumbria I think he said) and doesn't really like road running.
I'm just finishing the race report off, which is a big one this week, and then I'll get out for a run.
One stupid cow complained that runners were asked to run on the left hand side thereby contravening the Highway Code. I had to put a post on there pointing out to her that in all UKA road races runners must run on the left hand side unless directed otherwise.
They obviously have a lot to learn and weren't ready for the increase in numbers due to the half marathon and miscalculated the water. The first 2 drink stations should be the ones with the most stock, later in a race many runners will skip drink stations.
The girl on FB has come back and apologised, turns out she's a lawyer, she should get her facts right before posting that someone is breaking the law!
Re the baggage, they probably relied on it not raining and that's why they put the bags outside.
I noticed a few runners in the marathons were wearing VaporFlys. I don't know that they actually help with speed but a light shoe that is also cushioned has to be nice to wear. I'm almost tempted myself after the beatings my feet took in the last two marathons, except that the price is prohibitive. I don't suppose those athletes actually pay for theirs, though.
A 5 mile recovery run for me today (although it was actually easy pace - started with an 11:15 mile and finished at 10:33). Legs didn't feel bad but I felt fatigued overall. I did a couple of exercises in the playground after but ultimately felt too tired so I called it quits. I've got Vinyasa later - hopefully I'll perk up a bit by then.
I think we'll find a lot of races moving back towards using cups now, there's a lot of pressure from the environmental bodies to do so. I prefer cups even if I stop and drink the whole cupful before running on and if I'm using my Elete easier to add to cup than a bottle. I also find it easier to note how much I'm drinking when it's a cup. With a bottle, if the bottle is too big I empty half of it, drink some and ditch it and probably end up drinking less than I should
Another complaint on FB which made me laugh was that there wasn't a bottle of water in the complainant's goody bag and the only water they were offered was in cups at the finish! I have a collection of unopened bottles of water on the top of my fridge from races and most of them I ditch and don't even bother bringing home.
I did start doing too much too soon I guess, although at a nice slow pace. Also, it's a reminder to start doing some core work!
Shades - Not good about the DNS for you, recover well. Agree on the red button coverage, why didn't they have any commentary?!?
Cal - Nice 10k result. Can only suggest some more tempo runs at between 10k and HM pace.
Still tapering here...so off to Parkrun as part of a 10 miler. Set off hard and clocked the first mile in 5:56, next mile was 6:01 and things were getting harder, hung on for a 3rd mile in 6:06 and maintained pace for the last bit to come home in 18:33 (per Strava). They had issues at Parkrun so I'm showing as "unknown" in the results with no time at the moment
Pilates is good for strengthening the back and core muscles, but it does take time and I expect you're very busy as usual.
Steve - on BBC2 I sensed from Steve Cram's comment about the RB coverage that he thought they were daft just showing footage with no commentary. You'd only need one commentator and could have used Paula or even Brendon or even one of the others that commentate on the London marathon on RB.
That's a big parkrun PB and to do that off your 100km training is very impressive. I hope you're eating for England this week
I really enjoyed the marathon yesterday. It was a great performance from Callum Hawkins and also Alyson Dixon in the ladies.
Managed a lovely 10k this morning that's really invigorated me!
I woke up to the fact (again) and decided to do something about it. Brighton in the distance did help but I've signed up for a half marathon in 5 weeks which I will plod my way around too.
Did 27 miles of very slow running in the first week. Was set to do 30 in the second when I got lower back pain after the 4th run (about 21 miles), which you might remember, i've suffered from before. Haven't had it in AGES though so can only put it down to too much mileage too soon.
I could probably run today but it's still a bit sore so I will give it a miss and reassess the situation tomorrow.
Have also signed my twins (who are now 8) up for a race at the same half marathon i'm doing. They have to do 12 miles of running before the event and then 1.1 on the day to finish a half marathon of their own
Khanivore - when you are better you need to have a little gentle stretching routine for that back of yours. If you run, then stop and sit down for long periods that is asking for trouble.
No more gaming, think what a bad influence that is having on your twins
Steve, great time there!
Shades, yeah some of the complaints are stupid. But there are some valid concerns too, that need to be looked at I think. Main ones in my view are water, and sorting out what wrong with the finishing time (no point have an expensive timing gantry, displaying the wrong time on it!).
Anyway, I did 6-miles this morning. Legs feel totally fine, which is strange bearing in mind that yesterday was close to a PB. Not that I'm complaining! Now, I know 6-miles is far off of 26.2, but it has got me more tempted for a double this year as I could easily have carried on for a few more today. The only thing was when I stopped I felt pretty dizzy, so not sure what that's about. Maybe if I decide to do a double and I'm feeling good with no illness etc, I could go out at about 4:30-4:45 time on the first day and then just get around the second day?
Did anyone else cry a bit when Mo Farah won the 10k race? I did
Yeah I know, I'm deluded. And I can't count properly
Steve - yeah, going to have to knuckle down and do more speed work, I think. I treat parkrun as a tempo but it's probably not enough - I think I need to do faster intervals. Bleh!
I also think Callum might be a better marathoner than Mo, can't wait to see them race!! Mo is much faster over the shorter distances, but not that much faster over HM (40 seconds) and marathon (2 minutes), so I guess already has the upper hand, but Callum is improving all the time.
Cal - If you need to turn your legs over quicker, then try adding in some strides, they have them in the P&D plans.
Berlin ended up looking too dear with flights etc,if I'd known earlier I may have got a better price so my next marathon will be Lancaster September 17th,which scarily is only 6 weeks away,so need to get the 20 milers in very soon.
How far would you run in training for MP training run?Never sure how far to go on these,been doing 4 as part of an 8 mile run and did 5.5 on it's own last week but thinking 8-10 should be ok to not take too much out of me but don't want to take any chances whilst also want to give myself the best chance possible
Steve - congrats on a massive parkrun pb
Big G - I looked on the UKA course measurement site and there were only two additions to this years race - (i) the grit surface section is 1.095km and (ii) steps will be replaced with ramps on the day. No mention of fields! Looks like they must have changed the course slightly from last year. I hope they stuck to the one listed for the permit
Here is my Strava for the course:
Here is last year's course from someone's Strava, so quite a bit different in the second half and also near the end.
When you do your double 4:30-4:45 is far too slow for you on day one. Just run as normal, or maybe 5 to 10 minutes slower on day one, certainly no slower. Re the dizziness, that's not uncommon on stopping, just a drop in blood sugar and possibly blood pressure, a sit down, eat and drink something and you'll be fine.
Bit embarrassing for Gloucester about the results problems, I have a feeling that the timing company is part of the race organisers set up too. The result that matters is the one filed with RunBritain for anyone using the results for GFA. I suppose the few seconds relates to when someone started the timing clock, as they've had problems maybe they've made a few assumptions.
Steve - keep eating
I agree re Callum, he is much more focussed when running than Mo is, it would be good to have two decent British marathoners that can compete in the Worlds and Olympics.
mowzer - I think the 'grit' part of the course was across the field, it was a path I believe from photos I've seen, but Big G can confirm that. They changed the race timing company this year.
Cal - it's the marathon training that gives you that speed endurance, hence doing your best half marathons in the latter stages of your Manchester training
Ian - bad luck about the Berlin flights, I thought they'd be too dear. Berlin is a big race and a lot of Brits go and the flights fill quickly, probably why the charity is offering the places at a low charity raise price now.
I don't think you need to run any further at MP than you are already. What might help you more is to do some of your long runs on very undulating to hilly routes, will build leg strength and endurance.
RHR is dropping nicely and almost back to normal, so will be able to run tomorrow. Back to Pilates this morning as I'm sure I'm over the infectious stage.
Regarding the grit, there was an underpass that was being worked on, which wasn't tarmaced. That was quite a long grit area, and was totally fine to run on so I'm not sure if they mean that? The off-road bit I really mean was maybe 3 miles from the finish (can't remember exactly), and was quite rough terrain - not really bad, but quite rough; we went down a steep, wooden bridge, and then across the field.
BBC Gloucester contacted me to be interviewed on their BBC Breakfast radio show this morning about it all, but I declined. I've been in touch with the organisers directly and I'm sure they know the issues they had, and will work to correct them. I don't feel I need to air the concerns on the radio, especially as I have some limited experience of what it takes to put an event on. It would have felt a bit like laying into them unnecessarily as although there are some positives (a nice course, for example) it's the negatives that would have been focussed on in any interview. I expect there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes and hopefully they'll know what they need to improve on.
Interesting about running the first day of a double a bit quicker than I had expected. I suppose I had presumed to run it easy to conserve energy for the next day. I know what food works though as on the Sunday after the race I ate a lot! I had a KFC on the way home and then a large burger in the evening
That 1500m last night was a cracking race. I was shouting at the TV "Come on Laura!". Interesting that the commentators felt her tactics could have been better, but when she was interviewed she seemed to think she had executed the plan she had discussed wth her coach.
Shades-Great news you're feeling better.
Went for a run last night and wasn't sure what to do,decided to do 7.5 miles at close to 75% MHR to see how it came out,interestingly I averaged pretty much MP,and 137 HR,139 is 75%.
Got my hilly run later so hoping I get delayed in work