Shades Marathon Training

SHADES

I think that's fair enough honouring the 2023 entries but not the subsequent years for those that bought memberships.  

Ian5

It was always going to be a fine balancing act,they need to make money from a race that's always lost money.I guess that's what the break clause in 2025 is for.

Robert OHara

Cal glad you enjoyed Pi, hope you choose a good ultra! 

TR great news on the official announcement and most people won’t suffer any detriment.

Went out for 9 miles after work, had nothing left in the legs after and struggled from about 7 miles.  Maybe it was the 13 degree heat at 7pm 😆 

SHADES

I might even consider doing Brighton one year now that the cowboys have gone.   Won't be next year as I've already got a marathon booked for that day.    Interesting to see what date they settle on in future years, once 2023 is done.

Robert - the change in temperature does feel a bit weird, but good.   Significant drop in my electric bill having checked my smart meter this morning. 

Off to do final food Christmas shop this morning, means I'll miss my morning run, but I can't bear the fraught atmosphere (from the other shoppers) if I leave it any later.  

Robert OHara

Shades we’ve been spending over £10 a day in gas and electric (small 2 bed semi) yesterday £6.  We can cope with that for a couple of months.

good luck with the Xmas shop, we’re going Thursday evening, shouldn’t be too bad.  Silesia marathon entries opened on Friday but holding off for a few months to see if I can get some
decent training in before entering 

Big_G

Rest day for me here today I think. Still trying to be careful with the foot and not run more than 2 days in a row. All being well it’ll be Weds/Thurs, Sat(parkrun)/Sun this week. The day after I get back I start my treatment on the foot so hopefully that will work and shortly afterwards I’ll feel like I can train more normally. That’s the hope but we shall see. 

It’s going to be under 1000 miles for me this year  

SHADES

Robert - I only have a small flat, my usage peaked at £6 a day during the cold spell, yesterday down to £4 

Food shop done.  I went to Lidl's to get a couple of things and picked up the Xmas carrots/parsnips/spuds there.   Just as well I did as when I got to Aldi they only had swede left for the bargain veg, swede I don't really care for.   So that was a bit of luck as otherwise I've have had to go onto Sainsburys.   Three supermarkets one after another it too much for me.

It sounds like you've got your training head on now so you should be able to get some decent mileage done.  Silesia is in the autumn, isn't it?


Big G - you've done well to do 1,000 miles, considering the time you've been injured.

My mileage for November and December has been very low, virus, niggles, ice.   But I should still make 2,000 for the year, which is about average for me.

Ian5

Big G-I'm just over 1550 for this year,pretty low year overall,might sneak 1600 depending on next week.

I just had a look and I see DD still has entries,must be a record?

Big_G

Ian, I imagine it probably is a record for DD Scanning through the list of entrants I can see a couple of Trotters who would be very unlikely to complete the race in terms of cut offs if the race was today, but I guess they’re hoping to get fit and use it as a focus in 2023. 

It’s about 8:30 here as I’m typing this (7:30 in UK) and still very dark, so interesting the time difference between here and UK. I hadn’t realised, but when I went to Lisbon it was the same time as UK, as hadn’t really thought about how far west they are. For some reason whenever I go to Europe I just presume the time will change and it didn’t for Lisbon. 

SHADES

Ian/Big G - it's only the last few years that DD entries go quickly.   Since ultra running became so popular, plus so few opportunities to run a road ultra as what few road ultras we had died out.

When DD started, there were only a couple of Trotters that ran the race.   I marshalled the first 2 years and then when I ran it, I was either the first or second female Trotter to run it, I think we both entered the same year.   That was in the days when in the Trotters only 3 or 4 of us ran more than one marathon a year and they thought London was the only marathon in the world   how times change.

Big G - I remember when I went to Lisbon we drove there.  So changed our watches when we arrived in France, drove through Spain and then changed our watches back when crossing into Portugal.   Pre GPS so we had to do it manually 


My hilly town route today which I've not done for a year!   The full route is 8+ miles but I'm not up to the final hill yet so did just short of 7 miles, tough but enjoyable, the 2nd mile has a total climb of 250 feet as it has two hills in it.   Then another lap of the second hill so that mile was 164 feet, felt a lot easier than first time round.   Good running weather today.

Big_G

10 miles this morning (36ft elevation….). Had a nice run out, helped that I was dressed appropriately this time in shorts, a t shirt and a pair of gloves. 

Cal Jones

Shades - yes, I will now consider Brighton too. It's a sort of home marathon, too, as I was born there (even if my parents lived further away in Lewes at the time and then moved to London when I was still a baby). First boyfriend lived not far, too, so I watched Brighton & Hove Albion play a few times.
Good mileage there. I've done over 1500, which isn't too bad considering. I don't think my body enjoyed me doing 2020 miles in 2020, going by how injured I was the following year.

Big G - there's even a time difference between London and Manchester as I found out when making my way to Christmas parkrun from Colin's. It gets light 20 minutes later there.

Did 6 miles yesterday and 10 today. I will be doing the horrible MRI tomorrow so I expect I won't do any additional exercise beyond walking to the hospital and back.

SHADES

Big G - you're definitely not in Devon with that elevation 


Cal - yes, I remember you had planned to do Brighton a few years ago, and will be easy travel wise for you, as long as there are no rail strikes 

Hope tomorrow's MRI won't be too much of an ordeal, at least they've not cancelled it.

SHADES

7 miles this morning, good weather again.  Seems less traffic going to work but Tesco's looked busy at 7 a.m. when I ran past.

I was hoping to go to the gym yesterday but waited in for a delivery from Royal mail, tracked to be delivered yesterday.  We had no postal delivery at all but Royal Mail did turn up with a parcel which is for a flat number that doesn't exist with an unknown name.
So now I have to wait in today as they're on strike tomorrow and Saturday.    If they want to destroy their own jobs by striking then let them. 😡

Big_G

Shades, I’ve not made my mind up what I’m doing yet, but have you managed to make use of the Frankfurt voucher for 2023’s race?  I had a look yesterday and I was struggling to see where to use it. Also, struggling to see a relevant country to choose in one of the drop down lists. I’ve emailed them but was wondering if you’ve looked yet. 

SHADES

Big G - you must be psychic.   

I went to enter yesterday and when I got to the final page it didn't recognise my voucher code.   I emailed Frankfurt, got a reply in less than an hour saying if I supply my bank details they will refund me the value of the voucher.  I found the entry form quite annoying.  Which part did you have a problem with re country?

I haven't replied yet, not comfortable with emailing bank details.   So I will ask for refund via PayPal or a voucher and see what happens.   

I'll let you know, I'll reply to their email today

Big_G

Shades, I’ve not got it in front of me easily at the moment but there were two location drop downs. The first had England as an option, but I couldn’t see any U.K./GB/England option in the second one. I’ll email them again if I don’t hear anything back then. A refund would suit me really!

SHADES

Big G - I remember for one drop down I put England and for another there was United Kingdom.   I think one was nationality and one was address.

I have to go through the whole process again. 😢

Cal Jones

I sympathise, Shades, after all the crap I've had with my local Evri courier. 

And today started well...walked two miles to the hospital to find the MRI scanner had broken. So, back home to put my piercings back in and drink some coffee.

SHADES

Cal - oh no, sorry to hear you'll have to have another appointment arranged for the MRI.   Didn't they text/email you to cancel.    Enjoy the coffee.

I wish it was Evri I was waiting for as I know what time our guy visits our road and he never goes on strike. 

SHADES

Big G - I emailed Frankfurt, reply in 6 minutes with new discount code which I've successfully used.   Discount was €65, I think I remember that we paid €75 but were told that there would be a €10 deduction, such a long time ago.

I went through the whole entry process again only to find that on the final page it had remembered my entry from yesterday, was able to delete one entry which was good as yesterday I accidentally ordered a t-shirt and then couldn't cancel it.

Re drop down boxes, on one when you put in U it goes to the end of the 'U's instead of the first, scrolled up and UK was there.

If you don't want to run it I suggest you email asking for refund.   I used the contact form on website.

Big_G

That’s really frustrating Cal. Sorry to hear about that. Have they rebooked you?

Shades, thanks, I’ll try that and see if they’ll refund me. 

OH was seeing a friend in a nearby town, so I went with her, had a coffee and then ran the straight route back mainly alongside the canals, for 11 miles.  Lovely running weather too.  Had to go a bit quicker that usual as I had to be back for 12:30 as OH’s parents were going out and we didn’t want to leave the dogs on their own.  Rest day tomorrow I’d have thought. 

SHADES

Big G - I did quote my voucher code in the first email to Frankfurt.

That's a good run from you today, no hills again I guess 😉

The dogs still not the best of friends then.

Big_G

Shades, I’m not sure if the watch copes  with negative gradient where parts of the route are technically below sea level but the watch said 10ft of ascent. I think it was probably a bit more than that as there were a couple of underpasses, but yes, regardless it was very, very flat. And quite a straight route too. 

SHADES

That is flat!!

If I go to Garmin Connect, that shows negative elevation.   Only happens on the run I do when I use the subway at Penn Inn roundabout.

Big_G

This is what Garmin Connect says for this run. I do more than going from the road up to my front door  

SHADES

Big G - on my PC not on my phone.  I don't use the data on my phone as it's useless for me and I can't get rid of the crap stuff.  Try going on the website.

Big_G

Shades, this is the info from the website. OH’s Dad said some of it was below sea level but maybe he was wrong?  Don’t know, but it was very flat!

SHADES

Big G - strange it doesn't show negative elevation.   When I use the underpass at Penn Inn I get a reading of minus 12 feet, which is a bit strange in itself for Devon.  

I would think quite likely to be below sea level on the NL, reclaimed land etc.  Long time since I was at school doing geography 😉

Post finally arrived, a mountain of it.  Too late for gym now as I'm getting hungry.   I'll go to the gym tomorrow.

SHADES

Elevation

351.8 ftTotal Ascent
354.6 ftTotal Descent
-5.2 ftMin Elev
160.5 ftMax Elev

7 miles this morning, ended up doing the route with the subway as we have heavy rain and flooding on my preferred route for today.   But today my Garmin Connect doesn't show the minus sign, the stats above are from the same route last week.   Wonder if there's been a software update since last week. 
Lovely and mild, torrential rain when I went out, but that eased to heavy and then to steady, strong wind in places.