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Halstead & Essex Marathon
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Re the profile...the concertina effect makes it look horrific but even 8.5 miles to 10 miles is only 80 ft rise which is not that much (I dont think). And the 21 mile hill is the same one but on the second lap.
hope your training is going well.
I would be interested in joining a pacing group if i do do this, i was hoping for 3.30 but have been out of training through injury so 3.45 may be more realistic. saying that, there are only 8 weeks to go, i am only up to about 20 mile weeks training and have only got up to 12 miles LSR lately, does anyone else think I'm being a bit optimistic to get ready in time?
I am doing the Brentwood half marathon next week so that should give me an idea of my current fitness level.
Re your predicament. I am no expert on marathon running (its my first!!) but I would say LSRs of 14, 16, 12, 18, 20, 10, 14, 10, Race, may give you a fighting chance. If you can squeeze an extra couple of miles on here and there all the better.
Good luck with your training. Be happy to set off at 3.45 with you and anyone else who has that time in mind.
Aiming for 4 hours ish.
Sun: Half marathon
Mon: 5 a side
Tue: Recovery run 5 miles
Wed: 7 miles at a good pace
Thu: rest day
Fri: 4 Miles quick with some sprints chucked in
Sat: 16 Miles gentle pace (my furthest yet!)
Sun: Gentle walk round Brighton
Will build up the distances as the weeks come on, in accordance with RW training programs, but just wondered if this sounds all cool in the school?
I only run 3 x a week, I think if I did more I'd injure myself.. my week to date looks like this:
Sun: 16 Miles gentle pace (my furthest yet too!)
Mon: rest
Tue: rest
Wed: 7 hilly miles running between old house and new
Thu: rest
Fri: 4 speedy Miles on way home with bl++dy heaving backpack on <gasp>
Sat: rest
Sun: 18 miles super slow
I have been building up the mileage for the last 3 weeks so will peak at this sunday's run, next week I may not do a long run at all, in any case it'll be a recovery week followed by a few more buildup weeks - I plan to run 22 miles for my longest run, I think it'll do wonders for my confidence to have the knowledge that I've run that far in my mind and muscles
I'm aware that I have a lot of rest days but I'm really prone to injury so need to not run too much - I get carried away and aggravate my already pre-existing plantar fasciitis - not much fun!
However, a lovely dear friend of mine has sorted me out with membership to a rather superb gym nearby so I plan to cross-train as I'm a big fan of bikes and eliptical trainers - and also do some strength and stability work in the runup to may 13th...can't wait!
Glad you're still on the planet mate. Hope you can make it this year.
We're up to roughly 200 entrants so far which puts up ahead where we were this time last year. I think we're going to get a larger turn-out this year. We had already put our maximum entry up to 750 to cover this.
AndyLawson:
I'm fairly involved, I'm the entries secretary for the marathon.
As mentioned above we're up to about 200 entrants.
Latest entries can always be checked online here:
http://halsteadroadrunners.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=58
Richard Campbell:
I'm currently up to 20 miles, will do 12 next week, 20 for the next two weeks and then the mileage dips towards the FLM. Then I've just got to find a way to recovery properly so that I can do Halstead justice. Your description of your weeks runs looks fine for this point in your training. I'm averaging 40 miles a week at the moment and the maximum I'm going to do this year is 45 miles in a week. I think I'd struggle to get much more than that in. (Mainly due to time commitments with family rather than my ability to soak up more training)
Tara.:
Careful. Long runs can be about diminishing returns. You might be better off limiting the long runs to 20 miles as those extra two miles will really take loads out of you without really improving your ability. My longest marathon training run is 20 miles and I wont go over that. (I have in the past but then it start to affect me for days afterwards and marathon training is all about consistency) To (roughly) quote a thought by the great Hal Higdon.... "Every step over 20 miles is sacred territory and should be saved for race day." Amen to that.
I've taken the liberty of uploading that course profile to our website. Hope you don't mind. (I've given you credit)
http://halsteadroadrunners.net/forum/showthread.php?t=198
I'm truly gutted and rather worried now, ventured out early this morning for an 18 mile run, got to around 4 miles and felt a twingy twisty sharp pain in the back of my left calf. Figured it might be cramp because I wasn't wearing full length tights as usual and it's really cold out there so stopped and stretched then carried on at a steady pace - still no joy, intermittent pain, thought I could run it off but got to about 8 1/2 miles and severe stabbing pain caused me to stop and I ended up walking home :-(
leg now hurts to put weight on it, really painful to flex my foot, really hope it's nothing too serious and maybe I just overdid it on friday's run home, not had this happen before though...really concerned :-(
It is horrible when something like that happens, but don't despair - even if it is an injury you still have time to recover.
This kind of thing can happen during marathon training. You're pushing yourself to new limits and your body sometimes complains loudly about it.
First thing is to treat the problem, then take a few days off to let it get better. Keep yourself sane by actively working on the injury. Treatment is the usual .... Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Which for me always means Ibruprofen, Ice, neoprene supports and listening carefully to the injury. i.e. when starting to train again read those warning signs early and stop. The more you punish the problem, the longer it will take to get better.
If you've got a physio available then definitely see them.
Kevin Hanney:
Glad you made it back in one piece fella. This afternoon the wind and rain was terrible.
No problem...should scare a few people although I maintain the numbers suggest its not too bad.
Not sure how accurate it is...I mean, is mile one that down and up??
Oh, and I've taken the liberty of adopting your bold type in my posts (I hope).
tara
Really hope your injury clears up quickly.
Jon
The first mile or so does go down into a valley and then up the other side but you don't repeat that and it's done on fresh legs.
Jon McKellar
Better to take a week off and get over the illness rather than ploughing on and running yourself into the ground. You'll make good progress now that you're got rid of the illness.
Good luck to all of you doing it, enjoy!
I fell of the wagon slightly this weekend... literally! Got spectacularly drunk, then twisting my knee dancing! Those kooks have a lot to answer for!
Flynn: If I do do this my mum would be driving me to the race and she is a wheelchair user, so I wondered whether the parking and race HQ were wheelchair accessible? Also pace groups sounds fantastic.
I'm going to quit sulking and come out of hiding
The calf is healing up, thanks for your support guys
It's taking its time though must have torn/strained it pretty badly! Anyway, today, 10 days on, it feels more or less 100% so I'm feeling a lot more positive. I think I'll leave it until the weekend before I think about going for a run on it though, want a couple of days of it feeling this good, really don't want to experience pain like that again!!
Interestingly enough, lost 6lbs in the last week and got my BMI back to 20 despite not doing any exercise other than a little swim work! so much for running shifting the pounds eh?! :-D
how's everyone else's training going? feeling a little worried as haven't covered more than 16 miles ever, sure I can build it back up if I take it gently, fingers crossed!
oh and Flynn, thanks for your advice re long runs, I don't think I'll exceed 20 miles in training before the marathon...I've now seen first hand the damage that can be caused by overtraining!
not had time to see a phsyio or masseuse unfortunately as in the process of moving but doing lots of stretching
right, back to packing boxes!!
take care everyone
x
I've got some friends who live in Oakley. Small world.
Parking is close to race HQ, in fact it's next door. From memory I don't think that wheelchair access would be a problem. I shall raise this question with the rest of the marathon committee though (who are more intimately familiar with the race HQ) and find out what they think. I'll get back to you as soon as I know.
Tara.:
Glad the injury is healing and you can get back into some training.
You have to adapt plans to suit current situations. If you stick blindly to a plan you can do yourself real damage.
I had planned a 20 mile run tonight but as I've had a slight cough this week and am not feeling 100% I reduced that to 8 miles. If I'd done the 20 then I would have weakened myself far more and recovery would be much slower.
Pleased to hear your calf is healing nicely...fingers crossed for you. Hopefully you will be able to get a long run or two in before the marathon. Only six weeks to go come Sunday!! But as Flynn says dont push yourself too hard too quickly.
I had a good half marathon in Brentwood last Sunday but training has been tough this week so I am having a rest day today before a really slow 20 mile tomorrow (in the rain quite possibly).
Hope everyone else is still on course.
I read on page 2 that you have the facility to place your own drinks at any of the water stations.
How is this actually achieved and what's to stop some thirsty soul nicking them before you get there?
Ta
Andy
It's about time I started raising some money!
Just wondered if you had anywhere to recommend for an online database/forum thingy...
I am raising money for a friend who has recently lost his leg to cancer and the cash will go towards a brand spanking new one, which he hopes to use for sport, and I hope he will use to tease small children.
This is obviously quite a personal charity type thing, so websites like just giving.com are ruled out I think because he isn't a registered charity... I checked out sponsorformonline.co.uk, but was a bit put off by the fact it wanted potential sponsors to enter their address, phone numbers and emails, and then promised to 'contact them to get the sponsorship'.
All i really want is an online database, where friends can leave a message of support and a pledge, and then I can chase them up in my own time!
At the race HQ there will be a collection of boxes, each one numbered with a water station. You need to mark up your drink/food with your number (I tend to tape both together if I want drink and food at the same time) and then place them in the correctly numbered box. A map is displayed so that you can see what number corresponds with what water station.
Cut off time is usually 45 mins to an hour before the start though because it's the race marshall who delivers these on his final inspection of the course.
Then these boxes are taken to the appropriate water stations and left there before the start of the race.
You need to remember what you've left at what water stations.
As you approach the water station you shout your race number and tell them that you've got drinks there for you. Those drinks will have been laid out so that the people manning the water stations can find those drinks quickly. They will then be handed to you.
What stops your drink being given to someone else is the race number on your chest.
Because some stations can have two drinks placed at them (because you do the same circuit twice) I tend to use two different coloured labels. So as I run towards a drinks station at which I know there is a drink for me I shout "Drink for 246! Yellow label please!"
Be vocal and assertive, but remember to smile and say thanks.
It's your responsibility to remember where you have left drinks and to tell the marshalls that you expect them to find them for you. They will do this as quickly as they can. (In many cases you'll find that they'll know what drinks they have and be looking out for particular numbers. But if you approach in a group this is difficult)
On the related subject. Last year I witnessed a bit of a pile-up at a water station. This happened because a group of runners bunched up before a water station and then someone inadvertantly ran in front of another runner causing him to swerve and that caused all hell to break loose.
The water stations are positioned on one side of the road. Please spread yourselves out before reaching the water station if you intend picking up something. If you do not then try to keep to the other side of the road to allow people to get to the water station. It helps if the people at the front of a group run to the end of the water station before getting there drinks to allow runners behind to pick up what they need.
(For those who have run a marathon before this is clearly obvious stuff. For those who havn't it might still be obvious but it's worth mentioning because on the day there's alot of remember)
Will post a bit more frequently now that i am back.
Jon
http://home.bmycharity.com/
http://www.justgiving.com/
Been a while since I logged on having been overseas for the last three weeks. Had an affect on my training but settling back into things now. And not long to go really in the scheme of things!!
Flynn, a mad five minutes - have the running numbers been sent out yet. I can't remember if I have had it yet??
Stu
Running numbers have not been sent out yet. You can check your entry online if you're concerned that you're entry has not been received. (http://halsteadroadrunners.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=58)
I actually talked to another member of the marathon committee tonight regarding the race numbers and it wont be too long before I get them and can send them out. When I start doing this I'll post a message here.