VOTE Shady_Ady

135

Comments

  • Thank you Adrian for your response. Well I must admit that I got hooked in the last half marathon. My friends and I were thinking of the half marathon in Portsmouth but I don't know if I'll have enough time after the holidays. What would you think is the minimum time for preparing for a marathon. 

  • Hey Sarah.........I just let my wife read your latest post, and she said she agrees with your OH. Can you believe the cheek! Do they know that half of your holiday entitlement should be spent on an adventure!

    Do you have a photo of this dinner? It must have been epic then!

    Where did you go in Kenya? Did you make in to Samburu National Park?

    If you do make it to the Great Wall....go to the Jiankou section. It's virtually empty of tourists. I spent a night on a local farm and got up the following morning and ran (well, a brisk walk in a lot of places where it was too unsteady underfoot) a section of the wall here by myself (these are a couple of views I had from it). All that history, scenery and the whole place shared only with nature. One of the few places I've been that I think could make one of RW's Rave Runs! I hope you make it here.

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  • Hi Liliana.

    When is the half marathon in Portsmouth? I didnt realise you had already done a half marathon from your last post. When did you do your half marathon before?

    If your previous half marathon was recent, or your still currently running some, then maybe you could train for doing another in 8-12 weeks (this is my own personal thought!). Some people might disagree to this, so you can probably find a more detailed discussion in the 'Training' section of the forum - http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/training/3.html

    I'm been stupid enough to run a marathon with no training (I'm not trying to make out I'm a fool, but more thoughts will give a more rounded answer image). I've also never followed a half-marathon trainng plan, only ran them as part of my marathon training.......so I think people in the forum above will be able to guide you well.

    I'm just basing my thoughts on the face that most marathon training programmes are 16 weeks and a half marathon is half that distance image

    Good luck!

  • RRR - It's not quite the same as my normal long run from Woking to Staines and back image

  • Your photos look amazing, they have just increased my enthusiasm to go. I can't believe your OH aswell.....what's up with them both (or is it is)??



    I've put a picture of my diner up on my thread!



    We went to tsavo east and west and tiata hills, it was amazing and was so busy I loved it. The 8 days in the hotel afterwards drove me mad though. When ever you went on the beech someone tried to sell you something and it wasn't really safe for me to go for a run on my own (and my OH wouldn't go with me). The hotel had decided to replace their gym with a kids club area aswell so I ended up not running for 2 weeks. I was like a bear with a sore head, couldn't wait to get home and go for a run!
  • Hey Sarah......it's definitely not us.......how can something be our fault when all we're trying to do is stay fit and healthy! image

    I've seen your meal now......that is impressive....very impressive. I wouldn't have known where to start.

    My wife also likes beach holidays. I can do maybe 45 minutes of lazing on a sunlounger, but that's my limit. It's caused a bit of friction in my household when planning our vacations!

    Was it Mombasa where you stayed by the beach? I did my Masters Thesis in Kenya and spent a few days at the beach, so know exactly where you're coming from.

    Anyone have any runs planned today? When do people have their rest days?

  • Hello mate,

    Hope your sticking in there with all the excitement of the last week?
    Just watched the bootcamp video "I run so I can eat more!" - Legend!

    Goodluck, hope you end up in the final 5!

    Jimmers

     

  • Ps. 48min, very muddy 10k for me today in the chilly woods, great fun!

     

  • Hey Jimmers.........haha......sometimes I wish I wasn't so honest........I'd planned all these things I'd say, and when they asked the question, my mind went blank and I just blurted the first thing that came out.

    Shame I couldn't get out and run at lunch like normal - blue skies and bright sunshine (and I'm sure a bit of mud too!).

    Thanks for the wishes. If I don't, I at least know I gave it my best shot, and will definitely be a better runner for it.

    Got any races planned in the near future? Maybe see you at one if you're doing any in the South!

  • I totally think that is the most quoted line of the video! image And ... it is actually what a lot of us think too! Cake GOOD! image

    Out for a run later on?

  • Haha....it might be hard to shake that reputation off now image

    I am out for a run. My project manager has asked if I could pace him for 8 m/m as he's training for the Reading Half next year. I think we're going to do 5-6 miles along the dark streets of Farnborough.

    I haven't ran with him before, so it'll be interesting. If I push him too hard, it could seriously hamper my current chances of a promotion! I'll definitely let him win the sprint finish. image

    Did you manage to get out today?

  • Sounds a nice run - do you use a headtorch for night runs? I tend to look like a Christmas tree on my night runs - lit up and brightly coloured! As you've probably guessed, I'm not much of one for subtle colours!image

    I'm heading to the garage for a quick 5k on the treadmill later on ... determined to get a sub-20 time this year! image

  • Why be subtle if you'll never get noticed! If I'm honest, I've never worn a head torch before. But then again previously when running at night, I've always ran along well lit roads.

    Do you ever find yourself getting motion sickness at all, if your focusing your eyes on the moving light all the time? I once tried to watch a movie on my Iphone while running on a treadmill but had to stop, as I was starting to feel sick, focusing on the screen while I was moving.

    What's the closest you've come to a sub-20 time?

  • Shady, you sound just like me, beachy holidays really arent my thing. I can be kept quiet for a day or two if ive got a good book (and it has to be good) but then thats it. I love going away with my parents and the running club as their just the same, tend to end up dashing here, there and everywhereimage

    It was mombassa where we stayed. The sea and beach was lovely but you just couldnt enjoy it. I would have loved to have been able to run up and down it all day!

  • ...forgot to say i think its them too!

  • I know what you mean about the hassle you get there. I tried going out for a drink in the evening with a local friend I was working with, and it was impossible to not get harrassed. I think you would have made the right choice running along the beach instead of the main road behind the hotels..........those matatus are one dangerous mode of transport.

    I'm a stickler for travel books (Paul Theroux is alays a favourite), but the last book I read was Born To Run. Reading this was one of the reasons I entered this competition as, I was motivated to be better. 

    I'm now reading Relentless Forward Progress (Bryon Powell) as I'd like to do an ultra marathon in the 2nd part of next year (after breaking 3:30 somewhere in the Spring!)

     

  • It's been an eventful week since making the shortlist, and regardless of the result, a week that I wouldn't change for the world (well, I might have thought of something else to say in my interview, as people now just think I'm a food loving whore image!).

    Before this week, I had a weekly target of miles to run, and I ran them. I never really added variety (I'm starting to worry now if there are other areas of my life, where I might need to add a bit of spice image). I never gave intervals, speed, hill and pacing sessions the respect they deserve. 

    Win or lose, next week will begin my long haul to a Spring 3:30 marathon. It might seem a lot to ask considering my current PB is 3:44, but my fundemental thinking of running has improved and that's because I've bit the bullet and started interacting more with my fellow runners instead of sheepishly sitting at the back thinking I dont deserve to be part of the group. If nothing else this experience has brought a new level of confidence I never had before.

    It's been a month now since I completed my last marathon in Athens. I've just had my first week back running +30 miles. This year was all about running the marathon distance comfortably and now I can do this, without the urge of stopping and walking, I feel my baseline for the start of Spring Marathon training is the best it has ever been. As the distance is no longer daunting, it means I can now concentrate more on speed and the variety that was originally lacking. 

    My favourite marathon moments come from my slowest marathons. My best achievement is the slowest thing I have ever done (walking LEJOG). It'll be nice to break this trend and trump both these memories by doing something FAST! I have only myself stopping me from doing this.

  • Best marathon moment:

    Quito Marathon (Ecuador) - I only ran it because a fellow teacher said, "YOU run marathons?" before laughing, as though I was just blurting out the first thing that came into my head to impress her.

    I saw this advertised later that week and ran it 2 weeks later. Finished in 5hrs 19mins with no training and at altitude. I didn't care it was slow, it shut my fellow teacher up for good!

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  • Best achievement:

    Walking Lands End to John o'Groats to raise money for Association for International Cancer Research (AICR). 14 weeks of mainly rain.....and when we got to the finish in John o'Groats we found the owner of the infamous sign had the flu and wasn't getting the sign out for the rest of the week. We both wanted to cry!

    Start:

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    Finish:

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  • Wow! Those are some great photos and amazing experiences you've had.  I don't know what else could possibly be on your list, but is there anything you still dream to do? (Besides win this competition and run a sub 3:30 marathon of course! image)

    I would love to do NY marathon and I know you've said before you've done that.  Any tips on that race in particular?

  • Hey! Believe me, there’s plenty more on my list (I hope that doesn’t sound too greedy!).

    I’d love to get my wife into running (like I said previously in this thread, she had a bad experience at the Nottingham Half Marathon a few years ago and she hasn’t ran since really). She has started going the gym now with some of her friends at work, so you never know. Up until then, whenever I would do for my long runs at the weekend, she would bake a cake……..so I think we are both benefitting from her recent decision!

    I did my first ultra this year, and that would be something I’d love to do more of in the future, especially Comrades Marathon and Marathon des Sable (although the last I heard, this had a 3 year waiting list!). I’d also like to do a marathon in each continent……4 down, 3 to go! It seems whenever I tick a marathon or race off my wish-list, I replace it with another, so it never gets smaller….much to my wife’s despair!

    For crowds and atmosphere, I still think NY Marathon has been my favourite (even if the crowd thought I’d misspelled my name ‘Ady’ and called me ‘Andy’ all the time!). The only tips I have, is to maybe fly in on the Friday, so you only have a day or two before the actual marathon (and sightsee afterwards). You might feel a little more jet-lagged, but as I’d flown in quite a few days earlier, I’d already had my fair share of American sized meal portions. I’m sure this made no difference in reality, but I remember before the start of the race this was playing on my conscience.

    Why New York? It’s a good job you weren’t tempted this year to run it image 

  • Talking of favourite marathons, what are other people's favourites?

    Do you think a smaller marathon offers the same reward for first timers as doing one of the big 5?

  • In the UK a few of my friends have done the the beachy head marathon in Eastbourne ( seven sisters) its apparently one to tick off your list!!!......hard but pretty....surely that makes all the difference when your vomiting...!!...image

  • Hey Mel.........I've heard other's say that too. Scenery makes all the difference when you have vomit dribbling down your chin! It means you can look off into the distance like a model catalogue pose and look over the awkward stares from the spectators!

  • Yes, I do feel sorry for those runners who had been training and traveled from far away for the NY Marathon this year. Obviously you can't stop Mother Nature, but I do wonder if the decision to cancel could have been made earlier. Anyways, that's a discussion for another day...



    I think NY is such a famous event that it's probably on most people's lists who have even thought about running a marathon. Plus I've always wanted to visit NY, so it would be ticking off 2 things in one go!



    So the marathon distance isn't enough of a challenge anymore?image How did your first Ultra go? I have to say I'm not tempted at all to go those extra miles!
  • Hi Shady, I loved reading your summery of the last week or so, what a good idea image

    Your pictures again are amazing. I have a picture of me as a child at both LE and JOG but we drove to them a couple of years apart. I would love to do what youve done. I think you could write a book on your adventures. You know what you would have to call it though...."i run so I can eat" or something along those lines image

    I will have a look out for that book born to run. I recently read a book a colleague bought me "what I talk about when I talk about running" which was also a good read, the history of Athens marathon in it is interesting.

  • Ooh an ultra! Wow! Which one did you do?

  • Hi Ace............I hope you manage to follow your goals and make it to New York, but don't rush the dream image....there's plenty of good books/ training material out there for those training for their first marathon (you did say you were just getting into runnig didn't you?). Try the beginners forum here, or just do a google search for courch to marathon, or something similar.

    My first ultra was an experience. It was only 50km (only he says!), so just scraping in to the ultra bracket. I started off strongly, but made a couple of disastrous decisions.....first I took advantage of the free gels on offer at the aid stations.......and secondly......I took even better advantage of the Percy Pigs on offer at the aid stations.

    I'd never used either of these during a race before and I had horrible stomach cramps for about 10 miles of the race. I couldn't keep any fluids down and kept vomitting. It cleared up with 10k to go and this last 10k didn't seem half as bad as I was expecting it to........definitely lessons learnt! 

  • Hi Sarah, thanks for your post.........haha........I like the title of the book..

    .......I actually started to write a book after my time in Kenya. I wrote about 6 chapters and sent it off to literary agents. I had one really positive response who asked how much of the book I'd wrote? I lied and said I'd wrote everything in draft (I hadn't wrote any more than I'd sent). Unfortunately he then asked for the next two chapters for the next morning. 

    I spent all night writing two chapters of pure turd, and never heard from him again. There's a lesson to be learnt somewhere in there!

    Good luck tomorrow (or Thursday!)

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