Paris Marathon 2013

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  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭

    HS - I think I've said never again after most of my marathons. Although normally within a week I'm online and clicking enter to more races. image

    Emmy - Five must be the magic number. I'm in London this year at the fifth time of asking.

  • I usually say never again about 5kms BEFORE the finishing line HS image

    When I get to the finish line, well I've been known to celebrate with a big shout. image

  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭

    Talking of entering races on a whim I've now signed up for the Loch Katrine Half Mararthon on March 10th. At the least that should provide a dedent guide to what my fitness is like before Paris.

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    The only reason I ran my first marathon, at age 50 (just), was because I said it out loud in front of my kids, that one day I'd like to have run a marathon.  Same reason I learned to ride a unicycle btw.   And I really did intend to make it just one.   What I never anticipated was the great sense of accomplishmnet felt after months of training, nor the actual enjoyment of the race itself, nor the community of people you find yourself rewarded with as friends.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    @Eggy - It's good to see that our influence is rubbing off on you image

  • Ha ha Dannirr, the only reason I ran my first, 42yr old, is because I said OUTLOUD in my office that I could beat a colleague who had just run his first marathon...oops. I did though.....and then beat another one in the Great South Run.  I hasten to add it was not quick and they were not overly fit....just in case anyone thinks I'm Radcliffe in disguise image

    I usually say "never again" or "this is my last" at the start - which isn't usually a good start.  But once I'm home, like you all - it's online to see where I fancy going for the next. 

     

  • Now then.

    Maybe it's because I'm not yet out of a challenging 6 months for running, but I'm pretty sure that I've never thought of a marathon as being my last. Quite the opposite.

    I trained badly/naively for the first and hated the idea that the time (5:31) would be my record.  So I entered again and ran 4:26 but that was from a standing start and 12 weeks training.  So... I entered again, and ran 3:38 but felt I could do more...and entered again.  Last year I ran 3:24 but feel certain I could get sub 3:15 and if I could get a good 6 months training without injury I could go better still.  I've yet to run at anything like an ideal weight and if i could get uninterrupted training in, shed the weight I wonder if I could run sub 3. 

    Still, that's a long way from where I am now (virus obviously still present as Sunday's ponderous 8 miles has knocked me for six) but who knows about Berlin?

    Neil and I have decided that 'the train' will re-form for Paris, only this year it may be a slow moving goods train...but in Berlin we'll constitute a teutonic TGV!

    Anyway...Jantastic.  Sorry Bench folk but I'll miss target this week.  I've also been rivalled by someone called 'Suzanne Boyle'....wasn't she that talent show singer????  I've accepted the rival thing but how do I see who she is/what team she's in/what she runs?

     

     

     

     

  • hi everyone..   have been absent...  crazy start to the New Year..   will have a scroll back when I can to catch up...   just wanted to share this video with you of one of my running students, Sophy..  she is making good progress and is looking much more fluent now...   some further refinement to be made and then we will work on her stamina and get her entered into her first 10k in a few months time.  The web site still isn't finished...  I've got a backlog and its only the first week of January... eekk...!

  • OrbuttOrbutt ✭✭✭

    Wow - DV, that's quite a change. What advice did you give her so that she could picture what she needed to do?

  • I can't ride a Unicycle yet Dannirr (on my lifetime list), but am pretty good at riding bikes backwards. Never quite sure if that skill (developed in my teenage years) did win me any new girlfriends though. Still, if you're not 100% sure what's going to work, it's worth trying a few different things huh.... listening didn't seem so obvious at the time

    image

  • DLR I have to say your story of your marathon progress has cheered me up! I made a bet just before new years with my dad that by 31st December 2017 I will have beat him in a marathon. I've only run one so far (Paris last year) and I was badly trained and finished in 5:03, and whilst it's early days yet and so I don't know how I'll be handling the longer distances I'm kind of hoping for sub 4:30 this year. His PB is 3:38 so it was a rather ambitious bet to say the least!! But it's definitely given me extra motivation (we bet £100 but it's not about the money, all about the pride..). Don't feel too disheartened by your runs lately- viruses can take their toll for a long while, it's horrible!

    DV- that's impressive! I'm quite jealous of her form! 

    Done my first run of Jantastic. I think I pushed myself a bit too hard in a tempo run last week though (possibly due to the aforementioned bet..) and I've been struggling a bit since. I do think I need to work on slowing myself down a bit in my long runs too but I'm finding that difficult. 

  • LEGEND! Had to Share this - out of tonite's metro:

    /members/images/157400/Gallery/IMAG0246_-_Copy.jpg

     i remember seeing this dude in the London Marathon years ago! One of the true characters that inspires me and so many others (i'm sure) to run the marathon.

  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    The human body is a strange thing. I came home tired and thinking tonight's run would be hellish. I then went out and did 9 miles at a 9:05 m/m pace. The best I've ran since starting back after injury. I felt good throughout and a million times better than the sluggish hell of Saturday! A nice surprise to say the least.
  • lovin yer work EG!image

  • Jimbob - I saw him at the London marathon last year. He wasn't quick, but he wasn't last either, he was just trundling along steadily.



    First Jantastic score-on-the-door this evening. And I see The Bench are on the leaderboard already image (if that's physically possible?). That said, remember folks that the purpose of the exercise is to get people out of the door who can't be *rsed in January, not to encourage people to go out if they're still injured and/or feeling crap. There's enough in the team to compensate for any off days - and it's just a bit of fun anyway.



    Dannirr - I'm following a few people on twitter who are doing Disney - sounds like there will be some good speakers at the Expo if toucan make it (Frank Shorter, Joan Samuelson, Bart Yasso).
  • image autocorrect. I'm leaving that one - I like it.
  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭

    DV - That's a quite a change in running form. I really should look into that one day, my running form must be dire from the small bits I've seen in race grainy race footage. One thing though I notice her right heel now never touches the ground. Is that what she should be aiming for?

    RR - Don't worry there probably are toucans at the Disney Expo too!

  • Eggyh73 wrote (see)

    DV - That's a quite a change in running form. I really should look into that one day, my running form must be dire from the small bits I've seen in race grainy race footage. One thing though I notice her right heel now never touches the ground. Is that what she should be aiming for?

     

    Well..  its very early days yet.  In essence, yes.  I'm aiming at a mid-foot or forefoot strike for her.  It needs to develop naturally but right now she is concentrating hard on what she is doing.  We will be changing her shoes and refining the technique and I expect to see it become more fluent as the weeks progress.  It's a great start though and I'm very pleased with her.   We are working on muscle development exercises and then we will start on a little distance so we can get her to a 10k in a few months.  I don't want her to run any distance yet though until she can get this right...   its a promising start though.

     

  • ATMATM ✭✭✭

    'Evening all. Quick note on borrowed pc with confusing keyboard...Tonight's run included the first 3k of the Paris route but in the dark and under some spectacular Christmas lights. Ultra-pretty...image I'm going to enjoy my next runs, no end.

    Great to see that the Bench is emptying. Go , Eggy!

    Good luck, Dan. I love the value-for-money approach.

  • Hello folks. Been busy with the planning for the summer adventure. Running Bratislava to Brussels. Will be sending something out to interested folks in the next week or so. Just begun tweeting tonight so if you want to follow, we're @ITLR2013 or search #ITLR2013.

    Basic route is Bratislava, Vienna, Prague, Frankfurt, Cologne, Brussels between 15/7 and 22/7. Around about 1,250kms. But no overgrown parrots RR. Tee hee. Excited. image

  • TD:  wow exciting stuff - impressiveimage.

    Well back from track "tempo" session, 4.5 miles completed at ......  7.32 avg pace - omg was totally stunned by that!!!  REally not sure how I managed it and was standing and chatting at the end!!!! 

    Roll on next week - recovery trott with the dogs in the morningimage.

  • My goodness PF that is speedy!

    Got out for a run again tonight. Super slow but that's fine by me as I've challenged myself to run every day this month. It's about getting back into the habit of proper training again rather than any mileage targets so I'm taking it easy. Rules are no speedwork and alternate short run days of just 2 or 3 miles. 

    Eggy take a look at soulinmotion.co.uk if you're interested on changing your form (remember though if it ain't broke ...etc). Nick runs day workshops in Pollock Park once every other month and he cured my splinters.

  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭

    PF - Wow, you're flying.

    HS - Thanks I'll take a look at that, but I'll wait until after these marathons are out the way. Think it would be a bit risky to start introducing changes at this point. I'm fairly certain I'm far from being efficient in my running. I've never been coached at all. Although strangely enough I have been told by two different people that they wish that had my feet! It's seems I'm naturally neutral and flat footed and this is a good thing!

    I was planning to look at joining a running club and getting some track work in after Chicago, but my injury killed off that plan. Things to keep me occupied in the summer I guess.

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    RR - I do plan on spending some time at the Expo listening to the speakers. The list is pretty comprehensive with multiple slots allocated to the same speaker, making it much easier not to miss something you really want to hear.

     

  • DV - that is an amazing change. I envy the "lightness" of her stride - she gets amazing air, and it's clear she's paying very close attention. I try to emulate that doing an exercise called "bummies" here (not a mistake! Cue DLR! It is essentially turning your legs over to get them to strike in line with your body carriage, but with your body trunk in more of an upright position than the leaning forward of normal running) and I tire really quickly, which suggests to me that I possible don't lift my feet up high enough.

    A serious question that might sound silly, but I'll ask it anyway: Is her gait the right length? When I saw a running coach here, she encourage me to shorten my stride to make sure I was getting the magic 180 cadence. I've practised and practised and find that I'm pretty regularly at the right cadence without having to count continuously. I just check in a few times each run. I do think worry that my strides are too short though.

    Well done PF and Eggy - sounds like great work.

    Dannirr: I'm thinking of you in your run up to Goofy! I'd love to run it one day.

    TD: I'm really hoping to be a part of ITLR. At least I'll be in the right hemisphere!

    RR: Maybe this should go on the thread flag, along with a tapir!

    /members/images/694482/Gallery/toucan_running.jpg

     

     

     

  • ClagClag ✭✭✭
    Morning all,



    Not managing keep up very well. This thread moves at such a rate! Looks like training is going well for many of us.



    Eggy - this will be marathon 6 for me. I did my first in 2008 and did say never again, then did 3 in 2010 and a last minute effort in 2011.



    Training is going okay so far. Five weeks done and managed to scrape under 23 mins at parkrun on New Year's Day for the first time in quite a few months. Got a half marathon and a 10 mile race lined up for Feb/March.



    Main concern at the moment is pacing for the long run. Ideal time is sub 4 (or 4:15 if it doesn't happen). I know from past experience that I've always lost it in the last 6 miles although in Lochaber I had enough minutes banked to do it. The big question is whether to set out at a steady pace and hope to hold it all the way or what! I guess it's train, do the HM and then decide.



    Also long runs, being pushed a bit fast by my training buddy I think. 18 miles this weekend so will see how it goes!
  • Carl DCarl D ✭✭✭

    Morning all. Just catching up as I has a bit of a manic day yesterday.

    10 mile easy run to do tonight. Did a 6 mile tempo run yesterday morning with 20 mins at 7:22 mm. Not bad but as I normally run in the evening found this first thing in the day running a bit stranbge and ran out of fuel when I was pushing it a little.

    Will know better the next time and make sure I prepare differently.

    Interesting discussion on running multiple marathons.

    I did my first marathon in 2011 when I was 42. And I did it as I had made a committment to friends of mine in 2010 that I would run for a charity that they were heavily involved in.

    Initially I thought it would be a one off thing and OI think my wife wishes it was a one off thing but having run it with an injury and finished in 4:46 I thought to myself that I can do better than that.

    So in 2012 I repeated it and finished in 4:26 after stepping on a discarded bottle in mile 8 and jarring my hip which made the last 6 miles hellish.

    Knowing that I can do better than that I am training properly (for probably the first time) with  a target of 3:45 in my head. Like others I would love to run under 3:15 and with a few more marathons you never know I might get there.

    So I like so many other people have got hooked on challenging myself.

    I am planning to run Dublin later this year and thinking that next year I might do 3.

    But not sure about back to back marathons like some on here. Anyone who can do that is amazing but like most things in life it is relative. If you are fit enough and have the mental toughness required you can do anything.image

     

  • Clag - that's the whole point of the marathon really - the last 6 miles or 10K. It's been said of the marathon that it is a 10k race with a 32km run to the start line! So nothing unusual to struggle at the end.

    I think pacing is something that should be planned towards during your whole programme, but only confirmed in the last 4 weeks. So make sure you are getting in plenty of long runs (with the bulk of the distance below your expected race pace so as to conserve energy for the duration of your programme - but on each day, to dig deep into your energy reserves - you do want to feel pretty tired at the end of a long run, just not shattered).

    But a couple of times through the programme, you should have long runs where a significant proportion of the run is at race pace, so you get to know what that feels like.  You should also do a couple of test races, so you are comfortable at running at higher than planned marathon race pace. Some 10Ks or half maras are good for this.

    The strategy of run faster than I feel I can do and hold on for as long as possible is pretty futile in marathon running. In gambling terms, there is no trick for 'beating the House'.  But a thorough and methjodical training programme will change your body and prepare you to know how fast you can run.  Maybe what I am saying is that experience helps to lay down 'race intelligence'. Feel free to keep asking questions as plenty of people round here have got the requisite experience. Cheers, TD.

    My word Fiona - that was a fast tempo session. Good going missus image

    Mausey - getting very excited about the summer project. I hope to have an application brochure ready in the next week or so. Wrote up drafts last night - has to go to graphics people and another contributor first.

  • Eggyh73Eggyh73 ✭✭✭
    Clag wrote (see)

    Main concern at the moment is pacing for the long run. Ideal time is sub 4 (or 4:15 if it doesn't happen). I know from past experience that I've always lost it in the last 6 miles although in Lochaber I had enough minutes banked to do it. The big question is whether to set out at a steady pace and hope to hold it all the way or what! I guess it's train, do the HM and then decide.

    I've had the same issue in some marathons. What I've found is I need a good few 20 mile or more LSRs in order to feel strong enough in those last few miles. They still hurt mind you. For Paris last year I did 5 with 3 x 20, 1 x 21 and 1 x 22.

    I used a strategy of 5km time goals through the race. In Paris in the first 30km I built up an advantage on my target time and from then I I was determined I wasn't letting it slip. Mentally I try and break the final miles down into routes I know and run regularly, so that I get in the mental position of thinking "I've ran this a million times, this is nothing", rather than thinking "another x amount of miles to go".

  • Morning - or early afternoon to you all!!

    Stil reeling from my efforts last night, but amazingly all in one piece and no aches!!  Was going to do a 4 mile recovery trott, but resting today (other than 4 mile dog walk) for tomorrows 8 miles, then 13 saturday, will now do 4 miles recovery off road with the dogs on sunday!!  May be dry by then!!

    Seems like some great running is going on by all.

    Oh a garmin 310xt technical question.  My history is only showing for 25th december, and no further, downloads to the pc but can't find it after a run, have deleted all old activities now and am just hoping its a blip, also taking a long time to switch on.  Any way to reset it ?  Thanks

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