RW Forum Six – Sub 3.30

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  • forgot to say, when I got to the end and collected my bag, Minni had sent me a text before the race to say she was over at the celeb pen with some of the other people from RW...I was so disappointed that I had missed her again. After the race she was already on the train when she received my text to say that I was going to the meeting point.
  • Absolutely FANTASTIC!! I knew you'd be BRILLIANT!! Well done!! All that hard work paid off!! Woo woo!!

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Brilliant report Sarah. I'll post mine on the 26.2 thread later. 

    Sorry to hear that you missed Minni. I'm sure she's just as disappointed not to have been able to catch you too.

    Top job on the carbo loading - doesn't it make such a difference? 

    Really impressed with your endurance. To feel strong at the end as you did must be fantastic. I felt alot better than in previous campaigns but not like you, my legs were burning.

    Jelly babies are off the menu for quite some time!

    The sprint finish was wonderful and it was all down to Jen who ran the last 0.2 with me. I checked my watch and we did that at 7:30mm pace. 

    You did really well to do London in just 0.1 over distance. I've always been at least 0.5 miles over. Yesterday it was almost spot on - only 0.01 miles over (only 16 metres) image

    Winds were tough. I don't know how strong the wind was but I felt it for sure. At least it was only for 4 miles of the course in total. The rest was perfect conditions.

    Are you planning on running this week or having a full week off?

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Congratulations Sarah what a great read.  I always thought you'd nail it but I'm a bit superstitious image

    I didn't have such a great race, I had a headache all day on Saturday, and right up to the last minute I was thinking about deferring, but I thought I could manage 4:45 ish so I went ahead.

    I loved my usual walk over Tower Bridge, got to the start, everything went well, but within half a mile I was sweating... profusely shall we say! I still felt OK but I knew I must be dehydrating and my mouth was like sandpaper. I'd started at 8:30 for 2 miles then moved up comfortably to 8's then 7:55.  I let the 2   3:30 pacers go past - those groups are lethal! - and went through half way in 1:47 so I knew 3:30 wasn't going to happen that day, but then I started to go downhill fast.  The noise became overwhelming and I began to crave shade, eventually under a flyover at 20 ish I stopped to get my bearings and a couple of people came over to help! I asked if if I looked bad and this woman said, "well, yes." so I took a few minutes to recover then walked to the finish.

    But, Mrs P assumed that when she saw the 4:15 people on the emankment that I had passed her so she went to the finish, I wasn't there so she eventually went to the runers aid thing, so whern I got to the finish, I couldn't find her.  We eventually met up at the hotle a couple of hours later.  TBH I had been a bit blase and we did not have a specific emergency plan.

    I enjoyed the occasion though, a wonderful day to run in London, and very moving.

    It's very kind of you to say those things Sarah, but this thread has certainly motivated me through the winter months and like everyone else I've enjoyed your progress and I hope I'll be around when you whup your dad.

    Re the sunburn I look like a proper wife-beater now!

     

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Hi Sarah,

    Congratulations, that’s a brilliant time, really well done! To be able to pick up the pace in the latter part of the race like that is really impressive and it sounds like you had a perfect race all round. Do you have a secret running name? I was trying to look you up on the VLM website to see how you did but couldn’t find you.

    Like you, I thought the first few miles were relatively quiet compared to when I’d done it before, and my Garmin was also misbehaving a bit at one point – it had me doing mile 19 in 9:16 which is definitely wrong, I think the tall buildings at Canary Wharf may have confused it.  My full race report follows shortly…

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Hi Malcs,

    Well done, that's a great PB! Definitely deserves a celebration Jaffa cake!

     

    Well done to Minni as well, great time!

     

     

     

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    I'm sorry your race didn't go so well Mr P. I'm glad you still managed to enjoy the occasion and I hope you're feeling better now. That's a good point about having an emergency plan, I can't say I had one either.

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    OK, here’s my race report.

    I have to say that despite having counted down the weeks and days to the race, when I woke up on Sunday morning I couldn’t quite believe that it was race day and didn’t feel mentally prepared for it at all, and travelling to the start I felt quite nervous. It also didn’t help when I managed to lose the energy bar I had brought with me to eat before the start – I think it fell out of the pocket of my shorts when I jogged to the toilet.

    Still, once the race got underway I felt fine and my legs were feeling really good. There was obviously a lot of congestion at the start, particularly in the first mile, and I was about a minute behind schedule after mile 2 but I managed to speed up a bit and do the next 2 miles quite quickly and made the time up. I then tried to just relax and concentrate on keeping a steady pace and I managed to consistently knock out miles between 7:40 and 8:00 (apart from mile 10 when I lost about 20 seconds or so to a toilet break). I went through half way in 1:43:13 and knowing that I had a couple of minutes in hand by that time gave me confidence and helped me relax. At every mile after that I was totting up those spare seconds and working out at what pace I could do the remaining miles and still hit 3:30, so every time I managed to keep up my pace for another mile it made the remaining task seem just a little bit easier and it meant I wasn’t too concerned when I hit a bit of congestion around 15 miles, just going onto the Isle of Dogs.

    Obviously as the race went on I felt it more in my legs, but at 20 miles I still felt reasonably OK and I was still managing to keep up a decent pace. I saw the people from my running club just before the 20 mile mark which gave me a bit of a boost and I knew my family would be watching just after 23 miles so looking forward to that spurred me on, as did actually seeing them of course. The last couple of miles were a bit tougher and that run down Birdcage Walk seems to go on for ever, but I managed a short burst of speed at the end and got over the finish line in 3:27:23, so I was absolutely delighted with that. In fact I did a little jump for joy as I went over the line and promptly got cramp in my hamstring, although once I had stretched it out I was fine.

    I did have a bit of a tummy ache on the way home, probably a reaction to all of those gels and jelly babies.

  • AndyAAndyA ✭✭✭

    Here are my 5k splits

    0-5k 25:05
    5-10k 24:21
    10-15k 24:19
    15-20k 24:17
    20-25k 24:29
    25-30k 24:23
    30-35k 24:21
    35-40k 25:08

    First half: 1:43:13
    Second half: 1:44:10

    I was really pleased that I managed to keep up such a consistent pace for most of the race. Even over those last miles when I knew I had enough time in hand and was giving my legs permission to slow down a bit they kept going. Mile 25 was the only one which was noticeably slower than the others and that was still 8:18.  

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Mr P - that's a real shame about your race being so tough. I have done a half marathon with a cold before but couldn't imagine doing a full marathon with one.

    Supporters are always so positive so I guess when one of them agrees with you that you look in a bad way you've got to take notice. Sounds like you did the right thing in taking your time to get your bearings.

    The heat is the one thing about London I don't like.

    Andy - Many thanks, I can barely believe it. Sick of the sight of jaffa cakes too but I will have a cheeky beer when I feel up to it.

    Well done yourself! That is a fantastic result. Excellent even pace and great that you still felt you could keep it up towards the end when it got tougher.

  • MinniMinni ✭✭✭

    I'm just home and preparing for the mega catch up and race report read but firstly Malcs, what time did you run????

     

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    3:32:42 Minni - 26 min PB image. I keep checking the results page but apparently it's not an error - it is really true! 

    Fantastic result for you - you must be elated! I just read your report on your thread. Must have been great having all those guys you know running around you.

  • Malcs, wow, what a fantastic pb! When was ur last marathon that was 26 mins slower? I'm hoping to take 18 off this time around and my last was September 2011
  • Mr P, sorry ur race wasn't so good. Count it as a learning experience that deferral can be the best option, but well done for finishing under the circumstances. That must have taken some real strength of character to walk the last 6.



    AndyA! Congratulations on an awesome time... Now wondering about San Fran in 2015 as I'm gonna need to get seriously faster to keep up with you lot! Perhaps u can give me an hour headstart?



    Had a day out in the mountains today- beautiful, but towards the end I was getting a bit sick of walking on tired legs. Happy now I'm supping some wine and eating cheese and charcuterie image
  • Minni- Fantastic time- well done!!

    Likewise AndyA and Malcs.

    Mr P- sorry to hear it wasn't your day, but sure you will come back stronger.

    Angela- Holiday sounds lovely!

    Jealous of everyone now, need to get myself sorted for autumn...

  • MinniMinni ✭✭✭

    Malcs - that is totally amazing.  I'm so happy for you and without a doubt there's more to come.  Very well done.

  • Clive, which one are u doing in autumn?



    Minni, not sure i said before, but well done on smashing ur pb, and thanks for being so generous with ur advice n this forum. Really helped my running no end, in such a short space of time image
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Angela - thanks so much! My most recent was only last Sept - 3:59 after doing 3:59 last April. Then the previous 3 Aprils were 3:58, 4:01 and 4:09. You can see why Asics had me in the 'On a Plateau' group image

    I'd heard of others on here who had knocked similar big chunks off their PBs. In fact didn't you do that Minni? Gives you alot of confidence knowing that others have done it too. I reckon you have a great chance if you get the training right.

    Minni - I am still pinching myself. I knew I had a great chance of sub 3:45 but getting close to 3:30 I really wasn't sure about. I am waiting for the post marathon blues to hit but I'm still on a high!

    Clive - I completely understand how you must feel. I really do hope you get into York and if not get into something in October so we can all share the Autumn training together.

  • Thankyou Sarah/RRR and thankyou for all the suport you gave me the night before london via FB!
  • Malcs, I had a feeling you would say that about the JB! I dont wana see them for a while and I only had a few for carbo loading and two every 8 miles!!



    The carbo loading and nutrition during the race made a huge difference, I owe alot to Ruth for her advice. I was going to send her a thankyou message but there isnt the option on her profile.



    Did you get the benefit of the wind pushing you around aswell or just against you?



    0.01 mile more...is that all? I hope York is like that, then that would be only 8 mins quicker that I have to run to beat my dads PB! It must have been so nice to see jen and run in with her.



    There is a 5 mile road race on wednesday 9as part of the South Yorkshire championships) that I plan to do, but im going to run it very steady/easy and then I will probably do another 5 miles on sun but thats it for this week. Have sheffield half two weeks on sunday which I still have to work towards but im sure i will benefit more from only doing 5 on sunday than anything more. How about you, what do you have planned?
  • So sorry to hear about your illness Mr P and you suffering around the marathon, but hats off to you for still running and you finishing despite not feeling too good, many people wouldnt have. Mrs P must have been so worried about you?



    How do you feel now? Has the marathon made you feel any worse?



    Are you off work this week to recover and recouperate?
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Sarah - the wind was bizzare. I was chatting to another runner as we went through the first 2 mile section of it and I said to him it'll be great to get a push when we turn round. So we turned round and it went completely dead. No joke. There was nothing. At least we felt nothing. It must have been there though. Maybe we just didn't feel it was pushing as much as we hoped.

    Jen was a God send. No two ways about it. Absolutely pulled me up the last hill and towards the finish and was brilliant all the way through too.

    How many grammes of carbs do you think you took on? I reckon I was 140g in total.

    You simply have to go for your dad's time in York. It's about 10x the field size of my race but much smaller than London so you have a great chance of following the racing line.

    No running for me this week. I may have a jog on Sunday otherwise it'll be Monday. I don't have any races lined up thankfully image

  • Congratulations Andy for a fabulous run and for getting your sub 3:30 comfortably, you must be so happy. You hardly slowed down at all in the second half of the race so it shows that you got your pacing about right.



    Reading your race report sounds so like mine, calculating how many seconds youve banked so you can slack off later if necessary and looking for friends and family in that final 10k!



    How are your legs today?



    Im glad it wasnt just my watch playing up. I was completely baffled when it was doing it, at one point I thought I must just be tired and that its taking more effort to run at the same pace/slower, but then I realised I was being stupid as I was over taking loads of people as I speeded up to try to get the pace back up!
  • Forgot to say, after I crossed the line I punched the air and shouted get in, whilst wearing the hugest smile on my face!!!



    I ran under my married name; sarah attwood...just to confuse everyone!
  • Hi Angela, you've made me want wine now (now that my drinking ban is over)...but its a school night!



    All the walking your doing will help your marathon im sure...all time on the feet!
  • Ive done a few races like that Malcs, where you think the wind will push you around when you turn back...but like you it always seems to disappear at that turning around point, its so strange.



    Was it a hilly course for your marathon? not sure if I could handle a hill at the end like that!



    I had 99g in total, which I think was perfect, no stomach problems and plenty of energy!



    Last year I didnt want to run after the marathon at all but I had a 25k race two weeks after in berlin so I had too...this year im not too bad, my legs feel surprisingly ok and as though they will be ok running on wed, but i know its important that they rest too.



    I went for a little walk and swim today and I have been wearing compression tights all day (except when I swam of course) which im hoping is helping.



    I decided to get on the scales at the gym today to see how much body fat I had as this is probably going to be the best that it will be for a while. I had 21.5% fat, which according to the report is better than excellent so I was quite happy. Wonder what you have to get it down to to have a 6 pack??
  • Just wondering Mr P, will you try and do another marathon this year?
  • carterusmcarterusm ✭✭✭

    Hi Sarah - very well done on your race on Sunday. I think everyone on this thread knew you were in for a good time based on the training you did in the build up to London. Take it easy for a while and then get back in to it ! Is your next marathon the Yorkshire ? I will keep an eye out for you at the Sheffield HM as I am going to be marshalling so will give you a wave as you fly past me.

    Well done to Malcs and Andy too for great races.

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Sarah - been thinking about the wind. When you think about the physics it kind of makes sense. If you are running at 7mph with a 10mph wind in your face that's like net 17mph of air resistance. Turn around and you're running with the wind. Net effect is 3mph at your back, ie. barely noticable image

    The course was mostly flat but there were 3 hills where the road crossed railway lines and another road. So with two laps there were 6 hills. I kind of like hills. It breaks up the monotony. The hill at the end was tough but it made for a great sprint finish. I don't know if mine was really a sprint or a controlled fall down the hill image

    I don't have any compression tights so I have been wearing Mrs Malcs tights instead...shhh, don't tell anyone!

    Six pack?! No idea. Totally not my area of expertise image

    carterusm - many thanks. Were you running on Sunday? Sorry, not able to keep up - so much going on.

  • Hiya, 6 pack huh? This is a difficult one-my sister seems to get toned abs just from touching her toes- only time I've had anything approaching a 6 pack was at university when I was rowing, and I think that my body only chose to lose fat around there because it was getting in the way of rowing. I think it's a bit of luck how much u need to lose.... For some it could be 18% body fat for others it could be much lower and getting into dangerous territory image



    I certainly have very little fat on my legs and glutes, but a lot (relatively) around my middle. In general having more muscle will help as ur body will use up fat stores but my guess is what you would need to do to get a 6 pack whilst working full time would probably be detrimental to your running...but you're the doctor! You tell meimage
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