Thames Meander Marathon

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  • I am following a schedule on Garmin Connect, so I have done my longest run (time taken) on Saturday which was a 2hr:30min run in which I managed just over 16.3 miles - an "easy" pace. Legs feel OK, some soreness on my right ankle, as the training runs get longer, the aches and niggles do tend to come out, it is a judgement call as to which ones you can ignore!

     

    Good luck everyone and keep those updates coming!

     

    PS - how "bad" is the hill at mile 24?

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    redordead wrote (see)

    PS - how "bad" is the hill at mile 24?

    It depends on your definition of the word: 'hill'. I speed walked it faster than a runner running it last year. It's not utterly awful but it's not an easy one either... especially after 24 miles!

    I must say - based on my experience of Bewl Water this spring - that hill is 'nothing' to me now...!

  • I have no shame - I'll be walking up the hill at mile 24 (Probbaly will walk faster than running at that stage anyway) Walking breaks are part of my strategy ... image 16 miles due on Sunday - that's seriously unknown territory!

     

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    good luck redheadedraver for Sunday! Just make sure that in this weather - you're hydrating enough.

    i can walk faster than some people can run - it's a great strategy for hills. What sort of time are you looking at?

  • 1stly I'm aiming to get to the start line! (which will be quite good going given the last 2 times I tried marathons) Assuming I get that far if I finish in under 5 hours I'll be laughing all the way to a cold bath. Speedy Gonzales I'm not.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Don't worry - the slower ones are just getting more for their race entry as we're longer on the courseimage

    Being a fellow red head -i'll see you out there.

  • ok im in ....and posting for the 1st time woop woop!!! Find threads really help with the training so keep posting guys !

    This is going to be my 2nd marathon after doing Brighton this April , more nervous about this one though !? image  Morning runs have been a no no with the commute to work so getting out in the evenings has been a challenge and now only have just over 2 months to race day ( not to mention my diet has not been as great this time ) ...trying to factor in tempo runs and faster shorter runs as i neglected them in training previously .

    3.1 miles yesturday evening through Wimbledon (av 7.50 min/miles) followed by 15 min of weights . Will try and put in a 6 miler ( and maybe another run ) before LSR 13 - 14 miles on Sunday

    I ran just under 4 hrs for my first and enjoyed the experience , got the bug now but not to fussed about a PB just looking forward to the journey ahead.

    Emmy H you can walk faster than some people run !? what kind of time are you aiming for ??

    Hows everyone else's training this going ?

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    @Rollerbladerunner - i'm not a speed demon. I run between 4hr45-5.15 depending on the course and undulation.

    I'm one of those strange people that negative splits a marathon and can run faster at the end than the beginning. I normally chick a lot of people in the last 5 miles because i'm holding stronger.

  • I would just like to say 'ouch'! Just run/staggered 16 miles which is further than I have EVER run before, and everything hurts. About to do the cold bath trick, followed by the bacon sarny trick, so hopefully the ouch will be relatively shortlived!

    ...

    Seizing up slowly, but feeling quite smug. image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Well done Redheadedraver!!

    Thats great! Make sure that you do some good stretching and have a nice warm bath.

  • I've done the Richmond Park marathon before which is basically 3.5 laps of the park.

    There are 2 short sharp hills on that course (one at Broomfield Hill Wood and one at Ham Gate) that needed to be negotiated 3 times each.

    From memory from when you got to the top of Broomfield Hill which was the tougher of the two there was a generous gentle sloping all the way down to Kingston Gate.

    The Hermes course joins about half way between the top of the hill and Kingston Gate and I would say it is about 1km between the two so a nice 1km downhill at the start and a slightly more punishing uphill towards the end.

    I really don't think it is too much to worry about though as the rest of the course looks flat.

    Richmond Park is a great place to train and worth running the perimeter in both directions which give completely different runs

  • Hey, nice to see a good thread - at least 95% of poeple on here are positive image

    I'll be joining you for the marathon, it will be my first after failing to get to the start line of 2 others because of illness in the last few weeks of each.  Obviously what ever time I get it'll be a PB - but hoping for sub 4 hours image

    I'm glad to say my training is really positive at the moment, the last two months have been full of long runs on the weekend and double sessions during the week to get the miles in - I can fully recommend this to anyone who's got a busy life!  Hopefully my delightful 3 year old won't give me another cold near the end of the training this time!

    Stepping up to a couple of 18-20 milers over the next few weeks - should be funimage

    Good luck to everyone - what ever goal you have!

    G.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Welcome to the thread GP! Good luck with the rest of your training.

    Only 95% positive? We need to work on that image

    How is everyone else's training going? I'm trying to work on hill rep's at the moment. Whilst driving a different route to work - I found a hill that I had never seen before. A great excuse for getting lost on the way

  • GPBaker - sounds like you are doing the right thing with the long runs - and as touched on above if you can get to run on some of the course even better to familiarise yourself with it.

    In my (fairly limited) experience of 3 previous marathons there is nothing worse than being in unchartered waters in terms of the distance so I would reccomend at least one 22 miler maybe 3 weeks prior to the race.

    For me - I am using this as a warm up for Berlin, so a potentially risky strategy. Berlin target is around 3.30 so will look for 3.50 ish on this one which will hopefully not take too much out of me!

    Hopefully it won't be as hot as it is here today!!

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Richard - I'm planning the same thing (kinda) and using this as my main practice run before Berlin for nutrition and gel practice. I'm also hoping that if I can overcome the hill - that it'll give me enough in my tank to increase the pace in the last few km in Berlin.

    GPB - With the mileage and double days make sure that you don't push it too far too quickly. What training plan are you following? P&D? Or another one?

  • Hey Emmy - I have to change my routine quite regularly so have based it very loosely around one I found a couple of years ago (I think it was on the RW site).  So, I try to do the long runs in the plan and play around with the milage during the week. 

    What I've done this time is stretch out the medium long runs for a few more weeks though just to get really comfortable with the distance.  So I've been regularly running 10-15 milers over the past couple of months.  My theory is the more my body gets used to it the less likely it is to kill my immune system so I catch colds at the end of my training - fingers crossed!

  • 17 miler tomorrow morning, another record breaker for me ... Aiming to be out of the door early, before it heats up too much. The speed I go at, it'll take me well over 3 hours to run that far. I'll be taking extra fluids (and more jelly babies) image

  • Disaster! My trusty Garmin 305 has just died (apparently RIP while charging) How am I supposed to do speed and distance now??? Any recommendations for a replacement? The Garmin FR 10 does all I normally use, but only has 5 hours worth of battery life while training (which given the speed I run at woudl barely last a marathon)

    Help!

  • Redheadedraver, disaster (one of everyone's great fears) at least it's not in race week!!!!

    My wife has a FR10 which has you say is basic (biggest gripe is doesn't allow you to programme workouts), I've got a FR410 which as it's coming to the end of production are not a lot more than the 10 (check amazon) and has quiet a few extras and the screen is bigger ( a real must at my age!!!).

    The only thing with the 410 is the touch bezel I know some people find it a problem, but have to say I've never had a problem with it and it works for me.

    I suppose with everything in life you get what you pay for.

     

  • Thanks NellyP I will check it out. The upgrade to the 305 (310) is a similar price on Amazon, so I will have a look at that too. IN the meanwhile the walkjogrun website http://www.walkjogrun.net/

    tells me I ran 17.3 miles this morning ... image

  • Love my Garmin too - got the one with the over sensitive bezel - which isn't that bad.... only slightly annoying.  Ran with that and 'Runkeeper' app today.  Sometimes use Endomundo, but thought I'd try something different.  (I only really use it to post the route to people to show then what I ran.  It's amazing how some of my friends cannot comprehend a distance unless they see it on a map!)

    Had a sponsored 'week of pain' at work this week which amongst other things consisted of gym sessions (Circuits Monday, boxercise Tuesday, spinning Wednesday (pub Thursday image ) and football yesterday) so was REALLY please I managed 18 miles this morning.  

    Feet up for a few days now thankfully - my foam roller and I will be best mates soon!

    Redheadedraver - well done on the run - was a beauty of a day for it!

  • Not if you're a redhead who doesn't do heat it wasn't. I'd prefer cool, dry with sunny intervals and a light breeze, or even a spot of mizzle if I'm honest. Remember those minus temeratures at the beginning of the year? I liked those!

    Well done on your 18 miles after sadistic work week. I suppose you could call it cross training ...

    THanks for the advice people - I'm afraid I went with what I know, ie the 310. It's a bit like buying a Range Rover to drive round the corner for the paper, but it was the same price as the 410 and l like the battery life (handy since I also cycle - 2 out of 3 tri sports ain't bad)

     

  • Haha, I remember the running in the sleet & snow well!  I guess I know what you mean, found it easier to layer up than keep cool yesterday for sure image

  • Redheadedraver - have you tried the soft reset on your 305?

    Mine wouldn't power on yesterday so have left it charging overnight followed by a soft reset seems to have brought it back to life for now.

    Worse than that my water spilled into my bag and has broken my phone which I was using for both music and timing!

    Had to do most of last nights 13 miler last night based only on how long I thought I had been out there for!

  • Well mine has mysteriously come back to life, so I'm recharging it, and seeing what happens. And Amazon says I can refuse to receive the one I've just ordered so that it'll go straight back to them. This may be difficult - I'll be out at work when it arrives, and we have very helpful neighbours who will of course accept it for me!

    How do you do a soft reset anyway? image

    1. Start with device powered off
    2. Press and hold Mode and Power
    3. Release buttons once Do You Really Want To Erase All User Data? message appears
    4. Select Yes
  • Good morning all. Just come across this thread. Doing the Meander too. Training going ok but started off a group of 4 down to just 2 of us now. Doing a lot of the training on my own which is tough. 

    Having to split this weeks long run not ideal but better than not doing it. Up at 5 this morning to 15 miles and then 5 after work got a lift so got to run home!!! It is going to be hot must keep drinking the water.

    Looking forward to a "rest" week from Monday

  • @ Jacs t - 15miles in the morning and 5 after work...i feel like a couch potato now image

    morning long slow run got of late start leaving around 10am -15 miles which went ok untill about mile 12-13 when the heat just got too much! ended up having a pit stop and grinding out the last couple of miles ..hasn't filled me with the best of confidence really hope the temp drops by event day.

     

     

  • Worrying about the heat too RollerbladeRunner ran on Sunday and was very hot by the time I finished at 10.30 you must have been out in the hottest part of the day!!!!!!!!!!

    Still the runs you find the hardest are the ones that count the most (that's what I tell myself). Hoping a fair bit of thecourse will be in shade and cooler as it is by the river.

  • Worrying about the heat too RollerbladeRunner ran on Sunday and was very hot by the time I finished at 10.30 you must have been out in the hottest part of the day!!!!!!!!!!

    Still the runs you find the hardest are the ones that count the most (that's what I tell myself). Hoping a fair bit of the course will be in shade and cooler as it is by the river.

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