Paris Marathon 2014

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  • Andy-W-Andy-W- ✭✭✭

    I learnt I'm not as fit as I was in Chester 6 months ago, my park runs are 2 mins slower and my marathon was 16 mins slower than my PB in Chester.  It was hot in Chester too (towards the end) but it didn't impact my result as much as Paris.  So my outcome of 3:56 was consistent with my training runs this time and I can't really blame setting off too fast, junk food and standing around in Disneyland Paris.  So I just need now to learn why my performance has deteriorated when my training is just as much And hope to regain the fitness I've lost.

  • Kirsten BKirsten B ✭✭✭

    I'm another who plans on losing weight. Unfortunately I returned from Paris with loads of chocolate, and Easter is approaching... So, in May, I am on a mission!  This plus more training when I don't have dark nights to give me easy excuses is how I plan to achieve a pb in Chester.  I can't wait to do another marathon.

  • Way past bedtime on a schoolnight, but I'm so glad to have read this thread back and relive the joy/heartache of the day (and empathise with the return-to-running trepidation afterwards).  Big congrats to Matty and his fiancée after a trip to Paris!

    I read back on this thread periodically to try and remember that running is fun when training got patchy and enthusiasm waned, I found it hard to join in the wonderful spirit of this thread but have enjoyed the stories and humour.  A huge thanks to ATM for the guide doc - quite a bit of it popped up in my head along the run - especially the end remark about looking up at the finish - totally invaluable piece of advice that has given me a memory that'll last a lifetime.  I was sorry not to make it up to l'Arc before the start to try and meet up with you all, but I was two metro stops down the avenue, and borderline catatonic trying to stay calm before the start... spent most of it in the (single) portaloo queue!
    The race itself was definitely one of two halves - the first 16 miles were great, but hanging onto the group I was with (around 2:50 odd pace) got progressively harder, and I blew the gasket after the second tunnel and things really weren't fun after that. I would've really enjoyed the quiet of the park at the end, but it was disheartening trying and failing to latch on to runners coming past.  Some scary moments right at the end with runners collapsing at the finish (looking back at the finish video, I half-walked over the line looking over at two other runners helping a third to finish).
    Still, a 2 second PB isn't really that "bad" for a bad race, so I'll take something from that. 2:56:40 (#806)
    Currently swaying between not running another marathon this year, or trying to get a place in Dublin, Frankfurt, Chester...

  • JokeybhoyJokeybhoy ✭✭✭
    Eggy: I agree about setting goal times,biggest thing is having the sense to change your goal when you know deep down that it's not going as planned for whatever reason



    Pickle: I learned loads from my last training cycle.Mostly hard lessons about overtraining,not stretching enough and to start listening to my body more.From now on if I feel tired I will rest rather than sticking to my training schedule.
  • Well done everyone. Great times and respect for all those that toiled, struggle, suffered, hobbled or crawled their way to the finish. And especially to those of you crazy enough to do it all again a week later. I am only just recovered from Paris! It seemed to take a lot out of me , I think I have been a bit run down since the ore taper madness of the 14 th wk of training.



    I like the list of upcoming events. Anyone else doing the Wall ultra from Carlisle to new castle in June 21-22?



    Keep on running and never stop having dreams and chasing them.
  • Weedy can you add to the list

    My birthday 28th April (big 5 0 this year!)

    14th September, Purbeck marathon



    Been reading all the posts and can't keep up.

    Great posting and great stories everyone image
  • OrbuttOrbutt ✭✭✭

    Roger - both Weedy and Kaz are doing The Wall with you.

  • Kaz is having problems with the Wall..... But it may be rectified but its going to make things very hard for her. And why am I speaking in the third person???

  • Emmy - final result was 3.59.57 so just snuck under! Not drinks pushing, it was medicinal!image

     

  • yer maj wrote (see)

    I firmly believe I have a sub 4 in me, notwithstanding the amateur dramatics of last weekend.

    KS - your HM pb is exactly the same as mine - funny that, eh?image  Any chance you could send me over a copy of the Asics plan, I'd be interested to compare it to P&D?

    Stuch - come on.  You know you want to....

    Hehe, I wonder how that PB happened YerMaj! I've painstakingly copied the sub 4 plan into Excel so I can send you the spreadsheet over if you like, although obviously Malcs has already helpfully pointed you in the PDF direction (thanks Malcs!)


    I have a sinus headache/cold again - same thing I had before Paris. Boo. Lots of sudafed, water and some ibuprofen. 

    UisageJO, a 3:xx is still sub 4 - take it and own it!

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    Uisge Jo wrote (see)

    Emmy - final result was 3.59.57 so just snuck under! Not drinks pushing, it was medicinal!image

     

    WHOOP WHOOP imageimageimage Yeah!

  • Yes I agree Eggy re goal-setting. Sub-4 is very unrealistic for me. I struggle with my weight, I am not a natural runner and I don't really enjoy it either, in as much as I don't want to go out 5 times a week and hurt myself each time for the love of it, or for chasing a pb, mostly I would prefer to still be in bed! However as Emmy says, it might be that I'm a closet marathon-runner and just don't know it yet!!

    I have booked a couple of halfs to keep myself motivated, so I need to be running 4 times a week, and if it so happens that becoming leaner and fitter makes running more enjoyable (hopefully) then I might want to re-assess and make it more sessions per week, I don't know. Mostly I just don't like being rubbish at something image.  PBs aren't really my goal in any case, my goal is to be able to push on in a race, rather than be hanging on all the time, there's a lot of difference between the pain you purposefully push yourself to rather than the pain you feel from inadvertently going out way too fast or not being fit enough for the task etc.  

    I do love the feeling that I've got from running a marathon though, it's such a massive achievement, I want to tell everyone I come across that I've just done one and that I survived, but I'm not sure that it's socially acceptable to bore strangers to death with that sort of thing image

  • I don't understand why every time I log in to this forum it re-posts my final post - any ideas?! image There also doesn't seem to be an edit button when it does it, uhhg!

  • Let me guess Heroine - you're on a fruit-based IT device? It's a known bug that has happened to many of us. Try closing out of any forum windows you have open anywhere on any device and then go back into the forum from the main forums page, rather than refreshing the forum page in the actual page (if you get what I mean?).

    As for goal-setting: I thought my goal for Paris (4:20) was modest and achievable and perhaps it would have been with more miles in my legs. I'm sceptical about this, though, given the pace I was able to sustain for longer training runs.

    Nonetheless, with no further information available to me from the further heart testing, it looks like me and my high resting heart rate are going to be lifelong friends. This really makes things difficult. I'm usually at 120BPM when I start my run, so I'm missing a whole zone of training capability. With that limitation, I think the best I am probably ever going to be able to do is 4:30. Sounds pretty measly as a goal, but that's yer lot sometimes.

    A serious case of low energy for me today - TD had to frogmarch me out of bed. 3 strong cups of tea, 6 ginger nuts and a peanut butter sandwich later and I'm just about functional. Blegh! Chances of getting out for a run at lunch time? Slim, but getting out the door fully dressed in kit will be the achievement.

  • I think that I have the opposite feelings about those big goal markers from many of you; I'm moving away from caring about ever getting a sub-4. I had hoped to do my debut marathon in 4h15m, then got injured and revised the goal to 4h40m which I hit almost to the second. I ran it all slow and even and didn't especially suffer in the last six miles. In fact I ran the whole of the second half in on an endorphin fueled high. I loved it. I feel I could have played it a bit less safe and got a slightly faster time but I not sure I would have sacrificed how good I felt the whole way round to achieve this.

    However, I've still got ambitions for next year. 4hr15m still has its allure and I'll train with that in mind. But I want the hard work to go into injury prevention and the training, not into running so hard on the day that I miss the thrill of it and risk ending up dissappointed.

    I'm usually more interested in the process then the end goal. I think that this probably makes me a much less serious runner than many of you image

    Amazing how much you learn on the day of a marathon, and in the days afterwards. I'm loving reading everyone's reflections

  • ATMATM ✭✭✭

    It's been really great, reading everyone's reports...especially the firstimers'. Even those marathons that didn't go quite to plan were thought-provoking and no-one seems to have been put -off- for -Life...image Result!

  • benignmurmurring wrote (see)

    I'm usually more interested in the process then the end goal. I think that this probably makes me a much less serious runner than many of you image

    I disagree - it merely makes you more level headed (though that's not hardimage )

    Focussing on the process is much healthier and rational than measuring yourself against an arbitrary yardstick which to some extent is out of your control. That's not to say that one shouldn't push the boundaries of physical capacity - but that if you work hard, keep your focus and execute the plan well you have succeeded by definition. Everything else is just noise.

  • Accusations of level-headedness from a person who in his profile picture appears to be wearing a one-piece whole body lycra bathing suit seductively unzipped, with his hair bleached blond! Pfah I say!

    image

  • Sounds like a perfectly acceptable photo to me.

  • Homebrew - 2 seconds is 2 seconds. Well done. And talking of portaloos.....

    I sensibly joined the queue for the portaloo as soon as I entered the pen. There was one in each half of the pen. I had a very nervous tummy and didn't want to risk the bottle trick with a number 2.

    40 minutes I waited!! And when I finally got in I didn't need to go after all. And when I came out the yellow pen had gone. So I spent the next 20K overtaking!!

    (Doesn't account for losing 4 minutes though. Still haven't fathomed that out, so I'll just blame the heat)

  • Hi all, back in the land of the living now ha ha!!!

    Malcs, sorry if I missed you Sunday I was running on autopilot for the second half of the run. 

    Completed Sunday in 5:12:03 which was 7 minutes quicker than Paris so I'm really happy. I'm not a fast runner, I'm a jogger who runs for the children's charity and my aim is to finish safely every run. I think I could of gone a little quicker but I got boxed in over  the isle of dogs and my legs just wouldn't push me on because of all the stop/starting. 

    My aim is to run sub 5 and when I do that I'll be ecstatic, but I won't push my body too far if it happens, it happens, if not I'll be happy with my own sense of achievement.

    Edinburgh next month which is my last marathon of the year, (he says smiling ) so I'll be trying to dip the tape in under 5.. 

    Weedy can you please put me down for the Great North on 7th September and the Great South on 26th October please.

    Everyone on here has been fantastic to me since I joined this thread, so once again thank you image 

  • I'm sure it has been said before Steve but you're a Diamond Geezer! Well done on Sunday.

    MacPerky - you say that like you an authority on poncing about

    MacPerky wrote (see)

    Sounds like a perfectly acceptable photo to me.

     

  • I am THE Authority on all things poncing.

  • Weedy, please can you add me and (drum roll please) Mr KeyserSuze to the race list - Norwich half marathon on November 23rd 2014!

  • Radar SalRadar Sal ✭✭✭

    oohhhh, Mr KeyserSuze!!!  So he's finally caved?  He'll be running paris next yearimage

    lol, on the runner/s.  Looks like they both finished in the photos, must have been a double number stuff up.

  • Hi all, I need to do some catching up here on all of your results, I am sure that you all did brilliantly.

    Has anyone got any advice on preventing blisters.  I got my 1st blister by the 5th mile in Paris as it was warm even though I had blister plasters on.  Then I got another on my toe.  I seem to suffer with them on my right foot, my left one is ok.  I guess that this is down to my overpronate although I do where the right trainers to correct this.  Can anyone help, as this delayed me about half an hour.

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