Mattleydon - I'm no expert there are many on here with a vast amount of experience that will better advise, however for me the one thing I wish I has done was to run over 20 miles in training. Most the plans seem to stop at 20 but personally I wish I had gone longer and will next time...
Betzza - if you're only seeing info in French on the website, have a look for the letters 'EN' towards the top right of the page (just beneath the silhouette of the Arc) this will give you the site in English.
Mattledon - my longest run this year was 22 miles. In previous years I'd peaked at 20
Spitfire51 - do you know if it was it a private hospital ? sounds a lot otherwise !! I had a similar experience skiing with my son where we were charged large amounts for private element of treatment. Were you insured ? if so get them to take it up for you. I'm not sure what the situation so regarding retrospectively using EHIC ? Worth a search on google ?
Thats really tough after what you went though best of luck
From the headed paper, it says public assistance hospital de Paris... I sent an email to the NHS, but will fight.... I have insurance, but it says costs over 500 quid not previously authorised are not covered. I do not want to excuse myself, but it is cheeky that they do not tell you on the spot that you will be charged and by how much. Of course it is my life and I would pay, but at least wanted to know beforehand.
eeek spitfire51, that's grim - I'd photocopy your EHIC and send it to them....might well be the last you hear of it, good luck with that. Next would be an insurance claim I suppose.
Spitfire - have a look here under 'claiming refunds'. There's a number you can call in Newcastle. I think you'd have a fair argument for saying that you weren't in a position to get treatment pre authorised as it was an emergency.
I'd be very surprised if you are not covered despite no pre-authorization - this was an emergency and is almost always covered.
I once has an emergency admittance to a hospital in Montreal. Before they would treat me, they demanded a deposit of $15 000 US - they would not take our insurance information. My wife put that on a credit card - I was treated, and insurance reimbursed us. Crazy.
Goodness spitfire - what a hideous surprise. Good luck with that. Should we all be running with our EHIC cards in a pocket next year , I wonder? Let us know how you get on.
Matt - the reason for not running much over 20 miles in training is that it takes so much out of you and its hard to recover from. You loose more then you gain. I'd say it may be the number of long runs that is more important. I was one of the silly gits who over did it too soon and got injured - this lot had to hear me moaning on last February. I sort of recovered and managed to get two 20 miles runs in, which was enough to get me around at a nice relaxed pace.
How you're going to get around the last six miles is a scary thought, but its things like a proper taper, good nutrition strategy and realistic pacing that get you there, not a mega-knackering practice run. I should perhaps mention that I'm not expert at this at all, its all opinion
If you're a newbie, one bit of unsolicited advice I would give early on is 'know your weaknesses' Work out which bits of your body are likely to go wrong when you up the mileage and strengthen them before you start your training. Lot of time yet though. This is really a reminder to me to get back to the core and strength training.
Great tip there!! Already start to get yourself prepared for the marathon by doing core workouts and strengthening your weaknesses.
Uisge Jo good luck with the Insanity. It's great but very full on and there's an awful lot of jumping so watch out for your calves - you'll need your OROD like never before.
I'd actually say its worse on your knees than anything else....
As this is my first marathon, my only goal is to finish it. I would like to be under five hours but if I have to limp my way over the finish line in seven hours I will still be happy!
Its a long way off and I'm sure this question gets asked a lot but everyone has a different opinion. What was the longest run you guys do before your marathons? I was thinking of following Hal Higdons novice 1 training plan but extending it to go up to about 23 miles
I only ran up to 20 miles for my first couple of marathons and that seemed to do me well. I would only say the thing to consider is what other training you'll be doing. Hal's plans are great for first timers/newbies but have a look at your lifestyle and what you can realistically fit in.
Spitfire - an awful thing to receive. I had some treatment in Barcelona and they just took a scan of my EHIC card.
mattleydon - My longest training run tends to be 22 miles. If it's your first marathon and if you are new to going long then I'd be careful about extending past 20 miles for your first marathon in training. It can be a lot of time to spend on your feet for a training run.
Don't worry pretty much every person coming new to the marathon has thought how will I do those last six miles! On the day you should be rested, well fueled and with the adrenaline buzz of standing on an iconic road surrounded by thousands of fellow runners. You will get to the finish, have a huge smile when collecting your medal and be able to say 'I'm a marathon runner'.
Spitfire - Hope you get a quick resolution to your problem.
Each to their own but I went to 22 miles at my peak though 20 miles should be more than sufficient. I only went to 22 as a personal confidence booster, but it wasn't really necessary.
I read somewhere that you shouldn't run for more than 3.5 hours in training...so distance you run depends on how fast you run them (and they should be mostly pretty slow). I ran 24 in as my max LR for VLM, but may not run that far in lead up to York in Oct.
Morning all, had a hilly half marathon in Plymouth on Sunday in 1.25.29. Really pleased with the run, the last mile was all uphill and sucked the life out of my legs - came 48th out of 4267 finishers. No PB but so much gear changing, didn't get a chance to cruise. Was either puffing up a hill or catching my breath coming down the other side of it, so about a minute shy of my fastest I did back in the beginning of March.
This morning in London the tube strike is in full effect, cars everywhere, so I commuted in with a recovery (short very slow) run. 6 miles in 51 minutes is all the quads would permit after beasting them on Sunday. Kept the HR nice and low though, and it was a lovely mild calm (if not a touch cloudy) morning on Hampstead heath as I jogged over, past Kenwood House, through the woods and past the ponds so still the reflections looking like watercolors.
My only words of advice is to remember your other commitments when choosing a training plan. What looks ok on paper maybe totally unrealistic for those with demanding jobs, physical jobs etc and I am sure family would like to see you at some point! And also don't be concerned when others speak about higher mileage, faster times etc - everyones plans, experiences, lifes are different - remember to trust your plan.
Good advice there Kaz1, what looks good on paper can be tricky in reality with jobs, kids, life getting in the way, pah! Going to try Jack Daniel's 2Q plan for the autumn campaign - looks great, quite spicy and flexible, no long easy 20 milers but quite a few 17 miler mixups of easy, plenty of MP and with a threshold mile or two in them - big on base building and therefore injury prevention also, something I've not fully understood on a physiological level, thanks for the pointer - TD.
Thanks for the welcome and encouraging advice (which is much needed). This forum will be a big help – and had me laughing right from the first message (yer maj "So where is this race then?")
It’s also certainly good advice not to ignore weaknesses in training, I tend just to run and ignore the rest.
So anyway. I just signed up for Paris for next year (never mind this wait-and-see business. I obviously want to have a go!).
My routine at the monent is a couple of sessions weekly with the running club. Nearly everyone is a bit or a lot faster, which pushes me to make an effort. I took part in a 10k a couple of weeks back, have another this Sunday, and am beginning to extend longer runs slowly (now at 12k at a pace of around 6:50 min per km). Since getting a Garmin last month this pace stuff has been a whole lot easier.
Spider51 - sorry you had such a bad time in Paris and got such a whacking hospital bill. It’s only the EHIC card that grants you access free of charge to state healthcare services in EU countries. Without the card, you’re considered ineligible and are charged the going rate for private treatment, which can be a lot more. Mail them a scan of your card (as has been suggested) – they may have been waiting since the marathon for you to do exactly that. Good luck!
Can your LSRs be too slow? Or your easy runs too easy?
Reason I'm asking is cos I'm trying to get my missus into running a bit more. My training plan has 1 easy run and 1 LSR a week. By running these a minute slower per mile than the slowest end of my planned pace zone am I sacrificing my own training significantly?
I think I'm not but she wants to know she's not 'ruining my running', bless her!
Howdy - lots of fresh new faces to meet! Welcome one and all.
This early ballot sure has got everybody thinking about next year long before I have emerged bleary-eyed and pudgy from my "I've-just-run-a-marathon-oink-oink-so-I-can-eat-what-I-want-oink-oink-ooh-that-calf-hurts-oink-oink-must-be-a-niggle-did-you-see-my-medal-oh-look-I've-gained-2-kilos-oink-oink-ah-well" tristesse.
Welcome HannahGB! It sounds like you're making good improvements and bang on in terms of pacing for your first marathon. I'd be a little wary about pushing yourself too hard to keep up with the running club. It is a great motivator, but I've certainly fallen into habits of trying to push to keep up with faster runners before and it can have a negative effect on your own training.
As well as pace, keep an eye on your heart rate and make sure that 80% of your training is under 85% of your maximum heart rate.
Matty: Until the knowledgable folk get here, no, it shouldn't have too negative an impact on your LSR or easy runs. You can't really run LSRs or Recovery runs too slow, but running significantly slower than you're accustomed to may find you altering your gait in a way that causes discomfort or injury.
mattywar - What I've read is LSR's should be 60 to 90 seconds a mile slower than your target pace. Easy pace, should be that. Something you find easy. The better way to judge it would be by heart rate and I'm sure others could give you far better advise on that than I could.
One thing to note though running slower than your normal pace isn't as easy as it sounds, particularly over longer distances. I've heard many people say they've struggled on runs when they've dropped their pace to run with a friend.
Blimey - I'd forgotten how much squats hurt... or not hurt so much but cause jelly legs! Insanity was good, but how strong I think my legs are and how strong my legs actually are turn out to be quite different... and not in a good way
Distance wise I did 22 miles as my longest, my plan said 20, but as it was my first I wanted the reassurance I could do over 20. I think I'll stop at 20 for the autumn plan, and in hindsight think that 20 would have been ok, and was maybe too much in terms of risking overuse injuries. For the autumn campaign I'm going to include more speed work (my only real speed work was racing the parkrun) and for the longer runs add in some MP, and some hills... but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself!
Great run Jimbob!
+1 for Kaz's comments both on time available and sticking to your own plan. sound advice
Matty - could you do runs where you run out with your fiancee and then back at faster pace, my plan had those kind of runs in it anyway? I enjoy mixing up the running by doing some by myself and some with others - keeps it interesting to. She could also join you on a bike, I've done that with my OH who doesn't run.
Matty - I can't remember the details but in the P&D book it explains about blood flow, only a small amount of blood flows to your muscles whist static however when you run blood circulates quicker. When we run quickly waste builds up around the muscle, the idea of easy runs is to clean your muscles through the increased blood flow without putting on strain which would create new waste.
I am doing most of my runs around 10 - 10.15 mm just now, and yes it took some getting used to and I have a few niggles in my quads for my troubles with changing gait. i can't see it doing any harm Matty, maybe use the slower runs as a recovery run, do them after a 'hard' day??
Comments
Mattleydon - I'm no expert there are many on here with a vast amount of experience that will better advise, however for me the one thing I wish I has done was to run over 20 miles in training. Most the plans seem to stop at 20 but personally I wish I had gone longer and will next time...
*ouch*
Hello all and and welcome.
Betzza - if you're only seeing info in French on the website, have a look for the letters 'EN' towards the top right of the page (just beneath the silhouette of the Arc) this will give you the site in English.
Mattledon - my longest run this year was 22 miles. In previous years I'd peaked at 20
Spitfire51 - do you know if it was it a private hospital ? sounds a lot otherwise !! I had a similar experience skiing with my son where we were charged large amounts for private element of treatment. Were you insured ? if so get them to take it up for you. I'm not sure what the situation so regarding retrospectively using EHIC ? Worth a search on google ?
Thats really tough after what you went though best of luck
eeek spitfire51, that's grim - I'd photocopy your EHIC and send it to them....might well be the last you hear of it, good luck with that. Next would be an insurance claim I suppose.
mattleydon - wouldn't advise going over 20
Best of luck with your claim spitfire51, I will certainly be carrying mine with me next marathon instead of leaving in the hotel room !
Well....Dumbarton is Dumbarton, it probably was their fault.
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/Pages/healthcareinFrance.aspx
Spitfire,
I'd be very surprised if you are not covered despite no pre-authorization - this was an emergency and is almost always covered.
I once has an emergency admittance to a hospital in Montreal. Before they would treat me, they demanded a deposit of $15 000 US - they would not take our insurance information. My wife put that on a credit card - I was treated, and insurance reimbursed us. Crazy.
Goodness spitfire - what a hideous surprise. Good luck with that. Should we all be running with our EHIC cards in a pocket next year , I wonder? Let us know how you get on.
Matt - the reason for not running much over 20 miles in training is that it takes so much out of you and its hard to recover from. You loose more then you gain. I'd say it may be the number of long runs that is more important. I was one of the silly gits who over did it too soon and got injured - this lot had to hear me moaning on last February. I sort of recovered and managed to get two 20 miles runs in, which was enough to get me around at a nice relaxed pace.
How you're going to get around the last six miles is a scary thought, but its things like a proper taper, good nutrition strategy and realistic pacing that get you there, not a mega-knackering practice run. I should perhaps mention that I'm not expert at this at all, its all opinion
Great tip there!! Already start to get yourself prepared for the marathon by doing core workouts and strengthening your weaknesses.
I'd actually say its worse on your knees than anything else....
I only ran up to 20 miles for my first couple of marathons and that seemed to do me well. I would only say the thing to consider is what other training you'll be doing. Hal's plans are great for first timers/newbies but have a look at your lifestyle and what you can realistically fit in.
Spitfire - an awful thing to receive. I had some treatment in Barcelona and they just took a scan of my EHIC card.
mattleydon - My longest training run tends to be 22 miles. If it's your first marathon and if you are new to going long then I'd be careful about extending past 20 miles for your first marathon in training. It can be a lot of time to spend on your feet for a training run.
Don't worry pretty much every person coming new to the marathon has thought how will I do those last six miles! On the day you should be rested, well fueled and with the adrenaline buzz of standing on an iconic road surrounded by thousands of fellow runners. You will get to the finish, have a huge smile when collecting your medal and be able to say 'I'm a marathon runner'.
Spitfire - Hope you get a quick resolution to your problem.
Each to their own but I went to 22 miles at my peak though 20 miles should be more than sufficient. I only went to 22 as a personal confidence booster, but it wasn't really necessary.
I read somewhere that you shouldn't run for more than 3.5 hours in training...so distance you run depends on how fast you run them (and they should be mostly pretty slow). I ran 24 in as my max LR for VLM, but may not run that far in lead up to York in Oct.
Morning all, had a hilly half marathon in Plymouth on Sunday in 1.25.29. Really pleased with the run, the last mile was all uphill and sucked the life out of my legs - came 48th out of 4267 finishers. No PB but so much gear changing, didn't get a chance to cruise. Was either puffing up a hill or catching my breath coming down the other side of it, so about a minute shy of my fastest I did back in the beginning of March.
This morning in London the tube strike is in full effect, cars everywhere, so I commuted in with a recovery (short very slow) run. 6 miles in 51 minutes is all the quads would permit after beasting them on Sunday. Kept the HR nice and low though, and it was a lovely mild calm (if not a touch cloudy) morning on Hampstead heath as I jogged over, past Kenwood House, through the woods and past the ponds so still the reflections looking like watercolors.
Emmy - I love your advice about strengthening your weaknesses. My weakness is chocolate. I shall increase my intake immediately
Definitely Mine is alcohol
Love it Orbutt!
My only words of advice is to remember your other commitments when choosing a training plan. What looks ok on paper maybe totally unrealistic for those with demanding jobs, physical jobs etc and I am sure family would like to see you at some point! And also don't be concerned when others speak about higher mileage, faster times etc - everyones plans, experiences, lifes are different - remember to trust your plan.
Good advice there Kaz1, what looks good on paper can be tricky in reality with jobs, kids, life getting in the way, pah! Going to try Jack Daniel's 2Q plan for the autumn campaign - looks great, quite spicy and flexible, no long easy 20 milers but quite a few 17 miler mixups of easy, plenty of MP and with a threshold mile or two in them - big on base building and therefore injury prevention also, something I've not fully understood on a physiological level, thanks for the pointer - TD.
Nice one Jimbob - 48th - scorchio.
E mmy - cheers!
Orbutt - didn't you finish your Easter eggs yet?
Thanks everyone for your advice. Given me plenty to think about
Orapidrun - *hick*
Mattley - i think most of us on here have done the following training plans. So if you need advice - one of us can probably answer questions:
Thanks for the welcome and encouraging advice (which is much needed). This forum will be a big help – and had me laughing right from the first message (yer maj "So where is this race then?")
It’s also certainly good advice not to ignore weaknesses in training, I tend just to run and ignore the rest.
So anyway. I just signed up for Paris for next year (never mind this wait-and-see business. I obviously want to have a go!).
My routine at the monent is a couple of sessions weekly with the running club. Nearly everyone is a bit or a lot faster, which pushes me to make an effort. I took part in a 10k a couple of weeks back, have another this Sunday, and am beginning to extend longer runs slowly (now at 12k at a pace of around 6:50 min per km). Since getting a Garmin last month this pace stuff has been a whole lot easier.
Spider51 - sorry you had such a bad time in Paris and got such a whacking hospital bill. It’s only the EHIC card that grants you access free of charge to state healthcare services in EU countries. Without the card, you’re considered ineligible and are charged the going rate for private treatment, which can be a lot more. Mail them a scan of your card (as has been suggested) – they may have been waiting since the marathon for you to do exactly that. Good luck!
Can your LSRs be too slow? Or your easy runs too easy?
Reason I'm asking is cos I'm trying to get my missus into running a bit more. My training plan has 1 easy run and 1 LSR a week. By running these a minute slower per mile than the slowest end of my planned pace zone am I sacrificing my own training significantly?
I think I'm not but she wants to know she's not 'ruining my running', bless her!
Howdy - lots of fresh new faces to meet! Welcome one and all.
This early ballot sure has got everybody thinking about next year long before I have emerged bleary-eyed and pudgy from my "I've-just-run-a-marathon-oink-oink-so-I-can-eat-what-I-want-oink-oink-ooh-that-calf-hurts-oink-oink-must-be-a-niggle-did-you-see-my-medal-oh-look-I've-gained-2-kilos-oink-oink-ah-well" tristesse.
Welcome HannahGB! It sounds like you're making good improvements and bang on in terms of pacing for your first marathon. I'd be a little wary about pushing yourself too hard to keep up with the running club. It is a great motivator, but I've certainly fallen into habits of trying to push to keep up with faster runners before and it can have a negative effect on your own training.
As well as pace, keep an eye on your heart rate and make sure that 80% of your training is under 85% of your maximum heart rate.
Plug some recent data into this calculator and get a feel for what your different training paces should be: http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator/.
Matty: Until the knowledgable folk get here, no, it shouldn't have too negative an impact on your LSR or easy runs. You can't really run LSRs or Recovery runs too slow, but running significantly slower than you're accustomed to may find you altering your gait in a way that causes discomfort or injury.
mattywar - What I've read is LSR's should be 60 to 90 seconds a mile slower than your target pace. Easy pace, should be that. Something you find easy. The better way to judge it would be by heart rate and I'm sure others could give you far better advise on that than I could.
One thing to note though running slower than your normal pace isn't as easy as it sounds, particularly over longer distances. I've heard many people say they've struggled on runs when they've dropped their pace to run with a friend.
Blimey - I'd forgotten how much squats hurt... or not hurt so much but cause jelly legs! Insanity was good, but how strong I think my legs are and how strong my legs actually are turn out to be quite different... and not in a good way
Distance wise I did 22 miles as my longest, my plan said 20, but as it was my first I wanted the reassurance I could do over 20. I think I'll stop at 20 for the autumn plan, and in hindsight think that 20 would have been ok, and was maybe too much in terms of risking overuse injuries. For the autumn campaign I'm going to include more speed work (my only real speed work was racing the parkrun) and for the longer runs add in some MP, and some hills... but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself!
Great run Jimbob!
+1 for Kaz's comments both on time available and sticking to your own plan. sound advice
Matty - could you do runs where you run out with your fiancee and then back at faster pace, my plan had those kind of runs in it anyway? I enjoy mixing up the running by doing some by myself and some with others - keeps it interesting to. She could also join you on a bike, I've done that with my OH who doesn't run.
Matty - I can't remember the details but in the P&D book it explains about blood flow, only a small amount of blood flows to your muscles whist static however when you run blood circulates quicker. When we run quickly waste builds up around the muscle, the idea of easy runs is to clean your muscles through the increased blood flow without putting on strain which would create new waste.
I am doing most of my runs around 10 - 10.15 mm just now, and yes it took some getting used to and I have a few niggles in my quads for my troubles with changing gait. i can't see it doing any harm Matty, maybe use the slower runs as a recovery run, do them after a 'hard' day??