Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
As far as what to listen to - I like listening to MarathonTalk podcast, but tend to listen in the car rather than when running. On rare occassions I run with music I'll listen to all sorts of stuff. This morning for example I did a 12km out and back with Rachmaninov 2nd Piano concerto on the way out and Elgars Cello concerto on the way back. After the cello concerto Spotify forwarded onto some more stuff and I ended up finishing to Pomp and Circumstance marches and getting all patriotic with Land of Hope and Glory which really helped me visualise running past Westminster and past Buckingham palace onto The Mall!
Saturday morning I was up ludicrously early again (4am start) for my 32km run. Temperature was down nice and cool (below 20C for the first time this year) and as a consequence the run felt really really easy. I got a bit carried away in the last 5km and ran them at BQ pace...waaaaaay faster than target marathon pace!
Biggest week of the year done (85km) - and I feel great. Really looking forward to this with eagerness!
Harmander - I started just behind you but it felt like you started faster than I wanted to so I let you go; I did manage to overtake you around mile 9.
I also dropped a gel, so I drank the lucosade instead, not my preferrred option but it was fine.
I thought the water provision was a bit meagre, 3 x 250ml bottles isn't enough for me and no water between 2.5 + 7.5 miles isn't great either, o I'm glad the lucosade was there really.
My plan was to run 8min/miles, which is my target pace for VLM (and would deliver a 30 min pb).... however, I met a fellow pirate, and he set off at a vicious pace. Being of little brain, I stuck with him, until, at mile 7 or so when I was feeling great, and dropped him. Whoops!
Anyway, having gone that far, it seemed daft to slow down, so I slogged on... having to dig pretty deep for the last couple of miles.
Result was a 1:35... a new half PB for me. Even more amazing to me, as I also ran a 19:55 parkrun yesterday (expecting it not to be an issue as i'd planned to be doing a slow half today), which is the first time I've cracked the 20 min barrier too!....
So my weekend has been a 5k and half mara PB, which still has my head spinning a bit!
As I said at the beginning, Silverstone is a great event.... and I suspect I'll be doing it again!
Yes I did the first mile about a minute faster than planned - partly deliberate to get past the congestion and then adjusted over the next couple of miles.
By mile nine I was spot on and with the instruction to finish in 2:29:00 I came in at:
Gutted to have missed Silverstone yesterday (poor planning on my part!!) so took myself off on a half of my own with the aim to run approaching a PB (from admittedly few attempts), got into a good rhythm and still felt good up the final hill to finish in 1:44, shaved a couple of minutes off PB and still enough in the tank to carry on past the HM point to the top of the hill (figured I'd got to walk up it anyway!!)
It all leaves me in such a quandary for VLM pacing though as suggests sub 4hrs is achievable but my longest run told me it wasn't (fine up to about 16 miles). Could well be as simple as hydration/nutrition so I guess I'll find out over the next few long runs, starting this weekend at a 20 mile (reportedly hilly) race!!
Of course pace may be taken out of my hands entirely on the day dependant on starting pen and resultant traffic so I'm happy to take whatever happens on the day and be proud of the achievement cos the liklihood is I won't be doing that distance ever again LOL
here is the good news - according to the rules of thumb AND the prediction formula i posted earlier your 2:08:51 time suggests a faster than 4:33 finish - this obviously assumes that your training continues uninterrupted and you remain motivated. - for assurance, when I did 4:29:52 in Toronto two years ago I was at halfway in 2:07:45
and when I did Chicago in 4:28:59 I was at halfway in 2:07:27
I predict that you will beat 4:30
Retford 1/2 was excellently organised as always - a great small half if your local! I was running with a friend and she wanted a PB under 2.04. My plan was to run an even race but she took off like a rabbit and her pacing was all over the place. By mile 8 she was struggling and really had to dig in to carry on over the last few miles (which include a slightly nasty hill at 12.5 miles). I was so proud of her - we came in just under 2! But the last few miles were really long and painful for me as I was running so slowly. Found it such hard work but there was no way I was going to leave her.
Overall it reminded me the the importance of pacing evenly and gave me a confidence boost - I'm fitter than I thought...getting close to 4 maybe more achievable than I thought - but who knows!
Have a great week all
And well done to all on the runs & pb's over the weekend. I like that this is a mixed ability thread, hearing about the speedy times is good inspiration!
What I can say is never ever ever let the dream die... I have just turned 49, and am still steadily getting quicker... you are only constrained by how much you believe in yourself.... keep trying!
Slight pain in my ankle but this was due to the uneven pavement which I should of not run on. Going to have a few days rest as like everyone has said you need to listen to your body. I'm not going to loose nothing by missing midweek miles
26.3 miles on Sunday, up hill and over dale (training for Boston as well as London), great run, especially since I had a back niggle a few weeks ago and lost a couple of weeks, feels like I'm ready. First time at Boston, so don't know quite what to expect, but London will be a bit of a shuffle round on tired legs for me this year. In a funny way, I'm looking forward to not worrying about time and just looking around and taking it all in, high-fiving the kids at the side of the road, etc.
Alloa half-marathon this weekend - heading over en-masse with my running club, planning to run it as about 90% - won't be a PB, but should still get the training benefits of a good race without killing myself and leaving my legs knackered. One more long run the following weekend and then taper and paranoia to look forward to.
Like Magna Carter, I find the guys at the front at London just amazing - on a good year, I'll be at around 14 miles when they come past going the other way on the other side of The Highway at 22 miles, and knowing how much effort I'm putting in and seeing just how far ahead of me they are, and how easy they make it look, really shows the level these guys are at. I never know whether to feel completely awed to be running with them or completely demoralised at knowing they'll be tucking into their recovery shakes (or Quorn?) before I even get to Canary Wharf. Or both. I like to think of myself as an ok runner, but I couldn't run 200 yards at their pace, never mind 26.2 miles.
Well done everyone for getting to this point - I read a stat once which said that about 70-something % of people with places start at London (i.e.- 30% don't make it to the start line), but over 99% of those who start finish. So as long as you can get to the start line in good shape, the numbers suggest we'll all be ok. At this stage, there's still a few long runs to do and there's still a few weeks before tapering, but the biggest risk is injury. An injury now doesn't really leave much time to recover and even if it does recover, there's a loss in training which you'll feel on the day. The next couple of weeks are the most important of all - don't want to sound patronising, but to all first-timers, you've worked so hard to get to this point, just be very careful over the next couple of weeks to avoid hurting yourself - listen to your body and make sure you're part of the 70%, not the 30%.
It's not long now.............
Great summary and message.
You are going to love Boston
It seems nuts to run London 6 days later, but I just can't stand then idea of the London marathon happening without taking part in it. London was my first marathon and I've been lucky enough to run it for the last five years, it is a very special race for me. I might be hobbling my way around it, but I'll be there.
Stay on the right side of the route at Wellesley for the ladies.
Have faith my man.
Fauja Singh used to have someone with a cup of hot steaming tea and rich tea biscuits after 21 miles in each of the six Londons, two Toronto and the New York marathons he ran.
Brentwood is a good easy run - apart from the last mile. You will enjoy it.
Rossi71 - wait until you're running during the London marathon if you're looking for inspiration. There are a few points along the route where it's overwhelming - Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and the Embankment. For anyone who's done London before, just visualising these areas brings back memories. I used to live in rural Cumbria, and most of my long runs were done on my own on little back roads, often covered in ice, always covered in cowshit, and hardly ever seeing anyone else. When I was finding it hard going, I just had to remember what I was training for and visualise running down the Embankment on the day, and it always made me smile.
KieranG - you know this "stupid marathon, never doing it again, why on earth did I want to do this" feeling? I had that at the end of my first London marathon. I'd done it, got the medal, proved to myself I could do it, but I was never putting myself through that again. This lasted about three days (as did the DOMS), then I started thinking "well, there were some bits I enjoyed" and by a week later I knew I'd be back, only better trained and knowing what to expect second time around. And here I am now, waxing lyrical about the joys of the London marathon. If it was easy, anyone could do it and it wouldn't count for anything. It's the fact that you've had to work so hard in training and really push yourself that makes it all worthwhile. It is a huge achievement to finish a marathon, partly because of the effort on the day but more because of all the work that goes into getting to the start line. Your finish time is just a number, but in a few weeks' time you'll know how it feels to be a marathon runner, and to run in one of the best races in the world. It's hard work right now, but chin up, it will be well worth it.
Silverstone is a bit of a trek for me to get to so I decided to do a half a bit closer to home. It was the first half marathon I had ever done and also only the 2nd time I had continuously run over 13 miles! Anyway, I ran pretty consistent mile splits (8mins/mile) and finished with a chip time of 1:45:00 exactly - very pleased with that!
I didn't go for my planned Tuesday night easy run, I am trying to listen to my body (legs still a bit sore and have a blood blister on tip of my toe!) - will see how I feel tonight.
How is everyone else recovering?
I'm new to this forum. I'm running my first ever marathon at VLM next month (eek!) The panicks are seriously setting in now.
I've posted on the gear thread a question about my trainers and some issues I'm having. But thought I'd throw the question out here too just in case anyone can help.
I did the Silverstone half on Sunday and had to stop at mile 9 to readjust my trainers as they felt so uncomfortable (burning feeling in my toes/balls of my feet as if they're too tight...when I loosen them though I feel like my heels will slip out). I've had to do this on my long runs as well. I really don't want to have to do this on marathon day.
Is it too late to change my trainers? Or should I persevere?