Shades Marathon Training

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  • Morning all.

    Thought I would get myself up to speed with this group. You all seem a friendly bunch and Shades has clearly built up a great following with many of you using her training plans with great results  :)

    So what is everyone's background in running? I see some of you recently done the Cornish marathon this weekend. Well done, that couldn't of been flat!

    For me, I just started running to improve my fitness and to give me something to do after work during the week. Not a big fan of the gym although I do pay the membership.
    I try and do a few half marathons through the year but only one full Marathon in april. Enjoy doing fun runs 5k, 10k etc. We get some great events down here in Portsmouth. 

    I still feel like a novice when it comes to running, only really started 3 years ago. Constantly learning and improving. My running form isn't perfect, I know I overstride and I use mild stability trainers to assist. Chopped and changed running shoes as my form gradually improves. Enjoy using my Garmin to track sessions and use Instagram to document some of my progress. Feel free to look me up @evomark9

    Looking forward to getting to know you all better. 


  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    Hi OTB, good news you're enjoying the thread :) 

    A bit of my running background is that I did my first Half back in 2007, and the motivation for that was really to lose weight, as in the year leading up to that I was very overweight; I had a desk job and had ballooned after Uni.  I kind of dipped in and out of running after the Half but maintained an okay weight (gym work), but didn't really consider myself a runner, although did London Marathon in 2010.  I hadn't trained properly for it, so I can't say it was a great experience, run/jog/walk/shuffling around in 5:15.  Again, I kind of dipped in and out afterwards, but joined my running club in 2012 and this thread at around the same time, and I've been a regular runner since then (injuries etc aside).  I did my second marathon in 2013 following Shades plan and had a much better time, did a few local races and lost a bit more weight (about 5st in total).  I realised I had been "losing weight to help with the running" as opposed to the other way around and then knew I was hooked!  I did a small number of marathons between 2013 and 2016, but this year I've ramped them up a bit with 17 so far this year.  It wasn't a goal at all at the start of the year but I've got the marathon bug now, to some extent, and hope to do a similar amount (or maybe even a few more) next year.

    Having said that, my favourite distance is probably the Half marathon.  For me, when I'm in shape, I feel I can properly "race" them if I want to, whereas with a marathon even now I don't feel I'm racing them properly, if that makes sense?  But I've ran some great marathons this year, and removing the focus on time for some of them has helped with that enjoyment.  I had a bit of a mental block about going under 4hrs - I was capable but it didn't happen for a while, but I've cracked that this year.  I still want to get quicker at the marathon (PB is 3:42 from this year - I'd love to go sub-3:30 and I suppose that's my medium term time goal), but the 5:28 I did at a race called City to Sea is one of my favourite races I've done (second only behind this year's London), which shows that for me it's not all about the time necessarily.

    Yes, Cornish was hilly, but again it's not about the time although I was delighted it.  It's about the challenge, if that makes sense?  Also, a few of us have got a race called Dartmoor Discovery in mind (organised by my running club) which is a very hill ultra marathon around Dartmoor, so Cornish was a good "test of the water" for that for me.  Shades has done the DD loads of times, whereas for Jelly and I it will be our first time.

    Like you, I'm always learning.  Probably I have a tendency to overthink things, and sometimes have to remind myself it's just one foot in front of the other, but I love it.  Running and my club (I'm currently a committee member, amongst other things) have become really important to me, and have helped me through some very dark times personally.
  • Hi Big_G

    17 marathon's this year! Congratulations that is a huge achievement. So close together probably doesn't give the body enough time to fully recover. You've definitely caught the run bug there. 
    Good luck on the tackling an Ultra, that would be a nice tick off the bucket list.
    Few people can say they've run a marathon, even less when it comes to Ultra's. 

    I've thought about joining a club, but I quite enjoy getting out on my own as and when I can. Although I know club running would kick my performance and training up another gear. 
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    OTB - 17 is not many compared to a few on here at certain times....  But, yeah, it's a lot for me and I'm happy with my progress this year.   :)  
  • JellyJelly ✭✭✭
    HI OTB I'm a real newbie, I've just had my 2nd run year Anniversary. I was over weight and unfit and long story short because of my life choices I couldn't do something special with my daughter. I've done slimming Club loads of times before and always lost weight well but within a year it would be back on. This time I was right I'm changing my out look on life and slimming club was just a tool in my  scheme. I used to play Hockey ? in my 20's before children and did actually try running but never has the staying power. So I was right I'm joining a Hockey club and being part of a team will make it easier to stick to as I don't like letting people down. I'm not  exaggerating o could not run a lap of half of the pitch, but everyone was lovely and offered tips and support. A few were runners, one told me about C25K so I started that all my family thought I would give up after few weeks. About month in same lady told me about Parkrun so started doing that and by Christmas ? I had started to go to some of the with mine and BIgG club, still not believing I could do this runner lark, still playing hockey and running over the spring and summer, entered my first half in the June 2016 which I loved. Entered London Ballot of forgot all about it, I signed up for Birmingham to be my first Marathon as I had marshalled the DD and knew I wanted to do it as I was truly inspired by those runners and I don't say that lightly and knew I had to get a few marathons under my belt first. I got a Ballot place for London which was now my first Marathon and amazing and Birmingham my 4th 5 in total. There is a lot of banter in the club on how excited I get about running Marathons and how much I love them ? for me it's basically I couldn't before and now I can and I didn't get many trophies ? or medals as a child so making up now.  I don't see myself as a marathon runnner and say I'm more of a crash course, the experienced runners in our club are so supportive and I wouldn't be where I am now. Some how I've got 9 planned for next year.  I gave up Hockey once Marathon training kicked in. 
  • Hi OTB- 
    I feel I am still a bit of a novice myself. I entered my first marathon at London in 2010 only because my friend wanted to do it. Done very little training and ran in poor fitting shoes. My friend pulled out at the last minute so I ran it and cramped up very badly and due to poor fitting shoes lost 4 toe nails during the marathon and finished with a time of 5 hours 04. It was a bad experience however knew I wanted to do it again. I have run London another 2 times along with Edinburgh and I ran Stirling this year. I have improved my pb with every marathon I have entered with a best time of 3.50 at Stirling this year. 

    I do prefer h/m as I feel I can really push my effort in them. I have a best time of 1.38 for a half, however I want to improve and complete in marathon events. As I felt I was not very knowledgeable about marathon running I noticed this thread a few months ago and joined in hoping for some helpful advice and have to say it's one the best decisions I have made. All shadies are friendly and helpful as they all have different ability and their knowledge is second to none. You have made a great choice on joining this thread.

    Shadies- thanks for all the advice in regards my winter training, Big G I have looked and there is many h/m and 10k events up here in Jan and Feb so will definitely be entering some of them.
    8 miles for me this morning in very mild conditions along with a little rain. 
  • Jelly - What an amazing story! Well done for sticking out the C25K. I tried to get my wife to do it, but she never seems to get passed week one....! When I started I couldn't run a mile non stop. I remember feeling very excited when I finally did. Every jump up in race distance felt like major milestones, seemed like a dream when I ran my first half. But when does it stop.... ha ha I'm yet to find out. Sounds like everyone here is in the same boat. I couldn't imagine running more than one marathon a year, let alone multiples and even back to back's and Ultras  :) I can see that being in this thread will only encourage me to push myself more and more. 

    Steve - I can relate to bad marathon experiences. After Brighton this year I said I wouldn't do another one. But as the months ticked by I couldn't resist the urge for another go. I also really enjoy my half's and I also get that same feeling that you actually race a half. My first goal was to finish under 2hrs, since then i've brought it down to 1:45. Guess I can only keep on improving with the right training. 
    For some reason I have lost my first toe nail. Only happened a few months back and for no apparent reason. I hadn't done any long distance training or changed trainers. Yet it just died  :/
    RIP Big Toe Nail  o:)
  • JellyJelly ✭✭✭
    I will never forget those first 90 seconds on those first few runs and the route was flat. Keep encouraging your wife. My hubbie doesn't run. 
  • mowzermowzer ✭✭✭
    Shades & Big G - well done on the Cornish marathon :) . It sounds like a really nice one and I haven't done an event in Cornwall yet - will have to see what happens next year. 

    That's a lovely photo Big G - and you seem to have got the hang of easily knocking out the sub 4s nowadays!

    On the Beach - hi and well done on your half, good time  :) You've got Portsmouth marathon right near you.

    I walked LDWA Shillington Shuffle on Sunday :) . Heavy rain all day Saturday, but after a frosty start on Sunday the sun came out  B) and it was blue skies until about 2.30pm when it just clouded over a bit. I found it quite tough this year (it alternates with other routes and runs every 3 years) especially the first hill which is only about half a mile from the start. It is very, very steep and goes on for a very long time! I thought my breathing was going to give up before I got to the top  :/ but I finally made it and, along with many others, was promising to do more hill training in future. The rest was just typical LDWA - nice undulating route which flattened out a bit in the second half, great views from the hilltops, friendly runners/walkers, well stocked checkpoints and - surprisingly -no mud! First time I ran this I did 6hrs, 2nd time I ran/walked in 6:36, and Sunday's time (walking only) was 7:36. In 3 years time I'm expecting to finish in 9hrs! but I most definitely will do it again. I was very tired and a bit stiff afterwards - the outside tops of my thighs and the bit where they join to my body was particularly aching, but more worrying was that the top of my foot was bothering me again. I had to loosen my laces at each checkpoint. It still feels a little stiff, however I went for a run this morning with Tuesday buddy and it didn't hurt at all.
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    OTB-Ive been running for 2 and half years or so.Started just to lose weight and got the bug.Gradually upped the distance and now I've done 6 marathons and an ultra.I had only done 2 before this year.As I've increased my miles my times have dropped significantly,now my marathon is 3:31 and half 1:29.
    You'e right about everyone on here being friendly,this thread is one of the best things I've discovered whilst running and I'm constantly learning new things to help me.
  • mowzer said:


    On the Beach - hi and well done on your half, good time  :) You've got Portsmouth marathon right near you.


    Yes, I'm doing the half option. Didn't want to risk a full without proper prep. Wish I had signed up in the summer as I love the full distance marathon medal. 

    Ian that is awesome to of completed an Ultra after only 2 1/2 years. Top Stuff!
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    mowzer - put Cornish in your diary now, you'd love it.  It will most likely be 18th Nov 2018. 

    Can I put you on the DD 2019 list perhaps?  Still 18 months away so plenty of time to train :)


    OTB - I did my first marathon in 1995 at the age of 38, only intending to do one but I liked it and decided to have another go.   8 years later when I'd done my 100th marathon I wanted to give something back to running so I started my own running club, it was for women only, partly as so many women lacked confidence to give running a go and also there was a group called the Women's Running Network that made it easy to set up a group, coach training, insurance etc.   Quite a few of the women wanted to run a marathon so I wrote a training plan for them, they were busy with jobs and family and most didn't have time to run more than 3 or 4 times a week.  I took a group of girls to do Dublin Marathon all had trained using my plan and all got round safely, nobody hit the wall and one girl even got a GFA time.   

    At this time these forums used to be very busy and I remember reading a post from a girl who was training for a marathon with her club and she posted saying she was finding the long runs so hard that when she got home she would sit in the bath and cry.   Her club were making her run far too fast and kept telling her to hurry up.   I decided then that if my group at Dublin were successful with the testing of my marathon plan then I would start a thread on RW and offer the plan to anyone that wanted it, that was 12 years ago and I'm still going on about slowing down in training!   That's why the spreadsheet is in such a dated format!

    I gave up my running club after 3 years, as I refused to accept the WRN's policy of enrolling all the members of my group into EA's new licencing system.   I then joined ARC which was set up to offer an alternative to EA and I am still a director, we've been very successful in offering better insurance and we also permit races, our presence has also stopped EA from increasing their fees as they would have liked.   So my coaching now is limited to this forum.

    For my own running, I'm still doing marathons, usually 15 to 20 a year, I don't chase numbers now so just want to do marathons that I enjoy and road only for me, I don't like off road.   I want to continue to do marathons and ultras for as long as I enjoy them.
     


  • JellyJelly ✭✭✭
    Shades I remember coming along to your club years ago, on the Ten Tors Carpark, didn't come for long as old hockey team member came along and when I was in that club and certain members wasn't very nice and I was still a young Mum and confidence was low so I never came again.   
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Shades, Chair is a strong advocate of ARC too.  He actively encouraged me to try and avoid choosing EA races for the Club Champs in 2018, because often races won't put (or can't, maybe due to some technical issue) "Teignbridge Trotters" against a non-EA person's name, even if they've paid the extra £2.  It makes it a challenge as it's easy to miss people out of race results, if their club name isn't there.  Torbay AC, who we have a good relationship with, will add our club's name to non-EA members, so that's something.  I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying Chair's not EA affiliated, and I remember he wrote a piece in our club magazine a couple of years ago explaining his reasons (I read it that he was encouraging people not affiliate with EA).  I am affiliated, but only because of the £2 race discount  - no other reason.  I suppose on the other side of it, if club names are added to non-EA members, it may mess up team prizes at EA races?  A lot of time is spent discussing this sort of stuff!
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Jelly - oh that was a shame. but look at you now :)

    Big G - Torbay refused this year to put a Maverick's club name for the Torbay Half for one of our runners.

    Fortunately most of the online entry systems now allow you to have your details set up with a club name so although I enter an EA race as unaffiliated my club name is still shown....such as with the Cornish.   EA want all races to verify whether a runner's EA licence number is valid, of course most won't do that, too much admin and I think the only online race entry system that can verify is RunBritain.   It's only the UKA stalwarts that insist that team prizes should go to EA licenced runners.  In many races team prizes are awarded to the winning teams whether they are EA or not, and that's how it should be.   EA 's bullying tactics is damaging the sport and their efforts of trying to recruit more EA licenced runners is failing badly, look how many unaffiliated runners there are in races now.  I believe you can make up a licence number and it will be accepted by an online entry system.

    When I started entering races, over 20 years ago the discount was £1 then and as race fees were much lower it was a worthwhile discount, a marathon entry fee was about £7, some less.   The discount was increased to £2 a couple of years later and then a few years ago was increased to £3 but races seemed to ignore that and then all slipped back to £2.  What is unfair is that big races such as London and Bath half have never paid over all the unaffiliated extra £2's, they had an 'arrangement' to keep the money.   What use is a £2 discount on a £50 entry fee now?   That discount should be £7+.   The EA licence is allegedly increasing by £1 a year up to 2020, don't know what they're going to do as they've lost a lot of their funding, I believe they've had a few redundancies.  In Scotland a runner pays £33 a year to affiliate, which is why so many are unaffiliated.   

    I've left the 100MC and I haven't held an EA licence for several years and RunBritain/EA/UKA still has me listed as a member of 100MC.   I must get the 100MC to sort this out but I doubt they will, they're useless.   There is a process to change to another club when you have an EA licence but there doesn't seem to be one for leaving.

    you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.....


  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Yeah, it's a shame about all of that stuff really.  I think I've said it before, but I really think most runners just want to run, and probably aren't even really bothered about all of that.  They just want to run, race, improve, do different races, see their mates at races, etc etc.  And I think EA get in the way of that, and not help it, which is a shame.

    At our club, we get allocated London Marathon places, which is based on the number of EA members at the club.  So the more EA members we get, the more London Marathon places we may get (is it something like for every 50 EA members, an EA-affiliated club gets one place?  I could be wrong).  We have a system in the club of allocating these places to members, based on how often they help out at club races in a year.   As far as I'm aware, people do not have to be EA registered to get the club place, which as far I'm concerned is totally fine.  But even that's complicated as I suppose there is an argument that only EA registered people should be able to claim the place, but as I say I think it's up to the club how they allocate the place so I'm fine with it.

    I know our fast Trotter is now keen to try and make sure that the races he enters are EA ones, but obviously he wants to get noticed, so I can understand that.  As an aside, Chair was trying to get him to enter the DD, but he hasn't yet as far as I'm aware - he'll be old enough to run it come race day.  If he went and won it, I suppose that would look pretty good on his CV, although I see Adam Holland has entered it again.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Big G - I agree it is a shame.  The sad thing is that if they got someone to lead EA in the right way they could encourage a lot of runners to join running clubs.  It wouldn't surprise me if EA go bust, UKA went bust once when Dave Moorcroft was running the show.

    Interestingly I've just skimmed through their 2016 filed accounts, they received their 4th year of funding from Sport England as planned but the notes do say that they don't know what will happen in the future, it depends on the government and of course they could be subject to austerity cuts.

    Their income for the year ended 2015 was 8.7 million and a net profit of 638k
    Their income for the year ended 2016 was 8.7 million and a net loss of 79k

    Each year their funding has been just over 5 million (included in income above)

    So we can see which way they're going, and up to the end of 2016 they paid no rent to UKA for their premises so that will probably be another cost.

    I don't know what their funding is for this year but I've been told it's been cut.


    Big G - yes, I think you're right re VLM places, one per 50 of registered athletes, not sure about whether the recipient is supposed to be EA registered though.   

    I do hope the young Trotter does not enter DD, he's too young and will probably harm himself and his future athletic career.  In a few years maybe.    An ultra win wouldn't do anything for his chances with UKA unless he wants to work towards ultras and representing England in ultras.  If that is his goal then tell him to enter Boddington 50km, think it's the end of May, the guy that organises that race used to be the manager of the England Ultra team, he's had poor health so I'm assuming he no longer has that role but of course he will still have the contacts and the influence. He used to come down to DD and spotted at least one runner there that went onto run for England, as far as I know he's not been down since Trotters took over the race so was probably a contact of original race organiser.

  • JellyJelly ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Based on what YT has entered in the past he's targeting flat road races to get good times, did find him on Power of Ten and he's fair way up the list. I don't understand how it all work but get the feeling some people don't hand in Chips at Parkrun because of their handicap grading. Doesn't worry me as I've got more pleasure supporting friends than clock times.  There's plenty of time in the future for him to do longer hilly stuff, What sort of things did Adam Holland do at YT age.  It's really windy today think my metal box might take off with me in it. I'm not going club tonight but will try a run tomorrow night if it's dry. 
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Jelly - don't get blown away, there severe weather warning here today for the wind :'(

    I don't know much about AH's history, think he comes from hockey background, he had done a lot before he ran DD.  When I first met him he had very long hair and it really suited him...I'll try and find a pic

    I see YT is top marathon runner for his age in 2017, but I'm afraid that's more likely because a coach wouldn't want a runner of that age to do a marathon and of course there are no competitions for marathon runners under 20 or even under 23.  But I'm sure he has a great future.

    Pof10 is flawed, I'm not sure why parkruns are on there anyway as they're not meant to be races and are often short/long course due to weather conditions etc.

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    This is what AH used to look like, only one I can find, nice photo of him running the 10 in 10.  You can just see his long hair



  • JellyJelly ✭✭✭
    Hockey ? back ground, he was already on my cool ? list, he's just gone up ? 
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    I'll ask him next time I get a chance.

    When he got all his hair cut off he came up to me at the start of a marathon and said 'hello' and I thought 'who the hell is that' I didn't recognise him.

  • NickW2NickW2 ✭✭✭
    Hi OTB, and welcome to the thread. My running history:

    I'd always considered myself reasonably fit from playing squash, but never did any running. Always thought I would like to do the London Marathon one year, and finally got around to entering the ballot in 2015. I was fortunate enough to get a place the first time, and so started doing some running. I didn't really have a feel for what my marathon target should be, I had run a hilly 10k off no training a year or so earlier in just under 60 mins so in my head I reckoned with some training I could probably keep that pace up for a marathon and so 4 hours seemed a reasonable target. Looked at some plans but they all started off with very slow paces and I thought that can't be right for me as I can already run much faster than that. I know now why running slowly is important but as a running newbie at the time I just picked a distance and ran as fast as I could for that distance, 3 times a week. After 3 weeks of training I ran a half marathon race to see where I was at, in 2:05ish. Went off a little fast and really suffered the last 3-4 miles, with some walk breaks, and my legs really hurt after. The half mile walk to the car must have taken about 30 mins!

    After a few weeks I found this forum and read as much as I could, and also joined a local running club in January. Had some knee pain in Feb time which a physio diagnosed as ITB issues resulting from running too fast all the time and not stretching at all after runs. He gave me some stretches to do and said to keep running but it would slowly get better over a few weeks, and thankfully he was right. After reading lots I eventually realised that slowing long runs down was key, and I got to the start line of London 2016 feeling like I'd probably just about done the bare minimum but was in with a decent chance to break my original 4 hour target, with hopes of maybe going a little faster. I had ideas of 3:45-3:50 but quickly realised that this would be impossible as it was so busy having started in the last pen. Through half way in 1:57 I think it was, struggled a bit in the 2nd half with a couple of walking breaks, had to really dig in after about 20-21 miles, thought my target had gone but managed to convince myself to keep running and got to a mile to go and gave it everything, eventually sneaking home in an official time of 3:59:52. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

    In the summer I got a bit lazy and only ran about once a week, but then entered another marathon to give me some focus and loosely followed a MyAsics plan for Manchester Marathon 2017 with what felt like an ambitious target of 3:30. Being much less of a novice I felt I trained a lot better, and obviously started from a better point, and got a big PB of 3:24:59. Training had actually gone so well that I felt 3:30 was "in the bag" and on the day had a stab at 3:15, this went well for 19/20 miles then my legs started cramping which just got worse and worse, so again the last few were tough. My times at other distances have all come down as well, I seem to be better at shorter distances though I think that changes when I get a few weeks of decent long runs in.

    This summer I have run a lot less again, though this time due to having a baby rather than being lazy. Trying to keep getting some runs in where I can with an idea of maybe doing a spring marathon next year, but will decide nearer the time as I haven't quite figured out if I can make the logistics work to get enough runs in. Mostly running about twice a week at the moment.
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    Looks like they'e changed the London club places.
    www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/how-to-enter/british-athletics-club-entry
  • NickW2NickW2 ✭✭✭
    Well done to the weekend racers, in particular a great time from Big G getting another sub 4 :smiley:

    I did another buggy run on Sunday, did about 3 miles of 4 mins run / 2 mins walk alongside my wife (she pushed the buggy this time) then when we got back my daughter was still asleep so I did another 3 miles pushing the buggy. Got to a flat footpath bit and decided to see what it was like going at a decent effort, pushed hard for 2 mins and came up sub 7 min mile pace so was pleased with that.

    Last night I kept changing my mind what run to do, originally planned a longer run but didn't get out till 9pm so decided a shorter session made more sense. Set out thinking of doing 6 miles hard but probably went off too keen, so changed it to 2 miles hard, 1 mile recovery, then repeated. Mile splits 6:22, 6:35, 7:59, 6:39, 6:46, 8:06, then realised if I pushed the last bit I could sneak under 44 mins for 10k so last bit at 6:55 pace for a 43:57 10k. Very pleased with that run, it's comparable if not quicker to sessions I was doing when training for Manchester so I think backs up the feeling I have that I could knock another chunk off my PB if I can get the long runs in. Amazing how easy other paces feel when you've been really pushing - 8 min miling would be the faster end of my easy range normally but off the back of 6:30-6:45 pace it felt like I was jogging very slowly.
  • Shades - I agree that including parkruns on Po10 seems to go against the whole parkrun ethos that it’s not a race. Athough the run Britain site does at least grade each run. But you do see that runners who do loads of parkruns manage to lower their handicaps quite easily. Jelly - the handicap system only takes into account your 5 best recent results, so this wouldn’t be a reason for not using a parkrun barcode. I’ve been tail runner lots of times and it’s makes zero difference to my handicap.

    I’m an EA member mainly so that I can enter races under my club name and also for the VLM champs start you need to be a member. Our club insists that the VLM places go to members who are EA too. But I think the fuddyduddy attitude of EA explains why parkrun has been able to be so successful. Apparently the Sports England funding is linked to participation in a sport and they reckon that a lot of the increase in athletics participation is down to parkrun and recreational running rather than EA/UKA. It also seems mad that I pay more to EA than I do for my club. I’m not really sure what I get back from EA, but from my club, I’d pay 4 times the fee and it would still be a bargain! My dad is a member of UK Cycling and apparently you get a lot more for the membership with them - he’s had friends involved in accidents with cars and UKA have covered all the legal fees!
  • NickW2NickW2 ✭✭✭
    I'm a UKA member this year, I don't know if I will renew or not. Probably will. My club encourage people to join EA as well (it makes club membership about 50% more expensive), also I think it's required for county champs events and also for the club VLM ballot I think (though I won't be entering that this year, I may do next year). I don't do enough races to make the £2 discount worth it by itself although it's obviously welcome when it applies.

    For parkrun and runbritain, if you run a slow time it won't affect your own handicap but it can mean others get artificially good scores. Though normally it would only have an effect in a small field or if lots of people are running easy, e.g. the day before a big local race. Basically I think it looks at how everyone performed compared to their handicap to set the course rating. This works fine if most people are trying their best.

    The other reason regular parkrunners will have lower handicaps is that it gives more weight to recent results, so if you race every week then you will have a better handicap than someone who only races every month or two, even if you run identical times.
  • OnTheBeachOnTheBeach ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Hi Shades, great to hear the history of your training plan and of this thread. I am really pleased I got in touch. Thanks again to Big_G for the recommendation. 15- 20 marathons a year in incredible, you must have a busy schedule to fit all of those in along with the training. 

    NickW2 your early experiences sound very much like mine. I also discarded the pace of the original plan I followed. Like you I just ran as hard as a good as far as I could. Looking back at my 20 mile training runs my avg pace was faster than the pace needed to go sub 4 in a marathon...! But I didn't spot this major error back then. So my body was happy-ish with running for 3 hours, but there was a whole another hour to go in a marathon. No wonder my legs fell off. 

    Shades - you'll be pleased to know that I managed a pace of 9:40min/mile for 5 miles last night. Although that was mostly thanks to mother nature for providing 20mph coastal winds!
    Tonight we have a weather warning for even stronger winds, so 10:30min/mile must be possible tonight (In one direction of course :) ) . 
  • NickW2NickW2 ✭✭✭
    Yeah it was pretty windy for my run last night too. Thankfully the worst bit was on a downhill. Looks like it may be even windier tonight but won't be pushing the pace so hopefully not too bad.

    My cycle to the train station this morning was mainly into a 20mph wind so in a way I hope it's still there for the reverse journey this evening!
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Ian - thanks for that update on VLM places, I'd heard a rumour that they were changing the allocation system.  In all fairness I think that's a better system as at least small clubs, or clubs with only a few EA athletes, still get the chance of a place.   There are a lot of runners that want to be in a running club but don't, or no longer, want to take part in races so seems unfair to try and put pressure on them to buy an unnecessary race licence.

    Of course it's not going to affect everyone, most on this thread that would like to run VLM have a GFA time within realistic reach.

    Nick - I would imagine pushing the buggy especially at speed gives you quite a good core/upper body workout too and of course as she gets heavier it will get harder!

    OTB - well done at running at your prescribed pace, however, running into a gale force wind is no fun at all and must have been hard work!   But you're getting there :)

    SK - I absolutely agree, parkrun, social media and even local council initiatives have brought more folk into running that EA/UKA have ever done.   EA/UKA just don't seem to be able to communicate in any way and they definitely don't encourage entry into the sport.   Road running is just their cash cow :(

    I also agree that club fees are money well spent and great value especially compared to EA fees.

    I believe cycling and triathlon fees are higher but usually include a good insurance scheme.    EA did once offer me money off a new Volvo :D 
    In the notes on their accounts they say they've been unable to attract any sponsorship deals.


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