FLM 09 - 3.45ers!

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  • Ouch Tetly. 42 seconds! I'm in deficit by 6 mins 21 seconds. Welcome to the thread.
  • Hi tetley - 42 seconds - no problem!!

    I haven't even got an FLM place but am hanging out here for the good company and inspiration. Still some chance of a club place for me, and if not I will slop off to find myself another marathon. Am a first timer, so 4 hours would be very optimistic for me. But one can but dream!!
  • Hi, everyone, new to this thread. Day off and decided to have a read through the FLM ones. Been lucky enough to take part in 4 culminating in best time of 4.17 last year. Have always had ambition to do 1 sub-4 hour marathon and the entries in for 2007. Problem is I'll be 57 after Christmas and the years are ticking by. I also know how hard I prepared last year and did Liverpool half in 1.47 so in theory I should have been quicker in London. Anyway, we'll see how things go - getting in is the first obstacle.
  • Haven't we been quiet!

    Tetley, Bells Wolf, welcome :o)

    I've spent most of my time since Sunday's race suffering from horrible dragging half-shut-knife type tiredness, which, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with my having done a 50+ mile week ending with a race ;o)

    Aiming for the same volume of mileage this week, but a bit more sleep, and hoping the tiredness will wear off. Next week I'm on holiday. Then there's a 10-mile race before the real work begins.

    Tetley, 4.00.42 must have been ever so slightly frustrating! My half-marathon PB was 2.00.47 for ages, and I so regretted having stopped to chat to people on the way round!
  • TetleyTetley ✭✭✭
    Hi V - Cheers

    Yes - everyone said the obvious - "why didn't you run faster at the end" ! I was I was - think I got near to a 8 min mile for the last mile - after 25 of them - I was personally very pleased with getting near to breaking the 4hr barrier

    I have started my training a lot earlier than other years - and aim to up my average miles/week during the last 16



  • Welcome to Tetley, and Mr Wolf.

    Ran at 6.30 today for the first time in a week, as my lower calf ached. I feel it a bit now but not so bad. Pleased with 66 mins for the partly hilly 8.6 miles I did. By all means refer back to this in April, but I hope with my FLM training all peaked to perfection, I'd be able to get close to the hour mark for that run. Surely with 18, and 20 mile runs under your belt, 8.6 will be a minor sprint ?! Ah well, its a target to aim at. My thoughts are that when I'm old(er) and grey (if there is any left), my times will still stand for routes that won't shrink, for any of my 3 kids to have a pop at.
    My old running neighbour mate needs his kneecap scraped and his knee hoovered of all the gunk and gristle. He's only a week older than me so I'd better hurry up with achieving my goals !
    Is Mr Dap gonna be found by Cracker frozen solid, wide eyed and legless, hugging onto his wafer thin caravan "duvet" ??
  • Hi to Tetley and Bells Wolf, welcome.

    I survived the weekend! LS you are quite near the mark. Ms. Dap's parents have bought a brand spanking new caravan. It is really nice, only trouble is the Dap's could not figure out how to turn the gas on till Saturday morning when we realised the bottle was empty! Other than that it was a really nice break.

    As far as running is concerned I am on a bit of a downer. I am doing a part time MSc at the moment and I have been deluged with work. I feel guilty going running. Hope this passes!

    Ripped Dap Jnr. is running more than I presently. I managed to get him a pair of size three Brooks Radius for Christmas, really chuffed about that. Did I tell you he won a 3k fun run in the summer? 12 minutes! He is only ten, bless him.

    Anyway, V.Rap, that is a splendid time/effort for your recent race. 50 miles a week?! I can only dream of that at the moment.
  • LS, big footy match this Sunday. Swansea City (The pride of Welsh football) v Bristol City.

    I guess I know who you will be shouting for ;0)

    C'mon the SWANS!
  • Lee Trundle will be to busy tending to his own Atomic Kitten to trouble the Robins, but I've always been more of a gashead Rovers man myself.
    Didn't John Toshack once take Swansea on a whistle stop tour of the 4 leagues ?
    i.e. 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th ?
    Went to a sportsmans dinner at the Dundee Hilton on Sunday. Legends of DFC at every table, but we had to listen to Ron Dixon off Brookside do his "comedy" routine..?

    Celtic 1-0 Man Utd

    Scottish football

    Don't you just love it ?

    Disregard the Japanese goalscorer and the Pole who saved the penalty or the Czech who won the free kick...

    I would like to open a debate on the percentage of your town who attend home games....I'm thinking Brechins 10% is decent.
  • Top Of The Page!!! Yay!!

    Guess what? I am IN IN IN IN IN!!!!!!

    Forgot that my dad wrote the cheque cos I didn't have one left in my book. He just phoned me to tell me that I owe him £30. His bank statement arrived today, it was cashed on the 31st October and I did not bequeath!

    My enthusiasm is BACK!
  • WoooooooooooooooHooooooooooooooooo!!!
  • WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
  • Oops! V-rap here ... forgot I still hadn't logged Bear off my computer!

    But I'm sure he's very pleased for you too, and will feed you lots of jelly-babies at Mile 17 :o)
  • Thanks V-rap! Looking forward to my jelly babies already!
  • Congrats Mr Dap,

    Although the Scottish alternative in April will be good, I'm chuffed you won't be experiencing it !

    After a good run today, my head is well up for getting stuck into some mileage, and sarting a proper training plan, but despite a full week of rest, the lower 'thin' bit of my calf is a bit achy, so I maybe need to stretch/massage/rest it until it stops re occurring. I'll see the local physio soon to get his opinion. Through 20 years of pub league football I've never had a muscle problem, but I think I've just jarred this one up Glen Clova on the downhills.

    Someone recommend a website that can offer advice on this kind of ache please !

    Its less of an ache in the calf, and more a huge pain in the arse !
  • I've just discovered it's called a "soleus".

    Would the 30 second stretches in the health section benefit me when it aches slightly ?Would the stretching stretch it back to normal?

    My 'Tough of the Track' non scientific approach to everything has stopped, and I can now agree that stretching is no longer a sissy thing to do ! I guess if I can be brave enough at 37 to buy my first ever jar of Vaseline (for the nipples!), then I'm willing to experiment with (almost) anything that would get me non stop round London !
  • I suffer with my calf also. Everytime I build up a bit of mileage I get a muscle strain. My physio reckons it's because my back is 'tight'.
    Although sceptical myself, since I have been following his stretches, I do feel a lot better.
    Ashes starts tonight 11pm Sky Sports 1. Did my homeork earlier, working from home tomorrow so it could be an all nighter. Not sure who to shout for to be honest. Last Ashes tour was CLASS.
    Just been booking up my London warm up races;

    28th Jan - Liswerry 8
    Feb 25th - Nothing booked but Eastbourne Half?
    Mar 11th Llanelli Half
    Mar 17th Rhayader 20

    Ah, it's a cracking experience in it? My FLM has begun ;)

    Bet we are all on the BLUE start.

  • LS - I 'tweaked' my soleus last Sunday at the Suicide 6 (XC 10K) and have had to rest it since then. I could run today, but other commitments need that it'll get another days rest (which is probably a good thing)
    If it's moaning at you because it thinks it's been overused, then rest and anti-imflammatories will sort it.
    Getting it properly checked out is a really good plan tho!!!!
  • Morning all, thought i'd say hi as I have a place for London in april, deferred from last year due to injury.

    I am aiming for sub 4 hours and have just returned from the NY Marathon which I did in a pb of 4.05 - was quite pleased as i got a stress fracture in April, so only had 16 weeks to train after a 4 month lay off.

    Anyway, I hit the wall in NY at 23 miles - I only needed to run the last 3 miles in 30 mins to get under 4 hours and I couldn't do it! So that's my aim - not to blow up at the end as I always do!

    Starting running again tomorrow after a couple of weeks off following NY.

    Looking forward to hearing how will all get on over the next five months. All the best,

    El C
  • El Capitan,
    Very well done for NY.
    And welcome to the thread.
    Knowing how knackered I felt the last 3 miles of a recent Half, I can understand you being unable to do 3 10 min miles, having ran 23 beforehand.

    Please let us know the usual age, weight, gender, race history, etc. etc. so we can gauge how we are doin' against the others .
    Chances are on this thread you are either a 42 year old female doctor, or a 37 year old male who likes a pint. Or a crazy vein popping press up queen !!

    Although we all await official confirmation, I guess the prep starts now. I'm gonna cobble together an 18 week plan loosely based on the Hal Higdon Intermediate 1 plan on his website, but won't be running more than 4 days a week. I'm targeting 3.45, but hope that the improvements I see along the way will inspire me to go even quicker. I guess the motivation for us all is to not run the risk of running marginally over the 4 hour mark. When I am crying for my mummy after 23 miles, a buffer of 45 mins would be preferable !!

    Good luck to all of us.
    I hope we can continue to inspire each other between now and April 22nd.
  • I've done a 16-miler in the wind and rain today, cheered along by the thought that the weather is only going to get worse. I am SO glad I'm not in Scotland, though I will be next week :oS

    Had there been a "cold bath" dilemma (which, for me, there never is - I just don't do them) it would have been solved by the thoughtful provision by Mother Nature of a long cold shower at about 11 miles.
  • WEll I am very close to chucking it guys.

    I have joined a new running club and started doing some 10K type speedwork and the like and am really enojoying it. I am going to wait and see if I am definately in/not in but have decided that I just can;t bear the thought of having to raise all that money. I have done 3 marathons pretty quickly and I think I will now take a break till October. (Unless of course I miraculously get through in the ballot). I am also tempted to enter Edinburgh with the thought that if I wake up the morning of the race, I can just not bother if I don't fancy it. (how's that for pathetic).


    The other thing is that every time I have done a marathon I have got injured and got fatter. At the moment I am slimming down and have absolutely no injuries what so ever. Might just keep it this way for a while.


    Then again I might change my mind next week - it's probably this disgusing weather that's making me feel this way. It's absolutely god awful here at the moment. Happy training everyone.
  • Evinin'

    Welcome all new forumites !

    Hey R.D great news about the FLM ! Sounds like you're all organised for the ultimate pre FLM race series ! Good for you !

    Go easy on the calf L.S. I would definately advise seeing a physio if you can run to it (hmmm bad pun ) If it's the really thin bit at the bottom could be your achilles. Anyway a physio would know and best advise. Do you have access to a physio at your club ?

    All this talk of 16 milers and Hal Higdon suggests to me that I should be getting my head round a training programme sometime.. soon.. Trouble is I'm really enjoying unstructured running at the moment and am not very good at following timetables - tend to feel terribly guilty when I stray from the plan !. Also currently having new bathrooms and so my brain is full of 'what tap?' and 'which tile?' and even 'What colour grout ? ( good grief .. as if it's that important !!)Also lungs are full of dust which doesn't help the VO max !

    ... So I will find a plan soon..meanwhile will just continue enjoying the running. Saturday
  • No rush, QQ. Running is temporary, grout has to be looked at every day for the next 10 years ;o)

    Enjoy your running!

    I am, scarily, enjoying this silly mileage. Enjoying it in a heading-for-the-edge sort of way. I'm glad I'm going on holiday next week and will have to have a break from road-running. After a weather report from the Cairngorms, eL Bee has been scraping the rust off crampons :o)

    GA, I don't blame you at all for not being able to face the fundraising needed for a charity place in FLM, and not wanting to lose control of your body again so soon. And long runs in the winter can be miserable! But when April comes around, will you be wishing you were a part of it ... ?
  • Gym Addict

    Noooooooooo.. Don't quit Now.

    If you are enjoying the speedwork and 10ks then I would just carry on with that for a bit. You're right in that the weather doesn't exactly inspire us to run at the mo.. unless you're Vrap who I'm sure would be able to enjoy a 16 mile run at -6 in a gale !!( Tell me I'm not wrong V'rap).

    You're right in that you'll probably feel completely different next week.

    Maybe you/We need to commit to an alternative race as I suspect having a definate target would increase motivation no end. I'm not in FLM either ( slim chance of club place for me too ) but am thinking of Lochaber.. Anyway I'm a marathon virgin and so don't really have any idea what I'm talking about.. but if you've done three this year then surely you can just keep up the fitness for a bit while you decide what you want to do ?

    I'll keep my fingers crossed for some bright sunny days down in your neck of the woods !

  • Gymaddict

    I do know how you feel , and kind of agree too. One year I decided not to do the marathon as I did not want pressure and I just ran and enjoyed it and ended up with a PB in a half too.

    You know my views on fundraising and there is no way I would even contemplate raising that amount too.

    I find doing it every other year is good though and I am dreading the training too as I only did Edinburgh last year. I am in awe of you doing 3 though !

    I would really love to meet you eventually too though !

    Hope everyone is doing ok . The most I have been doing is 10 miles at the moment and looking at the threads I have a lot to catch up on.

    Like you Quick Quack I am not looking forward to following a plan again ! I will be doing Hal Higdon though and I have found his the best. I will like other yeard adapt it a little to suit what other things are going on around me like work and family but follow it in principle.



  • Mick !

    Good to see you back too :-)
  • Alas, QQ, you overestimate my residual Scottishness. I hate running in cold wet windy conditions as much as anyone does, though not as much as I hate running on a treadmill. It's just a job that has to be done, and like any other unpleasant task it's easier to do it cheerfully than grumpily.

    If we have significantly frosty conditions, I'll have to head for the Powerjog room at the gym. Not looking forward to that!
  • Providing the weather conditions aren't extreme (and living in the West Midlands, they rarely are), I actually prefer running through the Winter months. Always find it difficult to motivate myself when the weather's warm and I can sit on the patio with a cold beer. Just getting back into the running now having slobbed about for 5 months.
  • Are you doing the Sneyd Striders 10-miler, BW?

    I'm having One Of Those Mornings. There appears to be an epidemic of logorrhoea in my practice population, and my printer has PMT. Or maybe it's just my brain winding down because I'm going on holiday.

    But my legs are absolutely fine following yesterday's 16-miler with lots of speedwork-in-disguise :o) That's a tribute to the restorative powers of curry and junk food.
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