FLM 09 - 3.45ers!

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  • PS welcome to Neil Kay !!

    Just read through the old entries Neil.
    It inspired me !
  • Yeah I know - me too, I only have one pair of eyes.

    I bet you are a tall skinny LOL!
  • Hi All,
    Just got my acceptance for London on Saturday and still in shock. This will be my 2nd marathon. I ran Loch Ness in October and did 3:57, after which I said I AM NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN! However, I had already posted my London entry, but didn't think for one minute I would be accepted. So here I am again - at the start of a long training programme but feeling positive and hoping to hit 3:45 which would be my good for age time - not sure if it's possible but I'll give it a go. Looking forward to chatting with you all.
  • 5 foot 11 n a half.
    The running keeps me at bang on 13 stone.
    Sculpted like a Greek God who only runs and doesn't cross train.
    Doesn't take me long to dry my hair....
    Blame it all on the 3 kids under 9, and the luckiest woman in Scotland!
  • Hullo Hanna

    I call the wee girl at the bottom of our street Hanna Banana.

    Thought your picture was an arty shot of a drunken drag queen wearing a black choker at first, but can now see Coca Cola's marketing invention. I'm sure I read somewhere that they were the first to create the image..?

    Anyway, welcome to the thread.
    This goes also to Neil Kay and Fresh 81...
    ...we always ask for a profile of each new chatterbox... i.e. height,age,job,favourite obscure Scottish football team,number of press ups you can do, etc. etc.


    Have a good day.
  • Great run LS. I think your pace is more than adequate for sub 4 probably sub 3.45. Your milage is similar to mine ie well ahead of the the usual published schedules but it feels good to me.

    Welcome to all the new forumites...plenty of free advice doled out here!
  • Little Stoker and all here is my profile then:
    Height 5 foot nothing although I think I include my hairstyle to make the full 5 foot! Age is 39 and will still be 39 when I do the marathon, jog is with an oil company as a products co-ordinator shipping oil and selling gas, football team - don't have a Scottish obscure one but I like watching rugby for the mens legs - and big shoulders - bit like your pic! hee hee, press ups - never done one in my life - is this crucial to the FLM training - that could be where I am going wrong! I have 2 children and a busy life so training has to be done either at 5 in the morning or lunchtimes and often is done whilst kids are doing their owns sports ie running round the perimeter of the football field etc! hope that passes the test for joining the thread! HB
  • I want you here, Hanabanana, cos then I won't be the shortest person on the thread :o) Welcome! And to everyone else.

    I've just done a nice wee notching-up-some-miles 11.2-miler, NOT at anything like the sort of speed that LS is churning out in training, but it was quite pleasant anyway. I have a 10-mile race on Sunday. It's a guaranteed PB because I've never raced a 10-miler, but I've stuck my neck out and set a target of 73.30
  • Hi guys!

    Mind if I join the possy?

    1st marathon (eek) - have run a couple of 1/2s - 1hr39 fastest...hoping to break 4 hours in April, although wonder if trying for a time in my 1st marathon is a bit optimistic?

    Secured a GB place after my hubbies cheque was cashed and mine not (think he bribed FLM!!) But running for BackCare charity, which is relevant to my job, so a bonus there.

    Training is going well so far, although Himself is slacking a bit, so could do with some other support.

    Have entered one of the Regent Park 10ks early next year and then Fleet 1/2 in March.

    One question though - am used to training to around 5 minute Ks - you are all talking about 7/8 minute miles....maths is a bit crap, so how fast are you running Ks in??

    Also, anyone else from Notting Hill way and need a partner/know of running clubs other than the serpentine lot?

    Sorry for such a long one...
  • Hullo Alegna,
    Please complete the obligatory profile... see above.
    Your Half PB is the same as mine.
    You'll do fine if you follow a plan and keep smiling.
    Is Notting Hill close to Brechin?
  • Hi Alegna :o)

    That's an impressive half-marathon PB! There's no reason why, if you build up your endurance base, you shouldn't manage sub-4 comfortably.

    A 5-minute K is about the same as an 8-minute mile, and if anyone here is doing any of their training runs at 7-minute mile pace they're either on the wrong thread or training too fast! I'm aiming at sub-3.30 and am here as part of the furniture, but most of my ordinary making-up-the-mileage runs are 8.45-9mm pace and my long runs are typically 9.15-9.30mm pace. I know I've got 7.15mm pace in my legs, but only run at that speed during tempo runs and races.
  • Sorry LS....here its is..

    I'm 5 ft 2 a a very important 3/4 inch!!!

    Now, your mammy must've told you it was rude to ask a female her age (but I'm 34.)

    Football teams? - that easy, has to be Clachnacuddin F.C.- although after the milk add in the 80s Accrington Stanley (English, I know) has to be my fave.

    Judging by your impressive muscles you'd whip me on the press up front - 5 probably - but I can balance a teaspoon on my cheek if that's of any benefit getting round the FLM course?

    And I'm a GP - So Dap I'll help with the stop smoking campaign come Jan!

    Thanks for the timing info Velo.
  • Another female GP? Woohoo! Is that four of us on the thread now?
  • Hello to all the new un's! Welcome welcome welcome!

    Alegna, thanks for that. I decided what a pathetic little man I was last night and decided to use my nrt today. All the fags are in the bin, ashtrays, lighters etc.

    As I have stopped drinking till after the marathon and the impending ban in Wales in Public places (2nd April) I am really positive.

    How many GP's on this thread? Its getting like the BMJ ;0)


    LS, slow down. You making me feel nervous. I went for a seven miler tonight. It was glorius. I got soaked as soon as I opened the door. Seriously, I loved it. All I could hear in my head tonight was the theme tune to Rocky.

    I have not read anything on this thread by anybody, that suggests to me that come next April, we are not all going to be at least sub 4 hour marathon runners.

    Sleep well and please don't have nightmares.

  • I suspect more GPs have read this thread than this week's BMJ, RD ;o)

    Well done on getting stuck into the NRT. I have no doubt that you'll manage to get off the weed and stay off.

    And I absolutely agree - there isn't a single person on this thread whose ability to do a sub-4 hour spring marathon is in any doubt at all.
  • hi, have read the first 10 or so pages but now skipped to the end.
    Found out last week that I am in (my first) so a bit nervous about it all. Have managed up to 17 miles in training at a fairly comfortable 9.20/mile. My HM PB is 1.55 but I am fitter now than then so could do better now. Not sure if sub 4 is relaistic for my first but am going to give it a go but may adjust my taget in a few months depending on how things go.

    Am trying to work out some sort of schudule. Will prob do one of those 3 days a week ones as I also like to swim and do the gym. trying to fit races into the schudule is proving difficult though. The HM that I really want to do is 3 weeks before FLM, I dont want to do my last LR 4 weeks before (I have a confidence issue) so would want to do a 20 miler the week after the HM but that would be 2 weeks before FLM. Is this wise?
  • I have done a 20 miler 2 weeks before a marathon. It is not ideal, but you should be ok. Do it nice and slow though. I think it will do more for your confidence than anything else.

    Make sure the run the week before though is no longer than 8. Make sure you stand on the start line nice and rested.

    I think sub 4 is very realistic for your first marathon.
  • A 20-miler two weeks before your marathon isn't wise, hellen, but you wouldn't be the first person to do it and get away with it. I know all about those confidence issues too!

    Which half-marathon do you want to do?

    As things stand, my last HM before FLM will be in January, with a 10k in February and a 20-miler in March followed by what will, on past form, be scheduled as an aggressive taper and end up a collection of little ad-hoc runs done just to make sure I can still run.
  • Hellen hello.

    Please follow the profile request as above...

    Alegna, Clachnacuddin !!! Now that IS obscure.

    Sadly, those aren't my muscles.... I'm MUCH beefier !

    Mr Dap, I'll be very interested to see how you run now your lungs have had a Spring clean, and can do what they were designed for, now the fags have gone. I'm looking for a huge leap forward which will be a huge incentive to stay off them. I've never smoked, and so cant understand how tough it must be to give up, but if there was any area which magnifies the importance of healthy lungs, then it must be marathon running. Good luck mush!
  • The HM I want to do is belvoir which is not advertised on RW. A fairly small one but as flat as you are likely to get. because it is the school holidays (so I am not another dr) I could do the HM hopefully getting a PB 3 weeks before then do my LSR of 20 miles perhaps the following friday to give me two and a bit weeks to recover? Would 20 miles be OK so soon after a HM?

    LS, not sure what the profile request is but assume it is age - 34, height 5'7, occupation - teacher. anything else?
  • LS - just read back a few pages about your coment on having to pay £20 a month for just giving. I have set up a webpage there and didnt think you had to pay, thought they just took a small cut of the donations. have I misunderstood your comment. If I have to pay then I will get rid of my page and put it up a month before the event!!!
  • Not enough time for a long run this weekend with work and family stuff so that will take place now on Tuesday. On the plus side I did manage to squeeze in a 5 mile threshold run this morning. Not only that but I smashed my PB by 19secs and was averageing around 7.30 pace. I can't beleive my 49 yr old body is running that fast. I've been running for 5 years and only now is my speed increasing. I put it down to more focussed training, fewer junk miles and the Garmin to pace me.
  • Very blustery 12 this morning. Wanted 17 but it was really hard work battling the gales.

    When are peeps thinking of getting to London? I arrived there this year on the Wednesday and made a bit of a family holiday out of it.

    We should try and meet up for a coffee at the expo or sumfink.

    Whilst I am rabbiting on, I must say that I like the look of the adidas running kit in the acceptance mag. I may treat myself.

    Thanks for those words LS. I am really determined this time. Can't believe I ever smoked. Last time I quit I did a 46min 10K. Would love to do a sub 1.40 half in March, giving up has got to help.
  • So i've just got back from my 1st 10k (Andy Reading 10k in Bicester). Thank you all for your encouragement, it really helped.

    My time was somewhere around the 53.30 mark - maybe a bit less I forgot to stop my clock. I am chuffed with that however I think I went off a little slow or didn't pick up the pace soon enough as although quite tired at the end I had a bit left in the tank even after really trying to sprint the last couple of hundred metres.

    One things for sure, I have definitely got the bug now! I loved it! (despite being petrified last night and it being bitterly cold)

    So what next? I was planning now on following the RW sub 4hr training plan but i do not know when you are supposed to start it as its 15 weeks and 1st Jan is 16 weeks before which is when I thought it started? Advice once again is gratefully appreciated. :)





  • Hellen,
    If you read on in the thread, you'll see that I misread the justgiving web page, and its only if you are a charity that you pay £20 a month. Fundraisers like us get it for free, with them taking a tiny wee % off the gift aid.

    Dont worry !

    HRR, all this time your nom de plume was ironic, and now it perfectly describes you !

    Mr Dap, Why dont you put the money you would've spent on fags every day in a jar, then every week buy an item of Adidas sportswear ?
  • Well done Fresh !

    No need to wait for training to start... start now !!
  • Well done peeps :o)

    HRR, that's a splendid pace for a 5-mile training run. Well done! Like you, it's taken me 5 years of running to start to discover the sort of speed I'm capable of, and it's been a revelation.

    RD, well done on squeezing 12 miles out of that awful weather today.

    I'll probably be at the Expo on the Saturday and would love to meet up for a cuppasumfink. I like the Adidas kit that isn't in the FLM mag - I've got a lovely pink technical top (and some nice tights) and eL Bee! has a truly ghastly orange running vest and shorts.

    10-mile race for me today. During the first 5 miles it was cool, dry and slightly breezy, and I was on track for my 1.13.30 target. Then the Welsh weather reached the West Midlands and ... well, having thought at one point (while being blown to a sandstill) that I'd be happy with sub-1.20, I can't complain about my 1.16.11 finishing time. It won't be my fastest-ever 10-mile race, though - I know I could do better :o)
  • Well done to you too, Fresh81 :o) And it sounds as if your next 10k will be faster.

    As LS says - start training now! It's 19 weeks till FLM, I believe (I only know that cos my 18-week schedules start tomorrow and I'm starting a week early to allow for a week's break to go ski-ing in February) and it's never oo soon to start building your mileage base.
  • Hi all. Training update from the (ex) fatboy. Just did Bedford Half in 1:51. Well chuffed. Reckon sub 4 is definitely there for the taking. Only time will tell!

    Off for beer and curry now!
  • Evening all! Another newbie to this thread - if I'm welcome!

    Would love to attempt a sub-4 this time. My first (and so far only) FLM, in 2002, was 4.32 - and that was on the back of an injury-plagued training programme.

    After getting rejected in the 2003 ballot, I decided to give myself a couple of months off running - that turned out to be more 'years' than 'months', and only started running regularly again this summer.

    My PBs are 51m for 10k, and 1.53 for half - so getting under 4 hours is possible, I reckon!

    And, being cheeky now, can I point you all in the direction of my blog? Either use the link below, or go to the www.whtimes.co.uk
    home page and click on 'blogs' (found in the column on the left!)

    http://www.whtimes.co.uk/flatfiles/weblogs/chris_lennon.aspx

    Cheers all!
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