Anyone motivated by the extra 10 mins on the London Good For Age

Wondered if anyone who has tried to break the 3 hour mark in a marathon in order to get a GFA place in the London Marathon now feels that the extra 10 mins now makes it more achievable and has inspired them to train a bit harder in order to achieve this.

I had to pull out of this years London Marathon due to injury, deferred my place to next year and I'm back to full training again. With just under 11 months until next year’s race and a full summer of Half Marathons planned I am changing the way that I train to try to get under the 3.10 mark.

Would like to hear from anyone who has the same thoughts

Comments

  • Mr BoatMr Boat ✭✭✭
    It depends if your objective is just to qualify for next year or if your target is to break the ellusive 3 hour barrier (for a lot of runners). Surly if you now only need 3:10 you could train the same or bit easier to qualify. If you set your target for 3 hours you should hopefully get 3:10 anyway.
  • Hi Mr. Boat

    Bit of both really, I started this topic on the back of reading lots of runners comments regarding either missing out on a GFA time by a matter of seconds or minutes and frustrated runners who keep getting rejected from the ballot with other runners telling them to train harder to get in through GFA. Of course your right that the elusive 3 hour barrier is the holy grail of running, but it now gives the runners who are there or there about a better shot at a GFA or for runners who are running at the 3.15/3.20 mark a bit of motivation to get quicker and get under 3.10.

    For myself I agree with your principal that training for a sub 3 will give you a good chance of getting a GFA, which is what I’ll be training for, but I know that it will be a lot of hard work to get to that level and even if it goes Pete Tong on the day hopefully I’ll get a pb anyway due to the training I’ve put in.

  • well i'm quite pleased about the extra 10 mins as i just did the edinburgh marathon last weekend in 3hrs and 15 seconds!!!

    a bit frustrating to say the least - especially knowing that if it hadn't been so hot i probably would comfortably made the time as my training suggested i was good for about a 2:50 or so. (i say comfortably but that probably isn't the word i'm looking for considering for the last 30 mins of the race all i wanted was to lie down and die quickly!)

    i'll take the automatic qualification and have now got 11 months to put the effort in for a hopefully cooler time of year and a better performance.

     anyone reckon they would have given me the entry for 15 seconds?????

  • Hey Otis

    I did the Scottish Half Marathon on Sunday and afterwards me and my mate both commented on how hot it was going to be for the marathoners. Also spoke to a girl on Monday who ran the marathon and she said it was too hot. That was still a really great time you did it in though mate taking into consideration the heat. Don't think they would have given you a GFA if it had stayed a 3 though

  • Not particularly motivated but I can probably get into next years race though image
  • thanks DW20,

     what was the half marathon course like? I might have a go at that next year after london, although it's a bit of an early start...

  • Not very motivational for the 59 year old who still has to do 3:14:59 - hardly fair. The extra 10 minutes on the standard time meant nearly 300 extra men qualified in the M18-39 category this year and so nearly 1000 have a GFA place for next year. Compare that to the fact that only 36 men achieved sub 3:15 in the M55-59 category.This is because the 18-39 standard is now only an age grading of 64-65% whilst the 55-59 category have to achieve 75-78% - that's a huge difference.
  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭
    BotF- I agree that its a bit unfair .I am 51 and did 3.15.23 at VLM .GFA missed by 24 bl##dy seconds!! Fortunately ,I still have a sub 3.15 from last year for 2011 but wonder about 2012 which I fancy doing as its Olympic year. Surely VLM could allow say 5 mins extra for us oldies at least? Interestingly applying the age grading  as you have there seems to be some age discrimination going on as a result-wonder how that fits in with VLMs principles, not that I would want to make an issue of it but some probably would-should?
  • Otis, the Scottish half is quite flat with a couple of wee hills, think it is the first half of the full marathon course that we covered. The early start made it easier weather wise, hoping to do it again after London next year myself. Really good course.

    Beware of the fish & 2old, I agree that the time should have went up for all age groups

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