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Baxters Loch Ness Marathon 2010
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Hi all,
I'm running LN too this year....can't believe how quick it has come round!
On the subject of elevation; I've always found the GPS altitude data pretty ropey. So I took the log from the previous link and applied the elevation correction plugin in SportTracks to get the following, which looks more representative of what people have described.
FS
To allow for improved facilities for participants and spectators, organisers of the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon & Festival of Running have announced that the event finish line will be moved closer to the city centre, with runners crossing the finish line adjacent to the River Ness at Bught Park, Inverness.
This means that the start will also be moved back which I think is about a mile. I ran this last year and there was a short, but steep hill at about 4 miles, but because of the start/finish move this will be at about 5 miles. This is the steepest hill on the course, so don't go wasting energy dashing up it. After that it is very undulating until you get to Dores.
After you run through Dores, you get to the dreaded hill everyone has been talking about. Again because of the start/finish move I believe this will be at about the 19 mile mark in the race. Its a long hill and not incredibly steep, but after running about 19 miles, it feels steep. After that it is just mildly undulating to the finish.
I hope this has helped and I look forward to seeing you all on the day.
I just man up, Lol. Its not that its extremely sore or anything just annoying that energy wise I feel fine but I get this tightness. I've been working on doing more stretching but I find it sooo boring.
Just keep battling on Ado and you will get there. Just think if it was the marathon you would ONLY have another 8 miles to run
Well folks, it's been a long time since I came on these forums having been out of running now for a good while!
Anyhow, I am looking forward to completing th BLN marathon although will be some way off my time 2 years ago when I ran it in 3hr 37! I am now aiming to get round in under 5hrs due to some serious achilles injuries. Still suffering with achilles bursitis now but popping 400mg Brufen 3 times a day!!!
I managed a slow 15 miles on Saturday in 2 hrs 30 although felt reasonably ok after it. Now though, I can barely move. I can't say I am looking forward to my 4 miler tomorrow. And I have 18 planned for next week - that is gonna be hard!!!
Well folks, I hope that your training is all going well and will see you all on 03 Oct. Look for me coming in towards the end! I will get round though even if I have to crawl!
Regards
Colhun / Darren Trainer:
(Please treat this unqualified advice with the necessary caveats!)
I used to regularly suffer from top of foot pain, particularly in the high mileage runs just before a marathon. It is normally "Extensor Tendonitis" - what I didn't realise initially is that it is linked to tight calf muscles pulling on the tendons. (It often occurs around the same time as Achilles issues.)
You are right to treat it with ice and ibuprofen, and wearing a sock overnight can also help. You can also lace your shoes 'around it' so you don't have a lace crossing over at that point. It can heal up completely within a fortnight whilst still doing light training.
The important thing is prevention - you can treat the cause by massaging and stretching your calves out several times a day, particularly when you up the mileage. I bought a massage device called "The Stick" that is worth every penny, you can really get into the calf muscles and iron out any tight spots. I have never suffered from tight calves or extensor tendonitis since.
It is much less likely to be a stress fracture, but again this is my unqualified advice and opinion!
I ran Loch Ness for the first time last year and it was fantastic. I was hoping to get inside 3:45 and finished on 3:19. I was stunned as I read a lot of forums like this and was worried about the hills!
My advice would be focus on getting your legs conditioned for running DOWN steep hills, then you will have plenty of strength left for the second half.
Chesilboy - Many thanks for the advice. The podiatrist did a stress fracture test and ruled it out. I rested til Sunday and tried 3 miles - started with pins/needles sensation across foot, then the tightness at high point of foot for second/third mile - I only tried slight incline at end and that brought on pain so I stopped. Am gutted!! So this week no running - swimming 3 times and maybe bike but have only completed one 18 miler and that was 4 weeks ago!
My calves feel fine, never any stiffness or cramp. The run on sunday was in new running shoes and tried for ages to get laces just right - ie not too tight and shoe not too slack at heel.
Getting worried now as last 2 weeks are meant to be tapered and at this rate I will be still trying to get miles in - if I can run.
I share your frustration, I've lost 6 months of running since Loch Ness last year with recurring ITBS. I've yet to squeeze in the long training runs and have a 17 on the cards tomorrow which will be the acid test for me. Swimming and cycling keep me sane.
Good luck
Cheers for the advice Chesilboy.
Fortunatley for me i don't appear to have anything as bad as Darren, (touch wood), and have managed to return to running after resting for a few days.
Darren, fingers crossed it clears up for in time for the race.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/gb/loch%20ness/378128286718948115
Looked at doing this at the london expo but it didn't look hilly enough - was a bit disappointed, thought it would be tough. Oh well.
Good luck everyone on your long runs this weekend. I'm hoping to do my second 18 miles. A bit of advice please.......when I ran my 18 miles last weekend, the last 2 miles my heart rate was up at 95-100% of my HRmax, but I didn't feel too bad. Is the HR max figure a 'safety' number? I was tempted to push a bit faster but decided against it for fear of keeling over!!!
HR max is dependant upon many things, fitness being one of them. Don't know how long you've been running for but maybe you need to recalibrate?
What would you have done if you didn't have the hrm?
20 miler done today- although due to a failure of my mental arithmetic I ended up doing last 2km on tready- ran an out & back from the gym, but ran out of path, tried to compensate by adding in a small loop- but it was too small- luckily at the gym, the "great scottish climb" was on the TV on one of the treadies, which tempted me on to finish the distance. Don't feel as bad as with previous 20 milers, so maybe I'm getting some where with the increased mileage in training this time. Used Nuun for irst time, too- maybe that helped.- though was really gasping for WATER after about 25km- luckily there's a public loo with drinking fountain en route. I'm certainly builing up a good local knowledge of toilet/ drinkng facilities!
Ado- your max HR is not accurate if calculated by formula (220- age, or whatever) - that's just an estimate- so your actual max may be higher- I know used to get well into the 90% zone when I was using HRM- part of the reason I got sick of it- it's like running with someone shouting "slow down" the whole time! My HR always used to climb inexorably throughout a LSR, so I just could never keeep it down to a sensible %.
Ado - your max HR is your max HR - it doesn't get higher as you get fitter, the formula's are very inaccurate so you need to do a max HR test or wear your monitor in some shorter races and see how high your HR is up to a minute after you sprint finish. I'm 43 but have a max HR of 185 so I do my easy runs at up to 158.
Sheri - it will rise as you run longer, it's called heart rate drift, the less it rises to keep the same pace the fitter you're getting. You should also see yoour pace going up in relation to the same HR so if at the start you were running 9.30 min/miles for an average HR of 148 as you get fitter you'll do say 9 min/miles for the same average HR.
tricialitt - well done on the 20 miler. Did you take on any fuel or just the Nuuns?
Little Miss - according to the fitness sites I've read, the fitter you are the greater your max heart rate.
If hr levels stayed the same then resting heart rate would stay the same which we all know does not.
"an endurance runner's rates will typically be lower due to the increased size of the heart required to support the exercise, while a sprinter's rates will be higher due to the improved response time and short duration, etc. may each have predicted heart rates of 180 (= 220−Age), but these two people could have actual Max HR 20 beats apart (e.g. 170–190)."
Karvonen formula:Maximum heart rate - resting heart rate x heart rate zone + resting heart rate
220 - age = maximum heart rate (we're using a 45 year old in this example with a max heart rate of 175 and a resting hr of 60)
175 - 60 = 115bpm (this is called the 'working heart rate')
115 x 0.7 = 80.5bpm (70% zone)
80.5 + 60 = 140.5bpm (lower limit)
Now, let's do the same again for the upper limit...
175 - 60 = 115bpm (the 'working heart rate')
115 x 0.8 = 92bpm (80% zone)
92 + 60 = 152bpm (upper limit)
Target heart rate zone = 140.5 - 152bpm (exercising at 70-80% effort)As you get fitter your resting heart rate will drop - 60 is avarage while most runners will be around the 40bpm mark. Having said that and run the figures through a few times it does seem to make sod all difference.
My max hr which was calculated using resting hr was 156 - used a different formula, this one makes it less - 153 - maybe it used gender as well. This formula doesn't.
Ouch to the chaffing, little stoker- perhaps try some different shorts?- this is where the dreaded lyrcra helps. Or you could try vaseline/ body glide- kinda messy!
Fuelling: for my long run yesterday I had a bowl of instan porridge 3 hours before setting out, a bag of cola flavour shot blocks- took one every 5km to start with, but started taking them every 3 km after about 90 minutes 'cos I was hungry. Drink a mouthful of Nuun/ water every km- easy to do, as I've set my Garmin to 1km laps, so it bleeps to give me the time for the km, and I have a mouthful of water to celebrate!
The Nuun has virtually no calories, just sodium. potassium, and caffeine, plus some other bits and bobs- I certainly did not have the same craving for crisps that I usually suffer when I finished, so maybe it helped!
Bikermouse without wishing to get into an argument (cos we're probably talking semantics here) your max HR is the highest that your heart can beat before you expire - whether you are fit enough muscularly or CV wise to access that is another matter. So your max HR doesn't change as you get fitter but your ability to operate at, or near, to this might.
tricialitt - I asked about your fuelling cos of nuuns having no calories/carbs but it sounds as though you had that covered!