Abingdon Marathon

We should be there hurling abuse as u all pass us

and we'll probably jog along with some of u for a while

Yey Micknphil.

micknphil - good to hear you are back.  looking forward to seeing you again

I only want wind if its behind me.(and not the Trumpy kind)

I hate running into the wind. I can cope with rain, cold or sun but wind is a pain. Still too far out to worry about the weather for me.

Going to do my last session today. 3 x1 mile at 5k pace, from then on it will be mostly gentle runs with some strides every other day.

It must nearly time for us to compile a list of race number, vest colour, predicted time, shoe size, favourite pasta shape etc.. so that we can look out for each other on race day.

MicknPhil -   Good seeing you at Cricklade on sunday.

AC -  I hear you regarding targets but I've been there before, just have to keep telling myself  not to set off too quick.

If thats the case Martin,who wants to do my Warm up for me .

Sick with nerves.

Training done (and I'm in better shape than ever before). Injuries mostly avoided (OK, I can hardly move my left shoulder and my right knee needs some dry needling).

But can't for the life of me visualise the race. Mentally I'm in poor shape. Thoughts appreciated.

No Advise Nick, just to say i am in the same boat. I am in the form of my life amd that makes me nervous, have come 4th and 6th in 2 local 10ks up to it with 37mins, and in better form than Brighton this year when i got a pb of 3,03. So you Know what i am after (but i have been after that for 12 years running). and 7 marathons.

O WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN

Stephen - Good luck

Nick - as Martin says really -

i've no idea just how expereinced some of you are - 

but good luck and enjoy - we'll shout at you on route, anything you need on route when you see us, please yell  

Hi Micknphil. its my first ever Marathon so I will be at the back. I hope I get to meet you. You can be in my blog

Stephen The pressure of a sub-3! A 37min 10k has you comfortably inside (you know that of course) but we all known that a marathon contains unknowns that a 10k doesn't. My aim is to be five minutes behind you (my last Yasso 800s had me down as sub 3.05) (does anyone believe the Yasso 800s theory?). More than ten minutes and it'll have been a difficult day. The time thing is a curse. 

And Martin I know you're right. Positive thoughts for the inevitable tough moments are what I'm trying to work on. Unfortunately I don't feel like reciting poetry - not Kipling at least - when my body is begging me to stop running. All I can think about is the distance left, which, unless inside the last 10k, is mentally crushing.

Micknphil, thank you for your support. 

Sounds like a lot of taper madness going on. It's only natural to feel a little nervous and worried about the race. Just trust the training you have done and on the day marathon pace will feel a lot easier than it did in training.

NB6 - I find it better to rather focus on the immediate task of getting through the next mile. Thinking about how far this is still to go can be very difficult mentally.

My recovery from injury is going so so. I've managed long runs of 19 miles, 23 miles and 21 miles over the past 3 weeks so I should be getting a bit of endurance back. This Sunday's 21 miles felt really easy at under 75% max HR for 7:25 pace so at least it looks as though I should be on the starting line when that looked unlikely a month ago. I'll try a 10 mile marathon pace tester tonight by running at my usual marathon effort of 86% max HR to gauge what sort of pace I can aim for next week.

I think everyone gets nervous/excited about the race. It is only natural after putting in so much training across the months. In my view the main thing is just to try and say calm over the next two weeks, rest as much as possible and do what MG15 suggets on visualisation. I always tell myself in the last few miles when it starts to turn ugly that I have put in lots of hard work over the weeks and all that would be wasted if I didn't put the effort in now. I also tell myself that once I get to the end I never have to run ever again. If marathons were easy everyone would be doing them, so embrace the pain!

I did my last sesh today. 3x 1miles (5:47,5:42,5:37) - so happy with the splits and happy it is all easy running until the race.

There was a time when i got nervous etc

only problem is, one thing can lead to another

example - pre race bad nerves, stomach butterflies - sickness - race buggared

too much nerves can result in bad race prep, it can prevent lack of fluid intake and eating - or binging on wrong stuff

fast heart beat, -  spinning heads - these effect performance bad

legs and  body can go to jelly, not good at all

a lot of these things can cause on route severe problems, resulting possibly in a race far harder than what it needed to

or a DNF - all that for nothing - or maybe even a DNS - again all that for nout

trust me folkes , i've been there - as i say - ( i dont know how experienced ) some of you are

on the day if any of you see us, - ( you wont be able to miss us, as we'll be in the area of Fetchpoint - in that industrial estate, so you'll all be well spread by then )

we'll be jogging to and fro, so i'll be only to pleased to offer any advice to anyone whilst walking or running along side of them for a bit 

But this phscycological stategy is vital - mental stamina is vital

This is not London, large parts are rural and can be lonely, not helpful for someone who's not experienced

do what helps you to relax,

i'll be wishing you all on ( as much as you will )  to finish