Manchester Marathon 2013

Simon - brill times, looking forward to hearing about training in minamilist shoes. I think thats really brave No injury just not getting out and running . .the mojo can disappear so quickly. But always good to read how others are doing. Have you been running long with these shoes?

BP - sorry to hear you were disappointed. Still a great time and Luton must have been mentally hard having to do three laps. Phew. Is Manchester your next marathon?

Gram - always good to have a fiver off  Cheers

simon62w: Re. HR monitor strap, if you look carefully at the flat metal piece where the belt loops round so you can tighten/loosen it, you'll find it's a hook not a complete ring (took me several weeks to discover that, and like you, I was loosening and tightening and getting irritated every time I put the thing on!

Minimalist shoes should be fine so long as you've built up gradually and your calves are happy with the distance - I ran NDW50 in mine in the summer (okay, that was mostly trail), and I ran a 26.5+ mile road-based training run in them yesterday.

Bearstead: sympathies. Maybe hydration/electrolytes/nutrition went wrong?

BP - a rest sounds good, especially after all the training you have been doing. 

I have done a few halfs but very slowly, 2 35 is a pb

Simon - It's kind of nice knowing I'm not the only one who took a while to work it out! Yes, I'm finally using only minimalist shoes; took about a year to convert because I was also increasing mileage (going ultra) and my mileage increase was more rapid than my milimalist mileage increase. I'm using VivoBarefoot Neos, and the Neo Trail for off-road. Last time I wore anything other than minimalist was early July for a road 30-miler, but they messed up my little toes (tingling for about two weeks afterwards - not pleasant) so I bit the bullet and went over to my nce, wide-in-the-toebox Neos for everything.

I'm about to get a pair of Inov8 Trailroc 235s ready for the Lakeland 50 - just a bit more underfoot protection/cushioning than the Neo Trail, and the pair I tried out on the night recce run a week ago felt very secure on the rocks.

ashman wrote (see)

I said in a earlier post that the closing date for this is the 7th January as stated on the race website. Having looked at the FAQ`s it states on there that its the 31st of January  which one make up your minds ? i know personally the later one would be best  as everyone is skint at xmas..

I'm still in 2 minds about this one and was looking to making a decision in January and start a 16 week build up to my first marathon from there and in the meantime keep ticking over until after Christmas regardless. WIll probably go with one of the "get you round" plans with it being my first but I'd hope for something between 4 and 4:30

On looking at the entry section of the website it is quoting 28th February 2013 or when race is full as the entry date, not sure whether this has been pushed back again or whether they are not getting the entries they hoped for and are hoping for a surge post-Christmas/New Year resolutions

rockinrocky_robin

Thats a lot better mate not sure what has gone on, like you said they might not  have had enough entries as it's a bad time money wise at christmas. 

simon62w wrote (see)

Btw a 16wk plan would start 6Jan, good luck.

Yep, I'm doing around 30 miles per week at the moment so hopefully can use that as a pretty good base to start in the first week of the new year

I didn't see that I'd gain much advantage from ramping it up this side of Christmas although the basic plan that I'm following goes up to around 42 miles per week at it's peak (the week of the 20 mile run), so I guess it's a bit lower than some plans

I think the aim is to get round this time, in a reasonable time and then look into aiming for a better time in the next one, ironing out any areas that went badly or where the training could have been different

I'm doing the Wilmslow Half as part of the build up too
 

Simon, hard to say regarding speed. Not any slower - I took 3 mins off my HM PB in the spring, wearing Neos on an undulating course. I've been concentrating on distance, obviously, for the ultras, but I also equalled my parkrun PB in the summer, having not been doing any speedwork, just lots of miles.

Neo vs Evo: some people find the Evo upper rubs if wearing without socks, and it's a tad narrower than the Neo.

I'm in!!

Good luck with the PB Scottys. I've got my last race of the year on Sunday, a 10K in Wrexham. Just need this manflu to bugger off in time and hopefully a PB will be on the cards.