Manchester Marathon 2013

Hi Ally..another fast one 

Ah Rob, you will be ok.  No point in worrying about stuff that might not happen.  It would be a pain, but it would be worse if you had gone abroad to run and were ill on the day or something.  I knew someone who had trained, and gone over for the Paris marathon, only to eat something dodgy the night before and end up with food poisoning on marathon day.  Game over!  All that money!!

Do you  do your strength thing in the gym?  I have started doing sit ups and weights (light ones) at home when the baby is asleep, it's probably not as good as the gym, but better than nothing.

I think I might do 3 or 4 tonight, spinning on Fri pm, 10 miles on Sat, then spinning Sunday morning...at least that's the "plan", we will see!

I'm doing the Dorney Lake Half Marathon in Windsor on 16th March. Thats the only race I can squeeze in before Manchester.

Jonah, thanks for the offer of the lift but I'm going ot have my family and fan club with me!!!!! so we'll make our own way. But thanks again.

12 miles for me tomorrow.

have a great weekend folks. I'm going out to buy some SIS gels!!!!

Hi everyone, I signed up for this yesterday and have started to get nervous already!

Ally loved every minute of Berlin, after the first few miles I knew I wasn't going to hit my target so I went on auto pilot to go sub 3, that's my target to do all the Majors sub 3(on course at the moment)

Got out of work early and sneaked a 5 mile rec, then later went to track and did a 8 mile track session kept all the miles at 6.15,so everything looks on track for Boston and Manchester.

This will be my fifth Manchester marathon did my first one in 1981!!!!!!

All enjoy your weekend runs.

Redpanda wrote (see)

My plan more resembles yours rockinrocky...it's always interesting to compare though.

One thing I can guarantee...you always turn up at the start line and think "I wish I had trained more"

But as someone once said to me, far better to have slightly undertrained but arrived at the start line fit and healthy, than got injured through overtraining...just a balance I guess

Yep, it's my first marathon following a couple of halfs last year so I went for one of the "get you round" plans, although I did have a reasonable base to start from

You then start reading (or worse still Googling!) articles where people are saying you shouldn't do under 50 miles a week, you should do 'x' number of runs and 'y' number of 20+ mile runs etc and you start to panic

I'm going to stick to my plan (around 35- 40 miles per week) and see how we go, there's always next time if something hasn't worked or something could have been done differently

My other half bought me "The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer" book  for Christmas which has some interesting stories and insights, not something I'd follow but the emphasis on the psychological side and approach is quite good

Had a good 8 miles this morning, felt like i was starting to pick up again after a slow January. End of the week wind down run tomorrow morning around 7 miles and then back to the build up with a 14 miler on Tuesday.

I've always had Sunday off as I coach a junior rugby team but at the moment I'm not doing any cross training which I was doing 1-2 days per week (Mon and Wed), at home. Once I'm back to somewhere around last autumn's times I might reintroduce them, although over-training might be the reason I've struggled to shift the cold/bug I had over the last few weeks

Looking forward to the lighter mornings and getting back to doing runs along the canal towpath

Hi there

Have faith in the plan!  They are written for a reason, but yeah, you always doubt it and always wonder if you have done enough.  I have done marathons after sticking religiously to a plan and others only very vaguely, and to be honest I have always been fine (though obviously a bit faster with more training).

The main thing I have always found is not to skimp on the long runs.  I never fixated on 10k's or even halfs instead of a long run(I know plenty who did!), and it has served me very well.  So basically, whatever else happens, just make sure you do the long runs, at a reasonably slow pace...which sounds like you are doing anyway.

In my experience, those long and lonely 20 mile runs in the Winter are far far harder than the marathon day in the Spring.  Ok, it's further than you have ever run, but then you have the crowds, you are rested after your taper, and you will have hopefully carbo loaded, so it should all come together.

I agree about the lighter mornings and nights....

I didn't make it out last night, had enough of running in the wind for the past 3 runs! Just couldn't be bothered....ah well.....back to it tomorrow!

RP

Redpanda wrote (see)

Hi there

Have faith in the plan!  They are written for a reason, but yeah, you always doubt it and always wonder if you have done enough.  I have done marathons after sticking religiously to a plan and others only very vaguely, and to be honest I have always been fine (though obviously a bit faster with more training).

The main thing I have always found is not to skimp on the long runs.  I never fixated on 10k's or even halfs instead of a long run(I know plenty who did!), and it has served me very well.  So basically, whatever else happens, just make sure you do the long runs, at a reasonably slow pace...which sounds like you are doing anyway.

In my experience, those long and lonely 20 mile runs in the Winter are far far harder than the marathon day in the Spring.  Ok, it's further than you have ever run, but then you have the crowds, you are rested after your taper, and you will have hopefully carbo loaded, so it should all come together.

I agree about the lighter mornings and nights....

I didn't make it out last night, had enough of running in the wind for the past 3 runs! Just couldn't be bothered....ah well.....back to it tomorrow!

RP

Yep, I think I'm fairly comfortable with most things but need to factor in a sensible taper, an area again where there seems to be much debate.

I think the current plan has the last long run of about 10-12 miles around 10 days before the race and then a number of maintenance runs to keep you ticking over.

Hi, yes, that sounds perfect.

I would resist the urge to do anything much more than 10 miles as your last long run.  I once stupidly, tried to cram in a 17 miler the weekend before a marathon, thinking it would serve me well.  It didn't.  It was the hardest marathon I ever did, and I thought I wasn't going to finish!  If you aint ready by then, you never will be

12 Miles done this morning. Have decided to try High Five Zero tablets for my longer runs. They're a lot less sickly than sports drinks and just replace electrolytes. I'm going to keep up with the Jelly Babies but a few less this time round! Not sure what will be given out on the day ......... I'd better check the website and see.

Have a great weekend folks. Enjoy your races/runs. Stay safe .....

cybarev wrote (see)

12 Miles done this morning. Have decided to try High Five Zero tablets for my longer runs. They're a lot less sickly than sports drinks and just replace electrolytes. I'm going to keep up with the Jelly Babies but a few less this time round! Not sure what will be given out on the day ......... I'd better check the website and see.

Have a great weekend folks. Enjoy your races/runs. Stay safe .....

 

Yep, I'm going to try some SIS gels for my next few long runs just to see if they agree with me rather than relying solely on the jelly babies

I also think you will find them easier to carry than jelly babies.  Do they not all get stuck into a sticky mess?!

Have any of you tried "Clif shot blocs" lots of cycling shops stock them, I use them when I do Ultras, I don't like eating at marathons.

20 miles for me this morning, stepped it up a bit sneaked under 2.30.

Had an appointment at the Cardiologist after my run, they still won't discharge me

Enjoy your long runs.

Morning

I had a friend who swore by the shot blocks, and said they tasted great too!  I haven't used them myself.  Are they good?  I just find carrying sweets a bit of a hassle, though I do like them!  Do you think there will be any on the course?  LOL at the GNR when the locals come out with ice pops and biscuits for the runners!!

Well done on your runs people, you are all doing loads more than me, it makes me feel nervous!

My plan for this week:

Today, 6 miles

Tues....Spin class and 45 mins in gym (cross trainer, stepper etc)

Wed , rest

Thursday 5 miles

Friday , Rest

Saturday 14 miles

Sunday 4 miles slow

I will also walk with the dog/baby for at least an hour a day.  I wish I could do more, but it's really hard to find the time, plus, looking after a 13 week old is tiring.

Windy and a bit drizzly and cold...I believe there is snow blizzards forecast for later, so I am going to pop out within the hour before my partner leaves for work.

Whats everyone else up to??

RP

Long run tomorrow of 14 miles, then 8 miles Thursday and Friday and a 7 mile easier run on Saturday

Feel like I'm starting to pick up post-Christmas so may reintroduce the Monday cross-train and leave Wednesday and Sunday as rest days although Sundays usually involve training and refereeing junior tag rugby players

2 psychological milestones coming for me

1) Going over 13 miles for the first time, have done several 13 milers during HM training and 1 so far for the marathon. Get it done tomorrow and I'll be more positive going into the remaining 14+ mile training runs that come over the next 2 months

2) Going into the race itself when I won't have covered the full distance before in training, I think my longest run is going to be 20 miles in training

RP - Keep going, you're doing great at the juggling act of children, home etc. I fit my runs around the fact we both work full-time, take it in turns to do the school run etc etc. There will always be someone doing far more mileage than you are and so long as you're getting out that's the main thing

That's why I don't currently do my long run at weekend but I'm going to struggle to fit a run in that's longer than 14 miles before I go to work, so I could be taking the odd half way off as I struggle to run in the evenings after work plus the traffic always seems worse

It was light when I went out on Saturday morning and that made me feel more positive and the run more pleasant (plus the lack of snow and ice!) and the result was my best run of the year timewise (which I'm trying not to stress too much about) and getting back to the speeds I had in October/November last year

Spring is on the way (he said as forecasts predict more snow in the next day or so)

I crept round a 14 miler yesterday. Like you, robin, I've only done HMs before this. Now I've done a 15m, 13m & 14m in 8 days and it's really feeling hard. Each run is slower and more of a struggle than the last. It feels like I'm breaking down the half-marathon runner in order to build a marathon runner.

On the good side, though, none of this feels like injury or overtraining. It's just tiredness. I know it'll get better - it's all part of the adventure. 

I'll do another 13m run home from work on Wednesday, all being well.

Robin, are you following the plan off the GMM website? Think it gradually builds up the long runs. You have run half maras and I am sure you can increase the distance . I never believed I could last year but after following the training plan I actually found I suffered less during the marathon than my 3 halfs. A few tips that helped me. Carry enough water and also gels. At mo I am taking dextrose tablets. I was advised to take on some nutrition every hour of running. I also did this thing of estimating how long my long run would take then dividing it up into 15 min blocks, so 3 hour run was 12 blocks, so after an hour I was  4 out of 12 the way through my run! Strange but helped me. I was also advised by a good friend to make my longest run 21 miles as the extra 5 on the day was just your local home loop. Worked for me. I am not actually running the GMM this year but keep an eye on the thread. I am doing the Marathon of the North on the same day instead then the York mara in Oct.