Paris Marathon 2013

Well done TP, OO.

SR - Races added. Any more for any more?

Holey Moley - In answer to your earlier questions. My answer, and there'll be 50 different answers, is that you can replace the steady run with a treadmill session...but it's not like for like. Ten miles on a treadmill isn't the same as ten miles outdoors. I avoid treadmills where possible as I detest the monotony of them, so I don't know much more than that, but someone here will have a much better idea of what the differences are.

Regarding your other question, I'd say if you have a spare four weeks, it would be better spent building up your base fitness rather than using it on doing more long runs, not because of the risk of injury, but because base fitness will help you get through the long runs and marathon in better shape. Having said that, everyone's different, so what works for one person might not work for another. I'll do stuff that other people here don't and vice-versa, so I'd get a few second opinions and then decide.

One thing I'd recommend is keeping a diary of what you've done so you can look back and see how your pace etc has improved over time. And it'll be invaluable if you decide to do another marathon after Paris as you'll be able to look back, see what you felt worked, what didn't work and where your strengths and weaknesses are, then tweak the plan accordingly.

Iain Moore 2 wrote (see)

TheEngineer - the made me laugh a lot, out loud, in fact.

Holymoley - you're right on track, training wise, no worries. For my money, getting back to UK on the day I'd recommend the Eurostar. The airports are a hassle from the centre of Paris. I stayed in a hotel last year, expensively, but this year am in an apartment I found in airbnb.com which is way more affordable but I'm in on Thursday to Monday. ATM has all the info though.

More movies: La Haine is my fave Paris movie, still remember how exciting and upsetting it was in the cinema, black and white visuals, chilling, contemporary, funny and disturbing. 

A fine film, and one with what is possibly my favourite shot in a film.  Single take that circles the characters for 2-3 minutes as they walk through the banlieue.

ATM wrote (see)

 

That sounds a bit weird, actually...Where IS DLR?

 

 

You called?

Holey..welcome.  I'd agree with Weedy.  No point getting ahead of yourself at this stage theres a long way to go and the risk of overtraining is there.  Spend 4 weeks on getting a solid base ahead of week 1.  As for the treadmill, I don't see why you couldn't do it but I'd question why you would want to?

TP - Well done on your podium finish.

Right tomorrow is the start of the detox. I think it's fair to say 16 bars of chocolate in less than 2 hours constitutes horrendous eating.

I'll admit despite the chocolate bar incidents (RR - it was 4 x Double Deckers, 4 x Twirls, 4 x Crunchies & 4 x Picnics ) I didn't take up running to lose weight. Originally I just wanted to tick run a marathon of the bucket list. Once I actually got fit, as a kid and young adult I'd always been horrifically bad at any cardio stuff, I just wanted to maintain that fitness. Then improve times etc.

Full size. I do tend to find when I'm not training my eating gets worse, but this weekend has been stupid even for me.

Holeymoley - don't go confusing me with an expert. I'm generally an idiot.

Longest training run's going to be full marathon distance, although I'm probably in the minority here in going full distance in training. I like the psychological aspect of knowing I can go all the way (stop sniggering at the back DLR)

Eggy - That's worrying. I'll say no more. Although I can't talk - I've been panic buying Wine Gums...

 They were half price to be fair

Well done OO and TP - good stuff

DV - they are in the trash. 

My legs are sore today. Very hilly 18 miles yesterday took it's toll on my quads, and I detect a little bit of ITB nonsense. I'm working on the principle that if I ignore it, it will get really pissed off at me and leave.

Eggy - Crunchies - my favorite and can't get them here. I went through about 10 in my week in the UK recently.

That's an interesting thought, RR..

ok..  question for everyone here...   why did you start running..?

For me, I went to see a friend run the London 10k (dreadful race!!!) and was surprised at the age of the runners..  I had assumed running was for young people...  so..  I figured I'd have a go...  

Weedy..   class!  

Holey - for longest runs, it'll depend on how I feel but all being well there will be 1 x 23, 1 x 22, 4 x 20.  Just depends on how training goes.

Me and two friends in a pub had a few too many beers and decided we'd enter the Great North Run for a laugh. Having had absolutely no experience of running whatsoever. I just scraped in under three hours.

Holey - For me it'll be 3 x 20, 1 x 21 and 1 x 22. That being that I can get back to fitness to actually start training in time, or I'll need to rethink my training plan and target.

Weedy - totally agree on keeping the running diary. I jot down a few notes with my times and distances and it's really good to look back on. I only started running just over a year ago, so some of the entries are quite amusing, now "5 miles done. really hard going. Very tired"

DV - I was watching the London Marathon and got it into my head that I'd like to do that. Needless to say, I didn't get in, so signed up for Paris - the rest is history.

With regards to taking family to running events - Mrs O goes everywhere with me. To be fair, she bikes along on all of my training runs so it would be unfair to not take her to these nice places - where she hops around the course to give me much needed support. She actually gets a bit grumpy if she can't get around the course.

Tricky - we're all sitting in the virtual waiting room with our fingers crossed. Good luck, mate.

Holey - my longest runs will be around 20 miles but I plan to do at least 3 of them.