Paris Marathon 2013

Quartet is marvellous, really made me smile, rather moving in parts too.

I have to agree with TD, just the idea of being on a bike that long indoors makes me die a little inside!

As I mentioned when I joined this lovely forum, I was kind of planning to run Paris as my one and only marathon ever. Having enjoyed just the training and getting pretty excited about the race itself I dont think this will be my last. What sort of training does everyone do inbetween marathon training? You all obviously have say 10-15week training plans leading up to a marathon but how much do you need to do to keep a good level of fitness?

Trevor - It depends what I have planned. I normally take a couple of weeks off running altogether after a marathon. During the spring/summer/autumn if I have no marathons coming up then I tend to have 10km's or half marathons to train for and run. If I have no races planned I still tend to run 3/4 times a week, but drop the long runs. At those times 10/11 miles would be the furthest I tend to run.

I try to do a bit of running. The thought of going back to zero fitness and starting all over again fills me with dread.

Back out tonight for a 7 miler after the devastating 17 miler on Sunday. It took two hours of lying down and something to eat to get back to anyhere near normal.

19 miles planned for Saturday. I have decided not to get up early. Have a nice breakfast. Relax a bit and then run around midday. Then get my brain ready to run at 10 minute miles. Take my electrolyte drink with me and take gels earlier.

We will then see what happens.

James - I'm sure you'll be fine. A few bad runs when training can happen. It's good if you can identify a cause, but sometimes you just have one of those days. Better to have that in training than on race day.

I'm going to try a 20 mile LSR this weekend. Dreading that one a bit. Hopefully tonight's 9 miles will help build the confidence back up.

Very good if you can do a long one mid week Eggy.

I think most of us run all year round Trevor and find shorter races outside the marathon programme to keep us motivated. The marathon is just base training to set you up for a speedy year   .  

ATM. I run on the roads mostly, I have tried off road, but I'm hopless as I keep looking at my feet and worried I'm going to break an ankle on a tree root.  However, I need to start getting off road for the 3Rocs, and am hoping to get some off road shoes very soon - could be messy.

Did a nice gentle 5k yesterday, which was slow as I'd been for blood tests etc and felt very weak.  But good to get it done and logged.  Nothing today, so am planning a 10k route tomorrow - somewhere new - all this same old same old gets boring.

8k Thursday and not sure about Friday as in hospital (which means most of the day!! even in France) and will do the same run Sunday as last - just to see if I can beat the time.

Dannirr wrote (see)

For those interested, today' s the day to register for the Chicago Marathon. Opens at noon Chicago time and will fill quickly.

I've come to see y'all twice (ok, twice after Paris) - how about y'all come here?

You'll love Chicago. Great race, great city. Kaz was talking of doing Chicago, but I think that was for next year.

Not sure why but ther never seems to be much interest in running Chicago from these shores. There was only a handful of us in the Chicago thread last year.

Dannirr wrote (see)

I've come to see y'all twice (ok, twice after Paris) - how about y'all come here?

oooh - very interesting! When is it Danirr?

I'm back from the London Ultra and had a rough day of it. My mind just broke down at 27 miles. Race report is here.

I need to put out the call for advice. Yesterday we went to the nutrionist to sort out my intollerances to certain food. They came back with: Cow's Milk and White Sugar. This is simple in comparison to Mr. H - who is intollerant to wheat/gluten etc.

The main issue i've come up against is: sugar. It's in EVERYTHING... most namely gels. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do?

This may be a shout out to Dark Vader if he's lurking?

RS - How are you getting on in Tokyo? Have you managed to go out for a run?

**Waves to everyone else**

Dannirr and Eggy - If I wasn't in for Berlin 2 weeks before, I'd be up for it. My plan for autumn next 2 years is one of Marine Corps/Chicago in 2014 (appreciate more likely to be Chicago due to numbers) and hopefully NYC in 2015.

Trevor Olver wrote (see)

What sort of training does everyone do inbetween marathon training? You all obviously have say 10-15week training plans leading up to a marathon but how much do you need to do to keep a good level of fitness?

You're going to get a wide range of answers to the first question I'm sure. Some people here don't appear to have any concept of  'inbetween marathon training'  .

I'm with James on this one - I really couldn't bear dropping below a certain fitness level. As a result I will be keeping my run frequency about the same but decreasing volume. I did the TR24 last year which is a team event at the end of July. I found that a good target to aim for in the months following the spring marathon. I then have an autumn marathon lined up so I don't slack over the summer, then it all repeats again

As for how much you *need* to do to maintain fitness, I guess that depends on the individual and what level you want to maintain. I reckon 3 runs a week would be fine on average with one speed and one longer slow run (though not as long as the latter runs of marathon training). 

James - what happened on the 17 miler? Was it bad from start to finish? You mentioned electrolytes, did you dehydrate? I agree with Eggy, it's not such a bad thing to have a bad run if you can learn something from it. If they all become bad runs then something is not right though.

Sadly I won't be Chicago this year. For one I don't think my bank account would cover it, despite how tempting another post race Italian beef sandwich is. Secondly once Paris and London are done I plan to take some time out from running until I'm 100% free of injury and illness. Then start back and try to get myself back to where I was before performance wise. I've banned myself from hitting the enter button on races until that point.

Trevor - a few of this glorious throng, myself included, are doing Berlin in September so it will be a slight break for a holiday and then back into training.

Last year I only did Paris so I ran 3 times a week up to about 10 miles. I did have a half to aim for though.

Thanks for all the feedback and kind of what I was expecting. Have been running regular with a friend once a week so that will definitely continue and as my wife works Saturday mornings its a good excuse to go out but I wont be doing the sort of miles I'm currently doing. Already earmarked the Great West Run so thats something to aim for.

Not sure if its been covered before but out of interest what does everyone do work wise? For my sins I'm an acoustic consultant for an environmental consultancy. Being asked to do more marketing so what better place to start than here

IT Consultant for a company specialising in software for big evil pharmaceutical companies.

Malcs - All was well up to about 15 miles. Averaging 9 min 30 secs a mile. Marathon Pace I'm looking at sub 4 hrs with a 9 min to 9.15 min a mile.

I got to 15.5 miles and went downhill considerably. I wanted to make sure I did the 17 mile so I did a mixture of walking and running so did the last 2 miles in 26 minutes. Then I got home and felt really bad. I threw up the water (sorry) I took on when I got home. Couldn't face any food. I was driven to the shop by my wife and had a bottle of lucozade and then managed a sandwich. I lay on the bed for 2 hours and then felt fine.

Think I was too tired from not finishing work until 3am on saturday. Got up too early on the sunday to have breakfast before I ran. Didn't eat enough. Didn't have enough gels and water on way round.

Taking the only positive out of it which is I did 17 miles.