A bit like sub-4 (but 15 minutes quicker)

 Having read something in RW that said if you had a good fitness level you could ignore the 10% rule I jumped from 15 miles to 20.5 miles last Saturday.  It was very slow but fine and my legs were in enough a good enough state to do a 5 mile race on Sunday (even if it was a little slower than usual).  I was feeling much more confident about the marathon but on Monday i came down with a cold, I am still bunged up and haven't run all week. 

Reading how everyone else has been getting is good and has upped my spirits again

LS  I'm sure you'll beat your mate and just think of all the sunrises you'll get to see whilst training your nuts off!! I'll have to let you know about the minute per mile differences, my 10k pb is 7:24 pace 20 secs a min quicker than my half marathon pb at 7:44 pace.  What are anyone elses pb paces, it might give me a more realistic idea of what to expect on race day?

AGF I'm doing Brighton too, I can't believe how quickly it has crept up on me!

 An excellent run Arnie, if you have that kind of motivation running on your own I can only imagine what you'll be able to do in a race.

Hi all

LS - Your right, its nice to see novice runners you run out with progress. And also sometimes gives you a lick up the arse if they start to threaten beating your PBs

Bec - Hope you can get the cold out of the system. I think more than a 10% step up is ok if you're familiar with distance and miles. Muscles have memory, but sometimes need a reminder ;)

Arnie - Cracking PB. If you can get the LSRs in the pace is already there.

More overdistance, trail and hill, nonsense for me at the weekend, hardmoors 55, fancied a crack at 11hrs for the course, but mate who I was running with suffering a bit and we added a 1.5m detour at one point - the greatest joy of trail running So happy to finish strongly in 13:10hrs.

Marathon pace is something that baffles me, I've never been able to get near predictor pace in the past. gaps in pace for me are-
10k -- 00:33min/per mile --> HM -- 1:22min/per mile --> Marafun

Though there is some discrepency in that as the half was quite hilly and set a few months before flat 10k. And the marathon PB is 2 years older than both, so probably could be quite heavily slashed this time out.

gjranit wrote (see)

 I'm aiming for 3.45 and hoping that it's less busy than London so will be easier for that reason.

I've usually found this the case - unless a really hilly marathon, you've got a great chance

I have been to the docs and I have a throat infection on the plus side I don't have an ear infection it's just that my throat is swollen so is pressing on my ears.  I've got some antibiotics so I hope to be running again by Thursday at the latest, I haven't been this long (8 days) without exercise for a long time and my limbs feel all irritable!

Peoples times and paces make for interesting reading. Just looked at the RW calculators and my 10k time gives me a predicted time within 10 secs of what I got, not bad.However I think Drunken's  "Marathon pace is something that baffles me, I've never been able to get near predictor pace in the past"is likely to be true in my case, my 46min 10k predicts 3.32 for the marathon which I think is a bit steep.

After a very long lie in by LS standards, 9.20am, i did my final long run yesterday morning, 21.5 miles.  I ran along the seafront and found the last 6 miles really really hard.  I am hoping that it is just a side affect from being ill.  It was much harder than my 20 miles across the hilly downs but I was running almost a minute a mile slower then and my legs were fine after that which is more than can be said for them this morning!

 Cumberland, the feeling of no more LSR is ace

3 Weeks today I will be pounding the streets of Brighton, I hoping for beginners luck as I'm not sure I lke the idea of running 5 marathons before I pull a good one out of the bag

Hi everyone,

 I'm a 25 year old VLM first time marathoner, hoping to do it in 3.45. My training seems to be going well so far, I did 22 miles on Saturday in 3h 14mins...Do you think that's on track?

 A couple of  random questions:

 1) I'm doing the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday. Should I be taking it easy at this stage in the game or going all out for a pb (sub 1.39)?

2) Got my race pack through for VLM and can't find anything anywhere about how far in advance of the 9.45am start you should be trying to reach the start line. Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

 Any help gratefully received!

Hey LS - good effort on the ½ mara - hope you rewarded yourself sufficiently with the odd pint or two...!

Cumberland, I am gonna have to borrow some of Becs' beginners luck I think as the thought of doing this one and 4 more before I get it right seems quite daunting to me!

Becs' - look on the bright side - 1) v.good mileage in the legs and 2) you were running 1m per mile slower, so thats an extra 20 minutes running you did, which equates to 2-3 extra miles at race pace....so you just have to find another 3 and a bit miles and you'll be there...

I finished my longest ever week last week - a total of 40 miles.  LSR was my longest ever - 16miler at 6am on a foggy Saturday am.  Felt a bit tired at the end, but felt like I could have gone on.

However nothing was as painful as my first ever experience of a post LSR cold bath - boy did I scream like a girl!!!

After feeling quite lathargic this morning, i'll be running with an extra spring in my step tonight.  Decided to raise money for a very good cause indeed and hit over £300 in the first 3-4 hours....!!!  Extra motivation will timed if you ask me!!!

Laura - I'm no expert, but I imagine you shouldn't be going all out for a pb, save yourself for VLM.

Been for a couple of runs now and NO knee problems, I've just entered the Valencia marathon in November, I must be mad, 2 marathons in 5 months.

Hi all.

Hi Laura, if VLM is your first marathon I'd agree with Simon, don't do too much out there in the half. But with 3 weeks to go, if you do get carried away it probably won't be the end of the world. As for arriving at start line, I'd advise getting there early, at least 45 mins before, but probably more as its a big area and even once your kit bag and last minute preps are done it might take awhile to get into the right starting pen. Best to get there that bit early so you don't have to rush and get unduly stressed before the go.

Hi BAW, pretty good ta, almost doing as many miles as you these days . I'd not posted here much for last few years until recently as no road marathons since 2009. Lots of off-road distance though. Decided to have a go at Hull Marathon this April, so thought I'd look in and see if I could relearn how the road runners do it. How you been? What you got planned?

LS - I had a crack at sailing a few years back, much fun and suprisingly physical. Though the guys I went out with were very race minded. Hope you daughter enjoyed? 1-1 sounds a grand day out, don't do many of them these days, should probably change my name Only thing i do for twelve hours these days is run from time to time.

Sounds like all is going well generally, so keep chugging along all. Remember during taper, maintain the intensity, reduce the distance (or reps).

On Sunday its a week for me until Hull marathon. Will be doing the Blubberhouses 25 (LDWA challenge, oop in North Yorkshire) so plenty of slow going on trails over hills and through moorlands. I know 25m doesn't seem an advisable LSR at this stage, but a bit of what you enjoy does you good and steady trail 25m isn't the same as 26.2 hard road miles and will be short in comparison to my last three Saturday trail runs.

Last long run on road - in fact pretty much only one on road - was this Saturday, Did 15m in one big and two small laps, cranked the pace up 10 seconds per lap and by the end was well under my old marathon PB pace - but not as comfortable as I hoped I might be at that pace, given my training pace in long tempo runs and intervals. Probably wasn't an ideal run-time, in evening with half done in dark and my lunch had consisted of a chocolate brownie and whopping carrot cake. I figure I've done enough LSRs off the road to make up for lack of road LSR, I've pretty much accepted that my feet will be battered by the end