Halstead marathon

Hey hey,

Dublin- looks like i'll probably be stayin in Temple bar, though not yet confirmed.. the person doing bookings is based in Israel, and its Friday... so....

I think plan for next week has me at 7miles and 4 miles whilst i'm away, so a 3.5-4 mile loop would be ideal- looks like its right by the river, so if that is well lit and pedestrianised, i could just go that way.  I'm thinking of asking my ex- who's training for london but works in dublin... but i think fiance might get a bit jealous....

I must say with Ruth's nutrition, I'm gonna give it a go.  I usually get back from my runs not actually wanting to eat or drink, but typically have been having a glass of chocolate milk when i get in, though I don't think its as much as 500ml.. more like 300ml.   I wouldn't have considered that to be equivalent to beans on toast, which i have as a main meal much of the time... hmmm.

All of the Paris marathon people got Pbs when they did their halfs.  I'm definitely gonna give it a go for Colchester.  The difference  wiht previous carbo loading for me, is that she makes a point of avoiding protein/fat.  I know in the past i would have said, I'm carbo loading, so I can eat cake/biscuits, or whatever.

I'm definitely a sweet potato convert!!!

Wow, for 8 miles easy.  I don't think I get enough sleep to recover enough to put any extra miles in unfortunately  I think my max for a run I didn't plan not to affect me, is probably 4 miles...

On another note... my fiance was looking at the BOOST in black and yellow... He likes to dress like a bumble bee...

Angela - Another option is googling and seeing if there are gyms or a gym in the hotel you could use a treadmill in.

The really sensible option if you are in Temple Bar is to skew your week around and use them as rest days and make the most of what the City has to offer. Well not sensible per se 

I'll see what I can come up with route wise. I'll fire off a few texts and e-mails. As for your fiance the bumble bee look is definitely big this spring all the really cool guys will be wearing it  it's the future.

As for carbo loading I am a pasta and rice addict so don't need to adjust my diet too much, I too adore the sweet potato- my girlfriends face the first time I served purple mash was a joy to behold. For once  That was a joke in case she reads this.

Paris is quite a quick course, flat and wide. If this year goes well I may try for a place next year and really go for it time wise it has come highly recommended.

Berlin is one of my favourite European cities and is definitely on my radar. I have been there a few times for the Fusion music festival. Berliners are nuts. If you are running in the daylight the center of Dublin is such a small place that you could just explore and not be a million miles away from where you need to be. Plus people talk to you over there so getting lost is quite tricky all in all.

Hi everyone, 

probably 5 or 6 extra easy tonight as going like the clappers 2moro 

REALLY looking forward to it, loving my carb loading day so far  today. hopefully a nice meal tonight should set me up quite nicely.

just looked at the plan and around the 20 mile weeks is when im getting married 

not long now!! 

20.16 LSR this morning thanks to a wrong turn near Aldham! Feel good for it though.

Jason - Nothing says I love you more than going running for a few hours on your wedding day 

Are you doing the 20 2moro?

somehow i dont quite think i would survive that day if i did that . doing lots of miles the days up to it though .

No 20 for me thanks all the same but best of luck with it  The most activity I'll see tomorrow morning is watching my old football team I played for and taking the piss on the sidelines.

Sorry to hear about your car and race Jason, somethings clearly just aren't meant to be 

Still at least you got a good run in, even if you need to check the meaning of the S in LSR  I imagine you burnt a fair bit of energy during all the palaver this morning too.

I am off out for a recovery run later, I reckon a 5k at a fair lick should see me right and that is another good week done and dusted.

Oirish- i totaly agree with you on that one. i just sat back, feet on the dash waiting for me dad, quite comical really .

well i say LSR i actually managed all 14 pretty much just over 8m/m so not quite as slow as i intended! so nice just to get out on the old railway with nothing but me and nature! also took on 3 gels no problem......well i say no problem but the damn things wont open properly whilst running, so had one no probs at mile 5, the rest just split all over my hands which was nice .

Angela-Fartlek is fun right? makes the recovery part seem so easy . Not long now until the Half!! il be thinking of you when im running around a field getting shot with paintballs  

might get a slow run in 2moro sometime dont know whats happening yet as the cars looking sorry for itself at work....poor thing! Funny thing is that just beside me in my workshop is another engine for it but also quite dead 

Jason - Some of those gels like a wrestle don't  they? 

Angela - The shoes were good, very, very comfy and I didn't have the minor ache in my left calf that I usually get after a LSR, it is the foot I broke and my achilles is a bit tight so it has a bit of a whinge normally but not this time 

It'll be a sad day when they actually get dirty

Summary of the run:

 made it a more functional run, as I had a Dr. appt at 9, so ran 2 miles there, and had the appointment- she was rather annoyed that i'd run there as she needed to take my blood pressure, which was obviously high from fuelling my method of transportation!  2 miles back, to go to toilet and retrieve sunglasses, as the sun had popped out, and then out again for 13 miles, along my usual Wivenhoe trail route, which is beautiful when its sunny. though I thought I was going off road, but these trails are pretty hard when its dry (clay), so I was scared I would feel it, but seem to be a ok .  I planned to do the whole run slow and put in a few MP miles toward the end if I felt I could, but also didn't want to push it, as this was upping the distance and the recent niggles I've had.  What ended up happening was more of a progressive run.  I think partly because what I consider my easy pace is now too easy- I've certainly found on the shorter runs that I can't stay that slow any more (10.40).  Here are the splits.

1:  9:44 (was a bit late leaving to get to Dr on time)

2: 10:22

3: 10:21

4: 10:28

5: 10:46

6: 10:32

7: 10:32

8: 10:33

9: 10:16

10: 10:08

11: 10:18

12: 10:14

13: 9:54

14: 9:46

15: 9:35

16: 9:41

17: 10:29

I put chia seeds in my drink, I think this gave me wings....  Overall average pace was about 10:15, though due to going home between my garmin recorded a 4 mile run and a 13 mile run, as it autodownloaded the data when i got near my computer.

Angela - I am a bit concerned that with your Chia seeds giving you wings and your boost trainers we may need to weigh you down for the marathon 

That was a really good run and quickening up at the end is a good sign isn't it? Your pace was improving throughout so that was brilliant

 It is hard to run that slow now though isn't it? Even what feels slow for me is around the 9:30 mark and I am always having to slow myself down. "Slow down Gareth, Slow down Gareth, GARETH SLOW THE  @$%*  DOWN!!"

 I bet the trail was very picturesque in this weather. Very serene.

I went out on my bike this morning and cycled the last half of the half  marathon course and the marathon course just to get my bearings. Colchester holds nothing to fear once you are out of the town center and is as flat as a pancake, Halstead however is another kettle of fish altogether up and down, up and down. There is nothing too scary there just lots and lots of small undulations.

Some stats, I love stats.

HM  13.1m 441ft Elevation

H & E 26.2m 999ft Elevation So it's not significantly greater than twice the half marathon distance

My old company was a sponsor of the Ricky rd run in Rickmansworth and I did it a few years back and that was bloody horrible, 10 miles and  679ft of elevation according to the map. I hated every minute of it. You were either haring down a precipice or scaling a hill, I thought my lungs were going to burst having done no hill work in preparation and normally my breathing doesn't settle for a mile or two anyway. Basically I got roped into it by the company director when he got wind of my half marathon time and wanted to beat one of his clients, which I did  This bloke was an Ultra runner and said it was the hardest things he'd ever done and I must admit I hated this fella so it was quite the grudge match.

Yeah so 41 miles cycled on my rest day  can't do any harm can it?

Thank you Oirisheyes, i have to say thats probably the first time I've done a run over about 13 miles where Ive actually felt like a runner, rather than someone who's kidding themselves  so I'm hoping this bodes well for Halstead marathon, and I don't have the same problems I had in my last two.  I'll do my blog later, and I can put some pictures on there,so you can see how pretty the trail was.  It is lovely in the sunshine

Thanks for the elevation stats.  So basically what you're saying is that the Colchester Half is ideal preparation for the Halstead and Essex Marathon?  I'm amazed that you manage to find the way around the routes when you're out and about.  Do you remember them?  or do you have some cunning device?  41 miles.. hmmm, I think you'll be ok- its rest or cross training right??

Angela - I know what you mean, I had a really good run the other week where everything started to come right again and I did think to myself  "You know what you can bloody well do this"   whereas before I hoped to do it and then since then everything has been going well and riding the roads and studying the course today has really got me excited as I was visualising it and felt totally confident about it all.

Happy days.

As for the elevation Halstead is all very up and down without being hugely steep throughout the course whereas Colchester is a big hill and a slow rise up Ipswich rd before being as flat as it comes so they do pose different challenges. I think Halstead's main challenge is regulating breathing and keeping a rhythm on those "undulations".

My route tracking device is a sophisticated combination of street names, pen, paper and a pocket. I just noted the streets and locations of the water stations so I could workout best place to take gels etc and off I trot. I find because I have mapped them out on mapometer beforehand that you already have a vague sense of direction and the odd prompt now and again usually does me ok. Saturday's debacle shows what relying on my memory does for you.

Hey hey,

up and down is better for me I think.... My joints really suffer if its flat- my knee and ankle really swelled up after berlin marathon, which is flat to downhill, whereas, London, which is pretty undulating at the start, I was fine joint wise, though SORE muscles for 2 days!!!

I should really get out on my bike- now its a bit lighter, I feel happier doing so.  I need to get some decent cycling kit if I'm gonna do 100 miles!  Somehow my bargainous purchase of some men's cycling shorts, I doubt is going to get me around without chaffing!!

Hi all,

Well a speed session today for me: 1 mile warm up 10x 500m sprint intervals with 400m recovery jog and 1 mile home.

All in all 7 miles @8:21 avg pace. It was lovely and sunny out so nice to be running in just a shorts and t-shirt again.