Sub 3

Brian - i feel cheated for worrying about you now ! program your gadget for a proper taper. You cant ruin a 12 week campaign, by not having the willpower to taper properly.

TR - I still wear the orange club vest for pretty much every race. But that blue one was a charity jobby - I ran in memory of my brother, so had a Sarcoma UK vest (as that was the type of cancer he had). I had it printed up on the back too - 'In memory of my brother, a fighter and inspiration to all' - it wasn't really in doubt that I'd give it full beans if I was wearing that! I think my folks appreciated it too to be honest.

selbs - I do usually wear glasses yes, but wear my lenses for Maras. I'm 6 foot too so a bit taller than average. Fat? Erm, prob weigh more than most on here (about 78kg, or 12'3ish in old money) but I don't carry too much body fat to be honest. But I'm a bit chunkier than most Marathoners yes!

Great picture, LS21.  You look much better in that than you do in your avatar shot, anyway

An early end to my rest week.  I've been called up for the National XC relays.  For the A-team (singing of theme tune optional, and I suspect not in keeping with the general mood as B&W scrape the barrel in terms of quality!).

LS21 - I thought it might be a charity vest. Do you have a link to a Just Giving type page ?

I weigh about the same as that, but I'm a bit shorter !

5M, 2k, 5M. Might try and tag a few more miles on next week.

For those that like their ales, Sainsburys have been banging out differing ales at £1 bottle recently. The current ones are Marston's Pedigree and Spitfire.

LS21 - great tribute. I bet your folks are incredibly proud and somewhere your bro will be smiling down on you.

Good point, TR.  On a more serious note, justgiving link, please, LS21.

To be honest when I said I ran it for Sarcoma UK, I kind of did and I didn't!! I contacted them when Nige died, as we wanted donations in lieu of flowers at the funeral. That's when I set a justgiving page up, and they sent me out some stuff (amongst which was a vest that I'd asked for). Around the time of his death/the funeral the page was pretty active, and raised over £3k I think.

However, re Abingdon - it was kind of a personal thing, so I haven't asked one person to 'sponsor' me or re-promoted the justgiving site at all. I wasn't really 'doing it for charity' - but I was doing it as a kind of personal tribute type thing, hence why my folks were involved and came along. I haven't raised any extra money from the Mara at all - I guess I could have done, but I wasn't really doing it for those reasons - does that make sense?!?!

That said I'm not ungrateful enough to turn down any donations if they came along - but I wanted folk to be aware of the context around this, and hence why I've never promoted it as such. Some nice messages left on there though - particularly the earlier ones (which are at the bottom, as most recent ones go at the top). Gives you an idea of the type of bloke he was, and how sorely missed he is - www.justgiving.com/nigelsmith19

In fact joolska, I'm pretty sure you've donated already! As have a few off here who are friends with me on FB too - so honestly, it's fine. I really didn't do it for that reason. It was more for slefish reasons, to give me a focus and to dig me out of a bit of a hole I'd got into.

 

LS21 - cracking photo mate, really captures the moment/meaning of the race!

Might park run it tomorrow. Having a few beers tonight though as I had a moc practical exam today so depends how I feel.

Shock result... TR advises on taper... "I like to build up from about 5M a week out to a good 20M the day before, with 10M @ MP (by feel of course, no gadgets), then 2k in the Lido and 3hr on the turbo..." 

Go well in the relays Jools!

I've done a non-taper for my low-key HM on Sun, maybe not quite a TR inverse taper but not backing off. I'm looking forward to playing that one by ear, chilling out if I'm not in contention or giving it more welly if I find myself near the front, and ignoring the pace stats for a change -- a bit of a dress rehearsal for yet another HM 2 weeks later. 8M on Weds, 10M on Thurs, 4 + 3M commute today with a bit of a push. Will figure out tomorrow tomorrow.

Cracking picture LS21 -- I like the track finish at Abo, I hav e a nice pic there where I'm giving it some welly (before retiring debilitated after the line of course) in which it appears one of my legs is missing, such was my effort.

Wardi -- wow, that indoor finish at Frankfurt is tremendous for razzamatazz. Though I fear they wouldn't be firing the industrial party-poppers or gyrating the dancers by the time I traipsed in...

LS21 - nice explanation. Fully understood.

CW - did make me smile to advise on tapers, but then I thought about it and I do actually taper for any race that I've trained specifically for and races like the IoW 1/2 mara are deliberately done on legs as tired as I can make em to try and recreate 1/2 IM day. Any race like Solent 1/2, Hayling 10 that I havnt trained for just becomes the aerobics for that particular day.

Just seen on BBC Sport that NY Marathon is cancelled after all!

Congrats on the call up Jools, should be nice n' muddy if it is anything like it is here off road.

Charlie.. a sub 2:45 finishers clip I found via via Fetch showed the Frankfurt disco, lights & pom pom girls still in full swing when he finished.  I think the cheerleader girls must work in shifts!  Good luck at the half.

Anyone fancy joining me at Frankfurt next year?

Bad news re New York   Understandable though I guess, and looking at the reports it seems it's political pressure that's caused the cancellation.

njord - I seriously might be up for that yes. I was going to see if you were doing Berlin again actually, and maybe seeing if I could kind of tag along or meet up somewhere. I really enjoyed Abingdon so would be happy doing that, but a post-Mara night out sampling a few German shandies could just swing it!

joolska - I'll see you tomorrow in sunny Mansfield. It's been absolutely lagging it down here all night for info. It's going to be a muddy one! Like you I'm also in our A Team - so scraping the bottom of the barrel more than you it seems!

Shit they've just cancelled NY marathon. Poor JAP and others, although I guess that's not really the right emphasis given the disaster? Grim all round.

Evening, just seen the news on the telly that New York's been cancelled, not surprising seeing the state parts of the city are in. So unlucky for all those entered, do you have a backup option JAP?

TR - yeah my plan would be to re-jig a week in my program to replace a weekend long run with the work to home cross forest one instead. Route finding could be a bit interesting, I know most of it from different runs we do around the forest, but in the dark at the end of a 20+miler could be a bit more challenging!

TT - good to hear you're cranking back into gear again

Andy D - great report, that was a fantastic result in tricky conditions.

RS, LJ, PP & Padams - nice MWR's.

Dachs - I know how you feel, that's very similar to what happened to me a few weeks ago. On the up side, despite a month or so of inconsistency I'm now back on track (see below). Highly unlikely to be targeting the 75min barrier at Gosport, think I'll be around 1:16:xx shape.

LS - That's a lovely fitting photo

Njord & Wardi - I 've got Frankfurt on my provisional plan for next year, got friends who live out there so good excuse to go out to visit....

7.25ml club run last night, done at a very decent clip (6:36/ml), bit quicker than I was planning and my calves were a bit tight. Tonight was the 2nd winter series 5k down on the Boscombe prom, did a 3ml warmup between Boscombe & Bournemouth piers and legs felt good (calves back to normal ). I was hoping for a sub 17min time (PB of 17:03). The start went off fast, with a group of U20's blasted off at sub 5min mid pace, managed to hang in with them and the pace slowed a bit, the turn around at half way was a bit slow (we all bunched up) and I had to slow up in the narrow sandy section as the guys in front dropped the pace (and the rest of the field was coming the other way!). There was a bit of a headwind on the return but managed to pick off a few more runners and hold it together for a 16:57 and 4th place. Very happy to nip under 17mins for the first time . Day off tomorrow and then the Lordshill 10mile in Southampton on Sunday. Plan is the same as at GSR, going to use it as a target half pace training run, so might slip in the third PB in a week if it goes well (shouldn't have a headwind in the last 2miles!)

Bad news re: NYC marathon.  Would have been good for many reasons if they could have found a way to put the race on.  Hopefully, even in these dark times, a party or two can be found on Manhatten for those who have made the trip.

LS21 / AL_P - excellent!  I've been thinking Munich (beer), Brussels (beer) or Frankfurt (IAAF Gold Label race - that's got to be a beer, right?).  But Frankfurt has been nudging ahead in recent weeks.  I think Berlin is my favourite marathon/city choice, but I wouldn't want to go there EVERY September - too many other places to visit and run.  Berlin will probably be back on the list for 2014.  Although could be tough to get into, given this year's entry scramble.  It seems to be getting as popular as Brass Monkey.

Race report from last weekend's superb Brighton Midnight Marathon
PB: 66 minutes 23 seconds

Unusual race, starting anytime between 11.30pm and 12.30am so you're not sure whether you're winning or not.  Chip-timed though, so all easy enough to work out times by the excellent organisers (British Heart Foundation).  Potentially fast start along the prom from King's Road Arches towards the pier.  But not tonight.  And certainly not for us in our state (I ran with my gf, Caz).  After a mile of dodging fellow drunks and women wearing less than we were (was bloody cold!), a marshal directed us to stop at a pedestrian crossing for the lights to change (!), before we continued through the bus station and up towards the town centre.  Got slowed down by various groups of werewolves, zombies and Freddie Krugars before heading out along London Road and Preston Road towards the South Downs.

Just before halfway, Caz had to stop for a crap in a local park.  I think she had drunk too much ale that evening, eaten too much spicy food, and run too many marathons earlier in the day (Beachy Head - brilliant, brilliant marathon btw).  I walked on slowly, occasionally looking back to see where she was.  She had switched off her headtorch to preserve her dignity, but was clearly too drunk to remember about the glowstick hanging round her neck, or the flashing armbands that lit her up like a christmas tree.  Was a pretty mountainous mile as well, so an 11 min 20 second mile split was probably about par.

Picked up the pace after halfway, as the absence of revellers / stomach cramps made us concentrate on the job in hand.  No road closures, but very well signed, and probably 20-30 marshals ensuring no-one got lost.  Just as well, because the map we had been given had been put to more important uses than navigation in the park earlier.  Passed the Withdean, a quick jog through Hove and back along the prom to the start/finish and a nice bacon butty.

2hrs 6 minutes had elapsed during the run, but the clocks had gone back during Caz's pitstop, so I make that 66 minutes, and will be pressing Power of 10 to make that official.

Of couse, it could have been so much quicker without Caz fertilising the roses, and I berated her all the way back to the hotel, and forced her to buy the first round of drinks at the bar.  Somehow we got up 2 hours after going to bed, and caught the train home after a pretty standard weekend's running.

Shame about NY but they cant allocate resources into puttting a race on when they are needed elsewhere.

Al_P - looks like you are back to it nicely now.

Njord - re-assuringly nuts as usual. Cant be many races where the clocks changing affect your finishing time.

3hr bike biked  

Well they made the correct (in my opinion) and obvious decision to cancel. Just a shame they did it late yesterday rather than Tues/Weds when it seemed the only obvious choice. I am sure it is more complicated than that though.

Anyway, was already checked in for my flight, so will be heading out later today. Not sure what it is going to be like out there, but I will find out I guess.

Al_P, back up plan is to rest, recover and hopefully be ready to start a spring campaign. Have been running in pain for the last 2-3 months, so rest is a much better idea than running a marathon really, but us runners generally need sensible hitting us over the head before we even start listening.

 

JAP - tough luck, hope you still have a nice time

TR - decent biking

17.53 in park run this morning, a way down on last time. Really muddy on the course in parts at the moment made the running quite difficult and pretty tiring. Still a decent work out which counts. Pulled a Harrier's team mate all the way round who sat right behind me before he sprinted off to beat me by about 7 seconds. Had a laugh about it after but it's his turn playing wind break next