Sub 3

Jools - Sounds like you earned that takeaway.

RS - Take it easy with that hamstring.

TR -How's the knee holding up?

Wardi - decent session, I'm, sure I've asked but have you an A race coming up? 

15 last night in a progressive stylie, started at 6m/m and ended in 5.30's, happy with how it all felt, I've just entered the Reading half, anyone done it?

Shame Abo has closed as I was planning on entering, Amsterdam is calling!!

SL - your coach sounds a character. Reading is a quick course. You'll fly around it! Do you want to know anything specific about it?

Nice running LJ.

Even as an ale drinker LD, I'd go for German beers over German ales. Helps if you're lucky enough to have a good guide like Njord though

More nice miles Jools!

Welcome to the new folk!

I'm very happy (and proud) to say that, as of this morning Mrs TT is now a fully qualified accountant having passed all 14 of the ACCA exams first time (a trickier proposition than it sounds, even without doing it whilst pregant, suffering with flu (twice) and a variety of other considerations). 3+ years of hard work has paid off. And she done a bit too

Morning.

Wardi, top drinking in Berlin btw. 3.30am is not a bad effort. I'm thinking mine and JW's 5.30am at London last year must be near to a record. (Once we'd packed the oldies off to bed). Nice treadie 800s matey - your looking good.

Jools, solid steady (therapeautic?) HM on a school night. Bet I know where your thoughts were.

RS78, Good luck with the hammy.

Huge congrats to Mrs TT!!

Double yesterday with 7M incl 15mins tempo + 4M recovery. Gym this morning just for stetching/foam rollering/TLC.

Congrats Mrs TT!

SL - Tasty progressive run!

If we're scoring marathons according the native beer, surely Brussels has to be in the mix?  Not that I know anything about it.

Horrible cold, wet and windy weather last night so I was pleased to get through 18 miles incl. 13.1 in 1:17:09 (5:53/m), utilising bits of the marathon course around the Isle of Dogs.  HR during MP section was kept at a steady 165 average = 81% max.  Nice.

Brian - cheers

SL - cheers and Zattu is right, you'll scream round the Reading course, v quick.

PP - pretty sharp for a training run blimey.

Zattu - good news on your OHs exams, that is a lot of hard work. Kind of thing I'm doing with Physio at uni now altho not pregnant obviously

I passed one "pass/fail" practical exam and got 90% on another this week so not been a bad week really....oh it was my birthday yesterday too, haha Quiet one this year though, couple of light ales.

well done Mrs TT

RS - I can relate to that, we were both saying 13 weeks plenty of time, 12 weeks planty of time, but 10 weeks to go andn ot running properly and you are running out of time. Unlike PP, who needs race day to come very soon - ha ha !

SL - you might get a postal entry in yet, but would defo get a waiting list place. As for my knee, it still plays me up to run and bike on, but I must be managing it better as this week I have a 20, 5+10 and a 7+10, with 6 planned at lunch. I think I need to stop stretching it, icing it, heating it, rubbing it etc and leave it alone now. Would like to be able t do a long run on the hill this weekend and would like to do the Salisbury 10 in 4 weeks, if I cant do either then no big deal. I'm behind where I was last year running wise, but maybe by not too much. I'd snap your arm off for a 2:54:59 !

PP - You're in great shape mate.

TT - congrats to the significanty other.

After my marathon attempt in Berlin (3mile death march) I spent 3 hours sight seeing, 3 hours drinking and was in bed earlier than normal. Although the beer was fantastic, some of the glasses they serve it up in are a touch over the top, I remember a Paulaner served up in what I thought was a vase.  

SL: Even if you don't get on the waiting list you've still got a really good chance of a place. Last year I was looking out for a place for a mate and after he'd got sorted there were still plenty of people on the Abo thread offering up places due to injuries. I will do this if the B'mouth mara turns into a no go.

Well done Mrs TT and RS!

Impressive training paces by SL and PP.

I came up with enough excuses last night not to run (legs sore from two hard days, cold, it started raining, stuff to do at home), so did 8M this morning instead - bit icy most of the way around.

Probably going to be a tough weekend - XC tomorrow, and going to cycle there and back (25M each way). Then a long ride on Sunday, although the weather forecast looks terrible so it might be a long turbo. Plus loads of house viewings!

Well done to Mrs TT!!

PP - wow, you are running just great at the moment, fab stuff

SL - I like the sounds of that progressive run.

Some really impressive mileage and sessions being done.

I would have liked to run Reading again this year, but MrsC is away on with some girlfriends so I will be doing the rugby and football things with my boys. My pre-London half is a week on Sunday

Very impressed by your training runs there SL & PP. Jools -- aren't you supposed to be tapering? :- )

Congrats to the examinees too (MrsTT & RS78).

On German front, I go for the Weizenbier, but have a perennial problem with those tall curvaceous waisted glasses (when getting wasted?) -- spashback. Anyone else get eyefuls of Bier whenever they return the glass to the table, when it's about 1/3 full? Oh, so it's just me then...

Light trot to work as my back was stiff from long car journeys on two days consecutively, and running is better for it than the bike -- otherwise I might have skipped it as I have a mild niggle now on the outside of my iffy ankle. Overall this is a 'down' week for me (but will still be 52M, golly).

'kin ell.  SL & PP are both flying. Reckon a combined time under 5h00 is well on.

Well done Mrs TT & RS.  Missus is also doing those same exams as you RS. Usual panic followed by top marks.  Ridiculous levels of sandbagging going on.

LS21 - agree Amsterdam is good for a night out, but was tough in 2007 when the marathon was the morning after England were in the rugby world cup final the night before.  Had to watch it in a packed bar drinking lemonade ffs.

Got a good story from Berlin though in 2001.  Three of us went out post race and got blotto on some German ale or other.  Somehow we got separated and I staggered into the hotel to find one of my mates asleep in the corridor of the hotel as he couldn't remember which room we were in.  At about 4am we were both woken by hammering on the door to be greeted by my other mate (who had earlier run 2.39) accompanied by the hotel night manager, an irate taxi driver and a policeman.  Apparently he'd got a cab back to the hotel, then on finding he'd lost his wallet he did a runner.  Didnt' take Herr Clouseau long to work out where he was staying!!  I had to pay about £200 (in cash, hmmm) to make the problem go away.

Wokingham field looks stacked.  And if everyone runs their predicted time, then a PB won't get me into the top 150.

I thought we'd agreed tapering was unnecessary?  I know CD told me not to be a schedule gimp, but all I've done is ensure today is a rest day; otherwise (bar potentially the pace run on Sunday, although (edit) I note I put down a rather optimistic 1.25 when entering...), it's as planned

Dan - it's not an easy course but its not too bad if you stay on top of things. It's pretty constant though without much let up, loads of anatomy/role playing. Being "mature" cough cough the very fact I'm not that fussed about getting blind drunk every night helps with study, ha. Well done to your other half.

TR - that's exactly it, you can do a short build up if you've been running consistently for a while. 10 weeks including a 2 week taper isn't much if you've had a few months disrupted going into it. I'm not desperate enough to run London or a marathon by chancing it with too short a build up really. Too much risk of pain, average time and more injury. The swimming is still going strong mind.

RS - all the best with it, I still hope to see you at start.

Blimey ! Tried the Dids run a bit faster and see if it hurts less just now, 6M inc 4M av 6:15 (although it was a bit progressive), bit of a shock to the system after a 90min turbo this morning. Havnt run that fast since the Hayling 10.

Thanks again for the welcomes and training tips. I will be changing my plans by converting my Thursday training into a long run and also increasing my commute runs based on the feedback so far.

Congrats to Mrs TT and RS on their exam success. I also passed my final ACCA exam today so have just celebrated with a Chicken Katzu Curry and a Green Tea (I'm taking this not drinking alcohol seriously!) from Wagamama!

I did some repetitions last night (4x6 mins plus 4 mins recovery) after a 7 mile run and managed to do 1.01 miles in during one of the reps. That's a first sub-6 mile for me. Not sure I'll ever be in the heels of SL or PP based on their pace! Great running.

20 mile run scheduled for tomorrow morning which will mean I hit 60 miles for the week (another first for me!). That's assuming I sleep well tonight. I had an awful night's sleep last night waiting for the exam result text message that came through at 5.08 this morning!

I missed SL's run this morning. As Dan said, both you and PP are indeed flying!

Congrats on the exam RS78. And likewise Lombster.

That is positive re: the knee with this week's volume TR, and nice with today's lunchtime run!

Good luck with the house viewings Padams.

Target for the HM coro?

Dan - you'll be at least one place higher courtesy of my DNS. I was rather optimistic that I'd get my finger out and start training when I entered it. Oh well. I'll have to do one when I get fit and see if I can get near to that target.

Cheers for the congrats for Mrs TT. To say she's over the moon is an understatement. It's probably just as well I'm not running Wokingham as I suspect I/we will still be recovering from a rare hangover by Sunday!

Anyone planning to run the Liverpool marathon this year?  It's just been cancelled.  Can't go upsetting the precious Sunday morning motorist now can we...

SL - I read on a different thread (maybe the Abo marathon one?!!) that the RD had closed online entries as he was waiting to get the postal entries in and couldn't risk having a combined entry over the allowed limit.  Doesn't mean that they are full up, and he suggested that it would be reopened to fill the remaining places.  Worth contacting him I reckon, particularly as you would be favourite to actually win.  Also in light of the above, it might fill up a bit more quickly now.

SL & PP, these training paces are boding well for some fantastic race times.

ZaTTu, sorry to hear you're not in shape to smash Wokingham, but makes sense to look at the wider picture.  Congrats to the Mrs.

Jools - as others have said, go for it.  No-one wants to read a marathon pace race report, give us some blood & glory stuff!

SL - I ran Reading 2011 and 2012, and am in again this year.  The main things people remember are:

• Great support, particularly in the town centre.  As a Reading club runner, and with friends out on the course, the amount of support I get makes a big difference to me, but there's plenty for everyone else too,
• generally flat and fast - there are just the 2 hills.  The steepest one is just before 3 miles, so you take it in your stride pretty easily.  The other one is not that big a rise, but drags on a bit, at about 8 miles.  I've found that, the fitter you are, the less you notice it...
• The last 2.5 miles are the worst bit.  Down a dual carriageway, then going into the business park and doubling back along the same road.  Virtually no support along that bit.  You can see the stadium a couple of miles before the end, and that makes it drag like you wouldn't believe.
• Everyone loves the roar you get when you come into the stadium to finish.  Well, everyone except me that is because it usually inspires some glory-seeking chump to beat me in a sprint for the line.
• There is beer outside the Nag's Head, but they'd be somewhat surprised if someone at your point in the race took one.

I've had a fairly easy week in advance of Wokingham.  Hoping to see a few of you there, and if anyone fancies setting off at 1:15 pace, come join me.  Particularly if you're big enough for me to use as a windbreak.

Afternoon all... From reading some of these post most of you are fairly speedy and as the title suggests sub 3:00 marathon...I am looking for as much advice as possible as i am aiming for my first sub 3 in edinburgh in may.. ran it last year and was on course for a 3:04 till 19 miles in and due to the heat i cramped badly and limped home in 3:21 which is a PB..I know i am more than capable of sub 3 or even 2:50 but not sure exactly how to tackle the training...at the moment a comfortable run is averaging around 6:50mpm over 6-10 miles.. any advice would be greatly appreciated..ta