Sub 3h15

FW - 3:02 in warm conditions is nothing to be sneezed at, so don't be too down.

SJ - tough luck but big kudos for toughing it out under the cicrumstances.

Looking forward to RJ's report - suspect he's too exhausted to write one at the moment. Either that or too elated!

Fabada - lovely stuff. Makes my mouth water thinking about it! 

29 miles on the bike with elder Lorenzito this morning. Far too warm to even think about running later on.

I know 3.02 isn't what you wanted, but it is a good time in very tough racing conditions, FW.  Don't be too hard on yourself!

Fraser, 3.02 is still a damn good time. Looking forward to the full report. 

I maybe haven't given the whole concentrating on speedwork thing enough time, but I'm not enjoying it regardless. The next two weeks I've got quite a lot of other stuff going on anyway, so inbetween all that I'm just going to run for fun. That will still include Thursday's intervals with Notts AC, and my mid week run with my own club, but I'm ditching the solo efforts that seem to leave me frustrated and demoralised. I may still do Parkrun next weekend, depending on how I feel. In three week's time I have 2 races again, a summer league race and the 10k County Champs. I'm hoping they'll go along the same lines as the 5 and 10 milers I did a couple of weeks ago. Then I'll have a proper rest week before marathon training starts on the 25th June (with a rest day  )

I think a couple of weeks of running for fun sounds like a very good idea, Speedy.  You won't lose much (if any) fitness and I'm sure you'll feel rejuvenated for it.

Speedy, Fraser, Slokey sorry it wasn't your day either today.  Black Sunday.  Although Fraser that is still a very impressive time, not too far from where you wanted to be. 

Quick report - (full length version on the sub 3:30 thread)

So, I ran today as a sneaky marathon hoping to cash in on the London training.  Hardly anyone knew but  Fraser did and he's been giving me lots of advice and chat over the past few weeks - thanks Fraser.

Hot, hot, hot.  Nice meet up with Fraser and RJ at the start and saw RJ when he was at about 20 ish miles - he was flying and I was dying a painful death.  SJ I wish I'd caught up with you at the start and we could have carried each other home.

Got to 10m running at MP but already it was starting to feel hard.  Stopped at mile 12 to tell my spectating family that I was finding it really hard.  Kept going for another few miles before deciding it just wasn't going to happen.  Then plodded the rest of the course finishing in 3:42.  Almost a PW.

Not too upset - it was a risk running it so soon after London and it didn't pay off.  Onwards and upwards. 

Minni - a brave effort so soon after VLM . . . .
Fraser - 3:02 none too shabby - not sure I agree with "too greedy" - a goal based on the evidence of the campaign, and past experience, which you don't quite achieve on the day - well, nowt wrong with that, and we don't know unless we try.  And marathon running in the heat isn't that easy. Look forward to the report, anyhow

Hi guys,

First off thank you so much to Dr & Mrs Wells for their tremendous hospitality over this weekend. It was so very nice to meet you both and the dogs!

Fraser hard luck today. As we discussed over and over afterwards, the marathon can just bite. There are so many variables that have a bearing on the final result and you need a very good dose of luck to get it all exactly right.3:02 is as others have said a very respectable time and one that I am sure after a few days you will look back on and be pretty proud of. If you put it all on the line, which you did then you cnat ask for anything more.

SJ- ouch! Sorry to hear that you had a tough day out there too mate. I guess it is always a challenge to do 2 so close together. Nice to meet you at the start. Make sure you recocver well and then when you feel like a little jog give it a go. Sub 3 will come, you have got the credentials. Just a another campaig or two and you'll be there.

Minni - well done for gritting it out today. Cant have been easy. When the mind starts to go it's very very hard to get it back to where you need it to be and focusing on the task in hand. Hope you recover well and come back stronger and faster.

As for me, I have to be honest I ran a very sensible and strong race, only fading slightly in the last two miles. I didnt feel like I could have gone much faster in those last two but by then I knew that barring disaster I was home under 2:30 - and I was starting to feel the heat by that time; I hadn't felt that affected by it really and only became concious of it at c22 miles. I finished in 2:29:33 officially and I think 9th place although havent had that confirmed yet. Went through half way in about 1:14:20 and then second half was 1:15:13. Very happy with myself. I even managed to beat Jezza's clubmate Peter Tucker who I really do rate very highly (although he did this off the back of four weeks training so a very good bit of running by him) and went past him at just after 30k. Will blog fully at another time but for now I'm off to have another couple of beers.

oh, and MsE - I started running just over four years. Where next... a break from marathons, I may not even do one next spring and may come back to them in the Autumn 2013. For now, rest, recovery and then to smash a sub 70, possibly sub 69 half in the Autumn.

sorry to hear about the varying degrees of disappointment today:

Slokey - like Ant says, well done for toughing it out and finishing, will be something to draw upon when it gets tough in future, but on a better day

Minni - good work, sensible, and you still have that fantastic VLM result to look back on

Fraser - nothing wrong with being optimistic/hopeful sometimes, and 3.02 is still very very impressive

Speedy - good attitude & plan

and in positive news OOlg - top effort, well paced.  And looking forward to RJ's report in due course

Jase - I remember (not that long ago) when you ran a half mara PB of circa 75, today you've done a couple back to back in less than optimum conditions - top-notch stuff!
Eagerly await the report  . . .

x-post with Jase - just an awesome performance fella, really well done.  Superb.

btw, although the results aren't up on the official website they are there on Powerof10 - whole field - http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=58263&event=Mar&venue=Edinburgh&date=27-May-12!

I'm sure your gutted Fraser with that near miss, but bloody good time in those conditions.

Have a nice rest if you are that knackered Minni. Are you doing the Coastal run this year? I'm thinking of jogging round as I missed out on an entry. 

Managed to blog it all already. Now I can truly rest tomorrow.

http://marathonmanonamission.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/edinburgh-marathon-2012.html

SD - good mileage in the bag.
Speedy - sorry it wasn't a good day for the 10-ish k.
PMJ - more very fast reps there.
OOlg - very fast HM for a scorching hot day. Well done.
SJ - sorry, that sounds like a very tough day you had. Well done on finishing in that heat.
FW - that's still a cracking time given the conditions.
Minni - sorry, I didn't realise you were running Edinburgh. As per the others, the heat makes a big difference.
RJ - Sub 2:30!!! Congratulations, that's an amazing achievement. And given yesterday's heat, you must be conifdent that there's still more to come. Incredible stuff. Looking forward to reading your blog when I have a bit of time to spare.
I overslept this morning after a weekend of gardening in the heat So just a quick recovery run and will have to re-shuffle this week's schedule.

Nice day for a suntan, but not for running...

Race Jase wrote (see)

For now, rest, recovery and then to smash a sub 70, possibly sub 69 half in the Autumn.

I don't think anyone will bet against that coming off.

One thing to do today: grab a snapshot of the po10 website marathon rankings: you are on page one where it says Olympic A standard, Olympic B and UK top 10.  

http://www.thepowerof10.info/rankings/rankinglist.aspx?event=Mar&agegroup=ALL&sex=M&year=2012