sub 4 hour group,if anyone wants to get together

Haha, weird to pop in and find you talking about me! 4 weeks and counting so nearly due but hopefully not just yet. Yes it was a real shame we couldn't talk properly yesterday Jovi but lovely to see you anyway and hope you enjoyed the race, I've not looked at the results yet.

Hope everyone is well. Those off on foreign travels, enjoy!

I'm off work now - aahhh lovely - so may well pop in a little more frequently and try and actually get my head round who is training for what and what you are all up to. It will get me excited at the idea that I can run again in the not too distant future, yippee! I've really really missed it. But it's strange to think I have absolutely no idea how it will be when the little one arrives in terms of time / sleep / desire to leave the house without him/her! (I wish newborns were allowed in running buggies, boo)

It won't be long before you can runningbuggy it, Tutu! What fun! Lovely to 'see' you... =)

Hello Tutu! I put you on my list of things to do after yesterday's posting.  So how old do they have to be buggy-proof?  How is Mr Tutu? SHould think he's beside himself with excitement!

Feeling smug. Just done a sort of Yasso session - but on the road. 6 x 4 mins with 4 min jog recoveries.  Covered 7 miles in 1hr 2 mins.  Not bad for an old dog. The timing's all wrong for me to do it with the club tomorrow night and I'm nervous of running round and round to do it - even on grass.  Silly because running on the road is probably worse - but at least it#s straight so there are no bends to irritate decrepit knees.

The snow has all melted here, although it still feels snowy and is lovely and cold for running. 10 miles from here apparently it's like The Day After Tomorrow according to one friend who gave up trying to get to work near Guildford.

Jovi - have you entered the  York mara?

Well done, Old Dog! I have a 1 mile time trial in my training this week - whatever that is!

Wondered who OId Dog was there for a min...

Ikle - a time trial is just going as fast as you can for x distance. I bet they'll get you to repeat it a couple of times during your programme so you can see you're getting faster.

Oh, ok. Yes I see. Hanks. =)

Tutu, we are ALWAYS talking about you!

Hello Folks, training for 1st marathon but already feel i am behind the curve for 16 week training plan (3 weeks in). Went out for a 18k run at weekend, but kinda broke down after 12k, not impressive.Was running 5mins/k lasy year but this is nowhere near possible. Am i despondant too soon?

AH - not entered York marathon - bit contentious in some quarters up here - primarily due to the price thing & also due to a local club trying to get permission to hold races in York but council turning them down and then big Jayne tomlinson organsiation applies and they get permission from council.  Also, one of my favourite trail 10 milers which rasies cash for a local charity is on the same day so will be doing that instead.

7.42 miles in an hour for me this lunchtime.  Part on snow and part on road - felt quite a slog but pace reasonably OK so quite happy - I think I've forgotten how much harder it is to run in the snow.

Susan - sounds bliss

Missed the thread for a few days as I was quite busy at sorting out decorating, paperwork and all those things you put off over Christmas. Lovely to see so many people away and enjoying themselves. I always envy people who can get away from UK this time of the year.

Did 11 miles with Mary on Sunday morning in 2 hours. Late start as we didn't get home from London until 1.30 am. My son got me tickets for the Fulham v Wigan game on Saturday so had a few beers with him and then a few more at my sister-in-laws in the evening. Alcohol and running, the usual battle.

Good luck everyone with the training and hopefully all the injuries will heal quickly.

Tom - better than alcohol with no running!

Ah Jovi - I see.  Didn't realise about the controversy.

Oliver - you've come to the right place . Yes you are too despondent too early.

1.  Never, EVER give up. Long runs - however long at whatever stage of the training programme - are always hard and most of us have wanted to bail many a time, but somehow, if you keep going, they DO end and you'll be glad you struggled on to nail it. Also, if you can manage long runs at the moment on your own - even if they become vile - you'll have no problem running on race day surrounded by other runners in the same boat, crowds of cheering people willing you on etc.

2.  Are you trying to run too fast?  At this stage long runs should be dead easy. Time on your feet. Do the distance, don't worry about the time.  You're building your engine (boosting your endurance) at the mo. The time for doing a bit of engine tuning (running faster) is in a month or so. Take a chill pill.

3.  Are you taking in enough energy/water on long runs? Running low on energy will make you feel rubbish.

4.  It could be that if you've upped your volume over the last few weeks it's beginning to wear you down a bit.  This could be a sort of 'it'll get worse before it gets better' thing and any minute now you'll start to feel stronger. Or it could be that you've been doing too much too soon - in which case back off a bit.  Keep the frequency of your runs up but have a week where you don't increase your volume/speed or anything to let your body catch up with itself.

5.  Don't worry about how far your training still has to go - it is too daunting for most mortals.  Just focus on each run in each week as it comes. If you just follow the programme you'll get there.  Promise!

6.  It might just have been a one off crap run.  We all have them.

Just a few things that come to mind. There could be more, but stick around and you'll see that we all go through rubbish periods and doubts.  The great thing about marathon training and following a thread like this is that it really spurs you on when you see people talking about the sessions they've done.  It makes you (well, me anyway) look forward to the time when I'm posting the session I've done.

Here endeth the lesson.

Where's Fido?

Thank you Artful Hen!

Yes, a little in my chemistry to be despondant at times, but appreciate all the great lessons...feeling a little chirpier today and will be out for a run later so will concentrate on that.....

Been told the crucial part is to work around one long run each week and build it up from there, so thats what i will do. I think you may be right that i am trying to pace myself too quickly too early, rather than build my lung capacity and do some decent (and slowish) miles...

Thank you for your feedback and you'll hear more from me

I've heard they need to be 6 months to go in a running buggy, not sure how strict that is, but I suppose getting back into it by myself is probably a good thing.

I keep hearing about the York Marathon, October sometime? Definitely too early for me but I'll go over to watch if I know a few people running it.

AH - Mr Tutu is very excited about the arrival of the little one thanks. It's fun being at home with him during the day and just having this quiet time with the 2 of us and the cat though - obviously he is technically 'working' still, I think having me kicking around is a bit of a distraction though, oops. Off to see the Hobbit in the bit, hurrah!

Wise words from the Hen there, you are definitely in the right place Oliver.

Ikle - eek!

Susan - loved the pic of Sian on facebook, made me giggle. Hope you're having a lovely time sunning yourselves. Have you been to the souks yet? They are fun but crazy, I found it a bit hard not to get stressed when I went!

Hope it goes well, then, later today, Oliver.  Are you following a plan? 

Yes Oliver. What Artful Hen said. She's good she is. I found myself thinking make sure you are not running too fast. Just get the miles in, take your time, write off runs that you didn't do or didn't finish and make each run a new moment.

It's all such good fun!

Hello, do you mind if I join this thread? I've been tentatively thinking about my chances of running a sub 4 marathon in April, and I'd like to stick my toe in the water and eavesdrop on how you guys are all doing, so I can gauge whether it's feasible.

My training has been going pretty well. I previously ran one marathon (Brighton 2010) in 5:08 when i was seriously underprepared (long, dull story) but decided to turn up anyway. I've done a couple of halfs since. The most recent was June 2011, after which life got in the way and i gave up running for about a year. I picked it up again this august, and decided to build some slow, steady miles throughout the autumn, and started my 18 week P&D plan for the Manchester Marathon about 4 weeks ago.

So far so good. My 5k PB (as of last weekend) is 24:21 and i've been feeling strong on all my runs so far, including the 14mi on Sunday, which has prompted me to wonder again if I could sneak in under 4hours (mcmillan running calculator suggests it's not out of the question) 

I think there's an outside chance, and I seem to be coping well enough with the various training paces. My soft target is about 4:15-4:20, but I'm hoping if i continue to progress in training, and avoid injury, then I can shoot for 4hours and see where I land.