sub or about 4h30 hopefully

Thanks for the welcome. I'm currently excited and very nervous at the thought of 26.2 miles! My pre-Christmas schedule loosely follows the VLM Intermediate schedule (allowing for plenty of xmas celebrations) and then I'm moving onto the RW 16 week Garmin ready 4:30 schedule where the serious training begins.

I've planned to fit in the Llanelli Half in week 10 and the Merthyr 20 Miler (which I hear has a couple of killer hills) in week 13 ...I'm hoping this will give me the confidence boost I need before I taper.

Great to see so many training for marathons next year. Stick at it and take it steady is my advice from a 4.08.31 runner at Edinburgh this year so much to improve on but still a member on this thread. ALL THE BEST for your training.

right, that's it. I will NOT be running London! no ballot place, no intention to pay some charity, and I lost the club ballot for one of its 4 places.

Now to find something better to do!

In the meantime, now aiming for 30 miles per week, and have managed it 2 weeks in a row so far!

Newbie here too, signed up for the Manchester Marathon on the 28th April.  I've run 4 halfs, best time being 2:10, so 4:30 might be a bit ambitious but something around this would be great. Official training plan started this week but I run regularly and am up to 11 miles on my long runs so my plan was to stick to around this distance this side of Christmas and then ramp up in accordance with the plan.  The plan I have is to run 4 times a week with one cross training session but so I don't sicken myself with it I have decided to run 3 times a week and substitute the shorter mid week run for my yoga or swimming etc.  Hopefully this will be ok.

My nemisis is pace, so I have requested a heart rate monitor from Santa to see if this helps

Evening all,

We're a bit quiet on here at the moment aren't we?!

Hi Emmalou and welcome to the thread.  You'll probably find that your 1/2 time goes down a bit when you start your marathon schedule.  Your training has to fit in with your lifestyle so you're right to adapt it according to your needs.  Good luck with your training and I hope Santa is kind to you 

My marathon training starts next week so I'm still just pootling along for a few more days.

Morning all,

Hi Holemoley and welcome!  Paris will be exciting and a great goal.  It's amazing how many people think that VLM is the be all and end all.

Thankfully the wind and rain have abated and I didn't get wet or blown away on my plod earlier 

It's lovely to hear from new people with different experience and goals.

Hi everyone,

hope you dont mind me gategrashing your thread. I will be doing my first marathon at VLM and really looking foward to it. furthest i,ve done is a half in 1.54.18 which i was very pleased about and if the training goes well feel i could achieve 4.30 although finishing it would be my first goal.

what training plan would you guys recommend? when upping the training for the half i simply increased my weekly running by 10% over 8 weeks but i was running more often then, been a bit lazy recently and only been doing 2x 4 mile runs a week.

any help/tips would be greatly appreciated..

Morning all,

I'm wet as wet can be after my run this morning!  Thankfully the winds haven't whipped up yet and I'm certainly glad I got my run done nice and early.

Hi bigeater (great name!) and welcome to the thread.  With a 1/2 time of 1:54 you certainly should be on for a sub 4:30 if you train well.  The secret of marathon training is to build a good mileage base first and then, as you did for your 1/2, increase the mileage gradually.  You need to run at least 4 times a week IMHO and I would recommend either one of the RW schedules or Hal Higdon beginner's schedule (you'll find it if you google him).  

For all you newbies, there's a wealth of experience on this thread so please ask loads of questions and someone will have an answer for you.

I'm excited for all of you taking your first steps into marathon running as it's an amazing journey and you will feel so proud at the finish line no matter what your time 

Evening all,

Anyone flooded?  Hope not.  We've been battered by rain and wind but it's abated now thank goodness.  5.5 miles of hills yesterday and 7 exceedingly wet and windy miles today.  Marathon training starts again tomorrow 

Holymoley, nice running.  The best indicator of your marathon time is your time for a 1/2 marathon.  There are lots of predictors about - some say 2 x 1/2 time + 20 minutes.  But, and it is a big BUT, these predictors are not as accurate for anything over 4 hours IMHO.  For example, my 1/2 pb is 2:00:59 set earlier this year but my marathon pb is 4:50 (probably 'cos I'm old and cronky!!!).  

From experiences on this thread I think you need to get a sub 2 hours 1/2 under your belt to crack 4:30.

Redhead, thanks for the welcome and the advice on training plans. Think I will follow the RW one.glad you like my name, do love my food but the running helps keep the weight at bay...

holeymoley, why done on your run, average of 10 min miles x26 will give you a time off just over 4hrs 20 so your average time of 10.17 would give you a time of around 4.30 which would be great.

gentle 5 miler for me today,

My 16 week training plan will start Christmas week so I've been pottering around trying to clock up a few more miles and dabbling in a bit of swimming and spin classes. I've managed to get myself a knee injury which just won't shift so I'm taking a full week off any cardio this week to try and get it fixed ...slight pangs of panic are already setting in!!!

Holeymoley, skiing will be fantastic to build your core and strengthen the legs before you get stuck into your training.

Morning guys nice to see you are all building the miles up. Did a ten miler with young un on her bike keeping me company in afternoon sunshine after rain for over 12 hours. Managed to keep the feet dry. I have just started training for the Grindleford Gallop a 21 mile hilly fell type race on the Edges of Derbyshire. The 9th of March is about 15 weeks away if I have got the maths right and I am following a Runners World Smart Coach. You put in a time of a recent race and say whether you want to train easy, moderate or hard and it works out a programme for you, you can put the date of your race into.  Seems good. Though its not a marathon mileage wise its a tough race with some massive hills. Basically three or four sections are uphill for serious miles then down the same very little flat sections in it. Then two weeks later I am going to do Coniston 14 a road race with my no2 daughter round the lake at Coniston in the Lake District.  Better do some work happy training all........ the quicker you go in your half marathon the stronger you will be for the full distance. I ran 1.42 in September at GNR and probably could have got another minute or two of that time at the start if I had been in a quicker pen but the problem with the marathon is the last six miles which are so hard to train for........the mental aspect and strength of will kicks in then.

Hey wonderful people in the only forum i post in! I havent been around for a year.... and it's great to see some familiar names in here still....

...so.... brief update... I am now a single parent of 3 beautiful girlies.... and have been since last december... so there's been a lot of change over the last year for my girls and me, but what has remained constant is my running. I have shed weight, and kept it off.... it's amazing the incentive of being single has on your need to have a trim waistline! so, i have smashed out a couple of good times this year too... 21.50 for 5k and 48.46 10k and enjoying being a bit smaller and a lot quicker.... and a freind says to me, 'fancy running the brighton marathon for my charity', and i thought about it for all of a heartbeat and concluded that what every insanely busy person needs is to cram in a marathon for the spring... good news for me is i am still comfortable running 6,7,8 milers... although me leg as yet hasnt been beyond 8 miles since i broke it (december 2010)..... so i am aiming to go under 4 hours... which is actually very doable i think given my times up to 8 miles... anyway, enough of my ramblings.... please welcome me back to the fold, i hope to stay in touch!!

Welcome back Sham good to hear from you again....sounds like a tough year hope the training goes well, how you manage to fit that in I cant start to imagine. Your times are very similar to mind and I just missed a sub four at Edinburgh this year by 8 mins. Looking for a sub four at some point next year. Not that I have entered a marathon yet, thinking of doing one later next year to change things round as I tend to get better toward the end of the year. At 48 mins for a 10k you should be able to go sub 4.15 easily but its about getting to that start line fit and healthy in mind and body. All the best for the training........

Sham!  Welcome back, lovely to hear from you again.  Tough old year for you but excellent news about the weight loss, fantastic race times and I'm doing Brighton too so hopefully we'll get to meet eachother 

Another newbie here *waves* - have been lurking a while, so took the plunge and registered today.

I'm new to running this year, started with Couch to 5k in the New Year, ran Sport Relief Mile and was amazed I could run a whole mile without stopping! I then watched hubby run the London Marathon and saw all these 'normal' people running, so the same day I entered the Manchester 10k - my first ever proper run (1hr 1min & 26 seconds), then did another 10k as a warm up to the English Half Marathon in September which I did (non stop ) in 2 hours 10 and really surprised myself (& everyone else I think!)

...... So my next challenge at the grand old age of 44  is Manchester Marathon in April. I very much doubt I'll get sub 4 30, but I think I fit in here for training regimes & ability.

I have a running buddy and between us we have devised a training plan which we started this morning of 4 runs a week, including a LSR, starting at 10 miles.

I'm hoping my creaky, achey knees hold up and the sports therapist I've enlisted every 2 weeks makes a difference.

Slow n Steady you should be fine at Manchester, flattest route in the UK now so you could be on for nearer to 4 hours with a good injury free training sesssion....all the best.