2012 Marathon thread

Teknik- not sure how you do it.  I can run easy in the morning but can't imagine intervals before work... 6x1000 planned for tonight with 200m jogs... it's going to hurt.

My hamstring and calves have been complaining since the xc on Saturday (nothing like the first run of the season in spikes) so not sure how it will go tonight but will give it a go...

Jennie: Good luck, go slow and keep warm

Mon - if I can increase the intervals to 52, and cut the recoveries to zero, I'll be looking at a 3 hr Marathon...now there's a plan!

Sounds like everyone is coming along a treat! I am struggling with a sore foot these past couple of days.  Toe nail on second to big toe is coming off was told to pull it off but its too sore to touch! and pain along top and side of the same foot, don't know why its suddenly come about.  I did two and a half miles easy yesterday and was fine whilst running but afterwards it was rather painful!

So its a core conditioning class for me tonight - the local tri club run it, I have been thinking of joining a tri club since I bought my road bike and  for this class, running, swimming and cycling coaching - all for £15 a year I think I'll take the plunge and join!

Teknik- interesting approach.  Hope you're not planning on putting it into practice

Rachel- ouch!  Sounds painful.  Would leave the toe nail alone if I were you. The tri club sounds great.  I'm guilty of not doing enough core/ strength exercises.

No Pain- how you manage with the snow?  I found last year I just about managed easy runs but anything faster was a challenge... Glad it's not a common problem here...

Tough track session last night.  Was a bit knackered and the hamstring was not happy but it seems better today so fingers crossed it's on the mend.  Recovery 5 miles tonight for me and hopefully a core session afterwards.

I'm itching to start with the P&D schedule. 

14 miles this morning in Sun, sleet, rain and cold.

Mon77 last year I did 90% of my runs outside and enjoyed running in the snow did a few 23mile runs when it was -12 to -18 here but makes you hard. P&D 24 week plan already started another 70+ mile week ends on Saturday.

Rachael - ouch.  You might want to try re-lacing your shoes in a different fashion, to see if it makes a difference to the foot pain.  Failing that, when's the last time you had your gait analysed? Might need different shoes...

Mon: which P&D are you going to do - 55 or 70?  On your existing mileage the 18/55 early weeks will be a breeze for you.

No Pain. Wow. Just wow.

Teknik- doing the 70mpw one.  The first few weeks look ok... the one thing I think I might struggle with most is the long run with big chunks done at MP.  I think the first week has got something like 16 miles with 10 done at MP... I didn't do this kind of training for my previous maras and I can imagine that holding my target mara pace for this distance when tired will be challenging. 

Otherwise just trying to figure out how to fit my xc races into the schedule.  Saturdays are meant to be recovery runs... I can imagine that after a tough xc I might struggle with a long run on Sunday.   I might try to reshuffle long runs so that at least I'm not doing them at MP after a race.  I want to stick to the schedule as much as possible but don't want to miss out on xc... Oh well- something will have to give. Any advice?

Mon: Remember I'm the guy who keeps failing to execute the plan and race properly, so take this with a pinch of salt...

P&D have 8k to 15k tune-up races before the LSR on weeks =-2/-4/-6. These could be xc races (but might be too late in the season).

You could drop the mid week Lactate runs in weeks -17 to -7 and replace them with a saturday xc (but again, as you say, it will probably be too much for the sunday MP chunk long runs in weeks -16, -13 and -9). Plus I am assuming your xc race pace is similar to your lactate threshold pace...

Or you shift the long runs to some day in the week...monday morning 5am? Ouch.  Treadmill 20 miler Wednesday after work? mmmmm....

Teknik- lol.  Yep, Monday morning 5am should solve the problem. 

My 3rd mara, female, 34.  My pb from Amsterdam in October 3:42:48.  Will be aiming for 3:35.

No Pain- good idea.  I might try to build up to it over the next couple of weeks before starting the schedule.  Very impressive times.

second that, truly awesome NP.

5th marathon, male 46, serial failure to break 4h.  Running Milton Keynes aiming for 3h50.  PB 4h15 Berlin.

Looking for some way to avoid losing 20mins in last 6 miles.

For the last two years I have pushed the pace in everyother long run to MP or below for the last 4 to 6 miles. Also I run up to 10 miles the day before, I also try to run 10 x 20mile runs with a few upto 23 miles. This has worked for me.