Shades Marathon Training

Welcome Vanessa - yes plan stil available, you need to mail me your email address as can't send attachments via RW.    Now you should enter a 10k race.

Clag - well done at the Park Run, great time, you speedy thing!  

(((Khanivore))) - pick yourself up, get back to healthy eating and start looking after yourself again.   I'm sure you will still get a good PB today despite everything.  And as you say lesson learnt.

Good luck to all racers today, especially VR doing her 99th marathon....if she managed to leave that Irish bar in Barcelona in reasonable time

Thanks Shade, I've messaged you.

I have already entered Mo Run 10k which is in 4 weeks and am planning to enter the Milton Keynes half during their festival of running in March.

Looking forward to it

My 10k today was interesting. First of all according to my garmin it was a few metres short of 10k, maybe I cut a corner who knows but the main negative about this is that Strava is not showing my new personal best. I did get a new personal best It is 51:38. While I am happy I got a PB I am rather unhappy with the way I ran the race.

The big surprise for me was how hilly the course was. I had no idea there were hills in that part of croydon. Hardly any of the course was flat. The first mile was bang on at my desired pace of 8:20. Somehow I ended up sprinting the second mile at 7:23 as much of it was downhill. While this did not hit my legs too much it did send my heart rate rocketing and left my lungs gasping. I paid for this during the rest of the race. The rest of the race was a REAL struggle. I had to really dig deep to get up the hills and I did not really enjoy it. Now that might be because of all the uphill but I suspect it is more to do with the fact that i sprinted the second mile. I have no way to know. All I do know is that it was nothing like the smooth training runs I have been doing.

So, a valuable lesson was learned about pacing which is good. A PB was achieved which is good. However, I am pretty sure I can go faster. 

The half marathon I am running in November is pan flat. The only variable is the wind. My intention is to run that at a pace which will get me a time of 2 hours and stick to my pacing plan religeously. If I fall short at least I know I can try a slightly slower pace on the next 1/2 marathon. If I finish too strong I know I can try a faster pace the next time. 

I am really enjoying this running lark. These races really add to my enjoyment of running. 

A little about the race itself. It was totally different to the Brighton 10k I ran. Brighton was all off road. In this race we had to run on the footpath and there were cars waiting at some points while the martials found a gap for them. This somehow took away from the enjoyment. At Brighton they integrated the timing chips in to every racing number. Here we had to queue up for chips to attach to our shoes which were then (efficiently) removed at the end. There were several supporters along the route which was really nice as they encouraged us along, just like at Brighton. 

Slowkoala - that's a cracking time for 10 miles, well done.   I think you can recalculate your training paces from that time.    Hope you survived the party, that would have been more tiring than the race.

Khanivore - a great PB for you too, brilliant.  Not good the course may have been a bit short, but I'm sure can find another 10k soon.    Pacing in a race is probably one of the hardest things to get right and even experienced runners get it wrong (frequently).

Emmy - that's brilliant, I'm so pleased for you...and I think that mojo is back now

I had a shockingly bad run, no energy and every niggle hurt, just not a good day.  But we had great weather and I still managed to enjoy it but disappointed to finish in 5.11.   But a good day, the girls on the cake stall had saved me a piece of gorgeous coffee and walnut cake and I still managed to pick up prize for my age group!

Emmy - hope you're doing a little race report for us.

Well done to VR who completed here 99th marathon yesterday.  This time next week we'll be getting ready for a 9am start at Dublin for her 100th.

I ran quite a lot of yesterday's race with a friend doing his 499th marathon, doing his 500th at Woolwich Tunnel this weekend.

Vanessa - will email you the plans tonight  Good news you've entered a 10k race

Shades - So erm what sort of times should i be looking at for working towards a 3:45? Half, 10 mile and 10k really as i kinnda ignore 5k's being they are generally several hours drive away from me or bloody hilly if they are local.

Being I have done the sub 4 i suppose i should look at the next step faster. It's 8:30's roughly for a marathon for sub 3:45 right?

Morning all,

@Shades - Sorry to hear that you had a bad day at the office yesterday but well done on the 5.11 and the cake! I'm jealous - all I got was a banana! I'm not sure if the mojo is entirely back but i'll write up a report today and post it so you can see what I mean.

Does anyone know how VR got on?

Shades - sorry to hear about the niggles and lack of energy. Can you think of anything in your race prep that lead to this? Well done on the prize though! Sounds like you did brilliantly despite being unhappy with your time!

VR - wow 99 marathons. I worked out how long it would take me to get there and realised it is unlikely i will do so!

Keith - have a play at this website. http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/general/rws-race-time-predictor/1681.html

According to this the following times will predict a 3:45:00 marathon:

1/2 marathon: 1:48
10 mile: 1:21
10k: 0:49

Hmm a combination of the above website, the pace calculator and some day dreaming makes me think that a 4hr marathon may be within my grasp. I wonder if i can train myself to a point that I can run a marathon at a pace of 9:10 min/mile by the time of the marathon.. hmm 

I guess I should stop daydreaming until I have done the 1/2 marathon at least. Still, this does give me a target time/pace to attempt at the first of my two 1/2 marathons. I will try to run at a pace of 8:50 min/mile there.

Here's the full report:

I started out the weekend by taking the train into Amsterdam. Everything was going well until I managed to get lost from the metro station to the place we were staying! I was met by a forumite and we all went to the expo together.

After my run on Friday – I was not holding out hope of this one; even until the last 200metres!

The day itself started like normal. I couldn’t sleep the night before, followed by a good breakfast. We decided to risk the first tram and managed to get to the start without too much fuss. I had found some toilets the day before that looked ‘hidden’ away… I was right – no one was in there on marathon morning! It was relatively cold with a little rain but the wind was my worrying factor. I wore long tights followed by 2 layers so I was relatively warm out of the wind.

We said our ‘good lucks’ and headed to our respective pens where my GB top got a lot of looks! The start was quick and I passed the line in the back group in under 12 minutes. I started to feel a niggle in my shins very early on and just hoped that if I relaxed everything – it would go away. Funnily enough – it didn’t affect me for the entire race.

The route starts out with an 8km loop before heading out into the countryside. It was nice to start off the run by seeing the last km’s of the marathon but if I’m honest – there is nothing spectacular about the route from my dazed recollection! As we hit the river I knew that I would reach my ‘tough zone’. Almost 10km of out and back with no cover from the wind.

I had programmed my Garmin to the times that Shades had said and tried my hardest to keep to them. There were some points where I struggled but I hope that when I look at my averages – it will be relatively level.

Coming back into the city; I commented to some people how incredibly dull it was. Going through the industrial estate and the ‘lonely’ parts of the city with limited support were a little soul destroying…. Also seeing a DJ call me French was another low point (especially as I had a union jack vest on!).

Coming back into the city – the last 6km’s are really nice and I heard shouts from some friends. Right on cue – I started to feel a little better, had a little more bounce in my step and surprised myself with how much I stayed on my feet and running. I ran with a variety of different people and really enjoyed helping each other along the route.

Coming down to the last km’s; I saw that sub 5 was in sight but I never wanted to convince myself or let it get away from me. When I came into this day – I said anything around 5.10 would be great and I’d be ecstatic…. This was a day of all sorts! Up to the last km I stayed on track and dug in deep. Everything hurt but it was there. The end was in sight.

Coming into the stadium – I didn’t hear much; well minus a few forumites screaming: You’re on track for sub 5 – go Emmy! Crossing the line -  I met someone I ran with for a few km’s and his first words were: How the hell did you get here so quickly!?!

Then crossing the line and getting medals – I was a little disappointed that there was no goody bag. No plastic bag with free samples/offerings… it was a real disappointment. Just like the rest of the route – we were given cups of water. I was so lucky that I thought to bring a bottle as at the end – I really had a thirst and always like to drink after I’ve stopped and stretched. I ended up giving the bottle to another runner as they were in such a bad shape.

After a beer, getting changed we made our way on the metro

#2

back to the flat where I winced as the hot water went over some painful chaffing L After a few bubbles – I made my way home and sat next to another marathon runner and we ended up talking the entire way about the race!

Here’s the splits.

5 km34:14 (34:14) (pee stop included)
10 km1:07:08 (32:54)
15 km1:40:27 (33:19)
20 km2:14:43 (34:16)
21,1 km2:22:42
25 km2:50:48 (36:05)
30 km3:26:45 (35:57)
35 km4:05:27 (38:42) (wheels fell off a little)
40 km4:40:53 (35:26)
Net time 4:55:53
Speed 8,556 Km/Hour

Lovely race report Really enjoyed reading it. I see you broke the speed of sound along the way Congratulations!

hello all, how is everyones prep for dublin going? xx

Shades, MacMillan have my training paces as follows. Does this sound right to you? Do you still want me to stick to the slower end of these?

Recovery Jogs – 10:14 to 10:59
Long Runs – 9:10 to 10:28
Easy Runs – 9:08 to 10:06
Tempo Runs – 8:14 to 8:32

Keith - for sub 3.45, you'd need about a 47min 10k, 1h 20 10 miler and 1h 46 half.   and yes 8.30 m/m would get you sub 3.45

Emmy - VR did fine at Barcelona but misjudged the weather and found it a bit hot with no sun cream or hat.

Well done again on your sub 5, that is a huge PB and a major milestone to achieve.    I've never done Amsterdam but I had heard that a lot of the course was very dull.   Your pacing was pretty good.   Are you sore today?

Khanivore - no, there was no particular reason, just not 100% on the day, race prep was fine and only a mile to travel to the race so stress free day.   

Your half marathon time will give the best indication of correct marathon training paces and predicted marathon time.    Have another half (or two) planned for next year too before your marathon.

bootsie wrote (see)

hello all, how is everyones prep for dublin going? xx

Bootsie! I was thinking about you! How are you getting on after your Appendicitis?

@Mowser - sorry - i missed your earlier post. I knew that Abingdon did transfers but didnt realise that it was available so close. I think they definitely have the right idea - and one I wish other organisers would follow!