Snowdonia Marathon

Hi all, 

I am all booked in to take part in the Snowdonia Marathon in 12 weeks time and I am actually looking forward to it.  This will be my second marathon after completing Beachy Head last year (just walking).

My training has been going well and I have seen some great improvements, I have now completed a number of half marathons and numerous 10K's, but I can't seem to increase my mileage up to marathon training without getting ill.  Nothing serious, just colds and bad chests, but still annoying and requiring time off of training. 

I have put a new training plan together using a mixture of the RW Smartcoach and Macmillan pace calculator and I have not increased my mileage any more that 10% per week at most.

It would really help if any of you marathon veterens have any advise for a newbie marathoner as I am that point where I am wondering if I will make it to the start line.  I would be happy to email my training plan to anyone who thinks that they can help.

Thanks in advance...

TT

I ran snowdonia last year, although it sounds tough because it is in the vicinity of the tallest mountain in Wales, that doesn't actually mean it is that tough, it's almost all onroads. It took me 4hrs 20, about 20 mins longer than my best flat marathon, I walked up all the hills. There's a very steep down hill at mile 24, where you have to be careful not to fall rather than take advantage of the decent, the leader last year fell on that bit and couldn't finish the race.

 I wont give you any training tips, I just run, preferably with someone to talk to

hello TT76 have you tried taking Echinacea, it boosts your immune system, it was recommended to me when upping my mileage training for London marathon this year, it seemed to help and am using it in my training for Snowdonia mara also, and eat well.

The only advice I can give you for your training is listen to your body, if it needs a rest give it a rest, and long slow runs are exactly that don't push the pace 1 - 1.5 minutes slower than your predicted marathon pace.  As Insomniac says, Snowdonia is not as bad as the image the name portrays, it is Snowdonia not Snowdon, except for mile 21ish, big climb. 

There is someone on RW who has an online coaching forum Micksta I think, have a look for it, if I find it I will post you a link.

Happy running

Micksta coaching thread

Thanks guys,

It is nice to know that Snowdonia is not as bad as the name suggest, I have a vague imagae of running in and out of the clouds!!

Tom - I did try Echinacea but two weeks after starting to take it I got a chest infection!  Most likely a conincidence but enough to put me off trying it again!  I think I have been running my long runs too fast or my races too slow as I am running them both at the same pace!

I know I can comfortably do 11-11:30 min/miles on a long run (at under 60-65% WHR) but can't break 2:25:24 for a half which is just over 11mi/miles.  Should I be slowing down in my training runs or speeding up in races?  I have a funny feeling I need to slow down in training in order to stop burning out and i'll eventually get faster??

Maybe Ishould email Micksta....