Any Autumn marathoners?

[devilinmyshoes]

Lost count of the number of marathons I've entered and been unable to complete due to injury injury injury or annoyingly difficult illness (graves). Currently preparing for Valencia in November, which is lovely and flat 😊

Hope am not jinxing self by starting this thread but need some long run and marathon chat!

[lastqueenofscotland]

Me! Got hull (glamorous) next month.

[devilinmyshoes]

Is Hull not very nice? I know it's in the north somewhere but that's all. I think I saw on the general running thread you're going to do 18, 20, 20 then what, taper?

I have big mental obstacles with Long Runs and route planning but sheer desperation and warmer weather helps. Currently hovering at 15 and would like to do 3x 20s if possible, so far injury free but my weekly mileage is very very very low.

[lastqueenofscotland]

I don't mind Hull it's just not all that smart!

I'm doing the great north run the week before cause I am idiot.

[MotherFuckingChainsaw]

Is the hull one any good?

I'm not too far away, and looking for one as my first, next year.

[MumOnTheRunCatchingUp]

Peterborough half coming up

Awaiting London marathon ballot news

[devilinmyshoes]

My next (and last before marathon) half is off road and about 4 or 5 weeks away, then I think it's 8 weeks until the full. I can only dream of being fit and strong enough to race the week before!

[lastqueenofscotland]

I think the last few miles of hull are meant to be a slog. But you get to run over the bridge and it's pretty flat.
Got fairly good reviews last time so why not! The Yorkshire marathon is meant to be super flat and it's in York so maybe a bit prettier

[Wrongornot]

Me!

Did Edinburgh (pancake flat) in May and just signed up for Loch Ness (September 25th) on a whim!

Not done anything over half marathon distance since May (did Dublin half last weekend - was fabulous!) - tell me I am not totally crazy?!

[lastqueenofscotland]

Wrong you'll be fine, but I'd get a couple of 16/17s in sharpish!

[missmapp]

I am ! I have entered my first marathon in November. It is a local one, but very hilly. I have done a few halfs before but starting to feel a bit nervous . Trying to stick to a training plan . Any top tips from you experienced runners will be greatly appreciated !

[devilinmyshoes]

:) Yay there are a few of us!

Loch Ness looks the most amazingly beautiful course you definitely have time to do a few longer runs Wrong.

Hi Miss, hopefully people with experience of actually running marathons (rather than injuring themselves in preparation for them) will come along but in terms of sticking to a training plan I'd try to remember the long run is the crucial and unmissable run, anything you do in the week will keep you ticking over but is not vital in the way the long run is. So if you skip or amend your midweek runs it won't hurt as long as you complete the long ones. How far are you up to now?

I'm just getting used to running with a hydration thing, camelbak, at the moment, I guess now is the time to experiment with fluids and fuel on the run. For someone who drinks gallons of water and soft drinks in daily life I struggle to do it on the run so I've set my garmin to give me a 15 second drink break every 20 minutes or so and that's definitely helped.

[missmapp]

Thanks for the tip devilinmyshoes . I am up to 15/16 miles, but did 11 this sun ( long run day) as my brother said not to go too far too early. I am a teacher, so am making the most of the summer holidays to get more mid week evening runs in before term time exhaustion hits.

Hope the camel thing works. I hate carrying bottles when I run, so don't have a drink with e . Let me know how you find it . I am hoping November will be cool ( though not too wet please!)

Lochness looks amazing, and Valentia sounds fab. Mine is the path and Downs in kent, not quite so picturesque !

Glad I found this thread.

[Anglaise1]

I'm not doing an autumn marathon but I've done a couple of spring marathons and I'm doing a 75km trail race in the mountains of the the south of France at the end of October this year, not sure if that qualifies me to join this thread!
A long run is very important but doing some speedwork each week (intervals) is also very important as it builds your short muscle fibre and helps with your cardio. I don't think there is any need to do a run over 20 miles for marathon training. Hydration is very important, and generally you need to eat something at 30kms as your body physically can't fuel more than that on reserve. For the marathons themselves I've never carried water or food as there are plenty of food and water stations usually every 5kms or so but a camelbak for long summer runs is a very good idea.

[devilinmyshoes]

Your trail race sounds 😍😍😍 I sometimes have a recurring dream about running a never ending mountain race which is odd because I live in East Anglia which must be one of the flattest regions on earth.

When you say eat something at around 30km do you think liquid fuel will do? I've put my canelbak bladder in an OMM backpack with extra carrying space for separate bottles, intending to drink neat multipower energy charge drink. It's disgusting but I can stomach it on the run. I've had some bad experiences in the past with things coming straight back up within a mile or two of consumption!

[Anglaise1]

Hi Devil, regarding food and drink - I have suffered quite badly in past long races with stomach problems so I only ever drink water and eat bananas or jelly babies during marathon training and the race itself. An energy drink might be enough for you, but I always looked forward to my jelly babies - they are quite easy to eat (unlike Haribo) and give an immediate sugar boost.
I live in Brittany, France which is also very flat - it isn't easy to find places to train for 5km ascents! Marathon training is much more straightforward.

[devilinmyshoes]

I can't even imagine a 5000m of climb. It makes my 'hillier' routes into a joke! Bananas seem to be the one food I can eat and run on immediately, in my better days I could have porridge two or three hours before a run and be fine but these days it suits me to eat carbs, especially white normal pasta, the night before a long run and a banana or even two in the morning.

I enjoyed playing with my pace this afternoon, thanks for the suggestion. I'm sure there are far more scientific ways of doing it but I jogged slowly behind the dogs then faster to catch up with them then slowed down again and so on. Mostly because under vets orders one spaniel must be allowed to set the pace for the whole group (degenerative joint disease but he's used to canicross and mustn't feel any pressure to go faster than he's comfortable with).

[Anglaise1]

Devil any speedwork is good no matter how scientific and catching up with the dogs is a great idea! I run with a club and it is much easier to do intervals on a track where they are measured than in 'normal' runs.
The 30 seconds jog followed by 30 seconds as fast as possible is also a great cardio work out (done at least 12 times). Not easy but effective and easy to do even if you aren't on a track.
I run with my dog (a border collie) too, but he keeps trying to round me (and my running friend) up when we do speedwork.

[devilinmyshoes]

30:30 sounds like a fun challenge, I was scoping out flat(ish) terrain on my walks this morning (with not much luck, we have 5 miles of private tracks and are v lucky but we churn them up with horses over a muddy winter and in summer it all sets into very lumpy concrete with big holes everywhere) but think it's worth driving into town and making 20-30 minutes spare one day to do it on road/pavement somewhere.

My running club doesn't have a track or even a permanent HQ, but they do do twice weekly sessions of speed work and hills and various other workouts that are really beneficial, easier to do in a group, but it's an effort to get there in time. I logged my work (dog walking) miles over a few weeks and average about 55 from Monday to Friday, anything from 6-10 miles a day, so I rarely feel like doing anything on my feet in the evening. Unless it's a summer trail or social run!

[Anglaise1]

Speedwork is definitely more fun and more motivating in a group, there is nothing more difficult than doing measured intervals in a certain time on your own. I'm lucky that I can get to one of the evening weekday sessions and on Sunday morning we also do some speedwork in the winter. Plus I have a friend who is about the same level as me and we did all our marathon training together which was good as we started at Christmas for March marathons and the weather is usually pretty cold and wet in Jan and Feb here.
30/30 is easier.You do a lot of dog walking miles, impressive! My poor dog only gets runs now, well I run, he never breaks out into more than a trot unless there is a squirrel/deer/hare/wild boar to chase.

[devilinmyshoes]

Long runs are much nicer with friends I think, it would be extra horrible to go out on roads alone in the winter. Hate roads. I had canine company from mile 12 today which helped, especially as calf had rapidly gone from fine for first 5 miles to no you can't run on me by mile 13, I really hope this isn't my 4th serious calf strain and will improve with rest. In the past there has always been plenty of warning and it was always my own fault for ignoring it but it feels a bit unfair when I've been so cautious.

How far is your dog happy to go with you? I have lots of fit working or working type dogs to exercise each day and I'd love it if one or some of them could come with me for further than around 10k (I'm sure they cover many times that, I'm just measuring it by my own distance) but I don't know how you go about safely building their mileage and what sort of upper limit to set.

[Anglaise1]

I took my dog with me on a lot of the long runs I did for marathon training, so up to 32kms, and I'm sure he could have done twice as much easily! But it was in the winter, so cooler. I take him on long runs now, but in the morning or evening. He is fine. The only time I worry is when my son comes with us on his bike and the dog often stops with him then runs with him, so a much faster speed than his normal trotting pace with me.
If your dogs are working ones and used to exercise, I'm sure they'd have no problem on even your long runs as long as it wasn't too hot.

[devilinmyshoes]

They're not my actual own, I run an animal care company which is essentially just me going out for long dog jogs and walks with some canine athletes, or sitting on an equine athlete.

Only ELEVEN more long training runs before the marathon!!! One of which is a half (race). I'm feeling unusually confident after a painless and relaxed 17 miles, very very near my longest ever training run (18 miles) so will be huge psychological boost to get beyond that. I think I'll just bobble around the 15-17 mile mark for the next few weeks then take it up to 20, back down, another 20 (in case first was not nice) then a half then maybe a few miles a few days before to get the feel of the place. I think I get there a week early. I AM SO EXCITED! No more imaginary calf problems either 😃 my body and brain play some horrible tricks on me sometimes.

[devilinmyshoes]

I did spew up that awful drink three times but it was much less dilute than usual, further experimentation is needed.

[devilinmyshoes]

Anyone still out there?