Runners united (come join us if you are addicted to running!)

Oh and on a final note - HUGE respect to the firefighters in full gear and the squaddies in full uniform and carrying massive rucsacs who completed the race. I can't imagine what the heat must have been like for them.

Hi all, just wanted to say hello and thanks for all the warm wishes.

Physically I'm feeling much better, the sunburnt patches on my arms are getting a bit better (I had P20 on which has never failed me before but I guess the combination of sweat, glaring sun and pouring water over myself didn't help) and the muscle soreness is starting to ease.

A quick race report! Hoping this may help anyone with races to come.

Started off very comfortably a little too fast I think - the first five miles were in the mixed sun and shade of the town so in retrospect I definitely should have made the most of it.

By 5 miles we'd turned east and up the coast road towards Rottingdean, and the full glare of the sun and going uphill started to make it tough. The course looped round through the college at Ovingdean and then up up up towards the turnaround point at Rottingdean. By 10 miles the complete lack of shade or any breeze and the uphill effort had started to tell and I was having a bad patch which lasted until I saw my DH and ds1 at the halfway point.

At this stage I had to have a stern talk with myself and made the difficult decision to take it easier. Probably helped by the fact that I was starting to see people who looked massively fitter than me literally collapse with the heat! DH said afterwards that at that point he was worried sick and would've been happy for me to drop out. No chance! No way was I dropping out, but I was getting increasingly worried I might not be able to finish through no choice of my own.

So .... a steady slow plod from then along the seafront until at just past 15 miles we finally got the chance to turn up towards Hove and it was possible to dart between the patches of shade. Also helped by the lovely people in Hove who provided the best support on the course and in one case turned their garden hose on us! Got a big lift when I saw my friend Claire at 17 miles.

By 19 miles back to the seafront and back in the full glare of the sun again. Trudged onwards towards Shoreham Power Station. Saw DH and ds1 again at 19 miles, Claire again at 21 and 23 after the loop round the industrial area (just awful by the way - no shade, no supporters, no music - nothing to look at but factories and warehouses).

By this stage we all looked like extras from a zombie film - just shuffling away, heads down to avoid the sun. And where was the sea breeze that had been promised? Nothing! Saw DH at 25 miles and he thought I looked quite comfortable, but I think that was because I was taking it steady.

From 25 miles the crowds built up again and I was running for the line - slow and steady but lifted by the cheering. I can't describe the relief and emotion I felt when I saw that finish line and realised that somehow I'd actually made it. I came through cheering and whooping, and probably faster than I'd run any of the rest of the course!

Lessons learned

1. Slow and steady wins the race. I know I set out a little too fast - classic beginner mistake. On a cooler day I would've got away with it, but not on Sunday. Luckily I clued up at 10 miles - by 15 miles I could see the fast finishers at about 24.5 miles (so probably expecting to finish in just over 3 hours?) and a fair number of them were either walking or staggering and looking in a very bad way. Now to me, someone expecting to finish in just over 3 hours is much much fitter and probably more experienced than me - the conditions were truly awful.

Out of 15,000 places taken up, I was told 10,000 started and 7,600 actually finished the race. I don't know how that compares to other races but I wonder how many just didn't respect the weather conditions and went too fast too early.

1. Looking back I was horrendously dehydrated - despite drinking at every water station and sports drink station, and having my own sports drinks, I didn't need the toilet at all. Last time I went before the race was 8.40 am. I didn't go again until 6.15 pm.

1. I need to lose some weight! I think I put on a few pounds over the taper and I must admit I felt heavy and uncomfortable. I'm going to do some more tailored training over the next few weeks and shift some blubber.

So ...... on balance. I have to admit to feeling disappointed by the time, and the fact that it didn't feel as much fun as I had wanted. There were good patches, but the heat just made it into a battle to get round. It wasn't what I was hoping for. But I got round in pretty terrible conditions. Good enough for a first marathon, right?!

moshi you must be proud on so many levels! That is really really lovely. Hopefully that will inspire you when you're running on Sunday too :)

squix (I always type squiz by mistake for some reason...) I'd love to have a listen to that, so thanks for mentioning it.

doyou I'm not nearly knowledgeable or experienced enough to advise, but sounds like moshi knows what she's talking about. I think it's good that you can speed up later on, as most of us tend to slow down rather - mentally that must be an advantage too.

Hello, new to this thread. Room for a small medium sized one?

VLM on Sunday will be my first marathon. Very excited but nervous too, trying to plan for all eventualities.

Doyouthink - your pace/planning sound not dissimilar to mine. Are the 20 milers you mention LSRs or races? Like Moshi mentioned, there are online calculators you can use to gauge estimated finishing time from previous shorter races.

My plan is to aim for 10 min miles for the first 20 (latching on to the Runners World 10min mile pace person if I spot them), then review and, if possible, speed up during the last 6.2 miles. However I will try to tell myself not to get too hung up on pace, and adjust if I feel uncomfortable.

Moshi that is a lovely tribute and gesture from your ds.

Moshi - that's lovely

Just wondering if any one heard the radio 4 programme last night about running a sub 2 hour marathon and if/when it would ever happen? I caught the start on my way home and was wondering if it was worth digging out on iplayer.

Paws I hope you are ok and getting plenty of rest

Moshi so glad you are feeling strong and your niggles have improved, it must give you alot of confidence Hopefully the weather will stay a bit cooler. I would have really struggled on Sunday, I hate running in the heat!!

I have been getting myself in a bit of a tizzy over my race pace so if anyone can give me any advice I'd be grateful I only have a rough time goal, under 5 hours would be good, under 4.45 even better but I have to add in pauses when I (hopefully) find DH and the ds's along the route.

Plan A is to stick to 10.15mm and try to run even splits throughout the race.

Plan B is to start out at 10.30mm and pick up the pace toward the end if I have anything left.

You will all be pleased to hear I don't have a Plan C

In my long training runs I have done the first half slow and the second half trying to get to marathon pace. I always build my pace slowly and then steam home faster than 10mm That's partly because the last 3 miles or so is completely flat and I normally need the loo

I did my 20 milers in 3.36 and 3.34, undulating and some off-road.

Anyone care to tell me what to do

'lo all. was hoping to up training to 3 times a week but my babysitter has gone home for the holidays. dash her!!

never mind but theres not getting out of 2 big runs this week then. meh

Oh I posted a message earlier and it appears to have disappearedand nowdd2 doesn't want me to type 'no puter mummy'

I don't think I said much of substance (no change there) but welcome thetastigmamum - I got v nervious before my last race (8m) as those on here can testify. My previous race I'd retched all along the last 100m or so of the race and I was really worried about it happening again. IN this case, I think worrying about it hlped as it made me slow down a bit (although still went off too fast). It sounds like you are well prepared !!

cest - good tip about mapping an unknown course on the computer. The GSR will be a completely unknown route for me. The only bit of portsmouth I know is the HMS victory ! Mind you, not knowing can be a help - in the kingston run I knew exactly how much firther there was to go by the landmarks !!

Loving the idea of a trip to see you M&M. In fact, a single friend of mine is taking October off for travelling in your part of the world and I asked dh if I could have October off too. He said no.

penguin - I run at all sorts of times. I like running firt thing as its so quiet but have been having such bad nights lately I can't make myself get up in time. So, I tend to end up mid afternoon at weekends. In the mornings I have a banana before running which seems to be ok although the most I've run is 8.5 miles.

Thinking of all the VLM runners - moshi doyou and pass. Hope your week is going well !

Hope you;re doing ok paws and the sunburn isn't too bad.

My bro is still coming down from his high I think. He scraped in just under his 3.15 target which given the sun and the fact he had cramp at mile 22 he did extrememly well. But he's like that .

I'm not an early morning runner penguin, I hate it! My normal time of running is mid morning after the ds's are dispatched to school which gives me time to digest breakfast. I run in the afternnon/evening aswell which I don't mind but before breakfast doesn't suit! I did it at 5.30am last week because of work and it was horrid! I didn't eat before but only did 6.5 miles so wasn't a problem.

Glad I'm not the only one having funny dreams Moshi. I appear to be in a state of constant anxiety at the moment despite constantly telling myself not to to think about it I have had dreams of being late for the start and getting lost during the race I'm now just trying to focus on all the preparation and forget about the actual running.

How are you feeling about it Moshi, raring to go?

LOL Masters nothing short of a rocket behind me would make me as fast as Moshi

It feels like so long since I did a proper long run, I miss it. My recent runs have been comparitively short and I don't feel able to get into my stride!

I'm an eater penguin, I can't possibly run without my two weetabix. In fact I will admit, I have a weetabix addiction. I swear it was the reason I did so badly in my last half marathon was that I was made to eat cornflakes at the hotel instead of weetabix.

Welcome thetasigamum, you sound plenty ready for your half.

Hills, hills, the bane of my life. There is no flat here Peachy I am totally hardcore But not quite Hatty or Twink hardcore just yet.

Either I am running up the blasted things or down them. Squix I have been experimenting with my hill running technique. I can either a) slow right down to slightly faster than walking pace and mentally put myself somewhere else and slowly get to the top or b) I get myself onto the balls of my feet and do some arm swinging. This makes me lift my legs higher and frankly gets the hill over and done with quicker. I am trying to keep up the latter which is quite tough when it's the last hill.

You could all manage my hills and the heat and the altitude, you could. Why not come out en masse and try it for a little running holiday? I could take you to this place and then we could all be as fast as Moshi.

I'm interested in the shock absorbers - I have zilch up top but need a bit of padding. My M&S bra can't cope with the hills so am happy to invest in a shock absorber, if they are padded...

Peachy I must have missed the scan post. I'm delighted that all is well.

penguin, I don't really have a lot of choice about running times! I need to fit running in before work but to be honest I like running more when the world is a quieter place and also, especially in summer, before it gets too hot. I always have breakfast (toast, banana, water) before heading out and always run with Lucozade Sport which isn't short of sugar....

After a very successful running week last week, had a pretty poor start to this one. Did 12k with 4k warm up, 6k at 10k pace (or so I thought) and 2k warm down. Turns out my fast bit was only about 1kph faster than the warm up which I'd suspected cos even the warm up felt heavy and hard. Pretty hard work overall and not a great run from either a technical or fun perspective. Ho hum. Maybe another day's rest would have helped.

How're the VLM people feeling about next weekend? Hopefully you're all having a decent taper...

hi penguin I don't usually run very early, and for short(ish) runs I go out on a couple of large mugs of tea. For longer ones I have a banana and/or a slice of toast about 30 mins beforehand and that seems to work ok

How do people go about running in the mornings? I have to be up at 6:30 most days anyway and tbh I'm not a morning person. Do you eat before you run (because I normally get a stitch if I run within an hour of eating) and if you don't, aren't there issues with low blood pressure/sugar levels?

just sneeking in a quick catch up and post from work....

WELL DONE Paws - been said by so many already but the weather was insane!

Hi thetasigmamum - took me a couple of looks to read that name... and that's when I'm sober and at work rather than posting at midnight after a few ginger beers....

Angechica - I just got some sennheiser sport earphones with strange bar type bits that twist into place and they seem to stay in well whilst sat at my desk... might take them for a run tomorrow morning and test them out properly...

fitted in a 3 mile run this am before dropping kids off at childminders and heading for work.... for me a stteady run, but v slow by all of the rest of your standards ... but I am almost back to being able to run 5k in 30 mins ...

wheely and any others seeking new shock absorbers - if you have an outlet village or similar nearby, its worth checking out... there's a lingerie store in my local retail park that sells them for about 25% less than rrp - I only found it after paying £30 in Debenhams for my last one....

Thanks moshi - I'm not sure how much of it is actual physical improvement, but I certainly feel better - perhaps it's just such a relief not to be completely out of breathe when I'm not doing speed training that it makes everything else feel easier...

Hope paws will be back to fill us in soon - keep sneaking a peek to see if she's posted more details!

I don't think I've welcomed sungirltan and thetasigmamum yet - it's good to have you both on the thread. I've learned loads in the short time I've been on here, and my enthusiasm seems to be growing enormously too!

thetasigmamum I think it's normal to feel like you do, but you sound very prepared and once you've run the race I'm sure you'll be all full of the joys of running again and desperate to enter your next one! I understand the nervesw as I've entered a race that I've since discovered isn't a friendly charity event with loads of walkers to bring up the rear, so I've been worrying that I'll be the last one. But I'm determined to enjoy myself anyway and am using the panic to motivate me to do some decent training...

cestlavie it is great to be able to let out all our running enthusiasm on people that understand! My DH runs but is sooooooooooooo completely disinterested in hearing about my training, and thinks I've made a mistake entering the race mentioned above (so encouraging ) - so this thread has been fantastic for me!

What a lovely friendly thread! Thank you for your encouraging comments. I'm using my phone right now (on train into London for 3 days of conference and meetings) so it's difficult to scroll back and check names. Hope you don't think I am being rude!

The course is incredibly familiar. Except for the start and finish which are in the athletics stadium. Much of it is on our regular route to Sainsburys. So I drive it a lot! And the rest is in the city centre shopping area. I'm not sure whether familiarity helps though. The big hill - which scares me - is on the Sainsbury route and every time we drive there I see several people running which always does my head in! For they are better prepared than me. If also more foolhardy (I really don't believe it's a safe run with the traffic in full flow).

I do a lot of presenting with my job, and yes I always get very wound up about that too!

At least my 10K this morning was easy and uneventful. Small mercies!

Thank you cestlavie and doyou - that makes perfect sense

thetasigmamum - I think nerves are useful before an event - whether it's a race or giving a presentation or something else challenging. I think that nerves show that you care about what you are doing, they also drive me to make sure that I prepare (which it sounds like you are) and also gives me an extra bit of adrenalin to help me on my way. I'd second what cestlavie suggests about reaseraching and visualising the course. I've done a few races where I've not been able to run the route before and have found that helps. It sounds like it's fairly familiar teritory for you anyway even if you've not run it before.

This thread does move quickly doesn't it! I think it may be because it's one of the few places you can talk about running without the person on the other end of the conversation having a slightly bored and pained expression on their face ("really, honey, the split on the second section was 7.45 m/m, that's just fascinating....")

Squix my running style on hills tends to be slow with the occasional whimper. Where I can, I try to shorten my strides to try and keep a little pace in there which I think means you tend to end up running on the balls of your feet more - which is, I think more ergonomically efficient anyway as you've got more forward (and presumably upward) momentum.

Welcome thetasigmamum. Gosh, you've done more than enough training for the half marathon, and certainly more than I've ever done for any of the half marathon's I've done! Practically speaking, given the distances you've been covering you'll easily do the distance on the day it'll just be a question of how fast you'll be.

As doyou says, everyone gets nerves before a race and worries they've not done enough training/ right sort of training etc. especially cos people here are parents with family and often work commitments. For example, I'm away with work then holiday next week so won't be running for 10 days (don't like to think about that too much...) One thing which I find helps with races is to research the course so you can visualise it - remember where drinks stations are, look for landmarks, map it on mapmyrun.com or walkjogrun.net so you can see where any hills are etc. Just makes you feel more prepared. I'm sure you'll love the race itself when you do it - looks like a big race so should have a fantastic and very supportive atmosphere!