Marathon Training

A pox upon them Summerhouse! I know sometimes its unavoidable, but this wasn't the case in either incident, and the lorry sped up

At least tomorrow is my swim day so warm inside!

8 miles and a massive confidence builder for me. I won't go into detail further than to say "runners trots". Seem to have found the problem for me thanks to Dr Google. CMOT I also got a double soaking!

Anglaise thank you! You are always encouraging and it makes a difference. I have found a lot of runners are massively generous with advice and encouragement and you are one of them.

Here's to happy training!

8 miles today, I waited til the rain stopped and there were huge unpassable puddles everywhere so I had to keep turning back and finding new routes. Also a big hairy muddy dog jumped up at me and got muddy prints all up my side at the beginning of my run. Not impressed

12km in howling wind and rain today, plus two very kind people decided to drive through the puddles and give me a shower. I only have 2 choices of long run routes and it was either the really slippy way, or the hilly with lots of field run off.

Our house looks like a shoe drying centre as there are 3 sets of trail running shoes from parkrun yesterday (ours is through the woods and really muddy), dhs cycling shoes, and my road shoes from today. And the sports wash is getting out of hand!

I entered my first olympic/standard distance triathlon for July, so that keeps the pressure on to keep up the swim/bike stuff while upping run miles

8 miles today due to slightly painful ankles, but did 10 on NYD so not too worried.

summerhouse try and enjoy your training, don't be scared, you'll be fine.
yesanotherdesk you were lucky - my 10 miles today was in the driving wind and rain. Didn't really enjoy it much but it is done

My 16 week countdown starts Monday. Scared!

I've got 10 weeks to train for the marathon. First long outing today of 2.5 hours and it wasn't great, should have done the last 30 mins in 12.5kph but it was impossible against the wind. Hopefully next week's long run will be faster. Agree that cross training is great. I like cycling but can never work out how long you should cycle for (I average about 20k/h) to equate to the effort of running 60mins.

I've got a spinning bike at home so think I'll start that as well. Went on short run last night in the howling wind and rain. I think actually it'll be easy to fit the short ones in early in the morning when I don't have much time.

I'm in. Brighton.

Just back from a ten mile run and feeling good!

magic I have done marathon training when I've missed lots of short runs for much the same reasons as you and I suffered more injuries, so do be careful. This time I'm doing some spinning and swimming as cross training which is helping raise my fitness levels without putting extra pressure on my knees. You could also do some leg-strengthening exercises at home.

yetanotherdesk you definitely did the right thing. My dad had a doctor friend who said he'd seen too many runners dead because they'd ran when ill. He said its OK to run if the cold is in your head, but not when it is below your neck, that's when it is dangerous.

You have done the right thing yetanother. There is no excuse for not running other than ill health and injury. I have a theory that people who run are really stubborn so its important to recognise when your body is not up for it. Don't feel bad just get better soon.

Thanks Anglaise, I hadn't thought of it like that. Just used an online calculator and the result was a bit longer than I wanted so I think I will throw in a bit of speed work - luckily live in a hilly area so hill work is quite natural

magic I think it really depends on what sort of time you want to do the marathon it. If you are happy just to finish then long runs will so. If you want to increase your speed then you really need to do some speedwork such as intervals to help your heart rate. If you only run at 9kph you will become very good at doing that but will suffer if you want to run at a faster pace for the actual race.

I'm doing Brighton too. Starting to seriously train now but finding it hard to stick to a proper scheduled training plan due to family life and just wanting to do long distance runs. If I get the chance to go out, I want to make the most of it and do a really long one not just 20 mins like the plans says. So I'm feeling all confused that I'm doing it wrong but it seems to work for me iyswim?

Summerhouse I live in North West France so Stamford would have been lovely but too far. It sounds ideal for a last long race before the marathon.
Brighton sounds really good and Stratford is beautiful - but hilly?
I'll see if I can find a local trail race to do instead of a HM. I'm much more of a trailer anyway, not sure why I want to do another marathon as I have terrible GI problems and it is always worse when road racing.

Just checked the route for the 30k in Stamford and its mostly rural roads and tracks but not laps but sorry to say that its full now so entry is closed.

Stratford is 24th April same as London.

Summerhouse, is that the round and round the track one?