Autumn marathon training - anyone?

Hmmm I was supposed to be doing Liverpool last month, but when that got postponed I chose to defer to next year instead of trying in October. Now I'm thinking about seeing if its possible to do one this year still. I'm thinking (if allowed obviously) at looking into a small event in October/November. There are a lot near me so I can easily pick one. Obviously I'm aware that nothing like this may be possible this year, but if I can I just might. It will be my third.

I also let lockdown get the better of my running. While I still went out running I didn't go further than 10K for over 2 months. Currently building back up. Did 9 miles this weekend.

I have a place in the London marathon - first time marathon runner! I can't see it happening in October but I'm training for it just in case. I'm following the intermediate plan on the VLM site but struggling to work out how fast to do each type of run (easy, steady, tempo, long run). There are descriptors for them, but I don't find them very helpful. Any ideas?

Ah that really sucks. If it's any consolation I don't think London will happen in October, I think you have plenty of time to train for the real race

Ah @iVampire that sucks. Swimming is also my go-to when I’ve been injured.

Small silver lining, If there’s ever a ‘good’ time to be injured it’s when there’s no races to miss.

Avulsion fracture - stuck foot in rut and went flying

Did it a couple of weeks ago, I’ve improved a lot in last few days, and can walk quite a way in the fracture boot now - can’t work out if I look more like a Stormtrooper or a Cyberman from the knee down

Will continue the longer walks in my exoskeleton, and now it’s time to see how I get on walking gently round the house without it

Sorry to hear about the foot @iVampire, what's up with it?

Rehabilitation here

Walking only for another 3-4 weeks. Ideally I’d be pool running, but can’t do that. Will have to think of other cross training that’s do-able with a knackered foot

Week 1 for me too.

5 good miles, 2 terrible miles.

Regretting not keeping my miles up and gaining the lockdown spare tyre. It’s going to be a long long way back to marathon fit.

Well that was a frustrating announcement!

5+ more weeks waiting and wondering. Yuk

I wonder how many people’s hotel bookings won’t be working, or can’t fit on trains to get there etc. It seems hopelessly over-optimistic the more I think about it.

London still holding out hope for the 4 October...can't see it but i'll try and put the doubt out of my mind and keep training.

I've done those kinds of events (around airfields, race tracks and rowing lakes) - this one is around a racecourse - as in horse racing. The path around it isn't wide - narrower than a single track country road, so there's really not a lot of room. It's not on the bit the horses race on (which is wide), because that's grass. There's a shingle 'path/track' around the outside of that. It's going to be challenging - especially on only a 2.5 mile loop. Ironically, loos won't be an issue at all - there are LOADS in the grandstand!

I've done events at motor racing circuits, which are really wide. So if you abandon gun time placing and do it all on chip timing and staggered start, then it might be made to work. Still lots of laps (and therefore a bit dull) but I would have a proper event feel esp with a couple of sound systems.

Loos would be a major pitfall though. But if there was a nice screenable outdoor wild area to be an al fresco urinal, and twice the usual number of turdises (plus oodles of cleaning materials, plus no hanging around for a gun start) it might work

I don't think there will be any meaningful races this year. Maybe a few local/small ones. My local half marathon has just moved from being a closed road route (so basically a 'normal' race) to 5 laps of the local racecourse. So no road closures needed. Fewer marshalls/support staff needed (because of loops), but they're saying social distancing will be easier. I'm not sure how that can be, because all the runners are spread out on a 2.5 mile course, rather than across a 13 mile course. It's supposed to be in Oct (already moved from July), but I can't see it happening.

I'm still running, up to around a half sometimes but slowly. I'm definitely nowhere near a race plan.

I have a place for a September marathon. I'm half minded to swap it for a half on drop out if it goes ahead. It seems that everything is being rebooked for September - including a family wedding, a possible holiday. It's a bit much really.

Manchester was to be/will be my first. I want the whole experience. Running for 5 hours on my own, doing loops around my town would make it too hard.

I know some people who have done it though, a shielding friend did a garden marathon, another one did a 13 mile out and back, another one split it into 5 mile loops over the course of the day.

I’m starting to think we won’t see any races this year

I wondered if even April 2021 might be ambitious for something on the scale of London :( it's not just the race itself but the expo, the spectators... I think there's going to have to be quite a fundamental shift in people's risk appetite and expectations to bring events on this scale back. At the moment we are limited to tiny groups, even very low key events are off the table...I can't see us going from that to big races in a matter of months.

I really hope there's some small races by the autumn, I've been doing well at keeping my motivation up but virtual events are really not the same.

I don’t think London will go ahead at all - look at the number of staff and emergency service input needed to close that much of central London. I can’t see them justifying that level of disruption for a small/elite event.

I’ve damaged my foot/ankle, so am glad it’s not long until announcement as I need to sort out if I can possibly be fit for October. If it goes ahead, I suspect I’ll do it (but I’ll be slow (run/walk and probably over 5.5 hours)

If England Athletics lifts its ban on events (I think at the moment coaching outdoors in a group of no more than 6, with distancing, is all that is permitted) then I think there will be enough events to make getting properly fit worth it.

I’d be aiming for an autumn of Halfs then Christmas break, then training programme for spring marathons. Bit like I did last year!

I'm not putting myself through all the training to run the reverse run! I'll happily train properly to run it in April if it gets cancelled.

Running a marathon outside of an organised event is very very much harder than running a race. So many factors come into play - not having to think about the route (just follow everyone else), the absence of the advantage of closed roads (not having to think about what's around you/cross roads etc), crowd (or family) support, milestones to reach (drinks stations etc), cameraderie from other runners, the 'all in it together' atmosphere and adrenaline. So much of marathon running is in the mind, it takes a mammoth mental effort to run that far on your own or 'just because'. Over shorter distances (and even up to half marathon), it's less of an issue, but a marathon is a beast - it's really not just a 26.2 mile run.

I've got a place for London too, but I really can't see it happening. I'm still running 20-25 miles a week, with a long (10-ish mile) run every couple of weeks, to keep things ticking over. I'm fully expecting an announcement to say Oct 4th will be for elite athletes only. I hope so - I've trained for an autumn marathon before, and said 'never again'. Give me cold, wet, dark winter evenings (and mornings) over heat and humidity for proper training all the way. I love lovely long relaxed trail runs in the summer, but 20 miles in the heat... no thanks.

You could sort yourself out a non-organised marathon-distance run? You'd need to plan a track and probably use phone GPS to follow it, but that's not particularly hard work with an arm strap.

I'm biased, I know a lot of folk need the being-in-a-crowd encouragement to comeplte, but I've done one running event and hated the whole thing, much worse for me than running solo.