Edinburgh 2014 - chasing the hairy haggis

[Mitchy1nge]

thread for anyone training for the full marathon or the half or any of the other events

it's my first marathon so am very excited, I know that in theory if I can do 21 miles then 26 (plus 385 yards) is achievable but only started running again a few months ago, it's so much more addictive than it used to be

Sorry to hear tha louwn, it sounds as if you are a bit run down, if you are not sleeping and have swollen glands :-(. Do you need to see a doctor?

I need to do lots of miles to get my endurance up, as I'm old , slow and not very fit . And I don't do much else apart from run, and a wee bit of body pump at the gym twice a week.none of this cross fit malarkey

I watched this programme last night, it's about two Irish athletes , one is 71 and chasing a world record and the other is 91!

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/tv/episode/b03vrn1q/True_North_Series_2_Run_Grandad_Run

Kristina I bet you are some super elite age grouper!

hooe you feel better soon louwn, 18 miles! why is it so hard to get the sleep we need? People bang on about eating enough but I think sleep is under discussed.

am increasingly worrying that I have an inbuilt cut off point, a maximum weekly mileage of about 25-30 miles (as part of a slightly bigger overall training volume) and that I'm just not going to be able to do it without bits of me breaking down - but surely if you are careful and consistent and get loads of rest then almost anything is possible over time?

Ha ha, Mitch

But I wouldn't mind being like the guy in the tv programme going out cycling and running aged 91. Just a few years to go ......

Hoping all the injuries are continuing to heal

I'd like to be that way too if I live that long (nobody ever has in my family, oldest probably not even 80, wonder why?)

LOVED today's run alrhought it felt quite hard at times

the business end of our training is coming now isn't it! yikes

A family friend of ours has just died aged 99. Until 6 months ago he was still living at home. A year ago, aged 98, he was going to the gym several times a week and still paying 9 holes of golf ( albeit using a wee buggy thing, whatever they are called ) . At 97 he was still driving from Edinburgh to see us -we live 40 miles away . He was giving expert opinion in court in his 80s. Amazing :-)

I have been to a dr, had a course of antibiotics and feeling a bit better but not going running until tomorrow (after a week off, eek!) as I'm still bloody knackered! Mitchy I know, I feel a little scared! Having done the 18 miles I feel a bit more confident and planning to do 20 next weekend. Will be hard getting back to my 5 runs though, fitting around work and social life is pretty difficult sometimes. How is everyone else finding fitting it all in?

Lou, sorry to hear you have been ill. I'm sure you've done the right thing taking the time off, you don't want to get one of those nasty post viral things < medical term> . Remember you need to go back slowly for two weeks and resume normal training in week 3 only if you are feeling better.

I am quoting from Paula Radcliffe " how to run" [ wags finger bossily]

ooh really - was just planning to launch back in, am I doing the wrong thing?! I don't have enough weeks left to add another two in : (

Ooh I am only quoting you what Paula says in How to Run, p137 entitled don't train when you're unwell

If you are ill " systemically ie a feeling of general unwellness throughout the whole body, don't risk it-rest until you are better. Your body needs time to recuperate and heal itself. Everybody is different, so this could take up to a week or longer. Once the illness has run its course, you can slowly get back to training. Be strict with yourself and do very little in the first week back , and only a little more than that in the second week. If everything goes according to plan ,you're feeling great and sleeping well, then you can usually resume normal training in week three "

She goes on to say scary stuff about pushing your body and immune system to breaking point and having a relapse, beckoning more ill or getting post viral fatigue syndrome

Disclaimer -I am not a doctor and only a beginner runner so have no expertise or experience in this field. I would say ask your doctor, but I know my GP would just say " of take a few months off , what do you expect at your age " blah blah blah which isn't much help ....

Might be worth checking out some reputable running sites for advice .

If you have already done 18 then you can afford to have a few weeks easing back into it...honestly! That's certainly what I would do ( medically trained but no longer practising)
If its good enough for Paula.....

OK. I will need to do a long run next weekend as away the weekend after but will and take it relatively easy this week. I feel better but lots of lymph nodes are still swollen (and some of them have been for a while now) so think they are likely to send me for some tests.

hope you are all better soon louwn, don't know what to think about running when ill, either I don't become unwell very often or I conveniently forget about it pretty quickly

would quite like to run today but busy helping daughter #1 move, my children all seem to be obsessed with moving into flats that are a few floors up, is probably a good substitute for running!

just tried to run, could only do 1.25 miles due to pain - but better than nothing?! went for a bike ride instead as that doesn't hurt and going to do some strength stuff in the form of squats and sit ups I think.

Oh dear Lou :-(

hope you had a nice ride at least, am sure the bike and the weights and squats will do much more good than running in pain!

out with my slow Joggers in a minute, if I stick to the Edinburgh plan (first timers, option 1 ) this is a very light week with the long run only 7 miles at the weekend, that is quite a nice thought to be honest

How are you all doing?

I am still on my base phase so did a longer run yesterday , only 16km /10 miles so a warm up for most of you. I was SO SLOW and really tired afterwards. More of a jog/walk than a run. I'm such an old crock

I know I need to get my long runs up as I start my training proper in 10 days and I have six runs of race distance ( or slightly longer ) to do in the first 8 weeks

I keep telling myself that it was the same when I started to run,doing the C25K . I remember when it came to week 6 or something and you had to run for 20 mins and everyone on the thread saying " I don't think I can possible run for that long " . But of course we all did .

poor Kristina, 10 miles is a Long Run by anyone's reckoning, longest I've run in one go this year anyway. Your training schedule sounds utterly gruelling. Do you find you need much more sleep than usual? It won't be any comfort to you to know that I really am very slow, I did 10 miles on Saturday at my 11:30 pace and it felt quite tough at times

Actually I don't understand why any of us are doing this! I'm so tired today I want to cry, although probably not so much from running but from a couple of days of lifting and carrying such heavy things in and out of vans and up flights of stairs, lack of sleep etc as well as the usual crapness of life - also am mysteriously 3kg heavier than last week despite being the same size all over, my dodgy calf is complaining all the time and the pain in the arch of that foot is pretty constant. Physio is not until Tuesday but I only have running club tonight, a fastish 10k on Thursday and 7 miles on Saturday. Typing that out makes it sound highly manageable.

Sorry tone are that the calf is still niggly minge. And why have you been moving so much stuff . Is this your idea of cross training or are you a removals person?

I have not weighed myself as none of my clothes are any looser and I'd just find it depressing . I don't understand how I can be using an extra 700-900 calories a day but not getting thinner. I keep seeing other threads about how people do a couple of classes at the gym a week and the weight just falls off them or , worse still! they just " run after a toddler".

When I read the last sentence of your post I was reminded of an article I read recently about the history of womens distance running and about the international Olympic committee debating if women were capable of running 10,000m. In 1988!!!! I re read it several times because I was sure they must mean 1888.

So 25 years ago the IOC weren't sure if the worlds top female athletes could run 10,000m and now middle aged housewives go out and run 10k before they do a days work . Several days a week. And no one thinks anything of it.

I can't get my head round this at all. Maybe we are superwomen and we don't know it .

and much more recently than that, the history of women and the marathon distance especially - have you read Kathrine Switzer's marathon woman?

but other sports too, as recently as 2004 (2006?) some IOC man dismissed the prospect of al women's ski jump event as being medically problematic because the training involved lots of jumps throughout the year

not cross training, helping my daughter move

I have never heard anyone recommend trying to lose weight while training for a marathon! It will feel like running through treacle or wet cement. That's how I felt when my net calorie intake was only about 400 calories some days (obviously was eating way more than that but if you subtract calories burned through running) I think you need to eat all those calories or most of them back! From what I've read a small percentage (11 I think) of people lose weight, the same amount gain a little but most break even. But that doesn't tell us anything about changes in body shape, they are probably favourable?

< looks severely at flabby belly to scare it into turning to leg muscle >

I've not run since my sabotaged trail race on Sunday as I've been away..not feeling motivated at all but need to get back to the plan.

Me too, I've not run for two days because of a funeral and work/kids stuff. So won't make my distance target for this week.

Am thinking of doing a different Parkrun tomorrow where they have pacers in a attempt to get my rubbish time down a bit. I tell myself that it will improve when I start the traing programme proper and start some speed work < deluded>

I am probably almost definitely going to withdraw from Edinburgh, my lower limbs (and feet, if they are not included as 'limbs') are both in a parlous state. Not sure what has happened to the left leg but it's extremely painful to run with, not great at walking, ok at rest. Sharp pains radiating out from a bruised bit on the inside edge of that foot. Had to bail out yesterday and have been wallowing in self pity ever since.The other leg hurts less while running and the foot especially is maddening when it's not in use. Am so rubbish at physical discomfort, it's making me depressed.

There is also the matter of the debilitating fatigue which I thought was training related but something has gone quite drastically wrong with my lithium levels so that should at least be easy to fix.

I will stick roughly with the training schedule, probably not running further than 5 or so miles at weekends though, and I might do the Edinburgh half marathon instead, but I feel better for taking the distance pressure off.

Oh that's a shame mitchy :-( I was gutted when I had to pull out last year but sometimes it is the right thing to do.
I sorted out my motivation this morning and did my planned 15 miles today. Might have a sleep this afternoon....