Half marathon new thread

[londonmummy1966]

Starting a new half thread - as we are running out of space - no I'm ot envious of the lucky guys with London places - no not at all...

My hips hurt during the night but I'm OK now. Tired and starving though!

Hey fifty, the provisional results are up and we seemingly overtook 12 people!

Well done 5908 and slippery

I actually got out for a run after a week off and on the back of that and paying a big bill...and so I entered the New Forest Half as a reward

Yay for overtaking you two!

Maybe I should consider a GP trip. I started taking some iron supplements back in September after some of you mentioned it then and felt a lot better for them so have kept going. But i don't think this can entirely be down to disrupted sleep, so it's probably wise to go.

The New Forest half looks wonderful still, a good reward!

With option to upscale to the full marathon?!!!! It's kind of now or never ...

Well done still! I'm seriously thinking about a marathon in 2017. My local running club (that I'm not a member of) will be doing a semi-trail one along a long-distance path close to me - on my birthday. It's a sign, yes? Not a completely lunatic thing to aim for, off the back of only two halves?

If that's not a sign I don't know what is Slippery!

chutney hope the GP trip gives you some answers.

still I overheard some runners saying how good the New Forest half was while we were getting ready on Sunday. I hope you enjoy it!

Exactly slippery! I will be 44 and I can't imagine I'm going to get fitter.

slippery - Do it!!! I'm 44 too and ran my first marathon last year

And I will be nearly 46 when I do my first marathon in 2017, it must be the decade for marathons!

Ooh snap still, I'll be 44 too! First half marathon at 43, first parkrun at 40. First actual run anywhere, at any pace, at 39

Which marathon are you doing emummy?

And if you have any good training dos and don'ts, please tell me theonly!

Doing London slippery , much to my surprise! And yes, all tips gratefully accepted!

I actually used a running coach to help me with my training plan for London this year. I've got hardly any free time with FT job, kids, activities (you know own how it is) and was reading all the online plans and getting a bit lost with it all. He was great and would work out a monthly plan based around my commitments and always be there for any questions/advice etc. I'm using him again for my Manchester marathon plan.

I learned that long runs need to be slow (slower than your marathon pace), preparing the engine so to speak! What I struggled the most to get right was fuel. It took a few long runs of trial and error to find what worked. Tailwind was the best for me (powdery carb drink) topped up with chia charge flapjacks and jelly babies. My stomach couldn't stomach gels on long run

I have only done one marathon but would like to do another one day. I followed the Cool Runnings 20 week beginner plan and finished just shy of 5 hours including a few loo stops.

You need to be pretty disciplined to fit in the training. I ran miles on the beach on our summer holiday that year. There comes a point where even if you run from your front door like I did you are out for 4 hours every Sunday for 2 months in the lead up to it. DH was super-supportive and used to meet me half way on long runs with supplies and cook roast dinners for me. For me following the plan meant I was mentally prepared on the day. I think I only missed a couple of runs through illness out of the whole programme.

As a friend who is an experienced marathon runner told me, the achievement isn't the 26.2 miles on the day, but all the training miles run, early nights because you are so knackered, glasses of wine you haven't drunk because you rare running 5 miles in the morning and energy gels swallowed.

It is such a great thing to do. I was at my fittest and fastest and felt on top of the world when I did mine.

Well done all of you who have run your races, and I'm in awe of you marathon runners! I went for a long run this morning and actually managed the 21k!! Very chuffed. Think I might hurt tomorrow...

Well done nat super-speedy as well!

Wow nat, fantastic time!

Thank you. I had a skin full of ale the night before so can only imagine that's the secret. Could make a fortune publishing that training plan...

Maybe I need to try that Nat thought I'd celebrate my 50th birthday on Tuesday with a "long run" and found 7 miles killed me...

I've clearly lost a bit of my mojo but am planning on getting in a long run tomorrow - 9 miles but not sure I'll manage it when even a slow parkrun was hard this morning.

Hi londonmummy hope you had a good run yesterday.

I finished work on Friday so I took myself out for three miles today. I was still a bit stiff from a hilly woodland parkrun on Saturday. I have treated my feet to some new trainers after picking up a badly bruised toe on my last HM so didn't want to go too far in case they weren't comfortable (they were fine).

Oh and most importantly Happy Birthday

Thanks fifty didn't manage to get out on Sunday after all as DH and the DDs insisted on going out for brunch instead - some time this week though as I have definitely lost my mojo and I'm sure it isn't just the birthday.....

Happy Birthday londonmummy!
Hope the mojo comes back; maybe you're just a bit tired and in need of a wee holiday?

Thanks emummy you may be right - not that this week is going to be anything like a rest... I have told myself that perhaps I should aim to just get a few 5k -8k runs in over the Christmas period and pick the long ones back up again in the New Year.