Official Running Thread

[Badger]

I've not really got much on at work today, or yesterday, so I've invested many hours in building a training plan for Brighton Marathon 2020 AND cycling to Norwich. Based on my training plan (which includes Worthing Half and Lydd 20 Miles - both paid for today, and Hastings Half - which I haven't yet, that can wait until the next payday), I will have run 675 miles at the completion of the Marathon in April and I will have cycled 1,263 miles when I arrive into Norwich on the 10th.

Manchester Marathon is £65 to enter. That's just outrageous. I'm tempted by Llanelli Marathon, also on 5th April - £44. Both come with accomodation costs, but Llanelli is where my Grandma was born, she passed 15 years ago so I've not been back since. It might be a nice one to do - further research required. The logic is it might be better to do a marathon for a sub 3 time before the cycle, rather than trying to do the cycle and then the marathon PB in consecutive weeks. Decisions to be made!

If you think £65 is expensive for a marathon I'd suggest you don't consider entering one in North America!

If you're going for a sub 3, I'd definitely recommend trying it before you cycle to Norwich. You really need that recovery time in the last 2/3 weeks before the marathon.

 

[dazzer6666]

I've not really got much on at work today, or yesterday, so I've invested many hours in building a training plan for Brighton Marathon 2020 AND cycling to Norwich. Based on my training plan (which includes Worthing Half and Lydd 20 Miles - both paid for today, and Hastings Half - which I haven't yet, that can wait until the next payday), I will have run 675 miles at the completion of the Marathon in April and I will have cycled 1,263 miles when I arrive into Norwich on the 10th.

Manchester Marathon is £65 to enter. That's just outrageous. I'm tempted by Llanelli Marathon, also on 5th April - £44. Both come with accomodation costs, but Llanelli is where my Grandma was born, she passed 15 years ago so I've not been back since. It might be a nice one to do - further research required. The logic is it might be better to do a marathon for a sub 3 time before the cycle, rather than trying to do the cycle and then the marathon PB in consecutive weeks. Decisions to be made!

You could look at simply rocking up for one of the 'regular' marathons organised by Phoenix, Enigma or Saxon Shore................check the courses if it's a PB attempt but most are simple laps/out and back repeats so logistically very easy, usually in the £35-40 range and not crowded at all. I've seen runners use them for timed attempts quite often. The choice of races is enormous, all 3 RDs are very experienced marathon runners (Rik at Phoenix for example at one point held the 10 in 10 world record at under 30 hours, Traviss at Saxon has done about 800 marathons etc) and you'll likely have some good competition (the last track event I did of Rik's saw the winner home in 2.40 something I think)

https://www.phoenixrunning.co.uk/events
http://www.enigmarunning.co.uk/
http://www.saxon-shore.com/

 

[dazzer6666]

If you think £65 is expensive for a marathon I'd suggest you don't consider entering one in North America!

If you're going for a sub 3, I'd definitely recommend trying it before you cycle to Norwich. You really need that recovery time in the last 2/3 weeks before the marathon.

Think my NYC entry was about $350 (still not done it though - that was Hurricane Sandy year)

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Sorry to hear that. Time to get on the bike, if possible. The Gasson got a sub 20 at the Prom on Saturday 84.5% and a mere 66 or 67 years old. We have to keep going. As you’ve seen yourself he gets injured half the time but bounces back. Good luck, I need you to set another AG just out of my reach.

Thanks Gaffer. Currently getting my Parkrun fix by clapping others - huge turnout at Worthing today.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

If you think £65 is expensive for a marathon I'd suggest you don't consider entering one in North America!

If you're going for a sub 3, I'd definitely recommend trying it before you cycle to Norwich. You really need that recovery time in the last 2/3 weeks before the marathon.

I do think it's expensive, but I'm cheap.

You could look at simply rocking up for one of the 'regular' marathons organised by Phoenix, Enigma or Saxon Shore................check the courses if it's a PB attempt but most are simple laps/out and back repeats so logistically very easy, usually in the £35-40 range and not crowded at all. I've seen runners use them for timed attempts quite often. The choice of races is enormous, all 3 RDs are very experienced marathon runners (Rik at Phoenix for example at one point held the 10 in 10 world record at under 30 hours, Traviss at Saxon has done about 800 marathons etc) and you'll likely have some good competition (the last track event I did of Rik's saw the winner home in 2.40 something I think)

https://www.phoenixrunning.co.uk/events
http://www.enigmarunning.co.uk/
http://www.saxon-shore.com/

I will definitely check the links out, it doesn't need to be a headline marathon, just one which gives me the chance to get a sub-3 on the board.

Sadly for me, I've not been sleeping well recently and this morning parkrun was a heavy price for me to pay. I woke up at 9:30 and I'm still genuinely unhappy that I missed out this morning. I only dragged myself into work at 11am both thursday and friday, which isn't appropriate. I need to get back into a routine which includes waking up at a reasonable hour. It was a bit of a miracle I made the New Year's Day festivities but I'm very disappointed today. I went out for an hour long jaunt but it's nothing compared to missing a parkrun.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Think my NYC entry was about $350 (still not done it though - that was Hurricane Sandy year)

Ha. I entered that one as well. Did you fly out?

 

[dazzer6666]

Ha. I entered that one as well. Did you fly out?

No....I cancelled flights and hotel the day after the hurricane - there was no way it was going to go ahead.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

No....I cancelled flights and hotel the day after the hurricane - there was no way it was going to go ahead.

I flew out, it was an interesting but grim experience. Flying into Newark I could see from the window the lower third of Manhattan was without power. My hotel was in the affected part, was freezing cold, I couldn’t close/ lock my door as it needed power and worst of all the fire alarms would go off periodically when their (back-up) battery was running low. This would happen somewhere in the hotel every 30 mins or so. I also had to travel uptown to shower every day (gyms were offering their facilities for free) . I got my race number and found out it was cancelled a short while later. The trip quickly turned into a craft beer adventure.

I ran the following year and, to date, is my favourite race.

 

[Simgull]

I do think it's expensive, but I'm cheap.



I will definitely check the links out, it doesn't need to be a headline marathon, just one which gives me the chance to get a sub-3 on the board.

Sadly for me, I've not been sleeping well recently and this morning parkrun was a heavy price for me to pay. I woke up at 9:30 and I'm still genuinely unhappy that I missed out this morning. I only dragged myself into work at 11am both thursday and friday, which isn't appropriate. I need to get back into a routine which includes waking up at a reasonable hour. It was a bit of a miracle I made the New Year's Day festivities but I'm very disappointed today. I went out for an hour long jaunt but it's nothing compared to missing a parkrun.

There were exactly 1999 participants across the five B&H parkruns today - if only one more person had turned up!

(We went to Clair so also guilty )

 

[dazzer6666]

I flew out, it was an interesting but grim experience. Flying into Newark I could see from the window the lower third of Manhattan was without power. My hotel was in the affected part, was freezing cold, I couldn’t close/ lock my door as it needed power and worst of all the fire alarms would go off periodically when their (back-up) battery was running low. This would happen somewhere in the hotel every 30 mins or so. I also had to travel uptown to shower every day (gyms were offering their facilities for free) . I got my race number and found out it was cancelled a short while later. The trip quickly turned into a craft beer adventure.

I ran the following year and, to date, is my favourite race.

It’s definitely still on my bucket list.........although behind Comrades.......once things get resolved at work in the next few months I can start making some decent plans hopefully

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It’s definitely still on my bucket list.........although behind Comrades.......once things get resolved at work in the next few months I can start making some decent plans hopefully

“Description: The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometres”

89km. That’s over 2 marathons! WTF.

 

[dazzer6666]

“Description: The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometres”

89km. That’s over 2 marathons! WTF.

Hoping do 4 x 50 milers and maybe a 100m race this year.....just need to free up the training time (and steer clear of injury)

 

[Deleted member 2719]

It was early one Sunday morning, and I set off for the first of my 2.5k interval.
I was on target; in fact, a bit above target it was hazy as I approached the A27 ahead of me.
I would be turning left and running up a path I've run up 20 times before. I'd never encountered another runner going this way at this time, suddenly from the peripheral of my vision, and there was a glow of orange, a man in his late 50s maybe 60s, with all the gear on including night light on his head!!
He was going in the same direction that I was, it looked like we were going to meet at a T junction almost the same time, my competitive nature kicked in, I thought do I let him lead the way or do I pick the pace up to make sure I keep ahead of him, I went for the latter.
I didn't know whether he was quick I thought, and as a low mileage runner, I suddenly thought I might have made the wrong decision, I didn't want him flying past me, and then having to try and chase his shadow.
So I took him on and was running considerably faster then I should have been.
After about 1K I looked back hoping I had blasted him out of the water, wishful thinking, he was only 15 metres behind me, and I've been running far faster than I should have been.
We were approaching a hill I felt this would test the old bu**er, so I dug deep got to the top and had a shifty look to my right, he was way down the hill.
I was clearly in the zone. Unfortunately, the zone was zone 5, I was coming towards the end of my first interval, but my legs were full of lactic and my lungs full of nothing.
I stopped for the interval this man was out of sight. I then wondered whether he had turned around and gone back, I was a minute into my 2-minute rest break when the man ran past, I can only assume he thought I had quit.

The moral of this story is if you get an old geezer chasing you down your likey to get a PB or an ambulance.

Knocky was that you, with a torch, strapped to your ed

 

[knocky1]

It was early one Sunday morning, and I set off for the first of my 2.5k interval.
I was on target; in fact, a bit above target it was hazy as I approached the A27 ahead of me.
I would be turning left and running up a path I've run up 20 times before. I'd never encountered another runner going this way at this time, suddenly from the peripheral of my vision, and there was a glow of orange, a man in his late 50s maybe 60s, with all the gear on including night light on his head!!
He was going in the same direction that I was, it looked like we were going to meet at a T junction almost the same time, my competitive nature kicked in, I thought do I let him lead the way or do I pick the pace up to make sure I keep ahead of him, I went for the latter.
I didn't know whether he was quick I thought, and as a low mileage runner, I suddenly thought I might have made the wrong decision, I didn't want him flying past me, and then having to try and chase his shadow.
So I took him on and was running considerably faster then I should have been.
After about 1K I looked back hoping I had blasted him out of the water, wishful thinking, he was only 15 metres behind me, and I've been running far faster than I should have been.
We were approaching a hill I felt this would test the old bu**er, so I dug deep got to the top and had a shifty look to my right, he was way down the hill.
I was clearly in the zone. Unfortunately, the zone was zone 5, I was coming towards the end of my first interval, but my legs were full of lactic and my lungs full of nothing.
I stopped for the interval this man was out of sight. I then wondered whether he had turned around and gone back, I was a minute into my 2-minute rest break when the man ran past, I can only assume he thought I had quit.

The moral of this story is if you get an old geezer chasing you down your likey to get a PB or an ambulance.

Knocky was that you, with a torch, strapped to your ed

Nope no torch.
Nope I train at a slow pace.
Nope, if anyone of your pace tried such tactics you would not win the interval.
See you at a Parkrun soon.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Nope no torch.
Nope I train at a slow pace.
Nope, if anyone of your pace tried such tactics you would not win the interval.
See you at a Parkrun soon.

I would not go head to head with a seasoned runner, in reality, I am very aware of my abilities.
I know how competitive you long distances lads are!

I might well push you at 100m, that's metres!!

I will keep plodding on, who knows a parkrun may be on the cards in 2020 for me, I will let you know.

 

[big nuts]

Had a very different long run today. Decided for old times sake to run around Waterhall (10 laps) to watch the 4 Sunday league games. As a veteran of 15 years from 99-04 it was very much the same old story.

Poor pitches, poor refs, one broken nose and very little quality on show. Do I miss it? Yes. I’d love to play one more game but nothing long term.

The 10 laps allowed me to run 12.2 miles without venturing anywhere past 2 miles from home. I’ll be going further afield next week.

 

[knocky1]

I would not go head to head with a seasoned runner, in reality, I am very aware of my abilities.
I know how competitive you long distances lads are!

I might well push you at 100m, that's metres!!

I will keep plodding on, who knows a parkrun may be on the cards in 2020 for me, I will let you know.

5k is long distance for me. This years summer targets are the Arena track mile and 3000 metres. Hoping to run a 5:45 to 5:59 mile and win the club old man’s gold (if Paul Gasson is injured that day!)

Just missed 4 Parkruns and the Bexhill XC by taking a mere 8 days off with lurgy....

 

[Guinness Boy]

25.5. miles for me over three consecutive days. 4.75 of them today as a recovery run. Bumped in to [MENTION=15605]knocky1[/MENTION] just after the Lawns cafe and ran just over a mile together having a chat and catch up. Three days off now thanks to work before I go in to another three consecutive days on Friday / Saturday / Sunday. Should be good for getting used to running at pace on tired legs.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

The first day of my training plan for Brighton today, 5 gentle miles at 8:50 per, including Elm Grove from bottom to top. I'm going to be taking it nice and easy early on, I'm carrying good form and fitness into the training this year, but I'm keen to avoid any kind of blowout if possible. I'm hoping the gym is going to packed full of the January enthusiasts this evening!

 

[Badger]

“Description: The Comrades Marathon is an ultramarathon of approximately 89 kilometres”

89km. That’s over 2 marathons! WTF.

It's a point-to-point and they swap direction each year. Mainly uphill one way and downhill the other. So you have to do it twice to really say you've done it!

There's a South African guy in my running club who did the uphill version at some ridiculous pace. I think he finished it in about 6:30.