Running

Nice work.

bloody hell, great job duncs.

A marathon pace 19k long run done yesterday afternoon in the warmer weather. Went nicely and felt good at the end of it, legs feel fine this morning. One last speed session tomorrow and then the rest of the runs (6k, 10.5k, 5k, 16k, 5k, 5k) are easy pace. Enjoying the taper...

Nice one @duncs ! Would love to go sub 1:30

Reading Half yesterday precluded by running to the start form the centre of town to add on some miles. Learned some valuable lessons, namely:

People are annoying. Big crowds aren't really conducive to running and I kept bumping into people, or being bumped into as we were running elbow to elbow for the first mile or so. It's hard to run at your own pace, you just have to move with everyone else. I started off thinking I'd made a mistake in entering London and maybe I'll hate it. I was reminded of the comment that @hats (I think?) made after last year's London Marathon.

But also... People are awesome. The support around the course is brilliant and can give you a real lift. The two high points for me were the drumming band in an underpass making an incredible noise and entering the staduim for the finish, hearing the crowd noise build as you approach and then it hits you and you feel famous and full of energy.

I need to be strict with my pacing. I started near the 1:35 pacer and kept up for the first 8 miles which meant I was running too fast and I paid for it over the last couple of miles. Should have eased off from the start.

I don't think I can run a marathon on tarmac in barefoot shoes. I got wet feet before starting yesterday which meant they were in a pretty sorry state by the end. But even if they'd been dry I think I would still have blisters and my feet are very tired. New shoes today then 3 weeks to bed them in...

The organisation for Reading Half is really very good. My only gripe is the start time was advertised as 10 (and all the normal advice about getting there in good time etc was given) but what actually happened was the wheelchair race started at 10, then the elites at 1015, then the first wave at 1025, and subsequent waves at 10 min intervals. I get the need to do this but would it be that hard to tell us beforehand?

1:42 would have been a new PB not so long ago so I'm still happy with the time and hopefully this has set me up nicely for London in only 3 weeks.

@duncs - Brilliant! 8 mins is huge.

@Arducius - Nice one, good effort. Clearly some useful experience for London. Yes, your experiences of good and bad will be magnified at London, I feel. Best to just have as positive an attitude as possible, and - this is important - watch your ankles around discarded bottles and gels, all the time but particularly at/after water stations. And I might sound like an old man, but comfortable shoes is probably the most important thing on race day. That and a tried and tested anti-chafing strategy!

My cold had just about cleared up by yesterday's run, so I managed to keep up with my girlfriend this time. 16 miles, incl. 10 laps (10.6 miles) of Dulwich Park, targeting 6:05/m (=sub-2:40 target for her). All good, actual pace for 10.6 miles was 6:02/m, 6:33 average for the whole run. Taper time.

^ Wow! 2:40 must be olympic qualifier time?

The minimum entry standard is actually 2:45 which she's run, but it's up to individual countries to have faster standards. GB minimum standard is 2:31 but they're also using London as a qualifier for Rio. So a little way off, practically speaking, although MsPub is on the verge of national standard, as she's run very similar times to other athletes I know who have represented GB/England in smaller competitions. She earns a lot more prize money/vouchers than me, that's for sure. :-)

Amazing work, @duncs!

@Arducius Well done! Yes, it was me who didn't like London. Once I started getting annoyed by people then I found it hard to stop that feeling snowballing and hating everyone/everything. Go into it with a good attitude and you'll benefit from the crowds instead of being a grumpy git like me. Definitely the drinks bottles are one of the worst things about London, I slipped on one and although I didn't fall, for a minute I silently cursed everyone who has ever drunk from a bottle (did I mention I was grumpy?).

@PhilPub 10 laps of Dulwich Park, OMG. My brain cannot compute.

I did a race this weekend, the 16.2 mile edition of the Kingston Breakfast Run. In 16 miles I needed two toilet breaks, one of which necessitated running into a cafe in a cold sweat with a desperate look on my face and being swiftly ushered into the loo. The second one was a portaloo next to a roundabout and I started having a panic about what would happen if a car crashed into the portaloo. After the race I had to leg it to John Lewis to use the loos there too. So, pretty upset stomach then! My legs don't hurt at all today, which is quite nice, but when you spend a lot of the race either needing the toilet or actually on the toilet then your pace is - pun intended - shit.

Feeling pretty worried about the marathon next month now, which is basically the opposite of how I wanted to feel, especially after a disappointing parkrun the day before.

Oh yeah, and as the sun gods were out yesterday I ran in a tshirt and have a friction burn up the inside of my arm which stuck to the bedsheets in the night. Whyyyyy did I not use bodyglide?

Oh hats, sorry to hear about your experience at the Kingston Breakfast Run. Suggest you keep you training runs short now until the Marathon. On the day just treat it as a celebration of all the hard work you've done. I struggled in my last marathon with over training injuries in 2008 and fatigue. I decided to just take it easy, soak up the atmosphere sprinting the last 400metres with a finish time of 5hr 4mins. Limped home with foil wrap and a medal xx

Looks like three have started the fifth loop at the Barkley Marathons.

I decided to just take it easy, soak up the atmosphere sprinting the last 400metres with a finish time of 5hr 4mins

Totally feeling this! Thought my niggles were gone, but a half mara distance yesterday was horrible, running most of the route of the Bournemouth Bay run that happened earlier in the day.
Binned 25 gel wrappers that had been discarded. There are bins like every 100m...

Yeah, well done guys for raising all this cash for charidee, but who cares about the beautiful coastline.

On what was meant tone the run home currently, wearing my rucksack and had to slow to a walk as the right hand strap started to wear through my neck - how, other than by running in a dress shirt with starched collar, do I stop this from happening?

Chapeau to Ms PUB!

Straps shouldn't be anywhere near your neck, loosen them off

If I do that the bag jumps around so much it literally climbs up my back. Tighter and it sits high up on my back and rubs. Seems to be no happy medium. Boo.

What bag make/model is it?

Does it have a chest strap?

I didn't know the Bournemouth Bay run was going on, was visiting and managed to get caught up in the kids fun run and 10k run. made the run more interesting as i detoured onto the beach.

I know some people enjoy running along that promenade but I found it a bit tedious. something more trail-like and undulating is superior for a training run.

What bag make/model is it?

Rapha backpack, it does have a chest strap but it's not the most technical of bags.

I think you know the answer to this one: buy a new bag! Maybe a red one as it'll make you go faster, like with shoes.

Big weekend by the sounds of it
Good efforts all
An hour score Saturday followed by 2.40 hours bike navigation on North Dartmoor Sunday a.m for me.
On the roof of south west England in the clag with the only sound skylarks, wind and you're own breath. No annoying people at all.

Yep new bag, innov or raid

Ah so you're no longer stranded on your own desert island!?

Catch up soon?