Running

I can confirm that the third quarter of any race is the toughest. My dogleg at the road relays was awful yesterday. I could barely get above what felt like walking pace.

Finished with a bang though and was sick, made up quite a lot of time on the run in.

Overall we finished 7th A team and 2nd B team (36th overall). So a good day out.

dogleg

Soul destroying out 'n back bit?

sick

Chapeau! ;)

Well done @ewanmac too.

That's exactly the one. It was horrific.

Long runs are reducing in length now. 2 weeks to go.

Finished with a bang though and was sick, made up quite a lot of time on the run in

Reduced to barffing. That's a mighty fine commitment to the team 😧

Having a rest week and sooooo fidgety.
It feels wrong without the Sunday morning long run 😢

I raced over 20 miles yesterday in what felt like scorching heat. I've burnt the outline of my vest into my shoulders and neck.

6 minute (!) PB though hah.

Great work. You're going really well at the moment. Hope the sunburn isn't too bad.

More Barkley reading:

http://www.pikespeaksports.us/m/blogpost?id=5021591%3ABlogPost%3A758418

Well Brighton was scorchio. Felt awesome for the first couple of miles then on the first descent through town I felt a twinge in my right calf that got progressively worse, and felt like cramp. Battled on and kept the 3:15 pacer behind me until about the 15 mile mark then just couldn't keep a reasonable pace. Overtaken by 3:30 in the last 2 miles to finish, 3:33 :( didn't take medal.
Calf is now swollen beyond all recognition and bright red, whatchareckon muscle tear?

Melted in Brighton. 5h56 or so.

First half ok-ish in 2:31 (I was aiming for 4:59:59) but then the heat got to me (it was hot) and knew I'd be running myself into the ground chasing a lost cause, so 6-7km of run/walk and then walked most of the last third as the fuck-it valve had blown.

Might have been a lucky escape as there was a water shortage with many of the water stations having no cups (just 2L bottles), no water or neither; saw plenty of people being tended to by SJA. Although this might just be because I was further back than on the last one.

Have entered again for next year but only doing another marathon if I'm under 80kg. It's simply no fun at 90kg+.

Plenty of HMs between then and now to do though, which should help get the weight down.

well done both, two of the guys I pace with were doing brighton and both struggled in the heat.

I did my final "trainig" run yesterday with a half marathon at marathon pace so 4:15 per km, I did it round dorney lake, so 4 laps completely exposed and I did begin to feel it on the last lap, but then the two guys I was runningwith had pulled the emergency eject cord at 12k so i'll take it that conditions were tough.

The one thing dot watching and yesterday has told me is that I need to be prepared frot hings to get very tough from 25k onwards, and be mentally ready for the fight that will ensue not to drop my pace.

what are the fast kids views on strategy, in my head I plan to sit with the pacer and try to zone out/draft for as long as possible saving mental energy for when the fight gets hard, then make a decision at 18,19 and 20 ish miles as to how hard I'm working to stay with the group and if I'm already at 7 out f 10 then I should ease back and focus on getting to the end in a GFA/PB time rather than a spectacular blow up at 22 miles and walk the rest of the way -sound sensible?

Feel like I've done everything I can at this stage, stuck to the training plan, lost 4kg, sorted race kit out, now its just down to strategy/execution!

Well done @Greenbank and @Spares.

@Sainsburys_Ed how much buffer do you have between your target time and GFA?

Yes water was a problem, insufficient and the volunteers giving it just weren't on it.

Coming back through the "Event Village" was shithouse as it was open to all and sundry, so had to battle through hoards of public.

Highlight was tucking behind that sea wall coming back from the Powerstation, only shade in the whole race.

Still my fav marathon though.

5 minutes and 1 second!

GFA is currently 3:05 and target is 2:59:29, although in my mind I'm planning on running at 4:15 so allow for inaccuracy, bad lines etc which if all goes well would get me a 40 second buffer. which isn't a lot, hopefully weight loss will mean this is all easy and my garmin is right in that I can actually run a 2:38 :/

Brighton sounds truly brutal yesterday. I was watching various people on the tracker and all but one slowed significantly from about 25k, everyone missed their target times by a considerable margin.

I'd defer to the vastly experiences @philpub on the question of marathon pacing. My current thoughts on strategy are to run what I think I can hold until 20miles; then hopefully pick it up and pick off some clubmates and others who went off too hard in the final 6 miles. Sitting on the 3 hour pacer would make a lot of sense to me, it removes the mental challenge of watch-checking although there could be quite a lot of people around there as well, which can be annoying in its own way.

I'm going so far as practising the journey to the start this coming Sunday. You can never be too prepared.

I was eating ice cream and standing in the sun in hove. Marathons aren't my thing, yesterday looked less fun than it should be.

Gel wrappers everywhere this morning.

I'm very lucky in that my parents friends live about a mile from the start line, so will be staying there overnight so I don't have that stress!

will stick to my original plan unless mr @PhilPub has a better idea, or wants to come out for a jog and be my personal pacer!

Sorry, not this year. I'll give you a heckle on the way round! I can't remember who's on which start but all three sub-3 Runner's World pacers this year are experienced and should be dependable for a 2:59, getting to halfway in 1:29. (That's always been my strategy anyway.) So if you're fit enough to run sub-3 and want to ensure you don't fluff up the pacing, I reckon it's a good plan. Bear in mind conditions on the day though; I doff my hat to anyone running in Brighton yesterday, and if it's another hot one for London you might be better off going for the B target.

Ah well, this won't be my first time as spectator due to injury but at least I know how I like to watch it. Anyone I recognise can expect a shout at miles 7, 15 and 21 (ish). Then refreshments at the Red Lion and the Chandos. Best running day of the year, even if you're not running.

@juanito - achilles may well have recovered sufficiently for an easy run, but I'm still being ultra cautious since I don't have any major race targets at the moment, so I'll probably be on the bike when you're on your course reccy. Enjoy the rest of the taper and see you on course.

Probably worth getting your leg checked out, as those symptoms could be from deep vein thrombosis (especially if you were dehydrated).

I google diagnosed DVT with possible leg cancer- although as I last went to the Dr's 10 years ago I'm no longer registered. So 4 hrs waiting at A&E to be told its bruised. Feels better already.
Reckon I can still buy a charity place for London?

first run since a calf issue 19 days ago. felt strong for 10 min. Walked back. hmmmm, something is going on in there and I don't think it is a tear from what the physio has said. Gonna stop using my ultraboost and go back to nike I think.

I think the cut off is march for charities to assign places and they wouldn't risk you doing anything dodgy for fear of getting busted by vlm and not getting spots next year as it's a pretty big earner for a lot of charities, your only hope is to either find someone who hmisnoullingnout late due to injury or just joining the run and hoping no one spots you have no number. I bleieve @kl is an expert at doing this!

Subbing to thread as I've started doing the occasional 5k and a labmate has asked me to do 8k with him tomorrow. Wasn't expecting so much race/marathon talk, crikey.

Well, I'm glad you got it checked out. They give you an ultrasound and a D-Dimer test? If it was a clot and it turned into a pulmonary embolism, that would be pretty bad.